SECOND DIVISION.— Imitation of Coloured Objects by Materials of a Definite Size, as Threads, &c.
John Spanton translation
344. The tapestries of Gobelins and of Beauvais, and also the carpets of Savonnerie, and certain very elaborate mosaics, may all be considered as works which resemble the method of painting in chiaro-’scuro; while the windows of Gothic churches correspond more or less exactly to painting in flat tints; so also with tapestries for furniture and carpets, which, instead of being fabricated with scales of at least sixteen or eighteen tones, as they are in the royal manufactories, are composed with scales consisting of three or four tones only, and, far from imitating the effects of chiaro-’scuro, the coloured objects produced present to the eye only small monochromous bands of a single tone.
345. There are also some works whose coloured designs are upon a kind of mixed system, being the result of the juxtaposition of monochromous single tinted parts, of a visible size, but in which the effects of chiaro-’scuro are sought by using gradations of scale or a mixture of hues; such are ordinary mosaics, carpets, embroidered tapestries, &c.
346. In the patterns of tapestries and carpets, when the principal effects to be aimed at have been determined, it may be seen what points of ordinary painting may be sacrificed to obtain them, and what must be done for perfecting the special portion of their imitation. Beginning with the physical condition of the coloured elements the weaver employs, and the texture of the tapestry, we see the necessity of representing in this kind of work only large, well-defined objects, and especially such as are remarkable for the brilliancy of their colours. The patterns for hangings must recommend themselves more by the opposition of their colours than by the minute finish of their details. To pretend to rival painting in these manufactures is to establish a confusion most detrimental to the progress of arts, absolutely distinct from painting, both in their purpose and their means of execution.
347. The principles truly essential to these arts of imitation being once deduced from the peculiarities of each, it becomes easy to point out by what efforts we may hope to obtain true perfection.