Studio: international art (30.1904)

Reviews

alas, as in every other branch of art, real success
can never be achieved by patience and perseverance
alone, for mechanically evolved geometrical designs
remain lifeless and uninteresting without the
imagination which is in every case a free gift to the
individual, and cannot be bought with money or
won by training.

Light and Water. By Sir Montague Pollock,
Bart. (London: George Bell & Sons.) \os. 6d.
net.—As useful in its way as " Nature's Laws and
the Making of Pictures " of Mr. Wyllie, this com-
paratively unpretending volume deals in a very
interesting manner with the fascinating subject of
what its author poetically calls the " reflexions in
Nature's living mirror," with their delicacy of form,
ever fleeting and changing, and their subtle com-
binations of colour. " The true artist," says Sir
Montague Pollock, " will always be guided by his
eye rather than by any rule of science .... but
for all that a knowledge of the fixed rules which
light obeys as it falls upon water or emerges from
it will help him in no small degree." Dividing his
subject into four parts, the author analyses in a
searching and exhaustive manner every variety of
reflection in smooth or rippled water, supplement-
ing his text with numerous reproductions of photo-
graphs from Nature, drawings and diagrams, the
whole forming a very complete guide to the student.

Pilgrimages to Old Homes. By Fletcher Moss.
(Didsbury.)—Written in a bright and chatty, per-
haps too chatty, style to please all tastes, this new
volume, by the author of several publications of a
similar kind, deals chiefly with old houses on the
Welsh border, the full history of each of - which,
with stories of its former occupants, is given.
Richly illustrated with excellent reproductions of
good photographs, it will be greatly appreciated by
all who are interested in the relics of the domestic
architecture of days gone by, and the legends
which have gathered about the memories of those
who lived in them. Mr. Moss knows his subject
well, and writes on it with the sympathetic insight
which does so much to bring the reader into true
touch with an author.

The Art of the Italian Renaissance. By Hein-
rich Wolfflin. (London : William Heinemann.)
\os. 6d. net.—In his brief Prefatory Note to this
study of the Renaissance, from the pen of the
Professor of Art History at the Berlin University,
Sir Walter Armstrong claims that the author has
" made a curiously successful attempt to deal with
the great period of the High Renaissance in Italy
from a somewhat novel point of view—that, in fact,
of the craftsman himself, rather than that of the
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interpreter." It is, however, somewhat difficult to
endorse fully this high praise, for he who could
indeed—to quote Sir Walter Armstrong's words—
fully follow "the workings of Raphael's mind as he
built up things like the Disputa, the School oj
Athens, and the Madonna di San Sisto" would be
himself a genius worthy to rank with the Immortals,
and this Herr Wolfflin certainly is not. Moreover,
his style—or, to be more accurate, that of his
translator—is so involved that it is often difficult to
follow his meaning. What, for instance, can he
intend to convey when he speaks of the "silent
mouth" of a certain Madonna, or the "contented
twinkle " of Filippo ? " The line of Botticelli," he
says, " has a certain violence, and when he groups
his pictures homogeneously round a centre some
new result of great importance is produced," but
what that result is his readers are not told. It is,
however, chiefly in the so-called Preliminary Sur-
vey that this crudity of expression is most appa-
rent ; the chapters dealing with the work of
individual masters are more satisfactory, containing
much that is interesting, though scarcely anything
that is new. The illustrations are well chosen.

Architectural Draiving. By R. Phene Spiers,
F.S.A. New Edition. (London: Cassell & Co.)
■js. 6d. net.—Although it retains a somewhat old-
fashioned appearance, this new edition of a book that
has long been in use amongst students of architecture,
has been carefully brought up to date, and several
new plates have been added. It deals fairly ex-
haustively not only with the actual principles of
architectural drawing, but with all that is essential
to the training of a working architect; and could
teaching supply the original talent and taste which
raises a worker in any direction to the rank of an
artist, it would leave nothing to be desired. The
numerous illustrations are an excellent commentary
on the text, and include examples of the work of
many well-known architects, as well as of their
renderings of typical Norman and Gothic details.

Collection de Tissus Anciens. By Don Jose
Pasco. (Barcelona. Privately printed.)—This is a
portfolio of good photographic reproductions of
the ancient textile fabrics collected by the late Don
Francisco Miguel y Badia, of Barcelona, comprising
a great variety of examples, ranging in date from
the seventh to the eighteenth century, which are
now unfortunately dispersed, as they were sold soon
after the death of their owner for the benefit of his
widow. The plates, with their descriptions of the
colours in which the designs are worked, will be
found of great assistance to the modern designer
of needlework or to the decorator of books, and in