DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.1401#0096
THE ILLUSTRATED EXHIBITOR.
*y
fm arte in tj» (Cnjatol ^itlitrt—n0. ii.
1^.
The subject is inexhaustible, and as instructive as in-
teresting ; for by what better method shall the people be
taught than by means of beautiful forms and noble ideas ?
Here, in the transept, with the glorious sunlight coming
through that wonderful glass roof, may taste be cultivated
and improved, the mind edified, and the feelings chastened.
Here, surrounded by noble creations in marble and bronze,
and in the midst of an admiring throng, may we gaze on
statuary which might fitly decorate the palace of the
proudest king in Christendom.
"It is written that once, from an exceeding high
mountain, all the kingdoms of the world and the glory of
them were shown in one moment of time ; and it is
added that the possession of them was promised in return
for one evil compliance. If we say that this sight may
be seen in this metropolis, and that, in a certain sense, the
possession also is given, the parallel will possibly awake
some misgivings. The same volume, however, records in
a hundred places that good men will generally receive
what they decline, and that what they receive is the sub-
stance, while what they declined was the shadow. He
who takes his station in the gallery at either end and looks
up that wondrous nave, or who surveys the matchless
panorama around him from the intersection of the nave
and transept, may be said, without presumption or exagge-
ration, to see all the kingdoms of the world and the glory
of them. He sees not only a greater collection of precious
articles, but also a greater, as well as more various, assem-
blage of the human race than ever before was gathered
under one roof. We have in great part to thank our
geographical position, and other circumstances out of our
control; but we owe it also in no slight degree to |
that freedom of trade which has been lately adopted j
and confirmed by two signal acts of the Legislature.
Other nations would have but little inducement to collect
their chief products, to send them in vessels of war, with
deputations of honour, were it not for that noble hospitality
with which England has opened her ports to the produce
of their industry. It would never answer their purpose
to display in this metropolis what they are forbidden to
sell in it. No mere ostentation is equal to such wonderful
efforts. The Exhibition is but the visible act and plain
setting forth of a great existing fact—viz., that all nations
are really at home in this metropolis. When armies have
retired from the field, when a peace has been actually
contracted, when the husbandman is again at his plough,
and the merchant once more on the sea, there is commonly
a grand celebration of peace, which only inaugurates what
already exists. We see in Hyde-park the solemn inau-
guration of a reign which has already begun. Nor is it
any disparagement to the princely favour, the noble
generosity, and the enlightened zeal which have brought
this great work to so happy a completion, if we speak of it
as something occurring naturally and spontaneously at
this point of time."
These are the words of one of our ablest writers, and
they breathe just the spirit we would see extended in
Hyde-park; especially now that the million toilers from
mine and factory, and workshop and loom, and office and
field, share with us the feast of reason and imagination
spread out in the Crystal Palace.
It is strange indeed, and little short of a miracle, to see
so many nations assembled and represented on one spot oi
British ground. There they are, as in a mighty theatre
performing their several parts. England is there with he)
engines toiling and whirring, indefatigable in her enter-
prises and inexhaustible in her inventions to shorten toil
and multiply the produce of labour. India spreads her
glitter and pomp. France, refined and fastidious, is there,
every day giving the last touch to her picturesque groups'
Austria there under one name includes many nations, and
her iron warrior, Radetski, keeps guard before the fairy-
like sculptures of Milan. Everything is there national
and characteristic. Russia is still slowly furnishing her
vast solitude with a few pieces in native malachite, with
candelabra, China vases, and cabinet work, that tell the
tale of her dependence on the taste of the foreigner.
