happens, and it is scarcely likely to be well told, it is the first of the fine arts to emerge
At a recent meeting of the Committee of seen from the neighbourhood of London.
At a recent meeting of the Committee of seen from the neighbourhood of London.
Athenaeum - London - 1912a
Littlewood, -and On Mersenne's
remarkable. -Mr. H. C. Plummer read a paper on Numbers,' by Lieut. -Col. A. Cunningham.
on the same relief map by somewhat con-
Hypothetical Parallaxes of the Brighter Stars
fusing red and blue lines. The Natural of Type A,' being an investigation of the radial
Vegetation map is admirable, and the velocities of stars in a list by Prof. Campbell.
classification adopted appears pleasantly The velocities of stars of Class A near the Milky
Mos. Royal Academy, 4. - 'Ideals and Bthics of Sculpture
simple when compared with that in use on
Way were greater than those of stars in high
Lecture I. , Prof. W. R. Colton.
some of the German wall atlases in favour to move parallel to the
plane of the Milky Way. -
London Institution, 5. - Chinese Art,' Mr. L. Binyon.
latitudes, suggesting that stars of this type tend
Aristotelian, 8. --'The Relation of Willing to Cognition,' Prof.
G. Dawes Hicks.
at the present time. The Economic map Mr. F. G. Brown read a paper on The Absorp- Institute of British Architects, 8. –Colour Decoration,' Sir A.
East and Mr. E. Wood.
would have been better had it been divided tion of Light in Space,' in which he had made use Society of Arts, 8. -Ocean Waves, Sea-Benches, and Sand-
into smaller sections.
of nebulæ instead of stars, since nebulæ have a
banks,' Lecture I. , Dr. Vaughan Cornish. (Cantor Lecture. )
measurable diameter. Their distances can thus
Surveyors' Institution, 8. - An Evening in the Institution
Library,' Mr. J. C. Rogers.
be approximately found, since on the average Tues. Royal Institution, 3. - The Study of Genetics,' Lecture II. ,
Prof. W. Bateson.
The map of China, Part LIII. of the Atlas those with small apparent diameters must be
Universel de Géographie (Hachette) main their real diameters may vary. Prof. H. H. Turner
more distant than larger ones, however much
Colonial Institute, 4. - The New Pacific,' Dr. T. Miller
Institution of Civil Engineers, &-Discussion on 'Reinforced.
tains the high standard set in the earlier read a paper by himself and Mr. Brown on ' An
Concrete Wharves and Warehouses at Lower Pootung,
Shanghai'; . The Direct Experimental Determination of
issues. The relief is especially to be com- Example of the Use of Spherical Harmonic
the stresses in the Steel and in the Concrete of Reinforced-
mended for its clearness.
Analysis. The advantages of this analysis were
Concrete Columns'; and Composite Columns of Concrete
and Steel. ' Paper on The Central Heating and Power.
shown in its application to various astronomical
Plant of McGill University, Montreal,' Mr. R. J. Durley,
investigations, and the example given brought
Anthropological Institote, 8 15. - Annual Meeting ; some
American Problems' the President.
Laboratory Exercises in Physical Chemistry. out the main features of the distribution of WED. British Numismatic, 8. The Long-Cross Coinage of Henry III.
and Edward L. ' Mr. L. A. Lawrence.
By J. N. Pring. (Manchester University brightness of nebulæ in different parts of the
Geological, 8. – The Upper Keuper for Arden) Sandstone and
Associated Rocks of Warwickshire,' Dr. O. A. Matley.
Press. ). —The first part of this book deals celestial sphere. -Mr. Thackeray read a paper on
* Personality and Bisection Error of some Green-
Society of Arts, 8. - A New Process of Hydraulic Separating
with physico-chemical measurements, calori- wich Transit Observers. His object was
to
and Grading,' Mr. W. J. Gee.
Thurs. Royal Institution, 3. -"The New Astronomy,' Lecture II. ,
metry, and electro-chemistry ; the second determine the magnitude equation in R. A. of the
Prof. A. W. Bickerton.
Royal Academy, 4 - Ideals and Ethics of Sculpture,
describes six interesting preparations by present transit-circle observers. The bisection
electrolysis ; the third is devoted to exer-
errors vary with the zenith distance of the star
Royal, 4. 80. - Determination of the Coefficient of Inter
diffusion of Gases and the Velocity of Ions under an
Electric Force, in Tering of Mean Free Paths,'. Prof. J. S.
cises in pyrometry. The subject matter has observed, and
this may be due in part to the eye,
and in part to the different positions taken up
Townsend ; Note on the Scattering of a Particles,' Dr. H.
been well chosen to illustrate the various by the observer according to the zenith distance
Geiger ; 'The Effect of Temperature upon Radio-active Dig-
principles, the explanations are lucid, and of the star. -Mr. C. P. Butler showed and explained
integration, Mr. A. 8. Russell, and other Papers.
London Institution, 6. – Waves of the Sea," Dr. Vaughan
the data are neatly arranged in clear figures. a number of slides representing a new form of
Institution of Electrical Engineers. 8. —'The Heat Paths in
To students working for an Honours Degree it appeared to be a modiảcation of the Equatorial
Electrical Machinery,' Messrs. Miles Walker and H. D.
Symons.
in this branch of science we can recommend
Coude. As in the case of the latter, the polar
Society of Antiquaries, 8. 30.
this book with confidence in its merits.
Royal Institution, 9. –The Pressure of a Blow,' Prof. Bertram
axis formed part of the telescope tube, but it was
so large that the observer was actually within the Rowena haciar: ii. Robo J. Robote:
institution, 3. -The Banyoro, a Pastoral People of
axis.
A Dictionary of Applied Chemistry. Edited
by Sir Edward Thorpe. Vol. I. (Longmans
& Co. )—The rapid advances made in che-
METEOROLOGICAL. -Jan. 17. -Annual Meeting.
-Dr. H. N. Dickson, President, in the chair.
mistry since the appearance of the first edi- The Council, in their Report, stated that they
Science Gossip
tion of this work some twenty-two years had decided to discontinue the collection of
.
ago have resulted in the production of a
observations and the publication of The Meteoro-
MR. LAURENCE COOK, an expert grower,
ponderous tome of 760 pages as the first of logical Record as from December 31st, 1911;
and
the five volumes in which the Dictionary values of climatological elements of the British
that they proposed to prepare a series of normal has just completed a practical little guide
is to be completed. The list of contributors, Isles.
to the culture of Perpetual Carnations,'
including many leaders in chemical science, The President presented_to Prof. Cleveland
which will be published by Messrs. Cassell
on the 25th inst.
is a sufficient guarantee for the trustworthy Abbe of the U. S. Weather Bureau, Washington,
character of the experimental results sup. awarded to him in consideration of distinguished Wonders of Plant Life,' by Mr. S. Leonard
The same firm will also publish next week
plied. The student will find all the latest I work he had done
in instrumental, statistical, and
information available clearly set out with 'dynamical meteorology and forecasting.
Bastin, in which are described in non-scientific
MEETINGS NEXT WEEK.
11
Maguire.
-
Lecture II. , Prof. W. R. Colton.
Cornish.
FRI.
BAT.
