XLD /3BP!3K3i NRLF o o UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA. FROM THE LIBRARY OF BENJAMIN PARKE AVERY. GIFT OF MRS. AVERY, August, 1896. Accessions No. h^>(ptL ^~ Class No. \M* THE WONDERS OF ENGRAVING. mm*-{~ Qhucfimo c cr r Autotype. SAINT CHRISTOPHER. />w// the early Woodcut in the possession of Earl Spencer. Frontispiece.] THE W N D E B S OF ENGEAVING GEORGES DUPLESSIS. ILLUSTRATED WITH TEN REPRODUCTIONS IN AUTOTYPE ; AND THIRTY-FOUR WOOD-ENGRAVINGS, BY P. SELLIER. LONDON: SAMPSON LOW, SON, AND MARSTON, CROWN BUILDINGS, 188, FLEET STREET. 1871. THE W O N D E E S OF ENGEAVING GEORGES DUPLESSIS. ILLUSTRATED WITH TEN REPRODUCTIONS IN AUTOTYPE AND THIRTY-FOUR WOOD-ENGRAVINGS, BY P. SELLIER. LONDON: SAMPSON LOW, SON, AND MARSTON, CROWN BUILDINGS, 188, FLEET STREET. 1871. PRINTED BY WILLIAM CLOWES AND SONS, STAMFOBD STREET AND CHARING CROSS. NOTE. The present volume is a translation of Les Mer- veilles de la Gravure, by M. GEORGES DUPLESSIS, which has already appeared in the well-known Series now in course of publication by Messrs. L. Hachette et Cie. The author has made Engraving and Engravers his special study ; his chapters on the Italian, Flemish, German, and French schools will, we think, be considered exhaustive ; and nothing can be clearer than his account of the processes em- ployed : but he has scarcely done justice to this country many of our most illustrious names are unnoticed, whilst others are brought into undue prominence. This omission may, we hope, be rectified by the publication of a separate volume on English Engravers, which is evidently much needed. The translator need only add an earnest hope that the present version of Les Merveilles de la Grav^^,re may be acceptable to all lovers of this important and deeply interesting branch of Art. N. R. E. M. CONTENTS. CHAPTER I. PAGE THE ORIGIN OF ENGRAVING . i CHAPTER II. ENGRAVING IN ITALY. Engravers on Wood Nielli- Copperplate Engraving at Florence, in the Northern Cities, at Milan, Parma, Bologna, and Rome . . 5 CHAPTER III. ENGRAVING IN SPAIN. Giuseppe Ribera and Francesco Goya 74 CHAPTER IV. ENGRAVING IN THE Low COUNTRIES. Engravers on Wood in the i$th Century Early Engravers on Metal Holland : Rembrandt, Ruysdael, and Paul Potter Belgium : Rubens, Bolswert, Paul Pontius, and Anthony Vandyck 82 CHAPTER V. ENGRAVING IN GERMANY. Early Engravers on Wood Maximilian's Engravers Engraving on Metal The Master of 1466, Martin Schongauer and Albert Diirer 138 viii CONTENTS. CHAPTER VI. PAGE ENGRAVING IN ENGLAND. Engraving on Wood W. Caxton The Influence of Foreign Masters on English Art Its Originality in the Eighteenth Century, and its Influence on our Age . . . . . .182 CHAPTER VII. ENGRAVING IN FRANCE. Engravers on Wood En- gravers on Metal The School of Fontainebleau Portrait-painters Nicolas Poussin and Jean Pesne Charles Lebrun and Gdrard Audran The School of Watteau Vignette Engravers The School of David 207 CHAPTER VIII. PROCESSES. Engraving on Wood, Camaieu Copper- plate Engraving Line Engraving, Etching, Dry Point, Combination of Etching and Line Engraving, Mezzotint, Aquatint, Chalk style, Engraving in Colour, Physionotracy, Heliography or Photography Printing 308 INDEX OF ENGRAVERS' NAMES 331 ILLUSTRATIONS. *SAINT CHRISTOPHER . . . From the early Wood- cut (Frontispiece]. "CORONATION OF THE VIRGIN . Maso Finiguerra . 10 SAINT SEBASTIAN .... Niello . . .11 SIBYL AGRIPPINA .... Botticelli . . 18 VIRGIN AND CHILD . . . Mantegna . . 27 A YOUTH Campagnola . . 33 LUCRETIA Raimondi . . 57 A POET Ribera ... 75 THE CONDEMNED .... Goya ... 79 *ECCE HOMO L. van Leyden . 88 THE UYLENSPIEGEL ... 90 *JAN SYLVIUS Rembrandt . . 94 A LANDSCAPE .... 97 Two Cows Paul Potter . .103 *SHEEP AND GOATS . . . K. du Jardin . . 105 A CORNFIELD .... Ruysdael . . 107 COSTUME Goltzius . .113 SAINT CATHERINE .... Rubens . . .125 PORTRAIT OF SNYDERS . . . Vandyck. . .133 DANCE OF DEATH (after Holbein} H. Lutzelburger . 147 SAMSON AND THE LION . . Master 0/1466 . 149 *FLIGHT INTO EGYPT . M. Schongauer . 152 THE INFANT JESUS ... . . 154 ILL USTRA TIONS. TAGS *SAINT JEROME . Albert Dilrer 1 60 VIRGIN AND INFANT JESUS . I6 3 GERMAN COSTUME . . Aldegrever . 171 A LADY OF BALE . . W. Hollar . 176 *THE ROYAL EXCHANGE 177 PORTRAIT OF R. BAYFEILD . IV. Faithorne I8 7 MARRIAGE A LA MODE . . W. Hogarth . 201 HENRI II . Geoffroy Tory. 215 HEAD OF CHRIST . Claude Mellan 239 CLAUDE DERUET . . Jacques C allot 247 SUNRISE . Claude Lorraine 251 TIME DISCLOSING TRUTH . G. Audran, after Nicolas Poussin 260 ARABESQUE ORNAMENT . J. Lepautre . 280 A "COSTUME .... . A. Watteau . 283 STUDIO OF A COPPER -PLATE ENGRAVER Abraham Bosse . 313 THE MOUNTEBANK . . . Rembrandt . .316 VANITY J.Callot. . .317 A PORTRAIT Prince Rupert . 320 COPPER-PLATE ENGRAVING . . A. Bosse . . 327 * These Illustrations are reproduced by the Autotype process, and printed by Messrs. CUNDALL and FLEMING under license from the Autotype Company, Limited. WONDERS OF ENGRAVING. CHAPTER I. THE ORIGIN OF ENGRAVING. EFORE reviewing the various schools of En- graving, and studying the growth of this art in each separate country, it seems expedient to us to recapitulate in a few words, the very diverse and often contradictory opinions put forth concerning its origin. By doing this, we shall avoid unneces- sary repetition, and, without occupying ourselves unduly with the purely archaeological question, we can ascertain the characteristics of each school, ex- amine the works worthy of attention executed in each country, and enumerate the artists whom future gene- rations will remember and judge. We must not forget to say that we intend to occupy ourselves solely with that kind of Engraving from which impressions are taken ; and, purposely neglecting ancient engraving, we commence our work only at E 2 . WONDERS OF ENGRA VING. the period when, Printing having been discovered, Engraving became a new art and produced important results. Let us bear in mind, to begin with, that there are two processes, very different in their execution, although similar enough in their results engraving on metal and engraving on wood ; in the first, all that is to be impressed on the paper is cut in sunken lines on the metal ; the second involves work of a diametri- cally opposite kind ; all that is to appear in the proof must be raised on the wood, and the graver must carefully remove all those parts which the printer's press is not to touch. Whole volumes might be written if we wished to discuss or even to review the opinions put forth by scholars on the origin of engraving. Every country has taken part in the discussion, and eminent men on all sides have become the champions, each of his own country. National pride has often interfered in the dispute, and it would have run the risk of becoming bitter had it descended to the arena of personalities instead of remaining in the hands of earnest workers. The French have the greater facility for discussing the various opinions on this matter, inasmuch as they have no claim to be considered its inventors. France has indeed put forth some pretensions on this matter, and has been willing to consider one Bernard Milnet (an artist whose very name is more than problema- tical) the most ancient engraver ; but, after a careful THE ORIGIN OF ENGRA VING. 3 investigation, this opinion is now abandoned by all, even by those who first adopted it. It is not the same with our neighbours : for a long time the 'St. Christopher' of 1423 was thought the most ancient known example of engraving. But lately a discovery by the Baron of Reiffenberg, over- threw this opinion ; and the engraving of 1418, which he obtained for the Museum of Brussels (the date of which appears to us incontestable), transported the real period of the invention five years backward. In our day, thanks to two plates printed on the leaves of a manuscript which M. Henri Delaborde has described and commented on* with remarkable clear- ness, we know, that in 1406, the art of wood-engrav- ing must have existed and the printing-press been brought into use. The history of copper-plate engraving, properly so called, has passed through the same vicissitudes. Before the Abbe Zani found in one of the collections of prints in Paris, a proof of the ' Pax of Florence,' executed in 1452 by Maso Finiguerra as shown by the official registers German scholars looked upon Martin Schongauer as the true inventor of copper- plate engraving ; quoting in testimony some impres- sions executed, according to them, about 1460. From this period, already far removed from us (as the Abbe Zani's discovery took place only at the end t * 'Gazette des Beaux-arts/ March, 1869. 4 WONDERS OF ENGRA VING. of the eighteenth century), investigators have not been discouraged, and their efforts have been crowned with success. Passavant, in the 'Archives de Nau- mann' (4e Annee, 1858, p. i), has carefully described a figure of the Virgin, bearing date 1451. Renouvier, in a very learned pamphlet, has revealed the existence of a series of prints of the 'Passion,' executed in 1446. Persevering efforts in this direction might, without doubt, lead to some new discovery. Some day or other, we doubt not, Germany or Flanders will be proclaimed the inventor of printed engravings ; and that the archives of history, examined with great care, and turned over in every possible way, will furnish a document before which every ambition must succumb. But we should be much surprised if all these patient researches led to anything more than the knowledge of a mere fact ; and we shall be much mistaken if any art-object worthy of the name can be cited to contradict our theory, that it was in 1452, in Italy, at Florence, that the first really important specimen of the art of engraving appeared ; an event brilliant enough to be in itself alone an historical landmark. ENGRA VING IN ITAL Y. CHAPTER II. ENGRAVING IN ITALY. Engravers on Wood Nielli Copperplate Engraving at Flo- rence, in the Northern Cities, at Milan, Parma, Bologna, and Rome. THE history of engraving in Italy follows that of painting tolerably closely ; many painters were also engravers, and those who did not themselves take the trouble of engraving upon metal or wood, were sufficiently greedy of fame to gather around them engravers who multiplied the works they pro- duced under their supervision. Wood-engraving did not in Italy, as in other countries, precede engraving on metal. It appeared at the same time. It is in printed books that we must look for the first instances of this useful art, which, when combined with the text, is peculiarly well suited to bring the author's thought visibly before the eyes, whilst the words explain it to the mind. In Italy, wood-engraving was slower in acquiring real importance than in other countries. Although 6 WONDERS OF ENGRA VING. from the first half of the fifteenth century, we find many specimens of Italian wood-engraving, recog- nisable solely by their style, none of these attempts bear certain dates, and it is only at the end of the fifteenth century that this form of art was seriously cultivated and practised by true artists. Until then it had been in the hands of artisans, who were more desirous of instructing the faithful than of conforming to the laws of beauty. The most curious specimens of Italian wood-en- graving are met with in a rare book called the ' Hyp- nerotomachia Poliphilii,' printed at Venice by the brothers Aldus, in 1499, a book in which are unfolded, amongst dreams more or less fantastic, some reflec- tions on ideal beauty, or the theory of art, composed by Francesco Columna ; this work would have run great risk of remaining in oblivion had it not been embellished by some excellent wood-engravings. This book exhibits compositions which were attri- buted successively to Andrea Mantegna and Giovanni Bellini, executed in a very summary fashion, but with a firmness of touch which proves that their author possessed rare knowledge of drawing. It is true that we do not here recognise the style of these two masters ; but, at the same time, we do not hesitate to affirm that a superior artist alone could have guided the hand of the engraver in this work. The sermons of Savonarola, published at Florence the day after they were delivered, also contain a ENGRA VING IN ITAL Y. certain number of woodcuts, which reproduce with accuracy the beautiful Florentine designs of the fif- teenth century. From their first appearance, these engravings had a success sufficiently great to warrant their being simultaneously employed in different pub- lications. The plates which adorn the text of Savona- rola's sermons are again found in ' L'Art de Bien Mourir,' printed at Florence, in 1513 ; and a diligent search would certainly discover these engravings in other publications, as they were well suited to the mystical books of the beginning of the sixteenth century. At Rome the art of engraving on wood did not attain the same degree of beauty as in other* Italian cities. The discovery of printing spread there less rapidly, and the artists of the Eternal City seem from the first to have required for their work a field larger than that offered by a book. It was in the north, and at Venice particularly, that printers encouraged and employed the best artists of this class. Amongst books brought out in this city, special attention is due to Doni's publications, usually printed by Francesco Marcolini da Forli, and em- bellished by more beautiful wood-engravings than had until then appeared. We must not forget to remark that these works appeared in the middle of the sixteenth century, from 1550 to 1553, when Italian art was already at its zenith. About the same period, many engravers applied themselves to repro- 8 WONDERS OF ENGRA VING. duce compositions which Giulio Campagnola and Titian himself drew for that purpose. They executed some admirable engravings engravings properly so called, as not intended merely to adorn a book or illustrate a text, but entirely devoted to producing in fac-simile, and making popular, the works of these masters. As yet, the artist did not dream of showing his own dexterity, but occupied himself solely in faithfully transferring to the wood the design which had been confided to him. He was content (and herein lay his chief merit) to follow scrupulously the outlines traced by the pen or pencil of the painter, and he seems to be far more anxious for the glory of his model than for his own. Among the wood-engravers who habitually took their inspiration from Titian's works, Niccolo Bol- drini an artist to whom posterity has been unjust must take first rank. The origin of engraving en camaieu * also dates from the sixteenth century. Andrea Andreani, Ugo da Carpi, and Antonio da Trenta, the principal repre- sentatives of this new art, showed remarkable genius in their works. They copied the compositions of Raphael and of Parmigiano in preference to those of other masters, and, by means of several consecutive printings, succeeded in imitating washed drawings, * This term is applied to painting or printing in a single colour, varied only in depth of tints (as red, blue, bistre, &c.). ENGRA VING IN ITAL Y. and giving an exact . representation of designs exe- cuted in many tints, and therefore more difficult than others to be faithfully copied. During the two centuries which followed, engraving on wood was suddenly, and almost entirely, abandoned in all countries. In the middle of the eighteenth century we only find one engraver in Italy endeavour- ing to restore to favour a process formerly employed with such happy results by the artists we have named. Antonio Maria Zanetti published at Venice, in 1749, a series of prints, executed en camaieu by himself, after designs by Parmigiano ; but he had no imitators, and confined himself to this one publication. Even now that wood-engraving has by degrees regained a very important position, it hardly exists in Italy, which has hitherto been the first to adopt every new inven- tion, and, until the middle of the sixteenth century, had taken the first place in every branch of art. Engraving on Metal Nielli. A goldsmith of Flo- rence, Maso Finiguerra, had just put the last touch to an engraving of a ' Pax,'* ordered by the brothers of the church of St. John, and wishing to see the effect of his work, filled the lines traced by his graver * ' Pax,' is the name given to a plate of chased metal, enamelled or niello, still used in the solemn feasts of the Agnus Dei. It was called 'Pax' because, after it had been kissed by the offi- ciating priest, the acolyte, in presenting it to each of the assisting ecclesiastics, pronounced the words " Pax tecum." (Littre, { Dictionnaire de la Langue Franchise,' t. ii., p. 906). io WONDERS OF ENGRA VING. with a liquid composed of oil and lamp-black. By chance, a pile of damp linen was placed upon the silver plate thus prepared, and the sunk lines filled with black liquid were reproduced upon the linen. Such, we are assured, was the origin of engravings. Is this legend true or false ? It is impossible to cite any trustworthy document either for or against it ; but no one doubts that Maso Finiguerra is the author of the ' Coronation of the Virgin,' a niello, engraved in 1452. The original plate is in the Urfizi Gallery, at Florence, and the only known impression from it is carefully preserved in the Bibliotheque de Paris. Must we believe that no engraving appeared before this time? and are we to consider 1452 the date of the origin of engraving on metal ? This opinion was accepted for a long time, but now scholars 'have brought to light prints which contradict it. If, how- ever, we are to admit that an art is not really invented before it produces a choice work, we may, until further information, consider the ' Pax ' of Maso Finiguerra the first specimen known of the art of engraving. At Florence, as in other Italian cities, goldsmiths' work was very much in fashion at the beginning of the fifteenth century ; and this, like other branches of art, was then practised by men of real merit. At this time goldsmiths adorned most of their works with sunken designs, and these designs were called " nielli." Their mode of testing their work was as follows. When they had engraved the required design upon A PAX. From the Niello by Maso Finiguerra. ENGRA VING IN ITAL Y. 1 1 the metal, they first took an impression in very fine clay ; upon this they sprinkled sulphur, and then, by filling in the engraved parts with lamp-black, they were able to obtain a just notion of their work. Until perfectly sure of the final result, they would not have dreamt of pouring in the indestructible enamel or coloured matter called " nigellum," which, when once in its place, prevented any further impression being taken. When they discovered that damp paper firmly pressed upon the plate, im- pregnated with a certain ink, gave the same result, they abandoned the use of sul- phur, and their trials on paper became engravings. They did not at once see all that their discovery involved. For a long time workers in gold confined themselves to the small number of impressions necessary to the progress of their work ; and it is to this indifference that we must Fi> I '- attribute the extreme rarity of these early impressions, and the great value which amateurs attach to them. (The neuter noun "nigellum," is usually called " niello," and is applied indiscriminately to the plate itself and the impression taken from it.) 12 WONDERS OF ENGRA VING. The nielli are by no means all of equal merit, and were it not for their rarity many would be scarcely worthy of a place in choice collections. Indeed, although the Italian masters, and men of true genius, were the first to express grandeur of form and perfect beauty on metal, we must not ignore the fact that there were many second-rate artists working and pros- pering at the same time. Instead of always deriving their inspiration from the examples before them, they were sometimes imprudent enough to borrow their models from the neighbouring countries, thereby voluntarily depriving their works of the stamp of nationality, which generally distinguished Italian pro- ductions of the fifteenth century. We must not sup- pose that the use of niello was given up as soon as the means of taking impressions by other processes were discovered. The previous demand for nielli still continued, and goldsmiths were not inclined to put in jeopardy an art which brought them honour and profit ; they thus still covered with engravings the plates which were to ornament furniture, armour, or caskets. It was only towards the beginning of the sixteenth century, when public taste took another direction, that they abandoned this kind of work. We know the names of a certain number of niel- lists, but this is about all we do know. These artists did not appear worthy of special mention to the his- torians who wrote of the sixteenth century, and the few works they have signed reveal nothing of their ENGRA VI NG IN ITAL Y. 13 lives. We can put the names of Maso Finiguerra, Peregrini da Cesena, Antonio Pollajuolo, Matteo di Giovanni Dei, Francesco Raibolini, called Francia, and of Marc-Antonio Raimondi under the works attributed to them with almost absolute certainty, or great proba- bility, but it would be difficult to give the smallest biographical details about many of them ; say for in- stance of Matteo di Giovanni Dei, to whom tradition ascribes two plates, preserved in the Uffizi Gallery at Florence, the ' Crucifixion,' and the ' Conversion of St. Paul ;' but as we cannot compare these anonymous works with any signed drawings of Matteo di Giovanni Dei, we ought scarcely to sanction this tradition. On the contrary, some official reports published by Gaye in his ' Carteggio d'Artisti ' prove undeniably that the most illustrious of all these artists, Maso Finiguerra is really the author of the Florence ' Pax,' representing the ' Coronation of the Virgin,' and this is enough to prove that other nielli which denote singular know- ledge and exquisite taste, may be attributed to the same hand. Peregrini da Cesena engraved a considerable number of nielli on metal, which he sometimes signed in full and sometimes with a monogram only. He was evidently greedy of fame, for he is the only artist who signed the greater part of his productions. The painter and engraver Antonio Pollajuolo, is thought to be the author of two other small nielli which are remarkable for the somewhat puerile