New-York tribune., 1905-01-01

PAOLO NERONESE. With an introduction nv
lustrated. octave pp. xxx. ca. Frederick Warna
& Compauy.
The series in which this book appears is nm
pre;eutous hut il has great practical value. II
places within the reach of the student at slight
rest. collections of reproductions in halftone
from the works Of the masters, and thereby
supplies him with just the data he needs. Take
Mrs. Bells 'Neronese." Her Introduction is in
diligently written, and the list of paintings is
useful But the full-page illustrations are the
thing. The inexperienced traveller who pores
over them with a seeing eye obtains. through
tht experience, the best possible introduction to
the originals which he may some day behold. For
those who familiar with the paintings. the
look makes a perfect record. It is particularly
pleasant 10 have Veronese presented in this
form, because, for some occult reason. he has
not Of late appealed very strongly to the makers
@, books. A. least one other attempt has re
Gently been made. however, to redirect atten-
ton to him. Mr.. Kenyon Cox contributed to the
Christmas number OF ''Scribners Magazine" a
paper which. II il errs on the side of enthusi-
asm. procairling Eeronese 1.-The completest
master Of the art Of painting that ever lived"
Is nevertheless. SO good that the student might
vel paste ij In his copy OF the present volume
i is not necessary to eXalt Neronese to the
sizes in order 10 do justice ia his merits In
fact. his essentially mundane genius is the bet
tr understood II we approach il in the cool and
temperate licht under which it developed. He
is not one OF the great poets Of painting like
Michael Angelo or one Of its intellectual lights
Ike Raphael He has neither the passion of
Titan nor the spirituality OF the Florentines.
remembering the way in which technique
where master is concerned-shares something
Of the grain and quality Of his spirit and ideas,
one cannot help rejecting, momentarily, on the
heights Of splendor which Veronese might have
reached, as painter pure and simple. if he had
been governed by a subtler inspiration. But
he rose high enough, in all conscience, as one
q the prose dramatists Of pictorial and decora-
five art 10 I'll the lover Of good painting with
Soy. His forms may be so robust as to seem
positively incongTUous IN some of his religious
compositions, for example, but they have re-
ma-kabe nobility, gained from effects of car
rage OF gesture. and from a certain majestic
authority shown il the handling Of their con-
tours.
Neronese interpreted the subjects of even his
simplest compositions in terms Of pageantry.
He was OF too rich a temperament to be merely
theatrical but just the same he leaves the i'm
preston Of being one Of the most consummate
stage managers in the history of art, a man
with gift for cOntriying absolutely well bal
anced and imposing tableaus. If he does not
ion'H me heart, he certalnly touches the imagl-
nation with q sense Of brilliant spectacle. All
the resources AT his comnand-and there were
many-contribute in harmony to the production
q compositions architectural in their solidity
and power. For the mural painter, indeed, his
works constitute kind of encyclopaedia of con-
sructiye ideas. Masculine, learned, and with
an inexhaustibie feeling for the pomp and move
ment Of life, he is one Of the triumphant types
q naturalism in art taking the human body
as SO much plastic material and flinging it on
canvas in designs which superbly illustrate the
finding OF beauty in truth. There is nothing
esoierlc about Neronese. The secret of his art
les very near the surface. But it is one Of the
most precious secrets Of painting.
An essay by LongfellOw, written when he was
professor at BOWdoin College. has lately been