practical business-men, who do not pretend to much book-learning, with whom the decision of these questions generally rests, there might easily be laid down a few sufficiently intelligible rules, which would preclude the commission of any grosser errors. Certainly the laws of "construction" would be generally obvious to men engaged in the business of life. Let any man of sound common-sense, finding himself on a building committee, take in his hand one of the most showy and winning among the designs submitted for approval. Let him ask a few plain questions, and we will engage that he shall escape the committal of the errors which have usually ensnared such judicial tribunals. Let him ask, in the first place, of what constructional service are those showy columns in the façade, which do so little work and yet cost so much money? Then those heavy key-stones-so heavy that they would seem to crush the arch beneath, carved too, it may be, with grotesque heads-let him ask what they mean? what service they perform? The adjoining figures too, thrust into the spandrils of the arch, emblems of the virtues, of trade, commerce, or industry, reclining in tortured attitudes, where no man nor woman, actual or mythological, could endure to rest even for an instant: let the practical common-sense committee-man ask whether such decorations are appropriate or reasonable. Thus, without any profound knowledge, or any cultured susceptibility of taste, will the intelligent citizen reject as false the designs which are alluring because meretricious, and select the simple and chaste construction, which honestly and truthfully accomplishes its ends in quiet and unobtrusive

taste.

Thus the reader may well understand that Sir Gardner Wilkinson finds no difficulty in showing that the patrons of art are in need of a more enlightened knowledge. Doubtless the taste of this section of the community, which necessarily in great measure regulates and forms the judgment of all other classes, has of late years become somewhat more elevated. The Dutch Masters, who in days past formed the

staple of our private collections, have in some measure given way to the Italian. And even among the Italian painters, the Eclectic School, learned in all the tricks of composition, and declamatory in startling effect, has in great measure given place to those earlier works, where thought and deep emotion are content to be simple and truthful. Still this more advanced taste marks rather the cultured connoisseur than those wealthy manufacturers who enter modern exhibitions as the purchasers of showy pictures, to hang on the walls of their dining or drawing rooms. Such patrons, with whom the purchasing power in this country greatly resides, still continue to regard a picture as an article of house furniture. It must be cheerful and pleasing in subject and treatment, and in colour the nearer it conforms with carpet and curtains the better. Its thoughts likewise will do well to range with the literal and naturalistic rather than with the ideal. It must treat of some popular or even hackneyed subject, requiring no study for its comprehension. It must, in short, pretend to no elevation incompatible with easy companionship round the tea-table, or unsuited to that trifling evening tattle, in which the arts now admitted to the rank of "modern accomplishments" are expected to take an agreeable and important department. Hence can we easily understand why our exhibitions are crowded with pleasing commonplace. Hence is it that a child crying over his broken drum, or the trick of a veiled statue, or even grotesque animals dressed as men, have always won crowded admiration. Hence is it that our painters paint "pot-boilers "-simply because they sell, simply because the patrons of art in this country have not yet acquired that taste and knowledge needful for the appreciation of noblest works.

In our national manufactures the same want of elevated public taste continues to preclude the adoption of the best designs. It is, we believe generally admitted that of late years considerable improvement has marked our English manufactures, yet the acknowledged want of public appreciation for the best "patterns" still

renders the production of the worst a commercial necessity. Sir Gardner Wilkinson sums up the existing evils as follows:

"I have stated that the chief impediments to the general progress and exten

sion of taste are more attributable to the purchaser than to the makers of ornamental works; and this opinion, on further inquiry, I find to be confirmed. It is the universal remark that those things which are bad in style find a more ready sale than the good, and that not from the price being lower, but solely from the choice of the public. If the bad happens to be attractive, it meets with admirers; and high finish, minuteness of detail, and whimsical shape, are greater recommendations than good form and purity of design."-P. 359.

