i..:;: 
 
 
 
 
 
 Ulrich Middeldorf 
 

V 
 
 
 
 c> 
 
A N 
 
 ESSAY upon PRINTS: 
 
 CONTAINING 
 
 REMARKS 
 
 UPON THE 
 
 Principles of picturesque Beauty ; 
 
 THE 
 
 Different Kinds of Prints ; 
 
 AND THE 
 
 Characters of the most noted Masters: 
 
 ILLUSTRATED BY 
 
 Criticisms upon particular Pieces : 
 
 TO WHICH ARE ADDED, 
 
 Some Cautions that may be useful in 
 collecting Prints. 
 
 yirtificumque manus inter je, cperumque labores 
 
 Miramur. jEn. i. 459. • 
 
 SECOND edition. 
 
 LONDON: 
 
 Printed by G. SCOTT, 
 
 For J. R O B S O N, Bookseller to the Princess 
 Dowager op Wales, at the Feathers 
 in New Bond Street* " 
 
 W DCC LXVIII> 
 
PREFACE 
 
 T O T H E 
 
 SECOND EDITION. 
 
 'TH HE following work hath lain by the 
 author at leaji fifteen years, in which 
 time, as nothing had appeared upon the fub- 
 je£l, he took the liberty to offer it to the 
 public with whatever faults it might have-, 
 many of which the obliging criticifms of his 
 friends have enabled him to corretl in this 
 edition, 
 
 The chief intention he had in view, was 
 to endeavour to put the elegant amufement 
 of colletling prints upon a more rational 
 footing-, and to give the unexperienced col- 
 letlor fome better principles than thofe on 
 which collet! or s of prints generally proceed. 
 
 With 
 
iv PREFACE. 
 
 With this view, he thought it neceffary 
 to apply the principles of painting to prints: 
 and as his obfervations, in this part of his 
 work, are not always new, he hath endea- 
 voured, at leafi, to make them concife. 
 
 In his account of artifts, he hath paid 
 fome attention to chronology, but has, in 
 many cafes, purpofely neglected it, with a 
 view of bringing thofe mafiers together 
 whofe manlier s are alike. 
 
 The chapter containing criticifms on par- 
 ticular prints, is an addition to his original 
 plan. He was advifed to infert fomething 
 of this kind, as an illuftration of his prin- 
 ciples. 
 
 Of modern prints the author hath pur- 
 pofely f aid little j declining, generally, to give 
 
 his 
 
PREFACE. y 
 
 his opinion, efpecially if unfavourable, of 
 living artijls: for an artiJTs character is 
 his bread, andfhould be determined by the 
 public voice, not an arbitrary judge. But 
 altho the author, for this reafon, thought 
 himfelf not at liberty to find fault, he 
 thought he might, here and there, take an 
 opportunity of commending. This, however, 
 he finds has given offence; and perhaps 
 with jujlice : for the mention of particulars 
 implies inferiority in thofe unmentioned. 
 The author can only fay, that he meant no 
 implication of the kind; and that without 
 conjidering the matter deeper, he merely il- 
 lujtrated his fubjetls with fuch prints as oc- 
 curred to his memory. The Jewish rabbt 
 he chofe, chiefly, becaufe of the admirable 
 charatler of that portrait ; and was glad, 
 at the fame time, of an opportunity to do 
 jujlice to the f craping : but he did not mea}i 
 
 to 
 
vi PREFACE. 
 
 to offend, other artifls, by infinuating that 
 he thought this mezzotinto the bejl. 
 
 Since the greater part of this edition was 
 printed off, the author had an opportunity 
 of feeing, in the KingV library, a very no- 
 ble collection of Hollar's prints, fuppofed 
 to be the bejl in England : it was made 
 by King William, and confifls of three 
 large folio volumes. Upon a review of this 
 vaft collection, of the works of this very la- 
 borious artijl, the author thinks he might 
 have faid fomething more in his commenda- 
 tion. Bejides the praife due to him for his 
 fowls, muffs, fhells, and butterflies, there 
 is certainly great merit in many of his other 
 works. 'The Gothic ornaments of his car 
 thedrals are often elegantly touched ; and 
 fometimes even with freedom. The fword 
 $f Edward VI. the cup of Andrea 
 
 Mantegna, 
 
PREFACE. vii 
 
 Mantegna, and the vafes from Hol- 
 bein, are all beautiful. Many of his fmali 
 mews too are elegant and pleafing -, efpe- 
 daily thofe without fore-grounds, which 
 he manages ill. Among the lafi is a beau- 
 tiful view of London-Bridge, and the parts 
 adjacent, taken fomewhere near Somerfet- 
 Houfe. In thefe views his difiances are 
 often very fine. — His loofe etchings are far 
 from being void of fpirit. Two or three 
 pieces of dead game, flightly touched, are 
 very mafterly : they are drawn with accu- 
 racy, and executed with freedom. — There 
 is a beautiful piece of dead game too among 
 his high-finifhed prints : the group confifts 
 of a hare hanging up ; and a bafket of 
 birds. — But Hollar appears no where to 
 more advantage than in his imitations -, 
 particularly in his prints after Count 
 Gaude, Callot, and Barlow : be has, 
 
 admirably 
 
viii PREFACE. 
 
 admirably hit off the manner of thefe m af- 
 ters ; of Callot efpecially, in his Beg- 
 gars, which have all the fpirit of the ori- 
 ginals in a reduced fize. — But, after all, 
 it mufl be owned, that a review of Hol- 
 lar'j - works fcarce repays the trouble. 
 His fhipping, his large views, his fables, 
 his Ephesian matron, and many, very 
 many of his other prints, are exceedingly 
 bad-, his Virgil and Juvenal are fcarce 
 fuperior to the tafte and workman/hip of a 
 Chinefe artift. 
 
 iV. B When the figures on the right Jide are fpoken of, 
 thofe are meant which are oppofite to the fpe&ator's right : 
 and fo of the left. 
 
 Explanation 
 
[ ix ] 
 
 Explanation of Terms. 
 
 Compojition : in its large fenfe, means a 
 picture in general : in its limited one, 
 the art of grouping figures, and com- 
 bining the parts of a picture. In 
 this latter fenfe, it is fynonymous with 
 Difpojition. 
 
 Defign: in its Jtrift fenfe, applied chiefly 
 to drawing : in its more enlarged one, 
 defined, page 3 : in its mofl enlarged 
 one, fometimes taken for a picture 
 in general. 
 
 A whole : The idea of one object, which 
 a picture mould give in its compre- 
 henfive view. 
 
 Exprejfion : 
 
c Explanation of Terms. 
 
 Expreffion: its jlriff meaning defined 
 page 24: but it often means the 
 force by which objects of any kind 
 are reprefented. 
 
 Effecl : arifes chiefly from the manage- 
 ment of light ; but the word is fome- 
 times applied to the general view of 
 a picture. 
 
 Spirit : in its Jiricl fenfe, defined p. 3.4 ; 
 but it is fometimes taken in a more 
 enlarged one, and means the ge?ieral 
 effect of a maflerly performance. 
 
 Manner ; fynonymous with Execution. 
 
 Ficlurcfque: a term expreffive of that pe- 
 culiar kind of beauty, which is agree- 
 able in a picture. 
 
 Piclurefque 
 
Explanation of Terms. xi 
 
 'Piolurefque grace: an agreeable form 
 given, in a picture, to a clown ifh. 
 figure. 
 
 Repofe, or Quietnefs: applied to a picture 
 when the -whole is harmonious j when 
 nothing glares either in the light, 
 fhade, or colouring. 
 
 To keep down, take down, or bring down; 
 fignify throwing a degree of fhade 
 upon a glaring light. 
 
 A middle tint : a medium between a 
 ftrong light, and ftrong fhade : the 
 phrafe is not at all expreffive of co- 
 lour. 
 
 ^Catching lights: ftrong lights, which ftrike 
 upon fome particular parts of an ob- 
 ject, the reft of which is in fhadow. 
 
 Studies z 
 
xii Explanation of Terms; 
 
 Studies : the fketched ideas of a paintqr 
 not wrought into a whole. 
 
 Freedom : the refult of quick execution. 
 
 Extremities : hands and feet. 
 
 Air: exprefifes chiefly the graceful action 
 of the head-, but often means a 
 graceful attitude. 
 
 Contraft : the oppofition of one part to 
 another. 
 
 THE 
 
THE 
 
 CONTENTS- 
 chap. I. 
 
 'the principles of painting confdered, as far 
 as they relate to prints. 
 
 CHAP. II. 
 
 Ohfervaiions on the different kinds of 
 prints. 
 
 CHAP. III. 
 
 Characters of the mofi noted majlers. 
 
 CHAP. IV. 
 
 Remarks on particular prints. 
 
 CHAP. V. 
 
 Cautions in collecting prints* 
 
*#*#&****#***** 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 The principles of Painting conjidered, fa 
 far as they relate to prints. 
 
 A 
 
 Painting, or picture, is diftin- 
 guiihed from a print only by 
 the colouring, and the man- 
 ner of execution. In other refpects, the 
 foundation of beauty is the fame in 
 both; and we confider a print as we 
 do a picture, in a double light, with 
 regard to the whole, and with regard to 
 B its 
 
[ a ] 
 
 its parts. It may have an agreeable ef- 
 fect as a whole, and yet be very culpa- 
 ble in its parts. It may be likewife the 
 reverfe. A man may make a good ap- 
 pearance upon the whole ± tho his limbs, 
 examined feparately, may be wanting 
 in exact proportion. His limbs, on the 
 other hand, may be exactly formed, and 
 yet his perfon, upon the whole, difguft- 
 
 in g- 
 
 To make a print agreeable as a whole, 
 
 a jufl obfervance of thofe rules is necef- 
 fary, which relate to dejign, difpqfition, 
 keeping, and the dijlribution of light : to 
 make it agreeable in its parts, of thofe 
 which relate to drawing, exprej/ion, grace, 
 and perfpeStive. 
 
 We confider the whole before it$ 
 parts, as it naturally precedes in prac- 
 tice. The painter nrit forms his general 
 
 ideas 
 
[ 3 3 
 
 ideas ; and difpofes them, yet crude, in 
 fuch a manner, as to receive the moft 
 beautiful form, and the moft beautiful 
 effect of light. His laft work is to fi- 
 nifh the feyeral parts : as the ftatuary 
 fhapes his block, before he attempts to 
 give delicacy to the limbs. 
 
 By defign^ (a term which painters 
 fometimes ufe in a more limited fenfe) 
 we mean the general conduct of the 
 piece as a reprefentation of fuch a par- 
 ticular ftory. It anfwers, in an hiftori- 
 cal relation of a fact, to a judicious 
 choice of circumftances, and includes a 
 proper time> proper charatlers, the moft 
 offering manner of introducing thofe cha- 
 raffers, and proper appendages. 
 
 With regard to a proper time^ the 
 
 painter is afhfted by good old dramatic 
 
 rules j which inform him, xhzXcne point 
 
 Bz of 
 
[ 4 ] 
 
 of time only mould be taken — the moft 
 affecting in the action ; and that no o- 
 ther part of the ftory mould interfere 
 with it. Thus in the death of Ananias, 
 if the inftant of his falling down be cho- 
 fen, no anachronifm mould be intro- 
 duced ; every part of the piece mould 
 correfpond -, each character mould be 
 under the ftrongeft impreffion of. afto- 
 nifhment, and horror -, thofe paflions be- 
 ing yet unallayed by any cooler paflions 
 fucceding. 
 
 With regard to charatlers y the painter 
 muft fuit them to his piece by attend- 
 ing to hiftorical truth, if his fubjed be 
 hiftory ; or to heathen mythology, if it 
 be fabulous. 
 
 He mull farther introduce them proper- 
 ly. They Ihould be ordered in fo ad- 
 vantageous a manner, that the principal 
 
 figures, 
 
I 5 ] 
 
 figures, thofe which are moll concerned 
 in the action, fhould catch the eye firfi, 
 and engage it mojl. This is very effen- 
 tial to a well-told ftory. In the firft 
 place, they fhould be the leaft embarraf- 
 fed of the group. This alone gives 
 them difbinclion. But they may be far- 
 ther diftinguimed, fometimes by a broad 
 light ; fometimes by a jirong Jhadow, in 
 the midft of a light ; fometimes by a 
 remarkable aftion 9 or eypreffioy, and 
 fometimes by a combination of two or 
 three of thefe modes of diflinclion. 
 
 The laft thing included in defign is 
 the ufe of •prober appendages. By appen- 
 dages are meant animals, landfkip, build- 
 ings, and in general, what ever is intro- 
 duced into the piece by way of orna- 
 ment. Every thing of this kind fhould 
 correfpond with the fubje6t, and rank 
 B 3 in 
 
[ 5 T 
 in a proper fubordination to it. Bas- 
 san would fometimes paint a fcripture- 
 ftory-, and his method was, to croud 
 his fore-ground with cattle, well paint- 
 ed indeed, but wholly foreign to his 
 fubject •, while you feek for his princi- 
 pal figures, and at length perhaps with 
 difficulty find them in ibme remote cor- 
 ner of his picture. We often fee a land- 
 fkip well adorned with a ftory in minia- 
 ture. The land/kip here is principal ; 
 but at the fame time the figures, which 
 tell the ftory, tho fubordinate to the 
 landikip, are the principal figures. B as- 
 say's practice was different. In his pic- 
 tures neither the landfiip, nor the ftory 
 is principal ; but his cattle. To intro- 
 duce a ftory then is abfurd. 
 
 When all thefe rules are obferved, 
 when a proper point of time is chofen ; 
 
 when 
 
I 7 ] 
 
 ni characters corrdponding with the 
 fub : rT: i"z L-:::dv.:ri. -r.h :hr:h :rirr- 
 ed fo judicioufly as to point out the do- 
 ry in the ftrongeft manner -, and lafthr, 
 when all the appendages, and under- 
 parts of the piece are fuitable, . and fub- 
 iervient to the fubjeel, then the 
 well told, and of courfe the de/tgx is 
 
 The fecond thing to be coslidered 
 with regard to a whole, is £Jpofition. By 
 
 this v.-:-:i if rr.zir.z the i:z :: z:::":7Z 
 
 the figures, ar.h c: ccrr.bL-ir.g the feve- 
 rsl p;r:« c: 2 ricrure. D: ;/~ ccr.iiie:s 
 how ei:h pi::. _•:■.*.;»•.;;:•/. ::'■:■:'<■. 
 
 piAXlUCUlg 4 J2DWC — - a ^_ 
 
 fe8 of the cbjeB. For the figures in a 
 piece may be fo ordered, as to tell the 
 
 B a. itcrv 
 
I 8 ] 
 
 ftory in an affecting manner, which is 
 as far as defign goes, and yet may want 
 that agreeable combination, which is ne- 
 cefifary to pleafe the eye. To produce 
 fuch a combination is the bufinefs of 
 difpofition, In the cartoon of St. Paul 
 preaching at Athens, the defign is perfect ; 
 and the characters in particular, are fo 
 ordered, as to tell the ftory in a very 
 affecting manner : yet the feveral parts 
 of the picture are far from being agree- 
 ably combined. If Rubens had had the 
 difpofition of the materials of this picture, 
 its effect as a whole had been very diffe- 
 rent. 
 
 Having thus diftinguifhed between 
 defign and difpofition, I mail explain the 
 latter a little farther. 
 
 It is an obvious principle, that one 
 object at a time is enough to engage ei- 
 ther 
 
I 9 ] 
 
 ther the fenfes, or the intellect. Hence 
 the neceffity of unity or a whole in paint- 
 ing. The eye, upon a complex view, 
 muft be able to comprehend the picture 
 as one objeff, or it cannot be fatisfied. 
 It may be pleafed indeed by feeding on 
 the parts feparately : but a picture, 
 which can pleafe no otherwife; is as 
 poor a production as a machine, the 
 iprings and wheels of which are finimed 
 with nicety, but are unable to act in 
 concert, and effect the intended move- 
 ment. 
 
 Now difpofition, or the art of group- 
 ing and combining the figures, and fe- 
 veral parts of a picture, is an effential, 
 which contributes greatly to produce a 
 whole in painting. When the parts are 
 fcattered, they have no dependance on 
 each other; they are Hill only parts: 
 
 but 
 
I »p ] 
 
 but by an agreeable grouping, they are 
 maffed together, and become a whole. 
 
 In difpofing figures, great artifice is 
 neceffary to make each group open it- 
 felf in fuch a manner, as to fet off 
 advantageoufly the feveral figures, of 
 which it is compofed. The aElion at 
 leaf!: of each figure mould appear. 
 
 No group can be agreeable without 
 contraft. By contraft is meant the oppo- 
 fition of one part to another. A fame- 
 nefs in attitude, a£tion, or expreffion, 
 among figures in the fame group, will 
 always difguft the eye. In the cartoon 
 of St. Paul preaching at Athens^ the 
 contraft among the figures is incompa- 
 rably fine ; and the want of it, in the 
 death of Ananias, makes the group of 
 the apoflles a difagreeable one. 
 
 Nor 
 
[ II ] 
 
 : Nor indeed is contraft required only 
 among the figures of the fame group, 
 but alfo among the groups themfehes, and 
 among all the parts, of which the piece. 
 is compofed. In the beautiful gate of 
 the temple, the figures of the principal 
 group are very well contrafted ; but the 
 adjoining group is difpofed almoft in the 
 fame manner ; which, together with the 
 formal pillars, introduce a difagreeable 
 regularity into the picture. 
 
 The judicious painter, however, whe- 
 ther he group, combine, or contrail, 
 will always avoid the appearance of arti- 
 fice. The feveral parts of his picture 
 will be fo fuited to each other, that his 
 art will feem the refult of chance. In 
 the facrifice at Lyflra, the head of the ox 
 is bowed down, with a defign, no 
 doubt, to group the figures around it 
 
 more 
 
[ ,2 ] 
 
 more harmonioufly ; but their action is 
 fo well fuited to the pofture of the ox, 
 and the whole managed with fo much 
 judgment, that altho the figures are 
 difpofed with the utmoft art, they ap- 
 pear with all the eafe of nature. The 
 remaining part of the group is an in- 
 ftance of the reverfe, in which a num- 
 ber of heads appear manifeflly ftuck in 
 to fill up vacuities. 
 
 But farther, as a whole^ or unity ^ is 
 an eiTential of beauty, that difpofition is 
 certainly the rnoft perfect, which admits 
 but of one group. All fubjects, howe- 
 ver, will not allow this clofe obfervance 
 of unity. When this is the cafe, the 
 ieveral groups muft again be combin- 
 ed, chiefly by a proper diftribution of 
 light, fo as to conftitute a whole. 
 
 But 
 
t '3 ] 
 
 But as the whole will foon be loft, if 
 the conftituent parts become numerous, 
 it follows, that many groups muft not 
 be admitted. Judicious painters have- 
 thought three the utmoft number, that 
 can be allowed. Some fubjects indeed, 
 as battles, and triumphs, neceffariiy re- 
 quire a great number of figures, and of 
 courfe various combinations of groups. 
 In the management of fuch fubjedts, the 
 greatefl art is neceffary to preferve a. 
 whole. Confufion in the figures muft 
 be expreffed without confufion in the 
 picture. A writer fhould treat his fub- 
 ject clearly, tho he write upon ohfcurity. 
 
 With regard to difpofition, I fhall on- 
 ly add, that the Jhape or form of the 
 group fhould alfo be confidered. The 
 triangular form Michael Angelo 
 thought the moll beautiful. And in- 
 deed 
 
E '4 ] 
 
 deed there is a lightnefs in it, which no J 
 other form can receive. The group of 
 the apoftles, in the cartoon of giving the 
 keys, and the fame group, in the death 
 of Ananias, are both exceedingly hea- 
 vy •, and this heavinefs arifes from no- 
 thing more than from the form of a pa- 
 rallelogram, within the lines of which 
 thefe groups are contained. The trian- 
 gular form too is capable of the molt 
 variety : for the vertical angle of a 
 group fo difpofed may either be acute, 
 or obtufe, in any degree. Or a fegment 
 only of a triangle may be taken, which 
 fcill encreafes the variety. But it mull 
 be obferved, that no triangular form 
 can be beautiful, in which a perpendi- 
 cular from the apex would not fall up- 
 on the bafe. The cartoons afford few 
 inftances of beauty in the forms of 
 
 groups. 
 
C '5 I 
 
 groups. In the works of Salvatos 
 Rosa we frequently find them. 
 
 The painter, when he hath chofen 
 his fubject, Ihould always fketch out 
 fome beautiful form of grouping, which 
 may bert fuit it ; within which bounds 
 he Ihould, as nearly as may be, without 
 affectation, confine his figures. What 
 I mean, is, that the form of the group 
 ihould never be left at random. 
 
 A third thing to be confidered in a 
 picture, with regard to a whole, is keep- 
 ing. This word implies the different 
 degrees of firength and faintnefs, which 
 objects receive from nearnefs and dU 
 ftance. A nice obfervance of the gra- 
 dual fading of light and made contri- 
 butes greatly towards the production of 
 a whole. Without it, the diftant parts, 
 
 inftead 
 
[ i6 ] 
 
 inftead of being connected with the ob- 
 jects at hand, appear like foreign ob- 
 jects, wildly introduced, and without 
 meaning. Diminifhed mfize only, they 
 put you in mind of Lilliput and Brob- 
 dignag united in one fcene. Keeping is 
 generally found in great perfection in 
 Della Bella's prints : and the want of 
 it as confpicuoufly in Tempesta's. 
 
 Nearly allied to keeping is the doc- 
 trine of harmony , which equally contri- 
 butes towards the production of a whole. 
 In painting, it has amazing force. A 
 judicious arrangement of according tints 
 will ftrike even the unpracticed eye. 
 The effeft of every picture, in a great 
 meafure, depends on one principal and 
 mafter-tint, which, like the key-tone in 
 mufic, prevails, over the whole piece. 
 
 Sometimes^ 
 
t 17 ] 
 
 Sometimes the purple tint is chofen i 
 fometimes the mellow, brown one ; and 
 in fome fubjects the greenifh hue is molt 
 proper. Of this ruling tint, whatever 
 it is, every object in the picture mould 
 in a degree participate. This theory is 
 founded on principles of truth, and 
 produces a fine effect from the harmony, 
 in which it unites every object. Har- 
 mony is oppofed to gaudy colouring, 
 and glare. Yet the fkilful painter fears 
 not, when his fubject allows it, to em- 
 ploy the greater! variety of tints -, and 
 tho he may depreciate their value in 
 fhadow, he will not fcruple, in his 
 lights, to give each its utmoft glow. 
 His art lies deeper. He takes the glare 
 from one vivid tint by introducing an- 
 other ; and from a nice afiemblage of 
 the brighter! colours, each of which a- 
 C lone 
 
[ ■•« J 
 
 lone would flare, he creates an united 
 glow, in the higheft degree harmonious. 
 He refolves even the moft difcordant 
 tints into union, and makes them fub- 
 fervient to his grand effect ; as the able 
 mufician will often dare to introduce 
 notes foreign to his key, and even from 
 apparent difcord derive exquifite har- 
 mony. But thefe great effects of har- 
 mony are only to be produced by the 
 magic of colours. The harmony of a 
 print is a more fimple production : and 
 yet unlefs a print be harmonized by the 
 fame tone of Jhadow, if I may fo exprefs 
 myfelf, there will always -appear a great 
 deficiency in it. By the fame tone of 
 Jhadow, I mean not only the fame man- 
 ner of execution, but an uniform de- 
 gree of flrength. We often meet with 
 hard touches in a print, which, {land- 
 ing 
 
C 19 1 
 
 ing alone, are unharmonious ; but when 
 every contiguous part is touched up to 
 that tone, the effect is harmony. — Keep- 
 ing then proportions a proper degree of 
 ftrength to the near and diftant parts, 
 in refpect to each other. Harmony goes 
 a ftep farther, and keeps each part 
 quiet, with refpect to itfelf, and the 
 whole, I mail only add, that in (ketch- 
 es, and rough etchings no harmony is 
 expected : it is enough, if keeping be 
 obferved. Harmony is looked for only 
 in finifhed compofitions. If you would 
 fee the want of it in the ftrongeft light, 
 examine a worn-print, harfhly retouch- 
 ed by fome bungler. 
 
 The laft thing, which contributes to 
 
 produce a whole, is a proper diftribution 
 
 of light. This, in a print efpecially, is 
 
 C 2 moft 
 
[ ao ] 
 
 moft eflfential. An harmony in the co- 
 louring may, in fome meafure, fupply 
 its place in painting ; but a print has 
 no fuccedaneum. Were the dejign, dif- 
 fofition, and keeping ever fo perfect, 
 beautiful, and juft, without this effen- 
 tial, inftead of a whole, we fhould have 
 only a piece of patch-work. Nay, fuch 
 is the power of light, that by an arti- 
 ficial management of it we may even 
 harmonize a bad difpofition. 
 
 The general rule, which regards the 
 diftribution of light, is, that it mould 
 be fpread in large majfes. This gives 
 the idea of a whole. Every grand ob- 
 ject catches the light only upon one 
 large furface. Where the light is in 
 fpots, we have the idea of feveral ob- 
 jects j or at leaft of an incoherent one, 
 if the object be fingle j which the eye 
 
 furveys 
 
t 2' ] 
 
 furveys with difficulty. It is thus in 
 painting. When we fee, upon a com- 
 frehenfive view, large majfes of light and 
 made, we have, of courfe, the idea of 
 a whole — of unity in that picture. But 
 where the light is fcattered, we have the 
 idea of feveral objects, or at leaft of 
 one broken and confufed. Titian's 
 .known illuftration of this point by a 
 bunch of grapes is beautiful, and ex- 
 planatory. When the light falls upon 
 the whole bunch together (.one fide being 
 illumined, and the other dark) we have 
 •the reprefentation of thofe large mafTes, 
 which conftitute a whole. But when the 
 grapes are ftripped from the bunch, and 
 fcattered upon a table (the light mining 
 upon each feparately) a whole is no 
 longer preferved. 
 
 ,C 3 Having 
 
[ M ] 
 
 Having thus confidered thofe effen- 
 tials of a print, which produce a whole, 
 it remains to confider thofe, which re- 
 late to the parts — drawings expreffwn, 
 grace, and perfpeclive. With regard to 
 thefe, let it be firft obferved, that, in 
 order, they are inferior to the other. 
 The production of a inhale is the great 
 effect, that fhould be aimed at in a pic- 
 ture : a picture without a whole is pro- 
 perly only a ftudy : and thofe things, 
 which produce a whole are of courfe the 
 principal foundation of beauty. So 
 thought the great mailer of compofi- 
 tion. With him no man was intitled 
 to the name of artifl, who could not 
 produce a whale. However exquifitely 
 he may finiih, he will flill be infelix ope- 
 ris fumma, quia ponere totum nefciet. 
 
