DOI Heft:
No. 326 (May 1920)
DOI Artikel:Reviews
DOI Seite / Zitierlink: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.21360#0126
REVIEWS.
John Zoffany, R.A. ; His Life and Works,
1725-1810. By Lady Victoria Manners
and Dr. G. C. Williamson. (London :
John Lane.) £7 7s. net.—Of obscure
beginnings—even the year of his birth
seems to have been a matter of uncertainty
until recently—John Zoffany, who is be-
lieved to have been of Czech origin, came
to England when a young man, and in
course of time became one of the fashion-
able portrait-painters of his day. He was
one of the Foundation Members of the
Royal Academy, and enjoyed the patronage
of the Court of George III. It was, how-
ever, mainly to David Garrick, the great
actor, that he was indebted for his advance-
ment after leading a very precarious exis-
tence as assistant to a painter who was very
much his inferior. Garrick discerned in
him a talent above the ordinary in the
painting of theatrical compositions, and it
is upon pictures of this kind that Zoffany’s
title to fame rests. Such, indeed, seems
to have been the opinion of his eminent
contemporary, Horace Walpole, who found
little to praise in his portraits. His por-
traits, whether of individuals or groups,
have, however, most of them sufficient
historical interest to justify their rescue
from oblivion, and in a still greater degree
is this the case with those large spectacular
groups which he painted during a long stay
in India—Colonel Mor daunt* s Cock Match
at Lucknow, Colonel Martin*s Cock Match,
Tiger-hunting at Chandernagar, and The
Embassy of Hyderbek to Calcutta. These
pictures, which are all reproduced—each
with a key—among the very numerous
reproductions in this biography, display
remarkable ability in depicting with anima-
tion a large assemblage of people, and must
rank with his theatrical pictures as the
painter’s most important contributions to
art. The authors of this massive volume,
containing a comprehensive record of his
life and achievements, have evidently been
very thorough in their researches, which
have involved great labour. 0 0
The Practical Book of Interior Decora-
tion. By Harold Donaldson Eberlein,
Abbot McClure, and Edward Stratton
Holloway. (Philadelphia and London : *
J. B. Lippincott Co.) 35s. net.—The
120
preliminary part of this elaborately illus-
trated volume is devoted to a survey of the
art of interior decoration as practised in
England, North America, Italy, Spain, and
France down to the beginning of the nine-
teenth century. The authors have, in fact,
little sympathy with any but the so-called
** Period ” styles, and record their convic-
tion that “ with the decadence of the
Empire style the art of great furniture-
design died and we still await its resurrec-
tion.” They do not, it is true, ignore the
modern school, and have included a few
illustrations of interiors as representing it,
but of the really important work of the
past twenty or thirty years hardly a hint
is given, and we look in vain for a bare
mention of the name of Ernest Gimson,
recently deceased, who deserves to be re-
membered as a great furniture-designer.
It is, unfortunately, true that we have not
turned our backs entirely upon that odious
phase of decorative art known in England
as 44 Mid-Victorian,” with its 44 rosewood
fantasticalities,” its 44 black walnut per-
versions,” its 44 golden oak brutalities,” its
stuffed birds, 44 what-nots,” and many
other 44 mobiliary imbecilities,” but there
is unquestionably a growing sense of the
need for a style of domestic equipment
which responds more intimately to the
needs of the time than either the 44 Period ”
styles or styleless style of fifty or sixty
years ago. While, however, this scanty
attention to the best modern work is, in
our opinion, a blemish, it cannot be denied
that the three authors, in conjunction with
their publishers, have produced a work of
great interest. In that part of their book
which is devoted to practical decoration
and furnishing, much sound advice is given
on a variety of topics, such as colour and
colour-schemes, walls, floors, textiles, illu-
minants, picture frames, and so on, and the
illustrations number fully three hundred.
Fenelon’s famous classic Les Aventures
de Telemaque has been added to the series
of authoritative reprints of 44 Les Grands
Ecrivains de la France,” published by
Messrs. Hachette & Co. The work fills
two stout volumes and is edited by M.
Albert Cahen, Inspector-General of Public
Instruction, who contributes a lengthy
introduction and a vast number of notes.
