,,prints ,,and ,,their ,,makers ,illustration3 ,,profile ,,bust ,,of ,a ,,young ,,woman ,after ,leonardo da ,vinci 8,of the prints attributed to ,leonardo1 the fascinating ,profile ,bust of a ,young ,woman stands out from the rest for the sensitive quality of its outline1 but even here ,i would be more ready to see the hand of an engraver like ,zoan ,andrea40 ,arthur ,m4 ,hind4 ,reproduced from the unique impression in the ,british ,museum ,,prints ,,and ,,their ,,makers ,,essays ,,on ,,engravers ,,and ,,etchers ,,old ,,and ,,modern ,,edited ,,by ,,fitzroy ,,carrington ,,editor ,,of 8,,the ,,print-,,collector',s ,,quarterly0 ,,with #bjj ,,illustrations ,illustration ,,new ,,york ,,the ,,century ,,co4 #aiab ,copyright1 #aiab1 by ,,the ,,century ,,co4 ,copyright1 #aiaa1 #aiab1 by ,,frederick ,,keppel ,,co4 ,published ,october1 #aiab ,,the ,,de ,,vinne ,,press ,,to ,,frederick ,,keppel ,,in ,,memory ,,of ,a ,,friendship ,,of ,,twenty ,,years ,,this ,,book ,,is ,,dedicated ,,by ,,the ,,editor ,,contents ,,page ,d,,rer',s ,,woodcuts #a ,,by ,,campbell ,,dodgson1 ,m4,a4 ,,some ,,early ,,italian ,,engravers ,,before ,,the ,,time ,,of ,,marcantonio #ag ,,by ,,arthur ,m4 ,,hind ,a ,,prince ,,of ,,print-,,collectors3 ,,michel ,,de ,,marolles1 ,,abb ,,de ,,villeloin #cc ,,by ,,louis ,r4 ,,metcalfe ,,jean ,,morin #eb ,,by ,,louis ,r4 ,,metcalfe ,,robert ,,nanteuil #gj ,,by ,,louis ,r4 ,,metcalfe ,,rembrandt',s ,,landscape ,,etchings #id ,,by ,,laurence ,,binyon ,,giovanni ,,battista ,,piranesi #aab ,,by ,,benjamin ,,burges ,,moore ,,francisco ,,goya ,y ,,lucientes #aec ,,by ,,charles ,h4 ,,caffin ,a ,,note ,,on ,,goya #afd ,,by ,,william ,m4 ,,ivins1 ,,jr4 ,,the ,,etchings ,,of ,,fortuny #aff ,,by ,,royal ,,cortissoz ,,personal ,,characteristics ,,of ,,sir ,,seymour ,,haden1 ,p4,r4,e4 #agc ,,by ,,frederick ,,keppel ,,the ,,water-,,colors ,,and ,,drawings ,,of ,,sir ,,seymour ,,haden1 ,p4,r4,e4 #aif ,,by ,h4 ,,nazeby ,,harrington ,,meryon ,,and ,,baudelaire #bjd ,,by ,,william ,,aspenwall ,,bradley ,f,,lix ,,bracquemond3 ,,an ,,etcher ,,of ,,birds #bbj ,,by ,,frank ,,weitenkampf ,,auguste ,,lep,,re #bbh ,,by ,,elisabeth ,,luther ,,cary ,,herman ,a4 ,,webster #bci ,,by ,,martin ,,hardie ,,anders ,,zorn--,,painter-,,etcher #bei ,,by ,j4 ,,nilsen ,,laurvik ,,list ,,of ,,illustrations ,,profile ,,bust ,,of ,a ,,young ,,woman ,frontispiece ,,facing ,,page ,d,,rer4 ,portrait of ,albert ,drer1 aged #ef #b ,the ,four ,riders of the ,apocalypse #c ,the ,whore of ,babylon1 ,seated upon the ,beast with ,seven ,heads and ,ten ,horns #d ,christ ,bearing ,his ,cross #e ,the ,resurrection #f ,samson and the ,lion #g ,the ,annunciation to ,joachim #h ,the ,annunciation #i ,the ,flight into ,egypt #aj ,the ,assumption and ,crowning of the ,virgin #aa ,st4 ,jerome in his ,cell #ab ,the ,holy ,family #ac ,saint ,christopher #ad ,the ,virgin with the ,many ,angels #ae ,,bartolommeo ,,di ,,giovanni4 ,triumph of ,bacchus and ,ariadne #ah ,,botticelli4 ,the ,assumption of the ,virgin #ai ,,finiguerra ,,school4 ,the ,libyan ,sibyl #bj ,,finiguerra ,,school4 ,the ,libyan ,sibyl #ba ,,maso ,,finiguerra4 ,the ,planet ,mercury #bb ,,finiguerra ,,school4 ,a ,young ,man and ,woman ,each ,holding an ,apple #bc ,,antonio ,,pollaiuolo4 ,battle of ,naked ,men #bd ,,cristofano ,,robetta4 ,the ,adoration of the ,magi #be ,,andrea ,,mantegna4 ,the ,risen ,christ between ,st4 ,andrew and ,st4 ,longinus #bf ,,zoan ,,andrea 7874 ,four ,women ,dancing #bg ,,nicoletto ,,da ,,modena4 ,the ,adoration of the ,shepherds #bh ,,jacopo ,,de ',,barbari4 ,apollo and ,diana #bi ,,giulio ,,campagnola4 ,st4 ,john the ,baptist #cj ,,giulio ,,and ,,domenico ,,campagnola4 ,shepherds in a ,landscape #ca ,,claude ,,mellan4 ,portrait of ,michel de ,marolles1 ,abb de ,villeloin #ch ,,nanteuil4 ,portrait of ,michel de ,marolles1 ,abb de ,villeloin #ci ,jules1 ,cardinal ,mazarin #db ,louis ,,xiv #dc ,,claude ,,mellan4 ,agatha ,castiglione #ej ,claude de ,marolles #ea ,,morin4 ,louis ,,xiii1 ,king of ,france #ed ,anne of ,austria1 ,regent of ,france #ee ,cardinal ,richelieu #eh ,pierre ,maugis des ,granges #ei ,henri de ,lorraine1 ,comte d',harcourt #fb ,guido1 ,cardinal ,bentivoglio #fc ,nicolas ,chrystin #ff ,antoine ,vitr #fg ,jean-,franois-,paul de ,gondi #fh ,omer ,talon #fi ,,nanteuil4 ,louis ,,xiv #gf ,anne of ,austria1 ,queen of ,france #gg ,jules1 ,cardinal ,mazarin #gh ,bernard de ,foix de la ,valette1 ,duc d',epernon #gi ,jean ,loret #hb ,franois de la ,mothe le ,vayer #hc ,nicolas ,fouquet #hf ,basile ,fouquet #hg ,jean ,chapelain #hh ,pompone de ,bellivre #hi ,henri de la ,tour d',auvergne1 ,vicomte de ,turenne1 ,marchal de ,france #ij ,jean-,baptiste ,colbert #ia ,,rembrandt4 ,the ,windmill #if ,view of ,amsterdam #ig ,the ,three ,trees #ajb ,six's ,bridge #ajc ,landscape with a ,boat in the ,canal #ajd ,farm with ,trees and a ,tower #aje ,the ,gold-weigher's ,field #ajf ,landscape with a ,milkman #ajg ,f4 ,,polanzani4 ,portrait of ,giovanni ,battista ,piranesi #aab ,,piranesi4 ,arch of ,septimius ,severus #aac ,arch of ,vespasian #aad ,arch of ,trajan at ,benevento1 in the ,kingdom of ,naples #aae ,the ,basilica1 ,pstum #aaf ,the ,temple of ,neptune at ,pstum #aag ,the ,temple of ,concord #aah ,site of the ,ancient ,roman ,forum #aai ,view of the 8,campo ,vaccino0 #abj ,the ,arch of ,titus #aba ,the ,arch of ,titus #abb ,faade of ,st4 ,john ,lateran #abc ,view of the ,ruins of the ,golden ,house of ,nero1 ,commonly ,called the ,temple of ,peace #abd ,interior of the ,pantheon1 ,rome #abe ,piazza ,navona1 ,rome #abf ,interior of the ,villa of ,mcenas1 at ,tivoli #abg ,the ,temple of ,apollo1 near ,tivoli #abh ,the ,falls at ,tivoli #abi ,the ,falls at ,tivoli #acj ,st4 ,peter's and the ,vatican #aca ,the ,villa d',este at ,tivoli #acb ,title-page of 8,the ,prisons0 #acc ,the ,prisons4 ,plate ,,iii #acd ,the ,prisons4 ,plate ,,iv #ace ,the ,prisons4 ,plate ,v #acf ,the ,prisons4 ,plate ,,vi #acg ,the ,prisons4 ,plate ,,ix #ach ,the ,prisons4 ,plate ,,vii #aci ,the ,prisons4 ,plate ,,viii #adj ,the ,prisons4 ,plate ,,xi #ada ,the ,prisons4 ,plate ,,xiii #adb ,the ,prisons4 ,plate ,,xiv #adc ,,francesco ,,piranesi4 ,statue of ,piranesi #adf ,,piranesi4 ,antique ,marble ,vase #adg ,section of one of the ,sides of the ,great ,room1 or ,library1 of ,earl ,mansfield's ,villa at ,kenwood4 ,engraved by ,i4 ,zucchi #adh ,ionic ,order of the ,anteroom1 with the rest of the ,detail of that ,room at ,sion ,house1 the ,seat of the ,duke of ,northumberland in the ,county of ,middlesex4 ,engraved by ,piranesi #adi ,title-page to 8,il ,campo ,marzio dell',antica ,roma0 #aej ,upper left-hand ,portion1 bearing a ,dedication to ,robert ,adam1 of ,piranesi's etched plan of the ,campus ,martius #aea ,,goya4 ,portrait of ,goya1 drawn and etched by himself #aed ,the ,dead ,branch #aee ,back to his ,ancestors6 #aef 8,birds of a ,feather ,flock ,together0 #aeg ,they have ,kidnapped her #aeh 8,bon ,voyage60 #aei ,the ,infuriated ,stallion #afj ,the ,bird-,men #afa ,good ,advice #afb ,god ,forgive her--,it's her own ,mother6 #afc ,love and ,death #afd ,hunting for ,teeth #afe ,,fortuny4 ,arab watching beside the ,dead ,body of his ,friend #aff ,idyll #afg ,the ,serenade #afh ,a ,moroccan ,seated #afi ,a ,horse of ,morocco #agj ,interior of the ,church of ,saint ,joseph1 ,madrid #aga ,,portrait ,,of ,,seymour ,,haden4 ,at the ,age of ,sixty-two4 ,by ,c4 ,w4 ,sherborn #agd ,,haden4 ,portrait of ,seymour ,haden etched by himself at the ,age of ,forty-four #age ,portrait of ,sir ,seymour ,haden4 ,by ,a4 ,legros #agf ,woodcote ,manor4 ,by ,percy ,thomas #agg ,reproduction of a ,page of ,manuscript in the ,handwriting of ,sir ,seymour ,haden #agh ,facsimile of the ,certificate of ,seymour ,haden's ,candidacy for ,membership in the ,athenum ,club #agi ,whistler's ,house1 ,old ,chelsea #ahj ,battersea ,reach #aha ,out of ,study ,window #ahb ,thomas ,haden of ,derby #ahc ,,portrait ,,of ,,seymour ,,haden in #ahhb 7photograph7 #ahd ,,portrait ,,of ,,sir ,,seymour ,,haden4 ,by ,j4 ,wells ,champney #ahe ,mytton ,hall #ahf ,on the ,test #ahg ,a ,by-road in ,tipperary #ahh ,a ,sunset in ,ireland #ahi ,a ,lancashire ,river #aij ,sawley ,abbey #aia ,the ,breaking-up of the ,agamemnon #aib ,calais ,pier #aic ,an ,early ,riser #aid ,harlech #aie ,salmon ,pool on the ,spey #aih ,old ,oaks1 ,chatsworth #aii ,course of the ,ribble below ,preston #bjj ,dinkley ,ferry #bja ,encombe ,woods #bjb ,an ,elderly ,couple1 ,chatsworth ,park #bjc ,,bracquemond4 ,frontispiece for 8,les ,fleurs du ,mal0 of ,baudelaire #bjf ,,portrait ,,of ,,charles ,,baudelaire4 ,by ,bracquemond #bjg ,,portrait ,,of ,,charles ,,meryon4 ,by ,bracquemond #bjh ,,meryon4 ,le ,pont au ,change #bji ,le ,petit ,pont #baj ,,portrait ,,of ,,charles ,,meryon4 ,by ,flameng #baa ,,bracquemond4 ,ducks at ,play #bbj ,a ,flock of ,teal ,alighting #bba ,pheasants at ,dawn3 ,morning ,mists #bbb ,the ,bather 7,canards ,surpris7 #bbc ,geese in a ,storm #bbd ,sea-gulls #bbe ,the ,old ,cock #bbf ,swallows in ,flight #bbg ,,lep,,re4 ,rheims ,cathedral #bbh ,belle ,matine4 ,automne #bbi ,vue du ,port de la ,meule #bcj ,peupliers ,ttards #bca ,le ,moulin des ,chapelles #bcd ,a ,gentilly #bcd ,la ,chaumire du ,vieux ,pecheur #bce ,le ,nid #bce ,provins #bcf ,l',eglise de ,jouy le ,moutier #bcf ,l',enfant ,prodigue #bcg ,,webster4 ,st4 ,ouen1 ,rouen #bdj ,la ,rue ,grenier sur l',eau1 ,paris #bda ,quai ,montebello #bdb ,le ,pont ,neuf1 ,paris #bdc ,la ,rue ,cardinale #bdd ,la ,rue de la ,parcheminerie1 ,paris #bde ,st4 ,saturnin1 ,toulouse #bdf ,ancienne ,facult de ,mdecine1 ,paris #bdg ,notre ,dame des ,andelys #bdh ,port des ,marmousets1 ,st4 ,ouen1 ,rouen #bdi ,vieilles ,maisons1 ,rue ,hautefeuille1 ,paris #bej ,la ,route de ,louviers #bea ,bendergasse1 ,frankfort #beb ,cortlandt ,street1 ,new ,york #bec ,lowenpltzchen1 ,frankfort #bed ,der ,langer ,franz1 ,frankfort #bee ,the ,old ,bridge1 ,frankfort #bef ,la ,rue ,st4 ,jacques1 ,paris #beg ,,zorn4 ,portrait of the ,artist and his ,wife #bfj ,the ,waltz #bfa ,madame ,simon #bfb ,ernest ,renan #bfc ,august ,strindberg #bfd ,sunday ,morning in ,dalecarlia #bfe ,the ,bather1 ,seated #bff ,edo #bfg ,,preface 8,good wine needs no bush10 and these essays need no commendatory word from the ,editor4 ,the plan of this book is a simple one4 ,certain lovers of prints have been asked to write on the engravers1 etchers1 or periods which chiefly interest them and upon which they are best qualified to speak2 and1 furthermore1 to treat their special subjects in their own way4 ,so far as subject matter is concerned1 the essays are grouped approximately in chronological order1 and the reader may range from ,italian engravers before the time of ,raphael and woodcuts by ,albrecht ,drer to contemporary etchings by ,zorn1 ,lepre1 and ,herman ,a4 ,webster4 ,throughout the essays one dominant note will be found--a sincere love of ,prints and an interest in their ,makers4 ,,fitzroy ,,carrington4 ,new ,york1 ,september1 #aiab4 ,d,,rer',s ,,woodcuts ,,by ,,campbell ,,dodgson1 ,m4,a4 ,keeper of ,prints and ,drawings in the ,british ,museum ,author of the ,catalogue of ,german and ,flemish ,woodcuts in the ,british ,museum and ,honorary ,secretary of the ,drer ,society ,the first decade of the twentieth century lies not very far behind us1 but perhaps it is not too soon to assert that one of its marked features1 in the retrospect of a print-lover1 is a great revival or extension of interest in every form of engraving among cultivated people who are not specialists4 ,increased attention has been paid1 among other things1 to the ,german woodcuts of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries1 which used to be rather despised by the old-fashioned nineteenth-century collector1 with a few enlightened exceptions1 as rough and ugly old things which were curious as specimens of antiquity or instructive as illustrations of the life and religion of the generations that produced them1 but were not to be taken very seriously as works of art4 ,that estimate is being revised4 ,a generation no longer blinded to the merits of primitive art by the worship of ,raphael and the antique is ever tapping fresh sources of delight and enriching itself by the perception of beauty where its fathers saw nought but the grotesque and quaint4 ,it is not surprising1 indeed1 that ,german art has made slower progress than ,italian on the road to popularity4 ,even the primitives1 on the south side of the ,alps1 shared in the winning grace and suavity of the old ,mediterranean culture1 while their brethren in the ,north1 the ,french excepted1 were indisputably more rugged and barbarous in draughtsmanship and painting1 and few of their engravers1 except ,schongauer1 can vie with the ,florentines if their achievements are judged by the test of formal beauty4 ,but it is wonderful how1 in the ,north1 now and again1 art could suddenly blossom and ripen under the creative impulse of an innovator1 whose successors1 rather than the pioneer himself1 lay themselves open to the charge of angularity and uncouthness4 ,the perfection of the very earliest printed books is a commonplace4 ,less generally known1 perhaps1 is the great beauty to which the earliest of all the ,german engravers known to us at all as a personality1 though not by name1 was capable of attaining4 ,the 8,master of the ,playing-,cards10 who was at work about #adcj-dj1 produced work of extraordinary charm1 not only in some of the figures1 animals and flowers of the playing-cards themselves1 but especially in the large engraving of the ,virgin ,mary with the human-headed serpent1 or ,lilith1 beneath her feet1 which is one of the most splendid and mature creations of the fifteenth century4 ,then1 again1 the early book illustrators of ,augsburg and ,ulm1 in the seventies1 when the use of blocks for such a purpose had only recently come in1 produced woodcuts that were never surpassed by any successors in their simple and direct vivacity and strength1 with the utmost economy of line4 ,but the real beauty of some of the much earlier single woodcuts1 illustrating1 chiefly1 the legends of ,our ,lady and the ,saints1 has been much less generally appreciated4 ,they are very rare1 and most of them repose1 in a seclusion seldom disturbed1 in their boxes in the great ,european print-rooms or even in monastic libraries4 ,they are only beginning to be reproduced1 and they are rarely exhibited4 ,but such an exhibition of the earliest ,german woodcuts as was held at ,berlin in the summer of #aijh was truly a revelation4 ,the soft and rounded features1 the flowing lines of the drapery1 in the prints of the generation before sharp1 broken folds were introduced under the influence of the ,netherlands1 have something of the charm of ,far ,eastern art1 and the gay coloring with which most of the prints were finished has often a delightfully decorative effect when they are framed and hung at a proper distance from the eye4 ,such praise is due1 of course1 only to some of the choicer examples2 there are plenty of fifteenth-century woodcuts in which the line is merely clumsy and the coloring merely gaudy1 but these are more often products of the last quarter of the century than of its beginning or middle4 ,it would not be true to say that the advance of time brought with it progress and perfection in the woodcutter's art2 on the contrary1 the first vital impulse spent itself all too soon1 and gave way to thoughtless and unintelligent imitation4 ,illustration3 ,albrecht ,drer ,conterfeyt in seinem alter ,des ,l ,v ,i4 ,jares4 ,d,,rer4 ,,portrait ,,of ,,albert ,d,,rer1 ,,aged #ef ,the rare second state 7of #c states7 before the monogram of ,drer and the date #aebg ,size of the original woodcut1 #ab #aj inches ,illustration3 ,d,,rer4 ,,the ,,four ,,riders ,,of ,,the ,,apocalypse ,from 8,the ,apocalypse0 ,size of the original woodcut1 #ae #aa inches ,what was the state of things when ,drer appeared upon the scene8 ,he did so long before the close of the fifteenth century1 for his first authenticated woodcut is an illustration to ,st4 ,jerome's ,epistles1 printed at ,basle in #adib4 ,whether he or an unknown artist is responsible for a large number of other illustrations produced at ,basle about #adic-ie1 is a question about which no consensus of opinion has been formed1 and this is not the place to discuss it4 ,all the woodcuts that the world knows and esteems as ,drer's were produced at ,nuremberg after his return from the first ,venetian journey 7#adie74 ,let us see1 for a moment1 how they stand comparison with what had gone before them4 ,the older woodcuts are nearly all anonymous1 and if they bear any signature1 it is that of a woodcutter 7,formschneider or ,briefmaler7 who was a craftsman allied to the joiner1 rather than the painter4 ,just before ,drer's time the painter begins to make his appearance on the scene as a designer of woodcuts4 ,there are a few isolated cases in which the almost universal rule of anonymity is broken1 and we learn from the preface to a book the name of the artist who designed the illustrations4 ,breydenbach's 8,travels to the ,holy ,land0 7,mainz1 #adhf7 was illustrated by woodcuts after ,erhard ,reuwich1 or ,rewich1 a native of ,utrecht1 who had accompanied the author on his journey1 and the immense number of woodcuts in the 8,nuremberg ,chronicle0 by ,hartmann ,schedel 7#adic7 were the work of the painters ,wohlgemuth and ,pleydenwurff2 to whom the much finer illustrations of the 8,schatzbehalter0 7#adia7 may also safely be attributed4 ,it is now almost universally believed that the 8,master of the ,hausbuch10 one of ,drer's most gifted predecessors in the art of engraving on copper1 was also a prolific illustrator1 the principal work assigned to him being the numerous illustrations in the 8,spiegel der menschlichen ,behaltnis0 printed by ,peter ,drach at ,speyer about #adgh-hj4 ,there are speculations1 more or less ill-founded1 about the illustrators of a few other woodcut books of the fifteenth century1 but ,i believe it is true that the first book after those already named in which the artist's name is settled beyond doubt is ,drer's 8,apocalypse0 of #adih4 ,illustration3 ,d,,rer4 ,,the ,,whore ,,of ,,babylon1 ,,seated ,,upon ,,the ,,beast ,,with ,,seven ,,heads ,,and ,,ten ,,horns ,from 8,the ,apocalypse0 ,size of the original woodcut1 #ae #aa inches ,illustration3 ,d,,rer4 ,,christ ,,bearing ,,his ,,cross ,from 8,the ,great ,passion0 ,size of the original woodcut1 #ae #aa inches ,dr4 ,naumann1 the editor of a recent facsimile of the cuts in the ,speyer book just mentioned1 claims for the 8,hausbuchmeister0 that he was the first painter1 or painter-engraver1 who attempted to get the most out of the craftsmen employed in cutting blocks from his designs4 ,that is rather a speculative opinion1 and the woodcuts in question are not1 from the technical point of view1 superior to many other contemporary illustrations4 ,but there can be no question that ,drer effected an immense reform in this respect1 and carried the technique of wood-engraving to a perfection unparalleled in its previous history4 ,not by his own handiwork1 for there is no reason to suppose that ,drer ever cut his blocks himself4 ,all the evidence points1 on the contrary1 to his having followed the universal practice of the time1 according to which the designer drew the composition in all detail upon the wood block1 and employed a professional engraver to cut the block1 preserving all the lines intact1 and cutting away the spaces between them1 so that the result was a facsimile of the drawing as accurate as the craftsman was capable of making it4 ,drer set his engravers1 we may be sure1 a harder task than they had ever had to grapple with before1 and he must have succeeded in gradually training a man1 or group of men1 on whom he could rely to preserve his drawing in all its delicacy and intricate complexity4 ,this was a work of time1 and perfection was not reached till after ,drer's return from his second journey to ,venice1 when a great increase of refinement on the technical side becomes noticeable1 culminating in that extraordinary performance1 the ,holy ,trinity woodcut of #aeaa4 ,but even in the large fifteenth-century blocks1 the 8,apocalypse10 the earlier portion of the 8,great ,passion0 and the contemporary single subjects1 much cross-hatching is used and the space is filled with detail to an extent hitherto unknown4 ,without ever losing sight of the general decorative effect1 the telling pattern of black and white1 ,drer put in a vast amount of interesting little things1 with the conscientiousness and care that characterized everything that he did1 and every detail of the leaves of a thistle or fern1 or of the elaborate ornament1 birds and flowers and foliage and rams' heads1 on the base of a ,gothic candle-stick1 had to be reproduced so that the crisp clearness of the original pen-drawing lost nothing of its precision4 ,the result was a work so perfectly complete in black and white1 as it stood1 that nobody ever thought of coloring it1 and that in itself was a great innovation and advance4 ,the fifteenth-century 8,illuminirer10 or the patron who gave him his orders1 seems to have had an instinctive respect for excellent and highly finished work in black and white1 which made him leave it alone4 ,line-engravings of the fifteenth century are very frequently found colored1 but they are usually quite second-rate specimens1 and prints by the great men1 such as the 8,master ,e4 ,s40 and ,schongauer1 were respected and left alone4 ,but such consideration was not often shown to woodcuts1 which were frequently colored1 especially when used as illustrations1 well into the sixteenth century4 ,it was very rarely1 however1 that any illuminator laid profane hands on anything of ,drer's1 woodcut or engraving1 and when he did so the result is stupid and disagreeable1 for it is always the work of a later generation1 out of touch with ,drer's genius4 ,illustration3 ,d,,rer4 ,,the ,,resurrection ,from 8,the ,great ,passion0 ,size of the original woodcut1 #ae #aj inches ,illustration3 ,d,,rer4 ,,samson ,,and ,,the ,,lion ,size of the original woodcut1 #ae #aj inches ,it may be said that if ,drer and his contemporaries did not cut their own blocks1 the woodcuts are not original prints by the masters themselves4 ,it must be conceded that they are not original prints quite in the same sense as engravings and etchings1 in which the whole work was carried out upon the plate by the masters' own hand1 but it would be a mistake to describe them as examples of reproductive engraving4 ,such a thing as a reproductive engraving was1 in fact1 unknown in the ,germany of ,drer's time4 ,a design originally projected in one medium might be reproduced in another in a case where an engraving by ,schongauer1 or ,meckenen1 or ,drer himself1 was copied by some inferior woodcutter1 as an act of piracy1 for a bookseller who was too stingy to pay an artist to draw him a new ,virgin or ,saint for his purpose4 ,but it would never have occurred to any one to reproduce an engraving or woodcut1 a picture or drawing1 done for its own sake1 as a separate and complete work of art4 ,reproductions of pictures scarcely exist in ,german art of the sixteenth century2 they are commoner in the ,venetian ,school1 among the woodcutters influenced by ,titian1 and ,rubens established the practice once for all by his encouragement of engraving from his pictures1 a century after ,drer's time4 ,but when woodcutting was taken up by the ,german painters1 with ,drer as their leader1 for the purpose of circulating their compositions at a cheaper price than they could charge for engravings of their own1 they always had a strictly legitimate object according to the canons of graphic art4 ,rarely working even from sketches1 never from a work already finished in another medium1 they drew the subjects intended for printing directly upon the block in a technique adapted for the purpose1 avoiding such combinations of lines as the most skilful craftsmen would be unable to cut4 ,their actual handiwork was preserved upon the surface of the block1 much as in the modern original lithograph the artist's actual work survives upon the surface of the stone2 if it was in any way disfigured1 as often1 no doubt1 it was1 that must be set down to failure on the cutter's part4 ,anything original that the cutter puts in1 any swerving that accident or clumsiness permits him to make from the line fixed by the painter's pen for him to follow1 is a blemish1 and the best woodcuts of ,drer1 ,holbein1 ,baldung1 ,cranach1 ,burgkmair and the rest of their generation have no such blemishes4 ,they are strictly autographic3 the lines that the artist's pen has traced remain and are immortalized by the printing-press2 the white spaces1 also limited by his controlling will and purpose1 result from the mere mechanical cutting away of blank wood that any neat-handed workman can perform4 ,so when we speak of the woodcuts of ,millais1 ,rossetti1 ,whistler1 ,walker1 ,pinwell1 ,sandys and the rest of the 8,men of the ,sixties10 we know that the blocks were cut by ,dalziel or ,swain1 but every good print is none the less what the designer meant it to be1 and what none but himself could have made it4 ,illustration3 ,d,,rer4 ,,the ,,annunciation ,,to ,,joachim ,from 8,the ,life of the ,virgin0 ,size of the original woodcut1 #aa #h_/ inches ,illustration3 ,d,,rer4 ,,the ,,annunciation ,from 8,the ,life of the ,virgin0 ,size of the original woodcut1 #aa #h inches ,of ,drer's woodcutters1 unluckily1 we know nothing till the comparatively late period when he had been enlisted in the service of the ,emperor ,maximilian1 whose imposing1 but somewhat ponderous and pedantic1 ,triumphal ,arch was cut from the designs of ,drer and his school by ,hieronymus ,andre4 ,there is much more information about the ,augsburg cutters than about those of ,nuremberg1 and there is no single artist in the latter city whose work is so strongly marked out by its excellence from that of his contemporaries as was ,ltzelburger's1 who cut ,holbein's 8,dance of ,death40 ,to understand ,drer's woodcuts aright1 it is necessary to get to know them in their chronological sequence4 ,in conservative collections1 where they are arranged by order of subject1 on the system of ,bartsch1 the student is continually confused by the juxtaposition of quite incongruous pieces1 placed together merely because 8,jrme10 for instance1 comes in alphabetical order next after 8,jean40 ,the ,british ,museum collection has been arranged for more than ten years past in chronological order1 which1 in ,drer's case1 is unusually easy to determine with approximate accuracy1 because his methodical turn of mind caused him to be fond of dates1 while the undated pieces can be fitted in without much difficulty by the evidence of style4 ,the justification of the system became all the more apparent when the woodcuts were exhibited for a few months in #aiji1 and fell naturally into consistent and coherent groups upon the screens1 while separated1 as a matter of practical convenience1 from the engravings4 ,since then two even more interesting experiments have been made1 in exhibitions held at ,liverpool and ,bremen1 toward a reconstruction of ,drer's entire life-work in its chronological sequence1 his pictures1 drawings1 engravings and woodcuts--represented mainly1 of course1 by reproductions--being merged in a single series4 ,that is a timely warning against the risks of excessive concentration upon one single side of his many activities1 but here we will not digress further from the woodcuts1 which are at present our theme4 ,illustration3 ,d,,rer4 ,,the ,,flight ,,into ,,egypt ,from 8,the ,life of the ,virgin0 ,size of the original woodcut1 #aa #h inches ,illustration3 ,d,,rer4 ,,the ,,assumption ,,and ,,crowning ,,of ,,the ,,virgin ,from 8,the ,life of the ,virgin0 ,size of the original woodcut1 #aa #h inches ,the series opens magnificently with the group of large and stately woodcuts1 abounding in vitality and dramatic invention1 produced by ,drer between #adie and #aejj4 ,these include the fifteen subjects of the 8,apocalypse10 the seven early subjects of the 8,great ,passion0 7not completed until #aeaj-aa7 and seven detached pieces uniform with the two series already named in dimensions and style1 but independent of them in subject4 ,the blocks of the majority of these single pieces are now1 by the way1 in an ,american collection1 that of ,mr4 ,junius ,s4 ,morgan1 but they have suffered sadly from the ravages of the worm4 ,there is a certain exaggeration and over-emphasis of gesture in the 8,apocalypse0 woodcuts1 but ,drer never invented anything more sublime than the celebrated ,four ,riders or the ,st4 ,michael defeating the ,rebel ,angels1 which ,i regard as at least equal to the subject more frequently praised4 ,superb1 too1 is the group of ,angels restraining the ,four ,winds4 ,the landscape at the foot of ,st4 ,john's ,vision of the ,four-and-twenty ,elders 7,b4 #fc7 is a complete picture by itself1 and there is a rare early copy of this portion alone1 which is itself a beautiful print1 and doubtless the earliest pure landscape woodcut in existence4 ,samson and the ,lion1 the mysteriously named ,ercules and the ,knight and ,man-at-arms1 often described as its companion1 and the ,martyrdom of ,st4 ,catherine are among the finest of the single subjects4 ,after this tremendously impressive group1 there is for a time a certain relaxation of energy1 or rather ,drer was more bent on other things1 especially engraving4 ,to the years #aejj-jd belong a number of woodcuts of ,holy ,families and ,saints1 much smaller than the 8,apocalypse10 and rather roughly cut4 ,some critics have wished to dismiss one or another of them as pupils' work1 but for this there is really no justification4 ,then comes another very good period1 that of the 8,life of the ,virgin10 of which set ,drer had finished seventeen subjects before he left for ,venice in #aeje1 while the ,death of the ,virgin and ,the ,assumption were added in #aeaj1 and the frontispiece in #aeaa1 when the whole work came out as a book1 assuredly one of the most desirable picture-books the world has ever seen6 ,it is impossible to weary of the beautiful compositions1 the details drawn with such loving care1 the tender and homely sentiment1 the humor1 even1 displayed in the accessory figures of ,the ,embrace of ,joachim and ,anne1 the beer-drinking gossips in the ,birth of the ,virgin1 where the atmosphere of ,st4 ,anne's chamber is sweetened by an angelic thurifer1 and the merry group of angelic children playing round ,joseph1 bent on his carpenter's business1 while their elders keep solemn watch round ,mary at her distaff and the ,holy ,child in the cradle4 ,we find landscapes at least as beautiful as those in ,drer's best engravings in the pastoral background of the ,annunciation to ,joachim and the mountainous distance of the ,visitation4 ,the architectural setting of the ,presentation of ,christ in the ,temple1 and the tall cross held aloft1 with the happiest effect on the composition1 by the ,apostle kneeling on the left in ,mary's death-chamber1 are among the memorable features of the set4 ,beautiful again1 especially in fine proofs1 is the next and latest of the long sets1 the 8,little ,passion10 consisting of thirty-six subjects and a title-page1 begun in #aeji and finished1 like all the other books1 in #aeaa4 ,but it has not the monumental grandeur of the earlier religious sets1 and there is an inevitable monotony about the incessant recurrence of the figure of ,our ,lord1 when the history of the ,passion is set forth in such detail4 ,the most original and impressive subjects1 in my opinion1 are ,christ ,appearing to ,st4 ,mary ,magdalen and the next following it1 ,the ,supper at ,emmaus4 ,illustration3 ,d,,rer4 ,,st4 ,,jerome ,,in ,,his ,,cell ,size of the original woodcut1 #i #f inches ,illustration3 ,d,,rer4 ,,the ,,holy ,,family ,st4 ,anne1 attended by ,st4 ,joseph and ,st4 ,joachim1 receiving from ,his ,mother the ,infant ,jesus ,size of the original woodcut1 #i #f inches ,the years #aeaj and #aeaa were the most prolific of all1 and witnessed the publication of other connected pieces1 the ,beheading of ,john the ,baptist and ,salome bringing the ,baptist's ,head to ,herod1 and then the three little woodcuts1 ,christ on the ,cross1 ,death and the ,soldier1 and ,the ,schoolmaster1 which ,drer brought out on large sheets at the head of his own verses1 signed with a large monogram at the end of all4 ,the single sheets of #aeaa include1 besides the marvelous ,trinity already mentioned1 the large ,adoration of the ,magi1 the ,mass of ,st4 ,gregory1 a ,st4 ,jerome in his ,cell1 which is the best1 after the celebrated engraving of #aead1 of ,drer's repeated versions of that delightful subject2 the ,cain and ,abel1 which is one of the great rarities2 two rather unattractive ,holy ,families2 and the beautiful square ,saint ,christopher1 of which many fine impressions are extant to bear witness to its technical virtues4 ,the average level of all the work of the year #aeaa is so astonishingly high1 that it must be regarded as the culminating period of the woodcuts1 just as a slightly later time1 the years #aeac-ad1 witnesses the climax of the engravings4 ,in the next few years ,drer's time was much taken up with carrying out the emperor's important but rather tiresome commissions for the ,triumphal ,arch and two ,triumphal ,cars1 the small one which forms part of the ,procession1 and the much bigger affair1 with the twelve horses and allegorical retinue1 which did not appear till #aebb4 ,all this group offers a rich field of research to the antiquary1 but is simply unintelligible without a learned commentary1 and appeals much less than the sacred subjects to the average collector and lover of art1 who cannot unearth the heaps of pedantic ,latin and ,german literature in which the motives by which ,drer was inspired1 if ,i may use the word1 lie buried4 ,inspiration certainly flagged under the influence of ,wilibald ,pirkheimer and other learned humanists who encouraged ,maximilian in his penchant for allegory1 and compelled ,drer1 probably somewhat against his will1 to use a multitude of symbols1 intelligible only to the learned1 instead of speaking directly to the populace in the familiar pictorial language derived from old tradition but enriched and ennobled by his own matchless art4 ,the later woodcuts are comparatively few in number4 ,they include a few that are primarily of scientific interest1 such as the celestial and