Decorative Patterned Floors of Venice

Illustration: Church marble floor design from Venice.

It must seem sometimes as if Venice is awash with a complexity of floor designs for both religious and secular buildings. There are a number of explanations, reasoning's and conjecture as to why this should be, ranging from its Byzantine roots, its undoubted wealth and its climate. Whatever the real reasons, the city has produced some of the most fascinating, complex and richly textured floor decoration to be found anywhere in Europe, and certainly some of the best surviving examples that we have.

Much of the work is marble based with insets of semi-precious materials such as lapis lazuli, offsetting the rich earth tones that make up so much of the decorative work. The examples shown here are all from Venice bar two which originate from Ravenna a city that also has a long tradition and a very long connection with Byzantium. It is perhaps this very real connection with the Byzantine Empire and its sophisticated decorative arts system, a craft tradition that was often both admired and envied in equal measures, that gave the initial impetus to this very specialised decorative tradition.

Illustration: Church marble floor design from Venice.

Venetian decorative floors cover the whole gambit of decorative styles, as well as that of different historic eras. There are floors that are closer in style to that of the old Roman mosaic floors, complete with imagery of animals and plant life as well as the incorporation of decorative borders. There are also medieval styled floors, very often incorporated into religious buildings. These are often symbolically driven and therefore have medallions dedicated to saints, as well as the usual decorative abstract insets and borders. The three Venetian examples shown in this article are very much part of a more sophisticated Renaissance style, one that used a system of abstract mathematical decoration, often including an optical illusional concept whereby different multi-sided shapes would be incorporated into the pattern work. However, it would be true to say that many of the Renaissance era floor patterns were very much rooted in the pattern work produced in the medieval period.

Illustration: Marble floor design from St Mark's Basilica, Venice.

Although this sophisticated style is undoubtedly a reflection of the rich tradition that is such an integral part of the decoration and ornament of Venice, it is also a tradition that encompassed much of medieval Europe. There are many floors of tile, mosaic and inset pattern work, much of it perhaps surprisingly geometrically and mathematically more complex than perhaps we would at first assume, particularly for a period that is still often classed today as being a relatively simple and unsophisticated European era.

Many of these complex floors decorated religious buildings and would no doubt have had a spiritual dimension to them as well as one that was purely decorative. The complex pattern work could well have reflected, at least in part, the often rich and aesthetic qualities of the medieval mind. Some have noted that the significance of the complexity of floor designs within a religious context, might well have had something to do with ideas of humility, where the individual would have lowered their eyes within the church and therefore have contemplated the intricacy that could be found on the floor, rather than allowing their eyes to wander around. Whatever the true reasoning behind the amount of effort put into these floor patterns, and there is probably more than one, much of the spiritual and philosophical understanding that enriched and embellished the original pattern work, has now gone and that is certainly a shame. However, we are still left with some of the most beautifully elaborate and intricately decorated floors produced in any era. 

Illustration: Church marble floor designs from Ravenna.

What these floor decorations do show us, whether from Venice, Ravenna, or even across Europe as a whole, is how much that can be achieved by the bringing together what is in fact, when the decorative pattern work is broken down, a very simple set of blocks. These simple units can produce in themselves very little. However, putting them together in a framework, whether mathematically or purely decoratively, can produce an effect that appears multi-faceted, even three-dimensional in character. Many of the floors used colour as a particular tool for pattern. Floor patterns in Venice used as little as four distinct colours, but equally effective pattern work could be achieved with as little as two colours, using an effective positive and negative framework. Using tones of the same colour can also give the impression that an overall unifying effect has been achieved, this is often much more preferable and certainly more sophisticated than the use of acutely distinct colours. 

Many of the floors in Venice have used stone and marble that are earth based in tone and therefore the effect of the pattern work is much more subtle than perhaps some of the later and somewhat showier examples that can be seen in seventeenth and eighteenth century palaces across Europe. The earth tones were obviously an effective means of tying the floor to the building itself, often creating a unity when the same stone and marble was used throughout the building and not just within the decorative floor. 

Illustration: Marble floor design from the Church of St Vitale, Ravenna.

Unfortunately, many of these sophisticated floor pattern systems have been lost across Europe over the generations. Many of the religiously based ones were actually dug up by various enthusiastic members of the Protestant Reformation who often saw them as forms of idolatry or merely as reminders of the previous Catholic tenants. They were not replaced until the Victorian era, but these often bore no real correlation with the original floors and were merely mass produced encaustic tiles claiming to be produced in the style of the medieval, but perhaps any decoration is better than none at all.

At least a number of these startlingly beautiful floors do still exist in Venice, and for that we should be truly grateful.

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Educational Courts at the Crystal Palace

Illustration: A Handbook for the Medieval Court by Matthew Digby Wyatt and John Burley Waring, 1854.

