DOI issue:
No. 159 (June, 1906)
DOI article:Reviews and notices
DOI Page / Citation link:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.20715#0110
Reviews and Notices
exquisite little church of Christo de la Luz, and
the Casa del Mesa, the one surviving room of
the beautiful palace of Estevan de Ilian, and the
general aspect of the town has remained unchanged.
Though Mr. Calvert relies mainly on the copious
illustrations of his book—which include no less
than eighty-four coloured plates of details of orna-
mentation and several hundred reproductions of
drawings and photographs of complete buildings
and parts of buildings — to impress upon the
spectator the beauty of the survivals of Moorish
art in Spain, he supplements his descriptions of
them with a history of the Moors during the eight
centuries of their domination in Spain. To the
actual story of the three typical towns selected by
him, Mr. Calvert has added a very interesting and
richly illustrated chapter on the general principles
of Arab ornament; but, strange to say, his book,
so complete in other respects, is without an index,
a fact that detracts very greatly from its value to
the student.
Wessex. Painted by Walter Tyndale, R.I.
Described by Clive Holland. (London : A. & C.
Black.) 2or. net.—In spite of all that has been
written on the old Anglo-Saxon kingdom of Wessex,
which the great novelist, Thomas Hardy, has made
so peculiarly his own, this beautiful volume is
sure to be welcomed by a wide and appreciative
circle. Mr. Holland has a very thorough grip of
his subject, regarded from every point of view, and
he has known how to weld into a delightful consecu-
tive narrative the varied associations of one of
the most interesting districts of England, so that
his text forms an admirable supplement to Mr.
Tyndale’s beautiful drawings, that have been on
the whole fairly well reproduced and interpret with
sympathetic insight the Wessex of to-day, which
in its general aspect has remained practically the
same for many generations. The artist has had
the great advantage of the assistance of Mr. Hardy
himself in identifying the scenes of the wonderful
romances of “ Far from the Madding Crowd,”
“The Hand of Ethelberta,” “The Return of the
Native,” “ Tess of the D’Urbervilles,” etc., so that
his pictures realise accurately the setting of each
life drama, and are in every way admirably suited
to the purpose for which they are intended. The
quiet landscapes and groups of cottages recall the
well-known water-colours of Mrs. Allingham, and
the more ambitious compositions are chiefly
noticeable for their excellent draughtsmanship and
the care with which architectural details are
rendered. Specially noteworthy are the Cor/e
Castle from Nine Barrow Down, the Alms Houses,
Cor sham, the Rainboiv of “The Return of the
Native,” the Luttrell Arms, Dunster, the Tithe
Barn, Abbotsbury, the scene of the sheep-shearing in
“Far from the Madding Crowd,” the Westwood
Matior House, in which the figures are very cleverly
put in, and, above all, the interior of the quaint old
Saxon church at Bradford - on - Avon, the most
perfect specimen of its kind in England.
The First Century of English Porcelain. By W.
Moore Binns. (London: Hurst & Blackett.)
42s. net.—A distinguished member of a family of
true experts in the ceramic art, the author of this
richly illustrated and valuable work, who is a
managing director of Furnival’s works at Cobridge,
and was formerly at the head of the Royal Wor-
cester manufactory, has treated his subject from
the practical and technical, rather than the aesthetic
or historical point of view. Avoiding as much as
possible controversial matter, he goes straight to the
point in every case, prefacing his actual history
with a brief introduction, in which he gives some
very valuable hints to the amateur collector, telling
him, for instance, how, in the absence of marks, to
recognise peculiarities in the tint and translucency
of the body, the texture of the glaze, the colours
used by the painter or decorator, and the style
and character of the gilding. He explains that
the term “mark,” which is sometimes misused,
“applies only to such signs as are drawn,
painted, printed, gilt, scratched, or impressed
in the ware upon the under side of the article,
either by or for the manufacturer or one of
those employed in the making or decorating of
the piece, so that there are two classes of marks
between which the collector must learn to dis-
tinguish—the trade mark of the manufactory, and
the private mark of the handicraftsman.” Having
thus clearly defined the leading principles of
connoisseurship, Mr. Binns relates with great
minuteness the story of the evolution of English
porcelain, beginning with the foundation of the
first factory at Stratford-le-Bow, and passing thence
to consider in chronological order the various
establishments which in course of time brought
the art to a perfection that aroused the admiration
even of the most exacting foreign critics and also
of those later manufactories in which was inaugu-
rated the inevitable decadence. A chronological
schedule of English ceramics and an excellent
index give full completeness to a work that will be
of great value to collectors and connoisseurs, as
well as to all who are interested in what may be
called the human side of every successful national
industry.
