DOI issue:
No. 227 (February 1912)
DOI article:Reviews and notices
DOI Page / Citation link:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.21156#0104
Reviews and Notices
effective and apposite drawings executed by him to
illustrate this old romance.
The Architecture of the Renaissance in France.
By W. H. Ward, M.A. (London : B. T. Batsford.)
2 vols. 30r. net.—In his two richly illustrated
volumes that are the outcome of many years of
close study, Mr. Ward gives a practically exhaustive
history of the evolution of Renaissance architecture
in France, prefacing his detailed narrative with a
masterly analysis of the causes that led to the
substitution of classic for Gothic ideals and of the
forces that so long militated against the full
acceptance of the latter. “ All Renaissance archi-
tecture,” he says, “ must in some degree be of a
hybrid character, the resultant of an endeavour to
clothe structures adapted to the requirements of a
later age in a code of forms and proportions
derived from the architecture of classical a-ntiquity
—to recast a national style in a classical mould.”
He points out that the character of the outcome of
such an assimilation varies in proportion to the
resistance offered by the national style, which was
exceptionally strong in France, where Gothic archi-
tecture was of purely native growth, and continued
even until the eighteenth century to exercise more
or less influence over all the building crafts. It
was only, in his opinion, because in the late fifteenth
century French art had exhausted not its skill or
vigour but its creative ideas that the importation
of a new inspiration from abroad was needed.
Throughout his volume he brings into constant
prominence the interaction between what he likens
to stock and graft in the vegetable kingdom, the
one supplying the sap, without which the other
must perish, whilst the imported element results in
a crop of fragrant blossom and mellow fruit. Very
clearly illustrated, too, is the reflection in French
Renaissance architecture of the new national life
that awoke in France when, the church having lost
its long supremacy, the home rather than the place
of worship became the standard to be followed,
and individual genius rather than corporate talent
determined the character of the work produced.
In a word, whilst the main currents of development
are closely followed no single side issue is neglected,
the close correlation between the development of
the nation and of its buildings being never lost
sight of.
Other People. By Charles Dana Gibson.
(New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons: London:
John Lane.) 20.L—This is the eleventh book in
the regular series of Charles Dana Gibson’s pub-
lished drawings, and in it are reproduced in large
format three dozen of those studies of contemporary
84
social life in America which have made the artist’s
name a household word everywhere. With the
exception of two chalk drawings in sanguine, they
are all done with the pen, and though among the
types delineated the “ Gibson Girl ” predominates,
her masculine counterpart is almost as much in
evidence, while variety is given to the collection by
the introduction of other types, male and female—
the “ free-luncher,” the idler, the female politician
and the suffragette, the baseball enthusiast, and so
forth.
The Pilgrims' Way, from Winchester to Canter-
bury. By Julia Cartwright (Mrs. Ady). Illus-
trated by A. H. Hallam Murray. (London : John
Murray.) 15.L net.—This interesting account of
the route which was traversed long ago by devout
pilgrims to the tomb of St. Thomas a Becket at
Canterbury first appeared as a series of magazine
articles twenty years ago, and has been reprinted
several times subsequently. In reviewing this new
edition, therefore, we need only comment on the
illustrations which Mr. Hallam Murray has done
to accompany the letterpress. These consist of
eight reproductions in colour, several in half-tone,
and a very large number of line drawings printed
in the text—these last being perhaps the most
pleasing—depicting the various places of interest
along the Pilgrims’ Way.
The Transmutation ot Ling. By Ernest
Bramah. With twelve designs by Ilbery Lynch.
(London : Grant Richards.) 7s. 6d. net.—With
Chinese affairs occupying so much attention now,
the story of Ling and his vicissitudes, culled from
the wallet of Kai Lung, who redeemed his life from
the hands of a band of brigands by narrating the
adventures here recorded, not only provides enter-
taining reading, with its many passages of subtle
humour, but gives one an insight into the working of
human nature in this land of paradoxes. Our con-
cern here, however, is with the designs of Mr. Ilbery
Lynch, a young artist whose name is quite new to
us, but will, if the promise shown in the drawings
reproduced in this tvolume is not falsified, be
certainly heard of again in the future. A remarkable
fluency of line and a marked aptitude for using it
as a means of decoration are the distinguishing
features of Mr. Lynch’s work, and at the same time
he displays an unusual power of characterisation
in portraying the various personages who form the
dramatis personce of the story.
Oesterreichische Volkskunst. By Prof. Dr. M.