 By 
 
t »J ] 
 
 By bowing we mean the exacrnefs of 
 •the out-line. Without a competent 
 knowledge of this there can be no jufi 
 reprefentation of nature. Every thing 
 will be diftorted, and one nave to the 
 the eye. Bad drawing therefore is that 
 dugufling object, which mm homines, non 
 Jit, non concejfere column*. 
 
 Drawing, however, may be very to- 
 lerable, though it fall fhort in a certain 
 degree, of ablblute perfection. The 
 defect will only be obferved by the moft 
 critical, and anatomical eye : and we 
 may venture to fay, that drawing is 
 ranked too high, when the niceties of it 
 are confidered in preference to thole el- 
 fentials, which conititute a whole. 
 
 Expteffiaa is the life and foul of paint- 
 ing. It implies a juft reprefentation 
 C 4 of 
 
[ u ] 
 
 of paj/ion, and of char after: of pajjion, 
 by exhibiting every emotion of the 
 mind, as outwardly difcovered by any 
 peculiarity of geflyre \ or the extenti- 
 on, and contraction of the features : of 
 character, by reprefenting the different 
 manners of men, as arifing from their 
 particular tempers, or profemons. The 
 cartoons are full of examples of the firft 
 kind of exprejfwn y and with regard to 
 the fecond, commonly called manners- 
 painting, it would be invidious not to 
 mention our countryman Hogarth; 
 whofe works contain a variety of cha- 
 racters, represented with more force, than 
 molt men can conceive them. 
 
 Grace confifts in fuch a difpofition of 
 the parts of a figure, as forms it into 
 an agreeable attitude. It depends on con- 
 tract 
 
[ 25 ] 
 
 trajt and eafe. Contraji, when applied to 
 a fingle figure, means the fame, as when 
 applied to a group ; the oppofition of 
 one part to another, k may be confidered 
 with reference to the body, the limbs, and 
 the head; the graceful attitude arifing 
 fometimes from a contrafl in one, fome- 
 times in another, and fometimes in all. 
 With reference to the body, contraft 
 confifts in giving it an eafy turn, oppo- 
 fing concave parts to convex. Of this, 
 St. Paul in the facrifice at Lyftra is an 
 inftance. — With reference to the limbs, 
 it confifts in the oppofition between ex- 
 tention and contraction. Michael An- 
 gelo's ill -duration by a triangle, or py- 
 ramid, may here likewife again be in- 
 troduced ; this form giving grace and 
 beauty to a Jingle figure, as well as to a 
 group. Only here a greater liberty may 
 be allowed. In grouping, the triangle 
 
 mould, 
 
[ 26 ] 
 
 fhould, I think, always reft upon its 
 bafe; but in a fmgle figure, it may 
 be inverted, and Hand upon its apex. 
 Thus if the lower parts of the figure 
 be extended, the upper parts mould be 
 contracted •, but the fame beautiful 
 form is given by extending the arms, 
 and drawing the feet to a point. — Laft- 
 ly, contrail often arifes from the air of 
 the head ; which is given by a turn of 
 the neck from the line of the body. 
 The cartoons abound with examples of 
 this fpecies of grace. It is very remark- 
 able in the figure of St. John healing 
 the cripple •, and the fame cartoon af- 
 fords eight or nine more inftances. I 
 fay the lefs on this fubjedt, as it hath 
 been fo well explained by the ingenoius 
 author of the Analyjis of Beauty. 
 
 Thus 
 
[ 27 3 
 
 Thus contraji is the foundation of 
 grace ; but it muft ever be remembred, 
 that contraft fhould be accompanied with 
 eafe. The body mould be turned, not 
 twified j every confirained pofture avoid- 
 ed ; and every motion fuch, as nature, 
 which loves eafe, would dictate. 
 
 What hath been faid on this head re- 
 lates equally to all figures ; thofe drawn 
 from low, as well as thofe from high 
 life. And here we may diftinguifh be- 
 tween pfturefque grace, and that grace 
 which arifes from dignity of character. 
 Of the former kind, which is the kind 
 here treated of, all figures mould par- 
 take : you find it in Berghem's clowns, 
 and in Callot's beggars : but it be- 
 longs to exprejfion to mark thofe charac- 
 terises, which diftinguim the latter. 
 
 I 
 
[ 28 ] 
 
 I fhall only obferve farther, that when 
 the piece confifls of many figures, the 
 contrail of each Jingle figure fhould be 
 fubordinate to the contrail of the whole. 
 It will be improper therefore, in many 
 cafes, to practife the rules, which have 
 been jufl laid down. They ought, how- 
 ever, to be a general direction to the 
 painter ; and at leafl to be obferved in 
 the principal figures. — If a Jingle figure 
 be introduced, as in portrait, the pyra- 
 midal form cannot well be difpenfed 
 with. The figure partakes then of the 
 nature of a group. 
 
 PerfpetUve is that proportion, with 
 regard to Jize, which near and diflant 
 objects, with their parts, bear to each 
 other. It anfwers to keeping : one gives 
 
 the 
 
[ 29 I 
 
 the out-line ; and the other fills it up. 
 Without a competent knowledge of per- 
 fpeftive very abfurd things would be in- 
 troduced : and yet to make a vain mew 
 
 of it, is pedantic. Under this head 
 
 may be reduced fore-Jhortning. Unlefs 
 this be done with the utmoft art, it were 
 better omitted : it will otherwife occa- 
 fion great aukwardnefs. Rubens is fa- 
 mous for fore-Jhortning-, but the effect 
 is chiefly feen in his paintings ; feldom 
 in his prints. 
 
 To this fummary of the rules, which 
 relate to the whole of a picture, and to 
 its parts^ I mall juft add a few obferva- 
 tions upon execution \ which relates e- 
 qually to both. 
 
 By 
 
C 3° ] 
 
 By execution is meant that manner of 
 working, by which each artifl produces 
 his effect. Artiils may differ in their exe- 
 cution or m-anner, and yet all excel. C al- 
 lot, for inftance, ufes a ftrong, firm 
 ftroke; Salvator, a flight, and loofe 
 one; while Rembrandt executes in a 
 manner different from them both, by 
 fcratches feemingly at random. 
 
 Every artiil is in fome degree a man- 
 nerift : that is, he executes in a manner 
 peculiar to himfelf. But the word man- 
 nerijl has generally a clofer fenfe. Na- 
 ture mould be the flandard of imita- 
 tion •, and ever)- object mould be exe- 
 cu :td, as nearly as poffible, in her 
 manner. Thus Salvator's figures, 
 Du Jardin's animals, and Waterlo's 
 landikips, are all ftrongly impreffed 
 with the character of nature. Other 
 
 mafters 
 
C 3' ] 
 
 matters again, deviating from this (ban- 
 dard, inftead of nature, have recourie 
 only to their own ideas. They have 
 gotten a general idea of a man, a horie, 
 or a tree -, and to thefe ideas they ap- 
 ply upon all occaQons. Inftead there- 
 fore of repreienting that endleis variety, 
 which nature exhibits on every fubject, 
 a famenefs runs through all their per- 
 formances. Ever,' figure, and every 
 tree bears the fame damp. Such artiib 
 are properly called ;;;.;: .:-■'./;, Tzmpist, 
 Callot, and Testa are all mcnmrifis 
 of this kind. Their ideas are plainly 
 no copies from nature. P: villi's land- 
 fkips too are mere tranfcripts of imagi- 
 nation, — The artift, however, who co- 
 pies nature, if he make a bad choice (as 
 Rembrandt often did is lefs agreable 
 than the k.:kk:t:j}, who gives us his 
 
[ 3* J 
 
 own elevated ideas, touched with fpirit 
 and character, tho not with exact truth. 
 He is the true artift, who copies nature ; 
 but, where he finds her mean, elevates 
 her from his own ideas of beauty. Such 
 was Salvator. 
 
 By the fpirit and freedom of execution, 
 we mean fomething, which it is difficult 
 to explain. A certain heavinefs always 
 follows, when the artift is not fure of 
 his ftroke, and cannot execute his idea 
 with precifion. The reverfe is the cafe, 
 when he is certain of it, and gives it 
 boldly. I know not how to explain bet- 
 ter what is meant by fpirit. Mere free- 
 dom a quick execution will give ; but 
 unlefs that freedom be attended with pre- 
 cifion, the ftroke, however free, will 
 be fo unmeaning as to lofe its effect. 
 
 To 
 
[ 33 ] 
 
 To thefe obfervations, it may not 
 be improper to add a fhort comparative 
 view of the peculiar excellencies of pic- 
 tures, and prints, which will fhew us 
 in what points the picture has the advan- 
 tage. 
 
 In defign and compofition the effects of 
 both are equal. The print exhibits them 
 with as much force and meaning as the 
 picture. 
 
 In keeping the picture has the advan- 
 tage. The hazinefs of diitance cannot 
 well be expreffed by any thing but the 
 hue of nature, which the pencil is very 
 able to give. The print endeavours to 
 preferve this hazinefs ; and to give the 
 idea : but does it imperfectly. It does 
 little more than aid the memory. We 
 D know 
 
[ 34 ] 
 
 know the appearance exifts in nature : 
 and the print furnifhes an hint to recoi- 
 led it. 
 
 In the diftribution of light the compa- 
 rifon runs very wide. Here the painter 
 avails himfelf of a thoufand varied tints, 
 which aflift him in this bufinefs; and 
 by which he can harmonize his grada- 
 tions from light to made with an almoft 
 infinite variety. An harmonious colour- 
 ing has in itfelf indeed the effect of a 
 proper diftribution of light. The en- 
 graver, in the mean time, is left to 
 work out his effect with two materials 
 only, plain white and black. — In the 
 print, however, you can more eafily 
 trace the principles of light and made. 
 The pencil is the implement of decep- 
 tion j and it requires the eye of a mat- 
 ter 
 
[ 35 ] 
 
 ter to diftinguifh between the effect of 
 
 light, and the effect of colour : but in 
 
 the print, even the unpractifed eye can 
 
 readily catch the mafs ; and follow the 
 
 diflribution of it through all its variety 
 
 of middle tints. — One thing more may 
 
 be added on this head : If the picture 
 
 have no harmony in its colouring, the 
 
 tints being all at difcord among them- 
 
 felves, which is often the cafe in the 
 
 ■ works even of reputable painters, a 
 
 I good print, from fuch a picture, is more 
 
 i beautiful than the picture itfelf. It pre- 
 
 i ferves what is valuable, (upon a fuppo- 
 
 ! fition there is any thing valuable in it) 
 
 I and removes what is offensive. 
 
 Thus the comparifon runs with re- 
 gard to thofe effentials, which relate to 
 a whole: with regard to drawing, ex- 
 
 prejfion, 
 
[ 36 1 
 
 prejfion, grace, and perfpetlive, we can 
 purfue it only in the two former: in the 
 two latter, the picture and the print 
 leem to have equal advantages. — With 
 regard to perfpeclive indeed, the lines of 
 the print verging all to one point, may 
 mark the principles of it more ftrongly. 
 
 Drawing, in a picture, is effected by 
 the contiguity of two different co- 
 lours : in a print by a pofitive line. In? 
 the picture, therefore, drawing has more 
 of nature in it, and more of effect : but 
 the ftudent in anatomy finds more pre- 
 cifion in the print •, and can more eafily 
 trace the line, and follow it in all its 
 windings through light and made. — In 
 mezzotinto indeed the comparifon fails -, 
 in which fpecies of prints, drawing is 
 t fleeted nearly as it is in painting. 
 
 With 
 
[ 37 ] 
 
 With regard to expreffion, the painter 
 glories in his many advantages. The 
 paflions receive their force almoft as 
 much from colour, as from the emotion 
 of feature. Nay lines, without colour, 
 have frequently an effect very oppofite 
 to what is intended. Violent exprefiions, 
 when lineal only, are often grotefque. 
 The complexion mould fupport the dif- 
 tortion. The bloated eyes of immode- 
 rate grief degenerate into coarfe fea- 
 tures, unlefs the pencil add thofe high- 
 blown touches, which mark the paffion. 
 Afk the engraver, why he could not 
 give the dying faint of Dominichino 
 his true exprefTion ?* Why he gave him 
 that ghaftly horrour, inftead of the fe- 
 rene langour of the original ? The en- 
 
 * Jac Freii's copy of Dominichino's St. Jerome 
 
 graver 
 
[ 3« ] 
 
 graver may with juftice fay, he went as 
 far as lines could go-, but he wanted 
 Dominichino's pencil to give thofe pal- 
 lid touches, which alone could make 
 his lines expreffive. — Age alfo, and fex, 
 the bloom of youth, and the wan cheek 
 of ficknefs, are equally indebted, in re? 
 prefentatibn, for their moft charadterif- 
 tic marks, to the pencil. — In portrait, 
 the different hues of hair, and com- 
 plexion j— in animal-life the various dies 
 of furs, and plumage ; — in land/kip, the 
 peculiar tints of feafons ; of morning, 
 and evening ; the light azure of a fum- 
 mer-fky; the fultry glow of noon; 
 the bluifh, or purple tinge, which the 
 mountain affumes, as it recedes, or ap- 
 proaches •, the grey mofs upo.n the ruin ; 
 the variegated greens, and mellow 
 browns of foliage, and broken ground : 
 
 in 
 
C 39 ] 
 
 in fhort, the colours of .every part of 
 nature, have all amazing force in 
 ilrengthening the exprefTion of objects. 
 -—In the room of all this, the deficient 
 print has only to offer mere form, and 
 the gradations of fimple light, Hence 
 the fweet touches of the pencil of 
 Claude, mark his pictures with the 
 ftrongeft expreifions of nature, and ren- 
 der them invaluable ; while his prints 
 are generally the dirty fhapes of fome- 
 thing, which he could not exprefs. 
 
 The idea alfo of diftant magnitude, 
 the print gives only very imperfectly. 
 It is expreffed chiefly by colour. Air, 
 which is naturally blue, is the medium 
 through which we fee; and every object 
 participates of this bluenefs. When 
 the diftance is fmall, the tinge is im- 
 perceptible i 
 
C 40 ] 
 
 perceptible : as it increafes, the tinge 
 grows flronger ; and when the object is 
 very remote, it entirely lofes its natural 
 colour, and becomes blue. And indeed, 
 this is fo familiar a criterion of diftance, 
 at leaft with thofe who live in moun- 
 tainous countries, that if the object be 
 vifible at all, after it has received the 
 full ether-tinge, if I may fo fpeak, the 
 fight immediately judges it to be very 
 large. The eye ranging over the plains 
 of Egypt, and catching the blue point 
 of a pyramid, from the colour concludes 
 the diftance j and is ftruck with the 
 magnitude of an object, which, through 
 fuch a fpace, can exhibit form. — Here 
 the print fails : this criterion of diftant 
 magnitude, it is unable to give. 
 
 I cannot 
 
[ 4i ] 
 
 I cannot forbear inferring here a fhcrt 
 crkicifm on a pafTage in Virgil. The 
 poet defcribing a tower retiring from a 
 veiTel in full fail, fays, 
 
 Protinus aerias Phaeacum abfcondimus arces- 
 
 Ru^eus, and other commentators, ex- 
 plain aerias by abas, or feme equiva- 
 lent word ; which is magnifying an idea 
 which in nature mould be diminimed. 
 The idea of magnitude is certainly not 
 the flriking idea that arifes from a retir- 
 ing object : I mould rather imagine that 
 Virgil, who was of all poets perhaps 
 the moil picturefque, meant to give us 
 an idea of colour, rather than of ihape; 
 and that the tower, from its diftance, 
 had affumed the aerial tinsre. 
 
 'c v 
 
 The print equally fails, when the me- 
 dium itfelf receives a foreign tinge from 
 
 a ftrenCTth 
 
[ 42 ] 
 
 a ftrength of colour behind it The 
 idea of horrour, imprefTed by an expanfe 
 of air glowing, in the night, with dis- 
 tant fire, cannot be raifed by black and 
 white, Vandervelde has contrived to 
 give us a good idea of the dreadful glare 
 of a fleet in flames : but it were ridicu- 
 lous for an engraver to attempt fuch a 
 fubjec~t ; becaufe he cannot exprefs that 
 idea, which principally illultrates his 
 itory. 
 
 Tranjparency is another thing, which 
 the print is very unable to exprefs. It 
 is the united tinge of two colours, one 
 behind the other, each of which, in 
 part, difcovers itfelf fingly. If you em- 
 ploy one colour only, you have the idea 
 of opaquenefs. A fine carnation is a 
 white tranfparent fkin, fpread over a 
 
 multitude 
 
[ 43 ] 
 
 multitude of fmall blood veffels, which 
 blufh through it. When the breath de- 
 parts, thefe little fountains of life flow 
 no longer •, the bloom fades ; and livid 
 palenefs, the colour of death, fucceeds. 
 i — The happy pencil can mark both 
 
 I thefe effects. It can Ipread the glow of 
 health over the cheek of beauty ; and 
 it can with equal facility exprefs the 
 
 J cold, wan tint of human clay. The 
 print can exprefs neither ; reprefenting, 
 in the fame dry manner, the bright 
 tranfparency of the one, and the inert 
 opaquenefs of the other. 
 
 Laftly, the print fails in the expref. 
 fion of polijhed bodies -, which are indebt- 
 ed for their chief luftre to reflected colours. 
 The print indeed goes farther here, than 
 jn the cafe of tranfparency. In this it 
 
 cat& 
 
[ 44 ] 
 
 can do very little: in polijhed bodies, it 
 can at leaft give reflefted Jbapes. It can 
 fhew the forms of hanging woods upon 
 the edges of the lake ; tho unable to 
 give the kindred tinge. But* in many 
 cafes the folijhed body receives the tinge, 
 without the Jhape. Here the engraver 
 is wholly deficient : he knows not how 
 to ftain the gleaming filver with the 
 purple liquor it contains ; nor is he able 
 to give the hero's armour its higheft 
 polilh from the tinge of the crimfon 
 veil, which covers it. 
 
 A fingle word upon the fubjecl of 
 execution, mall conclude thefe remarks. 
 Here the advantage lies wholly on the 
 fide of painting. That manner which 
 can belt give the idea of the furface of 
 an object, is the belt -, and the lines of 
 
 the 
 
[ 45 ] 
 
 the fineft engraving are harm in compa- 
 nion of the fmooth flow of the pencil. 
 Mezzotinto, tho deficient in fome re- 
 peels, is certainly in others the happieU 
 manner of execution ; and the ancient 
 wooden print, in which the middle tint 
 is ufed, is undoubtedly, in point of exe- 
 cution, beyond either etching or engrav- 
 
 CHAP. 
 
[ 47 ] 
 
 ^ # £^ £^^£S- £^*£S~ ^*£^ 
 
 -^*^Hr i^*^r i*^*^r i^*^ 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 Obferoations en the different Kinds cf 
 Prints. 
 
 r I ' Here are three kinds of prints, 
 engravings, etchings, zndmezzotin- 
 tos. The characteriftic of the firft is 
 firengtb ; of the iecond freedom ; and of 
 the third, fcftnefs. All thefe, however, 
 may in fome degree be found in each. 
 
 From 
 
[ 4S ] 
 
 From the fhape of the engraver's 
 tool, each itroke is an angular incifion ; 
 ■which form mull of courie give the line 
 ftrength, and firmneis, if it be not ve- 
 ry tender. From iuch a line alio, as it 
 is a deliberate one, correctnefs may be 
 expected ; but no great freedom : for it 
 is a laboured line, ploughed through 
 the metal, and mufi neceflarily, in a de- 
 gree, want eale. 
 
 Unlimited freedom, on the other hand, 
 is the charadteriiric of etching. The 
 needle, gliding along the furface of the 
 copper, meets no refiflance, and eafily 
 takes any turn the hand pleafes to give 
 it. Etching indeed is mere drawing: 
 and may be practifed. with the fame fa- 
 cility. — But as aqua-fortis bites in an 
 c\~ table manner, it cannot give the lines 
 
 that 
 
[ ^ ] 
 
 ; ftrength which they receive from 
 a po :r cutting into the cop- 
 
 per. Belides, it is difficult to prevent 
 .- the z'.i-.t .-'.'. ::■■:■■ -iii:e. T'r.t 
 Hfiant parts indeed may ealily be cover- 
 ed with wax, and the grand erect of 
 the keeping preferved - but to give each 
 fmaller part its proper relief, and to bar- 
 momze the whole, requires fo many dif- 
 ferent degrees of ftrength, mch eafjr 
 tranfitions from one into another, that 
 
 z-fortis alone is not equal to it- 
 Here, therefore, engraving hath the 
 advantage, which by a ftroke, deep : i 
 tender, at the artifV's pleafure, can vary 
 ftrength and faintnefs in any degree. 
 
 As engraving, therefore, and etching 
 have their respective advantages, and 
 
 deficiencies, :.;::::? h.v.'e enhcr.'cvrfh to 
 E unite 
 
[ 50 J 
 
 unite their powers, and to correct the 
 faults of each, by joining the freedom of 
 the one, with the Jlrength of the other. 
 In moft of our modern prints, the plate 
 is firft etched, and afterwards ftrength- 
 ened, and finiihed by the graver. And 
 when this is well done, it has a happy 
 effect. That flatnefs, which is the con- 
 fequence of an equable ftrength of fhade,. 
 is taken off; and the print gains a new 
 effect by the relief given to thofe parts 
 which hang (in the painter's language) 
 upon the parts behind them.. — But great 
 art is neceffary in this bufinefs. We fee 
 many a print, which wanted only a few 
 touches, when it appeared in its etched 
 proof, receive afterwards fo many, as to 
 become laboured, heavy and difguftful. 
 
 Ic 
 
I 5i ] 
 
 It is a rare thing to meet with a print 
 entirely engraved, and free from ftiff* 
 nefs. A celebrated mafter of our own 
 indeed hath found the art of giving free- 
 dom to the ftroke of a graver •, and hath 
 difplayed great force of execution upon 
 works by no means worthy of him : as 
 if he were determined to fhew the world 
 he could ftamp a value upon any thing. 
 — But fuch artifts are rarely found. 
 Mere engravers, in general, are little 
 better than mere mechanics. 
 
 In etching, we have a greater variety 
 of excellent prints. The cafe is, it is 
 fo much the fame as drawing, that we 
 have the very works themfelves of the 
 moil celebrated matters -, many of whom 
 have left behind them prints in this 
 way ; which, however flight and incor- 
 E 2 recl: ? 
 
reel:, will always have fomething mafier- 
 ly y and of courfe beautiful in them. 
 
 In the mufcling of human figures, 
 of any confiderable fize, engraving hath 
 undoubtedly the advantage of etching. 
 The foft and delicate tranfitions, from 
 light to made, which are there requir- 
 ed, cannot be fo well exprefied by the 
 needle: and, in general, large prints re T 
 ,quire a ftrength which etching cannot 
 give, and are therefore fit objects of em- 
 graving. 
 
 Etching, on the other hand, is mors 
 particularly adapted to fketches, and 
 .flight defigns ; which, if executed by 
 an engraver, would entirely lofe their 
 freedom; and with it their beauty. 
 Landlkip too, in general, is the objed of 
 
 etching. 
 
[ 53 ] 
 
 etching. The foliage of trees, ruins, fky, 
 and indeed every part of landfkip re- 
 quires the utmoft freedom. In finiihing- 
 an etched landfkip with the tool (as it is : 
 called) too much care cannot be taken- 
 to prevent heavinefs. We remarked be- : 
 fore the nicety of touching upon an etch- 
 ed plate -, but in landfkip the bufmefs is 
 peculiarly delicate. The fore-grounds' 
 may require a few flrong touches, and 
 the boles of fuch trees as are placed up- 
 on them -, and here and there a few har- 
 monizing ftrokes will add to the effect £ 
 but if the engraver venture much far- 
 ther, he has good luck is he do no mif- 
 chief. We have an artift indeed, in land- 
 fkip, who may be fafely trufted with a 
 graver; who can finifh in- the highefl 
 manner, and yet frill preferve a freedom. 
 
 w - - - An 
 
[ 54 ] 
 
 An engraved plate, unlefs it be cut ve- 
 ry flightly, will caft offfeven or eight 
 hundred good imprefiions : and yet this 
 depends, in fome degree, upon the hard- 
 nefs of the copper. An etched plate will 
 not give above two hundred •, unlefs it 
 be eaten very deep, and then it may per- 
 haps give three hundred. After that, 
 the plate mull be retouched, or the im-- 
 preflions will be faint, 
 
 Befides the common method of en- 
 graving on copper, we have prints en- 
 graved on pewter, and on wood. The 
 pewter plate gives a coarfenefs and dirti- 
 nefs to the print, which is difagreable. 
 But engraving upon wood is capable of 
 great beauty. Of this fpecies of engrav- 
 ing more fhall elfewhere be faid. 
 
 Mez- 
 
[ 55 I 
 
 Mezzotinto is very different from ei- 
 ther engraving or etching. In thefe, you 
 make the Jhades-, in mezzotinto, the lights. 
 
 Since the time of its invention by 
 Prince Rupert, as is commonly fup- 
 pofed, the art of fcraping mezzotintos is 
 greatly more improved than either of its 
 filter-arts. Some of the earliefl etchings 
 :are perhaps the bell; and engraving, 
 Since the times of Goltzius and Mul- 
 •ler, hath not perhaps made any very 
 : great advances. But mezzotinto, com- 
 pared with its original ftate, is, at this 
 day, almofl a new art. If we examine 
 fome of the modern pieces of workman- 
 fhip in this way, the Jewijh Rabbi, the 
 portrait of Mrs. Lascelles, with a child 
 on her knee, Mr. Garrick between Tra- 
 gedy and Comedy, and feveral other prints 
 equally good, by our bell mezzotinto- 
 
 fcrapers, 
 
r 56 1 
 
 fcrapers, they almoft as much exceed the 
 works of White and SiMitk -, as thofe 
 mailers did Becket and Simons. It 
 mull be owned, at the fame time, they 
 have better originals to copy. Knel- 
 ler's portraits are very paultry, com- 
 pared with thofe of our modern artifts ; 
 and are fcarce fufceptible of any effects 
 of light and made. As to Prince Ru- 
 pert's works, I never faw any, which 
 were certainly known to be his ; but I 
 make no doubt they were executed in 
 the fame black, harfh, difagreable man- 
 ner, which appears fo ilrong in the maf- 
 ters who fucceeded. The invention 
 however was noble ; and the early maf- 
 ters have the credit of it: but the truth 
 is, the ingenious mechanic hath been 
 called in to the painter's aid, and hath 
 invented a manner of laying ground, whol? 
 
 iy 
 
[ 57 1 
 Iv unknown to the earlier mailers : and 
 they who are acquainted with mezzotin- 
 to, know the ground to be a very cap::al 
 confideration. 
 
