Its palaces and temples are buried in “if a surgeon
performed
an operation and Wilson (H.
Athenaeum - London - 1912a
The specimens
demonstrated that our globe is an oblate
exhibited were from a collection of eight brought
Mox.
Institute of Actuaries, 5. -Annual Meeting.
home alive by Mr. Rood Tarte, of Taviuni Island,
koyal Institution, 5. -- General Monthly ai eeting.
spheroid. These operations have been re-
Hurveyors' Institution. 5. -Annual Meeting.
one of the Fijian group, where this very beautiful
peated within_the last twelve years by
Society of Engineers, 7. 30.
species was still abundant, its numbers having
Aristotelian. 8. - Significance and validity in Logic,' Mr. officers of the French Service géographique
been considerably reduced in the other
Jewish Historical, 8. 30. -The Jewish Pioneers of South de l'Armée, who measured the equatorial
islands by the introduced mongoose.
The
exhibitor referred to a recent note on the species
TUES. Horticultural, 3. - Problems of Propagation,' Prof. I. B.
arc, and by Russian and Swedish geodesists,
Balfour.
by Dr. Bahr in The Ibis for April last, p. 293.
Royal Institution, 3. - The Formation of the Alphabet,'
who worked near Spitzbergen. So far as
Lecture II. , Prof. W. M. Flinders Petrie.
Major J. Stevenson Hamilton communicated
can be seen, the operations were eminently
Zoological, 8. 30. - Preservation of the English Fauna,' Mr.
a short paper, illustrated by photographs, on the E. G. B. Meade-Waldo;, The North Rhodesian Giraffe, successful, though no actual result as to the
local races of Burchell's zebra, and pointed out
Mr. R. Lydekker ; 'On the Hydrocoralline Genus Errina,
Prof. 8. J. Hickson ; Contributions to the Anntomy and
ellipticity of the earth, which was their final
that it was possible to shoot in one herd individuals
Systematic Arrangement of the Cestoidea : VI. un au
presenting the characters of various subspecies
Asexual Tapeworm from the Rodent Fiber sibethicus, show
object, has yet been published.
inga New Form of Asexual Propagation, and on the Supposed
as described by systematists. In the Transvaal,
Sexual Form,' Mr. F. E. Beddard ; and other papers.
THE latest section of the Smithsonian
for example, he obtained skins exhibiting features
Entomological, 8. –Studies of the Blattidæ. XIL, Mr. R. Miscellaneous Collections to reach us from
claimed to be distinctive of such races as E.
Shelford ; Lyocena (Agriades) alexius, Frr. , a "good
Species, Mr. T. A. Chapinan.
Washington is a good specimen of careful
burchelli wahlbergi, E. b. transvaalensis, and E. b. Geological, 8. 30. -* The Further Evidence of Borings as to the
chapmanni, and from his experience he expressed
Range of the South-Eastern Coalfield and of the Palmozoic
Dzvio anthropological work. Dr. Ales Hrdlickă
Floor, and as to the Thickness of the Overlying strata,'
the opinion that these subspecies had been based
Prof W. B. Dawkins; Shelly Clay dredged from the
has examined 'The Natives of Kharga
upon inadequate museum material.
Dogger Bank,' Mr. J. W. Stather.
Oasis, Egypt,' and provides, with thirty-eight
Tuurs. Royal Institution. 3. - X kays and Matter,' Lecture II. ,
Dr. William Nicoll communicated some obser-
Prof. O. G. Barkla.
excellent plates, elaborate statistics of their
vations on two new trematode larvæ found
Royal, 4. 30. -The Process of Excitation in Nerve and
Muscle,' Mr. K. Lucas. (Crconian Lecture. )
numbers, sex rate, births and deaths, physio-
encysted in enormous numbers in the mesentery Linuean, 8 - The Development of the Cod, Gadus morrhua,
of several striped snakes (Tropidonotus ordinatus
8
W. E. Tanner.
africa,' Mr. 8. Mendelssohu.
WED.
-
Linn. , Prof. A. Meek; Palæoatographical Relatious of
logical observaions and measurements of
sirtalis) which had died in the Society's gardens.
Antarctica. ' Mr. C. Hedley.
Chemical, 8. 30. - The Absorption Spectra of Various Deriva.
stature, head, face, nose, &c.
He named these forms, as neither could be
tives of Naphthalene in solution and as Vapours,' Mr. J E. He concludes that these Kharga natives
referred to any adult species already known. It
Purvis: ''The Velocity of the Hydrogen Ion, and a Geuernl
Dissociation Formula for a cids,' Mr. J. Keudall; 'Chloro- are radically distinct in type from the negro,
could be safely predicted, however, that the
amino Derivatives of Benzylidene Diamides. ' Messrs. F. D.
Second species completed its life-cycle in the
Chattaway and A. E. Swinton; The Refractivity of Sulphur
somewhat deficient in physical develop-
in Various Aliphatic Compounds, Messrs. T. 8. Price and
intestine of a bird, and from this fact it could
ment owing to malnutrition, and substan-
D. F. Twibs; and other papers.
be inferred that the striped snake was eaten by
Royal Institution, 9. -'Lord Lister. ' Sir W. Macewen. tially the same as they were during the first
birds.
BAT. Royal Institution, 3. -The Weather and the Utilities of
Forecasts,' Mr. W. L. Moore.
part of the Christian era,
FRI.
## p. 628 (#472) ############################################
628
THE ATHENÆUM
No. 4414, JUNE 1, 1912
review.
>>
remains a comprehensive account of the Babylonians and Assyrians he gives a
FINE ARTS
flora and fauna, with some reserve where brief sketch; and he could hardly have
the crudeness of early art leaves their done more in the present state of our
identification dubious.
knowledge of the subject.
Mesopotamian Archæology: an Introduc-
On the other hand, architecture and
In referring to the great work done by
tion to the Archæology of Babylonia and Rawlinson in deciphering the cuneiform sculpture, metallurgy, painting, cylinder
Assyria. By Percy S. P. Handcock. inscriptions, that of his contemporaries— seals, shell - engraving and ivory work,
(Macmillan & Co. , and the Medici Grotefend, Burnouf, and Lassen-must terra-cotta figures and reliefs, stoneware
Society. )
not be overlooked. Of Burnouf Mr. and pottery, dress and military accoutre-
Handcock says:
ments, are described in full detail, well
In this volume of a little more than 400
illustrated, and ably commented upon.
“He discovered that
pages, issued by the Medici Society jointly contained a list of the satrapies, and as the
one inscription It may well be that readers of Mr. Hand-
with Messrs. Macmillan, Mr. Handcock
cock's work may desire to know more
from the Greek writers he was able on the about its fascinating subject, for the book
of the archæological remains of various partial knowledge of the alphabet already itself is interesting from beginning to end.
kinds, and a digest of the information they attained to fit in the names to the cuneiform For the benefit of those who desire to
present as to the several elements that signs, and as a result he produced an alphabet pursue further any of the matters dealt
entered into the ancient civilization of of 30 letters, mostly correct. "
with, a short bibliography is included.
