The National Register.
London, England, 1813-06-20 00:00:00

PAINTING ON )LASS. •

'r is art of painting has long mutinied under the sentence of ex•
!slut froni churches, pronounced at the time f the Reformation,
most barbarously enforced under the short reign of puritanism ;
rods if it begins now to steal gently into sacred places, it is cer
tainly owing. to that respect which has been paid of late to chastity
anti classicality ot- subjects, by our fiist historical p ,inters,
Joshua Rey West, the late and present presidents of
the Royal Acadetey ; but c Veeirilly by the
.last, whose winks at
Windsor, St. Stephttes Walbrook, Greenwich, and other places,
have met the approbation of the most scrupulous partizans of the
iconoclastic prohibition. Two sister arts, as innocent as the other,
have been involved in the same proscription ; one was in the habit '
of enlivetting tli windows orsaerrd ed:fiees with the glowing magic
Of the pallet tfausierred upon eb-- • other used to hang the in•
side of churches with lestiv..i tapestries, the wonderful aehiet e-
melds of the mode. The lattP, rely forgotten, or humbly
centintul to the ),ervile .ise Of d tea-urn, or of being trodden
upon .nefore the 011t-ShOillg filightill SS of a highly-burnished fits
gr.de; but thanks be given to some of our cotemporaty artists, the
thrinei begins to rev ive, anti gives ns the most substantial hopes of
an entire, if not improved, Palingenesia. '1 he soccessful
vancements .oade,ot late years, in the ar of Ntaining glass, are asto-
111-hin', noel b:d Ctne to outdo whatever has been pert-tamed beflire.
Our intet,tion is not to give, at this t dile, an account of the hand-
some pieces which have been played lately in several churches and
gentlemen'slionses, as a new node of decoration, we may, in stir.-
ceetlin;;; numbers, expatiate upon the it respective merits, but we
4v ii! merely intuition, at this moment, a very excellent performance,
a sight of which we veers ills a !I -A. class ago. The sub
.feet is simple, hit at the same time eme of the most suitable that
cats he selected 14 a church, and in a-church f ,r an altar-piece- -it is
the ASCENSION OF Cit PlS'''. :Wet/ ding to the text in the Acts of
no. Aposiles (yap. 9.) •‘ Aid when lie had spoken these things
whi!e they beheld, he was taken op, and a cloud teeciveil him out
of their iiroportion of the picture is 11; feet by 10,
and this excellent specimen of the rev). nig art is destined for the
('!lurch of St. tiltlwe 11, at Exeter 'Ube Loire of Christ possesses that
divine chat acter of meekness blended with ui. jests, %%Inch is peen-
%OitOble to him, a'ul the whole figure seems li:erally in the
act of ast•ending. The Tetragnaninaton at top, the glory which
sun outdo it, the clouds and part of the skies, which cover the rest
of the glie-s, all is tone:nil with great spirit and verity, and the
selh"le 410e' muck hOle:111* to Mr. Collms, vvi.o most liberally indulges
every admirer finite alt with a view of this pert!,! mance. We have
seen also in Mr. Collins's laborat.,ry, the sketch :vat outlines of a
large painting on glass, intended for Lot d Breadalliane. The subject
is St. CECILIA, SIOTOOIIdId will angels, anti placed in a most vie-
gala and classical gothic tribune, under a group of other angels,
assembled upon the clouds, and whose heavenly nwlooy seems to
have attracted thy attention of the Virgin Sint. The compositi(:n
is exceedingly t•ing, the outlines are &whi, anti elegantly cor-
rect, and the whole will undoubtedly produce d most admirable
effect.

Thus we hail the re-appearance of a pleasing science which
has been too long neglected, and conceive the v;urest hope of its
arriving. soon to a stili greater-degree of perfection. The artists
etiip:oyed by Mr. Collins'svent to have canglit the Hanle of his zeal,
and to sh.tre with hint that generous warmth which enlivens ti:e
mind, :u ile4ht, the l!eatt oft very votary of the chrieguatte nurse.