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PRACTICAL    HINTS 
ON    MODELLING 
DESIGN    AND 
MURAL  DECORATION 


"  MAENAD    IN    FRENZY. 

(Marble  bas-relief.)     British  Museum,  No.  T.   131.     2194. 

OIL   STUDY.  BY    HENRY    F.    W.    GANZ. 


PRACTICAL     HINTS 
ON  MODELLING 
DESIGN    AND 
MURAL   DECORATION 


n 

HENRY  F.  W.  GANZ 


With    Knrcworcl  by 
AI.l-kKD  GILBKKT,   M.V.O.,  R.A.,  D.C.L 


"  And  J  will  think  in  gold  and  dream  in  silver, 
imagine  in  marble  and  in  bronze  conceive" 

STEPHEN  PHILLIPS. 


LONDON :     GIBBINGS     &     COMPANY 

PHILADELPHIA:    J.  B.  LIPPINCOTT  CO. 

1908 


FOREWORD. 


YEARS  ago,  when  looking  about  me  in  vain,  for  some 
information  and  instruction,,  however  elementary,  as  an 
aid,  in  my  early  attempts  in  Art,  I  should  indeed  have 
been  grateful  for  such  a  text-book  as  the  one,  I  am  here 
pleased  to  introduce,  comprehending  as  it  does,  in  so 
concise  a  form,  History,  Theory  and  Practice,  together 
with  many  valuable  suggestions. 

Sources  of  instruction,  both  theoretic.il  and  "M'/-<//S<////  " 
technical,  certainly  existed,  but  on  the  one  hand  they 
were  either  too  advanced  and  obscure  for  a  beginner, 
and  upon  the  other,  they  were  invariably  akin  to  the 
time-honoured  cookery  book  for  housewives  of  limited 
means, — tantalizingly  suggestive,  but  actually  prohibitive, 
by  reason  of  their  extravagancies  in  advice. 

It  is  to  be  hoped  that  the  Author  may  be  tempted,  by 
the  success  of  this  present  volume,  to  issue  a  supplemen- 
tary series  of  hand  books,  dealing  with  the  more  advanced 
methods  of  production  in  the  various  branches  of  applied 
Art,  upon  which  he  has  of  necessity,  but  slightly,  though 
most  ably  touched,  in  the  confined  limit  of  the  present 
volume.  Such  treatises,  would  be  of  incalculable  value 
in  the  hands  of  students,  who  had  derived  the  advantages 
which  the  study  of  this  presentment  cannot  fail  to  assure. 
The  value  of  the  knowledge  of  the  history  of  Art,  in 
a  general  sense,  as  a  basis  cannot  be  overestimated,  and 
cannot  fail  to  stimulate  the  young  Artist  to  endeavour,  and 
the  more  advanced  to  continue  striving.  The  only  way 
to  a  thorough  appreciation  of  what  that  History  teaches, 
is  an  insight  into  the  methods  employed  in  its  creation. 


vfii.  FOREWORD 

This  manual,  in  my  humble  opinion,  provides  the 
preparatory  help  needed  in  an  admirable  way,  as  in 
general  tenor,  it  partakes  rather  of  the  nature  of  a  vade 
in  ecu  m,  than  of  that  of  a  class  book  ;  though  at  the  same 
time,  supplying  ample  illustration,  and  aid  to  a  thorough 
understanding  wherever  the  complexity  of  the  subject 
requires  diligent  attention. 

It  has  always  been  the  fashion  with  those  who  have 
succeeded,  to  advocate  the  weary,  dreary,  and  unneces- 
sary pain  of  "  going  through  the  mill,"  rather  than  to 
extend  a  helping  hand  to  the  aspirant,  to  a  share  in  that 
mill's  production.  Thus  I  have  always  suspected,  the 
advice,  as  the  dictate  of  a  sort  of  Trades'  Union  jealousy, 
rather  than  of  Brotherly  concern. 

I  grant  that  the  "  mill "  is  in  a  way  necessary  for  all 
workers  with  grist  to  grind,  but  seeing  that  to-day,  Art 
schools,  in  general,  are  merely  such,  and  the  workshop, 
is  mostly  an  adjunct  to  purely  commercial  enterprise 
neither  offering  much  encouragement  for  intellectual 
harvesting,  I  cannot  advocate  the  old  system  nor  applaud 
the  present. 

The  Authpr's  intention  is  evidently  not  to  entice  the 
willing  servant  from  his  master,  but  to  encourage  the 
devoted  slave  to  "Mistress  Art,"  to  make  himself  as  capable 
a  workman  as  he  should  be  an  intelligent  master.  It  has 
from  time  immemorial  been  said  that  the  Artist  must  be 
a  workman,  but  rarely  have  I  heard  it  affirmed  that  the 
workman  should  be  an  artist.  To  my  poor  understand- 
ing it  has  always  appeared,  that  a  true  Artist,  ought  to  be 
a  combination  of  both  elements,  possessing  at  one  and 
the  same  time,  power  to  devise  and  skill  to  realize. 
Let  me  recommend  therefore,  to  all  young  Artists,  the 
necessity  of  general  as  well  as  of  special  study,  so 


FOREWORD  ix. 

admirably  suggested  by  the  author  throughout  the  pages 
of  this  book. 

It  will  be  my  care  and  delight  to  watch  the  prowess 
of  my  younger  colleagues  in  the  hope  that  it  may  discover 
to  me  hereafter  some  justification,  if  not  absolution, 
should  it  appear  that  presumption  lias  usurped  the  place 
of  that  loyalty  and  sincerity  which  1  would  hold,  as  their 
well-wisher,  from  outset  to  arrival. 

ALFRED  GILBERT. 


Bruges, 

April  8,  1908. 


TEMELATA. 

AT   PADUA. 


BY   DONATELLO. 


NOTE. 

THE  object  of  the  following  pages  is  to  provide  the 
student  with  a  practical  treatise  on  the  three  Arts  <>t 
Design,  Architecture,  Sculpture  and  Painting. 

Of  UK-  last  Mr.  (i.mx.  has  already  written  and  the 
>ucces^  attending  the  publication  of  hi^  "  Practical  Hints 
on  Painting,  Composition,  LancUcajH-N,  and  Etching," 
ha-  eiic'.mraged  him  to  put  forth  another  Text-book  with 
a  still  larger  aim.  Although  the  author  is  chiefly  known 
by  his  paintings  and  etchings  he  is  not  without  experience 
in  sculpture. 

Mr.  Alfred  Gilbert  encouraged  him  in  hi^  tirst  studies 
in  Art,  by  casting  his  wax  Taz/a,  with  which  he  had 
taken  a  special  pii/e  at  the  Slade  School  of  Fine  Arts, 
l"ni verity  College,  London. 

M.  Alphonse  Legros,  then  Professor  at  that  school 
insisted  on  his  students  learning  not  only  to  draw  and 
compose,  but  also  to  etch,  paint,  and  model. 

After  working  there  some  three  years  Mr.  Ganz  studied 
from  the  Klgin  marbles  in  the  British  Museum  and  went 
through  an  exhaustive  study  of  anatomy.  The  fruits  of 
these  foundation  studies  illustrate  this  and  his  first  book. 
Proceeding  to  Berlin,  he  worked  at  painting  from  the 
life  at  the  Royal  Academy  Schools  there,  under  Professor 
Max  Michael  of  Hamburg,  a  pupil  of  T.  Couture  of  Paris 
and  a  fellow  student  of  Puvis  de  Chavannes,  Proust, 


xiv.  NOTE 

E.  Manet,  and  other  famous  artists.  It  was  at  Berlin 
after  two  years  study  of  the  nude  and  the  study  of 
animals  under  Professor  Paul  Meyerheim,  that  Mr.  Ganz 
painted  his  first  picture,  "  Orpheus  losing  Eurydice," 
which  later  on,  was  burnt  at  a  London  frame-makers. 
Hearing  of  this  Sir  Coutts  Lindsay  offered  the  young 
artist  a  studio  in  his  house  where  he  worked  at  portraits, 
mural  decorating,  modelling,  and  scene-painting.  He 
also  painted  the  ceiling  for  the  drawing  room  of  Mr. 
Francis  Black,  the  publisher,  and  the  Pompeian  decora- 
tions on  the  staircase  of  the  late  Sir  Morell  Mackenzie's 
house  in  Harley  Street,  and  thus  gained  a  wide  experi- 
ence of  all  kinds  of  art  work  which  qualifies  him  to  give 
to  others  the  benefit  of  his  advice  and  experience. 

FRANK  RUTTER. 


CONTENTS 


UCSSON      PACK 

FOREWORD  BY  ALFRED  GILBERT             ...  vi. 

NOTE  BY  FRANK  RUTTER            ..           ...           ...           ...  xiii. 

PREFACE          ...            ...            ...            ...            ...            ...  xxi. 

PRINCIPLES  OF  DECORATIVE  DESIGN.    METHOD  OF  STUDY. 

ELEMENTS,  LINES,  ORNAMENT.    TREATMENT...  i 

PRACTICAL  DESIGN.    COLOUR   ...           ...           ...           ...  I.        12 

MURAL  DECORATION.    HISTORY  17 

ANALYSIS  OF  METHOD  OF  FRESCO  PAINTING      ...  II.        25 

COMPOSITION.     ELEMENTS.     MODERN  OUTLOOK.     SPIRIT 

FRESCO  PAINTING    ...           ...           ...                        ...  31 

MOSAIC           ...                                                                ...  III.        40 

SGRAFFITO      ...                         ...           ...            ..  43 

STAINED  GLASS  AND  PAINTED  GLASS    ...  44 

MODELLING.    THEORY.    THE  PRACTICE.    THE  ESSENTIALS 
FOR     SCULPTURE.      TECHNICAL    NOTE.      PROCESS    OF 

MODELLING               ...           ...           ...            ...            ...  49 

MM  i  HOD  OF  MODELLING            ...            ...            ...            ...  51 

THE  FEATURES  OF  THE  FACE  DESCRIBED  53 

PROPORTIONS  OF  THE  HEAD    ...           ...  57 

METHOD  OF  MODELLING  A  HEAD  FROM  LIFE     ...            ...  IV.        58 

FRAMEWORK    ...            ...            ...            ...            ...            ...  58 

LESSON     ON      THE     COMMENCEMENT     OF      MODELLING. 

MEASUREMENTS  V.        62 


xvi.  CONTENTS 

•*»• 

LESSON         PAGE 

QUALITY  OF  THE  CLAY  AND  OTHER  MATERIALS...            ...  7° 

MODELLING  A  HEAD  FROM  L*FE.    PROGRESSION              ...  VI.        73 

THE  CONTINUATION     ..             ..             ..             ...            ...  VII.        74 

WASTE  MOULD  CASTING  IN  PLASTER  OF  PARIS  ...            ...  VIII.       77 

MAKING  THE  MOULD  ...            ...            ...            ...            ...  77 

HISTORY    OF    SCULPTURE.      ANCIENT    AND    MEDIAEVAL. 

ITALIAN  RENNAISSANCE         ...           ...           ...           ...  79 

FIRING  THE  CLAY  MODEL         ...            ...            ...            ...  92 

PREPARATION  OF  THE  MOULD  FOR  CASTING  IN    PLASTER  IX.        93 

MAKING  A  CAST  IN  PLASTER.     FINAL  TREATMENT           ...  X.        94 

OTHER  FORMS  OF  MODELLING  ...            ...            ...            ...  99 

ACCESSORIES  TO  SCULPTURE      ...            ...            ...            ...  101 

THE  THEORY  OF  BRONZE  CASTING        ...            ...            ...  102 

NOTE  ON  MARBLE  CARVING      ...            ...            ...            ...  104 

OTHER  FORMS  OF  FRAMEWORK               ...            ...            ...  106 

PROPORTIONS  OF  THE  FIGURE  ...            ...            ...            ...  107 

RECENT  SCULPTURE     ...            ...            ...            ...            ...  109 

ENAMEL — METHOD    OF    APPLYING    ENAMEL    TO    METAL, 

VARIOUS  KINDS  OF  ENAMEL,  PAINTING  IN  ENAMEL    ...  XI.      112 

NOTE  ON  THE  DECORATION  OF  POTTERY            ...            ...  XII.       115 

THE  SPIRIT  OF  MODERN  DESIGN            ...            ...  121 


LIST     OF     ILLUSTRATIONS. 


From  Drawings  and  Modelling  by  the  Author ;  with  Reproductions  from 

Sett/flute,    by    \V.    B.    FAGAN,    and  Illustrations  of  Assyrian,  Greek  and 
Renaissance,  Sculpture,  Bas-reliefs,  and  Pottery. 

PACK 

"MAENAD  IN  FRENZY."    MARBLE  BAS-RELIEF  (Oil  study)      Frontispiece 

GATTEMELATA,  AT  PADUA,  BY  DONATELLO          ...  ...  ..    xi. 

THK  ARCH  OF  CONSTANTINE      ...            ...  ...  ...  xii. 

PORTION  OF  FRIRZE  BY  PHIDIAS              ...            ...  ...  xviii. 

"THREE  FATES?"  BY  PHIDIAS  ...            ...  ...  ...   xx. 

SKKIVH  AFTER  MICHAEL  ANGELO            ...  ...  xxxi. 

STUDY  OF  OAK  LEAVES  ( Wash  drawing)  ...      3 

Sn  DY  OF  OAK  LEAVES  (Pen  ami  Ink  drawing)      ...  ...       6 

STUDY  OF  OAK  LEAVES                                          ...  ...  ...      7 

BORDERS           ...            ...            ...  ...  8 

MOORISH  AND  OTHER  ARABES'.  ...  ...     II 

STUDY  OF  A  LILY  APPLIED                      .  ...  .12 

,  OK  i  UK  TARTS  OF  A  LILY  '5 

VARIATION  ON  A  LINK...           ...  i; 

:                                                                ..  u 

THK  FRIEZB  OF  "ARCHERS"  (Kabyloniiin  glazed  bricks)      ...  ...     16 

"ANCIENT  BARTER"  (Oi I  painting)  ...     38 

STAINED  GLASS  ...    46 

"THE  lLLYSUS"(C4o/*  drawing)   ...  ...  ...     48 

UE  STATUE  ANATOMISED— THB  SKELETON  (Pencil  drawing)...    52 

CHART  OF  FEATURES  OP  THE  FACE        ...           ...  ...  ...    53 

AkMAirfu                         ...                             ...  ...  ...     58 

STUDY  OF  A  HEAD  (Clay  Model),  BY  W.  H.  F.\  ...     59 

ARMATURE  WITH  OVOID  FORM  OF  CLAY  ...    62 

Ml  XSUREMENTS  OF  THE  HEA1-  ..  ...    63 

STUDY  OF  A  HEAD  (Clay  model)              ...  ...  ...    65 

STUDY  OF  A  HEAD  (Clay  model)              ...           ...  ...  ...    67 

STUDY  OF  A  HEAD  (Clay  modtl),  BY  W.  B.  FAGAN  ...  ...     72 

STUDY  OF  A  HEAD  (Clay  model),  BY  W.  B.  FAGAN  ...  ...     75 

"THE  VICTORY  OF  SAMOTHRACE"          ...            ..  ..  ...     78 

HYDRIA                           ...            ...  ...     84 

HVDRIA            ...            ...            ...            ...            ...  ...  ...     85 

KHYFON            ...            ...             ...             ...             ...  ...  ...     86 

KJHOK         ...            ...            ...            ...            ...  ...  ...     87 

"DAVID,"  BY  DONATELLO          ...            ...            ...  ..  ...    89 

"THE  BOY"  (Plaster),  BY  WILL  FAGAN               ...  ...  ...    95 

V/.ED  POLYCHROME  EARTHENWARE  BAS-RELIEF,  "  THE  ARMS  OF 

KING  RENE  OF  PROVENCE,"  BY  LUCA  DELLA  ROBBIA  ...    98 

"THE  DANCE,"  BY  CARPEAUX   ...            ...            ..  ...  ...  103 

GENERAL  LINES  OF  FIGURES      ...            ...             ..  ...  ..    106 

AM  tnuE  STATUE  ANATOMISED— THE  ECORCHE   ...  ...  ...  108 

EN  Piu."    MAJOLICA  PLATE   ...            ...           ...  ...  ...  116 

"  MILLS  UNDER  THE  RAMPARTS  "  (Etching)            ...  ...  ..   120 


!• 

^v<<  .- 


F 


v 


1, 


. 


PREFACE. 

SOME  years  ago  Mr.  Alfred  Gilbert,  the  Professor  of 
Sculpture,  for  the  time  being,  at  the  Royal  Academy, 
London,  gave  a  series  of  lectures  on  Sculpture.-^  He 
commenced  by  drawing  a  circle  on  the  blackboard,  say- 
ing that  "all  art  i-  one,"  and  that  he  knew  of  "  onfrpne 
art."  Further,  he  gave  an  elaborate  description  of  the 
making  and  aim  of  sculpture  (statues),  also  described 
various  pictures  with  regard  to  their  design  and  colour. 
He  spoke  of  the  genius  of  Turner,  of  his  "Polyphemus 
deriding  Ulysses."  This  picture,  he  said,  "showed  man 
in  his  miniature  place  among  the  elements."  He  con- 
sidered that  "Turner's  work  was  far  greater  in  aim  than 
cal  <>r  antique  landscape  had  been,  for  Turner  under- 
stood and  loved  nature,  while  the  classical  artist  only 
showed  man  and  nature  under  the  tear  of  the  heathen 
god."  Next  he  noted  how  Turner  had  combined  the 
art  of  modelling  with  painting  in  a  certain  "  Shipwreck  " 
in  winch  the  side  of  the  ship  wa>  treated  as  a  bas-relict. 

Continuing  now  the  de>ign  ot  the  circle  on  the  black- 
board, he  added  a  cross,  or  rather  the  diameters,  by 
drawing  a  smaller  circle  and  other  half-circles  drawn  on 
the  first  outline  at  tangents,  and  he  introduced  a  variety 
of  running  lines  connecting  these  geometrical  forms. 
Founding  his  design  for  these  lines  on  a  flower,  the  seed, 
bud,  and  leaves  of  which  he  introduced  as  motives  in  the 
border,  he  explained  that  as  the  plant  form  grew  from  its 
root  to  its  flower,  it  eventually  dropped  its  seed  when 
halt-way  up  the  circle  and  commenced  again,  thus  illus- 
trating Nature's  law  of  recurring  creation.  On  the 
mathematical  lines  of  the  design  drawn,  he  suggested 
figures  meeting  and  kissing  at  certain  points,  reversing 


PREFACE 

at  others,  and  finally  he  added  an  elaborate  ornamenta- 
tion where  necessary.  In  every  design,  he  said,  "  there 
must  be  forms  which  may  be  imitated  or  repeated,  thus 
giving  suggestion  ;  the  value  of  line  (thick  or  thin),  which, 
added  to  expression,  will  give  sentiment.  There  must  also 
be  scale,  balance,  and  organic  growth." 

Alfred  Gilbert  was  born  in  1854  ;  he  was  born  to  a 
musician  and  a  singer  of  Welsh  extraction.  When  the 
victorious  angel  blew  the  silver  trumpet  blast  at  his  birth, 
he  provided  him  with  an  array  of  talents  for  design, 
modelling,  form,  painting  and  music,  and  above  all  with 
romance.  It  is  the  romantic  spirit  of  the  "  Middle  Ages  " 
that,  with  nature  and  art,  has  ever  inspired  him.  "  A  blame- 
less knight,"  he  knows  no  fear;  he  has  worked  out  in  his  art 
the  various  episodes  of  his  life.  That  great  friend  and 
patron  of  artists,  Lord  Leighton,  advised  him  to  settle 
in  England,  and  gave  him  a  commission  for  a  bronze 
"  Icarus."  Gilbert  came  into  the  art  world  like  a  meteor, 
he  cast  his  great  statue  of  Charity  or  Love  for  the  Shaftes- 
bury  Memorial  Fountain  at  Piccadilly  Circus,  and  his 
golden-bronze  statue  of  Queen  Victoria  for  her  Jubilee 
monument  at  Winchester.  His  works  and  further  career 
are  known  to  all.  If  the  "  Icarus  "  prophesied  the  un- 
certainty of  soa'ring  with  artificial  wings,  "  Tragedy  and 
Comedy"  have  by  no  means  been  absent  from  his  life. 

Taking  Mr.  Gilbert's  theory  "  that  all  Art  is  one  and 
that  it  is  expressed  in  a  universal  language,"  I  propose, 
with  short  notes,  to  touch  on  Art  generally  throughout 
the  ages. 

Art  is  practically  founded  on  the  ideals  of  order,  infinit\\ 
and  early  religion,  which  were  the  basis  of  all  knowledge  of 
the  priesthood  of  Ancient  Egypt  above  everything  else. 
In  Art  the  Sphinx  represents  the  Powers  of  Maternity, 


PREFACE 

strength  and  order.  There  were  then  two  groups  of 
people,  the  aristocracy  and  the  workers.  Moses,  educated 
in  the  purple  of  royalty  and  the  priesthood,  the  same 
caste,  took  his  knowledge  from  them  and  eventually 
carried  it  with  the  Israelites  to  a  new  land.  On  the 
Mount  of  Sinai  he  engraved  on  clay  tables,  which  he 
baked,  the  ten  commandments  given  him  by  God,  the 
immortal  Spirit  of  light,  order  and  truth,  and  offered 
sacrifices.  He  left  his  people  the  motto,  "  May  thy  days 
be  long  in  the  land";  they  had  no  fear  of  death.  The 
Nazarene  Christ  educated  with  the  same  religious  ideals, 
added  to  them  charity,  and  overcame  for  the  first  time, 
for  the  poor  and  the  people,  the  pride  of  the  priesthood, 
and  conquered  the  fear  of  death  by  sacrifice  and  dying 
on  the  Cross,  adding  the  promise  of  immortal  life.  His 
words,  "Go,  teach  the  heathen,"  are  known  to  all. 

Classical  Art,  which  had  thriven  to  this  period  on  lines 
of  nature  and  on  the  beauty  of  the  body,  illustrated  at 
different  times,  as  Divinity,  Ideality  and  Sublimity.  Human 
exaltation,  and,  later,  individuality,  was  killed  in  its  ideals. 

Again,  the  priesthood  of  the  early  Church,  as  in 
Egyptian  and  in  Jewish  times,  cast  its  trammels  over 
all  freedom  in  the  laws  of  Art,  and  all  freedom  of  con- 
science. The  worship  of  the  ideal  W9man  was  no 
longer  Venus,  Hera,  Minerva,  Diana  of  Ephesus,  or 
Astarte,  but  the  Jewish  Madonna  of  Bethlehem ;  and 
the  gods  were  no  longer  Zeus,  Hercules,  Apollo,  or 
Mercury.  It  was  not  until  the  great  Italian  Renaissance 
in  the  thirteenth  to  the  fifteenth  centuries  that  Art  was 
freed  from  these  trammels  and  gave  forth  its  greatest 
expression  ;  even  then  it  was  founded  on  and  inspired  by 
the  then  recently  discovered  antiques,  but  it  still  had 
to  fall  in  with  a  utilitarian  basis.  Painting  and  sculp- 
ture were  simply  wall-painting  and  the  ornamentation 


PREFACE 

of  buildings.  Modern  knowledge,  science  and  art,  are 
summed  up  in  the  words  of  the  Apostle  of  Impressionism, 
Emile  Zola :  "  Truth  is  on  the  march  and  nothing  can 
arrest  its  progress."  John  Keats  quotes  in  his  "  Ode 
on  a  Grecian  Urn  "  : — 

" '  Beauty  is  truth,  Truth  Beauty,'—  that  is  all 
Ye  know  on  earth,  and  all  ye  need  to  know." 

The  spirit  necessary  for  Art  lies  in  the  music  of  Shelley's 
beautiful  poem,  "  Love's  Philosophy,"  or  in  Swinburne's 
41  Chorus  from  Atalanta  in  Calydon."  Brother  artists — 
musicians  like  Wagner — write  and  compose  the  poetry 
and  music  of  "  Der  Ring  des  Niebelungen" ;  the  sympa- 
thetic Baudelaire  thoroughly  understands  painting  from 
the  painter's  point  of  view;  Goethe  and  Lessing  write 
on  Art ;  James  M.  N.  Whistler  painted  his  "  Peacock 
Room" — his  Harmonies,  Nocturnes,  Arrangements,  Notes, 
Symphonies,  and  touched  in  his  colour  as  a  musician 
sings.  He  etched  and  gave  with  eclat  his  "  Ten  o'clock 
Lecture"  on  February  20,  1885.  All  great  men  think 
and  speak  a  universal  thought  and  language,  even 
Herbert  Spencer,  the  apostle  of  Sociology,  loved  music, 
and  wrote  to  C.  Holme,  the  Editor  of  The  Studio,  on 
the  growth  of  "  L'Art  Nouveau  " — what  he  called  "  the 
return  to  Barbarism."  Art  should  appeal  to  the  aesthetic 
sense.  W7hat  is  Art  ?  Art  is.  Art  is  infinity  and 
cannot  grow  or  progress  or  decay.  It  exists  or  happens. 
Art  is  Joy.  It  has  no  Mission.  The  work  of  the  artist 
is  perfect  from  the  first,  it  cannot  be  "  finished,"  it  grows 
like  a  flower  under  his  hand  and  is  complete  when  he  has 
done  with  it.  Glesson  White  said,  "  As  the  sun  colours 
flowers  so  Art  colours  life." 

Born  of  love  and  extreme  reverence,  of  purity  and 
admiration  of  healthy  nature,  Art  is  universal  and  exists 
everywhere  and  for  all  time  on  the  same  lines.  It  exists 


PREFACE 

as  much  on  the  wing  of  a  butterfly  as  in  a  Japanese 
colour  print,  and  in  the  scent  of  a  flower  or  the  bloom 
of  a  peach,  the  grace  of  woman  and  the  strength  of  man. 
The  artist  must  work  on  strict  lines  of  probity  ;  he  must 
build  up,  develop,  carry  out  his  ideal,  and  never  cease  to 
work  and  bear  fruit.  Guided  by  the  experiences  learnt 
from  a  continuous  vital  tradition  of  live  art  and  the  study 
of  Nature,  he  will  find  a  source  of  continual  interest 
everywhere.  As  the  great  men  of  the  Renaissance  learnt 
their  lesson  from  Phidias  and  the  antique,  so  in  his 
day  Rubens  learnt  from  Michael  Angelo,  Giorgione, 
Titian,  Tintoretto  and  Veronese.  More  than  we  think, 
we  Northerns  owe  our  art  to  that  great  "  prince  of 
painter^."  Velasquez,  \Vatteau,  Gainsborough,  Turner 
and  the  French  Impressionists,  all  students  of  colour, 
li^ht  and  composition,  each  came  under  the  influence  of 
Rubens. 

To  Rembrandt  the  art  of  "effect"  and  what  are  called 
41  valuer  "  owe  their  origin  ;  on  these  lines  we  find  the 
\\orks  of  Spagnoletto  (Ribera),  Franz  Hals,  Goya,  Sir 
Joshua  Reynolds,  and  many  modern  artists. 

The  two  qualities  of  "  variations  of  colour  "  and  "  inten- 
sities of  light,"  effect  and  value;  appealing  as  they  do 
to  different  optical  centres,  are  the  leading  motives  of 
all  Art.  The  first  bring  forth  the  painter,  the  second  the 
ideals  of  the  draughtsman,  the  student  of  form,  and  the 
sculptor.  In  certain  cases  the  two  are  combined,  as  in 
Botticelli,  Tiepolo,  Vermeer  of  Delft.  J.  F.  Millet  was 
a  igth  century  Classicist,  as  were  Cotman  and  Whistler, 
Diaz  and  Monticelli.  The  rest  follows  from  actual  prac- 
tice, for  no  book-reading  can  make  an  artist,  who  is  born 
and  has  to  develop  his  gifts.  All  a  book  and  teaching  can 
do  is  to  open  a  field  of  study  and  save  time,  painting 
being  the  lightening  of  dark  colours,  and  sculpture  the 


PREFACE 

building  up  of  form  on  the  lines  of  added  light.  The 
book  of  Nature  lies  ever  open  to  be  read  by  all,  whether 
for  suggesting  a  "  motive,"  an  "interpretation,"  a  per- 
sonal "  impression,"  or  to  record  an  expression.  All  that 
remains  is  "  To  Beware  of  the  Song  of  the  Siren." 

The  three  greatest  men  in  Art— Phidias,  Giotto,  and 
Michael  Angelo — were  painters,  sculptors,  and  architects 
in  one.  Decoration  of  the  highest  order  is  seen  in  all 
their  work.  In  the  Parthenon,  Athens,  sculpture  is 
allied  to  architecture  according  to  its  strict  requirements, 
and  the  Parthenon  may  be  said  to  be  only  complete  with 
its  statues.  The  Gothic  church,  again  is  a  composition 
of  sculptures,  while  the  ceiling  of  the  Sistine  Chapel  is 
a  painted  form  of  architectural  motive. 

In  Classical  art,  bas-reliefs  were  carved  or  cut  into  the 
*  fixed  stone  wall  ("per  forza  di  levare")  ;  in  Gothic  art  the 
bas-relief  and  modelling  were  often  made  by  additions  in 
wax,  and  cast  in  metal  or  in  plaster  ("per  via  di  porre"). 
Again,  Florentine  sculpture  has  more  expression  in  it 
than  Classical  art  with  its  serene  spirit.  Florentine  work 
was  noted  for  the  arrangement  of  the  hair  ;  the  nose 
which  at  its  juncture  with  the  eyebrows  down  to  the 
nostrils  is  somewhat  square  in  character  in  classical  work, 
becomes  more  shapely,  the  nasal  bone  and  its  cartilagin- 
ous part  are  prolonged  towards  the  tip  ;  again,  there  is 
more  modelling  about  the  nostril,  which  is  thinner  and 
more  sensitive. 

Michael  Angelo  and  Donatello  did  not  cast  their  works 
themselves,  but  Michael  Michelozzi,  the  designer  of  the 
Palazzo  Vecchio  (1454),  did  so  in  this  case,  and  Ghiberti, 
A.  Pollaiuolo,  Verrochio,  Alessandro  Leopardi,  were  all 
noted  casters,  as  was  Benvenuto  Cellini,  who  wrote  a 
treatise  on  this  subject,  and  was  the  originator  of  modern 
sculpture. 