Babylonia and Assyria. He also describes Since then the materials for study have
the land and its people, gives a sketch of been multiplied a thousandfold, and so
their history, and tells the ever-interesting voluminous are the historical and chro- NOTICES OF NEW BOOKS.
story of the successive excavations and nological records that it is possible to
the decipherment of the cuneiform compile a fairly complete list of the (Notice in these columns does not preclude longer
inscriptions. As we read his book, we dynasties and kings of Babylonia and
are reminded of the wave of deep interest Assyria, with approximate dates. Mr. Catalogue of Portraits in the Possession of
which passed over the country in the Handcock has furnished such a list, but
the University, Colleges, City, and County
early fifties when Layard's book on has specified in it only the "more im-
of Oxford, compiled by Mrs. Reginald
Lane Poole : Vol. I. , THE PORTRAITS IN
Nineveh appeared, and again when Raw- portant kings and rulers. It might
THE UNIVERSITY COLLECTIONS AND IN
linson published his translations. Much have been considerably enlarged without THE TOWN AND COUNTY HALLS, 12/6
has happened since then, and scholars exhausting the record of facts and dates net.
Oxford, Clarendon Press
from France, Germany, and the United for which there is authority. The reason This Catalogue owes its existence to a
States have contributed a vast quantity which Prof. Sayce has given for this
Committee of the Oxford Historical Society,
of new material, contained in a series of wealth of detail is, no doubt, sufficient : by which the three Oxford exhibitions of
reports, journals, and other publications that in a commercial community, such portraits in 1904-6 were got together. It
not easily accessible to English readers. as Babylonia was from the first, accurate and busts, with some four-score reproduc-
The work begun by Botta, the French dating was a matter of vital importance ; tions; biographical notices of the subjects,
Consul at Mosul, and shortly afterwards the validity of contracts and other legal emphasizing their Oxford connexions; and
taken up by Layard, has been continued documents often depended upon it, and identifications of both artists and subjects.
by others of our countrymen. Rassam, it was necessary that there should be We observe from the index that fourteen por.
Loftus, Taylor, and George Smith have easy access to an official chronological while the list of artists contains many names
added much to our national treasures in record.
not to be found in any dictionary of painters.
the British Museum, and the romantic
Among the more important of the Mrs. Poole's notes will be found most
story of their successive excavations is rulers is Khammurabi, the Amraphel of useful to students of English portraiture,
well told by Mr. Handcock. His book Genesis, who is famous for his code of especially in the eighteenth century, The
was undertaken at the suggestion of his Babylonian law, engraved upon a stele volume (32+278 pp. )is a very cable and
former chief, Dr. Wallis Budge, whose
now in the Louvre. Of this code, com-
opinion that such a summary of all this piled more than 4,000 years ago, Mr. history of the City and University of Oxford.
on the shelves of every one interested in the
new material as Mr. Handcock has given | Handcock says that it enshrines many fitzwilliam Museum Syndicate, ANNUAL
was desirable is justified by the result. of those principles of justice and mercy
The volume is illustrated by a coloured which we are apt to regard as the peculiar
REPORT FOR THE YEAR ENDING DEC.
31st, 1911.
representation of a figure of a lion from offspring of our own enlightened age. National Art-Collections Fund, EIGHTH AN-
Cambridge, the Museum
Khorsabad, by 40 excellent photographs, As King Khammurabi claimed divine
115 figures in the text, and a map of attributes, some of the penalties enume-
NUAL REPORT, 1911.
National Art-Collections Fund
Mesopotamia, with one on a larger scale rated in his code hardly deserve the Paris Salon Illustrated Catalogue, 1912, 31
of Babylonia.
The country which during several number of offences punishable by death is the selection of reproductions out of the
thousand years had developed a high almost as great as under our own savage 4,158 exhibits does not appear to illustrate
degree of civilization, proficiency in art, laws before the time of Romilly. Among the motto on the title-page, “Innovare. "
and a considerable literature, and had minor punishments are several that | There is nothing particularly striking in
amassed immense wealth, is now reduced appear unduly severe ; but perhaps the the pictures shown: except, possibly, the
by neglect of cultivation to a desert waste. most extraordinary is that by which, prevalence of nude figures.
Its palaces and temples are buried in “if a surgeon performed an operation and Wilson (H. ), SILVERWORK AND JEWELLERY,
mounds. Mr. Handcock accounts for the patient died through any carelessness A TEXT-BOOK
STUDENTS
these mounds by the fact that when a or lack of skill on his part, the surgeon's
WORKERS IN METAL, with Diagrams by
conquering chief demolished the clay hands were amputated. ” The marriage
the Author, and Other Illustrations.
walls and buildings of his vanquished foe, laws contemplated marriage by purchase,
Second Edition, with New Sections
done in collaboration with Prof. Unno
he did not clear away the débris, but and favoured monogamy, with some Bisei of the Imperial Fine Art College,
built on the top of it—a circumstance indulgence where the wife did not provide Tokyo, 6/6 net.
Hogg
which sometimes gives rise to perplexity her husband with an heir. Mr. Handcock This book deals with the craftsmanship
in assigning a date to the remains, and says nothing about the Babylonian mar- rather than the history of the jeweller's art.
adds to the importance of a purely archæ- riage market described by Herodotus, or
It is a work already well known to crafts-
ological test. In evidence of the past about that rite at the temple of Mylitta inlay, Damascene work, and Patinas, and
fertility of the country, of which Hero- which is the subject of a learned article inlay, Damascene work, and Patinas, and
dotus (i. 193, not“ 293," as quoted) wrote by Mr. Hartland in the volume of ' An- added. Especially interesting are the sec
in glowing terms, Mr. Handcock collects thropological Essays' presented to Sir tions contributed by Prof. Bisei on Oriental
from the seals, cylinders, and other E. B. Tylor. Of the religion of the metalwork.
FOR
AND
## p. 629 (#473) ############################################
No. 4414, JUNE 1, 1912
629
Τ Η Ε ATHENÆUM
are
Cambridge Manuals of Science and Litera-
of human anatomy of Riccio or Bellano.
ture : ANCIENT ASSYRIA, by C. H. W. ITALIAN SCULPTURE AT THE BUR- In these
cast together in workable
Johns; and A HISTORY OF CIVILIZA- LINGTON FINE ARTS CLUB. relations such simpler principles of structure
TION IN PALESTINE, by R. A. S. Mac-
as emerge most markedly when contrasted
alister, 1/ net each.
THE curiosity as to human anatomy, with the boldly designed ornamental forms
Cambridge University Press which was one of the results of the plastic with which they are combined. The frankly
Dr. Johns's little book on Assyria serves
ideal of the Renaissance, is shown at a fictional perpendicularity of Bellano's figure
to show how rapidly excavation is restoring high pitch of vitality throughout this in the well-known Neptune and a Sea
to us the earliest history of the East. When collection, and was one of the hall-marks Monster (44) is a good instance, so superbly
Dr. Budge and Mr. Leonard King published of fine sculpture for so long a period that in just is the estimate of the degree of simpli-
their Annals of the Kings of Assyria · No. 3, A Bust of Cupid, lent by the Duke fication necessary to bring the figure into
ten years ago, they could not go back of Westminster, we have an amusing instance rhythmic relation with the Oriental exuber-
beyond Irishum as the first Assyrian king of a work which has been labelled at different ance of his fantastic attendant. The Riccio-
known, and were obliged to set down his times as an antique, an eighteenth-century like Sea Monster (30) has the even more
date as uncertain. Dr. Johns gives us ten bronze by Houdon, and finally as a Dona- summary treatment proper to its scale,
kings as reigning before Irishum, and is tello. There are neo-primitives who might
enabled to fix with fair particularity, his quote Ruskin as an ally in denunciation of
date as 2030 B. C. The fact is typical of the the Art of the Charnelhouse. ” On the other
great advance in our knowledge.
hand, the modern lecturer points out that THE NEW ENGLISH ART CLUB.
