The Bases of Design

by Walter Crane

THE IRON WORKERS UNITS.
WROUGHT IRON WORK PORCH GATES, CATHEDRAL OF S. LAWRENCE, NUREMBERG.

WROUGHT-IRON FENDER, TONGS, FIRE-DOG AND SHOVEL, BRUGES.

FENDER WITH TONGS BRUGES.
FIRE DOG.

WROUGHT-IRON ALTAR SCREEN, ST. THOMAS'S, SALISBURY.

PART OF ALTAR SCREEN IN WROUGHT IRON, CH. OF S THOMAS, SALISBURY.

A study of iron-work should be useful to all students in design, as showing what ornamental effects can be gained by economy of means, the effectiveness of simply repeating well-chosen curves, spirals, and lines; as well as the amount of fantasy and feeling which an inventive designer and craftsman can put into such work in its more complex and elaborate forms, and, above all, how perfectly it may be made to unite serviceableness and beauty; while, perhaps more conspicuously than most kinds of artistic work, it illustrates the essential unity of material and method with their results in design.

WROUGHT-IRON BALUSTRADE, ROTHENBURG, from a sketch by R. PHENÉ SPIERS.