Until the middle of the nineteenth-century art had been regarded as a luxury for the rich dilettante; people heard little of it and thought less. There was a popular belief that beautiful things were expensive. There never was a more erroneous idea. The diligent polish in order to secure nice plain surfaces, or the neat fitting of parts together, is infinitely more difficult than adding a florid casting to conceal clumsy workmanship. The mere fact that a piece of work is decorated does not show that it has cost any more in time and execution than if it were plain — frequently many hours have been saved by the device of covering up defects with cheap ornament.

A craft may easily be practised without art, and still serve its purpose; the alliance of the two is a means of giving pleasure as well as serving utility. People suppose that because the design is artistic, its technical rendering is any the less important, but they are mistaken. Frequently curious articles are palmed off on us and designated as "Arts and Crafts" ornaments, in which neither art nor craft plays its full share. Art does not consist only in original, unusual, or unfamiliar designs; the best art is that which produces designs of grace and appropriateness, whether they are strikingly new or not.

A medieval artist was usually a craftsman as well. He was not content with furnishing designs alone and then handing them over to men whose hands were trained to their execution. He took his own designs and carried them out. The result was a harmony of intention and execution which is often lacking when two men of differing tastes produce one object.