exact- 14 WONDERS OF ENGRA VING. ness of the drawing of the muscles and bones of the human body. As for Francesco Francia and Marc- Antonio Raimondi, we know enough of their works to be able to admire the nielli attributed to them without fear of mistake. After being for a long time much under- rated, Francia is now, by some enthusiastic admirers, considered a painter of the first order. To us both opinions appear equally exaggerated. The pictures, incontestably by this artist, exhibited in the Pinacoteca at Bologna, his native place, certainly show great artistic feeling and rare knowledge of drawing, but does this entitle their author to take rank among and share the renown of the greatest masters ? Certainly not : and while on this subject, we must say that we consider the nielli attributed to him, of which we have seen the original plates at Bologna, are by no means so beautiful as the indiscriminate admirers of every work of his would have us believe. These plates represent ' Christ on the Cross ' and the ' Resurrection.' The arrangement and style of the figures recall the designs engraved by Marc-Antonio Raimondi after Francia, -and this is equivalent to saying that they have neither imaginative power, nor grandeur of style sufficient to warrant the fame they enjoy. Marc- Antonio Raimondi has nothing to gain by being con- sidered an engraver in niello. The few prints attri- buted to him which we have seen in Paris, or in Count Durazzo's collection at Bologna, add no new lustre to ENGRA VING IN IT A LY. 15 his glory ; we will therefore merely remember his name, reserving our appreciation of him as an artist until we consider Italian engraving ; for he devoted his talent almost exclusively to reproducing the sublime works of Raphael. The number of anonymous artists who worked in niello is very considerable. It would perhaps be interesting to try and discover the authors of composi- tions which are often excellent and worthy of an illus- trious name, but this is not the place for such an undertaking, and we think it will be more to the point to show how Italians may profit by the discovery of printed proofs, and to review briefly the history of engraving, properly so called. Engravings, properly so called. When Italian gold- smiths, unconsciously to themselves, discovered en- graving, artists to whom the process of chasing was necessarily familiar, availed themselves of it, and created for themselves the name of engravers. This transition was made insensibly and unnoticed by all. As soon, however, as Italian art assumed a character- istic style, it divided itself into several schools, which must be separately studied. The Florentine artists aspired to another ideal than did those of the northern cities, who again differed essentially from the masters of Umbria, or the Roman States. Thus Florence, Venice, Milan, Rome, Modena, and Bologna, who took so great a part in the development of the new art, all 16 WONDERS OF ENGRA VING. demand attention, for reasons often very different, as each one produced engravers who were clever in pre- serving the national originality, which characterises these schools. There were as many schools as cities. We will endeavour to point out their distinctive cha- racteristics, and at the same time make them serve as divisions of our work. Florence. In engravings properly so called, as well as in nielli, Florence is in advance of the other Italian cities. This city was really predestined to lead. After producing in the middle ages the best works of the early Italian masters, Florence was also the cradle of engraving ; it seemed indeed that these two arts, which so much assist each other, were destined to be born under the same sky. The first engravings on metal executed in Italy are found in the ' Monte Santo di Dio ' (1477), and in an edition of ' Dante ' (1481). If Vasari is to be believed, a great painter supplied the designs and even assisted in the engraving. This artist was Sandro Botticelli, and for a fellow-labourer seems to have had Baccio Baldini, an artist whose life is little known, but to whom Bartsch attributes a number of engravings. Those of the ' Prophets ' and the ' Sibyls ' in the ' Monte Santo di Dio ' and ' Dante,' betray an inexperienced hand, but they are valuable on account of their accu- rate drawing ; they betoken a great appreciation of beauty, and though the artists to whom they are a fact worthy of notice, as did one not know the cause, the engravings, deprived of their picturesque effects, might be accused of not giving the tone of the original paintings. For those who know Raphael's works this observation will appear of little value. It is easy to perceive that ( Poetry/ engraved by Raimondi, is no more an exact image of the fresco in the Vatican than is his ' St. Cecilia ' of the painting in the Bologna Museum. Remembering that engraving in Marc-Antonio's hands was not suited to rendering his paintings, Raphael preferred to give him his preparatory studies on paper, and in this he showed his admirable taste and clear judgment. Marc-Antonio devoted the greater part of his ex- istence to multiplying Raphael's works. But he was not content with this. We have already said, that before founding the Roman school of engraving, he hesitated a long time, and showed great perseverance in seeking a path for himself. Arrived at Rome, the great master whom he joined did not discourage his looking round on the works then sharing public atten- 60 WONDERS OF ENGRA VING. tion with his own ; and we could mention engrav- ings executed in Rome by Marc-Antonio Raimondi after other masters than Raphael. But he is so im- bued with the exalted principles of the master of his choice, that he cannot altogether ignore them. In ' The Climbers/ for example, engraved after the cele- brated cartoon of Pisa by Michael Angelo, or in the ' Martyrdom of St. Lawrence,' by Baccio Bandinelli, we find an amount of precision, a reserved power pro- bably rather exceeding that of the original drawings. Nor is it impossible that Marc- Antonio engraved some compositions in which the figures, at least, were origi- nal. But the plates attributed to his pencil, as well as to his graver, are inferior in precision and knowledge to the others. Must we not conclude that this artist, so clever in interpreting the works of others, requires a powerful hand to guide and a strong mind to advise him. The truth is, that unlike most artists, Marc- Antonio Raimondi obtained his great reputation because he was able to renounce his own personality, because he reproduced contemporary works faithfully, with respect, almost with veneration, for the painters at whose service he placed his knowledge and his skill. This rare power, added to consummate knowledge of drawing and engraving, bore ample fruit. Having obediently submitted himself to Raphael, Marc- Antonio became a master in his turn. Pupils hurried from all countries eager to take lessons from him and ENGRA VING IN ITAL Y. 61 profit by his counsels ; and, thanks to his influence, Rome at length acquired a school of engraving. Those who approached most nearly to the master's style were Agostino Veneziano and Marco of Ravenna. Under Marc-Antonio's direct influence, often working with his eye upon them, they imitated his style so exactly that their works were sometimes taken for his an error which sufficiently proves their merits. Like Marc- Antonio, Agostino Veneziano was a long time finding his vocation. In order to acquire ease in handling the graver, he copied some engravings by Giulio Campagnola, rendered compositions by A. Diirer, and on joining the Roman school, not having as yet yielded to the all-powerful fascination of Raphael, he rendered several compositions by Bandi- nelli with all their exaggeration and bombast. He did not place himself under Raphael's influence until towards the end of that master's life, about 1516. His manner at once acquired a power and nobility of which there is no hint in his early works, and the prints he engraved from this date are undoubtedly his best. Marco Dente, or Marco of Ravenna (he is known under the latter name in France) was more ready to assimilate himself to his master's style. He rendered several of Marc-Antonio's engravings, and although his copies have not the same precision of drawing or firmness of touch, they give a very good notion of the originals. If we admit, with some authors, that the X?^^S\ PZU7ERSIT71 62 WONDERS OF ENGRA VING. second plate, known as the ' Massacre of the Inno- cents/ is the work of Marco of Ravenna, we must add that the pupil has in this one case approached his master very nearly. This engraving leaves us very doubtful as to its author. The firmness of touch, or, we should rather say, the general beauty, is very striking, and places its author, whoever he may be, beside Raimondi. If it be by Marco of Ravenna, it is his only work of great merit, and but for it, the modest office of copyist, to which he almost exclusively devoted himself, would scarcely have sufficed to give him a prominent place in the history of art. Several artists, though they pro- ceeded from his school, departed in some points from Raimondi's rules. Amongst them was Jacopo Caraglio, an artist of Verona, mentioned by Aretino in the ' Cortigiana ;' according to him, Caraglio is the cleverest engraver after Marc- Antonio. It is only just to add that he owes this very favourable mention to the ' Loves of the Gods ' engraved after Pierino del Vaga and Rosso ; and it was probably the sub- ject, rather than the execution, which interested and fascinated the engraver's apologist. It is difficult to define Caraglio's manner. It is manifold. Now he engraves with a free hand, as in the ' Loves of the Gods ;' now, as in an extensive series of ' Heathen Deities in Niches/ his style is precise and correct, and reminds one by its neatness of Marc-Antonio's manner ; at other times his drawing is coarse and ENGRA VING IN ITAL Y. 63 offensive. Caraglio seldom expresses grace, he excels more in force, as seen in his engraving of the ' Virgin and St. Anne between St. Sebastian and St. Roch,' which he composed himself, and which is really valu- able for its rarity rather than for the exalted style of the Virgin's beauty. Giulio Bonasone departs still further from Marc- Antonio's school than even Caraglio. His pleasing graver often conceals gross negligence. His numerous works comprise engravings of every sort. Executed from 1531 to 15/4, they vary in value according to the rank of the artists after whom they were com- posed. Bonasone reproduced some drawings by Raphael and Michael Angelo, and, though falling far short of the originals, his engravings are not without charm ; generally, however, he succeeded better with less exalted masters, who were more within his reach. Parmigiano supplied him with a great number of sub- jects to engrave, and he has reproduced on copper several compositions of his own. On the whole, re- membering the originals of Bonasone's prints, we think we cannot call them more than ingenious. They have none of the best qualities ; arranged with ease, perhaps with too much ease, they err in the drawing which wants power, and they err in the execution which is too hasty. The engraver has sacrificed quality to quantity, working much without caring to work well. Cesare Reverdino, a fellow- countryman and contemporary of Bonasone, engraved, 64 WONDERS OF ENGRA VING. sometimes with the needle and sometimes with the graver, several small compositions which, in their size at least, remind us of the works of inferior German artists, or of the engravers of the school of Lyons. He was the first Italian artist who succeeded in ren- dering complicated subjects in such a limited space without sacrificing the expression or losing the pic- turesque effect. These engravings were executed from 1531 to 1554. The 'Master of the Die* was one of the cleverest of the artists, who were strongly influenced by Marc- Antonio, and endeavoured to copy his style without taking direct lessons from him. He often copied Raphael, and when not following him he did not leave the Roman school, but sought his models in the works of Giulio Romano and Balthazar Peruzzi. The ' History of Psyche ' was entirely en- graved by the 'Master of the Die.' Several of these important plates have been considered Marc- Antonio's compositions, but the engraving is more clumsy than his and the design less scholarly. In spite of this the care with which the artist has preserved the cha- racter of the drawings attributed to some Fleming copying Raphael's works, gives the 'Master of the Die ' a high position in the Roman school. A native of Parma, ^Eneas Vico, came to Rome as soon as he knew enough to profit by regular instruc- tion. He at once yielded to the influence of Marc- Antonio. His first occupation on arriving in Rome was to reproduce the engravings by that master in ENGRA VING IN ITAL Y. 65 order to gain facility in the use of the graver. Com- pelled later to comply with the requirements of the editor Tomaso Barlacchi, who shared with Andrea Salamanca the trade in engravings at Rome, he copied simultaneously the compositions of Mazzuoli, of Perino del Vaga, and of Vasari. Towards 1545 he left Rome and went to Florence, where, under the special protection of Cosmo II. of Medici, he occu- pied himself entirely with the reproduction of the works of Baccio Bandinelli. His talent had now attained its fullest development, and the ' Leda,' exe- cuted after Michael Angelo, must be considered one of his best engravings. The execution in this plate recalls to us the dignity of Marc-Antonio's works, but at the same time Michael Angelo's drawing, full of his genius and energy, is faithfully rendered. ^Eneas Vico remained only five years at Florence. In 1550 we find him at Venice. There his first en- graving was the ' Portrait of Charles V.,' which was most successful. It was presented to the emperor with ceremony, several descriptions of it were pub- lished, and many artists copied it. At Rome ^Eneas Vico was able to appreciate the monuments of an- tiquity. Having been instrumental in the discoveries of paintings and bas-reliefs made in the sixteenth century, he engraved some of these venerable relics of bygone civilisations. At Venice he turned towards this kind of work from choice. He published several collections of antique medals, and designed ornaments F 66 WONDERS OF ENGRA VING. in the manner of the ancients. In this he may be said not only to have followed but to have inaugurated a new style, and one which we own corresponded with the requirements of the age ; erudition already occu- pied a large place in Italian art, now, alas ! deprived of its primitive charm. An entire family of engravers, natives of Mantua, adopted Marc-Antonio's style on arriving in Rome, and they endeavoured to modify it to suit their own inclinations, but the inevitable result of their study of his works was that they became disciples of the great Roman school. This family, the head of which was Giovanni Battista Scultori, passed the greater part of their existence at Rome. After working as a painter in the ' Palazzo del T. ' at Mantua, under Giulio Romano, Giovanni Battista practised engraving. He has left about twenty plates, almost all after Giulio Romano, which fairly render that master's manner. They are carefully executed, and 'The Naval Combat/ Scultori's chief work, is distinguished by remarkable knowledge of drawing, and great command of the burin. But Giovanni Battista's two children, Diana and Adamo, gained more renown than their father. It is believed that they devoted themselves entirely to engraving. As was natural, Diana at first took lessons from her father, and she was also guided at first by the influence of Giulio Romano, but when she went to Rome and her taste became formed, her style completely changed. As she arrived long after ENGRA VING IN ITAL Y. 67 the death of Raphael, she could not have the benefit of direct instruction from this great master, and she had nothing to guide her but the works of his inferior pupils, Raphaellino da Reggio and the Zuccari. Yet in her engravings she contrived to recall the style of the great school which she knew only through the works of Giulio Romano, and she did this with truly marvellous skill in her later works after this master, viz., ' The Nuptials of Psyche,' ' The Banquet of the Gods/ and the ' Bath of Mars and Venus/ These three engravings, which, with a fidelity of execution rare in a woman, most faithfully reproduce the fres- coes preserved in the ' Palazzo del T.' are the most celebrated of Diana Scultori's works. Adamo, Diana's brother, began work very young ; his father placed the burin in his hand at a very early age. There exists a 'Virgin nursing the Infant Jesus,' signed 'Adamo Sculptor, an. xi.' So that when only eleven years old he had already copied an engraving of his father's. Beginning so young, his works were of course very numerous ; we know more than a hundred engravings which bear his name. They remind us of those by Diana, and, like hers, they render happily the compositions of Giulio Romano. They show particular aptitude in rendering the antique style of that master's works, and they even exaggerate the appearance of bas-relief in certain of his com- positions. Adamo Scultori engaged in trade in en- gravings. We find his name under a great many 68 WONDERS OF ENGRA V1NG. prints which he published without taking part in their production. Amongst these some were executed at the end of the century after Martinelli and Zuccharo. We have restored their own name, Scultori, to these artists. It is not many years since they passed for members of the Ghisi family, because an artist of that name, the most illustrious of the Mantuan engravers, so completely combined all the essential qualities of the school founded under the influence of Giulio Romano, that he eclipsed the fame of the artists who preceded him. But there was no relation between Giorgio Ghisi and the Scultori. Their country was the same, that was all. Giorgio was born about 1520. He is sup- posed to have worked under Giovanni Battista Scultori with Diana and Adamo, with whom he had several qualities in common. He, however, soon surpassed them and left the school of Mantua earlier than they did. He went to Rome when still very young. There he studied Marc-Antonio's engravings, trying to imitate them, and taking his inspiration from compositions by Raphael and Michael Angelo. He engraved the ' Prophets and the Sibyls," after the latter, in which he showed consummate knowledge of drawing, and he managed to translate the grandeur of the compositions in the vault of the Sistine Chapel to his engravings. And yet, his burin being rather heavy, it has given a dull appearance to these noble figures, and the execu- tion looks laboured. Nevertheless, these engravings by Giorgio Ghisi are very superior to those by other ENGRA VING IN ITAL Y. 69 artists of the school of Mantua, and with Marc- Anto- nio's works they are worthy to share the exalted posi- tion held by Giulio Romano's paintings after Raphael. In a word, they restore the style of that school, which, after being formed under Giulio Romano, was destined to rise to new eminence at Rome, where, at last, its members could admire the noble masterpieces of that great master, whose unrivalled style they had hitherto only seen as interpreted by his pupil. After Giorgio Ghisi's death the influence of Marc- Antonio declined rapidly. Like the school of the great masters, Raphael and Michael Angelo, which disappeared completely in Italy at the end of the sixteenth century, after having attracted to their lessons not only nearly all the engravers of Italy, but even Frenchmen like Beatrizet, Germans like George Penez, Earth, Beham and Jacob Binck, his school also rapidly lost its authority. A new school sprang up at Rome, and the art was preserved for some time, but it abandoned the old principles, and in allowing themselves greater freedom of execution the successors of Marc-Antonio lost the noble and beauti- ful style so universal in Italian productions which had flourished until the middle of the sixteenth century. Mannerism replaced feeling, ease of style took the place of careful thought and true expression. The influence of Agostino Carracci now appears to have pre- dominated, at least his manner was copied by a great many artists, who came to Rome in the seventeenth ;o WONDERS OF ENGRA VING. century to the school of art which then attracted as many foreigners as native Italians. Battista Franco gave proof, at long intervals, of respect and admira- tion for great traditions, and his work was principally devoted to antique objects, but though his very careless drawing does not recall the style of Marc-Antonio, yet he was the only artist who still seems to have remem- bered that master. As for those who followed Franco Giov. Batt. Coriolano and Valerian Regnart, the first engraved a number of vignettes coldly and incorrectly, the pompous subjects of which were suggested by the masters of his school ; and the second gave his time to the reproduction of architectural drawings, armorial bearings, and allegorical compositions ; for Allegory was now forcing its way everywhere, and was often incomprehensible by reason of its being so far-fetched ; nevertheless, Oliviere Gatti, Francesco Brizio, Raffaelo Guidi, and many other Italians, habitually took their inspiration from it. Cardinal Barberini, who became pope under the title of Urban VI I L, patronised engraving, and sug- gested a great number of these futile inventions ; the bees of the Papal armorial bearings fluttered in swarms about these prints, which were both harsh and wanting in individuality. Cornelius Cort, Franz Villamene, Jo. Fred. Greuter, and Theodore Cruger, arrived from Germany ; Philip Thomassin, with a few competitors, hastened from France ; and all, German and French alike, yielding tothegeneral fascination, eagerly strove ENGRA VING IN 1TAL Y. 71 to adopt the style of the most fashionable Roman artists. It is too certain that all the plates executed in Italy in the seventeenth century were so much alike that they might have been attributed to the same artists, had not their authors been careful to sign them. These engravers took their inspiration from late painters of Michael Angelo's school, and it is well known that this once admirable school, whose chief had executed such beautiful works, had already suffered from ex- aggeration of style under Baccio Bandinelli. In the works of the second generation of the disciples of the painter of the Sistine Chapel the style became alto- gether false, coarse, and bombastic. Amongst the artists of the Roman school who remain to be named we must not forget Pietro Santo Bartoli, who with his skilful needle, seconded by his burin, reproduced a great number of bas-reliefs and antique statues. Winckelmann advised young people anxious to form a good idea of works of antiquity, to consult the engravings of Pietro Santo Bartoli, and this advice from the famous historian of art surely speaks well for the artist's works. But we are more exacting now than formerly. In our day the means of reproduction have attained such high excellence that we are not disposed to give Bartoli such un- limited admiration. His engravings after the Trajan column, for instance, whilst giving valuable informa- tion about the costumes and arms of the ancients, fail to give a correct idea of the figures of this monument. 