The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser. — Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1847-08-24 00:00:00

~.° ("-—,- •,..,,,,,, ..,„ . ~ .„ i . . • ... • . . 4 , 4 : , , :i - ~--L4=-----if.,,...m,..... Ze. ,4 ‘ , ' .... ".• o'N I. te "+ • ' 4, 0 tt , '. ' !J• , .',' `:t - , 74`.tr - • ..= . •,4. , ..- 6 ;01, - 4 1, 1, ,:... - -.,- i ~' ; - eer ;, ,_ , r- - -- .. - - --, - -,-;-,- -r., ,~ - , . . Tl,eOfi:: i. AN ACCOUNT OF THE RISE AND l' Ti PROGRESS O F :10, a - WE And its Application to Decorative PurPoes, in &W inks, Cornice , ,, Screens, Chandeliers, Picture Frames, &c., with a description of t with the Origi►►al Ilona Cuts, and Presented GRATIS wit t Works of the Patentee, Mr. Bieliefeld, in Wellington Street Aorth, Strand, London: Reprinted from the Art-Union Journal, Ite LIVERPOOL STANDARD, of the 24th August, 1847. PAPIER-MACHE, so readily susceptible of beautiful form, has now for a long time been employed in the relief orna mentation of surfaces, which, but for this invention, bad remained plain, wherever a question of cost was entertained. The obviously growing taste for the beautiful has brought forward and supported numerous highly successful inventions for interior decoration, which have been designated by some—substitutes for art ; but such they by no means are ; being, in truth, happy facilities, exhibiting as much the essence of the art as the clay from the hand of the sculptor : the art is there, and the quality of the art is not improved either by the subsequent marble, gold, or silver. A question of art is not a ques- r ;;j? i 4a e ji@ao sx)v iteka go e al Ct ® * * 11 w the invention, although in the " Encyclopedie Methodique," in the article " Sur I'Art de Moulage," they themselves, in the following passage, attribute to the English the first employment of paper mouldings :—" Les Anglais font en carton t~~ 4 ~ ' ~..- , les ornaments des plafonds que nous faisons en platre ; Hs sont plus durables ; se detachent difficilement, ou s'ils se de tachent, le danger est nul et la reparation est pea dispendieuse." The writer seems to have an apprehension of the compa rative value of both substances, as he describes the qualities of the one accurately, though briefly, and the objections to the other very to be gene clearly, I illy used ; inference. 1 3d in the was with ti :alian style, style, call( which suc by us the El ceded the zabethan the Elizabethan, plaster mou' he material dings for ti as more ex enrichment c .nsively and ceilingsbegan freely em.• ployed. At a period when carving in wood was as highly esteemed as in the present day, it was not likely that'the quali ties of plaster would be overlooked as affording a substitute, even though fragile, for a kind of art so difficult of execution in any degree of excellence. Plaster was therefore substituted for carved or panelled wainscot, as is evidenced in the mansions of the seventeenth and beginning of the eighteenth centuries ; the. ceilings, also, some of which are ornamented with foliage and _ ly prepared mould - --_-_ but were produced ------- " ---- 111111 1- - i I___c _' ---- bouquets, even in .2 4 _ 2 - - a ------‘, --- -, ' , , - - __ a lto-relievo, area- - ------,--,.. el' by the hand, and extremely rich in -- -4 , s _ ' - - - "•—•`'Ap . 7 ---------ar ,---.----, ' - - _ _- -A''---------- - --__ \ _4116s ( s- - ---r----- / , ---P-C-\-----'- --_,, ~tin the places in . character. But K..: 2 ' " - - ' 2 ---- A , , , . ` - , 'attended to be per the manner of the 4._ 1 ., , „:__ , _:_ -- --- ____,-0-., --,--;- ) ___ .--::-_,-.+4- manently occupied - --.. • ,-- .. aN by them. This, execution of these ---- - a ---..Z, a - - 1 'l - ( . , - - works was very -....._ • _. --------„, - - l - -,* \ ' , - --T of course, supposes / e 0 such works not to different from that' -4 - ..___-- _'l-, - ) of working in -- ' - - a --------- . 4 4,, -• '',4 _- • plaster in the pre • --___:. --: i' ---, , - --,..„iw --- "*"" ,--- 4 - _ __- 1 by mere workmen 0 , sent day. The 1,--c, • --"' -2 ---, --- --•4t1 7 1::-.. -•--..-- -- i ' forms were not." --, " ` ' ------ •‹, " ' --- ' or secondary assis - ‘ . - ,„", 7 - ` ' sec but by men i / / N ,__ _ cast in a previous- - - --- -- --- who, by their edu cation, were entitled to the consideratio of accomplished artists ; and, indeed, their style of working reminds us of that of the Raffaelleschi. The papier-mache works to which we call attention are those of Mr. BTELEFELD, from whose extensive collection of designs for the embellishment of ceilings we have made a selection, as showing that any style and character may be given to ceilings by this kind of ornament with facilities and advantages far beyond those earlier works which they so often follow in imitation. The two examples of florid centres here appended,‘. _ (No. 7 in the first column and 5 in the third column) are two only of an endless variety which may be employed singly or with accom paniments, in similar taste; they are formed according to any de sign and in any degree of relief, equal to that even of the largest pendant. The example of fret work (top of centre column) is sim ple in character and equally simple in the manner of its application to the, the ceiling, which is sufficiently described hereafter ; and its facility of adap tation is one of the most valuable qualities of the material. Florid ornament may be used with equal ease and more