MESSRS. BELL AND DALDY'S FINE

ART PUBLICATIONS.

MESSRS. Bell and Daldy have this season given us not only a new edition of the exquisite volume "Art and Song," and other works we noticed last year, but have produced two books which cannot fail to become as popular among all art lovers as any that have hitherto been issued by this eminent firm. The Great Works of Sir David Wilkie* are represented by twentysix photographs, taken by Messrs. Cundall and Fleming from engravings of his most important paintings. These are arranged according to the dates of the pictures, and are accompanied by very clear and satisfactory notices, so that in one volume we have a pictorial history of the rise, progress, and, as some think, decline of Wilkie. The first of the series is "The Village Recruit," said to have been brought up by the painter from Scotland, and exhibited by him in a shop-window at Charing Cross, with a view to its sale for six guineas. The second is more famous, having been what the editor here calls "the open sesame' to the cave where Fame had hitherto hid herself from Wilkie's grasp." It is the famous " Village Politician" and the "Blind Fiddler," the former of which was bought by Lord Mansfield for thirty guineas, and which, when first exhibited at the Academy in 1806, drew such crowds around it, that there was no getting in "sideways or edgeways." From that day the troubles of the "raw, tall, pale, queer Scotchman with something in him," as he was described by one of his friends, were over; and he had thenceforth an uninterrupted career of prosperity and success, during which he was enabled to paint the pictures here reproduced, and to make his name a household word. There is no occasion for us to give a list of the pictures, or to criticise the nature of their execution. It is enough for us to say that the photographs reproduce most accurately the famous originals from which they have been taken, and that the possessor of this beautiful volume, if he have taste for art, may make himself as well acquainted with Wilkie and his works as if he owned two or three of the artist's best pictures. The Memoir of Wilkie, by Mrs. Charles Heaton, is very complete and interesting.

The Masterpieces of Italian Art + is a work similar in its nature. If the previously-noticed volume is such as to enable one to familiarise himself with the works of one master, the present has even a wider aim. In this an attempt has been made to give some idea of the progress of Art from the thirteenth century to the sixteenth; so that, instead of the history of the development of one mind, we have here an account and examples of the various Schools which flourished from the time of Cimabue to that of Da Vinci and Raphael, when Art

*The Great Works of Sir David Wilkie. Twenty-six Photographs from the celebrated Engravings of his most celebrated Paintings; with a Descriptive Account of the Pictures, and a Memoir of the Artist, by Mrs. Charles Heaton. (4to. 42s.)

+ Masterpieces of Italian Art. Photographs from the finest Engravings of the most celebrated Paintings of the Italian Masters in the various Galleries throughout Europe. With Memoir of each Painter. (4to. 428.)

reached its second perfection. Giotto, Fra Angelico, Masaccio, Francia, Fra Bartolomeo, Michael Angelo, Titian, Correggio, Tintoretto, Domenichino, Guido-are all represented by characteristic examples of their genius, and by Memoirs which will serve fully to illustrate the lives of the several artists, and acquaint the reader with the Schools to which they severally belonged. Having ourselves seen and examined most of the drawings and engravings from which the photographs are made-some of them at vast expense and trouble-we can confidently recommend the photographs as faithful reproductions of the originals. The volume is at once a splendid table-book and a useful guide to the Schools of Italian Art.

Nor

The Ancestral Homes of Britain.*-The Rev. F. O. Morris, well known as the author of several standard works on Natural History, has presented us with one of the most interesting and splendidly illustrated books of the season. Besides the forty coloured illustrations, taken from drawings executed expressly for the work. it contains biographical and historical notices of the owners of each of the castles, halls, and mansions. The selection of places to be pictured is most judicious, the most celebrated residences of our aristocracy, such as Chatsworth, Alton Towers, Castle Howard, Whitley Court, Blenheim, Scone Palace, Trentham Hall, and Warwick Castle, being given. It would be difficult to speak too highly of these beautiful illustrations. One cannot fail to observe their great superiority to what such sketches would have been if produced twenty years ago. can we but admire the accuracy with which the architectural details are reproduced. So delicately, indeed, have the blocks been printed, that | they may be used with advantage as copies for students in water-colour drawing. The letterpress, too, is full of interest to those who are curious in genealogical matters. Occasionally the page is enlivened with anecdote, such as the following respecting Picton Castle in Pembrokeshire, during the civil war, when the place was held in behalf of the King:-"In the lower story of one of the bastions was the nursery, having in it a small window in which the maidservant was standing with Sir Erasmus Philipps, then an infant, in her arms, when a trooper of the Parliamentary forces approached it with a flag of truce and a letter; to receive which the girl opened the window, and while she stretched forward, the soldier lifting himself in his stirrups ! snatched the child from her arms, and rode with him into the camp. A message was then forwarded to the governor, informing him that unless the castle was immediately surrendered the child would be put to death. On this the garrison yielded, and was allowed to march out with

