time, and is thoroughly genuine in every respect but one.

At some time or other in its existence it fell into evil hands, and an attempt was made to add to its value in a way very characteristic of the modern forger. The old name-board was removed and another substituted on which was painted the name of Broadwood with the date 1758. However well this was done, the rest of the design would make the date impossible; but the renovator actually went out of his way to render it more apparent. He not only chose satinwood for the new nameboard, but actually veneered satinwood, and the signature, though resembling that used by the firm in recent years, is utterly unlike any eighteenth-century signature whatever. It is a typical example of the impudent forgery of utter ignorance, and, from that point of view, is at least instructive.

The satinwood bookcase by Shearer (No. 62) 12 is a very fine example of this maker, who delighted in simple forms, and, with very few exceptions, adhered rigidly to his creed. The specimen we are considering is made up out of two of his published designs, differing from them only in minor details.

One of the special things in which Shearer seems to have valued himself was the designing of bookcase and cabinet fronts, of which there are no fewer than thirty-two in his Cabinet Makers' Book of Prices,' published in 1788, with an additional two dozen by W. Casement in the second edition in 1793.

The simple though beautiful sweep of almost all his designs for these is peculiarly distinctive of the man who attained his ends by the strictest attention to proportion and line rather than by the use of ornament. Where decoration of any kind is used in his work it is almost always with a sparing hand, and a daintiness and simplicity of feeling excelled by none of his time. It is,

12 Reproduced on page 499.

indeed, more than merely probable that it is to the influence of this craftsman, more even than to Robert Adam, that we owe much of the more restrained work of both Hepplewhite and Sheraton. In fact, where these two designers come closest together is where they mutually resemble Shearer.

A piece with very similar aims is the teapoy (No. 78),13 in which simplicity has been carried even further, and with the most admirable results. In the article itself the beauty of the wood at once catches the eye, while the reproduction can only suggest it. But its beauty depends less on the colour, tone, and figuration of the wood than on its proportion. The band of inlay is too slight to have been intended for any other purpose than giving an air of finished workmanship. Very little alteration indeed would make the whole design commonplace. As it is it fills and pleases the eye in a way many more pretentious pieces do

not.

To this the examples of painted furniture illustrated 14 appear to be in sharp contrast, and yet they are of the same period, The evolution to lightness in eighteenthcentury furniture was continuous, that to simplicity very broken. Chippendale's furniture becomes more and more ornate as it goes on; then comes Robert Adam's influence in the sixties, which for the time all tends to simplicity. Chippendale and his contemporaries were carvers, and the chisel was worshipped till at last it ran rampant over everything. Adam was no carver, and the ease with which he affixed his gesso ornamentation probably led him to undervalue carving. He was a painter, however, and shortly after 1770 he applied that art to most of his furniture. From that time to the end of the century two aims are distinctly visible; the one tending to grandeur of decoration, the other to simplicity, till at length they met and culminated in Sheraton's best period.

A HISTORY AND DESCRIPTION OF ENGLISH EARTHENWARE AND STONEWARE (TO THE BEGINNING OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY). By William Burton, F.G.S. London: Cassell & Co., 1904. Royal 8vo, with 24 plates in colour, reproductions of marks, and numerous illustrations. £I IOS. net.

THE space reserved, on the shelves of the library, to the books on English ceramics has had, lately, to be unexpectedly extended. The last few years have seen the publication of a goodly number of those popular handbooks through which the tyrocollector acquires a sufficient smattering of knowledge to enable him to affix a sounding name to each of the nondescript specimens in his possession; and also of the practical books of marks, so dear to the forger, as affording him the means of adding to his artful shams a sign of authenticity. We may well forget these contemptible and meretricious publications, and obtain compensation for the disappointment they have caused us, when we peruse the conscientious and exhaustive volume. just brought out by Mr. W. Burton.

