Cole & Son | Procuratie

Of the three Fornasetti designs drawn from the Procuratie, this is the one without incident. The long arcades that enclose St Mark's Square are set down as they stand, arch after arch, the balustrades above, the ordered ranks of windows, and nothing is added. It is a study rather than a scene.

Everything is carried by line. The intaglio manner builds depth from hatching alone, so the recesses of the arcade darken by density of mark rather than by wash, and the wall keeps its flatness while suggesting considerable depth. Printed in black and white, the design has the character of an architectural engraving hung at full size, and it lends a room what engravings lend a wall: order, repetition, a clear horizontal.

It hangs on a wide 0.69 m roll with a 101.8 cm repeat and a straight match, so a full storey of arcading runs before the pattern begins again and the cornice lines meet cleanly across the drops. Halls, stairs and dining rooms take it particularly well, and it is one of the few strongly figured papers that will happily carry framed pictures. Where something less severe is wanted, the companion designs let monkeys into the same architecture, and the palettes coordinate directly.