beautiful effect ; we have seen a ceil ing enriched with gilded foliage upon a plain ground, the character of which was surpassingly beautiful. Our early Elizabethan works were pro duced, necessarily, at great cost, because the artists capable of executing them were few, and as may be seen, chiefly men who had been educated in the foreign schools. It would be impossible to engrave an entire ceiling, but it will be understood that those sections and centres may be accompanied by any amount of enrichment, at a cost insignificant when compared with either that of the embellishment of a ceiling of the sixteenth century, or even one of modern taste, by an artist of a standard equal to those whose works remain in some of our ancient mansions ; indeed, so exorbitant were the demands of the latter that contrivances were resorted to by the masters which soon su perseded the earlier manner of working in stucco. The art of moulding and casting in plaster, as previously practised in France, was introduced, and the method of preparing the pulp of paper, was improved, insomuch as at length to render practicable the extensive use of this material in architectu ral decoration. Thus were the artists in stucco supplanted by the simple, or gessaj, labourers in plaster, who by means of moulds produced the same de signs at one tithe of the price, a circumstance that brought plaster into uni versal use ; but, nevertheless, in the last century a very extensive trade was carried on in the munufacture of architectural and other ornaments in papier mache. In the second volume of " Smith's Life of Nollekens" this is men tioned, and some particulars afforded. The principal manufactory was established, and for many years carried on, by Wilton, the father of the sculptor and Royal Academician of that name. But papier-mache made but little progress, and the poverty of the taste displayed in the designs, and the imperfection of the machinery of those days, which presented an insuperable obstacle to everything like a competition with plaster, caused, for a long time, its entire disuse. If the manufacturers of the time were at all aware of its susceptibility of such extensive improvement, they were without the spirit necessary to bring it into notice. With, however, the adoption mplicity of Greek art are only esti of casting in plaster, the style of orna- able to a few ; and as there is a mentation before prevalent suffered vi- tshion in architecture, as in all else, tiation, as all the deep undercuttings 3 Greek taste had by no means a po and bold shadows, which marked the lar run. It is, therefore, to our own style of design in the age of Queen .izabethan, to the Gothic, and th e Anne, became impracticable when the emish and French schools, that the ornaments were to be cast. The cha- aerial of which we speak owes its racter of all the ornamentation of the tensive use. The picturesque and latter part of the last century is tame / itastic forms of the Elizabethan, and spiritless to the last degree ; but \ i the boldness and luxuriant rich on the introduction of the Greek taste, 3s of the two latter respectively, the limited capabilities of plaster-cast- ;re admirably represented in papier ing became less inconvenient, for the idle ; whereas plaster was found de broad flat character of the Greek style 'ent in qualities so eminently fitted was favourable to plaster-casting, and those styles-the crisp and florid had that taste continued to prevail, it wings of which cannot be imitated is probable that this method of the pro- plaster, and the expense of carvings duction of ornament had not been su- wood would far exceed the limit es perseded. But the purity and elegant dished by those classes who have so extensively patronised the former. Their are several examples on this sheet of designs for the embellishments of Cornices ; being, as may be seen, sections of a continuous line of ornaments. These, like all other of our examples are selected from an endless variety, and may be executed in any size suitable to larger or smaller spaces and objects. We have also given another series of very beautiful compositions some of a lighter, some of a more luxuriant character, some remarkable as 'botanically accurate repre- A.. I sentations of plants ; others . ,-•-• ) modified into various beauti- .s „ ,1 (s., e 0:1 , , , e ..- . 1 ful forms. Some are closely .V 1 '"' -v4 P - ~, a . ' 1 !1 , .4 , ' /: C imitative of nature and beau- ‘-‘' \'' 4,. ( 1 4‘,<',.,.,, A9 /,-- tifully allusive to the manner ,1,,.., .; (. 7. 4 ,,. 'fr \._' r r of the growth of the plants : , V7i-7,,, e . et , - - A the others are rich to a de- , 4ii , N;i : .:''''' , 4ll'.,,' , ' ,, ' L ., , ,LAPr i Cri , ,,impt,'ll 1„,r,.111",,I; lib_ gree, and very much resemble =.