THE INDUSTRY OF ALL NATIONS.

mosaic surfaces are of a very ancient origin, and were largely employed by artistsof the Byzantine period in imitation of the then prevalent taste of painting inoil upon a gilt background. The effect when seen in such masses as we find inthe domes of St. Mark’s and of St. Peter’s is very gorgeous, and speaks of itsoriental origin. The gold mosaic is produced by employing any convenientenamel for a basis over which the gold is spread in a thin and perfectly evenfilm, by means of some adhesive size or varnish. It is saved from destruction bytime,' and the brilliancy of its effect heightened by a covering of very thin andtransparent glass, which being pressed upon the soft surface at the gold sizeadheres perfectly. Thus the gold surface is plated or veneered by the thinglass.

The art required to produce good mosaic pictures in the Roman method is farfrom being mechanical in its character. It certainly requires more skill to excelin this branch of art than to produce good copies in oil, and probably quite as muchas to execute a fine engraving. Oav. Luigi Moglia is one of the most celebratedmosaicists in Rome, and his well-known work representing the temples ofPaestnm on a scale of seven feet, is not surpassed by any mosaic of moderntimes.

The works in Roman mosaic in the New-York Exhibition, are a head of St.John, from Guerchino, by the artists of the Papal manufactory in the Vatican,his Holiness Pio Nino being the exhibitor; a copy of “Pliny’s Doves” in theadjoining court, in a circular table by Francesco Betti, of Rome; and a largepavement slab of coarser work by Idoardo Prebbi, of Rome, representing fishand dead game in a rich border. The head of St. John is much the most signalof these works. It is of the same sized mosaic pieces as those composing thefamed copies of St. Peter’s before mentioned, and to see it well the observer shouldstand upon the opposite side of the nave. The work was never designed to beseen so near as it may be approached in its present position. ' There is a finegeometrical table in the Austrian department by J. Giracomenzzi, of Venice,which may be named in this connection since it is formed entirely of enamels, al-though these are joined in the Florentine manner. It is a copy of a well-knownpavement in the church of St. Mark’s of Venice. In this work may be seen finespecimens of the celebrated goldstone or aventurine glass, for which Venice haslong been celebrated.

It has been proposed to multiply copies of the Roman mosaics by employingthe enamel rods of such length, or depth, that successive sections could be cut fromthe surface, each section being cemented to a separate basis, as several thin slicesof valuable stones are cut from one slab.

The Florentine Mosaic. —The present Exhibition embraces several verybeautiful examples of the hard stone mosaics, for which the Florentine artists areso celebrated. We name particularly a beautiful oblong table four feet by two inchesby Sr. Francesco Betti, Florence. An engraving of this design is given in theRecord, but without the lively colors and brilliant polish of the original—want-ing which, the engraving gives but a feeble idea of the beauty of the original.Numerous other works in the same style will be observed in the Italian gallery,of which we name particularly eight tables of various forms by Enrico Bossi, andfive by Gaetano Bianchini, both of Florence, the workmanship of which willbear the closest examination both for taste and skill.

In the French department are two tables by Faqueson Cie, formed of smallsquares of various colored marbles arranged in Saracenic patterns after the styleof the ancient Roman mosaic.

We should also be very remiss if, in speaking of this subject, we failed to advertto the abundant display of hard stone mosaic in the English department of theExhibition. John Tomlinson, of Ashford, near Bakewell, Derbyshire, and JohnValance, of Matlock Bath, Derbyshire, have both a number of black tables inlaidin the Florentine manner with various ornamental stones. Beautiful as thoseworks are, however, it is plain that there is in them all a decided inferiority bothin taste and workmanship to the Italian.

The Florentine mosaics, as before remarked, are formed exclusively of varioushard minerals, which are cut in thin slices, and the colors so selected as to producethe effects sought by the artist. To do this, it is necessary to have a very extensivestock of specimens of various minerals sliced to the proper thickness, from whichthe selection is made. The selected pieces are then to be cut for the outline withthe greatest accuracy, so that the joinings will be invisible. And, lastly, the severalpieces forming the design, are to be inlaid in the body of the slab which forms thebasis of the whole. The chief establishment for the production of this descriptionof mosaic work, belongs to the Grand Duke of Tuscany. It requires regal wealthto enable the artist to devote years of time to the completion of these exquisiteobjects which form the material of princely gifts. There are, however, numerousprivate establishments in Florence which produce good Florentine mosaics, ofwhose skill the specimens already named are examples.

