19 NOVEMBER 1887, Page 51

We may briefly commend to our readers The Italian Pre-Raphaelites.

By Como Monkhonse. (Cowell and Co.)—Mr. Coemo Monkhouse, always a sane art critic, was once, he tells us, asked by a stranger in the Early Italian Room at the National Gallery, "If there was any- thing in these pictures to admire, except their age." It is to answer this inquiry that he has written this book, in which he tells us some- thing about the early development of art in Italy, its condition before Gimabue came to elevate it ; about the line of painters down to Peru- gino, who carried on Cimabue's work ; and especially about the examples by which they are represented in the Gallery. The value of the volume, which is in every way suited for a practical guide, is enhanced for readers by the illustrations.