## p. (#72) #################################################
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No. 4395, Jan. 20, 1912
THE ATHENÆUM
Τ
Μ
sto
ite
TELO
HARC
informs us,
2
ar
TRES
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terms the wonderful methods of growth in injunction, but it is difficult to see how it the journals of learned societies. When the
plants, the extraordinary means adopted can be enforced.
writer describes any important building,
for seed-dispersal and fertilization, and the
On the night of Sunday, the 28th inst. , shrine, sculpture, or painting, it is hard
manner in which insects are lured to further there will be an occultation of Mars by the to say whether he has had the oppor-
the aims of the plant. Parasitic growths
moon. Disappearance will take place at tunity of studying it.
and the influence of the seasons form 2h. 34m. after midnight, and the moon,
interesting chapters. The book will be then nine days old, will set about half-past
In a chronological descriptive history
illustrated
with forty photographs by the three, so that the objects concerned will be of fine art, architecture must find a first
author and eight photo - colour plates by near the horizon when the phenomenon place because, as we have been often
Mr. H. Essenhigh Corke.
happens, and it is scarcely likely to be well told, it is the first of the fine arts to emerge
At a recent meeting of the Committee of seen from the neighbourhood of London. from barbarism in the service of religion
the British Association for the Protection
An orbit with elliptic elements has been and civic life. Mr. Vincent Smith con-
of Indian Cattle the following aims and computed for comet 1911, 9 (Schaumasse), siders that “ the originality of Indian art
objects were framed: (1) To prevent the the eighth and last discovered during the is perhaps most conspicuous in architec-
with the view of increasing the number and this comet is another of the Jupiter family, cursorily in these pages.
unnecessary slaughter of cattle in India, year just past, from which it appears that ture,” but “it is a subject treated only
improving the breed of the animals employed of which there are now more than twenty it is a subject too big for full treatment
He holds that
for the cultivation of the land. . (2) By members. These are comets whose periods in a general history of fine art; but the
this means to encourage the agricultural range from three to eight years, and which
development of the country, and so render pass near Jupiter's orbit at some point of treatment, though not full
, need not be
the United Kingdom less dependent upon their paths.
cursory. The main topics," the author
foreign countries for her raw material. (3)
dealt with in this volume
To improve the general condition and
are sculpture and painting. ” To quote
promote the more humane treatment of
cattle in India.
the language of one whose writings on
FINE ARTS
the fine arts will always retain their
A BOOK of interest to the many in this
fascination: “In the procession of the
:
country connected directly or indirectly
with the sugar industry has been issued by
fine arts sculpture always follows close
upon the steps of architecture, and at
tion under the title Histoire Centennale A History of Fine Art in India and Ceylon first appears in some sense as her hand-
de la Betterave. ' It is an exhaustive tome
from the Earliest Times to the Present maid. ' Sculpture in India was in a
on the subject of sugar in general, and beet Day. By Vincent A. Smith. (Oxford, large measure the handmaid of architec-
sugar in particular, to which leading che- Clarendon Press. )
ture, and the best works of the Indian
mists, merchants, and engineers have con-
(First Notice. )
carver are often bas-reliefs.
tributed.
In view of the characteristically sensa-
MR. VINCENT SMITH has attempted an
Mr. Vincent Smith gives us in chaps. i.
tional telegram from America announcing ambitious task which was doomed to and ii. “ merely outline sketches of the
the “dissipation" of Saturn's Rings, it may comparative failure. He tells us in the leading Hindu and Muhammadan styles of
be recalled that the latest theory as to Preface :-
architecture. ” He follows in the footsteps
the constitution of the Rings ascribes their
"The purpose of this book is to give for of Fergusson, whose History of Indian
than to the reflection of sunlight from closely tory of Fine Art in India and Ceylon from the be a standard authority on the subject,
appearance to electricall radiation Father the first time a chronological descriptive His- and Eastern Architecture must always
packed discrete particles,
sparkling flocculence announced from
third century B. C. to the present day, with because it was written by one who in early
America can be explained by an electrical criticism of the esthetic merits of the life had the training of an architect, and
disturbance of the normal conditions obtain-
works described. The art history is treated who had for many years travelled over
ing in the neighbourhood of Saturn becomes throughout in close connexion with political India
and had ample opportunity of study.
and religious revolutions. In criticism the It was not a mere encyclopædic compila-
now an interesting question by which the
validity of the new theory may be further judgments of experts have been utilised as
tested.
far as possible.
tion. By the far sight which men call
Necessary limitations of
space forbid elaborate explanations of the genius he traced out the historical se-
It is one of the commonplaces of astronomy mythological or historical significance of quence of the Hindu monuments. The
that this appendage, which appears to be individual works. "
prehistoric relics of India consist of
so heavy and solid, cannot be so, from
To the homely mind, however, there is cromlechs, cairns, and other cognate
mechanical considerations, and that the
önly system of the dimensions we see which something indecorous, something almost remains built by an obscure race of
can exist is one composed of an indefinite pathetic, in an individual striving to get whom we know nothing. Between these
number of unconnected particles revolving into a volume a description of all the arts and the Buddhist remains, which come
round the planet with different velocities. of an ancient and highly civilized conti- next in order, a wide interval lies; for.
When Clerk-Maxwell demonstrated this nent, and to grasp the intention of the although in the two great epics, the
mathematically in 1857, he contemplated different minds of different races and Mahabharata’ and · Ramayana,' we read
the possibility that under certain conditions creeds. In order that the criticism of the of citadels and magnificent palaces, the
the stability
of the rings might be destroyed zesthetic merits of the works described " Aryans left nothing that has endured to
“
by mutual perturbations between the par-
ticles, but the casual appearance of a bright may be of substantial worth, the writer our time.
spot, which
may be no more than an optical should have not only the artistic nature, but It is with the reign of Asoka (273-232 B. C. )
illusion, is meagre ground for a prediction also the trained eye and the trained judg- that the history of Indian architecture
of dissolution in the near future.
ment. If the art history is to be treated begins, and for five centuries the monu-
,
The progress of wireless telegraphy is throughout in close connexion with political ments in India are Buddhist. Fergusson
.
responsible for the creation of a new legal and religious revolutions, the writer must calls this earliest style“ a wooden art
a
offence in France. For some months past have a knowledge of the three Eastern painfully struggling into lithic forms. "
accurate time-signals have been_sent out classics, Sanskrit, Arabic, and Persian. Mr. Mr. Vincent Smith, however, points out
twice a day from the Eiffel Tower by Vincent Smith does not profess to be an that
Hertzian waves for the benefit of those at
sea, who can determine their longitude Oriental scholar, though he has produced
all authors who treat of Indian archi-
thereby if they can pick up the signal. It a most useful 'Early History of India. '
tecture notice, and are embarrassed by the
has occurred to some enterprising persons, The present volume represents a great fact, that each style when it first comes to
clockmakers and others, that it would be amount of patient labour. Indeed, in
Indeed, in our knowledge is full-grown and complete.