America there shows us the fruits of her soil and the pro-
ducts of her industry. What is there that is old in cities,
new in colonial life, splendid in courts, useful in industry,
bountiful in nature, or ingenious in invention, which is
not there ? In one place we have the Bible translated
into 150 languages, in another we have pontificals and
breviaries, archbishops in holy panoply, saints in painted
glass, quaint trimmings of old altars, and mediaeval furni-
ture. In the old Temple of Delphi we read that every
State of the civilised world had its separate treasury,
where Herodotus, born two thousand years before his time,
saw and observed all kinds of prodigies in gold and silver,
in brass and iron, and even in linen. The nations all met
there on one common ground, and the peace of the earth
was not a little promoted by their common interest in the
sanctity and splendour of that shrine. As long as this
Exhibition lasts and its memory endures, we trust that it
may shed the same benignant influence.
But to resume our examination. In Avenue I, Areas 29
and 30, will be found
THE JERSEY SIDEBOARD.
The islands of Jersey and Guernsey, as our readers are
aware, are situated in the English Channel, about 18 miles
from the coast of Normandy in France, and 84 south of
Portland in Dorsetshire. They have been for many years
subject to English rule, though their laws, manners, and
customs are essentially French. Both islands are worthily
represented, no fewer than thirty-seven exhibitors having
contested for the prize of industry at the Crystal Palace.
Though the contributions show us pretty accurately the
state of the industrial arts in the English Channel, con-
sisting as they do of geological specimens, samples of
grain, tapestry, ladies' work in knitting, netting, silk-
work, &c.; harness, saddlery, gloves, woollen skm-wrap-
pers of the kind known all over the world *b Guernsey
shirts, fire-arms, beacons for light ships, maps and orreries
for school use, pumps, clocks, and chimney-pots,-yet are
the good folks of these interesting islets not deficient in
skill in the Fine Arts, as witness the specimen sent by Mr.
Le Feuvre, an engraving of which capital piece of work
is given in page 54. This beautiful sideboard represents
in bas-relief King John signing Magna Charta ; and
rich as it is in carving, scroll, and bead work it is no ess
useful as a piece of furniture-as it is capabh, of^ being
used either as a cheffonniere or escroiture ; the object itself
being formed of the oak of the island and the mteno*
fittings beautifully finished in satin-wood and maple.
*y
fm arte in tj» (Cnjatol ^itlitrt—n0. ii.
1^.
The subject is inexhaustible, and as instructive as in-
teresting ; for by what better method shall the people be
taught than by means of beautiful forms and noble ideas ?
Here, in the transept, with the glorious sunlight coming
through that wonderful glass roof, may taste be cultivated
and improved, the mind edified, and the feelings chastened.
Here, surrounded by noble creations in marble and bronze,
and in the midst of an admiring throng, may we gaze on
statuary which might fitly decorate the palace of the
proudest king in Christendom.
"It is written that once, from an exceeding high
mountain, all the kingdoms of the world and the glory of
them were shown in one moment of time ; and it is
added that the possession of them was promised in return
for one evil compliance. If we say that this sight may
be seen in this metropolis, and that, in a certain sense, the
possession also is given, the parallel will possibly awake
some misgivings. The same volume, however, records in
a hundred places that good men will generally receive
what they decline, and that what they receive is the sub-
stance, while what they declined was the shadow. He
who takes his station in the gallery at either end and looks
up that wondrous nave, or who surveys the matchless
panorama around him from the intersection of the nave
and transept, may be said, without presumption or exagge-
ration, to see all the kingdoms of the world and the glory
of them. He sees not only a greater collection of precious
articles, but also a greater, as well as more various, assem-
blage of the human race than ever before was gathered
under one roof. We have in great part to thank our
geographical position, and other circumstances out of our
control; but we owe it also in no slight degree to |
that freedom of trade which has been lately adopted j
and confirmed by two signal acts of the Legislature.