The other leading feature in the book is almost all great artists who have handled
the greatly increased importance in the the figure have been anatomists.
THE forty-seventh exhibition of the Club
history of Asia assigned to the Hittites. Both arguments have a kernel of truth. keeps a fair level of merit, but is somewhat
The writer thinks that the Mitannians, a We know traditionally that many artists, of lacking in works of commanding quality.
Hittite people, may have been the earliest the Renaissance at any rate, made dis- Mr. W. Rothenstein's group Princess Badrul-
inhabitants of Assyria ; that the Kassite kings sections, but opportunity and desire for badour (147) is a serious effort, and, as on
of Babylonia may have been Mitannians; such study were deferred until the student its previous appearance, we admire the
and that the name of Kharri, often applied in had exercised largely the powers of infer. charm of the individual heads. It has either
the Assyrian annals to the inhabitants of ence and divination, which gave him the been worked on since or has had the ad-
Khanigalbat or Mitanni proper, may mean knowledge of anatomy that comes from obser- vantage of settling into a uniform surface
merely Aryans. He states that at an early vation of life. It is by the insight born of which a fortunate picture gains from time,
period the Mitannians conquered and ruled this method of approach that a fine sculptor so that technically it now makes a more
over Assyria, and therefore there may have of an earlier period is distinguished from agreeable impression. As a design it still
been an Aryan rather than a Semitic or the modern academic sculptor, whose copious suffers from the want of any definite scheme
Mongoloid base for the oldest culture of triumphs leave us cold for all their ela- whereby the highly elaborated figures and
Western Asia. This is probable, but at boration. The conceptions of the former the blank spaces of the background might
present largely a matter of conjecture. are never quite so material as they might be endowed with plastic unity. Mr. Orpen's
On other subjects Dr. Johns gives us have been had he enjoyed the easy modern Café Royal (156) has also a pleasant surface,
several new lights, and his reputation for opportunities of sating his curiosity as to but apart from an occasional brilliant passage,
careful scholarship may be taken as warranty material facts. The bones are for him such as the departing figure of Mr. George
for the soundness of his views.
certain rigid elements in the body, which, Moore, it is not otherwise very noteworthy.
Prof. Macalister thinks that Palestine in by an intellectual effort, he has visualized The artist is coming to depend unduly on
Palæolithic times was peopled by a short as maintaining their relative dimensions his adroitness in stressing the interest in
cave-dwelling race certainly not Semitic. through all the changes of movement. The any chosen part of the picture to lead the
They were succeeded by a much taller, position of their tuberosities he instinctively eye about in a sort of personally conducted
but also non-Semitic nation in the early arrives at by watching
the direction of the tour for the examination of amusing detail,
part of the Neolithic age, which may muscles as they pass from the surface to and to avoid the necessity. of supplying
have begun about 3000 B. C. , seven their invisible points of attachment.
any central structure for his design. Mr.
millennia after the other. The real home The powers needed for this study of W. B. Savage’s Descent from the Cross (136)
of the Semites he considers to have been anatomy under difficulties are rather mathe is an academic exercise in just the carpentry
Arabia, and he shows with much skill how matical than imitative“nobody," says of a group which Mr. Orpen's picture
the natives of that sterile land were ever Pomponius Gauricus, ' is to enter this lacks, and which is, in fact, an element
driven forth from it to swoop down on the Academy of ours who is not already a
in artistic education somewhat wanting
richer lands beyond. He notes, too, that geometrician ”-and it was by their hold on among latter-day students. It is pleasantly
the Semites have never invented anything, the abstract principles which dignify plastic painted in tempera with a slight lack
and that the history of Palestine after the art that so many of the sculptors of the of control of the rather thin and liquid
first incursions from Arabia consists of a Renaissance were able to resist the tempta- pigment, that the drawing, while
clumsy copying of the culture of more tion - to which modern sculptors "fre serious enough, lacks dynamic intensity of
civilized peoples, and its gradual degradation quently succumb to introduce imitative touch, and the impression is gently elegiac
until it was replaced by the influence of newer details irrelevant to the theme or the scale rather than tragic. It is a promising work
masters. Thus, he says, Egypt, the Philis- of their work. In the latter respect even
for a student. Another new-comer is Mr.
tines, and the Greeks successively gave the the Nessus and Deianira (46) of Giovanni Darsie Japp, whose portrait Joaquina (206),
tone to such culture as the inhabitants of Bologna is hardly a decadent work, as the couched in a series of monochromes in the
Palestine did succeed in acquiring ; and its Dead Christ supported by Child Angels (43), way recently practised by Mr. Lamb, is
origin must be sought in each of these three on the other hand, definitely is. In the 'Dead one of the best portraits of the show. Mr.
influences in turn.
Christ the broadly designed and swiftly W. Sickert's portrait of M. Jacques Blanche
This is an excellent position, and is here crossing enclosing planes, which Michel (163) is no less the work of a draughtsman,
well worked out. We wish we had space angelo devised for welding his three-dimen and his use of a technique of spots is justified
to dilate upon it, but can only here mention sioned mass into an easily comprehended for once by their severe relevance to the
one or two matters more likely to be inter- unit, are not closely related to any simply plastic theme.
esting to the general reader. Thus Prof. axial system of form, but are, as it were, Among the landscape painters Mr. David
Macalister says that the goldsmiths of picturesquely draped on a chassis of no Muirhead is perhaps the most successful
Palestine always had two sets of weights— particular significance. It recalls the weari. in a suave essay in the familiar Barbizon
one too light, to sell with ; the other too some fluency of much typical Louis XIV. manner, The Lock-Evening (200). Mr. C. J.
heavy, to buy with ” ; that it was the sack sculpture d'appartement. Generally, however, Holmes's Roman Road, Long Marion (148), is
of Crete which drove the Philistines to the small bronzes, a collection of which at least, as impressive as the more obviously
seek their fortune and propagate their constitutes so important a feature, are sensational Blue Precipice (146), in which
culture (including perhaps the European superbly compact--the obvious invisible he is entangled, not for the first time, in a
A B C) in the East; and that Ahab (pace playing as clearly its part in the design mal entendu by which a long sweep of
Renan) was “a despicable creature,
the surface forms. We know
distance, expressed in incisive tones to be
energetic Phoenician wife” being the real rule how far into the trunk is the curve on legible at a great distance as an atmo-
ruler of the kingdom. He further thinks which the spine bends as surely, and feel spheric statement, becomes mistaken at
that an idol in the form of a cow was every- it as vividly, as any line in the figure. And close quarters for a representation of a toy
where worshipped by the common people this is not only true of such an artist as landscape near to the spectator. Mr. Wilson
in the time of the Prophets. He goes rather Donatello, with his elaborate analysis of Steer, in his Woodland Scene (143), is graceful,
out of his way to denounce Zionism, and human structure into a complex equation displaying unexpected affinities with Şir
mixes up pastoral religion with archæology of many, constituent elements, but may | Alfred East; and . Lucien Pissarro, in a series
in a fashion that we had thought obsolete. be seen also in the more generalized versions of canvases, shows himself a delicate artist,
or
SO
.