 The characterise of mezzotint o \sfaft- 
 tiefs^ which adapts it chiefly to portrait, 
 or hiflory, with a few figures, and theie 
 not too imail. Nothing, except paint, 
 can exprefs flefh more naturally, or the 
 flowing of hair, : :. : rolds of drapery, 
 or the catching lights of armour. In 
 engraving and etching we ~uft get over 
 the prejudices of crois lines, which exift 
 on no natural bodies : but mezzotinto 
 gives us the ffcrongeft reprefentadon of a 
 furface. If, however, the figures are 
 too crowded, it wants ftrength to detach 
 the feveral parts with a proper relic:: 
 and if they are very liriall, it wants pre- 
 rhicb can Mily be green by art 
 
E 58 ] 
 
 Outline ♦, or, as in painting, by a diffe- 
 rent tint. The unevennefs of the ground 
 •will occasion bad drawing, and aukward- 
 nefs — in the extremities efpecially. Some 
 inferior artifls have endeavoured to re- 
 medy this by terminating their figures 
 with an engraved, or etched line: but 
 they have tried the experiment with bad 
 fuccefs. The ftrength of the line, and 
 the foftnefs of the ground, accord ill to- 
 gether. I fpeak not here of that judi- 
 cious mixture of etching and mezzotin- 
 io which was formerly ufed by White, 
 and which our bell mezzotinto-fcrapers 
 at prefent ufe, to give a ftrength to par- 
 ticular parts ; I fpeak only of a harm, 
 and injudicious lineal termination. 
 
 Mezzotinto excels each of the other 
 ipecies of prints in its capacity of receiv- 
 ing the moll beautiful effects of light 
 
 and 
 
iand iliade : as it can the moil happily 
 unite them by blending them together. 
 — Of this Rembrandt feems to have 
 been aware. He had probably feen fome 
 of the firft mezzotintos •, and admiring 
 the effect, endeavoured to produce it 
 in etching by a variety of interfering 
 Scratches. 
 
 You cannot well call off more than 
 an hundred good impreffions from a 
 mezzotinto plate. The rubbing of the 
 hand foon wears it fmooth. And yet by 
 confcantly repairing it, it may be made 
 to give four or five hundred with tolera- 
 ble ftrength. The firft impremons are 
 not always the belt. They are too black 
 and harm. You will commonly have 
 the beft impre/Tions from the fortieth to 
 the fixtieth : the harih edges will be fof- 
 
 tened 
 
i 6° J 
 tcned down ; and yet there will be fpirit) 
 and ftrength enough left. 
 
 I fhould not conclude thefe obferva- 
 tions, without mentioning the manner 
 of working with the dry needle, as it is 
 called; a manner between etching and 
 engraving. It is performed by cutting 
 the copper with a fteel point, holden 
 like a pencil ; and differs from etching 
 only in the force with which you work. 
 This method is ufed by all engravers in 
 their fkies, and other tender parts ; and 
 fome of them carry it into Hill more ge- 
 neral ufe. 
 
 CHAP. 
 
[ 6i 3 
 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 Cbarafters of the mofl noted Mafters. 
 
 Masters in History. 
 
 A Lbert Durer, tho not the inven- 
 
 tor, was one of the firft improvers 
 
 of the art of engraving;. He was a Ger- 
 es & 
 
 man p'ainter, and at the fame time a 
 man of letters, and a philofopher. It 
 may be added in his praife that he was 
 an intimate friend of the great Erafmus ; 
 
 wh@ 
 
\ 6i 3 
 
 who revifed, it is fuppofed, fome of the 
 pieces which he publifhed. He was a 
 man of bufinefs alfo, and for many years 
 the leading magiftrate of Nuremburg. — 
 His prints, confidered as the firfl efforts 
 of a new art, have great merit. Nay, 
 we may add, that it is aftoniihing to fee 
 a new art, in its firft effay, carried to 
 fuch a length. In fome of thofe prints, 
 which he executed on copper, the en- 
 graving is elegant to a great degree. His 
 Hell-fcene particularly, which was en- 
 graved in the year 151 3, is as high fi- 
 nifhed a print as ever was engraved, and 
 as happily finifhed. The labour he has 
 bellowed upon it, has its full effect. In 
 his wooden prints too we are furprifed 
 to fee fo much meaning in fo early a 
 mafter j the heads fo well marked ; and 
 every part fo well executed.-^This artift 
 
 feems 
 
C % J 
 
 feems to have underftood the principles 
 of defign. His compofition too is often 
 pleafmg ; and his drawing generally 
 good : but he knows very little of the 
 management of light ; and frill lefs of 
 grace : and yet his ideas are purer, and 
 more elegant, than we could have fup- 
 pofed from the aukward archetypes, 
 which his country and education afford- 
 ed. In a word, he was certainly a man 
 of a very extenfive genius •, and, as Va~ 
 fari remarks, would have been an extra- 
 ordinary artift, if he had had an Italian* 
 inftead of a German education. His 
 prints are very numerous. They were 
 much admired in his own life-time, and 
 eagerly bought up ; which put his wife, 
 who was a teizing woman, upon urging 
 him to fpend more time upon en- 
 graving, than he was inclined to do. 
 
 He 
 
[ <H I 
 
 He was rich, and chofe rather to prao 
 tile his art as an amufement, than as a 
 bufinefs* He died in the year -1527. 
 
 The immediate fucceffors, and imita- 
 tors of Albert Durer, were Lucas 
 •van Leiden, Aldgrave, Pens, His- 
 ben, and ibme others of lefs note. Their 
 works are very much in their mafter's 
 ftyle-, and were the admiration of an age 
 which had feen nothing better. The 
 beft of Aldgrave's works are two or 
 three fmall pieces of the ilory of Lot. 
 
 Goltzius flourifhed a little after the 
 death of thefe matters •, and carried en- 
 graving to a great height. He was a 
 native of Germany, where he learned 
 his art-, but travelling afterwards into 
 Italy, he there improved his ideas. You 
 
 plainly 
 
[ 65 ] 
 
 plainly difcover in him a mixture of 
 the Flemifh and Italian fchools, His 
 forms have fometimes a degree of ele- 
 gance in them; but, in general the 
 Dutch mafter predominates. Goltzius 
 is often happy in defign and difpqfition ; 
 and fails moll in the dijtribution of light. 
 But his chief excellence lies in execution. 
 He engraves in a noble, firm, expreffive 
 manner, which hath fcarce been excelled 
 by any fucceeding matters. There is a 
 variety too in his execution, which is 
 very pleafing. His print of the circum- 
 cifion is one of the belt of his works. 
 The ftory is well told, the groups agree- 
 ably difpofed ; and the execution admi- 
 rable : but the figures are Dutch ; and 
 the whole, through the want of a proper 
 diftribution of fhade, is only a glaring 
 mafs, 
 
 F Muller 
 
[ (•& ] 
 
 Muller engraved very much in the 
 ftyle of Goltzius-, and yet in a ftill 
 bolder, and firmer manner. We have 
 no where greater mafter-pieces in execu- 
 tion, than the works of this artift exhi- 
 bit. The baptifm of John is perhaps the 
 molt beautiful fpecimen of bold engrav- 
 ing, that is extant. 
 
 Abraham Bloemart was a Dutch 
 mafter alfo, and contemporary with 
 Goltzius. We are not informed what 
 particular means of improvement he had ; 
 but it is certain he defigned in a more 
 elegant tafte, than any of his country- 
 men. His figures are often graceful; 
 excepting only, that he gives them fome- 
 times an affected twill; which is ftill more 
 confpicuous in the fingers : an affectation 
 which we fometimes alfo find in the 
 
 prints 
 
t 67 ] 
 
 prints of Goltzius. — The refurreftion of 
 Lazarus is one of Bloemart's mafter- 
 pieces ; in which are many faults, and 
 many beauties ; both very characteriftic. 
 
 While the Dutch mailers were thus 
 carrying the art of engraving to fo great 
 a height, it was introduced into Italy by 
 Andrea Mantegna -, to whom the 
 Italians afcribe the invention of it. The 
 paintings of this matter abound in noble 
 paflages, but are formal and difagreeable. 
 We have a fpecimen of them at Hampr- 
 ton-Court in the triumph of Julius 
 C^sar. — His prints, which are faid to 
 have been engraved on tin plates, are 
 tranfcripts from the fame ideas. We fee 
 in them the chafte, correct out-line, and 
 noble fimplicity of the Roman fchool : 
 but we are to expeft nothing more; 
 F 2 not 
 
[ 68 ] 
 
 not the leaft attempt towards an agreea- 
 ble whole. — And indeed, we fhall per- 
 haps find, in general, that the matters of 
 the Roman fchool were more ftudious 
 of thofe eflentials of painting, which re- 
 gard the parts •, and the Flemiih mafters 
 of thofe, which regard the whole.. The 
 former therefore drew better figures - y the 
 latter made better piSures. 
 
 Mantegna was fucceeded by Par- 
 migiano and Palma, both mailers of 
 great reputation. Parmigiano having 
 formed the molt accurate tafte upon a 
 thorough ft^dy of the works of Raphael 
 and Michael Angelo, publifhed many 
 fingle figures, and fome defigns engra- 
 ved on wood, which abounded with e- 
 very kind of beauty ; if we may form 
 a judgment of them from the few 
 
 which 
 
[ 6 9 ] 
 
 Which' we fometimes meet with. Whe- 
 ther Parmigiano invented the art of 
 engraving upon wood, does not certainly 
 appear. His pretenfions to the inven- 
 tion of etching are lefs difputable. In 
 this way he publiihed many flight pieces, 
 which do him great credit. In the 
 midft of his labours, he was interrupted 
 by a knavifh engraver, who pillaged him 
 of all his plates. Unable to bear the 
 lofs, he forfwore his art, and abandon- 
 ed himfelf to chymifhy. 
 
 Palma was too much employed as a 
 painter to have much leifure for etching. 
 He hath left feveral prints, however, 
 behind him, which are remarkable for 
 the delicacy of the drawing, and the 
 freedom of the execution. He etches 
 in a loofe, but mafterly manner. His 
 
 prints 
 
[ 7° J 
 
 prints are fcarce ^ and indeed we feldom 
 meet with any that deferve more than 
 the name of fketches. 
 
 Francis Paria feems to have copied 
 the manner of Pal ma with great fuc- 
 cefs. But his prints are ftill fcarcer than 
 his mailer's •, nor have we a mfficient 
 number of them to enable us to form a 
 judgment of his merit. 
 
 But the great improver of the art of 
 engraving upon wood, and who at once 
 carried it to a degree of perfection, which 
 hath not fmce been exceeded, was Am-* 
 dre a Andre ani of Mantua. The works 
 of this mafter are remarkable for the 
 freedom, ftrength, and fpirit of the exe- 
 cution, the elegant corredmefs of the 
 drawing -, and in general for their effect^ 
 
 Few 
 
t 71 ] 
 
 Few prints come fo near the idea of 
 painting. They have a force, which a 
 pointed tool upon copper cannot reach ; 
 and the warn, of which the middle tint 
 is compofed, adds all the foftnefs of 
 •drawing. But the works of this mafter 
 are feldom feen in perfection. They are 
 fcarce; and when we do meet with 
 them, it is a chance if the impreffions 
 be good : and very much of the beauty 
 of thefe prints depends on the goodnefs 
 of the impreffion. For often the out- 
 line is left hard, the middle tint being 
 loft ; and fometimes the middle tint is 
 left without its proper termination. 
 
 Among the ancient Italian mafters, 
 we cannot omit Mark Antonio, and 
 Augustin of Venice. They are both 
 celebrated; and have handed down to 
 
 us 
 
[ 72 ] 
 
 us many engravings from the works of 
 Raphael : but their antiquity, not their 
 merit, feems to have recommended 
 them. Their execution is harin, and 
 formal to the lail degree •, and if their 
 prints give us any idea of the works of 
 Raphael, we may well wonder, as 
 Picart obferves, how that mailer got 
 his reputation. — But we cannot, perhaps, 
 in England, form an adequate idea of 
 thefe mailers. I have been told, their 
 bell works are fo much valued in Italy, 
 that they are engrolTed there by the cu- 
 rious ; that very few of them find their 
 way into other countries ; and that what 
 we have, are, in general, but the re- 
 
 Frederic Barocchi was born at 
 Urbirij where the genius of Raphael 
 
 inipired 
 
I 73 ] 
 infpired him. In his early youth he tra- 
 veled to Rome : and giving himfeif up 
 to intenie rtucly, he acquired a great 
 name in painting. At his leifure hours 
 he etched a few prints from his own de- 
 figns, which are highly finifhed, and ex- 
 ecuted with great ibftnefs and delicarv 
 The Salutation is his capital perfor- 
 mance ; of which We (eldom meet with 
 any impreiiions, but thole taken from 
 the retouched plate, which are very 
 i harih. 
 
 Anthony Tempest a was a native oz 
 Florence, but refided chiefly at Rome ; 
 where he was much employed as a pain- 
 ter by Gregory XIII. His prints 
 
 are very numerous : all from his own 
 
 defi^ns. Battles and huntings are the 
 
 eels in which he moft delighted. 
 
 His 
 
[ 74 ]' 
 
 His merit lies in expreflion, both in fea- 
 ture and action ; in the grandeur of his 
 ideas, and in the great fertility of his 
 imagination. His figures are often ele- 
 gant, and graceful; and his heads 
 marked with uncommon fpirit, and cor- 
 rectnefs. His horfes, tho flefhy and ill- 
 drawn, and evidently never copied from 
 nature, are, however, noble animals ; 
 and difplay an endlefs variety of beauti- 
 ful actions. — His imperfections, at the 
 fame time, are very glaring. His com- 
 pontion is generally bad. Here and there 
 you have a good group ; feldom an a- 
 greeable whole. He had not the art of 
 preferving his back-grounds tender •, fo 
 that we are not to expect any effect of 
 keeping, His execution is harm ; and 
 fie is totally ignorant of the diftribution 
 ©f light. — But notwithftanding all his 
 
 faults. 
 
[ 75 ] 
 
 faults, fuch is his merit, that, as ftudies 
 at leaft, his prints deferve a much higher 
 rank in the cabinets of connoifTeurs, than 
 they generally find : you can fcarce pick 
 out one of them, which does not furnifh 
 materials for an excellent compofition. 
 
 August in Carrache has left a few- 
 etchings, which are admired for the de- 
 licacy of the drawing, and the freedom 
 of the execution. But there is great 
 flatnefs in them, and want of ftrength. 
 Etchings, indeed, in this ftyle are rather 
 meant as fketches, than as finifhed 
 prints. 
 
 Guido's etchings, moil of which are 
 fmall, are efteemed for the fimplicity of 
 the defign; the elegance and correct- 
 nefs of the outline -, and that grace, for 
 
 which 
 
[ 7^ ] 
 
 which this mailer is remarkable. The 
 extremities of his figures are particular- 
 ly touched with great accuracy. But 
 we have the fame flatnefs in the works 
 of Guido, which we find in thofe of 
 his mafler Carrache, accompanied, at 
 the fame time, with lefs freedom. The 
 parts are finifhed; but the whole ne- 
 glected. 
 
 t> 
 
 Cantarini copied the manner of 
 Guido, as Paria did that of Pali^a ; 
 and fo happily, that it is often difficult 
 to diftinguifli the works of thele two 
 
 mailers. 
 
 Callot was little acquainted with 
 any of the grand principles of painting t 
 of compofition, and the management 
 ©£ light he was totally ignorant. But 
 
 tho 
 
[' 77 3 
 
 tho be could not make a picture, he 
 was admirably {killed in drawing a fi- 
 gure. His attitudes are generally grace- 
 ful, when they are not affected •, his ex- 
 preiTion ftrong; his drawing correct; 
 and his execution mafterly, tho rather 
 laboured. His Fair is a good epitome 
 of his works. Confidered as a whole, 
 it is a confufed jumble of ideas ; but 
 the parts, feparately examined, appear 
 the work of a mailer. The fame cha- 
 racter may be given of his moft famous 
 work, the Miferies of war ; in which 
 there is more expreffion, both in action 
 and feature, than was ever perhaps fhewn 
 in fo fmall a compafs. And yet I know 
 not whether his Beggars be not the more 
 capital performance. In the Miferies of 
 war, he aims at compofition, in which 
 he rarely fucceeds : His Beggars are de- 
 tached 
 
[ 7* ] 
 
 tached figures, in which lay his ftrength. 
 I have feen a very large work, by this 
 mailer, in two prints, each of them 
 near four feet fquare, reprefenting the 
 fiege of Toulon. They are rather in- 
 deed meant as perfpective plans, than 
 as pictures. The pains employed on 
 thele prints is aftonifhing. They con- 
 tain multitudes of figures-, and, in 
 miniature, reprefent all the humour, 
 
 and all the employment of a camp. 
 
 I fhall only add, that a vein of drollery 
 runs through all the deiigns of this maf- 
 ter ; which fometimes, when he chufes 
 to indulge it freely, as in the 'Temptation 
 cf St. Anthony, difplays itfelf in a ve- 
 ry facetious manner. 
 
 Count Gaude contracted a friend- 
 fhip at Rome with Adam Elshamer, 
 
 from 
 
[ 19 J 
 
 from whofe ddigns he engraved a few 
 prints. Gaude was a young nobleman 
 upon his travels ; and never practifed 
 engraving as a profeflion. This would 
 call for indulgence, if his prints had 
 lefs merit; but in their way they are 
 beautiful ; tho on the whole, formal, 
 and unpleafant. They are highly finiih- 
 ed, but void of all freedom. Moon- 
 lights, and torch-lights are the fubjects 
 he chiefly chufes ; and his great excel- 
 lence lies in preferving the effects of 
 thefe different lights. His prints are 
 generally fmalL I know only one, the 
 Flight into Egypt , of a larger fize. 
 
 Salvator Rosa painted landfkip 
 more than hiftory-, but his prints are 
 chiefly hiftorical. He was bred a pain- 
 ter j and perfectly underflood his art; 
 
L 8° ] 
 
 if we except only the management of light* 
 of which he feems to have been igno- 
 rant. The capital landfkip of this ma- 
 iler at Chifwick is a noble picture. The 
 contrivance, the compofkion, the dis- 
 tances, the figures, and all the parts and 
 apendages of it are fine : but in point of 
 light it might perhaps have been im- 
 proved, if the middle ground, where 
 the figures of the fecond diftance ftand, 
 had been thrown into iun-fhine. — In 
 defign, and generally in compofition,, Sal- 
 vator is very great. His figures, which 
 he drew in exquifite tafte, are graceful, 
 and nobly exprefllve, beautifully group- 
 ed, and varied into the molt agreable 
 attitudes. In the legs, it murt be own- 
 ed, he is a mannerift. They are well 
 drawn -, but all call in one mould. 
 There is a ftifFnefs too in the backs of 
 
 his 
 
t «i 3 
 
 his extended hands : the palgis are 
 beautiful. But thefe are trivial criti* 
 
 cifms. His manner is (light ; fo as 
 
 not to admit either foftnefs or effect: 
 yet the fimplicity and elegance of it are 
 wonderfully pleafing ; and bear that 
 ftrong characterise of a matter's hand, 
 
 fibi quivis fperet idem. One thing in 
 
 his manner of fhading, is difagreeable. 
 He will often (hade a face half over with 
 long lines •, which, in fo fmall and de- 
 licate an object, gives an unpleafant ab- 
 ruptnefs. It is treating a face like an 
 egg : no diftinction of feature is obferv- 
 ed. Salvator was a man of geni- 
 us, and of learning ; both which he has 
 found frequent opportunities of difplay- 
 ing in his works. His ftyle is grand -, 
 every object that he introduces is of the 
 heroic kind ; and his fubjects in gene- 
 G ral 
 
[ 82 ] 
 
 ral fhew an intimacy with ancient hif- 
 
 tory, and mythology. A roving dif- 
 
 pofition, to which he is faid to have 
 given a full fcope, feems to have added 
 a wildnefs to all his thoughts. We are 
 told, he fpent the early part of his life 
 in a troop of banditti : and that the 
 rocky and defolate fcenes, in which he 
 was accuilomed to take refuge, furnifh- 
 ed him with thofe romantic ideas in 
 landfkip, of which he is fo exceedingly 
 fond j and in the defcription of which 
 he fo greatly excels. His Robbers, as 
 his detached figures are commonly cal- 
 led, are fuppofed alfo to have beea 
 taken from the life. 
 
 Rembrandt's excellency, as a pain- 
 ter, lay in colouring, which he poffef- 
 ed in fuch perfection, that it ^lmoft 
 
 fcreens 
 
[ »3 ] 
 
 fereens every fault in his pictures. His 
 prints, deprived of this palliative, 
 have only his inferior qualifications 
 to recommend them. Thefe are ex- 
 preffion, and fkill in the management of 
 light, execution, and fometimes compo- 
 fition. I mention them in the order in 
 which he feems to have pofTefled them. 
 His expreffion has moll force in the 
 character of age. He marks as flrono-- 
 ly as the hand of time itfelf. He pof- 
 feffes too, in a great degree, that inferior 
 kind of expreffion, which gives its pro- 
 per, and charafteriftic touch to drapery, 
 fur, metal, and every object he repre- 
 fents. — His management of light con- 
 iifts chiefly in making a very flrong con- 
 trail-, which has often a good effect: 
 and yet in many of his prints there is 
 no effect at all ; which gives us reafon 
 G 2 to 
 
t 84 I 
 
 to think, he either had no principles,* 
 or publifhed fuch prints before his prin- 
 ciples were afcertained. — His execution 
 is peculiar to himfelf. It is rough, or 
 neat, as he meant a fketch, or a finifh- 
 ed piece •, but always free and mafterly. 
 It produces its effect by ftrokes inter- 
 fered in every direction ; and comes 
 nearer the idea of painting, than the 
 execution of any other mafter. — Never 
 painter was more at a lofs than Rem- 
 brandt, for an idea of that fpecies of 
 grace, which is neceflary to fupport an 
 elevated character. While he keeps 
 within the fphere of his genius, and 
 contents himfelf with low fubjects, he 
 deferves any praife. But when he at- 
 tempts b'<?auty,. or dignity, it were good- 
 natured to fuppofe, he means only bur- 
 tefque and caricature.. He is a ftrong 
 
 contrail 
 
[ «5 ) 
 
 contrail to Salvator. The one drew 
 . all his ideas from nature, as me appears 
 with the utmoft grace and elegance. 
 The other caught her in her meaner! 
 images •, and transferred thofe images 
 into the highefl characters. Hence 
 Salvator exalts banditti into heroes : 
 Rembrandt degrades patriarchs into 
 •beggars. Rembrandt, indeed, feems 
 to have aftecr.ed awkwardnefs. He was 
 a man of humour; and would laugh 
 at thofe artifts who fludied the antique. 
 <c I'll fhew you my antiques, " he' 
 would cry •, and then he would carry 
 his friends into a room furnifhed with 
 head-dreffes, draperies, houihold-ftufF, 
 and inftruments of all kinds : " Thefe, 
 *' he would add, are worth all your 
 " antiques." — His beft etching is that, 
 which goes by the name of the hundred- 
 
 zuildres- 
 
[ §6 ] 
 
 guildres-print ; which is in fuch efteem, 
 that I have known thirty guineas given 
 for a good impreflion of it. In this all 
 his excellencies are united : and I might 
 add, his imperfections alfo. Age and 
 wretchednefs are admirably defcribed; 
 but the principal figure is ridiculoufly 
 
 mean. :Rembrandt is faid to have 
 
 left behind him near three hundred 
 prints ; none of which are dated before 
 one thoufand, fix hundred, twenty- 
 eight •, none after one thoufand, fix 
 hundred, fifty nine. They were in fuch 
 efteem, even in his own life-time, that 
 he is faid to have retouched fame of 
 them, four or five times. 
 
 Peter Testa ftudied upon a plan 
 very different from that either of Sal- 
 vator, or Rembrandt, Thofe maf- 
 
 ters 
 
I 87 3 
 
 ters drew their ideas from nature : Te£- 
 ta, from what he efteemed a fuperior 
 model — the antique. Smit with the 
 love of painting, this artift travelled to 
 Rome in the habit of a pilgrim, defti- 
 tute of all the means of improvement, 
 but what mere genius furnifhed. He 
 had not even intereft to procure a re- 
 commendation •, nor had he any ad- 
 drefs to fubftitute in its room. The 
 works of fculpture fell rnoft obvioufly 
 in his way ; and to thefe he applied 
 himfelf with fo much induftry, copy- 
 ing them over, and again, that he is 
 faid to have gotten them all by heart. 
 Thus qualified he took up the pencil. 
 But he foon found the fchool, in which 
 he had ftudied, a very infufncient one to 
 form a painter. He had neglected co- 
 louring ; and his pictures were in no 
 
 efteem. 
 
[ 815 ] 
 
 efteem. Difappointed and mortified he 
 threw afide his pallet, and applied him- 
 felf to etching •, in which he became a 
 thorough proficient. — ^-His prints have 
 great merit -, tho they are little efteem- 
 ed. We are feldom indeed to expect a 
 coherency of defign in any of the,m. 
 An enthufiaflic vein runs through moft 
 of his compofitions ; and it is not an 
 improbable conjecture, that his head 
 was a little difturbed. He generally 
 crouds into his pieces fuch a jumble of 
 inconfiftent ideas, that it is difficult 
 fometimes only to guefs at what he aims. 
 He was as little acquainted with the 
 diftribution of light, as with the rules 
 of defign : and yet, notwithftanding all 
 this, his works contain an infinite fund 
 of entertainment. There is an exube- 
 rance of fancy in him, which, with all 
 
 its 
 
[ «9 ] 
 
 its wildnefs, is agreeable ; his ideas arc 
 fublime and noble ; his drawing moft 
 •elegantly corre6l -, his heads touched 
 with uncommon fpirit, and expreflion -, 
 his figures graceful, rather too nearly 
 allied to the antique •, his groups often 
 beautiful; and his execution, in his 
 belt etchings, for he is fometimes un- 
 equal to himfelf, very mafterly*. Per- 
 haps, no prints afford more ufeful ftu- 
 
 dies for a painter. The procefflon of 
 
 Silenus, if we may guefs at fo confufed 
 a defign, may illuftrate all that hath 
 been faid. The whole is as incoherent, 
 as the parts are beautiful : This un- 
 fortunate artiit was drowned in the Ty- 
 ber -, and it is left uncertain, whether 
 by accident or defign. 
 
 f Some of his works are etched by Cass. Testa. 
 
