Studio: international art (55.1912)

Reviews and Notices

arms of Christ, but a fair number show secular
motives, including portraits and heraldic designs.

The Art of Herbert Schmalz. By Trevor
Blakemore. (London: George Allen and Co.)
£2. 2S. net.—Too well known to need description,
the paintings of Herbert Schmalz, many of which are
admirably reproduced in this sumptuous volume,
made a very strong appeal to Victorian taste, that
delighted in realistic portraiture and subject pictures
in which there could be absolutely no mistake as
to the intentions of the artist. Utterly hostile to
impressionism, Schmalz spared no pains to make
sure of accuracy of detail, spending months, for
instance, in the Holy Land making studies for his
pictures. Though he very early won popularity,
and the element of struggle was altogether absent
in his career, his biography as related by his
enthusiastic admirer, Trevor Blakemore, is full of
interest, especially the portions that tell of his
relations with his celebrated contemporaries,
notably with J. P. Frith and Lord Leighton. Very
amusing, too, are the quotations from the artist’s
own accounts of his experiences in fashionable
society, especially that of his first visit to Lady
Wilde’s Salon. The hostess, who wore a marvellous
costume in which scarlet, blue, crimson, gold, and
lavender were combined but not amalgamated,
solemnly promised Schmalz that “ Oscar should
guide her to his picture in the Academy,” and the
poet himself was also most gracious, escorting the
painter to the door, and dismissing him with the
quaint advice to remember that “ where archaeology
begins art ceases.”

Causeries on English Pewter. By Antonio de
Navarro. (London : George Newnes.) io.r. 6d.
net.—The promotion of the humble alloy of pewter
from the kitchens to which it was banished when
superseded by more durable ware to a place of
honour as a decoration of walls and living-rooms
has resulted in the issue of much interesting
literature. To this the well-illustrated “ Causeries ”
of Mr. de Navarro, reprinted from “ Country Life,”
are a very notable contribution, for although its
author lays no claim to original research, and as a
matter of fact adds little if anything to the informa-
tion already embodied in Mr. Masse’s “ Pewter
Plate ” and other books more or less founded on it,
he brings into prominence what may be called the
human and poetic side of a beautiful and useful
craft. He traces, for instance, with loving care the
evolution of such typical domestic utensils as the
tankard and the trencher, calling up vivid memories
of those who used them, and quoting the familiar
phrases in vogue concerning the laying of the table,

carving, &c. On forks and spoons, too, he has
much to say that is significant of days gone by,
noting by the way that their appearance struck the
knell of the ewer, and of the picturesque custom of
handing it round for the washing of the hands
between the courses, rendered unnecessary by the
discontinuance of the primitive custom of eating
with the fingers.

Messrs. E. J. Van Wisselingh and Co., ot
Amsterdam, have recently issued a new edition
of the Illustrated Catalogue of Original Etchings
published by them. The catalogue contains a
complete record of the etched work of Bauer,
Dupont, Witsen, and de Zwart, and will therefore
be of interest to collectors of their prints.

Under the editorship of Professor Dr. Hans W.
Singer, the firm of Glass and Tuscher, of Leipzig,
are issuing an extremely interesting series of
monographs on Master Draughtsmen (“ Meister
der Zeichnung ”), each containing a large number
of reproductions of drawings with a preliminary
essay. The first three volumes are devoted to
Klinger, Liebermann, and Stuck respectively.
Each volume is tastefully bound in a canvas cover
specially designed by Professor Franz Hein, the
letterpress is printed in a beautifully clear type and
the collotype reproductions could scarcely be
better. The published price is 15 marks each.

The Art Union of London is issuing to its
subscribers a capital reproduction in colours of the
notable painting by Charles W. Furse, A.R.A.,
entitled Timber Haulers. The annual subscription
of one guinea carries with it a chance of securing
one of the original works always offered as prizes by
the Union, the principal prize this year being Mr.
MacWhirter’s painting, A Highland Deer Forest.

The Boston Museum of Fine Arts has printed
the errata, addenda et corrigenda for the catalogue
of the Morse Collection of Japanese Pottery. The
matter covers twelve pages, and being printed on
thin paper is intended to be laid in the back of
the volume. It will be sent free to owners of the
catalogue if they will send their names and post
office addresses to the Secretary, Museum of Fine
Arts, Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.A.

With this number is issued a prospectus ot
Turner's Water-Colours at Farnley Hall, which
The Studio is issuing in parts at 2.r. 6d. net. per
part, each part containing five large-sized reproduc-
tions in colour carefully mounted. Any of our
readers who find a difficulty in procuring the suc-
cessive parts should communicate with the London
Office of The Studio, 44 Leicester Square.

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