R. CLAY, SONS, AND TAYLOR, PRINTERS. BREAD STREET HILL, E.C.

Published in Monthly Volumes.

A NEW SERIES OF
ILLUSTRATED BIOGRAPHIES OF
THE GREAT ARTISTS.

The increasing love of art in our own country and the great desire for knowledge in all matters connected with the literature of art and the lives of the Great Masters called for the publication of the very important information which modern research has gathered together on every side, and which has now attracted the attention of all students of art-biography both at home and abroad.

The intention of the projectors of this Series has been to produce, in an easily accessible form and at a price within reach of every one, the results of the recent investigations which have been made by many well-known critics, especially those of Germany and the Netherlands.

Dr. Woltmann lately published a new edition of his great work on Hans Holbein; Professor Carl Lemcke on Rubens and on Van Dyck; Dr. Anton Springer on Raphael and Michelangelo; Herr Vosmaer has issued a revision of his celebrated treatise on Rembrandt, and Herr Thausing an elaborate Life of Albrecht DÜrer. These works correct old statements that have been proved to be untrue, impart new facts, and add materially to our interest in the histories of the painters. Many of the Italian art-critics have likewise recently issued treatises on the great artists of their own country; and in France scarcely a week passes without the appearance of some new contribution to the History of Art. All this matter has been carefully studied.

The Series is issued in the form of handbooks. Each work contains a monograph of a Great Artist—or a brief history of a Group of Artists of one school—a portrait of the Master, and as many examples of his art as could be readily procured. Cheapness of price having been especially aimed at, the introduction of expensive new engravings was thought to be unadvisable. Arrangements were therefore made with the proprietors of the most important art publications on the Continent for the reproduction of many of their costly woodcuts. These have been printed with great care, and each biography of the Series has been illustrated with at least twelve to twenty full-page engravings. The price of each volume is 3s. 6d.

The following Biographies are now ready:—

ITALIAN PAINTERS.

LEONARDO DA VINCI. By Dr. J. Paul Richter, Author of "Die Mosaiken von Ravenna." With 16 Illustrations. From recent researches.

MICHELANGELO. By Charles ClÉment, Author of "Michel-Ange, LÉonard et Raphael." With many large Engravings.

RAPHAEL. From the text of J.D. Passavant. By N. D'Anvers, Author of "An Elementary History of Art." With 20 Engravings.

TITIAN. From the most recent researches. By Richard Ford Heath, M.A., Hertford College, Oxford. With 16 Engravings.

TINTORETTO. From investigations at Venice. By W. Roscoe Osler, Author of occasional Essays on Art. With many Engravings.

GERMAN, FLEMISH, DUTCH, &c.

HOLBEIN. From the text of Dr. A. Woltmann. By Joseph Cundall, Author of "Life and Genius of Rembrandt." With 20 Engravings.

THE LITTLE MASTERS OF GERMANY. By W.B. Scott, Author of "Lectures on Fine Arts." With 16 Engravings.

? An Edition de luxe, containing 14 extra plates from rare engravings in the British Museum, and bound in Roxburgh style, may be had, price 10s. 6d.

REMBRANDT. From the text of C. Vosmaer. By J.W. Mollett, B.A., Officier de l'Instruction Publique (France). With 16 Engravings.

RUBENS. From recent authorities. By C.W. Kett, M.A., Hertford College, Oxford. With 16 Engravings.

VAN DYCK and HALS. From recent authorities. By Percy R. Head, Lincoln College, Oxford. With 16 Engravings.

FIGURE PAINTERS OF HOLLAND. By Lord Ronald Gower, Trustee of National Portrait Gallery. With 18 Engravings.

VERNET & DELAROCHE. From Charles Blanc. By J. Ruutz Rees, Author of various Essays on Art. With 16 Engravings.

ENGLISH PAINTERS.

HOGARTH. From recent researches. By Austin Dobson, Author of "Vignettes in Rhyme." With 16 Illustrations.

REYNOLDS. From the most recent authorities. By F.S. Pulling, M.A., Exeter College, Oxford. With 16 Illustrations.

TURNER. From recent investigations. By Cosmo Monkhouse, Author of "Studies of Sir E. Landseer." With 20 Engravings.

LANDSEER. A Memoir, by Frederick G. Stephens, Author of "Flemish Relics," &c. With many Illustrations.

