been applied for drop-scenes, such as the Design for Bookbinders Tool Cutters. looking-glass curtain at the Coburg some years ago-which he termed a costly absurdity, Scenery and Decorations of Theatres. the stage; and observed that this principle has ABSTRACT of a lecture delivered at the Decorative Art Society, April 14, "On the Scenery and Stage Decorations of Theatres," by Mr. John Dwyer, V.P. been regarded, in some degree, in the present drop-scene at Her Majesty's Theatre, where the design embodies abstract ideas of opera and ballet, but in connection with a massive architectural representation quite distinct from the general character of the interior, of which it occupies so large a proportion. He contended that more unity in this particular ought to be attempted; and stated that he would treat the drop-scene as a picture to which the proscenium should be an outer framework; but he would have, also, an inner frame, appearing on the scene, and partaking of the style of ornament adopted in other parts of the theatre. As approximating illustrations of his meaning, he mentioned those of the Princess's and the Adelphi, both of which, however, are defective in some minor qualities. This manner has also the advantage of contrasting with the stage scenery. The author stated that the opinion which he had formerly expressed on construction had, in the Théâtre Historique, recently opened in Paris, been in many respects exemplified. The criticisms upon this theatre state, that every person obtaining a seat is enabled to see the whole of the stage. With reference to the proscenium, he had become more forcibly impressed with the advantages arising from the form which he had then suggested; and he stated that Mr. Frederick Chatterton had since informed him that his instrument (the harp) was more favourably heard in Covent Garden than in any other of the metropolitan theatres. In an ornamental and artistic view, the form Mr. Dwyer next directed attention to light. which he proposed combined some very essen- He observed that the reflectors to the foottial properties. The proscenium, he con- lights in our theatres present an objectionable sidered, should form a frame to the animated appearance; and he showed a sketch of ornapicture on the stage and the broad equal mental screen-work for concealing them. He surface offered through his suggestion afforded also suggested that they admit of a different an ample and suitable field on which to display arrangement on the Bude principle with modirich and fanciful embellishments. The Surrey fying reflectors; and that it would be advanTheatre has an example of this framelike cha- tageous to carry off the noxious result of comracter, and, together with the drop-scene, bustion. He advocated the use of stronger exhibits thus far a satisfactory effect; and in side-lights, having their intensity regulated in the Théâtre Historique this has been attended accordance with the shadowing on scenery; to with success. The usual arrangements and he mentioned, with approval, the effects within the proscenium of crimson draperies thus occasionally produced in moonlight frequently exhibit marvellous compositions-scenes. Mr. Dwyer then explained the but of that commonplace nature which he management of colours for artificial light,would assist in exterminating. A drop-scene, the exaggeration necessary, the vigorous he said, certainly required consummate skill. lights and shadows, and the broad and dashThe pause in the excitement from the stage ing touches which form the scene-painter's art. effects leads to the contemplation of the house A slight knowledge of the stage, he observed, in its tout ensemble-thus demanding a twofold consideration; a subject of appropriate and interesting character, together with a proper regard to the general interior of the theatre. Mr. Dwyer noticed several devices which have No. 5.-VOL. I. would be sufficient to prove that, at the present time, with one or two exceptions, the imitation of outward things is very imperfect. They are but half represented. The banquetting-hall is resplendent with gold and silver, and gorgeous magnificence everywhere but on the floor; and the forest luxuriant with foliage, and intricate with beauties in form and colour, is robbed of half its fair proportion of effect by the poverty on which it stands. 66 Mr. Dwyer stated that success had usually attended the careful "getting up" of plays; and that taste extended to the merest trifles had generally been appreciated by the public. A description was given of the arrangement of wings, flats, and fly borders," and the ludicrous contretemps of the scene-shifters in their working dresses appearing on the stage to remove refractory scenery, together with other casualties incidental to the change of scenes during the acts, were adduced as sufficient reasons for advocating a less frequent resort to that practice. (To be continued.) On the Use of Papier-Mache in (Continued from page 26.) We now purpose enumerating some of the uses to which the papier-mâché is applied, and to explain the modes of fixing the work. With regard to the general rate of charges for work done in this material, the reader is referred to the tariff's of prices circulated by the various manufacturers, and this will furnish a scale by which an opinion may be formed of the probable prices of ornaments not included in those tariffs; generally, it may be considered that the price is greatly below the usual charges for putty-composition ornaments, and never exceeding the usual cost of plasterers' enrichments, except, indeed, where the rich and elaborate nature of the work, such as fruits and flowers grouped together and formed of many separate pieces, and similar complicated work, altogeiher out of the reach of plaster, renders that material no longer a guide to the estimator. FORMATION OF COAL AND IRON.