§35. PRINCIPLES OF GLASS PAINTING. 49 



attainable in another." And for this very reason it is incon- 

 sistent to attempt to make a picture on a material which, 

 while it is suitable for ornamentation, cannot assume the place 

 of panel or canvas. Indeed the maxim I here uphold is quite 

 in accordance with what he afterwards says, that " the artist 

 who undertakes to practice glass painting should bear in mind 

 he is dealing with a material essentially different from any 

 with which he has hitherto been familiar." . . . 



" The chief excellency of a glass painting is its translucency. 

 A glass painting, by possessing the power of transmitting light 

 in a far greater degree than any other species of painting, is 

 able to display effects of light and colour with a brilliancy and 

 vividness quite unapproachable by any other means. On the 

 other hand, this same diaphanous quality is the source of 

 certain defects, such as the limited scale of colour and of 

 transparent shadow observable in a glass painting, of which 

 its inherent flatness is a necessary result. These peculiarities 

 will be found to restrict the successful application of glass 

 painting to a particular class of subjects." 



"Another peculiarity of a glass painting, which has the 

 same tendency, is its mechanical composition. Lead-work and 

 saddlebars . . . are essentially necessary for the support of 

 the glass ; . . . and in whatever manner it may be arranged " 

 the metal- work "causes the picture to be traversed by a 

 number of black lines." 



"These remarkable features of a glass painting, then, 

 render it unfit for the representation of certain subjects. 

 Such as essentially demand a picturesque treatment are better 

 suited to an oil or water-colour painting than to a glass paint- 

 ing, the pictorial resources of which are more limited. A glass 

 painting is incapable of those nice gradations of colour, and of 

 light and shade, which are indispensable for close imitations 

 of nature, and for producing the full effect of atmosphere and 



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