,etching in ,england ,illustration3 ,,turner4 8,,twickenham4 ,etching in ,england by ,frederick ,wedmore ,with #ej ,illustrations ,illustration3 colophon ,london ,george ,bell and ,sons #ahie ,,chiswick ,,press3--,,charles ,,whittingham ,,and ,,co4 ,,tooks ,,court1 ,,chancery ,,lane1 ,,london4 ,,preface4 ,i read1 the other day1 in a note of ,abraham ,haywar to his translation of 8,faust10 how ,schlegel wrote of ,gthe--to ,m4 de ,rmusat1--8,il imait gure donner des explications1 et il jamais voulu faire des prfaces40 ,it would not be seemly1 perhaps1 that in the present volume of brief historical and critical record1 ,i should endeavour to imitate so august a silence4 ,twenty-seven years have passed since one of the most interesting and judicial of ,english writers upon ,fine ,art published the book which did amongst us the service of popularising1 in some degree at least1 the knowledge of ,etching4 ,the craft of the aquafortist has1 since then1 become a medium of expression generally accepted1 if not precisely understood2 and the half-educated young woman of our period1 far from considering the art of whose achievements ,i treat1 as 8a form of elegant pen-drawing10 7as she did in ,mr4 ,hamerto first days71 is likely perhaps to hold--with 8,carry10 in my own little story--that there is 8nothing in the world so artistic as a very large etching40 ,the public1 if it has not become properly instructed in the technique of ,etching1 has at least had the opportunity of becoming so4 ,hence ,i have conceived it to be no part of my business to discourse much upon methods4 ,for them the reader may turn now1 not only to ,mr4 ,hamerton1 but to ,sir ,seymour ,haden1 with his great practical experience1 his native endowments1 and his finely trained taste2 to ,mr4 ,herkomer1 with his frank and interesting personal record2 to ,m4 ,maxime ,lalanne2 to ,mr4 ,frank ,short--but the list is too long for me to attempt to exhaust it4 ,what is done here--and done ,i think for the first time--is to devote a book to the survey1 not of good etched work generally1 nor of all etched work--all popular etched work--wrought in ,england1 but of such work as has been wrought in ,england of the finer and truer kind4 ,that has led to many omissions2 for1 in the last generation and before it1 people were popular--as many are to-day--who were clever draughtsmen1 perhaps1 but bad etchers4 ,it has led1 too1 to many inclusions--inclusions not possible to ,mr4 ,hamerton4 ,much of the best work done in ,england has been done since he wrote2 and a little excellent work1 done long before he wrote1 he happened to pass over4 ,this present book1 then1 is devoted to the best ,english art4 ,it treats of the foreigner only when he has laboured much in our land1 or--,i am thinking perhaps of ,m4 ,helleu--has at least been much associated with it4 ,it includes necessarily a great ,american--,mr4 ,whistler--who was amongst us for more than thirty years--and a man of ,french birth who has been half his life with us--,m4 ,legros4 ,the art of ,etching is not1 it may be1 like the art of ,water-,colour1 essentially ,english2 but ,i suppose that nowhere more than here has it been practised with excellence and with legitimate variety4 ,and this ,i say with the full knowledge that the achievements of ,rembrandt have made ,holland classic ground for ever for the lover of ,etching1 and that the history of that art in ,france includes two names1 at least1 which are inevitably illustrious--,mryo name and ,jacquemar4 ,,right ,f4 ,w4 ,,london3 ,october1 #ahie4 ,,contents4 ,,page ,i4 ,,two ,,classes ,,of ,,etching #a ,,ii4 ,,turner #c ,,iii4 ,,girton #f ,,iv4 ,,wilkie #aj ,v4 ,,geddes #ad ,,vi4 ,,crome #bj ,,vii4 ,,cotman #bb ,,viii4 ,,samuel ,,palmer #bf ,,ix4 ,,james ,,mcneil ,,whistler #cj ,x4 ,,sir ,,seymour ,,haden #de ,,xi4 ,,alphonse ,,legros #fb ,,xii4 ,,william ,,strang #ga ,,xiii4 ,,charles ,,holroyd #hg ,,xiv4 ,,frank ,,short #ie ,,xv4 ,c4 ,j4 ,,watson #ajc ,,xvi4 ,,oliver ,,hall #aae ,,xvii4 ,,colonel ,,goff #aai ,,xviii4 ,d4 ,y4 ,,cameron #acg ,,xix4 ,,joseph ,,pennell #adj ,,xx4 ,,mortimer ,,menpes #add ,,xxi4 ,l4 ,,raven-,,hill #adh ,,xxii4 ,r4 ,w4 ,,macbeth1 ,,hubert ,,herkomer1 ,r4,a41 ,,and ,,axel ,,haig #aeb ,,xxiii4 ,,some ,,other ,,etchers #aei ,,xxiv4 ,,helleu #agb ,,illustrations4#a ,,page #a4 ,,twickenham 7,frontispiece744444,turner #b4 ,,seine ,,bridge 44444,girtin #g #c4 ,,the ,,receipt44444,wilkie #aa #d4 ,,peckham ,,rye44444,geddes #ae #e4 ,,halliford ,,on ,,thames444440 #ag #f4 ,,near ,,whitby44444,cotman #bc #g4 ,,the ,,herdsman44444,samuel ,palmer #bg #h4 ,,thames ,,police44444,whistler #cc #i4 ,,the ,,piazzetta444440 #ci #aj4 ,,tree ,,study44444,seymour ,haden #dc #aa4 ,,thomas ,,haden1 ,,after ,,wright ,,of ,,derby44444,seymour ,haden #dg #ab4 ,,kidwelly ,,town444440 8 #di #ac4 ,a ,,water ,,meadow444440 8 #ec #ad4 ,,windmill ,,hill444440 8 #ee #ae4 ,,scotch ,,firs444440 8 #ei #af4 ,,communion ,,dans ,,glise ,,st4 ,m,,dard44444,legros #fc #ag4 ,,la ,,mort ,,et ,,le ,b,,cheron444440 #fg #ah4 ,,the ,,potato ,,basket44444,william ,strang #gc #ai4 ,,the ,,bookstall444440 8 #ge #bj4 ,,lord ,,justice ,,lindley444440 8 #gg #ba4 ,,midnight ,,mass1 ,,monte ,,oliveto44444,charles ,holroyd #ha #bb4 ,,farm ,,behind ,,scarborough44444,charles ,holroyd #hc #bc4 ,,round ,,temple444440 8 #he #bd4 ,,wrought ,,nails44444,frank ,short #hi #be4 ,,sleeping ,,till ,,the ,,flood444440 8 #ia #bf4 ,,quarter ,,boys444440 8 #ic #bg4 ,,mill ,,bridge1 ,,bosham44444,c4 ,j4 ,watson #ii #bh4 ,,st4 ,,etienne ,,du ,,mont444440 8 #aja #bi4 ,,landscape ,,with ,,trees44444,oliver ,hall #ajg #cj4 ,,roadside ,,trees444440 8 #aji #ca4 ,,trees ,,on ,,the ,,hill-,,side444440 8 #aaa #cb4 ,,the ,,edge ,,of ,,the ,,forest444440 8 #aac #cc4 ,,chain ,,pier1 ,,brighton44444,colonel ,goff #aag #cd4 ,,norfolk ,,bridge1 ,,shoreham444440 8 #abc #ce4 ,,pine ,,trees1 ,,christchurch444440 8 #abg #cf4 ,,border ,,towers44444,d4 ,y4 ,cameron #aca #cg4 ,,the ,,palace1 ,,stirling ,,castle444440 8 #acc #ch4 ,,windmills1 ,,zandaam444440 8 #ace #ci4 ,,le ,,puy ,,en ,,velay44444,joseph ,pennell #ada #dj4 ,,japanese ,,girls44444,menpes #ade #da4 ,,wandle ,,river44444,l4 ,raven-,hill #adi #db4 ,,gwenydd44444,herkomer #aec #dc4 ,,the ,,open ,,window44444,elizabeth ,armstrong #aeg #dd4 ,,at ,,the ,,loom44444,minna ,bolingbroke #afa #de4 ,,dorking44444,percy ,thomas #afc #df4 ,,sunrise ,,in ,,wales44444,w4 ,holmes ,may #afg #dg4 ,a ,,hurrying ,,wind44444,alfred ,east #afi #dh4 ,,etude ,,de ,,jeune ,,fille44444,helleu #agc #di4 ,,femme ,,la ,,tasse444440 #agg #ej4 ,,le ,,salon ,,blanc444440 #aha ,,etching ,,in ,,england4 ,i4 ,,two ,,classes ,,of ,,etching4 ,as in ,france and ,america1 so1 very specially1 in ,england1 the productions of the etcher have to be divided broadly into two classes1 one of which is the result mainly of a commercial demand1 and the other1 of an artistic impulse4 ,the etcher whose employment of the etching-needle is confined wholly1 or confined in the main1 to the work of realizing and translating the conceptions of another1 is1 like the reproductive line-engraver1 or the reproductive engraver in mezzotint1 little more than the dexterous instrument which carries anothe message4 ,so artistic is his process1 when it is properly used1 that it is preferable indeed that he be himself an artist as well as a craftsman--it is indeed essential that he shall have some measure of artistic feeling1 as well as the flexibility of the executant4 ,but our demands upon him stop1 in any case1 at a comparatively early point2 and we find him more or less sharply cut off in our minds1 and in our estimation1 from the artist who1 when he employs the etching-needle1 is occupied with the spontaneous expression of his own thought and fancy--of the particular things of beauty and of interest which may strike him on his way through the world4 ,,ii4 ,,turner4 ,of fine original etchers within the confines of these realms1 ,turner was almost the first to appear4 ,he was the senior1 considerably1 of ,wilkie and ,geddes1 who will have to be spoken of soon after him4 ,during twelve years of his 8early middle0 period--between #ahjg and #ahai--;he wrought what were in some respects important etchings upon something like seventy plates4 ,but his etchings differed in aim1 as well as in execution1 from almost all the others ,i shall speak of in this brief general survey of the achievements1 here in ,england1 of the etche art4 ,they did so partly by reason of the fact that it was never intended that they should be complete in themselves4 ,they laid the basis of an effect which had to be completed by the employment of another art4 ,they did hardly more than record--though always with an unequalled power and an unerring skill--the leading lines of those great landscape compositions which the mezzotint of the engraver 7and the engraver was often ,turner himself7 endowed with light and shade and atmosphere4 ,for it was by a union of these two arts that that noble publication was produced whose business it was to surpass in variety and subtlety the 8,liber ,veritatis0 of ,claude4 ,it is very possible that in some of the plates of his 8,liber ,studiorum10 ,turner did not undertake the 8biting-in10 with acid1 of those subjects whose draughtsmanship was his own4 ,probably he did in all the best of them4 ,in an etching1 the strength and the perfection of the result--the relation of part to part--is dependent so much on the biting4 ,it is hardly conceivable that where the etchings of the 8,liber ,studiorum0 strike us as most noble1 they were not wholly--in biting as well as in draughtsmanship--,turne own4 ,they differ much in merit1 apart1 ,i think1 from the necessary difference in interest which arises from the opportunity given by one subject and denied by another for the exercise of an etche skill4 ,they have generally1 within their proper limits1 perfect freedom of handling1 and an almost incomparable vigour1 and a variety which liberates their author from any charge of mannerism4 ,there are few of them which could not hold their own with any plate of ,rembrand done under conditions sufficiently resembling theirs4 ,the etching of the 8,severn and ,wye10 or the etching of 8,st4 ,catherin ,hill1 ,guildford10 is carried very nearly as far as the etching of the 8,cottage with ,white ,palings10 and with a result very nearly as delightful and distinguished4 ,and in regard to the average etching of ,turner1 it may fairly be said that a hand put in to pluck out of a portfolio by chance any one of the seventy1 would discover that it held a print which was at least the equal of that one of ,rembrand with which it is fairest of all to compare it--a print of ,rembrand done1 like ,turne1 for 8leading lines0 alone--,i mean the famous little tour de force1 the 8,si ,bridge40 ,so much for the greatness of our ,english master4 ,i pass from him with this reminder1 given again for final word4 ,wonderful as is his etching for selection of line1 wonderful for firmness of hand1 we must never allow ourselves to forget that it was not intended to present1 that it was not intended to be in any way concerned with1 the whole of a picture4 ,,iii4 ,,girtin4 ,the limitations which we have marked in ,turne aim in ,etching1 are to be noticed just as clearly in the aim of ,girtin4 ,nay1 they are to be noticed yet more4 ,for while ,turner not infrequently gave emphasis to his work by the depth and vigour of his bitten line1 ,girtin1 in his few and rare etchings--which1 it is worth while to remember1 just preceded ,turne--sought only to establish the composition and the outline4 ,he did this with a skill of selection scarcely less than ,turne own1 and admirable1 almost as in his water-colour work1 is the quiet sobriety of his picturesque record4 ,but though ,girti etchings--many soft-ground1 and about twenty--may contain some lessons for the craftsman1 some indeed for the artist1 they are scarcely for the portfolios of the collector4 ,they were wrought1 all of them1 towards the end of ,girti life1 that was cut short in #ahjb1 ,illustration3 ,,girtin4 8,a ,,seine ,,bridge40 when he was twenty-nine years old4 ,they were the preparations for his aquatinted plates of ,paris1 against which in their completed form there is only this to be said--that the avoidance1 generally1 of any attempt at atmospheric effects1 involves a seeming monotony of treatment1 though as dignified visions of old ,parisian architecture1 of ,parisian landscape1 so to speak1 