nse in them, and more power of
producing good effect with rude design than in any other features of the
building; the chequer and hatchet work of the Normans and the rude
bas-reliefs of the Lombards being almost as satisfactory as the delicate
panelling and mosaic of the Duomo of Florence. But this is to be noted
of all good wall ornament, that it retains the expression of firm and
massive substance, and of broad surface, and that architecture instantly
declined when linear design was substituted for massive, and the sense
of weight of wall was lost in a wilderness of upright or undulating
rods. Of the richest and most delicate wall veil decoration by inlaid
work, as practised in Italy from the twelfth to the fifteenth century, I
have given the reader two characteristic examples in Plates XX. and XXI.

[Illustration: Fig. LXI.]

Sec. VIII. There are, however, three spaces in which the wall veil,
peculiarly limited in shape, was always felt to be fitted for surface
decoration of the most elaborate kind; and in these spaces are found the
most majestic instances of its treatment, even to late periods. One of
these is the spandril space, or the filling between any two arches,
commonly of the shape _a_, Fig. LXI.; the half of which, or the flank
filling of any arch, is called a spandril. In Chapter XVII., on Filling
of Apertures, the reader will find another of these spaces noted, called
the tympanum, and commonly of the form _b_, Fig. LXI.: and finally, in
Chapter XVIII., he will find the third space described, that between an
arch and its protecting gable, approximating generally to the form _c_,
Fig. LXI.

Sec. IX. The methods of treating these spaces might alone furnish subject
for three very interesting essays; but I shall only note the most
essential points respecting them.

(1.) The Spandril. It was observed in Chapter XII., that this portion of
the arch load might frequently be lightened with great advantage by
piercing it with a circle, or with a group of circles; and the roof of
the Euston Square railroad station was adduced as an example. One of the
spandril decorations of Bayeux Cathedral is given in the "Seven Lamps,"
Plate VII. fig. 4. It is little more than one of these Euston Square
spandrils, with its circles foliated.

[Illustration: Plate XIV.
SPANDRIL DECORATION
THE DUCAL PALACE.]

Sometimes the circle is entirely pierced; at other times it is merely
suggested by a mo