terrestrial globes and the armillary sphere1 besides the numerous illustrations to ,drer's own works on ,measurement1 ,proportion1 and ,fortification4 ,but among them are the two splendid portraits made from drawings now in the ,albertina1 the ,emperor ,maximilian of #aeah and the ,ulrich ,varnbler of #aebb4 ,of the former several varieties exist1 from no less than four different blocks1 and it is now established that the only original version is the very rare one in which the letters 8ae0 of the word 8,caesar0 are distinct1 not forming a diphthong1 and placed within the large 8,c40 ,the other cuts are all copies1 produced probably at ,augsburg1 the fine large one1 with an ornamental frame and the imperial arms supported by griffins1 being indisputably the work of ,hans ,weiditz4 ,only three impressions of the original are known1 in the ,british ,museum1 the ,berlin ,kupferstichkabinett1 and the ,hofbibliothek at ,vienna1 in addition to which the cole des ,beaux-,arts at ,paris possesses a fragment damaged by fire at the time of the ,commune1 when it was still in private hands4 ,it is more generally known that the handsome chiaroscuro impressions of the ,varnbler date1 like those of the ,rhinoceros1 from the seventeenth century1 the color blocks having been added in ,holland4 ,the brown and green varieties belong to different editions1 distinguished by the wording of the publisher's address at the foot1 which in the majority of cases has been cut off4 ,illustration3 ,d,,rer4 ,,saint ,,christopher ,size of the original woodcut1 #h #h inches ,illustration3 ,d,,rer4 ,,the ,,virgin ,,with ,,the ,,many ,,angels ,size of the original woodcut1 #aa_/ #h inches ,the ,virgin with the many ,angels1 of #aeah1 is one of ,drer's most accomplished woodcuts1 and quite good impressions of it are comparatively common to-day4 ,the latest of his compositions of this class1 the ,holy ,family with ,angels1 of #aebf1 is1 on the other hand1 extremely rare4 ,some critics doubt its being an authentic work of ,drer1 but in spite of certain rather eccentric and unpleasant peculiarities in the drawing1 ,i consider this scepticism unfounded4 ,quite at the end of ,drer's life comes that rather fascinating subject1 ,the ,siege of a ,fortress1 unique among ,drer's woodcuts in the tiny scale on which its countless details are drawn4 ,of the many heraldic woodcuts and ex-libris attributed by ,bartsch and others to ,drer1 very few can be regarded as his genuine work1 and most of these are very rare4 ,the best authenticated are his own coat of arms2 the arms of ,ferdinand ,i in the book on ,fortification2 those of ,michel ,behaim1 of which the block is extant with a letter written by ,drer on the back2 the arms of ,roggendorf1 mentioned in the ,netherlands ,journal1 of which only one impression is known1 and the arms of ,lorenz ,staiber1 of which the original version is also unique4 ,there can be no doubt that the ,ebner book-plate of #aeaf is by ,drer2 the much earlier ,pirkheimer book-plate is intimately connected with the illustrations to the books by ,celtes1 and cannot be regarded as a certain work of the master himself1 while the arms of ,johann ,tschertte are also doubted4 ,it is a fortunate circumstance for the museums and collectors of to-day that ,drer's prints have always been esteemed1 and his monogram was held in such respect and so generally recognized as the mark of something good that they have been preserved during four centuries1 while so much that was interesting was allowed to perish because it was unsigned or its signature was not recognized as the work of any one important4 ,it may be paradoxical to say that ,drers are common2 few of them are to be had at any particular moment when one wants to get them2 but they are commoner than any other prints of their period1 and a large number of impressions of some subjects must come into the market in the course of every ten years4 ,but the sort of ,drer the collector wants1 the really beautiful1 fresh1 clean impression1 with the right watermark and genuine1 unbroken border-line1 is not1 and never has been1 common4 ,it is surprising how few1 even of the famous museums of ,europe1 have a really fine collection of the woodcuts1 perhaps because so many of them were formed some generations ago in uncritical times1 when people were apt to think it enough if the subject was represented1 in whatever condition it might be4 ,the first-rate proofs are scarce1 and getting scarcer every year2 when they are to be had1 they should be grasped and treasured4 ,,some ,,early ,,italian ,,engravers ,,before ,,the ,,time ,,of ,,marcantonio ,,by ,,arthur ,m4 ,,hind ,of the ,department of ,prints and ,drawings1 ,british ,museum ,author of 8,catalogue of ,early ,italian ,engravings in the ,british ,museum10 8,short ,history of ,engraving and ,etching10 8,rembrandt's ,etchings3 an ,essay and a ,catalogue10 etc4 ,fifteenth-century ,italian engraving is not an easy hunting-ground for the collector1 but it is one of the most fascinating not less for its own sake than for the difficulty of securing one's prize4 ,from the time of ,raphael onward ,italian engraving presents an overwhelmingly large proportion of reproductions of pictures1 and loses on that account its primary interest4 ,but in the fifteenth and the early sixteenth century1 the engravers1 though for the most part less accomplished craftsmen1 were artists of real independence4 ,we may in some cases exaggerate this independence through not knowing the sources which they used1 but the mere lack of that knowledge adds a particular interest to their prints4 ,treated not only in virtue of their special claim as engravings1 but merely as designs1 we find something in them which the paintings of the period do not offer us4 ,in general1 the presence and influence of one of the greater artistic personalities of the time may be recognized1 but seldom definitely enough for us to trace the painter's immediate direction4 ,mantegna is the most brilliant exception of a painter of first rank who is known to have handled the graver at this period4 ,but forgetting the great names it is remarkable how in the early ,renaissance in ,italy even the secondary craftsmen produced work of the same inexpressible charm that pervades the great masterpieces4 ,one of the most beautiful examples ,i can cite is the ,triumph of ,bacchus and ,ariadne1 which is known only in the ,british ,museum impression4 ,it has all the fascination of ,botticelli's style without being quite ,botticelli--unless the engraver himself is to account for the coarsening in the drawing of individual forms4 ,mr4 ,herbert ,p4 ,horne1 the great authority on ,botticelli and his school1 thinks it is by ,bartolommeo di ,giovanni 7,berenson's 8,alunno di ,domenico074 ,but whether immediately after ,botticelli or after some minor artist of the school1 there is the same delightful flow and rhythmic motion in the design that one thinks of in relation to ,botticelli's ,spring4 ,illustration3 ,,triumph ,,of ,,bacchus ,,and ,,ariadne ,after a design by a close follower of ,botticelli1 possibly by ,bartolommeo di ,giovanni 8,but whether immediately after ,botticelli or after some minor artist of the school1 there is the same delightful flow and rhythmic motion in the design that one thinks of in relation to ,botticelli's ,spring4444 ,we could ill afford to lose the charm of the early ,florentine ,triumph of ,bacchus and ,ariadne for all the finished beauty of ,marcantonio's ,lucretia1 and it is still the youth of artistic development1 with its nave joy and freshness of outlook1 which holds us with the stronger spell40 ,arthur ,m4 ,hind4 ,reproduced from the unique impression in the ,british ,museum ,size of the original engraving1 #h #bb inches ,illustration3 ,,the ,,assumption ,,of ,,the ,,virgin ,florentine engraving1 in the ,broad ,manner1 after a design by ,botticelli 8,most important of all the contemporary engravings after ,botticelli is the ,assumption of the ,virgin4444 ,an original study by ,botticelli for the figure of ,st4 ,thomas1 who is receiving the girdle of the ,virgin1 is in ,turin1 and clinches the argument in favor of ,botticelli's authorship4 ,the view of ,rome1 a record of ,botticelli's visit1 is an interesting feature of the landscape40 ,arthur ,m4 ,hind4 ,size of the original engraving1 #cb #bb inches ,botticelli was in early life under the immediate inspiration1 if not in the very service1 of the great goldsmith ,pollaiuolo 7witness his picture of ,fortitude in ,florence74 ,one almost expects in consequence that he may at some period have tried his hand at engraving1 but there is no proof that he did anything besides supplying the engravers with designs4 ,his chief connection with the engravers was in the series of plates done for ,landino's edition of ,dante's 8,divine ,comedy0 7,florence1 #adha74 ,altogether nineteen plates 7and a repetition of one subject7 are known1 but although spaces are left throughout the whole edition for an illustration to each canto1 it is only in rare copies that more than two or three are found4 ,even the fine presentation copy to ,lorenzo de' ,medici 7now in the ,national ,library1 ,florence7 is without a single plate1 showing perhaps the small regard that was paid to engraving for book decoration at that period4 ,this lack of appreciation and the difficulties 7or double labor7 the printers experienced in combining copperplate impressions with type led soon after this and a few other experiments of the period to the use of woodcut as the regular mode of book illustration for well over a century4 ,apart from the plates to this edition1 ,botticelli's devotion to ,dante is shown in the beautiful series of pen drawings--in the most subtly expressive outline--preserved at ,berlin and in the ,vatican4 ,it seems on the whole probable that they are later than the #adha edition1 so that we cannot point to the original drawings for the prints4 ,most important of all the contemporary engravings after ,botticelli is the ,assumption of the ,virgin1 the largest of all the prints of the period 7printed from two plates1 and measuring altogether about #hb4e #ef cm474 ,an original study by ,botticelli for the figure of ,st4 ,thomas1 who is receiving the girdle of the ,virgin1 is in ,turin1 and clinches the argument in favor of ,botticelli's authorship4 ,the view of ,rome1 a record of ,botticelli's visit1 is an interesting feature of the landscape4 ,this engraving is produced in what has been called the ,,broad ,,manner in contradistinction to the ,,fine ,,manner1 e4g4 of the ,dante prints4 ,in the ,,broad ,,manner the lines are laid chiefly in open parallels1 and generally the shading is emphasized with a lighter return stroke laid at a small angle between the parallels4 ,its aim is essentially the imitation of pen drawing after the manner of such draughtsmen as ,pollaiuolo and ,mantegna4 ,the ,,fine ,,manner on the other hand shows shading in close cross-hatching 7somewhat patchy and cloudy in effect in most of the early ,florentine prints71 and gives the appearance of imitating a wash drawing4 ,the two manners may be well compared in the series of 8,prophets and ,sibyls10 which exists in two versions1 the earlier being in the ,fine1 and the later in the ,broad ,manner4 ,the first series shows a craftsman who drew largely from ,german sources 7putting a ,st4 ,john of the ,master ,e4 ,s4 into the habit of the ,libyan ,sibyl74 ,in the second we have an artist who discarded all the ugly and awkward features which originated in the ,german originals1 and showed throughout a far truer feeling for beauty and a much finer power of draughtsmanship than the earlier engraver4 ,mr4 ,herbert ,horne suspects1 rightly ,i think1 that ,botticelli himself directly inspired this transformation of the 8,prophets and ,sibyls40 ,through our lack of knowledge of the engravers of this early period in ,florence we are driven to a rather constant use of the somewhat unattractive distinctions of the ,fine and ,broad ,manners4 ,we may claim1 however1 to have advanced a little further in the elucidation of questions of authorship1 though the great ,german authority on this period1 ,dr4 ,kristeller of ,berlin1 would still keep practically all the early ,florentine engravings in an unassailable anonymity4 ,this is of course better than classing all the engravings of the period and school1 both in the ,fine and ,broad ,manners1 under the name of ,baccio ,baldini1 which has long been the custom4 ,a certain 8,baccio1 orafo0 has been found in documents as buried in #adhg1 but there is practically nothing to connect his name with the substance of our prints4 ,we would not on that account regard him as a myth1 but are reduced at the moment to ,vasari's statement that 8,baldini1 the successor of ,finiguerra in the ,florentine school of engraving1 having little invention1 worked chiefly after designs by ,botticelli40 ,considering the fact that both ,broad and ,fine ,manners 7in all probability the output of two distinct workshops7 show prints definitely after ,botticelli1 we are still in entire darkness as to the position of ,baldini4 ,illustration3 ,,the ,,libyan ,,sibyl ,from a series of the 8,prophets and ,sibyls10 engraved in the ,fine ,manner of the ,finiguerra ,school ,size of the original engraving1 #g #d inches ,illustration3 ,,the ,,libyan ,,sibyl ,from a series of the 8,prophets and ,sibyls10 engraved in the ,broad ,manner of the ,finiguerra ,school ,size of the original engraving1 #g #d inches ,with regard to an important group of ,fine ,manner prints1 ,sir ,sidney ,colvin has given strong reasons for the attribution to ,maso ,finiguerra1 made famous by ,vasari as the inventor of the art of engraving4 ,considering ,vasari's evident error in regard to the discovery of engraving 7for there were engravings in the north of ,europe well before the earliest possible example of ,finiguerra71 modern students have been inclined to regard ,finiguerra as much in the light of a myth as ,baldini4 ,but there is no lack of evidence as to his life and work1 and without repeating the arguments here1 which are given in full in ,sir ,sidney ,colvin's 8,florentine ,picture-,chronicle0 7,london1 #ahih71 we would at least state our conviction that a considerable number of the early ,florentine engravings1 as well as an important group of nielli1 must be from his hand4 ,vasari speaks of him as the most famous niello-worker in ,florence1 and he also speaks of his drawings of 8figures clothed and unclothed1 and histories0 7the 8figures0 evidently the series traditionally ascribed to ,finiguerra in ,florence1 but now for a large part labeled with an extreme of timidity 8school of ,pollaiuolo02 the 8histories10 probably the 8,picture-,chronicle0 series1 acquired from ,mr4 ,ruskin for the ,british ,museum74 ,then considering ,vasari's fuller statement that ,finiguerra was also responsible for larger engravings in the light of a group of ,florentine engravings which correspond closely in style with many of the only important group of ,florentine nielli 7chiefly in the collection of ,baron douard de ,rothschild1 ,paris7 as well as with the ,uffizi drawings1 we can hardly escape the conviction that ,vasari was correct in his main thesis4 ,a curiously entertaining side-light is given by one of these engravings1 the ,mercury for the series of 8,planets40 ,here we see the representation of a goldsmith's shop in the streets of ,florence1 stocked just as we know from documents ,finiguerra's to have been4 ,and the goldsmith is evidently engaged in engraving1 not a niello1 but a large copperplate4 ,illustration3 ,,the ,,planet ,,mercury ,florentine engraving in the ,fine ,manner1 attributed to ,maso ,finiguerra1 or his school 8,a curiously entertaining side-light is given by one of these engravings1 the ,mercury for the series of #8,planets4' ,here we see the representation of a goldsmith's shop in the streets of ,florence1 stocked just as we know from documents ,finiguerra's to have been4 ,and the goldsmith is evidently engaged in engraving1 not a niello1 but a large copperplate40 ,arthur ,m4 ,hind4 ,size of the original engraving1 #ab #h inches ,illustration3 ,a ,,young ,,man ,,and ,,woman ,,each ,,holding ,,an ,,apple ,a ,florentine engraving in the ,fine ,manner1 attributed to the school of ,finiguerra 8,one of the 8,otto ,prints0 7so called from the eighteenth-century collector who possessed the majority of the series71 ,a ,young ,man and ,woman ,each ,holding ,an ,apple1 is in the ,gray ,collection1 ,harvard1 and it is a charming example of the amatory subjects of the series1 prints such as the ,florentine gallant might have pasted on the spice-box to be presented to his inamorata4 ,the badge of ,medici 7the six 8palle0 with three lilies in the uppermost7 added by a contemporary hand in pen and ink suggests that this one may have been used by the young ,lorenzo himself between about #adfe and #adfg1 which accords well with the probable date of the engravings40 ,arthur ,m4 ,hind4 7,the inscription above reads amore te q 7questa7 and piglia q3 8,o ,love1 this to you0 and 8,take this407 ,size of the original engraving1 #d #d inches ,the engravings most certainly by ,finiguerra1 such as the ,judgment ,hall of ,pilate 7,gotha71 the ,march to ,calvary and the ,crucifixion 