Studio: international art (10.1897)

Reviews of Recent Publications

faith which the common people had in her and,
in a way, is symbolic of that faith which has made
her a popular Saint in France, notwithstanding
the fact that she is unrecognised as such by the
Church.

The Architecture of the Renaissance in Italy. By
William T.Anderson. (London: B.T.Batsford.)—
This handsome volume, with its fifty-four collotypes
and seventy-four illustrations in the text, is a very
welcome book. Literature devoted to the period is
abundant; indeed, its very amplitude appals a
student. A series of good lectures, well illustrated,
affords as much knowledge as an ordinary student
is likely to require, unless, indeed, he specialises,
when he must needs go on to far more exhaustive
sources. This book consists of such lectures de-
livered at the Glasgow School of Art; the pictures
are doubtless those used there by way of illustration.
There is a disadvantage in reading a lecture. Pas-
sages which are intelligible enough when spoken
with action, or reference to diagrams, seem formal,
if not involved, as a printed page ; but against this
loss, there is the possibility of cross-reference, and
harking back to earlier matter, so that on the whole
the printed lecture may claim to supply a student
with the information he most requires. The author's
style is a little involved. Indeed, not a few sen-
tences require reading aloud in a colloquial manner
before you can grasp their meaning. The anecdote
of Tribolo (p. 118) will show an example of this
fault. The worth of the volume is increased by a
capitally selected list of books on the subject, and
the manner of its production sustains the high and
well-deserved reputation of its publisher. It is
distinctly a book well worth buying.

Art Anatomy of Animals. By Ernest E.
Thompson. (London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd.
305. net).—This is a sumptuously arranged volume
containing a valuable assortment of information on
the muscular and bony structure of various animals.
The best characteristic of the book is the amount
of trouble which is taken by the author in explain-
ing how, in each animal described, the growth and
massing of the fur or hair is an agreement with the
forms of the muscles beneath, and in impressing
upon his readers the necessity for giving at least
as much attention to the coats of the beasts he
wishes to depict, as to their muscular modelling.
He says with some truth that too little anxiety has
hitherto been shown to appreciate how largely the
shape of four-footed beasts is determined by their
covering, which is more often than not thick
enough to entirely conceal the skin. He argues
that as animal painters can scarcely study from

models to the same extent as painters of the human
figure, a greater amount of codified knowledge is
necessary to them, and this knowledge he certainly
does his best to supply.

Six Settings of Poems. By Robert Bridges.
Music by Hamish MacCunn. Pp. 36, price 2s. 6d.
net.—Album of Six Volkslicdcr. English and
German words, music composed by Maude
Valerie White. Pp. 30, price 2s. 6d. net.—Album
of Eight Songs and One Duet. Music composed
by Lawrence Kellie. Pp. 46, price 4s. net.
Four Vocal Duets. By Mark Ambient. Illustra-
tions by Chris Hammond, music by Franco Leoni.
Pp. 36, price 5.?. net.—Three Scotch Poems. Tran-
scribed for the Pianoforte by Emil Bach. Pp. 18,
price 4s. net.—London : Robert Cocks & Co.

Dr. Robert Bridges is to be congratulated on
having Mr. Hamish MacCunn as his musical ex-
ponent. The six songs in the Album before us
are worthy of their author and composer ; and al-
though more interesting from a harmonic than a
melodic point of view, are musical studies of the
highest order. No. 1. My Bed and Pilloiv are
Cold, is of great beauty and originality ; No. 2.
Croziw Winter with Green, is in the composer's
happiest vein ; and No. 3. The Idle Life is delicious
in its indolent insouciance.

It is, perhaps, no slight compliment to a com-
poser to say that his songs are reminiscent of one
another. In No. 1, Lebcwohl, and No 3, Ich bin
Dein, are reflected the scholarship and charm of
Miss Maude Valerie White's earlier songs, nor is
the spirit of the German Volkslied wanting in the
Wanderlied (No. 3), or the Mailiifterl, (No. 5).
The English translations by Miss Alma Strettell
are truthful to the text.

Mr. Lawrence Kellie has never written anything
better than Oh Beautiful Star (No. 3), whilst Cross-
ing the Bar, and The Boy and the Brook, add to
a collection of varied merit.

Mr. Franco Leoni's Four Vocal Duets may be
recommended as easy and effective. No. 4, The
May Quccti's Requiem, is quaint and touching in its
simplicity, and, like the other numbers, is written in
the so-called Old English style.

The martial songs of the Highlands offer a
tempting bait to writers for the pianoforte, and to
Mr. Emil Bach have proved happy themes, the
Three Poems on Scotch Airs being treated by him
in a vigorous and musicianly manner without tin;
laboured effort usually associated with this kind of
drawing-room music- The faithfulness of the tran-
scriptions can be tested by the inclusion in the
album of the original songs themselves.