DRAWINGS BY THE OLD MASTERS AT OXFORD.* SINCE 1903 at
intervals have been issued six parts of this memorable work. Now with the last instalment come the general and special introductions, and directions for binding the whole in three volumes, arranged according to schools. The collections of drawings in the University galleries and also in the Christ Church Library are of considerable extent, and contain a number of first-rate examples. They were therefore well worth the careful overhauling undertaken by Mr. Sidney Colvin. The drawings in the Christ Church Library had in the past been made partly accessible, but had not before been thoroughly examined critically. Mr. Colvin tells us that the very interesting head by Verocchio was discovered by hin five years ago. Even now only a limited number of drawings can be seen without the tiresome process of asking for them to be got out of cases. These considerations make this collection of reproductions of the greatest value, not merely to the student, but to the lover of the great masters. In no department of reproductive photography can such success be attained as in the making of facsimiles of drawings. In the present case it would be difficult to imagine how the work could be better accom- plished. Mr. Colvin tells us that the Clarendon Press took infinite pains and made numbers of experiments before they were satisfied that the reproduction could be done worthily. The process which has been employed is that of collotype, and it has shown a remarkable power of adaptation. Hardly two drawings are of the same colour. Frequently mixed methods have been employed,—red or black chalk and brown ink, silver- point with touches of white on all sorts of papers of various shades. Add to this that the paper of every drawing is different, and that these differences have been copied, and we realise that reproductions such as these are something quite apart from the plain photographs of drawings which seemed so wonderful in their accuracy a few years ago. To appreciate how greatly we of the present day have benefited by such reproductive methods we have only to turn to Fisher's two volumes published in 1865, in which all the drawings attributed to Raphael and Michelangelo in the University galleries are reproduced by etching. The book is usefu as an illustrated record, but the plates are in no sense facsimiles.
The great collection at Christ Church was bequeathed in 1767 by General Guise, who had fought under Marlborough, and apparently brought together this large and heterogeneous mass of drawings. Where he got them from is not known; but many of the drawings have on them the mark showing that they belonged to Ridolfi, the biographer of Tintoretto. who died in 1658. Among the drawings by this master in this collection, Mr. Colvin describes two of great interest which he does not reproduce. They are sketches of the figure of Giuliano de Medici undraped, and must bare been done from a cast. It is known that Tintoretto took pains to
• Drawings by the Old Masters in the University Galleries and the Lilunry of Christ Church, Orford Colletype Facsimiles. Selected and Described by Sidney. COITin. 3 vols. Orford: at the Clarendon Press. [Subscription. price XS Se, net per vol.] obtain casts from the works of Michelangelo, and it would seem that he possessed some study, or reproduction of it, for the fulished work unhappily no longer exists.
• Quite apart from the studies of the expert, drawings by the great masters of painting have an extraordinary charm.
In them we seem to find the artist thinking aloud, trying experiments in composition, studying peculiarities of natural form. Sometimes we see him recording a model's head which has struck his fancy, as in the beautiful drawing of a boy by Lorenzo di Credi. Or we can enter the workshop of Filippino Lippi, and observe him with splendid power putting
on the blue paper with silver-point and white brush strokes the abstract of the models posed before him,—these, no doubt, to be made use of in some fresco upon which he was busy at the time. Raphael, too, can be watched when in the plenitude of his power he drew the kneeling woman who was to be used in the fresco of Heliodorus. The drawing nearly fills the paper, but there is just room at the top corner for an afterthought. The act of drawing the model revealed that a different turn of the head—perhaps an accidental one—was -more expressive. It is recorded with masterly economy and delicacy. One sheet of early drawings by Raphael is full of the inspiration he gained in Florence. Never did he draw more beautifully, even if later he did so more freely, than when he studied the hand and the young monk's head.
Michelangelo laid aside his terribilita when he drew the profile of the young woman with red chalk. Was this a portrait, we wonder, or do her features tell us that she was no other than the daughter of the Sistine Adam P For what purpose we know not, the hand of the master hewed out with a pen the writhing dragon whose snaky coils seem to combine the contrasted qualities of hardness and pliability. Wonderful, too, is the drawing of a horse, for so rarely did Michelangelo think anything worthy of his hand but the human form. Here, although the sincerity of the study is absolute, he could not help infusing it with a grandeur which is statuesque. On a sheet of studies for figures of the Sistine vault intrude some little figures of captives. Were these the first thoughts for the tomb of Julius which later became a shadow cast upon his life ? His friend and biographer, Condivi, speaks of "the tragedy of the monument."
