George Paul Chalmers, R.S.A. By Edward Pinnington. (T. and R.
Annan and Sons, Glasgow.)—This unreasonably bulky book has one good feature—the illustrations. From them it is possible to form an estimate of the work of Chalmers, the photogravure giving a reproduction in small of nearly all the qualities of the painting except the colour. Though without this last it is im- possible to make a complete study of the painter, there is enough to enable one to place Chalmers with reference to the art of his time. Born in 1833, and studying in Edinburgh, he takes rank with such artists as the late Mr. Pettie, who was his fellow-student. He possessed greater artistic sense and was less given over to inci- dent and the costume model than his friend, but he shared with him an acute perception as well as a flimsy technique. They both belonged to the school which loves to put sloppy paint on to the canvas with dextrous flicks of the brush. The art of Chalmers embraces both landscapes and figure subjects. In the former, one cannot help being struck by the absence of the sense of dignity in composition. There is no beauty derived from the subtle inter- weaving of lines or from the arranging and proportioning of masses. Where the composition is not a rather lifeless tradition it is com- monplace. On the other hand, Chalmers excelled in seizing character. There are portraits in this volume which are real personalities, for instance, the pictures of "Robert Hutchison" and "Miss Whits." The modelling of the face of this last is broad and solid. About this child's portrait there is a dignity of style unattained elsewhere. The finished cartoon of the " Legend," opposite p. 266, has a very beautiful group of children in it, and is in many ways better than the picture itself. "The Darner "—a very fine realisation of an old woman—recalls the manner of Israels, with whom Chalmers was acquainted. The career of Chalmers was cut short in 1878. Not long after parting with his friends at his club in Edinburgh one evening, he was found bleeding and insensible in the street. Death came without recovery of consciousness, and no clue to the mystery was found, the only supposition being that he had been assaulted and robbed. The enormous size of this biography is not justified by its literary interest ; all that was worth recording could have been written in less than a quarter of these four hundred and fifty pages. The style, too, is diffuse, yet far from clear, and the weight and size of the book without excuse.
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