ROMANCE IN METAL WORK 
By Walter Gilbert 
(Of the Bromsgrove Guild) 
Reprinted from the journal of the Royal Institute 
of British Architects 
T AM not bold enough to imagine that I am able 
to show you any fresh views of the art of 
metal work; to lay down any dogmatic formulae, or 
even to tell you of the most perfect period of the art 
which decorated the necessities of existence and 
developed in the pride of man’s intellect, an art of 
which I am and can only be a student. 
But in so far as it touches the personal appeal to 
me as an artist, I will endeavor to explain a little of 
that impulse which urges the artist to find expression 
in those methods and materials with which he feels 
in most sympathy, and which to my mind had the 
most influence in the development of the art. 
The philosopher will tell you that every individual 
seeks to Increase those feelings which give pleasure, 
and stifle those which cause him pain. 1 he artist 
is wise in this knowledge, not only as regards him¬ 
self, but, possibly unwittingly, he seeks further 
enhancement of relief and pleasure by conveying 
his knowledge and his experience, by means of his 
skill, to others. It is briefly this desire to please 
others — this eagerness to make others see with his 
eyes, to feel with his touch, that which is so great a 
source of pleasure to him—which impels the artist 
to train his faculties to the clearest pitch. Pri¬ 
marily it is the emotion or imagination which 
creates the impulse to give expression in the language 
of the time; and when the intellect at the various 
periods reached its highest point, at that time the art 
hurst its blossoms and enriched the world with the 
calm perfection of the Greeks, the grandeur of the 
Romans, the domesticity of the Gothic, and the grace 
and pomp of the Renaissance, and latterly the feeling 
of our own time, that the glory of patriotism, which is 
best shown, is in the worship of her distinguished 
sons. I have said primarily it is the imagination, or 
rather, the consciousness of imagination—the ruling 
faculty in all art—which creates art. But the real 
art is something more than this; it is imagination 
allied with skill and dexterity in the creation of 
beauty. .Beauty is the criterion of all art, the object 
of all human longing, and a source of human enjoy¬ 
ment. It is but to the most sordid and debased the 
great desire and the unfailing source of pleasure, and 
in such measure as the intellect is trained will that 
enjoyment be. 
I'he perfect work of art is always the result of 
some emotional mood, and that work is the most 
perfect which conveys the dream of the artist most 
successfully and most fully. I he necessity of the 
door-knocker on the door of the Palazzo Doria, in 
Genoa, never evolved art, but gave the opportunity 
to Cellini to express the emotion of defence which a 
closed door impels. The necessity of doors never 
gave to the Pisani the impulse to make their glorious 
creations, but the opportunity of placing on record 
the emotion they would experience in entering the 
Baptistery evolved these bronze doors. 
I'he mere necessity of display of water never 
created Tuhi’s Fountain of Apollo the Sun-god at 
Versailles, hut was used as an expression of the 
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