PREFACE 

The  use  of  sculpture  for  position,  was  the  only  form 
that  survived  through  the  dark  ages  from  antiquity 
without  touching  on  Eastern  marble  low-relief,  and  the 
relief-sculpture  in  stone  and  marble  on  Moslem  build- 
ings, Persian  flowers,  Indian  caligraphy,  or  Moorish 
architecture. 

The  general  treatment  of  figure  in  relief  is  conditioned 
by  the  position  and  light  it  is  in,  or  from  a  modification 
in  proportion  for  artistic  effect.  Phidias  worked  for 
effect,  allowing  for  distance ;  his  background  is  often  a1 
little  more  cut  back  above  than  below,  as  in  the  frieze 
of  the  Parthenon.  Donatello  worked  on  the  same  lines 
on  the  Zuccone  (Bald  Head),  on  the  campanile  of  the 
Duomo,  which  was  more  than  50  ft.  above  the  ground. 
In  the  head,  the  eyes  are  deeply  cut ;  the  proportions  are 
otherwise  normal. 

Donatello's  "Cantoria"  is  perhaps  more  perfectly 
adapted  to  the  position  it  was  intended  for  than  that 
of  Luca  della  Kobbia.  The  idea  that  a  figure  should 
be  altered  in  its  proportions,  according  to  its  intended 
position  is  a  myth,  for  the  human  eye  allows  for  the 
distance  that  it  may  be  separated  from  the  object  it  is 
looking  at.  Classical  work  generally  is  "  normal"  in  pro- 
portion and  execution,  irrespective  of  site  and  circum- 
stance, as  may  be  seen  in  the  groups  from  the  "  Pediment  " 
and  other  Phidian  marbles  of  the  Parthenon.  Phidias 
sought  for  style,  composition,  proportion,  balance,  light 
and  shade,  mass,  line  and  silhouette,  in  relation  to  the 
size  of  the  human  body  and  the  average  height  and 
distance  it  was  to  be  viewed  from.  He  gave  no  indication 
in  the  technique  of  his  work  that  some  of  it  was  to  be 
seen  60  ft.  from  the  ground.  There  is  in  the  architec- 
tonic Trajan's  Column  no  variation  in  the  salience  of  the 
figures  or  in  its  handling  of  material ;  in  fact  the  lower 


PREFACE 

panels  are  a  little  higher  in  relief  than  the  upper  ones. 
Scopas,  in  the  Tegea,  followed  the  same  rules.  Low 
relief  is  design  in  perspective,  and  in  Gothic  art  the 
upper  figures  are  usually  as  much  finished  as  the  lower 
ones,  although  the  subjects  are  near  the  ground.  Again, 
the  ancients  used  half  or  mezzo-rilievo  (English  high)  for 
their  figure  compositions  which  adorned  flat  walls ;  the 
same  treatment  was  applied  to  ornament  in  theatres  and 
triumphal  arches.  The  ancients  excelled  in  the  arts  of 
very  low  relief;  all  depends  in  this  art  on  outline,  as  may 
be  seen  on  ancient  vases,  cameos,  medals  and  coins. 
Wall  relief  is  the  perfection  of  figures  diminishing. 
Pictorial  or  perspective  reliefs  were  invented  in  the  Italian 
Renaissance  ;  often  they  project  from  their  ground.  In 
this  very  difficult  art,  the  feet  and  hands  may  be  seen 
sometimes  shortened  in  relief,  as  on  the  Ghiberti  Gates. 

Donatello  excelled  in  low  relief  (bassi-rilievi) ;  in  these 
there  is  no  projection  whatever,  flat  relief  being  simply 
clearness  and  refinement  of  beautiful  forms. 

Reliefs  were  first  used  in  the  fifteenth  century,  but  not 
in  Mediaeval  work — following  the  idea  of  the  reliefs  sculp- 
tured on  the  tomb  of  the  Julii  at  St.  Remy  (Augustus), 
the  Arch  of  Titus,  and  Trajan's  Column.  It  was  de- 
veloped from  the  small  decorations  called  grotesques  in 
the  sepulchral  chambers,  called  caves  or  grottoes,  because 
when  they  were  discovered  they  were  underground.  In 
differentiation  from  Classical  art,  which  was  serene  in 
spirit,  noble  in  style,  with  a  quality  of  full  modelling 
(in  the  round)  of  the  human  body,  Gothic  art  adapted  the 
figure,  either,  on  account  of  its  size,  to  the  square  shape 
it  had  to  fill,  or  to  the  arch  of  the  building  it  was  to 
decorate.  Modern  Sculpture  follows  these  traditions. 

Donatello  was   the   first   man   of   the    Renaissance   to 
9 break  away  from  the  traditional  bas-relief,  and  model  in 
the  round. 


PREFACE 

At  the  apogee  of  Art  one  finds  Michael  Angelo.     He 
wrote  in  his  sonnet  on  Sculpture  : 

'*  Non  ha  1'ottimo  artista  alcun  concetto 
Ch'  un  marmo  solo  in  s6  non  circonscriva 
Col  suo  soverchio  ;  e  solo  a  quello  arriva 
La  man  che  ubbidisce  all1  intelletto  !  " 
"The  best  of  artists  hath  no  thought  to  show 
Which  the  rough  stone  in  its  superfluous  shell 
Doth  not  include  ;  to  break  the  marble  spell 
Is  all  the  hand  that  serves  the  brain  can  do." 

(Translated  by  J.  A.  SYMONDS.) 
Also  of  Night  : 

eet  is  my  sleep,  to  be  mere  stone, 
So  long  as  ruin  and  dishonour  reign  ; 
To  hear  nought,  to  feel  nought,  is  my  great  gain  ; 
Then  wake  me  not,  speak  in  an  undertone." 

After   the   Primitive  paintings    in    Fresco  and   Temper. i, 
which   were  in   use  generally  until  about   1444. 

In  the  development  of  the  art  of  painting  the  Venetian^ 
introduced  canva^  in  the  fifteenth  century,  to  suit  the 
requirements  of  atmospheric  conditions,  which  were  un- 
favourable to  the  preservation  of  the  fresco  methodV 
They  preferred  canvas  to  planter  for  their  work  in  oils, 
which  work  \va->  generally  Carted  in  tempera  and  finished 
with  ^la/es  of  oil  colour  and  then  varnished.  These 
canvases  they  frequently  affixed  to  the  walls.  Canvas 
on  stretchers  was  lighter  for  carrying,  and  it  would  not 
crack  when  rolled,  if  prepared  (not  with  gesso),  but  with 
flour  and  walnut  oil,  white  lead  on  a  size  foundation, 
which  when  dried  is  re-sized  and  eventually  re-primed. 
Canvas  does  not  split,  and  favours  works  which  are 
portable  and  of  any  size.  For  panels,  maple,  or  gattice 
wood,  or  Venetian  fir  was  preferred,  poplar,  lime,  or, 
willow  wood  also  being  used. 

Velasquez   was   the   first   artist   to    paint   his    pictures 
entirely  in  oil  colour  from  first  to  last. 

If  I  may  be  allowed  to  mention  a  technical  hint  here. 


PREFACE 

Time  should  be  left  for  the  work  to  dry  naturally  in 
fresh  air  before  varnishing  it.  The  mastics  dry  too 
quickly  ;  amber-copai  varnish  is  the  best  to  use,  and  then 
only  thinly  in  the  darks.  The  safest  varnish  is  copal  ; 
it  is  made  of  gum-copal  fluid,  boiled  in  hot  water 
with  turpentine. 

In  the  art  of  drawing,  which  itself  means  definition 
of  form,  there  are  two  distinct  kinds  :  namely,  search  for 
form,  like  A.  Durer,  or  effect,  light  and  colour  on  form, 
as  Rembrandt.  Raphael's  work  was  a  continuation,  a 
development  of  earlier  art ;  the  methods,  the  groupings 
employed  were  those  already  in  use,  added  to  the  study 
of  Nature.  One  notes  the  arrangement  of  the  light  and 
the  fine  aerial  quality  of  colour  in  "  The  School  at 
Athens,"  which  could  only  come  that  way,  and  the 
knowledge  how  effectively  to  light  a  large  number  of 
figures  can  only  have  been  gained  by  personal  observation. 

The  broad  simple  lighting  which  is  seen  in  Italian 
work  was  dictated  by  the  necessity  of  filling  large 
spaces,  viewed  from  afar,  whence  breadth  of  effect  alone 
can  be  seen  in  a  painting. 

As  William  Morris  wrote  "A  sense  of  music  and  of 
colour  is  everywhere  abundant  in  art,  and  a  spirit  of 
beauty  should  breathe  in  every  line ; "  Colour  should 
sing,  colour  is  everywhere.  The  instant  there  is  light, 
colour  is  revealed.  "  Colour  exists  in  abstract  decora- 
tion. It  is  transmuted  from  visible  things  into  artistic 
conventions,  and  gives  expression  of  the  spirit." 

We  read  of  "  the  sculptor  who  hews  the  white-limbed 
god  from  his  marble  block,"  how  "  he  uses  the  amethyst 
for  the  purple  couch  for  Adonis,  and  the  sardonyx  as  a 
background  to  the  figure  of  the  hunting  goddess.  We 
see  the  red-glowing  metal  being  poured  for  the  deep- 
coloured  bronze,"  and  we  read  of  "  how  the  goldsmith 
beats  his  gold  into  roses." 


A    PORTION    OF    MICHAEL  ANGELO'S   DESIGN    FOR   SISTINE   CHAPEL  CEILING. 


PRINCIPLES  OF  DESIGN  IN  RELATION 
TO  THE  APPLIED  ARTS. 


FOLLOWING  the  lines  of  my  earlier  book  on  painting, 
composition,  and  other  branches  of  the  graphic 
art-,  tlu-  aim  ot  the  present  work  is  to  offer  hints  of  a 
practical  nature  on  the  study  of  the  applied  arts.  Upon 
consideration  it  will  appear  that  there  is  a  close  relation- 
ship between  the  various  branches  of  the  decorative  arts, 
and  that  it  is  impossible  to  fully  appreciate  each  particular 
branch  without  some  knowledge  of  the  others.  They  are 
often  closely  intertwined,  and  would  seem  to  spring  from 
a  common  origin  ;  the  desire  for  the  expression  of  the 
beautiful  in  design  and  plastic  thought.  But  while 
recognising  the  essential  unity  of  aim  in  the  various 
manifestations  of  this  feeling,  a  critical  discrimination  is 
necessary  to  the  understanding  of  this  many-sided  subject. 
Now  to  consider  certain  principles  of  design.  It  is  an 
axiom  that  decoration  should  follow  and  enforce  the  lines 
of  the  thing  decorated,  and  be  subservient  to  the  struc- 
tural idea.  Ornament  is  inseparable  from  the  thing 
ornamented,  and  it  is  ornament  only  in  its  place  and 
purpose.  In  some  sense  all  art  is  applied,  the  word 
applied  meaning  adapted  for  a  decorative  purpose. 

The  art  of  the  painter  differs  from  that  of  the  designer, 
in  that  the  latter  has  to  consider  in  making  his  design 
what  style  of  drawing  is  most  suitable,  having  regard  to 


2  :   PRACTICAL    HINTS 

the  material  or  the  tools  he  proposes  to  use.  He  may 
have  skill  in  making  a  decorative  cartoon,  or  talent  for 
working  direct  on  the  material  without  any  design,  but 
he  has  to  understand,  before  setting  to  work,  the  principles 
of  practical  applied  design  and  recognise  the  limitations 
of  the  material  selected. 

The  distribution  of  the  design  must  be  considered  : 
(i)  In  relation  to  the  material  of  which  the  proposed 
object  is  composed  or  is  to  be  made  ;  (2)  the  purpose  for 
which  the  object  wTill  be  used  ;  and  (3)  the  place  the 
object  wrill  ultimately  occupy  or  is  intended  to  decorate. 

Further  points  to  be  remembered  in  the  use  of  orna- 
ment are  that  it  should  emphasise  form,  that  it  should  be 
simple  in  effect,  and  appear  in  its  right  place,  that  it  should 
have  such  qualities  as  a  flow  of  line  and  colour  massed  in 
characteristic  shapes  and  suitable  spots. 

The  essence  of  design  is  that  it  should  be  logical. 
The  student  may  now  try  his  hand  upon  some  practical 
work  in  order  to  perceive  more  clearly  the  principles  of 
design  and  ornament,  for  it  is  only  from  actual  practice 
that  decorative  principles  can  be  learned. 


DESIGN 


ELEMENTARY    METHOD   OF   STUDY. 

At  the  outset  the  pupil  will  have  learned  to  draw  with 
the  pencil  point  on  paper  in  true  and  careful  outline, 
simple  forms  of  flowers  or  fanciful  shapes.  The  use  of 
the  brush  follows  with  the  colouring  of  these  forms  in 
washes  of  flat  tint.  Some  practice  in  modelling  in  clay 
is  useful,  the  models  chosen  being  simple  in  form  and 
pattern.  By  these  means  the  hand,  eye  and  mind  are 
trained,  and  a  sense  of  colour  is  cultivated.  Pattern 
forming  comes  next.  A  plant-form  is  drawn  in  correct 
proportion,  or  the  brush  may  be  used,  and  is  then  applied 
by  repetition  to  till  various  shapes.  Beginning  with  a 
circle,  the  pattern  may  be  introduced  four  times,  rach 
form  opposite  the  other,  and  appropriate  lines  drawn  to 
connect  them.  This  is  followed  by  the  tilling  in  of  other 
shapes  with  forms  in  various  manners.  Combined  with 
a  knowledge  of  colour  harmonies  ornamentation  may  be 
applied  to  all  decorative  purp«  »- 

1  icing  the  history  of  drawing  we  find  that  the  earlier 
efforts  in  delineation  were  chiefly  in  outline  and  flat 
tidies  of  color,  with  no  effect.  The 
study  of  appearances  came  later. 
Two  survivals  of  primitive  art  have 
come  down  to  us,  Coats  of  Anns  and 
Trudc  Miirks.  As  .1  kind  of  writing 
for  the  ignorant  or  primitive  man, 
the  first  efforts  of  drawing  were 
simple.  The  simple  line  was  \tudied 
in  Assyrian  work  and  on  the  Greek  vases,  form  being 
simplified  and  amplified. 

The  Greek  designer  showed  a  perfection  in  delineat- 
ing with  the  use  of  line,  giving  the  gracefulness  of  life, 
and  an  ideal  view  of  living  man  and  woman  in  pure 
line  and  flat  spaces.  This  was  an  advance  on  Ancient 


4  PRACTICAL   HINTS 

Egyptian  painting  wherein  the  line  was  purposely  quiet 
and  conventionalised  in  a  manner  closely  akin  to  the 
art  of  sculpture. 

In  Assyrian  design  one  sees  more  of  the  spirit  of 
painting  in  their  wall  sculptures,  in  which  the  line  is 
engraved  upon  subjects  chosen  chiefly  from  forms  of 
manly  beauty,  with  powerful  accentuations  on  the  curve 
of  the  line. 

The  mediaeval  artists  began  with  line  and  flat  coloured 
spaces  in  their  illuminated  manuscripts.  The  principal 
characteristics  in  the  history  of  drawing  are  shown  in 
the  difference  of  the  opposite  styles,  the  Severe  and  the 
Picturesque.  A  style  which  was  simple  in  Greece  and  in 
the  purists  of  the  Middle  Ages,  became  disdainful  in  the 
great  men  of  the  Renaissance.  The  Severe  spirit  is  an 
academic  protest  against  the  Picturesque. 

The  motive  which  prompted  the  delineation  of  certain 
forms  and  objects  in  the  elaboration  of  a  design  has  not 
always  been  the  same,  and  curious  changes  may  be  noted 
in  the  gradual  evolution  of  the  art.  The  designs  of  earlier 
ages  often  possessed  definite  symbolic  significance  :  thus 
an  ancient  Aryan  ornament,  which  was  once  universally 
employed,  consisted  of  "the  sacred  tree  between  two 
animals,"  sometimes  varied  to  a  fire-altar  placed  between 
worshippers.  This  device,  the  meaning  of  which  is  now 
obsolete,  is  still  frequently  used  in  some  Oriental  carpets 
and  textiles. 

Forms  which  have  lost  their  original  meaning  should 
not  now  be  repeated,  unless  they  retain  a  decorative  value. 
The  feeling  that  inspired  them  can  never  be  recovered, 
and  originality,  the  outcome  of  sincerity  and  character, 
must  find  plenty  of  scope  in  the  drawing  and  treatment 
of  fresh  conceptions. 


DESIGN  5 

ELEMENTS  OF  DESIGN. — Design  is  the  arrangement  of 
lines  and  masses  in  such  relation  to  one  another  that 
they  form  a  harmonious  whole.  All  forms  of  decoration 
involve  some  sort  of  convention.  Convention  is  insepar- 
able from  good  design,  which  may  contain  a  wide  range 
of  form  treatment,  from  a  minute  intricacy  of  pattern  to 
the  finest  delicacy  of  plant  form.  Broad  bold  effects  are 
also  indispensable  to  decoration,  as  well  as  richness  and 
simplicity.  Design  is  a  language  in  symbols,  and  hence 
the  clearer  the  symbol  the  more  easily  are  ideas  conveyed. 
For  this  reason  all  complexity  that  does  not  increase 
directness  of  statement  should  be  left  out. 

I  i  instance,  in  making  a  wall-paper  the  rose  tree  may 
elected  as  a  motive  for  the  design,  but  it  need  not 
look  like  a  living  bush,  a  mere  suggestion  of  the  form  of 
the  rose  as  a  tlat  symbol  will  serve  the  purpose  of  a  back- 
ground on  the  wall-surface.  The  essence  of  what  is 
understood  as  convention  is  merely  the  effort  to  simplify 
statement,  one  of  the  essentials  of  decorative  art. 

The  designer  of  patterns  must  remember  that  it  is  not 
enough  to  learn  the  rules  of  art,  for  until  knowledge  of 
their  association  gives  facility  he  cannot  be  a  practical 
artist.  All  tine  art  requires  a  state  of  mind  of  the  artist 
which  tells  him  that  art  is  not  a  spontaneous  impulse  but 
calculated  forethought,  and  further  that  there  is  some- 
thing besides  dexterity,  which  works  from  his  human 
faculty  and  heart,  and  shows  the  "  spirit  of  life"  beyond 
the  mere  mechanical  elements  of  rules.  It  is  by  no 
means  necessary  when  drawing  a  pattern  that  the  actual 
proportion  of  the  real  plant  shall  be  followed.  What  is 
necessary  is  that  before  designing  a  pattern  the  artist 
should  have  some  thought  to  express.  No  good  pattern 
can  be  made  without  that  as  a  starting  point.  Then 
natural  forms  will  furnish  the  language  by  which  the 
expression  is  to  be  made.  The  expression  of  certain  lines 
must  be  studied  so  that  the  student  may  know  what  kinds 
of  lines  express  infinity,  repose,  movement  and  the  reverse 
of  all 


6  PRACTICAL    HINTS 

Drawing  for  designing  begins  with  line,  and  a  de- 
cided conventionalism  of  natural  or  other  forms  may 
be  allowed,  provided  they  are  suitable  to  the  material 
in  hand.  As  there  is  no  such  thing  as  an  actual  line  in 
nature,  natural  forms  must  be  treated  in  a  conventional 
way  with  omissions  or  amplifications  ;  design  may  consist 
in  fanciful  conceptions  as  well  as  in  natural  forms.  The 
flow  and  balance  of  a  line  and  the  distribution  of  colour 
in  a  pattern  may  be  suggested  either  by  existing  nature  or 
by  geometrical,  or  by  other  motives. 

The  designer  of  a  decoration  must  work  in  a  style  of 
drawing  that  seizes  more  upon  form  than  effect.  The 
design  must  be  drawn  in  plain  and  distinct  characters 
and  may  be  suggested  from  a  preparatory  study  of  a 
natural  or  a  conventional  form.  A  hard  firm  outline 
as  a  base  will  at  once  give  a  sense  of  style. 

Lines  should  by  their  arrangement  help  the  pattern  and 
scheme  of  the  decoration.  The  design  must  also  be 
appropriate  in  its  planning  to  a  given  space  to  be  filled. 


DESIGN 


LINES.  —  It  will  be  seen  that  lines  have  expressive 
power  of  great  variety.  They  may  be  straight,  curved,  or 
pronounced,  and  the  character  of  a  curved  line  may  be 
quiet  or  bold,  tormented  or  restrained,  finite  or  infinite. 
The  lines  of  infinity  give  suggestion  and  are  essential  to 
the  sublime.  In  a  firm  outline  when  the  interior  mark- 
ing have  been  traced,  tl.it  washes  of  colour  may  be 
introduced.  Flat  treatment  however  is  not  in  every  case 
essential  to  decoration  for  a  -in -face  or  line  may  be  raised 
or  incised.  Little  suggestion  of  perspective  or  "  light  and 
shade"  will  exist  in  decorative  design,  and  colour  may  be 
used  in  variously  tinted  patches  or  spaces  without  grada- 
tion. Amongst  the  variety  of  lines,  we  have  horizontal 
lines,  ting  repose;  ;r/Y/V«//  lines,  suggesting  dignity, 

aspiration  and  support  ;  and  stjinirrs,  stability.  Certain 
lines  again  suggest  natural  growth  ;  >/////.>//>  and  ////<////</- 
ting  ones,  as  well  as  diagonal  lines  and  angles,  move- 
ment. The  quality  of  line  in  ornament  depends  on  the 
material  employed,  and  this  material  frequently  suggests  a 
certain  treatment.  A  bold  use  of  line  gives  character  to 
a  decoration  or  design,  but  a 
mere  thick  line  will  not  make 
a  decorative  effect  as  will  a 
beautiful  pattern  having  unity 
and  balanc  ^n,  natural 

forms  are  simplified  by  out- 
line. The  space  will  often 
suggest  the  ornament  that  will 
decorate  it  and  there  are  lines 
into  which  the  decoration  of 
a  given  space  naturally  falls  ; 
in  a  square  one  seeks  a 
chequered  pattern  of  cros> 
lines  as  a  decoration,  and  in  a 
circle,  a  ring  or  rays,  or  both 
combined,  or  a  form  of  a  cros-. 
It  will  be  noted  that  there  are  in  every  design— 

(i)  Forms  which  may   be    imitated   or   repeated,  thus 
giving  suggestion. 


8 


PRACTICAL   HINTS 


(2)  The  value  of  line  (thick  or  thin)  which  added  to 
expression,  will  give  sentiment.     There  must  also  be 

(3)  Scale  i 

(4)  Balance  ;  and 

(5)  Organic  growth. 

Ornamental  design  is  conditioned  alone  by  a  consider- 
ation of  beauty  but  it  must  show  fitness  to  the  material  to 
which  it  is  to  be  applied,  and  it  should  not  appear  as  an 
addition  to,  but  as  inseparable  from  the  thing  orna- 
mented. Ornament  should  arouse  a  sense  of  pleasure 
and  kindle  the  affections  of  the  beholder.  If  the  object 
becomes  more  lovable  because  of  its  ornament  it  is  a  sure 
test  that  it  is  good  ornament. 

A  design  will  be  ornamental  where  the  purposes  of  the 
work  are  not  purely  utilitarian  and  applied  when  the 
design  is  planned  for  a  practical  purpose ;  for  instance,  in 
the  cloison  of  enamel  and  the  leadings  of  a  glass  window. 
The  design  for  a  stained-glass  window  will  differ  from 
one  to  be  carried  out  in  mosaic  or  used  for  a  wall  paper. 


BORDERS. 


DESIGN  9 

Every  design  must  be  treated  so  as  to  suit  the  space 
it  is  to  occupy,  and  be  thoroughly  adapted  to  the  material 
selected. 

The  subjects  chosen  maybe  treated  in  any  variety  or 
combination  of  line  or  lines  and  the  motives  for  them 
may  be  suggested  by  natural  or  artificial  shapes  or 
symbols  and  by  human  figures,  plants,  foliage,  or  flowers, 
treated  conventionally.  Balance,  variety,  repetition  and 
proportion  should  also  be  observed  in  design,  as  well  as 
contract.  Contrast  is  only  a  form  of  emphasis,  which  is 
required  and  used  in  decoration  just  as  emphasis  is 
required  in  speaking. 

The  actual  proportion  of  an  ornament  to  the  -back- 
ground is  not  easily  determinedjt  depends  on  the  material 
used  and  must  be  left  to  the  judgment  of  the  eye.  A  too 
equal  division  of  pattern  and  background  is  not  so  pleas- 
ing as  the  emphasis  of  the  design  on  its  Around.  Outline 
is  a  most  valuable  element  in  ornamental  design  depend- 
ing on  the  material  u>ed  and  the  way  it  is  worked.  Out- 
line also  simplifies  the  effect  of  natural  form  when  it  is 
introduced.  The  thickness  of  the  lead  in  stained  glass 
work  and  the  edge  of  the  wire  of  cloisons  in  enamel 
follow  the  trend  of  the  outline.  A  light  ornament  on  a 
dark  ground  will  be  thrown  into  more  pronounced  relief 
by  outlining  the  ornament  with  a  thin  edge  of  lighter 
colour,  or  where  the  ground  is  light  by  the  use  of  a  dark 
outline.  An  outline  traced  between  the  ground  and 
ornament  will  soften  the  effect. 

Ornament  should  be  produced  by  modifying  the  surface 
during  the  making  of  the  work  of  art  and  should  not  be 
added  afterwards. 

The  treatment  of  a  design  and  its  \\orking  out  must 
vary  with  the  various  tools  employed,  or  processes  used 
in  working,  or  the  method  of  work  may  suggest  the  style 
of  the  design. 

Method  may  change,  but  the  nature  of  material  never 
does,  and  the  material  employed  should  proclaim  itself  as 
the  original  source  of  all  appropriate  ornament.  The 


io  PRACTICAL    HINTS 

treatment  must  suit  some  fixed  purpose  or  process  of 
work.  The  design  of  ornament  being  appropriate  in  its 
pattern  to  the  process  of  execution,  the  ornament  to  be 
applied  may  be  "cut  into"  or  engraved  on  an  object,  or 
put  on  ftai,  either  in  drawing  or  in  colour,  or  it  can  be 
raised  on  the  surface.  Depressed  ornament  can  also  be 
introduced  as  in  niello  or  enamel  work. 

In  applied  sculpture,  relief  ornament  may  be  kept  flat, 
or  medium,  or  high  ;  colouring  is  more  in  unison  with 
this  last  style  than  the  first,  which  allows  for  more  delicate 
light  and  shade  and  the  losing  and  finding  of  design. 
The  essence  of  pattern  is  repetition.  For  repeated  orna- 
ment a  choice  of  ornamental  form  remote  from  nature 
is  the  best  motive,  and  gives  the  best  decorative  result. 
Repetition  suggests  infinity  wrhich  is  one  element  of  the 
sublime.  Animals  or  human  figures,  whether  treated 
conventionally  or  not,  must  be  used  sparingly  and  then 
only  if  they  give  good  lines  or  masses.  Animals  or  birds 
are  as  suitable  as  flowers  for  repetition  provided  they  are 
symbolic  enough,  that  is  as  long  as  they  are  not  in  the 
smallest  degree  realistic. 

Repetition  gives  order  to  design  and  scale  to  pattern 
and  fits  it  for  the  purposes  of  a  background  when  treated 
on  the  flat. 

A  careful  distinction  should  be  drawn  between  the 
design  that  is  purely  sensuous  and  gives  pleasure  by 
reason  of  its  form,  colour,  texture,  light  and  shade — that 
is  by  its  purely  material  qualities  and  the  design— such  as 
the  coat  of  arms  of  a  herald,  which  in  addition  to  pleasing 
the  senses  makes  some  appeal  to  the  mind,  heart  and 
reason,  or  the  design  whose  lines  tell  some  story.  The 
design  that  makes  you  think  of  the  Author  of  the  lily  is 
of  a  much  higher  order  than  the  design  which  pleases 
you  without  provoking  a  single  thought,  or  pleases  you 
and  only  makes  you  feel  the  skill  of  the  artist.  The 
greatest  art  is  that  which  expresses  thought  and  feeling 
and  makes  the  hearts  of  men  throb  in  unison  and  mutual 
love. 


DESIGN  ii 

Flat  ornament  is  appropriate  to  stuffs,  carpets,  wall  or 
floor  decoration  without  having  any  qualifications  of 
modelling,  or  light  and  shade. 

An  arabesque  is  a  painted  or  plastic  ornament  consist- 
ing of  a  fantastic  but  well-ordered  form  of  design  or 
conventional  arrangement.  It  forms  essentially  the 
coloured  ornamentation  of  a  ceiling,  carpet,  piece  of 
embroidery,  or  decoration  of  a  book-cover,  in  distinction 
t<>  the  pla-tic  ornament  or  decoration  of  a  frieze,  a  capital, 
01  a  candelabrum.  The  finest  examples  are  found  in 
Persian,  Turkish,  Arabian,  Moorish-Japanese  and  Chinese 
coloured  decorations,  or  in  some  form  of  Gothic.  It  is 
frequently  employed  in  grotesque  wall-painting. 

The  Moorish  arabesque  on  this  page  illu*t  rates  its 
form  perfectly,  and  is  founded  on  the  various  elements 
that  compose  ornament ;  and  thus  illustrates  the  laws  of 
principality,  repetition,  continuity,  curvature,  radiation, 
contrast,  interchange,  consistency  and  harmony. 

The  Arabs  used  this  form  of  art,  and  gave  it  its  name, 
in  their  complicated  system  of  ornamentation. 


ROMAN.  

GOTHIC. 


BYZANTINE.  MOORISH.  ITAL.  RENAISSANCE. 

VARIOUS   ARABESQUES. 


12 


PRACTICAL    HINTS 


LESSON    I. 


PRACTICAL  DESIGN. — Apart  from  the  material  used  or 
the  tools  and  processes  employed,  there  is  the  com- 
position- or  technique  of  design,  which  is  the  application 
of  a  design  to  its  place,  position  and  purpose.  In  this 
distribution  of  the  design,  there  is  always  an  opportunity 
for  originality  in  planning.  The  given  space  has  to  be 
filled  with  an  appropriate  design  which  may  also  have  to 
be  composed  on  a  certain  area  and  be  suitable  to  its  place 
or  purpose.  Much  will  depend  on  the  eye  of  the  artist, 
which  has  to  be  satisfied  nofmatter  in  what  style  he  may 
work. 

One  method  is  to  place  certain  shapes  on  the  panel 
supported  by  subsidiary  shapes  connected  by  lines, 
another  is  to  work  on  a  geometrical  ground-plan  with 
the  introduction  of  variously  shaped  masses. 