in its habitual setting of wide sky and noble river1 they have never been surpassed1 and very seldom equalled4 ,the vision of ,girtin1 it must always be remembered--whatever be his work--is not emphatically personal4 ,with all his charm and breadth and dignity1 something of the pure architectural draughtsman lingered to the end1 in his labour4 ,he had no parti pris about the facts3 no bias we forgive1 no prejudice we welcome4 ,he sought to represent simply the 8view10 although no doubt the 8view0 was generally bettered by his artistry4 ,,iv4 ,,wilkie4 ,a famous ,scotchman1 ,david ,wilkie1 and his very distinguished friend and fellow-countryman1 ,andrew ,geddes1 wrought1 each of them1 in the middle period of ,turne life1 a certain number of etchings of independent merit4 ,those of ,sir ,david ,wilkie1 which were but few1 happen to be the best known1 because ,wilkie1 much more than ,geddes1 was a leader of painting4 ,but1 meritorious as are the etchings of ,wilkie1 in their faithful record of character and picturesque effect1 they are seldom as admirable as the prints of his less eminent brother4 ,they have1 generally1 not so much freedom2 and1 while they follow great traditions less1 they are at the same time less individual4 8,pope ,examining a ,censer0 has the dignity of the designer and the draughtsman1 but not much of the etche particular gift4 8,the ,receipt0--or 8,a ,gentleman ,searching in a ,bureau10 ,illustration3 ,,david ,,wilkie4 8,,the ,,receipt40 for this second title explains the subject better--is the most successful of ,wilki4 ,it is characteristic of his simpler and less ambitious genre1 and is indeed faultless1 and more than faultless--charming4 ,v4 ,,geddes4 ,andrew ,geddes etched four or five times as many plates as ,wilkie4 ,he issued ten from ,brook ,street1 ,grosvenor ,square1 in #ahbf4 ,the dates on some of them are #ahab1 #ahaf1 and #ahbb2 and1 besides these ten that were published1 about thirty more1 which there was no attempt to issue to the world1 have to be taken account of4 ,some1 like the excellent 8,portrait of the ,painte ,mother0--which is so fine in illumination1 in drawing1 and in character--are directly suggested by the artis paintings4 ,others--including all the landscapes--are1 apparently1 studies from ,nature1 done with a singular appreciation of the ripest art of ,rembrandt4 ,geddes was very sensible of the charm of dry-point--of its peculiar quality of giving individuality to each one of the few impressions which you may safely produce from it1 and of its unique capacity for rendering broad effects of light and shade4 ,illustration3 ,,andrew ,,geddes4 8,,at ,,peckham ,,rye40 ,illustration3 ,,andrew ,,geddes4 8,,at ,,halliford ,,on ,,thames40 ,the 8,peckham ,rye0 shows this4 ,nothing can show it better4 ,and there is at least one other plate by ,geddes1 8,halliford on ,thames10 which proves him just as completely a master of elegance and grace of line as 8,peckham ,rye0 shows him a decisive master of masculine effect1 and curiously adept in the broad and balanced disposition of masses of light and shade4 ,gedde work will not decline in value1 and the connoisseur has no business whatever to forget or to ignore it4 ,only1 if he collects the dry-points of ,geddes1 he had better wait for years1 if necessary1 for early impressions of them1 and he had better repudiate altogether the unsatisfactory modern edition--the worthy ,mr4 ,david ,lain volume1 8,etchings by ,wilkie and ,geddes10 issued1 with the best intentions in the world1 in ,edinburgh in #ahge4 ,,vi4 ,,crome4 ,it is the splendid work of ,crome among the ,norfolk coppices--among the fields studded here and there with cattle1 but chiefly in the tangle of the wood1 or where the wood-path winds under the rustic palings1 and then through undergrowth1 and out into the rising meadow1 to be lost at last1 a thread against the horizon sky--it is this splendid tree-work1 large1 massive1 intricate1 pictorial1 never narrowly faithful alone1 that gives interest and value to ,crom series of etchings4 ,he did them mostly in the last years of his life 7which closed in #ahba71 and it was always for pleasure and remembrance that he wrought them4 ,publication he cannot have intended1 for he never did enough to be recognized a master while he lived1 and his etched subjects gave him memoranda for his pictures1 and were little records of places that he loved4 ,their merits came slowly to be known by some few2 and the etchings1 carelessly printed and ill-bitten1 were given1 here and there1 by ,crome to his friends4 ,in #ahcd1 his widow1 ,i am told1 issued an edition1 which must have been very small1 and four years later they came again in a measure before the lovers of ,norfolk art1 re-bitten by one ,mr4 ,ninham1 re-touched by one ,mr4 ,edwards of ,bungay1 and issued with a short biography by ,mr4 ,dawson ,turner--a volume which may still be stumbled on at the booksellers4 ,these later states are of slight artistic value4 ,they tell us little of ,crome which we may not know much better from other sources he has furnished1 and much of their work is not ,crom at all4 ,the early states are1 at least1 8signed all over0 by him4 ,amateurish enough in biting and in printing1 they are yet pleasant1 characteristic records4 8,at ,bawburgh10 and 8,near ,hingham0 7dated #ahac71 and 8,at ,woodrising0 are some of those that one would like to cherish3 and cherished they ought to be1 for the reasons ,i have named4 ,yet to put them beside even less admirable works which have enjoyed the ordinary conditions of fair presentation--the biting adequate1 the printing careful1 and the paper good--is to see them1 of necessity1 at a disadvantage4 ,,vii4 ,,cotman4 ,cotma etchings--soft ground1 for the most part--are scarcely for the average collector1 any more than ,crom4 ,no one1 ,i mean1 puts them carefully in the cabinet1 or1 with reverence1 in the shrine and sanctuary of the solander box2 but1 in book-form1 they stand1 and should stand1 on the shelves of some lovers of ,art4 ,one not unwieldy volume--that 8,liber ,studiorum10 which1 in the year #ahch1 ,cotman brought together1 not perhaps without thought of ,turne accomplished triumph--contains two score or so of plates which show much1 not only of ,cotma capacity as a draughtsman1 but of his genius for ideal composition1 of his faculty for dignity of line1 and for so disposing masses of light and shade that they should be not only significant1 but impressive4 ,it is here seen that this glorious and original colourist could dispense with colour and yet be fine and individual4 ,yet1 as achievements in ,illustration3 ,,cotman4 8,,near ,,whitby40 the art of ,black-and-,white1 no careful student could place them in line with the plates of the admitted masters of etching4 ,they have not often the subtlety of technique which1 allied of course with fineness of conception1 is the very sign of the master4 ,still1 they are too good to be passed by in silence4 ,and they are a great ma work4 ,,viii4 ,,samuel ,,palmer4 ,samuel ,palmer--an ,english classic1 by this time1 as a painter of water-colours--made 7from the year #ahej1 or thereabouts1 onward to his old age in the seventies7 a limited number of elaborate etchings in which the play of line is almost wholly lost3 more lost1 much more lost1 than in the etchings of ,mryon4 ,but ,samuel ,palmer1 like ,mryon1 was a great poetic artist4 ,slowly he built up his effects1 his noble sunrise or sunset landscapes--the landscape of artistic convention and poetic vision4 ,the unity and strength of his thought was never sacrificed or frittered by the elaboration of his labour4 ,to condemn him then1 because he was not a free sketcher1 would be as pedantic as to condemn ,mryon4 ,nay more1 were any such pedantic condemnation meted out to him1 it would have to be meted out to the author of the 8,ephraim ,bonus0 in his turn2 since it is a characteristic of ,rembrandt that in ,illustration3 ,,samuel ,,palmer4 8,,the ,,herdsman40 his engraved as in his painted work he allowed himself an amazing elasticity of method4 ,rembrandt1 like every great man1 is super grammaticam4 ,he was a law unto himself4 ,and so1 in a measure1 was ,samuel ,palmer1 the creator of the solemn plates of 8,the ,early ,ploughman0 and 8,the ,herdsman10 and of certain hardly less admirable coppers which illustrate his own translation of the ,eclogues of ,virgil4 ,,ix4 ,,whistler4 ,i pass from the brief mention of a dignified artist1 high of soul--whose work is charged with reverie1 grandeur1 admonishment--to the consideration of an artist little concerned1 in emotional or reflective or didactic way at least1 with ,humanit fortunes1 but the most skilled wielder of the etching-needle whom the world has seen since ,rembrandt4 ,mr4 ,whistle scarcely sympathetic attitude towards his kind may be occasioned in part by the conviction that it is his kin most urgent business to be concerned with his prints1 and his knowledge that this conviction of his own--if thus ,i dare to call it--has not1 until the last few years1 been largely shared by other people4 ,popular he could not be2 or scarcely in his own time4 ,a ,sarasate1 with his music1 attracts the world2 but in pictorial art of every sort the virtuoso appeals only to his brethren4 ,his 8brethren0--his real brethren--are quite as likely indeed to be connoisseurs as fellow-workmen4 ,but 8brethren0 shall be the word4 ,and it is such who--some of them for more than thirty years1 and some of them since yesterday--have recognized the genius of ,whistler4 ,our admirable comedian1 ,mr4 ,toole1 is--if ,i may recall the saying of one of his fellow artists--commonly supposed to have been born in every town of the ,english provinces1 in which the receipts1 when he visits it1 do their part to justify that town in claiming him as a native4 ,not quite for the same reason there are towns which dispute with ,baltimore the honour of having given birth to the artist of the 8,french ,set10 the 8,thames ,set10 and the 8,twenty-,six ,etchings40 ,mr4 ,whistler was born1 anyhow1 of ,american parents--,i like ,baltimore so much1 that ,i hope it is only ,baltimore that can fairly claim him--and it is stated to have been in ,july1 #ahcd1 that he came into the world4#b ,american then by birth1 or family association1 he is to a great extent ,french by education1 and his first dated etchings1 of the year #aheg1 were wrought when he was a student in ,paris4 ,along with a popular ,english draughtsman of ,society1 he was in the studio of ,gleyre1 and to ,gleyre1 for all that ,i know1 he may owe something2 but no debt is apparent in his work4 ,a few etchings wrought in ,paris1 and a few during a journey in ,alsace and ,lorraine1 and then in #ahei we find ,whistler settled in ,london and busy with the laborious series of etchings of the ,thames4 ,he was himself almost from the beginning1 though it is possible to trace the influence of even minor ,dutch etchers1 or ,dutch painters at all events1 in such a tentative little work as 8,the ,dutchman ,holding the ,glass10 and though in the nobler plates known as the 8,rag-,gatherers10 8,la ,vieille aux ,loques10 8,la ,marchande de ,moutarde10 and 8,the ,kitchen10 it is clear that ,whistler in his conception of a subject was scarcely without reverent thought of the great masters of pathetic suggestion and poetic chiaroscuro--,rembrandt1 ,de ,hooch1 and ,nicholas ,maes4 ,but by the time he executed the most justly famous etchings of the ,thames set--the most famous of the 8,sixteen ,etchings10 such as 8,black ,lion ,wharf10 8,the ,pool10 and 8,thames ,police0--he was himself1 wholly4 ,he was in full possession of what may be called his earlier manner4 ,nay1 in ,december1 #ahei--not many months after these things had been wrought with a minuteness of detail which the art of ,van der ,heyden or of ,hollar could not have ,illustration3 ,j4 ,mc,n,e,i,l ,,whistler4 8,,thames ,,police40 excelled--we find in one unfinished plate of extreme interest and extraordinary rarity 78,paris3 ,isle de la ,cit07 some union of his earlier realization with his later suggestiveness4 ,the early detail of ,whistler1 in the ,thames etchings1 is never for a moment dull4 ,he puts down for us on the copper endless results of endless and interesting observation4 ,the life of the ,river1 8below bridge10 and the life of riverside ,london is all there--barge and bargee1 crane and warehouse1 wharf and chimney1 clipper and wherry1 and the sluggish stream1 the flat horizon1 