TAUL JOSePH SACHS PORTRAIT OF REMBRANDT {REMBRANDT APPUYE) Etched by Himself HEMHSTERS ™DmSTER PIECES-OFEN- GRHVING BYWILLIS-O-CHHPIN- Illustrated • lulth,- Sixty • Engravinos- Heliogravures" NEW YORK- • HHRPER- a- BROTHERS PVBLISHERS MDCCCXCIV PREFACE Engraving, like painting, has an extensive literature of its own. The present volume is designed for the general reader as a condensed survey of the art from its beginnings to our ov;^n time. To give some account of the engravers themselves, and of the history and theory of their art ; to trace the progress and development of engraving in the works of its representative masters, has been the writer's purpose. The illustra- tions are intended to show, as far as possible, the different styles and processes. The heliogravure reproductions are from originals in the British Museum. To the various sources of his information the writer makes frank ac- knowledgment. Many of the more important are mentioned in the text. He is also indebted to Mr. Louis Pagan, late of the British Museum, Mr. Frederick Keppel, and Mr. W. J. Linton for valuable suggestions and criticisms. He trusts that his work may, to some extent, accomplish its purpose in leading to a more familiar knowledge in an important de- partment of art education. BUFFALO, N. Y., 1893. CONTENTS CHAPTER I INTRODUCTORY Origin of Engraving — The Early Dotted Manner — Earliest Examples of Wood-engraving — The Block -books and Typography; Gutenberg — Early Illustrated Books — Books of Hours — The Hypnerotomachia Poliphili — Early Illustration in England ; Caxton — En- graving on Metal Plates — Vasari's Account of the Origin of Copper -plate Engraving; Earliest Examples — Engravers' Marks ; Initials and Monograms — The Masters of Engraving Page i CHAPTER II ENGRAVING IN ITALY From Goldsmith to Engraver — The German and Italian Schools Contrasted — Botticelli and Baldini — Mantegna — Campagnola ; opus mallei — Marc Antonio Raimondi ; Typical Engravings after Raphael ; Portrait of Aretino — Reproductive Engraving — School of Marc Antonio — Parmigiano ; Etching — A New School of Engraving; Cort and the Caracci — Agostino Caracci's Portrait of Titian — Followers of the Caracci — Engrav- ing under Urban VIII. — Delia-Bella — Ribera and Goya — Castiglione, Canaletto, and various other Etchers — Piranesi — Italian Wood-engravers — Engraving in the Chiar- oscuro Manner — Early Chiaroscuros by German Engravers — Ugo da Carpi — Anto- nio da Trento and Vicentino — Christopher Jegher — Andrea Andreani — Bartolommeo Coriolano — Decline of Engraving in Italy 17 CHAPTER III THE EARLY ENGRAVERS OF GERMANY The National Character of German Art — The Master of 14.66 — Martin Schongauer and his imitators — Albrecht Diirer — The Apocalypse, Great Passion, Life of the Virgin, and Little Passion — Designs for the Emperor Maximilian ; The Triumphal Arch and Triumphal Car — Diirer's Principal Copper-plate Engravings — Works upon Art — VUl CONTENTS Maximilian I,, the Great Patron of Wood-engraving — The Triumph of Maximilian ; The Wise King ; Theuerdanck, and other series — Hans Burgkmair, Hans Baldung Griin, and others — Nuremberg and Augsburg j Diirer and Holbein — Dance of Death and Bible Figures — Early Wood - engravers ; Andreae and Lutzelberger — The Little Masters,- Small Subjects and Ornamental Designs — Albrecht Altdorfer — The Behams: Hans Sebald and Barthel — George Pencz — Heinrich Aldegrever — Italian Art in Germany — Decline of Engraving in Germany Page 50 CHAPTER IV DUTCH AND FLEMISH ENGRAVERS Varied character of Dutch and Flemish Engraving — Early Dutch Engravers; Lucas van Leyden, Goltzius, and their followers — Influence of Rubens — The Rubens Engravers,- Vorsterman, the Bolswerts, Pontius, and De Jode — Etchings by Van Dyck ; the Icono- graphia — Dutch Line Engi-aving ; Suyderhoef and Visscher — Rembrandt the Typical Painter -etcher — The Dutch Etchers ; Ostade, Potter, Berghem, Du Jardin, Waterloo, Zeeman, Bakhuisen, and others — Houbraken — Decline of Dutch and Flemish Engrav- ing, and ascendency of the French School 103 CHAPTER V ENGRAVING IN FRANCE French Artists of the Renaissance — Cousin, Duvet, Bernard Salomon — The School of Fon- tainebleau — Jacques Callot — Claude Lorraine — Portrait Engraving in France — Claude Mellan — Abraham Bosse, Se'bastien Leclerc, Claudine Stella, Morin, Poilly, Pesne, Pic- art, and others — Engraving under Louis XIV. — Nanteuil — -Edelinck — Masson — Gerard Audran — The Drevets — Age of Louis XV. — School of Watteau ; Boucher and Cars — Illustration in France — -School of Wille — Schmidt — Ficquet — The Nine- teenth Century — Bervic — Desnoyers — Henriquel - Dupont — Gaillard, etc. — Revival of Etching 132 CHAPTER VI ENGRAVING IN ENGLAND Early Engraving in England — Faithorne — Hollar — Mezzotint Engraving — Ludwig von Siegen — Smith and Faber — MacArdell, Earlom, Green, J. R. Smith, Reynolds, Cousin, and others — Stipple Engraving — Ryland, Bartolozzi, Walker, and others — Vertue — Line Engraving — Sir Robert Strange — William Woollett — John Hall — Landscape CONTENTS ix Engraving J influence of Vivares and Balechou — Browne, Mason, and Peak — William Sharp — Publishers of Prints ; the Boydells — Raimbach — Wilkie — Turner and his Engravers — The Liber Studiorum — Versatility of the English School . Page 174 CHAPTER VII REVIVAL OF WOOD -ENGRAVING Character of Early Wood - engraving — Revival of the Art by Thomas Bewick — The White -line method — Fables, Birds, and other series — Vignettes and Landscapes — Bewick's Pupils 5 Clennell, Nesbit, and Harvey — Branston, Thompson, and Linton — Wood-engraving in the United States — Anderson — Adams — Anthony and Marsh — The "New School" — Representative American Wood-engravers . . . . . 212 CHAPTER VIII VARIOUS MODERN ENGRAVERS The Modern Engravers of Italy — Raphael Morghen — Giuseppe Longhi — The Milanese School — Anderloni, Garavaglia, Gandolfi, and Rosaspina — Paolo Toschi — Calamatta and Mercurj — Modern German Engravers — J, G. von Miiller — J. F. W, Miiller — Stemla, Amsler, and Felsing — Mandel — Adam Bartsch j Le Feintre-Gra'veur — Eugene Dutuit ; Manuel de V Amateur Estampes — Modern Etchers — Meryon — Jacquemart — Lalanne — Rajon — Various Modern Etchers — Engraving in the United States — Col- lections of Prints — Conclusion 232 General Index 259 ENGRAVINGS AND HELIOGRAVURES PORTRAIT OF REMBRANDT (REMBRANDT APPUYE) . . Frontispiece Etched by Himself TAROCCHI CARD Facespage i8 Fifteenth Century ^ LUCRETIA " " 28 Engraved by Marc Antonio Raimondi, after Raphael ST. JOHN THE BAPTIST " " 46 Engraved by Ugo da Carpi, after Raphael THE ANGEL OF THE ANNUNCIATION " " 54 By Martin Schongauer THE NATIVITY «' " 88 By Albrecht DiJRER DAVID PLAYING BEFORE SAUL " " 104 A portion of the Engraving by Lucas van Leyden THE STANDARD-BEARER " " no By Hendrik Goltzius THE SLEEPING CAT " " 116 By CORNELIS ViSSCHER LUCAS VORSTERMAN By Sir Anthony Van Dyck xii ENGRAVINGS AND HELIOGRAVURES THE FAMILY ........... Faces page 128 By Adrian Van Ostade PONT NEUF AND TOUR DE NESLE ' " 134 A portion of the Etching by Callot LE BOUVIER " " 140 By Claude Lorraine TETE DE CIRE " " 166 Engraved by Ferdinand Gaillard (The original plate) A FLOWER-PIECE. BY JAN VAN HUYSUM .... " " 180 A portion of the Engraving by Earlom THE DUCHESS OF DEVONSHIRE " " 192 Engraved by Bartolozzi, after Reynolds THE MADONNA OF ST. JEROME (IL GlORNO) ... " 204 A portion of the Engraving by Sir Robert Strange RINALDO AND ARMIDA " " 218 From the Engraving on wood by Charlton Nesbit THE CAVE OF DISPAIR . " " 228 From the Engraving on wood by Robert BranSTON TREPIED CISELE PAR GOUTHIERE " " 254 By Jules Jacquemart ILLUSTRATIONS PAGE VIGNETTE (Initial Letter) i ST. CHRISTOPHER (1423) 3 ST. BERNARDINO OF SIENA (1454) 10 WOOD-CUT FROM THE " HYPNEROTOMACHIA POLIPHILI " (1499) 13 VIGNETTE TO THE "APOCALYPSE." By ALBRECHT DURER . . 56 WOOD-CUT FROM DURER'S "SMALLER PASSION" .... 58 DETAIL FROM "THE TRIUMPHAL ARCH OF MAXIMILIAN." By DiiRER 61 WOOD-CUT (Reduced) FROM THE "TRIUMPH OF MAXIMILIAN." By HANS BURGKMAIR 73 THE NUN. FROM HOLBEIN'S "DANCE OF DEATH" . . 80 THE JUDGE. " " " " "... 82 THE PLOUGHMAN. " " " « "... 84 HEAD-PIECE. By HANS SEBALD BEHAM 86 HEAD-PIECE. " " " " 87 HEAD-PIECE. " " " « 89 ORNAMENT. " " " " 91 ORNAMENTAL DESIGN. By BARTHEL BEHAM 93 HEAD-PIECE. Engraved by JACOB BINCK 95 WOOD-CUT FROM THE "APOCALYPSE." By HANS SEBALD BEHAM 97 xiv ILLUSTRATIONS PAGB HEAD-PIECE. By HEINRICH ALDEGREVER loi THE TRAVELLING MUSICIANS. By R. A. MULLER, from the Engraving by WILLE i6i THE HUNTSMAN AND THE OLD HOUND. By THOMAS BEWICK . 212 THE YELLOW BUNTING. From BEWICK'S "Birds" . . . .213 THE WOODCOCK. " " ** 214 THE FARM-YARD. " " " 215 THE HERMIT AND THE ANGEL. Engraved by BEWICK for PARNELL'S "Hermit" 216 FROM THE "HERMIT OF WARKWORTH.'^ By LUKE CLENNELL . 217 THE STRANDED SHIP. By LUKE CLENNELL 218 MOROSO. Engraved by JOHN THOMPSON for "The Pucii of tJi;- Jiiiltini^ bv Calloi CALLOT of the engraver Philippe Thomassin; going thence to Flor- ence, he entered the service of Cosmo de' Medici, mingling in the fetes and gaieties, and renewing his intimacy with his former master; but about the year 1622 he returned to Nancy, to enter the service of the Duke of Lorraine. Here he applied himself diligently to art, and soon gained a wide reputation. His abilities were so highly esteemed that he was called to Brussels, by a royal commission, to design and engrave ' The Siege of Breda,' and was subsequently summoned to Paris by Cardinal Richelieu to represent in a similar way ' The Siege of La Rochelle' and 'The Attack of the Fortress of Saint-Martin.' During this period he also engraved his celebrated views of Old Paris; but by the year 1633 he was again in his native town, and witnessed its siege and capitulation. It is related that the French king requested him to engrave a plate to commemorate this victory, as he had others, but that he declined to use his talents in the humiliation of his own country. Callot deter- mined to return to Florence; but in 1635 <^^^d at Nancy, in his forty- fourth year. He is described as pleasing in appear- ance, of engaging manners, and a favorite wherever he went. His portrait was painted by Van Dyck, and engraved by Vorsterman. During the period of Callot's residence in Italy art was in its decadence ; affectation and frivolity prevailed, and it is not surprising that his personal eccentricities should have been reflected in abundant measure in his works. He gave free play to his fancy, and his grotesque humor and satire, and his wonderful facility and ready invention, brought him into great popularity. The faults of his work are obvious, and the same may be said of its merits. His excessive mannerism and gro- tesque invention are everywhere apparent. He cared little for 136 THE MASTERS AND MASTERPIECES OF ENGRAVING correctness of drawing or proportion, or for unity of composi- tion, and his technic is generally an erratic combination of etch- ing and burin work, often ragged and showing undue haste ; but when he chose, he could handle the needle in a masterly manner. The charm of his work consists in his marvellous grasp of the details of a scene, the wonderful variety and life- like arrangement and grouping of his multitudes of figures, and the touch of life and humor which characterizes them, and in his picturesque rendering' of architecture. His prints are of great historical interest, illustrating many features of the reign of Louis XIII. In spite of their shortcomings, many of them possess an irresistible charm and attraction. Callot's prints, single and in sets, number more than 1400^ comprising all sorts of subjects and figure compositions, por- traits, costumes, book illustrations, architectural pieces, and land- scapes. To the examples already named may be added the series of spirited prints published under the title 'Les Miseres et les Malheurs de la Guerre ;' ' The Great Fair at Florence,' engraved at Florence in 1620; the 'View of the Old Louvre with the Tour de Nesle,' and its companion, the ' Pont Neuf,' works of great beauty and historical value ; ' The Punishments the 'Temptation of St. Anthony,' dated 1635, probably ^'^^ ^^.st, and certainly his most fantastic and eccentric work ; and the portrait of his artist friend at Nancy, Claude Deruet. Contemporary with Callot was another artist of Lorraine, of far greater importance, whose influence upon the engraver's art may be compared with that of Raphael and Rubens. Claude Gellee, generally known as Claude Lorraine, was born in the year 1600, in the village of Chamagne, on the Moselle. Our in- formation concerning his life throughout is meager and uncer- tain. According to his biographer Sandrart, his parents, who CLAUDE LORRAINE 137 were poor, apprenticed him as assistant to a pastry-cook, while the account of the Florentine painter Baldinucci recites that he assisted his brother, a wood-engraver, who taught him the ele- ments of drawing. Both agree, however, that at about the age of fourteen Claude left his native country and went to Rome, where he lived in the house of the landscape and marine painter Tassi, in the capacity of groom, valet, color -grinder, and assistant, and that he became a diligent student of art ; it is sometimes asserted that he also pursued his art studies at Naples. In the year 1625 Claude set out upon a pilgrimage, going to Venice and into Bavaria, and arriving at his native place a year later, whence he proceeded to Nancy, and assisted Deruet, then court-painter to the Duke of Lorraine, upon the decorations of the Carmelite Church at that place. But the attractions of Rome were too strong for him to be contented with life in a provincial town like Nancy; and in 1627 he set out once more for the Eternal City, where, after a serious illness on the way, and after being robbed of all his money, and narrowly escaping death by shipwreck, he arrived in the same year. After a time we find Claude established near the Church of Santissima Trinita de' Monti, a favorite resort with artists and authors, commanding one of the grandest views in Rome. Nicholas Poussin, the greatest of the French painters, and later Salvator Rosa lived near him, both exceedingly popular, and having large followings, yet neither history nor tradition connects the name of Claude with either of these artists, a silence incomprehensible whether we regard them as friends or rivals. The only artist among the multitude then in Rome with whom Claude seems to have been on terms of intimacy was the German painter and art critic Joachim von Sandrart, 138 THE MASTERS AND MASTERPIECES OF ENGRAVING whose 'Academia Artis Pictorias,' published in 1683, contains a biography of our artist. Claude possessed a modest, sensitive nature, and was a dreamer by disposition. He seems to have led an isolated life, free from the contentions and jealousies of his contempo- rary artists, working much in the open air, and making many excursions into the Campagna and surrounding country, often accompanied by his friend Sandrart. Very little, indeed, is known of the details of Claude's life during his residence in Rome, except that his paintings acquired great reputation, and were eagerly contended for by sovereigns and ambassadors, as well as by private purchasers, Cardinal Bentivoglio and Urban VIII. being among his patrons; we may judge of his diligence by the four hundred pictures which he left. The great esteem in which Claude's paintings were held led to many imitations and plagiarisms; and to his desire to pre- serve an exact record of his work we owe the famous Liber Veri- tatis. He made drawings in bistre and white of his paintings as they left his easel ; these he often inscribed with the date, the name of the person for whom the picture was painted, its des- tination, and such other particulars of the transaction as he thought worthy of preservation. The precious volume contain- ing about two hundred of these drawings found its way into the library at Chatsworth, and is well known through the mezzotint engravings of Earlom. These sketches were in- tended, as their name implies, only as pictorial records for future reference, and are not finished drawings, or of any great artistic importance. Claude is claimed by the French, as his native province, Lorraine, was added to the French possessions during his life- time; but his entire art education and training were Italian, CLAUDE LORRAINE 139 and many of his landscapes were taken from scenery in the neighborhood of Rome, ideahzed and changed to suit the re- quirements of his art. He was inspired by nature in her softer moods, and had no sympathy with the cold, impressive soli- tudes, the rugged landscapes, and turbulent billows of the Dutch artists. He loved the land of sunshine, with its peaceful bays and havens, and his Arcadian scenes are enriched with pictur- esque ruins of ancient temples and classic buildings, monu- ments to the glory of a by -gone age. The figures in these scenes are always subordinate, for, although Claude devoted much study to figures, he was never able to draw them with correctness; and appreciating his own shortcomings in this direction, stated that he " sold his landscapes, but gave away his figures." In many of his pictures the figures were painted by other artists. The applause bestowed upon his works in- duced a multitude of artists to imitate his style and choice of subjects, which are so eminently characteristic as to be gener- ally unmistakable. His most formidable rival in modern times, J. M. W. Turner, bequeathed to the National Gallery two land- scapes of his own, in the style of Claude, with the condition that they should be hung between the famous pictures painted by Claude for his patron the Due de Bouillon. Claude also etched about thirty-two plates of similar scenes, besides a series representing the fireworks exhibited at Rome in 1637 upon the election of Ferdinand HI. of Austria as King of the Romans. Of these etchings, most of which were exe- cuted between the years 1630 and 1640, although a few prob- ably as late as 1663, that known as ' Le Bouvier,' dated 1636, is a most perfect type of landscape etching in tenderness of handling, transparency and soft effects of light, and delicate gradations of distance, A herdsman, seated in the foreground, 140 THE MASTERS AND MASTERPIECES OF ENGRAVING is playing upon a pipe ; his cattle are crossing a pool towards the ruins of a building which is embedded in trees of the most magnificent foliage ; far away lie the hills, wrapped in the soft haze of a summer afternoon. Of Claude's other etchings, ' The Sunset ' (a seaport), ' The Village Dance,' ' The Brigands,' ' The Campo Vaccino at Rome,' the ' Herd of Cattle at the Water- ing Place,' and ' The Dance under the Trees ' are the most important examples. Claude's influence upon landscape engraving was accom- plished rather through his paintings than through his etch- ings. The engravers who interpreted his paintings were com- pelled to devote careful study to atmospheric effects and transparency, delicate distinctions and values, aerial perspect- ive, and the varying conditions of light and shade. The best engravings after Claude were produced in England in the lat- ter part of the eighteenth century, and among many beautiful examples the ' Roman Edifices in Ruins,' engraved by Woollett, is generally accorded the first place. Claude died in the year 1682, and was buried in the Church of Santissima Trinita de' Monti, near the scene of his labors; but in 1840 his remains were transferred to the Church of San Luigi, near the Roman Pantheon, where a memorial bears record of the esteem of his countrymen. One other artist of Lorraine, a native of Nancy, must be mentioned, Israel Silvestre, who imitated the style of Callot and Delia- Bella, and left many remarkable views of land- scapes, buildings, and ruins of France and Italy, among them a set of Paris views ; his works are chiefly valuable as preserv- ing records of monuments since destroyed. We leave the characteristic artists of Lorraine to come to the great portrait engravers, whose works are the glory of the 140 THE MASTERS AND MASTERPIECES OF ENGRAVING is playing upon a pipe ; his cattle are crossing a pool towards the ruins of a building which is embedded in trees of the most magnificent foliage ; far away lie the hills, wrapped in the soft haze of a summer afternoon. Of Claude's other etchings, ' The Sunset ' (a seaport), ' The Village Dance,' ' The Brigands,' ' The Campo Vaccino at Rome,' the ' Herd of Cattle at the Water- ing Place,' and ' The Dance under the Trees ' are the most important examples. Claude's influence upon landscape engraving was accom- plished rather through his paintings than through his etch- ings. The engravers who interpreted his paintings were com- pelled to devote careful study to atmospheric effects and transparency, delicate distinctions and values, aerial perspect- ive, and the varying conditions of light and shade. The best engravings after Claude were produced in England in the lat- ter part of the eighteenth century, and among many beautiful examples the ' Roman Edifices in Ruins,' engraved by Woollett, is generally accorded the first place. Claude died in the year 1682, and was buried in the Church of Santissima Trinita de' Monti, near the scene of his labors; but in 1840 his remains were transferred to the Church of San Luigi, near the Roman Pantheon, where a memorial bears record of the esteem of his countrymen. One other artist of Lorraine, a native of Nancy, must be mentioned, Israel Silvestre, who imitated the style of Callot and Delia- Bella, and left many remarkable views of land- scapes, buildings, and ruins of France and Italy, among them a set of Paris views ; his works are chiefly valuable as preserv- ing records of monuments since destroyed. We leave the characteristic artists of Lorraine to come to the great portrait engravers, whose works are the glory of the LE B O UVIEJi By Claude Lorraine MELLAN — PORTRAIT ENGRAVERS 141 French school. As the engravers of Italy, Germany, Flanders, and the Low Countries had their peculiar excellences, so those of France surpassed all others in the number and excellence of their engraved portraits. The first to appear was Claude Mel- lan (i 598-1 688), who in his own time achieved such celebrity that his name appears among the illustrious sons of France in the famous volumes of Charles Perrault, Les Hommes Illustres, etc. (published 1 696-1 701), to the illustration of which many of the foremost engravers of the time contributed their talents. After studying in Paris, Mellan went to Rome, where he en- graved in the ordinary manner of the time, crossing and recross- ing his lines to produce the required shadings and effects, but upon his return to Paris he adopted a peculiar style, employing single parallel lines without crossing, varying the thickness of the lines to produce the necessary gradations and shadows ; a manner more novel than artistic. Mellan engraved numerous portraits of eminent persons, and a great variety of subjects, besides many plates from an- cient and contemporary busts and marbles, and title-pages and illustrations for books. His most celebrated print, the 'Sudarium of St. Veronica,' a subject often represented by early artists, is engraved by a single spiral line begun at the extremity of the nose and continued over the whole plate, the effects being brought out by the varying thickness of the line. Mellan's print was highly praised in his own time, and he is said to have taken to himself great credit in its performance, but it is now regarded only as one of the curiosities of engraving. Mellan also en- graved a fine plate after Tintoretto of ' Rachel meeting Jacob at the Well,' and there is a highly esteemed print of ' St. Peter Nolasque' borne by two angels. Of his portraits those of Car- dinal Bentivoglio Peiresc, and Urban VIII. are fine examples. 