Studio: international art (36.1906)

Reviews

“IE EOLWEG A BRUCES” BY T. MIDDELEER

The arrangement of the French section merited
interested attention in the first place, each room
having been decorated by one particular artist.
Lalique had treated the flora of France in a golden
brocade upon a grey fabric; Mile. Delasalle the
gardens of France ; Mile. Dufau the orchards of
France ; Adler the manufactures of France ; Wery
the mountains of France ; and Lepere the shores
and the rivers of France. In this agreeable setting
French painting was represented in its principal
aspects and its various schools. The flower of the
impressionist school was represented there: Claude
Monet (with tAvo widely differing landscapes),
Renoir, Guillaumin, and even the lamented Sisley.
Another vanished master, the great Fantin, was
recalled by a fine portrait; and among the masters
of the French school we must by turn do homage
in their various domains to Besnard, Harpignies,
and Raffaelli—so justly appreciated in Belgium.
The entire group of the Societe Nouvelle were also
present. Collet, Menard, and Simon exposed to
our view their diverse and individual visions of
vehement realism and seductive idealism. And
here again were Le Sidaner, whose signature was
seen on one of the best pictures in the Exhibition ;
Dauchez, painter of the Breton 1 ancles; Morisset,
with his sympathetic views of interiors; Henri
Martin, Edouard Saglio, Ullmann, Labouche, and
the two Griveaus.

The section of the United States was also most
attractive and complete. The achievements of the
37°

American colony in Paris,
from such elders as Stewart
down to the youngest like
Gibson, with Walter Gay
and Vail between, was dis-
played once more with
great success. H. F.

REVIEWS
AND NOTICES.

Pre-Raphaelitism and the
Pre - Raphaelite Brother-
hood. By W. Holman
Hunt. (London: Mac-
millan). Two Volumes.
£2 2s. net.—In spite of all
that has already been
written on the subject of
Pre - Raphaelitism, which
has indeed perhaps been
rather obscured than eluci-
dated by much of the criticism lavished upon it,
there is no doubt that the final word remained
to be spoken. That word has now, however,
been said in the deeply interesting autobio-
graphy of the one artist still living who

can speak with real authority; for, as he

himself says, “his evidence is not derived from
outside suggestions bent to suit a theory, but
drawn from the records of his own memory, con-
firmed by the testimony left to him in the works
of the active members of his circle.” The book
is, however, far more than a faithful record of the
motives that actuated the whole group of Pre-
Raphaelites, it is an enthralling narrative of a life
of strenuous effort, inspired from the first by a high
ideal to which the author’s allegiance has never
for a moment faltered, in spite of constant dis-
appointments, and a long struggle against poverty,
misunderstanding, and many other hampering
deterrents to success. Very vivid is the picture
given by Mr. Hunt of the early days of the Brother-
hood which was expected to achieve such great
results, and in his eloquent pages Millais, Rossetti,
and many another kindred spirit live again in all
the eager enthusiasm of youth, when each was as
zealous for the success of his comrades as for his
own. Not even in the “ Life and Letters of Sir
John Millais,” edited by his son, is so true a
portrait given of the wonderful boy, who from the
age of fifteen carried all before him, as is called up
by the elder artist’s descriptions of his visits to that
boy’s home, and of his conversations with the adoring