72 WONDERS OF ENGRA VING. The casts in the museum of the Louvre, which enable us to compare the copy with the original, compel us to be somewhat reserved. But in any case, Pietro Santo Bartoli was one of the first, if not to copy exactly the true character of ancient monuments, at least to devote his talent to them almost exclusively, and it was by aid of his engravings almost as much as by the works themselves, that Grecian and Roman art were made known to most of the artists born at the beginning of this century. At the end of the eighteenth century, when engra- ving seemed almost extinct in the rest of Italy, it still survived in Rome. Two artists of about equal talent, Domenico Cunego and Antonio Capellani, applied themselves to reproducing several works by Michael Angelo, which could only be known at Rome. Domenico was born at Verona in 1727, and at first devoted himself to painting ; he worked with Fran- cesco Ferrari ; then, after studying the first principles of engraving in Germany he established himself in Rome, and it was there that he became so enamoured of Michael Angelo, that he set himself to engrave the paintings in the Sistine Chapel ; Antonio Capellani joined him in this enterprise. Born at Venice about 1740, he had left his home to settle at Rome, and he engraved 'The Creation of Woman,' and 'Adam and Eve driven from the Garden of Eden.' Neither of these artists drew with sufficient accuracy to copy these almost sublime works. They fell far short of their ENGRA VING IN ITAL Y. 73 models, their engravings are heavy and wanting in ease, and give but a very inadequate idea of the originals, and the principal merit of these artists is that they rendered works which no one had hitherto attempted to copy. Here must close the history of engraving in Italy. To pursue our inquiry further would be to exceed the limits of our plan. We could doubtless further notice the ultra-picturesque works of the brothers Piranesi, and refer to artists nearer our own time, who for a moment appeared likely to revive the art of engrav- ing in Italy. Raphael Morghen, Paolo Toschi, and Giuseppe Longhi, enjoyed a considerable reputation at the beginning of this century, which was justified to a certain extent by their skill in handling the graver. But these artists, working almost entirely at pictures produced two centuries before, could not identify them- selves with their models, and therefore remained inferior to them. In occupying ourselves only with the masters of art, and mentioning the names of those artists who at different times drew upon themselves the attention of men of taste, and were remarkable for great originality, we have perhaps given a better notion of the grandeur of Italian art than we should have done had we spoken of every one and meted out to each a portion of praise or blame. 74 WONDERS OF ENGRA VING. CHAPTER III. ENGRAVING IN SPAIN. Giuseppe Ribera and Francesco Goya. IT is almost impossible to write the history of en- graving in Spain. Scarcely anything is known of the art of this country beyond its own shores, and native historians, or those who resided long enough in Spain to make the national art the object of their studies, agree in stating that engraving was very little practised and still less encouraged. We know that some anonymous prints are attributed to Velas-' quez and Murillo ; they do recall the style of these masters, and are evidently reproductions of their pic- tures, but we cannot name their authors with any certainty. Without conclusive proofs all conjectures are valueless. Ribera is the only celebrated painter born in Spain whom we know to have been also a line-engraver. His style is easy, and the colouring of Fig. 6. A Poet. Engraved by GIUSEPPE RIBERA. TUTI7ERSIT7] ENGRA VING IN SPAIN. 77 his engravings, like that of his paintings, is somewhat harsh ; his prints deserve the esteem in which they are generally held ; ' Poetry ' and ' The Martyrdom of St. Bartholomew,' Ribera's best works, would be an honour to any school. But after that of Ribera we find no famous name until the beginning of the seventeenth century ; the plates by Salvador Carmona, Manuel Esquivel, Fran- cesco Muntaner and other artists equally inferior in talent are not enough to represent a school. These engravers, who confined themselves to the burin, gene- rally copied valueless works, which they reproduced barrenly and without beauty, and if they did turn to a master, like Velasquez, they failed to render the grandeur and harmonious colouring of that great master's works. To find a man of real originality and skill, therefore, we must pass on to Francesco Goya, the only engraver of whom Spain may be justly proud. He was born at Fuendetolos, in Aragon, on the 3 ses precurseurs et ses annees cfapprentissage, printed at Hague, 1863, pp. iv.-vi.), who, after examining all the accounts by historians of this master, concludes, although with hesitation, that Rembrandt was born in 1607. 94 ENGRA VING IN unknown, but everything seems to prove that he first saw the light in Leyden, where his family had been established for a long time. His father at first in- tended him to study law, and began by making him learn Latin, that he might be prepared to go through the course required at the University of Leyden. But Rembrandt had so great a taste for drawing and painting, that his parents yielded to his wishes, and placed him with Jacob Isaacson van Swanenburg, an artist almost unknown in our time. Rembrandt studied with this painter for three years ; he then attended successively the studios of Peter Lastman and Jacob Pinas. Having learnt the elements of his art from them, he returned to his father's house at Leyden to work alone. He soon gained an extensive reputation, his first engravings and paintings were so good that he received several orders for portraits from Amsterdam. On the 22nd of June, 1634, Rembrandt married a wealthy native of Friesland, Saskia Uilen- burg. By this marriage he had two children, one of whom died very young, and the other, Titus Rem- brandt, followed his father's profession, but without success. After eight years of married life Saskia also died, leaving her entire fortune under her husband's control, on condition that he should give her son a thorough education and allot him a portion on his marriage. Rembrandt did not long remain a widower ; there is no authentic record of his second marriage, but the A iitotype. JAN SYLVIUS. From the Etching by Rembrandt, THE LOW CO UNTRIES. 95 registers of Amsterdam prove the birth of two chil- dren some time after Saskia's death. Rembrandt's life, devoted to study, furnishes small material for biography. He seldom left Amsterdam, never went abroad, and found plenty of models of every kind ready to his hand. Rembrandt's works, now so sought after and prized by amateurs, and which are disputed for by museums and public buildings, were not thought much of during his life. In 1656, after the production of his best works, Rembrandt was declared insolvent, and compelled to sell his house, his furniture, his very studio ! This unfortunate occurrence was a terrible blow to the artist. Although he worked hard and produced many masterpieces, amongst others, 'The Trustees of the Draper's Guild/ in the Museum of Amsterdam (1661), he sank more and more into obscurity. The date of his death remained long un- known or was incorrectly reported, and it was not discovered until lately in a document taken from the civil registers of Amsterdam : " Rembrandt was buried in this town on the 8th of October, 1669." Rembrandt founded the Dutch school properly so called, and we may add that he completely repre- sents it. He created every variety of subject, and in every style proved himself to be an inimitable artist. In compositions of the highest order, such as 'Jesus Christ healing the Sick,' or 'The Resur- rection of Lazarus,' his magic needle obtained re- sults from etching of which it was not deemed 96 ENGRA VING IN capable. This branch of engraving would appear to be suited only to homely subjects, or compositions to be dashed off at one sitting, but Rembrandt's genius raised it to the height of glory, and enabled it to compete successfully with the engraving of history. And when the master turns to domestic scenes, when he leads us to the synagogue, or shows us the sculptor modelling a statuette, or the cook surrounded by her children tossing her cakes in the frying-pan, he gives to these familiar subjects a spirit, a power, a touch of nature, which are irresistibly interesting and attractive. He surpasses every one in his noble and life-like portraits. Jan Lutma, the Burgomaster Six, or Rembrandt himself, will live for ever in the etchings which so faithfully render the wit, the energy, and the singularity of their physiognomies. Rembrandt was also a thorough master of landscape design. Holland has had many great landscape painters, but none represented this artificial country with so much truth as Rembrandt. The boundless horizons of this flat country, the wondrous canals, the windmills, are all given without monotony or exagge- ration ; and so admirably has Rembrandt chosen his point of view and arranged his subjects, that, whilst strictly adhering to truth, he has given an interesting and picturesque appearance to this damp and melan- choly land. Rembrandt had some imitators, but no pupils who followed his example step by step. Too original himself to tolerate servile copying, or to ir . TT; %snSkfife THE LOW COUNTRIES. 99 do more than encourage, his unthinking genius could only arouse the ambition of some few engravers to follow up the work he had begun. Thus J. Livens, Ferdinand Bol, and Van Uliet, in attempting to con- form themselves strictly to the examples of this master's style, remained far behind their models, and in the end obtained but a moderate reputation. The inferiority of these artists is seen when, applying them- selves directly to the works of Rembrandt, they sought to reproduce the distinguishing beauties by the process employed by that artist. These three imitators re- peatedly engraved Rembrandt's works, and not with- out talent ; their engravings never show more beauty than when they trod in their illustrious master's foot- steps. As for their own compositions, which they produced on copper, they betray an intention to imi- tate Rembrandt, and at the same time an exaggera- tion in the drawing which spoils the figures ; and though Rembrandt himself, even w,hen drawing com- mon and low phases of life, always remained grand and gave a poetry to the most insignificant subjects, his imitators, less scrupulous because less clever, were not afraid of deviating from truth in the action of their figures which are often frightful. We are indebted' to this love of humble subjects, such as beggars and peasants, for a great number of excellent Dutch compositions. The artists who chose this kind of work were evidently painters as well as engravers, and, unlike their predecessors, they did not ioo ENGRA VI NG IN go abroad, but were content with the plentiful models close at hand. Their works are charming because they are true. As their country did not offer types of grandeur in the inhabitants, or varied aspects of beauty in the scenery, they applied themselves to the faithful representation of what really met their eyes. The smoking rooms and taverns to which we are in- troduced by Ostade or Brauwer are full of life and animation. We see that their engraver was at home in them. Adrien Brauwer, of Haarlem, is said to have frequented them too much ; according to some historians he led a life of drunkenness and de- bauchery. He died at the age of thirty-four, leaving some etchings of great delicacy and power. Adrien Van Ostade led a less irregular life, and as an en- graver he takes higher rank. He devoted his excep- tional talent to the home scenes of his native land ; his numerous engravings are delightful on account of the spirit and life, of the figures. Whether gay and joyous, or busy over household cares, his characters do well what they are employed in ; their faces are true, their gestures life-like ; they act, they live, they are full of individuality. Ostade possessed this gift of vivid representation in a great degree ; when he shows us an artist at work in his studio in a tall cap, we distinctly see how the painter's attention is fixed on his work, how carefully he is covering his canvas. The imitators of Ostade fell far short of their model. Cornelius Dusart drew heavily, and his ideal is even THE LOW CO UNTRIES. 101 more insignificant and trivial than that of his contem- poraries. It is strange that the Dutch, so successful with physiognomy, could not represent youth ; their lovers, male and female, are wrinkled and frightfully ugly ; the children playing round their parents are old and clumsy, their attitudes are all that is young about them. These second-rate Dutch artists never so much as dreamt of representing beauty and elegance of form. Cornelius Bega, another pupil of Ostade, imi- tated his master as closely as did Dusart He, too, delighted to represent peasants at table in taverns., gos- siping at the door of an inn, or busied with household cares, but his engravings are wanting in the delicacy which distinguishes those of Ostade. They are harsh, and the faces of his beggars are not always correct. We have said that Dutch artists of the seventeenth century did not attempt to make the human figure at all beautiful. To atone for this, a number of artists equally skilful with brush and graver, applied them- selves with the greatest success to the representation of animals in all their beauty and nobility. Of these masters Paul Potter is the most distinguished, and the animals he painted or engraved are grander than any before produced. He idealised his model without compromising truth. His- engraving of the ' Friesland Horse' is bold in execution, and competes with the productions of these schools which were famous for their grandeur. Nicolas Berghem was as successful with animals as 102 ENGRA VING IN any of his fellow-countrymen. His much-sought-for paintings and engravings are equally delicate, clear, and refined. His compositions in which the animals are better than the figures are set in landscapes designed with great care. He delighted in foliage ; his delicate needle has thrown the light on the right places, the shadows are never confused, the air circu- lates freely, giving life to all it touches. Adrian Van der Velde painted both animate and inanimate nature, but he engraved animals only. He had great original talent, and the power and correct- ness of his work recalls the style of Berghem. Theo- dore Stoop was less confined and crowded in his work ; he gave his chief attention to horses, and the figures he introduces are cleverly designed and ar- ranged. Philip Wouvermann has signed but one en- graving. But in this finely caparisoned young horse he has shown with what success he could work at etching. His evident inexperience has not injured the correctness of the forms, and in spite of its soiled appearance this engraving is well worth the attention of amateurs. Karel Dujardin evidently loved the life of the fields. He strictly followed Paul Potter as long as he remained in his native land. He engraved num- bers of animals, illustrating their habits and explain- ing their natures. Some sleep in sheer idleness, stretched on their sides or wallowing in the mud ; others accustomed to work, ruminate peacefully, or browse carelessly upon the grass. Dujardin's en- gniun THE LOW COUNTRIES. 105 graving is clear, the outlines bold and distinct ; he never betrays weariness. One day, under pretence of seeing a friend off who was going to Leghorn, Karel Dujardin set out for Italy. He was so much struck with the skies and landscapes of the Roman Empire, that he deserted animals and became a landscape painter. His works in Italy were large, but the ar- rangement of them is not always good, and the exe- cution is laboured. No wonder the successful Dutch artist found such a complete change of style very difficult, and felt almost intimidated before the gran- deur of the scenery round Rome. Other landscape painters followed Karel Dujardin's example, and went to Italy after studying in Holland, but these distant wanderings were less injurious than we should have feared, as the emigrants did not leave their country until they knew enough of their art to be able to profit by the novel instructions they were going to receive. John Both, the most celebrated of them, gained the surname of ' Both of Italy.' He was born at Utrecht in 1610. In company with his brother Andrew Both, with whom he generally worked, he travelled first through France and then through Italy, making a long stay in the latter. It is strange that he learnt to understand Italian art through the works of the well-known French artist Claude Gellee. The influence of the Lorraine master is more evident in his paintings than in his etchings ; in his engravings he addressed himself directly to nature. He truth- 106 ENGRA VING IN fully rendered the vast horizons bounded by high mountains and enlivened by large trees and well- known buildings. His art accommodated itself to the peculiarities of different countries, and his style was affected by the beauty of the landscapes he subsequently visited. William of Heusch, a fellow- countryman and disciple of John Both, followed his example and sought his models in Italy. He engraved the scenes of that country very truthfully, and we must not be severe in our criticism, remembering how much he accomplished by means of a process so little fitted to render the grandeur of the scenes he chose. Herman Swanevelt spent the greater part of his life in Italy, and yielded entirely to the influence of Claude Lorraine, addressing himself directly to that master's works. His engravings show this influence, but the execution is cold and monotonous. Jacob Ruysdael, the greatest landscape painter of Holland, did not know Italy, and never left his native town, Haarlem. We need not here speak of his talent as a painter, and some of his engravings are quite equal to his pictures. His style is easy, his drawing skilful and decided ; he is pre-eminently successful in rendering trees and foliage ; his work is always clear and distinct. The light is vivid and cleverly distributed, whilst the shadows are rendered with truth and care. The warm colouring of his pictures is reproduced in his engravings. His works are not numerous ; ' The Corn Field/ and the ' Travellers,' UNIVERSITY THE LOW CO UNTRIES. 