PRACTICAL   DESIGN  13 

Everything,  however,  depends  on  proportion — the  eye  is 
displeased  with  a  shape  too  nearly  square  or  dispropor- 
tionately long,  a  shorter  or  narrower  shape  will  be  better. 

The  distribution  of  the 
design  in  a  given  space 
may  be  shown  better  on 
a  plain  background,  while 
a  full  pattern  will  give  em- 
phasis to  the  design. 
Emphasis  may  also  be 

obtained  by  strength  of  line,  masx,  intensity  of  colour, 
counterch.m-r  or  other  forms  of  contrast.  Designing  a 
pattern  in  equal  proportion  each  side  of  a  vertical  line 
L;I\VS  Nvmwc'/rv.  This  quality  is  also  useful,  especially  in 
smaller  details,  and  is  always  the  most  obvious  way  of 
arriving  at  balance.  Again,  organic  growth  may  suggest 
a  "  ;m>//;r,"  and  repetition  will  give  order  to  the  plan  and 
scale  to  the  pattern. 

A  working-drawing  is  finished  as  soon  as  it  expresses 
its  meaning  ;  the  actual  drawing  not  being  its  end,  it 
should  by  no  means  be  mvi  -finished.  If  accurate  and 
clear  for  its  ultimate  purpose-,  notes  of  explanation  and 
plans  of  its  sections  may  be  set  down  on  the  margins. 

Enlargements  can  be  made  by  squaring  the  design  (if 
not  drawn  on  squared  paper)  and  then  placing  the  forms 
in  larger  squares  in  the  same  proportion. 

COLOUR. — Many  colours  in  applied  art  are  inherent  in 
the  material  or  are  produced  in  the  process  of  its  making. 

The  dull  colour  of  earthenware  or 
clay  remains  after  firing  unless  they 
are  coated  with  some  kind  of  glaxe 
or  enamel. 

A  variety  of  colour  is  obtained  by 
enamel  owing  to  the  use  of  vitreous     DECEPTIVE  APPEARANCE 
glaze.     In  this  art  a  metal  such   as  OF  SAME  LINE. 

calx  (calcined  tin  and  lead)  will  make 
enamel  opaque.     The  peculiar   colour   of   Delia   Robbia 
ware  is  due  to  a  tin  enamel. 


14  PRACTICAL    HINTS 

The  beautiful  blue  in  china  comes  from  a  cobalt  which 
the  Chinese  potter  uses  with  a  certain  form  of  chemical 
or  metal. 

The  quality  of  colour  for  itself  is  perhaps  found  more 
in  Oriental  Art  with  its  accepted  formulae  of  artificial 
form  and  its  love  of  convention  than  in  European  Art 
w-ith  its  imitative  spirit. 


The  Orientals  understand  perfectly  that  beauty  of 
colour  exists  unspoiled  by  definite  forms,  and  a  Persian 
carpet  will  give  patterns  of  flowers  and  blossoms  without 
any  visible  outline.  Harmonies  of  colour  are  obtained 
by  contrasts  of  hot  and  cold  colours  modified  by  neutral 
tints,  such  as  different  values  of  blue  and  red  softened  by 
purple,  or  red  tones  contrasted  with  green,  harmonised 
with  grey  and  brown.  According  to  the  material  used, 
we  get  the  whole  range  of  colour  from  simple  opaque 
tints  to  iridescent  sheens. 


Ml'RAL    DECORATION  17 


MURAL   DECORATION. 

Nearly  every  branch  of  decorative  art  ha>  been  applied 
at  some  period  to  ornamenting  wall-surfaces. 

I; -ginning  with  the  pre-historic  drawing  scratched  in 
outline  on  the  walls  of  the  cave-dwellers,  throughout  all 
ages  we  see  a  variety  of  forms  of  ornament  employed. 
Among  them  we  find  all  methods  of  painting,  reliefs 
sculptured  in  marble  or  stone,  glazed  brick  and  tiles, 
lies,  marble  veneer,  sgraffito,  Damped  leather,  wood- 
carvin^,  painted  cloth,  -tcndMing,  metal  work,  and  wall 

papers. 

The  student  should  study  and  analyse  the  style  and 
mode  of  workmanship  that  have  been  employed  at  various 
periods,  and  note  how  tlu •-«.-  have  influenced  the  develop- 
ment of  ornament.  In  approaching  the  study  of  applied 
art  and  decoration  the  student  will  find  that  certain 
branches  <>f  the  fine  arts— such  as  architecture,  sculpture, 
and  painting — have  much  in  common,  and  that  they  are 
often  used  in  combination,  as  in  the  work  of  the  carver 
and  the  mason,  the  worker  in  .mosaic  and  the  gla/ei . 
Architecture  is  the  'idea  which  practically  accompanies 
and  dominate^  that  of  decoration,  and,  according  to  the 
strict  laws  that  govern  this  branch  of  art,  the  subject 
must  be  treated  as  a  part  of  an  architectural  whole. 
It  must  be  designed  and  conceived  in  a  certain  com- 
position adapted  to  the  place  it  is  to  occupy  when 
completed  and  is  intended  to  decorate,  and  appear  in- 
evitably appropriate  therein  in  its  manner  of  grouping 
and  arrangement.  It  must  also  be.  consistent  with  the 
material  employed. 

How  the  arts  of  design  were  combined  and  eventually 
separated  in  the  case  of  the  applied  and  decorative  arts, 
of  which  mural  decoration  forms  an  important  item, 
may  best  be  traced  in  the  following  short  review  of 


i-8  PRACTICAL    HINTS 

ancient  and  mediaeval  tradition   in  regard  to  decorated 
wall-spaces. 

This  will  show  how  closely  the  different  arts  have 
ruled  the  principles  of  mural  decoration,  and  explain 
the  necessity  of  a  thorough  knowledge  on  the  student's 
part  of  the  elements  of  chemistry  as  applied  to  painting, 
the  whole  art  of  which  embraces,  besides  oil  and  water- 
colour,  fresco,  stained  glass,  mosaic  and  enamel.  Draw- 
ing comprises  engraved,  and  also  relief  work,  and  some 
branches  of  sculpture. 

HISTORICAL  NOTE  ON  MURAL  DECORATION. 

While  histoiians  of  art  tell  us  most  of  the  leading  facts 
connected  with  the  history  of  this  art  during  former  ages, 
they  generally  lay  more  stress  upon  Egyptian,  Assyrian, 
Greek,  Roman,  Byzantine,  Gothic  and  Renaissance  styles 
of  ornament  than  upon  the  character  of  their  workman- 
ship. This  was  often  influenced  by  the  application  of 
design  to  particular  material,  or  by  the  way  of  working 
the  material  with  various  tools.  The  chief  interest  to 
the  student  should  be  not  so  much  in  historical  and 
local  characteristics  and  styles  as  in  the  mode  of  work- 
manship employed,  and  how  it  influenced  the  develop- 
ment of  ornament  at  various  periods.  Good  style  should 
be  analogous  to  the  character  and  treatment  of  the 
various  methods  employed. 

Briefly  tracing  the  history  of  the  various  manners  in 
which  the  different  branches  of  decorative  art  have  been 
applied  to  ornamenting  wall-surfaces,  one  finds  in  the 
monuments,  i.e.  the  temples,  of  ancient  Egypt — generally 
great  buildings  of  stone  with  vast  halls  upheld  by  columns 
lighted  laterally  from  above — that  painting  and  sculpture 
were  treated  in  a  conventional  sense,  which  reduced 
^these  arts  in  their  earlier  forms  to  a  subserviency  to 
architecture.  That  is  to  say,  they  were  used  in  the 
sense  of  tinted  relief  and  picture  writing  in  applied  orna- 
ment. The  true  principles  of  decorative  art  are  shown 
in  the  manner  in  which  these  tempera  mural  paintings 


MURAL   DECORATION  19 

arc  carried  out.  Outline  and  flat  tones  of  colour  alone 
were  introduced  in  representing  symbolical  figure  sub- 
jects— generally  drawn  in  profile — on  the  white  plastered 
walls.  |  The  colours  used  were  not  those  of  fresco,  i.e. 
earth  colours/  but  brilliant  purples,  pinks,  green,  blue 
(.1  smalt  or  deep  blue  glass  coloured  by  copper  oxide), 
red,  yellow,  carbon-black  and  a  powdered-chalk  white. 
A  full  recognition  of  conventional  decorative  principles 
was  maintained  in  their  design.  In  the  accessory  decora- 
tions of  the  columns  and  on  various  other  objects  the 

vptians  introduced  several  patterns,  the  subjects  of 
which,  su^-rsted  either  by  geometrical  forms  or  by 
nitural  objects  (as  different  parts  of  the  lotus  and 
papyrus  plants),  -ire  so  valuable  that  they  have  inspired 
artists  down  to  the  promt  day.  Richly  coloured  glazed 
bricks  and  tiles— modelled  and  stamped  in  relief  with 
figures  and  hieroglyphics,  and  coated  with  siliceous 
enamel — were  employed  for  cornices,  mouldings,  and 
\\all-Miitaces  by  the  ancient  Egyptians,  and  by  the 
\  -vrians  m  the  palaces  of  Babylon  and  Nineveh. 

The  frieze  c^  enamelled  brick  tiles  represents  a  group 
of  "  Archers," .  from  the  Palace  at  Susi,  500  B.C.;  it 
is  now  hung  in  the  Louvre,  Paris.  The  whole  decora- 
tion is  about  14  ft.  high,  and  the  figures  are  life-size. 
The  colour  scheme  of  the  background  is  of  a  blue-green ; 
the  figures  are  draped  in  a  yellow  colour  and  are  in 
relief  ;  the  ornaments  on  the  draperies,  spears,  and 
borders  are  yellow,  picked  out  with  white.  The  general 
design  shows  Assyrian  origin  in  a  style  of  Greek  drawing 
and  motive  as  may  be  seen  in  the  plaster  cast  in  South 
Kensington  Museum. 

Coming  to  another  art,  namely,  Mussulman  art,  it  will 
be  found  that,  from  religious  scruples,  it  refrained  entirely 
from  the  representation  of  the  human  figure.  It  reached, 
however,  a  higher  style  of  development  in  the  science  of 
ornament  than  even  that  of  the  subsequent  Middle  Ages, 
where  we  find  the  rise  and  culminating  point  in  the 
evolution  of  mural  painting.  In  Moslem  art  we  find 


20  PRACTICAL   HINTS 

reliefs  sculptured  in  marble  and  stone  decorated  with 
patterns  mostly  geometrical,  and  covering  large  surfaces, 
broken  up  into  panels  by  bands  of  flowing  ornament  or 
Arabic  inscriptions.  Rectangular  earthenware  tiles  are 
also  used  covered  with  white  slip,  painted  in  brilliant 
colours,  and  decorated  with  conventionalised  forms  of 
flowers  or  the  growth  of  trees  with  branches  and 
blossoms  spreading  without  repetitions,  or  with  geomet- 
rical designs  (which  possessed  in  those  days  a  symbolic 
significance  appealing  to  the  Oriental  mind)  forming 
regular  repeats. 

One  ot  the  most  striking  features  of  Greek  art  is  the 
perfection  of  its  proportion.  The  general  dimensions 
of  the  Greek  temple,  the  height  and  thickness  of  the 
columns,  and  the  design  of  the  pediment  show  a  fine 
sense  of  judgment  in  their  treatment.  In  shape  the 
building  is  rectangular,  with  doors  and  no  windows, 
surrounded  on  all  sides  by  single  or  double  rows  of 
columns  which  support  the  roof.  On  the  two  shorter 
sides  the  roof  forms  a  triangle,  the  pediment  adorned  with 
statues.  The  upper  parts  of  the  walls  were  decorated 
with  bas-reliefs  of  figures  and  animals,  forming  a  frieze, 
as  in  the  Parthenon,  Athens,  and  the  architrave,  decorated 
with  reliefs  (metopes).  The  METOPES,  frieze  and  figures 
from  the  pediment  of  the  Parthenon  by  Phidias,  are  now 
in  the  British  Museum. 

The  Roman  fresco  painting  may  be  studied  in  the 
*mural  decorations  of  Pompeii  and  Rome.  It  is  usually 
broken  up  by  pilasters,  columns,  and  other  architec- 
tural forms  painted  with  panels  of  a  black,  yellow,  or 
deep  red  colour  in  "  fresco  buono."  The  colour  being 
laid  on  while  the  stucco  was  moist  necessitated  use  of 
earth  colours.  The  subjects  introduced  on  these  panels 
in  a  second  painting  of  "tempera  "  were  painted  in  more 
vivid  colours  ;  either  this  or  the  encaustic  process  was 
used,  hot  melted  wax  being  brushed  all  over,  and  a 
red-hot  iron  held  near  the  wall  so  as  to  make  the  wax 
disappear  into  the  absorbent  stucco.  The  subjects  intro- 


MURAL   DECORATION  21 

duced  were  generally  taken  from  history  or  mythology, 
&' 1 1 re,  still-life,  landscape,  and  decorated  with  more 
fanciful  patterns  of  scroll  work,  foliage,  figures  of  boys, 
animals  and  birds.  We  pass  Byzantine  and  Early 
Christian  art. 

The  art  of  the  Italian  Renaissance,  with  its  varied 
characteristics,  though  it  borrowed  many  forms  from  the 
newly-discovered  treasures  of  antiquity,  had  nevertheless 
none  of  the  serene  spirit  of  the  classical  Athenian  school. 
It  w.is  further  animated  by  another  spirit,  that  of  Christi- 
anity, then  expre>seJ  in  a  religion  of  Buffering  and 

asceticism. 

An  initiator  of  this  period  was  Brunellesci,  who  built 
the  dome  of  St.  Maria  del  Fiore,  between  1420  and 

H34- 

During   this    period    sculpture   and     painting    still    re 

uuined  entirely  dependent  upon  architecture.  Gradually 
civil  architecture  became  more  imposing  than  the  ecclesi- 
astic.il,  and  the  form  and  character  it  assumed  may  be 
judged  from  the  palaces  of  the  Florentine  nobles,  Mich 
as  thc(Riccardi  Pal.i  ^ncd  by  Michelozzo*  This, 

while  retaining  externally  the  appearance  and  severe  form 
of  ,i  medieval  fortress,  had  in  its  inner  courtyard  numer- 
ous "grotesque"  decorations  on  its  pilasters  and  vaults 
lgrote>.iuc,  a  term  derived  from  the  decorations  on 
Roman  tombs  known  as  "grottoes").  This  style  of 
decoration  was  u-ed  for  borders  to  frescoes,  and  by 
Ferugino,  and  still  survives.  Giotto's  beautiful  Gothic 
campanile  at  Florence  was  finished  by  Talenti  in  1358.' 
ie  period  it  will  be  seen  that  the  reliefs  and  statues 
introduced  in  buildings  tended  to  preponderate  over  the 
constructional  design,  as  in  the  Certosa  in  Pavia.  It  was 
to  counteract  this  tendency  that  Bramante  emphasised 
the  constructional  "  non-decorative  "  aspect  of  a  building 
by  the  use  of  columns  and  pilasters  in  his  first  design 
of  St.  Peter's  in  Rome. 

A  fine  specimen  of  high  ornate  art  is  to  be  found  in 
Jacopo  Tatti's  library  of  St.  Mark,  Venice,  with  its  Doric 


22  PRACTICAL   HINTS 

ground-floor,  Ionic  first-floor,  and  frieze  and  balustrade 
enriched  with  figures.  As  an  isolated  phenomenon,  a 
resurrection  of  the  antique  idea  may  be  noted  in  the 
work  of  Nicola  Pisano,  who  in  1260  carved  the  pulpit 
of  the  baptistery,  Pisa.  Gothic  in  form,  it  is  decorated 
with  bas-reliefs  imitated  from  those  on  Roman  sarca- 
phagi.  Under  the  influence  of  artists  of  this  and  the 
next  period  the  arts  of  painting  and  sculpture  were 
detached  from  architecture,  and  began  to  develop  on 
individual  lines. 

In  the  earlier  frescoes  the  arrangement  of  the  subjects 
of  the  pictures  was  usually  a  very  simple  one.  Balance 
was  first  sought  for  in  the  evolving  of  the  composition. 

The  stories  of  the  Bible  were  told  with  single  figures 
on  elementary  landscape  or  architectural  backgrounds, 
the  design  being  founded  on  mathematical  shapes,  as 
the  circle,  showing  continuity,  the  triangle,  suggesting 
stability,  the  cross,  mechanical  resistance,  or  a  vertical  line 
was  placed  in  an  angular  composition,  or  this  was  based 
on  a  horizontal  or  rectangular  one. 

Next  lines  of  beauty  were  sought,  as  the  letter  S,  giving 
grace  and  movement.  With  the  advance  of  Art,  works 
founded  on  compositions  of  groups  or  on  light  and  shade 
were  evolved,  and  the  quality  of  principality  was  given  by 
emphasis,  contrast,  sacrifice,  or  by  breadth  of  or  elaboration 
of  gradation. 

Tintoretto  brilliantly  shows  the  elements  of  a  composi- 
tion founded  on  a  star  in  his  "  Marriage  of  Bacchus  and 
Ariadne."  Expression  was  obtained  by  suggestion,  mystery, 
simplicity,  reserve,  or  relief. 

With  the  advance  of  the  art  of  perspective,  a  great 
variety  of  mixed  forms  of  arrangement  was  arrived  at, 
and  another  variety  of  form  of  composition  was  suggested 
from  monograms. 


PAINTING  23 


PAINTING. 

+  Duccio  who  lived  between  1282-1320,  having  seen 
some  Byzantine  painting  and  enamel  work,  appeal •>  as 
the  first  painter  of  pictures  (per  se).  These  were  designed 
from  subjects  in  the  painted  chronicles  (vellum)  of  the 
Middle  Ages.  Next  comes  Giotto,  the  real  father  of 
fresco,  and  the  first  of  the  great  Florentine  painters,  who 
painted  his  frescoes  of  "  The  Life  of  St.  Paul."  In  these 
he  was  partly  inspired  by  the  Gothic  style  of  Giovanni 
Pisano,  but  above  all  by  nature  itself. 

In  the  fourteenth  century  we  pass  Orcagna's  fresco  of 
"The  Triumph  of  Death"  with  its  conventionalised 
landscape  background.  We  come  to  the  most  important 
decorator  of  the  time  in  Masaccio,  whose  frescoes  were  ;i 
source  of  inspiration  to  many  other  aitisN.  In  the 
Church  of  the  Carmine,  Florence,  he  used  the  medium 
without  anv  retouching,  and  obtained  a  richness  of 
colour  rivalling  the  strength  of  oil  painting  itself.  In 
these  decorative  works  IK  treated  his  subjects  with  great 
simplicity,  placing  his  figures  in  an  effect  of  even  light, 
and  obtaining  harmony  from  the  local  colour  of  the 
draperies,  flesh,  ground  and  sky.  His  pictures  decorate 
by  colours  and  masses. 

Florentine  painting  is  essentially  the  filling  up  of  well- 
drawn  outlines  with  local  tints,  graded  as  light,  middle, 
and  dark. 

As  an  adjunct  to  fresco  or  tempera  painting,  gilded 
gesso,  limited  to  relief  of  patterned  backgrounds,  orna- 
ments on  draperies,  or  on  the  borders  and  frames  to 
pictures,  was  frequently  used. 

Gesso  consists  of  a  thin  coating  of  fine  plaster,  mixed 
with  size ;  it  was  used  on  dry  stucco  relief,  or  on  terra- 
cotta or  stone,  as  a  form  of  raised  or  modelled  plaster 
work  ;  it  was  often  stamped  with  designs  and  coloured  or 


24  PRACTICAL    HINTS 

gilded.  Another  form  of  gesso,  composed  of  plaster  of 
Paris,  or  whiting,  and  size  or  glue  mixed  together,  and 
applied  as  a  paste  with  a  brush,  is  still  used  for  the 
decoration  of  picture-frames,  the  plaster  or  wood  being 
previously  made  non-absorbent  by  a  coating  of  shellac 
or  varnish. 

SURFACE  DECORATION. — As  a  rule,  from  the  i3th  to 
i Oth  century,  starting  with  the  works  of  G.  Pisano  and 
Cimabue,  schemes  of  wall  painting  were  commonly 
carried  out  in  fresco.  Considerations  of  structural  fit- 
ness were  in  time  gradually  overshadowed  by  the  attrac- 
tion of  surface  decoration.  Originality  was  occasionally 
shown  in  organic  decoration,  but  it  was  often  eclipsed  by 
the  subordinate  quality  of  surface  decoration,  resulting  in 
a  tendency  towards  a  mere  striving  for  richness  of  effect. 

The  method  of  treatment  differed  from  that  employed 
in  Byzantine  Church  Art,  which  consisted  mainly  of 
geometrical  or  inorganic  motives  and  forms  carried  out 
in  "  marble  veneer,"  usually  placed  as  a  "  dado  "  on  the 
lower  part  of  walls  with  mosaic  above,  or  of  alabaster 
squares,  arranged  over  the  whole  wall,  and  divided  into 
panels,  &c.,  by  bands  of  marble  and  coloured  mosaic. 

The  FRESCO  subjects  were  chiefly  designed  with  figures 
illustrative  of  biblical  legends,  and  these  pictures  were 
usually  placed  on  the  upper  parts  of  wall-surfaces  over  a 
dado  varying  from  6  to  8  ft.  in  height. 


PAINTING  25 

LESSON   II. 

FRESCO- PAINTING. 

The  method  of  mural  painting  for  external  and  inter- 
nal decoration  practised  during  the  thirteenth  to  fifteenth 
centuries  was  fresco ;  that  is  to  say,  the  colour  mixed 
with  linu-  was  painted  on  //v>7//v- /<//</  plustcr  while  moist. 
This  was  clone  in  order  that  the  colours  laid  on  a  wet 
Mirface  of  lime  planter  should  dry  permanently  with  it. 
jo  dried  quickly  (from  one  to  two  days),  and  gave 
.1  semi-transparent  quality  even  to  opaque  colour.  The 
plaster  it>elt  scl  in  the  taking-up  of  the  water.  The 
colours  used  were  iw/7/is  (mixed  with  lime),  i.e.  white 
(calcined  travertine),  bianco  San  Giovanni  or  lime,  black 
(charcoal  or  chalk),  red  (cinabrese),  a  red  earth,  burnt 
ochre,  sinopia  (light  red),  terra-vert,  light  and  dark  ochiv>, 
giallolino  (a  light  yellow),  and  amatista  (a  purple-red), 
d  with  pure  water  as  a  vehicle.  Cennini  tells  us 
that  the  plaster  was  prepared  and  laid  in  sections  after 
the  tirst  preparation  of  the  brick-base  had  been  made; 
this  base,  it  possible,  was  -li-htlv  raised  by  bricks  on  edge, 
and  secured  by  leaden  clamps  to  keep  the  damp  away. 
Tin-  layers  ol  plaster  were  made  of  (i)  lime  mixed  with 
powdered  brick  or  gritty  sand  (po//olana),  (2)  lime  and 
pozzolana,  (3)  lime  and  powdered  marble.  For  the 
actual  fresco-painting  (4)  the  last  coat  (intonaco)  was 
made  of  lime  and  gritty  sand,  left  with  its  natural  surface. 
In  the  process  of  painting  the  earth-pigments  are  laid 
on  the  moist  plaster,  and  remain,  technically  speaking,  on 
the  surface,  and  do  not  sink  into  the  wall. 

MKTHOD. — The  method  followed  by  these  artists  was 
first  to  outline  their  subject  with  charcoal  on  the  car- 
toon which  had  been  squared  off  to  scale  to  the  original 
preparatory  design,  and  then  the  outlines  were  drawn 
with  a  sharp  iron  instrument  through  the  paper  on  to 
the  wall ;  after  this,  for  painting  in,  ochre  and  water  was 
used,  the  light  and  shade  and  details  being  added  with 
terra-rossa  thinned  with  water.  In  the  preparation  of  this 


26  PRACTICAL    HINTS 

intonaco,  it  was  spread  only  in  such  portions  of  the  work 
as  it  was  desired  to  paint  upon  at  once.  The  plaster 
not  painted  on  was  cut  away,  and  the  next  day  a  fresh 
patch  was  laid  and  joined  up.  Squares  were  again 
marked  off,  and  the  outlines  of  the  figures  were  re-drawn 
on  the  wall  while  it  was  damp  and  painted  in  colour,  in 
fiat  tones. 

The  flesh-colour  was  painted  from  three  pots  of  pre- 
pared "  flesh-colour,"  made  of  lime,  bianco-sangiovanni 
and  red  (according  with  the  desired  three  tones  wanted), 
the  lighter  tints  containing  a  larger  quantity  of  lime. 

Vasari  relates  how  in  some  cases  the  fresco  was  finally 
retouched  with  distemper  made  from  a  mixture  of  both 
parts  of  an  egg  and  the  fluid  from  the  fig  tree,  the  size 
from  glue  or  from  gum  tragacanth  (soluble  in  water). 
The  addition  of  distemper  on  the  fresco  sometimes 
proved  dangerous,  as  the  two  mediums  did  not  always 
unite,  for  the  egg,  gum,  and  size  are  chemically  affected 
by  the  lime  of  the  buon  fresco.  Many  of  the  highest 
lights  which  were  added  where  necessary  have  since 
turned  colour,  the  white  lead  and  the  addition  of  size 
or  gum  sometimes  turning  to  black. 

PAINTING  IN  TEMPERA  (Latin  tempemre,  to  qualify  by 
mixing,  to  regulate). 

In  tempera  painting  the  colours  are  ground  in  water 
and  used  with  size  and  white  and  yolk  of  egg,  or  they 
are  prepared  with  starch.  The  dry  powdered  colour  is 
worked  on  any  dry  ground  and  used  with  yolk  of  egg 
as  a  vehicle.  The  colours  used  are — white  lead  (biacca), 
orpiment,  cinabro  (a  red  oxide),  light  blue  (used  with 
size  or  gum  to  prevent  it  turning  green  from  the  yolk 
of  egg),  vermilion,  lake,  verdigris,  and  indigo  ;  a  number 
of  paintings  in  this  method  hang  in  South  Kensington 
Museum. 

In  the  process  of  painting  over  the  preparatory  fresco 
grounds  which  were  laid  on  the  wet  plaster  and  allowed 


FRESCO-PAINTING  27 

to  dry,  the  distemper  colours  used  were,  for  instance, 
terra-vert  (in  "  early  "  work)  or  grey  for  the  shadows  of 
flesh  ;  grey,  black,  or  red  for  the  foundations  of  brown  ; 
blue  or  purple  draperies,  a  red  for  blue  sky,  and  black 
for  the  base  of  tree  foliage.  The  flesh  colours  used  were 
similar  to  those  named  above,  mixed  with  white  lead, 
upon  which  lighter  tones  to  mark  the  highest  lights  were 
painted  in  solid  impasto,  and  finally  the  outlines  were 
touched  in  with  sinopia  (light  red)  or  black.  Draperies 
were  painted  with  graduated  colours  in  a  similar  way, 
with  the  lights  hatchcd-in. 

In  treatment  the  effect  wa>  generally  obtained  by  .in 
even  light,  and  richness  was  got  by  local  colour  of  the 
draperies,,  the  ground  or  the  sky.  No  opposition  of  light 
and  dark  is  given,  and  no  relief,  the  decorative  effect  of 
the  picture  being  clue  to  colour  and  masses. 

The  light  effect  is  given  by  the  tones  of  the  flesh  and 
the  draperies,  transparent  colour  showing  the  ground 
through  being  used,  and  the  shadows  are  treated  with 
thick  paint,  thus  reversing  the  process  in  ordinary  oil- 
painting. 

In  recent  times,  by  the  introduction  of  the  following 
chemical  colours,  a  fuller  palette  is  now  used  :  raw  and 
burnt  terra  di  Siena,  burnt  ochres,  Like-coloured  burnt 
vitriol,  purple  burnt  vitriol,  raw  and  burnt  umber, 
chrome  green,  cobalt  green,  cobalt  and  burnt  Cologne 
earth  (black).  And  as  a  vehicle,  a  mixture  of  raw  egg 
and  vinegar,  or  for  scene-painting  distemper  colours 
mixed  with  size,  painted  on  a  basis  of  whiting,  is  used. 

To  obtain  light  grey,  lampblack  is  used;  for  pink, 
rose  pink  ;  salmon,  Venetian  red  ;  lilac,  indigo  and  rose 
pink  ;  Kr.  grey,  Prus.  blue  and  lake  for  blue,  cobalt,  or 
Prus.  blue  or  indigo.  Em.  gr.  from  indigo,  or  Prus.  blue 
and  chrome,  or  yel.  ochre,  or  from  emerald  green. 

For  orange,  Dutch  pink  and  orange  lead  is  used  ;  for 
a  buff  tint,  yel.  ochre,  with  the  addition  of  Venetian  red  ; 
for  a  drab  tint,  the  umbers.  These  colours  are  applied 
with  hot  size. 


28  PRACTICAL   HINTS 

Botticelli,  though  not  a  colourist,  frequently  employed 
colour  to  emphasise  his  drawing  with  its  "  continuously- 
flowing  line."  He  showed  a  real  strength  and  subtle 
vitality  in  his  art,  which  qualities  may  be  seen,  for 
instance,  in  his  two  frescoes  now  in  the  Louvre,  Paris. 
These  qualities  do  not  seem  always  to  have  been  fully 
recognised  by  his  later  admirers. 

Mention  must  be  made  of  Luca  Signorelli's  fresco, 
"The  End  of  the  World/'  at  Orvieto,  and  his  fresco, 
"The  Triumph  of  Chastity"  (No.  910),  in  the  National 
Gallery,  London. 

Coming  to  the  Venetians,  we  find  Mantegna's  carefully- 
executed  tempera  frescoes.  Those  from  the  collection 
of  Ludovico  Gonzago,  the  Duke  of  Mantua,  are  now  in 
Hampton  Court  Palace.  Composed  in  a  classic  style 
under  Gothic  influence,  they  combine  a  severe  correct- 
ness of  form  with  a  healthy  vitality,  the  highest  qualities 
of  art.  A  wonderful  mastery  of  the  art  of  perspective  is 
shown  in  the  way  these  designs  are  adapted  to  the  eleva- 
tion they  originally  were  intended  to  occupy.  They  are 
nine  in  number,  each  9  ft.  square,  and  are  painted  on 
cloth,  as  are  his  pictures  in  grisaille  of  "The  Triumph 
of  Scipio  "  and  "  Samson  and  Delilah  "  (Nos.  902,  1145), 
in  the  National  Gallery,  London. 

