Engraving: Its Origin, Processes, and History.

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THE FINE-ART LIBRARY.

EDITED BY JOHN C. L. SPARKES,

Principal of the National Art Traininj^ School, South Kensington

Museum.

ENGRAVING:

Its Origin, Processes, and History.

BY

LE VICOMTE HENRI DELABORDE.

TRANSLATED BY

R. A. M. STEVENSON.

IViih an Additional Chapter on English Engravings

BY

WILLIAM WALKER.

♦•»

CASSELL & COMPANY, Limited:

LONDON, PARIS, NEW YORK d: MELBOURNE,

1886.

[all rights reserved.]

EDITORIAL NOTE.

The author of "La Gravure," of which work the
present volume is a translation, has devoted so little
attention to English Engraving, that it has been
thought advisable to supplement his somewhat in-
adequate remarks by a special chapter dealing with
this subject.

In accordance with this view, Mr. William Walker
has contributed an account of the rise and progress
of the British School of Engraving, which, together
with his Chronological Table of the better-known
English Engravers, will, we feel sure, add much to the
value of the Work in the eyes of English readers.

CONTENTS.

CHAP. PACK

I. The Processes of Early Engraving. The Begin-
nings OP Engraving in Relief. Xylography
and Printing with Movable Type i

II. Playing Cards. The Dot Manner 30

III. First Attempts at Intaglio Engraving. The

Nielli of the Florentine Goldsmiths. Prints
BY THE Italian and German Painter-Engravers
OF the Fifteenth Century 49

IV. Line Engraving and Wood Engraving in Germany

and Italy in the Sixteenth Century 86

V. Line Engraving and Etching in the Low
Countries, to the Second Half of the Seven-
teenth Century.. 118

VI. The Beginning of Line Engraving and Etching
IN France and England. First Attempts at
Mezzotint, A Glance at Engraving in Europe
before 1660 150

viii CONTENTS.

CHAP. PACE

VII. French Engravers in the Reign of Louis XIV 178

VIII. Engraving in France and in other European
Countries in the Eighteenth Century. New
Processes: Stipple, Crayon, Colour, and Aqua-

IX. Engraving in the Nineteenth Century 248

A Chapter on English Engraving ijS

Chronological Table of English Engravers 331

Engraving.

— K>f

CHAPTER I.

THE PROCi;SSES OF EARLY ENGRAVING. THE BEGINNINGS
OF ENGRAVING IN RELIEF. XYLOGRAPHY AND PRINT-
ING WITH MOVABLE TYPE.

/ The nations of antiquity understood and practised en-
graving, that is to say, the art of representing things
by incised outlines on metal, stone, or any other
rigid substance. Setting aside even those relics of
antiquity in bone or flint which still retain traces of
figures drawn with a sharp-pointed tool, there may
yet be found in the Bible and in Homer accounts of
several works executed by the aid of similar methods ;
and the characters outlined on the precious stones
adorning the breastplate of the high-priest Aaron,
or the scenes represented on the armour of Achilles;
might be quoted amongst the most ancient examples
of the art of engraving. The Egyptians, Greeks,
and Etruscans have left us specimens of goldsmith's
work and fragments of all kinds, which, at any rate,
attest the practice of engraving in their countries.
Finally, every one is aware that metal seals and dies
of engraved stone were in common use amongst
the Romans.

Engraving, therefore, in the strict sense of the
B

2 ENGRAVING.

word, is no invention due to modern civilisation.
But many centuries elapsed before man acquired
the art of multiplying printed copies from a single
original, to which art the name of engraving has been
extended, so that nowadays the word signifies the
operation of producing a print. /
/ Of engraving thus understood there are two im-
portant processes or methods. By the one, strokes
aje drawn on a flat surface, and afterwards laboriously
converted by the engraver into ridges, which, when
coated with ink, are printed on the paper in virtue of
their projection. By the other, outlines, shadows, and
half-tints are represented by incisions intended to con-
tain the colouring matter ; while those parts meant to
come out white on paper are left untouched. Wood-
cutting, or engraving in relief, is an example of the
first method ; while to the second belongs metal-work
or copperplate engraving, which we now call engraving
with the burin, or line engraving. ,.

In order to engrave in relief, a block, not less
than an inch thick, of hard, smooth wood, such as box
or pear, is used. On this block every detail of the
design to be engraved is drawn with pen or pencil.
Then such places as are meant to come out white
in the print are cut away with a sharp tool. Thus,
only those places that have been covered beforehand
by the pencil or the pen remain at the level of the
surface of the block ; they only will be inked by the
action of the roller; and when the block is subjected
to the action of the press, they only will transfer the
printing ink to the proof.

ITS BEGINNINGS. 3

This method, earlier than that of the incised line,
led to engraving " in camaieu," which was skilfully
practised in Italy and Germany during the sixteenth
century. As in camaieu engraving those lines which
define the contours are left as ridges by the cutting
away of the surrounding surface, we may say that in
this method (which the Italians call "chiaroscuro") the
usual processes of engraving in relief are employed.
But it is a further object of camaieu to produce
on the paper flat tints of various depths: that is
to say, a scale of tones somewhat similar to the
effect of drawings washed in with Indian ink or
sepia, and touched up with white. Now such a
chromatic progression can only be arrived at by the
co-operation of distinct processes. Therefore, in-
stead of printing from a single surface, separate
blocks are employed for the outlines, shadows, and
lights, and a proof is taken by the successive ap-
plication of the paper to all these blocks, which
are made to correspond exactly by means of guiding
marks.

A third style of engraving in relief, the "early
dot manner," was practised for some time during
the period of the Incunabuli, when the art waSj as
the root of this Latin word shows, still " in its cradle."
By this method the work was no longer carried out
on wood, but on metal ; and the engraver, instead
of completely hollowing out those parts destined to
print light, merely pitted them with minute holes,
leaving their bulk in relief. He was content that
these masses should appear upon the paper black,
B 2

4 ENGRAVING.

relieved only by the sprinkling of white dots resulting
from the hollows.

We just mention by way of note the process
which produced those rare specimens called "^;/-
preintes en pater All specimens of this work are
anterior in date to the sixteenth century, and belong
less strictly to art than to industry, as the process
only consisted in producing on paper embossed
designs strongly suggesting the appearance of orna-
ments in embroidery or tapestry. To produce these
inevitably coarse figures a sort of half-liquid, blackish
gum or paste was introduced into the hollow portions
of the block before printing. On the block thus
prepared was placed a sheet of paper, previously
stained orange, red, or light yellow, and the paste
contained in the hollow places, when lodged on the
paper, became a kind of drawing in relief, something
like an impasto of dark colour. This was sometimes
powdered with a fluffy or metallic dust before the
paste had time to harden.

Though simple enough as regards the mere pro-
cess, in practice line engraving demands a peculiar
dexterity. When the outlines of the drawing that
is to be copied have been traced and transferred
to a plate usually made of copper,* the metal is

/ * ^j ^^ present day line engravers sometimes work on steel
plates, as they are capable of supplying without damage a much
greater number of proofs than can be printed from copper plates.
It more frequently happens that a copper plate is coated with steel
before being submitted to the action of the press, in order to preserve
it, and to increase the number of copies without taking off the edge of

ITS BEGINNINGS. 5

attacked with a sharp tool, called the dry-point.
Then the trenches thus marked out are deepened, or
fresh ones are made with the graver, which, owing
to its shape, produces an angular incision. The
appearance of every object represented in the original
must be reproduced solely by these incised lines : at
different distances apart, or tending in various direc-
tions : or by dots and cross-hatchings.

Line engraving possesses no other resources.
Moreover, in addition to the difficulties resulting
from the use of a refractory tool, we must mention
the unavoidable slowness of the work, and the fre-
quent impossibility of correcting faults without having
recourse to such drastic remedies as obtaining a
fresh surface by re-levelling the plate where the mis-
takes have been made.

Etching by means of aquafortis, originally used
by armourers in their damascene work, is said to
have been first applied to the execution of plates
in Germany towards the close of the fifteenth cen-
tury. Since then it has attracted a great many
draughtsmen and painters, as it requires only a
short apprenticeship, and is the quickest kind of
engraving. Line engravers have not only frequently
used etching in beginning their plates, but have
often employed it, not merely to sketch in their
subject, but actually in conjunction with the burin.

the workmanship. That is to say, that by means of ** electrotyping " a
thin coat of metal is superimposed, which, since it considerably increases /
the power of endurance, increases the productiveness of the plate and
the number of proofs that can be taken.

6 KNORAVINO.

Many important works owe their existence to the
mixture of the two processes, among others the fine
portraits of Jean Morin, and the admirable " Batailles
d'Alexandre," engraved by Gerard Audran, after
Lebrun. But at present we are only occupied with
etching as practised separately and within the limits
of its own resources.

The artist who makes use of this method has to
scoop no laborious furrows. He draws with the
needle, on a copper plate covered with a coating of
varnish, suggestions of form as free as the strokes
of pen or pencil. At first these strokes only affect
the surface of the copper where the needle has
freed the plate from varnish. But they become of
the necessary depth as soon as a certain quantity
of corrosive fluid has been poured on to the plate,
which is surrounded by a sort of wax rampart.
For a length of time proportioned to the effect in-
tended, the acid is allowed to bite the exposed parts
of the metal, and when the plate is cleaned proofs
can be struck off from it.

With the exception of such few modifications as
characterise prints in the scraped or scratched man-
ner, called "sgraffio," and in the stippled manner,
the methods of engraving just mentioned are all
that have been used in Europe from the end of the
Middle Ages up to about the second half of the
seventeenth century. We need not, therefore, at pre-
sent mention more recent processes, such as mezzo-
tint, aquatint, &c., each of which we shall touch upon
at its proper place in the history of the art. Before

proceeding: witii this hi:>tcry. let us^ try tv^ I!t^,x^'.cvt
the fects- with whivi we have p rt^raced it ; ;xrx^». *<i
chronologkal oni<^r prc:>cribe>v to c-r^cret^cisXtc ^tx^
classify the tirst procfuctions olT rt^iict 5::^*^v:xv iri^.

However formal their cin'I;rrence:v ot ci>iriivtt on
matters of detaiU technical wricers^ h*s>kl a^^^ certvikui
one general fact. They all a^ree in reev>^trLviitg t^^At
the methods of relief en^-aving; were prsictivwl vvi:h
a \ieii- to pnntini:: earlier than the mcth^\{ of in-
taglio. What interv^^ however^ ^^^jwrate:^ the tvvv^
discoveries? At what epoch are we to pUce the
invention of wood engraving ? or if the |>rvKVSvS as
has been often alleged, is of Asiatic ort^ii>, when was
it brought into Europe ? To pretend to give a deci-
sive ansu-er to these questions wx^uld b<\ at least, im-
prudent. Conjectures of every sort, and even the
most dogmatic assertions, are not wanttn^^, l^vit tho
learned have in vain evoked testimony, intcrpa^ttd
passages, and drawn conclusions, Tht\v have gvM\e
back to first causes, and questioned the most rt^mote
antiquity ; they have sometimes strangel)' foiled the
meaning of traditions, and have too often confounded
simple material accidents with the evidences of con-
scious art properly so called. Yet the problen) is as
far from solution as ever, and, indeed, the nund^M'
and diversity of opinions have up till now ilone little
but render conviction more difficult and tluubt more
excusable.

Our authorities, for instance, are not juHtified In
connecting the succession of modern en^n'avern with
those men who, "even before the I)ehi|^% en^^ravnl

8 ENGRAVING.

on trees the history of their times, their sciences,
and their religion."* Nor is the mention by Plutarch
of a certain almost typographical trick of Agesilaus,
King of Sparta, excuse enough for those who have
counted him among the precursors of Gutenberg.
It is by no means impossible that Agesilaus, in a
sacrifice to the gods on the eve of a decisive battle
may have been clever enough to deceive his soldiers,
by imprinting on the liver of the victim the word
" Victory,*' already written in reverse on the palm of
his hand. But in truth such trickery only distantly
concerns art ; and if we are to consider the Greek
hero as the inventor of printing, we must also allow
that it has taken us as long as eighteen centuries to
profit by hfs discovery.

We shall therefore consider ourselves entitled to
abandon all speculations on the first cause of this
discovery in favour of an exclusive attention to such
facts as mark an advance from the dim foreshadowing
of its future capabilities to the intelligent and per-
severing practice of the perfected processes of the art.
We shall be content to inquire towards what epoch
this new method, the heir of popular favour, sup-
plemented the old resources of the graphic arts by
the multiplication of engravings in the printing press.
And we may therefore spare ourselves the trouble
of going back to doubtful or remote information, to
archaeological speculations, more or less excused by
certain passages in Cicero, Quintilian, and Petronius,

* Papillon, "Traite de la Gravure en Bois, ' 1766, vol. i., ch. i.

ITS BEGINNINGS. 9

or by a frequently quoted phrase of Pliny on the
books, ornamented with figures, that belonged to
Marcus Varro *

Moreover in examining the historical question from
a comparatively modem epoch only, we are not cer-
tain to find for ourselves, still less to provide for
others, perfectly satisfactory answers. Reduced even
to these terms, such a question is complicated enough
to excuse controversy, and vast enough to make room
for a legendary as well as a critical view of the case.
Xylography, or block printing, which may be called
the art of stamping on paper designs and immovable
letters cut out on wood, preceded without doubt the
invention of printing in movable metal characters.
Some specimens authentically dated, such as the " St.
Christopher" of 1423, and certain prints published in
the course of the following years, prove with unde-
niable authority the priority of block printing. It
remains to be seen if these specimens are absolutely
the first engraved in Eurgpe ; whether they illustrate
the beginning of the art, or only a step in its pro-
gress ; whether, in one word, they are types without
precedent, or only chance survivals of other and more
ancient styles of wood engraving.

Papillon, in support of the opinion that the
earliest attempts took place at Ravenna before the
end of the thirteenth century, brings into court a
somewhat doubtful story. Two children of sixteen,
the Cavaliere Alberico Cunio and his twin sister

* Pliny, "Hist. Nat.," xxxv., c. 2.

10 i:ngravin(;.

Isabella, took it into their heads in 1284 to carve on
wood " with a little knife," and to print by some pro-
cess seemingly as simple a series of compositions on
" the chivalrous deeds of Alexander the Great" The
relations and friends of the two young engravers. Pope
Honorius IV. amongst others, each received a copy
of their work. After this no more was heard of the
discovery till the day when Papillon miraculously
came across evidences of it in the library of " a Swiss
officer in retirement at Bagneux." Papillon unfor-
tunately was satisfied with merely recording his dis-
covery. It never occurred to him to ensure more
conclusive publicity, nor even to inquire into the
ultimate fate of the prints he only had seen. The
collection of " The Chivalrous Deeds of Alexander
the Great" again vanished, and this time not to
reappear. It is more prudent, in default of any
means of verification, to withhold our belief in the
precocious ability of the Ravenna twins, their xylo-
graphic attempts, and the assertions of their admirers,
although competent judges, such as the Abbe Zani,"^
and after him Emeric David, have |;iot hesitated to
admit the authenticity of the whole story.

The learned Zani had, in truth, his own reasons
for taking Papillon at his word. Had the story
tended to establish the pre-existence of engraving in
Germany, he would probably have investigated the
matter more closely, and with a less ready faith. But
the glory of Italy was directly at issue, and Zani,

* " Materiali per servire alia Storia dell' Incisione," &c., p. 83 and
following.

'\

12 ENGRAVING.

honest though he was, did not feel inclined to receive
with coldness, still less to reject, testimony which, for
lack of better, might console his national self-respect,
and somewhat help to avenge what the Italians
called ''German vanity." Pride would have been a
better word, for the pretensions of Germany with
regard to wood engraving are based on more serious
titles and far more explicit documents than the one
discovered by Papillon, and recklessly passed on by
Zani. Heinecken and the other German writers on
the subject doubtless criticise in a slightly disdainful
manner, and with some excess of patriotic feeling.
For all that, they defend their opinions by documents,
and not by mere traditions ; and if all their examples
are not quite evidently German, those which are not
should in justice be attributed to Flanders, or to
Holland, and by no means to Italy.

In this struggle of rival national claims the
schools of the Low Countries are entitled to their
share of glory. It is quite possible that their
claims, so generally ignored towards the end of the
last century, should in the present day be accounted
the most valid of all ; and that, in this obscure ques-
tion of priority, the presumption may be in favour
of the country which supplied an art closely con-
nected with 'engraving with its first elements and
its first examples. It would be unbecoming in every
way to pretend to enter here on a detailed history
of the origin of printing. The number of exhaustive
works on the subject, the explanations of M. Leon
e Laborde, M. Auguste Bernard, and more recently

ITS BEGINNINGS. 1 3

of M. Paeile, would render it a mere lesson in repeti-
tion or a too easy parade of borrowed learning. Any-
how, the discovery of printing with type is so inti-
mately connected with the printing of engravings, and
the practical methods in both are so much alike, that
it is necessary to mention a few facts, and to com-
pare a few dates. We shall therefore, under correc-
tion, reduce to the limits of a sketch the complete
picture drawn by other hands.
/^'^ If printing be strictly understood to mean typo-
/ graphy, or the art of transferring written matter to
\ paper by means of movable and raised metal types,
\ there can be no doubt that its discovery must date
I from the day on which there was invented at Mayence
/ the process of casting characters in a mould previously
stamped in the bottom by a steel die bearing the
type to be reproduced.

Gutenberg, with whom the idea of this decisive
improvement originated, is in this sense the earliest
printer. His "Letters of Indulgence" of 1454 and
his "Bible" are the oldest examples of the art with
which he is for ever associated. In a general sense,
however, and in a wider meaning of the word, it may
be said that printing was known before Gutenberg's
time, or at least before he publish/sd his typogra-
phical masterpieces. People previously knew both
how to print broadsides from characters cut on a
single block, and how to vary the arrangement of
the text by using, in place of an immovable row
of letters, characters existing as separate types, and
capable of various combinations. On this point

14 ENGRAVING.

we must trust to the testimony of one of Gutenberg's
workmen, Ulrich Zell, the first printer estabh'shed
in Cologne. Far from attributing to his master
the absolute invention of movable type, he merely
contrasts with the process known and practised in the
Low Countries before the second half of the fifteenth
century " the far more delicate process " of cast type
"that was discovered later." And Ulrich Zell adds,
"the first step towards this invention was taken in
1440 in the printing of the copies of Donatus,* which
were printed before this time in Holland {ab illis aique
ex illis)!'

Now if these copies of Donatus were not printed by
means of movable type, why should they be mentioned
rather than the many other works equally fitted to
give a hint to Gutenberg } Why, in going back to the
origin of the discovery, should his pupil say nothing
of those illustrated legends which were xylographi-
cally cut and sold in all the Rhenish towns, and
which the future inventor of printing must have seen
hundreds of times ? For the attention of Gutenberg
to have been thus concentrated on a single object,
there must have been some peculiar merit and some
stamp of real progress in the mode of execution to
distinguish the copies of Donatus printed at Haarlem
from other contemporary work. Laurence Coster —
the name attributed to the inventor of the process
which Gutenberg improved — must have already made

* That is the *' Treatises on Latin Syntax" by ^Elius Donatus, a
granunarian of the fourth century. In the Middle Ages these treatises
were much used in schools.

ITS BEGINNINGS. 1 5

use of a method more closely allied than any other to
the improvements about to follow, and destined to put
a term to mere experiments.

To suppose the contrary is to misunderstand the
words of Ulrich Zell and the influence which he
attributes to the Dutch edition of Donatus, from
which Gutenberg derived ^'the first idea of his in-
vention." It is still more diiiicult to understand
how, if the Donatuses are block-printed, reversed
letters are sometimes found in the fragmentary
specimens which survive. There is nothing the least
extraordinary in such a mistake when it can be
explained by the carelessness of a compositor of
movable type, but such a mistake would really be
incredible on the part of a xylographic workman.
What possible caprice could have tempted him to
engrave occasional letters upside down ? One could
only suppose he erred, not from inadvertence, but
with voluntary infidelity and in calculated defiance
of common sense.

The discovery which has immortalised the name
of Gutenberg should be recognised and admired
as the conclusion and crown of a series of earlier
attempts in printed type. Taking into account the
inadequacy of the movable type, whether of wood
or of any other substance, first employed by the
Dutch, and the perfection of the earliest specimens
of German printing, it can and should be admitted
that, before the publication of the "Letters of In-
dulgence," the *' Bible," and other productions from
the workshop of Gutenberg and his fellow-labourers.

1 6 ENGRAVING.

attempts at genuine typography had been already
pursued, and to a certain extent rewarded with
success.

From the very confession of Ulrich Zell, a con-
fession repeated by the anonymous author of the
" Chronicle of Cologne " printed in 1499,* the first rude
essay in the art {prefigiiratio) was seen in the town ot \
Haarlem. We may, in short, conclude that the idea l
of combining designs cut on wood with a separate I
letterpress in movable types, belongs in all proba-
bility to Holland. j

One of the oldest collections of engravings with \
subject matter printed by this process is the "Speculum
Humana^ Salvationis," mentioned by Adrian Junius
in his " Batavia " — written, it would seem, between
the years 1560 and 1570, but not published till
1588, many years after his death. Therein it is
expressly stated that the "Speculum'* was printed
before 1442 by Lourens Janszoon Costel*. It is true
that Junius is speaking of events which occurred more
than a century before the time to which he ascribes
them : "on the testimony," as he says, "of very aged
men, who had received this tradition, as a burning
torch passed from hand to hand." And this belated
narrative has appeared, and may still appear, some-
what doubtful. We ourselves consider the doubt to
be exaggerated, but we shall not insist on that. The
specimens survive which gave rise to such legends

* Published by John Koelhoff under the name of " Cronica van der
hilUger Stat van Coellen," p. 31 and after.

ITS BEGINNINGS, 1/

and commentaries ; and it is fitting they should be
questioned.

Four editions of the ** Speculum " arc known, two
in Dutch and two in Latin. It must be understood
that we only speak of the editions which have no pub«
lishers' names, no dates, nor any sign of the place
where they were published : the " Speculum," a sort of
Christian handbook, much used in the Low Countries,
having been frequently reprinted, with due indication
of names and places, during and after the last twenty
years of the fifteenth century. The oldest Dutch
edition that is dated, the one of 1483, printed by
John Veldenaer, reproduces certain engravings which
had already embellished the four anonymous editions,
with the difference that the plates have been sawn
in two to suit the dimensions of a smaller vohinic.
Hence, whatever conjectures may exist as to the date
of the first publication, we have, at least, a positive
fact : as the original plates only appear in a muti-
lated state in the copies printed in 1483, it is evident
that the four editions where they appear entire arc of
earlier date. These questions remain : — first, whether
they are earlier, too, than the second half of the
fifteenth century — earlier, that is, than the time when
Gutenberg gave to the world the results of his labour?
and second, whether they originated, like the edition
of Donatus, in a Dutch workshop ?

Doubt seems impossible on the last point. These

four editions are all printed with the same cuts,

on the same paper made in Brabant, and under the

same typographical conditions, with the exception of

C

1 8 ENGRAVIXC;.

some slight differences in the characters of the two
Dutch editions, and the insertion of twenty leaves
xylographically printed in one of the two Latin
editions. Is it, then, likely, or even possible, that
these books belong, as has been supposed, to
Germany ?

The thing might, indeed, be possible, were it
merely a question of the copies in Latin ; but the
Dutch ones cannot be supposed to have been pub-
lished anywhere but in Holland ; and the origin of
the latter once established, how are we to explain
the typographical imperfection of the work if not by
ignorance of the process which Gutenberg was to
popularise? According to M. Paeile, a competent
judge in such a matter,* the letterpress of the Dutch
*' Speculum*' is written in the pure dialect of North
Holland, as it was spoken in those parts towards the
end of the fourteenth century and the beginning of
the fifteenth. Armed, therefore, with but a few par-
ticulars as to printing and idiom, it will not be too
bold in us to fix the date of publication between the
first and second quarters of the fifteenth century. It
may be added that the costume of the figures is of
the time of Philip the Good ; that the taste and style
of the drawing suggests the influence of the brothers
Van Eyck ; and that there is a decided contrast
between the typographical imperfection of the text
and the excellent quality of the plates. Art, and

* ** Essai historique et critique sur I'lnvention de I'lmprimerie."
Lille, 1859.

Fig. a.— t«b holv viroin and the infant jesus.

Gennan Wood Engraving. (Flfleenlh Cenlurjr.}

C 2

20 F.NGRAVING.

art already well on its way and confident of its
powers, is thus seen side by side with an industrial
process still in its infancy : a remarkable proof of the

Fio. 3.— ST
German Wood Engraving. (Fifteenth Century.)

advances already accomplished in wood engraving
before printing had got beyond the rudimentary
period. For our present purpose, this is the chief
point, the essential fact to verify.

-pere u knetos

Fig. 4.— ST. JOHN.
Hemish Wood Engraving, (Fifteenth Ceniury.)

22 ENGRAVING.

The discovery of printing, therefore, is doubtless
a result of the example of relief engraving, and
there is no doubt either that the first attempts at
printing with type originated in Holland. Whilst
Coster, or the predecessor of Gutenberg, whoever he
was, was somewhat feebly preparing the way for typo-
graphical industry, painting and the arts of design
generally had in the Low Countries attained a degree
of development which they had not before reached,
except in Italy. Amongst the German contempo-
raries of Hubert and John van Eyck, what rival was
there to compare with these two masters? — what
teacher with so notable an influence, or so fertile
a teaching? Whilst, on the banks of the Rhine,
artists unworthy of the name and painters destitute
of talent were continuing the Gothic traditions and
the formulae of their predecessors, the school of
Bruges was renewing, or rather founding, a national
art. By the beginning of the fifteenth century the
revolution was accomplished in this school, which
was already distinguished by the Van Eycks, and
to which Memling was about to add fresh lustre.
Germany, too, in a few years was to glory in a like
success ; but the movement did not set in till after
the second half of the century. Till then everything
remained dead, everything betrayed an extreme
poverty of method and doctrine. If we judge the
German art of the time by such work, for instance, as
the " St. Christopher," engraved in 1423, a single glance
is sufficient to reveal the marked superiority of the con-
temporary Flemings. It is, then, far from unnatural

Fig. 5. — THE INFANT JESUS.

Flemish Wood Engraving. (Fifteenth Century. )

ENCiRAVlNG.

that, at a time when painters, goldsmiths, and all
other artists in Flanders were so plainly superior in

1 m mK ^

L

l^ '

1 ms^Mh^C

§

!\Il

\ \y^

-*N.

— Tv

s

Fl(l, 6.— JESUS, SAVIOUR pP THE WORLD.

Jetman Wood Engraving. (Fifteenth Certlury.)

skill to their co-workers in Germany, the Flemish en-
gravers should likewise have led the van of progress,

Fig. 7.— the crucikixio.v.
German Wood Engraying. (Fifieenlh. Century.)

26 ENGRAVING.

and taken their places as the first in the history
of their art.

It may be said that the proofs are insufficient. Be
it so. We shall not look for them in the ** Virgin*
on wood, belonging to the Brussels Library, and
bearing the date 1418, as the authenticity of this
date, to our thinking perfectly genuine, has been
disputed ; nor shall we seek for them in the anony-
mous examples which it seems to us but just to
ascribe to the old school of the Low Countries.*

Up to now we are willing to admit that only Ger-
many is in a position to produce a piece of evidence
beyond suspicion. With its imposing date of 1423,
its time-honoured rights, and official renown, the
" St. Christopher," now in the library of Lord Spencer,
has privileges which cannot be disputed or questioned.
But it does not follow that the wood-cuts of the
*' Speculum,'' of the "Biblia Pauperum," of the
** Ars Moriendi," and of similar undated publications,
must be more recent. Nor, because a dated German
print has survived, must it therefore be concluded
that nothing was produced at that time except in

* This, at any rate, is what we feel tempted to do as regards
the **Biblia Pauperum," a book containing xylographic illustrations,
whose date has been variously estimated, and which we are disposed
to believe even older than the first edition of the " Speculum."
Heinecken, as usual, claims for Germany the production of this pre-
cious collection, which Ottley, with more appearance of reason, re-
gards as the work of an artist of the Low Countries, who worked about
1420. In this way Germany would only have the right to claim the
plates added in the German editions published forty years later, and
which are far less perfect in point of style and arrangement than those
of the original edition.

1

ITS BtV.lSMXGS.

Germany. It should be particularly obsenvd that
the plates of the "Speculum '* seem well-niijh prodi^cs

Fifi. 8.— THE AI'OCAT.VPSE OF BT. JOIIK.

Dutch Wood Engraving. (Fifteenth Gsniury,)

28 ENGRAVING.

of pictorial skill and knowledge in comparison with the
"St. Christopher ;'' that their author must have served
a long apprenticeship in a good school ; that, in short,
no art begins with such a piece of work, and that,
even supposing these cuts did not appear till after
the German print, some time had doubtless elapsed
during which the progress they involve had been pre-
pared and pursued.

It is therefore reasonable to suppose that, from
the first years of the fifteenth century, the engravers of
the Low Countries began, under the influence of the
Van Eycks, to be initiated into the conditions of art,
and that, like their countrymen the printers, they
showed the p^th which others were to clear and level.
It must be remarked, however, that in the beginning
printing and wood engraving do not always march on
parallel lines — that they do not meet in like order
their successive periods of trial and advance. In Ger-
many, .up till the time when Gutenberg attained the
final stage, and popularised the last secrets of the
printing process, painters, draughtsmen, and engravers
were all helpless in a rut : from the author of the
" St. Christopher " to the engravers of thirty years
later, they boast but the roughest and coarsest of
ideas and methods. Heinecken, the exaggerated
champion of the German cause as against the par-
tisans of Coster, whom he contemptuously calls
" the beadle "^ — Heinecken himself, speaking of the
first German books engraved on wooden tablets, is

* The Dutch word coster means churchwarden, or beadle.

ITS BEGINNINGS, 2<)

obliged to admit that ** when the drawing is examined
\i^th a connoisseur's eye, a heavy and barbarous taste
appears to reign throughout" * In Germany the artistic
part was to wait upon and follow the example of the
industrial : was to lag behind and to plod on in bar-
barism long after the industrial revolution was ac-
complished at its side. And it \%^as long before the
"wood-cutting" engravers acquired anything like
the skill of the printers employed by Gutenberg and
by FiisL

In the Low Countries, on the other hand, the re-
generation of art preceded mechanical improvement
Even when the latter was in full progress, nay, even
when a grand discovery had revealed all the capa-
bilities and fixed the limits of printing, engraving was
by no means subordinated, as in Germany, to the ad-
vance of the new process, but, on the contrary, had long
since acquired a clearness and certainty of execution
which was still lacking in the works of the Drinters.
The " Speculum," as we have said, bears testimony to
that sort of anomaly between the mechanical imperfec-
tion of the Dutch printed texts of the fifteenth century
and the merit of the plates by which they were ac-
companied. Other examples might be mentioned,
but it is useless to multiply evidence, and to insist
on details. We shall have accomplished enough if we
have succeeded in accentuating some of the principal
features, and in summing up the essential character-
istics of engraving, at the time of the Incunabuli.

* ** Ide^ gen^rale d*une Collection d*Estampes, 1771," p. 305.

(C

CHAPTER II.

PLAYING CARDS. TIIP: DOT MANNER.

In our endeavour to prove the relative antiquity of
wood engraving in the Low Countries, we have in-
tentionally rather deferred the purely archaeological
question, and have sought the first signs of talent
instead of the bold beginnings of the art. The
origin of wood engraving, materially considered, can-
not be said to be confined to the time and country
of the pupils of Van Eyck. It was certainly in their
hands that it first began to show signs of being a
real art, and give promise for the future ; but we have
still to inquire how many years it had been practised
in Europe, through what phases it had already passed,
and to what uses it had been applied, before it took
this start and received this consecration.

We treat this question of origin with some re-
serve, and must repeat as our excuse that savants
have pushed their researches so far, and unhappily
with such conflicting results, and have found, or have
thought they found, in the accounts of travellers, or in
ancient official or historical documents, so many proofs
and arguments in support of different systems, that
it becomes equally difficult to accept or to finally
reject their various conclusions. The prevailing

PLAYING CARDS. ^l

opinion, however, attributes to the makers of playing
cards, if not the discovery of wood engraving, at
least its first practical application in Europe. Many
writers agree on the general principle, but agreement
ends when it comes to be question of the date and
place of the earliest attempts. Some pronounce
in favour of the fourteenth century and Germany;
others plead for France, where tliey say cards were in
use from the beginning of the reign of Philip of
Valois. Others again, to support the claims of Italy,
arm themselves with a passage quoted by Tiraboschi
from the " Trattato del Governo della Famiglia," a
work written, according to them, in 1299; ^^^ ^^^Y
suppose, besides, that the commercial relations of
Japan and China with Venice would have introduced
into that town before any other the use of cards and
the art of making them.

Emeric David, one of the most recent authorities,
carries things with a still higher hand. He begins
by setting aside all the claimants — Germany with the
Low Countries, France as well as Italy.* Where
playing cards were first used, or whether any par-
ticular xylographic collection belongs or not to the
first years of the fifteenth century, are matters of
extremely small importance in his eyes. In the
documents brought forward by competent experts
as the most ancient remains of wood engraving, he
finds instead a testimony to the uninterrupted prac-
tice of the art in Europe. For the real origin the

♦ it

Discours Historique siir la Gravure." Paris, 1808.

32 ENGRAVING.

author of the " Discours sur la Gravure " docs not
hesitate to go boldly back beyond the Christian era.
Nor does he stop there ; but sees in the practice of
the Greeks under the successors of Alexander a mere
continuance of the traditions of those Asiatic peoples
who were accustomed from time immemorial to print
on textile fabrics by means of wooden moulds.

It would be too troublesome to discuss his facts or ,
his conclusions ; so many examples borrowed from
the poets, from the historians of antiquity, and the
Fathers of the Church, appear to sustain his perhaps
too comprehensive theory. The best and the shortest
plan will be to take it upon trust, and to admit on
the authority of Homer, Herodotus, Ezekiel, and St
Clement of Alexandria, that from the heroic ages
till the early days of Christianity, there has been no
break in the practice of printing upon various ma-
terials from wooden blocks. Still less need we grudge
the Middle Ages the possession of a secret already
the common property of so many centuries.

But the printing of textiles does not imply the
knowledge and practice of engraving properly so
called ; and many centuries may have passed without
any attempt to use this merely industrial process for
finer ends, or to apply it to the purposes of art.
Seals with letters cut in relief were smeared with
colour and Impressed on vellum or paper long before
the invention of printing. The small stamps or
patterns with which the scribes and illuminators
transferred the outlines of capital letters to their
manuscripts, .might well have suggested the last

rL,\VlXG CARPS. 31;

advance. And yet how many years and oxiwiiiionis
were required to bring it to jx^rfcction ! \\ hy tiiay
we not suppose that the art of cngravin,^^, liko iho
art of printing, in spite of early, partial, and atialoi;ons
discoveries, ma^^ have waited long for its hour of
birth ? And when block printing was otioo bixnii;hl
from Asia into Europe, why may it not Iu\*c sniVotvd
the same fate as other inventions cijually ingenious
in principle and equally limited in their catlicr appli*
cations? Glass, for instance, was well known hy iho
nations of antiquity ; but how lo!\g a linio rlapso^l
before it was applied to windows ?

We have said that according to a gonctally re-
ceived opinion we must look upon playing eauls an
the oldest remains of xylography. Hut the evidetiee
on which this opinion is based has otily a ne;^ative
authority. Because the old books in whieh eanls arc
mentionedsay nothing of any other prod net ions of wood
engraving, it has been inferred that sueh produelions
did not yet exist; but is it not allowable to ask if the
silence of writers in such a case absolutely establishes
such a negative? Might not this silence be explained
by the nature of the work, and of the subject treated,
which was generally literary or philosophical, and tjuite
independent of questions of art ? When speaking of
cards, whether to formally forbid or only to restrain
their use, the chroniclers and the moralists of the
fourteenth century, or of the beginning of the fifteenth,
probably thought but little of the way they were
made. Their intention was to denounce a vice rather
than to describe an industrial process. Why, then,
D

31 ENGRAVING.

should they have troubled about other works in which
this process was employed, not only without danger to
religion and morality, but with a view of honouring
both? Pious pictures cut in wood by the hands of
monks or artisans might have been well known at this
time, although contemporary authors may have chosen
to mention only cards ; and, without pushing con-
jecture too far, we may take the liberty of supposing
that engravers first drew their inspiration from the
same source as illuminators, painters on glass, and
sculptors. Besides, we know well that art was then
only the naive expression of religion and the emblem
of Christian thought. Why should the cutters of
xylographic figures have been an exception to the
general rule ? and what strange freak would have led
them to choose as the subject of their first efforts a
species of work so contrary to the manners and
traditions of all the schools ?

Setting aside written testimony, and consulting the
engravings themselves which have been handed down
to us from former centuries, we are entitled to say that
the very oldest playing cards are, at the most, contem-
poraneous with the "St. Christopher" of 1423 and the
oldest known wood-cuts, inasmuch as the engraving of
these cards certainly does not date back beyond the
reign of Charles VII. That the Italian, German, or
French tarocchi (ornamented chequers or cards) were
in use before that time is possible ; but as none of
these early tarocchi have survived, it cannot be known
to what extent they represent the progress of the art,
aid how far they may have served as models for other

]

PLAYING CARDS. 35

xylc^raphic works: even though it be true that
relief engraving, and not merely drawing with the
pen, was the means first employed for the making
of the tarocchi mentioned here and there in the
chronicles.

Such French caids as have come dowTi to us would
lead us to believe, in any case, that the progress was
slow enough, for they still reveal an extraordinary
want of experience both as to shape and effect, and
have all the timidity of an art still in its infancy.
This must also be said of works of the same kind
executed in Germany in the fifteenth century; except
the cards, attributed to a contemporary of the Master
of 1466, and these are engraved on metal. In Italy
alone, cards, or rather the symbolical pieces known
rightly or wrongly by the name of tarocchiy possessed,
from an artistic point of view, real importance from
the time when engraving on metal had begun to take
the place of wood-cutting. The artists initiated by
Finiguerra into the secrets of the new method dis-
played good taste, knowledge, and skill ; and in such
less important work, as well as in that of a higher
order, their talent at last inaugurated an era of real
progress and of fruitful enterprise.

It is of no consequence, for the matter of that,
whether wood engraving was first applied to the
making of pious pictures or to the manufacture of
cards. In any case the process is generally looked
upon as the oldest method of engraving, and as the
first to give types to be multiplied in proofs by
printing.
D 2

36 ENGRAVING.

M. Leon de Laborde, one of the clearest and best
informed writers on the origins of engraving and typo-
graphy, considers, on the other hand, that engraving
in relief on metal, rather than the xylographic process,
was the proximate cause of the discovery of printing.
In a work published in 1839, which unfortunately
has yet to receive the amplifications promised by the
author,* M. de Laborde declares that the first printed
engravings must have been dotted ones : that is,
prints produced in the peculiar mode already touched
upon, and in which the black parts come out sprinkled
with white dots. According to him, engraving, or, to
speak more exactly, the printing of engraved work,
must have been invented by goldsmiths rather than by
draughtsmen or illuminators. The former, by the nature
of their craft, possessed the tools and the necessary
materials, and were therefore in a better position than
any one else to stumble upon the discovery of the
process, if not deliberately to invent it. As matter of
fact, many of those who worked in the Low Countries,
or in the Rhenish provinces, during the first years
of the fifteenth century, printed works in the early dot
manner : in other words, engraved in relief on metal.
And those xylographic specimens which are usually
looked upon as the oldest examples of engraving, are
in reality only the outcome of a reformation, and the
product of an art already modified.

* See in "L' Artiste," 1839, an article entitled **La plus ancienne
Gravure du Cabinet des Estampes de la Biblioth^qne royale est-elle
ancienne ? "

WMfTMAt

FiC. g.— JESUS CHRIST CARRYING THE C]
Engraving in the Dot Manner (1406!.

38 ENGRAVING.

The opinion expressed some time ago by JA, L^on
de Laborde has recently been supported by the dis-
covery of two engravings, in the early dot manner,
belonging, we think, to the year 1406, and on which
we have ourselves published some remarks.* But our
argument being only founded on the similarity of
certain external facts, so to speak, and on the proba-
bility of certain calculations, it is not really possible
to attribute to these documents so secure a standing
as to those whose age is established by dates, and set
practically beyond question.

Now, the oldest of the dated engravings in relief
on metal is the " St. Bernardino of Siena," wrongly
called the " St. Bernard," belonging to the Biblioth^que
Nationale in Paris. This engraving in the dot manner
bears the date 1454. It is, therefore, later than the " St.
Christopher" engraved on wood, and later even, as we
shall presently see, than the first engraving in incised
line, the " Pax," by Finiguerra, whose date of printing
is certain. Remembering these facts, the separation
of the oldest dotted prints from the first specimens of
true engraving is only permissible on the ground that
they are works executed by a special process. Con-
sidered from a purely artistic point of view, they offer
little interest. Their drawing, still ruder than that
of the German wood-cuts, exhibits an almost hiero-
glyphic unreality. Their general effect is purely con-
ventional ; arid, owing to the uniform depth of the

* ** Notice sur deux Estampes de 1406, et sur les Commencements de
la Gravure en Criblp. " **Gazettedes Beaux-arts, "t. 1*% 2^ periode, 1869.

Adh-^^ew^* Xf tvipU) •«J2*e»^ /^«*KW/'- >e-oiSf- ?«-

'ing in Ihe Dot Manner (1406).

blacks, their insignificant modelling expresses neither
the relief nor the comparative depression of the forms.

Hi

Engraving in (he Dol Manner (!45!).

THE DOT MANNER. 4I

In short, we find in these early dotted prints nothing
but perfect falseness to nature, and all the mendacity

(Pifteenth Cpmury.)

42 ENGRAVING.

inherent in feebleness of taste and slavish conformity
to system.

How comes it that this sorry child's-play has
appeared to deserve in our day attention which is not
always conceded to more serious work ? This might
be better excused had these prints been investigated
in order to demonstrate the principles of the method
followed afterwards by the engravers of illustrations
for books. The charming borders, for instance, which
adorn the " Books of Hours," printed in France
at the end of the fifteenth and the beginning of
the ' sixteenth centuries, would naturally suggest
comparisons between the way in which many parts
are stippled, and the process of the early dotted
engraving. But we may surely term excessive the
efforts of certain scholars to fix on these defective
attempts in a particular method of work the attention
of a public naturally attracted elsewhere. The fact
is, however, that in this matter, as well as in questions
relating to the origin of wood engraving and printing,
national self-respect wafe at stake, and writers sought
in the narrow field of archaeology a victory over rival
claims which they might less easily have achieved on
other grounds.

Between the authors of the .Low Countries and
of Germany, long accustomed to skirmishes of the
kind, this new conflict might have begun and con-
tinued without awaking much interest in other
nations ; but, contrary to custom, these counterclaims
originated neither in Germany nor in the Low
Countries. For the first time the name of France was

THE DOT MANNER. 43

heard of in a dispute as to the origin of engraving ;

Fig. ij.^esus on the mount of olives.

Engraving. in Ihe Dot Manner. (Fifteenth Cenlury.)

and though there was but scant honour to be gained,
the unforeseen rivalry did not fail to give additional

44 ENGRAVING.

interest to the struggle, and, in France at least, to
meet with a measure of favour.

The words " Bernhardinus Milnet," deciphered, or
supposed to be deciphered, at the bottom of an old
dotted engraving, representing " The Virgin and the
Infant Jesus," were taken for the signature of a French
engraver, and the discovery was turned to further profit
by the assumption that the said " Bernard or Bernardin
Milnet '* engraved all the prints of this particular
class ; although, even supposing these to belong to a
single school, they manifestly could not all belong
to a single epoch. The invention and monopoly of
dotted engraving once attributed to a single country,
or rather to a single man, these assertions continued to
gain ground for some time, and were even repeated in
literary and historical works. A day, however, came
when they began to lose credit; and as doubts entered
even the minds of his countrymen, the supposed
Bernard Milnet is now deprived of his name and
title, and is very properly regarded as an imaginary
being.

Does it follow from this, as M. Passavant * woiild
have it, that all these prints, naturalised for a little
while in France, ought to be restored (o Germany ?
Their contradictory character with regard to work-
manship and style might cause one, with the most
honest intentions, to hesitate, though their intrinsic
value is not such as to cause the former country any
great loss.

* " Le Peintre-Graveur," Leipzig, i860, vol. i., p. 84*

THE DOT MANNER.

Indeed, it is difficult to conceive of anything
less interesting, except with regard to the particular

nature of the process. The outlines of the figures
have none of that drawing, firm even to stiffness, nor

46 ENGRAVING.

has the flow of the draperies that taste for abrupt
forms, which distinguished the productions of the
German school from its beginnings. The least feeble
of these specimens, such as the " Saint Barbara," in
the Brussels Library, or the "St. George on Horse-
back," preserved in the Print Department of the Biblio-
Iheque Nationale in
Paris, do indeed occa-
sionally suggest some
similarity of origin
or manner with the
school of Van Eyck,
But it is unnecessary
to debate the point
at greater length.
Whether produced in
Fi-ance, in the Low
Countries, or in Ger-
many, the doited en-
gravings of the fif-
teenth century add so
little lustre to the land
which gave them
birth, that no scepti-
cism as to theirorigin
need lie very heavily on the conscience. In the
general history of the documents on the origin of en-
graving, the dotted prints form a series distinguished
by the method of their execution from any other ear-
lier or contemporary specimens of work ; the date
mark 1454, borne by one among the number, gives us

THE DOT MANNER. 47

authentic information as to the time of these strange
experiments, these curiosities of handicraft rather
than of art. This is as much as we need to bear
in mind upon the subject, and quite enough to
complete the history of the elementary attempts
which preceded or which co-existed for a few years
with the beginning of engraving by incised line in
Italy.

We have now arrived at that decisive moment when
engraving, endowed with fresh resources, was practised
for the first time by real masters. Up to the present,
the trifling ability and skill possessed by certain
wood-cutters and the peculiar methods of dotted en-
graving have been the only means by which we could
measure the efforts expended in the search for new
technical methods, or in their use when discovered.
We have now done with such hesitating and halting
progress. The art of printing from plates cut in
intaglio had no sooner been discovered by, or at least
dignified by the practice of, a Florentine goldsmith,
than upon every side fresh talent was evoked. In
Italy and Germany it was a question of who should
profit most and quickest by the advance. A spirit of
rivalry at once arose between the two schools; and
fifteen years had not elapsed since Italian art had
given its note in the works of the goldsmith engravers
of the school of Finiguerra, before German art had
found an equally definite expression in the works
of the Master of 1466. But, before examining this
simultaneous progress, we shall have to say a few
words on the historical part of the question, and to

48 ENGRAVING.

return to the origin of the process of intaglio en-
graving, as we have aheady done with the origin of
engraving in relief This part of our subject must
be briefly and finally disposed of; we may then alto-
gether abandon the uncertain ground of archaeological
hypothesis.

49

CHAPTER III.