109 are good illustrations of his great and noble genius. The first is an unrivalled work. A simple corn-field shut in by tall trees, the leafy boughs, the tangled shrubs, the gentle breeze, the tender light, even the refreshing fragrance of the country, are all happily and clearly rendered. Anthony Waterloo never left Holland, and was seldom absent from Utrecht, his native place. Unlike most of the artists we have named, he acquired greater reputation as an engraver than as a painter. His fame exceeded his merits. His etchings are monotonous and laboured, and he had recourse to the burin to bring any object, such as the trunk of a tree or a tangled bough, into promi- nence. This practice was new to the Dutch school, and had its disadvantages. It is easy enough to make soft and pleasing strokes with the graver, but they re- tain undue importance when the rest of an etching begins to fade from the worn-out plates. Bad impres- sions are the result, and Waterloo's works were no exceptions. The scenes he represented are of little variety or extent. A corner of a forest with a wind- ing lane, a mill above a torrent, a cottage over- shadowed by a few trees, such are the aspects of nature in which this artist delighted. He never at- tempted to render Holland's characteristic landscapes, its vast horizons, or its boundless plains watered by countless canals. The sea shared with the forests, the green hillocks, and the plains of Holland, the enthusiasm of inter- 1 10 ENGRA VING IN preters, and Rembrandt, who inaugurated the marine style, was as successful in it as in everything else. Those who followed him were not so fortunate. Louis Backuysen, one of the cleverest Dutch painters, en- graved several sea-pieces with the needle, which are wanting in his usual skill. The effect of the wind on the sea is well given, but his last efforts were too hastily executed, and the figures on the sterns of the vessels are clumsy and incorrect. On canvas Backuy- sen renders eloquently the most majestic aspects of the sea, but on copper he is weak and irresolute. Isaiah Van der Velde was not more successful ; he tried to represent seaports crowded with ships, or skaters gliding over the ice ; but the abrupt and harsh hatchings of his needle, crossed by strokes of the graver, most inadequately render the appearance of the sea, the river, or the canal he is drawing. Peter Bout used a very fine needle, and drew charming little villages-washed and shut in by the sea ; but the figures in his sea-pieces want character, and his designs are not well finished Nevertheless, he accomplished some- thing, and his five or six known sea-pieces give a true idea of the appearance of the North Sea. Rene Nooms, now generally known under the name of Zeeman (seaman), was born at Amsterdam about 1612. He was so passionately fond of painting the sea, that he embarked as a simple sailor, and made several voyages in order to study the fickle element in her smiling and angry moods, and to learn the construe- THE LOW COUNTRIES. in tion of vessels. It is to this special education that his engravings owe the truthfulness so little shared by contemporary works ; and if the gazer does not find in Zeeman's engravings an understanding of effect, or great beauty in the execution, the historian will prize them for their truthfulness and precision, as well as for the information they afford. Side by side with the followers of Rembrandt, who produced famous and valuable etchings, arose an equally celebrated school of artists who employed the graver, and left to posterity striking proofs of their talent. We have spoken of the unfortunate ten- dency of beginners to desert their own land for Italy, and especially for Rome, where they learnt of the artists of the decadence, and parodied their works. We have now to consider artists who took a higher tone. They too left their country for a time, but when they had learnt all they could from foreign masters they returned home and devoted the greater part of their existence to reproducing the works of their fellow-countrymen. This school of Dutch line- engravers did not arise till the seventeenth century. After Crispin Van de Pass, who gave to his works a warm and pleasant tint, we find a number of artists who, we may say, used the graver too boldly. At first Henry Goltzius was timid and almost too anxious about delicacy and precision, his small portraits rivalled miniatures, and were equal to the most deli- cate works ever engraved, but as soon as he felt himself 1 1 2 ENGRA VING IN master of his instrument, he took an entirely different course, and, recalling Albert Diirer's style, he pub- lished some of the most extravagant prints imagina- tion ever conceived. By means of deep strokes at wide intervals he tried to reproduce works complicated and pedantic, and succeeded too well in literally copying these exaggerated forms, and whilst gaining the repu- tation of being one of the cleverest line-engravers of Holland, he lost that of a correct and skilful designer, which his first works had gained for him. It is to be regretted that he had many imitators. His manner attracted those who were fond of novelty and cared little by what means they attained notoriety. Amongst the least intelligent of Goltzius' imitators were John Saenredam and John Miiller. It is impos- sible to exceed their skill in using the needle, or en- graving on copper ; but their very ease of execution led them to delight in terribly distorted forms. Their ambition was to vanquish apparently insurmountable difficulties and they were always absorbed in the desire to show their power. They took their models chiefly from Bartholomew Spranger, the most affec- ted artist of the school. James Matham, another pupil of Goltzius, was not content with his master's lessons. He made a long stay in Italy, and at Rome took counsel with his countryman, Cornelius Bloe- maert. But this new teaching spoilt his originality, although he learnt from it to seek something better than complicated subjects and exaggerated forms : he Fig. 12. Costume. Engraved by HENRY GOLTZIUS. THE LOW COUNTRIES. 115 engraved after Zuccaro, and sometimes even after Raphael and Titian. His prints merely produce with a weary monotony the works of these great masters. His portraits alone, which show careful study of physiognomy, are worthy of notice. Henry Hondius never left the Hague, his native place. For fifty years he superintended a studio there in which many artists were educated. It is not easy to define his manner, it is dry and wanting in grandeur. He had not sufficient talent to give his pupils and the artists he employed for he was rather a publisher than a master-engraver a true impulse ; the prints which bear his name, either as publisher or engraver, are of no particular value. After line-engraving had been practised in Holland for a long time, with more or less success, a moment came when this art attained to so considerable a position that neighbouring countries might well have been jealous. In the middle of the seventeenth cen- tury a national school of painting arose entirely under the influence of Rembrandt, and engravers sprung up ready to reproduce the new painters' compositions and their own, and to spread abroad the fame of those who guided them. A Dutchman, Peter Soutman, born at Haarlem about 1580, who attended Rubens' studio, and successfully engraved some of his works, seems to have given the impulse to this new school of engraving. He attracted and won the confidence of young engravers. Jonas Suyderoef entered his studio 1 1 6 ENGRA VING IN and borrowed from his master the convenient process of combining line engraving with etching. In this mode of working aquafortis plays a secondary part, being employed merely to prepare the plate and is disused altogether when the graver begins its work. Amongst Jonas Suyderoefs works important on account of the portraits after P. Soutman, Franz Hals, and Rubens, which they contain there is one plate which would alone suffice to render him famous as an artist. We allude to the ' Peace of Munster/ after Gerard Terburg, which contains no less than fifty portraits those of the plenipotentiaries met together to sign the treaty. This grand engraving shows ex- ceptional knowledge of physiognomy, the picture is reproduced with extraordinary exactness, and in this case we may safely assert that the engraver was a worthy rival of the painter. Cornelius Visscher was also a pupil of P. Soutman. His style differs from his master's more than did that of Jonas Suyderoef. From Soutman, it is true, he learnt scrupulously to respect the models before him ; but his mode of re- producing the works he composed or copied was very different. He seldom used aquafortis, but worked on the bare copper with the tool. At first his style was very formal, and his plates resembled the feeblest efforts of a Polish painter, Jeremiah Falck, who spent some time in Holland. His manner, however, rapidly changed as his talent became developed. Visscher engraved the portrait of Peter Scriverius under the THE LOW COUNTRIES. 117 direction of Peter Soutman, and he did not fail to bear witness to his master's share in this work, which he signed thus : ' Corn. Visscher sculpsit. P. Soutmanuo dirigente! An act of respect the more praiseworthy, as in this engraving the pupil is already seen to be superior to his master. Visscher's works are too numerous for us to name all the best, it will be better merely to single out those which are universally ad- mired : ' The Ratcatcher ' and ' The Cook ' are worthy of taking first rank in the history of engraving. This artist was still more successful with his portraits ; he excelled in representing flesh, and his works, like his subjects, are of infinite variety. A clear and powerful colourist, a skilful and accurate designer, he knew how to profit by the examples of his predecessors, and his works bear witness to his great admiration for Rem- brandt, Franz Hals, and Van der Heist. Cornelius Van Dalen, who followed C. Visscher's instructions, did not handle the graver with equal ease. But in this excellent school he acquired respect for good drawing and knowledge of colouring. The portraits of Alphonse d'Este, of Aretino, and of Boccaccio are considered Cornelius Van Dalen's best works ; they are certainly his simplest. C. Van Dalen required to work from a good model or from nature ; when employed on an inferior composition his want of interest is evident. When he engraved works after Rubens or Flinck, which suited his taste, he rendered the powerful colouring of these masters Ii8 ENGRAVING IN with peculiar skill, and at the same time gave proof of his own great knowledge. But his portraits are his best works. Whether he drew from nature or bor- rowed his model from Gov. Flinck, J. Livens, or other less famous Dutch portrait-painters, his works are remarkable for powerful execution and knowledge of physiognomy. Abraham Bloteling also belonged to the school of Cornelius Visscher. He was born at Amsterdam in 1634. His works are very numerous and more varied than those of the artists we have named ; and although they do not take first rank, they show that their author had a certain skill in different styles. His etchings are poor with the exception of one master- piece, the portrait of the painter, Gov. Flinck ; but all his portraits are better than his compositions. He employed mezzotint largely and has left many engravings in it. He only attained true superiority when he left his own country for England, and worked at pictures by Sir Peter Lely and other clever portrait- painters. At the end of the seventeenth century Dutch art began to decline, or rather it almost entirely disap- peared. Genius became rarer and rarer. We find good workmen it is true, but they were workmen, not artists ; the skill of Rembrandt and his imitators, with Cornelius Visscher at their head, was gone never to return. Romyn de Hooghe engraved a great variety of subjects with surprising rapidity ; battles, ceremo- THE LOW COUNTRIES. 119 nials, costumes, portraits, were all rendered by this artist's fertile imagination, but he had no taste and was ignorant of the laws of drawing. John Luyken although far less skilful than Romyn de Hooghe, had also a fertile imagination and rare facility of execu- tion, but his needle served his intellect badly, it was heavy and monotonous, so that his] etchings are dull and without character. James Houbraken strove in vain, during a great part of the eighteenth century, to revive the beautiful style of etchings brought to so high a pitch by Cornelius Visscher and his pupils. His drawing is incorrect, and he only showed great skill in handling the graver. In addition to his nume- rous portraits he produced some clever engravings after C. Troost which represent scenes of local in- terest. In the year 1780, the date of the death of Hou- braken, the history of engraving in Holland must end. If we pursued our inquiry further we should have to name a number of inferior artists, and this, we think, would lead to confusion and be unjust to those who really advanced their art, and deserve to be remem- bered. We have named Rembrandt as the inaugurator of the Dutch school, and Peter Paul Rubens takes the same position in Flanders. We do not mean to ignore numerous painters who preceded him and took lessons of Van Eyck and Memling ; but we are considering the history of engraving, not of painting, and we think 120 ENGRA VING IN we may justly assert that a true school was not founded in Flanders until Rubens gave engravers an aim, and aroused their ambition by his works. The art could not, of course, spring into fame and power at once, and before it made its name known many inferior engravers were at work. The engravings of Wierix are executed with talent, still they do not betoken any great know- ledge, unless we except a few portraits which are finished with great beauty and delicacy. The Sadelers made up for want of skill by great fertility of imagina- tion. Ad. Collaert devoted himself to allegory and sacred subjects ; the compositions of Martin de Vos and Stradan were his chief favourites. Finally, Cor- nelius, Theodore, and Philip Galle excelled the en- gravers we have named ; their early works show great power, but their genius was not fully developed until they came under the influence of Rubens, to whom was reserved the honour of founding the national Flemish school of engraving. Peter Paul Rubens was born at Siegen, in May, 1577 ; he spent his early years there, and then went to Cologne for a time ; he did not reside at Antwerp with his mother until the year 1588, after the death of his father. When settled in Antwerp, the first care of Maria Pypeling, Rubens' mother, was to obtain a good education for her son. His studies over, Rubens entered the service of the widow of the Count of Lalaing, Margaret of Ligne, as a page. He did not long remain in this, to him, uncongenial position, but THE LOW COUNTRIES. 121 obtained his mother's permission to adopt the profes- sion of an artist, for which he had long shown a great inclination. His first master was Tobias Verhaegt, a painter almost unknown now ; he did not remain with him long, but before going to the studio of his true master, Otto Venius, to complete his studies, he was for a time under Adrian Van der Noort. After four years with Venius, Rubens determined to go to Italy. He left Antwerp on the Qth of May, 1600, and visited successively Venice, Mantua, Rome, Genoa, and Milan. He lived by preference at Venice, and during a long stay there, enthusiastically copied paintings by Paul Veronese, Titian, and Tintoretto. It was in Venice, too, that he made friends with a gay young officer of good family, who took him to the court of the Duke of Mantua, Vincenzo da Gonzaga. The duke, who was devoted to literature and the fine arts, liked to be surrounded by the chief authors and painters of the day ; he retained the Flemish artist near him, and entrusted him with the execution of several works. Better still, he discovered that Rubens had the qualities of a courtier as well as those of a great painter, and that he might be more useful than many of those who studied diplomacy as a profession. He was so convinced of this, that when he wished to send some splendid presents to Philip III., king of Spain, he chose Rubens as his ambassador. The painter having proved himself worthy of the confidence reposed in him, received a great reward on his return ; 122 ENGRA VING IN the duke gave him permission to go to Rome to study the masterpieces of which the Papal city is full. Rubens lingered some time in Italy, and was thinking of going to France, when sudden tidings reached him at Milan which abruptly ended his wanderings ; his mother was seriously ill and longed to embrace her son before her death. Rubens set out without delay, but his haste availed him nothing, his mother died whilst he was still far from Antwerp. Overcome with grief, he took refuge in the convent of St. Michael, where she was buried, and devoted the leisure hours of this voluntary seclusion to raising a tomb in his mother's honour, the designs for which he supplied himself. He composed the epitaph also, and placed a picture he had painted at Rome beneath the Mauso- leum. When the first sharpness of grief had passed away, Rubens returned to society, and took up his abode in Antwerp, where he had a house built which he embellished with works of art of every description. He now devoted himself entirely to work, and many long years of study; but little occurred worthy of notice. On the I3th of October, 1609, he married Isabella Brandt; in 1620 he went to Paris to paint the Luxembourg Gallery by order of Maria de Medicis. He remained some time in Paris and then returned to Antwerp, which he did not again leave until the death of his wife, when, being unable to continue his art by grief, he accepted a mission en- trusted to him by the Archduke Albert and the THE LOW COUNTRIES. 123 Archduchess Isabella. The rest of Rubens' existence was devoted rather to politics than art. He was sent to Spain and England to negotiate peace between the two countries which had been at war with one another for many years. He had occasion to use his brush in these successive missions, as he often explained the object of his mission while taking the portraits of the monarchs to whom he was accredited. He has left many glorious traces of his visit both at Madrid and London. In November 1630, he married again. His second wife was his niece, Helen Fourment, by whom he had five children. Rubens died at Antwerp of an attack of gout on the 3Oth of May, 1640. His funeral was celebrated with very great pomp. In him Flanders not only lost her greatest painter but one of her greatest men. Rubens' influence upon engraving was most decided. Not only were his paintings excellent models for the artists who engraved them, but he superintended their works himself, and touched them up with great skill, never allowing a print to be published without his approbation. It is to this constant vigilance, to this self-respect, so to speak, that Rubens owes his immense reputation. Engravings of his works are widely dis- tributed, and give an excellent idea of the painter's genius to those who have not seen the originals. It is worthy of remark, that Rubens' paintings, famous as they are for their life and power, for their harmony of tone and vividness of colouring, offered exceptional 124 ENGRA VING IN difficulties to engravers, who have only two colours, black ink and white paper, at their command ; but all. difficulties were surmounted by the great master's untiring supervision ; and engravers, who confined themselves to the burin, brought out copies in all respects worthy of the originals. We are assured that Rubens himself executed some engravings ; but we find it difficult to believe that the plates signed, ' Rubens fecit' l invenif or ' excudit} were really by him. Only one engraving, ' St. Catherine/ can, we think, be attributed to him with any justice. It has qualities of the first order, although the execution is not very superior. When we have studied the works of those who generally copied Rubens on copper, we shall scarcely regret that he did not leave more of his own engravings. The most skilful of the artists formed in Rubens' school was Schelte of Bolswert, who was born at Bols- wert, in Friesland, about 1586. With his brother, Boethius of Bolswert, an artist of less talent and inferior reputation, he came to study engraving at Antwerp, where he was a fellow-pupil of Paul Pontius. He was the first who tried to do more than coldly imitate a painting in engraving, he chose as models works full of life and vivid colouring, and tried to express these qualities in his work. He succeeded perfectly. He was a complete master of the process and obtained the most pleasing results by his skilfully disposed strokes. The white paper throws up high lights and Frg. 13. Saint Catherine. Engraving attributed to P. P. RUBENS. THE LOW CO UNTRIES. 1 27 the dark portions are admirably given by bold strokes ending in dots. In the works which Bolsweft exe- cuted in the zenith of his powers there is no display of his own personal talent ; he did not parade his skill as a line-engraver, his ambition was something higher ; he aimed to render as faithfully as possible, by a process which could not call in the aid of colour, the works of his contemporaries. He naturally preferred Rubens' paintings, for that master was at the head of his school ; but he was not therefore indifferent to good works by Rubens' pupils. His engravings of ' The Musicians,' after Jordaens, and the ' Drunken Silenus,' after Anthony Vandyck, may rank with his magnificent copies of ' The Assumption,' ' The Mira- culous Draught of Fishes,' and * The Resurrection/ Paul Pontius, who worked side by side with Schelte of Bolswert, and shared with him the friendship of Rubens, was almost equally gifted, and reproduced the master's works as successfully. His engraving was plastic and correct ; he rendered the colour and consistency of flesh and the flowing folds of drapery with equal power. Paul Pontius carried the science of chiaroscuro further than any engraver of Rubens' school, and his constant endeavour to give the luminous appearance of paintings in his plates saved him from undue striving after brilliant execution. He engraved many of Rubens' pictures ; and ' The Feast of Pentecost,' ' The Assumption,' ' Susannah at the Bath,' 'The Presentation in the Temple,' and 128 ENGRA VING IN others, are by no means inferior to Bolswert's best plates ; they have the same knowledge of design and execution, the same conscientious drawing, which neither excludes originality nor fetters the individual imagination. One of the best known and most famous of Paul Pontius' engravings is after the cele- brated picture by Jordaens in the Museum of the Louvre, entitled ' Le Roi Boit,' or ' Le Fete du Roi.' The spirited engraving gives the somewhat coarse colouring of the picture and the life-like expression of the figures with surprising felicity. The style of Lucas Vorsterman differs somewhat from that of the preceding artists. His manner of engraving is not so spirited, but it is equally clever ; he reproduced Rubens' pictures by means of the com- bination of many different kinds of work. By varied lines he appropriately rendered the different parts of a picture ; curved and facile strokes give the outlines of the limbs, and draperies are produced by more or less condensed lines, according to the strength of the light upon them. ' Susannah and the Elders,' ' The Ado- ration of the Shepherds,' and several ' Holy Families,' show the great genius of Vorsterman, and prove him to have been one of Rubens' most faithful interpre- ters. His ambition was not contented with producing Rubens' works with fidelity, and therefore he went to England, where he spent eight years in copying paint- ings of another and different style. Whether he turned to Raphael, to Annibale Carracci, or Caravaggio, he THE LOW CO UNTRIES. 