International studio (31.1907)

Reviews and Notices

Simon. This artist, who was born in Austria,
has already exhibited at the Salon of the Societe
Nationale some plates which excited considerable
attention, and his gifts appear even more striking
in a specialised display of this sort.

The particular characteristic of these etchings
by M. Simon lies in the extreme restraint with
which the artist colours his plates, Therein, unlike
so many others, he gives us not merely an engraved
reproduction of a water-colour; it is truly and
especially an eav. forte which has been completed
by colour. The plate styled Venise, now repro-
duced, is a very good example of this individual
treatment. The drawing is solid and precise, and
the contours are well bitten in by the acid. It is
Venice at twilight, Venice seen at that hour when
the diverse “values” melt deliciously into one
another, that M. Simon depicts. On the houses
just a few touches of yellow and red and blue, all
so delicate, so discreet, so charming that the scene
irresistibly recalls certain sketches by Whistler.
H. F.
REVIEWS AND NOTICES.
Vetiice. By Pompeo Melmonti. Translated
by Horatio F. Brown. (London : John Murray.)
Two vols., 21 s. net. — These deeply interesting
volumes, which are richly illustrated with repro-
ductions of plans, early historical relics, illuminated
MSS., details of costumes, and masterpieces of
painting and sculpture, consist of a series of essays
on various themes connected with Venice, rather
than a consecutive history of the famous city.
They have been admirably translated by a scholar
whose erudition is equal to that of their author,
and with their copious notes and useful appendices
of quotations from original authorities, they will
be found to be a mine of wealth by the student
of the period of which they treat, viz., from the
earliest beginnings of the Republic to its fall.
Signor Molmenti prefaces his work, which repre-
sents many years of arduous research, with an
examination of the sources from wrhich the Veneti
sprung, without, however, solving the mystery in
which these sources are obscured, and devotes his
first chapters to a description of the appearance
of the City of the Lagoons in the ninth and
succeeding centuries, and to an account of the
foundation and growth of the three buildings—
the Cathedral of St. Mark, the Ducal Palace,
and the Arsenal—round about which circled for
so many years the religious and political life of
the people. He next examines the evolution of

the constitution of the Republic, the earliest form
of which he considers was moulded by ancient
Rome, and of the systems of civil and criminal
jurisprudence, dwelling on the profound sentiment
for fair dealing which characterised them both.
Commerce, navigation, finance, and currency are
in their turn discussed; but perhaps the most
fascinating section of the whole work is that devoted
to the great nobles, the citizens, the craft guilds,
and the Jews, for in it prominence is necessarily
given to the personal equation, which is, after all,
the element that appeals most forcibly to the
great majority of readers. The chapters on
costume, manners, and customs, with those on
the fine and industrial arts, though they traverse
ground that has already been thoroughly explored,
are also full of interest, especially the last, in
which the pathetic note is struck of the inevit-
able decadence that was to succeed the apogee
of splendour reached by Venice in the fifteenth
century.
Les Cartes-a-Jouer du Quatorzi'eme au Vingtleme
Siecle. Par Henry Rene d’Allemagne (Paris :
Hachette & Cie.). 50 fr.—These two large, hand-
some volumes, comprising together upwards of
2,000 pages of text with an immense number of
illustrations, of which nearly a thousand are in
colours, testify to the indefatigable industry of
M. d’Allemagne in the preparation of this valuable
contribution to the history of playing cards, in the
study of which he has spent many years. The
outcome of his researches is a work which will be
read with the deepest interest by those to whom
the subject appeals. Concerning the origin of
playing cards, the author has no definite hypothesis
to proclaim, but he does not agree with those
who give them an Oriental derivation. He believes,
that like many other games and amusements,
this particular form of amusement evolved imper-
ceptibly. As for the story of playing cards having
been invented to beguile the time of Charles VI.,
that has been effectually exploded, for of their use
in Europe before his time there i> documentary
evidence. To Germany is due the honour of
having invented numbered cards; in 1329 the
Bishop of Wiirzberg denounced them and forbade
their use, but fifty years later, in 1377, Frater
Johannes von Basel defended them in his Tractatus,
which is now in the British Museum. The author
carries his investigations from age to age, telling of
the various developments, both as a source of
amusement and from an artistic point of view.
The bibliography, analytical tables, and indexes
with which the work is provided, are a valuable
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