DOI issue:
No. 31 (October, 1896)
DOI article:The editor's room
DOI Page / Citation link:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.17295#0073
New Publications
yet never permitted himself to be enrolled among
its members.
Early in the " forties " the Government organised
a competition for mural decorations destined to be
carried out in the new House of Lords. Among
the works of others who competed the cartoons of
Ford Madox-Brown were exhibited at Westminster
Hall, and although they failed to impress those
responsible for the selection of artists to decorate
the Houses of Parliament, they attracted the
attention of one who was to be the moving spirit
in the coming revolt against the convention of the
time. Dante Gabriel Rossetti was so deeply im-
pressed by The Body of Harold brought before
William the Conqueror, that he wrote to Madox-
Brown begging to be taken as a pupil. Although this
proved impracticable, Rossetti became a frequent
visitor to his studio, and that the work of one but
seven years his senior moulded and influenced his
ideal for years, if not for the whole of his career,
is obvious enough.
That the very name of Ford Madox-Brown is
scarce known to hundreds familiar with the
work of Rossetti and Sir Edward Burne-Jones, is
scarcely to their credit. But still the blame must
not be laid entirely upon the public. The oppor-
tunities for seeing works by this artist, always
excepting his decorations for the town-hall of a
provincial city, have been few enough. Nor
is it work of this sort that appeals to the senti-
mental side of the British character. Sturdy and
thoroughly self-contained, it is most assuredly; but
one doubts if reproduction of his pictures would
find their way into British homes, as photographs
of the Beata Beatrix or the Golden Stairs have
penetrated into regions destitute of all knowledge
of the Pre-Raphaelite movement.
No method of studying the true spirit of a
master's work is more likely to reveal his individu-
ality than to become familiar with his sketches and
working drawings, for therein the idea is freshly
recorded, its spirit is proclaimed clearly,, and with-
out the allurements of anecdote or elaborately
finished detail you can obtain a firm grip of his
purpose.
The methods of many painters are too direct
to require any preliminary studies. But the
decorative artist who is concerned with artificial
disposition of the natural objects he selects to
depict, who does not seek to be imitative, but to
evolve a conventional arrangement based partly on
a pre-arranged scheme, and partly in the appear-
ance of things, is perforce obliged to experi-
ment beforehand. For in fresco, stained-glass, or
60
mosaic, alterations in the course of the actual
work are hardly practicable ; and the modification
of a scheme when half completed, which is of light
moment to the painter, is impossible without the
total destruction of all that had been accomplished,
and a fresh start from the beginning.
Therefore it is a pleasure to find that many
cartoons for stained glass, made by Ford Madox-
Brown, when he was partner in the firm of William
Morris & Co., are still extant. Owing to the
energetic appreciation of his late pupil, Mr. Harold
Rathbone, a number of these have been made
accessible to the general public. Or perhaps, since
the price of the set of twenty plates is somewhat
high—ten guineas—it would be more accurate to
say that they are brought within the reach of
students of our training schools, and those who
live near public libraries.
Twenty subjects have been most adequately
reproduced by the Autotype Company, and on the
scale chosen, 18 by 24, are worthy copies of most
worthy originals. They include thirteen Biblical
subjects, and seven of English worthies, all repre-
senting the peculiar rigour of the artist's work;
one or two, notably those reproduced here, showing
him at his best. Readers of The Studio will not
have forgotten the exquisite cartoons illustrated in
the number devoted to the Arts and Crafts Exhibi-
tion, but while those were for complete subjects,
these are chiefly single figures—or groups for a
single light of a storied window.
In these you find no pandering to vulgar taste,
no love of archaic quaintness for its own sake; but
a well-ordered accomplished manner, based on the
best precedent, yet spirited and intensely personal.
The value of such work is not that it may be
imitated blindly, but that its study may provoke
younger men to model their efforts on the same
lines—to obey rigidly the essentials of the art, and
yet impress their own personality upon it.
It would be useless to discuss the designs in
detail, and since, by the kindness of Mr. Rathbone,
two are reproduced here, it is less necessary to
do so. One can but hope that the demand for
the first set of twenty may lead to other portfolios
being prepared.
Photo-lithography. By George Fritz. (London:
Dawburn and Ward. 3s. 6d. net.)—A good hand-
book is a most excellent thing, and this one,
translated by Mr. E. J. Wall, is very welcome. To
manipulate any process well, it is essential that its
whole method should be studied, and those about
to experiment in lithography will benefit by pos-
sessing themselves of this manual.
yet never permitted himself to be enrolled among
its members.
