SOME BOOKS ON ART.*
THE art of carving wood has always been an important one in England, whether it was employed to decorate structural parts of buildings, or objects of domestic use such as furni- ture, or, again, in early times for sepulchral monuments. The number of the last is not large, but those which have survived the ravages of time and the bonfires of eighteenth-century vicars and churchwardens are now reproduced and described in a useful volume. The earliest wooden effigy of which Mr. Fryer gives a reproduction is that of a priest dating from 1270, and still existing at Clifford in Hertfordshire. It is difficult to believe such a work to be purely English. There is about the drapery that sense of ideal beauty and grandeur of style which indicate a school in touch with the tradition of classic art. The statues in which the portrait element exists often show fine perception of character, as in the Sir Hugh Helyon (1350), and the remarkably freely treated knight at Burghfield in Berkshire. The latter, though it has suffered a good deal, is a fine piece of work. The drapery is most artistically arranged over the long, slim body, and, to judge by the illustration, the head is full of life. Later work, some of it dating from the sixteenth century, is of a much inferior quality, being clumsy and grotesque, implying that the best • (1) Wooden Monumental Effigies in England and Wales. By Alfred C. Pryer. London : Elliot Stock. [6s.]—(2) The Cabinetmaker and Upholsterer's Glade Hepplewhite. The Gentlor.an and Cabinetmaker's Director: Chippendale. With Introductions by A. Hayden. London : Gibbingsund Co. Mts. net each.)— (3) English Furniture of the Eirteenth Century. By Herbert Cesainsky. Vol. I. London : G. Sadler and Co. 319. 6d. net.]—(4) Renaissance Tombs in Rome. By Gerald S. Davies. Lon on : John Murray. (21s. nt.)—(5) Schools of Painting. By Mary Limes. London : Methuen and Co. [5s. net.)— (6) Turner's Sketches and Drawings. By A. J. Pinberg. Same publishers. [I2s. 61. net.)—(7) A History of Japanese Colour-Prints. By W. von Beidlitz.
W. Heinemann. r256. net.)
workmen had abandoned wood for stone-carving. Mr. Fryer has supplied us with a good topographical index, but in it omits to give references to his own work.
The two pattern-books here reproduced of the famous furniture-makers Chippendale and Hepplewhite were originally issued for the use of craftsmen, and also to enable patrons to order chairs and tables. In both these books we notice that the designers are at their best when least ornate. When Chippendale-kept free from a travesty of Chinese ornament, and designed simple, finely proportioned library bookcases, he produced work which is good in design, and does not need beauty of workmanship to make us overlook unsatisfactory proportion.and restless ornament. Hepplewhite was obsessed by the classic funeral urn. He placed it on the tops of beds and in the backs of chairs, and it found its way into card- tables, cupboards, and tea-chests. His sense of design was poorer than that of Chippendale, and borrowed more in its details from classic architecture.
Mr. Cescinsky has published the first volume of his history of English furniture in the eighteenth century. Separate chapters are devoted to chairs, tables, clocks, and other things, and, generally speaking, the period covered is from the end of the seventeenth century to not quite the middle of the eighteenth. The author gives a good deal of attention to the problem of foreign influence, which has played so large a part in the development of our handicrafts. Especially was this the case in the eighteenth century, for the revocation of the Edict of Nantes in 1685 brought to this country a large number of workers of all kinds, whose influence was felt in the develop- ment of furniture for many years. But the Dutch as well as the French produced a sensible effect, coming as they did with William of Orange at the close of the seventeenth century. The book before us is well illustrated with a great number of fine examples of furniture. In these we can trace the decline of the grand manner of the late seventeenth century, which had its roots in the Italian Renaissance. With the dawn of the next century freedom of design gives way to stiffness, or else is lost in extravagance, beauty becomes prettiness, and grandeur degenerates into pomposity. A chapter is devoted to that curious episode, the introduction of the "Chinese taste" into English furniture. Sometimes lacquer-work was imitated by taking Chinese prints and fastening them to the surface to be decorated, giving them the appearance of lacquer-work by means of coats of varnish. More often a bad technical imitation of the true Oriental work was attempted. The persistence of this style was great, and influenced not only surface decoration but structure, as we have noted in the case of Chippendale. We are told too that -when it became the prevailing fashion older furniture was painted black and ornamented with bronze powders, so that the old things might be brought up to modern require- ments of taste. The illustrations of clock-dials are particularly interesting from the beauty to be found alike in the hands, figures, and general harmony of design.
No more delightful subject for an illustrated volume could be found than the early Renaissance tombs of Rome. Until one sees them collected together, the number, beauty, and variety of these are difficult to realise. Here we get the perfect union of sculpture, decoration, and architecture harmonised into one of the most beautiful styles that have ever been known. The artists who were inspired by Donatello succeeded in producing in Italy for a short period before the close of the fifteenth century an architectural style which was, as it were, a flowering stem grafted upon the old classic root, but which was really quite independent in spirit. There is none of the pomp of ancient Rome, and the orders when they are used in capitals blossom into flowers, and the pilasters which so often take the place of columns are smiling with plant life. The makers of these tombs seem never to aim at deep shadows or dramatic lights. Their structures have little projection, but keep close to the walls they adorn with a wealth of admirably disposed carving in low-relief. Perfection of taste is perhaps the chief attribute of this art, never too much or too little, a serene beauty being present every- where,—in moulded cornice, decorated pilaster, or recumbent figure of Bishop or noble. Those who wish to go beyond mere admiration will find Mr. Davies a helpful guide to the problems which surround the authorship of the works. By his help may be traced the great influence of Mino de Fiesole upon the sculptors who worked with him or under his influence. We are grateful to Mr. Davies for collecting so many fine examples of this art into his volume.
Those who wish for an intelligent survey of the different schools of painting suitable for those beginning to study art will find Miss Mary Innes's volume quite useful. It is issued professedly for the general reader, or for schools, and is very well suited to the purpose, the views expressed being sound and full of sympathy for the subject.
Mr. Finberg writes interestingly about Turner's sketches, and, what is perhaps more important, gives us reproductions of a number of these, together with the finished drawings for which they furnished the materials. Turner's power of sketching was immense. He could with a few lines make a whole scene live. His hasty notes are never unfinished in the true sense of the word; there is always the feeling that he has recorded all that was then useful to him, not that he left off accidentally. By means of these sketches it is possible to study the way in which Turner when composing a picture altered Nature to suit his idea, sometimes with curious results. The sketch and the finished work of a street in Stamford are reproduced by Mr. Finberg, and it is remarkable to note that in the pencil outline drawing the church towers are obviously fine examples of mediaeval architecture. In the finished work they are transformed into equally characteristic specimens of Carpenter's Gothic.
The literature of Oriental art increases constantly, one of the latest additions being an English version of the work on Japanese colour-prints by W. von Seidlitz. The book is for the collector principally, with its aids to the identification of signatures, and lists of volumes illustrated by various Japanese artists. The general reader will take more interest in the illustrations, which are numerous. What can be pleasanter than to wander along the shores of the estuary in company with the people and their children, as we can in the delightful "Walk at Low Tide" by Utamaro, or to imagine ourselves looking out of a window at HirOshige's "Bridge in Rain," which is the very essence of wetness,—to name only two examples out of the great number of delightful things to be found in this volume?
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