Studio: international art (47.1909)

Reviews and Notices

homes, not only in Bologna, but also in the small
towns and villages of the province. Table-cloths,
sheets, tea-cloths, and napkins are of course the
staple products, but the lace-stitches can also be
used for finer work. Several artists are endeavour-
ing to design in modern style for the work, but, so
far, few of their efforts have been very successful.
(Of the four examples reproduced only the lower
one on p. 243 is modern, the others being old
designs dating back some three centuries.) The
old simple geometrical designs are still the best
adapted to the material used. C. H.

REVIEWS AND NOTICES.

Indian Sculpture and Painting. By E. B.
Havell. (London : John Murray.) y. net.

—This is a work of exceeding interest to students
of Oriental art. The author has studied his subject
closely, and writes with an intimate knowledge of
the magnificent examples of glyptic art for which
India is famous. His definitions of the ideals of
the native sculptor are clearly presented, and help
his readers to a juster appreciation of the examples
which still remain more or less intact as a witness
of the aesthetic culture and technical skill of the
craftsman in past ages. Among the excellent
photographs with which the work is illustrated is a
particularly interesting series from the shrine of
Borobudur, which Mr. Havell considers to be one of
the finest monuments of Buddhist art in the whole
of Asia, although it is “ an obscure and neglected
ruin, the name of which is hardly mentioned in
Europe or in Asia.” The author laments, with
much justice, the ignorance of art students of
these and other similar examples in India, and
expresses the desire that reproductions should be
made, in order that native art students may have
the advantage of being able to examine the best
of their own art “ instead of European casts from
‘ the antique,’ ” a desire in which we cordially join
with him. Some charming reproductions of Indian
paintings and miniatures, together with some
valuable chapters on the development of painting
in India, complete a work of extraordinary value
and interest.

Fresco Painting: its Art and Technique. By
James Ward. (London: Chapman & Hall.) ioj. 6 d.
net.—That fresco painting should have become
a lost art in England has long been a matter of
regret to many, but fortunately there have been
of late years signs of the possibility of a true
revival. Certain secrets of the beautiful craft, it
must be owned, still elude discovery, but experts

appear to be on the right track, and some of the
recent work done in London seems likely to
endure. A special cause for congratulation is the
fact, proved beyond a doubt by the author of
the valuable monograph on ancient and modem
mural decoration, that the dampness of the British
climate is not wholly responsible for the decay of
the frescoes in the Houses of Parliament and
elsewhere, but “the ignorance of artists of the
chemistry of colours and the after action on them
of caustic lime.” Mr, Ward’s useful book defines
very clearly the essential qualities of the best
ancient, mediaeval, renaissance and modern frescoes,
describes the colours used, the preparation of the
walls and methods of execution in the past and
present. He gives reproductions, including several
in colour, of typical examples both of fresco-bromo
or true fresco and spirit-fresco, devoting con-
siderable space to a searching examination of the
present state of the masterpieces of Giotto, Fra
Angelico, Benozzo Gozzoli, Perugino, Raphael,
Ghirlandajo, Pinturicchio, and Michael Angelo
that are still in situ.

Essex. Painted by L. Burleigh Bruhl. De-
scribed by A. R. Hope Moncrieff. (London :
A. & C. Black.) 20s. net.—As compared with the
other “home” counties, Essex is not so well
known as it should be to those living beyond its
borders. It is commonly supposed to be flat and
uninteresting as a whole, but this volume, with
its numerous coloured illustrations reproduced
from pictures by an artist who has a keen eye for
the beautiful, and whose knowledge of this parti-
cular county is perhaps unique, should effectively
dissipate this notion, and should be instrumental
in bringing the county into more favourable repute
—among artists at all events. Flat, of course, it is
in certain parts—those that abut on the metropolis
and the river more particularly; but flatness in
itself is not a blemish to the landscape painter in
search of atmospheric effects—witness the land-
scapes of the Low Countries by the great Dutch
and Flemish masters. Away from the riverine
marshes, however, the county is pleasantly undu-
lating, and in the northern portion the richness
and variety of the scenery long ago received a
testimonial in the landscape paintings of Constable.
From the historical and archaeological points of view
again, as Mr. Hope Moncrieffs entertaining record
indisputably establishes, Essex abounds in interest-
ing associations. The volume is therefore to be
welcomed as a timely vindication, and we are glad
to see it represented in Messrs. Black’s excellent
series of colour books.

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