142 THE MASTERS AND MASTERPIECES OF ENGRAVING Thomas DeLeu, who flourished in France 1560-16 12, Abraham Bosse (1602-76), Cornelis Bloemaert (1603-80), Jean Morin (1609-66), Fran9ois de Poilly the elder (1622-93), Jean Pesne (1623- 1700), Claudine Stella (1636-97), Sebastien Le- clerc ( 1 637-1 714), and Bernard Picart (i 673-1 733) were among the foremost engravers of their time, and deserve more atten- tion than the limits of this work will permit. Morin engraved with a difficult and peculiar, although pleasing, combination of strokes and dots, in imitation, it is believed, of Van Dyck's manner. His portraits of Cardinal Bentivoglio, after Van Dyck, and the abbe Richelieu and the printer Antoine Vitre, after Philippe de Champaigne, are justly celebrated. Poilly and Picart belonged to eminent families of engravers highly esteemed in their own time. Picart, like Goltzius, had an exalted opinion of his powers, and engraved a series of seventy-eight prints, in which he imitated the styles of the old engravers. These were published after his death in the volume known as Les Impostures Innocentes. Picart and Leclerc also designed charming frontis- pieces and vignettes for books. Abraham Bosse, besides being a designer and engraver of ability, was also the author of a number of important and interesting works upon art, among them a treatise upon engraving, one of the earliest published in France, Traite des manures de graver en taille- douce, etc., first published in 1645. Bosse was the author of many inter- esting prints showing the various costumes worn in his time. He is also famous for his graceful vignettes, ornaments, and illustrations for books. He engraved a number of curious prints showing the interiors of the bookseller's shops of the Palace, the studios of copper-plate engravers, interiors of print- ing offices, etc. His works, like those of Callot, illustrate his- torical features of the reign of Louis XHI. Jean Pesne AGE OF LOUIS XIV. 143 excelled as the interpreter of Poussin. He engraved two fine portraits of that master, besides many of his finest subjects, among them the ' Testament of Eudamidas ' and the ' Entomb- ment' Claudine Bouzonnet, called Claudine Stella, one of the most famous female engravers, also excelled in her engrav- ings after Poussin. Her print of ' Moses striking the Rock ' is a fine example of her skill. Of the multitude of engravers who interpreted the works of Poussin, the chief were Pesne, Gerard Audran, and Claudine Stella. While the works of the early schools show the gradual development, and the successive stages of advancement of the engraver's art from rudeness towards perfection, we now come to the age of Louis XIV., when all the resources and qualities of the various schools were first combined. The France of Louis XIV. was especially favorable to litera- ture and the arts. When Louis ascended the throne the liter- ary glory of France was fast approaching its zenith. In no other country could be found such a brilliant array of orators, dramatists, moralists, and philosophers as Bossuet, Fenelon Corneille, La Rochefoucauld, La Bruyere, Pascal, Descartes, and their contemporaries ; and notwithstanding the frivolous ten- dencies of the age, we find the names of Moliere, Racine, Boileau, and La Fontaine also shedding lustre on the reign of Louis, and the arts encouraged as never before or since. The King gathered around him the brilliant society so graphically de- scribed by Madame de Sevigne, embodying in himself the tastes and opinions of the age, raising a false Olympus whose object of worship was himself. His minister Colbert and his painter Le Brun shared his enthusiasm, and to their untiring efforts was due much of the brilliancy of the " grand reign." Colbert founded for Louis the Institute and various academies of art, 144 THE MASTERS AND MASTERPIECES OF ENGRAVING architecture, and music in different towns, reorganized the Acad- emy of Painting and Sculpture, encouraged Hterature, pensioned eminent writers, both French and foreign, and induced many foreigners of genius to settle in France. The famous establish- ment which that eminent family of dyers, the Gobelins, had founded in the fifteenth century in the Faubourg St. Marcel, and to which in the following century was added the world- renowned manufactory of tapestry, Colbert purchased for Louis, who transformed it into a royal manufactory of tapestry, up- holstery, and furniture, and placed it under the superintendence of the royal painter Le Brun. To this establishment was after- wards added a school for the cultivation of engraving, which, by the edict of 1660, Louis had decreed a "liberal art," according to its professors the privileges possessed by other artists. In this school Sebastien Leclerc was a professor, and such masters as Nanteuil, Edelinck, and Gerard Audran supervised the works of pupils and beginners. It is not surprising that great results should have flowed from such encouragement as this. The great body of French artists withdrew their allegiance from Italy and hastened to assume their places in the grand era inaugurated by Louis. The influence of the court at Versailles soon became everywhere apparent in the art, literature, lan- guage, manners, and dress of the period ; everything was elabo- rate and picturesque, dedicated to effect and display. The pop- ular tendencies and ideals of the age are typified in the palaces built by Mansard and profusely decorated with the creations of Le Brun, and in the gardens laid out in stiff designs by Le Notre. The art of the period was often meretricious, abound- ing in theatrical grandeur and bombast, although by no means devoid of dignity and originality. It found its type in the paint- ings of the popular artists Le Brun and Hyacinthe Rigaud, in AGE OF LOUIS XIV. stupendous allegories, and in portraits with gorgeous accessories. Never was such ingenuity displayed in designing and ar- ranging complicated folds of drapery and costume, and never were the accessories multiplied to so extravagant an extent, " bringing down on their school the censure of frippery and flutter ;" but Sartor Resartus was yet to appear, and art merely reflected the popular tendencies of the age, rendering homage to the King instead of to nature. Notwithstanding the splendor of accessories and embellish- ments in these portraits, they were subordinated to the features which are full of life and spirit. Never in the history of en- graving have portraits of such a high, uniform standard of excellence been produced, nor has the technic of engraving ever been carried to greater perfection. The reign of Louis has been called the classic age of portrait engraving, as it was the Augustan age of French literature, and although many of the most skilful engravers of this period delighted in mechani- cal difficulties, and revelled in the sheen of metals, the lustre of silks, brocades, laces, ermine, and in all manner of gorgeous backgrounds and surroundings, yet they were not merely ingen- ious artisans, clever in the manipulation of the graver, but con- summate artists and men of great genius, many of whom are forever associated through art with their immortal contempo- raries. There were a few engravers, as well as painters and authors, who rose above the general tendency towards extrava- gance and display, and whose works are models of moderation and good taste. There were few men of consequence belonging to this period whose portraits were not engraved in a masterly manner, nor are the instances few of men, important in their own time, whose very names would long ago have been forgotten had not the engraver's skill perpetuated them with his own fame. 10 146 THE MASTERS AND MASTERPIECES OF ENGRAVING Robert Nanteuil, the most eminent of the French portrait engravers, was born at Rheims about the year 1623. To a natural incHnation for art was added a classical education and refinement of taste which enabled him to resist the popular tendency towards elaboration, and his portraits are almost wholly free from the meretricious ornament which overloads most of the works of this period. Although intended for the law, while still a student he devoted much attention to drawing and engraving, rather as an amusement than as a serious occu- pation, and with little thought of the brilliant career in art which awaited him. Owing to a variety of occurrences, among them the ruin of his family and a scandal in which he had be- come involved, he abandoned the law for engraving, and set out for Paris in 1647, where he arrived unknown and without means. Curious stories are told of his methods of obtainino: work at this time. It is related that he once took one of his crayon portraits to a wine-shop where some divinity students were assembled, and asked their assistance in identifying his sitter, who, he pretended, was one of their number, whose name and address he had forgotten. Although naturally unsuccess- ful in recognizing the original, they were attracted by his work, and prices, and gave him a number of orders. He applied him- self diligently to his work, gained influential friends and patrons, and pursued his studies meanwhile under the eminent painter Philippe de Champaigne. At last his reputation attracted the attention of Louis XIV., who gave him a number of sittings for a portrait, and appointed him designer and engraver to the royal cabinet, with a pension. His future assured, he sent to Rheims for his wife, a sister of his early instructor, Nicholas Regnesson, and established himself permanently in Paris. He soon became a success in social circles, and one of the set which NANTEUIL 147 gathered about Mile, de Scudery, famous for her interminable romances ; but although diligent and severely exact in the practice of his art, he seems to have immediately squandered in dissipation the large sums which he received for his work, and at his death, in 1678, left scanty provision for his widow. In his early portraits Nanteuil followed the style of Claude Mellan, engraving in single parallel lines without crossing ; but he soon abandoned this unreasonable manner, and through his own genius worked out a style of his own, which for beauty and distinctness has never been excelled. Nanteuil's engraved por- traits number nearly two hundred and twenty, most of which are represented in an oval about 7x9 inches, although there are upwards of thirty of life size. These are mostly from his own drawings, and represent many notable persons of the reign of Louis XIV. Although in a few individual instances others may have surpassed him, no other engraver has ever produced so large a number of portraits of such high and uniform excel- lence. His portraits combine great clearness and individuality with a softness and beauty altogether remarkable, and were printed upon paper of such excellent quality that most of the impressions which have been properly cared for are in about the same condition as when printed more than two hundred years ago. As examples of Nanteuil's earlier portraits, engraved in the style of Claude Mellan, may be mentioned that of the abbe Mole and a portrait of Cardinal Mazarin. His best manner is shown in the portraits of Pompone de Bellievre, after Le Brun, Colbert, Servien, Anne of Austria, Le Tellier, Loret, Gilles Boileau, Turenne, Le Vayer, Steenberghen, Cardinal Bouillon, several portraits of Cardinal Mazarin, and about a dozen por- traits of Louis XIV. There is also a portrait of John Evelyn, 148 THE MASTERS AND MASTERPIECES OF ENGRAVING who, under date June 13, 1650, wrote, "I sate to the famous sculptor Nanteuil, who was afterwards made a knight by the French king for his art. He engrav'd my picture in copper. At a future time he presented me with my own picture, done all with the pen ; an extraordinary curiosity." There is also a fine large print of ' Moses holding the Tables of the Law,' after Philippe de Champaigne, which, being unfinished on Nanteuil's death, was completed by Edelinck, the latter engraving the face and hands. Of Nanteuil's numerous portraits, there is none more at- tractive or beautiful than that of Pompone de Bellievre, en- graved about the year 1657. Mr. Sumner, whose essay on the 'Best Portraits in Engraving' has given great impulse to the study and collection of prints in this country, mentions this as a singular instance of a man esteemed great in his own time, whose many virtues, and even whose very name would long ago have been consigned to an undeserved oblivion but for an engraved portrait. Of ancient and illustrious family, Pompone was himself a magistrate of high rank, the first president of the Parliament of Paris, and an eminent philan- thropist, who endowed a great hospital with wealth. He is described as a model of manly virtues, generous, just, and incor- ruptible, the embodiment of all that was knightly and gentle. Nanteuil's portrait, engraved in the year of Pompone's death, like the narrative of the Loyal Servant, rescues from oblivion " the memory of a good knight almost buried beneath the ingratitude of years." Nanteuil's pupil, Pieter van Schuppen (162 3- 1702), Flem- ish by birth, followed his master's style, and engraved both subjects and portraits ; among the latter are some of the portraits in Perrault's Illustrious Men. He is known as " le EDELINCK 149 petit Nanteuil^'' and some of his works possess considerable merit. Although for the number and excellence of his engraved portraits Nanteuil stands at the head of all portrait engravers, yet in a few individual instances, and in particular qualities, he has been surpassed by other engravers. Among those who in this way excelled him was Gerard Edelinck, who was born at Antwerp in 1640, and was one of the numerous artists attracted to France during the reign of Louis XIV. Edelinck at first followed the picturesque manner of the Rubens engravers, but after his arrival in Paris his style was greatly improved and refined by the influence of Nanteuil and Poilly. He was taken into the King's service, given a pension and a studio at the Go- belins, naturalized, made a knight of the Order of St. Michael, elected a member of the council of the Academy, and appointed " Premier Dessinateur du Cabinet." He passed the remainder of his life in Paris, where he died in 1707. He survived Nan- teuil, Audran, Masson, Poilly, and Pesne, and was almost the last of the great engravers whom Colbert had assembled at the Gobelins. Edelinck's character contrasts strongly with that of his companion Nanteuil. Instead of following the gay life of his associate, he preferred seclusion and practised economy, and left at his death a considerable fortune. It is said that his highest aspiration was to become churchwarden of his parish— a gratified ambition. Edelinck engraved about three hundred and thirty - nine prints, executed wholly with the graver ; of these about two hundred are portraits. The admirers of Edelinck have proclaimed him the king of engravers, claiming for him the perfection of every quality which goes to make a great engraver. Of his numerous por- traits, that of Philippe de Champaigne, from that painter's por- 150 THE MASTERS AND MASTERPIECES OF ENGRAVING trait of himself, is one of the masterpieces of the art; indeed, in general excellence, it is often placed at the head of all engraved portraits. This high standard, however, is not maintained, and it must be acknowledged that, aside from a few masterpieces, his portraits do not possess the charm or interest of those of Nanteuil. Edelinck's works are characterized by vigor, force of expression, and remarkable effects of chiaroscuro. To these qualities Nanteuil did not aspire, but endowed his works with a surpassing softness and beauty, avoiding a certain hardness or metallic quality which pervades some of the works of Edelinck. Other important portraits engraved by Edelinck are those of Colbert, Bogaert, Mansard, and Mouton, respectively minister, sculptor, architect, and musician to Louis XIV.; the painters Le Brun and Hyacinthe Rigaud, La Fontaine, Pascal, Dilgerus, Madame Helyot, called " La belle Religieuse ;" numerous por- traits of King Louis, and some of the best portraits in Per- rault's Illustrious Men, including the equestrian statue of Louis which appears as the frontispiece to that work. Edelinck also engraved with great success numerous subjects after Raphael, Leonardo da Vinci, Guido Reni, Carlo Maratti, and various other Italian masters. Of these the ' Holy Family,' after Ra- phael, and the ' Battle for the Standard,' from Rubens' drawing from Leonardo's famous cartoon, are fine examples. There are also a number of excellent subjects, chiefly historical, after Le Brun, among them the last of the ' Battles of Alexander,' which completed the series undertaken by Gerard Audran. Another fine print of large size, ' Alexander entering the Tent of Darius,' after Mignard, which remained unfinished at the time of Edelinck's death, was completed by Pierre Drevet. A worthy companion of Nanteuil and Edelinck was Antoine Masson, who was born at Louri, near Orleans, in 1636, but MASSON passed most of his life in Paris, where he died in the year 1700. Although inferior to his great contemporaries as an artist, in point of technical ability he was but little, if indeed any, below them. Masson was educated as an armorer, and his earliest work with the graver consisted in ornamenting gun-barrels and metal plates. When he turned from this harder metal to cop- per, he is said to have " played with his tool as with a pencil." He handled the graver with firmness and precision, and yet with a delicacy which is amazing. But this facility sometimes induced him to make an undue display of mere mechanical pro- ficiency. The large portrait of Henri de Lorraine, Comte d'Har- court, called ' le Cadet a la perle,' from the pearl in the ear, exhibits to perfection Masson's wonderful skill in representing the hard, shiny surfaces of metals, with their peculiar qualities, sheen, and reflections, and the texture of silks, laces, brocades, feathers, and a multitude of other substances and accessories. For the surpassing quality and harmony of such representation this portrait, after Mignard's overloaded painting, ranks among the foremost in the art. Masson's undoubted masterpiece, how- ever, from an artistic as well as technical stand -point, is his beautiful portrait of the Queen's secretary, Brisacier, called the ' Gray - haired Man,' a masterpiece of engraving, and a worthy companion to Nanteuil's 'Pompone' and Edelinck's 'Philippe de Champaigne.' This portrait is as soft and tender as that of Harcourt is vigorous and metallic, and the remarkable represen- tation of the hair has long been a model for other engravers. It was followed by Longhi in his portrait of Washington. This portrait of Brisacier, and the rare and almost equally fine por- traits of Caspar Charrier, Oliver d'Ormesson, and Maria de Lor- raine, Duchesse de Cuise, exhibit Masson as the artist apart from his mere caprices and exhibitions of manual skill, and 152 THE MASTERS AND MASTERPIECES OF ENGRAVING without the meretricious ornamentation which characterizes the portrait of Harcourt. Masson also engraved a number of life-size heads, of which the portrait of Louis XIV. is a good example; but his large portraits are inferior both in interest and merit to those of Nanteuil. Of his subjects, the ' Supper at Emmaus,' after Titian, sometimes called ' Masson's Table-cloth,' is a mas- terpiece of great merit, and but little below this is his engraving of the ' Assumption of the Virgin,' after Rubens. Judged by the masterpieces named, the works of Masson are certainly- worthy of the high estimation in which they are held. But his attainments were rather of a technical than intellectual charac- ter ; he had not the advantage of a thorough art education like Nanteuil, whose great natural genius and taste had been refined by education and study of classic art, and who was seldom led away from his high ideals by the florid art of the period with which he was everywhere surrounded. Contemporary with Nanteuil, Edelinck, and Masson was Gerard Audran, who belonged to a Lyons family famous in the history of engraving. Of this family, which numbered nearly a dozen engravers, Gerard was the most important. While the French boast of their great portrait engravers, they reserve their unlimited eulogy for Gerard Audran, whom they worship as a second Marc Antonio, attributing to him every great quality which an interpreter of the creations of others can possess: the drawing of the great Italian, the vigor and ex- pression of Visscher, the technical skill of Edelinck, and the chiaroscuro of the Flemish engravers, together with unerring taste and striking originality of methods. He engraved chiefly from the works of the French painters, and was the especial interpreter of Le Brun, as Pesne was of Poussin. Some of his works after Raphael lead us to wish that he had devoted GERARD AUDRAN more attention to that master — at least, to a purer type of art than the works of Le Brun and Mignard, although under the magic of his burin many of the defects of his originals disappeared. Gerard Audran was born at Lyons in 1640, the year of Edelinck's birth. He learned the rudiments of his art from his father and uncle, both engravers of great ability, continued his studies at Paris under the royal painter Le Brun, and also studied in Rome, it is said, under Carlo Maratti. While at Rome he engraved a portrait of Pope Clement IX. which gained for him such reputation that Louis XIV., ever jealous of the absenteeism of his countrymen of genius, recalled him to Paris, and appointed him royal engraver, with a pension and apartments at the Gobelins. Here (1672-78) he engraved his superb masterpieces of historical engraving, the ' Battles of Alexander,' from the paintings by Le Brun, then just com- pleted, and now in the Louvre, his prints consisting of thirteen large sheets making four subjects, viz.: ' The Passage of the Granicus,' ' The Defeat of Darius at Arbela,' ' Porus brought before Alexander after his Defeat,' and ' The Triumphal Entry of Alexander into Babylon.' To this series was afterwards added a fifth, engraved by Edelinck, whom Audran is said to have recommended to the painter Le Brun, known as 'The Family of Darius.' These magnificent prints were published at the expense of the King, who presented many of the choicest impressions to sovereigns and ambassadors of other countries. Gerard Audran also engraved after Le Brun five sheets from the paintings on the ceiling of the chapel at the royal chateau at Sceaux, destroyed during the Revolution, and after Poussin a fine plate of the beautiful ' Triomphe de la Verite ' and ' St, John baptizing the Pharisees in the Jordan.' There are also 154 THE MASTERS AND MASTERPIECES OF ENGRAVING many other beautiful pieces after Raphael, Poussin, Mignard, Le Brun, and others. Gerard Audran was one of the most skilful draughtsmen of the French school, and his works are characterized by good taste, truth, sentiment, and originality, as well as by great tech- nical skill and remarkable effects of chiaroscuro. He combined with the greatest success the work of the burin and needle in a broad, original style especially suited to his subjects. In his battle-pieces he improved upon his originals in many respects, and in his own time acquired a reputation greater than that of either Nanteuil or Edelinck. It was his intention to embody in a treatise upon his art the results of his experience and observation, but his death, in 1703, prevented its fulfilment. Certainly no engraver has been better qualified to transmit to us the traditions of the early schools, writing from a time when the qualities of all were first united — from the golden period of his art. To the encouragement which Louis XIV. gave to the en- graver's art we owe many of our great collections of ancient and modern engravings. During his reign that eccentric and indefatigable collector, the abbe de MaroUes, formed the exten- sive collection of fine and curious prints which Colbert pur- chased for the King, and which forms the basis of the great collection in the Bibliotheque Nationale at Paris. Towards the close of the reign of Louis XIV. Hyacinthe Rigaud, the French Van Dyck, had become firmly established as the fashionable portrait -painter of royalty and the nobility. Although in most respects a representative of the preceding age, his career extended far into the reign of Louis XV. He painted the portraits of no less than five kings, besides a varied array of princes, ministers, ambassadors, prelates, authors, art- THE DREVETS 155 ists, and other distinguished persons. He generally repre- sented his figures at full length, with gorgeous surroundings, and endowed with an air of grandeur which must have been extremely gratifying to the vanity of his patrons. His famous portraits in the Louvre, the eloquent Bossuet, his masterpiece, and Louis XIV., made famous by Thackeray, are striking exam- ples of his skill. His portraits with their superabundance of accessories had been successfully rendered by the engravings of Edelinck, but it remained for the Drevets to give to the world the most astonishing examples of technical skill in ren- dering and harmonizing these marvels of complicated arrange- ment and textures. The famous family of Drevet consisted of Pierre, his son Pierre Imbert, and nephew Claude. Pierre Drevet (1663-1738), at first a pupil of Germain Audran at Lyons, removed to Paris, where he received instruction from Gerard Audran, and rose rapidly into prominence; he received the appointment of court engraver in 1696, and academic honors in 1707. His son and pupil, Pierre Imbert Drevet, was born in Paris in 1697, ^.nd became an engraver of rare excellence, overshadowing his father in nearly every branch of his art, which he practised until his death in 1739, notwithstanding a period of insanity, dating from about the year 1 730. Claude Drevet, the youngest and least im- portant of these engravers, was born, probably at Lyons, about the year 1705, and was a pupil of his uncle at Paris, where he died in the year 1781. An interesting account of these engrav- ers will be found in the Catalogue raisonne, by M. A. Firmin- Didot. These engravers worked entirely with the burin, over which they acquired a wonderful command; the splendors of their technic, in richness and delicacy, have rarely been equalled. If 156 THE MASTERS AND MASTERPIECES OF ENGRAVING their portraits lack the vigor and freedom which characterize the works of Edehnck and the simplicity and clearness of those of Nanteuil, they possess a subtilty of expression and a refine- ment of technic quite their own. Their representations of the draperies, laces, silks, ermine, carved wood, and all the other accessories and redundancies which characterize the portraits of Rigaud, De Troy, and Le Brun, are as near perfection as any engraver ever attained ; yet all these are carefully subordinated to the features, which are engraved with great delicacy and minuteness, and preserve in a remarkable degree the expres- sion, transparency, and warm flesh tints of the originals. On account of their extreme delicacy of technic, these portraits should be seen in early impressions before the plates became worn in printing. In the qualities which have been mentioned, no other en- graver has ever quite equalled the best works of Pierre Imbert Drevet. His famous full-length portrait of Bossuet, after Hyacinthe Rigaud, engraved in the year 1723, when the en- graver was but twenty- six years of age, is the most perfect type of these engravings, full of life and vivacity; one of the exquisite masterpieces of the art. But little inferior is the portrait of the rich counsellor and financier Samuel Bernard, after the same painter, while the portraits of Cardinal Dubois, Fenelon, and Louis XIV. when young, are likewise works of great merit. Equal in interest, if not in point of art, is the portrait of the beautiful actress Adrienne Lecouvreur. This portrait, engraved from the painting by Charles Coypel, repre- sents Adrienne in the character of Cornelia in Corneille's tragedy " La Mort de Pompee," although there is a striking anachronism in the costume. We read in the annals of the period of the beautiful and noble, but impecunious, adventuress AGE OF LOUIS XV. 157 Aurora of Konigsmarck, who, travelling about from court to court, "found favor in the eyes of Augustus of Saxony and became the mother of Marshal Saxe," whose own relations with the unfortunate actress Adrienne form the subject of the popu- lar drama by Scribe, bearing her name, which portrays her romantic life and untimely death. Adrienne's expression in this portrait is beautiful and sweet, although sad, and the in- scription recites that she died in Paris at the age of thirty- seven years. Her talents were highly extolled by Voltaire, who deplored her early death. There is a fine portrait of Marshal Saxe engraved by Wille. The last work of Pierre Imbert Drevet, engraved in the year of his death, and while he was insane, is a portrait of the magistrate Rene Pucelle. Pierre Drevet, the elder, engraved a number of fine portraits after Hyacinthe Rigaud, among them that master's own por- trait of himself, and the full-length portrait of Louis XIV. from the painting in the Louvre. He also completed the plate be- gun by Edelinck, ' Alexander entering the Tent of Darius,' after Mignard. Of the works of Claude Drevet, the portraits of Count Zinzendorf and Vintimille, Archbishop of Paris, after Rigaud, are the best examples. Fran9ois Chereau (i 680-1 729), a pupil of Pierre Drevet the elder, also became famous for his fine portraits after Rigaud, particularly that of the Duke of Antin. But we must leave these engravers to come to the school which most faithfully reflects the manners and sentiment of the reign of Louis XV., that of Watteau. The eighteenth century opened inauspiciously for France. The " Grand Monarque " had outlived his popularity. The bright luminaries of his reign had faded away, and France found herself with a depleted treasury and a discontented people. The era of extravagance and frivolity ushered in by IS8 THE MASTERS AND MASTERPIECES OF ENGRAVING the Regency was destined to end in revolution. Art reflected the tastes and fashions of the hour ; contemporary society be- came the painter's theme. Le Brun " had tainted French art with the wig of Louis XIV;" but Le Brun already belonged to the past, for a new school of art had arisen in France, in- augurated by that fantastic genius Claude Gillot; brought to perfection by Antoine Watteau. The public taste had wearied of the stupendous allegories and historical pieces of the pre- ceding century, and welcomed the new school, whose works were characterized by attractiveness of subject and a general air of grace and elegance, piquancy