7,british ,museum71 ,various ,wild ,animals ,hunting and ,fighting 7,british ,museum71 are of course rarities which most collectors can never hope to possess4 ,the same may also be said of somewhat later prints in the same manner of engraving 7which may be the work of the heirs of ,finiguerra's atelier1 which is known to have been carried on by members of his family until #adih71 such as the ,fine ,manner 8,prophets and ,sibyls0 and the 8,otto ,prints40 ,we will in consequence devote less space to these rarities1 possessed chiefly by a few ,european collections1 than their artistic interest would justify1 keeping our argument henceforward more to the engravings that the ,american amateur has the chance of seeing or acquiring at home4 ,one of the 8,otto ,prints0 7so called from the eighteenth-century collector who possessed the majority of the series71 ,a ,young ,man and ,woman ,each ,holding ,an ,apple1 is in the ,gray ,collection1 ,harvard1 and it is a charming example of the amatory subjects of the series1 prints such as the ,florentine gallant might have pasted on the spice-box to be presented to his inamorata4 ,the badge of ,medici 7the six 8palle0 with three lilies in the uppermost7 added by a contemporary hand in pen and ink suggests that this one may have been used by the young ,lorenzo himself between about #adfe and #adfg1 which accords well with the probable date of the engravings4 ,the only known engraving by the goldsmith and painter ,antonio ,pollaiuolo1 the large ,battle of ,naked ,men1 shows a far greater artist than his slightly elder contemporary ,finiguerra4 ,they had both studied in the same workshop and probably continued a sort of partnership until ,finiguerra's death4 ,pollaiuolo's draughtsmanship evinces a grip and intensity that ,finiguerra entirely lacks in his somewhat torpid academic drawings1 and it is seen at its best in this magnificently vigorous plate4 ,an excellent impression1 surpassed by few in the museums of ,europe1 is1 ,i believe1 in the collection of ,mr4 ,francis ,bullard of ,boston4 ,before leaving ,florence for north ,italy we would allude to that attractive engraver of the transition period1 ,cristofano ,robetta4 ,his art has lost the finest flavor of the primitive ,florentine without having succeeded to the sound technical system of the contemporaries of ,drer1 but it has a thoroughly individual though delicate vein of fancy4 ,the ,adoration of the ,magi1 one of his finest plates1 is a free translation of a picture by ,filippino ,lippi in the ,uffizi1 but the group of singing angels is an addition of his own1 and done with a true sense for graceful composition4 ,fine early impressions of this print are of course difficult to get1 but it is perhaps the best known of ,robetta's works1 because of the number of modern impressions in the market4 ,the original plate 7with the ,allegory of the ,power of ,love engraved on the back7 belonged to the ,vallardi ,collection in the early nineteenth century1 and is now in the ,british ,museum1 happily safe from the reprinter4 ,among the greatest rarities of early engraving in north ,italy is the well-known series traditionally called the 8,tarocchi ,cards of ,mantegna0--somewhat erroneously1 for they are neither by ,mantegna1 nor ,tarocchi1 nor playing-cards at all4 ,as in the case of the 8,prophets and ,sibyls10 there are two complete series of the same subjects by two different engravers4 ,each series consists of fifty subjects divided into five sections and illustrating3 7#a7 the ,sorts and ,conditions of ,men2 7#b7 ,apollo and the ,muses2 7#c7 the ,arts and ,sciences2 7#d7 the ,genii and ,virtues2 7#e7 the ,planets and ,spheres4 ,a considerable number of the earliest impressions known are still in contemporary fifteenth-century binding1 and it seems as if the series was intended merely as an instructive or entertaining picture-book for the young4 ,there is the most absolute divergence of opinion as to which is the original series1 and the student is encouraged to whet his critical acumen on the problem by the excellent set of reproductions which has recently been issued by the ,graphische ,gesellschaft and edited by ,dr4 ,kristeller4 ,unfortunately ,dr4 ,kristeller takes what seems to me an entirely wrong view of the matter4 ,i cannot but feel that the more finely engraved series is at the same time the more ancient1 and almost certainly ,ferrarese in origin1 so characteristic of ,cossa is the type of these figures with large heads1 rounded forms1 and bulging drapery4 ,the second series shows a more graceful sense of composition and spacing 7the heads and figures being in better relation to the size of the print71 but its very naturalism is to me an indication of its somewhat later origin4 ,the less precise technical quality of this second series is closely related to the ,florentine engravings in the ,fine ,manner1 and ,i am inclined to regard it as the work of a ,florentine engraver of about #adge to #adhj1 i4e4 about a decade later than the original set4 ,illustration3 ,,antonio ,,pollaiuolo4 ,,battle ,,of ,,naked ,,men 8,the only known engraving by the goldsmith and painter ,antonio ,pollaiuolo1 the large ,battle of ,naked ,men1 shows a far greater artist than his slightly elder contemporary1 ,finiguerra4 ,pollaiuolo's draughtsmanship evinces a grip and intensity that ,finiguerra entirely lacks in his somewhat torpid academic drawings1 and it is seen at its best in this magnificently vigorous plate40 ,arthur ,m4 ,hind4 ,reproduced from the impression in the ,print ,department1 ,museum of ,fine ,arts1 ,boston ,size of the original engraving1 #ae #bc inches ,illustration3 ,,cristofano ,,robetta4 ,,the ,,adoration ,,of ,,the ,,magi 8,cristofano ,robetta's art has lost the finest flavor of the primitive ,florentine without having succeeded to the sound technical system of the contemporaries of ,drer1 but it has a thoroughly individual though delicate vein of fancy4 ,the ,adoration of the ,magi1 one of his finest plates1 is a free translation of a picture by ,filippino ,lippi in the ,uffizi1 but the group of singing angels is an addition of his own1 and done with a true sense for graceful composition40 ,arthur ,m4 ,hind4 ,size of the original engraving1 #aa #aa inches ,leaving the pseudo-,mantegna for the master himself1 we are in the presence of the greatest of the ,italian engravers before ,marcantonio--if not of all time4 ,like the ,florentines1 ,mantegna was an ardent lover of antiquity1 but his spirit was far more impassive1 far more like the antique marble itself4 ,his classical frame of mind was to some extent the offspring of his education in the school of ,squarcione and in the academic atmosphere of ,padua4 ,his art has a monumental dignity which the ,florentines never possessed1 but it was without the freshness and inexpressible charm that pervade ,tuscan art4 ,an engraving like the ,risen ,christ between ,st4 ,andrew and ,st4 ,longinus is an indication of the genius that might have made one of the noblest sculptors1 and one regrets that he never carried to accomplishment the project of a monument to ,vergil in ,mantua1 which ,isabella d',este wished him to undertake4 ,seven of the engravings attributed to ,mantegna 7including the ,risen ,christ7 are so much above the rest in subtle expressiveness1 as well as in technical quality1 that we cannot but agree with ,dr4 ,kristeller's conclusion that these alone are by ,mantegna's hand1 and the rest engraved after his drawings4 ,they are similar to ,pollaiuolo's ,battle of ,naked ,men in style1 engraved chiefly in open parallel lines of shading with a much more lightly engraved return stroke between the parallels4 ,it is this light return stroke1 exactly in the manner of ,mantegna's pen drawing1 which gives the wonderfully soft quality to the early impressions4 ,but it is so delicate that comparatively few printings must have worn it down1 and the majority of impressions that come into the market show little but the outline and the stronger lines of shading4 ,even so these ,mantegna prints do not lose the splendidly vigorous character of their design1 but it is of course the fine early impressions which are the joy and allure of the true connoisseur4 ,the seven certainly authentic ,mantegna engravings are the ,virgin and ,child1 the two ,bacchanals1 the two ,battles of the ,sea-,gods1 the horizontal ,entombment1 and the ,risen ,christ1 already mentioned4 ,illustration3 ,,andrea ,,mantegna4 ,,the ,,risen ,,christ ,,between ,,st4 ,,andrew ,,and ,,st4 ,,longinus 8,of all the early ,italian engravers1 ,andrea ,mantegna is by far the most powerful1 though scarcely the most human4 ,like many of the ,florentines1 he was an ardent lover of antiquity1 but his spirit was far more impassive than theirs1 and far more like the antique marble itself4 ,his art has a monumental dignity which the ,florentines never possessed1 but it lacks the freshness and inexpressible charm that pervade ,tuscan art4 ,his was a genius that would have made one of the noblest sculptors3 the engraving of the ,risen ,christ shows what he might have achieved in the field40 ,arthur ,m4 ,hind4 ,size of the original engraving1 #ae #ab inches ,illustration3 ,,zoan ,,andrea7874 ,,four ,,women ,,dancing ,this engraving1 based on a study by ,mantegna for a group in the ,louvre picture of ,parnassus1 is one of the most beautiful prints of the school of ,mantegna4 ,it is most probably by ,zoan ,andrea4 ,size of the original engraving1 #h #ac inches ,nearest in quality to these comes the ,triumph of ,caesar3 the ,elephants1 after some study for the series of cartoons now preserved at ,hampton ,court4 ,but it lacks ,mantegna's distinction in drawing1 and ,zoan ,andrea1 who is probably the author of one of the anonymous engravings of ,four ,women ,dancing 7based on a study for a group in the ,louvre picture of ,parnassus71 one of the most beautiful prints of the school1 was certainly capable of this achievement4 ,even ,giovanni ,antonio da ,brescia1 who did work of a very third-rate order after migrating to ,rome1 produced under ,mantegna's inspiration so excellent a plate as the ,holy ,family4 ,other prints attributed to ,mantegna1 such as the ,descent into ,hell and the ,scourging of ,christ1 possess all ,mantegna's vigor of design1 and reflect the master's work in the manner of the ,eremitani frescos1 but we can hardly believe that they were engraved by the same hand as the 8seven10 even supposing a considerably earlier date for their production4 ,each of ,mantegna's known followers 7,zoan ,andrea and ,g4 ,a4 da ,brescia7 entirely changed his manner of engraving after leaving the master2 in fact1 except in his immediate entourage1 ,mantegna's style was continued by few of the ,italian engravers4 ,for all its dignified simplicity1 it is more the manner of the draughtsman transferred to copper1 than of the engraver brought up in the conventional use of the burin4 ,we see ,mantegna's open linear style reflected in the earlier works of ,nicoletto da ,modena1 and the ,vicentine1 ,benedetto ,montagna1 but each of these engravers tended more and more in their later works to imitate the more professional style of the ,german engravers1 and of ,drer in particular4 ,drer was constantly copied by the ,italian engravers of the early sixteenth century1 and details from his plates 7chiefly in the landscape background7 were even more consistently plagiarized4 ,in the example of ,nicoletto da ,modena1 the ,adoration of the ,shepherds1 which we reproduce1 it is ,drer's immediate predecessor1 ,martin ,schongauer1 from whom the chief elements in the subject are copied4 ,but in this example the background1 with its vista of lake with ships and a town1 suggested no doubt by one of the subalpine ,italian lakes1 is thoroughly characteristic of the ,south1 while ,schongauer's ,gothic architecture is embellished with classical details4 ,isolated figures of saints or heathen deities against a piece of classical architecture1 set in an open landscape1 became the most frequent type of ,nicoletto's later prints1 which are practically all of small dimensions4 ,like ,nicoletto da ,modena1 ,benedetto ,montagna gradually developed throughout his life a more delicate style of engraving1 entirely giving up the large dimensions and broad style of his ,sacrifice of ,abraham for a series of finished compositions which from their smaller compass would have been well adapted for book illustration4 ,several of these1 such as the ,apollo and ,pan1 illustrate incidents in ,ovid's 8,metamorphoses10 but there is no evidence for1 and there is even probability against1 their having ever been used in books4 ,several of the subjects are treated very similarly in the woodcuts of the #adig ,venice edition of ,ovid in the vernacular4 ,when engravings and woodcuts thus repeat each other1 the woodcutter is generally the copyist1 but in this case the reverse is almost certainly the case1 as the ,ovid plates belong to ,montagna's later period1 and could hardly have preceded #aejj4 ,illustration3 ,,nicoletto ,,da ,,modena4 ,,the ,,adoration ,,of ,,the ,,shepherds 8,in the ,adoration of the ,shepherds it is ,drer's immediate predecessor4 ,martin ,schongauer1 from whom the chief elements in the subject are copied4 ,but in this example the background1 with its vista of lake with ships and a town1 suggested no doubt by one of the subalpine ,italian lakes1 is thoroughly characteristic of the ,south1 while ,schongauer's ,gothic architecture is embellished with classical details40 ,arthur ,m4 ,hind4 ,size of the original engraving1 #i #g inches ,illustration3 ,,jacopo ,,de' ,,barbari4 ,,apollo ,,and ,,diana 8,jacopo de' ,barbari is of peculiar interest as a link between the styles of ,germany and the ,south4 ,whether of ,northern extraction or not is uncertain1 but the earlier part of his life was passed in ,venice4 ,drer was apparently much impressed by his art on his first visit to ,venice between #adie and #adig1 and 444 even seems to have taken an immediate suggestion for a composition from ,barbari1 i4e4 for his ,apollo and ,diana4 ,drer's version shows a far greater virility and concentration of design1 but for all its power it lacks the breezier atmosphere of ,barbari's print40 ,arthur ,m4 ,hind4 ,size of the original engraving1 #f #c inches ,apart from ,mantegna1 ,leonardo and ,bramante are the two great names which have been connected with engravings of the period4 ,but ,i incline to doubt whether either of them engraved the plates which have been attributed to them4 ,the large ,interior of a ,ruined ,church1 splendid in design and reminiscent of the architect's work in the sacristy of ,s4 ,satiro1 ,milan1 might equally well have been engraved by a ,nicoletto da ,modena1 with whose earlier style it has much in common4 ,of the prints attributed to ,leonardo1 the fascinating ,profile ,bust of a ,young ,woman 7p4 #beb71 unique impression in the ,british ,museum1 stands out from the rest for the sensitive quality of its outline1 but even here ,i would be more ready to see the hand of an engraver like ,zoan ,andrea1 who after leaving ,mantua seems to have settled in ,milan and done work in a finer manner influenced by the style of the ,milanese miniaturists 7such as the ,master of the ,sforza ,book of ,hours in the ,british ,museum74 ,in ,venice ,giovanni ,bellini's style is reflected in the dignified engravings of ,girolamo ,mocetto1 and in the region of ,bologna or ,modena one meets the anonymous master 8,i ,b 7with the ,bird710 whose few engraved idyls are among the most alluring prints of the lesser masters of north ,italy4 ,more individual than ,mocetto and far less dependent on any other contemporary painter is ,jacopo de' ,barbari1 who is of peculiar interest as a link between the styles of ,germany and the ,south4 ,whether of ,northern extraction or not is uncertain1 but the earlier part of his life was passed in ,venice4 ,drer was apparently much impressed by his art on his first visit to ,venice between #adie and #adig1 and his particular interest in the study of a ,canon of ,human ,proportions was aroused by some figure-drawings which ,barbari had shown him4 ,drer even seems to have taken an immediate suggestion for a composition from ,barbari1 i4e4 for his ,apollo and ,diana4 ,drer's version shows a far greater virility and concentration of design1 but for all its power it lacks the breezier atmosphere of ,barbari's print2 it is redolent of the study1 while the latter has the charm of an open ,italian landscape4 ,there is a distinct femininity about ,barbari2 perhaps this very feature and the languorous grace of his treatment of line and the sinuous folds of drapery give his prints their special allure4 ,i would close this article with some reference to two other engravers of great individuality of style--,giulio and ,domenico ,campagnola1 of ,padua4 ,domenico's activity as a painter continued until after #aefc1 but the probable period of his line-engravings 7about #aeag-ah71 and his close connection with ,giulio ,campagnola 7though the exact nature of the relationship is unexplained71 justify his treatment among the precursors rather than in the wake of ,marcantonio4 ,giulio ,campagnola1 like ,giorgione1 whose style he so well interpreted1 was a short-lived genius4 ,he was a young prodigy1 