International studio (53.1914)

Reviews and Notices

has devoted close attention to discovering the nature
of the materials used by painters from the earliest
times onwards, and about four years ago he published
the results of his researches and investigations in a
work entitled “ Materials of the Painters’ Craft”
(Foulis). In the present volume he sets forth the
results of further researches and experiments in the
same direction, undertaken as he explains, with a
definite practical object, namely, that of acquiring
such an exact knowledge of pigments and mediums
as would prove of value in fixing the dates of works
of art and detecting forgeries. The methods he
employs are chemical and microscopical, and as
they involve the removal of a minute portion of
pigment the examination' requires delicate manipu-
lation and special apparatus. As the outcome of
these enquiries he is able to adduce fairly conclusive
evidence as to the dates at which various pigments
were in use and of their nature and source. Another
branch of his investigations relates to the quality of
the brushwork in old pictures as a means of
elucidating questions of authorship, and the method
of micro-photography he employs in this connec-
tion has yielded some interesting results as shown
by the series of illustrat’ons appended to the book.
Storied Windows. By A. J. de FIavilland
Bushnell. (Edinburgh : Wm. Blackwood and
Sons.) 155. net.—The author gives his work the
sub-title of “ A Traveller’s Introduction to the
Study of Old Church Glass from the twelfth century
to the Renaissance, especially in France,” and
writes for the “beginner of intelligent ignorance”
for whose delectation he traces the history and
manufacture of coloured glass, and then proceeds
to discuss the old examples which may be seen
and studied in various of the cathedrals in France.
In reviewing, on other occasions, works on the
same subject we have commented upon the great
difficulties encountered in the attempt to illustrate
stained glass windows satisfactorily. We would not
therefore cavil over much at the unsatisfactory
nature of the numerous reproductions which
accompany the author’s text, but we feel more than
ever that there is room for a fine work on old glass
with illustrations in colour.
Baroque Architecture. By Martin Shaw
Briggs, A.R.I.B.A. (London : T. Fisher Unwin.)
2 jy. net.—“ This book is not in any way an attempt
to create a wholesale revival of Baroque Architecture
in England. It is simply a history of a complex
and neglected period.” Perhaps such a declaration
as this, with which Mr. Briggs prefaces his disser-
tation, was necessary in view of the disrepute into
which the type of architectural design known as

Baroque has fallen. One rarely hears a good word
said for “ Baroque ” nowadays, and probably there
are many who feel with Mr. Yoshio Markino that
the Baroque builders were “ big fools ” in making
“ such a mess of their architecture.” “ They made
every line curved without knowing how those
beastly lines fidget our eyes,” says our shrewd
Japanese critic, and he is right; it is those meaning-
less and tiresome curves that have brought odium
upon Baroque, and the only wonder is that this
curious phase of architecture should have been in
favour so long. Mr. Briggs is quite alive to its
demerits in this respect, but thinks it is a matter of
doubt whether seventeenth-century architects were
as much to blame for the florid appearance of their
buildings as were their patrons. But in spite of
its decorative extravagance it had, he contends,
some redeeming features. For one thing, “ it
replaced a series of objectless and expressionless
copyings of antique models which demanded no
higher quality than that of drudging patience.”
Mr. Briggs deals with the history of Baroque
architecture on a more comprehensive scale than
has we think yet been attempted ; beginning with
its first manifestations in Rome he traces its
ensuing development in various other parts of Italy,
in Germany, Austria, France, Spain, Portugal,
Belgium and Holland, and eventually in England,
and as his exposition is profusely illustrated with
typical examples of the style belonging to these
various countries the student who desires to make
acquaintance with this period will find ample
material for a general survey.
Le Costume Civil en France du XIIIC au XIXe
Si'ecle. Par Camille Piton. (Paris: Ernest Flam-
marion; London: Grevel and Co.) 15J. net.
Here in a chronological series of some 700 illus-
trations furnished by contemporary documents of
various kinds one is able to survey the changes
which have taken place in civilian attire throughout
a period of something like seven centuries. In the
earlier stages, the documentation is of course
comparatively meagre and consists principally of
engraved seals, tapestries, stained glass, and the
illuminations of old manuscripts, but as the centuries
advance a much greater fund of material becomes
available in the paintings and prints which were
produced in such abundance after the pictorial
arts began to flourish, and this source has conse-
quently been largely drawn upon for illustrating
the latter half of the book. The letterpress is
en rapport with the illustrations throughout and
contains much interesting information on details
connected with them.

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