The Course of Art and Workmanship. Enamelling: A Comparative Account of the Development and Practice of the Art

This book is not for scientists, but for artists, craftsmen, students and enameling enthusiasts. Regarding the history of this subject, the author knew enough not to rely on personal details for dates and findings. With regard to the practice of art, the author can claim to be more familiar with technique, with vitreous color, and especially with design, than is the case with the usual equipment of a scientist. Also, the author tried not so much to outline the direct, but in any case very problematic development of enameling, but to find out exactly where we are in order, so to speak, to take stock of past achievements, always looking at fresh enterprises in art and craftsmanship. No one other than a rather stubborn or very self-righteous adherent of modernity can help see the need for such preliminary work with the original work. What else can be done, what new forms of beauty the near future can generate, it remains to show each of us in his generation. But no man has ever done anything worse, knowing how others before him did it. At least part of the experience of others who preceded him is a natural inheritance of every worker, and he does not get poorer when he comes to him. Some knowledge of what is outside of his own experience helps the artist's self-expression. We live in days when comparative study is easier than ever. Time, having separated for us the good works of the past, transferred them to museums. There we can not only see it, as we could hardly see it in the church treasuries, where most of it was piously kept out of sight for a long time, but we also have the opportunity to compare the best with the best, each work with others of its kind. It is enough for a serious student to contact the museum administration, and they will allow him, out of their courtesy, to study everything that interests him, as carefully as necessary. However, the sheer scale of the great museums causes confusion and bewilderment among students. There is so much in them - historical, artistic, and purely technical! How can a beginner know what to look at and what to look for? The author has tried to write a book that will ease the beginner's path to understanding, indicate what was done, say when and where it was done, and, as far as possible, explain how it was done and why it was done. The reader should not expect to learn how to do this in these chapters. To this must go something else that can only be purchased in the workshop. Moreover, the author is not an enameller. Instead, the author offers the novice an acquaintance with the masters who gave the enamel the value it has in our eyes, and a pass to the enjoyment and wise use of the museums in which it is kept.