International studio (45.1912)

Autumn Books

AUTUMN BOOKS
X—X “The Ideal Collection of the
L V World’s Great Art” (Doubleday-
Page Art Company, New York, $75.00).
The consideration of this work is, perhaps, out of
place under the caption of “Book Reviews,” for
the reason that it seems more like a picture gal-
lery or, at least, an acquisition for the print collec-
tor. The importance and wide significance of the
work as it is now presented is such that a discussion
of its purpose and scope can only (paradoxical as
such a statement may seem) begin at the beginning.
It seems that certain English publishers, having
in contemplation the preparation of a great his-
tory of the world’s art, convened a meeting of the
leading critics to discuss the question. It was sub-
mitted by one of these that the only adequate
presentation of the subject must be graphic;
that the story must be told by the pictures them-
selves, or by the best reproductions obtainable of
these pictures, inasmuch as the most masterful
compilation of biography and chronology could
tell, at most, less than half of the story.
The idea was further elaborated until an ar-
rangement was evolved as nearly perfect as such
an enormous subject would admit of. The work
was begun with the careful preparation of a great
chronological chart, so devised that not only the
date of any of the great masters of painting might
readily be found, but so that his life and work
might be accurately placed with reference to his
contemporaries, both in his own group and in the
coexisting schools of other countries.
When this chart, which precedes the actual
contents of the portfolio, was accurately and com-
prehensively worked out, it remained only to se-
lect from among the museums and private col-
lections of the world such paintings as would not
only illustrate most saliently the particular char-
acteristic of the school to be represented, but
which should also be an adequate document of
the work of the individual painter. This involved
an analytical process of elimination, resulting in
the selection of sixty master-paintings, arranged
by the great schools which marked the progress
of art from the earliest dawn of the Italian Renais-
sance.
This opens the collection with the work of Fra
Angelico, followed by Giovanni Bellini, Leonardo,
Titian and Raphael. It is, undoubtedly, a fact
that consecutive comparison, pursued with a
view to establishing the chronological sequence of
the great painters by visits to the foreign gal-

'The Ideal Collection of the World's Great Art"
Doubleday-Page Art Co. Tate Gallery, London


A PORTRAIT OF
MISS ELLEN TERRY

BY J. S. SARGENT

leries, is a matter practically impossible on account
of the wide distribution of the several best ex-
amples. One may be in the Louvre, another in
London, in the Tate Gallery, another at the
Prado or one in the Uffizi. Here, however, they
are gathered into one portfolio, from all the great
galleries and from private collections, and in
every instance, though lacking the color, are di-
rect reproductions from the originals, in a soft
brown mezzogravure.
The general discussion of the rise and progress
of the various schools outlined in the chart is
further supplemented by pertinent criticisms and
comments relative to each picture, and so ar-
ranged that the three divisions of the work—the
chart, illustrations and text—shall be inter-
complementary.
The field under consideration in this collec-
tion is wide and far reaching, taking one through

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