famous at the tender age of thirteen as a scholar of ,latin1 ,greek1 and ,hebrew1 besides being accomplished as a musician and in the arts of sculpture1 miniature1 and engraving4 ,little wonder that he did not long survive his thirtieth year4 ,probably his practice as an illuminator as well as his particular aim of rendering the atmosphere of ,giorgione's paintings led him to the method of using dots1 or rather short flicks1 in his engraving1 which is in a sense an anticipation of the stipple process of the eighteenth century1 though of course without the use of etching4 ,most of his prints are known in the two states--in pure line1 and after the dotted work had been added4 ,illustration3 ,,giulio ,,campagnola4 ,,st4 ,,john ,,the ,,baptist 8,one of the most splendid of his plates is the ,st4 ,john the ,baptist1 with a dignity of design whose origin may probably be traced back to some drawing by ,mantegna1 though the landscape is of course thoroughly ,paduan or ,venetian in its character40 ,arthur ,m4 ,hind4 ,reproduced from the impression in the ,print ,department1 ,museum of ,fine ,arts1 ,boston ,size of the original engraving4 #ac #i inches ,illustration3 ,,giulio ,,and ,,domenico ,,campagnola4 ,,shepherds ,,in ,a ,,landscape 8,it is ,giorgione again whom we see reflected in the ,shepherds in a ,landscape1 a plate which seems to have been left unfinished by ,giulio and completed by ,domenico ,campagnola4 ,there is a drawing in the ,louvre for the right half of the print1 and there is every reason to think that this drawing as well as the engraving of that portion of the landscape is by ,giulio4 ,but the group of figures and trees on the left is entirely characteristic of the looser technical manner of ,domenico40 ,arthur ,m4 ,hind4 ,size of the original engraving1 #e #aj inches ,one of the most splendid of his plates is the ,st4 ,john the ,baptist1 with a dignity of design whose origin may probably be traced back to some drawing by ,mantegna1 though the landscape is of course thoroughly ,paduan or ,venetian in its character4 ,more completely characteristic1 and the most purely ,giorgionesque of all his prints1 is the ,christ and the ,woman of ,samaria1 one of the most wonderfully beautiful of all the engravings of this period4 ,it is ,giorgione again whom we see reflected in the ,shepherds in a ,landscape1 a plate which seems to have been left unfinished by ,giulio and completed by ,domenico ,campagnola4 ,there is a drawing in the ,louvre for the right half of the print1 and there is every reason to think that this drawing as well as the engraving of that portion of the landscape is by ,giulio4 ,but the group of figures and trees on the left is entirely characteristic of the looser technical manner of ,domenico4 ,the existence of a copy of the right-hand portion of the plate alone points to the existence of an unfinished state of the original1 though no such impressions have been found4 ,in any case it distinctly supports the theory that the other part of the original print was a later addition4 ,we may have to admit in conclusion that there is nothing in ,italian engraving before ,marcantonio quite on a level with the achievement of ,albrecht ,drer1 but the indefinable allure that characterizes so much of the work of the minor ,italian artists of the earlier ,renaissance is more than enough compensation for any lack of technical efficiency4 ,with ,marcantonio we find this efficiency in its full development1 joined to a remarkable individuality in the interpretation of sketches by ,raphael and other painters4 ,yet we could ill afford to lose the charm of the early ,florentine ,triumph of ,bacchus and ,ariadne for all the finished beauty of ,marcantonio's ,lucretia1 and it is still the youth of artistic development1 with its nave joy and freshness of outlook1 which holds us with the stronger spell4 ,a ,,prince ,,of ,,print-,,collectors3 ,,michel ,,de ,,marolles1 ,,abb ,,de ,,villeloin 7#afjj-afha7 ,,by ,,louis ,r4 ,,metcalfe ,the ,french make a fine distinction between three varieties of that very special individual to whom we refer in a general way as 8a collector40 ,they have always been authorities on that subject and one of them has said3 8,on est amateur par got1 connaisseur par ducation1 curieux par vanit40 ,while another adds3 8,ou par spculation40 ,by 8collector0 we simply mean a person who has formed the habit of acquiring the things in which he is particularly interested1 and these in as many varieties as possible4 ,it implies neither an artistic pursuit nor a deep knowledge of the subject4 ,by curieux1 however1 is meant1 as a rule1 an amateur1 a man of taste who collects things which pertain to art exclusively2 he is in most cases a connaisseur1 and always an enthusiast4 ,paris1 the home of taste1 has never been that of the curieux more so than at the present day1 when1 it seems1 every one who can afford a rent of over four thousand francs has a hobby of some sort and is a mad collector4 ,a general history of the weakness for things either beautiful or odd or rare1 or merely fashionable1 would be both voluminous and chaotic1 if a distinction were not made between that which pertained to art and that which did not4 ,a complete description of the latter1 a hopelessly heterogeneous mass1 would make an amusing volume1 for there is no end to the variety of things in which vanity and folly have caused human beings to become interested to the point of collecting in large numbers4 ,george ,,iv collected saddles2 the ,princess ,charlotte and many others1 shells4 ,tulips were so madly sought after in ,holland that one root was exchanged for #dfj florins1 together with a new carriage1 a pair of horses1 and a set of harness4 ,shop-bills and posters have been the specialty of many1 while thousands of persons have collected postage-stamps and coins4 ,a ,mr4 ,morris had so many snuff-boxes that it was said he never took two pinches of snuff out of the same box4 ,a ,mr4 ,urquhart collected the halters with which criminals had been hanged2 and another enthusiast1 the masks of their faces4 ,suett1 a comedian1 collected wigs1 and another specialist owned as many as fifteen hundred skulls1 ,anglo-,saxon and ,roman4 ,if there have been men who have shown a propensity to collect wives1 ,evelyn tells us in his diary3 8,in #afda there was a lady in ,haarlem who had been married to her twenty-fifth husband1 and1 having been left a widow1 was prohibited from marrying in future2 yet it could not be proved that she had ever made any of her husbands away1 though the suspicion had brought her divers times to trouble40 ,although we much regret that such an intensely interesting work as a ,comprehensive ,history of ,collecting has never been written1 we realize that a mere description of rare and beautiful objects would be unsatisfactory as long as we did not know their history and the way in which they had been gathered together4 ,it is the soul of the collector which we should like to see laid bare4 ,was his work a labor of vanity or one of love8 ,were his possessions mere playthings1 speculation1 to him1 or did they represent treasures of happiness greater than all the gold in ,golconda8 ,without a doubt1 it is one thing to collect what is highly prized on all sides1 with large means at one's disposal1 and the constant advice of experts1 and quite another to search patiently oneself for things which the general public has not yet discovered1 and then to acquire them with difficulty4 ,who shall know with what admirable zeal some collectors have made themselves authorities on the things which they loved8 with what untiring energy they have sifted for years masses of trash in the hope of finding the hidden pearl8 ,who can tell the inner history of the auction-room1 the heart-beats of those who were after the jewel which no one else seemed to have noticed1 the sacrifices which many with a slender purse have made in order to secure the precious 8find10 and lastly the enjoyment which they ever afterward derived from its possession8 ,many of the great ,french collections of the last century were made in this spirit3 they were begun with a modest outlay and devoted to things which1 at that time1 no one else wanted4 ,i know of one of the first collectors of ,eastern ,art in the nineteenth century1 who at one time had greatly to reduce his household in order to satisfy his passion for ,japanese vases2 and of another wealthy enthusiast who would travel third-class to ,london to secure an old ,roman bronze4 ,the history of such collections becomes that of human beings for whom life is nothing without beauty1 and it is too personal to be recorded4 ,the collector will seldom believe that his enthusiasm can be understood by others besides himself3 maybe1 also1 he would be unwilling to reveal the more or less innocent subterfuges to which he had recourse in order to acquire more than one of his treasures4 ,the ,american chapter of such a history is the most recent one1 and the world is now watching its development with bated breath4 ,the art of the ,old ,world is being imported by the ship-load2 fortunes are paid for single paintings1 while the paneled wainscots of ,french chteaux1 the ceilings of ,italian palaces1 the colonnades of their gardens1 and the tapestries of the ,low ,countries1 not to mention a hundred varieties of objets d'art1 are constantly wending their way to the treasure-houses--still in course of construction--of the ,new ,world4 ,all this is taking place to the indignation of ,europeans and the sthetes who consider such a radical change of background a desecration1 and do not stop to think that this transplantation is hardly more unnatural than the sight of the ,elgin marbles in foggy ,london1 or the winged bulls of ,ecbatana in the halls of the ,louvre4 ,so long as we as a nation will learn a much-needed lesson and thereby greatly improve our taste1 let all honor and glory be given to those who have been responsible for such valuable acquisitions4 ,our ,american collections already contain many 8gems of purest ray serene10 and who will dare say that they are not destined to become in time worthy successors of the famous ones which have preceded them8 ,from the writings of ,pliny and other classic historians1 and from several catalogues and rare documents which have come down to us from the ,middle ,ages and the ,renaissance1 we have abundant proof that there never was a time when works of art were not treasured4 ,cicero1 ,atticus1 and ,varro collected writings1 and the libraries of ,aristotle1 ,theophrastus1 and that of ,epaphroditus of ,chronea1 which contained thirty-two thousand manuscripts1 were famous4 ,hannibal was a lover of bronzes3 it was he who owned the little ,hercules of ,lysippus which the master himself had presented to ,alexander the ,great and which afterward became the property of ,sulla4 ,both ,pompey and ,julius ,csar possessed splendid masterpieces of that ,greek art which was so highly prized in ,italy4 ,the ,venus of the ,hermitage comes from ,csar's gallery1 and the ,jupiter of the ,louvre from that of ,antony2 while the ,faun with the ,child1 and the ,borghese vase1 now treasured in the ,louvre1 were once among the possessions of ,sallust in his palace on the ,quirinal4 ,not only sculpture was collected in those times1 for we also hear of the tapestries of ,saurus1 valued at twenty millions in the currency of the day2 the jewelry of ,verres1 reputed the finest in existence2 the priceless crystals of ,pollio2 and the two thousand vases of precious stone owned by ,mithridates1 ,king of ,pontus4 ,throughout the ,middle ,ages the trsor of the kings and the most powerful nobles was in reality their collection4 ,that of ,dagobert was the result of four ,italian conquests4 ,the inventory of the jewels of the ,duc d',anjou1 son of ,john the ,good1 contains #gif numbers1 while his brother1 the ,duc de ,berry1 had a passion for reliquaries1 old church ornaments1 and rare manuscripts which he caused to be mounted like jewels4 ,the library of ,charles ,v and his trsor were valued at twenty millions of francs1 and the collection of curiosities of ,ysabeau de ,bavire had not its equal4 ,it contained1 among other things1 an ivory box in which was kept the cane with which ,saint ,louis used to flagellate himself4 ,the ,dukes of ,burgundy for centuries were the greatest collectors of richly inlaid armor4 ,and what of the treasures of ,jacques ,cur1 the great banker of ,charles ,,vii8 ,with his fleet of trading-vessels and his many banking-houses he secured the pick of the market4 ,we know that his silverware was piled up to the ceiling in the vaults of his palace at ,bourges4 ,in the ,gazette des ,beaux-,arts for the year #ahfi we read a description of the home of ,jacques ,duchi1 a famous art collector who flourished during the first half of the fifteenth century4 ,in the courtyard were peacocks and a variety of rare birds4 ,in the first room was a collection of paintings and decorated signs2 in the second1 all kinds of musical instruments--harps1 organs1 viols1 guitars1 and psalterions4 ,in the third was a great number of games1 cards and chessmen2 and in the adjoining chapel1 rare missals on elaborately carved stands4 ,in the fourth room the walls were covered with precious stones and sweet-smelling spices1 while on those of the next was hung a great variety of furs4 ,from these rooms one proceeded to halls filled with rich furniture1 carved tables1 and decorated armor4 ,illustration3 ,,portrait ,,of ,,michael ,,de ,,marolles1 ,,abb ,,de ,,villeloin ,engraved by ,claude ,mellan1 from his own design from life1 in #afdh ,illustration3 ,illustrissimi ,viri ,l4 ,h4 ,haberti ,monmory libellorum ,supplicum ,magistri1 ,,epigramma in ,effigiem ,,michaelis ,,de ,,marolles ,abbatis de ,villeloin4 ,nobilitas1 ,virtus1 ,pietas1 ,doctrina ,,marolli ,debuerant ,sacr cingere fronde comam4 ,nanteil ad viuum faciebat #afeg ,the ,renaissance was the ,golden ,age of ,collectors4 ,what could have withstood the influence of that tremendous movement8 ,the art of ,italy and the magnificence of the nobility and the princes of the ,church shed1 like the ,augustan ,age1 a golden glamour over civilization4 ,the ,mdicis set the example1 and they were closely followed by the ,sforzas1 the ,farneses1 and the ,gonzagas4 ,the patronage of the ,fine ,arts was on such a scale1 and the rivalry among the collectors so keen1 that in #aeae there were in ,rome thirty-nine cardinals who had veritable museums for palaces4 ,it was for ,agostino ,chigi that ,raphael decorated that ,farnesina ,villa in which such treasures were stored1 and for whom1 later1 he designed those plates on which parrots' tongues were served to ,leo ,x4 ,what a rage for beauty there was when ,baldassarre ,castiglione advised all the sons of noble families to study painting1 in order that they might become better judges of architecture1 sculpture1 vases1 medals1 intaglios1 and cameos4 ,what a madness for antiques1 when ,cardinal ,san ,giorgio sent back to ,michelangelo his 8,amorino0 because he considered it too modern4 ,would that we could follow the vicissitudes through which went the great collections of the day--the drawings of ,vasari1 the books of ,aldus and ,pico della ,mirandola1 the armor of ,cellini1 the portraits of ,paolo ,giovio and the medals of ,giulio ,romano6 ,certain is it that many of their treasures eventually crossed the ,alps4 ,it was after ,charles ,,viii had shown to the lite of his nation 8the remnants of antiquity gilded by the sun of ,naples and of ,rome0 that the ,french ,renaissance1 already well on its way1 received new inspiration1 and that the ,french collectors renewed their activity4 ,judging by the fabulous accounts given by the country-folk1 the contents of many a turreted castle on the ,loire must have been wonderful1 indeed4 ,following the lead of ,francis ,i1 who had his library1 his pavillon d'armes1 and his cabinet de curiosits1 and the example of ,catherine de ,mdicis1 who had brought from ,italy many of her family's treasures1 the leading nobles1 like ,georges d',amboise in his ,chteau de ,gaillon1 collected beautiful things with admirable catholicity4 ,it was not only books in sumptuous bindings which were sought after by ,louis ,,xii and the ,valois1 ,diane de ,poitiers1 ,queen ,margot1 ,amyot1 and de ,thou1 but art in every form4 ,in the case of ,grolier himself1 are we not told by ,jacques ,strada1 in his 8,epithome du ,thrsor des ,curiositez10 that 8great was the number of objects of gold1 silver1 and copper in perfect condition1 and remarkable the variety of statues in bronze and marble1 which his agents were collecting for him all over the world08 ,most significant is the inventory of the collection of ,florimond ,robertet1 the able treasurer of the royal finances under ,charles ,,viii1 ,louis ,,xii1 and ,francis ,i1 which was made in #aecb by ,michelle de ,longjumeau1 his widow4 ,never was a catalogue such a labor of love as this one4 ,it is a detailed description of the entire contents of a museum on which a great financier spent his entire fortune2 it is full of significant touches concerning the customs of the time and the origin and use of the objects described2 and it bears witness to the great enjoyment which both husband and wife derived from their