----- the N uremberg designs of --- Albert Durer, which are the originals whence have arisen a never-ending growth of foliated scroll designs, applicable to ornament in every genre—for at earlier periods we find them elaborately wrought in wood and stone ; and in papier mache they are not less available, for they may be employed in the decoration of surfaces, or as pierced work between supports. Of this kind of ornament we have in our own coun try little or nothing re maining, compared with the reliques in various • parts of the continent, all of which are now ".r.i,%---_,known, having been as aicluously through out Germany, France, and Italy, and published infinitely to the advantage of existing schools. These scroll-like and continuous designs were anciently executed in wood and stone, and it is curious that we find in interior decoration, leather, parchment, and canvas, but we are not aware that the use of paper is more ancient than two centuries. Interior decorations were executed by the early school of carvers—being compositions of many figures surrounded with frames or borders of elaborate execution, or namented with foliage, _ - lace, and arabesque of va rious kinds. The designs on this sheet will show precisely what can be effected by ornament of this kind, as superior to plaster. Cornices and mouldings thus acquire all the pr.O7 minence, freedom, and solidity of wood carvings from these florid groupments ; they' are applicable to everything, either in architecture or furniture, which is commonly embellished by carving, and available in situations wherein plaster must be injured or broken ; for instance, the florid scroll designs in this and the third column could be executed in nothing suited for interior embellishment but wood or papier mache. In the latter material, and placed between supporting rails, these compositions are equal in appearance to wood, and much less costly. By means of steam power, and the great improvements which have been effected of late in all branches of mechanics, the manufacturer has been enabled so far to advance upon the productions of an earlier period that the pre sent material, although known by the name com mon to both, is in every respect different from that of the last century. Its hardness, durability, and ready assumption of all forms, the facility with which it may be put together and fixed up, its lightness, and lastly its cheapness, are all qualities highly desirable in a manufacture of the kind, and which distinguish it above every other employed in interior decoration. The various exam ples here afforded of pierced and under-cut florid carving, are enough to show that all the compositions which can be exe cuted in wood can also be represented in this material. Thus it is not enough to say, that whatever can be done in stucco can also be done in papier mache. These pierced compositions could be cast in plaster, but they could not be placed in the situations in which we find them in this manufacture, as ornaments to furniture and objects in daily use. Such designs could be moulded in plaster, but only to Ind of object and style of composition be placgd on, and supported by, a flat sur- mid be applied, and so trifling would be face, as a wall or ceiling, in positions be- to weight of these ornamental additions, yond the possibility of injury. In the tat the laths and ceiling joists could re ordinary processes of carving with a hand lye them with perfect safety. A new tool a tender wood is necessarily employ- mice, dry and ready to colour, could ed, which in exposed positions is almost us be fixed up against an old ceiling, certain of being fractured ; but papier ithout the delay and inconvenience ne inache is of such a consistency that no- ssarily attendant on running a a plaster, thing short of violence will injure it. The irner ; indeed without the removal of a sharpness and truth of some of the de- Ingle article of furniture, an old ceiling signs show that the material is capable of )ulddie, in a very few hours, if necessary, being moulded into any degree of finish. , corated in any prescribed taste. When, The laurel leaf design (No. 5 above) has •om age, or other causes, the ornaments been much used in ornamenting some of an ancient stuccoed or carved ceiling the rooms in the British Museum. The iave fallen to pieces, or when, as is fre- last design in the third column is a small table screen, and the bottom design on this column is a screen uniting great mechanical merit with much taste in de • uently the case, even in recent works, laster ornaments have detached them dyes simply by the operation of their own eight, papier mache is often employed in sign, as it may be used either as a screen, or the top may be fixed horizontally, so as to admit of its being used as a work table. The alto reliew of some of these compo sitions is sufficient to show that the ma terial is capable of repeating everything that can be done in wood. Some of these works are small, but the material is equal ly available for any composition, how de licate or complicated soever it may he. Considering the daily improving state of every manufacture of utility, and to what a degree of unexpected excellence many are carried, it would he difficult to assign a limit to the utility of this material. We have shown its superiority to plaster for architectural embellishment. Nothing could be so convenient for the ornamen tation of a plain plaster ceiling by the application of panels, &c., for without dis turbing the ground of toe ceiling every pairing the injury, and with perfect suc ms. Ornaments of any degree of bold ,ess, freedom, and relief may be adjusted a ceiling without the least risk, and hen, perhaps, the timbers are so slight, :at heavy plaster compositions might be Langerous. And however well suited the ,aterial may be for restoration in ancient orks, it is not less perfectly fitted for e embellishment of modern architecture, columns of every order and degree of , mbellishment, not only the capitals and )axes, but the entire shafts, whether flut )(I in the classic style, or fretted over ith arabesques as in the cinque-cento Lnd Elizabethan style, are executed with )erfect facility. The interior of the Pantheon, in Ox nd-street, London, is entirely orna lented with papier-mache, so also is rocers' Hall in the city, the effect of 0 fr, . . 