WE have seldom had occasion to notice a more useful and well-timed publication than the unpretending little manual lately put forth by Messrs. Gullick and Timbs under this title. The latter of these gentlemen is well known as the compiler of various excellent books of reference. His great experience of the tastes and needs of the reading public has shown him that there is a demand for some familiar explanation of the processes and technical terms of the painter's art, as well as for a sketch of its history; and, with the aid of an artist temporarily incapacitated by an accident from the practice of his profession, he has, in this volume, very successfully supplied the want. That such a book is needed, in the opinion of so competent a judge, is in itself a very hopeful sign of the growing interest taken by the public in questions affecting the Fine Arts. Happily, of late years critics and writers have condescended to speak of matters of art in ordinary language; and a too obtrusive use of technical terms would now be universally laughed at. Even Dr. Waagen has been irreverently suspected of sometimes hiding the inanity of his matter under the magniloquence of his phraseology. Such solemn-sounding words as megilp and impasto naturally awe the uninitiated. The table-talk of artists and their familiar letters are still too often full of professional slang, spiced with scraps of foreign languages picked up at the Caffe de' Greci. But it is beginning to be understood that pure and simple English is able to convey all that is worth knowing about a statue or a picture; and such subjects, in proportion as they have lost their mystery, have become popular. However, some technical terms there must be in every science; and no one can profitably pursue a discussion as to any of the various branches of the art of the painter without some acquaintance with the words used to express the processes employed. To all such persons we can warmly recommend this modest little book. --The Saturday Review of Politics, Literature, Science and Art, Volume 7
