/f/sr. 
 
 E S 
 
 O N 
 
 HINTS. 
 
 By WILLIAM G I L P I N, m. a. 
 VICAR OF SOLDR£ } NEAR REMINGTON. 
 
 THIRD EDITION, 
 
 / 
 
 ( 
 
 LONDON: 
 
 Pmktis by G. SCOTT, 
 
 R. Biamjsi, Strand; sold by B_ Law, Ave- 
 jMasv-Lake j andE.Faulder,NewBond Street. 
 
 M DCC LXXXI. 
 
TO THE HONOURABLE 
 
 HORACE WALPOLE, 
 
 IN DEFERENCE TO HIS TASTE 
 IN THE POLITE ARTS, 
 
 AND THE 
 
 VALUABLE RESEARCHES HE HAS MADE 
 TO IMPROVE THEM, 
 
 THE FOLLOWING WORK 
 IS INSCRIBED BY 
 HIS MOST OBEDIENT 
 AND VERY 
 HUMBLE SERVANT, 
 
 WILLIAM GILPIN, 
 
PREFACE 
 
 TO THE 
 
 THIRD EDITION. 
 
 T HE chief intention of the Author 
 in the following work , was to put 
 the elegant amufement of collecting prints , 
 upon a more rational footing ; and to give 
 the unexperienced collector a few princi- 
 ples to ajjiji him. 
 
 With this view he thought it neceffary 
 to apply the principles of painting to prints : 
 and as his ohfervations , in this part of 
 his work , are not always new , he hath 
 at leaf made them concife . 
 
VI 
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 His account of artfis might eafily 
 have been inlarged , by having recourfe 
 to books : particularly , he could have 
 availed himfelf much of the ingenious re- 
 fear ches of Mr. Walpole : but he did 
 not chufe to fwell his volume by what 
 others had faid fo much better than he 
 could do ; but to ref merely on fuck 
 obfervations as he had himfelf made. 
 
 Of modern prints the author hath pur - 
 pofely faid little ; declining generally to 
 give his opinion , efpecially if unfavou- 
 rable, of living artfis. But tho he 
 thought himfelf not at liberty to find fault, 
 he thought he might occafionally take an 
 opportunity to commend. This however, 
 he finds, has given offence. He can only 
 fay, that he meant not by praifing one, to 
 
 imply 
 
 J 
 
VII 
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 Imply inferiority in another ; hut , with- 
 out confldering the matter deeper , merely 
 illuf rated his fubjeCts with fuch prints, as 
 occurred to his memory. 
 
 After the frf edition of this work, the 
 author had an opportunity of feeing, in 
 the King's library, a very noble collection 
 of Hollar’s works ; and after the 
 fecond, another in the library of the 
 Duchefs Dowager of Portland. Upon 
 a review of thefe two vafe collections of 
 the works of this very laborious art if , 
 the author thinks he might have faid 
 fomething more in his commendation. Be- 
 fdes the praife due to him for his fowls , 
 muffs, fl. hells, and butterflies , there is great- 
 merit in many of his other works. Dhe 
 
 gothic 
 
viil PREFACE. 
 
 gothic ornaments of his cathedrals are 
 often elegantly touched ; and fometimcs 
 even with freedom. ‘The fword of Ed- 
 ward VI. the cup of Andrea Mon- 
 tegna, and thevafes from Holbein, 
 are all beautiful. Many of his fmall 
 views alfo are elegant , and pleafng. His 
 d fiances are generally fine : in his fore- 
 grounds he ts mofi deficient. Among thefe 
 views is a beautiful one of Lcndon- 
 Bridge , and the parts adjacent, taken 
 fomewhere near Somerfet-Houfe. — His 
 loofe etchings are far from wanting fipirit. 
 Two or three pieces of dead game, fight fy 
 touched , are very maferly: they are 
 drawn with accuracy , and executed with 
 freedom. — There is a beautiful piece of 
 dead game too , among his high-finijhed 
 
 prints : 
 
PREFACE. ix 
 
 prints: the group corfifls of a hare hang ' - 
 mg up, and a bafket of birds. — But 
 Hollar appears no where to more ad- 
 vantage, than in his imitations ; parti- 
 cularly in his prints after Count Gaude, 
 C allot, and Barlow : he has ad- 
 mirably hit of the manner of thefe mafters ; 
 of Callot efpecially , whofe beggars 
 have all the fpirit of the originals , in a 
 reduced fze. 
 
 At the fame time, we muf add, that 
 his works abound with many bad prints , 
 probably the firjl efforts of his genius . 
 Ilis Jhipping, his large views, his fables, 
 his Ephef an matron, and many others are 
 very bad: his Virgil and Juvenal are 
 below criticifm . 
 
 The 
 
x PREFACE, 
 
 ^he author only wifhes to add , that 
 when he fpeans positively in any part oj' 
 the following work , he means not to /peak 
 arbitrarily : but only to avoid the tedious 
 repetition of qualifying phrafes . 
 
 N. B. When the figures, on the right hand are fpoken 
 of, thofe are meant, which are oppofite to the fpe&a- 
 tor’s right hand : and fo of the left. 
 
[ x! ] 
 
 Explanation of Terms. 
 
 Compofiticn : 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 Synonymous with 
 Di/pcfition, 
 
 Dejign: in its JlriEl fenfe, applied chiefly 
 to drawing : in its more enlarged one, 
 defined page 3 : in its mofi enlarged 
 one, Sometimes taken for a pidlure 
 in general. 
 
 A whole: The idea of 0/7<? object, which 
 a picture Should give in its compre- 
 hensive view. 
 
 ExpreJJion : 
 
xii Explanation of Terms, 
 
 Exprejfion : its Jlritt meaning defined 
 page 24 : but it often means the 
 force by which objeds of any kind 
 are reprefented. 
 
 Effect : arifes chiefly from the manage- 
 ment of light but the word is fome- 
 times applied to the general view of 
 a pidure. 
 
 Spirit : in its firidt fenfe, defined p. 34 ; 
 but it is fometimes taken in a more 
 enlarged one, and means the general 
 efFed of a mafterly performance. 
 
 Manner : fynonymous with Execution. 
 
 TiElurefque : a term expreflive of that pe- 
 culiar kind of beauty, which is agree- 
 able in a pidure. 
 
 PiElurefque 
 
Explanation of Terms. xiii 
 
 . Rldlurefque grace : an agreeable form 
 given, in a picture, to a clownifh 
 figure. 
 
 Rep of e , or Quietnefs : applied to api&ure 
 when the whole is harmonious when 
 nothing glares either in the light, 
 fttade, or colouring. 
 
 To keep down , take down y or bring down : 
 fignify throwing a degree of fbade 
 upon a glaring light. 
 
 A middle tint : a medium between a 
 ftrong light, and ftrong Ihade : the 
 phrafe in this work, is rarely expref- 
 five of colour. 
 
 Catching lights : ftrong lights, which ftrike 
 upon fome particular parts of an ob- 
 jeft, the reft of which is in ftiadow. 
 
 Studies : 
 
xiv Explanation of Terms; 
 
 Studies: the fketched ideas of a painter, 
 not compleated. 
 
 Freedom : the refult of quick execution. 
 
 Extremities : hands and feet. 
 
 Air: exprefles chiefly the graceful aflion 
 of the head ; but often means a 
 graceful attitude. 
 
 Contraji : the oppofition of one part to 
 another. 
 
 THE 
 
THE 
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 The principles of fainting conftdered, as far 
 as they relate to prints. IP age l 
 
 CHAP. II. 
 
 Obfervations on the different kinds of 
 prints . 47 
 
 CHAP. III. 
 
 Characters of fome of the moji noted 
 mafters. 5 £ 
 
 CHAP. IV. 
 
 Remarks on a few particular prints in the 
 feveral kinds of compofition , with a 
 view to illuftrate the obfervations that 
 have been made above. 17^ 
 
 CHAP. V. 
 
 Cautions in collecting prints. 2 29 
 
chapter I. 
 
 The principles of Painting confidered> fo 
 far as they relate to prints. 
 
 A Painting, or picture, is diftin- 
 gu ilhed from a print only by 
 ' the colouring, and the man- 
 
 ner of execution. In other refpedts, the 
 foundation of beauty is the fame in 
 boch \ 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 
 
[ * ] 
 
 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 exa& proportion. His limbs on the 
 other hand, may be exadtly formed, and 
 yet his perfon, upon the whole , may be 
 difgufting. 
 
 To make a print agreeable as a whole , 
 a juft obfervance of thofe rules is necef- 
 fary, which relate to defign, dijpofition, 
 keeping , and the difiribution of light : to 
 make it agreeable in its parts — of thofe 
 which relate to drawing, exprejfion, grace , 
 and perjpettive . 
 
 We confider the whole before, its 
 parts, as it naturally precedes in prac- 
 tice. The painter firft forms his general 
 
 ideas $ 
 
t 3 ] 
 
 ideas ; and difpofes them, yet crude, in 
 fuch a manner, as to receive the moft: 
 beautiful form, and the moft beautiful 
 effe£t of light. His laft work is to ft- 
 nidi the feveral parts: as the ftatuary 
 fhapes his block, before he attempts to 
 give delicacy to the limbs. 
 
 By defign, (a term which painters 
 iometimes ufe in a more limited fenfe) 
 we mean the general condud of the 
 piece, as a reprefentation of fuch a par- 
 ticular ftory. It anfwers, in an hiftori- 
 cal relation of a fad, to a judicious 
 choice of circumftances ; and includes a 
 proper time, proper characters y the moft 
 affecting manner of introducing thofe cha- 
 racters , and proper appendages. 
 
 With regard to a proper time > the 
 painter is affifted by good old dramatic 
 rules; which inform him, that one point 
 B 2 of 
 
t 4 3 
 
 of time only fhould be taken — the moil 
 arfe&ing in the adtion j and that no o- 
 ther part of the ftory fhould interfere 
 with it. Thus in the death of Ananias, 
 if the inflant of his falling down be cho- 
 fen, no anachronifm fhould be intro- 
 duced i every part of the piece fhould 
 correfpond; each charafter fhould be 
 under the ftrongefl impreflion of aflo- 
 nifhment, and horror : thofe pafiions be- 
 ing yet unallayed by any cooler pafiions 
 fucceeding. 
 
 With regard to characters, the painter 
 mufl fuit them to his piece, by attend- 
 ing to hiflorical truth, if his fubjedt be 
 hiflory j or to heathen mythology, if it 
 be fabulous. 
 
 He mufl: alfo introduce them proper- 
 ly. They fhould be ordered in fo ad- 
 vantageous a manner, that the principal 
 
 figures,. 
 
[ 5 1 
 
 figures, thofe which are raoft concerned 
 in the aftion, fhould catch the eye jirftt 
 and engage it mofi . This is very efien- 
 tial in a well-told ftory. In the firffc 
 place, they fhould be the leaft embarraf- 
 fed of the group. This alone gives 
 them diftindtion. But they may be far- 
 ther diftinguifhed, fometimes by a braad 
 light ; fometimes by a jlrong jhadow , in 
 the midft of a light i fometimes by a 
 remarkable affion, or expreJfion\ and 
 fometimes by a combination of two or 
 three of thefe modes of diftindlioru 
 The laft thing included in de/ign is 
 the ufe of proper 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 fubjeft, and rank 
 B 3 in 
 
[ 6 ] 
 
 in a proper fubordination to it. B\s- 
 s an would fometimes paint a fcripture- 
 ftoryj and his method was, to croud 
 his fore-ground with cattle : while 
 
 you feek for his principal figures, 
 and at length with difficulty find them 
 in fome remote corner of his pidure. 
 We often fee a landfkip well adorn- 
 ed with a ftory in miniature. The 
 landjkip here is principal ; but at the 
 fame time, the figures, which tell the 
 ftory, tho fubordinate to the land- 
 fkip, are the principal figures. Bas- 
 san’s practice was different. In his pic- 
 tures neither the landjkip , nor the fiory 
 is principal i but his cattle. To intro- 
 duce a fiory is abfurd. 
 
 When all thefe rules are obferved, 
 when a proper point of time is chofen ; 
 when charaders correfponding with the 
 
 fubjed 
 
t 7 1 
 
 fu bjed are introduced, and thefe orders 
 ed fo judicioufly as to point out the fto- 
 ry in the ftrongeft manner j and laftly, 
 when all the appendages, and under- 
 parts of the piece are fuitable, and fub- 
 fervient to the fubjed j then the ftory is 
 well told, and of courfe the defign is 
 perfed. 
 
 The fecond thing to be confidered 
 with regard to a whole , is difpofition. By 
 this word is meant the art of grouping 
 the figures, and of combining the feve- 
 ral parts of a pidure. Defign confiders 
 how each part, feparately taken , concurs, 
 in producing a whole a whole , arifing 
 from the unity of the fubje£l> not the ef- 
 fect of the objebi. For the figures in a 
 piece may be fo ordered, as to tell the 
 dory in an afFeding manner, which is 
 B 4 as 
 
[ 8 } 
 
 as far as defign goes j and yet may want 
 that agreeable combination , which is ne- 
 ceffary to pleafe the eye. To produce 
 fuch a combination is the bufinefs of 
 difpftion. In the cartoon of St. Paul 
 f reaching 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 
 difyofition of the materials of this picture, 
 its efFeCt as a whole had been very diffe- 
 rent. 
 
 Having thus diftinguifhed between 
 defign apd difpoftion , I fhall explain the 
 latter a little farther. 
 
 It is an obvious principle, that one 
 objeCt at a time is enough to engage ei- 
 ther the fenfes, or the intellect. Hence 
 
 the 
 
t 9 * 
 
 jie necefiity of unity , or a whole , in paint- 
 ing. The eye, upon a complex view, 
 muft be able to comprehend the pi&ure 
 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 produftion as a machine ; whofe 
 fprings and wheels are finilhed with 
 nicety, but are unable to aft in concert, 
 and effeft the intended movement. 
 
 Now dijpofition, or the art of group- 
 ing and combining the figures, and fe~ 
 veral parts of a pifture, contributes 
 sreatly to make the pifture appear as 
 one objebi. When the parts are fcat- 
 tered, they have no dependance on 
 each other j they are ftill only parts: 
 but when, by an agreeable grouping, 
 
 they 
 
[ 10 ] 
 
 they are mailed together, they become 
 a ‘whole. 
 
 In dilpofing figures, great artifice is 
 necefiary to make each group open it- 
 felf in fuch a manner, as to let off ad- 
 vantageoully the feveral figures, of 
 which it is compofed. The action at 
 leaft of each figure fhould appear. 
 
 No group can be agreeable without 
 contraft. By contrafi is meant the oppo- 
 fition of one part to another. A fame- 
 nefs in attitude, adtion, 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 j and the want of it, in the 
 death of Ananias, makes the group of 
 the apoftles a difagreeable one. 
 
 Nor 
 
t » ] 
 
 Nor indeed is contrafi required only 
 among the figures of the Jame group, 
 but alfo among the groups themfelves , 
 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 difagree- 
 able regularity into the picture. 
 
 The judicious painter, however, whe- 
 ther he group, combine, or contraft, 
 will always avoid the appearance of arti- 
 fice. The feverai parts of his pidture 
 will be fo fuited to each other, that his 
 art will feem the refult of chance. In 
 th tfacrifice at Lyfira 9 the head of the ox 
 is bowed down, with a defign, no 
 doubt, to group the figures around 
 
 fpore 
 
t 12 ] 
 
 more harmonioufly: but their adion is 
 fo well -fluted to the pofture of the ox, 
 and the whole managed with fo much 
 judgment, that, altho the figures are 
 difpofed with the utmofl art, they ap- 
 pear with all the eafe of nature. The 
 remaining part of the group is an in- 
 fiance of the reverfe in which a num- 
 ber of heads appear manifefily ftuck in 
 to fill up vacuities. 
 
 But farther, as a whole, or unity , is 
 an e fienda! of beauty, that dijpofition is 
 certainly the moft perfett, which admits 
 but of one group. All fubje&s, howe- 
 ever, will not allow this cloje obfervance 
 of unity. When this is the cafe, the 
 feveral groups muft again be combin- 
 ed i chiefly by a proper diflribution of 
 light, fo as to conftitutea whole . 
 
 But 
 
C 13 1 
 
 But as the whole will Toon be loft, H 
 the conftituent farts become numerous , 
 it follows, that many groups muft not 
 be admitted. Judicious painters have 
 thought three the utmoft number, that 
 can be allowed. Some fubjedts indeed, 
 as battles and triumphs, neceftfarily re- 
 quire a great number of figures, and of 
 courfe various combinations of groups. 
 In the management o i Juch fubje<fts, the 
 greateft art is neceftary to preferve a 
 whole . Confufion in the figures muft 
 be exprefied without confufion in the 
 pi<5hire. A writer ftiould treat his fub- 
 je£t clearly , tho he write upon obfeurity. 
 
 With regard to difpofition, I ftiall on- 
 ly add, that the Jhape or form of the 
 group ftiould alfo be confidered. The 
 triangular form Michael Angelo 
 thought the molt beautiful. And in- 
 
 indeed 
 
[ H 1 
 
 tfeed therfe is a lightneft in it, which no 
 ether form can receive. The group of 
 the apoftles, in the cartoon of giving the 
 keysi and the fame group, in the death 
 of Ananias, are both exceedingly hea- 
 vy i 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 mod: 
 variety : for the verticle angle of a 
 group fo difpofed may either be acute, 
 or obtufe, in any degree. Or a Jegment 
 only of a triangle may be taken, which 
 ftill encreafes the variety. But it mu ft 
 be obferved, that to make a triangu- 
 lar form beautiful, a perpendicular 
 from the apex fhould fall upon the bafe. 
 The cartoons afford few inftances of 
 beauty in the forms of groups , In the 
 
 works 
 
[ 15 J 
 
 works of Salvator Rosa we frequent^ 
 ly find them. 
 
 The painter, when he hath chofen his 
 fubjeCt, fnould always fketch out fome 
 beautiful form of grouping, which may 
 beft fuit it; within which bounds he 
 fhould, as nearly as may be, without 
 affectation, confine his figures. What I 
 mean, is, that the form of the group 
 fhould 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 ftrength and faintnefs, which 
 objects receive from nearnefs and di- 
 ftance. A nice obfervance of the gra* 
 dual fading of light and lhade contri- 
 butes greatly towards the production of 
 a whole . Without it, the diftant parts, 
 
 inftcad 
 
[ i6 1 
 
 iiiftead ofbeing Connected with the ob* 
 jeCts at hand, appear like fore ; gn ob-^ 
 jedls, wildly introduced, and without 
 meaning. Diminifhed in fize only, they 
 put you in mind of Lilliput and Brob- 
 dignag united in one feene. 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 contrin 
 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 
 
[ 17 ] 
 
 Sometimes the purple tint is chofen! 
 fometimes the mellow, brown one j and 
 in fome fubjedts the greenilh hue is moft 
 proper. Of this ruling tint, whatever 
 it is, every objedt in the pidture fhould 
 in a degree participate. This theory is 
 founded on principles of truth j and 
 produces a fine effedt from the harmony, 
 in which it unites every objedh Har- 
 mony is e>ppofed to gaudy colouring, 
 and glare. Yet the fkilful painter fears 
 not, when his fubjedt allows it, to em- 
 ploy the greateft variety of rich 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 y and from a nice affemblage of 
 the brighteft colours, each of which a- 
 C lone 
 
r i 
 
 lone would ftare, 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 effe<5t ; as the able 
 mufician will often dare to introduce 
 notes foreign to his key j and even from 
 apparent difeord 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. We often meet with 
 hard touches in a print j which, brand- 
 ing alone, are unharmonious : but when 
 every contiguous part is touched-up to 
 that tone 3 the effeCt is harmony. — Keep- 
 ing 
 
E *9 ] 
 
 ing then proportions a proper degree ot 
 ilrength to the near and diftant parts, 
 in refpeft to each other. Harmony goes 
 aftep farther, and keeps each part quiet, 
 ■with refped to itfelf, and the whole. I 
 (hall only add, that in (ketches, and 
 rough etchings, no harmony is expected : 
 it is enough, if keeping be obferved. 
 Harmony is looked for only in finilhed 
 compofitions. If you would fee the 
 want of it in the (trongeft light, exa- 
 mine a worn-print, harfhly retouched by 
 ;fome bungler. 
 
 The laft thing, which contributes to 
 produce a whole, is a proper difribution 
 of light . This, in a print efpecially, is 
 mod eflential. Harmony in colouring 
 may, in fome meafure, fupply its place 
 in painting: but a print has no fucce- 
 C 2 daneum. 
 
[ 2° J 
 
 daneum. Were the defign y dijpofition, 
 and keeping ever fo perfed, beautiful, 
 and juft , without this efiential, inftead 
 of a whole, we fhould have only a piece 
 of patch-work. Nay, fuch is the power 
 of light , that by an artificial manage- 
 ment of it we may even harmonize a 
 bad difpofition. 
 
 The general rule which regards the 
 diftribution of light , is, that it fhould 
 be fpread in large maffes. This gives 
 the idea of a whole. Every grand ob- 
 jed catches the light only upon one 
 large furface. Where the light is in 
 fpots, we have the idea of feveral ob- 
 ieds ; or at lead of an incoherent one, 
 if the objed be fmgle ; which the eye 
 furveys with difficulty. It is thus in 
 painting. When we fee, upon a com * 
 prehivfive view, Large majfes of light and 
 
 fit ad e. 
 
[ 21 } 
 
 fliade, we have, of courfey the idea of 
 a whole — of unity in that pidture. But 
 where the light is fcattered, we have the 
 idea of feveral objedts, or at lead: of 
 one broken and confufed. Titian’s 
 known illudration 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) w r e have 
 the reprefentation of thofe large mafles, 
 which conditute a whole. But when the 
 grapes are dripped from the bunch, and 
 fcattered upon a table (the light diining 
 upon each feparately) a whole is no 
 longer preferred. 
 
 Having thus confidered thofe effen- 
 tials of a print, which produce a whole , 
 it remains to confider thofe, which re- 
 late 
 
[ « ] 
 
 late to the parts — drawing , expreJfion 3 
 grace y and perjpeffive. With regard to 
 thefe, let it be firft obferved, that in or- 
 der, they are inferior to the other. The 
 production of a whole is the great effeCt, 
 that fhould be aimed at in a picture. 
 A picture without a whole is properly 
 only a ftudy : and thofe things, which 
 produce a whole, are of courfe the prin- 
 cipal foundation of beauty. So thought 
 the great mafter of compofition. With 
 him no man was intitled to the name of 
 artilt, who could not produce a whole . 
 However exquifitely he might finifti, he 
 would ftill be defective. Infelix operis 
 Jummdy quia ponere totum nejciet, 
 
 By drawing we mean the exaCtnefs of 
 the out-line. Without a competent 
 knowledge of this there can be no juft 
 
 jpepre* 
 
[ 23 1 
 
 teprefentation of nature. Every thing 
 will be diftorted and offenfive to the 
 eye. Bad drawing therefore is that dif» 
 gulling objedt which no eye can bear. 
 
