DOI Heft:
No. 79 (October, 1899)
DOI Artikel:Vallance, Aymer: British decorative art in 1899 and the Arts And Crafts Exhibition, [1]
DOI Seite / Zitierlink:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.19783#0059
Arts and Crafts
entirely in the first person, for, since the whole
question has been a keenly debated one, it is unfair
to ask my editor to assume the responsibility of
what are, I admit, only my own personal convic-
tions. At the outset I should like to ask hostile
critics of the new work to recall the date of the
planning and building of St. Paul's—viz. between
1674 and 1710—and then to reflect of what kind
alone was the contemporary talent available for
carrying out any colour decorations that Wren
might have devised. Had the architect resorted
to France, whither the bent of his predilections
mainly tended, he would have found no better men
to employ than Lancret, Chardin and Boucher; or
had he preferred to seek Italian aid, the only
CHAIR DESIGNED BY C F. A. VOYSEY
EXECUTED BY STORY CO.
{Messrs. Story £r> Co., Manufacturers)
CHAIR DESIGNED BY C F. A. VOYSEY
EXECUTED BY F. COOTE
painters living were of the type of either Sasso-
ferrato or Tiepolo. Now, would the work of any
of these neo-pagans have satisfied the judgment of
the present day ? I venture to think it extremely
doubtful, remembering the ecclesiastical purpose
it would be required to fulfil. Nay, further, I
cannot but be grateful to think that circumstances
so combined as to spare us the gross monstrosities
that must alone have been furnished by contempo-
raneous hands, and to have vouchsafed us instead
to gaze upon the graceful compositions of Sir
W. B. Richmond, which have to be condemned,
alas ! as unsuitable, only because their surround-
ings are unworthy of them. As for the remainder
of the new decorations, they seem to me to be
quite debased enough not to be out of keeping
with their environment.
Two events that have occurred within the last
few months, viz. the laying the foundation-stone
of the extension of the South Kensington Museum,
as also that for the permanent building of the
43
entirely in the first person, for, since the whole
question has been a keenly debated one, it is unfair
to ask my editor to assume the responsibility of
what are, I admit, only my own personal convic-
tions. At the outset I should like to ask hostile
critics of the new work to recall the date of the
planning and building of St. Paul's—viz. between
1674 and 1710—and then to reflect of what kind
alone was the contemporary talent available for
carrying out any colour decorations that Wren
might have devised. Had the architect resorted
to France, whither the bent of his predilections
mainly tended, he would have found no better men
to employ than Lancret, Chardin and Boucher; or
had he preferred to seek Italian aid, the only
CHAIR DESIGNED BY C F. A. VOYSEY
EXECUTED BY STORY CO.
{Messrs. Story £r> Co., Manufacturers)
CHAIR DESIGNED BY C F. A. VOYSEY
EXECUTED BY F. COOTE
painters living were of the type of either Sasso-
ferrato or Tiepolo. Now, would the work of any
of these neo-pagans have satisfied the judgment of
the present day ? I venture to think it extremely
doubtful, remembering the ecclesiastical purpose
it would be required to fulfil. Nay, further, I
cannot but be grateful to think that circumstances
so combined as to spare us the gross monstrosities
that must alone have been furnished by contempo-
raneous hands, and to have vouchsafed us instead
to gaze upon the graceful compositions of Sir
W. B. Richmond, which have to be condemned,
alas ! as unsuitable, only because their surround-
ings are unworthy of them. As for the remainder
of the new decorations, they seem to me to be
quite debased enough not to be out of keeping
with their environment.
Two events that have occurred within the last
few months, viz. the laying the foundation-stone
of the extension of the South Kensington Museum,
as also that for the permanent building of the
43