Art-Jottings In Art-Studios.

ART-JOTTINGS IN ART-STUDIOS .

BY BRO . REV . W . TEBBS . MuflAL DUCOBATIOB "— " ENCAUSTIC . " "Look here upon this picture . " one of those over-lappings of systems which seem to form the several stages

BY in the history of Art just as they do in that of Natuz-e , we have gradually merged from sculpture , through Avail-decoration by " incision , " into mural-ornamentation by means of colour applied without the preparatory Avork of the graving-tool . We have said " stages in the history , " looking at the various modes of treatment as AA' 6 shoidd regard the steps of a ladder ; but it Avould have been far more correct to have likened the transition from mode to mode and the blending of process Avith process to the

p icture of the history of the earth ' s formation presented to us in the pages of that most interesting science geology . In this Nature-printed story of her birth and life we easily read hoAv one system extended into another—the one dechning and the other increasing through some middle point where , for a moment , they seem to have existed side by side ; so in the treasures of archeology can we see the various art-processes dovetailed into one anotherthe

, incised and coloured hieroglyph partaking of both sculp ture and painting . If UOAV Ave take this latter , painting , ancl leave out the former , sculpture , we shall obtain a form of decoration very early in vogue , namely , mural-decoration in colour . In the days of Haydon ancl Hazlitt a fierce dispute Avas raging in France ancl Germany as to Avhether mural-painting Avas eA'er practised to any great extent by the ancients . M . Letronne asserted that Avail-painting Avas then- usual mode , instancing the

Temple of Theseus , in Avhich the contours of the works of Polygnotus had been discovered by his friends cut in on the plaster with the cestrum and the colours afterwards picked out by the early Christians . The friends of his opponent , Paul-Rochette , asserted , on the contrary , that there AA'as a sinking in of the plaster as if it had been fitted to receive tabular works which were to be let into the Avails . Pliny clearly shoAvs that both modes Avere in use , for , after describing the absurdly large picture ( one hundred and tAventy feet high ) of Nero on canvas , he says that he prefers tabular pictures to those on Avails because the latter cannot be saved in case of fire .

A controversy like this , in face of the remains of the remote past , seems someAvhat puerile , for of the antiquity of the practise of Avail-painting there is ancl can be no manner of doubt . In Egypt , in the Etruscan tombs , in the dwellings of Pompeii , and in the Catacombs are the remains of waff-paintings Avhichare generally supposed to be frescoes . Those in Pompeii are particularly Avorthy of notice , being remarkable for grandeur and purity of style in design and drawing , combined Avith a slight ancl free manner of

execution ; so much is this latter feature noticeable that , taken in combination AA'ith the fact of the frequent repetition of many of the subjects , it has been held to be evidence that these mural-decorations Avere simply copies by house-decorators of celebrated pictures preserved in the temples and palaces of Rome . But this does not take us back to the origin of the art , AA'hicli Avas probably well-nigh as far back in the history of the Avorld as that of the art of painting itself . If , Avhen the

opaniards landed in South America , the natiA'es conveyed the intelligence of their arrival to King Montezuma , by painted representations of their ships , their dress , and their persons , what more likely than that they should record their history ancl eA'en symbohse their hopes and aspirations , their joys and griefs , then- pleasures and their pains , but , above all , their religious belief , on the Avails of their dAvellings ? Thus in Babylon Ave find paintings after nature of animals , hunting scenes , and combats . Semiramis Avas represented on horseback as striking a leopard with a dart , whilst her husband Minus AA'as Avouiiding a hon .