66
22
* his | as
as
&
## p. 630 (#474) ############################################
630
THE ATHENÆUM
No. 4414, JUNE 1, 1912
even
MI.
man
nowa-
>
OR
some
аге
on better terms with the colour of nature but, compared with the Cosways, it does not
than with the colour on his palette. He is seem a convincing likeness, and, artistically,
apt to slight the reasonable claims of the is certainly inferior to the broadly treated
Fine Art Gossip.
latter to considerate treatment.
sketch on ivory by John Russell, R. A. (307),
Among the figure drawings we must lent by representatives of the Russell family.
A NEWLY FORMED SOCIETY of young
mention A Study in Sanguine (8), by Mr. Apropos painters in enamel, Mrs. Fleisch- painters, who call themselves the “X Club,
J. S. Currie ; a cunningly fragmentary mann contributes a score of examples repre- will shortly hold an exhibition of paintings
Nude-Lamplight Drawing (7), by Mr. Albert sentative of eighteenth-century work by and drawings under novel and democratic
Rothenstein ; and an excellent engraving by Boit, Zincke, Mayer, Hone, Hurter, and conditions. Sharing the view that the
M. Léon Daviel of a drawing by Mr. Augustus others. 'Mr. Newsham' (370) is an un- judgment of the public is more often influ.
John (55).
commonly brilliant and animated portrait enced by the painter's name than by the
by W. Prowitt, in which the blue velvet merits of the picture, they sign their works
coat, so dear to artists of the period, is simply with a number and the club sign.
MINIATURES AT BRUSSELS.
superbly painted, better than in In this way they are content to allow their
similar work by Zincke himself.
works to be judged upon their merits, apart
THE ENGLISH SECTION.
To come now to the last English minia- from all other considerations. This should
turist of the old school, Sir William Charles be an interesting experiment.
I MUST hasten on to the numerous
Ross, R. A. , it is a matter of regret and some
THE exhibition of work turned out by the
eighteenth-century miniature painters repre- surprise that only one of his numerous
Carlton Studio, by which that association
sented here, whose work is, one finds, " très works is to be seen here, viz. , a portrait of inaugurates its arrival
in new promises, is
à la mode " at Brussels as well as elsewhere Cardinal Newman when a young
of interest because this form of collective
-I mean Smart, the Plimers, Engleheart, (306). Ross is not fashionable
activity bids fair to supplant in commercial
Cosway, and Ozias Humphry, the last days, but Lord Aldenham, who owns this circles the old-fashioned artist who did his
named the least conspicuous.
interesting picture of a distinguished man,
own drawing alone direct for a publisher.
Of the English School there are more may be congratulated on possessing an
There may even artistically be advantages
portraits by Richard Cosway than by any admirable example of the master.
It is an
in such combinations if wisely administered.
other artist, his pupil Andrew Plimer and early work, painted with less enamel-like The commercial advantages are obvious
Samuel Cooper excepted. There are, to be smoothness, I had almost said effeminacy, when one thinks of the utility of a properly
sure, more by that prolific artist and con-
than Sir William's later style.
catalogued collection of authorities
summate courtier Isabey, and of him and
This Exhibition may be termed remarkable which every member of the association may
other foreign miniaturists I shall have some-
in respect of the number of examples of the draw.
The very facility, however, with
thing to say later. That Macaroni
work of unknown men, or artists who very which such a combination may crush the
Cosway should be well represented is as it seldom painted in miniature. This gives a competition of individual initiative may
should be, his numberless admirers will certain rarity to many of the exhibits.
become a danger to the interests of
exclaim. There is nothing fresh to be said
In this connexion one must regret that " the trade as a whole; and an examina-
about him or his work. The two dozen
few other distinguished men
tion of popular periodicals suggests that in
examples or thereabouts here shown contain not better represented, such as Bogle, the desire to eliminate research in directions
many attractive pieces, and George IV. and the * little, lame, proud man whose in which the public takes no interest, the
his friends are much in evidence amongst work can be seen and admired in the middleman has promoted borrowing and
them. Thus Col. Fitzherbert contributes
two Salting Collection; and especially one could reborrowing in a narrow circle of ideas
of the Regent, one of them especially fine ;
wish to see more by J. Hill
, an artist who with increasing facility, but with less
he also sends Mrs. Fitzherbert, and the exhibited only five times—that is, between and less claim on the interest of a jaded
right eye
nat amiable and ill-used lady; 1777 and 1791. The example of his brush public. To this game the artists of the
besides portraits of her father and brother. here shown, ' A Gentleman in a Red Coat, Carlton Studio bring considerable spirit
Perhaps the most attractive Mrs. Fitz- No. 175, lent by Lord Hothfield, is a veritable and dash, but there are few of them of
herbert is one belonging to Mr. Henry tour de force. The brilliancy of colouring, whom we do not feel that they are working
Drake (76), representing her in the plenitude the vivacity of the face, the beautiful finish below their natural level. The department
of her charms.
of the work, endue this miniature with of book-decoration is the most satisfactory
On seeing a number of works by the striking quality, and show that the painter element of the exhibition.
Plimers together, as may be done here, one was capable of rivalling Engleheart and even
cannot help feeling that, despite inflated Cosway himself ; in fact, the general
In the chief church of Ueberlingen on Lake
auction - room prices, they are overrated standard of work by these and other fashion Constance an almost perfect fresco has been
men—these pupils of Cosway. The fre- able painters of the time is distinctly, I discovered, dating from 1489. In the centre
quent blackness of tint, the exaggerated eyes, consider, below this remarkable piece of is St. Barbara with the tower, on one side
and the monotonous treatment of Andrew eighteenth-century miniature painting at St. George and the dragon, and on the other
leave much to be desired, and contrast its best.
Mary Magdalene clinging to the
unfavourably with contemporary work. Of artists not generally recognized as
The condition of the work is so good
Take the case of Smart, several of whose miniaturo painters at all, I may mention that the work of restoration will be com-
works hang opposite. In them we have Bartolozzi, by whom we have Madame Vestris paratively easy.
perfect workmanship of its kind, absolute as a child (23): Sir William Boechey, whose
At a meeting under the auspices of the
truth, nice discrimination of character, only miniature (27) is lent by Major Foster; Egyptian Research Students' Association
in
exquisite finish, no exaggeration of any sort.
of by
Edinburgh on Monday, Lord Guthrie, who
Cosway seems artificial, Engleheart almost there is a capital miniature (110); William
presided, read some notes from Prof. Flinders
meretricious, beside him.
Hogarth, by whom there is a nice little
Smart, as we know, painted in India for picture of his sister (187), painted in oils ; He mentioned the discovery of an extensive
Petrie on his recent excavations in Egypt.
five years or more, and some of his best John Hoppner, R. A. ; and W. H. Hunt, a
cemetery 35 miles south of Cairo;
work belongs to that period. Ozias Hum- portrait of himself (226). Mr. M. H. Spiel-
pieces of house-timber reused in the construc-
phry did the same, though for a shorter mann is the fortunate owner of this admirable
tion of the coffins; and a great quantity of
time, ill - health compelling his return portrait of the painter of still-life, who,
pottery. Some jars bore excellent drawings
in 1788, two or three years before his brush and paletto in hand, looks over his
and impressions; and in a Roman burial a
election to the full honours of the Academy. shoulder at us, in a picture which is almost
large gold ring and a necklace of gold beads
By this delightful miniaturist there are photographic in its intensity and obvious
of plaited pattern were found. At Memphis
some eight or nine examples, from which, fidelity.
