ABSTRACT
The Art Union, first published in 1839, initially intended 'to supply to artists accurate and useful information upon all subjects in which they are interested, and to the public the means of justly ascertaining and estimating the progress of art both at home and abroad'. This chapter looks at the issues around beauty, utility, and principles of design, three matters that exercised numerous reformers during the period, as well as the role and operation of schools of design. It ends with a copy of the Prospectus of the School of Design at Somerset House, along with a copy of a letter and a set of questions sent out to provincial cities with a view to ascribing grants for the establishment of branch schools at these locations. Study cannot teach the dull brain to invent, but it will restrain alike the plodding and the lively fancy from falling into errors of judgment, and vitiating the popular taste.
