THE EXPOSITION OF 1851.

[We have great pleasure in inserting the following letter, as a point which has recently occupied our own attention. While most cordially agreeing with its general drift, we of course guard ourselves from at once accepting the proposed classification. We would desire to see the competition extended to other branches of ecclesiastical art; metal work both in brass and the precious metals, wood carving, embroidery, tile work, &c. With reference to the suggested subscription for special prizes, we conceive that the plan of the government commission must be further developed before this question can be discussed.] January 11th, 1850.

MR. EDITOR,-In the preparations for the grand exposition of 1851, I am glad to find that glass-stainers have not been overlooked, as their powers may be thereby called forth, and as their comparative merits is such a frequent subject of inquiry and discussion. Allow me however to observe, that unless the Ecclesiological, and kindred societies, or the leading members individually, interpose, the prizes may be insufficient, the glass disadvantageously displayed, and the judges incompetent for the office. Perhaps it might be advisable for those interested in this beautiful art to raise a sum for its encouragement, and prizes might be awarded upon the following plan which of course will admit of sub-division and extension. For the best specimens of pot-metal glass, especially ruby and other reds; not that of the most even tint, the smoothest and the clearest, but that most suitable to the purpose. For the best silvery white, the nearest approximation to that in Albert Durer's windows in Cologne Cathedral. For the most successful imitation of ancient glass in the different styles-antiquated, and also as it must have appeared when first inserted. For the best window of a new and independent style. Designs might also be specified in the list. If this branch of art should meet with liberal support, those of our own glass stainers who generally refuse to compete, and foreigners at Munich, Paris, and elsewhere might be induced to exhibit, and much benefit might result from this emulation.

I am, Sir, your obedient servant,

M. L. A. S.

PUGIN'S FLORIATED ORNAMENT.

Floriated Ornament, a series of thirty-one designs, by AUGUSTUS WELBY PUGIN, Architect. London; H. G. Bohn. Folio. 1849.

A NEW Work by Mr. Pugin must always excite attention in those quarters through which we expect to circulate. The one before us opens a new field of artistic study, which we are very glad to see explored by one so full of energy, and of the perception of the beautiful, as its

author. Its design will be best comprehended by our giving the first paragraph of the introduction.

"The present work originated in the following circumstance:-on visiting the studio of Mons. Durlét, the architect of Antwerp cathedral, and designer of the new stalls, I was exceedingly struck by the beauty of a capital cast in plaster, hanging amongst a variety of models, which appeared to be a fine work of the thirteenth century. On asking him if he would allow me to have a squeeze from it, he readily consented, but at the same time informed me, to my great surprise, that the foliage of which it was composed had been gathered from his garden, and by him cast and adjusted in a geometrical form round a capital composed of pointed mouldings. This gave me an entirely new view of medieval carving; and, pursuing the subject, I became fully convinced that the finest foliage-work in the Gothic buildings were all close approximations to nature, and that their peculiar character was chiefly owing to the manner of their arrangement and disposition. During the same journey I picked up a leaf of dried thistle, from a foreign ship unloading at Havre, and I have never seen a more beautiful specimen of what we should usually term Gothic foliage: the extremity of the leaves turned over so as to produce the alternate interior and exterior fibres, exactly as they are worked in carved panels, of the fifteenth century, or depicted in illuminated borders. The more carefully I examined the productions of the medieval artists, in glass painting, decorative sculpture, or metal work, the more fully I was convinced of their close adherence to natural forms."

In confirmation of this, Mr. Pugin gives two plates; one of floriated quarries from Kentish churches, the other of flowers painted on the wood-work of Norfolk and Suffolk. He draws the distinction between mediæval and pseudo-classical floriated art, as follows:

"The former disposed the leaves and flowers of which their design was composed into geometrical forms and figures, carefully arranging the stems and component parts so as to fill up the space they were intended to enrich and they were represented in such a manner as not to destroy the consistency of the peculiar feature or object they were employed to decorate, by merely imitative rotundity or shadow; for instance, a panel, which by its very construction is flat, would be ornamented by leaves or flowers drawn out or extended, so as to display their geometrical forms on a flat surface. While, on the other hand, a modern painter would endeavour to give a fictitious idea of relief, as if bunches of flowers were laid on, and, by dint of shadow, and foreshortening, an appearance of cavity or projection would be produced on a feature which architectural consistency would require to be treated as a plane; and instead of a well-defined, clear, and beautiful enrichment, in harmony with the construction of the part, an irregular and confused effect is produced, at utter variance with the main design."

