Page:Archaeological Journal, Volume 4.djvu/195

 HINTS ON GLASS PAINTING. 177 painting, by possessing the power of tiansmitling light in a fixv greater degree than any other species of painting, is able to display effects of light and colour with a brilliancy and vividness quite unapproachable by any other means. " On the other hand, this same diaphonous quality is the source of certain defects, such as the limited scale of colour, and of transparent shadow, observable in a glass painting, of which its inherent flatness is a necessary result. " These peculiarities will be found to restrict the successful application of glass painting to a particular class of subjects. " Another peculiarity of a glass painting, which has the same tendency, is its mechanical construction. Lead-work and saddle-bars, or some other mechanical contrivance, have been shewn to be essentially necessary for the support of the glass, and to enable the painting to discharge one of its most useful functions, the exclusion of the weather. But the metal-work, on account of its opacity, cannot be concealed; and in whatever manner it may be arranged, it causes the picture to be traversed by a number of black lines. " These remarkable features of a glass painting then render it unfit for the representation of certain subjects. Such as essentially demand a pic- turesque treatment, are better suited to an oil or water-colour painting than to a glass painting, the pictorial resources of which are more limited. A glass painting is incapable of those nice gradations of colour, and of light and shade, which are indispensable for close imitations of nature, and for producing the full eff"ect of atmosphere and distance. And even if this defect could be overcome, the lead or other metal-work Avould infallibly ruin the picture. For these reasons it would be improper to select a land- scape, for instance, as the principal subject of a glass painting. A subject of this description, though it might form a valuable auxihary as a back- ground to a design, would, if executed by itself, only betray the defective- ness of the art in its flatness and want of atmosphere. The same objection equally applies to long perspective views of interiors, and the like. To these may be added groups of figures, or even single figures requiring a great dis- play of foreshortening ; and compositions which do not simply consist of figures confined to the foreground, but comprise distant groups carried far into the background of the picture. " The subjects which appear best suited to glass paintings are those which, when executed, are of themselves pleasing objects, and are favourable to a display of the translucent qualities of glass. Of this kind are ornamental patterns ; and a variety of other designs capable of being properly repre- sented in a simple, hard, and somewhat flat manner; by broad masses of stiff" colouring, hard outlines, and vivid contrasts of light and shade. A group sculptured in bas-relief would, for example, afford an excellent model for a glass painter, on account of its want of apparent depth, and the means taken to counteract as far as possible this cause of indistinctness, — the sim- plicity of the composition namely, and the sharp lights, and broad shadows VOL. IV. A a