Page:The Building News and Engineering Journal, Volume 22, 1872.djvu/148

 132 THE BUILDING NEWS. Fes. 16, 1872. — Eee SOUTH-WEST VIEW OF S. AUGUSTINE'S CHURCH, DUBLIN. TP No. 881, November 24th, 1871, we gave the south-east view of this church, and we now give the south-west view. Ashlin are the architects. Messrs. Pugin and For an account of the materials &c., used, see the number of the Burtpine News referred to. —__< FISHERS’ GATEWAY, SANDWICH. ef ISHERS’ GATEWAY,” formerly ‘“ Gregory Ives’ Gate,” is one of the remaining gate- ways of the picturesque town of Sandwich (now in a dilapidated condition) ; was built by Richard Por- ridge, Mayor of Sandwich, in 1581, and it is pro- posed to restore it as a shooting and fishing box, being near the sea, and commanding an extensive view of the Kentish coast. The illustration is from a sketch by Mr. George Nattress, who, in conjunc- tion with Mr. F. M. Godden, is the architect. —_—_—_>—_—_——_ HOW ART DECLINES. LECTURE was delivered by Hyde Clarke, Esq., D.C.L., in the rooms of the Society for the Encouragement of the Fine Arts, on Thursday even- ing, the 8th inst., the subject being ““How Art de- clines: the Lower Empire ;” F. W. Rowsell, Esq., in the chair. The LecrurRER commenced by stating that as a means of ascertaining how art might be made to flourish, it concerned us all to know how art de- clined. The history of Roman and Greco-Roman art gave us an abundance of material for such a study. We had before us an art which had lacked neither models, men, encouragement, nor money ; which had been supported by the resources of a vast empire, and enriched by the treasures of two great forms of religion. Yet, however, this art had reached a period in which no delineation had been correct, no portraiture endurable. The growth of art amongst the Romans was especially interesting, because at a later epoch it had been produced by the influence of the Greek schools. The develop- ment of our own art was analogous to this, our present art being based on the Classic schools of Italy and the Netherlands. There was yet another point of resemblance, for, as the art of the Romans had been influenced by that of the Etruscans—that remarkable people of whom we knew so little—so, our own art had been acted upon by a school exist- ing from the time of the Roman missionaries until the suppression of the monasteries. The Romans had enjoyed an immeasurable advantage in having possessed at an early period the masterpieces of the greatest sculptors and painters. The conquest of the Greek cities had supplied Rome with a wealth of all that was noblest and most beautiful in art. We had been compelled to acquire our galleries by purchase, and a century had elapsed before Charles I. had formed his gallery at Whitehall, and two centuries before our private collections had attained any importance. Having briefly traced the gradual decline of art in Spain, the lecturer went on to say that, though the downfall of Paganism, and the introduction of Christianity, were marked events in the history of art, they should be considered apart from investigations into the causes of the decline of art. So far as Rome had been concerned, Christi- anity had not in any way stopped the progress of art, but, on the contrary, had promoted it. Art had been in full decline during the Pagan period. It was also to be remembered that there had been more temples, not less, as time went on, and. that in public places models of art had abounded. Art could not, therefore, have failed from the want of academies, models, trained teachers, trained artists, and patronage. All that was at the present day considered essential to the support of a national school had existed in Rome, and yet art had been decaying. Art could not, therefore, be kept alive by patronage or by painters; it was necessary to its existence that certain moral influences should be present, and others absent. Freedom had disappeared from the Lower Empire, and though freedom alone could not produce art, yet its absence was most pre- judicial to the development of art. Art was not merely material, but depended for its welfare on moral causes, and it was the want of good influ- ences that had brought upon the Roman Empire the pauperism of art. Roman art had fallen because moral power had been lost. In conclusion, the lec- turer said that he hoped the few remarks he had made would induce his hearers to pursue their inyes- tigations into the subject, and drew attention to the fact that they would find that to succeed in art it was as necessary to cultivate the moral attributes as to acquire manual proficiency and dexterity. - The CHarrMAN, incomplimenting Mr. Hyde Clarke on the very interesting lecture he had delivered— the brevity of which he felt sure