5v,A- , . •• ‘• - • • , t'f , 4-9144-00,,~ •,416., • • •• • zi-!ites: .egv• 2 The Agencies already established in connexion with Bieliefeld's London Manufactory, are those of Messrs. R. J. KEYS & Co., 52, Bold Street, Liverpool ; and Messrs. GREGG, John Dalton Street, Manchester, where Specimens of every Article Manufactured in Bieliefeld's Papier Macke may be seen in the plain and finished state, affording Visitors an opportunity of judging of the effect of the Ornaments—a desideratum not hitherto obtainable in the Provinces. sin ME , • i E 'Y ~,, , i • _ ~:., i,l , th u l kt• ----- \ \4 1 1 ':=- 1 _.--,: e il7 .- .. 1 ,: Fll .' ma 4 ,,,_ /,.. fan , till, 41,„ am \\ \., • ~,, . i;,i; . , we - 7— , --- Y l' ma 7 7 ,- tie' ,' for , ~ ' . i Ilr i car t,(9 1 „, • in 1 .0, tab , . . e - -3erlt .~ ~, ~ ~~~ ~ \~l _ _ ~~~ ~~~ ~ . , 1 4 ! :*P • N „ • /,' ,44•• y e vt, I‘.. 4 ' , , a 4, , g i r s • I, I, - • !),/ _ - kit ~,,., ..3....,,,..„ o .4,, cou the 61°1141."474;.1)\ th a , I , , i ~-4.=.„,:eipppi t ill Illij - 0 . 1111101,1•,,„, it ,I',li 1111 1 \ cei ' ,I t 1 1' t' , 1 i , ' ,, ' l,, '' I. 1 t li t 1 , , ',*. cor r i 1 1 400;11. til;,iiglit'll,lll ili '°' . ll,';- thu Or I! . 1 'AI 411 , ;1111,:pl t h il 14 • ~, Ili ,0111111$11toTIVIM\r, ~' IF w' iti l d' I t ' 1 , t ,lll no !i:, , zi0i,1,!, 1 161 , r ~ , ces i lS ii 1 11 I , 0111 Ilitil l' ill[0411 1 1!i'lll liii c°l '.. '' ' ' ' 'i.''''l , 'CIO 11,ilil1111Plit.111;1:141il '''l ' '''' ' 81 " to , 1t,14t:1,,,1, ~it* i, col 1 /il, vre,t, 11'11011,\ I i I ilij; iaa, for 46v4,,,,v...‘ I, l l',i'„i!! i i e... ."IV4) forfo t•le'- 't 'P . „ co. :., r., ~ ha - - - . 4 ,1-,--- q u pil sei 4 . ,- ,54 ~77... Ati . A .4 we 6 ! ..._ re] ce. 44'., ne _ t 0.. . , .: • wt t 4 0 ° - - ' 4 da ml'ii ~i ', t hi , we le, \ 4 t as , k , ,, \';', - en ...%; • ba ,--- -, ed wi fi .-Tzt, g -- ' --,, an ;4 ) "t4is lis e;f , 2.` \ ';',,,--- pe ' A - - moo" • fol •: ,--. L _ fir 4 , ,1 1 ,, ,,,0hb•-• , - , , ,•,,,,_. ml 414. -----"+•/,'--,-C ''. ' G. -.:k.' . . - ---'— -- 4,-----",i-v ,i , . 1 5 s (6 v iti:linrr, - - c irel- I:rA ..„,..,,,,, t.„. o7 yr-7,_ _ d‘ )I , .4 .2. 7, , _ - iar •,\ • r P ' .-- - 7 ••• i - ore C , , i - v` ( ni to the , ) ferry,' --%.4rW of adap- A' / (• 4.)i ~i tw . , . s 4 1 ; w rnament l f n a ceil- ~, i f -41 ,i .acter of rere pro- xecuting \ / ,r- ti,.. li, c.) / ' 1 ,r I mated in )I'/ ... ling, but ~/' anied by th either / en one of / s remain mands of / soon su• ding and , and the 3h as at chitectu- imple, or .._ same de- into uni- , rade was Il i : -.A., n papier- sis men- * 0 - I, t --...- ‘ 2 tort' was -...--,-- ---=--- er of the (iilii• sr ; '---- - 1 ----N rv/- _,;;,,, ~ t t if ix em t k_ ..0-4,-- )‘ t r. k --,, )Of 1 0 , 4to pfg. < , //is,.. ....ti , .2•. , ik - , ~ o r z•A , ,,. --- ---ig -, , c , - ~ 5, 1 4.? , ,.... ~.., ,_),-, . ~._..- , (~,,..., 0 1 1110 • : - ,1 ;.) I - /3 1111PP'/‘ 1 --:--.' ...A ../ ' ' ‘' '' Z ' '" r (/' % j,' ' I)‘; ''' ' `t:',' . ___:,, -- ;•: - .' \l llll.lllO , .... ~ t ......„ ,------- , which is extremely elegant. The ceiling,is coffered, the centre of each division be- i ~J k.__J I work or velvet, and are of various sizes. Of the five designs for cornices-2 & 3 Mist column)—are sim plepoles, one with a wreath :he the h - ing occupied by a circular composition, accompanied by a variety of chaste foli- the other wit- grapes ant age distributed in the di- leaves ; of the others, per visions of the ceiling. The __./ _7.7- haps the Gothic and Eli interior, also, of the tem- __•=.'i zabethan are the most me porary House of Lords, as ritorious examples ; the restored after the fire in whole, however, serve to 1834, was ornamented with i show the infinite adapta papier-mache ; as are also ...s•:.. \ .-- 0-- bility of the material. the state rooms in Dublin °- /---- As a substitute for the Castle. Besides its use in ancient expensive carvings the formation of dependent ~<s. in churcheslthese works are ornament and accessory, %:= now much employed, as for the accompanying designs th e enrich men t o f a lt ar show its use in the manu- --:--- / ------- TH - pieces, organ-cases, gal facture of independent arti- lery fronts, and wherever , cles of furniture, especially .. carving could with advan of the ornamental kinds. _J / .•\ .. tage be employed. The The composition, of which =-'_ (_ progress of the material as we give an engraving at _ a substitute in minor orna the bottom of the third co- \ menta ion for plaster is ~. - \ lumn, is a screen about 3 , 1 . 