Studio: international art (27.1903)

Reviews

freshness of the fresco work on it, so unlike
the soft liquidity of oil painting. It is a pity, in
view of the great success of the illustrations, that
the translation should be wanting in style : such
expressions as " square on plan," " trecentist
modesty," "impudent benches," "first decorations
of rooms " (instead of early mural decorations), are
but a few of many far from happy renderings of
Italian idiom. Moreover, there is a want of
uniformity in spelling: the patron Saint of Siena,
for instance, appearing sometimes as St. Bernard,
sometimes as St. Bernardine, and occasionally as
S. Bernardino.

Rariora: Notes of some of the Printed Books,
Manuscripts, Histo7-ical Documents, Medals, En-
gravings, Pottery, &*c, &c, collected, 1858-igoo,
by John Eliot Hodgkin, F.S.A. Three vols.
(London : Sampson Low & Co.) jQ% $s. net.—
It is quite impossible within the scope of a review
to do anything like justice to this remarkable work,
certainly one of the most noteworthy ever issued
from the modern press. It is not only an admirably
lucid and eloquent account of a unique collection
of rare and valuable relics of the past; a scholarly
record of the work of forty years, bearing on every
page the impress of an acute and cultured intellect;
it is a revelation of a deeply interesting personality
of one who would gladly share with all the world
the results of his own toil. Although Mr. Hodgkin
is a collector in the best sense of the term, able
to discriminate between the true and the false
value of the rare and the old, he is something
far more than that. He realises, as few of the
brotherhood have done, that a man's wealth does
not consist in the abundance of his possessions, but
in his power of appreciating beauty and adding to
the happiness of others. The motto of his book is
Sibi et Arnicis, and in it he sounds the keynote of
his character. He longs, he says, to afford to his
readers " some share however slight in the
enjoyment which has soothed many a weary
moment of his own life and added brightness to
many a happy hour." He dwells on what he calls
"the insidious, the enthralling, indomitable joy of
collecting, which can tinge with its rosy glow the
hill-tops at least of existence, if it may not suffice
to chase from its gloomy valleys the spectres of
disappointment, sorrow and regret. . . . To a true
member of the Guild of Collectors," he adds, " the
greatest concern will be with the proper present use
of what he has won with his sword and his bow,
rather than with that which shall happen to them
when his sun shall have set for ever."

Each of the three volumes of this costly publica-

tion is complete in itself, with its own index or
indices, proving how well its author knows how to
economise the time of the student, though he is so
generous with his own. It would be impossible
in the space at our disposal to give even a sum-
mary of the contents of these three wonderful
volumes, which should be in the hands of every-
one desiring reliable information concerning the
subjects dealt with.

Lives and Lege7ids of the Great Hermits and
Fathers of the Church, with other contemporary
Saints. By Mrs. Arthur Bell. (London :
George Bell & Sons, 1902.) Price 14x net.—
This volume is far removed from a mere compila-
tion or from a picture-book with appropriate
explanatory letter-press. It is an elaborate and
discriminating study of a great and fascinating
subject. The enthusiasm of the author is evident
in almost every paragraph, but her enthusiasm is
always kept in check by her critical sense. To
those who in ancient days depicted the lives and
legends of the Hermits and Fathers of the Church
the subject-matter was undoubtedly of immense
importance, and we think that Mrs. Bell does
wisely to devote much of her space to the elucida-
tion of that subject-matter. Even to a man who
cares little for the graphic and plastic arts her
pages will be found curiously interesting. She
brings before us an age when men of acute intellect
believed in events the most startlingly improbable
without a suspicion of incredulity. We are shown
the dawn and growth of scepticism, and the rise
and fall in the estimation in which particular
hermits, saints and fathers were held. Mrs. Bell,
of course, discusses the work of the old masters at
great length, but she brings her survey down to our
own times. Thus, among the illustrations, we find
reproductions of The Martyrdom of St. Dorothea,
by Burne-Jones ; The Dedication of St. Genevieve,
by Puvis de Chavannes ; and St. ferome in the
Desert, by Lord Leighton. Modern frescoes in
French churches and stained-glass windows in
English cathedrals are also referred to in the text,
while the sculptures of mediaeval churches—Eng-
lish and Continental—are not overlooked. For
the most part the paintings are well reproduced,
especially when we consider the difficulties with
which, in many cases, the publishers were con-
fronted. The book is beautifully printed, and the
white linen cover, with a charming design in
crimson and gold, is in very good taste.

The Encyclopedia Britannica. Edited by Sir
Donald Mackenzie Wallace, Arthur T. Had-
ley, LL.D., and Hugh Chisholm, B.A. Vols.

309