*The Ancestral Homes of Britain, containing examples of its noblest Castles, Halls, and Mansions; with Forty coloured Illustrations: Windsor Castle, Harewood House, Wilton House, Castle Howard, Wentworth House, Faton Hall, Thrybergh Park, Floors Castle, Warwick Castle, Farnham House, Chatsworth, Knowsley Hall, Trentham Hall, Charlecote, Burghley House, Inverary Castle, Balmoral Castle, &c. &c. taken from Drawings exeenteď expressly for this work. Edited, with Biographical and Historical Notices, by the Rev. F. O. Morris. (4to 31s. 6d.)

the honours of war. It is said that the Parliamentary general was so touched with the loyalty of Sir Richard Philipps and the stratagem by which he had been compelled to surrender, that he gave orders that Picton Castle should not be demolished, as was the fate of the other fortresses in Pembrokeshire. Thus saved, the castle and domains passed from father to son to the fifth baronet." All who are acquainted with the mansions described in this work will have no difficulty in recognising the sketches. The title-page, illustrated with an exquisite vignette of Balmoral Castle, is splendidly printed in gold and colour. As a Christmas present, worthy of the most elegant drawing-room table, we can without any hesitation strongly recommend the "Ancestral Homes of Britain" by Mr. Morris.

CONTEMPORARY FRENCH PAINTERS.*

THIS volume, in its scope and purpose, resembles the two works published by Messrs. Bell and Daldy which have just been noticed-only, instead of illustrating the progress and development of one artist, or of Art itself during a most important period in its history, its aim is to give a true account of the French School of Art as it is represented by contemporary painters. Mr. P. G. Hamerton has special qualifications for what he has undertaken. As we learn from his Preface, he is the art-critic of an influential journal; he thoroughly knows the country which produced the School about which he writes; residence in France and frequent intercourse with Frenchmen "have cleared his mind from the distorting prejudices of the foreigner;" he has been able "to disengage himself from national partisanship," and he has learned to understand the aims of French artists "by temporarily entering into the spirit of their various enterprises." It is true "no French artcritic of any note, even when both honest and accomplished, which he is not always," can speak of our painters without saying "things that we know to be inaccurate and wrong." But, in this respect, they differ from Mr. Hamerton, who "from this particular kind of error believes himself to be free." Coming before us thus thoroughly equipped for his task, Mr. Hamerton deserves more attention than a less fortunate writer could expect to obtain. Our space, however, prevents our doing full justice to his performance in these columns. We can only say that the sixteen photographs which illustrate the volume are beautiful in themselves and are admirably executed. In the choice of the engravings and lithographs which have been photographed, great attention has been paid to the important consideration what kind of engraving best translates the particular artist. "For instance, we have lithographs from Decamps and Troyon, because both these artists, from the nature of their work, could be, and have been, well rendered by lithographers; but Ary Schoeffer, Meissonier,

