PICTURESQUE EUROPE. * THE more we study the five superb
volumes in which Messrs. Cassell have collected a rich and varied series of pen-and-pencil illustrations of the picturesque scenery and buildings of Europe, the more are we impressed with the high quality of the literary as well as of the artistic contents of the whole work. A single volume, indeed, of the set constitutes a charming and valuable gift, possessing, as each of these volumes does possess, a sort of
Picturesque !Curve. 5 vole. London Cassell, Potter, & Gilpin, 1878 to 1878.
completeness of its own. For the subjects and countries selected for illustration in each part of the work have a kind of representative character. If we are taken by the editor rather abruptly from the mountain snows of Switzerland to the sunny waters of the Bosphorus, if on descending the High Alps we find ourselves almost at once in Spain, and if directly we leave Corinth we land at Amsterdam, there is a good deal to be said in justification of tho erratic course of our guide. For each reader of the work, or any one fortunate enough to own even a single part, cannot fail to find some chapters to his taste. Here he may choose amongst mountains, waterfalls, lakes, rivers, or seas, forests or desert plains, gardens and palaces, or market-places and the quiet corners of old-world towns. Churches, monasteries and towers, balconies, gateways, and carved house-fronts,—every kind of constituent, natural or artificial, of the picturesque, may be dis- covered amongst the hundreds of illustrations which adorn each of the volumes before us.
The general features of the work may now be rapidly sketched, before we proceed to cite a few examples of the manner in which the details have been carried. out. Of the five volumes entitled Picturesquo Europe, two are assigned to the British Isles and three to the Continent. Each volume is adorned with thirteen highly-finished steel plates and nearly two hundred woodcuts. The subjects selected for illustration are almost always typical examples, though there are many instances in which the fresh- ness and originality of the treatment and design are apparent. The artists and the engravers have done all their work so well, that it is difficult to select for particular praise any individual specimens of their successful skill; but we shall take an oppor- tunity presently, when noticing the contents of each volume, to point out a few of the choicest bits of work which they contain. The letterpress, which might be thought, at first sight, to have been introduced. merely for the purpose of separating the numer- ous woodcuts from one another, possesses the double merit, so unusual in boudoir and drawing-room books, of being at once accurate and attractive. Amidst the descriptions of scenery and of buildings, there are set brief historical narratives, full of human interest, fragments of geological science or of engineering art, and scraps of humorous observation, as where a traveller is represented as making the ascent of a mountain, accompanied by a beggar and a good temper, and losing one of his companions before reaching the summit.
Looking a little more carefully into the individual sections of this beautiful book, we will begin with the first volume, the con- tents of which may be arranged in seven groups. Of these groups, one includes three essays, "Windsor," "Eton," and " the Scenery of the Thames." Among the illustrations here given, there are several of peculiar excellence. Especially may be noted a view of Windsor Castle from the Home Park, its picturesque walls and towers outlined against a quiet breadth of moonlit sky, its base swathed in a translucent mist, in which may scarcely be discerned the tops of a few trees. There is here neither exaggeration of light and shade, nor any slurring of such details as would be visible under the particular con- ditions portrayed. "The Slopes" is a good example of the subordination of rich details of foliage to the general effect of the scene. "The Conqueror's Oak," the glimpse of " Virginia Water," and the " Cedar Walk," are all successful as pictures or sketches, and are all well rendered by the wood-engraver's art. Equally to be commended for excellence of design and execution are a " View from the Shot Tower," the " Victoria Tower from Lambeth," and Birket Poster's "Rich- mond