DOI issue:
Nr. 212 (November 1910)
DOI issue:Reviews and notices
DOI Page / Citation link:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.20971#0191
Reviews and Notices
lavishly illustrated with photographs, the more
worthy of commendation because they had to be
taken under most difficult circumstances, and a
“Bibliography of Misericords,” a Chronological
Table, and an Index are added.
George Romney. By Arthur B. Chamberlain.
(London: Methuen & Co.) 125-. 6d. net.—It
would, at first sight, appear that the preparation
of yet another monograph on the much exploited
George Romney would be of the nature of a work
of supererogation, but a careful examination of Mr.
Chamberlain’s richly illustrated volume results in
a conviction that its existence is very fully justified.
It is no mere resume of the results of the researches
of others, but a scholarly, well-balanced review of
the career of a man who has suffered perhaps more
than any other English artist alike from over and
under appreciation. Mr. Chamberlain has placed in
their true perspective the many good qualities
which more than counterbalanced the less worthy
tendencies of the famous portrait painter, has
clearly defined his aims and methods of work, and
assigned to him his first position in the English
school of painting. Concerning the painter’s relations
with Emma Lady Hamilton, he finally dissipates
the theory that there was anything discreditable
either to the artist or to his favourite model.
Connoisseurs will appreciate the excellent criticism
and the very complete series of illustrations, which
include a number of portraits and other pictures
reproduced for the first time from the original
pictures.
The French Revolution. By Thomas Carlyle.
With illustrations by Edmund J. Sullivan, A.R.W.S.
(London : Chapman & Hall.) Two vols. 2 is. net.
—The illustrations to these volumes assume a
symbolical character, except for some interesting
interpretations in line of historic portraits. There
are few illustrators with quite such a dignity of
style as Mr. Sullivan, or quite such an appreciation
of the real beauties of the pen-and-ink line. His
illustrations to books always fulfil the law—which,
we insist, for the most part goes unfulfilled—of
adapting themselves in style to the format of
printed matter. On these grounds we should be
inclined to put these books above anything of the
kind we have seen. Style there is here and entire
freedom from the vulgarities of modern illustration.
And a very imaginative pen it is that is at play
here, and which to us is most to be appreciated
in the rendering of old-fashion themes. What is
admirable in the plate, The Titan, is the mother
and child in the exquisiteness of the handling : the
symbolism itself, we confess, in this and on other
170
pages, seems to us a little clumsy, and often un-
pleasant—at all of which one wonders, seeing that
the figures are so replete with an imaginative
sense of beauty.
The Romance of Tristram and Iseult. Translated
from the French of Joseph Bedier by Florence
Simmonds. Illustrated by Maurice Lalau.
(London: Heinemann.) is-f. net.—The story of
the ill-fated lovers, as told by Mons. Bedier, and
here excellently translated by Miss Simmonds,
consists of a kind of very skilful patchwork of all
the old versions of the legend. In the English
version, as also presumably in the original French
text, an attempt has been made, and with success,
to retain something of the mediaeval spirit of the
ancient versions, and for the text and for also the
typography and general style of the book, we
have nothing but praise. The illustrations by
M. Maurice Lalau, which in a work of this kind
are surely the raison cCetre, are, we fear, somewhat
disappointing. Here we have a story full (one
would have thought) of suggestion and very potent
inspiration for the artist, but which has evidently
found its illustrator rather unsympathetic. Though
this adverse criticism does not apply to all the
plates, several are marred by a weakness of
draughtsmanship and a considerable crudeness
of colour, which, whether the fault of the artist,
the engraver, or the printer, is decidedly unpleasing.
Life Lessons from Blessed Joan of Arc. By
Father Bernard Vaughan, S.J. (London :
G. Allen & Sons.) 3L 6d. net.—Father Vaughan
is well known as an exceedingly outspoken writer
and preacher, and his charmingly written story of
Joan of Arc is evidently intended as a kind of
counter-blast to the accounts recently given of The
Maid’s life and deeds, in a work by M. Anatole
France and in books by other secular writers.
From the point of view of the devout Roman
Catholic, Father Vaughan’s story appears appro-
priately in the year in which her Beatification has
been solemnly pronounced by the Pope in stately
conclave in St. Peter’s. The illustrations by
M. Gaston Bussiere are very pleasing, but more
suitable to a children’s book than to a work of this
character ; there are also several reproductions of
silver medallions by the Bromsgrove Guild and a
preface by the Archbishop of Westminster.
