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  • Oct. 1, 1864
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The Freemasons' Monthly Magazine, Oct. 1, 1864: Page 7

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    Article TERRA-COTTA AND LUCA DELLA ROBBIA WARE, CONSIDERED ON THE PRINCIPLES OF DECORATIVE ART. ← Page 7 of 8 →
Page 7

Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.

Terra-Cotta And Luca Della Robbia Ware, Considered On The Principles Of Decorative Art.

find its way to our museums . Then , instead of , as now , taking at second-hand , more especially from France , terms which the : best French writers reject as unfitting and inadequate for their purpose , we should have an art-language of our own , as clear and as expressive as it was English , and

to be understood by all . Not unoften do our smatterers in art-Avords bring to mind the poet ' s Madame Eglentine , of Avhom he says , —

" And Frenche she spake ful fayre and fetisly After the scliole of Stratford-atte-boAve , For Frenche of Paris was to hire unknowe . " Having these appliances within easy reach , it remains Avith our patrons of art to ask for , and with our artists to make themselves able to quickly

answer such a call for their employment . Augustus was wont to say that he found Rome of brick , and left it of marble . For myself , I would much rather behold our houses built of brick , yet with all that ornament upon them which those very bricks themselves can have , along with the other

various beauties that burned clay , uncoloured and coloured , can so easily bestow , than witness large blocks of marble , bought at great cost , heaped up into so-called palaces , andunartistically adorned . The sentiment of that good old English monk , MattheAV Paris , Avho , while setting down the works

done for the abbey church of St . Alban ' s , by the handicraft of his brother monks there , and telling , as it might be , of a silver frontal for the altar , a jeAvelled shrine for the patron saint , or a golden image of the blessed Virgin Mary , says In quo etiam materiam superabat opus—holds good here . It is not because a house is made of marble that

Ave should at once admire it , or think little of another built in brick ; our admiration ought to be for the art-work bestowed upon its materials , whatever they may be—slabs from Hymettus and Darrarra , or clay from the potteries . It was the boast of Cicero that his

countryhouses , small as they might be , Avere the gems of Italy—ocelli Italice , villulce mece . This could only have been from the artist's handicraft judiciously applied to these residences . Let every Englishman , with wealth enough at his command , try and make his house one among the ornaments of his

countiy in the provinces ; and hoAvever small it be , one of the stars in the square or street in London Avhere he lives , ancl thus shoAV that , like the old Roman , he is glad to lend new beauties to his native land and solace to Ms felloAv citizens .

The good result of this will be , that pur most dingy streets , our dullest thoroughfares , will put on an everlasting look of gladsomeness ; and those who have every day to walk them , if in health and happiness , Avill be still more cheered ; if in sickness and in SOITOAV—and sorrow and sickness betide us

all—will not be still more saddened by their appearance ; instead of our present , rather wide-spread meanness , we , too , shall have , everywhere about this vast metropolis , " onr streets of palaces and walks of state /'—palaces not merely so because

they are the dwellings of nobility , but palaces of literature , or arts , of sciences , and of trade . With our roofs all tiled in tiles Avell glazed , various in colour , starred in gold , or diapered in a pattern and artistically set out , Ave shall have , instead of grimy miles of dull red tiling ancl ugly

chimneypots , something beautiful to gaze upon as Ave look down from the top of Hampstead-hill or Highgate over the vast city sparkling beneath the sunshine , or as it tAvinkles in the moonlight as if it were all overspread with glass like some huge

Crystal Palace . Not long ago we had the New Zealander among us . When next he comes again—when century after century he comes—it Avill be , let us hope , each time to find London—England—richer , greater , more adorned , than before . Instead of

becoming the fnlfiller of Macaulay's dream , ancl seeing in the shattered dome of St . Paul's a picturesque ruin to sketch from a broken arch of crumbling London Bridge , it will be to discover fresh splendours all about him there . Standing on now neAV Westminster Bridge , wide ancl

beautiful as it is , he will observe that , above and below it , others wider ancl more stupendous are bestriding our noble Thames . Instead of shivered cupolas and mouldering Avails , he will behold , as fitting objects for the drawings he vrishes to take back Avith him , the magnificent streets , the splendid palaces , the glittering roofs , the artistic gardens , the majestic buildings of renovated and architectural London .

