International studio (23.1904)

Book Reviews

the stiles and stumps and village lanes of his home
county. Towards the close of a successful life, the
painter settled in the (then) village of Hampstead,
whose beautiful heaths and rolling country provided
him with many subjects for his immortal canvases,
with their matchless rendering of the rich English
atmosphere, and the glowing lush greens and warm
browns of English natural scenery. As Sir James
Linton well puts it: “He painted light, dews,
breezes, bloom, and freshness. In his oil sketches
and studies we see how earnestly he worked to
attain these qualities, the very life and soul of land-
scape art.” Indeed, what Constable himself wrote
of his day is not inapplicable to ours, though, we
hope, less frequently instanced: “The great vice
of the present day is bravura, an attempt to do
something beyond the truth. Fashion always had
and will have its day; but truth in all things will
last and can only have just claims on posterity.”
Nor is this to be construed as a gospel of Natural-
ism ; Constable’s pictures are imbued with poetry,
inspiration, suggestion—but never at the cost of
truth and its beauty. Indeed, far from being an
apostle of cold and vacant Naturalism John Con-
stable has, as Sir James tells us, often been called,
and truly, the father of modern Impressionism.
Had his followers observed his guiding principles
of truth, they had not floundered into the slough of
extravagance, where we often find them. Finally,
Constable is an excellent instance of the eternal
truth that immortality can crown only those artists,
in whatever field of art, whose inspiration is derived
from and whose labors are devoted to the material
provided by their native environment, with which,
since it is a part of their being, inbred, they can
alone remain completely and harmoniously en
rapport. Posterity can be thankful that he was
not lured, with some of his contemporaries, to
Italy, there to sacrifice the freshness of his natural
point of view to the mimicry of a style foreign to
his innate tendencies.
The Hawley Collection of Violins; with a
History of their Makers and a Brief Review of
the Evolution and Decline of the Art of Violin-
Making in Italy, 1540-1800. With an Intro-
duction by Theodore Thomas, and a Sketch
of Royal de Forest Hawley by Albert H.
Pitkin. Pages 105. Illustrations: 36 full-page
plates in colour and in half-tone, with Table
of Measurements and accompanying Diagram.
Large 4to. Chicago: Lyon & Healy.
The raison d’etre of this handsome and valuable
volume is best described in the words of the Pub-

lishers’ Preface: “After its'acquisition by our house,
it seemed fitting to us that a collection of violins so
celebrated as that formed by the late Mr. R. D.
Hawley, of Hartford, and one so representative of
the best makers of the Golden period of the Art,
should, owing to its pending dispersal, be com-
memorated in such a manner that its value to the
student, connoisseur, and violin lover be not lost
entirely—hence this brochure.
“It has not been our intention to present an ex-
haustive treatise on the subject of violin history in
general, but our efforts have been confined to that
part of this interesting story which saw the inception
of the violin, and its development in Italy; and, by
means of the twelve superb instruments known as
the Hawley Collection, we have tried to make clear
to the reader the salient points of difference in the
work of the various makers,—in a word, to convey
to the reader the interesting data which he would be
likely to gather from a personal examination and
study of the instruments themselves.”
So much for the well-advised scope of the book.
The method followed by the publishers in their
treatment of the subject, both as regards descriptive
letter-press and pictorial illustration, is beyond
praise or criticism; for, in every respect, so far as
we can see, it answers their purpose; and we can-
not find where any point or phase of the subject has
been omitted or inadequately treated, that could be
required by its prospective readers.
As to the text—and we must say, en passant, that
it is beautifully presented, in excellent type, well
printed upon paper of good colour and texture—the
three prefatory notes form a suitable introduc-
tion to an appreciative reading of the body of the
book.
An endorsement, from such a pen as that of Mr.
Theodore Thomas, of the real value of the instru-
ments under discussion, gives the sterling a hall-
mark, so to speak; and his remarks upon them and
on the invention of the Tourte bow in the XVIII.
century, open a vista of interesting thought. With-
out them, writes Mr. Thomas, “the music of to-day
would have been developed on altogether different
lines.”
Mr. Pitkin’s sketch of Mr. Hawley’s person-
ality is pleasing and vivid; in two pages he gives
a clear description of the vital traits in his biogra-
phee’s character. When we come to the body of the
book, viz., the essays on the lives and work of the
great makers of those priceless specimens from the
Hawley collection under contribution, with accurate
accounts of the particular instruments themselves,
we find ourselves perusing the work of a writer who

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