SUPPLEMENTARY REPORT ON DESIGN.

7 J 9

Cla>s XXX.]

possible on paper, ami excellence is reckoned rather bythe number of colours than any other quality. Thus weare informed that works are printed in “ sixteen colours,”in “fourteen colours,” &c M the works themselves evi-dencing the absence of all knowledge of the effectivearrangement of colour: while violent, crude, and harshtints are too often used to give greater impression of thisexcellencel and the result is littleness and extreme mean-ness: in fact, such papers are, in point of design, muchinferior to those printed in two colours by the samemachinery. Well-considered design, thoroughly adaptedfor this process, would enable the manufacturer to unitegood taste with extreme cheapness; whereas the onlypresent result is by increased labour to detract from thebeauty of the ornamentation. It is impossible, however,not to remark the skilful printing exhibited by our Eng-lish manufacturers.

Exterior and other Metal Work .

The works, in metal, of this section which are exhi-bited, consist chiefly of constructions for fountains, andof ornamental iron-work in gates and balconies, and fordoor-panels, lamp-pillars, flower-vases, and tazzas. Thebest of the metal fountains are so nearly within the limitsof fine art, that their consideration may be left to thatclass. It is, however, to be remarked, that the zinccastings of the French and German founders show howsuitable that metal is, as a means of spreading the bestart, for any exterior purpose, in a cheap and durable ma-terial, as well as of embellishing public works of theabove-named character, at comparatively small cost, with-out the evils arising from oxidation when iron is used.Notwithstanding all that has been said about the incongruityof our climate with public fountains, there are undoubt-edly long periods of the year, and those when London ismost crowded as well with her own resident populationas with visitors, when such works are not only extremelyornamental, hut when an exhausting atmosphere wouldrender them of real utility and refreshment. The motionof water, at any season, lias a great charm, and is pe-culiar in its power of giving pleasure even in the simplestjet or fall, agreeably and artistically disposed; and orna-mental arrangements for its full display would not onlybe picturesque additions to our city, which offers somany localities for their adoption, but would afford toour artists motives for combinations of figures with orna-mental decoration, and thus, perhaps, be a means of oncemore uniting fine and ornamental art, which, sadly to thedeterioration of public taste, have for so long a time beenalmost wholly separated. It may be doubted if the publicwould willingly part with even the tame and common-place repetitions which adorn Trafalgar Square ; andthose who have had the pleasure of enjoying the foun-tains of Italy and France will be quite prepared to judgeof the effect which more skilfully-designed structureswould have on the public mind here.

Such works in iron as gates, balconies, and panels, are,for the greater part, in cast metal, which of late years,from its capability of cheap ornamentation, has almostwholly superseded wrought iron for these purposes.Where the object is intended to be fixed and immoveable,as a balcony or panel, cast work is not unsuitable, and iscapable of much beauty of ornamental design, as we seein panels exhibited by Mijehl, Wahl, and Co. (France ,9.34, p. 1225). In these the ornament adds to the strengthby its numerous articulations, while it is light and elegantin its forms. Works of this kind are generally of a sizeto admit of casting in one piece, ensuring thereby strengthand lightness by continuity of parts. But in cast-ironconstructions intended to be moveable, as in the variouskinds of gates, a very different character of design is ne-cessary ; in the first place, because entire casting is notalways possible, both from the difficulty of running themetal into the numerous ramifications of the ornament inworks of such increased size, and from the fear of warp-ing in the cooling, as well as the great expense of amould, which is saved by forming the ornament of aseries of parts. This leads to the necessity of framingthe work in wrought, and applying the ornamental detailsin cast iron; but hence results this evil, that the ornament

has little constructive use, and is apt to look rather anaddition than an integral part of the work. In the park-gates exhibited at the south end of the Transept, greatpains have been taken to get over this difficulty, but notwith success, since the two metals are joined in partswholly at variance with constructive strength : in fact, itis a wrought-iron design, partly executed in cast metal.Moreover, cast-iron ornament is necessarily far heavierthan that of wrought iron, from the extreme brittlenessof the cast metal: tins heaviness is sadly opposed to itsreal constructive strength in the manner usually adoptedfor putting together; the ornamental parts of such struc-tures being riveted or screwed into the framing, there aresmaller points of attachment than in wrought iron; theparts bed themselves less perfectly at the junction, sinceit is impossible to assist this union with the hammer, andthe metal has small tenacity, and easily breaks with anysudden jar: thus there is much less power to support,while there is of necessity much greater weight to bear;and without very careful and well-considered design,making the ornament as far as possible a brace to thework, the whole is apt to he an insecure aggregation ofparts, without constructive unity or truth. In largeworks, cast in one piece, such difficulties are greatly sur-mounted, as weight can then be made to add strength,instead of detracting from it. In the old lmnimer-; wrought gates, the ornament was not only a truly integralpart of the work, hut most materially assisted in the ge-neral support. Thus great lightness and elegance were,in this case, consistent with great strength, since theornamental details supplied a means, not only of tyingand bracing the work together, hut of preventing the' front of the gate from drooping with its own weight, tothe great hindrance of its use, and which in cast works ofthis kind has often to he assisted by the use of friction-rollers—a make-shift that the older workmen would havedespised. When, therefore, we consider the varied beautyof which wrought iron is capable, its far greater dura-bility, its tenacity and power of resisting accidents, theindividuality of design which arises from its being wroughtby the hand instead of cast in a mould (thereby leavingthe fancy and the feeling of the workman untrammelled',it seems not too much to say that it is to be hoped the useof the wrought metal will again prevail over that of castfor such purposes.

The gates and pilasters exhibited by the Coalrrook-dale Company (p. 659-660), at the north end of theTransept, from designs by Charles Crookes, are an excel-lent specimen of casting, being wholly of cast iron, eachgate in one piece. Much of the false construction alludedto has consequently been avoided, and many of the diffi-culties overcome. The design of the gates, however,partakes too much, of that adopted in wrought construc-tions, especially in carrying up the form of the centre, atthe top, into fforid ornamentation, which tends in thisweightier metal to sway down the gate, without any com-pensating beauty or usefulness. The introduction of aheavy panel of ornament below is also rather common-place, and due regard seems hardly to have been had tothe whole surface in designing the ornamentation. Thepilasters have more originality: the small twisted barssurrounding the centre columns give a lightness, com-pared with the strength obtained, which adds to theelegance : the striking-plates of the hand-gates, however,should have been ornamentally constructed or banded inwith the pilaster's in the centre, to increase the strengthand resist the jar of the closing. The other great workin metal by this Company is an ornamental dome of castiron (Main Avenue West, 83). This is a work of muchpretension, designed in the natural style, the pilastersrepresenting oak-stems, ornamented with leaves andacorns, and with the intervening branches twisted intoan ornamental form : this treatment is mixed with someconventional ornament, here and there, as it were, indis-criminately introduced into the pilasters, having a verypatchy effect. The pilasters, also, arising as they dofrom a single stem, and widening above their base, havean unsteady and insecure appearance, which might easilyhave been avoided. The great fault, however, is in thesetting on of the dome, which from the outside seems to