FOOTNOTES
[1140] The simplest or worst articles are not always the oldest or the first. The deterioration of a commodity is often the continuation of an invention, which, when once begun, is by industry practised in every form, in order that new gain may be acquired from each variation. The earliest printers, for example, had not the art of printing with such slight ink and on such bad paper as ours commonly employ; and Aldus, perhaps, were he now alive, would be astonished at the cheap mode of printing some of our most useful and popular books.
[1141] Origny, in Dictionnaire des Origines, v. p. 332. Journal Œconomique, 1755, Mars, p. 86. Savary, Dictionnaire de Commerce, iv. p. 903.
[1142] I shall here insert the words of the patent: “To all those to whom these presents shall come, greeting. Whereas our trusty and well-beloved subject and servant Jerome Lanyard hath informed us, that he by his endeavours hath found out an art and mystery by affixing of wool, silk and other materials of divers colours upon linen cloth, silk, cotton, leather and other substances, with oil, size and other cements, to make them useful and serviceable for hangings and other occasions, which he calleth Londrindiana, and that the said art is of his own invention, not formerly used by any other within this realm, &c.”—Rymeri Fœdera, tom. xix. London, 1732, fol. p. 554. The following observations may serve to illustrate all works of this nature in general. Painting, according to the most common technical meaning, may be divided into three kinds. In the first the colours or pigments are mixed with a viscous or glutinous fluid to bind them, and make them adhere to the body which is to be painted. Gums, glue, varnish, &c. may be used for this purpose. Vegetable colours will not admit of such additions, because they contain gum in their natural composition. Another kind consists in previously washing over the parts that are to be painted with some viscous substance, and then laying on the colours as the figures may require. Size or cement (I use the word in the most extensive sense) is of such a nature that either in drying or glazing it becomes hard, and binds the colours. To this method belongs not only gilding, imitating bronze and making velvet-paper-hangings, but also painting on glass and in enamel. By the third method the colours are applied to the ground without any binding substance: they are therefore more liable to decay, as is the case in painting with crayons; but they will however adhere better when the pigments consist of very fine particles like ceruse, or black-lead. It would be a great acquisition if a substance could be found out to bind the colours used in this art without injuring them, or to fix the crayons. The third kind of painting is not with colours, but with different bodies ready coloured, which are joined together in pieces according to a copy, either by cement or plaster, as in mosaic, or by working them into each other, as in weaving and sewing, which is painting with the needle.... Are not the works of art almost like those of nature, each connected together as a chain? Do not the boundaries of one art approach those of another? Do they not even touch each other? Those who do not perceive this approximation are like people unacquainted with botany, who cannot remark the natural order of plants. But if a connoisseur observe a gap in the chain of artificial works, we are to suppose that some links are still wanting, the discovery of which may become a merit to more ingenious ages.
[1143] Journal Œconomique, 1756, Fevrier, p. 92.
[1144] Both his brothers, John and Benedict Audran, were celebrated engravers.
[1145] Nachrichten von Künstlern und Künstsachen. Leipzig, 1768, 8vo, ii. p. 56. The author, giving an account of his travels through the Netherlands, says, “Before I leave the Hague I must not omit to mention M. Eccard’s particular invention for making paper-hangings. He prints some which appear as if worked through with gold and silver. They are fabricated with much taste, and are not dear.”
[1146] Haus- und Land-bibliothek, iii. p. 90.
[1147] The author says, “I shall give an account of a beautiful art, by which one may cover chairs, screens and other articles of the like kind, with a substance of various colours made of wool, cut or chopped very fine, and cleaned by being made to pass through a hair-sieve.... I remember that two Swabian women travelled about through some countries, and taught people this art, by which means they gained a good deal of money.” Of the author I have been able to procure no information. His book is a compilation selected without any taste, and according to the ideas of the seventeenth century, from different writers, almost always without mentioning the sources from which the articles are taken; but it deserves a place in public libraries, because it contains here and there some things which may help to illustrate the history of agriculture and the arts.
[1148] Kunkels Glasmacher-Kunst. Nurnb. 1743, 4to, p. 368. J. J. Marxens Neu vermehrte Materialkammer.
[1149] Volkmann, Silesia Subterranea. Leipzig, 1720, 4to, p. 52.
[1150] Pomet.
[1151] Brande’s Dictionary of Science, &c.