Rembrandt. By G. Baldwin Brown. (Duckworth and Co. 7s. 6d.)—The
biography of Rembrandt has been written so often, and of late so exhaustively, that in a fresh book it is useless to expect anything that is new. All the same, Professor Brown, of Edinburgh, has concisely summarised the voluminous studies of Michel, Bode, and others, and given us a short account of the painter's life that is readable and interesting. The drawings, etchings, and paintings are dealt with in separate divisions, and two final chapters discuss the artistic qualities of Rembrandt's genius, examining particular pictures in detail. A very thoughtful and minute description, for instance, is given of that supreme work, the portrait of Jan Six. The author lays stress on the essentially experimental nature of Rembrandt's art, a quality which some- times brought the master into difficulties, but which prevented his ever becoming formal.
A series of books called "Masterpieces in Colour," under the editorship of Mr. T. Leman Hare, is being published by Messrs. Jack at Is. 6d. each. The series includes painters of different countries and ages, ranging from Fm a Angelico to Lord Leighton. With the rarest exceptions, these reproductions in colour entirely fail to render the original works. Not only is the colour of the pictures reproduced debased and vulgarised beyond all recogni- tion, but in some instances the form has suffered as well, so that from every point of view such work is inferior to an ordinary process reproduction from a photograph. The publishers in an announcement state that they have sent a "qualified representa- tive to the Continent first to select and then to obtain the necessary permission to reproduce these works." This implies that the illustrations offered us have been produced straight from the originals. If this be so, the publishers seem to have been most unfortunate in choosing a process which is peculiarly Colour-blind. If these reproductions are true to their originals, two copies of the- same print must- resemble one another closely, for things which are equal to the same are equal to each other. It is easy to put this to the test, for the publishers have unwisely put on the cover of each volume a duplicate of one of the prints to be found inside the book. Take, for instance, the "Temeraire" on the cover of the Turner volume. The sky and sea just above and below the horizon on the immediate right of the ships are a distinct blue. We now turn to the same picture inside the book, and to our astonishment find the same part of the original is represented by a dirty greenish grey. Both cannot be right. No more truthful are the hot browns in the Rembrandt volume. Perhaps it will be said that these two painters are specially unre- producible, and therefore the test is unfair. If this is so, we pass to the volumes dealing with Botticelli and Fre Angelico. If the " Venus " were like this, who would not prefer the monochrome of a photograph to the original ? and if the Frets coloured thus, who would go a second time to San Marco ? Lovers of art must deplore such books as these, because of the false impression they convey to the uninstructed.
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