In  Milan,  on  the  walls  of  the  refectory  of  Santa  Maria 
delle  Grazie,  there  are  still  the  ruins  of  Leonardo  Da 
Vinci's  "  Last  Supper,"  a  ruin  caused  by  its  being  partly 
painted  in  oil-colour.  A  contemporary  copy  in  oil,  of  the 
same  size,  of  this  work  hangs  in  the  Diploma  Gallery  of 
the  Royal  Academy,  Burlington  House. 

RAPHAEL'S  STANZE. — Raphael's  early  work  was  influ- 
enced in  a  high  degree  by  the  decorative  works  of 
Pinturicchio — painter  of  "  The  Return  of  Ulysses  "  (tem- 
pera), National  Gallery,  London  (No.  911),  who  worked 
with  Vannucci,  Perugino,  the  author  of  the  fresco  No. 
1441,  now  hanging  in  the  same  gallery — and  by  the 
works  of  Timoteo  Vita.  His  later  work,  the  decorations 
of  the  Stanze  in  the  Vatican,  shows  in  the  historical  and 


FRESCO-PAINTING  29 

allegorical  composition  of  his  subjects  a  curious  fusion 
of  Pagan  and  Christian  spirit.  The  subjects  of  the 
Loggia,  partly  executed  by  his  pupils,  are  inspired  by 
early  Roman  paintings.  All  these  were  done  in  fresco, 
as  was  Andrea  del  Sarto's  painting  of  "  The  Last  Supper," 
at  San  Salvi,  near  Florence. 

MICHAEL  ANGKLO'S  PAINTING  ON  THE  CEILING  OF 
TIM-;  SISTIM;  CHAIM-:L.-  -Michael  Angelo,  sculptor,  painter, 
and  architect,  shows  the  method  of  fresco  painting  per- 
haps at  its  highest  in  its  differentiation  in  quality  to  the 
medium  of  oil. 

His  method  of  work  appears  to  have  been  lirst  to  make 
sketches  and  studies  of  his  model,  and  to  prepare  a  full- 
si/ed  c.ntoon  on  paper  (squared  off),  which  he  fitted  to 
the  fresh-laid  intonaco,  the  outline  being  then  produced 
by  the  pounce-bag  through  pricked  holes  or  marked 
through  the  cartoon-paper  with  a  stylus.  Next  the  local 
colour^  weie  laid  in,  the  modelling  done  in  cool  shadow 
(grey),  and  the  light  painted  with  a  full  brush  and  softened 
into  half-tint;  the  dark  parts  weir  then  added.  He  did 
not  repaint  in  distemper,  but  sometimes  glazed  in  washes 
with  a  thin  coat  of  black-grey  mixed  with  size, 

Michael  Angelo  took  four  years  to  paint  the  ceiling 
of  the  Sistine  Chapel  in  the  Vatican.  The  whole  is  a 
vision  of  striking  energy  and  grandeur,  representing  the 
Prophets  and  Sibyls,  seated  slaves,  statuesque  figures, 
and  including  a  number  of  pictures,  scenes  from  the 
Old  Testament.  (Jiving  the  highest  expression  of  line 
and  form,  he  treats  only  of  "local  colour"  in  pale  tints 
and  chiaroscuro  ;  he  was  indifferent  to  landscape. 

Michael  Angelo's  plan  was  carried  out  on  the  bare 
ceiling,  which  comprises  the  roofing  and  comes  down 
the  walls  to  the  line  where  the  windows  with  their 
arched  tops  begin.  The  central  part  of  the  ceiling  is 
flat,  but  from  there  it  is  slightly  vaulted,  the  pendentives 
ending  between  each  two  of  the  twelve  windows  on 
either  side  of  the  chapel's  walls.  There  is  no  ornament 
(per  sc)  on  the  ceiling;  the  whole  elaborate  architectural 


3o  PRACTICAL    HINTS 

framework  is  painted.  It  is  a  stupendous  piece  of  plan- 
ning, with  nine  central  panels  and  such  architectural 
details  as  platforms,  flanked  by  two  boy  caryatids  on  a 
double-base  plinth  holding  a  cornice  on  their  heads,  and 
pilasters,  arches,  and  niches  decorated  entirely  with 
figures. 

The  fresco  of  "  The  Last  Judgment,"  a  work  which 
occupied  him  for  seven  years,  is  a  truly  personal  vision 
of  this  tremendous  subject  with  the  human  figure  repre- 
sented in  every  possibility  of  movement  and  line. 

The  frescoes  of  Correggio  which  decorate  the  dome  of 
Parma  Cathedral,  have  not  always  been  as  much  appre- 
ciated as  they  should  be  by  students ;  they  show  a  fine 
power  of  design,  and  exhibit  none  of  the  sensual  mysti- 
cism displayed  in  his  oil  subjects.  Mention  may  be 
made  of  R.  van  der  Weyden's  tempera  picture  "  The 
Deposition  in  the  Tomb "  (No.  664),  in  the  National 
Gallery,  London. 

Tempera  was  in  use  at  this  date  as  the  basis  of  picture- 
painting,  oil  colour  being  only  employed  to  give  a  super- 
ficial glaze  or  lustre  to  this  foundation. 

As  a  decorative  artist  Paolo  Veronese  shows  in  his 
pictures  luminous  effects  of  lighting,  and  the  splendid 
arrangements  of  rich  costumes  which  together  make  up 
the  outlook  of  the  Venetian  school.  In  design  these  sub- 
jects evince  a  freedom  of  joyous  life,  set  forth  in  splendid 
colours,  wrapped  in  an  "envelope"  of  atmosphere. 
Among  the  various  other  artists  of  this  school  were 
Tintoretto,  who  sought  for  vivid  contrasts  of  "  light  and 
shade,"  and  Tiepolo,  who  exhibits  great  moderation  and 
elegance  in  his  works.  This  latter  artist,  it  has  been  truly 
said,  was  the  last  of  the  "  old  painters,"  and  the  first  of 
the  modern,  and  nearly  all  the  great  decorators,  including 
those  of  the  nineteenth  century,  have  been  inspired  by 
him.  Several  of  his  decorative  pictures  hang  in  the 
National  Gallery,  London.  Charles  the  First's  Banquet- 
ing Hall,  Whitehall,  now  the  United  Service  Museum, 
contains  Rubens'  ceiling  painted  in  oil,  as  is  also  his 
Maria  de'  Medici  series  in  the  Louvre,  Paris. 


COMPOSITION  31 


COMPOSITION— THE    LAWS   GOVERNING 
COMPOSITION    EXPLAINED   AND   ANALYSED. 

The  use  of  composition  is  to  enable  an  artist  to  knit 
the  elements  of  his  design  together.  All  pictures  and 
mural  decorations — for  they  are  closely  related  in  their 
essentials — have  the  elements  of  composition  in  common, 
that  should  adapt  a  work  perfectly  for  its  purpose  and 
material,  in  a  simple  architectural  framing  of  upright 
and  hoii/ontal  lines.  The  main  idea  having  been  found, 
the  greatest  difficulty  consists  in  determining  this  arrange- 
ment and  grouping. 

In  the  case  of  the  great  originators  and  masters  of  art, 
w*e  find  that  although  the  passionate  quality  of  their  work 
lies  in  its  conception,  the  execution  is  elaborately  calcu- 
lated. Let  us  see  how  far  certain  rules  are  essential  to 
the  construction  of  every  design  and  picture.  Concentra- 
tion of  cift\t  on  the  subject  of  the  composition  comes 
tii^t.  It  is  to  be  found  in  them  all,  and  is  particularly 
important  in  art.  It  will  at  once  be  apparent  that 
iirrangement  of  line  by  itself  cannot  entirely  constitute 
composition,  for  effect  of  light  and  shade,  colour  and 
perfect  ire  also  enter  into  the  subject.  This  is  seen  in 
Leonardo  da  Vinci's  oil  painting  of  "The  Last  Supper." 

LINKS  IN  COMPOSITION. — A  fixed  rule  was  what  was 
called  angular  composition  :  that  is,  dividing  the  picture 
by  drawing  a  diagonal  line  from  one  corner  of  the  picture 
to  the  other,  and  thus  obtaining  decorative  spacing.  An 
obvious  rule  is  that  of  obtaining  an  effect  by  concentra- 
tion of  a  mass  of  light  surrounded  by  dark,  or  the 
reverse.  Another  rule  is  that  in  every  subject  there 
must  be  balance  and  movement.  Again,  there  are  certain 
parts  of  a  picture  that  take  the  light ;  some  that  are  dark 
against  light;  those  that  are  light  against  dark;  and 
others  that  are  more  lost  or  divided  in  effect.  All  this 
helps  to  give  variety.  Giotto  frequently  followed  in  his 


32  PRACTICAL    HINTS 

frescoes  a  rule  of  repeating  lines  and  forms  to  emphasise 
his  subject,  a  large  form  being  used  for  the  principal 
figure,  and  smaller  ones  filling  up  the  other  parts  of  the 
design ;  and  he  occasionally  treated  his  background  like  a 
piece  of  tapestry,  and  allowed  the  principal  group,  by  an 
accentuation  of  colour  in  various  shapes  and  sizes,  to 
stand  out  from  it.  Geometrical  shapes  and  forms  were 
often  used  in  the  arrangement  of  figure  pictures  to  give 
importance  to  the  subjects ;  thus  Raphael,  composed 
several  "  Holy  Families "  in  the  shape  of  a  triangle  or 
pyramid.  A  diamond  shape  (as  in  his  "Sistine  Madonna'') 
was  used  in  order  that  the  many  features  of  the  subject 
should  be  so  grouped  that  each  part  might  help  to  tell 
the  story.  Circular  and  elliptical  composition  was  also 
used  often  by  Botticelli,  as  in  his  "  Madonna  "  (No.  275) 
in  the  National  Gallery,  London),  being  adapted  for 
variety  of  light  and  shade.  (This  picture  is  in  tempera 
varnished.)  In  another  form  of  arrangement  the  figures 
and  objects  were  composed  on  concentric  circles  round  a 
central  point,  with  lines  converging  to  the  centre  of 
interest.  In  the  beautiful  cartoon  of  Raphael  (painted 
in  tempera)  at  South  Kensington,  "  Christ's  Charge  to 
Peter,"  he  gives  the  story  of  this  subject  by  a  series  of 
progressive  actions  of  the  different  figures  and  contrasts 
in  their  gestures,  and  has  based  his  design  of  the  figures 
on  a  serpentine  line.  This  allows  an  opportunity  for 
alternate  masses  of  light  and  shade  to  come  into  the 
group.  The  old  masters  often  introduced  their  horizons 
very  low,  to  give  fuller  play  to  their  cloud  effects ;  this 
will  be  seen  if  the  spectator  looks  upwards  or  is 
situated  below  the  figures. 

The  composition  of  figures  in  a  picture  must  not  be 
so  obvious  as  to  suggest  that  they  are  only  there  to  fill 
some  otherwise  empty  space,  no  figure  or  principal  subject 
should  be  exactly  in  the  centre  or  central  line  of  a  picture, 
for  the  eye  wearies  of  looking  at  regular  forms  and  spaces. 
It  will  be  found  that  horizontal  lines  tend  to  give  an  effect 
of  repose.  These  may  occasionally  be  broken  by  a 


COMPOSITION  33 

notch,  and  then  continued,  so  as  not  to  be  too  severe. 
Again,  perpendicular  lines,  it  will  be  noted,  give  decorative 
effect. 

Michael  Angelo,  to  suggest  greater  action  in  his  figures, 
used  a  broken  line. 

In  composing  single  figures  to  fit  given  spaces  the 
square  shape  is  the  most  difficult  to  fill,  for  of  all  angles 
the  right  angle  is  the  most  conspicuous,  and  it  is  in 
relation  to  these  and  the  sides  of  the  frame  that  the  main 
lines  of  a  composition  of  a  picture  are  designed.  Pyra- 
midal and  radiating  forms  of  composition,  round  and 
oval  lines,  or  any  of  these  in  combination  or  contrast 
may  be  useful. 

In  composition,  to  fill  a  given  space,  it  will  be  found 
that  it  is  quite  easy  to  turn  a  figure  round,  if  necessary, 
for  the  front  and  back  view  have  often  nearly  the  same 
outline.  Again,  the  distance  can  be  extended  between 
two  figures  standing  one  in  front  of  the  other  by  suggest- 
ing more  space  in  the  perspective  of  the  ground  plan. 
This  is  due  to  short  and  long  distance  perspective. 

It  will  be  found  that  the  point  of  sight  and  horizon 
determine  many  of  the  lines  in  a  composition. 

Again,  in  all  "  decorative  art "  there  must  be  a  beauti- 
ful pattern.  This  is  the  most  distinctive  difference 
between  that  art  and  picture  composition,  for  it  is  not 
the  thick  line  in  the  drawing  that  makes  the  decorative 
effect,  but  the  qualities  which  the  pattern  must  have — 
unity,  balance,  shape,  &c. 

Another  method  often  used  by  Michael  Angelo,  ond 
amplified  in  our  days,  is  the  rectangular  method.  Instead 
of  making  the  figures  complete  in  themselves,  the  interest 
is  extended  by  means  of  architecture  and  ground  lines 
to  a  larger  whole.  The  figure,  not  being  made  so  im- 
portant, takes  its  place  as  part  of  the  picture  as  a  whole, 
into  which  are  introduced  rectangular  lines  of  buildings, 
a  landscape  or  sea.  The  figure  will  then  have  a  less 
pre-arranged  appearance.  A  modification  of  the  rule  of 
always  composing  a  complete  figure  in  each  picture  is 

3 


34  PRACTICAL   HINTS 

allowable,  and  is  often  done  by  cutting  off  the  lower  part 
or  any  portion  of  the  figure.  This  helps  to  give  interest 
to  the  arrangement. 

In  decorative  composition  a  head  of  a  figure  bending 
must  not  look  too  cramped,  or  as  if  it  carried  the  frame 
on  its  head  or  arm. 

Again,  a  part  of  the  design  was  emphasised  by  lines 
leading  to  it,  as  in  Leonardo  da  Vinci's  "  Last  Supper/' 
or  by  putting  in  most  of  the  heads  and  figures  complete, 
as  in  Raphael's  fresco,  "  The  Dispute  of  the  Sacrament," 
Vatican. 

EFFECT. — It  will  be  seen  that  lines,  although  playing  a 
great  part  in  design,  are  to  be  harmonised  and  merged 
into  the  effects  which  the  light  and  shade  require  in  an 
oil-picture.  The  design  without  the  effect  of  half-tones 
and  values  of  different  strengths  cannot  fill  the  scheme  ; 
the  study  of  colour  is  also  important.  This  leads  to  the 
classification  of  the  two  great  divisions  of  artists  :  those 
that  look  for  outline  and  pure  line  or  classical  drawing  in 
their  work  as  in  fresco,  and  those  that  give  the  picturesque 
aspect  and  the  effect  of  natural  drawing  in  their  efforts, 
Giotto  and  L.  da  Vinci  being  typical  examples  of  the  two 
ideas.  In  classical  drawing,  value  of  colour,  again,  can 
be  used  to  suit  the  expression  of  the  idea  which  is  to  be 
conveyed  ;  for  example,  Raphael  and  Poussin  purposely 
laid  less  stress  on  it  than  on  their  design ;  while  Rubens, 
though  a  great  colourist,  for  the  opposite  reason  made 
beautiful  drawings  to  aid  in  the  expression  of  his  colour 
values.  Paolo  Veronese's  (Cagliari)  drawing  is  as  good 
as  his  colonr.  Colour  therefore,  it  will  be  seen,  cannot 
be  entirely  disassociated  from  design,  for  the  value  of 
execution  must  be  in  accord  with  its  conception. 

A  decorative  effect  will  always  be  obtained  if  the 
shapes  and  colours  are  well  arranged. 

COLOUR. — Colour  itself  can  be  used  either  as  simple 
colour  or  in  values.  Tiepolo,  by  the  beauty  of  his  values, 
gives  a  fair  representation  of  light.  %By  arrangement  of 
colours  in  composition  it  will  be  found  that  they  can 


COMPOSITION  35 

be  divided  into  certain  hot  and  cold  tints,  each  relieving 
the  other  by  contrast,  thus  giving  harmony.  Naturally, 
in  a  picture  or  decoration,  the  colours  must  be  softened 
by  the  introduction  of  neutral  tones.  Again,  an  enor- 
mous range  of  the  palette  may  be  obtained  by  judicious 
arrangement  in  bunches,  and  by  subdivision  of  some 
colours  into  more  varied  values  and  shades  of  the  same 
colours.  This  was  Veronese's  practice,  which  he  carried 
out  with  great  skill.  From  the  foregoing  remarks  it  will 
have  been  noted  that  some  of  the  old  masters'  conven- 
tions were  based  more  on  tradition  than  on  the  study  of 
Nature,  the  continual  observance  of  which  alone  can 
save  the  artist  from  mannerisms,  and  that  others  worked 
on  rules  formed  from  natural  laws. 

Again,  some  colourists,  such  as  Titian  and  Rubens, 
represented  the  tones  in  their  value  and  colour  without 
tlu-  magic  of  light,  and  others  were  Inminarists,  who 
make  light  the  most  important  thing.  Later,  Puvis  de 
Chavanues  found  that  by  the  representation  of  the  colour 
of  atmosphere  he  was  enabled  to  carry  the  composition 
of  Poussin  and  the  antique,  on  which  he  had  based 
himself,  a  step  further,  introducing  aerial  perspective  and 
open-air  effect. 

The  key  of  the  picture  having  been  decided,  the  old 
masters  made  their  base  of  either  yellow  or  brown  for 
indoors,  or  grey  for  out-of-door-. 

Then  a  picture  was  painted  in  a  scheme  of  silver  (or 
grey),  using  white,  grey,  green,  blue,  and  black  tones, 
or  in  a  scheme  of  gold  with  the  use  of  yellow,  red,  brown, 
and  black  tints  in  combination. 

It  has  in  later  times  been  established  by  the  study  of 
values  that  on  first  going  out  into  the  open  the  effect 
of  figures  is  that  they  are  darker  in  tone  than  anything 
else  in  the  landscape  (and  sky),  and  the  horizon  is  found 
to  be  high  above  them.  The  sky,  it  will  also  be  noted, 
will  appear  as  the  lightest  part,  except  sometimes  at 
evening,  when  the  light  of  the  setting  sun  falling  on  a 
figure  makes  the  flesh  appear  lighter  than  the  sky  behind 


36  PRACTICAL    HINTS 

it.     A  great  variety  and  difference  of  effect  will  be  found 
in  the  play  of  sunlight  on  colour. 

When  a  subject  is  p-iinted  as  a  decoration  or  fresco,  it 
need  not  be  an  exact  study  and  impression  from  life,  or 
a  piece  of  realism,  but  it  must  be  conceived  according 
to  the  laws  that  govern  this  branch  of  art.  The  compo- 
sition must  be  adapted  so  perfectly  to  the  place  it  will 
occupy  that  another  arrangement  should  be  impossible. 
Starting  with  a  preliminary  designed  cartoon  of  what 
forms  and  colours  he  wishes  to  introduce  into  his 
picture,  the  artist  can  paint  it  from  studies  or  lay  it  in 
direct,  painting  on  the  wet  plaster  in  certain  pre-arranged 
schemes,  and  then  use  studies  of  the  living  model  to  help 
out  the  subject. 

Outline  drawings  will  also  be  of  service.  Enlargements 
from  small  drawings,  &c.,  can  be  made  by  squaring  them 
and  placing  the  forms  in  larger  squares  in  the  same  pro- 
portion on  the  cartoon,  the  outlines  of  which  he  can 
trace  on  the  wall  through  the  paper  with  an  iron  stylus. 

A  knowledge  of  painting  and  the  rules  of  composition 
is  not  originality,  nor  is  it  harmful  to  its  development, 
for  originality  consists  in  expressing  your  own  impres- 
sions with  sincerity,  and  not  entirely  from  method,  but 
from  thought  and  feeling  also.  What  one  must  seek  for 
is  character,  which  is  life  expressed  in  movement,  form 
and  colour.  These  qualities  give  strength. 

Originality  to-day  may  be  exercised  upon  subjects 
which  did  not  exist  in  the  times  of  the  ancients,  or  they 
would  assuredly  have  used  them.  The  beauty  of  the 
world  around  ;  the  force  and  surroundings  of  machinery ; 
the  mysterious  power  of  steam  and  electricity  ;  the  work- 
men at  their  labour,  at  rest  or  conferring ;  v/oman,  the 
mistress  of  the  art  of  grace,  and  other  such  subjects,  to 
the  observant,  will  give  abundant  material  for  original 
composition.  In  historical  composition  there  is  selection 
of  character,  the  costume  of  the  period,  time  of  day, 
effect,  texture,  &c.,  to  be  noted. 


MURAL  DECORATION          37 


NOTE  ON  RECENT  WORK. 

The  examination  of  modern  works  shows  a  continued 
employment  of  the  various  methods  for  decoration  already 
described.  All  mediums  of  painting,  modelling,  wood 
and  stone  carving,  sgraffito,  coloured  plaster  and  gesso 
work,  mosaic,  &c.,  are  found  therein.  The  art  of  fresco 
has  been  carried  to  a  high  state  of  perfection,  and  the 
name  which  in  recent  times  stands  pre-eminent  is  that 
of  the  great  Frenchman,  Puvis  de  Chavannes.  In  the 
subjects  decorating  the  Sorbonne  and  Pantheon  at  Paris, 
and  the  Museum  at  Amiens,  he  suggests  poetry,  sym- 
holisin  and  "  plein-air,"  and  presents  the  human  figure 
witli  a  simplicity  of  attitude  akin  to  the  spirit  of  Giotto. 
He  places  his  subject  groups  with  great  skill  against 
atmospheric  landscape-backgrounds,  and  makes  the  grey- 
hltie  colour  and  the  white  tones  of  his  pictures  harmonise 
with  and  form  part  of  the  stone  walls  on  which  they  are 
painted.  He  thus  obtains  a  complete  decorative  unity. 
He  was  chosen  with  J.  nt  and  E.  A.  Abbey  to 

paint  the  decorations  in  the  Boston  Library,  America. 
Mention  may  be  made  of  J.  McNeill  Whistler's  original 
decoration  in  gold  and  blue  in  "The  Peacock  Room"; 
and,  among  other  mural  decorations,  the  mosaics  in 
St.  Paul's  Cathedral  ;  the  spandrils  under  the  dome  are 
decorated  with  designs  by  Alfred  Stevens,  G.  F.  Watts, 
and  F.  Britten.  A  design,  evidently  for  fresco,  by 
William  Blake,  hangs  in  South  Kensington  Museum. 
Various  rooms  in  the  Houses  of  Parliament,  West- 
minster, are  ornamented  with  certain  "  water-glass  "  paint- 
ings. This  method,  which  was  perfected  in  Germany, 
consists  of  employing  paint,  on  prepared  plastered  walls, 
in  a  similar  manner  to  water-colour  painting ;  the  work, 
when  finished,  is  covered  with  a  chemical  solution  that 
hardens  and  protects  the  surface.  Frank  Brangwyn  used 
it  on  the  external  decoration  of  Bing's  shop  in  Paris. 


38  PRACTICAL    HINTS 

« 

G.  F.  Watts  executed  a  wall-painting  in  pure  fresco  in 
the  Hall  of  Lincoln's  Inn,  and  Lord  Leighton  decorated 
a  panel  in  Lyndhurst  Church,  and  two  lunettes  on  the 
walls  of  South  Kensington  Museum.  For  these  and 
similar  paintings  he  employed  a  "  spirit  fresco  "  medium 
prepared  from  Gambier  Parry's  receipt  by  Roberson, 
and  used  for  the  panels  in  the  ambulatory  of  the  Royal 
Exchange.  The  ground  used  as  the  foundation  on  the 
plaster  or  canvas  contains  resin,  wax  and  oil  of  spike, 
and  the  method  consists  of  employing  a  spirit  medium 
with  prepared  colours.  There  are  also  frescoes  by  Ford 
Madox  Brown  in  the  Manchester  Town  Hall,  and  various 
works  by  Albert  Moore,  and  the  decorative  works  of 
Rossetti  and  Bur ne-J  ones. 

OIL    PAINTING. 


"  ANCIENT    BARTER."  BY    HENRY    F.    W.    GANZ. 


SPIRIT    FRESCO   PAINTING  39 

Ordinary  oil-colours  can  be  used  on  canvas,  which  is 
flatted  with  wax  varnish  and  spike  oil,  and  afterwards 
cemented  on  to  the  wall.  This  marouflage  or  cement 
consists  of  a  combination  of  white  lead  and  oil,  with 
a  small  admixture  of  resin  melted  in  wax.  These  ingre- 
dients are  laid  on  cold  and  plentifully  on  the  back  of 
the  picture  laid  face  downwards,  and  also  on  to  the  wall. 
The  painting  thus  prepared  is  placed  on  the  wall  and 
rubbed  down  with  a  cloth  or  rollers,  the  edges  of  the 
canvas  being  pressed  for  some  little  time. 

Technical  notes  on  the  use  of  oil-colours  will  be  found 
in  my  "Practical  Hints  on  Painting,"  &c. 

SPIRIT   FRESCO   PAINTING. 

According  to  Gambler  Parry's  method,  a  dry  porous 
wall-surface,  or  stucco  (lime  and  gritty  sand)  is  prepared, 
this  gives  a  rnii^h  texture.  A  medium  of  highly  inflam- 
mable chemicals,  consisting  of  elemi-resin,  white  wax, 
copal,  and  oil  spike  lavender,  is  prepared  by  heating 
process.  The  wall-surface  is  splashed  with  this  medium 
mixed  with  turpentine,  and  then  allowed  to  dry.  Over 
this  tlu-  medium,  mixed  with  equal  quantities  of  pure 
white  lead  and  gilder's  wlrting,  is  thickly  painted,  and 
let't  to  div.  The  result  will  be  an  absorbent  white 
suri.ice.  Spirit  fresco  can  also  be  used  on  canvas  of  a 
sti  ong  texture. 

In  painting  the  colours  may  be  used  as  in  buono  or 
pure  fresco  painting  (in  a  direct  manner),  and  a  full 
body  of  colour  applied  with  the  brush  dipped  in  pure 
oil  of  spike  as  a  vehicle.  For  repainting,  spike  oil  should 
be  used  with  solid  colour.  In  this  method,  care  has  to 
be  taken  that  in  applying  the  turpentine  on  the  wall- 
surface  it  should  not  be  allowed  to  run,  or  it  will  give 
a  shine  to  the  painting  by  bringing  up  the  resinous 
ingredients  of  the  ground. 

In  this  process  all  the  permanent  colours  (as  in  oil 
painting)  can  be  employed,  for  the  antagonistic  quality 
of  lime  has  not  to  be  reckoned  with  and  the  white  used  is 
flake  white.  Messrs.  C.  Roberson  and  Co.,  of  99,  Long 
Acre,  and  Piccadilly,  London,  prepare  the  various  materials 


4o  PRACTICAL   HINTS 


LESSON    III. 

MOSAIC. 

Mosaic  is  the  art  of  decorating  surfaces  with  small 
stones  or  glass  or  marble  cubes  (tesserae)  so  as  to  form 
pictorial  designs  by  means  of  the  varied  colours  of  these 
materials  being  mechanically  set  together. 

Mosaic  may  be  used  to  decorate  flat  or  variously- 
shaped  surfaces,  and  also  for  decorating  stucco-relief. 
The  earlier  Roman  marble- mosaics  were  used  for  floor- 
ing, and  the  subjects  chosen  were  generally  geometrical 
patterns.  In  the  later  periods,  figures  and  other  objects, 
treated  conventionally,  were  introduced  into  the  designs. 
Several  examples  of  these  are  in  the  British  Museum. 

THE  PROCESS. — A  bed  of  plaster  was  laid  on  the  base, 
and  the  shape  of  the  design  sketched  out  with  a  wooden 
or  metal  point ;  the  tesserae  were  then  stuck  in,  in  their 
required  places,  and  the  surface  finally  polished.  Great 
effect  was  given  to  the  general  texture  of  the  surface  by 
allowing  the  cement  joints  to  show.  The  range  of  colour 
in  the  marble  employed,  always  subordinated  to  the  pat- 
tern study,  was  very  great.  A  variety  of  subdued  tints  of 
red,  yellow,  green,  brown,  blue,  grey,  black  and  white 
were  chosen.  Small  cubes  and  slabs  of  marble  were  used 
for  floors  and  pavements,  and  small  cubes  of  opaque 
glass  for  complicated  pictures  on  wall-spaces. 

The  ancient  Greeks  frequently  used  mosaic  let  into 
slabs  of  marble  in  their  floors,  and  the  art  spread  thence 
to  Byzantium  and  Arabia. 

In  the  Middle  Ages,  the  Italians  used  glass  mosaic 
and  mosaic  tiles,  as  in  St.  Mark's,  Venice,  and  intro- 
duced gold  as  a  background  to  sculptured  figures  of 
saints,  designed  in  small  squares  on  walls  (examples  in 
South  Kensington  Museum).  Gold  mosaic  was  scattered 
amongst  mosaics  of  coloured  glass,  until  the  rise  of 


MOSAIC  41 

wall-painting  overpowered  the  art.  Later  specimens 
may  be  seen  in  the  decorations  of  the  new  Westminster 
Cathedral. 

METHOD. — In  glass  mosaic  small  pieces  of  varicoloured 
opaque  glass  tubes  or  rods  are  put  together  in  a  certain 
design  on  a  soft  bed  of  planter  on  the  wall-surface,  and 
then  broken  off  with  a  pair  of  clippers.  There  is  no 
rubbing  down  of  the  surface  in  this  process,  as  the 
natural  fracture  of  the  glass  used  gives  a  lustre  of  effect. 
The  design  for  mosaic  should  suit  the  medium  employed, 
and  appear  other  than  a  translation  of  an  oil  painting. 
It  should  suggest  breadth,  effect,  quality  and  repose  with- 
out losing  the  sense  of  small  touches.  For  this  purpose 
the  cartoon  may  be  prepared  in  crayon  on  white  paper 
tinted  with  broad  masses  of  colour,  or  on  brown  paper 
with  coloured  pastels. 

