DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.14721#0008
TO THE READEK.1
The work now offered to the public will (the author hopes) prove in some
measure useful to the artists, as well as pleasing to the curious :—useful, because
those who have occasion to represent scenes from the English history, may find the
dress and character of the ancient times;—and pleasing to the curious, because
these pictures are the most likely to contain the exact representation of the customs
and manners of the earlier a>ra of our ancestors.
Hitherto our artists have been extremely deficient in their delineations of the
early history. The Saxons are frequently drawn in the habit of the figures on the
Trajan and Antonine columns ; and the Normans are put into the dresses and
armour worn in Edward the Fourth's time, and indeed are often made still more
modern.
It may be said, perhaps, in the defence of the artist, that models, sufficiently
authentic for his purpose, are very much wranted. Our monuments, and statues,
are exceedingly difficult to ascertain ; and, even of these, there are few of any note
of earlier date than Henry the Seventh." And our coins are still of less use, being
so miserably executed as scarce to bear the resemblance of any thing. From these
imperfect lights, it was not possible for artists to come at the truth of antiquity,
so that they were obliged to supply from their own fancy whatever they thought defi-
cient ; by which means errors wrere frequently made, even when corrections were
intended.
From the statues and bas-reliefs of the Greeks and Romans, the character,
dress and customs of those nations are become perfectly clear and intelligible to us ;
but with respect to the antiquities of this country the case is very different, for there
is scarcely any one able to determine the sort of habit worn in the time of Edward
the First.
1 [In my Preface to the new Edition of " A complete View of the Dress and Habits of the People
of England," I have endeavoured to do justice to the industry and candour of Mr. Strutt, as well as
acknowledged the obligations under which he has laid all who have subsequently interested themselves
in the History of Costume.—Ed.]
2 [The labours of Charles Alfred Stothard, and other distinguished artists, both native and foreign,
since the period this assertion was made, have rendered it unnecessary for me to do more than remind
the reader of its inaccuracy.—Ed.]
The work now offered to the public will (the author hopes) prove in some
measure useful to the artists, as well as pleasing to the curious :—useful, because
those who have occasion to represent scenes from the English history, may find the
dress and character of the ancient times;—and pleasing to the curious, because
these pictures are the most likely to contain the exact representation of the customs
and manners of the earlier a>ra of our ancestors.
Hitherto our artists have been extremely deficient in their delineations of the
early history. The Saxons are frequently drawn in the habit of the figures on the
Trajan and Antonine columns ; and the Normans are put into the dresses and
armour worn in Edward the Fourth's time, and indeed are often made still more
modern.
It may be said, perhaps, in the defence of the artist, that models, sufficiently
authentic for his purpose, are very much wranted. Our monuments, and statues,
are exceedingly difficult to ascertain ; and, even of these, there are few of any note
of earlier date than Henry the Seventh." And our coins are still of less use, being
so miserably executed as scarce to bear the resemblance of any thing. From these
imperfect lights, it was not possible for artists to come at the truth of antiquity,
so that they were obliged to supply from their own fancy whatever they thought defi-
cient ; by which means errors wrere frequently made, even when corrections were
intended.
From the statues and bas-reliefs of the Greeks and Romans, the character,
dress and customs of those nations are become perfectly clear and intelligible to us ;
but with respect to the antiquities of this country the case is very different, for there
is scarcely any one able to determine the sort of habit worn in the time of Edward
the First.
1 [In my Preface to the new Edition of " A complete View of the Dress and Habits of the People
of England," I have endeavoured to do justice to the industry and candour of Mr. Strutt, as well as
acknowledged the obligations under which he has laid all who have subsequently interested themselves
in the History of Costume.—Ed.]
2 [The labours of Charles Alfred Stothard, and other distinguished artists, both native and foreign,
since the period this assertion was made, have rendered it unnecessary for me to do more than remind
the reader of its inaccuracy.—Ed.]