https://www.um.edu.mt/library/oar/handle/123456789/123003 2026-04-06T23:54:29Z https://www.um.edu.mt/library/oar/handle/123456789/130847 Title: A letter to the council of the Society of Arts, on elementary education in the arts of design Abstract: To the Council of the Society of Arts.; Gentlemen,; I observe from the published weekly proceedings of the Society for the week ending 31st January 1852, that you have appointed a Committee to carry out the establishment of Elementary Drawing and Modelling Schools for Artizans and Mechanics, and that you have put forth a statement of your views and intentions, desiring, at the same time, to call the attention of the Members generally to the following extract :-; " The Great Exhibition has materially strengthened a growing conviction, that one ef the most serious disadvantages under which ornamental British manufactures are produced, is the want of artistic knowledge and executive ability on the part of the artizans engaged in producing them. Every one competent to judge admits that the ornamental productions of the French exhibit much more ability, on the part of the French workman, in drawing, modelling, chasing, &c., than our own. The Council believe that a radical cure for many imperfections of British manufactures will be found in a much more , enlarged and liberal system of Art-education than at present exists - an education which will make the power of drawing at least as easy to be acquired as that of writing, and shall begin at an early period of life. The Council are convinced that there is hardly any handicraft in which a workman can be engaged, as a carpenter, mason, smith, tailor, &c., which would not be greatly improved by an ability to perceive the form of objects correctly, and represent it with precision.''; Having had the honour of being examined before a select Committee of the House of Commons on Arts and their Connexion with Manufactures, so far back as 1836, and the evidence I gave, and the suggestions I offered on that occasion, agreeing with the belief at which you have now arrived, I take the liberty respectfully to address you on the subject.; My evidence was given at great length, filling nearly seven pages of the Committee's printed Report. Since that time I have thought much on the subject, and in several works published in the interval, have treated of it very fully. But as, these works are not calculated to get rapidly into circulation, and as the demand for a better mode of disseminating an elementary knowledge of Art amongst the working classes is urgent, I shall take the liberty of laying before you a few of my opinions thus published, which seem to me in some measure to meet the present exigency... [Excerpt] 1852-01-01T00:00:00Z https://www.um.edu.mt/library/oar/handle/123456789/130846 Title: What shall we do with with our criminals? with an account of the prison of Valencia, and the penitentiary of Mettray Abstract: It is now generally acknowledged that transportation as a punishment for our criminals must soon be abandoned. Our colonists, regardless of the pecuniary advantages of such a system, are no longer willing to receive within their limited population thousands of our worst convicts-men tainted with every vice, or the victims of ungovernable passions. To force such characters on colonists, many of whom have families, and naturally take as deep an interest in the moral as in the commercial condition of their adopted country, would, under ordinary circumstances, be both unjust and impolitic; but now that almost every colony is become an El Dorado, men deemed unfit to encounter the ordinary temptations of life at home, are the last that should be launched into scenes where gold is but feebly guarded, and robberies, and even murders, already so frequent. The great advantage of transportation was its deterring effect. The sentence of separation from relations and friends has produced many an agonizing shriek from the criminals in the docks and from their families in the courts. The convicts in their solitary cells, previous to embarkation, might well feel deeper remorse for their past life, when the irksomeness of hard labour and solitude was only to be changed for the privations of a long and hazardous voyage, and the separation from all they cared for, to say nothing of their undefined dread of that distant "land from whose bourn no traveller returns." A great change has now, however, taken place, and their reflections in the solitary cells are not likely to be so salutary when they know that thousands are rushing voluntarily to the same region. Their imaginations are more likely to dwell on the golden prospect before them--the bright fields open to their industry, and their peculiar talents, when liberated, or by some lucky chance they can escape at once to the diggings.; Norfolk Island, Gibraltar, and Bermuda establishments are but penitentiaries which might be conducted more efficiently and at less expense at home. The work done by the convicts at the two latter places, if useful is not indispensable. Of all our colonies Western Australia is the only one willing to receive our convicts on the present system of tickets of leave ; and as the number of criminals there will soon be very great in proportion to the population, we can scarcely expect that colony will be open to them for a longer period than will be required to establish a new system independent of transportation... [Excerpt] Description: Short handwritten note on the first page 1853-01-01T00:00:00Z https://www.um.edu.mt/library/oar/handle/123456789/130845 Title: A catalogue of the articles of ornamental art, in the museum of the department, for the use of students and manufactures, and the consultation of the public Abstract: Introduction; The formation of a