å gigantic sphinx of alabaster had been
for beauty of subject and exquisite finish, I Want of space prevents my dealing with
unearthed.
demonstrated that our globe is an oblate
exhibited were from a collection of eight brought
Mox.
Institute of Actuaries, 5. -Annual Meeting.
home alive by Mr. Rood Tarte, of Taviuni Island,
koyal Institution, 5. -- General Monthly ai eeting.
spheroid. These operations have been re-
Hurveyors' Institution. 5. -Annual Meeting.
one of the Fijian group, where this very beautiful
peated within_the last twelve years by
Society of Engineers, 7. 30.
species was still abundant, its numbers having
Aristotelian. 8. - Significance and validity in Logic,' Mr. officers of the French Service géographique
been considerably reduced in the other
Jewish Historical, 8. 30. -The Jewish Pioneers of South de l'Armée, who measured the equatorial
islands by the introduced mongoose.
The
exhibitor referred to a recent note on the species
TUES. Horticultural, 3. - Problems of Propagation,' Prof. I. B.
arc, and by Russian and Swedish geodesists,
Balfour.
by Dr. Bahr in The Ibis for April last, p. 293.
Royal Institution, 3. - The Formation of the Alphabet,'
who worked near Spitzbergen. So far as
Lecture II. , Prof. W. M. Flinders Petrie.
Major J. Stevenson Hamilton communicated
can be seen, the operations were eminently
Zoological, 8. 30. - Preservation of the English Fauna,' Mr.
a short paper, illustrated by photographs, on the E. G. B. Meade-Waldo;, The North Rhodesian Giraffe, successful, though no actual result as to the
local races of Burchell's zebra, and pointed out
Mr. R. Lydekker ; 'On the Hydrocoralline Genus Errina,
Prof. 8. J. Hickson ; Contributions to the Anntomy and
ellipticity of the earth, which was their final
that it was possible to shoot in one herd individuals
Systematic Arrangement of the Cestoidea : VI. un au
presenting the characters of various subspecies
Asexual Tapeworm from the Rodent Fiber sibethicus, show
object, has yet been published.
inga New Form of Asexual Propagation, and on the Supposed
as described by systematists. In the Transvaal,
Sexual Form,' Mr. F. E. Beddard ; and other papers.
THE latest section of the Smithsonian
for example, he obtained skins exhibiting features
Entomological, 8. –Studies of the Blattidæ. XIL, Mr. R. Miscellaneous Collections to reach us from
claimed to be distinctive of such races as E.
Shelford ; Lyocena (Agriades) alexius, Frr. , a "good
Species, Mr. T. A. Chapinan.
Washington is a good specimen of careful
burchelli wahlbergi, E. b. transvaalensis, and E. b. Geological, 8. 30. -* The Further Evidence of Borings as to the
chapmanni, and from his experience he expressed
Range of the South-Eastern Coalfield and of the Palmozoic
Dzvio anthropological work. Dr. Ales Hrdlickă
Floor, and as to the Thickness of the Overlying strata,'
the opinion that these subspecies had been based
Prof W. B. Dawkins; Shelly Clay dredged from the
has examined 'The Natives of Kharga
upon inadequate museum material.
Dogger Bank,' Mr. J. W. Stather.
Oasis, Egypt,' and provides, with thirty-eight
Tuurs. Royal Institution. 3. - X kays and Matter,' Lecture II. ,
Dr. William Nicoll communicated some obser-
Prof. O. G. Barkla.
excellent plates, elaborate statistics of their
vations on two new trematode larvæ found
Royal, 4. 30. -The Process of Excitation in Nerve and
Muscle,' Mr. K. Lucas. (Crconian Lecture. )
numbers, sex rate, births and deaths, physio-
encysted in enormous numbers in the mesentery Linuean, 8 - The Development of the Cod, Gadus morrhua,
of several striped snakes (Tropidonotus ordinatus
8
W. E. Tanner.
africa,' Mr. 8. Mendelssohu.
WED.
-
Linn. , Prof. A. Meek; Palæoatographical Relatious of
logical observaions and measurements of
sirtalis) which had died in the Society's gardens.
Antarctica. ' Mr. C. Hedley.
Chemical, 8. 30. - The Absorption Spectra of Various Deriva.
stature, head, face, nose, &c.
He named these forms, as neither could be
tives of Naphthalene in solution and as Vapours,' Mr. J E. He concludes that these Kharga natives
referred to any adult species already known. It
Purvis: ''The Velocity of the Hydrogen Ion, and a Geuernl
Dissociation Formula for a cids,' Mr. J. Keudall; 'Chloro- are radically distinct in type from the negro,
could be safely predicted, however, that the
amino Derivatives of Benzylidene Diamides. ' Messrs. F. D.
Second species completed its life-cycle in the
Chattaway and A. E. Swinton; The Refractivity of Sulphur
somewhat deficient in physical develop-
in Various Aliphatic Compounds, Messrs. T. 8. Price and
intestine of a bird, and from this fact it could
ment owing to malnutrition, and substan-
D. F. Twibs; and other papers.
be inferred that the striped snake was eaten by
Royal Institution, 9. -'Lord Lister. ' Sir W. Macewen. tially the same as they were during the first
birds.
BAT. Royal Institution, 3. -The Weather and the Utilities of
Forecasts,' Mr. W. L. Moore.
part of the Christian era,
FRI.
## p. 628 (#472) ############################################
628
THE ATHENÆUM
No. 4414, JUNE 1, 1912
review.
>>
remains a comprehensive account of the Babylonians and Assyrians he gives a
FINE ARTS
flora and fauna, with some reserve where brief sketch; and he could hardly have
the crudeness of early art leaves their done more in the present state of our
identification dubious.
knowledge of the subject.
Mesopotamian Archæology: an Introduc-
On the other hand, architecture and
In referring to the great work done by
tion to the Archæology of Babylonia and Rawlinson in deciphering the cuneiform sculpture, metallurgy, painting, cylinder
Assyria. By Percy S. P. Handcock. inscriptions, that of his contemporaries— seals, shell - engraving and ivory work,
(Macmillan & Co. , and the Medici Grotefend, Burnouf, and Lassen-must terra-cotta figures and reliefs, stoneware
Society. )
not be overlooked. Of Burnouf Mr. and pottery, dress and military accoutre-
Handcock says:
ments, are described in full detail, well
In this volume of a little more than 400
illustrated, and ably commented upon.
“He discovered that
pages, issued by the Medici Society jointly contained a list of the satrapies, and as the
one inscription It may well be that readers of Mr. Hand-
with Messrs. Macmillan, Mr. Handcock
cock's work may desire to know more
from the Greek writers he was able on the about its fascinating subject, for the book
of the archæological remains of various partial knowledge of the alphabet already itself is interesting from beginning to end.
kinds, and a digest of the information they attained to fit in the names to the cuneiform For the benefit of those who desire to
present as to the several elements that signs, and as a result he produced an alphabet pursue further any of the matters dealt
entered into the ancient civilization of of 30 letters, mostly correct. "
with, a short bibliography is included.
