Studio: international art (49.1910)

Reviews and Notices

brought aquatint into England, and made it
almost a new process by inventing the “ spirit
ground ”; and how the astute Rudolph Acker-
mann nurtured the medium to an extraordinary
popularity, and created an extensive industry in the
colouring of the prints. Miss Prideaux has thus
found a discursive way to make her subject inter-
esting to more than collectors. The illustrations
are well chosen, and add to the attractiveness of
the volume.

Raphael. By Adolf Paul Opp£. (London:
Methuen.) 12s. 6d. net.—That a new volume on
the much exploited master of Urbino was needed
can scarcely be claimed, but in the latest addition
to the Classics of Art Series Mr. Oppe has gathered
up into a convenient form the results of the labours
of his predecessors in the same field, supplementing
them in some cases with original criticism. He
subjects all the more important works of Raphael
to a close and searching examination, tracing in
each the influences to which in his opinion the
master was subject at the time of their production.
It is in the chapters on Raphael at Rome, and
especially those on the Madonnas and Trans-
figuration, that the writer best displays his
thorough grip of what it was that won for their
author the title of “ the divine.” Very interesting,
too, are the essays on the Vatican frescoes and
the portraits; but to the student the most valu-
able feature of the publication will probably be
the list of Raphael’s works, in which the degree of
authority possessed by each picture is clearly dis-
tinguished.

Buried Herculaneum. By Ethel Ross Barker.
(London : A. & C. Black.) 7s. 6d. net.—It seems
strange that while her sister city, Pompeii, has re-
ceived very great attention at the hands of archaeo-
logists, Herculaneum should have been so neglected.
The great solidity of the lava and tufa in which the
city lies buried after repeated eruptions, rendered
the work of excavation extremely difficult and
dangerous. The history of the work which was
done here from 1738 to the abandonment of the
undertaking in 1766, with its tale of the shortsighted-
ness and carelessness of some of those who were
entrusted with the task, makes mournful reading.
There seems to be some prospect of a recommence-
ment of operations, when, no doubt, assisted by
the knowledge gained at Pompeii, the work will be
conducted with that scientific skill which alone
can ensure a valuable harvest of treasure and his-
torical information. With the very many excellent
illustrations, the authoress’s valuable resume of what
has been already done, the history of the papyri,
230

sculptures, etc., which have been discovered, and
the useful bibliography and catalogues of sculp-
tures and frescoes, the book forms the most
complete record yet published of the discoveries at
Herculaneum.

Constable's Sketches in Oils and Water Colours.
(London : George Newnes.) 5^. net.—Sixty-six
reproductions of sketches and studies—one in
colour and the rest in black-and-white, but all alike
mounted on stiff olive-green paper—a brief bio-
graphical sketch by Sir J. D. Linton, and an un-
signed appreciation of Constable’s art, represent
the contents of this latest addition to Messrs.
Newnes’ “Great Artists” Series. The green
mounting paper suits the coloured reproduction
which forms the frontispiece admirably, but we
think that very few of the black-and-white repro-
ductions gain anything by being presented in this
way. Be that as it may, the diversified selection of
subjects will be welcomed by students of this
wonderful master of landscape, the range of whose
genius has even now, we are inclined to think, not
been fully gauged.

An Art Student's Reminiscences of Paris in the
Eighties. By Shirley Fox, R.B.A. (London,
Mills & Boon.) iol 6d. net.—The life of the art
student, particularly in that Mecca of the art
student, Paris, seems to those who are unfamiliar
with studio life and the ways of the Quartier Latin
to be invested with a certain glamour. Your true
Bohemian is however rarely as “Bohemian ” as he
is painted, and so possibly to those to whom the
word symbolises all that is gay and reckless, Mr.
Shirley Fox’s reminiscences may prove a little dis-
appointing. But although the author has nothing
very exciting or very wonderful to chronicle, and
despite the fact that his time in Paris seems not in
a way to have been more eventful than the hum-
drum career of even such an unromantic person as
a city clerk, yet his record is by no means unin-
teresting, and there are plenty of amusing anecdotes
about the men, many of whom have since achieved
fame, with whom he worked side by side in
Julian’s Academy or in the Atelier Gerome. One
feels that nothing has been exaggerated or invented
for the sake of effect, and though his first chapters
are the least bit tedious—probably because the
reader is not yet acquainted with and interested in
the author—as one reads on the interest deepens,
and Mr. Fox’s account of his Paris days, and his
reminiscences of the city at that period, make a
volume that one puts down finally with regret.
It is a book that is difficult to illustrate, and which,
indeed, hardly calls for illustration; but Mr. John