S6 Mr Wilson on the Propriety ()f Forming 



mittee testify as to the difficulty of procuring good models, and 

 there is but one opinion as to the propriety of establishing local 

 galleries containing fine specimens of art, which would benefit 

 not only the fine arts, but also those which may be properly 

 termed the industrial arts. We may also advert to the difficul- 

 ties which our artizans find in procuring good models — diffi- 

 culties which would vanish were an establishment formed where 

 fac-similes could easily be procured of the very objects which 

 have rendered foreign taste superior to our own ; and, when we 

 consider that the taste of an individual is often fixed hy first 

 impressions^ we must perceive how necessary it is to fill the 

 country with good models. 



When we reflect how little opportunity our artizans have of 

 seeing good models, and how long they have been accustomed 

 to derive their ideas in art from those of a most imperfect de- 

 scription, we cannot wonder at their deficiency in taste. At 

 present our artizans are almost entirely obliged to have recourse 

 to prints when they wish to design. Prints give a very im- 

 perfect idea of the graces of execution, and are besides so costly 

 that few designers can affijrd to purchase them; designs are 

 made up from scraps, and thus absurd mistakes are often com- 

 mitted, notions of unity of style and propriety of ornament 

 being imperfect, incongruous mixtures are made and orna- 

 ments misapplied. By the importation of casts of entire de- 

 signs, the artizan would have an opportunity of studying the 

 free artist-like execution of such models, and he would also 

 learn to appreciate and undepstand propriety of design. 



When we look back to times not long past, we find that the 

 interior decorations of dwellings were then much richer than 

 they now are ; we find roofs, halls, staircases, &c., ornamented 

 with stucco-work, and traces of good carving and ornamental 

 painting. These works were chiefly executed by foreigners, 

 who had learned these arts in their native countries. Foreign- 

 ers are now seldom employed in this country for such purposes, 

 and as we have no artizans who could execute the designs of 

 architects were they to overstep certain limits, our mansions 

 are ^mostly finished in a plain style ; and when attempts are 

 made at a superior style of ornament, the expense becomes 