Early in the " forties " the Government organised
a competition for mural decorations destined to be
carried out in the new House of Lords. Among
the works of others who competed the cartoons of
Ford Madox-Brown were exhibited at Westminster
Hall, and although they failed to impress those
responsible for the selection of artists to decorate
the Houses of Parliament, they attracted the
attention of one who was to be the moving spirit
in the coming revolt against the convention of the
time. Dante Gabriel Rossetti was so deeply im-
pressed by The Body of Harold brought before
William the Conqueror, that he wrote to Madox-
Brown begging to be taken as a pupil. Although this
proved impracticable, Rossetti became a frequent
visitor to his studio, and that the work of one but
seven years his senior moulded and influenced his
ideal for years, if not for the whole of his career,
is obvious enough.
That the very name of Ford Madox-Brown is
scarce known to hundreds familiar with the
work of Rossetti and Sir Edward Burne-Jones, is
scarcely to their credit. But still the blame must
not be laid entirely upon the public. The oppor-
tunities for seeing works by this artist, always
excepting his decorations for the town-hall of a
provincial city, have been few enough. Nor
is it work of this sort that appeals to the senti-
mental side of the British character. Sturdy and
thoroughly self-contained, it is most assuredly; but
one doubts if reproduction of his pictures would
find their way into British homes, as photographs
of the Beata Beatrix or the Golden Stairs have
penetrated into regions destitute of all knowledge
of the Pre-Raphaelite movement.
No method of studying the true spirit of a
master's work is more likely to reveal his individu-
ality than to become familiar with his sketches and
working drawings, for therein the idea is freshly
recorded, its spirit is proclaimed clearly,, and with-
out the allurements of anecdote or elaborately
finished detail you can obtain a firm grip of his
purpose.
The methods of many painters are too direct
to require any preliminary studies. But the
decorative artist who is concerned with artificial
disposition of the natural objects he selects to
depict, who does not seek to be imitative, but to
evolve a conventional arrangement based partly on
a pre-arranged scheme, and partly in the appear-
ance of things, is perforce obliged to experi-
ment beforehand. For in fresco, stained-glass, or
60
mosaic, alterations in the course of the actual
work are hardly practicable ; and the modification
of a scheme when half completed, which is of light
moment to the painter, is impossible without the
total destruction of all that had been accomplished,
and a fresh start from the beginning.
Therefore it is a pleasure to find that many
cartoons for stained glass, made by Ford Madox-
Brown, when he was partner in the firm of William
Morris & Co., are still extant. Owing to the
energetic appreciation of his late pupil, Mr. Harold
Rathbone, a number of these have been made
accessible to the general public. Or perhaps, since
the price of the set of twenty plates is somewhat
high—ten guineas—it would be more accurate to
say that they are brought within the reach of
students of our training schools, and those who
live near public libraries.
Twenty subjects have been most adequately
reproduced by the Autotype Company, and on the
scale chosen, 18 by 24, are worthy copies of most
worthy originals. They include thirteen Biblical
subjects, and seven of English worthies, all repre-
senting the peculiar rigour of the artist's work;
one or two, notably those reproduced here, showing
him at his best. Readers of The Studio will not
have forgotten the exquisite cartoons illustrated in
the number devoted to the Arts and Crafts Exhibi-
tion, but while those were for complete subjects,
these are chiefly single figures—or groups for a
single light of a storied window.
In these you find no pandering to vulgar taste,
no love of archaic quaintness for its own sake; but
a well-ordered accomplished manner, based on the
best precedent, yet spirited and intensely personal.
The value of such work is not that it may be
imitated blindly, but that its study may provoke
younger men to model their efforts on the same
lines—to obey rigidly the essentials of the art, and
yet impress their own personality upon it.
It would be useless to discuss the designs in
detail, and since, by the kindness of Mr. Rathbone,
two are reproduced here, it is less necessary to
do so. One can but hope that the demand for
the first set of twenty may lead to other portfolios
being prepared.
Photo-lithography. By George Fritz. (London:
Dawburn and Ward. 3s. 6d. net.)—A good hand-
book is a most excellent thing, and this one,
translated by Mr. E. J. Wall, is very welcome. To
manipulate any process well, it is essential that its
whole method should be studied, and those about
to experiment in lithography will benefit by pos-
sessing themselves of this manual.