E.—ll

50

These, again, are subdivided into frets, single, double, and triple; mouldings, painted and sculptured ; anthemions, of the single unit; then a combination, as on the hypotrachelium of the columns of the Erecthoum ; and then flat combinations of several, forming a design.; Roman scrolls ; Renaissance intarsia patterns, some copied from Meurer's examples of the choir-stalls of the church of St. Maria in Orcagua, in Verona —care being taken by the teacher to explain thoroughly the treatment of the acanthus foliation, and the contrast between the work of this period and that of the Greek and Roman; then the more ornate style, where animal and figure forms are introduced; naturalistic foliage ; flat treatment of such plants and shrubs as the acanthus and laurel; then sculptured treatments of the same. After the second copy of Greek frets has been made, the pupil must do at home either a memory study of one of them or a design combining the principles already learnt. Thus, at an early period, his future as a designer is kept in view. Prizes to a small amount are offered for the best drawings. Tinting, too, especially if the student intends to be a decorator or lithographer, is also insisted upon, and here could be seen a great advantage in commencing with the fret. The tint has to be laid on with one stroke of the brush, the various changes of direction of line enabling students to combat the difficulties of flat washing, and no retouching or stippling is allowed. The intelligent pupil was not permitted to remain long in merely copying what was before him, but soon had to translate and adapt. Thus the start of the ornament may be a shield, as at Figure A, Plate XX. —the student is required to put a leaf or boss instead, as at A ; the shape of the panel may be rectilineal, as at B —the pupil is required to adapt the ornament to fill such a shape, as at B. The tinting, too, had to be clone differently, and the harmony brought about by succession instead of contrast—a subject previously explained by the teacher. In this elementary room there were several pupils learning lettering, and, as they were lithographers or writingengravers, this study would be extremely useful to them. The next step was to draw from simple casts, mostly of Renaissance details and special forms of ornament designed by the teacher, in a firm and vigorous outline—some using the brush, others the charcoal and chalk point. Large casts, like the Madeleine and Louis XII. pilasters, were not allowed to bo copied. All drawings had to be larger or smaller than the example. The student had to supply any defect in the cast, and could introduce light shading if it assisted in giving the expression. ' Throughout the whole system of the work pupils were told to try and make the drawings " look nice," and for this reason good examples done by the teacher, or published under the direction of the director, treating the same or similar casts, were shown them. Designs had to be done at home introducing the details learnt in the class, and the pupils were expected to show excellent technique, as well as judicious adaptation. The work done in this department corresponded to our Stage 35, and was certainly nothing like so good in neatness of finish, excepting when done by special handicraftsmen —for instance, lithographers or engravers. Shading from simple forms, such as prism and casts of high-relief ornament, came next, corresponding to our Stages 8a and sb. These forms had been designed by the director and modelled and cast in the schools. Figs. 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5, Plate XXI., represent some of the shapes and the order in which the pupil had to study them. The shading throughout every department in the school is done on grey paper, the colour of the paper being used as the half-tone, the broad shades drawn with the stump, the dark shadows and high lights being then touched in with the chalk point and white chalk or Chinese white. The reason for using the tinted paper in preference to the white is this : Tempera painting is largely done, the method adopted being—first, an uniform flat tint, equal in depth to the prevailing half-tone, is put over the whole drawing, the shades being then added, the deepest parts of the shadows and the brightest lights coming last. If students are accustomed from the beginning to shade in this manner they are better able to overcome the difficulties in the more advanced work. As will be seen from the illustrations, the objects and casts were simple in character, and great care was taken by the teacher to explain the broad planes of light and shade to the pupil— e.g., the cylinder must be first studied as an object of many sides, where the gradations of tint are easily seen, and in shading even from the perfect sphere or cylinder the forms of such gradations are drawn first. This system was carried to a very advanced stage in all departments —life, antique, and still-life painting. There is no kind of work in the schools corresponding to our Stages 6 and 7,* which are with us practically obsolete. Stage 8, with the necessary accompaniment of Stage 9, forms the longest and most important period of study, all pupils, excepting the architectural, being compelled to pass through this course. The times of practice in these stages were so arranged as not to interfere with the daily work in the ateliers of the professors ; thus the primary object of the Kunstgewerbe Schule was not lost sight of. Continuous daily or weekly study in either an antique or life room w-ould not be allowed. The times of study were—antique, 4to 7 ; life, 7 to 9.30, on four days in the week, the fifth being devoted to anatomy, both lecture and practice. In the atelier for figuredecoration a living model—generally female—would be posed, and rapid time-sketches made, to be afterwards adapted to a design; but this was the only exception to the general rule forbidding figure-drawing between the regular working-hours of 8 to 4. In Stage 8b 1 the model of the cast, in planes only, was placed by the side of the finished example, so that the student could comprehend the largeness of surface, a useful plan for decorators who do not carry on figure-study to an advanced point. The shading, as before stated, was done on grey paper. The general result obtained from most of the drawings by the pupils is an exact imitation of plane and firm outline, but at the same time a general character of conventionality. From the life model—always male—in the general class-room the highest credit was given for the study treated in a large manner and best expressing the action and pose. When the drawing was unusually good, the teacher suggested an adaptation of the figure to a design, the study being placed side by side

* Stage 6, drawing the human figure and animals' forms from flat examples ; Stage \7, drawing flowers, foliage, and objects of natural history, from flat examples.