 Spani- 
 
[ 9° ] 
 
 Spaniolet etched a few prints in a 
 very fpirited manner. No mailer under- 
 fcood better the force of every touch. 
 Silenus and Bacchus, and the Martyr- 
 dom of St. Bartholomew, are the bell 
 of his hiltorical prints : and yet thefe 
 are inferior to fome of his caracaturas, 
 which are admirably executed. 
 
 Michael Dorigny, or Old Dorig- 
 ny, as he is often called to diflinguifh 
 him from Nicholas, had the misfor- 
 tune to be the fon-in-law of Simon Vou- 
 et, whofe works he engraved, and whofe 
 imperfections he copied. His execution 
 is free, and he preferves the lights ex- 
 tremely well upon fingle figures : his 
 drapery too is natural, and eafy: but 
 his drawing is below criticifm -, in the 
 extremities efpecialiy. In this his maf- 
 
 ter 
 
[ 9' ] 
 
 ter milled him. Vouet excelled in com- 
 pofition; of which we have many beau- 
 tiful inftances in Dorigny's prints. 
 
 Villamena was inferior to few en- 
 gravers. If he be deficient in ftreno-th 
 and effect, there is a delicacy in his 
 manner, which is inimitable. One of 
 his belt prints is the Defcent from the 
 
 crofs. But his works are fo rare, that 
 
 we can fcarce form an adequate idea of 
 his merit. 
 
 Stephen de la Bella was a minute 
 genius. His manner wants ftrength for 
 any larger work j but in fmall objects it 
 appears to advantage: there is great 
 freedom in it, and uncommon neatnels. 
 His figures are touched with fpirit ; and 
 fometimes his competition is good : but 
 
 he 
 
i 9 2 ] 
 
 he feidom difcovers any {kill in tfee ma- 
 nagement of light ; tho the defect is lefs 
 ftriking, becaufe of the fmallnefs of his 
 pieces. His Pont Neuf will give us an 
 idea of his works. Through the bad 
 'management of the light, k makes eo 
 appearance as a whole \ tho the compo- 
 fition, if we except the modern archi- 
 tecture, is tolerable. But the figures 
 are marked -with great beauty j and the 
 diftances extremely fine. — Some of his 
 jingle heads- are very elegant. 
 
 La Face's works -conM chiefly of 
 Sketches. The great excellency of this 
 mafter lay in drawing ; in which he was 
 perfectly fkilled. However unfinifhed 
 his pieces are, they difcover him to have 
 •been admirably acquainted with anato- 
 my and proportion. There is very little 
 
 m 
 
L 93 1 
 in him befides, that is valuable ; grade, 
 and expreffion fometimes ; feldom eom- 
 pofition : his figures are generally ei- 
 ther too much crowded, or too diffufe. 
 As for light and made, he feems to have 
 been totally ignorant of their effect, or 
 he could never have fhewn fo bad a tafte 
 as to publifh his defigns without, at 
 leaft, a bare expreffion of the maffes of 
 each. Indeed, we have pofitive proof, 
 as well as negative. Where he has at- 
 tempted an effect of light, he has fhewn 
 
 only how little he knew of it. His 
 
 genius chiefly difplays itfelf in the gam- 
 bols of nymphs and fatyrs ; in routs and 
 revels : but there is fo much obfcenity 
 in his works of this kind, that, altho 
 otherwife fine, they fcarce afford an in 7 
 
 nocent amufement. In fome of his 
 
 prints, in which he has attempted the 
 
 fublimefh 
 
r 94 i 
 
 fublimeft chara&ers, he has given then! 
 a wonderful dignity. Some of his fi- 
 gures of Chrifb are not inferior to the 
 ideas of Raphael •- and in a flight 
 fketch, intitled, Vocation de Moyfe, the 
 Deity is introduced with furprizing ma- 
 
 jefty. His beft works are flightly 
 
 etched from his drawings by Er. tinge r ; 
 who has done juftice to them. 
 
 Bolswert engraved the works of 
 Rubens, and in a ftyle worthy of his 
 matter. You fee the fame free, and 
 animated manner in both. It is faid 
 that Rubens touched his proofs ; and 
 it is probable ; the ideas of the painter 
 are fo exactly transfufed into the works 
 of the engraver. 
 
 Pontius 
 
[ 95 ] ' 
 
 ; Pontius too engraved the works of 
 Rubens ; and would have appeared a 
 greater mafter, if he had not had fuch 
 a competitor as Bolswert. 
 
 Sciaminossi etched a few fmall plates 
 of the myjleries of the rofary in a mafter- 
 ly ftyle. There is no great beauty in 
 the compofition ; but the drawing is 
 good ; the figures are generally grace- 
 ful ; and the heads touched with great 
 ipirit. 
 
 Roman le Hooghe is inimitable in 
 execution. Perhaps, no mafter etches 
 in a freer and more fpirited manner : 
 there is a richnefs in it likewife, which 
 we feldom meet with. His figures too 
 are often good ; but his compofition is 
 generally faulty: it is crouded, and 
 
 confufed. 
 
[ 9« ] 
 
 confufed. He knows little of the effect 
 of light. There is a flutter in him too, 
 which hurts an eye pleafed with firrrpli- 
 city. His prints are generally hiftori- 
 cal. The deluge at Coeverden is finely 
 defcribed. — Le Hooghe was much em- 
 ployed, by the authors of his time, in 
 compofing frontifpieces j fome of which 
 are very beautiful. 
 
 Luiken etches in the manner of Le 
 Hooghe, but it is a lefs mafterly man- 
 ner. His hijlory of the bible is a great 
 work, m which there are many good 
 figures, and great freedom of execu- 
 tion ; but poor compofition, much con- 
 fufion, and little lkill in the diftribu- 
 tion of light. This matter hath alfo 
 etched a book of various kinds of ca- 
 pital 
 
, C 97 | 
 
 pital punimment ; amongft which there 
 are many good prints. 
 
 'GerrardLairesse etches in a loofe, 
 and unfinifhed ; but free, and mafterly 
 manner. His light is often well diftri- 
 buted •, but his fhades have not fufncient 
 ftrength to give his pieces effect. Tho 
 he was a Dutch painter, you fee nothing 
 of the Dutchman in his works. His 
 compofition is generally grand and beau- 
 tiful, especially where he has only a few 
 figures ta manage. His figures thern- 
 felves are graceful, and his expreffions 
 fbrong. — It may be added, that his dra- 
 peries are particularly excellent. The 
 fimple and fubiime ideas, which appear 
 every where in his works, acquired him 
 the title of the Dutch Raphael ; a title 
 which he very well deferves. Lair esse 
 H may 
 
[ 9» 3 
 
 may be called an ethic painter. He 
 commonly inculcates fome truth either 
 in morals, or religion; which he il- 
 luftrates by a Latin fentence at the bot- 
 tom of his print. 
 
 Castiglione was an Italian painter 
 of fome eminence. He drew human 
 figures with grace and correclnefs •, yet 
 he generally chofe fuch fubjects, as 
 would admit the introduction of animal 
 life, which often makes the more diftin- 
 
 guifhed part of his piece. There is 
 
 a fimplicity in the deligns of this maf- 
 ter, which is very beautiful. In com- 
 pofition he excels greatly. Of his elegant 
 groups, we have many inftances in a fet 
 of prints, etched from his paintings, in 
 a flight, free manner, by C. Macee ; 
 particularly in thofe of the patriarchal 
 
 journeying** 
 
t 99 1 
 
 journeyings. He hath left us feveral of 
 his own etchings alfo, which are very 
 valuable. The fubj eels, indeed, of fome 
 of them, are odd, and fantaflic ; and 
 the compofition not equal to fome prints 
 we have from his paintings by other- 
 hands •, but the execution is greatly fu- 
 perior. Freedom, ftrength, and fpirit, 
 are very eminent in them ; and delicacy 
 likewife, where he chufes to finifh high- 
 ly j of which we have fome inftances.— 
 One of his beft prints is the entering of 
 Noah into the ark. The composition ; 
 the distribution of light ; the fpirit and 
 exprefiion, with which the animals are 
 touched j and the freedom of the exe- 
 cution are all admirable. 
 
 Vander Muilen has given us his- 
 torical reprefentations of feveral modern 
 H 2 battles- 
 
t ">o J 
 
 battles. His prints are generally large-* 
 and contain many good figures, and a- 
 greeable groups : but they have no ef- 
 fect, and feldom produce a whole. A 
 difagreeable monotony (as the muficai 
 people fpeak) runs through them all. 
 
 Otho Venius has entirely the air of 
 an Italian, tho of Dutch parentage.. 
 He had the honour of being the mafter 
 of the celebrated Rubens ; who chiefly 
 learned from him his knowledge of light 
 and made. This artift publilhed a book 
 of love-emblems, in which the cupids 
 are engraved with great elegance. His 
 pieces of fabulous hiftory have lefj 
 merit. 
 
 Galestruzzi was an excellent artift. 
 There is great firmnefs in his ftroke, 
 
 great 
 
[ lot J 
 
 great precision, and, at the fame time, 
 great freedom. His drawing is good j 
 his heads are well touched, and his dra- 
 peries beautiful. He has etched feveral 
 things from the antique ; fome of them, 
 indeed, but indifferendy. The bell 
 of his works, which I have feen, is the 
 Story of Niobe, (a long, narrow print) 
 from Polidore. 
 
 Mellan was a whimfical engraver. 
 He fhadowed entirely with parallel lines, 
 which he winds round the mufcles of 
 his figures, and the folds of his drape- 
 ries, with great variety and beauty. His 
 manner is foft and delicate, but void of 
 ftrength and effect. His compofitions of 
 courfe make no whole, tho his fingle fi- 
 gures are often elegant. His faints and 
 ftatues are, in general, his beft pieces. 
 
 There 
 
There is great exprefiion in many of the 
 former : and his drapery is often incom- 
 parable. One of his beft prints is in- 
 fcribed, Per fe furgens : and another very 
 good one with this ftrange paffage from 
 St. Austin, Ego evangelio non credcrem, 
 niji me catholica ecclefite commoveret aufio- 
 ritas. -— His head of Chrift, effected by 
 a fingle fpiral line, is a mafterly, but 
 whimfical performance. 
 
 Ostade's etchings, like his pictures, 
 are admirable reprefentations of low life. 
 They abound in humour and expreflion, 
 in whicji lies their merit. They have 
 little befjdes to recommend them. His 
 compofition is generally very indifferent,; 
 and his execution no way remarkable. 
 Sometimes, but feldom, you fee an 
 cffeft of light, 
 
 Cornelius 
 
f l0 3 1 
 Cornelius Bega etches very much 
 in the manner of Ostade ; but with 
 more freedom. 
 
 Van Tulden has nothing of the 
 Dutch mafter in his defign •, which 
 feems formed upon the ftudy of the an- 
 tique. It is chafte, elegant, and cor- 
 rect. His manner is rather firm, and 
 diftinct, than free, and fpirited. His 
 principal work is the voyage of Ulysses 
 in fifty-eight plates -, in which we have 
 a great variety of elegant attitudes, 
 excellent characters of heads, good 
 drawing, and tho not much effect, yet 
 often good grouping. His drapery is 
 heavy. 
 
 Joseph Parrocelle painted battles 
 
 for Lewis XJV. He etched alfo feveral 
 
 "£ of 
 
[' io4. J 
 
 ©f his own defigns. The beft of his 
 works are eight fmall battles, which are 
 very fcarce. Four of thefe are of a 
 fize larger than the reft ; of which, the 
 battle^ and Jtripping the Jlain, are very 
 fine. Of the four fmaller, that entitled 
 vefper is the bell. — His manner is rough, 
 free, and mafterly, and his knowledge 
 of the eifeft of light considerable.— 
 His greateft undertaking was the Life of 
 Chrifi in a feries of plates : but it is a 
 hafty and incorreft work. Moll of the 
 prints are mere fketches •, and many of 
 them, even in that light, are bad j tho 
 the freedom of the manner is pleafing 
 in the worfl of them. The befl plates 
 are the 14th, 17th, 19th, 2 2d, .2 1 
 39th, 41ft, 42 dj and 43d. 
 
 y . m 
 
I m 1 
 
 V. le Febre etched many defigns 
 from Titian and Julio Romano, in a 
 very miserable manner. His drawing 
 is bad ; his drapery frittered ; his lights 
 ill-preferved •, and his execution dif- 
 gufting : and yet we find his works in 
 capital collections. 
 
 Bellange's prints are highly finilh- 
 ed, and his execution is not amifs. His 
 figures alfo have fomething in them, 
 which looks like grace -, and his light 
 is tolerably well mailed. But his heads 
 are ill fet on •, his extremities incorrect- 
 ly touched •, his figures badly propor- 
 tioned ; and, in fhort, his drawing in 
 general very bad. 
 
 Claude Gillot was a French pain- 
 ter -, but finding himfelf rivalled, he laid 
 
 afide 
 
: k* 1 
 
 : "ris pencil, and employed himfelf 
 
 entire. rzhing. His common iub- 
 
 |ec\s eiz&mas and rr. :':. a domed with 
 
 ur.T?. r ."..-.;. By ^--r.g 
 
 LL= :'.'■' 2'-: '- veevhi: :i:~ ;: eye. he his 
 introduced a new kind of character. 
 Z\z ::v::;;;;;. ir.i fir.™ :: this ir.if- 
 "«™j Pfcafc-gi and his compo- 
 Soon is often good. His manner is 
 flight j which is the ben: apology for his 
 bii cv.i~77:r. 
 
 V ~-.77r.-.v hi; rr::: ierrhii. ir.i. it 
 theSl be owned, great merit. He a- 
 bonnds in all that flutter, and affecta- 
 tion, which is io difagreeable in the ge- 
 nerality of French painters. But, at 
 fame time, we acknowledge, he 
 -h 7 "t: 7 : :t ir.f :eii:icy 
 7 figures 5 and produces often a 
 
 beautiful 
 
t >°7 1 
 
 aft of lugffnft. 1 iz*tiji.. 
 
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 cras of die Fundi engnawera. His *>■&*- 
 r;."v irf izzzzz z~r zz '.'.~. izzzzzzzzzzz zz 
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 iZ.Z . .ZZt ZZZ?- ZZ- Z 1 J . Z » ZZZ Z"Z:Z. 
 
t "6 I 
 
 his prints are generally fmall ; and moft 
 of them from the defigns of others. One 
 of the bell is from that beautiful com- 
 pofition of Poussin, in which Truth is 
 delivered by Time, from Envy. 
 
 Arthur Pond, our countryman, 
 fucceeded admirably in this method of 
 imitation ; in which he hath etched fe- 
 veral very valuable prints ; particularly 
 two oval landfkips after Salvator — 
 a monkey in red chalk after Carrache 
 — two or three ruins after Panini, and 
 fome others equally excellent. 
 
 But this method of imitation hath 
 been moft fuccefsfully practifed by Ccttnt 
 Caylus, an ingenious French noble- 
 man, whofe works, in this way, are ve- 
 ry voluminous. He hath ranfacked the 
 
 French 
 
t I" J 
 
 French king's cabinet, and hath fcarce 
 left a mafter of any note, from whofe 
 drawings he hath not given us excellent 
 prints. Infomuch, that if we had no- 
 thing remaining from thofe mailers, bur 
 Count Caylus's works, we mould not 
 want a very fufHcient idea of them. So 
 verfatile is his genius, that with the 
 fame eafe he prefents us with an elegant 
 outline from Raphael, a rough (ketch 
 from Rembrandt, and a delicate por- 
 trait from Vandyke. 
 
 Le Clerc was an excellent engra- 
 
 o 
 
 ver ; but chiefly in the petit ityle. He 
 immortalized Alexander, and jLewis 
 XIV. in miniature. His genius feldom 
 exceeds the dimenfions of fix inches 
 Within thofe limits he can draw up 
 twenty thoufand men with great dexteri- 
 ty 
 
[ lit ] 
 
 ty. No aftift except Callot and Del- 
 la Bella could touch a fmall figure 
 with fo much fpirit. He feems to have 
 imitated Callot's manner, but his 
 ftroke is neither fb firm, nor fb maf- 
 terly. 
 
 Peter Bartoli etched with free- 
 dom ; tho his manner is not agreeable, 
 his capital work is Lanfrank's gallery, 
 
 Jac Freii is an admirable 'engraver. 
 He unites, in a great degree, ftrength, 
 and foftnefs ; and comes as near the 
 force of painting, as an engraver can 
 well do. He has given us the ftrongeft 
 ideas of the works of feveral of the mod 
 eminent matters. He preferves the 
 drawing, and expremon of his original ; 
 and often perhaps improves the effect. 
 
 There 
 
[ "3 ] 
 
 There is a richnefs too in his manner, 
 which is very pleating. You fee him in 
 perfection in a noble print from Marat- 
 ti, intitled, In confpeflu angelorum ■pfal- 
 lam tibi. 
 
 R. V. Auden Aerd copied many 
 things from C. Maratti, and other 
 mailers, in a flyle indeed very inferior to 
 J ac. Freii, (whofe rich execution he 
 could not reach) but yet with fome ele- 
 gance. His manner is fmooth, and 
 finifhed ; but without effect. His draw- 
 ing is good, but his lights are frittered. 
 
 S. Gribelin is a careful, and labori- 
 ous engraver ; of no extenfive genius ; 
 but* painfully exact. His works are 
 chiefly fmall ; the principal of which are 
 his copies from the Banqueting-Houfe 
 I at 
 
[ ; n4 ] 
 
 at Whitehall ; and from the Cartoons.. 
 His manner is formal •, yet he has con- 
 trived to preferve the fpirit of his origi- 
 nal. We have no copies of the cartoons 
 lb good as his. It is a pity he did not 
 engrave them on a larger fcale. 
 
 Le Bas etches in a clear, diflincl, 
 free manner ; and has done great ho- 
 nour to the works of Teniers, Wover- 
 man, and Berghem, from whom he 
 chiefly copied. The bell of his works, 
 are after Berghem. 
 
 Bischop's etching has fomething ve- 
 ry pleafing in it. It is loofe, and free 5 
 and yet has ftrength, and richnefs. Ma- 
 ny of his liatues are good figures : the 
 drawing is fometimes incorrect ; but the 
 execution beautiful. Many of the plates 
 
 of 
 
[ "5 1 
 
 of his drawing-book are very well. His 
 greateft fingle work is the reprefentation 
 of Joseph in Egypt; in which there are 
 many faults, both in the drawing and 
 effecT: \ fome of which are chargeable 
 upon him, and others upon the artifl 
 from whom he copied ; but upon the 
 whole, it is a pleafing print. 
 
 Francis Perrier was the debauch- 
 ed fon of a goldfmith in Franche- 
 compte. His indifcretions forcing him 
 from home, his inclinations led him to 
 Italy. His manner of travelling thither 
 was whimfical. He joined himfelf to a 
 blind beggar, whom he agreed to lead 
 for half his alms. At Rome, he ap- 
 plied to painting, and made a much 
 greater proficiency than could have been 
 expe&ed from his diffipated life. He 
 I 2 pub- 
 
[ "6 ] 
 
 publifHed a large collection of ftatues, 
 and other antiquities, which are etched 
 in a very mafterly manner. The drawing 
 is often incorrect ; but the attitudes are 
 well chofen, and the execution fpirited. 
 Many of them feem to have been done 
 haflily ; but there are marks of genius 
 in them all. - 
 
 Marot, who was architect to K. 
 William, hath etched fome ftatues 
 likewife in a very mafterly manner. In- 
 deed all his works are admirably execu- 
 ted; but they confifb chiefly of orna- 
 ments in the way of his profeflion. 
 
 Fran. Roettiers etches in a very 
 bold manner, and with a good deal of 
 fpirit •, but there is a harlhnefs in his 
 outline, which is difagreeable j tho the 
 
 lefs 
 
[ ii 7 J 
 
 -lefs fo, as his drawing is generally good. 
 Few artifts manage a crowd better ; or 
 give it more effect by a proper diftribu- 
 tion of light. Of this management we 
 have fome judicious inftances in his two 
 capital prints, the Afiimption of the crofs, 
 and the Crucifixion. 
 
 Nicholas Dorigny was bred a law- 
 yer •, but not fucceeding at the bar, he 
 fludied painting ; and afterwards applied 
 to engraving. His capital work is the 
 Transfiguration , which Mr, Addison calls 
 the nobleft print in the world. It is un- 
 queftionably a noble work ; but Dorig- 
 ny feems to have exhaufted his genius 
 upon it : for he did nothing afterwards 
 worth preferving. His cartoons are very 
 poor. He engraved them in his old age, 
 and was obliged to employ ailiftants, 
 who did not anfwer his expectation. 
 
 Masters 
 
[ "8 1 
 
 Masters in Portrait, 
 
 Among the matters in portrait Rem- 
 brandt may take the lead. His heads 
 are admirable copies from nature •, and 
 perhaps the beft of his works. There 
 is infinite expreffion in them, and cha- 
 racter. 
 
 Van Uliet followed Rembrandt's 
 manner, which he hath in many things 
 excelled. Some of his heads are ex- 
 ceedingly beautiful. The force, which 
 he gives to every feature, the roundnefs 
 of the mufcle, the fpirit of the execu- 
 tion, the flrength of the character, and 
 the effect of the whole, are all admira- 
 ble. 
 
 J. LlEVENS 
 
t »9 ] 
 
 J. Lievens etches in the fame ftyle. 
 His heads are executed with great fpirit ; 
 and deferve a place in any collection of 
 prints ; tho they are certainly inferior to 
 Uliet's. — Uliet, and Lievens etched 
 fome hiftorical prints, particularly the 
 latter, whofe Lazarus^ after Rem- 
 brandt, is a noble work; but their 
 portraits are their belt prints. 
 
 Among the imitators of Rembrandt, 
 we mould not forget our countryman 
 Worlidge ; who has very ingenioufly 
 followed the manner of that mailer; 
 and fometimes improved upon him. No 
 man underltood the drawing of an head 
 better. — His fmall prints alfo, from an- 
 tique gems, are neat, and mafterly. 
 
 Many 
 
[ 120 ] 
 
 Many of Van Dyke's etchings do 
 him great credit. They are chiefly to 
 be found in a collection of the portraits 
 of eminent artifts, which Van Dyke 
 was at the expence of getting engraved. 
 They are done (lightly : but bear the 
 character of a mailer. Luke Voster- 
 man is one of the bell. It is probable 
 Van Dyke made the drawings for moft 
 of the reft : his manner is confpicuous 
 
 in them all. A very finilhed etching 
 
 of an Ecce homo paries under the name 
 of this mailer. It is a good print upon 
 the whole ; but not equal to what we 
 might have expected. 
 
 - We have a few prints of Sir Peter 
 Levy's etching likewife ; but there is 
 nothing in them that is extraordinary. 
 
 R. White 
 
C 121 5 
 
 R. White was the principal engraver 
 of portraits in Charles the fecond's 
 reign ; but his works are miferable per- 
 formances. They are faid to be good 
 likenefTes : they may be fo j but they 
 are wretched prints, 
 
 Becket and Simons are names which 
 fcarce deferve to be mentioned. They 
 were both mezzotinto-fcrapers of note, 
 only becaufe they were the bell of their 
 time. 
 
 White, the mezzotinto fcraper, fon 
 of the engraver, was an artifl of great 
 merit. He copied after Sir Godfrey 
 Kneller ; whom he teized fo much 
 with his proofs, that it is faid Sir God- 
 frey forbad him his houfe. His mez- 
 zotintos are very beautiful, Baptiste, 
 
 Wing, 
 
f 122 ] 
 
 Wing, Sturges, and Hooper are all 
 admirable prints. He himfelf ufed to 
 fay, that old and young Parr were the 
 ben: portraits he ever fcraped. His 
 manner was peculiar, at the time he 
 ufed it : tho it hath fince been adopted 
 by other mailers. He firft etched his 
 plate,, and then fcraped it. Hence his 
 prints preferve a fpirit to the lafl, which 
 few mezzotintos do. 
 
 Smith was the pupil of Becket-, but 
 he foon excelled his mafter. He was 
 efteemed the beft mezzotinto fcraper of 
 his time, though, perhaps, inferior to 
 White. He hath left a very numer- 
 ous collection of portraits ; fo numerous, 
 that they are often bound in two large 
 folios. He copied chiefly from Sir 
 Godfrey - •, and is faid to have had an 
 
 apart* 
 
1 '**§ 1 
 
 apartment in his houfe. — Lord Somers 
 was fo fond of the works of this maf- 
 ter, that he feldom travelled without 
 carrying them with him in the feat of 
 his coach. — Some of his belt prints are 
 two holy families, Anthony Leigh, 
 Mary Magdalene, Scalken, an half- 
 length of Lady Elizabeth Cromwell, 
 the Duke of Schomberg on horfe-back, 
 the countefs of Salisbury, Gibbon the 
 ftatuary, and a very fine hawking piece 
 
 from Wyke. After all, it muft be 
 
 owned, that the bell of thefe mezzotin- 
 tos are inferior to what we have feen 
 done by the matters of the prefent 
 age. 
 
 Mellan's portraits are the molt in- 
 different of his works. They want 
 fcngth, ipirit, and effect. 
 
 Pitteri 
 
[ "4 ] 
 
 Pitteri hath lately publifhed a fet 
 cf heads, from Piazzeta, in the ftyle 
 of Mellan ; but in a much finer tafte, 
 both as to the compofition, and the 
 manner. Tho, like Mellan, he ne- 
 ver crofles his ftroke -, yet he has con- 
 trived to give his heads more force 
 and fpirit. 
 
 J. Morin's heads are engraved in a 
 very peculiar manner. They are ftip- 
 pled with a graver, after the manner 
 cf mezzotinto, and have a good effect. 
 They have force ; and, at the fame 
 time, foftnefs. Few portraits, upon 
 the whole, are better. Guido Benti- 
 volius from Vandyke is one of the 
 belt. 
 
 J. Lutma's 
 
L **5 3 
 
 J. Lutma's heads are executed in 
 the fame way: we are told, with a 
 duffel and mallet. They are inferior 
 to Morin's i but are not without 
 merit. 
 
 Edm. Marmion etched a few por- 
 traits in the manner of Vandyke, and 
 probably from him ; in which there is 
 great eafe and freedom. He has put his 
 name only to one of them. 
 
