103 



THE CIVIL ENGINEER AND ARCHITECTS JOURNAL. 



[Apnii,, 



wei'e much struck by what Mr. Wilson said, that the only goods 

 sent out in 18t7, on which there was no fallini; off, but which were 

 more in wurth, were silks sent to France, a trade which has frrown 

 very nincli, and which some few years ai>:o would hardly have been 

 believed. If we try we can push the French home, but then we must 

 set about it in the risrht way, not narrow-mindedly as we have 

 liitherto done, but boldly and skilfully. The workman must be as 

 well taught here as he is in France, or he will do no good. \Ve 

 must not have him kept back for fear he should turn out a painter, 

 and come in the way of some Royal Academician hereafter ; but we 

 must have liim as well taught as the Royal Academician. The 

 groundwork of art is one and the same, whether for a paper- 

 lianger or a weaver, a Landseer or a Gibson ; and we believe that 

 often, more taste is shown in a glass jug or in a common shawl, 

 than in the many landscapes and Art-Union paintings which deck 

 the walls of the Royal Academy. So sorrily has the School of Design 

 been managed by the Board of Trade, that we are still no better 

 off tlian we were eight years ago ; nay, we believe that tliere was 

 a better and a stronger feeling for the arts of design then than 

 iu)w. Since Somerset House lost the spur of the Society for Pro- 

 moting Practical Design, in Leicester-square, it has gone on but 

 slowly, and it has done nothing for spreading a knowledge of the 

 arts of design among the people. 



The Board of Education is as much behind-hand. Though 

 drawing is as useful to the child of a working-man as reading 

 and writing, and though Mr. ^Vyse has for years brought this 

 before them, masters and mistresses in National and British and 

 Foreign schools know next to nothing of drawing, and do not 

 teach it. The few who do, teach drawing only to a small number 

 of the elder boys, however willing the younger ones or their 

 fathers are that they should learn. 



Little or nothing'too has been done to teach drawing to girls, 

 so as to fit them to earn a livelihood in many trades where a know- 

 ledge of it is of use. When we bethink ourselves how few trades 

 are open to women, we feel how very needful it is that every 

 means should be taken to enable them to earn their own bread ; and 

 nothing seems so likely to forward this, as by giving them a 

 kind of knowledge which is so much wanted in England. The 

 tr.ule of flower-making, which is a new one, and in which in 1811 

 tliere were a thousand women at work, has now grown very much ; 

 but still, many thousand pounds' worth of these flowers, which are 

 better made, are brought over from France. 



It is hardly fair to say anything about the Exhibition without 

 speaking of the Catalogue, which will do as much good as the Ex- 

 hibition itself. It not only tells us what the Society of Arts did 

 last year, and what is shown this year, but it lays down a plan for 

 spreading wider the good the Society is now doing. Tiiis plan is 

 two-fold : first, to send round to the country Schools of Design the 

 objects shown in London each year, and thei-eby to bring it to bear 

 upon the scholars and workmen throughout the country ; and 

 second, to have a great show every three or four years, to be held 

 in a building raised at Charing-cross. Altogether, there is such 

 earnest shown to uphold the arts of design, that we feel truly 

 thankful to the Society for the work they have done, and we hope 

 they will ha\e the help of the Board of Trade, and of the Board 

 of Works, in carrying out the two plans. Indeed, the former Board 

 have already made known their goodwill towards it. 



There are so many things worthy of being named, that we are 

 almost kept back from saying anything, because we cannot speak of 

 all. 



The bronze and iron castings show that we have made way ; but 

 we must not hold till we have got beyond the Prussians and the 

 French. The iron castings from Coalbrook Dale, from Messrs. 

 Stewart and Smith, and Mr. Messenger, are very good ; and the 

 la.st has sent some good bronzes, as Mr. Hatfield has likewise done. 



Messrs Leighton, the book-binders, have sent a few designs by 

 Luke Limber (John Leighton), and some book-covers in papier- 

 mache, which are very ably done, and show that their trade is not 

 behind-hand. Indeed it is perhaps doing more than others to spread 

 taste among the people. 



The carvings in wood by Mr. Jordan's machinery are truly won- 

 derful. They are as good as those of Grinling Gibbons, or of any 

 of his school. There is a freedom about them which shows the 

 hand of a master, rather than of a machine. 



Mr. Drayton, it will be seen, has brought forward his new way 

 of silvering glass, by which he can now silver the inside of cups 

 and bowls, plain or carved. 



The cartoon decorations by Mr. W. B. Simpson are sure to 

 strike the looker-on, for there is a power in them beyond what 

 has been before seen in decorations. The cartoon of "Loyalty," 

 from Mr. Redgrave's fresco in Westminster Hall, is so good, that 



it seems the handiwork of a skilful painter; and we can hardly 

 believe that it is not so, for it is so unlike what we see in the gene- 

 rality of decorations. 