Hill." The chapters or essays in this first volume, which introduce the reader to some of the beauties of Ireland, of the Land's End, and of Edinburgh, hardly call for special notice at our hands, although the illustrations are meritorious, notably those of the " Tore Cascade," " Bottallack," and the " Spindle Rock." (p. 165.) The views of our English abbeys and churches include careful drawings of the shrine of Edward the Confessor at Westminster, and of St. Alban at St. Alban'e ; Glastonbury, Tiutern, and Whitby are also well illustrated. Two chapters on the "Scenery of the South Coast" include a clever drawing of Shakespeare's Cliff, a view in the Howard. Chapel in Arundel Church, and a rather disappointing and inadequate sketch of Corfe Castle. The steel plate representing the rocks about Kynance Cove in Cornwall is unsatisfactory; the rocks are not made of the right stuff, nor are they shown as they have been water-carved and storm-beaten into their actual, existing forms. Compare, or rather contrast, with this unreal and even false pie-
tare of Kynance the splendid, calm strength of the drawing of " Llyn Idwal," by E. M. Wimperis, which will be found in the same volume, in the chapter on North Wales. Nor must the " Shep- herd's Crag," on the Llugwy, and the " Stream from Llyn Idwal," be forgotten. One of the best chapters in this volume takes us into the " Dales of Derbyshire." What could be more delicious or more fresh than the water in Dovedale P (p. 108.) The Peak Cavern hero loses nothing of its truth and nothing of its mystery ; in the drawing (p. 116) the well known rope-walk at its mouth helps the effect, and does not mar, like so many human intrusions, the natural beauty of the scene. The late John Chase's representation of " Haddon Hall Terrace " is, however, an unusually poor example of the kind of album-art which he so long and so' laboriously practised. Warwick and Stratford-on-Avon furnish ample materials for an interesting chapter, and good use of them has been made in these pages. Warwick Castle is well shown, the tall, straight-stemmed trees that flourish about keeps and towers are here lovingly por- trayed. And so are the Elizabethan half-timbered houses at Stratford and Warwick. How and what shall we restore P is a question at once suggested by the views given of Shakespeare's home, before and after it had been submitted to the familiar but dangerous process of renovation, restoration, or reconstruction, call it what we may.
Let us now look, however hastily and imperfectly, at the second volume, which contains, like the first, many delightful drawings and pleasant essays. Note the " Old English Homes and Houses," at Kenilworth, Bristol, Glastonbury ; visit the Border counties, with their castles, watch-towers, and strong places ; sojourn in the cathedral cities, and study bits from Gloucester, the wonderful tomb and its belongings of Edward the Black Prince at Canterbury, the gates of York, the towers of Durham, the spire of Salisbury, the town-hall of Exeter, and the Jews-house archway at Lincoln. Glance at Clare Island, Clew Bay, and the Giant's Causeway. Do not forget the Bass Rock of Birket Foster, the picturesque street in Dartmouth, the view of Ruskin's hideous house, with its lovely surroundings, at Brantwood, Coniston, the Falls of the Hespte by J. B. Smith, nor the " Iron-bound Coast," by Whymper.
Volume three takes us to the Continent. We stay to admire the quaint mill at St. Servan, and some of the characteristic features of Vitr6 and St. Maio. Leaving Normandy and Brit- tany, we find ourselves amongst the Italian Lakes, charmed beyond measure by such lovely and original sketches as that of a " Street in Varenna." What strange combination is here, in this narrow strip of woodcut Mountain and lake in the dis- tance, boats on the shore, houses well-nigh touching on right and left, balconies, and roofs, and chimneys, with fruits of melon and leaves of fig relieved against wall or sky. We travel along the Cornice Road, and look over the palms of Ventimiglia to the mountains beyond. Venice detains us, with its canals, its churches, and its palaces ; we linger awhile under the Arch of Titus, at Rome ; we lose ourselves at Franchard, in the Forest of Fontainebleau, ; wo stop in our voyage on the Rhine, to admire once again that unique Castle of Pfalz.