 Wolfang, a German engraver, ma- 
 naged his tools with great foftnefs, and 
 delicacy ; at the fame time preferring a 
 confiderable degree of fpirit. But his 
 works are fcarce. I make thefe remarks 
 indeed, from a Jingle head, that of 
 Huet, bifhop of Auranches, which is 
 the only work of his, that I have feen. 
 
 Drevet's 
 
[ "6 ] 
 
 Drevet's portraits arc neat and ele- 
 gant ; but laboured to the laft degree. 
 they are copied from Rigaud, ana o- 
 ther French mailers ; and abound in all 
 that flutter, and licentious drapery, fo 
 oppofite to the fimple and chafte ideas 
 of true tafte. Brevet chiefly excels in 
 copying Rigaud's frippery, lace, filk, 
 fur, velvet, and other ornamental parts 
 of drefs. 
 
 Richardson hath left us feveral 
 heads, which he etched for Mr. Pope, 
 and others of his friends. They are 
 flight, but fhew the fpirit of a mafcer. 
 Mr. Pope's profile is the befr. 
 
 Virtue was an excellent antiquari- 
 an; butnoartift. He copied with pain- 
 ful exactnefs ; in a dry, disagreeable 
 
 manner, 
 
[ "7 ] 
 
 manner, without force, or freedom. In 
 his whole collection of heads, we can 
 
 icarce pick out half a dozen, which are 
 good. 
 
 Such an ardft, in mezzotlnto, was 
 Faber. He has publiihed nothing ex- 
 tremely bad ; and yet few things worth 
 collecting. Mrs. Collies, is one of his 
 beft prints •, and a very good one. She 
 is leaning againfr. a pillar, on the bale 
 of which is engraved the ftory of th : 
 golden apple. 
 
 Houbraken is a genius * and has 
 given us, in his collection of En 
 portraits, fome pieces of engraving at 
 leaft equal to any thing of the kind. 
 Such are his heads of Hambdesl, 
 Schomeerg, the earl of Bedford, the 
 
 duke 
 
[ 128 ] 
 
 duke of Richmond particularly, and 
 fome others. At the fame time we mult 
 own, that he has intermixed among his 
 works a great number of bad prints. In 
 his beft, there is a wonderful union of 
 foftnefs, and freedom. A more elegant 
 and flowing line no artift furely ever 
 employed. 
 
 Our countryman Fry has left behind 
 him a few very beautiful heads in mez- 
 zotinto. They are all copied from na- 
 ture ; have great foftnefs, and fpirit ; 
 but want ftrength. Mezzotinto is not 
 adapted to works fo large, as the heads 
 he has publifhed. 
 
 Masters 
 

 L 129 ] 
 
 Masters in Animal Life. 
 
 Berghem has a genius truly paftoral ; 
 and brings before us the moft agreea- 
 ble fcenes of rural life. " The fimplici- 
 ty of Arcadian manners is no where 
 better defcribed than in his works. We 
 have a large collection of prints from 
 his defigns ; many etched by himfelf, 
 and many by other mafters. Thofe by 
 himfelf are flight, but mafterly. His 
 execution is inimitable. His cattle, 
 which are always the diftinguiihing part 
 of his pieces, are well drawn, admira- 
 bly characterized, and generally well 
 grouped. Few painters excelled more 
 in compofition than Berghem ; and yet 
 we have more beautiful inftances of it 
 K in 
 
[ J 3° 1 
 in the prints etched by others, than in 
 thofe by himfelf. Among his own etch- 
 ings a few fmall plates of fheep, and 
 goats are exceedingly valued. 
 
 J. Visscher never appears to more 
 advantage than when he copies Berg- 
 hem. His excellent drawing, and the 
 freedom of his execution, give a great 
 value to his prints, which have more 
 the air of originals, than of copies. He 
 is a mafter both in etching, and engrav- 
 ing. His flighteft etchings, tho copies 
 only, are the works of a mafter •> and 
 when he touches with a graver, he 
 knows how to add ftrength and firm- 
 nefs, without deftroying freedom and 
 and fpirit. He might be faid to have 
 done all things well, if he had not fail- 
 ed in the diftribution of light: it is 
 
 more 
 
[ «3« 1 
 
 more than probable, he has not attend- 
 ed to the effect of it in many of the 
 paintings which he has copied. 
 
 Danker Dankerts is another ex- 
 cellent copyift from Berghem. Every 
 thing that has been faid of Visscher 
 may be faid of him ; and perhaps Hill 
 in a ftronger manner. — Like Visscher 
 too he fails in the management of his 
 lights. 
 
 Hondius, a native of Rotterdam, 
 paiTed the greater part of his life in 
 England. He painted animals chiefly ; 
 was free in his manner ; extravagant in 
 his colouring-, incorrect in his draw- 
 ing; ignorant of the effeft of light; 
 but amazingly great in expreflion. His 
 prints therefore are better than his pic- 
 K 2 tures. 
 
[ >3* ] 
 
 fures. They pofiefs his chief excellen- 
 cy, with fewer of his defects. They 
 are executed with great fpirit -, and af- 
 ford fuch ftrong inftances of animal fu- 
 ry, as we meet with no where, but in 
 nature itfelf. His hunted wolf is an ad- 
 mirable print. 
 
 Du Jardin underftood the anatomy 
 of domeftic animals perhaps better than 
 any other mafter. His drawing is ad- 
 mirably correct ; and yet the freedom of 
 the mafter is preferved. He copied na- 
 ture ftriclly, tho not fervilely ^ and has 
 given us not only the form, but the 
 charafteriftic peculiarities of each ani- 
 mal. He never indeed, like Hondius, 
 animates his creation with the violence 
 of favage fury. His genius takes a 
 .milder turn. All is quietnefs, and re- 
 
 pofe. 
 
[ 133 J 
 
 pofe. His dogs, after their exercife, are 
 ftretched at their eafe ; and the languor 
 of a meridian fun prevails commonly 
 through all his pieces. His compofirion 
 is beautiful •, and his execution, tho 
 neat, is fpirited. — His works, when 
 bound together, make a volume of a- 
 bout 50 leaves -, among which there is 
 fcarce one bad print. 
 
 Rubens's huntings are undoubtedly 
 fuperior, upon the whole, to any thing 
 of the kind we have. There is more 
 invention in them, and a grander ftyle 
 of compofition than we find any where 
 elfe. I clafs them under his name, be- 
 caufe they are engraved by feveral maf- 
 ters. But all their engravings are poor. 
 They refemble the paintings they are 
 copied from, as a fhadow does the ob- 
 ject 
 
[ J 34 ] 
 
 ject which projects it. There is forne^ 
 thing of the foape ; but all the finijhing 
 is loft. And indeed there is no doubt, 
 but the awkwardneffes, the patch-work, 
 and the grotefque characters, which 
 every where appear in thofe prints, are 
 in the originals bold fore-ihortnings, 
 grand effects of light, and noble instan- 
 ces of expreffion. — But it is as difficult 
 to copy the flights of Rubens, as to 
 tranflate thofe of Homer. The fpirit 
 of each matter evaporates in the pro- 
 cefs. 
 
 Woverman's compofition is general- 
 ly crouded with little ornaments. There 
 is no nmplicity in his works. He want- 
 ed a chafte judgment to correct his ex- 
 uberance. — Visscher was the firfh who 
 engraved prints from this artifl. He 
 
 chofe 
 
t *35 1 
 
 chofe only a few good defigns ; and ex- 
 ecuted them mafterly. — Moyreau un- 
 dertook him next, and hath publifhed 
 a large collection. He hath finilhed 
 them highly -, but with more foftnefs 
 than fpirit. His prints however have a 
 neat appearance, and exhibit a variety 
 of pleafing reprefentations •, cavalcades, 
 marches, huntings, and encampments. 
 
 Rosa of Tivoli etched in a very fi- 
 nilhed manner. No one out-did him 
 in compofition, and execution : He is 
 very fkilful too in the management of 
 light. His defigns are all paftoral ; and 
 yet there is often a mixture of the heroic 
 ftyle in his compofition, which is ve- 
 ry pleafing. His prints are fcarce ; and, 
 were they not fo, would be valuable. 
 
 Stephen 
 
I i3« 1 
 
 Stephen de la Bella may be men- 
 tioned among the mailers in animal 
 life •, tho few of his works in this way 
 deferve any other praife, than what a- 
 rifes from the elegance of the execution. 
 In general, his animals are neither 
 well drawn, nor juftly characterized. 
 The bell of his works in animal life are 
 fome heads of camels and dromedaries. 
 
 Anthony Tempesta hath etched 
 feyeral plates of fmgle horfes, and of 
 huntings. He hath given great expref- 
 fion to his animals •, but his cpmpofition 
 is more than ordinarily bad in thefe 
 prints : nor is there in any of them the 
 leaft effect of light. 
 
 J. Fyt hath etched a few animals; 
 in which you difcover the drawing, and 
 
 fome- 
 
[ *37 1 
 
 ibmething of that inimitable ftrength 
 andfpirit, with which he painted. Eat 
 Jie has only done a few detached things 
 in this way •, nothing to Ihew his fkill in 
 compofition, and the management of 
 light, both which he well andeiilood. 
 
 In carioas collections we meet with a 
 few of Cuyp's etchings. The pictures of 
 this mafter excel in colonring, compo- 
 fition, drawing, and the expremon of 
 character. His prints have all thefe ex- 
 cellencies, except the firfl. 
 
 Peter de Laer hath left us feveral 
 fmall etchings of horfes, and other 
 animals, well characterized, and execut- 
 ed in a bold and mafterly manner. 
 Some of them are fingle fignres ; bat 
 when he compofes, his compofition is 
 
 generally 
 
[ »3« ] 
 
 generally good, and his diftribution 
 of light feldom much amifs ; often 
 toy pleafing: his drawing too is com- 
 monly good. 
 
 Peter Stoop came from Lifbon 
 with queen Catherine ; and was admir- 
 ed in England, till Wyck's fuperior ex- 
 cellence in painting eclipfed him. He 
 bath etched a bock of horfes, which 
 are very much valued; as there is in 
 general, accuracy in the drawing, na- 
 ture in the characters, and fpirit in the 
 execution. 
 
 Rembrandt's lions, which are etch- 
 ed in his ufual ftyle, are worthy the no- 
 tice of a connoiffeur. 
 
 Blot e ling's 
 
 
[ -;; ] 
 
 Bl : til: " :': -..: irt :li -" 77 '-.- 
 ei. ::: -':'_- ~::t ::::':.'; 7777 :":.- 
 ri:. 
 
 ? .vi I ITTZJ. ::::.:: 77: 
 c: ::"•": 177 7:7-:: 17 : 71.7:7 77- 
 
 ner. His manner, indeed, is better 
 
 77 7:177":;. - 7 7: . ...; .777 
 
 ciallj, is bot Tery inc.: r 77. zr 
 
 . : .7 .777:7: 7771 -.771 77; 
 
 C7777 
 
 BA7 7:~'i 7 7 7 ; 7 7 777777. 77- 
 
 H.5 777777:7 7 Z 7 7 75 777.: 
 V77k. TzrTr 7 7 7 7 7 
 
 the composition and manner of this 
 mailer, tho ne :.. frrreTiet^t His 
 
 drawing too is very iadiiiercat ; nor does 
 
 r.e ::7.;777 _..;- 7.77^ 7.7' KLs 
 
 7.7" 
 
[ *4° I 
 
 n gens 
 heafts.. 
 
 birds in general are better than his 
 
 Flamen has etched feveral plates of 
 birds, and fiihes : the former are bad ; 
 the latter better than any thing of the 
 kind we have. 
 
 Hollar has given us feveral plates 
 in animal life -, which, ought the rather 
 to be taken notice of, as they are, per- 
 haps, among the befl of his works. 
 Two or three fmall plates of domefdc 
 fowls* ducks, wood-cocks, and other 
 game, are very well. His fhells, and 
 butterflies are beautiful. 
 
 I (hall clofe this account with Ridin- 
 ger, who is one of the greateft matters 
 in animal life. He is Hill living ; but 
 
 as 
 
I 141 1 
 
 as he is fo capital in this way, he rrralt 
 not be omitted. This artift has mark- 
 ed the characters of animals, efpeciaily 
 of the more favage kind, with furpri- 
 fmg expreffion. His works may be con- 
 fidered as natural hiftory. He carries 
 us into the foreft among bears, and ty- 
 gers i and, with the exactnefs of a na- 
 -turalift, defcribes their forms, haunts, 
 
 and manner of living. His compo- 
 
 fition is generally beautiful, and his 
 diftribution of light goodj fo that he 
 commonly produces an agreeable whole. 
 His landfkip too is piclurefque and ro- 
 mantic, and well adapted to the fubjefts 
 he' treats. — On the other hand, his man- 
 ner is laboured and wants freedom. His 
 human figures are feldom drawn with 
 tafte. His horfes are ill- char a&erizecL, 
 and worfe drawn j and indeed his draw- 
 ing 
 
 a'' 
 
[ H2 ] 
 
 ing, in general, is but ilovenly. — The 
 prints of this mailer are often real hif- 
 tory, and reprefent the portraits of par- 
 ticular animals, which had been taken 
 in hunting. We have fometimes too, 
 the itory of the chace, in high-dutch, 
 at the bottom of the print. The idea 
 of hiftorical truth adds a relifh to the 
 entertainment •, and we furvey the ani- 
 mal with new pleafure, which has given 
 diverllon to a German prince for nine 
 
 hours together. The productions of 
 
 Ridinger are very numerous ; and the 
 greater part of them good. His hunt- 
 ings in general, and different methods 
 of catching animals, are the leaft pictu- 
 refque of any of his works. Eat he 
 meant them rather as didactic prints, 
 than as pictures. Many of his fables 
 are beautiful, particularly the 3d, the 
 
 7th, 
 
C H3 ] 
 7th, the 8th, and the 10th. I cannot 
 
 ii:'ztz: zi~:s.2 2. zitz::S.i: e.-cizr.iun 
 upon a book of the heads of wolves 
 and foxes. — His moft capital prints are 
 Z'-.-j liri-t urrigh:: : cr.e :rTrr:t.-:L-g 
 bears devouring a deer ; the other wild- 
 b >ars rep ::lng in a foreft 
 
 MlSTERf 
 
C *44 J 
 
 Masters in Landscape. 
 
 Sadler's landfcapes have fome merit 
 in competition : they are picturefque 
 and romantic ; but the manner is dry 
 and difagreeable ; the light ill-diftri- 
 buted > the diftances ill-kept ; and the 
 figures bad. — There were three engra- 
 vers of this name ; but none of them 
 eminent. John engraved a fet of prints 
 for the bible ; and many other fmall 
 plates in the hiftorical way ± in which 
 we fometimes find a graceful figure, 
 and tolerable drawing ; but on the 
 whole, no great merit. Egidius was 
 the engraver of landfcapes, and is the 
 perfon here criticifed. Ralph chiefly 
 copied the defigns of Bassan ; and en- 
 graved 
 
[ H5- J 
 
 graved in the dry difagreeable manner 
 of his brother. 
 
 Rembrandt's landfcapes have very 
 little to recommend them, befides their 
 effect •, which is often furprifing. One 
 of the moft admired of them goes un- 
 der the name of The three trees. 
 
 Gasper Poussin etched a few land- 
 fcapes in a very loofe, but mafterly man- 
 ner. It is a pity we have not more of 
 his works. 
 
 Abraham Bloemart underftood the 
 beauty of compofition, as well in land- 
 fcape, as in hiftory. But his prints have 
 little force, through the want of a 1 pro- 
 per diftribution of light. Neither is' 
 there much freedom in the execution; 
 L and 
 
I 146 T 
 
 and yet there- is generally great ele- 
 gance in the defign, and great fim- 
 plicity. 
 
 Hollar gives us views of particular 
 places, which he copies with great truth,, 
 unornamented, as he found them. If 
 we are fatisfied with exadt reprefenta- 
 tions, we have them no where better 
 than in Hollar's works : but if we ex- 
 pect pictures, we muft feek them elfe- 
 where. Hollar was an antiquarian, 
 and a draughtfman ; but feems to have 
 been little acquainted with the princi- 
 ples of painting. Stiffnefs is his cha- 
 racteristic,, and a painful exadtnefs, void 
 of tafte. His larger views are mere 
 plans. In fome of his fmaller, at the 
 expence of infinite pains, fomething of 
 an effect is fometimes produced. But; 
 
 in 
 
[ 147 ] 
 
 in general, we confider him as a repo- 
 fitory of curiofities, a record of anti- 
 quated drefies, abolifhed ceremonies, 
 and edifices now in ruins. 
 
 Stephen de la Bella's landfcapes 
 have little to recommend them, befides 
 their neatnefs, and keeping. There is 
 no great beauty in his compofition j and 
 the foliage of his trees refembles bits 
 of fpunge. I fpeak chiefly of his larger 
 works ; for which his manner is not 
 calculated. His great neatnefs qualifies 
 him better for miniature. 
 
 Bolswert's landfcapes after Reubens 
 are executed in a very grand ftyle. Such 
 a painter, and fuch an engraver, could 
 not fail of producing fomething great. 
 There is little variety in them : nor any 
 L 2 of 
 
[ i 4 8 ] 
 
 of the more minute beauties arifing from' 
 contrafts, catching lights, and fuch lit- 
 tle elegancies •, but every thing is fim- 
 ple, and great. The print, which -goes, 
 by the name of I'he waggon, is particu- 
 larly, and defervedly admired. Of thefe 
 prints you generally meet with good im- 
 preflions, as the plates are engraved 
 with great ftrength. 
 
 Neulant hath etched a fmall boob 
 of the ruins of Rome, in which there is - 
 great fimplicity, and fome fkill in com- 
 pofition, and the diflribution of light :. 
 but the execution is harm and difagree- 
 able. 
 
 . We have a few landfcapes by an earl 
 of Sunderland, in an elegant, loofe man- 
 ner, i : One of thenv in which is a Spa- 
 niard 
 
I *49 1 
 riiard {landing on the fore-ground, is 
 marked G. & J. fatlpferunt : another 
 J.G. 
 
 Waterlo is a name beyond any o- 
 ther in landfcape. His fubjedts are per- 
 fectly rural. Simplicity is their cha- 
 racteriftic. We find no great variety in 
 them, nor ftretch of fancy. He fele£ts 
 a few ftriking objects. A coppice, a 
 corner of a foreft, a winding road, or 
 a ftragling village is generally the ex- 
 tent of his view : nor does he always in- 
 troduce an offfkip. His compofition is 
 .generally good, and his light often well 
 •diftributed ; but his chief merit lies in 
 execution, in which he is a confummate 
 smaller. Every object that he touches, 
 4ias the character of nature : but he par- 
 ticularly excels in the foliage of trees; 
 
 —It 
 
[ ISO ] 
 
 —It is a difficult matter to meet with 
 the works of this m after in perfection -, 
 the original plates are all retouched, and 
 greatly injured. 
 
 Swanevelt painted landfcape at 
 Rome, where he obtained the name of 
 the hermit, from his folitary walks among 
 the ruins of Tivoli, and Frescati. He 
 etched in the manner of Waterlo; 
 but with lefs freedom. His trees, in 
 particular, will bear no comparifon with 
 thofe of that mailer. But if he fell 
 ihort of Waterlo in the freedom of 
 execution, he went greatly beyond him 
 in the dignity of defign. Waterlo 
 law nature with a Dutchman's eye. If 
 we except two or three of his pieces, he 
 never went beyond the plain fimplicity 
 of a Flemilh landfcape. Swanevelt's 
 
 ideas 
 
C N* 1 
 
 ideas were of a nobler call. Swanevelt 
 had trodden clafllc ground ; and had 
 warmed his imagination with the gran- 
 deur and variety of Italian views, every- 
 where ornamented with the fplendid ruins 
 of Roman architecture. His compofition 
 is often good ; and his lights judicioufly 
 fpread. In his execution, we plainly 
 difcover two different manners; whe- 
 ther a number of his plates have been 
 retouched by fome judicious hand ; or 
 whether he himfelf altered his manner 
 in the different periods of his life. 
 
 James Rousseau, the difciple of 
 Swanevelt, was a French proteftant, 
 and fled into England from the perfecu- 
 tion of Lewis XIV. Here he was pa- 
 tronized by the duke of Montague, 
 whofe palace, now the Brinjh Mufeum, 
 
 he 
 
t *5* 1 
 
 he contributed to adorn with his paint- 
 ings ; ibme of which are very good. 
 The few etchings he hath left are very 
 beautiful. He underftood compofition, 
 and the dirbibution of light ; and there 
 is a fine, tafte in his landfcapes, if we ex- 
 cept perhaps only that his horizon is of- 
 ten taken too high. Neither can his per- 
 rpecdve, at all times, bear a critical ex- 
 amination ; and what is worfe, it is of- 
 ten pedantically introduced. His figures 
 are good in themfelves, and generally 
 well placed. — His manner is rather dry 
 and formal. — Rousseau, it may be ad- 
 ded, was an excellent man. Having 
 ped the rage of perfecution himfelf, 
 he made it his ftudy to lerTen the fuffer- 
 ings of his diitrerTcd brethren, by diftri- 
 buting among them the greateft part of 
 his gains. Such an anecdote, in the life 
 
 of 
 
[ *S3 1 
 
 cr 2. ■::..-.:::. :".-.; -J li r.:: ; : :rr_: ::-:., 
 t'.~z:. ::. :: :.:: :-. rt"..r~ i: !.'_:. 
 
 We now and then meet with an etch- 
 7 R i •"• 'sdjuje ; but I never few any 
 
 tr.=: v.i5 ...: _ v "._-.-.:. 
 
 J. Lutm a hath etched a few fcnafl 
 jandicapes in a mafterly manner which 
 
 ciicover f'rr.r :~s.Ll] :- ::~ " : _": i: : r. . ir.i 
 
 Lie ni~;..rcn".t~: :: -iiv.i 
 
 Israel Stlvestsje has given us 
 dinall views (ibme indeed of a larger 
 fize) of moft of the capital rains, 
 
 chv.rche.:. rriirr: ir.i ::.::!:3. •- 7;i.-:t 
 *ind Italy. They are exceedingly neat, 
 .and touched with great jpirit. Thk 
 
 ::::.i:r: :ir. z':~'t :f:-_r." ever. :: :~.t :;::- 
 Jjnes of a modern binldinsr ; and what 
 
 ;5 
 
t 154 ] 
 
 is more, he gives it without injuring the 
 truth : infomuch that I have feen a gen- 
 tleman juft come from his travels, pick 
 out many of Sylvestre's views, one 
 by one, tho he had never feen them be- 
 fore, merely from his acquaintance with 
 the buildings, To his praife it may be 
 farther added, that in general he forms 
 his view into an agreeable whole ; and 
 jf his light is not always well diftribut- 
 ed, there are fo many beauties in his 
 execution, that the eye cannot find 
 fault. His works are very numerous, 
 and few of them are bad. In trees he 
 excels leaft. 
 
 The etchings of Claude Lorrain - 
 are below his character. We fome- 
 times find good compofition in them ; 
 but little elfe. His execution is bad : 
 
 there 
 
I *55 3 
 
 there is a dirtinefs in it, which is dif- 
 gufting : his trees are heavy ; his lights 
 feldom well-malTed ; and his diftances 
 
 only fometimes obferved. The truth 
 
 is, Claude's talents lay upon his pal- 
 let ; and he could do nothing without 
 
 it. His Via facra is one of the belt 
 
 of his prints. The trees and ruins on 
 the left, are very beautifully touched ; 
 and the whole (tho a formal whole) 
 would have been pleafing, if the fore- 
 ground had been in fhadow. 
 
 Perelle has great merit. His fan- 
 cy is exceedingly fruitful ; and fupplies 
 him with a richnefs, and variety in his 
 views, which nature feldom exhibits. 
 It is indeed too exuberant ; for he often 
 confounds the eye with too great a lux- 
 uriancy. His manner is his own ; and 
 
 it 
 
t 156 1 
 
 k Is hard to fay, whether it excel moft 
 in richnefs, ftrength, elegance, or free- 
 dom. His trees are particularly beauti- 
 ful; the foliage is loofe, and the ramifi- 
 cation eafy. And yet it muft be con- 
 feffed, that Perelle is rather a manne- 
 rift, than a copier of nature. His views 
 are all ideal ; his trees are of one family, 
 and his light, tho generally well diftri- 
 buted, is fometimes affe&ed : it is intro- 
 duced as a fpot ; and is not properly 
 melted into the neighbouring made by 
 a middle tint. Catching lights, ufed 
 -Sparingly, are beautiful : Perelle af- 
 fects them. — Thefe remarks are made 
 •principally upon the works of old Pe- 
 relle, as he is called. There were 
 three engravers of this name ; the grand- 
 father, the father, and the fon. They 
 all engraved in the fame ftyle; but the 
 
 juniors j, 
 
[ *57 1 
 
 juniors, inftead of improving the farai- 
 ly-tafte, degenerated. The grandfather 
 is the beft, and the grandfon the worft. 
 
 Vander Cabel feems to have been 
 a carelefs artift; and difcovers great flo- 
 venlinefs in many of his works : but in 
 thofe which he has ftudied, and care- 
 fully executed, there is great beauty. 
 His manner is loofe and mafterly. It 
 wants effect i but abounds in freedom. 
 His trees are often particularly well 
 managed ; and his fmall pieces, in ge- 
 neral, the beft of his works. 
 
 In Weirotter we fee great neatnefs, 
 and high finifhing; but often at the 
 expence of fpirit and effecl:. He feems 
 to have underftood beft the manage- 
 ment of trees, to which he always gives 
 
 a very 
 
[ 158 ] 
 
 a very beautiful loofenefs. — ■ — There is 
 great effect in a fmall moon-light by this' 
 matter : the whole is in dark fhade, ex- 
 cept three figures on the fore-ground. 
 
 Overbeck etched a. book of Roman 
 ruins •, which are in general good. They 
 are pretty large, and highly finifhed. 
 His manner is free, his light often well 
 diftributed, and his compofition agree- 
 able. 
 
 Genoel!s landfcapes are rather free 
 Iketches, than finifhed prints. In that 
 light they are beautiful. No effect is 
 aimed at : but the free manner in which 
 they are touched, is pleafing •, and the 
 compofition is in general good, tho of- 
 ten crowded. 
 
