Review

Reviewed Work(s): Ten Books on Architecture by Leon Battista Alberti by Cosimo Bartoli,
James Leoni and Joseph Rykwert; Leon Battista Alberti on Painting by John R. Spencer
Review by: Giles Robertson
Source: The Burlington Magazine, Vol. 99, No. 652 (Jul., 1957), pp. 243-244
Published by: Burlington Magazine Publications Ltd.
Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/872079
Accessed: 11-02-2020 09:12 UTC

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 THE LITERATURE OF ART

The Literature of Art tended to be expensive. The solution lay in Ten Books on Architecture by Leon
the employment of the native painters, who Battista Alberti. Translated into Italian
had the added advantage of being incon- by Cosimo Bartoli and into English by
spicuous while recording the more bar- James Leoni, Venetian architect. Ed-
barically picturesque aspects of their
Indian Painting for the British, 1770- ited by Joseph Rykwert. 256 pp.+68 pl.
1880. An essay by Mildred and W. fellows'
G. lives.
(Alec Tiranti Ltd), ?I I5s.
Archer. xiv+ 148 pp. +24 pl. (50 figs.)The authors give a full account of theLeon Battista Alberti on Painting.
(Oxford University Press), ?2 5s. origin of Indian-British painting at Mur- Translated with Introduction and Notes
shidabad, the capital of the British-con-
trolled Nawab of Bengal, and trace its
Aurangzeb Alamgir, the last of the Mogul by John R. Spencer. 141 pp. (Routledge
and Kegan Paul), ?i IS.
development and ramifications with the
emperors with a claim to be called great,
his of British rule at Patna, Benares, andThe aim of the edition of Ten Books on
died in 1707. During the half-century of onset
reign he had in effect destroyed his ownLucknow, and then at Delhi, where the Architecture is modest, to furnish, at a
empire, over-reaching himself in every- lingering remnants of the Mogul style werereasonable price, a reprint of Leoni's
thing that he undertook. Among the rediscovered. Further chapters describe eighteenth-century translation based on
casualties of his regime were the arts, the
for corresponding, but more limited,Bartoli's Italian version. Such a reprint is
Aurangzeb's fanatical devotion to Islam,activity in southern and western India. to be welcomed since it will always be
both as a personal religion and as the The authors have reassembled, in the important to know what Alberti was
matrix of imperial polity, showed itselfcontext
in of art and 'The Picturesque', much supposed to have said by the men of the
an astringent puritanism. Not only did interesting
he information about redoubtable eighteenth century, especially for archi-
English women travellers like Fanny Parks, tectural students for whom the book seems
break down the 'infidel' temples of Benares
and Muttra, but he imposed complete Marianne Postans, and Emma Roberts, chiefly to be designed, and this gives
continence upon his own palace walls. whose tastes were so important in the Leoni's version an absolute value. For the
Once deprived of imperial patronage the promotion of the Indian-British genre. The student of Alberti in his own time it can
central Mogul style of painting never fully influence is examined of talented amateurs never fully take the place of one made
recovered under Aurangzeb's ineffective like Sir Charles D'Oyly, the Company's directly from a scientifically established
successors, who were preoccupied with opium agent at Patna till 1833, whose text of the Latin original, but with Mr
clutching feebly at their disintegrating ambitious lithography did much to spread Rykwert's modest and helpful introduction
possessions. Some of the Delhi artists western technical standards among the and notes the book is a great deal better
migrated in search of better things, settling local artists; and of British professionals than no version at all and its publication is
alongside such local painters as there were working in India - the Daniells, Chinnery, to be unreservedly welcomed. The text and
at the capitals of the imperial nawabs or Ozias Humphry, Zoffany, and others. The plates are a photographic reprint of the
viceroys of Oudh and Bengal - who in use is described of mica, at first for il- relevant pages of the 1755 edition on a
practice had become independent rulers. luminated coloured festival decorations reduced scale. There is some smudginess
But during the second half of the eighteenth and later for duplicating stock designs like
but the book is good value for its price.
century the whole of the Ganges region thefirka sets. A valuable chapter is devotedMr Spencer's aim is more ambitious. He
