ABSTRACT
The reason why the decoration of the ceiling has by no means received the same pattern-like treatment as that of the walls, is to be found in the favorable conditions just pointed out. Though the principal decorative features of the ceiling depend on the one hand on the style of the period and on the other on the material employed, a twofold style of execution is usually therein displayed which essentially contributes to the characteristic of a whole epoch of style. The constructive ceiling par excellence is the Gothic intersecting or groined vault, which by its projecting ribs is in itself the simplest and most typical decoration. Painting likewise limits the application of the oriental style to interior decoration, although it has just here achieved great works. A judicious application and distribution of color gilding are very successful auxiliaries for marking the sharply designed outline and hinder all indistinctness, even for a distant spectator.
