Studio: international art (17.1899)

Reviews of Recent Publications

scapes are excellent as usual, especially one with a
woman classically draped, which proves him to be
an able figure-draughtsman too.

Among the portraits, two are especially striking.
A. Pepino’s portrait of a lady is an admirable piece
of arrangement. All the details have been cleverly
selected so as to be in harmony with the purple
dress of the lady, which in its turn has been chosen
with singular taste to set off the head. It is a little
symphony of colour. Unger’s portrait of himself
presents almost opposite virtues, but not minor
ones. It was done in Sicily, and one can well
imagine that visions of Antonello da Messina rose
to his mind’s eye as he worked. There is a simple
straightforwardness and grandeur of style about the
portrait. The sunburnt full face contrasts forcibly
with the white of the jersey and the opaque blue
of the background, and by reducing the scheme of
light and shade to its simplest form and setting
aside all strongly-cast shadows, he has succeeded
in infusing admirable qualities into his work.

H. W. S.

REVIEWS OF RECENT
PUBLICATIONS.

Crisantemes. By Alexandre de Riquer.
(Barcelona : A. Verdaguer).-—This is a most ex-
quisitely dainty volume and reflects the highest
credit on the author and artist, and the printer.
Almost every one of its “ precious ” little pages
contains some design or illustration printed in
colours, each one of which is fresh and piquant—
the selection and arrangement of the tints being
entirely harmonious and satisfactory. Lovers and
collectors of artistic volumes should not fail to
secure a copy of this work.

The Pilgrim's Progress. By John Bunyan.
With an Introduction by the Rev. H. R. Haweis.
Illustrated by George Woolliscroft Rhead,
Frederick Rhead, and Louis Rhead. (London :
C. Arthur Pearson, Ltd.).—This edition is rendered
remarkable by the large amount of labour bestowed
by the brothers Rhead upon the illustrations.
Over one hundred and twenty important full-page
compositions and border designs, the quality of
which is in every respect admirable, are incorporated
in the work. We could have wished that the founts
of type employed had been selected with better
judgment. As it is, the excellent illustrations are
marred not a little by the anachronism in style
between them and the letterpress. A finer quality of
paper and better printing should have been accorded

136

to such notably good decoration. We trust, in
justice to the artists’ work, that if another edition
of the book be called for these defects may be
remedied.

Jfans Andersen’s Fairy Tales. Illustrated by
Helen Stratton. (London : George Newnes,
Ltd.).—Published in fourteen parts at 6d. each.
The publishers may be congratulated upon this
excellent edition of an ever-popular work. The
four hundred illustrations are full of vivacity and
charm and add not a little to the value of the
book.

0?->iament in European Silks. By Alan S.
Cole. (London : Debenham & Freebody.) Price
32.L net.—The ornamentation of tissues from an
historical no less than an artistic point of view is
a fascinating subject, especially so when the woik
of the Saracenic, Sicilian, and Venetian periods
are under discussion. The decorative value of the
work produced in the twelfth, thirteenth, fourteenth,
and fifteenth centuries has probably never been
surpassed, and the characteristics of design in
those periods cannot be too well known to the
ornamentist. Mr. Cole has succeeded in bringing
together in this book a large number of illustra-
tions of excellent examples of old brocades and
embroideries, respecting which he discourses with
the intimate knowledge of the subject which he is
so well known to possess.

The Life of William Morris. By J. W. Mackail.
(London: Longmans, Green & Co.). 2 vols.

Pi ice 32.L—Mr. Mackail has succeeded in produc-
ing a most readable and valuable biography of the
well-known poet, socialist, and decorator. Not
only has he worked most conscientiously to gather
every possible item of information that could be
of service in forming a correct estimate of the
life and character, aims and abilities, of this notable
Englishman, but he has so selected and woven
his facts together as to compel the interest of the
reader, and to lead him fascinated from page to
page as by a romance.

William Morris was an enthusiast whose efforts
were directed to carry out, untramelled by conven-
tionalities, the bent of his inclination. Intended
for the Church, his innate love of art, fostered by
his friendships and surroundings at Oxford, deter-
mined him to abandon the career that had been
selected for him and to adopt that of architecture.
From architecture he soon wandered into painting
and poetry, and finally discovered a vacancy in the
professions which he was well fitted to fill—that of
decorator. The decorator forty years ago, was,
strictly speaking, a trader in whom the qualifications