from Calcutta to Delhi fell under the to the causes of decline: the replacementhas
of set out to establish a new text of the
control of the British East India Company. 'The Picturesque' by 'The Moral' in Della Pittura by the examination of the
Victorian taste; the end of the grandiose surviving manuscripts of the Italian and
The native painters soon adapted them-
selves to the needs of new patrons; andanditleisurely
is treks across India with the
Latin versions, and on this to base an
entirely new translation. The aim is
coming of the railways; the introduction of
with the 'British-Indian' styles thus evolved
that this book by Mildred and W. G.
photography. admirable but it is carried out in a most
Archer is concerned. 'The assessment of Indian-British paint- unsatisfactory manner. In the first place,
The widely travelled East India Com- ing', the authors conclude, 'is inevitably the language of the English text is lament-
pany servant of the I770's undoubtedly tinged with disappointment.' And assum- able. One has only to open the book at
ing that the plates (which are only of
had a sympathy with the Indian scene random to find sentences which are not
which the British-Indian administrator of moderate quality) reproduce the best as only clumsy in form but barely intelligible
the I88o's lacked. What is here pertinent iswell as the most representative examples, in content. As for the translation from the
the aesthetic outlook which made this there is indeed little to seduce the eye or Italian, one may take as an example a
sympathy possible. The authors trace move the heart. If the Calcutta animal and
its perfectly simple sentence like the following
connexion with the growth in England plantofpaintings of about I8oo are more 'Poi dentro a questo quadrangolo, dove amme
the cult of 'The Picturesque'- a cultobviously
that attractive to us, it is with the paia, fermo uno punto il quale occupi quello
treasured Nature's splendid savageryappeal
(ac- of the old tradition of Mogul luogo dove il razzo centrico ferisce', which is
tual or imagined) and the quaintness of
miniatures (a point apparently thought too
translated as 'Then, within this quad-
obvious to mention in the interesting
collier, peasant, and fisher-girl. Nothing rangle, where it appears to me, I make a
could be simpler than to translate thischapter
cult on natural history painting). But
point which occupies that place where the
into Indian terms. In every village the that Indian-British paintings are
granted central ray strikes' (p.56), where he has
devotee could exclaim 'What splendid
in general not particularly exciting to mis-translated 'paia' and missed the force
lights and solemn murky shadesmodern for eyes, earlier writers have neverthe- of the subjunctive in 'occupi'. Naturally in
less neglected their value in writing the more difficult passages (and no one should
Rembrandt!... And what villainous, hairy
social history of the British in India, being
faqueers, rugged stumps, mouldering ruins, underestimate the difficulties of translating
and shocking old women for Salvator!' As merely to call them degenerate. this text) he fares worse, particularly since
content
well as village life and native trades
Their importance in this connexion the he does not use his common sense to tell
authors of this book now bring out for the him what Alberti could not have written.
(which became popular in the sets of firka
or 'occupations' miniatures) hook-swing-
first time, with the aid of perhaps over- The difficult sentence 'E noi qui immaginiamo
lavish
ing, suttee, and other rites, both quaint anddocumentation and bibliography, i razzi quasi essere fli sottilissimi, da uno capo
horrifying, were eminently suited and to
using the oral accounts of many of the quasi come una mappa molto stretissimi legati
examination through the tinted gauze of
descendants of the artists and their patrons. dentro all'occhio...' becomes, in what Mr
It is as an essay in Anglo-Indian taste, Spencer modestly describes as a free
'The Picturesque'. How were these strange
rather than as a piece of art history, that translation, 'We can imagine those rays to
and delightful impressions to be preserved?
Amateur talent, though common, was this
notslim and rather expensive book be like finest hairs of the head or like linen
always available, and the services of efficiently and entertainingly justifies itself. paper, tightly bound within the eye...'
English professionals working in India JOHN PRYOR (p.46)' which is quite simply nonsense.
243

