22 DECEMBER 1883, Page 23

really a valuable work of art. After the list of

"exhibits," numbering in all between seven and eight hundred, comes a series of sixty illustrations, reproduced from the originals by the various processes of etching, albert-type, and photo-engraving. Singularly effective many of these are, the landscapes perhaps bear- ing the palm, as they are by far the most numerous, though there are some fine figure pieces, too, as" Chloe and Sam," from the Thomas B. Clarke collection. Essays on "Various Phases of American Art" follow the illustrations. The first, on "American Wood Engraving," touches a subject about which there is a good deal .of difference, and on which we are glad to get some information at first hand. Mr. Charles de Kay takes a very hopeful view of the future of American art, and Mr. L. C. Knight pronounces a condemnation, in which he is, we believe, joined by the large majority of American artists, on the Art tariff. The present rate is 30 per cent., ad valorem. This makes a serimuraddition when the price amounts, as in a recent purchase of a Rembrandt, to five thousand guineas. (It would be 21,575.) As a "substitute, "a proportional per-centage, decreasing according to the value of the work," seems the best ; but with a plethoric treasury, why not abolish it altogether ?