In the fourth volume of Picturesque Europe, we are led hither and thither, from north to south and from west to east, with no leisure for reflection, but with abundance of beautiful scenes to admire. What could yield more pleasant pictures than the sunlit town of Royat, the picturesque corners from Riom, the porch of Embrun Cathedral, and the other sketches from Auvergne and Dauphin6 which the Rev. T. G. Bonney so ably and agreeably annotates, in his well-written chapter on this interesting part of France. " Old German Towns " next en- gage our attention, but here there are two illustrations only to which high praise can be given ; they are both by Harry Fenn, an artist of extraordinary versatility, originality, and power, and one to whom this whole work of Picturesque Europe is largely indebted. Both of the drawings in question represent streets in Nuremberg, and one of them (p. 45) is especially masterly in treatment, and at the same time repre- sents a most interesting house in that city, with part of one of the wall-towers, now, alas quite needlessly doomed to destruction. From Nuremberg we travel to Naples, still having for our artist guide the same draughtsman, for Mr. Penn seems quite as much at home at Ischia and at Naples as in Germany. Look at his " Side Street in Naples " (p. 51), " Grotto of Posilipo " (p. 52), " Cone of Vesuvius " (p. 56), " Sorrento " (p. 63), and his series of views in and about Capri. Leaving Naples, we arrive in Norway, to find ourselves shortly afterwards in Spain, and
then on the Lake of Geneva. Then wo return to France, but before long we are carried back to Italy. Again. the initials " H. F." tell us to whom we owe such exquisite drawings as those here presented to us, like that of the " Certosa." at Pavia (p. 145), the overhead gallery connecting the Uffizi and Pitti palaces at Florence, Dante's house (p. 152), the pine forest at Ravenna (p. 164), the street in Verona (p. 166), and last of all and above all, that prospect of the Alps seen from amongst the weird, gargoyled, and angel- surmounted pinnacles of Milan Cathedral. Wo do not like to alloy our hearty commendation of Mr. H. Fenn's artistic work by a single trace of blame, but does the latter of the two Bolognese leaning towers lean quite so much from the perpen- dicular, Mr. Fenn. P If your drawing is correct, Mr. Bonney's text is wrong, and our recollection of the building is also quite at fault. We will remain at our next resting-place no longer than is necessary to admire "The Paternosters, off Sark," a fall- page woodcut (p. 183) of remarkable brilliancy ; we will, too, pass by the waterfalls and mountains of Norway, that we may, spend a few moments at Cordova (pp. 217, 220), and at Seville (pp. 224, 228), whence the artist who has enriched these pages so often before has drawn fresh inspiration for. his pencil. A glance at the " Port of Messina" (p. 253)—for we are in Italy once more—tells us that the same skilful hand has been at work here also, as in the view of " Etna, from the Theatre at Taormina " (p. 257), the " Great Chestnut Trees " (p. 200), and the fantastic rocks called the " Ear of Dionysius," at Syracuse. (p. 264.) We must not huger long over the fifth and last volume of this series, although its contents are as varied, and as pleasant as any of the others. We visit in succession Sweden and Tirol, Gibraltar and Dresden, Schaffhausen and Constantinople, Belgium and the High Alps, Granada, Russia, the 'Jura, Athens, Holland, and the Danube. Many of the illustrations are bold in the extreme, but the artists have surmounted the diffi- culties of their tasks with great skill and power. For ex- amples of such success, see Harry Fenn's Gibraltar views, on pp. 41 and 44, his " Catalan Bay " (p. 47), and his "North Front of Gibraltar (p. 49); for exquisite workmanship in iron, stone, and wood, exquisitely rendered, see the " Chimney- piece," and the " Qnintin Matsys' Fountain " at Antwerp (pp. 116 and 117), the balcony at Ghent (p. 120), and the lovely cloister, rich with oleander and orange-trees, at Tongres, Belgium. Most of these drawings are by E. Whymper. There are three illustrations in the chapter on " Granada and the East Coast of Spain," which make us regret that the artist who drew them denies to the picture-loving public the opportunity of seeing even a selection from the thousands of water-colour sketches and drawings, made on the spot, which he has taken. Mr. H. Fenn's portfolios, known to a few intimate friends for their richness in naive, impressive, and thoughtful work, should be more widely appreciated. Good as are the woodcuts of the " Gate of the Mosque in the Alhambra," " The Entrance to the Hall of Ambassadors," "The Vermilion Towers," we want to have the chance of admiring tLo original studies from which these wood engravings were made. Lack of space forbids us to say more about this sumptuous work, a marvel of cheniie:;s in price, as well as of excellence in execution.
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