 Drawing, however, may be very tole- 
 rable, though it fall Ihort, in a certain 
 degree , of abfolute perfection. The de- 
 fe£t will only be obferved by the moll 
 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 thofe ef« 
 fentials, which conftitute a whole. 
 
 BLxpreJJion is the life and foul of paint- 
 ing. It implies a juft reprefentation of 
 •pajjion , and of character : of pajfion , by 
 exhibiting every emotion of the mind, 
 as outwardly difcovered by any peculi- 
 arity of gefture ; ,or the extention, and 
 C 4 con- 
 
[ *4 ] 
 
 contraction of the features: of chara£ler> 
 by reprefenting the different manners 
 of men, as arifing from their particular 
 tempers, or profeffions. The cartoons 
 are full of examples of the firft kind of 
 exprejfion j and with regard to the fe- 
 cond, commonly called manners -paintingy 
 it would be invidious not to mention 
 our countryman Hog arth ; whofe works 
 contain a variety of characters, repre/ent- 
 ed with more force, than molt men can 
 conceive. 
 
 Grace confiffs in fuch a difpofition of 
 the parts of a figure, as forms it into 
 an agreeable attitude. It depends on 
 contrajt and cafe. Confraji , when appli- 
 ed to a fingle figure, means the fame, as 
 when applied to a group-, the oppofi- 
 tion of one part to another. It may be 
 . > confidered 
 
C 45 1 
 
 confidered with reference to the body, 
 the limbs y and the head j the graceful at- 
 titude arifing fometimes from a contrail 
 in one, fometimes in another* and fome- 
 times in all. With reference to the body, 
 contrail confiils in giving it an eafy 
 turn, oppofing concave parts to convex. 
 Of this, St. Paul in the Jacrifice at 
 Lyftra is an initance.— With reference to 
 the limbs , it confiils in the oppofition 
 between extenfion and contraction. Mi- 
 chael Angelo’s illuilration by a trian- 
 gle, or pyramid, may here likewife again 
 be introduced; this form giving grace 
 and beauty to a fingle figure , as well as 
 to a group. Only here a greater liberty 
 may be allowed. In grouping , the tri- 
 angle fhould, I think, always reil upon 
 its bafe ; but in a fingle figure, it may 
 be inverted, and Hand upon its apex. 
 
 Thus 
 
t 26 ] 
 
 Thus if the lower parts of the figure 
 be extended, the upper parts fhould be 
 Contracted; but the fame beautiful form 
 is given by extending the arms, and 
 drawing the feet to a point. — Laftly, 
 contrail often arifes from the air of the 
 head j 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 remarkable 
 in the figure of St. John healing the 
 cripple : and the fame cartoon affords 
 eight or nine more inftances. I fay the 
 lei's on this fubjedt, as it hath been fo 
 well explained by the ingenious author 
 of the Analyfis of Beauty. 
 
 Thus contrajl is the foundation of 
 grace \ but it muft ever be remembred, 
 that contraji fhould be accompanied with 
 
 eaje. 
 
C 27 1 
 
 eafe. The body fhould be turned, not 
 twijled ; every conftrained poflure avoid- 
 ed ; and every motion fuch, as nature* 
 which loves eafe, would di&ate. 
 
 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 pifturejqtte grace* and that grace 
 Which arifes from dignity of character* 
 Of the former kind, which is the kind 
 here treated of, all figures fhould par- 
 take : you find it in Berghem’s clowns* 
 and in Callot’s beggars : but it be- ! 
 longs to expreffion to mark thofe charac- 
 terifcics, which diftinguifh the latter. 
 
 I fhall only obferve farther, that when 
 the piece confifls of many figures, the 
 contrail of each Jingle figure fhould be 
 fubordinate to the contraft of the whole . 
 
 It 
 
[ 28 } 
 
 It will be improper therefore, in many 
 cafes, to pracftife the rules, which have 
 been juft laid down. They ought, how- 
 ever, to be a general direction to the 
 painter; and at leaft to be obferved in 
 the principal figures. — If a fingle figure 
 be introduced, as in portrait, the pyra- 
 midal form cannot well be drfpenfed 
 with : the figure partakes then of the 
 nature of a group, 
 
 Perfpefiive is that proportion, with 
 regard to fixe , which near and diftant 
 obje&s, with their parts, bear to each 
 other. It is an attendant on keeping: 
 one gives the out-line; and the other 
 fills it up. Without a competent know- 
 ledge of perfpeUfive very abfurd things 
 would be introduced : and yet to make 
 
 a vain fhew of it, is pedantic. U*i<- 
 
 der 
 
[ 29 ] 
 
 der this head may be reduced fore-fhort- 
 ning . Unlefs this be done with the ut- 
 moft art, it were better omitted : it will 
 otherwife occafion great aukwardnefs. 
 Rubens is famous for fore^Jloortning ; but 
 the effedt is chiefly feen in his paintings i 
 feldom in his prints. 
 
 To this fummary of the rules, which 
 relate to the whole of a pidture, and to 
 its parts, I fliall juft add a few obferva- 
 tions upon execution \ which relates e- 
 qually to both. 
 
 By execution is meant that manner of 
 working, by which each artift produces 
 his effedt. Artifts may differ in their 
 execution or manner , and yet all excel. 
 Callot, for inftance, ufes a ftrong, firm 
 ftrokej Salvator, a flight, and loofe 
 
 one; 
 
f 3° 1 
 
 enej while Rembrandt executes in a 
 manner different from them both, by 
 icr,atches feemingly at random. 
 
 Every artift is in fome degree a man- 
 nerifi : that is, he executes in a manner 
 peculiar to himfelf. But the word man * 
 nerifi has generally a clofer fenfe. Na- 
 ture fhould be the ftandard of imita- 
 tion! and every object ftiould be exe- 
 cuted, as nearly as poffible, in her man- 
 n er . Thus Salvator’s figures, Du Jar- 
 din’s animals, and Waterlo’s land- 
 ikips, are all ftrongly impreffed with 
 the character of nature. Other mailers 
 again, deviating from this ftandard, in- 
 ftead of nature, have recourfe only to 
 their own ideas. They have gotten a 
 general idea of a man, a horfe, or a tree j 
 and to thefe ideas they apply upon all 
 
 occafions. Inftead therefore of repre- 
 senting 
 
[ 3i ] 
 
 Renting that endlefs variety, which na- 
 ture exhibits on every fubjeft, a fame- 
 nefs runs through all their performan- 
 ces. Every figure, and every tree bears 
 the fame ft amp. Such artifts we proper- 
 ly called mannerijls. Tempest, Callot, 
 and Testa are all mannerijls of this 
 kind. Their ideas are plainly no copies 
 from nature. Perelle’s landlkips too 
 are mere tranfcripts of imagination.— 
 The artift, however, who copies nature, 
 if he make a bad choice (as Rembrandt 
 often did) is lefs agreeable than the man- 
 nerijl j who gives us his own elevated 
 ideas, touched with fpirit and charac- 
 ter, tho not with exad truth. He is 
 the true artift, who copies nature but, 
 where he finds her mean, elevates her 
 from his own ideas of beauty, which 
 
 have 
 
[ 3 * 1 
 
 have been treafured up from the fame 
 great original. 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 flroke, 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 
 better what is meant by fpirit. Mere 
 freedom a quick execution will give ; 
 but unlefs that freedom be attended 
 with precifion, the itroke, however 
 free, will be fo unmeaning as to lofe it§ 
 effett. 
 
 To thefe obfervations, it may not 
 be improper to add a ffiort compara- 
 tive view of the peculiar excellencies of 
 
 pi&ures 
 
[ 33 ] 
 
 pictures, and prints^ which will ihewus, 
 in what points the picture has the ad- 
 van tage. 
 
 r 
 
 In defign and compofition the effects of 
 both are equal. The print exhibits 
 them with as much force and meaning* 
 as the pidure. 
 
 In keeping the pidure has the advan- 
 tage. The bazinefs of diftance cannot 
 well be exprefled 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 
 know the appearance exifts in nature : 
 and the print furnifhes an hint to recoi- 
 led it. 
 
 D 
 
 In 
 
[ 34 1 
 
 In the difirihution of light the com- 
 panion runs very wide. Here the pain- 
 ter avails himfelf of a thoufand varied 
 %ints, which ailift him in this bufinefs ; 
 and by which he can harmonize his 
 Gradations from light to fnade with an 
 almoft infinite variety. Harmonious co- 
 louring has in itfelf the eiled of a pro- 
 per diftribution of light. The engra- 
 ver, in the mean time, is left to work 
 out his effed with two materials only, 
 plain white and black. — In the print, 
 however, you can more eafily trace 
 the principles of light and fhade. The- 
 pencil is the implement of deception; 
 and it requires the eye of a mailer 
 to diftinguifh between the effed of light, 
 and the effed of colour: but in the 
 print, even the unpradifed eye can 
 readily catch the mafs; and follow the 
 
 distribution 
 
[ 35 ] 
 
 distribution of it through all its variety 
 <of middle tints, — One thing more may 
 be added : If the picture has no har- 
 
 mony in its colouring, the tints bein^f 
 all at difcord among themfelves, which 
 js often the cafe in the works even of 
 reputable painters, a good print, from 
 fuch a pi&ure, is more beautiful than 
 the picture itfelf. It preferves what is 
 valuable, (upon a fuppofition there is 
 any thing valuable in it) and removes 
 what is offenfive. 
 
 - Thus the comparifon runs with re- 
 gard to thole effentials, which relate to 
 a whole : with regard to drawing , , ex- 
 pretfion, grace , and perfpettive, we can 
 purfue ’t only in the two former; in the 
 two latter, the pifture and the print 
 feem to have equal advantages,— With 
 D 2 regard 
 
r 36 j 
 
 regard to psrjpeffiivs indeed, the lines of 
 the print verging all to one point, mark 
 the principles of it more ftrongly. 
 
 Drawing, in a piElure, is e ft e died by 
 the contiguity of two different co- 
 lours: in a print by a pofitive line. I11 
 the picture, therefore, drawing has more 
 of nature in it, and more of eflfedfc : but 
 the flu dent in anatomy finds more pre- 
 cision in the print j and can more eafily 
 trace the line, and follow it in all its 
 ■windings through light and fhade. 
 
 Jn mezzotinto the comparifon fails* 
 in which, drawing is effected nearly as 
 it is in painting. 
 
 With regard to exprejjion, the painter 
 glories in his many advantages. 1 he 
 paffions receive their force almoft as 
 
 much 
 
[ 37 1 
 
 tfuich from colour , as from the emotion 
 ot feature. Nay lines, without colour* 
 have frequently an effeft very oppofite 
 to what is intended. Violent expreflions, 
 when lineal only, are often grotefque. 
 -1 he complexion fhould fupport the dif- 
 tortion. The bloated eyes of immode- 
 rate grief degenerate into courfe fea- 
 tures, unlefs the pencil add thofe high- 
 blown touches, which mark the paffion. 
 Aik the engraver, why he could not 
 give the dying faint of Dominichino 
 his true expreffion ?* Why he gave him 
 that ghaftly horrour, in (lead of the fe- 
 rene langour of the original ? The en- 
 graver may with juftice fay, he went as 
 far as lines could go ; but he wanted 
 Dominichino’s pencil to give thofe pal- 
 
 Jac Freu's copy of Dominichino’s St, Jerome, 
 
 * lid 
 
[ 3 * 1 
 
 lid touches, which alone could make 
 his lines expreflive. — Age alfo, and fex, 
 the bloom of youth, and the wan cheek 
 of ficknefs, are equally indebted for 
 their moft chara&eriftic marks, to the 
 pencil. — In portrait, the different hues 
 of hair, and complexion ;— in animal- 
 life the various dies of furs, and plu- 
 mage; — in landjkipy the peculiar tints 
 of feafons; of morning, and evening; 
 the light azure of a fummer-fky; the 
 fultry glow of noon ; the bluifli, or 
 purple tinge, which the mountain af- 
 fumes, as it recedes, or approaches; 
 the grey mofs upon the ruin ; the va- 
 riegated greens, and mellow browns of 
 foliage, and broken ground: in fhort, 
 the colours of every part of nature, have 
 all amazing force in ftrengthening the 
 exprefTion of obje&s.— In the room 
 
r 39 r 
 
 of all this, the deficient print has only 
 to offer mere form, and the gradati- 
 ons of fimple light. Hence the fweet 
 touches of the pencil of Claude, 
 mark his pictures with the ftrongefi: 
 exprefiions of nature, and render them- 
 invaluable; while his prints are gene- 
 rally the dirty fhapes of fomething, 
 which he could not exprefs. 
 
 The idea alfo of dijlant magnitude , 
 the print gives very imperfefUy. It 
 is expreffed chiefly by colour. Air,, 
 which is naturally blue, is the medi- 
 um through which we fee ; and every 
 objeCt participates of this bluenefs. 
 When the diftance is final!, die tinge 
 is imperceptible : as it increafes, the 
 tinge grows ftronger ; and when the 
 objeCt is very remote, it intirely- lofes 
 
 its 
 
its natural colour, and becomes blu^ 
 And indeed this is fa familiar a crite- 
 rion of diftance, at lead with thofe 
 who live in mountainous countries, 
 that if the object be vifible at all, af- 
 ter it has received the full ether-tinge f 
 if I may fa fpeak, the fight immedi- 
 ately judges it to be very large. The 
 eye ranging over the plains of Egypt, 
 and catching the blue point of a py- 
 ramid, from the colour concludes the 
 diftance; and is ftruck with the mag- 
 nitude of an object, which, through fuch 
 a fpace, can exhibit form. — Here the 
 print fails : this criterion of diftant mag- 
 nitude, it is unable to give. 
 
 I cannot forbear infecting here a fhort 
 criticiftn on a pafiage in Virgil. The 
 
 poet 
 
[ 4 « ] 
 
 poet defcri-bing a tower retiring from a 
 veflel in full fail, fays, 
 
 Protinus aerias Phseacum abfcondimus arces. 
 
 Ru^eus, and other commentators, ex- 
 plain aerias by atlas, or fome equiva- 
 lent word j which is magnifying an i- 
 dea which in nature iliould be dimi- 
 nifhed. The idea of magnitude is cer- 
 tainly not the ftriking idea that arifes 
 from a retiring objedt : I fhould rather 
 imasine that Virgil, who was of all 
 poets perhaps the moil pidurefque, 
 meant to give us an idea of colour, 
 rather than of ihape j and that the tow- 
 er, from its diftance, had aflumed the 
 aerial tinge. 
 
 The print equally fails, when the 
 medium itfelf receives a foreign tinge 
 from a ftrength of colour behind it. 
 
 The 
 
r ] 
 
 The idea of horrout, imprefTed by a» 
 expanfe of air glowing, in the night, 
 with diflant fire, cannot be raifed by 
 black and white. Vanderveldf. has 
 contrived to give us a good idea of the 
 dreadful glare of a fleet in flames : but 
 it were ridiculous for an engraver to 
 attempt fuch a fubjedt; becaufe he can- 
 not exprefs that idea, which principally 
 illuftrates his ftory. 
 
 ‘Tranfparency 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 flngly. If you em- 
 ploy one colour only, you have the idea 
 of opaquenefs. A fine carnation is a 
 White tranfparent fkin, fpread over ^ 
 multitude of fmall blood vtflels, which 
 
 blufli 
 
[ 43 ] 
 
 fclulh 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. 
 —The happy pencil can mark both, 
 thefe effe&s. It can fpread the glow of 
 health over the cheek of beauty ; and 
 it can with equal facility exprefs the 
 cold, wan, tint of human clay. The 
 print can exprefs neither j 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 o tpolijhed bodies j which are indebt- 
 ed for their chief luftre to reflected co- 
 lours. The print indeed goes farther 
 here, than in the cafe of tranfparency. 
 In this it can do very little : in polijhed 
 
 bodies , 
 
[ 44 1 
 
 hbdiej, it can at leaft give rcficEIed flapes. 
 It can- (hew the forms of hanging woods 
 upon the edges of the lake; tho unable 
 to give the kindred tinge. But in many 
 cafes the pcljked body receives the tinge, 
 without the ftoape. Here the engraver 
 is wholly deficient: he knows not how 
 to ficain the gleaming filver with the 
 purple liquour it contains ; nor is he able 
 to give the hero’s armour its higheft 
 polirh from the tinge of the crimfon 
 veil, which covers it. 
 
 A fmgle word upon the fubject of 
 execution, final] conclude thefe remarks. 
 Here the advantage lies wholly on the 
 fide of painting. 7 bat manner which 
 can belt give the idea of the furface of 
 an objedt, is the bell; and the lines of 
 the fined engraving are harlh in compa- 
 
 rifon 
 
t 45 ] 
 
 r ifon of the fmooth flow of the pencil. 
 Mezzotint o, tho deficient in iome re- 
 fpe&s, is certainly in others the happieft 
 manner of execution ; and the ancient 
 vjcoden 'prints in which the middle tint 
 is ufed, is undoubtedly, in point of exe- 
 cution, beycnd either etching or engrav- 
 ing- 
 
 CHAP. 
 

 v. u" 
 
 \ 
 
 • 
 
 i 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 JL 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 i. 
 
 hm * 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 : 
 
 ■ '■ 
 
 
 • * 
 
 
 v ■ : 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 : ■ 
 
 
[ 47 1 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 Ob/ervations on the different Kinds of 
 Prints . 
 
 T Here are three kinds of prints, 
 engravings, etchings, and mezzotint 
 tos. The charafteriitic of the firft is 
 jirength', of the fecond, freedom ; and of 
 the third, foftnefs. All thefe, however, 
 may in fome degree be found in each. 
 
 From the fhape of the engraver’s 
 tool, each ftroke is an angular incifion; 
 
 which 
 
[ 48 ] 
 
 which muft of courfe give the line 
 ftrength, and firmnefs j if it be not very 
 tender. From fuch a line alfo, as it 
 is a deliberate one, corre<5tnefs may be 
 expedted j but no great freedom : for it 
 is a laboured line, ploughed through 
 the metal, and mult neceflarily, in a de- 
 gree, want eafe. 
 
 Unlimited freedom , on the other hand, 
 is the charafteriftic of etching. The 
 needle, gliding along the furface of the 
 copper, meets no refinance; and eafily 
 .takes any turn the hand pleafes to give 
 it. Etching indeed is mere drawing : 
 and maybe pra£tifed with the fame fa- 
 cility. — But as aqua-fortis bites in an 
 equable manner, it cannot give the lines 
 that ftrength, which they receive from 
 a pointed graver cutting into the cop- 
 
 per. 
 
t 49 ] 
 
 per. Befides, it is difficult to prevent 
 its biting the plate all over alike. The 
 dift ant parts indeed may eafily be cover- 
 ed with wax, and the general effect of 
 the keeping prelerved ; but to give each 
 Jmaller part its proper relief, and to har- 
 monize the whole , requires fo many dif- 
 ferent degrees of ftrength, fuch eafy 
 tranfitions from one into another, that 
 aqua-fortis alone is not equal to it. 
 Here, therefore, engraving hath the ad- 
 vantage ; which by a broke, deep or ten- 
 der, at the artift’s pleafure, can vary 
 ftrength and faintnefs in any degree. 
 
 As engraving, therefore, and etching 
 have their ref^fpeftive advantages, and 
 deficiencies, artifts have endeavoured to 
 unite their powers ; and to correct the 
 faults of each, by joining the freedom of 
 E the 
 
t so ] 
 
 the one, with the firength of the other.,-' 
 In mod of our modern prints, the plate 
 is firft etched, and afterwards length- 
 ened, and finilhed by the graver. And 
 when this is well done, it has a happy 
 effedt. The flatnefs, which is the con- 
 jequence of an equable ftrength of lhade, 
 is taken offj and the print gains a new 
 efFedt, by the relief given to thofe parts 
 which bang (in the painter’s language) 
 upon the parts behind them.— -But great 
 art is neceflary in this bufinefs. We fee 
 many a print, which wanted only a few 
 touches, when it appeared in its etched 
 proof, receive afterwards fo manj/j as to 
 become laboured, heavy and difguft- 
 ing. 
 
 In etching , we have the greateft variety 
 ef excellent prints. The cafe is, it is 
 
 fo 
 
E St ] 
 
 fb much the fame as drawing , that we 
 have the very works themfelves of the 
 moft celebrated matters : many of whom 
 have left behind them prints in this 
 way; which, however (light and incor- 
 rect, will always have fomething mafter - 
 iy } 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 (hade, which are there requir- 
 ed, cannot be fo well expretted by the 
 needle : and, in general, large prints re- 
 quire a ftrength which etching cannot 
 give; and are therefore fit objefts of en- 
 graving. 
 
 Etching , on the other hand, is more 
 E 2 par- 
 
C 5 2 1 
 
 particularly adapted to {ketches, and 
 flight defigns: which, if executed by 
 an engraver, would entirely lofe their 
 freedom j and with it their beauty. 
 Landfkip too, in general, is the object 
 of etching. The foliage of trees, ruins, 
 {ky, and indeed every part of landfkip, 
 requires the utmoft freedom. In finifli- 
 ing an etched landfkip with the tool , (as 
 it is called) too much care cannot bo 
 taken to prevent heavinefs. We re- 
 marked before the nicety of touching 
 upon an etched plate : but in landfkip 
 the bufinefs is peculiarly delicate. The 
 fore-grounds, and the boles of fuch trees 
 as are placed upon them, may require 
 a few ftrong touches \ and here and 
 there a few harmonizing ftrokes will 
 add to the effect : but if the engraver 
 
 venture 
 
[ 53 3 
 
 venture much farther, he has good luck 
 if he do -no mifchief. 
 
 An engraved plate, unlefs it be cut ve- 
 ry (lightly, will caft off feven 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 mud be retouched, or the im- 
 predions will be taint. 
 
 Befides the common method of en- 
 graving on copper , we have prints en- 
 graven on pewter, and on wood. The 
 pewter plate gives a coarfenefs and dirti- 
 nefs to the print, which is often difagree- 
 able. But engraving upon wood is 
 
 capable 
 
t 54 1 
 
 capable of great beauty. Of this fpc* 
 cies of engraving more (hall elfewhere 
 be faid. 
 