Babylonia and Assyria. He also describes Since then the materials for study have
the land and its people, gives a sketch of been multiplied a thousandfold, and so
their history, and tells the ever-interesting voluminous are the historical and chro- NOTICES OF NEW BOOKS.
story of the successive excavations and nological records that it is possible to
the decipherment of the cuneiform compile a fairly complete list of the (Notice in these columns does not preclude longer
inscriptions. As we read his book, we dynasties and kings of Babylonia and
are reminded of the wave of deep interest Assyria, with approximate dates. Mr. Catalogue of Portraits in the Possession of
which passed over the country in the Handcock has furnished such a list, but
the University, Colleges, City, and County
early fifties when Layard's book on has specified in it only the "more im-
of Oxford, compiled by Mrs. Reginald
Lane Poole : Vol. I. , THE PORTRAITS IN
Nineveh appeared, and again when Raw- portant kings and rulers. It might
THE UNIVERSITY COLLECTIONS AND IN
linson published his translations. Much have been considerably enlarged without THE TOWN AND COUNTY HALLS, 12/6
has happened since then, and scholars exhausting the record of facts and dates net.
Oxford, Clarendon Press
from France, Germany, and the United for which there is authority. The reason This Catalogue owes its existence to a
States have contributed a vast quantity which Prof. Sayce has given for this
Committee of the Oxford Historical Society,
of new material, contained in a series of wealth of detail is, no doubt, sufficient : by which the three Oxford exhibitions of
reports, journals, and other publications that in a commercial community, such portraits in 1904-6 were got together. It
not easily accessible to English readers. as Babylonia was from the first, accurate and busts, with some four-score reproduc-
The work begun by Botta, the French dating was a matter of vital importance ; tions; biographical notices of the subjects,
Consul at Mosul, and shortly afterwards the validity of contracts and other legal emphasizing their Oxford connexions; and
taken up by Layard, has been continued documents often depended upon it, and identifications of both artists and subjects.
by others of our countrymen. Rassam, it was necessary that there should be We observe from the index that fourteen por.
Loftus, Taylor, and George Smith have easy access to an official chronological while the list of artists contains many names
added much to our national treasures in record.
not to be found in any dictionary of painters.
the British Museum, and the romantic
Among the more important of the Mrs. Poole's notes will be found most
story of their successive excavations is rulers is Khammurabi, the Amraphel of useful to students of English portraiture,
well told by Mr. Handcock. His book Genesis, who is famous for his code of especially in the eighteenth century, The
was undertaken at the suggestion of his Babylonian law, engraved upon a stele volume (32+278 pp. )is a very cable and
former chief, Dr. Wallis Budge, whose
now in the Louvre. Of this code, com-
opinion that such a summary of all this piled more than 4,000 years ago, Mr. history of the City and University of Oxford.
on the shelves of every one interested in the
new material as Mr. Handcock has given | Handcock says that it enshrines many fitzwilliam Museum Syndicate, ANNUAL
was desirable is justified by the result. of those principles of justice and mercy
The volume is illustrated by a coloured which we are apt to regard as the peculiar
REPORT FOR THE YEAR ENDING DEC.
31st, 1911.
representation of a figure of a lion from offspring of our own enlightened age. National Art-Collections Fund, EIGHTH AN-
Cambridge, the Museum
Khorsabad, by 40 excellent photographs, As King Khammurabi claimed divine
115 figures in the text, and a map of attributes, some of the penalties enume-
NUAL REPORT, 1911.
National Art-Collections Fund
Mesopotamia, with one on a larger scale rated in his code hardly deserve the Paris Salon Illustrated Catalogue, 1912, 31
of Babylonia.
The country which during several number of offences punishable by death is the selection of reproductions out of the
thousand years had developed a high almost as great as under our own savage 4,158 exhibits does not appear to illustrate
degree of civilization, proficiency in art, laws before the time of Romilly. Among the motto on the title-page, “Innovare. "
and a considerable literature, and had minor punishments are several that | There is nothing particularly striking in
amassed immense wealth, is now reduced appear unduly severe ; but perhaps the the pictures shown: except, possibly, the
by neglect of cultivation to a desert waste. most extraordinary is that by which, prevalence of nude figures.
Its palaces and temples are buried in “if a surgeon performed an operation and Wilson (H. ), SILVERWORK AND JEWELLERY,
mounds. Mr. Handcock accounts for the patient died through any carelessness A TEXT-BOOK
STUDENTS
these mounds by the fact that when a or lack of skill on his part, the surgeon's
WORKERS IN METAL, with Diagrams by
conquering chief demolished the clay hands were amputated. ” The marriage
the Author, and Other Illustrations.
walls and buildings of his vanquished foe, laws contemplated marriage by purchase,
Second Edition, with New Sections
done in collaboration with Prof. Unno
he did not clear away the débris, but and favoured monogamy, with some Bisei of the Imperial Fine Art College,
built on the top of it—a circumstance indulgence where the wife did not provide Tokyo, 6/6 net.
Hogg
which sometimes gives rise to perplexity her husband with an heir. Mr. Handcock This book deals with the craftsmanship
in assigning a date to the remains, and says nothing about the Babylonian mar- rather than the history of the jeweller's art.
adds to the importance of a purely archæ- riage market described by Herodotus, or
It is a work already well known to crafts-
ological test. In evidence of the past about that rite at the temple of Mylitta inlay, Damascene work, and Patinas, and
fertility of the country, of which Hero- which is the subject of a learned article inlay, Damascene work, and Patinas, and
dotus (i. 193, not“ 293," as quoted) wrote by Mr. Hartland in the volume of ' An- added. Especially interesting are the sec
in glowing terms, Mr. Handcock collects thropological Essays' presented to Sir tions contributed by Prof. Bisei on Oriental
from the seals, cylinders, and other E. B. Tylor. Of the religion of the metalwork.
FOR
AND
## p. 629 (#473) ############################################
No. 4414, JUNE 1, 1912
629
Τ Η Ε ATHENÆUM
are
Cambridge Manuals of Science and Litera-
of human anatomy of Riccio or Bellano.
ture : ANCIENT ASSYRIA, by C. H. W. ITALIAN SCULPTURE AT THE BUR- In these
cast together in workable
Johns; and A HISTORY OF CIVILIZA- LINGTON FINE ARTS CLUB. relations such simpler principles of structure
TION IN PALESTINE, by R. A. S. Mac-
as emerge most markedly when contrasted
alister, 1/ net each.
THE curiosity as to human anatomy, with the boldly designed ornamental forms
Cambridge University Press which was one of the results of the plastic with which they are combined. The frankly
Dr. Johns's little book on Assyria serves
ideal of the Renaissance, is shown at a fictional perpendicularity of Bellano's figure
to show how rapidly excavation is restoring high pitch of vitality throughout this in the well-known Neptune and a Sea
to us the earliest history of the East. When collection, and was one of the hall-marks Monster (44) is a good instance, so superbly
Dr. Budge and Mr. Leonard King published of fine sculpture for so long a period that in just is the estimate of the degree of simpli-
their Annals of the Kings of Assyria · No. 3, A Bust of Cupid, lent by the Duke fication necessary to bring the figure into
ten years ago, they could not go back of Westminster, we have an amusing instance rhythmic relation with the Oriental exuber-
beyond Irishum as the first Assyrian king of a work which has been labelled at different ance of his fantastic attendant. The Riccio-
known, and were obliged to set down his times as an antique, an eighteenth-century like Sea Monster (30) has the even more
date as uncertain. Dr. Johns gives us ten bronze by Houdon, and finally as a Dona- summary treatment proper to its scale,
kings as reigning before Irishum, and is tello. There are neo-primitives who might
enabled to fix with fair particularity, his quote Ruskin as an ally in denunciation of
date as 2030 B. C. The fact is typical of the the Art of the Charnelhouse. ” On the other
great advance in our knowledge.
hand, the modern lecturer points out that THE NEW ENGLISH ART CLUB.
