New-York tribune., 1900-11-18

K0owies With six Etchings by Phi ziicken.
Six Photogravure Plates and Over Two Hundred
other Illustrations. Quarto pp viii, &S E. Z.
Dutton & Co.
This handsome volume is weakened in it's sig
nificance as critical contribution to the history
of Dutch art by the fact that the Dutch authors
of the various chapters are perhaps too na1vely
en .husastic In their appreciation of their coun-
trymen. Augusta de Wit, writing about Mrs.
Bilders-van Bosse, observes that she loves all
thoughts beautiful in color in form and sound
and in word In these four elements she lives
and moves and has her being" This is the kind
o. language that is especially not to be desired
il a work art; but, the other hand, these
chapters do something to make acquainted
with the personalities of painters whom
glad to know a little better, inasmuch as we
value their work. And, furthermore the book
gives a remarkably attractive collection of
reproductions, showing modern Dutch art in
many aspects
There is a remark opening Herr Loffelts
chapter On Anton Mauve that strikes an apt
note when 1 take my favorite walk" he
says, Through Clingendaal to Wassenaar in the
spring early summer-that walk so we'll
known to the inhabitants of The Hague-I often
think of Mauve and his light. soft silvery art,
that touch delicate and sympathetic, so pleas
ing and artistic" Going to describe the land
scape still further he adds that it only needs
some Iafiner pOWlnS on the scene, or a laDOrer
passing with his spade, for it to to him as
II he were walking through a gallery of pictures,
and all of them signed by Mauve." This is an
excellent testimony to the charming realism of
MauVe and it might be of service in the con-
sideration of almost any modern Dutch painter.
To walk through Holland is to see their works;
to look at their works is to Holland. It is
to the country in all it's freshness and quiet
beauty In the paintings of Mauve Valkenburg
Tholen. ArtZ, Ter Meulen and the other artists
illustrated in this volume you get composition
which is often learned, but is invariably sin
ceIe and eloquent of facts carefully observed
and sfted You get the atmosphere of the coun-
try and you get it's color; you get above ALL
the charm that sets it apart from all the other
countries of Europe. Art, it has been said, is
nature seen through temperament The
Dutch painter of to-day no doubt puts tenn
permanent into his work but il must be con-
fesscd that, while their paintings do not lack
originality, the main point is not much the
artists style the wonderfully vivid impress
sion he gives you of the thing which he is
painting. 1t is repeat, Holland that you see
il the of Holland
The present volume does not include all the
strong figures IN the school. Israels, Bosboom
tn Marises Mesdag and others missing
But the work is interesting partly for the very
reason that while not including some of the
masters who are very we'll known it shows US
minor members of the school who are far less
familiar and deserve TO have their audience ex-
tended. The text laudatory though it may be
is not unreadable and besides. much of the
praise is deserved There is moreover some
biographical mat erial VIII ch glad to have
But we are most grateful for the Illustrations
which are not only numerous, embracing
sketches We'll finished pictures, but are all
well reproduced by good processes. 1t is an
attractive holiday publication and is worth
preserving.