Page:The Building News and Engineering Journal, Volume 22, 1872.djvu/473

 June 7, 1872. THE BUILDING NEWS. 451 THE BUILDING NEWS. ad LONDON, FRIDAY, JUNE 7, 1872. THE STAINED GLASS IN THE INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITION. fpSERe are but a very few specimens of stained glass exhibited this year at the International Exhibition. Somewhere about a dozen examples may, however, be found in the windows of the four main staircases. Of these the best is (1060) a semicircular- headed light, with the figure of Charity, about life-size, with a boy by her side, anda child in her arms. This is by F. Ashwin, of 22, Charlotte-street, Bedford-square, and £60 is the moderate price attached to it. The whole composition is pleasing, and the effect of colour harmonious, and the transparency of the materis] has been respected properly. The deep rich blue dress of the principal figure is thrown out finely by the surround- ing colours, which are in contrast with it ; but we think that with the amount of rich broken red in the background a less positive colour would have been more suitable for that of the boy than the ruby in which he is clad, and which does form rather a prominent spot in the picture. No. 1061 is by Messrs. Usher & Kelly, of 175, Hampstead-road, and consists of two narrow lights, the one representing the Ascension of Our Lord, with some apostles beneath, while an Angel on the other is directing the attention of the three Marys to Christ. In treatment this is right, and there isin it much delicate drawing and rich and subdued colour; but the whole is too imita- tive of old German work, weakin the heads, and spotty in general effect. Such subjects are} apparently, altogether beyond the power of these gentlemen. In 1059, Mr. Henry Hughes, of the firm of Ward & Hughes, gives on about three- quarter life scale a three-light window, executed in memory of a lady, representing Our Saviour with the Sisters Martha and Mary. lt is by no means without merit of a high kind; but is less correct in principle than either of the examples before-named, the attempt to give relief by shadows having been carried much too far. The colouring is rich and harmonious ; but the canopy is in- ferior, and detracts from the picture itself. Messrs. Cox, of Southampton-street, Strand, send a large semicircuiar-headed window intended for the Baptistery of S. Lawrence Jewry, London. This work has especial interest just now, as this class is that which would be proposed for S. Paul’s Cathedral by many. In itself it is certainly effective, and by no means garish in colour, but we question whether it would not over- power any mural decoration in the same build- ing. in point of design it is extremely faulty, the heads and figures generally being quite ludicrous when examined. By strong shadows the appearance given is of a trans- parent picture, and the nature of the material is thus contradicted. If there be any style of building for which this treatment is desirable, so much the worse for the style. Some of the streaky glass used in this example is so rich that we cannot but regret its having been thus used. Another example by Messrs. Cox (1064) is a portion of the west window of 8. Paul's, Dock-street, London Docks. In this, pictures as square panels intervene with ornamental pattern work, and both pictures and patterns are of a loud description and certainly startling. Whether the undulating curves in the foreground of the former are intended for sea or sea-serpents, it is difficult to discover. This and other problems will, we fear, distract the attention of many of thecon- gregation of the church for which it is intended. Mr. W. H. Constable’s window, which forms a pendant to the last-named on the same stair- case, is very weak and discordant in colour. On the staircase next to the Belgian picture gallery is another small work by Usher & Kelly, representing our Lord on the Cross, and S. Mary and S. John, each under canopies. The general arrangement and colour are good; the drawing, as of the figure of the Saviour, indifferent. Messrs. Gibbs & Moore exhibit here rather a pretty decorative panel, with three shields in a circle in the centre, surrounded by quaint quarries, with birds, insects, frogs, fish, &c. Then above and below are effective bands of rosettes, and a rich interlacement of con- ventional foliage. A Nativity, with the Virgin kneeling and adoring the Holy Child, and S. Joseph standing by, and a pretty little angel above, is another contribution by Messrs. Usher & Kelly in the German manner, nicely drawn and fairly coloured. On either side of this panel is one by Messrs. Nicholas & Roermond, of Holland. The figure of the Bishop on the left is vigorous in its pose, good in drawing, and harmonious and refined in colour, while that of the Saint on the right is indifferent in every one of these respects, showing that not only in England is the work turned out by one firm from the design of different artists of varied ability. The re- maining work on this staircase is a copy of an Early German sixteenth-century glass window in the nave of Cologne Cathedral, ex- hibited by C. Baudri. Itis a gigantic heraldic figure, carrying a standard and sword, and above is a coat of arms and helmet. The style is bold and vigorous, but the colour, as of the ruby legs and arms of the figure, some- what violent and crude. Upon the staircase leading to the French picture gallery is a horrible transparency upon glass confronting one, to which, fortunately for the perpetrator, no name is attached : we would otherwise have gibbeted him. We think, and hope we may assume, that it is not an English production. The Scriptural sub- ject caricatured in it is the parable of the five wise and five foolish virgins ; but if we were to judge by the demeanour of the ten damsels we should be very doubtful as to any of them deserving the former title. On the top of a flight of steps the figure of Our Lord with a bright