possible for any one to receive these signals some parts it may be said to consist The earliest specimens betray no sign of
by means of an easily constructed apparatus, almost entirely of extracts, or rather para- tentative effort, and in no case is it possible
but an injunction has been issued by the phrases of extracts, so carefully is each to trace the progressive evolution of a given
authorities, forbidding any pne to set up statement supplied with references to style from rude beginning. ”
such an appliance. Remembering that the
British Post Office derives a considerable
authorities. The authorities are well He admits that the extensive destruc-
sum from the sale of the Greenwich time- chosen and show a wide range of reading, tion of ancient monuments no doubt
signal, we can understand the reason for the not only of standard authors, but also of' supplies a partial, though not adequate
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No. 4395, Jan. 20, 1912
THE ATHENÆUM
73
41
His
>
or
explanation. ” But he is convinced are introduced in panels on the basement “ academic ” has been so habitually used
as one of reproach that we have been obliged,
that the more fundamental explanation and elsewhere. ”
when eulogizing such an artist as Legros, to
is to be found in the assumption that all The best examples of the Dravidian or speak of him as academic ' in the better
the Indian styles are derived from proto- Southern style are the great structural sense of the word," and to claim for him a
types constructed in timber, ,bamboos, temples of Southern India, which embody grudging tolerance as an interesting historic
and other perishable materials. ” This is the ideas of Puranic Hinduism which survival.
merely saying that the progress of the succeeded Buddhism. A visit to them Even now we foresee that many critics--
human race may be traced from the wig. reveals the strength of Brahmanism as a
too conscientious to refuse comparison be-
wam to the hut, the hut to the house, the living creed, and gives the visitor a
tween the monument Legros has left behind
him, and the relatively trivial achievement
house to a palace, and from the shed for the glimpse of the volcanic forces of bigotry of this or that leader of artistic fashion-
wooden god to a temple. It is hard to and fanaticism which are still burning will yet estimate him as a fine artist in spite
believe, after closely examining Buddhist beneath a thin crust, ready to blaze of his academic outlook. This were to mis-
remains (not their photographs), that the forth at any moment. In looking at these conceive the nature of his greatness.
was a sincere and delicate talent of not
Buddhist sculptors were not the successors stupendous shrines we are at once struck
too robust a sort, the kind of talent which
of generations of artists in stone. These with wonder at something strange, is popularly supposed to be in danger of
remains consist of rock inscriptions; lats, but it requires many a visit to realize extinction if its owner does anything but
slender monolith pillars with inscriptions ; their artistic skill and their fitness to follow the line of least resistance to his
topes or stūpas, solid cupolas of brick or
represent the sensuousness of the gods, natural bent. What brought it to such fine
stone masonry for the safe custody of the emotional tendency of the Oriental
, fruition, and what made Legros exceptional,
relics, or to mark a spot associated with and the vital meaning of an altered mystic was his superb faith in logical and idio-
an event sacred in Buddhist legend; creed. They do not represent the old matic expression as a thing worth studying
rock-hewn temples; and veharas or monas- faith. They are comparatively modern. criticized for accepting in many of his own
for its own sake. We have heard Legros
teries. The stupa or tope at Sānchi is No Hindu temple has been discovered in drawings, and for imposing sometimes upon
the largest and finest in Central India, Southern India older than the eighth his pupils, a scheme of shading in line of the
and has been frequently described. Mr. century A. D. , but from that time forward same direction throughout-one example
Vincent Smith gives two illustrations of it: the building activity of the Dravidians among many of his instinctive sense that
one before restoration, and one after. We
was enormous, and culminated in the the complete exploration of the possibilities
prefer the one before restoration. Rails sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. In of a simple convention serves to educe that
play an important part in the history of all of the temples they erected some dis- appreciation of refinements in its applica-
tion which is latent in the student, and as
Buddhist architecture, for it was on them tinct elements are to be observed. There capable of conscious development as any
that the carvers in stone lavished all the is the huge, massive wall, enclosing a vast other natural gift. For him art without
resources of their art, and the gateways, area meant to protect the rich jewels of convention would have been like a game
or torans as they are properly called, were the gods from bandits. As a rule, in the without rules, embryonic merely, even if
covered with most elaborate sculptures. centre of the outer wall, both in front and sometimes magnificently so.
The rail at Barhut, discovered by Cunning in the rear, are the gateways, above which
An examination of Legros's etchings in
ham in 1873, is perhaps the most inter- are raised lofty pyral.
Grafton Street shows how largely the charm
are raised lofty pyrali. . :1 towers
esting historical monument known to gopuras. A second enclosure succeeds and perfect employment of simple means.
of this delightful etcher consists in the full
exist in India.
the first, which has generally one gate His influence for good upon modern etchers
For long ages Buddhism struggled pyramid, and within it is the temple in this country can hardly be overrated. It
against the religion and complex social itself, which consists of two porches or is largely thanks to him that there are still a
system of Brahmanism, but the ancient mantapas, an ante-temple, and the shrine few who have trained themselves to test first
Sanskrit gods asserted themselves, and or cell (Vimana), which is the object of the possibilities of the distribution of line
in a single biting, and maintain always a
there arose the great shrines which suited worship. In addition to the principal certain economy in the number of different
the requirements of Brahman thought. temple, the enclosures contain smaller weights and different directions of line,
The varied styles in which they were temples, sacred tanks, gardens filled with avoiding the miscellaneous jumble of all the
built were divided by Fergusson into flowers, and the halls or cloisters sup- possible tricks of etching and printing which
two main divisions-Northern or Hindu ported by columns of stone, the front makes latter-day English etching on the
Such a plate as
Aryan, and the Southern or Dravidian. rows of which are often shaped by the whole so flaccid a thing,
The finest examples of the former style craftsmen into various sacred animals No. 62, Un Mendiant, might be proposed as a
model to the student of etching-almost
are found in the Puri district of Orissa, rampant, ridden by their respective deities. entirely one clean biting, with just the small
and Fergusson considers that “ the Orissa The mighty, gateways are decorated with addition of cobweb line playing its part so
group forms in itself one of the most com- sculpture charged with life and beauty definitely, and blending so perfectly in the
plete in all India. ” A most picturesque and individuality, but too often bearing scheme. No. 3, Faiseurs de Fagots, may be
account of the temple is to be found in
witness to the sensual debasement of the noted as an example of the artist's ex-
** Orissa,' by Andrew Sterling, who visited race wrought by Puranic Hinduism. It haustive use of a single direction of shade
lines. In No. 23, a mild and dreamy Rodin,
it in 1820. Fergusson has given an archi- is a matter for regret that Mr. Vincent
we see shade lines in two directions utilized
tect's precise
and prosaic description. The Smith did not pay
due attention to these for ordering the tones into categories. These
.
pagoda he mentions is a solid and square great monuments of Indian art.
are apparently simple exercises, yet it is on
tower built wholly in stone from the base
He devotes a chapter to the Indo- such a basis that the magnificent work
to the apex, and, “what unfortunately Mohammedan styles of architecture, but of Legros the etcher is built up. Were it
no woodcut can show, every inch of the we must leave further discussion of his not for the dramatic and intensely human
surface is covered with carving in the book to another article.
emotion in many of his plates, which proves
most, elaborate manner. ”
him a man who “ lived as well as knew,'
Like Sterling,
we might fitly celebrate his departure by
he states that “the sculpture is of a very
chanting 'The Grammarian's Funeral, so
high order and great beauty of design. ”
WORKS BY ALPHONSE LEGROS.
clear is it that the exquisite use of the lan-
Mr. Vincent Smith's description of the
guage of art is the essence of his message
Great Temple is brief :
THE magnificent display of Legros's etch-to mankind, even more than his subject-
ings at Mr. Gutekunst's Gallery, together matter, sincere as was his interest in that.