the distant river-curve1 the tower of ,rotherhithe ,church1 rising perhaps from out of the remote and low-lying roofs4 ,and1 elaborate as the work is1 it is never for a moment either fatigued or mechanical3 it preserves inviolate the freshness and vivacity which it is the province of the etching to retain4 ,nor does the work of ,whistler1 either at this period or later1 ever lose sight of that which1 again1 it is the etche special business to cultivate--the value of pure 8line40 ,by 8pure10 ,i do not mean ,classic 7,classic line has other functions73 ,i mean the line that is expressive--that is set with a purpose2 that1 being laid1 is not interfered with--the line that lives and that tells its story4 ,by #ahfc--;as is shown by the exquisite 8,chelsea ,wharf10 with its quiet of the suburban afternoon1 and by the admirable 8,amsterdam10 with its houses1 its shipping1 its thin line of long flat coast under a wildish sky#c--,whistler had thoroughly entered upon the work of his middle period4 ,a manner more suggestive to the expert1 and more economical to the artist1 though received less readily by the first-comer1 was by this time clearly upon him2 and1 with certain modifications1 it has continued to this day4 ,perhaps it is most distinctly marked in that ,leyland period--a period of the rare dry-points of the ,leyland family--which1 after a little interval1 succeeded the period of the 8,chelsea ,wharf0 and the 8,amsterdam40 ,it is in its perfection in 8,the ,model ,resting0 7#ahgj71 in 8,fanny ,leyland0 7#ahgc71 and in 8,dam ,wood0 7#ahge7--;all of them rare1 desirable1 notable plates of the true ,leyland period1 in most of which1 as in some of his later work1 ,mr4 ,whistler would seem--if ,i may put it so--to have painted upon the plate as much as drawn3 to have sought1 that is1 painte as well as draughtsma qualities4 ,i endeavour to note the distinctions1 but after some fourteen years of close study of ,mr4 ,whistle works--and of fruitful enjoyment of their possession--,i must still guard myself against expressing any marked preference for one period over another4 ,the work of each period has its own qualities1 and1 since all ,art is concession and compromise1 the work of each period may have likewise its own deficiencies4 ,practically there has been no 8bad time20 but at more times than one there have been--even from this gifted hand--unsatisfactory1 unworthy prints4 ,in #ahgi1 the great etcher went to ,venice1 at the instance of the ,fine ,art ,society1 and there1 in line extraordinarily expressive and vivacious1 he recorded1 not so much the recognized beauties of the town1 as the vividness and variety of his personal impressions4 ,that was his true business4 ,some of these etchings were exhibited before they were properly finished--finer effects remained1 ,i mean1 to be obtained from the plates4 ,hence they were received1 perhaps1 with more than customary coldness1 though the fairy-like 8,little ,venice10 nearly perfect to begin with1 was always an exception to the rule4 ,there is nothing of ,rembrand1 there is nothing of ,mryo1 besides which this diminutive masterpiece may not most fitly be placed4 ,power of selection1 power of composition1 delicacy of handling1 all say their last word in the 8,little ,venice40 ,art does not go any further4 ,since #ahhj1 when they were first exhibited1 many of the plates done in ,venice have been taken up and perfected4 ,the 8,piazzetta10 for instance--unattractive at first3 a ragged thing1 or a skeleton--has somewhat lately been brought to the highest level that is attained by any etche art4 ,and1 several years ago1 ,mr4 ,whistler perfected for the limited issue by the ,messrs4 ,dowdeswell1 the 8,twenty-six0 plates--most of them ,venetian in theme--which had1 fortunately1 been bought by hardly anybody 7,i may suppose7 until1 in #ahhf1 their excellence was achieved4 ,in this set1 the entrancing freedom and inexhaustible suggestiveness of 8,the ,balcony0 and 8,the ,garden0 demand note3 the balcony that1 with drapery flung upon it1 hangs over and overlooks the ,grand ,canal3 the garden which passing humanity peers into1 and peering1 perhaps reflects with the ,greek poet whose youth was gone3 8,spring for the tree and herb2 no spring for us40 ,it was in #ahhf that ,i published my 8,whistle ,etchings3 a ,study and a ,catalogue40 ,about two hundred and fourteen etchings had then been executed2 and these--the work of what must necessarily be the better part of ,mr4 ,whistle lifetime--were carefully described as well as appreciated4 ,i hope the book was not ,illustration3 ,j4 ,mc,n,e,i,l ,,whistler4 8,,the ,,piazzetta40 without effect1 in ,england and ,america1 on the demand for ,mr4 ,whistle prints1 many of which1 however1 were already unobtainable1 so narrowly limited had been their issue1 and so various1 during all those years1 the fortunes of the plates4 ,but if old etchings were difficult to get1 new ones were not wanting4 ,there cropped up1 under my notice1 ingenious but insignificant croquis1 declared by dealers1 interested in them1 to be valuable1 because they were 8undescribed40 ,why were they 8undescribed80 ,because1 it seems1 they had only at that moment been done4 ,plates with a few scratches on them--clever1 since they were ,whistle1 but each plate less important than the last--passed quickly into the hands of men who had1 presumably1 much money and only a little knowledge4 ,during the last five or six years1 with a creditable and natural reaction from what would seem to have been a fever of immature fruitfulness--in the midst of which1 after all1 this exquisite and ever dainty artist did1 of course1 nothing ugly1 though much that was rather provokingly thin--,mr4 ,whistler has1 from time to time1 produced a few new plates of serious interest and of finest accomplishment4 ,the ,brussels group belongs1 in spirit1 if not precisely in fact1 to these latest years2 and charming is the seeming intricacy1 yet assured lightness1 of the ,whistlerian treatment of ,flemish house-front4 ,again1 there are delightful little things wrought in the country of the ,loire3 not solid records1 but1 as it were1 fleeting visions of its architecture1 and very fascinating4 ,but the best of all the later work1 and it is among the very latest that has yet been seen1 is the quite admirable 8,zandaam10 over whose stretched line the breeze from across dyke and fen and ,zuyder ,zee1 stirs here1 stirs there1 stirs everywhere1 the wings of the windmills of ,holland4 ,illustration3 ,,seymour ,,haden4 8,,tree ,,study40 ,x4 ,,seymour ,,haden4 ,several years before ,mr4 ,whistler etched at all--in #ahdc and #ahdd indeed--a now veteran artist1 ,president 8de sa propre ,acadmie10 who has been famous surgeon as well as famous etcher--founder of the ,royal ,society of ,painter-,etchers1 energetic advocate1 by speech and writing1 of the art he loves--drew delicately upon six tiny plates what were meant to be the beginnings of landscapes in mid-,italy4 ,as rare as anything in ,mr4 ,whistle long uvre--though1 as their author knows1 in themselves far less desirable--are the impressions of those little plates1 which few have seen1 but which ,i beheld1 perhaps ten or twelve years ago1 strengthened here and there with pencil-work1 yet even then only feebly holding their own1 among the abundant treasures of an upper chamber in ,hertford ,street--the almost unknown initial chapter1 they1 in the sturdy and now celebrated volume of ,seymour ,hade etched work4 ,the days when they were executed were about the days of the ,etching ,club1 a body which in its turn was followed by the ,junior ,etching ,club4 ,these clubs left us no legacy we care to inherit2 their productions were for the most part fidgety1 prim1 at best desperately pretty and ridiculously elaborated1 so that there was practically nothing in them of visible and expressive line4 ,a little--just a little--of that visible line there was--there actually was1 even in an unenlightened period--in those few trifling plates of ,seymour ,hade on which his first work was accomplished4 ,he wrought nothing for many years afterwards4 ,then1 in #aheh1 when ,whistler1 by this time his brother-in-law1 was already busy1 ,seymour ,haden--urged thereto by the knowledge of good work executed in ,france at that moment1 and by a fitting reverence for the master etchings of ,rembrandt--took up some coppers seriously2 and he set down upon them1 in this and the few following years1 with an appreciation not less certain and immediate than ,mr4 ,whistle of those laws to which etchings should conform1 his powerful and personal impressions of ,english landscape1 of the trout stream1 and the stately river1 of forest trees1 a sunset over the ,thames1 of the yews and cedars of an ,english country-house 78,mytton ,hall071 of the reflections1 in some quiet ,illustration3 ,,seymour ,,haden4 8,,thomas ,,haden1 ,,after ,,wright ,,of ,,derby40 ,illustration3 ,,seymour ,,haden4 8,,kidwelly ,,town40 water1 of the homely buildings of a little whitewashed town in ,wales 78,kidwelly ,town074 ,a few years later1 when the achievements of ,haden had grown numerous1 the intelligent ,french critic1 ,monsieur ,philippe ,burty 7whom the revival of etching greatly interested71 praised and chronicled them in the 8,gazette des ,beaux-,arts40 ,there were fifty or sixty prints by that time4 ,this was in #ahfd4 ,and in #ahfe and #ahff1 about thirty of them--including the minor but still attractive plates used as 8head0 or 8tail-pieces0--were formally published in ,paris1 with a ,french text which consisted in part of an excellent analytical and didactic letter1 written in the foreign tongue1 by the artist to ,monsieur ,burty4 #ahfd and #ahfe were years of great productiveness1 and among educated lovers of ,art1 at home and in ,france1 popularity1 hitherto denied to the etcher--for ,whistler was little appreciated and ,mryon was starving--courted ,haden with its blandishments1 or threatened him with its dangers4 ,of the 8,shere ,mill ,pond0 ,mr4 ,hamerton spoke in 8,etching and ,etchers0 in terms of what ,i cannot but think was somewhat exaggerated praise4 ,in #ahgj1 the large and impressive plate of 8,the ,breaking up of the #8,agamemnon'0--8large0 ,i say2 not 8huge10 for 8the huge plate is an offence0--put the coping-stone upon that edifice of ,seymour ,hade celebrity to which the writings of ,mr4 ,hamerton 7in the now standard volume ,i have already referred to7 had contributed an important storey4 ,mr4 ,hamerton1 at that period1 there can be little question1 did not fully appreciate ,mr4 ,whistler4 ,i am not certain that he ever did4 ,he already wrote of him--need ,i say8--with intelligence and interest1 but his enthusiasm was reserved1 so far as the moderns are concerned1 for ,mryon and for ,haden4 ,save for an exceptional activity in the year #ahgg--the year of the ,dorsetshire dry-points and of the ,spanish etchings--the productiveness of ,seymour ,haden1 since #ahfi1 began visibly to slacken4 ,in #ahgi it stopped4 ,the #ahe etchings chronicled by ,sir ,william ,drake in 8,a ,descriptive ,catalogue of the ,etched ,work of ,francis ,seymour ,haden0 had all been executed2 and soon afterwards--either during ,seymour ,hade visit to ,america or during a visit of ,mr4 ,keppe to these shores--the veteran artist said to the ,new ,york print-dealer3 8,i shall etch no more40 ,i imagine ,mr4 ,keppe countenance of surprise and regret1 and ,seymour ,hade interested observation of it4 ,but the incident was not over4 ,the artist brought out his etching-needle2 looked at it2 placed it gravely in ,illustration3 ,,seymour ,,haden4 8,,the ,,water ,,meadow40 ,illustration3 ,,seymour ,,haden4 8,,windmill ,,hill40 ,mr4 ,keppe hands4 ,it was presented to him as a sign that that which had been spoken would surely be fulfilled1 and the etcher would etch no more4 ,like ,madame ,arnould-,plessis1 like ,macready1 too1 but like how few of his fellows in any department of public effort1 this artist withdrew himself from productiveness before ever the quality of his production had visibly failed4 ,perhaps ,i shall do well1 in one or two last paragraphs about him1 to name1 for convenience sake1 a few of ,sir ,seymour ,hade most excellent and most characteristic works--prints in which his vivid impression of the object or the scene before him has been most vividly or1 it may be1 subtly conveyed--prints1 perhaps1 which have his most distinguishing qualities of directness and vigour4 ,the etchings of ,seymour ,haden are deliberately arrested at the stage of the frank sketch2 but it is the sketch conceived nobly and executed with impulse4 ,it is not the sketch upon the thumb-nail2 it is not the memorandum that may be made upon a ma shirt-cuff at dinner-time1 in the interval between the soup and the fish4 ,the tendency of his work1 as time went on1 was1 as is usual1 towards greater breadth2 but1 unless we are to compare only such a print as 8,out of ,study-,window10 say 7done in #ahei71 with only the most admirable dry-point1 8,windmill ,hill0 7done in #ahgg71 there is no greatly-marked contrast1 no surprise2 there is but a steady and slow and apparently inevitable development4 ,this ,i in part attribute to the fact that when ,seymour ,haden took up etching seriously in #aheh1 he was already middle-aged4 ,he had lived for years in frequent intercourse with noble and accomplished ,art2 his view of ,nature1 and of the way of rendering her1 or letting her inspire you1 was large1 and likely to be large1 almost from the beginning4 ,yet1 as time went on1 there came1 no doubt1 an increasing love of the sense of spaciousness1 of breadth1 and of potent effect4 ,the work was apt to become more dramatic and more moving4 ,the hand asked the opportunity for the fuller exercise of its freedom4 8,sawley ,abbey10 etched in #ahgc1 is an instance of this1 and ,i am glad to mention it1 not alone for its merits1 but because1 like a certain number of its fellows among the later work1 it is etched on zinc--a risky substance1 which succeeds admirably when it succeeds1 and when it fails1 as ,sir ,seymour tells me1 fails very much4 8,windmill ,hill10 8,nine-,barrow ,down10 8,wareham ,bridge10 and 8,the ,little ,boathouse10 and1 again1 that 8,grim ,spain0 which illustrates my 8,four ,masters of ,etching10 are the prints which ,i should most choose to possess ,illustration3 ,,seymour ,,haden4 8,,scotch ,,firs40 7,the artis last etching47 amongst those of ,seymour ,hade later time2 whilst1 going back to the period of #ahfd and #ahfe1 8,sunset on the ,thames0 is at the same time popular and strong1 and 8,penton ,hook0 remarkable for its draughtsmanship of tree-trunk and stump4 ,yet earlier--for they belong to #ahfj and #ahei--8;,combe ,bottom0 is unsurpassed for sweetness and spontaneity1 8,mytton ,hall0 for its full share of that element of ,style which is never wholly absent from ,seymour ,hade work1 and 8,the ,water ,meadow0 is to be studied and enjoyed as an extraordinarily happy transcript of a sudden rain-storm in the ,hampshire lowlands1 where poplars flourish and grass grows rank4 ,,xi4 ,,alphonse ,,legros4 ,more than one of the great etchers who must in fairness be treated with the ,british school are of foreign origin4 ,born at ,dijon in #ahcg1 and trained chiefly in ,paris--painter1 of course1 as well as etcher--,alphonse ,legros came to ,london when he was quite a young man4 ,he has been amongst us since #ahfc4 ,it was in ,paris1 about #aheg1 that he did his first etchings1 and his surprising originality was declared from the beginning4 ,the trivial1 the accidental even1 had no attractions for him4 ,even the quiet humour which one recognizes in his character1 has no place in his work4 ,simple1 serious1 austere1 highly refined1 yet with curious tolerance of physical ugliness1 and curious indifference to the beauty1 at all events1 of women1 ,monsieur ,legros has conveyed to us1 in his own leisurely and economical fashion1 any time these thirty years1 his vision of a world not ours1 or ,illustration3 ,,legros4 8,,communion ,,dans ,,glise ,,st4 ,m,,dard4 rather1 very often1 his vision of the deeper realities which underlie whatever may attract us on the surface4 ,legros has been concerned--and best of all concerned in etching--with many departments of ,art4 ,like ,mr4 ,g4 ,f4 ,watts1 he has been fascinated1 here and again1 and very specially1 by masculine intellect and character2 masculine kindness1 goodness1 genius1 energy4 ,of ,mr4 ,watts himself--and fortunately in the medium of etching--he has made the happiest of all possible portraits1 finding in the theme a gravity of manly beauty1 a charm of approaching age1 to which he has always been intensely sympathetic4 ,gambetta1 too1 and ,sir ,frederic ,leighton1 and ,cardinal ,manning--who1 if he appealed to him at all1 must have appealed to him on the side of austerity alone--have been the subjects of ,legro etched portraiture4 ,to each portrait he has given1 though in very different measures1 according as the subject wanted it1 a nobility and dignity supplied by his own art and temperament1 and by a sense of ,style nourished upon the study of the ,renaissance and of ,rembrandt4 ,and1 on the other hand1 upon each selected model whom he has treated in those other etchings which are not confessedly portraiture1 he has bestowed the grave veracity1 the verisimilitude of the portrait4 ,hardly any of ,legro work is dated1 and1 as time has passed1 the changes in his method have not been very marked1 though it is hardly to the earliest etching that we must go for his most trained draughtsmanship and most accomplished technique4 ,on the other hand1 the early work has about it a sometimes savage earnestness1 a rapid and immediate expressiveness1 a weirdness also1 which are immensely impressive4 ,poetic and pathetic is it besides1 sometimes to the last degree4 8,les ,chantres ,espagnols10 for example1 is the creation of a great artist3 a most penetrating and pathetic study of physical and mental decay4 ,it represents eight priestly singing men lifting up what hoarse and feeble voices they may be possessed of1 in the hushed choir1 by the uncertain light of torches1 in the nigh most mysterious and most ominous hour4 ,several among the more fascinating of these somewhat early etchings and dry-points record the life of the priesthood4 ,in its visible dignity1 its true but limited camaraderie1 in its monotony and quietude1 in its magnificence of service and symbol1 the life of the priest1 and of those who serve in a great church1 has impressed ,legros profoundly1 and he has etched these men--one now reading a lesson1 one waiting now with folded hands1 one meditative1 one observant1 and now one offering up the ,illustration3 ,,legros4 8,,la ,,mort ,,et ,,la ,b,,cheron40 ,host1 and now another bending over the violoncello with slow movement of the hand that holds the bow4 ,dignity and ignorance1 pomp and power1 weariness1 senility1 decay1 and almost squalor--nothing has escaped him4 ,in ,literature1 only a ,balzac could have done equal justice to that which attracts1 and to that which must needs repel4 ,realist1 but always poet1 in his treatment of these themes--and in the treatment of such a dramatic plate as 8ncendie10 such a nobly imaginative plate as 8,la ,mort et le ,bcheron0--,legros1 when he betakes himself to landscape1 is realist no longer1 or1 rather1 his realism here is shown only in his contentment with the homely scene1 the most everyday material4 ,generally1 on impression of his landscape is that it is built to some extent upon the memories of his youth2 that1 since then1 a little observation has gone a long way--that he has cared to dream and fancy rather than to actually notice4 ,here and there1 in his etchings1 one maybe reminded of the uplands around ,dijon1 or of the chalk hills of the ,boulognais1 with its wide fields and haystacks1 its gaunt outhouses--a land which rumours of 8high farming0 have never reached4 ,as the railway train swept under the hillside1 ,legros1 one thinks1 may have profited by a glance from the windows4 ,and out of the glance1 and out of the memory1 and out of the artis genuine sympathy with humble and monotonous days1 there has grown a homely poem4 ,with ,mr4 ,whistler1 on the rare occasions on which he has treated it in his mature art 7in the rare 8,dam ,wood0 especially71 ,landscape becomes ,decoration4 ,with ,sir ,seymour ,haden1 landscape is a matter that must be energetically observed4 ,swift1 skilful memoranda are taken of it--memoranda which are not the less scientific because they may be dramatic besides4 ,with ,legros1 the landscape must submit to change1 to simplification1 to abstraction1 generalization even1 in the processes of his mind2 and the picture which his hand fashions--the hand with reverie behind it--is one which travel will help no one to encounter1 and experience help no one to realize4 ,yet it has its own value4 ,before ,i leave this deeply interesting and so original artist1 ,i will add that in the 8,catalogue ,raisonn de uvre grav et lithographi lphonse ,legros10 compiled by ,messieurs ,thibaudeau and ,poulet-,malassis in #ahgg1 there are chronicled #afh pieces1 but that1 writing to me ten years later1 ,m4 ,thibaudeau was able to tell of nearly ninety additions to the list4 ,since then the number has been yet further extended1 for ,legros1 to this day1 has not ceased to etch4 ,,xii4 ,,william ,,strang4 ,professor1 during something like a score of years1 at the ,slade ,school in ,london1 ,legros had then a dominating influence upon many amiable followers who will hardly hereafter be heard of1 and upon two or three clever people with a future in ,art4 ,among these latter--if1 for our present purpose1 we disregard men who are painters exclusively1 like ,tuke and ,gotch--the most conspicuous are ,william ,strang and ,charles ,holroyd4 ,strang is the senior4 ,he has thus far1 naturally1 been much the most prolific4 ,he is also the most technically accomplished1 and1 more than any younger etcher of the day--almost as much1 indeed1 as ,monsieur ,legros--he has shown himself possessed of the vital gift of imagination4 ,like ,legros1 he has looked immensely at ,old ,masters--at the ,italian ,primitives and at ,rembrandt--and has seen ,nature in great measure through their eyes1 and this as much when ,humanity as when ,landscape has been the object of his gaze4 ,in ,stran case1 too1 to these accepted and avowed ,old ,masters1 there has come to be added another ,old ,master--,i mean1 ,alphonse ,legros4 ,strang is a ,scotsman4 ,that devotion to the weirdness and the uncanny1 which is a note of the full ,celtic temperament1 is shown amazingly in his selection of subject2 he is1 perhaps1 most of all contented with himself when he sets himself to illustrate a ballad of the supernatural1 written in a dialect into the last recesses of which ,i--who love best the ,english tongue--lack1 ,i confess1 the energy to penetrate4 ,his imagination1 however1 is far from being exercised alone on these themes of the supernatural4 ,it is occupied1 not seldom1 with as great a power1 upon modern incidents treated with quaintness and intensity--the meditations of a jury1 the expositions of a preacher1 the rescue of the drowned from some dark river1 the ill-bred hysteria of the ,salvation ,army4 ,in portraiture1 while it is yet visible1 and even valuable1 it is controlled sometimes by sense of ,style1 and then we have1 as in the almost ,vandyke-like portraits of ,mr4 ,sichel1 and of ,jan ,strang--the nearest approach which ,mr4 ,strang suffers himself to make to the wide domain of beauty4 ,his customary indifference to charm of form1 to charm of ,illustration3 ,,strang4 8,,the ,,potato ,,basket40 ,illustration3 ,,william ,,strang4 8,,the ,,bookstall40 ,illustration3 ,,william ,,strang4 8,,justice ,,lindley40 expression1 to that which is agreeable and comely1 to that which the natural man would voluntarily look upon1 is yet more marked--a hundred times more marked--than ,mr4 ,legro4 ,grace1 elegance1 personal distinction1 the freshness of youth1 the winsomeness of girlhood1 the acceptability of the ,english upper classes--these things are far from him3 he wots not of them1 or but rarely4 ,he likes poor folk1 enjoys the well-worn clothes1 the story of the poor fol work and poor fol trouble4 ,for that ,i do not blame him4 ,but1 like ,ostade and ,brouwer1 he likes the cottager best when he is stunted1 and is most interested in him when he is gnarled4 ,for all the absence--an absence frequent1 not continuous--of local colour1 the scenes ,mr4 ,strang depicts arrest you4 ,you remember them because he has himself remembered that which was most important in the making of them4 ,essentials have not escaped him4 ,the 8realism0 he has attained has been at least something much deeper than that which prides itself on the correct portrayal of the obvious4 ,in great themes and little themes he has been alike vivid4 ,there may be something that is squalid and