G. P. Watts. By Mrs. Russell Barrington. (G. Allen. 2is.
not.) —These reminiscences in no way incline us to alter our opinion that a satisfactory account of a great man can only be written some time after his death. Early biographies are too one-sided in their point of view to be satisfactory. A mind such as that of Watts needs to be looked at from many points of view ; and we are apt to get a distorted picture if we look only from one side, and without sufficient distance between us and the object of study. In the book before us we are shown Watts at work, and the record is of tireless energy and endless diligence. Certainly here is a case in which genius expressed itself with infinite deliberation, thought, and care. But it must not be imagined that Watts was incapable of bravura work had he been so minded. There are instances of portraits painted in an incredibly short time ; but such work never showed any sign of having been done quickly. The volume contains a number of reproductions of unfamiliar pictures, including a series of wall paintings from old Little Holland House. When the studio there was pulled down, these works were taken off the walls and preserved Many of them show the largeness of design of the true fresco painter, and had the artist lived in a climate in which this medium was possible, there is no doubt that he would have practised this form of art, so appropriate to the largeness of his conceptions.
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