Some recently -finished work of the same order,
carried out by three ai-tists in tlic hall of the
Chalmers Institute, Fountainbridge, is here illus-
trated. The hall in question measures 37 feet by
27, and the walls, 18 feet high, arc surmounted by
a coved ceiling. ^Vindows occupy one long side,
and alono- the other and at the two ends, on a
line about five feet from the floor, are placed nine
landscapes in oil, set in an architecturally-designed
panelling of dark wood. The painters of these can-
vases, Mr. R. B. Nisbet, Mr. A. G. Sinclair, and
Mr. Garden Smith, have illustrated the different
phases of a day from earliest dawn roimd to niglit.
and have chosen
their scenes from
the neighbour-
hood of Edin-
burgh, in one
case from the im-
mediate vicinity
of the hall it-
self. The gene-
ral arrangement
of the decoration
will be seen from
the accompany-
ing sketch indi-
cating the posi-
tion occupied bv
the pictures in
relation to their
surround in gs,
while Mr. Sin-
clair and Mr.
Nisbet (Mr. Gar-
den Smith being
now abroad),
liave kindly fur-
nished studies of two of their works. Mr. Sinclair's
' Sunset ' occupies the end of the room behind the
platform, and gives a sympathetic rendering of the
close of day upon the canal and beside the harves
of Fountainbridge. Opposite to it is the long panel
by Mr. Nisbet, illustrating ' Noonday by a scene
on the same canal, a mile or two to the west of
Edinburgh.
The artistic quality of these paintings as pictures
is excellent ; they are crisply touched, and full of
atmosphere. As bringing the freshness and colour of
the fields and moors into the midst of the somewhat
dreary surroundings of the hall, they carry out the
intention of the donors of the work in an admirable
manner. Considered, however, from the point of
view of decoration, the works are not entirely satis-
factorv. Eacli is too independent, too franklv pic-
torial. They are not arranged according to any
general sclieme of colour or light and shade, nor is
there that special accordance between the pictures
and more purely decorative painting on the walls
and ceiling, which would stamp the work as the out-
come of a single artistic conception. To secure that
an undertaking of this kind carries out the decora-
tive idea, it should be planned by a single artist, who
should carry his colour-sclieme throughout, and con-
sider each part in relation to every other. It
stands to reason, indeed, that paintings executed in
the studio, and afterwards fixed in position are not
likelv to have that look of perfect ' keeping' which
can be better
secured in mural
paintings proper.
The canvas wall-
picture, at pre-
sent so much in
vogue in France
and Belgium, is
after all but a
■pis allcr. The
appropriate gra-
phic decoration
of monumental
architecture is
the mural paint-
ing proper, and
it will be a
reproach both
against our art-
ists and our sci-
entific chemists
if they cannot
mature some safe
and simple pro-
cess by which it
can be carried out without risk of fading or scaling,
or the other misfortunes which have attended so
many modern wall-pictures.
The remaining illustrations to this article repre-
sent some efforts at wall-painting proper, by a lady
of Edinburgh, well known for extreme delicacy of
handling and fine decorative taste in illumination
and embroidery. Mrs. Traquair, the lady in ques-
tion, brings to her mural work much of the feeling
of the illustrator of the mediaeval manuscripts.
Her first attempt at mural decoration — on the walls
of the tiny mortuary of the Sick Children's Hospital
at Edinburgh — has the aspect of a piece of illumin-
ating enlarged. It has the same curious elaboration
of symbolical detail, the same fresh and cheerful
appearance, the same refinement in drawing and exe-
cution. True, liowever, to its origin, it fails in arclii-
Page:Scottishartrevie01unse.djvu/264
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THE SCOITISH ART REVIEW