-The important use of coal and iron in administering to the supply of our daily wants, gives to every individual amongst us, in almost every moment of our lives, a personal concern of which few are conscious, in the geological events of those distant eras. We are all brought into 1.-TO THE CABINET MAKER AND UPHOLSTERER. immediate connection with all the vegetation that clothed the ancient earth before one-half Papier-mâché is applied to the enriched of its actual surface had yet been formed. The cornices of bookcases and cabinets, to the trees of the primeval forests have not, like mouldings and corners and centre ornaments modern trees, undergone decay, yielding back of panelling on their doors and sides; to the their elements to the earth and atmosphere, by enriched scroll legs of cabinets and pier-tables which they are nourished; but, treasured up in in the old French style; to ornamental subterranean storehouses, have been trans-brackets, clocks, busts, vases, &c.; to the formed into enduring beds of coal, which, to enriched borders to rooms hung with silk or men in these latter ages, have become the paper; the ornamental parts for picture and sources of heat, and light, and wealth. My fire now burns with fuel, and my lamp is now shining with the light of gas, derived from coal that has been buried, for countless ages, in the deep and dark recesses of the earth. We prepare our food and maintain our forges, and the extraordinary power of our steam engines, with the remains of plants of ancient forms and extinct species, which were swept from the earth ere the formation of the transition of strata was completed. Our instruments of cutlery, the tools of our mechanics, and the countless machines which are constructed by the infinitively varied applications of iron, are derived from ore, for the most part coeval with, or more ancient than, the fuel, by the aid of which we reduce it to its metallic state, and apply it to innumerable uses in the economy of human life. Thus, from the wreck of forests that waved on the surface of the primeval lands, and from ferruginous mud that was lodged at the bottom of the primeval waters, we derive our chief supplies of coal and iron-those two fundamental elements of art and industry, which contribute more than any other mineral productions of the earth to increase the riches, and multiply the comforts, and ameliorate the condition of mankind.Buckland's Bridgewater Treatise. The Royal Institute of British Architects have published a copious catalogue of their library. glass frames, no matter how curved and elaborate; also to window-curtain cornices, the canopies of bedsteads, &c. &c. It has been very advantageously used for the latter purpose in the state bed at Chatsworth. For the enrichment of bookcases it is admirably adapted, affording opportunities, if in the cles and pendants, rich corbels and pierced Gothic style, of introducing elaborate pinnafrets of open work, deeply undercut rosettes, and spandril and mitre, or intersection ornaments, &c.; also for the exterior cases of organs it has been most advantageously and extensively used; the lightest and most intrieffect produced at a very moderate cost, which cate tracery is executed with ease, and an by no other means could be obtained without an extravagant expense. It is needless to add, that, when the abovementioned subjects are in classic or other styles, the friezes, the scrolls, consoles, patehas, &c., are among the simplest and most obvious uses of papier-mâché. With regard to the mode of fixing papiermâché in cabinet work, perhaps the simplest and yet most accurate rule that can be laid down, is to treat it exactly as if it were wood. It is to be cut with the saw and chisel, and may be bent by steam or heat, planed and cleaned up with sand-paper to the smoothest face and to the finest arris, if required; it is to be fastened with brads, needle-points, or glue. The larger objects, such as brackets, canopies, Interior Decoration. &c., can be made either with a wood core, or they can be wholly of papier-mâché; in either case, two or three screws at once secure them in their place. When fixed, the work can be APART from those gorgeous displays of artistic painted and grained without any previous preparation whatever; and, in gilding, the surface of the work is so much better adapted to receive the gold than that of any other material, that much of the expense and delay usually attendant on the process is saved. The same observation applies to silvering; and, it may be added, that there is good evidence (as at Chesterfield House, May Fair, &c.) to prove that the metallic leaf continues untarnished longer on papier-mâché than on other substances. talent in which the profuseness of ornament and the bold grandeur of design contest for superiority in the mind of the beholder, there is, undoubtedly, much yet to be effected, ere, as a nation, we may be said to have arrived at all near the acmé of art. It is not to the habitations of princes that we must proceed when about to form an estimate of national progress, nor must we either form our conclusions upon works that could never be effected but through the agency of almost boundless wealth, for in both cases we should be proceeding upon very chimerical data, on which very many have THE WISDOM OF THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS.- been led astray. The places to make our We quote the following vivid sketch on this observations in should be the homes of the subject from the Freemason's Quarterly Re-people, that is, the middling and poorer classes view:-"Philologists, astronomers, chemists, of the community, for they, forming the bulk painters, architects, and physicians, must of the population, represent, in their own return to Egypt to learn the origin of writing persons, the state of society. -a knowledge of the calendar and solar Interior decoration is rather a suggestive art motion of the art of cutting granite with a than one whose principles can be brought copper chisel, and of giving elasticity to a within scientific rules; but this fact seems to copper sword-of making glass of the varie-be singularly lost sight of in England by those gated hues of the rainbow-of moving single having the arrangement of inferior edifices, blocks of polished sienite, nine hundred tons and the consequence is the prevalence of a in weight, for any distance by land or water-tasteless monotony, at once unnatural in of building arches round and pointed, with theory, and in the highest degree offensive to masonic precision unsurpassed at the present true taste in practice. Where but in England, day, and antecedent by 2,000 years to the we ask, can be found, at the present time, Cloaca Magna of Rome-of sculpturing a such a little knowledge of the effects of ornaDoric column 1,000 years before the Dorians ment in different situations; in the continental are known in history-of fresco painting in countries and eastern nations, we perceive this imperishable colours-and of practical know-to be the primary consideration of the decoledge in masonry. And it is no less clear that rator, who, for that reason, so arranges his every craftsman can behold in Egyptian materials as to overcome natural defects and monuments the progress of his art 4,000 years heighten natural beauties by the power of conago; and whether it be a wheelwright building trast. In England, however, the case is difhis chariot-a shoemaker drawing his twine-a ferent-ornament is stuck upon walls because leather-cutter using that self-same form of it is ornament, and for no other earthly reason. knife which is considered the best form now- It matters but little to the decorator (?) whea weaver throwing the same hand-shuttle-a ther the peculiar construction of the apartment whitesmith using that identical form of blow-will assist or destroy its beauties, and the conpipe but lately recognised to be the most effi- sequence is, that, in nine cases out of ten, the cient-the seal-engraver cutting in hierogly-result turns out an abortion. phics such names as Shoopo's, 4,300 years ago On entering an English apartment, even in -or even the poulterer removing the pip from the middle of the dog days, you sometimes geese-all these, and numerous other astound- feel a most unaccountable chill-a peculiar ing evidences of Egyptian priority in every art sensation, that gives no idea of its cause, and and scheme, usage and custom, of civilised you do not, perhaps, discover it until, on life, now require but a glance at the plates of looking round several times, you find that you Wilkinson and Rossellini." are in an apartment having a northerly aspect, and decorated with stone-coloured ornaments. BRITISH GLASS.-A parliamentary paper, just printed, shows that in the year ending the 5th of January last, the following quantities of British glass were exported from the United Kingdom:-14,695 cwt. of flint-glass, 20,345 of the sun, produces a heat. In the same way we often see a room facing the east bedizoned and beblazoned with gilding or yellow paint, which, reflecting the rays most insupportable cwt. of window-glass, 19,625 superficial feet of plate-glass, 217,557 cwt. of common glass bottles, and of looking-glasses and mirrors the declared value exported in the year was £3,671. To China 290 cwt. of flint-glass, 140 cwt. of window-glass, 3,299 superficial feet of plate-glass, and 5,893 cwt. of common glass bottles, besides £370 worth of looking-glasses and mirrors, were sent from the United Kingdom. These facts are well worthy of attention, inasmuch as the correction of the errors above set forth will be the first great step in deco rative advancement. A beautiful iron steamer, named the Oberon, was last month sent out from the yard of the Messrs. Bennie. She is of 650 tons, and 200 horse power. |