14 



THE CIVIL ENGINEER AND ARCHITECT'S JOURNAL. 



[Jan. 



although it was out of my power actually to inspect any other School than 

 that of I'aris, I have harl the advaniaRe of obiaiiiinR an intimate acquaint- 

 ance with the Schools of I^yons and Toulouse, tliron^h the Kcports lately 

 made by M. Charles Texier, commissioned by the Government to inspect 

 the Schools of Art, which were very obligin^'ly placed in my hands for 

 perusal, 



"The Report laid last year before the Council by IMr. Townsend, will 

 render superfluous any detailed account of the views entertained with re- 

 gard to industrial art, and the system upon which they are carried out, in 

 the School of Paris ; I shall therefore notice nicrely such points as it oc- 

 curred to me niiKJit he of importance wiih reference to our own Schools, 

 and wliich may be mentioned wilhoot needless repetition. 



'■ Tbe course of instruction at Paris is divided into three main branches : 

 1. The rigure ; 2. Ornament; 3. Architecture and Geometry. These 

 three courses of study (subdivided and classified) are taught on alternate 

 days, in the order named, a day being devoted to each ; but the limited 

 space to which the School premises are confined has caused a most incon- 

 venient system of taking the classes in relays, greatly to their disadvantage. 

 The students are admitted free of charge, and no pledge is required from 

 them of their exclusive devotion to any branch o' industrial art ; many, it 

 is well known, pass from the elementary classes of the Ecale de Dessin to the 

 Ecole ries Beaux Arts, in order to follow the higher branches of painting 

 and sculpture; hut this is not considered to militate in any way against 

 the usefulness of the School, as a nursery of art applied to manufactures. 

 To extend a sound knowledge of art iu general is held to be the best mode 

 of securing a supply of artists for industrial purposes. The only condition 

 to which the pupils are bound is, that if they remain in the School they 

 must follow up the whole course of study prescribed by the regulations. 

 Exceptions are made in favour of artisans who wish to take arivautage of 

 the means afforded by the .School to increase their knowledge and improve 

 their taste. This classof students, however, have recourse more generally 

 to the Ecole Communule, — for an account of which I must refer to Mr. 

 Townsend's Ueport. 



'• There is one branch of instruction in the Paris School which I beg 

 leave to offer to the special notice of the Council — a course of lectures on 

 the History of Ornatnent, illustrated by examples drawn by the Professor 

 in the absence of the pupils. These examples he sketches to a working 

 scale, on large canvas covered with paper. They consist of a chronological 

 series of every class of ornament, beginning witli the Greek, and followed 

 throughout all styles and all ages, explaining their origin, tlieir connexion 

 with each other, and the peculiar characteristics by which they are to be 

 discriminated. Each lecture is a continuation of the subject from that 

 which precedes it ; and the Professor is bound by his engagement to vary 

 the examples during the period of three years. This professorship is held 

 by a pupil of M. Constant Dufeux, the Architect to the School : and the 

 first requisite toward ihe establishment of a similar class elsewhere would 

 be, to find an artist iviiii the knowledge of ornament possessed by this gen- 

 tleman united to the handicraft skill with which he expresses its forms, 

 and brings them out ii! the truest eCfectsof chiar'-oscuro by the most simple 

 manipulation in black and white. It would be very desirable to possess 

 some of this gentleman's sketches in our School, as examples of masterly 

 execution in this branch of art. I mentioned this to the Director, M. Belloc, 

 and have no doubt they might be obtained if the Council thought proper. 



" An excellent plan is adopted in the Rlalhematical Class to secure to 

 all the pupils the full benefit of the instructions given by the Professor. 

 It is not to be expected that mathematical demonstrations will be compre- 

 hended by a whole class the first time of explanation ; those pupils, there- 

 fore, who have understood the lesson, are charged wi'h repeating it to those 

 of slower apprehension, until it is made clear to every individual. 



"I beg leave to enter soaiewhat mote particularly upon a subject which 

 has ever been regaided with great interest in our own establishment, 

 namely, the Female School. This branch is placed, at Paris, under the 

 superintendence of two Dames Dirtclrices. who divide the labour of 

 teaching. There are tv.'o classes in the day, each of about fifty pupils, a 

 division rendered necessary by want of room for a better arrangement. 

 The Female School has been established with a double purpose : it is cal- 

 culated ULit only for the improvement of the arts usually practised by fe- 

 males, but some prominence is given to the object of exleniiing as much as 

 possible the resources, hitherto too narrowly limited, for the exercise of 

 female industry. It is considered tlsat the employments open to females, 

 and for which they may be qualified by instruction iu the arts of design, 

 may comprise designing and workitig in embroidery of every description, 

 lace, gimp, fringe, and every sort of worsted work ; designs for everything 

 relating to jewellery, engraving, and enamellnig iu gold, setting stones, 

 false jev.ellerj (which is manufactured in Paris to an immense extent, with 

 great taste and ingenuity), small articles in or-molu, and the burnishing 

 and colouring of metals ; fancy works in card and paper, and patterns for 

 the papers employed in them; pictorial toys for children, dissected puz- 

 zles, £ce. ; porcelain painting, iu all its branches; lithography, and en- 

 graving on copper and wood. And it is to be observed that the Ecole Com- 

 munale is much frequented by females alreaily occupied in such pursuits, 

 who devote their leisure hours to improving themselves in drawing ; those 

 engaged in jewellery, artificial flowers, and engraving in gold, resort there 

 iu numbers. Iu order to carry out the intentions of the Governtuent iu this 

 respect, the course of instruction iu the Female School jncluiies the figure, 

 landscape, animals, flowers, and ornaments. It has been noticed that many 

 of the pupils take up especially the study of the head, the figure, and 

 landscape, with a view lo become teachers of drawing ; but the course of 



study followed in tbe school is not considered to be of a nature to qualify 

 them for this position, which requires that the elementary studies common 

 to all classes of art should be followed up by those peculiar to the higher 

 branches. 



