New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1885-06-12
SCHOOLS OF PAINTING.
WARM PRAISE FROM Mr.. RUsKIN.


THE ENGLISH SCHOOL OF rA IN PSoessa Rashn
Tipmsfrated DID. $50. Cassell Co. New-iorA'
g.. aoc,ors have met III consultation without
v,o,en. disagreement. Mr. Ruskn in his preface 70 NJ
rnssneau,s volume pronounces 1t a piece OF en.ro!
candid Intimately searching and delicatey nteeen.
French criticism" Nor is the qualifying adec"Ve "so
IN disparagibg sense. There has been ht'e W o
age Mr.. RuskIn in latter day English az. anu ,
eism and he is rather attracted than repcheo Ny INC 0
that worker In his own field is OF foreign birth' herc
"A Mr. Russns verdict: "After being FOR az eas' nan
.'r .roIvzea nv their isolation and self suficency
The British schools OF painting now In the contrary
danger OF losing their national character IN their en-
deayor TO become sentimenaily GERMAN oraina''o"y
Parsian or decoratively Asiatic I'll singular ucs"
IN me 10 hear this acute and kindly Frenchman assns
ms that we have some metal OF our own, ana hterpe's
70 his own countrymen some OF the insnar ineiis VI
school which hitherto has neither recommended 'sen ny
politeness confrned itself by correctness nor us
tipguished itself by imagination" 1hat MI husA'
does not follow NJ Chesneau In many OF MS opniono
win be readily und, rstaod. On the whoe' 'ho io'0
would prove a critic OF English ART 'iah '"o
latter and he would find fruitful text III the e'uehco
OF lecrepitude tho Royal Academy ana oi ciuuo P
sumption at the Grosvenor Gallery.
NJ Chesneau divides his subject INTO TWO io'i
separa.cd by the rise OF the preRaphaete pro'"e o
about $50 The first part treated under Tue eehe
which several exceptions night be taken. we pche'o
that some of the earlier portions OF this volume arc
renrinted from NJ Chesneau's Rival Nauohs IN hrI I"
book originating from the authors observations a' no
Paris aud London exhibitions OF 1919 ana iooZ INC
value of the present work is not essehlaiiy i"lai
tberehv Int there should have been come ackIoweue
ment In the chapters upon The od Masters NJ.
Chesneau reiuyigorafes such well-worn themes Us
ocarths rank as artist and moralst the comparison
of REYNOLDS and Gaiusborough. the prevalence Vi 'no
literary or moral element in the WORKS OF the eaiie'
English genre painters. and in the pictures Oh "hAio
and mis- followers the standing OF Bonlngon' the eAn
of the influence exeyted by Constable Turner's system
or change of systems and the work OF Blake ana otot
hard We may disagree with his piquant summaries
hut we are Interested aud often amused, as wheh ne
pauses in panied amazement before tue strange MS
torca paintings OF the oyer-amoitious schooi "ni'n
included Benjamin West. Northcote, RUSSELL Ely anu
Haydon. The strongly intellectual character Oh Ing
Nsb art has impressed and we may say, depressed Nj.
Chesneau in way that almost any student outsi"e VI
England can readily appreciate Inc literary eiene"
and the sneuarity of tho English paintings SHOWN at
the exhibition Of 1855 chiefly responsible ior tne
OF curiosity In this work by the french,
with whom Of totally different Latin ldea Oh
art preyails There is keen analysis Of the pre-
Raphaee theories whose influence has now become SO
modified that need not repeat NJ Chesneaus ex-
posures OF their The latter part OF the book Is
not characterized by the thoughtfuncs and phiosophc
due we fapcy to the barrenness OF the themes pre-
scented In modern English art The artists OF native OF
acquired force like Leighton, Alma Tadema, Mil!als'
Watts and some of the landscape and marine painters
receive probably much attention as could be accorded
within the authors limits. Speaking OF MI. Wattss
later works and curious loftiness OF aim" NJ
Chesneau says He is the only painter OF the Enshsh
school who treated the female nude simply from the
point of view of STYLE with no other object than 10
realize its plastic beauty" After some reservations
regarding complicated compositions" exaggerated
drawing" and sombre coloring." Nj. Chesneau pro
pounces Mr. Watts to be the only Engishman VINO mas
an appreciation of the nude IN art combined with the
ability to portray it," The volume closes wa snort
chapter upon English caricature
THE FLEMISH SCHOOL OF PAINTING. BY Pro
PRssoR A. j. WAUTERs Translated by Mrs HENRY
RossEI- New-York, Cassell Co., 1883.
Professor Wauters has adopted the division OF Flemish
art into periods, beginning with the frescoes and
paintings vellum of the thirteenth and fourteenth
centuries Then follow the Gothic school OF the hfeenth
century healed by the Van Eyck the Romansts OF the
sixteenth century, including the Breughe Ruoens ana
his school the seventeenth century the decline OF
Flemish art in century, aud the classical ana
romantic painters Of the present century, Thus we arc
taken from the frescoes in the hospital Of the
Bylooue at Client TO works Of the Baron Legs
and Gays Such extended survey must be character
lied by many judcious omissions If is to give us the
spirit and philosophy rather than the dry bones OF
nations but Professor WdutefS "
present long catalogue of painters great and small and
the rapid OF unimportant names soon grows
wearsome. AS a carefully worked up list of almost all
the Flemings who have handled brush, this vol
ume may be of value for reference But the author
when ne allows himself any comments proves neither
suggestive udicious critic In attempting to scpa
rate entirely the Flemish from the Dutch school he has
attempted the impossible as he half acknowledges him
SELF In falling to emphasize the unity OF
tho motive realism which inspired both
schools and to trace the probable origin
of both Flemish and Dutch art in influences common to
BOTH antedatng the Van Eycks, Professor Wauters has
made some omissions which his history could not afford
One distinction which did existthe religious difference
between the Roman Catholic painters Of Brabant and
the Protestant Dutch artists-receves no intelligent
recognition In this volume Professor Wauerss applca
ton OF adectives TO Memlng. Rubens and Van Dyck
adds nothing to of knowledge. With Fromen
tn Tame and Kuger accessible to every student
see no additional value in this volume beyond that Of
reasonably complete catalogue. The illustrations
cheap and fmsy.
New Publications.