New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1892-12-23
ILLUSTRATED BOOKS.
"oI;D ITALIAN MASTERS" AND "ENGLlSH
CATHEDRALS'

ENGLISH CATHEDRALs ~ MIS- o33u nirrs Tv
Joseph Pennel; also with plans ana c CSsl am
III ss xxx '''' -''" '''"'
t. is hard TO resist eulOgigiHg the volume en-
filed Old Italian Masters" just as triumph oil
the engraver's art; but that would be more anus
ing to the amateur OF prints than TO IN" general
reader and il Is in the hsnd0 OF the ht'er 'l"V
Mr.. Coles and Mr. Stillmans productions are ues-
tined 70 do the greatest and most lasting goon'
ANY ono who has observed the stream OF TOURISTS
that passes through such galleries as the Ol'~l'
spch churches az Santa Maria del Carrnlne' must
have been struck by the helplessneSs OF many u
them when in the presence OF the less l""iiii"i
names Of italian art Ruskin has done much 10
eoread the fame Of at least the first od the "lo.-
4cechi: and kind Of sentimental interest rs mlch
ss any aesthetic curiosity has given Fra Angehco
O. standing among tie untravelled But IL is Only
uhcn we reach the giants of the later tmc, l"o-
pardo. Michael Angelo and Raphael, ana 'he less
GREAT but stiu very great men VINO ioiSW "iVA'
until the decay of the art, that we ina syhp''nS
and understanding widespread among the people,
These artists have been reproduced ana 'Ahe"
About until an elementary knewedSe Oh ''7n
achievements is fairly universal. Inc frluiidNeo
and their immediate successors nave oeeh '"iNeu
about also, but not excessively, ana 'nei ""iN'
bavo not been REPRODUCED either extensively or
coflsf
rsted by the literary ability of Mr.. Stlllman, ana
the enterprise of the Century Company TO orlhs
within +he covers of convenient ana Compare
+ivclv inexpensive volume an adequate statement
Of tho DEVELOPMENT of Italian art frem the naVe's
If Cfrabue If rot from the even greater sr'''sS-
rcss of the Byzantines, who preceded Mm) 10 ."c
"Correrciosity" of COrreggio-that last ein"h"'io'
from the expiring refinement OF the schooi-"i"
20 +he pusant, materialism Of tie slNtc"htii cc"-
turv Vcnetians. This book, therefore, whl9h pays
% much attention 10 Duccio ana Mcihml "e "
Andrea del Sarto and Veroncse, which, without
hos,o oncvlonaedic. il, vet comprehensive, has the
merit of filling place IN the l!lnsU"'eu ii'oi"
ture Of art which all the handbooks eNtant ana
oil tbe mates of the Arundel Society have been
,rob,s m fill Remembering that Mi. zoe Has
surnossed all the efforts of previous tahsia'ols'
u,,e+bsr they have employed the methods oil c'ch-
inc engravinc hthography photography OF any
other art or process, it will be seen that 'ie li
rortance Of his WORK cannot easily be oVer-eS'r
mated.
For Mr. Cole has not simply engraved nun
,,or of naintinqs by rare littlc-known ana much
known masters lie has exhibited III fuH 'll@
evolution of a natural artistic genius 'hrou-h
ia most winning phases and at u"o "HV'
srcb an action is most needed he chaehScs '"'
tbouohtless devOtees of modern cIcNclIlcss anu
heartlessncss to turn to an art instinct Win > Ia
plcity, sincerity and purity. SPEAKING "i Nail
tegna's perspective which, IL Is true i"',, A
,iss of being overlooked Mr.. Stillman calls IL
"loborieus ostentatious," and hints that the cul-
+;va+od Poduan was 50 fond of his skill, which
,.s after all limited "a TO drag it in with al eye
=. odventitious effect: but if there is one thln9
&C which we may be certain in Man'esnas PANT
ings as in all the paintings Mr. Cole mas cnstdVs'
save perhaps the example Of lintore''o) IL Is Vi0
absence of pose Of the insistence upon pe{{Soh"'
traits upon eccentric standpolnts WHICH AZ VIC"
makes modern work profound in its self-assur-
ance. meretricous and Incapable OF stimula,lhs
the mind TO gentle and ennObllng 'hough'S IH'io
4; scance touched ever so slightly touched, Dy
s.l.consceusncss in Mantesna, as there Is science
of IN uuobtrusive sort in Gozzoli, who was born
oiora, wears before him. and in Giovanni B1lini
o,d Verrocbio. who were also his contemporaries
PIT in none of these artists is there the faintest
shadow Of sophsticat.on. OF that practically
Il % cnti.e line remained innocent LYeh Mlchaei
Angeles strenuous. adventurous temperament eS-
caped tie taiat Raphael. for all his intellectual
tondcuccs escaped II I o. and II Is u Venice that
W, ralst 20 to ill it in work that Is SIN me-
70 that monument Of s1lhistication, the ScuolA
di San Rocco with TntOrettos splendid occoia-
,eus From the Iir~t TO the last, If we cAcluie
tho men who proclaimed the advent Of whatever
y
i unchsngcd-t j. ever tie note of I'M
aGrcted pure beauty. The religious painters
land most old Italian art is religi US were real
ISIS in their way-although time las brought to
+be modern man a sense of reality in art which
unfts him 10 see at once tAe rejection IN their
mixtures Of the life about them-but the forms III
which they sought to embody their simple, rev.
erent ideas were always purged oil any ss&geS-
tons out OF keeping with tie gracious and lovely
snjrit which presided over their placid art. The
csseDce Of dramatic is action, If not passion.
and il is worth while n0tin. that until the Ke-
Nuisance had become intensely complex AMI eX-
detrimental there were no dramatic painters IN
I+ol,, Coulparc TIE Miracle OF st. Mark by
Sintoretto, in the Academia at Neni,e Ut IS IN
,bis kook with any OF the lrescoes in the Campo
S9pto at Pisa such as the battle piece by SPIN
clio Arctino. which Mr. Cole has engraved. and
SOC what a gulf divides the action in one from
the action in the other. Attitude was far from
,ei,o stiff or meaningless in old Italian art, and
.ltboucb\the pose of the mead of the Virgin
.ended TO become stereotyped, it was made aouhd-
aptlv expressive as was also the position OF the
figure itself and OF every other figure In tie we'll
known Scriptural scenes. But the tremendous
effects Michael Angelo could get out OF gesture
~, Of movement arrested at q critical moment.
which Sienorc, Raphael, Neron'se, IIntoretto
and even Palma could get in the same way, were
unknown to the men before them. There Is re-
narkable dignity in the Christ Enthroned' by
Fra Angelica, which Mr.. Cole has engraved from
the great fresco at Oryeto, bat one as only t. r.
call the awe-inspiring uplifted arm in the " Last
Judgment" Of the SeXtinc chapel TO see how Ill
Gpitely greater the suggestion is in Michael An
eelo's treatment Of the detail. The thoughts eX-
pressed are not identical, but leaving out for a
moment the question Of the nature OF the thought.
whatever il may bc, it is expressed more forclby
in one case than in the other, simply because tho
artists deeper knowledge and finer skill have
enabled him to fix with eXactitude the balance
between the physical and the mental in the arm
and hand The arm and hand in the " Last