John Henry Middleton, John Starkie Gardner, and Joseph Gregory Horner

“ Tools, appliances and methods have little in common. Between the work of the smith, the sheet-metal worker and the founder, there is a great gulf. An artistic taste will recognize the essential differences, and not endeavour, apart from questions of strength, to graft a design suitable for one on another. It is bad taste to imitate the tracery of the ductile wrought iron in cast designs, the foliations of ancient wrought-iron grilles and screens in heavy cast iron. Severe simplicity is also most in harmony with constructional designs in plated work, where stresses occur in straight lines. ”

“ They are a pair of shoulder-pieces from a suit of bronze armour, and each has in very high relief a combat between a Greek warrior and an Amazon. No work of art in metal has probably ever surpassed these little figures for beauty, vigour and expression, while the skill with which the artist has beaten these high reliefs out of a flat plate of metal appears almost miraculous. The heads of the figures are nearly detached from the ground, their substance is little thicker than paper, and yet in no place has the metal been broken through by the punch. ”

“ Painters also have frequently designed and, modelled for metal-work, for example, Lord Leighton, who produced bronze statuettes of most refined character; and Sir L. Alma-Tadema, who designed the grilles for his studio and entrance hall; but none so conspicuously as Professor H. von Herkomer, who, whether working in gold and enamel, iron, or his favourite alloy, pewter, infuses a freshness into his designs and methods which displays an unusual mastery over materials.
The gift of reproducing effects of nature or art by brush or chisel is not necessarily accompanied by power to design ”

“ METAL-WORK. Among the many stages in the development of primeval man, none can have been of greater moment in his struggle for existence than the discovery of the metals, and the means of working them. The names generally given to the three prehistoric periods of man’s life on the earth—the Stone, the Bronze and the Iron age—imply the vast importance of the progressive steps from the flint knife to the bronze celt, and lastly to the keen-edged elastic iron weapon or tool. ”

“ Indeed, as long as metal-working remained a handicraft—in other words, until the introduction of steam machinery—every article, however humble its purpose, seems to have been endowed with some traditional beauty of form. The robust, florid and distinctly Roman rendering of the classic, which followed the refined and attenuated treatment associated with the architecture of the brothers Adam, who died in 1792 and 1794, is the last development in England which can be regarded as a national style. ”

“ But when all artistic perception in Great Britain appeared lost in admiration of the triumphs of machinery and the expansion of trade, a new influence in art matters, that of the prince consort, began to make itself felt. ”

“ Modern Art Metal-Work.—The term “art metal-work” is applied to those works in metal in which beauty of form or decorative effect is the first consideration, irrespective of whether the object is intended for use or is merely ornamental; and it embraces any article from a Birmingham brass bedstead to works of the highest artistic merit. The term, as definitely distinguishing one branch of metal-working from another, is objected to by many on the ground that no such prefix was required in the best periods of art, and that allied crafts continue to do without it to the present day. ”

“ The multiplication of art periodicals, lectures, books, photographs, meetings of societies and gilds, museums, schools of arts and crafts, polytechnics, scholarships, facilities for travel, exhibitions, even those of the Royal Academy, to which objects of applied art are now admitted, not only encourages many persons to become workers and designers in the applied arts, but exposes everything to the plagiarist, who travesties the freshest idea before it has well left the hands of its originator. ”

“ The subdued colour and soft contours of pewter render it once more a favoured material, peculiarly adapted to the methods of the art revival, and perhaps destined to supersede electro-plate for household purposes. In silver-work the proportion of new art designs exhibited by dealers and others is still relatively small; but jewellers, except when setting pure brilliants and pearls, are becoming more inclined to make their jewels of finely modelled gold and enamel enriched with precious and semi-precious stones, than of gems merely held together by wholly subordinate settings. ”

“ The keen desire to be unconventional in applied art has spread from Great Britain and the United States to Germany, Austria and other countries, but without well-defined first principles, or limitations. It seems agreed in a general way that the completed work in metal is to be wholly the conception and, as far as possible, the actual handiwork of the designer: casting by the cire-perdue process, left practically untouched from the mould, and embossing, being the two most favoured processes. ”

“ In a lesser degree most of the qualities of gold are shared by silver, and consequently the treatment of these two metals has always been very similar, though the greater abundance of the latter metal has allowed it to be used on a larger scale and for a greater variety of purposes. The great fluidity of bronze when melted, the slightness of its contraction on solidifying, together with its density and hardness, make it especially suitable for casting, and allow of its taking the impress of the mould with extreme sharpness and delicacy. ”

“ At the same time a most active production of modern designs was proceeding, stimulated by rewards, with the result that the supply of clocks, lamps, candelabra, statuettes, and other ornaments in bronze and zinc to the rest of Europe became a monopoly of Paris for nearly half a century. In all connected with their own homes the French adhere to their traditions far more than other nations, and the attempt at originality in the introduction of metal-work into the scheme of decoration of a room is almost unknown. ”

“ The quality of the surface left by the skilled artist or artisan is more regarded than symmetry of design, or even than correct modelling. Frequently only the important parts in a design are carefully finished and the rest merely sketched: the mode of working, whether by modelling-tools or hammer, being always left apparent. ”