and prettiness. The artists of this school represented idyllic landscapes, fetes-galaiites, pas- torals, with coxcomb shepherds and court shepherdesses, beau- tiful women in fancy costumes, nymphs, cupids, love -scenes; everything festooned and garlanded with roses. Their works are in striking contrast to the homely scenes of Teniers, Brouwer, and Ostade. " The eighteenth century," says Fonte- nelle, " was favored with a mild sun and laughing sky, and earth covered with roses. France was a universal garden rich with the sweetest and most enervating perfumes. Then were born two delicate children destined to give spirit and color to their age ; they were Voltaire and Watteau, the representative poet and painter of the eighteenth century." Of the multitude of clever artists who reproduced the char- acteristic designs of Watteau and his followers, the chief were Fran9ois Boucher (1703-70) and Laurent Cars (1699- 1 771). Their plates were mostly etched, and finished and strengthened with the graver. In this way Boucher engraved many of Wat- teau's designs ; he also became himself a prolific designer for others. Laurent Cars, the greatest of all these engravers, pos- sessed rare abilities, and represented the old as well as the new SCHOOL OF WATTEAU — BOUCHER AND CARS 159 school. He is famous for his ' Hercules and Omphale,' after Lemoyne, ' Fetes venitiennes,' after Watteau, and his series of exquisite illustrations to the comedies of Moliere, from Bou- cher's designs. Other engravers of this school were Aveline, Chedel, Moyreau, Le Bas, Cochin, Benoit Audran the younger, Larmessin, Aubert, Scotin, Baron — but the list is almost end- less. A collection of representative engravings after Watteau and his followers is of great interest — grace, beauty, and spirit predominating. But the school of Watteau rapidly degener- ated. " The debasement of painting followed step by step on that of morals." Lancret, Pater, Boucher, Fragonard, and other painters of fetes - galantes^ misusing the abilities which, well directed, would have produced great results, soon represented little more than the follies and indecencies of the age. Many of the engravings of this period are also of objectionable sub- jects, ^2 ^^'^^i- a surprise, and show a public taste sufficiently cor- rupt. ■ With the Revolution came the reaction. David rescued French art from the debasement into which it had been led by the imitators of Watteau, and in turn established a despotism almost as great as that of Le Brun, which lasted until the rise of the Romantic school and the supremacy of Gericault and Delacroix. Never were engravers more numerous in any country than in France during the reign of Louis XV. Engraving had be- come a sort of universal craze affecting all classes. In addition to the multitude of professional engravers, the art was practised by a host of amateurs, among them Madame de Pompadour, whose skill was not inconsiderable. Besides the engravers already mentioned, there were many others whose characteristic works are still highly esteemed. Those witty and ingenious artists, the younger Cochin, Gravelot, Eisen, Choffard, and i6o THE MASTERS AND MASTERPIECES OF ENGRAVING Moreau le jeune designed charming vignettes, ornaments, and illustrations for books which are unrivalled in their way; while of the engravers who devoted themselves to more serious works were Le Bas, Le Mire, Augustin de St. Aubin, Chereau, Daulle, Balechou, Beauvarlet, and Porporati, all more or less famous in their time, although, aside from a few masterpieces, their works are of secondary importance. Balechou is still widely known through his portrait of Augustus III. of Poland, after Rigaud, ' Ste. Genevieve,' after Vanloo, and ' The Storm,' ' Calm,' and ' The Bathers,' after Vernet ; Porporati by his masterpiece, ' Su- sanna at the Bath,' from Santerre's painting in the Louvre, and by a number of subjects after Correggio. But in the meantime appeared an engraver whose advent marks the beginning of a new era in the history of his art: a German by birth, but French by education and adoption, and whose best works are from Dutch originals. John George Wille was born in a little Hessian town near Konigsberg in 1 715. In his early years he was apprenticed to a gunsmith, and, like Masson, became a skilful engraver of ornamental work. About the year 1736, in company with his countryman George Frederick Schmidt, he went to Paris to devote himself to engraving, an art which he greatly influenced. He soon received the favorable notice of Hyacinthe Rigaud, some of whose portraits he engraved, and, directed and advised by that master, rose rapidly into eminence, becoming the fore- most engraver of his time. With the exception of a short visit to Germany in 1746, he resided thereafter in Paris until his death in 1808, in his ninety -third year. His prints bear dates ranging from 1738 to 1790, after which time he be- came blind and impoverished during the Revolution. His Memoirs, edited by Duplessis, were published in Paris in THE TRAVELLING MUSICIANS Wood-cut by R. A. Muller, from the engraving by Wille WILLE — SCHMIDT 163 1857, and there is a catalogue of his prints by M. Charles le Blanc. Wille possessed great mechanical skill, which he was fond of displaying. The railleries about the "lozenge with a dot in the centre " are properly applied to many of his works, which parade his technical skill at the expense of his originals. His best works are subjects after the Dutch masters and portraits after the French painters Rigaud, Tocque, and La Tour. His superior skill in representing the silk and satin draperies of the Dutch painters is shown to great advantage in his two prints, ' L'Instruction paternelle,' called ' The Satin Gown,' after Ter- burg, and the ' Mort de Cleopatre,' after Netscher, while his masterpiece, ' Les Musiciens ambulans,' after Dietrich, and ' Le Concert de Famille,' after Schalcken, are full of life and spirit. There are also some fine prints after Gerard Dou, among them ' La Liseuse ' and ' La Devideuse,' studies of the artist's mother, and there are a number of plates from paintings by his son P. A. Wille. Of his portraits may be mentioned those of Mar- shal Saxe, a vigorous piece of work ; St. Florentin, Count Aumale, Boullongne, Masse, Cardinal Tencin, Berregard, Ber- ryer, Poisson, and Madame Rigaud, wife of the painter. As a teacher, Wille was even more successful than as an engraver, although the school of engraving of which he was the founder often sought to conceal its artistic weakness in an undue display of mere mechanical skill. During a life of over ninety years, a career equalled in length only by that of Hen- riquel-Dupont, he lived to see the descendants of his school established in almost every country on the Continent. He was the teacher of Bervic, J. G. von Miiller, Tardieu, and other emi- nent engravers, who, in turn, transmitted his instructions to their pupils, among whom were Desnoyers, Longhi, Toschi, 164 THE MASTERS AND MASTERPIECES OF ENGRAVING Anderloni, J. F. Miiller, and many other engravers who flour- ished in France, Italy, and Germany towards the close of the last and at the beginning of the present century, and whose beautiful engravings after the Italian masters are universally admired. Many of these engravers, while owing much of their mechanical skill to the teachings of Wille, did not, like him, neglect the higher qualities of art, but following their great predecessors, endeavored to enter into the spirit of the artist whose work they interpreted, rather than to make a display of their own technical powers. Of Wille it may be truly said, in the modest words of the late Leon Gaucherel, that his " best works were his pupils." He was appointed engraver to the King of France, the Emperor of Germany, and the King of Denmark, and was a Knight of the Legion of Honor, and a member of the academies of Paris, Vienna, Berlin, Dresden, and other cities. Wille's companion, George Frederick Schmidt, was born in Berlin in 171 2, and was the son of a weaver. After serving for six years in the German artillery he was dismissed on account of his small stature, and at once, following his natural inclination, became an engraver. After receiving instruction at the Berlin Academy he went to Paris, and, like Wille, soon acquired great reputation. He was received into the Academy at Paris in 1742, in which year he engraved his famous laughing por- trait of the painter La Tour, and for his reception engraved, in 1744, his fine portrait of the painter Mignard, both masterpieces worthy of the graver of Edelinck. But Schmidt was by nature a wanderer, and two years later he returned to Berlin, where he was appointed engraver to the king. Here he remained until 1757, when he was invited to St. Petersburg by the Empress Elizabeth I., and assisted in establishing there the Academy of FICQUET Engraving. At this time he engraved some of his finest plates, among them his famous large portrait of the Empress Eliza- beth, after the painter Tocque, whom the Empress had also invited to the Russian Court, and, after the same painter, the portraits of Counts Esterhazy, Rasoumowsky, and Woronzow, and many portraits of the Russian and Polish nobility. But Schmidt soon again became restless, and in 1762 he returned to Berlin, where he etched some portraits and subjects in the manner of Rembrandt; but his works in this direction are de- ficient in breadth and freedom, and are less highly esteemed than his works engraved with the burin. He died in Berlin in 1775. His prints exceed 200 in number, and some of them possess great merit, although the greater portion are lacking in taste and intellectual qualities. His own features are pre- served to us in his well - known portrait of himself " with the spider in the window." Etienne Ficquet (1719-94), a pupil of Schmidt and Le Bas, is famous for his small portraits, among them those of La Fontaine, Madame de Maintenon, Rubens, Van Dyck, Voltaire, Moliere, Corneille, Rousseau, Boileau, Montaigne, Descartes, Fenelon, and Crebillon. These portraits, engraved with the aid of a strong magnifying glass, possess marvellous spirit and delicacy, and are correct in drawing and facial expression. Some of his portraits are reductions from larger prints by other engravers. Ficquet, whose follies and dissipations kept him forever in debt and difficulties, seems to have produced some of his best works under compulsion. It is related that his creditors some- times took him into their own houses until he discharged his obligations by engraving a plate. At St. Cyr he undertook to engrave for the order the portrait of Madame de Maintenon, i66 THE MASTERS AND MASTERPIECES OF ENGRAVING after Mignard, but having received his pay he had no further incHnation to work. He was thereupon confined in the con- vent, but his life in the society of the nuns was not such as to inspire him to diligence, and it was only after great delay and difificulty that they succeeded in obtaining this portrait of their benefactress, now an extremely rare print. This portrait and that of La Fontaine were considered by Longhi to be the engraver's finest works, although the portraits of Rubens and Van Dyck, engraved for Decamps' Vie des Peintres Flamands et Hollandais^ are scarcely inferior. As an engraver of small portraits Ficquet stands unrivalled, although approached in some instances by his contemporary Augustin de Saint-Aubin, and by Gaillard and a few other engravers of our own century. Two other engravers of great ability and reputation, Charles Clement Bervic (whose family name was Balvay), and Auguste Boucher- Desnoyers, although direct descendants of the school of Wille, gave to their works greater breadth and freedom, although they cannot be classed with such masters as Edelinck and the Drevets. Bervic was born in Paris in 1756. At the age of fourteen he entered the studio of Wille, and thereafter rose rapidly into eminence. He was soon received into the Academy, and given apartments in the Louvre. In 1790 ap- peared his first work of importance — the famous full-length portrait of Louis XVI. in his coronation robes, after the medi- ocre painting by Callet, now in the Trianon, at Versailles. Ber- vic's print bears the inscription, 'Roi des Fran9ais, Restaura- teur de la Liberte.' Soon afterwards appeared the large portrait of the King engraved by the German engraver J. G. von Mliller, who had been Bervic's fellow -pupil in the studio of Wille. This portrait, after an original by Duplessis, engraved in the same brilliant manner, bears the significant inscription " II vou- TETE DE CIRE Engraved by Ferdinand Gaillard ( The original plate) BERVIC 167 lut le bonheur de sa nation, et en devint la victime." The *' restorer of liberty " was no more. Bervic's plate, which is still preserved in Paris, bears the mark of the terrible Revolution. After the first impressions were taken Louis XVI. was be- headed on the guillotine, and Bervic, who had become an en- thusiastic revolutionist, broke his plate, and destroyed all the remaining impressions at a meeting of the " Societe Populaire des Arts," of which he was a member. The plate was after- wards repaired, and later impressions printed from it ; but these show the crease where it was injured. This portrait, with its gorgeous accessories, recalls the works of the Drevets, although inferior in point of art to such portraits as the Bossuet, Bernard, and Louis XIV. Bervic's next important works were the companion prints, * The Education of Achilles,' after the painting by Regnault, in which the painter Carle Vernet, at the age of twenty, is said to have served as the model for Achilles, and the ' Rape of Dejan- ira,' after Guido. The original paintings are now in the Louvre. The latter plate was awarded the prize offered by the Institute for the best engraving executed during the first decade of the present century. Bervic was an artist of the classical school, and these two prints, his masterpieces, contrast strongly with the works produced by the school of Boucher and Le Bas, so universally popular, and show that the best traditions of his art survived the tempestuous times of the Revolution. Another celebrated print, the ' Laocoon,' engraved for the Musee Robillard, is an important example, as showing the extreme limits of Bervic's technical skill; but as a work of art it is inferior to the preceding. Towards the close of his career, Bervic was loaded with honors. He was made a member of the Institute of France, l68 THE MASTERS AND MASTERPIECES OF ENGRAVING and of most of the Academies of Europe, and in 1819 the Legion of Honor was conferred upon him. It is said that he cautioned his pupils, among whom were Toschi and Henriquel- Dupont, against the vices of the mechanical school, and advised them to avoid servile imitation of others, and to cultivate orig- inality. He died in Paris in 1822. The whole career of Auguste Boucher- Desnoyers was a succession of triumphs, and seems to have been but little affected by the wars and changes through which he passed. Born in Paris in 1779, he commenced to engrave before he was ten years old, and at the age of twenty his engraving in the dotted manner of Robert Lefevre's ' Venus disarming Cupid ' gained for him a prize of 2000 francs at the Salon of 1799. He now entered the studio of Alexander Tardieu, a pupil of Wille and Bervic, best known as an engraver by his masterly portrait of the Earl of Arundel after Van Dyck. Here Des- noyers studied line engraving and etching, and rose so rapidly in his art that in the year 1804 he engraved for the Musee Fran9ais his beautiful print, ' La Belle Jardiniere,' from the painting by Raphael in the Louvre. At this time Bervic and Desnoyers were the ablest, and by far the most famous engrav- ers in France, and were honored and patronized to an extent almost unprecedented. In 1806 Desnoyers gained a gold medal for his engraving from the drawing by Ingres from the antique cameo of Ptolmey II., " Philadelphus and Arsinoe," then the property of the Empress Josephine, and now at St. Petersburg; and two years later he engraved his famous por- trait of the Emperor Napoleon. Notwithstanding the fall of the empire, Desnoyers, like the painter Gerard, continued to enjoy the favor of the Court, and was in succession elected to the Institute, appointed engraver DESNOYERS 169 to the King, created a baron, and decorated with the Cross of the Legion of Honor. He continued his work until about the middle of the century, when age and failing sight compelled him to lay down the graver. He died in Paris in 1857. Desnoyers is best known as the engraver of Raphael's Madonnas. Both his engraved works and writings show that the " divine painter " was constantly in his thoughts, and that he had made a profound study of drawing to qualify him for the great undertaking which extended over the entire useful period of his career. The series commences with ' La Belle Jardiniere,' from the painting in the Louvre, engraved in 1804, and includes, chronologically, ' La Vierge au Donataire,' ' La Vierge au Linge,' ' La Madonna della Sedia ' (also finely en- graved by J. G. von MiAller, Raphael Morghen, Garavaglia, Calamatta, Mandel, and Burger), ' La Madonna del Pesce,' ' La Madonna della Casa d'Alba,' ' La Vierge au Berceau,' ' La Belle Jardiniere de Florence,' and ' La Madonna di San Sisto,' the last engraved in 1846. The last of these Madonnas has been beautifully engraved by J. F. Miiller, and more recently by Steinla and Mandel, and will be mentioned again in connec- tion with those engravers. A collection of such engravings of Raphael's Madonnas is a choice possession. Desnoyers also engraved in a similar manner the ' Visitation,' ' St. Catharine,' ' Ste. Marguerite ' and the ' Transfiguration,' after Raphael, and ' La Vierge aux Rochers,' after Leonardo da Vinci. The last- named print ranks with the famous ' Belle Jardiniere,' these two plates being generally considered his masterpieces. Next to Desnoyers engravings after Raphael and Leonardo come those which he engraved after the baron Gerard, among them the famous large portrait of the Emperor Napoleon in his coronation robes. This portrait, engraved in 1808, was lyo THE MASTERS AND MASTERPIECES OF ENGRAVING exhibited at the Salon of 1810, and Desnoyers received for it ^2000, with the return of the plate after an edition of 600 im- pressions had been printed. These impressions bear the eagle stamp, and were intended for presentation to foreign princes and ambassadors and distinguished persons of the Empire. His print of ' Belisarius ' is also a masterpiece, and there are fine portraits of Talleyrand and Humboldt, the latter an etch- ing. Of his engravings in the dotted manner, his portrait of Thomas Jefferson, President of the United States, engraved in 1 801, is the most interesting example, and is now rare. In many of Desnoyers large plates the background was engraved by Frederick Giessler, of Nuremberg. The subjects engraved by Desnoyers are not only more interesting than those of Bervic, but his works show less of the defects of the mechani- cal school of Wille. Desnoyers found a worthy successor in Louis Pierre Hen- riquel-Dupont, who rose into prominence towards the middle of the century, and whose fame has since become universal. Born at Paris in 1797, his career extended over even a longer period than that of Wille. Both as engraver and teacher, his name stands foremost among the masters of our own genera- tion. At first a pupil of the painter Pierre Guerin, he after- wards devoted himself to engraving, and entered the atelier of Bervic. Upon the appearance, in 1822, of his fine plate, after Van Dyck, ' Une Dame et sa fille,' he established a reputation which was confirmed a few years later by his engraving ' L'Ab- dication de Gustave Wasa,' after Hersent, exhibited in the Salon of 1 83 1. From this period success and honors awaited him, and during a long life of over ninety-four years he en- graved many excellent works, both from his own designs and after various masters, mostly his contemporaries. His plates HENRIQUEL-DUPONT — GAILLARD, ETC. 171 number 115, according to the catalogue of M. Beraldi. He was a member of the Institute, professor at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts, and a commander of the Legion of Honor. He continued the noble traditions of Nanteuil and Edelinck to our own time, and his death, which occurred January 20, 1892, deprived the art of its last great representative. The style of Henriquel-Dupont differs greatly from that of his master Bervic, and is strikingly original and expressive. He was an artist of varied resources and of the greatest versatility, proficient in nearly every branch of his art. He was also a designer of great ability, and produced many excellent works in pastel and crayon with a genius approaching that of Nanteuil. Henriquel is best known through his engravings after Paul Delaroche. Of these the ' Hemicycle du Palais des Beaux- Arts' is a masterpiece of exceptional merit and interest — one of the famous engravings of the century. This great work, unique in style and subject, is composed of three sheets united together, making a print about eighteen inches high and more than seven feet long, containing about seventy-five figures. In the centre on a throne are Apelles, Ictinus, and Pheidias, the great artists of antiquity; around them are the genius of the arts, and allegorical figures representing Greek, Roman, and Gothic art, and the Renaissance ; the sides represent the world's great painters, sculptors, and architects, nearly all taken from authen- tic portraits, to procure many of which Delaroche journeyed to Italy. In 1855 the original painting was greatly injured by fire, but was restored after Delaroche's death by Robert- Fleury. Both painting and engraving are valuable for their many por- traits delicately and faithfully rendered. The portraits engraved by Henriquel-Dupont are exception- ally fine, and many of the early impressions are printed in a 172 THE MASTERS AND MASTERPIECES OF ENGRAVING superb manner on China papers. Among the most interesting examples are those of Peter the Great, the Earl of Strafford, Mirabeau, Pope Gregory XVI,, and the Marquis de Pastoret (the last two etchings), all after Delaroche ; Louis Philippe, after Gerard; Bertin and Tardieu, after Ingres; and, after his own designs, the portraits of Sauvageot and Brongniart. There are also fine prints of ' Moi'se Expose sur le Nil,' after Delaroche ; ' Christus Consolator,' after Ary Scheffer ; ' Pilgrims of Em- maus,' after Paul Veronese ; ' The Mystical Marriage of St. Catherine,' after Correggio ; and ' La Vierge d'Orleans,' after Raphael. Many other French engravers have achieved renown. J. J. de Boissieu (i 736-1810), who belongs rather to the last century, deserves notice chiefly for his great technical skill as an etcher, and for his remarkable powers of imitation. Joseph Theodore Richomme (i 785-1849) is best known for his engravings after Raphael, particularly ' The Triumph of Galatea;' Jules Fran9ois (1809-61) by his masterpiece, ' Le Galant Militaire,' after Ter- burg; and his brother Alphonse Fran9ois by his engravings ' Coronation of the Virgin,' after Era Angelico, and the 'Mystic Marriage of St. Catharine,' after Memlinc. Ferdinand Gaillard (1834-87) possessed rare and peculiar abilities. For delicacy and precision of technic some of his small prints rival those of Ficquet. His most important plates are ' L'Homme a I'oeillet,' after Van Dyck, and a wonderful portrait of the abbe Dom Gueranger. Other remarkable works are ' L'CEdipe,' after Ingres ; ' La Vierge de la Maison d'Orleans,' after Ra- phael ; ' Tete de cire, musee de Lille ;' ' Le Crepuscule,' after Michael Angelo, and the portraits of Pius IX., Leo XIII., and the charitable Sister Rosalie. He left unfinished a large plate of the ' Last Supper,' from Leonardo's painting. Some of his REVIVAL OF ETCHING 173 best works were engraved for the Gazette des Beaux- Arts. Blanchard, Rousseaux, Huot, Levasseur, Jacquet, and others have also produced works of exceptional excellence. A cata- logue of the prints of these engravers will be found in Beraldi's Graveurs du XIX" Steele. Etching, practised with such enthusiasm in the time of Rembrandt, declined as an original art after that master's death. The story of its revival in France in our own time has been so often told that repetition is unnecessary. For nearly two cen- turies a slave to its classic companion, the needle has at last superseded the burin, and the followers of Charles Jacque, Charles Fran9ois Daubigny and Leopold Flameng, pioneers in the movement, are so numerous that an account of their achievements cannot be attempted in the present volume. In a subsequent chapter, however, a few modern etchers, not living artists, will be mentioned on account of the exceptional charac- ter and importance of their work. CHAPTER VI ENGRAVING IN ENGLAND Early Engraving in England — Faithorne — Hollar — Mezzotint Engraving — Ludwig von Siegen — Smith and Faber — MacArdell, Earlom, Green, J. R. Smith, Reynolds, Cousin, and others — Stipple Engraving — Ryland, Bartolozzi, Walker, and others — Vertue — Line Engraving — Sir Robert Strange — William Woollett — John Hall — Landscape Engraving; influence ofVivares and Balechou — -Browne, Mason, and Peak — ^ William Sharp — Publishers of Prints; the Boydells — Raimbach — Wilkie — Turner and his Engravers — The Liber Studiorum — Versatility of the English School HE history of engraving in England presents little of interest before the middle of the seventeenth century. The schools of Italy and Germany had reached maturity and declined; the Dutch and Flemish engravers were at the zenith of their success; and the great school in por- traiture had arisen in France before England could boast a single great artist of her own. The success achieved by Hol- bein was repeated by Rubens and Van Dyck, and many foreign artists, engravers as well as painters, visited England during the reign of Charles I. Stimulated by these illustrious exam- ples, the native art soon asserted itself and came rapidly to maturity. The first of the English copper-plate engravers whose name has reached us was Thomas Geminus, who published, in 1545, his first edition of Vesalius's Anatomy, with illustrations copied from the wood -cuts in the original edition printed in 1542 at Padua. Geminus also published a Prognostication and other works rudely illustrated, and his plates were among the earliest printed from a roller press in England. EARLY ENGRAVERS — FAITHORNE The age of Elizabeth, so brilliant in literature, saw a great improvement in English engraving, although the real impor- tance of the school dates from the reign of Charles II. The most important of the engravers who practised their art in England during the reign of Elizabeth and her successor were Remigius and Franz Hogensberg, two Flemish engravers who went to England about the year 1560, the Dutch family of De Passe, William Rogers, Reginald Elstracke, Francis Del- aram, and John Payne. Remigius Hogensberg engraved, in 1573, a portrait of Archbishop Parker, a conspicuous art patron of the time of Elizabeth, which Vertue considered to be the first portrait engraved in England. He also engraved the portraits of the English kings from the Conquest. Franz Hogensberg engraved a portrait of Queen Mary I., dated 1555, but he was not in England at that time. William Rogers engraved a portrait of Queen Elizabeth, after Isaac Oliver, whose picture was painted at the Queen's command as an authentic likeness to counteract the effect of the unflattering portraits in circulation. John Payne was the first of the Eng- lish engravers whose works show any considerable ability, but he wasted his opportunities in dissipation ; had he applied himself with diligence his name, instead of Faithorne's, would have been the earliest of importance in the English school. The works of the engravers named contain the only au- thentic portraits of many eminent persons of the time, and to many of these portraits curious histories are attached ; but how- ever important they may be historically, they are of little in- terest as works of art. We therefore come at once to the first of the English engravers whose works compare favorably with those produced on the Continent, and mark the beginning of successful engraving in England. 