So many learned and talented specialists have handled the subject of old English pottery, that the mass of material at the disposal of the student has now become enormous. In this very wealth of information lies the danger that confronts a scrupulous compiler. Much judgement and discrimination have to be exercised in accepting or rejecting documents and statements not equally trustworthy. This Mr. Burton has done with commendable accuracy. We find that he has only recorded well-established facts, and, ignoring all that rests partly on conjecture, advanced nothing but what he can maintain by quoting an unimpeachable authority. The plan adopted for the work is not-and could not be-different from the one followed by previous historians. To each particular branch of manufacture a separate chapter has been devoted. The slip decorated, or peasant ware of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries; the stone ware and salt-glaze; the English Delft; the earthen ware in all its varieties; and finally the work of Josiah Wedgwood, and that of his successors up to the close of the eighteenth century, are successively passed under review. A technical description of the processes employed in the making of the chief types of pottery accompanies a historic account reliable in all particulars.

All through the book the author speaks with the assurance of a consummate ceramist, gifted with a too practical turn of mind to be easily influenced by the faddism of the collector or the aesthetic disquisitions of the art critic. He is free from the weaknesses of the infatuated amateur of old ware, so prone to magnify the merits he sees in the object of his predilection; nor will he yield to the temptation of promoting any of those ingenious theories

which seem to bring the solution of a standing problem a little nearer than the point where researches and study have left us. We may regret, however, that no field is open to discussion in this formal survey of a subject which might have been considered from a broader and more impressive point of view.

The days are gone by when a small group of clear-sighted spirits, enraptured with the quaintness, sincerity, and effectiveness of the early productions of the English potter, were advocating their recognition and their admittance into our galleries. What was then an almost hopeless expectation has now become an accomplished fact. The long-neglected ware is now acknowledged and appreciated as it deserves. Were it not so, however, it may be questioned whether this wellpondered-nay, almost faultless-book would do much to foster the advance of the cause. Its pervading tone of unadorned accuracy fails to arouse in the mind of the reader the feelings of faith and enthusiasm which alone can make a convert to a new creed. But this was not, evidently, the end that the author had in view. As a compendium, of all the available information on the history of the ceramic industry in England, the work will admirably serve its purpose, and be of great value to the collector.

Excellent as is the typographic execution of the plates, all reproducing examples in the public museums, one could wish that the selection had included specimens borrowed from private collections, so that a few new faces should be seen interpolated in this long array of old acquaintances.

WHAT IS ART? By Leo Tolstoy.

L. S.

By Leo Tolstoy. Translated from the original MS., with an introduction by Aylmer Maude. Grant Richards.

net.

IS.

COUNT TOLSTOY's sweeping condemnation of art and artists, recently issued in a cheap form, is a suggestive book. Those who feel the selfishness and uselessness of modern civilized life will sympathize with Count Tolstoy's ideal of a simpler and healthier existence; those who are worried by the elaboration and artificiality of much modern work will recognize that clearness and sincerity are the primitive virtues of which it stands in need. Some, perhaps, will be thankful for the ridicule the author heaps upon the machinery and conventions of the modern stage. Everyone is sure to find the book an irritant, and perhaps a stimulant also. No sensible person, however, will accept without many reservations a theory which would judge all art by the interest it excites in the healthy peasant; a standard which excludes not only Verlaine and Baudelaire, but also Shakespeare and Beethoven.

BENOZZO GozZOLI. (Newnes' Art Library.) A

photogravure and sixty half-tone plates, with biographical introduction by Hugh Stokes and list of principal works. London: George Newnes, Ltd. 3s. 6d. net.

THE enterprise which has given us the admirable series of reproductions of which this volume. forms part is warmly to be commended, and the fact that such a series is possible is in itself a proof that popular interest in great art has enormously increased. These reproductions of Gozzoli's work are for the most part excellent, and the cheapness of the book is astounding. Whatever may be the artistic defects of the half-tone process (and the paper is the chief), it is perhaps the most accurate means of reproducing pictures, and it has done. more than anything else to popularize the works of the great masters. Mr. Stokes's biographical note is careful and adequate, and the information given is based on the best authorities. We have not found any important omissions in the list of works, in which doubtful attributions are duly noted. The thanks of all lovers of art are due to Messrs. Newnes for a series which must be of great use in cultivating the public taste.

CATALOGUES AND REPORTS ILLUSTRATED Catalogue of a LOAN COLLECTION

OF PORTRAITS OF ENGLISH HISTORICAL PER-
SONAGES WHO DIED PRIOR TO THE YEAR 1625
EXHIBITED AT OXFORD APRIL AND MAY, 1904.
Oxford, 1904. 4to, 60 pp., and 40 half-tone
reproductions.