 Both's 
 
I *59 I 
 Both's tafte in landfcape is elegant. 
 His ideas are grand*, his compofitioo- 
 beautiful-, and his execution rich and 
 mailerly in the higheft degree. His 
 light is not always well diftributed -, but 
 his figures are excellent. We regret 
 that we have not more of his works ^ 
 for they are certainly, upon the whole, 
 among the beft lanfcapes we have 
 
 Marco Ricci's works, which are 
 numerous, have little merit. His hu- 
 man figures indeed are good, and his 
 trees tolerable-, but he produces no 
 effect, his manner is difgufting, his cat- 
 tle ill- drawn, and his diftances ill-pre- 
 ferved. 
 
 Le Veau's landfcapes are highly £- 
 Jiifhed : they are engraved with great 
 
 foftnefs, 
 
[ 160 J 
 
 fbftnefs, elegance, and fpirit. The 
 keeping of this m after is particularly 
 well obferved. His fubjecls too are 
 well-chofen ; and his prints indeed, in 
 general, make very beautiful furniture. ^ 
 
 Zuingg engraves in a manner very' 
 like Le Veau ; but not quite fo ele- 
 gantly. 
 
 Zeeman was a Dutch painter ; and 
 excelled in fea-coafts, beaches, and dif-j 
 tant land ; which he commonly orna- 
 mented with ikiffs, and fifhing-boats. 
 His execution is neat, and his diftances 
 well kept : but he knows nothing of the' 
 diftribution of light. His figures too 
 are good, and his fkiffs admirable. In 
 his fea-peces he introduces larger veffels $ 
 
 but- 
 
but his prints in this flyle are common- 
 ly awkward, and difagreeable. 
 
 Vandiest left behind him a few 
 rough fketches, which are executed with 
 great freedom. 
 
 Goupy very happily caught the man- 
 ner of Salvator •, and in fome things 
 excelled him. There is a richnefs in 
 his execution, and a fpirit in his trees, 
 which Salvator wants. But his fi- 
 gures are bad. Very grofs inftances, 
 not only of indelicacy of out-line, but 
 even of bad drawing, may be found in 
 his print of Porsenna, and in that of 
 Diana. Landfcape is his fort ; and his 
 beft prints are thofe, which go under 
 the titles of the Latrones, the Augurs, 
 fobit, Hagar, and its companion. 
 
 M Piranesi 
 
[ i6z ] 
 
 Firanesi has given us a larger col- 
 lection of Roman antiquities, than any 
 other mafter •, and has added to his ru- 
 ins a great variety of modern buildings. 
 The critics fay, he has trailed too much 
 to his eye ; and that his proportions and 
 perfpective are often faulty. He feems 
 to be a rapid genius ; and we are told, 
 the drawings, which he takes upon the 
 fpot, are as flight and rough as pofli- 
 ble : the reft he makes out by memory 
 and invention. From fo voluminous an 
 artift, indeed, we cannot expect much 
 correclnefs : his works complete, fell at 
 
 leaf]: for fifty pounds. But the great 
 
 excellence of this artift lies in execution, 
 of which he is a confummate mafter. 
 His ftroke is firm, free, and bold, be- 
 yond expreflion ; and his manner admi- 
 rably calculated to produce a grand, 
 
 and 
 
[ i63 3 
 
 and rich effect. But the effects he pro- 
 duces are rarely feen, except in fingle 
 objects. A defaced capital, a ruin- 
 ed wall, or broken fluting, he touches 
 -with amazing oftnefs, and fpirit. He 
 expreffes- even the ftains of weather- 
 beaten marble : and thofe of his prints, 
 in which he has an opportunity of dis- 
 playing expreflion in this way, are ge- 
 nerally die beft. His ftroke has much 
 the appearance of etching ; but I have 
 been informed that it is chiefly engrav- 
 ed, and that he makes very great ufe 
 
 of the dry needle. In a picturefque 
 
 light Piranesi's faults are many. His 
 horizon is often taken too high; his 
 views are frequently ill-chofen ; his ob- 
 jects crowded ; and his forms ill-ihapen. 
 Of the diftribution of light he has lit- 
 tle knowledge. Now and then we meet 
 M 2 with 
 
[ i*4 ] 
 
 with an effect of it-, which makes us 
 only lament, that in fuch mafterly per- 
 formances it is found fo feldom. His 
 figures are bad : they are ill-drawn, and 
 the drapery hangs in tatters. It is un- 
 happy too, that his prints are populous : 
 his trees are in a paultry ftyle; and his 
 fkies hard, and frittered. 
 
 Our celebrated countryman Hogarth 
 cannot properly be omitted in a cata- 
 logue of engravers ; and yet he ranks 
 in none of the foregoing clafTes. With 
 this apology I fhall introduce him here. 
 
 The works of this mafter abound in 
 true humour •, and fatire, which is gene- 
 rally well directed : they are admirable 
 moral leflbns, and a fund of entertain- 
 ment fuited to every tafte ; a circum- 
 ftance, which fhews them to be juft co- 
 pies 
 
[ i«5 ] 
 
 pies of nature. We may confider them 
 too as valuable repofitories of the man- 
 ners, cuftoms, and drefies of the prefent 
 age. What a fund of entertainment 
 would a collection of this kind afford, 
 drawn from every period of the hiftory 
 of Britain ?■ — How far the works of Ho- 
 garth will bear a critical examination) 
 may be the fubjedt of a little more en- 
 quiry. 
 
 In defign Hogarth was feldom at a 
 lofs. His invention was fertile ^ and 
 his judgment accurate. An improper 
 incident is rarely introduced ; a proper 
 one rarely omitted. No one could tell 
 a ftory better ; or make it, in all its cir- 
 cumftances, more intelligible. His ge- 
 nius, however, it muft be owned, was 
 fuited only to low, or familiar fubjects. 
 It never foared above common life : to 
 
 fubjefts 
 
[ i6« 1 
 
 fubjects naturally fublime; or which 
 from antiquity, or other accidents bor- 
 rowed dignity, he could not rife. 
 
 In compofition we fee little in him to 
 admire. In many of his prints, the de- 
 ficiency is fo great as plainly to imply a 
 want of all principle ; which makes us 
 ready to believe, that when we do meet 
 with a beautiful group, it is the effect 
 of chance. In one of his minor works, 
 the idle prentice, we feldom fee a crowd 
 more beautifully managed, than in the 
 laft print. If the fheriff's officers had 
 not been placed in a line, and had been 
 brought a little lower in the picture, fo 
 as to have formed a pyramid with the 
 cart, the compofition had been unex-, 
 ceptionable : and yet the firft print of 
 this work is fuch a finking inftance of 
 difagreeable compofition, that it is 
 
 amazing, 
 
[ i6y ] 
 
 amazing, how an artift, who had any 
 idea of beautiful forms, could fuffer fo 
 unmallerly a performance to leave his 
 hands. 
 
 Of the diftribution of light Hogarth 
 had as little knowledge as of ccmpofi- 
 tion. In fome of his pieces we fee a 
 good effect ; as in the execution juft 
 mentioned ; in which, if the figures, at 
 the right and left corners, had been 
 kepi down a little, the light would have 
 been beautifully diftributed on the fore- 
 ground, and a fine fecondary light 
 fpread over part of the crowd : but at 
 the fame time there is fo obvious a de- 
 ficiency 'in point of effect, in moll of 
 his prints, that it is very evident he had 
 no principles. 
 
 Neither was Hogarth a marter in 
 (trowing. Of the mufcles and anatomy 
 
 of 
 
t 168 1 
 
 of the head and hands he had perfect 
 knowledge ; but his trunks are often 
 badly moulded, and his limbs ill let on. 
 I tax him with plain bad drawing, I 
 fpeak not of the niceties of anatomy, 
 and elegance of out-line : of thele in- 
 deed he knew nothing •, nor were they 
 ' of ufe in that mode of defign which he 
 cultivated: and yet his figures, upon 
 the whole, are infpired with fo much 
 life, and meaning, that the eye is kept 
 in good humour, in fpite of its inclina- 
 tion to find fault. 
 
 The author of the Analyfis of beauty^ 
 it might be fuppofed, would have given 
 us more inftances of grace , than we find 
 in the works of Hogarth ; which fhews 
 flrongly that theory and practice are not 
 always united. Many opportunities his 
 fubje&s naturally afford of introducing 
 
 graceful 
 
I 169 ] 
 
 ...graceful attitudes •, and yet we have very 
 few examples of them. With inftances 
 of picturefque grace his works abound. 
 
 Of his exprej/ion, in which the force 
 of his genius lay, we cannot fpeak in 
 terms too high. In every mode of it he 
 was truly excellent. The pafllons he 
 thoroughly underftood ; and all the ef- 
 fects which they produce in every part 
 of the human frame : he had the happy 
 art alfo of conveying his ideas with the 
 fame precifion, with which he conceiv- 
 ed them. — He was excellent too in ex- 
 prefling any humorous oddity, which 
 we often fee ftamped upon the human 
 face. All his heads are caft in the very 
 mould of nature. Hence that endlefs 
 variety, which is difplayed through his 
 works ; and hence it is, that the 
 difference arifes between his heads, and 
 
 the 
 
[ 170 ] 
 
 the affected caricaturas of thofe mafters, 
 who have fometimes amufed themfelves 
 with patching together an anemblage of 
 features from their own ideas. Such 
 are Spaniolet's ; which, tho admira- 
 bly executed, appear plainly to have 
 no archetypes in nature. Hogarth's, 
 on the other hand, are collections of 
 natural curiofities. The Oxford-heads, 
 the pbyjzcian's-arms, and fome of his ou- 
 tlier pieces, are exprefly of this humo- 
 rous kind. They are truly comic ; tho 
 ill-natured efrufions of mirth : more en- 
 tertaining than Spaniolet's, as they 
 are pure nature ; but lefs innocent, as 
 they contain ill-directed ridicule. — But 
 the fpecies of expreffion, in which this 
 mafter perhaps moil excels, is that hap- 
 py art of catching thofe peculiarities of 
 air^ and gefture, which the ridiculous 
 
 part 
 
C 17* 1 
 
 part of every profeflion contract-, and 
 which, for that reafon, become charadbe- 
 riftic of the whole. His counfellors, 
 his undertakers, his lawyers, his ufurers, 
 are all confpicuous at fight. In a word, 
 almoft every profeffion may fee in his 
 works, that particular fpecies of affecta- 
 tion which they fhould mofl endeavour 
 to avoid. 
 
 The execution of this mailer is well 
 fuited to his fubjedts, and manner of 
 treating them. He etches with great 
 fpirit ; and never gives one unneceffary 
 flroke. For myfelf, I greatly more value 
 the works of his own needle, than thofe 
 high-finifhed prints, on which he employ- 
 ed other engravers. For as the produc- 
 tion of an effect is not his talent •, and as 
 this is the chief excellence of high-finifh- 
 ing, his own rough manner is certainly 
 
 preferable, 
 
t m 1 
 
 preferable, in which we have moft of the 
 force, and fpirit of his exprefiion. The 
 manner in none of his works pleafes me 
 fo well, as in a fmall print of a corner 
 of a play-houfe. There is more fpirit 
 in a work of this kind, ftruck off at 
 once, warm from the imagination, than 
 in all the cold corredtnefs of an elabo- 
 rate engraving. If all his works had 
 been executed in this ftyie, with a few 
 improvements in the compofition, and 
 the management of light, they would 
 certainly have been a much more valu- 
 able collection of prints than they are. 
 The Rake's prcgrefs, and fome of his o- 
 ther works, are both etched and en- 
 graved by himfelf : they are well done ; 
 but it is plain he meant them as furni- 
 ture. As works defigned for a critick's 
 eye, they would certainly have been 
 
 better 
 
[ *73 J 
 
 better without the engraving, except a 
 few touches in a very few places. The 
 want of effect too would have been lefs 
 confpicuous, which in his higheft fi- 
 nished prints is difagreeably finking. 
 
 CHAPTER 
 

 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 R: '■':.:-■:: :-: t.: t : :::.-.' s r F~r;;;. 
 
 The iifv?.?.::::::; c? La: a i ~ : , 
 
 BY BlOEMAHT. 
 
 T T T I TH regiri :: 
 
 hi; grei: rr.fr::. The r:ir.: :: 
 time is very judidoufiy choJen. It is a 
 
 p::r: ber^eer. :rr £:.: ::~rr.ir.i. £_".;- 
 rui c&tvf forth-, and die fecond, Zat?? 
 
 .<■;' ;, --v.: .V; v; ■■■; r/, The jiiYr.-rrrrcr: 
 
[ t# J 
 
 of the two filters is now over. The pre- 
 dominant paffion is gratitude ; which is 
 difcovering itfelf in praife. One of the 
 attendants is telling the yet ftupified 
 man, " That is your fifter." Himfelf, 
 collecting his fcattered ideas, directs his 
 gratitude to Chrift. Jefus directs it far- 
 ther, to heaven. So far the defign is 
 good. But what are thofe idle figures 
 on the right hand, and on the left ? 
 fome of them feem no way concerned in 
 the action. Two of the principal are 
 introduced as grave-diggers*, but even 
 in that capacity they were unwanted ; 
 for the place, we are told, was a cave, 
 and ajlone rolled upon the mouth. When 
 a painter is employed on a barren fub- 
 je6t, he mure make up his groups as he 
 is able : but there is no barrennefs here: 
 the artift might, with propriety, have in- 
 troduced, 
 
[ i77 1 
 
 troduced, in the room of the grave- dig- 
 gers, fome of the Pharifaical party ma- 
 ligning the action. Such, we are told, 
 were on the fpot ; and, as they are fi- 
 gures of confequence in the ftory, they 
 ought not to have been moved back, as 
 they are, among the appendages of the 
 piece. 
 
 The compojition is almofl faultlefs. 
 The principal group is finely difpofed. 
 Its form is nearly that of a right-angled 
 triangle. The hand of Chrift is the 
 apex. The kneeling figure, and the 
 dark figure looking up, make the two 
 other angles. The group opens in a 
 beautiful manner, and difcovers every 
 part. It is equally beautiful, when con- 
 fidered as combined with the figures 
 on the left. It then forms an eafy in- 
 clined plane, of which the higheft figure 
 N is 
 
( *7* 1 
 
 is the apex, and the dark figure juft 
 mentioned, on the left of Lazarus, is 
 the angle at the bafe. Such combina- 
 tions of triangular forms have a fine 
 effed. 
 
 The light is very ill-diftributed, tho 
 the figures are difpofed to receive the 
 moil beautiful effect of it. The whole 
 is one glare. It had been better, if all 
 the figures on the elevated ground, on 
 the right, had been in flrong fhadow. 
 The extended arm, the head and moul- 
 der of the grave-digger, might have re- 
 ceived catching lights. A little more 
 light might have been thrown upon the 
 principal figure j and a little lefs upon 
 the figure kneeling. The remaining fi- 
 gures, on the left, mould have been 
 kept down. Thus the light would have 
 
 centered 
 
[ *79 ] 
 
 centered ftrongly upon the capital group, 
 and would have faded gradually away. 
 
 The fmgle figures are in general 
 good. The principal one indeed is not 
 fo capital as might be wifhed, The 
 character is not quite pleafing; the 
 right arm is aukwardly introduced, if 
 not ill-drawn ; and the whole difagreea- 
 bly incumbered with drapery.— -Lazarus 
 is very fine: the drawing* the expref- 
 fion, and grace of the figure are all 
 good. — The figure kneeling is not very 
 graceful-, but it contrafts with the 
 group. — The grave-diggers are both ad- 
 mirable. It is a pity, they fhould be 
 incumbrances only. 
 
 The drawing is good •, yet there feems 
 
 to be fomething amils in the pectoral 
 
 mufcles of the grave-digger on the right. 
 
 The hands too, in general, of all the 
 
 N 2 figures, 
 
[ iSo ] 
 
 figure;, are conftrained and aukward. 
 Few of diem are in natural action. 
 
 The maimer is ftrong, diftinct, and 
 expreflive. It is mere engraving, with- 
 er: ~~r.y prrhing. The drapery of the 
 kneeling figure is particularly well 
 touched : as are alio the head, and leg 
 of La: a?.v s ; and the grave-digger oa 
 
 The 
 
[ ■* 3 
 
 Thz ::a:h of Polycratzs, by 
 Salvator Rosa. 
 
 The ft cry is well told : every part is 
 folly engaged in the fubjecl, and pro- 
 perly iubordinate to it. 
 
 The dxjpcfiiion is agreeable. The 
 connivance of the groups, falling one 
 into another, is very pleating : and yet 
 the form would have been more beau- 
 tiful, if a ladder with a figure upon it, 
 a piece of loole drapery, a ftandard, or 
 lome other object, had been placed on 
 the left fide of the crofs, to have filled 
 up that formal vacancy, in the fhape of 
 a right-angle, and to have made the 
 pyrirr.ii mere c:~ ple:e. TJve grcups 
 iL-.r~:elvc5 i:t ::.— pie i?.c i'.tz-:.:. T~e 
 
 :h:e? 
 
[ -x82 ] 
 
 three figures on horfe-back indeed are 
 bad. A line of heads is always un- 
 pleafmg. 
 
 We have no keeping. The whole is 
 one furface; which might have been 
 prevented by a little more ftrength on 
 the fore-ground, and a (lighter fky. 
 
 The light is diftributed without any 
 judgment. It might perhaps have 
 been improved, if the group of the 
 foldier refting upon his fhield, had been 
 in fhadow ; with a few catching lights. 
 This fhadow, pafling through the label, 
 might have extended over great part of 
 the fore-ground above it : by which we 
 mould have had a body of ihadow to 
 balance the light of the centre-group. 
 The lower figures of the equeftrian- 
 group might have received a middle 
 tint,, with a few ftrong touches; the 
 
 upper 
 
[ i83 J 
 
 upper figures might have caught the. 
 light, to detach them from the ground. 
 
 With regard to the figures taken fe- 
 parately, they are almoft unexception- 
 ably good. You will feldom indeed fee 
 fo many good figures in any collection 
 of fuch a number. The young foldier 
 leaning over his fhield ; the other fi- 
 gures of that group ; the foldier point- 
 ing, in the middle of the picture ; and 
 ,the figure behind him fpreading his 
 hands, are all in the higheft degree ele- 
 gant, and graceful. The diflant figures 
 top are beautiful. The expreffion, in 
 the whole body of the fpe&ators, is very 
 ftriking. Some are more, and fome 
 lefs affected -, but every one in a de- 
 gree. All the figures, however, are 
 
 not faultlefs. Polycrates hangs un- 
 gracefully upon his crofs : his body is 
 
 compofed 
 
[ 1 84 ] 
 
 compofed of parallel lines, and right 
 angles. His face is ftrongly marked with 
 agony : but his legs are difproportioned 
 to his body. — The three lower figures 
 of the equeftrian-group, are bad. They 
 are properly placed to catch the abrupt- 
 nefs of the centre-group, and finifh the 
 pyramid form ; but they might have 
 had a little more meaning, and a little 
 
 more grace. One of the equeftrian 
 
 figures alfo, that neareft the crofs, is 
 formal and difgufting : and as to an 
 horfe, Salvator feems not to have had 
 the leaft idea of the proportion and 
 anatomy of that animal. 
 
 The fcenery is inimitable. The rock 
 broken, and covered with fhrubs at the 
 top ; and afterwards fpreading into one 
 grand, and fimple Ihade, is in itfelf a 
 
 pleafing 
 
[ i85 ] 
 
 pleafing object ; and affords an excel- 
 lent back-ground to the figures. 
 
 The execution of this print is equal to 
 that of any of Salvator's works. The 
 paffages, in which this matter's manner 
 is more particularly characterized, are, 
 the foldier fitting with the fhield, the 
 pointing figure in the middle-group, 
 the head in armour behind it, the dif- 
 tant groups immediately on the right 
 and left of the crofs ; and the fcenery 
 in general. 
 
 The 
 
C 186 ] 
 
 The triumph of Silenus, by 
 Peter Testa. 
 
 P. Testa feems, in this elegant and 
 mafterly performance, as far as his fu- 
 blime ideas can be comprehended, to 
 intend a fatire upon drunkennefs. 
 
 The defign is perfect. Silenus is 
 introduced in the middle of the piece, 
 holding an ivy-crown, and fupported 
 by his train, in all the pomp of un- 
 wieldy majefty. Before him dance a 
 band of bacchanalian rioters ; fome of 
 them,, as defcribed by the poets, 
 
 •— — inter pocula laeti,. 
 
 MbHifeus m pratis, unftos faliere per litres. 
 
 Intemperance, Debauchery, and unna- 
 tural Lufts complete the immoral fefti- 
 
 val. 
 
[ i« 7 ] 
 
 val. In the ofHkip rifes the temple of 
 Priapus, hard by a mountain, dedicated 
 to lewdnefs, nymphs and fatyrs.— In the 
 heavens are repreiented the Moon and 
 Stars pulhing back the Sun: the ac- 
 tions, of which this night was a witnefs, 
 dreaded the approach of day. 
 
 The difyofiticn has lefs merit ; yet h 
 not unplealing. The whole group, on 
 the left of Silenus, and the fever al parts 
 of it, are happily dilpofed. The group 
 of dancers, on the other fide, is crowd- 
 ed, and ill-fhapen. It is difagreeable 
 too for want of contrail. The two 
 principal figures, each {landing on one 
 leg, appear difgufling counter-parts. 
 The whole (I fpeak only of the terref- 
 trial groups) is difpofed in the form 
 of an eafy inclined plane ; which par- 
 takes as little-as poffible of the pyramidal 
 
 form. 
 
[ m ] 
 
 form. It might, perhaps, have had a 
 better effect, if an elegant canopy had 
 been holden over Silenus, which would 
 have been no improper appendage -, and, 
 by bringing the apex of the pyramid o- 
 ver the principal figure, would have 
 given more variety to the whole. The 
 famenefs too, in the difpofition of the 
 etherial and the terreftrial figures, which 
 is rather difpleafing,, would have been 
 prevented by this flight alteration. 
 
 The light ) with regard to particular 
 figures^ is very beautiful. But fuch a 
 light, at beft, gives you only the idea 
 of a picture examined by a candle. 
 Every figure, as you hold the candle to 
 it, appears well lighted ; but inftead of 
 an effect of light, you have only a fue- 
 ceffion of fpots. Indeed the light is not 
 only ill, but abfurdly diftributed. The 
 
 upper 
 
[■■ I«? ] 
 
 upper part is enlightened by one fun ? 
 and the lower part by another ; the di- 
 rection of the light being different in 
 each. — Should we endeavour to amend 
 it, it might be better perhaps to, leave 
 out the Sun ; and to reprefent him, by 
 his fymbols, as approaching only. The 
 fky-figures would of courfe receive 
 catching lights, and might be left near- 
 ly as they are. The figure of Rain un- 
 der the Moon mould be in lliadow. 
 The bear too, and the lion's head 
 mould be kept down. Thus there 
 would be nothing glaring in the celef- 
 tial figures. Silenus, and his train, 
 might be enlightened by a very ftrong 
 torch-light, carried by the dancing fi- 
 gures. The light would then fall near- 
 ly as it does, upon the principal group. 
 The other figures mould be brought down 
 
 to 
 
t 190 ] 
 
 to a middle tinL This kind of light 
 would naturally produce a gloom in the 
 back-ground j but there is no occafion 
 to make it dark, as more torch-light 
 might be fuppofed. 
 
 With regard to the figures taken fe- 
 parately, they are conceived with fuch 
 claflical purity, and fimplicity of tafte, 
 fo elegant in the drawing, fo graceful in 
 every attitude, and, at the fame time, 
 marked with fuch manly exprefiion, 
 that if I were obliged to fix upon any 
 print, as an example of all the beauties 
 which fingle figures are capable of re- 
 ceiving, I fhould be tempted to giver 
 the preference to this : tho at the fame 
 time it rauft be owned, that fome of 
 them give you too much the idea of 
 marble. 
 
 The 
 
f 191 ] 
 
 The moft finking inftances of fine 
 drawing are feen ih the principal figure 3 
 in the legs of tile figure that fupports 
 •him ; and in thole of the figure dancing 
 with the pipes ; in the man and woman 
 behind the centaur; in the figure in 
 the clouds, With his right hand over his 
 knee ; in the Apollo •, and particularly 
 in that bold fore-lhortened figure of the 
 fign Capricorn. 
 
 Inftances of exprejjion we have in the 
 unweiidinefs of Silenus. He appears 
 fo dead a weight, fo totally urielaftic, 
 that every part of him, which is not 
 fupported, finks with its own gravity. 
 The fenfibility too With which his bloat- 
 ed body, like a quagmire, feels every 
 touch, is ftrongly exprelTed in his coun- 
 tenance. The figure, which fupports' 
 him, expreffes in every mufcle the la- 
 bour 
 
[ *9 2 3 
 
 bour of the action. The dancing fi- 
 gures, if we except that with the thyr- 
 fus, are all ftrongly characterized. 
 The puihing figures in the fky are? 
 marked with great expreflion ; and a- 
 bove all the threatning Capricorn, who 
 is reprefented in the act. of drawing a 
 bow. 
 
 With regard to grace, every figure, 
 at leaft every capital one, is agreeable •, 
 if we except only that figure, which 
 lies kicking its legs upon the ground. 
 But we have the flrongeft inftances of 
 grace in the figure dancing with the 
 pipes, in the man and woman behind 
 the centaur, (who, it is not improba- 
 ble, might be defigned for Bacchus and 
 Ariadne) and in the boy lying on the 
 ground. 
 
 With 
 
[ '93 ] 
 With regard to execution, we rarely 
 fee an inftance of it in greater perfec- 
 tion. Every head, every muiele, and 
 every extremity is touched vrith innrdte 
 fpirit. The very appendages are fine j 
 and the (tone-pines, which adorn the 
 back-ground, are marked with fuch tafle 
 and preciiion, as if landicape had been 
 this artiil's or.lv itudv. 
 
 O Smith's 
 
[ *94 ] 
 
 Smith's portrait of the duke of 
 Shomberg, from Kneller. 
 
 Kneller, even when he laid himfelf 
 out to excel, was often but a tawdry 
 painter. His equeftrian portrait of 
 king William, at Hampton-court, is 
 a very unmafterly performance : the 
 compofition is bad j the colouring gau- 
 dy •, 'the whole is void of effect, and 
 there is fcarce a good figure in the 
 piece. — The compofition before us is 
 more pleafing, tho the effect is little 
 better. An equeftrian figure, at beft, 
 is an awkward fubject. The legs of an 
 horfe are great encumbrances in group- 
 ing. Vandyke, indeed, has managed 
 king Charles the Firft, on horfe-back, 
 
 with- 
 
 
[ 195 ] 
 
 with great judgment ; and Rubens too, 
 at Hampton-court, has made a noble 
 picture of the duke of Alva, tho his 
 
 horfe is very ill-drawn. In the print 
 
 before us the figure fits with grace and 
 dignity ; but the horfe is no Bucepha- 
 lus : its character is only that of a ma- 
 naged pad. The buih, growing by the 
 duke's truncheon, is a trifling circum- 
 ftance ; and helps to break, into more 
 parts, a compofition already too much 
 
 broken. The execution is throughout 
 
 excellent ; and tho the parts are rather 
 too fmall for mezzotinto, yet Smith has 
 given them all their force. 
 