After the Great Exhibition of 1851, it was felt that the popularity of the event, including the exhibition building itself, should be continued in some form. It was eventually decided to re-erect the building in a different format at Sydenham. The building itself, popularly known as the Crystal Palace, was officially named as such and became a strange combination of leisure and educational venue. A number of 'courts' were set up within the building. These courts were to largely take on an educational format, whereby decorative historic styles would be represented. Therefore courts were designated as Egyptian, Greek, Roman, Alhambra, Assyrian, Byzantine, Medieval, Renaissance, Italian and Pompeian. There were also courts for a range of diverse near contemporary and contemporary subjects such as fine art, sculpture and music. However, it was the historically themed courts that particularly caught the imagination. 

When the newly refurbished Crystal Palace reopened in 1854, it was still a period in British history whereby few of the population had ever been outside of the confines of the nation. Therefore, exotic appearing courts, although mostly constructed from plaster, giving an appearance of historical or geographical locations, must have appeared to many, to be bringing far flung locations of the world to their own near doorstep. 

Illustration: Medieval Court at the Crystal Palace, 1854.

Guidebooks were produced for each court written by a range of experts including Samuel Phillips, Philip Henry Delamotte, John Burley Waring, George Scharf Jnr, Austin Henry Layard, J Gardner Wilkinson, Owen Jones and Matthew Digby Wyatt. Wyatt was involved with four of the guides, two of which are illustrated in this article. The Byzantine and Romanesque Court and The Medieval Court, both co-written with John Burley Waring were perhaps not the weighty tomes that some might have preferred, but as they were aimed at a very broad cross-section of the general public, they were very popular.

The guides gave a good general introduction of the period and style of each court, concentrating on the architectural, fine and decorative art of the era. They also paid heed to what was actually included within each court, all of which were plaster copies of originals. In the case of the Medieval Court for example, it might well have caused a certain amount of confusion as decorative styles from both England and various parts of Europe were all placed within the confines of the court. However, most visitors seemed to find it both entertaining and educational, which no doubt was the purpose of the organisers.

Illustration: A Handbook to the Byzantine Court by Matthew Digby Wyatt and John Burley Waring, 1854.

Praise should go to Owen Jones himself who was intimately involved in the construction of many of the courts. Jones tried to achieve as close a resemblance to the originals as was possible. However, obviously some courts were going to be more exact than others. The Alhambra Court for example, was particularly praised for its superb decorative details. This would no doubt have something to do with the fact that Jones knew the Alhambra from personal experience and it was always considered to be an integral part of his belief in design and decoration reform. Other courts were perhaps less convincing, particularly those with few eyewitnesses to the real pieces. Suppositions concerning colour combinations had to be made with little archaeological evidence, but as few members of the public knew anything about the originals, it perhaps seemed more important to give an indication, rather than a strict detailed view of some aspects of world decorative and cultural history.

The two little guidebooks featured here are in themselves interesting snapshots of public entertainment and education in the mid-nineteenth century. Although there was a whole range of entertainment from music hall to opera, public entertainment in the mid-nineteenth century did seem very much to be concerned with enlightenment of the masses through art education. In some respects, it seems very little different from today in that institutions find themselves with the same difficult task of educating through entertainment. It would be hard to judge how successful the Crystal Palace was as an educational resource, compared to its entertainment value. This always seems to be the problem when turning a museum into an entertainment complex. Does everyone enjoy the interactivity but still go away with more information, or have they just had fun pressing buttons? A number of critics of the Crystal Palace made note that many of the crowds who descended at the weekend were outside, rather than inside the Palace, the outside areas being full of non-educational entertainment.

 Illustration: Entrance to the Byzantine Court at the Crystal Palace, 1854.

However, the courts themselves, as can be seen from the two illustrations of sections of the Medieval and Byzantine Courts, were impressive, considering they were mere plaster copies of original stone features. They must have made a particularly grand gesture towards ideas concerning the history of the architectural and decorative arts, and given an indication of what was available in the world outside of the island of Britain, as well as an inkling of the cultural history that we all have an equal share in.

Interestingly, there were no courts dedicated to Indian, Chinese or Japanese cultures, nothing concerning Africa, Native America or the Pacific. In some respects, lack of detailed information could be seen as an excuse for at least some of the omissions. However, this does not explain why for example a Nineveh Court was included and an Indian Court was not. With many of these nineteenth century well-meaning public educational formats, there were just as many underlying factors that had to do with issues largely concerned with the twin aspects of empire, colonialism and racism. The popular and standard Euro-centric world view, also gave a staggering lack of perspective of the world as a whole. 

However, despite its obvious faults, the Crystal Palace did try to open new vistas on the world for a British audience that was largely ignorant of any details, other than its own. For those with no knowledge of the historical placing of the decorative arts of Europe at least, the different courts would have proved a useful resource, particularly if there was little hope of being able to visit the medieval churches of France and Germany, the ruins of Pompeii, or the Alhambra of Granada.

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