Leonardo is largely represented by those weird allegorical drawings which let us see a little into that strange and wonderful mind. Brilliant improvisations these drawings seem to be, but every now and then in them shine out figures of wonderful beauty. Could any other draughtsman have created so absolutely, and yet so simply, such a haunting figure as that of the young man in the allegory of "Virtue and Envy" ? One sheet filled with a large head of grotesque nature is supposed to represent Scaramuccia, the King of the Gipsies. There is an early pen drawing by Leonardo, shaded, as was usual with him, from left to right, and thus stamping it as authentic. This drawing, Mr. Colvin thinks, settles the question of the authorship of the picture of the " Annuncia- tion " in the Uffizi. The painting has been attributed to Leonardo's teacher, Verocchio, as well as to Leonardo himself. The drawing here reproduced represents the sleeve of the angel, and is all but identical with the picture. It would seem incontestable that the attribution of the picture to the author of the study is correct, unless we suppose that Leonardo made a drawing from Verocchio's picture. We agree with Mr. Colvin that the head of the shouting soldier must be con- sidered a copy, but it is most precious for all that. Here we have a large reproduction carefully made of a fragment of that destroyed cartoon which, with its fellow by Michelangelo, and like companion in misfortune, changed the whole course of art.
The question of copies is one of great complexity. There are many drawings which exist in duplicate, and though they show small differences, it is very difficult to decide with certainty which is the original. These copies were made by pupils often in the master's own studio, the art of drawing being taught largely by copying the studies of accomplished draughtsmen. A curious problem arises in the case of a drawing by Raphael of a number of figures representing some episode in a battle. On the back of the paper is another group, and there seems no reason to doubt the authenticity of the work. But there exists in a private collection, that of the Rev. W. II. Wayne, a drawing exactly like this one on the
reverse side. Mr. Colvin discusses the question minutely, and decides for the example in the private collection, which he reproduces. The main argument is that the legs of the figures are finer in line and have more feeling for life in the last-mentioned drawing. This is perfectly true, and had there being nothing else to go by it would be convincing. Nevertheless, we believe the Oxford drawing to be by the hand of Raphael, although it is with great reluctance that we differ from so accomplished and learned a critic as Mr. Colvin. Our reason for differing is this. In the Oxford version there are many places where the line has been corrected and modified while the ink was wet, causing thicknesses almost amounting to blots in places. In the other drawing these thick places are represented by clean, clear lines. If Mr. Colvin is right, we must imagine the copyist—who was a draughtsman of great ability, whichever drawing is his— rendering the clear line by one thickened and altered, and this not once but many times. Now exactly the same thing is to be found in the two drawings, original and copy, of the Madonna del Cardelino. But it is in the acknowledged copy, not in the original, that the line which the master in feeling his way had blurred is cleared up and simplified.
We have left ourselves no space to deal at length with the drawings of the Dutch, Flemish, German, and French schools, which compose the third volume. Although we could have spared some of the studies of the minor German artists, con- sidering how many fine things have been left unreproduced, this volume has splendid things in it. Here we find Claude more beautiful when following Nature closely than when construct- ing classical compositions, and we can marvel at the fineness and delicacy of the drawing of Watteau, where charm and sincerity go hand-in-hand. The drawings of Rembrandt, with their magic and reality, are a whole world in themselves. Of the former quality there is a fine example in the drawing of the painter's studio with its wonderful quality of light, and of the latter in the thatched farmhouse. This drawing may be said to be prophetic of the modern Dutch school of landscape. Had we been told that it was a modern work we should wonder at nothing but its excellence. Numbers more of the masterpieces in the collection claim notice. We must, end with Holbein's drawing of Jane Seymour's cup. Here is the work of an artist who could combine the accuracy of an engineer's draughtsman with the inspiration of a man of genius.
Before we take leave of this great work let us once more express our gratitude to Mr. Colvin for so fine a piece of scholarship in art, and to the directors of the Clarendon Press for having so worthily supplemented his efforts. The book is in every way a credit to the University.
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