DOI Heft:
No. 393 (December 1925)
DOI Artikel:Reviews
DOI Seite / Zitierlink: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.21403#0400
REVIEWS
"UNDER THE WILLOWS "
BY J. S. SARGENT, R.A.
(From " Barbizon House
an Illustrated Record")
REVIEWS
Oxford Renowned. By L. Rice-Oxley.
Illustrated by A. B. Knapp-Fisher,
F.R.I.B.A. (Methuen.) 18s. net. There is
an irritating sort of books about the serene
archetype of universities—Oxford, written,
it would usually seem, by cheerful and
uncultivated persons who know the city
with that warm intimacy which comes of
never having been there. These books are
frequently adorned with picturesque draw-
ings of highly improbable young men in
the full academic dress which actually
nowadays is quite a myth. From these it
is refreshing to turn to the volume by
Mr. Rice-Oxley, who really is acquainted
with that of which he treats : and to Mr.
Knapp-Fisher's illustrations which capture
very successfully the mellow refinement of
architecture and the autumnal glow which
is most characteristic of the Oxford atmos-
phere. There is an abstract quality in
these drawings appealing to one's sense of
what is rational and fitting. a 0
Mr. Rice-Oxley, taking a rather dis-
cursive line, builds up his work with many
touches of interesting detail, of the various
colleges, of their great men, even of the
works of art and curiosity they contain.
394
He weaves a fine texture of associations
round the city of perfect charm, which
some are so misguided as to venture to
compare with another place called (as far
as the present reviewer remembers) Cam-
bridge—but he had better stop here
before his readers think him to be in any
way biassed or controversial. 0 0
The Golden Age of the Medici. By
Selwyn Brinton, M.A., F.R.S.A.
(Methuen.) 155.net. The Medici, as we all
know, displayed on the one hand a some-
what lurid social elegance, and on the other
a rare discernment in matters relating to
art and scholarship. They possessed at
once the value and the danger of a mercan-
tile aristocracy. They were men of vivid
character, dominant, at times atrociously
cruel. Mr. Brinton writes in the cold his-
torical manner. His style is not weakened
by those qualities which are commonly re-
garded as defects in an historical writer—the
qualities of humour and imagination. His
Medici, therefore, are learned abstractions
rather than living men. There is more
humanity in the reproduction of Vasari's
portrait of Lorenzo than in all Mr. Brinton's
careful writing. That a book should be
written on Florentine society with hardly a
single detailed allusion to women is re-
markable indeed ; though I do not know
whether the author is to be congratulated
on this peculiar reticence. Simonetta and
the fair Donati are treated as mere names.
The illustrations are good, but there seems
little point in reproducing so many pictures
and sculptures which are familiar to every
one, and the work would have gained
greatly if it had contained more portraits.
For the serious student of the history of art
the book has considerable value. It is a
scholarly, decorous, and thoroughly con-
scientious piece of work. C.E.V.
Art in Advertising : a study of British
and American pictorial publicity. By
Percy V. Bradshaw. (The Press Art
School.) 425. net. From several points of
view this book is notable. It contains a
great deal of information that is not
readily available to the student and general
reader, as well as much of interest for
experts in various fields. The work is
well printed and produced, and the
numerous illustrations, which have been
selected with discrimination, exemplify
"UNDER THE WILLOWS "
BY J. S. SARGENT, R.A.
(From " Barbizon House
an Illustrated Record")
REVIEWS
Oxford Renowned. By L. Rice-Oxley.
Illustrated by A. B. Knapp-Fisher,
F.R.I.B.A. (Methuen.) 18s. net. There is
an irritating sort of books about the serene
archetype of universities—Oxford, written,
it would usually seem, by cheerful and
uncultivated persons who know the city
with that warm intimacy which comes of
never having been there. These books are
frequently adorned with picturesque draw-
ings of highly improbable young men in
the full academic dress which actually
nowadays is quite a myth. From these it
is refreshing to turn to the volume by
Mr. Rice-Oxley, who really is acquainted
with that of which he treats : and to Mr.
Knapp-Fisher's illustrations which capture
very successfully the mellow refinement of
architecture and the autumnal glow which
is most characteristic of the Oxford atmos-
phere. There is an abstract quality in
these drawings appealing to one's sense of
what is rational and fitting. a 0
Mr. Rice-Oxley, taking a rather dis-
cursive line, builds up his work with many
touches of interesting detail, of the various
colleges, of their great men, even of the
works of art and curiosity they contain.
394
He weaves a fine texture of associations
round the city of perfect charm, which
some are so misguided as to venture to
compare with another place called (as far
as the present reviewer remembers) Cam-
bridge—but he had better stop here
before his readers think him to be in any
way biassed or controversial. 0 0
The Golden Age of the Medici. By
Selwyn Brinton, M.A., F.R.S.A.
(Methuen.) 155.net. The Medici, as we all
know, displayed on the one hand a some-
what lurid social elegance, and on the other
a rare discernment in matters relating to
art and scholarship. They possessed at
once the value and the danger of a mercan-
tile aristocracy. They were men of vivid
character, dominant, at times atrociously
cruel. Mr. Brinton writes in the cold his-
torical manner. His style is not weakened
by those qualities which are commonly re-
garded as defects in an historical writer—the
qualities of humour and imagination. His
Medici, therefore, are learned abstractions
rather than living men. There is more
humanity in the reproduction of Vasari's
portrait of Lorenzo than in all Mr. Brinton's
careful writing. That a book should be
written on Florentine society with hardly a
single detailed allusion to women is re-
markable indeed ; though I do not know
whether the author is to be congratulated
on this peculiar reticence. Simonetta and
the fair Donati are treated as mere names.
The illustrations are good, but there seems
little point in reproducing so many pictures
and sculptures which are familiar to every
one, and the work would have gained
greatly if it had contained more portraits.
For the serious student of the history of art
the book has considerable value. It is a
scholarly, decorous, and thoroughly con-
scientious piece of work. C.E.V.
Art in Advertising : a study of British
and American pictorial publicity. By
Percy V. Bradshaw. (The Press Art
School.) 425. net. From several points of
view this book is notable. It contains a
great deal of information that is not
readily available to the student and general
reader, as well as much of interest for
experts in various fields. The work is
well printed and produced, and the
numerous illustrations, which have been
selected with discrimination, exemplify