* A second and later variety of the style is with the Fine Art Society's show of his Perhaps the best tribute his followers can
adequately represented by the Great Temple, other remaining works, should stimulate to pay his memory is to raise again the question
which has a high steeple tower, with sides enthusiasm the respect and appreciation whether, after all
, his faith in a training in
vertical for the most part, and curving only universally accorded
to the late artist at academic principles may not
be justified. At
near the top. The roof of the porch has the present day. The chorus of praise least this is what best permits an artistic idea
considerable elevation,
and in many details amid which he passed away seems on the to be passed on from
hand to hand and
the design differs from that of the earlier face of it odd, when we consider
the general gradually perfected. Thus even in his finest
wariety: Sculptures of remarkable merit, trend of artistic opinion for the past and most
spontaneous works --such, for
which will be illustrated in a later chapter, ten years. During that time the term I example, as Les Bacherons (15), or the idyllic
>
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## p. (#74) #################################################
74
THE ATHENÆUM
No. 4395, Jan. 20, 1912
&
are
was
Mouton retrouvé (34), or his exquisite essays THE appointment of M. Léon Bérard as
in puro landscape (65, 66, and 67)-Legros is Under-Secretary of State for Fine Arts con-
treading in paths where others have preceded tradicts current gossip in Paris that the
him. Now it is Millet who beckons, now Departments of Fine Arts, hitherto
MUSIC
the landscape painters of the sixteenth and branch of the Ministry of Public Instruc-
seventeenth centuries, and now Rembrandt ; tion, would be made into a separate
while in some of his later drawings at the ministry. This change has long been urged
Fine Art Society we seem to see the influence by many powerful advocates, while others
of Prud'hon. In the latter exhibition the hold that a more satisfactory arrangement
OUR LIBRARY TABLE.
fine series of portraits of members of his would be the appointment of a permanent
own family is the principal feature. On the and non-political director of Fine Arts in lotte Milligan Fox.
Annals of the Irish Harpers. By Char-
(Smith & Elder. )
whole, it reveals him in a less virile mood place of an Under-Secretary or any other
The author tells us how her book came
than does the collection of his etchings, political minister.
to be written. A lecture which she heard
falling as he did sometimes, in his later days,
into too facile a harmony.
M. JACQUES DOUCET, founder of the
on Edward Bunting, delivered by Mr.
Students' Library of Art and Archæology at
Robert Young, first awoke her interest in
Paris, has decided to sell his well-known
the subject, and soon after she was
collection of eighteenth-century pastels and fortunato in making acquaintance with a
drawings, decorative furniture, and other grandson and granddaughter of Bunting,
OTHER EXHIBITIONS.
works of art. The date of the sale has not yet who both placed at her disposal musical
At the Galleries of the Royal Society of been fixed, but it is expected to take place notebooks, letters, &c. ;, and on examin-
British
ing these manuscripts she found material
Artists, Messrs. Yamanaka
early this spring.
for a book.
exhibiting a collection of ancient Japanese
M. ROLL has acceded to the unanimous
screens of great interest, if of somewhat desire of his colleagues on the Council, and music, published
Bunting's first collection of Irish harp
in 1796,
the
unequal artistic merit. It is difficult to
withdrawn his resignation as President of earliest of any importance. Dr. Petrie,
gauge fairly the stature of their producers, the Société Nationale des Beaux-Arts. whose volume of Irish airs appeared in 1855,
in comparison with modern artists, because
while criticizing, though with great re-
there are few of the works which have not
A PARIS CORRESPONDENT writes :-
luctance, some features of Bunting's work,
altered considerably under the effects of time.
When the alterations have been disastrous,
The export of old masters to the United speaks of the “ zealous exertions” for
States is not confined to England. Messrs. Druet the preservation of national music which
we instinctively make allowances, but when
& Co. have this month sent to New York a repre- “should entitle his name to be for ever
they have been happy we never attempt to sentative who takes with him across the Atlantic held in grateful remembrance by his
estimate to what extent
beauty is really accidental. In No. 26 in in Sir George Donaldson's collection, Hoppner's country. ” Petrie, moreover, contributed
Portrait of Mrs. Bentley,' and other important an essay to Bunting's third collection
the present collection time and the artist
examples of deceased masters. Rousseau's 'Le (1840).
have conspired to produce a splendidly Pêcheur, formerly
in the collection of M. Periere
resonant harmony which we can the more of Paris, has been bought for 40,0001. by Mr.
In the volume before us interesting
easily believe to be deliberate because the George F. Baker of New York. ”
details are given of Bunting's early life.
design is so vividly eloquent, the line at
Born in 1775 at Armagh, he was sent to
once so confident and so expressive. Yet
M. FRÉDÉRIC ALPHONSE MURATON, whose Belfast in 1781, and soon showed taste
there are other screens as ably drawn which death at the age of 88 is announced from and talent for music; but it was the great
have not matured into the same subtle La Source-Macé. near Ménars, was born at Harpers' Festival held in that city in 1792
perfection; Nos. 22, 50, and 53 may be noted Tours, and had been until the last year which first specially drew his attention
as brilliant examples.
or so a regular exhibitor at the Salon since to the folk-music of his native country.
1859. He studied under Drolling and For four years he collected melodies,
Of the four French painters exhibiting Jacquinet, and resided for some time at and when his first collection appeared he
at the Goupil Gallery, M. Maurice Denis is the monastery of La Trappe, painting there was only 21 years of age.
the best known. His works are pleasing,
one of his best-known pictures, ‘Un Reli- later Moore's melodies were published,
but nowise profound, and to the present gieux en Méditation, which was bought and the poet acknowledged his great
He also indebtedness to Bunting. In the Preface
writer his reputation has always been some by the State and is now at Tours.
to the fourth volume of his collected
what of a mystery: Soir de Septembre (26) is painted portraits and genre subjects.
works Moore says :
“ It was in the year
the best. His companions are also of the
school loosely termed Post-Impressionist who has also just died in his 47th year, was a
THE sculptor M. Antoine Clair Forestier, 1797 that, through the medium of Mr.