The public taste, whatever advances may have been made, still tends, we fear, somewhat to the materialistic and meretricious. In the furnishing of a house, people are more intent upon the display of wealth than anxious to evince refinement. Whatever is loaded with gold is naturally deemed rich and handsome; whatever has cost countless labour necessarily excites wonder, and even admiration. A complication of infinite ornament thrown together in lavish profusion cannot but suit the requirement of a purchaser whose only qualification is the money in his pocket. Thus simple unpretending merit is here, as on other occasions, passed heedlessly by. The graces of form, the subtle beauties of curving lines, the harmonies of a composition toned down to one prevailing expres sion, are of course overpowered by the noisy crash and uproar of an artchorus, where each voice is heard only for its loudness, and each instrument seeks attention by ostentatious flourish. The style of Louis Quartorze, the rococo ornament of a past century, with all the inventive ingenuity of subsequent and present times, silence the still voice of sober taste, and override the dictates of pure reason. For ourselves, however, we believe that, notwithstanding these grievous errors, there is yet sufficient refinement and sound knowledge in the country to reclaim the arts from their threatened degradation.

It were, indeed, ingratitude towards

the successive Governments of this country, did we not recognise the efforts which have of late years been made in the cause of a national arteducation. The session of Parliament

for the year 1853 was opened by a Royal Speech, in which her Majesty made the following announcement:The advancement of the fine arts and of practical science will be readily recognised by you as worthy the attention of a great and enlightened nation. I have directed that a comprehensive scheme shall be laid before you, having in view the promotion of these objects, towards which I invite your aid and co-operation." Accordingly, the "Department of Science and Art" was then created. A systematic plan was organised; Directors, Secretaries, Inspectors appointed; an Exhibitional Museum set on foot, schools opened, lectures organised, public grants made to local and district art-academies. It was rightly felt by the Government of the day that instruction of the industrial classes in the principles and practice of art could no longer be postponed. Education in drawing, a power to portray simple natural objects, were recognised as important to all handicrafts. Accurate observation, the habit of seeing correctly, the means of explaining and illustrating by the hand all matters which are objects of vision, were justly deemed a valuable and intrinsic portion of general and popular education. It was thus intended that the boy taught reading and writing should at the same time receive some elementary instruction in drawing. His hand would acquire firmness while it boldly traced the long straight line; his eye attain accuracy in the subtle nicety of the sweeping curve; his intellect be taught construction in the geometric composition of more complex objects, and even his taste might receive some culture from the forms of classic decoration, or in the flowers culled from the fields of nature. An hour, or even two or three hours, a-week will not, it is true, teach him much, and yet he cannot fail to learn something worth his knowing. He may not become the skilled artist, but he may be made the more humanised mechanic. The hard labour of future years may become

something more than the expenditure of brute force. Intelligence and taste will guide his hand, his daily toil become to him a daily culture, when he looks upon nature as the manifestation of beauty, and upon every labour of man in its completeness as a work of art. Thus has it been hoped that the time will yet come when art shall be made a portion of national education; when not only in every town, but in every parish throughout the country, teachers shall be qualified to instruct, and Government Inspectors be required to examine, the pupils of the schools, at least in the elementary principles and practice of the arts.

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In the mean time, much remains to be accomplished, though much has already been attained. In a national organisation so extended, a central authority to govern and direct, a training-school for the education of masters and pupil-teachers, a central museum of decorative art to supply good materials for instruction and imitation, were indispensably requisite. Hence were established the museum and schools at Marlborough House, and subsequently the existing and extended exhibitions and classes at South Kensington. Here the organised Department of Science and Art" concentrates its strength. From this central authority and national institution radiate the local schools throughout the country. From the last report of the Art Department of the Council of Education, it appears that in the year 1859 two thousand students were in training, as future masters and teachers; that seventy-eight provincial schools had been established throughout the country; that in these schools upwards of fourteen thousand pupils were receiving an art education; that in affiliated parish and public schools upwards of forty-nine thousand children of the labouring and poorer classes were instructed in elementary drawing; and, lastly, that no less than £12,700 had been paid by the various students in return for these

advantages. For the accomplish ment of this great work of national education, "the Department of Science and Art" has organised and brought into efficient action mea

