343.1 



THE CIVIL ENGINEER AND ARCHITECT'S JOURNAL. 



235 



ON THE DECORATION OF THE NEW HOUSES OF 

 PARLIAMENT. 



[The following article is an abridgment of a paper which appeared 

 in Preiser's Magazine for May last.] 



The destruction of the ancient edifice was felt to be a national 

 calamity. The rebuilding another upon its ruins is the greatest archi- 

 tectural work of modern times; and now, that it advances towards 

 completion, we naturally turn our thoughts on its embellishment. 



With this design the House of Commons appointed a committee 

 in 1841 ; and, on the 24th of November following, commissioners were 

 nominated by Her Majesty, "For the purpose of inquiring whether 

 advantage might not be taken of the rebuilding of the houses of par- 

 liament for promoting and encouraging the Hue arts." 



The commissioners have now published their iirst report. It is 

 composed with care, and contains valuable information. Yet, in their 

 projected plan of decoration I see, with regret, that the commis- 

 sioners have stumbled over the very threshold of t heir duty. 



Justice to those gentlemen demands, however, that their plan 

 should be stated in their own words. 



They say: — " We beg to report our opinion that it should be ex- 

 pedient that advantage should be taken of the rebuilding of the houses 

 of parliament for the purpose of promoting and encouraging the fine 

 arts of the United Kingdom. 



" With this view we have, in the first place, directed our attention 

 to the question, whether it would be expedient that fresco-painting 

 should be employed in the decoration of the new houses of parlia- 

 ment; but we have not been able to satisfy oiu selves that the art of 

 fresco-painting has hitherto been sufficiently cultivated in this country 

 to justify us in at once recommending that it should be employed. 

 In order, however, to assist us in forming a judgment on t his matter, 

 we propose that artists should be invited to enter into competitions of 

 cartoons. 



" As fresco-painting has not hitherto been much practised in this 

 country, and as, therefore, candidates for employment in that mode of 

 painting, whatever their general skill may be, will probably find it 

 necessary to make preparatory essays, her majesty's commissioners 

 think it expedient that I he plan which they hare resolved to adopt in 

 order to decide on the qualifications of Hitch candidate* should be an- 

 iiounct d forth with. 



" Three premiums of 300/. each, three premiums of 200/, each, 

 and five premiums of HlO/. each, will be given to the artists who will 

 furnish cartoons which shall be respectively deemed worthy of one or 

 other of such premiums, by judges to be appointed to decide on the 

 relative merits of the works. The drawings to be executed in chalk 

 or in charcoal, or in similar materia], hut without colours. 



" The plan which may be adopted in order to decide on the merits 

 of the candidates for employment as oil-painters, and as sculptors, 

 will be announced at a future period." 



Further, the commissioners determine that the subjects of these 

 cartoons shall be chosen from English history, or from the works of 

 Spencer, Shakspeare, or Milton. 



In the consideration of this plan, I do not presume to instruct the 

 architect, the sculptor, or the painter, but I address myself to the 

 public's feeling, taste, and sense, by which this plan, with the works 

 executed under ils authority, must eventually be approved of or con- 

 demned. 



The royal commissioners were nominated for two objects : first, to 

 consider of the decoration of the houses of parliament; and, se- 

 condly, of the promotion of the fine arts of the United Kingdom. 



Let us then examine how these objects are to be attained by the 

 plan proposed. 



The first and principal end is undoubtedly the adornment of the 

 seat of the legislature by works worthy of the edifice, the nation, and 

 the age. While instrumental and auxiliary to this, the tine arts of the 

 country were to be employed, and by employment, to be encouraged. 



Now the plan proposed inverts this design, for it forgets what is 

 due to parliament in its eagerness to introduce a special branch of 

 art. It gives "the first place" and consideration to painting in fresco, 

 while it admits this art not to have been sufficiently cultivated to 

 justify ils immediate employment. 



In the useful, no less than in the ornamental arts, we see by daily 

 experience, that the less the practice, the more the risk of failure. 



But in this mode of painting hitherto unpractised, where every 

 part has yet t be learned, and can be learned in no other way than by 

 long experience and repeated trials, failures in the beginning are not 

 merely probable but unavoidable. 



Are the walls of parliament a fit place for the trial of a new art ! 



