THi: CASK FOR MODKRX FfR.MTrRK. 



55 



-i;v MR. SYDXHY n. \KXSI. \-.\. 



ot furnishing his house drove him to 



tlic usclul end of founding the linn 



of Morris, .Marshall, Falkner and ( :&amp;gt;. 

 To all the architects of this 



period, and especially to those who 



started in Street s office, the threat 



exemplar \vas August!!*- \Yelby 1 ugin. 



Born in 1812, he died in iS=;j, and one 



ol his last works must have been the 



arranging of the Mediaeval Court at 



the 1851 exhibition. The illustrations 



ot this show touts, candlesticks, altars 



and railings that look curiously like 



those in a church furnisher s catalogue 



of to-day, and are evidence of how 



little progress has been made in the 



interval. I ngin, though, was a threat 



genius, and the work he did at the 



Houses of Parliament was a source of 



inspiration to men of the Neslield 



school. This work may have been 



somewhat imitative, but withal his 



buildings had that nameless something 



which makes them living works of art. To the (iothic Revival, th. ii, must be given the credit for the 



forward movement which, in the end, administered the death-blow to Karlv Victorian taste in furniture. 



and Morris ablv carried on the work started by I ugin. It would be difficult to find in any century any 



two such men working on the same lines and possessed of the 

 same super-abundant energy. The average man is content 

 to keep to one cralt, and feels happy if in this one he can 

 rise above mediocrity. Morris mastered the M-crcts of 

 dozens, and, treated in the first instance by the professionals 

 as an absurd amateur, had a way of speedily reversing such 

 judgment and of being able to teach tradesmen their 

 trade. 



Stained glass, colour printing, fabrics and furniture, 

 printing and embroidery and tiles may be mentioned as 

 some of the cratts he revolutionised. The small dining 

 room at the South Kensington Museum is one of Morris 

 earliest works, and is familiar to most people ; it was 

 carried out in 18(1(1, and excited much comment at the time. 

 Another and verv considerable factor which has had great 

 influence in the decorative arts and crafts should be 

 instanced in the Arts and Crafts Societ* , which had its tir-t 

 show in the autumn of 1888. Since then its doors have 

 always been open to examples of good craftsmanship and 

 sound design. Reproduction has been wisely banned, and 

 craftsmen have been encouraged instead to carry on the 

 traditions ot their art and suit the same to modern needs. 

 With so much by way of preface, attention must now be 

 drawn to some examples of modern furniture which show 

 that modern design has large claims on our regard. 



An oak chest designed by Mr. Crimson will probably, 

 at first sight, impress the reader as being a singularly bald 

 piece of work. Yet our complaint against it is that it is 

 too sophisticated, and that a cabinet-maker should have 

 been able to make it without an arciiitect s assistance. 

 It should not be necessary for a man who can build fine 

 houses to design cottage chests of drawers. So this piece 

 is an exotic, rather than a real wild flower. But as it is 

 a sound thing, it is a pity that there are not more like it. 

 The settle by Mr. Sydney Barnsley (Fig. 82) belongs to 



83. A FUMED ASH CHAIR. 



