New-York tribune., 1886-05-25
NEW PUBLICATIONS.
AN ART HANDBOOK.

,trIP1uRE IN RENAIssANCE AND MODERN by
IL sspkh :, oTE Illustrated. New-l"rk' oer'o"e'
Wexford.
T,s volupc belongs the series called Illustrated
uandl ooks Of Art History" 1t deals with the Psan
md FloIentine sculpture of the thirteenth 40"
fourteenth centuries the masters and the artist aho
vi the eeuth century the architect sculpt"rs oil Tue
Renaissance: sculpture in the sixteenth century
and the Sienese school. Renaissance sculpture o""uo
OF Italy dismissed with ten pages. There arc ON"
ters upon Canova and Thorwalisen with me"sro "
ofmodern sculpture IN Continental couh'rio' " -,
Eng and M scott says In his preface that VIC "V
Of history can be conbined with the s'Sn"'e'V
handbook only by a rcsolutc compression OF i'e'
s necessarily crsmpng to the author ana proo'o9 "'
for the reader" or the dryness or Ms po"A '"o''' Nv
question The author lacks a sense oi per'Pco'N' "''
IS constantly obtrudine details Hhe '"e 1"o "
Nicola Pissno's birthplace. which are utterly u"'"
nortaut IN so limited work. This IS weArisome COM
pilsion Of facts -
Itis no, the book 0. man saturated with his subject
bn able 10 take "A broad view Of II in its entirety 10
emphasize duly the essential features. ana TO ho'u
his fund OF minute Information in reserve Inc writer
ha. been decidedly hampered by his materials ana con
sdcrng the number of ssble works upon the SUI
1ect 1t to that this "hintoo1k Is an unnec-
cssary ingciOn in his recitss OF facts nor Ill
his attempted criticisms does Mr.. Scott tell us any
thing new, and the lack OF original treatment may oe
cone painful even In history. His opinions o' h'"N
sance work are merely Conventional and his opinions o
modern sculpture iniusnced by the meretric'"uS
ideas prevailing Italy OF today. HIS declaration
that all Canova's "marked by the same pure
simpicy and classical idcaty proves At once the s-
thors uuitness to act guide for art students lie
makes 10 mention Canovas senIimentasn. his over
wrought nicey in details and the hammered and friyo
lous seeking grace" which the chief character
istic ~ he scuptors laer 1hss but one exam
pe OF opinions which than worthless for thcy
are misleading. Mr.. scotts knowledge of American
eculptors is limited those resident IN
Italy. In other words. he makes no he"
tion whatever of the strongest American scuptors
of the day. OF modern Italy seems iata
10 healthy vigorous and truly great art fact whlch
the popular mind IS slow to accept although our plo-
neers GrcenOugh and Powers are gradually being taken
at trier estimate. In France NJ. scott couples Barye
with Ere MET dismsslns both with the simple comment
remarkable for sculptures Of animals Atruer standard
OF would have given Bryc large share OF the space
Occupled by CanOva Rude and Carpeaux receive very
little attention. 70 Ill., OF the most vigorous OF the
OF the day Ia not mentioned Bat III Is
harily worth while pOn; out further instances OF
mis- eading prominence and omissions for this made
ouae compilation cannot lie nended as deserving
Of serious consideration The rangenisnt OF the BOOK
bears OF haste and careessness. The first two
"books' parts numbered separately. and chap
ter upDn Nj h,e Angelo ,rtei in the mude, intro
duces third set numbers. The illustrations are
shabby. On page 81 Ghibertis Offering Of Isaac is
attributed 10 Brunelesco and vice versa