FIRST ATl'EMPTS AT INTAGLIO ENGRAVING. THE NIELLI OF
THE FLORENTINE GOLDSMITHS. PRINTS BY THE ITALIAN
AND GERM.\N PAINTER ENGRAVERS OF THE FIFTEENTH
CENTURY

We have seen that Gutenberg's permanent improve-
ments in the method of printing resulted in the
substitution, so far as written speech was concerned,
of a mode of reproduction almost infinitely fruitful,
and even rapid when compared to the slowness and
the limited resources of the xylographic method.
Typography was destined to abolish the use of block
printing, and more particularly of caligraphy, which,
till then, had occupied so many pious and patient
hands both in monasteries and in schools. The art
of printing from engravings worked similar mischief
to the illuminator's craft. Such were, before long, the
natural consequences of the progress made ; and, we
may add, such had been from the first the chief
object of these innovations.

Perhaps this double revolution, so potent in its
general effect and in its influence on modern civi-
lisation, may have appeared to those engaged in
it no more important than a purely industrial im-
provement. Surely, for instance, we do no injustice
to Gutenberg if we accept with some reserve the vast
£

so ENGRAVING.

political and philosophical ideas, and the purposes of
universal enfranchisement, with which he has been
sometimes credited ? Probably the views of the
inventor of printing reached neither so far nor so
high. He did not intend to figure as an apostle,
nor did he regard himself as devoted to a philan-
thropic mission, as we should put it in the present day.
He considered himself no more than a workman with
a happy thought, when he proposed to replace the
lengthy and costly labours of the copyist by a process
so much cheaper and so much more expeditious.

A somewhat similar idea had already occurred
to the xylographic printers. Even the title of one
of the first books published by them, the " Biblia
Pauperum," or "Bible for the Poor," proved their
wish to place within the reach of the masses an
equivalent to those illuminated manuscript copies
which were only obtainable by the rich. One glance
at the ancient xylographic collections is enough to
disclose the spirit in which such work was under-
taken, and the design with which it was conceived.
The new industry imitated in every particular the
appearance of those earlier works due to the pen of
the scribe or to the brush of the illuminator ; and,
perhaps, the printers themselves, speculating on the
want of discernment in the purchasing public, thought
less of exposing the secret of their method than of
maintaining an illusion.

In most of the xylographic books, indeed, the
first page is quite without ornamentation. There are
neither chapter-headings nor ornamental capitals; the

FIRST ATTEMPTS AT INTAGLIO ENGRAVING. 51

blank space seems to await the hand of the illumi-
nator, who should step in to finish the work of the
printer, and complete the resemblance between the
printed books and the manuscript. Gutenberg fol-
lowed ; and even he, although less closely an imitator
of caligraphy, did not himself disdain at first to prac-
tise some deception as to the nature of his method.
It is said that the Bible he printed at Mayence was
sold as manuscript ; and the letterpress is certainly
not accompanied by any technical explanation, or
by any note of the printer's name or the mode of
fabrication. Not till somewhat later, when he pub-
lished the " Catholicon," did Gutenberg avow that he
had printed this book "without the help of reed, quill,
or stylus, but by means of a marvellous array of
moulds and punches." Even in this specimen of a
process already settled and finally disclosed to the
public, the capital letters were left blank in the
printing, and were afterwards filled in with brush or
pen. It was a farewell salutation to the past, and
the latest appearance of that old art which was now
doomed to pass away before the new, and to leave the
field to the products of the press.

Did the inventor of the art of printing from plates
cut in intaglio, like the inventor of the art of typo-
graphy, only wish at first to extend to a larger
public what had hitherto been reserved for the
favoured few ? Was early engraving but a weapon
turned against the monopoly of the miniature painter?
We might be tempted to think so, from the number
of rhanuscripts belonging to the second half of the
E 2

52 ENGRAVING.

fifteenth century, in which coloured prints, surrounded
by borders also coloured, are set opposite a printed
text, apparently in order to imitate as nearly as
possible the familiar aspect of illuminated books.
Next in turn came printed books with illustrations,
and loose sheets published separately for every-day
use. The Italian engravers, even before they began
to adorn with the burin those works which have been
the most frequently illustrated — such, for instance,
as the religious handbooks and the poem of Dante —
employed the new process from as early as 1465, to
assure their calendars a wider publicity. But let us
return to the time when engraving was yet in its early
stages, and when — by chance, by force of original
genius, or by the mere completion of what had been
begun by other hands — a Florentine goldsmith, one
Maso Finiguerra, succeeded in fixing on paper the
impression of a silver plate on which lines had been
engraved in intaglio and filled with black.

Finiguerra's great glory does not, however, lie in
the solution of the practical difficulty. Amongst
the Italians none before him had ever thought of
trying to print from a work engraved in incised line
or intaglio on metal ; and therefore, at least, in his own
country, he deser\'ed the honours of priority. But
the invention of the process — that is, in the absolute
and literal sense of its name, the notion of repro-
ducing burin work by printing — was certainly not
peculiar to Finiguerra. Unconscious of what was
passing elsewhere, he may have been the first in
Florence to attempt this revolution in art; but.

FIRST ATTEMPTS AT INTAGLIO ENGRAVING. 53

beyond the frontiers of Italy, many had already
employed for the necessities of trade that method
which it was his to turn into a powerful instrument
of art. His true glory consists in the unexpected
authority with which he inaugurated the movement.
Although it may be true that there are prints a few
years older than any Florentine niello— the German
specimens of 1446, discovered but the other day by
M. Renouvier* or the "Virgin" of 1451 described by
M. Passavant t — it cannot change the real date of the
invention of engraving ; that date has been written
by the hand of a man of talent, the first engraver
worthy of the name of artist.

That Finiguerra was really the inventor of en-
graving, because he dignified the new process by the
striking ability with which he used it, and proved
his power where his contemporaries had only ex-
hibited their weakness, must be distinctly laid down,
even at the risk of scandalising some of the learned.
He has the same right to celebrity as Gutenberg, who,
like him, was but the discoverer of a decisive advance ;
the same right also as Nicol6 Pisano and Giotto, the
real founders of the race of the Great Masters, and,
truly speaking, the first painter and the first sculptor
who appeared in Italy, although neither sculpture
nor painting were even novelties at the moment
of their birth. As a mere question of date, the
" Pax " of Florence may not be the earliest example

* " Une Passion de 1446. Suite de Gravures au Burin, les pre-
mieres avec Date." Montpellier, 1857.

t ** Archiv fiir die Zeichmnden Kunslr," 1858.

54 ENGRAVING.

of engraving ; be it so. But in which of these earlier
attempts, now so much acclaimed as arguments against
the accepted tradition, can we glean even the faintest
promise of the merits which distinguish that illustrious
engraving ? He who wrought it is no usurper ; his
fame is a legitimate conquest.

It is a singular coincidence that the discovery of
printing and that of the art of taking proofs on paper
from a plate engraved in intaglio, or, to speak more
. exactly, that the final improvements of both these pro-
cesses, should have sprung up almost simultaneously,
one in Italy and the other in Germany. There is
only an interval of two years between the time when
Finiguerra printed his first engraving in 1452, and the
time when Gutenberg exhibited his first attempts at
printing in 1454. Till then, copies drawn, painted,
or written by hand had been the only efficient means
of reproduction. None, even amongst those most
capable of original" thought or action, considered
it beneath them to set forth the thought of others.
Boccaccio and Petrarch exchanged whole books of
Livy or of Cicero which they had patiently transcribed,
and monkish or professional artists copied on the
vellum of missals the paintings which covered the walls
or adorned the altars of their churches. Such subjects
as were engraved on wood were only designed to
stimulate the devotion of the pious. Both by their
inadequate execution, and the special use for which
they were intended, they must rank as industrial
products rather than as works of art.

Besides illumination and wood engraving, there

FIRST ATTEMPTS AT INTAGLIO ENGRAVING. 55

was a process sometimes used to copy certain originals,
portraits or fancy subjects, but more frequently em-
ployed by goldsmiths in the decoration of chalices,
reliquaries, and altar canons. This process was no-
thing but a special application and combination
of the resources belonging to the long known arts
of enamelling and chalcography, which last simply
means engraving on metal. The incised lines made
by the graver in a plate of silver, or of silver and gold
combined, were filled with a mixture of lead, silver,
and copper, made more easily fusible by the addition
of a certain quantity of borax and sulphur. This
blackish-coloured mixture {ftigelluiny whence niello,
niellare) left the unengraved parts exposed, and, in
cooling, became encrusted in the furrows where it had
been introduced. After this, the plate, when carefully
polished, presented to the eye the contrastof a design in
dull black enamel traced upon a field of shining metal
Towards the middle of the fifteenth century this
kind of engraving was much practised in Italy, espe-
cially in Florence, where the best niellatori were to
be found. One of them, Tomaso, or for short, Maso
Finiguerra, was, like many goldsmiths of his time, at
once an engraver, a designer, and a sculptor. The
drawings attributed to him, his nielli, and the bas-
reliefs partly by him and partly by Antonio Pollajuolo,
would not, perhaps, have been enough to have pre-
served his memory : it is his invention — in the degree
we mentioned — of the art of printing intaglio engrav-
ings, or rather of the art of engraving itself, that has
made him immortal.

56 ENGRAVING.

What, however, can seem more simple than this
discovery ? It is even difficult to understand why it
was not made before, when we remember not only
that the printing of blocks engraved in relief had been
practised since the beginning of the fifteenth century,
but that the niellatori themselves were in the habit of
taking, first in clay and then in sulphur, an impres-
sion and a counter-impression of their work before
applying the enamel. What should seem more simple
than to have taken a direct proof on a thin elastic
body such as paper ? But it is always easy to criticise
after the event, and to point out the road of progress
when the end has been attained. Who knows if to-day
there is not lying at our very hand some discovery
which yet we never think of grasping, and if our pre-
sent blindness will not be the cause of similar wonder
to our successors ?

At any rate, Finiguerra had found the solution of
the problem by 1452. This was put beyond doubt
on the day towards the close of the last century (1797),
when Zani discovered, in the Print -Room of the
Paris Library, a niello by Finiguerra printed on paper
of indisputable date.

This little print, or rather proof, taken before the
plate was put in niello, of a " Pax""*^ engraved by the
Florentine goldsmith for the Baptistery of St. John,

* The ** Pax" is a metal plate which, at high mass and during the
singing of the "Agnus Dei," the officiating priest gives to be kissed by
the clergy and the devout, addressing to each of them these words:
** Pax tecum." The *'Pax " made by Finiguerra for the Baptistery of
St. John has been removed from thence to the Uffizi, where it still is.

Fin. l6, — KlNlUUERRd,
The ■■ Pax " of ilie Baptistery of Si, Jcba at Hon

58 ENXRAVING.

represents the Coronation of the Virgin. It measures
only 130 millimetres by 87. As regards its size,
therefore, the "Coronation"
is really only a vignette ;
but it is a vignette handled
with such knowledge and
style, and informed with so
deep a feeling for beauty,
that it would bear with per-
fect impunity the ordeal of
being enlai^ed a hundred
times- and transferred to
a canvas or a wall. Its
claims as an arch jeo logical
specimen, and the value that four centuries have added
to this small piece of perishable paper, must assuredly
neither be forgotten nor misunder-
stood by any one. Vet he would
be ill-advised, on the other hand,
who should regard this master-
piece of art as a mere historical
curiosity.

The rare merits which dis-
tinguish Finiguerra's "Coronation"
are to be seen, though much less
conspicuously, in a certain number
of works attributed to the same
origin. Other pieces engraved at
the same time, and printed under
the same conditions by unknown Florentine work-
men, prove that the example given in 1452 had

(Rfleeiuh Cenlury.)

FIRST ATTEMPTS AT INTAGLIO ENGRAVING. 59

at once created imitators. It must be remarked, how-
ever, that amongst such works, whether attributed to
Finiguerra or to other goldsmiths of the same time
and country, none belong to the class of engravings
properly so called. In other
words they are only what we
have agreed to call nielli :
that is, proofs on paper of
plates designed to be after-
wards enamelled, and not inv
pressions of plates specially and
finally intended to be "used for
printing. It would almost ap-
pear that the master and his
first followers failed to foresee
all the results and benefits of
this discovery; that they looked
upon it only as a surer test
of work than clay or sulphur
casts, as a test process suitable
to certain stages of the labours Fic. i
of the gold.smith. In one word, (Fiftecmh Ceniury.)

from the time when he made

his first success till the end of his life, Finiguerra
probably only used the new process to forward his
work as a niellatore, without its ever occurring to him
to employ it for its own sake, and in the spirit of a
real engraver.

Florentine engravings of the fifteenth century,
other than in niello, or those at least whose origin and
date are certain, are not only later than Finiguerra's

6o ENGRAVING.

working days, but are even later than the year of
his death (1470). In Germany, from the very be-
ginning, so to speak, of the period of initiation, the
Master of 1466 and his disciples were multiply-
ing impressions of their works, and profiting by the
full resources of the new process. In Florence, on
the contrary, there passed about twenty years during
which the art seems to have remained stationary and
confined to the same narrow field of practice as at
first. You may visit the richest public or private
collections without meeting (with the exception of
works in niello) any authentic and official specimen of
Florentine engraving of the time of which we speak.*
You may open books and catalogues, and find no
mention of any engraved subject that can be called a
print earlier than those attributed to Baccio Baldini, or
to Botticelli, which only appeared in the last quarter
of the century. Yet it is impossible to find any
explanation of this sterility — of this extraordinary
absence of a school of engravers, in the exact
acceptation of the word, outside of the group of the
niellatori.

Some years later, however, progress had led to
emancipation. The art of engraving, henceforth free,
broke from its industrial servitude, deserted the

* It is useless to adduce the fine " Profile of a Woman," dis-
covered a few years ago at Bologna, and now the property of the Berlin
Museum, as an argument against the poverty we are trying to prove.
This very important document is not only of uncertain date, but, as
we have remarked elsewhere, the nature of its execution and style for-
bid one to look upon it as the work of any Florentine artist.

62 ENGRAVING.

traditions of enamelling and chasing, and took pos-
session of its own domain. There are still to be re-
marked, of course, a certain timidity and a certain lack
of experience in the handling of the tool, an execution
at once summary and strangely careful, a mixture of
naive intentions and conventional modes of expres-
sion. But the burin, though only able as yet imper-
fectly to treat lines in mass and vary the values of
shadows, has mastered the secret of representing life
with precision and elegance of outline, and can ren-
der the facial expression of the most different types.
Sacred and mythological personages, sybils and
prophets, madonnas and the gods of Olympus, the
men and women of the fifteenth century, all not
only reveal at the first glance their close pictorial
relationship to the general inclinations and habits
of Florentine art of the fourteenth century, but show
us these tendencies continued and confirmed in a fresh
form. The delicacy which charms us in the bas-
reliefs and the pictures of the time ; the aspiration,
common to contemporary painters and sculptors, of
idealising and heightening the expression of external
facts ; the love of rare, exquisite, and somewhat subtle
expression, are to be found in the works left by the
painter-engravers who were the immediate followers
of Finiguerra, no less clearly than in the painted
and sculptured subjects on the walls of contemporary
churches and palaces.

Whatever we may suppose to have been the part
due to Baccio Baldini, to Botticelli, to Pollajuolo, or
to anybody else ; with whatever acuteness we may

FIRST ATTEMPTS AT INTAGLIO KNGRAVING. 63

discern, or think we discern, the inequalities of style
and the tricks of touch in different men; all their

Fig. z?. — BACCio baldini.
The Prophel Baruch.

Fig. 23.— baccio baldiki.
The Sibyl ol Cumae.

66 ENGRAVING.

works display a vigorous unity, which must be care-
fully taken into account, inasmuch as it gives its
character to the school. Though we should even
succeed in separately labelling with a proper name
each one of the works which are all really dependent
on one another, the gain would be small.

Provided that neither the qualities nor the meaning
of the whole movement be understood, we may, as
regards the distribution of minor parts, resign our-
selves to doubt, and even ignorance, and console
ourselves for the mystery which enshrouds these
nameless talents : and this the more readily that
we can with greater impartiality appreciate their
merits in the. absence of biographical hypothesis and
the commentaries of the scholar.

The prints due to the Florentine painter-engravers
who followed Finiguerra mark a transitional epoch
between the first stage of Italian engraving and the
time when the art, having entered upon its period of
virility, used its powers with confidence, and showed
itself equal to any feat. The privileges of fruitful-
ness and success in this second phase no longer,
it is true, belong wholly to Florence. It would
seem that, after having again and again given
birth to so much talent, Florentine art, exhausted
by rapid production, reposed and voluntarily allowed
the neighbouring schools to take her place. Even
before the appearance of Marc Antonio, the most
important proofs of skill were given outside of
Tuscany; and if towards the beginning, or at the
beginning, of the sixteenth century, the numerous

FIRST ATTEMPTS AT INTAGLIO ENGRAVING. &7

plates engraved by Robetta still continued to sustain
the reputation of the Florentine school, such a result

ENTITLED "THE GAME

was owing far less to the individual talent of the
engraver, than to the charm and intrinsic value of
his models.

ENGRAVING.

Of all the Italian engravers who, towards the end
of the fifteenth century, completed the popularisation
in their country of the art whose first secrets and

[-

examples we \ supplied by Flo

the one mon oircd and most s

,was certainly ^ We need not

^ We need n<

FIRST ATTEMPTS AT INTAGLIO ENGRAVING. 69
recall the true position of this great artist in the

Fib. 26,— mantbgna.
From ihe Print Represenling a Banle of Sea-Gods.

history of painting. Such of his pictures and decora-
tive paintings as still exist possess a world-wide fame ;

70 ENGRAVING.

and, though his engravings are less generally known,
they deserve equal celebrity, and would justify equal
admiration.

The engraved work of Mantegna consists of only
twenty plates, about half of which are religious, and
the remainder mythological or historical. Though
none of these engravings bears the signature or
initials of the Paduan master, their authenticity
cannot be doubted. It is abundantly manifest in
certain marked characteristics of style and workman-
ship ; in the delicate yet strong precision of the draw-
ing ; and in that somewhat rude elegance which
was at the command of none of his contempora-
ries in the same degree. Every part of them, even
where they savour of imperfection or of extravagance,
bears witness to the indomitable will and independent
genius of a master. His touch imparts a passionate
and thrilling aspect even to the details of architectural
decoration and the smallest inanimate objects. One
would suppose that, after having studied each part of
his subject with the eye of a man of culture and a
thinker, Mantegna, when he came to represent it on
the metal, forgot all but the burning impatience of his
hand and the fever of the struggle with his material.

And yet the handling alone of such works as the
"Entombment" and the "Triumph of Caesar" bears
witness to the talent of an engraver already more ex-
perienced than any of his Italian predecessors and
more alive to the real resources of his art. The burin
in Mantegna's hand displays a firmness that can no
longer be called stiffness ; and, while it hardly as yet

can be said to imitate painting, competes in boldness
and rapidity at least with the effect of chalk or the-
pen. Unlike the Florentine engravers, with their

Fig. aS.— I
Jesus Christ, Si, Andi

timid sparse strokes which scarcely served to mark
the outlines, Mantegna works with masses of shadow
produced by means of closer graining, and seeks to

FIRST ATTEMPTS AT INTAGLIO ENGRAVING. 73

express, or at any rate to suggest, internal modelling,
instead of contenting himself with the mere outlines
of the body. In a word, Mantegna as an engraver

imph of Julius C^Bsar.

never forgot his knowledge as a painter ; and it is
this, combined with the rare vigour of his imagina-
tion, which assures him the first place amongst the
Italian masters before the time of Marc Antonio.

74 ENGRAVING.

Mantegna had soon many imitators. Some of
them, as Mocetto, Jacopo Francia, Nicoletto da
Modena, and Jacopo de* Barbari, known as the Master
of the Caduceus, though profiting by his example, did
not push their docility so far as to sacrifice their own
tastes and individual sentiment. Others, as Zoan
Andrea and Giovanni Antonio da Brescia, whose
work has been sometimes mistaken for that of
Mantegna himself, set themselves not only to make
his manner their own, but to imitate his engravings
line for line.

However strongly Mantegna's influence may have
acted on the Italian engravers of the fifteenth century,
or the early years of the sixteenth, it hardly seems to
have extended beyond Lombardy, Venice, and the
small neighbouring states. It was neither in Florence
nor in Rome that the Paduan example principally ex-
cited the spirit of imitation. The works it gave rise to
belong nearly all of them to artists formed under the
master^s very eyes, or in close proximity to his teach-
ings, whether the manner of the leader of the school
appeared in the efforts of pure copyists and imitators
more or less adroit, or whether it appeared in a much
modified condition in the works of more independent
disciples.

It was in Verona, Venice, Modena, and Bologna
that the movement which Mantegna started in art found
its most brilliant continuation. As the engravers, em-
boldened by experience, gradually tended to reconcile
something of their own inspirations and personal desires
with the doctrines transmitted to them, assuredly a

FIRST ATTEMPTS AT INTAGLIO ENGRAVING. 75

certain amount of progress was manifested and some
improvements were introduced into the use or the

combination of means; but in spite of such par-
tial divergences, the general appearance of the works
proves their common origin, and testifies to the im-

76 ENGRAVING.

prudence of the efforts sometimes made to split into
small isolated groups and infinite subdivisions what,
in reality, forms a complete whole, a genuine school.

The same spirit of unity is again found to predomi-
nate in all the works of the German engravers belong-
ing to the second half of the fifteenth century. With
respect to purpose and style, there is certainly a great
difference between the early Italian engravings and
those which mark the beginning of the art in the
towns of High and Low Germany. But both have
this in common: that certain fixed traditions once
founded remain for a time almost unchangeable ; that
certain fixed methods of execution are held like
articles of faith, and only modified with an extreme
respect for the time-honoured principles of early days.
The Master of 1466, and shortly after him, Martin
Schongauer, had scarcely shown themselves, before
their example was followed, and their teaching obe-
diently practised, by a greater number of disciples
than had followed, or were destined to follow, in Italy
the lead of the contemporaries of Finiguerra or Man-
tegna. The influence exerted by the latter had at least
an equivalent in the ascendancy of Martin Schon-
gauer ; while the Master of 1466, in the character
of a founder, which belongs to him, has almost the
same importance in the history of German engraving
as the Florentine goldsmith in that of Italian en-
graving.

The Master of 1466 may, indeed, be regarded as
the Finiguerra of Germany, because he was the first
in his own country to raise to the dignity of an art

FIRST ATTE5IPTS AT INTAGLIO EXGRATIXG. 77

what had been only an industrial process in the hands
of talentless workmen. Like n-ood engra\nng, int^lio

FIG.3I. — BATTISTA DEL PORTO, CALLED THE "MABTBR of the BIRP,"

engraving, such as we see it in German prints some
years before the works of the Master of 1466, had only

;8 ENGRAVING.

succeeded in spreading abroad, in the towns on the
banks of the Rhine, productions of a rude or grotesque
symbolism, in which, notwithstanding recent attempts
to exaggerate their value,
a want of technical ex-
perience was as evident
as extreme poverty of
conception. These ar-
chaeological curiosities
can have no legitimate
place amongst works of
art, and we may without
injustice take still less
account of them, as the
rapid progress made by
the Master of 1466
throws their inferiority
into greater relief. If the
anonymous artist called
the Master of 1466 be
the true founder of the
German school of en-
graving ; if he show him-
self cleverer than any
of the Italian engravers
of the period — from the
point of view only of practical execution, and the
right handling of the tool — it does not necessarily
follow that he holds the same priority in talent as
he certainly holds in order of time before all other
engravers of the same age and country. One of

The Vii^n and ihe Infant Jes

FIRST ATTEMPTS AT INTAGLIO ENGRAVING.

these, Martin Schongauer, called also "handsome
Martin," or for short, " Martin Schon," may have a
better right to the highest place. Endowed with
more imagination than
the Master of 1466, with
a deeper feeling for truth
and a clearer instinct
for beauty, he displays
at least equal dexterity
in the conduct of the
work and in the handling
of the graver. Assuredly,
if we compare Martin
Schongauer's prints with
the beautiful Flemish or
French engravings of the
seventeenth century, the
combinations of lines
which satisfied the Ger-
man engraver cannot
fail to appear insufficient,
or even archaically sim-
ple ; but if we compare
them with the engraved
work of all countries in
the fifteenth century, it
will be acknowledged

that, even as a technical worker, the master of
Colmar* exhibited a striking superiority over all his

* Martin Schongauer was bom at Colmar, in which town his falher
bad settled as a goldsmith ; (here he passed the greatest part of his

Fig. 33.— martin schongauer.
Si. John the Evangelist.

i. 34.— MARriH SCHONGAUER.

Jesus Betrayed by Judas,

Via, 35. — MARTIN SCHONGAUGC

The Eatombmeni,

82 ENGRAVING.

ccntemporaries. Such plates as the " Flight into
Egypt," the "Death of the Virgin," the "Wise
Virgins," and the "Foolish Virgins," are distin-
guished above all by power and by grace of ex-
pression ; but to these ideal qualities there is added
so much firmness of drawing, and so much decision
of handling, that, in spite of all subsequent progress,
they deserve to be numbered with those which most
honour the art of engraving.

Martin Schongauer, like the Master of 1466, at
once raised up both imitators and rivals in Munich, in
Mecheln in Westphalia, in Nuremberg, and in many
other towns in the German States. His influence
and reputation extended even beyond the borders of
Germany; and it was not the artists of the Low Coun-
tries alone who sought to profit by his example. In
Florence young Michelangelo did not disdain to study,
nor even to copy him, for he painted a " Temptation
of St. Anthony," after Schongauer's engraving. Italian
miniature painters and engravers, Gherardo and Nico-
letto da Modena, amongst others, reproduced many
of his prints. The very figures and ornamentation
which decorate the " Books of Hours," published by
Simon Vostre and Hardouin at the beginning of the
sixteenth century, show that in the France of that
period a zeal for imitation of the master's manner was

life, and there he died in 1488. Vasari sometimes spi^aks of him as
•^Antwerp Martin," or "Martin the Fleming.** This is easily ex-
plained : a German or Flemish artist would be all one in the eyes of a
Tuscan of the fifteenth century, as strangers were all barbarians to
the ancient Romans.

FIRST ATTEMPTS AT INTAGLIO ENGRAVING. 83

not always restrained by the fear of actual plagiarism.

Fig. 36.— MAKMN SCHONCAVKB.

F'lguteftom Ihe set enlilled "The Fooliih Virgins,"

liut ihc influence of Martin Schcngauer on thi
u 2

84 ENGRAVING.

prepress of art and the talent of artists was more
extended and decided in Germany itself. Amongst
those who most obediently submitted to, and who

best knew how lo profit by, that example, we
need only mention Bartholomew Schon, Franz von
Bocholt, Wenceslas of Olmutz, Israel van Mechenen,

FIRST ATTEMPTS AT INTAGLIO ENGRAVING. 85

Glockenton, and lastly, the engraver with the mono-
gram " B M," whose most important work, the "Judg-
ment of Solomon,*' was perhaps engraved from a
picture by Martin Schongauer, who like Mantegna,
like Pollajuolo, and indeed like the majority of early
engravers, was not only a painter, but a singularly
good one. His painted pictures still belonging to
the town of Colmar, and, setting aside his rare
talent as an engraver, even the little " Death of the
Virgin," which has been the property of the London
National Gallery since i860, would be enough to
establish his reputation.*

The importance of such an artist is in every respect
that of the leader of a school and a master in the
strictest acceptation of the word. Martin Schon-
gauer in his own person, and through the talent
he helped to foster, did so much, and so greatly
honoured his country, that it is only just to regard
him as one of the most glorious representatives of
national art, and to place his name beside those of
Albert Diirer and Holbein, as the three men in whom
the essential qualities and characteristics of the German
genius have been most typically represented.

* This is by no means universally admitted to be a genuine work
by Martin Schongiuer.

86

CHAPTER IV.

LINE ENGRAVING AND WOOD ENGRAVING IN GERMANY AND
ITALY IN THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY.

Thanks to the Master of 1466 and to Martin Schon-
gauer, line engraving in Germany was marked by
brilliant and unexpected advances, whilst wood en-
graving merely followed the humble traditions of early
days. It is true that the latter process was no longer
exclusively applied to the production of occasional
unbound prints, or cheap religious pictures on loose
leaves, of which we have a specimen in the " Saint
Christopher" of 142 j. In Germany, towards the end
of the fifteenth century, the custom had spread of
" illustrating " (as we now call it) type-printed books
with wood engravings. To mention a few amongst
many examples, we have the '* Casket of the True
Riches of Salvation" (" Schatzbehalter "), published
at Nuremberg in 1491, and the "Chronicorum Liber"
called the " Nuremberg Chronicle,^' printed in the
same town in 1493, both of which contain numerous
wood-cuts interpolated in the text

These cuts are not so bad as the earlier German
work in the same process, yet they are far from

ENGRAVING IN GERMANY AND ITALY. S7

good. They scarcely hold out a promise of the
advance in skill made some years later by wood-
cutters under the influence of Albert Diirer, and if
they are compared with the illustrations which adorn
Italian books of the same period — the " Decameron "
of 1492, for instance, and especially the " Hypneroto-
machia Poliphili" of 1499— they appear still worse.
Though they are not of much value in themselves,
the prints which accompany the writings in the
" Casket " and the " Nuremberg Chronicle " deserve
attention. They were done from designs supplied
by Albert Diirer's master, Michael Wolgemut ; and
the gulf between the rather feeble talent of the older
man, and the profound knowledge and powerful ori-
ginality of his illustrious pupil, can thus be easily
measured.

Albert Diirer was the son of a Hungarian gold-
smith established at Nuremberg. He tells us himself
how, at the age of fifteen, he left his father's shop
for Wolgemut's studio: not that he wished to free
himself from parental authority, but simply to hasten
the time when he might do his share towards satisfy-
ing the wants of a numerous family. "My father,"
says Albert Diirer, in his autobiographical notes,
'could only supply himself, his wife, and children*
with the strict necessaries of life ; and spent his
life in great hardship and severe hard work. He
suffered in addition many adversities and troubles.

♦ He had no fewer than eighteen children; Albert was the
third.

88 ENGRAVING.

Every one who knew him spoke well of him, for he
led a worthy Christian life, was patient and gentle,
at peace with every one, and always thankful to God.
He did not seek worldly pleasures, was a man of
few words, kept little company, and feared God.
My dear father was very earnest about bringing up
his children in the fear of God, for it was his greatest
desire to lead them aright, so that they might be
pleasing to God and man. And his daily injunc-
tion to us was that we should love God, and deal
uprightly with our neighbour. ... I felt at length
more like an artist than a goldsmith, and I begged
my father to let me paint ; but he was displeased
with the request, for he regretted the time I had
lost in learning his trade. However, he gave in to
me, and on St. Andrew's Day, i486, he apprenticed
me to Master Michael."

Albert Diirer's progress was indeed rapid, at least
his progress in engraving, for he drew with remarkable
talent before he entered Wolgemut's studio. The
charming portrait of himself at the age of thirteen,
still preserved at Vienna in the Albertine Collection,
sufficiently proves that he required no lessons from
his new master in the skilful handling of a pencil:
the teaching of his own mind had been enough. But
it was otherwise with engraving, where he had to
advance by way of experiment, and gain capacity
from practice. And it was not till about 1496,
after many years of apprenticeship, that he ven-
tured to publish his first engraved work. His early
works, moreover, are very probably only copies from

ENGRAVING IN GERMANY AND ITALY. 89

Wolgemut,* whereas the original works which fol-
lowed, though retaining something of the traditional
manner, bear nevertheless a stamp of independent
feeling. Thus too, and at nearly the same time, the
genius of Perugino*s gifted pupil began to show itself
under the borrowed forms of the only style permitted
in the school ; and the obedient hand which por-
trayed the " Sposalizio " in the manner and under the
eyes of his master, in secret already obeyed the mind
of Raphael.

Meanwhile Albert Diirer, whose fame had begun
to spread beyond the walls of Nuremberg, undertook a
tour through Germany, and was absent for four years ;
and when he returned to settle in his native town, he
married Agnes Frey, the daughter of a respectable
and wealthy merchant in Nuremberg. If we may be-
lieve report, the union was unhappy, and darkened
and shortened by cruel domestic troubles the life of
the noble artist. The story has often been told how
his imperious and greedy wife kept him continually
at work, and how, as prints paid better than pictures,
she would not allow him to sacrifice the burin to the
brush. Dreading the reproaches and accusations of
idleness to which she gave vent on the smallest pro-
vocation, Diirer bent beneath the yoke and rarely
left his studio. One day, for instance, they relate that
he was discovered in the street by his wife, whom he
believed to be at the other end of the town, and was

♦ Herr Moriz Thausing has treated this question exhaustively in
his important work on Albert Diirer.

90 ENGRAVING.

forced to return and to expiate his momentary idleness
by working far beyond his usual time. The poor
artist died at last of overwork and misery ; and his
hateful widow only regretted his death because it set a
term to his earnings.

Such is the account in all the books that deal with
Diirer, from the work of the German Sandrart, in the
seventeenth century, down to the biographical dic-
tionaries published in our own time by French
writers ; such is the story which has served as text
to so many denunciations of this new Xantippe,
and to so many elegies upon her victim. But the
facts of the case were not carefully examined. The
result of Herr Thausings scrupulous investigation
of the subject, and the authentic testimony he has
adduced, show, on the contrary, that Albert Diirer
and his wife lived on pretty good terms till his
death ; so that we may banish as idle fables the
torments which he was supposed to have suffered,
and the sorrows that were said to have shortened
his life.

The story so frequently repeated after Vasari,
of Durer's quarrels with a certain forger of his works
at Venice, where copies signed with his mono-
gram were publicly sold as originals, rests on a
surer basis. The said forger was a young man
of no reputation who had conceived this idea of
commanding a sale for his works, and of thus
quickly realising a profit on the renown of Diirer
and the simplicity of his customers. It was not
long, however, before the fraud was discovered,

ENGRAVING IN GERMANY AND ITALY. QI

when he tried, it is said, to turn it into a joke;
but the German artist could not be brought to
see it in that h'ght. It was a case in which his
wife was not concerned, and he could take his own
part openly. He applied at once to the Senate,
denounced the fraud, and obtained a decree con-
demning the offender thenceforth to affix to his plates
no other name than his own. This name, destined
to become celebrated, was no other than that of
Marc Antonio Raimondi.

In our own days the truth of this story has been
more than once doubted, at least in so far as the
legal consequences are concerned, for the forgery
itself cannot be denied. The plates of the " Life of
the Virgin," engraved by Marc Antonio from Albert
Diirer, and bearing the monogram of the latter, are
known to every one ; but it has been objected as an
argument against the sentence that, in the state of
morals and legislation in the sixteenth century, to
affix another person's signature to these plates did not
constitute a misdemeanour ; and that Marc Antonio,
by appropriating the name and the works of Albert
Diirer, did no worse than many imitators of Martin
Schongauer had done before him, no worse, indeed,
than was presently to be done with regard to his
own works by imitators as unscrupulous as himself.
This is quite true ; but it is no less so that Albert
Durer's signature, so deliberately added by Marc
Antonio to the copies he engraved of the " Life of
the Virgin,'^ is not to be found on the plates of the
'* History of the Passion," engraved later on by Marc

92 ENGRAVING.

Antonio in imitation of the German master. It is
impossible not to suppose that in the meantime a
judgment of some sort was passed, obliging the
copyist to appear under his true colours.

The just satisfaction accorded to the demands of
Albert Durer was not, however, to preser\^e him from
the injury afterwards done him by imitators of another
kind. Some Venetian painters followed the example
of Marc Antonio, and, adding insult to injury, ener-
getically abused the very man whose works they
impudently copied. " If you saw these men," wrote
Diirer to his friend Pirkheimer, "you would take
them for the best people in the world. For my
part, I can never help laughing at them when they
speak to me. They are quite aware that one knows
all about their knavery ; but they don't care. You
may be sure I was warned in time not to eat and
drink with them. There are painters in Venice who
copy my works, clamouring loudly the while that I
am ruining art by departing frorfi the antique."

Albert Diirer, however, found in the welcome he
received from the most celebrated Italian artists a
compensation for the bad conduct to which he was a
victim. Old Giovanni Bellini himself overwhelmed
his young rival with praise, and begged for one of his
works, for which he declared himself " eager to pay
well." Lastly, when Diirer was once more in his own
country, and might have considered himself forgotten
by the Italian painters, Raphael, the greatest of all,
sent him as a token of his admiration some proofs
of plates that Marc Antonio had just engraved under

ENGRAVING IN GERMANY AND ITALY.

93

his own eye. What happened at Venice was nearly
happening at Nuremberg. The German engraver
did not dream of copying the works of his old
imitator as a sort of quid pro quo ; but, as he really
appreciated them at, their true value, he did not
hesitate to show them to his pupils, and to recommend
them to their imitation. Aldegrevcr, Hans Schaii-
flein, Baldung Griin, Hans Sebald Beham, indeed, the

Fig. 3S.-

The Jesler and ihe Lovrrs.

greater part of the so-called "Little Masters," who
were destined all their lives to remain faithful to tra-
dition, were content to admire without any thought
of imitation ; but those who were younger and less
fixed simply took Albert Diirer at his word. Perhaps
he scarcely welcomed such excessive docility. But
their master having thus almost acknowledged a
superior, these young men hurriedly left him to put
themselves under the guidance of the conqueror. The
deserters were numerous. Georg Pencz, Bartholo-
mew Beham, and Jacob Binck, who had been the
first to cross the Alps, succeeded in copying Marc

94

ENGRAVING.

Antonio well enough to cause several of the subjects
ihey engraved to be mistaken for his own. When
in their turn, and in Rome itself, they had edu-
cated German pupils, these latter returned to their
own country to finish the revolution already begun,
by spreading still further the
taste for the Italian manner ; so
that the school of Diirer, the
only one known in Germany
some years before, was, after the
second generation, almost en-
tirely absorbed in that of the
Italians.

The engravings of Albert
Diirer, even those produced in
the full force of his talents, for
a long time obtained but little
favour in France and England.
They now possess zealous ad-
mirers, and modern painting now
and then shows signs of being
affected by this enthusiasm; it is in the new Ger-
man school, of which Cornelius and Kaulbach were
the chiefs, that the NurembeiiJ master seems to have
exerted the most important influence, and one which
is, even in some respects, to be regretted. It would,
however, be unjust to Diirer to saddle him with the
burden of errors of which he was but the involuntary
cause. However exaggerated may have been the
reaction produced by his followers three centuries
after his death, considered separately and apart from

Fio 39.
The Three Soldicn

BiLIBALDI PIRItEYMHFRl EFFIGIES
AETATIS SYAE ANNOLIIl'

vtvrrvR iNOEKio caeteba-mortis ■

•ERVNT-

^!jg ' ff! i' i?!;«*t V't^ "T'- ' fy" -■^lyT T'

9<5 ENGRAVING.

them, he remains, nevertheless, an eminent artist and
the greatest of all his countrymen. Vasari considers
that, as a painter and sculptor, "he would have
equalled the great masters of Italy, if he had been
born in Tuscany, and if the study of the antique had
helped him to impart to his figures as much beauty
and elegance as they have truth and delicacy;" as
a mathematician he ranked among the first of his
time in Germany ; as an engraver — and it is as such
only that we can look upon him here — he enor-
mously advanced the progress of the art. No one
before him ever handled the burin with the same
skill and vigour ; no one ever cut outlines on the
metal with such absolute certainty, or so carefully
reproduced every detail of modelling.

The qualities which distinguished his talent and
manner are found to nearly the same extent in all his
work. As examples, however, peculiarly expressive
of his delicate yet powerful talent, we may mention
the hunting ** St. Hubert" — or, more probably, St.
Eustace — kneeling before a stag with a miraculous
crucifix on its head, the " St. Jerome in his Cell," the
print called the " Knight and Death," and lastly the
subject known as " Melancholia," which should rather
be called " Reflection," but reflection in its gravest,
darkest, one might almost say its most despairing,
attitude. This piece, which even Vasari allows to
be "incomparable," represents a woman seated, her
head resting on one hand, whilst she holds in the
othei* a compass with which she is trifling mechani-
cally. As though to suggest the limitations and

ENGRAVING IN GERMANY AND ITALY.

9;

nothingness of human knowledge, an hour-glass and
various scientific instruments are scattered about ;
whilst in the middle distance a child, doubtless an
image of youthful illusions, is attentively writing,

u

l§

\

"^g

te

^

^

i

i

m

^

1

. 41. — ALBERT [
The Holy Face

and contrasts in its serenity with the troubled coun-
tenance and despairing attitude of the principal figure.
Had Diirer only engraved this one extraordinary
plate, had he only produced this one work, as strik-
ingly original in execution as in intention, it would

98 ENGRAVING.

be enough to mark his position for ever [n the history

Fig. 42.-

The Standard Bearer.

of art, and to commend him to everlasting honour.-

ENGRAVING IN GERMANY AND ITALY. 99

But there are many other works from the same

Fig. 43,— albert purer.
The Ride.

hand which might be also mentioned to confirm or to
II 2

ENGRAVING.

increase our admiration. There are many, besides the
" Melancholia," where the almost savage energy of the
style is allied to an extraordinary manipulative deli-
cacy in the expression of details. Sometimes, indeed,
his energy degenerates into violence and his pre-
cision into dryness ; sometimes — as a rule, in fact — the
general effect is impaired by
a too detailed insistence on
subordinate forms, while the
beauty of these forms is at
least affected by the minute
I care with which they have
been separately studied and
xprcssed- But these im-
perfections, or, if you like,
these faults, may be attri-
buted in part to the tenden-
cies and prejudices of the
period, and in part to that
national taste for excessive
analysis which has been a characteristic of the German
mind in every age. That Durer's merits, on the other
hand, are entirely his own, may easily be seen by
comparing his works not only with those of former
engravers, but with those of foreign contemporary
masters. Neither in Italy, nor anywhere else, is it
possible to find in the sixteenth century an en-
graver of such original inspiration and possessing so
much knowledge and technical skill. Even Marc
Antonio, superior though he may be in sentiment and
majesty of style, cannot dispossess DUrer of his lawful

Fig. 44. — ALBERT DfJBI
The Pommel of Maximil.

I02 ENGRAVING.

renown, nor take from his art its peculiar virtue and
authority.

Marc Antonio Raimondi was born at Bologna,
where he studied in the school of the painter-gold-
smith Francesco Francia, and was still only an un-
known worker in niello, and the author of some
rather indifferent plates engraved from his own or his
master's designs,* when a journey to Venice and the
careful study of Albert Diirer's engravings showed
him the inmost possibilities of an art of which he had
till then known little more than the mere mechanical
processes. Unfortunately, as we have seen, the young
engraver was not content with copying these, the best
models of the day, for his own improvement, but, to
secure a double profit, pushed his imitation a step
further, and copied the signature with as much care
as the style.

Some years later he went to Rome, where Raphael,
on the recommendation of Giulio Romano, allowed
him to engrave one of his own designs, the " Lucretia."
Other originals from Raphael's pencil were afterwards
reproduced by Marc Antonio with so much success
that these fac-similes of the ideas of the "divine
Master " were soon in everybody's hands, and the best
judges, even Raphael himself, were fully satisfied.

The nobility of feeling, and the purity of taste and
execution, which shine in these now classic plates

* The oldest known dated engraving by Marc Antonio, the " Pyra-
mus and Thisbe," bears the date of 1505. If Marc Antonio, as we
have reason to think, was born about 1480, he must have been already
over twenty when he published this extremely commonplace print.

ENGRAVING IN GERMANY AND ITAI.V. I03

have never been surpassed. These are the qualities,
and these only, which we must look for and admire

Fig. 46. — MAEC AtJTOKlO.

Poetry. Afier Raphael.

unreservedly ; to seek for more, as to regret its absence,
would be superfluous. To complain of the absence
of colour and of aerial perspective would be as unjust

104 ENGRAVING.

as to expect from Rembrandt the style and types of
the Italian school. Rembrandt's prints are impreg-
nated with poetry in their tone and in the harmony
of their effects ; those of Marc Antonio are models
of beauty, as regards line and dignity of form. The
two great masters of Bologna and of Leyden, so op-
posed to each other in the nature of their aspirations
and the choice of their methods, have yet, each in
his own way, proved their case and carried their
point ; and to each must be allotted his own peculiar
share, of glory.

It would be idle to point out with regret, as some
have done, what is lacking in the -masterpieces of
Marc Antonio, or to say that greater freedom in
rendering colour or in managing light and shade
would have lent them an additional charm.* Such
qualities should be looked for elsewhere than in
subjects engraved — not, it must be remembered,
from pictures-— but from pen or chalk drawings.
In sixteenth century Italy they could scarcely come
from the burin of one of Raphael's pupils : an
epic burin, so to speak, and one contemptuous of
qualities then considered of secondary importance.
Moreover, the hand of him who held it was bold
rather than skilful, vigorous rather than patient. To
model a body in shadow, he ^employed unevenly

♦ Michael Huber (*' Manuel des Curieux et des Amateurs de TArt,"
t. Hi.) says, word for word : ** All that is wanted in these piints is a richer
handling and that general aspect which we admire in the subjects en-
graved from Rubens." One might as well say that Petrarch's style
would be improved by being AriostoV.

ENGRAVING IN GERMANY AND ITALV.

lOS

crossed or almost parallel hatchings, drawn at different
widths apart, and in subordination to the larger feeling
of the form and movement he wished to express.
Then lighter strokes led up
to the half-light, and a few
dots at unequal distances
bordered on the light.

What could be simpler
than such a method ? Yet
what more exact in its re-
sults, and what more ex-
pressive in drawing? The
exact crossing of lines
mattered little to Marc
Antonio. What he was
taken up with and wanted
to make visible was neither
the manner nor the choice
of workmanship : that
might be simple indeed,
and he was satisfied if
only the beauty of a head
or the general aspect of
a figure were striking at
a first glance, if only the
appearance of the whole

was largely rendered and well defined. Sometimes
one outline is corrected by a second, and these altera-
tions, all the more interesting as we may suspect that
they were ordered by Raphael himself, prove both the
engraver's passion for correct drawing and his small

Fin. 47.-HARC ANTo;

Apollo. After Raphae

I06 ENGRAVING.

regard for mere niceties of craftsmanship. The time
was yet distant when, in this same Italy, the trifling
search after common technicalities should take the
place of such wise views ; when men should set to
work to reproduce the shadows of a face or a piece of
drapery by lozenges containing a semicircle, a little
cross, or even something resembling a young serpent ;
when engravers hke Morghen and his followers should
see, in the reproduction of masterpieces of the brush,
only an opportunity for assembling groups of more
or less complicated lines and parading their dexterity,
and should gain by these tricks the applause of all
men and the name of artists.

The school founded by Marc Antonio soon became
the most numerous and active of all. We have seen
that the Germans themselves crowded to Rome, and
surrounded the master who had caused them to forget
Albert Diirer. Engravers came to learn or to perfect
their knowledge in the same-school from every part
of Italy. There were Marco da Ravenna, Agostino
Veniziano, Giovanni Caraglio da Verona, II Vecchio
da Parma, and Bonasone da Bologna. Some years
later came the family of the Mantovani, a member
of which, Diana Scultori, more often called Diana
Ghisi, presented perhaps the first example, so com-
mon afterwards, of a female engraver. Many others,
whose names and works have remained more or
less celebrated, descend from Marc Antonio, whether
they received his teaching directly or through his
pupils.

He, whilst so much talent was being developed

ENGRAVING IN GERMANY AND ITALY. IO7

under his influence, continued the kind of work in

FlO. 48. — MARC ANTONIO.

Portrait of Raphael
which he had excelled from the beginning of his stay in

loB ENGKAVING.