1 29 could not shake off the influence of Rubens. Under his graver, Raphael's outlines lost their exquisite purity and grace, and the figures acquired an appear- ance of good living of which the great Italian master certainly never dreamt. Vorsterman could never shake off the style of the naturalistic school in which he had been reared ; he could not realise the majestic and noble ideal of these masters. He was more at ease with a canvas by Michaelangelo of Caravaggio, ' The Virgin Adored by Two Pilgrims/ the sober colouring of which he faithfully rendered ; but it was a fellow- countryman of his, Anthony Vandyck, who inspired the best engravings he produced in England. Peter de Jode, the younger, also belongs to the school of Rubens. He was born at Antwerp in 1606. He studied and worked for a long time with Peter de Jode, the elder ; and in his early works, which were clumsy and inexperienced, he reproduced his father's style. It is not easy to distinguish his first engravings from those of the elder Jode. Peter, the younger, showed no original power until he ceased to work for the publisher Bonenfant, with whom his father had placed him. He then turned to paintings by Rubens, Vandyck, and Jordaens. In his engravings after these masters he shows himself a worthy rival of Bolswert, Paul Pontius, and Lucas Vorsterman. His touch is easy yet powerful, he delights in rich com- binations, and is extremely successful in rendering pictures full of colour on copper. ' The Marriage of K 130 ENGRAVING IN St. Catherine,' ' The Three Graces/ after Rubens, 'St. Augustine/ after Vandyck, and 'The Miracle of St. Martin of Tours/ after Jordaens, place Peter de Jode, the younger, amongst the best engravers of the Flemish school. The school which Rubens raised and directed in- cludes many other artists. We have spoken of the most illustrious ; but there are some amongst the second-rate artists of the same time who occasionally most successfully imitated their master. Amongst them was Peter Soutman. Dutch by birth, he crossed the Scheldt, and came to Antwerp to study under Rubens. He r used etching largely, and was chiefly skilful in rendering the delicate figures in his master's works. We will enumerate a few others : Hans Withdceck, who heightened his engravings with tints, and by this method made them look like chiaroscuro on copper ; Cornelius Galle, who engraved ' Judith and Holofernes ' somewhat clumsily ; Andrew Stock, a Dutchman established at Antwerp, whose engraving of the ' Sacrifice of Abraham ' is not equal to the original ; Peter Van Sompel, a pupil of Peter Sout- man, and an expert designer, who, though superior to the others, never mastered the difficulties of repre- senting colour; Michael Natalis, who joined the studio of Cornelius Bloemaert at Rome, where he acquired a frigid and inharmonious style of engraving, which he could not shake off, even when working at paintings by Rubens ; James Matham, a pupil of THE LOW CO UNTRIES. 1 3 1 Goltzius, who could not free himself from his master's mannerism, and whose engravings, with all their pro- found knowledge of art, failed to give the colouring or symmetry of Rubens' works ; Alexander Voet, who drew incorrectly, but, being a pupil of Paul Pontius, excelled in colouring, and whose engravings after Rubens ('Judith and Holofernes' amongst others) give a fair notion of the originals, although the bold and masterly drawing is wanting. To conclude this list, Christopher Jegher, a German wood-engraver, left his country to establish himself in Flanders. His engravings were noticed by Rubens, who wished to have some of his own works reproduced by this pro- cess. The great master himself drew some designs on wood, and the engraver had only to follow scrupu- lously his outlines and hatchings. The engravings thus executed by Jegher are true fac-similes of Rubens' designs. Sometimes, like the Italians, Jegher imi- tated several tints by means of successive plates, the tinting thus rounding off the outlines ; and to this day these cama/ieux, as they are called, give us with a valu- able exactitude copies of the Flemish painter's designs. The artists who took lessons from Rubens did not, however, confine themselves exclusively to his paint- ings. We have already spoken of engravings after Jordaens, Seghers, and Vandyck, by followers of Rubens. Works of this kind are very numerous ; and Anthony Vandyck's paintings were especially admired and patronised by engravers. 132 ENGRA VING IN When considered apart from other painters, Anthony Vandyck is a master of the first order ; his figures are all unrivalled in distinguished character, deli- cacy and elegance, but, as compared with Peter Paul Rubens, he can only take the second place. This is but just ; he came after Rubens, and profited by his example, neither had he the same wonderful creative power as his master. In his portraits, however, Van- dyck is not inferior to Rubens ; he looks at nature from a different point of view, caring, it is true, more for character than grandeur, but then, his works have greater interest for us than those of his master. Let us explain. He was not content merely to look over engravings after his works by Bolswert, Paul Pontius, or Vorsterman, or to superintend engravers ; he used the tools himself, and has left brilliant proofs of his skill in this kind of work. His compositions are not his best works : ' Christ Crowned with Thorns/ and ' Titian and his Mistress/ do not show much talent, his work is laboured, he covered his paper too closely in copying flesh ; but he made up for this in the eighteen portraits which he most delicately and skilfully en- graved with the needle. They are of artists and amateurs, friends of the painter. The features are lifelike and wear their best expression. Vandyck was more successful than any earlier painter in seizing a likeness. After a few impressions had been taken of the portraits which this great master himself drew on copper, they were retouched and completed with Fig. 14. Portrait of Snyders, an etching, by ANT. VANDYCK. THE LOW CO UNTRIES. 1 3 5 the graver by professional engravers ; a uniformity was thus given which fitted them to be included in the series of ' Icones Pictorum/ published successively by Giles Hendricx and Martin Van den Enden. En- graved by L. Vorsterman, Bolswert, Paul Pontius, Peter de Jode, and others, this magnificent series does justice to the genius of Vandyck. There are a hundred personages, all drawn with surprising correct- ness, who appear to be living, thinking, moving beings ; their attitudes are natural and simple, whether pensive or animated, the features reflect the intelligence of the sitter, and the engravers of these portraits have faith- fully rendered the master's work. They gave the spirit, the grace, and even the colouring of the ori- ginals, although they used the graver, which is not so facile an instrument as the needle. The example set by Vandyck was followed by many of his contemporaries, and other Flemish painters largely employed etching. They deserve mention, although their talent did not equal Vandyck's. Cor- nelius Schut, a pupil of Rubens, and the most diligent of these engravers, had not very refined taste. He drew heavily, his figures are clumsy and vulgar, his Madonnas and heathen deities are very much alike. The same head surmounts the bust of the Virgin and that of Ceres ; it is not easy to distinguish one from the other. It is the delicate work with the needle which justifies the fame of Cornelius Schut's en- gravings ; he wanted only rather more taste to have 136 ENGRA VING IN produced valuable works. Francis Van den Wyn- gaerde, who traded in engravings at Antwerp, and signed a number of good plates of that school, with exc. (excudii) after his name, used the needle also. His manner is not easy to define, for he tried every style, and fell short of his models in all. His ' Holy Family/ after Cornelius Schut, is badly drawn and coldly engraved. The same faults are seen in a 'Flight into Egypt/ after John Thomas, a Flemish painter who is now scarcely known, but who succeeded better with etching than most of his contempo- raries. Van den Wyngaerde, who used a very fine needle, engraved several battles, which have the one fault of being too confused. He shows real skill in ' Hercules and the Nemsean Lion/ 'after Rubens, and the ' Portrait of Lucas Vorsterman/ ,after J. Livens ; his style, although still rather clumsy, faithfully renders the manner of these masters. Theodore Van Thulden studied with Rubens, and accompanied his master to Paris when he went to decorate the gallery of Luxembourg. He worked with Rubens at many of his pictures, and left several works at Paris, amongst others, the paintings which filled the choir of the ' Eglise des Mathurins/ since destroyed. These pic- tures represent many episodes in the life of St. John of Matha ; Van Thulden reproduced them himself, and these engravings give a better notion of his talent than those of the l History of Ulysses/ after pictures at Fontainbleau by Nicolo dell' Abbate, which were THE LOW COUNTRIES. 137 designed by Primaticcio. We think that these en- gravings have only one good point, they are repro- ductions of compositions which are now lost, but they have none of the characteristic taste of the Italian master. William Panneels, a painter and engraver of Antwerp, also took lessons of Rubens. He engraved so many of his master's works, that he must evidently have admired Rubens extremely ; but his talent did not equal his admiration, and his engravings fell far short of the powerful originals. With an idea of showing his great knowledge of chiaroscuro, he made the most abrupt changes from deep black to clear white ; his engravings, in consequence, were harsh and gloomy, unlike his earlier works, which were either bathed in soft light, or lit up with splendour. The Flemish school of engraving declined and finally became extinct, in the hands of these second- rate artists. It attained its highest distinction under Rubens, and disappeared almost entirely in the eighteenth century ; the works produced at that period scarcely merit notice. The constant wars which desolated Flanders were little calculated to encourage artists ; they dispersed abroad, some esta- blished themselves in France, where art was at its greatest height ; and when we treat of the French artists, we shall meet with many engravers from Antwerp. They largely influenced the progress of art in France, and we must carefully note the novelties introduced by foreign masters into that country. 138 WONDERS OF ENGRA VING. CHAPTER V. ENGRAVING IN GERMANY. Early Engravers on Wood. Maximilian's Engravers. En- graving on Metal. The Master of 1466, Martin Schongauer and Albert Diirer. IT would be useless to resume the discussion as to Germany's right to be considered the first inventor of engraving. Scholars of high position give the best reasons for so many diverse opinions that the question is further from settlement than ever. We will therefore pass it by and confine our attention to works of excellence without caring whether they were of the earliest date or not. We repeat that we con- sider the first specimen of engraving the ' Speculum Humanae Salvationis ' for instance to be the work of some carver of images of the Low Countries ; German historians refuse to give this credit to others, although they will probably agree with us when we say that no wood engravers were equal to the German masters of the end of the fifteenth and the beginning of the six- teenth centuries. ENGRA VING IN GERMANY. 139 The ' St. Christopher ' of 1423 is a good starting point for every discussion ; we shall not do more than glance at it or at the many early anonymous wood- cuts ; passing on to the second half of the fifteenth century before we find real talent in Germany or else- where. Engravings produced before 1450 were mere copies of little talent. We have not forgotten that the ' Biblia Pauperum ' has been attributed with some justice to German artists, and that bibliographers mention primers which were published, and probably, also, composed in Germany ; but, nevertheless, no true artist was born until 1460. Until then wood-engraving, of which we are at the present moment speaking, was under the universal influence of the school of Bruges, and a distinctive German style was scarcely recog- nisable. Pfister is for us the earliest German wood- engraver. He learnt the trade of a printer and engraver from Gutenberg, established himself at Bamberg about 1458, and, out of his private resources, published a number of works mentioned by M. Leon de Laborde in his important work, ' Les Debuts de rimprimerie a Mayence et a Bamberg.' These engravings in early printed works are decidedly coarse and of little talent ; but then they are entirely free from foreign influence, and are interesting to us because thjey decide the origin of wood-engraving at least to have been German. Although xylography was quite a new art in Ger- many and elsewhere in the fifteenth century, an immense number of woodcuts were published at this 140 WONDERS OF ENGRA VING. period both separately and in printed books. This fertility of production had its disadvantages ; the gifted artists who supplied the designs did not watch their engravers enough, and the work produced did not do justice to the originals. Ugliness and deformity were carried to extremes by these early engravers ; their sole merit indeed was their skill in carving wood. The ' Bible ' of Koburger contains eighty-six cuts of better execution than most of the early engravings ; they are not now thought much of, although some were honoured by being copied for Holbein's Bible, and Albert Diirer borrowed from them for his apoca- lyptic designs. In the stunted figures and the stiff heavy folds of drapery we recognise productions of the German school ; but we are not, therefore, justified in considering all these engravings to be by Michael Wolgemuth and Wilhelm Pleydenwurff, to whom they are attributed by the printer, Koburger, in his preface. Their styles are too diverse and their merits too un- equal to stamp them as the work of two artists only. Wolgemuth and Pleydenwurff may have superintended them, or even have executed some of the more impor- tant plates, but many are unworthy in every respect of artists whose other works have obtained for their authors something closely resembling celebrity. Michael Wolgemuth was Albert Diirer's master, and the glory of the pupil is reflected on the teacher. In these days of universal scepticism, people are unwilling to consider Albert Dtirer a wood-engraver; they ENGRA VI NG IN GERMANY. 141 attribute to artists working under his supervision the splendid engravings of the ' Apocalypse,' and those of the ' Life of the Virgin,' and the greater number are said to be by Jeremiah Resch, a wood-carver and medallist. Such, at least, is the opinion of a historian of Nuremberg. We must needs bow to the decision of a man whose knowledge cannot be denied ; but we hardly like to exclude these masterly engravings from the list of Albert Diirer's works. If he did not him- self engrave the plates he must have watched over the artists to whom he entrusted them with untiring solicitude, for they never worked better than when interpreting the designs of Germany's greatest painter. Lucas Cranach, born in Saxony about the same time as Albert Diirer, was not uninfluenced by the example of his contemporary. His style, however, is very different ; he cared less for beauty and finish than the master of Nuremberg. The engravers he employed for it is very doubtful whether he himself used the graving tool worked in a more picturesque though less correct style than those who followed Diirer, and the beauty of the designs at which they worked were also of a less exalted type. Lucas Cranach was an intimate friend of Luther, and enthu- siastically adopted the principles of the Reformation. He painted portraits of Luther and his wife, of Melanc- thon, and Frederick the Wise ; he placed his talent at the service of the new religion, and illustrated with engravings the outspoken pamphlets of the Reformer. 142 WONDERS OF ENGRA VING. In his works we meet with many attacks on the papacy. He was full of zeal for the new religion, and his crude way of treating Biblical subjects proves how prejudiced he was, and that art was not his only occupation. The wood-engravers who reproduced his designs aimed at an exact copy, they avoided cross- hatchings, and simplified their work as much as pos- sible ; indeed they sacrificed most unselfishly their own originality to that of their master. At the beginning of the sixteenth century a new impulse was given to wood-engraving. The Emperor Maximilian entrusted to the best artists of Germany four works which were to immortalise his glory, and in the composition of which he himself took a part. ' The Wise King ' (' Der Weisse Kcenig ') contains a number of woodcuts designed by Hans Burgmair, and engraved by several artists of different ability. The ' Theuerdanck/ a moral and allegorical poem by the Emperor Maximilian and his secretary, Melchior Pfintzing, is illustrated by engravings, the designs of which are attributed to Hans Schauflein. The most important of these works, and that which most con- tributed to the sovereign's glory, was almost entirely confided to Hans Burgmair, who proved himself worthy of his great commission. To him we are also indebted for the male and female ' Saints of the Imperial Family/ which are equal in beauty and im- portance to the engravings mentioned above. The death of Maximilian interrupted these noble works, ENGRA VING IN GERMANY. 143 various difficulties prevented their immediate publica- tion, and for many years only rare specimens were known of the ' Triumph of Maximilian/ and of the 'Saints of the Imperial Family.' Later, a lucky acci- dent led to the discovery of the original blocks, which had happily not been entirely destroyed by worms. This discovery was followed by another. At the back of the original engravings the names of the engravers were found. This was most fortunate. Thanks to these inscriptions, we can name the skilful artists who interpreted the designs of the masters employed by Maximilian. They were Jeremiah Resch, Jan of Bonn, Cornelius Liefrinck, Wilhelm Liefrinck, Alexis Lindt, Josse of Negker, Vincent Pfarkecher, James Rupp, Jan Taberith, Hans Franck, and Saint - German. These well-authenticated names of engravers of the sixteenth century are of assistance even now in the deciphering of monograms, and they throw a light on the eventful history of the origin of engraving in Germany. Hans Baldung Grim was born in Swabia in 1475, and died at Strasburg in 1552. He worked under Albert Diirer. Jackson tells us, in his 'Treatise on Wood-Engraving/ that the pupil's reverence for his master was so great that he preserved a lock of Diirer's hair as a precious relic all his life. This re- spect was still more evident in the designs he caused to be engraved. His style much resembled Diirer's, but it was exaggerated ; and Grim seems to have had 144 WONDERS OF ENGRA VING. an unfortunate affection for ugliness when left to his own devices ; he invented stunted figures, grinning heads, and unnatural movements, which were only too literally rendered by his engravers. Baldung Griin was a painter and a designer, but his pictures are not now highly valued, although his master thought well enough of them to offer one to Joachim Patenier. They are confounded at present amongst the innume- rable anonymous paintings brought to light by the researches of enthusiasts. Hans Ulrich Vaechtlein, also known by the name of the ' Master of the Crossed Staves/ or of the ' Pil- grim,' worked about the same time as Baldung Griin. The date of his birth is unknown, but M. Loedel, who has devoted much study to this artist, thinks his life was spent at Strasburg. A skilful and well-improved artist, he is in Germany considered the inventor of engraving en camaleu. His valuable and rare plates are remarkable for the skill of their execution, and for an exactness of design which is less exclusively Teu- tonic in style than that of most of his contemporaries. Eleven of his works are known which show that he was not indifferent to Albert Durer's works, but they are famous rather for cleverness of style than for inventive power. We have not nearly exhausted the list of German wood-engravers. In addition to anonymous artists, and those known only by their monograms, there are many who merit notice. It is true that among trios*, ENGRA VING IN GERMANY. 145 we are about to name, Jost Amman, Henry Alde- grever, Albrecht Altdorfer, Hans Sebald Beham, Virgilius Solis, or Daniel Hoffper did more as copper- plate than as wood engravers, and, as we shall have to allude to them later, we will now close our notice of German wood-engravers. We must, however, pause for one moment at Bale, where a great master was born, and where also numerous very clever wood- engravers exercised their craft. Urs Graf, who worked at the beginning of the six- teenth century, died at Bale in 1530. He designed a great number of vignettes for wood-engravers which were of no great imagination or refinement. He was slightly influenced by Martin Schongauer, whose school he attended for a time, but he did not care enough for grandeur of style, and always copied that master's feeblest works. He is almost the only known artist of the numbers who were born at Bale and pub- lished their works in that city, but he took no part in the revival of art which was going on under his eyes, and which was, so to speak, completed by Hans Holbein the younger. It is generally believed that Hans Holbein was born at Bale about 1498. He was fortunate enough to have a wood-engraver beside him who reproduced almost all his works, and spread abroad his fame. Both as a painter and designer Holbein has left a great name. For a long time the numerous engravings on tc?cle-pages, head-lines, and tail-pieces in books printed L 146 WONDERS OF ENGRA VING. at Bale were supposed to have been designed and engraved by Hans Holbein. A monogram of * H. L.' somewhat puzzled the critics, but it would have been passed over had not an unexpected circumstance re- vealed to the clear-sighted an alphabet generally attributed to Holbein, with this remark accompany- ing it : ' Hans Lutzelburger, Formschneider, genant Franck/ which gave the honour which was his due to Hans Lutzelburger, the real author. Although this artist succeeded better with Holbein's designs than any others, he did not confine himself to them. He was called by the Abbe Zani "the prince of wood- engravers." Mariette, so good a judge of engraving, says, in his manuscript notes, that it is impossible to admire sufficiently the delicacy of his work and the fineness and spirit of his touch. " I think," he says, " that Holbein's designs, which were not too well finished, needed the completeness given to them by this artist, who deserves the esteem in which he is held by the publisher of Lyons. His name, which deserves to be transmitted to posterity, remains in~ oblivion, but his initials, H. L., are seen on the lower part of a bed on which reclines a young woman at the point of death." This name, unknown to the scholar Mariette, is no longer a mystery. Hans Lutzelburger is certainly the author of the * Dance of Death ' (1538), and of ' The Old and New Testament ' (' Icones Histo- riarum Veteris Testamenti ' ; Lyons ; Jean Frellon ; 1547). His powerful and facile graver rendered these ENGRA VING IN GERMANY. 