Italy, at the same period, the plaster
ceilings were based on the forms taken by vaulting; they were of
infinite variety and were richly decorated with sunk panels containing
the Roman conventional foliage. Raphael, about 1520, reproduced in the
Vatican some of the stucco-duro ornament which he had studied in the
Golden House of Nero, excavated under his directions. Later, about the
middle of the 16th century, great coves were formed round the room,
which were decorated with cartouches and figures in relief, garlands and
swags. The great halls of the Ducal Palace at Venice and the galleries
of the Pitti Palace at Florence were ceiled in this way. These coved
ceilings were introduced into England in the middle of the 17th century.
In Holyrood Palace at Edinburgh there is a fine ceiling of 1671, with
figures (probably executed by Italian craftsmen) and floral wreaths.

At Coleshill, Berkshire, a ceiling by Inigo Jones (1650) shows a type
which became more or less universal for a century, viz. deeply sunk
panels with modillions round, and bands enriched with foliage, fruit,
&c., in bold relief. Wren, Nicholas Hawksmoor, James Gibbs, John Webb
and other architects continued on the same lines, and in 1760 Robert
Adam introduced his type of ceiling, sometimes horizontal, and sometimes
segmental, in which panels are suggested only, with slight projecting
lines and rings of leaves, swags and arabesque work, which, like
Raphael's, was found on the ceilings of the Roman tombs and baths in
Rome and Pompeii. George Richardson followed with similar work, and Sir
W. Chambers, in the rooms originally occupied by the Royal Academy and
the learned societies in Somerset House, designed many admirable
ceilings. The moulds of all the ornamental devices of Robert Adam are
preserved and are still utilized for many modern ceilings.
(R. P. S.)

CEILLIER, REMY (1688-1761), Benedictine monk of the Lorraine
congregation of St Vannes. He was the compiler of an immense Patrology,
_Histoire generale des auteurs sacres et ecclesiastiques_ (23 vols.,
Paris, 1720-1763), being a history and analysis of the writings of all
the ecclesiastical writers of the first thirteen centuries. He put
infinite trouble and time into the work, and many portions of it are
exceedingly well done. A later and improved edition was produced in
Paris, 1858, in 14 vols. Ceillier's other work, _Apologie de la morale
des peres de l'eglise_ (Paris, 1718), also won so