Studio: international art (8.1896)

Reviews of Recent Publications

of his book "the attempt to concentrate into a
single focus the fundamental principles which
underlie the weighty words of John Ruskin," he
acquits himself of his share in the task by denounc-
ing the " temporal tricks and fads of miasmic
fungus growth that are always liable to be sprung
upon us," and by quoting Mr. Lionel Cust as an
authority for calling his master " the art prophet
of the nineteenth century."

Of the six illustrations, the Peacock's Feather, the
Head of St. George (after Carpuccio), and the Study
oj a River-bank, are interesting as coming from
Mr. Ruskin's own hand, while the Madonna
adoring the Infant Christ, although but indifferently
reproduced, is a charming fifteenth century Floren-
tine picture (not Verrocchio, as stated in the
catalogue) here published for the first time. Mr.
Bunney's accurate but spiritless study of the
IV.- W. Angle of St. Mark's comes out excellently,
but the same cannot be said of Mr. Newman's
View of Covie, which is badly blurred.

Mary Logan.
An Architectural Account of the Churches of
Shropshire. By D. H. S. Cranage, M.A. Part
II. (Hobson & Co., Wellington, Shropshire.)—
It is with great pleasure that we welcome the
second instalment of Mr. Cranage's important work.
The part before us deals with the churches of the
Hundred of Munslow, the chief of which is that
dedicated to St. Lawrence at Ludlow. Incom-
parably the finest parish church in Shropshire, Mr.
Cranage has done well to deal with it at length.
The building is of great interest to the student of
architectural evolution from Early English of the
first period, to late Perpendicular. The letterpress
is very accurate : a useful plan and some excellent
process blocks materially add to the value of the
author's description of the church. Not a few of
the churches in the Hundred of Munslow have
important Norman work. Amongst them are Ash-
ford Carbonell, Ashford Bowdler, Cardington,
Church Stretton, and Heath, which, according to
our author, is an " unusually complete and genuine
example of the Norman style." It is to be re-
paired, but we trust not restored. The subjects for
illustration have been well selected, and the author
and his illustrators are to be congratulated on their
work. Representations of the elaborate hour-glass
at Easthope, and a delightful family pew at Stokes-
hay, are specially welcome, for such things only too
frequently disappear in small country churches into
which the local builder is let loose. We are glad
to find Mr. Cranage protesting against the mutila-
tion which is euphoniously called "restoration."
250

Academy Architecture. Volume IX. (London :
58 Theobald's Road, W.C.)—We have received a
copy of the ninth yearly volume of this useful pub-
lication edited by Mr. Alexander Koch. The present
number comprises three parts, devoted respectively
to reproductions of a selection of the most pro-
minent architectural drawings hung at the exhibi-
tions of the Royal Academy, London, the Royal
Scottish Academy, Edinburgh, and the Glasgow
Institute of Fine Arts ; sculptures, and a review of
interesting architectural subjects carried out or
designed during recent years. The general get-up
of the volume leaves little to be desired, and
members of the architectural profession will find it
a work of very considerable value.

The Rape of the Lock. By Alexander Pope.
Illustrated by Aubrey Beardsley. (London:
Leonard Smithers. Price 10s. 6d. net.)—Mr.
Beardsley has recently made some points of de-
parture in the technique of his work which
cannot be commended. But in the illustrations
before us these unpleasant features are less notice-
able, perhaps, than in some other recent drawings
by him. But they are not wholly absent. The
expenditure of much labour upon insignificant
detail can only detract from the value of the
main lines of the composition.

The elaborate treatment of the parquet flooring of
the frontispiece is an example of the unpleasant work
to which we refer. There was a time when the value
of line was so esteemed by this artist that he never
traced one but that it was full of meaning. Each
scratch that he put upon paper was an indispensable
portion of the complete design. But this cross-
hatching with which he has been so busy of late is
altogether too wearisome. And it is also common-
place. Perhaps one of the most successful draw-
ings in the present work is the Toilet (facing page 6).
The touch of black in the maid's dress contrasts
most satisfactorily with the grey of the ladies'
peignoir and hair, and the white of the dressing-
table.

Mr. Beardsley, in spite of his many imitators, is
still the master of his own style of design—a style
which is as nearly a creation as is perhaps possible
to come to in these days. Could he but turn his
attention to healthier subjects and not occupy
himself so much with trivialities, he would gain
jmmeasurably, not only in popularity but in many
things which are necessary to great art.

Artistic Landscape Photography. By A. H.
Wall. (London: Percy Lund & Co.)—This is a
timely and useful book, by a most sane photo-
grapher. His remarks on composition, on the