treasures throughout their lifetime4 ,there were many jewels and some pear-shaped pearls of great size1 silver andirons1 thirty sets of silks and tapestries1 bronzes and ivories4 ,among the paintings and sculpture were a canvas and a statue by ,michelangelo4 ,the porcelain was the first brought to ,france from ,china1 and there was much pottery from ,turkish lands and ,flanders1 ,french faence1 ,italian majolica1 church ornaments1 precious books1 and four hundred pieces of ,venetian glass1 8gentillisez des plus jolies gayetez que les verriers sauraient inventer40 ,it was the religious wars of the end of the century which brought ,french collecting to a stop4 ,constant strife and persecution discouraged the last artists of the ,renaissance1 ruined many a noble family1 and scattered the contents of their palaces4 ,not until years afterward1 during the seventeenth century1 was it taken up again2 then it was to reach great brilliancy during the reign of ,louis ,,xiv4 ,the leading families of ,france began to rebuild their collections when ,henry ,,iv and his favorite1 ,gabrielle d',estres1 indulged their fondness for medals1 cameos1 and intaglios1 and ,marie de ,mdicis had brought from ,tuscany those paintings which she considered such an indispensable luxury4 ,in after years ,louis ,,xiii collected armor2 ,anne of ,austria1 delicate bindings2 and ,richelieu1 finely chased silverware4 ,and when ,louis ,,xiv began to reign1 ,paris was the proud center of the collecting world4 ,from this time on we have full records of the treasures amassed by many people of taste and culture and we are able to follow them into the following century1 no matter how often they change hands--this1 thanks to specialists like ,felibien and ,germain ,brice and the thousand references to art in the memoirs of the time4 ,in #afgc there were in ,paris eighty-five important art collectors who owned among them seventy-three libraries1 and twenty years later this number had increased to one hundred and thirty-four1 a remarkable development for such a short space of time4 ,the greatest example was set by ,cardinal ,mazarin and ,fabri du ,peiresc4 ,the wily ,italian who had succeeded ,richelieu gave as much time to his collections as to the ship of state1 and his fellow-grafter1 ,nicolas ,fouquet1 treasurer of the kingdom1 was allowed to make himself the most powerful man in ,france just as long as he was able to supply his ,eminence with the millions he was so constantly in need of for the army and his gold-threaded tapestries and busts of ,roman emperors4 ,just before his death4 ,mazarin had himself carried through a gallery lined with #djj marbles1 nearly #ejj canvases 7among them seven ,raphaels71 and #ej1jjj volumes1 while he kept weeping and exclaiming3 8,faudra-t-il quitter tout cela80 ,in the south of ,france1 ,fabri du ,peiresc1 great savant and collector1 had agents in constant quest of rarities4 ,it is related that 8no ship entered a port in ,france without bringing for his collections some rare example of the fauna and flora of a distant country1 some antique marble1 a ,coptic1 ,arab1 ,chinese1 ,greek1 or ,hebrew manuscript1 or some fragment excavated from ,asia or ,greece40 ,illustration3 ,,nanteuil4 ,,jules1 ,,cardinal ,,mazarin ,engraved in #afee when ,mazarin was fifty-three years of age ,size of the original engraving1 #ab #i inches ,illustration3 ,,nanteuil4 ,,louis ,,xiv ,engraved in #affd1 from ,nanteuil's own drawing from life ,louis was twenty-six years of age when this portrait was engraved ,size of the original engraving1 #ae #ab inches ,by this time there was a new fine art to be collected seriously--that of ,engraving4 ,to the masterpieces of ,drer1 ,lucas van ,leyden1 and ,marcantonio1 now over a century old1 had succeeded the spirited etchings of ,callot4 ,it was he who first popularized the art in ,france and paved the way for the enthusiastic appreciation of ,morin1 ,mellan1 and ,nanteuil4 ,the school of engravers established by ,colbert at the ,gobelins made their art rank in importance with ,painting and ,sculpture1 and their work won such popular favor that many engravers became publishers1 and did a great business selling their prints and those of their pupils to the leading collectors4 ,the first man of taste to make a serious collection of engravings was ,claude ,maugis1 ,abb de ,saint ,ambroise1 almoner to the ,queen1 ,marie de ,mdicis4 ,he spent forty years making a collection which at his death was sold to ,charles ,delorme1 that physician-in-ordinary to ,henry ,,iv and ,louis ,,xiii of whom ,callot has made such an interesting little portrait4 ,it was when the first part of the ,delorme ,collection and that of a ,sieur de ,kervel had been added to his own possessions by the ,abb de ,marolles that there was begun the greatest collection of prints and drawings ever assembled4 ,michel de ,marolles1 ,abb de ,villeloin1 was one of the most picturesque figures of the seventeenth century4 ,he was born in ,touraine in #afjj1 and died in #afha1 the son of the gallant ,claude de ,marolles1 marchal de camp in the army of ,louis ,,xiii1 who had won a famous duel fought in the presence of two armies in the ,war of the ,ligue4 ,his life was indeed a peaceful one4 ,at the age of twenty-six1 after having pursued a complete course of studies1 he was presented by ,richelieu with the abbey of ,villeloin in ,touraine1 and for the remainder of his days he drew its income1 cultivated the most interesting people in ,france1 translated the classics1 wrote his memoirs1 and collected prints as no one ever did before him1 or after4 ,truly1 an ideal existence6 ,although he tells us that at the age of nine he decorated the walls of his bedroom with prints given him by a ,carthusian monk1 we know that for the first half of his life the ,abb de ,villeloin did little more than collect friends4 ,this must have given him little trouble1 for his rank gained him admission to the entire nobility1 and his appreciation of literature and the fine arts enabled him to carry on a friendly intercourse with the best-known artists and connoisseurs4 ,during this intercourse there was a constant exchange of gifts2 in fact1 to receive presents seemed to have been the ,abb's object in life4 ,in his 8,memoirs0 there are one hundred and fifty pages devoted to a complete enumeration of all the persons who have presented him with a gift1 or 8honored him extraordinarily by their civility10 and the list includes the best-known personages of the day4 ,what did de ,marolles give them in return1 besides the pleasure of his company and the charm of his appreciation8 ,a mass of bad translations of the classics3 that was the great weakness of the ,abb de ,villeloin4 ,chapelain1 the poet1 complained of it in a curious letter to ,heinsius1 saying3 8,that fellow has vowed to translate all the classic authors1 and has almost reached the end of his labors1 having spared neither ,plautus nor ,lucretius nor ,horace nor ,virgil nor ,juvenal nor ,martial1 nor many others4 ,your ,ovid and ,seneca have as yet fought him off1 but ,i do not consider them saved1 and all the mercy they can expect is that of the ,cyclops to ,ulysses--to be devoured last40 ,that ,chapelain was not the only one who did not appreciate the literary talent of the ,abb1 and that he often found difficulty in finding publishers for his translations1 is admitted by de ,marolles himself when1 in his poem on 8,the ,city of ,paris10 he says3 8,j'ai perdu des amis par un rare caprice ,quand je leur ai donn des livres que j'ai faits ,comme gens offenss1 sans pardonner jamais ,bien qu'on n'ait point bless leur mchant artifice40 ,but it is not as a man of letters that de ,marolles interests us3 it is as a great lover of the art of ,engraving and the greatest collector of prints in history4 ,not until he had reached the age of forty-four did he begin to collect them systematically4 ,then he purchased the first part of the ,delorme ,collection for one thousand louis d'or1 the prints owned by ,kervel1 and those of several other small collectors4 ,his activity was so great that nine years later1 in his memoirs1 he was able to refer to this collection as follows3 8,god has given me grace to devote myself to pictures without superstition1 and ,i have been able to acquire a collection numbering more than #gj1jjj engravings of all subjects4 ,i began it in #afdd1 and have continued it with so much zeal1 and with such an expense for one not wealthy1 that ,i can claim to possess some of the work of all the known masters1 painters as well as engravers1 who number more than #djj40 ,he further adds3 8,i have found that collecting such things was more suited to my purse than collecting paintings1 and more serviceable to the building up of a library4 ,had we in ,france a dozen such collectors among the nobility1 there would not be enough prints to satisfy them all1 and the works of ,drer1 ,lucas1 and ,marcantonio1 for which we now pay four and five hundred cus when in perfect condition1 would be worth three times that amount4444 ,it seems to me that princes and noblemen who are collecting libraries should not neglect works of this kind1 as long as they contain so much information on beautiful subjects2 but ,i know of no one who has undertaken to do this except for medals1 flowers1 architecture1 machines1 and mathematics40 ,the collection of the ,abb de ,marolles had become so famous by #afff1 that ,colbert1 after having had it examined and appraised by ,felibien and ,pierre ,mignard1 advised ,louis ,,xiv to purchase it for the royal library4 ,the deed was signed in #affg1 and in the following year the ,abb de ,villeloin received from the royal treasury the sum of twenty-six thousand livres 7#be1jjj7 for what was described in a seal-colored document as 8un grand nombre d'estampes des plus grands matres de l'antiquit40 ,let us see what this meant4 ,de ,marolles tells us himself1 in his catalogue of #afff1 that his collection consisted of #abc1djj original drawings and prints1 the work of over #fjjj artists1 and that it was contained in #djj large and #ada small volumes4 ,as to the variety of subjects represented1 it had no end3 it included1 for instance1 landscapes1 views of cities1 architecture1 fountains1 vases1 statues1 flowers1 gardens1 jewelry1 lacework1 machines1 grotesques1 animals1 costumes1 decoration1 anatomy1 dances1 comedies1 jousts1 heraldry1 games1 heroic fables1 religious subjects1 massacres1 tortures1 and over #aj1jjj portraits4 ,in describing his collection to ,colbert1 the ,abb made especial note of his greatest treasures as follows3 8,leonardo da ,vinci4 ,his work is in #e pieces4 8,anthony van ,dyck4 ,there are #baj plates after his work1 of which #ad are etched by his own hand4 8,marcantonio from ,bologna1 that excellent engraver who has done such beautiful work after ,drer1 ,mantegna1 ,raphael1 and ,michelangelo1 is the greatest of all engravers1 and the one whose works are the most sought after4 ,i own #egj of them1 in two volumes4 8,andrea and ,benedetto ,mantegna4 ,the work of the former is in #ajd pieces1 that of the latter in #gd1 all rare1 making #agh pieces in all1 some of which are engraved by ,marcantonio4 8,lucas van ,leyden1 excellent painter and engraver1 of whom ,i have collected in one volume all the works engraved both on copper and on wood1 besides #be drawings in pen and pencil from his own hand1 all very singular4 ,i have #ahj of these engravings1 many in duplicate1 all of great beauty1 among them the portrait of ,eulenspiegel1 unique in ,france1 the other having been sold more than twelve years ago for #af louis d'or4 ,among the woodcuts1 the ,kings of ,israel are here done in chiaroscuro1 and unique in this state4 8,albert ,drer4 ,one folio volume1 bound in vellum1 contains #ab portraits of the artist by various masters2 #ae drawings by his own hand1 which are singular and priceless2 his three plates on brass sic1 his six etched plates1 and all his copper engravings in duplicate1 with three impressions of ,maximilian's sword-hilt1 all having been collected by the ,abb de ,saint ,ambroise1 almoner of ,queen ,marie de ,mdicis4444 8,rhinbrand sic4 ,the work of this ,dutch painter and etcher consists of many prints1 of which ,i have collected #bbd1 among which are portraits and fancy subjects most curious40 ,he further adds that he possesses #aib original crayon portraits by ,lagneau1 a successor of the ,clouets1 and #ej by ,dumonstier1 and that the prints of the old masters of ,italy1 ,germany1 and ,flanders are contained in #ai folio volumes4 ,after this enormous collection had passed into the hands of the ,king1 the ,abb de ,marolles was engaged to catalogue and classify it1 and also to superintend the binding of its #eda volumes4 ,for this he received on two occasions a payment of #abjj livres4 ,the binding was done in full levant morocco1 decorated with the royal arms1 ,louis's monogram1 and richly tooled borders2 for this purpose #ejj green and #abjj crimson skins had been specially imported from the ,east4 ,our indefatigable collector had hardly parted with the result of the labor of twenty-two years when he began the formation of a second collection4 ,to the second part of the ,delorme ,collection which he then purchased were added the prints of ,,mm4 ,odespunck and la ,reynie1 the collection of ,m4 ,petau1 who had made a specialty of portraits1 and that of the ,sieur de la ,noue1 which contained a great number of original drawings4 ,we know very little about this second collection of the ,abb de ,marolles1 except that when it was catalogued in #afgb it was contained in #bcg folios4 ,what became of it has never been ascertained2 in all probability it found its way into the print-cabinets of the many amateurs of the end of the century4 ,it is evident that he wished to dispose of it1 probably for the purpose of starting a third collection1 for we have a letter on the subject addressed to ,m4 ,brisacier1 secrtaire des commandements de la ,reine1 of whom ,masson made that famous engraved plate known as 8,the ,gray-haired ,man40 ,in it de ,marolles describes his second collection as being hardly less important than the one he had previously sold to the ,king1 and as containing a great number of masterpieces which were unique4 ,not satisfied with such extensive researches in the realm of art1 the ,abb de ,villeloin decided to record all his information on the subject1 and in the spring of #afff announced the title of a colossal work on which he was engaged as3 8,une histoire trs ample des peintres1 sculpteurs1 graveurs1 architectes1 ingenieurs1 matres-crivains1 orfvres1 menuisiers1 brodeurs1 jardiniers et autres artisans industrieux1 o il est fait mention de plus de dix mille personnes1 aussi bien que d'un trs grand nombre d'ouvrages considrables1 avec une description exacte et nave des plus belles estampes ou de celles qui peuvent servir donner beaucoup de connaissances qui seraient ignores sans cela40 ,this work was1 unfortunately1 never published1 and its manuscript has never been found2 it would have been a wonderful compendium of ,french art during the seventeenth century1 and would have given us much precious information concerning a number of prominent engravers of whom so little is known to-day4 ,all that remains of it is the summary1 written in bad verse and published under the title of 8,le livre des peintres et des graveurs40 ,it is a curious little book1 containing little more than the names of thousands of artists who were obscure in their day and who are now completely forgotten4 ,to many of them1 however1 and particularly to the most prominent1 are affixed such descriptive little touches1 that what would otherwise have been a monotonous pattern becomes an original piece of historical ornament4 ,as to the 8,memoirs0 of the ,abb de ,marolles1 they possess the same defect as many other autobiographies of the time3 they were published too soon1 and they prove how anxious the author was to witness the sensation he thought he would make4 ,in this case they were published in #afec1 fourteen years before the ,abb had sold his first collection1 and they tell us little more than that he possessed a very extended circle of acquaintances who thought the world of him on account of his patronage of the fine arts and his literary talent4 ,it is evident that he included himself among his most sincere admirers1 and that he regarded the friendship of such a charming woman as ,louise-,marie de ,gonzague1 who later became ,queen of ,poland1 and the incense which all the engravers in ,france ostentatiously scattered before him1 as both natural and deserved4 ,claude ,mellan1 ,poilly1 and ,robert ,nanteuil were on particularly friendly terms with him1 each in turn engraving his portrait from life1 the last with such delicacy and finish that that plate ranks among his most successful portraits4 ,mellan1 furthermore1 engraved the portraits of his parents1 ,claude de ,marolles and ,agatha ,castiglione4 ,illustration3 ,,agatha ,,castiglione ,wife of ,claude de ,marolles and mother of ,michel de ,marolles1 ,abb de ,villeloin ,engraved by ,claude ,mellan from his own design ,size of the original engraving1 #f #e inches ,illustration3 ,,claude ,,de ,,marolles ,father of ,michel de ,marolles1 ,abb de ,villeloin ,engraved by ,claude ,mellan from his own design ,size of the original engraving1 #i #g inches ,the tastes and the mania for collecting of the ,abb de ,villeloin were so well known that it is not impossible that it was he of whom ,la ,bruyre was thinking when1 in his famous 8,caractres10 he gives the following description of a collector3 8#8,you wish to see my prints1' says ,democenes1 and he forthwith brings them out and sets them before you4 ,you see one which is neither dark nor clear nor completely drawn1 and better fit to decorate on a holiday the walls of the ,petit ,pont or the ,rue ,neuve than to be treasured in a famous collection4 ,he admits that it is engraved badly and drawn worse1 but hastens to inform you that it is the work of an ,italian artist who produced very little1 and that the plate had hardly any printing2 that1 moreover1 it is the only one of its kind in ,france2 that he paid much for it1 and would not exchange it for something far better4 #8,i am1' he adds1 #8in such a serious trouble that it will prevent any further collecting4 ,i have all of ,callot but one print1 which is not only not one of his best plates1 but actually one of his worst2 nevertheless1 it would complete my ,callot4 ,i have been looking for it for twenty years1 and1 despairing of success1 ,i find life very hard1 indeed4'0 ,this is admirably descriptive of a born collector2 and what would have been a ridiculous mania in a philistine became a natural attitude on the part of such a connaisseur as the ,abb de ,marolles4 ,in our eyes his weaknesses were insignificant1 and we forgive him his bad translations1 his unpublished history of ,art1 and the rather monotonous self-sufficiency of his ,memoirs1 for the encouragement which his honest enthusiasm and indomitable collecting gave to the artists who made the ,golden ,age of ,engraving--for having been the ,prince of ,print-collectors4 ,,jean ,,morin #afjj-afff ,,by ,,louis ,r4 ,,metcalfe ,the ,exhibitions of ,french ,engraved ,portraits of the ,seventeenth ,century recently made at the ,new ,york ,public ,library and at the ,boston ,museum of ,fine ,arts1 give one an excellent idea of the vogue of the portrait and the excellence attained by that remarkable school of engravers which flourished under the auspices of ,louis ,,xiv4 ,a score of masters are represented1 from ,michael ,lasne to the superb ,nanteuil1 and their models1 the most representative personages of that grand century of ,french history1 whether plotters against ,henry ,,iv1 friends and foes of ,richelieu or flatterers of ,louis ,,xiv1 stand proudly on parade for the twentieth-century ,american1 in all their glory of immense wigs1 armor and lace collars1 or in the quieter garb of prelates and counselors to the king4 ,it is a remarkable illustration to the history of a great period4 ,the nobility represented the survival of the fittest1 for in the early part of the century four thousand of them had died in those street duels which ,richelieu had abolished only with the help of the executioner4 ,as to the clergy1 no wonder that so many of those portly prelates could afford to have their portraits painted and engraved3 the wealth of the church had never been greater4 ,their example was followed by every one of any importance in the public eye2 he had his portrait made with no more hesitation than one has nowadays to sit to a photographer of recognized excellence4 ,it was the ,golden ,age of ,portrait-painting1 for they were the days of ,rubens1 ,van ,dyck1 ,rembrandt and that host of splendid ,dutch artists for whom physiognomy had no secrets4 ,they in turn inspired ,philippe de ,champaigne and1 later1 ,lebrun and ,mignard1 ,rigaud and ,largillire4 ,many of their glorious canvases have long been public property and remain to-day enshrined in national museums1 but many more have for years remained jealously guarded heirlooms in private collections1 and have been known only to a few4 ,many of those which have not been destroyed have become so altered by time and damaged by faulty restoration that they hardly do justice to their creators4 ,thanks to the engraver1 these portraits are just as alive to-day as when they were painted1 for in an engraving there is no paint to fade or darken1 no values to become altered4 ,a brilliant impression of an early state remains to-day what it was when it emerged from the master's hand two and a half centuries ago4 ,such collections as are now exhibited represent more than brilliant examples of an art which is lost2 they are historical and artistic documents of great importance1 and the ,french ,engravers of the ,seventeenth ,century deserve infinite praise for having showed all the possibilities of an art which1 as ,longhi claims in his book ,la ,calcografia1 8publishes and immortalizes the portraits of eminent men for the example of present and future generations1 better than any other serving as the vehicle for the most extended and remote propagation of deserved celebrity40 ,among the many artists who were responsible for the ,golden ,age of ,engraving1 ,jean ,morin occupies a unique position4 ,he was born in #afjj and died in #afff4 ,morin has the distinction of having not only immediately preceded and influenced the master of them all1 ,nanteuil1 but also of having produced fifty portraits which1 in contradistinction to all other reproductive engravers1 he etched instead of engraved with the burin4 ,it is difficult1 however1 to realize what a strikingly original and personal artist he was1 without first considering in what stage of development his first efforts had found the art4 ,when had engraved portraiture begun in ,france8 ,we must look for its first steps in the illustrations of the books which were published during the second half of the sixteenth century2 they teem with carefully executed small-sized portraits which1 as a rule1 were framed in decorative cartouches and bore lengthy inscriptions4 ,very few of them have been drawn from life2 the first engravers1 not trusting their own powers1 were content to copy those exquisitely sensitive and delicate drawings1 the crayon portraits which the ,clouets made of royalty and the court at the time of ,francis ,i1 ,henry ,,ii1 and ,catherine de ,medicis4 ,they are a wonderful pendant to ,holbein's drawings of the courtiers of ,henry ,,viii4 ,the finest are now hanging in the famous ,gallery of ,psyche at ,chantilly4 ,nothing can describe the subtlety with which the artist has combined refinement and realism and drawn with delicate color the features of the famous personages of those tragic times4 ,illustration3 ,,morin4 ,,louis ,,xiii1 ,,king ,,of ,,france ,after the painting by ,philippe de ,champaigne ,size of the original engraving1 #aa #i inches ,illustration3 ,,morin4 ,,anne ,,of ,,austria1 ,,regent ,,of ,,france ,widow of ,louis ,,xiii and ,mother of ,louis ,,xiv ,after the painting by ,philippe de ,champaigne ,size of the original engraving1 #aa #i inches ,here is ,henry ,,iv as a careless youth next to the terrible ,catherine when she was an innocent-looking young bride2 further on are the baby daughter of ,francis ,i and the indomitable head of the house of ,guise4 ,the sad ,charles ,,ix is represented here as a mere boy2 there1 a week before his death1 shaking with fever and tortured by remorse for the fearful massacre which he had instigated4 ,the ill-fated ,mary ,stuart wears becomingly her widow's mourning1 and is surrounded by the chivalry and the beauty of the court4 ,the success of these drawings was so great that every one desired complete sets of them1 and the result was that they were copied over and over again1 first by other artists1 and finally by amateurs who were not very faithful to their models4 ,the work of the ,clouets was intelligently continued by several members of the family of ,dumonstier1 and the vogue of this exquisite form of portraiture lasted until the middle of the following century4 ,it was these finished miniatures which the first engravers attempted to reproduce on wood and copper2 their drawing was in most cases weak1 and consequently the resemblance was seldom faithful2 their knowledge of line-work was very meager1 and therefore the modeling was most primitive2 but in spite of this1 their work is interesting for its exquisite finish and its consistent effort to express the character of the individual4 ,such very personal little portraits as those of ,philibert ,delorme in his treatise on architecture1 ,orlando di ,lasso in a book of motets1 and the great ,ambroise ,par in his treatise on the fractures of the skull1 shared the fame of those of ,henry ,,iv by ,thomas de ,leu1 and greatly increased the popularity of engraving4 ,by the beginning of the seventeenth century it had become extremely fashionable to dabble in engraving1 and painters1 architects1 goldsmiths1 noblemen and even ladies were busy gouging wood and cutting copper with an enthusiasm which has bequeathed us a mass of small illustrations1 tail-pieces1 grotesques1 mottos1 emblems and other embellishments4 ,then there appeared during the reign of ,louis ,,xiii a peculiar genius in ,claude ,mellan4 ,he adopted such an original technique that he had practically no followers4 ,considering cross-hatching rank heresy1 ,mellan spent a great part of his life making facsimiles on copper of more than four score charming pencil-drawings which he had made from life1 using distinct lines which he made broader in the shadows4 ,although he thereby succeeded in producing a set of very remarkable plates1 he was prevented by the exaggerated simplicity of his system from securing all the detail1 the refinement of expression necessary to a real psychological study1 and he was unable to express any color1 texture or chiaroscuro whatever4 ,the most original artistic genius at that time was ,callot1 who had introduced etching in ,france2 he delighted everybody with the facility and esprit with which he handled the needle1 and he produced a great number of plates full of crisply drawn little figures which possessed so much animation that nothing like them had previously been seen4 ,his two attempts at portraiture1 however1 are far from being significant2 it may be said that he was not serious enough for such work4 ,by that time portrait-engraving had become extinct in ,germany1 and it was achieving little of importance in ,italy and ,spain2 in the ,low ,countries1 however1 it was producing masterpieces4 ,even if ,rembrandt and ,van ,dyck had given the world nothing more than their etched portraits1 their fame would live forever4 ,in the former1 the world found an artist who painted as effectively with the needle as with the brush1 and an etcher who reveled in such powerful and correct chiaroscuro that his portraits were a perfect revelation4 ,the glowing light with which he illumined his faces and the boldness and freedom of his line-work amazed the engravers of his time1 for in comparison they had worked only in outline1 and those who attempted to imitate him achieved very little success4 ,in the plates of ,rembrandt the engraved portrait reaches the last degree of warmth of expression and life4 ,as to ,anthony ,van ,dyck1 he had followed the example of ,rubens and encouraged the leading engravers of ,antwerp to reproduce his portraits on copper4 ,the result was that noble work called his 8,iconography10 which contained over a hundred portraits of the leading painters and art patrons of the time1 most brilliantly engraved by ,soutman1 the ,bolswerts1 ,vorstermann and ,paul ,pontius under the master's jealous supervision4 ,in directing this work ,van ,dyck developed such enthusiasm that he himself etched eighteen portraits from life1 in which the faces are modeled with small dots2 they are charming drawings which exhibit such a wonderful knowledge of physiognomy1 and possess so much life and color in spite of the simplicity of their treatment1 that they remain masterpieces for all times4 ,through the genius of ,rubens and ,van ,dyck the art of engraving had become transformed2 at last life and color had come into it4 ,no such brilliancy in the treatment of flesh and varied texture had been attained by pure line-work before the appearance of ,pontius's portrait of ,rubens1 and with the exception of the etchings of ,rembrandt1 nothing so human had previously been seen as ,van ,dyck's etching of ,pontius himself4 ,but in spite of the best achievements of the ,flemish engravers1 there was still an important advance to be made before the copperplate could give such a faithful translation of a painting that besides the drawing and the color1 it could reproduce all the refinement of detail1 all the texture and chiaroscuro1 all the painter-like effect of the canvas4 ,that interval could be bridged only by a born draughtsman who had the soul of a portrait-painter and by an artist who would devote himself exclusively to the solution of that one problem4 ,for that final step of its development1 reproductive engraving had to go to ,france and to the unique ,jean ,morin4 ,illustration3 ,,morin4 ,,cardinal ,,richelieu ,after the painting by ,philippe de ,champaigne ,size of the original engraving1 #aa #i inches ,illustration3 ,,morin4 ,,pierre ,,maugis ,,des ,,granges ,matre-d',htel of ,louis ,,xiii ,after the painting by ,philippe de ,champaigne ,size of the original engraving1 #aa #i inches ,it is incredible that so little should be known about an artist of his prominence1 particularly as at that time the best artists were constantly 8en evidence0 and undertaking distant travels for the sake of their education and in order to gain patrons4 ,we must assume that ,morin lived a very quiet life and cared little for recognition4 ,who were his first masters remains a mystery2 the references which are made to him in the records of the time point only to the fact that he was always held in high esteem for the excellence of his work1 and that everywhere his serious character commanded respect4 ,two things are nevertheless certain concerning him4 ,one is that he had begun by becoming a well-schooled painter1 for his etched work is of singularly uniform excellence2 the other is that he had been influenced exclusively by the ,flemish ,school4 ,it was the etching of ,van ,dyck which tempted him to give up the brush for the graver1 and it was his own peculiarly calm and conscientious temperament which impelled him to carry the original technique of that prince of portraiture to the last degree of finish4 ,on the other hand1 it was from another ,flemish artist1 ,philippe de ,champaigne1 who had made ,france his home1 that he received inspiration and guidance throughout his life-work4 ,in return for this he devoted himself to the faithful reproduction of as many of that master's canvases as he could engrave before his death4 ,morin's work consists of a few figure-subjects and landscapes and fifty portraits4 ,these are among the finest that were engraved during the seventeenth century1 and they have the distinction of illustrating the reign of ,louis ,,xiii and his minister ,richelieu4 ,as an historical gallery they possess as much importance as the portraits made later by the school of ,nanteuil3 four of them are after ,van ,dyck1 fourteen are from the works of various painters1 including ,titian1 and all the rest1 thirty-two in number1 reproduce the dignified canvases of ,philippe de ,champaigne4 ,it was natural for ,morin to turn to the ,flemish painter1 not only because the latter had soon after his arrival become the painter of the court and the head of the ,french ,school1 but because his calm1 precise art was admirably suited to the engraver's work4 ,the canvases of ,philippe de ,champaigne have little of the power of ,rubens1 or the coloring and supreme elegance of ,van ,dyck1 nor do they possess the depth and originality of the portraits of ,rembrandt1 but they are characterized by an uncommon strength of draughtsmanship and composition1 and they unfailingly exhibit such profound seriousness1 restraint and dignity as few masters can boast of4 ,as in the case of most of ,morin's portraits1 it is hard to gaze upon them without experiencing that peculiar sensation of familiarity with the human being represented1 without being convinced that here is the bare truth just as an intelligent and thoroughly sincere nature beheld it1 without feeling that some of the model's soul has passed into the canvas4 ,it could not be otherwise with the work of an artist who had toiled so earnestly to follow an ideal1 and who himself had been visited by so much affliction4 ,de ,champaigne became at the end of his life a ,jansenist and a devoted ,port ,royalist--that is1 a member of a community of austere human beings whose lives were so simple and whose thoughts were so high that they were a perpetual reproach to the selfish clergy of the day and the empty butterflies who crowded the salons of ,versailles4 ,he has never come into his own1 principally because he stood in such close proximity to more brilliant lights1 and also because so many of his scattered paintings have become darkened with age4 ,his work as the painter of ,richelieu established such a popularity for the portrait as it had not known before and as it has not known since4 ,to-day1 when his name is mentioned1 one shrugs his shoulders and says3 8,oh1 well1 but what