The  wall  of  stone  or  brick,  or  the  pavement,  must  have 
its  surface  tii -st  prepared,  either  by  notching  the  stone  or 
by  knocking  away  part  of  the  cement  between  the  bricks, 
so  that  the  cement  ground  may  hold  well.  This  surface 
is  thoroughly  oiled  to  prevent  suction,  and  lime  cement 
is  applied  in  sever.il  layers.  The  surface  of  the  mosaic 
is  formed  by  the  fractured  edge  of  the  glass  cubes,  broken 
off  .itter  being  planted  in  the  last  layer  of  the  cement. 

The  prepared  curtoon  or  original  design  is  squared  off, 
and  a  paper  squared  off  to  the  relative  size  required  is 
attached  to  the  plastered  wall  with  white  lend  \  the  work 
is  then  drtin-n-in  and  tinted  in  sharply  defined  masses  of 
colour  (broken  colour  being  used  wherever  possible) ;  an 
awl  is  used  to  pierce  through  the  outline  of  this  cartoon 
into  the  plastered  wall.  The  cartoon  is  then  taken  down 
and  cut  up  in  pieces.  Each  piece  is  then  redrawn  on 
tracing  paper  ;  the  cement  drying  rapidly,  the  wall  cor- 
responding to  these  pieces  is  covered  with  cement,  as 
each  portion  is  desired  to  be  worked  on.  On  this 
freshly  laid  cement  the  different  pieces  of  the  tracing 
are  applied,  and  the  outlines  are  pricked  through  the 
paper  on  to  the  wall. 


42  PRACTICAL    HINTS 

The  work  of  putting  in  the  "  tesserae "  is  started, 
beginning  at  the  outlines  and  working  inwards. 

The  different  coloured  tesserae  are  laid  down  in  a 
shallow  box  or  tray,  ;md  the  tools  used  are  a  pair  of 
clippers  to  shape  the  tesserae,  a  pair  of  tongs  to  handle 
them,  and  an  awl  to  prick  the  cement  for  their  insertion. 
The  effect  resulting  from  the  uneven  surfaces  of  the 
tesserae  will  contain  a  variety  of  reflecting  lights.  In  the 
less  satisfactory  process  of  executing  the  work  away  from 
the  wall,  the  tesserae  are  placed  on  the  reversed  side  of 
a  tracing,  or  drawing  on  brown  paper  to  the  design,  and 
pasted  on  this  paper  laid  flat.  Over  this  plaster  is 
poured.  The  whole  is  then  reversed,  and  cemented  on 
to  the  wall  or  floor,  after  which  the  tracing  or  brown 
paper  is  washed  off. 

The  result  will  be  an  even  surface  of  mosaic  that  is 
perfectly  flat  without  any  accidental  effects  of  gleams  of 
light. 


SGRAFFITO   OR    INCISED   WORK  43 


A  NOTE  ON  SGRAFFITO  OR  INCISED  WORK. 

Sgraffito  (Italian,  to  scratch)  is  a  method  of  work  in 
plaster-stucco  used  in  ancient  times  and  by  the  Italians 
of  the  seventeenth  and  eighteenth  centuries,  and  now 
revived.  It  is  used  for  internal  and  external  wall  decora- 
tion, and  can  also  be  applied  on  vases  of  different  sur- 
faces. An  example  of  this  art  may  be  seen  on  the  outside 
wall  of  the  Royal  College  of  Organists,  Kensington  Gore, 
next  to  the  Albert  Hall. 

The  process  consists  in  applying  to  the  wall  coloured 
mortars  or  cemenN  in  thin  layers  over  one  another,  and 
in  scraping  a  part  of  one  layer  away  in  order  to  obtain 
the  various  desired  tints  of  a  pre-arranged  pattern. 

A  colouring  substance  of  the  tint  for  the  pattern 
required  is  first  mixed  with  mortar  or  cement.  This  is 
applied  after  the  wall  is  well  watered,  and  when  nearly 
set  the  cartoon  is  nailed  to  the  wall  and  the  designed 
outline  pricked  through  or  marked  with  nails.  The  holes 
made  by  the  nails  are  necessary  for  guidance  in  the  lay- 
ing of  the  various  coats  of  plaster.  Another  coat  of 
planter  of  the  colour  intended  for  the  ground  is  then 
prepared  and  laid  in  the  same  way.  The  design  may  be 
incised  in  the  plaster  with  a  stylus,  or  a  mould  of  tin,  the 
exact  outline  of  the  pattern  can  be  pressed  on  to  the  sur- 
face of  the  plaster  on  the  wall.  With  a  sharp  tool  the 
upper  crust  of  plaster  is  then  cut  away  down  to  the  face 
of  the  lower  coat,  and  the  work  is  completed.  Several 
colours  can  be  used  in  a  similar  way. 

The  sgraffito  process  demands  a  quick  method  of 
working,  and  is  more  closely  allied  to  drawing  than 
modelling  or  painting.  Limited  as  are  the  results  ob- 
tained, they  may  vary  as  follows  :  White  lines  and  spaces 
raised  and  relieved  against  coloured  ground  ;  coloured 
lines  and  spaces  sunk  on  a  white  surface ;  intricacy 
relieved  by  simplicity  of  line,  or  again  relieved  by  plain 
spaces  of  coloured  ground  on  white  surface. 


44  PRACTICAL    HINTS 


A    NOTE   ON    STAINED    GLASS    AND    PAINTED 

GLASS. 

This  is  the  art  of  either  introducing  transparent 
colours  and  outlines  by  fusing  on  to  glass,  or  of  putting 
together  complete  pictures  composed  of  different  pieces 
of  coloured  glass.  The  purpose  of  all  stained  and 
painted  glass  is  chiefly  for  the  adornment  of  the  build- 
ing in  which  it  is  placed,  and  should  be  subordinated  to 
the  effect  of  the  interior  as  an  architectural  whole. 

The  design  once  decided  upon,  the  work  is  carried  out 
either  on  clear  glass  painted,  or  stained  glass,  of  chosen 
coloured  pieces  of  different  shapes  and  sizes,  with  the 
shadows  painted  in  silver  stain  ;  these  are  united  by 
grooved  strips  of  lead  into  which  the  pieces  of  glass  are 
inserted.  By  these  means  large  compositions  are  pos- 
sible. In  some  cases  a  piece  of  coloured  glass  is  fused 
on  to  another  piece.  The  essential  difference  between 
coloured  and  painted  glass  is  that  coloured  glass  is 
a  mosaic.  It  consists  of  small  pieces  separated  and 
joined  together  by  thin  grooved  strips  of  lead  ;  coloured 
glass  is  obtained  by  a  mixture  of  metallic  oxides  whilst 
in  a  state  of  fusion  (pot  metal).  It  is  full  of  varieties  of 
a  given  colour,  is  uneven  in  thickness,  and  full  of  little 
air-bubbles  (knobs  or  bull's-eyes)  which  allow  the  light 
to  pass  through  with  a  variety  of  effect.  The  fine  lines 
and  hatchings  are  painted  with  "silver  stain"  or  scaglia 
(the  scale  off  heated  iron).  The  whole  is  held  together 
with  leaded  "  cases "  and  fastened  in  tne  window  by 
horizontal  iron  bars  (armatures).  A  painted  window  is 
painted  on  a  plate  of  translucent  glass,  and  the  design 
and  colouring  applied  with  verifiable  colours.  These 
enamel  colours  are  the  product  of  metallic  oxides  com- 
bined with  vitreous  compounds  called  fluxes  under 
strong  heat ;  the  colouring  matters  are  thus  fixed  on  the 
plate  of  glass.  Red  becomes  yellow  when  fired  ;  yellow, 


STAINED   AND   PAINTED   GLASS  45 

white ;  blue,  green.  Ruby  red  is  obtained  from  gold, 
yellow  from  silver  is  also  used  at  the  back  of  the  glass 
over  the  partly  scraped  red  ground  which  is  scraped 
away  after  the  firing  to  allow  this  to  show  through. 
Certain  spaces  may  also  be  cleared  away  with  a  thin 
hog-hair  brush  for  high  lights.  After  the  process  of 
painting,  the  glass  is  laid  down  in  an  iron  muffle  with 
various  layers  of  cinders  mixed  with  burnt  lime,  and 
then  put  into  a  furnace  with  a  slow  fire  until  they 
become  glowing,  when  the  colours  become  red-hot  and 
run,  and  are  incorporated  with  the  gl.i->-. 
/  In  working  the  stained  glass  process,  pieces  of  glass, 
broken  from  large  glass  bottles  of  various  colours,  are 
cut  up  to  fit  to  the  outlines  of  the  preparatory  cartoon, 
in  order  that  the  leadings  may  coincide  with  these.  This 
work  is  usually  started  by  a  preliminary  arrangement 
of  the  pieces  on  a  wooden  tray  or  frame,  the  outlines 
being  marked  with  a  brush  dipped  in  white  lead  and  the 
pieces  numbered.  The  pieces  are  then  cut  to  measure, 
after  first  drawing  with  an  emery  point  over  the  upper 
surt'ace  of  the  glass  along  the  outline.  This  line  is  then 
damped  and  a  red-hot  pointed  tool  passed  over  it ;  the 
-l.i-s  then  cracks  and  snaps  off  from  the  sheet,  and  may 
be  trimmed  with  the  grazing  iron. 

A  strong  sense  of  style  is  necessary  for  this,  especially 
for  large  windows,  on  account  of  the  arrangement  of  the 
cross-bars  of  the  supporting  framework,  which  gives  the 
whole  window  its  requisite  strength.  This  construction 
should  not  interfere  with  the  lines  of  the  composition, 
which  they  should  break  and  disturb  as  little  as  possible. 
The  art  consists  in  designing  a  suitable  cartoon  with 
attention  to  colour,  lines,  and  forms,  and  the  suc- 
cessful arrangement  of  the  leading  and  beauty  of  tints 
of  the  glass. 

It  is  said  that  stained  glass  was  originated  by  the  glass- 
mosaic  workers.  Coloured  glass  windows  existed  in 
St.  Sophia,  Constantinople  in  the  sixth  century.  Of  the 
time  of  the  Middle  Ages,  some  of  the  earliest  extant  are 


46  PRACTICAL   HINTS 

to  be  found  in  the  small  "  early"  round  windows  in 
the  Bavarian  Monastery  of  Tegernsee  (date,  end  tenth 
century).  The  development  of  the  Gothic  style,  with  its 
widening  windows,  in  the  twelfth  and  thirteenth  century 
shows  many  single  figures  draped  in  rich  red  colours, 
generally  seen  against  tapestry  backgrounds  ;  landscape 
and  architectural  background  were  not  introduced  till 
the  sixteenth  century.  It  is  of  interest  to  note  that 
Gothic  tracery  in  the  windows  is  set  out  on  the  princi- 
ple of  geometric  intersections.  In  tracing  the  history 
of  stained  glass  on  the  Continent  one  regrets  to  find 
that  many  of  these  have  been  destroyed  during  the 
Reformation.  In  England,  however,  the  art  was  always 
highly  cultivated ;  in  fact  a  continuous  tradition  has 
existed.  It  was  improved  by  the  pupils  of  Bernhardt 
von  Linge  of  the  Netherlands,  at  the  time  of  James  I., 
and  they  are  responsible  for  the  still  surviving  school. 


-          .  rf 


. 

' 


s  -UBf 


STAINED   GLASS   WINDOW,    PETERHOUSE   COLL.    CKAPEL,    CAMBRIDGE. 

(From  design  by  P.  P.  Rubens.) 


f 


MODELLING  49 


MODELLING. 
A  DEFINITION  OF  THE  THEORY. 

SCULPTURE  is  the  art  of  representing  or  imitating  in 
plastic  form,  figure  or  other  subjects,  suggested  by  Nature 
or  the  imagination.  Sculpture  in  the  round  gives  shape 
in  solid  form;  that  is,  it  give^  the  three  dimensions  of 
length,  breadth,  and  depth. 

The  work  may  be  carried  out  in  a  variety  of  materials, 
such  a^  clay,  hron/e,  marble,  ivory  or  stone.  The  repre- 
sentation of  the  subject  in  the  round  may  be  worked  out 
in  different  manners. 

In  the  case  of  reliefs,  which  only  give  incomplete  solid 
form  and  reproduce  the  proportions  of  objects  in  two 
isions,  length  and  breidth,  with  a  suggested  repre- 
sentation of  the  third  dimension,  the  modelling  may  be 
slightly  or  strongly  brought  out  from  the  ground,  in  the 
sense  of  high  (alto)  with  the  figure  sometimes  almost 
completely  detached  from  the  ground,  loic  (bassi  rilievi), 
high  or  half  (meUQ  rilievo),  or  //.//  relief  (stiacciati  rihevi). 
Reliefs  are  only  to  be  viewed  from  the  front,  and  are 
usually  attached  to  a  background. 

The  term  sculpture  1  in  several  meanings,  not 

only  with  reference  to  the  material  used  for  the  work, 
but  to  the  handling  of  the  material  ;  it  includes  the 
cast,  metal  work,  chiselling,  cawing,  stone-carving,  and 
the  art  of  medals,  &c.  Differing  from  the  painter,  with 
-ingle  view  outlook,  the  sculptor  works  "on  the 
round."  He  indicates  form  from  the  observation  of  his 
model,  which  in  sculpture  is  everything,  and  form  in  a 
deeper  sense  than  "  contour." 

While  the  sculptor  models  boldly  in  the  round  for 
re.iHsm,  he  c.in  get  delicate  light  and  shade  by  low  relief, 
the  subtlest  qualities  of  the  losing  and  finding  of  a  design 
or  form,  as  well  as  other  properties  of  the  objects* 

4 


50  PRACTICAL    HINTS 

boundaries  as  the  outline  (or  rather  countless  outlines 
seen  from  every  side),  and  masses  of  light  and  shade 
formed  by  projection  and  recession.  Sculpture  in  the 
round  means  solid  modelling,  real  light  and  shade,  many 
and  various  contours  on  the  same  or  a  different  scale 
of  an  object  in  its  proper  proportions.  Relief  sculpture 
in  its  forms  is  more  closely  connected  with  architecture ; 
its  principal  subject  of  imitation  is  similar  to  that  of 
sculpture  in  the  round,  but  when  connected  with  archi- 
tecture its  features  may  be  modelled  on  a  scheme  of 
ornament.  And  as  this  art  compels  the  artist  to  intro- 
duce backgrounds,  he  can  include  other  objects  in  his 
representation,  as  landscape  and  other  forms,  but  he  is 
limited  to  one  outline  or  a  section  of  an  object.  Seen 
from  a  particular  point  of  view,  figures  may  be  placed  in 
front  of  one  another  in  a  varied  treatment  of  outline. 
The  effect  of  this  art  is  given  exclusively  by  a  single 
contour,  and  its  treatment  of  light  and  shade.  The  art 
in  principle  resembles  rather  graphic  than  plastic  art,  and 
is  closely  akin  to  the  art  of  drawing. 


MODELLING  51 


THE    PRACTICE. 
THE  ESSENTIALS  FOR  SCULPTURE. 

A  PIECE  of  sculpture  has  to  go  through  several  stages 
from  the  model  ///  clay,  or  wax  on  an  iron  support,  to  the 
cast  in  plaster,  before  it  arrives  at  the  final  state  of  being 
a  bronze  or  marble. 

For  mo-t  purposes  a  preliminary  study  is  usually 
sketched  on  a  sin. ill  scale  in  clay  or  wax. 

The  beginner's  first  studies  with  clay  on  a  board  should 
be  the  various  feature-  ot  a  head,  or  a  head  somewhat 
larger  or  -miller  than  life,  a-  well  a-  -tudie-  of  hands 
and  feet. 

TECHNICAL  NOTE.— PROCESS  OF  MODELLING. 

To  model  a  figure,  a  sort  of  iron  fratnen'ork  is  set  up, 
with  cross-bars  on  which  thin  lead-piping  is  attached, 
for  the  foundation  of  the  arms  and  legs,  bent  into  the 
position  required  for  the  future  figure.  The  leg-irons 
are  then  fixed  on  a  wooden  stand  with  this  amuitnrc, 
and  placed  on  a  turn-table  with  a  revolving  top,  in  order 
to  turn  the  whole  model  round  in  either  direction,  and 
to  allow  the  work  to  be  carried  out  from  every  point 
of  view  with  the  light  from  any  side  of  it.  Over  this 
iron  skeleton  (a  sort  of  scaffolding  of  the  intended  bony 
structure  of  the  figure)  modelling  clay  is  applied  and 
manipulated  with  the  fingers  first,  and  then  with  wooden 
modelling  tools. 

Measurements,  from  which  the  sculptor  invariably 
work-,  are  taken  from  the  living  model  with  calipers  to 
be  conveyed  to  the  clay  model  he  has  in  hand.  Working 
on  the  principle  of  depth  as  his  base  with  the  smallest 
amount  of  clay,  the  sculptor  proceeds  to  build  up  by 
adding  thin  slips  of  clay.  From  this  solid  foundation 


52  PRACTICAL   HINTS 

he  continues  to  produce  his  model,  always  by  adding  to 
the  foundation  and  never  taking  away  or  carving  the 
clay.  Having  commenced  with  measurements  to  which 
he  makes  his  model  accord,  he  continues  to  produce 
form,  he  next  imitates  the  light  and  shade  of  his  model, 
and  finally  seeks  and  compares  the  drawing  of  the  object 
he  has  before  him  with  his  clay  model  from  every  side. 

The  clay  used  in  modelling  will  have  to  be  kept  in  a 
moist  state  by  spraying  water  over  it  with  a  syringe,  and 
when  the  sculptor  is  not  at  work  on  his  model  it  must  be 
wrapped  in  clamp  cloths  or,  better  still,  placed  in  an  air- 
tight case.  The  work  proceeds  always  by  the  addition  of 
small  pieces  of  clay  until  the  state  required  for  casting  is 
reached.  This  casting  is  clone  either  by  what  is  termed  a 
waste-mould,  for  the  production  of  one  cast  only,  or, 
by  a  piece-mould,  generally  taken  from  the  cast  thus 
produced. 


ANTIQUE   STATUE    ANATOMISED.  BY   HENRY    F.    W.    GANZ. 


MODELLING 


53 


THE  FEATURES  OF  THE  FACE  DESCRIBED. 


To  explain  how  to  nuclei  a  head  we  will  take  the 
clit'fcrent  features  tir-t  separately,  i.e.  the  nose,  eyes,  ears, 
mouth,  chin,  forehead  &c.,  and  tincl  what  lines  they  are 
composed  of. 

N«>SE. — The  nose  (the  front  rie\c)  starts  from  the  c\c- 
!  wiih  tw  »  line-,,  which  curve  inwards  and  then 
outwards  over  the  bony  part  of  the  "nasal  bone"  down 
to  the  bridge,  under  which  they  curve  gently  inwards. 
The  cartilaginous  part  below  follows,  the  lines  curving 
slightly  inwards  and  then  outwards,  circling  down  to  the 
point  where  they  meet.  On  either  side  are  the  wings  (ahv), 
composed  of  curved  lines,  which  run  rather  straighter 
along  the  nostrils,  giving  them  in  this  view  a  rather  small 
elliptical  shape. 

The  profile  of  the  nose  consists  of  a  short,  straight,  and 
then  two  slightly  outward  curved  lines  (as  the  case 
may  be.) 


54  PRACTICAL   HINTS 

The  nostrils  are  of  a  longer  elliptical  shape,  and  the 
top  edge  is  rather  straighter  than  the  lower  edge,  being 
slightly  hidden  by  the  wing  of  the  nose ;  under  the  nostril 
is  a  slightly  rounded  line  from  the  tip  of  the  nose  to 
its  base. 

EYE. — From  the  front  view  the  eye  is  composed  of  a 
globe — the  eyeball  with  the  pupil  and  iris. 

The  iris  is  a  circle  of  various  tinted  colours,  which 
slightly  deepen  towards  the  edge  (outside.)  It  surrounds 
the  pupil,  this  being  a  circular  black  spot  in  the  centre 
of  the  eye. 

The  pupil  contracts  in  the  light.  Above  the  eyelid  a 
curved  form  exists,  along  which  the  eyebrow  grows,  the 
hairs  running  transversely  across  it.  The  complete 
circle  of  the  pupil  is  partly  broken  above  and  below  by 
the  eyelids. 

The  top  eyelid  (the  more  important  one)  is  composed 
of  two  lines  ;  the  upper  one — the  top  of  the  lid — is  formed 
by  a  slightly  raised  curved  line  ;  and  the  lower  one  begins 
with  an  arched  line  near  the  nose,  where  it  springs  from 
the  corner  of  the  eye  (caruncnla  lachrymalis),  and  then 
follows  a  long  curved  line.  Under  this  line  (as  it  were) 
the  thickness  of  the  skin  gives  the  lower  edge,  from 
which  the  eyelashes  spring,  composed  of  slightly  upward- 
curved  hairs. 

The  lower  lid  consists  of  a  more  gently-rounded  line, 
with  a  fuller  one  below  it  (formed  by  a  little  fulness  of 
skin),  and  a  small  upper  surface  (the  thickness  of  the 
flesh)  above  this.  The  eyelashes  curve  slightly  down- 
wards. 

In  the  profile  the  circular  form  of  the  eyeball  and  pupil, 
under  the  eyelids,  is  well  brought  out.  The  upper  and 
lower  lids,  having  their  outlines  more  in  perspective, 
follow  two  short  full-curved  lines. 

EAR. — The  ear  is  a  cartilaginous  substance.  In  profile 
it  consists  of  several  rims  (called  the  helix  and  anii- 
tragns),  inner  and  outer  gently  curved  surfaces.  The 
helix  is  composed  of  a  circular  curve,  and  then  a  longer 


MODELLING  55 

curve  running  down  to  the  lobe  of  the  ear,  and  has  two 
little  thicknesses  to  it. 

The  anti-helix  has  a  circular  curve  and  then  a  longer 
curve  running  downwards,  forming  the  one  side  of  the 
hollow,  making  a  nearly  circular  line.  The  hollow 
(conclid)  is  hounded  by  a  prominence  called  the  tragns 
on  the  side  near  the  cheek  (a  slightly  rounded  line). 

The  anti-tragns,  in  a  circular  line,  also  forms  part  of 
the  lobe  (lobule).  The  lohnlc  consists  of  a  line  slightly 
curved  downwards,  and  then  circling  upwards  to  the  tirst 
line  (the  heli.\).  The  joint  of  the  jaw  is  above  the  top 
of  the  tragn>. 

From  the  thick  vie*  the  ear  forms  a  round  and  longer 
curved  line,  with  a  second  circular  surface  inside  it,  the 
under  part  ot  the  concha  joining  it  to  the  head. 

MOUTH. — The  front  the  mouth,  taking  the  right 

hah,  is  composed  of  four  lines,  one  above  and  one  below 
each  lip.  The  bow-shape  t  formed  on  the  upper  edge  of 
the  top  lip,  consists  of  a  line  making  a  short  curve 
upwards,  followed  by  a  rounded  part,  and  then  a  gradual 
curve  downwards  to  the  corner  of  the  mouth.  The 
lon-er  line  of  the  upper  lip  is  straighter  than  the  previous 
one,  and  COIIM^N  ^i  a  short  curve  up  and  a  gentle  curve 
to  the  corner. 

The  upper  line  of  the  Uwer  lip  runs  in  a  full  curve 
downward^  at  each  end.  The  lower  line  has  a  slightly 
fuller  curve  upwarcU,  and  then  goes  upward  again  to 
the  corner  of  the  mouth.  A  bore  the  month,  a  slight 
holloa  between  two  columnar  forms  is  found,  and  the 
surface  then  runs  to  either  cheek.  Below  the  mouth 
another  concave  surface  is  found,  which  then  gets  fuller 
and  runs  downwards  from  the  top  of  the  chin.  In 
profile  the  mouth  follows  similar  lines  a  little  more  in 
perspective. 

Cllix. — The  chin  (from  the  front  view)  is  formed  by 
a  long  oval-shaped  line,  having  the  jaw-bone  as  its  base, 
and  then  curving  more  or  less  in  a  long  line  upwards 
to  the  angle  of  the  jaw,  and  from  thence  in  a  gradual 
curve  towards  the  ear. 


56  PRACTICAL    HINTS 

FOREHEAD  (the  front  view). — The  forehead  is  com- 
posed of  a  flattened  circle.  The  line  formed  by  the  hair 
at  the  top  of  the  head  usually  follows  a  straight  line, 
and  then  runs  inwards  and  outwards  towards  the  ear. 

The  hollows  of  the  temple  and  bones  of  the  cheek 
complete  the  face. 

The  profile  of  the  forehead  is  formed  by  a  line  con- 
sisting of  a  short  curve  and  a  longer  curve. 

The  general  appearance  of  the  head  from  the  back  is 
globular.  From  the  top  the  line  is  slightly  curved,  and 
then  becomes  more  curved  towards  the  ear.  Below  the 
ear,  on  meeting  the  muscle  of  the  neck,  a  straight  line 
is  formed. 

With  a  curve  towards  the  base  of  the  skull,  the  nape 
of  the  neck  forms  a  fresh  surface. 

The  views  from  underneath  may  be  studied  on  these 
principles. 


MODELLING  57 


PROPORTIONS  OF  THE  HEAD. 

The  head  is  divided  into  four  equal  parts  (in  height). 

(1)  From  the  crown  of   the  head  to  the  roots  of   the 
hair. 

(2)  From  the  roots  of  the  hair  to  the  origin  of  the  nose. 

(3)  From  the  origin  of  the  nose  to  the  lower  part  of 
the  nose. 

(4)  From  the  point  of  the  nose  to  the  lower  part  of 
the  chin. 

The  length  of  neck  is  a  fifth  part,  from  the  chin  to  the 
top  of  the  suprastcrna.1  fossa. 

II '/(////. — The  line  passing  in  front  of  the  eyes  is  divided 
into  five  equal  parts. 

The  eyes  occupy  the  second  and  fourth,  the  nose  the 
third. 

The  eve  is  divided  into  three  parts,  of  which  the  middle 
one  includes  the  pupil  and  iris;  the  opening  of  the  eyes 
equals  one  of  these  parts. 

On  the  middle  of  the  third  line,  which  divides  the 
height  of  the  face,  the  nose  occupies  a  space  equal  to  the 
breadth  of  the  eye;  the  nostrils  in  profile  equal  in  length 
a  half-length  of  the  nose. 

The  breadth  of  the  month  is  one  eye  and  a  half;  the 
height  of  the  upper  lip  is  equal  to  one-eighth  of  its 
length,  and  the  lower  lip  one-fifth. 

The  ear  extends  from  the  line  of  the  eyes  to  that  of 
the  nose,  and  in  profile  is  broader  by  half. 

The  width  from  one  shoulder  to  the  other  at  the  line 
of  the  collar-bone  is  equal  to  twice  the  height  of  a  head. 


PRACTICAL    HINTS 


LESSON    IV. 


A  METHOD  OF  MODELLING  A  HEAD  FROM  LIFE. 

Place  the  model  in  a  good  light.  A  top  skylight  is 
essential  to  the  sculptor,  as  the  light  will  thus  fall  verti- 
cally on  the  head,  and  define  the  "  light  and  shade." 
Place  the  clay  model  in  a  similar  effect  of  light.  The 
head  should  first  be  treated  on  the  principle  of  forms  and 
planes,  attention  being  paid  at  the  same  time  to  the 
anatomical  features  of  its  structure  ;  later,  the  drawing 
and  the  texture  of  the  chosen  subject  must  be  indicated. 
The  sculptor  will  have  to  work  from  actual  measurements 
of  the  model  and  see  that  these  accord  with  those  of 
the  bust. 

FRAMEWORK. —  In  commencing  to  model  a  head,  a 
framework,  or  necessary  scaffolding  on  which  to  lay  the 
clay,  is  necessary.  This  consists  of  an  upright  peg  or 
column  of  wood,  about  12  in.  in  length  and  2  in.  thick, 
and  tapering  slightly  upward.  It  is  fixed  with  nails  on  a 
board  of  about  12  in.  square  and  2  in.  thick,  or  in  what 
is  called  a  "  bat." 

Sometimes  a  longer 
piece  of  upright  wood 
of  about  20  in.  is  used 
with  a  cross-piece  fixed 
into  a  slot  in  the 
column.  Into  this  the 
head  is  modelled  in 
clay.  The  armature, 
however,  built  of  thin 
lead  piping,  used  in  the 
first  -  mentioned  case, 
gives  greater  facility  for 

modifying  the  position  of  the  head  during  the  progress  of 
the  work. 

This   armature    is    made    as   follows  :    two    pieces   of 


SITDY    OF    A    HEAD    IN    CLAY.      THE    FOUNDATION.       BY    W.    B.    PAGAN. 

(Life  sizt). 


MODELLING  61 

roughly  bent  thin  lead  piping  which  cross  one  another, 
and  are  in  size  and  shape  a  little  less  in  their  measure- 
ment than  the  height  and  width  of  the  size  of  a  head  in 
life,  arc  nailed  together  at  their  topmost  point,  and  on 
each  side  of  the  wooden  column  underneath. 

On  the  top  of  the  lead  piping  two  pieces  of  wood  to 
support  the  clay  are  also  fixed. 

For  the  same  purpose  pieces  of  copper  wire  are  some- 
times nailed  to  this  point,  I'rom  which  two  butter/lies 
attached  to  them  arc  Mispended.  They  are  useful  pieces 
of  framework  material,  and  consist  of  two  small  crossed 
piecc^  of  wood  which  in  the  process  of  modelling  are 
ptc^i  1  against  the  framework  and  help  to  support  the 

clay. 


62 


PRACTICAL    HINTS 


LESSON   V. 


COMMENCEMENT  OF  MODELLING  (front  view). — The 
clay,  placed  on  a  revolving  table,  is  roughly  shaped  with 
the  hands  on  the  framework  into  an  ovoid  form  or  lump, 
some  part  of  the  elongated  column  being  left  for  the 
neck  and  shoulders. 