As these portraits have already formed the subject of a notice in the pages of this magazine, I will merely draw attention to the fact that the earlier portraits clearly show the influence of the Netherlandish school. The catalogue is preceded by a brief sketch of the history of portrait painting in England by Mr. Lionel Cust, who however might have made some mention of earlier English portrait painters. We must also protest against the slipshod way of writing painters' names. If these are not translated into English, they should be written as borne: Jan Gossaert of Mabuse should be Jennin Gossart of Maubeuge; Jan Rave, Jan De Rave; Antonio Moro, Antonie Mor.

W. H. JAMES Weale.

The forty-seventh annual report of the trustees of the National Portrait Gallery, just issued as a Parliamentary paper, before describing the interesting additions made to the collection during the past twelve months, calls attention to the lack of wall space which is rapidly making the proper hanging of the pictures an impossibility. Though some questions still remain to be settled between the trustees and the War Office, there seems to be hope that the much-needed extension of the

Bibliography

gallery in the direction of St. George's Barracks will soon be arranged.

Another most interesting Parliamentary paper is the report of Mr. Consul-General Chapman on the changes in the distribution of works of art in the royal galleries of Florence. This most useful and interesting supplement to existing Florentine guide books is issued by the Foreign Office for the modest price of one penny.

We have also received the excellent official catalogue of the National Gallery and National Portrait Gallery of Ireland. The catalogue indicates how much the purchases made of recent years have contributed towards making the collection a representative one, considering the modest amount of its endowment, and the biographical notes on the painters are more interesting than such notes are wont to be.

An illustrated record of the purchases of the Chantrey Trustees, entitled 'Chantrey and His Bequest,' has just been issued by Messrs. Cassell at the price of one shilling. Its publication is timely, the abstract of the facts relating to the purchases is admirable, and the reproductions are well executed, so that the little book can be recommended without reserve.

PERIODICALS

GAZETTE DES BEAUX-ARTS.-M. Durrieu describes, with illustration, the Virgin of Mercy of the Musée Condé at Chantilly, which is now known on documentary evidence to be by Enguerrand Charenton and Pierre Villate, and to which we alluded last month. There is nothing, we think, in the picture as judged by the reproduction to justify M. Bouchot's idea that Villate is the author of the great Pietà from Villeneuve-lesAvignon. In a most interesting article M. S. Reinach discusses the figurines of a snake goddess and her attendants recently found at Knossos by Mr. Evans. They are almost exactly of the fashion of the late fifties of the last century, and must, one thinks, indicate an elaborate, not to say decadent civilization. They are ascribed to about the year 1500 B.C.-Les Salons de 1904, by André Chaumeix. Miniatures at the Exhibition in the Bibliothèque Nationale are discussed by M. Émile Male, who makes clear their importance in the study of the development of painting in Europe. The author points out the predominance of the school of Paris in the fourteenth century, and relies on this to prove the French origin of Flemish art. The case is perhaps stated a little too definitely from the French point of view, but we welcome the author's attempt to carry further the classification of manuscripts by their artists.M. Lafenestre continues his series of articles on the French Primitives, and makes various suggestions, among which the idea that the great Annunciation from Aix is a late work by Nicholas Froment has at least the merit of boldness, but we

―

shall be surprised if it finds many supporters.L'Exposition Claude Monet: reproductions of his series of views of the Thames accompanied by an eloquent appreciation by Gustav Kahn.

RASSEGNA D' Arte.-L'Arte Toscana studiata nei Disegni.-A review of Mr. Berenson's book by Gustavo Frizzoni.-Achille Patricolo exposes, in vigorous language, the stupid vandalism and local ostentation which led to the destruction of the Torre in capite pontis Molendinorum' at Mantua in 1902. On the other hand Corrado Ricci has to tell of the intelligent and successful restoration of Sancta Sanctorum in S. Vitale at Ravenna.-Carlo Gamba describes the newly-opened museum of the Bigallo at Florence, also due to Signor Ricci's enthusiasm. The most important works placed there are a tabernacle by Bernardo Daddi and a Sellajo. For the Uffizi Signor Ricci has acquired a fine Madonna with angels by Bartolommeo Caporali.