 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 arc of fcraping mezzotintos is 
 greatly more improved than either of 
 its fifter-arts. Some of the earlieft etch- 
 ings are perhaps the bed; and engrav- 
 ing-. fince the times of Goltzius and 
 Muller, hath not perhaps made any 
 very great advances. But mezzotint o, 
 compared with its original ftate, is, at 
 this day, almoft a new art. If we exa- 
 mine f ome of the modern pieces of 
 workmanlhip in this way the Jewifo 
 
 Ralhi 
 
[ 55 1 
 
 tRabbi, the portrait of Mrs. Lascelles 
 with a child on her knee , Mr. Garrick. 
 between 'Tragedy and Comedy and feveral 
 other prints equally good, by our belfc 
 mezzotinto-fcrapers j they as much ex- 
 ceed the works of White and Smith,; 
 as thofe mafters did Becket and Si- 
 mons. It muft be owned, at the fame 
 'time, they have better originals to copy. 
 Kneller’s portraits are very paltry, 
 compared with thofe of our modern ar- 
 tifts ; and are fcarce fufceptible of any 
 ; effects of light and {hade. As to Prince 
 Rupert’s works, I never faw any, which 
 were certainly known to be his: but I 
 make no dorubt they were executedin 
 -the fame black, harlh, difagreeable man- 
 ner, which appears fo ftrong in the maf- 
 : ters who fucceeded him. The inven- 
 tion however was noble ; and the early 
 
 mafters 
 
f 56 ] 
 
 matters 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 , 
 wholly unknown to the earlier maf- 
 ters: and they who are acquainted with 
 mezzotinto , know the ground to be a very 
 capital confideration. 
 
 The charadteriftic of mezzotinto is fofi- 
 nejs\ which' adapts it chiefly to portrait, 
 or hiftory, with a few figures, and thefe 
 not too final! . Nothing, except paint, 
 can exprefs Bella more naturally, or the 
 flowing of hair, or the folds of drapery, 
 or the catching lights of armour. In 
 engraving and etching we inuft get over 
 the prejudices of crofs lines, which exift 
 on no natural bodies: but mezzotinto 
 gives us the ftrongeft reprefentation of 
 a Jurface. If, however, the figures are 
 
 too 
 
t 57 ] 
 
 too crowded, it wants ftrength to de- 
 tach the feveral parts with a proper re- 
 lief: and if they are very fmall, it wants 
 precifion, which can only be given by 
 an outline; or, as in painting, by a dif- 
 ferent tint. The unevennefs of the 
 ground will occafion bad drawing, and 
 aukwardnefs — in the extremities efpe- 
 cially. Some inferior artifts have en- 
 deavoured to remedy this, by terminat- 
 ing their figures with an engraved, or 
 etched line: but they have tried the ex- 
 periment with bad fuccefs. The ftrength 
 of the line, and the foftnefs of the 
 ground, accord ill together. I fpeak 
 not here of that judicious mixture of 
 etching and mezzotint o , which was former- 
 ly ufed by White ; and which our belt 
 mezzotinto-fcrapers at prefent ufe, to 
 give a ftrength to particular parts; I 
 
 fpeak 
 
r js 3 
 
 fpeak only of a harih, and injudicious 
 lineal termination, 
 
 Mezzotinto excels each of the other 
 fpecies of prints, in its capacity of re- 
 ceiving the moft beautiful effedts of 
 light and fhade: as it can the moft hap- 
 pily unite them, by blending them to- 
 gether. — Of this Rembrandt feems to 
 have been aware. He had probably 
 feen fome of the firft mezzotintos; and 
 admiring the efie£t, endeavoured to pro- 
 duce it in etching, by a variety of in- 
 ter feeling fcratches. 
 
 You cannot well caft off more than 
 ah hundred good impreffions from a 
 mezzotinto plate. The rubbing of the 
 hand foon wears it fmooth : And yet 
 by conftantly repairing it, it may be 
 made to give four or five hundred, with 
 tolerable ftrength. The firft impref- 
 fions 
 
r 59 i 
 
 fions are not always the beft. They* 
 are too black and harfh. You will 
 commonly have the belt impreffions 
 from the fortieth to the fixtieth : the 
 harfh edges will be foftened-down ; and 
 yet there will be fpirit and ftrength 
 enough left. 
 
 1 Ihould 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, held like 
 a pencil ; and differs from etching only 
 in the force with which you work. This 
 method is ufed by all engravers in their 
 ikies, and other tender parts; and fome 
 of them carry it into (till more general 
 ufe. 
 
 CHAP. 
 
[ 6i 1 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 Characters of the mofi noted Majters . 
 Masters in History. ■ 
 Lbert Durer, tho not the inven- 
 
 tor, was one of the firft improvers 
 of the art of engraving. He was a Ger- 
 man painter, 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* 
 who reviled, it is fuppofed, fome of the 
 
 pieces 
 
t 62 1 
 
 pieces which he publifhed. He was & 
 man of bufmefs alio, and for many years 
 the leading magistrate of Nuremburg — • 
 His prints, confidered as the firft efforts 
 of a new art, have great merit. Nay, 
 we may add, that it is aflonifhing to fee 
 a new art* in its firfb 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-Jcene particularly, which was en- 
 graved in the year 1513, 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 effeft. In 
 his wooden prints too we are furprifed 
 to fee fo much meaning, in fo- early a 
 mailer ; the heads fo well marked; and 
 every part fo well executed — This artifl 
 ieems to-have underflood the principles 
 
 of 
 
f H 1 
 
 of defign. His compofition too is oftetf 
 pleafing j and his drawing generally 
 good : but he knows very little of the 
 management of light * and ftill 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. He was certainly a man of a very 
 extenfive genius; and, as Vafari re- 
 marks, would have been an extraordi- 
 nary artift ; if he had had an Italian, in- 
 ftead of a German education. His 
 prints are numerous. They were much 
 admired in his own life-time, and eager- 
 ly bought up: which put his wife, who- 
 was a teanng woman,, upon urging him' 
 to fpend more time upon engravings 
 than he was inclined to do. He was 
 rich, and chtffe rather to pra&ife his arc 
 
 as 
 
[ <4 ] 
 
 as an afnufement, 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 fome others of lefs note. Their 
 works are very much in their maker’s 
 ftyle; and were the admiration of an 
 age which had feen nothing better. 
 The bed; of Aldgrave’s works are two 
 or three fmall pieces of the dory of Lot. 
 
 Goltzius flourilhed 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 improved his ideas. You 
 plainly difcover in him a mixture of 
 
 the 
 
t 65 1 
 
 the Flemifh and Italian fchools. Mia 
 forms have fometimes a degree of ele- 
 gance in them ; but, in general, the 
 Dutch matter prevails. Goltzius is 
 often happy in defign and difpofition •, and 
 fails molt in the dijiribution of light. But: 
 his chief excellence lies in execution 
 He engraves in a noble, firm, expreflive 
 manner; which hath fcarcc been excelled 
 by any fucceeding mailers. There is a 
 variety too in his execution, which is 
 very pleafing. His print of the circum - 
 cifion is one of the bell of his works.' 
 T he llory 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 
 dillribution of lhade, is only a glaring 
 mafs. 
 
 E 
 
 Muller 
 
[ 66 ] 
 
 Muller engraved very much in the* 
 flyle of Gotziusj 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 bapiijm of John is perhaps 
 the moft beautiful fpecimen of bold en- 
 graving, that is extant. 
 
 Abraham Bloemart was a Dutch 
 mailer alfo, and contemporary with 
 Goltzius. We are not informed what 
 particular means of improvement he hadj 
 but it is certain he defigned in a more 
 elegant tafle, than any of his country- 
 men. His figures are often graceful j 
 excepting only, that he gives them 
 fometimes an affedted twill ; which is 
 flill more confpicuous in the fingers : 
 an affectation which we fometimes alfo 
 
 find 
 
f h 1 
 
 i '■ . 
 
 Snd in the prints of Goltzius. — The 
 refurrettion of Lazarus is one of Blob- 
 mart’s mafter-pieces; in which are many 
 faults, and many beauties; both very 
 charaderiftic. 
 
 While the Dutch mafters 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 mafter abound in 
 noble pafFages; but are formal and dis- 
 agreeable. We have a fpecimenof them 
 at Hampton-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, corred out-line, 
 and noble fimplicity of the Roman 
 F 2 fchool ; 
 
[ 6 $ ] 
 
 fchool: but we are to expeft nothing 
 more j not the leaft attempt towards an 
 agreeable whole *— And indeed, we fhali 
 perhaps find,- in general, that the mafters 
 of the Roman fchool were more ftudb- 
 ous of thofe effentials of painting, which- 
 regard the^tfr/i'; and the Flemifh maf- 
 ters, of thofe, which regard the whole. 
 The former therefore drew better figure* 
 the latter made better pttures, 
 
 Mantegna was fucceeded by Par- 
 migiano and Palma, both mafters of 
 great reputation. Parmigiano having 
 formed the moft accurate tafte upon a 
 thorough ftudyof the works of Raphael 
 and Michael Angelo, publifhed many 
 fmgle figures, and fome defigns engra- 
 ven on wood, which abounded with e- 
 very kind of beautyj if we may form 
 
 a judg- 
 
r 69 ] 
 
 a judgment of them from the few which 
 we fometimes meet with. Whether 
 Parmigia.no invented the art of engrav- 
 ing on wood, does not certainly appear. 
 His pretenfions to the invention of etch- 
 ing are lefs difputable. In this way he 
 publilhed many* flight pieces, which do 
 him great credit. In the midfl: of his 
 labours, he was interrupted by a kna- 
 vifli engraver, who pilaged him of all 
 his plates. Unable to bear the lofs, 
 he forfwore his art, and abandoned him- 
 ielf to ehymiftry. 
 
 Palma was too much employed as a 
 painter to have much leifure for etch- 
 ing. He hath left feveral prints, how- 
 ever, behind him*, which are remarkable 
 for the delicacy of the drawing, and the 
 freedom of the execution. He etches 
 
 in 
 
E 7° 1 
 
 ih a loofe, but mafterly manner. His 
 prints are fcarce : and indeed we feldom 
 meet with any that deferve more than 
 the name of fketches. 
 
 Francis Paria fee ms to have copied 
 the manner of Palma with great fuc- 
 cefs. But his prints are ftill fcarcer than 
 his matter’s; nor have we a fufhcient 
 number of them, to enable us to form a 
 judgment of his merit. 
 
 But the great improver of the art of 
 engraving on wood ; and who at once 
 carried it to a degree of perfe&ion, 
 which hath not fmce been exceeded ; was 
 Andrea Andreani, of Mantua. The 
 works of this matter are remarkable for 
 the freedom, ttrength, and fpirit of the 
 executions the elegant corre&nefs of 
 
 the 
 
t 7« 1 
 
 the drawing; and in general for their 
 effect. Few prints come fo near the 
 idea of painting. They have a force, 
 which a pointed tool upon copper can- 
 not reach : and the wafti, of which the 
 middle tint is compofed, adds all the 
 foftnefs of drawing. But the works b£ 
 this mafter are feldom feen in perfection* 
 They are fcarce; and when we do meet 
 with them, it is a chance if the impref- 
 fions be good; and very much of the 
 beauty of thefe prints depends on the 
 goodnefs of the imprefiion. For often 
 the out-line is left hard, the middle 
 .tint being loft; and fometimes the mid- 
 dle tint is left without its proper termi- 
 nation. 
 
 Among the ancient Italian mailers,* 
 yye cannot omit Mark Antonio ; and 
 
 Augustin 
 
t 72 1 
 
 Augustin of Venice. They are both 
 celebrated ; and have handed down to 
 us many engravings from the works of 
 Raphael : but their antiquity , not their 
 merit , feems to have recommended 
 them. Their execution is harfh, and 
 formal to the laft 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. — Eut we cannot, per- 
 haps, in England, form an adequate idea 
 of thefe mailers. I have been told, their 
 belt works are fo much valued in Italy, 
 that they are engrafted there by the 
 curious: that very few of them find their 
 way into other countries; and that what 
 we have, are, in general, but the re- 
 fufe. 
 
 Frederic 
 
t 73 1 
 
 Frederic Barocchi was born at 
 Urbin ; where the genius of Raphael 
 infpired him. In his early youth he tra- 
 veled to Rome: and giving himfelf up 
 to intenfe ftudy, he acquired a great 
 name in painting. At his leifure hours 
 he etched a few prints from his own de- 
 figns ; which are highly fimfhed, and ex<- 
 ecuted with great foftnefs and delicacy. 
 The Salutation is his capital perfor- 
 mance : of which we feldom meet with 
 any impreflions, but thofe taken from 
 the retouched plate, which are very 
 harfh. 
 
 Anthony Tempesta was a native of 
 Florence, but refided chiefly at Rome; 
 where he was employed in painting by 
 
 Gregory XIII.- His prints are very 
 
 numerous: all from his own defigns. 
 
 Battles 
 
T 74 T 
 
 Battles and huntings are the fubjed$ 
 in which he moil delighted. His me- 
 rit lies in exprefiion, both in feature 
 and in adion ; in the grandeur of his 
 ideas j and in the fertility of his inven- 
 tion. His figures are often elegant, 
 and graceful ; and his heads marked with 
 great fpirit, and corrednefs. His hor- 
 fes, tho fieihy and ill drawn, and evi- 
 dently never copied from nature ; are, 
 however, noble animals; and difplay an 
 endlefs variety of beautiful adions— » 
 His imperfedions at the fame time, are 
 very glaring. His compofition is ge- 
 nerally bad. Here and there you have 
 a good group; feldom an agreeable 
 whole. He had not the art of preferv- 
 ing his back-grounds tender; fo that 
 we are not to exped any effed of keep- 
 
 ing, 
 
t 75 3 
 
 Ingo His execution is harfli; and he 13 
 totally ignorant of the diftnbution of 
 light. — Butnotwithftandingall his faults, j 
 fuch is his merit, that, as ftudies at 
 lead:, his prints deferve a much higher 
 rank in the cabinets of connoifleurs, 
 than they generally find : you can fcarce 
 pick out one of them, which does no£ 
 furnilh materials for an excellent com-* 
 pofition. 
 
 Augustin 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; 
 fiatnefs in them, and want of ftrength. 
 Etchings, indeed, in this ftyle are rather 
 meant as fketches, than as finifhed 
 prints. 
 
 Guido’s 
 
[ 76 ] 
 
 tjuiDo’s etchings, rnoft of which are 
 imali, are efteemed for the limplicity of 
 the defign ; the elegance and corred- 
 nefs of the outline j and that grace, for 
 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 Guroo, which we find in thofe of 
 his mailer Carrache ; accompanied, at 
 the fame time, with lefs freedom. The 
 parts are finifhed; but the whole no 
 gleded. 
 
 Cantarini copied the manner of 
 Guido, as Paria did that of Palmaj 
 and fo happily, that it is often difficult 
 to diftinguifh the works of thefe two 
 mailers. 
 
 Callot 
 
t 7? 3 
 
 Callot was little acquainted wick 
 any of the grand principles of painting s 
 of compofition, and the management 
 ©f light he was totally ignorant. But 
 tho he could not make a picture, he 
 was admirably Ikilled in drawing a fi- 
 gure. His attitudes are generally grace- 
 ful, when they are not affedted; his ex^ 
 prefllon ftrongj 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 
 th t parts, feparately examined, appear 
 the work of a mafter. The fame cha- 
 racter may be given of his moft famous 
 work, the Mijeries of war: in which 
 there is more exprefiion, both in adtion 
 and feature, than was ever perhaps fhewn 
 in fo fmall a compals. And yet I know 
 
t 78 ] 
 
 not whether his Beggars be not the mors 
 capital performance. In the Miferies of 
 war, he aims at compofitionj in which 
 he rarely fucceeds : His Beggars are de- 
 tached figures,. in which lay his ftrength. 
 I have feen a very large work, by this 
 mailer, in 1 two prints } each of them 
 near four feet fquare, reprefentihg th t 
 liege of Toulon. They are rather in- 
 deed perfpedtive plans, than pictures. 
 The pains employed on them, is afto- 
 nifhing. They contain multitudes of 
 figures j and, in miniature, reprefent all 
 the humour, and all the employment of 
 
 a camp. 1 flhall only add, that a vein 
 
 of drollery runs through all the defigns 
 of this mailer : which fometimes, when 
 he chufes to indulge it freely, as in the 
 temptation of St. Anthony, difplays it- 
 felfin a very facetious manner. 
 
 Count 
 
t 79 3 
 
 Count Gaude contracted a friend- 
 ihip at Rome with Adam Elshamer j 
 from whofe defigns he engraved a few 
 prints. Gaude was a young nobleman 
 upon his travels; and never praCtifed 
 engraving as a profeflioh. This would 
 call for indulgence, if his prints had lets 
 merit : but in their way, they are beau- 
 tiful ; tho on the whole, formal, and 
 nnpleafant. They are highly finilhed % 
 and this correCtnefs has deprived them 
 of all freedom. Moon-lights, and torch- 
 lights are the fubjeCts he chufes; and 
 his great excellence lies in preferving 
 the effeCts of thefe different lights. His 
 prints are generally fmall. I know on-* 
 ly one, the Flight into Egypt , of a larger 
 lize, 
 
 Salvator 
 
I SO 1 
 
 ' Salvator Rosa fainted lafrdfhip 
 more than hiftoryj but his prints are 
 chiefly hiftorical. He was bred a pain- 
 ter i and perfectly underftood his art : 
 if we except only the management cf light , 
 of which he feems to have been igno- 
 rant. The capital landfkip of this maf- 
 fterat Chifwick is a noble pifture. The 
 contrivance, the compofition, the dif- 
 tances, the figures, and all the parts and 
 appendages 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 Hand, 
 had been thrown into fun-fhine. — In 
 defign , and generally in compofition , Sal- 
 vator is very great. His figures, which 
 he drew in exquifite tafte, are graceful, 
 and nobly expreflive, beautifully group- 
 ed, and varied in the moft agreable at- 
 titudes 
 
[ 8i ] 
 
 t: tudes, In the legs, it muft be own- 
 ed, he is a mannerifi : They are well 
 drawn; but all caft in one mould. 
 There is a ftiffnefs too in the backs of 
 his extended hands: the palms are 
 beautiful. But thefe are trivial criti- 
 
 cifms. His manner is flight; fo as 
 
 not to admit either foftnefs or effed: 
 yet the flmplicity and elegance of it are 
 wonderfully pleafing; and bear that 
 ftrong charaderiilic of a mailer’s hand, 
 
 fibi quivis fperet idem. -One thing in 
 
 his manner of fhading, is difagreeable. 
 He will often ihadea face half over with 
 long lines; which, in fo fmall and de- 
 licate an objed, gives an unpleafant ab- 
 ruptnefs. It is treating a face like an 
 egg : no diftindion of feature is obferv- 
 
 ed. Salvator was a man of genius, 
 
 and of learning ; both which he has 
 G found 
 
T 84 1 
 
 found frequent opportunities of difplay- 
 inginhisworks. His ftyle is grand; every 
 objedt that he introduces is of the heroic 
 kind; and his fubje&s in general Ihew 
 an intimacy with ancient hiftory, and 
 
 mythology. A roving difpofition, 
 
 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 de- 
 folate fcenes, in which he was accuf- 
 tomed to take refuge, furniflied him ■ 
 with thofe romantic ideas in landlkip, 
 of which he is fo exceedingly fond ; 
 and in the defcription of which he fo 
 greatly excels. His Robbers, as his de- 
 tached figures are commonly called, are 
 fuppofed alfo to have been taken fiom 
 the life. 
 
 Rem- 
 
[ S3 1 
 
 Rembrandt’s excellency, as a pain- 
 ter, lay in colouring; which he poffefled 
 in fuch perfection, that it almoft fcreens 
 every fault in his pictures. His prints, 
 deprived of this palliative, have only his 
 inferior qualifications to recommend 
 them. Thefe are exprelfion, and fkill 
 in the management of light, execution, 
 and fometimes compofition. I mention 
 them in the order in which he feems to 
 have poilefled them. His exprelfion 
 has moll force in the character of age. 
 He marks as Itrongly as the hand of 
 time itfelf. He poffefles too, in a great 
 degree, that inferior kind of exprelfion, 
 which gives its proper, and charaCteriftic 
 touch to drapery, fur, metal, and every 
 objeCt he reprefents. — His management 
 of light confifts chiefly in making a ve- ‘ 
 ry ftrong contrail ; which has often a 
 G 2 J , good 
 
E 8+ ] 
 
 good effect and yet in many of his 
 prints, there is no efted at all: which* 
 gives us reafon to think, he either had 
 no principles j or publifhed fuch prints 
 before his principles were afcertainecL — 
 His execution is peculiar to himfelf. 
 It is rough, or neat, as he meant a fketch,,- 
 or a finifhed piece ; but always free and 
 mafterly. It produces its effed by 
 ftrokes interfered in every diredion;, 
 and cornes nearer the idea of painting,, 
 than the execution of any other matter.— 
 Never painter was more at a lofs than. 
 Rembrandt, for an idea of that fp.ecies 
 of grace, which is necettary. to fupport 
 an elevated charader. While he keeps, 
 within the fphere of his genius, and 
 contents himfelf with low fubjeds, he- 
 deferves any praife. But when be at- 
 tempts beauty, or dignity, it were good* 
 
 matured* 
 
[ 8 S ] 
 
 matured to fuppofe, he means only- bur- 
 lefque and caricature. He is a ftrong 
 •contrail to Salvator. The one drew 
 •all his ideas from nature, as fhe appears 
 with the utrnoft grace and elegance : 
 The other caught her in her meanefl 
 images ; and transferred thofe images in- 
 ■to the higheft characters. Hence Sal- 
 ■ VATORtxalts banditti into heroes: Rem- 
 brandt degrades patriarchs into beg- 
 gars. Rembrandt, indeed, feems to 
 have affefled awkwardnefs. He was a 
 'man of humour ; and would laugh at 
 thofe artifb who iludied the antique. 
 ** I’ll Ihewyou my antiques,” he would 
 cry: and then he would carry his friends 
 into a room furnilhed with heaa-drelfes, 
 draperies, houfhoJd-ftuff, and inltru- 
 ments of all kinds : “ Thefe, he would 
 55 addj are worth all your antiques.”-— 
 
E 86 ] 
 
 His beft etching is that, which goes by 
 the name of the hundred - guildres-prtnt *, 
 which is in fuch efteem, that I have 
 known thirty guineas given for a good 
 jmpreffion of it. In this all his excel- 
 lencies are united: and I might add, his 
 imperfections alfo. Age and wretched- 
 nefs 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 1628* none af- 
 ter 1659. They were in fuch efteem, 
 even in his own life time, that he is faicf 
 to have retouched fome of them, four oip 
 five times. 
 
