IN the first chapter of this very complete little review
of English Portraiture from the period preceding Van Dyck to Sargent, Mr. Bertram puts up a very agile defence of por- traiture as one of the higher forms of painting. His short analysis of aesthetic principles is quite an achievement, although some of the points he raises to show how arrange- ment and design can express character are a little too hurried and immature. To say that a horizontal line is always peaceful, a vertical line noble, zig-zag line exciting, or that red signifies
the passionate, blue the gentle, and purple the sombre, is to assume that everyone's associations fit into the same mould. Apart from a few such hasty opinions, the book forms a . selective and compact little guide to the collection in the National Portrait Gallery.
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