Studio: international art (9.1897)

The Arts and Crafts

enough; possibly, wrought-iron is respectively. The turrets lead up to

not quite the right material to go mMk a transverse wrought-iron frame,

well with the rest. But to complain Jv'lB^. covered on its face by an arabesque

is merely a proof that the excellence of tracery, while from its sides spring

of this notable work impels you for
your own dignity to hazard some
criticism, in place of grovelling before
it, and murmuring fatuous comments

buttresses of polished iron. These
buttresses are in the form of wide
straps modelled on the face. At
their upper ends there is on the stem

of unmixed approval. Mr. C. Har- "rVT^JjyOl^ a large knop of copper, from which

rison Townsend's design for a picture WfA / jJlKV spring two great arms, also of copper,

gallery in the last Royal Academy,
has led us to expect much ; and this
shows that his grasp of the possibili-
ties of architecture is firm and that
we may look to him for much good
work in buildings and their appoint-
ments.

At either side of the fireplace a
fine green-lacquered, embossed wall-
paper, executed by Messrs. Rottmann
from Mr. Townsend's designs, gives
a suggestion of the effect of the room
in which this fine object is to be
placed. One only regrets that it is
going abroad. The loss of this
example of goods " made in Eng-
land," is not compensated for by the
articles made elsewhere that are
now beginning to imitate the " Arts
and Crafts," even as heretofore they
imitated its worthy and unworthy

which carry crested hexagonal pans
for holding huge wax candles. The
main shaft is continued through the
great knop and supports the lectern
proper, which is of penthouse shape.

It is wrought of iron and copper,
and the peculiar beauty which the
actual work possesses is that the
feeling of metal is kept everywhere.
As an illustration is given here, it is
needless to describe its plan or its
general shape. And its colour, which
cannot be rendered in black and
white, escapes words no less readily
than it escapes photography. You
are conscious of polished surfaces in
low tone, of a note of silver and
orange, in smooth iron and copper,
which is intensified in the leathern
hangings enriched by gilding. The
wealth of emblematical detail lavishly

predecessors. W^HBFjpgJBM- employeddemands the highest praise;

Of the lectern by Mr. W. Bain- fwyiKfgf for it is the bare truth to say that all

bridge Reynolds (see page 52), which JsVa v&Jt-WuR tne ornament IS subordinated and
is so conspicuous a feature in the i£t^l^&$m SlPii- kept to its rightful place. The plat-
North Gallery, it has been said that it ]#^*«S^Pjiil form and steps are of oak, stained
is doubtful if any fifteenth century i^jlC^J >^m4l an0- rivetted. Polished iron nails are

driven into these, forming a Latin
inscription, which commemorates the
donor and the maker. The enamels
by Mr. Nelson Dawson and Mr.
Clement Heaton, of Neuchatel, the
devices in gold-coloured metal, and
the elaborate decoration of the whole

lectern in existence will bear compari-
son with it, that it breathes all " the
spirit and genius of mediaeval beauty
and refinement, and conveys that
mystery and meaning which the grand
old work possessed so immeasurably
beyond what all modern art can
show." Except that this praise con- structure, are no less noteworthy

veys an erroneous idea of an imita- f4rTBa. 'W&mCW- than the curious naivety which has
tion antique, the panegyric may be MSiL zJ* MSKri imparted a certain simplicity to the
endorsed without reserve. whole, despite its abundant decora-

The salient characteristics of the de- 1 ^f^"^'^^ff"^j tion. It is a masterpiece of its sort
sign are three copper turrets, between —as far removed from the Pugin and

which are two panels of wrought-iron Viollet-le-Duc paraphrases of indi-

tracery, bearing on their centres re- cart00>«' f0r stained- vidual work, as from the crude Vic-

pouss'e shields with the arms of the torian Gothic with its chamfers and

x _ by walter crane

dioceses of Canterbury and York quatrefoils. One of the volumes

61