3 considerable, as bouquets and paterte are extensively feet high, the centre of which may be filled with /\ silk, velvet, or fancy work ; pie domestic architecture, the other screens upon this )1 i 4 kr ---- 1 i(\ in which formerly the orna sheet are also filled with ment was plaster. The use to which papier-mach4 is now .put shows it to be a material in every way different from that which the present manufacturer found under the same name; and as being a medium in which may be realized the most beautiful forms it is as much entitled to consideration as any other in which are repeated the most valuable conceptions of the artist. It were, therefore, much to be desired that those forms and compositions in which it should be brought forward should be the best that were to be had. Everything that is beautiful in the vegetable world has contributed in some shape or other to orna ment. All the varieties of arabesque have again and again supplied their quota; but there is yet an inexhaustible store of new combinations to be formed, even of those combinations, which according to their greater degree of felicity, are called styles. The material in ques- corative art of Europe tion, as admitting of alto-re- , wes extensive obligations, lievo, is admirably adapted lthough here art never cast for new combinations and )ff the trammels of a con style. We cannot separate trained style, for when ori our own art from that of inality or peculiar feeling other countries it is by , shown in its works, we them that we are stimulated :ill find present, with little, in arts, as by us they are ' any, exception, an ele stimulated in manufactures. lent very different from our Every country in Europe is ,pprehension of the highest in art looking back to the uality of beauty. Many old masters ; all schools are f the most beautiful designs consulting the men who hich have been gathered lived antecedent to Raffa- rom antique remains have elle and his contemporaries, seen carved in wood or as from the latter the as- ,tone with the most elabo pirations of the former were ate finish. The richest of drawn, and it is with the 'lese are perfectly inimita hope of like results that the le in this material, as may moderns look so far back. le seen in the complicity of The French and German le designs (Nos. 6, in Ist schools of decorative art , olumn, 4 and 6, in 2nd, & have diligently collected all in the 3rd). No. 4, centre the works of their early mae- •olumn, is a circular pic ters, and rendered them con- re frame. Above this is tributive to modern produc- glass similarly framed, tions ; but it is to the early nd it may be observed of part of the sixteenth centu- his work, that although so IT that we are more indebted any crisp and slender pro- than to any other period, as the page of the art-history is adorned by the most illus trious names. There is, however, a wide difference between the highest points attained by all the schools of this era, especially by those of Italy. The Ger man school flourished also at this time, and to it the centre of the Ist column rep It might be supposed that old manufacture of the last c Jctions appear in it That ,hese are much less likely :0 be injured than such parts re in any other material. 'he other frame is a giran loie extremely beautiful in !omposition. In the origi- ial work the whole of the !omponents of the frame Lreclear and sharp in exe- .ution. The design near the 11, resting also on the floor. ry is the fact. Even the exposure; it may, there- fore, be presumed, that the improved manufacture shown to be in every way so much superior in other respects will'not fai l ----_____ in this. It has not yet been sufficiently long in use to speak positively on this point, but in those cases in which it has been employed in exterior decoration it is in perfectly good condition, and bids fair to remain so. The material called carton pierre, employed in France in exterior decoration is a preparation analagous to papier-mache; but there is a difference be- tween them which must be fatal to the former, and that is its permeability to moisture, which must be destructive of its consistency. On the latter, moisture exerts no injurious influence, otherwise it, as is well known, will remain uninjured in exposed situations during nearly a century. The best evidence we have of this is afforded by the exterior ornaments at the back of the house of Sir William Chambers, in Bemers-street, which are still in a very good state of preservation ; and this is the old manufacture with all its defects. There are other works in town and country of the same date as those in Berners-street, and all, it is believed, in an equally good state of preservation. The carton-pierre is very extensively em ployed in France for the de- day, the taste for ornament oration of edifices of im posing character; it might be supposed that its appli existed more popularly it had undoubtedly been ren dered more worthy of no . • cation in this way had been justified by satisfactory proof of the durability of the material; but, after all, if it be absorbent of With respect to its dura bility for interior embel lishment, there is evidence of a more satisfactory kind, as there exist many chim ney-pieces, and pier-glass frames, &c., in this mate rial, which must have been made early in the last cen tury. A recent examina tion of the old papier-mache work at Chesterfield House, has most satisfactorily moisture, and thus render ed soft, it is most reason able to suppose that it must suffer injury. Time. there fore, alone can be the real test of its merits ; no che mical inquiry in such case can in any wise be satisfac tory ; for any factitious ma- terial so constituted—in- shown that in ceilings also deed not formed, in a great it is not less enduring; in measure of earthy matter fact a comparison between can admit and again yield this and the wood work to superfluous moisture with- which it is attached, shows out suffering ultimate solu- that the progress of