Studio: international art (38.1906)

Reviews and Notices

the thoughtful, observant father, the peasant-
priest Uncle Charles, of gigantic stature, who
to the Millet children seemed like a second
St. Christopher, the old cure of Greville, who
predicted much future suffering for his sensitive
pupil, and the humble little dauber of Cherbourg,
who was the first outsider to confirm the parents’
belief in the genius of their Jean, with many others
who were dear to the future master, are realised
with sympathetic imagination. The most delight-
ful pages are, however, those that deal with the
later years, after Millet’s life and work had become
one ; when, in fact, he had fully realised—what had
hitherto been but a vague dream—the true mission
of his life. To this period belong the Angelas,
a sketch for which, reproduced in colour, forms
the frontispiece to the volume under notice, the
Sowers, the Potato Gleaners, and the many exquisite
compositions in which the poet-artist sings what
his new critic calls his great rustic epic, that, he
adds, is, in a special sense, a hymn of praise of the
rustic housewife, whom he delights to follow in all
her familiar tasks, his general outlook intensified
by his tenderness for and gratitude to the brave
mother who watched over his childhood, and the
gallant helpmate of his manhood. M. B£n£dite
is, in fact, very thoroughly in touch with his subject;
and though the claim he puts forth that Millet
“ stands apart in grandiose, austere, and enigmatic
outline, like some isolated formation .... without
analogy in the present or precedent in the future,”
cannot be fully conceded, every one must agree
in looking upon “Millet le Rustique ” as a true
pioneer in a new direction—the first fully to realise
the deep pathos underlying the life of the tillers
of the soil, the first to give adequate pictorial
expression to the yearnings of the class to which
he himself belonged.

Reason iti Architecture. By J. G. Jackson,
R.A., M.A, F.S.A. (London: John Murray.)
i or. 6d. net.'—-Revised and worked up into literary
form these lectures, recently delivered at the Royal
Academy of Arts, form a very forcible essay on the
true basis of architecture, an essay made doubly
interesting by the fact that Mr, Jackson’s work as
a lecturer is a commentary on and supplement to
that of a practical architect. The author’s main
object is to enforce the principle that all convincing
architecture must be based on the requirements of
construction, that design must never be subordinated
to ornament, but always ornament to design. To
use obsolete forms, however beautiful, as mere
drapery to conceal the structural necessities of the
present day is to inflict a double insult on a great
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art; to degrade the old style by cutting it off from
its logical basis, and to blight the development of a
new style by forcing it into a purposeless imitation
of the old. If anything is to free modern archi-
tecture from the legacy of the Gothic revival, such
straightforward yet humorous criticism as that of
Mr. Jackson should do so. To be compared by a
competent judge to the designer of sleeve-links in
the form of tennis-rackets, or of floor-cloth dis-
guised as tile-paving, should surely convince the
modern architect that in imitating the letter of
classical or mediteval models he is really violating
their spirit. The place of art in architecture has
ever been to beautify utility not to conceal, still
less to hamper it. It is greatly to be hoped that
this little volume, with its well-chosen illustrations,
may do much to forward the cause to which its
author has devoted so much enthusiastic research.

English Costume. Painted and described by
Dion Clayton Calthorp. Vols. I. and II.,
Early English and Middle Ages. (London : A. &
C. Black.) 7s. 6d. net each.—In his introduction
to the first of these two volumes, which, when sup-
plemented by two more, are intended to give a
general idea of the costumes worn in England from
early Norman to late Georgian times, the author
naively claims to have made an exhaustive study
of his subject from his own point of view, adding
that he does not feel “called upon to hide his light
under a bushel.” He is, he says, “ compelled to
speak strongly of his own work because he believes
in it, and feels that the series of paintings in his
volume are really a valuable addition to English
history ” ; and he concludes his amusing self-lauda-
tion by expressing a wish that he may be considered
“ more friendly than the antiquarian, more true
than the historian.” Unfortunately, however, it is
impossible entirely to endorse this very high estimate
of a book which, though brightly and humorously
written, does not contain much that is new. The
text is far superior to the drawings, for though
some of the writer’s assertions—such as that Beau
Brummel was the inventor of modern clothes—are
certainly open to question, Mr. Calthorp has man-
aged to evolve something of a picture of the en-
vironment of his subjects, showing a real acquaint-
ance with the times under consideration.

Fictitious Creatures in Art. By John Vinycomb.
(London: Chapman and Hall.) io.y. 6d.—Heraldry
is very generally supposed to be so technical and
recondite a subject that it is useless for the ordin-
ary layman to attempt to fathom its intricacies; but
the falsity of this opinion is completely proved by
the excellent and well-illustrated little handbook