Painting in enamel was not an instantaneous invention, nor has it taken the place of previous processes with the authority due to discoveries of the first order. The Marquis de Laborde well observes: "In competing with an old process, a new method seeks less to pursue its own course than to enter into that of its predecessor, in order to outstrip and supplant him...

This is because a novelty in matters of taste, united with industrial considerations, is accepted only on the condition of being better, without being something different. However eagerly inclined we may be for novelties, our eyes can endure no abrupt innovations; they exact, so to say, the progressive improvement of what they have been accustomed to see." Hence the earliest painted enamels sought at first to reproduce the effects of the translucid low-relief enamels (basse-taille). Upon the shining copper the artist traces with a brown enamel, not only the outlines of the figures and accessories, but also the dark strokes intended to represent the effect of the depressions hollowed out by the burin in the low-relief enamels, and naturally dark by the thickness of the colourless matter.

Over this preparation is spread a vitreous layer, a sort of flat illumination, allowing the shades to show through, the effect being heightened by the addition of gold hatchings, imparting an extreme lustre to the lights. This transformation does not seem to have been effected by the goldsmiths, by whom were produced the best specimens of champleve enamelling. It appears to have been due rather to the painters on glass, whose art had acquired a great development in the fifteenth century. However that may be, the general design is of a Gothic type; the fle?h tints are of a violet hue, and the whole takes the same uniform tone. Enamels in raised drops placed on foil sparkle like gems, heightening the effect of robes and head-dresses, and are spread even to the grounds. The compositions themselves are conceived in the style adopted in France during the second half of the fifteenth century, partaking of the influence both of the Flemish masters and of the French Renaissance before the Fontainebleau school began to make itself felt.

The figures are lank, with that woc-begonc expression agreeable to the archaic Christian idea, dressed either in draperies, with large broken folds, or in contemporary costumes. Most of these works arc diptychs or triptychs, portable shrines carried about with the owner, and hung up at the head of his bed.

The more characteristic of these works are well known, specially the precious relic in the Cluny Museum, signed by Nardon Penicaud, in 1511. It may be regarded as a type from which the others departed, more or less according to their respective talent. Amateurs, however, must be on their guard against the numerous counterfeits which are attempted to be palmed off on the unwary, as works by this master.

This first style naturally led to the use of opaque enamels really painted, and nothing is more interesting than to follow the course, of this innovation introduced into art by men who were still reluctant to abandon the old processes. Hence followed the curious result that in the work of the same enameller there occur pieces which bear no analogy one to the other, either in their process or style. It was about the year 1520 that grisailles were substituted for translucid enamels.

Before proceeding further, let us describe grisaille, the more general process adopted by the Limoges enamellers. The plate is first covered with a black enamel, then overlaid with a thin translucid flux, upon which the artist traces his design with a point, massing the principal shades by strokes evenly drawn. He then cleans all the parts of the ground that are to remain black, after which the preparation is fixed by a first firing. To attain the ultimate effect, the artist continues his work by massing the white in the lightened parts, in order to give them the necessary relief, lastly adding a few touches of gold, either on the draperies or the grounds, in order to relieve their somewhat dull effect. One of the first to work in this manner was Jean I. Penicaud. In order, doubtless, to enliven the whole, certain masters reserved the grounds, covering them at last with a fiery red colour.

For the purpose of imparting a greater charm to the portraits, the ena-mellers conceived the idea of heightening their work by a rosy glaze upon the carnations, and the application of coloured glass upon the draperies.

Portrait of Jehan Fouquet, painter to Louis XI. Limoges enamel of end of Fifteenth Century. (Louvre.).

This is, therefore, a mixed process between opaque and translucid enamelling. Applied first by the Penicaud family, it was carried to its greatest perfection by Leonard Limosin.

The history of the Limoges enamellers has been well nigh exhausted by the works of M. Maurice Ardant, the Marquis de Laborde, M. Labarte, and M. Alfred Darcel. At the same time here is needed not so much a discussion on the scarcely perceptible shades of difference between artists belonging to the same atelier, as an account of the almost empirical characteristics peculiar to those ateliers, by which the works of the principal masters may be the more easily recognised.

