New-York tribune., 1907-05-19

art in America Better such section at an
than superficial. But the main thing In
elaborate history of this kind is that IL
should be accurate in it's broad outlines. reason
ably sympathetic in the majority of it's esti-
mates. and readable in it's style These virtue,
can undoubtedly be claimed by DR. Muther A,
we stated the other day in reviewing his His
tory Of Painting from the Fourth to the Earlv
Nineteenth Century" he is expert in the ponp-
lar exposition of difficult subject and in tn.
present work he is even more skilfuI than in
the one just mentioned His subject has No
continuity. in the strict sense yet with a sys-
tenn that is astonishing and almost amusing h,
contriyes to put each OF his numberles,
painters where. in kind of rough classification
he belongs. Order. something resembling Z,
is brought out OF chaos. and this without any
arbitrary fixing of boundaries. II is sirnplv
that DIR. Muther clearly sees his subject as Z.
whole, Is never embarrassed by details and ba,
a perfect fair for recognizing the representativ.
figure or movement and apprehendng the sig
nifcance of both OF course. he is little kinde,
| to his Germans than an alien historian wouId
probably be. and wells. IL he does not actually
obscure. their mediocrity with long passages on
| the substance of their art On the other hand
| he gives the facts about episodes concernin,
which every disinterested student must desire
| truthful information. and he does not. after all
ask us to worship his uninspired countrvnlen
The reader who wants to know not so much the
| worth of the different European schools as the
| manner of their evolution may here find abun-
| dant light the subject This edition of the
| book is vast improvement upon its predeces-
sor. The revised and augmented text has been
printed good paper. and the volumes have
been fairly flooded with illustrations in half
| tone and in colors. These illustrations are. as a
| rule. valuable additions TO the text. II is Only
| in his German ard English chapters that the
| author gives rather more than is wanted His
voluminous biblographies form a welcome feat
ure, and the fourth volume there is a good
index. The binding of blue buckrarn. dis
creetly stamped. calls for a word of praise.
'The Art Of the Greeks CThe Macmillan Com
pany) by Mr.. III. B. Walters. is an unpretentous
workmanlike study. particularly 10 be COM
mended for its simple. compact scheme. An in
troouctory chapter briefly sketches the char
acteristics of Greek art. setting the key. as il
were. of the authors dissertation and tban
glancing at the historical beginnings Of his SUD
ject he traverses Greek architecture sculpture
painting. vases. terra cottas. gems coins and
| miscellaneous work in metal The summaries
are terse. but not bald and these pages are re-
| freshingiy free alike from vain speculation and
enthusiastic highfalutin- Mr.. Walters tenpers
scholarship with common sense, and is more
| careful to give his readers workable idea OF
Greek art than to exhibit his learning He il
greatly helped where his many illustrations are
concerned by the scale Of his book. which per-
ulits the of unusually large plates. This vol
ume is. we believe the first OF a series II lis
successors are kept up TO the same standard.
they may be of a cordial reception
An admirable idea is being carried out By Mr.
Albert F. Calvert in THE Spanish Series" The
John Lane Company. a collection of handy vol
umes which. We gather. is 10 be divided among
the cities, monuments and masters of Spain
We have received three Of the volumes. The
Esrorial" 'Murillo'' and The Prado.'' the last
ton with Miss C. Gasquoine Hartley. The plan
in each case is the same. the first part OF vol
urne is given TO the text and then follows
sheaf of halftones In THE EscOrial" the ac-
count of King Philips bleak but splendid palace
fills less than hundred pages, these erbodying
facts and descriptions wrought into narrative
that is little more flexible than the exigenCies
OF a mere guidebOOk would permit There
2IS plates including views and reproductions O.
sculptures. manuscripts. tapestries and paint
ings- In 1.-The Prado' the description is longer
and there only 223 plates. The "NIuriio"
has appended the text long list Of the
artists works. and there are reproductions OK
over 165 of them Mr.. Calvert is not 4 Particu-
larly graceful or interesting writer. does he
in the two volumes dealing strictly with works
OF art disclose any striking critical faculty. But