?9
exquisite little church of Christo de la Luz, and
the Casa del Mesa, the one surviving room of
the beautiful palace of Estevan de Ilian, and the
general aspect of the town has remained unchanged.
Though Mr. Calvert relies mainly on the copious
illustrations of his book—which include no less
than eighty-four coloured plates of details of orna-
mentation and several hundred reproductions of
drawings and photographs of complete buildings
and parts of buildings — to impress upon the
spectator the beauty of the survivals of Moorish
art in Spain, he supplements his descriptions of
them with a history of the Moors during the eight
centuries of their domination in Spain. To the
actual story of the three typical towns selected by
him, Mr. Calvert has added a very interesting and
richly illustrated chapter on the general principles
of Arab ornament; but, strange to say, his book,
so complete in other respects, is without an index,
a fact that detracts very greatly from its value to
the student.
Wessex. Painted by Walter Tyndale, R.I.
Described by Clive Holland. (London : A. & C.
Black.) 2or. net.—In spite of all that has been
written on the old Anglo-Saxon kingdom of Wessex,
which the great novelist, Thomas Hardy, has made
so peculiarly his own, this beautiful volume is
sure to be welcomed by a wide and appreciative
circle. Mr. Holland has a very thorough grip of
his subject, regarded from every point of view, and
he has known how to weld into a delightful consecu-
tive narrative the varied associations of one of
the most interesting districts of England, so that
his text forms an admirable supplement to Mr.
Tyndale’s beautiful drawings, that have been on
the whole fairly well reproduced and interpret with
sympathetic insight the Wessex of to-day, which
in its general aspect has remained practically the
same for many generations. The artist has had
the great advantage of the assistance of Mr. Hardy
himself in identifying the scenes of the wonderful
romances of “ Far from the Madding Crowd,”
“The Hand of Ethelberta,” “The Return of the
Native,” “ Tess of the D’Urbervilles,” etc., so that
his pictures realise accurately the setting of each
life drama, and are in every way admirably suited
to the purpose for which they are intended. The
quiet landscapes and groups of cottages recall the
well-known water-colours of Mrs. Allingham, and
the more ambitious compositions are chiefly
noticeable for their excellent draughtsmanship and
the care with which architectural details are
rendered. Specially noteworthy are the Cor/e
Castle from Nine Barrow Down, the Alms Houses,
Cor sham, the Rainboiv of “The Return of the
Native,” the Luttrell Arms, Dunster, the Tithe
Barn, Abbotsbury, the scene of the sheep-shearing in
“Far from the Madding Crowd,” the Westwood
Matior House, in which the figures are very cleverly
put in, and, above all, the interior of the quaint old
Saxon church at Bradford - on - Avon, the most
perfect specimen of its kind in England.
The First Century of English Porcelain. By W.
Moore Binns. (London: Hurst & Blackett.)
42s. net.—A distinguished member of a family of
true experts in the ceramic art, the author of this
richly illustrated and valuable work, who is a
managing director of Furnival’s works at Cobridge,
and was formerly at the head of the Royal Wor-
cester manufactory, has treated his subject from
the practical and technical, rather than the aesthetic
or historical point of view. Avoiding as much as
possible controversial matter, he goes straight to the
point in every case, prefacing his actual history
with a brief introduction, in which he gives some
very valuable hints to the amateur collector, telling
him, for instance, how, in the absence of marks, to
recognise peculiarities in the tint and translucency
of the body, the texture of the glaze, the colours
used by the painter or decorator, and the style
and character of the gilding. He explains that
the term “mark,” which is sometimes misused,
“applies only to such signs as are drawn,
painted, printed, gilt, scratched, or impressed
in the ware upon the under side of the article,
either by or for the manufacturer or one of
those employed in the making or decorating of
the piece, so that there are two classes of marks
between which the collector must learn to dis-
tinguish—the trade mark of the manufactory, and
the private mark of the handicraftsman.” Having
thus clearly defined the leading principles of
connoisseurship, Mr. Binns relates with great
minuteness the story of the evolution of English
porcelain, beginning with the foundation of the
first factory at Stratford-le-Bow, and passing thence
to consider in chronological order the various
establishments which in course of time brought
the art to a perfection that aroused the admiration
even of the most exacting foreign critics and also
of those later manufactories in which was inaugu-
rated the inevitable decadence. A chronological
schedule of English ceramics and an excellent
index give full completeness to a work that will be
of great value to collectors and connoisseurs, as
well as to all who are interested in what may be
called the human side of every successful national
industry.
?9