New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1898-11-26
VOLUMES ON ART.
ARCHITECTURE. PAINTING AND SACRED
PORTRAITURE.

rUKRETs. TOWERS AND TEMPLES. The Great
by Famous Writers Edited end translated by
Esther Singleton With numerous ILLUSTRATIONS
Octave PIP xii BIZ Dcdd Mead Co
THE BIBLE OF ST MARX. sain; Marks Church:
Robertson n D. With eighty-two Illustrations.
Octave Pr XVI. s7s Dodd, Mead & co.
THE LIFE OF OUR LORD IN ART, with Some
ACCOUNT Of the Artists TTS9'pT sre OF nf Hh
Illustrated octave. PIP. xii SO Hough'on
Miif,in d CO.
REX REGUN. A Painters Study Of the Likeness ,ss
Present. 0n;'' n ..y'' BY sir wyko Bayss r. s.
Illustrated Octave. PIP. xxx 1872. Inc Mac"'-
Ian Co.
Miss Sngleton's volume is a great pleasure
and \ great relief 1t is relief because most
writer's treating of the great uildinss OF the
world. even when they address themselves TO
the general reader In popular treatises. are as
posed 70 give altogether too technical an ac-
count Of the edfces they discuss Now TINS IS
all very well for those who desire in reading
Of architectural monuments TO acquant 'henh-
selves above all with matters OF Architectural
STYLE but we are sure that there are thousands
who wish TO he made to feel not only the schol-
arship of.a building. but its most intansloie
charm Miss Slngleton's enterprise has been TO
convey to her readers as much OF that charm
as possible. She gives us the beauty OF FAMOUS
buildings filtered through the temperaments OF
score or more Of writer's not professional
architects.
Her list includes practically all the renowned
structures Of the world and the descriptions are
taken from the books of men living and dead.
Thus we see the Cathedral Of Antwerp through
Thackeray's eyes and Notre Dame through
ic 1rayy q
picture Of the great pile at Burgos. and Ruskin'
whose words reproduce for US the glores Ct st.
Marks brings also before Gottos Campanile
and the cleaning front Of Amiens. The Palace
of Hoyrood is celebrated by David Mason, and
the Parthenon is drawn by the late John Ad-
dington Symonds. But We need not specify
further. What we have wished TO indicate II
the citation Of these names is the variet| OF
taste, feeling and literary art which dlst'1-
cuisines the book before us. 1t would be hard
10 hit upon happier idea We 90 not want
diagram of Westminster Abbey or Windsor
Castle or the Cathedral OF Sieua. We want
rather. the impression made upon an magma
tive mind by building which - hGif an archi-
tectural triumph and half a crystaliiz2tion OF
human aspiration and poetry The passages
quoted by Miss Singleton are long enough II
each case adequately to cover the subject. but
that compact impression which is tie best
Every building. finally. is show1 III clear
well-prnted Photographic illustration.
The title ot Dr. Robertson's book gives US in
advance feelings Of douo; about the value Of
his researches Mr. Rush.n has shown US az
when he confines hnosc'f to the description or
the sublime jewel in thu crown Of Venice It is
possible 10 recreate In printed words the very
form and radiance Of the theme. hut no dis
eliminating Euskiuan needs to be told that
with every lapse Of the master into vein or
mystical moralizng the truth and force Of his
work are yitajed. SO when We picked W D-
Robertsons volume with its thuar implication
that he meant 70 treat ST. Marks with lore
concern for medieval symbolism than for the
actual beauty Of the building we anticipated
sweet sentiment and much obscurity. But he
proves his case. II he is at pains constantly to
identify the great church with the ecclesias-
teal and political ideals that peculiarly distn-
guisred the Venetian Republic AMI persistently
absorbed the energies of her people and artists.
he does not carry his love Of parallels too far
or smother his description in blanket Of fan
tastical hypo- heses The book is remarkably
lucia practical and instructive for work that
is oonfessedly based as much on religious emo
ton as on aesthetic taste Turning its pages.
We are conscious Of St MARKS as a building and
as symbol without the balance between the
two ever being disturbed Dr. Robertson owes
his coherency not only to the healthy tone Of his
feeling. but 10 the excellent system with which
he has pursued his analysis. He reads his Nene-
tian Bible, he calls il. under three divisions.
which ne enumerates as follows: |, The title
page, inscribed the Facade 2. the Old
Testament as inscribed in the Atrium, 2. the
" IT.
Following this sequence he takes up one by
one. the carvings and mosaics in which the
thoughts Of the ancient builders and their fell
low-Venetians are expressed. No matter how
far afeld these things send his own inagina-
ton, his explioaton is concise and ineligible.
His words are reinforced. furthermore. by ad
miraHe illustrations. photographed especially
for his purpose We give him no higher
praise than by declaring that he has provided
in this book a thoroughly disable key to thu
labyrinth of color and form into which the
makers Of st. Marks threw immortal in
spiration.
1t is now two years or more since MISC Hurn
earned the lasting gratitude Of the pubic by
editing with exemplary thorougrness and tact
Mrs. Jamesons valuable works or art in its
sacred and legendary relations Those inter.
esting books, mines Of curious and suggestive
lore which, we may add, have never been val
ued altogether as much as justice demanded.
were helpful to high degree when Miss Hurll
took them in hand. Correcting the mint and
cumin Of their text. traversing their iustra-
tive machinery in the light OF the latest re-
searches. she gave them. in The new edition. an
even stronger significance than they had pre-
viousy possessed The task easily prepared
her for the execution Of the volume which she
now publishes over her own name dedicated
TO that history Of our Lord In art which Mrs
Jameson herself contemplated, but was pre-
vented by death from carrying to completion