 Peter Testa ftudied upon a plan ve- 
 ry different from that, either of Sal- 
 vator, or Rembrandt. Thofe m af- 
 
 ter^ 
 
r 87 ] 
 
 -ters drew their ideas from nature: Tes- 
 ta, from what he efteemed a fuperior 
 model — the antique. Smitten 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 mod obvioufly 
 in his way ; and to thefe he applied 
 himfelf v/ith fo much indultry, 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 infufficient one to 
 -form a painter. He had neglected co- 
 iio.uring; and his pictures were in no 
 
 efteem. 
 
t 83 ] 
 
 efteem. Difappointed and mortified, 
 he threw afide his pallet, and applied 
 himfelf to etching ; in which he be- 
 came a thorough proficient. His 
 
 prints have great merit ; tho they are 
 little efteemed. We are feldom, indeed, 
 to expert a coherency of defign in any 
 of them. An enthufiaftic vein runs 
 through moil of his compofitions; and 
 it is not an improbable conjefture, that 
 his head was a little disturbed. He ge- 
 nerally 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, notwith- 
 standing all this, his works contain an 
 infinite fund of entertainment. There 
 is an exuberance of fancy in him, which, 
 
 with 
 
[ «9 J 
 
 with all its wildnefs, is agreeable: his 
 ideas are fublime and noble; his draw- 
 ing elegantly correct ; his heads touch- 
 ed with uncommon fpirit, and expref- 
 fion ; his figures graceful, rather too 
 nearly allied to the antique ; his groups 
 often beautiful ; and his execution, in 
 his bell etchings, for he is fometimes 
 unequal to himfelf, very mafterly.* 
 Perhaps, no prints afford more ufeful 
 
 ftudies for a painter. The procejfion 
 
 of Silenus, if we may guefs at fo con- 
 fufed a defign, may illuftrate all that 
 hath been faid. The whole is as incohe- 
 rent, as th zparts are beautiful. This 
 
 unfortunate artift was drowned in the 
 Tyber; and it is left uncertain, whether 
 by accident or defign. 
 
 * Some of his works are etched by Cjes. Testa. 
 
 Spani- 
 
[ 9 ° 1 
 
 k c Spaniolet etched a few prints in a 
 wery fpirited manner. No mailer un- 
 derllood better the force of every 
 touch. Silenus and Bacchus, and the 
 Martyrdom of St. Bartholemew, are the 
 bell of his hillorical prints: and yet 
 thefe are inferior to fome of his carica- 
 tures, which are admirably executed. 
 
 Michael Dorigmy, or Old Dorig- 
 l*Y, as he is often called, to diftinguilh 
 him from Nicholas, had the misfor- 
 tune to be the fon-in-law of Simon Vou- 
 ST* whofe works he engraved, andwhofe 
 imperfections he copied. His execu- 
 tion is free, and he preferves the lights 
 -extremely well upon fingle figures : his 
 drapery too is natural, and eafy: but 
 his drawing his below criticifmj in the 
 extremities efpecially. In this his maf- 
 
 < .V 
 
 ter 
 
t 91 ] 
 
 ter mifled him. Vouet excelled lit 
 compofition ; of which we have many 
 beautiful inftances in Dorigny’s prints. 
 
 Villamena was inferior to few en- 
 gravers. If he be deficient in ftrength 
 and effedt, there is a delicacy in his 
 manner, which is inimitable. One of 
 his belt prints is, the Defcent from the 
 
 crojs . -But his works are fo rare, that 
 
 we can fcarce form an adequate idea of 
 Jiis merit. 
 
 f Stephen de la Bella was a minute 
 genius. His manner wants ftrength for 
 any larger work; but in fmall objedls it 
 appears to advantage: there is great 
 freedom in it, and uncommon neatnefs. 
 His figures are touched with fpirit ; and 
 fometimes his compofition is good : but 
 
 he 
 
t r- ] 
 
 fie feldom difcovers any fkiil in the ma- 
 nagement of light; tho the defeft 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, it makes no 
 appearance as a whole-, tho the compo- 
 sition, 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 
 Angle heads are very elegant. 
 
 La Face’s works confifl: chiefly of 
 fketches. The great excellency of this 
 matter lay in drawing j in which he was 
 perfectly (killed. However unfiniflied 
 his pieces are, they difcover him to have 
 been admirably acquainted with anato- 
 my and proportion. , There is very lit- 
 tle 
 
[ 93 1 
 
 tie in him befides, that is valuable? 
 grace, and expreffion fometimes; feldorn 
 compofltion : his figures are generally 
 either too much crowded,, or too diffufe. 
 As for light and fhade, he feems to have 
 been totally ignorant of their effed; or 
 he could never have (hewn fo bad a tafbe, 
 as to publifh his defigns without, at 
 leafl, a bare expreilion of the maffes of 
 each. Indeed, we have pofitive proof, 
 as well as negative. Where he has at- 
 tempted an eifed of light, he has fhewa 
 
 only how little he knew of it.- His 
 
 genius. chiefly d.ifplays itfelf in the gam- 
 bols of nymphs and fatyrs j in routs and. 
 revels: but there is fo much obfeenity 
 in his works of this kind, that, altho 
 otherwife fine, they fcarce afford an in- 
 nocent amufement. -In fome of his 
 
 prints, in which he has attempted the 
 
 fublimeft, 
 
F 94 1 
 
 fublimeft characters, he has given theft! 
 a wonderful dignity. Some of his fi- 
 gures of Chrift are not inferior to the 
 ideas of Raphael: and in a flight 
 
 Iketch, inti tied. Vocation de Moyfe , the 
 Deity is introduced with furprizing ma- 
 
 jefty. His befl works are flightly 
 
 etched from his drawings byERTiNGERj 
 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 1 
 
 Pontius too engraved the works of 
 Rubens ; and would have appeared a 
 greater mafter, if he had not had fuch a 
 competitor as Bolswert. 
 
 Sciam inossi etched a few fmall plates, 
 of the myfieries of the rofary y \w a mafter- 
 ly ftyle. There is no great beauty in 
 the compofitionj but the drawing i^ 
 goodj tne figures are generally grace- 
 ful and the heads touched with great 
 fpirit. 
 
 Roman le Hooghe is inimitable in 
 Execution. Perhaps, no mafter etches 
 in a freer and more fpiritcd manner s 
 there is a richnefs in it likewife, which 
 we feldom meet with. His figures to(* 
 are often good j but his compofition is 
 generally faulty: it is croudcd, and 
 
 confufed. 
 
t 96 ] 
 
 fconfufed. He knows little of the efi^iT 
 of light. There is a flutter in him too^ 
 which hurts an eye pjeafed with fimpli- 
 city. His prints are generally hiftori- 
 cal. The deluge at Cceverden is finely 
 defcribed. — Le Hooghe was much em- 
 ployed, by the authors of his time, in 
 compoflng frontifpieces ; 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 hihle is a great 
 work; in which there are many good 
 figures, and great freedom of execution; 
 but poor compofltion, much confufion, 
 and little fkill in the diftribution of 
 light. This mafler hath alfo etched a 
 book of various kinds of capital pu- 
 
 nifhmenti 
 
t 97 1 
 
 aiffoment ; amongfl: which there are ma- 
 ny good prints. 
 
 Gerrard Lairesse etches in a loofe, 
 and unfiniihed; but free, and mafterly 
 manner. His light is often well diftri- 
 buted j but his fhades have not luflicient 
 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 elegant and 
 beautiful ; efpecially where he has only 
 a few figures to manage. His figures 
 
 themfelves are graceful, and his expref- 
 
 iions ftrong. — It may be added, that his 
 draperies are particularly excellent. 
 The fimpie and fublime ideas, which 
 appear every where in his works, ac- 
 quired him the title of the Dutch Rapha- 
 sl i a tide which he very well deferves. 
 
 H Lairesse 
 
£ 3 
 
 Lairesse may be called an ethic pain' 3 *’ 
 ter. He commonly inculcates fom« 
 truth either in morals, or religion; which 
 
 he illuftrates by a Latin fentence at the 
 bottom of his print. 
 
 Castiglione was an Italian painter 
 of fome eminence. He drew human 
 figures with grace and corre&nefs: yet 
 he generally chofe fuch fubjefls, as 
 Would admit the introduftion of animal 
 life; which often makes the more diftin- 
 
 guifhed part of his piece. There is 
 
 a fimplicity in the defigns of this maf- 
 ter, which is very beautiful. In com- 
 pofition he excels greatly. Of his ele- 
 gant groups we have many inftances, in 
 a fet of prints, etched from his paintings, 
 in a flight, free manner, by C. Macf.e; 
 particularly in thole of the patriarchal 
 
 journeying** 
 
t 99 1 
 
 jmrnefings. He hath left us feveral of 
 his ozvn etchings alfo, which are very 
 valuable. The fiibje&s, indeed, of fome 
 or them, are odd; and fantatbic; and 
 the compofitidn not equal to fome prints 
 we have from his paintings, by other 
 hands j but the execution is greatly fu- 
 perior. Freedom, fbrength, and fpirit, 
 are very eminent in them; and delicacy 
 likewife, where he chufes to finifh high- 
 ly; of which we have fbme infbances. — 
 One of his befb prints is, the entering of 
 Noah into the ark , The compbfition ; 
 the difbribution of light; the fpirit and 
 exprefiion, with which the animals are 
 touched; and the freedom of the exe- 
 cution, are all admirable. 
 
 Tiepolo was a diftinguilhed matter: 
 but by his merit; rather than the num- 
 H 2 ' ber 
 
[ 100 ] 
 
 ber of his etchings. The work, oft' 
 
 which his reputation is founded, is a fe- 
 ries of twenty plates, about nine inches 
 long, and feven broad. The fubjedt of 
 them is emblematical ; but of difficult 
 interpretation. They contain, however, 
 a greater variety of rich, and elegant com- 
 pofition ; of excellent figures j and of fine 
 old heads and charadters, than I almoft 
 anywhere have met with. They are very 
 fcarce ; at leaft, they have rarely fallen in 
 
 my way.- 1 have feen a few other prints 
 
 by this matter : but none, except thefe, 
 which I have thought excellent. He was 
 aftrange, whimfical man; and, perhaps, his 
 beft pieces were thofe, in which he gave 
 aloofe to the wildnefs of his imagination. 
 
 Vander Muilen has given us hif- 
 torical reprefentations of feveral modern 
 
 battles® 
 
[ ioi 3 
 
 battles. His prints are generally large, 
 and contain many good figures, and a- 
 greeable groups: but they have no ef- 
 fed, and feldom produce a whole. A 
 difagreeable monotony (as the mufical 
 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 matter 
 of the celebrated Rubens; who chiefly 
 learned from him his knowledge of light 
 and fhade. This artift publifhed a book 
 of love-emblems ; in which the cupids 
 are engraved with great elegance. His 
 pieces of fabulous hiflory have lefs 
 merit. 
 
 Galestruzzi was an excellent artitt. 
 There is great firmnefs in his ttroke ; 
 
 great 
 
[ 102 ] 
 
 great precifion ; and, at the fame time, 
 great freedom. His drawing is goodj 
 his heads are well touched, and his dra- 
 peries beautiful. He has etched feve- 
 ral things from the antique ; fome of 
 them, indeed, but indifferently. The 
 beft of his works, which I have feen, is 
 the Story of Niobe, (a long, narrow 
 print) from Polidore. 
 
 Mel lan was a whimfical engraver. 
 He fhadowed entirely with parellel lines*, 
 which he winds round the muffles of 
 his figures, and the folds of his drape- 
 ries, with great variety and beauty. His 
 manner is foft and delicate j but void of 
 ftrength and effed. 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 
 
f *03 ] 
 
 There is great expreffion in many of the 
 former; and his drapery is often incom- 
 parable. One of his beft prints is in- 
 fcribed, Per Je Jurgens : and another very 
 good one, with this ftrange paffage from 
 St. Austin ; Ego evangelio non crederem , 
 v.ifi me catholic £ ecclefite commoveret auffio- 
 ritas. — His head of Chrift, effected by 
 a fingle fpiral line, is a mafterly, but 
 Avhimfical performance. 
 
 Ostade’s etchings, like his pi&ures, 
 are admirable reprefentations of low life. 
 They abound in humour and expreffion ; 
 in which lies their merit. They have 
 Jittle befides to recommend them. His 
 compofition is generally very indiffe- 
 rent; and his execution no way remark- 
 able. Sometimes, but feldom, you fee 
 an effect of light. 
 
 Cornelius 
 
[ 104 1 
 
 Cornelius Bega etches very much 
 in the manner of Ostade j but with 
 more freedom. 
 
 Van Tulden has nothing of the 
 Dutch mailer in his defignj which 
 feems formed upon the ftudy of the an- 
 tique. It is chafle, elegant, and cor- 
 redt. His manner is rather firm, and 
 diflindt j 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 3 and tho not much effedt, yet 
 often good grouping. His drapery is 
 heavy. 
 
 Joseph Parrocelle painted battles 
 for Lewis XIV. He etched alfo feveral 
 
 of 
 
t 1 05 1 
 
 pf his own defigns. The beft of his 
 works are eight fimall battles, which are 
 very fcarce. Four of thefe are of a 
 fize larger than the reft; of which, the 
 battle , and ftripping the Jlain , are very 
 fine. Of the four fmaller, that entitled 
 vefper is the beft. — His manner is rough, 
 free, and mafterlyj and his knowledge 
 of the effed of light confiderable.— 
 His greateft undertaking was, the Life of 
 Chrijly in a feries of plates: but it is a 
 hafty and incorred work. Molt of the 
 prints are mere flcetches; and many of 
 them, even in that light, are bad ; tho 
 the freedom of the manner is pleafing 
 in the worft of them. The beft plates 
 are the 14th, 17th, 19th, 22d, oSth* 
 39th, 41ft, 42d, and 43d. 
 
 V. ik 
 
E 106 3 
 
 ■ T. le Febre etched many defigns 
 from Titian and Julio Romano, in a 
 very miferable 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 Ihojrt, his drawing irj 
 general very bad. 
 
 Claude Gillot was a French pain- 
 ter: but finding himfelf rivalled, he laid 
 
 a fide 
 
[ io7 ] 
 
 jifide his pencil, and employed himfelf 
 entirely in etching. His common fub- 
 je&s are dances and revels ; adorned with 
 fatyrs, nymphs, and fauns. By giving 
 his fylvans a peculiar call of eye, he has 
 introduced a new kind of character. 
 The invention, and fancy of this maf- 
 ter are very pleafing ; and his compo- 
 fition is often good. His manner is 
 flight; which is the bell apology for his 
 bad drawing. 
 
 Watteau has great defefts ; and, it 
 mu ft be owned, great merit. He a- 
 bounds in all that flutter, and affecta- 
 tion, which is fo difagreeable in the ge- 
 nerality of French painters. But, at 
 the fame time, we acknowledge, he 
 draws well ; gives grace and delicacy 
 to his figures ; and produces often a 
 
 beautiful 
 
[ io8 ) 
 
 Feautiful efted of light. I fpeak* 
 chiefly of fuch of his works, as have 
 been engraved by others. — He etched 
 a few flight plates himfelf, with great 
 freedom and elegance. The beft of 
 them are contained in a fmall book 
 of figures, in various dreffes and atti- 
 tudes. 
 
 Cornelius Schut excels chiefly ia 
 execution j fometimes in compofition; 
 but he knows nothing of grace j and 
 has, upon the whole, but little merit. 
 
 William Baur etches with great 
 fpirit. His largeft works are in the 
 hiftorical way. He has given us many 
 of the fieges, and battles, which wafted 
 Flanders in the fixteenth contury. They 
 may be exad, and probably . they are j 
 
 but 
 
[ I0 9 ] 
 
 but they are rather plans than pi<5tures* 
 and have little to recommend them but 
 hiftoric truth, and the freedom of the 
 execution. Baur’s bed: prints are, fome 
 charaflers he has given us of different 
 nations ; in which the peculiarities of 
 each are very well obferved. His 
 Ovid is a poor performance. 
 
 Coypel hath left us a few prints of 
 his own etching; the principal of which 
 is, an Ecce homo, touched with great fpi- 
 rit. Several of his own defigns he etch- 
 ed himfelf ; and afterwards put into the 
 hands of engravers to finifh. It is pro** 
 bable he overlooked the work: but we 
 fhould certainly have had better prints, 
 if we had received them pure from his 
 own needle. What they had loft in 
 
 force. 
 
[ no 1 
 
 iforcCj would have been amply made up 
 in fpirit, 
 
 Picart was one of the moll ingeni* 
 ous of the French engravers. His imita- 
 tions are among the moft entertaining of 
 his works. The cry, in his day, ran 
 wholly in favour of antiquity : “ No 
 modern mailers were worth looking at.” 
 Picart, piqued at fuch prejudice, etch- 
 ed feveral pieces in imitation of ancient 
 mailers; and fo happily, that he almoll 
 out-did, in their own excellencies, the 
 artifts whom he copied. Thefe prints 
 were much admired, as the works of 
 Gumo, Rembrandt, and others. Hav- 
 ing had his joke, hepublilhed them un- 
 der the title of Impojlures innocentes . — Pi- 
 cart’s own manner is highly finifhed ; 
 yet, at the fame time, rich, bold, and fpi- 
 
 rited. 
 
[ tri ] 
 
 riced : his prints are generally fmall; anS 
 nioft of them from the defigns of others. 
 One of the beft is from that beautiful 
 eompofition 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 Carrachb 
 — two or three ruins after Panini, and 
 fome others equally excellent. 
 
 But this method of imitation hath 
 been moft fuccefsfully prattifed by Count 
 Caylus, an ingenious French nobleman; 
 whofe works, in this way, are very vo- 
 luminous. He hath ranfacked the French 
 
 king’s 
 
king’s cabinet ; and hath fcarce left £ 
 matter of any note, from whofe draw- 
 ings he hath not given us an excellent 
 lpecimeun. Infomuch, that if we had no- 
 thing remaining of thofe matters, but 
 Count Caylus’s works ; we fhould not 
 want a very fufiicient idea of them. So 
 verfatile is his genius, t-hat with the 
 fame eafe he prefents us with an elegant 
 outline from Raphael, a rough fketch 
 from Rembrandt, and a delicate por- 
 trait from Vandyke. 
 
 Le Clerc was an excellent engra- 
 ver; but chiefly in the petit ftyle. He 
 immortalized Alexander, and Lewis 
 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- 
 
£ 113 1 
 
 ty- No artift except Callot and Dei- 
 
 la Bell a , could touch a fmall figure 
 with fo much fpirit. He Teems to have 
 imitated Callot’s manner; but his 
 Broke is neither fo firm, nor To maf- 
 terly. 
 
 Plter 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 flrongeft 
 ideas of the works of feveral of the moft 
 eminent matters. He preferves the 
 drawing, and exprefiion of his original; 
 and often, perhaps, improves the effe<5h 
 I There 
 
t 114 3 
 
 There is a richnefs too in his manner^ 
 which is very pleafing. You fee him in- 
 perfe&ion, in a noble print from C. Ma- 
 ratte, intitled, In con/pettu angelorum 
 ffallam tibi. 
 
 R. V. Auden Aerd copied many 
 things from ' G. Maratte, and other 
 matters; in a ftyle indeed very inferior to 
 Jac Freii, (whofe rich execution he 
 could not reach) but yet with fome ele- 
 gance. His manner is finooth, and fi- 
 
 niihed; but without efledt. His draw- 
 ing is good, but his lights are fiittered e 
 
 S< Gribelin is a careful, and labori- 
 ous engravers of no extenfive genius; 
 but painfully exadtt. His works ai e 
 chiefly fmall ; the principal of which are 
 his copies from the Banqueting-Houfe 
 
 at 
 
[ 11 $; ] 
 
 af Whitehall; and from the Cartoonsv 
 His manner is formal ; yet he has con- 
 trived to preferve the fpirit of his origi- 
 nal. We have no copies of the Cartoons 
 fo good as his. It is a pity he did not 
 engrave them on a larger fcale. 
 
 Le Bas etches in a clear, diftindt, 
 free manner ; and has done great honour 
 to the works of Teniers, Woverman, 
 and Berghem ; from whom he chiefly 
 copied. The belt of his works are af- 
 ter Berghem. 
 
 Bischop’s etching has fomething ve- 
 ry pleafing in it. It is loofe, and free; 
 and yet has ftrength, and richnefs. Ma- 
 ny of his ftatues are good figures : the 
 drawing is fometimes incorrect; but the 
 execution is always beautiful. Many of 
 I 2 the 
 
t I* 6 3 
 
 the plates of his drawing-book are gooch 
 His greateft fingle work, is the reprefen- 
 tation of Joseph in Egypt ; in which 
 there are many faults, both in the draw- 
 ing and effeftj fome of which are 
 chargeable upon himfelf, and others up- 
 on the artift from whom ne copied ; but 
 upon the whole, it is a pleafing piint. 
 
 Francis Perrier was the debauched 
 fon of a goldfmith in Franchecompte. 
 His indifcretions forcing him from 
 home,-his inclinations led him to Italy c 
 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 
 expcftcd from his diffipated life. He 
 
t xi i 1 
 
 r publiflied a large colle&ion of ftatues 
 and other antiquities ; which are etched 
 in a very mafterly manner. The draw- 
 ing is often incorrect ; but the attitudes 
 are well chofen, and the execution fpi- 
 , rited. Many of them feem to have been 
 done haftilyj but there are marks of 
 genius in them all e 
 
 Marot, architedl to K. William, 
 hath etched fome ftatues likewife, in a 
 very mafterly manner. Indeed all his 
 works are admirably executed} but 
 they con fill chiefly of ornaments in the 
 way of his profeflion. 
 
 Fran. Roettiers etches in a very 
 bold manner, and with a good deal of 
 Tpirit; but there is a harfhnefs in his 
 outline, which is difagreeable j tho the 
 
 Ws 
 
t 11S ] 
 
 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 AJfumpion of the crofs , 
 and the Crucifixion, 
 
 Nicholas Dorigny was bred a law- 
 yer : but not fucceeding at the bar, he 
 ftudied painting; and afterwards applied 
 to engraving. His capital work is, the 
 transfiguration ; which Mr. Addison 
 calls the nobleft print in the world, k 
 is unqueftionably a noble work; but 
 Dorigny feems to have exhaufted his 
 genius upon it: for he did nothing af- 
 terwards worth preferving. His Car- 
 toons are very poor. He engraved 
 them in his old age ; and was obliged to 
 employ afuftants, who did not anfwer 
 his expectation. 
 
 Masters 
 
[ M9 J 
 
 'Masters in Portrait. 
 
 Among the mailers in portrait, Rem- 
 ‘Brandt takes the lead. His heads are 
 ’admirable copies from nature and per- 
 diaps the bell of his works. There is in- 
 finite expreflion in them, and charadter* 
 
 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 roundnels 
 -of the mufcle, the fpirit of the execu- 
 tion, the ftrength of the character, and 
 the effedt of the whole, are all admira- 
 ble. 
 
 J. Leivens 
 
[ 120 ] 
 
 J. Lievens etches in the fame ftyle. 
 His heads are executed with great fpi- 
 ritj and deferve a place in any collec- 
 tion of prints j tho they are certainly 
 inferior to Uliet’s. — Uliet, and Lie- 
 vens etched fome hiftorical prints ; par- 
 ticularly the latter, whofe Lazarus , after 
 Rembrandt, is a noble work; but 
 their portraits are their bed prints. 
 
 Among the imitators of Rembrandt, 
 we fhould not forget our countryman 
 Worlidge j who has very ingenioufiy 
 followed the manner of that matter j 
 and fometimes improved upon him. No 
 man underftood the drawing of an head 
 better.—- His fmall prints alfo, from an- 
 tique gems, are neat, and mafterly. 
 