(not, however, of the branch of that move-
Bunting's book, I was first made ac-
ment which appears to us to be a hopeful at the Salon. One of his most noteworthy music. ” Moore altered both melodies and
native of Cannes and a constant exhibitor quainted with the beauties of our nativo
portent). M. George Desvallières, however,
is an exception; he shows a couple of clever works was 'La Feuille et l'Ouragan,' which
measures of the old airs, whereas Bunting
is now at Saint Germain. To last year's believed that the harpers had accurately
pieces of realism, La Couture (36) and Au
Salon he sent a marble statuette, ‘L'Attente. ' transmitted the melodies from one gene-
Moulin Rouge (38). Here we have the
ration to another. The variants of
matter-of-fact vision of Signor Mancini, but THE example of the Vasari Society and
happily not his distressful technique.
the Société de Reproduction des Dessins de
melodies given by Sir Charles Stanford in
his valuable edition of Petrie's collection
Maîtres is being followed in Germany. The
Prestel-Gesellschaft, whose headquarters are
show, however, that the transmission was
at the address Rossmarkt 14a, Frankfurt-
not always accurate ; Bunting, at any rate,
tried to obtain them from the best avail-
am-Main, proposes to issue to its members,
able sources.
remarkable. -Mr. H. C. Plummer read a paper on Numbers,' by Lieut. -Col. A. Cunningham.
on the same relief map by somewhat con-
Hypothetical Parallaxes of the Brighter Stars
fusing red and blue lines. The Natural of Type A,' being an investigation of the radial
Vegetation map is admirable, and the velocities of stars in a list by Prof. Campbell.
classification adopted appears pleasantly The velocities of stars of Class A near the Milky
Mos. Royal Academy, 4. - 'Ideals and Bthics of Sculpture
simple when compared with that in use on
Way were greater than those of stars in high
Lecture I. , Prof. W. R. Colton.
some of the German wall atlases in favour to move parallel to the
plane of the Milky Way. -
London Institution, 5. - Chinese Art,' Mr. L. Binyon.
latitudes, suggesting that stars of this type tend
Aristotelian, 8. --'The Relation of Willing to Cognition,' Prof.
G. Dawes Hicks.
at the present time. The Economic map Mr. F. G. Brown read a paper on The Absorp- Institute of British Architects, 8. –Colour Decoration,' Sir A.
East and Mr. E. Wood.
would have been better had it been divided tion of Light in Space,' in which he had made use Society of Arts, 8. -Ocean Waves, Sea-Benches, and Sand-
into smaller sections.
of nebulæ instead of stars, since nebulæ have a
banks,' Lecture I. , Dr. Vaughan Cornish. (Cantor Lecture. )
measurable diameter. Their distances can thus
Surveyors' Institution, 8. - An Evening in the Institution
Library,' Mr. J. C. Rogers.
be approximately found, since on the average Tues. Royal Institution, 3. - The Study of Genetics,' Lecture II. ,
Prof. W. Bateson.
The map of China, Part LIII. of the Atlas those with small apparent diameters must be
Universel de Géographie (Hachette) main their real diameters may vary. Prof. H. H. Turner
more distant than larger ones, however much
Colonial Institute, 4. - The New Pacific,' Dr. T. Miller
Institution of Civil Engineers, &-Discussion on 'Reinforced.
tains the high standard set in the earlier read a paper by himself and Mr. Brown on ' An
Concrete Wharves and Warehouses at Lower Pootung,
Shanghai'; . The Direct Experimental Determination of
issues. The relief is especially to be com- Example of the Use of Spherical Harmonic
the stresses in the Steel and in the Concrete of Reinforced-
mended for its clearness.
Analysis. The advantages of this analysis were
Concrete Columns'; and Composite Columns of Concrete
and Steel. ' Paper on The Central Heating and Power.
shown in its application to various astronomical
Plant of McGill University, Montreal,' Mr. R. J. Durley,
investigations, and the example given brought
Anthropological Institote, 8 15. - Annual Meeting ; some
American Problems' the President.
Laboratory Exercises in Physical Chemistry. out the main features of the distribution of WED. British Numismatic, 8. The Long-Cross Coinage of Henry III.
and Edward L. ' Mr. L. A. Lawrence.
By J. N. Pring. (Manchester University brightness of nebulæ in different parts of the
Geological, 8. – The Upper Keuper for Arden) Sandstone and
Associated Rocks of Warwickshire,' Dr. O. A. Matley.
Press. ). —The first part of this book deals celestial sphere. -Mr. Thackeray read a paper on
* Personality and Bisection Error of some Green-
Society of Arts, 8. - A New Process of Hydraulic Separating
with physico-chemical measurements, calori- wich Transit Observers. His object was
to
and Grading,' Mr. W. J. Gee.
Thurs. Royal Institution, 3. -"The New Astronomy,' Lecture II. ,
metry, and electro-chemistry ; the second determine the magnitude equation in R. A. of the
Prof. A. W. Bickerton.
Royal Academy, 4 - Ideals and Ethics of Sculpture,
describes six interesting preparations by present transit-circle observers. The bisection
electrolysis ; the third is devoted to exer-
errors vary with the zenith distance of the star
Royal, 4. 80. - Determination of the Coefficient of Inter
diffusion of Gases and the Velocity of Ions under an
Electric Force, in Tering of Mean Free Paths,'. Prof. J. S.
cises in pyrometry. The subject matter has observed, and
this may be due in part to the eye,
and in part to the different positions taken up
Townsend ; Note on the Scattering of a Particles,' Dr. H.
been well chosen to illustrate the various by the observer according to the zenith distance
Geiger ; 'The Effect of Temperature upon Radio-active Dig-
principles, the explanations are lucid, and of the star. -Mr. C. P. Butler showed and explained
integration, Mr. A. 8. Russell, and other Papers.
London Institution, 6. – Waves of the Sea," Dr. Vaughan
the data are neatly arranged in clear figures. a number of slides representing a new form of
Institution of Electrical Engineers. 8. —'The Heat Paths in
To students working for an Honours Degree it appeared to be a modiảcation of the Equatorial
Electrical Machinery,' Messrs. Miles Walker and H. D.
Symons.
in this branch of science we can recommend
Coude. As in the case of the latter, the polar
Society of Antiquaries, 8. 30.
this book with confidence in its merits.
Royal Institution, 9. –The Pressure of a Blow,' Prof. Bertram
axis formed part of the telescope tube, but it was
so large that the observer was actually within the Rowena haciar: ii. Robo J. Robote:
institution, 3. -The Banyoro, a Pastoral People of
axis.
A Dictionary of Applied Chemistry. Edited
by Sir Edward Thorpe. Vol. I. (Longmans
& Co. )—The rapid advances made in che-
METEOROLOGICAL. -Jan. 17. -Annual Meeting.
-Dr. H. N. Dickson, President, in the chair.
mistry since the appearance of the first edi- The Council, in their Report, stated that they
Science Gossip
tion of this work some twenty-two years had decided to discontinue the collection of
.
ago have resulted in the production of a
observations and the publication of The Meteoro-
MR. LAURENCE COOK, an expert grower,
ponderous tome of 760 pages as the first of logical Record as from December 31st, 1911;
and
the five volumes in which the Dictionary values of climatological elements of the British
that they proposed to prepare a series of normal has just completed a practical little guide
is to be completed. The list of contributors, Isles.
to the culture of Perpetual Carnations,'
including many leaders in chemical science, The President presented_to Prof. Cleveland
which will be published by Messrs. Cassell
on the 25th inst.
is a sufficient guarantee for the trustworthy Abbe of the U. S. Weather Bureau, Washington,
character of the experimental results sup. awarded to him in consideration of distinguished Wonders of Plant Life,' by Mr. S. Leonard
The same firm will also publish next week
plied. The student will find all the latest I work he had done
in instrumental, statistical, and
information available clearly set out with 'dynamical meteorology and forecasting.
Bastin, in which are described in non-scientific
MEETINGS NEXT WEEK.
11
Maguire.
-
Lecture II. , Prof. W. R. Colton.
Cornish.
FRI.
BAT.
