ON THE APPLICATION OF THE KALEIDOSCOPE TO THE FINE AND
USEFUL ARTS.
If we examine the various objects of art which have exercised the
skill and ingenuity of man, we shall find that they derive all their
beauty from the symmetry of their form, and that one work of art excels
another in proportion as it exhibits a more perfect development of this
principle of beauty. Even the forms of animal, vegetable, and mineral
bodies, derive their beauty from the same source. The human figure
consists of two halves, one of which is the reflected image of the
other; and the same symmetry of form presents itself in the shapes of
almost all the various tribes of animated beings. In the structure of
vegetables, the principle of symmetry is less perfectly developed. From
the extreme delicacy and elasticity of its parts, a plant, regularly
constructed, would have lost all its symmetry from the influence of
gravitation, or from the slightest breath of wind; and therefore a
symmetrical combination of parts has been effected only in its leaves
and flowers. When the laws of crystallization are allowed to perform
their functions uncontrolled, the beautiful geometrical forms which
they create are marked with the most perfect regularity. Even their
physical properties are symmetrically related to some axis or fixed
line; and though all their functions are performed in utter silence and
repose, yet their physiology, if we may apply that name to the actions
of apparently dead matter, is not less wonderful than that which
embraces the busy agencies of animal and vegetable bodies.
The irregular forms which are the foundation of picturesque beauty
constitute a single exception to the general law, and therefore the
landscape painter is the only artist who is not professionally led to
the study of that species of beauty which arises from the inversion and
multiplication of simple forms.
When we consider the immense variety of professions connected both with
the fine and the useful arts, in which the creation of symmetrical
ornaments forms a necessary part, we cannot fail to attach a high
degree of utility to any instrument by which the operations of the
artist may be facilitated and improved. We are disposed to imagine
that no machine is really useful, unless it is directly employed in
providing for our more urgent wants. This, however, is a vulgar error.
An engine which forms the head of a pin, has, in reality, as much
importance as an engine for raising water, or for manufacturing cloth;
for in these cases the three machines have the same object, which
is merely that of abridging manual labour. The water would still be
raised, and the cloth and pins manufactured, if the machines did not
exist; but the machinery insures us a more regular supply of these
articles, and enables us to receive them at a cheaper rate.
The operations of machinery have, however, a still higher character in
comparison with those of individual exertion, when they enable us to
obtain any article, either of necessity or of luxury, in a more perfect
state. In this case, the machine effects what is beyond the reach of
manual labour; and instead of being the mere representative of animal
force, it exhibits a concentration of talent and skill which could not
have been obtained by uniting the separate exertions of living agents.
When we consider, that in this busy island thousands of individuals are
wholly occupied with the composition of symmetrical designs, and that
there is scarcely any profession into which these designs do not enter
as a necessary part, so as to employ a portion of the time of every
artist, we shall not hesitate in admitting, that an instrument must
have no small degree of utility which abridges the labour of so many
individuals. If we reflect further on the nature of the designs which
are thus composed, and on the methods which must be employed in their
composition, the Kaleidoscope will assume the character of the highest
class of machinery, which improves at the same time that it abridges
the exertions of individuals. There are few machines, indeed, which
rise higher above the operations of human skill. It will create, in a
single hour, what a thousand artists could not invent in the course of
a year; and while it works with such unexampled rapidity, it works also
with a corresponding beauty and precision.
The artist who forms a symmetrical design, is entirely ignorant of
the effect till it is completed—and if the design is to be embodied
in coloured materials, or in stone, or any other solid substance, he
has no means of predicting the final effect which it is to produce.
Every result, in short, is a matter of uncertainty: and when the work
is completed, it must remain as it is. The art of forming designs,
therefore, is in a state of extreme imperfection; and a more striking
proof of this could not be obtained than from the servility with which
we copy, at the present moment, the mouldings and ornaments of Greek
and Gothic architecture, and the decorations which embellish the
furniture, the dresses, and the utensils of the Romans.
If the Kaleidoscope had been an instrument which merely enabled us to
project upon a plane surface a variety of designs of the same character
as those which the artist forms with his pencil, it would still have
been an instrument of great utility. But it does much more than this.
When properly constructed, and rightly applied, it exhibits the _final_
effect of the design, when executed in the best manner; and it does
this, not only by embodying the very materials out of which the reality
is to be produced; but by exhibiting, instead of lights and shades, the
very eminences and depressions which necessarily exist in every design
the parts of which lie in various planes.
