52

ART  EDUCATION.

Tliis  excellent  work  has  also  naturalized  itself  in  most  of  the
German  and  Austrian  sckools,  and  is  especially  used  to  practice
outline-drawing  in  systematic  progress  from  geometrical  groundforms
  to  curvilinear  ornament;  at  the  same  time  it  öfters  au
opportunity  to  give  the  pupils  simple  exercises  witli  the  brash  in
laying  flat  tints.  When  a  certain  dexterity  of  eoneeption  and  of
technical  execution  has  been  reached,  object-drawing  is  taken  up,
beginning  with  geometrical  forms,  but  immediately  passing  on  to
Ornaments  in  plaster,  at  first  in  outline,  and  by  degrees  in  shading.
For  tliis  purpose  there  were  executed  in  the  modelling  Institution ­
  of  the  Royal  Wurtemberg  Central  Bureau  for  Industry  and
Commerce,  a  series  of  more  than  four  hundred  plaster  models,
which  are  also  arranged  progressively,  beginning  with  straight-line
geometrical  forms,  and  then,  from  the  simplest  leaves,  passing  on
to  richly  developed  Ornaments  which  are  composed  for  given
spaces,  thus  showing  their  eventual  practical  application.  In
style,  the  motives  belong  almost  exelusively  to  the  Renaissance,
a  few  only  having  been  selected  from  the  Gothic  and  the  older
antique  styles.
To  aid  in  the  transition  from  conventionalized  to  natural  plantforms,
  casts  of  plants,  &c.,  liave  also  been  admitted  into  the  Collection. ­
  For  figure-drawing  there  is  a  collection  of  casts  from
antique  busts,  torsos,  limbs,  reliefs,  and  small  statuettes  ;  a  series
of  models  for  the  study  of  theoretical  forms  has  likewise  been
added.  A  large  part  of  this  excellent  collection  was  on  exhibition,
  together  with  an  illustrated  price-list.
The  drawings  from  casts  are  executed.  throughout  with  crayon
or  charcoal  upon  white  paper,  the  tint  being  earried  up  to  the  highest
  light.  Tliis  method  is  in  use  almost  universally  in  Germany,
altliough  it  entails  the  greatest  waste  of  time,  and  the  tinted  paper
of  the  French  would  be  preferable.  Occasionally  the  execution
was  masterly,  and  the  patience  of  the  pupils  in  minutely  stippling
out  the  tints  in  backgrounds,  sometimes  a  foot  square*  compelled
admiration,  coupled,  however,  with  regret  for  the  time  spent
upon  thcm.  The  most  extraordinary  feat  in  this  respect  had  been
achieved  by  the  scliool  at  Rottenberg,  wliere  the  whole  groundsurface
  in  large  decorative  pieces  for  panels  had  been  filled  in  with
an  even  grain.  This  dwelling  too  long  upon  the  form  in  geneial,