This  ovoid  form  suggests  at  the  commencement  little 
of  anything  human,  but  the  work  is  subsequently  built 
up  by  adding  to  this  foundation  in  full  modelling,  and 
never  cutting  away.  Taking  careful  measurements  with 
calipers  from  the  model,  the  height  and  breadth  of  the 
head  is  found.  These  measurements,  called  points  of 
rest,  are  carried  to  the  bust  and  marked  there  by  means 
of  a  wooden  match,  which  is  presently  pushed  into  the 
clay  until  the  unbarred  end  of  the  wood  accords  with 
the  projection  found  when  measuring  the  model.  Some 
allowance  must  be  made  in  the  first  start  to  keep  them  a 
little  less  than  those  in  nature,  thereby  allowing  for  the 
further  addition  of  the  added  clay. 
Working  with  the  fingers,  begin  by 
modelling  the  head  by  roughly  making 
two  holes  for  the  eye-sockets,  and 
then  elevate  the  nose  and  depress  the 
part  under  the  chin.  The  head  should 
then  be  set  straight  to  the  position 
required,  measurements  taken  from  the 
life  with  calipers  should  be  marked  off 
with  different  points  on  the  bust. 

Commencing    from  the    front  view, 
the    following    measurements    will    be 
found  useful  : — 
]  |  (i)  From    the   suprasternal  fossa  to 

the  tragus ;   this  should  give  the  direc- 
tion of  the  head  on  the  body. 


MODELLING 


MEASUREMENTS  OF  THE  HEAD. 

(2)  From  the  tragus  of   one  ear  to  the  other  across 
the  face. 

(3)  From  the  tragus  to  the  root  of  the  nose. 

(4)  From  the  root   of   the  nose  to   the   point  of   the 
chin. 

(5)  From  the  tragi  of  the  ears  to  the  projection  of  the 
chin. 

(6)  From  the  chin  to  the  top  of  the  head. 

These  measurements  are  carried   by  wooden   or  iron 
calipers  of  different  sizes  to  the  model. 


64  PRACTICAL   HINTS 

A  plumb-line  and  a  spirit-level  are  also  requisite,  to 
test  the  perpendicular  and  horizontal  lines,  the  latter 
especially  if  the  work  is  carried  on  on  a  board. 

In  the  end  the  judgment  of  the  eye  must  finally  decide, 
more  than  the  measuring  rule,  the  matter.  Continuing 
to  work  with  fingers  and  adding  small  strips  of  clay, 
the  anatomical  bony  structure  of  the  cheek  and  its  pro- 
jection and  depression  can  then  be  indicated. 

The  form  of  the  orbits  of  the  eyes  should  follow  with 
the  eyeballs.  Continuing  the  setting  up,  the  form  of 
the  brow  and  cheek-bones  under  the  eyes  can  be  modelled. 

Then  the  nose  may  be  rudely  modelled,  and  the  part 
where  it  joins  the  brow  suggested. 

Having  proceeded  so  far,  the  foundation  of  the  head 
will  appear  in  a  rough-hewn  state,  and  should  be  full  of 
vigorous  suggestion  for  its  future  state. 

It  will  be  found  that  no  angle  or  convex  line  exists  in 
the  body,  and  that  every  apparent  angle  is  made  up  of 
minute  concave  lines.  It  will  also  be  noted  that  by  far 
the  most  important  lines  are  the  foundation  ones,  which 
indicate  the  general  shape.  When  forms  appear  difficult 
to  understand,  it  is  useful  to  reduce  them  to  geometrical 
shapes. 

Comparing  the  forms  in  a  man  and  woman's  head,  in 
general,  the  principal  outlines  are  more  modified  and 
softer  in  a  woman's  head  than  in  a  man's.  The  shapes 
are  more  ovoid  in  character  in  the  brow  and  jaw.  The 
features  are  slightly  smaller.  The  brow  has  the  appear- 
ance of  being  wider.  It  is  less  arched  and  the  forehead 
lower  than  a  man's,  which  is  square  in  shape.  The 
cheek-bones  are  more  prominent  and  rounder.  Another 
noticeable  point  is  the  line  down  part  of  the  cheek,  caused 
by  the  formation  of  the  hair.  In  fact,  the  general  slope 
of  the  forehead  is  slightly  more  accentuated  and  less 
curved  than  in  man,  and  the  top  of  the  head  further 
back.  The  jaw  angle  is  less  pronounced,  the  chin  more 
pointed,  and  the  lips  fuller.  The  parting  of  the  hair, 
again,  which  grows  lower  on  to  the  forehead,  is  more 


STUDY  OF   A    HEAD    IN    CLAY.      THE    FOUNDATION.       BY    HENRY  F.  W.  GANZ 

(|  Life  site).  (Showing  measured  points.) 


STUDY  OF    A   HEAD   IN   CLAY.  BY  HENRY  F.  W.  GANZ. 

(Part  of  hair  removed,  showing  measured  points). 


68  PRACTICAL    HINTS 

marked,  and  very  characteristic  of  the  sex.  The  neck  will 
be  smaller  and  the  shoulders  more  rounded.  In  man 
the  head  is  generally  "squarer  "  in  character,  the  forehead 
higher,  and  the  mouth  flatter  and  thinner. 

The  modelling  of  a  man's  head  may  be  suggested 
better  with  broad  powerful  strokes  giving  the  necessary 
force  of  character,  while  a  sense  of  more  highly  finished 
detail  carried  to  a  greater  extreme  will  be  appropriate 
to  the  modelling  of  a  woman's  head. 


*  * 


-  J 


By  Henry  F.  W.  Ganz. 
PORTRAIT  OF   ALFRED  GILBERT,    M.V.O.     R.A.,    D.C.L.,    H.R.I. 


70  PRACTICAL   HINTS 


QUALITY   OF   THE   CLAY    AND    OTHER 
MATERIALS. 

Clay  is  the  simplest  material  for  modelling  with.  It 
can  be  obtained  ready  prepared  at  most  potteries  and  art 
dealers  at  about  is.  for  7  Ibs.  It  should  be  kept  in  a  tin- 
lined  or  air-tight  box,  with  a  tap  to  draw  off  superfluous 
water.  It  is  important  that  the  clay  should  be  kept  in  a 
proper  state,  neither  too  hard  nor  too  soft.  It  should 
be  in  a  state  of  what  is  called  "  malleable  "  consistency. 
If  it  is  too  hard,  tough,  it  must  be  sprinkled  with  water 
and  beaten  well.  In  winter  it  must  be  kept  damp,  but 
protected  from  frost,  by  a  stove,  or  an  oil-cloth  cover- 
ing, will  keep  it  from  being  affected  by  the  outside 
temperature. 

If  clay  sticks  to  the  fingers,  a  sponge  and  water  should 
be  at  hand. 

If  clay  is  too  soft,  it  must  be  left  to  dry. 

Too  soft  clay  is  called  slip. 

Wax,  a  more  expensive  material,  can  be  procured  at 
the  caterers  for  artists'  wants  and  large  oil-colourmen. 
It  is  supplied  by  Lechertier  Barbe  of  Jermyn  Street ; 
Reeves ;  Roberson  of  Long  Acre  and  Piccadilly  ;  Winsor 
and  Newton;  Lamley  of  South  Kensington;  Percy  Young, 
and  most  dealers  at  about  2s.  a  pound. 

Plastine,  plasticine,  and  pate  plastique  cost  about  is.  yd. 
a  pound.  This  last  material  cannot  be  used  for  out-of- 
door  work,  as  it  is  impervious  to  rain. 


MODEL   OF   A    HEAD    IN   CLAY.      THE    FOUNDATION.        BY    W.  B.    FAGAN. 


MODELLING  73 


LESSON   VI. 


MODELLING  A  HEAD  FROM  LIFE.    PROGRESSION. 

FROM  VIEW.— Having  indicated  the  eyes  in  regard  to 
the  formation  of  the  eyeballs  in  their  sockets,  the  form 
of  the  forehciid  should  be  indicated  in  relation  to  its  bony 
structure,  and  the  cheek-bones  modelled  below  the  orbits 
and  at  the  side  of  them.  Next  the  pupils  of  the  eyes  can 
he  indicated  by  the  insertion  of  the  fourth  finger,  then 
built  round  by  the  addition  of  the  eyelid*. 

The  iv  then  be  built  up  and  roughly  modelled 

with  the  thumb  and  forefingers  and  added  to  the  brow, 
the  n^trils  indicated,  the  end  of  the  nose  trimmed,  and 
the  line  where  the  nostrils  join  the  cheek  suggested. 

Next,  starting  from  the  Ciii>,  the  lower  jii:c-lwncs  may 
be  built  up,  attention  being  paid  that  the  angle  which 
they  form  with  the  ears  IN  well  shown. 

Then  the  upper  jaa-s  and  the  month,  and  the  two 
corners  of  the  mouth,  in  relation  to  the  size  of  the 
nostrils,  should  be  studied  and  modelled. 

The  modelling  of  the  cars  follows.  This  may  be  done 
partly  from  the  profile  view  ;  they  are  laid  on  with  thin 
strips  of  clay,  and  the  hollows  may  be  scooped  out  with 
the  fingers,  but  should  not  be  "carved"  ("per  forza  di 
It'i'iirc  "). 

The  mass  of  hair  over  the  forehead,  &c.,  should  then 
be  built  up,  as  also  the  neck  and  shoulders,  beginning  at 
the  collar-bone. 


74  PRACTICAL   HINTS 

LESSON  VII. 
CONTINUATION  OF  MODELLING  A  HEAD. 

The  model  may  now  be  turned  to  the  profile  view,  the 
sitter  also. 

The  chin  may  be  modelled,  then  the  brow,  nose,  and 
eyes ;  the  eyelids  may  be  modified  and  the  other  features 
looked  into. 

The  views  from  underneath  may  then  be  studied,  and 
conveyed  to  the  bust.  This  is  most  important,  as  other- 
wise the  modelling  will  appear  "  flat."  The  different 
sections  of  the  head  should  be  well  observed. 

The  modelling  continues  by  placing  on  clay  bit  by  bit 
("  per  via  dl  porre")  and  the  various  textures  noted  and 
indicated. 

DRAWING. — In  the  next  stage  the  sculptor  must  con- 
fine himself  to  drawing;  in  this  the  features  must  severally 
be  studied  and  touched  up,  the  eyelids  modified,  and 
graduated  in  relation  to  the  orbit  and  surrounding  parts. 
The  study  of  drawing  continues  on  the  bust  from  front, 
profile,  three-quarters,  and  other  views,  not  omitting 
the  ones  from  underneath.  All  this  will  help  to  give 
character  and  expression  to  the  head,  and  suggest  the 
movement  of  forms  obtained  in  plastic  shape.  Taken 
from  every  point  of  view,  drawing  will  give  the  relative 
proportion,  the  movement  of  forms  given  by  the  sub- 
cutaneous bones  and  muscles,  and  the  projections  and 
the  recessions  of  the  outline.  The  direction  of  the  con- 
tour must  be  modified  by  the  angles,  curves,  and  projec- 
tions ;  and  the  outline  should  tally,  in  firmness  or  softness, 
with  that  of  the  model. 

EFFECT. — The  work  must  now  be  carried  further  by 
the  effect  of  light,  shade,  and  half  tone,  and  constantly 
compared  with  the  living  model.  Effect  will  show  that 
if  a  shadow  is  not  dark  enough  on  the  bust  it  is  not 
deep  enough.  And  if  a  light  is  not  high  enough  it  is  too 
hollow. 


STUDY   OF   A    HEAD    IN    CLAY.      THE   FOUNDATION.       BY  W.  B.  FAGAN. 


MODELLING  77 


LESSON    VIII. 

WASTE    MOULD  CASTING    IN    PLASTER   OF 
PARIS. 

MAKING  THE  MOULD. 

The  mould  is  made  by  mechanical  operation  beginning 
at  the  base  and  working  upwards.  In  the  moulding  every 
point  and  corner  of  the  model  has  to  be  considered. 
The  first  thing  to  do  is  to  lay  strips  of  clay  of  about  i 
or  2  in.  wide,  and  i  to  i  in.  thick,  on  to  the  surface  of 
the  model ;  with  these  a  portion  of  the  surface  is  thus 
marked  off.  This  portion  is  filled  with  ycllsic-tintcd 
plaster. 

The  ochre  is  employed  to  show  exactly  the  difference 
between  this  "mould'  anil  the  eventual  "cast."  In  the 
process  the  plaster  of  Paris,  which  is  used  in  small 
quantities  and  renewed,  is  mixed  first  with  a  little  ochre 
and  sprinkled  mt<>  a  cup  half-full  of  water,  stirred,  then 
laid  on  the  prepared  space  of  the  model.  \Vliitc  plaster 
of  Paris  i^  then  applied  over  this  in  the  same  way. 

When  the  plaster  is  set  the  strip  of  clay  is  removed, 
and  a  round  hole  drilled,  as  a  guide  in  refixing  the 
various  pieces  of  the  mould.  The  other  sections  are 
similarly  treated. 

In  laying  the  plaster  on  the  model,  only  certain  sized 
pieces  of  the  mould  can  be  made  at  a  time.  The  upper 
edge  of  each  piece  of  the  mould  is  painted  with  clay- 
water  to  prevent  the  plaster  adhering  to  it — the  two  parts 
having  subsequently  to  be  separated.  The  new  space  is 
filled  in  with  plaster  of  Paris,  and  in  this  way  the  entire 
surface  of  the  model  is  gradually  covered. 

This  usually  takes  some  time,  and  is  attended  with 
various  difficulties,  such  as  keeping  the  clay  moist,  &c. 
The  mould  being  complete,  it  is  then  taken  off  the  model 
piece  by  piece,  after  having  been  thoroughly  syringed 
with  water. 


"THE   VICTORY   OF   SAMOTHRACE."  Louvre. 


ANCIENT   SCULPTURE  79 

NOTE    ON   THE    HISTORY   OF   ANCIENT 
SCULPTURE. 

PRIMITIVE,  ARCHAIC,  GREEK  AND  ROMAN. 

The  origin  of  sculpture  is  wrapped  in  mystery.  It  is 
found  in  use  with  some  peoples  low  in  the  state  of 
civilisation.  Ancient  carvings  of  sculptured  form  exist 
on  memorial  stones  in  the  SANDWICH  ISLES,  in  the 
SOUTH  ARCHIPELAGO,  on  buildings  in  parts  of  SOUTH 
AMERICA,  and  in  MEXICO.  Our  knowledge  of  antiquity 
give-,  us  no  clue  as  to  the  reason  for  the  worship  of 
animals  (EGYPT).  The  "  earliest  "  subjects  appear  either 
.is  inched  or  painted  work,  in  man-ellons  outlines  of 
reindeer  and  other  animals,  shown  in  "correct"  attitudes 
of  motion,  or  at  rest,  either  on  horn  bone,  or  on  the 
walls  of  the  caves  in  H antes-Pyrenees,  and  in  Dordogne. 
They  are  the  work  of  the  primitive  hunter. 

ly  history  relates  that,  after  having  been  used  in 
the  form  of  simple  ''stones  of  memory,"  the  head,  then  the 
body,  or  rather  draped  body,  and  later  the  symbol  of 
the  spirit  of  individual  life  were  gradually  included  in 
these  "  stones."  IdoU  of  human  shape  (GREECE)  follow, 
with  the  contemporaneous  birth  of  Art  and  Religion, 
which  for  so  many  ages  were  so  closely  connected. 

Passing  the  STOM;  and  BRONZE  and  IRON  Ages,  we 
find  that  ancient  EGYPTIAN  art  teems  with  statues,  bas- 
reliefs  on  buildings,  in  bronze  or  in  terra-cotta,  coloured 
glazed  hgures  representing  gods  and  goddesses,  some 
with  animals'  heads.  Then  there  is  the  colossal  Sphinx 
of  Cheops,  near  the  Great  Pyramid.  The  sculptors  of 
this  period  were  highly  trained  in  the  technique  of  their 
art  and  carried  out  their  works  to  a  set  canon  of  propor- 
tion. A  colossal  characteristic  type  of  figure  was  selected 
and  the  heads  of  the  figures  especially  were  finely  worked 
out.  A  curious  fact  is  that  the  figures  are  usually  posed 
standing  straight  up,  equally  on  both  feet.  No  sense  of 
perspective  is  given.  They  are  chiefly  executed  in  red, 
black,  or  gray  granite. 


8o  PRACTICAL    HINTS 

ASSYRIAN  Art  abounds  with  masterpieces.  The  winged 
figures,  bulls  with  human  faces,  all  of  colossal  size,  taken 
from  the  Palace  of  Khorsabad,  may  be  seen  in  the  British 
Museum.  Universal  admiration  is  excited  by  the  hunting 
scenes  from  Nimrud,  also  to  be  seen  there,  stone  bas- 
reliefs,  which  are  particularly  worthy  of  study,  especially 
"The  Wounded  Lion"  and  "The  Dying  Lioness." 

It  will  be  noted  that  all  these  sculptures  eminently 
befit  the  architectural  settings  to  which  they  originally 
were  applied.  The  leading  features  of  these  works  are  a 
free  composition,  a  living  combination  of  motion,  and 
a  sense  of  style  ;  the  principle  of  alternation  and  contrast 
is  ably  used.  The  nude  is  of  a  very  muscular,  energetic, 
and  correct  form,  and  the  animals  are  even  better. 

From  the  Temple  of  JERUSALEM  we  get  such  decora- 
tive motives  as  the  cherubim  or  winged  cherub,  a  word 
now  used  to  signify  an  angel  or  winged  child,  an 
Assyrian  term  which  passes  through  Hebrew  into  modern 
tongues.  From  CHALDEA  the  Greeks  received  those 
winged  figures  of  men  and  animals  of  which  we  still 
make  use. 

Passing  by  the  smaller  pieces  of  sculpture  discovered 
in  TROY  (Hissarlik) ;  the  bronze  ornaments,  armour,  tools, 
and  vases  ;  the  Gates  of  the  Treasury  of  MYCENAE,  the 
pilasters  and  tablets  of  which  are  of  coloured  marble, 
decorated  with  spiral  and  zigzag  ornaments,  pointing  to 
Oriental  influence,  and  the  palace  of  Cnossus,  we  come 
to  GREEK  Art,  which  was  brought  to  perfection  in  less 
than  two  centuries  from  its  origin. 

"  Artemis ''  (Delos),  now  in  Athens  (date  about  620 
B.C.),  one  of  the  earliest  statues,  is  scarcely  more  than  a 
head  placed  on  a  "  memory  stone,"  a  rude  limbless  block, 
which  might  be  taken  for  a  pillar  or  a  tree-trunk.  The 
Greeks  called  these  figures  "  CHOANA  "  (CJieein,  to  scrape) ; 
they  were  carved  from  wood.  The  " earliest  "  in  England 
(Brit.  Mus.)  is  the  statue  of  Chares,  a  square-set  seated 
male  figure  (stone). 


ANCIENT   SCULPTURE  81 

It  appears  that  certain  CHIAN  sculptors  of  the  year 
550  B.C.  were  taken  to  Athens,  and  among  excavated 
pieces  it  has  been  found  that  the  GREEK  ARCHAIC 
sculptors  not  only  caned  but  also  painted  their  marble. 
In  Greek  art  we  find  the  "earthly"  form  taken  as  the 
shape  of  the  god,  and  as  motives  mythical  antiquity 
and  idealism  occupy  a  large  field. 

Passing  the  small  stone  offerings,  &c.,  for  temples  and 
SAMOS  metal-work,  we  find  the  gods  and  heroes  are 
succeeded  by  wooden  models,  often  gilded  in  part,  in- 
cluding figures  of  athletes  in  sports  or  games.  Various 
works  were  carried  out  in  marble  or  bronze,  or  in  ivory 
and  gold.  As  subjects,  gods  and  goddesses,  and  draped 
women,  warriors  and  athletes,  may  be  seen  in  the 
metopes  or  on  the  pediments  of  temples ;  portions  of 
the  Temple  of  Aphaia  at  ^EGIXA  are  now  to  be  seen  in 
Munich  at  the  Glyptothck.  Some  portraits  and  early  in- 
cisi-d  vases  belong  to  this  period.  A  notable  "bronze" 
figure  of  a  "Charioteer"  (DELPHI)  marks  the  border-line 
between  ARCHAIC  and  Mi  i  i  IMC  Art. 

The  Argive  Agelados  was  the  supposed  master  of 
Myron,  Polycletus,  and  Phidias. 

Mvion  was  famous  for  his  male  figures  of  athletes  in 
action  ;  he  shows  them  no  longer  standing  bolt  upright 
as  in  Egyptian  art,  but  often  bending  or  standing,  posed 
on  one  foot,  as  in  his  "  Discobolus  "  or  "  Ladas." 

Polycletus  was  the  author  of  a  colossal  ideal  statue  of 
"Hera";  of  Argus  (chryselephantine),  now  lost;  of  a 
"  Doryphorus,"  called  "  The  Canon  "  by  the  ancients, 
because  the  "  correct "  proportions  of  the  figure  are 
shown  ;  and  of  a  bronze  figure  of  an  "  Amazon." 

Phidias,  a  contemporary  of  the  two  former  sculptors, 
started  as  a  painter,  and  was  an  architect  as  well  as 
a  sculptor.  Dedicated  to  the  Virgin  Goddess,  Athene 
(Minerva),  the  Parthenon  at  Athens  was  completed  in 
435  B.C.  The  greater  part  of  the  sculpture  from  this 
temple  was  brought  to  England  by  Lord  Elgin  in  1803, 
and  is  now  placed  in  the  British  Museum.  It  is  the  work 
6 


82  PRACTICAL    HINTS 

of  Phidias,  and  includes  "  The  Frieze  of  Horsemen,  the 
Panathenaic  procession  of  maidens  and  sacrificial  animals 
and  seated  gods  and  goddesses/'  524  feet  in  length  ;  we 
possess  about  half  (measuring  40  inches  high).  This 
may  have  once  been  painted  with  red  draperies  on  a 
green  background,  and  from  the  evidence  of  the  holes 
for  their  insertion  the  horses'  bridles  appear  to  have  been 
made  of,  or  to  have  been  attached  with,  metal.  The 
marvellous  groups  from  the  pediments  (originally  40  feet 
from  the  ground),  represent  the  birth  of  Athene  with 
sea-gods  and  fates,  and  the  metopes  in  high-relief,  repre- 
sent "  Lapithae  in  combat  with  Centaurs."  These  latter 
works  were  probably  carried  out  under  the  direction  of 
Phidias.  The  Nike  of  Paeonius  dates  from  425  B.C. 

Another  antique  statue  is  the  "  Wingless  Victory " 
Nike  Apteros,  Athens.  Pausanias  gives  a  description  of 
Phidias'  seated  figure  of  "  Zeus,"  once  in  the  Temple  of 
Olympia  and  now  lost.  It  was  40  feet  high  and  carried 
out  in  ivory  and  gold,  the  god  wearing  a  wreath  made 
of  sprays  of  olive,  and  holding  in  his  right  hand  a  victory 
and  in  his  left  a  sceptre,  wrought  in  metals.  On  the  robe 
were  wrought  various  figures  and  the  throne  was  adorned 
with  gold  and  stones,  ebony  and  ivory.  Another  of  his 
statues,  also  in  ivory  and  gold,  was  the  "  Athene  Parthenos" 
(also  lost). 

The  work  of  Phidias  shows  an  expression  of  serene 
strength  and  harmony ;  he  fixed  the  types  of  the  gods 
and  goddesses.  His  decorations  of  the  pediment  and 
frieze  give  the  decorative  effect  of  well-balanced  line  and 
a  distinguishing  type  to  these  subjects  which  later  artists 
followed.  The  student  should  note  his  treatment  of 
draperies,  which  show  off  and  also  explain  the  beauty 
of  the  body.  It  will  further  be  noted  that  the  material  of 
which  it  is  composed  considerably  affects  its  lines. 

By  Ictinus,  the  architect  of  the  Parthenon,  is  also  a 
frieze  from  the  Temple  of  Apollo,  Phigalia  (British 
Museum),  and  one  of  the  six  "  Caryatides "  from  the 
portico  of  the  Erechtheum,  Athens. 

Scopas,   who   was    also   an   architect,   has  left   marble 


ANCIENT   SCULPTURE  83 

portraits  and  the  "  Niobe  "  group  ;  he  with  three  other 
sculptors  carried  out  the  Mausoleum  at  Halicarnassus. 
The  statues  of  "  Mausolus  and  Artemisia "  (marble),  the 
frieze  and  bas-reliefs,  are  now  in  the  British  Museum. 

Praxiteles  was  born  about  380  B.C.  His  works  show 
in  their  expression  a  languorous  grace,  and  he  represents 
"Eros"  of  Centocelle,  Rome,  not  as  a  child,  but  in  the 
dawn  of  youth.  He  also  left  a  "  Hermes  carrying  a 
youthful  Dionysus  "  (Olympia)  in  marble,  in  which  the 
free  treatment  of  the  hair  may  be  noted  and  the  expres- 
sion of  the  deep-set  eye,  which  is  thrown  into  shadow 
by  his  treatment  of  the  projection  of  the  brow.  An 
"  Artemis,"  "  Aphrodite,"  "  Phryne,"  and  various  portraits 
are  among  his  works,  many  of  which  show  the  influence 
of  the  art  of  painting,  in  the  expression  he  gives  to  his 
iR'.uU.  Lysippu*,  another  artist  of  the  fourth  century, 
ha^  left  a  bron/e  "  Apoxyomenes  "  (copy,  Vatican), 
athlete*,  and  portrait.  In  the  further  development  of 
Greek  art  comes  "The  Nike,"  Victory,  of  SAMOTHRACE 
(marble,  3068.0.),  Louvre.  A  seated  figure  of  "Demeter" 
from  CMDUS  (British  Museum). 

The  date  of  the  "  Venus  of  Milo  "  (marble),  Louvre, 
is  unknown  ;  it  wa*  discovered  in  1820,  in  the  Isle  of 
Mi-:  LOS. 

Following  the  subjects  of  gods  and  goddess,  heroes 
and  athletes,  with  their  various  expressions  of  strength, 
grace,  passion  or  elegance,  we  come  to  a  series  of  works 
including  scenes  of  violent  action,  physical  suffering 
and  tragedies,  and  "The  Dying  Gaul  or  Gladiator," 
by  Epigonus.  "The  Laocoon  Group"  (Vatican)  by 
Agesander,  Athenodorus,  and  Polydorus.  The  "Apollo 
Belvedere"  (from  the  bronze),  Vatican,  and  "the  Venus 
de'  Medici,"  by  Kleomenes  (Umzi,  Florence). 

From  B.C.  195  come  the  "  PERGAMON  marbles,"  white 
marble  figures  of  colossal  size  ;  they  were  once  a  frieze 
(about  9  feet  high),  executed  in  high  relief  ;  representing 
"  The  Contest  between  Gods  and  the  Giants,"  "  The 
Triumph  of  Athena."  They  are  now  placed  in  a  large 


84 


PRACTICAL    HINTS 


hall  in  the  Museum  in  Berlin.  Finally  there  is  a  re- 
markable masterpiece  in  "  The  Sarcophagus  or  Shrine 
of  Alexander,"  now  in  Constantinople,  of  Attic  marble 
from  Sidon. 

The  minor  arts  of  Greece  include  a  vast  number  of 
terra-cotta  figures,  chiefly  draped  female  figures  of 
Tanagra,  from  tombs ;  reliefs,  statuettes,  coins,  engraved 
gems,  masks,  terminal  figures,  besides  jewellery,  chased 
and  repousse  silver  vases,  fountains,  burial-urns,  trapezo- 
phoron,  medals  and  many  household  utensils.  Greek 
vases  vary  from  those  of  natural-coloured  ground  (750 
B.C.)  to  those  of  black  figures  on  red  ground  (600  B.C.), 
and  red  on  a  black  ground  (500  to  400  B.C.). 


HYDRIA.     (Second  Period.) 


ANCIENT   SCULPTURE  85 

Greek  art  appears  eventually  to  have  drifted  to  ROME, 
and  in  order  of  history  we  next  may  note  the  pottery 
of  ETRURIA,  the  Etruscan  Sarcophagus,  Lydian  Tomb 
(British  Museum),  "The  Arch  of  Titus,"  with  its  bas- 
reliefs,  "The  Trajan  Column,"  "Antinous,"  the  por- 
traits of  Augustus,  Nerva,  "  Orestes  and  Electra,"  and 
the  equestrian  statue  of  Marcus  Aurelius  in  Rome. 

In  the  dark  ages  that  followed,  BYZANTINE  art,  with 
its  marvellous  bas-relief  sculpture,  shows  art  in  an  abstract 
and  symbolical  form,  the  Early  Church's  law  severely 
controlling  all  composition  in  art. 


HYDRIA.     (Third  Period.) 


86 


PRACTICAL    HINTS 


The  Hydria,  on  page  84,  is  of  the  archaic,  or  second 
period  (eighth  to  seventh  century  B.C.),  and  stands  in  the 
British  Museum  (No.  A.  1356).  It  was  found  at  Camirus, 
in  Rhodes.  Of  a  cream  natural-coloured  clay,  it  is  painted 
with  an  incised  design  in  black,  white,  and  red  colours. 
The  ornamentation,  containing  the  earliest  form  of  rosette, 
is  of  rings  with  two  rows  of  animals,  and  above  a  row 
of  birds.  It  is  i6|  inches  high. 

The  Hydria  on  page  85  (a  pitcher),  with  silhouettes  of 
black  figures  on  a  red  ground,  depicting  the  quarrel  be- 
tween Ajax  and  Odysseus  over  the  arms  of  Achilles,  on 
the  reverse  side  a  Dionysion  subject.  It  is  of  Athenian 
fabric,  end  of  the  sixth  century  B.C.,  third  period.  In 
the  British  Museum  (No.  B.  327.)  Size  about  18  inches. 


RHYTON.     (Fourth  Period.) 


ANCIENT   SCULPTURE  87 

The  Rhyton  (wine-cup)  on  page  86  is  of  the  third 
century  B.C.  (fourth  period).  In  the  shape  of  a  ram's 
head,  it  is  painted  with  black  on  a  red  ground,  with  the 
eyes  and  horns  tinted  white.  A  winged  figure  represent- 
ing Eros  with  cista  is  unpainted  on  a  black  background 
on  the  neck.  Of  Apulian  fabric,  it  is  now  in  the  British 
Museum  (Xo.  F.  .427). 

The  oenochoe  (wine-jug),  on  p.  87,  is  of  Athenian  fabric, 
fourth  century  B.C.  Modelled  in  red  terra-cotta,  it  was 
originally  painted.  It  is  in  the  form  of  a  helmeted 
female  head,  probably  Athene.  The  helmet  is  orna- 
mented on  each  side  with  seated  female  figures  in  relief, 
and  in  front  with  a  head  issuing  from  leaves;  over  the 
forehead  is  a  row  of  rosettes,  the  earrings,  originally  gilt, 
are  in  the  form  of  winged  female  figures  surmounted 
by  rosettes.  No.  G.  i.  British  Museum  (size  9  in.  high). 


