DECORATIONS anciently, (besides what belonged to the orders,) consisted of sculpture and painting. In the pa laces and temples of upper Egypt, the walls are com pletely covered with sculptures, and the ceilings by paintings. In the numerous splendid tombs both the walls and ceilings are frequently covered with paintings; but here it is profusion rather than design or execution which attracts admiration. In the ruins of the palace of Persepolis, and tombs of the kings, the sculpture is equally profuse, and the execution just as imperfect. The fine genius and taste of the Greeks reformed both sculpture and painting. Their principal and boldest features consisted of animal figures, and it is difficult to determine whether the taste in designing or skill in the execution merits most admiration. The subordinate members are decorated with representations of vegetable substances ; where great delicacy is observable, they are generally in low bass relief, and the honeysuckle plant predominates. Their paintings were chiefly histo rical subjects, as the battle of Marathon, by the brother of Phidias, in the temple of Jupiter Olympus at Elis. In Roman architecture the profusion of sculpture be came excessive ; the skill of the workmen long continued very perfect, but the taste of the architect greatly dege nerated. Some of their triumphal arches and historical columns, where the utmost efforts of sculpture are ap propriate, have through every age continued to command the admiration of mankind ; but in their later temples, palaces, and baths, the profusion is tiresome and disgust ing. In modern times, although architecture was, for
some ages, overloaded with minute sculptures, it was by degrees much chastened, and excepting on interior stucco work, it has, for some time past, been almost wholly abandoned. On the other hand, the use of painting has been much extended, and is, indeed, in all interior works become universal, excepting where the walls are covered with Jtaper, a modern invention of great beauty, comfort, and economy.
One species of sculpture has been uniformly practised by both ancients and moderns, that is the isolated statue or bust. The ancients decorated their forums, basilicas, temples, theatres, and baths, with statues of their deities, philosophers, heroes, legislators, &c. and the moderns have done the same thing in their churches, palaces, houses, squares, gardens, public walks, &c. The statues are placed either singly or in groupes; they are either raised on pedestals standing quite isolated, or in recesses termed niches; if in niches, the distance between the outside of the statue and the sides of the niche should never be less than one third, nor more than one half a head. Statues are frequently placed on a plinth, whose height may vary from one third to one half a head. Be sides the before mentioned situations, statues are some times placed before the dwarf pilasters of attic stories, as in the arch of Constantine, the Corinthian colonnade at Thessalonica, and at Somerset Place in London.