International studio (32.1907)

Reviews and Notices

Louvre et du Musle de Versailles. Vol. I. (Paris :
Librairie Centrale d’Artet d’Architecture.) Prefaced
by an account from the pens of the well-known
French critics, MM. Jean Guiffrey and Pierre
Marcel, of the origin and growth of the fine collec-
tions of drawings now in the Louvre and Versailles
Museums, this, the first volume of a most important
work, deals exclusively with the French school. It
consists of a very complete, alphabetically arranged
catalogue raisonn'e, illustrated with reproductions of
427 drawings, and giving, in addition to descriptions
of nearly 800 examples, lists of the principal en-
gravings after them, and brief biographical notices
of their artists. The only drawbacks to a publica-
tion which, when completed, will be a notable
contribution to art literature are its flimsy paper
cover and general want of style, the standard of
excellence in printing, binding, etc., being still, in
spite of the present unfortunate rage for cheapness
which threatens to lower it, much higher in England
than in France.

Romantic Cities of Provence. By Mona Caird.
Illustrated by Joseph Pennell and Edward M.
Synge. (London : T. Fisher Unwin.) 15^. net.
—The original home of the Troubadours and the
cradle of the chivalry their lays did so much to
encourage, the sun-steeped, wind-swept land of
Provence, will ever exercise a peculiar spell over
the imagination of those who are able to appreciate
its unique charm and are in touch with its tradi-
tions ; but to be able to communicate that spell to
others is given to few. Amongst these few, how-
ever, must certainly be included the author of the
delightful and copiously illustrated volume record-
ing the fleeting impressions received in a recent tour.
Against the lightly sketched in background of the
past, with its allusions to the heroes and heroines
of history and romance, the present stands out in
vivid relief. Avignon, Orange, Martigues, Aigues-
Mortes, Arles, Tarascon, Carcassonne, Les Baux
and many other famous towns, are made to reveal
their inner ego's; the reader is brought face to face
with the very spirit of the silent wilderness of
stones known as La Cran, and with that of its
even more melancholy neighbour, the deserted
Camargue, whilst the idiosyncrasies of the travel-
lers who were met by the way are humorously
touched off. There is not one dull page in the book.

Flachenschmuck in Character der Dresdener Schule.
Von Oskar Haebler. (Stuttgart: Julius Hoffmann.)
Mk. 26. — This work consists of a series of
twenty-four plates in phototype, containing practical
designs for textile fabrics. The author has studied
weaving in all its branches, and knows the exact

value of a design in relation to manufacture, a side
too often neglected by designers. He is a man of
some authority in Dresden, and his name is well
known throughout Germany; he arranged the
textile department at the recent Dresden Exhibi-
tion, and is therefore in the way of giving lessons
and hints to others. There is a distinct need for
a work such as this.

Poems by William Wordsworth. Selected with
introduction by Stopford A. Brooke. Illustrations
by Edmund H. New. (London : Methuen & Co.)
7s. 6d. net.—In this well-got-up volume literature
and art are happily associated. Mr. Stopford
Brooke, in his introduction, touches eloquently on
those aspects of nature which made so deep an
impression on the poet, and no less eloquent from
another point of view are the illustrations in which
Mr. New has given us in a series of admirable
pen-and-ink drawings glimpses of various places
intimately bound up with one or other period of the
poet’s life—first Cockermouth and Hawkshead,
then Grasmere, and finally Rydal. As Mr. Brooke
rightly says, “the spiritual mingling of nature
and man cannot be represented in illustration, but
it may be suggested; ” we join with him, however,
in expressing our conviction that the conception
and emotion of this interrelation filled the imagina-
tion of the illustrator while engaged in his work.

From Messrs. Duckworth & Co. we have re-
ceived a volume by Mr. W. Roberts on Sir
William Beechey, R.A. (7s. 6d. net), one of those
painters of the early English school who, in spite
of the high order of their talent and important
influence on the development of art in this country,
have been overshadowed by their great contem-
poraries—Reynolds, Gainsborough, and Romney.
Mr. Roberts’s monograph is expository rather than
critical, and particular interest attaches to the
chapter of forty pages in which he gives a series of
extracts from Beechey’s account books, principally
those dated from 1807 to 1826, from which it
appears that his professional income in these years
fluctuated considerably from year to year, the
highest total being close on ^2,300, and the lowest
about half as much. Numerous reproductions are
given of Beechey’s portraits. Messrs. Duckworth
also send us an extremely interesting and scholarly
study by Mrs. Arthur Strong, LL.D., of Roman
Sculpture from Augustus to Constantine (iov. net).
In this volume, with its hundred and thirty illustra-
tions, convincing proof is given in support of the con-
tention that Roman art, the characteristics of which
Mrs. Strong analyses and discusses, developed on
independent lines, apart from Greek influence.

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