Current Literature
THE ROYAL ACADEMY By W. R. M. Lamb The standard histories of the ROyal Academy being all more or less out of date,there was room for a new treatment of the subject. In the Present volume (Maelehose, (is.) Mr. Walter Lamb, the Secretary of the Academy, has filled the gap with It book which conveys the essential filets in convenient and readable form. The author traces, with strict. concentration On the matter in hand, the story of the foundation and develop- ment Of the Academy, giving more or less detailed accounts of the Presidents and of the most distinguished members. The book finishes with a complete list Of members and officers, a rather vague and uncritical catalogue of works of art in the possession of the Academy, and various documents connected with its history. The book suffers from the refusal of the author to wander from the subject, and it would have been more readable if some of the space devoted to.minute details, saw la :is insurance valuations, had been given to developing the important tbcnte ()I' I he relation of the Academy to the public and to artists who were not members. The formation of rival societies is hardly mentioned, nor the difficulties which most fi oin artists who worked independently of all groups. The Pre-Raphaelites, for instance, and the New English Art Club appear not to be mentioned at all. Incidentally, it is interesting to learn that whereas " The Armed Forces of the Crown" is one of the regular toasts at the annual banquet of fit, Academy, it is only sometimes that one of Literature, Mosio„ Druna or Science is proposed.
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