雙語+MP3|美國學(xué)生藝術(shù)史67 裝飾物

  
羅馬人還建造了另外一種建筑物，這種建筑物后來成為基督教堂的范本。這些建筑物有法院或公共大廳，它們被稱作“長方形廊柱大廳式基督教堂”。這種教堂外觀比較長，里面矗立著一排排柱子支撐著整個(gè)屋頂。還有一個(gè)中心走廊和兩個(gè)側(cè)邊走廊，中心走廊上方的天頂要比周圍的天頂都要高，正如我們現(xiàn)在看到的大多數(shù)教堂一樣。我們會(huì)在下一章介紹更多關(guān)于這種教堂的知識。  
67 TRIMMINGS裝飾物 
  
MEN wear ties and collars. Ladies wear ornaments and trimmings. Buildings wear trimmings, too, to keep them from looking too plain and unfinished. These trimmings on buildings we call moldings and borders. The Greek and Roman builders used moldings and borders of certain shapes and designs, and builders nowadays use many of the same moldings and borders.  
Perhaps you have never examined closely the panels of a door, the edges of a doorway or window, the picture molding under the ceiling, or other trimmings around the outside of a building, but if you should notice them you may be surprised to see that most of them are not just flat strips. They have different shapes. The different shapes of these moldings have names just as the boys and girls you know have names, so you can become acquainted with them.  
I’ll introduce them to you:  
There is a molding that is square as seen from the edge, and so simple that you might think a name unnecessary. It is called a fillet, which means a ribbon or band. In olden times women —and men, too—wore a fillet around their heads, to keep their hair in place and as an ornament. Nowadays, buildings often wear fillets just as an ornament. A fillet, as seen from the edge, is like the drawing at the left.  
  
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When a fillet is sunken in, like a square groove, it is called simply asunken fillet. It is like this drawing on the right.  
  
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Here is a molding that is half round as seen from the edge. Architects call it a torus, but to carpenters it is a “half-round.”  
  
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Here is the torus, or half-round, sunk in, forming a round hollow or groove. Its right name is cavctto, which means a little cave, but carpenters call it a groove.  
  
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Here is a molding that, seen from the edge, looks like the curve of an egg. It is called by architects an ovolo, which means egg-shaped, but carpenters just say “egg molding.”  
  
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Here is a molding that is hollowed out with the same egg shaped curve. It is called a scotia.  
  
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Here is a molding with a curve like an S. The hollow is at the bottom. It is called an ogee—just like the ex-clamation “Oh gee”! The ruler you use in school may be in the shape of ogee molding.  
  
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Here is a molding also with an S curve, the hollow at the top. It is called acyma, which means a wave.  
  
  
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Do you think you can recognize these moldings when you see them and call them by name? They are in couples—four couples. One is raised and one is hollow; one fits into the other.  
  
Mr. and Mrs. Fillet  
Mr. Torus and Miss Cavetto  
Mr. Ovolo and Miss Scotia  
Mr. Ogee and Miss Cyma  
  
Usually, instead of just one simple molding, two or more of these moldings are used, one alongside the other and there are several beautiful moldings made by such combinations.  
In most of the combinations, the square fillet is used between the curved moldings. This arrangement of square and curve makes the curved moldings stand out more sharply, thus:  
  
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See how many of these moldings you can find in your own house or in some one else’s house.  
There are also several kinds of borders. The simplest is the zigzag, which is also called the chevron because it is like the chevron that a soldier wears on his sleeve. It’s something like the first writing a child tries to do.  
  
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The next simplest is the scallop. It is called that because it is like the edge of the scallop shell. It’s like this:  
  
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or upside down like this:  
  
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The embattled is like this:  
  
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The embattled border is sometimes called the Wall of Troy, because Troy had a wall around it, with spaces through which the soldiers could shoot their arrows, and pieces of wall behind which they could jump.  
The meander is like this:  
  
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The Meander was a river in Asia Minor that flowed in this very crooked way. If you go to school walking in a line that makes a design like this, we say you are meandering.  
The fret or key is like this:  
  
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It looks something like a row of keys.  
The dentil is like this:  
  
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because “dentil” means teeth and it was supposed to look like a row of teeth. It looks something like a row of piano keys, too.  
  
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The wave is like this, something like an S lying down with a curl or scroll in one end. Of course you can see why it is called this if you have ever seen waves breaking on the shore. When I was a boy I used to make my capital S’s with many scrolls in each end until my teacher made me stop.  
The running scroll is like this:  
  
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—one wave up and one down. This is one of the prettiest borders.  
The astragal is like this:  
  
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Astragals were really little bones, but the astragal border looks to me like a string of beads—long beads with two round beads between them  
The chain is like this:  
  
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—not a very pretty border, do you think so?  
The cable or rope is like this:  
  
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The egg and dart is like this:  
  
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The egg was supposed to represent birth; the dart, death—birth and death, birth and death. Every man is born and dies. His son is born and dies. Generation after generation is born and dies, forever and ever. The astragal was always used below the egg and dart border.  
The Lesbian leaf is like this:  
  
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The anthemion is like this:  
  
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—leaves arranged in a heart shape.  
The Greek lily is like this:  
  
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The anthemion was often used with the Greek lily alternating.  
These are called classic borders because the Greeks and Romans used them and anything Greek and Roman we call classic.  
The next time you draw or mount a picture, suppose you try making a border for it of one of these classic designs. It’s fun. I’ve known boys to make such borders round the letters they wrote, round Christmas cards and even round their arithmetic papers, and some girls have embroidered handkerchiefs and towels with these designs, but they have to be done very carefully to look just right—one part exactly like every other, evenly spaced and in line.