Mr. Keble Chatterton, in his beautiful Old Sea Paintings (John
Lane, £2 2s.), has inquired into the origin and develop. ment of marine painting. The book would not have been what it is had he not been allowed to take many illustrations from the glorious collection of Mr. A. G. H. Macpherson. Mr. Chatterton does not get rid of a certain clumsiness in his style, but he is an enthusiastic researcher with the heart of the matter in him. Throughout his commentary runs:the maxim that one must go to sea to be able to paint the sea. How well the Dutch marine school comes out of any comparison ! The subject of Mr. Richard C. McKay's Soine Famous Sailing Ships and their Builder, Donald McKay (Putnam), was the most famous designer of American clipper ships. Donald McKay's record was well worth gathering together in permanent form. It is a strange fact that sailing ships reached their greatest speed and efficiency and, as some would think, their greatest beauty at the very time when steam was conquering the seas. The lovely flame flared up, as flames do, at the moment of extinction.
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