147 compositions by Holbein with extreme delicacy. They are small if the size be measured, but large and grand in conception and thought. Certain of his subjects which might be contained within the surface of a die, if executed on a large scale, would lose nothing of their merit, so well balanced is the general composi- Fig. 15. Engraved from Holbein's Dance of Death, by H. LUTZELBURGER. tion, so careful and accurate the design of the figures. The talent of Lutzelburger was shown in the power with which he interpreted the master's designs on wood in a very limited space by means of the skilful disposition of his strokes. Many other artists repro- duced Holbein's works, but none whose works we have 148 WONDERS OF ENGRA VING. seen, with the success of Lutzelburger ; their style is heavy and exaggerated, and they missed the power and life of the master's compositions. Engraving on Metal. If, since the Abbe Zani's discovery, Germany's pretensions to the invention of engraving on metal have been overthrown, we must not deny the part the Germans took in the early history of this art because we refuse to consider them its inven- tors. About the same time that great works of art appeared at Florence, in 1452, a number of engravings were published on the other side of the Rhine. Many of the anonymous plates brought out by the German school appear, by the roughness of the drawing and imperfectness of execution, to be of a very ancient date. After examining these specimens of an art in its infancy we do not hesitate to assert, though we can give no formal reasons, that the means of taking impressions on paper from engraved metal was dis- covered simultaneously in Italy and Germany. Italy, as having produced the first work of genius by means of Maso Finiguerra, must take the precedence ; but Germany followed closely in her steps, and soon gave birth to an artist of great talent, whose name, alas, is unknown. He is generally called the " Master of 1466." Amongst the many anonymous artists who preceded this engraver, M. Duchesne considers the ' Master of the Streamers ' to be the author of a few plates which, though roughly drawn, are engraved in a peculiar manner, and much sought for on account of Fig. 16. Samson and the Lion. Engraving of the MASTER of 1466. ENGRA VI NG IN GERM A NY. 151 their archaic style. The figures in this unknown artist's works are covered with imperceptible strokes which appear to have been obtained with a pointed instrument, and not with a cutting one. The metal must have been very soft ; it is rather fretted than hollowed out. It does not appear to have been printed from ; indeed, neither the metal nor the small quantity of ink spread upon it could have borne much pressure- There is one important fact in favour of our opinion that impressions were obtained by friction ; there are no marks made by the plate in any part of these engravings, and we have seen some of the proofs by this anonymous artist which are in a sufficiently per- fect condition to have shown the marks of the edges of the metal had they undergone much pressure. From this we may conclude that the ' Master of the Streamers ' (so named on account of the ribbons covered with legends on all his figures) did not know all the resources of his art, and may, therefore, be con- sidered one of the earliest engravers of the German school. Another anonymous artist whose engravings, signed E. S., with the date 1466 and 1467, are very nume- rous, is justly called a Master. He was wonderfully expert with the graver, and although the drawing of his varied and well-conceived compositions is not always correct, it is easy and expressive. 'The Adoration of the Magi ' forcibly reminds us of one of the justly admired miniatures of the preceding century. 152 WONDERS OF ENGRA VING. The " Master of 1466 " made the limbs of his figures too attenuated and thin, but when he had to design a piece of jewelry, a paten, or a branch of ornamental foliage, he was in his element and produced tasteful and graceful compositions. He was a thoroughly Gothic artist his ideal of beauty was different from ours, different from that of the early Italians ; with him grandeur of form and design were secondary to justice of expression and simplicity of feeling. In this he resembled the extraordinary artists too long depre- ciated, who built Strasburg Cathedral, and other superb monuments of the Middle Ages. Like them, he understood the disposition of ornament, and he treated the human figure with a simplicity not with- out majesty. The heads, it is true, are too large, the hands and feet too small, the folds of drapery too irregular, recalling the wood carvings of his pre- decessors ; but art requires something more than a literal representation of reality, she requires to give expression to an idea, to a sentiment, and from this point of view the " Master of 1466 " deserves all praise, for he was the first German engraver who devoted his talent to rendering feeling and expression. Martin Schongauer almost immediately followed the " Master of 1466." He may be considered the father of the German school, so great was his influence over it. He is now justly famous ; but after being honoured in his own age to such an extent, that un- scrupulous publishers did not hesitate to place his name Autotype. THE FLIGHT INTO EGYPT. From the Engraving by Martin Schongauer. ENGRA VING IN GERMANY. 153 under works by others to enhance their value in the eyes of inexperienced amateurs. He was classed during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, with all his contemporaries, amongst those Gothic artists in whom even well-informed historians recognised no talent. To this unfortunate injustice is due the loss of many paintings, which, not being sought for, as their merits deserved, were damaged or destroyed. And when at last modern Criticism, with better judg- ment, turned to these leading masters, she was in a dilemma, for the long despised authentic specimens of early art, and important documents relating to their authors, had disappeared ; so that we do not even know when and where Martin Schongauer was born. Aided by some signed and dated works, we think we may consider 1420 about the time of his birth. His family, natives of Strasburg, say he was born there ; some authors, finding traces of his living at Ulm, call that his birthplace ; but the greater number agree in saying that he first saw the light at Colmar. He certainly lived there for a long time, and produced many paintings in the latter town ; and he died on the day of the Purification, 1488, as proved by the certifi- cate of burial in the registers of the parish of St. Martin of Colmar, a fac-simile of which has been recently published. Although we cannot write the biography of Martin Schongauer, his authentic en- gravings enable us justly to appreciate his genius. He evidently knew and was influenced by the engrav- 154 WONDERS OF ENGRA VING. ings of the "Master of 1466," but he was a more skilful designer, and although the limbs of many of his figures are out of proportion, some of the extremi- ties being too small, and in others enormous feet sup- Fig. 17. The Infant Jesus. Engraved by MARTIN SCHONGAUER. porting small bodies, he invented and engraved some very different compositions. One justly celebrated engraving, ' The Bearing of the Cross/ was honoured by Raphael's notice, and considered worthy of study by him. ' The Temptation of St. Anthony/ copied, ENGRA VING IN GERM A NY. 155 according to an old tradition, by Michael Angelo, and ' The Conversion of St. Paul/ are works unrivalled by any of the German school. Besides these justly famous engravings, Martin Schongauer produced several excellent compositions. The face of the Virgin in his ' Annunciation/ a work of small dimensions, wears a sweet and tender expression which is almost beautiful, and there is a grace about the head of the celestial messenger, reminding us of the Milanese school. In the ' Flight into Egypt/ Martin Schongauer's best work, as we think, the Virgin clasping the divine infant in her arms, is passing, riding on an ass, beneath a palm-tree covered with angels, and St. Joseph is gathering some dates from the tree. This ingenious composition is remarkable for the evident joy with which the Virgin embraces her Son, rescued from the wrath of Herod and adored by angels. It was in such touching subjects that all the Gothic artists excelled. They had faith, and their faith determined, enlightened, and ennobled their ambition. How many works bear charming witness to this ! We might name many engravings by Schongauer, as remarkable for feeling as for successful execution : ' The Death of the Virgin/ ' The Wise and Foolish Virgins/ ' The Sym- bols of the Four Evangelists/ 'Jesus Christ crowning the Virgin/ and others, are works of high excellence. In them all the artfst's power of invention, his know- ledge of drawing and skill in engraving, are clearly manifested. 156 WONDERS OF ENGRA VING. But the great German artist did not devote himself entirely to exalted subjects, he also engraved some homely scenes, such as the ' Departure for the Mar- ket/ known up to the i/th century as the ' Uylen- spiegel,' because it was like an engraving of that name by Lucas of Leyden, and * The Peasants ' playing or wrestling together. He gave brilliant proof also of his powers as an inventor, and engraver in design for jewelry or ornaments. It is the glory of Schon- gauer, that surrounded as he was by artists absorbed in their love of literal truth, he was able, in his artistic compositions, to realize an ideal beauty of a noble and elevated order. His right to the title of " Master of German Art " is indisputable. His works were admired by his successors, and influenced them strongly even when they were not actually copying them. We consider that the artists who came after Martin Schongauer enjoy greater renown than they deserve. Albert Glockenton has merely coarsely and inade- quately reproduced the master's engravings, robbing them of their exquisite simplicity and their graceful charm. He also executed a few plates from designs of his own, but they are without originality, and although the drawing is correct the engraving is always harsh. Israel Van Mecken owes his fame rather to the quantity than the quality of the engravings bearing his name. We are glad to suppose that the author of these plates was as much a print-seller as an artist. The style of more than one of these engravings is ENGRA VING IN GERMANY. 157 earlier than its execution, and perhaps the plates being dimmed by the first printings, were retouched in Mecken's studio, and there received the name they bear. All the engravings which were at all celebrated in Van Mecken's time, were copied in his studio. The 'Paten' of the "Master of 1466," the ' Bearing of the Cross, and the 'St. Anthony,' by Martin Schongauer, ' The Three Graces,' by Albert Durer, served as models to his pupils ; their copies, however, were so rough as to be of little value, they reproduced neither the masterly boldness of the drawing, nor the skill of the original engravings. In default of artistic power, we own, however, that some of the rarer works pro- duced in Van Mecken's studio, are valuable on account of the interesting information they contain on the habits of life, and the costumes of that period. Van Mecken was far more successful with home scenes than when copying engravings by great masters. He interpreted nature and copied living figures with un- deniable talent, and one well-known engraving, ' The Concert,' shows what he could do in this secondary style. Franz Van Bocholt, another copyist of Schongauer, spent his life in inventing and engraving works which, though they resembled, did not equal the compositions of the master he imitated. He shows real genius in the ' Virgin at the Foot of the Cross,' which is his best work. The Virgin's face is full of genuine suffer- ing, and the draperies are arranged with fair enough 1 58 WONDERS OF ENGRA VING. taste. An artist called Mair, who signed his works in full, appears to have followed Israel Van Mecken rather than Martin Schongauer. The engravings we know signed by him are of domestic scenes and cos- tumes, more valuable to. the historian than to the artist. The figures, in the dress of the fifteenth cen- tury, are poor, and the bad drawing, partly disguised by the draperies, is too evident in those parts which are uncovered. Martin Zagel also professed great admiration for Van Mecken. He had an incredible love of ugliness, and produced a number of harsh and inferior engravings, which were not all even original. We do not meet with another true master in Germany until the end of the fifteenth century. At that time, however, an artist of Nuremberg arose whose influence nearly equalled that of Schongauer and whose fame is greater. Albert Diirer was the third of eighteen children. His father established himself as a goldsmith at Nuremberg in 1455 ; he could not afford to give his son a thorough education, but he tried to give him the love of work. Albert Diirer learnt his father's trade and quickly surpassed his teachers. But as soon as he was in a position to study painting he left the goldsmith with whom he had been working, and entered the studio of Michael Wolgemuth, whose fame had already spread through Germany. Anthony Koberger, the celebrated printer, and Albert Diirer's godfather, probably knew of this intention, for he published his ' Chronicles of Nurem- ENGRA VI NG IN GERMANY. 159 berg ' about this time, and entrusted the supervision of the engravings for this book to Wolgemuth. Natu- rally, young Diirer was readily and kindly received by his godfather's colleague, and when he had served his apprenticeship he visited in succession the Low Coun- tries and the north of Italy. The route he followed is unknown, and we could not speak positively about this trip, but for the evident proofs of his influence in works of the schools of northern Italy and Flanders from the beginning of the sixteenth century. In 1494 Albert Diirer was summoned back to Nu- remberg by his father, who had arranged a marriage for him with Agnes Frey, the daughter of a mechanic of the town. Report says, perhaps with exaggeration, that this was not a happy marriage. There was certainly incompatibility of temper between Albert Diirer and his wife. He was open-hearted and gene- rous, she was cold, selfish, and disagreeable. It was impossible for two such uncongenial dispositions to be happy together, and, therefore, on the death of his father in 1502, after providing for his mother and his brothers, Hans and Andrew, Durer left his native town and directed his steps towards Venice, where he was most cordially welcomed. He had scarcely ar- rived before he received an order for a painting for the 'Fondaco dei Tedeschi,' and Giovanni Bellini, anxious to know so famous an artist, sent for him and requested a picture, for which he was even willing to pay, a pleasing announcement to Diirer, who often 160 WONDERS OF ENGRA VING. complains in his letters of the parsimony of the Vene- tians. This visit r to Venice and his constant excur- sions to Bologna, formed the happiest time of his life. Young, courted, loaded with honours, alone, and free, he forgot for a time his petty domestic troubles. At last, however, he was obliged to return to Nu- remberg, and, fortunately, -he undertook a long piece of work, which lessened his regret for Venice, with its bright skies and refining recreations. Nuremberg, too, appeared under a more favourable aspect to him now. His great genius, as is often the case, being first recognised by strangers, attracted the artists and men of note of the city to his house. His friendship and society were courted by the most distinguished men of the country. The Emperor Maximilian, a great patron of art, delighted to visit him and watch him at work. He showed the greatest regard for him, and wrote and thanked both him and his friend Perk- heimer for the dedication of the beautiful series of wood engravings which Diirer drew for his ' Triumph.' After a long sojourn at Nuremberg, Albert Diirer was again seized with a longing to travel. He set out, but this time he took his wife and servant with him, and went into the Low Countries, where he had before been so heartily received. He has left a journal of this journey, in which he records day by day the honours rendered him, the visits he received and paid, the works he produced, his expenses, his impressions, and the facts which interested him. ENGRA VI NG IN GERMANY. 161 But on a certain Friday in 1521, the report spread to Antwerp that Luther had been taken prisoner, and put to death. Albert Diirer immediately wrote a true profession of faith, and in the form of a prayer pub- lished his admiration for the bold Reformer. This enthusiasm met with no approval in the Catholic Netherlands. The Archduchess Margaret, who had hitherto shown great favour to Diirer, became cold and reserved towards him. The news of the artist's disgrace quickly spread, and the consequences to him were disastrous. People shunned him ; those who had most admired his talent gradually changed their minds, and turn-ed from him. Fully aware of the sudden alteration of opinion, Albert Diirer prepared to return to his native country, when Christian II., King of Denmark, who had just arrived at Antwerp, gave him an order for his portrait. The painter undertook it, and for a moment hoped for a return to favour, but at a dinner given by the king of Denmark at Brussels, at which the Archduchess Mar- garet and the Queen of Spain were present, the sove- reigns avoided taking the slightest notice of him, and he felt that there was nothing left for him to do but to return to Nuremberg. A few months after his return he lost his father-in- law, Hans Frey, and two years later his mother-in-law. Left alone with his wife, whose temper was still more soured by adversity, he endeavoured to find in work a peace which his home could not afford him. But M 1 62 WONDERS OF ENGRA VING. his powers were inferior to his will. On the 6th of April, 1528, he expired. His funeral was magnificent An epitaph, composed by his friend Pirckheimer, and engraved on a brass plate, at first marked the spot in the cemetery of St. John at Nuremberg, where Albert Diirer reposes. Later, two inscriptions were substi- tuted for it, one in Latin, placed there by the care of Sandrart, and the other in German verse. They are posterity's homage to the greatest artist Germany ever produced. Albert Diirer owes his great reputation to his many paintings, and the knowledge of the human figure shown in them ; but his engravings are perhaps even more admired than his paintings. Had Albert Diirer devoted himself entirely to painting, we should have had to admire him on trust ; for his pictures, little valued at first on account of the Gothic style, so much disliked for two centuries, are now nearly all lost or destroyed, and those which remain would not have justified his contemporaries in calling him a master. Happily, his great genius and his habitual tendencies are seen in the engravings he signed and dated. Albert Diirer cared more for truth than beauty ; he drew a great variety of objects with scrupulous fidelity, and instead of shrinking from human ugliness, he ventured to employ his marvellous skill in engraving an old woman with a swollen body, clumsy hands and feet, and a hideous face, to whom he gave the name of ' Nemesis ;' she is now inappropriately called ' La Fig. 18. The Virgin and the Infant Jesus. Engraved by ALBERT DURER. ENGRA VING IN GERMANY. 165 Grande Fortune.' Diirer had not a true idea of beauty. He knew nothing of the works of antiquity, and had he studied them, it is probable he would have compromised his own originality without gaining any- thing in exchange. He was his own good model for his figures of Christ. The head of the Son of God, as interpreted by him, is manly and full of power ; long hair shades a face betokening physical suffering and inward peace ; thick eye-brows imply strength ; the lines of the lofty forehead intellect, the deep-set eyes thought and sorrow. The Virgin is a good mother, watching her child with loving eyes, or press- ing him tenderly to her breast ; sometimes she is more. She is compassed about with majesty, and though her features are not strictly beautiful, her attitude and expression are full of true nobility. In the Madonna's flowing robes Albert Diirer shows his great skill in arranging draperies, and his command of all the mys- teries of his art. Albert Diirer is unrivalled as an engraver ; he drew figures and moulded outlines with inimitable skill. With a very fine graver he hollowed out the metal with an infinite number of lines, which are admirably suited to his designs. His justly celebrated original engravings show no signs of fatigue, although they required such slow, careful, and laborious work. ' Me- lancholia* (a design we scarcely understand), 'The Horse of Death/ 'The Nativity/ 'St. Hubert/ and several small Madonnas, well suited to arouse alike 1 66 WONDERS OF ENGRA VING. the zeal of Christian believers, and the admiration of artists, are perhaps worthy of honour, rather on ac- count of the great manual skill than the inventive power displayed in them. Albert Diirer excelled all goldsmiths in carving metal, and all artists in his skill as a designer, and in his knowledge of engraving. All Albert Diirer's landscapes, intersected and en- livened by rivers and full of fortified castles and tur- reted houses, are engraved with a pleasing fineness of execution. It is true that the aerial perspective is not very good, but the incorrectness of the relative propor- tions is in a great measure atoned for by the delicate finish of the distances. Albert Diirer excelled in every style. His engraved portraits show his great knowledge of physiognomy, his execution is always good, and his works are excellent models for his suc- cessors, who have only to yield to his influence to be successful. Albert Altdorfer lived at Ratisbon ; yet he was entirely under the influence of Albert Diirer, and tried to imitate his style. He is supposed to have introduced into Germany the fashion of engraving in miniature a practice which gained for the German engravers who adopted it the title of petits maitres. Following Diirer's example, most of these petits maitres went to Italy, where they gained a certain beauty of style hitherto unknown in their country. Altdorfer, however, who copied many of Marc- An- tonio's engravings, and palpably borrowed from them ENGRA VING IN GERMANY. 