Rome, confining himself to the engraving of Raphael's

compositions : that is, as we have already said, of.his
drawings. It is this which explains the difference,
at first sight incomprehensible, between certain prints
by Marc Anionic and the same subjects as painted by
Raphael, The painter often submitted to the engraver
pen or pencil sketches of subjects which he afterwards
altered with his brush when transferring them to
walls or panels ; the " St. Cecilia," the " Parnassus,"
the " Poetry," for instance, which are so unlike in
the copy and in what wrongly appears to have been
the original. Raphael often drew specially for en-
graving: as in the " Massacre of the Innocents," the
"Judgment of Paris," the " Plague of' Phrygia," &c. ;
but in either case Marc Antonio had but to find the
means of faithfully rendering given forms with the
graver, without troubling himself about those diffi-
culties which the luminous or delicate qualities of
colour would certainly have introduced,

Raphael's death, however, deprived the engraver
of an influence which, to the great advantage of
his talent, he had obeyed submissively for ten years.
Marc Antonio would not continue to work from the
drawings of the master who could no longer super-
intend him; but he still continued to honour him
in the person of his favourite pupil, Giulio Romano,
to whom he attached himself, and whose works he
reproduced almost exclusively.

The connection of the two artists resulted in the
publication of some fine engravings, amongst others
the " Hercules and Antseus," but it unfortunately

ENGRAVING IN GERMANY AND ITALY. 109

terminated in a disgraceful business. Giulio Romano,
following the dissolute manners of the day, rather than
the example and traditions of the noble leader of the
school, stooped to design a series of boldly licentious

Fig. 49.— Mj

The Three Doctors.

subjects. Marc Antonio consented to engrave them,
and Pietro Aretino helped still further to degrade the
undertaking by composing an explanatory sonnet to
be printed opposite to each plate. The result was a
book whose title is still infamous, In publishing it

no ENGRAVING.

the two artists took care not to sign their names.
They were, however, discovered by the boldness of the
style and the firmness of the line ; for, surprising as it
may seem, neither took the trouble to alter his usual
manner : they merely profaned it. Here, assuredly,
their wonted dignity of form and energy of workman-
ship appear somewhat incongruous qualities.^ The
culprits were soon discovered ; and Clement VII.
issued a warrant to pursue them, ordering, at the
same time, that every copy of the work should be
destroyed. Aretino fled to Venice, Giulio Romano
to Mantua, and the only sufferer was the engraver.
He was imprisoned for several months, and only
set at liberty, thanks to frequent requests made by
Giulio de* Medici and the sculptor Baccio Ban-
dinelli, from whose original, to prove his grati-
tude, he executed the beautiful " Martyrdom of St.
Lawrence," one of the masterpieces of Italian en-
graving.

The rest of Marc Antonio's life is only imperfectly
known. It is said that he was wounded and left for
dead in the streets when Rome was sacked by the
Spanish under the Constable de Bourbon ; that he

* Agostino Caracci, who deserves to be numbered amongst the
cleverest engravers of the end of the sixteenth century, did not blush to
devote his talents to a similar publication, serious in style, but of most
obscene intention. The Bolognese artist, like his celebrated country-
man, seems to have wished to display at once his science and his
shamelessness. The one only serves to make the other more inexcusable,
and it is even still more difficult to tolerate this austere immodesty than
the licentiousness, without aesthetic pretension, which characterises the
little French prints sold under the rose in the eighteenth century.

ENGRAVING IN GERMANY AND ITALY. Ill

was then taken prisoner, and only recovered his liberty
at the cost of a ransom large enough to ruin him ;
and that he then took refuge at Bologna, where it
would appear he soon afterwards died : not, as has
been alleged, murdered by the lawful possessor of one
of his plates, which he had himself forged, but, so says
Vasari, ** nearly reduced to beggary " (" poco meno che
mendico"), and at any rate completely forgotten.

Marc Antonio's death did not bring with it the
ruin of line engraving in Italy. The numerous pupils
he had educated, and in turn the pupils of these,
handed down to the beginning of the seventeenth
century the master's manner, and propagated his doc-
trines in neighbouring countries. We have spoken
of the revolution which their works produced in
German art ; we shall presently see French art sub-
mitting in its turn to Italian influences. Meanwhile,
and even during Marc Antonio's life, a particular sort
of engraving was making rapid progress in Italy.
It consisted in the employment of a process, popu-
larised by Ugo da Carpi, for obtaining from several
wooden blocks proofs of engravings in camaieu : that
is, as we explained at the beginning of this book,
proofs in two, three, or four tones, offering almost
the same appearance as drawings washed in with
water-colour : a process which Ugo did not really
invent, but only improved from the first attempts
made at Augsburg in 1510 by Jobst Necker, which
were destined to be still further improved by Nicolo
Vicentino, Andrea Andreani, Antonio da Trento,
and many others.

112 ENGRAVING.

A great number of pieces, executed in the same
manner from Raphael and Parmigiano, prove the
skill of Ugo da Carpi, who unfortunately took it into
his head to introduce into painting even more radical
changes than those he had first promoted in engrav-
ing. He conceived the strange idea of painting a
whole picture with his finger, without once having
recourse to a brush, and, the proceeding appearing
to him praiseworthy, he perpetuated the recollec-
tion of it in a few proud words at the bottom of
the canvas. Michelangelo, to whom the picture was
shown as a remarkable curiosity, merely said that
" the only remarkable thing about it was the folly of
the author." What would he have thought of Luca
Cambiaso, the Genoese, whose talent consisted in
painting with both hands at once ?

The practice of engraving in camaieu was not con-
tinued in Italy and Germany beyond the last years
of the sixteenth century. Even before then wood en-
graving, properly so called, had reached a stage of
considerable importance in both countries ; and it had
distinguished itself by decided enough progress to
cause engraving in camaieu to lose much of the favour
with which at first it was welcomed.

We said at the beginning of this chapter that a
real regeneration in wood engraving took place in
Germany under the influence of Albert Diirer. We
have plates from the drawings of the master, engraved,
if not entirely by himself, at any rate to a certain
extent with his practical co-operation ; we have others
— for instance, the " Life of the Virgin " and thq

w>^.,. ^ ,-^ ^x >* • . V .

CxTttJiLe :c iUi^:;c^r;?crx: rxxx^- '^^^^ .t x^ s>x\\ ;^s .^
crcrse -F'-ri rruL: Tr".>.xx' .X'X\x^ vt. x^ 'ww^^-^ w ^ ^ v
cin cclv b^ vr.xiuc^i :^ :iw >. X" x^X" <^ x N > w v

speciil cv?cvi:t:o£ts Ji:x: rc^^xuvx^ v^^ tNs^ ^^^swv ^ ;\>^
* Triumphal Arvh v^f the Kut^jVun NtAVuur a<^,' ^\
Hans Burgkmairanvl tosvnnocxtvul b\ AUs^ \Sh\y v
the''Theuei\ianiKk/\\nalk>^Miv\^l hi^u^^v v^t Ovy vyyysy
prince by Hans SchavirtK in ; tho 'M\^HH\vvh s^| \\ \\\\
Christ;" and the** lUvistrium l>uvun\ S.ysv^u.v I lUiih^/^
by Lucas Cranach, as well us n\an\M»llui yolUrlUMi*
published at Nurcmbcr^s An^^liMi^j, \\ y ImiM, Mi \\ (I
tenberg, deserve mention \\h \v\\\(\\\m\\^\\\ i>^(iMt|(l» i h|
the peculiar skill of the (ininHM Mili'^h mI llih |)(h»
Indeed, when, a little hiirr, IIih " Mumm' hI h>.iHi/'
by Liitzelburgcr, from llolhrlii, (ninlM ihi H|<|o^(hiMi i ,
this masterpiece in wood I'M^oivlMf/ Ho^m J IIm- \0'i\ni\
of progrc'^H which had yjtur nu \\\ hfUfniia/ ItniH f(//
beginning; r/f th<r ^'r/JrjitiU f^hhity, nhfi hfni //( in li »

its b.\t vy.r^.-t, '^ft4 kff^itf^^ j/> ^^// ffOh
I

114 ENGRAVING.

Whilst this regeneration in wood engraving was
being accomplished in Germany, the art continued to
be practised in Italy, and especially in Venice, with
a feeling for composition, and that delicate reticence
of handling, of which the cuts in the " Hypneroto-

The Miser. After Holbein.

machia Poliphili," published before the end of the
fifteenth century (1499), and in other books printed
; ome years later, are such striking examples. The
Italian wood engravers of the sixteenth century,
however, did not limit themselves so entirely to the
national traditions as to stifle altogether any attempt

ENGRAVING IN GERMANY AND ITALY. 11$

at innovation. They had already tried to enliven
even the execution of the illustrations intended to ac-
company letterpress by more decided suggestions of
light and shade and general effect. This is the reason

PROVE R. XX t.

of the successful first appearance, and the present
value, of so many beautiful volumes from the print-
ing presses of MarcoHni da Forli, Giotito da Ferrari
and other printers established at Venice.

Little by little, however, the domain of wood
engraving widencd,or rather the object which wood

Il6 ENGRAVING.

engravers set themselves to attain was changed. In-
stead of confining themselves, as in the past, to the
part of commentators of authors and illustrators of
books, they set to work, like the line engravers, to
publish, in larger dimensions than the size of a book,
prints reproducing separate drawings and sometimes
even pictures. The works of Titian specially served
as models to skilful wood engravers, some of whom,
Domenico delle Greche and Nicolo Boldrini amongst
others, are said to have worked in the studio, even
under the master*s own eye. According to the care-
ful testimony of Ridolphi, confirmed by Mariette,
Titian gave more than mere advice. He seems, more
than once, to have sketched with his own hand on
the wood the designs to be reproduced by the wood
engravers ; and amongst the prints thus begun by
him, several " Virgins " in landscapes and a " Triumph
of Christ " may be mentioned : the last " a work,"
says Mariette, " drawn with fine taste, in which the
hatchings forming the outlines and shadows ....
produce a softness and mellowness understood by
Titian alone."

However brief the preceding observations on the
progress of engraving in the sixteenth century in Ger-
many and Italy may appear, they will perhaps be
sufficient to indicate the reciprocal influence then
exercised by the engravers of both countries. With-
out ceasing to be Italian in their real preferences,
their tastes, and their innate love of majesty of style,
Marc Antonio and his disciples understood how to
improve their practical execution by Albert DUrer's

ENGRAVING IN GERMANY AND ITALY. II7

examplcj exactly as Diirer's pupils and their followers,
while continuing to be German as it were in spite of
themselves, tried to become Italianised as best they
might.

But it is time to speak of the school of the Low
Countries, which appeared to stand aloof, as much
from the progress in Germany initiated by Martin
Schongauer and Albert Durer, as from the more
recent advance in Italy. Apparently unaffected by
external influences, it was content to rely on its own
powers, and to make use of its own resources, whilst
awaiting the time, now close at hand, when it should
in its turn supply example and teaching to those who
had till then believed themselves to be the teachers.

ii8

CHAPTER V.

LINE ENGRAVING AND ETCHING IN THE LOW COUNTRIES, TO
THE SECOND HALF OF THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY.

The history of engraving in the Low Countries really
dates but from the early years of the sixteenth
century : that is, from the appearance of the prints
of Lucas van Leyden (1494 — 1533). Before that
time certain line engravers, such as the so-called
Mattre aux BanderoleSj the " Master of the Streamers,"
and those other anonymous artists of the fifteenth
century who composed the group called **the Dutch
primitives," had attempted to widen the domain
of the art, till then confined to the wood-cutters
who were the contemporaries or successors of the
xylographists of the " Speculum Salvationis " and the
" Biblia Pauperum." But, whilst the German and
Italian engravers were distinguishing themselves by
the brilliancy of their achievement, their contempora-
ries in the Low Countries were producing works little
fitted to compete with those of the foreign masters.
They only succeeded in showing themselves more or
less able artisans. Lucas van Leyden was the first
to use the burin artistically, or at least to handle it
with a boldness and knowledge never foreshadowed
in the timid essays of his predecessors.

ENGRAVING IN THE LOW COUNTRIES.

While still a child Lucas van Leyden had already
attracted the attention of his countrymen by his talent

Hercules and Omphale.

as a painter, and his sketch in distemper, the " Story of
St. Hubert " — done, it is alleged, at the age of twelve —
placed him at once amongst artists, of repute. Some

1 20 ENGRAVING.

years later the publication of his prints brought him to
the first rank. He maintained his place till the end
of his life ; and if, after his death, the Dutch and
Flemish engravers still further perfected the art he
had practised, they did but follow in his footsteps and
draw more abundantly from the source he had dis-
covered.

The principal feature of the works of Lucas van
Leyden, and in general of all those belonging to his
school, is a keen feeling for the phenomena of light.
Albert Durer, and even Marc Antonio, despised or
misunderstood this essential quality of art. In their
works there is hardly any gradation of tone to suggest
atmospheric distance, and we might mention engrav-
ings of theirs where objects consigned to the back-
ground are almost as distinct as those in the fore-
ground. It was Lucas van Leyden who conceived
the idea of perceptibly diminishing the values accord-
ing to their distance, of giving to the shadows more
or less of transparency or depth, as the case might be,
and of endowing the lights and half-lights with rela-
tively greater force or delicacy. Reasoning so valid —
based as it was on the real appearances of nature — was
the principal cause of the young Dutch master*s suc-
cess. In his numerous engravings, however, qualities
of another order are added to the merit of this inno-
vation. The variety of facial expression, the truth of
attitude and gesture, are no less remarkable than the
harmony of effect, and the attempts at what we may
venture to call naturalistic colour.

Considered only from the point of view of execution,

Fia. 53-LUCAS van leyden. '

Adam and Eve driven from Paradise,

122 ENGRAVING.

the pieces engraved by Lucas van Leyden are far from
possessing the same largeness of design and modelling,
and the same simplicity of handling, which the works
of Marc Antonio exhibit, and, in a word, have none of
that masterly ease in the rendering of form wliich cha-
racterises the Italian engraver. Nor do they exhibit
the determination to pursue the truth even in minute
details, and to sternly insist on the portrayal of such
truth when recognised, which distinguishes the work of
Albert Durer. They are to be specially praised for deli-
cacy of handling, and for the skilful application of the
processes of engraving to the picturesque representa-
tion of reality. Thus, instead of surrounding with an
invariably firm outline objects or bodies at a distance
from one another, instead of treating alike the con-
tour of a figure in the foreground, and that of a tree,
or group of trees, in the background, Lucas van
Leyden altered his work to suit the degree of re-
lative clearness or uncertainty presented in nature
by the forms of objects at different distances from
the eye. An unbroken line is his method for giving
the required boldness to such contours as, from the
place they occupy, must be strongly defined and
dominate the rest. When, on the contrary, he wishes
to reproduce the half-veiled lines of a distant land-
scape, and to imitate that tremulous and floating
aspect assumed by an object in proportion to its
remoteness and the amount of intervening atmos-
phere, he changes his touch ; and, instead of bound-
ing by a single continuous line the object reproduced,
employs a series of small broken lines, superimposed

ENGRAVING IN THE LOW COUNTRIES. 123

1 a horizontal or oblique direction ; and thus, in-

iff JH:tA'W h--'hfcy iTgB i rairlL "^

stead of a dry definition of outline, he renders with

124 ENGRAVING.

deliberate hesitation that floating quality which is to
be observed in nature.

Lucas van Leyden was the first amongst engravers
who took into account with any measure of success
the assumed distances of his models, in order to
organise in their representation a varying value of
tones and a general gradation of force. This important
change he introduced from the beginning : that is to
say, from 1508, the year of his first dated print, "The
Monk Sergius Killed by Mahomet" (which, by the
way, might be more appropriately entitled " Mahomet
before the Body of a Hermit Murdered by One of his
Servants")."*^ Here, as in the master's other prints, the
backgrounds are treated with so light a touch that
their distance can be felt ; the handling becomes less
energetic, the burin ploughs the copper less heavily,
as the objects recede from the front of the composi-
tion. Moreover, every subordinate form is observed
and rendered with singular delicacy ; every face and
every detail- of drapery bear testimony, by the way
they are engraved, to the clear insight of the artist and
his extraordinary skill of hand. His work is strictly
realistic, his style precise and clear rather than loftily
inspired ; and we look almost in vain to him for taste,
properly so called, the feeling for the beautiful, in fact,
the understanding of the ideal conditions of art.

This it is which constitutes the principal difference,
and clearly marks the distance, between the talent of
Lucas van Leyden and that of Mantegna, of Marc

* Passavant : " Le Peintre-Graveur," iii. 5.

ENGRAVING IN THE LOW COUNTRIES. 1 25
Antonio, or of any other Italian engraver of the

fifteenth or sixteenth centuries. Besides, ncitlicr the

126 ENGRAVING.

defects nor the merits of the master are entirely the
result of his inclinations or his personal habits. The
very spirit of Dutch art and the instinctive preferences
of the future school of the seventeenth century are to
be found in embryo in his works, which tend less to
initiate us into the mysteries of the invisible, than to
place before us the faithful image of what really exists.
** It was the fate of Holland," as Eugene Fromentin
has well said,"*^ " to like ce qui ressemble^ to return to it
one day or other, to outlive all besides, and to survive
and be saved itself by portraiture." Taking the word
in its widest acceptation, Lucas van Leyden is already
engraving " portraits." It is by the careful imitation
of living nature or still-life that he means to interest
us : even when his models are in themselves of little
worth, or, as is sometimes the case, are the reverse of
beautiful.

In representing, for example, " David Calming the
Fury of Saul," with what simple good faith he makes
use of the first type he comes across — a stout clod-
hopper whom he has picked up in the street or at the
tavern ! No more is wanted save a harp under his
arm and a slashed doublet on his body ; just as in
picturing the most tragical scenes of the " Passion " —
the "Ecce Homo," or the "Crucifixion" — he thinks
it enough to surround his Christ with the Jew
peddlers or the home-keeping citizens of his native
town, without altering in any way their appearance
or their dress. What could be more contrary to the

* ** Les Mattres d' Autrefois," p. 165.

ENGR-WING IN THE LOW COUNTRIES. 12;

traditions of Italian art and the principles which have
governed it, from Giotto down to Raphael ? What less

Flo, s*,—
Portrait of Um. Emperor Maximilian I.

128 ENGRAVING.

unusual in the history of Dutch art ? Later on Rem-
brandt himself was to work in the same way ; but
with what mighty powers of invention ! What a start-
ling expression of the inner meaning, the philosophy
of a subject, is united in his fashion of treatment
with the realistic ideals of the national genius ! In
truth, it is not merely the peculiar characteristic of an
individual — the indifference to, or aversion from, con-
ventional beauty of form which is apparent in this
great master, so far-reaching in moral vision, so pre-
eminently sagacious and profound among painters of
the soul ; it sums up and reveals the innate disposition
and aesthetic temperament of a whole race.

In his brief career Lucas van Leyden had the
happiness to see his efforts rewarded and his credit
universally established, and of this authority and
influence he ever made the noblest use. Looked
upon as a leader by the painters of his country ; in
friendly relations with the German engravers, who,
like Albert Dlirer, sent him their works, or came
themselves to ask advice ; possessing greater wealth
than usually fell to the share of the artists of his time;
he never employed his riches or his influence except
in the interest of art, or of the men who practised it.
, He refused no solicitant of merit, however slight.
The worthy master was careful to disguise his aid
under pretext of some advantage to himself: he was
always requiring drawings of some building or some
artistic object, and thus he spared the self-respect of
the person whom he wished to help, and whom he
entrusted with the commission. . More than once he

ENGRAVING IN THE LOW COUNTRIES. 1 29

went journeying through the Low Countries to visit
engravers and painters far inferior to himself, whom
he yet modestly called his rivals. He complimented
them with words of praise and encouragement ; gave
entertainments in their honour; and did not leave
them without exchanging his works for theirs, which
were thus paid for a hundred times over.

It was in one of these journeys, that to Flushing,
that Lucas van Leyden was attacked with the disease
wliich was destined to carry him to the grave. Some
people have attributed to poison the suddenness of
the attack ; but of this there is no proof. Once back
in his native town, he lingered on some time, worn
out and sinking, yet refusing to condemn himself
to idleness. Too feeble to rise, he yet continued to
draw and engrave in bed, remaining faithful till the
end to the noble passion of his life, to the art he had
dignified, and to that nature which he had questioned
more closely, and, in certain respects, perhaps better
understood than any of his predecessors. It is said
that a few hours before his death he desired to be
taken up to a terrace of his house, that he might once
more admire the setting sun ; and there, absorbed in
silent contemplation, surrounded by friends and pupils,
he for the last time gazed on the place of his birth,
and on that heaven from which the light was fading,
even as life was ebbing from his bosom. It was a
proper conclusion to so pure a life — to one, indeed,
of the most irreproachable careers in the history of
art. Lucas van Leyden died at thirty-eight, an age
fatal to more than one great artist, and which was

J

130 ENGRAVING.

scarcely attained by three men with whom he seems
linked by a similarity of genius, at least as regards
early fertility and sincerity of inspiration : Raphael,
Lesueur, and Mozart.

The impetus given by Lucas van Leyden to the
art of engraving was seconded, even during his life,
by several Dutch artfsts who imitated his method
more or less successfully. Amongst others, Alart
Claessen, an anonymous engraver called the " Maitre
k rEcrevisse," and Dirck Star, or Van Staren, generally
called the ** Maitre k TEtoile." The movement did
not slacken after the death of the leader of the school.
The engravers of the Low Countries, accentuating
more and more the qualities aimed at from the
beginning, soon surpassed their German rivals, and
seemed alone to be gifted with the knack of dealing
with light. Cornelius Cort, who engraved several of
Titian's works in Venice in the great painter's $tudio,
and the pupils he educated on his return to Holland,
began to exhibit a boldness of touch not to be so
clearly discovered in their predecessors ; but this pro-
gress, real in some respects, was not accomplished
without injury to truthful study and the exact inter-
pretation of form, and certainly not without a deplor-
able exaggeration in the use of means.

The workmanship of Hendrik Goltzius, for in-
stance, and still more that of his pupil, Jan Miiller, is
strained and feeble owing to their affectation of ease.
The constant use of bent and parallel lines unreason-
ably prolonged imparts to the plates of these two
engravers an appearance at once dull and florid ;

ENGRAVING IN THE LOW COUNTRIES. I3I

they present something of the same aspect as those
caligraphical specimens of the present day, in which
the faces of Henri IV. or of Napoleon are drawn
entirely with the curves of a single stroke. Still,
in spite of this extremely affected workmanship,
the prints of Goltzius, of Miiller, and even of
Saenredam, are characterised by a comparative in-
tensity of tone, as well as by singular skill in cutting
the copper. This abuse of method, however, had
not yet become general in the schools of the Low
Countries. Side by side with the intemperate or
daring craftsmen we have mentioned, there were
certain Flemish and Dutch engravers who imparted
to their work a delicacy and a reticence of expres-
sion better suited to the traditions and the models
bequeathed by Lucas van Leyden. These were
Nicolas van Bruyn at Antwerp, the brothers Wierix
at Amsterdam, and some few others, all of them dis-
ciples more or less faithful to the old teaching, and
apparently more or less hostile to the effort at eman-
cipation going on around them. When, however,
Rubens took the reins, individual resistance and im-
pulse ceased, and all controversy was at an end.
Principles, method, and aim became the same for
every one. Both Dutch and Flemish engravers openly
set themselves to represent with the graver the infinite
gradations of a painted canvas, the delicacy and the
daring, the nicest punctilio and the most summary
smearing, of the painter's brush.

Never was the influence of a painter on engraving
so direct or so potent as that of Rubens. The great
J 2 .

132 ENGRAVING.

master had shown by his drawings that it was possible
to be as rich a colourist with black and white alone as
with all the resources of the palette. He made choice
amongst his pupils of those whom he believed to be
capable of following his example in this matter; he
obliged them to lay aside the brush, almost ordered
them to become engravers, and so penetrated them
with the secret of his method, that he seerns to have
animated them with his own inspiration. He assembled
them in the vast house which he had built at Antwerp,
and which he turned into a college of artists of all sorts.
He made them sometimes labour beneath his eye ; he
carefully corrected their work;* and in this way he
taught them that comprehension of effect which was
specially his, and his own incomparable knowledge of
the right tones with which to lay in, or to support, a
mass of light or shadow.

To recall the success of these efforts is to recall
the names of Vorsterman, Bolswert, Paul Pontius, and
Soutman : men boldly scientific in their art, who, at the
first rush, carried to perfection that style of engrav-
ing which renders before all the relative richness and
varied value of tones in a picture, and whose effects are
identical in some sort with those of the painting itself.
It is obvious that, in spite of its prodigious merits, this
painting is not of so elevated a nature as that of Leo-
nardo da Vinci or Raphael ; but is it therefore less true
that it is completely summed up, and its living image

* In the National Library at Paris a collection of over a hundred
trial proofs, retouched by Rubens himself, exists to bear witness to the
careful attention with which he overlooked the work of his engravers.

ENGRAVING IN THE LOW COUNTRIES. 1 33

reflected, in contemporary engraving? Actuated by
an idea of colour and effect analogous to that of
Marc Antonio with regard to drawing, the Flemish
engravers resolutely subordinated accessories to the
importance and splendour of essentials ; and in this
way they succeeded in dissembling, by means of the
breadth of the whole, the execution of details and
even the laboriousness of the process. It would seem
from the sparkling look and brilliant handiwork of
these plates, that the engravers had thrown them off
in a few hours of inspiration, so completely does their
dash banish all idea of the time spent upon them, all
sense of patience and toil. And yet these lights and
shades, the sweep of the flesh, the sheen and shim-
mer of the fabrics, are all the result of lines laboriously
ploughed ; perhaps a thousand strokes have been
needed to imitate an effect due to a single glaze, or
given by two touches of the brush.

The engravings of the Flemish school in Rubens'
time are still widely distributed. There are few
people who have not had the opportunity of admiring
the "Thomiris," the "St. Roch Praying for the
Plague- Stricken," or the " Portrait of Rubens," by
Pontius ; the " Descent from the Cross,^^ by Vorster-
man ; the " Fall of the Damned," by Soutman ; and
a hundred other pieces as beautiful, all engraved from
the master by his pupils. And who does not know
that marvellous masterpiece, the " Crown of Thorns,"
engraved by Bolswert from Van Dyck ? and those
other masterpieces of Van Dyck himself — the etched
portraits of artists or amateurs, the painter's friends,

■ 34 ENGRAVING.

from the two Breughels to Cornells, from Franz
Snyders to Philip Le Roy ?

The progress, however, by which the Flemish
school of engraving had distinguished itself, soon

Fig. 57.-VAN DYCK.
Etched by Himself.

had an equivalent in the movement of reform in
Holland. Towards the end of the sixteenth century,
and on from the beginning of the seventeenth, the
Dutch engravers, by dint of insisting too strongly on
the innovations of Lucas van Leyden, had almost
succeeded in causing scientific ease of handling to

ENGRAVING IN THE LOW COUNTRIES. 135
degenerate into mere trickery, and spirit of design into

inflation and turbulence. Amongst the first, and
with greater authority than any, Cornelius Visscher

136 ENGRAVING.

set himself to stay the art of line engraving on its
downward course.

Most of the scenes represented by Visscher are
assuredly tiot of a nature greatly to interest the
imagination, still less to touch the heart It would
be somewhat difficult to be moved to any philosophical
or poetic thought by the contemplation of such work
as the "Frying- Pan," or the "Seller of Ratsbane;" but
these, though the ideas by which they are suggested are
trivial or commonplace, are treated with a deep feeling
for truth, with admirable craftsmanship, and with an
amount of sincerity and boldness which makes up for
the absence of beauty, whether in thought or type.
Considered only from the point of view of execution,
the plates of Visscher are masterpieces ; are such
marvels, indeed, that they cannot be too carefully
studied by all engravers, whatever the style of their
work.

The same may be said in another order of art for
those fine portraits — of '* Boccaccio," of " Pietro Are-
tino," and of " Giorgione " — engraved by Cornelius
Van Dalen, the best of Visscher's pupils. It is also
on the same ground, that, in spite of most notable
differences in handling, the plates engraved by Jonas
Suyderhoef, after Terburg and Theodore de Keyse,
command the attention of artists and amateurs.
Finally, side by side with these works, in the exe-
cution of which etching was only resorted to as a pre-
paratory process, or sometimes was not even used at
all, a number of subjects entirely engraved with the
needle — etchings, to speak strictly — make up a whole

ENGRAVING IN THE LOW COUNTRIES. 137
which is the more creditable to the Dutch school,

inasmuch as it would be impossible at any time to
find the like in the schools of other countries. French

1 38 KNCRAVING.

engraving had doubtless reason to be proud of the
masterpieces of Claude Lorraine, or the clever and

witty etchings of Callot and Israel Silvestre. In Italy
after Parmigiaiio, Agostino Carracci, and certain other

ENGRAVING IN THE LOW COUNTRIES.

J 39

contemporary Bolognese, in Spain, Ribera, and after-
wards Goya acquired a legitimate renown as etchers.
But whatever may be the ment of their individual
work, these artists are unconnected in either of their
native countnes with any group wholly devoted to

FlO. 61.^. RUYSDAEL.

The Little Corotield.

work of the same kind : with any artistic family of
common origin, inclination, and belief

Now the skilful Dutch etchers do not come singly,
nor at long intervals. They work in a body. It is
within a few years, in fact almost simultaneously, that
Adrian Brauwer and Adrian van Ostade publish their
. tavern scenes ; Ruysdael and Jan Both their land-
scapes ; Paul Potter and Berghem, Adrian van de

I40 ENGRAVING.

Velde, Marc de Bye, Karel du Jardin, such a mul-
titude of charming little subjects, their village scenes
and village people, their flocks in the fields, or their
single animals. Whilst emulating each other's talent,
all are agreed to pursue one and the same object,
all are agreed as to the necessity of devotion to the
study of surrounding nature and everyday truth.

Although the Dutch etchers display in the totality
of their achievement the same ideal and the same
tendency, each keeps, if only in the matter of work-
manship, a certain distinction and character of his
own. One, however, stands out from the group with
matchless splendour, with all the superiority of genius
over talent : that one is Rembrandt.

Pains and patience have been wasted on the secret
of Rembrandt's method of etching and printing ; in
trying to discover his tools and his manner of using
them, so as to achieve with him those contrasts of
soft shadow and radiant light. Vain quest of tech-
nical tricks where, really, there is no more than a
style born of imagination, and, like it, inspired from
above! It may be said that with Rembrandt, as
with great musical composers, the harmonic system
is so closely allied to the melodic idea, that analysis,
if not impossible, is at least superfluous. It some-
times happens — before a Correggio, for instance — that
the charm of the painting affects one in a manner
abstract enough to produce a sort of musical sen-
sation. Though it does not appear that the art of
engraving could be endowed with a similar expan-
sive force, yet Rembrandt's etchings may almost be

ENGRAVING IN THE LOW COUNTRIES.

said to possess it They give the feeling of unde-
fined aspirations rather than the limited hkeness of

Fig. 62. — REMBRANDT.

Portrait o( Himself : Rimbrandt Appayt,

things; the spectator is touched by the mysterious
meaning of these passionate visions, rather than by

143 ENCJRAVIKG.

the form in which tliey are conveyed. The impression

received is so keen that it stifles any trivial wish to

ENGRAVING IN THE LOW COUNTRIES. 143
criticise, and certain details which would be painful

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Fig. 64, — REMBRANDT.

Josejdi's Coal brought to Jacob.

elsewhere are here not even displeasing, inasmuch as

144 ENGRAVING.

no one would dream of requiring a mathematical ex-

planation of the special conditions of the subject, or of
the skill of workmanship which the artist has displayed

ENGRAVING IN THE LOW COUNTRIES— I4S

Before the " Sacrifice of Abraham," the " Tobit," the
Lazarus and all the other soul-speaking master-

146 ENGRAVING.

pieces, who would pause to consider the strangeness
or the vulgarity of the personages and their apparel ?
Only the critic, who, unwitting of the rest, would
begin by examining with a magnifying glass the
ivorkmanship of the ray of light which illumines the
** Hundred Guilder Piece," the " Annunciation," or
the " Pilgrimage to Emmaus."

Rembrandt's method is, so to speak, supersensuous.
At times he lightly touches his plate, and at times he
attacks as at a venture ; at others he skims the surface
and caresses it with an exquisite refinement, a magical
dexterity. In his lights he breaks the line of the
contour, but only to resume and boldly accentuate it in
his shadows ; or he reverses the method, and in the
one, as in the other case, succeeds infallibly in fixing,
satisfying, and convincing the attention. He uses en-
graver's tools and methods as Bossuet uses words,
subduing them to the needs of his thought, and con-
straining them to express it, careless of fine finish as
of trivial subtlety. Like Bossuet, too, he composes
out of the most incongruous elements, out of the
trivial and the lofty, the commonplace and the heroic,
a style invariably eloquent ; and from the mingling
of these heterogeneous elements there springs an ad-
mirable harmony of result.

The Flemish engravers formed by Rubens, and
their Dutch contemporaries, had no worthy successors.
The revolution they accomplished in the art was brief,
and did not extend beyond the Low Countries. In
Italy, Dutch and Flemish engravings were natu-
rally despised. It is said — and it is easy to believe —

ENGRAVING IN THE LOW COUNTRIES. I47
that those accustomed to commune with Raphael and

Marc Antonio esteemed them fitting decorations "for
K 2

■ 48

the walls of pothouses," In France and Germany, where
Italian ideas in art had reigned since the sixteenth

&^^ta^<>fLi.^j$-

Fig. 68. — hembrandt.
The Pancake-maker.

century, they experienced at first no better reception.
When at length the consideration they really deserved

ENGRAVING IN THE LOW COUNTRIES. I49

was accorded them, the superiority of France was
established, and her engravers could no longer be
expected to descend to imitation. The movement in
the schools of the Low Countries, before the second
half of the seventeenth century, is thus, to speak truth,
a mere episode in the history of the art, and its mas-
terpieces had no lasting influence on engraving in
general. For it to have been otherwise, the engravers
of other countries must have renounced, not only the
national traditions, but even the models they had at
hand. The method of Bolswert or of Pontius could
only be usefully employed to reproduce the works of
Rubens and Van Dyck. The handling of Visscher
and of Suyderhoef was only suitable to such pictures
as were painted in Amsterdam and Leyden.

And meanwhile, when the schools of the Low
Countries were shining with a lustre so brilliant and
so transitory, what was doing in France ? and how in
France was the great age of engraving inaugurated ?

ISO •

CHAPTER VI.

THE BEGINNING OF LINE ENGRAVING AND ETCHING IN
FRANCE AND ENGLAND. FIRST ATTEMPTS AT MEZZOTINT.
A GLANCE AT ENGRAVING IN EUROPE BEFORE 1660.

The French were unable to distinguish themselves
early in the art of engraving, as the conditions under
which they laboured were different from those which
obtained in Italy, Germany, and the Low Countries :
the homes, all three of them, of schools of painting.
From the thirteenth century onwards, the architects
and sculptors of France had produced an unbroken
succession of good things ; but the origin of her school
of painting is not nearly so remote, nor has it such
sustained importance. Save for the unknown glass-
painters of her cathedrals, for the miniaturists who
preceded and succeeded Jean Fouquet, and for the
artists in chalks whose work is touched with so pe-
culiar a charm and so delicate an originality, she
can boast of no great painter before Jean Cousin.
And the art of engraving could scarcely have flou-
rished when, as yet, the art of painting had scarcely
existed.

Wood-cutting, it is true, was practised in France
with a certain success, as early as the beginning of

ITS HEGINNINGS IN FRANCE AND ENGLAND. I5I

the sixteenth century, and even a little before that.
The " Danses macabres " — those aids to morality so
popular in medieeval times — the illustrated " Books
of Hours," and other compilations besides, printed
with figures and tail-pieces, in Lyons or Paris, give
earnest of the unborn masterpieces of Geofroy Tory,
of Jean Cousin himself, and of sundry other draughts-

men and wood-cutters of the reigns of Francois I.
and Henri II. But, as practised by goldsmiths, such
as Jean Duvet and Etienne Delaune, and by painters
of the Fontainebleau school like Rend Boyvin and
Geofroy Dumonstier, line engraving and etching were
still no more than a means of popularising extrava-
gant imitations of Italian work. The prints of
Nicolas Beatrizet, who had been the pupil of Agos-
tino Must at Rome, and those of another engraver
of Lorraine, whose name has been Italianised into

152 ENGKAVING.

Niccolo della Casa, appear to have been produced

with the one object of deifying the spirit of sham, and
converting French engravers to that religion to which

ITS BEGINNINGS IN FRANCE AND ENGLAND. 153

French painters had apostatised with so much ill-
fortune under the influence of the Italians brought
in by Francis I.

During the whole of the sixteenth and the be-
ginning of the seventeenth centuries the French

Fio. 71. — Atibnne D
Adam and Eve driven from Paradise.

school of engraving had neither method nor bent of
its own ; but meanwhile it was a whim of fashion
that every one should handle the burin or the point.
From the days of Henri II. to those of Louis XIII.,
craftsman or layman, everybody practised engraving.
There were goldsmiths like Pierre Woeiriot, pain-
ters like Claude Comeille and Jean de Gourmont,

ITS BEGINNINGS IN FRANCE AND ENULANl). 155

architects like Androuet du Cerceau ; there were

noblemen ; there were even ladies — as, for instiiicc,

1 56 ENGRAVING.

Georgette de Montenay, who dedicated to Jeanne
d'Albret a collection of mottoes and emblems, partly,
it was said, of her own engraving. All the world and
his wife, in fact, were gouging wood and scraping
copper. It must be repeated that the prints of this
time are for the most part borrowed — are copies
feeble or stilted, or both, of foreign originals. Not
until after some years of thraldom could the French
engravers shake off the yoke of Italian art, create a
special style, and constitute themselves a school.
The revolution was prepared by Thomas de Leu and
Leonard Gaultier, engravers of portraits and of his-
torical subjects ; but the hero of the French school
is Jacques Callot.

There are certain names in the history of the
arts which retain an eternal odour of popularity ; we
remember them as those of men of talent, who were
also in some sort heroes of romance, and our interest
remains perennial. Jacques Callot is one of these. He
is probably the only French engraver * whose name
is yet familiar to the general public. That this is so
is hardly .the effect of his work, however excellent :
it is rather the result of his adventures ; of his flight
from home in childhood ; his wanderings with the
gipsies ; and the luck he had — his good looks aiding —
with the ladies of Rome, and even (it is whispered)
with the wife of Thomassin his master.

We have said it is Callot*s merit to have lifted

* At the time of Callot's birth Lorraine was not yet French territory ;
but as it was during his life that Nancy was taken by the king's army,
we have a right to include him among French artists.

158 ENGRAVING.

the French school of engraving out of the rut in
which it dragged, and to have opened for it a new
path. He did not, however, accomplish the work
with an entire independence, nor without some lean-
ings towards that Italy in which he had been
trained. After working in Florence under Canta-
Gallina, whose freedom of style and fantastic taste
could not but prove irresistible to the future artist
of Franca Trippa and Fritellino, he had been obliged
to return to Nancy. Thence he escaped a second
time, and thither was a second time brought back
by his eldest brother, who had been despatched in
pursuit. A third journey took him to Rome; and
there, whether glad to be rid of him or weary of
debate, his family let him remain.

It is probable that during his expatriation,"*^
Callot never so much as dreamed of learning from
the Old Masters ; but he did not fail to make a close
study of certain contemporaries who were masters so
called. Paul V. was Pope ; and the age of Raphael
and Marc Antonio, of Julius II. and Leo X., was for
ever at an end. The enfeebling eclecticism of the
Carracci, and the profitless fecundity of Guido, had
given currency to all sorts of second-rate qualities,
and in painting had substituted prettincss for beauty.
The resuh was an invasion of frivolity, alike in
manners and beliefs, which was destined to find its
least dubious expression in the works of Le Josepin,

• He was in all twelve years in Italy : three in Rcme, and nine
n riorencc.

ITS BEGIXXIXG5 IX FILAXCE aXP ESGl-\Xa 159

and later 00 in those oi an artiit of Irindred lasWs
«Tlh the Lorraine enpavc7—*l« fantastic^ Salvalor
Rosa. \\"ben Ca]]ot setiled in Rome in i6c*^ Lc
Josepin had already reached the climax of fanic and

Franca Trippa. '\fnrrllino

fortune ; Salvator, at an interval of nearly thirty years,
was on the heels of his first success. Coming, as he
did, to take a place among the dexterous and the
eccentric, it seems that Callot could not have chosen
a better time It was not long before he attracted
attention ; for when he left Rome for Florence, where
he produced some of his liveliest work, his name
and his capacity were already in repute.

At Florence his capacity was perfected under the

l6o ENGRAVING.

influence of Giulio Parigi ; and, thanks to the favour
of Duke Cosmo II., which he easily obtained, his
name soon became famous in the world of fashion as
among connoisseurs. Unlike his countrymen, Claude
Lorraine and the noble Poussin, who, some years later,
were in this same Italy to live laborious and thought-
ful lives, Callot freely followed his peculiar vein, and
saw in art no more than a means of amusement, in
the people about him only subjects for caricature, and
in imaginative and even religious subjects but a pre-
text for grotesque invention. Like another French
satirist, Mathurin Regnier, who had preceded him in
Rome, he was addicted to vulgar types, to rags and de-
formities, even to the stigmata of debauchery. Thus,
the works of both these two men, whom we may com-
pare together, too often breathe a most dishonourable
atmosphere of vice. With a frankness which goes the
length of impudence, they give full play to their taste
for degradation and vile reality ; and yet their vigour
of expression does not always degenerate into cynicism,
nor is the truth of their pictures always shameless.
The fact is, both had the secret of saying exactly
enough to express their thoughts, even when these
were bred by the most capricious fancy. They may
be reproached with not caring to raise the standard of
their work ; but it is impossible to deny them the merit
of having painted ugliness of every kind firmly and with
elegant precision, nor that of having given, each in his
own language, a definite and truly national form to that
art of satire which had been hardly so much as rough-
hewn in the caricatures and pamphlets of the League.

i62 b:ngraving.

Etching, but little practised in Germany after the
death of Dlirer, had found scarcely greater favour in
Ital}'. As to the Dutch Little Masters, spoken of
in the preceding chapters, the time was not yet come
for most of their charming works. Claude Lorraine's
etchings, now so justly celebrated, were themselves
of later date than Callot's. The latter was, therefore,
the real author of this class of work. In his hand the
needle acquired a lightness and boldness not presaged
in previous essays, which were at once coarse and care-
less. In his suggestions of life in motion, he imitated
the swift and lively gait of the pencil, whilst his con-
tours are touched with the severity of the pen, if not
of the burin itself In a word, he gave his plates an
appearance of accuracy without destroying that look
of improvisation which is so necessary to work of
the kind ; in this way he decided the nature and
special conditions of etching. It was owing to his
influence that French art first attracted the attention
of the Italians : Stefano della Bella, Cantarini and
even Canta-Gallina (who did not disdain to copy the
etchings of his old pupil), Castiglione the Genoese,
and many others, essayed, with more or less success,
to appropriate the style of the master of Nancy ; and
when he returned to establish himself in France, where
his reputation had preceded him, he found admirers,
and before long a still greater following of imitators.

He was presented to Louis XI I L, who at once com-
missioned him to engrave the " Siege of La Rochelle,"
and received at Court with remarkable favour, which
was, however, withdrawn some years later, when he was

Fl<i. TJ.—J. CALLOT,

From ihe Set emkled-LesGueux.-

1 64 ENGRAVING.

bold enough to oppose the will of Richelieu. After the
taking of Nancy (1633) from the Duke of Lorraine,
Callot's sovereign, the great Cardinal, to immortalise
the event, ordered the engraver to make it the subject
of a companion print to that of the "Siege of La
Rochelle," which he had just finished ; but he was
revolted by the idea of using his talents for the humi-
liation of his prince, and replied to Richelieu's mes-
senger, " that he would rather cut off his thumb than
obey." The reply was not of a kind to maintain him
in the good graces of the Cardinal, and Callot felt it.
He took leave of the king, and soon after retired to his
native town, where he died at the age of forty-three.

Really introduced into France by Callot, etching
had become the fashion there. Abraham Bosse and
Israel Silvestre helped to popularise it, the latter by
applying it to topography and architecture, the former
by using it for the illustration of religious and scientific
books, and the embellishment of the fans and other
elegant knick-knacks then sellfng in that " Galerie
Dauphine du Palays " which is figured in one of his
prints, and from which a play of Corneille's derives
its name. He published besides an infinite number
of subjects of all sorts : domestic scenes, portraits,
costumes, architectural ornaments, almost always en-
graved from his own designs, and sometimes from
those of the Norman painter, Saint- Ygny.

Abraham Bosse is doubtless a second-rate man,
but he is far from having no merit at all. He is an
intelligent, if not a very delicate observer, who knows
how to impart to his figures and to the general aspect

l66 ENGRAVING.

of a scene an appearance of reality which is not alto-
gether the truth, but which comes very near to having
its charm. He certainly possesses the instinct of cor-
rect drawing, in default of refined taste and feeling ;
and finally, to take him simply as an engraver, he has
much of the bold and firm handling of Callot, with
something already of that cheerful and thoroughly
French cleverness which was destined to be more and
more developed in the national school of engraving,
and to reach perfection in the second half of the seven-
teenth century.

To Abraham Bosse are owing decided improve-
ments in the construction of printing-presses, the
composition of varnishes, and all the practical parts
of the art ; to him some technical studies are also
due, the most interesting of which, the " Traits des
Mani^res de Graver sur TAirain par le Moyen des
Eaux-fortes," is, if not the first, at least one of the first
books on engraving published in France. We may
add that the works of Abraham Bosse, like those of
all other etchers of his time, show a continual tendency
to imitate with the needle the work of the graver : a
tendency worth remarking, though blamable in some
respects, as its result is to deprive each class of work
of its peculiar character, and from etching in particular
to remove its appearance of freedom and ease.

We have reached the moment when the French

»

school of engraving entered the path of progress, no
more to depart from it, and when, after having fol-
lowed in the rear of foreign engravers, the French
masters at length began to make up with and almost

ITS BEGINNINGS IN FRANCE AND ENGLAND. 167
to outdistance them. Before proceeding, we must

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glance at the movement of those schools whose be-
ginnings we have already traced.

1 68 ENGRAVING.

The line of really great Italian painters went out
with the sixteenth century. Domenichino, indeed, Anni-
bale Carracci, and a few others, glorified the century
that followed ; but their works, although full of senti-
ment, skill, and ability, are quite as much affected by
the pernicious eclecticism of the period and by the
general decline in taste. After them all the arts
declined. Sculpture and architecture became more
and more degraded under the influence of Bernini and
Borromini. Athirst for novelty of any kind, people
had gradually come to think the most extravagant
fancies clever. To bring the straight line into greater
disrepute, statues and bas-reliefs were tortured as by
a hurricane; attitudes, draperies, and even immovable
accessories were all perturbed and wavering. The
engravers were no better than the painters, sculptors,
and architects. By dint of exaggerating the idealistic
CKced, they had fallen into mere insanity ; and in
the midst of this degradation of art, they aimed at
nothing save excitement and novelty, so that their
invention was only shown in irregular or overlengthy
lines, and their impetuosity in bad drawing. Daily
wandering further from the paths of the masters,
the Italian engravers at last attained, through the
abuse of method, a complete oblivion of the essential
conditions of their art ; so that with few excep-
tions, till the end of the eighteenth century, no-
thing is to be found save barren sleight-of-hand in
the works of that very school, which, in the days
of Marc Antonio and his pupils, had been universally
triumphant.

