The Portland daily press., 1889-11-06
CONCERNING BOOKS,
BY E. CAvAZZA.

Six Portraits. By Mrs. Schuyler van
Rensselaer,. This series of portraits of the
artists Luca della Robbia, Correggio, WIN.
Blake. Corot, George Fuller and Winslow
Homer, appears at first an arbitrary and
rather oddly assorted choice among the names
upon the roll of honor of art. The connection
and clue Is found in their common possession
OF Temperament" the quality which Mrs.
Van Rensselaer, illustrates as neither that of
mere recorder, COPPER, or falsiier of the facts
OF nature, but transmuter of them. And
she considers that the wide differences
among the six artists chosen exemplars of
this trait will only emphasize its significance
Luca della Robbia, born at Florence about
the close of the 18th century, is popularity
known, not by the essence of his art,
but by his invention of enamelled
colored terra Gotta He had his
school, his immediate pupils and his
imltators, so that much of the work called
by his name is that of his best scholar, his
nephew Andrea, or by less competent dis
ciples. He was not the first to enamel pot
tery-the Italian faience dates back at least
two centuries before his time; nor was he
the first to use terra Gotta in architectural
ornament, nor to color statues Mrs Van
Rensselaer, sums up his patent right of in
vention as follows: He was the first to apply
color by means of enamel to sculpture in re-
lief and this to monumental decoration. The
distinguishing quality of his temperament is
found in the delicate balance of reality and
ideality which is translated into simple and
unaffected form.
The impassioned delight in pure beauty
and the isolation of Correggio are perhaps
the factors in that which most people are
content to call his "Correggiosity." Like the
''sinfulness of SIM" it is an essence which
has no comparison outside of ITSELF The
marvellous period of the italian Renaissance
was at its height of splendor, every local
ruler patronized his court painter sculptor
and poet, and the artists and writers jour-
neyed from city to city, impelled by an in.
satiate desire for learning Correggio only
took no part in all this vivid motion. Still in
his teens, he had terminated his studies at
Mantova and Modena, and was again in his
little native village, which he left only to
remove to Parma for a few years. Mrs.Van
Rensselaer, writes with discrimination upon
the reasons which may have induced the self
concentration of CorreggiO, while all around
him life was unrestrained and'individuality
was valued in its every expression. He in
habited an imaginary paradise, idyllic, rose
hued, delicate and desirable, and from thence
came the figures which illumined his canvas
Equally imaginary, less radiant, but still
more vivid and compelling was the world of
visions beheld by William Blake His art
was faulty and unequal, and not seldom
failed to do justice to his conceptions. But
the immense verify, the absolute originality
of Blake's work make it adorable to small
circle of connoisseurs. If he had been
greatly skilful painter, his art would have
been one of the wonders of the world.
The charming and conscientious spirit of
Corot, his long delayed rewards, his ex-
quisite art and not less exquisite comprehen-
sion of nature, are depicted in one of the
most sympathetic essays of the volume, in
spring and critical
The last two portraits are those of George
Fuller and Winslow Homer, characteristic
American painters; the one, Hawthorne Of
the Dalette-half Puritan, half poet. with a
subtle luminous atmosphere of sentiment all
his own; the other frankly, almost rudely,
interpreting nature, doing no injustice of
understatemt mt to the scarlet sunsets, inky
waves, or clear ultramarine skies of that
enfdnt terrible of meteOrology, the American
climate.
Mrs. Van Rensselaer's style is competent
and winning. Her criticism appears well
founded on taste and cultivation, and is
offered with the courteous modesty of know
ledge and good-breeding. Such work as hers
is genuine stimulus to popular sentiment
for Art; and, in some of the foremost
magazines, has proved itself highly accept
able. Boston: Houghton & Miffiin. Port
land: Loring, Short & Harmon. Price
$125)
Summer Holidays. By Theodore Child.
Mr.. Child is an observing traveller and a
ready reporter. His volume of collected
sketches contains some graphic pages, and
will prove agreeable reading to those who,
having travelled in Europe and in the East,
like to be reminded of their tour, and to the
great army of the Stay-at-home guards. 1t
can hardly be said that Mr.. Child offers
much that is new in comment or description;
the sketches hardly rise above the average
OF clever newspaper correspondence. Down
the Danube and in Constantinople are per-
haps the most fortunate of these chapters;
some rather out-of the-w way French towns
are interestingly described. In the more usu-
ID Itinerary, Mr.. Child's notes are inferior to
mucn mat has been already written and
widely read. 1t Is rather amusing to hear
him' Win the Florentine cathedral of Santa
Maria del Fiore for text, decry the magnif-
cent italian Gothic architecture, throwing