 Many 
 
E 121 3 
 
 Many of Van Dyke’s etchings da 
 him great credit. They are chiefly to 
 be found in a collection of the portraits 
 of eminent artids, which Van Dyke 
 was at the expence of getting engraved. 
 They are done (lightly; but bear the 
 charadder of a mader. Luke Voster- 
 man is one of the bed. It is probable 
 Van Dyke made the drawings for mod 
 of them: his manner is confpicuous 
 
 i 
 
 in them all. A very finifhed etching 
 
 of an Ecce homo, paffes under the name 
 of this mader. It is a good print upon 
 the whole*, but not equal to what wc; 
 might have expedited. 
 
 We have a few prints of Sir Peter, 
 Lely’s etching likewife; but there is 
 
 nothing in them that is extraordinary. 
 
 I. 
 
 R. Whits 
 
R. White was the principal engraver 
 of portraits, in Charles the fecond’s 
 reign j but his works are miferable per- 
 formances. They are faid to be good 
 likeneffe&j and they may be fos but they 
 are wretched prints. 
 
 Becket and Simons are names which 
 fcarce deferve to be mentioned. They 
 were in their time, mezzotinto-fcrapecs 
 of note, only becaufe there were no 
 others. 
 
 White, the mezzotinto fcraper, fon 
 of the engraver, was an artift of great 
 merit. He copied after Sir Godfrey 
 Knellerj whom he teafed fo much 
 with his proofs, that it is faid Sir God- 
 frey forbad him his houfe. His me?- 
 zotintos are very beautiful. Baptiste, 
 
 Wing 
 
[ m j 
 
 Wing, Sturges, and Hooper are all 
 admirable prints. He himfelf ufed to 
 fay, that old and young Parr were the 
 beft portraits he ever fcraped. His 
 manner was peculiar, at the time he 
 ufed it: tho it hath fince been adopted 
 by other mailers. He hrft etched his 
 plate, and then fcraped it. Hence his 
 prints preferve a fpirit to the laft, which 
 few mezzotintos do. 
 
 Smith was the pupil ofBECKET; but 
 he foon excelled his mailer. Pie was 
 efteemed the bell mezzotinto fcraper of 
 his time j though, perhaps, inferior to 
 White. He hath left a very nume- 
 rous collection of portraits: fo nume- 
 rous, that they are often bound in two 
 large folios. He copied chiefly from 
 Sir Godfrey ; and is faid to have had an 
 
 apart- 
 
r «2+ i 
 
 apartment in his houfe. — Lord Somers 
 wasfo 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 bed 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 
 datuary, and a very fine hawking piece 
 
 from Wyke. After all, it mull be 
 
 owned, that the bed of thefe mezzotin- 
 tos are inferior to what we have feen 
 done by the maders of the prefent age. 
 
 Mellan’s portaits are the mod indif- 
 ferent of his works. They want drength, 
 Ipirit, and effe&» 
 
 Fitter* 
 
[ US ] 
 
 Pitteri hath lately publilhed a fet 
 *>f heads, from Piazzeta, in the ftyle 
 of Mellanj but in a much finer tafte, 
 both as to the compofition, and the 
 manner. Tho, like Mellan, he ne- 
 ver croftes his Itroke; 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 
 of mezzotinto ; and have a good effedt. 
 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 
 
 be ft* 
 
 J. Lutma's 
 
[ 125 ] 
 
 J. Lutma’s heads are executed in 
 the fame way: we are told, with a 
 chifel and mallet. They are inferior 
 to Morin's; but are not without me- 
 rit. 
 
 Edm. Marmion etched a few por- 
 traits in the manner of Vandyke, and 
 probably from him; in which there is 
 cafe and freedom. He has put his name 
 only to one of them. 
 
 Wolfang, a German engraver, ma- 
 naged his tools with foftnefs, and delica- 
 cy ; at the fame time preferving a con- 
 siderable degree of fpirit. But his work-s 
 are fcarce. I make thefe remarks in- 
 deed, from a fingle head, that of Huet, 
 bifhop of Auranches; which is the only 
 work of his, that I havefeen. 
 
 JpREVETS' 
 
[ * 4 7 1 
 
 Drevet’s portraits are neat and elCr 
 gantj but laboured to the lad degree. 
 They are copied from Rigaud, and o* 
 ther French maflers; and abound in all 
 that flutter, and licentious drapery, fo 
 ©ppofit-e to the Ample and chade ideas 
 of true tafte. Drevet chiefly excels in 
 copying Rigaud s frippery ; lace, filk, 
 fur, velvet, and other ornamental parts 
 of drefs y 
 
 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 mailer. 
 Mr. Pope’s profile is the bed. 
 
 Ver.tue was a good antiquarian, and 
 a worthy man, but no artid. He co- 
 pied with painful exaclnefsj in a dry, 
 
 difasreeablc 
 
f 128 1 
 
 \ i . f ; I 
 
 difagreeable manner, without force, of 
 Freedom. Jn his whole collection of 
 heads, we can fcarce pick out half a do- 
 zen, w-hich are good. 
 
 Such an artift in mezzotinto, was 
 Faber, Fie has publifhed nothing ex- 
 tremely bad; and yet few things worth 
 colletfling. Mrs. Collier is one of his 
 bell prints; and a very good one. She 
 is leaning againft a pillar ; on the bafe 
 of which is engraved the flory of the 
 golden apple. 
 
 Houbraken is a genius; and has 
 given us, in his colletflion of Englifh 
 portraits, fome pieces of engraving at 
 lead: equal to any thing of the kind. 
 Such are his heads of Hambden, 
 Schomberg, the earl of Eedford, the 
 
 duke 
 
[ ] 
 
 duke of Richmond particularly, and 
 fome others. At the fame time we muft 
 own, that he has intermixed among his 
 works, a great number of bad prints. In 
 his befb, there is a wonderful union of 
 foftnefs, and freedom. A more ele- 
 gant and flowing line no artifl: ever em- 
 ployed. 
 
 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. 
 
 
 3C 
 
 Masters 
 
t 13° 3 
 
 Masters in Animal Life. 
 
 Berghem has a genius truly paftoralj 
 and brings before us the moft agree- 
 able fcenes of rural life. The fimplicity 
 of Arcadian manners is no where better 
 defcribed than in his works. We have 
 a large collection of prints from his 
 defignsj many etched by himfelf, and 
 many by other mailers. Thofe by 
 himfelf are flight, but mafterly. His 
 execution is inimitable. His cattle, 
 which are always the diftinguifhed part 
 ofhis pieces, are well drawn, admira- 
 bly characterized, and generally well 
 grouped. Few painters excelled more 
 in compofition than Bbrghem ; and yet 
 we have more beautiful inftances of it 
 
 in 
 
I 131 ] 
 
 -311 the prints etched from him by others, 
 ?*han in thofe by himfelf. Among his 
 own etchings a few fmall plates of Iheep, 
 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 
 rvalue to his prints ; which have more 
 the air of originals, than of copies. He 
 is a mailer both in etching, and engrav- 
 ing. His flight-eft etchings, tho copies 
 -only, are the . works of a mailer* and 
 when he touches with a graver, he 
 Jtnows how to add llrength and firm- 
 -nefs, without deftroying freedom and 
 jpirit. He might be faid to have done 
 all things well, if he had not failed in 
 $he . diltribution of light: it. is more 
 K 2 than 
 
than probable, he has not attended to 
 the effed of it, in many of the paintings 
 which he has copied. 
 
 Danker Dankerts is another ex., 
 pellent copyift from Berghem. Every 
 thing, that has been faid of Visscher, 
 may be faid of him; and perhaps ftill 
 in a ftronger manner. — Like Visscher 
 too he fails in the management of his 
 lights. 
 
 Hondius, a native of Rotterdam, 
 paffed the greater part of his life in 
 England. He painted animals chiefly ; 
 was free in his manner; extravagant in 
 his colouring; incorred in his draw- 
 ing ; ignorant of the effed of light; but 
 great in exprefiion. His prints there- 
 fore are better than his pidures. They 
 
 ppflfefs 
 
C W ] 
 
 jjofTefs his chief excellency, with fewer 
 (5 f his defeats. They are executed with 
 great fpirit; and afford fucli ftrong in- 
 flances of animal fury, as we meet with, 
 no where, but in nature itfelf. His 
 bunted wolf is an admirable print. 
 
 Du Jardin underttood the anatomy 
 of domeftic animals perhaps better than 
 any other matter. His drawing is ad- 
 mirably correff ; and,yet the freedom of 
 the matter is preferved. He copied na- 
 ture ftridtly* tho not fervilely; and has 
 given us not only the form, but the cha- 
 radteriftic peculiarities, of each animal. 
 He never, indeed, like Hondius, ani- 
 mates his creation with the violence of 
 favagefury. Hls genius takes a milder 
 turn. All is quietnefs, and repofe. His 
 dogs, afcer their ex^rcife, are ftretch- 
 
 ed 
 
[ >34 3 
 
 ed at their eafe ; and the langour of & 
 meridian fun prevails commonly through 
 all his pieces. His compofitioti is 
 beautiful; and his execution, tho neat, 
 is fpirited. — His works, when bound 
 together, make a volume of about 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, 
 inventioivin 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 mat- 
 ters. But all their engravings are poor. 
 They refemble the paintings they are 
 copied from, as a fhadow does the ob- 
 ject which projects it. There is forne- 
 
 thins 
 
C >35 ] 
 
 thing of th zjhape-, but all the finijhing 
 is loft. And indeed there is no doubt, 
 but the awkwardnefles, the patch- work, 
 and the grotefque characters, which 
 every where appear in thofe prints, are 
 in the originals bold fore-fhortnings, 
 grand effects of light, and noble in- 
 ftances of expreffion.— -But it is as diffi- 
 cult to copy the flights of Rubens, as 
 to translate thofe of Pindar. The fpi- 
 rit of each matter evaporates in the pro- 
 cefs. 
 
 Woverman’s compofition is gene- 
 rally crouded with little ornaments. 
 There is no fimplicity in his works. 
 He wanted a chafte judgment to correct 
 his exuberance.— Visscher was the 
 firft, who engraved prints from this ar- 
 tift. He chofe only a few good defignsj 
 
 and 
 
r >36 1 
 
 and executed them mafterly. — Moy~ 
 reau undertook him next, and hath 
 publifhed a large colle&ion. He 
 hath finifhed them highly; but with 
 more fofmefs than Spirit. His prints 
 however have a neat appearance, and 
 exhibit a variety of pleafing repre- 
 sentations ; cavalcades, marches, huntr- 
 ings, and encampments. 
 
 Rosa of Tivoli etched in a very fi-- 
 nifhed manner. No one out-did him 
 in compofition, and execution 1 He is 
 very ikilful too in the management of 
 light. His defigns are all paftoral; and 
 yet there is often a mixture of the heroicf 
 fbyle in his compofition, which is very 
 pleafing. His prints are Scarce; and, 
 were they not fo, would be valuable. 
 
 v>TEPHEI?~ 
 
t *37 1 
 
 Stephen de la Bella may be men- 4 
 tioned among the matters 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 
 feveral plates of fingle horfes, and of 
 huntings. He hath given great expref- 
 fion to his animals ; but his compofi- 
 tion is more than ordinarily bad in 
 thefe prints: nor is there in any of them 
 the leaft etteCt of light. 
 
 J. Fyt hath-etched a few animals 
 rn which you difcover the drawing, and 
 
 fome* 
 
 4 
 
[ * 3 * ] 
 
 fomething of that inimitable flreng'tft 
 and fpirit, with wdiich he painted. But 
 he has only done a few detached things 
 in this way; nothing to fhew his fkill in 
 coinpofition, and the^ management of 
 light, both which he well underflood. 
 
 In curious colleflions we meet with a 
 few of Cuyp’s etchings. The pttures 
 of this mailer excel in colouring, com- 
 pofition, drawing, and the expreflion of 
 character. Hispm/j- 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 maflerly manner. 
 Some of them are fingle figures; but 
 when he compofes, his coinpofition is 
 
 generally 
 
[ *39 1 
 
 generally good, and his diftributiors- 
 of light feldom much amifsj often 
 very pleafing: his drawing too is com* 
 monly good. 
 
 Peter Stoop came from Lifbon 
 with queen Catharine; and was admir- 
 ed in England, till Wycic’s fuperior ex- 
 cellence in painting eclipfed him. He 
 hath etched a book* of horfes, which 
 are very much valued ) as there is in 
 general, accuracy in the drawing, na- 
 ture in the characters, and fpiritin the 
 execution. 
 
 Rembrandt’s lions, which are etclr- 
 ed in his ufual ftyle, are worthy the no- 
 tice of a connoiffeur. 
 
 Beotzling’^ 
 
[ > 4<3 ] 
 
 Sloteling’s lions are highly finifh'-*' 
 ed; but with more neatnefs than fpi- 
 fit* 
 
 Paul Potter etched feveral plates 
 of cows and horfes in \ mafterly man- 
 ner. His manner, indeed, is better 
 than his drawing; which, in his fheep 
 elpecialiy, is but very indifferent : nei- 
 ther does he charafterize them with any 
 
 accuracy. 
 
 / 
 
 Barlow’s etchings are numerous* 
 His illuflration of Efop is his greateft 
 work. There is fome thing pleafing in 
 the compofition and manner of this 
 matter, tho neither is excellent. His 
 drawing too is very indifferent; nor 
 does he charafterize any animal juftly* 
 
 His 
 
[ *4i ] 
 
 H is birds in general are better than Jus 
 beads. 
 
 Flamen has etched feveral plates of 
 birds and fillies : 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 belt of his works. 
 Two or three fmall plates of domedic 
 fowls, ducks, wood-cocks, and other 
 game, are very well. His Ihells, and 
 butterflies are beautiful. 
 
 I fhall dole this account with Ridin- 
 oer, who is one of the greated maders 
 in animal life. He is dill living; but 
 
 as 
 
It 14* 1 
 
 ashe is fo capital in this way, he muft 
 not be omitted. This artift has mark- 
 ed the characters of animals, efpecially 
 of the more favage kind, with great 
 exprefiion. His works may be confi- 
 dered as natural hiftory. He carries us 
 'into the foreft among bears, and ty- 
 pers ; and, with the exaftnefs of a na- 
 turalfft, deferibes their forms, haunts, 
 and manner of living. His , compo- 
 
 sition is generally beautiful; fo that he 
 commonly produces an agreeable, whole. 
 His landfkip too is picturefque and ro- 
 mantic; and well adapted to the fubjeCts 
 ke 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-charaCterized, 
 and worfe drawn ; and, indeed, his draw- 
 ing, in general, is but flovenly. — The 
 - prints 
 
[ 143 3 
 
 prints of this matter are often real hif* 
 tory j and reprefent the portraits of par- 
 ticular animals, which had been taken 
 in hunting. We have fometimes too, 
 the ftor-y 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 
 diverfron to a German prince for nine 
 
 hours together. The produ&ions 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 pifbu- 
 refque of any of his works. But he 
 meant them rather as didadtic prints, 
 than as pictures. Many of his fables 
 are beautiful ; particularly the 3d, the 
 7 th, the 8 th, and the 10th. I cannot 
 
 forbear 
 
[ 144 ] 
 
 forbear adding a particular .encomium, 
 upon a book of the heads of wolves 
 and foxes. — His moft capital prints are 
 two large uprights ; one reprefenting 
 bears devouring a deer ; the other, wild- 
 fcoars repofing in a fore ft. 
 
 Masters 
 
C HS ] 
 
 Masters in Landscape. 
 
 Sadler’s landfcapes have fome merit 
 in compofition : they are pidlurefque 
 and romantic ; but the manner is dry 
 and difagreeable ; the light ill-diftri- 
 butedj the diftances ill-kept ; and the 
 figures bad. — There were three engra- 
 vers of this name j 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 j 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- 
 L graved 
 
 \ 
 
t HS ] 
 
 graved in the dry difagreeable manner 
 of his brother. 
 
 Rembrandt’s landfcapes have very 
 little to recommend them, befides their 
 effe6t; which is often furprifing. One 
 of the mofl admired of them goes un- 
 der the name of The three trees. 
 
 Gasper Poussin etched a few land- 
 fcapes in a very loofe, but maflerly man- 
 ner. It is a pity we have not more of 
 his works. 
 
 Abraham Blo-emart underflood the 
 beauty of compofition, as well in land- 
 fcape, as in hiflory. But his prints 
 have little force, through the want of a 
 proper diflribution of light. Neither 
 is there much freedom in the execution. 
 
 Hollar 
 
t »47 1 
 
 Hollar gives us views of partieu*» 
 lar places ; which he copies with great 
 truth, unadorned as he found them. If 
 we are fatisfied with exadt reprefenta* 
 tions, we have them no where better 
 than in Hollar’s works: but we are 
 not to expedt pictures. Hollar was 
 an antiquarian, and a draughtfinan ; but 
 feems to have been little acquainted 
 with the principles of painting. StifF- 
 nefs is his charadteriftic, and a painful 
 exadtnefs, void of tafte. His larger 
 views are mere plans. In his fmaller, 
 fometimes an effedt is produced : But 
 
 in general, we confider him as a repo- 
 fitory of curiofities, a record of anti- 
 quated dreffes, abolifhed ceremonies, 
 and edifices now in ruins. 
 
 L 2 
 
 Stephen 
 
t * 4 * 1 
 
 Stephen de la Bella’s landscapes 
 have little to recommend them, befides 
 their neatnefs, and keeping His com* 
 pofition is feldom goods and the foliage 
 of his trees refembles bits of fpimge* I 
 fpeak chiefly of his larger works; for 
 which his manner is not calculated. 
 H is neatnefs qualifies him better for 
 miniature. 
 
 Bolswert-’s landfcapes after Reubens 
 are executed in a grand ftyle. Such a 
 painter, and fuch an engraver, could not 
 fail of producing fomething great. There 
 is little variety in them: nor any of the 
 more minute beauties ariflng from con- 
 trails, catching lights, and fuch little 
 elegancies ; but every thing is Ample, 
 and great. The print, which goes by 
 the name of The waggan, is particularly, 
 
 and 
 
[ >49 1 
 
 anddefervedly admired. Of thefe prints 
 you generally meet with good impref- 
 fions as the plates are engraved with 
 great Strength. 
 
 ■Neulan'T hath etched a fmall book 
 of the ruins of Rome j in which there is 
 great fimplicity, and fome (kill in com- 
 pofition, and the distribution' of light : 
 but the execution Is harfh and difagree- 
 able. 
 
 We have a few landscapes by an earl 
 of Sunderland , in an elegant, loofe man- 
 ner. One of them, in which a Spaniard 
 is ftanding on the fore-ground, is mark- 
 ed G. fcf J.feulpfermt: another J. G. 
 
 Waterlo is a name beyond any other 
 in landfcape. His Subjeds are perfed- 
 
t >5° ] 
 
 ly rural. Simplicity is their characlerif- 
 tic. We find no great variety in them, 
 nor ftretch of fancy. He feledts a few- 
 humble objedls. A coppice, a corner 
 of a forelt, a winding road, or a ftrag- 
 ling village is generally the extent of 
 his view: nor does he always introduce 
 an offfkip. His compofition is general- 
 ly good, and his light often well diftri- 
 butedj but his chief merit lies in exe- 
 cution i in which he is a confummate 
 mailer. Every objedt that he touches, 
 has the charadter of nature : but he par- 
 ticularly excels in the foliage of trees. 
 — It is a difficult matter to meet with 
 the works of this mailer in perfection; 
 the original plates are all retouched, and 
 greatly injured. 
 
 SWANEVELT 
 
[ i5« 3 
 
 Swanevelt painted landfcape at 
 Rome; where he obta'ned 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 mafter. But if he fell fhort 
 of Waterlo in the freedom of executi- 
 on, he went greatly beyond him in the 
 dignity of defign. Waterlo faw na- 
 ture with a Dutchman’s eye. If we ex- 
 cept two or three of his pieces, he ne- 
 ver went beyond the plain Timplicity of 
 . aFlemifh landfcape, Swanevelt s ideas 
 were of a nobler oaft. Swaneylet had 
 trodden claffic ground ; and had warm- 
 ed bis imagination with the grandeur 
 and variety of Italian views, every where 
 ornamented with the fplendid ruins of 
 
 ; Rom an 
 
r >51 i 
 
 Roman archite&ure. His composition 
 is often good; and his lights judicioufly 
 fpread. Jn his execution, we plainly dif- 
 cover tsvo manners: whether a number 
 or his plates have been retouched by 
 fome judicious hand; or whether he 
 himfelf altered his manner in the diffe- 
 rent periods ofhis life. 
 
 James Rousseau, the difciple of 
 Swanevelt, was a French proteftant , 
 and fled into England from the perfec- 
 tion of Lewis XIV. Here he was oa- 
 tiomzed by the duke of Montague ; 
 whofe palace, now the Britijh Mujeum , 
 he contributed to adorn with his paint- 
 ings; fome of which are good. The 
 few etchings he hath left are beautiful. 
 He underftood compofition, and the 
 diftribution of light ; and there is a fine 
 
 taftc 
 
t 03 ] 
 
 tafte in his landfeapes ; if we except per- 
 haps only that his horizon is often taken 
 too high. Neither can his perfpedtive, 
 at all times, bear a critical examinati- 
 on ; and what is worfe, it is often pe- 
 dantically introduced. His figures are 
 good in themfelves, and generally well 
 placed. — His manner is rather dry and 
 formal. — Rousseau, it may be added, 
 was an excellent man. Having efcaped 
 the rage of perfection himfelf, he made 
 it his ftudy to lefien the fufferings of his 
 diftrefied brethren; by diftributing a- 
 mong them the g'reatefl: part of his gains. 
 Such an anecdote, in the life of a pain, 
 ter, fhould not be omitted, even in fo 
 fnort a review as this. 
 
 We now and then meet with an etch- 
 ing byRuYSDALE; but I never faw any, 
 that was not exceedingly flight, 
 
 J. Lutma 
 
[ JJ4 } 
 
 J. Lutma hath etched a few final! 
 land fcapes in a mafteriy manner; which 
 difcover fome fkill in compofition, and. 
 the management of light. 
 
 Israel Sylvestre has given us 
 fmall views (fome indeed of a larger 
 Tize) of mod of the capital ruins, 
 churches, bridges and caftles, in France 
 and Italy. They are exceedingly neat, 
 and touched with great fpirit. This 
 mailer can give beauty even to the out- 
 lines of a modern building; and what 
 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, (thohehad never feen them before) 
 merely from his acquaintance with the 
 •buildings. To his praife it may be far- 
 ther 
 
[ *SJ 1 
 
 $her added, that in general he forms his 
 view into an agreeable whole ; and if 
 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 lead:. 
 
