ENGLAND. 
121 
French and tlie Germans of to-day are far in the advanee ; and it 
need not astonish us when we find that the most beautiful produc- 
tions of the firm “ Minton,” for example, owe their origin to 
French and to German artists. The English nation is indeed an 
art-loving, hut on the whole not an artistic nation, as any unpre- 
judiced observer might again have noticed in the Art-Hall. And 
it will always remain problematie whether art-industry can of itself 
attain to the highest degree of development in a country in which 
art proper does not occupy a leading position. 
In spite of all successes, the matter of form in England is still 
in a state of fermentation ; and it will only be possible at some 
later period, when the process of clarification shall have been com- 
pleted, to arrive at a judgment of the value of the art-educational 
apparatus, which has been put in motion with such good intentions. 
If we now take a look at the exhibition of the Kensington 
School, we shall find neat productions of good style in all branches 
of art-industry, revealing throughout the effort to attain to a uni 
form principle in harmony with the spirit of the reform. The 
results could not be called brilliant; on the whole, they left 
one cool. The authorities of the Museum had arranged a table 
of the class-divisions of the institution, and had endeavored as 
much as possible to exhibit something of each branch. But 
this had a tendency to cut up the picture of the activity of the 
school, as two or three specimens of a special division were not 
sufficient to give an idea of its character. The authorities had 
also neglected to provide the programmes of the institution since 
1867, which might have helped to Supplement the fragmentary 
nature of the Exhibition. The course of instruction in the pre- 
paratory classes could be traced only with difficulty. Of the work 
of these classes there were to be seen Ornaments from casts in out 
line ; others shaded in sepia, and geometrical models executed in 
crayon. By the higher (special) classes there were exhibited 
copies of original models in various styles, studies from nature, 
and original compositions ; the best among these were Sketches 
for the ornamentation of flat surfaces, paper-hangings, textile 
fabrics, &c. The flower is carefully studied, and is applied to 
Ornament in a very exeellent manner ; only here and there, espe- 
cially in the designs for fans, dkl its application recall French taste.