The body of the work consists of a series of beautifully-executed chromo-lithographs, designed by Mr. Pugin, of numerous plants, disposed in regular patterns on one plane, all more or less cruciform. Our readers will at once perceive that this is a result somewhat different from what the first extract we have given might have led them to anticipate. The work before us is destined mainly to help the painter and the embroidWe trust that this implies that Mr. Pugin has a second series in preparation, containing designs for floral sculpture in wood and stone. We are sorry to have to pick holes in so meritorious a publication,

erer.

but we must implore Mr. Pugin in case he publishes a second edition, to give us the vernacular names of the plants in addition to the Latin ones which alone appear. Moreover, the latter are taken from a work published as far back as 1590, called "Tabernæ montanus (?) eicones plantarum." Since that time botany has been completely revolutionized, and the nomenclature then in vogue ought to be corrected from modern authorities.

We are sorry to see the misprint of omnia for omni in the very appropriate text on the title page.

We shall be surprised if this suggestive volume does not originate a great improvement in many branches of ecclesiastical decoration.

S. PATRICK'S CATHEDRAL.

We have great pleasure in presenting, by permission of the writer, the following letter from the estimable Dean of S. Patrick's, to a member of our Committee. We are most anxious to see his noble exertions crowned with their merited success. Our treasurer will be most happy to take charge of subscriptions towards the restoration of S. Patrick's Cathedral.

40, Harcourt Street, Dublin, January 5, 1850. "DEAR SIR,—It will be necessary to let you know the state in which I found things seven years ago, when appointed to the Deanery of S. Patrick's. At the east and south of the choir, where the graveyard lies, and which I am glad to say is now little used, the ground was raised from five to eleven feet, which conducted a most offensive damp into the cathedral, where the sewerage had never been attended to. It was necessary to make some new vaults in place of those that lay too near. This enabled me to follow the same plan within the building; the damp being drawn off, I could lower the floor to its original level, and have done so, thereby discovering the bases of the pillars, which had been hid for centuries, and which have guided us in their repair. All the arches in the choir were entirely closed, and four in the other parts of the building. Monuments filled some, and galleries cut across others, for the support of which the capitals of the pillars were cut away to let in joists. These are removed, the beautiful foliage-work restored, and the monuments better placed.

"The lower windows of the choir were of all sorts of shapes and heights; some to suit ovens put into them by Oliver Cromwell, some to make vaults. These are now made what they originally were, according to the drawings by Mr. Carpenter. And excrescences for sepulture, that had no shape, but so closed the side-aisle in the choir as to leave it but four feet wide, are all gone. Thus much for what is permanent.

We are placing seats, not like pews, but of the bench shape, such as I saw in a new church built by Mr. Sidney Herbert yesterday, and

of a temporary character, though not unsuitable. They are therefore very cheap.

"In this state we were found, when the fearful inclination of the great south wall of the nave made me send for Mr. Carpenter in all haste. It inclined 2 ft. 3 in. being five feet thick. I had just finished re-casing four pillars on the south side of the great nave. Their dangerous state was hid by the plaster that covered them. Mr. Carpenter says, they are well done, but the fifth pillar is so bad that it is too far gone to touch. The east end of the choir also is in crying need of being recased, as is stated in Mr. Carpenter's report.

