Decorative Arts in Germany and France. . 269 



ornamental work, attention is paid in the design to the nature 

 of the material, which is too much neglected by our designers, 

 amongst whom forms borrowed from those of stone- work are 

 generally used in iron. 



I purchased, for the use of our School of Design here, a num- 

 ber of examples of ancient iron-work, made in the workshops 

 of Nuremberg, and which unquestionably excel both in taste 

 and in workmanship the boasted productions of our day. It 

 is perhaps impossible to restore, for all purposes, the old 

 modes of working iron ; but although we must submit to the 

 trammels of casting processes, yet in designing even for these, 

 just principles of design may be introduced, by paying more 

 attention to the nature and capabilities of the material. 



T now beg to call your attention to another important art 

 which has been restored and is practised with much success 

 in Munich ; I mean that of glass-painting. Before entering 

 upon a description of it, I would beg such of you as have seen 

 them, to recall to your memories the noble specimens we pos- 

 sess in some of the cathedrals and ancient churches in the 

 south ; I would mention the fine windows of Cologne Cathe- 

 dral, but especially those of St Lawrence in Nuremberg, in 

 which church the Volkamer window may be mentioned as, in 

 all probability, the finest in the world. The art has never 

 been lost in Nuremberg, and I am happy to shew you a copy, 

 by the best artist of that place, of a portion of the Volkamer 

 window. You observe that we have here a figure of St Ca- 

 therine, admirably drawn, and she is placed over a Gothic 

 pattern or ornamental design, which runs through the greater 

 portion of the window behind the figures. You have here a 

 specimen of the true system on which such subjects on glass 

 should be designed. These should be treated in a conventional 

 manner ; no attempt should be made to represent nature, as 

 we do, for instance, in a picture, as thereby the idea of a win- 

 dow is immediately destroyed ; many of you who have seen 

 it must have been struck with the bad effect produced by this 

 mode of painting a window, as seen in St George's Chapel at 

 Windsor, in St John's Chapel here, and in the Parliament 

 Houst. Notwithstanding the just criticism with which these 

 have been assailed, glass-painters, both in the south and 



VOL. XXXV. NO. LXX, — OCTOBER 1843. X 



