“Specimens of 14th and 15th Century Illuminated Initials” by W. J. and G. W. Audsley

Specimens of 14th and 15th Century Illuminated Initials

W. J. and G. W. Audsley

1882

41 x 29.2 cm..

Beckwith, Victorian Bibliomania catalogue no. 50

Source: Polychromatic Decoration as Applied to Buildings in the Medieval Styles

Collection: Museum of Art, Rhode Island School of Design

Recognizing the need for a book illustrating the use of decorative patterns derived from illuminated manuscripts and ready for application to Victorian Gothic Revival walls, William and George Audsley published Polychromatic Decoration in 1882. The Audsley brothers were practicing architects in Liverpool who also designed chromolithographed illuminated books (cats. 9, 31). [continued below]

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Commentary by Alice H. R. H. Beckwith

In their introduction to Polychromatic Ornament they noted that while books with "fragmentary illustrations of medieval ornamentation" were commonplace by 1882, there was no practical guide in English for architects concerned with appropriately painting the walls of medieval revival buildings. They further suggested that their book might aid amateurs who enjoyed decorating their homes and parish churches with polychromatic ornament.

The Audsleys' book offered considerable direction in the use of patterns from medieval painting and illuminated manuscripts, suggesting exactly what kinds of patterns were appropriate for precise places on the walls of a room or hall. Their patterns lent themselves to direct copying, as well as to reproduction by stenciling or in wallpapers. Although they illustrated some patterns which could cover an undivided wall surface, the bulk of their designs were intended for rooms ornamented differently on the lower wall, upper wall, and ceiling.

For the Audsleys, book and building ornamentation were one and the same. They came to their synthesis of wall and page design through their own experiences as designers and from their familiarity with the works of earlier nineteenth-century authors. They cited E. L. Blackburne (cat. 44) as a source, along with the color theory developed by George Field in 1835 which influenced Owen Jones. Augustus W. N. Pugin's designs (cats. 41-43) probably inspired their plate XI, devoted to symbolic and heraldic ornament. Furthermore, some of the designs in Polychromatic Ornament were borrowed from J. K. Colling (cat. 45) (Jervis, Dictionary. 39).

The Audsleys designed plates inspired by the diaper patterns in the backgrounds of medieval illuminated initial letters, such as plate 14. In plate 36, illustrated here, the Audsleys reproduced specimens of fourteenth- and fifteenth-century illuminated initial letters which they claimed as sources for their designs. The letters in plate 36 are a Victorian interpretation rather than true facsimiles. This plate is fascinating, for it reveals how the Audsleys abstracted ornamental patterns from hand-illuminated works for use as wallpaper motifs. Plate 36, printed in gold and six other colors, is an example of the best chromolithographic work produced in the 1880s. It must be noted, however, that the Audsleys had to go to France to have their plates printed, a reflection of the hiatus in English printing after the deaths of Owen Jones and Henry Noel Humphreys and the dissolution of the printers Day & Son.

While Polychromatic Decoration may have marked the waning of an age, in the twentieth century it has become one of the central sources for Victorian Revival wallpapers. Modern firms market their papers in room sets with the same three-part division of the interior spaces suggested by the Audsleys, i.e., a dado or lower wall cover, a wall fill or upper surface pattern, and ceiling papers. Furthermore, each section of a room may be divided from the other parts by a decorative border. Often particular emphasis is given to the frieze region, the point where ceiling and wall meet, much like the margin of an illuminated book, and a place where nineteenth-century designers often inscribed illuminated quotations.

References

Audsley, William James, and George Ashdown Audsley. Polychromatic Decoration as Applied to Buildings in the Medieval Styles. London & Manchester: Henry Sotheran & Co., 1882. Chromolithography: Firmin-Didot, Paris.

Beckwith, Alice H. R. H. Victorian Bibliomania: The Illuminated Book in Nineteenth-Century Britain. Exhibition catalogue. Providence. Rhode Island: Museum of Art, Rhode Island School of Design, 1987.

Jervis, Simon. The Penguin Dictionary of Design and Designers. New York: Penguin, 1984.

Last modified 25 December 2013