176 THE MASTERS AND MASTERPIECES OF ENGRAVING William Faithorne, the elder, was born in London in 1616, and was a pupil of Sir Robert Peake, painter, engraver, and print-seller, knighted by Charles I. Upon the breaking out of the Civil War, Faithorne followed his master and fought with the Cavaliers, but was made a prisoner at Basing House and confined at Aldersgate. While in prison he engraved a num- ber of small portraits, among them a portrait of the Duke of Buckingham. Upon the solicitation of his friends he was finally allowed to retire to France, where he employed the period of his exile to great advantage. He found a friend and patron in the abbe de Marches, and became a pupil of the eminent engraver Robert Nanteuil, in whose best manner he worked ; but although he acquired much of the excellence of the French school, his works remained English in character. Soon after the middle of the century he returned to England, and established himself in London as an engraver and print- seller. Here he died in 1691. His engraved portraits possess great richness and color, and represent many eminent persons of his time. As examples may be named those of Viscount Mordaunt, Sir William Paston, Lady Paston, Robert Bayfield, Lady Herbert, Thomas Killigrew, a large emblematical print of Oliver Cromwell, and a portrait of John Milton, aet. 76, en- graved from life in 1670. Faithorne engraved many excellent frontispieces and title-pages for books, and was also famous for crayon portraits. He published, in 1662, his Art of Grav- ing and Etching, dedicated to his early master. His studio was a fashionable resort for the art dilettanti who, like Pepys, often called to buy " a head or two," and to learn the latest art gossip. There is a poem by his friend Thomas Flatman, a poet who is said to have done " ample justice " to his name, which concludes : HOLLAR 177 "A 'Faithorne sculpsit' is a charm can save From dull oblivion and a gaping grave." Faithorne had many imitators, but none of importance. The only other important engraver of the century who prac- tised his art in England was Wenceslaus Hollar, one of the most unfortunate artists who ever lived, whose great ability, honest endeavor, and indefatigable industry met with no re- turn but poverty, neglect, and sorrow. Hollar was born at Prague, in Bohemia, in 1607, of an an- cient family, and was intended for the law ; but in the taking of Prague, in 16 19, his family was impoverished, and, thrown upon his own resources, he went to Frankfort and became an engraver. Soon afterwards he travelled through Germany, making drawings and engraving views of cities, particularly Frankfort, Strasburg, Mainz, and Cologne; but although these were greatly admired, they procured for him only the bare neces- sities of life. At Cologne he formed the acquaintance of the Earl of Arundel, then the English ambassador to the Court of Ferdinand H., and in 1637 accompanied him to England, where he engraved from pictures in his patron's collection, and also etched plates for the published account of the journey of Marie de' Medici to her daughter Queen Henrietta Maria. At this period he also engraved his portrait of the Earl of Arundel on horseback, and several series of plates representing costumes worn by the women of different European countries. Upon the outbreak of the Civil War, Hollar sided with the Royalists, and, like Faithorne, was made a prisoner at Basing House. He obtained his release with great difficulty, and at once followed his patron to Antwerp, and engraved from his pictures until the death of the latter, which soon occurred. 178 THE MASTERS AND MASTERPIECES OF ENGRAVING Hollar now found himself in a strange country, without friends^ money, or employment, and with great difficulty made his way back to London in 1652 ; here he became a print-seller's hack, and was compelled to perform work utterly unworthy of his great talents. Upon the Restoration his prospects were bright- ened by the return of his Royalist friends, but the Plague, and then the great fire of London, deprived him of employment, and he was once more reduced to extreme poverty. He accom- panied Lord Howard to Tangiers to make drawings for the king of the town and fortifications, and on his return, after nar- rowly escaping capture by corsairs, he succeeded, after great delay, in obtaining from that impecunious monarch a pittance barely sufficient to meet the expenses he had incurred. He now travelled through England, as he had a few years before in Germany, making drawings and engraving views of cities, cathedrals, and ruins, and doing such other work as he could obtain, but returned to London in great poverty. He had at last reached " the dark level of adversity." After struggling bravely on for a time he died in 1677. His last hours were disturbed by the bailiff's officers, who even threatened to seize the bed upon which he lay. When at last death mercifully came to him, it took away " only a crown of thorns." Hollar is described in the catalogue published by the Bur- lington Fine -Arts Club, the latest and best catalogue of his prints, as "the most accurate delineator and most ingenious illustrator of his time, and as to technic, the most able etcher." Many of his plates were finished with the point or graver, which he also handled with the greatest facility and lightness of touch. He represented with rare taste and spirit, and with marvellous delicacy and precision, the texture of hair, feathers, and wings of insects, the transparency of glass, reflections of metals, and MEZZOTINT ENGRAVING 179 furs, shells, vases, jewels, and all manner of still -life. He also engraved with great success sets of subjects representing hunt- ing, fishing, and hawking ; sets of animals ; costumes of different European countries ; views of cities, buildings, ruins, and land- scapes ; and great variety of portraits, both from his own designs and after various masters, principally Holbein and Van Dyck. Among his prints are views of London, showing the city before and after the great fire of 1666, including exterior and interior views of old St. Paul's. Of his many views of buildings, those of Antwerp Cathedral and St. George's Chapel from the Choir are fine examples. For their representations of still-life. Hollar and, among modern etchers, Jacquemart stand supreme. Hol- lar's prints exceed 2700 in number, a sufficient proof of his in- dustry. Many of these are now exceedingly rare and valuable. To this period also belong Robert White, Francis Barlow, David Loggan, and Sir Nicholas Dorigny, all engravers of only ordinary ability. Dorigny, a pupil of Gerard Audran, went over from France in 1711 to engrave the famous cartoons of Raphael at Hampton Court; these he completed in 1719, and was knighted by King George I. The works of Faithorne and Hollar were the best produced in England before the eighteenth century. Much of Fai- thorne's excellence was due to the instruction which he had received at Paris under Nanteuil, and Hollar belongs to Eng- land only by long residence in that country. The English engravers first became important as a body upon the rise of the great school of mezzotint engraving, in which art they have taken and maintained the foremost place. This process was known in France as " La maniere noire," the black- manner, or " La maniere anglaise," from its prevalence in England. In Italy it was known as " L'incisione a fuomo," or engraving in i8o THE MASTERS AND MASTERPIECES OF ENGRAVING smoke or black manner; and the Germans called it " Schab- kunst," scraping- art, or " Schwarzkunst," black -art. It was also known by a variety of other names in different coun- tries. The process of mezzotint engraving is in some respects the reverse of line engraving and etching. In the latter, an ar- rangement of lines and dots is cut into the plate by the burin or acid. In printing, the ink is taken up from the incisions and shows black upon the white surface of the paper. The mezzo- tint engraver first covers his plate with a fine, even bur, which, in printing, gives a rich, uniform black of great depth. The lights, tones, and gradations are then obtained by removing or reducing the bur. He proceeds from black to white, and by tones instead of lines, his tones ranging from the deepest black to the most tender and transparent tints. In practise, the out- lines of the subject are generally etched before applying the mezzotint, a process which imparts greater strength, character, and variety to the work. Mezzotint engravings are prized for their rich, soft tones, and the delicacy and purity of their tints and gradations. The process is obviously not adapted to sub- jects which require pure, sharp outlines, or great clearness or minuteness of detail and finish, although some astonishing things have been done in this direction by Earlom and others. On account of the extreme delicacy of the work but a compar- atively small number of really fine proofs can be taken from a plate engraved in this manner, as the bur soon wears away or becomes reduced by the friction and pressure in printing ; as Gilpin has it, " the spirit of a mezzotint quickly evaporates." To obviate this disadvantage, steel plates are sometimes em- ployed, but the work then appears cold and hard, and loses much of its artistic effect. Dry-point work, so extensively used FLOWER-PIECE, BY JAN VAN HUYSUM A portion of tlic Engrainng by EarLvn LUDWIG VON SIEGEN i8i by engravers in finishing their plates, and often as a complete process, has been aptly called " mezzotint in line." The invention of mezzotint engraving is ascribed to Ludwig von Siegen, a lieutenant-colonel in the service of the Landgrave of Hesse, who engraved in this manner a number of prints, mostly portraits, one of which, a portrait of the Dowager Amelia Elizabeth, Landgravine of Hesse, dated 1642, is the earliest known print engraved in the mezzotint manner. Ludwig von Siegen was born in Holland in 1609. His mother was a native of that country, and his father, who be- longed to an ancient and noble German family, had entered the service of Holland, but returning to his native country in 1619, was taken into the service of the Landgrave of Hesse-Cassel. Ludwig lived alternately in Holland and Germany, and died about the year 1680. While residing in Amsterdam in 1641 or 1642, having already turned his attention to engraving, he invented the process of mezzotint, and in August of the latter year completed his portrait of the Landgravine, probably from a drawing which he had made at Cassel. In a letter which he sent to his master, with a number of proofs from his plate, he wrote, " How this work has been done no copper-plate engraver or artist can explain or imagine, for, as your Grace is aware, only three methods of engraving on copper have hitherto been seen. . . ." In all probability he did not disclose his secret until 1654, when he met at Brussels a kindred spirit, the romantic Prince Rupert, artist and soldier, known in history as the gallant leader of the king's cavalry in the Civil War. Prince Rupert engraved a considerable number of plates in this manner, some of great excellence, and introduced the art into England, where, for a long time, he was honored as its origi- nator to the entire neglect of the real inventor; curious stories l82 THE MASTERS AND MASTERPIECES OF ENGRAVING were circulated as to the manner in which his alleged invention had been made. The finest of Prince Rupert's mezzotint en- gravings is ' The Great Executioner,' after Spagnoletto, a work of considerable artistic effect. He is said to have first commu- nicated the secret of the process to Wallerant Vaillant, a por- trait-painter at Amsterdam, who assisted him, and who also engraved portraits in this manner with great success. The names of Fiirstenberg, Lutterel, Thomas of Ypres, Abraham Blooteling, and Sir Christopher Wren must also be mentioned, as these engravers were among the very earliest who employed the scraping process. Prince Rupert is also believed to have communicated his secret to William Sherwin, who engraved the first English mezzotint bearing a date (a portrait of Charles II., dated 1669), and also to the famous John Evelyn, author of the Sculptura, to whom he gave his small plate of the head of the ' Executioner,' to be published in the first edition of that work. Soon after this time, however, the process became gener- ally known, and within a few years many engravers were work- ing in this manner, but, compared with the masterpieces of a later period, the greater portion of their works possess no great artistic importance, although of interest in tracing the develop- ment of the process. Towards the close of the century a new impluse was given to mezzotint engraving by Isaac Becket and his accomplished pupil John Smith. The latter was taken into the service of Sir Godfrey Kneller, and engraved, after that master, many fine por- traits of distinguished persons. The success of the English engravers in this manner soon attracted attention in Germany and other countries, and many foreign engravers came to Eng- land to learn the art, which they afterwards brought into favor in their own countries. In the early years of the eighteenth SMITH AND FABER - MacARDELL 183 century there were many mezzotint engravers, both native and foreign, working in England. The French engraver J. Simon, a Protestant refugee, and the younger Faber, who came over from Holland, assumed leading positions, and became the rivals of Smith. They engraved many portraits after Kneller, who seems to have been almost as popular with the mezzotint en- gravers of his time as Sir Joshua Reynolds afterwards became. Faber engraved, after Kneller, the so-called ' Beauties of Hamp- ton Court,' and a series of forty-eight portraits of members of the Kit -Cat Club. There is also a fine print, 'The Guitar- Player,' after Frans Hals. By the middle of the century, how- ever, the art had declined, and the mezzotint engravings of this period are of little artistic importance ; but with the appearance of the Irish engraver MacArdell it soon regained all that it had lost, and entered upon the brightest period of its history. In England the great school of portrait -painters had arisen whose portraits, like those of Rembrandt, Rubens, and Van Dyck, were especially suitable for reproduction in mezzotint, and are illustrated by a series of the most beautiful engravings ever produced by this process. In the latter years of the eighteenth century mezzotint engraving in England had become the national art, and it is reported that at one time more than one hundred mezzotint engravers were employed upon the portraits of Sir Joshua Reynolds, under that painter's supervision. The process, at first confined to portraits, was soon extended to flower and game pieces, and even to historical subjects and landscapes, for which purposes it was often ill adapted. Of the multitude of mezzotint engravers who practised their art in England at this period, the most eminent were James MacArdell and Rich- ard Earlom, although there were many others, both native and 184 THE MASTERS AND MASTERPIECES OF ENGRAVING foreign, of scarcely less ability, among them Valentine Green, John Raphael Smith, James Watson, Houston, Pether, Frye,. Dickinson, Say, and Finlayson, and of the foreign engravers who were attracted to England at this period, the German J. G. Haid, the Viennese Jacobe, and his pupil Pichler. James MacArdell, who carried the art of mezzotint engrav- ing from the point to which it had been brought by Smith and Faber to comparative perfection, was born in Dublin about the year 1729. At an early age he went to London, where his superior abilities and genial disposition soon made him a favor- ite with the artists. MacArdell greatly improved upon the technic of his predecessors. He added freedom and boldness by combining strong etching with mezzotint, and his works are characterized by great power and originality. His numerous portraits after Reynolds, Ramsay, Gainsborough, Van Dyck, and other eminent painters have scarcely been surpassed. Sir Joshua Reynolds, appreciating his abilities, remarked that even if the colors of his own pictures faded, yet his fame would be preserved by MacArdell's engravings. Of the many fine portraits engraved by MacArdell, there are none more attractive that those of George, Duke of Buck- ingham, with his brother Francis, engraved in 1752, and 'Ru- bens' Wife,' both after paintings by Van Dyck, and ' Rubens with his wife and child,' from the painting by Rubens at Blen- heim. Of his numerous subjects, the ' Finding of Moses,' ' Virgin and Child,' and ' Time Clipping the Wings of Love,' after Van Dyck ; ' Christ disputing with the Doctors,' ' The Mathematician,' and ' Tobit and Angel,' after Rembrandt ; and the ' Virgin and Angels ' and ' St. Jerome,' after Murillo, are all fine examples. MacArdell's early death in 1765 cut short a career of great usefulness and promise, and deprived EARLOM AND HIS SUCCESSORS the art for which he had done so much of one of its ablest exponents. As MacArdell passed from the scene, Richard Earlom was rising in fame, and proved a worthy successor. As the former is famous for the great number and excellence of his portraits, so the latter excelled in all manner of subjects, and engraved some of the masterpieces of the art. Earlom was born in Lon- don in 1743, and was a pupil of Cipriani. Like Valentine Green, he is said to have learned mezzotint engraving without a master, and became so proficient, both as draughtsman and engraver, that he was employed by Boydell to make drawings from the pictures in the Houghton Gallery, some of the finest of which he afterwards engraved. Earlom engraved the 20a plates in the Liber Veritatis in the style of the original drawings by Claude Lorraine, together with about one hundred other drawings by Claude; these were published at London in 1777 by Boydell. His principal works are 'A Fruit-piece' and 'A Flower-piece,' after the celebrated flower- painter, Jan Van Huysum. These two prints are among the choicest master- pieces of the art, showing its possibilities in the direction of delicacy of tones, minute finish, clearness and transparency. His engraving of ' Bathsheba bringing Abishag to David,' after Van der Werff, is also a fine example of his skill. The orig- inal pictures were at the time in the Houghton Gallery, but are now in the Imperial Gallery at St Petersburg. The ' Market- scenes,' after Snyders, are also interesting if less important ex- amples. Of his portraits, that of the Duke of Aremberg on horseback may be named. Earlom scraped a multitude of plates, covering a wide range of subjects, and combined etching with mezzotint in a manner equalled by no other engraver. Valentine Green (1739- 1813) and John Raphael Smith i86 THE MASTERS AND MASTERPIECES OF ENGRAVING (i 752-1833) were also among the foremost masters of the art. The former engraved nearly four hundred prints, including many portraits after Reynolds, and a large number of historical subjects after West. He engraved a large full-length portrait of Washington, from a painting by Trumbull, then in the pos- session of M. De Neufville, of Amsterdam, according to the inscription. This portrait, published in 1 781, is now rare and valuable. Smith is chiefly famous for his fine portraits after Reynolds. There is also a curious portrait, after Romney, of Brant, the Mohawk chieftain. Since the death of Earlom in 1822 there have been many mezzotint engravers, but few of eminence. His most worthy successors were Samuel William Reynolds, his pupils, David Lucas and Samuel Cousins, and Charles Turner, all famous in their art. To the first of these engravers we owe many fine portraits and subjects after the English painters, chiefly Sir Joshua Reynolds, and a number of beautiful subjects after Horace Vernet, Gericault, Delacroix, and others. Lucas is famous for his English landscapes after Constable, published in 1830-32, and his single prints after the same painter, of which ' The Cornfield,' ' The Lock,' and ' Salisbury Cathedral from, the Meadows,' christened by Constable " The Rainbow," are beautiful examples. Charles Turner engraved many fine plates after Sir Thomas Lawrence, J. M. W. Turner, and others, in- cluding twenty- three of the plates in the Libev Studioru7n. The many fine plates engraved by the late Samuel Cousins, after Lawrence, Landseer, Millais, and Reynolds, are widely known and justly admired. The engraver of ' Master Lamb- ton ' and ' Pius VH.' well deserves a place among the foremost exponents of his art. In our own day a new interest in mezzo- tint engraving seems to be awakening. The masterpieces of STIPPLE ENGRAVING 187 the art command constantly increasing prices. All this may lead to its revival. Notwithstanding the great success of mezzotint engraving, another process known as stipple engraving, employing dots, became almost equally popular in England in the latter half of the eighteenth century. In connection with line engraving this process was well known to engravers from an early period. The Italian Campagnola, who worked in the first part of the six- teenth century, had made extensive use of dots to give greater delicacy and finish to his work, and a century later the Roman engraver Ottavio Leoni engraved a number of heads by a mixt- ure of lines and dots ; but the first to use the dotted manner as a complete process with any considerable success was the Dutch goldsmith and engraver Jan Lutma, who engraved some por- traits by means of dots produced by a punch and mallet. Lut- ma's process, which he called " opus mallei," was a primitive form of stipple engraving, a process in which the effects are produced by an arrangement of masses of dots, more or less close and delicate as required, made with the graver, dry-point, roulette, and often with aquafortis. As with the " ground " in mezzotint engraving, so in the stipple process the flat tints are often made by a special machine. Stipple engraving was but an improvement and extension of the dotted manner already mentioned. Of its various modifications were the processes known as chalk and crayon engraving, the latter said to have been invented in France by Jean Fran9ois, and perfected by Demarteau, who engraved in this manner many fac-similes of drawings by Boucher and other artists of his school. The object of this form of engraving was to imitate the effect of chalk or crayon drawings upon paper. Although of foreign origin, like mezzotint, stipple engraving l88 THE MASTERS AND MASTERPIECES OF ENGRAVING was perfected in England. While greatly inferior to line en- graving, etching, and mezzotint, its novelty, the beauty and soft- ness of the effects produced, and its peculiar adaptation to the works of Angelica Kauffman, Cipriani, and other popular paint- ers of fancy subjects, gave to the stipple process an exaggerated importance. Le Blond, Kirkall, and others had invented various methods of printing in colors from a number of plates and blocks, but after many experiments the results were found more satis- factory where a single plate was used, the colors or tints being carefully rubbed in by the printer. Le Blond printed chiefly from mezzotint plates, but this process was soon abandoned in favor of stipple. The works of Demarteau, Ryland, and others printed in this manner created a sort of craze for stippled prints, and many line engravers abandoned their art to cater to the pre- vailing fashion. Indeed, the number of engravers who practised mezzotint and stipple engraving in England in the latter half of the eighteenth century far exceeded those who worked in line. William Wynne Ryland (1732-83) is said to have learned crayon engraving from Demarteau at Paris, and to have inau- gurated its practice in England. Upon his return from France, after a five years' sojourn in that country, he engraved many fancy subjects after Angelica Kauffman, Cipriani, and others, and brought the process into great popular favor. Ryland also engraved in line, and held the appointment of engraver to George III. A French writer gravely states that "an accidental circumstance suddenly compelled him to abandon engraving." This "circumstance" was his execution at Tyburn for forging two bills on the East India Company. After this "his name was never heard again." Upon the coming to England of the Florentine engraver Francesco Bartolozzi, the stipple process attained a popularity BARTOLOZZI 189 never since accorded to it. There are few engravers concern- ing whose merits there has been so great a diversity of opinion. Since his death in 181 5 his works have come successively into favor, and then again into comparatively Httle repute. Although at the present day his admirers are legion, his works are held in less esteem than formerly by amateurs and collectors. That he engraved some masterpieces both in stipple and line is true, but it is also true that the greater portion of his works, and those by which he is best known, are of a trivial character. Although a draughtsman and engraver of unusual skill, he catered to a de- praved popular taste, instead of using his powerful influence to correct and improve it. Of Bartolozzi personally very little is known, considering his great popularity and comparatively recent career. Born in Flor- ence in 1727, the son of a goldsmith, for which pursuit he was also intended, he displayed unusual abilities as a designer and copyist, and was apprenticed to Joseph Wagner, a Venetian print-seller and engraver, who taught him what little he knew of line engraving. He afterwards studied for a time at Rome, but soon returned to Venice, where he rose rapidly into favor through his engravings after the Italian masters. It was at this time that Dalton, the librarian of King George III., travelling about in Italy with the royal commission to pur- chase pictures, knowing Bartolozzi's superior abilities, engaged him on his own account for a period of three years, promising him an appointment as engraver to the King. Bartolozzi accord- ingly arrived in London, the theatre of his success, in the year 1 764, and the appointment was soon afterwards ratified. Stipple engraving had already come into great favor, and Bartolozzi soon excelled in this style almost every other engraver of the time. His numerous works in this manner