CHAPTER XX.
ON THE APPLICATION OF THE KALEIDOSCOPETO 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 theirphysical 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 incomparison 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 iscompleted, 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 thefinaleffect 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.
Almost every public and private edifice, with the exception ofpicturesque 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 becorrect, 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.
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 theinstrument 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 wholeleaf 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.
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 ofcombination, 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 becombined 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]
Fig. 51.
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 inFig. 51a 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 multipliedtentimes, so as to givefivepair of direct and inverted images.
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 tohalfthe 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 bothreflectors;—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 theseparation 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.