CENOCHOE.      B.C.  20O. 


88  PRACTICAL    HINTS 

CHRISTIAN  ART  IN  THE  EAST  AX D  WEST. 

The  fourth  century  shows  several  specimens  of  Christian 
sarcophagi,  copies  from  pagan  tombs,  richly  decorated 
with  Biblical  stories  in  relief.  Early  Christian  art  showed 
no  aversion  to  imagery  but  the  representation  of  God, 
and  the  crucified  Jesus  did  not  appear  till  the  fifth  century. 
At  this  period  Byzantine  influence  predominated;  rnosaic 
decorations  predominated  on  the  walls  and  vaults  of  the 
basilica,  as  in  the  interior  of  Sant'  Apollinare  in  Classe, 
Ravenna.  The  sculptured  ornamentation  of  the  pillars 
contains  graceful  designs  in  relief  of  vines,  birds,  &c., 
acanthus  and  thistle  plants. 

The  bronze  figure  of  St.  Peter,  Rome,  is  in  this  style. 
Gothic  sculpture  is  of  a  very  high  order  in  France  in  the 
twelfth  to  the  sixteenth  centuries. 

ART  OF  THE  RENAISSANCE. 

In  Italy  Niccola  Pisano  carved  his  pulpit  in  the 
Baptistery,  Pisa ;  this  work  was  Gothic  in  form  and 
decorated  with  high  bas-reliefs  inspired  from  those  on 
Roman  sarcophagi. 

Mention  must  be  made  of  Pisano  Pisanello  of  Verona, 
the  engraver  of  admirable  medals,  and  painter  of  the 
picture  of  St.  George  and  St.  Anthony,  now  in  the 
National  Gallery. 

Florentine  sculpture  began  with  Lorenzo  Ghiberti,  who 
decorated  the  great  bronze  doors  of  the  Baptistery  at 
Florence  (1405-1452)  with  a  marvellous  series  of  bas- 
reliefs.  These  bas-reliefs  are  treated  pictorially,  having 
the  more  distant  figures  in  lower  relief  than  the  rest, 
thus  keeping  their  planes  in  perspective.  Next  there 
come  Delia  Quercia,  the  author  of  the  Tomb  of  Ilaria 
del  Caretto,  and  Luca  della  Robbia,  author  of  "The 
Cantoria  ; "  Matteo  da  Pasti,  the  medallist  of  Gismondo 
Malatesta  and  Isotta  degli  Atti. 


MEDIAEVAL   SCULPTURE 


89 


"  DAVID."      BY   DONATELLO. 


The  highest  type  of  naturalism,  the  anthithesis  of 
classical  antiquity,  is  seen  in  Donatello's  "  David,"  "  St. 
Mark"  and  "St.  George."  Donatello  excelled  in  the  art 
of  bassi-rilievi,  a^  in  the  "Christ  on  the  marble  Pieta  " 
(South  Kensington  Museum).  His  pupil  Verrocchio 
designed  the  most  beautiful  equestrian  figure  of  the 
Renaissance,  the  Condottiere  Colleone  at  Venice,  a  work 
completed  by  Leopardi. 

There  was  a  great  difference  between  the  mind  and  art 
of  Florence  and  that  of  Athens.  In  Florentine  art  we 
find  an  absence  of  serenity,  an  agitated  realism,  languor- 
ous grace  and  melancholy  even  in  the  rendering  of  joy. 
Between  Athens  and  Florence  had  arisen  the  spirit  of 


90  PRACTICAL    HINTS 

Christianity,  a  religion  which  deified  suffering  and 
anathematised  the  flesh.  Its  mystic  tenderness'  and 
fervid  asceticism  are  reflected  in  Renaissance  art  of  Italy. 

In  the  great  works  of  Michael  Angelo  one  finds 
expressed  the  thoughts  of  a  giant,  who,  we  are  told, 
carved  the  whole  work  himself  by  attacking  a  block  of 
marble  with  vigorous  strokes  of  the  hammer.  In  order 
to  produce  high  lights  on  the  flesh  he  gave  a  degree  of 
polish  to  certain  parts  of  his  marble.  Amongst  his 
masterpieces  are  his  youthful  Cupid,  the  Pieta  in  St. 
Peter's,  Rome,  and  the  "David"  at  Florence,  and  later 
"  Moses,"  the  Slaves  in  the  Louvre,  Paris,  and  the  allegor- 
ical figures  of  "  Dawn,"  "  Twilight,"  "  Day,"  and  "  Night " 
on  the  Medici  tombs. 

Benvenuto  Cellini,  who  was  a  sculptor,  goldsmith,  and 
chaser  of  metal,  has  left  a  "  Perseus,"  and  other  figures, 
portraits,  medals,  his  shield  (Turin),  his  salt-cellar 
(Vienna),  and  numerous  vases. 

Many  works  of  the  Middle  Ages  were  cast  in  metal 
by  the  various  processes  and  the  surface  then  gilded, 
for  example  on  the  tombs  of  Mary  of  Burgundy  and 
Charles  the  Bold  in  Bruges,  and  Peter  Vischer's  twenty- 
eight  colossal  figures  round  the  tomb  of  the  Emperor 
Maximilian  at  Innsbruck.  That  of  Philippe  Pot,  in  the 
Louvre,  is  a  fine  example  of  the  Flemish  Renaissance. 
In  Limoges  the  works  were  not  cast  but  made  of  ham- 
mered "  (repousse) "  plates  of  copper,  decorated  with 
tl  champleve  "  enamels. 

Coloured  sculpture,  as  in  the  Greek  period,  was  much 
in  vogue.  The  stone  or  carved  wood  was  first  covered 
with  gesso  or  fine  plaster  mixed  with  size,  patterns  often 
being  stamped  with  wooden  discs  on  the  draperies  and 
gold  colour  applied. 

This  work  was  carried  out  by  the  imagers,  lay  sculp- 
tors, at  the  orders  of  monks  who  built  and  decorated  their 
churches.  The  design  of  the  Gothic  church  owed  its 
origin  to  the  Roman  basilica,  but  the  Gothic  architects 
built  their  church  in  the  form  of  a  Latin  cross,  and, 


MEDIEVAL   SCULPTURE  91 

rejecting  roofs  constructed  of  horizontal  stones,  adopted 
a  vault  and  a  pointed  arch.  The  group  of  lines  com- 
posed of  the  pointed  arch  and  the  gable  are  the  base 
of  all  Gothic  architecture,  which  owes  its  derivation  to 
Doric  and  Corinthian  styles.  The  principal  decorative 
sculpture  was  usually  placed  in  the  lower  part  of  the 
buildings,  in  order  to  render  it  more  visible. 

These  figures,  to  answer  the  demands  of  Gothic  archi- 
tecture, are  treated  in  a  manner  more  removed  from 
nature,  and  as  a  part  of  an  architectural  whole,  than 
those  used  in  classical  architecture,  the  position  of  the 
l.ittcr  being,  also,  usually  at  the  summit  of  the  building. 

It  is  an  interesting  fact  that  a  nearly  complete  collec- 
tion of  the  thirteenth  to  fifteenth  centuries'  sculptors' 
work  is  to  be  seen  in  Westminster  Abbey.  There  are  two 
bronze  effigies  on  the  tombs  of  Henry  III.  and  Queen 
Eleanor  which  are  decorated  with  mosaics,  the  work 
of  an  Englishman ,  William  Torell.  Amongst  the  others 
are  an  effigy  of  Wm.  of  Valence,  of  wrought  copper 
repousse  work,  nailed  on  a  wooden  core  and  decorated 
with  champleve  enamels  from  Limoges.  Another  tomb 
is  worked  in  stamped  gesso,  with  coloured  decorations, 
while  a  line  gilt  bronze,  the  recumbent  figure  of  Henry 
VII.,  is  the  work  of  Torrigiano.  There  are  also  examples 
by  English  sculptors  of  recumbent  figures  in  English 
aKilxi^ter  of  a  later  period.  Casts  of  various  works  and 
architectural  features  may  be  seen  in  the  Royal  Archi- 
tectural Museum,  near  Dean's  Yard,  Westminster. 


92  PRACTICAL    HINTS 


NOTE  ON    FIRING   THE    CLAY    MODEL. 

Should  it  be  intended  to  fire,  or  make  a  terra-cotta  of, 
the  model,  the  operation  of  hollowing  the  model  will  be 
necessary.  This  is  done  for  several  reasons  :  to  lessen 
the  weight  of  the  material,  to  allow  the  clay  to  dry  more 
quickly,  to  ease  the  firing,  and  to  avoid  the  risk  of  split- 
ting (clay  shrinks  in  drying). 

For  this  purpose  a  part  of  the  crown  of  the  head 
may  be  cut  off  by  means  of  a  piece  of  thin  wire  or 
thread,  and  the  inside  of  the  model  scooped  out  until 
a  uniform  thickness  of  only  about  i J  to  2  in.  is  left. 

The  bust  will  then  be  left  without  the  wooden  frame- 
'work.  If  possible,  too  many  butterflies  and  other  attach- 
ments should  not  be  used  in  the  building  of  the  model, 
if  it  is  to  be  fired.  The  model  should  then  be  set  aside 
to  dry.  When  hard  it  is  fired  in  a  potter's  kiln. 


CASTING  93 

As  mentioned  on  page  77,  once  the  mould  is  complete 
it  is  taken  off  the  model  piece  by  piece,  after  having  been 
thoroughly  syringed  with  water.  This  moistens  the  film 
of  clay  between  the  joints  and  allows  the  sections  to  be 
prised  out  of  their  place. 

The  pieces  of  the  mould  are  then  well  washed,  so  that 
no  clay  remains  in  them,  and  put  into  a  pail  of  water 
and  allowed  to  soak,  in  order  that  they  may  become 
non-porous.  They  are  then  drained. 


LESSON    IX. 
Pk'KPARATION  OF  THE   MOULD  FOR  CASTING  IN    PLASTER. 

A  solution  of  soft  soap  is  applied  first  to  the  inside 
pieces  of  the  mould *|and  left  to  be  absorbed  for  about 
thirty  minutes  to  prevent  the  cast  adhering. 

The  pieces  of  the  hollow  mould  are  then  re-shaped  by 
being  placed  together;  where  the  work  is  cast  bit  by  bit 
the  pieces  are  separately  put  together  and  their  edges 
oiled.  The  whole  is  firmly  bound  with  a  cord  and  the 
ouNide  saturated  with  water,  to  prevent  porousness. 
Sometimes  the  pieces  are  cemented  together,  this  time 
with  n'liitc  plaster  from  outside  the  joints,  to  keep  them 
fixed  in  their  places.  Occasionally  in  casting  it  may  be 
necessary  to  support  or  strengthen  a  group  or  the  limbs 
by  inserting  a  metal  support  into  the  mould.  This  metal 
la  painted  with  Brunswick  black  to  prevent  rusting,  and 
is  eventually  absorbed  in  the  mass  of  the  cast.  For  the 
same  reason  wooden  struts  may  also  be  added  as  the 
casting  proceeds. 


94 


PRACTICAL    HINTS 


LESSON    X. 

MAKING  A  CAST  IN  PLASTER. 

To  prepare  plaster  of  Paris  fill  a  bowl  half-full  with 
water,  add  the  plaster  to  the  water  by  sprinkling.  The 
liquid  plaster  is  poured,  or  flung  inside  the  mould  with 
the  hand  (in  a  thin  coating).  The  mould  is  quietly 
rocked  to  prevent  air-bubbles  forming,  or  shaken  up  so 
that  all  the  crevices  may  be  filled.  Three  or  four  repeti- 
tions of  fresh  supplies  of  plaster  are  necessary  till  the 
cast,  going  through  the  same  processes  of  rocking,  seems 
to  have  received  the  plaster  in  its  different  parts,  to  about 
a  uniform  thickness  up  to  an  inch.  It  should  never  be 
made  quite  solid  or  it  may  crack. 

The  same  process  is  applicable  if  the  cast  is  made  bit 
by  bit  till  the  entire  mould  is  put  together.  Generally 
in  not  less  than  half  an  hour  the  plaster  will  be  set.  The 
next  operation  is  to  chip  away  the  outside  plaster  with  a 
mallet  and  dull  chisel,  working  from  the  top  of  the  mould 
downwards,  until  you  chip  on  to  the  plaster  tinted  with 
ochre;  this  warns  you  to  remove  the  plaster  more  care- 
fully, working  it  out  with  blunt  tools,  when  the  bare  cast 
will  be  displayed.  A  new  piece  mould  can  then  be  made 
of  this  cast,  which  can  now  be  worked  upon  again  and 
compared  with  the  clay  model  before  that  cracks  or  is 
destroyed. 

FOR  FINAL  TREATMENT.— Plaster  casts  may  be  tinted 
with  bronze  or  treated  with  oil  or  yellow  clay-water. 
It  will  be  found  that  the  form  of  sculpture  which  obliges 
convention,  such  as  relief,  especially  low  relief,  is  the  kind 
that  stands  colouring  best.  A  wax  model  of  the  plaster 
cast  may  also  be  cast  in  bronze  (which  is  a  special  pro- 
cess), or  copied  in  stone  or  marble,  or  prepared  for  bronze 
casting. 


STUDY   OF   A    HEAD    IN    PLASTER.  "THE    BOY."  BY  WILL  PAGAN. 

(From  a  photo  by  P.  Laib. 


GLAZED   POLYCHROME    EARTHENWARE   BAS-RELIEF.       "  THE   ARMS   OF    KING    RENE   OF 
PROVENCE."      BY   LUCA    DELLA    ROBBIA.       I5th    CENTURY. 

Victoria  and  Albert  Museum,  South  Kensington. 


CASTING  99 

OTHER  FORMS  OF  MODELLING. 

For  reliefs  a  slab  of  slate  or  wood  is  used  on  which 
to  build  the  work.  Low  relief  is  generally  raised  only 
to  about  half  an  inch.  When  modelled  in  clay  and  fired, 
terra-cotta.  reliefs  are  often  employed  as  an  adjunct  to 
architecture. 

GLAZED  POLYCHROME  EARTHENWARE  BAS-RELIEFS.— 
The  Delia  Robbias  employed  colour  on  modelled  clay 
reliefs  coated  with  a  white  enamel  glaze,  obtained  during 
the  firing  by  the  addition  of  oxide  of  tin  to  the  vitreous 
ingredients.  To  this  ground  they  sometimes  added 
various  colours,  and  as  both  the  white  ground  and  the 
added  colours  were  fused  on  to  the  surface  of  the  clay 
in  baking  they  became  permanent. 

The  enamelled  earthenware  medallion  in  high  relief 
by  Luca  Delia  Robbia,  represented  on  p.  98  hangs  in 
South  Kensington  Museum  (No.  6740).  Originally  an 
external  decoration  on  the  Villa  Pantiatici  Ximenes,  near 
Florence,  it  was  placed  there  in  1442.  The  design  on 
tlu  plaque,  which  has  a  diameter  of  10  ft.  7  in.,  sur- 
rounded by  a  massive  frame  or  border  of  leaves  and 
fruit  (7  in.  in  relief),  represents  the  initails  of  King  Rene 
of  Provence  and  his  Queen,  with  his  arms,  the  legend 
"  D'ardant  desir ''  and  a  motto  "  Los  en  crossant,"  flanked 
on  either  side  by  an  emblem  of  fire-pans  or  "  braciers." 
The  same  arms,  given  by  his  daughter  Margaret  of 
Anjou,  Queen  of  Henry  VI.,  are  borne  by  Queen's  Col- 
lege, Cambridge. 

The  scheme  of  colouring  on  the  medallion  is  of  green 
yellow,  pale  blue  and  purple  on  a  white  ground. 


ioo  PRACTICAL   HINTS 

Plaster  moulding  and  gesso  work  are  also  used  for 
simple  or  coloured  decoration.  For  this  process  of 
modelling  in  relief  the  cast  is  made  of  fibrous  plaster, 
and  to  prevent  absorption  of  the  colour  medium  the 
plaster  is  prepared  with  a  coat  of  shellac  on  which  the 
full  range  of  colours  can  be  employed.  Oil,  tempera, 
water  colour  (afterwards  varnished)  and  lacquer  may  all 
be  painted  on  plaster  either  solidly  or  thinly.  Gold  and 
other  metal,  or  stones,  can  be  added  to  increase  the  effect. 
The  decorated  gesso  work  now  being  executed  by  Fred. 
Marriott  may  be  noted. 

A  combination  of  metals  of  various  tints  and  textures, 
bronzes  of  different  colours,  aluminium,  ivory,  and  varie- 
gated sea-shells  are  also  employed  by  Alfred  Gilbert,  and 
others  to  give  harmonious  decoration  to  sculpture  either 
in  the  round  or  on  the  flat. 

THE  ACCESSORIES  TO  SCULPTURE. — The  expression 
given  by  the  introduction  of  hands  as  additions  to  a  bust, 
the  disposition  of  draperies,  and  the  composition  of  minor 
details  must  not  be  lost  sight  of. 

Again,  the  base  or  pedestal  must  be  constructed  so  as 
to  conform  to  the  material  employed,  or  the  conditions 
of  the  architecture  to  which  the  modelling  may  be 
attached.  It  will  be  found  that  every  object  which  has 
sides  upstanding  on  some  base  consists,  as  it  were,  of  a 
head,  body,  and  foot.  These  forms  in  architecture  are 
called  the  cap,  shaft,  and  base,  it  will  be  found  that  these 
will  usually  be  composed  of  horizontal  and  vertical  lines, 
which  give  at  once  a  sense  of  stability,  symmetry,  and 
repose.  This  may  best  be  explained  by  taking  the  archi- 
tectural terms.  Next  to  the  simplest  form  of  arrangement 
of  the  object  (a  wall  with  cornice  above  and  base  below) 
comes  a  division  of  this  wall  space  with  upright  lines 
(the  styles),  which  may  be  forms  in  relief,  such  as  columns 
or  pilasters.  In  the  panels  formed  between  these  a 
rectangular  shape  is  obtained.  To  decorate  these  spaces, 
and  dependent  on  them,  sub-architectural  forms  may  be 
employed,  or  let  in,  composed  of  pyramidal,  oval,  or 
circular  shapes. 


ACCESSORIES   TO   SCULPTURE 


101 


ENTABLATURE 

( 

Cornice  1 

Cymatium 
Corona 
j   Modillions 
\   Dentils 

I      Bedmould 

Frieze 
Architrave 

Capital 


A  bacus 

Volute 

Foliage 


Hypotracheliinn 


f. 


Apophyge 


Base 


Plinth 


> 
c/) 


AN  ORDER  IN  ARCHITECTURE. 


102  PRACTICAL    HINTS 

Springing  from  the  abacus  of  a  column  (through  which 
a  string-course  of  bricks  would  be  run) — arches  of  various 
shapes  may  be  formed  and  treated  in  relation  to  the  line 
above  them,  as  they  span  from  column  to  column,  either 
as  horizontal,  curved,  or  angular  forms.  When  the  arch 
runs  up  to  the  entablature,  a  key-stone  or  bracket  is  used 
to  join  this  projection.  A  spandril  (or  -drel)  will  be 
formed  in  the  angular  space  between  the  curve  of  the 
arch  and  the  level  beams  over  the  same;  these  often 
carry  sculptured  modelling. 

THE  THEORY  OF  BRONZE  CASTING. 

In  the  cira-perduta  or  cire-perdue  process,  the  wax  used 
for  the  thickness  of  the  statue  (between  the  core  and 
mould  of  baked  clay)  is  melted  and  run  off  before  the 
metal  is  poured  in.  According  to  Benvenuto  Cellini, 
who  probably  introduced  the  process  into  France,  a  figure 
was  modelled  in  clay  (or  cast  in  plaster),  slightly  smaller 
than  the  proposed  size,  and  over  this  a  thin  layer  of  wax 
was  superimposed  and  worked  and  modelled  upon.  A 
mixture  of  pounded  brick,  clay  and  ashes,  finely  ground 
together  in  water,  was  applied  in  washes  with  a  brush. 
Upon  this  soft  clay  was  laid  to  strengthen  the  mould, 
bound  with  iron  hoops,  and  then  dried. 

Various  metal  rods  were  then  inserted  to  preserve  the 
relative  positions  of  the  core  and  mould.  The  rough  clay 
mould  was  then  placed  near  a  hot  oven,  which  gently 
baked  the  core  clay  and  the  clay  mould  and  melted  the 
wax,  which  ran  out  from  small  hole's  left  for  this  purpose, 
without  any  particle  remaining  within.  The  same  vents 
were  left  for  the  escape  of  air  during  the  metal  casting, 
the  baked  core  (of  the  same  form  as  the  model)  and 
hollow  mould  (the  concave  of  the  statue)  having  been 
preserved  in  their  relative  positions  by  various  rods  of 
copper.  Before  the  melted  bronze  was  poured  in  and 
allowed  to  fill  the  hollow  left  between  the  core  and 
mould  just  described,  the  mould  was  put  underground 


BRONZE   CASTING 


103 


near  to  the  furnace  and  propped  up.  This  was  allowed 
to  cool  and  then  the  outer  mould  was  broken  away,  and 
the  inner  core  knocked  and  raked  out  through  some 
small  hole,  left  in  a  part  of  the  model  which  was  not 
conspicuous. 

A  beautifully  accurate  cast  in  bronze  is  the  result. 
This  is  sometimes  chased  or  covered  with  a  patina  of 
the  colour  desired. 


'  THE  DANCE.'     CARPEAUX.     Facade  of  the  Opera  House,  Paris. 
(Marble).       Size  about  12  feet  high.       (Cross  in  circle  composition). 


io4  PRACTICAL    HINTS 


NOTE  ON  MARBLE  CARVING. 

In  order  to  make  a  copy  in  marble  or  stone,  first  select 
the  materials  carefully,  having  regard  to  their  texture. 
Parian,  Pentelic,  or  Carrara  marble  may  be  used,  or  stone 
of  firm  substance  such  as  sandstone,  slate,  alabaster, 
granite  or  porphyry.  For  this  process  the  most  simple 
way  of  representing  in  stone  is  to  place  a  square  frame, 
with  spaces  made  by  strung-strings,  or  a  flat  edge  over 
or  in  front  of  the  model.  This  squaring  off  is  useful  for 
multiplying  to  a  large  scale.  The  model  is  covered  with 
a  series  of  marks  on  salient  points.  A  pointing-machine 
with  three  arms  ending  in  metal  needles,  moving  in  ball- 
and-socket  joints,  is  required.  The  two  arms  are  then 
applied  to  the  model,  each  touching  points  or  marks  on 
the  figure ;  the  arms  are  screwed  up  and  the  machine  is 
then  carried  to  the  marble  block  and  set  with  its  points 
on  the  stone.  As  the  needle  slides  back  on  its  own  axis 
it  cannot  reach  the  point  on  the  marble.  A  hole  is  there- 
fore drilled  till  the  point  is  sunk  in  the  block  exactly  to 
the  point  touched  in  the  plaster.  This  process  is  repeated 
on  both  model  and  block  till  a  number  of  holes  are 
drilled;  parts  are  then  cut  away  with  a  hammer  and 
chisel  (pointed  and  heavy)  till  the  bottoms  of  all  the  holes 
are  reached. 

Next,  partly  by  the  eye  and  partly  by  measuring,  the 
work  is  continued,  until  the  finishing  touches  ;  these 
are  carried  on  to  the  stone  in  the  same  way,  and  this 
process  repeated  until  all  the  important  points  on  the 
model  are  marked  on  the  stone. 

The  actual  "carving"  of  the  stone  then  commences, 
a  variety  of  different  forms  of  chisels  and  tools  being 
used.  A  "subbia"  (a  point  or  pointed  and  heavy  chisel) 
for  the  rough  work,  in  the  large,  "  calcagnuoli "  (a  toothed 
or  short  chisel,  with  a  notch  in  the  middle)  for  rounding, 
then  a  flat  and  more  slender  tool,  which  has  two  notches ; 
a  broader  toothed  chisel  ("gradina")  is  used  to  go  gently 


MARBLE   CARVING  105 

over  the  surface.  A  smooth  chisel  is  then  used  to  remove 
the  tooth  marks  ;  a  curved  rijfler  and  straight  rasps  are  also 
used  for  finer  forms  and  the  planing  of  delicate  details. 
A  borer  is  used  for  the  deeper  depths.  For  final  softening 
off  of  the  sculpture  piece,  the  modern  sculptor,  unlike 
most  of  those  of  Greece  and  the  Middle  Ages,  who  left 
little  or  nothing  to  assistants,  does  very  little  himself  of 
the  carving  of  the  marble  except  the  final  finishing. 

Having  now  described  the  more  elaborate  method  of 
c uving  in  marble,  it  should  be  stated  that  the  most 
skilled  artists  carve  the  marble  direct  from  the  living 
model,  or  from  a  drawing  of  the  full  face  and  profile 
views,  or  from  a  cast,  the  clay  or  a  modelled  relief. 
This  method  ensures  a  truer  aspect  of  carved  marble. 


io6 


PRACTICAL    HINTS 


OTHER  FORMS  OF  FRAMEWORK. 

For  figure  or  animal  work  each  has  its  own  particular 
form  of  framework.  These  should  be  built  up  in  refer- 
ence to  the  action  required  to  be  represented,  and  calcu- 
lated to  support  the  weight  of  clay  used.  Thus  for 
animals  an  upright  and  cross-bar  of  wood  (knotted)  or 
iron  (shellacked)  and  lead  pipings  will  be  required ;  and 
if  the  proposed  model  should  be  one  of  very  large  size, 
it  will  have  to  be  modelled  from  a  preliminary  highly- 
finished  study,  and  built  on  a  framework  of  solid  iron 
bars  of  good  sound  construction,  put  together  with 
mathematical  accuracy,  and  placed  on  a  squared-off  base. 
Iron  supports,  fixed  and  bent  to  the  proposed  positions, 
are  fixed  on  to  the  base  of  the  turn-table.  The  prospec- 
tive solid  parts  of  the  proposed  model  (of  the  different 
limbs,  &c.)  have  to  be  filled  in  with  a  foundation  of 
pieces  of  wood  mixed  with  clay  and  butterflies,  or  even 
v\ith  bundles  of  firewood.  These  have  to  be  fixed  at 
intervals  on  the  iron  bars  of  the  framework  to  support 
the  coming  weight  of  clay.  For  relief  a  board  or  slab 


MARBLE   CARVING 


107 


of  slate  is  required.  In  a  high  relief,  some  nails  or 
protected  pieces  of  iron  with  pieces  of  wood  laid  across 
may  be  driven  in  to  hold  up  the  clay ;  and  in  relief 
modelling  undercuts  should  be  avoided. 


PROPORTIONS   OF   THE    FIGURE. 

Vitruvius  gives  the  following  measurements,  which 
may  be  used  with  a  right-angled  isosceles  triangle.  These 
measurements  will  be  found  to  coincide  with  the  measure 
of  the  hypothenuse,  starting  from  the  fact  that  the  length 
of  the  hypothenuse  has  first  been  taken  (and  so  the 
triangle  formed)  from  these  three  measures  : — 

(1)  From  the  heel,  under  the  inner  ankle,  to  the  middle 
of  the  patella. 

(2)  From    the    middle   of   the   patella   to  the  superior 
spinous  process  of  the  ilium. 

(3)  From  the  junction  of  the  pubic  bones,  at  the  upper 
end,  to  the  pit  of  the  neck. 

Either  of  the  two  other  lines  of  the  triangle  will  make 
five  measures  : — 

(1)  From  the  top  of  the  instep  to  the  lower  end  of  the 
patella. 

(2)  From  the  top  of  the  patella  to  the  lower  end  of  the 
junction  of  the  pubic  bones. 

(3)  From  a  little  above  the  navel  to  the  pit  of  the  neck. 

(4)  From  the  knuckle  to  the  elbow. 

(5)  From  the  elbow  to  the  shoulder. 

Another  method  is  to  divide  the  upright  figure  into  ten 
equal  parts.  Take  the  face  from  the  forehead  (origin  of 
the  hair)  to  the  chin  as  the  standard  of  measurement : — 

(1)  From  the  top  of  the  head  to  the  middle  of  the  ear. 

(2)  The  middle  of  the  ear  to  the  pit  of  the  neck. 

(3)  The  pit  of  the  neck  to  a  little  below  the  chest. 

(4)  and  (5)  To   the   centre   of   the  figure,   where    the 
pubic  bones  join. 

(6)  and  (7)  To  the  middle  of  the  patella,  or  knee-cap. 


io8 


PRACTICAL   HINTS 


(8)  (9)  and  (10)  To  the  sole  of  the  foot. 

The  arms,  equal  to  two  of  these  divisions  :  the  fore-arm 
(from  the  knuckle  to  the  elbow),  two  ;  and  the  upper  arm 
(from  the  elbow  to  the  top  of  the  shoulder),  two. 

For  a  sitting  figure  three  lengths  may  be  taken  : — 

(1)  From  the  pit   of   the  neck  to  the  ischium  or  hip- 
bone. 

(2)  From  the  union  of  the  thigh-bone  with  the  hip  to 
the  knee-cap. 

(3)  From  the  knee  to  the  sole  of  the  foot. 


ANTIQUE    STATUE   ANATOMISED.  BY    HENRY    F.    W.    GANZ. 


MODERN    SCULPTURE  109 


RECENT   SCULPTURE. 

In  the  eighteenth  century  we  had  several  native 
sculptors  in  England,  the  most  notable  being  John 
Flaxman  (1755-1826),  who  started  the  Classical  revival. 
He  was  the  author  of  the  "  Lord  Eldon  "  in  Westminster 
Abbey.  He  decorated  various  Wedgwood  vases,  and 
illustrated  in  pencil  outlines  the  poems  of  Homer  and 
^schylus — these  hang  in  University  College,  London. 

In  England  a  further  impetus  was  given  to  the  art  at 
the  beginning  of  the  nineteenth  century  by  Sir  F. 
Chantrey,  the  sculptor  of  several  memorials  and  portraits ; 
Foley,  and  Alfred  Stevens,  sculptor  and  painter,  who 
^ned  and  modelled  the  Wellington  Monument  in 
St.  Paul's  Cathedral,  a  magnificent  conception  in  marble 
and  bronze;  Woolner ;  J.  Durham,  the  designer  of  a 
monument  of  Prince  Albert ;  J.  E.  Boehm,  portrait- 
sculptor. 