ITS BEGINNINGS IN FRANCE AND ENGLAND. 169

After the Little Masters, inheritors of some of
the genius skill and renown of Albert Durer

Fig. 80.— ABRAHAM 1

From the Set entitled " Le Jaidin de la Noblesse Fran^aise."

I/O ENGRAVING.

Germany had given birth to a fair number of clever
engravers, the majority of whom had left their country^
Some of them, indistinguishable to-day from the
second generation of Marc Antonio's disciples, had,
as we said, abandoned the national style for the
Italian ; others had settled in France or in the Low
Countries. The Thirty Years' War accomplished the
ruin of German art, which before long was represented
only in Frankfort, where Matthew Merian of Basle,
and his pupils, with certain engravers from neigh-
bouring countries, had taken refuge.

Whilst engraving was declining in Italy and Ger-
many, the English school was springing into being.
Though at first of small importance, the beginnings
and early essays of the school are such as may hardly
pass without remark.

For some time England had seemed to take little
part in the progress of the fine arts in Europe, except
commercially, or as the hostess of many famous
artists, from Holbein to Van Dyck. There were a
certain number of picture-dealers and print-sellers in
London, but under Charles I. her only painters and
engravers of merit were foreigners.^ The famous
portrait painter, Sir Peter Lely, whom the English
are proud to own, was a German, as was Kneller,
who inherited his reputation, and, as was Hollar, an

* William Faithorne, the first line engraver worth mentioning in
the history of English art, did not even begin to be known till after
Charles I. After the king's fall, Faithorne, who was a Royalist, went
to France, where, under Nanteuil, he perfected himself in his art, and
did not finally settle in England till near the end of 1650.

ITS BEGINNINGS IN FRANCE AND ENGLAND. 171

engraver of unrivalled talent* And while a few
pupils of this last artist were doing their best to
imitate his example, the taste for line engra\'ing and
etching, which processes were being slowly and pain-
fully popularised by their efforts, was suddenly changed
into a passion for another method, in which the
principal success of the English school has since been
won.

Prince Rupert, so renowned for his courage and
his romantic adventures, had the fortunate chance to
introduce to London the process of engraving which
is called mezzotint. In spite, however, of what has
been alleged, the honour of the invention is not his.
Ludwig von Siegen, a lieutenant-colonel in the ser-
vice of the Landgrave of Hesse-Cassel, had certainly
discovered mezzotint before the end of 1642, for in
the course of that year he published a print in this
style — the portrait of the Princess Amelia Elizabeth
of Hesse — the very first ever given to the public.
Von Siegen for awhile refused to divulge his secret.
" There is not," he wrote to the Landgrave of Hesse
concerning this same portrait, " a single engraver, nor
a single artist, who knows how this work was done."

And, indeed, no one succeeded in finding out, and

* Hollar is not merely one of the most distinguished of German
engravers. There are few artists in any country who have handled the
needle with so much skill and intelligence ; there is probably none who
has so greatly excelled in rendering the details of apparel and of the
daintiest objects. His achievement numbers more than 2,000 prints,
which, in spite of their small size, and the generally trifling nature of
the subjects, deserve to be classed amongst the most remarkable etched
work of the seventeenth century.

1/2 ENGRAVING.

it was only after a silence of twelve years that
Von Siegen consented to reveal his mystery. Prince
Rupert, then at Brussels, was the first initiated. He,
in his turn, chose for confidant the painter Wallerant
Vaillant, who apparently did not think himself bound
to strict silence, for, soon afterwards, a number of
Flemish engravers attempted the process. Once
made public, no one troubled about the man who
had invented it He was, in fact, so quickly and
completely forgotten, that even in 1656 Von Siegen
was obliged to claim the title, which no one any
longer dreamed of giving him, and to sign his works :
" Von Siegen, the first and true inventor of this kind
of engraving." It was still worse in London when
the plates engraved by Prince Rupert were exhibited,
and when the English artists had learnt how they
could produce the like. They set themselves to work
without looking out for any other models, and were
much more taken up with their own results than the
history of the discovery, the whole honour of which
was attributed to Rupert, the man who in reality had
only made it public.

The talent of Rupert's first imitators, like that of
the originator himself, did not rise above mediocrity.
Amongst their direct successors, and the successors
of these, there are few of much account ; but in the
eighteenth century, when Sir Joshua Reynolds under-
took, like Rubens at Antwerp, to himself direct the
work of engraving, the number of good English mezzo-
tint engravers became considerable. Earlom, Ardell,
Smith, Dickinson, Green, Watson, and many others

ITS BEGINNINGS IN FRANCE AND ENGLAND. I73

deserving of mention, greatly increased the resources
of the process, by applying it to the reproduction

Fia 81.— PHINCE
Head of n Young Man (rngmved in MezH

of the master's works. Mezzotint, at first reserved
for portraits, was used for subjects of every sort :

174 ENGRAVING.

flower pieces, genre, even history ; and step by step
it attained to practical perfection, of which, at the
beginning of the present century, the English still
had the monopoly.

The methods of mezzotint differ completely from
those of line engraving and etching. With the graver
and the needle the shadows and half-tones are made
out on copper by means of incised lines and touches ;
with the mezzotint tool, on the contrary, the lights
are produced by scraping, the shadows by leaving
intact the corresponding portions of the plate. In-
stead of offering a flat, smooth surface, like the plates
in line engraving, a mezzotint copper must be first
grained by a steel tool (called the " rocker "), shaped
like a chisel, with a semicircular blade which is bevelled
and toothed. Sometimes (and this is generally the
case in the present day) the " rocking " of the surface,
on which the engraver is to work, is produced, not by
a tool, but by a special machine.

When the drawing has been traced in the usual
way on the prepared plate, the grain produced by the
rocker is rubbed down with the burnisher wherever
pure white or light tints are required. The parts that
are not flattened by the burnisher print as darks ;
and these darks are all the deeper and more velvety
as they result from the grain itself — that is to say, from
a general preparation specially adapted to catch the
ink — and are by no means composed, as in line en-
graving, of furrows more or less crowded or cross-
hatched.

Mezzotint engraving has, in this respect, the

ITS BEGINNINGS IN FRANCE AND ENGLAND. 175

advantage of other processes ; in all others it is de-
cidedly inferior. The rough grain produced on a
plate by the rocker, and the mere scraping by which
it is obliterated or modified, are technical hindrances
to decided drawing : only with graver or point is it
possible to make outlines of perfect accuracy. Again,
precision, delicacy of modelling, and perfect finish in
detail are impossible to the scraper. Mezzotint, in
fine, is suitable for the translation of pictures where
the light is scarce and concentrated, but is powerless
to render work quiet in aspect and smooth in effect.

English engravers, then, had begun to rank as
artists. Callot, and, after him, other French engravers
already remarkably skilful, had succeeded in found-
ing a school which was soon to be honoured by the
presence of true masters ; Italy and Germany were
deteriorating steadily. Meanwhile, what was going
on elsewhere ? In Spain there was a brilliant galaxy
of painters, some of whom, like Ribera, have left
etchings ; but there were few or no professional en-
gravers. In Switzerland, Jost Amman of Zurich
(1539 — ^590 w«is succeeded by a certain number of
illustrator-engravers, heirs of his superficial clever-
ness and of his commercial rather than artistic ideas :
engravers, by the way, who are commonly confounded
with the German masters of the same epoch.
Lastly, the few Swedes or Poles who studied art,
whether in Flanders or Germany, never succeeded in
popularising the taste for it in their own countries ;
only for form's sake need they be mentioned.

The first of the two great phases of the history of

1/6 ENGRAVING.

engraving ends about the middle of the seventeenth
century. We have seen that the influence of Marc
Antonio, though combated at first by the influence of
Albert Diirer, easily conquered, and prevailed without
a rival in Italy, Germany, and even France, until the
appearance of Callot and his contemporaries.. Mean-
while, in the Low Countries the art presented a phy-
siognomy of its own, developed slowly, and ended
by undergoing a thorough, but brief, transformation
under the authority of Rubens. The Flemish school
was soon to be absorbed in that of France, and the
second period, which may be termed the French, to
begin in the history of engraving.

Were it permissible, on the authority of examples
given elsewhere, to compare a multitude of men
separated by differences of epoch and endowment,
we might arrange the old engravers in the order
adopted for a group of much greater artists by the
painters of the "Apotheosis of Homer" and the
" Hemicycle of the Palais des Beaux-Arts.'' Let us
regard them in our mind's eye as a master might
figure them. In the centre is Finiguerra, the father
of the race ; next to him, on the one side, are the
Master of 1466, Martin Schongauer, and Albert
Diirer ; on the other, Mantegna and Marc Antonio,
surrounded, like the three German masters, by their
disciples, amongst whom they maintain an attitude
of command. Between the two groups, but rather
on the German side, is Lucas van Leyden, first in
place, as by right, among the Dutchmen. 'Below
these early masters, who wear upon their brows

ITS BEGINNINGS IN f^RANCE AND ENGLAND. 177

that expression of severity which distinguishes their
work^ comes the excited crowd of daring innovators,
whose merit is in the spirit of their style — Bolswert,
Vorsterman, Pontius, Cornelius Visscher, Van Dalen,
and their rivals. Rembrandt muses apart, sombre,
and as though shrouded in mystery. Lastly, in the
middle distance, are seen the merely clever engravers :
the Dutch Little Masters, Callot, Hollar, and Israel
Silvestre.

If, on the other hand, we must abandon this realm
of fancy for the regions of fact, we might sum up the
results of past progress by instancing a few prints
of perfect beauty. Our own selection would be Man-
tegna's " Entombment ;" Marc Antonio's " Massacre
of the Innocents ; " the " Death of the Virgin," by
Martin Schongauer ; Durer's " Melancholia ; " the
** Calvary " of Lucas van Leyden ; Rembrandt's
" Christ Healing the Sick ; " Bolswert's " Crown of
Thorns ; " the " Portrait of Rubens," by Paul Pontius,
or the " Gellius de Bouma " of Cornelius Visscher ;
and finally, Callot's ** Florentine Fair," or " Garden
at Nancy," and the " Bouvier," or, better still, the
'*Soleil Levant'^ of Claude Lorraine. Happy the
owner of this selection of masterpieces: the man
who, better inspired than the majority of his kind,
has preferred* a few gems to an overgrown and un-
wieldy collection.

M

178

CHAPTER VII.

FRENCH ENGRAVERS IN THE REIGN OF LOUIS XIV.

We have followed through all its stages the progress
of the art of engraving, from the time of its earliest
more or less successful attempts, to the time when
a really important advance was accomplished. How-
ever brilliant these early phases may have been, pro-
perly speaking they include but the beginnings of
the art. The epoch we are now to ^traverse is that of
its complete development and fullest perfection.

We have seen that the schools of Italy and the
Low Countries had, each in its own direction, largely
increased the resources of engraving, without ex-
hausting them. The quality of drawing would seem
to have been carried to an inimitable perfection in
the works of Marc Antonio, had not examples of a
keener sense of form and an exactness even more
irreproachable been discovered in those of the French
masters of the seventeenth century. The engravings
produced under the direct influence of Rubens only
remained the finest specimens of the science of
colour and effect until the appearance of the plates
engraved in Paris by Gerard Audran. Finally,
though the older engravers had set themselves the
task of accentuating a certain kind of beauty, suitable

ENGRAVING UNDER LOUIS XIV. 1 79

to the peculiar tastes and capacities of the schools
to which they belonged, none of them had sought,
at least with any success, to present in one whole all
the different species of beauty inherent in- the art. It
was reserved for the French engravers of the age of
Louis XIV. to unite in one supreme effort qualities
which till then had seemed to exclude each other.
While they proved themselves draughtsmen as skilful
and colourists as good as the best of their predeces-
sors, they excelled them in their harmonious fusion
of whatever qualities are appropriate to engraving, as
also in the elasticity of their theory and the all-round
capacity of their method.

The works of the Louis XIII. engravers heralded
this new departure, and prepared the way for the real
masters. As soon as, with a view to securing a
certain measure of independence, the French school
of painting had begun to free itself from the spirit of
systematic imitation, the art of line engraving pro-
ceeded resolutely along an open path, and marked its
course by still more significant improvements. To
say nothing of Thomas de Leu — who for that matter
was not, perhaps, born in France"^ — ^and nothing of
Leonard Gaultier, who, like De Leu, principally
worked in the reign of Henri IV., Jean Morin, whose
method, at once so picturesque and so firm, was the
result of a peculiar combination of acid, dry-point,

* His first plates are sometimes signed ** De Leeuw," sometimes
**Tomaies de Leu," which has led many writers — M. Robert-Dumesnil
among them — to suppose that he migrated to Paris from a town in
flanders. . . . . . .

V

M 2

l80 ENGRAVING.

and the graver, Michel Lasne, Claud Mellan — in
spite of the somewhat pretentious ease and rather
affected skill of his handling — and other line engravers,
variously capable, each after his kind, are found to
owe nothing to foreign example. Their works already
do more than hint at the new departure ; but we are
approaching the period when distinguished engravers
become so common in the French school, that in this
place we need only mention those whose names are
still of special importance.

Robert Nanteuil, one of the most eminently dis-
tinguished, and, taking them chronologically, one of
the first, was destined for the bar, and in his youthful
tastes showed none of that irresistible tendency to the
arts which is the common symptom of great talent.
Whilst studying literature and science at Rheims,
where he was born in 1626, he also took up drawing
and engraving, but with no idea of devoting him-
self steadily to either. It seems, however, that after
having merely dallied in odd moments with the art
which was one day to make him famous, he very soon
concluded that he had served a sufficient apprentice-
ship ; for at nineteen he set about engraving the
frontispiece to his own philosophical thesis.

It was in those days the custom to ornament such
writings with figures and symbols appropriate to the
candidate's position, or to the subject of his argument.
The most distinguished painters did not disdain to
design originals, and the frontispieces engraved from
Philippe de Champagne, Lesueur, and Lebrun, are not
unworthy of the talent and reputation of those great

Fig. 8i.— jean morin.
Anloine Vtln!. After PhilEppe de Champagne.

1 82 ENGRAVING.

men. Nanteuil, in emulation, was anxious not only
to produce a masterpiece, but to invest it with an
appearance of grandeur as little fitted to his position
as to his slender acquaintance with the art. However
that may have been, he sustained his thesis to the
satisfaction of the judges ; and, albeit an exceedingly
bad one, his engraving was admired in the society
which he frequented.^ Some verses addressed to
ladies t still further increased his reputation as a
universal genius. Unfortunately, to all these public
successes were added others of a more purely per-
sonal nature, which were soon noised abroad ; and it
would appear that, fresh adventures having led to a
vexatious scandal, Nanteuil, who shortly before had
married the sister of the engraver Regnesson, was
compelled to leave, almost in secrecy, a place where
once he had none save admirers and friends. By a
fatal coincidence the fugitive's family was ruined at
the same time : it became imperative for him to live by
his own work, and to seek his fortune in the practice
of draughtsmanship.

Abandoning the law, he therefore set out for Paris,

* It represents a **Holy Family," with this inscription on a stone,
to the right : " R. Nanteuil Philosophise Auditor Sculpebat Rhemis
An° dni 1645."

t These flights were not Nanteuil's last. There is extant a sort ot
petition in verse, which he one day presented to Louis XIV. to excuse
himself for not having finished in time a portrait ordered by the king.
These rhymes, quoted by the Abbe Lambert in his ** Histoire Litteraire
du Regne de Louis XIV.,'* and some others composed by Nanteuil in
praise of Mile, de Scudery, are not such to make us regret that he did
not more frequently lay aside the graver for the pen.

ENGRAVING UNDER LOUIS XIV. 183

where he arrived poor and unknown, but determined
to succeed. The question was, how without intro-
ductions to gain patrons? how to make profitable
acquaintances in the great city ? After losing some
days in quest of a good opening, it is said that he
hit upon a somewhat strange device. He had brought
with him from Rheims some crayon portraits, as
specimens of his ability ; he chose one of these, and
waited at the door of the Sorbonne till the young
divinity students came out of class. He followed
them into a neighbouring wine shop, where they were
wont to take their meals, and pretended to be looking
for some one whose portrait he had taken (he said) the
week before. He knew neither the name nor address
of his sitter, but thought that if his fellow-students
would look at the drawing, they might be able and
willing to help him. It is superfluous to say that the
original of the portrait was not recognised ; but the
picture passed from hand to hand, and was admired ;
the price was asked, the artist was careful to be
moderate in' his demands, and some of the young
men were so taken by the smallness of the sum, that
they offered to sit for their portraits. The first
finished and approved, other students in their turn
wanted their portraits for their families and friends.
This gave the young artist more remunerative work.
His connection rapidly increased, and before long he
was entrusted with the reproduction, on copper, of
drawings commissioned by distinguished parliament
men and persons of standing at the Court. At last
the king, whose portrait he afterwards engraved in

1 84 ENGRAVING.

different sizes — as often as eleven times — gave him a
number of sittings, after which Nanteuil received a
pension and the title of Dessinateur du Cabinet *

Louis XIV. was not satisfied with thus reward-
ing a talent already recognised as superior ; he was
also desirous of stimulating by general measures the
development of what he had himself declared a
" liberal art." t Engravers were privileged to exer-
cise it without being subjected to "any apprentice-
ship, or controlled by other laws than those of their
own genius;" and seven years later (1667) the royal
establishment at the Gobelins became virtually a
school of engraving. Whilst Lebrun, its first director-
in-chief, assembled therein an army of painters,
draughtsmen, and even sculptors, and wrought from
his own designs the tapestries of the " Elements "
and the " Saisons,'' Sebastien Leclerc superintended
the labours of a large body of native and foreign
engravers, entertained at the king's expense.

One of these, Edelinck, had been summoned to
France by Colbert. Born at Antwerp in 1640, and a

* The greater part of Nanteuil's drawings are in three crayons,
made out in places with light tints in pastel. The colour is sober and
delicate, and offers a good deal of resemblance to the charming
French crayons of the sixteenth century. Nanteuil doubtless produced
many portraits which he never engraved, but he engraved very few that
he had not previously produced. It must also be remarked, that in his
achievement, which is composed of more than two hundred and thirty
pieces, there are not more than eighteen subject pictures or illustrations.
It is worthy, too, of special note that there are only eight portraits
in which the hands are seen, and in six of these only one hand is
shown.

t *' iSdit de Saint Jean-de:Luz," 1660.

ENGRAVING UNDER LOUIS XlV. 1 85

contemporary of the engravers trained by the disciples
of Rubens himself, he was distinguished, like them,
by his vigour of handling and knowledge of effect.
Once settled in Paris, he supplemented these Flemish
characteristics with qualities distinctively French, and
was soon a foremost engraver of his time. Endowed
with singular insight and elasticity of mind, he readily
assimilated, and sometimes even improved upon, the
style of those painters whom he reproduced, and
adopted a new sentiment with every new original.
He began, in France, with an engraving of Raphael's
" Holy Family," the so-called " Vierge de Francois I.,"
which is severe in aspect, and altogether Italian in
drawing; and. he followed this up with plates of the
" Madeleine " of Lebrun, his " Christ aux Anges,"
and his " Famille de Darius," all of them admirable
reproductions, in which the defects of the originals are
modified, while their beauties are increased by the use
of methods which make their peculiar and essential
characteristics none the less conspicuous. In inter-
preting Lebrun, Edelinck altered neither his signifi-
cance nor his style ; he only touched his work with
fresh truth and nature: as, when dealing with Rigaud,
he converted that artist's pomposity and flourish into
a certain opulence and vigour. When, on the contrary,
he had to interpret a work stamped with calm and
reflective genius, his own bold and brilliant talent
became impregnated with serenity, and he could
execute with a marvellous reticence such a transla-
tion as that from Philippe de Champagne — the
painter's portrait of himself — a favourite, it is said,

1 86 ENGRAVING.

with the engraver, and one of the masterpieces of
the art.

When Edelinck arrived in Paris, Nanteuil, his
senior by some fifteen years, had a studio at the Gobe-
lins, close to the one where he himself was installed.
This seeming equality in the favour accorded to two
men, then so unequal in reputation and achievement,
would be astonishing unless we remember the object
which brought them together, and the very spirit ot
the institution.

Things went on in the Gobelins almost as they
did in Florence, in the gardens of San Marco, under
Lorenzo de' Medici. Artists of repute worked side
by side with beginners : not indeed together, but
near enough for the master continually to help the
student, and for the spirit of rivalry, the excitement
of example, to keep alive a universal continuity of
effort. French art had been lately honoured by three
painters of the highest order — Poussin, Claude,* and
Lesueur ; but the first two lived in retirement, and
far from France ; whilst the third had died leaving
no pupils, and, consequently, no tradition. It seemed
urgent, therefore, in order to perpetuate the glory of
the school, to gather together both men of mature
talent and men whose talent was yet young and
unformed, and to impel them all towards a common
object on a common line of work. Colbert it was
who conceived and executed the plan, who assembled

* Claude, it is true, was still alive in 1667 ; but after his second
installation in Rome (1627), he never saw France again.

ENGRAVING UNDER LOUIS XIV. 1 87

all the great masters in painting, sculpture, and en-
graving, whose services he could command, without
omitting any younger men who might seem worthy of
encouragement. He quartered them all at the Gobe-
lins, and put over them the man best fitted to play
the part of their organiser and supreme director.
" There was a pre-established harmony between Louis
XIV. and Lebrun," says M. Vitet,* " and when the
painter died (1690), neither he nor his master had as
yet permitted any encroachment upon their territory."
Lebrun might have appropriated a famous saying of
the king, applied it to his own absolute supremacy,
and saidj with truth, that he alone was French art.
Everything connected with the art of design, whether
directly or indirectly, from statues and pictures for
public buildings down to furniture and gold plate,
were all subject to his authority, and were all moulded
by his influence. It was an unfortunate influence
in some respects, for it made the painting and sculp-
ture of the epoch monotonously bombastic ; but to
engraving, under whose auspices contemporary pic-
tures were sometimes transformed into real master-
pieces, it cannot be said to have been unfavourable.

When Lebrun was called to the government of
the arts, the number of practical engravers in France
was already considerable. Jean Pesne, the special
interpreter of Poussin, had published several of those
vigorous prints which even now shed honour on
the name of the engraver of the " Evanouissement

Vitet : " Eustache Lesueur."

I88 ENGRAVING.

d'Estlicr," of the "Testament d'Eiidamidas," and of

the " Sept Sacrements." Claudine Bouzonnet, siir-

ENGRAVING UNDER LOUIS XIV. 1 89

named Claudia Stella, who by the force of her extra-
ordinary gift has won her way to the highest rank
among female engravers, Etienne Baudet, and Gan-
trel — all these, like Jean Pesne, applied themselves
almost exclusively to the task of reproducing the
compositions of the noble painter of Les Andelys. On
the other hand, Francois de Poilly, Roullet, and
Masson (the last so celebrated for his portrait of
Count d'Harcourt, and his " Pilgrims of Emmaus," after-
Titian), and many others equally well known, had
won their spurs before they devoted themselves to the
reproduction of Lebrun. Finally, Nanteuil, who only
engraved a few portraits from originals by the director,
was already widely known when Colbert requested him
to join, among the first, the brotherhood which he
had founded at the Gobelins. As soon as in his turn
Edelinck was admitted, he hastened to profit by the
advice of the master whom it was his privilege to be
associated with ; and, aided by Nanteuil's example,
and under Nanteuil's eye, he soon tried his hand in
the production of engraved portraits.

No one indeed could be better fitted than Nanteuil
to teach this special art, in which he has had few
rivals and no superior. Even now, when we consider
these admirable portraits of his, we are as certain of
the likeness as if we had known the sitters. Every-
body's expression is so clearly defined, the character
of his physiognomy so accurately portrayied, that it
is impossible to doubt the absolute truth of the repre-
sentation. There is no touch of picturesque affecta-
tion in the details ; no exaggerated nicety of means ;

I90 ENGRAVING.

no trick, nor mannerism of any sort ; but always
clear and limpid workmanship, and style so reticent,
so measured, that at first glance there is a certain
indescribable appearance of coldness, no hindrance to
persons of taste, but a pitfall to such eager and hasty
judgments as, to be conquered, must be carried by
storm. NanteuiPs portraits come before us in all the
outward calm of nature; possibly they seem almost
inartistic because they make no parade of artifice ;
but, once examined with attention, they discover that
highest and rarest form of merit which is concealed
under an appearance of simplicity.

If the " Turenne," the " Pr&ident de Bellievre,"
the " Van Steenberghen '* (called the " Avocat de
Hollande "), the " Pierre de Maridat,'* the " Lamothe
Le Vayer," the " Loret," and others, are masterpieces
of refinement in expression and drawing, they also
prove, as regards execution, the exquisite taste and
the marvellous dexterity of the engraver. But to
discern the variety of method they display, and to
perceive that the handling is as sure and fertile as it
is learned and unpretentious, they must be closely
studied.

As a rule, Nanteuil employs in his half-lights dots
arranged at varying distances, according to the force
of colouring required, in combination with short
strokes of exceeding fineness. Sometimes — as, for
instance, in the " Christine de Suede," altogether
engraved in this manner — the process suffices him
not only to model such parts as verge upon his lights,
but even to construct the masses of his shadows.

ENGRAVING UNDER LOUIS XIV. I9I

The " Edouard Mol^ *' is, on the contrary, in pure
line. The soft silkiness of hair he often expresses by
free and flowing lines, some of which, breaking away
from the principal mass, are relieved against the
background, breaking the monotony of the work-
manship, and suggesting movement by their vague-
ness of contour. Often, too, certain loose lines, either
broken or continued without crossing in different
directions, admirably distinguish the natures of cer-
tain substances, and imitate to perfection the soft
richness of furs or the sheen of satin. Yet it some-
times happens that in the master's hand the same
method results in the most opposite effects : a print,
for instance, may exemplify in its treatment of the
textures of flesh a method applied elsewhere, and
with equal success, to the rendering of draperies. In
a word, Nanteuil does not appropriate any particular
process to any predetermined purpose. While judi-
ciously subordinating each to propriety, he can, when
he pleases, make the most of all ; and whatevei* path
he follows, it always appears that he has taken the
best to reach his end.

It was not only to the teaching of Nanteuil that
Edelinck had recourse ; he still further improved his
style by studying his countryman, Nicolas Pitau
(whom Colbert had also summoned from Antwerp to
the Gobelins), and afterwards by acquiring the secret
of brilliant handling from Francois de Poilly. To
which of these engravers he was most indebted
is a point which cannot be exactly determined.
After investing himself with qualities from e^qh, he

\()2 ENGRAVING.

did not imitate one more than another ; he found his
inspiration in the examples of all three.

Nanteuil and Edelinck, first united by their work,
were soon fast friends, in spite of the difference of
their, ages, and the still greater difference of their
tastes. The French engraver sent for his wife from
Rhcims as soon as he found himself in a fair way to
success and fortune ; but he had also in son\e degree
returned to the habits of his youth. A shining light
in society, and as intimate with the cultured set at
Mile, de Scudery*s as with the devotees of pleasures
less strictly intellectual, his career of dissipation in the
salons and fashionable taverns of the day contrasts
strangely with the sober quality of his talent, and
increases our surprise at the number of works which
he produced. Even his declining health did not
change his habits. Till the end he continued to
divide his time between his work and the world ; and
at his death, in 1678, at the age of fifty-two, he left
nothing, or almost nothing, to his wife, in spite of the
large sums he had made since he came to Paris.

Edelinck*s fate was very different. He lived in
seclusion, given over to his art and to the one ambition
of becoming churchwarden {inarguillier) of his parish :
a position refused him, it is said, as reserved for trades-
men and official personages, and with which he was only
at length invested by the condescending interference
of the king. It was probably the only favour person-
ally solicited by Edelinck, but it was by no means the
first he owed to the protection of Louis XIV. Before
the churchwardenship he held the title of " Premier

ENGRAVING UNDER LOUIS XIV. 193

•sinateur du Cabinet." Like Lebrun, like Man-

and Le Ndtre, he was a Knight of St. Michael,

194 ENGRAVING.

and the Academy of Painting elected him as one of
its council. His old age, like the rest of his days, was
quiet and laborious; and when he died (1707) his
two brothers and his son Nicolas, who had all three
been his pupils, inherited a fortune as wisely hus-
banded as it had been honourably acquired.

Edelinck survived the principal engravers of the
reign of Louis XIV. Fran9ois de Poilly, Roullet,
Masson, and Jean Pesne, had more or less closely
followed Nanteuil to the grave. At the Gobelins,
once so rich in ability of the first order, students had
taken the place of masters, and clever craftsmen suc-
ceeded to artists of genuine inspiration. Van Schup-
pen had followed Nanteuil, as Mignard had Lebrun,
from necessity rather than right. And last of all,
Gerard Audran, the most distinguished engraver of the
time — whom, for the sake of clearness in our narra-
tive, we have not yet mentioned — had died in 1703;
and though members of his family did honour to the
name he had distinguished, none of them were able
to sustain the full weight of its glory.

One would hardly venture to say that Gerard
Audran was an engraver of genius, because it does
not seem permissible to apply the term to one whose
business it is to interpret the creations of others, and
subordinate himself to models he has not himself de-
signed ; yet how else can one characterise a talent so
full of life, so startling a capacity for feeling, and a
method at once so large, so unstudied, and so original?
Do not the plates of Gerard Audran bear witness
to something more than mere superficial skill ? Do

Fig. S5. — GERARD AUDRAN.

" La Noblesse." Afier RdphHd,

196 ENGRAVING.

they not rather reveal qualities more subtle — a
something personal and living, which raises them
to the rank of imaginative work ? Their real fault,
perhaps — at least the fault of those after Lebrun
or Mignard — is that they arc not reproductions of
a purer type of beauty. And even these masters
are so far dignified by the creative touch of their
translator as almost to seem worthy of unreserved
admiration. We can understand the mistake of the
Italians, who thought, when they saw the " Batailles
d'Alexandre," in black and white, that France, too,
had her Raphael, when, in reality, allowing for dif-
ference of manner, she could only glory in another
Marc Antonio.

Gerard Audran was born in Lyons in 1640, and
there obtained from his father his first lessons in art.
Afterwards he went to Paris, and placed himself
under the most famous masters of the day, by whose aid
he was soon introduced to Lebrun, and at once com-
missioned to engrave one of Raphael's compositions.
When Audran undertook the work, he had not the
picture before him, as Edelinck had when he engraved
the " Vierge de Francois I." His original was only a
pencil copy which Lebrun had brought back from
Italy ; hence no doubt the modern character and the
French style which are stamped on the engraving.
Feeling dissatisfied with his work, the young artist
did not publish it, but deter^nined to study the
Italians in Italy, to educate himself directly from
their works, and thenceforth to engrave only those
pictures of which he could judge at first-hand without

Fig. 86. — g6rard
" Navigation." After Rapbael.

IgS ENGRAVING.

the danger of an intermediary. He set off therefore
for Rome, and remained there for three years, during
which time he produced several copies painted at the
Vatican, many drawings from the antique, several
plates after Raphael, Domenichino, and the Carraccis,
and the engraving of a ceiling by Pietro da Cortona,
which last he dedicated to Colbert.

By this act of homage he acquitted himself of a
debt of gratitude to the minister who had favoured
him ever since his arrival in Paris, and who, at
Lebrun's request, had supplied the means of his
sojourn in Italy. On Colbert's part it was only an
act of justice to recall Audran to France, and to
entrust him with the engraving of the lately finished
series of the " Batailles d'Alexandre," for the great
publication called the " Cabinet du Roi." To the
engraver, then twenty-seven years old, a pension was
granted, with a studio at the Gobelins, then the cus-
tomary reward of talents brilliantly displayed. It
may be added that six years (1672 — 1678) sufficed
him to finish the stupendous task.

Treated as a friend, and almost on an equal foot-
irig» by Lebrun, who for no one else departed from the
routine of his official supremacy, Audran exerted
over the king's chief painter a considerable, if a secret,
influence. In spite of all that has been said,* Lebrun

* It is said that Lebrun one day proclaimed that Audran had *' im-
proved his pictures." It is possible he may have said, ** that he had
not spoilt them. " Such an expression in the mouth of such a man
is quite modest enough ; but it is difficult to imagine Lebrun so far
humbling himself in public.

ENGRAVING UNDER LOUIS XIV. I99

was not the kind of man to openly question his own
infallibility, nor to advertise his deference to the
advice of an artist so much younger than himself,
his pupil, so to speak, and consequently without the
authority of any higher degree ; yet he frequently
consulted him, and took his advice, in private. Also
(and this is significant) when the engravings of the
" Batailles " appeared — engravings to a certain extent
unfaithful, inasmuch as they differed decidedly from
the originals — the fact that the painter made no
complaint points to his recognition in Audran of the
right to correct, and to his implicit submission to
Audran's corrections.

In this respect Lebrun conducted himself as a
man of the world, and one well able to understand
the true interests of his reputation. He had every-
thing to gain by giving full liberty to an engraver
by whose perfect taste the blunders of his own were
corrected, and who harmonised his frequently harsh
and heavy colouring, and strengthened in modelling
and design his often undecided expression of form.
Thus the plates of the " Batailles," in addition to the
high quality of the composition of the originals, pre-
sent, alike in general aspect and in detail, a decision
which belongs to Audran alone. Force and trans-
parency of tone, largeness of effect, and, above all, a
distinctly marked feeling for characteristic truths, are
conspicuous in them. Not a single condition of art
is imperfectly fulfilled. Marc Antonio himself drew
with no more certainty ; the Flemings themselves
had no deeper knowledge of chiaroscuro ; the French

200 ENGRAVING.

engravers, not excepting even Edelinck * have never
treated historical engraving with such ease and
mdestria. In a word, none of the most famous en-
gravers of Europe have been, we believe, so richly
endowed with all artistic instincts, nor have better
understood their use.

The "Batailles d'Alexandre" finished, Audran
engraved Lesueur's " Martyre de Saint Protais;"
several Poussins, amongst others the" Pyrrhus Sauve,"
the " Femme Adult^re," and the radiant " Triomphe
de la Verite," one of the most beautiful (if not the
most beautiful) historical engravings ever published ;
and, after Mignard, the " Peste d*£gine," and the
paintings in the cupola at Val-de-Grace.

These several works, where elevation of taste and
sentiment are no less triumphantly manifest than in
the " Batailles " themselves, are also finished exam-
ples of engraving in the literal sense of the word.
Audran disdained to flaunt his skill, and to surprise
the eye by technical display, but he understood to
the utmost all the secrets and resources of the craft,
and employed them with more ability than any
competitor. Associating engraving with etching, he
deepened with powerful touches of the burin those
strokes of the needle which had merely served to
suggest outlines, masses of shadow, and half-tints.
On occasion, short strokes, free as a pencirs, and

♦ We said that Edelinck was born at Antwerp ; but as he was very
young when he took up his a^ode in France, and as he never returned
to his native country, we may be allowed to include him in the French
school with as much right as his countryman, Philippe de Champaigne.

ENGRAVING UNDER LOUIS XIV. 20I

seemingly drawn at random, with dots of different
sizes, distributed with apparent carelessness, sufficed
for the modelling of his forms; at others, he pro-
ceeded by a consistent system of cross-hatching.
Here rough etching work is tumbled about (so to
speak) in wild disorder; there a contrary effect is
produced by nearly parallel furrows scooped in the
metal with methodical exactness ; but everywhere the
choice and progress of the tools are based on condi-
tions inherent in the nature of the several objects,
and their relative positions and distances. Audran
did not try to attract attention to any of the methods
he employed ; he made each heighten the effect of the
other, and combined them all without parade of ease,
and yet without confusion.

So many admirable works secured for Audran
a fame such as Edelinck, as Nanteuil himself, had
never obtained. The Academy of Painting, which
had welcomed him after the publication of his first
plates, elected him as one of its council in 1681. The
school of engraving which he opened grew larger than
any other, and many of his pupils became notable
even in his company, and helped to increase the
renown of the master who had trained them."^

Towards the close of his life Audran laid by
the burin for the pen. Following Albert Durer's

* Amongst Audran's most distinguished scholars, we need only
mention the following names : Gaspard Duchange ; Dorigny, sum-
moned to London by Queen Anne ; Louis Desplaces ; and Nicolas
Henri Tardieu, founder of a family of clever engravers, the last of
whom died in 1844, worthy of the name he bore.

202 ENGRAVING.

example, he proposed to put t<^ether, in the form
of treatises, his hfe-long observations on the art he
had so successfully practised. Unfortunately, this
task was interrupted by his death ; and, excepting a
" Recueil des Proportions du Corps Humain," nothing
is left us of those teachings which the greatest en-
graver, not only of France, but perhaps of any school,
had desired to hand on to posterity.

By their works, Nanteuil, Audran, and the other
masters of the reign of Louis XIV,, had popularised
historical and portrait engraving in France. The
taste for prints spread more and more, and amateurs
began to make collections. At first they confined
themselves to real masterpieces ; after which they
began to covet the complete achievement of peculiar
engravers. The mania for rare prints became fashion-
able ; and we learn from La Bruy^re that, before the
end of the century, some amateurs had already come
to prefer engravings "presque pas tiroes" — engravings
" fitter to decorate the Petit-Pont or the Rue Neuve
on a holiday than to be hoarded in a collection " — to
the most perfect specimens of the art. Others were
chiefly occupied with the bulk of their collections, and
treasured up confused heaps of all sorts of plates,
good, bad, and indifferent. Others there were who
only cared about such as did not exceed a certain
size ; and it is told of one devotee of this faith that,
inasmuch as he would harbour nothing in his portfolios
but round engravings of exactly the same circumfer-
ence, he was used to cut ruthlessly to his pattern what-
ever came into his hands. We must add that, side by

ENGRAVING UNDER LOUIS XIV. 203

side with such maniacs, intelligent men like the Ahh6
de Marolles and the Marquis de Beringhen increased
their collections to good purpose, and were content
to bring together the most important specimens of
ancient engraving and such as best served to illus-
trate the more modern progress of the art.

In France, however, it was not only the best ex-
pressions of engraving that were considered. On the
heels of the great engravers there followed a crowd
of second-i^te workmen. Besides history and por-
trait, every variety of print was published : domestic
scenes, architecture and topography, costumes, fetes,
and public celebrations. The engraving of maps
greatly improved under the direction of Adrian and
Guillaume Sanson, sons of the famous Geographer in
Ordinary to Louis XIII.

Jacques Gomboust, the king's Engineer in Ordi-
nary for the " drawing up of plans of towns," pub-
lished, as early as 1652, a map of Paris and its suburbs
in nine sheets, much more exact and more carefully
engraved than those of former reigns. Fashion plates
were multiplied ad infinitum ; and a periodical called
Le Mercure Galant steadily produced new modes
in apparel and personal ornaments. Certain collec-
tions also, destined to perpetuate the remembrance
of the events of the reign, or the personal actions of
the king, were published " by order, and at the expense
of His Majesty," with a luxury justified at any rate
by the importance of the artists participating in the
work. The very almanacs bear the stamp of talent,
and are not unfrequently inscribed with the names

204 ENGRAVING.

of celebrated engravers, such as Lepautre, Francois
Spierrc, Chauvcau, Si5bastien Leclerc, and De Poilly.

In the days of Henri IV. and Louis XII I. almanacs
were printed on a single sheet, with a border some-
times of allegorical figures, but, more often, composed
simply of the attributes of the seasons. It was under
Louis XIV, that they at first appeared on lai^er
paper, and then in several sheets, wherein were repre-
sented the most important events of the year, or, it
might be, some ceremony or court f^te. In one is
pictured the Battle of Senef, or the signing of the
Treaty of Nimeguen ; in another, perhaps, the king is
represented dancing the Strasbourg minuet, or offer-
ing a collation to ladies. Of course the majority
of these prints are valueless in point of execution,
and are, moreover, of an almost purely commercial
character ; but those which are poorest from an
artistic point of view are still worthy of interest, since
they afford indisputable information concerning the
people and the habits and manners of the time.

Whilst many French artists were devoting them-
selves to the engraving of subjects of manners or
domestic scenes, or to the illustration of books and
almanacs, others were making satirical sketches of
current events and popular persons. The engraving
of caricatures, though it only dates from the middle
of the seventeenth century, had been practised long
before in France and other countries.

To say nothing of the " Danses macabres," a sort
of religious, or at any rate philosophical, satire, we
might mention certain caricatures published even

ENGRAVING UNDER LOUIS XIV. 20S

before the Carracci in Italy ; in the Low Countries in
the time of Jerome Bosch and Breughel ; in Germany
in the reign of Maximilian II. ; and finally in France,
in the reign of Charles IX. But all these are either
as stupidly licentious as those afterwards made upon
Henri III. and his courtiers, or as heavily grotesque
as those of the time of the League, towards the end of
the reign of Henri IV.

• When Louis XIII. came to the throne, the wit ot
the caricaturists was little keener, if we may judge by
the coarse pictorial lazzi inspired by the disgrace and
death of the Mar^chal d'Ancre, and the Dutch and
Spanish prints designed in ridicule of the French ; but
some years later, when Callot had introduced into the
treatment of burlesque a keenness and delicacy which
it could hardly have been expected to attain, the comic
prints assumed under the burin of certain engravers
an appearance of greater ingenuity and less brutality.
It is needless to remark that at the beginning of
the reign of Louis XIV. — indeed, during the whole
time of the Fronde and the foreign occupation of a
part of French territory — it was Mazarin and the
Spaniards who came in for all the epigrams. In the
caricatures of the day the Spaniards were invariably
represented with enormous ruffs, in tatters superbly
worn, and, to complete the allusion to their poverty,
with bunches of beetroot and onions at their belts.
There is nothing particularly comic, nor especially re-
fined, in the execution of the prints. In piquancy and
truth, these jokes about Spanish manners and Spanish
food recall those presently to be made in England

I

206 ENGRAVING.

about Frenchmen, who are there invariably represented
as frog-eaters and dancing-masters. Yet comparing the
faceticB of that period with the exaggerated or obscene i
humours which preceded them, it seems as though
the domain of caricature were even then being opened
up to worthy precursors of the lively draughtsmen of
the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries : in fact, as
though some Attic salt were already penetrating to
Boeotia.

This advance is visible in the satires published
towards the end of the reign of Louis XIV. The
" Procession Monacale," a set of twenty-four engravings
which appeared in Holland (where many Protestants
had taken refuge), attacked with considerable vigour
the revocation of the Edict of Nantes, and the prin-
cipal persons who had participated in that measure.
Louvois, Mme. de Maintenon, and all the privy
councillors of Louis XIV., are represented under the
cowl, and with significant attributes. Even the king
figures in this series of heroes of the New League ;
he is in a monk's frock like the others, but a sun,
in allusion to his lofty device, serves for his face,
and this hooded Phoebus bears in his hand a torch
to light himself through the surrounding darkness.
The prints that make up this set, as well as many
more in the same style, are designed and engraved
with a certain amount of spirit. They serve to prove
that in the frivolous arts, as well as in the comic
literature of the day, the object was to make " decent
folk " laugh, and to keep joking within bounds.
In a word, in comparison with former caricatures.

ENGRAVING UNDER LOUIS XIV. 20/

they are as the vaudevilles of the Italian comedy to
the farces once played on the boards of strolling
theatres.

Every sort of engraving being cultivated in France
with more success than anywhere else^ under Louis
XIV. the trade in prints became one of the most
flourishing branches of French industry. The great
historical plates, it is true — those at any rate which,
like the "Batailles d' Alexandre," were published at
the king's cost — were chiefly sold in France, and
were not often exported, save as presents to sovereigns
and ambassadors. But portraits, domestic scenes,
and fashion plates, were shipped off" in thousands,
and flooded all parts of Europe. Before the second
half of the seventeenth century, the chief printsellers
(for the most part engravers themselves and pub-
lishers of their own works) were established in Paris
on the Quai de THorloge, or, like Abraham Bosse,
in the interior of the Palace. Rather later than
this, the most popular shops were to be found in
the neighbourhood of the Church of St. S^verin.
If we examine the prints then published in Paris,
we may count as many as thirty publishers living
in the Rue St. Jacques alone, and amongst the
number are many famous names : as Gerard Audran,
" at the sign of the Two Golden Pillars ; " Fran-
cois de Poilly, " at the sign of St. Benedict," and so
forth.

Hence, we may mention, in passing, the mistake
which attributes to engravers of the greatest talent
the production of bad plates, to which they would

> i

208 ENGRAVING.

never have put finger except to take proofs. For
instance, the words " Gerard Aifdran exmdit" to be
found at the bottom of many such, do not mean
that they were engraved by the master, but only pub-
lished by him. Often, too, pseudonyms — not always
in the best possible taste — concealed the name of
the publisher and the place of publication : a precau-
tion easily understood, as it was generally applied to
obscenities, and particularly to those called "pieces a
surprise," which were then becoming common, and
continued to increase indefinitely during the following
century. True art, however, is but little concerned
with such curiosities ; and it js best to look elsewhere
for its manifestations.

The superior merit of the engraving of the masters
of the French school had attracted numbers of foreign
artists to Paris, Many took root there, amongst
them Van Schuppen and the Flemings commis-
sioned to engrave the " Victoires du Roi," painted by
Van der Meulen ; others, having finished their course
of study, returned to their own countries, the mis-
sionaries of French doctrine and of French manner.
The result of this united influence was an almost
exact similarity in all the line engravings produced,
by men of whatever nationality, or from whatever
originals. Thus, the portraits engraved by the Ger-
man Johann Hainzelmann from Ulrich Mayer and
Joachim Sandrart, scarcely differ from those he had
formerly engraved from French artists: the "Michel
Le Tellier,'' for instance, and the " President Dufour."
The historical plates published about the same time

ENGRAVING UNDER LOUIS XIV. 209

ih Germany prove the same lively zeal in imitation,
[n them art appears as, so to speak, a French sub-
ject; and Gustave Ambling, Bartholomew Kilian,*
ind many more of their countrymen — pupils, like these
two, of Francois de Poilly — might be classed amongst
the engravers of the French school, if the style of their
ivork were the only thing to be considered.

An examination of the prints published by
Flemish and Dutch artists later than the school of
Rubens and Van Dalen, would justify a like observa-
:ion. We may fairly regard Van Schuppen only as a
:lever pupil of Nanteuil, and Cornelius Vermeulen as
in imitator, less successful, but no less subservient.
And when we turn to the Italian engravers of the
seventeenth century, we find that, as a rule, their
ivork is marked by so impersonal a physiognomy,
is so much the outcome of certain preconceived and
rigid conventions, that one could almost believe them
Inspired by the same mind, and done by the same
hand.

Whilst French influence reigned almost supreme
in Germany and the Low Countries, and Italian art
became more and more the slave of routine, English
engraving had not yet begun to feel the influence
of the progress elsewhere achieved since the begin-
ning of the century. The time was, however, at hand
when, in the reign of Louis XV, London engravers

• Engraver of the ** Assumption " of Philippe de Champaigne. He
must not be confused with another Bartholomew Kilian, his ancestor,
md the head of a family in which there are no less than twenty
engravers.

O

2IO ENGRAVING.

who came to study in Paris should return to their
own country to practise successfully the lessons they
had learned. We must, therefore, presently turn to
them ; but,- before speaking of the pupils, we must
briefly mention the achievements of the masters, and
narrate the story of French engraving in France after
the death of the excellent artists of the age of
Louis XIV.

