The National Gallery. By Gustave Geffroy. With an Intro- duction
by Sir Walter Armstrong. (F. Warne and Co. 25s. net.) —In the introduction we find a good deal of interesting informa- tion concerning the creation of the National Gallery. At first it was a case of committee government, which produced poor results. Then came the reign of two Directors—Eastlake and Burton— who had tree insight, and who acquired the best things in the Gallery. After the successful directorate of Burton the Govern- ment returned to the earlier form of management, with the inevitable result of a timid policy. Mr. Geffroy is not very critical in his way of speaking of the pictures. He does not even hint that there is a doubt as to the authorship of two so- Called Giorgiones, and he takes it for granted that the names of Holbein's " Ambassadors " are Dinteville and Selves. The fact that a book has been written to prove that these are not their names is not mentioned. The illustrations, both in photogravure and process, are unequal in quality, but, on the whole, are adequate. Considering the difficulty of summing up such a collection as the National Gallery in one volume, we may forgive this rather superficial description of the pictures. It is useful to have a general impression as well as a detailed history.
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