CURRENT LITERATURE.
GIFT-BOOKS.
The Magazine of Art. (Cassell and Co.)—Whether or no we can concede the modest claim of the Magazine of Art to " a unique place at the head of all serials devoted to Art in any country," we may readily allow that it is a very interesting periodical, and well worth the moderate price which is charged for it. The frontis- piece of the volume now before us is Mr. Watts's well-known pic- ture of " Fata Morgana," etched by Mr. James Dobie. Sir J. E. Millais's "Jephthah's Daughter," is given in photogravure ; but it is a picture that without colour loses much of its charm, per- haps because we see more clearly its want of vraisemblance. Of the twelve principal illustrations, seven are etchings, four photogra- vures, and one engraving (" The Shepherd's Grave," by Mr. G. S. Hunt, after Sir E. Landseer). Among the etchings we may mention a very pretty piece of work after the French style, " The Morning after the Ball," by M. Eugene Champollion, after Mr. A. A. Anderson. The articles on contemporary or recent art and artists, are a notable feature of the volume. We may mention "A Great Painter of Cats " (Madame Henrietta Romer), by M. Spielmann, with its delightful illustrations of cats in action, which mostly means mischief, " Kittens at Rest," and so forth ; Benjamin Constant, H. S. Leifchild (an enthusiastic devotee of the scantily appreciated art of the sculptor), Charles Chaplin (a famous painter of beauties). A series of articles on "The English School of Miniature Art," by Mr. J. S. Propert ; an account of the Philomela Myth, by Miss Jane Harrison, with illustrations from Greek vases, may also be mentioned. The Thackeray and Ruskin portraits are particularly interesting. The Magazine of Art furnishes some excellent reading.
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