the audience joined with him in regretting—called upon Dr. Zerffito commence the discussion on thelecture. Dr. ZeRFFI, who was greeted with warm applause, said that he had listened to the lecture with the greatest pleasure, and fully agreed with the principles that had been propounded. He must, however, venture to differ from the lecturer on one point, as he could not bring himself to believe in that “decline of art” in general, which the lectureinferred. A care- ful study of the history of art and of universal history had led him to the conclusion that art, as one grand total embracing all mankind, was, and had been, continually progressing. In certain geo- graphical districts and under certain circumstances art declined, but it was at the same time promoted and fostered in other regions. Art had expanded like science. For a single artist of ancient times we often had five or six, or even more, but this had been lost sight of in the same way that in a forest the beauty of individual trees did not so force itself upon the attention as when one tree stood alone. Whilst in the middle ages only the highest digni- taries of the Church and the State and the wealthiest monasteries had possessed great works of art, or could command, soto speak, the artistic comforts of life, at the present day immense private galleries well filled with meritorious productions existed all over Europe, and even in America. Whilst in former times utensils having the slightest pretence to ele- gance or beauty had been luxuries only within the reach of kings, queens, or the wealthiest nobles, the humblest classes were now able to provide them- selves with these objects. There were undoubtedly countries in which an artistic taste was not en- couraged in the masses, but this arose from the bigoted idea that to have a keen sense of the beauti- ful was sinful. These prejudices were, however, rapidly dying out. The sense of beauty required as much cultivation and education as any other faculty. The ancients had looked upon art as an idealised reproduction of nature, but at the present day artists were ranged under two opposing banners, the idealists and the materialists—or flesh and blood painters. Both went too farin their dogmatism. The one party was always seeking symbolic meanings in the forms of nature, whilst the other carried its admiration of slavish copying so far that he would not be surprised were an artist to propose counting the hair on the head as a preliminary to taking a portrait. Nature, without the hallowing touch of the artist’s intellectual power, was sublime, grand, bizarre, but never beautiful. This principle had been so well understood by the Greeks, that they had in sculpture melted the male and female forms into one harmonious whole, softening the angular lines in the one and strengthening the too undulating lines in the other. But had not this been success- fully followed by modern artists? Had we not geniuses like Canova, Flaxman, Thorwaldsen, Ranch, Schwanthaler, Dannecker, Pradier, and others, who were so many glorious proofs against the reality of the so-called “decline of art”? We should always take Nature as our basis, our alphabet to work upon and cultivate our minds, so that we might be able to render some idea in our works of art. If we once recognised the importance of this, we need not de- spair of seeing England’s art as flourishing and Vigorous as that of any other nation. (Cheers.) The discussion was continued by Messrs. Gilks, Tidey, Temple, Houlston, and Sadler, the latter gentleman remarking that he much regretted the neglect of historical studies at the Academy. He saw professors of Ancient and Modern History on the list, but never heard that they gave any instruction. The CrarrMan, in proposing a vote of thanks to the lecturer, said that a debt of gratitude was due to Mr. Hyde Clarke, if only for the fact that his lecture had called forth the able and interesting re- marks which had been made by Dr. Zerffi and the other gentlemen who had taken part in the discussion. Mr. Criarke, in returning thanks, replied to several observations that had been made, and a vote of thanks to the chairman having been proposed by the hon. sec, Mr. G. Browning, the proceedings terminated. ——_>———_ ART INDUSTRIES FOR FEMALES. Ts an article on ‘“ Art Industries at South Ken- sington,” the Times remarks that though we may be glad to know that a vast number of young men and women are learning at the public expense to draw the human figure, to paint pictures, and to design patterns tolerably, we remember that all this is merely a means to an end, and are anxious to learn to what account such an education is turned by those who receive it. What percentage of the students go out into the world and maintain them- selves