include a large number of igo THE MASTERS AND MASTERPIECES OF ENGRAVING " those charmingly beautiful red prints," representing fanciful designs, tickets of admission to entertainments, vignettes, bac- chantes, cupids, family portraits, beautiful women and children fantastically attired, and a multitude of similar subjects, in cir- cles and ovals, after Angelica Kauffman, Cipriani, and others. That many of these stippled prints are pretty and graceful must be admitted, but they were mostly of trivial subjects, " the con- fectionery of art," and as printed in red and brown inks are not exalted models. Chief among Bartolozzi's numerous portraits are those of Lord Mansfield and Lord Thurlow, after Sir Joshua Reynolds^ engraved in stipple with a small admixture of lines. The well- known Holbein portraits, engraved in the stipple manner and printed in colors, were published in 1792 by Chamberlaine, keeper of the King's drawings. These are not fac-similes of Holbein's drawings, for the engraver added much by way of ornament and finish to the often slight sketches of Holbein. Of his prints en- graved in line may be mentioned the beautiful ' Clytie ' and ' The Virgin and Child,' called " The Silence," both after Anni- bale Caracci ; ' Mary Queen of Scots and her Son James L,' after Zuccaro ; the ' Madonna del Sacco,' after Andrea del Sarto ; and the ' Death of the Earl of Chatham,' a large print containing more than sixty portraits, from Copley's painting. Bartolozzi also engraved the Royal Academy Diploma, a much coveted print, ^specially when properly filled out and signed. There are also many spirited etchings after Guercino, Cipriani^ and various other masters. A complete list of Bartolozzi's prints will be found in the excellent catalogue by Mr. Andrew W. Tuer. For engraving his portrait of Lord Mansfield, Bartolozzi re- ceived 500 guineas, and for the Death of Chatham he is said to BARTOLOZZI AND HIS SUCCESSORS — VERTUE have received ^2000, and to have expended nearly that amount for assistance, much of which proved worse than useless, as a large portion of the work had to be taken out and re-engraved. He worked with great rapidity, and often with great careless- ness, frequently engraving a plate in a single day ; and if he earned money easily, he spent it even more freely, and lived a gay life when not at work. His studio was the resort of the art idlers, and as a distinguished man and a member of the Royal Academy he was entertained at Holland House. After living in London for thirty-eight years, Bartolozzi removed in 1802 to Portugal, attracted by the offer of a directorship in the National Academy at Lisbon and the promise of a pension and knight- hood ; here he died in 181 5. During his long life of nearly ninety years he engraved an enormous number of prints, said to exceed two thousand, comprising all sorts of subjects and almost every style of engraving. Bartolozzi rarely forgot himself in his devotion to art. He made everything conform to his own ideas, and is said to have had a notion that he could improve everything he touched. He was the leader of a popular, but inferior, school of engrav- ing, which declined almost as rapidly as it had arisen ; and when the craze for stippled prints had subsided, his reputation greatly diminished. Nor do his prints engraved in this manner show the capabilities of the process, for his best works have been sur- passed by other engravers of less reputation. His work in line, although in some instances of a high order, is inferior to that of Strange, Woollett, and Sharp ; yet he enjoyed a greater reputa- tion than any of those engravers, and upon the foundation of the Royal Academy in 1769, with Sir Joshua Reynolds at its head, he was invited to become an Academician, an honor from which they were excluded. Much of Bartolozzi's success was 192 THE MASTERS AND MASTERPIECES OF ENGRAVING due to his personal popularity and to his readiness to cater to the public taste. His abilities are now less highly esteemed. Among the numerous other engravers in the chalk and stipple manner were Thomas Burke, a favorite of Angelica Kauffmann, Bartolozzi's pupils, Schiavonetti and Tomkins, Anthony Cardon, Thomas Gaugain, and Caroline Watson, and, later in the present century, William Walker, to the last of whom we owe some of the finest portraits ever engraved in the stipple manner, notably those of Sir Walter Scott, Hopetoun, and Raeburn. But the stipple manner, once so popular, has declined in importance, and as a complete process is now seldom employed for impor- tant works, although used as an adjunct to other processes. The portraits and literary works of George Vertue, who be- longed to the first half of the eighteenth century, are of great historical importance. Vertue was a man of great industry and modesty, and of scrupulous integrity. He belonged to a good family, " more honest than opulent," and numbered among his friends and patrons the most distinguished men of his time and country. He travelled about in England, making drawings of whatever attracted his attention, engraving innumerable por- traits and views of buildings, towns and ruins, copying rare and curious pictures, collecting books, prints, and antiquities, and gathering information about matters pertaining to art with as much industry and enthusiasm as the Suffolk Squire displayed in his agricultural investigations. Vertue engraved a multitude of portraits of distinguished persons, many of them the only authentic likenesses of the per- sons they represent. He is said to have "rendered most happily the distinguished air of lords and ladies." If his works have been surpassed by others in artistic effect, they have the high merit of scrupulous fidelity to their originals, a quality not THE DUCHESS OF DEVONSHIRE Engraved by Bartolozzi, after Reynolds LINE ENGRAVING — STRANGE always found in the works of his contemporaries, some of whom, like Houbraken, did not hesitate to employ their skill upon portraits wholly fictitious. Vertue left voluminous notes and memoranda, collected during many years of careful research for his History of the Arts in England. He even learned French, Dutch, and some Italian in order to consult in the originals his authorities re- lating to foreign artists. These notes, now in the British Mu- seum, became the property of Horace Walpole, and formed the ground -work of his Anecdotes of Painting in Engla^id^ first published in 1762-71. This work contains Vertue's list of the engravers who were born or who resided in England. Vertue also published, in 1759, a descriptive catalogue of the works of Hollar. To mention the engraved works of the great Hogarth, or of the caricaturists Gillray, Rowlandson, Doyle, Cruikshank, and their followers seems a digression in a work like the present, for their purpose was moral, philosophical, and satirical rather than artistic. They attempted through art what such masters as Cervantes, Moliere, Fielding, and Thackeray accomplished through literature. The second half of the eighteenth century has been called the Augustan Age of British engraving. The great versatility and excellence of the school are well illustrated in the works of this period. Its landscape engravings, after such masters as Claude and Wilson, are unrivalled, although modern landscape painting requires much more from engravers in the direction of delicacy of tones and subtile transitions of light and shadow. Its engravings of modern historical subjects are unsurpassed ; and some of its classical subjects and portraits are in many respects equal to the best of any other school. During this period mez- 194 THE MASTERS AND MASTERPIECES OF ENGRAVING zotint and stipple engraving were developed and perfected, and the art of wood-engraving was revived by Bewick. Notwithstanding the great success of mezzotint and stipple engraving, the chief glory of the British school rests upon the works of its three great line engravers, Strange, Woollett, and Sharp. The first of these engravers in point of time was Sir Robert Strange, who was born in the year 1721 on the Island of Pomona, the largest of the Orkneys. Strange belonged to an ancient Scottish family, and was intended for the law, a career which he abandoned in favor of engraving. After serv- ing an apprenticeship in the studio of Richard Cooper at Edin- burgh, he practised his art on his own account with fair success until 1745, when he joined the Jacobite forces, and shared their defeat at Culloden. For a time he was a fugitive in the high' lands, and it is related that upon one occasion he owed his safety from his pursuers to Isabella Lumisden, " a young lady dressed in the ample costume of the period," who afterwards became his wife. He escaped to France, and in the following year won the prize for design offered by the Academy at Rouen ; thence he went to Paris, where he studied under Le Bas. Upon the restoration of peace. Strange returned to London, in 1 75 1, and soon established his reputation by his engravings of ' The Magdalen ' and ' Death of Cleopatra,' after Guido. But he soon lost the royal patronage, and narrowly escaped serious difficulties by refusing to engrave the portraits of King George III. and his minister, Lord Bute, his refusal being attributed to his Jacobite proclivities. The commission was thereupon given to Ryland. Judging it prudent to leave England for a second time, he undertook, in 1761, a long- contemplated journey to Italy, which occupied about five years. He visited Florence, Parma, Naples, Rome, Bologna, and other cities, where he made SIR ROBERT STRANGE many drawings, and some of his finest engravings, from cele- brated pictures, and acquired a love for the great masterpieces of Italian art which he so well represented. He was received upon the Continent with great courtesy and distinction, and was elected a member of the academies of most of the impor- tant cities which he visited. In 1766 Strange was elected a member of the Incorporated Society of Artists, but after re- peated applications was refused admission to the Royal Acad- emy as an Academician, whereupon he published his Inquiry into the Rise and Establishment of the Royal Academy of Arts, in which he arraigned the managers of that body for excluding engravers from full privileges and slighting their art. Strange was especially jealous of Bartolozzi, who had been elected an Academician, it was said, on account of his abilities as a painter and designer, but more likely through personal popularity and influence. From the year 1855, however, engravers have been admitted to full membership — a somewhat tardy recognition. Strange possessed technical abilities of a very high order. His style, rich and captivating, expressed warm flesh tints with great truth and delicacy, to which his masterly use of the dry- point, acquired, it is said, from Le Bas, greatly contributed. His works after the Italian colorists are remarkable for breadth, softness, and purity, and possess a peculiar charm and interest. His technical powers as an engraver, however, exceeded his abilities as a draughtsman and designer, and the drawing in some of his works is so weak that his attack upon the Royal Academy was met with the harmless witticism that he some- times " exhibited Strange carelessness in his delineation of the human figure." Among the many fine subjects which Strange engraved after Guido, Correggio, Titian, Raphael, and other Italian paint- 196 THE MASTERS AND MASTERPIECES OF ENGRAVING ers there is none more attractive, or a more faithful translation of the original, than the famous ' Madonna of St. Jerome, with the Magdalen and Angels,' called // Giorno, ' The Day,' from Correggio's painting in the gallery at Parma. The painting by Correggio is one of his most perfect works, renowned alike for its marvellous effects of light and shade, and for the great beauty of the Magdalen. Strange 's engraving of this subject, and a number of his other important plates, among them 'Venus' and ' Danae,' after Titian; 'St. Cecilia,' after Raphael; and the ' Penitent Magdalen,' after Guido, were engraved from his drawings made from the originals during his sojourn in Italy. Strange also engraved a few portraits of great interest and merit. Chief among these are his famous portraits, after Van Dyck, of Charles I. standing by his horse, and attended by the Marquis of Hamilton, a masterpiece of great beauty and inter- est; its companion, the portrait of Queen Henrietta Maria with her sons ; the portrait of Charles I. in his ermine robes ; and the three royal children with the King Charles spaniels. Strange regained the royal favor, and was knighted and otherwise honored. About the year 1 790 a magnificent edition of about eighty numbered copies of the finest reserved impres- sions from his plates was published, with an introductory essay on the progress of his art. For this collection he engraved a small portrait of himself from a drawing by Greuze. Most of these copies have since been separated, but the impressions are identified by the Roman numbers in the margin. Strange died in London in 1792. If in his own time his popularity was overshadowed by that of Bartolozzi, his name is forever asso- ciated with the serious and important work of the British school, while his rival has left us few works to justify his greater reputation. WILLIAM WOOLLETT; LANDSCAPES 197 As Strange excelled in his subjects after the Italian masters and in his portraits after Van Dyck, so William Woollett be- came famous for his landscapes and historical subjects. Wool- lett was born August 15, 1735, at Maidstone, in Kent, of humble parentage. His father, Philip Woollett, was by occupation a flax- dresser, but having the good -fortune to be part owner of a lottery ticket which drew a large prize, he took a public- house known as the " Turk's Head." We are told that his son William at an early age distinguished himself by scratching a Turk's head on a pewter pot, and otherwise displayed such talent in drawing that he was apprenticed to a somewhat ob- scure London engraver and print-seller named Tinney, who seems to have had as his pupils a number of eminent engravers. But little is known of Woollett's early life. He is described as small in stature, exceedingly simple and unpretending in man- ner, very near-sighted, possessing great patience, extremely in- dustrious, and a truly good man. He owed very little to the schools, and was never outside of England ; indeed, he scarcely ever left London from the time he entered upon his appren- ticeship. Woollett's early work consisted of shop-bills, views of build- ings and gardens, and a few portraits. His important works date from 1761, in which year appeared his famous engraving of ' Niobe,' from the fine landscape painting by Richard Wil- son, now in the National Gallery, which had then just arrived from Rome and was the chief topic of discussion in the world of art. This beautiful plate was engraved for Alderman John Boydell, the famous publisher of prints. According to Boy- dell's statement, Woollett undertook to engrave this plate for 100 guineas, "an unheard-of price" at the time, and this prov- ing insufficient, an additional ^50 was allowed to enable him 198 THE MASTERS AND MASTERPIECES OF ENGRAVING to complete his task. The success of the undertaking justi- fied Boydell's liberality. After taking a few proofs, which are now valuable, the prints were sold at five shillings, and met with such unexpected success, both at home and abroad, that even at that low price they brought in to the publisher about ^2000. This engraving established Woollett's fame and brought to him all the work he was capable of performing. In the following two years appeared the landscapes known as the First and Second Premium prints, after the Smiths of Chichester, and in 1772 the great landscape engraving from the painting by Claude Lorraine, ' Roman Edifices in Ruins,' which placed Woollett's name at the head of all landscape- engravers. Up to this time we are told that Woollett was poor, living in upper lodgings, and often in want, a condition of affairs explained, perhaps, by the further information that his wife, Elizabeth Woollett, five times presented her husband with twins, and upon another occasion with triplets. Allusion has already been made to the great influence of Claude upon landscape engraving. Of the many beauti- ful engravings of these classic landscapes, Woollett's plate, 'Roman Edifices in Ruins,' stands foremost, both in its tech- nical perfection and beauty, and in its true rendering of the peculiar atmospheric effects and delicate gradations of the original, now at Grosvenor House. This beautiful picture, representing the allegorical evening of the Roman Empire, inspired the engraver to his best efforts. The rich foliage in the foreground, the ruined aqueduct, the winding river, and the sky and distant hills are rendered with rare skill and fidelity. The whole scene is eminently characteristic of Claude, and loses but little of his spirit in the translation. The lines, in the foreground bold and clear, become more and more delicate WILLIAM WOOLLETT ; HISTORICAL SUBJECTS 199 in the receding: distance until lost in the tender and luminous horizon. Not only is Woollett famous for his engravings of land- scapes, but in the more difficult department of historical engrav- ing he is equally renowned. His two plates, ' The Death of General Wolfe ' and ' The Battle at La Hogue,' both from paintings by Benjamin West, are among the best engravings of modern historical events. ' The Death of General Wolfe' is a masterpiece of engraving, full of force, tenderness, and expression. The subject is also one of great historical interest. For months the English gen- eral lay before Quebec, the strongest place in the possession of the French, baffled by its strength and position, which he could not overcome ; but at last, winning by stratagem what he could not take by force, he was stricken down in the moment of vic- tory; unmindful of the mortal injury he had received, he thanked God for his success, and declared that he died happy. The dying general is surrounded by his officers and soldiers, and an Indian chief watches to see if the English soldier is equal in fortitude to the children of the forests, while the French are fleeing before his army. This picture, which brought fame to the painter, as well as fortune to the engraver, was made the subject of much curious criticism. Before this time it had been the custom to represent the heroes clad in classic costume, with spear, shield, and helmet. West substituted the regulation mili- tary uniform, musket, and bayonet, insisting upon realism, and claiming that it would be ridiculous to represent English sol- diers in the dress of Greeks or Romans. His critics, taking issue upon his claim of realism, thereupon complained that of the important persons represented in the foreground, three at least were not present; for two of them, Moncton and Barre, 200 THE MASTERS AND MASTERPIECES OF ENGRAVING had been disabled, and Surgeon Adair was at a considerable distance from the scene ; the presence of the Indian was also disputed. This plate has a curious history. After a few proofs were taken, a son of the printer, taking up a hammer in a thoughtless manner, said, in jest, " I could soon be the death of Wolfe," or, according to another account, " General Wolfe is dying, and I'll be d d if I don't kill him quite." No sooner were these unfortunate words uttered than the hammer fell upon the face of Wolfe, destroying in an instant the finest part of the plate, A detailed statement of this accident is attached to the proof in the British Museum. When Woollett heard of this sad injury which had befallen his choicest work, and to which the best energies of his life had been devoted, he is said to have wept. After great labor the injury was repaired and the printing resumed. While the first proofs were being printed the news arrived that Woollett had been appointed engraver to the King. The press was stopped, and the words " Engraver to His Majesty " were added below Woollett's name, and beneath West's name the words " Historical Painter to His Majesty." The demand for impressions was unprecedented, and Woollett is said to have received more than ^5000 as his share of the profits, Boydell and Ryland also being partners in the under- taking. After Woollett's death in 1785 the plate came into the exclusive ownership of Boydell. It was badly retouched, the title erased, and open letters again introduced, and spurious proofs printed and sold. This imposition gave rise to the letter,, circulated widely at the time, purporting to have been written by the late William Woollett, engraver, to the Right Hon. John Boydell, that worthy having in the meantime become Lord Mayor of London, crying for protection to his memory and WILLIAM WOOLLETT 20I revenge upon the wretches who were destroying forever " the only monument desired by the injured." There are ten states of this plate, all of which are represented in the almost perfect collection of WooUett's works in the British Museum, which numbers 123 subjects, besides nearly every state of each plate, from the etched outline to the finished print. There are also many copies of this print, and a parody etched by Gillray, entitled, ' The Death of the Great Wolf,' representing Pitt as the dying hero supported by Dundas and Burke, while the other figures represent well-known leaders in Parliament, the print referring to an attack upon Pitt in the House of Commons. The ' Battle at La Hogue ' represents the naval combat which took place in 1692 between the combined fleets of Eng- land and Holland, and the French fleet. The success achieved by these historical prints led West and Woollett to project other similar works, but owing to the death of the latter they were either abandoned or were engraved by other hands. All of Woollett's works show the greatest originality and the most untiring industry. He was a thorough master of the technical portion of his art. He neglected nothing, however trivial, and would spend weeks, and even months, in making slight alterations and improvements which a less patient and conscientious engraver would scarcely have undertaken. Of a generous disposition, free from jealousy, he duly appreciated and applauded merit in the works of others. After his death there seems to have been a time when his fame greatly de- creased, so that in 1821 Bartsch mentions him as having been formerly held in high esteem, but again in 1830 Longhi (La Calcografia) speaks of him in the highest terms, attributing to him every good quality, saying that he " was for all contem- porary engravers, and is for those of the present day, the marvel 202 THE MASTERS AND MASTERPIECES OF ENGRAVING and example ;" but his great merits are now universally recog- nized. According to tradition, whenever Woollett completed an important plate, he celebrated the event by firing a cannon from the roof of his house. For several years he was secretary of the Incorporated Society of Artists of Great Britain, and was also highly esteemed on the Continent, where his works had a wide circulation. Woollett died May 23, 1785, and was buried in the church- yard of Old St. Pancras, where a plain tombstone marked the spot. On this stone was found written in pencil : "Here Woollett rests, expecting to be sav'd, He graved well, but is not well engrav'd." Soon afterwards a subscription was raised, to which West and Boydell were principal contributors, and a memorial was erected in his honor in Westminster Abbey, with the inscription " In- cisor Excellentissimus." There is an excellent biographical and descriptive catalogue by Mr. Louis Fagan, late of the British Museum. Upon the death of Woollett, his companion, John Hall, be- came his successor as engraver to the King, and continued the projected series of engravings from the historical paintings by West. Among his prints are ' Penn's Treaty with the Indians,' * The Battle of the Boyne,' and ' Oliver Cromwell dissolving the Long Parliament.' The antecedents of the great school of landscape engraving which reached its perfection under Woollett may be traced to France, to the painters Claude Lorraine and Joseph Vernet, and the engravers Vivares and Balechou. Vivares, a French- man by birth, resided for many years in England, and may be called the founder of the school. In his youth he was a tailor's LANDSCAPE ENGRAVING — WILLIAM SHARP 203 apprentice, but preferred the etching- needle. His beautiful landscapes after Claude are surpassed only by those of Wool- lett. Vivares was an exceedingly industrious engraver, perhaps from necessity, to provide for the wants of a family almost in- credibly numerous. Although Balechou remained in France, his landscapes and marine subjects after Vernet were carefully studied by the English engravers, and contributed greatly to their education. Among the chief disciples of the school of Vivares ^nd Woollett were John Browne, James Mason, and James Peak, who engraved many beautiful landscapes after Claude Lorraine, Gaspard Dughet, Smith, Wilson, and other eminent landscape-painters. No other country can boast of such an array of talent in this direction. Scarcely less renowned than Strange and Woollett was their successor, William Sharp, an engraver of varied resources and great originality. Among his works are a number of master- pieces unsurpassed in boldness and picturesque effect. Sharp was born in London, January 29, 1749, and was the son of a gunmaker, who apprenticed him to learn the art of " bright " engraving, to qualify him to ornament fire-arms and plate, a beginning not unlike that of Masson, Schmidt, and other emi- nent engravers. It is said that he first exercised his skill in decorating pewter pots for the publicans ; but he soon turned his attention to the higher branch of his art, and became one of the foremost engravers of his time. If we except two orna- mental cards, bearing his name and address, and designed to call attention to his vocation. Sharp's first attempt in this new direction was his portrait of the old lion Hector, who for many years had been an inmate of the Tower — almost as great a public favorite as the late lamented Jumbo. This print, en- graved in 1775, and a number of illustrations for the Novelist's 204 THE MASTERS AND MASTERPIECES OF ENGRAVING Magazine, from Stothard's designs, attracted public attention to his abilities. Sharp's powers came rapidly to maturity. In 1782 ap- peared his engraving from West's painting of ' Alfred the Great dividing his loaf with the Pilgrim,' and two years later he engraved his fine print of ' Lucretia,' after Domenichino. To the following year belongs his masterpiece, the famous ' Doctors of the Church,' from Guide's painting, then in the Houghton Gallery, but since removed to the Imperial Gallery at St. Peters- burg. This picture, painted by Guido for Pope Paul V., repre- sents the four Latin Doctors of the Church — St. Jerome, St. Augustine, St. Ambrose, and St. Gregory — who, with St. John Damascene and St. Ildefonso, are engaged in a discussion upon the great Catholic doctrine of the Immaculate Concep- tion, which the Pope afterwards confirmed in 161 7. This print, boldly and beautifully engraved, is often placed at the head of English engraved subjects. Mr. Maberly relates that when in