In proceeding to point out the practical methods of obtaining these
effects from the Kaleidoscope, we take it for granted that the artist
has one or other of the correct instruments described in the preceding
chapters, and that they are mounted upon a stand, and furnished with
Dr. Wollaston’s Camera Lucida, for enabling him to copy the designs
which he wishes to perpetuate.
1. _Architectural Ornaments._
Almost every public and private edifice, with the exception of
picturesque cottages, and buildings erected for the purposes of
defence, has a regular form, consisting of two halves, one of which is
the inverted image of the other. The inferior parts of the building,
such as the doors and windows, have the same regular character; and
hence it necessarily follows, that all the decorations, whether in
the form of rectilineal borders, circular patterns, or groups of
figures, should not only have the same symmetry, but should also
be symmetrically related to the bisecting line which separates the
building into two halves. If, for example, a rectilineal border,
surrounding a building like a belt, consists of a pattern, or of
lines inclined in one direction, such a border is not symmetrically
related to the vertical and horizontal lines of which the building
consists. Hence it will follow, that sculptures, representing an
action of any kind, or statues representing living objects, when
they are sufficiently large to be seen at the same time with the
whole building, can never connect themselves with its regular
outline. If these sculptures, or statues, are inverted so as to form
a Kaleidoscope pattern, like the beautiful sculpture in the door of
the temple of Jun-wassa,[12] they may then be employed without the
risk of destroying the general symmetry of the edifice. These remarks
are equally applicable to every object which derives its beauty from
symmetry; and it is curious to observe the numerous deviations from
this principle, and the bad effects they produce on some of the finest
vases and ornaments of the Romans.[13] If Mr. Cockerell’s ingenious
theory[14] of the original composition of the statues of Niobe and her
children be correct, the mode of grouping the figures will show how
much the artist was disposed to sacrifice every other kind of effect,
to obtain something like a symmetrical group within the pediment. The
gradual increase in the height of the statues towards the middle of the
tympanum, and their inclination on both sides towards the same point,
form strong proofs of Mr. Cockerell’s hypothesis, and afford a singular
example, the only one with which we are acquainted, of an attempt to
reconcile the apparently incongruous effect of a real picture and a
symmetrical group. Had the statues been confined to one-half of the
tympanum, while the other half was a reflected image of the first,
we are persuaded, that though the effect, as a picture, would have
been diminished, yet the effect, as a part of the temple, would have
been greatly increased. A very remarkable example of this species of
symmetry is shown in the fine painting of the Four Sibyls, by Raphael,
which is now in the church of Santa Maria della Pace, at Rome.
[12] See _Edinburgh Encyclopædia_, Art. Civil Architecture, plate CLI.
[13] See Hope’s _Costume of the Ancients_, vol. ii. plates 230, 264,
278, figs 1 and 298, fig. 2.
[14] See _Journal of the Royal Institution_, vol. v. p. 99.
After the architect has fixed upon the nature and character of his
ornaments, he must cut, upon the surface of a large stone, or place in
relief upon it, the elements of a variety of patterns. These elements
need not be exact representations of any object, or any portion of
it, though, in some cases, an approximation to this may be desirable.
When this stone is set in a vertical position, and so that the light
may fall obliquely upon its surface, for the purpose of giving light
and shade to the pattern, the Kaleidoscope should be placed exactly
opposite the stone, and at a distance from it corresponding to the
magnitude of the pattern which is wanted. The tube containing the
lens or lenses, being put on, or the inner tube being drawn out, if
the instrument consists of two complete tubes, it must be adjusted
to the distance of the stone, or till an image of the stone is formed
at the end of the reflectors. When this adjustment is perfect, the
Kaleidoscope must be directed to the carved part of the stone, out of
which it is proposed to form the pattern; and by slight changes in its
position, by turning it round its axis, and by varying the inclination
of the reflectors, an immense variety of the most beautiful designs
will be exhibited, in the finest relief, and as perfect as if they had
been carved out of the stone by the most skilful workman. The architect
has therefore only to select from the profusion of designs which are
thus presented to him; and when he has made his choice, he may either
copy it photographically, or with his eye, or by means of the Camera
Lucida; or he may trace upon the stone the projection of the angular
aperture of the instrument, in order that, in the execution of his
work, he may have constantly before his eyes the real element out of
which the picture is created. If, in the course of this selection, the
picture should become capable of improvement, either by giving it depth
in particular parts, or by altering the outline, this alteration can
be easily made, and its effect throughout the whole ornament will be
instantly seen.
