Two other charming interiors, each distinct and characteristic of different races, country, and climate, may be studied in the background of Van Dyck’s wonderful portrait picture of Jan Arnolfini and his wife, a Flemish interior of the fifteenth century, and again in the delightful house of the Virgin in Carlo Crivelli’s “Annunciation,” with all its wealth of decorative detail, which gives one an excellent idea of a well-appointed Venetian citizen’s house of the fifteenth century. Both of these are well-known gems of our National Gallery.
[Illustration: Painted Decoration, Ranworth Rood Screen, Norfolk
Illustrations of these pictures are given in my book on “Line and Form,” so that instead of repeating them here I give one from Lucas van Leyden’s “Annunciation” at Munich (Pinacothek) which shows a charming Gothic interior with a wagon-vaulted roof, wheel window, and a rich brocade hanging to the bed, with other interesting details.
Another delightful example is the early renascence Venetian interior which forms the background of Carpaccio’s “Dream of St. Ursula” (L’Accademia, Venice).
For photographs or prints a pale yellow wall looks well--a pale lemon or primrose tint--it lights up softly and agreeably at night. Pale yellow may also be recommended for a rather dark room. Even one fleck of sunlight on a pale yellow wall has a marvellous reflecting power and will illuminate the whole room. One can agreeably complete the harmony with brown, or black and white, with a touch of orange in the furniture and texture.
As a rule, in modern drawing-rooms and living-rooms, there are too many colours, as well as too much furniture. The proportions of the architect and the scheme of the decorator hardly have a chance.
“Elizabeth in her German Garden” speaks of the charm of rooms newly distempered and papered, with no furniture in them; but though it might make a paper-hanger happy, I fear this would be too severe for ordinary English taste.
[Illustration: Flemish Fifteenth-Century Interior
Lucas van Leyden, “The Annunciation,” Munich, Pinacothek]
I remember a gentleman at Los Angeles, California, showing me with pride a room in his villa he had papered with a gorgeous wall-paper with lots of gold in it. He considered it sufficient in itself, an end and not a means, and apparently had no intention of disturbing or obscuring the design by pictures or furniture, except perhaps a chair or a couch from which to contemplate the splendours of the pattern.