Art Notes [pp. 460-462]

4THE LADIES' REPOSITORY.
-Two of the new members recently
elected to the Royal Academy of Great
Britain are among the most excellent painters of the English school-George Leslie
and Sir Jolhn Gilbert. The greater number
of superior artists that are arising in Great
Britain make membership in the Royal
Academy more and more difficult of attainment. Hence, the greater average age of
those wvho have been elected academicians
during the last fifteen years. While no one
now towers so far above his fellows as did
Sir Joshua Reynolds, Thomas Gainsborotugh,
Flaxman, and others, it is a very promising
fact that the average plane of artistic excellence and achievement in Great Britain is
higher than ever before. Sir John Gilbert
probably stands at the head of the English
school. Philip Hamerton says: "He is one
of the very strongest men we have, if all
things are considered, fertility and power of
invention, abundance of knowledge well
under command, comprehensive grasp of
material, and mastery in the arrangement of
it. Though he paints differently from Rubens, there has never been an Englishman
so nearly approaching Rubens in a certain
kind of prolific artistic energy."
-To the enthusiastic students of Greek
art, the mediaeval Venetian tower on the
Acropolis at Athens has long been an offense. Its long talked-of removal has at last
been accomplished by the combined means
of Dr. Sch-liemann's purse and the Arclheological Society's hands. A few objects of
secondary value were discovered on its removal, but none that seem to awaken any
general interest.
-The loan exhibitions in the National
Academy of Design and the Metropolitan
Museum of Art, in New York City, are by
far the finest which our citizens have ever
been privileged to study in this country. It
was a most happy plan of a few more thoughtful men to make these collections during
this Centennial Year, and thus show to visitors from other lands what some of our
richer collectors of paintings in this country
have been able to accomplish. It was also
a most generous act on the part of the owners to place their superior wnorks where the
public at large could enjoy their study. Visitors returning from Philadelphia via New
York have largely availed themselves of the
opportunities for art study which these ex.
hibitions have afforded; and have almost
invariably found more real satisfaction in
New Yorkl than in all the wild confusion of
the Art Museum at the Centennial Exposition. It is gratifying to note that steps have
been taken to throw open the Newv York
collections during alternate evenings,-thus
giving the hard-workled business and professional man opportunity to enjoy their
benefits.
-D. Appleton & Co., New York, have
recently published a work on art which
promises to be unusually popular and useful.
It is "Schools and Masters of Painting," by
A. G. Radcliffe. To the unprofessional
reader who is desirous to gain ready infor.
mation concerning pictures and artists that
are most talked about, this volume will be
especially welcome. A brief account of
the several chapters may best give the scope
of the book, and be of benefit to a class of
our readers. Chapter I. is devoted to pagan
painting in Greece, Assyria, Pompeii, Etruria, etc. The second chapter treats of the
incipient stages of Christian art as contained
in the Catacombs, etc., also of symbols and
to the accession of Constantine. Byzantine
and Miniature Painting is the subject of the
third chapter. The following chapters discuss -Early Italian Art; Traditions of Art:
an intensely attractive chapter; Italian
Painting in the fifteenth century; Leonardo
d(a Vinci and Michael Angelo; Raphael and
Correggio; Painting in Venice; later Italian
Painting; early German and Flemish Paint.
ing; German Painting in the fifteenth and
sixteenth centuries; later German and Flem.
ish Painting; Painting in Holland; Painting
in Spain; Painting in France; Painting in
England; Painting in the nineteenth century, a chapter iwhlich will be found specially
interesting to American rea(ders; Schools of
Painting; World Pictures- this being a
treatment of a dozen of the best known
masterpieces of the world. The author adds
an Appendix devoted to a description of
some remarkable pictures in the chief artcenters of Europe. The book will be de.
servedly popular, and tvill be very useful to
a class of non-professionals who have not
read widely in Art History.
462
[Nov.,