Studio: international art (30.1904)

Reviews

their composition. It is true that not a few of
these are assiduous gallery-goers, but they are
seen at galleries for the same reason that some
people are seen at church—merely because it is
considered a respectable thing to be there. They
judge of art by the prices obtained at the auction
rooms, and, if they be women, they apply the
adjective "sweet" to a Tintoretto and a Watteau>
a Velasquez and a Rossetti, with a noble in-
appropriateness. On them, we fear, that Mr. Witt
will not have the opportunity of making any im-
pression. But there is another section of the
community which really does care for pictures,
and is honestly anxious to approach them in an
intelligent way. We feel sure that to this section
Mr. Witt's book will be a very real help. No
doubt the exquisite and the superfine will sneer,
but their sneers have generally no effect, save it
be to add to the gaiety of mankind. Mr. Witt
gives due attention, we are glad to notice, to
" Considerations of Date " and to " The Influence
of Race and Country." He explains briefly and
lucidly such terms as "value" and " tone," which
have for so long been in the nature of terrifying
mysteries to the layman. After discussing the
different varieties of pictures, he deals with
" Drawing," " Colour," " Light and Shade,"
"Composition," "Treatment," and " Methods and
Materials." His book, which is admirably pro-
duced and well illustrated, is provided with a
useful index. We have much pleasure in cordially
recommending it.

Sons of Francis. By Anne Macdonell. (London:
Dent & Co.) \2s. 6d. net.—The authoress of this
truly delightful study of the Knights of the Holy
Ghost, as, borrowing from Heine, she calls the
first followers of the ascetic of Assissi, has the rare
gift of sympathising with a point of view which is
not her own. She is, and frankly confesses herself
to be, altogether in love with Francis as a man
who, she says, " fascinates so much," but she goes
so far as to deny to him the honour, which, how-
ever, in her eyes would not have been an honour,
of "having formed the complicated machine, the
Minorite body." He was responsible, she says,
for its main features only. He would fain have
had his followers share his own freedom, and he
never saw the use of any other rule than that of
the few sentences of the Gospels which he en-
deavoured to fulfil literally. Taking the "Knights"
in the order of their introduction to the cult of
the "Lady Poverty," who was the inspirer of their
leader, Miss Macdonell brings forcibly before her
readers the personality of each, supplementing her

narrative with well chosen examples of their repre-
sentation in art, and concluding the fascinating
volume with a deeply interesting chapter on Dante
and the Franciscans, showing how truly Francis
and the poet were kindred spirits.

Roses of Fcestum. By Edward McCurdy.
(London : G. Allen.)—This charming little volume
is no mere eulogy, as its name would seem
to imply, of the famous roses of Paestum, which
still flourish luxuriantly on the site of the once
prosperous city. It is a scholarly study of what its
author poetically calls " the roses of fresh beauty
growing on Italian soil . . . upgathered of the
immortal spirit of beauty that lay in slumber until
the fulness of time of the reflowering, when, in the
valley of the Arno, all the arts resurgent were one
harmony of joy and thanksgiving." To Mr.
McCurdy the sculptures of Nicolo Pisano, the
frescoes of Botticelli, and the " Vita Nuova" of
Dante, with all other masterpieces of Italian art and
literature, are the outcome of seed sown in Lucania
when it was the seat of a Greek colony. Whether
this claim be conceded or not, the essays in which
it is put forth are very agreeable reading, full of
suggestion and originality.

The Decorative Illustration of Books. By Walter
Crane. Second Edition. (London : Bell & Sons.)
6.y. net.—So far as knowledge of his subject and
literary skill are concerned, no better writer could
have been chosen than Mr. Walter Crane to dis-
course on the subject of the art of illustration.
The book is much to be commended, dealing, as it
does, with a great number of representative men,
typical examples of whose work are given. It
is a pity that one of the best examples of
Geiman work in the book, the scene from Hans
Burckmair's "Weiss Konig," should have been
mutilated as it has; and that greater care was
not taken in printing the illustrations. The effect of
Sandys' Old Chartist is quite destroyed by the
translation of the delicate greys of the picture into
one heavy mass of black.

Keene's Nature Studies. (Bristol : M. Keene,
ii2 Gloucester Road.) — The importance of
correct reproductions of various kinds of plant
forms, both as examples for reference in the studio,
and as explanatory diagrams for use in nature
lessons to children, can hardly be disputed. There
is, indeed, a growing demand for such reproduc-
tions ; and this series of plates from photographs
of budding plants, flowers, fruits, and seeds in
various stages of growth, is just what is wanted.
Students of design will find them distinctly helpful,
and even artists who wish to verify an impression

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