New-York tribune., 1868-04-23
FINE ARTS.

nv the onart where no one knew there were any O
eaRse she was accustomed 70 pick them upcountFy "
abe camo from. We are reminded OF tins etoiy vi
with our minds intent upon o certain SUBJECT "o W.
upen some illustration OF It, something that dieou'
Germs and heirs 0Br study. in place where o' -,
before We eonld almost have sworn there was -
the sort 10 be seen Now II there - one part Oi ~ T
sfEewYork that We thought we kne" pe'ei "@l Ia
ether n is that portion Of the Fourthato' ""' 0' "
tween Twentieth aud Twenty-thirdsts' FpI' on '"o V
per OF Twentietst the Church OF All sou
"a, a., ror, VIC believe, in this country and,
a, -, ;, m defects and deficiencies the first piece OF
a,,t,o orchitecture erected in America AND on the
aor,er OF thds Is the Dulubg OF INC ac"uemy
=, T.esier the work of Mr. Wight structure "meh
sins rather than loses by time, and which, notwith-
sa,dsng certain timidity and lack Of inventveness
that characterize In parts, must always be interesting
A lovers ~ arctecturef for other reason because
n "a associated with important and very significant
,rks in the history Of the Fine Arts In this country For
the sake OF seeing these two interesting buildings, we
take a turn often leisure permits, or We can con-
t4ve an errand, into Fourthave, and had fancied our
selves pretty familiar with the street in that quarter
And then tho west side II We knew one
ode better than the other it was the
west SIDE for had fallen into the habit Immediately
after passing Twenuethst Of turning our eyes steadily
away from the cast de partly IN order to retain our I'M
preston of Moulds beautiful rosewindow, and his en-
taneeporch with Its strong original holdings and most
Ingenious and interesting capitas partly to avoid seeing
either that dismal and disheartening building Cal
vary Church, which mountain Of ugliness has recently
to great regret, brought forth mouse Of chapel
sohoOlhouse that in its early infancy SHOWS IN
every feature Its unhappy parentage; or that n1eu
piece of unimagpative proprety, the PresDytenah
Church the corner of Twentysecondst. Anu III con
sequence Of this habitua aversion Of eur eyes ana nnd
wo had supposed that knew every building on the
west side Of tho street By roe dwellings, SHOPS ana
all But, II seems, we were mistaken IL
happened in this way we had just COME
from Mr. Avery's Gallery, where we had been
sdmirp the sDecimens which ne brought with him, on
his recent return Europe Of the artof elecropng
an art Of late brought almost 70 perfection In Engano'
France and Germany. The examples that Mr. Avery
had to Of this Art, art which We for our part
have not got wondering at were not very nu-
rierous but they very well selected and gave u.s. as
they must have given every that studied them,
great deal OF pleasure Knowing how extensively cleo
trotypng practced in this country III the service OF
manufacturers ard the trades-American plated-ware
must by this time shoud thuk, have almost driven
Sheffield plato clean out Of the market-we were wish
ting that some one here, with the artistic
sense and with natural taste, would take
up eectrOtyping in the service OF the Fine
Arts and put before people good copies OF the best
mealwoIk whether Of the past or OF the present day
at prices as low would be consistent with the most
faithful eervlceable workmanship, and fair profit How
many peope-thus thoughts ran on-tlere must be-
who would prefer-f they could get them without ruin
ing themselvesto the ugly and yet pretending designs
offered for sale by English and American manufacturers
OF plated ware copies OF the really beautiful objects de-
signed in the and fifteenth centuries OF eyen
by q few men, late the sixteenth century Unless
We arc very greatly mistaken, there So large enough
number OF people to make reasonable market, who
would much rather see their tables pieces OF plate
each Of which had interest and value for its antiquity
fs design OF its history always supposing to be useful
aud suitable to its purpose, than any regular set of
PIECES made In quantity by whatever manufactured
Yet It is almost impossible has been hitherto, TO
crafty any this. The designs for silver
ware for tho last fty years have been rule very
ugy and at time have they ever been 80 ugly SO u
meaning and at the time, pretending as at the
present day. Go Ball Blacks window, and look at
the service Of plate lately presented to that gentleman
of unimpeachabc integrity, Mr.. Senator Tweed, who
II We may be allowed dismal JOKE Is 80
Gear 10 us NEWCOMERS This testimonial-to what, in
Heavens name lis made up Of number OF pieces so
many that Il tacs three large boxes to hold them BILL
and these pieces no doubt cost great deal Of money
Yet IL man with eye for hearty, for deeacy, Tor
proportion were SO unfortunate as to have such things
presented TO him. he would be obliged either 70 lock mp
the boxes and scnd them 20 be stored or TO take each
separate piece at its word and. transatns literally us
stolen but appropriate MOTTO spare Not send 1t TO the
meter straight away TO be coined into useful money
Bot to use such things TO have them in daily sight 10
man with any artistic sense could possibly endure.
III.
moment that he thinks himself badly ohan the hund-
reds of public and private great and small, good
and bad who have had presents Of plate made 10 them
within the last twenty years We never yet saw ono OF
these testimonials that bad any merit whatever In de-
sign unless has happened in or two cases. the de-
Egn has been copied from something long approved Ana
the same is OF nearly all the plated ware which We
read 50 eoqueny praised No doubt it is good service
able ware much Of 1t doubt 1t makes "a show-and
this Is what recommends It TO the majority-out
Of all proportion 10 Its cost no doubt 1t VIII
wear and when shabby can be made
ns good as new; but whenever the design
of H. and We have yet to the exception to this re-
mark whenever the design of 1t attempts to rise beyond
the barest simplicity il becomes unmeanDg ugly In It's
hines inappropriate In its Details and wholly offensive
to good taste There need of this being So nor will
h always be Byandby, taste viii grow here as IT has
grown elsewhere, and the manufacturers will make 1t
:heSr business to secure good designs old. Some
man will come forward who will see his way to fortune
IN doing this Just as Wedgwood did, Mnton, Ekng
ton and Barbadienne doing and then, perhaps, r.
valry will do what nothing has as yet been powerful
enough to do 1t will bring about that American designs
Tor silver and plated will not then be- they are at
present immeasuraby inferior 20 the French, and only
little less clumsy and ugly than the English
While we were comforting with this Dip into
she future happened 70 glance aside and there before
s n the reader will believe in the very middle Of the
block between Twentieth and Twenty y-frssts., was
shop window filed with electrotype copies In bronze
silver slvergt and oxydzed silver, of objects chiefly
of Roman and Renaissance art, but well chosen eyi
dently by some one with artists and very deli
eately and thoroughly finished. There was copy as
large as e Of shield discovered not long ago st Pom
peIi an excellent specimen of Roman design and work
nanshp, perfectly well preserved. There was casket
On silver, Of sixteenth century design with dagger
sheatks patters medalons, and basrefs OF the same
period and lying with these, number OF medals OF
various times and places, many OF them rare
And LneiAA