On the other hand, in edifices of the Italian class, where variety of composition, redundancy of ornament, and picturesque distribution of masses are so predominant, the subjects of the windows may be more elaborate in design, and lively in colouring. The introduction of stained or painted glass will thus be made useful in preserving a consistency of character, while it most successfully remedies the defect of cold interiors, a defect which it is not in the province of of our principal glass painters. Many of their copies of the historical productions of the old masters are so effectively executed, as to have all the appearance of well-lighted works on canvas, except that they surpass them in brilliancy and permanency of colour. The performances of the late Mr. Muss afford a fine illustration of the extent of cultivation to which the art of vitrified painting has recently been carried; of this one excellent and well-known example may be ad-ness of colour complained of in some of our larger duced, in the east window of St. Bride's Church, Fleet Street, copied from the "Descent from the Cross" of Rubens. We may mention an interesting specimen of a different style, in the instance of a popular western exhibition, descriptive of one of the latest displays of chivalrous pomp during the reign of Henry VIII. It is indeed in the treatment of historical subjects that this art is eminently calculated to succeed, distinguished as those subjects are, by the greatest breadth of effect and variety of colouring. But in compositions of a more domestic character, and in those of land-long been approved, an application which might often scape, many productions are now executed on glass, be made with increased success, if a greater regard which give promise of excellence; and in the repre- were paid to the principles of panoramic effect in the sentation of the minor objects of fruit, foliage, and representation of regular subjects in nature or in art. flowers, we have scarcely anything left to wish for. Opportunities, however, for the introduction of works Indeed, to notice all the varieties of pictorial compo- | of this kind, more numerous than we can here partisition in which the art in question has of late been cularize, will occur with the suggestions of fancy or successfully employed, would be to enumerate and to convenience. In availing ourselves of these, the chief review all the schools and productions of painting in considerations to be observed are, that the designs general; and we have therefore only to offer some re-adopted should be in conformity with the purposes to marks on the use and application to which the productions of this art may be advantageously directed. In the best days of the Pointed style of architecture, our forefathers seem to have considered their edifices as incomplete without some display of painted glass in their windows; and in this particular, we might frequently borrow a hint from their practice with benefit. An eminent living architect has observed that, if the windows of St. Paul's Cathedral were thus decorated, its internal effect would equal that of our most admired edifices of the older style. Without going the length of this assertion, we admit that a greater approximation would thus be gained to the splendour of the antique, and the same in the case of our modern churches in general. We are not, however, to sup which the building they are intended to adorn is applied; and, being so, that a perfect harmony of style and feeling should subsist between them and the architectural decorations with which they are associated. In conclusion, we may observe, that the art of painting on glass commands effects which, while possessed of unrivalled brilliancy, are the least altered, if altered at all, by the lapse of time; and, on this account, as well as for the advantages already considered, we must allow it to be an art, in the highest degree, worthy of assiduous cultivation and liberal patronage. IN THE TIME OF QUEEN ELIZABETH. E. T. pose, that an interior must necessarily be improved by WARDROBE OF A COUNTRY GENTLEMAN the introduction of stained glass, whatever be its style of embellishment, though the contrary of this is too frequently assumed. To answer the purposes of harmony, a Grecian interior undoubtedly requires that any accessories of this kind should be chaste, simple, quiet, and dignified, and, in richness, suited to the more or less decorative character of the architecture. THE following curious extract, transcribed verbatim from a will, dated 1573, preserved in the registry of the prerogative court of Canterbury, is now first printed. "I give unto my brother Mr. William Sheney my best black gown, garded and faced with velvet, and my velvet cap, also I will unto my brother Thomas Marcal my new shepe colored gowne garded with velvet and faced with cony, also I give unto my son Tyble faced with wolf and laid with Billemy sherte gown ment's lace, also I give unto my brother Cowper my other shorte gown faced with foxe (skin), also I give unto Thomas Walker my night gown faced with cony, with one lace also, and my ready (ruddy) colored hose, also I give unto my man Thomas Swaine my doublet of canvas that Forde made me, and my new gaskins that Forde made me, also I give unto John Wyldinge a cassock of shepes color edged with ponts skins, also I give unto John Woodzyle my doublet of fruite canvas and my hose with fryze bryches, also I give unto