The other leading feature in the book is almost all great artists who have handled
the greatly increased importance in the the figure have been anatomists.
THE forty-seventh exhibition of the Club
history of Asia assigned to the Hittites. Both arguments have a kernel of truth. keeps a fair level of merit, but is somewhat
The writer thinks that the Mitannians, a We know traditionally that many artists, of lacking in works of commanding quality.
Hittite people, may have been the earliest the Renaissance at any rate, made dis- Mr. W. Rothenstein's group Princess Badrul-
inhabitants of Assyria ; that the Kassite kings sections, but opportunity and desire for badour (147) is a serious effort, and, as on
of Babylonia may have been Mitannians; such study were deferred until the student its previous appearance, we admire the
and that the name of Kharri, often applied in had exercised largely the powers of infer. charm of the individual heads. It has either
the Assyrian annals to the inhabitants of ence and divination, which gave him the been worked on since or has had the ad-
Khanigalbat or Mitanni proper, may mean knowledge of anatomy that comes from obser- vantage of settling into a uniform surface
merely Aryans. He states that at an early vation of life. It is by the insight born of which a fortunate picture gains from time,
period the Mitannians conquered and ruled this method of approach that a fine sculptor so that technically it now makes a more
over Assyria, and therefore there may have of an earlier period is distinguished from agreeable impression. As a design it still
been an Aryan rather than a Semitic or the modern academic sculptor, whose copious suffers from the want of any definite scheme
Mongoloid base for the oldest culture of triumphs leave us cold for all their ela- whereby the highly elaborated figures and
Western Asia. This is probable, but at boration. The conceptions of the former the blank spaces of the background might
present largely a matter of conjecture. are never quite so material as they might be endowed with plastic unity. Mr. Orpen's
On other subjects Dr. Johns gives us have been had he enjoyed the easy modern Café Royal (156) has also a pleasant surface,
several new lights, and his reputation for opportunities of sating his curiosity as to but apart from an occasional brilliant passage,
careful scholarship may be taken as warranty material facts. The bones are for him such as the departing figure of Mr. George
for the soundness of his views.
certain rigid elements in the body, which, Moore, it is not otherwise very noteworthy.
Prof. Macalister thinks that Palestine in by an intellectual effort, he has visualized The artist is coming to depend unduly on
Palæolithic times was peopled by a short as maintaining their relative dimensions his adroitness in stressing the interest in
cave-dwelling race certainly not Semitic. through all the changes of movement. The any chosen part of the picture to lead the
They were succeeded by a much taller, position of their tuberosities he instinctively eye about in a sort of personally conducted
but also non-Semitic nation in the early arrives at by watching
the direction of the tour for the examination of amusing detail,
part of the Neolithic age, which may muscles as they pass from the surface to and to avoid the necessity. of supplying
have begun about 3000 B. C. , seven their invisible points of attachment.
any central structure for his design. Mr.
millennia after the other. The real home The powers needed for this study of W. B. Savage’s Descent from the Cross (136)
of the Semites he considers to have been anatomy under difficulties are rather mathe is an academic exercise in just the carpentry
Arabia, and he shows with much skill how matical than imitative“nobody," says of a group which Mr. Orpen's picture
the natives of that sterile land were ever Pomponius Gauricus, ' is to enter this lacks, and which is, in fact, an element
driven forth from it to swoop down on the Academy of ours who is not already a
in artistic education somewhat wanting
richer lands beyond. He notes, too, that geometrician ”-and it was by their hold on among latter-day students. It is pleasantly
the Semites have never invented anything, the abstract principles which dignify plastic painted in tempera with a slight lack
and that the history of Palestine after the art that so many of the sculptors of the of control of the rather thin and liquid
first incursions from Arabia consists of a Renaissance were able to resist the tempta- pigment, that the drawing, while
clumsy copying of the culture of more tion - to which modern sculptors "fre serious enough, lacks dynamic intensity of
civilized peoples, and its gradual degradation quently succumb to introduce imitative touch, and the impression is gently elegiac
until it was replaced by the influence of newer details irrelevant to the theme or the scale rather than tragic. It is a promising work
masters. Thus, he says, Egypt, the Philis- of their work. In the latter respect even
for a student. Another new-comer is Mr.
tines, and the Greeks successively gave the the Nessus and Deianira (46) of Giovanni Darsie Japp, whose portrait Joaquina (206),
tone to such culture as the inhabitants of Bologna is hardly a decadent work, as the couched in a series of monochromes in the
Palestine did succeed in acquiring ; and its Dead Christ supported by Child Angels (43), way recently practised by Mr. Lamb, is
origin must be sought in each of these three on the other hand, definitely is. In the 'Dead one of the best portraits of the show. Mr.
influences in turn.
Christ the broadly designed and swiftly W. Sickert's portrait of M. Jacques Blanche
This is an excellent position, and is here crossing enclosing planes, which Michel (163) is no less the work of a draughtsman,
well worked out. We wish we had space angelo devised for welding his three-dimen and his use of a technique of spots is justified
to dilate upon it, but can only here mention sioned mass into an easily comprehended for once by their severe relevance to the
one or two matters more likely to be inter- unit, are not closely related to any simply plastic theme.
esting to the general reader. Thus Prof. axial system of form, but are, as it were, Among the landscape painters Mr. David
Macalister says that the goldsmiths of picturesquely draped on a chassis of no Muirhead is perhaps the most successful
Palestine always had two sets of weights— particular significance. It recalls the weari. in a suave essay in the familiar Barbizon
one too light, to sell with ; the other too some fluency of much typical Louis XIV. manner, The Lock-Evening (200). Mr. C. J.
heavy, to buy with ” ; that it was the sack sculpture d'appartement. Generally, however, Holmes's Roman Road, Long Marion (148), is
of Crete which drove the Philistines to the small bronzes, a collection of which at least, as impressive as the more obviously
seek their fortune and propagate their constitutes so important a feature, are sensational Blue Precipice (146), in which
culture (including perhaps the European superbly compact--the obvious invisible he is entangled, not for the first time, in a
A B C) in the East; and that Ahab (pace playing as clearly its part in the design mal entendu by which a long sweep of
Renan) was “a despicable creature,
the surface forms. We know
distance, expressed in incisive tones to be
energetic Phoenician wife” being the real rule how far into the trunk is the curve on legible at a great distance as an atmo-
ruler of the kingdom. He further thinks which the spine bends as surely, and feel spheric statement, becomes mistaken at
that an idol in the form of a cow was every- it as vividly, as any line in the figure. And close quarters for a representation of a toy
where worshipped by the common people this is not only true of such an artist as landscape near to the spectator. Mr. Wilson
in the time of the Prophets. He goes rather Donatello, with his elaborate analysis of Steer, in his Woodland Scene (143), is graceful,
out of his way to denounce Zionism, and human structure into a complex equation displaying unexpected affinities with Şir
mixes up pastoral religion with archæology of many, constituent elements, but may | Alfred East; and . Lucien Pissarro, in a series
in a fashion that we had thought obsolete. be seen also in the more generalized versions of canvases, shows himself a delicate artist,
or
SO
.
