International studio (34.1908)

Reviews and Notices

Alessio Baldovinetti and Pisellino —- are fully
discussed in the next chapter, and later on in
the narrative figure Fra Angelico, Benozzo,
Gozzoli, Filippino Lippi, Cosirno Roselli, Botticelli,
Botticini, Verrocchio, Lorenzo da Credi, the Della
Robbias, the Ghirlandajos, Albertinelli, Fra
Bartolommeo, Michelangelo, Raphael, Leonardo
da Vinci, Andrea del Sarto, Pontormo, Francesco
Granacci, Franciabigio, Raffaellino del Garbo,
Benvenuto Cellini and Bronzino. We would
add that the numerous plates included in the
work are reproduced with all the care and
skill which we are accustomed to associate with
the publications issued by Messrs. Goupil & Co.,
and form a worthy pendant to Mr. Brinton’s
admirable letterpress. If we have any fault to find
with this beautiful and interesting volume, it is the
absence of an index, the inclusion of which would
have added to its value as a work of reference.
A Description of Italian Majolica. By M. L.
Solon. (London : Cassell & Co.) 42s. net.—
In this new volume on Italian Majolica the expert
craftsman and eloquent writer, Mr. M. L. Solon,
brings to bear on his subject the ripe experience of
a long life spent in the study of the history of
pottery in its larger aspects, and in addition an
intimate knowledge of technique gained by half
a century’s work as a ceramic artist, executing with
his own hands the visions of his fancy. The
volume is copiously illustrated with reproductions
of typical specimens of Italian Majolica, many of
them in colour, and his masterly introduction
is practically a complete epitome of all that is
known about the beautiful painted and lustred
tin-enamelled ware for which Italy is so justly
famous, beginning with its first introduction in the
15th century, and ending with the modern revival.
Mr. Solon considers in detail the manufacturing
centres in the order of their importance, the
Marches, in which is situated Faenza, that gave
its name to French faience, leading the way, to be
succeeded by Tuscany, where uprose that genius
of ceramic art, Luca della Robbia, and where was
first solved the secret that had so long eluded the
potter of the white translucent ware of the Orient.
In the chapter devoted to the Roman States, the
writer discusses the claims of Denita to priority
in the making of majolica, giving, by the way,
some very exquisite specimens of its art, and
gives the reasons for the failure of Rome to hold
its own with smaller towns in the production of
fine fictile ware. The Duchy of Urbino and the
Venetian States are also thoroughly reviewed, the
latter half of the valuable book being devoted

to the northern and southern provinces, where,
though nothing was made at all equal to the
masterpieces of Faenza, Florence, Venice, Cafag-
giolo, or Urbino, the art of the potter was practised
with some success. The last chapter is somewhat
melancholy reading, commenting as it does on the
degeneration of the robust style of true majolica
into finicking imitations of porcelain; but on the
whole the impression left on the reader is one of
hopefulness for the future in Italy of a craft the
appreciation of which has of late years been revived
by the beautiful examples unearthed in recent
excavations.
Children's Children. By Gertrude Bone. With
Drawings by Muirhead Bone. (London : Duck-
worth.) 6s-. net.—Strongly as Mrs. Bone appeals
to one’s sympathies in this narrative of humble
life, it is the illustrations by her husband that es-
pecially attract us in this volume. Though these
drawings have a distinction in treatment which
lifts them altogether above the bulk of illustrative
work of to-day, there are many illustrators prac-
tising the art more naturally and consequently
with greater charm than Mr. Muirhead Bone.
His style is always the grand one here—and
certainly the mood of some of the drawings is very
impressive. Sometimes in a drawing of slight pro-
portions Mr. Bone shows a resourceful and poetic
use of line—in others the picture is highly finished.
We should approve of a greater uniformity in their
style for the purposes of illustration, whatever the
style determined upon. For sketches in all degrees
of finish are interesting in a portfolio, but mixed
in a book they fail to add their share to the precious
qualities connived at by a careful choice of type,
etc., and which are of advantage in any book which
seeks in narrative form to create and sustain one
mood throughout.
Messrs. Chatto and Windus have recently com-
menced the publication by instalments of three
works which promise to be of epoch-making
importance in the annals of colour reproduction.
The first two, Early Painters of the Netherla?ids,
by Pol de Mont, and Early German Painters,
by Max Friedlander, are to have fifty, and the
third, Italian Painters of the Quattrocento and
Cinquecento, by Dr. Wilhelm Bode, seventy-five
coloured reproductions of typical works, selected
by the authors. To judge from the specimens
inspected by us, these reproductions are nothing
short of amazing in their verisimilitude. The
instalments of all three works are being issued
concurrently at intervals of from two to six months,
each comprising five plates and costing ^5 5s-.
261