CURRENT LITERATURE.
GIFT-BOOKS.
The Portfolio, 1801. Edited by P. G. Hamerton. (Seeley and Co.)—The yearly volume of the Portfolio is introduced, so to speak, by a fine title-page, after one designed by Holbein for the works of Erasmus. (It is taken, it may be seen, from the rare wood-engraving.) The frontispiece is a fine etching by M. Dujardin, after Velasquez's full-length portrait of Admiral Pulido Pareja. Among the contents, the most important is the series of articles on "The Present State of the Fine Arts in France," by the editor, than whom it would not be possible to find a more com- petent authority. This has been noticed more than once during the year, and we hope to have an opportunity of treating it more particularly. Among the miscellaneous contents, we may mention the article on "Cleaning a Fresco," by Professor A. H. Church (the fresco is Mr. Watts's "School of Legislation," in Lincoln's Inn Hall), with its interesting reproductions of some studies by the artist ; Miss Sophia Beale's " Mdme. Vigee le Brun ;" Mr. F. G. Stephens's "Thomas Rowlandson, the Humorist ;" and Mr. Claude Phillips's "Gustave Dore." The Portfolio keeps up its character for giving to its readers nothing but thoroughly good work.
Previous page