If the architect is desirous to introduce into his ornament a natural
object, such as a leaf, he may first try the effect which it will
produce when applied in its natural state to the instrument, and he
may then carve either the whole or the half of it in stone, and then
examine what will be its final effect. If one half of the leaf is an
inverted image of the other half, it is necessary only to carve one
half of it, and place the reflectors at an angle contained as many
times in a circle as twice the number of times that he wishes the
whole leaf to be multiplied: for example, if the whole leaf is to be
multiplied six times, the angle of the mirrors must be ¹/₁₂th of 360°,
or 30°. The very same effect would be obtained by applying the whole
leaf to the instrument when the inclination of the reflectors is 60°,
or ⅙th of 360°. But when the whole leaf is not symmetrical in itself,
or consists of two dissimilar halves, it must be applied in its entire
state to the instrument.
In the formation of circular Gothic windows, the architect will find
the Kaleidoscope a most important auxiliary. By applying it to a
mullion drawn upon paper, with a portion of the curves which he wishes
to introduce, or by placing it upon various ornamental parts of the
drawing of a Gothic cathedral, he will obtain combinations to which he
has never observed the slightest approximation.
In designing the decorations for ceilings, which are generally made of
plaster of Paris, the same method should be followed as that which we
have described for architectural ornaments.
2. _Ornamental Painting._
In ornaments carved out of stone or marble, or formed from plaster of
Paris, the idea of colour does not enter into the consideration of
the architect. The forms, however, which are necessary in ornamental
painting, are always associated with colour; and therefore, in the
invention and selection of these forms, the Kaleidoscope performs a
double task. While it creates the outline, it at the same time fills it
up with colour; and by representing the effect of the two in a state
of combination, it enables the artist to judge of the harmony of his
tints, as well as of the proportion of his forms.
In the decoration of public halls and galleries, there is no species of
ornament more appropriate than those which consist in the combination
of single figures, or of groups of heads, which are either directly
or metaphorically associated with the history or object of the
institution. Regular historical paintings on the ceiling of a room are
quite incompatible with the symmetrical character of a public gallery.
If they are well executed, they can never be seen to advantage, and
therefore their individual effect is lost, while, from their very
nature, they cannot possibly produce that general effect as an ornament
which good taste imperiously requires. In employing regularly combined
groups of figures, there is sufficient scope given to the powers of
the artist, while the systematic arrangement of his work prevents it
from interfering with the general character of the place which it is to
embellish.
The effects which the Kaleidoscope develops, when applied to the
representations of living objects, will, we have no doubt, give very
great surprise to those who have not previously examined them. In
order to enable the reader to form some notion of them, we have given,
in the annexed Plate, a series of reduced figures, taken principally
from the antique. In order to separate an individual figure from the
rest, we have only to cut an opening of nearly the same size in a
piece of paper, and lay it upon the surface of the plate, so as to
conceal all the adjoining figures, and permit the required figure to
be seen through the aperture. By applying a Kaleidoscope, in which the
inclination of the mirrors does not exceed 30°, the figure will be
combined into a fine pattern, exhibiting, perhaps, the head and a part
of the body in every sector; while the hands, or the lower extremities,
are thrown into the stiff part of the design. The singular ease and
grace with which the figure necessarily rises out of the formal part
of the pattern, and with which it connects itself with the general
picture, produces a new effect, which, so far as we can learn, no
artist had ever attempted to produce.
In order to group these single figures with perfect accuracy, the
Kaleidoscopes constructed by Mr. Bate should be employed, as both his
instruments have a contrivance which allows the light to fall freely
upon the surface of the picture.[15]
[15] See p. 93.
[Illustration: FIG. 51.]
When the figures which we wish to introduce are larger than the
aperture of the Kaleidoscope, we must use the lens, and place them at
such a distance as to reduce them to the proper magnitude.
The effect which is produced by these simple outlines will convey some
idea of the beauty which must characterize the designs when the figures
are finely shaded, or chastely coloured.
By the application of the lens, paintings or statues of any size may be
reduced and admitted into the figure.
In order to convey to the reader some idea of the effect produced by
the Kaleidoscope in grouping figures, we have given in Fig. 51 a design
created by the instrument. The inclination of the mirrors by which the
figures were arranged is 36°, or ⅒th of a circle; and therefore the
object is multiplied _ten_ times, so as to give _five_ pair of direct
and inverted images.
