International studio (27.1905/1906(1906))

A Glance at the Holiday Art Books


Copyright, 1905, hy the Century Company

MLLE. DE CHARTRES, PRINCESSE DE CONTI
FROM “VERSAILLES AND THE COURT UNDER LOUIS XIV ”
(THE CENTURY COMPANY)
French by Samuel E. Robineau, is now reprinted
from its serial publication under the title, “Grand
Feu Ceramics.” (Keramic Studio Publishing Com-
pany, 4to, $7.50 net). Mr. Doat addresses his
treatise to artists who wish to do ceramic work but
lack full opportunity and equipment; for, he says,
characteristically, the first discouragements are
the only important ones, as after the worker has
once succeeded in getting a foothold the art will
not be abandoned because of difficulties. The
formulse and instructions presentecl apply to porce-
lain and stoneware fired at cone 9 (1,310° C.),
the temperature adopted of late years at Sevres,
approximating that used for the old Chinese wares,
and so greatly reducing difficulties as to recommend
itself to the individual craftsman. A chapter on
native clays by Professor Charles F. Binns Supple-
ments Mr. Doat’s comprehensive handbook.
A valuable book of reference, now in the second
edition, is supplied by Elizabeth McClellan in
“Historie Dress in America.” (George W. Jacobs &
Co., Philadelphia, 4I0, $10.00 net). The period

covered is from 1607-1800. An in-
troductory chapter describes dress
in the Spanish and French Settle-
ments in Florida and Louisiana.
The illustrations, which are of pecu-
liar value, being made offen after
the original garments, are the work
of Sophie B. Steel. Many of the
plates, of course, are in colour.
Though largely concerned with
matters of historic, rather than ar-
tistic filterest, James Eugene Farm-
er’s “Versailles and the Court under
Louis XIV” (The Century Com-
pany, New York, 8vo, $3.50 net),
contains in the first quarter too
much detailed description of the
buildings and grounds to be over-
looked in a glance at the holiday
books on architecture. Versailles
was the result of the deliberate
effort of the King toward absolutism
by crushing the power of the nobles.
For this purpose it was first of all
necessary to keep them in personal
dependence, as it were, in corral.
Indeed, with the rigid requirement
of presence at court and the elab-
orate .System of espionage and pos-
tal surveillance, the courtier could
almost have criecl with L’Aiglon,
“ Je ne suis pasprisonier,mais-!”
The building of this prison in the spacious outskirts
of the city brought into play the best effort of the
time in architecture, decoration, painting, sculpture
and landscape gardening. For a clear and effective
account of the result, the palace and the park, the
state and private apartments, the numberless
luxurious lodgings, the chapel, grand commun and
stables, Mr. Farmer’s book can be recommended.
Of the strictly architectural books we can men-
tion but few. The most important, it is hardly too
much to say, is Professor Charles Herbert Aloore’s
“ Character of Renaissance Architecture.” (The
Macmillan Company, 8vo, $3.00 net.) It is a book
of strong convictions and solid thought. The
author’s known enthusiasm for the mediaeval st)des
finds expression here in a vigorous brief against the
achievement of the Palladian builders. It will
rouse contradiction in the limits set to the period,
as did the earlier work, “Development and Char-
acter of Gothic Architecture.” The completion of
the dorne of St. Peter’s, for example, is embraced
within them. But the author’s critical authority is

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