 The etchings of Claude Lorraiit 
 are below his character. His execution 
 is bad : there is a dirtinefs in it, which 
 is difgufting : his trees are heavy j his 
 lights feldom well-mafled; and his dif- 
 tances only fometimes obferved.— - 
 The truth is, Claude’s talents lay upon 
 his pallet ; and he could do nothing 
 
 without it. His Via Jacra is one of 
 
 his belt prints. The trees and ruins on 
 the left, are beautifully touched; and 
 
 the 
 
[ ip 1 
 
 thre 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 fruitful; and lupplies him with a 
 riehnefs, and variety in his views,, which 
 nature feldom exhibits. It is indeed 
 too exuberant; for he often confounds 
 the eye v/ith too great a luxuriancy. 
 Kis manner is his own; and it is hard to 
 fay, whether it excels moft in' riehnefs* 
 ftrength, elegance, or freedom. His 
 .trees are particularly beautiful; the foli- 
 age is loofe, and the ramification eafy. 
 And yet it muft be confeffed, that Pe- 
 relle is rather a mannerift, than a co- 
 pier of nature. His views are all ideal; 
 his trees are of one family; and his light, 
 tho generally well diftributed*- is.fome- 
 
 times 
 
t »$7 3 
 
 times affected: it is introduced 2 S # 
 fpoti and is not properly melted inter 
 the neighbouring fhade by a middle 
 tint. Catching lights, ufed fparin-gly* 
 are beautiful : Pzrelle affedts them. — 
 Thefe remarks are made principally 01* 
 the works of old Perelee*. For there 
 were three engravers- of this name ; the 
 grand- father, the father, • and the fon. 
 They all engraved in the lame flyle 1 ; but: 
 the juniors, inftead of improving the 
 family tafte, degenerated. The grand- 
 father is the belt* and the grandfor* the 
 worft. 
 
 Vander CABELfeems to have been s. 
 earelefs artift ; and difcovers great fio- 
 venlinefs in many of his works : but in 
 thofe which lie has fludied, and care- 
 fully executed, there is great beauty* 
 
[ I<* ] 
 
 His manner is loofe and mafterly. It 
 wants effeft; but abounds in freedom. 
 His trees are often particularly well ma- 
 naged ; and his fmall pieces, in general, 
 are the belt of his works. 
 
 In Weirotter we fee great neatnefs* 
 and high finilhing; but often at the 
 expence of fpirit and effedl. He feems 
 to have underftood belt the manage- 
 ment of trees; to which he always gives 
 a beautiful loofenefs.- — -There is great 
 effeft in a fmall moon-light by this maf- 
 ter : the whole is in dark fhade, except 
 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. 
 
I 159 1 
 
 diilributed, and his compofition agree* 
 able. 
 
 Genoel’s landfcapes are rather freer 
 sketches, 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 tafte in landfcape is elegant.- 
 His ideas are grand; his compofition 
 beautiful; and his execution rich and 
 maflerly in a high 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 7 
 are certainly, upon the whole,: among; 
 the belt landlcapes we have. 
 
 Marco - 5 
 
t 160 J 
 
 ' Marco Ricci’s works, which arc nu- 
 merous, have little merit. His human 
 figures indeed are good, and his trees 
 tolerable j but lie produces no effeft, 
 his manner is difgufling, his'cattle ill- 
 drawn, and his diftances ill-preferved. 
 
 Le Veau’s landfcapes are highly fi- 
 nilhed : they are engraved with great 
 foftnefs, elegance, and fpirit. The keep- 
 ing of this mailer is particularly v/ell 
 obferved. His fubjefts too are well- 
 ch.ofen; and his prints indeed, in ge- 
 neral, make beautiful furniture. , 
 
 Zuingg engraves in a manner very 
 like Le Veauj but not quite fo ele- 
 gantly. 
 
 Zef.man 
 
[ 161 ] 
 
 Zeeman was a Dutch painter; and 
 excelled in fea-coafts, beaches, and dis- 
 tant land; which he commonly adorned 
 with fkiffs, and fifhing-boats. His exe- 
 cution is neat,' and his diftances well 
 kept: but he knows nothing of the dis- 
 tribution of light. His figures too are 
 good, and his fkiffs admirable. In his 
 Jea-pieces he introduces larger veffels ; 
 but his prints in this ftyle 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 Spirit in his trees, 
 M which 
 
I 162 ] 
 
 •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 
 belt prints are thofe, which go under 
 the titles of the Latrones , the Augurs , 
 STi obit, Uagar 3 and its companion. 
 
 Piranesi has given us a larger col- 
 lection of Roman antiquities, than any 
 other matter ; and has added to his ru- 
 ins a great variety of modern buildings. 
 The critics fay, he has trufted too much 
 to his eye ; and that his proportions and 
 perfpedtive 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 pottible: 
 
 the 
 
[ i6 3 ] 
 
 the reft he makes out by memory and 
 invention. From fo voluminous an ar- 
 tifl, indeed we cannot expedt much cor- 
 rectnefs: his works complete, fell at 
 
 leaft for fifty pounds. But the great 
 
 excellence of this artifb lies in execution; 
 of which he is a confummate matter. 
 His ftroke is firm, free, and bold, be- 
 yound expreffion; and his manner admi- 
 rably culculated to produce a grand, 
 and rich effedt. But the effedts he pro- 
 duces are rarely feen, except in Angle 
 objedts, A defaced capital, a ruined 
 wall, or broken fluting, he touches with 
 great foftnefs, and fpirit. He exprefles 
 even the ftains of weather-beaten mar- 
 ble: and thofe of his prints, in which he 
 has an opportunity of difplaying expref- 
 fion in this way, are generally the belt. 
 His ftroke has much the appearance of 
 M 2 etching; 
 
i 164 i 
 
 etching; but I have been informed that 
 it is chiefly engraved, and that he makes 
 great ufe of the dry needle. — His faults 
 are many. His horizon is often taken 
 too high; his views are frequently ill- 
 chofen; his objedls crowded ; and his 
 forms ill-fhaped. Of the diftribution of 
 light he has little knowledge. Now and 
 then we meet with an effeft of it; which 
 makes us only lament, that in fuch maf- 
 terly performances it is found fo feldom. 
 His figures are bad: they are ill-drawn, 
 and the drapery hangs in tatters. It is 
 the more unhappy, as his prints are po- 
 pulous. His trees are in a paltry ftyle; 
 and his Ikies hard, and frittered. 
 
 Our celebrated countryman Hogarth 
 cannot properly be omitted in a cata- 
 logue of engravers ; and yet he ranks 
 
 in 
 
[ i6j ] 
 
 in none of the foregoing claffes. With 
 this apology 1 fhall introduce him here. 
 
 The works of this mafler abound in 
 true humour; andfatire, which is gene- 
 rally well directed : they are admirable 
 moral leffons, and afford a fund of enter- 
 tainment fuited to every tafte : a cir- 
 cumftance, which fhews them to be juft 
 copies of nature. We may confider 
 them too as valuable repofitories of the 
 manners, cuftoms, and dreffes of the 
 prefent age. What amufement would 
 a colle6tion of this kind afford, drawn 
 from every period of the hiftory of Bri- 
 tain ? — How far the works of Hogarth 
 will bear a critical examination , may be 
 the fubjedl of a little more enquiry. . 
 
 In defign Hogarth was feldom at a 
 lofs. His invention was fertile ; and 
 his judgment accurate. An improper 
 
 incident 
 
[ i66 ) 
 
 incident is rarely introduced; a proper 
 one rarely omitted. No one could tell 
 a dory better; or make it, in all its cir- 
 cumdances, more intelligible. His ge- 
 nius, however, it mud be owned, was- 
 fuited only to low, or familiar fubjetts. 
 It never foared above common life : to 
 fubjefls 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 effedfc 
 of chance. In one of his minor works, 
 the idle -prentice, we feldom fee a crowd 
 more beautifully managed, than in the 
 lad print. If the IhcrifFs officers had 
 
 not 
 
f 167 1 
 
 n6t been placed in a line, and had beeit 
 brought a little lower in the pidture, 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 fo ftriking an inftance of 
 difagreeable compofition, that it is 
 amazing, how an artift, who had any 
 idea of beautiful forms, could fuffer fo 
 immafterly a performance to leave his 
 hands. 
 
 Of the difiribution of light Hogarth 
 had as little knowledge as of compofition . 
 In fome of his pieces we fee a good ef- 
 fect; as in the execution juft mentioned : 
 in which, if the figures, at the right and 
 left corners, had been kept down a little, 
 the light would have been beautifully 
 diftributed on the fore-ground, and a 
 fine fecondary light fpread over part of 
 
 the 
 
[ i68 ] 
 
 the crowd : but at the fame time there is ^ 
 fo obvious a deficiency in point of effeft, 
 in moft of his prints, that it is very evi- 
 dent he had no principles. 
 
 Neither was Hogarth a matter in 1 
 drawing. Of the mufcles and anatomy 
 of the head and hands he had perfect 
 knowledge; but his trunks are often 
 badly moulded, and his limbs ill fet on. 
 
 I tax him with plain bad drawing; V 
 fpeak not of the niceties of anatomy, 
 and elegance of out-line : of thefe 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 muck 
 life, and meaning ; that the eye is kept 
 in good humour, in fpite of its- inclina- 
 tion to find fault. 
 
 Th* 
 
[ >6s» 3 
 
 The author of the Anaiyfis of Beautyl 
 it might be fuppofed, would have given: 
 us more inftances o {grace, than we find 
 in the works of Hogarth ; which fliews 
 ftrongly that theory and practice are net 
 always united. Many opportunities his 
 fubjefls naturally afford of introducing 
 graceful attitudes; and yet we have very 
 few examples of them. With inflancea 
 o f pifturefque graze his works abound. 
 
 Of his exprejfum, in which the force cf 
 his genius lay, we cannot fpeak in terms 
 too high. In every mode of it he was 
 truly excellent. The paffions he tho* 
 roughly underflood ; and all the effefta 
 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 conceived 
 them.— He- was excellent too in expreff*- 
 
 5n Sf 
 
r *7 d i 
 
 ing 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 affected ca- 
 ricaturasof thofemaJlers> who have fome- 
 times amufed themfelves with patching 
 together an aflemblage of features from 
 their own ideas. Such are Spaniolet’s $ 
 which, tho admirably executed, appear 
 plainly to have no archetypes in nature,. 
 Hogarth’s, on the other hand, are col- 
 lections of natural curiofities. The Ox- 
 ford-heads^ the phy/irian's-arms, andfome 
 of his other pieces, are exprefly of this 
 humourous kind. They are truly co- 
 mic; tho ill-natured effufions of mirth: 
 more entertaining than Spantolet’s, as 
 . they 
 
t »7' 1 
 
 they are pure nature ; but lefs innocent, 
 as they contain ill-direded ridicule.— 
 But the fpecies of expreftion, in which' 
 this mafter perhaps moft excels, is that 
 happy art of catching thofe peculiarities 
 of air,- and gefture, which the ridiculous 
 part of every profeffion contrad; and 
 which, for that reafon, become charade- 
 rifbic of the whole. His counfellors, 
 his undertakers, his lawyers, his ufurers, 
 are all confpicuous at fight. In a word, 
 almoft every profefiion may fee in his- 
 works, that particular fpecies of a Seda- 
 tion, which they (hould moft endeavour 
 to avoid. 
 
 The execution of this maker h well 
 fuited to his fubjeds, and manner of 
 treating them- He etches with great 
 fpirit; and never gives one unnecdTary 
 ftroke. For myfelf, I greatly more va- 
 
 lu* 
 
[ r/2 5 
 
 lue the works of his own needle, than 
 thofe high-finifhed prints, on which he 
 employed other engravers. For as the 
 production of an effect is not his talent; 
 and as this is the chief excellence of 
 high-hmfhing ; his own rough manner is 
 certainly preferable ; in which we have 
 moft of the force, and fpirit of his ex- 
 preffion. 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, 
 truck off at once, warm from the ima- 
 gination, than in all the cold corret- 
 nefs of an elaborate engraving. If all 
 his works had been executed in this 
 ffyle, with a few improvements in the 
 compofition, and the management of 
 •light, they would certainly have been a 
 much more valuable collection of prints 
 
 than 
 
[ 173 3 
 
 than they are. The Rake's progrejs , and 
 fome of his other works, are both etched 
 and engraved by himfelf : they are well 
 done; but it is plain he meant them as 
 furniture. As works defigned fora cri- 
 tick’s eye, they would certainly have 
 been better without the engraving ; ex- 
 cept a few touches in a very few places. 
 The want of effedt too would have been 
 lefs confpicuous, which in his higheft-fb» 
 nifhed prints is difagreeably ftriking. 
 
 CHAPTER 
 
I > 7 S 1 
 
 *3 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 Remarks on a few particular Prints , in the 
 fever al kinds of compofition ; with a view 
 to illufirate the obfervations , that have 
 been made above . 
 
 The resurrection OF LaRARUS i B X 
 Bloemart, 
 
 ^^ITH regard to defign , this print 
 has great merit. The point of 
 time is very judicioufly chofen. It is a 
 point between the firft command, 
 
 %arus come forth ; and the fecond, Loofe 
 
 him a 
 
-[ r 76 ] 
 
 him, and let him go. The aftonifhment 
 of the two filters is now over. The 
 predominant pafiion is gratitude ; which 
 is difcovering itfelf in praife. One of 
 the attendants is telling the yet ftupi- 
 Ted man, “ That is your fitter,” Him- 
 felf, collecting his fcattered ideas, di- 
 rects his gratitude to Chrift. Jefus di- 
 rects it- 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 
 Sn the addon. Two of the principal ^ars 
 introduced as grave-diggers ; but even 
 in that capacity they were unwanted; 
 Tor the -place , we are told, was a cave, 
 sand a Jione lay upon it. When a 
 painter is employed on a barren fub- 
 jeCt, he muft make up his groups as he 
 ■is able; but there is no barrennefs here : 
 
 the 
 
[ 177 1 
 
 the artift might, with propriety, have 
 introduced, in the room of the grave- 
 diggers, fome of the Pharifaical party 
 maligning the action. Such, we are 
 told, were on the fpotj and, as they are 
 figures of confequence in the ftory, they 
 ought not to have been fhoved back, as 
 they are, among the appendages of the 
 piece. 
 
 The compofition is almoft faultlefs. 
 The principal group is finely difpofed. 
 It opens in a beautiful manner, and dis- 
 covers every part. It is equally beau- 
 tiful, when confidered in combination 
 with the figures on the left hand. 
 
 The light is but ill-diftributed, tho 
 the figures are difpofed to receive the 
 mo ft beautiful efieft of it. The whole 
 is one glare. It had been better, if all 
 the figures on the elevated ground, on 
 N the 
 
C 17* ] 
 
 the right, had been in ftrong fhadow. 
 The extended arm, the head and fhoul- 
 der of the grave-digger, might have re- 
 ceived catching lights. A little more 
 light might have been thrown upon the. 
 principal figure ; and a little lefs upon 
 the figure kneeling. The remaining fi- 
 gures, on the left, fhould have been 
 kept down . Thus the light would have 
 centered ftrongly upon the capital group, 
 and would have faded gradually away. 
 
 The fingle figures are in general 
 good. The principal one indeed is not 
 fo capital as might be wiflied. The 
 character is not quite pleating; the 
 right arm is. aukwardly introduced, if 
 notill-drawn; and the whole difagreea- 
 bly incumbered with drapery. — Lazarus 
 is very fine: the drawing, the expref- 
 tion, and grace of the figure are all 
 
 good. 
 
r 179 ] 
 
 good, — The figure kneeling contrafts 
 with the group. — The grave-diggers are 
 both admirable. It is a pity, they 
 fiiould be incumbrances only. 
 
 The drawing is good ; yet there feems 
 to be fomething amifs in the pefloral 
 mufcles of the grave-digger on the right. 
 The hands too, in general, of all the 
 figures, are conftrained and aukward. 
 Few of them are in natural adtion. 
 
 The manner , which is mere ingraving, 
 without any etching, is ftrong, diftinft, 
 and exprefiive. 
 
 N 2 
 
 The 
 
[ iSo ] 
 
 The death of Polycrates j By* 
 Salvator Rosa. 
 
 The Jiory is well told: every part is 
 fully engaged in the iubjedt, and pro- 
 perly fubordinate to it. 
 
 The dijpcfiiicn is agreeable. The: 
 contrivance of the groups, falling one 
 into another, is very pleating : and yet 
 the form would have been more beauti- 
 ful, if a ladder with a figure upon it, 
 a piece of loofe drapery, a ftandard, 01 
 fome other objeft, 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 pyra- 
 mid more complete. The groups therm 
 felves are Ample and elegant. The 
 
 three 
 
[ iSi ] 
 
 three figures on horfeback indeed are 
 bad. A line of heads is always un- 
 pleafing. 
 
 We have no ftrength of keeping. The 
 whole is too much one furface; which 
 might have been prevented by a little 
 more force on the fore-ground, and a 
 Slighter fky. 
 
 The light \s diftributed without any 
 judgment. It might perhaps have been 
 improved, if the group of the foldier 
 refting upon his fhield, had been in fha- 
 dow; with a few catching lights. This 
 fhadow, palling through the label, 
 might have extended over great part of 
 the fore-ground above it : by which we 
 fhould have had a body of fhadow to 
 balance the light of the centre-group. 
 The lower figures of the equeftrian- 
 group might have received a middle 
 
 . tint* 
 
tint, with a few ftrong touches ; the up* 
 per figures might have caught the light, 
 to detach them from the ground. — 
 There are fome lights too in the iky, 
 which would be better removed. 
 
 With regard to the figures taken fe~ 
 parately, they are almoit unexception - 
 ably good. You will feldom indeed fee 
 fo many good figures in any colledtion 
 of fuch a number. The young foldier 
 leaning over his fhield j the other fi- 
 gures of that group ; the foldier point- 
 ing, in the middle of the pidlure; and 
 the figure behind him fpreading his 
 hands, are all in the highefi: degree ele- 
 gant, and graceful. The diftant figures 
 too are beautiful. The exprefiion, in 
 the whole body of the fpedtators, is very 
 ftriking. Some are more, and fome 
 lefs affe&edj but every one in a de- 
 gree. 
 
[ 183 ] 
 
 gree. All the figures, however, are 
 
 not faultlefs. Polycrates hangs un- 
 gracefully upon his crofs : his body is 
 compofed of parallel lines, and right 
 angles. His face is flrongly markedwith 
 agony: but his legs are difproportioned 
 to his body. — The three lower figures 
 of the equeftrian-group have little beau- 
 ty. One of the equeftrian figures alfo, 
 
 that neareft the crofs, is formal and dif- 
 gufting : and as to a horfe, Salvator 
 feems not to have had the leafb idea of 
 the proportion and anatomy of that ani- 
 mal. — Indeed the whole of this corner of 
 the print is bad ; and I know not, whe- 
 ther the compofition would not be im- 
 proved by the removal of it. 
 
 The fcenery is inimitable. The rock 
 broken, and covered with fhrubs at the 
 top j and afterwards fpreading into one 
 
 grand, 
 
[ 184 ] 
 
 grand, and fimple fhade, is in itfelf 4 
 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 
 
[ i8 S ] 
 
 The triumph of Silenusj by 
 Peter Testa. 
 
 P. Testa feems, in this elegant and 
 mafterly performance, as far as his lu- 
 blime ideas can be comprehended, to 
 have intended a fatire on drunkennefs. 
 
 The dejign is perfedt. 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 lasti, 
 
 Mollibus in pratis, iintlos faliere per litres. 
 
 Intemperance, Debauchery, and unna- 
 tural Lulls complete the immoral fefti- 
 
 val. 
 
[ jss ] 
 
 val. In the ofrfkip rifes the temple of 
 Priapus ; and hard-by a mountain, dedi- 
 cated to lewdnefs, nymphs and fatyrs. — 
 In the heavens are repre Tented the Moon 
 and pulhing back the Sun t imply- 
 ing, that fuch revels, as are here de- 
 scribed, dreaded the approach of day. 
 
 The difpofition has lefs merit; yet is 
 not unpleafing. The group, on the 
 right of Silenus, and the feveral -parts 
 of it, are happily difpofed. The group 
 of dancers, on the other fide, is crowd- 
 ed, and ill-fhaped. The difpofition 
 might, perhaps, have had a better efFeiTr, 
 if an elegant canopy had been held over 
 Silenus ; which would have been no 
 improper appendage ; and, by forming 
 the apex of a pyramid over the principal 
 figure, would have given more variety 
 and beauty to the whole. 
 
 The 
 
[ i«7 1 
 
 The light, with regard to -particular 
 figures , is very beautiful. But fuch a 
 light, at bell, 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 effttt of light, you have only a fuc- 
 ceflion of /pots. Indeed the light is not 
 only ill, but abfurdly diftributed. The 
 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 fhould be in fhadow. 
 
 The 
 
[ i33 ] 
 
 The bear too, and the lion’s head 
 Should be kept down. Thus there 
 v/ould be nothing glaring in the celef- 
 tial figures. Silenus, and his train, 
 might be enlightened by a very Strong 
 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-Should be brought down 
 to a middle tint. This kind of lisht 
 ■would naturally produce a gloom in the 
 back-ground, which would have a good 
 effedt. 
 
 With regard to the figures taken Se- 
 parately, they are conceived with fuch 
 olafiical purity, and Simplicity of tafte ; 
 So elegant in the drawing, and fo grace- 
 ful in every attitude; that if I were ob- 
 liged to fix upon any print, as an exam- 
 ple of all the beauties which fingle 
 f; figures 
 
[ iS-9 1 
 
 figures are capable of receiving, I fiioukl 
 almoft be tempted to give the preference 
 to this. 
 
 The mod ftriking inftances of fins 
 drawing are feen in the principal figure; 
 in the legs of the figure that fupports 
 him ; and in thcfe 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-fhortened figure of the 
 fign Capricorn. 
 
 Inftances of expsjjion we have in the 
 unweildinefs of Silenus. He appears- 
 fo dead a weight,, fo totally unelaftic, 
 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 
 
 touchy 
 
[ ipo ] 
 
 touch, is ftrongly expreffed in his coun- 
 tenance. The figure, which fupports 
 him, exprefies in every mufcle the la- 
 bour of the aftion. 1 he dancing figures 
 are all ftrongly characterized. The 
 pufining figures alfo in the fky are 
 marked with great expreffion j and a- 
 bove all the threatening Capricorn, who 
 is reprefented in the aft of drawing a bow. 
 