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No. 4395, Jan. 20, 1912
THE ATHENÆUM
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Μ
sto
ite
TELO
HARC
informs us,
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ar
TRES
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terms the wonderful methods of growth in injunction, but it is difficult to see how it the journals of learned societies. When the
plants, the extraordinary means adopted can be enforced.
writer describes any important building,
for seed-dispersal and fertilization, and the
On the night of Sunday, the 28th inst. , shrine, sculpture, or painting, it is hard
manner in which insects are lured to further there will be an occultation of Mars by the to say whether he has had the oppor-
the aims of the plant. Parasitic growths
moon. Disappearance will take place at tunity of studying it.
and the influence of the seasons form 2h. 34m. after midnight, and the moon,
interesting chapters. The book will be then nine days old, will set about half-past
In a chronological descriptive history
illustrated
with forty photographs by the three, so that the objects concerned will be of fine art, architecture must find a first
author and eight photo - colour plates by near the horizon when the phenomenon place because, as we have been often
Mr. H. Essenhigh Corke.
happens, and it is scarcely likely to be well told, it is the first of the fine arts to emerge
At a recent meeting of the Committee of seen from the neighbourhood of London. from barbarism in the service of religion
the British Association for the Protection
An orbit with elliptic elements has been and civic life. Mr. Vincent Smith con-
of Indian Cattle the following aims and computed for comet 1911, 9 (Schaumasse), siders that “ the originality of Indian art
objects were framed: (1) To prevent the the eighth and last discovered during the is perhaps most conspicuous in architec-
with the view of increasing the number and this comet is another of the Jupiter family, cursorily in these pages.
unnecessary slaughter of cattle in India, year just past, from which it appears that ture,” but “it is a subject treated only
improving the breed of the animals employed of which there are now more than twenty it is a subject too big for full treatment
He holds that
for the cultivation of the land. . (2) By members. These are comets whose periods in a general history of fine art; but the
this means to encourage the agricultural range from three to eight years, and which
development of the country, and so render pass near Jupiter's orbit at some point of treatment, though not full
, need not be
the United Kingdom less dependent upon their paths.
cursory. The main topics," the author
foreign countries for her raw material. (3)
dealt with in this volume
To improve the general condition and
are sculpture and painting. ” To quote
promote the more humane treatment of
cattle in India.
the language of one whose writings on
FINE ARTS
the fine arts will always retain their
A BOOK of interest to the many in this
fascination: “In the procession of the
:
country connected directly or indirectly
with the sugar industry has been issued by
fine arts sculpture always follows close
upon the steps of architecture, and at
tion under the title Histoire Centennale A History of Fine Art in India and Ceylon first appears in some sense as her hand-
de la Betterave. ' It is an exhaustive tome
from the Earliest Times to the Present maid. ' Sculpture in India was in a
on the subject of sugar in general, and beet Day. By Vincent A. Smith. (Oxford, large measure the handmaid of architec-
sugar in particular, to which leading che- Clarendon Press. )
ture, and the best works of the Indian
mists, merchants, and engineers have con-
(First Notice. )
carver are often bas-reliefs.
tributed.
In view of the characteristically sensa-
MR. VINCENT SMITH has attempted an
Mr. Vincent Smith gives us in chaps. i.
tional telegram from America announcing ambitious task which was doomed to and ii. “ merely outline sketches of the
the “dissipation" of Saturn's Rings, it may comparative failure. He tells us in the leading Hindu and Muhammadan styles of
be recalled that the latest theory as to Preface :-
architecture. ” He follows in the footsteps
the constitution of the Rings ascribes their
"The purpose of this book is to give for of Fergusson, whose History of Indian
than to the reflection of sunlight from closely tory of Fine Art in India and Ceylon from the be a standard authority on the subject,
appearance to electricall radiation Father the first time a chronological descriptive His- and Eastern Architecture must always
packed discrete particles,
sparkling flocculence announced from
third century B. C. to the present day, with because it was written by one who in early
America can be explained by an electrical criticism of the esthetic merits of the life had the training of an architect, and
disturbance of the normal conditions obtain-
works described. The art history is treated who had for many years travelled over
ing in the neighbourhood of Saturn becomes throughout in close connexion with political India
and had ample opportunity of study.
and religious revolutions. In criticism the It was not a mere encyclopædic compila-
now an interesting question by which the
validity of the new theory may be further judgments of experts have been utilised as
tested.
far as possible.
tion. By the far sight which men call
Necessary limitations of
space forbid elaborate explanations of the genius he traced out the historical se-
It is one of the commonplaces of astronomy mythological or historical significance of quence of the Hindu monuments. The
that this appendage, which appears to be individual works. "
prehistoric relics of India consist of
so heavy and solid, cannot be so, from
To the homely mind, however, there is cromlechs, cairns, and other cognate
mechanical considerations, and that the
önly system of the dimensions we see which something indecorous, something almost remains built by an obscure race of
can exist is one composed of an indefinite pathetic, in an individual striving to get whom we know nothing. Between these
number of unconnected particles revolving into a volume a description of all the arts and the Buddhist remains, which come
round the planet with different velocities. of an ancient and highly civilized conti- next in order, a wide interval lies; for.
When Clerk-Maxwell demonstrated this nent, and to grasp the intention of the although in the two great epics, the
mathematically in 1857, he contemplated different minds of different races and Mahabharata’ and · Ramayana,' we read
the possibility that under certain conditions creeds. In order that the criticism of the of citadels and magnificent palaces, the
the stability
of the rings might be destroyed zesthetic merits of the works described " Aryans left nothing that has endured to
“
by mutual perturbations between the par-
ticles, but the casual appearance of a bright may be of substantial worth, the writer our time.
spot, which
may be no more than an optical should have not only the artistic nature, but It is with the reign of Asoka (273-232 B. C. )
illusion, is meagre ground for a prediction also the trained eye and the trained judg- that the history of Indian architecture
of dissolution in the near future.
ment. If the art history is to be treated begins, and for five centuries the monu-
,
The progress of wireless telegraphy is throughout in close connexion with political ments in India are Buddhist. Fergusson
.
responsible for the creation of a new legal and religious revolutions, the writer must calls this earliest style“ a wooden art
a
offence in France. For some months past have a knowledge of the three Eastern painfully struggling into lithic forms. "
accurate time-signals have been_sent out classics, Sanskrit, Arabic, and Persian. Mr. Mr. Vincent Smith, however, points out
twice a day from the Eiffel Tower by Vincent Smith does not profess to be an that
Hertzian waves for the benefit of those at
sea, who can determine their longitude Oriental scholar, though he has produced
all authors who treat of Indian archi-
thereby if they can pick up the signal. It a most useful 'Early History of India. '
tecture notice, and are embarrassed by the
has occurred to some enterprising persons, The present volume represents a great fact, that each style when it first comes to
clockmakers and others, that it would be amount of patient labour. Indeed, in
Indeed, in our knowledge is full-grown and complete.
