DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.1310#0256
OF THE WORLD'S INDUSTRY. 203
to mortal vision, thinly scattered with perhaps a dozen works of real merit and sterling
character. Foremost amongst the latter we would place Mr. Armitage's " Sybil of
Peace/' whose attitude and expression seemed to indicate a doubtful sense of the
honour or possibility of mixing in such company. Her glances seemed less directed to
the smouldering implements of war at her feet, tlian at the dubious carvings, would-be
new inventions, and the thousand knick-knacks, which would just have passed muster
in some provincial museum. Perhaps one of the most deplorable symptoms to be met
with in the Pine Arts Court was the boast of self-tuition; and the egregious compla-
cency with which this was announced, not to claim leniency for such efforts, but as it
were calling for superior admiration at the results. Every man who could whittle at
wood, who could handle card-board with a pen-knife, or design with a hot poker, at
once fancied himself a prodigy; cork, elder-pith, bog-wood, and leather, were made
to alternate in the abominable mimicry of nature.
Before noticing more particularly the few good specimens of decorative manufacture,
the raw materials of art collected here and elsewhere call for notice. At one of the
nave entrances of the Zollverein department was an unpretending little box, containing,
besides numerous fragmentary specimens of amber, different solutions of this material,
which have attracted the attention of the artistic community. In three small glass
vials might be seen that problem to the ancients, the "magisterium succini"—a
solution of amber, by means of alcohol or volatile oils. The " succinic acid" was here
in a state as clear as it has hitherto been turbid. An ample account of this vehicle
is to be found in Sir Charles Eastlake's able work. Merely indicating the subjects
to those more immediately concerned therein, and pointing to the numerous specimens
of amber, rough or ready, dug out of pits, or washed on the shores of the Baltic, we
pass on. Whilst every one must easily comprehend that Dantzic must always have
the command of the amber trade, owing to natural or antediluvian laws, which
cause the material to be blown on its coast, it becomes just as difficult to under-
stand why in Italy the manufacture of paper has remained stationary. Strange as it
may seem, the drawing paper still in use is now made at the same place, and we
believe by the descendants of the same firm which furnished Italy's greatest draughtsmen
with materials; the watermark clearly indicating Pabriano, between Ancona and Perugia.
"While thus seemingly digressing, we now arrive at the driven point. Both the northern
amber-varnish and the southern paper are allowed to be the best for their several pur-
poses; and yet neither are to be had, except of course in the gross. Neither were to
be found, for instance, in Winsor and Newton's splendidly got up case of artistic
materials, in the gallery allotted to the chemical compounds. Here might be found
in tempting array every vehicle from poppy to mastic, from copal to linseed, but no
label pointed to the mixture exhibited by a Dantzic apothecary. Messrs. Winsor
and Newton, of Rathbone-place, exhibited cobalts and cochineals, chromes and cinnabars,
emeralds and ochres, canvasses and panels, brushes and badger tools, which even a
Gerard Dow or a Mieris would in vain have called for. In the Pine Arts Court, Messrs.
Robertson, Bowney, and Miller, erected stands of artistic manufacture. Whilst Messrs.
Robertson had snccessfully solved the problem of blending copal and varnish into what
is known as their medium, Mr. Miller had taken out a patent for having rendered
colours vitrifiable, and in consequence more durable. Silica is the name of the substanee,
which is employed alike in oil and water colour. While, however, bearing ungrudging
witness to the decided superiority manifested in the method of preparing and grinding
colours, it is impossible not to perceive the glaring errors into which that very perfection,
may have led us; and it is not going too far to assert, that all the schemes for producing
paintings by mechanical processes, have ended in the utter discomfiture of the system.
to mortal vision, thinly scattered with perhaps a dozen works of real merit and sterling
character. Foremost amongst the latter we would place Mr. Armitage's " Sybil of
Peace/' whose attitude and expression seemed to indicate a doubtful sense of the
honour or possibility of mixing in such company. Her glances seemed less directed to
the smouldering implements of war at her feet, tlian at the dubious carvings, would-be
new inventions, and the thousand knick-knacks, which would just have passed muster
in some provincial museum. Perhaps one of the most deplorable symptoms to be met
with in the Pine Arts Court was the boast of self-tuition; and the egregious compla-
cency with which this was announced, not to claim leniency for such efforts, but as it
were calling for superior admiration at the results. Every man who could whittle at
wood, who could handle card-board with a pen-knife, or design with a hot poker, at
once fancied himself a prodigy; cork, elder-pith, bog-wood, and leather, were made
to alternate in the abominable mimicry of nature.
Before noticing more particularly the few good specimens of decorative manufacture,
the raw materials of art collected here and elsewhere call for notice. At one of the
nave entrances of the Zollverein department was an unpretending little box, containing,
besides numerous fragmentary specimens of amber, different solutions of this material,
which have attracted the attention of the artistic community. In three small glass
vials might be seen that problem to the ancients, the "magisterium succini"—a
solution of amber, by means of alcohol or volatile oils. The " succinic acid" was here
in a state as clear as it has hitherto been turbid. An ample account of this vehicle
is to be found in Sir Charles Eastlake's able work. Merely indicating the subjects
to those more immediately concerned therein, and pointing to the numerous specimens
of amber, rough or ready, dug out of pits, or washed on the shores of the Baltic, we
pass on. Whilst every one must easily comprehend that Dantzic must always have
the command of the amber trade, owing to natural or antediluvian laws, which
cause the material to be blown on its coast, it becomes just as difficult to under-
stand why in Italy the manufacture of paper has remained stationary. Strange as it
may seem, the drawing paper still in use is now made at the same place, and we
believe by the descendants of the same firm which furnished Italy's greatest draughtsmen
with materials; the watermark clearly indicating Pabriano, between Ancona and Perugia.
"While thus seemingly digressing, we now arrive at the driven point. Both the northern
amber-varnish and the southern paper are allowed to be the best for their several pur-
poses; and yet neither are to be had, except of course in the gross. Neither were to
be found, for instance, in Winsor and Newton's splendidly got up case of artistic
materials, in the gallery allotted to the chemical compounds. Here might be found
in tempting array every vehicle from poppy to mastic, from copal to linseed, but no
label pointed to the mixture exhibited by a Dantzic apothecary. Messrs. Winsor
and Newton, of Rathbone-place, exhibited cobalts and cochineals, chromes and cinnabars,
emeralds and ochres, canvasses and panels, brushes and badger tools, which even a
Gerard Dow or a Mieris would in vain have called for. In the Pine Arts Court, Messrs.
Robertson, Bowney, and Miller, erected stands of artistic manufacture. Whilst Messrs.
Robertson had snccessfully solved the problem of blending copal and varnish into what
is known as their medium, Mr. Miller had taken out a patent for having rendered
colours vitrifiable, and in consequence more durable. Silica is the name of the substanee,
which is employed alike in oil and water colour. While, however, bearing ungrudging
witness to the decided superiority manifested in the method of preparing and grinding
colours, it is impossible not to perceive the glaring errors into which that very perfection,
may have led us; and it is not going too far to assert, that all the schemes for producing
paintings by mechanical processes, have ended in the utter discomfiture of the system.