176 ON TASTE IN ORNAMENTAL DESIGN. Part II. 



And now having mentioned an Italian, I cannot abstain 

 from acknowledging the debt we owe to the poor " image 

 men" who wander through our streets; for I have no hesita- 

 tion in saying that they have done more to improve the 

 general taste, to place copies of known sculpture within the 

 reach of all, and to familiarise the eye of the English public 

 with what is good, than any school (which a few only can 

 attend) ; than any gallery (which the working-classes seldom 

 visit) ; or any institution in the country ; and when we recol- 

 lect that English art paraded (without shame) through the 

 streets was confined to cats with moving heads, green parrots, 

 wooden lambs covered with cotton wool, or (if the figure of 

 a man was attempted) a coarse boor holding an equally vulgar 

 pot of beer ; we may feel grateful for the change so unosten- 

 tatiously brought about by these humble foreigners. 



4. The taste indeed of many English who pretend to judge 

 of art, too often leans towards the mere matter-of-fact repre- 

 sentation, both in statuary and in painting; and while the 

 ancient Greek or the modern Italian would display his first 

 sign of genius for art by selecting an object of graceful form, 

 or by giving to the figure he moulded an exalted ideal charac- 

 ter, English talent would manifest itself and obtain applause 

 by the mere imitation of humble life in the figure of an or- 

 dinary peasant, or in some graceless scene of common life. 



It is not surprising that the generality of articles of use 

 or ornament should be deficient in beauty, when so few of 

 the makers, or the purchasers, have any real appreciation 

 of proportion, form, beauty of outline, colour, adaptability 

 of materials, and of the many conditions essential for excel- 

 lence in design; and are destitute of the means of obtain- 

 ing a knowledge of the subject, of guiding and improving 

 their judgment, or of discriminating between good and 

 bad ? It were a miracle if men without the opportunity of 

 understanding an art should succeed in practising, or in 



