Studio: international art (37.1906)

Reviews and Notices

their demure womenkind, who, however, were not
really so indifferent to personal adornment as is
generally supposed. Boston inventories prove
that sumptuous dress soon became the fashion,
in spite of written laws against it. Very inter-
esting indeed is the chapter on the Dutch and
English in New York and elsewhere, for in it is
brought out the difficulty of drawing a distinct line
between them even in a study of costume. Equally
or more interesting from another point of view is
the section devoted exclusively to women's dress,
in which a great variety of typical costumes are
described and figured, as well as an immense
number of such supplementary details as veils,
ruffs, calashes, shoes, belts, pockets, gloves and
fans. Even patches and their mode of applica-
tion are duly considered, and recipes are given
for the making of the pot-pourri, in which the
grand dames of the seventeenth and eighteenth
centuries delighted. In a word, it is impossible to
praise too highly the thoroughness with which a
most arduous task has been performed, an inci-
dental proof of which is the fact that, though the
technical terms are all explained in the text, an
exhaustive glossary is given at the end of the book.
The work is, in fact, of great practical value both
to the art student and to the costumier.

The Model Village and its Cottages: Bournville.
By W. Alexander Harvey. (London : Batsford.)
8s. 6d. net.—As is pointed out by the author of
this interesting description of the beautiful village
founded near Birmingham by Messrs. Cadbury,
the housing problem is no longer one in which
the poor of the congested districts of large towns
are alone concerned. It affects the whole country ;
and even the most reckless jerry-builders are begin-
ning to discover that it is to their interest to
recognise the progress of sanitary and hygienic
science, and to give some little attention to beauty
of design. After a brief account of the growth of
Messrs. Cadbury's scheme, Mr. Harvey, who is
himself a practical architect, gives illustrations of
a number of typical cottages, plans, details of
ornamentation, etc., with full particulars of their
cost, the material employed, and the best way of
laying out the gardens that are so noteworthy a
feature of the village, showing a thoroughly expert
knowledge of what is essential and what optional.
In fact, his book is a most valuable one, that should
be carefully studied by all who are interested in
the providing of suitable homes for the people, as
well as by the architects and builders to whom the
designing and erection of these houses is entrusted.
Moderne Stickereien. Second Series. (Darmstadt:

A. Koch.) Mk. 6.—Prefaced by a brief but most
instructive introduction, this book on modernneedle-
work will be useful to those who would fain aid in
the revival of the beautiful craft. The editor pleads
vigorously for originality of design, deprecating
the craze for imitation that has so long prevailed,
and urging women to have the courage to exercise
their individual taste in the selection and combina-
tion of materials as well as in their decoration.

Giovanni Antonio Bazzi. By Robert H.
Hobart Cust. (London: John Murray.) 21s.
net.—In the preparation of this eloquently written
and deeply interesting study of the life and work
of one of the most gifted of the later Siennese
masters, the writer has in almost every case gone
to the original sources of information, and where
he has been compelled to consult the publications
of his predecessors in the same field, he has sub-
jected them to rigid sifting before accepting their
conclusions. With lawyer-like acuteness he weighs
the evidence on either side before he pronounces
judgment, and compels his readers to follow step
by step the growth of his convictions, though he
will probably not succeed in winning from all the
endorsement for which he craves. In his con-
sideration of the paintings of Bazzi, good repro-
ductions of many of which supplement his text,
the writer shows no little acumen, as when, in
speaking of the Madonnas, he says they exhibit
scarcely anything of that appearance of aloofness
from ordinary life so characteristic of the work
of the master's predecessors, the special point
about them being that they breathe a sentiment of
natural ease, a? though the artist had obtained
from his model all that he desired to express
at once, without effort or strain to secure effects.
Perhaps, however, the most valuable portion of
the book to the future student and art historian
is the Appendix, giving several of the original
documents consulted and exhaustive lists of
authenticated paintings and drawings of missing
pictures and of works attributed to Bazzi, that are,
in their turn, supplemented by the names of all the
authorities on his life and work.

The Cathedral Builders in England. By Edward
S. Prior. (London : Seeley & Co.) 7s. 6d. net.
—It is with what he aptly calls the national and
local expressions of the cathedral church that the
author of this well-illustrated volume chiefly deals,
and it has, therefore, a personal interest that is too
often wanting in books on ecclesiastical architec-
ture. Mr. Prior brings out the pathos of the toil
of the unknown workers who were for ever striving
to attain by shadowing out the unattainable, and

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