 With regard to grace > every figure* 
 at lead every capital one, is agreeable j 
 if we except only that figure, which 
 lies kicking its legs upon the ground. 
 But we have the ftrongeft 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 
 
[ ’9» i 
 
 With regard to execution , we rarely 
 fee an inftance of it in greater perfec- 
 tion. Every head, every mufcle, and 
 every extremity is touched with infinite 
 ipirit. The very appendages are fine; 
 and the ftone-pines, which adorn the 
 back-ground, are marked with fuch tafte 
 and precifion, as if landfcape had beei* 
 this artift’s only ftudy. 
 
t *9 2 3 
 
 Smith’s portrait of the duke of 
 S cHOMB ERG ; 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-eourt, is 
 a very unmafterly performance : the 
 compofition is bad ; the colouring gau- 
 dy; the whole is void of efFeft, and 
 there is fcarce a good figure in the 
 piece. — 1 he compofition before us is 
 more pleafing, tho’ the effect is little 
 better. An equeffrian figure, at belt, 
 is an awkward fubjeft. The legs of a 
 horfe are great encumbrances in group- 
 ing. Vandyke, indeed, has managed 
 king Charles the Firft, on horfe-back, 
 
 with 
 
t 1 93 J 
 
 'With great judgment : and R.ubents too^ 
 at Hampton-court, has made a noble 
 picture of the duke of Alya ; tho his 
 horfe is ill drawn. In the print be- 
 
 fore 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 bufh, growing by the 
 duke’s truncheon, is a trifling circum- 
 ftance ; and helps to break, into more 
 parts, a compofltion 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 
 
 PetheiPs 
 
[ * 9 + ] 
 
 Pether’s mezzotinto of Rembrandt’s^ 
 Jewish rabbi. 
 
 The charadter is that of a ftem, 
 haughty man, big with the idea of his 
 own importance. The rabbi is proba- 
 bly fiflitious j 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 expreffion 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 preferved in 
 the copy. The three equidiftant lights 
 on the head, on the ornament, and on 
 the hands, are- difagreeable : in the print 
 
 they- 
 
[ *95 ] 
 
 they Could not be removed j but is 
 might have been judicious to have kept 
 down the two latter a little more. — — 
 With regard to the execution, every 
 part is fcraped with the utmoft foftnefs, 
 and delicacy. The mufcles are round 
 and plump ; and the infertions of them* 
 which in an old face are very apparent, 
 are well expreffied. Such a variety of 
 middle tints', and melting lights, were 
 difficult to manage j and yet they are 
 managed with great tendernefs. The 
 loofenefs of the beard is mafterly. The 
 hands are exaftly thofe of a fat old man.* 
 The ftern eyes are full of life ; and the 
 nofe and mouth are admirably touched. 
 The feparation of the lips in fome parts, 
 and adhefion in others, are chara&eriftic 
 ftrokes ; and happily preferved. The 
 folds and lightnefs of the turban are ve- 
 O 2 
 
 ry 
 
[ i 9 6 ] 
 
 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 muft acknow- 
 ledge, that no engraving can equal it 
 in foftnefs, and delicacy. 
 
 Hondius’s 
 
[ *97 ] 
 
 Hondius’s hunted woef. 
 
 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 group alfo 
 is too much broken, 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 
 
 diftributed without any judgment. It 
 might have been improved, if all the 
 interfaces among the legs, and heads of 
 the animals, had been kept down -, , and the 
 
 fhadow 
 
[ 19 ^ ] 
 
 fhadow 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 
 inaccurate : nor does the attacking dog 
 Hand firm upon his right leg. — With 
 regard to expreflion, Hondius has ex- 
 erted his full force. The expreflion, 
 both of the wounded dog, and of the 
 wolf, is admirable ; but the expreflion 
 of the attacking dog is a molt bold and 
 mafterly copy from nature. His atti- 
 tude fhews every nerve convulfed ; and 
 his head is a mafterpiece of animal 
 lury. — We lhould add, that the flaugh- 
 tered animal is fo ill- characterized, 
 that we fcarce know what it is.r^- 
 
 The 
 
i 
 
 t *'99 1 
 
 The execution is equal to the expreflion. 
 Tt is neat, and highly finilhed; but dif- 
 covers in every touch the fpirit of a 
 mailer. 
 
 Tks 
 
f 200 ] 
 
 The fifth plate of Du Jardin’s 
 
 ANIMALS. 
 
 The defign> tho humble, is beauti- 
 ful. The two dogs repofing 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 hiftory 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 judicioufly added; and make 
 an agreeable fhape with the dogs. The 
 
 hedgq 
 
E 201 ] 
 
 hedge alfo adds another pyramidal form; 
 which would have been more pleading 
 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 exprej- 
 
 Jion are pure nature ; and the execution 
 elegant and mafterly. 
 
 Waterlogs 
 
f -202 ] 
 
 Waterlo’s Tobias. 
 
 The landfoape I mean, is an upright 
 cf the largeft fize, which this mailer e- 
 ver.ufedj near twelve inches in height, 
 by ten. On the near ground Hands an 
 eak, -which forms a diagonal through 
 the print. The fecond : distance is com- 
 pofed of a rifing ground, connected v/ith 
 a rock, which is covered with Ihrubs. 
 The oak, and the fhrubs make a villa, 
 ■through which you have an extenfive view 
 into the country. The figures, which 
 confilt of an angel, Tobias, and a dog, 
 
 . are defcending an hill, which forms the 
 fecond dillance. The print, with this 
 .defcription, cannot be millaken. — The 
 tompofition is very pleafing. The trees. 
 
 on 
 
t 2°3 ] 
 
 on the fore-ground, fpreading over the 
 top of the print, and doping to a point 
 at the bottom, give the beautiful form 
 of an inverted pyramid ■, which, in trees 
 efpecially, has often a fine effeft. To 
 this form the inclined plane, on which 
 the figures (land, 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 lines, that 
 the whole is very pleafing. If I fhould 
 find fault with any thing, it is the regu- 
 larity of the rocks. There is no variety 
 in parallels ; and it had been very eafy 
 to have broken them. — The keeping 
 is well preferved. The fecond and third 
 diftances are both judicioufly managed. 
 The light is well difpofed. To pre- 
 
 vent 
 
[ 204 J 
 
 vent heavinefs, it is introduced upon the 
 tree, both at the top and at the bottom; 
 but it is properly kept down. A mafs 
 of lhade 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 fl 
 and upper part of the rock are happily 
 ■thrown into a middle tint. Perhaps the 
 ehedl 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 
 rifing ground on which it Hands. — The 
 execution is exceedingly beautiful. No 
 artift had a happier manner of expref- 
 fing trees than Waterlo; and the tree 
 ■before us is one of his capital works. 
 The fhape of it we have already criti- 
 
 •cife<,L 
 
[ 20J ] 
 
 cifed. The bole and ramification are 
 as beautiful as the ftiape. The foliage 
 is a mafterpiece. Such a union of 
 ftrength, and lightnefs is rarely found. 
 The extremities are touched with great 
 tendernefsj the ftrong mafies of light 
 are relieved with lhadows equally 
 ftrong; and yet eafe, and foftnefs arc 
 preferved. The fore-ground is high- 
 ly enriched ; and indeed the whole 
 print, and every part of it, is full of 
 art, and full of nature. 
 
 The 
 
r 2o£> ^ 
 
 The deluge at Coeverden, By 
 Roman le Hooghe. 
 
 This is an hiflorical landfcape, a ftyle 
 very different from that of the laft. 
 Waterlo had nothing in view, but to 
 form an agreeable pi&ure. He had all 
 nature before him; through . which his 
 imagination might range. The figures, 
 which he introduced,, unconnedled with 
 his fubjeft, ferve 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 defcrihe, and a fiory to 
 tell. The country is the environs of 
 Coeverden, a Dutch town, with a view 
 of that immenfe bank, which the bifhop 
 
 of 
 
[ 2©7 1 
 
 of Munfter, in the year 1673, threw 
 up, and fortified at a vaft expence, to 
 lay the town under water. The fiory y 
 is the ruin of that bank ; which was 
 broken through in three places, by the 
 violence of a ftorm. The fu-bjedt was 
 great and difficult ; and yet the artift 
 has acquitted himfelf in a mafterly man- 
 ner. The town of Coeverden fills the 
 diftant view. The country is fpreati 
 with a deluge ; the ffiy with a tempefc > 
 and the breaches in the bank appear in 
 all their horror. — The compofition , in the 
 diftant and middle parts, is as pleating; 
 as fuch an extenfive fubjedt can be. An 
 elevated horizon, which is always dif- 
 gu fling, was neceftary here to give a 
 diftindt view of the whole. — The light 
 too is thrown over the diftant parts it* 
 good maffes, — The exyrejfion of the fi- 
 gures. 
 
[ 208 3 
 
 gures, of the horfes efpecially, is very 
 itror.g: thofe, which the driver is turn- 
 ing, to avoid the horrid chafm before 
 him, are impreffed with the wildefl 
 character of terror : and, indeed, the 
 whole fcene of di ft refs, and the horri- 
 ble confufion in every part of it, are 
 admirably defcribed. — The execution is 
 good, tho not equal to that of many of 
 Le Hooghe’s works. It may be ad- 
 ded, that the fhape of the print 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 mofl faulty, is the 
 
 difproportion, and littlenefs of the fore- 
 ground on the right. Thefpirit, which 
 the artifl had maintained through the 
 whole defcription, feems here to flag. 
 Whereas here he fhould have clofed the 
 
 whole 
 
[ 209 3 
 
 Whole with fome noble confufion ; which 
 would have given keeping to the diftant 
 parts, and ft ruck the fpeftator with the 
 ftrongeft images of horror. Inftead of 
 this, we are prefented with a few pigs, 
 and calves floundering in the water. 
 The thought feems borrowed from 
 Ovid. In the midft of a world in ruins, 
 Nat lupus inter oves . 
 
 P 
 
 Hogarth’s 
 
Hogarth’s rake’s progress. 
 
 The firft print of this capital work is 
 an excellent reprefentation of a young 
 heir, taking poffefiion of a mifer’s effects* 
 The paffion of avarice, which hoards 
 every thing, without diftinttion, what . is 
 and what is not valuable, is admirably 
 defcribed. — The comfcfition , tho not ex- 
 cellent, is not unpleafing. The princi- 
 pal group, confining of the young gen- 
 tleman, the taylor, the appraifer, the' 
 papers, and cheft, is well fliaped : but 
 the eye is hurt by the difagreeable regu- 
 larity of three heads nearly in a line, 
 
 and at equal diftances. The light is 
 
 not ill difpofed. It falls on the princi- 
 pal figures : but the effedl might have 
 
 been 
 
[ an J 
 
 been improved. If die extreme parts 
 of the mafs (the white apron on one 
 fide, and the memorandum-book on 
 the other) had been in fhade, the re- 
 ■poje had been lefs injured. The detach- 
 ed parts of a group fhould rarely catch 
 a ftrong body of light. — We have no 
 Unking inflances of exprejjion in this 
 print. 1 he principal figure is unmean- 
 ing. The only one, which difplays the 
 true vis comica of Hogarth, is the ap- 
 praifer fingering the gold. You enter 
 at once into his character. — The young 
 woman might have furnifhed the artiffc 
 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 objedl of 
 alluremenr. The perfpeEfive is ac- 
 
 curate ; but affe&ed. So many win- 
 P 2 dows. 
 
t 1 
 
 dows, and open doors, mayfliewthe au*- 
 thor’s learning} but they break the 
 back ground, and injure the flmplicity 
 of it. 
 
 The fecond print introduces our hero 
 into all the diflipation of modifli life. 
 We became firft acquainted with him, 
 when a boy of eighteen. He is now of 
 age} has entirely thrown off the clown- 
 jfh fchool-boy ; and a flumes the man of 
 falhion. 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. — The ex- 
 prejfion , in this print, is wonderfully 
 great. The dauntlefs front of the bul- 
 ly > the keen eye, and elafticity of the 
 
 fencing- 
 
[ 213 ] 
 
 fencing-mailer; and the fimpering im- 
 portance of the dancing-mailer are ad- 
 mirably exprefied. The laft is perhaps 
 rather a little outre. The architect is a 
 
 ilrong copy from nature. The com- 
 
 pofition ieems to be entirely fubfervient 
 to the expreffion. It appears, as if 
 Hogarth had fketched, in his memo- 
 randum-book, all the characters which 
 he has here introduced ; but was at a 
 : Iofs how to group them: and chofe ra- 
 ther to introduce them in detached 
 figures, as he had iketched them, than 
 to lofe any part of the exprefiion by 
 ; combining them.— The light is ill di- 
 ilributed. It is fpread indifcriminately 
 over the print ; and deilroys the whole.— 
 We have no inilance of grace in any of 
 the figures. The principal figure is 
 very deficient* There is no contrail in 
 
 the 
 
t 214 ] 
 
 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 ftill deeper 
 into the hiftory. We meet our hero en-r 
 gaged in one of his evening amufements. 
 This print, on the whole, is no very 
 
 extraordinary effort of genius. The 
 
 defign is goodj and may be a very ex-? 
 a£t defcription of the humours of a bro- 
 thel.-— The compcfiticn too is not amifs. 
 But we have few of thofe mafterly 
 ftrokes which diftinguifh the works of 
 Hogarth. The whole is plain hiftory. 
 The lady fetting the world on fire, is 
 the beft thought: and there is fome hu- 
 
 mour 
 
[ 21 S 1 
 
 mour in furnilhing the room with aTet 
 of Csefarsj and not placing them in 
 
 order. The light is ill managed. 
 
 By a few alterations, which are obvi- 
 ous, particularly by throwing the lady 
 ‘drefling, into the fhade, the difpofition 
 of it might have been tolerable. But 
 ftill we fhould have had an abfurdity to 
 anfwer, whence comes it? Here is 
 light in abundance; but no vifible 
 Tource.- -Expreffion we have very lit- 
 
 tle through the whole print. That of 
 the principal figure is the belt. The la- 
 dies have all the air of their profeflion ; 
 'but no variety of charafter. Hocarth’s 
 women are, in general, very inferior to 
 his men. For which reafon I prefer the 
 rake s progrejs to the harlot's, The fe- 
 male face indeed has feldom ftrength of 
 
 feature 
 
 » 
 
C 216 ] 
 
 feature enough to admit the ftrong mark- 
 ings of exprefiion. 
 
 Very difagreeable accidents often be- 
 fal gentlemen of pleafure. An event 
 of this kind is recorded in the fourth 
 print; which is now before us. Our 
 hero going, in full drefs, to pay his 
 compliments at court, on St. David’s 
 day, was accofted in the rude manner 
 
 which is here reprefented. The com - 
 
 yofition is good. The form of the group, 
 made up of the figures in adbion, the 
 chair, and the lamp-lighter, is pleafing. 
 Only, here we have an opportunity of 
 remarking, that a group is difgufting 
 when the extremities of it are heavy. 
 A group in fome refpedt fhould refem*- 
 ble a tree. The heavier part of the 
 
 foliage 
 
t 217 1 
 
 foliage ('the cup, as the landscape-* 
 painter calls it) is always near the mid- 
 dle : the outfide branches, which are 
 relieved by the fky, are light and airy. 
 An inattention to this rule has ! given a 
 heavinefs to the group before us. The 
 two bailiffs, the woman, and the chair- 
 man, are all huddled together in that 
 part of the group which fhould have 
 been the lighted j while the middle 
 part, where the hand holds the door, 
 wants drength and confidence. It may 
 be added too, that the four heads, in 
 the form of a diamond, make an un- 
 pleafing fhape. All regular figures 
 
 fhould ftudioufly be avoided. The 
 
 lizht had been well diftributed, if the 
 bailiff holding the arrefl, and the chair- 
 man, had been a little lighter, and the 
 woman darker. The glare of the white 
 
 apron 
 
C i 1 8 J 
 
 s-pron is dTagreeable. We have, 
 
 in tiiis punt, ionic beautiful inftances 
 'oi exprejjion, The furprife and terror 
 or the poor gentleman is apparent in 
 over/ limb, as far as is confiftent with 
 the fear of difcompofing his drefs. The 
 •infolence of power in one of the bailiffs, 
 •and the unfeeling heart, which can jeft 
 'with mifery, in the other, are ftrongly 
 Vnarked, The felf-importance too of 
 the honeft Cambrian is not ill portray- 
 ed; who is chiefly introduced to fettle 
 the chronology of the ilory. — In point 
 of grace , we have nothing ftriking. Ho- 
 garth might have introduced a degree 
 or it in the female figure; at leait he 
 might have contrived to vary the heavy 
 and unpleafing form of her drapery. — - 
 ^ perjpeftive is good, and makes an 
 agreeable fliape,- — — I cannot leave this 
 
 print , 
 
t 219 1 
 
 print without remarking the falling band- 
 box. Such reprefentations of quick mo- 
 tion are abfurd } and every moment the 
 abfurdity grows ftronger. You can- 
 not deceive, the eye. The falling bo- 
 dy mujl appear not to fall. Objects of 
 that kind are beyond the power of 
 reprefentation. 
 
 Difficulties crowd fo fall upon our 
 kero, 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 detefts, 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 light 
 is not ill diftributed. The principal fi- 
 
 gure 
 
[ 220 ] 
 
 gm too ls graceful') and there is flron® 1 
 
 in 
 
 exprejfmi in the feeming tranquillity of 
 his features. He hides his contempt of 
 the objeft before him as well as he can j 
 and yet he cannot do it. She too has 
 as much meaning as can appear thro* 
 the deformity of her features. The 
 clergyman’s face we are well acquainted 
 with, and alfo his wigj tho we cannot 
 pretend to fay, where we have feen ei~ 
 ther. r [ he clerk too is an admirable 
 
 fellow, The perJpefUve is well un- 
 
 -derftood ; but the church is too fmall - 
 and the wooden poll, which feems to 
 have no ufe, divides the pidlure very 
 
 difagreeably. . The creed loft, the 
 
 commandments broken, and the poor’s- 
 box obftruded by a cobweb, are all ex- 
 cellent ftrokes of fatirical humour* 
 
t *2T T 
 
 The fortune, which our adventurer 
 Has juft received, enables him to make 
 one pufh more at the gaming table. He 
 is exhibited, in the fixth print, venting 
 curfes on his folly for having loft his laft 
 ftake. This is upon the whole, per- 
 
 haps, the beft print of the fet. The 
 horrid fcene it defcribes, was nevermore 
 inimitably drawn. The compcfitkn is 
 artful, and natural. If the Ihape of 
 the whole be not quite pleafing, the fi- 
 gures are fo well grouped, and with fo 
 much eafe and variety, that you cannot 
 take offence. — In point of light, it is. 
 more culpable. There is not ftiade e- 
 nough among the figures to balance the 
 glare. If the neck-cloth, and weepers 
 of the gentleman in mourning had been 
 removed, and his hands thrown into 
 ftiade, even that alone would have im- 
 proved 
 
proved the effe<£b The expreflh'n , hi 
 
 almoft every figure, is admirable ; and 
 the whole is a ftrong reprefentation of 
 the human mind in a ftorm. Three 
 ftages of that fpecies of madnefs, which 
 attends gaming, are here defcribed. On 
 the firfb lhock, all is inward difmay. 
 The ruined gamefter is reprefented lean- 
 ing againft a wall, with his arms aero fs, 
 loft in an agony of horror. Perhaps 
 never paffion was defcribed with fo 
 much force. Jn a Ihort time this hor- 
 rible gloom burfts into a ftorm of fury: 
 he tears in pieces what comes next him; 
 and kneeling down, invokes curfes up- 
 on himfelf. He next attacks others; 
 eveiy one in his turn whom he imagines 
 to have been inftrumental in his ruin.— 
 
 I he eager joy of the winning game- 
 fters, the attention of the ufurer, the 
 
 vehemence 
 
t ml 
 
 vehemence of the watchman, and thtt 
 profound revery of the highwayman, 
 are all admirably marked. There is 
 great coolnefs too exprefied 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. Th e perjpeftive 
 is formal ; and the execution but indif- 
 ferent : in heightening his expreffion 
 Hogarth has loft his fpirit. 
 
 The feventh plate, which gives us 
 the view of a jail, has very little in it. 
 Many of the circumstances, which may 
 well be fuppofed to increafe the mifery 
 of a confined debtor, are well contrived ; 
 but the fruitful genius of Hogarth, I 
 
 fhould 
 
[ 224 ] 
 
 Ihould think, might have treated the 1 
 fubje<5t in a more copious manner. The 
 epifode of the fainting woman might 
 have given way to many circumftances 
 more proper to the occafion. This is 
 the fame woman, whom the rake dif- 
 cards in the firft print ; by whom he is 
 refcued in the fourth ; who is prefent 
 at his marriage ; who follows him into 
 jail; and, lafbly, to Bedlam. The 
 thought is rather unnatural, and the 
 moral certainly culpable — The c ompo- 
 fiticn is bad. The group of the wo- 
 man fainting, is a round heavy mafs: 
 and the other group is very ill fhaped. 
 The light could not be worfe managed; 
 and, as the groups are contrived, can 
 hardly be improved. — In the principal 
 figure tnere is great exprejjion ; and the 
 
 fainting fcene is well defcribed,- A 
 
 fell erne 
 
r 225 ] 
 
 icheme 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- 
 ■Ty expreffive reprefentation of the molt 
 horrid fcene which human nature can 
 exhibit.— — The com-pcfition 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 pidture, and the two 
 women (who feem very oddly introdu- 
 ced) had been removed, both the com- 
 position, and the didribution of light 
 
 had been good.- The drawing of the 
 
 principal figure is a more accurate piece 
 CL of 
 
t 226 ] 
 
 of anatomy than we commonly find in 
 the works of this mafter. The expref- 
 fion 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 ; 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 per/peftive is 
 fimple and proper. 
 
 I Ihould 
 
[ 22 7 ] 
 
 I ill ou Id add, that thefe remarks are 
 made upon the fir ft 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 
 defign j but have loft in point of expref- 
 Jon. 
 
 
 CHAP- 
 
I 229 ] 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 Cautions in collecting Prints. 
 
 r JTHE colleftor of prints may be 
 firft cautioned againft indulging a 
 defire of becoming pofTeffed of all the 
 works of any mailer. There are no 
 mailers whofe works in the grcjs deferve 
 notice. No man is equal tohimfelfin 
 all his compofitions. I have known a 
 collector of Rembrandt ready to give 
 any price for two or three prints which 
 
 he 
 
t 250 3 
 
 he wanted tc complete his collegian 
 tho it had been to Rembrandt’s credit, 
 if thofe prints had been fupprelTed. 
 There is no doubt, but if one third of 
 the works of this mailer fhould 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 pofTcffion, all the works of all the 
 majlers . His collection was bulky, and 
 coll fourfcore thoufand pounds ; bun 
 when fifted, could not, at that time of 
 day, be worth fo many hundreds. 
 
 The collector of prints may fecondly? 
 be cautioned againfl a fuperflitious ve- 
 neration for names. A true judge leaves 
 the majler out of the queftion, and ex- 
 amines only the work. But, with a little- 
 
 genius. 
 
