International studio (50.1913)

Reviews and Notices

prospect of eventual publication, they are beauti-
fully intimate. They are introduced to us by a
lengthy essay in which the translator has taken the
opportunity of expounding a philosophy of sesthetics
based on a reading of Nietzsche. It may be asked
whether this is not a liberty to take in an intro-
duction of the kind, since in effect it takes the
words from the mouth of the author whom it pro-
poses to introduce. But in any case Mr. Ludovici
writes with virility and precision, and apparently
his character as a most conscientious translator
remains unaffected by the fact of his possessing
extreme views of his own.
Prints and Their Makers : Essays on Engravers
and Etchers, Old and Modern. Edited by Fitzroy
Carrington. (London: Eveleigh Nash.) 125. 6d.
net.—This is a book after the heart of the true
print-lover; not merely a book of reference to
assist the specialist collector in identifying or
classifying his acquisitions, but a book to read with
enjoyment from cover to cover. In these essays,
which are the outcome of genuine knowledge and
sympathy, one not only finds interpretation of the
artistic significance of the etchings and engravings
under discussion, but one is brought into intimacy
with the personalities and lives of the engravers
themselves. Thus Mr. Campbell Dodgson helps
us to a better understanding not only of the spirit
and art of the wonderful woodcuts known as
Diirer’s, but also the nature of the craftsmanship
that justified their being so known, although Diirer
himself went no further than drawing his designs on
the wood, his very lines being left intact by the
cutters. Of the earliest Italian engravers Mr. Arthur
Hind discourses with his wonted certainty of
erudition, while the authority of the British
Museum Print Room speaks yet again through the
graceful pen of Mr. Laurence Binyon, who finds a
congenial subject in Rembrandt’s landscape etch-
ings. Mr. Louis R. Metcalfe writes with genuine
enthusiasm of the great French portrait engravers
of the seventeenth century, and the characteristic
qualities of such diverse modern exponents of etch-
ing as Seymour Haden, Bracquemond, Fortuny,
Lepere, and Zorn are admirably interpreted by
various knowledgeable writers; while of strangely
pathetic interest is Mr. Bradley’s account of the
interrupted relations between the poet Baudelaire
and that unfortunate genius Meryon. This attrac-
tive volume is copiously and delightfully illustrated.
Garden Craft in Europe. By H. Inigo Triggs.
(London : B. T. Batsford.) 35-v. net.—Mr. Triggs
has already made some important contributions to
the literature of gardening, and with the increasing

interest that is being taken in the subject, especially
among architects, whose claim to have a voice
in the planning of the garden as an organic adjunct
of the house is coming to be more generally recog-
nised, the present volume will be heartily welcomed
as an able summary of the development of garden
craft in Europe from the earliest times until the
close of the eighteenth century. The book opens
with a glance at the records of gardening as
practised in ancient Greece and Rome, and then
proceeds to describe the principal features of
mediaeval gardens, in regard to which the old
illuminated manuscripts furnish interesting records.
The Italian garden is next discussed, and there
follows a lengthy account in three chapters of
the gardens of France, after which those of the
Netherlands are described. The succeeding chapters
are reserved for the gardens of England, Germany,
Austria, and Spain, the survey winding up with
a chapter on the English Landscape School and its
influence on the Continent. The illustration of
the volume is both copious and interesting, many
old pictures and prints being reproduced in addition
to the numerous drawings and photographs used
throughout. The excellent bibliography appended
will be greatly appreciated by students and others
desirous of pursuing the subject.
The fifth annual volume of Art Prices Current,
edited by G. Ingram Smyth, contains a record
of all the pictures, water-colour and other drawings,
etchings and engravings of various kinds sold
during the season of 1911-12 at Christie’s and
a selection from the sales of Messrs. Sotheby,
Wilkinson and Hodge and Messrs. Puttick and
Simpson, with the prices realised in each case. It
forms a substantial volume of 900 pages, of which
nearly 250 are taken up by the Index of Artists’
and Engravers’ names. The inclusion of titles
of works as well as names in the index is a time-
saving arrangement obviating fruitless references to
the sale records in the body of the book. The
volume is published by the “ Fine Art Trade
Journal” and its price is 21s.
Messrs. Frost and Reed of Bristol and London
have recently published two mezzotints in colour by
Frederick Marriott, A.R.E., entitled respectively
Courtyard, Caen, and The Cafe. In both cases
night effects have been attempted with excellent
results, and the manipulation of the colour has been
carried out very successfully at one printing. 1 he
edition of proofs has, we understand, been limited
to 175 impressions of each, and the plates have
been destroyed.
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