the tion. It can only be ascrib- lathing and other parts to ed to the apathy of the wards decay, is more ad time that the old papier vanced than that of the macho was not more ex- composition which in its tensively employed for ex- new character will be more terior ornament; it is true than ever secured against it was comparatively flat, the tendency to decay and poor, and in every way in- the attacks of insects ; in sufficient, but had, in that deed, in the latter respect, it will never suffer injury, as one of its components is particularly obnoxious to insects. It has in its new form been applied in modern embellishment more extensively than is generally supposed ; the many engravings, however, which we here pre sent, sufficiently show that there is no style of ornament beyond its adaptability. It has been advantageously employed in furniture enrichment. In a vast variety of ways this description of ornament has been applied with success. For book cases and other articles of furniture it is well suited, as affording opportunities of ornamenting them in a taste of conform- able with that of the apartment in which they may be placed, and especially if the manner be Gothic, the whole of the enrichment may be most advantageously executed in papier-inach6 as elaborate pinnacles and pendants, highly ornamented corbels, open work, frets, deeply under-cut rosettes, and spandril and mitre, or intersection ornaments; even the most delicate tracery is executed with perfect ease, and at an expense which, by other means of ornamentation, must be consi derably enhanced. This sheet shows numerous articles of furniture, according to Mr. Bielefeld's method of manufacture; with two more of these our selection is completed. The larger of the two (at the bottom of the middle column) is a bracket in that style most properly called Florid Roman; nothing can exceed the grace of the composition, which, when gilt, is very elegant. The ether cut (2nd in middle column) is a drawing from a Gothic chandelier, of a character very remarkable for lightness. Se t & • 4 !e . j, ~-. ~ \~'", ~ ~; . ~., ~~~ esu~ 1) II , { . P(I . 'li ,--,- 7: Considering its ready assumption of form, and the various uses to which it is applicable, it has been with us an object to inquire with what degree of freedom it might be dealt with, as compared with other materials employed in ornament. When it was first brought to public notice, it was never supposed from the comparatively insignificant objects which were then manufactured, that it could be utilised to half the extent to which we find it carried. As far as we can learn, it appears that it is dealt with precisely as wood, in applying it to the embellishment of furniture. It may be cut with the saw and ~~- _ -~ ~~ ~ ~ ~ \ y//' V-- ` ~o ~. ~ . chisel, may be bent by heat or steam, and even subjected to the operation of the plane, and rubbed to a smooth surface by means of sand-paper. We have closely inspected and examined the methods of the formation of larger pieces of furniture, such as consoles, brackets, canapes, &c., and find that many of them may be entirely formed of papier-mache, or may be made of a wood-core, and when completed a few screws will in either case secure the ornaments in their places, and when so fixed the work remains only to be painted or gilded as may have been determined. With respect to the latter process, the surface of the composi- ornamental corners are fix tion receives the gold so ed to ceilings, it is generally much more readily than sufficient to employ small other materials, that much nails ; but if the compositi of the usual cost of gilding it ons be unusually heavy, they is saved. In order that the must be attached to the tim full value of these ornaments bers by means of screws. In may be understood in their ordinary cases the nails are application to apartments assisted by strong glue, which have never been in- which gives a firmness to tended to receive such ad- the work beyond all question ditions, and to which other of insecurity. With frets, ornament could not be added friezes, and all superficial without preparation, it will ornament, the same method be necessary to state the of fixing is employed, all results of our inquiries as that is necessary to observe, to the actual manner of at- is that the nails or brads take taching the ornaments. In hold of the laths. When cases where it is desired to rooms are fitted with panels fix a simple cornice, and in the old French and Ita the use of plaster is entirely lien styles, the same methods set aside, a small fillet or of attaching the ornament moulding of wood is nailed are to be observed, only less to the ceiling and wall, hav- caution in this case is ne ing fixed to it the ornaments, cessary as the weight of the which add very much to work operates differently. the finish and appearance In cases of attaching or of a room, at a very trifling nament to walls and panels, expense, and no inconveni- if it be light tracery, needle points will be sufficient to ence compared with that at tendant on other modes of sustain it,but glue or cement ornamentation. If the ob- is commonly added. ject be to fix a patera or The prospects of our own flower, one screw will be suf- ornamental design are at ficient, unless it be of unu- present more favourable than sual dimensions, in which they ever have been, al case two or more are neces- though our