We think this new process very likely to spread a knowledge of 

 art among the peo])le. Tliere are many places where it can be 

 used, and many joint-stock undertakings which will give it their 

 help. For first-class waiting-rooms in railway stations, for board- 

 rooms, for the counting-houses of banks, assurance companies, and 

 docks, it might be well ajijilied. These great undertakings would, 

 we are sure, willingly lay out a little money in what would please 

 the public, and do credit to themselves. A set of likenesses of 

 engineers would fit a waiting-room well. We would name VVatt, 

 Trevithick, the two Stephensons, Brunei, and Locke. Many 

 paintings bearing on trade might be shown, as Mr. Lee finding out 

 the stocking loom ; Queen Elizabeth giving a charter to the East 

 India Comjiany ; Drake teaching ship-building to Prince Henry in 

 the Tower; the Alarqnis of Worcester likewise in the Tower making 

 a steam-engine ; King \Villiam giving a charter to the Bank ; the 

 Duke of Bridgewater and Brindley ovei'looking the woi'ks of the 

 Bridgewater canal ; Arkwright and the spinning jenny ; \Vatt and 

 Dr. Robison making experiments on the steam-engine; Don Ricardo 

 Trevithick directing the putting together of a steam-engine in 

 Peru; Peel, Huskisson, and George Stephenson witnessing the 

 starting of a locomotive on the Liverpool and ^Manchester railway. 

 Some of these have been already painted, and there are many other 

 subjects shown in Westminster Hall which might be chosen by Mr. 

 Simpson, as an early English trial by jury, Alfred manning his 

 ships. King John signing Magna Charta. 



"The inlaid work from Messrs. Holland and Sons shows that in 

 this branch the French and Belgians are not before us, and give 

 hopes that we shall in time drive them out of the furniture trade 

 to America. The taking the duty off foreign woods now allows 

 our cabinet-makers to send goods abroad. The only fault we find 

 is with the centres of some of the tables, which in Nos. 7 and 8 

 are very ugly. 



The copy of an antique shield (No. 10) is a favourable specimen 

 of iron casting. 



Nos. 11 and 12 are a very good application of papier-machd to 

 picture frames, by Mr. Bielefield. 



The papier-mache cheval screen by Jennens and Bettridge has 

 been got up with great labour. It is called in the Alhambra style 

 and decorated with Arabic inscriptions, but we neither like the 

 style nor the composition. We think the labour misapplied. The 

 colouring of the frame, gold upon a warmish white, looks tame 

 without being rich. 



Most of the encaustic tiles by Minton and Co. are dull in colour, 

 which arises from the attempt to apply all colours, instead ot 

 sticking to those which do best. Mr. Minton has been happier in 

 glazed tiles. We cannot but wish that the old Flemish glazed 

 chimney-tiles, or something like them, were brought out again. 

 An old chimney-corner, with its set of bible tiles or Flemish land- 

 scapes is a story book in itself, and pleasing to old and young. 

 TUes for walls, with drawings of interesting objects, or with maps, 

 would be welcome in schools and many other buildings. 



Mr. Copeland seems a worthy follower of Wedgewood. His 

 works in earthenware are among some of the best in the Exhibition. 

 The taste and care shown in them cannot be gainsaid, and they 

 keep up our fame in this trade, which is worth so much to us. The 

 English earthenware is now the best in the world, and much of it 

 is sent abroad. Indeed, it is a great staple, and worth the more to 

 us as the work and the ware are all our own, only some of the 

 colours being brought from abroad. By the care given to the higher 

 kinds of porcelain, we shall in time be able to put down foreigners 

 in that branch of the trade likewise. 



There are so many good works of Mr. Copeland's that we can 

 name very few. An earthenware wash-stand (No. 37) is a very 

 good design. It has a blue ground and white borders tastefully 

 drawn. There are many other jugs and bowls well worthy of praise. 

 The wash-stand No. 88 we do not like so well ; its effect would de- 

 pend wholly on the hangings which might be used in the room. 

 The enamelled porcelain cups and saucers, Nos. 139 and 140, show 

 the resources of the establishment in decoration. 



The chimney slabs show the jirogress which has been made in 

 the application of porcelain and painting for this purpose. The 

 lock-furniture and bell-lever, likewise in porcelain (No. 170), are 

 richly ornamented with gold. Porcelain is now being much used 

 by builders, as is likewise glass for ornamental purposes. 



The large collection of works and groups in statuai-y porcelain 

 shows Mr. Copeland's power in what may be considered a more 

 purely artistic department. This material has been employed by 

 the Art-Union for prizes, and promises to be very usefiil in spread- 



