20 NOVEMBER 1897, Page 9

The Magazine of Art, May. October. (Cassell and Co ) — It

is certainly an improvement to have half-yearly instead of annual volumes. The principal illustrations, nine in number, are, with

one exception, photographic reproductions. It would bo un- gracious to find fault with results so pleasing as is, to name ono only, " The Harbour of Refuge," by Fred. Walker, but wo cannot but regret the gradual disappearance of the etching. An etching, indeed, is the one exception mentioned above, an original plate of

Ely Cathedral by F. Walker. It is a notable indication of change

that one of the nine is a "poster," a study by Sir E. Poynter, P.R.A., for "a Guardian Insurance poster." What would our fathers have said to the idea of the President of the Royal Academy designing a poster ? A. competition for the Quiver poster produced, we are told, more than two hundred drawings.

The movement is an admirable one. How can we better touch any art instincts there may be in "the man in the street" ? Among the contents we may mention the series of portraits, and the drawings by Mr. Herbert Railton which illustrate Mr. Baring- Gould's description of Compton Winyates. Mr. Railton is happier in his subject than Mr. John Fulleylove, to whom has been allotted the severely classical outlines of Kedleston Hall (Lord Scarsdale's seat). In historic interest the two are much on a level. James Gillray's caricatures are delightful ; " Tiddy-Dol, the Great French Gingerbread Maker, Drawing Out a Batch of Kings," is quite perfect in its way.