CURRENT LITERATURE.
ART-BOOKS.
The Royal A cadenty, and other Reveries. By Henry Naegely. (Elliot Stock.)—The reveries are thoughtful and worth reading, dealing as they do with various questions connected with art, in an unconventional but highly sensible way. In some respects the criticisms of the National Gallery are the most interesting. It is quite true that the floor of plain boards produces a dusty and squalid effect, ugly to look at, and bad for the pictures because dusty. Polished wood is not only much nicer to look at, but much cleaner. We are in entire accord with the author when be pro- tests that there should be a hall of masterpieces. The unedu- cated mind is impressed by the greatest things in a way that it is not by beautiful but less imposing works. We believe that to assemble in one room, as in the Salon Carr e at the Louvre, all the most powerful works, would produce a real effect on the visitors. The Ansidei Raphael, the Titian Bacchus, the Velasquez Admiral, and Turner's "Ulysses Deriding Polyphemus," and others, for there is no lack of masterpieces, would impress the public in a way they do not at present. Mr. Naegely very wisely says that the Germans have carried the scientific arrangement and criticism of pictures further than any other nation, with apparently an absolutely disastrous effect on their power of pro- ducing good art themselves.
The Autotype Company are issuing a series of reproductions of Rembrandt's Etchings at the British Museum. These repro- ductions are of the exact size of the originals, and the paper and ink are made to give as near a rendering of the original as possible. The prices range from is. to 3s. 6d. Lovers of Rembrandt will be grateful for being able to have these beautiful works brought within such easy reach.
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