New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1894-12-07
NEW PUBLICATIONS.
BOOKS OF ARTISTIC BIOGRAPHY AND
HISTORY.

II. "A
p pmas j. E' B. Iip na ' Company.
THE Ers hFE Called AHR GENTS S NGF1
Putnams Sons
GEORGE RoMNEY AND HIS ART. BY Hda
Gamiin With eighteen Illustrations Octave
pp viii. S32 Macmillan & Co.
"A TEXT BOOK OF THE HISTORY OF PAINT
ING BY John c. Van Dyke L. H. D. illus
trated. octave. PIP. xviii. $50. Longmans. Green
SCHOOLS AND MASTERS OF SCULPTURE.
BY 4. G. Radcliffe. Illustrated Octave. PIP.
xviii 5eS d. Appleton & Co.
BELLE ARTI AT VENICE Complied by e. F.
N. Keary. Illustrated. Octave. PIP XIII Ill
Macmillan Il Co.
An artist of very ordinary talents will some
times make an excellent author Mr.. W. p
Firth that distinguished Academician who tossed
I'D as to whether he should be an auctioneer or
a PAINTER was a case in point. His "reminiscences
were we'll worth reading. Mr.. Henry stacy
Marks follows his example and provides par
allel to him in more ways than one Like MT.
Firth the author Of pen and Pencil sketches
won his entrance into the sacred shades OF BUR
lngton House through proin~>es kind OF ART
which 1t is impossible to avoid calling mediocre
Like Mr.. Firth he has ever since been popular
and prosperous. he has been fortunate in MS
friends and he has made book about them
which is wholesome and entertaining. Or course
the book contains a great deal about the author
himself-the curious reader may even hnd on
one of its pages a sketch of the back OF ihe
authors head-but one can forgive Mr.. Marks his
egotism, 1t is so amiable. so inorens'Ve Ana
one likes him. somehow for the company he has
kept 1t has been London company. chiefly lor
Mr. Marks confesses to being an arrant Cockney'
"a police and pavement man; and wnile ne ce'e-
brates several charming excursions abroad ana
<ho fry IA
en,sodes is due to the "St Johns Wood Clique,
whose personal flavor pervades the book
Calderon Leslie and Storey belonged to the
CLIQUE and they made Frederick Walker an non
orary member. 1t is 10 the period suggested 10y
these names that Mr.. Marks returns Many Oh
his early comrades still living. but MS MEM
cries deal principally with a generation that mas
passed His record dates back to the hlues'
when Leech was dominating punch ana wheh
Il was possible for one to speak of Mr. Du
Maurier In terms of prophecy. Charles heehe
was one Of our authors ntimates when heehe
was Just beginning to make himself KNOWN anu
these recoections revert. in short TO the Gays
when Frederick Walker, Leighton ana Miiiais
working for the old "Cornhllr' ana ohce
Week" were the most conspicuous facts on the
younger side Of the art movement In England
saving ALWAYS Rossetti and his circle. which for
a
Marks seems to have thrown in his fortunes with
the normal groups Of the day. There was never
ANYTHING revolutionary in either his art or his
d,snosi,,on Ruskin he knew and so well that
he can print some delightful letters from the
critic In these Volumes bu: his friendship does
No, anpear TO have influenced him in favor OF the
Pre-Raphaelites One Of his most amusing pas
sapes Is devoted TO some rhymes made twenty
years or so ago. as follows:
Well YES am p. r. B.. one OF the chosen
With high and pure masinnss and some amount
I'm painting now a subject. Dante taken III al
Which great authority declares is "exquisi'ey
present time.
1t appears that Mr.. Ruskin has asserted that
a picture by Rossetti. Mais or Holman Hunt
was Of more value than three pictures by any
other painter"
Mr.. Marks preferred to pin his faith on Fred
.r,ok Walker 10 whom he dedcates two interest
ing chapters. He sympathized indeed SO
strongly with that remarkable young painter
that he was not afraid to demur to Mr. Ruskin =
rather celebrated criticism in the Times ad-
dressed to Mr.. Marks himself at his request out
In the upshot TO his severe chagrin IL is IN
structive 10 read Ruskins careful letter in the
O
Justly been gathering in volume since his death.
Ruskin appreciated his man up TO certain point
he felt his genius and applauded it; but he had
crave doubts as TO Walkers simplicity" and
regarded him as an artist saturated with arthce
He talks sadly Of 1.-The ridiculous mower. galvan-
tied lgin in his attitude" who figures in The
Harbour of Refuge" glancing contemptuousy
thereby at the painters fine classical tendency
The truth is that Ruskin then as now was sur
fering from the atrab.lious Impotence with all
things urban which has inspired some OF the
most trt\ :hant outbursts in his writings On
another occasion he wrote to Mr.. Marks: Les
lies book sweet and honest as 1t Is has given
me a worse notion than ever had before or the
elements Of artists life in London. You associate
only with each other. and you want to be at the
Ton Of the tree-when the top Of 1t is far in the
clouds above without any possibility OF sigh'
from that Thames level. How many posts has
Leslie drawn in that book altogether? Are they
the souls of deaf Londoners? Good heavens! II
you and he and few Of your grlies apd ladies,
would only put on hobnailed shoes and start on
a walking tour OF France and the Tyrol, and
see what life means, and the earth. and the sea
and tweak the pcture-deaers' noses the first thing
whenever you come into a town,-and | could
get a glimpse Of you en- route" In a further note
Ruskin falls foul Of a japanese book OF birds.
There's a peacock in my book he says
(which looks like cabfu Of old straw tucked
through broken grdron!" How this would
please Mr.. Whistler, but. above ALL those tip
toeing disciples Of his who fancy that Hokusai
has said the last word in pictorial art.
Mr. Marks may have been in need OF his
friends admonitions as to rural exercise but IL
fs nevertheless. writ large over his book that his
temperament has always been healthy one. MS
appreciation OF frolics and fun as Keen as couId
be- There occur all through his text little odds
and ends of London humor sometimes the
comicality Of the street. sometimes the nonsense
~ tho music halls He tells a laughabe anec-