Rome, Sharp visited Raph- ael Morghen, then of great age. The venerable Italian, after exhibiting his choice reserved proofs of his own engravings, at last drew forth from his portfolio an impression of Sharp's ' Doctors of the Church,' saying, " And now Mr. Sharp, I will show you a print which is equal to anything I ever did in my life." Sharp, in relating this anecdote upon his return, added with some enthusiasm, " and indeed the old man was not far from right." In striking contrast to the ' Doctors of the Church ' is ' Lear in the Storm,' after West, characterized by vigor, strong con- trasts, and violent action, as the former is remarkable for its atmosphere of repose and contemplation. This print was en- graved for Boydell's Shakespeare, and is the most important WILLIAM SHARP 205 print in the collection. To the masterpieces named must be added the large historical engraving after Trumbull, ' The Sortie made by the Garrison of Gibraltar ' on the morning of November 27, 1781, in which many of the heads are authentic portraits. The originals of this and the preceding are now in the Boston Athenaeum. Among other important engravings by Sharp are ' Diogenes in search of an Honest Man,' after Salvator Rosa ; ' Ecce Homo,' after Guido; 'St. Cecilia,' after Domenichino; 'The Holy Family,' after Reynolds; 'Infant Christ,' after Annibale Caracci ; ' Zenobia,' a profile, after Michael Angelo ; ' The Vir- gin and Infant Saviour,' after Carlo Dolci ; and ' The Witch of Endor,' ' The Siege and Relief of Gibraltar,' and ' King Charles II. Landing on the Beach at Dover,' after West. The last of these was etched by Woollett, and finished after his death by Sharp. The well-known print representing the grim old cynic and philosopher Diogenes with his lantern is one of the en- graver's most striking works, and may be taken as a typical example of his bold, picturesque style. As an engraver of portraits Sharp was equally successful. Of his prints, numbering about two hundred and thirty, more than seventy are portraits, and of these nearly one- half are of large size. Foremost among his masterpieces in this direction is his well-known portrait of the eminent surgeon and anatomist John Hunter, from the painting by Sir Joshua Reynolds. This portrait, engraved in 1788, is a worthy companion to the mas- terpieces of the Dutch and French engravers. To the second place is assigned the portrait of the Birmingham manufacturer and engineer Matthew Boulton, after Sir William Beachy, en- graved in 1801 ; and of scarcely less merit are the portraits of Bishop Seabury, Dundas, Hyde, Home, Burdett, and Sharp's 2o6 THE MASTERS AND MASTERPIECES OF ENGRAVING own portrait of himself. Of his small portraits those of Erskine and George, Prince of Wales, from miniature paintings by Richard Cosway, are fine examples. Sharp's character was a curious combination of opposite traits. His weaknesses stood forth in grotesque relief. No en- graver's work could be more true to the conditions of his art; yet we turn from the artist to the man with a feeling of disap- pointment and humiliation. The illustrious engraver of the 'Doctors of the Church' was weak, simple, and credulous to the point of absurdity, and was a firm believer in all sorts of mys- ticism and superstitious nonsense. He believed in the " prophe- cies " of Richard Brothers, who imagined that he had a divine appointment to lead the Jews back to Jerusalem, and engraved his portrait with rays of light descending upon the head, and with the title "Prince of the Hebrews," and the inscription " Fully believing this to be the man whom God has appointed, I engrave his likeness." The " prophet " died in a mad-house. Sharp was also one of the adherents of the notorious Joanna Southcott, and maintained her for a long time at his own ex- pense, besides engraving her portrait. The reveries of Sweden- borg were likewise received with perfect credence by the simple- minded engraver. He also for a time espoused the doctrines of Horne Tooke and Thomas Paine, and engraved their por- traits, and was once examined . before the Privy Council as a revolutionist; but here his simplicity availed him, for, in the midst of the examination, he actually produced the prospectus of a portrait of the patriot Kosciuszko, and asked Pitt and Dun- das to become subscribers. He was dismissed as simple and harmless. Sharp imagined that he could trace in the counte- nance of every person a resemblance to some bird or beast, allied in character, and often frankly named the bird or beast, to the THE BOYDELLS 207 great amusement of his hearers. Like Boswell, his works showed him to decidedly better advantage than his conversa- tion ; through these his name will be honored long after the harmless errors and absurdities of his simple life are forgotten. As an engraver, Sharp's grand powers were recognized throughout Europe. The Imperial Academy of Vienna and the Royal Academy of Munich enrolled him among their honorary members, but he is said to have rejected with disdain the offer of an associate membership in the Royal Academy at London, as he considered his art and its great masters slighted by be- ing excluded from full membership. With the death of Sharp in 1824 passed away the last of the great engravers whose works placed England in the foremost ranks of the art. There is a descriptive catalogue of Sharp's engravings by Mr. W. S. Baker. Many important engravings of this period bear the address of the famous publisher John Boydell, who, meeting with indif- ferent success as an engraver, abandoned the practice of his art to engage in publishing the works of others, for which under- taking he was qualified both by his superior mercantile wisdom and by his practical knowledge as an engraver. In this under- taking he afterwards associated with him his nephew, Josiah Boydell. Previous to this time England had been sending abroad large sums annually for the purchase of foreign prints, and the promotion of English engraving soon became a ques- tion of commercial, as well as artistic importance. The expor- tation of English prints was encouraged by bounties, and a duty was imposed upon all French prints brought into England. The balance of trade was turned in favor of the home market, which at one time is said to have received an annual revenue of more than ^200,000 from this source. Boydell assisted greatly in 2o8 THE MASTERS AND MASTERPIECES OF ENGRAVING creating a market for the English engravers at home and abroad. He aspired to become the greatest patron of British art, and to his liberal encouragement is undoubtedly due much of the ex- cellence of the school. It is said that when he visited Paris, towards the close of the century, he saw his own publications exhibited as leading attractions in the windows of the print- sellers. After saying this much in praise of Boydell, it must also be recorded that in many instances he consulted only his own pe- cuniary interests, and employed his engravers upon such works as would command a ready sale, and upon inferior processes, making quantity and novelty, rather than intrinsic merit, the chief consideration, to the demoralization of the public taste, an example which his successors were not slow to follow. Mr, John Landseer, the engraver, while lecturing before the Royal Insti- tution, took occasion to allude in no uncertain terms to what he regarded as the baneful influence of the Boydells; but, to use his own language, he " made false estimates of the compara- tive strength and influence of those interested individuals," and was dismissed in the midst of his course of lectures. Boydell published many of the best prints of Woollett, Sharp, Hall, Earlom, Green, Bartolozzi, Vivares, Browne, Mason, Peak, and other engravers, both native and foreign, his publications amounting to nearly four thousand five hundred plates, a number almost incredible, considering that previous to this time many of the great engravers had published the best of their own works, selecting their subjects and methods of engraving. He soon accumulated a fortune, and aspiring to civic honors, became alderman, and finally Lord Mayor of London. Encouraged by the success of his undertakings, he formed the plan of illus- trating the works of Shakespeare on a scale of magnificence RAIMBACH — WILKIE — TURNER AND HIS ENGRAVERS 209 altogether unparalleled. He procured pictures to be painted and engraved by eminent masters, and the well-known Boydell Shakespeare is a lasting monument to the enterprising alder- man. This venture, however, resulted disastrously to its pro- jector, for the French Revolution destroyed his continental market, and, upon his petition, he was allowed by Parliament to dispose by lottery of his gallery of paintings, which, it is said, he had intended to bequeath to the public. Upon the death of Boydell the business was continued by his nephew Josiah until his death in 1817, when it passed into other hands. Among the multitude of Sharp's successors was Abraham Raimbach, who was born in London in the year of the Amer- ican Independence, and died at Greenwich in 1843. In the earlier portion of his career Raimbach engraved mostly for the book and print publishers, and also painted miniatures with success, but in 181 2 Sir David Wilkie, attracted by the engrav- er's st3de, employed him to engrave his painting ' The Village Politicians,' which he did in so admirable a manner that that master thereafter employed him constantly upon his works, for which Raimbach's clear, bold style was especially adapted. His fine plates, ' The Rent Day,' ' Blind Man's Buff,' and ' Dis- training for Rent,' have not only forever associated his name with that of the painter, but have also contributed not a little to the latter's renown. Raimbach was an excellent draughts- man and an engraver of great ability. His plates were gener- ally etched, and then retouched and finished with the graver. Wilkie was one of the forerunners in the modern revival of etching. His superb plate, ' The Pope examining a Censer,' and his dry-point, ' The Receipt,' entitle him to a high place in the history of engraving. In the early part of the present century arose the school 14 2IO THE MASTERS AND MASTERPIECES OF ENGRAVING of engravers who drew their inspiration from that great artist and unique genius J. M. W. Turner. These engravers are well known through their small plates in the " Rivers of France," which are unsurpassed for delicate manipulation, perfection of finish, and marvellous rendering of the tones and subtle dis- tinctions which characterize Turner's water -color drawinsfs. Their exquisitely beautiful vignettes in Rogers' Poems, after drawings by Turner and Stothard, are also unrivalled in their way. They engraved many other plates both large and small, some of great excellence. Turner's influence upon landscape engraving supplemented that of Claude Lorraine, and in these works the perfection of tone engraving appears to have been reached. The individuality of his engravers is so completely lost in his own that, from aught that appears from the prints themselves, the small plates might almost have been the work of a single engraver. The most noted of these engravers were Radcliffe, Willmore, Goodall, Wallis, Miller, Armytage, Brand- ard, Higham, Allen, Jeavons, Cousin, and Fisher, all of whom contributed to the " Rivers of France." As Turner had set out to equal or surpass the great land- scape-painters in their own respective styles, so, in imitation of Claude's Liber Veritatis, \\q projected his well-known Liber StMciiorum to illustrate landscape composition. From his original sepia and pen-drawings he etched the main lines of his compositions in a remarkably bold and masterly manner, but relied upon mezzotint to bring out the required tonality and effects. He practised etching and mezzotint as comple- mentary arts, in some of the plates applying the mezzotint himself with great skill, but generally employing for this pur- pose professional mezzotint engravers, principally Charles Tur- ner. According to the original design, the work was to con- VERSATILITY OF THE ENGLISH SCHOOL 211 sist of I GO plates, but, although commenced in 1807, only seventy plates were published by 1819, when the work was abandoned. Of the remainder a few were finished, some were only etched, others merely slight sketches. Although the Liber Studiorum was not a success financially, it contains some of Turner's best work, and shows to great advantage his judicious selection of line, vigorous drawing, and sureness of method. In our brief review of engraving in England we have seen not only the great excellence but the great versatility of the school ; its achievements in mezzotint, stipple, and line. Its services in the revival and development of wood - engraving will be mentioned in the next chapter. In our own day that country has furnished to the world an etcher* whose works in many respects rival any which have appeared since the days of Rembrandt, and whose influence in the modern revival of his art has been as salutary as it has been powerful. By the works of her great artists England has forever silenced the claim, once familiar on the Continent, that it was impossible to rear talent in the fine arts amid the fogs of Great Britain. * Francis Seymour Haden. CHAPTER VII REVIVAL OF WOOD -ENGRAVING Character or Early Wood - engraving — Revival of the Art by Thomas Bewick — The White -line method — Fables, Birds, and other series — Vignettes and Landscapes — Bewick's Pupils ; Clennell, Nesbit, and Harvey — Branston, Thompson, and Linton — Wood-engraving in the United States — Anderson — Adams — Anthony and Marsh — The " New School " — Representative American Wood-engravers [S we have seen in a previous chapter, sixteenth -cen- tury wood-engraving owed its immense popularity and success to its perfect harmony with the taste and sentiment of the age; to the designs, which were mainly the work of eminent artists, rather than to the cutting. The actual engravers were, in most instances, little more than mechanics, more or less skilful. In the latter half of the centu- ry the art had already degenerated, and by the close of the seven- teenth century it had reached its lowest ebb. We find the skill and patience of the engrav- er, but the designs were no longer furnished by great artists ; the process had been superseded by engraving upon metal plates. For an account of THE HUNTSMAN AND THE OLD HOUND By Thomas Bewick THOMAS BEWICK -" FABLES," "BIRDS," ETC. 213 the art during the period of its dedine the reader is referred to the excellent Treatise on Wood - Engraving, by John Jackson. We now come to the time of its revival in the eighteenth cen- tury by Bewick, and to the inauguration of the modern school of wood- engraving. THE YELLOW BUNTING — From Bewick's " Birds " Thomas Bewick was born near Newcastle- on -Tyne m 1753. and began his career in the studio of Ralph Beilby, a Newcastle copper-plate engraver. During his apprenticeship he engraved a number of wood-cuts for Dr. Hutton's Treatise on Mensura- tion, and, encouraged by his success, determined to devote his attention to wood-engraving, an art which he was destined to revolutionize. By his cut of ' The Huntsman and the Old Hound' he won the prize offered by the Society for the En- couragement of Arts and Manufactures for the best wood-cut engraved in the year i775- This cut appeared in the edition of Gay's Fables, published at Newcastle in 1779. From this time Bewick's career was a succession of triumphs. His Select Fables, published in 1784, mark the beginning of the "white- line" method, which he inaugurated and perfected. Other works 14* 214 THE MASTERS AND MASTERPIECES OF ENGRAVING followed in rapid succession. In 1790 appeared the History of Quadrupeds, which gained for him wide reputation ; to the year 1795 belong the beautiful cuts which he engraved with the assistance of his brother John, an engraver of much less ability, for Goldsmith's Traveller and Deserted Village and Parnell's Hermit ; and in 1797 appeared the first volume of British Birds, which was followed in 1804 by the British Water -Birds, and in 18 1 8 by a new series of Fables. The above contain Bewick's best work, although with the assistance of his pupils he engraved a vast quantity of other cuts of all descriptions. A single vol- ume published in 1870 by the Rev. Thomas Hugo contains impressions from more than two thousand of these blocks, which were brought together for that purpose. THE WOODCOCK — From Bewick's "Birds" The wood-engraver of the time of Dlirer and Holbein cut away from the surface of his block everything except the lines of his design ; these he left untouched, standing in relief. The impressions from his block were therefore fac- similes of his EARLY WOOD -ENGRAVING 215 design, more or less perfect, according to the care and skill bestowed upon the work. The lines were not his own, and his work was almost purely mechanical. His process was little more than a convenient method of multiplying the artist's draw- ings. Although few modern artists can equal the drawing of THE FARM - YARD — From Bewick's " Birds " Durer or Holbein, there is a multitude of skilful wood - en- gravers who would find litde real difificulty in engraving the same designs in fac- simile, if drawn for them upon the blocks. While Durer and Holbein furnished the designs, and in many instances undoubtedly drew them directly upon the wood blocks, they were not wood-engravers; the actual cutting of the blocks was left to the professional formschneiders, whose work required great skill and patience, but very little originality. Although the artist " never dies," the same cannot be said of the mechanic, for of the multitude of wood-engravers of the six- THE HERMIT AND THE ANGEL Engraved by Thomas Bewick for Parnell's '•' Hermit " teenth century only a few names have reached us. Even in the case of Andreae and Llitzelberger, whose skill amounted to o-enius, we know little more than their names, and that they engraved the designs of Diirer and Holbein. Under Bewick, wood-engraving' became a Hberal art instead of a mechanical craft, the wood-engraver an artist, instead of a mere mechanic. The "white-line" method which he inaugu- rated, although imperfectly known to the early wood-engravers, was not practised by them to any extent, owing to the narrow THE WHITE -LINE METHOD 217 province of their art. This method requires the artist's abihty with the engravers skill. If we take an impression from a block prepared for the engraver and properly inked, but before it has been worked upon, the result is a deep, uniform black. Commencing, then, with black, the engraver cuts out his whites, and by a skilful arrangement of lines, more or less close and delicate, obtains his intermediate shades of gray. His "white lines " are the equivalents of the black lines of the copper-plate engraver. Instead of following the lines of his design, as in the fac-simile process, he creates his own lines, becoming an FROM THE "HERMIT OF WARKWORTH Drawn and engraved by Luke Clennell original artist, translating his design into the language of his art. White line, white space, and flat or solid blacks are the means employed, and the natural expression of the art. By this method the engraver's success does not depend upon me- 2i8 THE MASTERS AND MASTERPIECES OF ENGRAVING chanical imitation, but upon beauty and frankness of line, men- tal expression and originality, as well as mechanical skill. Cross-hatching, the slavery of wood- engraving, becomes un- THE STRANDED SHIP — By Clennell necessary, except in the white lines, as almost every effect can be obtained without it. The white lines are as easily crossed as the black lines in intaglio engraving, being drawn with the burin ; the engraver is not compelled to dig out little particles of wood where the lines cross, as in the black -line process. Most of the great wood-engravers, from Bewick, have regarded cross-hatching in the black lines as, in most instances, little more than a waste of time and labor. Bewick's technical powers were great and varied. His lines were always well chosen ; in most instances the best that could be devised, and show the true character of his art. Although other engravers have surpassed him in technical skill, he still remains, by common consent, the great representative master of his art. But he was not a great artist like Durer or Holbein ; he was self-taught, a child of nature. He neither understood nor cared for the subjects of classical art, but devoted him- self to the delineation of birds and animals, landscapes and KINALDO AND ARM ID A From tlw Engyaving on 7uood by Charlton Neshil LANDSCAPES AND VIGNETTES 219 way-side scenes. He was a naturalist with an artist's instincts. To him a water-fowl in its natural surroundings was a far more attractive subject than an Aphrodite. In his Memoirs he states, " I ought also to observe that no vain notions of my ar- riving at any eminence ever passed through my mind, and that the sole stimulant with me was the pleasure I derived from imitating natural objects (and I had no other patterns to go by). . . ." His landscapes, especially those engraved for the works of Goldsmith and Parnell, are full of poetry and feel- ing ; never were text and illustrations in more perfect harmo- ny. His little vig- nettes tell their story in a perfectly simple and straightforward manner. While the moroso From The Puckle Club. Drawn by John Thurston, engraved by peasant is saying johnThompson grace the cat steals his food; a beggar-woman is attacked by a gander; a dog with a tin kettle tied to its tail is pursued by boys ; a snarling mastiff attacks a peasant, who defends himself with a stick ; a peasant holds on to a cow s tail and fords a stream ; a man is caught in a steel trap ; an angry woman is trying to drive pigs out of the garden; a child neglected by its nurse is at the heels of a colt, while the agonized mother hastens to the res- cue, and so on in great variety. In these scenes his creatures are generally uncomfortable, and his children in mischief; the devil and the gallows are often introduced for moral effect. But 220 THE MASTERS AND MASTERPIECES OF ENGRAVING Bewick's best work is to be found in his birds and animals> whose character, expression, and surroundings he represented with rare fideHty and feeHng, for he had learned to cherish "what is lovely and human in these wandering children of the clouds and fields." Bewick possessed a happy, contented disposition, and was FROM THE 'DEATH OF DENTATUS ' Engraved by William Harvey CLENNELL, NESBIT, AND HARVEY 223 fond of sports and athletic exercises. He disliked the city, pre- ferring the country, where he " could hear the lark sing." He was a man of considerable wit and many warm friendships, ex- ceedingly popular in his time, and honored alike for his personal qualities and as the leader in his art, which he practised with an energy and enthusiasm unparalleled. He died at Gateshead in 1828, having won an honorable and lasting place in history. In Blackwood's Magazine for June of that year occurs the follow- ing tribute : " Have we forgotten 'The Genius that dwells on the banks of the Tyne,' the Matchless, Inimitable Bewick ? No. His books lie in our parlor, bedroom, dining-room, drawing-room, study -table, and are never out of place or time. Happy old man ! The delight of childhood, manhood, decaying age ! — a moral in every tail- piece — a sermon in every vignette. . . ." The newly awakened interest in wood -engraving also ex- tended into Germany and France, where important schools were established ; and in our own country Dr. Anderson and his suc- cessors founded a school which has risen to great importance. But we must look to England for the most important examples of its development. Bewick's pupils, Luke Clennell (i 781-1840), designer and engraver; Charlton Nesbit (i 775-1838), engraver only, and William Harvey (1796- 1866), draughtsman and engraver, were inspired by the genius of their master and share his renown. Clennell's ' Diploma of the Highland Society,'- Nesbit's ' Rinaldo and Armida,' from Tasso's ' Jerusalem Deliv- ered,' and Harvey's ' Death of Dentatus ' are among the notable examples of the art. Clennell's cuts are free and masterly in handling, and show the artist-engraver; in mechanical skill and knowledge of line arrangement Nesbit must be given the first 224 THE MASTERS AND MASTERPIECES OF ENGRAVING place. Harvey's cut of Dentatus, a large and most elaborate work, engraved from a drawing by the historical painter B. R. THE WATER-LILY Drawn by John La Farge, engraved by Henry Marsh Haydon, cannot be taken as a characteristic example of the works of this school, for it is rather an attempt to imitate cop- per-plate engraving. As an example of cross-hatching on wood BRANSTON, THOMPSON, LINTON 227 it is unsurpassed. The original block, fifteen inches high and eleven and one -quarter inches wide, and composed of seven pieces joined together, is now in the Department of Prints in the British Museum. In the latter part of Bewick's career arose a school of wood- engraving which wandered from the teachings of that master, and, while often using the white line in an effective manner, relied chiefly upon the black line. The head of this school, Robert Branston (i 778-1 827), had served an apprenticeship as a copper- plate engraver, and brought to wood -engraving the traditions of that art. As an engraver he was excelled by his famous pupil John Thompson (1785-1866), whose marvellous skill has scarcely been surpassed. Branston's masterpiece, 'The Cave of Dispair,' published in Savage's Hints on Dec- orative Printing, was engraved in rivalry with Nesbit's ' Rinaldo and Armida,' which appears in the same work. A comparison of these two cuts will show the respective styles of the rival schools. Thompson excelled in his engravings of the human figure, and his work is very uniform in quality. Some of his smaller cuts possess marvellous spirit and refinement, and, of the kind, are unexcelled in general excellence. Many of the best works of Clennell and Nesbit, Branston and Thompson were engraved from the designs or drawings of John Thurs- ton, to whose services the art of wood -engraving owes much. Robert Johnson, also a designer and draughtsman of rare abilities, must be mentioned for his services to the art in the Bewick days. The modern wood - engraver relies but little upon the professional draughtsman; his designs are generally transferred to his blocks by means of photography. In the work of the successors of Branston and Thompson the distinctive character of wood - engraving was in great part THE PARSONAGE Engraved by F. Juengling, after A. F. Bellows lost in the attempt to imitate copper -plate engraving. One engraver, however, the veteran W. J. Linton, remained through- out true to the traditions of his art, insisting upon the import- ance of the white line, upon "drawing with the graver." For many years Mr. Linton has been a resident of our own country. His work both with the pen and graver is so well known that praise w^ould be superfluous. His Masters of Wood- Engraving, a magnificent volume recently published, is a most valuable contribution to the literature of his art. The subsequent development of wood- engraving may be traced in the works of the engravers of our own country. Dr. Alexander