The kaleidoscope

by David Brewster

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.

2. Ornamental Painting.

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 of combination, 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 be combined 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.

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.