3. _Designs for Carpets._
There is none of the useful arts to which the creations of the
Kaleidoscope are more directly applicable than the manufacture of
carpets. In this case, the manufacturer requires not merely the outline
of a design, but a design filled up with the most brilliant colours;
and upon the nature of the figure which he selects, and the tints with
which he enriches it, will depend the beauty of the effect which is
produced. A carpet, indeed, is in general covered with a number of
Kaleidoscope designs, arranged in lines parallel to the sides of the
apartment; and while this instrument creates an individual pattern, it
may also be employed, by the assistance of the lens, in exhibiting the
effect or arranging or grouping these individual patterns, according
to the form of the apartment, and other circumstances which should
invariably be attended to.
When a plasterer ornaments the ceiling of a room, the figure which
he chooses is always related to the shape of the ceiling, and varies
according as it is circular, elliptical, square, or rectangular. In
like manner, a carpet should always have a relation to the form of
the apartment, not only in the shape and character of the individual
designs, but in the mode in which they are combined into a whole.
Although the designs given by the Kaleidoscope are in general circular,
yet, when they are once drawn, their outline may be made either
triangular, square, rectangular, elliptical, or of any other form that
we please, without destroying their beauty. The outline of the pattern
may be varied in the instrument, by varying the shape of the part of
the tube or aperture which bounds the field of view at the widest
end of the angular aperture; but it is only at certain inclinations
of the reflectors that any of the regular figures can be produced in
this way. If the bounding line is circular, the field of view will be
a circle; if the bounding line is rectilineal, and equally inclined
to the reflectors, the field of view will be a regular polygon, of as
many sides as the number of times that the angle of the reflectors is
contained in 360°; if the bounding line is rectilineal, but placed
at right angles to one of the reflectors, the figure will still be
a regular polygon, but its number of sides will be equal to _half_
the number of times that the angle of the reflectors is contained in
360°. Hence it follows, that a square field may be obtained in two
ways, either by placing the mirrors at an angle of 45°, and making the
bounding line perpendicular to one of the reflectors; or by inclining
the mirrors 90°, and making the bounding line equally inclined to
both reflectors;—and that a triangular field may be obtained, either
by inclining the mirrors 60°, and setting the bounding line at right
angles to one of the reflectors, or by making the inclination 120°, and
placing the bounding line at an angle of 60° and 30° to the reflectors.
An elliptical field may be obtained, by giving the bounding line the
shape of one quarter of an ellipse, and placing it in such a manner
that the vertex of the conjugate axis falls upon one of the reflectors,
and the vertex of the transverse axis upon the other.
The form of the pattern being determined, the next step is to select
an outline, and the colours which are to enter into its formation. In
order to do this to the greatest advantage, the differently coloured
worsteds which the manufacturer proposes to employ should be placed
upon a plane surface, either in the state of thread, or, what is
much better, when they are wrought into cloth. These differently
coloured pieces of carpet, which we may suppose to be blue, green, and
yellow, must then be placed at the distance of a few feet from the
Kaleidoscope, so that their image may, by means of the lens, be formed
at the end of the reflectors. In this state a very perfect pattern will
be created by the instrument, and the blue, green, and yellow colour
will predominate according as a greater or a lesser portion of these
colours happens to be opposite to the angular aperture. By shifting
the position of the Kaleidoscope, any one of the colours may be made
to predominate at pleasure; and the artist has it thus in his power,
not only to produce any kind of outline that he chooses, but regulate
the masses of colour by which it is to be filled up; and to try the
effects which will be produced by the juxtaposition of two colours, by
the separation of others, or by the transference of the separate or
combined masses to different parts of the design. It would be foreign
to our object to describe the apparatus by which these changes in the
quantities of colour, and in their relative position, may be most
easily and conveniently effected; the artist can have no difficulty in
constructing such an apparatus for himself, and by means of it he will
be enabled to obtain results from the Kaleidoscope which he would have
sought for in vain from any other method.
As the methods we have described of using the Kaleidoscope in
ornamental architecture, or ornamental painting, and in the manufacture
of carpets, will apply to the various other professions in which
the formation of symmetrical designs is a necessary part, I shall
merely state, that it will be found of the greatest advantage to the
jeweller in the arrangement of precious stones; to the bookbinder, the
wire-worker, the paper-stainer, and the artist who forms windows of
painted glass. In this last profession, in particular, the application
of the Kaleidoscope cannot fail to indicate combinations far superior
to anything that has yet been seen in this branch of art. From the
uniformity of tint in the separate pieces of glass which are to be
combined, the effect produced by the instrument from portions of the
very same glass that is to be used for the windows, may be considered
as a perfect fac-simile of the window when well executed on a large
scale.