Studio: international art (36.1906)

Reviews

and workmanship. Amongst religious works singled
out for special admiration are the fine thirteenth-
century Descent from the Cross, in the Louvre, the
fourteenth-century open-work panels of the Passion
at South Kensington, both French, and the four-
teenth-century diptych of English origin in the
same collection, in which the story of the Resur-
rection is graphically told in a number of tiny
compartments. Among the secular compositions
the wonderful Runic casket in the British Museum,
and various Italian and French caskets with scenes
from romantic literature, are dwelt on with great
enthusiasm.

A History of Architectural Development. By
F. M. Simpson. (London: Longmans.) Vol. I.
12s. 6d. net.—The aim of this new and important
work is, says its author, to trace the development
of architecture through the planning, construction,
materials, and principles of design of the buildings
described, and to try to indicate the broad lessons
that may be learned from them. “No one practis-
ing architecture,” he adds, “however able he may
be, can afford to ignore these lessons; ” nor, he
might have said, can the layman who aspires to
understand the buildings of the past, and to recog-
nise their intimate connection with the secular,
domestic, and religious life of the people for whom
they were erected. Mr. Simpson also points out
that the connection between countries and the
influence they mutually exercised also requires con-
sideration, otherwise the links binding them
together will remain hidden; and he has therefore
devoted a considerable space to the analysis of
those links, so that his work is a reflection of the
interdependence of the various Oriental monarchies
whose architecture is described in it. From the
exhaustive consideration of Egyptian work the
writer passes on to consider the evolution of the
Greek styles, bringing his narrative, every section
of which is richly illustrated, down to the second
Byzantine period. Not the least valuable feature
of a book that, when complete, will be a perfect
encyclopaedia of information, is the table in the
Appendix of the superficial areas of typical build-
ings with the percentages of their voids and solids.

The Italian Lakes. Painted by Ella Du-Cane.
Described by Richard Bagot. (London: A. & C
Black.) 2os. net.—Long residence in Italy has
given to Mr. Bagot thorough familiarity with the
political situation as well as with the scenery, the
inhabitants and the customs of that beautiful but
troubled land. As a result his book contains much
valuable and interesting information, but the
pleasure of reading it is somewhat marred by the

uncalled-for apologetic tone adopted throughout,
and the ever-recurrent use of the personal pro-
noun. Moreover, the excuse offered in the Preface
for the omission of the Lago di Garda, the Lago di
Varese and other famous lakes is scarcely a valid
one, for in a volume bearing the ambitious title of
“The Italian Lakes,” they certainly ought to have
been included. The numerous water-colour draw-
ings by Miss Du-Cane, of which Mr. Bagot’s text
is really only the supplement, are many of them
charming, though they are rather pretty than
beautiful and have missed the grandeur which is
one of the chief characteristics of Italian subjects.
Their point of view is always well chosen and they
are thoroughly decorative, but their colouring is
commonplace, and though this may be the fault of
the reproductions, the reds always clash painfully
with the rest of the colour-scheme. Among the
best are : Evening: Lago di Como, LI Pinto di
Bellagio and the Entrance to the Villa Arconati.

The Greek Painter’s Art. By Irene Weir.
(New York and London : Grim & Co.) 12s. 6d. net.
—In spite of the number of books on Greek art
which have recently been published, this new
volume will no doubt be welcomed by many
students. Architecture, sculpture and pottery have
already been exhaustively dealt with elsewhere, but
the equally interesting subject of painting has been
comparatively neglected. The reason is, of course,
the paucity of relics of pictorial art, but so far
as they go they are of the utmost value as
revealing, to quote Irene Weir’s own words,
“glimpses of that world of colour to which ancient
Greek writers refer in terms of high praise.” The
purpose of her book, she adds, is to bring the
reader in touch with the Greek painter of old in a
simple and direct manner. Once in that enchanted
land he can wander about it at will, and he cannot
do better than take this unpretending but most
interesting little volume as his guide.

Tennyson. Illustrated by Eleanor Fortescue
Brickdale. (London : George Bell & Sons.) 7s. 6d.
net.—It may justly be claimed for the charming
Endymion Series that it is the best illustrated
edition of the British poets that has yet appeared,
and the new volume certainly shows no falling
off in attraction. The publishers are to be
congratulated on having secured the services
of Miss Brickdale, for she has shown herself
thoroughly in touch with her theme and
fully worthy to rank with her predecessors, W.
Heath Robinson, Alfred Garth Jones, Robert
Arming Bell and Byam Shaw. With the last-named
she has been, from the first, in close sympathy

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