straw-coloured, but non-cruciform nimbus, is relieved against a dark star- spangled sky. His dress is bright mauve, lined with lilac. He is attended by rose- bearing angels with wings, which look like plaster of Paris, guiltless of feathers, real or conventional. ‘The five least foolish of the virgins stand in affected attitudes, looking complacently at the heap of their fallen sisterhood at the foot of the steps, and one and all are clad in garments of the most violent hues, and in other respects seem alto- gether of the earth most earthly. A three- light window in the centre of this staircase is by Mr. Charles A. Gibbs, of the Maryle- bone-road. This is of the medallion class, and the idea of it is better than the execution. Our Saviour blessing little children occupies the centre, and groups of adoring prophets, martyrs, and apostles the surrounding me- dallions. The drawing is poor, and the colouring harsh and spotty. Another window of the South Kensington School fills the remaining light of this stair- case. It is a NRenaissance composition, entitled ‘‘Fame Templum.” It has but little colour, the architectural features and figures being executed on light drab glass, shaded in brown, and touched with yellow, and only slightly relieved by a background or sky of delicate blue. Now, this treatment would probably be the best to allow of rich mural decoration, or paintings on the walls of a church or building in this style, but the drawing and shading ought to be better than in this example, and the disposition of the leadwork seems hardly consistent with the class of delicate shading here affected ; the strong black lines carried round the heads and across the necks of the figures painfully seem to decapitate or strangle them. ‘The contrast is too violent, but this would be avoided by a manlier and more vigorous style of executing the shading. In this, as in other matters, those who would adapt glass painting to Classic buildings would do well to study the methods used in the Karly Medizeval styles. The treatment suitable to the material was in them brought out ina thoroughly common-sense manner, and one perfectly consistent with the highest style of art, but a class of drawing suitable for litho- graphs appears absurd when cut up into fragments by thick, meandering black lines. Such shading and stippling might be used for sketches upon single sheets of glass, like those so cleverly invented by Mr. W. B. Scott. They wouldthen be perfectly justifiable, and perhaps form the bestclass of glass decora- tion for close inspection; but glass paintings divided by lead lines are not supposed to be looked at so closely, and, at a distance, with vigorous style of drawing, these lead lines do not interfere with, but, on the contrary, enhance and emphasize the general effect. eee NOTES ON EARTHWORK.—VII. HI following prices are the averages of those upon which the accepted tenders of half-a-dozen contracts have been based. Most of the items have occurred in each con- tract, but the first four are confined to one of them :— Per cubie yard. 8. d. Stripping soil 9in. deep and wheeling 20 yards, measured in the heap .....2....s0--ss02-5 0 3 Casting up yellow clay, with grafting tools, to SNSISNUOL Gltey cee cleieeiatersis seieeieereetee late 0 4 Casting clay out of drains 4ft. deep, and toa horizontal distance of 6ft. ........-..-.--+ 0 4 Cutting river diversion in meadows in yellow clay and wheeling 20 yards ..........-..- 0 5} Excavating common earth, fillmg into bar- rows, and wheeling first stage of 20 yards.. 0 53% Excavating sandrock, filling into barrows,and wheeling first stage of 20 yards.......... 0 9 Wheeling common earth or sandrock per stage of 20 yards extra.........0.-cesece- 0 12 Excavating common earth, filling into carts, and carting LOOWyards) q wfscc cece cc eme eicenje 0. 6F Excavating sandrock, filling into carts, and carting 100 yards ert OO) Carting common earth or rock per 1¢ rds OXLLD ee eein totale isieiniereleunlceieter sre ents 5g 20 2 1e Carting common earth or rock per fw g 0 3% Excavating common earth, filling into wag- gons, and waggoning 1 furlong, inciuding temporary rails and laying................ 0 Excavating sandrock, filling into waggons and waggoning 1 furlong, including temporary Ted SiN NAVIN) cis/clccvis vicicle's vieleiele viviste 011 Waggoning per furlong extra Ot Sodding or soiling slopes, and sowing, per rod of 303 square yardS ......ccecesceeseresre 5 3 Other prices have been as follow :— Horse run, 16ft. high, 2 getters 3 fillers cost 7d. per cubic 1 runner yard landed on 1 horse top of slope. 1 boy Per lineal yard. s, d. Driving headings 4ft. square into slopes of cutting in blue shale to draw off water .... 2 6 Filling back headings with stone (abouronly) 2 0 Per cubic yard. s. d. Ballasting: Number of waggons, holding 2 cubie yards each, filled by 14 men in 1 day, 84, = 6 waggons each per day, = 12 cubic yards. Wages 3s.per day = ........-+-+ 0 3 Number of horses leading 84 waggons 1 mile, 8, at 7s. per day = 8d. per waggon = oO 4 Number of men tipping and levellins, 3s. per day = 2}d. per waggon = .. 0 Wz Cost per cubic yard filled, led 1 mile and levelled .......ceccceeeeceecessecees 0 st At the time of the ‘cotton famine” in Lancashire, during the American civil war, a good deal of work was found for the ‘* opera- tives” in digging and wheeling earth, and in other ways, on public works. These men being quite unaccustomed to the kind of work —the only kind, by-the-bye, that could be found for them by the publicauthorities—it was very difficult to deal with them ; not because of any unwillingness on their part to work, but because many of them could not work with the shovel or the barrow so as to earn wages, while many others could. But until trials of some days or weeks had been made their respective strengths could not be proved, and in the meantime the more able of them were dissatisfied with the work set them to do. It was an object of the authorities to