DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.1311#0013
4 THE GREAT EXHIBITION
the material peculiarly fitted for panels and hangings. It was a warm and gorgeous
covering for the walls, affording infinite scope for art, taste, workmanship, and heraldic
emblazonment, and the exclusiveness of wealth, and was therefore largely used in the
decoration of palaces and baronial halls. At Blenheim, Hinchinbrook House, Norwich
Palace, Knockton Hall, at Lord Scarborough's, and in many private collections, leather
tapestries are still to be found, preserving the utmost brilliancy of colour and gilding.
Some of the leather tapestries at- Hinchinbrook, it is said, bore the name of Titian.
About 1531, or 1532, Henry VIII. built a manor-bouse near Eastham Church, in Essex,
with a high, square tower, that during her sort of year of probation Anne Boleyn might
enjoy the prospect of the Hoyal Park at Greenwich. This tower had hangings of the
most gorgeous gold leather, which remained until fifty years since, when the house
coming into the hands of a proprietor with no especial love for the memory of the bluff
Harry, nor the sad hauntings of the fate of Anne Boleyn, nor the old art and workman-
ship of leather decoration, but a clear perception that in so many yards of gilt leather,
there must be some weight of real gold, had the tapestries taken down, sent to the gold-
smith's furnace, and some £60 worth of pure gold gathered from the ashes. In the
French department, No. 1202, M. Dulud, of Paris, exhibited several pieces of tapestry
and ornamental hangings in embossed leather, which appeared identical in subject and
the method of their preparation with those of Mr. Leake in the Fine Art Court. He
likewise showed two elbow-chairs, lined with embossed leather, and other articles of
furniture similarly decorated, amongst which a cabinet was the best, and which served
admirably to shew the fitness of leather, where the appearance of elaborate carving is
required. Opposite to these was No. 164, A.A. Despreaux, a collection of Venetian
leathers of similar pretensions, but differing as widely as possible in their result. The
patterns selected as models are well known by us to be very admirably adapted for the
purpose; but whether to disguise the original source, or from inefficiency in the opera-
tives, nothing could have been more impotent than the conclusion, and scarcely anything
more execrable in taste, than the method in which they were daubed with colour. All
drawing, all grace, and all notions of chromatic harmony were cast to the winds. If
these in any way resembled the decorated leathers at the period of their decline and
ultimate abandonment, we can scarcely wonder at the total extinction of this branch of
art manufacture in those countries which were eager to appreciate it in its palmy days.
Mr. Leake's (of "Warwick-street, Golden-square) collection was in the Fine Art Court.
To this exhibitor's perseverance we are indebted for the revival of this branch of art
manufacture in this country; and we do but justice in stating, that the models from
which he has hitherto made selections are of the very best and most classic styles.
PAPER-STAINING, HANGINGS, ETC.
The following general account of the arts of paper-staining and hanging, is abridged,
with slight alteration, from Grant's interesting little volume, The World and Us Work-
shops .--—The art of paper-staining and paper-hanging has now become one of the most
interesting and useful branches of industry, whether viewed in relation to the amount
of skilled labour and capital employed, or the elegance, refinement, and convenience
which it supplies to our social wants. Paper-hangings are of comparatively modern date,
being originally manufactured as a cheap imitation of the rich stuffs and tapestries used
by the wealthy and great in the coverings of the walls and wainseotings of their apart-
ments. The French, we believe, were the first to bring them into general use.
Paper-hangings may be divided, for convenience sake, into three branches—the flock,
the metal, and the coloured. Each of these appears to have heen invented at different
times, in imitation of a material then much in vogue, as, for instance, the flock to imitate
the material peculiarly fitted for panels and hangings. It was a warm and gorgeous
covering for the walls, affording infinite scope for art, taste, workmanship, and heraldic
emblazonment, and the exclusiveness of wealth, and was therefore largely used in the
decoration of palaces and baronial halls. At Blenheim, Hinchinbrook House, Norwich
Palace, Knockton Hall, at Lord Scarborough's, and in many private collections, leather
tapestries are still to be found, preserving the utmost brilliancy of colour and gilding.
Some of the leather tapestries at- Hinchinbrook, it is said, bore the name of Titian.
About 1531, or 1532, Henry VIII. built a manor-bouse near Eastham Church, in Essex,
with a high, square tower, that during her sort of year of probation Anne Boleyn might
enjoy the prospect of the Hoyal Park at Greenwich. This tower had hangings of the
most gorgeous gold leather, which remained until fifty years since, when the house
coming into the hands of a proprietor with no especial love for the memory of the bluff
Harry, nor the sad hauntings of the fate of Anne Boleyn, nor the old art and workman-
ship of leather decoration, but a clear perception that in so many yards of gilt leather,
there must be some weight of real gold, had the tapestries taken down, sent to the gold-
smith's furnace, and some £60 worth of pure gold gathered from the ashes. In the
French department, No. 1202, M. Dulud, of Paris, exhibited several pieces of tapestry
and ornamental hangings in embossed leather, which appeared identical in subject and
the method of their preparation with those of Mr. Leake in the Fine Art Court. He
likewise showed two elbow-chairs, lined with embossed leather, and other articles of
furniture similarly decorated, amongst which a cabinet was the best, and which served
admirably to shew the fitness of leather, where the appearance of elaborate carving is
required. Opposite to these was No. 164, A.A. Despreaux, a collection of Venetian
leathers of similar pretensions, but differing as widely as possible in their result. The
patterns selected as models are well known by us to be very admirably adapted for the
purpose; but whether to disguise the original source, or from inefficiency in the opera-
tives, nothing could have been more impotent than the conclusion, and scarcely anything
more execrable in taste, than the method in which they were daubed with colour. All
drawing, all grace, and all notions of chromatic harmony were cast to the winds. If
these in any way resembled the decorated leathers at the period of their decline and
ultimate abandonment, we can scarcely wonder at the total extinction of this branch of
art manufacture in those countries which were eager to appreciate it in its palmy days.
Mr. Leake's (of "Warwick-street, Golden-square) collection was in the Fine Art Court.
To this exhibitor's perseverance we are indebted for the revival of this branch of art
manufacture in this country; and we do but justice in stating, that the models from
which he has hitherto made selections are of the very best and most classic styles.
PAPER-STAINING, HANGINGS, ETC.
The following general account of the arts of paper-staining and hanging, is abridged,
with slight alteration, from Grant's interesting little volume, The World and Us Work-
shops .--—The art of paper-staining and paper-hanging has now become one of the most
interesting and useful branches of industry, whether viewed in relation to the amount
of skilled labour and capital employed, or the elegance, refinement, and convenience
which it supplies to our social wants. Paper-hangings are of comparatively modern date,
being originally manufactured as a cheap imitation of the rich stuffs and tapestries used
by the wealthy and great in the coverings of the walls and wainseotings of their apart-
ments. The French, we believe, were the first to bring them into general use.
Paper-hangings may be divided, for convenience sake, into three branches—the flock,
the metal, and the coloured. Each of these appears to have heen invented at different
times, in imitation of a material then much in vogue, as, for instance, the flock to imitate