167 in his own compositions, did not gain anything either by his reproductions or his thefts. His drawing remains inferior, without character or expression ; his heads are ugly, and sometimes grotesque ; his en- graving, which is delicate and often skilful, is only of real interest when he employs himself in goldsmith's work or ornaments. These German petits maitres were all jewellers ; and as they always looked at nature in miniature, it is only as workers in gold that they repay study. Bartholomew Beham felt the expediency of con- fining himself to this kind of work, and executed with rare delicacy, ' The Virgin Nursing the Infant Jesus/ ' Cleopatra/ ' Children Lying by Deaths' Heads/ and twenty other engravings, in which the skilful and careful work makes up for some unfor- tunate errors of taste, which are to be regretted in an artist of talent Two portraits of Charles V. and Ferdinand L, engraved in 1531, are Bartholomew Beham's principal works ; and they are so true to nature, that they may rank among the best produc- tions of the German school. Hans-Sebald Beham, like his uncle and master, Bartholomew Beham, worked at Nuremberg. He scrupulously followed the lessons he received ; and his engravings differ so little from those of his master, that it would be difficult to dis- tinguish them from each other, but for the initials beneath them. Neither of them shrank from ugli- ness, and both were equally skilled in all the resources 1 68 WONDERS OF ENGRA VING. of the graver, which enabled them to cut into the copper with a rare dexterity. Hans-Sebald Beham produced more works than his uncle. Unfortunately he sometimes exceeded the bounds of propriety, and some of his engravings gained for their author the reputation of a debauchee and drunkard, which is contradicted, however, by the rest of his works. No- thing but constant application and hard work could have enabled him to produce so many engravings ; and we cannot therefore believe that a man who produced so many works with so much patience and talent could have passed his life in public-houses. We will therefore erase from the history of art this imputation which Sandrart has cast on Hans-Sebald Beham ; we prefer to consider him, what he in reality was, an earnest and hard-working man, who made the mistake cf sometimes turning aside to represent scenes which were not condemned in his day as they are in ours. James Binck, who was born at Cologne, and died at Konigsburg about 1 560, copied from all the great masters Marc- Antonio, Albert Diirer, Martin Schon- gauer, and Hans-Sebald Beham ; and succeeded in fairly imitating the style of each. With Albert Diirer and Marc-Antonio his engraving is soft, with Beham it is father heavy. When engraving his own original compositions, he is scarcely the same artist. The close and clear-cut strokes of his work, when he is reproducing copies ENGRA VING IN GERMANY. 169 by the great masters, is replaced by thin and widely- distanced lines, which scarcely suffice to mark the outlines. Binck's style of figures is not so ugly as that of most of his contemporaries. He spent two years in Italy (1529 and 1530), and was not unin- fluenced by the beauty he was able to study there. If George Pencz had engraved nothing but ' Jesus surrounded by Little Children,' he would have ranked high among these petits maitres. In this well- arranged composition, the mothers and children are dressed in the German style of the sixteenth century ; and it is therefore not only a really artistic work, but also an authentic record of the costumes of the period. The same may be said of his other numerous works. His figures are generally represented in the costume of that time, and this custom, which has in our day brought upon it so much criticism, is more trustworthy evidence on this vexed question than the false histo- rical records in favour during the following centuries. If Italy influenced George Pencz, it was northern Italy ; Venice and her painters pleased him better than Rome and the pupils of Raphael, and he doubt- less had Giovanni Bellini, Titian, and Giorgione in his mind when designing some of the figures of his com- positions. It is true that he chiefly looked at the smaller and more minute side of nature a peculiarity of many goldsmiths who, even when most talented, diminished not only the size, but also the character, of all they represented. i;o WONDERS OF ENGRA VING. Among the best of petits maitres who faintly reflected Diirer's style, Henry Aldegrever must take a place. He was born in Westphalia in 1502, and died about 1555 ; he passed the greater part of his life at Nuremberg with Dtirer's engravings constantly before him. He caught his style in a great measure, especially in the pose of his heads. Aldegrever tried every style, but was most successful when he merely represented the people of his time ; no invention was needed in them, and his copies are admirable ; he gets rid of his usual exaggeration, or the undue length of his figures is disguised by the draperies, which do not hang in such abrupt folds as in designs of his own invention. He surpassed all competitors in the orna- ments and figures with which he embellished the sheaths of knives and daggers, showing far more skill and imaginative power in them than in works with the human figure for its principal object. Some few artists practised etching at the time when line-engraving was justly rising to such distinction in Germany. Albert Durer set the example ; but he did not succeed so well with it as with his other works. His style and manner were not much copied. This mode of engraving seems not to have suited the Germans ; they preferred a less expeditious process, which would allow them to mature their conceptions before giving expression to them. The Hopffers David, Jerome, and Lambert had little taste for drawing, and their etching shows but little variety. Fig. 19. German Costume. H. ALDEGREVER. ^ ENGRA VING IN GERMANY. 173 It would not be easy to explain the esteem in which their works are held, for the copies of their prede- cessors' compositions are valueless on account of their inexactitude. Hans-Sebald Lautensack and Augus- tine Hirschvogel, both painters from Nuremberg, also left a number of etchings ; but they do no more to raise our opinion of German etchers than those by the Hopffers. Although drawn with a fine and incisive needle, these small landscapes by Lauten- sack do not equal his portraits in line-engraving. The latter are remarkable for much character and for the truth of the physiognomy ; they even excel his portrait of George Rockenbach, which is merely etched. Neither do Augustine Hirschvogel's plates raise our opinion of etching in Germany, although they may be of value to collectors of curiosities. It was scarcely worth while to notice these artists, as they left no good specimens of their work. Line-engraving declined when the school founded by Albert Diirer began to lose its renown. The taste for small things, such as ornaments and jewelry, sur- vived, but the art was doomed. It had lost much that it had once possessed in the hands of the skilful en- gravers we have named. The period of originality had gone by, and we find none but second-rate artists, who had lost their own individuality in imitating their predecessors. Virgilius Solis was born at Nuremberg in 1514, and 174 WONDERS OF ENGRA VING. died in the same town in 1570. Like the petits maitres, he attempted to perpetuate the style of his predecessors ; but he was very inferior to them. He could scarcely draw a life-like figure if he did not copy it. His work is, meagre, and without softness or charm ; among his numerous works a few prettily decorated pieces of jewelry are alone worthy of notice. Virgilius Solis and Jost Amman engraved a series of portraits of the kings of France, which added nothing to their reputation. Jost Amman, who sup- plied numerous designs to wood-engravers, has left a number of fine and delicate, but monotonous, etchings. The designs are small and confused. One of Amman's best works of this kind is a portrait of Gaspard de Coligny, surrounded with ornaments and small scenes relating to his life. His own wood-engravings, and those he caused to be executed after his designs, are, however, far superior to any of his etchings ; and the series of costumes published in his name show little knowledge, but a varied and fertile imagina- tion, and contribute more to his fame than all his etchings. Theodore de Bry also belongs to this group of late- coming imitators of the petits mattres. He was born at Liege in 1528, and established himself at an early age at Frankfurt, where he died in 1 598. He was one of the most industrious artists of the sixteenth century. His works prove his great predilection for jewelry. He was aided in his large publications, such ENGRA VING IN GERMANY. 175 as ' The Long and Short Voyages/ by his sons, espe- cially by John, who often showed himself equal to his father. But he appears to us to have succeeded best with small subjects in which thousands of small figures are represented, or when he engraved ornaments, which betoken a decided style and a vivid imagination. In this he resembled those engravers who rivalled goldsmiths in their delicate handling and love of small dimensions. Theodore de Bry closes the list of German engravers who worked in miniature, and aspired to no style and to no ideal. At the end of the sixteenth century German art took a new direction ; or. to be more exact, it lost all its originality. Native engravers were monopolised by publishers, who were more anxious that they should work much than well. Matthew Merian, the author of an immense number of views of towns ; the Kilian family, all engravers of portraits ; Dominic Gustos, a Fleming naturalized at Augsburg ; Martin Greuter, a great admirer of allegorical subjects and armorial bearings ; the Hai'ds, who employed mezzo- tint engraving ; and many others, are only worthy of remembrance in the history of art on account of their portraits of distinguished persons, and their copies of monuments and compositions which are now destroyed. Many of their engravings are skilfully executed, that is all. The Germans of the seventeenth and eigh- teenth centuries all yielded to the same temptation, and thought too much of fine strokes. They de- WONDERS OF ENGRA VING. lighted, above all things, in showing off their skill of execution, and forgot that knowledge of drawing is indispensable to a good engraving. Wenceslas Hollar was an exception to this. In his frequent and long journeys he was able to compare Multer Bafilienfir . 3\9 r Fig. 20. A Lady of Bale. W HOLLAR. rival schools, and all his engravings are so entirely original that not one betrays the influence of his master, Matthew Merian. Hollar's execution is vivid and harmonious, Merian's cold and dull. The pupil UHI7IRSITY ENGRA VING IN GERMANY. 177 excelled in copying the human face, he rendered admirably the transparency of glass, the brilliancy of metals, the hair or feathers of animals, and the gloss of textile fabrics. But he required a good model before him, and when he was without one his en- gravings were decidedly inferior. Wendel Dieterlin, unlike Hollar who travelled in- cessantly, never left Alsace. He was not content with being a skilful architect and a celebrated painter, he also published, in a collection which is now highly valued, a number of specimens of decorative art of a most original style. Highly gifted and full of en- thusiasm he was daunted by nothing ; with admirable spirit he invented forms of the greatest variety, and, had he not imprudently introduced figures of question- able taste into these ornaments, he might have taken honourable rank among the architectural engravers of the Renaissance. His adventurous needle, while remaining entirely under his control, went boldly to work on the copper, producing ingenious and .facile strokes, and his wildest efforts were often crowned with unexpected success. After these artists, true art appears to have become extinct in Germany. J.-E. Ridinger, Ch. Dietrich, .Ch.-B. Rode and Weirotter were painters of inferior talent, who occasionally used the needle, but with very little success. Hans-Elias Ridinger owes the little reputation he has rather to his hunting-pieces and scenes from animal life, than to the talent of his N i;8 WONDERS OF ENGRA VING. engravings. Dietrich struggled hard, but without avail, to recall Raphael's style, but he did not impose even on the most ignorant ; his engraving was clumsy, his drawing bad, and he knew nothing of chiaroscuro. Christian-Bernard Rode, born at Berlin in 1725, jour- neyed a great deal ; but gained nothing by his travels ; his engravings are pretentious and very careless ; there is no real thought in his pompous composi- tions, they have neither order, taste, nor knowledge of effect. The landscapes of Francis Edmund Weirotter are of scarcely any interest, and to complete our review of engravers of the German school we must cross the Rhine and go to Paris, where artists appear to have assembled to learn from French masters the secrets of an art which their own country had lost. John George Wille and his friend George Frederick Schmidt went to France at an early age, and there began to study engraving. They remained in that country and earned their living by working with the publisher Odieuvre. Wille soon out-distanced his competitors by his ease of execution. Hyacinthe Rigaud soon saw some of his engravings, and at once recognised their merits ; he aided the young artist by introducing him to amateurs and enabling him to copy important works, and the young German's repu- tation was soon greater than that of any French engraver of his time. Every distinguished visitor to Paris who cared at all for art, solicited an introduction ENGRA VING IN GERMANY. 179 to him, and each one justly acknowledged the great- ness of his genius and the refinement of his taste ; for John George Wille possessed a large collection of art objects and pictures, and many of the latter are reproduced in his engravings. The chief beauty of his best works is their brilliant and careful execution ; none knew better than he how to vary his work to suit the object represented. This perfect execution has its drawbacks. It gives the engraving a decidedly metallic appearance, and we are distracted by the beauty of the details when we would fain admire the work as a whole. The artist thinks more of his own fame than that of his model ; and in this he has mistaken his aim ; for should not an engraver identify himself entirely with his original and devote his whole energy to re-producing faithfully the work of the painter he has chosen ? George Frederick Schmidt began life with his in- timate friend and fellow-countryman Wille. They came to Paris together, and their early struggles were the same. Schmidt found a friend in Nicholas Lan- cret, as Wille had in Hyacinthe Rigaud. Schmidt was introduced to the engraver Larmessin and pre- pared his plates for him, employing his few moments of leisure in engraving small portraits for the publisher Odieuvre, which, if they added little to his reputation, at least helped to earn him a living. He soon thought of setting up for himself, and Hyacinthe ^Rigaud, who had seen some of Schmidt's works, again proved his i8o WONDERS OF ENGRA VING. sagacity by entrusting to the young artist a portrait of the Count of Evreux, which he had finished. He was completely satisfied with the result. This was most fortunate for Schmidt, as Rigaud, convinced of his powers, gave him, with the prelate's consent, the por- trait of St. Albin, archbishop of Cambray, to copy, and the cordial and well-deserved reception of this beautiful engraving completely established its author's fame. From this time (1/42) Schmidt brought out engravings every year, all testifying to his knowledge and industry. His style of engraving somewhat resembled that of Wille. He generally used the graver only, and, in addition to ease of execution, the beauty of his pro- ductions is enhanced by his knowledge of colouring. Sometimes, unfortunately, his cleverness led him also astray, and he did not copy with sufficient care the painting he was rendering. He was less successful in etching. Although some of his portraits in this style fetch a high price at sales, we cannot admire them much. Etching needs great freedom of execu- tion ; and in this branch of art Schmidt did not excel. He seems to have entered with his needle into a hopeless competition with the graver. In any case J. G. Wille and G. Fr. Schmidt, who went to study French art, themselves greatly in- fluenced it. Their fame exceeded that of their fellow- students. Bervic, the master of modern French en- graving, studied diligently under the judicious direction ENGRA VI NG IN GERMANY. 181 of J. G. Wille, and afterwards faithfully transmitted to his own pupils the lessons he had himself received. After these self-exiled masters, Germany can proudly name several artists who had the restoration of engraving in their native country much at heart. Christian Frederick Miiller gained well-merited dis- tinction by his engraving after the ' Madonna di San Sisto.' Joseph Keller in his engraving after Raphael's celebrated cartoon of ( The Dispute on the Sacra- ment/ and other works, has shown his power of faith- fully rendering the grandeur of the most exalted compositions. Finally James Felsing, who did not aspire to works of equal difficulty, also gave proof of the practical skill he had acquired by his studies of the works of his predecessors. 1 82 WONDERS OF ENGRA VING. CHAPTER VI. ENGRAVING IN ENGLAND. Engraving on Wood W. Caxton The Influence of Foreign Masters on English Art Its Originality in the Eighteenth Century, and its Influence on our Age. IN England there are schools both of painting and engraving. They are worthy of careful study, whatever those may think who have never crossed the Channel. They were established rather late, but are now more than a century old, and in this short time they have reached the same excellence as the schools in neighbouring countries ; if England has attracted to her shores foreign masters such as Holbein, Van- dyck, Petitot, Largilliere and others, she has profited by their examples, and the French, who were at one time aided in the same manner by the Italians, should be the last to reproach her with this. Besides, in modern times, the English school has had a great influence upon the French, which it would be uncandid to deny. We allude to the romantic movement which replaced the principles of David (still followed by some few Frenchmen) by others of a very different kind. However, we have now to consider engraving only, and we must begin by stating that the English ENGRA VING IN ENGLAND. 183 were at first less enthusiastic than the French about the new discovery, although they were equally ready to avail themselves of it. This coldness may be accounted for by the strictness of their religion, which excluded paintings from their churches and engravings from their prayer-books ; whereas the earliest wood- cuts of Italy, Germany, France, and the Low Coun- tries appeared in devotional works. It is strange that the earliest book printed by the first English printer, William Caxton, is in French, and it is also the first printed in that language. Its title is, ' Cy commence le volume intitule le recueil des hystoires de Troyes compose par vene- rable homme Raoul le feure pretre chappellain de mon tres-redoubt seigneur Monseigneur le due Philippe de Bourgongne en 1'an de grace mil cccc Ixiiii.' Un- fortunately, in England as in other countries, en- graving had at first no individual character. William Caxton seldom illustrated his books with engravings, and when he did indulge in them he could only employ awkward carvers of images ; and on this account his plates are of no artistic value. The second edition (but without date) of the first book printed in England in 1471 ('The Game and Playe of the Chesse'), contains representations of a player at a chess-board, a king, two knights, and a bishop, but there is nothing to betray their origin or nationality except the text which surrounds them. It is the same with another book not quite so rare, ' Thymage, 1 84 WONDERS OF ENGRA VING. or Mirrour of the World/ 1481. The few engravings in it represent a professor teaching grammar, or a logician lecturing his pupils from his chair, they are as devoid of art as the preceding ones, a decisive proof of the small skill of the early English en- gravers. In an edition of ^Esop's Fables (' The Subtyl Hystoryes and Fables of Esope') published three years later, in 1484, by Caxton, we find some en- gravings copied from preceding Latin and French editions, which would seem to confirm our opinion of the inferiority of other nations to ourselves, if any comparison be possible between works of no talent and possessing archaeological interest only. There were certainly many other books containing woodcuts published in England in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, but it would not be worth while to detain the reader by mentioning them. We will merely state that English authors asserted the merits of their own engravings, and took part in the discus- sion on the origin of the invention, emphatically repu- diating the claims of all competitors by the assertion that engraving is not a modern invention at all, because, according to a certain verse in Genesis, Tubal Cain invented it.* The argument is original, but it * The text of Genesis upon which the authors who fix 2975 B.C. as about the date of the invention of engraving rely, is as follows : " And Zillah, she also bare Tubal-cain, an instructor of every artificer in brass and iron : and the sister of Tubal- . cain was Naamah." Gen. iv. 22. ENGRA VING IN ENGLAND. 