Are the 'prentice hands of painters to be employed, where nothing 



ought (o be admitted but what is of the highest excellence our arts 

 have attained to ? 



Is parliament, I demand, to be made the " txperimtntiim in corpore 

 i'i/i ?" 



This were to sacrifice the end to the means — the embellishment of 

 this national edifice to the patronage of a new art— certain to disgrace 

 what it meant to adorn. 



The second object of the commission was to promote tbe sculpture 

 and painting of our country. 



Consider, next, how this "Plan" can promote them. It attempts to 

 introduce a branch of art practically unknown, or known only by some 

 poor failures. 



To this " the first consideration " has been given. To this are of- 

 fered premiums and employment. Meanwhile, all other branches of 

 art are to be postponed, and the " Plan " as to them is to be announced 

 at a future period. 



Now how can this unknown mode of painting promote those 

 wherein our artists practically excel '. 



If the preference be given in the hope that, with the advancement 

 of fresco-painting-, historical painting will follow, then the plan over- 

 looks an essential condition, namely, that such a result must be the 

 work of time— probably of ages. Whereas, the commissioners werf 

 nominated for a special purpose — the decoration of the new houses 

 of parliament, now in progress towards completion. 



Is it wise, then, to pospone all those forms of art in which we ac- 

 tually excel for so distant and doubtful a result? Or do the commis- 

 sioners expect artists of established reputation will take up a naw 

 branch of painting, beset with difficulties, even in the material on 

 which they are to work '. 



What man of sense would risk a well-earned fame by a public ex- 

 posure where failure is certain ? 



The preference, therefore, given by this plan to fresco-painting, 

 will tend to exclude men of distinguished merit, and thus narrow 

 competition to such as have yet a name to gain; possibly modest men 

 of sk;ll, more probably, bold adventurers ready for any job. 



Or it may exclude entirely our native artists, to throw employment 

 in the hands of foreigners, eagerly on the watch to grasp at the oc- 

 casion. 



Still the contradictious between this "Plan" and its professed pur- 

 poses are forgotten in the absurdities that mark its manner of exe- 

 cution. The commissioners evidently mistrust their favourite project. 

 " They are not satisfied that fresco-painting has been sufficiently 

 cultivated to justify them in recommending its employment. 



" They admit that artists, whatever their general skill may be, will 

 probably find it necessary to make preparatory essays." 



Here is a difficulty, indeed, and how do tbe commissioners get over 

 it? 



They offer £2000 divided into eleven premiums, for tbe best car- 

 toons or drawings " in chalk or in charcoal without colours." These 

 drawings are to serve the double purpose of " preparatory essays," 

 and to enable the commissioners, or those they shall nominate, " to 

 judge of the qualifications of candidates." 



Let us pause here for reflection. Have the commissioners ever 

 seen or heard of any ait, introduced and brought to such eminence as 

 should fit it for a great national work by mere "preparatory essays?" 

 Have they forgotten that this very art of painting in fresco attained 

 its excellence in Italy by the genius and labours of successive genera- 

 tions? Do they not see that they are setting artists to work without 

 masters to show them where they will encounter, and how they are to 

 overcome, the endless difficulties that beset the fresco-painter at 

 every step ? 



The commissione's strive at what is unattainable. For no branch 

 of painting ever has attained excellence, without genius to invent, 

 labour to execute, masters to teach, models for imitation, schools for 

 the principles, and practice, and lime, that in ait extends through 

 ages for the accomplishment. 



In the place of all these stand " Preparatory Essays." What, then, 

 are those preparatory essays that are to work such marvels, whereon 

 .£2000 are to be expended, at once designed to teacli artists how to 

 paint in fresco, and the commissioners to judge of their ability ? Are 

 they to be paintings in fresco? No. For this were impracticable, 

 unless walls had first been built, and plastered to practice on. Are 

 they to be paintings at all? No: they are to be merely " drawings 

 in chalk or in charcoal without colours." 



Now will the commissioners condescend to inform the public how- 

 drawings upon paper or canvass are to teacli the art of painting on 

 plaster '. The drawings may possess every quality of design, yet 

 their designers be utterly incapable to paint tbem in fresco. Sup- 

 pose, for instance, that Raft'aelle's cartoon of the " Schools of Athens " 

 were placed in the hands of an unpractised artist, is there any one so 