We

and Hamon are represented by engravings, and not unfaithfully." In this spirit the whole series has been executed; and those who are acquainted with the original pictures will, we think, have no fault to find with any of their representatives here. We have an example of twenty-six painters, among whom are to be numbered not only those who, like H. Vernet, Delaroche, Rosa Bonheur, Gérôme, are well known to everybody, but others whose names have not become familiarised to the English public. Each of them is at once a beautiful picture and an adequate exponent of the original. If we have any fault to find, it is with the editor, and not with the photographer. The illustrations are accompanied by "an Essay." In this, if one may venture to hint an objection, the author does not sufficiently confine himself to his immediate subject to satisfy his reader. Although his wishes have been realized-except in two points, one of them admittedly inevitable-with respect to the illustrations, which he confesses are 66 sufficiently abundant to give a good idea of some of the principal artists mentioned," the Essay might have appeared without the photographs, or the photographs without the Essay. There is little connexion between them. In most instances only the slightest allusion is made to the particular work represented, and sometimes it is not even mentioned. This has surprised us the more, as Mr. Hamerton frankly admits that criticisms of pictures which the reader has not seen are of no use. have, however, instead of any detailed description of the several pictures represented, some pleasant gossip about the painters, and Mr. Hamerton's notions on Art in general. Many readers will doubtless prefer this method of treatment, and we should ourselves have preferred it, but for the occasional instances of bad taste by which the Essay is disfigured. The author discusses matters unconnected with his subject, and gives his opinions on things for which all his varied attainments as artcritic do not necessarily and obviously qualify him. His moral verdicts on men and actions are especially reprehensible. He tells us, for instance, that "Byron was one of the truest writers who ever lived," that Scott, on the other hand, "thought more of externals;" that "the sentence of death recorded against Maximilian was as well deserved as the same sentence passed by Maximilian, or his subordinates, on Mexicans who had defended their liberty against a foreign usurper;" that the family of Louis Philippe were educated as men and women, but that "it may be doubted whether the heir to the Empire will enjoy equal advantages." We learn, too, that the present occupant of the Tuileries is a gentleman; that Landseer "outside of his studio is clever and amusing, and a good story-teller," that "Rosa Bonheur, unlike George Sand, has conciliated the liberty necessary to an artistic career with absolute purity of life," and many other facts quite unnecessary to be mentioned in an essay on contemporary artists. He is not even reticent in a more important respect, but favours his readers with many details, rather offensive to good taste, concerning himself and his surroundings. Apart

from these blemishes, however, the volume is one that will find acceptance. The sixteen photographs are in themselves worth the money charged for the book, and Mr. Hamerton's chat about French Artists and his remarks about French Art will instruct as well as entertain.

TENNYSON. ILLUSTRATED BY DORÉ.*

THIS splendid volume affords excellent examples of M. Doré's highest effort. In poetic imagination, as well as in dramatic effect, there is nothing to equal it. Objections may be made to the technical treatment of some of the illustrations; the drawing in some of the sketches is out of keeping; the artist has sometimes intensified and exaggerated the situation; there is occasional departure from local truth; but, taken as a whole, there is hardly any work in any language which has been more appropriately and effectively translated into pictures than this. In the eighteen illustrations there are, of course, various degrees of merit. In interpreting the text of the poet the artist has selected for illustration a scene which to some readers would have better remained unrepresented, and has again omitted to take advantage of points in the story which they consider admirably suited for his pencil. M. Doré, however, has been his own guide. He has selected what he considered the salient incidents of the Idyll, and to these he has applied himself conscientiously, and translated the poet into the language of art with unquestionable vigour and unusual accuracy. Unlike many of our book illustrators, who give us agreeable pictures instead of elucidations of their author, he has stuck to the text, and it is clear that he has done his best to give a complete and harmonious rendering of the poem. Of the pictures themselves, some are figure-subjects, and depend for their success upon the ability which has been displayed by the artist in exhibiting human emotion; some are effective simply as delineations of natural scenery; whilst some furnish noteworthy examples of that wonderful Salvator-like power possessed by M. Doré of complementing the purely personal interest by natural scenery. In all, however, there is something to admire. The effect of light and shade; the revelation made of vast and desolate space; the dexterity and facility of handling displayed in each-are as noticeable as they ever were in M. Doré. But, as we have hinted, what most strikes us in him is that faculty he possesses in an eminent degree of harmonizing, or it may be of contrasting, inanimate nature, and even vegetable forms, with the temporary situation of the personages that figure in the story. The opening scene of "Vivien" will serve as an illustration of our meaning. Here we see the utmost congruity between the human agents and the forms of nature. Vivien, stolen from Arthur's court, is at Merlin's feet. They are in the woods of Broceliande. A storm is coming on, but the

* Vivien and Guinevere. By Alfred Tennyson. Illustrated by Eighteen Engravings on Steel after Designs by Gustave Doré. (Folio, 42s. Photographs, 61. 68. Moxon and Co.)