The usual basis in which the Florentine mosaic is inlaid, is a beautiful jet blackmarble—although white and various other colors are occasionally employed. Thisbasis is not of great thickness—since the labor and difficulty of perforating its sur-face for the insertion of the mosaic pieces, is much diminished by its being moder-ately thin. The requisite strength is afterwards obtained by backing it with metal

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or stone cemented on. The means employed for cutting the intricate openings inthe basis, to receive the mosaic patterns, are as wonderful for their simplicity as theresult is admirable for its beauty. A thin soft iron wire is stretched like a bow-string, and being armed with emery and water, the artist sets himself patiently tosaw with this simple but most efficient instrument. He follows with perfect cer-tainty the most tortuous and intricate lines, and with a degree of rapidity whichis remarkable, if we remember the nature of the material to be cut. A drill fur-nishes the means of obtaining the first perforation, and the same instrument is theonly other aid the artist requires in his work, as when, for example, hemispher-ical cavities are to be formed for the reception of transparent amethysts, if a bunchof grapes is to be produced. A beautiful example of this fruit in Florentinemosaic, is to be seen in the Exhibition in the first specimen cited above.

Far more laborious and artistic is the other portion of the task in this art. Toselect and adapt the various hard stones, whose lively and natural colors are toreproduce in life-like beauty—the olive branch, the forget-me-not, the crimsoncherry, half hid in its green leaves—the gay and fluttering bird, or whatever otherobject of nature it may be proposed to copy. To secure success in this part of theart, all the hidden treasures of the mineral kingdom have been searched and broughtto light. It is here worthy of remark, that Nature with her customary simplicityin complexity, has placed at the artist’s disposal a single mineral species, whosevarieties in color, transparency, and purity, have furnished the Florentine artistnearly every thing he could ask. This protean mineral is quartz, or silica, whosevaried names exceed the loftiest reach of Spanish patronymics. The varied tintsof the agate, the bloody carnelian, the purple amethyst, the liquid sea-green chryso-prase—the various tints of opaque prase, from the light foliage of the olive to thedeep green of the ivy—the banded onyx, the chalcedony transparent and seeming-ly tremulous as jelly, or opaque, and spotless as milk—jaspers, opaque and of everyhue, of a single tint, or banded, and imitative like the Egyptian pebble—the gold-spangled aventurine, and many other varieties of the same parent stock go far tofurnish the magazines of the Grand Duke, from which are drawn the soft or rain-bow hues whose grouping produces so charming a result. Add to the family justnamed, the soft blue of the turquoise, the inimitable tint of the lapis-lazuli, therich green of the malachite with its exquisite bands of concentric layers—the verd-antique porphyry, and all the nameless tribe of porphyries and marbles, and for rarerand more costly works, the emerald, the garnet, the sapphire, the topaz, the peridot,and even the diamond, and w r e have some notion both of the resources and thedifficulties of the Florentine mosaic. The cutting of the hardest of those mineralsinto thin slabs, is accomplished by the lapidaries’ wheel, armed with diamond dust,while to shape the selected pieces to fit the adjoining parts, requires the bowstringof wire armed also with the pow'dered diamond.

It is only in Italy that the highest triumphs of this art can be seen. In thePitti Palace, and in the Chapel of the Medici, as well as in the private chapelsof some of the wealthy families, are found tables and tablets in Florence mosaic,whose value is untold. Such very elaborate and costly products of artistic skill,are certainly not to be looked for in a youthful country like our own, even if theywere to be desired. It is not, however, the less instructive or delightful, that wehave now, for the first time in America, the opportunity of refreshing our eyes bylooking upon some examples of this beautiful art, and we rejoice that there isthat in every human soul which answers to the sentiment of beauty however itmay be expressed.

THE CHROMATIC DECORATION OF THE CRYSTAL PALACE.

I T is not our intention in the present article to add to the numerous tre’atises onDecoration, which subject has been already most thoroughly investigated byvery able writers; but in noticing that of our Crystal Palace, to call atten-tion to the fact, that this style which is usually left to the experience of thehouse-painter, or the fancy of the proprietor, is subject to fixed natural laws, andmay be so carried out in its execution as to constitute a work of art.

This style may most properly be termed Chromatic , ora decoration arising fromthe harmony of the colors used in painting the building. The German termsTOowo-chromatic and ywZji-chromatic seem not only unnecessary but incorrect. Asno single sound has an independent beauty, and receives one only when combinedwith or opposed to another; in the same way, no single color has a beauty per se,and affects the eye as beautiful, only when harmonizing or contrasting with ano-ther. In decorations effected by one color varied only by light and shade, thepleasure which the eye receives is from a perception of the harmony or grace offorms indicated. Thus, what has been termed wnmo-chromatic is a decorationpurely of design , in which color plays no part.

Most of the works on decoration with which we are cognizant, treat thesubject as one of mere design, or, of design enriched with color. The Italianstyle, known • as the Arabesque, consists of fanciful combinations of animal forms