211

CHAPTER VIII.

ENGRAVING IN FRANCE AND IN OTHER EUROPEAN COUNTRIES
IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. NEW PROCESSES:
STIPPLE, CRAYON, COLOUR, AND AQUATINT.

MORIN, Nanteuil, Masson, and the other portrait
engravers of the period, in spite of the variety of
their talent, left their immediate successors a similar
body of doctrine and a common tradition. Now the
works of the painter Rigaud, whose importance had
considerably increased towards the end of the reign
of Louis XIV., made certain modifications of this
severe tradition necessary on the part of the artists
employed to engrave them. Portraits, for the most
part bust portraits, relieved against an almost naked
background, were no longer in fashion. To render a
crowd of accessories which, while enriching the com-
position, frequently encumbered it beyond measure,
became the problem in engraving. It was success-
fully solved by Pierre Drevet, his son Pierre Imbert,
and his nephew Claude Drevet, this last the author,
amongst other plates now much prized, of a "Guil-
laume de Vintimille" and a "Count Zinzendorff."

The first of these three engravers — at Lyons the

pupil of Germain Audran, and at Paris of Antoine

Masson — engraved, with some few exceptions, only

portraits, the best known of which are a full-length

O 2

r

212 ENGRAVING.

"Louis XIV.." "Louis XV. as a Child," "Cardinal
Fleury," and "Count Toulouse;" they attest an
extreme skill of hand, and a keen perception of
the special characteristics of the originals. The
second, the similarity of whose Christian name has
often caused him to be mistaken for his father, showed
himself from the first still more skilful and more
certain of his own powers. He was only twenty-six
when he finished his full-length " Bossuet," in which
the precision of the handling, the exactness and
brilliancy of the burin work, seem to indicate a talent
already arrived at maturity. In this plate, indeed,
and in some others by the same engraver — as the
" Cardinal Dubois," the " Adrienne Lecouvreur," and
others — there are parts, perhaps, that seem almost
worthy of Nanteuil himself. It is impossible to
imitate with greater nicety the richness of ermine, the
delicacy of lace, and the polish and brilliancy of
gilding ; but the subtle delicacy of physiognomy, the
elasticity of living flesh which animated the portraits
of the earlier masters, will here be looked for in vaia
Such work is the outcome of an art no longer
supreme, albeit of a very high order still.

As much may be said of the best historical plates
engraved in France under the Regency, and in the
first years of Louis XV. The older manner, it is
true, was still perceptible, but it was beginning to
change, and was soon to be concealed more and
more under a parade of craftsmanship amusingly
self-conscious, and an elegance refined to the point of
affectation.

Fig. 87.— LAURENT CARS.
"L'Avare." From Boucher's " Moliire."

214 ENGRAVING.

The French engravers of the time of Louis XV,
may be divided into two distinct groups : the one
submitting to the authority of Rigaud, and partially
preserving the tradition of the last century ; the
other, of greater numerical importance, and in some
respects of greater ability, but, in imitation of Wat-
teau and his followers, seeking success in attractive-
ness of subject, grace of handling, and the expression
of a general prettiness, rather than in the faithful
rendering of truth.

As we know, the manners of the time were not
calculated to discourage a like tendency, which, in-
deed, grew more and more general amongst artists
during the whole course of the eighteenth century,
until it ended in a revolution, as radical in its way as
the great political one : namely, the exclusive worship
of a somewhat barren simplicity and of the antique
narrowly understood.

In 1750 (that is to say, almost at the very time of
the birth of David, the future reformer of the school)
the public asked nothing more of art than a passing
amusement. The immediate successors of Lebrun
had brought the historical style into great disrepute.
People had wearied of the pompous parade of allegory,
the tyranny of splendour, the monotony ol luxury;
they took refuge in another extreme — in the exag-
geration of grace and all the coquetries of sentiment.
Pastorals, or would-be pastorals, and subjects for
the most part mythological, took the place of heroic
actions and academical apotheoses. They had not a
whit more nature than these others, but they had at

FiC. 88.— LAURENT CARS.

" L£ D^it Amouteux." From Boucher's "MoUJre,"

2l6 ENGRAVING.

any rate more interest for the mind, and greater charm
for the eye.

From the point of view of engraving alone, the
prints published in France at this time are for the
most part models of spirit and delicacy, as those
of the Louis XIV. masters are of learned execu-
tion and vigorous conception. Moreover, under the
frivolous forms affected by French engraving in the
eighteenth century, something not unfrequently sur-
vives of the masterly skill and science of the older
men. It is to be supposed that Laurent Cars remem-
bered the example of Gerard Audran, and, in his own
way, succeeded in perpetuating it when he engraved
Lemoyne's " Hercule et Omphale," and " Delivrance
d'AndromMe." Even when he was reproducing such
fantasies as the " F^te v^nitienne " of Watteau, or
scenes of plain family life, like Chardin's "Amuse-
ments de la Vie priv^e," and " La Serinette," he had
the art of supplementing from his own taste whatever
strength and dignity his originals might lack. Was
it not, too, by appropriating the doctrine, or at least
the method, of Audran^his free alliance of the burin
with the needle^that Nicolas de Larmessin, Lebas,
Lepici^, Avcline, Duflos, Dupuis, and others, produced
their charming transcripts of Pater, Lancret, Boucher
himself— in spite of his impertinences of manner and
his unpleasant falseness of colour — and, above all,
Watteau, of all the masters of the eighteenth centuty
the best understood and the most brilliantly inter-
pretated by the engravers ? A while later, Greuze
Iiad the honour to occupy them most ; and some

THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. 21J

among them, as Levasseur and FHpart, did not fail

Fig. 89,— CI

' ' Arlequin Jaloux. " After Watteau.

to acquit themselves with ability of a task rendered

2l8 ENGRAVING.

peculiarly difficult by the flaccid and laboured execu-
tion of the originals.

However summary our description of the progress
of French engraving during the whole of the reign of
Louis XV., or the early years of Louis XVL, it is
scarcely possible not to mention, side by side with
historical and genre engraving, the countless illustra-
tions — of novels, fables, songs, and publications of every
description — the general aspect of which so strongly
bears witness to the fertility and grace of French art
at that time. It is difficult to omit the names of
those agreeable engravers of dainty subjects, not
seldom of their own design : those poets minores, the
vaudeviUists of the burin, who, from the interpreters
of Gravelot, Eisen, and Gabriel de St. Aubin to
Choffard, from Cochin to Moreau, have left us so
much work steeped in the richest, the most varied
imagination, or informed by an exquisite natural
perception. Ready and ingenious above all others,
delicate even in their most capricious flights, witty
before everything, they are artists whose accomplish-
ment, in spite of its appearance of frivolity, is not to
be matched for delicacy and science in the work of
any other epoch, or the school of any other country.

Placed, in some sort, at an equal distance from
the contemporary historical engravers and the en-
gravers of illustrations, and divided, as it were, between
the recollections of the past and the examples of the
present, Ficquet, and some years later, Augustin de
St. Aubin, produced the little portraits which are as
popular now as then. The portraits of Ficquet are

THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURV. 219

prized above all ; though those of St. Aubin, in spite

' ' La Main Chaude. " After De Troy.

of their small size, exhibit a largeness and firmness of

220 ENGRAVING.

modelling not to be found in work that is sometimes
preferred to them. What is more, Ficquet's plates
are generally only reductions of prints already pub-
lished by other engravers, Nanteuil, Edelinck, and
the rest ; whilst the portraits of St. Aubin have the
merit of being directly taken from original pictures
or drawings. As a rule, however, these portraits are
relieved on a dead black ground, without gradation
or variety of effect ; and it is probably to the some-
what harsh and monotonous aspect thus produced
that we must attribute the comparative disfavour with
which they are regarded.

It is also permissible to suppose that Ficquet's
almost microscopic prints, like those of his imi-
tators, Savart and Grateloup, owe much of their
popularity to their extreme finish. When the mind
is not exercised in discerning the essential parts of an
art, the eye is apt to look upon excessive neatness of
workmanship as the certain evidence of perfection.
As people insensible to the charm of painting fall
confidingly into raptures over the pictures of Carlo
Dolci, Gerard Dow, and Denner, so, it maybe, certain
admirers of Ficquct esteem his talent in proportion
to the exaggerated cleanness and carefulness of his
plates. Yet his real merit does not entirely rest on
such secondary considerations. Many of his small
portraits, most of them intended as illustrations, are
remarkable for firm drawing and delicate facial ex-
pression ; and if the work were generally simpler and
less crowded with half-tints, it might be classed, as
miniature in line, with Petitot's enamels.

222 ENGRAVING.

The analogy, however, can only be supported with
regard to their talent ; their dispositions differ in
every point. The painter Petitot, a fervent Calvinist,
whose life presents a curious contrast with the worldly
character of his work, had the honour to attract the
attention of Bossuet, who, it is said, attempted to
convert him. He was imprisoned at For-rEveque
after the revocation of the Edict of Nantes, and only
quitted it to devote himself to solitude and study.
Ficquet, for his part, took no interest whatever in
religious questions, and gave up every spare moment
to the pursuit of pleasure ; he was, besides, for ever
short of money, and was perpetually hunted by his
creditors, who, weary of struggling, usually ended by
installing him in their own houses to finish a plate
for them.

It was in this way that he came to spend
nearly two months at St. Cyr, in the very heart
of which community he engraved his " Mme. de
Maintenon," after Mignard. This portrait, paid for
long previously to the last farthing, made no progress
whatever ; and the Mother Superior, having exhausted
prayers and reproaches, and despairing of seeing it
finished, addressed herself to the metropolitan. From
him she obtained permission to introduce the artist
into the convent, and to keep him there till the
accomplishment of his task. But things went on
no better. Ficquet, bored to death in his seclusion,
simply slept out the time, and never touched his
graver. One day he sent for the Superior, and told
her that if he stayed at St. Cyr to all eternity, he

THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. 223

could not work in the solitude they had made for
him ; amusement he must and would have, and in
default of better, it must be the conversation of the
nuns ; he added, in a word, that he refused to finish
the portrait unless some of them came every day to
keep him company. His conditions were accepted ;
and to encourage him still further, some of the pupils
accompanied the nuns, and played and sang to him
in his room. At length the long-expected plate was
ready ; but Ficquet, disgusted with the work, de-
stroyed it, and would only consent to begin again on
the promise of instant liberty and a still larger sum.
By these means the nuns of St. Cyr at last became
possessed of the likeness of their foundress, and
the little " Mme. de Maintenon " — which is perhaps
Ficquet's masterpiece — made up to them for the
strange exactions with which they had had to
comply.

As the habit of employing etching in the execu-
tion of their works had gained ground among artists,
the temptation to have recourse to this speedy process
had vanquished one person after another, even those
who seemed least likely to yield, whether from their
position in society, or their former methods. There were
soon as many amateur as professional engravers ; and
learning the use of the needle well enough to sketch a
pastoral was soon as fashionable as turning a madrigal.
Among the first to set the example was the Regent ;
he engraved a set of illustrations for an edition of
" Daphnis et Chloe," and his initiative was followed
by crowds of all ranks : great lords like the Due de

224 ENGRAVING.

Chevreuse and the Marquis de Coigny ; gentlemen of
the gown, like the President de Gravelle; financiers,
scholars, and men of letters, like Watelet, Count
Caylus, and D'Argenville* Court ladies and the
wives of plain citizens joined the throng ; from the
Duchesse de Luynes and the Queen herself, to Mme.
de Pompadour and Mme. Reboul (who afterwards
married the painter Vien), there were scores of women
who amused themselves by engraving, to say nothing
of the many who made it a profession.

The drawback of such pastimes, innocent enough
in themselves, was that they degraded art into a
frivolous amusement, and promulgated a false view
of its capabilities and real object. This is what
very generally happens when, on the strength of
a certain degree of taste, mistaken for talent, people
aspire to compass, without reflection or study, results
only to be attained by knowledge and experience.
The authors of such hasty work think art easy,
because they are ignorant of its essentials ; and the
public, in its turn mistaken as to these, accepts
appearances for reality, becomes accustomed to the
pretence of merit, and loses all taste for true superiority.
Every art may be thus perverted ; and in our own
days, amateur water colours, statuettes, and waltzes
are as injurious to painting, sculpture, and music, as.

* Some of these litlle unpretentious amateur prints are not
without chaim ; some even show a certain amount of talent in the
execution, and the portraits drawn and engraved by Carmoutclle, the
author of the " Proverbes," deserve, amongst others, to be mentioned
on that account.

THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. 22$

in former days, the amusement of print-making was
to engraving.

Moreover, it was not art only that these prints
began to injure. Prompted by gallantry, as under-
stood by the younger Cr^billon and Voisenon when
they wrote their experiences, they often presented to
the eyes of women scenes to the description of which
they would not have listened : as a certain lady is re-
ported to have asked Baron de Besenval, during the
relation of an embarrassing adventure, to " draw a pic-
ture-puzzle of what he couldn't tell her." Often, how-
ever, engraving, as practised in the salons, appealed to
quite another order of passions and ideas. In support
of the great cause of the day — philosophy — all weapons
seemed fair, and the needle was used to disseminate
the new evangel. When Mme. de Pompadour, in her
little engraving, the proofs of which were fought for
by her courtiers, attempted to show " The Genius of the
Arts Protecting France," she set no very dangerous
example, and only proved one thing — that the said
Genius did not so carefully protect the kingdom as to
exclude the possibility of platitude. But when the
habitues of Mme. d'Epinay and D'Holbach set them-
selves in their little prints to attack certain so-called
mental superstitions, they unconsciously opened the
door to people of a more radical turn of mind. Before
the end of the century prints a good deal more crudely
energetic appeared on the same subject ; and the pot-
house engravers, in their turn, illustrated the P^re
Ducheney as the drawing-room engravers had illustrated
the " Essai sur les Moeurs " and the ** Encyclopedic."
P

226 ENGRAVING.

Although the engraving of illustrations, or at
least " light " subjects, was, in the eighteenth century,
almost the only sort practised in France, even by the
most eminent artists, some of these imparted to their
productions a severer significance, and an appearance
more in harmony with that of former work. Several
— pupils of Nicolas Henri Tardieu, or of Dupuis —
resisted with much constancy the encroachment of
the fashionable style, and passed on to their scholars
of all nations those teachings they had received in
their youth. The Germans, Joseph Wagner, Martin
Preisler, Schmidt, John George Wille ; the Italian,
Porporati ; the Spaniards, Carmona and Pascal
Moles ; the Englishmen, Strange, Ingram, Ryland,
and others, came, at close intervals, for instruction or
improvement in this school. In Paris they published
plates of various degrees of excellence ; but, in the
greater part of these, the nationality and personal
sentiment of their authors are obliterated in acquired
habits of taste and handling.

Wille's prints, for instance — those even which have
most contributed to his fame, "Paternal Instruction,"
after Terburg, or the " Dutchwoman Knitting," after
Mieris — might just as well, for anything one sees to the
contrary, have been the work of a French engraver of
the same period. They only differ from plates bearing
the name of Beauvarlet or of Daull^ in a certain
Teutonic excess of coldness in the handling; in a
somewhat staid, and, as it were, metallic stiffness of
arrangement. Carmona's " Francois Boucher," and his
"Colin de Vermont," after Roslin, and Porporati's

tai;

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.iF'^i ^m^x.

Susannah. Afler Santerre.

228 ENGRAVING.

" Tancrede ct Clorindc," after Carle Vanloo, have still
less of the stamp of originality.

Finally, with the exception of Ryland, by reason
of the particular process he employed, and of which
we shall presently have to speak — and especially of
Strange, who has his own peculiar mode of feeling,
and a sort of merit peculiar to himself — none of the
English engravers trained in the French school fail
to show the signs of close relationship. Engravers
of more original talent must be looked for neither
amongst historical nor portrait engravers, nor even
amongst engravers of genre. For information as to
the state of the art outside of France, and apart from
the French school, we must rather turn to the illus-
trations of books and almanacs engraved by Chodo-
wiecki at Dantzic or Berlin, or to the vast plates from
ancient Roman monuments etched — not without a
certain rhetorical emphasis — by Piranesi.

As for other second or third rate foreign engravers
of the period, as for those ragionevoli (as Vasari
would have called them) whose work, if undeserving
of oblivion, is likewise undeserving of attentive ex-
amination, we shall have done our part if we men-
tion certain amongst them : as J. Houbraken, who
worked at Dordrecht ; Domenichino Cunego, of
Rome ; Weirotter, of Vienna ; and Fernando Selma,
of Madrid.

Meanwhile, in France and other countries, by
royal command, or at the expense of rich amateurs,
important series of prints were being published in
commemoration of public events, or in illustration of

thp: eighteenth century. 229

famous collections of painting and sculpture. The
first of the latter order was the " Galerie de Versailles,"
begun by Charles Simoneau, continued by Masse,
and only finished in 1752 after twenty-eight conse-
cutive years of labour. It was speedily succeeded
by the " Cabinet de Crozat " and the " Peintures de
THotel Lambert ; " and a little later the example of
France was followed by other countries, and one after
the other there appeared, in Italy, Germany, and
England, the " Museo Pio Clementino," the " Dresden
Gallery," the catalogue of the Bruhl collection, and
the publications of Boydell — all such magnificent
works as do honour to the second half of the
eighteenth century. Finally, thanks to Vivar^s and
Balechou, the engraving of landscape began to rival
historical engraving, to which it had before been
considered as merely accessory. The honour 01
having created it belongs to the French. It is too
often forgotten that they were the first to excel in
it, and that but for the practice of Vivares, England
to whom the merit of initiative is usually attributed
might never have boasted of Woollett and his pupils.
Since Claude Lorraine and Gaspard Dughet, the
French school had produced few painters of pure
landscape — none of first-rate ability. The first to
restore to the neglected art a something of its pristine
brilliance was Joseph Vernet. An observer, but one
rather clever than sincere, he is certainly wanting in
the strength and gravity which are characteristics
of the great masters. In his work there is more
intelligence than deep feeling, and more elegance than

230 ENGRAVING.

true beauty. Like the descriptive poetry of the time,
it shows us Nature a trifle too sleek and shjny, and
a little over-emphasised ; she is rather a theme for
discourse than a model to be lovingly studied as a i
source of inspiration. Yet even where the truth is
thus arbitrarily treated, it retains under Vernet's brush
sufficient charm, if not to move, at least to interest
and to please; so that the success of this brilliant artist,
and the influence he exerted on the French school
and on public taste, are easily understood.

In the lofty position which his talent had won
him, Joseph Vernet was more capable than any other
painter of giving a happy impulse to the art of
engraving ; and, indeed, the landscape engravers
formed by him were masters of the genre. We have
mentioned Balechou and Vivares. The former, at
first a pupil of Ldpicie, began by engraving portraits,
the best known of which, a full-length of Augustus
III., King of Poland, brought upon its author the
shame of a fitting punishment"! Convicted of having
detained a certain number of the first proofs for his
own profit, Balechou was struck off the list of the
Academic, and obliged to retire to Aries, his native
town, and thence to Avignon, where he took to land-
scape engraving. There it was that he executed after
Joseph Vernet his ** Baigneuses," his " Calme/* and his
. " La Tempete." In his latter years he returned to
history, and executed after Carle Vanloo his tiresome
"Sainte Genevieve," which was once so loudly vaunted,
which even now is not unadmired, and which really
might be a masterpiece, if technical skill and excessive

THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. 23 1

ease of handling were all the art. Though, unlike
Vivares, he did not teach the practice of landscape
in England, Balechou contributed enormously by his
works to the education of the English engravers ; and
the best of them, Woollett, confessed that he pro-
duced his " Fishing '' with a proof of the Frenchman's
^* La Temp^te " always before his eyes.

As for Vivares, he engraved in Paris a number of
plates after Joseph Vernet and the Old Masters, and
then, preceding De Loutherbourg and many others of
his nation, he migrated to London. He took with
him a new art, as Hollar had done a century before,
and founded that school of landscape engravers whose
talents were destined to constitute, even to our own
time, the chief glory of English engraving.

But before his pupils and imitators could take
possession after him of this vast domain, engraving
in England had developed considerably, in another
direction, under the influence of two distinguished
artists, Hogarth and Reynolds, born at an interval of
twenty-five years from one another. The son of a
printer's reader, who apprenticed him to a goldsmith,
William Hogarth spent almost all his youth in
obscurity and poverty. At twenty he was engraving
business cards for London tradesmen ; some years
later he was sign-painting, and was wearing himself
out in work entirely unworthy of him, when he forced
the attention of the public by the publication of a
satirical print, the heroes of which were well known
and easily recognised. His success being presently
confirmed by other compositions of the same sort.

232 ENGRAVING.

he profited by the fact to apply his talent to more
serious work. He soon acquired a reputation, en-
riched himself by marrying the daughter of Sir
James Thornhill, the king's painter, and remained till
his death (1764) one of the most eminent men of his
country.

Both as painter and engraver Hogarth was a
deep student of art, on which he has left some com-
mendable writings ; but he never succeeded in ful-
filling all its conditions. Extravagantly pre-occupied
with the philosophical significance with which he
purposes to endow his work, he does not always see
when he has gone far enough in the exposition of his
idea : he darkens it with commentary ; he becomes
unintelligible by sheer insistence on intelligibility.
There are allegories of his in which, still striving after
ingenuity, he has piled detail upon detail till the
result is confusion worse confounded.

But when no excess of analysis has decomposed
his primary idea to nothingness, by directing the atten-
tion elsewhere, Hogarth strikes home, and compasses
most powerful effects. His series of prints, in which are
storied the actions of one or more persons — his " Mar-
riage k la Mode," his " Rake's Progress," his " Harlot's
Progress," his " Industry and Idleness " — the last a
sort of double biography representing the different
lives of two apprentices, one of whom becomes Lord
Mayor of London, whilst the other dies at Tyburn —
all these engraved by himself, partly in etching and
partly in line, are, as regards the execution, by no
means irreproachable ; are frequently, indeed, not even

THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. 233

good : but in expression and gesture they are nearly
always of startling truth, while the moral meaning, the
innermost spirit of every scene, is felt and rendered
with the keenest sagacity. At the very time when
the genius of Richardson was working a like revo-
lution in literature, Hogarth — and herein lies his
chief merit — was introducing domestic drama into
art. In England and elsewhere the painter-engraver
and the novelist, both creators of the style in which
they worked, have had a crowd of imitators ; but
they cannot be said to have met with rivals any-
where.

The genius of Sir Joshua Reynolds is of a totally
different order. In the sense of consisting in the senti-
ment of effect and the masterly arrangement of tones
it is essentially picturesque, and presents such a bold-
ness of character as engravers could easily appreciate
and reproduce. There is no far-fetched significance,
no accessories tending to destroy the unity of the
whole. On the contrary, the work proceeds by syn-
thesis ; it is all largely schemed, and built up in masses
where the details are scarcely indicated. The expres-
sion lies not so much in niceties of physiognomy as
in the whole attitude of the sitters and the character-
istic pose and contour of the faces represented. The
painter's imagination is brilliant rather than delicate ;
sometimes, indeed, it degenerates into bad taste and
eccentricity. But far more frequently it gives his
attitudes an air of ease and originality, and the general
aspect of his portraits breathes a perfect dignity. The
vigorous contrasts, the freedom and wealth of colour

234 ENGRAVING.

which are their primary characteristics, as they are
those of Gainsborough's work likewise, are qualities to
whose translation the free and flowing stroke of the
graver is hardly fitted, but which mezzotint would
naturally render with ease and success. And, as we
have said before, it is to the influence of the famous
painter that must be attributed the immense exten-
sion of the latter process in England during the latter
part of the eighteenth century.

The landscape and mezzotint engravers began,
therefore, to vitalise the English school : the former
especially lent it real importance by their talent.
From 1760 or thereabouts Woollett published, after
Richard Wilson or after Claude, those admirable works
which, on account of their suave harmony of effect,
their transparency of atmosphere, and their variable-
ness of colour, are less like engravings than pictures.''^
Shortly afterwards he completed his fame by work
of another sort : the reproduction, first, of West's
" Death of Wolfe," and then of his " Battle of La
Hogue," the American's best picture, and the finest
historical plate ever engraved in England. Lastly
about the same time, Robert Strange, a pupil of
Philippe Le Bas, engraved in line, after Correggio and

* In his landscapes, Woollett makes use of etching, line, and the dry-
point, all three. Philippe Le Bas was the first to make use of dry-point
to render the misty tones of distances and the clearness of skies. This
mode of engraving, improved by Vivares, was carried to its highest per-
fection by Woollett. Certain English artists of the same period tried
to apply the process of mezzotint to landscape engraving ; but the land-
scapes engraved in this way by Watson and Brookshaw, after the Ger-
man Kobell, will not bear comparison with WooUett's.

THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. 235

Van Dyck, the " Saint Jerome " and the " Charles I. ; "

as well as other prints after these masters, which are

236 ENGRAVING.

quite as charming, and should, indeed, be unre-
servedly admired if the correctness of their drawing
were only equal to their elegance of modelling and
flexibility of tone.

So much progress accomplished in so few years
attracted the attention of statesmen and of the
English Government. They saw it was time to cease
from paying tribute to the superiority of French
engravers, and to allow those talents to develop in
London which had till then been sent to school
in Paris. George III. had just founded the Royal
Academy (Jan., 1769), with Reynolds for its first
President. He determined still further to strengthen
the impulse of art by countenancing great under-
takings in engraving ; and as he wished the country
to reap as much commercial benefit as honour in the
matter, he granted bounties on the exportation of
English engravings, while the importation of French
work was taxed with enormous duties.

In this way the progress of national art became a
political question, and every one hastened to second
the king's views. Woollett's plates had been largely
subscribed for before publication, and the illustrated
editions of the travels of Cook and Sir Joseph Banks
were taken up in a few days. Finally, when it was
proposed to engrave Copley's " Death of Chatham,"
the subscription at once ran up to ;£'3,6oo ; and when,
the first proofs having been taken, the plate was re-
turned to the engraver, he made almost as much more
in less than two years. Nor did the fever of protection
in any wise abate for that. On the contrary, it called a

I

THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. 237

number of talents into being, and attracted to London
a crowd of foreigners, all sure of the encouragement
which began to fail them elsewhere. Cipriani, Ange-
lica Kauffmann, Catherine Prestel, the Swiss Moser
and his daughter, and a hundred other painters or
engravers, came in one after another to contribute to
the success of the school and the spread of English
trade.*

Amongst these adventurers there was one — the
Florentine Bartolozzi — whose works at once became
the fashion, less, perhaps, for any intrinsic merit than
because of the novelty of his n>ethod. The process
called " stipple engraving " excluded the use of lines
and cross hatchings, and consisted in the arrangement
of masses of dots more or less delicate in them-
selves, and more or less close in order, and designed
in proportion to their relative distance or nearness,
to render nice gradations of tone, depth of shadow,
and even completeness of outline.

Speaking exactly, this was but an application
to the general execution of a work of a process
adopted long before by etchers and line engravers
as a means of partial execution. Jean Morin, Bou-
lang^r, Gerard Audran himself, and many others, had
habitually made use of dots to supplement the work

* In a work dedicated to Pitt, "On the Origin of Trade and its
History to the Present Times " (London, 1790), we read that the
prints exported from England at that time were, as compared with
those imported from France, in the proportion of " five hundred to
one by the most exact computation," and that the trade in English
engravings, far from being restricted to one or two countries, extended
all over Europe."

238 ENGRAVING.

of the burin or the needle, or to effect transitions
between their lights and shadows, or the larger of
their outlines and subtler details of their modelling.
Moreover, before their time, Jan Lutma, a Dutch
goldsmith, invented a method of " engraving in dots,"
which, produced by means of his etching needle and
aquafortis, were deepened and enlarged with chisel
and hammer : whence the name of opus tnallei be-
stowed on his results. Bartolozzi, therefore, and the
English engravers who, like Ryland, made use of
stippling, did but revive and extend in their own way
the boundaries of a method already known. They
displayed remarkable skill, it is true, but their work,
like the rest of its kind, displays a feebleness of form
that is almost inevitable, and is touched with a cold-
ness inherent in the very nature of the process.

In stipple engraving, the burin and the dry point
are used alternately, according to the degree of vigour
or delicacy required. The parts that are to come
light in proof are done with the dry-point ; w^hile
those to come dark are covered with dots ploughed
deeper with the burin. Round the edge of these, by
the mere act of ploughing, there is raised a rim, or
rampart — technically called a " burr " — which the
engraver, to regain the ground thus lost, has to
rub down with the burnisher. In this way he goes
on dotting and burnishing till he gets a close enough
grain.

Immensely successful during the last years of
the eighteenth century, stipple engraving soon went
out of fashion, not only in France, where it scarce

THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. 239

survived the first attempts of Copia, but even in
England, where the example of Bartolozzi and
Ryland had been followed with such eager diligence.
Such, too, somewhat later, was the fate of a some-
what similar process — the "crayon engraving,'^ of
which Gilles Demarteau, born in Li^ge, but bred
and trained in Paris, may be considered, if not
the inventor, at least the most active, skilful, and
popular practitioner.*

The object of crayon engraving is to imitate the
effect of red or black chalk on a coarse-grained
paper, which, by the very roughness of its surface,
retains no more than an uneven, and as it were a
disconnected, impression of the strokes or hatchings
laid upon it. In common with stipple engraving, it
renders the loose and broken lines of the originals by
substituting a mass of dots for the ordinary work of
the burin or the needle. It differs, however, from
stipple engraving in the method of working, and even
in the nature of the tools employed. The outlines
are traced on the varnished copper with a toothed or
multi-pointed needle, while the inner hatchings are
made either with the needle in question, or with what
is called a roulette, which is a steel cylinder bristling
with small, jagged teeth, and running on a fixed axis.
The roulette, which is provided with a handle, is so

* The credit of the invention is really due to Jean Charles Fran9ois,
born at Nancy in 17 17. But the application that Fran9ois made of his
discovery was — if we consider the improvements introduced soon after-
wards by Demarteau — still so incomplete that it seems only fair to
attribute to the latter a principal share in the original success.

240 ENGRAVING.

directed that the teeth are brought to bear directly,
and with more or less effect, on the varnished copper.
Then the plate is bitten in ; and when the aquafortis
has done its part, the work, if necessary, is resumed
with the same tools on the bare metal.

The first specimens of crayon engraving were pre-
sented in 1757 to the Acaddmie Royale de Peinture,
which, an official document informs us,* "highly
approved of the method, as being well fitted to per-
petuate the designs of good masters, and multiply
copies of the best styles of drawings." For the repro-
duction of drawings, the new process was certainly
better than etching, at least as practised to that end
by the Count de Caylus and the Ahh6 de Saint-Non
The misfortune was, that in the eighteenth century
as in the first years of the nineteenth, the crayon
engravers appear to have thought far less of "per-
petuating the designs of good masters" than of
suiting their choice of originals to the prevailing
fashion. As a matter of fact, however skilful they were
in execution, the only cause served by Demarteau's
innumerable fac-similes was that of the Bouchers and
Fragonards, and of kindred experts in " the most dis-
tinguished school of drawing." Reproduced by en-
graving, the crayon studies of these persons became
the ordinary means of instruction in academies and
public schools ; and from the first the popularity of
these wretched models was such that, even after the

* **Lettre de Cochin, Secretaire perp^tuel de I'Academie, au Sieur
Fran9ois," 26th November, 1757.

THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. 24 1

revolution effected in art by David, on through the
Empire, and as late as the Restoration, art students
generally remained subject to the regimen adopted for
their predecessors in the days of Louis XV. and XVI.
Then lithography made its appearance, and in no
great while was applied to the production of drawing-
copies, once the monopoly of crayon engraving. Nor
was this the only quarter from which the method of
Frangois and Demarteau was assailed. By degrees
it fell out of use for the production not only of
drawing-copies, but of fac-similes of drawings by
the masters for artists and amateurs ; or, if occa-
sionally practised, it was — as in the subjects engraved
some thirty years back from drawings in the Louvre
and the Mus6e de Lille — with so many modifica-
tions, and in combination with such a number of
other processes, as reduced it from supremacy to
the rank, till worse should befall, of a mere auxiliary.
In our own time it has had its death-blow in the
advance of photography ; and as, after all, its one
object was the presentation of an exact likeness,
the absolute effigy, of its original, the preference of a
purely mechanical process of reproduction is, if we
consider the certainty of the results, no more than
natural. In proportion as, by its very nature, photo-
graphy is powerless to take the place of engraving,
when the work to be reproduced, be it picture or
mural decoration, presupposes in the interpreter, in
whatsoever degree, the power of translating what
is before him, just so far is it capable of fulfil-
ling the one condition imposed upon the copyist of a

Q

242 ENGRAVING.

drawing or an engraving— that of perfect fidelity in
imitation.

The object attempted by Francois, Demarteau,
Bonnet, and others — the production by engraving of a
sort of optical illusion, the exact fac-simile of a drawing
— had been started before them by Jean Christophe Le-
blond, an artist born of French parents at Frankfort,
who, moreover, had sought to extend to the imitation
of colour what his successors were content to restrict
to the imitation of monochrome. Very early in the
eighteenth century, Leblond succeeded in producing
prints in several tints, by a method which he called
"pastel engraving," and to which custom has given
the more general name of "colour engraving." For
the second half of this title, it might, perhaps, have
been better to use the word "printing." What is
called " colour engraving " is not really a special en-
graving process. Its whole originality consists in
the production of a single proof from several plates
(generally four), in the preparation of which the
rocker, the roulette, and sometimes even the burin,
have been used. From these plates, each inked with
a single colour, the effect of which is relieved or
modified by the subsequent addition of those tints
with which the other three are covered, there results
in the proof, by the use of points of correspondence,
an ensemble in colour which is similar in appearance
to that of painting in pastel, in water-colour, or in
gouache. This was pretty much the process and
the results were in some sort comparable with those
obtained by chromo-lithography. The older method

THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. 243

had, however, the advantage of the other in that,
by the very variety of the preparation to which the
plate was subjected, its results were not so liable to
present the appearance, either coarse or dull, of
common hand-tinted work.

Some of Leblond's engravings, particularly a large,
half-length " Louis XV.," enable us to estimate to the
full the capacities of his invention. Leblond, indeed,
must be counted an inventor, inasmuch as it was his
to discover a secret which, before him, had been only
dimly foreseen, or at most half-guessed. Still, the essays
in the first years of the seventeenth century of the
Dutchman Lastmann, and a little later of Seghers the
Fleming, should not be completely overlooked ; nor
would it be just to refuse recognition to the practical
improvements made in colour engraving, after Le-
blond, by Gautier Dagoty, in Paris, and by Taylor,
in London. In proportion to the relative importance
of the two discoveries, Leblond played the same part
in the history of the colour process as Daguerre in the
history of heliography. They each effected so great
an advance as to close the period of groping and
darkness, and to some extent determine the course of
progress. But it does not follow, therefore, that they
owed nothing to the attempts of their predecessors ;
and if their claim to inventors' honours is fairly
established, it is because they solved a problem they
were by no means the first to attack.

Leblond, indeed, got nothing from his discovery
but the honour of making it. He sought in vain
to turn it to account in London, and succeeded no
Q 2

244 ENGRAVING.

better in Paris. In the latter city he lived for some
years in great distress, and in 1741 he died there, in
the hospital.

Some years after the invention of colour engraving,
another sort of engraving, or rather another sort of
pictorial reproduction, the method called " au lavis,"
was invented, and very skilfully used from the outset,
by Jean Baptiste Leprince ; and in no great while
the series of innovations in the practice of the art,
from the end of the seventeenth century, was com-
pleted by the invention of aquatint.

The first of these two processes is apparently of
extreme simplicity. The line once engraved and bitten
in, as in ordinary etching, it only consisted in brush-
ing the plate with acid, as a draughtsman washes in
on paper with sepia or Indian ink. The preliminary
work, however, required a great deal of care and
skill, and even a certain amount of scientific know-
ledge. The particular quality of the copper, the
composition of the varnishes and acids, and many
other conditions impossible to discuss in detail, made
the new process somewhat difficult of employment ;
and before long the ardour of those practitioners who
had essayed to imitate Leprince*s results was very
sensibly diminished.

In spite of the value of these results, and the
personal skill of the inventor; in spite, too, of the
technical explanations contained in the " Plan du
Trait6 de la Gravure au Lavis" presented by him
(1750) to the Academic Royale, it was evident that
the French engravers thought lightly of Leprince's

THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. 245

discovery, and did not care to investigate its capa-
bilities. It only got a fresh start in France when,
notably modified and improved by the initiative of
foreign engravers, it had been transformed in London
into what is known as aquatint engraving. Then,
however, in the hands of Debucourt,* and of Jazet
later on, it acquired a popularity all the greater that
its productions, by their very nature and quality,
were more intimately in harmony with the inspira-
tion and style of fashionable art. Jazet, for instance,
contributed greatly to the triumph of aquatint in
France, by applying it, from the first years of the
Restoration, to the interpretation of the works of
Horace Vernet. Such plates as " Le Bivouac du
Colonel Moncey," the "Barri^re de Clichy," the
" Soldat Laboureur," and many others, were tolerated
among Frenchmen for the sake of the associations
they awakened at least as much as for their artistic
merit.

It is possible that since then the engraver has
reckoned a little too much on the world-wide repu-
tation of his painter ; or it may be that he has been
somewhat too conscious of the advantages of a
rapid and facile method, and has sacrificed the ideal
of delicacy and correctness to the enhancement of

* Before giving himself up almost exclusively to the practice of aqua-
tint, Debucourt produced a large number of engravings in colour : ** Le
Jardin" and ** La Galerie de Bois au Palais Royal," the ** Promenade
aux Tuileries," ** L'Escalade," and so forth. We know the ardour,
verging on mania, with which these prints, albeit of little value from an
artistic point of view, are now collected.

246 ENGRAVING.

a reputation for fertility. Certain it is that Jazet, as
is proved by his early engravings, and especially
the " Barriere de Clichy," was more capable than
any one else of raising work in aquatint to the
level of art ; and it is much to be regretted that
his somewhat careless ease should have hindered
the full development of his talent. It is still more
to be regretted that, in spite of the laudable efforts
of Messrs. Provost, Girard, and others to maintain
the process in the better way, it should have been
dishonoured and deprived of all but a purely com-
mercial importance by the production of multitudes
of plates, whose only merit is their cheapness. If we
consider the so-called Biblical scenes done in aquatint
for exportation, the heroines of romance, the half-
naked women described (by way of commentary) as
"Love," "Souvenir," "Pleasure," "Desire," and all
the terms of the erotic vocabulary, it is hard to say
whether the intention or the execution is the more
unpleasant. What is certain is that such things have
nothing to do with art except as examples of its de-
gradation and destruction. That section of the public
sensible of their charm is certainly not that which
is impressed by beauty, and it is useless to care
about winning its approbation ; but when ugliness is
everywhere it is to be feared that everybody may
grow used to the sight, and forget to look elsewhere.
The danger to which pure line engraving is thus
exposed by the deplorable exigencies of competition
is not the only one which threatens the art. A glance
at its several phases since 1800 and at its present

THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. 247

state is enough to show that the line of talents has
never once been interrupted ; that those of to-day are
every whit as vigorous and accomplished as those
of the past ; but that for opportunities of displaying
their full power, and being appreciated at their true
worth they have not seldom to wait in vain.

248

CHAPTER IX.

ENGRAVING IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.

At the beginning of the nineteenth century some of
the most celebrated artists of the French school of
painting belonged, by the nature of their talent as well
as by the date of their chief successes, to the ante-
revolutionary period. Greuze, Fragonard, Moreau,
Mme. Vig^e-Lebrun, Vien even, notwithstanding his
intentions of reform, Regnault and Vincent, in spite
of their influence as professors on the new generation
— all seemed rather to recall the past than to herald
the future. One man, Louis David, personified the
progress of the epoch. His pictures, " Les Horaces,'^
and the " Brutus,^' had appeared some years before,
and the approaching exhibition of" Les Sabines"was
impatiently expected. At this time the younger
artists and the public unanimously regarded David
as the regenerator of national art and a master
justly supreme. Architecture, painting, furniture,
even fashion in dress, were all subjected to his ab-
solute sway ; everything was done in imitation of
the antique, as understood and interpreted by him.
Under the pretexts of pure beauty and a chaste style,
nothing but a soulless body, a sort of coloured statue,
was represented on canvas ; while sculpture became no

<>>' 1 , mi^sssissmfsa^sgBmmBmamB^^^^^^^^^

THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. 249

more than an imitation of Greek or Roman statuary.
Since Lebrun, indeed, no single influence had so
completely tyrannised over French taste.

Engraving, though fated like the other arts to
accept the dictatorship of David, was at any rate the
first to throw off his yoke. Before the Restoration,
whilst the painter of Marat, then painter to the
Emperor, was still in the fulness of his power, the
great Italians, whose pictures crowded the Louvre,
had already been interpreted with more respect for
the memory of the old manner than submission to
the requirements of the newer style.

The most talented of these new artists, Boucher-
Desnoyers, when working at his " Belle Jardiniere,"
after Raphael, or his "Vierge aux Rochers," after
Leonardo, probably thought much less of contem-
porary work than of the French engravers of the
seventeenth century ; while on their part Bervic and
Tardieu, who had long before given proof of their
power, faithfully maintained the great traditions : the
one in an austerity of execution and a firmness of
touch hereditary in his family, the other in his scientific
ease of handling. These three were of the race of
the older masters, and their work, unjustly forgotten
some years later during the rage for the English
manner, deserves a better fate than to be confounded
with the cold and formal prints published in the
France of the First Empire. The engravings after
David, by popularising his work, obtained some success
in their day, but have failed to secure a lasting repu-
tation. The fault, however, is not altogether with

250 ENGRAVING.

the engravers : in spite of the apparent conscientious-
ness of the painter, his real indecision of method
must count for something in the mediocre achieve-
ments of his interpreters.

Free to impose his own system on all other artists,
David might have enforced his artistic authority on
his contemporaries ; and even if it were beyond his
power to restore the French school of engraving, he
might at least have regenerated its principles, and,
combining separate efforts under the synthesis of his
own personal conception, have breathed into it a fresh
spirit of unity. This he never attempted ; and it is
even hard to guess at what he expected from his
engravers. It might be supposed that his own fond-
ness for precision of form would have led him to
require from them insistence as to the drawing, and
not much attention to colour and effect ; yet most of
the prints after his pictures — amongst others those
by Morel and Massard — are heavy in tone and feeble
in drawing. There is in them no trace either of the
precise manner of David, or of the large method of
the old school ; it is therefore not in these common-
place works, and still less in the barren engravings
composing the great " Commission d'Egypte," that
we must look for signs of such talent as then existed
in France.

The few painters who, like Regnault, were more
or less independent of David's influence, or, like
Prud'hon, had ventured to create an entirely original
method, were admired by so small a public that their
pictures were not generally reproduced in engraving.

TirE NINETEENTH CENTURY. 251

and thus could do little for the progress of the art.

Fig. 94.— alkxahder t

The Earl of ArandeL After Van Dyck,

Some, however, of Prud'hon's drawings and pictures

252 ENGRAVING.

met, under the Directory and the Empire, with excel-
lent interpreters in Copia and in Barthelemy Roger ;
while in the last years of the eighteenth century Ber-
vic's engraving of Regnault's " Education d* Achille "
had obtained at least as much success as the original
had won in the Salon of 1783. To give a companion
to this justly celebrated piece, Bervic soon after pub-
lished his " Enlevement de D^janire," after Guide.
This work, to which the judges of the Decennial
Competition awarded the prize in preference to any
engraving published in France from 1800 to 18 10,
by confirming the engraver's reputation, caused his
fellow-craftsmen to return once more to the old path
of progress.

It must not, however, be supposed that Bervic did
not himself diverge somewhat from the way of the
masters : it may even be said that he was always
more inclined to skirt it than to follow it resolutely.
At the outset he was not sufficiently alive to the
perils of facility ; and later on he was apt to attach
too much importance to certain quite material quali-
ties. Yet it must be added that he never went so
far as to entirely sacrifice essentials to accessories, j
and that more than once — in his fine full-length of i
Louis XVI. for instance — he displayed an ability all .
the more laudable as the original was by no means 1
inspiring. |

From the engraving it is hard to suspect the '
mediocrity of Callet's picture. This, now at Versailles, I
is insipidly coloured and loosely and clumsily drawn; i
the print, on the contrary, is to be admired for its ?

I

Fig. 95.-
" L'fiducation d'Achille." After RegnaulL

254 ENGRAVING.

solid appearance, and its easy yet unostentatious
handling. Lace, satin, velvet, all accessories, indeed,
are treated with a largeness of touch by no means
at variance with delicacy, and the general tone is
harmoniously luminous. Here and there, however,
is already visible a certain artifice of manner which
threatens to degenerate into an unwise cultivation
of fine line, and end in an abuse of skill. This, in-
deed, is what happened. Bervic, henceforth, thought
of little else but dexterity, and ended in his "Laocoon,"
perhaps the best known of all his works, by a display
of common technical fireworks, to a certain extent
surprising, but by no means to be unreservedly
admired. The care with which he set himself to
imitate the grain of marble by minute workmanship
is only trifling with his subject ; and though a group
of statues cannot be treated in the same way as
figures painted on canvas, it was more important, and
more desirable in every respect, to reproduce the
character and style of the original than to imitate
the substance in which it was wrought.

Moreover, in the attempt so to interpret his model,
Bervic has defeated his own purpose. By a multitude
of details, and an abuse of half-lights intended to
bring out the slightest accidents of form and model-
ling, he has only succeeded in depriving the general
aspect of brilliancy and unity.

Far removed, indeed, was such a method from that
of the Old Masters, and Bervic lived long enough to
change his mind. " I have missed the truth," he de-
clared in his old age, ** and if I could begin life again,

THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. 255

I should do nothing I have done." There he wronged
himself. As happens often in tardy repentances, he
remembered past errors only to exaggerate them ;
but we must be juster to the engraver of the " Louis
XVI." and " UEducation d'Achille " than he was to
himself, and not forget that much of his work should
be excluded from the sweeping condemnation which
he launched upon the whole.

Whilst Bervic was counted the greatest French
engraver, Italy boasted of a man, his inferior in
reality, but whom, in the existing dearth of talent,
his countrymen agreed to thrust into the glorious
eminence of a master. Like Canova, his senior by
a few years only, Raphael Morghen had the good
fortune to be born at the right time. Both second-
rate artists, they would have passed almost unnoticed
in a more favoured century ; as it was, in the
absence of contemporary rivals, their compatriots
accepted their accidental superiority as a proof of
absolute merit. Moreover, by merely submitting in
some sort to the dictates of opinion and of public
taste, their popularity and success were easily assured.
The writings of Winckelmann and Raphael -Mengs
had brought antique statues and Italian pictures of
the sixteenth century once more into favour ; so
that Canova, by imitating the former more or less
cleverly, and Morghen by engraving the latter, could
neither of them fail to please, and it is especially to
their choice of subjects that we must attribute the
great reputation they both enjoyed.

