Studio: international art (54.1912)

Reviews and Notices

no less than five hundred new drawings to the
edition deserves the warmest congratulations for
his share in the production of this unique memorial
of the great author. Mr. Furniss's reputation as a
draughtsman was made long ago, but he is justly
entitled to regard this lengthy series of drawings as
his crowning achievement. The subscribers to
the edition have the further advantage of seeing
all the original illustrations, by John Leech,
Frederic Walker, and other well-known artists and
also those of the author himself, and it should be
added that the printing and general get-up of the
volumes are excellent.

Gothic Architecture in England and France. By
George Herbert West, D.D., A.R.I.B. A. (London :
G. Bell and Sons.) 6s. net.—Very clearly and dis-
tinctly does Dr. West in his admirably written and
well-illustrated handbook set forth the principles
which, to quote his own words, underlie the wonder-
ful history and development of mediaeval architec-
ture. Avoiding all controversial questions, such
as the date of the first appearance of the true
Gothic vault, whether Flamboyant was of English
or French origin, he has been content to state the
conclusions at which he has arrived after many years'
close study of the chief ecclesiastical architecture
of England and France. " In the mistress-
art of Architecture" he adds, " the relationship
between France North of the Loire and South-
Eastern England was so close that it is not possible
really to understand the different phases presented
by the art of either nation without having at least
enough general knowledge of the other to be able
to study them side by side." He brings into
prominence the fundamental fact that in France
" skilful construction and beauty of design were both
dependent on the steady working out to its furthest
consequences of the determination to support a
stone wall by an elastic series of ribs not on walls
but on piers and buttresses, maintained in equili-
brium by the opposing action of thrusts and
counter thrusts," whilst " English Gothic is an
architecture of columns and arches and walls,
not of necessity covered with stone vaults, in
which beauty is of more obvious importance than
adherence to a principle of construction.''

Royal Copenhagen Porcelain. By Arthur Hayden.
(London : T. Fisher Unwin.) £2 2S. net.—The
fine qualities of the porcelain produced in recent
years at the Royal Factory in Copenhagen have
attracted the attention of connoisseurs and
collectors, and the consequence is that a great deal
more interest is now being taken in this ware than
formerly, when the impression prevailed that all

Copenhagen ware was in the main merely a
reproduction of Meissen ware. Once an im-
pression of this kind gets root it is difficult to
dislodge it, but Mr. Hayden's exhaustive history
of the factory, from its establishment in the second
half of the eighteenth century down to the present
time, ought to dispel for good this erroneous idea
and firmly establish the ware of Copenhagen in
the esteem of connoisseurs. Whatever justification
there may be for disparagement of the ware at certain
periods of the factory's history, there can be no
doubt that in the period of its modern renaissance
—the period of underglaze decoration—the pro-
ductions of the factory rank very high both
artistically and technically. The author has
worked at his subject very thoroughly, and much
of the information embodied in the volume is the
result of personal research in Denmark. By way
of illustration the work contains more than a
hundred full-page plates, with a sprinkling in colour,
reproducing typical pieces produced at the factory
at various periods, and there are some tables of
marks for which the collector will be grateful.

Under the general title of " Great Engravers,"
Mr. Heinemann is issuing a series which has for
its aim to present the whole history of engraving
and etching in illustration, each volume being
devoted to a particular master or group of
engravers, and containing sixty-four pages of illus-
tration, an introduction, bibliography, and notes.
The editor of the series is Mr. A. M. Hind, and the
two initial volumes deal respectively with Andrea
Mantegna and the Italian Pre-Raphaelite Engravers
and Albrecht Diirer, the former being of special
interest as bearing on the evolution of line-
engraving from the niello work of the goldsmiths,
some examples of this method being included
among the illustrations. The volumes are pub-
lished at 2s. 6d. net, and are excellent value for
the money.

Hints to Students and Amateurs is the title of a
recent addition to Messrs. G. Rowney and Co.'s
series of Treatises on the Fine Arts (is. net each),
which we can confidently commend to the notice of
art students, and especially to such as do not come
into personal touch with artists of mature ex-
perience. The author, Mrs. Jopling, offers valuable
advice on a multitude of technical points connected
with the practice of painting in oils, water-colour,
and pastel, sketching, perspective, and other matters.
Another useful addition to the same series is a
handy and well-written Guide to the Art of
Illuminating, by G. A. Audsley, LL.D., with a
frontispiece in colour and other illustrations.

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