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C A R VI X G T RADITIONAL F O L 1 A G E

Fig 6.8 Rococo frame showing leafedges to unnatural forms, scrolls and asymmetry, the whoie having balance and rÅ‚tythm. Carved in Qtiebec yellow pine by Deborah Hurst.

CLASSICISM, THE GOTHIC Revival AND Victorianism

Contemporary with baroque and rococo were the classical and neo-classical scyles as inspired by William Kent, ‘Athenian Stuart, Robert and James Adam and others (Fig 6.9). Some of these preferrcd symmctry and a moro resrrained usc of ornament. Contemporary with the classical styles at the cnd of' the eightcenth century, the Gothic Reviva! reintroduced leaf forms unused for ccnturies, but this time expressed in morÄ™ manageable woods than oak or in plaster or composition. The nineteenth century was an age of recycling of old ideas bur they were expresscd by peoplc emulating the regularity of things madÄ™ by machines. Gothic, classical, Renaissance, baroque were all imitated with a stolidity and pedantic accuracy which, unless the carver was a natural artist, leave us gasping at technical ability but unstirred by anything morÄ™ profound (Fig 6.10). Art Nouvcau, which was an exciting movemcnt at the end of the nineteenth century, used natural and highly stylized forms. The first half of the rwentieth century added little to the interpretation of leaf forms in ornament, and although the last half has been aversc to carved ornament except in rcproductions and repairs there is a tcndcncy for the public to expect literaÅ‚ representations (Fig 6.11).

Carving Conventional Foliage

The comparative beginner at carving relief draws the detail on the wood and cuts down close against the outline and even prescrves the drawing of surface dctails such as ridges and grooves as long as possible. We must remember, howerer, that the original carvers had probably madÄ™ many of the same or similar forms before and. after setting down the generaÅ‚ form, boldly carvcd the surface into high and Iow areas without stopping to establish the exact outline or surface detail. With many fourteenth- and fiftcenth-ccntury leavcs the carver obviouslv set down a diamond, square or other geometrie shapc and rhen carved a scries of grooves, often concentric. The lobes and any serrations to edges were then cut into these, probably without being drawn on first but carved directly. When you have carved a few leavcs by painstakingly following drawings on the wood, you can improvise a leaf in the same style. The result will be much livelier and take less time, siÅ„ce for a practised carver the chiscl is as

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