710
SUPPLEMENTARY REPORT ON DESIGN.
his defect is visible in the glass exhibited in the North-east Gallery, in some of which a prevailing green, inothers a yellow hue, is observable. This is often theease also with the modern French glass, as seen in someof the restored churches of Paris , more especially thepictorial glass, in which a hot red hue is often present,sometimes to a painful extent: the flesh especially is hot, Iand dirty in the shadows. It is to be doubted, indeed, !if, with all our knowledge of the harmony and comple- jments of colours, we have yet attained to the principles |by which the old glass-painters arranged their agreeable :combinations. Whatever was the method, the effect was icoolness of general tone: the flesh had little local colour, ■the prevailing tints of the draperies and accessories were jblue, cool green, and amethyst, and even the red was :cool, inclining to crimson. The hot browns of the flesh jin the modern glass, together with its opacity, are often !very disagreeable, and the effect of scarlet instead ofcrimson may be seen in the work of Marechal, beforespoken of, where the robe of the cardinal who is adminis-tering the sacrament (a large mass) is of that line, andgreatly tends to increase the hot and glaring effect of the \whole. In the Parisian churches, where ancient andmodern glass are both to be found, even when the formeris not of the best period, as in St. Germain l’Auxerrois,for instance, it is quite refreshing to turn the eye fromthe modern to the old glass, showing how far more har-monious the one is than the other.
In estimating the excellences of the one or the othermethods of glass-painting which have been spoken of, thesuperior durability of the earlier method is to be noticed;also the much smaller liability to accidents from thediminished size of the pane, ami the much less damage ifa fracture do take place: an unlucky blow may imme-diately destroy the finest portion of a pictorial window,while it could do but small injury to a work on the older \principle. These are minor merits, hut to them may beadded the greatly increased brilliancy of colour occa-sioned by the more frequent interposition of the darkline of the leading, and the lustre occasioned by theslight change of plane, in the smaller pieces of the earlymethod, bringing out thereby the richness of the glass, asthe varied facettes of the lapidary do of the preciousstone. Indeed it may be doubted if the subject of lead-ing has had all the attention it so well deserves. Theskilful manner in which this was executed in the earlyworks is apparent from the preservation of the windows,unharmed by the storms and winds of centuries. Itis certain that a varied surface was at times adopted insuch works, for resisting, as has been supposed, the pres-
[Class XXX
sure of the winds: thus, at Iladdon llall, in the longgallery, glazed in the reign of Elizabeth, each window' iswaved inwards and outwards over the whole surface, andeach piece of glass cut to adapt it to this treatment: theresult has been great durability, even although the leaditself is extremely narrow. These are, it is true, windowsof uncoloured glass; but it may probably point to somesuch method being used in decorated windows, to enhancetheir brilliancy and increase their effect.
Inlaid Floors, Mosaic Pavements, Inlaid Tiles, &c.
The ornament of this section seems the soundest andmost satisfactory in the Exhibition— the most freefrom false principles, the most thoroughly amenable totrue. Although this no doubt partly arises from theconditions of the manufacture, it is, in a degree, to beattributed to other causes. The modern introduction ofsuch works in England was at a fortunate time, whenthe attention of the ecelesiologists and of able artistswas called to the revival of mediaeval art, and to thestudy of the best works of Greece and Italy . TJicdesigner, therefore, started upon just principles, and con-tinues to adhere to them, even repudiating some of whatmust be considered errors in the ancient works whichhave been handed dow n to us, such as those arrange-ments of light and dark inlays, giving the appearance ofrelief, which are found occasionally even in the bestancient examples. The “designs” exhibited are almostwholly on the English side. Apart from those in con-junction with manufactured specimens, Mr. Digbyj Wyatt’s are the most important: they are varied andI fanciful, thoroughly flat in treatment, and consistingj mostly of combinations of simple geometrical forms,although there arc some of Italian conventionalisedornament. They evidence the careful examination andstudy which the artist has given to the best antique andmedieval treatments of mosaic. Mr. Minton, of Stoke-upon-Trent (S(>, Class XXY1I., p. 770', makes the mostimportant exhibition of such works from designs of Pugin ,Gruner, Wyatt, See., together with some copies of finemediaeval examples and ancient works of great merit.
The illustration No. 1 is of an enamelled wall-tile,imitated from one found at Salisbury, and is given hereto show' the mode in which flowers were used as orna-ment in such works by the mediaeval artists. The floweris displayed perfectly flat, in one colour, and arrangedgeometrically.
Xo. 2 is given as a more intricate treatment on thesame sound principles, and is from a design by Mr.Pugin .
No. 2.