DESMALTER, JUNIOR.

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chitecture under the skilful direction of Percier. Numerous medals, obtained at the monthly competitions, not only attested his rapid advancement, but predicted a brilliant career, when unfortunate circumstances obliged him to leave this branch of the arts for that in which his father had gained so high a reputation.

The embarrassments we have already mentioned were a severe shock to the Desmalter establishment. With the laudable object of arresting its downward course, the young architect struggled against inconceivable difficulties, and expended much money. He took the complete direction of it on the first of January, 1825, and offered a vigorous and honourable resistance to all opposing circumstances; proving, by his example, that courage, perseverance, and honesty may extricate a man from the most alarming difficulties.

Under the restoration, the Duchess de Berri employed him to furnish the Chateau de Rosny. Afterwards he made furniture, under the direction of M. Fontaine, for the Palais Royal and the Chateau de Neuilly. In this latter residence the ceilings are all of wood-work, ornamented with incrustations.

He also executed all the furniture for the new part of the Hôtel de Ville, as well as the wood-work in the rooms of the Conseil d'Etat in the palace on the Quai d'Orsay.

Jacob Desmalter, junior, like his father, obtained the gold medal, offered for excellence in his art, at all the exhibitions. This privilege seems to have belonged to the family since 1806. He is now beyond the reach of the ever varying caprices of fortune. Some of his incrusted furniture is to be compared with the exquisite productions of Boule, the celebrated cabinet-maker in Louis XIV.'s time. Let any one who wishes to be convinced of the taste displayed in Desmalter's furniture, but pay a visit to his establishment, in the Rue des Vinaigriers, Faubourg Saint Martin.

Amongst those who have distinguished themselves in this universally esteemed line, I will mention MM. Werner, Bellangé,

Meynard, and Ficher, who received silver medals, either for beauty of forms or for improvements of construction. M. Mey. nard has introduced incrustations of copper. M. Ficher has distinguished himself by beautiful ornaments of bronze. It must also be remarked that M. Berg uses copper for ornamenting furniture, with greater success than any one else.

We are now to speak of a branch of art which deserves particular mention. This act of justice is due to the ingenious artist who carried the construction of ship-furniture to a great degree of perfection.

Jean Antoine Lehaene, born at Paris on the 8th of November, 1784, succeeded his father, at an early age, as a cabinetmaker, and continued the old establishment with great success.

In 1814, when commercial relations were renewed between France and the colonies, M. Lehaene made many exportations to India, and various parts of America. Charged, in 1826, by the minister of war, with the execution of models of all the articles necessary for furnishing the vessels of the royal navy, this skilful artist fullfilled the commission with so much accuracy and good taste, that, upon examination, no alterations were deemed necessary in his plan. This success gained for M. Lehaene the post of maker of ship-furniture not only for all our vessels, but also for all our maritime establishments, both at home and abroad.

A fortunate circumstance gave still greater encouragement to M. Lehaene's talents. In 1829, the intendant of the royal furniture, after an exhibition of the articles produced by numerous Parisian artists, intrusted him with the furnishing of the palaces, chateaux, and other royal residences.

But the most difficult, and most remarkable operation performed by M. Lehaene, and the one which has done him the greatest honour, is incontestably the complete fitting up of ten steam-vessels employed for carrying the mails to the different ports of the Mediterranean. In less than a year this vast undertaking was completely realized. All the necessary articles

were made at Paris, and afterwards transferred to the different ports where the packets had been built. The workmanship was so excellent, and the solidity and strength of every part so remarkable, that, during the wear of continual use since 1836, the injuries attendant upon sea-voyages, and the continual variations of temperature, they have experienced no material changes for the worse, and have consequently required no repairs.

An undertaking of so much importance, executed with so much success, has necessarily raised M. Lehaene to the highest rank as an artist. No one can dispute the pre-eminence with him in this branch of art, which he has brought to a new and great degree of perfection.

CHAPTER LV.

IRON.

IDE by side with the beautiful art of working in wood, stands one which, originating in modern days, threatens soon to rival it, since it lends a valuable assistance to architecture, especially as regards the external decoration of edifices. The reader will readily discern that we speak of the use of iron for ornamental purposes, due to the learned and ingenious researches of a former member of the Polytechnic School, M. Gandillot.

Jean Dénis Gandillot, born at Besançon on the 12th of March, 1797, was one of the most distinguished students in the Polytechnic School, when this establishment was abandoned in 1816. The career which he had chosen was rudely closed before him; his youthful anticipations were destroyed; but, far from being discouraged, his anxiety to rise to eminence of some sort but increased. The mechanical arts, with their vast profits, attracted his attention, and to them did he devote himself. But, leaving the beaten track, and guided by the theoretical knowledge gained during his close attention to study, he opened a path for himself in which no one had yet trodden.

In 1825, he took a high rank as an artist by the establishment of a new art known by the name of Fers creux lumines. Among his productions, are to be remarked gratings of every description for balconies, balustrades, and railings, bedsteads of various forms, garden-seats, and furniture, such as stools, chairs, arm-chairs, tables, flower-stands, &c., &c. "And," as remarks M. Charles Dupin, "all these articles are executed with taste. and accuracy."

During the first ten years of Gandillot's efforts, the hollow pieces of iron used by him were nothing but tubes made of cast iron when cold, the edges of which touched each other though not welded. For gratings and other purposes requiring strength and solidity, he filled these tubes with a cement similar to that used by fountain-makers. This prevents internal oxidation, and is capable of resisting the action of a saw. For transverse pieces in gratings, he used four-sided pieces of iron, also hollow, and composed of two three-sided bands placed one within the other, so as to form the four faces of the square bar; but the two vertical faces were formed of two thicknesses of iron.

Desirous of giving his art every improvement of which it was susceptible, M. Gandillot made several journeys to England in 1838. It was at that time that he brought into use in France, a method of welding square or round tubes of sheet iron. Welded in this manner, these tubes were substituted for those in former use made of cold sheet iron.

This improvement, all-important as it was, was but the prelude to a still more fortunate innovation, if we consider its results. The principal object of M. Gandillot's researches was the substitution of iron pipes for those of lead and copper, the only kind in previous use in France, and which were extremely inconvenient and often dangerous, whether used for gas, steam, or any of their other numerous purposes.

Thence ensued the use of furnaces of heated water, first introduced by Perkins, but due to the useful and philanthropic efforts of Gandillot. This most advantageous method of heating buildings is in general use in England, not only for public edifices, but also for private houses. Gandillot, after a studious attention to this subject, was convinced of the great superiority of these furnaces over those of France, which gave out heat by means of steam or of heated air. In fact, steam-furnaces are so expensive, that their use is confined to public buildings, such as the Bourse at Paris. As to the heated-air furnaces, besides their enormous consumption of fuel, the vitiation of the atmos