Strowde my frize jerkin with silke buttons, also I give Symonde Bisshoppe the smyth my other frize jerkin with stone buttons, also I give to Adam Ashame my hose with the frendge (fringe) and lined with crane coloured silk, which gifts I will to be delivered immediately after my decease." chapel or church, as it is styled, is the original Nor- ST. NICHOLAS' HOSPITAL, HARBLEDOWN. Ar the little village of Harbledown, near Canterbury, is an hospital, dedicated to St. Nicholas, which was originally founded in the year 1084, by Archbishop Lanfranc, for leprous persons, male and female; and endowed, conjointly with St. John's Hospital, at Can form; and on the different faces of the lowest moulding are sculptured eight figures of animals, roses, &c., high relief. in terbury, with lands to the amount of £70. annually; probably of the time of Henry VI., is octagonal in Erasmus, in his "Perigrinatio Religionis ergo," terms this hospital Mendicabulum, or Alms-house, and states, that it was customary for its inmates to present the upper leather of the shoe of St. Thomas à Becket, which was "bound with brass, and set with a piece of glass, like a gem," to all horsemen (passengers) to kiss, After the Dissolution, this hospital was re-established by Edward VI., and all preceding grants were confirmed by letters of inspeximus. Its present yearly revenue, which includes the benefactions of several centuries, amounts to upwards of £450. The entire establishment includes a master, a reader, who is a clerk in orders, fifteen in-brothers, and the like number of sisters, (one of the former being called the prior, and one of the latter the prioress,) and the same number of out-brothers and sisters. The hospital buildings, which are principally of brick, were mostly re-erected in the reign of James II., but the HISTORICAL PROPRIETY IN PAINTING. TUDOR ARCHITECTURE. THE greatest master of colour amongst the painters of the present day is at the same time the most remarkable for propriety in his architectural backgrounds, these frequently exhibit designs that may be studied with advantage by the architect, and in expressing my admiration of Turner, I wish to avoid the appearance of advocating that servile imitation, which an antiquary is generally supposed to require. Much has been said about taste in domestic architec ture, and many attempts have been made to establish "Fairie Queene" Spenser describes the hangings used. "For round about, the walls y'clothed were As faining to be hidd, from envious eye. Our painters do not yet appear to be sensible what a fund of variety an attention to the peculiar style of our early architecture, characteristic of each individual period, will afford in illustration of historical subjects. I am led to this remark by a picture now in exhibition, where Wolsey appears as a conspicuous actor, and in which the omission of the Tudor character in the architectural back-ground is an oversight, the less pardonable as the halls of Hampton Court and Christ Church remain in their pristine splendour. I allude to a representation of the banquet scene, with the introduction of King Henry VIII. to Anne Boleyn, as described by Shakspeare, painted by J. Stephanoft, at the command of his majesty. This event happened at York Place, (now Whitehall) the very mansion Wolsey had just built in that style, which afterwards became the common fashion. Fuller, the historian, alluding to this period, says, "Now began beautiful buildings in England, as to the generality thereof, a character for it, from the time Lord Burlington built Chiswick House, after a design of Palladio's Villa Capra, to the period of the erection of Fonthill Abbey, on the model of Ely Cathedral, and fifty old churches. I forbear to mention either the complete failures, or the partial accomplishments; but it will not be denied that no one has been entirely successful since the time of Cardinal Wolsey. He indeed produced many splendid examples of original taste, not Greek, not Roman, and certainly not Gothic. His knowledge of what was requisite in the habitation of a person of high degree was doubtless one of the reasons of the King's partiality to him. His edifices, which still remain, are eminently superior, notwithstanding their antiquity, to all others of their kind, in design and magnificence, and his name is familiarly used to denote the highly enriched manner of building then, and afterwards used, during the reigns of the Tudors, by the appellation of "The Wolsey Architecture." As an instance I shall mention Hampton Court, one of the superb edifices erected by the Cardinal, which may be truly said to offer an unobjectionable model for a Palace, one that if erected, would not only establish the fame of the architect, or clerk of the works, but would confer celebrity on the reign in which such a noble design was carried into execution. The peculiar style or order of archi- | tecture, adopted in every one of the mansions and colleges, erected by the munificence of the Cardinal, is uniform, and original, perfectly suited to the purpose of display. It is completely distinct from the ecclesi-homes were but homely before, but now many most astical style, and includes a variety of elegant combi- regular pieces of architecture were erected."