Anderson, the father of American wood- engraving, was born in 1775, the year in which Bewick received the prize for his cut, " The Huntsman and the Old Hound." He aban- doned his career as a physician to devote himself to wood- THE CAVE O]' n/SPAlR h'yjut the Eiu:^ Branslon WOOD -ENGRAVING IN THE UNITED STATES 229 engraving, in which art he was an imitator of Bewick, although in every way greatly the inferior of that master. The earliest American wood-cuts of any considerable excellence were those of Joseph Alexander Adams, which appeared in Harper's Illu- minated Bible, published in 1843. For a long time, however, following the example already set in England, delicacy and fine- LIVE-OAK NEAR LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA Engraved by John P. Davis ness of line were the engraver's chief aims, and his work was generally regarded as successful according as it imitated the effects of engravings upon copper or steel. In 1850 Harper's Magazine was established, followed by Scribners, the Century, and various other illustrated periodicals, creating a steady demand for wood-cut illustrations which soon led to the formation of a school of wood-engravers. To the 230 THE MASTERS AND MASTERPIECES OF ENGRAVING influence of these publications the present condition of the art in our own country is in great part attributable. As typical engravers of this middle period may be named A. V. S. Anthony and Henry Marsh. The exquisite skill of the latter is shown in his cut of the ' Water-Lily,' here given, and in his marvellous cuts of butterflies and other insects engraved for Harris's Insects Injurious to Vegetation. In our own time the acme of perfection in printing wood- cuts has been reached by the " overlaying " process, by which the pressure is nicely adjusted to the character and resistance of the work, giving little to light parts, and much to heavy lines and solid blacks. The finest quality of Turke}^ boxwood responds to almost any texture and degree of refinement, and the electrotype process renders possible an unlimited edition of the most delicate work. We judge an etching or line engraving from the earliest and most carefully printed proofs; a wood-cut is entitled to the same consideration, and some of the fine proofs of modern work are in their way almost as perfect in quality. The so-called "new school" of wood -engraving is an out- growth of the altered conditions of the art. After passing through successive stages of development, it remained for our own engravers to still further extend its limits, and to develop its possibilities as an imitative art. The black- line process, now so generally employed, is by no means the fac-simile pro- cess known to the early engravers. Much more is required of the wood-engraver of the present day than was required from his predecessor. He must render the most subtile qualities of his original, its tones, textures, and effects. He imitates the effects of other graphic arts, even to the brush -marks of the painter. As an original artist he works from nature, giving to his work the freshness of fields and woods. THE " NEW SCHOOL 231 It is impossible to mention the names of the many skilful engravers who have assisted in bringing about this radical change in the practice of their art. Among the leaders in the "new departure," however, may be named Juengling, Hoskin, Davis, Smithwick, French, Muller, Whitney, Morse, Wolf, King, IVAN THE TERRIBLE AND HIS SON Engraved by F. S. King from the painting by Rdpine Closson, Kruell, Johnson, Kingsley, and Cole. In manual skill, in variety and delicacy of handling, and in knowledge of all the resources of their art the American engravers have no equals ; their works show the culmination of modern wood- engraving. CHAPTER VIII VARIOUS MODERN ENGRAVERS The Modern Engravers of Italy — Raphael Morghen — Giuseppe Longhi — The Milanese School — Anderloni, Garavaglia, Gandolfi, and Rosaspina — Paolo Toschi — Calamatta and Mercurj — Modern German Engravers — J. G. von Miiller — J. F. W. Miiller — Steinla, Amsler, and Felsing — Mandel — Modern Etchers — Meryon — Jacquemart — Lalanne — Rajon — Various Modern Etchers — Engraving in the United States — Col- lections of Prints — Conclusion N the preceding chapters we have followed the prog- ress of engraving in the works of its great masters, each school having its own traditions and national predilections. The present chapter will be devoted to individual engravers of different countries, with little regard for historical arrangement. The modern engravers of Italy first claim our attention. To them we are indebted for many beautiful engravings from Italian paintings of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. Adapted by size and character for framing, their prints have long been favorites for home adornment. They engraved, in many instances for the first time, many beautiful paintings and frescos by Raphael, Leonardo, Correggio, Parmigiano, and other eminent painters, preserving to posterity a rich inherit- ance which will long survive the fading glories of the originals. The most famous of these engravers was Raphael Morghen, whose abilities, like those of his contemporary, Bartolozzi, have been the subject of much difference of opinion. While Eng- land and France possessed a number of eminent engravers, RAPHAEL MORGHEN 233 Morghen stood alone in Italy during the greater portion of his career, and his accidental superiority was proclaimed genius. His great celebrity in his own time was undoubtedly due in great part to his happy selection of subjects. Although his technic was soft and pleasing, and his mechanical facility great, yet as an engraver he was inferior to Bervic and Longhi, and much of his work is deficient in taste and variety, and fails to realize the spirit of his originals. But after making due allow- ance both for the blind enthusiasm of his worshippers and the jealousy of his detractors, there are a few of his engravings which must always rank high in art, although he no longer stands at the head of all modern engravers in the popular estimation. Raphael Sanzio Morghen was born at Portici, near Naples, June 14, 1 761. At first a pupil of his father and uncle, he dis- played such abilities as draughtsman and engraver in a series of Masks from the Carnival held at Naples in 1778 that he was sent to Rome for better instruction under Volpato, who with Bartolozzi had been a pupil of Wagner at Venice, and is now best known by his series of large engravings, beautifully col- ored, from Raphael's Stanze in the Vatican. Here Morghen made rapid progress, and in 1781 engraved from Raphael's lunettes in the Vatican the allegorical figures representing Poetry and Theology, to which he afterwards added those of Justice, Philosophy, and Jurisprudence. He also worked for a time in conjunction with Volpato, whose daughter Dominica he married, and soon surpassed his master, although this certainly required no very exalted abilities. Morghen's reputation was soon afterwards established upon the appearance of his well-known plate of the Aurora, from Guido's fresco at the Rospigliosi Palace ; Aurora, as the har- binger of day, accompanied by the dancing Hours, scatters 234 THE MASTERS AND MASTERPIECES OF ENGRAVING flowers before the Chariot of Phoebus. Although not a great work, yet the beauty of the subject, and the soft, pleasing man- ner in which it was engraved rendered it extremely popular, and it commanded an enormous sale. Of a number of recent •copies of this print, that by Burger, of Munich, is perhaps the most interesting. A few years later, at Florence, whither Morghen had re- moved with his wife, appeared his famous plate of ' The Last Supper,' from the masterpiece of Leonardo. The original, twenty-eight feet long, was painted in oil upon the wall of the refectory of the Dominican Monastery of Santa Maria delle Grazie, at Milan; it was commenced in 1488, and, with Leo- nardo's usual dilatoriness, completed about ten years later. No great work of art has ever been more wilfully or more shame- fully abused. Armenini stated that it was already half decayed when he saw it fifty years afterwards ; according to Scanelli, the -expressions of the faces had almost disappeared by 1642, and Belotti, who "restored" it in 1726, practically repainted it. Morghen's engraving, upon which he worked for nearly three years, and which appeared in the year 1800, was made from a drawing by Matteini, after the restorations, and from old copies which he is said to have consulted ; that his engraving should give an adequate idea of the sentiment and spirit of the orig- inal was manifestly impossible. The original painting suffered still further injuries from the French who occupied Milan un- der Napoleon, and afterwards, as a climax of vandalism, a door- way was cut through the wall, destroying a portion of the lower part of the picture, so that in our own time Leonardo's master- piece presents little more than a spectre of its former gran- deur. Morghen's engraving is highly interesting as well as valuable for having assisted in preserving the fading glories RAPHAEL MORGHEN 237 of the original, although this has been more perfectly accom- plished by a number of old copies. No other similar work ever achieved such immense popularity, or has been so highly extolled. The demand for impressions was so great that the plate, which, like many of Morghen's, was delicately cut, soon showed signs of " fatigue," and had to be frequently retouched ; Morghen's engraving should therefore be judged from early im- pressions before the delicate lines and dry-point work had be- come worn. Among the many copies of this print is the fine plate engraved by Charles Burt, of Brooklyn, which bears the signature, however, of A. L. Dick, who was only its publisher. Among other popular subjects engraved by Morghen were the ' Madonna della Sedia ' and ' Transfiguration,' after Raphael, and the ' Madonna del Sacco,' after Andrea del Sarto. But Morghen's best work is to be found in his engraved portraits. To the engraver of the large equestrian portrait of the Spanish soldier and ambassador Francesco di Moncada only praise can be given. This portrait, from Van Dyck's painting, now in the Louvre, is a masterpiece of the art, remarkable alike for its artistic excellence and great technical skill, and for its com- plete realization of the original. This portrait, sometimes called "Raphael Morghen's Horse," was engraved at Rome in 1793, in which year the engraver was appointed professor in the Academy at Florence. There is also a fine portrait of Leo- nardo da Vinci, engraved in 18 17 from the great painter's own portrait of himself in the gallery at Florence, showing the marvellous intelligence of this many-sided genius, who placed painting last among the things he could do " as well as any man ;" and scarcely less interesting are the portraits of the five great Italian authors, Dante, Petrarch, Tasso, Ariosto, and Boc- caccio. There are two portraits erroneously inscribed as those 238 THE MASTERS AND MASTERPIECES OF ENGRAVING of Raphael, and the mysterious beauty known as ' La Forna- rina,' and there is a portrait of Napoleon, engraved for a mag- nificent folio edition of the Code Napoleon. Morghen is said to have given an impression of nearly every state of each plate to his pupil Nicolb Palmerini, who co^npiled a catalogue, the last edition of which, published at Florence in 1824, contains little more than a chronological list of the plates which appeared before that time ; its author might have given us much interesting and valuable information con- cerning the engraver, of whose life we know so little, consider- ing his great reputation, and that it is but little more than half a century since his career closed. The collection of Raphael Morghen's engravings in the British Museum is by far the finest in existence. There is an excellent descriptive cata- logue by Mr. Frederick R. Halsey, who enumerates 182 prints by the master. Morghen's fame continued unabated up to the time of his death. He was honored not only in his own country, but throughout Europe. He was an associate of the Institute of France, and a member of various academies, and was invited by Napoleon to take up his residence in Paris. His death, which occurred in 1833, is said to have been given the importance of a national event. Sonnets were written extolling his talents and lamenting his death, and a monument was raised to his memory in the Church of Santa Croce at Florence. Notwithstanding the fame of Raphael Morghen, he exer- cised much less influence upon his art than a number of his contemporaries. His chief imitators were Giovanni Folo and Pietro Bettelini. The former engraved a number of fine sub- jects after various Italian masters, of which ' Christ raising the Widow's Son,' after Annibale Caracci, and the 'Mater Dolorosa,' GIUSEPPE LONGHI 239 after Sassoferrato, are the best examples. He also took advan- tage of the popularity of Morghen's plate of ' The Last Supper,' and engraved the same subject. Bettelini had been a pupil of Gandolfi and Bartolozzi, but afterwards took Morghen as his model. His masterpiece, ' The Entombment,' after Andrea del Sarto, is a work of great merit. Contemporary with Morghen was an engraver to whose in- fluence and example we owe many beautiful engravings after the Italian masters, and in whom we recognize great ability united with correct ideas of art. Giuseppe Longhi, painter, engraver, teacher, and author, was born at Monza, October 13, 1766. Abandoning the Church for engraving, he became a pupil of the Florentine engraver Vincenzio Vangelisti, a pupil of Wille, who had gone to Milan upon the invitation of Leopold n. to assume direction of the school of engraving which that prince had founded at the Brera. Going afterwards to Rome, Longhi formed the acquaintance of Raphael Morghen, then at the zenith of his fame, and soon acquired considerable reputa- tion by his engravings and miniature paintings. Upon his return to Milan he was commissioned to engrave Gros's por- trait of Napoleon at Arcole, which appeared in 1798, in wliich year he also succeeded to the professorship at the Brera, made vacant by the death of Vangelisti, who in a moment of insanity had defaced his plates and committed suicide. Longhi's emi- nence as an engraver was equalled by his success as an in- structor, and the school at Milan soon became famous. Upon matters pertaining to his art Longhi is considered a high authority. Although a descendant of the school of Wille, he was an earnest student, and in close sympathy with Edelinck and Nanteuil. His famous work. La Calcografia, published at Milan in 1830, contains many sound views upon the theory of 240 THE MASTERS AND MASTERPIECES OF ENGRAVING his art, and accurate estimates of the abilities of different en- gravers. The first volume concludes with a biographical notice of its author by Francesco Longhena, and has been translated into German by Carl Barth. The unpublished manuscript of the second and concluding volume is still preserved at Milan. Longhi engraved with great success both subjects and por- traits. Of the former are the large plate, ' Lo Sposalizio,' after Raphael, representing the marriage of the Virgin according to the apocryphal books of the New Testament ; ' The Holy Family' and 'Vision of Ezekiel,' also after Raphael; the exquisite engraving of the ' Reclining Magdalen,' from the picture in the Dresden gallery, long attributed to Correggio, but now regarded as probably one of a number of copies of a lost original ; the ' Madonna del Lago,' after Leonardo da Vinci ; the ' Entomb- ment,' after Crespi ; ' Galatea,' after Albani ; six plates of the ' Fasti di Napoleone il Grande,' engraved in the " semilibero " manner from Appiani's designs, and published at the Emper- or's expense; and besides these are many fine subjects after Raphael, Rembrandt, Carlo Dolci, Correggio, and other masters, mostly Italian. In some of his prints he received assistance from his pupils in the backgrounds and accessories. Of the many fine portraits engraved by Longhi, there is none more interesting than that of Eugene Beauharnais, Na- poleon's step -son and Viceroy of Italy, a magnificent full-length portrait with flowing plume, engraved in i8 12-14 from the painting by Gerard. There are also two portraits of Napoleon as King of Italy, one with the Crown of Laurel, and the other with the Iron Crown of the Lombards ; the former was en- graved for Napoleon's Code Civile, and the latter for that rare series published at Milan, the Vite e Ritratti di Illustri Ital- iani, for which the portraits of Enrico Dandolo, Doge of ANDERLONI, GARAVAGLIA, GANDOLFI, AND ROSASPINA 241 Venice, and Michael Angelo were also engraved. There is also a rare portrait of Washington, engraved in 1817 for Bettoni's series, resembling, although somewhat remotely, the Stuart head. The hair in this portrait was engraved in imitation of that in Masson's portrait of Brisacier, known as the " Gray- haired man." Longhi died in 1831 at Milan, leaving unfinished plates of Michael Angelo's ' Last Judgment ' and Raphael's ' Madonna del Velo,' the latter of which was completed after his death by Toschi. His own portrait was engraved by his pupil Samuele Jesi. While Morghen received more than his full share of praise, to Longhi was accorded the still more flattering homage of imi- tation. The school at Milan became the most important of its time, and sent forth many distinguished engravers, learned in the theory and principles of their art as well as in its tech- nical processes. Of the many Italian engravers who profited directly or indirectly by his teachings were Pietro Anderloni, Garavaglia, Gandolfi, and Rosaspina, all engravers of great ability. Pietro Anderloni (i 784-1849), the chief of these engravers, was Longhi's favorite pupil, and assisted him in engraving many important plates, among them the second plate of the ' Vision of Ezekiel,' upon which his name appears with that of Longhi as engraver. His beautiful engraving of the ' Virgin and child adored by Angels,' after Titian, is always greatly admired. Other fine examples are 'The Judgment of Solomon,' 'The Holy Family,' and a number of Madonnas after Raphael, be- sides the ' Defeat of Attila,' and ' Heliodorus driven from the Temple,' from Raphael's frescos in the Vatican ; ' Moses at the Well defending the daughters of Jethro,' after Poussin, and ' St. John,' after Luini. He also re-engraved the background of 16 242 THE MASTERS AND MASTERPIECES OF ENGRAVING Longhi's plate of the ' Reclining Magdalen,' the work of the first engraver having proved unsatisfactory. Anderloni's pupil Garavaglia engraved a number of fine plates, among them 'Jacob and Rachel,' after Appiani ; the 'Madonna della Sedia,' after Raphael; 'The Ascension' and 'Beatrice Cenci,' after Guido ; the 'Magdalen,' after Carlo Dolci; 'Hagar and Ishmael,' after Baroccio ; and the 'Virgin and Child,' after Gimignano. Mauro Gandolfi supplemented his Italian training by study- CUPID SLEEPING From the engraving by Gandolfi Sleeping,' from his own design, and ' St. Cecilia,' after Raphael, are good examples of his work. Rosaspina was also a pupil of Bartolozzi, and worked at first TOSCHI — CALAMATTA AND MERCURJ 243 in the dotted manner, but afterwards in line. His engraving of 'Christ lowered from the Cross and wept over by St, John and the Holy Women,' from the painting by Correggio, at Parma, and the beautiful ' Dance of Cupids,' after Albani, are his best works. Another famous engraver belonging to this period, Paolo Toschi, was born at Parma, the home of Correggio and Parmig- iano, in 1778, and died there in 1854. A pupil of Bervic, at Paris, he first distinguished himself by a fine engraving from the painting by Gerard, representing the entry of Henry IV. into Paris in 1594. Returning to Parm.a, he became professor at the Academy, and commenced his well-known series of en- gravings from the injured frescos of Correggio and Parmigiano. Of these the famous 'Madonna della Scala' and the ' Incoro- nata,' after Correggio, are beautiful examples. The ' Madonna della Scodella,' after Correggio, and ' Lo Spasimo di Sicilia,' after Raphael, also show Toschi at his best. But two other Italian engravers will be named, Luigi Cala- matta (1802-69), and Paolo Mercurj (1808-86), both of whom, by art education, belong rather to France than to Italy. At Paris Calamatta became a disciple of Ingres, after whom he engraved one of his finest plates, 'The Vow of Louis XIII.' Returning to Italy, he resided for a time at Florence, but soon went to Brussels, and afterwards settled at Milan, where he died. Of his engravings after Italian masters the ' Madonna della Sedia' is a beautiful example. Mercurj possessed great technical skill, and received many marks of distinction at the Salon. His masterpiece is the 'Reapers in the Pontine Marshes,' from Leopold Robert's painting in the Louvre. The Hessian gunsmith, who in the early part of the eigh- teenth century wandered about in Germany until chance led 244 THE MASTERS AND MASTERPIECES OF ENGRAVING him to Paris, and to fame, was destined to have many eminent disciples in his own country as well as in France and Italy. Among the greatest of these was Johann Gotthard von Mliller, who was born at Bernhausen, near Stuttgart, in 1747. At the age of twenty-three he went to Paris, and under the instruction of Wille became one of the foremost engravers of the time. Returning to Stuttgart, he founded there, under the patronage of Duke Karl Eugen of Wurtemberg, the Academy of Design, of which he was successively professor and director, in the mean- time becoming a member of almost every important academy on the Continent, and engraving many fine plates^ He died at Stuttgart in 1830, but after the death of his son in 1816 he devoted but little attention to his art. His large portrait of Louis XVI,, published during the Revolution, and his beautiful engraving of Raphael's ' Madonna della Sedia,' engraved for the Musee Fran9ais in 1804, have already been mentioned. His other works include ' The Battle of Bunker's Hill,' after Trum- bull, published at London in 1 798, portraits of his master Wille and Madame Le Brun, and a fine half-length portrait of Napo- leon's brother, King Jerome of Westphalia, in his robes, engraved in 18 1 3, in conjunction with his son and pupil Johann Friedrich Wilhelm Miiller, the latter engraving the face and lace kerchief. The younger Miiller was born at Stuttgart in 1782, At an early age he went to Paris, where he studied the works of Ber- vic, Tardieu, Desnoyers, and other eminent engravers ; thence he went to Italy to complete his studies. He made many draw- ings after the Italian masters, principally Raphael, and upon his return to Germany was appointed court engraver to the King of Wurtemberg and professor at the Dresden Academy. Soon afterwards he entered upon the great undertaking which has forever associated his name with that of Raphael, MULLER 247 Of a melancholy disposition and feeble in health, Mialler de- voted his last energies to the completion of the great work which so pathetically ended his career: his engraving of Raphael's ' Madonna di San Sisto.' After years of incessant labor his task was completed, but his mind and health were destroyed. At length the plate was sent to Paris to be printed, and, relieved from the excitement which had sustained him, he broke down utterly, and in a moment of exasperation stabbed himself with a graver, from the effects of which he died May 3, 18 16, in his thirty-fourth year. After his death the proof of his plate ar- rived from Paris, and was suspended over his bier. Miiller's plate of the Sistine Madonna is one of the master- pieces of modern engraving, far superior to any of the numer- ous other engravings from the famous picture at Dresden. In 1827, when the painting was cleaned by Palmeroli, a portion of the canvas which had been turned over the frame was unrolled, and the top of the curtains with the rod and rings exposed. These parts were still concealed when MUller made his engrav- ing, but are shown in the later engravings of Steinla and Man- del. The popularity of Miiller's engraving was so great that the plate soon showed signs of wear, and was retouched slightly by Bervic, and afterwards extensively by Desnoyers, since which time it has been almost wholly re-engraved, so numerous have been the retouches. Other important engravings by the young- er MUller are ' Adam and Eve,' after Raphael, and 'St. John the Evangelist,' after Domenichino. Most of the remainder of his eighteen plates are portraits. Chief among the German engravers who followed the Miil- lers were Steinla of Dresden, Amsler of Munich, Felsing of Darmstadt, and Mandel of Berlin. The engraver who called himself Steinla, from his birthplace in Hanover, but whose real 248 THE MASTERS AND MASTERPIECES OF ENGRAVING name was Moritz Miiller (i 791-1858), was at first a pupil at the Dresden Academy, but was afterwards sent to Italy by the King of Saxony to complete his studies under Morghen and Longhi. Upon his return he engraved some of the finest subjects in the Dresden Gallery, among them the famous 'Meyer Madonna' of Holbein, for which he received a gold medal at Paris, and his well-known plate of the ' Madonna di San Sisto,' engraved in 1847. He also went to Madrid, where he engraved Raphael's ' Madonna del Pesce.' In the latter part of his career he be- came professor of engraving at the Dresden Academy. The works of Samuel Amsler (i 771-1849) show his prefer- ence for the classical models of Durer and Marc Antonio. An artist of great ability, he was also instructor in the Royal Academy at Munich, where he numbered among his pupils Merz, Gonzenbach, and others, by whom we have admirable engravings after Kaulbach, Cornelius, Overbeck, and other German painters. The Darmstadt engraver George Jacob Felsing (1802-83) was a pupil of Longhi at Milan, studied the style of Raphael Morghen at Florence, and that of Desnoyers at Paris ; return- ing to Darmstadt he was appointed professor and court en- graver. Felsing displayed exceptional abilities in a number of fine engravings, among them ' Christ on the Mount of Olives,' after Carlo Dolci ; the ' Madonna Enthroned,' after Andrea del Sarto ; ' The Violin Player,' after Raphael ; ' The Marriage of St. Catherine,' after Correggio ; and ' St. Cecilia,' after Hoffman. Our list of line engravers closes with Johann August Eduard Mandel, an engraver of great ability, who was born at Berlin in 18 10, and died in 1882. In the earlier part of his career, Bervic and Desnoyers divided the honors in France, Raphael Morghen and Longhi were famous in Italy, and Sharp THE MADONNA DEL GRANDUCA From Raphael's painting in the Pitti Gallery, Florence — Engraved by W. B. Closson MANDEL — REVIVAL OF ETCHING 251 still practised his art in England; all of these Mandel survived, to become one of the last worthy representatives of a once glo- rious art. Mandel engraved fine plates of Raphael's ' Madonna della Sedia ' and ' Madonna di San Sisto,' the latter second only to Miiller's beautiful engraving of the same subject, and, like it, published posthumously. There are also fine portraits of Charles I. after Van Dyck, and Titian, after that master's por- trait of himself at Berlin, the latter contrasting strangely in