something that is ignoble in 8,the ,last ,supper0 as he can conceive it2 but1 at all events1 a genuine human emotion is not banished from the scene4 ,he is ,von ,uhde-like in that4 ,and here and there1 in brief suggestive studies of contemporary existence1 an imaginative light is flashed upon the page1 a touch of romance suggested1 as where1 in the curious little etching of a ,bohemian wayfarer--a someone who has lost caste probably1 whose pence and whose friends are few--lighting his pipe at a flaring gas-jet over some street bookstall on a ,saturday night1 you feel that for a moment there has sprung into your vision a fellow-creature with a history1 whose mysteriousness you will not solve4 ,out of the darkness he has emerged for an instant1 and into it he returns again4 ,this very remarkable artist has already executed not less than two hundred and fifty etchings4 ,illustration3 ,,charles ,,holroyd4 8,,midnight ,,mass40 ,illustration3 ,,charles ,,holroyd4 8,,farm ,,behind ,,scarborough40 ,illustration3 ,,charles ,,holroyd4 8,,round ,,temple40 ,,xiii4 ,,charles ,,holroyd4 ,a residence of two or three years in ,italy--where he enjoyed the ,slade ,school ,travelling ,studentship--has vied with the tuition of ,mr4 ,legros in influencing that more than promising etcher1 ,mr4 ,charles ,holroyd4 ,a sense of dignity and ,style1 and1 with this1 some direct personal inspiration1 lift ,mr4 ,holroy work entirely above the level of the commonplace and the ordinary4 ,in sense of line1 indeed1 he not seldom makes approach to the classic4 ,he has affinity with ,claude and with ,george ,barret4 ,several of the best of ,mr4 ,holroy not yet very numerous prints--each one of which is well-considered1 thorough and serious work--deal worthily1 truly that is1 and yet imaginatively1 with the lives of ecclesiastics1 among the cypresses and olive woods and pine-trees of ,monte ,oliveto1 and in the gaunt and spacious chambers of the remote and hillside monastery1 in which ,mr4 ,holroyd1 with his love of ,italy and of its graver life1 was sometime minded to abide4 ,thus1 in the ,monte ,oliveto series1 we have the sombre yet pictorial incident of 8,midnight ,mass10 and1 again1 the 8,ladies' ,guesthouse10 with its ,tiepolo-like charm4 ,the homeliness of subject in his 8,farm behind ,scarborough0 does not forbid the display of certain of ,mr4 ,holroy virtues4 ,yet perhaps more characteristic is the 8,round ,temple10 or that 8study of line0 suggested by the noble and free beauty of the ,borghese ,gardens4 8,round ,temple0 is the fuller1 the more realized4 8,borghese ,gardens0 consciously and inevitably abandons much that is wont to attract1 but it retains the thing for which it has existed--dignified and expressive rhythm of line4 ,and this justifies it1 and permits it to omit much1 and only to exquisitely hint at the thing it does not actually convey4 ,illustration3 ,,frank ,,short4 8,,wrought ,,nails40 ,illustration3 ,,frank ,,short4 8,,sleeping ,,till ,,the ,,flood40 ,illustration3 ,,frank ,,short4 8,,quarter ,,boys40 ,,xiv4 ,,frank ,,short4 ,amongst the original etchers remaining to be discussed ,i place ,frank ,short almost at the top of the tree4 ,some people will say that ,shor true place would be with copyists or interpreters rather2 but that is only because they do not know his original work--the very limited issue of his original plates having withheld from them a publicity won already indeed by many of his brilliant interpretations of the pictures or the drawings of long-accepted artists4 ,no one--not even ,mr4 ,wehrschmidt or ,mr4 ,gerald ,robinson--has done as much as ,frank ,short for the modern revival of mezzotint4 ,it is more perhaps by mezzotint than by any other medium that ,mr4 ,short has effected his delightful translations of ,turner1 of ,constable1 of ,dewint1 and of ,watts4 ,but if not one of these things existed--if he had never wrought those exquisite interpretations1 for example1 of a sketch by ,constable1 belonging to ,mr4 ,henry ,vaughan1 and of a ,dewint drawing1 8,a ,road in ,yorkshire0--if nothing of this work whatever had been done by ,mr4 ,short1 then would he still have cause to be remembered and valued by reason of the beauty and the technical virtues of his original prints4 ,frank ,shor original prints are1 indeed1 of all the greater merit because1 just as ,mr4 ,whistler himself1 he has disregarded in them1 from beginning to end1 the taste of the everyday public4 ,this delicate array of exquisite etching--very little of it merely tentative2 most of it of complete accomplishment1 if of limited aim--has been called into being1 as ,mozart said of his 8,don ,giovanni10 8for himself and two friends40 ,the 8two friends0 must be taken--one need hardly protest--cum grano salis2 they represent the rare connoisseur1 the infrequent person who enjoys and understands4 ,two classes of subjects have hitherto to a great extent engrossed ,mr4 ,frank ,short in his original work1 and to these there must now be added a third2 for within the last year or so1 following in the wake of his friend ,mr4 ,c4 ,j4 ,watson1 he has visited the land of ,rembrandt1 and has done charmingly suggestive and vivacious sketches of quaint town and long-stretched shore4 ,but the two classes of subject with which one has been wont to identify him are subjects of the ,english coast and of the ,english manufacturing districts2 and1 in a certain sense1 even these two subjects are one1 and this one theme may be described--not too imaginatively1 ,i think1 if we look into the heart of the matter--as the complete acceptance of all that is considered unpicturesque in modern life3 in the manufacturing districts1 the factory chimneys1 the stunted1 smoke-dried trees1 the heavy skies1 the dreary level water1 along which barges make their monotonous way 7see the interesting dry-point1 8,wintry ,blast on the ,stourbridge ,canal071 and1 on the ,english coast1 the massive stone pier1 the harbour muddy at low tide1 the tug1 the sheds1 the warehouses1 or it may be perhaps the wooden fences that protect and preserve the foreshore--the beauty of the whole1 which is unquestionable1 being obtained by a particularly subtle arrangement of line1 a perfect sense of proportion1 a perfect delicacy of handling4 ,coarser people1 of more ordinary vision1 addressing themselves1 as by a parti pris1 to these themes1 have treated them with brutality4 ,but1 on these themes1 it is the distinction of the treatment of ,mr4 ,short that in rendering them with fidelity and patience--even with love--he yet somehow1 in the brief phrase of ,robert ,browning-- 8,put colour1 poetising40 ,yes1 a certain measure of poetry must certainly be claimed not only for the 8,evening1 ,bosham0 and the 8,sleeping till the ,flood10 but for the 8,stourbridge ,canal10 which has been mentioned already1 and for the print of 8,ry ,long ,pier0--this is called indeed1 poetically enough in its suggestiveness1 8,low ,tide and the ,evening ,star0--and for the curiously clever little plate1 8,wrought ,nails10 a scene of the ,black ,country1 which shows the sheds of the workers1 and little trees untended and decaying1 and a bit of waste land1 ragged and dreary1 with nothing of ,nature left1 but only the evidence of me grimy labours1 of their hard1 monotonous life4 ,and1 though up to the present1 or until very lately1 the field of ,mr4 ,shor own observation of the world may seem to have been limited1 it is plain to any qualified student of his prints that he has gained the effects he wanted by a fine sketche economy of means1 by a thorough capacity of draughtsmanship1 much sense of design1 and a very exceptional control over the technical resources of the etche art4 ,illustration3 ,c4 ,j4 ,,watson4 8,,mill ,,bridge1 ,,bosham40 ,illustration3 ,c4 ,j4 ,,watson4 8,,st4 ,,etienne-,,du-,,mont40 ,,xv4 ,c4 ,j4 ,,watson4 ,the work of ,mr4 ,c4 ,j4 ,watson is nearly always absolutely sturdy and sterling4 ,it has tended1 too1 to become delicate2 and when one compares it with ,mr4 ,shor1 very likely the only thing which puts it at an obvious disadvantage is that 7though one can hardly explain the matter7 it has an air of being less personal4 ,that1 ,i admit1 is no small affair4 ,judging from the work alone--and no one would desire to make the comparison except from the work only--one would say1 8,here is a strong and capable hand1 stirred to expression by a nature much less sensitive than that which reveals itself in the etched lyrics of ,frank ,short40 ,mr4 ,short records facts--not great and doleful dreams1 like ,mr4 ,strang or ,mr4 ,legros--but he records facts poetically4 ,more absolutely matter-of-fact is ,mr4 ,watson1 who 7,i am speaking of him1 of course1 apart from his agreeable gift of colour7 so far portrays things realistically that the personal1 the individual1 is comparatively absent1 and his art can hardly be described in the phrase which does define ,art generally--,nature beheld 8 travers n temprament40 ,but ,mr4 ,watson1 who has long been interesting1 has of late years become within certain limits a first-rate craftsman1 albeit still a little wanting in vivacity4 ,it may be that his individuality--such individuality as he possesses--has to be sought for in the soundness of his technique1 and in the ripe judgment which he shows in treating subjects which at least are true etche subjects4 ,practising his art during early manhood in ,norwich1 and being himself1 with his sturdy realism1 as it were1 a last echo of that 8,norwich ,school0 in which only ,cotman was essentially and primarily poet--and ,cotman could be realistic1 too--,mr4 ,watson came1 a few years since1 to ,london1 and here he has developed his powers a stage further1 there is no doubt2 producing1 in the first instance--since his residence in town1 with its wider associations and its greater activities--plates admirable for directness and certainty1 such as 8,the ,mill ,bridge1 ,bosham10 and then the 8,chartres10 its gabled and dilapidated houses1 rather2 the back of ,chartres--,chartres on the wrong side--and then the 8,st4 ,etienne du ,mont10 its west front--that is1 the front of one of the most curious and characteristic of the churches of ,paris--and then the 8,ponte del ,cavallo10 a refined1 if scarcely individual vision of ,venice4 ,some greater delicacy and flexibility of method than were before possessed1 or than were even desirable1 perhaps1 for the subjects to which ,mr4 ,watson in his earlier days addressed himself1 are evident in the 8,chartres20 but they are yet more marked in the 8,st4 ,etienne0 etching1 which no true lover1 no properly equipped student1 of the achievements of the great original aquafortists will be able to examine without some thought of the wonderful plate of ,mryon which bears the same title4 ,of the relative correctness of the two presentations--not1 in my opinion1 an all-important1 though still an interesting matter--,i will say nothing1 or at least very little2 possibly it was ,watson who had looked the hardest at the actual faade of which it was his one business to convey the impression4 ,still1 the immense solidity of ,mryo etching gives it a realism as much its own as is all the wealth of its poetry4 ,the very simplification of the facts must have been deliberate1 and it accomplished its end4 ,it would be ridiculous to suggest that a draughtsman of architecture so patient and thorough as ,mryon1 could not have set forth each detail1 as well as the general character1 had it been his aim4 ,he had other aims1 and this detail accordingly had to be at times subordinated2 for him there was not the church alone1 but the ,collge de ,montaigu and the corner of the ,panthon1 and the weird shadows and the passing women1 and the dark mystery of the ,paris street4 ,in a word1 there was his genius and his message--fancy or fantasy4 ,for ,mr4 ,watson there was 8land1 the solid and safe10 as ,mr4 ,browning moralizes2 the solid earth1 or what the architect had put there--nothing else4 ,and what the architect had put there ,mr4 ,watson noticed--portrayed it with strength--portrayed it1 too1 as afterwards the 8,ponte del ,cavallo10 with perhaps unwonted flexibility4 ,in simpler subjects than the 8,st4 ,etienne du ,mont10 ,mr4 ,watson shows as well as1 or better1 than there1 a quality very characteristic of the truest of modern etchers--of ,mr4 ,whistler and ,mr4 ,short particularly--,i mean1 in what is more or less architectural draughtsmanship1 after all1 an enjoyment of the evidences of construction4 ,very likely it may be said that that is a quality belonging to him as a good draughtsman1 whether1 at the moment etching happens to be1 or happens not to be1 the medium of his work4 ,i think not4 ,there is something in the etched line that reveals especially the presence of this enjoyment--that calls for the certain display of it4 ,illustration3 ,,oliver ,,hall4 8,,landscape ,,with ,,trees40 ,illustration3 ,,oliver ,,hall4 8,,roadside ,,trees40 ,illustration3 ,,oliver ,,hall4 8,,trees ,,on ,,the ,,hill-,,side40 ,illustration3 ,,oliver ,,hall4 8,,the ,,edge ,,of ,,the ,,forest40 ,,xvi4 ,,oliver ,,hall4 ,mr4 ,oliver ,hall1 a young and1 until lately1 a comparatively little-known but a distinctly interesting and strongly gifted etcher 7who paints1 he tells me1 a good deal in water-colour71 has next to be spoken of2 and if his work has one characteristic more than another--though grace and freedom are its characteristics too--the one that is most its own is the continual evidence his plates afford of his enjoyment of growth and building up--his pleasure in the traces of the way by which the object before him became the object that it is4 ,mr4 ,hal object is more likely to be a tree than a church4 ,architecture he does not attack1 and his rare figures are but the figures of the landscape-painter4 ,he labours amongst sylvan and amongst pastoral scenes that are not strikingly picturesque2 and in method1 as well as often in theme1 he suggests ,seymour ,haden4 ,mr4 ,hall has not yet wrought very many plates2 they number1 it may be1 two score4 ,he is not1 in his work1 always faultless1 and perhaps he is not thus far very varied4 ,but he is in the right track1 and has shown no disposition to leave it4 ,he has done beautiful things--the 8,coniston ,hall0 one of the finest of them4 ,he is a vigorous1 frank1 free sketcher1 often sketching 8effects10 as well as forms that vanish less quickly2 and1 in the realm of effects1 the very spirited etching1 8,a ,windy ,day10 is perhaps the best of that which he has done4 ,it is a scene on ,angerton ,moss1 a stretch of open country rising to the right2 the scattered trees and clustered farm buildings on the horizon line2 and they are wind-swept1 and wind is in the sky4 ,illustration3 ,,colonel ,,goff4 8,,chain ,,pier1 ,,brighton40 ,,xvii4 ,,goff4 ,the two contemporary etchers who interest me most1 among those ,i have not had occasion1 yet1 to write of1 are two men unlike1 perhaps1 in nearly everything except in their possession of the essential quality of impulse--,i mean the ,frenchman1 ,monsieur ,p4 ,helleu1 and our fellow-countryman1 ,colonel ,goff4 ,no--when ,i said they were unlike in nearly everything but the essential quality of impulse1 that was clearly an exaggeration4 ,another thing they have in common besides impulsiveness of temperament and spontaneity of effort--a love of beautiful and of free 8line40 ,goff will show that in his studies of the hillside1 of the shore1 of foliage1 of the tall grasses of the water-meadow1 and of the winding stream2 ,helleu will show it in his studies of the most modern humanity1 of the 8,parisienne de ,paris0--all that is most completely of the capital1 subtle1 refined1 over-refined--but with how extenuating an elegance6--or1 now again1 of the young grace of well-bred girlhood1 as in a certain 8,etude de ,jeune ,fille10 with its wonderful union of ,nineteenth-,century vividness with the grace of ,reynolds or ,gainsborough4 ,and yet one other thing belongs to them in common--to these two men whose work presents1 most certainly1 in method as in subject1 many a point of contrast4 ,both1 being artists essentially1 rather than merely skilled practitioners in a particular medium1 swear no unbroken constancy to the art of the etcher--cannot avoid the keen perception and keen enjoyment of those 8effects0 and combinations for which it is not etching that affords the readiest or most appropriate means of record4 ,and accordingly we have from ,monsieur ,helleu1 pastels2 from ,colonel ,goff1 water-colour1 wash heightened with pen-work1 or pencil drawings1 marked sometimes with a strong accent1 at others blond and suave as silver-point itself4 ,third-rate professional artists1 and idle folk1 or folk so busy that they have not had time to notice what good work has been done in ,etching1 and who it is that has done it1 will at once discount ,colonel ,gof labours because ,i call him 8,colonel40 ,but when ,i declare that he is1 in the character of his work and in the fidelity and enthusiasm with which for years he has pursued it1 no more of an 8amateur0 than is ,sir ,seymour ,haden1 he will be1 ,i trust1 even by the most commonplace of judges1 forgiven the accident of military rank--his greatest crime being1 after all1 only that of having served in the ,coldstream ,guards4 ,the offence may be condoned4 ,or1 to speak seriously1 ,i believe that military discipline1 like the training of a surgeon bent on excellence in his own art1 is1 in truth1 only an advantage4 ,the strenuousness1 the thoroughness1 of good professional work1 whether it be done in barrack or in hospital1 in a city ma office or in the study of a writer1 gives some guarantee of at all events the spirit in which the new work1 the pictorial work1 will be undertaken--a guarantee lacking in the case of the small professional painter1 whose discipline in the arts of ,life ,i must account to have been generally less complete4 ,yes1 it is only fair to distinguish1 when we talk about the 8amateur0--and no one has less tolerance for the feeble amateur than ,i have--it is necessary to distinguish between the mind of the dilettante1 of the idler1 of the wishy-washy person who1 from the high realms of an unbroken self-satisfaction1 condescends occasionally to an art1 and the mind of the trained and exact1 and therefore of presumably the strenuous4 ,ten years of frequent 8joyful labour0--,macduf inestimable phrase--in the art of ,etching have resulted in making ,colonel ,goff the author of some seventy plates1 of which1 to the outsider at least1 the first characteristic will seem to be1 the range and variety of their themes4 ,the key to this lies in the sensitiveness of the artist1 in his width of appreciation1 in his reasonable enjoyment of scenes and subjects that have little in common1 that present the piquancy of change4 ,it is only figure-subjects proper that have scarcely ever been attempted by him2 but in landscape1 in marines1 in town subjects1 in subjects which involve now the expression of the passion of ,nature1 now the frankest introduction of every kind of modern detail of construction that is supposed to be ugly1 and that the sentimental brushman declares to be 8unpaintable10 ,goff is thoroughly at home4 ,next to mere prettiness or 8strikingness10 what the public likes best in ,landscape ,art is not the record of ,landscap happy accident or of its intricate and balanced line1 but the intelligible presentation of natural effects4 ,that probably is why1 among ,gof etchings1 the 8,summer ,storm in the ,itchen ,valley0 has thus far been the most popular4 ,and certainly the public choice in this instance lighted upon work that was admirable and accomplished1 spontaneous and effective--work not a little akin to that in ,seymour ,hade admirable 8,water-,meadow10 ,illustration3 ,,colonel ,,goff4 8,,norfolk ,,bridge1 ,,shoreham40 work not proceeding to a conscious elaboration1 yet not stopping short of the point at which even for the many it may be expressive4 ,its quality1 however1 good as it is1 does not really give it a unique place in the list of ,gof labours2 other plates--some that would be considered very humble ones--show virtues quite as valuable4 ,few etchers are ,gof equals1 fewer still go beyond him1 in composition of line1 in arrangement of light and shade2 and as he firmly possesses this science1 it is natural that very many of his plates1 and not only one or two of them1 should satisfactorily display it4 8,norfolk ,bridge1 ,shoreham0--of which a reproduction is given here--displays it delightfully4 ,the unity of impression is complete2 the grouping well-nigh faultless--there is the light arch of the bridge and the dark mass of clustered town behind it2 church and houses and timbered sheds set amidst the winding of tidal waters2 muddy shores1 from above whose low sky-line there rises now and again the mast of a fishing-smack4 ,in 8,winchester0--a little plate of great simplicity and reticence--there is the note of a mood and of an hour1 as well as of a place4 ,behind the flat meadows and the nameless stream that small trees bend over1 there is the long line of the cathedral2 and one feels over all the quiet of ,autumn4 ,not a whit less admirable--a complete and satisfying picture1 wrought with strength and delicacy--is 8,pine ,trees1 ,christchurch40 ,then there is the peace of 8,itchen ,abbas ,bridge0--the little dry-point with the mille house1 the waving poplar1 the granary1 and the slow stream4 ,in another plate1 less personal1 and perhaps less happy1 but still good1 there is the picturesqueness of the ,lewes street2 in the 8,ford1 ,shoreham10 complex activity1 fullness of theme4 ,in the 8,south ,cone10 the great broad waves that swing about the base of ,brighton ,pier1 not only suggest the wind and moving waters that the title implies1 but have a certain decorative quality1 possible only when the process of 8selection0 has been just1 and the visible labour somewhat sternly simplified4 8,the ,chain ,pier1 ,brighton10 combines in high degree the charms of elegance and mystery4 ,see the foreshortening of the steep1 high wall1 the delicacy of the ,chain ,pier and little fleet of skiffs1 the reticent1 suggestive touch in those grouped houses by the 8,albion40 8,charing ,cross ,bridge10 by reason of its subtle arrangement1 its victory over difficult material--more even than the 8,mtropole10 with the dark cliff of masonry and the lighted lamps along the ,brighton 8front0--is perhaps the best of all the several plates which are deliberately devoted to the treatment of such things as ,illustration3 ,,colonel ,,goff4 8,,pine ,,trees1 ,,christchurch40 seem prosaic to the person whose poetry is conventional4 ,most of ,gof plates give proof of thorough draughtsmanship1 to the discerning2 though nowhere is such draughtsmanship paraded or made obvious4 ,in one most recent plate1 however1 devoted to a subject of which the inartistic1 unimaginative mind1 and the insensitive hand1 would have made mere pattern--,i mean the etching of the bared boughs of a weird apple tree--the draughtsmanship is1 of necessity1 and happily1 conspicuous4 ,but the thing is not pattern at all1 and though we follow with delight the intricate line1 there is the charm of an impression as well as the fidelity of a record4 ,there is accent about the etching2 emphasis1 vitality2 an atmosphere plays1 as it were1 amongst the boughs2 the tree is not the tree only1 but a part of ,nature and the day4 ,gthe said to that disciple to whom he most fully unveiled himself1--to the privileged ,eckermann1--8,all my poems are #8occasional' poems40 ,in that resided their freshness1 and ,gthe knew it well4 8,all my etchings are #8occasional' etchings10 could be said by nearly every fine etcher1 too wise to set forth upon the picturesque tour with the deliberate resolution to perpetrate particular prints4 ,for the art of etching1 if it is to yield you its peculiar charm1 must have been exercised--,i cannot say this thing too often--only upon spontaneous promptings4 ,there are very few exceptions4 ,mryon himself--that greatest genius1 perhaps1 in original engraving whom our ,nineteenth ,century has known1 and one of the most elaborate of artists1--was not really an exception2 for1 slow as his work must have been1 the unity of impression preserved throughout so long a labour--the original impulse--was there1 which the circumstance created4 ,the spontaneity is essential4 ,and few men better than ,colonel ,goff have executed spontaneous work with the resources of a firmly-held knowledge4 ,illustration3 ,d4 ,y4 ,,cameron4 8,,border ,,towers40 ,illustration3 ,d4 ,y4 ,,cameron4 8,,the ,,palace1 ,,stirling ,,castle40 ,illustration3 ,d4 ,y4 ,,cameron4 8,,windmills1 ,,zandaam40 ,,xviii4 ,,cameron4 ,the amateur has had the opportunity of looking lately a good deal at the prints of a young ,scottish artist1 ,mr4 ,d4 ,y4 ,cameron1 who has himself1 to do him justice1 looked long and much at the prints of the masters4 ,though young1 