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 THE LITERATURE OF ART

'Fili ... da uno capo ... tions on which

legati' hasstudy few
the art-historical
plainly of references of a more personal nature -
nothing to do with hairs twentieth-century
of the head, painting can but one particularly unfavourable to Picasso -
be built.
means threads bound At at the one
heart of end.
his interests are the Cubists
'Mappa' that M. Kahnweiler preferred to omit.
is really difficult, butand although in'linen
surely each of thepaper'
books under Of the other letters many are necessarily
may be counted out. In reviewthe Latin
it is the version
artist himself who by his concerned with trivialities: their survival
the word is 'manipulum' drawingsand it seems
or writings that
plays the major part, has been accidental. Writing to some of his
Alberti must have intended the sense of 'a both benefit enormously from Mr Cooper's friends - Gertrude Stein for example -
bundle' as he was understood by Janits-helpful erudition. Gris never revealed very much, but to
chek. At the end of Book I Mr Spencer The LUger volume is devoted to a others he was more forthcoming. The series
makes Alberti say 'He draws the bow inmoment in the artist's career that was to be of letters to Maurice Raynal, easy in tone,
vain, who has no arrow to shoot' (p.59),decisive for his later development - his full of literary and artistic gossip, is so
but what Alberti said was 'It is vain to use years as sapper and stretcher-bearer in the interesting that one regrets all the more
the bow when you have not determined an French army during the 1914-18 war. 'Qa the almost complete disappearance of cor-
aim to shoot at'. a ite ma plus grande exp6rience', he was later to respondence with Carl Einstein, Waldemar
The passages from the Latin text, which say. 'C'est id quej'ai tout appris, tout compris, George, Reverdy, and Lipchitz. Some
Mr Spencer introduces into his notes, arec'est Id quej'ai trouve ce que devait 6tre vdritable- indication of what has gone may be found
generally more or less unintelligibly ment ma peinture.' in a letter to Ozenfant, written in 1921
garbled, but even when he gives an un- At first Lager was unable to paint or after the appearance of Purism - perhaps
corrupted text he does not translate draw, but from July 1915 until he was the most important document in the book.
correctly. Masculine participles are foundgassed early in 1917 he did from time to This survives only in a copy in Mme Gris'
to agree with neuter nouns - e.g. 'Aera time make pen or pencil sketches on possession.
corporaque huiusmodi rara et lucida penetrantes'whatever scraps of paper were at hand. It Mr Cooper's presentation of the material
rendered as 'In this way bodies penetrateis from this material that the published is exemplary: would that all volumes of an
the thin and lucid air' (p.46) - and selection was made. Lager was, as Mr artist's correspondence were treated with
ablatives become the subject of verbs - e.g. Cooper points out, the only artist of major such scrupulous care. ALAN BOWN ESS
'Meo juditio nulla erit . . .', 'My judgement importance who by virtue of his participa-
will be nothing .. .' (p.76). Most curious of tion in the fighting in and around Verdun
all, on the same page 'Atque in historia id has left us a personal testimony of the 'War
vehementer approbo quod a poetis tragicis atqueof the Trenches', and it is perhaps the Handbook of Pottery and Porcelain
documentary virtues of immediacy and
comicis observatum video, ut quam possint paucis Marks. Compiled by J. P. Cushion in
personatis fabulam doceant', translated as 'I veracity that give a drawing like Les Deux collaboration with W. B. Honey. 476 pp.
strongly approve, in an istoria that which I Tuis (No.42) its particular quality. (Faber & Faber), ?2 los.
see observed by tragic and comic poets. The subject matter here as elsewhere
Since they are able they produce dreams makes it plain that he worked very This is unquestionably the best book of its
with few characters'. His mis-reading of directly from life: and it was a soldier's and kind that has ever been published, sur-
Alberti's 'fimbria' as 'simbria' - 'a word' as not an artist's world that Lager now passing even the pocket volume of Hobson