[ 231 ? 
 
 genius, nothing fways like a name. Ic 
 carries a wonderful force ; covers glar- 
 ing faults, and creates imaginary beau- 
 ties. That fpecies of criticifm is certain- 
 ly juft, which examines the different 
 manners of different mafters, 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 finding out a mafter, in order 
 there to reft the judgment, is a kind of 
 criticifm very paltry, and illiberal. It 
 is judging of the work by the mafter, 
 inftead of judging of the mafter by 
 the work. Hence it is, that fuch vile 
 prints as the Woman in the caldron , and 
 Mount ParnaJfuSy obtain credit among 
 connoiffeurs. If you afk wherein their 
 beauty confifts ? you are informed, they, 
 are engraved by Mark Antonio: and 
 
 if 
 
t 2 3 2 1 
 
 if that do not fatisfy you, you are fur- 
 ther allured, they are after Raphael- 
 This abfurd tafle raifed an honeft indig- 
 nation in that ingenious artift Picart : 
 who having fnewn the world, by his ex- 
 cellent imitations, how ridiculous it is to 
 pay a blind veneration to names j tells 
 us, that he had compared fome of the 
 engravings of the ancient mailers with 
 fhe original pidtures ; and found them 
 very bad copies. He fpeaks of the flifF- 
 nefs, which in general runs through 
 
 them of the hair of children, which 
 
 refembles pot-hooks — and of the igno- 
 rance of thofe engravers in anatomy^ 
 drawing, and the diflribution of light. 
 
 Nearly allied to this folly, is that of 
 making the public tafte our^ftandard. 
 It is a moft uncertain criterion. Fafhion 
 
 prevails' 
 
[ 2 33 1 
 
 prevails in every thing. While it is con- 
 fined to drefs, or the idle ceremonies of 
 a vifit, the affair is trivial: but when 
 fa fiii on becomes a didlator in arts, the 
 matter is more ferious. ^ et fo it is; 
 we feldom permit ourfelves to judge of 
 beauty by the rules of art: but follow 
 the catch-word of fafhion; and applaud,, 
 and cenfure from the voice of others. 
 Hence it happens, that fometimes the 
 works of one mafler, and fometimes of 
 another, have the prevailing run. Rem- 
 brandt has long been the fafhionable 
 mafler. Little diftindlion is made: if 
 the prints are Rembrandt’s, they mull* 
 Be good. In two or three years more* 
 perhaps, the date of Rembrandt will 
 be over : you may buy his works at eafy 
 rates ; and the public will have acquired 
 fome other favourite, for the truth of 
 
 thefe 
 
f } 
 
 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 mailer, tho 
 it confilts of near twenty capital prints, 
 befide many fmall ones, may be bought 
 for lefs than is iometimes given for a 
 fingle print of Rembrandt. The true 
 connoilleur leaves the voice of fafhion 
 entirely out of the queltion : he has a 
 better llandard of beauty — the merit 
 of each mailer, which he will find fre- 
 quently at variance with common opi- 
 nion. 
 
 A fourth camion, which may be of 
 life in collecting prints, is, not to rate 
 
 their 
 
t 235 J 
 
 their value by their fcarcenejs. Scarce* 
 nefs will make a valuable print more va- 
 luable: but to make fcarcenefs the flan- 
 dard of a print’s value, is to miftake an 
 accident for merit. This folly is found- 
 ed in vanity; and arifes from a dekrc 
 of poffeliing what nobody elfe can pof- 
 fefs. The want of real merit is made 
 up by imaginary, and the objedl is in- 
 tended to be kept, nor looked at. Yet, 
 abfurd as this falfe take is, nothing is 
 more common; and a trilling genius may 
 be found, who will give ten guineas for 
 Hollar’s fhells, which, valued accord- 
 ing to their merit (and much merit they 
 certainly have) are not worth more 
 than twice as many (hillings.— -Inftances 
 in abundance might be collected of the 
 prevalence of this folly. Le Clerc* 
 in his print of Alexanders triumph , had 
 
 given 
 
C 1 
 
 given A profile of that prince. The 
 print was fhewn to the duke of Or- 
 leans; who was pleafcd with it on the 
 whole, but juftly enough objected to 
 the fide-face. The obfequious artill 
 erafed it, and engraved a full one. A 
 few impreffions had been taken from 
 the plate in its firft Hate ; which fell a- 
 mong the curious for ten times the price 
 of the impreffions 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 
 imprefiions after the hole was made, are 
 very fcarce, and amazingly valuable. — - 
 In a print of the holy family, from 
 Vandyke, St. John was reprefented 
 laying his hand upon the virgin’s fhoul- 
 der. Before the print was publilhed, 
 
 the 
 
C *37 1 
 
 die artift 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 few impreffions, 
 which got abroad, with the hand upon 
 the fhouider, would buy up all the red, 
 three times over, in any auftion in Lon- 
 don. — Many of Rembrandt’s prints re- 
 ceive infinite value from little accidental 
 alterations of this kind, A few impref- 
 fions were taken from one plate, before 
 a don was introduced j from another, 
 
 O 
 
 before a white horfe-tail was turned into 
 a black one ; from a third, before a 
 fign-poil was inferted at an ale-houfc 
 door : and all the fcarce prints from 
 thefe plates, tho altered for the better, 
 
 are 
 
T 2J3 "j 
 
 %re 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 
 Shewing his collection with great fatis- 
 faCtion.; and after expatiating upon ma- 
 -ny noble works by Guido, JVIarratti, 
 and other mailers, he turned fuddenly 
 to the gentleman, whom he attended, 
 and, “ Now, Sir, faid he. I’ll Ihew you 
 a real curiofity : there is a Woverman 
 without a horfe in 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 originals. Moll of the works of the 
 capital mailers have been copied; and 
 
 many 
 
t 239 ] 
 
 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, it 
 is obvious. There is a plain want of 
 freedom ; the charaflers are lefs flrong- 
 ly marked; and the extremities are lefs 
 
 accurately touched. It is a difficult 
 
 matter to give rules to afliffc in diflin- 
 
aguiflting the copy From the original. In 
 molt cafes the engraver’s name, or his 
 mark (which fhould be well known) 
 will be a fufficient direction. Thefe the 
 ’■copyid 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 matter, you can- 
 not well be deceived. When you are 
 mot, your bell way is to be directed by 
 thofe who are. 
 
 The laft caution I ffiall give to the 
 collector of prints, is, to take care he 
 purchafe not bad impreffions. — There 
 are three things which make an impref- 
 
 fion 
 
fion bad. — The firft is, its being ill ta- 
 ken off. Some prints Seem to have re- 
 ceived the force of the roller at inter- 
 vals. 1 he impreftion is dotible ; and 
 gives that glimmering appearance, 
 
 which illudes the eye. A Second 
 
 thing, which makes an impreftion bad, 
 is a worn plate. There is as much dif- 
 ference between the firft and the laft 
 impreftion of the fame plate, as between 
 two different prints. The effeft is wholly 
 loft in a faint impreftion ; and you have 
 nothing left but a vapid dcfign without 
 Spirit, and without force. In mezzo- 
 tinto, efpecially, a ftrong impreftion is 
 defireable. For the Spirit of a mezzotinto 
 quickly evaporates \ without which it is 
 the moft infipid 0 f all prints. In en- 
 graving and etching there will be always, 
 here and there, a dark touch, which 
 R long 
 
t 
 
 t 2 4 2 3 
 
 long preferves an appearance of fpirit : 
 but mezzotinto is a flat furface ; and 
 when it begins to wear, it wears all 
 over. Very many of the works of all 
 the great mailers, which are commonly 
 hawked about at audions, 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 w r ith now, 
 except here and there in fome choice 
 colle&ion, are feldom better than mere 
 reverfes. You fee the form of the print 3 
 but the elegant, and malterly touches 
 are gone 5 back-grounds and fore- 
 grounds are jumbled together by the 
 confufion of all diltance 3 and you have 
 rather the lhadcw of a print left, than 
 the print itfelf. — The laft thing which 
 makes a bad impreffion, is the retouching 
 
[ «43 ] 
 
 vf a worn plate. Sometimes this is per- 
 formed by the matter himfelf ; and then 
 
 the fpirit of the imprettion may be tole- 
 
 ♦ 
 
 rabiy prelerved. But mott commonly 
 the retouching part is done by home 
 bungler, into whofe hands the plate may 
 have fallen ; and then it is execrable. In 
 a worn plate, at leatt, what you have is 
 ■good : you have the remains of fome- 
 thing excellent ; and if you are verfed 
 in the works of the matter, your imagi- 
 nation may be agreeably exercifed in 
 making out what is lott. But when the 
 plate has gone through the hands of a 
 bungler, who has worked it over wdth 
 his infamous fcratches, the idea of the 
 matter is lott and you have nothing left, 
 but ftrong, harfh, and umeaning lines 
 upon a faint ground j which is the mott: 
 difagreeable compound with which the 
 R 2 
 
 eye 
 
L 244 ) 
 
 eye can be prefented. Such prints, and 
 many fuch there are, though offered us 
 under the name of Rembrandt, or 
 Waterlo, are of little value. Thofe 
 mailers would not have owned them. 
 —Yet, as we are often obliged to take 
 up with fuch impreflions as we can get, 
 let us rather chufe the faint impreflion, 
 than the retouched one. 
 
 THE END. 
 
I N D 
 
 E 
 
 X 
 
 A 
 
 Appendages , what, 5 
 
 Ananias , cartoon of, criticifed, 10, 14 
 Aqua-fortis , its manner of biteing copper. 
 
 48 
 
 Aldgrave , 64 
 
 Andreani, Andrea , 70 
 
 Antonio , Mark , yr 
 
 Auguftin , of Venice , 72 
 
 Anthony , St. temptation of, by Callot, 78 
 AuguJhn , St a motto from him, 103 
 f£. K Auden, 1 1 4 
 
 by Gonpy, ! 62 
 
 duke of, by Rubens, 193 
 
 Alexander , triumph of, by LeClerc, 235 
 B 
 
 Bajfan criticifed, 6 
 
 Beautiful gate, cartoon of, criticifed, 11 
 Baptifm of by Muller, 66 
 
 Bloemart , Abraham , 66, 146, 175 
 
 Barrochi, Frederic, 7 ^ 
 
 Beggars, Callot’s 73 
 
 Bartholomew, St. by Spaniolet, 90 
 Bella , Stephen de la , 01, 137 
 
 Boljwerty 
 
INDEX. 
 
 Bolfwert , 
 
 9 b * 4 $ 
 
 Bible, hiftory of, by Luiken, 
 
 9 b 
 
 x'-.- by Sadler, 
 
 145 
 
 Bega, Cornelius,. 
 
 104 . 
 
 Bellange, 
 
 IO6 
 
 Baur, William , 
 
 n8 
 
 Bar toll, Peter , 
 
 1 13 
 
 Bas , he. 
 
 115 
 
 B if eh op, 
 
 ibid. 
 
 Beckett 
 
 I 
 
 Baptifte's head, by White, 
 
 ibid. 
 
 Bentivoglius, Guido, his head by 
 
 Morin, 
 
 
 125 
 
 Bedford, earl of, his head by Houb taken,- 
 
 
 128- 
 
 Berghem, 
 
 130- 
 
 Bloteling , 
 
 140 
 
 Barlow, 
 
 ibid. 
 
 Bears devouring a deer, by Ridinger, 144 
 
 Bears, a print of, by Ridinger 
 
 , ibid. 
 
 Both, 
 
 159- 
 
 C. 
 
 
 Contra]}, its effect, 
 
 I O’ 
 
 Claude, 
 
 89 
 
 Circumcifion , by Goltzius, 
 
 65. 
 
 Cafar, triumph of, at Hampton Court, 67 
 
 Carr ache, Augujiin, 
 
 75 - 
 
 Cant ar ini. 
 
 76 
 
 
 Callot r 
 
INDEX. 
 
 C allot, 77 
 
 Chijwick, a picture there of Salvator’s, 
 criticifed, 80 
 
 Crcfs , delcent from, by Villamena, yr 
 Caftiglione , 98 
 
 Chrijl, life of, by Parrocelle, 104 
 
 Coy pel, 109 
 
 Cay his, count, I 1 t 
 
 Cle v c, Le , 1 12 
 
 Cromwell , Elizabeth , her head, by Smith, 
 
 1 24 
 
 Collier , Mrs. her portrait, by Faber, 128 
 Cuyp, 138 
 
 Charles I. by Vandyke 192 
 
 Co ever den , deluge of, by R. le Hooghe, 
 
 206 
 
 Copies cautioned againft, 238 
 
 D 
 
 Defign , defined and illuftrated, 3 
 
 Difpcfition defined and illuftrated, 7 
 
 Drawing defined and illuftrated 2.2 
 
 Difiant magnitude exprefted better in 
 
 painting than in a print, 39 
 
 Darer , Albert , 6 r 
 
 Dorigny , Michael, 90 
 
 Dorigny, Nicholas, 1 18 
 
 /?, 1 2 1 
 
 Drevet, 
 
INDEX 
 
 j Drevet, 
 
 127 
 
 . "Danker is , Banker , 
 
 
 Diana hunting , by Goupy, 
 
 162 
 
 E 
 
 
 Exprejfion explained and illu 
 
 ftrated, 27 
 
 Execution explained and illuftrated, 29 
 
 Engraving confidered. 
 
 48, &V. 
 
 Etching confidered. 
 
 ibid. 
 
 Elfhamar , Adam, 
 
 79 
 
 Egypt, flight into, by count Gaude, 79 
 
 Ertinger, 
 
 94 
 
 Ecce Homo , by Coypel, 
 
 109 
 
 * . by Vandyke, 
 
 121 
 
 E/bp , by Barlow, 
 
 140 
 
 Eugene , prince, his collection of prints. 
 
 
 230 
 
 F 
 
 
 Flemijh Jchool , its character. 
 
 68 
 
 Callot’s 
 
 77 
 
 E'age, La, 
 
 92 
 
 Febre , F, Z,<?, 
 
 1 c6 
 
 Freii, Jac. 
 
 JI 3 
 
 Faber , 
 
 128 
 
 Fry, 
 
 129 
 
 Fyt , J. 
 
 J 37 
 
 Flamen, 
 
 Hi 
 
 Fables , by Ridinger, 
 
 143 
 
 
 Grace 
 
I N D E X. 
 
 G 
 
 Grace defined and illuflrated, 24 
 
 Garrick , Mr. his portrait, 55 
 
 Ground in mezzotinto, 57 
 
 Goltzius , 64 
 
 Guido , 76 
 
 Gaude , count, 79 
 
 Galejlruzzi , 101 
 
 Gilloty Ciaudey 106 
 
 Grebelin, Sim. 114 
 
 Gibbon y his head, by Smith, 124 
 
 Genoely 159 
 
 Goupyy 1 6 1 
 
 Group y the form of one criticifed, 216 
 
 H 
 
 Harmony in painting illuflrated, 16 
 
 Ilell-JccnSy by A. Durer, 62 
 
 Hijbeny 64 
 
 Hundred- gilders -print y 8 6 
 
 Hooghe 3 Roman le, 95, 206 
 
 Hooper's head, by White, 123 
 
 Houbraker.y 128 
 
 Hamden , his head, by Houbraken, ibid. 
 Hon dins y 132 
 
 • his hunted wolf, 197 
 
 Huntings , by Rubens, 134 
 
 — by Ridinger, 143 
 
 Hollar y 141, 147 
 
 Hollar , 
 
INDEX. 
 
 }hllar> his (lie! Is, 23 
 
 Hagar. by Gotipy, 16 
 
 Hogarth , 164 
 
 his rake’s progrefs criticifed, 210 
 
 I 
 
 JourneyingSj patriarchal, by C. Macec, 9S 
 Impoftures innocent es, by Pi cart, no 
 JoJeph in Egypt , by Biichop, 116 
 
 'Jar din, Du , 1 } 3 
 
 — one of his etchings criticifed, 
 
 200 
 
 St. a print of, by Vandyke 236 
 ImpreJfionSy 
 
 Keeping defined and il 
 
 L 
 
 Lyfira i facrihceat, cartoon of, criticifed, 
 
 1! > 2 5 
 
 Light , diftribntion of, illuflrated 19 
 Lajcelles , Mrs. her portrait, ^5 
 
 Leiden , Lucas Van> 64 
 
 X-d/, by Aldgrave, ibid. 
 
 Lazarus , refurreftion of, by Bloemart, 67 
 Luiken , q 6 
 
 Latrejfe , Gerard , 97 
 
 Lanfrank , his gallery, 
 
 Lievens, J. 
 
 Lely , 
 
 Leigh , 
 
 to 01 
 
I N D E X. 
 
 Leigh, Anthony, his head, by Smith, 124 
 
 Lutmo. ’> J. 
 
 126, 1 54, 
 
 tjaer, Peter de. 
 
 138 
 
 J, of rain , Claude , 
 
 *55 
 
 Latrones , by Goupy 
 
 IVf 
 
 1 61 
 
 1Y_L 
 
 Michael Angelo, his idea of 
 
 form in 
 
 grouping 
 
 13 
 
 Mannerift, what is meant by the word, 30 
 
 Mezzotinto confidered. 
 
 54 
 
 Muller , 
 
 66 
 
 Mantegna , Adrea , 
 
 67 
 
 Miferies of war, Callot’s 
 
 77 
 
 Moyfe , Vocation de^ by La Fag 
 
 94 
 
 Macee , 
 
 98 
 
 Mullen , V under. 
 
 300 
 
 Mellan , 
 
 102 
 
 Maroty 
 
 i 1 ? 
 
 Magdalene , Mary , her head. 
 
 by Smith, 
 124, 
 
 Mellan , 
 
 ibid. 
 
 Morin , J. 
 
 125 
 
 Marmion , Tu//#. 
 
 12b 
 
 Moyreau , 
 
 136 
 
 Montague , duke of, 
 
 ls2 
 
 N 
 
 Neulant , 
 
 349 
 
 Names 3 their influence, 
 
 23O 
 OJlade , 
 
INDEX. 
 
 O 
 
 O/lade , 103 
 
 Oiid t illuftrated by W. Baur, 109 
 
 Over beck, 158 
 
 Oxford-heads , by Hogarth, 170 
 
 P 
 
 Paul preaching at Athens, the cartoon. 
 
 of, criticifed, 8 , 10 
 
 Perfpediive defined and illuflrated, 28 
 Po if oed bodies exprefied better in a pic- 
 ture, than in a print, 43 
 
 Pewter , engraving upon, 53 
 
 Pens, 64 
 
 Parmigiano , 68 
 
 Palma , 69 
 
 Faria, Francis , 70 
 
 Picart, his charadler of M. Antonio, 72 
 Pow/ A^/, by De la Bella, 92 
 
 Pontius , 2 <; 
 
 Varrocelle , Jofeph , 104 
 
 Picart , 1 10 
 
 Pond , Arthur , 1 1 1 
 
 Perrier , Francis , 116 
 
 Parrs head, by White, 123 
 
 yiazzetta, ^—5 
 
 Pope , Mr. his head, by Richardfon, 127 
 Potter , Paul , 140 
 
 Fulfill, Gafper , 146 
 
 Perelle , 
 
I N D E X. 
 
 Perelle , 
 
 Porfenna , by Goupy, 
 
 Prentice, idle, by Hogarth, 
 
 Phyficians arn^s, by Hogarth, 
 
 Play-houfe , coYner of, by Hogarth, 172 
 Poly crates, deafh of, by Saivator Rofa, 
 
 Petker, his print of a Jewifh R^bbi, 194 
 ParnafTus, mount, by M. AntOnio, 
 
 R 
 
 Rupert, prince, character of his mezzo- 
 
 tintos, 55 
 
 Reman School, its character, 68 
 
 Rofa, Salvator x 5> 80, 
 
 Robbers , Salvator Rofa’s, , 82 
 
 Rembrandt, 83, 119, 139, ^4.6, 233 
 Rojary , myfteries of, by Sciaminoffi, 95 
 Roe t tiers , Fr . ll 7 
 
 Rigaud, ' 12 7 
 
 Richardfcn , ibid. 
 
 Richmond, duke of, his head, by Hou- 
 braken, I2 9 
 
 Rubens , *34 
 
 Ref a of Tivoli, 1 3 & 
 
 ' Ridinger , 1 4 1 
 
 Rouffeau , James , 1 5 2 
 
 Ricci, Marco, 160 
 
 progrefs , 2 1 0 
 
 Salutation, 
 
 156 
 
 162 
 
 166 
 
 170 
 
J N 
 
 D 
 
 S 
 
 E X; 
 
 73 
 
 > 17° 
 
 90 
 
 95 
 
 108 
 
 1 22 
 1 20 
 ibid. 
 
 Salutation , by Barocchi, 
 
 Spaniolet, 
 
 Menus and Bacchus, by Spaniolet, 
 Sciaminoffi, 
 
 Sc hut, Cornelius , 
 
 Simons , 
 
 Sturges's head, by White, 
 
 Smith , 
 
 Scalken, his head, by Smith, ,24 
 
 Salifiury, counteis of, her head, by Smith, 
 
 Schmlerg, his head, by Hotibraken/iU 
 
 ■“ by Smith, 302 
 
 Stoop, Peter, 2 ; q 
 
 Sadler, 3 W 
 
 Sunderland, earl of, 1 ^g 
 
 Swan eve It, 
 
 Sylvefire, Ifrael, 
 
 Silenus, triumph of, by Peter Tefta, 18c 
 Scarcenejs , no tefl of merit, 239 
 
 j than, his illii fixation of m aflinjr I mht, 2 1 
 Traufparency expreffed better in a paint- 
 ing, than in a print, 42 
 
 'Temp eft a, Anthony , 77 ■« 
 
 left a Peter, \% f 
 
 Pmph, 99 
 
 Tulden , 
 
I N D E X. 
 
 1 Tulden , Van, 104 
 
 1 ruth delivered from Envy, by P 011 flan, 1 1 1 
 tfobi't, by Goupy, 162 
 
 V 
 
 Virgil, a paffageof his criticifed, 41 
 
 Vafari , his opinion of A. Durer, 63 
 
 Vouet , Simon , 90 
 
 Villamena , 9 1 
 
 Venius Otho , 101 
 
 Ulyjfes, voyage of, by Tulden, 104 
 
 Vefper, by. Parrocelle, 105 
 
 tjiiet. Van , 1 1 9 
 
 Verlue , 12 7 
 
 ViJTcher , 13 G 1 35 
 
 Vandiejt , J 6 1 
 
 W 
 
 Whole in painting j how conflituted, 2 
 
 Watteau , 10 7 
 
 Worlidge , 120 
 
 White, the engraver, 121 
 
 White , the inezzotinto feraper, ibid. 
 
 Wings head, by White, 123 
 
 Wyke ■, amezzotinto from him, by Smith 
 
 124 
 
 Wolfang , 126 
 
 W overman, 135 
 
 — ftory of, 238 
 
 Wolves-head, by Ridinger, 144 
 
 Waggon : 
 
INDEX. 
 
 Waggon: a print from Rubens, 
 
 Waterlo, 
 
 — His Tobias, 
 
 Woman in the cauldron, by M. Antonio, 
 
 231 
 
 Z 
 
 Zeeman 161 
 
 148 
 
 149 
 
 202 
 

 
 
 
 Sp-tO-di 43-6