ARCHITECTURAL REVIEW.-Burford, a description of the rich architectural remains of the town by Guy Dawber.-Current Architecture, reconstruction of Welbeck Abbey, Foreign Flower Market, Covent Garden.-Chapter VIII. of Prior and Gardner's English Mediaeval Figure-Sculpture, examples of the three styles, South-western,

Midland, and North-eastern, of the early fourteenth-century makers of effigies.-The French Primitives by Reginald Blomfield.

ANNOUNCEMENTS

A NEW translation of Condivi's Life of Michelangelo has been made by Mr. Herbert Horne, and a small edition of it will be published by the Merrymount Press, Boston, in September. A specimen of the type designed by Mr. Horne for this book indicates that it bids fair to be the most beautiful modern fount now in use, the combination of grace with sound typographical tradition being exceptionally fortunate.

We have received an announcement from the newly-formed Art Collectors' Society of Great Britain and Ireland. The society's object is to protect collectors against frauds and misrepresentations. A committee will report on works of art, and issue certificates of genuineness. The society will hold annual exhibitions of the possessions of its members, and will issue a periodical for their benefit. The hon. secretary is Mr. C. H. Wylde, 44 Abingdon Court, W. The annual subscription of one guinea, in view of the advantages which the society offers to collectors of all kinds, seems exceedingly moderate.

NOTES FROM BELGIUM1

IN speaking last month of the Somzée sale, I recorded the purchase by the Royal Museums of the Cinquantenaire of the statue of Septimius Severus, which was the most important thing in the collection. I am now in a position to give a list of the purchases made at the same sale by the section of antiquities in the Royal Museums :(1) head of a bearded man, archaic style; (2) torso of a man, showing a connexion with the school of Polycletus; (3) lower part of a statue of a man with hunting scenes in bas-relief on the plinth, possibly a Hippolytus; (4) statue of Athene in the style of Praxiteles; (5) statue of a faun; (6) statue of a young satyr in the style of Praxiteles; (7) a very fine torso of Aphrodite, a worthy parallel to the Venus of Milo; (8) a fine statue of a poetess; (9) statue of Eros with bow and arrows, probably after Lysippus; (10) statue of a nymph seated; (11) statue of the satyr with the panther which has appeared at the Louvre; (12) statue of Daphnis Olympus; (13) head of a barbarian, an original statue of the school of Pergamus; (14) head of a woman in the archaic Ionian style (sixth century B.C.), formerly in the Tyskiewicz collection; (15) fragment of a panelled ceiling; (16) torso of a statuette of Herakles draped; (17) head of a young Roman, larger than natural size, of the Translated by Harold Child.

time of Augustus; (18) archaic bas-relief dedicated to the Eumenides, formerly in the Tyskiewicz collection; (19) monumental stele, from Alexandria, in the Graeco-Egyptian style; (20) colossal statue of Septimius Severus; (21) statuette of a man forming the handle of a Greek mirror; (22) statuette of Herakles; (23) archaic statuette of Aphrodite reclining; (24) statuette of Zeus; (25) upper part of a statuette of a goddess, archaic style; (26) inlaid bust of Dionysus; (27) double head of a woman and an ox, originally part of a seat, a chariot, or a sceptre; (28) a cistus with archaic Latin inscriptions and a representation of a cooking scene; (29) a hollow ivory cylinder in archaic Greek style, originally, no doubt, part of a sceptre.

Besides the Tiepolo bought at the Somzée sale, the museum of painting is now exhibiting four pictures bought at the sale of Princess Mathilde's effects: a Portrait of the artist, by Geldorp; The Drummer, by N. Maas; a Portrait of a warrior, by Sustermans; and a Portrait of a nobleman, of the school of Lombardy of the sixteenth century.

At Silenrieux (province of Namur) a tomb of great antiquity has been discovered during the excavation of the cemetery round the site of the old church which was pulled down some years ago. The tomb is made of ashlar; its general outlines follow the shape of the body, with a circular receptacle for the head. It contained a

fairly large number of coins of Albert III (A.D. 1037-1105). Tombs of this type are perfectly familiar, but their age was always a matter of uncertainty until the discovery of these coins enabled it to be settled precisely.

