452 Mr. A. Essex's Account of the 



higher heat of the muffle. They are likewise returned to the 

 oven after they have undergone superficial fusion in the muffle, 

 it being requisite that their cooling also should be effected 

 gradually. 



Painting in enamel having been reproached in the hearing 

 of Mr. Muss as a style of art in which neither texture nor 

 crispness was attainable, because, as was alleged, the colours 

 when in fusion would flow smooth and mingle, Mr. M., being 

 conscious that enamel possessed the capabilities of the styles 

 both of oil and water, determined practically to vindicate his 

 art from the reproach. For this purpose he painted that un- 

 equalled production in enamel, the Greyhound, which now 

 forms part of His Majesty's collection. The original, by 

 J. Ward, R. A., is painted with all that bold crispness for which 

 the works of that eminent artist are celebrated, and in the 

 enamel this peculiarity is faithfully preserved. By what means 

 Mr. Muss accomplished this, is not fully known ; but my 

 brother, when copying a picture by Sir David Wilkie, having 

 occasion for crisp painting, 1 undertook some experiments with 

 the view of furnishing him with colour possessing the required 

 quality of melting soundly, but retaining at the same time the 

 sharpness and precision of form with which it had been touched 

 on. The result of these experiments was the production of 

 colour which, though completely vitrified, will, if required, re- 

 tain even the sharpness of a needle point. In fact, transpa- 

 rency, crispness, and texture, (as indeed my brother's works 

 may evince,) are now equally attainable in enamel as in any 

 other mode of painting. 



The nature of the material and the expense attendant upon 

 attempts to produce large works have tended to restrict the 

 dimensions of enamel paintings. Until the time of the late 

 Henry Bone, R.A., Painter in Enamel to His Majesty, but few 

 attempts had been made to extend the size beyond that suit- 

 able for trinkets. That artist, with amazing perseverance and 

 industry, overcame innumerable difficulties, and exhibited an- 

 nually, tor a long series of years, enamels of large dimensions. 

 Petitot, whose works are usually minute, painted, it appears, 

 a picture "9| inches high by 5| wide* regarded by Walpole 

 as indubitably the most capital work in enamel in the world "; 

 but in this attempt he seems not to have been quite successful, 

 for*' the enamel is not perfect in some trifling parts*": this 

 picture is stated " to be in the collection of the Duke of De- 

 vonshire*." In the reign of Queen Anne an artist named Boit 

 undertook a painting in enamel of the extraordinary size ot 



♦ Walpole's " Anecdotes of Painting." 



