International studio (18.1902/1903)

between solid fact and romantic Action is ciever
as regards the two Hgures ; but the artist's method
of rendering background or shadow by a pite of
coins, or peas, or whatever else they are sup-
posed to be, is not a happy one. It appears rather
a convention totaiiy devoid of meaning, and such
that "Maivolio" shouid be persuaded to abandon
henceforward.
Four more drawings—viz., those by " Alex,"
" Brush," " Seriio," and " Fiying Fish " respectiveiy
—introduce female hgures in the act of reading;
but none demand any speciai comment, except that
in "Aiex's" design the circuiar outiine of the
medaiiion meets with an accordant response in
the attitude of the Hgure which it encioses. How
far it is legitimate to convey the contrary impression,
as is done in " Rep's" and in one of " Isca's "
designs, may be a moot point. In the one instance
a draped forearm, in the other a torch, protrudes,
beyond the conhnes of the frame. In either case
surely there is an aberration difHcult to justify.
Nobody prescribed the shape and dimensions of
the space enciosed ; it is entireiy the artist's own
choosing, being in the one case circuiar and in the
other rectanguiar. But having once adopted these
iimits, why do they not observe them ? If the
surface frrst planned for the hgure-work subse-
quentiy proved to be inadequate, surely its borders
couid and should have been extended until they
were wide enough to inciude all that the artist pro-
posed to depict in it. As it is, there is produced
an uneasiness and uncertainty as to whether that
part which appears ftat is reaiiy so, or whether
128

there be not two planes of vision; especially in
" Isca's" drawing, where the hand grasping the
torch thrusts itself forward with most aggressive
prominence.
But, after ail, any one who is so minded can be
a fault-hnder, a which, indeed, I did not set
out to hH. Rather iet me close, as I began, with
the expression of my sincerest praise for the excep-
tionahy interesting cohection of designs elicited by
the Book-plate Competition.
AYMER VAI.LANCE.



%?'VdLUAM'E-TYLER.-


BOOK-PLATE

BV " HYLUS^


BOOK-PLATE

BY "SERLIO*'