-This nations admirably calculated for the use of the painter very subject has been previously treated by Hogarth, in historical composition, as marking the precise period but in his picture no notice is taken of the gorgeous of the subject throughout the Tudor reigns, as well as assemblage of visitors at the banquet. On such ocharmonizing with the extremely gorgeous costume casions, the very sight of them was deemed, to use a then prevalent, and otherwise employing the fancy of common expression, "fit for a prince." Archbishop the artist. In Wolsey's buildings the imposing sim- Parker, in the reign of Elizabeth, on giving a banquet plicity of the graceful pointed architecture, that had at Lambeth Palace, thus writes, "If her Highness for ages retained its sway, was united with arabesque will give me leave, I will kepe my bigger hall, that ornaments skilfully introduced, together with a redund-day, for the nobles, and the rest of her traine; and if ance of quaint device, and heraldic enrichment of every it please her majesty, she may come in through my kind. On the inner walls, gilding and colour were pro-gallery, and see the disposition of the hall, at a winfusely lavished, so as to give a mosaic appearance to the spacious rooms which on state occasions were decorated with tapestry, as described by Wolsey's biographer in the preparation for a banquet. "The Yeomen, and Grooms of the wardrobes, were busied in hanging of the chambers with costly hangings, and furnishing the same with beds of silk and other furniture, apt for the same, in every degree." This practice was carried to greater excess in the reign of Elizabeth. In the dow opening thereinto." I shall now take the liberty of mentioning some particulars (though perfectly familiar to the antiquary) in explanation of the enrichments which are usually found at the upper end of our great halls. This room was in every manor-house a necessary appendage for holding "the court," the services belonging to which are equally denominated the homage," with those of the king's palace. The dais, or raised part of the upper end of the hall, was so called, from the administration of justice. A dais man is still a popular term for an arbitrator in the north, and Domesday Book (with the name of which I suppose every one to be familiar) is known to be a list of manor houses. Here also is the oriel window filled with the arms and badges of the various alliances connected with the family of the lord of the manor. In another picture, in the same exhibition, by A. Chisholm, the subject is Shakspeare before Justice Shallow, to be engraven for a work, entitled the Gallery of the Society of Painters in water colours. In this picture, the artist's idea of the hall window which | is introduced must have been taken from some one in the chancel of a parish church; to speak in the mildest terms of criticism. At Charlecote itself, where the scene is laid, (but which there is a possibility never actually occurred,) the greatest attention has been paid to propriety in the decoration of the hall; and a numerous series of ancient coats of arms, coeval with Shakspeare, in characteristic compartments, fill the bays of the window. When this subject, therefore, is again taken up, I would recommend the painter to give it his attention, as the subordinate parts of a picture ought to partake of the character, at least, of the period represented, although it is not recommended to restrict his pencil to a servile copy. In a third picture, of the same gallery, is King James I. and his jeweller, George Heriott, which has in the foreground a superb vase, designed in the style termed by our goldsmiths, "the Louis Quartorze," almost a century later, in point of historical property, than could possibly have come into King James's possession. This introduction was unnecessary, as the finest specimens of workmanship are to be found, executed previously to the time here alluded to, and which are now so much in request, that any price may be obtained for them.-These hints, from an antiquary, will, it is hoped, be taken as kindly as they are meant, and I have not presumed to speak of the general composition of the pictures mentioned, that part being most admirably treated, particularly in the last piece. T. M. WEST SHENE PRIORY. A PRIORY of Carthusians, dedicated to Jesus of Bethlehem, was founded in 1414, at West Shene, in Surrey, (about a quarter of a mile from the old palace at Richmond,) by king Henry the Fifth; in whose will its endowment is stated at forty marks. Perkin Warbeck sought an asylum in this house, in the reign of Henry the Seventh, and in that of his successor, the body of James the Fourth was buried at Shene. Stowe, in his "Annals" says, "I have beene shewed the same body (as was affirmed,) lapped in lead, thrown into an old waste room, amongst old timber, stone, led, and other rubble." At the Dissolution of this Priory, (26th Henry VIII.) its annual revenues, according to Dugdale, amounted to £777 12s. 0; but Speed states them at £962 11s. 6d. In the 32d of Henry the Eighth, the site of this foundation was granted to Edward, Earl of Hertford; and although Queen Mary restored the convent, it was dissolved again in little more than a year. The seal of these Carthusians, which was small, and of an oval shape, exhibited the Adoration of the Shepherds; beneath which were the arms of France and England, quarterly. In the account of Richmond, in Lysons' "Environs," it is stated, that " an ancient gateway, the last remains of the priory of Shene, was taken down" in 1769. "The whole hamlet of West Shene, consisting of eighteen houses, one