technic with the famous portrait by Agostino Caracci. To Adam Bartsch, of Vienna, we owe the famous work, Le Peintre-Graveur, the standard authority with collectors, indis- pensable until the recent Manuel de V Amateur d' Estampes, by M. E. Dutuit, which embodies the results of previous research, and includes the interpreters of painting. There are still a few line engravers of ability, but the great masters have departed and the schools are deserted. In our own day the art has assumed a commercial character, and has been abandoned for quicker and cheaper processes, in which excellence is less evident than haste. But if engraving with the burin has lost its former prestige, never were skilful etchers so numerous as now or their art so widely appreciated. Etch- ing, unlike engraving with the burin, is an art which appeals directly to the painter. Rembrandt, Claude, and Van Dyck were typical painter-etchers of the early schools, while in our own time such masters as Millet, Fortuny, Daubigny, Meisso- nier, and Jacque have produced many characteristic works with the needle ; besides this class is the great body of artists who devote themselves chiefly to this process. So much, however, has already been written about the modern revival of etching that only a few masters will be named, without attempting a comprehensive account of modern work. 252 THE MASTERS AND MASTERPIECES OF ENGRAVING Charles Meryon, "sailor, engraver, and etcher," was a type of that unfortunate class who have " lived poor and miserable and died so," and of whose fame others have reaped the reward. Meryon was born in Paris, November 3, 182 1, the illegitimate son of an English physician and a French opera dancer. Aban- doned by his father, he is said to have been tenderly cared for by his mother, to whose influence his biographer, M. Burty, attributes much of his peculiar sensibility. At the age of six- teen he entered the naval school at Brest, and afterwards sailed around the world, visiting many foreign lands. But his con- stitution was unequal to the seafaring life, and he returned to Paris to devote himself to art, of which he had already be- come a passionate student. He entered the studio of Phe- lippes, but color-blindness soon put an end to his career as a painter. He then turned his attention to etching, and became for a time a pupil of M. Eugene Blery, and copied works by the old masters, principally views of old Paris by the Dutch artist Renier Zeeman. His beautiful view of the Old Louvre from, the painting by Zeeman shows how completely he had already mastered his art. Meryon soon entered upon his great work, his views of old Paris. In our own time but little remains of the Paris of Zee- man, Delia- Bella, and Callot. The work of reconstruction, inau- gurated under the First Empire and completed by Baron Hauss- mann, has left but few traces of the labyrinth of dark, narrow, winding streets, and the curious architecture of the picturesque city of mediaeval days. Meryon witnessed a great portion of these changes, and with a sombre and philosophical spirit set to work to obtain memorials of the picturesque buildings which were being demolished. His work was at first scarcely noticed, and it was with great difficulty that he could dispose of the MEYRON 253 prints, now so precious, to obtain the means of living. Of a melancholy disposition, difficult to approach, he soon grew mor- bidly sensitive and irritable, and repulsed every attempt to patronize and encourage him, and was soon tormented with delusions which ended in hopeless insanity. Mr. Haden relates that he once visited Meryon, whom he found in a little room high up on Montmartre, and who re- ceived him with every courtesy, and upon his return allowed him to take away a few proofs of his work, for which, knowing Meryon's circumstances, he was scrupulous to leave, surrepti- tiously, a sufficient compensation. After he had walked a con- siderable distance on his return, he was overtaken by Meryon, who, greatly agitated, demanded the return of his proofs, deter- mined from what he knew of Mr. Haden's work that he should not take them to England. Meryon afterwards warned M. Burty that Mr. Haden was an impostor who had discovered or bought a quantity of plates which he was signing and adopting as his own, but which were far too good to be the work of any etcher of our degenerate century, an extremely flattering if unintentional compliment. In 1858, after his return from Bel- gium, whither he had gone to make some drawings, Meryon was placed in the asylum at Charenton, the certificate stating that he was " suffering from melancholy madness aggravated by delusions." After a few months his health so improved that he left the asylum, and for seven years this eccentric creature led the same isolated life, in constant difficulties with the few who remained his friends, practising his strange art in his own peculiar way. In 1866 his malady so increased that he was again confined at Charenton, and here, two years later, Feb- ruary 14, 1868, he died, and was buried in the cemetery of the asylum. He lies beneath a large slab of copper, upon which his 254 THE MASTERS AND MASTERPIECES OF ENGRAVING epitaph was engraved by his friend Bracquemond, who has also etched his portrait. There is another portrait, by Leopold Fla- meng, taken shortly before Meryon was removed to Charenton. Meryon's etchings, about one hundred in number, comprise studies, views of architecture, phantasies, souvenirs, rebuses, in- scriptions in verse, and portraits. Both in sentiment and execu- tion they are absolutely personal in character, unlike the works of any other artist. The well-known series Eaux- fortes sur Paris " contains the most characteristic examples of his art. The famous ' Abside de Notre Dame ' is his most important plate, although less characteristic than some others. ' Le Stryge,''La Pompe Notre- Dame,' ' Le Pont Neuf,''La Morgue,' ' L'Arche du Pont Notre - Dame,' ' Tourelle rue de la Tixeran- derie,' and ' Saint Etienne-du-Mont,' are all notable examples. An extended account of Meryon's life and work will be found in the memoir and descriptive catalogue by M. Philippe Burty, of which there is an English translation. In striking contrast to the originality of Meryon is the copyism of Jules Jacquemart (1837-80), the marvellous etcher of vases, gems, ornaments, and other similar objects of still-life. For beauty, delicacy, and truth, as well as for exquisite taste, his works of this character are unrivalled. The work for which he is famous is to be found in the plates illustrating the His- toire de la Porcelame, by his father, Albert Jacquemart ; the Gemmes et Joyaux de la Couronne, of Barbet de Jouy, and in other pieces of a similar character, notably his exquisite mas- terpiece, the " Trepied cisele par Gouthiere," a work inimitable in execution. Jacquemart also etched many plates, some of great excellence, from paintings, besides views, flower-pieces, por- traits, etc. His works number nearly four hundred, of which there is a descriptive catalogue by Louis Gonse. During the TREPIEJ) CISELE PAR GOLTIUERE JACQUEMART — LALANNE — RAJON 25s latter part of his life, owing to failing health, he abandoned etching for water-color painting, and became one of the leading spirits in the Societe des Aquarellistes. No less characteristic are the works of Maxime Lalanne {1827-86), painter, etcher, and author, the most graceful etcher of architecture and landscape who ever lived. His works present rare refinement of character and great delicacy in exe- cution, and are picturesque and beautiful. As representative examples may be named ' Demolitions, rue des Ecoles,' ' Rue des Marmousets,' ' Aux Environs de Paris,' ' The Quay at Bordeaux,' ' The Canal at Montigny,' ' View from Pont Saint- Michel,' ' View from the Trocadero,' ' View from the Pont de la Concorde,' the last two of large size, and the set of little prints * Chez Victor Hugo.' In 1866 Lalanne published his Traite de la Gravure a V eaiiforte, illustrated with etchings, a practical and standard treatise on his art, of which there is an English translation by Mr. S. R. Koehler. Among many medals and marks of distinction received by Lalanne were the Order of Christ, conferred upon him by the King of Portugal, himself an amateur in the art, a medal from the Philadelphia Centennial Exposition, and the decoration of the Legion of Honor. An exhibition of his works was held in New York in 1890, the proofs shown being those selected by the artist for a projected exhibition in London, prevented by his death. But one other master will be named, Paul Rajon, one of the greatest of the modern etchers from pictures by other artists. Born at Dijon in 1843, Rajon went to Paris and became the pupil of Leopold Flameng and Leon Gaucherel, masters emi- nent in the revival of their art. He also made frequent visits to England, and in 1886 and 1887 visited the United States. During the latter part of his life he lived at his country-house 256 THE MASTERS AND MASTERPIECES OF ENGRAVING at Auvers, on the Oise, near Paris, and of this place many de- lightful reminiscences are related by his friends. He died here in 1888. Rajon is well known through his many fine subjects after Meissonier, Alma-Tadema, Breton, Turner, and other artists, ancient and modern, but it is in portraiture that he stands pre- eminent. His masterly portraits of Charles Darwin, John Stuart Mill, and Susanna Rose are among the representative examples of the art; nothing finer of the kind has ever been accomplished. Rajon was also an excellent draughtsman, painter, and artist in pastel and crayon. An account of the works of living artists cannot be at- tempted here. It would require a volume to do justice to the achievements of such accomplished masters as Charles Jacque, Seymour Haden, James McNeill Whistler, Felix Bracquemond, Alphonse Legros, Samuel Palmer, Felix Buhot, Storm van s'Gravesande, Leopold Flameng, Charles Waltner, William lin- ger, Charles Courtry, Henri Lefort, Laguillermie, Brunet-De- baines, Delauney, Chauvel, Haig, Tissot, Zilcken, and the mul- titude of other skilful etchers, original artists, and interpreters of pictures. Nor has the art of engraving been without its representative masters in the United States. In mezzotint, Charles Willson Peale, A. H. Ritchie, and John Sartain are well-known names ; in line, A. B. Durand, Joseph Andrews, the Smillies, Charles Burt, William E. Marshall, and others, have engraved works of great excellence and historical value ; and the American bank- note engravers have long been the acknowledged masters in that branch of the art. In etching we may claim Whistler, but only by birth, Stephen Parrish, Charles A. Piatt, Joseph Pen- nell, Thomas and Peter Moran, Mrs. Moran, Frank Duveneck, CONCLUSION 257 F. S. Church, Otto H. Bacher, R. Swain Gifford, Reginald Cleve- land Coxe, and other original artists whose works are widely known and justly appreciated. An account of contemporary work will be found in M. Beraldi's Graveurs du XIX' Steele and Mr. Hamerton's Etching and Etchers. In conclusion, the importance of forming public collections of prints in the different cities of our country cannot be too strongly urged, both in advancement of art education and as a means of intellectual enjoyment. While it is no longer possi- ble to form great collections like those at Paris, London, or Berlin, smaller collections of representative works will in most instances accomplish the same purpose. As the masterpieces of the art have come down to us as a heritage from the past, so let us regard ourselves as their custodians for future gen- erations. INDEX Adams, Joseph Alexander, 229. Alberti, Cherubino, 37. Aldegrever, Heinrich, 88, 100. Aldus Manutius, 9, 11. Altdorfer, Albrecht, 71, 88, 89. Ammon, Jost, 85. Amsler, Samuel, 248. Anderloni, Pietro, 164, 241. Anderson, Dr. Alexander, 223, 228. Andreae, Jerome, 66, 85, 216. Andreani, Andrea, 47. Andrews, Joseph, 256. Anonymous engravers, 15. Anthony, A. V. S., 230. ApQfalypse, block-book, 5. Aretino, Pietro, 27, 29. Ars Memoraiidi, block-book, 5. Ars Monendi, block-book, 5. Aubert, Michel, 159. Audran, Benoit, 159. Audran, Gerard, 143, 144, 150, 152. Augsburg, 7, 71, 76, 77. Aveline, P. A., 159. Bacher, Otto H., 257. Baillie, Captain William, 124. Bakhuisen, Ludolf, 129. Baldini, Baccio, 14, 19. Baldung Griin, Hans, 46, 71, 75, Baldchou, J. J., 160, 202. Bandinelli, Baccio, 28. Barbarj, Jacopo de, 69. Barlow, Francis, 179. Baron, Bernard, 159. Bartoli, Pietro, 41. Bartolozzi, Francesco, 44, 188, 196. Bartsch, Ad2Lm.,Le Peintre-Graveur, 251 Basle, 7, 78. Beauvarlet, J. F., 160. Becket, Isaac, 182. Bega, Cornells, 126. Beham, Barthel, 88, 92, 98. Beham, Hans Sebald, 71, 76, 88, 92. Beraldi, Graveurs die XIX' Steele, 173 257. Berghem, Nicholas, 127. Bernard, Le petit, 133. Bervic, C. C, 163, 166, 247. Bettelini, Pietro, 238. Bewick, Thomas, 85, 86, 213. Bible, The Gutenberg, 7. " Coverdale's, 96. " Harper's Illuminated, 229. " cuts. Early, 2. " Holbein's, 78, 81, 84. " " H. S. Beham's, 96. Biblia Pauperum, block-book, 5. Bibliotheque Nationale, Paris, 154. Binck, Jacob, 102, Blanc, C, Rembrandt Catalogue, 124 Blanchard, Auguste, 173. Block-books, 5. Bloemaert, Cornells, 142. Blooteling, Abraham, 117, 182. 26o Bocholt, Franz von, 53. Boissieu, J. J. de, 172. Boivin, Rene, 134. Bol, Ferdinand, 124. Boldrini, Niccolo, 44. Bolswert, Boetius h, iii. Bolswert, Schelte k, 111. Bonasone, Giulio, 30, 31. Books of Hours, 8, 132. Bosse, Abraham, 142. Both, Jan, 128. Botticelli, Sandro, 19. Boucher, Francois, 158, 167, 187, Bourbon, Constable de, 33. Boydell, Alderman John, publisher prints, 185, 197, 207. Boydell, Josiah, 207, 209. Boydell, Shakespeare, 204, 209. Bracquemond, Felix, 254, 256. Brandt, Sebastian, Ship of Fools, 7. Branston, Robert, 227. Brescia, 21, BreydenbacK s Travels, 7, 132. Brosamer, Hans, 102. Brouwer, Adrian, 126, Browne, John, 203. Brunet-Debaines, 256. Bry, Theodore de, 102. Buhot, Felix, 256. Burgkmair, Hans, 46, 71. Burke, Thomas, 192, Burt, Charles, 237, 256. Bye, Marc de, 128. Calamatta, Luigi, 169, 243. Calcografia, La, Longhi's, 201, 239. Callot, Jacques, 39, 40, 134, 252. Campagnola, Giulio, 23, 187. Canaletto, Antonio, 42. Canta-Gallina, 39, 134. Caracci, the, 34, 35, 49. Caraglio, Giovanni, 30. Cardon, Anthony, 192. INDEX Caricaturists, the, 193. Carpi, Ugo da, 46. Cars, Laurent, 158. Castiglione, Giovanni (II Benedetto), 41. Caxton, William, first English printer, 9. Cellini, Benvenuto, 28. Century Magazine, 229. Chalk and Crayon Engraving, 187. Charles I., 174. Charles H., 175. Charles VIH., 133. Chauvel, T., 256, Chedel, Quintin Pierre, 159. Chereau, Frangois, 157, 160. of Chiaroscuro engraving, 44-48, Choffard, Pierre, 159. Church, F. S., 257. Claude Lorraine, 16,38, 136, 185, 198, 202, 203, 251. Clement VIL, 28, 33. Clennell, Luke, 223. Closson, W. B., 231. Cochin, Charles Nicolas, the elder, 159. Cochin, Charles Nicolas, the younger, 159- Cole, Timothy, 231. Collections of prints, 154, 257, Cooper, Richard, 194. Coriolano, Bartolommeo, 48. Correggio, Engravings after, 160, 172, i95> 232, 240, 243. Cort, Cornells, 34, 49, 108. Coster, Laurent, 6. Courtry, Charles, 256. Cousin, Jean, 132, 133. Cousins, Samuel, 186. Coxe, Reginald Cleveland, 257, Cranach, Lucas, 46, 71, 76. Cross - hatching in wood - engraving, 218. Cruikshank, George, 193. Cuerenhert, Dirk, 106. Cunii, the, 7. INDEX 261 Dance of Death, Holbein's, 78, 81. Danse Macabre, g, 82. Daubigny, C. F., 16, 173, 251. Daulle, Jean, 160. Davis, John P., 231. De Jode, Pieter, 108, 112. Delaram, Francis, 175. Delaune, Etienne, 134. Delauney, Alfred Alexander, 256. De Leu, Thomas, 142. Delia-Bella, Stefano, 39, 40, 134. Demarteau, Giles, 187, 188. Denanto, Francesco, 44. De Necker, Jost, 46, 75. Dente, Marco, 29. Desnoyers, Auguste Boucher-, 163, 166, 168, 247. Dickinson, William, 184. Dietrich, or Dietricy, 124. Donatus, ^lius, 6. Dorigny, Sir Nicholas, 179. Dotted manner, Early, 2, 23. Doyle, John, 193. Drevet, Pierre, Pierre Imbert and Claude, 155. Du Jardin, Karel, 127. Dupont, Paul us, in. Durand, A. B., 256. Durer, Albrecht, 5, 16, 19, 23, 54, 76, 89, 102, 214. D lirer, Albrecht, copies by Marc Anto- 24, 25, 55. Dusart, Cornells, 126. Dutch etchers, the, 125. Dutuit, Manuel d' Estampes, 5, 251. Duveneck, Frank, 256. Duvet, Jean, 132. Earlom, Richard, 180, 183, 185. Edelinck, Gerard, 144, 149, 153. Eisen, C. D. J., 159. Elizabeth, Queen, 175. Elstracke, Reginald, 175. Engraving, antiquity and early history, 1-16. Engraving, Chiaroscuro, 45-48, " Mezzotint, 179-186. " Stipple, 187-192. ** Line, Vasari's account of or- igin, 14. " see Wood-engraving, Etching, Italian painter-etchers, 32-43. *' Rembrandt the typical etcher, 120. " the Dutch etchers, 125-130, " Revival of, 173, 251-257. Evelyn, John, 114, 148, 182. Everdingen, Allart van, 128. Exercitimn super Pater Nbster, block- book, 5. Faber, John, 183, Faithorne, William, 176, Fantose, Antoine, 47, 134. Felsing, G. J,, 248. Ficquet, Etienne, 165. Finiguerra, Maso di, 14, 19, 50. Finlayson, John, 184. Flameng,L6opold, 1 19, 124,173,255,256. Florence, Early engraving in, 14, 18, 20, 49. Folo, Giovanni, 238. Formschneiders, 2, 66, 84. Fortuny, Mariano, 16, 251. Fontainebleau, Masters of, 132, 133. Erancia, II, 23. Francis I., 133, Fran9ois, Alphonse, 172. " Jean, 187. " Jules, 172. French, Frank, 231. Frye, Thomas, 184. Fiirstenberg, 182. Fust, early printer, 7. Fyt, Jan, 128. Gaillard, Ferdinand, 172. 262 INDEX Game and Playe of the Chesse, 10. Gandolfi, Mauro, 241, 242. Garavaglia, Giovita, 241, 242. Gaucherel, Leon, 164, 255. Gaugain, Thomas, 192. Gellee, Claude, 16, 38, 136, 185, 198, 202, 203, 251. Geminus, Thomas, 174. German Art, National character of, 50. Ghisi, Giorgio, 31. Gifford, R. Swain, 257. Gillot, Claude, 158. Gillray, James, 193. Gilpin, Essay on Prints (1768), 180. Golden Lege7id, Caxton's, 10. Goldsmith-engravers, 12-18. Goltzius, Hendrik, 38, io6. Gonzenbach, 248. Goya, Francesco, 40, 41. Gravelot, 159. Gravesande, C. Storm van s', 256. Green, Valentine, 184, 185. Gutenberg, Johann, 7. Haden, Francis Seymour, 211, 253, 256. Haid, J. G., 184. Haig, A. H., 256. Hall, John, 202. Hamerton's Etching and Etchers, 251, 257- Harper^ s Magazine, 229. Harper's Illuminated Bible, 229. Harvey, William, 223. Henriquel-Dupont, 170. Henry II., 133. Henry VIII., 79,80. Historia Virginis, block-book, 5. Historical Engravings, after Le Brun, 153 ; after West, 1 99, 202 ; after Trum- bull, 205, 244. Hogarth, William, 193. Hogensberg, Remigius and Franz, 175. Holbein, Hans, 71, 78, 214. Holbein, portraits engraved by Barto- lozzi, 190. Hollar, Wenceslaus, 177, 193. Hopfers, the, 102. Hoskin, Robert, 231. Houbraken, Jacobus, 130, 193. Houston, Richard, 184. Huot, Adolphe Joseph, 173. Hypnerotomachia Poliphili, 9, 44. Iconographia of Van Dyck, 114. Incunabula, 5. Initials, marks, and monograms, 15. Italian art. Character of, 18. Jackson, John, 213. Jacobe, Johann, 184. Jacobsz, Lucas, 103. Jacque, Charles, 16, 173, 251, 256. Jacquemart, Jules, 121, 179, 254. Jacquet, Achille and Jules, 173. Jegher, Christopher, 47, 85, 112. Jesi, Samuele, 241. Johnson, Robert, 227. Johnson, Thomas, 231. Juengling, F., 231. Kerver, Thielman, 9. King, F. S., 231. Kingsley, Elbridge, 231. Kirkall, Edward, 188. Kneller, Sir Godfrey, 182, 183. Kruell, G., 231. Laguillermie, F. A., 256. Lalanne, Maxime, 40, 255. Landscape engravers, English, 198, 202, 203. Landseer, John, 208. Larmessin, Nicolas de, 159. Le Bas, Jacques Philippe, 159, 160. Le Blond, Jacob Christoph, 188. Le Brun, C, 144, 152, 153, 156. INDEX 263 Leclerc, Sdbastien, 142, 144. Lefebre, Valentin, 42. Lefort, Henri, 256. Legros, Alphonse, 256. Le Mire, Noel, 160. Leoni, Ottavio, 187. Letters of Indulgence, 7. Levasseur, Jean Charles, 173. Leyden, Lucas van, 103. Liber Studiorum, 186, 210. Liber Veritaiis, 138, 185, 210. Linton, W. J., 228. Little Masters, the, 87. Livensz, Jan, 124. Loggan, David, 179. Longhi, Giuseppe, 163, 201, 239. Louis XIL, 133. Louis XIII., 136, 142. Louis XIV., Engraving under, 131, 143, 146, 154, 156, 157- Louis XV., Age of, 154, 157. Louis XVI., 167. Lucas, David, 186. Lutma, Jan, 187. Lutterel, Edward, 182. Liitzelberger, Hans, 85, 216. Lyons, seat of early printing, 8, 81, 86, 133- Maberly, J., The Print Collector, 204. MacArdell, James, 183, 184. Mainz, Early printing at, 7. Mandel, J. A. E., 248. Maniere criblee, 2, 23. Mantegna, Andrea, 14, 21, 48, 49. Maratti, Carlo, 41. Marchant, Guyot, 9, 82. Marolles, Abbe de, 154, 176. Marsh, Henry, 230. Marshall, William E., 256. Mason, James, 203. Masson, Antoine, 150, 241. Master of 1446, 16. Master of 1466, 16, 18, 51, " of the Bird, 21. " of the Caduceus, 69. " of the Die, 30. Matham, Jacobus, 108. Maximilian I., patron of wood-engrav- ing, 57, 58, 70-75- Mazzola, Francesco, 32,45, 48,232, 243. Meckenen, Israel von, 53. Medici, Catherine de', 133. " Cosmo de', 12. " Ippolito de', 28. " Lorenzo de', 18, 22. Meissonier, J. L. E., 16, 251. Meldolla, Andrea, 33. Mellan, Claude, 141, 147, Mercurj, Paolo, 243. Meryon, Charles, 129, 252. Merz, Caspar H., 244. Mezzotint engraving, 179-186. Michael Angelo, 25, 31, 37, 94, 106, 172, 241. Millet, J. F., 16, 251, Mocetto, Girolamo, 21. Moran, Thomas, Peter, and Mrs. M. N., 256. Moreau, /«? j'eune, 160, Morghen, Raphael, 204, 232. Morin, Jean, 142. Morse, 231. Moyreau, Jean, 159. Muller, Jan, loi, 108. Muller, R. A., 231. Muller, J. G. von, 163, 166, 244. " J. R W., 164, 169, 244, 247. " Moritz, or Steinla, 247. Musi, Agostino, de', 29. Myrrour of the World, 10. Names of engravers and publishers, 16. Nanteuil, Robert, 144, 146, 150, 152, 176. Necker, Jost de, 46, 75. Nesbit, Charlton, 223. 264 INDEX Niello, 14, 17, 18, 24. Nooms, Renier, Zeeman, 129. Nuremberg, 7, 54, 55, 71, 76, 86. Nuremberg Chronicles, 7. Olmutz, Wenceslaus of, 53, 54. Opus mallei, 23, 187. Ostade, Adrian van, 125, Ostade, Isaac van, 125. Painter-engravers, 16. Palmer, Samuel, 256. Palmerini, Nicolo, 238. Papillon, Jean, 7, 85. Paris, seat of early printing, 8, 9, 11. Parmigiano, Mazzola, 32, 45, 47, 48, 232, 243- Parrish, Stephen, 256. Passavant, Le Peintre-Graveur, 15. Passe, family of engravers, 175, Pax, so-called Finiguerra, 14. Payne, John, 175. Peak, James, 203. Peale, Charles Willson, 256. Pencz, George, 88, 98. Pennell, Joseph, 256. Perelle, Gabriel, 40. Perrault, Les Hommes Illustres, 141, 148, 150. Pesne, Jean, 142, 143, 152. Pether, WiUiam, 184. Photography in wood-engraving, 227. Picart, Bernard, 142. Pichler, J. P., 184. Pigouchet, Philip, 9. Piranesi, Giambattista, 42. Piranesi, Francesco and Laura, 43. Plantin, Christopher, 11. Piatt, C. A., 256. Playing-cards, 2, 52. Poilly, Frangois de, 142. PoUajuolo, Antonio del, 20. Pompadour, Mme. de, 159. Pontius, Paul, in, 115, Popes, Portraits of the, 29, 172. Porporati, Carlo Antonio, 160. Porto, Giovanni del, 21. Potter, Paul, 127. Prices for prints by Diirer and Rem- brandt, 67, 123. Printed books. Early, 7-10. Raimbach, Abraham, 209. Raimondi, Marc Antonio, 14, 16, 23,49. Raimondi, Marc Antonio, School of, 29-31. Rajon, Paul, 255. Raphael, 16, 26, 27, 29, 31, 47, 150, 152, 169, 172, 196, 233, 237, 240-244, 247- 251. Rembrandt Van Ryn, 16, 26, 117, 183, 251. Rembrandt Van Ryn, copies of his etchings by Flameng, 124. Renaissance, 18, 86, 87, 94, 98, 103. Reni, Guido, 37, 40, 41, 48, 150, 167, 194, 204, 205, 233. Reynolds, Sir Joshua, Portraits after, 183-186, 190, 191, 205. Reynolds, S. W., 186. Ribera, Josef de, 40, 182. Ritchie, A. H., 256. Richomme, J. T., 172. Rigaud, Hyacinthe, Portraits after, 144, iSo> 154-157^ 160, 163. Robetta, 20. Rogers, William, 175. Romano, Giulio, 27. Rome, seat of early printing, 9. Rosa, Salvator, 41. Rosaspina, Francesco, 241, 242. Rosenberg, Dr. Adolf, 88. Rousseaux, Emile Alfred, 173. Rowlandson, Thomas, 193. Royal Academy, admission of engravers, 191, 195, 207. INDEX 265 Rubens, P. P., 47> 108-113, 150, 166, 183, 184. Ruggeri, Guido, 134. Rupert, Prince, 181. Ruysdael, Jacob, 128. Ryland, William Wynne, 188, 194. Sack of Rome, 18, 24, 29, 33. Saenredam, Joannes, 108. St. Aubin, Augustin de, 160, 166. St. Bernardino of Siena, 2. St. Christopher of 1423, 3. Salomon, Bernard, 133. Santi, Pietro, 41. Sartain, John, 256. Say, William, 184. Schatzbehalter, 7, 8. Schaufelin, Hans, 46, 71, 75. Schiavone, Meldolla, 33. Schiavonetti, Luigi, 44, 192. Schmidt, George Frederick, 160, 164. Schoeffer, Peter, 7. Schongauer, Martin, 18, 22, 52. Schuppen, Pieter van, 148. Scotin, Jean Baptiste, 159. Scott, W. B., 88. Scribner's Magazine, 229. Scultori, the, 31, Sgrafitto, 37, 48. Sharp, William, 191, 194, 203. Sherwin, William, 182. Siegen, Ludwig von, 181. Simon, John, 183. Smillie, James, and James D., 256. Smith, John, 182. Smith, John Raphael, 184, 186. Smithwick, J. G., 231. Solis, Virgil, loi, 102. Soutman, Peter, 112. SpagHoletto, Lo, 40. Speculum HumaiKZ Salvationis, block- book, 5. Springinklee, Hans, 71, 76. Steinla, Moritz Miiller, 247. Stella, Claudine, 142, 143. Stipple engraving, 187. Stoop, Dirk, 128. Strange, Sir Robert, 191, 194. Sumner, Charles, 148. Suyderhoef, Jonas, 112, 113, 115. Swanevelt, Herman van, 128. Sylvestre, Israel, 140. Tardieu, Alexander, 163, 168. Thiry, Leonard, 134. Thomassin, Philippe, 135. Thomas of Ypres, 182. Thompson, John, 227. Thurston, John, 227. Tiepolo, Giov. Batt, 41. Tissot, James J., 256. Titian, Engravings after, 34, 36, 42, 45, 108, 117, 152, 195, 241, 251. Tomkins, P. W., 192. Tory, Geoffroy, 9, 11. Toschi, Paolo, 163, 168, 243. Trechsels, early printers, 11, 81, 83. Trento, Antonio da, 47, 134. Turner, Charles, 186, 210. " J. M.W., 16, 139, 186, 210. " " Engravings after, 2 1 o. Typography, Evolution of, 6. Unger, William, 256. Urban VHL, 38. Vaillant, Wallerant, 182. Vangelisti, Vincenzio, 44, 239. Van Dalen, 117. Van Dyck, 16, 108, 110, 113, 130, 142, 166, 168, 179, 184, 196, 237, 251. Van de Velde, Adrian, 128. Van Eyck, 6, 51. Van Vliet, Jan, 124. Vasari, Giorgio, 12, 19, 23, 28, 33, 47, 50, 65, 104. 266 INDEX Veneziano, A. de Musi, 29. Venice, early printing and wood-engrav- ing, 9> 25, 44, 69. Verard, Antoine, 9. Vernet, Joseph, 202. Vertue, George, 175, 192. Vicentino, Giuseppe, 47. Vico, Enea, 30. Villamena, Francesco, 37. Viscentino, Antonio, 42. Visscher, Cornelis, 112, 113, 115, 116. Visscher, Jan, 128. Vignettes, 11, 56, 159, 219. Vinci, Leonardo da. Engravings after, 150, 169, 232, 234, 237. Vivares, Frangois, 202. Volpato, Giovanni, 44, 233. Vorsterman, Lucas, no, 115. Vostre, Simon, 9. Vouet, Simon, 132. Wagner, Joseph, 189, 233. Walker, William, 192. Walpole, Horace, Anecdotes of Paint- ing, 193. Waltner, C., 119, 256. Waterloo, Antoni, 128. Watson, James, 184. Watson, Caroline, 192. Watteau school of engravers, 157-160. West, Historical engravings after, 199- 205. White, Robert, 179. Whistler, James McNeill, 256. Whitney, 231. Wierix family of engravers, 108. Wilkie, Sir David, 16, 209. Wille, John George, 160. Wille, John George, School of, 163, 244. Wood-engraving, early history, 1-12 ; in Italy, chiaroscuro, 44; fac- simile, Diirer, 55-58, 65 ; Maximilian, patron of wood- engraving, 70; Holbein to Bewick, 81, 84, 96; revival by Be- wick, white-Une, 213 ; black-line, 227; in the United States, 228. Wolf, H., 231. Wolgemut, Michael, 8, 54, 76, Woollett, William, 140, 19/], 197, Worde, Wynkyn de, 11. Wouwerman, Philip, 128. Wren, Sir Christopher, 182. Xylographs, 5. Zani, the abb^, 14. Zeeman, 129. Zilcken, Philip, 256. THE END