But to this important end I must recall to mind that soul-stirring , noble charge which Nelson , just before meeting the foe , and his glorious victory over him at Trafalgar , is said to have sent round all the fleet , in this short sentence , " England expects every man to do his duty . " Wishful that

that the cry I here utter may go forth hence and reach the ears of English , Irish , Scotch , and Welsh noblemen and gentlefolks , and awaken them to take their part in this great national work ; remembering , too , that of my audience there may be present individuals from every quarter of the

empire , I fain would somewhat vary Nelson ' s Avording , and say , " Britain expects every man—* aye , every woman , too—to do their duty . " I say woman , for I believe the instincts of Avoman are quicker than man's in spelling' on the face the feelings of the hidden heart ; I believe her light hands

better able than his to write upon the clay her own keen readings of our humanity ; and Ave know what a few good strokes , hoAvever slightly made , can do in bringing out all the truth and all the beauty of expression . Genius , like the soul , is of no gender ; and at all times there have been women who excelled in all the arts and sciences .

As a witness of his OAvndays , Vasari , in his " Life of Madonna Properzia de Rossi , " observes , — "There are women who have not disdained to contend , as it were , with us ( men ) for the vaunt and palm of superiority in a different arena ( of

“The Freemasons' Monthly Magazine: 1864-10-01, Page 7” Masonic Periodicals Online, Library and Museum of Freemasonry, 2 July 2025, django:8000/periodicals/mmr/issues/mmr_01101864/page/7/.
  • List
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Title Category Page
OUR ARCHITECTURAL CHAPTER. Article 1
TERRA-COTTA AND LUCA DELLA ROBBIA WARE, CONSIDERED ON THE PRINCIPLES OF DECORATIVE ART. Article 1
MASONIC NOTES AND QUERIES. Article 8
CORRESPONDENCE. Article 9
BUTE LODGE, No. 960. Article 10
SOUTH WALES. Article 10
Untitled Article 11
THE MASONIC MIRROR. Article 11
PROVINCIAL. Article 11
IRELAND. Article 14
WEST INDIES. Article 14
INDIA. Article 16
Poetry. Article 17
AN ADDRESS DELIVERED AT A PROVINCIAL THEATRE, BY A BROTHER, ON HIS BENEFIT. Article 17
FINE ARTS. Article 18
THE WEEK. Article 18
TO CORRESPONDENTS. Article 20
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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.

Terra-Cotta And Luca Della Robbia Ware, Considered On The Principles Of Decorative Art.

find its way to our museums . Then , instead of , as now , taking at second-hand , more especially from France , terms which the : best French writers reject as unfitting and inadequate for their purpose , we should have an art-language of our own , as clear and as expressive as it was English , and

to be understood by all . Not unoften do our smatterers in art-Avords bring to mind the poet ' s Madame Eglentine , of Avhom he says , —

" And Frenche she spake ful fayre and fetisly After the scliole of Stratford-atte-boAve , For Frenche of Paris was to hire unknowe . " Having these appliances within easy reach , it remains Avith our patrons of art to ask for , and with our artists to make themselves able to quickly

answer such a call for their employment . Augustus was wont to say that he found Rome of brick , and left it of marble . For myself , I would much rather behold our houses built of brick , yet with all that ornament upon them which those very bricks themselves can have , along with the other

various beauties that burned clay , uncoloured and coloured , can so easily bestow , than witness large blocks of marble , bought at great cost , heaped up into so-called palaces , andunartistically adorned . The sentiment of that good old English monk , MattheAV Paris , Avho , while setting down the works

done for the abbey church of St . Alban ' s , by the handicraft of his brother monks there , and telling , as it might be , of a silver frontal for the altar , a jeAvelled shrine for the patron saint , or a golden image of the blessed Virgin Mary , says In quo etiam materiam superabat opus—holds good here . It is not because a house is made of marble that