Haberlandt. (Vienna: J. Lowy.) 2 vols. 120
kronen.—Prof. Haberlandt has devoted his life to
ethnographical research in Austria, and there is no
effective and apposite drawings executed by him to
illustrate this old romance.
The Architecture of the Renaissance in France.
By W. H. Ward, M.A. (London : B. T. Batsford.)
2 vols. 30r. net.—In his two richly illustrated
volumes that are the outcome of many years of
close study, Mr. Ward gives a practically exhaustive
history of the evolution of Renaissance architecture
in France, prefacing his detailed narrative with a
masterly analysis of the causes that led to the
substitution of classic for Gothic ideals and of the
forces that so long militated against the full
acceptance of the latter. “ All Renaissance archi-
tecture,” he says, “ must in some degree be of a
hybrid character, the resultant of an endeavour to
clothe structures adapted to the requirements of a
later age in a code of forms and proportions
derived from the architecture of classical a-ntiquity
—to recast a national style in a classical mould.”
He points out that the character of the outcome of
such an assimilation varies in proportion to the
resistance offered by the national style, which was
exceptionally strong in France, where Gothic archi-
tecture was of purely native growth, and continued
even until the eighteenth century to exercise more
or less influence over all the building crafts. It
was only, in his opinion, because in the late fifteenth
century French art had exhausted not its skill or
vigour but its creative ideas that the importation
of a new inspiration from abroad was needed.
Throughout his volume he brings into constant
prominence the interaction between what he likens
to stock and graft in the vegetable kingdom, the
one supplying the sap, without which the other
must perish, whilst the imported element results in
a crop of fragrant blossom and mellow fruit. Very
clearly illustrated, too, is the reflection in French
Renaissance architecture of the new national life
that awoke in France when, the church having lost
its long supremacy, the home rather than the place
of worship became the standard to be followed,
and individual genius rather than corporate talent
determined the character of the work produced.
In a word, whilst the main currents of development
are closely followed no single side issue is neglected,
the close correlation between the development of
the nation and of its buildings being never lost
sight of.
Other People. By Charles Dana Gibson.
(New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons: London:
John Lane.) 20.L—This is the eleventh book in
the regular series of Charles Dana Gibson’s pub-
lished drawings, and in it are reproduced in large
format three dozen of those studies of contemporary
84
social life in America which have made the artist’s
name a household word everywhere. With the
exception of two chalk drawings in sanguine, they
are all done with the pen, and though among the
types delineated the “ Gibson Girl ” predominates,
her masculine counterpart is almost as much in
evidence, while variety is given to the collection by
the introduction of other types, male and female—
the “ free-luncher,” the idler, the female politician
and the suffragette, the baseball enthusiast, and so
forth.
The Pilgrims' Way, from Winchester to Canter-
bury. By Julia Cartwright (Mrs. Ady). Illus-
trated by A. H. Hallam Murray. (London : John
Murray.) 15.L net.—This interesting account of
the route which was traversed long ago by devout
pilgrims to the tomb of St. Thomas a Becket at
Canterbury first appeared as a series of magazine
articles twenty years ago, and has been reprinted
several times subsequently. In reviewing this new
edition, therefore, we need only comment on the
illustrations which Mr. Hallam Murray has done
to accompany the letterpress. These consist of
eight reproductions in colour, several in half-tone,
and a very large number of line drawings printed
in the text—these last being perhaps the most
pleasing—depicting the various places of interest
along the Pilgrims’ Way.
The Transmutation ot Ling. By Ernest
Bramah. With twelve designs by Ilbery Lynch.
(London : Grant Richards.) 7s. 6d. net.—With
Chinese affairs occupying so much attention now,
the story of Ling and his vicissitudes, culled from
the wallet of Kai Lung, who redeemed his life from
the hands of a band of brigands by narrating the
adventures here recorded, not only provides enter-
taining reading, with its many passages of subtle
humour, but gives one an insight into the working of
human nature in this land of paradoxes. Our con-
cern here, however, is with the designs of Mr. Ilbery
Lynch, a young artist whose name is quite new to
us, but will, if the promise shown in the drawings
reproduced in this tvolume is not falsified, be
certainly heard of again in the future. A remarkable
fluency of line and a marked aptitude for using it
as a means of decoration are the distinguishing
features of Mr. Lynch’s work, and at the same time
he displays an unusual power of characterisation
in portraying the various personages who form the
dramatis personce of the story.
Oesterreichische Volkskunst. By Prof. Dr. M.
Haberlandt. (Vienna: J. Lowy.) 2 vols. 120
kronen.—Prof. Haberlandt has devoted his life to
ethnographical research in Austria, and there is no