sures well fitted to secure the success which has been thus attained. The training-school of South Kensington seeks "to prepare, train, and certify masters as duly qualified to give instruction in elementary, freehand, and geometric drawing, perspective, colour, and other branches of art;" still further, it guarantees to these masters "certain incomes for a limited time," "varying according to their requirements." The Department, again, in order to supply an acknowledged deficiency of works and illustrations suitable for education, has published, through the medium of the usual trade-houses, well selected and duly authorised "drawing copies, books, models, casts, and other apparatus." In like manner it has furnished "samples of drawing materials, such as drawing-boards, paper, slates, chalk, pencils, &c." Thus it enables the managers of local schools to procure such articles, books, and apparatus at the lowest price, and yet of the best description. Furthermore, in order to encourage skilful and deserving students, it has awarded to the pupils of metropolitan and district schools both prizes and scholarships. scholarships are worth from £20 to £30 a-year, and from the latest report it appears that the number of prizes distributed during the preceding twelve months exceeded six thousand. Lastly, an efficient system of inspection and examination has been instituted, "in order to see that the instruction given in the various classes corresponds with the course sanctioned by the Department, and that the whole management of the school is satisfactory." In conclusion to the above statement, we quote the following passage from a recent parliamentary report :

The

"During the past year, the improved system of inspection and examination of the students' works has been in full operation. The Inspectors visit each school of art once in the year, when all the works of the students are exhibited and examined. To the most meritorious of

them the Inspector is empowered to award local medals to the extent of thirty to each school, but the average number taken at each school is only eight. These prize works from all the local schools are

then sent to the central school in the metropolis, and are placed in competition with one another. A further ex

amination is then made by the InspectorGeneral of Art, Mr Redgrave, R.A., in concert with Sir C. Eastlake, P.R.A., and Mr Maclise, R.A., when a hundred national medallions may be awarded by

them. The national medallion is presented to the student, and the local school of art where the student has been instructed receives for each medallion, works of art of the value of £10 up to a maximum of £50. The national medallion has been designed by M. Vechte, who is admitted to be the greatest European artist for working in metal. The works of art distributed to the schools during the past year [1857] have been as follows: For the first prize to each school, a copy of Owen Jones's Grammar of Ornament; for the second prize, photographs of objects in the Louvre; for the third, electrotype copies of objects in the museums at Paris or London; for the fourth and fifth, a further selection of photographs, electrotypes, or casts of objects in the museums of the department."

Thus will it now be seen how efficient and extended are the means which the Government has taken to diffuse that good taste which has been long felt as a national necessity. Some years may yet elapse before the instruction thus granted can so permeate the various classes of society as to work a change in the habits, and give an elevation to the tastes of the nation at large; yet the change must come, and the elevation is now certainly secured, and thus we may hope to see swept away the opprobrium long cast upon the English character, the injury long inflicted upon British manufactures.

It is evident that this organised department of art, armed by the Government with authority, and endowed with the means of making monied grants to the local schools throughout the country, holds in great degree the power of moulding to its own ideas the decorative art of the English nation. It is therefore with much satisfaction that we can dool, after reading the published documents of the Department, and examining the drawings supplied to the schools as copies, that the principles adopted and inculcated are catholic and sound. It is an error

shared by many, and of which Sir Gardner Wilkinson is not free, that the fine arts are in their origin and character so capricious and lawless, that they cannot be subjected to any ascertained rules either in their first creation or for their final criticism.

