BAROQUE EUROPE. (Buildings of Europe series) by Harald Busch; Bernd Lohse; BOHEMIA ANDMORAVIA: AN ARCHITECTURAL COMPANION by Brian KnoxReview by: RICHARD HILEYJournal of the Royal Society of Arts, Vol. 111, No. 5077 (DECEMBER 1962), pp. 59-60Published by: Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and CommerceStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/41369249 .

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DECEMBER 1962 NOTES ON BOOKS

The other important point which this book brings out is Smith's variety in style, in composition, and in subject. Here again is the leavening of red Provençal hillsides, as impassioned as his nudes, sensitively recording the transient light of the Midi in the hour before dusk. Here again is the sudden burst of purple and yellow and flat arabesque that marks the final period. The early self-portrait is here; but alas, no photograph of that case of mementos which would more vividly have recalled to mind the puckered brow and gentle misgivings of the painter who personified the truth that the meek may inherit the abundancies of this earth.

NEVI LE WALLIS

baroque EUROPE. Edited by Harald Busch and Bernd Lohse. (. Buildings of Europe series .) London^ Batsford , 1962. 635 net

bohemia and Moravia: an architectural companion. By Brian Knox . London, Faber , 1962. 63$ net

Michelangelo, in both his painting and his sculpture, articulates space in a new way. Rubens' painting and Bernini's sculpture become possible because of Michel- angelo's vision. In the staircase of the Laurentian Library, Michelangelo applies his new visipn to Renaissance architectural forms, and produces the first manifestation of the Baroque spirit in architecture.

This debt is perhaps so much taken for granted that it goes too often unacknow- ledged. Baroque Europe mentions Michelangelo only in passing, and implies that wholeness of pattern rather than emancipated spatial vision is the criterion of the Baroque spirit.

This book, however, is a delight, and is very hard to close and put down. Its main feature is a collection of large, well photographed and well reproduced monochrome pictures of Baroque architecture. There are about 260 of these, and they are excellent. Care has been taken, in their arrangement, to make the sequence instructive. The Baldacchino at St. Peter's, Rome is shown sufficiently close to the gateway of St. Mary's, Oxford, and Val-de-Grâce, Paris to invite comparison. S. Nome di Maria, Rome, is shown opposite the Karlskirche at Vienna, and St. Peter's façade is opposite that of St. Paul's Cathedral. This care in arrangement throughout the book shows clearly not only the interdependence of one architect upon another, but also the national and period variations on the Baroque theme. The colonnades in front of St. Peter's are sufficiently well known for their illusionist perspective. Bernini, however, would have been amazed at the contracting effect of a telephoto lens on his piazza. This is perhaps one rather witty photographer's comment amongst much excellent visual instruction.

James Lees-Milne contributes a concise and informative summary of the Baroque, and Eva Maria Wagner's capable commentary on the illustrations has the special merit of examining the ground plans of many of the more important buildings. One is distressed, though, to find Robert Adam blamed for Barry's incongruous additions to Harewood House, and, in the comments under the illustrations, to find Barry's equally incongruous terrace gardens apparently attributed, with the rest of the grounds, to Capability Brown.

There are photographic allusions to one or two of the odder manifestations of the Baroque spirit. At Belec in Jugoslavia there is an uneasy wedding of Byzantine forms with Rococo decoration beside which the 'ship' pulpit at Irsee would appear an ascetic exercise. This is shown next to Narciso Tomé's Transparente, from the other end of Europe. The similarities and differences come over clearly, without words. One is inclined to extend these comparisons and perhaps wonder how much Macmurdo and other Art Nouveau exponents were familiar with Vergara's painter- designed palace portal at Valencia, which is also illustrated.

This is indeed a fascinating picture book.

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JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY OF ARTS DECEMBER 1 962 Baroque Europe , whilst glancing behind the iron curtain at examples of Baroque

architecture in Leningrad, Warsaw and Dubrovitsi, stops short at the Czech border. Brian Knox's Bohemia and Moravia is a comprehensive descriptive guide to the architecture of this area, and the two books, though entirely different in manner, are to some extent complementary. Brian Knox's text is augmented by photographs and plans both of the buildings and of the towns where they are to be found, together with sketch maps. Bohemia and Moravia is written in a highly personal style, an odd combination of the scholarly, the anecdotal and the chatty. I myself would require a much greater knowledge of Czech history to appreciate the author's many confi- dential asides. One wonders why King Rudolph was 'peculiar' and longs to ask. The author is as sensitive to atmosphere when he stalks across a farmyard and shoos hens out of some locally-unappreciated gem of a Baroque church as he is when he describes its architecture, explains it clearly with a plan, relates it to its builders and to other buildings, and refers you to a photograph.

Knox describes the ferrying of his Morris across the Vtlava on a raft. One is sure that, had it sunk, he would have watched with a detached whimsical interest, described the incident to you, and proceeded on foot. The book tempts one to get the appropriate visa without delay and to go off to central Europe, almost as much to take a civilized tea somewhere with the Knoxes as to visit the buildings.

The illustrations are adequate, and cover examples of Gothic and twentieth- century architecture as well as of the Baroque. The variations shown and discussed of ribbed vaulting are especially interesting.

The preparation of this book has obviously involved a considerable amount of very careful research and scholarship. Knox's imagery and sense of the incongruous - for example 'a perfect Ark on a green Ararat' (of a pilgrimage church) and (of a monks' mausoleum) 'half-Gothic plaster ribs framing abstract arrangements of the bones of religious men' - lightens the load of information and of visually-jarring Czech names.

RICHARD HILEY

Japanese decorative art. By Martin Feddersen . London , Fab er, 1962. 52 s 6 d net CHINESE AND Japanese cloisonne enamels. By Sir Harry Garner. Londony Faber ,

1962. 70 s net Japanese Decorative Art is a German book, published in Germany in i960 and now

presented for English readers in 1962. It is essentially a text book. The amount of detail it contains is large in the aggregate, but it covers so very wide a field that the information given under the numerous heads is inevitably restricted. After a historical survey of Japanese history to provide background, the author has chapters on ceramics, metalwork, lacquer, netsuke, textiles, leatherwork and basketry, ending with a section on Japanese iconography in explanation of the subjects depicted on the pottery, metal, textiles, etc. In the three hundred pages at his disposal he has packed as many facts as he can, and his book may be described as a summary of our knowledge of Japanese decorative art. It should be read in conjunction with certain of Faber's 'Arts of the East' series, which supplement it. For instance, Mr. Robinson's The Arts of the Japanese Sword treats fully a subject to which Dr. Feddersen can only devote a few pages.

One of the features of the book is the lavish amount of illustration. Besides eight colour plates there are no less than 239 reproductions in monochrome. As may be supposed, these have to be small in scale, but in most cases the objects chosen are clearly defined. Another feature is the elaborate bibliography, in sixteen pages and citing over four hundred works, sufficient indication that the book cannot be more than a summary. The student will find the bibliography of special value because it lists many foreign books.

Sir Harry Garner, one time Chief Scientist to the Ministry of Supply and who, 60

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