Studio: international art (36.1906)

Reviews

parents who gave up everything to their beloved
“Johnnie,” wept when he insisted on shutting
them out of his studio, and were broken-hearted
at the hostile criticism of his Christ in the House
of His Parents. Sadly Holman Hunt contrasts
their enthusiasm with the opposition he himself
met with from his father, though he generously
recognises the superior talents of the universal
favourite. Of Rossetti, too, when he was Hunt’s
pupil, many a significant incident is told that gives
a hint of the fatal weakness which later marred his
brilliant career, and the veterans Etty, Egg, and
Mulready, the over-appreciated Collinson, the
brilliant Charles Collins and Walter Deverill, the
gifted Woolner, with many others whose fame is
already forgotten, play their part in influencing the
lives of those who were to succeed them in the
favour of the public. Deeply interesting, and full of
almost tragic pathos, is the story of Hunt’s own
later career, when he had definitely chosen his
own line—that of interpreting Christianity in art,
and realising in their own environment the Biblical
scenes he depicted. Choosing by preference the
most sublime and difficult themes, such as had
tested to the uttermost the powers of the greatest
masters of Italy’s golden age, the ambitious painter
spent many years in Palestine, overcoming by un-
wearied perseverance the prejudice of the Jews,
who were at first most unwilling to pose for a
Christian painter, and often working for weeks
alone in the desert, as when he painted the famous
Scapegoat, that aroused such hostile criticism, and
a propos of which he tells an amusing story. The
closing chapters of Mr. Hunt’s book deal with the
tendencies of the art of the present day, to which,
especially to Impressionism, he is decidedly hostile.
Probably few of his readers, at this late day, will
fully endorse his opinions, but his utterances will
no doubt be read with the deference due to the
long experience and great achievements of so
accomplished a veteran.

The Furniture of Windsor Castle. By Guy
Francis Laking, M.V.O., F.S.A., Keeper of the
King’s Armoury. Published by command of His
Majesty King Edward VII. (London: Bradbury,
Agnew & Co.) 5s. net.—In preparing this

deeply interesting and richly illustrated account of
the most beautiful and typical examples of the
furniture in Windsor Castle — a worthy com-
panion of that on the armour from the same
pen—the scholarly editor has wisely adopted the
historical method ; for, as he explains, the various
articles described are distributed throughout the
palace, so that they cannot be considered in their

numbered sequence. Mr. Laking greatly regrets
that he cannot start with the House of Tudor, but
unfortunately the King owns no furniture that
belonged to that epoch, whilst the royal possessions
prior to it were of too legendary a character to
admit of their classification. It is, however, possible
with the aid of the Inventory of the contents of
Windsor Castle drawn up in 1547 and preserved
in the British Museum, a copy of which is given in
one of the appendices in the present volume, to
obtain a very exact idea of what those contents
were, and to form a picture of the actual environ-
ment of Edward VI. during his visits to Windsor.
The first reign that is really represented is that of
Charles I., and it is with it that Mr. Laking begins
his actual descriptions of furniture, which he pre-
faces with an introduction summing up succinctly
the evolution of the various styles and fashions of
the Stuart and succeeding periods. He then pro-
ceeds to deal exhaustively with English and Con-
tinental furniture dating from about 1640 to 1700,
winding up with the most recent acquisitions of
importance, so that his book covers a very wide
extent of ground and is thoroughly up-to date. It
is, moreover, far more than a mere catalogue
raisonne ; for the history of each piece of furniture
is given—the account, for instance, of one famous
ebony cabinet occupying four of the large quarto
pages—whilst each detail of a decoration is fully
explained and, where possible, traced to its origin.
The section dealing with the furniture made in
England by English workmen during the second
half of the eighteenth and early years of the nine-
teenth century, is especially interesting, for it brings
into strong relief the great influence exercised over
native cabinet-makers by their French neighbours.
Mr. Laking dwells much upon the debt the English
people owe to George IV.’s fine appreciation of
French furniture, for nearly all the best examples of
it at Windsor were purchased by him ; adding that,
although he did not escape the somewhat para-
lysing influences of his time, he was fortunate in
acquiring many objects of such great artistic and
intrinsic value that the money he expended on
them represents but a fraction of their present
value. William IV.’s unfortunate love for so-
called restoration is also noticed; the reasons
are given why the taste for enriched furniture
lay dormant during much of the Victorian period ;
and Mr. Laking pays a just tribute to King
Edward’s personal assistance in what may be called
the posing of the specimens of furniture chosen
for reproduction, their arrangement amid . suit-
able surroundings having been personally super-

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