The bridge over which the
flying princess goes to her lover is a good model, and could be built in
many gardens. Even a tiny modern garden, yours or mine, might hold this
fairy bridge.
Almost all Arabian decorations have their basis in trellis design or
arabesques filled in with the intricate tracery that covers all their
buildings. If we examine the details of the most famous of the old
Moorish buildings that remain to us, the mosque at Cordova and the
Alhambra at Granada, we shall find them full of endless trellis
suggestions. Indeed, there are many documents still extant showing how
admirably trellis decoration lends itself to the decoration of gardens
and interiors. There are dozens of examples of niches built to hold fine
busts. Pavilions and summer houses, the quaint gazebos of old England,
the graceful screens of trellis that terminate a long garden path, the
arching gateways crowned with vines--all these may be reproduced quite
easily in American gardens.
The first trellis work in France was inspired by Italy, but the French
gave it a perfection of architectural character not found in other
countries. The manuscript of the "Romance of the Rose," dating back to
the Fifteenth Century, contains the finest possible example of trellis
in a medieval garden. Most of the old French gardens that remain to us
have important trellis construction.
Pages:
180
181
182
183
184
185
186
187
188
189
190
191
192
193
194
195
196
197
198
199
200
201
202
203
204