Other nations would have but little inducement to collect
their chief products, to send them in vessels of war, with
deputations of honour, were it not for that noble hospitality
with which England has opened her ports to the produce
of their industry. It would never answer their purpose
to display in this metropolis what they are forbidden to
sell in it. No mere ostentation is equal to such wonderful
efforts. The Exhibition is but the visible act and plain
setting forth of a great existing fact—viz., that all nations
are really at home in this metropolis. When armies have
retired from the field, when a peace has been actually
contracted, when the husbandman is again at his plough,
and the merchant once more on the sea, there is commonly
a grand celebration of peace, which only inaugurates what
already exists. We see in Hyde-park the solemn inau-
guration of a reign which has already begun. Nor is it
any disparagement to the princely favour, the noble
generosity, and the enlightened zeal which have brought
this great work to so happy a completion, if we speak of it
as something occurring naturally and spontaneously at
this point of time."
These are the words of one of our ablest writers, and
they breathe just the spirit we would see extended in
Hyde-park; especially now that the million toilers from
mine and factory, and workshop and loom, and office and
field, share with us the feast of reason and imagination
spread out in the Crystal Palace.
It is strange indeed, and little short of a miracle, to see
so many nations assembled and represented on one spot oi
British ground. There they are, as in a mighty theatre
performing their several parts. England is there with he)
engines toiling and whirring, indefatigable in her enter-
prises and inexhaustible in her inventions to shorten toil
and multiply the produce of labour. India spreads her
glitter and pomp. France, refined and fastidious, is there,
every day giving the last touch to her picturesque groups'
Austria there under one name includes many nations, and
her iron warrior, Radetski, keeps guard before the fairy-
like sculptures of Milan. Everything is there national
and characteristic. Russia is still slowly furnishing her
vast solitude with a few pieces in native malachite, with
candelabra, China vases, and cabinet work, that tell the
tale of her dependence on the taste of the foreigner.
America there shows us the fruits of her soil and the pro-
ducts of her industry. What is there that is old in cities,
new in colonial life, splendid in courts, useful in industry,
bountiful in nature, or ingenious in invention, which is
not there ? In one place we have the Bible translated
into 150 languages, in another we have pontificals and
breviaries, archbishops in holy panoply, saints in painted
glass, quaint trimmings of old altars, and mediaeval furni-
ture. In the old Temple of Delphi we read that every
State of the civilised world had its separate treasury,
where Herodotus, born two thousand years before his time,
saw and observed all kinds of prodigies in gold and silver,
in brass and iron, and even in linen. The nations all met
there on one common ground, and the peace of the earth
was not a little promoted by their common interest in the
sanctity and splendour of that shrine. As long as this
Exhibition lasts and its memory endures, we trust that it
may shed the same benignant influence.
But to resume our examination. In Avenue I, Areas 29
and 30, will be found
THE JERSEY SIDEBOARD.
The islands of Jersey and Guernsey, as our readers are
aware, are situated in the English Channel, about 18 miles
from the coast of Normandy in France, and 84 south of
Portland in Dorsetshire. They have been for many years
subject to English rule, though their laws, manners, and
customs are essentially French. Both islands are worthily
represented, no fewer than thirty-seven exhibitors having
contested for the prize of industry at the Crystal Palace.
Though the contributions show us pretty accurately the
state of the industrial arts in the English Channel, con-
sisting as they do of geological specimens, samples of
grain, tapestry, ladies' work in knitting, netting, silk-
work, &c.; harness, saddlery, gloves, woollen skm-wrap-
pers of the kind known all over the world *b Guernsey
shirts, fire-arms, beacons for light ships, maps and orreries
for school use, pumps, clocks, and chimney-pots,-yet are
the good folks of these interesting islets not deficient in
skill in the Fine Arts, as witness the specimen sent by Mr.
Le Feuvre, an engraving of which capital piece of work
is given in page 54. This beautiful sideboard represents
in bas-relief King John signing Magna Charta ; and
rich as it is in carving, scroll, and bead work it is no ess
useful as a piece of furniture-as it is capabh, of^ being
used either as a cheffonniere or escroiture ; the object itself
being formed of the oak of the island and the mteno*
fittings beautifully finished in satin-wood and maple.