Page:Notes and Queries - Series 12 - Volume 9.djvu/447

 i 2 s. ix. NOV. 5, i92i.] NOTES AND QUERIES. 365 form, it being written in a minute hand which can only be read by the aid of a lens, scratched with a quill or needle point out of a thin " matt " or coat of white enamel on a piece of glass measuring only 3|an. by 2|in. This, when laid on the studio table or held casually in the hand, would not attract attention, as it appears to be nothing more than a small piece of ground glass. It is entitled " The Opperation of staining and fluxing the colours on glass," and was bought by the writer's father, Mr. J. W. Knowles, along with some of Peckitt's colours and enamels at the sale of his effects in 1866. Peckitt also was some- thing of an author, and wrote a technical treatise on glass -painting. This is no doubt referred to in his will when he be- queathed " the little trunk and maniscript book and drawings in it " to his daughter Harriot ; whilst later, in 1802, Mrs. Peckitt advertised in The York Herald for June 5 that she had " Manuscripts of the Art, &c., to dispose of." The writer of a life of Peckitt in The Furniture Gazette in 1877 stated that the artist had intended publishing his treatise at 10 guis. per copy, but not enough subscribers coming for- ward the project was abandoned. Towards the end of his life he applied himself to and wrote many MSS. on divinity, though his ability in this direction was not equal to his industry ; the writer's father saw bundles of these documents offered for sale when his effects were dis- posed of. One of his efforts, however, in this direction, entitled " The Wonderful Love of God to Man, or Heaven opened on Earth," was published in 8vo in 1794, a copy of which is in the York Minster Library. A portrait of Peckitt by John Raphael Smith (1752-1812) is cata- logued by Evans in his * Catalogue of En- graved Portraits ' ; also by W. Boyne in his * Yorkshire Library' (privately printed), 1869, but the present writer has hitherto been unable to hear of a copy. According to Laurence Binyon, ' Catal. of Drawings by British Artists in the British Museum,' vol. iii., there is in that collection a " Head of a Cherub cut out and pasted on a piece of paper inscribed ' Head of Cherub de- signed and painted by the late Wm. Peckitt, York,'" executed in body colour. There are also many drawings for glass done either by or for Peckitt in the possession of Mr. George Milburn, the well-known sculptor of York. It would seem, however, that Peckitt was not much of a figure draughts- man and that the cartoons for most of his principal works were done, frequently in the form of oil paintings, for him by others. In his will he mentions " fourteen oil paintings of figures as large as life and other cartoon drawings," and instructed that these were to be sold, but what became of them is not known. Peckitt's ' Presentation in the Temple ' window at Oriel was designed by Dr. Wall of Worcester, the physician and amateur artist previously mentioned. According to Bryan's 'Diet, of Painters,' Dr. Wall designed several other windows, one of which is in the Bishop's Palace at Hartlebury, Worcestershire. The Trinity College Library window was designed by Giovanni Battista Cipriani (1728-1785) one of the original members of the Royal Academy. Peckitt, however, seems to have worked chiefly from the cartoons or oil paintings of Biagio Rebecca (1735-1808), a pupil of Cipriani who, entering the Academy schools in 1769, became an associate in 1771. He is chiefly known for his decorative work at Somerset House, Windsor Castle, Audley End, and Harewood House. Bryan's Rebecca's designs for glass, which were con- siderable. Those for the windows of New College will be noticed later. Two more of his original sketches for figures on glass are in the writer's possession, to whom they were kindly presented by Mi 1. C. F. Bell, of the Ashmolean Museum. One of these is for the figure of Solomon in the south transept, York Minster. This figure had evidently been originally designed for some other building, as its companion figure is not to be seen amongst the other three figures at York. Peckitt made his will on May 11, 1794. He divided his property in the way of real estate into three portions, each of approximately one thousand pounds value, which he gave to his wife and two daughters. To his wife he bequeathed two houses in Cumberland Row (now New Street) and his Marygate cottages ; to his daughter Mary Rowntree, two houses in Cumberland Row and the Davygate House ; and to his daughter Harriot, in trust until she became twenty- one years of age, a house in Cumberland Row and the whole of the Friar's Walls houses and gardens. His scientific instru- ments and books he divided evenly between his two daughters. To his brother Henry Peckitt one guinea ; "as he has sufficient
 * Diet, of Painters ' makes no mention of