DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.10813#0016
6
PREFACE.
the eye (by accessory beauties) as the asperities of Alpine mountains are softened by their
drapery of green sward. A more close inspection of this world of fancy will soon convince
him, that in it everything is based on logical sequence ; and that where an harmonious
accordance is wanting, like that which links together soul and body in the physical world,
the charm of beauty vanishes from before us. We become acquainted with the very origin
and source of those laws of style by which every department of art is governed; and they
only whose studies have comprehended so wide a range will obtain such a mastery as is
required for the free and graceful management of this ideal world, with all its many-coloured
crowds of imaginary beings.
Those, however, who wish to derive real benefit from such a collection of specimens of
Ornamental Art, must bear in mind, that the various beauties exhibited in it must be looked
upon in the same light as those masterpieces of classical literature which have been the models
for our greatest poets, and which were studied by them in order to derive a like inspiration.
Those productions of modern industry have been most successful which have been worked
out in a similar manner ; and it has ever proved impracticable to inlay the inventions of later
design with even the most beautiful ornaments of an earlier period. So rough and unpre-
pared an adaptation of elements of art belonging to a system of civilization already passed
away, is not less incongruous than the method practised by the naturalisti, who stole from
nature merely her outward forms, neglecting the deeper inward meaning, which speaks to
the mind alike of the philosopher, and of the man of refined taste and feeling.
As we are still more or less under the sway of classical taste in the present times,
and influenced by the forms of beauty that are derived from it, so we see art involuntarily
return to the models presented by Greek and Roman antiquity, and to those among the
middle-age monuments that received the classical impress. It has, therefore, been necessary
to introduce into this collection examples corresponding with such a tendency. The ele-
ments afforded by both these main-periods of art are capable of being assimilated to the
creations of the present day, and the education of our artists ought, consequently, to be
chiefly based on the study of them.
Although it may be said that Gothic architecture exercises, for many reasons, even now,
an awe-inspiring influence upon our imaginations, it yet stands altogether isolated and
detached from the system of common life, and will never again harmonize with the modes
which our modern civilization has adopted by preference. Like the solemn sounds of sacred
music, these wonderful combinations of lines, bearing our thoughts heavenward, elevate us,
at once, to spheres apart from the realities of daily life.
It is, moreover, not advisable that the mind of the pupil should be confused by the
study of too heterogeneous a mass of forms ; it is even necessary that he should make him-
self thoroughly acquainted with the rules and specific peculiarities of some one system apart,
before he enters upon a boundless region of various styles, requiring a totally different
mental training, to be treated with advantage. Nay, it would even be dangerous were
students to be prematurely initiated into the mysteries of Moorish and other styles, as
foreign to us as are the religions which called them into existence, and which act upon our
imagination, rather by stimulating and exciting, than by affording calm and sober instruc-
PREFACE.
the eye (by accessory beauties) as the asperities of Alpine mountains are softened by their
drapery of green sward. A more close inspection of this world of fancy will soon convince
him, that in it everything is based on logical sequence ; and that where an harmonious
accordance is wanting, like that which links together soul and body in the physical world,
the charm of beauty vanishes from before us. We become acquainted with the very origin
and source of those laws of style by which every department of art is governed; and they
only whose studies have comprehended so wide a range will obtain such a mastery as is
required for the free and graceful management of this ideal world, with all its many-coloured
crowds of imaginary beings.
Those, however, who wish to derive real benefit from such a collection of specimens of
Ornamental Art, must bear in mind, that the various beauties exhibited in it must be looked
upon in the same light as those masterpieces of classical literature which have been the models
for our greatest poets, and which were studied by them in order to derive a like inspiration.
Those productions of modern industry have been most successful which have been worked
out in a similar manner ; and it has ever proved impracticable to inlay the inventions of later
design with even the most beautiful ornaments of an earlier period. So rough and unpre-
pared an adaptation of elements of art belonging to a system of civilization already passed
away, is not less incongruous than the method practised by the naturalisti, who stole from
nature merely her outward forms, neglecting the deeper inward meaning, which speaks to
the mind alike of the philosopher, and of the man of refined taste and feeling.
As we are still more or less under the sway of classical taste in the present times,
and influenced by the forms of beauty that are derived from it, so we see art involuntarily
return to the models presented by Greek and Roman antiquity, and to those among the
middle-age monuments that received the classical impress. It has, therefore, been necessary
to introduce into this collection examples corresponding with such a tendency. The ele-
ments afforded by both these main-periods of art are capable of being assimilated to the
creations of the present day, and the education of our artists ought, consequently, to be
chiefly based on the study of them.
Although it may be said that Gothic architecture exercises, for many reasons, even now,
an awe-inspiring influence upon our imaginations, it yet stands altogether isolated and
detached from the system of common life, and will never again harmonize with the modes
which our modern civilization has adopted by preference. Like the solemn sounds of sacred
music, these wonderful combinations of lines, bearing our thoughts heavenward, elevate us,
at once, to spheres apart from the realities of daily life.
It is, moreover, not advisable that the mind of the pupil should be confused by the
study of too heterogeneous a mass of forms ; it is even necessary that he should make him-
self thoroughly acquainted with the rules and specific peculiarities of some one system apart,
before he enters upon a boundless region of various styles, requiring a totally different
mental training, to be treated with advantage. Nay, it would even be dangerous were
students to be prematurely initiated into the mysteries of Moorish and other styles, as
foreign to us as are the religions which called them into existence, and which act upon our
imagination, rather by stimulating and exciting, than by affording calm and sober instruc-