PYROGRAPHY. This name has been re cently proposed for a peculiar kind of paint ing or rather delineation, in which heat is the chief agent employed. The homely phrase of poker painting is that by which it is generally known ; since a red-hot poker might be the substitute for the painter's brush in producing the pictures ; but homely English is often made to give way to learned Greek, in scien tific and artistic designations.
These pyrography are pictures produced on the surface of wood by heated irons. Some curious specimens of this art were produced by Dr. Griffiths, Master of University College, Oxford, about thirty or forty years ago. The altar piece in the college chapel, and one or two heads in the Taylor Gallery, are still ex isting ; they are said to have very much the appearance of mezzo-tinto engravings, or of crayon drawings ; but, from their very nature are much more than any engravings or and are considered to be well fitted to ornament panels. The wood is either sycamore or plane-tree ; which are not liable to warp, and which present large surfaces. The delineations are produced by solid pieces of thick iron, shaped somewhat like the heater of an Italian iron.
This art has a renewed interest imparted to it, by the circumstance that the Committee of the Great Exhibition has allotted 80 feet of wall space to the productions of a lady, Mrs. Mills, who has lately introduced many im provements in the preparation of the wood and in the form of the iron implements. The specimens to be exhibited are fitted by their general character to adorn collegiate, corpo rate, or baronial apartments. The effect in Dr. Griffiths' pictures is produced mainly by broad shadows; while the more recent pro ductions have somewhat the character of etchings. Representation's of animals, such as those which almost live and breathe on the canvas of Edwin Landseer, are said to be those for which the art Shows peculiar aptitude. ' By the rides of the committee, no paintings are admitted at the Exhibition ; but it would appear that these curious specimens partake of the durability and surface quality of carvings, and are on that ground admis sible.