International studio (48.1913)

Reviews and Notices

by Dr. Borenius fills ten closely printed pages,
but even this gives no adequate idea of the labour
involved in his work as editor. In every case he gives
the present location of the paintings mentioned in
the text, involving long and tedious investigations,
refers wherever possible to pictures from the hands
of the painters criticised to which no allusion is
made by the authors of the book, and here and
there he proves on what slight grounds important
conclusions have been based, as when he expresses
his opinion that the much-quoted epitaph on the
Barbarelli tomb, on which was founded the popular
belief as to the origin of Giorgione, was wrongly
reported.
An Account of Mediceval Figure-Sculpture in
England. By Edward S. Prior, M.A., F.S.A.,
and' Arthur Gardner, M.A., F.S.A. (Cam-
bridge : The University Press.) fR 35. net.—
The joint authors of a book that, even without its
deeply interesting text, must be a delight to all
lovers of the noble art of decorative figure-sculpture,
on account of the vast number and the beauty of
its illustrations, go to the very root of the matter
under discussion. Not only do they describe and
classify all the most characteristic examples of this
delightful craft that still survive in England, and
bring out clearly the close correlation between
their style and that of the buildings they adorn,
they realise the very spirit that animated those
who executed them. “ The maker of images for
a mediaeval church,” they say, “ was in no hotbed
of culture, was no sophist of the schools or
champion of this or that artistic faith. But par-
ticularly he had no power of choice in the message
he had to deliver; the selection and discovery of
the motives for sculpture had been made for him
dogmatically by the verified creed of Christendom.
... If, as working in stone he could not rival
the marble artist in . . . perfection of finish, yet
the spiritual forces which came to him from the
tradition of the church make themselves evident.
. . . He managed to embody in sculpture some-
thing of the divine power which was moving the
world of sculpture.” A general survey of the
materials and subjects of architectural sculpture is
succeeded by a chronological history of the art
from Pre-Conquest to Gothic times, every page
bearing witness to the enthusiasm of the writers,
their highly developed critical faculties and in-
timate acquaintance with the religious and political
conditions of which the buildings of each succes-
sive period were to a great extent a reflection.
Of very special value are the chapters bringing
out the singular indifference to individual fame
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that especially in the Mid-Gothic era characterised
the men who gave up their lives to the erection and
embellishment of the glorious churches in which
their genius found its fullest expression. The
whole book is, however, full of appreciation of the
personal element that is so important a factor in
all good work and of recognition of the fact that, in
spite of occasional slight influence from abroad,
English figure-sculpture was from first to last
essentially national.
Art in Egypt. By G. Maspero. (London : W
Heinemann.) 65. net.—This little volume belongs
to the series of art histories in which it is intended
to give a coup d'ceil or general sketch of the develop-
ment of art in various countries, each volume being
entrusted to a recognised authority. In the one
before us the distinguished scholar, M. Maspero,
whose writings on Ancient Egypt are held in high
esteem by all archaeologists, reviews the artistic pro-
ducts of the remarkable people whose civilisation
astonishes us more and more as our knowlege of it
increases. The point emphasised by the author in
regard to their art is the subordination of that art
to religious utility throughout its entire history—
and not only plastic and pictorial art, but industrial
art as well. He remarks, too, that it was from the
same cause that sculpture came to assume the
leading rdle in art of the Egyptians, whose religious
ideas demanded the most durable medium for their
embodiment. The blow which struck at the national
religion, struck also at its art, and it disappeared—
became, to use the author’s words, “ as extinct as the
races of monsters we find embedded in the lower
strata of our globe.” Like the other volumes this
one also is copiously illustrated and well printed.
The Story of a Hida Craftsman. From the
Japanese of Rokujiuyen by F. Victor Dickins.
(London: Gowans and Gray.) 105. 6d. net.—
The craftsman in Old Japan was an honoured
personage. He was an artist, in some cases to be
ranked with its greatest painters. This was only
natural when we remember to what a high degree
of artistic and technical excellence he at times
attained. Rokujiuyen’s romance deals with a
worker in wood from Hida, who was invested with
certain supernatural powers. The novel, written in
the early days of the last century, is of interest as
portraying some characteristics of Japanese life and
legend in feudal times. The reproductions which
accompany the work are reduced from the wood-
cuts of Hokusai, but while exhibiting something
of the prowess of the great master of illustration,
they suffer somewhat from over-reduction in size.
Mr. Dickins’s excellent translation is accompanied