he has already been prolific1 and has wrought not only many plates1 but in various methods4 ,of course1 ,i like his work as against that of men who1 however gifted in other mediums of expression1 are not essentially etchers4 ,for ,mr4 ,cameron is essentially an etcher--a fine engraver on the copper1 above all things4 ,yet ,i cannot feel that any great proportion of his work1 thus far1 has quite enough originality or freedom2 and if he is to live and last as an original engraver--as ,i believe he may--he will have to acquire these virtues in yet larger measure4 ,meanwhile1 here are a few comments on certain of the best of his most studiously wrought pieces1 of which even the least attractive do not lack a workmanlike accomplishment4 8,the ,arch10 a composition of curious shape--a tall1 narrow plate--is a performance of solidity and brightness1 although it shows that ,mr4 ,cameron is apt to finish to the corners with a thoroughness too uniform or obvious--to be1 indeed1 like ,mr4 ,c4 ,j4 ,watson1 a little too positive and too material4 ,in the 8,flower ,market10 with its fleeting lights and shades1 he leaves in part this positiveness4 ,he makes an interesting experiment1 but1 after all1 recalls the theme to which he addresses himself1 only enough to assure you that the experiment has not been made in the medium that is fittest for it4 8,colour1 colour1 colour60 you say4 8,the ,palace1 ,stirling0--a dark forbidding interior--has certainly about it a grim ,celtic imagination1 and is individual in that4 ,the oppositions of light and shade are at once strongly marked and skilful--their distribution quite successfully studied--in 8,white ,horse ,close40 8,the ,dolphins0 7#ahib7 is full of vigour and vitality4 ,even better1 perhaps1 is 8,st4 ,john ,street1 ,stirling20 because its draughtsmanship is at once freer and more hesitating--not fixed and petrified1 that is1 but trembling with the semblance of life4 ,and in the background of 8,a ,rembrandt ,farm10 ,mr4 ,cameron has wonderful reminiscences1 both of the maste touch and of his way of looking at the wide-stretched landscape that he cared for the most4 ,nor does the plate suffer perhaps from being for once a deliberate imitation1 successfully accomplished4 ,yet ,i admire ,mr4 ,cameron more--my hope for his ,future is more certain--when ,i hold in my hand a good impression of his 8,border ,towers0--a composition of his own ,north country--a thing in which the inspiration has been very personal1 and the fine work of detail has been obtained at no sacrifice of noble breadth4 ,,xix4 ,,pennell4 ,mr4 ,pennell is an extremely clever1 energetic1 dexterous ,american1 who has found profitable employment in our ,english land4 ,he has shown himself to be a ready journalist in draughtsmanship4 ,drawing architecture and the scenes of the street1 he has produced not a little art that is at once popular and tolerable2 and he has even written about ,art1 dealing sometimes with far profounder people than his own order of mind permits him thoroughly to fathom4 8,critic10 therefore1 ,i cannot call him1 but able draughtsman1 in a limited field1 he unquestionably is4 ,a somewhat small proportion of ,mr4 ,pennel work has consisted of etching1 and in this he has shown1 first1 it appears1 the influence of ,seymour ,haden1 and next1 the influence of ,whistler4 ,had he but brought a personality to be enriched and fructified by great traditions6 ,that1 however1 has been denied him2 and1 possessed ,illustration3 ,,joseph ,,pennell4 8,,le ,,puy ,,en ,,velay40 well of the grammar of his art1 and of some of the best of its methods1 he yet1 as his own work reveals him1 is1 at times1 uninteresting1 since he is always unimaginative4 ,vista he has none4 ,yet1 how good can his work be when the subject comes easily to help him6 ,nor is that seldom4 ,the plate of 8,le ,puy en ,velay10 of which ,i give a reproduction1 and which ,i like so much1 recalls a noble ,drer background--takes our thoughts to those great elder masters who1 from certain remarks that he has made about them1 ,i judge that ,mr4 ,pennell scarcely likes at all4 ,it is the irony of circumstance4 ,,xx4 ,,menpes4 ,though ,mr4 ,mortimer ,menpes had etched not a few coppers before he gave us the long series which recorded his impressions of ,japan--and though1 no doubt1 he has etched from time to time since then--it is by the forty plates which constitute that ,japanese set that he establishes his best claim to be regarded as an artist1 serious and interesting4 ,traces of the ,whistlerian vision1 if not of the ,whistlerian method1 are perceptible in these memoranda of the people and the theatre1 and of the long and low-built towns that stretch themselves sometimes along the edge of sleeping waters4 ,but the art of ,mr4 ,menpes is not all of it derivative4 ,something there is that is of himself alone1 in the impression received and in the manner of its registration4 ,he has economy of means1 and yet abundance of resource4 ,he is not merely a draughtsman ,illustration3 ,,mortimer ,,menpes4 8,,japanese ,,girls40 who has chosen to etch3 he is an etcher whose feeling for the capacity of his particular medium has in it much that is instinctive4 ,,xxi4 ,,raven-,,hill4 ,mr4 ,raven-,hill--the artist who adds piquancy to comic newspapers--is little known as an etcher2 but his work upon the copper is delicate1 rightly precise and rightly free--it is in the best etche manner--and if it is as yet so little recognized1 that is only because it is so scanty and has been so seldom exhibited4 ,from several points of view the small array of ,mr4 ,raven-,hil etched work is interesting and valuable2 it is1 almost invariably1 observant record and admirable craftsmanship2 and not the least legitimate of its sources of interest lies in the fact that in it the presence of the refined artist1 as distinct from that of the smart comic illustrator1 is markedly asserted4 ,hereafter it may be that ,mr4 ,raven-,hill will choose to etch1 and to etch ably1 scenes from the life of which1 in other mediums1 he has been1 deservedly1 a popular exponent4 ,tom1 ,dick1 and ,harry--,harriet1 ,illustration3 ,l4 ,,raven-,,hill4 8,,the ,,wandle ,,river40 too1 by all means--will then have their day upon the copper1 nor will clown and cabotin be left out of the account4 ,but1 hitherto1 the best of ,mr4 ,raven-,hil few etchings record scenes ,whistler might have chosen1 and do so with a touch and choice of line which1 it may well be1 that master might not desire to disown4 ,,xxii4 ,,macbeth ,,and ,,herkomer ,,and ,,axel ,,haig4 ,so much said1 and yet nothing said of men a dozen times more popular than the generally single-minded etchers are wont to be1 of whom in chief ,i have spoken4 ,but to the large public1 ,macbeth and ,herkomer and ,axel ,haig appeal without need of introduction--,macbeth and ,haig appeal especially by treatment1 and ,herkomer especially by subject4 ,herkome theme is generally a dramatic one1 and into it he introduces such obvious interest of line and of expression as may be found in a woman with the picturesqueness of age1 a man comely and vigorous1 a girl with ,anne ,pag 8eyes of youth40 ,mr4 ,herkomer has a story to tell us--sometimes the story of a life as it is told in portraiture1 and he tells it with no absence of ability4 ,but attractive as he well may be1 clever as he most surely is1 he rarely reaches exquisiteness2 nor is there reason to think that the plate1 the needle1 and the aquafortis constitute in any special way his proper ,illustration3 ,,hubert ,,herkomer1 ,r4,a4 8,,gwendydd40 medium4 ,still1 one who is1 as everybody knows1 so spirited and energetic an artist--the author of so many a valiant experiment1 the winner of an occasional triumph in the art of ,painting1 from the day of the 8,pensioners0 to the day of the 8,burgomasters0--can be a graceful sketcher on the copper1 when he likes1 or from time to time1 at all events4 ,robert ,macbet inventive work in etching does not want originality2 but it is not the originality of an etcher1 in method or vision of the world1 but rather the originality of his own painted pictures4 ,these1 or the effects of them1 elaborate and interesting1 he reproduces1 as far as may be1 in the print4 ,for nearly twenty years he has1 from time to time1 etched his own conceptions1 and during much of this long period the public has surely benefited by his able1 dexterous translations of great or charming masters1 from ,velasquez to ,mason4 ,a certain proportion of his original work upon the copper was performed--and not indeed unnaturally--before ,mr4 ,macbeth became familiar with the technical resources of the craft4 ,thus1 the 8,potato ,harvest0--an interesting subject1 and treated1 as to its composition1 very characteristically--is1 as an etching1 grey and colourless4 8,the ,cambridgeshire ,ferry0 7of #ahha71 with that free1 swinging1 rustic girl he likes to paint1 has excellent points about it1 and would be called 8important0 by a dealer4 ,later1 8,a ,cast ,shoe0 is luminous as well as elaborate4 8,flora0--a print of #ahhb--;is very spirited and rich1 and has the sentiment of the morning4 ,but ,i am not sure whether the purist in the etche art would not like most of all the rapid and indicative sketch of 8,a ,flood in the ,fens40 ,it is a slight study1 with the rare note of action and of tragedy--a free dramatic record4 ,mr4 ,axel ,haig1 the third of these popular and long accepted artists1 has no painted pictures by whose method he may be inspired--he is unlike ,robert ,macbeth in this respect--but his able etchings of architectural subjects are nearly all of them1 nevertheless1 finished up to the corners4 ,so much is actually set forth1 with such elaborate and skilled pains--all the work being perfectly evident1 no labour of omission having been undertaken1 and little labour of choice--that the imagination of the spectator has hardly a chance of exercising itself4 ,his intelligence1 alas6 is well-nigh unnecessary4 ,and yet1 as you look at the long record of buildings whose aspect has been grasped and presented by ,mr4 ,haig with diligence and skill1 you must respect1 in the artist1 much of his craftsmanship1 and his great ,german quality of untiring and sagacious effort4 ,illustration3 ,e4 ,a4 ,,armstrong 7,,stanhope-,,forbes74 8,,the ,,open ,,window40 ,,xxiii4 ,,some ,,other ,,etchers4 ,i cannot pretend that the artistic individuality of ,elizabeth ,armstrong and ,minna ,bolingbroke 7now ,mrs4 ,stanhope ,forbes and ,mrs4 ,c4 ,j4 ,watson7 is yet sufficiently marked to allow either to be the subject of a critical essay2 but in the record of an ,art in which--as in so many others--it seems generally to be decreed to women1 8,thus far1 and no further10 it is useful and satisfactory to note the closeness of observation and the skill of hand possessed by these two ladies4 ,in ,miss ,armstrong the world some time ago recognized a particularly dainty draughtswoman2 and the little print which is submitted here as an example of her talent1 is a refined ,genre picture4 ,to ,genre1 too1 belongs that which1 so far as ,i have had the opportunity of knowing1 is the happiest effort of ,miss ,bolingbroke4 ,it is singularly good2 the subject chosen pluckily1 where only a ,modern would have ventured to find it2 and then the theme pictorially conceived1 in the true etche spirit--this admirable little dry-point is a vision of the factory1 broad1 luminous1 and rich4 ,one or two other dry-points by the same artist--dry-points of plump birds1 and live stock of the farmyard--suggest the possibility that in her quest for themes ,miss ,bolingbroke may follow in the track of a great ,frenchman1 and may meet with a success akin to some extent to that of ,bracquemon masterpiece1 8,le ,haut n battant de ,porte40 ,mr4 ,percy ,thomas--a graceful draughtsman of ancient ,english buildings1 and of the incidents of the ,river--must be reckoned almost as of the ,old ,guard1 amongst the etchers of the present generation4 ,he etched before ,etching became fashionable2 and now that he has long been beset with friendly and accomplished rivalry1 he yet proceeds to make additions to the bulk1 and perhaps even to the range1 of his labours4 ,an inequality more marked than any we are wont to perceive in the work of an important master1 tells1 perhaps1 to some extent1 against his position4 ,and though his manner is often pretty1 and is generally refined1 it is but seldom distinguished4 ,he has worked1 it may be1 too much1 and1 it may be1 