Concerning Monvaerni, whose works are exceedingly rare, we need merely say that his enamels on a thick white paste have quite a Gothic look; the carnations are of a pearly grey white, formed of a white paste, while the white draperies, with their broken folds, are in unusually high relief between the dark lines which indicate the folds. These draperies are embellished with flowerets in gold.

Nardon Penicaud is the first of a numerous family of Limousin artists. He was at work from the beginning of the fifteenth century, and the work bearing his signature in the Cluny Museum, dated 1503, shows him in the full strength of his genius. He also worked on a ground of white priming, freely laying on the principal masses of a bistre tone with the brush. The flesh tints are modelled in white, on a violet foundation, which shows through, and this forms the chief feature of his works. All the accessories are in translucid enamels, skilfully heightened with gold. The costumes and architectural adjuncts are often embellished with paillettes, or small disks of foil, made to imitate precious stones. The black-enamel of these plates is always opaque and very thick, a circumstance which prevents us from determining whether Nardon was the first to make use of the stamp or puncheon we shall find employed by the other members of the family. Jean I. originally followed the same traditions, with the exception that, apart from the carnations, the design is prepared in bistre on the metal. Later on he tried grisaille, tracing the design on the black by "enlevage," and endeavouring to soften the effect by some touches of white enamel on the shades. The colourless reverse shows the punch already spoken of, which has this form: -

Jean II., or Penicaudius, junior, belongs quite to the Renaissance. Besides the delicate design of his figures, there should be noticed a special feature of his style, consisting in his careful modelling by enlevage, not on a pure black, but on a grey tint. This imparts perfect softness to his work, and moreover enables him, in complicated designs, to obtain perspective planes, by restricting his mezzo-tintos to the first planes, and allowing the others to pass into the grounds. In his portraits he colours the carnations with a rosy bistre, heightening the shadows with bistre, while imparting animation to the draperies by means of translucid glazes.

Jean III. Penicaud is one of the most attractive masters of the family. He masses his graceful compositions directly on the black ground, relieving them by the application of a milky white, that gives, them astonishing vigour. They look as if emerging from the ground to which they are attached by a wonderful fluidity.

Leonard Limosin takes the foremost place amongst enamellers. Painter and man of taste, he delighted in reproducing the compositions of Raffaelle, and, thanks to his talent as a portrait painter, he has left us a curious iconography of the celebrities of his time. He was familiar with all the processes, which he often combined with rare felicity. Notwithstanding his versatility, his works can always be easily recognised by their vigour and general harmony. Some few pieces alone, produced in his old age, betray symptoms of weariness and exhaustion.

Enuinelled Ewer, by P. Reymond. Sixteenth Century. (Basilewakl Collection.).

Among those who combined grisaille with colours, may also be mentioned Colin Nouailher, whose unsteady drawing is relieved by most skilful execution. His grisailles, abundantly charged with flux, became almost transparent. This enameller introduced legends somewhat recklessly, and with an utter indifference to grammar. When he represents mythological characters, he describes them in this fashion: "Ercules suis apele; Elene suis apelee".

Pierre Reymond illustrates one of the most remarkable styles, which is essentially French. Androuet du Cerceau, Etienne de Laulne, Virgilius Solis, are the masters followed by him in his compositions. The reverse of his dishes and tazze, are adorned with arabesques of great taste, much enhancing their interest. In his grisailles, he tints the carnations, as had been done by some of his precursors, and in the last of his works he carries this practice to excess, the tone assuming a salmon-like hue. A peculiar feature of his ewers are the handles, certain mouldings, and the edge of the feet, show a white ground, with interlacings and scrolls, in ochreous red.

We may also mention amongst the great enamellers the name of Pierre Courteys or Courtoys, who worked in the same manner as the previous artist.

The enamellers of the period of decline may be omitted, artists who, like lehan de Court and Suzanne de Court, make excessive use of "paillon." In any case no difficulty is found in detecting their works, or those of the Laudins, a numerous family who produced a still greater number of compositions.