of which was a calico manufactory, was at the same time totally annihilated, and the site, which was made into a lawn, added to the King's inclosures." In the Survey, now in the Augmentation office, taken by order of Parliament, during the Interregnum, the old church is described to be standing, "but very ruinous and fit to be demolished;"-and also a structure of brick, called the Prior's Lodgings; the Monk's Hall, a stone building; the Lady of St. John's Lodgings; the Anchorite's Cell; and an old building, and a parcel of buildings, called the Gallery. ADAM KRAFFT. FEW cities possess greater attractions for the artist and antiquary, than Nuremberg, which was formerly to Germany what Venice and Florence were to Italy, -the seat of commerce and the abode of art. Even were it less picturesque as a town, less opulent in studies of gothic architecture, in specimens of early painting and sculpture, it would still be interesting to the traveller as a place consecrated to history by names of such men as Albert Durer, Visscher, and Kraft. With the exception of Durer, however, their names are little known in this country, although no one who has beheld the Tomb of St. Sebaldus, or the celebrated "Sacramentshauslein," can refuse to place the other two among those who have been worthy devotees of art. As regards the last-mentioned of this illustrious trio, this, we think, will be in some degree apparent from his own portrait-figure, and we consider ourselves fortunate in being enabled to give a copy of it for the embellishment of this work. This effigy, with two others, all of the size of life, and in kneeling attitudes, support the lower part of the Sacramentshauslein, or Tabernacle, in the church of St. Laurence, at Nuremberg. The Tabernacle itself is about sixty-four feet high, and tapers upwards like a spire of rich carved-work till it reaches the roof of the building. It was commenced in the year 1496, and completed in 1500. The execution of the figures, especially that of Krafft himself, is truly admirable, combining the most careful attention to finish, with breadth of style and decision of touch. For anatomical correctness, felicity of expression, propriety of character, in short for energy of nature, and truth, they may shame many of the master-pieces of those whose reputation might seem lowered by the mere allusion to any comparison between them and a German of the 15th century. which they are attached. From this circumstance, and from its occupying the most conspicuous situation, there can be no doubt that it is the artist's own portrait, although it has been generally supposed that the one on the north side, which is that of a bald-headed aged man with a long beard, represented our worthy Adam Krafft. Sandrart has given the head of Krafft from the effigy we have just mentioned, and his authority has misled succeeding writers, who have followed him without due examination, although the supposed identity is altogether at variance with what is said by Neudorfer in his chronicle of Nuremberg Artists; and also with the fact that Krafft, who died in 1507, could not have been so old by many years as that venerable personage with the long beard. As a proof how easy it is for a critic to discover what he is determined to find, we may remark, that the author of "Norica" a recent work containing many anecdotes of our artist and his contemporaries as related by a supposed contemporary, has adopted the more generallyreceived opinion, and "the aspect says: of the bearded bald-pated sire, is as noble as that of the other two figures is clownish and repulsive." Our readers will judge whether those discourteous epithets can be applied to the one of which we give them a copy. The Tabernacle, which rests against a pillar to the right of the high altar, consists of five divisions or stories, terminating at its summit in a kind of ornamental crosier. Each of those divisions is profusely embellished with columns, turrets, foliage and flowers, of most beautiful and elaborate design, and of such exquisite workmanship that the spectator may fancy he beholds real foliage which has been petrified; not the work of the chisel. This has given rise to a tradition that Krafft was acquainted with some peculiar method of softening stone so as to render it perfectly plastic, if not of fusing it and casting it like metal; which is, of course, a mere idle legend, although the possibility of the process was at one time credited. In addition to the ornaments we have mentioned, each story of the tabernacle, except the uppermost, which is too narrow for the purpose, is embellished with three bas-reliefs, representing various scenes from the passion of our Saviour. On the fifth story are only two figures, that on one side, shewing the Crucified, the other, the Glorified Redeemer. This figure, which is the one facing the west, is the Besides the preceding, Nuremberg contains various only one of the three that is represented in the costume other works which attest the powers of Adam Krafft of a mason or sculptor, and is further distinguished both as an architect and a sculptor, works of less celefrom the rest by displaying more freedom in its atti-brity, in truth, their fame being swallowed up by that tude, whereas the others seem to be employed more of his master-piece, yet of such merit that any one of expressly for purpose of supporting the structure to them would have conferred distinction on his name. |