518 Mr. H. Hardinge Cunynghame [March 1, 



sometimes copied on a background of black enamel. The face is 

 put in with thick white grisaille, over a coat of black, and painted up 

 with fine stippled opaque-red colour, made from rouge. The clothes 

 are generally shining black, touched with gold, or else with unglazed 

 black. The back-ground is almost invariably of cobalt-blue, laid over 

 a coat of white. The white enamel used to represent the skin is of the 

 colour and appearance of egg-shell, with a low polish. The general tone 

 is whiter than is natural. 'The eyes are usually scratched out of a dark 

 back-ground, but the mouth and other lines and wrinkles are painted 

 upon the white. Tbe clothes are often shaded in lines scratched 

 through to a dark under-ground. The delicate white appearance of 

 the skin gives an air of great distinction to the portraits, and har- 

 monises with the black and blue of the dress and back-ground, which 

 fuller colouring would have failed to do. Sometimes a high colour 

 is given to the cheeks with oxide of iron, the tint being dabbed on 

 with a fitch, instead of being stippled. The hair of women is almost 

 invariably auburn, inclining to red, which, however, is accounted for 

 by the fact that the Court ladies of the period wore wigs of this 

 colour over their natural hair. 



These portraits are suggestive in the highest degree, and this is 

 a great merit. For with enamels it is impossible to attempt actual 

 imitation of nature. The subject can only be suggested, not repro- 

 duced. And therefore, in an art in which so much must of necessity 

 be left to the imagination, we most highly admire the skill of the 

 man who employs the means at his disposal, not in a futile attempt 

 to reproduce nature, but in an effort to give rise to ideas. 



The salon art of the eighteenth century is not altogether devoid 

 of artistic merit. Considerable skill is showu in the design, and 

 the drawing is often very delicate ; but it was pretty art, not great 

 art. It was endurable when executed by artists, but it became 

 wretched when it fell into the hands of hack-workmen, and when 

 printed designs were substituted for hand-work. This led to its 

 abandonment. The factories at Chelsea, Battersea and Bow were 

 removed from London, and enamel upon metal ceased to be practised. 

 And it was no great pity, for the noble art had now been completely 

 degraded, and there remained only one more depth to which it could 

 sink, which was attained when the mode of applying it to iron was 

 discovered, and the walls of every railway station covered with detest- 

 able enamelled advertisements. 



Meantime, however, there had been springing up a new application 

 of the art in the shape of miniatures, painted upon enamel and fired. 

 This was only a development of the portraits of Leonard Limousin, 

 but in style it resembled miniatui'e-painting. A splendid collection 

 of such work is to be seen at South Kensington Museum. It was a 

 perfectly legitimate branch of art. A large portrait is more satis- 

 factory than a miniature, but a lover cannot take it into battle on his 

 breast ; and a desire for small portable portraits of our friends has 

 given rise to a beautiful development of enamelling. The man to 



