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SOME RECENT ILLUSTRATED VOLUMES |
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PICTURES |
In the series of “Les Artistes Celebres” (Librairie de I'Art, Paris) we have the monograph by Monsieur A. Gazier on "Philippe et Jean-Baptiste de Champaigne." The feature of this biography ~~ which, though it is confessedly addressed to the greater public, is yet a serious contribution to the literature of art ~~ is that uncle and nephew are placed in their proper position and surroundings, and appear as the painters-in-ordinary to the celebrated monastery of Port-Royal. The story of these painters of fashion and priesthood is an interesting one, and the omission of Ste.-Beuve is remedied, by the adequate manner in which Port-Royal and its position are dealt with. The illustration of the volume is profuse, but being for the most part reduced, not from the original pictures, but from the engravings of them (mostly by Morin and Edelinck), it is not as satisfactory in its results as it might be. In the same series M. Duplessis, the keeper of the print-room at the National Library of France, has devoted a volume to "Les Audrans," small, but excellent in its matter, and sufficiently learned to make it the most important essay yet issued on the work of the famous engravers. The art of line-engraving has rarely run so persistently in families as in that of the Audran, of whom the first, Charles, was born in 1594, and the last Prosper - Gabriel: died in 1819. M. Duplessis chronicles no fewer than thirteen of the family, and gives examples of the work of most of them. His colleague, M. Henri Bouchot, deals with the more interesting and, more important artists, "Les Clouets et Corneille de Lyon." Jean Clouet, better known in England perhaps as Janet, and his rival Corneille de la Haye, have, of. course, become absorbed by France in its list of masters; but, in point of fact, they both came from Flanders, and it was only Francois Clouet who could at all be considered a Frenchman. M. Buchot's treatise is quite up to the level of the majority of the series. .It is in no sense a compilation, but a work of original research; and the author claims that the illustrations (some of which are good) show for the first time indisputable works of Clouet and Corneille "de Lyon," after originals in national museums of France, hitherto unknown.At greater length, for much more is known of them, has M. Emile Michel ~~ the eminent biographer of Rembrandt ~~ dealt with "Lea Van de Velde". As in his former work, we have the rare taste, the scholarship, and the critical acumen which are distinctive of the author. He deals with each of the Van de Veldes in turn and almost with equal thoroughness ~~ Jan the First (the writing master); Esaias; Jan the Second (the engraver), William the elder and his two famons sons, William (the marine painter and first «special war artist ") and Adrian (the animal painter). A large selection of their works is reproduced, for the most part with greater care than is usual in this series, while the book itself is written with a lighter pen than is commonly devoted to scholarly monographs. |
