New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1900-02-27

him some hints. In general he seems independent
OF any asters, not only in his technical method,
but in the spirit of his work He sees the streets
OF ork for himself, and often, as in the
Down Town Shop with its squald figure stand
ing shrinking in the doorway the Street
Scene he catches the OF his subject with
wonderful fidelity. There is a touch as sym
palmetto as II is individual, too in Mr.. Shinns
gltmpses of rigging along the waterfront his sketch
OF Union Square and some Of the theatrical studies
We detect also in the numerous drawings of
crowded streets. with vehicles workmen and
shoppers inextricaby commingled the signs of a
talent which has not yet seated itself firmly in the
saddle. The legitimate confusion of the scene is
made to cOYer obscurities of drawing and there is
missing that selective stroke of the master which
secures a certain Conference and unity of design
even out of the most heterogeneous material Mr.
Shlnn seems 10 be feeling his way. At present he
so abounds in ceverress in vivacity of color and OF
line that his most dubious sketches are forgiven
When he has trained his vision still further when
he has learned what TO leave out as well as what
TO put in, when a drawing by him is sone+bin,
more than page torn hUrriedIy out of the PIANO
rama of city hfe-like a fragment caught Inv
Standardization for his work which Is now very
warm. will be increased hundredfoId There is
one rural subject, THE Geese" which alone would
show that he is on the right track
The late John Leslie Breck was near the riqb+
track when he laid down his brushes a wear ago
and the exhibition of his works which has baan
arranged in the gallery Of the National Arts Club
a u n
might have played a useful part in the minor an
nails Of American art. AS it is there is prornisa
rather than performance TO be recognized in these
hrty-three eanvases. Mr.. Breck was Influenced by
the theories of the French irnpressionists There
Is series Of eleven continuous studies OF one theme
10 show that Monet's famous haystack had annaaIa7
10 him. and In all his work there is evidence that
in his handling of light he had much the ssrna air,
as that which the Frenchman has made so in
teresting 10 so many students. Occasionally the
aim was fulfilled Mill Stream Giyernv has +r,,a
light and air, and the foliage through which mart
OF the scene is observed is skiulIy painted There
Is too, the large Autumn, Giverny,' 10 show that
the painter was responsive to the finer elements
in landscape sentiment, despite his preoccuparion
with problems of lighting and technique end
IN the Spring at Quincy, Mass" the Woods in
Winter and several other things veracious i'm
pressions given. slong with the first gIir,rner
ings Of a temperament discovering itself All this
makes US regret the that Mr.. Brock was cur
of before he was forty still in the formative stage
and with potentiaites that might have been fruit
fully developed.
Piranesi, the Italian etcher OF the eighteenth
century whose plates after the architectural rnonu-
ments OF Rome familiar 10 Ill collectors and
most students, may be studied in a collection of his
prints at the Keppel Gallery. He has often baen
overestimated. His work has often been under
valued and patrouized. The truth is that Piranesi
was not a great etcher. He had the pictorial in
stinct and treated large masses with something II
the style and feeling Of a painter Mr. Russell
Sturgs. In a scholarly and valuable little pampble1
which is issued for this collection observes thar
Your true collector IL a man Of minute and deli
cate little rehnements and subtitle distinctions in
his tastes and in his ways. and Piranesis works
big and bold" Accordingly we are told the
collector does not altogether enjoy these huge
plates. II Is pointed out that the fault of his
work as an ergrayer is IN the extreme contrasts
OF dark and light We may add that the essential
drawback in Piranesi's prints is so much their
size their holiness. their extreme contrasts OF
dark and light" it is the absence from them Of
what we may call the genius Of etching The
etcher has idom Of his own an idiorn absolutely
unique among the resources of the artist This
idiom Piranesi never caught. To call him as he
has often been called, the Rembrandt of archi-
lecture is legitimate only II Rembrandt the
painter Is intended in the parallel With Rem
brandt The etcher Pranesi has absolutely nothing
in common Linear force and beauty as indis-
pensabe 10 etching color is 10 painting he
ne {er dreamed OF obtaining. In fact, between him
and the great painter etehers Of the werld-Reu-
brandt, Seymour kaden. Whister-there is a great
gulf fixed. His plates precious because thew
give such broad and picturesque pictures of famous
buildings AS etchings they have a certain work
manlike strength bat in all other respects they
leave cold
MI n. T. Montross in his gallery will open
to-day loan exhibition OF pictures by Mr. r W
Dewing Downstairs. in the new quarters of Dodd
ssfead & Co. the publishers. there may be seen by
the way. artistic piece Of work by Mrs. Fred
erick Gotthold. IN the shape Of an Illuminated
manuscript copy of Omar Khayysm. The text
runs between lines OF formal decoration floral In
motive. There borders OF floral themes an
on SONS OF the pages heads and figures appear
The latter want precision of form and purity OF
color The formal decorations. on the other hand
are well invented. graceful and deftly adjusted
10 the scheme OF the page. The whole manuscript
Is an attractive labor OF love which Mrs Gotthold
would do well TO follow up with ether volumes.