school of design _ sary ; and if the attachment has not effected all that of the object be intended to might have been desired, conceal apertures for venti- considering the time of its lation, it becomes necessary establishment. It should be that it be screwed to a block- our purpose to vindicate an ing on the joists. When originality for ourselves—not to dwell upon endless repetition, how good soever the subjects may be. Sir Joshua Reynolds, speaking of imitations, said that if one man were content to walk behind another, it is clear that he would never get before him, and consequently never distinguish himself by a p rogress pecu li ar t o hi mse lf. We cannot, as we have already said, separate ourselves from conti nental art, for we have nothing to fall back upon ; we must therefore endeavour to catch the spirit by which they were ani mated, availing ourselves of their works, not in servile copying them, but as stimulants to equal things in a style of our own. The works of Mr. Bielefeld, from which these cuts have been selected, are in every style and character, and besides the edifices that have been mentioned, as ornamented with papier-mache, there are the Royal Palaces, the Conservative Club house, and nearly all the other club-houses, the picture gallery at Drayton Manor, Gothic ceilings in Johnstown Castle, county of Wexford, Ireland, North-wood House, Isle of Wight, and many other public and private buildings; insomuch as to show that this useful manufacture is making that extensive progress to which the durability of the material and its other valuable qualities are so justly entitled. The renaissance, we may by which the designs are im term it, of papier-mache, was pressed on the wood ; and the effected, about twenty years steam from the boiler heats ago, by Mr. Bielefeld, but his ,every department of the ma present premises in Welling- nufactory. These rooms are ton-street North, Strand, surrounded by vaults in which London, have been built only are kept the metal moulds by about seven years: the ex- which the design is commu tent of the ground plan is nicated to the material. The nearly one hundred feet by weight of metal so stored is thirty-six, and it would be about one hundred tons, and impossible to divine how in- the cost of insuring would be geniously this space is dim- so considerable that the pro posed into all the departments prietor does not consider him of a manufactory, extensive self justified in adding this far beyond what would ap- to his other heavy expenses. pear in a space so limited. The ground floor is laid out The basement contains an in show-rooms, counting engine of some six or eight house, &c. ; and here it is horse power, the use of which that the beautiful combined is to drive lathes in one de- results of the whole of the partment, and machinery in other departments are seen. another—that of the manu- Our selection of cuts affords facture of the new patent but a very limited conception frames—it works the rollers of the very numerous objects and patterns which are arranged in these rooms, where it is at once seen that the utilities of the material are made avail able in every way. Above these rooms is an entresol, where the presses are worked by means of which the paper in its wet state is pressed into the mould, the form of which it is made to assume. Of these there are fifteen of various powers, one of them a hydraulic press, exerts a power equal to a weight of eighty tons. Here ' are also drying-rooms, with a temperature of 120 de - ----------,.,,_ ip zs ,-...ip ~..--_,.....‘ green. Above this is the Z," --____---,_ graining and gilding room. Over the gilders is a work shop for ornamenting and manufacturing the mate rial into articles. On an other story of the building ._...//~ the works are packed, and ...----- 1 , 11 4 '''.„„ ------ , --- ,...0". still higher is the carpen ter's shin) ' • but besides these extensive departments there are others, many of which are of the utmost importance in the preparation of the designs and metal moulds—as the modelling-room in which the first models are made in clay—the casting-room, in which - are furnaces and sand-troughs for the purpose of casting the moulds : a great portion of the stock is kept in other ware-rooms, all numbered and so arranged that any number could at once be found. The material itself is actually paper first reduced to soft pulp by machinery, and for the purpose any waste paper that has been written on will serve. This having been prepared in such a manner as subsequently to acquire the hardness and tenacity which are among its best qualities, it is passed under a press with the metal mould of the intended pattern; it is then dried so as to acquire substance. The process <~ l of making the moulds is this :—the pattern is first executed in clay, from which a mould is made in plaster; this reproduces the design in plaster, from which another mould is made to receive the metal, which when cast is finished by chasing, and is then ready to yield the design to the papier-mache. Thus it is seen that the manufacture, even to its most minute details is carried on in these premises, and the number of persons necessarily employed in an establishment so extensive is not less than a hundred. The manufacture is entirely dif ferent from everythi ng el se i n thi s or an y o ther country, and the ingenuity of resource and spirit of enterprise with which its wants are met, and its progress sustained, do infinite honour to the originator and proprietor, Mr. Bielefeld ; to whom, also, the lovers of art are indebted for another invaluable invention, the purpose of which is the production of an elegant picture frame, at less than half the usual cost.