International studio (34.1908)

Reviews and Notices

exile at Rodosto in Turkey, whither he accom-
panied Francis Rakoczy II., Prince of Transylvania,
in the early part of the eighteenth century, have
from the time they were first published, more than
ioo years ago, enjoyed considerable popularity, a
fact which is attested by the bibliography published
at the end of the volume. The letters, which turn
largely upon incidents of his life in exile, the
personages he came in contact with, and also upon
current events in his native land, were written at a
time when Hungarian literature was at a very low
ebb, and when the orthography of the language
was in an unsettled state, so much so that it has
been found needful to prefix to the letters in this
volume a special glossary to elucidate some of the
terms employed by the writer. Great pains have
been taken to make the volume attractive, and it
contains a series of excellent coloured illustrations
by the Hungarian artist, M. Edvi, representing
places with which Mikes was associated.
Le Origini della Architettura Lombarda e delle sue
PrincipaliDerivazioni. By G. T. Rivoira. (Rome :
Ermanno, Loescher & Co.) 2 vols. : Vol. I., lire 35;
Vol. II., lire 55. When one considers that, with
the exception of a very few Persian and Syrian
buildings, the author has personally visited the
hundreds of places he has mentioned and illus-
trated in his two volumes, it is easy to see the
amount of care, time, and study he has bestowed
on the subject. His first chapter is devoted to
Roman Byzantine architecture from the time of
Emperor Honorius to the fall of the Longobard
dynasty. The second contains a graphic and vivid
description of the Maestri Comacini—the first
guild of Lombard architects which had its origin
at Como, whence the name Comacini, for many a
century synonymous with Ecclesiastical architec-
ture. The third chapter—583 pages long—is
devoted to pre-Lombardian architecture, and the
last three chapters deal most exhaustively with
architecture during the domination of the Franks,
architecture in Dalmatia in the times of Charle-
magne, and thence onwards to the appearance
of the Lombard style. The second volume
deals with a style and a period in which the
British student of architecture is naturally more
interested. Able essays on the Norman-Lombard
style in Burgundy and Normandy are followed by
a description of the ecclesiastical architecture
of Great Britain, from the times of Constantine
the Great to the Norman Conquest, with many
specimens of styles between the Latin and Celtic
schools yet to be found in Northumberland and
Ireland, e.g., St. Peter’s at Monkwearmouth, St.

Cuthbert’s at Billingham, St. Paul’s at Jarrow
(compared with some churches at Rome), St.
Vistan’s at Repton, St. Mary’s at Norton. The
range covered by this volume is very extensive,
embracing as it does all Europe and a good part
of the East. The printing of the entire work does
credit both to author and publishers.
Three Hundred Shades and Hozv to Mix them, is
the title of a folio book of colours compiled by
M. Desaint, of Paris, and published by Messrs.
Scott, Greenwood & Co., London, at 21s. net.
Three samples of colour are given on each page
and the composition of the entire series is given at
the end of the book. The work is intended as a
guide to decorators, painters, architects and others
concerned with the mixing and use of colours.
The “ Burlington Art Miniatures,” now being
issued in fortnightly instalments by the Fine Arts
Publishing Company of Cheapside, are reduced
reproductions of famous pictures by the company’s
mezzogravure process, which has been used with
such excellent results for the plates included in
several important works, such as The Royal Col-
lection reviewed in these columns. These miniature
reproductions, which are remarkably clear in spite
of their small size (the “ivory” cards on which they
are printed measure 5! ins. by 4 ins.), are made up
in sets of ten each, and there are to be twenty sets
in all, comprising selections from the chief public
galleries at home and abroad, as well as the King’s
Collection, and some private galleries. The price
of each set in a case resembling a book is 15-. 6d.
net—a very moderate price considering the quality
of the work.

The many admirers of the art of George Mor-
land will be interested to learn that a mezzotint
engraving after his picture The Pledge of Love, by
M. Cormack, has been published in a limited
edition by Messrs. Frost & Reed, of Bristol and
London. The picture represents a lady seated
under a tree by the edge of a piece of water and
holding a letter in her hand. The subject is one
which does not admit of easy translation by such a
medium as mezzotint, but on the whole the en-
graver has achieved his task very creditably. The
engraved surface measures 19 J by i6f inches.
The plate which the Art Union of London this
year offers to its subscribers is an etching by Mr.
C. 0. Murray, R.E., after Neils Lund’s Royal
Academy picture of Royal Windsor, the dimensions
of the engraved part being 24 by 16 J inches. Four
states are issued, and the subscriptions entitling
thereto range from one guinea to seven guineas.
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