International studio (25.1905)

ENGLISH ARCHITECTURE. By THOMAS DlNHAM
ATKINSON. i6mo. Pages 236. Illustrated.
New York: E. P. Dutton & Co. $1.23 net.
Mr. Atkinson has performed a considerable
service in presenting this brief and succinct outline
to the vast subject of English architecture, on its
structural and what may be called its actual
aspects. The imaginative characteristics, the
esthetic, the poetical qualities, the reflection of
national character, and the influences which shaped
the course of architecture in England in its progress
and decline, are purposely left aside. The en-
deavour has been to trace the development of what
are called the styles, while keeping in mind the
essential fact that this very assumption of styles
suggests an idea of definite breaks in the continuity
of art which is contrary to fact, and particularly
so in the constantly transitional state of medieval
building. In the Renaissance work, the forms had
become to a greater degree stereotyped, and while
new combinations and themes were always open to
the artist, the language in which he expressed him-
self was scarcely so flexible. Mr. Atkinson traces
with considerable clearness the change of initiative
and control from the craftsmen of the Middle Ages
to the architects of the period following the begin-
ning of the Seventeenth Century. After an exposi-
tion of Romanesque, Gothic and Renaissance build-
ing, a separate treatment is given to the development
of forms in churches, monasteries and houses. The
illustrations, with which the book is plentifully
supplied, are from the author's own sketches,
except in a few instances, and are direct and
helpful.
THE GREEK PAINTERS' ART. By IRENE WEIR,
formerly student of the School of Fine Arts,
Yale University; formerly Director of the
Norwich Art School, Connecticut; director of
Art Instruction, Brookline, (Mass.). 8vo, pp.
361. Illustrated. Boston, New York, Chicago,
London: Ginn & Co. $3.00 net.
A convenient summary of the present state of
our knowledge of painting, as practised among the
Greeks, is offered in this book, by Miss Irene Weir.
The discussion is topical and the style popular.
Prefaced to the exposition proper is an account of
a trip to Greece, glancing at enough historical
allusion and legend to refresh the reader's memory,
when these are to be appealed to later in describing
the evidences of Greek pictorial art. The references
to painters and painting, which are many and en-
thusiastic in the ancient writers, are marshalled to
show the progress, so far as the brief literary record

can, from the simplest outline work to the skill of
Apelles, and the decline that followed shortly after,
and to trace the development of tempera and en-
caustic. The methods of colouring adopted with
the various wares, extant in vases, are traversed in
full, from the Dipylon and earlier, down to the
Apulian. The application of colour to architec-
tural and sculptural uses, for toning down the
insistent glare of marble in the crystal atmosphere
of Greece—a glare unpleasantly prominent in the
white marble Athens of to-day—is described with
citations from Gardner, Mahaffy, Penrose, Robin-
son, Diehl and others who have written on this
subject, at one time the occasion of such a lively
archaeological dispute and still marked by varying
shades of opinion. The facts collected from tem-
ples, statues, and pediment groups are brought
together suggestively and systematically. The
Graeco-Egyptian portraits from Fayum, with their
remarkable characterization and charm, and the
replicas of Greek mosaic work in Rome round out,
with an account of mural painting, a decidedly
interesting if somewhat formal story of the least
generally comprehended of the arts of Greece. The
book is plentifully illustrated from designs and
photographs.
MINIATURES. By DUDLEY HEATH. The Connois-
seur's Library, General Editor Cyril Daven-
port. 4to, pp. xl, 320. Illustrated. New York:
G. P. Putnam's Sons. London: Methuen & Co.
$6.73 net.
It is the painter's view of the art that Dudley
Heath presents in this compendious survey. Dr.
Propert's book, unfortunately published in a
limited edition, will retain its place as a scholarly
work of reference from the collector's point of view.
In the present volume, on the other hand, we have
a suggestive and stimulating historical account,
rather than an exhaustive catalogue or specialist's
guide. The author writes with the understanding
of a thorough practical and technical knowledge
of his subject. He has traced the sympathy of the
art of miniature painting with the state of painting
in other branches, and points the progress with
copious illustration, making a valuable use of
reproductions in colours.
Of the present state of the art of miniature paint-
ing, the author is optimistic and sees signs of a
possible second renaissance. He calls for a weed-
ing out of the portraitists who are content to be the
"servants of photography," to let their art depend
on the craft that robbed it of its inheritance—by the
organization of the best artists on something of the

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