Morghen,the pupil and son-in-law of Volpato, whose

2S6 ENGRAVING.

weak engravings from the "Stanze," in the Vatican,
are known to every one, shared with that feeble
artist, and with Longhi, the privilege of reproducing
admirable paintings, which had either never been
engraved, or not since the time of the masters. This
alone gives a certain value to his plates, faulty as
they are. Assuredly, for instance, the engraving of
Leonardo's " Last Supper " reproduces no more than
the general lines of the composition and the attitude
of the figures. We look at it as we might listen
to an inferior actor reading verses from " Polyeucte "
or " Athalie," because the inspiration of the master is
still to be felt, in spite of the intermediary of ex-
pression ; only the sort of beauty inherent in the
conception and .arrangement of the original remains
in this piece of Morghen's, What can be said of
the head of the Saviour, like those of the Apostles,
restored by the engraver, and unillumined by the
faintest glimmer of sentiment? How is it possible,
examining the work in detail, not to be offended
by the arrogance of the technique and the display
of mere mechanical facility, when one remembers the
incomparable accuracy of Leonardo and his perfection
of style?

But in thus substituting his own manner, and
the caprices of his individual taste, for the man-
ner and the taste of the painter of " The Last
Supper," Morghen only treated this great master as
he was in the habit of treating others. Whether it
was his lot to interpret Raphael or Poussin, Andrea
del Sarto or Correggio, he had but one uniform

/

THE NINETEENTH CENTUHY. 257

method for the most conflicting types ; and to his
tricks of hand he subjected, without remorse, the
inspired grace or the noble energy of whatever he
copied. Once, however, it was given him to entertain
higher aspirations, and to study more conscientiously
the particular characteristics of the work he was to
reproduce. It would be impossible without deliberate
injustice to avoid recognising merit in his plate from
Van Dyck's "Francesco de Moncada," as much on
the score of intelligent fidelity as of skilful execu-
tion. But, for his other works, could one, without
equal injustice, condone the inadequacy of expression
and drawing, the systematic contempt of all effort,
the many evidences of vain and self-confident ease
which refuses to be humbled even in the presence of
genius ?

Morghen preserved till the end the brilliant repu-
tation which his extreme fertility and the compla-
cent patriotism of the Italians had won for him at
the outset. Born in Naples, he settled in Florence,
whither he had been allured by the Grand Duke
Ferdinand III., and where he remained during the
French occupation, and, much less resentful than
Alfieri, repulsed neither the homage nor the favour
of the foreigner. On the return of the Grand Duke,
his old protector, he was still less ready to yield to
the Neapolitans, who coveted the honour of recalling
the renowned artist to his native country. When
at length he died in 1833, all Italy was stirred at
the news, and innumerable sonnets, the usual expres-
sion of public regret or enthusiasm, celebrated "the
K

2S8 ENGRAVING.

undying glory of the illustrious engraver of * The Last
Supper/ "

Johann Godard Miiller, who early in life had had
nearly as widespread a recognition in Germany as
Morghen in Italy, departed this world in lonely
misery three years before the Neapolitan. Beyond
the walls of Stuttgart, scarce any one remembered the
existence or the brief renown of the engraver of the
** Madonna della Sedia *' and the ** Battle of Bunker's J
Hill." For he had long ceased to trouble about his
work or his reputation, and lived only to mourn a son,
who in 1816 died at the very time when, in his turn,
he was about to become one of the most distinguished 1
engravers of his country.

From childhood this son. Christian Frederick
Miiller, had been devoted to his father's art. His
first attempts were successful enough to warrant his
early admittance to the school of engraving recently
founded at Stuttgart by Duke Charles of Wurtem-
berg. We have seen that during the second half j
of the eighteenth century many German engravers 1
came to Paris for training, and that many remained
there. Expelled from France, their adopted country,
by the Revolution, they returned to Germany, and
the institution of a school of engraving in Stuttgart
was one result of their expulsion. But by 1 802 many i
of the fugitives were already back in Paris, and the "
studios, closed for ten years, once more opened their '
doors to numerous pupils. Frederick Miiller, then j
barely twenty, followed his father's example, and in his
turn went to perfect himself under French masters.

THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. 259

Commended to the good offices of Wille, then past
eighty, who felt it an honour to have taught Johann
Godard Miiller, and introduced by him, the young
man was soon in relation with Bervic, Tardieu,
and Desnoyers ; and without constituting himself a
thorough-going imitator of these fine craftsmen, he
yet borrowed enough from them to be considered, if
not their rival, at least one of their most faithful
disciples. The plates he engraved for the " Musee
Fran^ais," published by Laurent and Robillard,* show
laudable submission to the principles of the masters
and an already sound experience of art ; but it is in
the " Madonna di San Sisto," in which he seems to
have arrived at maturity, that his talent may be fully
measured. Before undertaking this plate, the young
engraver went to Italy to study other work by the
" Divine Painter," and to prepare himself for the in-
terpretation of the picture in the Dresden Gallery by
drawing from the Vatican frescoes. On his return
to Germany, he at once applied himself to the task,
and pursued it with such ardour that, towards the
end of 1815, that is in three years, he had brought
it to an end. The " Madonna di San Sisto " deserves
to rank with the finest line engravings of the begin-
ning of the century. It has long been popular ; but
renown came too slowly for the engraver, and un-
happily he lacked the patience to await its coming.

* This important publication contains, in four sections, the most
remarkable pictures and sculptures of the Louvre, as it existed after
Napoleon had enriched it with masterpieces from every school.
Begun in 1802, it was continued till 181 1.

R 2

2(5o ENGRAVING.

When M tiller had finished his work, he determined
to publish it himself, hoping to gain not only honour
but legitimate profit. He was exhausted by hard
work, but he trusted to meet with the reward which
he felt to be due to such continual effort, and to
meet with it at once. Time passed, however, and the
young engraver, a prey to feverish anxiety, began to
rail at the indifference of his contemporaries. He had
soon to make arrangements with a publisher, that
the fruit of his labours might not be altogether lost.
Several amateurs then bought proofs, but there was
as yet no general popularity for a print the appear-
ance of which, in the expectation of its author, should
have had all the importance of a public event. So
many disappointments completed the ruin of his
health, and at last affected his reason. In a paroxysm
of excitement, Miiller stabbed himself with a burnisher.
Shortly after his " Sistine Madonna " obtained that
great success which the poor artist had fondly
anticipated. The publisher grew rich upon the
proofs ; and the name of the young engraver who
had made too great haste to sell them was with justice
acclaimed throughout Europe.

The works of Bervic, of Desnoyers, of Morghen and
of Miiller, may be said to represent the state of en-
graving in France, in Italy, and in Germany during the
early years of the nineteenth century. They show that
at that time the three schools professed the same
doctrines, or, at least, followed the same masters;
but this seeming conformity was not destined to be
of long duration. The principles of art were soon

THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. 261

modified by the influence of new ideas, and the
German engravers (taking the lead in this change of
aim) entered the path which they are still following.

At the time of MUller's death, the influence
of Goethe and Schiller on German literature had
begun to extend to the pictorial arts. Passionate
study of the Middle Ages took the place of the
worship of antiquity, and whilst the classical dictionary
was still the only gospel for French painters, those
beyond the Rhine were already drinking inspiration
from Christian tradition and national legend. This
was a happy reaction in so far as it reinvested art
with that ethereal character which is indispensable to
its higher developments ; but, on the other hand,
rapidly degenerating into mere archaeology, the move-
ment end^d by oppressing and imprisoning talent
under invariable formulas. A few years sufficed to
reduce German art to such a condition that asceticism
became the established rule. Since then Overbeck,
Cornelius, and Kaulbach have added the weight of
their authority and example, and continued and per-
fected the tradition of their forerunners ; and this
reformation has been as thorough in Germany as the
far different revolution accomplished by David in
France.

The German painters having thus laid aside a part
of their material resources, the German engravers
have been obliged to confine themselves to a trans-
lation of the ideal sentiment of their originals. In
this task it must be allowed they have perfectly suc-
ceeded. They reproduce with singular completeness

262 ENGRAVING.

that generative thought, and religious, philosophical,
or literary imagination, which, far more than any pic-
torial idea, inspires the German painter.

Strictly speaking, they do not produce engravings :
that is, they do not produce works in which the burin
has sought to render the value of tone, colour,
chiaroscuro, or any constituent of a picture save
composition and drawing ; they are satisfied to cut
in the copper, with a precision frequently approach-
ing dryness, the outlines of simple forms ; while,
by way of concession to the true pictorial spirit,
they think it enough to throw in here and there a
few suggestions of modelling and light masses of
shadow. Among the numerous specimens of this
extreme reticence of execution, it is sufficient to
mention the ** Apostolical Scenes " engraved, after
Overbeck, by Franz Keller, Ludy, and Steinfensand ;
the plates after Cornelius, published at Carlsruhe and
Munich, by Schaffer, Merz, and others ; and lastly,
Thaeter's big " Battle of the Huns," after Kaulbach.

Although subdivided into smaller classes, the
modern German school is composed — at least, in so far
as historical painting, and engraving are concerned
— of a group of kindred talents, inspired by abstract
reflection rather than the study of reality. Neverthe-
less this main idea has not everywhere been carried
out with the same logical rigour. The Diisseldorf
engravers, for instance, have not always confined
themselves, like those of Munich, to the representation
of figures and their accessories, as mere silhouettes,
strengthened, if at all, by the palest of shadows. Even

THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. 263

more elastic principles have prevailed elsewhere.
Felsing of Darmstadt, Mendel of Berlin, and Steinla
of Dresden, have proved by their engravings after Fra
Bartolommeo, Raphael, and Holbein, that they have
no notion of denying themselves any of the methods
used by the masters of engraving for imitating in
the highest perfection the relief and life of objects
figured on canvas. But these and other efforts must
be considered exceptional. As we have said, the
dominant tendency of German art since the reform
is rather towards deliberate, even systematic, con-
ception than spontaneous expression of sentiment :
it is, in fact, the mortification of the eye for the
intelligence. In a word, German engravers trust too
much to logic and analysis, and too little to their
senses. It is only natural that they should. The
qualities lacking in their works are also lacking in
the pictures and drawings from which these are
engraved. Still, their main principle once admitted,
we must allow that it could not well be pushed to a
more logical conclusion. In Germany, separate and
independent talents do not exist, as in Belgium,
Austria, Switzerland, and Russia. The end is the
same for all, and is obtained by all in nearly the same
degree. In England, also, engraving, considered as a
whole, presents an incontestable unity ; nevertheless,
the difference between the schools is great. A trifle
hypochondriacal by dint of privations and penance,
German art is sustained by a feverish faith which
lends to it the animation of life ; while in spite of
its flourishing looks, English art is really decayed in

264 ENGRAVING.

constitution. Its health is only apparent, and the
least study of its vital sources compels the recognition
of its frailty.

It has frequently been said that the arts are the
expression of the moral tendency of a people. This
is doubtless true ; at all events, it is true of those
people for whom the arts have always been a
necessity — of Greece and Italy, for example, where
they have been as it were endemic. Where, however,
art has been diffused by contagion — as an epidemic
— it may remain quite distinct from national ten-
dencies, or only represent a part of them, or even
suggest the presence of quite antagonistic influences.
Strictly speaking, a school of painting has only existed
in England since the eighteenth century ; surely its
characteristics, past and present, are in nowise a
spontaneous expression of national feeling? Are all
its most important achievements — the portraits of
Reynolds, Gainsborough, Lawrence, and the landscapes
of Turner — inspired by that practical wisdom, that
spirit of order and love of exactness in everything,
which characterise the English equally in private and
in public life ? On the contrary, the quest of spurious
brilliancy and effect, exaggerated at the expense of
accurate form and precision of style, is the one
tradition of the English school of painting ; and in
spite of the inventive and tasteful work produced in
the first half of the century by artists like Wilkie,
Smirke, and Mulready, as of the more recent efforts
of the Pre-Raphaelites, it would seem as if the school
were neither able nor willing to change.

THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. 26$

The aesthetic formula accepted and used, from
one generation to another, by the English painters
has influenced — and, perhaps naturally, with still,
more authority^their compatriots tlie engravers.
Just now English engraving seems careless of further
effort. It is as though its innumerable products had
nothing whatever to reveal to those who buy them,
and were bought from habit, and not from taste.

It has been seen that George III. did his utmost
to encourage line engraving, and that the exportation
of prints soon became a source of revenue. How
could the country neglect those wares which abroad
were made so heartily welcome ? The aristocracy set
the example. Men of high social position thought
it their duty to subscribe to important publications.
In imitation, or from patriotism, the middle class in
their turn sought to favour the growth of engraving ;
and when, some years later, it became the fashion to
illustrate " Keepsakes " and " Books of Beauty " with
steel engravings, their cheapness put them within
everybody's reach. People gradually took to having
prints in their houses, just as they harboured , super-
fluities of other kinds ; and, the custom becoming
more and more general, engravers could be almost
certain of the sale of any sort of work. This is still
the case. In London, every new print may reckon on
a certain number of subscribers. Hence the facility
of production, and the constant mechanical improve-
ments tending to shorten the work ; hence, too, un-
fortunately, the family likeness and purelyconventional
charm of the English prints of the last half-century.

266 ENGRAVING.

A glance at any recent aquatints and mezzotints
or into a new book of etchings, discovers nothing one
docs not seem to have seen a hundred times before.
There are the eternal conflicts of light and darkness,
the eternal contrasts between velvety and pearly tex-
tures. In its needless formality, this trickery resembles
that of uninspired and styleless singers. A hn^i piano
passage is followed by a crashing forte ; the whole
thing consists in abruptness of contrast, and depends
for success entirely upon surprise. In both cases
this element is soon exhausted by too frequent use.
The novelty of their appearance might at first impart
a certain charm to English engravings ; but the un-
ending repetition of the same effect has destroyed
their principal merit, and it is difficult to regard them
with attention or interest.

It would be unjust, however, to confine ourselves to
the consideration of the abuse of general methods, and
to say nothing of individual talents. England has
produced some remarkable engravers since those in
mezzotint formed by Reynolds and the landscape
artists who were Woollett's pupils. Abraham Raim-
bach, for instance, was a fine workman, and a
better draughtsman than most of his compatriots;
his plates after Wilkie's " Blind Man's Buff"," "The
Rent-Day," and " The Village Politicians," deserve
to be classed amongst the most agreeable works
of modern engraving. Samuel William Reynolds,
in his. portraits after many English painters, and his
plates from G^ricault, Horace Vernet, and Paul
Delaroche, and Samuel Cousins, in his engravings of

THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. 267

Lawrence's " Master Lambton," " Pius VII.," and
" Lady Gower and her Son," have succeeded in getting
a good deal more from mezzotint than the eighteenth
century masters.

In spite of the dissimilarity of their talents, Raim-
bach and Cousins may yet be compared as the last
English engravers who attempted to invest their work
with a character in conformity with the strict con-
ditions of the art. Since them the London crafts-
men have practised more or less skilfully an almost
mechanical profession. They have only produced
either the thousands of engravings, which every year
proceed from the same source, or the prints that deal
with still less ambitious subjects — animals, attributes
of the chase, and so forth — on an absurdly large scale.
They have, indeed, gone so far as to represent life-size
dogs, cats, and game. There is even a certain plate,
after Landseer, whose sole interest is a parrot on its
perch, and which is much larger than the plates that
used to be engraved from the largest compositions of
the masters. To say the least, here are errors of taste
not to be redeemed by improvements in the manufac-
ture of tools, nor even by ingenious combinations of
the different processes of engraving. However skilful
contemporary English engravers may be in some
respects, they cannot properly be said to produce
works of art ; because they insist on technique to
an inordinate degree, and in like measure reduce
almost to nothing the proportions of true art and
sentiment.

One might, with still greater reason, thus explain

268 ENGRAVING.

the mediocrity of American prints in the present day.
Few as they are, they do not rivet attention as the
manifestations of an art which, young and inexperi-
enced, is yet vital in its artlessness ; on the con-
trary, they are depressing as the products of an art
fallen into the sluggishness of old age. It is as
though engraving in the United States had begun
in decay — or rather, it may be, negatively, with no
tendency to change, and no impulse to progress.
Mostly mezzotints or aquatints, the prints sold
in New York and New Orleans suggest that their
authors only wished to appropriate as best they could
the present fashions and methods of English en-
graving. As for work in line, it is almost entirely
confined to the embellishment of bank notes and
tradesmen's cards. Some of its professors are not
without technical knowledge and a sort of skill ; and
if it were absolutely necessary to find a characteristic
specimen of American art it should, perhaps, be sought
amongst works of this sort. In any case, it is best to
reserve a definitive opinion, and simply to state what
American engraving is, and must be, till a master arise
by whose influence and example it may be animated
and renewed.

If, after considering the condition of engraving at
the beginning of the present century, one should wish
to become acquainted with its subsequent phases, as-
suredly one has to admit the pre-eminence of French
talent. It may even be advanced that French en-
gravers have maintained, and do still maintain, almost
unaided the art of engraving within those limits

THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. 269

from which it cannot deviate without the risk of be-
coming, as in Germany, a language of pure conven-
tionality, or, as in England, the hackneyed expression
of mere technical dexterity.

Without doubt, evidences of broader and more
serious talent were not lacking even in that school
which some years earlier seemed to have gone to decay.
After Volpato and Morghen, and in opposition to their
example, there were Italian engravers who worked
to such purpose as to redeem the honour of the
school. The plates by Toschi and his pupils, from
pictures and frescoes by Correggio at Parma ; Cala-
matta's "Voeu de Louis Treize," after Ingres; Mercuri's
" Moissonneurs," after Leopold Robert, and many
prints besides, either by the same artists or others of
their race, assuredly deserve to rank with the most
important achievements of French engraving in the
first half of the nineteenth century. But the years
that have lapsed since their publication, while barren
for Italy, have brought a continued harvest to France.
After the engravers who made their appearance in the
last years of the Restoration their pupils became mas-
ters in turn; and, in spite of adverse circumstances, the
indifference of a section of the public, and the increas-
ing popularity of photography, their zeal seems no
more likely to diminish than the value of their work.

Once, it is true, at the most brilliant period of
English engraving, the French school was not without
a moment of hesitation on the part of some, of dis-
loyalty on that of others. During the First Empire,
the existence of the art movement in London in

270 ENGRAVING.

the last years of the active rule of George III. and the
beginning of the Regency was unsuspected in France.
The cessation of commercial relations between the two
countries left the French in such complete ignorance
that, until 1816, the only English prints they knew
were those by Strange, Ryland, and Woollett : those,
in fact, published before the end of the eighteenth
century. And when, after the Restoration, English
work first came under the eyes of French engravers,
the fascination of its novelty dazzled them more than
the splendour of its merit.

Those who, like Tardieu and Desnoyers, were
especially concerned with loftiness of style and mas-
culine vigour of execution, were but little moved by
such innovations, if we may judge by the nature of
their subsequent publications. The "Ruth and Boaz,"
engraved by the former after Hersent, the divers
" Madonnas " and the ** Transfiguration," engraved
by the latter after Raphael, do not testify that their
belief in the excellence of the old French method
was at all shaken. But others, either younger or less
stable of conviction, were soon seduced. Like the
English engravers, they attempted to unite all the
different processes of engraving in their plates ; and
they sought, to the exclusion of all besides, the easiest
way of work, piquancy of result, and prettiness every-
where, even in history. These imitations became
more numerous by reason of their first success, till
they threatened the independence of French engraving,
which had not been encroached upon since the seven-
teenth century.

THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. 271

The fever, however, soon cooled. A happy re-
action set in soon after 1830, and continued during the
following years ; and infatuation having everywhere
been succeeded by reflection, the misleading qualities
of the English manner were finally recognised. The
French school takes counsel with none save itself, its
past, and its traditions. To this just confidence in
its own resources are owing its present superiority
to, and independence of, other schools, and, what is
more important still, its place apart from that me-
chanical industry which, with its spurious successes,
its raids upon a territory not its own, and its pre-
tentious efforts to occupy the place of art, would
seize upon those privileges, which, do all it may, it
can never hope to confiscate.

Of all the engravers who have honoured our epoch
not in France alone, but also in other countries, the
first in genius, as in the general influence he has exerted
for nearly half a century, is certainly Henriquel — as
he called himself in the early part of his career —
Henriquel-Dupont in the second half. But he too, it
would seem, had his hours of indecision. Perhaps,
in some of his early works, certain traces may
be discovered of a leaning towards the English
manner, certain tendencies of doubtful orthodoxy ;
but, at any rate, they have never developed into
manifest errors : they have, at the most, resulted in
venial sins, which themselves have been abundantly
atoned.

Henriquel is a master in the widest acceptation of
the word : a master, too, of the stamp of those in the

273

ENGRAVING.

[>asl of whom the French have the greatest right to
be proud. The masters of the seventeenth ccntuiy
have scarcely left us plates at once so largely and
so iluticatcly treated, as his " Hcmicycle du Palais

Fig. 96.— henriquel.

Cromwell (Etching). Afler Paul Delaro

des Beaux-Arts," his " Moise Expose sur le Nil," and
his " Strafford," after Paul Delaroche ; his admirable
sketch in etching of the " Pilgrims of Emmaus," after
Veronese ; and the portrait, of M, Bertin, after Ingres ;
and these are but a few. We have, besides the
Van Dyck, " Une Dame et sa Fille," engraved .some

F[G. 97. — HENRIQUEL.

The Marquis de PaslOTeL After Paul Delarocbe.

274 ENGRAVING.

years before the " Abdication de Gustave Wasa,"
after Hersent, and the " Marquis de Pastoret,"
after Paul Delaroche ; the *' Christ Consolateur,"
engraved rather later, after Scheffer ; and, among
less important, though certainly not less merito-
rious works, the portraits engraved now with the
scientific ease of the burin, now with the light and
delicate touch of the needle: the " Pasta," the botanist
" Desfontaines," " Desenne " the draughtsman, the
"Brongniart," the " Tardieu," the "Carle Vernet,"
the " Sauvageot." the " Scheffer," the " Mansard et
Pcrrault," the *' Mirabeau k la Tribune," the
" Rathier," and, latest of all, the charming little
" Pere Pet^tot."

In these — and in how many besides? for the work
of the master does not fall short of ninety pieces,
besides lithographs and a great deal in pastel and
crayon — Henriquel proves himself not only a trained
draughtsman and finished executant, but, as it were,
still more a painter than any of his immediate
predecessors. Bervic — whose pupil he became, after
some years in the studio of Pierre Guerin — was able
to teach him to overcome the practical diflSculties
of the art, but the influence of the engraver of the
**Laocoon" and the "D^janire" went no further
than technical initiation. Even the example of Des-
noyers, however instructive in some respects, was
not so obediently followed by Henriquel as to cause
any sacrifice of taste and natural sentiment. By
the clearness of his views, as much as by the eleva-
tion of his talent, the engraver of the " Hemicycle"

Fig, 98. — HENRI QUEL.
Alexander Bronenintt. Aficr n Draning by the Kngrnvpi

276 ENGRAVING.

is connected with the past French school and the
masters who are its chief honour ; but by the
particular form of expression he employs, by a
something extremely unexpected in his nlanner and
extremely personal in his acceptance of tradition,
he stands to a certain extent apart from his pre-
decessors, and may be called an innovator, though he
by no means advertises any such pretension. As we
have just remarked, his use of means is so versatile
that he paints with the graver |or the needle, where
just before him others, even the most skilful — men
like Laugier and Richomme — could only engrave;
and the influence he has exerted —whether by direct
teaching, or by his signed work — has had the effect
of rejuvenating engraving in France in more than
one particular, and of awakening talents, some of
which, though plainly betraying their origin, have
none the less a weight and an importance of their
own, and deserve an honourable place in the history
of contemporary art.

Several of his most distinguished pupils are dead :
Aristide Louis, whose "Mignon," after Scheffer, won
instant popularity ; Jules Francois, who is to be
credited, among other fine plates, with a real master-
piece in the " Militaire OfTrant des Pieces d'Or a une
Femme," after the Terburg in the Louvre ; and Rous-
seaux, perhaps the most gifted engraver of his genera-
tion, whose works, few as they are, are yet enough
to immortalise him. Who knows, indeed, if some
day the " Portrait d'Homme*' from the picture in the
Louvfe attributed to Francia, and the " Madame de

FiO. 99.— IIENRIQUEL.

Ale^iander Tardieo. After a Drawing by Ingres.

278 ENGRAVING.

S<5vign:" from Nanteuil's pastel, may not be sought
ft^r with the eagerness now expended on the search
for the old masters of engraving ?

The premature death of these accomplished crafts-
men has certainly been a loss to the French school.
Fortunately, however, there remain many others whose
work is of a nature to uphold the ancient renown of
French art, and to defy comparison with the achieve-
ment of other countries. Where, save in France, could
equivalents be found, for instance, of the ** Coronation
of the Virgin," after Giovanni da Fiesole, and the
" Marriage of Saint Catherine," after Memling, by
Alphonse Francois ; of the " Antiope," by Blanchard,
after Correggio ; of the " Vierge de la Consola-
tion,'* after Hubert, by Huot ; of Danguin's " Titian's
Mistress," or Bertinot's '* Portement de Croix," after
Lesueur ; of several other plates, remarkable in dif-
ferent ways, and bearing the same or other names?
What rivalry need Gaillard fear, in the sort of
engraving of which he is really the inventor, and
which he practises with such extraordinary skill ?
Whether he produces after Van Eyck, Ingres, or
Rembrandt, such plates as the " Homme a I'CEillet,"
the " CEdipus," and the " Pilgrims of Emmaus," or
gives us, from his own drawings or paintings, such
portraits as his " Pius IX. " and his " Dom Gue-
ranger," he, in every case, arrests the mind as well
as surprises the eye, by the inconceivable subtlety
of his work. Eyen when translating the works of
others he shows himself boldly original. His methods
are entirely his own, and render imitation impossible

THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. 2/9

because they are prompted by the exceptional delicacy
of his perceptions ; but, with all the goodwill in the
world, it would be no less difficult to appropriate his
keenness of sentiment or to gain an equal degree of
mental insight.

In France, then, line engraving has representa-
tives numerous enough, and above all meritorious
enough, to put to rout the apprehensions of those who
believe, or affect to believe, the art irretrievably in-
jured by the success of heliography. We have only
to glance at the feats accomplished in our own day
in engraving of another kind, and to examine those
produced in France by contemporary French etchers,
to be reassured on this question also. Might we not,
even, without exaggeration, apply the term renais-
sance to the series of advances effected in the branch
of engraving formerly distinguished by Callot and by
Claude Lorraine ? When, since the seventeenth cen-
tury, has the needle ever been handled in France by
so many skilful artists, and with so keen a feeling for
effect and colour } But let none mistake the drift of
our praise. Of course, we do not allude here to the
thousands of careless sketches scrawled on the varnish,
with a freedom to be attributed to simple ignorance,
far more than to real dash and spirit ; nor to those
would-be " works of art," for which the skill of the
printer and the tricks of printing have done the most.
To the dupes of such blatant trickeries they shall
be left. Still, it is only just to acknowledge, in the
etchings of the day, a singular familiarity with the
true conditions of the process, and generally a good

28o ENGRAVING.

knowledge of pictorial effect, solid enough and suffi-
ciently under control to maintain a mean between
pedantry and exaggerated ease.

Many names would deserve mention, were we not
confined to general indications of the progress and the
movement they represent. It is, however, impossible to
omit that of Jacquemart, the young master recently de-
ceased, who, in a kind of engraving he was the first to
attempt, gave proof of much ingenuity of taste and of
original ability. The plates of which his " Gemmes
et Joyaux de la Couronne" is composed, and his
etchings of similar models — sculpture and gold-
smithes work, vases and bindings, enamels and cameos
— all deserve to rank with historical pieces of the
highest order ; even as the still-life painted by Chardin
a century ago still excites the same interest, and has
a right to the same attention, as the best pictures by
contemporary allegorical or portrait painters.

The superiority of the French school, in whatever
style, has, moreover, been recently recognised and
proclaimed in public. It has not been forgotten
that the jury entrusted with the awards at the Inter-
national Exhibition of 1878 unanimously decreed a
principal share to the engravers of France. Without in-
justice this share might perhaps ha\ e been even greater
if the jury, chiefly composed of Frenchmen, had
not thought right to take full account of the special
conditions of the competition, and the readiness with
which the artists of other countries had responded.

Since then the position of art in Europe, and the
relative importance of talents in different countries

THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. 28 1

of Europe, have not changed. If, to understand

the state of contemporary engiaving, it be thought

282 ENGRAVING.

desirable to confine our attention to the present
moment, there can be no doubt whatever that the
most cursory examination of the works representing
the different processes of engraving must justify the
above observations. These we should wish briefly to
recapitulate.

We have said that etching has, within the last few
years, returned so much into favour, that probably at
no other time have its products been more nume-
rous, or in more general demand. This is but fair ;
and it is not in France only that the public taste
for etched work, large and small, is justified by the
talent of the artists who publish it. To quote a few
names only among those to be commended, in
different degrees, for their many proofs of sentiment
and skill, we have Unger in Austria; Redlich and
Massaloff in Russia ; Gilli in Italy ; and Seymour
Maden in England. By their talents they assist in the
reform which the French engravers began, and which
they now pursue with increasing authority and ex-
ceptional technical knowledge.

Mezzotint and aquatint have been not nearly so
fortunate. The former appears to have fallen, almost
everywhere, into disuse. Even in England, where, as
soon as Von Siegen*s invention was imported, a school
was founded to cultivate its resources — in England,
where, from Earlom to S. W. Reynolds and Cousins,
mezzotint engravers so long excelled — it is a mere
chance if a few are still to be found supporting
the tradition. In other countries, France, Belgium,
Germany, and Italy, mezzotint is, to speak strictly,

Fig ioi — jui-Et. JAc emari
rr pod hy Go 16n

284 ENGRAVING.

scarcely practised at all. It has been replaced by
aquatint, which itself, as we mentioned in a former
chapter, is only used for purely commercial require-
ments, except by engravers of real talent in com-
bination with the needle and the graver.

Wood engraving has made, in certain respects, con-
siderable progress in the course of the last few years.
In France and England it is producing results that not
only confirm its advances, but are as the prophecy of
still better things. Amongst recent prints, those of
Robert, for instance, do more than promise ; they realise
the hopes which others only hold out All the same, it
is commonly the case with wood engravers that, clever
though they be, they are apt to deceive themselves as
to the special conditions of their art, and too often
to forget that it is not their province to imitate the
appearance of line engraving. Instead of attempting
to copy the complicated results of the graver, they
should rather, in accordance with the nature of the
process at their disposal, be satisfied with rapid sug-
gestions of effect and modelling and a summary imi-
tation of form and colour. The illustrations after
Holbein, by Liitzelburger and other Germans of
the sixteenth century, and the portraits and subjects
cut on wood by Italian artists, or by Frenchmen
of the same epoch, as Geofroy Tory and Salomon
Bernard, are models to which the engravers of our own
day would do well to conform, instead of entering,
under pretext of improvements, upon attempted in-
novations as foreign to the true nature of the process
as to its objects and real resources.

THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. 285

Though the practice of line engraving i» nnorc
scientific in France than anywhere else, it has never-
theless distinguished representatives in other countries,
Besides the French, the German, and the Italian en-
gravers we have mentioned, Weber, in Switzerland ;
De Kaiser, in Holland ; Biot and Franck, in Belgium ;
Jacobi, Sonnenleiter,and Klaus, in Austria, are workin^^^
manfully for the cause so well supported by Hcnriciurl
and his followers. But everywhere the perseverance of
zeal and talent is unfortunately insufficient to overcome
the prejudices of the public, and its cxa^^cmUnl con-
fidence in the benefits of mechanical discovery.

Since the progress accomplished by science in
the domain of heliographic reproduction, since the
advantages with regard to material exactness that
photography and the processes derived from it have
offered, or seem to offer, line engraving, of all the
different methods, is certainly the one that has suffered
most from the supposed rivalry. A mistake, all the
more to be regretted as it seems to be general, gave rise
to the idea that it was all over with the art of engraving,
simply because, as mere copies, its products could not
have the infallible fidelity of photographic images,
and that, however painstaking and faithful the en-
graver's hand, it could never produce that exact fac-
simile, that ruthless imitation of the thing copied.

Nothing could be truer than this, if the only object
of line engraving were to give us a literal copy, a
brutal effigy of its original. But is it necessary to men-
tion again that, happily, it has also the task of inter-
pretation } Owing to the very limited field in which

286 ENGRAVING.

he works, as it were in monochrome, the engraver is
compelled to choose and to combine the best means
of rendering by analogy the Various colours of his
original, to organise its general effect, and to bring
out both the character and the style, now by the sim-
plification of certain details, now by applying the
principle of selection to certain others. We have
no longer here the stupid impartiality, or, if it be
preferred, the unreasoning veracity of a mechanical
apparatus, but the deliberate use of feeling, intelli-
gence, and taste— of all those faculties, indeed, which
mould and enter into the talent of an artist.

Now as long as there are men in the world capable
of preferring idea to matter, and the art which appeals
to the mind to the fact which speaks to the eyes, line
engraving will retain its influence, however small it
may be supposed, however limited it may really be.
In any case, those who in these days, in spite of every
obstacle, are determined to pursue in their own way
the work of such men as Edelinck and Nanteuil, will
have deserved recognition from their contemporaries,
and will have averted, so far as they could, the complete
decay, if it must come, of art properly so called, when
sacrificed to the profit of chance manufacture and
mere technique.

A CHAPTER ON

English Engraving.

By WILLIAM WALKER.

England appears at first only to have participated
in the European movement amongst the fine arts by
the trade which it carried on in foreign productions,
and the hospitality and the patronage which it gave
to many celebrated artists. Thus the country was
enriched with foreign works, and examples were
obtained, not perhaps worthy of being slavishly fol-
lowed, but at all events capable of stimulating native
talent. At the persuasion of Erasmus, Holbein, in
1526, came to try his fortune in England, and was
followed afterwards by Rubens and Van Dyck, as
well as De Bry, Vorsterman, and the indefatigable
Hollar, the latter an engraver unrivalled in his own
style, and perhaps the most unfortunate in worldly
circumstances who ever practised the art.

As early as 1483 wood-cuts were used for illustra-
tion in Caxton's "Golden Legend," and subsequent
printers adopted the same practice in issuing their
publications. In like manner, copperplate engravings
appeared first as illustrations for books, notably in one
called " The Birth of Mankind," dedicated to Queen
Catherine, and published by Thomas Raynalde in

288 KNGKAVINC;.

1 540, and in a translation of Vesalius' ** Anatomy,"
published in 1545 by Thomas Geminus, who not only
did the literary work, but copied the original wood-
cuts on copper. In the middle of the century, the
Hogenbergs took advantage of the method for por-
traiture, Francis engraving in 1555 a portrait of
Queen Mary, and his brother Remigius in 1573 one
of Matthew Parker, Archbishop of Canterbury, who
seems to have retained the engraver in his service.

About the same period appeared William Rogers,
who was born in London in 1545, and may be con-
sidered as the earliest English engraver worthy of
mention. His series of portraits are of consider-
able merit, especially a whole length, taken from a
drawing by Isaac Oliver, of Queen Elizabeth, stand-
ing with orb and sceptre, and clothed in a rich em-
broidered and puffed dress. This print bears at the
bottom the name of the engraver, and was after-
wards reduced in size all round, turning the figure of the
Queen into a three-quarter length, and cutting away
Rogers' name, which was not reinserted in the later
publication. Both sizes of the print are scarce, es-
pecially the original, and indeed for a considerable
time the reduced impression was considered anony-
mous, until the appearance of the larger engraving
and its comparison with the smaller established the
identity of the two. The elder Crispin de Passe
engraved a plate from the same drawing of smaller
size, and with different accessories in the background.

De Passe, a native of Utrecht, and his family,
William, Simon, and a daughter Magdalen, came

WILLIAM FAITHORNE. 289

over to England at the beginning of the seventeenth
century, and engraved many prints of much interest
in a style peculiarly their own. Reginald Elstracke
(bom 1620) and Francis Delaram flourished about
the same period.

But nothing was accomplished by any English en-
graver of great artistic value, or which could be fairly
compared with the work in other countries, until the
middle of the century. It was then that William
Faithome, by his series of portraits, full of colour and
executed in a clear and brilliant style, freed England
from this reproach. He may be said to have inaugu-
rated the era of English engravers, who, though
mostly surpassed by other nations in the line manner
of engraving, have no rivals in mezzotint. This
style, which, when combined with bold etching, may
be called the culmination of the art, wis taken up
in this country as soon as discovered, adopted by^
the English as their own, and gradually brought by
them to the fullest perfection. Faithorne was a pupil
of Sir Robert Peake, painter and engraver, and is said
also to have studied under Nanteuil, when driven
through the troubles of the first revolution to take
refuge in France. His portraits of Mary, Princess of
Orange, the Countess of Exeter, Sir William Paston,
Queen Catherine of Braganza, Charles H., with long
flowing black hair, Thomas Killegrew, dramatist and
court favourite, and the famous Marquis of Worcester,
one of the contributors to the invention of the steam
engine, rank high as engravings, and worthily take their
place amidst the achievements of other countries.
T

290 ENGRAVING.

J

Before treating of mezzotint and the new field
which it opened out to the engraver, it will be well to
call attention to the coming of Hollar to England, I
and his peculiar method of work, which consisted \^
mainly of etching, assisted by the point or fine graver.
VVcnccslaus Hollar (born 1607) was forced early in
life by the exigencies of those warlike times to leave
his native land — Bohemia — and to travel through
Germany, designing and engriaving on his way, until,
in 1636, he met at Cologne with the Earl of Arundel,
the English Ambassador to Ferdinand H., who im-
mediately took him into his employment, and on his re-
turn from his mission brought him to England, where,
with the exception of the troubled years of the first
revolution. Hollar resided for the remainder of his life.
Misfortune, however, which attended Hollar in
youth, seemed relentless throughout his entire career ;
after the restoration of Charles H., he underwent
the terrible experiences of the plague and of the
fire of London, and the times, hostile to every pur-
suit of art, reduced Hollar to a state of indigence
and distress from which, in spite of persevering
industry, he seems never tp have been able to
recover. Sent to Africa in 1669 as the kind's designer,
to make drawings of the. fortifications Jand surround-
ings pf the town of Tangiers, he meet^ with Ajgerine
corsairs on his way back, from which he escapes with
diflficulty. On his return, it is only after delay and
vexation that he can obtain j£"ioo from the impecu-
nious king for bis two years' labours and expenses.
He travels through England, making drawings and

HOLLAR IN ENGLAND. 29 1

etchings of abbeys, churches, ruins, and cathedrals,
and ultimately dies at Westminster (1677) in a state
of extreme poverty and distress, his very death-bed
being disturbed by bailiffs, who threaten the seizure
of the last article of furniture he possessed, the bed
upon which he is lying. His body was laid in the
churchyard of St Margaret's, Westminster ; his name
and works remain living and immortal. Hollar's
prints amount to considerably over two thousand, and
embrace all kinds of subjects, portraits, landscapes,
architecture, costume, and animal and still-life ot
varied character and quality. His treatment of the
textures of hair, feathers, or the bloom on butterflies
and other insects, is simply unrivalled. Besides his
portraits, among other well-known and valued prints,
there are— after his own designs — the long bird's-eye
view of London in four parts, plans of the same city
before and after the great fire (1666), exterior and
interior views of the old Cathedral of St. Paul,*
Westminster Hall, with its picturesque surroundings,
the Cathedrals of Lincoln, Southwell, Strasbourg, Ant-
werp, and York, sets of butterflies, insects, costumes,
muffs, and richly-wrought jewelled vessels.

In addition to these, he engraved a set. of thirteen
plates (1671) on the various English ways of hunting,
hawking, and fishing, after Francis Barlow, painter and
engraver, who flourished during the same period, and
excelled in the representation of animals, birds, and fish.

* This fine cathedral, burnt with so many other churches in the
great fire, was 690 feet in length, 130 feet broad, and 520 feet high at
the top of the spire.

T 2

292 ENGRAVING.

I

The latter artist has left a curious print — of which the
only known example is supposed to be that of the
British Museum — entitled "The Last Horse Race" i

(August 24, 1684), run before Charles II., at Dorsett %^

Ferry (? Datchett), near Windsor Castle. Hollar was
the master of Robert Gaywood, who in some measure
imitates his style, and many of whose plates are justly
esteemed, such as the series of heads after Van Dyck,
the curious likeness of Cromwell, the large print of
the philosophers Democritus and Heraclitus, as op-
posing professors of gaiety and gravity, and the
plates of birds and animals after Barlow.

In the meantime, the art of mezzotint had been
invented, in the first place, by Ludwig von Siegen,
a lieutenant-colonel in the service of the Landgrave
of Hesse-Casscl, who used the method to execute a
large portrait, bearing the date 1642, of the Princess
Amelia Elizabeth, the dowager Landgravine of Hesse.
The credit for the discovery has also, been ascribed to
the well-known Prince Rupert,* nephew of Charles L ;
but the legend of the prince meeting with a soldier
cleaning his corroded gun, and thus conceiving the
idea of engraving a copper plate, rests on no sufficient
foundation. It is, however, enough for this romantic
prince's undying renown, that, having acquired the
secret of producing the necessary ground by some
means or other, most probably from Von Siegen, he

* The tesgr-shaped pieces of glass (Lachrimse Vitreae), which resist
hard blows applied at the thick end, yet fly to pieces the moment
a fragment is broken off the fine end, were first brought to England
by Prince Rupert, and are called popularly " Prince Rupert's drops."

\

THE INVENTION OF MEZZOTINT. 293

not only introduced the process into England, but
executed himself several remarkable engravings in the
, style, one of which, known as " The Great Execu-
tioner" (dated 1658), after Spagnoletto,* to distin-
guish it from a smaller plate containing the head only
of the same figure, remains to this day as a powerful
and wonderful example of the method. It is curious
that, with the partial exception of Germany, and a
few isolated instances in other countries, mezzotint
should have been practically confined to England ;
the very name is not recognised elsewhere. Germany
uses the word ** Schabkunst," scraping art ; the French,
" La maniere noire," the black manner ; and Italy,
" Uincisione a fumo," engraving in smoke or black, f

Before the discovery of the new method, all en-
graving consisted of an arrangement of lines varied
occasionally by dots, which had to be cut into the
polished copperplate either directly by the graver or
indirectly by the use of acid. Untouched by either
graver or acid, the polished plate would thus, under the
ordinary process of copperplate printing (rubbing in
the ink by a suitable dabber and then cleaning off all
the ink not held fast by in-dents), print white ; mezzo-
tint reverses the process. The plate, instead of being
polished when the engraver commences his work,

* This print represents a tall, powerful-looking man, standing with
naked sword in one hand, and holding up in the other the head of St.
John the Baptist.

f Other names given to mezzotint out of England are : Schwarz-
kunst, black art ; La maniere anglaise, L'incisione a foggia nera,
engraving in black fashion or manner.

294 ENGRAVING.

presents a close, fine, file-like surface, which, if inked,
wiped, and put under the heavy- pressure roller press,
would now print off a deep uniform surface of bloomy
black ; in place, therefore, of putting in lines or dots to
hold the ink, the engraver has to scrape off the close
file-like grain at the required parts, bringing up his
highest lights by means of a burnisher ; the scraper
and burnisher, not the graver, are consequently the
principal tools used in executing mezzotint. In
addition to the greater ease and rapidity with which
an engraving could be made by this process, the
range of effect or colour was immensely increased.
All tones between pure white and the deepest black
were now capable of realisation, and it is easy to see
how greatly were enlarged the resources of the en-
graver, whose special gift and claim as an original
artist — a fact too often forgotten, or rather not suffi-
ciently recognised — consist in his power of translating
into various shades of black and white the numerous
colours at the disposal of the painter.

The forming or laying the grained surface, tech-
nically called groimdy is necessarily of the utmost
importance, and is effected by a tool known amongst
practical workers as "the rocker," called also
" cradle," or " berceau " — the French equivalent —
from the peculiar rocking motion given to it by
the operator. The rocker is made of moderately
thin and carefully tempered steel about two inches
broad, and might be termed a stumpy, wide chisel
were it not that it is curved (like a cheese-cutter)
and notched or serrated at the cutting edge, which

THE METHOD OF MEZZOTINT. 295

serration is caused by one side of the steel being
indented into small fluted ridges running parallel
upwards to the handle by which the tool is held,
and somewhat presenting the appearance of a small-
tooth-comb. On the plain smooth side the rocker
is ground level to the edge, like other cutting tools,
and sharpened on a stone or hone of suitable quality.
In laying the ground this instrument is held firmly
in the hand, the elbow resting on a convenient
cushion, the serrated cutting edge placed on the plate
with a slight inclination, and a steady rocking motion
given to the tool, which slowly advances over the
surface of the copper or steel, forming on its way a
narrow indented path. Side by side with this path
another is made until the whole surface of the plate
has been covered. The series of parallel paths is then
repeated at a certain angle over the previous ones, and
so on in regular progressive angular order until the
required closeness of texture has been produced ; to do
this it is necessary that the series of parallel paths —
technically called a way — should be repeated in proper
angular progression from sixty to a hundred times.
As the continual friction of the elbow against the
cushion caused the laying of a ground to become a
severe and painful operation, particularly when the
use of steel instead of copper plates came into practice
early in the present century, a modification of this
plan was introduced whereby the tool was fixed at
the fitting angle into one end of a long pole, the other
end being inserted loosely in a ring fixed on the
board upon which the plate was placed ; the requisite

296 ENGRAVING.

rockinfj motion could then be easily given by the hand,
and much painful labour avoided. The necessity for
a good ground being so great, as the process became
more and more general in England, a race of pro-
fessional ground-layers grew up, who were paid at a
certain rate per square inch for the surface thus
covered. Much controversy has taken place as to the
means by which Siegen, Prince Rupert, and the earlier
mezzotintcrs produced their grounds, but there is little
doubt that it must have been accomplished by some
rude form of the present tool, and the curious appear-
ance of the grain — as seen in very early mezzotints
— must have been caused by the irregular crossings of
the impressed layers, the necessity of regular angular
procedure throughout the plate, in order to obtain an
even tone, net having been recognised at first.

Prince Rupert imparted the secret of the process to
Wallcrant Vaillant, a native of Lisle, a portrait painter
(born 1623, died 1677) who practised the method
with great success, working chiefly at Amsterdam, and
leaving to posterity many prints of considerable artistic
merit. Sir Christopher Wren is also credited with the
execution of one of the earliest mezzotints, a negro's
head with a collar round the throat, but there is no
satisfactory authority for the various statements to
this effect, the only sound fact being that this early
print is an extremely interesting specimen of the
process. The first English engraving executed in this
style bearing a dale is a portrait of Charles II. in an
oval frame (GJul. Sherwin, fecitt 1669), by William
Sherwin, who, there is soi'' " " ■on to believe, acquired

THE EARLY MEZZOTINTERS. ' 297

his knowledge of the process directly from Prince
Rupert. Sherwin, born about 1650, engraved also in
line,"^ . and is said to have had the distinction of
engraver to the king conferred on him by patent, an
exceptional honour.

Among the mezzotinters about this period, Abra-
ham Blootelingh, born at Amsterdam in 1634, and
distinguished both as a line engraver and etcher, came
over to England in 1673, made use of the method
with admirable success, and is said to have effected
considerable improvement in the process of laying
the ground ; his life-size head of the Duke of Mon-
mouth, in an oval border or frame, is a masterpiece
of the art. But, with the above exceptions, the works
left by the majority of the early mezzotinters, both
English and foreign, are more curious to the student
than satisfactory to the artistic eye. It was not until
the close of the century, when Isaac Beckett and John
Smith had already begun to issue their grand series
of portraits after Kneller, Lely, and other contemporary
painters, that the full capabilities of the invention were
realised and the foundation laid for the steady and
uninterrupted progress of the art. John Smith's clear,
bright, and intelligent face ought to be well known to
Englishmen both from his own engraving and also
from Kneller's admirable picture, from which it was
taken, so long to be seen hanging in the Rubens and
Rembrandt room of the National Gallery, and lately

* This engraver must not be confused with John Keyse Sherwin,
whose line engravings produced a century later are well known.

