Studio: international art (53.1911)

Reviews and Notices

St. Bernard of Fra Filippo Lippi really repre-
sents the Deposition of St. Jerome, whilst Mr.
Hutton points out that one of the supposed
Portraits of Masaccio in the Uffizi is a likeness of
Filippino Lippi by himself. The criticism in
both publications is alike original and valuable,
but the probability is that when the two last
volumes of the more recent issue are completed
the palm will be given to it, the greater space
at the disposal of Mr. Douglas enabling him to
state more fully than Mr. Hutton has done the
reasons for the conclusions at which he has arrived.
Specially interesting in his fourth volume are his
remarks on Sandro Botticelli, in which he betrays
that he is not quite so firm a believer in Mr.
Bernard Berenson as are many of his fellow-critics,
for he treats his opinions as mere suggestions,
apropos of the "Amico di Sandro," having in
mind perhaps the clever skit of Paul Bourget on
that mythical personage, that an artist's imitators
are not always his friends. With regard to the
"Alumno di Domenico" he is, however, less
sceptical and he has something to tell of certain
other pupils of Ghirlandajo who are not referred
to at all by Mr. Hutton.

Les Porcelaines de Tournay. Nouvelle ed. par
Eugene J. Soil de Moriame. (Tournay and Paris :
Etablissements Casterman.)—The first edition of
this account of the ceramic productions of Tournay,
a Belgian city which has been an art centre for
many centuries, appeared in 1883 in the Memoirs
of the Historical and Literary Society of Tournay,
but a great quantity of new material both textual
and illustrative has now been incorporated, making
it substantially a new work. The factory was
founded in the year 1751, but official records
quoted in this volume disclose an earlier establish-
ment conducted by one Robert Stevens, though
nothing further seems to be known about him or
his wares. The text deals comprehensively with
the history of the factory, the artists and workers
employed therein, the processes of manufacture,
the decorations and marks which distinguished the
objects produced, followed by a catalogue of these,
classified according to decoration, while in the
appendices numerous official documents, price-
lists, &c, are given. The illustrations, numbering
nearly three hundred, some of them being in
colour, exemplify the diversity of objects produced
in the factory.

The Castles and Walled Towns of England.
By Alfred Harvey. (London: Methuen and Co.)
•js. 6d. net.—Famous Castles and Palaces of
Italy. By Edmund B. d'Auvergne. (London : T.

Werner Laurie.) 15s. net.—From their titles
there might appear to be some considerable
similarity between these two works, but they are,
in fact, in subject-matter and manner of treatment
in particular, extremely different. In the latest
addition to the series of Antiquary's Books, Mr.
Harvey, as might have been expected, deals with
the subject in a very scholarly fashion from the
antiquarian, archaeological and architectural stand-
point, and treats, too, of the significance of the
castles and strongholds as components of a
political and military system. The work is well
illustrated by more than two dozen photographs and
numerous plans and diagrams.

Mr. d'Auvergne has already given us a book on
the English castles, and now he has turned his atten-
tion to that most fascinating land of Italy, and tells
us the story of many of the most famous of the
castles and palaces of that country, so rich in
historical associations. He has been more in-
terested in the romances and stirring deeds, the
tales of love and sacrifice, of intrigue and blood-
shed of which the walls of these old buildings, had
they tongues, could speak. There are several
illustrations, including photographs, and also some
plates in colour from drawings by Mr. C. E.
Dawson.

Reinaert de Vos. Naar verschillende Uitgaven
van het middeleeuwsche Epos herwrocht door
Stijn Streuvels. (Amsterdam : L. J. Veen.)—The
story of Reynard the Fox, current in numberless
versions throughout Europe since the discovery of
printing, is here presented in the Flemish version
of Stijn Streuvels, whose books on Flemish life
made him popular in the Low Countries. The
present edition is produced under the supervision
of Prof. J. W. Muller, who contributes an in-
troductory essay on the dissemination of the
legend ; and Mr. B. W. Wierink has embellished
the volume with ornaments and a number of
drawings in colour illustrative of selected passages
in the text.

The second volume in the series of handy manuals
of the general history of art which Mr. Heinemann
is publishing deals with Art in Northern Italy
(6s. net.), and is written by Sgr. Corrado Ricci,
Director-General of Fine Arts and Antiquities in
Italy. The region covered embraces Venice and
Milan, Lombardy, Piedmont, Liguria and Emilia,
and gave birth to many famous artists and architects,
Leonardo among them. There are nearly 600
illustrations, most of them of course quite small,
though not so small as to be unintelligible, and
the printing and binding are excellent.

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