Studio: international art (37.1906)

Reviews and Notices

(London: Methuen.) 2s. 6d. net. — In this
scholarly little volume the author deals ably and
exhaustively with the art of illumination, which he
says does not aim at more than the gratification of
those who take pleasure in books. A humble
ambition truly, yet one that resulted in enriching
the world with many treasures of great beauty.
Mr. Bradley, whose text is supplemented with
many illustrations, including a reproduction in
colour of a page from a fourteenth-century English
Book of Hours, gives a list of the MSS. consulted,
and concludes a most valuable monograph with a
hope of a future revival of illumination by com-
petent artists.

The Country Cottage. By G. Ll. Morris and
Esther Wood. (London: John Lane.) 3s. (cloth)
and 4s. (leather) net.—This little volume, the latest
addition to the Country Handbook Series, should
be carefully perused and studied by all who contem-
plate setting up a permanent or occasional home in
the country. They will find in it a veritable store-
house of information and much sound advice on
all matters relating to cottage architecture. The
authors define a cottage as a house costing from
,£300 to ^1,000, and give numerous views and
plans of cottages by well-known architects, the
cost of which we presume has fallen within these
limits. The inclusion of precise information on
this point would have materially added to the
interest of a really valuable little treatise.

J. M, W. Turner. By W. L. Wyllie, A.R.A.
(London : George Bell & Sons.) js. 6d. net.—
Written as it is from the point of view of an artist,
this new monograph on Turner is marked through-
out by the insight of true sympathy. Mr. Wyllie
writes from within the citadel of practical ex-
perience ; and even dares to challenge some
of the long-accepted and oft-quoted axioms of
Ruskin on the distinctive qualities of the great
master's work. The numerous illustrations form
a very practical commentary on the fascinating
text.

Tales from Shakespeare. By Charles and
Mary Lamb. Illustrated by Norman M. Price.
(London and Edinburgh : J. C. & E. C. Jack.)—
To attempt to interpret Shakespeare has ever been
a task to daunt the most accomplished artists, and
it can scarcely be said that Mr. Price has achieved
more than partial success in his bold enterprise.
A few of his illustrations of the popular "Tales,"
especially Imogen's Bedchamber, the Gentle Kathe-
rine, and Isabel's Pleading, are undoubtedly clever
both in design and execution; but others are stagey
and wanting in effects of chiaroscuro.

Siena. By Casimir Chledowski. (Berlin:
Bruno Cassirer.) Vols. I. and II.—These first
instalments of what seems likely to be a truly
monumental work on the famous hill city of Siena,
deal exhaustively with its political, social, and art
history down to the end of the fourteenth century.
A most accomplished historian and an eloquent
writer, the author defines with much precision the
characteristics of the Siennese, dwelling at length
on the reflection of those characteristics in their
literature and art. The chapter on the Franciscans
is a masterly summary of the part they played
throughout Umbria, and of the gradual leavening
of Italian society with the new religious spirit.
In another interesting section of the work he
shows the connection between the worship ot
the Madonna and the growing veneration tor
women.

longtnans' Complete Drawing Course. Part I.
Infants and Juniors. By I. H. Morris. (London :
Longmans.) 5.?. net.—Although it is impossible to
teach children to be artists, they may, if properly
trained, acquire considerable facility in drawing.
The system pursued by Mr. Morris of beginning
with quite simple objects and proceeding, through
almost insensible gradations, to more complex
objects, such as flowers, is eminently rational;
while by giving a large number of examples in one
or other colour, to be worked by the little pupil in
coloured chalks, he appeals to an instinct which
manifests itself in every child.

The Burlington Proofs. (London : The Fine
Art Publishing Company.) 6s. net each.—As
has already been proved by several earlier pub-
lications such as the "Royal Collection of Pictures,"
and the "Art Folio," the new mezzo-gravure process
is admirably suited to the rendering of tone values
and delicate atmospheric effects. The so-called
" Burlington Proofs," a series of reproductions ot
British masterpieces of the 18th and 19th centuries,
show no falling off in the notable qualities of their
predecessors, and many of the portraits, especially
that 01 the King after Harold Speed, Diana of the
Uplands after Charles Furze, My Mother after
Whistler, and the various beautiful women after
Romney, Gainsborough, and others, have some
of the depth of tone and velvety softness of
good mezzotint engravings. Excellent too are
Greiffenhagen's Idyll and Watts's Endymion, whilst
the Chill October of Millais, the Mist Wreath of
Peter Graham, and the Birch, Roivan and Pine of
MacWhirter, are true poems in chiaroscuro.

Recent additions to Messrs. Newnes's series of
Modern Master Draughtsmen (7s. 6d. net per vol.)

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