298 ENGRAVING.

fittingly transferred to the National Portrait Gallery.
He was a pupil of Beckett and native of Northamp-
tonshire, and died at Northampton in 1742, where
there is a tablet to his memory in St. Peter's Church.
When the eighteenth century opened, mezzotint
had taken firm root in England ; Beckett and John
Smith were in the plenitude of their powers ; Jean
Simon, a Protestant refugee from France (born in
Normandy, 1675), had taken refuge in England, and
forsaking his original method of line, had adopted that
of mezzotint with great success, while G. White was
already giving the first indications of the advantages
that might be gained by the introduction of etching
into the method. John Faber, junior, was also estab-
lishing his reputation, not only by his well-known
portraits (which include the set of the Kit-cat Club^
and the Hampton Court beauties), but by many spirited
fancy subjects after Mercier, and above all by an
admirable print after Frank Hals of a man playing
the guitar. Faber, the younger, was born in Holland
in 1684, and brought to England when three years
old by his father (also an engraver in mezzotint, but
completely overshadowed by his son) ; he studied
under Vanderbank, and was patronised by Kneller ;

* This Club was instituted in 1703, the year after the accession of
Queen Anne, to promote the Protestant succession, the members meet-
ing at the * * Cat and Fiddle " in Shire Lane, Fleet Street, kept by
Christopher Kat, from whom it took the name. The particular size
known amongst artists as Kit-cat, just below the waist and not quite
three-quarter length, also acquired its name from this series of por-
traits, which were painted their particular length to suit the walls of
Tonson*s villa at Barn Elms.

PAINTERS AND ENGRAVERS. 299

his works are peculiarly valuable as forming records
of the painters — now so apt to be carelessly passed
by"^ — who lived between the time of Kncller and
the rise of Sir Joshua Reynolds, and all left work of
value to posterity.

The modern sharp division between painters and
engravers was unknown in those days ; the painter
was only too glad to avail himself of the talent of the
engraver to make his paintings known, and in many
cases keep alive and hand down to after generations a
name which otherwise might have died out and been
forgotten, t^ainters of the present age ignore the
engraver, and prefer the more tangible money results
to be obtained from treating with a publisher for the
purchase of their copyrights, adopting in this respect
the teaching conveyed in the witty speech of Sir
Godfrey Kneller, who, when reproached for his pre-
ference, to other branches of painting, of the lucrative
one of portraiture^ replied : " Painters of history make
the dead live and do not begin to live themselves till
they are dead ; I paint the living and they make me
live." Kneller might, however, have defended his
practice on higher grounds, for portraiture, though
often ignorantly decried, tests the powers of a great
artist to the uttermost, and bequeaths to posterity a
legacy of as valuable work as it is in the power of
man to accomplish. It is interesting to note here
that copyright in works of art was first obtained on

* John Riley, Jonathan Richardson, Michael Dahl, John Clostei'
man, John Vanderbank, and Thomas Hudson,

300 ENGRAVING.

the behalf of engraving ; Hogarth, painter and en-
graver, finding that so many of his prints — which,
numerously distributed, could easily be pirated — were
being copied, boldly and successfully asserted his
rights in the courts of law, and was the means of
obtaining from Parliament a Copyright Act to defend
property in art

To Faber succeeded Thomas Frye and James
McArdell, who were both born in the same city,
Dublin, the birthplace of several other distinguished
engravers. The life of Frye was eventful ; he came
in early manhood to London in the company of his
fellow-townsman Stoppelaer, who by turns became
artist, actor, dramatic writer, and singer. Frye com-
menced by painting and engraving portraits, and then
took charge of the china manufactory just established
at Bow, from the ruins of which afterwards arose those
of Chelsea and Worcester ; there he remained fifteen
years, and by his taste and skill improved the manu-
factures in material form and ornamentation until, the
business not succeeding and his health being injured
by the heat of the furnaces, he had to take a journey
to Wales to recruit, the expenses of which he paid
by painting portraits, ultimately returning to London
with some money in his pocket. Frye now took a
house in Hatton Garden, where he painted minia-
tures, life-size heads in oils and crayons, and in the
space of about two years, 1760-2, executed in mezzo-
tint the remarkable and justly esteemed series of
life-size heads, which contain, among others, portraits
of himself, his wife, and his mother. These were his

FRYE AND McARDELL. 3OI

last productions, as he died of a complication of
diseases in 1762 at the age of fifty-two. Frye was
industrious, amiable, and generous in character,
patient in misfortune, and ingenious in accomplish-
ing his objects; his likenesses of George III. and
Queen Charlotte were obtained by frequent visits to
the theatre, where it is said that the king and queen,
on knowing his purpose, used kindly to turn their
heads towards the artist to help him in his task ;
other portraits were perhaps accomplished more by
the exercise of imagination, as the fine ladies he would
ask to sit were wont to refuse with the excuse that
they did not know in what company they might find
themselves placed.

McArdell, the jovial companion of artists, the friend
of Quin the actor, of whom Sir Joshua Reynolds
observed, that even if the colours of his (Sir Joshua's)
pictures faded his fame would be preserved by
McArdell's engravings, marks an epoch in the art;
for he was the first to use vigorous etching to increase
the effect of mezzotint He died young, in June,
1765, in his thirty-seventh year, and was buried in
Hampstead Churchyard, where, according to Lysons,
a short inscription to his memory recorded the fact*

McArdell's immediate successors were numerous,
and of striking power and originality in the exercise
of their art; the more important of them were
Richard Houston, John Greenwood, Edward Fisher,

* The date of McArdeU's birth is often erroneously g^vea as 1710
instead of 1728-9 according to the above authority*

302 ENGRAVING.

John Spilsbur>% Valentine Green, William Pether,
Richard Brookshaw, John Blackmore, John Dixon,
John Jones, Robert Laurie, and the two Watsons,
James and Thomas, who were closely followed, in
point of time, by VV^illiam Dickinson, James Walker,*
John Dean, John Young, the popular J. R. Smith
(John Raphael), and perhaps the greatest of them all
as an engraver, Richard Earlom. Many of these also
practised in stipple, but their finer works in mezzotint
completely overshadow these productions. It may be
added that even the paintings of Sir Joshua Reynolds
would hardly have been appreciated as thoroughly
both in England and other countries, were it not for
the admirable renderings of his pictures by the famous
band of engravers practising during his lifetime. Gains-
borough has undoubtedly suffered in this respect, for,
unlike Wright of Derby, Hoppner, Opie, Morland, and
Lawrence, few important mezzotints have been executed
after his pictures ; and were the art to revive and the
engravers to be found, a mine of wealth would be wait-
ing to reward with its treasures well-directed labour.

Earlom was born in 1743, ^^id at his death in 1822
had reached his eightieth year; when fourteen years
old he gained a premium from the Society of Arts, and
attracted attention by making copies of Cipriani's

* James Walker must not be confused either with Anthony and his
brother William, or with the stipple and mezzotint engraver William
Walker of the present century. James Walker's prints are not
numerous, a great number of his plates and prints having been lost from
the foundering of the vessel which was bringing them back to England
'from Russia, where Walker had lived for seventeen years, having been
appointed in 1784 engraver to the Empress Catherine.

RICHARD EARLOM. 303

pictures on the Lord Mayor's state carriage ; this led to
his becoming the painter's pupil and to his acquiring a
thorough knowledge of drawing. The Boydells em-
ployed him to make drawings and engravings from the
Houghton collection, and throughout his long life he
continued to exercise unremittingly his laborious pro-
fession ; his plates are numerous and of great excel-
lence, while his skilful use of etching gives effect and
variety to the many textures represented. Earlom
engraved after various masters ancient and . modern,
and perhaps first showed the world the wide range of
subjects which the style was capable of effectively re-
presenting, such as — to mention only a few of the more
important plates — Correggio's " Repose in Egypt,"
Rubens' " Son and Nurse," Van Dyck's " Duke of
Arembergh on Horseback," Vanderwerff's " Bathsheba
bringing Abishag to David," the " Fish, Game, Vege-
table, and Fruit Markets," after Snyders and Long
John,* Van Huysum's fruit and flower pieces, Zoffany's
terribly realistic representation of a "Scene in the
French Revolution on the ipth of May, 1793," and his
" Life School at the Royal Academy," Wright of
Derby's " Blacksmith's Shop " and " Iron Forge," and
the six plates after Hogarth,." Marriage a la Mode."

The renown acquired by the works of English mezzo-
tinters gradually attracted the notice of other nations
— particularly Germany — where the style had almost
died out, and many foreign engravers came to this

* A painter more generally known as Langen Jan, born at Munster
in 1610, the correct name being John or Johann van Bockhorst ; the
name, however, appears as above in the engraving.

304 ENGRAVING.

country, amongst others, J. G. Haid and the Viennese
Jacobe, who not only executed valuable works in Eng-
land, but were the cause of a partial renewal of the
method in their own countries. The Austrian Pichler
(born 1765, died 1806) finished in pure mezzotint
many plates of exceptional merit, while his fruit and
flower pieces after Van Huysum rival the masterpieces
of Earlom after the same painter.

During the same period the English school had
been making rapid strides in the other branches of
copperplate engraving, line, stipple, and etching. Line,
which to this day is considered by many as the highest
style of the art, and which most certainly is well fitted
to render the human form with grace and purity of
outline and detail, has notwithstanding to overcome
the difficulty of adequately expressing the various
shades of colour and texture, and above all of realising
the due effects of atmosphere and distance, a serious
matter where the accessories are of importance or where
landscape enters largely into the composition of the
picture. It is, therefore, not surprising that, with
mezzotint at hand with its wide range of capabilities,
there should be comparatively few English engravers
of eminence devoting themselves to line.

Hogarth, who was born in 1697, and began life as
an engraver of arms and cyphers, naturally employed
the method of line to give expression to his bold and
vigorous designs, and in this was assisted by Luke
Sullivan, who had been a pupil of Thomas Major.
Major (born 1720) had spent some years in Paris
engraving after Berghem, Wouvermans, and others;

LINE ENGRAVING IN ENGLAND. 30$

he was an artist of skill, and lived to a considerable
age, holding for forty years the office of seal engraver
to the king, and being the first associate* engraver
elected by the Royal Academy.

In the year 1730, Vivares, who was a Frenchman
by birth, and who, in spite of natural artistic talents,
had been apprenticed to a tailor, came to England at
the age of eighteen and studied under Chatelain, an
artist of French Protestant parentage, but bom in
London. Vivares soon surpassed his master, acquired
great renown for his many fine plates of landscape
and sea-scenes, and became a member of the Society
of Artists ; he lived for thirty years in Great New-
port Street, and was buried in Paddington Church-
yard in the year 1780.

It is, however, from the pre-eminent excellence of the
line engravings of Strange, WooUett, and Sharp that
the right of England to a place in the hierarchy of the
art has been conceded by other nations. Sir Robert
Strange, descended from an ancient Scottish family,
was born at Orkney in 172 1, and served an apprentice-
ship of six years to Richard Cooper of Edinburgh. In
this city Strange started as an engraver on his own
account; when the civil war broke out he joined
the side of the Pretender, engraved a half-length por-
trait of him, and was appointed engraver to this prince ;
after the battle of Culloden, in which he is said to

♦ On the foundation of the Royal Academy in 1 768, Bartolozzi, to
the exclusion of Strange and Woollett, was admitted one of the first
forty members with full membership; all engravers afterwards up to
the year 1855 could only be elected as associate members.

U

306 ENGRAVING.

have taken part, Strange escaped to Paris, and had
there the advantage of studying under Le Bas. In
175 1 he returned to England, and established himself
in London, where his talents were readily recognised
and appreciated. On the accession of George III.,
Strange refused the commission to engrave whole-
length portraits of the king and his Prime Minister,
Lord Bute, thereby giving great offence, which, to-
gether with the remembrance of his former adventures,
made Strange think it prudent to leave the country
for a time ; therefore, to turn to good account even
such untoward circumstances, he determined to in-
crease the knowledge of his art by travelling through
the continent. In Italy he produced some of his
finest engravings after Titian, Raphael, Correggio,
Domenichino, Guido, and Van Dyck ; his talent was
everywhere acknowledged ; he was elected member
of the Academies of Rome, Florence, Bologna, Parma,
and Paris; and, on his return to London, by his en-
graving after West of the apotheosis of the king's three
children, who had died in infancy, he regained the
royal favour and received the distinction of knighthood.
Sir Robert Strange was a member of the Incorpo-
rated Society of Artists, but was very hostile to the
Royal Academy, deeply and justly resenting their ex-
clusion of engravers from full membership. During
the later part of his life he lived in Great Queen Street,
Lincoln's Inn Fields, where he died in 1792. He was
buried in St. Paul's Churchyard, Covent Garden.

Strange had chiefly devoted himself to classical
subjects and the delineation of the human form.

STRANGE AND WOOLLETT. 307

Woollett, on the other hand, took up the branches of
landscape and history, and by his skill of touch and
persistently intelligent labour produced such results
as were sufficient to call forth ungrudging praise from
all competent judges, not only in his own country, but
abroad. Among Woollett's most celebrated plates are
the " Fishery," the " Battle of La Hogue," and the
** Death of General Wolfe." In the printing of the last
plate an accident occurred after a few proofs had been
taken ; a printer in careless fun taking up a hammer,
cried out, "General Wolfe seems dying, Pll finish
him ; " saying this, he suited action to word, and unin-
tentionally brought the hammer down on the face of
the general, thus destroying by the freak of a moment
the work of days of patient labour. It is said that
Woollett cried on hearing the news ; the painter, his
art once learnt, fired by imagination, can by rapid
strokes of his brush give effect to his will, while the
engraver only attains his end by months of unremit-
ting and trustful toil.

Woollett was born at Maidstone in 1735, and was
apprenticed to John Tinney, who is now best known
as having been the master of three distinguished
pupils, Anthony Walker, John Browne, and Woollett
himself. Anthony Walker engraved the well-known
*' Law and Physic " after Ostade, and the figures in
the print of " Niobe," Woollett's first work of import-
ance. He was the brother of the William Walker who
greatly increased the effect of etching by re-biting,
and it is said that Woollett, when making use of the
process, was wont to exclaim, " Thank you, William
U 2

308 ENGRAVING.

Walker."* Woollett lived in London all his life in
the neighbourhood of Rathbone Place, where, when
he had finished a plate, he used to celebrate the event
by firing a cannon from the roof of his house ; he died
in 1785, and a tabletf was placed to his memory in
the cloisters of Westminster Abbey.

William Sharp was the son of a gunmaker in the
Minories, where he was born in 1749, and afterwards
apprenticed to Barak Longmate, a notable heraldic
engraver, with whom Sharp's first essay as an appren-
tice was engraving pewter pots. Sharp completed
the plate of West's *' Landing of Charles IL," left
unfinished by Woollett at his death, while many will
know one of his finest works, the " Doctors of the
Church," after Guido. Although he never left England,
his prints were celebrated throughout Europe ; he was
elected honorary member of the Imperial Academy
at Vienna and of the Royal Academy at Munich, but
like Woollett, Strange, and Hall, was not recognised
by the English Royal Academy. His religious and
political views were peculiar, and being considered a

* This engraver was in no way related to the better-known stipple
and historical engraver of the same name who flourished in the present
century.

t Woollett was buried in Old St. Pancras Churchyard ; on a plain
tombstone which marks the spot were found one day written in pencil
the two lines —

** Here Woollett rests, expecting to be sav'd,
He graved well, but is not well engraved."

Shortly afterwards a subscription was raised, to which Benjamin West
and John Boydell contributed, for the purpose of erecting the above-
mentioned tablet which now stands in the West Cloisteiv

WILLIAM SHARP. 309

dangerous character, he was summoned before the
Privy Council, where at length, annoyed by repeated
and, as he considered, irrelevant questions, Sharp is
said to have deliberately pulled out of his pocket a
prospectus of his engraving of the celebrated Polish
general and patriot Kosciusko, and handing it to the
council, requested their names as subscribers ; this
and his frank manner relieved him from the unpleasant
predicament in which he found himself placed. Sharp
also engraved a portrait of Richard Brothers — a
fanatic whose prophecies and writings excited atten-
tion at the time — with the title of " Prince of the
Hebrews," and wrote underneath: ** Fully believing
this to be the man whom God has appointed, I
engrave his likeness." Though successful and in-
dustrious in his art, Sharp died in comparative poverty
in the year 1824 at Chiswick.

Among other distinguished men who worked in line
during this period must be mentioned James Heath,
Anker Smith, John Keyse Sherwin, Francis Legat,
Thomas Morris — a pupil of WooUett's — who engraved
the fine views of the Monument, seen from Fish Street
Hill, and St. Paul's Cathedral from Ludgate Hill, and
lastly the unfortunate William Wynne Ryland, who
engraved the portraits of George HI. and Lord Bute,
which Strange had refused to undertake, and who,
though of greater eminence in line, is credited with
bringing into notice in England the stipple manner
of engraving. Ryland finally ended an adventurous
career by being hanged for forging two bills on the
East India Company, and by his death — notwith-

310 ENGRAVING.

standing all efforts to obtain a reprieve — justified words
used in relation to the event : " Popes and monarchs
have pardoned men who had committed crimes of the
deepest dye — even murder — in consideration of their
talents as artists ; but Ryland lived in England, the land
of trade and commerce, and had committed an offence
against the laws of money, the god of its idolatry."
Nor during the history of this period ought the
names of Thomas Worlidge, David Deuchar, and the
ingenious Captain Baillic to be omitted; Worlidge in
the early part, and Deuchar at the close of the cen-
tury, etched each in his own style with precision and
effect, while William Baillie, an Irishman and retired
cavalry officer (born 1723, died 1810), etched and
worked in mezzotint with equal happiness and success.
William Blake (born 1757), poet, engraver, and
painter, stands alone. In engraving — the laborious art
by which he was content to live — he has executed
admirable works, apart from his own peculiar methods,
both in line, as shown in the portrait of Lavater, and
in stipple, as in the " Industrious Cottager," after
Morland ; as poet and painter he has left songs and
designs which, if soaring higher than men can follow,
or even his own powers of hand and mind sufficiently
express, remain for ever to arouse the wonder and
excite the imagination of posterity. Though he lived
in poverty, and oppressed with cares, he was always
cheerful and beloved by all who knew him intimately ;
he was ever at work while life lasted, and died in
1827, as he had lived, a righteous and happy man.
He was laid in Bunhill Fields burying-ground, but

PRINTING IN COLOUR. 3 II

the spot where he was buried is marked by no tomb-
stone, nor can it now be actually identified ; but who
that has looked at the portrait engraved by Jecns
from Linneirs wondrous miniature can ever forget the
face of the poet, engraver, and painter, William Blake ?
Before speaking of the branch of engraving known
by the name of stipple, it would be well to say a
few words as to the mode of printing in colour, so
prevalent at one time, and of the connection which
the works of Kirkall had in relation to the method.

•

Edward Kirkall, born at Sheffield in the year 1722,
published a set of plates, in the printing of which he
made use both of mezzotint and etching on copper-
plate combined with wood blocks (that is to say, one
printing was from a copperplate, the remainder from
wood blocks), in order to give variety of colour to
a set of chiaroscuros and other engravings which he
executed at that time. His plan differed from that
of Leblond in that he used only one copperplate
printing, the other tints being given by wood blocks ;
the results were interesting and effective, partaking
more of the character of chiaroscuros, the name he
himself gave to them. Apart from the failure of
Leblond to realise his ingenious idea that, by the con-
secutive and proper superposition of three layers of
primitive colours, every shade of colour might be pro-
duced in the print, there still remained another fatal
defect in the process : all his colours were impressed
by copperplate printing, that is, he made use of three
plates successively printed one after the other on the
same sheet of paper. Now a person who can realise

312 ENGRAVING.

the heavy pressure under which a copperplate has to
pass so as to force it into the damp paper, in order
that the paper should extract the ink from the grain
in which it is held, will be able to see that the second
and third printing — no matter how accurate the re-
gister — must crush the grain or burr given to the
paper by the previous printing and thus destroy the
beauty of the engraver's work. Notwithstanding the
really remarkable results produced by Leblond, this
fatal imperfection mars all the engravings he has left
executed in this manner. The copperplates which
were printed in colour and carried to such perfec-
tion, particularly in England, about the close of
the eighteenth century, were printed from one plate,
generally executed in stipple, and the various tints or
colours carefully rubbed in by the printer, who used
for this purpose a sort of stump instead of the ordi-
nary dabber. Whatever artistic harmony in colour
might be produced was therefore partially the work,
and to the credit of the printer ; the printed impres-
sions were in addition generally touched up afterwards,
and in some cases almost entirely coloured by hand.
Every impression printed in colours necessarily varies ;
some are really exquisite in their delicacy of tone and
assemblage of shades, while others are contemptible
in their staring vulgarity. Kirkall engraved an elabo-
rate ornamental form on which to give a receipt to
his subscribers for these engravings ; one of which,
running thus, "Receipt from Sir Hans Sloane of
one guinea as part payment for twelve prints in
chiaroscuro which he (Kirkall) promises to deliver

THE RISE OF STlffLE. 3 13

when finished on payment of one guinea more," can
be seen at the British Museum, and will give some
idea of the moderate remuneration artists of those
days were content to receive for their valuable labour.
The rise of stipple as a separate style took place
in the middle of the eighteenth century, and although
the coming of Bartolozzi to England gave it so great
an impetus, it is necessary to point out that the works
of the school which goes by his name by no means
show the capabilities of the method. The aim of Bar-
tolozzi and his followers was essentially prettiness; to
this all their efforts tended, and for this stipple was a
convenient medium. The very printing in red, recently
so popular, is barbarous in its ineffectiveness, plates so
printed being deprived of a great part of their proper
ranges of light and shade. The more serious work in
this method was accomplished by other engravers, of
whom may be specially mentioned Thomas Gaugain,
Anthony Cardon, Caroline Watson, and, later on in
the present century, William Walker, who carried the
style to the highest point ever reached or likely to
be reached. Engraving in stipple — that is, putting
dots into the plate in place of lines — was, however, no
new invention ; from early times line engravers had
placed dots in the interstices of their crossed lines
to give solidity and greater effect. Ottavio Leoni, a
Roman painter, had used the method freely in a set
of plates of distinguished artists, which he engraved
in the years 1621-5, executing the heads, with the
exception of the hair, entirely in stipple ; and early
in the century French engravers made use of the

314 EKGRAVINC.

same means to give effect to many of their flesh
textures. The crayon style of engraving introduced
by Dcmarteau, and the feeble English manner known
as chalk, which had only a limited reign, are but
modifications of the style.

Francesco Bartolozzi, the life-long friend of Cipriani
(born in 1725 at Florence), was educated in engraving
at Venice by Joseph Wagner, and like Cipriani, who
had preceded him, came over to England in 1764.
His reputation was already established there ; he was
appointed engraver to the king with a salary of ;f 300
a year, became one of the first forty full members
of the Royal Academy (1768), and was the only
engraver admitted to the honour down to the year
1855. Bartolozzi remained in England for thirty-
eight years, continuously producing his innumerable
and well-known plates ; at length, in 1802, seduced by
the offer of a house, pension, and a knighthood, he
went, at the age of seventy-seven, to Lisbon, where he
died in 1815, having reached his ninety-first year, and
working at his profession to the last. John Ogborn,
Cheesman, Thomas Ryder, Chapman, Agar, T. Burke,
and the delightful P. W. Tomkins— who, with the late
C. H. Jeens,maybe called the miniaturist of engravers-
were all followers more or less of his school. An ad-
mirable draughtsman and perfect master of the graver,
Bartolozzi was in addition able to infuse a certain
grace and beauty into the trivial work by which he is
best known ; but he has done work of a higher stamp,
and some of his line engravings, such as " Clytie,"
the " Death of Dido," the portraits of Lord Thurlow

BARTOLOZZl AND HIS SCHOOL. 315

and Martin van Juchen in full armour (worthy of the
graver of Pontius or De Jode), make all who care for
the art regret that so talented an artist gave the
greater part of his time and attention to producing
prints which, though graceful and pleasing, charm but
for the moment and leave no permanent impression.

This, the Augustan era of English engraving, saw
also the rise of the talented and genial Thomas Bewick
(born 1753, died 1828), who made the domain of natural
history his own, and in addition to executing some
interesting copper plates, has by his exquisite wood-
cuts after his own drawings entitled England to claim
her place amongst the greatest artists in that form of
engraving. The Boydells, too, had established their
celebrated firm ; both were engravers, John in line,
and Josiah, his nephew (a pupil of Earlom), in mezzo-
tint John Boydell was born in 17 19, and established
himself first (in 1752) at the sign of the "Unicorn,"
corner of Queen Street, Cheapside, afterwards at 90
Cheapside, and finally took additional premises in
Pall Mall for the Shakespeare Gallery. Josiah was
born in 1752, succeeded on his uncle's death (1804) to
the business, and died in 18 17. A great proportion
of the best prints of this period will be found to bear
the addresses of these famous publishers and engravers.

The last years of the eighteenth and the com-
mencement of the present century witnessed the death
of many of the famous engravers already mentioned.
It was now that the Birmingham school of line arose,
and, urged by the influence of J. M. W. Turner,
executed their delicate line engravings after that

3l6 ENGRAVING.

famous painter. William Radclyffe was the founder
of this school, and was followed by his son Edward,
Robert Brandard, J. T. Willmore, E. Goodall, R.
Wallis, William Miller, and others. Sharp, Anker
Smith, James Heath, Earlom, Dickinson, Young, and
J. R. Smith still remained for a time, but much of
their best work was already done. William Ward, ap-
prenticed to J. R. Smith, his brother James, the noted
animal painter, Charles Turner and Samuel William
Reynolds had also appeared to carry on and bring
to its fullest development the great British school of
mezzotint. William Ward, bom in 1766, by his series
of engravings after George Morland — whose sister he
married — has made the names of the painter and
engraver almost indissoluble, each having contributed
to the immortality of the other. James, the painter
and Royal Academician, born in 1769, studied under
his brother, with whom he served an apprenticeship
of nearly nine years ; his plates of " Cornelius the
Centurion " after Rembrandt, Sir Joshua*s " Mrs.
Billlngton as St. Cecilia,'' and the studies after nature
of heads and feet of ducks, ducklings, geese, and
calves, are among the finest works executed in the
method. James lived to a great age, dying in 1859 in
his ninety-first year, having survived his brother and
also a nephew, William James Ward. The last-named
was likewise a good mezzotint engraver, but unfor-
tunately died in the prime of life in the year 1840.

Charles Turner was born in the sanie year as S. W.
Reynolds (1773), and survived the latter by more than
twenty years ; his prints are very numerous, and

SAMUEL WILLIAM REYNOLDS. 317

comprise a great variety of subjects. The large up*
right mezzotint of Sir Joshua's group of the Marl-
borough family, with the two younger children in
front, one holding a mask, the other shrinking back
in fright, is deservedly well known, as is also his fine
rendering of " The Shipwreck " after J. M. W. Turner,
published in 1807. Other characteristic prints which
may be mentioned are " Black and Red Game," after
Elmer; "Pheasants," after Barenger; the portraits
of "Alexandra, Empress of Russia," after Monier;
" Lord Newton," after Raeburn ; and a marvellous
life-size head of Salvator Rosa's "St. Francis,"
engraved in 1805. Turner lived till the year 1857,
when he died at his house in Warren Street, Fitzroy
Square, at the age of eighty-three.

Samuel William Reynolds, one of the most gifted
men who ever applied themselves to the engraver's
art, studied mezzotint under C. H. Hodges ; he com-
menced his comparatively short career both as painter
and engraver, and exhibited for several years at the
British Institution. Endowed with singular powers
of fascination, Reynolds seems to have attracted and
kept fast the friendship of all with whom he became
acquainted, irrespective of their particular social
surroundings. Samuel Whitbread, the distinguished
Member of Parliament, of old Drury Lane Theatre
renown, was his intimate and kindest friend ; Sheridan
and Edmund Kean played at Pope Joan with his
daughters, and the very printer of his plates fifty
years after Reynolds' death would grow bright when
recalling his memory, saying, "He wa3 the prince

3l8 ENGRAVING.

of engravers." He gave lessons in drawing to the
daughters of George III., who wished to make him
their equerry, and afterwards an important post with
a salary of £goo a year was offered him, but both
these offers were refused.

It is from the technical skill and firm daring which
Reynolds displayed in his prints, and the intelligent
use he made of the means at his command, that his
name as an engraver remains pre-eminent ; the " Fal-
coner," " Vulture and Snake," " Heron and Spaniel,'^
and " Leopards " after Northcote ; the " Duchess of
Bedford " after Hoppner ; the ** regal " whole-length
of the unfortunate Princess Charlotte ; the large and
exquisitely finished etching from Rembrandt's famous
picture of " The Mill ; " and the " Land Storm "—
known also as the "Mail Coach in a Storm" — after
George Morland, are but a few of the many prints
which show the power and versatility of the engraver.
In the last-named print (published 1798), where the
resources of mezzotint and etching combined have
been used to fullest purpose, the familiar identity of
the painter has been almost hidden under the massive
effects of light and shade shown in the landscape,
where amidst lightning flash and rushing wind the
terror-stricken horses are seen dashing madly onward.

When Reynolds went to Paris in 1826, artists
there were astonished at his paintings and the effects
that he produced. Sixdeniers and Maile studied
with him, and several plates bear their combined
names ; unfortunately both these engravers, excel-
lent as they were as mezzotinters, chiefly engraved

SAMUEL WILLIAM REYNOLDS. 319

after painters whose productions partook of a frivo-
lous and somewhat free character. Reynolds, how-
ever, left more permanent marks of his stay in the
French capital by executing there the large plates
of G^ricault's " Wreck of the Medusa," Horace Ver-
net's " Mazeppa," and the masterly representations of
Charlet's characteristic types, the "Village Barber"
and the " Rag Picker." In the last two the technical
handling is so free that it would almost seem as if the
scraper had been used with the same facility as chalk
on paper. In reference to this there is a story extant
that Reynolds once scraped a large whole-length
portrait in a day and a night ; the story is true, but it
is also true that it is one of his worst plates.

Shortly before his death Reynolds was greatly
struck with Constable's picture of "The Lock," and
resolved to engrave it at his own cost ; writing to Con-
stable on the arrival of the picture, he says : — " I have
been before your picture for the last hour. It is no
doubt the best of your works true to nature, seen and
arranged with a professor's taste and judgment. The
execution shows in every part a hand of experience ;
masterly without rudeness, and complete without
littleness ; the colouring is sweet, fresh, and healthy ;
bright not gaudy, but deep and clear. Take it for all
in all, since the days of Gainsborough and Wilson no
landscape has been painted with so much truth and
originality, so much art, so little artifice." But he
did not live to fulfil his intention, for while still full
of hope and high purpose for the future, Reynolds
was suddenly stricken with paralysis, and died at his

320 ENGRAVING.

house in Bayswater in the year 1835. This sudden end-
ing was the cause of his son — likewise named Samuel
William — forsaking painting to finish some of his
father's plates, and ultimately continuing with success
the practice of mezzotint on his own account. Rey-
nolds' daughter Elizabeth, who married the stipple en-
graver WiHiam Walker — though chiefly known by her
miniatures and other paintings — also engraved in early
life.* Although there are no authentic records of the
pedigree, S. W. Reynolds always assarted his collateral
relationship to Sir Joshua Reynolds, and his son often
mentioned that his father, when quite a youth, called on
Sir Joshua, who, during the conversation that ensued,
remarked to Reynolds, " Then you are my cousin."

Other engravers of eminence that flourished during
this period are, in line, the Bromleys, John Landseer
and his sons, Charles Heath, William B. Cooke and
his brother George,t John Burnet (celebrated as
painter, engraver, and author), Richard Golding, and
John Scott ; in stipple, William Bond, Thomas Wool-
noth, and James Hopwood ; in mezzotint, Henry
Dawe, William Say, Henry Meyer, George Clint, and
his pupil Thomas Lupton, who, for his introduction
of soft steel instead of copper as the medium for
mezzotint engraving, received in 1822 the gold Isis
medal from the Society of Arts.

* Opie painted a life-size head of S. W. Reynolds, and of his
daughter Elizabeth as " Red Riding Hood " (exhibited at the winter
exhibition of the Royal Academy, 1876) ; this portrait of herself
Elizabeth engraved in mezzotint at the age of fourteen.

t Father of the late E. W, Cooke, R.At

WILLIAM WALKER. 321

The method of stipple was meanwhile slowly
dying out, but, as often happens when some particular
art seems about to expire, this was the veiy time
when the capabilities of the style were shown in the
highest perfection. William Walker, born in Mussel-
burgh in the year 1791, served an apprenticeship
to three engravers, Mitchell, Stewart, and Thomas
Woolnoth, and choosing stipple as his method of
interpretation, in his portraits of Sir Walter Scott,
Raeburn, and .the Earl of Hopetoun, justified his
choice by executing the finest works that were ever
accomplished in the style. He astonished the mezzo-
tinters of the period — who told him that, do what he
could, he would never make stipple equal mezzotint
in colour"^ — by the amount of force, colour, and effect
which he was able to give to these plates. It is
needless to say that such work as this could only be
accomplished at the expense of intense energy and
persevering labour, qualities which were the essential
characteristics of the Scotch engraver. Later on,
when settled in London, and more particularly after
the introduction of steel in place of copper. Walker
chiefly practised mezzotint, in which, however, he made
use of his previous experience, etching his subject first
in stipple before laying the mezzotint ground. His
plate of Burns, engraved in mezzotint by himself and
Mr. Cousins, owes a great part of its renown to
Walker's power of rendering likeness ; in regard to

* Walker engraved the portrait of Raeburn with the special purpose
of proving the contrary.

V

322 ENGRAVING.

•

this, the painter Alexander Nasmyth remarked, on
seeing the finished print, "that all he could say was
that it seemed to him a better likeness of the poet
than his own picture." This particular quality of
fidelity in likeness Walker carried out in all his after
historical works ; for this purpose no trouble was too
much, no labour too severe ; the engraving of the
" Distinguished Men of Science assembled at the
Royal Institution in 1807-8," which occupied a period .
of six years of unceasing research and labour, is a
striking instance. This was practically his last plate.
He died at the age of- seventy-six, in the year 1867,
at his house in Margaret Street, Cavendish Square,
and was buried at Brompton Cemetery.

The death of Reynolds in 1835 seems to mark
roughly the closing period of English engraving as
a great art ; two of his most renowned pupils were,
however, still in the fulness of power, David Lucas
and the present Mr. Samuel Cousins, R.A.*^ Of
Mr. Cousins, it is sufficient to relate that Reynolds,
happening one day to be in the town of Exeter, saw
some drawings in a shop window which caught his
eye, and on going inside he learnt that they were by
a lad of the name of Cousins, which incident led to
Reynolds taking the youth to London and keeping
him as his apprentice. Mr. Cousins' artistic genius,
steady perseverance, and sterling integrity in all that
he undertook, brought their full results, as shown in

* John Lucas, the well-known portrait painter and also engraver
in mezzotint, was likewise a pupil of Reynolds.

DAVID LUCAS. 323

the fine series of mezzotint engravings so widely
known and highly appreciated, and his name may
indeed be said to close worthily the long line of great
British mezzotinters.

David Lucas was born in the year 1 802, and had
the good fortune to meet in early life with Constable,
between whom and Lucas was formed that intimate
connection of painter and engraver which in earlier
times had led to such great results. Failing Reynolds,
Constable had applied to Lucas to be his engraver,
and between them was completed the beautiful mezzo-
tint series of English landscape ; Constable bore the
expense and was ever in counsel with the engraver,
going into the minutest details, thinking no trouble
too much to produce a good result, down to the print-
ing of the plates, which they often did themselves,
Lucas having had a press erected at his house for the
purpose. The execution of this series led to Lucas
undertaking the large plate of "The Cornfield" at
his own risk, and afterwards the companion picture of
" The Lock " — referred to before — finally culminating
in his production of the superb engraving of Salisbury
Cathedral as seen from the meadows, to which Con-
stable himself gave the name of " The Rainbow.""^
During all this period constant intercourse and

* The plate of Salisbury Cathedral was engraved at Constable's
expense and published in 1837 by Messrs. Hodgson, Graves and Co., for
the painter. After his sudden death in the same year it was sold at
Foster's, Pall Mall, in 1838, and bought in for eighty guineas, hardly
the price of two proofs at the present time.

Through the kindness of Mr. Algernon Graves, the writer has had
access to many manuscript notes written by David Lucas.

V 2

324 ENGRAVING.

correspondence took place between the painter and
engraver. At one time, Constable writes, " Although
much admired, Salisbury is still too heavy ; the senti-
ment of the picture is that of solemnity not gaiety,
yet it must be bright, clear, alive, fresh, and all the
front seen." At another, " The bow is a grand whole,
provided it is clear and tender ; how I wish I could
scratch and tear away with your tools on the steel,
but I can't do it, and your quiet way is I know the
best and only way." At length comes, " Dear Lucas,
the print is a noble and beautiful thing entirely im-
proved and entirely made perfect; the bow is noble,
it is startling, unique." So hand-in-hand they worked
on, the painter upbearing his helpmate the engraver,
each aiding the other, little noticed by the public at
the time, but slowly building up an imperishable fame.
David Lucas died in 1881 in his eightieth year.

In the middle of the century, inartistic mixture
of styles, mechanical means replacing true work,
exigencies of copyright, and above all the complete
severance of the engraver not only from the painter
but also from his only rightful patron the public, had
worked its sure result. Some good men survived,
such as Lewis, Atkinson, Doo, Robinson, J. H.
Watt, R. Graves, J. Posselwhite, Lumb Stocks, Henry
Cousins,* W. Giller, J. R. Jackson, and a few others ;
but no young school had been forming to replace
those dying out, and everything presaged the gradual
extinction of engraving as one of the great arts. Has

* Brother of Samuel Cousins, R.A.

C. H. JEENS AND W. H. SHERBORNE. 325

this lowest point been reached ? Perhaps, as with the
beautiful art of miniature painting, which for a time
on the advent of photography seemed gone for ever,
yet still like some stream was only running on in
hidden course underground to appear «igain and reach
daylight, so may it happen with engraving.

Within the last few years two engravers have
produced prints worthy of any period of the art, the
late C. H. Jeens and the present Mr. W. H. Sherborne.
Some of the stipple miniature book illustrations which
Jeens executed for Messrs. Macmillan and others, such
as the gem medallions of Plato and Socrates, "Love
and Death," Woolner's "Beautiful Lady,'* the portraits
of Allan Ramsay, Charles Young, Mr. Ruskin's two
Aunts, and above all William Blake, are engraved
with the tender feeling and fine touch of the true
artist. Mr. Sherborne, born in 1832, probably little
known except by the few, originally a chaser and
designer for jewellers and pupil of Pietro Gerometti,
the Roman cameo engraver and medallist, in 1872,
fired by hope and love of the art, forsook his own
branch to follow that of engraving. Like all true
artists, his mode of execution is his own. Apollo,
exhibited at the Royal Academy, 1881, the head of
Mr. Seymour Haden, the portraits of Phelps the
Chelsea Waterman or Mrs. James Builth, and the
interiors of Westminster Abbey, seen at the Painter-
Etchers' Exhibition in the summer of 1885, are works
that will last, and are good examples of the engraver's
powers, causing regret that Mr. Sherborne had not
earlier turned his attention to an art the beauty of

^26 ENGRAVING.

which he so truly feels. While engraving as a whole
was decaying, one branch, that of etching, has been
undergoing a revival, and the names of Mr. Seymour
Haden, Mr. Philip Hamerton, and Mr. Whistler are
world-known. They and their school have confined
themselves to producing their own designs, while
others, like Mr. David Law, Mr. Macbeth, and the
Messrs. Slocombe, also translate the works of painters.
But, whether as a vehicle for conveying an original
design or translating that of another artist, etching
is strictly limited in its powers ; it bears the same
relation to the full art of engraving as sketching or
drawing does to that of perfect painting ; suggestive,
capable of exhibiting broad effects of light and shade,
or indicative of the idiosyncrasy of the etcher, it is, of
its very nature, incomplete, and acts but as herald to
proclaim the greater results to be obtained by follow-
ing out the art to its proper goal.

The great impetus which Bewick*s genius gave to
the art of wood engraving at the commencement of
the present century was carried onwards by his dis-
tinguished pupils Luke Clennell, Charlton Nesbitt,
and William Harvey, the latter of whom, in 1821, cut
the large block of thedeathof Dentatus(i5in. x i ijin.)
from the picture of the erratic genius B. R. Haydon,
under whom he was at that time studying drawing.
Robert Branston, John Thompson and his brother
Charles,* Jackson, and W. J. Linton, are names of

* Better known in France, where he settled in 1816, he died in the
neighbourhood of Paris in 1843, and introduced there the mode of

MODERN WOOD ENGRAVING. 327

equal renown ; in fact, during the first half of the
century, England may be said to have been supreme
in the art. Gradually, however, the various mechanical
processes for facilitating the commercial extension
of the art such as electrotyping,"^ photography, &c.,
brought here, too, their deteriorating effects, causing
the engraver to become less of an artist and more of
a mechanic. In delicacy of work and elaboration of
detail, American artists now stand first among wood
engravers ; but they attempt too much with the means
at their command, and try to produce upon the com-
paratively soft material, wood, the delicate fineness
of line which can only be realised in perfection on
metal. The extreme closeness of the lines, combined
with the exigencies of rapid surface printing, dull
more or less the minute interstices which ought to
show pure white ; effect is lost, and, notwithstanding
the excellence of the workmanship, the result becomes
monotonous and wearying rather than pleasurable
to the satiated eye. In etching also America takes
high rank ; in addition to Mr. Whistler, the names
of Messrs. J. Gadsby Chapman, Gifford, Duveneck,
F. S. Church, Pennell, Stephen Parrish, and Mr. and
Mrs. Moran, are well known in Europe.

In the complete styles of engraving, stipple, line,
and mezzotint, although American engravers are little
known out of their own country — a large enough

cutting on the end of the grain instead of with the grain as was before
the practice.

* First introduced in 1840, although not in general practice until
some years later.

328 ENGRAVING.

field, however, in which to exercise their talents —
some good work has also been done ; In stipple, by
David Edwin, Ion. B. Forrest, Gimbrede, and C.
Tiebout ; in mezzotint, by Charles Wilson Peale,
A. H. Ritchie, and John Sartain, who, after having
worked under the direction of William Young Ottley,
went from London to America in 1830 at the age of
twenty-two ; and in line, by Asher Brown Durand ;
Joseph Andrews ; the Smillies ; and Charles Burt,
who is said to have been the actual engraver of the
fine plate of Leonardo's " Last Supper," copied from
Morghen's print of the same subject, and bearing the
name of A. L. Dick as engraver. The lives of these
and others not mentioned were often eventful and
picturesque, and would repay study. Some leaving
England, Scotland, or Ireland in early life to settle in
the land of their adoption, had to struggle with diffi-
culties, often teach themselves, make their own tools,
like John Cheney, or like Charles Wilson Peale, turn
their hands to whatever duty might present itself.
Peale was a captain of volunteers, dentist, lecturer
on natural history, saddler, watchmaker, silversmith,
painter in oil, crayons, or in miniature on ivory,
modeller in clay and wax, engraver in mezzotint, and
to crown all, as his son was wont to say, a mild,
benevolent, and good man. Many also devoted their
talents to bank-note engraving, a branch of the art
highly cultivated in the United States, in which the
skill of the inventor and mechanic has been united
with the grace and genius of the artist. As engravers
in this particular style may be specially mentioned

ENGRAVING IN AMERICA. 329

W. E. Marshall, J. W. Casilear, M. J. Danforth,
Gideon Fairman, and Jacob Perkins, the latter of
whom, with Fairman and the ingenious Asa Spencer,
came over to England in 1818 to compete for the
premium of ;^20,ooo offered by the Bank of England
for a bank-note which could not be counterfeited.
Although not successful, the Bank allowed them the
sum of ;^S,ooo in consideration of their ingenuity and
the trouble and expense which they had incurred in
the matter. While Asa Spencer is to be credited
with inventing the method of applying the geometric
lathe "^ to engraving the involved patterns on bank-
notes, Perkins has the honour of introducing the
process of transfer by means of steel rollers. The
portrait or other design is engraved in the usual
manner on a die plate, which is then hardened ; a soft
steel roller or cylinder is now rolled over the die
with great pressure by means of a powerful machine,
causing the cylinder to take off in its course the im-
pression of the design in relief; this roller is now
hardened in its turn, and by the use of similar means
made to impress another soft steel die ; by repeating
this process, any requisite number of plates can thus
be reproduced the exact fac -similes of the original
engraved die plate. Owing to the mechanical neces-
sity that only a small surface of the roller should
press on the die at a given moment, the diameter of
the cylinder requires to be small, so that several of

* On the principle of that which is known as ** engine turning," as
seen on the back of watch-cases.

330 ENGRAVING.

these dies, and consequently of the rollers, will be
required to complete the entire plate from which the
ultimate printing of the note is effected.

Finally it may be well to conclude this brief
account of the British school of engraving by call-
ing attention to the considerations which ought to
govern buyers of engravings ; buy only that which
gives real personal satisfaction, distrust a seller's in-
ducements, in price be ruled by the amount that can
be justly afforded, reject alluring thoughts of future
money gain (or be prepared to pay the sure penalty —
destruction of natural artistic feeling and hope of
further cultivation), and ever bear in mind the words
of Constable to his engraver : " Tone, tone, my
dear Lucas, is the most seductive and inviting quality
a picture or print can possess ; it is the first thing seen,
and like a flower, invites to the examination of the
plant itself."^

* It is also necessary to point out that no impression damaged from
course of time or printed from a worn-out plate can give any idea of the
original engraving as a work of art. Other things being equal, proofs
Tixt prima facte likely to be the best impressions, but a good print (that
is a later impression), if in good condition, is far more valuable than a
damaged or rubbed proof, however early the state may be.

%* The writer of the Chapter on English Engraving desires to
acknowledge the facilities kindly placed at his disposal by Mr. Sidney
Colvin, Keeper of Prints and Drawings at the British Museum, and to
express his recognition of the valuable aid afforded him by Mr. F. M.
0*Donoghue, of the same department.

CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE

OF THE MORE IMPORTANT ENGRAVERS BELONGING
TO THE BRITISH SCHOOL OF ENGRAVING.

Foreign Engravers practising in England are marked with an asterisk.

b. stands for born ; d., died ; fl., flouri^hed ; c, about.

Cent.

i6th Raynalde, Thomas.

,, Geminus, Thomas.

,, •HoGENBERG, Francis.

,, ♦HoGENBERG, Remigius.

( Brother of above. )
„ Rogers, William.

17th •De Passe, Crispin.

>*

I)

*De Passe, Magdalen.
(Daughter of above.)

♦De Passe, William.
(Son of above.)

♦De Passe, Simon.
(Son of above.)

Delaram, Francis.

Elstracke, Reginald.

Peake, Sir Robert.

,, ♦Hollar, Wenceslaus.
,, ♦LoMBART, Peter.

,, Faithorne, William.

(Pupil of Sir Robert Peake.)