By Sir Gardner Wilkinson it is again and again reiterated that the scientific laws for harmonious colouring are practically of little value; that the designer must be governed by his eye, and that intuition and genius being in the arts the only guides, prescribed rules will both fetter and mislead. Yet in opposition we need scarcely say that Chevreul and others have established on scientific and certain bases, not only the relation of the colours in the spectrum, but the laws by which all harmonious colouring, whether in nature or in art, must be distributed and balanced. And it is these laws which, systematically taught and applied in the schools and manufactures of France, have given to the silk fabrics of Lyons and to other national products their world-wide renown for harmony and beauty. That there are in like manner laws governing the symmetry of line and the harmony of proportion, no man will deny who has carefully studied elemental beauty in nature, or the adaptation of that beauty as manifested through the master works of arts. We are therefore glad to know that the Government authorities enthroned at South Kensington have not shrunk from the responsibility and duty of declaring with clearness and decision the principles which shall be taught by their certified masters, and the works which shall be taken by the pupils as models of excellence. Accordingly, we find that the master is instructed to explain to his assembled class the structural lines and laws which govern ornamental design; to show how curves must flow, the one into the other, without break or interruption; to interpret and analyse the characteristic ideas of various styles, whether Classic, Gothic, or Renaissance, and thus, as we have said, to redeem the arts of design from uncertainty and caprice, by reducing them to vital and essential principles.

Neither has the association of

science with art been unattended with advantage. Science, which educes from nature her governing laws, may fitly communicate to her less austere sister Art somewhat of that system and certainty which have been the purpose and result of all modern investigations. Science and art, each looks alike to nature, though from different points of view. Science seeks to discover laws; art strives to apply them. Phenomena and laws are alike the material and foundation of both. The starting-point is the same; and though art, when she takes to imagination, diverges from science, which keeps firm hold on reason, they often meet again in the final result, as when the artist is called to decorate, by the play of his fancy, the work which the engineer or the builder has erected by the skill of his intellect. Thus the hostility which has often been assumed as subsisting between science and art is among the errors which now happily belong only to the prejudices of the past. If art shall ever take her place in the ranks of progressive knowledge-if she may be saved from empiricism, and made the legitimate and defined object of education, to be handed down as a substantive possession from master to pupil-she must more and more be brought under the system of law, more closely become identified both in method of inquiry and practice with those sciences which have progressed, while the arts themselves have suffered a decline. It is, therefore, that we the more rejoice that the man of science has been called in to the aid of the professor of art. We are glad to see that while Mr Redgrave the Academician lectures upon the principles of design, Dr Lindley and the late Professor Edward Forbes have shown how those principles are involved in the symmetry of the vegetable kingdom, and in the types and harmonies of animal forms. "If the nature of vegetation," says Dr Lindley, "is rightly considered, a symmetrical arrangement is almost inevitable. Symmetry in plants arises out of their peculiar nature; it is dependent upon a highly complicated internal structure, which is in itself essentially symmetrical. The basis

VOL. LXXXVII.-NO. DXXXII,

from which organs proceed being symmetrical, it seems an evident inference that the organs themselves should be symmetrical also." Professor Forbes, likewise, in his Lecture on Animal Forms, speaks as follows: "What, after all, are the harmonies and consistent laws and admirable types that are the chief aim of the naturalist to discover, but the laws of art that are in nature? The laws of beauty that can be elicited from the study of the Creator's works must ever constitute the legitimate code for the artist. Thus it is that science becomes the handmaid, even as she is the sister, of art."

Hence, under the guidance of science and sound reason, it is not surprising that the style of decoration inaugurated by the Department of Art tends to the reasonable and the natural. The fantastic, the extravagant, and the monstrous may now be said to have had its day. Thus, as we have already shown, it is now taught as the fundamental principle of all artmanufacture, that the ornamental must grow out from the useful, that decoration must accord with construction, that the workmanship must be suited to the material-that, in short, all the means employed must subserve the ends and the uses for which the fabric or the structure is designed. Already we can trace the salutary influence of these doctrines and teachings upon the manufactures of the country. Already carpets loaded with mountains of fruit and of flowers are out of fashion. Huge bouquets and garlands, hung upon curtains or muslin dresses, with endless labyrinth of leaves and entwined branches, are now considered bad in taste. Carpets, we are told, should serve as a ground," to relieve and support all objects of furniture; should be quiet in design and negative in colour, the decorative form evenly distributed, and lying flat upon the surface of the floor, without violent projectionsfrom shadow or relief. Paperhangings, it is said, must be treated as a background, to display the furniture and other objects in the room; the decoration must be subdued and unobtrusive, not inviting special attention by strongly pronounced con

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