Museum of Manufactures of a high order of excellence in Design, or of rare skill in Art Workmanship, had long been considered desirable, as well for the use of Schools of Ornamental Art as for the improvement of the public taste in Design ; and the Great Exhibition of 1851, affording a favourable opportunity for obtaining suitable specimens, the Board of Trade requested a Committee to recommend articles for purchase, and subsequently to prepare a Catalogue, which should set forth the prices of the various articles, and the reasons for purchase, together with any other particulars it might be desirable to know in the use and study of the Collection.; 2. The funds which the Treasury allowed for this purpose were limited to £5,000, of which £4,470 16s. 5d. have been expended in the following proportions :- Articles exhibited on the Foreign Side of the Exhibition £2075 s9 d0 Articles exhibited on the British Side of the Exhibition £893 s18 d11 Articles exhibited by the East India Company £1501 s9 d6 [Total] £4,470 16 5; 3. Apportioning this amount to large groups of Manufactures, the expenditure in each will be as follows ; the prices of foreign articles being exclusive of Customs dues, &c. :- £ s. d. Woven Fabrics - £1,080 s0 d4 Metal Works - £426 s15 d6 Enamels - £844 s12 d0 Ceramic Manufactures - £348 s6 d7 Wood Carvings and Furniture - £771 s2 d0; 4. As a first principle in making the selections, the Committee felt it to be their duty to discard any predilections they might have for particular styles of ornament, and to choose whatever appeared especially meritorious or useful, if it came within the limits of the means at their disposal, without reference to the style of ornament which had been adopted. The Collection accordingly possesses specimens of many European and several Asiatic styles. Yet each specimen has been selected for its merits in exemplifying some right principle of construction or of ornament, or some feature of workmanship to which it appeared desirable that the attention of our Students and Manufacturers should be directed.; 5. Most of the examples, indeed, in the opinion of the Committee, have a mixed character. Some, like most of those from the East, illustrate correct principles of ornament, but are of rude workmanship; whilst others, chiefly European specimens, show superior skill in workmanship, but are often defective in the principles of their design. Thus, the Paris shawl, by Duché Ainé (W 120), was rewarded by the Jurors as a triumph of manufacture, but its direct imitations of natural objects appear to the Committee to be of very inferior design to the ruder scarfs of Tunis, or the Kink.hobs of Ahmedabad.; 6. An attempt has been made in the Catalogue to indicate the more salient points of merit and defect in most of the articles, as far as space would permit. This of necessity has been done imperfectly, but we look forward to many opportunities occurring when the features of the several purchases may be fully and systematically explained... [Excerpt] Description: A Catalogue ... with appendices.; Third edition 1852-01-01T00:00:00Z https://www.um.edu.mt/library/oar/handle/123456789/130373 Title: Elementary instruction in drawing and colouring Abstract: Addressess at the Opening of an Elementary Drawing School at Westminster, Presided over by the Right Hon. J. W. Henley, President of the Board of Trade, &c., on 2d June 1852.; Address by Henry Cole, C.B., the Superintendent of General Management.; Fourteen years have passed since it was admitted to be public policy that the Government should undertake to establish schools to afford instruction in the principles of Art, with the view of improving and beautifying the objects of every-day use, such as the paper hangings which decorate the nakedness of walls, the carpets and curtains which give warmth and colour to our rooms, the draperies which cover our persons, the utensils in metal and earth and glass which administer to our daily wants, comforts, and civilized habits. A Central School of Design was constituted in 1837, the express purpose of which was to provide for the architect, the upholsterer, the weaver, the printer, the potter, and all manufacturers, artizans better educated to originate and execute their respective wares, and to invest them with greater symmetry of form, with increased harmony of colour, and with greater fitness of decoration; to render manufactures not less useful by ornamenting them, but more beautiful, and therefore more useful. The establishment of the Central School at Somerset House has been followed by the organization of 21 other schools, located in all parts of the United Kingdom.; 2. At the origin of these schools it seems to have been assumed as sufficient, that it was only necessary to deecree to have a School of Design in locality, and to find the funds and educational apparatus requisite for its foundation, and that a School of Design would become then and there established, and its fruits be manifested at once in the improvement of manufactures; but the experience of 14 years, not with any one but with all the 21 schools, has shown that the looked-for result was not to be produced by these means only. Experience in every one of the 21 schools has proved that students did not exist sufficiently qualified by previous Art-education to enter them, but had to be trained, not merely to be able to understand and practise the principles of design, but to learn the very elements of drawing... [Excerpt] Description: I. On the necessity of acquiring a power of Drawing and knowledge of Colour.; II. The mode of proceeding for establishing Classes or Schools for Elementary Instruction in Art.; III. The duties of the Masters, with a list of the Articles and Examples requisite for teaching. 1853-01-01T00:00:00Z