Ave should at once admire it , or think little of another built in brick ; our admiration ought to be for the art-work bestowed upon its materials , whatever they may be—slabs from Hymettus and Darrarra , or clay from the potteries . It was the boast of Cicero that his

countryhouses , small as they might be , Avere the gems of Italy—ocelli Italice , villulce mece . This could only have been from the artist's handicraft judiciously applied to these residences . Let every Englishman , with wealth enough at his command , try and make his house one among the ornaments of his

countiy in the provinces ; and hoAvever small it be , one of the stars in the square or street in London Avhere he lives , ancl thus shoAV that , like the old Roman , he is glad to lend new beauties to his native land and solace to Ms felloAv citizens .

The good result of this will be , that pur most dingy streets , our dullest thoroughfares , will put on an everlasting look of gladsomeness ; and those who have every day to walk them , if in health and happiness , Avill be still more cheered ; if in sickness and in SOITOAV—and sorrow and sickness betide us

all—will not be still more saddened by their appearance ; instead of our present , rather wide-spread meanness , we , too , shall have , everywhere about this vast metropolis , " onr streets of palaces and walks of state /'—palaces not merely so because

they are the dwellings of nobility , but palaces of literature , or arts , of sciences , and of trade . With our roofs all tiled in tiles Avell glazed , various in colour , starred in gold , or diapered in a pattern and artistically set out , Ave shall have , instead of grimy miles of dull red tiling ancl ugly

chimneypots , something beautiful to gaze upon as Ave look down from the top of Hampstead-hill or Highgate over the vast city sparkling beneath the sunshine , or as it tAvinkles in the moonlight as if it were all overspread with glass like some huge

Crystal Palace . Not long ago we had the New Zealander among us . When next he comes again—when century after century he comes—it Avill be , let us hope , each time to find London—England—richer , greater , more adorned , than before . Instead of

becoming the fnlfiller of Macaulay's dream , ancl seeing in the shattered dome of St . Paul's a picturesque ruin to sketch from a broken arch of crumbling London Bridge , it will be to discover fresh splendours all about him there . Standing on now neAV Westminster Bridge , wide ancl

beautiful as it is , he will observe that , above and below it , others wider ancl more stupendous are bestriding our noble Thames . Instead of shivered cupolas and mouldering Avails , he will behold , as fitting objects for the drawings he vrishes to take back Avith him , the magnificent streets , the splendid palaces , the glittering roofs , the artistic gardens , the majestic buildings of renovated and architectural London .

But to this important end I must recall to mind that soul-stirring , noble charge which Nelson , just before meeting the foe , and his glorious victory over him at Trafalgar , is said to have sent round all the fleet , in this short sentence , " England expects every man to do his duty . " Wishful that

that the cry I here utter may go forth hence and reach the ears of English , Irish , Scotch , and Welsh noblemen and gentlefolks , and awaken them to take their part in this great national work ; remembering , too , that of my audience there may be present individuals from every quarter of the

empire , I fain would somewhat vary Nelson ' s Avording , and say , " Britain expects every man—* aye , every woman , too—to do their duty . " I say woman , for I believe the instincts of Avoman are quicker than man's in spelling' on the face the feelings of the hidden heart ; I believe her light hands

better able than his to write upon the clay her own keen readings of our humanity ; and Ave know what a few good strokes , hoAvever slightly made , can do in bringing out all the truth and all the beauty of expression . Genius , like the soul , is of no gender ; and at all times there have been women who excelled in all the arts and sciences .

As a witness of his OAvndays , Vasari , in his " Life of Madonna Properzia de Rossi , " observes , — "There are women who have not disdained to contend , as it were , with us ( men ) for the vaunt and palm of superiority in a different arena ( of

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