DOI Heft:
Nr. 193 (April 1909)
DOI Artikel:Brosch, L.: The paintings of Italico Brass
DOI Artikel:Spencer, Edward; Spencer, Walter: Wrought iron work
DOI Seite / Zitierlink:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.20966#0233
IVrought Iron JVork
and fourteenth centuries, perhaps the most interest-
ing and characteristic period of its history, when
the constructive and decorative qualities of the
metal were most understood and best displayed,
the English smith was always the equal, and fre-
quently the superior, of his continental rival; but
in the nineteenth century when an unprecedented
degree of national prosperity was founded upon
the exploitation of our resources of coal and iron,
the finer craft work of the smith was observed to
be in absolute decay, and even to day after the
wonderful craft revival of the eighties and nineties,
the number of first-rate smiths who are practising
their craft in England and are able to put their
best work upon the market, can be counted upon
the fingers of one hand.
During the last quarter of the nineteenth century
the immense interest taken by architects of the
English domestic revival in every craft that could
minister to the unity and completeness of their
buildings, gave a tremendous impetus to smithing,
CANDLE-SCONCE IN WROUGHT IRON AND SHEET
STEEL, SHOWING THE USE OF VARIOUS RING AND
CHEVRON TOOLS. FORGING BY WALTER SPENCER.
SHEET WORK BY FRANK JOBE. DESIGNED BY
EDWARD SPENCER
direction is the portrait of his wife, in bright blue
dress, on a background of grey; and another ex-
ample is his Portrait of an Artist, an effective
portrayal of a fair-haired man in a black coat,
painted on a violet-grey background. But in
portraiture, the touchstone of painters in all ages,
it is something more than a question of colour
which occupies him : his aim is to bring before us
actual, living human beings.
To conclude, one may say with perfect assurance
of Italico Brass’s works, that it is no ordinary effect
which they produce. To them cannot be ascribed
that absence of emotion which one often observes
in modern painting, particularly in Germany.
Imbued with the spirit of the present, he recog-
nises no other teacher than Nature, that source
whence new inspirations are ever forthcoming, and
who speaks to every thinking man in a different
idiom, and with a different accent, according to his
temperament and character. L. Brosch.
WROUGHT IRON WORK.
Nothing is more symptomatic of
the perilous position in which the
English handicrafts find themselves to-day, than the
evil plight into which that most English of crafts,
wrought iron work, has fallen. During the thirteenth
SCONCE FOR ELECTRIC LIGHT OR CANDLES
IN WROUGHT IRON AND SHEET STEEL, SHOW-
ING THE USE OF WAVE AND RING TOOLS.
FORGING BY WALTER SPENCER. SHEET
WORK BY FRANK JOBE. DESIGNED BY
EDWARD SPENCER
207
and fourteenth centuries, perhaps the most interest-
ing and characteristic period of its history, when
the constructive and decorative qualities of the
metal were most understood and best displayed,
the English smith was always the equal, and fre-
quently the superior, of his continental rival; but
in the nineteenth century when an unprecedented
degree of national prosperity was founded upon
the exploitation of our resources of coal and iron,
the finer craft work of the smith was observed to
be in absolute decay, and even to day after the
wonderful craft revival of the eighties and nineties,
the number of first-rate smiths who are practising
their craft in England and are able to put their
best work upon the market, can be counted upon
the fingers of one hand.
During the last quarter of the nineteenth century
the immense interest taken by architects of the
English domestic revival in every craft that could
minister to the unity and completeness of their
buildings, gave a tremendous impetus to smithing,
CANDLE-SCONCE IN WROUGHT IRON AND SHEET
STEEL, SHOWING THE USE OF VARIOUS RING AND
CHEVRON TOOLS. FORGING BY WALTER SPENCER.
SHEET WORK BY FRANK JOBE. DESIGNED BY
EDWARD SPENCER
direction is the portrait of his wife, in bright blue
dress, on a background of grey; and another ex-
ample is his Portrait of an Artist, an effective
portrayal of a fair-haired man in a black coat,
painted on a violet-grey background. But in
portraiture, the touchstone of painters in all ages,
it is something more than a question of colour
which occupies him : his aim is to bring before us
actual, living human beings.
To conclude, one may say with perfect assurance
of Italico Brass’s works, that it is no ordinary effect
which they produce. To them cannot be ascribed
that absence of emotion which one often observes
in modern painting, particularly in Germany.
Imbued with the spirit of the present, he recog-
nises no other teacher than Nature, that source
whence new inspirations are ever forthcoming, and
who speaks to every thinking man in a different
idiom, and with a different accent, according to his
temperament and character. L. Brosch.
WROUGHT IRON WORK.
Nothing is more symptomatic of
the perilous position in which the
English handicrafts find themselves to-day, than the
evil plight into which that most English of crafts,
wrought iron work, has fallen. During the thirteenth
SCONCE FOR ELECTRIC LIGHT OR CANDLES
IN WROUGHT IRON AND SHEET STEEL, SHOW-
ING THE USE OF WAVE AND RING TOOLS.
FORGING BY WALTER SPENCER. SHEET
WORK BY FRANK JOBE. DESIGNED BY
EDWARD SPENCER
207