The price in wrappers is 40 francs. 0
John Zoffany, R.A. ; His Life and Works,
1725-1810. By Lady Victoria Manners
and Dr. G. C. Williamson. (London :
John Lane.) £7 7s. net.—Of obscure
beginnings—even the year of his birth
seems to have been a matter of uncertainty
until recently—John Zoffany, who is be-
lieved to have been of Czech origin, came
to England when a young man, and in
course of time became one of the fashion-
able portrait-painters of his day. He was
one of the Foundation Members of the
Royal Academy, and enjoyed the patronage
of the Court of George III. It was, how-
ever, mainly to David Garrick, the great
actor, that he was indebted for his advance-
ment after leading a very precarious exis-
tence as assistant to a painter who was very
much his inferior. Garrick discerned in
him a talent above the ordinary in the
painting of theatrical compositions, and it
is upon pictures of this kind that Zoffany’s
title to fame rests. Such, indeed, seems
to have been the opinion of his eminent
contemporary, Horace Walpole, who found
little to praise in his portraits. His por-
traits, whether of individuals or groups,
have, however, most of them sufficient
historical interest to justify their rescue
from oblivion, and in a still greater degree
is this the case with those large spectacular
groups which he painted during a long stay
in India—Colonel Mor daunt* s Cock Match
at Lucknow, Colonel Martin*s Cock Match,
Tiger-hunting at Chandernagar, and The
Embassy of Hyderbek to Calcutta. These
pictures, which are all reproduced—each
with a key—among the very numerous
reproductions in this biography, display
remarkable ability in depicting with anima-
tion a large assemblage of people, and must
rank with his theatrical pictures as the
painter’s most important contributions to
art. The authors of this massive volume,
containing a comprehensive record of his
life and achievements, have evidently been
very thorough in their researches, which
have involved great labour. 0 0
The Practical Book of Interior Decora-
tion. By Harold Donaldson Eberlein,
Abbot McClure, and Edward Stratton
Holloway. (Philadelphia and London : *
J. B. Lippincott Co.) 35s. net.—The
120
preliminary part of this elaborately illus-
trated volume is devoted to a survey of the
art of interior decoration as practised in
England, North America, Italy, Spain, and
France down to the beginning of the nine-
teenth century. The authors have, in fact,
little sympathy with any but the so-called
** Period ” styles, and record their convic-
tion that “ with the decadence of the
Empire style the art of great furniture-
design died and we still await its resurrec-
tion.” They do not, it is true, ignore the
modern school, and have included a few
illustrations of interiors as representing it,
but of the really important work of the
past twenty or thirty years hardly a hint
is given, and we look in vain for a bare
mention of the name of Ernest Gimson,
recently deceased, who deserves to be re-
membered as a great furniture-designer.
It is, unfortunately, true that we have not
turned our backs entirely upon that odious
phase of decorative art known in England
as 44 Mid-Victorian,” with its 44 rosewood
fantasticalities,” its 44 black walnut per-
versions,” its 44 golden oak brutalities,” its
stuffed birds, 44 what-nots,” and many
other 44 mobiliary imbecilities,” but there
is unquestionably a growing sense of the
need for a style of domestic equipment
which responds more intimately to the
needs of the time than either the 44 Period ”
styles or styleless style of fifty or sixty
years ago. While, however, this scanty
attention to the best modern work is, in
our opinion, a blemish, it cannot be denied
that the three authors, in conjunction with
their publishers, have produced a work of
great interest. In that part of their book
which is devoted to practical decoration
and furnishing, much sound advice is given
on a variety of topics, such as colour and
colour-schemes, walls, floors, textiles, illu-
minants, picture frames, and so on, and the
illustrations number fully three hundred.
Fenelon’s famous classic Les Aventures
de Telemaque has been added to the series
of authoritative reprints of 44 Les Grands
Ecrivains de la France,” published by
Messrs. Hachette & Co. The work fills
two stout volumes and is edited by M.
Albert Cahen, Inspector-General of Public
Instruction, who contributes a lengthy
introduction and a vast number of notes.
The price in wrappers is 40 francs. 0