Coming  to  recent  times,  we  find  Alfred  Gilbert,  the 
sculptor  of  the  tomb  of  the  Duke  of  Clarence  at 
Windsor.  A  bronze  recumbent  figure  of  the  Prwice  lies 
upon  a  bier  of  Mexican  onyx  ;  on  this  two  angels  kneel, 
one  holding  an  immortal  crown  at  the  head,  and  the  other 
placing  a  broken  wreath  at  the  feet.  A  series  of  Patron 
Saints  of  Great  Britain,  carried  out  in  parti-coloured 
bronze,  are  introduced  into  the  surrounding  grille.  The 
originality  of  the  designs  for  armour  and  various  acces- 
sories of  the  figures  may  be  specially  noted.  The  design 
of  the  armour  of  St.  George  is  suggested  by  forms  of 
sea-shells.  The  monument  of  Queen  Victoria,  Winches- 
ter, and  the  Shaftesbury  Memorial  Fountain  at  Picca- 
dilly Circus  are  also  his  work. 

In  the  original  design  of  the  sculptor  it  was  intended 
that  water  should  issue  in  jets  of  various  shapes  and 
forms  from  different  parts  of  the  fountain,  and  play  into 
a  bronze  basin  at  the  base  of  the  monument,  among  boys 


no  PRACTICAL    HINTS 

•*•  .  *\ 

and  dolphins,  which  form  the  principal  subjects  of  the 
scheme.  The  space  which  should  have  been  left  as  a 
basin  for  water  had  to  be  converted  into  a  group  of  steps 
supporting  a  small  basin  with  drinking-places.  The 
structure  is  therefore  deprived  of  some  6  feet,  and  of  a 
surrounding  wall  upon  which  a  portrait  bust  of  Lord 
Shaftesbury  once  stood. 

Amongst  his  other  works  are  bronze  statuettes,  "  Per- 
seus Arming/'  "  The  Offering  to  Hymen,"  "  Tragedy 
and  Comedy,"  and  " Victory"  (silver),  now  in  South 
Kensington  Museum.  Gilbert's  early  work  included 
"  Icarus,"  a  figure  with  wings,  once  belonging  to  Lord 
Leighton,  and  "The  Enchanted  Chair,"  a  memorial  to 
John  Howard,  in  Bedford,  and  the  silver  epergne  typify- 
ing Britannia's  realm  and  sea  power,  presented  to  Queen 
Victoria  by  the  Navy  and  Army  on  her  jubilee.  The 
bronze  memorial  to  Henry  Fawcett,  with  its  symbolical 
figures,  is  in  Westminster  Abbey.  Next  to  the  most 
ingenious  invention  of  design  and  the  technical  power 
expressed  in  his  works  is  Alfred  Gilbert's  talent  of  com- 
pleting the  most  minute  details  while  preserving  a  large 
treatment,  as  may  be  seen  in  the  Chain  for  the  Mayor 
of  Preston.  He  has  perhaps  had  more  influence  over 
modern  sculpture,  jewellery,  designing  and  bronze  work 
than  any  other  artist  of  the  nineteenth  century. 

The  painters,  G.  F.  Watts  and  Lord  Leighton,  both 
modelled,  and  they  encouraged  the  younger  men  ; 
amongst  whom  were  Thornycroft,  Brock,  Swan,  T.  Lee, 
the  late  Harry  Bates,  Frampton  and  Drury. 

Abroad,  down  to  the  middle  of  the  nineteenth  century, 
sculptors  sought  their  subjects  of  inspiration  chiefly  from 
antiquity.  In  France,  however,  the  tradition  of  Puget 
and  Houdon  survived  and  inspired  Rude,  whose  vigorous 
art  is  seen  in  "The  Marseillaise,"  on  the  Arc  de  Triomphe, 
Paris.  With  Barye  born  in  1796,  we  get  an  incom- 
parable sculptor  of  wild  animals.  Amongst  the  moderns 
we  find  Carpeaux,  whose  group  of  "  The  Dance,"  on  the 
facade  of  the  Opera  House,  Paris,  represents  a  group  of 


MODERN    SCULPTURE  in 

women  full  of  emotion  and  vitality.  He  also  excelled 
in  portraiture.  Next  Fremiet,  the  author  of  "  Joan  of 
Arc,"  "St.  George"  (bronze);  Falguiere  the  sculptor 
of  "  St.  Vincent  de  Paul  "  ;  and  Dalou,  whose  group  of 
"Triumph"  stands  in  the  Place  de  la  Republique.  He 
came  to  England  (and  taught  here),  and  was  the 
author  of  several  Bacchanalian  groups,  portraits,  and 
character  studies.  Another  Frenchman  who  settled  here 
is  Alphonse  Legros,  painter,  sculptor  of  a  fountain,  and 
medallist.  Jean  Carries,  the  erratic  genius  who  died  in 
1894,  was  sculptor  and  art  potter;  his  gate,  decorated 
with  various  glazes  and  enamels,  is  preserved  in  a 
museum  in  France ;  another  work  of  his  is  the  Martyr- 
dom of  St.  Fidele*s.  Foremost  among  living  artists, 
Rodin's  work  is  the  expression  of  a  great  imagination, 
exhibited  in  powerful  single  figure^  or  groups,  full  of 
deep  feeling  and  of  poetical  fancy.  Again,  Bartholome*, 
the  sculptor  of  the  "  Monument  aux  Mortes,"  and  Roty, 
whose  medals  somewhat  recall  Jean  Goujon's  work  in 
the  Nymphs  on  the  Fontaine  des  Innocents,  Place  des 
Halles,  Paris. 

In    Belgium   we   have   Meunier,  the  "Millet"  of  the 
miner  and  artisan. 

In  Germany,  Rheinold  Begas,  author  of  "  Borussia." 
In  Italy,  Medardo  Rosso  shows  great  originality  in  his 
search  for  the  effect  of  light  vibrating  on  form.  In 
his  fine  work,  "An  Infant  in  Sunshine,"  he  conveys  a 
sense  of  atmosphere,  a  motive  new  in  sculpture.  The 
unfortunate  Ciffariello  of  Naples  is  a  master  of  miniature 
sculpture. 


ii2  PRACTICAL    HINTS 


LESSON    XL 

ENAMEL. 

Incising  in  metal  which  shows  a  bright  pattern  on  a 
black  ground  goes  by  the  name  of  "  niello/'  a  process 
which  is  supposed  to  have  been  the  origin  of  engraving 
and  etching. 

Champleve  enamel  differs  from  niello  in  two  respects  ; 
it  is  not  confined  to  black,  and  it  is  no  longer  an  amal- 
gam of  metal,  but  a  vitreous  glaze  or  paste  that  is  filled  in. 

Enamel  is  the  art  of  fusing  a  vitreous  glaze,  which  may 
be  either  transparent  or  opaque,  on  the  surface  of  metal 
by  heat,  so  that  a  picture  or  design  may  be  formed  by 
the  enamel  when  hardened.  The  art  of  enamel  comes 
between  the  art  of  stained  glass  and  mosaic  in  the  use  of 
vitreous  pastes  in  opaque  and  transparent  condition. 

The  enamel  used  is  based  on  optical  glass,  and  may  be 
mixed  with  various  coloured  tubes  or  squares  of  easily 
fusible  glass.  The  base  of  the  enamel  is  composed  of  a 
flux  of  silicate  of  sodium  or  potassium  with  lead  (minium). 

The  enamel  should  be  known  as  what  is  hard  (con- 
taining 20  per  cent,  lead) :  that  is,  less  susceptible  of  being 
affected  by  decomposition  of  atmospheric  agencies  in 
fusion.  During  the  process  the  flux,  which  is  of  a  trans- 
parent whitish  colour,  is  applied  and  fused  to  the  metal  in 
one  or  several  firings.  The  flux  being  established,  it  is 
coloured  while  in  fusion  by  the  addition  of  certain  oxides 
of  metal.  Sometimes  scores  of  "  passing  through "  the 
oven  may  be  necessary  to  give  the  desired  effect.  Techni- 
cal experience  alone  can  judge  of  the  proper  degree  of 
firing,  and  of  the  equality  of  the  heat  necessary. 


ENAMEL  113 

THE  METHOD  OF  APPLYING  ENAMEL  TO 
METAL. 

The  metal  used  should  be  "pure";  either  thin  copper 
or  gold  plates  are  used. 

The  enamel  is  first  ground  to  a  powder  with  a  pestle 
in  a  mortar  and  thoroughly  washed  with  water  and  dried. 
It  is  then  spread  thinly  with  a  brush  or  dusted  on  to  the 
part  desired  to  receive  it ;  this  flux  on  the  plate  is  now 
dried  before  the  charcoal  furnace  and  placed  for  this 
purpose  on  i\  fire-dav  plate  in  the  muffle.  In  the  yellow- 
red  heat  obtained  in  the  mntjic-fnnnci  a  very  few  minutes' 
time  suffices  for  the  enamel  to  fuse ;  it  is  then  withdrawn. 

In  this  process  of  fusing  the  enamel  becomes  fluid  and 
adheres  to  the  metal.  The  flux  being  established,  the 
colour  can  be  applied  in  the  same  manner  according  to 
requirements. 

The  density  of  the  enamel  is  regulated  by  acid,  and 
the  enamel  is  rendered  opaque  by  the  addition  of  calx 
(calcined  tin  and  lead).  Hinoxide  of  tin  changes  the 
transparency  of  the  glass  when  fused  into  a  white  glazed 
material  which  obliterates  the  colour  of  the  ground. 
On  this  coating  other  colours  can  be  painted  and  fixed 
In  a  second  firing  especially  to  make  them  lustrous. 
Transparent  blue  and  green  may  be  put  over  a  silver 
ground  ;  red  and  brown  or  light  yellow  on  gold.  Silver 
is  easily  disturbed  by  the  silicic  acid  in  the  enamel. 

The  following  oxides  are  used  : — 

For  a  bine  tint,  oxide  of  cobalt. 

For  a  riolct  tint,  oxide  of  manganese. 

For  a  green  tint,  cupric  oxide  or  chromium  oxide. 

For  a  red  tint,  ferrous  oxide  and  oxide  of  manganese. 

For  a  veil  on1  tint,  oxide  of  silver,  and  oxide  of  lead  or 
alkaline  antimoniate. 

For  a  black  tint,  oxide  of  manganese,  cobalt. 

For  a  white  tint,  arsenious  acid  (also  to  densify  enamels). 

The  following  metals  are  also  used  :  Gold  for  ruby  red, 
copper  for  a  blue-green,  or  cobalt  blue,  or  manganese 
violet. 


ii4  PRACTICAL    HINTS 


VARIOUS  KINDS  OF  ENAMEL. 

Of  the  various  kinds  of  enamel  there  are  simple  enamel 
of  single  colours  on  metal,  or  blended  by  two  or  three 
differently  coloured  pastes  filled  into  the  same  cell,  or  of 
graduated  colour. 

Painting  in  enamel,  cloisonne  enamel,  champleve  enamel, 
and  pliqne  a  jour  enamel. 

In  cloisonne,  the  cloisons  of  wire  remain  as  the  out- 
line of  draperies,  or  the  designs,  or  for  dividing  colours. 

The  convention  of  using  metal  to  represent  flesh  tint 
belongs  to  champleve. 

Cloisonne  enamel  is  essentially  a  goldsmith's  device. 


FOR  PAINTING  IN  ENAiMEL. 

Lavender  spike  oil,  thinned  with  spirits  of  turpentine, 
is  used  as  a  vehicle  when  applying  the  enamel  to  the  metal. 

IN  CLOISONN^  ENAMEL.— The  design  is  separated  by 
raised  ribs  of  metal  or  cloisons  soldered  on  to  the  plate  of 
gold  or  metal ;  into  the  hollows  so  formed  the  enamel  is 
applied.  The  ribs  of  metal  may  be  either  fixed  by  solder 
or  by  the  enamel  itself,  which  is  then  fused. 

IN  CHAMPLEVE  ENAMEL. — The  copper  portions  of  the 
metal  making  the  design  are  left  by  engraving  hollows 
out  of  the  metal  with  the  graver. 

After  the  enamel  is  applied  it  is  fused  and  then 
polished  with  crocus  powder. 

IN  PLIQUE  A  JOUR  ENAMEL.— The  ground  at  the  back 
of  the  enamel  is  removed  after  firing. 

Another  form  of  enamel  is  to  apply  it  to  an  embossed 
metal  sheet.  In  this  process  a  cast  is  first  made  of  the 
requisite  character  and  small  pieces  of  thin  metal  sheets 
are  pressed  into  the  depressions  of  the  plaster  surface  ; 
these  prepared  metal  sheets  are  then  each  enamelled 
singly  and  then  fixed  together  on  a  cement  bed. 


POTTERY  115 

LESSON  XII. 

NOTE  ON  THE  DECORATION  OF  POTTERY. 

The  primitive  way  of  making  earthen  pots  is  by 
"  //m>u'///^,"  that  is,  shaping  the  lump  of  wet  clay  with  the 
hand  as  it  revolves  rapidly  on  a  wooden  wheel  before  the 
potter.  He  can  draw  up  and  hollow  the  plastic  clay 
revolving  in  front  of  him,  into  all  sorts  of  shapes,  and 
harden  it  with  heat  ("dried,  "  a  misnamed  "  biscuit"). 

The  materials  used  for  earthenware  are  a  mixture  of 
various  i/</vs  (plastic),  \i-ntci;  /lint  (refractory),  stone 
(hardness),  or  minerals  and  quartz.  If  the  colour  of  the 
clay  requires  it,  it  can  be  coated  with  finer  clay  and  slowly 
!ii ed  in  a  kiln — this  takes  from  48  to  60  hours;  but  the 
condition  is  that  the  two  clays  have  an  equal  "  $///•/ ///r</"V  " 
(the  greatest  shrinkage  of  clay  being  obtained  by  the  least 
addition  of  silica).  Unequal  contraction  gives  what  is 
called  "tn/iA'/t-."  Crackle  arises  from  a  defective  cause — 
the  glaze  not  assimilating  with  the  existing  hard  ground, 
which  is  k-ss  sensible  to  the  changes  of  temperature  in 
the  kiln. 

By  scratching  through  the  outer  coat  of  fine  clay  a 
means  of  decoration  is  obtained,  or  a  glaze  of  transparent 
colour  will  give  pattern.  Modelling  is  often  employed 
for  raised  ornaments  on  the  unbaked  clay.  Ornamenta- 
tion can  also  be  applied  by  the  means  of  strips  of  diluted 
clay  or  paste  called  slip,  painted  or  dropped  on  the  body. 
This  gives  a  decoration  in  high  relief,  and  can  afterwards 
be  covered  with  glaze.  A  cover-glaze,  or  decoration  of 
pottery,  is  applied  to  the  unglazed  ware,  which  sucks  up 
each  separate  brushful  of  colour  as  it  is  laid  on,  with 
turpentine  and  essence  of  lavender  as  a  medium,  or  by  a 
transfer  printing  process.  The  overglaze  colour  sinks 
into  the  glaze  in  the  baking,  and  the  underglaze  colour 
floats  up  into  it,  hence  a  certain  quality,  as  in  "  blue  and 
white."  Variety  is  also  obtained  according  to  the  depth 


n6 


PRACTICAL    HINTS 


of  the  transparent  glaze  obtained  by  successive  paintings 
and  firings. 

Designs  can  be  multiplied  by  a  transfer  printing 
process.  The  required  design  is  engraved  on  copper 
plates,  an  ordinary  rolling  press  being  used  to  print 
the  engraved  lines  of  the  pattern  with  an  oily  pigment 
(linseed)  on  strips  of  tissue  paper;  this  is  then  applied 
and  pressed  face  downwards  on  to  the  so-called  "biscuit" 
ware  while  the  oil  is  wet.  The  pattern  in  oil  is  thus 
transferred  to  the  surface  of  the  absorbent  clay.  The 
paper  is  washed  off  and  dusted  with  colour,  if  necessary, 
and  the  printed  ware  baked  (gloss  fired)  at  a  moderate 
temperature  in  the  hardening  kiln  (about  twenty-four 
hours).  This  is  done  before  the  glaze  is  applied  to 
drive  off  the  oily  medium  with  which  the  pigment  was 
mixed. 


"EN    PIU."       MAJOLICA.       I5th    CENTURY. 


POTTERY  117 

Fainted  decoration  may  also  be  applied  over  a  glaze. 
The  beauties  of  colour,  its  opacity  and  transparency,  lie 
in  the  crucible,  and  the  pottery  painter  must  think  out 
a  scheme  of  colour  that  his  special  palette  will  allow  him 
to  realise. 

The  oxides  will  deprive  him  of  any  indulgence  in 
natural  effects  but  will  give  him  a  decorative  effect 
which  he  could  not  get  by  disregarding  the  nature  of 
vitreous  colour.  This  is  always  dependent  on  the 
uncertain  action  of  the  fire  upon  it. 

The  glazes  are  made  from  metallic  oxides  and  fusible 
u^la^s  ground  to  a  creamy  paste  by  the  addition  of  water, 
and  are  laid  on  with  a  brush. 

The  pigments  for  the  necessary  colouring  are  oxides 
//>  i>/'  metal*  which  stand  the  heat  of  the  kiln,  only 
tho-e  which  can  xtand  very  high  heat  being  used  for  the 
nndergla\ing  ;  sufficiently  mild  heat  only  being  necessary 
to  fix  the  overglaze  (will  last  from  about  eighteen  to 
twenty-lour  hou: 

The  following  colours  ate  used,  and  are  mixed  with 
a  white  body  or  clay  after  being  first  calcined  with  other 
ingredients  to  develop  a  lighter  tint : 

Oxides  of  cobalt,  to  give  colours  varying  from  black 
to  grey. 

Antimony  for  yellow. 

Oxides  of  copper  for  <fa^  red  and  bright  blue  or  green, 
according  to  the  properties  of  oxygen  contained. 

Oxide  of  chromium  i^v  green. 

Manganese  for  violet  and  bhiek. 

Manganese  with  iron  for  black. 

Gold  for  orange. 

Red  marl  (iron)  for  light  red. 

Various  oxides  of  iron  for  red,  yellow,  and  brown. 

Felspathic  rock  and  natural  silicate  of  iron  for  bright 
red. 

Oxide  of  zinc  to  modify  the  other  colours. 

Oxide  of  iron,  cobalt  and  chromium,  capable  of  bear- 
ing a  high  temperature,  can  stand  undcrglaze  painting. 


n8  PRACTICAL    HINTS 

Overglaze  colours  made  of  felspathic  rock,  crystallised, 
which  melts  in  vitrification,  must  be  mixed  \Vith  flux  to 
combine  with  the  glaze  ;  this  is  made  of  lead,  borax,  nitre, 
carbonates  of  potash  or  soda  which  are  used. 

The  colour  of  cobalt-blue,  antimony,  yellow,  and 
chrome-green  will  not  change  in  the  excessive  heat  of 
the  kiln  ;  but  red,  from  the  protoxide  of  iron  of  which 
it  is  made,  will  change  into  brown  or  black. 

Italian  painted  pottery  is  called  Majolica  (derived  from 
Majorca).  In  the  process  of  firing  the  pottery  an  opaque 
whitish  glaze  results  from  the  introduction  of  oxide  of  tin 
(termed  stanniferous  enamel),  which  forms  a  colourless 
ground  for  the  painter.  Faenza,  one  of  the  manufactories 
of  majolica,  gave  the  name  of  faience  to  French  pottery. 
The  blue  in  faience  was  obtained  by  glazing  from  cobalt, 
prepared  by  calcination,  extracting  the  volatile  bodies 
mixed  with  sand  and  salt.  It  is  of  a  grey  colour ;  when 
fired  it  was  called  zaphir. 

Another  form  of  pottery  is  Porcelain  (Chinese)  ;  it  is 
composed  of  two  earths  that  harmonise  in  resisting  the 
heat  of  the  kiln.  One  is  a  soft  decomposed  felspathic 
rock  called  kaolin,  and  the  other,  a  harder  kind  of  the 
same  origin,  mixed  with  quartz,  called  petuntse. 

The  majolica  plate  of  enamelled  earthenware,  date 
1480-1500,  on  page  116,  has  a  device  of  two  hearts  and 
a  motto  "  En  Piu,"  a  border  of  diaper  scroll  ornament 
on  a  white  ground,  and  is  coloured  in  blue,  green,  and 
orange  (width  n^  inches);  in  South  Kensington  Museum. 


MODERN    DESIGN  121 


THE  SPIRIT  OF  MODERN  DESIGN. 

In  recent  times  a  style  has  been  cultivated  which,  while 
following  in  some  measure  the  spirit  of  ancient  styles, 
does  not  seek  to  imitate  them.  It  may  be  said  that  a 
style  has  sprung  up  in  the  arts  which  seems  about  to  put 
an  end  to  the  mere  imitation  of  the  antique  and  Renais- 
sance manner  so  long  in  vogue.  Instead  of  following 
conventional  models  in  design,  with  the  exception  of 
certain  treatments  suggested  by  the  tools  employed  or 
process,^  used,  artisN  have  tried  to  give  personal  views 
to  their  art,  and  have  taken  as  their  aim  the  idea  of  giving 
expressive  forms  to  their  works. 

The  aspect  oi  art  at  the  present  clay  offers  a  picture  of 
the  "survival  of  the  fittest."  There  has  been  a  clearing 
up  of  anachronisms  in  forms  of  style,  and  abandonment 
of  the  ovei  hearing  rules  which  often  hampered  and 
untrained  many  men  of  talent  in  the  past. 

The  artist  released  from  old  masters'  "executive"  ideas 
Ol  form  and  harmony  has  more  opportunity  of  following 
his  own  personal  inclinations  in  the  matter  of  "invention 
and  sentiment."  Our  minds  and  aspirations  differing  as 
they  do  from  those  of  our  forefathers  no  longer  seek  for 
such  qualities  as  the  showy  and  the  grandiose ;  but,  mind- 
ful of  certain  lessons,  find  that  greatness  is  not  to  be 
judged  so  much  by  dimensions  as  by  such  essentials 
.is  a  sense  of  subtle  tones  and  truth.  We  are  no  longer 
pleased  with  untruth.  Civilisation  has  smoothed  all 
character  out  of  workmanship  by  a  smooth  "  finish,"  so 
called,  in  place  of  refinement,  giving  polish.  We  want 
the  kind  of  truth  that,  besides  acknowledging  observa- 
tion of  nature,  necessity  and  treatment,  realises  the 
organic  growth  of  things,  and  is  in  accord  with  our 
feelings,  perception,  and  will. 

Picturesque  accident  may  be  made  use  of,  but  must 
no  longer  predominate,  and  material  should  be  allowed 

9 


122 


PRACTICAL    HINTS 


to  present  beauty,  if  possible,  as  it  already  exists  in  itself. 
The  art  of  decorative  design  allied  with  handicraft  should 
show  that  the  artist  is  acquainted  with  the  nature  of  the 
material  to  be  used  ;  he  must  know  how  to  express  ideas 
by  means  of  line,  drawing,  and  colour,  and  show  in  the 
result  training  of  the  hand  and  mind. 


I23 


INDEX. 


DESIGN,    MURAL  DECORATION,   MOSAIC,   SGRAFFITO, 
STAINED  AND   PAINTED   GLASS. 


Analysis  of  fresco  method,  25,  29. 
Animals,  IO,  2O,  79,  80. 
Applied  art,  1-14. 
Applied  painting,  17-19,  23,  25-30, 

37-  38.  44- 
Applied   sculpture,    17-20,  22,   49, 

50,  79.  So- 
Arabesque,  u. 
Architecture,  7.  21,  22,  44. 
Art  of  decorator,   1-7,   10,   17,   18, 

24,  28-30,  37-42. 
Art  of  painter,  1-17,  20,  23-30,  37- 

39.  44.46. 

Arts  combined,  the,  I,  17-22. 
Arts  separated,  the,  22. 
Balance.  8,  22. 
Colour,  6,  10,  I  v 
Coim>osition,  22,  31-36. 
Composition  of  design,  5-13. 
Convention,  I,  3,  5  8,  1 1,  14. 

'3- 

China,  14. 
Decoration,  7-12. 
Design,  5. 

Design,  animals  in,  10,  2O,  79,  80. 
Design,  applied,  I,  3-5-14.  &c. 
Design,  drawing  for,  1-15. 
Design,  elements  of,  5,  8. 
Design,  human  figure  in,  3,  4,  10, 

31-36-111. 

Design,  practical,  1-14. 
Design,  principles  of,  1-14. 
Design,  squaring  of,  14. 
Design,  technique  of,  1-14. 
Distemper,  19,  26-36. 
Drawing,  1-14,  43- 
Drawing,  working,  I,  2,  4,  5,   13, 

14,  16. 

Emphasis,  8. 
Expression,  8. 
Features  of  the  face,  53. 
Flat  decoration,  3,  4-14. 
Flat  ornament,  8-n,  14. 


Form,  geometrical,  6,  10,  II,  14. 

Form,  natural,  3-7,  14. 

Firing,  13. 

Fresco,  20-36. 

Fresco,  analysis  of  method,  25-29. 

Fresco,  pure,  25. 

Fresco,  spirit,  39. 

Glass  mosaic,  40. 

Given  space,  2,  9,  12,  31. 

Grotesque,  4. 

History  of  mural  decoration,  17-46. 

Harmony,  14. 

Lines  described,  1-14. 

Material,  treatment  of,  2-14. 

Materials  in  decoration,  2-14. 

Measurements,  63. 

Methods  of  design,  1-14. 

Method  of  design,  elementary,  3. 

Method  of  fresco,  25-29. 

Method  of  tempera,  26,  27. 

Method  of  spirit  fresco,  39. 

Modelling,  49-111. 

Mosaic,  40-42. 

Mural  decoration,  17-47. 

Mural  decoration,  oil  painting,  22- 

39- 
Mural  decoration,  painting  in,   17- 

46. 
Mural  decoration,  sculpture  in,  17- 

22. 
Natural  form  in  Mural  decoration, 

3-7,  ii. 
Natural  form  in  Mural  decoration, 

design,  3-7,  14. 
Order,  an,  IOI. 
Organic  growth,  5,  8,  13. 
Ornament,  1-4. 
Ornament,  depressed,  4,  10. 
Ornament,  design  of,  1-15. 
Ornament,  flat,  4-10,  1 1. 
Ornament,  repeated,  7,  10,  n,  14. 
Ornament,  rules  in,  I,  2,  4,  7,  9-11, 

14. 


124 


INDEX 


Ornament,  theory  of,  12,  47,  9-11, 

14. 

Outline,  3-14. 
Painting,  Mural,  23-46. 
Pattern,  5,  9,  10,  12-14. 
Plan,  i,  2,  5,  7-15. 
Plant  form,  15. 
Proportion,  8,  9. 
Relief,  4,  10,  II. 
Relief,  flat,  4,  IO,  II. 
Relief,  high,  10. 
Relief,  medium,  10. 
Relief,  ornament  in,  1-14. 
Repetition,  3,  5-7,  10,  n. 
Rules  of  design,  8. 
Sarcophagi,  22. 
Sculpture  in   Mural  decoration,  17- 

22. 


Section,  49,  in. 
Scale,  8,  13. 
Sentiment,  5-14. 
Sgraffito,  43. 
Spirit  fresco,  39. 
Square  shape,  7. 
Squaring  design,  14. 
Suggestion,  8. 
Symmetry,  8. 
Technique  of  design,  1-14. 
Tempera,  26,  27. 
Treatment  of  design,  1-14. 
Treatment  of  material,  9,  II. 
Treatment  of  pattern,  5,  9  14. 
Technique  of  fresco,  20-36. 
Value  of  line,  3-5,  14. 
Wall  decoration,  1-47. 
Working  drawing,  1-16. 


MODELLING. 


Armature,  51,  53,  61,  62,  91,  92,  99, 

102,  106. 
Animals,  79,  82,  84,   86,  89,   106, 

109-111. 
Applied   sculpture,    49,   79-91,  99- 

III. 
Bronze-casting,  &c.,  49,  79,  81,  83, 

88-91,  100,  102. 
Butteiflies,  58,  61,  92,  106. 
Calipers,  51,  62. 
Cast,  the,  49-77,  93,  97,  102. 
Carving,  49,  104. 
Cheek,  53. 
Clay,  49-92. 
Comparison,  man  and  woman,  64, 

1 06. 

Decorative  sculpture,  49-111. 
Ear,  53,  54. 
Eye,  53,  54- 

Essentials  for  sculpture,  51. 
Features,  53-59. 
Firing  the  clay,  92. 
Frame  work,  51,  53,  61,  62,  91,  92, 

99,  102,  1 06. 
Ground  plan,  106. 
Hair,  57,  63-69. 
Head  modelling,  58-93. 
History  of  sculpture,  79-89,  91,  99, 

105,  109-111. 

Making  the  mould,  77,  94. 
Man  and  woman,  64,  106. 
Marble  carving,  104. 

ENAMEL. 

Application  of  enamel,  112. 
Colour  of  enamel,  113. 
Colour  of  pottery,  115-118. 


Materials  in  sculpture,  52,  58,  61. 
Measurements,  62,   107. 
Modern  sculpture,  90-111. 
Modelling  a  head,  53-95. 
Modelling  form,  49-106. 
Modelling,  materials  in,  49,  51,  58, 

62,  64,  70,  in. 
Modelling,  other  forms  of,  99. 
Modelling,  theory  of,  49. 
Mouth,  52,  55,  63-9-74. 
Mould,  77-93. 
Nose,  53. 

Outline,  49,  50,  74. 
Piece  mould,  93,  94. 
Plaster  cast,  49-77-94,  IOO-IO2. 
Process  of  modelling,  49,  51-111. 
Process  of  bronze  casting,  102. 
Process  of  casting,  49,  77-111. 
Process  of  marble  carving,  104. 
Proportions  of  the  head,  57. 
Quality  of  the  clay,  70. 
Sculpture,  49,  51. 
Sculpture  applied,  49-102. 
Sculpture,    history   of,    79-91,    99, 

105,  109-111. 

Sculpture,  mural  decoration,  17,  22. 
Sculpture,  technique  in,  49,  in. 
Sculpture,  various  forms  of,  49-111. 
Sculpture,  tools  in,  15,  58-107. 
Wax,  51,  90-102. 
Waste  mould,  77,  93-94. 
Woman's  form,  64,  106. 

POTTERY. 

Enamel,    different    kinds    of,    &c., 
112-114. 


NOV  7  mi  4UNU1959 


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