Published in 1540 a book called "The Birth
of Mankind," illustrated by copperplate
engravings.

Published in 1545 a translation of ** Vesalius'
Anatomy, "written and illustrated with copper-
plates engraved by himself.

Engraved in line a portrait of Queen Mary I. of
England, bearing date 1555. (I'here are doubts
as to the correctness of this date.)

Engraved in line portrait of Matthew Parker,
Archbishop of Canterbury, bearmg date 1573.

b. London c. 1545. Engraved in line a fine whole-
length portrait of Queen Elizabeth, afterwards
republished and reduced in size.

b. Utrecht c. 1560. Line. Engraved and drew
from life.

b. Utrecht 1583. Line.

b. Utrecht c. 1590 ; fl. 1620-27. Line.

b. Utrecht 1591 ; d. c. 1644. Line. His earliest
work in England dated 1613.

fl. c. 1620. Line.

fl. c. 1620. Line.

b. c. 1592; d. 1645. Line. Also painted por-
traits in miniature. Master of engraver Faith-
orne and painter Dobson.

b. Prague 1607 ; d. London 1677. Etcher,
finishing, when necessary, with fine graver.

b. Paris 1612 ; came to England c. 1653. remain-
ing for considerable number of years ; d. Paris.
Line. Engraved series of twelve portraits
called "The Countesses."

b. London 1616 ; d. London 1691. Line.

332

ENGRAVING.

CenL

17th *Vandeiibanic, Peter.
(Pupil of De Poilly.)

,, Barlow, Francis.

„ Cavwood. Robert.
(Pupil of Hollar.)

„ •LiKXiAN, David.

(Pupil of Simon de Pa&se.)

„ Rupert, Prince.

Shrrwin, William.

Olivbr, John.
(Nephew and pupil of
Peter Oliver, minuture
painter and etcher.)

Place, Francis.

ToMPSON, Richard.
Browne, Alexander.

•Blootelingh, .\hrahain.
(Pupil of Cornelius Visscher.)

♦Valck, Gerard.

(Pupil of Blootelingh.)

•I

>>

II

>>

II

White, Robert.

(Pupil of David Loggan.)

♦Vandervaart, John.

•Van Somer, Paul.

(Pupil of John Van
Somer, probably his
brother.)
Faithorne, William, junr.
(Son of William Faith-
orne.)
Luttrell, E.
(Said to have learnt me-
thod of mezzotint from
Blois, ground layer to
Blootelingh.)

Beckett, Isaac.
(Attracted by Luttrell's
works, learnt the me-
thod of mezzotint from
Lloyd, a printseller, who
is said to have obtained
the secret from Blois,
ground layer to Bloote-
lingh.)

b. Paris ; of Dutch extraction ; came to England
c. 1674 ; d. Bradfield 1697. Line.

b. Lincolnshire 1626 ; d. London 1703. Etcher,
line engraver, and animal painter.

b. c. 1630 ; d. c. 171 1. Etcher and line engraver,
chiefly of animal subjects.

b. Dantzic c 16^0 ; d. London 1693. Line. Por-
trait and architectural engraver and painter.

b. 1619 ; d. i68a. Introduced mezzotint into
England, and engraved some fine prints in the
method, which were probably executed abroad.

b. c. 1650; d. c 1714- 'Engraved portrait of
Charles II. 1669, the earliest dated print la
mezzotint authentically engraved in England.

b. 1616 ; d. 1701. Glass painter; also engraved
in mezzotint.

b. c. 1640 ; d. 1728. Mezzotint, line, etching.

fl. 1670. A good many early mezzotint prints
bear these two names, but only as publishers
Wxcudit not scul^sit)^ and there is great doubt
if any were actually engraved by them.
Browne wrote the ** Ars Pictoria" in 1669, in
which "The Manner or Way of Mezo Tinto"
is described ; published by himself, Tompson,
and another.

b. Amsterdam 1634 ; d. c. 1695. Line and
mezzotint. C^me to England for a few
years 1673.

b. Amsterdam c. :626; d. c. 1720. Mezzotint and
line. Accompanied Blootelingh to England,
not leaving until after 1680.

b. London 1645 < ^- I'Ondon 1704 Line. Por-
trait draughtsman from life.

b. Haarlem 1647 : d. London 1721. Mezzotinter
and painter. Came to England 1674.

b. Amsterdam 1649 ; d. London 1694. Mezzotint.

b. London 1656 ; d. London 1686. Mezzotint

b. Dublin c. 1650; d. c. 17 10. Mezzot'nter and
crayon portraitist.

b. Kent 1653 I ^- ^7^9- Mezzotint. Prints all
dated between 1681 — 88.

CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE.

333

Cent.

17th Smith, John.

(Pupil of Beckett
Vandervaart.)
„ Williams, R.

i»

»t

•DoRiGNY, Sir Nicholas.

Lkns, Bernard.
*Gribblin, Simon.

n

LuMi.EY, George.
(Friend of Francis Place.)

„ White, George.

(Son and pupil of Rohert
White.)

i8ih •Simon, John (or Jean).

»»

»»

*•

»•

»»

>f

Vhrtue, George.

•Van Blbeck, Peter.
•Faber, John, sen.

•Faber, John, jun.

(Son and pupil of above.)

Hogarth, William.
( First apprenticed to sil-
versmith.)

Sullivan, Luke.

* Baron, Bernard.

(Pupil of Tardieu,
French engraver.)

WoRLiDGE, Thomas.

b. Daventry 1652 ; d. Northampton 174a. Mezzo-
and tint.

b. Wales. Mezzotint. Prints dated c. 1680 to
1704.

b. Paris 1657 ; d. Paris 1746. Line. Settled in
London 1711 — 24. Knighted by George I. for
his set of Raphael's canoons.

b. London 1659 : d- >725. Mezzotint.

b. Blois 1661 ; d. England 1733. Line. Came

to England 1680 ; engraved first complete set of

Raphael's cartoons.

b. York latter part of 17th century. Mezzotint.

b. 1671 ; d_. 1731-2. Mezzotint. Introduced
slight etching into the method. Engraved also
in line, and painted portraits.

b. Normandy 1675; d. London c. 1755. First
engraved in line, then came to England and
devoted himself to mezzotint.

b. London 1684 ; d. London 1756. Line ; anti-
quary, wrote notes on the history of arts and
artists in England. Manuscripts now in the
British Museum.

b. Flanders ; d. 1764. Came to England 1723
M ezzotint.

b. Holland ; d. Bristol 1721. Mezzotint ; also
miniature painter. Came to England in 1687
with his son.

b. Holland 1684 ; d. London 1746. Mezzotint.
Amongst others, engraved Kit Cat Club and
Hampton Court Beauties.

b. St. Bees, Durham, 1697 J d* Lonf»on 1764.
Line engraver and painter.

b. CO. Louth, Ireland, 1705 ; d. London 1771.
Line. Assistant to Hogarth, and engraved
some of his pictures.

b. Paris c. 1700; d. London 1762. Line. Came
the to England in 17 12. Employed by Hogarth.

>»

n

>»

b. 1700; d. Hammersmith 1766. Etcher and

portrait painter. Chiefly resided at Bath,
d. 1769. Line and etching, draughtsman. Pub-
lished "The Universal Penman;" father of
George, also an engraver and draughtsman.
•Ravbnet, Francois Simon, b. Paris 1706 ; d. Hampstead Road 1774. Line.

BiCKHAM, George.

A.E.
(Pupil of Le Bas.)
Frye, Thomas.

C^ame to England a little before 1745, and set-
tled in London.

b. near Dublin 1710 ; d. London 176a Mezzo-
t-nter and portrait painter, chiefly life size.

b. Ireland ; d. London. Line and mezzotint.
Master of McArdell and R. Houston. Left
Dublin c. 1747, and set up a china manufactory
at Battersea.

b. Dublin c. 1729 ; d. London 1765. Mezzotint.
(Pupil of John Brooks, First made use of deep etching to give effect
Dublin.) to the method.

Brooks, John.

McArdkll, James.

334

ENGRAVING.

iS

lit.

h •Can«.t. Peter Charles,
A E.

Chatki.aine, John Bap-
tUtc Claude.

•VlVARF«i. Franris

(i'upil of Chatelaine.)

TiNNEV, John.

Major, Thomas, A.E.
Cooper, Richard.

Strange. Sir Robert.
(Pupil of Richard Cooper,
of Edinburgh.)

HorsTON, Richard.
(Pupil of John Brooks,
of Dublin.)

Baillik, Willium, Captain.

•Bartolozzi, Francs, R.A.
(Pupil of Joseph Wagner,
of Venice.)

Ogborne, John.

(Pupil of Bartolozzi.)

Walker, Anthony.
(Pupil of Tinney.)

Walker, William.
(Pupil of his brother
Anthony.)

•CuNEGO, Domenico.

Greenwood, John.

Spilsbury, John.

Dawe, Philip.

Basirb, James.
(Pupil of Richd. Dalton, a
draughtsman and en-
graver of moderate note.)

Taylor, Isaac.
Fisher, Edward.

b. France 1710 ; d. London 1777. Line ; chiefly
sea views. Came to England 1740, where he
remained for the rest of his life.

b. London 1710; d. London 1771. Line and
draughtsman. Of French Protestant parent-
age. Master of Vivares, for whom also be
worked later on.

b. France 1709 ; d. London 1780. Line ; land-
scape engraver. Came to London at the age
of eighteen.

d. 1761. Practised in London 1740 — 50, inline
and mezzotint ; chiefly known as master of
Woollett, Anthony Walker, and John Browne.

b. 1720; d. London 1799. Line. First Associate
engraver of the Royal Academy.

b. Yorkshire ; d. Edinburgh 1764. Line and
mezzotint. Practised in Edinburgh in 1730,
and was the master of Strange.

b. Pomona, Orkney, 1721 ; d. London 1792.
Line.

*

b. Ireland 1721 ; d. London 1775. Mezzotint.

b. Ireland 1723; d. 1810. Etching and mezzo-
tint. C^me to London 1741. Some years in
the army.

b. Florence 1725; d. Lisbon 18 15. Stipple and
line. C^me to England 1764, remaining here
till 1802.

b. London c 1725 ; d. c. T795. Stipple and line.

b. Salisbury 1726; d. London 1765. Line and
etching.

b. Thirsk 1729 ; d. Clerkenwell 1793. Line ;
introduced the process of rebiting into the
practice of etching.

b. Verona 1727 ; d. Rome 1794. Line. Came
to England and engraved some plates for the
Boy del Is.

b. Boston, America, 1729; d. Margate 1792.
Mezzotint, etching, and painter. Afterwards
became an auctioneer.

b. 1730; d. London 1795. Mezzotint. Portrait
painter. Gained premiums for mezzotint 1761
and 1763 from Society of Arts ; also printseller.

d. c. 1802. Mezzotint and painter, said to have
worked under Hogarth. Was a pupil of the
painter Henry Morland.

b. 1730 ; d. London 1802. Line. His father
Isaac, his son James, and his grandson James,
were also engravers.

b. Worcester 1730; d. 1807. Line. His son
Isaac was also an engraver.

b. Ireland 1730 ; d. London c. 1785. Mezzotint.

CHRONOLOGrCAL TABLE.

r, JoSn

. inoid. c. 1^6. Meziolinl. R<

•Haid. JohaiMi Gotifried. b. Wurtfinburg .rjo : d. 1J7«- Menoiinl,

(Piipi] of h\i falher, J, Came lo England vihcn j-oung, and worked

Jacob Haid.) fo' Bo>-<lcll, nfierwards reiumiiiE <o Germany.

Hia faiher; Johann Jacob, and his brother,

•Jacode, Johann. b. Vienna 1733 ; d. 1797. Came 10 London tc

H:,LL, John.

(Pupil of Ravcnel.
Buck HOSE, Thoma

Dixon, John.

)WNE, John, A.
Pupil of Tim

,-80, and 1

(Pupil of Thomas Frye.)
WoOLLETT, William.
(Pupil of Tinnty.l

in oil and

miniature draughlsi

nan. ■

b. Maidston

e .735 ; d. London

.7B5. Li

ne.

Mezzolinl.

Engraved in Londo

Ti T770-!

16; also

b..735;<!..

c. 18^. Mecoiinl

. Went

to Paris

about 177

J, where his worl

t^ were

gr«.ly

1736 i d London

c. 1766.

Me^zo-

tint. Can

ne 10 London c, .7.

worked

namesof C. Corbui

11 *and (pi

obably)

H. Fowie

b. .737- M

criotint. Walked

chiefly a

fter Ihe

b.°LoXn'"

^7i8 : d., London

.7B3. Li

ne and

S^

' is ui^lo han s

VisTled Paris c.
tudied under Le

a hanged for forgery.

1. LoiKio

n 1B.3,

Mezutim

. Engraved overt.

Mnlyplal

lesfrom

DusstldoT

f Gallery.

b. nearCok

;he«er.739;d. Lor

idon 1797.

Line.

b. London c

:. 17.0 : d. c. 1780.

Meaoi;

nl. En-

pavings beat date about 1769—71-

, 1710 ; d. early i9ih

MezBi-

'lint. Pra

et'sed in London si

ludied in

undtr Ih.

: painter F. West, a

b. London

1740; d. c. iBo,.

Mezzotint: also

printBctki

■.^lM«d premlun,
Dneini77eforracilit

1 Society

atingprlr

iting by

in colours. SpelUI

Lowry.

Lowery, Lowrie, Lawrie, and finally Laurie.

II. .7*5—70.

Meziolinl. Awarde^rem

i^t';;

1. London 1790. Mezzotinl

336

ENGRAVING.

Cent.

i8ih •Tassaf.rt, Philip J.

>•

«»

•*

»»

it

)i

BvKNF. William.
(FuptI of hi« uncle, a
heraldic engraver, then
of .\liametand of Willc,
at Pans.)

Eari.om, Richard.

DiNKARTON, Rol)ert.
(Pupil of Pether.)

0>oK, Thomas.
(Pupil of Ravenet.)

Dickinson, William.

Town LBV, Charles.

RvDBR^ Thomas.
(Pupil ot Basire.)

Walker, James.
(Pupil of VaL Green.)

Murphy, John.

•Gaugain, Thomas.
(Pupil of Houston.)

HoLLowAY, Thomas.

CoLLYER, Joseph, A.E.
(Pupil of Anthony Walker.

Sharp, William.-
(Pupil of Barak Long-
mate, engraver on plate.)

Sherwin, John Keyse.
(Pupil of Bartolozzi.)

Bur KB, Thoma.s.
( Pupil of Dixon.)

Strutt, Joseph.
(Pupil of W. Wynne
Ryland.)

Doughty, William.

Hudson, Henry.

Dean, John.
(Pupil of Valentine Green.)

b. Antwerp ; d. London 1803. Mezzotint^ also
line. Came to England very young. Assistant
to T. Hudson the painter.

b. London 1743; d. London 1805. Line. Land-
scape engraver. His son John and daughters
Letitia and Elizabeth also engraved, and
helped him in his plates.

b. London 1743 ; d. London 1822. Mezzotint and
stipple. iJsed etching with vigorous effect.
Engraved afew plates under name of H. Birche ;
some time a pupil of Cipriani.

b. London 1744 ; d. early part of 19th century.
Mezzotint. Engravings bear dates 1770 — 1811.

b. c. 1744 : d. c. 1818. Line. Engraved amongst
others Hogarth's works under title " Hogarth
Restored.

b. London 1746 ; d. Paris 1823. Mezzotint and
stipple. Awarded premium Society of Arts
1767. For some time partner with Thomas
Watson as printseller.

b. London 1746. Mezzotint and stipple, also
miniature painter. Worked at Berlin 1786 -92,
then returned to London.

b. 1746 ; d. 1810. Stipple. His son Thomas

also engraved,
b. 1748; d. London 1808. Mezzotint. In 1784

went to St. Petersburg, became engraver to

Empress of Russia, and returned to England

in 1802.
b. Ireland 1748 ; d after 1820. Mezzotint and

stipple,
b. Abbeville 1748: d. beginning 19th century.

Stipple. Came very young to London.

b. London 17^8 ; d. 1727. Line. Known chiefly
from his series of Raphael's cartoons.

b. London 1748 ; d. 1827. Line and stipple.
b. London 1749 ; d. Chiswick 1824. Line.

b. Sussex 1749 ; d. London 1790. Line, stipple,
and painter.

b. Dublin ; d. London 1815. Stipple and

mezzotint,
b. Essex 17^9 ; d. London 1802. Stipple. Author

of "Dictionary of Engravers," ''Sports and

Pastimes of the English," &c.

b. York ; d. Lisbon 1782. Mezzotinter, also por-
trait painter. Engravings mostly dated 1779.
Was a pupil of Sir Joshua Reynolds. Sailed
for Bengal 1780, but, captured by French and
Spanish squadrons, was taken instead to Lisbon.

b. London ; d. abroad ; tt, 1782 — 9a. Mezzo-
tint.

b. c. 1750 ; d. London 1798. Mezzotint. Prints
dated 1776 — 89 at three addresses in Soho,
at the last of which a fire destroyed nearly all
his plates and stock.

CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE.

337

Cent.
1 8th

Jones, John.

»»

>»

>*

>>
»>

1*

II

I)

i>

i»

i>

11

>>

Parkhr, James.
(Pupil of Basire.)

Simon, Peter J.
*Facius, George^

Gottlieb. J

Morris, Thomas.
(Pupil of WooUett.)

MiDDiMAN, Samuel.
(Pupil of Byrne.)

Saunders, J.

•Marchi, Giuseppe Filippo
Liberati.

Smith, John Raphael.

Bewick, Thomas.
(Pupil of Beilby, an en-
graver at Newcastle.)

Nutter, William.
(Pupil of J. R. Smith.)

Young, John.
(Pupil of J. R. Smith.)

Grozer, Joseph.
Pollard, Robert.
(Pupil of a silversmith.)

Legat, Francis.

Gillrav, James.
(Pupil of heraldic en-
graver.)

Heath, James, A.E.
(Pupil of CoUyer.)

Blake, William.
(Pupil of Basire.)
2nd of the name.

H AWARD, Francis, A.E.

Thew, Robert.

Smith, Anker, A.E.
(Pupil of James Taylor,
who was brother and
uncle respectively of
the two Isaac Taylors,
engravers of somenote.)

Shkppeard, George.

w

of

d. 1797. Mezzotint and stipple. Father
George Jones (b. 1786), R.A., the painter.

b. 1750 ; d. London 1805. Line. Joined William
Blake in keeping a print shop in 1784.

b. c. 1750 ; d. c. 1810. Stipple.

b. Ratisbon c. 1750. Stipple. Came to London
in 1766 at the request of Boydell.

b. c. 1750 ; fl. 1705. Line. Engraved Views
of St. Paul's ancl the Monument.

b. 1750; d. London 1831. Line. Landscape
engraver.

fl. 1772 — 74. Mezzotint.

b. Rome 1752 ; d. London 1808. Mezzotint.
Brought to England 1769 by Sir J. Reynolds,
who employed him as an assistant.

b. Derby 1752 ; d. Doncaster 1812. Mezzotint
and stipple. Painter in miniature and crayons,
and printseller. Father of Enuna Smith the
engraver.

b. Northumberland 1753 ; d. Gateshead 1828.
Wood engraver;^ also copperplate. His
brother John was likewise a wood engraver.

b. T754 ; d. London 1802. Stipple.

b. 1755 ; d. London 1825. Mezzotint. Published
catalogues with etchings of the Grosvenor
(1820), Leigh Court (1822), Angerstein (1823),
and Stafford (1826) Galleries.

fl. 1786 — 97. Mezzotint.

b. Newcastle-on-Tyne 1755 ; d. 1838. Etching,
aquatint, and painter ; last surviving member ot
Incorporated Society of Artists ; in 1836 gave
over to Royal Academy the papers of the
Society. •

b. Scotland 1755 ; d. London 1800. Line. Studied
under Alex. Runciman, the Edinburgh painter.

b. Lanarkshire 1720 ; d. London 1815. Etcher
and line. Caricaturist.

b. London 1757 ; d. London 1834. Line. Father
of Charles Heath.

b. Broad Street, Golden Square, London, 1757 ;
d. Fountain Court, Strand ; buried Bunhill
Fields, 1827. Line, stipple, and etching. Poet
and painter.

b. 1759; d. London c. 1797. Mezzotint and
stipple.

b. Yorkshire 1758 ; d. Herts 1802. Stipple.

b. London 1759 ; d. London 1819. Line.

b. c. 1760 ; fl. 1794. Mezzotint and stipple.

338

ENGRAVING.

Cent.

M

II

H

T< MKIVS. v. W.

( Pupil of Harlolo/zi.)
Pakk, Thrtmat.

C H K F ^ K \t A s . Th « - ma s.
(I'uj'il ot ltart(».o//i.)

WaT'-oN, Carol inc.

I>a ighlcr of James Wat-
son )

J( DKINS. Kli/a^K'li.

(."• aiit to \>e piipii of James
Wulsoii

Kf \ T IS(., ( iciir^je.

(ri:j>i of NN'uliam Dickin-
son.)

•Ra.nu I \i., John Henry.

'.^i IIIA\ ONFTTI, Luigi.

Ksit.M I , Charles.

SlMMKKKIPI.t>, John.

(Tupil of l5.trii»lo//i.)
Skelton, William.

(Pupil of P.asire and
Sharp.)

NiGENT, Thomas.
DuPoNT, Gainsborough.

Bro.mlfy, William, A.E.
(Pupil of Wooding, a line
engraver in London.)

Warren, Charles.

,, Ward, William, A.E.

(Pupil of J. R. Smith.)

19th Ward, James, R.A.

(Nine years pupil of his
brother William, and a
few months of J. R.
Smith.)

,, Landsekr, John, A.E.

(Pupil of William Byrne.)

,, Say, William.

(Pupil of James Ward.)

b. Londoi 1760 ; d. 184a St'pplc. Designer.

b. ij^^T ; d. Hampstead 1835. Mezzotint. Author,
b. i7f>j: d. after 1820. Stipple. Draughtsman.

b. London i7^>>; d. Pimlico 1814. Stipple.

fl. 1-7J 7S. Mezzotint. Engraved " Mrs. Abing-
i! n ' and "Careful Shepherdess," amongst
01 hers, after Sir J. Reynolds.

b. Ireluul 1762; (I. London 1784 — 97. Mezzotint
Stipple.

b. Hanover 1763; d. c. 1840. Aquatint, etching,
stipple. Painter. Came early in life to Eng-
land, but is said to have died at Hanover.

b. Bassano 1765 ; d. Brompton 1810. Line,
stipple. Draughtsman. Came to England in
1790, and joined Bartolozzi.

fl. latter part of i8th century. Stipple,
d. Buckinghamshire 1817. Line.

b. London 1763 ; d. Pimlico 1848. Line.

b. Drogheda ; fl. end of i8th century. Stipple.

b. 1767 ; d. London 1797. Mezzotint. Painter.
Nephew and pupil of Thomas Gainsborough.

b. Isle of Wight 1769; d. 1842. Line. Father
of John C^harles, and James Bromley, the
mezzotint engravers.

b. London 1767 ; d. Wandsworth 1823. Line.
Perfected a process of engraving on steel plates
tried by Raimbach. Awarded gold medal
Society of Arts.

b. London 1766 ; d. London 1826. Mezzotint.
Married sister of George Morland, father of
William Ward, junior.

b. London 1769 ; d. 1855. Mezzotint. Animal
painter.

i»

Cooper, Robert.
Hodges, Charles Howard.

♦Cardon, Anthony.

(Pupil of Schiavonetti.)

GoDDV, James.

b. Lincoln 1769 ; d. 1852. Line. Father of the
painters Charles apd Sir Edwin, R.A.'s, and
of the engraver Thomas.

b. near Norwich 1768 ; d. London 1834. Mezzo-
tint. Engraved first successful mezzotint on
steel.

fl. early part of 19th century. Stipple.

b. England ; d. Amsterdam 1837. Mezzotint
and painter. Went to Holland c. 1794.

•b, Brussels 1773 ; d. London 1813. Stipple.
Came to England in 1790.

m

fl. beginning 19th century. Stipple.

CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE.

339

Cent.
T9th

»»

»»

if

>

• I

•I

»»

>*

>»
»

>>
>»

Smith, Benjamin.
(Pupil of Bartolozzi.

Clint, George, A.R.A.

Reynolds, Samuel Wm.
(Pupil of Hodges.)

Turner, Charles, A.E.

Scott, John.

(Pupil of Pollard.)
ScRivEN, Edward.

(Pupil of Thew.)

Raimbach, Abraham.

(Pupil of J. Hall.)
Noble, George.

Engleheart, Francis.
(Pupil of Collyer.)

Nesbitt, Charlton.
(Pupil of Beilby and
Bewick.)

Branston, Robert.

(Pupil of his father, a
copperplate engraver.)
Clennrll, Luke.

(Pupil of Bewick.)

CookEj William Bernard.
(Pupil of Angus, an en-
graver in line of some
note. )

Cooke, George.
(Pupil of Basire.)

Lewis, Frederick Christian.

Dawe, George, R.A.
(Son and p'pil of Philip
Dawe.)

Dawe, Henry.
(Son and pupil of Philip
Dawe.)

Pye, John.
(Pupil of James Heath.)

Wedgwood, John Taylor.

Meyer, Henry.
(Pupil of Bartolozzi.)

Le Keux, John. ) n-^*T,
Le Kkux, Henry f'^'^*''^
(Pupils of Basire.)

Armstrong, Cosmo.

Radclypfe, William.

d. London 1833. Stipple.

ers.

b. London 1770 ; d. Kensington 1854. Mezzo-
tint ; also portrait and miniature painter.

h. 1773 ; d. Bayswater 1835. Mezzotint, portrait,
and water-colour painter. Father of Elizabeth,
mezzotint engraver and miniature painter, and
Samuel William, mezzotint engraver and por-
trait painter.

b. Woodstock 1773 ; d. London 1857. Mezzotint
and stipple.

b. Newcastle-on-Tyne 1774 ; d. Chelsea 1828.
Line, animal engraver.

b. Alcester 1775 ; d. London 1841. Stipple.

b. London 1776 ; d. Greenwich 1843. Line.

fl. beginning of 19th century. Line,
b. London 1775 ; d. 1849. Line.

b. near Durham 1775 ; d. Brompton 1838. Wood
engraver.

b. Lynn 1778 ; d. Brompton 1827. Wood en-
graver.

b. near Morpeth 1781 ; d. Newcastle-on-Tyne
1840. Wood engraver, water-colour, and minia-
ture painter.

b. 1778 ; d. 1855. Line. Brother of George and
uncle of E. W. Cooke, R.A.

b. I^ondon 1781 ; d. Barnes 1834. Line. Brother

of Wm. Bernard, and fathtr of E. W. Cooke,

R.A.
b. London 1779 ; d. Enfield 1856. Stipple or

chalk ; water-colour painter. Father of J. F.

Lewis, R.A., and C G. Lewis the engraver.

b. London 1781 ; d. 1829. Mezzotint ; painter.
Brother of Henry. Painted in Russia for the
Emperor 1819-28.

b. London 1790; d. Windsor 1845. Mezzotint
and painter.

b. Birmingham 1782 ; d. London 1874. Line and
stipple. Landscape engraver.

b. 1783 ; d. London 1856. Line.

b. London c. 1783; d. 1847, Mezzotint; and
stipple. Nephew of J. Hoppner, R.A.

fl. early part of 19th century. Line.

b. Birmingham 1782 ; d. Birniingham 1855. Line,
landscape engraver ; practised in Birmingham
all his life. Father of Edward, landscape
engraver.

W 2

340

Cent,
I9ih

«*

•»
>t
»»

))

ft
it

tt
•*

It

it

a

BiRNET, John, F.R.S.

Hkatm, ChaHc*.
(Son o( Jamck Heath.)

(joi.DiNO, Richard.
(Pupil of J. Parker.)

WooLNOTM, llioinas.

ENGRAVING.

b. Edinburgh 1784 ; d. Stoke Newington 1868.
Line and mezzotint. Painter and author.

b. 1785; d. 1848. Line; excelled in small plates,
b. London 1785 ; d. Lambeth 1865. Line.

Thompson, Tohn.

(Pupil of Branston.)
RoMNEV, John.

Thompson, Charles.
(Pupil of Bewick and
Branston.)

Bond, William.

it

Chapman, J.
(Pupil of Bartolozzi.)

Webb, J.

F.^n^vT*^ [Brothers.

I'INDEN, h.. r. )
(Pupils of J. Mitan, an
engraver of some note.)

Walker, William.

(Pupil of Thomas Wool-
noth, and Mitchell and
Stewart, two engravers
of moderate note.)
LuPTON, Thomas Goff.
(Pupil of Clint.)

LiNNBLL, John.

Cruikshank, George.
(Son of Isaac, also carica-
turist and engraver.)

WORTHINGTON, Wm. H.

GooDALL, Edward.

Landseer, Thomas, A.E.
(Son and pupil of John
Landseer, A.E.)
HopwooD, James.
(Son of James ; also an
engraver, self-taught,
but helped by Heath.)

Rolls, Charles.

Bromley, John Charles.
(Son of Wm. Bromley,
A.E.)
Harvey, William.
(Pupil of Thomas Bewick
and B. R. Haydon.)
RoB!NsoN, John Henry,
R.A.
(Pupil of James Heath.)

b. 1785 ; d. c. 1854. Stipple and line. Small
theatrical portraits and architecttiral views.

b. London 1785; d. London 1866. Wood engraver.

Brother of (Charles and Charles Thurston,
b. 1786; d. Chester 1863. Line.

b. London 1791 , d. near Paris 1843. Wood
engraver; better known in Paris, where he
went m 18 16, and introduced the practice of
cutting on the end of the wood, then unknown
abroad.

fl. beginning of 19th century. Stipple.

fl. beginning of 19th century. Stipple.

b. c. 1790: d. 1832. Line. Engraver of animals,
b. 1788; d. 1852. ( Stipple and line. Landscape
b. 1793 ; d. 1857. ( ^"^ book illustrators.

b. Midlothian 1791 ; d. London 1867. Stipple
and mezzotint. Married Elizabeth, daughter
of S. W. Reynolds.

b. Clerkenwell 1791 ; d. 1873. Mezzotint.
Established the use of steel in place of copper
in mezzo engraving. Received for this gold Isis
medal from Society of Arts in 1822.

b. 1792 ; d. c. 1880. Mezzotint ; painter.

b. London 1792; d. London 1878. Etcher and
caricaturist.

b. c. 1795 ; d. 1826. Line. Worked in London.

b. Leeds 1795 ; d. London 1870. Line. En-
paved after J. M. W. Turner, through whose
influence he became an engraver. Was self-
taught.

b. c. 1795 ; d. 1880. Line. Brother of Sir
Edwin.

b. 1795. Stipple.

fl. early part of 19th century. Line.

b. Chelsea 1795 ; d. 1839. Mezzzotint.
Frederick was also an engraver.

His son

b. Newcastle-on-Tyne 1796 ; d. Richmond 1866.
Wood engraver and designer. Cut one of the
largest English woodcuts.

b. Bolton 1796 ; d. Petworth 1871. Line.

>1

»»

»»

>>

It

CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE. 34 1

Cent.

X9th Graves, Robert, A.E. b. London 1798 ; d. Highgate 1873. Line.

(Pupil of John Romney.)
Watt, James Henry. b. London 1799 ; d. 1867. Line.

(Pupil of Charles Heath.)

Bromley, James. b. 1800 ; d. 1838. Mezzotint.

(Son of William Bromley,
A.E.)

Ward, William, junior. b. c. 1800 ; d. 1840. Mezzotint.

(Son of William Ward,

A.E.)

WiLLMORE, James Tibbetts, b. Erdington, Staffordshire, 1800; d. London
A.E. 1863. Line. Engraved after J. M. W, Turner.

(Seven years pupil ofW.
Radclyffe, and three
years of C. Heath.)

Raddon, W. fl. 1830. Line.

HoDGETTS, J. fl. 1830. Mezzotint.

Jackson, John. b. Ovingham i8oi ; d. 1848. Wood engraver.

(Pupil of Bewick and Published with Chatto "A Treatise on Wood
Harvey.) Engraving," 1838.

Gibbon, Benjamin Phelps, b. 1802 ; d. London 1851. Line.
(Pupil of J. H. Robinson
and Scriven).

Shbnton, Henry Chawner. b. Winchester 1803; d. London 1866. Line.

(Pupil of Charles Warren.)
GiLLBR, W. fl. 1835. Mezzotint.

Brandard, Robert. b. Birmingham 1805 ; d. 1852. Line, land-

(Pupil of E. Goodall.) scape engraver. Came to London 1824. En-

graved after J. M. W. Turner.

Lewis, Charles George. b. 1807 ; d. 1880. Line, etching.

Lucas, John. b. London 1807 ; d. London 1874. Mezzotint ;

(Pupil of S. W. Reynolds.) portrait painter.

Radclvffb, Edward. b. Birmingham 1809 ; d. London 1863. Line.

(Son and pupil of William
Radclyffe.)

Joubbrt, Jean Ferdinand, b. 18 ro; d. 1884. Line.

ZoBEL, George. b. c. 1815 ; d. London 1881. Mezzotint.

Jeens, Charles Henry. b. 1817 ; d. 1879. Stipple. Miniature book

illustrations.

Jackson, John Richardson, b. Portsmouth 1819 ; d, Southsea 1877. Mezzo-
(Pupil of R. Graves, A.E.) tint and line.

Cousins, Henry. fl. 184a Mezzotint.

(Brother of Saml.Cousins,
R.A.)

Ward, George Raphael. fl, 1840. Mezzotint.
(Son of James Ward.)

There are still living three engravers eminently representative of the old

schools : —

„ Doo, George, R. A., F.R.S. b. c. 1800. Line.

„ Posselwhite, J. Stipple.

,, Cousins, Samuel, R.A. b. 1801. Mezzotint. The present T. L. Atkin-

son was a pupil of Cousins.

if

I*
it

If

11

>*

INDEX.

-•«>•-

PAGE

Agesilaus, King of Sparta . 8
Agostino, Veniziano ... io6

Aldegrever 93

Ambling, Gustave .... 209

Amman, Jost 175

Andrea, Zoan 74

Andreani, Andrea . . . . iii

Andrews, J 328

Antonio da Brescia, Giovanni 74

Ardell 172, 300, 301

Aretino, Pietro . . 109, no, 136

D'Argenville 224

Atkinson 324

Aveline 216

Audran, Gerard 6, 178, 194-202,

207, 211, 216, 237

Baillie, Will. . .
Baldini, Baccio .
Balechou . . .
Barbari, Jacopo de'
Barlow, F. . .
Bartolozzi 237-239
Battista del Porto
Baudet, fitienne .
Beatrizet, Nicolas
Beauvarlet . .
Beckett, Isaac
Reham, Bartholomew
Beham, Hans Sebald
Bella, Stefano della
Berghem ....
Bernard, Auguste .
Bemhardinus, Milnet

305:

• 310

60-65

229-231

. 74
291, 292

3131 314
. 77
. 189

. 151

. 226
297, 298

93' 94

93, 94
. 162

. 139
12

44

PAGE

Bernini 168

Bertinot 278

Bervic 249, 252-255, 259, 260, 274

Bewick . . . . . .315, 326

Binck, Jacob 94

Biot. 285

Blackmore 302

Blake, W 310, 311

Blanchard 278

Blootelingh, Abraham . . . 297

'*BM" 85

Bochelt, Franz von .... 84

Boldrini, Nicolo 116

Bolswert . . 132, 133, 149, 177

Bonasone, da Bologna . . . 106

Bonnet 242

Bonzonnet, Claudine . . . 189

Borromini 168

Bosse, Abraham 164, 166, 169, 207

Both, Jan . 139

Botticelli 60, 62

Boulanger 237

Boydell 315

Boyvin, Rene 151

Branston, R 326

Brauwer, Adrian .... 139

Breughels 134

Bromley 320

Brookshaw 234, 302

Browne, John 307

Bruyn, Nicolas van . . . . 131

Burgkmair, Hans . . . . 113

Burke 314

Burnet, John 320

Burt 328

344

ENGRAVING.

PAGE

Calamattt 269

Callot, Jacques 138, 156-166, 175-

177, 205
CantaGallina . . . .158, 162

Cantarini 162

Caracci, Agostino . no, 138, 158
Caracci, Annibale . . . . 168
Caraglio, Giovanni, da Verona 106
Cardon, Anthony . . . . 313

Carmona 226

Carmontelle 224

Carpi, Ugo da . . . .111, 112

Cars, Laurent 213-216

Casilear 329

Caylus, Count .... 224, 240
Cerceau, du, Adrian . . . 155

Chapman 327

Chauveau 204

Chedel 217

Cheesman 314

Cheney. 328

Chevreuse, Due de . . . . 224

Chodowiecki 228

Church 327

Cipriani 237

Claessens, Alart 130

Clennell 326

Clint, George 320

Cochin 218, 219, 240

Coigny, Marquis de . . . . 224
Cooke, George William . . 320

Copia 252

Comeille, Claude .... 153

Comelis 134

Cornelius 94

Cort, Cornelius 130

Cortona, da, Pietro .... 198
Coster, Laurence . 14, 16, 22, 28

Cousin 150, 151

Cousins, Henry 324

Cousins, Samuel . ,. 266, 267, 322

Cranach, Lucas 113

Cunego, Domenichino . . . 228
Cunio, Cavaliere Alberico. . 9

Dagoty, Gautier. .... 243

Danforth 329

Danguin 278

Daull^ 226

PAGE

i5i» 153

156, 157

10,31

248, 250

320

. 302

. 287

. 245

. 285

. 289

154

179

239-242

. 288

. 288

. 288

David, Emeric
David, Louis .
Dawe, Henry
Dean, John .
De Bry. . .
Debucourt . .
De Kaiser . .
Delaram, Fran9ois
Delaune, £tienne
De Leu, Thomas
Demarteau, Gilles
De Passe, Crispin
De Passe, Magdalen
De Passe, Simon
Desnoyers, Boucher 249, 259, 260,

270, 274
Desplaces, Louis . . . . 201

Deuchar, David 310

Dick 328

Dickinson 172,302

Dienecker, Jost iii

Dixon, John 302

Domenichino 168

Doo 324

Dorigny 201

Drevet, Claude 211

Drevet, Imbert 211

Drevet, Pierre 2ii

Duchange, Gaspard . . . 201

Duflos 216

Du Jardin, Karel .... 140
Dumonstier, Geofroy . . , 151

Dupuis 216, 226

Durand 328

Diirer, Albert 17, 87-95, 97-ioOi

102, 106, 112, 113, 116, 120,

122, 128, 176, 177

Duveneck 327

Duvet, Jean 151, 152

Earlom 172, 302, 303

Edelinck 184-186, 189, 1 91-196,

200, 220

Edwin, David 328

Elstracke, Reginald ... 289

Faber, John, senior . . , 298, 299
Faber, John, junior . . . 298, 299

INDEX.

345

PAGE

Fairman 329

Faithorae, Will. . . 170, 289

Felsing 263

Finiguerra 35, 38, 47, 52-56, 62,

76
Fiquet . . . 2i8, 220, 222, 223

Fisher, Edward 301

Flipart. . . . . '. . . 217

Forrest, J. B 328

Francia, Francesco .... 102

Francia, Jacopo 74

Franck 285

Fran9ois, Alphonse .... 278
Francois, Jean Charles . . 239-242

Fran9ois, Jules 276

Frye, Thomas .... 300, 301
Fiist 29

Gaillard 278

Gantrel 189

Gamier, Noel 151

Gaugain, Thomas . . . . 313
Gaultier, Leonard . . . 156, 179

Gay wood, R 292

Geminus, Thomas .... 288

Gherardo da Modena ... 82

Ghisi, Diana 106

Gifford 327

Giller, William 324

Gilli .282

Gimbrede 328

Giolito da Ferrari . . . . 115

Giotto 53

Girard 246

Glockenton 85

Golding, Richard .... 320
Goltzius, Hendrik . . .130, 131

Gomboust, Jacques .... 203

Gourmont, Jean de . . . . 153

Goya 139

Grateloup 220

Gravelle, de, President. . . 224

Graves, Robert 324

Greche, Domenico delle . . Ii6
Green, Valentine. . . .172,302

Greenwood, John . . . . 301

Greuze 216

Griin, Baldung 93

PAGE

Gutenburg8, 13-15, 17, i8, 28, 35,

47, 49, 5 ^ 53, 54, 60, 76-78,

82, S6, 176

Haden, Seymour. . 282, 325, 326

Haid 304

Hainzelmann, Johann . . . 208

Hamerton 326

Hardouin 82

Harvey, Will 326

Heath, Charles . . . .320, 329

Heath, James 309,315

Henriquel-Dupont . . .271-277
Hogarth, William 231-233, 300,

304
Hogenberg, Fran9ois . . . 288

Hogenberg, Remigius . . . 288

Hollar 170, 171, 177, 287, 290-292

Hop wood, James .... 320

Houbraken, J 228

Houston, Richard .... 301

Huot 278

II Vecchio da Parma
Ingram

106
226

Jackson 324, 326

Jacobe 304

Jacobi 285

Jacquemart 280-283

Jazet .245, 246

Jeens, C. H 314

Jeens, J. H 325

Jones, John 302

Kauffmann, Angelica . . . 237

Kaulbach 94

Keller, Franz 262

Kilian, Bartholomew . . . 209

Kirkall, Edw 311-313

Klaus 285

Kobell 234

Laborde, L^on . . . 12, 36-38

Landseer, John 320

Larmessin, Nicolas de . . . 216

Lasne, Michel 180

Lastman 243

Laugier 276

34<5

ENGRAVING.

PACK

I^w, David 326

I^wric. Robert 302

Le Has 216, 234

Lcblond, J. Christophe 242, 243,

3ii» 312
Lebrun 184, 187, 189, 194, 106,

19S, 199

Lcclerc, Sebasticn . . .184, 204

Le^'at, F. 309

Lc Joscphin 158

Lepautre 204

Lepicie 216, 230

IvCprince, J. B 244

Le Roy, Philip 134

Lcvasseur 217

Lewis 324

Leyden, Lucas van 118-131, 134,

176

Linton 326

Longhi 256

Lorraine, Claude 138, 160, 162,

165, 167, 177

Louis, Aristide 276

Loutherbourg 231

Lucas, David 322-324

Lucas, John 322

Ludy 262

Lupton, Thomas 320

Lutma, Jan 238

Liitzelburger 11 3-1 15

Luynes, Duchess of . . . . 224

" Maitre ^ rficrevisse " . . 130
"Maitre^rfitoile" ... 130

Major, Thomas 304

Mantegna, Andrea 68-74, 85, 124,

176, 177

Mantovani 106

Marc Antonio, Raimondi 66, 73, 91,
92, 100-113, '20, 122, 124,

I33» 176-178
Marc de Bye 140

Marco da Ravenna

Marcolini da Forli

Marshall

Massaloff

Massard

Masse .

Masson .

106

115
329

282

250
229

189, 194, 211

PAGE

" Master of the Bird " . . . 77
" Master of the Caduceus" . 74
** Master of Colmar" ... 76
" Master of Nuremberg " . . 94
** Master of the Streamers " . 118
** Master of 1466 "49, 51, 53. ^6-

78, 82, 86
"Masters, The Little" 93, 162,

169, 177
Mechenen, Israel van ... 84

Mellan, Claude 180

Memling 22

Mendel 263

Mercuri 269

Merian, Matthew .... 170

Merz 262

Meyer, Henry . . . " . . 320

Mignard 194, 196

Mocetto 74) 75

Moles, Pascal 226

Montenay, Georgette de . . 156

Moran 327

Morel 250

Morghen . 106, 255-258, 260, 269
Morin, Jean 6, 179, i8r, 2ir, 237

Morris, Thomas 309

Moser 237

Miiller, Christian Fred. . 258-261

M tiller, Jan 130, 131

Miiller, John Godard . .258, 259
Musi, Agostino . . . . . 151

Nanteuil, Robert 180-184, 186,
189-192, 194, 202, 209, 211,

220

Nesbitt 326

Niccolo della Casa .... 152

Niccolo, of Pisa 53

Nicoletto da Modena . . 74, 82

Ogbom, John 314

Ostade, Adrian van .... 139
Ottley 328

Parrish, Stephen 327

Peak, Charles Wilson ... 328

Pencz, Georg 93

Pennell 327

Perkins 329

INDEX.

347

PAGE

Pesne, Jean . 187-189, 193, 194

Pether, William 302

Petitot 220,222

Pichler 304

Pitau, Nicolas 191

Poilly, Fran9ois de 189, 191, 194,

204, 207, 209
Pollajuolo, Antonio . . 55, 62, 85
Pompadour, Mme. de . . 224, 225
Pontius, Paul 132, 133, 149, 177

Porporati 226, 227

Possel white 324

Potter, Paul 138, 139

Poussin 160

Preisler, Martin . . . . . 226
Prestel, Katherine .... 237
Prevost 246

Raimbach, Abraham . .266, 267
Raimondi (see Marc Antonio).

Raphael ioi-io8

Reboul, Mme 224

Redlich 282

Regent, The Prince, of P'rance 223

Regnesson 182

Regnier, Mathurin . . . . 160
Rembrandt 104, 128, 140-148, 177
Reynolds, Sir J. . . 172, 231, 233
Reynolds, Samuel 266, 267, 317-

322

Ribera I39, I7S

Richomme 276

Rigaud 211, 214

Ritchie 328

Robert 284

Robetta 67

Robinson 324

Roger, Barthelemy .... 252

Rogers, William 288

Romano, Giulio . . 102, 108-110

Rosa, Salvator 159

RouUet 189, 194

Rousseaux 276

Rubens . . . 131-133, 176, 178
Rupert, Prince 171-173, 292, 296

Ruysdael, J 139

Ryder, Thomas 314

Ryland 226, 228, 238, 239, 270,

309, 310

PAGE

St. Aubin, Augustin . .218-221
St. Non, Abbe de .... 240

Saint- Ygny 164

Sanson, Adrlen 203

Sanson, Guillaume .... 203

Sartain, John 328

Savart 220

Say, William 320

Schaffer * 262

Schaiiflein, Hans. . . . 93, 113

Schmidt 226

Schon, Bartholomew ... 84
Schongauer, Martin 76, 78-86, 91,

117, 176, 177

Scott, John 320

Scultori, Diana (see Ghisi).

Seghers 243

Selma, Fernando .... 228
Sharp, William 305, 308, 309, 315

Sherborne, W. H 325

Sherwin, John Keyse . .297, 309
Sherwin, William . . .296, 297
Silvestre, Israel . .138, 164, 177

Simon, Jean 298

Simoneau, Charles .... 229

Slocombe 326

Smillies 328

Smith, Anker 309, 316

Smith, Beckett . . . .297, 298

Smith, John 297, 298

Smith, J. R 172, 302

Snyders, Franz . . . . . 134

Sonnenleiter 285

Soutman 132, 133

Spencer, Asa 329

Spierre, Fran9ois .... 204

Spilsbury, John 302

Star, Dirck (see Van Staren).

Steinfensand 262

Steinla 263

Stella, Claudine (see Bonzonnet).
Strange, Robert 226, 228, 234, 270,

305-307
Sullivan, Luke . . . .304, 305

Suyderhoef, Jonas . . . 136, 149

Tardieu, Alexandre 249, 251, 259,

270
Tardieu, Nicolas Henri .201, 226

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