A History of French Painting. By Mrs. C. H. Stranahan.
(Sampson Low.)—Mrs. Stranahan's history of French art is one of those volumes which, while containing a store of interesting information, is, on account of the absence of speculative theories on the changes and qualities of that art, not easily reviewable. Lists of what men have painted, and at what epoch, are, however, not without value, especially as nowadays so many writers on Art are too fond of running off in abstruse criticism, and airing their own pet theories. The lists of painters mentioned seems complete enough, though among the artists of the eighteenth century, surely more mention should have been made of Quentin de la Tour, the inventor and father of pastel-drawing, which art has lately received such impetus over here. Also, the authoress completely omits Moreau le Jenne, so highly thought of by M. de Goncourt, a great authority on the art of that time. Besides his exquisite engravings so well known to all collectors, he made some dainty water-colour drawings. One in the Louvre collection represents a fête given by the Dubarry to the old King Louis XV., at her palace of Louveciennes, quite an epitome of the reckless luxury and splendour of that period, bringing to mind" Le Bien-Aim's " own saying,—" Apres moi, le deluge." The account given of the con- stitution of the French Academy, of the system of instruction pur- sued at the Beaux Arts cours, and of the working of the Grand Prix de Rome system, is good and complete.
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