Isis unveiled, Volume 2 (of 2), Theology

Revue Hebdomadaire Illustrée. (M. Eugène Véron et Chas. Tardieu, rédacteurs.) Handsomely printed on heavy toned paper, and illustrated with several hundred engravings on wood from drawings and pictures by celebrated cotemporary artists, examples of antique and modern sculpture, objects of Art Industry in all branches, and a series of superbly executed etchings by the best living etchers, executed expressly for this work; being principally from the more noticeable pictures exhibited in the Salons of Europe, carefully printed on Holland paper. Forming four volumes a year. Royal folio (17½ × 12 in.) of about 500 pp. each, with nearly 200 woodcuts, facsimiles, etc., and upwards of twenty etchings in each volume. 4 vols., folio. Stitched, paper covers, uncut, $36.00. In cloth, gilt top, uncut edges, $45.00. Handsomely bound in half red morocco (Jansen style), gilt tops, uncut edges, $65.00.

Another Edition, printed throughout on heavy Holland paper, in the most careful manner. The etchings in two states, Artist proof on Japan paper, and ordinary print on Holland paper. The edition is strictly limited to one hundred copies, numbered. Forming 4 thick volumes, folio. Price, $125.00.

“Nowhere but in Paris could such a Review be produced every week as L’Art, so magnificent in every respect, paper, typography, illustrations, and above all, so many sided in its view of art, and so abundant and interesting in its information. It has now been brought to the fourth year of its life, with every sign of assured and increasing vigor, and we are glad to learn, from the report of the editor to the subscribers, that something more substantial than the succès d’estime has rewarded the experiment of such a costly venture.... It is simply the cheapest and the best thing of its kind. M. Véron seems, at any rate, to have solved the problem of combining excellence with cheapness. We find, besides numerous little facsimiles of sketches, and autograph letters of eminent artists, musicians, and dramatists, no less than seventy fine etchings by such men as Flameng, Courtry, Desbrosses, Lançon, etc., and woodcuts of Claude’s and Turner’s pictures, with a series of very remarkable copies of the famous tapestries at Madrid, from the designs of Albrecht Dürer and Van Eyck, by Edmond Yon, Perrichon, and C. Maurand, as well as singularly fine examples of wood engraving.

Supposing the reading matter of the Review were as ephemeral and trivial in its purpose as the cheapest of the cheap instead of being, as it is, rich and racy, with the native style of all French pens, thoughtful and often profoundly suggestive, and generally complete, in reference to detail, the two etchings by Flameng, from pictures by Frans Hals and Nicholas Maas, alone would be really most valuable and acceptable to the print-collector.... While L’Art is conducted in this style the editor may feel quite secure that France will not lose that artistic supremacy she has long held.”—London Times.

“It would be easy and pleasant to go on discoursing about the pictures in L’Art, a paper which is so full of good, sober, and just criticisms, trustworthy news about art, and designs not otherwise to be obtained by most people.”—Saturday Review.

“The new volume of L’Art sufficiently manifests the success of a very valuable and interesting publication.... There is no other journal in existence which so happily and skilfully combines the labors of artists and authors which does not subordinate art to letters, or letters to art, but permits them to go ‘hand in hand, not one before another.’... In brief, this grand folio volume of L’Art abounds in matters of interest to all readers and students of æsthetic and cultivated taste.”—The World (London).

“America is so destitute of illustrated works which can at all compare with L’Art that she cannot do better than study and enjoy this French publication. Certainly there is no other means by which so many valuable pictures can be obtained at so small a price.”—The Christian Union.

“The chief intention of ‘The Portfolio’ is to supply to its subscribers, at a lower cost than would be possible without the certain sale of a regular periodical circulation, Works of Art of various kinds, but always such as are likely to interest a cultivated public; and to accompany them with literature by writers of proved ability, superior to mere letter-press, and more readable than pure criticism or cataloguing.” Among the artists who have furnished original etchings are Bracquemond, Lalanne, Rajon, Legros, and Leopold Flameng, who has given some noble specimens of his skill, especially in the reproduction of “The Laughing Portrait of Rembrandt,” in his particular province as a reviver of the works of that artist. The subjects in all cases are chosen for their worth and rarity, and in these respects the “Portfolio” fairly rivals its great contemporary, one of the noblest fine-art periodicals ever issued, the Parisian “Gazette des Beaux-Arts.” It has the same finish in execution in the minutest details of paper and print, and is in every way a thoroughly artistic production, far ahead in this way of anything of the class heretofore issued in England.

“Of the Portfolio altogether it is to be said, that not only is it the first periodical in the English language devoted to fine-art, but that it leads all others by a very great distance, whatever the second and third of such publications may be taken to be.

“We warmly commend it to the notice of all who would cultivate in themselves and their families an appreciation of the beautiful in nature and art. The illustrations are largely of sylvan scenery, and etchings from the finest paintings are given, with letter-press descriptions, and the best articles from the highest authorities, so that the monthly paper itself, an illustration of what is taught, becomes a complete magazine of the science of art. We would regard the introduction of such a journal into the family as a good educator, while it will prove a source of exquisite pleasure to those who have already a taste for the beautiful.”—N. Y. Observer.

“We look for the Portfolio as for the only serial published, in which works of art of a certain kind and of peculiar merit are to be found. Etching is not as popular, perhaps, as it should be, but if anything is likely to bring its merits before the public, it is such examples as are to be had here. Their effect is striking, and in execution they are little short of perfect; at any rate they exhibit this kind of work in the highest degree of perfection to which it has attained.”—N. Y. Daily Times.

“Mr. Hamerton’s Portfolio is easily chief among English art periodicals, and has the advantage of being written by men who are not only familiar with the literature of art and the works of artists, but are artists by profession, and so know the feelings, aims, and technicalities of artists. The editor is probably better acquainted with continental artists and their work than most of the insular fellows, and his art theories and criticisms are proportionately more catholic and valuable. The Portfolio, instead of being a magazine of current gossip about artists and their doings, is a work of permanent value, apart from its excellent illustrations, as a collection of able essays, critical, historical, technical, and personal, very free from narrowness and professional or national prejudice. It is the glory of the Portfolio that it is in a way cosmopolitan, free from the prejudices of nations and schools.”—Atlantic Monthly.

Footnotes were renumbered sequentially and were moved to precede the index. Printing errors, such reversed order, or partially printed letters, diacriticals, and punctuation, were corrected. Final stops missing at the end of sentences and abbreviations were added. Except as noted below for Greek and Hebrew, misspelled words and irregular use of quotation marks were not changed. Footnote 608 has two anchors.

In the index, punctuation was standardized and a few page number references were adjusted to match book pages. Some entries are not in alphabetical order; these were left as printed. Term indexed as “spirit-ancestor” does not appear in either Volume 1 or Volume 2.