CURRENT LITERATURE.
Adeline's Art Dictionary. (Virtue and Co.)—This is a transla- tion, with additions, of a popular French dictionary, Adeline's " Lexique des Termes d'Art," covering the ground of the Fine Arta, Heraldry, and ArcbLeology. The additions have been largely made from Fairholt's "Dictionary of Terms in Art." An astonishing number of terms is included in the compass of a small volume, besides numerous woodcuts; indeed, room is found for a good deal that is hardly technical enough to deserve a place. Thus, to take one page, the articles "Exhibition," "Expert," "Ex- pression," "Exterior," "Extremities," might well be omitted, and the definitions of these semi-technical words are sometimes extremely funny. Thus, under "Sunset : "—" It is a common practice among artists and art-critics to describe a picture by the effect which the painter wished to produce. Thus we speak of a sunset by Claude Lorraine or by Creme." Otherwise, the book is well-informed and serviceable.
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