International studio (41.1910)

Reviews and Notices

into the periods of Titian's career to which various
paintings might be assigned, tentative ascriptions
as to dates, attempts to realise all the changes
in Titian's manner, often with masterly analysis of
his method, make up the body of this book,
Titian's movements being touched upon only in
reference to the influence upon his art. All that
Mr. Ricketts writes has two-fold value. We find in
him that rarest of all combinations, the expert and
the temperamental writer. We suppose the author's
intention was to create about the figure of Titian
the glamour of the atmosphere of his time, and
in this he has certainly succeeded. The volume,
despite Mr. Ricketts' protests to the contrary, may
be called veritably a life of a painter, of which sort
of book there are in reality very few. The illustra-
tions, which have been printed with great care, all
come together at the end of the book in the order
in which they are assumed to have been painted,
thus forming a supplement for ready reference in
connection with the author's remarks.

Six Greek Sculptors. By Ernest A. Gardner,
M.A. (London : Duckworth & Co.) js. 6d. net.
—Professor Gardner fully justifies his selection of
Myron, Phidias, Polyclitus, Praxiteles, Scopas, and
Lysippus, as the six masters who he says alike in
their influence on their contemporaries and suc-
cessors in their place in the estimation of ancient
critics, and in the material we possess for the study
of their work, stand out beyond all rivals. In his
Introductory Chapter on the general characteristics
of Greek Sculpture he vindicates it from the oft-
quoted charge of Ruskin, that " there is no personal
character in true Greek art, but only abstract ideas
of youth and age, strength and swiftness, virtue
and vice," declaring that "the Greek sculptor so
familiarized himself with living and moving forms
. . . that he was able, his theme once selected, . . .
to cut straight to it in the marble ... to create
figures which, though the perfection of their pro-
portions was perhaps beyond what could be found
in any individual, yet had an individuality of their
own." The same lucidity of statement and ex-
position is noticeable in the essays, in which the
peculiarities and attainments of each great master
are defined. Numerous reproductions of typical
works give completeness to this interesting volume.

Feuillcs ifautomne. By Phillipe Robert.
(Published by the Author, at Ried-sur-Bienne,
Switzerland.) Frcs. 50 ; ed. de luxe, Pres. 100.—
M. Phillipe Robert, a young artist of great
promise, comes of an artistic stock, his father being
M. Paul Robert, the distinguished Swiss painter,
whosedecorativepanels in the Museum at Neuchatel
8?

are a chef-d'oeuvre of modern Swiss art. The
son has certainly inherited something of his father's
exquisite temperament. He is already known to
lovers of art in England by his Alpine Flora, a
work not only of the highest artistic merit, but
full of profound sentiment for one of the richest
and most varied manifestations of Alpine beauty.
He now follows this up by Autumn Leaves, in
which the author in sensitive and lucid language
gives expression to his theories on the application
of the subject he has chosen to decorative purposes
and uses. These theories are worthy of careful
consideration, and are illustrated by plates and
designs which are admirable indications of the way
to be taken. The motto of the volume, " Science,
Harmony, and . Serenity," indicates the aim the
author has kept steadily in view throughout the
work, which must be accounted a contribution of
real value to the study of decorative art. The
artist's fine and delicate feeling for the varied
and fugitive beauty of nature in autumn, and his
absolute sincerity have stood him in good stead in
his admirable interpretation of his theories. The
volume, to which M. Phillipe Godet contributes an
excellent preface, has been very tastefully produced,
not only as regards the actual printing and decora-
tion, but also as regards the material used for it,
and is an evidence of the progress that is being
made in Switzerland in the art of the book.

The Wye. Painted by Sutton Palmer.
Described by A. G. Bradley. (London: A. & C.
Black.) 7s. 6d. net.—Mr. Bradley, as he has
already proved in his "Highways and Byways of
North Wales" and "March and Border Land of
Wales," has a most intimate acquaintance with the
ancient principality in the remote recesses of which
the Wye has her birth, and his artist collaborator,
who by the way is specially skilful in rendering
sunlit foliage, is evidently thoroughly en rapport
with the subjects he has chosen to depict. He
interprets with equal felicity such gems of natural
scenery as the narrow gorge above Rhayader, the
secluded rapids near Builth, the rugged pass domi-
nated by the so-called Seven Sisters and the
Huntsman's Loop, or such picturesque towns as
Ross and Hereford, such masterpieces of archi-
tecture as Tintern Abbey and Chepstow Castle,
the only possible regret being that no autumn,
winter or storm effects have been attempted. Mr.
Bradley, on the other hand, does not ignore the
melancholy side of nature, but recognizes to the
full the sombre pathos of the silent uplifted land
known only to the privileged few as well as the
varied fascinations of the smiling lowland valleys.