“ In many specimens of ancient bronze, small quantities of silver, lead and zinc have been found, but their presence is probably accidental. In modern times brass has been much used, chiefly for the sake of its cheapness as compared with bronze. In beauty, durability and delicacy of surface it is very inferior to bronze, and, though of some commercial importance, has been of but little use in the production of works of art. ”

“ The malleability and ductility of metals lie at the basis of the work of the gold- and silver-smiths at one extreme, and of the boiler-maker at the other. Sheet metals can be made to assume almost any shape under the hammer, or by pressure, provided they are subjected to annealing to restore the property of malleability. The most awkward shapes, involving excessive extensions of metal, are produced by drawing processes between dies of iron and steel in power presses. ”

“ Wrought or malleable iron has less of carbon and other elements in its composition than has cast iron. Steel intended for castings has slightly more carbon and other elements than the cast-steel ingot intended for rolling into plates. So also with the numerous bronzes, the phosphor, the delta, the aluminium and other alloys of copper; each is made in several grades to render it suitable for different kinds of treatment.
There are no materials used in manufacture of which the craftsman is able to vary the composition and physical qualities so extensively as the metals and their alloys. ”

“ The poems of Homer are full of descriptions of elaborate works in bronze, gold and silver, which, even when full allowance is made for poetic fancy, show clearly enough very advanced skill in the working and ornamenting of these metals. Homer’s description of the shield of Achilles, made of bronze, enriched with 'bands of figure reliefs in gold, silver and tin, could hardly have been written by a man who had not some personal acquaintance with works in metal of a very elaborate kind. ”

“ Wrought iron and mild steel may be made to show a short and crystalline fracture by a sudden application of stress, while if drawn asunder slowly they develop the silky, fibrous appearance. The men who design and work in metals have to take account of these vital differences and characteristics, and must be careful not to apply treatment suitable to one kind to another of a dissimilar character. ”

“ In its hot plastic state iron can be formed and modelled under the hammer to almost any degree of refinement, while its great strength allows it to be beaten out into leaves and ornaments of almost paper-like thinness and delicacy. With repeated hammering, drawing out and annealing, it gains much in strength and toughness, and the addition of a very minute quantity of carbon converts it into steel, less tough, but of the keenest hardness. The large employment of cast iron is comparatively modern, in England at least only dating from the 16th century ”

“ In that period of extreme degradation into which all the higher arts fell after the destruction of the Roman Empire, though true feeling for beauty and knowledge of the subtleties of the human form remained for centuries almost dormant, yet at Byzantium at least there still survived great technical skill and power in the production of all sorts of metal-work. ”

“ But in those forms where curving must take place in different directions the layers or fibres of metal are made to glide over one another, extension taking place in some layers but not in others, and this goes on without producing much reduction in the thickness. This is only possible with malleable and ductile metals and alloys. As a general rule it is restricted to metals which are not cast, for, with some slight exceptions, it is impossible to produce relative movements of the layers in cast iron, steel or cast brass. ”

“ Copper in its pure state may be worked by the same methods as bronze, but it is inferior to it in hardness, strength and beauty of surface. Tin is too weak and brittle a metal to be employed alone for any but small objects. Some considerable number of tin drinking-cups and bowls of the Celtic period have been found in Cornwall in the neighbourhood of the celebrated tin and copper mines, which have been worked from a very early period. The use of lead has been more extended. In sheets it forms the best of all coverings for roofs and even spires. ”

“ During the 13th and 14th centuries in Italy the widespread influence of Niccola Pisano and his school encouraged the sculptor to use marble rather than bronze for his work. At this period wrought iron came into general use in the form of screens for chapels and tombs, and grills for windows. These are mostly of great beauty, and show remarkable skill in the use of the hammer, as well as power in adapting the design to the requirements of the material. ”

“ On the continent of Europe, France was the first to recognize the merits of its bygone designers and craftsmen, and even antecedent to the Exhibition of 1851, when art in Great Britain was dormant, it was possible to obtain in Paris faithful reproductions of the finest ormolu work of the 18th century. ”

“ France.—From the time of the Romans the city of Limoges has been celebrated for all sorts of metal-work, and especially for brass enriched with enamel. In the 13th and 14th centuries many life-size sepulchral effigies were made of beaten copper or bronze, and ornamented by various-coloured “champlevé” enamels. The beauty of these effigies led to their being imported into England.; most are now destroyed, but a fine specimen still exists at Westminster on the tomb of William de Valence (1296) . ”

“ But in all the great modern manufacturing processes it is true that metals and alloys, though of the same name, have a different composition according as they are intended for casting on the one hand, or for forging, rolling and drawing on the other. ”

“ The production of the larger household accessories, such as bedsteads, fenders, gas and electric fittings, clocks, &c., has hardly as yet come under the influence of the art movement. The services rendered by Mr W. A. S. Benson of Chiswick, who commenced about 1886 to revolutionize the production of sheet-brass and copper utensils, cannot be passed over. The average ecclesiastical metal-work has rather receded than progressed in merit, except when designed by architects and executed under their supervision. ”

“ Cellini, the great Florentine, artist of the 16th century, has described it fully in his Trattato della Scultura. If a statue was to be cast, the figure was first roughly modelled in clay—only rather smaller in all its dimensions than the future bronze; all over this a skin of wax was laid, and worked by the sculptor with modelling tools to the required form and finish. ”