ART-BOOKS.
C URRENT LITERAT URE.
Figure Composition. By R. G. Hatton. (Chapman and Hall. 7s.6d. net.)—This book contains a vast amount of rather disconnected information as to the mechanism and structure of pictures and decorative designs. The book is very fully illustrated both by well- known works and by drawings by the author. Had the discursive- ness of the book been less, and had a few subjects been more folly treated, its usefulness would have been greater.—More syste- matic and useful is a little book of Practical Hints on Painting, by H. F. W. 'Ganz (Gibbings and Co., 25. 6d.) It is, of course, impossible to give instruction in painting by means of a book. The more a writer goes into details, and the nearer he comes to actual painting, the less successful he is sure to be. At the same time, there are many serviceable generalisations in this book, and the remarks about "tone" and " value " are sure to be useful to a beginner.—A very much more scholarly work is Mr. H. L. Moore's Analysis of Drawing, Painting, and Composing . (published by the Author, 31 Margravine Gardens, West Ken- sington, 12s. 6d. by post). Here we have a systematic study of the elements of drawing, set forth with great originality and force. It matters not whether Mr. Moore analyses the form of Phidias or the characterisation of Hogarth, he has something helpful to tell us about it. He goes minutely into the study of structural form, and has much to say on good and bad ways of drawing. This book is one that students will find of real use.
Free-arm and Industrial Drawing. By J. W. T. Vinall. (Blackie and Son. 12s.)—This portfolio contains a number of drawings and diagrams, many for the blackboard, for the purposes of school teaching. There is also a descriptive part treating of the teaching of drawing in primary and secondary schools. The worst of this style of drawing, now fashionable with educational authorities, is its superficiality and want of distinction. It is hard to believe that any good can come out of these common- place renderings of commonplace things. Architecture, Bast and West. A Collection of Essays by R. Phen6 Spiers. (B. T. Batsford. 12s. 6d.)—The writer of these essays has the power of making technical matters *plain to the reader who has no special knowledge of 'architecture. An essay of great interest is the one which treats of Byzantine art in Italy. Mr. Spiers shows how the Byzantine architects struck out a new way of treating columns compared with former Roman work. They found that a column of granite or marble would carry a wall above it of greater width than the column itself. But to do this the shape of the capital had to be modified and made to spread much wider than did that of the classic column. Thus out of a constructional development grew the peculiar shape of the Byzantine capital, a shape which was of great beauty in itself and capable of endless variety of ornament. One essay describes the great Mosque of Damascus, which was destroyed by fire in 1893, and of which there are several illustrations both before and after the catastrophe. Sassanian architecture and the churches of Jerusalem are among the subjects treated of in this interesting collection.
William Blake. By Irene Langridge. (G. Bell and Sons. 10s. 6d. net.)—The writer has made a sympathetic and worthy study of an extraordinary man. In this book Blake is often compared to Beethoven and Michelangelo, but unhappily there was one great difference between them. Beethoven and Michelangelo were absolute masters of the technical side of their arts, and so were free to express their innermost souls fully. Blake could only hint at what he had to say. He chose the human body as his principal means of expression, but he was only imperfectly acquainted with its form and structure. Nevertheless, so great was his natural pictorial sense, and so ardent his inspiration, that at times he seems to triumph over his limitations. The morning stars singing together is one of the most beautiful designs ever made. In this volume there is an interesting account of the Prophetic Books, with their strange mystical obscurities and antinomian leanings. The antinomianism was like much else in Blake, purely visionary, and had no relation to actuality. The work under notice is fully illustrated, and is written with insight and appreciation.
The series of biographies of artists published by Messrs. Duck- worth and Co. (7s. 6d. each) has had added to it Albert Darer, by T. Sturge Moore; Giotto, by Basil de Selincourt ; and Verrocchio, by Maud Cruttwell. Uniform with these is a remarkable volume on Medireval Art, by W. R. Lethaby. In this book, beside the lucid descriptions of the technical parts of the Gothic architect's work, there are passages of rare insight into the spirit of mediaeval builders. We cannot resist quoting the following words, which show the writer's intense sympathy with, and understanding of, the great buildings of the Middle Ages :—
" The great cathedrals seem to have been built on such a scale that they might almost gather the entire adult population of the city within their walls. As to these marvellous buildings, the half of their glories and wonder cannot be told. They are more than buildings, more than art; something intangible was built into them with their stones and burnt into them with their glass. The work of a man, a man may understand; but these are the work of ages of nations. All is a consistent development, stone is balanced on stone, vault springs from vault, interlacing tracery sustains brilliantly dyed glass as branches hold sun- saturated foliage, towers stand firm as cliffs, spires are flung into the air like fountains. In these buildings all may be explained as devised for ritual use and for the instruction of the people; all as material and structural necessity ; all as traditional de- velopment; all as free beauty and romance in stone. From whichever point of view we may approach them, the great cathedrals satisfy us, and their seeming perfections are but parts of a larger perfection. Nothing is marked, nothing is clever, nothing is individual nor thrust forward as artistic ; they are serene, masterly, non-personal, like the works of Nature—indeed they are such, natural manifestations of the minds of men working under the impulse of a noble idea."
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