possible for any one to receive these signals some parts it may be said to consist The earliest specimens betray no sign of
by means of an easily constructed apparatus, almost entirely of extracts, or rather para- tentative effort, and in no case is it possible
but an injunction has been issued by the phrases of extracts, so carefully is each to trace the progressive evolution of a given
authorities, forbidding any pne to set up statement supplied with references to style from rude beginning. ”
such an appliance. Remembering that the
British Post Office derives a considerable
authorities. The authorities are well He admits that the extensive destruc-
sum from the sale of the Greenwich time- chosen and show a wide range of reading, tion of ancient monuments no doubt
signal, we can understand the reason for the not only of standard authors, but also of' supplies a partial, though not adequate
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No. 4395, Jan. 20, 1912
THE ATHENÆUM
73
41
His
>
or
explanation. ” But he is convinced are introduced in panels on the basement “ academic ” has been so habitually used
as one of reproach that we have been obliged,
that the more fundamental explanation and elsewhere. ”
when eulogizing such an artist as Legros, to
is to be found in the assumption that all The best examples of the Dravidian or speak of him as academic ' in the better
the Indian styles are derived from proto- Southern style are the great structural sense of the word," and to claim for him a
types constructed in timber, ,bamboos, temples of Southern India, which embody grudging tolerance as an interesting historic
and other perishable materials. ” This is the ideas of Puranic Hinduism which survival.
merely saying that the progress of the succeeded Buddhism. A visit to them Even now we foresee that many critics--
human race may be traced from the wig. reveals the strength of Brahmanism as a
too conscientious to refuse comparison be-
wam to the hut, the hut to the house, the living creed, and gives the visitor a
tween the monument Legros has left behind
him, and the relatively trivial achievement
house to a palace, and from the shed for the glimpse of the volcanic forces of bigotry of this or that leader of artistic fashion-
wooden god to a temple. It is hard to and fanaticism which are still burning will yet estimate him as a fine artist in spite
believe, after closely examining Buddhist beneath a thin crust, ready to blaze of his academic outlook. This were to mis-
remains (not their photographs), that the forth at any moment. In looking at these conceive the nature of his greatness.
was a sincere and delicate talent of not
Buddhist sculptors were not the successors stupendous shrines we are at once struck
too robust a sort, the kind of talent which
of generations of artists in stone. These with wonder at something strange, is popularly supposed to be in danger of
remains consist of rock inscriptions; lats, but it requires many a visit to realize extinction if its owner does anything but
slender monolith pillars with inscriptions ; their artistic skill and their fitness to follow the line of least resistance to his
topes or stūpas, solid cupolas of brick or
represent the sensuousness of the gods, natural bent. What brought it to such fine
stone masonry for the safe custody of the emotional tendency of the Oriental
, fruition, and what made Legros exceptional,
relics, or to mark a spot associated with and the vital meaning of an altered mystic was his superb faith in logical and idio-
an event sacred in Buddhist legend; creed. They do not represent the old matic expression as a thing worth studying
rock-hewn temples; and veharas or monas- faith. They are comparatively modern. criticized for accepting in many of his own
for its own sake. We have heard Legros
teries. The stupa or tope at Sānchi is No Hindu temple has been discovered in drawings, and for imposing sometimes upon
the largest and finest in Central India, Southern India older than the eighth his pupils, a scheme of shading in line of the
and has been frequently described. Mr. century A. D. , but from that time forward same direction throughout-one example
Vincent Smith gives two illustrations of it: the building activity of the Dravidians among many of his instinctive sense that
one before restoration, and one after. We
was enormous, and culminated in the the complete exploration of the possibilities
prefer the one before restoration. Rails sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. In of a simple convention serves to educe that
play an important part in the history of all of the temples they erected some dis- appreciation of refinements in its applica-
tion which is latent in the student, and as
Buddhist architecture, for it was on them tinct elements are to be observed. There capable of conscious development as any
that the carvers in stone lavished all the is the huge, massive wall, enclosing a vast other natural gift. For him art without
resources of their art, and the gateways, area meant to protect the rich jewels of convention would have been like a game
or torans as they are properly called, were the gods from bandits. As a rule, in the without rules, embryonic merely, even if
covered with most elaborate sculptures. centre of the outer wall, both in front and sometimes magnificently so.
The rail at Barhut, discovered by Cunning in the rear, are the gateways, above which
An examination of Legros's etchings in
ham in 1873, is perhaps the most inter- are raised lofty pyral.
Grafton Street shows how largely the charm
are raised lofty pyrali. . :1 towers
esting historical monument known to gopuras. A second enclosure succeeds and perfect employment of simple means.
of this delightful etcher consists in the full
exist in India.
the first, which has generally one gate His influence for good upon modern etchers
For long ages Buddhism struggled pyramid, and within it is the temple in this country can hardly be overrated. It
against the religion and complex social itself, which consists of two porches or is largely thanks to him that there are still a
system of Brahmanism, but the ancient mantapas, an ante-temple, and the shrine few who have trained themselves to test first
Sanskrit gods asserted themselves, and or cell (Vimana), which is the object of the possibilities of the distribution of line
in a single biting, and maintain always a
there arose the great shrines which suited worship. In addition to the principal certain economy in the number of different
the requirements of Brahman thought. temple, the enclosures contain smaller weights and different directions of line,
The varied styles in which they were temples, sacred tanks, gardens filled with avoiding the miscellaneous jumble of all the
built were divided by Fergusson into flowers, and the halls or cloisters sup- possible tricks of etching and printing which
two main divisions-Northern or Hindu ported by columns of stone, the front makes latter-day English etching on the
Such a plate as
Aryan, and the Southern or Dravidian. rows of which are often shaped by the whole so flaccid a thing,
The finest examples of the former style craftsmen into various sacred animals No. 62, Un Mendiant, might be proposed as a
model to the student of etching-almost
are found in the Puri district of Orissa, rampant, ridden by their respective deities. entirely one clean biting, with just the small
and Fergusson considers that “ the Orissa The mighty, gateways are decorated with addition of cobweb line playing its part so
group forms in itself one of the most com- sculpture charged with life and beauty definitely, and blending so perfectly in the
plete in all India. ” A most picturesque and individuality, but too often bearing scheme. No. 3, Faiseurs de Fagots, may be
account of the temple is to be found in
witness to the sensual debasement of the noted as an example of the artist's ex-
** Orissa,' by Andrew Sterling, who visited race wrought by Puranic Hinduism. It haustive use of a single direction of shade
lines. In No. 23, a mild and dreamy Rodin,
it in 1820. Fergusson has given an archi- is a matter for regret that Mr. Vincent
we see shade lines in two directions utilized
tect's precise
and prosaic description. The Smith did not pay
due attention to these for ordering the tones into categories. These
.
pagoda he mentions is a solid and square great monuments of Indian art.
are apparently simple exercises, yet it is on
tower built wholly in stone from the base
He devotes a chapter to the Indo- such a basis that the magnificent work
to the apex, and, “what unfortunately Mohammedan styles of architecture, but of Legros the etcher is built up. Were it
no woodcut can show, every inch of the we must leave further discussion of his not for the dramatic and intensely human
surface is covered with carving in the book to another article.
emotion in many of his plates, which proves
most, elaborate manner. ”
him a man who “ lived as well as knew,'
Like Sterling,
we might fitly celebrate his departure by
he states that “the sculpture is of a very
chanting 'The Grammarian's Funeral, so
high order and great beauty of design. ”
WORKS BY ALPHONSE LEGROS.
clear is it that the exquisite use of the lan-
Mr. Vincent Smith's description of the
guage of art is the essence of his message
Great Temple is brief :
THE magnificent display of Legros's etch-to mankind, even more than his subject-
ings at Mr. Gutekunst's Gallery, together matter, sincere as was his interest in that.