 O 2 Pethsr'-* 
 
[ r 9 6 ] 
 
 Pether's mezzotinto of Rembrandt's 
 Jewish rabbi. 
 
 The character is that of a Hern, 
 haughty man, big with the idea of his 
 own importance. The rabbi is proba- 
 bly fictitious -, but the character was cer- 
 tainly taken from nature. There is 
 great dignity in it ; which in a work of 
 Rembrandt's is the more extraordina- 
 ry. The full expremon of it is given 
 
 us in the print. The unelaftic heavi- 
 nefs of age, which is fo well defcribed 
 in the original, is as well preferred in 
 the copy. The three equidiftant lights 
 on the head, on the ornament, and on 
 the hands, are difagreeable : in the print 
 
 they 
 
[ W ] 
 they could not be removed; but it 
 might have been judicious to have kept 
 
 down the two latter a little more. 
 
 With regard to the execution, every 
 part is icraped with the utmoft foftnefs, 
 and delicacy. The mufcles are round 
 and plump ; and the infertions of them, 
 :h in an old face are very apparent, 
 are well exprefied. Such a variety of 
 middle tints, and melting lights, were 
 difficult to manage ; and yet they are 
 managed with great tendernefs. The 
 looieneis of the beard is mailerly. The 
 hands are exactly thofe of a fat old man. 
 The ftern eyes are full of life ; and the 
 nofe and mouth are admirably touched. 
 The reparation of the lips in fome parts, 
 and adhefion in others, are characterifnc 
 ilrokes ; and happily preferred. The 
 folds and lightnels of the turban are ve- 
 
[ i 9 8 ] 
 
 ry elegant. The robe, about the fhoul- 
 der, is unintelligible, and ill managed : 
 
 but this was the painter's fault. In 
 
 a word, when we examine this very' 
 beautiful mezzotinto, we rauft acknow- 
 ledge, that no engraving can equal it 
 in foftnefs, and delicacy. 
 
 Hondius's 
 
r 199 3 
 
 HONDIUS's HUNTED WOLF, 
 
 The compofition, in this little print, 
 is good •, and yet there is too much fi- 
 militude in the direction of the bodies 
 of the feveral animals. The fhape alfo 
 of the group would have been more 
 pleafing, if the vertical angle had been 
 rather more acute, The group is too 
 much broken alfo, and wants folidity. 
 The horizon is taken too high •, unlefs 
 the dimenfions of the print had been 
 higher. The rifing ground, above the 
 wolf's head, had been offfkip enough ; 
 and yet the rock, which rifes higher, is 
 fo beautifully touched ; that it would 
 
 be a pity to remove it. The light is 
 
 diltributed without any judgment. It 
 
 might 
 
{ 200 "J 
 
 might have been improved, if all the 
 interfaces among the legs, and heads of 
 the animals had been kept down; and the 
 jQiadow made very ftrong under the 
 fawn, and the wounded dog. This 
 would have given a bold relief to the fi- 
 gures; and might, without any other 
 alteration, have produced a good effect. 
 — The drawing is not faultlefs. The 
 legs and body of the wounded dog are 
 but very inaccurate : nor does the at- 
 tacking dog ftand firm upon his right 
 leg. — With regard to exprej/ion, Hondi- 
 us has exerted his full force. The ex- 
 prefiion, both of the wounded dog, and 
 of the wolf, is admirable : but the ex- 
 preffion of the attacking dog is a moil 
 bold and mafterly copy from nature. 
 His attitude fhews every nerve con- 
 vulfed ; and his head is a malterpiece 
 
 of 
 
[ 201 ] 
 
 of animal fury. — We mould add, that 
 the flaughtered animal is fo ill-charadte- 
 rized, that we fcarce know what it is.— 
 The execution is equal to the expreflion. 
 It is neat, and highly fmiihed -, but dif- 
 covers in every touch the fpirit of a 
 mailer. 
 
 The 
 
[ 202 ] 
 
 The fifth plate of Du Jardin's 
 
 ANIMALS. 
 
 The defign^ tho humble, is beauti- 
 ful. The two dogs repofmg at noon, 
 after the labour of the morning, the 
 implements of fowling, the fictitious 
 hedge, and the loop-holes through it, 
 all correfpond, and agreeably tell the 
 
 little hiflory of the day. The compo- 
 
 fition is beautiful ; tho it might have 
 been improved, if another dog, or fome- 
 thing equivalent, had been introduced 
 in the vacancy at the left corner. This 
 would have given the group of dogs a 
 better form. The nets, and fowling- 
 pieces are judiciouily added •, and make 
 an agreeable fhape with the dogs. The 
 
 hedge 
 
[ 203 ] 
 
 hedge alfo adds another pyramidal form-; 
 which would have been more pleafing, 
 if the left corner of the reeds had been 
 a little higher. — The light is well diftri- 
 buted -, only there is too much of it. 
 The farther dog might have been taken 
 down a little ; and the hinder parts of 
 
 the nearer. The drawing and expref- 
 
 fion are pure nature •, and the execution 
 elegant and mafterly. 
 
 Waterlo's 
 
[ ao4 ] 
 
 Watereo's Tobias. 
 
 The Iandfcape I mean, is an upright 
 of the iargeft fize, which this mailer e- 
 ver ufed ; near twelve inches in height, 
 by ten. On the near ground ftands an 
 oak, which forms a diagonal through 
 
 7 (DO 
 
 the print. The fecond diftance is com- 
 pofed of a rifing ground, connected with 
 a rock,, which is covered with ihrubs. 
 The oak, and the Ihrubs make a vifta, 
 through which you have an extenfive view 
 into the country. The figures, which 
 confiit of an angel, Tobias, and a dog, 
 are defcending an hill, which forms the 
 fecond diftance. The print, with this 
 defcription, cannot be miftaken. — The 
 MnpcjuiGn is very pleafmg. The trees, 
 
 on 
 
[ 205 J 
 
 en the fore-ground, fpreading over the 
 top of the print, and Hoping to a point 
 at the bottom, give the beautiful form 
 of an inverted pyramid \ which, in trees 
 efpecially, has often a fine effect. To 
 this form the inclined plane, on which 
 the figures Hand, and which is beauti- 
 fully broken, is a good contraft. The 
 rock approaches to a perpendicular, and 
 the diftance to an horizontal line. All 
 together make fuch a combination of 
 beautiful and contrafting fhapes, that 
 the whole is very pleafmg. If I mould 
 find fault with any thing, it is the regu- 
 larity of the rocks. There is no variety 
 in parallel lines ; and it had been very 
 eafy to have broken them. — The keeping 
 is well preferved. The fecond and third 
 diftances are both judiciouily managed. 
 The light is beautifully difpofed. To 
 
 prevent 
 
[ 206 ] 
 
 prevent heavinefs, it is introduced upon 
 the tree, both at the top and bottom •, 
 but it is properly kept down. A mafs 
 of made fucceeds upon the ground of 
 the fecond diftance-, and is continued 
 upon the water. The light breaks, in 
 a blaze, upon the bottom of the rock, 
 and mafles the whole. The trees, fhrubs, 
 and upper part of the rock are happily- 
 thrown into a middle tint. Perhaps the 
 efFe£t. of the diftant country might have 
 been better, if all the lights upon it 
 had been kept down, except one eafy 
 catching light upon the town, and the 
 riling ground on which it Hands. — The 
 execution is exceedingly beautiful. No 
 artift had an happier manner of exprei- 
 fing trees than Waterloo and the tree 
 before us is one of his capital works. 
 The ihape of it we have already criti- 
 cised. 
 
[ 20 7 ] 
 
 cifed. The bole and ramification are 
 as beautiful as the fhape. The foliage, 
 if I were not afraid of fpeaking the lan- 
 guage of extravagance, feems the work 
 of enchantment. Such an union of 
 ftrength, and lightnefs is rarely found. 
 The extremities are touched with infinite 
 tendernefs-, the ftrong mafTes of light 
 are relieved with fhadows equally 
 ftrong ; and yet great eafe, and foftnefs 
 are preferved. The fore-ground is high- 
 ly enriched j and indeed the whole 
 print, and every part of it, is full of 
 art, and full of nature. 
 
 The 
 
[ 208 ] 
 
 The deluge at Coeverden, by- 
 Roman le Hooghe. 
 
 This is an hiftorical landfcape, a ftyle 
 very different from that of the laft. 
 Waterlo had_ nothing in view, but to 
 form an agreeable picture. He had all 
 nature before him ; through which his 
 imagination might range. The figures 
 he introduced, unconnected with his. 
 fubjec"r, ferved only to embellifh it. 
 Any other figures would have anfwered 
 his defign as well. But Le Hooghe 
 was confined within narrower lines. He 
 had a country to defcribe, and a ftory to 
 tell. The country is the environs of 
 Coeverden, a Dutch town, with a view 
 of that immenfe bank, which the bifhop 
 
 of 
 
[ 2o 9 1 
 
 of Munfter, in the year 1673, threw 
 up, and fortified at a vail expence* to 
 lay the town under water. The ftory, 
 is the ruin of that bank, which was 
 broken through in three places, by the 
 violence of a ftorm. The fubjecr, was 
 great and difficult ; and yet the artiffc 
 has acquitted himfelf in a mafterly man- 
 ner. The town of Coeverden fills the 
 diilant view. The country is fpread 
 with a deluge ; the fky with a temped ; 
 and the breaches in the bank appear in 
 all their horror. — The compq/ition^ in the 
 diflant, and middle parts, is as pleafing 
 as fuch an extenfive fubject can be. An 
 •elevated horizon, which is always dii- 
 gufling, was necelTary here to give a 
 diftincT: view of the whole. — The light 
 too is thrown over the diilant parts in 
 good maifes. — The ey.prejion of the fi- 
 
[ 210 ] 
 
 ' gures, of the horfes efpecially, is very 
 ftrong : thofe, which the driver is turn- 
 ing, to avoid the horrid chafm before 
 him, are impreffed with the wildeft 
 character of terror : and, indeed, the 
 whole fcene of diftrefs, and the horri- 
 ble confufion in every part of it, are 
 admirably defcribed. — The execution is 
 not equal to that of many of Le 
 Hooghe's works. The Iky is hard ; 
 and there is a drynefs in the whole. If 
 in any part the maftef appears like him- 
 felf, it is in the figures on the left of 
 the fore-ground. — There are other faults 
 in this print. The fhape of it is bad. 
 A little more length would have en- 
 larged the idea ; and the town would 
 have flood better, not quite in the mid- 
 dle. But what is moft faulty, is the 
 
 difproportion, and littlenefs of the fore- 
 ground 
 

 [ i« ] 
 
 ground on the right. The ipirit, which 
 the artiit had maintained through the 
 whole defcription, flags miferably here. 
 Whereas here he fhould have doled the 
 whole with lome vafl *nd noble confu- 
 PiOTi-. wh hive given o-rr;*:^ :o 
 
 the dillant pans, and ftruck the fpecta- 
 tor with the ftrongeft images of horror. 
 Initead of this, we are preiented with a 
 few pigs, and calves floundering in the 
 water. The thought feems borrowed 
 from Ovid, In the midft of a world in 
 ruins, I\ 
 
 P i Hogab.th's 
 
[ 212 ] 
 
 Hogarth's rake's progress. 
 
 The firft print of this capital work is 
 an excellent reprefentation of a young 
 heir taking pofiefiion of a mifer's effects. 
 The paflion of avarice, which hoards 
 every thing, without diftinclion, what is, 
 and what is not valuable,- is admirably 
 defcribed. — The compojition^ tho not ex- 
 cellent, is not unpleafing. The princi- 
 pal group, confifting of the young gen- 
 tleman, the taylor, the appraifer, the 
 papers, and cheft, is well fhapen : but 
 the eye is hurt by the difagreeable regu- 
 larity of three heads nearly in a line, 
 
 and at equal diflances. The light is 
 
 not ill difpofed. It falls on the princi- 
 pal figures : but the effect might have 
 
 been 
 
[ 213 ] 
 
 been improved. If the extreme parts 
 of the mafs (the white apron on one 
 fide, and the memorandum-book on 
 the other) had been in made, the re- 
 pofe had been lefs injured. The detach- 
 ed parts of a group mould rarely catch 
 a ftrong.body of light. — We have no 
 Unking inftarices of expreffion in this 
 print. The principal figure is unmean- 
 ing. The only one, which diiplays the 
 true vis comka of Hogarth, is the ap- 
 praifer fingering the gold. You enter 
 at once into his character. — The young 
 woman might have furnifhed the artift 
 with an opportunity of prefenting a 
 graceful figure •, which would have been 
 more pleafing. The figure he has in- 
 troduced, is by no means an object of 
 allurement. The perfpettive is ac- 
 curate j but affected. So many win- 
 dows, 
 
[ 2I 4 ] 
 
 dows, and open doors, may mew the au- 
 thor's learning; but they break the 
 back-ground, and injure the fimplicity 
 of it. 
 
 The fecond print introduces our hero 
 into all the diflipation of modifh life. 
 We became firft acquainted with him, 
 when a boy of eighteen. He is now of 
 age ; has entirely thrown off the clown- 
 ifh fchool-boy ; and afTumes the man of 
 fafhion. Inftead of the country taylor, 
 who took meafure of him for his fa- 
 ther's mourning, he is now attended by 
 French-barbers, French-taylors, poets, 
 milliners, jockies, bullies, and the whole 
 retinue of a fine gentleman. — Tj'he ex- 
 prejfion, in this print, is wonderfully 
 great. The dauntlefs front of the bul- 
 ly ; the keen eye, and elaflicity of the 
 
 fencing- 
 
[ 2T5 ] 
 
 fencing-m after, and the fimpering im- 
 portance of the daneing-mafter are ad- 
 mirably exprefied. The laft is perhaps 
 rather a little outre -, and, it may be ad- 
 ded, but very indifferently drawn. The 
 architect is a ftrong copy from nature. 
 
 The compq/ition feems to be entirely 
 
 fubfervient to the expreflion. It ap- 
 pears, as if Hogarth had fketched, in 
 his memorandum-book, all the charac- 
 ters which he has here introduced ; but 
 was at a lofs how to group them •, and 
 chofe rather to introduce them in de- 
 tached figures, as he had fketched them, 
 than to lofe any part of the expreflion 
 by combining them. — The light is very 
 ill diftributed. It is fpread indifcrimi- 
 nately over the print ; and deftroys the 
 ivhole. — We have no inftance of grace in 
 any of the figures. The principal figure 
 
 is 
 
[ 216 ] 
 
 is very deficient. There is no contrail: 
 in the limbs •, which is always attended 
 with a degree of ungracefulnefs. — The 
 execution is very good. It is elaborate, 
 and yet free. — -The fatire on operas, tho 
 it may be well directed, is forced and 
 unnatural. 
 
 The third plate carries us flill deeper 
 in the hiflory. We meet our hero en- 
 gaged in one of his evening amufements. 
 This print, on the whole, is no very 
 
 extraordinary effort of genius. The 
 
 dejign is good \ and may be a very ex- 
 act defcription of the humours of a bro- 
 thel. — The compofttt on too is not amifs. 
 But we have few of thofe mafterly 
 ilrokes which diftinguim the works of 
 Hogarth. The whole is plain hiftory. 
 The lady fetting the world on fire, is 
 
 the 
 
[ 217 ] 
 
 the bell thought : and there is fome hu- 
 mour in furnifhing the room with a fet 
 of Csefars •, and not placing them in 
 
 order. The lirht is ill managed. 
 
 By a few alterations, which are obvi- 
 ous, particularly by throwing the lady 
 dreffing, into the made, the difpofition 
 of it might have been tolerable. But 
 Hill we mould have had an abfurdity to 
 anfwer, whence comes it ? Here is 
 light in abundance ; but no vilible 
 
 fource. Exprejfion we have very lit- ' 
 
 tie through the whole print. The prin- 
 cipal figure is the beft. The ladies 
 have all the air of their profeffion ; but 
 no variety of character. Hogarth's 
 women are, in general, very inferior to 
 his men. For which reafon I prefer the 
 rake's progrefs to the harlot's. The fe- 
 male face indeed has feldom ftrength of 
 
 feature 
 
[ 2lS ] 
 
 :> pftpfC en : v gh to admit the ftrong mark- 
 tqgs of exprcfllon. 
 
 Very diiigreeibie accidents often be- 
 fal gentlemen of pleafure. An event 
 of this kind is recorded in the fourth 
 :h is now befoFe us. Our 
 hero going, in full drefs, to pay his 
 compliments at court, on St. David's 
 . was accofted m the rude mar 
 
 which is here reprefented. The ccm- 
 
 ; : : : : .on is goocL The form of the group, 
 made up of the figures in action, the 
 chair, and the lamp -lighter, is pleafing. 
 Only, here we have an opportunity of 
 r7~;.:"::r._-, that a group is difgufting 
 
 ;i the extremities of it are heavy. 
 A group in fome refpect mould refem- 
 ble a tree. The heavier part of the 
 : ige (the cup^ as the landfcape- 
 
 painter 
 
[ «? ] 
 
 iter :: '.'. . :" : :. t :; :' t -.::- 
 
 : r : ."./. ;.r brarzhc . vrhich ire 
 
 lelieyed by -he .':'■'. ::e kgh: it 
 
 An i .-■" ;.-.:::.-. : this rqjc has g .en a 
 
 ti. r ;: :.r group before lis. The 
 
 : :: : . che vr;~ar. 3 ar.d ihe :hair- 
 
 : . addled together in that 
 
 part :: : :.t z: v.r wl .::h ihould ; r 
 been the 1:; :.-.:t : . vhile the middle 
 | :.::. ••'.->. ere the hand holds &e dooiy 
 
 jts ftrength and conil It may 
 
 be added too, that the four heads, in 
 the term of a diamond, make an un- 
 pleajSng ;> :e. All regular ;.;: res 
 
 fhould ftudioufig be avoided. 7 : 
 
 f been voell difoibuted, 
 : :he : -" holding :". \e arreft, and the 
 chairman, had been a little lighter, and. 
 the v." ::v.:.- darker. The glare ;: 
 
 :c arror ; . r reable. 
 
 h. 
 
[ 220 ] 
 
 have, in this print, fome beautiful, in- 
 fbnces of exprejfion. The furprife and 
 terror of the poor gentleman is apparent 
 in every limb, as far as is confiftent with 
 the fear of difcompofing his drefs. The 
 infol^nce of power in one of the bailiffs, 
 and the unfeeling heart, which can jefl 
 with mifery, in the other, are ftrongly 
 marked. The felf-importance too of 
 the honefr. Cambrian is not ill portray- 
 ed ; who is chiefly introduced to fettle 
 the chronology of the flory. — In point 
 of grace, we have nothing linking. Ho- 
 garth might have introduced a degree 
 of it in the female figure ; at leaft he 
 might have contrived to vary the heavy 
 and unpleafing form of her drapery. — - 
 The per/pefiive is good, and makes an 
 
 agreeable fhape. 1 cannot leave this 
 
 print without remarking the falling ban- 
 box. 
 
[ 221 ] 
 
 lox* Such reprefentations of quick mo- 
 tion are very abfurd •, and every moment 
 the abfurdity grows ftronger. You 
 cannot deceive the eye. The falling 
 body muft appear not to fall. Objects 
 of that kind are beyond the power of 
 reprefentation. 
 
 Difficulties crowd fo fafl upon our 
 hero, that at the age of twenty-five, 
 which he feems to have attained in the 
 fifth plate, we find him driven to the 
 neceffity of marrying a woman, whom 
 he detefb, for her fortune. The com- 
 pofition here is very good ; and yet we 
 have a difagreeable regularity in the cli- 
 max of the three figures, the maid, the 
 bride, and the bridegroom. — The tight 
 is not ill diftributed. The principal fi- 
 gure too \$grastfid\ and there is ftrang 
 
 exprejjim 
 
[ 11Z ] 
 
 id the feeming tranquillitv of 
 
 features. He hides his contempt of 
 
 tfee : bjeft before him as well as he can ; 
 
 yef he cannot do it. ' She too has 
 
 its --.;.:'r. meaning as can appear thro' 
 
 the ilefbrauty of her feature;, The 
 
 i t face we are well acquainted 
 
 it :, and alfo his wig ; tho we cannot 
 
 pretend :o fay, where we have feen ei- 
 
 7 He clerk too is an admirable 
 
 fellow. The perJpcflTvt is well un- 
 
 Eood; but the :':::. :h is too fmall ; 
 
 the wooden port, which feems to 
 
 nave no ufe, divides the picture very 
 
 ElagreeaBly'. The creed loft, the 
 
 commandments broken, and the poors- 
 : .':.-:. f:ed by a cobweb, are all ex- 
 cellent ftrckes of (anneal r. amour. 
 
 The 
 
[ 22 3 ] 
 
 The fortune, which our adtehturcr 
 has juft received, enables him to make 
 one pufn more at the gaming table. He 
 is exhibited, in the fixth print, venting 
 curfes on his folly for having loft his kft 
 flake. This is upon the whole, per- 
 haps, the bed print of the fct. The 
 horrid fcene it defcribes, was never more 
 inimitably drawn. The compcfition is 
 artful, and natural. If the ihape of 
 the whole be not quite pleafing, the fi- 
 gures are fo well grouped, and with fb 
 much eafe and variety, that you cannot 
 take offence. — In point cf light, it is 
 more culpable. There is not fhade e- 
 nough. among- the figures to balance the 
 glare. If the neck-cloth, and weepers 
 of the gentleman in mourning; had beEri 
 removed, and his hands thrown into 
 fhade, even that alone would have im- 
 proved 
 
[ 224 ] 
 
 proved the effect. The exprejfwn, in 
 
 almoft every figure, is admirable -, and 
 the whole is a flrong reprefentation of 
 the human mind in a ftorm. Three 
 ftages of that fpecies of madnefs, which 
 attends gaming, are here defcribed. On 
 the firfl fhock, all is inward difmay. 
 The ruined gamefter is reprefented lean- 
 ing againfb a wall, with his arms acrofs, 
 loll in an agony of horror. Perhaps 
 never paffion was defcribed with fo 
 much force. In a fhort time this hor- 
 rible gloom burfts into a florin of fury : 
 he tears in pieces what comes next him •, 
 and kneeling down, invokes curfes up- 
 on himfelf. He next attacks others ; 
 every one in his turn whom he imagines 
 to have been inflrumental in his ruin. — 
 The eager joy of the winning game- 
 fters, the attention of the ufurer, the 
 
 vehemence 
 
r 225 ] 
 
 .vehemence of the watchman, and the 
 profound revery of the highwayman 
 are all admirably marked. There is 
 great coolnefs too expreffed in the little 
 we fee of the fat gentleman at the end 
 of the table. The figure oppofing the 
 mad-man is bad : it has a drunken ap- 
 pearance ; and drunkennefs is not the 
 vice of a gaming table. The princi- 
 pal figure is ill drawn. The perfpettivg 
 is formal ; and the execution but indif- 
 ferent : in heightening his exprefllon 
 Hogarth has loft hb fpirit. 
 
 The feventh plate, which gives us 
 the view of a jail, has very little in it. 
 Many of the circumftances, which may 
 well be fuppofed to increafe the mifery 
 of a confined debtor, are well contrived ; 
 but the fruitful genius of Hogarth, I 
 Q^ fhould 
 
[ 226 ] 
 
 Should think, might have treated the 
 fubje<5t in a more copious manner. The 
 epifode of the fainting woman might 
 have given way to many circumltances 
 more proper- to the occafion. This is 
 the fame woman, whom the rake dis- 
 cards in the firft print ;■ by whom he is 
 refcued in the fourth ; who is prefent 
 at his marriage ; who follows him into 
 jail j and, laftly, to Bedlam. The 
 thought is rather unnatural, and the 
 moral certainly culpable. — The compo- 
 fition is bad. The group of the wo- 
 man fainting, is a round heavy mafs : 
 and the other 'group is very ill fhapen. 
 The light could not be wOrfe managed'; 
 and, as the groups are contrived, can 
 hardly be improved. — In the principal 
 figure there is great expreffion > and the 
 fainting fcene is well defcribed. — — A 
 
 fcheme 
 
t 2 *7 1 
 
 fcheme to pay off the national debt, by 
 a man who cannot pay his own ; and 
 the attempt of a filly rake to retrieve 
 his affairs by a work of genius, are ad- 
 mirable ftrokes of humour» 
 
 The eighth plate brings the fortunes 
 of our hero to a conclufion. It is a ve- 
 ry expreffive reprefentation of the moft 
 horrid fcene which human nature can 
 
 exhibit. The compojition is not bad. 
 
 The group, in which the lunatic is 
 chained, is well managed ; and if it 
 had been carried a little further towards 
 the middle of the picture, and the two 
 women (who feem very oddly introdu- 
 ced) had v been removed, both the com- 
 pofition, and the diftribution of light 
 
 had been good. -The drawing of the 
 
 principal figure is a more accurate piece 
 Q 2 ©f 
 
[ 228 ] 
 
 of anatomy than we commonly find in 
 the works of this mafter. The expref- 
 Jion of the figure is rather unmeaning ; 
 and very inferior to the ftrong charac- 
 ters of all the other lunatics. The fer- 
 tile genius of the artift has introduced 
 as many of the caufes of madnefs, as he 
 could well have collected j but there is 
 fome tautology. There are two religio- 
 nifts, and two aftronomers. Yet there 
 is variety in each ; and ftrong exprejfion 
 in all the characters. The felf-fatisfac- 
 tion, and conviction, of him who has 
 difcovered the longitude ; the mock 
 majefty of the monarch $ the moody 
 melancholy of the lover, and the fuper- 
 ftitious horror of the popifh devotee, 
 are all admirable. — The perfpeftive is 
 Hmple and proper, 
 
 I mould 
 
[ 22 9 ] 
 
 I mould add, that thefe remarks are 
 made upon the firft edition of this work. 
 When the plates were much worn, they 
 were altered in many parts. They have 
 gained by the alterations, in point of 
 dejign ; but have loft in point of expref- 
 fipn. 
 