The Volumes preparing for Early Publication are:—

FRA ANGELICO and the EARLY PAINTERS of FLORENCE. By Catherine Phillimore. With 16 Illustrations.

FRA BARTOLOMMEO and ALBERTINELLI. By Leader Scott, Author of "A Nook in the Apennines." With 16 Illustrations.

VELAZQUEZ. By Edwin Stowe, M.A., Brasenose College, Oxford. With many Illustrations.

GAINSBOROUGH and CONSTABLE. By G.M. Brock-Arnold, Hertford College, Oxford. With many Illustrations.

ALBRECHT DÜRER. From recent authorities. By R.F. Heath, M.A., Hertford College, Oxford. With many Illustrations.

VAN EYCK and THE FLEMISH SCHOOL. By Mary Heaton, Author of "The History of Albrecht DÜrer." With many Illustrations.

GIOTTO. By Harry Quilter, M.A., Trinity Col., Cambridge. From recent investigations at Padua and Assisi. With many Illustrations.

CORNELIUS and OVERBECK. By J. Beavington Atkinson, Author of "The Schools of Modern Art in Germany."

NOTICES OF THE PRESS.

1. From a Review in the Spectator, July 5, 1879.

"It is high time that some thorough and general acquaintance with the works of these mighty painters should be spread abroad, and it is also curious to think how long their names have occupied sacred niches in the world's heart, without the presence of much popular knowledge about the collective work of their lives.... If the present series of biographies, which seems to be most thoroughly and tastefully edited, succeeds in responding to the wants of modest, if ardent, art-knowledge, its aim will be accomplished."

2. Reprinted from the Times, January 22, 1880.

"Few things in the way of small books upon great subjects, avowedly cheap and necessarily brief, have been hitherto so well done as these biographies of the Great Masters in painting. They afford just what a very large proportion of readers in these hurrying times wish to be provided with—a sort of concentrated food for the mind. The Liebigs of literature, however, especially in that of the fine arts, need no small amount of critical acumen, much experience in the art of system, and something of the bee-like instinct that guesses rightly where the honey lies. The mere 'boiling down' of great books will not result in giving us a good little book, unless the essence is properly diluted and set before us in a form that can be readily assimilated, so to speak, and not in an indigestible lump of details. The writers of these biographies have, on the whole, succeeded in giving an excellent aperÇu of the painters and their works, and better where they have adhered to the lives written by acknowledged specialists—such as M. Vosmaer for Rembrandt, Passavant for Raphael, and Dr. Woltmann for Holbein. The life of Holbein is by the editor, with whom the idea of such a series originated, and to whose great experience is to be attributed the very valuable copies of all the important pictures contained in the different biographies. These have been selected with great taste and judgment, and being taken generally from less well-known works by the masters, they enhance the interest and add much to the practical utility of the books. The chronological lists of the works of the masters are also very useful additions."

3. From La Chronique des Arts, March 20, 1880.

"A un prix d'extrÊme bon marchÉ, 4 francs environ, en petits volumes joliment cartonnÉs, et ornÉs de quinze À vingt planches, la maison Sampson Low, Marston et Cie., À Londres, a entrepris de publier une sÉrie de biographies des grands artistes, rÉsumÉes d'aprÈs les travaux les plus rÉcents et les plus estimÉs. Une bibliographie, une liste des gravures exÉcutÉes par ou d'aprÈs l'artiste, une liste de ses oeuvres ou de leurs prix; enfin, un index accompagnant ces rÉsumÉs confiÉs À des Écrivains distinguÉs versÉs dans l'histoire de l'art. Ont paru ou sont en prÉparation dans cette sÉrie de notices: Titien, Rembrandt, RaphaËl, Van Dyck et Hals, Holbein, Tintoret, Turner, Rubens, Michel-Ange, LÉonard, Giotto, Gainsborough, Velazquez, PÉrugin, Reynolds, Landseer, Delaroche et Vernet, les Petit MaÎtres, les Peintres de figure en Hollande.

"Peut-Être la maison Sampson Low, Marston et Cie, devrait-elle tenter une Édition franÇaise de ces jolis et intÉressants petits volumes sÉrieusement ÉtudiÉs, dont la briÈvetÉ substantielle et le bon marchÉ deviennent une bÉnÉdiction par ce temps d'Énormes publications À prix non moins Énormes."—Duranty.

SAMPSON LOW, MARSTON, SEARLE & RIVINGTON,
CROWN BUILDINGS, 188. FLEET STREET.