Studio: international art (39.1907)

Reviews and Notices

he has retained, as far as possible, every word of
the treatise as its compiler left it, and has ventured
only to remodel to some extent the history of
German and Netherlandish engraving in the
fifteenth century,- in accordance with the results of
recent research. The book as it now stands is a
fairly complete account of engraving and etching
up to the beginning of the nineteenth century, and
its illustrations include examples of the work of
most of the great masters, but it is to be regretted
that a larger space was not given to England, where
mezzotint engraving reached its highest point of
excellence.

English Furniture and Furniture Makers of the
Eighteenth Century. By R. S. Clouston. (Lon-
don : Hurst & Blackett.) \os. 6d. net.—In view
of the many good works on English furniture which
have recently been published, it is impossible to
endorse Mr. Clouston's claim that in this volume
of collected essays he has " treated two subjects,
one comparatively, the other absolutely, new."
Others before himself have "studied the minor
men." articles on most of them having appeared in
various art magazines, and others have endeavoured
"to give a reasonable working system for the
assignation of dates to early English furniture," so
that it is difficult to understand what is meant by
the assertion that " in those two things the writer
holds different views from all his predecessors."
His book is, however, a well-illustrated contribution
to the history of a very interesting period of English
art, written in a forcible and lucid style.

The Guilds of Florence. By Edgcumbe Staley.
(London: Methuen.) 16.?. net.—Reflecting as it
does with remarkable vividness the long struggle
of the well-to-do classes of the great European
cities for religious, political, social, and commercial
liberty, the story of the mediseval guilds will ever
exercise a peculiar fascination over the imagination,
and on unravelling that story the energies of
many an earnest student have been concentrated
from time to time. It was reserved, however, to
the author of this volume, made more interesting
by numerous fine illustrations from many different
sources, including rare illuminated manuscripts,
paintings, engravings, etc., to give a really ex-
haustive account of the trade corporations of
Florence, in the life of which, he says, the
cumulative energies of the Florentines had their
focus. Nowhere else was the guild system so
fully developed, and as a result, nowhere else
was more strenuously cultivated the union which
is the only true source of strength. It is curious
to find a guild of judges and notaries taking pre-

cedence of the various trade corporations con-
sidered ; but Mr. Staley explains that although its
members were in no sense men of business, strictly
so called, their functions were absolutely necessary
to the prosecution of the industries and the com-
merce of the artisans and merchants around them.
On the other hand, he points out that "the judicial
system of Florence was built up mamly upon the
requirements of trade, the interests of which were
paramount in the political constitutions of the city
and its territories." Another important guild was
that of the doctors and apothecaries, and with it
was at first affiliated the Painters' Guild, founded
about 1303, whose members were beholden to it
for their supplies of pigments. With this guild are
associated the names of nearly all the great Floren-
tine masters of painting and sculpture, and Mr.
Staley points out that it was under the patronage of
the guild of doctors and apothecaries that many
eminent artists, notably Ghirlandajo, Perugino,
Lorenzo di Credi and Pierino del Vaga, turned
their attention to stained glass, so that it is to it
that the world really owes the glorious windows of
the Duomo, Santa Croce, Santa Maria Novella,
San Spirito and Or San Michele. In treating of
the minor corporations such as those of inn-
keepers, saddlers, bakers, etc., this indefatigable
author enters into the very life of the people, so
that his book is not only to a great extent a history
of art, of literature, of science, and of commerce,
but of social manners and customs. The list of
authorities consulted fills some twenty-five pages,
and the carefully-compiled Index is supplemented
by a most useful chronological table of events
connected with the guilds.

The series of little illustrated handbooks
published by Messrs. Dawbarn & Ward, under the
title of Useful Arts and Handicrafts, at 6d. each
net, will be found excellent introductions to the
many and varied topics with which they deal.
Judging by the examples before us, they are written
by writers who thoroughly understand the subjects
dealt with, and what is more, are able to impart
their knowledge to novices in such a way as to
render it easily comprehensible. The same pub-
lishers issue a series of shilling handbooks for
photographers, ably written by acknowledged
experts, which should prove valuable to amateurs
and professionals alike. Among recent additions
to this series we note Colour-Correct Photography,
by T. Thome Baker; The Photogvaphic Picture
Post Card, by E. J. Wall and H. Snowden Ward;
and Chemistry for Photographers, by C. F. Townsend
(4th ed., revised).

9i