Studio: international art (30.1904)

Reviews

dash, and brilliancy he would storm the citadel ;
he was a fighting and fearless, not a persuasive
man." Of George Morland, to whom he consigns
the very highest rank, he says : " He appeals t® the
painter lovingly first and last; his style was the
grandest ... his brush was always affluent and juicy,
andhiscolourof therarest." "Lawrence," he remarks,
"has perhaps of all the English painters imparted
to his portraits a degree of dignity and high
breeding which is unrivalled ; indeed, some of
Lawrence's finest work will rank as work with the
best," an opinion scarcely likely to be fully
endorsed by the admirers of Sir Joshua Reynolds,
Gainsborough, Romney, and Hoppner. Landseer,
whose popularity has so greatly waned of late
years, is, in Mr. Orrock's opinion, " a poet in paint,
an exquisite composer of lines and qualities."
Equally forcible, though not so original, are the
writer's definitions of Turner's peculiarities : " He
is in his way," he says, " as rare as Shakespeare ;
there is but one Turner, and he created his own
art." " Cox and Collier," he further observes,
" are the painters of Cloudlandpar excellence " ; and
Barret, who is here perhaps fairly judged almost
for the first time, is ranked as one of the "four
pillars of English water-colour landscape art."
In dealing with the craftsmen of England, Mr."
Orrock shows an equally keen appreciation of
national talent. His home is a perfect store-
house of beauty, for it is his delight to live amongst
the treasures he has collected rather than to treat
them as art objects in a museum. The concluding
words of Mr. Webber's last chapter are a signi-
ficant quotation, which sums up succinctly the
devotion of the painter to the decorative arts of
England. " Our wood-work, metal-work, and cera-
mic . . . have the stamp of English art, and in
their acceptance bear testimony to the art instincts
and refinement of the English character. There are
enthusiastic collectors and convinced connoisseurs
who are French to the backbone. It will surprise
no one when I take leave to avow that the more
fastidious and cultivated judges much prefer the
English. Our art is now in the ascendant, and in
relation thereto, I, in conclusion, adopt the motto :
Mag?ia est Veritas, et prmvalebit." In his attitude
in the various controversies which have arisen
from time to time as to the action of different
art societies, Mr. Orrock has always shown him-
self an uncompromising champion of the right.
"He is," says Mr. Webber, "a fighting man in a
cause concerning which he has never felt the ghost
of a doubt. He smites and spares not. At the
same time he is an adversary who can take as well

as give a blow—the British test of a good fighter."
Again and again he has lifted up his voice to good
effect, as when he protested against the neglect of
landscape painting at the National Gallery,'and the
once careless custody of the valuable drawings in
the British Museum. The fortunate owner of an
immense variety of unique art treasures, Mr.
Orrock has supplemented his biographer's nar-
rative with a great number of illustrations, and
nothing could exceed the beauty of the pro-
cess blocks, especially those of details of the
living rooms in the mansion in Bedford Square,
such as the Corner of the Front Drawing-room,
with its Pergolesi cabinet, and the Dining-room,
with its fine paintings on the walls. Unfortunately,
however, the photogravure plates are not quite so
satisfactory ; their russet colour is unpleasant, and
with few exceptions they scarcely do full justice to
the originals. Some, however, it must be added,
leave nothing to be desired : the Raeburns,
Sir H. W. Moncrieff, Master Fraser, and the
Portrait of an Unknown Lady, the Shelling Peas of
Millais, the Good Night of William Hunt, and,
above all, the Mrs. Freer of Gainsborough and the
Mrs. Thos. Brown of Hoppner are admirable
translations of characteristic works. A very great
interest also attaches to what are rather clumsily
called Some Odd Leaves from a Lifelong Library
of the Sketch-books of James Orrock, which include
studies of clouds, waves, etc., forming a kind of
pictorial journal of their author's career.

Pattern Design. By Lewis F. Day. (London:
B. T. Batsford.) p. 6d. net.—No better instructor
in the humble but pre-eminently useful branch of
art under discussion in this copiously illustrated
book could be desired than the Past Master of the
Art-workers' Guild, who for more than thirty years
has been engaged in designing mural decorations,
textile fabrics, tiles, etc., and has already issued
many excellent text-books on ornament of various
kinds. Those familiar with Mr. Day's book on the
"Anatomy of Pattern," which passed through five
editions, might, indeed, have supposed that his
last word had been said on the subject, but the
volume now issued is practically a new one, though
built up on the old foundations. Its author
frankly admits that times have changed, and with
them the standpoint of students and teachers . . .
" My outlook," he adds, " has widened with
experience," and he has done wisely in profiting by
that widening. Reading his clear descriptions, and
examining his fine designs, marked, as they all are,
by dignified simplicity and appropriateness, pattern
making seems the easiest thing in the world, but,

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