International studio (18.1902/1903)

DECORATiVE FANEL

FROM AN ETCHING BY W. BALMER

direct, not, however, without a fund of imaginative
invention, apparent in such decorative panels as
the one here reproduced; the latter aHegoricai,
philosophical, as enamoured of the idea as of its
artistic expression ; and each of them aiming at
the transcription of his of things and of life.
Perhaps since Stauffer no modern Swiss etcher, in
dealing with the portrait, has employed the etching
needle with more sensitive sureness and vital effect
than Balmer.

Basel has had the honour of giving to the world
several of the most distinguished modern Swiss
artists, amongst them Boecklin and Sandreuter.
Balmer also hails from Ilasel, where he began
his studies, devoting himself at first to architecture.
Soon, however, his predilection for painting made
itself felt, and he betook himself to Munich. After
this he travelled in Italy, France, England and
HoIIand, spending one winter in Rome and another
in Paris. It was to the of the old
masters that he was drawn more than to any
others, and these he studied with ardour and
enthusiasm. But he shrank from the risk the
specialist runs of losing himself in the mere
virtuoso. His aim has ever been to bring to the
subject-matter of art an untrammelled individuality,
to see with his own eyes, and to give as adequate
an utterance as possible to his own artistic sense
of things. His achievements as an etcher are a
precious contribution to this branch of art in
Switzerland.

The project for a monument in honour of
Frederic Amiel, which the Swiss sculptor Mr. de
Niederhausen exhibited a short time ago in
Geneva, is worthy of special mention. This
small rough model is of rare beauty and simplicity,
and reveals a development in the sculptor's talent.
It symbolizesthepopularsong "Roulez, Tambour,"
which was composed by the Genevese philosopher
in a moment of patriotic emotion. The monu-
mental value of the central figure is at once
apparent. Flying, as it were, against a rugged
mountainous background, a woman-warrior bears
the Swiss Hag, the folds of which are Hoating in
308

the breeze. The beauty of this figure and of its
gesture, and the life and movement the sculptor
has put into it, are admirable. At the summit of
the monument the frontier of Switzerland is indi-
cated by a rugged bounding-Iine. On the oppo-
site side of the model is the figure of a drutnmer-
boy, who is beating the call to arms. The whole
work, which is at once expressive and decorative
in conception, seems to soar from the calm block
on which it reposes, and strikes us as an admirable
symbolic expression of that inspiration which
seized upon the pensive author of the yiwvM/
AzA'/yze, and made him for a moment the living
voice of patriotic feeling. R. M.
REVIEWS.
By C0RRAD0 Ricci. Translated from
the Italian by FToRENCE SiMMONDS. (London:
Heinemann.) g^. net.—It appears to have
been reserved to the twentieth century to dispel
the general ignorance with regard to the beauty
and signihcance of the work of Bernardino di
Betto of Perugia, or, as he is generally called,
Pintoricchio. Although he was, of course, fully
appreciated from the hrst by his fellow artists,
he has suffered, as did so many others, from the
fact that he was the contemporary of the great
galaxy of Italian masters who in the hfteenth
century brought painting to such perfection in
Italy. Pintoricchio's work in the Sistine Chapel
would have received more attention if it had
not been brought into direct contrast with that of
such a mighty genius as Raphael, and had his fine
frescoes in the Appartamenti Borgia been the
only mural decorations of the kind in the Vatican
they would have been universaHy recognised as
the masterpieces they undoubtedly are. A little
volume published a year ago by Messrs. Bell did
something towards giving the neglected artist his
true place, and paved the way, as it were, for the
sumptuous publication just issued by Mr. Heine-
mann, the iHustrations of which are admirable.
The photogravures are the most successful, but the
coloured plates render satisfactorily the delicate
and subdued tones of the originals, bringing out
the dryness of the plaster ground, and the crisp