* A second and later variety of the style is with the Fine Art Society's show of his Perhaps the best tribute his followers can
adequately represented by the Great Temple, other remaining works, should stimulate to pay his memory is to raise again the question
which has a high steeple tower, with sides enthusiasm the respect and appreciation whether, after all
, his faith in a training in
vertical for the most part, and curving only universally accorded
to the late artist at academic principles may not
be justified. At
near the top. The roof of the porch has the present day. The chorus of praise least this is what best permits an artistic idea
considerable elevation,
and in many details amid which he passed away seems on the to be passed on from
hand to hand and
the design differs from that of the earlier face of it odd, when we consider
the general gradually perfected. Thus even in his finest
wariety: Sculptures of remarkable merit, trend of artistic opinion for the past and most
spontaneous works --such, for
which will be illustrated in a later chapter, ten years. During that time the term I example, as Les Bacherons (15), or the idyllic
>
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74
THE ATHENÆUM
No. 4395, Jan. 20, 1912
&
are
was
Mouton retrouvé (34), or his exquisite essays THE appointment of M. Léon Bérard as
in puro landscape (65, 66, and 67)-Legros is Under-Secretary of State for Fine Arts con-
treading in paths where others have preceded tradicts current gossip in Paris that the
him. Now it is Millet who beckons, now Departments of Fine Arts, hitherto
MUSIC
the landscape painters of the sixteenth and branch of the Ministry of Public Instruc-
seventeenth centuries, and now Rembrandt ; tion, would be made into a separate
while in some of his later drawings at the ministry. This change has long been urged
Fine Art Society we seem to see the influence by many powerful advocates, while others
of Prud'hon. In the latter exhibition the hold that a more satisfactory arrangement
OUR LIBRARY TABLE.
fine series of portraits of members of his would be the appointment of a permanent
own family is the principal feature. On the and non-political director of Fine Arts in lotte Milligan Fox.
Annals of the Irish Harpers. By Char-
(Smith & Elder. )
whole, it reveals him in a less virile mood place of an Under-Secretary or any other
The author tells us how her book came
than does the collection of his etchings, political minister.
to be written. A lecture which she heard
falling as he did sometimes, in his later days,
into too facile a harmony.
M. JACQUES DOUCET, founder of the
on Edward Bunting, delivered by Mr.
Students' Library of Art and Archæology at
Robert Young, first awoke her interest in
Paris, has decided to sell his well-known
the subject, and soon after she was
collection of eighteenth-century pastels and fortunato in making acquaintance with a
drawings, decorative furniture, and other grandson and granddaughter of Bunting,
OTHER EXHIBITIONS.
works of art. The date of the sale has not yet who both placed at her disposal musical
At the Galleries of the Royal Society of been fixed, but it is expected to take place notebooks, letters, &c. ;, and on examin-
British
ing these manuscripts she found material
Artists, Messrs. Yamanaka
early this spring.
for a book.
exhibiting a collection of ancient Japanese
M. ROLL has acceded to the unanimous
screens of great interest, if of somewhat desire of his colleagues on the Council, and music, published
Bunting's first collection of Irish harp
in 1796,
the
unequal artistic merit. It is difficult to
withdrawn his resignation as President of earliest of any importance. Dr. Petrie,
gauge fairly the stature of their producers, the Société Nationale des Beaux-Arts. whose volume of Irish airs appeared in 1855,
in comparison with modern artists, because
while criticizing, though with great re-
there are few of the works which have not
A PARIS CORRESPONDENT writes :-
luctance, some features of Bunting's work,
altered considerably under the effects of time.
When the alterations have been disastrous,
The export of old masters to the United speaks of the “ zealous exertions” for
States is not confined to England. Messrs. Druet the preservation of national music which
we instinctively make allowances, but when
& Co. have this month sent to New York a repre- “should entitle his name to be for ever
they have been happy we never attempt to sentative who takes with him across the Atlantic held in grateful remembrance by his
estimate to what extent
beauty is really accidental. In No. 26 in in Sir George Donaldson's collection, Hoppner's country. ” Petrie, moreover, contributed
Portrait of Mrs. Bentley,' and other important an essay to Bunting's third collection
the present collection time and the artist
examples of deceased masters. Rousseau's 'Le (1840).
have conspired to produce a splendidly Pêcheur, formerly
in the collection of M. Periere
resonant harmony which we can the more of Paris, has been bought for 40,0001. by Mr.
In the volume before us interesting
easily believe to be deliberate because the George F. Baker of New York. ”
details are given of Bunting's early life.
design is so vividly eloquent, the line at
Born in 1775 at Armagh, he was sent to
once so confident and so expressive. Yet
M. FRÉDÉRIC ALPHONSE MURATON, whose Belfast in 1781, and soon showed taste
there are other screens as ably drawn which death at the age of 88 is announced from and talent for music; but it was the great
have not matured into the same subtle La Source-Macé. near Ménars, was born at Harpers' Festival held in that city in 1792
perfection; Nos. 22, 50, and 53 may be noted Tours, and had been until the last year which first specially drew his attention
as brilliant examples.
or so a regular exhibitor at the Salon since to the folk-music of his native country.
1859. He studied under Drolling and For four years he collected melodies,
Of the four French painters exhibiting Jacquinet, and resided for some time at and when his first collection appeared he
at the Goupil Gallery, M. Maurice Denis is the monastery of La Trappe, painting there was only 21 years of age.
the best known. His works are pleasing,
one of his best-known pictures, ‘Un Reli- later Moore's melodies were published,
but nowise profound, and to the present gieux en Méditation, which was bought and the poet acknowledged his great
He also indebtedness to Bunting. In the Preface
writer his reputation has always been some by the State and is now at Tours.
to the fourth volume of his collected
what of a mystery: Soir de Septembre (26) is painted portraits and genre subjects.
works Moore says :
“ It was in the year
the best. His companions are also of the
school loosely termed Post-Impressionist who has also just died in his 47th year, was a
THE sculptor M. Antoine Clair Forestier, 1797 that, through the medium of Mr.
(not, however, of the branch of that move-
Bunting's book, I was first made ac-
ment which appears to us to be a hopeful at the Salon. One of his most noteworthy music. ” Moore altered both melodies and
native of Cannes and a constant exhibitor quainted with the beauties of our nativo
portent). M. George Desvallières, however,
is an exception; he shows a couple of clever works was 'La Feuille et l'Ouragan,' which
measures of the old airs, whereas Bunting
is now at Saint Germain. To last year's believed that the harpers had accurately
pieces of realism, La Couture (36) and Au
Salon he sent a marble statuette, ‘L'Attente. ' transmitted the melodies from one gene-
Moulin Rouge (38). Here we have the
ration to another. The variants of
matter-of-fact vision of Signor Mancini, but THE example of the Vasari Society and
happily not his distressful technique.
the Société de Reproduction des Dessins de
melodies given by Sir Charles Stanford in
his valuable edition of Petrie's collection
Maîtres is being followed in Germany. The
Prestel-Gesellschaft, whose headquarters are
show, however, that the transmission was
at the address Rossmarkt 14a, Frankfurt-
not always accurate ; Bunting, at any rate,
tried to obtain them from the best avail-
am-Main, proposes to issue to its members,
able sources.