he says 'for which I have found no suitable inhabited. He abandoned the abstract and Burton, now long out of print; it is to
meaning' (p.Io02) shows that he has not manner that he had developed from be hoped
his that, as a really reliable guide for
distinguished between an 'f' and a long 's'. landscape and figure painting. Face to collectors,
face it will replace its predecessors
In the case of one obviously false reading with the machinery of war Liger was on the
to reference shelves of all public
he can at least claim that he follows discover a new repertory of forms libraries.
(seen It provides, in addition to copies
emerging for example in drawings of marks,
31, introductory notes on the wares
Janitschek and Malli, that is the meaning- of the
34-36) that in the succeeding years was
less 'Sempre sarebbon ii spatii superbi partienti toseveral countries from the hand of
[two words, thus divided] come dicono drive ihis art forward. 'J'essaie avec andes
author with unequalled knowledge of
ceramic history; it is to be regretted that
mathematici' (Janitschek, p.8I; Malle, 6liments
p.71; mecaniques de crder un bel objet',
Spencer, pp.56 and I Io). ClearlyLager he did not live to see the publication of the
whathas said, and the only link between
Alberti wrote was the single word 'super- the mature style and pre-war work isbook.
to beThere are also maps to satisfy the
bipartienti' which means 'exceeding by found
two in these drawings. curiosity of the geographically minded
parts'. Unfortunately, as will be apparent, That the collected correspondence whoof must know just where a thing was
this translation is one which cannot be made. Many of those who consult the book
Juan Gris first appears in an unillustrated
English
safely recommended for any purpose; this edition is an historical will be owners of china services or figures
accident
is a pity since a good book on just these marked with unexplained initials; these
which one can only welcome. The letters
lines is so badly needed and since Mr were to be published by Curt will find especially useful the section de-
Valentin,
Spencer has obviously put a good dealbut voted to England, which embodies much
of his sudden death in I954 prevented
this. Rather than see the project of the vast list of Staffordshire firms,
aban-
mis-directed effort into its preparation.
GILES ROBERTSON hitherto unpublished, compiled by Mr
doned, Mr Cooper himself generously
accepted responsibility for their publica-Alfred Meigh. Equally welcome is the in-
tion. clusion of marks of present-day English
Though the letters are essential to our studio-potters, and of modern German
Fernand Leger: Dessins de Guerre, understanding of Juan Gris one wondersfirms whose productions, often fraudulent,
1915-16. By Douglas Cooper. 20 pp.+4 whether they will affect our final evalua- abound in small antique shops, to snare the
44 plates in facsimile. Paris (Berggruen).
tion of the painter. M. D-H. Kahnweiler's unwary. The marks are copied carefully,
Letters of Juan Gris (1913-1927). Col- book was so outstanding a contribution though the perfect china mark book would
lected by Daniel-Henry Kahnweiler, that anything else (save contradiction) is perhaps be that in which - doubtless at
translated and edited by Douglas bound to appear a filling out of his picture,prohibitive cost - photography is employ-
Cooper. xv+221 pp. London (privatelyand Mr Cooper must realize this better ed for reproducing, from specimens of
than anyone. About half of the volume unquestioned authenticity, the marks of all
printed for the Editor, distributed by St
George's Gallery Books), ?3 IOs. under review is made up of letters written the more significant types - the method
to M. Kahnweiler (who was Gris' dealer): adopted in some official museum cata-
Once again Professor Cooper puts us in hismuch of this material has already appeared logues.
debt with publications that form another in the latter's monograph. The passages The authors have dealt wisely with the
part of the foundations he has for some now in print for the first time often deal Far East; they have been content to give
years been so devotedly laying - founda- with business matters, but also include a a list of the Chinese reign-marks, in script

244

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