27tt Mr Wilson's Observations on some of the 



amongst ourselves, persist in copying pictures for such pur- 

 poses, so little do they understand the principles of design, as 

 applicable to their art. I saw in London a copy from Ruben's 

 descent from the cross, being executed for a church, and I 

 might cite many other examples of this perversion of taste. 



Now, the glass should be painted with architectural orna- 

 ments in character with the architecture of the church, and 

 these should be correctly coloured in imitation of ancient 

 painted examples of church architecture. Some of you are 

 aware that both the exteriors and interiors of ancient build- 

 ings were richly painted. It was thus in Egypt, thus in 

 Greece, and such was the practice in ancient and Gothic 

 times. It was a practice which, I believe, was abandoned 

 when the principles of taste were better understood, although 

 I say this with caution, and it would be foreign to my sub- 

 ject to enter upon this interesting question. The architec- 

 tural and ornamental design, then, in church windows, in 

 the particular examples which I bring before you, seems to 

 be a representation, in brilliant colours, of the painted archi- 

 tecture of the period, and over these are painted the figures, 

 whether of holy personages, saints, or heroes. 



The architectural ornaments or design fill the whole win- 

 dow, and the figures are drawn and painted in a severe man- 

 ner, without any affectation of pictorial effect as to light and 

 shadow. 



To give you a more distinct idea of my meaning, besides 

 these specimens of painted glass, I exhibit a coloured engrav- 

 ing from one of the windows of the Au Kirche at Munich ; 

 in this specimen the true principles of design, as I view them, 

 have been adhered to with considerable fidelity, although such 

 is not exactly the case with all the windows in that church. 



I have made these brief observations upon this important 

 subject, because, as far as I can judge from the examples 

 which I have seen, neither in London or any where in this 

 country, is the art of designing for glass -painting yet under- 

 stood. The windows which you frequently see executed of 

 pieces of stained glass arranged in patterns, cannot be criti- 

 cized as specimens of the art at all ; those in which ornaments 

 are painted are very far from satisfactory, and as to the 