Mediceval London. By Wm. Benham, D.D.,
F.S A., and Charles Welch, F.S.A. (London :
Seeley & Co.). 3s. 6d. net.—This little volume
contains a great store of valuable historical and
antiquarian lore concerning mediaeval London, and
many illustrations in half-tone, as well as a fronds-
lavishly illustrated with photographs, the more
worthy of commendation because they had to be
taken under most difficult circumstances, and a
“Bibliography of Misericords,” a Chronological
Table, and an Index are added.
George Romney. By Arthur B. Chamberlain.
(London: Methuen & Co.) 125-. 6d. net.—It
would, at first sight, appear that the preparation
of yet another monograph on the much exploited
George Romney would be of the nature of a work
of supererogation, but a careful examination of Mr.
Chamberlain’s richly illustrated volume results in
a conviction that its existence is very fully justified.
It is no mere resume of the results of the researches
of others, but a scholarly, well-balanced review of
the career of a man who has suffered perhaps more
than any other English artist alike from over and
under appreciation. Mr. Chamberlain has placed in
their true perspective the many good qualities
which more than counterbalanced the less worthy
tendencies of the famous portrait painter, has
clearly defined his aims and methods of work, and
assigned to him his first position in the English
school of painting. Concerning the painter’s relations
with Emma Lady Hamilton, he finally dissipates
the theory that there was anything discreditable
either to the artist or to his favourite model.
Connoisseurs will appreciate the excellent criticism
and the very complete series of illustrations, which
include a number of portraits and other pictures
reproduced for the first time from the original
pictures.
The French Revolution. By Thomas Carlyle.
With illustrations by Edmund J. Sullivan, A.R.W.S.
(London : Chapman & Hall.) Two vols. 2 is. net.
—The illustrations to these volumes assume a
symbolical character, except for some interesting
interpretations in line of historic portraits. There
are few illustrators with quite such a dignity of
style as Mr. Sullivan, or quite such an appreciation
of the real beauties of the pen-and-ink line. His
illustrations to books always fulfil the law—which,
we insist, for the most part goes unfulfilled—of
adapting themselves in style to the format of
printed matter. On these grounds we should be
inclined to put these books above anything of the
kind we have seen. Style there is here and entire
freedom from the vulgarities of modern illustration.
And a very imaginative pen it is that is at play
here, and which to us is most to be appreciated
in the rendering of old-fashion themes. What is
admirable in the plate, The Titan, is the mother
and child in the exquisiteness of the handling : the
symbolism itself, we confess, in this and on other
170
pages, seems to us a little clumsy, and often un-
pleasant—at all of which one wonders, seeing that
the figures are so replete with an imaginative
sense of beauty.
The Romance of Tristram and Iseult. Translated
from the French of Joseph Bedier by Florence
Simmonds. Illustrated by Maurice Lalau.
(London: Heinemann.) is-f. net.—The story of
the ill-fated lovers, as told by Mons. Bedier, and
here excellently translated by Miss Simmonds,
consists of a kind of very skilful patchwork of all
the old versions of the legend. In the English
version, as also presumably in the original French
text, an attempt has been made, and with success,
to retain something of the mediaeval spirit of the
ancient versions, and for the text and for also the
typography and general style of the book, we
have nothing but praise. The illustrations by
M. Maurice Lalau, which in a work of this kind
are surely the raison cCetre, are, we fear, somewhat
disappointing. Here we have a story full (one
would have thought) of suggestion and very potent
inspiration for the artist, but which has evidently
found its illustrator rather unsympathetic. Though
this adverse criticism does not apply to all the
plates, several are marred by a weakness of
draughtsmanship and a considerable crudeness
of colour, which, whether the fault of the artist,
the engraver, or the printer, is decidedly unpleasing.
Life Lessons from Blessed Joan of Arc. By
Father Bernard Vaughan, S.J. (London :
G. Allen & Sons.) 3L 6d. net.—Father Vaughan
is well known as an exceedingly outspoken writer
and preacher, and his charmingly written story of
Joan of Arc is evidently intended as a kind of
counter-blast to the accounts recently given of The
Maid’s life and deeds, in a work by M. Anatole
France and in books by other secular writers.
From the point of view of the devout Roman
Catholic, Father Vaughan’s story appears appro-
priately in the year in which her Beatification has
been solemnly pronounced by the Pope in stately
conclave in St. Peter’s. The illustrations by
M. Gaston Bussiere are very pleasing, but more
suitable to a children’s book than to a work of this
character ; there are also several reproductions of
silver medallions by the Bromsgrove Guild and a
preface by the Archbishop of Westminster.
Mediceval London. By Wm. Benham, D.D.,
F.S A., and Charles Welch, F.S.A. (London :
Seeley & Co.). 3s. 6d. net.—This little volume
contains a great store of valuable historical and
antiquarian lore concerning mediaeval London, and
many illustrations in half-tone, as well as a fronds-