Studio: international art (44.1908)

Reviews and Notices

Moors (though Moorish art has left upon that of
the Peninsula an indelible impression) and the
discovery of America, followed by the acquisition
of vast tracts of transatlantic territory, led to such
unprecedented prosperity and to such extravagant
luxury that stringent sumptuary laws had to be
enacted. In Spain, as also in other countries,
local customs have naturally had an important
bearing on the trend and cultivation of national
industries. Thus, the favourite Spanish use of
rejas, or metal grilles, in their churches, led
to the development of iron smithing to a very
high degree of perfection in the fifteenth and
sixteenth centuries. Again—and this, too, is

adequately set forth in the pages under notice—
the terrible decay of the Spanish textile industry
in the eighteenth century, after its brilliant record
in> former ages, can only be understood by follow,
ing the course of disastrous legislation which had
for object the restricting of the production and
output of raw material and the maintenance of a
close system of monopolies.

The Charm of the English Village. By P. H.
Ditchfield, M.A. Illustrated by Sydney R.
Jones. (London : Batsford.) ios. 6d. net.—
That in spite of the constant intrusion of the
ubiquitous motor car, now linking the most remote
districts with up-to-date civilisation, there still
remain many English villages retaining much of
their old-world charm, is amply proved by the
indefatigable antiquarian, Mr. Ditchfield, in this
volume, in which churches, manor houses, rec-
tories, farms, inns, mills, bridges, cottages, barns,
crosses, greens, dovecotes, and even such minor
details as sundials and weathercocks, are described
and pictured. The writer pleads with eager
eloquence for the preservation of time-honoured
survivals of the long ago, and mourns over the
feckless destruction of buildings that should have
.been treasured as heirlooms of the nation. In
the interesting chapters on cottages Mr. Ditchfield
very clearly defines the secret of the harmony with
-nature, which is the chief characteristic of old
English domestic architecture, those responsible for
it having effectively used the materials on the spot,
whether stone or brick or timber. He dwells, too,
on the true accord in old English cottages between
structure and decoration, the latter growing out of
fhe former in a spontaneous manner, and he declares
that it is still possible to keep up the old traditions
bj? adhering to the principles that guided the
builders of the past.

Um 1800. Architekiur und Ha?idwerk im
letzieti Jahrhundert ihrer traditionellen Ejitwick-

lung. Herausgegeben von Paul Mebes. (Munich :
F. Bruckmann & Co.) Vol. I., Mk. 20.—The
author of this work, who occupies the important
position of “ Regierungsbaumeister,” or govern-
ment surveyor, in Germany, has in the volume
before us brought together a large and interesting
selection of buildings now existing in various parts
of Germany, Denmark, and elsewhere, together
with numerous examples of craftsmanship which
date back to the end of the 18th and beginning
of the 19th century. The buildings illustrated com-
prise many different varieties, such as town houses
and shops, country mansions and cottages, public
buildings of one or other kind, including churches,
etc., and his aim is to show that the architecture
of the period covered (corresponding in general
to what is usually called Georgian in England)
is eminently worthy of study as representing a
phase in the evolution of the art of building
which was at once in accord with tradition and con-
sistent with the needs of the time. With modern
architecture in the mass he has little sympathy )
to him it is a medley in which tradition has been
lost sight of altogether, and he bids architects look
back upon these numerous creations of a hundred
years ago which are still to be found in plenty, and
learn a lesson in the true principles cf building.
Certainly, any one who glances at the illustrations
in this well-got-up volume cannot fail to be im-
pressed with the sterling qualities which the struc-
tures shown in them possess, and above all with
their substantiality, a quality which is so often
lacking in the architecture of the present day.
Comfort and durability were the objects which
their architects and builders appear to have aimed
at almost exclusively, decorative embellishments
finding little place in their buildings, which on the
contrary were at times marred by excessive plain-
ness and angularity. Apart, however, from the
validity or otherwise of the author’s strictures on
later phases, it must be recognised that, when com-
pleted by the publication of the second volume,
his work will be an important contribution to the
literature of architecture.

Mr. James L. Caw, Director of the National
Galleries of Scotland, has been engaged for many
years on an elaborate study of Scottish painting,
and the volume containing the results of his
researches will be issued by Messrs. T. C. & E. C.
Jack in the autumn, under the title Scottish
Painting; Past and Present, 1620-1908. The
author’s official position has provided unusual
facilities of access to many important though little
known private collections.

r67