winds have not yet begun to rise. This is accurately and admirably represented by the artist. The oak, too, at whose feet they are reposing-huge and old-assumes dignity and importance. To the observer (and not by mere force of prospective knowledge derived from the poet's words, but by its natural form) the tree appears to be a partaker in what is transacting -to have become a personage; and seems, indeed, to anticipate the time when it will be a dominant actor in the scene. The branches and ground-roots extend themselves in undefined, but monstrous semi-human shapes, and add greatly to the effect intended to be created. All is in keeping with the story as we have it. Altogether, the artist has in this scene placed a most fitting portal to the fair mansion he has erected for Christmas guests. And what is most observable in this, the earliest drawing, is to be seen with equal clearness in several others. "The Disembarkation of Vivien and Merlin" on the sands of Brittany is almost equal to it in effective beauty. The forms of the sheer perpendicular cliff of mountain-limestone that faces them; the atmosphere by which they are surrounded; the very manner in which the waves are breaking-are rendered not only with local fidelity, but are felt to harmonize in an extraordinary way with the situation represented in the text. The last scene, again, in which Merlin, over-talked and overworn, has yielded, told her all the charm, and slept, is most dramatically represented, and forms an appropriate termination to the weird story. As we have said, the artist sometimes exhibits censurable carelessness. In the illustrations to "Guinevere" there is occasional departure from local truth. For instance, the incident entitled "The Parting," and that other, "The Dawn of Love," in which the lovers are represented by the poet as riding under groves that looked a paradise of blossom, are not true to nature, and remind us more of what we think Eastern scenes to be than of our own England. Even here, however, especially in the latter picture, that harmony we have observed between the human passions of the various personages and the natural scenery by which they are surrounded is very distinctly preserved. To the lovers, trees, fruits, flowers, birds, and sky undoubtedly par took of their own feelings, and are consequently represented, not as they were in reality, but as they appeared to the imagination of the two at the time. In "The Cloister Scene," even when the architecture and the mural decorations are utterly at fault, the genius of the artist saves him from failure. He is desirous of being effective, and in this is his essential characteristic. In none of the drawings indeed is the effect ever weak or scattered.

It would be invidious to select any of the engravings for special commendation. All the gentlemen who have been engaged have done their work in a way highly creditable to their profession. The photographs, too, are splendid examples of the art, and a comparison between them and the engravings will serve to show readers how our best English engravers are able to present the most famous artist of the day.

LAST year we had the pleasure of congratulating Mr. Nimmo on the production of a volume which was at once valuable in itself and an honour to the country which produced it. "Roses and Holly" is a work, artistically as well as mechanically, entirely produced by Scotsmen, and, as we said, may fairly be regarded as a specimen of Scottish skill and Scottish taste. We have now to compliment the same publisher on the production of another volume which, even more than its predecessor, claims attention from the same causes. "Poems and Songs," by Robert Burns, is not only Scotch in artistic and mechanical workmanship, but the subject matter

poet which have appeared. Not only in what is given, but in what has been withheld, has the publisher shown his judgment. Coming from a prominent Scottish publishing house, we should not have been disappointed if we had found an extravagantly fulsome memoir of the poet. But there is no flourish of trumpets preceding the literary banquet, no "Life," in which "Robert Burns, the greatest Scotsman, and consequently the greatest man, that ever lived, was born in the year," &c. Judiciously has this been withheld; and so, without having our feelings jarred by preliminary contention, we enter upon the poetical feast, prepared to enjoy with zest the

is, beyond anything else we could name, a native production of Scotland. Of Burns' writings it is, of course, too late now to speak. They have taken the place they will occupy for all time. Praise or dispraise from us would neither affect their circulation nor modify the estimation in which they are universally held. We have to concern ourselves with the Edition of his poems now before us, and, after careful examination, we can confidently say it is that which we most highly value of the numerous illustrated editions of the

*The Poems and Songs of Robert Burns. With original Illustrations by the most eminent Scottish artists, engraved on wood by R. Paterson. (Small 4to. 21s. Nimmo.)

And

dainty dishes that are set before us. the feast is served up in splendid style. "The Poems and Songs of Burns" is in every way a beautiful book-beautiful externally and intrinsically. The green and gold covers with bevelled edges, and the gilt leaves, make it suitable for the drawing-room table; and the toned paper, clear printing, and attractive illustrations are such as to tempt readers of every class and age. In the illustrations, indeed, the artists have been extremely happy. R. Herdman, W. H. Paton, Bough, Steell, Hill, McWhirter, and other eminent Scottish artists have given us specimens of their skill as illustrators, and have all