Portrait Miniatures of Five Centuries. By Ernst Lemberger. (Hodder and
Stoughton. 42s. net.)—This is a sumptuous volume for which Herr Lemberger has written thirty-six pages of letter- press in faultless English (there is no mention of a translator) and has selected seventy-five miniatures for reproduction. They are chiefly by Continental painters, and the work does not trespass unduly upon Dr. Williamson's ground. Of Cosway ho says that he "was a mediocre draughtsman," but pays a tribute to the delicacy of his work, and reproduces his portrait of George III. and a doubtful one of Princess Amelia. Ho prefers Engleheart, but gives no example of his work. Of other English work Herr Lemberger gives us only what is a small conventional picture rather than a miniature, by Sir W. C. Ross (who appears in the text as William Charles Ross or Sir Charles William Ross). We should not have thought that any definition of miniature could have included Lucas Cranach's portrait of himself ; Albanesi's " Unknown Lady," which shows two other persons, three horses, and a dog ; or Goudon's picture of the Empress Eugenie and her son crowning the bust of his father. However, we are glad to see them, whether miniatures or not. It would not be fair to compare the merits of one painter with another's merely from reproductions of their work. We are not told where any of the originals are, but the volume will certainly increase interest in this delicate art, and make people the more anxious to see and possess original examples.
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