"I have said as yet nothing of the Lady Chapel, or Chapter-house, for the Knights of S. Patrick. The Queen and Prince, and some of the knights subscribed towards its repair, but it was in so disgraceful a state, that after having had all the original lines taken accurately by Mr. Carpenter, the old building was totally taken down, and about one-third rebuilt, which did more than exhaust the whole subscription, when the famine of our land put a stop to all contributions, except for food, and reduced as were my own means, indeed almost to nothing, I was still obliged to attempt what has been above stated at my own risk. "The Chapter-house will be one of the most beautiful things of its kind, if ever finished, so light and elegant: and the cost being but £2,500 to complete it, we may hope, should our country ever recover, it may be done. But now in the limited extent of Ireland, where £4,500,000 worth of property are already in the market, with the certainty of its being £6,000,000 before February, there is no prospect of raising funds for pious uses from so utterly pauperized a land. The Chapter-house must therefore, I fear, rest for a while. But the inclining wall, and east end, admit of no delay. And we implore help. Collecting cards have been issued here. And if you, dear Sir, could suggest how we may best move the lovers of good and graceful things in England, I believe it would be a worthy work. You will not wonder that my preferment of little more than £1,000 per annum, is unequal to it.

"Nothing whatever has been done to the stalls of the knights in the west end of the choir, because, till the Chapter-house is ready, no new arrangement can be contemplated."

COLONIAL CHURCH ARCHITECTURE.

CHAPTER XIV. SYDNEY.

IN a former number, (Vol. VIII. p. 271,) we gave an account of the design of the metropolitical cathedral of S. Andrew, Sydney, as amended by Mr. Blacket, the present architect of the works.

By the kindness of the Rev. George Gilbert, of Grantham, (who will receive, or to whom we shall be glad to forward, any contributions

toward this great church-building work of our Australian brethren,) we are now enabled to gratify our readers with some particulars of the progress of the building, in extracts from a letter of the secretary of the Building Committee; and also with woodcuts of the plan and the south elevation of the design, drawn by Mr. Blacket, and referred to in the following extracts.

"I will endeavour to give you a brief sketch of our present position. The actual state of the building itself will be best explained by reference to the accompanying outline elevations, which our worthy architect, Mr. Blacket, has been kind enough to prepare. His sketches represent all that has been done up to the present time, (June 12, 1849); but as you are aware, a great portion of the work was completed before the present committee took the management. At that time, viz. April 1st, 1846, the eastern portions of the building, viz. the choir-aisle walls, the east-end wall, and the south transept were finished to the extent you see them in the sketches. All the work to the westward of the south transept, and of the west end of the north choir aisle, including the alteration of the tower foundations, has been accomplished by the present committee between the 2nd April, 1846, and the date of this letter, (12th June, 1849), at a cost of £3034. Our expenditure, supplied from colonial resources, has therefore been at the average rate of £1000 a year.

"Our architect is now preparing the plans and specifications for the contract which will complete the outer walls of the building to the height which you will observe I have dotted upon the sketches. The cost will be about £650. Towards this sum we have a subscription list for the year commencing with £290, which sum has been augmented by the sum of £300, the amount of your English subscriptions for 1848. I fear that our Colonial subscriptions will not exceed £500, last year it was with difficulty we got £500.

We have read also the good news of the munificent gift of £300 from two ladies in England."

It will be seen from the accompanying illustrations, that the praise we bestowed on this design in our former notice, viz. that it was a cathedral in its type and scale, and not a mere parish-church, was not unfounded. And from the above extract it will be gathered that Mr. Blacket is not responsible for the extreme narrowness of the transepts. We strongly re-echo the advice, given (we understand) to the Bishop of Sydney by his English friends, to complete the choir and transepts, for divine service, before continuing the nave and its aisles; nor can we see any objection to naming particular parts of the sacred edifice after their builders, or more considerable benefactors,-just as we occasionally find parts of our own cathedrals bearing the name of distinguished persons who have founded them.

The donation of £300 by two ladies in England, noticed above, was made on condition that the same amount should be immediately raised in the Colony. To effect this, the Cathedral Committee have proposed that sixty ladies should make themselves responsible for five pounds each, to be contributed, or raised by small subscriptions. The whole £600 will be devoted to the special purposes of raising the clustered columns of the choir and nave.