become general and powerful in elevating and
refining the public taste, it will be necessary to
make the study of drawing universal. The material
results wiU richly repay the outlay ; and in time
there will be developed a prevalent sentiment, a
sufficient knowledge, an artistic atmosphere, which
will be the conditions favourable to the creation of
noble works.
Scarcely less important are the establishment and the enriching of galleries of painting and sculpture. Annual exhibitions of pictures by living Scotcli artists, though useful and necessary, are not enough. There is in provincial art as in provincial literature, a breeding-in-and-in, which is distinctly retrograde in tendency. Artists should be able to compare themselves not merely with their daily companions but with the best men of all nations; and the public should be accustomed to see the excellences of all schools. Glasgow, a city of three-quarters of a million of people, might reasonably aspire to have at no distant day a collection to compare with those of the smaller capitals on the Continent : good examples of the chief scliools, historically arranged, copies of the justly celebrated antique statues, and representative works by British artists. Such a collection would cost a large sum, and could not be made in a day. But it should be begun and steadily pursued, and the next generation will enjoy the fruits.
Perhaps the Committee of the Exhibition will give it a start.
F. H. Underwood,
GENERAL NOTES ON ART.
Mr. Walter Crane recently delivered the last of a course of University Extension lectures in the Sheldonian Theatre, Oxford, the subject being the educational value of art. He said that one of the means of making education interesting was too much neglected, namely, that enough account was not taken of the eye and its sensitiveness to impressions, especially impressions of beauty. This was not recognised, as a rule, in schools, and the consequence was the too frequent insensibility to harmony and proportion in visible things, which was sometimes met with even along with a high degree of culture. We were hearing much of technical education, but if that merely meant a specialising of putters-on of pins' heads, or a training for a machine-minder, he did not feel much enthusiasm for it. When one thought how closely interwoven with the warps of history and humanity were the golden threads of art, it hardly seemed necessary to gauge the educational value of art, for art itself was an education. The somewhat bald north elevation of the Edinburgh Univer- sity, which originally fronted a narrow lane, and which is now fully exposed to view by the opening up of Chambers Street, is to receive some improvements so as to bring it more into harmony vith the other three fagades than at present. There are four bays which slightly project, and three of them are to be re-dressed, and the joints and beds of the stones of the first-floor over the basement are to be rusticated so as to correspond with the easternmost of the four. The ornamental string-course, which is only returned over the easternmost bay, is to be continued along the whole line ; and the iron railing and parapet at the front elevation are to be removed. The latter operation will, it is believed, not only give additional breadth to the footway of South Bridge Street, but add to the dig- nity of the elevation. Mr. Hutcheson's bronze statue of * Aspiring Youth,' which is to surmount the lantern of the dome, is at present on view in the quadrangle, and preparations are in progress for placing it in situ. While speaking of Edinburgh, we may mention that the buildings for the Technical College are completed so far as regards the exterior, thus completing the range of Chambers Street. The statue of Dr. Chambers, which is to occupy a site between the Technical College and the Museum of Science and Art, has been intrusted to Mr. Birnie Rhind, sculptor. Glasgow is the headquarters of the British Archfeological Association during their annual Congress this year, which com- menced on the 27th ult. On the opening day the visitors restricted their rambles to Glasgow ; on the following days they visited Bothwell, Stirling, Bute, Dunblane, Linlithgow, and Dunfermline. Amongst the papers read during the Congress we note the foUow"- i"g> I'y ^I- J"!"" Honeyman, F. R.I. B. A., on 'The Architecture of Glasgow Cathedral'; by Mr. E. P. Loftus Brock, F.S.A., F.R.I.B.A., 'On the Peculiarities of Ancient Scottish Archi- tecture'; and by Professor Hayter Lewis, F. S.A., on 'Scottish Masons' Marks as compared with those of other Countries,' Mr. George Aitchison, a very good authority, reviews in the Builder the discourse of Mr. William Morris, in a recent number of the Fortnightly Revieiu, on the 'Revival of Architecture.' It is hardly necessary to say that Mr. Morris does not think that architecture can be suitably revived, except by copying Gothic forms again, and Mr. Aitchison, while he is enough of an architect not to believe that architectural beauty is limited to buildings with one peculiar set of details, is inclined to think that the spirit of the present age is so much opposed to architectural art that there is no hope of its revival until strong public feeling, excited by some great event, or series of events, shall seek expression in great monuments; and the best comfort he can offer to architects who try to train themselves to the utmost in their art is that they do well to be ready in case the wave of enthusiasm should occur in their time. ' At present,' he says, 'the only question that interests mankind is, whether their buildings can be built quickly, and are cheap,' and, further, ' So intent have we been on our problems — perfecting steam-engines, boring hills, bridging valleys, producing artificial light, and communicating instantly with the uttermost parts of the earth — so eager have we been to get rich, that we have overlooked beauty, and so surrounded have we been with every form of ugli- ness that we have grown callous."
Every Man his own Art Critic (Glasgow Exhibition, 188S). — This is a brochure by Mr. Patrick Geddes, whose Every Man his own Critic at the Manchester Exhibition attracted so much attention last summer. Compared with that pamphlet, the present one is longer, and in grasp of principles and lucid exposition distinctly superior, while the lightness of touch and almost flippant verve which distinguished the former production are again apparent. The booklet is composed of an introduction on ' The Aspects of Art,' and three chapters treating respectively of ' The Art of Seeing,' ' The Seeing of Art,' and 'The Feeling of Art.' Throughout there is ample evidence that Mr. Geddes has something to say, and knows how to say it, constant reference being made to works in the galleries.