66
22
* his | as
as
&
## p. 630 (#474) ############################################
630
THE ATHENÆUM
No. 4414, JUNE 1, 1912
even
MI.
man
nowa-
>
OR
some
аге
on better terms with the colour of nature but, compared with the Cosways, it does not
than with the colour on his palette. He is seem a convincing likeness, and, artistically,
apt to slight the reasonable claims of the is certainly inferior to the broadly treated
Fine Art Gossip.
latter to considerate treatment.
sketch on ivory by John Russell, R. A. (307),
Among the figure drawings we must lent by representatives of the Russell family.
A NEWLY FORMED SOCIETY of young
mention A Study in Sanguine (8), by Mr. Apropos painters in enamel, Mrs. Fleisch- painters, who call themselves the “X Club,
J. S. Currie ; a cunningly fragmentary mann contributes a score of examples repre- will shortly hold an exhibition of paintings
Nude-Lamplight Drawing (7), by Mr. Albert sentative of eighteenth-century work by and drawings under novel and democratic
Rothenstein ; and an excellent engraving by Boit, Zincke, Mayer, Hone, Hurter, and conditions. Sharing the view that the
M. Léon Daviel of a drawing by Mr. Augustus others. 'Mr. Newsham' (370) is an un- judgment of the public is more often influ.
John (55).
commonly brilliant and animated portrait enced by the painter's name than by the
by W. Prowitt, in which the blue velvet merits of the picture, they sign their works
coat, so dear to artists of the period, is simply with a number and the club sign.
MINIATURES AT BRUSSELS.
superbly painted, better than in In this way they are content to allow their
similar work by Zincke himself.
works to be judged upon their merits, apart
THE ENGLISH SECTION.
To come now to the last English minia- from all other considerations. This should
turist of the old school, Sir William Charles be an interesting experiment.
I MUST hasten on to the numerous
Ross, R. A. , it is a matter of regret and some
THE exhibition of work turned out by the
eighteenth-century miniature painters repre- surprise that only one of his numerous
Carlton Studio, by which that association
sented here, whose work is, one finds, " très works is to be seen here, viz. , a portrait of inaugurates its arrival
in new promises, is
à la mode " at Brussels as well as elsewhere Cardinal Newman when a young
of interest because this form of collective
-I mean Smart, the Plimers, Engleheart, (306). Ross is not fashionable
activity bids fair to supplant in commercial
Cosway, and Ozias Humphry, the last days, but Lord Aldenham, who owns this circles the old-fashioned artist who did his
named the least conspicuous.
interesting picture of a distinguished man,
own drawing alone direct for a publisher.
Of the English School there are more may be congratulated on possessing an
There may even artistically be advantages
portraits by Richard Cosway than by any admirable example of the master.
It is an
in such combinations if wisely administered.
other artist, his pupil Andrew Plimer and early work, painted with less enamel-like The commercial advantages are obvious
Samuel Cooper excepted. There are, to be smoothness, I had almost said effeminacy, when one thinks of the utility of a properly
sure, more by that prolific artist and con-
than Sir William's later style.
catalogued collection of authorities
summate courtier Isabey, and of him and
This Exhibition may be termed remarkable which every member of the association may
other foreign miniaturists I shall have some-
in respect of the number of examples of the draw.
The very facility, however, with
thing to say later. That Macaroni
work of unknown men, or artists who very which such a combination may crush the
Cosway should be well represented is as it seldom painted in miniature. This gives a competition of individual initiative may
should be, his numberless admirers will certain rarity to many of the exhibits.
become a danger to the interests of
exclaim. There is nothing fresh to be said
In this connexion one must regret that " the trade as a whole; and an examina-
about him or his work. The two dozen
few other distinguished men
tion of popular periodicals suggests that in
examples or thereabouts here shown contain not better represented, such as Bogle, the desire to eliminate research in directions
many attractive pieces, and George IV. and the * little, lame, proud man whose in which the public takes no interest, the
his friends are much in evidence amongst work can be seen and admired in the middleman has promoted borrowing and
them. Thus Col. Fitzherbert contributes
two Salting Collection; and especially one could reborrowing in a narrow circle of ideas
of the Regent, one of them especially fine ;
wish to see more by J. Hill
, an artist who with increasing facility, but with less
he also sends Mrs. Fitzherbert, and the exhibited only five times—that is, between and less claim on the interest of a jaded
right eye
nat amiable and ill-used lady; 1777 and 1791. The example of his brush public. To this game the artists of the
besides portraits of her father and brother. here shown, ' A Gentleman in a Red Coat, Carlton Studio bring considerable spirit
Perhaps the most attractive Mrs. Fitz- No. 175, lent by Lord Hothfield, is a veritable and dash, but there are few of them of
herbert is one belonging to Mr. Henry tour de force. The brilliancy of colouring, whom we do not feel that they are working
Drake (76), representing her in the plenitude the vivacity of the face, the beautiful finish below their natural level. The department
of her charms.
of the work, endue this miniature with of book-decoration is the most satisfactory
On seeing a number of works by the striking quality, and show that the painter element of the exhibition.
Plimers together, as may be done here, one was capable of rivalling Engleheart and even
cannot help feeling that, despite inflated Cosway himself ; in fact, the general
In the chief church of Ueberlingen on Lake
auction - room prices, they are overrated standard of work by these and other fashion Constance an almost perfect fresco has been
men—these pupils of Cosway. The fre- able painters of the time is distinctly, I discovered, dating from 1489. In the centre
quent blackness of tint, the exaggerated eyes, consider, below this remarkable piece of is St. Barbara with the tower, on one side
and the monotonous treatment of Andrew eighteenth-century miniature painting at St. George and the dragon, and on the other
leave much to be desired, and contrast its best.
Mary Magdalene clinging to the
unfavourably with contemporary work. Of artists not generally recognized as
The condition of the work is so good
Take the case of Smart, several of whose miniaturo painters at all, I may mention that the work of restoration will be com-
works hang opposite. In them we have Bartolozzi, by whom we have Madame Vestris paratively easy.
perfect workmanship of its kind, absolute as a child (23): Sir William Boechey, whose
At a meeting under the auspices of the
truth, nice discrimination of character, only miniature (27) is lent by Major Foster; Egyptian Research Students' Association
in
exquisite finish, no exaggeration of any sort.
of by
Edinburgh on Monday, Lord Guthrie, who
Cosway seems artificial, Engleheart almost there is a capital miniature (110); William
presided, read some notes from Prof. Flinders
meretricious, beside him.
Hogarth, by whom there is a nice little
Smart, as we know, painted in India for picture of his sister (187), painted in oils ; He mentioned the discovery of an extensive
Petrie on his recent excavations in Egypt.
five years or more, and some of his best John Hoppner, R. A. ; and W. H. Hunt, a
cemetery 35 miles south of Cairo;
work belongs to that period. Ozias Hum- portrait of himself (226). Mr. M. H. Spiel-
pieces of house-timber reused in the construc-
phry did the same, though for a shorter mann is the fortunate owner of this admirable
tion of the coffins; and a great quantity of
time, ill - health compelling his return portrait of the painter of still-life, who,
pottery. Some jars bore excellent drawings
in 1788, two or three years before his brush and paletto in hand, looks over his
and impressions; and in a Roman burial a
election to the full honours of the Academy. shoulder at us, in a picture which is almost
large gold ring and a necklace of gold beads
By this delightful miniaturist there are photographic in its intensity and obvious
of plaited pattern were found. At Memphis
some eight or nine examples, from which, fidelity.
å gigantic sphinx of alabaster had been
for beauty of subject and exquisite finish, I Want of space prevents my dealing with
unearthed.