by working at the branch of art in which they have been instructed? What percentage re- lapse into ordinary vocations, in which the accom- plishments they have acquired are nothing more than a pleasant amusement for their leisure hours? While it is a very simple thing to teach the students in the schools, it is not so easy for them, when they go out into the world, to elbow their way in crowded trades and manufactures. Difficult as this may be for the male, it is twice as difficult for the female students. Where we can find that ten women who have received an art education are supporting them- selves by art, we may be sure that twenty men are able to do so, for neither custom nor trades unions stand in their way. The employment of women is one of the problems of the day, and if the Govern- ment schools can be shown to have contributed to- wards its practical solution they will deserve our praise. The female students in the Government Schools of Design secured, so long as twenty-five years ago,a place in the trade of wood engraving, which they have since lost, There was an outcry from thie workmen against them, but they haye been driven out less by that than by the change which has come over wood engraving itself, and which has made it a trade unsuitable to women. A great deal of the work, especially for illustrated papers, hasto be done in a hurry, and compels hours which are too long and too late for women. About 1854 a few female students got employment as designers in lace, diapers, and other flax work, and at the present time a limited number are employed in designing patterns for wall-paper, cups and saucers, &c., but it cannot be said that they have as yet fairly found their way into these manufactures. One encouraging sign of the times out-of-doors is the very great demand whichis growing up for women teachers of drawing and painting, but it is only within the precincts of South Kensington that we can find a considerable number of female students really employed in art manufactures, and earning their 25s. to 45s. a week by working at the arts which the Government has taught them. Here they are employed in two branches of art, one of which will soon bear trans- planting into the outer world as anew industry. The other is painting upon pottery, and is carried on at a branch factory and kiln, which her Majesty’s Com- missioners have allowed a Staffordshire firm (Messrs. Minton, Campbell, & Co.) to build close to the Albert Hall, upon a piece of ground leased for seven years on the understanding that only students from the schools shall be employed. Though only on a limited scale this factory is worked with great suc- cess, and is the germ of greater things. It is worthy of notice as the only place in London devoted to the manufacture of high-class pottery. A century er so ago there were some famous works at Chelsea, as also at Bow, but latterly everything of the sort in England seems to have gravitated to the great centres of the pottery trade. We can here lay our hand upon a specific result of the Government system of art education, especially as applied to women. Having described the first branch of industrial art in which women are employed at Kensington—viz., the English earthenware mosaic, or opus Anglicanwm (which has been more than once described in the Buripinc News), at which, as it is a newly- created industry, women can work without treading on the toes of any trades union, our contemporary passes on to Messrs. Minton, Camp- bell, & Co.’s art pottery studio, where a number of students, of whom three-fourths are women, have been doing good work for the last year. Here women have obtained a foothold in a trade in which, at its headquarters in the Potteries, they would be ill-received, if received at all. Not long ago the Staffordshire potters would allow mo woman to use the “rest” which supports the hand of the pottery-painter ; the exclusion may not now be so strict, but it is certain that these students could not be set to work in the Potteries without causing a great deal of ill-feeling, and probably some com- motion. —————— Girt To THE Nation.—It is stated that Lady Walmsley, of Hume Towers, Bournemouth, carrying out the wishes of the late Sir Joshua Walmsley, has decided upon presenting to the nation the celebrated portrait gallery belonging to the late Sir Joshua, which comprises portraits of the following eminent statesmen, taken from life, and considered to be the finest extant :—Gladstone, Cobden, Bright, Disraeli, and Hume. Also, the celebrated portrait of George Stephenson, for which the late Sir Joshua was offered several thousand pounds; and portraits by Lacy of Cromwell, Nelson, and Garibaldi. An excellent portrait of the late Sir Joshua will also be included in the gift.