[1140] The simplest or worst articles are not always the oldest or the
first. The deterioration of a commodity is often the continuation of an
invention, which, when once begun, is by industry practised in every
form, in order that new gain may be acquired from each variation. The
earliest printers, for example, had not the art of printing with such
slight ink and on such bad paper as ours commonly employ; and Aldus,
perhaps, were he now alive, would be astonished at the cheap mode of
printing some of our most useful and popular books.
[1141] Origny, in Dictionnaire des Origines, v. p. 332. Journal
Œconomique, 1755, Mars, p. 86. Savary, Dictionnaire de Commerce, iv. p.
903.
[1142] I shall here insert the words of the patent: “To all those
to whom these presents shall come, greeting. Whereas our trusty and
well-beloved subject and servant Jerome Lanyard hath informed us, that
he by his endeavours hath found out an art and mystery by affixing of
wool, silk and other materials of divers colours upon linen cloth,
silk, cotton, leather and other substances, with oil, size and other
cements, to make them useful and serviceable for hangings and other
occasions, which he calleth Londrindiana, and that the said art is of
his own invention, not formerly used by any other within this realm,
&c.”--Rymeri Fœdera, tom. xix. London, 1732, fol. p. 554. The following
observations may serve to illustrate all works of this nature in
general. Painting, according to the most common technical meaning,
may be divided into three kinds. In the first the colours or pigments
are mixed with a viscous or glutinous fluid to bind them, and make
them adhere to the body which is to be painted. Gums, glue, varnish,
&c. may be used for this purpose. Vegetable colours will not admit of
such additions, because they contain gum in their natural composition.
Another kind consists in previously washing over the parts that are
to be painted with some viscous substance, and then laying on the
colours as the figures may require. Size or cement (I use the word in
the most extensive sense) is of such a nature that either in drying or
glazing it becomes hard, and binds the colours. To this method belongs
not only gilding, imitating bronze and making velvet-paper-hangings,
but also painting on glass and in enamel. By the third method the
colours are applied to the ground without any binding substance: they
are therefore more liable to decay, as is the case in painting with
crayons; but they will however adhere better when the pigments consist
of very fine particles like ceruse, or black-lead. It would be a great
acquisition if a substance could be found out to bind the colours used
in this art without injuring them, or to fix the crayons. The third
kind of painting is not with colours, but with different bodies ready
coloured, which are joined together in pieces according to a copy,
either by cement or plaster, as in mosaic, or by working them into each
other, as in weaving and sewing, which is painting with the needle....
Are not the works of art almost like those of nature, each connected
together as a chain? Do not the boundaries of one art approach those of
another? Do they not even touch each other? Those who do not perceive
this approximation are like people unacquainted with botany, who cannot
remark the natural order of plants. But if a connoisseur observe a gap
in the chain of artificial works, we are to suppose that some links
are still wanting, the discovery of which may become a merit to more
ingenious ages.
[1143] Journal Œconomique, 1756, Fevrier, p. 92.
[1144] Both his brothers, John and Benedict Audran, were celebrated
engravers.
[1145] Nachrichten von Künstlern und Künstsachen. Leipzig, 1768, 8vo,
ii. p. 56. The author, giving an account of his travels through the
Netherlands, says, “Before I leave the Hague I must not omit to mention
M. Eccard’s particular invention for making paper-hangings. He prints
some which appear as if worked through with gold and silver. They are
fabricated with much taste, and are not dear.”
[1146] Haus- und Land-bibliothek, iii. p. 90.
[1147] The author says, “I shall give an account of a beautiful art,
by which one may cover chairs, screens and other articles of the like
kind, with a substance of various colours made of wool, cut or chopped
very fine, and cleaned by being made to pass through a hair-sieve.... I
remember that two Swabian women travelled about through some countries,
and taught people this art, by which means they gained a good deal of
money.” Of the author I have been able to procure no information. His
book is a compilation selected without any taste, and according to
the ideas of the seventeenth century, from different writers, almost
always without mentioning the sources from which the articles are
taken; but it deserves a place in public libraries, because it contains
here and there some things which may help to illustrate the history of
agriculture and the arts.
[1148] Kunkels Glasmacher-Kunst. Nurnb. 1743, 4to, p. 368. J. J.
Marxens Neu vermehrte Materialkammer.
[1149] Volkmann, Silesia Subterranea. Leipzig, 1720, 4to, p. 52.
[1150] Pomet.
[1151] Brande’s Dictionary of Science, &c.