“Gesso Plaster Ceiling” by Walter Crane (original) (raw)

Crane’s discussion of this project

MY earliest attempts at modelling were with some London clay from a suburban brick-field, I think, and I don’t think I got any further until, happening (about 1874 or 1875) to have some decorative panels to do for the frieze of a dining-room, it occurred to me to raise and gild parts of them somewhat after the manner of the early Florentine school. Eventually all the figures were raised in a paste, made of plaster of Paris and glue, applied to ordinary canvas.

After this a rather extensive piece of decorative work fell in my way. The late Dr. William Spottiswoode wished to decorate the large saloon of his country house, at Combe Bank, Sevenoaks, and I drew out a scheme for him. The chief feature was a large ceiling, which existing mouldings had divided into five comthe centre, and four squares, with subdivisions for a scheme of the Seasons and the Planets, to be represented” by figures modelled in relief, and gilded and tinted in various ways. In the centre was the face of the Sun, and in the compartments of a kind of wheel—to suggest their revolution—the figures of the Seasons—Spring, Summer, Autumn, and Winter. The wheel was supported at each end” by two winged figures; in the side panels, flanking the centre, were smaller square compartments, With figures suggesting the times of day—Morn, Noon. Eve, Night—and between them, in circles, the Moon on the one side, and Mercury on the other. A repeating design of a chain of figures, supporting globes, formed a border. In the square panels at the four corners were figures of Venus, Mars, Urania, and Neptune; Jupiter and Saturn occupying spheres at opposite ends of the ceiling.

All the figures were modelled in a gesso of plaster and glue, with cotton wadding used as fibre. The repeating borders were cast in ordinary plaster, and the grounds of the panels were of fibrous plaster. [15-16]

Bibliography

The Work of Walter Crane with Notes by the Artist. The Easter Art Annual for 1898: Extra Number of the “Art Journal”. London: J. S. Virtue, 1898.Internet Archive version of a copy in the Getty Art Institute. Web. 3 January 2018.

Last modified 4 January 2018