" It must be observed, that in this branch of the School at Paris the ob- 

 jects proposed are not yet carried out to their full extent. There are 

 several deficiencies to be supplied ; and lithography has not hitherto been 

 taught at all. 



" The Provincial Schools in France are not necessarily regulated by that 

 of Paris ; and a view of the system pursued at Lyons, where the first of 

 the Provincial Schools has been carried out to its utmost capabilities, with 

 the most successful result in cITeci upon the peculiar manufactures of the 

 place, cannot fail to be regarded with interest. But the success which has 

 attended the School of Lyons is mainly owing to the appreciation of its im- 

 portance by the authorities and inhabitants of the city itself, lo the energy, 

 with which they have promoted it, and the liberality with which they have 

 contributed to the funds for its support. And I may here notice iu evidence 

 of the zeal and intelligence of the manufacturers of Lyons in the pursuit of 

 their commercial interest through the means of industrial art, a memorial 

 lately addressed to the Jlajor of Lyons, that, with reference to Ihe new 

 vent for manufactures opened in the East, he should call upon the ^Minister 

 of Commerce to procure for the manufacturers, by mcaus of the Consuls 

 and other commercial agents, patterns of the oriental stulTs of silk, wool, 

 aud cotton, which can be imitated at Lyons ; and it is significantly pressed 

 upon the Minister ' that this jiroteeding should not be left to other nations' 



■' It is a fact worthy of attention, that at the foundation of the School of 

 Lyons the mistake was committed of drawing too distinct a line of demar- 

 cation between the elements oifine art and those of arias applied to indus- 

 try and manufactures; and the first course of instruction established in the 

 School was applied to the technical process of the mise en carte ; this was 

 shortly superseded by a class for ' drawing applicable to manufactures,' that 

 is to say, to silk manufactures ; but as the pupils who attended this class 

 proved to be already advanced iu flower painting, the professor found the 

 basis of instruction to which he was confined too narrow to enable him to 

 cfiect anything essential for their improvement: the course of instruction 

 was therefore made general, by the adoption of a methodic course of orna- 

 ment, applicable not only to that style of drawing, but to sculpture in 

 wood, metal, and stone. From this period important modifications have 

 been made from time to time in the system of instruction, so that scarcely 

 anything is now left of the original organization of the school. Into these 

 changes no theories have been suffered to intrude — they have all been 

 effected as experience has dictated their necessity, aud the result, as is well 

 known, is eminently practical. 



" The present course of study pursued in the school is as follows : — the 

 elementary study of the figure, drawing the figure from the round, aud from 

 the living model. Hence the pupils enter the classes for drawing and 

 painting flowers, and after passing through the class of architectural orna- 

 ment (combined with geometry aud perspective), finish the course of study 

 obligatory on mII who remain in the school by a class of composition ap- 

 plied lo manufactures. Thus it will be seen that to perfect the taste of de- 

 signers aud manufacturers, for that is Ihe great point to be attained, a sort 

 of inversion of principle is adopted, beginuing with the figure, thence pass- 

 ing to flowers, thence to ornament in general, so as to prepare the student 

 with a sound artistical education for finishing with the course of composi- 

 tion peculiar to the silk manufacture. To give instruction in this course, 

 there are ten professors, including one for anatomy, one for etching, one 

 for geometry and perspective, and one especially for flower painting. The 

 annual expense of tlie establishment amounts to about 40,000 francs, of 

 which 30,000 are supplied by the city, and 10,000 by the Government ; 

 but the citizens of Lyons consider all their literary and scientific establish- 

 ments as intimately connected with their school, aud that its success is 

 greatly promoted by the general knowledge diflused among all classes by 

 means of their library, their museums of antiquities aud natural history, 

 and other public institutions. 



" The school is open five hours every day, — the professors attending from 

 nine o'clock till two iu the winter, and from eight to one in the summer. 

 The pupils enter at the age of fourteen. They must be able to read and 

 write, aud to do the four rules of arithmetic, and are compelled to follow 

 the whole course of instruction if they remain iu the school. They are re- 

 moved from one class to another on the recommendation of the Professor of 

 their class to the Council of Professors. During the first month the pupils 

 draw for the purpose of ascertaining the class in which they are to be 

 placed. Two years' trial are allowed before they are dismissed for inca- 

 pacity. 



" The Director has abolished the use of heads in lithography as studies 

 for the pupils, finding them from their general mediocrity, unfit for the pur- 

 pose. The frequent coinpeliliuus at the Ecol€ des Beaux Arts, at Paris for 

 ' teles d'expression,' has enabled him to collect a suflicieut number of 

 valuable drawings of this class, mostly prize works, from which the pupils 

 now study to the exclusicin of engravings. This example is strongly re- 

 commended to be adopted iu all schools, not only as regards chalk draw- 

 ings, but also for models, aud all other objects of study. The Director 

 greatly desires that casts of the Parthenou marbles may be added to the 

 collection. 



" The object of the Government in supporting Ihe Provincial Schools, is 

 to develop art in such a manner as to enable the pupils iu quitting them to 

 exercise a professiou, each town directing the final studies of the pupils 

 more particulariy to its predouiinaut luaaufacture, and the system upon 



