27 JANUARY 1912, Page 11

Art, Artists, and Landscape Painting. By W. J. Laidlay. (Longmane

and Co. 5s. net.)—The writer attempts a most exceedingly difficult task, that of teaching the art of painting by means of a book. Of course he knows the inevitable limitations of such a proceeding, and he tries to direct attention to those points which can be written about in the abstract. Mr. Laidlay has a fund of reminiscence and illustration which he draws on, often illuminating some point by a remembered remark of some French or English painter. The student will not get complete teaching from this or any other book, but he will get a great deal of help, especially if he does not expect too much.