 CHAPTER 
 
[ 231 ] 
 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 Cautions in collecting Prints. 
 
 r TP H E collector of prints may be 
 firft cautioned ag-ainft indulo-ina: a 
 defire of becoming poffeffed of all the 
 works of any matter. There are no 
 mailers whofe works in the grofs deferve 
 notice. No man is equal to himfelf in 
 all his compofitions. I have known a 
 collector of Rembrandt ready to give 
 
 any 
 
[ 232 ] 
 
 any price for two or three prints which 
 he wanted to complete his collection •, 
 tho it had been to Rembrandt's credit, 
 if thofe prints had been fuppreffed. 
 There is no ck>ubt, but if one third of 
 the works of this mafter mould be tried 
 by the rules of juft criticifm, they would 
 appear of little value. The great prince 
 Eugene, it is faid, was a collector of this 
 kind, and piqued himfelf upon having 
 in his poffeffion, jail the works of all the 
 mafiers. His collection was bulky, and 
 coft fourfcore- thoufand pounds ; but 
 when fifted, could not, at that time of 
 day, be worth fomany hundreds. 
 
 The collector of prints may fecondly 
 be cautioned againft a fuperftitious ve- 
 neration for names. A true judge leaves 
 die majler out of the queftion, and ex- 
 amines 
 
[ «33 ] 
 
 amines only the work. But, with a little 
 genius, nothing fways like a name. It 
 carries a wonderful force ; covers glar- 
 ing faujts, and creates imaginary beau- 
 ties. That fpecies of criticifrn is certain- 
 ly juft, which examines the different 
 manners of different matters, with a 
 view to difcover in how many ways a 
 good effect may -be produced, and 
 which produces the beft. But to be cu- 
 rious in rinding out a mafter, in order 
 there to reft the judgment, is a kind of 
 criticifrn very paultry, and illiberal. It 
 is judging of the work by the mafter, 
 inftead of judging of the mafter by 
 work. Hence it is, that fuch vile 
 prints as the Woman in the caldron, and 
 Mount Pamajfus, obtain credit among 
 connoiffeurs. If you afk wherein their 
 beauty confifts ? you are informed, they 
 
 arc 
 
[ 234 ] 
 
 are engraved by Mark Antonio : and 
 if that do not fatisfy you, you are fur- 
 ther afTured, they are after Raphael. 
 This abfurd tafte raifed an honeft indig- 
 nation in that ingenious artift Picart ; 
 who having fhewn the world, by his ex- 
 cellent imitations, how ridiculous it is to 
 pay a blind veneration to names, tells 
 us, that he had compared fome of the 
 engravings of the ancient mailers with 
 the original pictures, and found them 
 very bad copies. He fpeaks of the ftiff- 
 nefs, which in general runs through 
 them — —of the hair of children, which 
 refembles pot-hooks — and of the igno- 
 rance of thole engravers in anatomy, 
 drawing, and the diftribution of light. 
 
 Nearly allied to this folly, is that of 
 making the public tafte our ftandard. 
 
 It 
 
[ *35 ) 
 
 It is a moft uncertain criterion. Fafnioa 
 prevails in every thing. While it is con- 
 fined to drefs, or the idle ceremonies of 
 a vifit, the affair is trivial : but when 
 fafhion becomes a dictator in arts, the 
 matter is more ferious. Yet fa it is; 
 we feldom permit ourfelves to judge of 
 beauty by the rules of art : but follow 
 the catch-word of faihion; and applaud, 
 and cenfure from the voice of others. 
 Hence it happens, that fomerimes the 
 works of one mafter, and ibmetimes of 
 another, have the prevailing run. Rem- 
 brandt has Ions; been the falhionable 
 mafter. Little diftinction is made: if 
 the prints are Remerandt's, they mull 
 be good. In two or three years more, 
 perhaps, the date of Rembrandt will 
 be over : you may buv his works at eafy 
 rates ; and the public will have acquired 
 
 fome 
 
[ 23« ] 
 
 fome other favourite. For the truth of 
 thefe obfervations, I might appeal to the 
 dealers in old prints •, all of whom know 
 the uncertain value of the commodity 
 they vend. Hence it is, that fuch no- 
 ble productions, as the works of P. 
 Testa, are in fuch little efteem, that 
 the whole collection of this mafter, tho 
 it confifts of near twenty capital prints, 
 befide many fmall ones, may be bought 
 for Ids than is fometimes given for a 
 fmgle print by Rembrandt. I fpeak 
 not of his capital print, the price of 
 which is immoderate. — The true con- 
 noilTeur leaves the voice of fafhion en- 
 tirely out of the queftion : he has a bet- 
 ter ftandard of beauty'— the merit of 
 each mafter, which he will find fre- 
 quently at variance with common opi« 
 nion. 
 
 A fourth 
 
[ 237 1 
 
 A fourtfi caution, which may be of 
 life in collecting prints, is, not to rate 
 their value by their fcarcenefs. Scarce- 
 nefs will make a valuable print more va- 
 luable : but to make fcarcenefs the ftan- 
 dard of a print's value, is to miftake an 
 accident for merit. This folly is found- 
 ed in vanity; and arifes from a defire 
 of pofTefling what nobody elfe can pof- 
 fefs. The want of real merit is made 
 up by imaginary \ and the object, is in- 
 tended to be kept, not leaked at. Yet, 
 abfurd as this falfe tafte is, nothing is 
 more common; and a trifling genius may 
 be found, who will give ten guineas for 
 Hollar's lhells, which, valued accord- 
 ing to their real merit, the fcarcity of 
 them being added to the account, are 
 not worth more than as many, millings. 
 -— Inftances in abundance might be col- 
 lected 
 
r 2 3 s ] 
 
 leered of the prevalence of* this folly. 
 X.E Clerc, in his print of Alexander's 
 triumph, had given a profile of that 
 prince. The print was ihewn to the 
 duke of Orleans, who was pleafed with 
 it on the whole, but juftly enough ob- 
 jected to the fide-face. The obfequious 
 artift erafed it, and engraved a full one. 
 A few impreflions had been taken from 
 the plate in its firft ftate, which fell a* 
 mong the curious for ten times the price 
 of the impreflions taken after the face 
 
 was altered. Callot, once pleafed 
 
 with a little plate of his own etching, 
 made a hole in it, through which he drew 
 a ribbon, and wore it at his button. The 
 impreflions after the hole was made, are 
 very fcarce, and amazingly valuable. — 
 In a print of the holy family, from 
 Vandyke, St. John was reprefented 
 
 iaving 
 
t 239 J 
 
 laying his hand upon the virgin's moul- 
 der. Before the print was publifhed, 
 the artifl fhewed it among his critical 
 friends, fome of whom thought the ac- 
 tion of St. John too familiar. The pain- 
 ter was convinced, and removed the 
 hand. But he was miftaken, when he 
 thought he added value to his print by 
 the alteration. The impreffion, which got 
 abroad, with the hand upon the moul- 
 der, would buy up all the reft, three 
 times ovfer,' in any auction in London, — 
 Many of Rembrandt's prints receive 
 infinite value from little accidental al- 
 terations of this kind, A few impref- 
 fions were taken from "one plate, before 
 a dog was introduced •, from another, 
 before a white horfe-tail was turned into 
 a black one ; from a third, before a 
 fign-poft: was inferted at an ale-houfe 
 
 door; 
 
[ 240 ] 
 
 door: and all the fcarce prints from 
 thefe plates, tho altered for the better, 
 are the prints of value: the, reft are 
 common and cheap. — I fhall conclude 
 thefe inftances with a ftory of a late ce- 
 lebrated collector of pictures. He was 
 fhewing his collection with great fatis- 
 faction; and after expatiating upon ma- 
 ny noble works by Guido, Marratti, 
 and other mafters, he turned fuddenly 
 to the gentleman, whom he attended, 
 and, " Now, Sir, faid he, I'll (hew you 
 a real curiofity : there is* a Wove r man 
 without a horfe ill it." — The circum- 
 ftance, it is true, was uncommon •, but 
 was unluckily that very circumftance, 
 which made the picture of little value. . 
 
 Let the collector of prints be caution- 
 ed, fifthly, to beware of buying copies 
 
 for 
 
[ *4l 1 
 
 for originals. Moft of the works of the 
 capital matters have been copied •, and 
 many of them fo well, that if a perfon 
 be not verfed in prints, he may eafi- 
 ly be deceived. Were the copies really 
 as good as the originals, the name 
 would fignify nothing : but, like tranf- 
 lations, they neceffarily fall fhort of the 
 fpirit of the original-, and contract a 
 ftiffnefs from the fear of erring-. When 
 feen apart, they look well ; but when 
 compared with the originals, the diffe- 
 rence eafily appears. Thus Callot's 
 beggars have been fo - well copied, that 
 the difference between the originals and 
 the copies would not immediately ftrike 
 you ; but when you compare them, ft 
 is obvious. There is a plain want of 
 freedom 5 the characters are lefs ftrong- 
 •ly marked j and the extremities are left 
 R accurately 
 
[ M* ] 
 
 accurately touched. -It is a difficult 
 
 matter to give rules to afiift in diftin- 
 guifhing the copy from the original. In 
 moft cafes the engraver's name, or his 
 mark (which mould be well known) 
 will be a fufficient direction. Thefe the 
 copyift is feldom hardy enough to forge. 
 But in anonymous prints it is matter of 
 more difficulty. All that can be done, is, 
 to attend carefully to the freedom of the 
 manner, in the extremities efpecially, in 
 which the copyift is more liable to fail, 
 When you are pretty well acquainted 
 with the manner of a mafter, yau can- 
 not well be deceived. When you are 
 not, your beft way is to be directed by 
 thofe who are. 
 
 The laft caution I fhall give to the 
 collector of prints, is, to take care he 
 
 purchafe 
 
I 243 ] 
 
 purehafe not bad impreffions. — There 
 are three things which make an impref- 
 fion t>ad. — The firft is, its being ill ta- 
 ken off. Some prints feem to have re- 
 ceived the force of the roller at inter- 
 vals. The impreflion is double ; and 
 gives that glimmering appearance, 
 
 which illudes the eye. A fecond 
 
 thing, which makes an impreflion bad, 
 is a worn plate. There is as much dif- 
 ference between the firft and the laft 
 impreflion of the fame plate, as between 
 two different prints. The effeft is wholly 
 loft in a faint impreffion ; and you have 
 nothing left but a vapid defign without 
 fpirit, and without force. In mezzo- 
 tinto, efpecially, a ftrong impreflion is 
 -defireable. For the fpirit of a mezzotinta 
 quickly evaporates -, without which it is 
 the moft infipid of all prints. In en- 
 graving 
 
[ 244 ] 
 graving and etching there will be always, 
 here and there, a dark touch, which 
 long preferves an appearance of fpirit : 
 but mezzotinto is a flat furface; and 
 when it begins to wear, it wears all 
 over. Too many of the works of all 
 the great mafters, which are commonly 
 hawked about at auctions, or fold in 
 fhops, are in this wretched Hate. It is 
 difficult to meet with a good impreffion. 
 The Salvators, Rembrandts, and 
 Waterlos, which we meet with now, 
 except here and there in fome choice 
 collection, are feldom better than mere 
 reverfes. You fee the form of the print; 
 but the elegant, and mafterly touches 
 are gone ; back-grounds and fore- 
 grounds are jumbled together by the 
 confufion of all diftance ; and you have 
 .rather the fhadow of a print left, than 
 
 the 
 
C us ] 
 
 the print itfelf. — The laft thing which 
 makes a bacUmprefiion, is the retouching 
 of a worn -plate. Sometimes this is per- 
 formed by the mafter himfelf ; and then 
 the fpirit of the impreffion may be ftill 
 preferved. But moft commonly the re- 
 touching part is done by fome bungler, 
 into whole hands the plate has fallen ; 
 and then it is moft execrable. In a 
 worn plate, at leaft, what you have is 
 good : you have the remains of fome- 
 thing excellent; and if you are verfed 
 in the works of the mafter, your imagi- 
 nation may be agreeably exercifed in 
 making out what is loft. But when the 
 plate has gone through the hands of a 
 bungler, who has worked it over with 
 his infamous fcratches, the idea of tne 
 mafter is loft-, "and you have nothing left, 
 but ftrong, harm, and unmeaning lines 
 
 upon 
 
upon a faint ground ; which is the moffc 
 difagreeable compound with which the 
 eye can be prefented. Such prints, and 
 many fuch there are, though offered us 
 under the name of Rembrahdt, or 
 Waterlo, are of little value. Thofc 
 mailers would not have owned fuch 
 works. — Yet, as we are often obliged, 
 to take up with fuch impreilions as we 
 can get, let us rather ehufe the faint 
 irapreilion, than the retouched one. 
 
 HE END, 
 
N D E X. 
 
 A 
 Appendages, what, £ 
 
 Ananias, cartoon of, criticifed, 10, 14 
 Aqna-fortis, its manner of biteing copper, 48 
 Aldgrave, 64 
 
 Andreani, Andrea, 70 
 
 Antonio, Mark, 71 
 
 Augujlin of Venice, ibid. 
 
 Anthony, St. temptation of, by Callot, 78 
 Augujiin, St. a motto from him, 102 
 
 Aerd, R. F. Auden, 1 1 3 
 
 Augurs, by Goupy, 16 1 
 
 Aha, duke of, by Rubens, 195 
 
 Alexander, triumph of, by Le Clerc, 238 
 
 B 
 Bafan criticifed, 6, 144 
 
 Beautiful gate, cartoon of, criticifed, 1 1 
 
 Baptifm of John, by Muller, 66 
 
 Bloemart, Abraham, 66, 145, 175 
 
 Barocchi, Frederic, 72 
 
 Beggars, Callot's, 77 
 
 Bartholomew, St. by Spaniolet, 90 
 
 Bella, Stephen de la, 91, 136 
 
 fiolfwert, 94, 147 
 
 Bible, 
 
I N D„E X. 
 
 Bible, hiftory of, by Luiken, 96 
 
 — by .Sadler, 144 
 
 Bega, ■ Cornelius, * °£ 
 
 Bellange, 105 
 
 Baur, William, 107 
 
 Bartoli, Peter, 112 
 
 Bas, Le, 114 
 
 Bifchop, ibid. 
 
 Becket, 121 
 
 Baptijle's head, by White, , ibid. 
 
 Bentivoglius, Guido, his head by Morin, 124 
 Bedford, earl of, his head by Houbraken, 127 
 Berghem, 129 
 
 Bloteling, 139 
 
 Barlow, ibid, 
 
 .to™ devouring a deer,. by Ridinger, 143 
 Boars, a print of, by Ridinger, ibid. 
 
 Both, ? 15a 
 
 c 
 
 Conirafi, its effect, 10 
 
 Claude, , 39 
 
 Circumcijion, by Goltzius, 65 
 
 Cajar, triumph of, at Hampton Court, 6y 
 Carrache, Augufiin, y$ 
 
 Cantarini, , j6 
 
 Callot, ibid. 
 
 Chifwick, a picture there of Salvator's, cri- 
 ticifed, 80 
 
 Crofs, defcent from, by ViUamena* . 9.1 
 
 Caftiglione, 
 
I N D E X. 
 
 Cafiiglione, 9$ 
 
 Chrijl, life of, by Parrocelle, 104, 
 
 Coy pel, 108 
 
 Caylus, count, no 
 
 Clerc, Le, in 
 
 Cromwell, Elizabeth, her head, by Smith, 
 
 123 
 Collier, Mrs. her portrait, by Faber, 127 
 Cuyp, 137 
 
 Charles I. by Vandyke 194 
 
 Coeverden, deluge of, by R. leHooghe, 208 
 Copies cautioned againft, 240 
 
 D 
 
 Dejign defined and illuftrated,, 3 
 
 Difpojition defined and illuftrated, 7 
 
 Drawing defined and illuftrated 2 3 
 
 Dijlant magnitude exprefled better in paint- 
 
 ing than in a print, 
 Durer, Albert, 
 
 39 
 61 
 
 Dorigny, Michael, 
 Dorigny, Nicholas^ 
 Dyke, Van, 
 Drevet, 
 
 90 
 117 
 120 
 
 Dankerts, Danker, 
 
 I 3 I 
 
 Diana hunting, by Goupy, 
 
 £ 
 
 ExpreJJion explained and illuftrated, 
 Execution explained and illuftrated, 
 
 161 
 
 2 3 
 
 ■39 
 
 Engraving 
 
U N D E- 3C 
 
 'Engraving confidered, 4$, &fr, 
 
 ■Etching coniideredv • ibid. 
 
 Elfhamer, Adam, , 78 
 Egypt, flight into, by count G&ude, 79 
 
 Ertinger, 94 
 
 £tfi i&fluv'by CaypieV 108 
 
 f**** by Vandyke, 120 
 
 Efip, by Barlow, 139 
 Eugene, prince, his collection of prints, 232 
 
 F 
 
 Flemijh fchool, its character, 68 
 
 .FWr, Callot's, yy 
 
 Fage, La, 92 
 
 jF*?r*, V. Le $ 105 
 
 FraV, J^f . lis 
 
 Faber y tiy 
 
 Fry, 128 
 
 Fyt,J. 136 
 
 Flamen, 1 40 
 
 jR^/«, by Ridinger, 14a 
 
 G 
 
 Grar? defined and illuftrated, 24 
 
 Garrick, Mr. his portrait, 55 
 
 Ground in mezzotint©, 57 
 
 Goltzius, 64 
 
 G&/^0, 75 
 
 Galejiruzziy 
 
IN D E X. 
 
 Gnkjlruzzi, 100' 
 
 Giltot, Claude, 105, 
 
 Grebelin, Sim. 113 
 
 Gibbon, his head, by Smith, 123 
 
 Gem el, 15& 
 
 Goupy, 161 
 
 Group, the form of one eriticifed, 218 
 
 H 
 
 Harmony in painting illuftrated, 16 
 
 Hell-fcene, by A. Durer, 62 
 
 Hijben, 64. 
 
 Hundred-guilders-print, 85 
 Hooghe, Roman le,. 95, 20 & 
 
 Hooper's head, by White,. 122- 
 
 Hcubraken, 12 j 
 Hamden, his head, by Houbrak^n, ibid. 
 
 Hondius, 131 
 
 his hunted wolf, 199, 
 
 Huntings, by Rubens, 133 
 
 — — 1 — - by Ridinger,. 142- 
 Hollar, • 140, 146 
 
 - r ■ his fhells, 237 
 
 Hagar, by Goupy,. 161 
 
 Hogarth, 164 
 
 — his rake's progrefs eriticifed, 2 1 &- 
 
 I 
 
 Journeyings, patriarchal, by C. Macee, 98 
 
 Impejlures innocent es, by Pic art, 109. 
 
 . . . . Jofepk 
 
INDEX. 
 
 Jofeph in Egypt, by Bifchop, 115 
 
 Jar din, Du, 132 
 
 ■ one of his etchings criticifed, 202 
 
 John, St. a print of, by Vandyke 238 
 Impreffions > 242 
 
 K 
 
 Keeping defined and illuftrated, 15 
 
 L 
 
 Lyftra, facrifice at, cartoon of, criticifed-, 
 
 11, 25 
 Light, diftribution of, illuftrated^ 19 
 
 Lafcelles, Mrs. her portrait, 55 
 
 Leiden, Lucas Van, 64 
 
 Lot, by Aldgrave, ibid. 
 
 Lazarus, refurrection of, by Bloemart, 6y 
 iLuiken, 96 
 
 Lairejfe, Gerard, , 97 
 
 'Lanfrank, his gallery,, 112 
 
 Lievens, J. 119 
 
 Lely, Peter, 120 
 
 X-eigh, Anthony, his head, by Smith, 123 
 Lutma,J. 125, 153 
 
 Laer, Peter de, 137 
 
 Lor rain, Claude, 154 
 
 Latrones, by Goupy 161 
 
 Michael 
 
I N D E X. 
 
 M 11 J 
 
 Michael Angelo, his idea of form in group- 
 ing 13 
 Mannerift, what is meant by the word, 30 
 Mezzotint confidered, 55 
 Muller, 66 
 Mantegna, Andrea, 6j 
 Miferies of war, Callot's 77 
 Moyfe, Vocation de, by La Fage, 94 
 Macee, 98 
 Mullen, Vander, 99 
 Mellan, 1 o 1 
 Marot, 116 
 Magdalene, Mary, her head, by Smith, 123 
 Mellan, ibid. 
 Morin, J, 124. 
 Marmion, Edm. 125 
 Moyreau. 135 
 Montague, duke of, 151 
 
 N 
 
 
 Neulant, 
 
 t4S 
 
 Names, their influence, 
 
 2& 
 
 O 
 
 
 OJlade, 
 
 I02 
 
 Ovid, illuftrated by W. Baur, 
 
 I08 
 
 Overbeck, 
 
 158 
 
 Oxford-heads, by Hogarth, 
 
 170 
 
 
 Paul 
 
r N D E X. 
 
 p 
 
 Paul preaching at Athens, the cartoon o£ 
 criticiied, 8, 10 
 
 Perfpettive defined and illuftrated, 28 
 Polijhed bodies expreiTed better in a picture, 
 
 than in a print, 43 
 
 Pewter, engraving upon, 54 
 
 Pens, 64. 
 
 ParmigiatWy 68. 
 
 Palma, 69 
 
 Porta,, Francis, 70. 
 
 Picarty his character of M. Antonio, 72 
 
 Pont Neuf y by De la Bella, 92, 
 
 Pontius y 95 
 
 Parrocelle, Jofeph r 103 
 
 Picart, 109 
 
 Pond, Arthur ■, no. 
 
 Perrier, Francis, 115 
 
 Parr's head, by White, 122. 
 
 Piazzetta, 124 
 
 Pep*, Mr. his head, by Richardfon, 126 
 
 Potter, Paul, 139. 
 
 Poufmy Go/per, 145. 
 
 Pm7/^ 155 
 
 Porfennciy by Goupy, 161 
 
 Prentice, idle, by Hogarth, 166 
 
 Phyficiam arms, by Hogarth, 1 70 
 
 Pkiy-houfey corner of, by Hogarth, 172 
 
 PolycraieSy death of, by Salvator Rofa, 181 
 
 Petker^ 
 
I N D E X. 
 
 P ether, his print of a Jewiih Rabbi, 19S 
 Parnajus, mount, by M. Antonio, 233 
 
 R 
 
 Rupert, prince, character of his mczzottn- 
 
 tos, 
 
 56 
 
 Reman School, its character, 
 
 68 
 
 Rofa, Salvador, 15, 79, 
 
 181 
 
 Rcbbers, Salvator Rofa's, 
 
 82 
 
 Rembrandt, 82, 118, 138, 145, 
 
 231 
 
 Rofary, myfteries of, by Sciaminoffi, 
 
 95 
 
 Roettiers. Fr. 
 
 116 
 
 Rigaud, 
 
 126 
 
 Richard/on, 
 
 ibid. 
 
 Richtnond, duke of, his head, by Houbra- 
 
 ken, 
 
 128 
 
 Rubens, 
 
 133 
 
 Rofa of Tivoli, 
 
 135 
 
 Ridinger, 
 
 14a 
 
 RouJfeaUy James, 
 
 15 '■■ 
 
 Ricci, Marco, 
 
 159 
 
 Rake's progrefs, 
 
 S 
 Salutation, by Barocchi. 
 
 212 
 
 73 
 
 Spaniolety . 90, 
 
 17a 
 
 Silenus and Bacchus, by Spaniolet, 
 
 90 
 
 Sciamincjfi, 
 
 95 
 
 Scbut* Cornelius, 
 
 107 
 
 Simons, 
 
 1 -& 1 
 
 Sturges's 
 
I N D E X. 
 
 Sturges's head, by White, i2i 
 
 Smith, ibid. 
 
 Scalken, his head, by Smith, 123 
 
 Salifbury, countefs of, her head, by Smith, ih. 
 Schomberg, his head, by Houbraken, 127 
 
 , u 
 
 y omitn, 
 
 194 
 
 Stoop, Peter, 
 
 
 138 
 
 Sadler, 
 
 
 144 
 
 Sunderland, earl of. 
 
 
 148 
 
 Swanevelt, 
 
 
 15a 
 
 Sylvejlre, Ifrael, 
 
 
 153 
 
 Silenus, triumph of, by 
 
 Peter Tefta, 
 
 186 
 
 Scarcenefs, no teft of merit, 
 
 237 
 
 T 
 
 Titian, his illuftration of mailing light, 2 1 
 Transparency exprefled better in a painting, 
 than in a print, 42 
 
 Tempefta, Anthony, 73, 136 
 
 Tefta, Peter, 26, 186 
 
 Tulden, Van, 103 
 
 Truth delivered from Envy, by Pouffin, 1 ia 
 Tobit, by Goupy, 161 
 
 V 
 Virgil, a paiTage of his criticifed, 41 
 
 Vafari, his opinion of A* Durer, 63 
 
 Vouet, Simon, 9© 
 
 Villamena, 9* 
 
 Venius Oiho, < 1 00 
 
 Ulyffes, 
 
INDEX. 
 
 VlyjfeSi voyage of, by Tulden, 
 
 I-0| . 
 
 Vefper, by Parrocelle, 
 
 104 
 
 Uliet, Van, 
 
 ng 
 
 Vertue, 
 
 126 
 
 Vijfcher, J. 130, 
 
 134 
 
 Vandieji, 
 
 161 
 
 W 
 
 
 Whole in painting ; how conftituted, 
 
 2 
 
 Watteau, 
 
 106 
 
 Worlidge, 
 
 119 
 
 White, the engraver, 
 
 121 
 
 White, the mezzotinto fcraper, 
 
 ibid. 
 
 Wing's head, by White, . , . 
 
 122 
 
 Wyke -, a mezzotinto from him, by Smith, 
 
 
 123 
 
 Wolfang, . . ; 
 
 125 
 
 Woverman, . .■•>-; . 
 
 - 134 
 
 ftory of, 
 
 240 
 
 Wolves-head, by Ridinger,. 
 
 .,1.43' 
 
 Waggon: a print from Rubens, 
 
 -^148 
 
 Waterlo, 
 
 *%9 
 
 . — ! — — his Tobias, ^ 
 
 204, 
 
 Woman in the cauldron, by M. Antonio, 2 33 
 Zeeman . , -,' 1 6© 
 
ctrcoixci.. 
 
 rcsOKG 
 
 
 X^Oii: 
 
 «2«/ 
 
 ape 
 
 "C 
 
 cc 
 
mm 
 
 
 H*. 
 
 
 *l ere 
 
 LC