— From the Art- Union Journal. PICTURE FRAMES BY MACHINERY. The ultimate desideratum in the popularisation of art is to bring it as an educational means to the hearths of abodes humbler than those under the roofs of which it has hitherto found a resting-place. It is not necessary to say that in this case pictures are out of the question : we would here speak of prints, of their multiplication, and of the best me thod of rendeting them available. Our own social state owes little, as yet, to art ; there is room for, and now hap pily the means of, a vast and beneficial amount of " in debtedness." We have cheap editions of good books, and we desire cheap editions of good pictures. We claim the merit of the broad and steady advocacy of this principle, the fruit of which is fast maturing ; and it is with such view that we give monthly to our readers a transcript of some pro duction more or less valuable, and the value of which shall be henceforth greater ; but such engravings have been de prived of an opportunity of effectively " doing their spi riting" from the circumstance of their being unframed, because the cost of a frame will be at least five or six times that of the print. Towards the framing of prints the reduc tion of the duties on glass has done much, and the invention we are about to notice effects, we do hope, the rest in this long-desiderated object. The invention is that of Mr. Bielefeld ; and the result at which he arrives is a really good and ornamental frame at the lowest price (eightpence per foot) at which the meanest wooden shelter in which a work of art ever found refuge can be manufactured. This is, as usual, effected by machinery. Any of the common forms, technically called ogee, ovolo, bevel, hollow, &c., can be enriched with the most delicate work similar to engine-turning, or by relieved arabesques of any design. The principle is new, as applied to manufacture of this kind ; it is simply to pass any length of frame under a rol ler in which is cut the desired pattern. This roller, the radius of which is but a few inches, is turned out of a rough cast of gun metal and is driven by a steam engine. The wood which is passed under it is necessarily soft, say the best pine, and receives at any length the impress of the most delicate tracery which can be engraved on the metal. The advantages of this are sufficiently apparent ; but there are yet others which may be mentioned The wood comes from the machinery ready for gilding, or complete as an imitation of ebony or Florentine bronze, and also in colours, and having preserved on the surface the design in all its sharpness, which would be deteriorated by the ordinary method of whitening and sizing. The process is a patent, and so recent that the extent of the operations is by no means developed, although the in ventor will apply it to the manufacture of frames for pictures of all sizes. For many years there has been nn improvement in the manufacture of frames ;at least, none to render an acceptable frame accessible to limited means. The want has been a source of complaint, when so many of the most beautiful productions of the burin are no longer very costly. An outcry may he raised by those employed in the manufacture according to the old method ; but under the auspices of the ge nius temporis, it is the good of the many we must advocate ; and considering the cheapness of good prints, of that class likely to come into the possession of the middle classes, this discovery is very apposite to the time The results of this machinery will soon be, if it be not at this moment, such as to enable him who buys a print for a shilling to place it in a worthy frame for another shilling, or very little more. And when we speak of a shilling print, let no one suppose that we allude to an inferior work : some admirable productions of art may now be attained for that sum : may we not refer to those which appear in the present number of cur journal, and those which we hope to present to our subscribers P c y -' The consequence will be, ere long, that framed prints will occupy walls that are now either bare or covered with injurious or unmeaning papers ; and that fine examples of art will instruct the dwellers in houses where expensive luxuries cannot enter. We consider that to produce good and cheap frames is second only in importance to producing prints good and cheap. Art-Union Journal. LIVERPOOL: PRINTED BY LACE AND ADDISON, STANDARD OFFICE, 4, NORTH CRESCENT. 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CY? tion of material ; but the latter becomes a question of cost, according to its own value and the difficulty of its elaboration. Among the many inventions which have arisen from the popular desire for tasteful embellishment, at accessible prices, pa pier-mache has not only sustained itself in public estimation, but has advanced in its character and adaptations. Papier mache is believed to have been first applied to ornamental purposes in our own country, but the French have the credit of g ,-, _ __ 1 4 , '----- -------. - --- g - _ - .-;- ---------- - - --------,--Aelr*'.