185 would be waste of time to refute it. Instead of going so far back, we will commence our study when English engraving acquired an individual character and was practised by men of talent. We begin with John Payne, who was born in London in 1606, and died in the same place in 1648. He did not form a school or at once rise to eminence, but his engravings, executed with the graver alone, are superior to those of his predecessors. He was a pupil of Simon de Passe, a Flemish artist, who spent many years in England. John Payne executed, some- what harshly, vignettes, ornaments, and portraits, succeeding better, like most of his fellow-countrymen, with the human face than with anything else. William Faithorne was born in 1620, about the same time as John Payne, and died in 1691. He raised engraving in England to a high standard of excellence. His biography is interesting. A pupil of Peack, an Eng- lish painter, Faithorne, like his master, embraced the cause of Charles I. ; was made prisoner on the fall of that monarch and shut up at Aldersgate. He employed the leisure moments of his captivity in engraving, and it was in prison that he executed the portrait of the Duke of Buckingham. The reputation of his early works, and the influence of his friends, obtained him his liberty. But on leaving prison he refused to swear allegiance to Cromwell, and was therefore banished from his country. He came to France and continued his studies, first with Philip of 1 86 WONDERS OF ENGRA VING. Champagne and then with Robert Nanteuil, whose lessons were of great service to him. He soon became famous, and when events allowed of his return to England in 1650, he was cordially welcomed by his fellow-countrymen on account of his talent. Like his friend and master, Nanteuil, he drew portraits in three shades with perfect success, and they soon became much in vogue. Fortunately, he did not give up engraving, and he was most apt in seizing the expres- sion of the physiognomy, as seen in the numerous engravings and drawings he has left. It would be impossible to excel his interesting and life-like por- traits. Formed by the lessons he received from Nan- teuil, and imbued with his principles, he sometimes equalled him, but never imitated him so much as to lose his own originality. Nanteuil's portraits betoken a profound knowledge, and at the same time, are in the self-contained and reserved style peculiar to the French school ; whilst Faithorne's engravings after Vandyck or his admirers, or designed by the artist himself, show the influence which the illustrious pupil of Rubens exercised on the rising school, and are remarkable for a power of colouring to which the French engraver never aspired. The portraits of R. Bayfeild, William Paston, William Sanderson, and others, fully justify the esteem in which the works of William Faithorne, surnamed the Elder, are held. His other engravings are not equally clever. 'The Holy Family/ after Simon Vouet, or 'The Virgin Fig 21. Portrait of R. Bay feild. Engraved. by WILLIAM FAITHORNE. ENGRA VING IN ENGLAND. 189 caressing the Infant Jesus,' after Laurent de la Hyre, which slightly recall the style of Couvay and of Mellan, without all their talent, would not alone entitle Faithorne to very high rank. Many artists endeavoured to follow the manner of William Faithorne, but not one had sufficient origin- ality to merit a place in our review of the English school. They were all inferior. Their fellow-country- men had so poor an opinion of them that they sent across the Channel whenever they wished to have a valuable work engraved. Nicolas Dorigny was sent for from France to reproduce on copper Raphael's famous cartoons, preserved at Hampton Court ;* Baron copied the paintings of Rubens and Van- dyck in English collections, and it was not until the eighteenth century that we find artists in England sufficiently skilful with the graver to reproduce the best works of art which had accumulated in their country. We must not suppose that there were no engravers in England during this long period. Wenceslas Hollar, a German established in London, gave a praiseworthy impulse to etching. Again, Prince Rupert introduced into the United Kingdom the style of engraving called mezzotint or the English style, so successfully have English artists adopted it. We must speak more particularly of these two processes later, now we are concerned merely with * Now in the South Kensington Museum. WONDERS OF ENGRA VING. line engraving and we must again allude to French influence. Robert Strange, born in 1723, died in London in 1795. When quite young he crossed the Channel and went to study in Paris with Philip Lebas, who taught him the first elements of engraving. But Robert Strange soon surpassed his master in the handling of his tools, and left the studio in which his talent had been developed to go to Italy and study the great masters. He spent five years in that country, working with enthusiasm at paintings by Raphael, Titian, Correggio, Guido, and Carlo Maratti. He did not return to establish himself in London until his studies were so complete that he imagined he had nothing more to learn. Unfortunately he overrated the advantages of his ease of execution, and his en- gravings show insufficient knowledge of drawing. Few artists excelled Strange in engraving ; his work is pleasing and well shaded, his strokes are admirably managed, rounding off the outlines and crossing each other without monotony or confusion. There are no signs of weakness or weariness in any engraving of his ; all show thorough and profound knowledge of the resources of his art. What a pity that all this should be marred by imperfection of drawing ! The artist with all his intelligence thought more of giving the exact appearance of the designs before him than of interpreting their character and style. William Woollett, also born in England, and a ENGRA VING IN ENGLAND. 191 pupil of John Finney, directed his attention to land- scape. He engraved figures also, and some important compositions, such as ' The Battle of the Hogue,' and the ' Death of General Wolfe/ but he never succeeded better than in his reproductions of pictures by Claude Lorraine, Wilson, or Pillement The beautiful grada- tions and fine proportions of his plates are unsurpassed ; no predecessor obtained such varied results by the aid of the graver alone. The distant horizons, lit up by a last ray from the setting sun, are accurately designed, and are perfectly distinct although so far away. They diminish gradually whilst the trees and grass of the foregrounds stand out in bold relief. The latter are cut with a very large graver which deeply penetrates the copper, leaving large grooves far apart from each other into which the ink is plentifully absorbed. Claude, whose works, as is well known, have always been highly prized in England, inspired Woollett's best engravings. The engraver was irresistibly at- tracted by the grand and masterly disposition of the forms, the deep infinite horizons, and the beautiful scenery of the landscapes, and he succeeded in in- terpreting the great qualities of the painter. Claude Lorraine was never better understood than by Wool- lett, and he so thoroughly identified himself with his model, that his engravings are rivalled by none but the superb etchings from the great landscape painter's own hand. Francis Vivares, though born in France near Mont- 192 WONDERS OF ENGRA VING. pellier, may be included in the English school, because he spent the greater part of his life in England, and learnt his art there. He rendered Claude. Lorraine's works with almost as much skill as Woollett. He too confined himself almost entirely to landscapes of a particular style by Lorraine, Caspar Poussin, or Patel. His plastic style of work admirably suited grand compositions such as theirs. The judiciously distri- buted light, affecting each object differently, in which these masters delighted, is transmitted to copper with remarkable accuracy. It would appear impossible for art to render the sun, especially with no resources at its command but black ink and white paper, and yet his rays seem to inundate these engravings by Vivares. Like the master from whom he took his inspiration, the engraver thoroughly understood the laws of light and shadow. A man of ingenuity and resource, he arranged his shadows so that those parts meant to be in the direct rays of the sun were scarcely covered by light strokes, and by being placed in juxtaposition with condensed lines were thrown up with extraordinary brilliancy by the shadows which surrounded them. William Wynne Ryland, born in London in 1732, learnt engraving with Ravenet, a French artist established in England. He afterwards- went to France, entered the studio of Boucher, where he etched two landscapes after that -master, with some ability. He then took lessons for a time from James ENGRA VING IN ENGLAND. 193 Philip Lebas, and returned to his native land after five years' absence. Unfortunately, on his return to England, he neither profited by what he had learnt in France, nor by the examples set before him, but was attracted by a new style introduced by an Italian engraver, Francesco Bartolozzi, which consisted in imi- tating with the graver the effect produced on paper with a pencil. In the hands of a good draughtsman this process could, and did, accomplish much ; but Ryland had not talent enough to turn it to good account ; and then he generally worked at the vulgar creations of Angelica Kauffmann, thereby gradually losing the position he had gained by his first works. An accidental circumstance, however, suddenly com- pelled him to give up engraving. He was accused of forgery, tried, convicted, and condemned, and after that his name was never heard again. The list of English line-engravers is soon exhausted : there remain two only, George Vertue and Abraham Raimbach, who may be said to have attained any dis- tinction in the history of English art. George Vertue excelled in reproducing the pictures of Sir Godfrey Kneller. His engraving is very correct, almost monoto- nously so ; but the English aristocracy patronised him because he was very skilful with physiognomy, and rendered most happily the distinguished air of lords and ladies. The Prince of Wales charged him to make a collection of engravings for him, and Horace Walpole, who stood high as a man of letters and a poli- 194 WONDERS OF ENGRA VING. tician, did not scorn to use the notes on English artists collected by the engraver. In the first edition of his Anecdotes of Painting,' published in 1762, he places his own name after that of George Vertue ; and at the end of his work he has a long note on the English artist, in which he awards just praise to the talent of his fellow-countryman. Abraham Raimbach closes the list of English en- gravers. He seemed born to interpret the works of the painter Wilkie. He has reproduced the well-con- ceived and spirited pictures called * Blind Man's Buff/ 'The Rent-Day,' and the 'Village Politicians' with surprising delicacy and skill. In spite of their large size these prints are what are called genre engravings ; they are prepared and nearly finished in etching, and then almost entirely retouched with the graver ; and as combined by Raimbach, the two processes pro- duced most pleasing results. The joyous or grave faces of the children playing round their fathers, or the small tenants impatiently waiting to pay the money which is due, are faithfully transferred to the metal. The bright and pleasing appearance of the paintings is also rendered, and there is a general harmony about Raimbach's engravings which Wilkie's canvasses have now in some measure lost. Abraham Raimbach is certainly worthy to rank high among his fellow-countrymen ; and in a general history of the art of engraving, his works class him amongst those who best understood all the resources of their art, and ENGRA VING IN ENGLAND. 195 excelled in rendering the different passions depicted in the human countenance. Francis Barlow deserves mention on account of his delicate and skilful etchings of animals. Although there were so few clever line-engravers or etchers in England, in spite of the efforts and attrac- tive example of Wenceslas Hollar, Mezzotint Engrav- ing, introduced, as we have said, by Prince Rupert, was at once enthusiastically adopted in that country. It was more successful in England than elsewhere, and its rapid triumphs are easily accounted for. The works of Sir Joshua Reynolds, of Gainsborough, and of Sir Thomas Lawrence, softly and agreeably coloured, and not very strictly drawn, were well suited to this kind of engraving, which allows of vagueness of out- line and great freedom of treatment. Anthony Van- dyck's portraits taken in England were equally good subjects. This was at once recognised by a number of English artists. Not only were there more mezzotint engravers in England than elsewhere, they were also more skilful and of readier invention than any of their foreign competitors. We are not sure who founded this school of engraving, who was the first master, or what influence he exercised over his contemporaries. Richard Earlom, whose name is perhaps the best known, did not, like most of his contemporaries, excel in portraiture, he owes his reputation rather to his justly admired engravings of fruit and flowers after Van Huysum , and his ' Bathsheba leading Abishag 196 WONDERS OF ENGRA VING. to David ' is considered the chef-(T 144, 157, 158, 159, 160, 161, 162, 165, 166, 168, 170, 221, 245 Dusart (Cornelius), 89, 100, 101 Duvet (Jean), 222, 224 Dyck (Anthony van), 127, 129, 131, 132, 135 Earlom (Richard), 195 Edelinck (Gerard), 263, 269, 270, 274, 278, 291, 304 Esquivel (Manuel), 77 Eustache (William), 211 Faber (J.), 196 Faithorne (William), 186, 189 Falck (Jeremiah), 116 Fantuzzi (Antonio), 230 Felsing (James), 181 Ficquet (Etienne), 294 Fillceul (Pierre), 287 Finiguerra (Maso), 3, 9, 10, 13, 19, 148 Firens (Pierre), 228, 242 Fisher (E.), 196 Flamen (Albert), 278 Flameng (Leopold), 306 Flipart (Jean- Jacques), 298 Forster (Francois), 305 Fragonard (Honore), 288 Francia (Francesco Raibolini, called), 13, 14, 49 Franck (Hans), 143 Franco (Battista), 70 Franois (Alphonse), 306 Fran?ois (Jean Charles), 286, 323 Gaillard (Ferdinand), 306 Galle (Cornelius), 120, 130 Galle (Philip), 120 Galle (Theodore), 120 Gantrel (Etienne), 263 Gamier, 325 Gamier (Antoine), 263 Gamier (Noel), 221 Gatti (Oliviere), 70 Gaucherel (Leon), 306 Gaultier (Leonard), 236, 237, 238, 242 Gautier-Dagoti, 286 Gellee (Claude), called Claude Lor raine, 105, 106, 253, 254 Ghent (de), 296 Ghisi (Giorgio), 68, 69, 225 Gillray (James), 203, 204 Glockenton (Albert), 156 Godart (William), 211 Goltzius (Henry), in, 112 Gourmond (Fra^ois de), 218 Goya (Francesco), 88, 91, 92 Graf (Urs), 145 Granthomme (Jacques), 238 Grateloup (Jean Baptiste), 294 334 ENGRA VERS* NAMES. Gravelot (Hubert), 295 Green (V.), 196 Greuter (John Fred.), 70 Greuter (Martin), 175 Greuze (Jean Baptiste), 298, 299 Grozer (J.), 190 Grim (Hans Baldung), 144 Guidi (Raffaello), 70 Guillain (Simon), 275 Haids (the), 175 Hardouin (Gilles), 21 1 Hemrskerke (Martin), 92 Henriet (Israel), 244, 245 Henriquel-Dupont, 306 Heusch (William of), 106 Hirschvogel (Augustine), 173 Hodges (C. H.), 196 Hogarth (William), 199, 200, 203 Hogenberg (Francis), 231 Hollar (Wenceslas), 176, 177, 189, 195 Hondius (Henry), 115 Hooghe (Romyn de), 119 Hopffers (David, James, and Lam- bert), 173 Hopffer (Daniel), 145 Houbraken (James), 119 Hoy an (Germain), 218 Huot (Adolphe), 306 Ingouf (Frangois Robert), 294 Ingouf (Pierre Charles), 294, 298 Isac (Jaspar), 238 Jacquemart (Jules), 306 Jegher (Christopher), 131 Jode (Pierre, the elder), 129 Jode (Pierre, the younger), 129, 130, 135 Jones (John), 196, 198 Keating (George), 198 Keller (Joseph), 181 Kerver (Thielman), 21 1 Kilians (The), 175 Koburger, 140 La Hyre (Laurent de), 256 Lanfranco (Giovanni), 53 Larmessin (Nicolas), 179, 282, 285 Lasne (Michel), 236, 238, 255 Lautensack (Hans Sebald), 173 Lebas (Jacques Philippe), 193, 282, 287, 295 Leblond (Jacques Christophe), 286, 324 Lebrun (Charles), 274 Leclerc (Jean), 218 Leclerc (Sebastien), 250, 278 Lecomte (Marguerite), 289 Lefevre (Claude), 276 Lefevre (Valentin), 37 Lemire (Noel), 296 Lenfant (Jean), 263 Leonardis (Giacomo), 40 Lepautre (Jean), 281 Lepicie (Bernard), 282, 287 Leu (Thomas de), 236, 237, 238, 242 Levasseur (Jean Charles), 298 Liefrinck (Wilhelm and Cornelius), H3 Limosin (Leonard), 232 Lindt (Alexis), 143 Lippi (Fra Filippo), 21 Livens (John), 99 Lolli (Lorenzo), 54 Lombard (Lambert), 92 Lombard (Pierre), 274 Longhi (Giuseppe), 73 Longueil (Joseph of), 296 Loutherbourg (Philippe), 289 ENGRA VERS NAMES. 335 Lucas of Leyden, 88, 89, 90, 91, 92, 156 Lutma (John), 323 Lutzelburger (Hans), 146, 147, 148 Luyken (John), 119 Mac Ardell, 196 Mair, 158 Mallery (Charles), 228, 238 Mantegna (Andrea), 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 3, 3i, 3 2 > 3 6 43> 222 Marco of Ravenna (Dente), 61, 62 Margottini (Giacomo), 55 Mariller, 296 Marot (Daniel), 281 Marot (Jean), 281 Martinet (Achille), 306 Massard (Jean), 298 Masson (Antoine), 273 Master of 1406 . . 3 Master of 1446 . . 4 Master of 1451.. 4 Master of 1466 .. 148, 152, 154, 157 Master of 1480.. 86 Master of the Caducevs (Giacomo de Barbari), 36 Master of the Crab, 91 Master of the Crossed Staves (Hans Ulrick Vaechtlein), 144 Master of the Die, 64 Master of the Shuttle (Zwoll), 87 Master of the Star (or Dirck van Staren), 90, 91 Master of the Streamers, 148 Matham (James), 112 Mathoniere (Denis of), 218 Matzys (Cornelius), 92 Mazzuoli (Francesco), called Parmi- giano, 45, 46, 47, 48, 63, 245 Mecken (Israel van), 156, 157, 158 Meissonnier ( Juste- Aurele), 297 Meldolla (Andrea), 47, 48 Mellan (Claude), 189, 238, 255, 271 Merian (Matthew), 175, 176 Millet, 276 Milnet (Bernard), 2, 220 Mocetto (Girolamo), 29, 30, 35 Monaco (Pietro), 40 Montagna (Benedetto), 29, 35 Montcornet (Balthazar), 269 Moreau (the younger), 297 Morel (Antoine Alexander), 304 Morghen (Raphael), 73 Morin (Jean), 269, 272 Moyreau (Jean), 282, 285 Miiller (Christian Frederick), 181 Miiller (John), 112 Muntaner (Francisco), 77 Murphy (John), 196 Musi (Ag.) Agostino Veniziano, 61 Nanteuil (Robert), 186, 269, 270, 271, 278, 291 Natalis (Michael), 130, 263 Negker (Josse), 143 Negre (Charles), 325 Niepce de Saint Victor, 325 Nolin (Jean), 263 Nooms (Rene), orZeeman, no, in Oppenort (Gilles Marie), 297 Ostade (Adrien van), 89, 100, 101 Fader (Hilaire), 256 Panneels (William), 137 Papillon, 219 Passarotti (Bartolomeo), 50 Pass (Crispin Van de), in, 265 Patin (Jacques), 228 Paul (S.), 196 Payne (John), 185 Pencz (George), 69, 169, 221 Peregrini da Cesana, 13 Perelle (Gabriel), 265 336 ENGRA VERS NAMES. Perissim, 217, 242 Perrier (Franois), 255 Pesne (Jean), 238, 258, 262 Peyron (J. F. P.), 264 Pfarkecker (Vincent), 143 Picard (Jean), 238 Pierre (Jean Baptiste), 289 Pigouchet (Philip), 211 Pilgrim (Vaechtlein), 144 Pitau (Nicolas), 273, 278 Pitteri (Marco), 39 Plattemontagne (Nicolas de), 272 Pleydenwurff (Wilhelm), 140 P6 (Piero del), 55 Poilly (Fran9ois de), 273, 278 Pompadour (Marchioness of), 290 Ponce (Nicolas), 295 Pontius (Paul), 124, 127, 128, 129, 131, 132, 135 Potter (Paul), 101, 102 Prevost (Jaques), 232 Prevost (Nicolas), 218 Primaticcio, 23, 229, 230, 232 Procaccini (Camillo), 50 Prud'hon (P. P.), 302 Quenedey, 302, 324 Rabel (Jean), 236 Raibolini (called Fran cia), 13, 14, 49 Raibolini (Giacomo), 49 Raibolini (Giullo), 49 Raimbach (Abraham), 194 Raimondi (Marc Antonio), 13, 14, 5> S 6 , 59 60, 6 1, 62, 63, 64, 65, 66, 68, 69, 70, 166, 229, 258 Ravenet (Simon), 192 Regnart (Valerian), 70, 229 Regnesson (Nicolas), 271 Rembrandt, 81, 82, 93, 94, 95, 96, 99, 1 10, in, 118, 119, 329 Reni (Guido), 54, 55 Resch (Jeremiah), 141, 143 Reverdino (Cesare), 63 Ribera (Giacomo), 74, 77 Ridinger (John Elias), 177 Riffaut (A.) 325 Rivalz (Antoine), 289 Robert (Hubert) 289 Robetta, 22 Rode (Christian Bernard), 178 Roger (Barthelemy), 302 Rosso, 23, 24, 229, 230, 232 Roullet (Jean Louis), 274 Rousseaux (Emile), 306 Rowlandson (Thomas), 204, 205 Rubens (Peter Paul), 82, 92, 115, 116, 119, 120, 121, 122, 123, 124, 127, 128, 129, 130, 131, 132, 135, 136, 137 Ruggieri (Guido), 230, 232 Rupert (Prince), 189, 276, 319, 320 Rupp (James), 143 Ruysdael (Jacob), 106 Ryland (William Wynne), 192, 204 Sablon (Pierre), 227 Sadelers (The), 120, 241 Saenredam (John), 112 Saint Aubin (Augustine de), 295, 296 Saint Aubin (Gabriel de), 288, 289 Saint German, 143 Saint Igny (Jean de), 250 Saint Mesmin, 302 Salmon, (Adolphe), 306 Sarrabat (Isaac), 277 Savart (Pierre), 294 Schauflein (Hans), 142 Schmidt (George Frederick), 178, 179, 1 80, 293 Schongauer (Martin), 3, 84, 88, 145, 152, 153, 154, 155, 156, 157, 158, 168 ENGRAVERS' NAMES. 337 Schuppen (Peter van), 273 Schut (Cornelius), 135 Scotin (Girard), 286 Scultori (Adamo), 66, 67, 68 Scultori (Diana), 66, 67, 68 Scultori (Giovanni Baptiste), 66, 68 Sergent Marceau, 301 Sesto (Cesare da), 44 Siegen (Louis of), 321 Silvestre (Israel), 265 Simonet ( Jean-Bap tiste), 296 Sirani (Andrea), 54 Smith (John Raphael), 196, I 97 Solis (Virgilius), 145, 173, 174 Somer (Peter van), 263 Sompel (Peter van), 130 Soutman (Peter), 115, 116, 117, 130 Spierre (Fra^ois), 274 Spilsbury (Y.), 196 Staren (Dirck van), 90, 91 Stella (Claudine), 262, 263 Stella (Jacques), 262 Stock (Andrew), 130 Stoop (Theodore), 102 Strange (Robert), 190 Surugue (Louis), 285, 287 Suyderoef (Jonas), 115, 116 Swanevelt (Herman), 106 Taberith (Jan), 143 Tardieu (Pierre Alexander), 303 Tempesta (Antonio), 244 Thomas (John), 136 Thomassin (Philip), 52, 70, 229, 244 Thulden (Theodore van), 136 Tibaldi (Domenico), 50 Tiepolo (Domenico), 39 Tilliard (Jean Baptiste), 296 Tiry (Leonard), 230, 231 Tortebat (Franyois), 254 Tortorel, 217, 242 Tory (Geoffroy), 214, 217 Toschi (Paolo), 73 Trenta (Antonio da), 8 Trouvain (Antoine), 274 Turner (Ch.), 196, 199. Uliet (Van), 99 Vaechtlein (Hans Ulrich), called Pil- grim, 144 Vaillant (Wallerant), 276, 321 Valesio (Giovanni), 53 Vallet (Pierre), 226 Velde (Adrien van de), 102 Velde (Isaiah van de), no Verard (Antoine), 208, 209 Verrochio (Andrea), 43 Vertue (George), 194 Vico (^Eneas), 64, 65 Vignon (Claude), 256 Villamene (Franz), 70 Vinci (Leonardo da), 41, 42, 43, 44, 45 Visscher (Cornelius), 116, 117, 118, 119 Vivares (Francis), 191, 192 Voet (Alexander), 131 Vorsterman (Lucas), 128, 129, 132, 135 Vostre (Simon), 209, 211 Ward (James), 196 Waterloo, 109 Watson (J. and Thomas), 196 Watteau (Antoine), 282, 285 Wattelet (Claude Henri), 289 Watts (F.), 196 Weirotter (Francis Edmund), 177 Wierix (The), 120 Wille (John George), 178, 179, 180, 181, 293, 299, 303 Withdoeck (Hans), 130 338 ENGRA VERS NAMES. 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