Studio: international art (5.1895)

Ringwood as a Sketching Ground

LUSTRE VASE WM, DE MORGAN

of the Studio the excellent work he directs will be
fully described. A capital sketch on vellum for an
over-mantel panel, is reproduced on p. 128. The
Fitzroy Picture Society showed a series of its most
delightful wall-pictures, already illustrated in our
pages. A fine enamelled bowl by Clement Heaton,
and a group of studies by Henry Holiday, with his
very sumptuous lunette of stained glass, designed
for the Chicago Exhibition, must not be forgotten.

The catalogue, a portly volume of close upon
300 pages, has, after the manner of the London
society, some capital essays on pertinent subjects.
Mr. Walter Crane contributes an admirable intro-
140

duction. This is followed by an essay on book-
binding by Cyril Davenport, which is specially
concerned with the collection of seventy-five copies
of the Kelmscott edition of King Florus, that were
bound in various places to the order of J. & M. L.
Tregaskis, who showed them at the Caxton Head,
Holborn, last year. The collection bought by
Mrs. Ryland is displayed in the first gallery.
Other papers included, are : on Silks, by Thomas
Wardle ; on Shipping, by W. Barker ; on Printing,
by R. Falkner; and one on the Potter's craft by an
anonymous author. A last word of hearty praise
is due to the committee, for displaying in the
somewhat limited space at their disposal a variety
of objects, including stained glass, in a way that
leaves no room for adverse criticism. Manchester
may be congratulated on a deservedly successful
exhibition.

G. W.

LETTERS TO ARTISTS. RING-
WOOD AS A SKETCHING
GROUND. BY E. W. CHARL-
TON, R.P.E.

Dear H,—It is a pleasure to hear from you
again. It is a still greater pleasure to hear that I
shall soon see something of you; that we shall
once more have the chance of working together
and talking " shop " to our hearts' content. But
who, may I ask, suggested Ringwood to you ? He
or she at any rate has been somewhat misinformed
on minor points, though on the whole is not far
out in leading ones.

I will first put you right on these subjects.
Socially, Ringwood is not a lively place. I might
go so far as to say it is inclined to stagnation more
or less all the year round, and I do not mean to
be uncomplimentary when I infer that from this
condition of things you will derive a certain
amount of advantage. It is obvious that you will
have more time at your disposal for work. As a
painting country and sketching ground, for a land-
scapist especially, it would be hard to find a
superior to the water meadows in the valley of
the Avon.

Again, the residents would, I presume, resent
being called villagers. Ringwood is a town, and a
market-town too. It possesses besides (of course)
the church, two banks, two good hotels, two large
public halls, too many public-houses, not enough
lodgings for artists, and plenty of shops, though
curiously enough amongst these you will not discover
an artists' colourman's or even a photographer's.