not always in obedience to the spontaneous prompting4 ,yet his methods ,illustration3 ,m4 ,,bolingbroke4 8,,at ,,the ,,loom40 ,illustration3 ,,percy ,,thomas4 8,,dorking40 have ever been legitimate1 and he has attained grace4 ,his 8,dorking0--with its long perspective of the sunny street in some hour of the summer afternoon--is a piece of agreeable and capable1 and even of elaborate1 sketching2 and his 8,old ,lighthouse1 ,hastings0--one of the most entirely satisfactory of his coppers--has the charm of an admirable composition conveyed by simple and certain means4 ,among the other aquafortists practising from time to time amongst us--not to speak of the more recent of the promising recruits to the ,society of ,painter-,etchers1 who have yet to make their history--mention should not be altogether omitted of ,mr4 ,w4 ,l4 ,wyllie1 whose popular marine subjects need evoke no opposition1 even where1 as exhibitions of the etche art1 they scarcely deserve to attract4 ,again1 there is ,dr4 ,arthur ,evershed1 a ready and sensitive draughtsman with the needle1 whose 8,marsh ,farm0 is only one out of a score of evidences of his refined enjoyment of the quiet lines of uneventful lowland landscape4 ,sir ,charles ,robinson and ,dr4 ,propert need by no means be forgotten4 ,mr4 ,j4 ,p4 ,heseltine has not perhaps exhibited much of late2 but he1 as long ago as when he wrought that series of ,etchings ,mrs4 ,noseda published--it was some twenty years since--gave ample proof of his placid1 sympathetic observation of the ordinary land1 and of his ability to record the charm he was not tardy in feeling4 ,the etched work of ,mr4 ,holmes ,may is1 most of it1 ,i think1 more recent4 ,it is a vigorous1 independent sketching of landscape4 ,it notes tree-form with energy and sky effects with refinement4 ,that potent1 brilliant1 but eccentric ,spaniard1 fashionable naturally among the younger men for his unquestioned audacity of talent--,i mean1 of course1 ,goya--has been1 it would appear1 the chief inspirer of a few clever prints done recently by ,mr4 ,rothenstein1 in frank1 fantastic illustration of ,voltair 8,pucelle rlans40 ,in ,mr4 ,rothenstei few things--too few as yet to permit us to really judge him as an etcher--we see1 along with some inventiveness which is the artis own1 not only ,goy style1 but ,goy method--an effective1 dexterous mingling of the etched line with aquatint4 ,again1 the ,whistlerian spirit finds appropriate expression in the vivacious prints of ,mr4 ,walter ,sickert and of ,monsieur ,roussel--many of them engaging1 interesting1 and unconcealed impromptus1 towards which any word of adverse criticism would be but ill-addressed4 ,and1 lastly1 ere ,i turn to treat at greater length the work of one who is a born etcher1 and an etcher ,illustration3 ,w4 ,,holmes ,,may4 8,,sunrise ,,in ,,wales40 ,illustration3 ,,alfred ,,east4 8,a ,,hurrying ,,wind40 chiefly--,monsieur ,paul ,helleu--let there be brief recognition of the true artis instinct which caused ,mr4 ,alfred ,east1 our admirable landscape painter1 to record1 with the solidity and massiveness so possible to dry-point1 his impression of 8,a ,hurrying ,wind40 ,,xxiv4 ,,helleu4 ,the copper on which some master of etching will1 sometimes in an hour1 engrave in dry-point the latest of his conceptions1 the newest impression he has received from the world1 is1 like the pages of a draughtsma sketch-book1 the revelation of just that thing that strikes him the most4 ,the character--in a sense1 the temperament--of the artist is betrayed or hinted at by his selection2 notwithstanding that the selection1 if the man is wise at all1 owes something to his knowledge of what are the bounds of his capacity4 ,the work of the great etchers--,rembrandt apart1 and he was practically unlimited--shows this4 ,the subtleties of the figure interested ,sir ,seymour ,haden less than the curve of a great stream1 the light and shade in an old garden1 or the broken surface of a ,dorset heath4 ,it is1 at least1 not emotional incidents that have been the mainspring of the art of ,mr4 ,whistler2 for he has been ,illustration3 ,,helleu4 8,,tude ,,de ,,jeune ,,fille40 inspired by the material that he was readiest to receive4 ,and so in the work of that brilliant artist in dry-point to whom ,i turn last of all1 there is evident the sign of his own leanings1 the engaging suggestion of those things in his daily life which he most sympathetically notes4 ,and ,m4 ,helleu is1 above all things1 the recorder of the beautiful or the refined interior1 with its charm of artistic and harmonious detail--its charm1 above all1 of feminine life1 or of the life of children4 ,it is as an artist working in pastels that ,m4 ,helleu--a man still in young middle age--happens to have been longest known4 ,and his pastels have1 not unnaturally1 been for the most part portraits4 ,in them he has evinced1 and more1 it may be1 than in his latest portraits in dry-point1 the skill of the likeness-taker4 ,but likeness-taker merely he has never aimed to be2 the artist has invariably asserted himself1 and1 if in nothing else1 at least by this or that dexterity of craftsmanship--fine jugglery of execution4 ,only four or five years ago did it occur to ,m4 ,helleu to turn to the processes of the engraver1 and to sketch rapidly on copper--he turned to dry-point4 ,he has found in ,england much appreciation2 he has worked here to some extent2 and his contributions to the ,society of ,painter-,etchers have been frequent as well as delightful4 ,in ,paris1 ,m4 ,helleu was much associated with ,m4 ,james ,tissot1 an artist whom ,englishmen knew as an etcher in almost the last generation4 ,to the association with ,tissot--a bold and sometimes graceful recorder of contemporary life with the etching-needle--is due1 ,i have no doubt1 ,m4 ,helle first practice in dry-point4 ,to some extent he has seen the same world as ,tissot1 but he has seen it always in his own way1 and has pourtrayed it with a singular economy of means that marks him as the brother of the greatest in etching4 ,tissot1 with all his virtues of independence and vigour1 has shown little of this economy1 nor has he displayed the peculiar refinement which counts for so much in ,m4 ,helle charm4 ,briefly1 this is a case in which the pupil--if pupil you can call him--has improved upon the master4 ,it has been given to ,m4 ,tissot to have some share in the formation of a craftsman more subtle1 a poet far more sensitive1 than himself4 ,up to the present time1 some seventy or eighty plates have been executed by the brilliant and delightful sketcher1 ,m4 ,tissot to some extent formed4 ,scarcely one of them1 ,i think1 has involved more than a single sitting on the part of model or artist4 ,an hour or two of strenuous1 enjoyable1 untired labour has sufficed for the production of each dainty1 each masterly1 work4 ,in ,illustration3 ,,helleu4 8,,femme ,,la ,,tasse40 an hour or two the lady or the child of ,m4 ,helle choice has found herself recorded on the copper--she and whatever accessories were deemed desirable to indicate her milieu1 to place her amidst the surroundings which assist in the telling of her story4 ,there is not1 as far as ,i am aware1 a single piece of ,m4 ,helle that is not a figure subject1 and among his work1 so far as it has yet proceeded1 ,i do not recollect a single portrait of a man4 ,edmond de ,goncourt calls his dry-points 8les instantans de la grace de la femme0--8snap-shots10 shall we translate it1 at the charm of modern womanhood--the womanhood of the drawing-room--8snap-shots10 not less often1 at the charm of refined childhood4 ,in ,helle etched work1 the connoisseur will welcome what is practically the complement of the etched work of ,vandyck1 who1 in his score or so of plates 7wonderful painter though he was of women71 undertook only the portraiture of certain distinguished men4 ,helle method of dealing with his subjects is not always1 or even very often1 the method of direct portraiture4 ,his conception has a certain affinity with that of the artist in ,genre1 in that the model or models1 be they women or children1 do not only stand for their portraits1 but are discovered in poses which suggest an incident this moment happening--be it only the incident of a woman having her hair brushed1 of a girl struggling into her jacket1 of a woman stooping forward over the drawing-room fireplace1 of a child playing with its toys4 ,helle models are not long stationary1 their attitude is never stereotyped2 what he pourtrays mainly is movement now making1 or movement only just arrested4 ,hence1 perhaps1 the sense of spontaneity in all the work--the sense1 when you have looked through his plates1 that you have been living in the intimacy of charming people who in their daily ways turn this way and that1 stoop1 stretch themselves1 smile1 get suddenly grave1 dress themselves1 lift their eyes inquiringly1 or toss the great long hair upon their shoulders4 ,their movements1 whatever they are1 are made with the immediate freedom1 the complete absence of self-consciousness1 of well-bred1 natural folk--the folk whose presence1 even when they are not actually handsome1 or when no personal affection binds them to you1 gives a legitimate charm to the passing hour4 ,the spectacle of the world is pleasanter when it is they who are on its stage4 ,helle etchings prove him to be in sympathy with the most alert1 which is often also the most dignified and distinguished of modern youthful beauty4 ,i know of no plate of his in which he has realised the ,illustration3 ,,helleu4 8,,le ,,salon ,,blanc4 dignity of age as ,rembrandt realised it in the etched portrait of his mother smiling1 and in that other etched portrait of his mother1 with a black veil and folded hands4 ,but several times ,helleu has realised what ,whistler realised in the dry-point of 8,fanny ,leyland0--the dignified beauty1 the reticent tenderness1 the mood1 courageous or contemplative1 of the better order of young girlhood4 ,admirable in this way is that 8,etude de ,jeune ,fille10 which shows the quick and earnest1 fearless glance--the girl with the lifted elbow and the streaming dark hair4 ,hardly less admirable1 that other study of a child a little younger1 the head on a large scale1 and the head alone4 ,it may be added1 as a detail of both these rare plates1 that no others1 either by ,m4 ,helleu or by any other etcher1 show quite so obvious a mastery in the treatment of hair4 ,dry-point1 as ,m4 ,helleu handles it1 would seem to have been made for the magical suggestion of all that you may notice in hair1 except its colour--of its flow and texture1 weight and life4 8,femme la ,tasse10 a study of two uplifted hands1 holding between them1 lightly1 in the fingers1 a porcelain cup out of which the reclining figure drinks1 is a most delicate arrangement of 8line10 and of amazing economy of means4 ,and the 8,salon ,blanc10 or one especially of the several plates which bear that name1 is to be noted not for the figure only1 not1 perhaps1 for the figure even chiefly1 but for the brief and dainty suggestions of tasteful furniture1 the line of a screen1 the mouldings of a mantelpiece1 the curve of a girandole4 ,we have etchers amongst us1 and clever ones1 too1 to whom the presence of character in their living models1 and in those models' backgrounds1 has been1 above all things1 precious2 to whom the presence of the eccentric has been valuable1 and the presence of beauty1 superfluous1 not to say burdensome4 ,but1 with ,m4 ,helleu1 beauty--beauty of no conventional order1 the rapid charm of movement1 of expression1 of contour--is the inspiring and satisfactory thing4 ,he lives in its intimacy4 ,and he reveals it--much as ,watteau did1 yet in ways how fearlessly modern6--to the spectator of his work4 ,,chiswick ,,press3--,,charles ,,whittingham ,,and ,,co4 ,,tooks ,,court1 ,,chancery ,,lane1 ,,london4 99 99 99 99 99 ,,mr4 ,,wedmor ,,short ,,stories4 ,each vol4 #cs4 #f;d4 net4 ,,pastorals ,,of ,,france4 ,fourth ,edition4 ,,renunciations4 ,third ,edition1 with portrait by ,j4 ,j4 ,shannon4 ,,english ,,episodes4 ,second ,edition4 ,,footnotes3 #a ,in nearly every case the illustration is more or less reduced from the original4 #b ,the editor of 8,the ,magazine of ,art0 has assured me1 in its pages1 that ,mr4 ,whistler swore in ,court that he was born in ,st4 ,petersburg4 #c ,the wildish sky is to be found only in the ,first ,state1 it is non-existent in the second1 which is yet a charming thing1 in its own way4