At Tamise a Roman well has been discovered, built of wood and something over 50 feet deep. It has just been cleared and strengthened to a depth of some 20 feet, and will make a good object-lesson in the study of the agricultural works constructed by the Romans during their cultivation of Gaul and Belgic Gaul.

At Fayt-lez-Seneffe, M. Raoul Warocqué, who is the possessor of a very fine collection of Egyptian, Greek, and Roman antiquities, is carrying on the excavation of a Belgo-Roman cemetery near the hamlet of Jolimont, at a place called Tiesse-de-la-Haye. The cemetery was discovered through the working of a brickfield, and the excavations have brought to light about ten cinerary urns (ollae cinerariae), nearly all with their lids (opercula), and accompanied by votive vases of the most diverse shapes (lagenae, cooking-pots, paterae, cups, etc.), among which special mention must be made of a large and beautiful bottle of blue glass with a hexagonal belly, a round neck, and a broad flat handle, stretched and striated; and of a flagon of pale-blue glass, in the shape of a carafe, in an admirable state of preservation.

The admirable work on the Grand' Place is being carried on apace, and will result in a thing of beauty without a parallel in the world. The roof of the house called 'The Swan' still remains to be restored. The designs are all prepared, and it is hoped that the work will be finished this year, so that the façade may not be hidden by scaffolding next year, when the Liège exhibition will attract a number of visitors to Belgium. The roof and the dormer-windows are to be completely renewed. At the summit the dome will be surrounded by a balustrade. The rather clumsy gable over the Rue Charles Buls is to be relieved with ornament; and on that side also the dormer-windows are to be replaced, and the common modern chimney is to make room for another more in accord with the general style of the building. With the subsequent restoration of the fronts of the houses called The Pigeon' and The King of Bavaria,' this important artistic undertaking will be completed.

Foreign Correspondence

LIÈGE

It is stated that the section of ancient art in the exhibition to be held next year at Liège promises to be of the highest interest. The initial formalities are now all complete, and the assistance of several most important collectors has been obtained. Among them special mention should be made of H.S.H. the Duke of Arenberg, who is sending some marvellous specimens of the mediaeval goldsmiths' work of the valley of the Maas, besides tapestries, pictures, and miniatures of members of the family of la Marck.

THE STUDIO OF THE VAN EYCKS AT GHENT

I have kept till the end the news of a discovery of the highest interest in connexion with the lives of the Van Eycks, and one which is destined to make no small stir among students of the history of the Flemish primitives. Space being limited, I will state the facts as succinctly as possible. It is well known that on one of the panels of the famous polyptych of The Mystic Lamb there is painted a view of a town which has been recognized as a view over the Rue Courte-du-jour at Ghent. In the foreground on the right is the Steen, on the site of which was afterwards erected the primitive little butcher's shop, near the present bird market. Above it rises the tourelle of the weavers' chapel, which was used in turn as a butcher's shop, a pleasure-resort, and a place of auction, and is now a garage for motor-cars. Further away, in the background, is the old fortified gate which defended the passage of the bridge over the Canal of the Coppersmiths. On the left of the scene is a representation of another front of the Steen, which stood on that side at the corner of the Rue Courte-du-jour and the Rue de Brabant. And now for the discovery. The demolition of a large house in the Rue du Gouvernement has just revealed the old walls of a steen believed to have belonged to Judocus Vijdt, the rich and generous patron who commissioned the brothers Van Eyck for the polyptych of The Mystic Lamb. On the third floor of this building, some 40 feet up and about 88 feet from the Rue du Gouvernement, a square window was discovered, of the Romanic order, and exactly answering both in orientation and position to the view reproduced by the painters. It seems certain, therefore, that this was the room in which Hubert and Jan, or, at any rate, Jan Van Eyck, painted the famous polyptych of The Mystic Lamb. K. PETRUCCI.

NOTES FROM HOLLAND1 THE Rijksmuseum has received on loan from Mr. Simon Maris a portrait by his famous uncle, Matthew Maris. It represents a lady in black, three-quarter length, and is a little less than life-size. Translated by A. Teixeira de Mattos.