was he compared to ,rubens1 ,van ,dyck and ,rembrandt801 and then suddenly remembers that it was he who painted ,richelieu and that the full length portrait which hangs in the ,salon ,carr of the ,louvre and the triple study of the head which is in the ,national ,gallery1 ,london1 will always rank with the masterpieces of portrait-painting4 ,such was the artist to whom ,jean ,morin went for advice and for whom he developed such intense admiration and devotion4 ,the ,flemish painter must have readily seen how much the engraver's temperament had in common with his own1 and immediately understood that his faultless drawing and conscientious nature would make of him an admirable interpreter of his canvases4 ,certain it is that he lost no time in encouraging him to develop his technique1 and that he cheerfully gave him his portraits to copy4 ,the friendship which ensued continued until death1 and ,morin devoted his life to popularizing the portraits of ,philippe de ,champaigne1 later becoming himself affiliated with the noble sect of ,port ,royalists4 99 99 99 99 99 ,the peculiar significance of ,morin's work1 aside from the fact that it has been the principal means of perpetuating the work of a remarkable artist1 is that it represents the first effort in the history of ,engraved ,portraiture to reproduce a painted portrait with all its refinement of drawing and variety of tones4 ,no such trouble had previously been taken fully to represent all the color and chiaroscuro of a picture4 ,in order to accomplish this the engraver had to develop a painter's technique1 and that was something very different from the precise and methodical line-work of the engravers who had preceded him4 ,the etched work of ,callot was mere line-work2 ,van ,dyck supplemented this with some delicate modeling made with small dots2 and ,morin1 developing this system to the last degree of refinement1 bent all his energy to the absolutely faithful reproduction of the canvas in every detail of line and gradation of light4 ,his technique is chiefly etching combined with burin work4 ,as a rule1 his faces are modeled entirely with etched dots1 and he does this with such delicacy and refinement that in many cases they have the quality of a fine mezzotint4 ,only in a few of his plates does he use line-work to deepen his shadows1 and this is done over the stippling4 ,by means of this system he was able to express the greatest variety of tones1 from the very light complexion of a blond ,englishwoman to the dark skin and blue-black hair of a southern ,frenchman4 ,the hair he always etched with great care1 with a line admirable alike for its precision and freedom2 the frame alone seems to have been done with the burin4 ,it is1 however1 in the treatment of the costume that ,morin shows his independence of technical finish2 he makes little pretense at securing realism in his expression of texture4 ,compared to the work of ,nanteuil the surface of his armor and his moir silk cassocks and rich lace collars often lack realism1 while his backgrounds possess little of that soft gradation which enhances the beauty of so many later engravings4 ,illustration3 ,,morin4 ,,henri ,,de ,,lorraine1 ,,comte ,d',,harcourt ,the ,marshal-in-,chief of the ,armies of ,louis ,,xiii ,after the painting by ,philippe de ,champaigne ,size of the original engraving1 #aa #i inches ,illustration3 ,,morin4 ,,guido1 ,,cardinal ,,bentivoglio ,the ,papal ,nuncio to the ,court of ,louis ,,xiii ,after the painting by ,anthony ,van ,dyck ,size of the original engraving1 #aa #i inches ,but it is this very freedom which makes his plates so original and gives them such especial charm4 ,besides1 why should etching partake of the character of slow and precise burin work8 ,morin's chief preoccupation is the rendering of the face and the preservation of all the character of the original2 it is evident that he spares no pains to make his reproduction an absolutely faithful one4 ,as to the rest of the picture1 he does not consider it necessary to do more than recall the picturesque effect of the original's ensemble1 but if he treats it with freedom he is careful to make every line serve a definite purpose2 he is never careless4 ,it is to his great sympathy and conscientiousness that ,morin owed his success as a reproductive engraver1 and the fact that his plates had a great influence on his contemporaries4 ,before him no such delicate tones and deep velvety blacks had been seen1 no engraver had been so consistently correct and expressive in his drawing2 so much justice had never been done to a painter4 ,the art of ,morin was so personal that the efforts of his pupils ,alix1 ,plattemontagne and ,boulanger to follow his technique remained unsuccessful2 he was as inimitable in his brilliant effects of chiaroscuro as ,mellan with his fiendishly clever but exaggerated simplicity of line4 ,nevertheless1 the lesson of thorough faithfulness he had given was not lost2 the seed fell on fertile ground when ,robert ,nanteuil1 at the outset of his career1 studied ,morin's work closely enough to imitate his technique in such portraits as those of ,pierre ,dupuis1 the royal librarian1 and the poet ,gilles ,menage4 ,the engraver from ,rheims had doubtless profited by the example of his own master ,regnesson1 whose work had already shown ,morin's influence4 ,those clever little portraits as well as a few others done in that style show a marked advance on the previous ones1 in which he had followed that of ,mellan1 and the delicate little dots with which their faces are modeled paved the way for that system of close1 short strokes with which he eventually succeeded in imitating to perfection the peculiar texture of skin4 ,nanteuil was to inherit the best in all who had preceded him and to combine all previous systems into one which would carry the art of ,engraved ,portraiture to its greatest development2 but it was ,morin who gave him the most eloquent example and who pointed out to him the last remaining step to technical perfection4 ,,his ,,work ,on looking through a complete collection of ,morin's portraits one is immediately impressed by the small number of plates which denote crude beginnings4 ,as none of them is dated1 it is next to impossible to arrange his works chronologically1 all the more so as the engraver perfected his technique and found his manner very early in his career4 ,we find only one portrait which is really unsatisfactory1 that of ,louis ,,xi1 copied possibly from an old miniature1 and only two which show any hardness of tone1 the portraits of ,augustin and ,christophe de ,thou2 they are undoubtedly early works1 the head of the dreaded hermit of ,plessis-les-,tours being probably ,morin's first effort4 ,then we have that most ,gallic of ,frenchmen1 ,henry ,,iv1 a quaint head drawn with much character2 ,marie de ,mdicis1 after ,pourbus2 and ,henry ,,ii1 after ,clouet4 ,these last two are most excellent plates1 the first showing us that intriguing ,italian princess shortly after her arrival from ,florence1 in all the glory of her wonderful complexion and golden hair2 the second recalling the exquisite art of ,clouet in the simplicity and delicacy of the treatment of the face and the superb detail of the costume4#a ,we are then brought face to face with the great ,philip ,,ii of ,spain1 in one of ,morin's most serenely elegant plates after ,titian1 and the portraits of the two great saints of the time1 ,saint ,franois de ,sales and ,san ,carlo ,borromeo4 ,to the four portraits after ,van ,dyck we must give special attention1 for they contain ,morin's masterpieces1 the portrait of ,n4 ,chrystin1 son of the ,spanish plenipotentiary at the ,peace of ,vervins1 and that of ,cardinal ,bentivoglio1 the papal nuncio to the court of ,louis ,,xiii4 ,here we have ,morin in his grand manner1 transferring all the color of the original canvas to his copperplate and interpreting his models with a boldness1 a softness1 a clearness of purpose and a strength of sympathy wholly admirable4 ,in awarding the palm1 we hesitate between the deep tones1 the velvety finish in the head of the somber ,spaniard and the subtle modeling of the beautifully illumined1 sensitive ,italian face4 ,either of these portraits alone would have established ,morin's fame4 #a ,why such an authority as ,robert-,dumesnil should have classed the portrait of ,henry ,,iv's queen among the doubtful plates of ,morin is a mystery4 ,it is clearly the work of that master1 and although an early plate1 it is one of his brilliant ones4 ,the other two plates after ,van ,dyck represent women1 ,margaret ,lemon1 beloved of the painter1 and the ,countess of ,caernarvon1 a remarkable study in high lights1 and one of ,morin's most delicate plates4 ,the remainder of the gallery consists of his interpretation of ,philippe de ,champaigne's portraits1 and the array of celebrities there represented is a notable one4 ,what would we know of the features of that eccentric monarch1 the melancholic ,louis ,,xiii1 if we did not possess this striking etching of ,morin8 ,the father of 8le roi soleil0 is here posing1 ill at ease1 and probably wondering what ,richelieu is going to make him do next4 ,an unsatisfactory human being was he whose 8principal merit was to have done what few mediocre characters ever do1 bow down to the superiority of genius40 ,his queen1 ,anne of ,austria1 is here shown both in the quiet garb of a widow 7a delightfully simple portrait7 and in the more ceremonious court mourning1 while his prime minister1 ,richelieu1 is represented in a plate than which there is none more interesting among ,morin's works4 ,a comparison between this impression of the great cardinal's character and that recorded in the superb engraving by ,nanteuil is a most interesting one4 ,in the latter we see the steersman of the ship of state in all his grandeur of noble purpose and responsibility1 and we feel the immense will-power with which1 in constant danger of his life1 he bore long with his enemies1 and then1 driven to action1 8went far1 very far and covered everything with his scarlet robe40 ,but in ,morin's interpretation of the canvas of de ,champaigne we see quite another side of the great statesman4 ,it is the ,richelieu whom we perceive through some memoirs of the time 7and not the least trustworthy ones71 and in the literary history of the early seventeenth century4 ,it is a man wholly lacking in a sense of humor1 possessing plenty of vanity and constantly yearning for recognition as a literary light and a squire of dames4 ,illustration3 ,,morin4 ,,nicolas ,,chrystin ,son of the ,plenipotentiary of ,king ,philip ,,iv of ,spain to the ,peace of ,vervins ,after the painting by ,anthony ,van ,dyck ,size of the original engraving1 #aa x #i inches ,illustration3 ,,morin4 ,,antoine ,,vitr ,printer to the ,king and the ,clergy ,after the painting by ,philippe de ,champaigne ,size of the original engraving1 #ab x #h inches ,quite a different portrait is that of his nephew1 ,vignerod1 shown here in three-quarter figure as the ,abb de ,richelieu1 a most attractive plate1 and one of the only two portraits of ,morin's in which the model is shown otherwise than in the usual bust form4 ,the other one is that of ,vitr1 a famous printer of the time2 it is one of the lowest-toned engraved portraits extant1 and in its velvety blackness it is a most striking production4 ,a fine impression of it will turn one's thoughts to ,rembrandt and show the full extent of ,morin's originality4 ,the list contains many famous personages3 ,mazarin2 ,michel ,le ,tellier2 ,charles de ,valois1 duc d',angoulme1 son of ,charles ,,ix and the beautiful ,marie ,touchet2 the ,marchal d',harcourt1 the 8,cadet la perle0 of the more famous portrait by ,masson and the valorous head of the armies of ,louis ,,xiii2 the charming ,comtesse de ,bossu and her secretly married second husband the ,duc de ,guise2 the ,marchal de ,villeroy1 preceptor of ,louis ,,xiv2 ,potier de ,gesvres1 also a warrior2 and the ,chancellor ,marillac1 whose brother was executed by ,richelieu and who himself became the cardinal's victim1 though in a less tragic way4 ,all these plates are an admirable interpretation of their models1 and show an absolute lack of mannerism4 ,with their brilliant contrasts of light and shade and the uncommon amount of texture due to the freedom of the line-work and the rich color of the ink employed1 they have a richness of tone and a decorative effect shared by few of the portraits made later in the century4 ,some of them are engraved in a rather high key and show a simply modeled head against a light background1 as in the case of ,brachet de la ,milletire1 the savant who was first an intolerant ,calvinist and then became a militant ,roman ,catholic4 ,in other portraits like that of ,maugis1 the matre-d'htel of the king1 the artist seems to have reveled in the deepest tones of his inky palette1 and he renders the olive skin and the raven hair of this strong-featured individual with a most striking intensity4 ,splendid likenesses of prominent ecclesiastical dignitaries are to be found among the portraits which complete this interesting gallery1 but one there is which we must pause to contemplate1 and it is the faithfully reproduced portrait of that extraordinary human being1 ,j4 ,paul de ,gondi1 better known as the ,cardinal de ,retz4 ,in a masterpiece of draughtsmanship1 ,morin duplicates the art of de ,champaigne in expressing all the cleverness and daring1 the ambition and the sense of humor1 of this born gambler1 whose genius for intrigue was at the bottom of the war of the ,fronde4 ,one can see him1 with his yellow1 oily face1 unkempt and unshaven1 limping through the narrow streets of ,paris1 distributing largesses among a populace which1 the following hour1 he would betray to the nobles1 and then again champion4 ,as a pendant we have the brilliantly executed head of ,omer ,talon1 avocat-gnral du ,parlement1 the greatest pillar of ,french jurisprudence and a great man in his day2 it is a plate which ,rembrandt would have deigned to look at more than once4 ,illustration3 ,,morin4 ,,jean-,,fran,,ois-,,paul ,,de ,,gondi ,this personage is better known by his later title of ,cardinal de ,retz ,after the painting by ,philippe de ,champaigne ,size of the original engraving1 #aa #i inches ,illustration3 ,,morin4 ,,omer ,,talon ,advocate-,general of the ,parliament of ,paris ,after the painting by ,philippe de ,champaigne ,size of the original engraving1 #ab #i inches ,finally the famous ,port ,royal is here represented in the persons of ,jansenius1 ,bishop of ,ypres1 who raised such a storm in church circles of that time2 ,arnauld d',andilly1 the head of the great family of that name and the protector of ,port ,royal2 and ,jean ,du ,verger de ,houranne1 abb de ,saint-,cyran1 its confessor1 a man worthy of the first centuries of ,christianity4 ,they were famous men in their day1 and their names were on everybody's lips2 their story spells the most serious chapter of the history of their age1 and still they are all but forgotten in comparison with the great personages of the court1 and even their painted portraits are relegated to obscurity4 ,in these masterly prints of ,morin1 however1 they appear to us just as they looked in their day1 with much of their strength and weakness1 their aspirations and their secret ambitions4 ,so much animation is there in their faces that it is no hard matter to feel like the old monk in the ,spanish monastery who1 left alone of all his brothers1 said1 as he looked on the new pictures by ,velasquez1 8,i sometimes think we are the shadows40 ,,robert ,,nanteuil #afcj-afgh ,,by ,,louis ,r4 ,,metcalfe ,it is a curious fact that in these days of exhaustive research in everything which concerns the fine arts1 ,robert ,nanteuil1 the portrait-engraver of ,louis ,,xiv1 has remained until so recently both illustrious and unknown4 ,to be sure1 his name has been mentioned in all the histories of art1 and in the text-books of engraving he is dwelt upon at some length and given a prominent place among the engravers of his time2 but he was never found worthy of any especial study1 of the least little brochure4 ,his name has been familiar only to the connoisseurs and the print-collectors2 to them it has always been synonymous with the greatest excellence attained by the lost art of line-engraving4 ,this silence was broken finally in the artist's own birthplace4 ,in #ahhd ,mr4 ,charles ,loriquet1 curator of the library of the city of ,rheims1 who had just completed a collection of ,nanteuil's portraits for the city museum1 addressed the ,academy at one of its public sittings and eloquently pleaded with the authorities to erect a monument to him whom he considered second only to the great ,colbert as the most illustrious son of ,rheims4 ,his description of the artist and his work created such enthusiasm that he was later induced to publish it1 together with some interesting documents concerning ,nanteuil4 ,the unique little book found its way into many libraries1 private as well as public1 and has ever since been unfindable4 ,many new books on engraving have appeared since that day which have devoted as much as two or three pages to this brilliant artist without1 however1 giving his work more than a superficial criticism4 ,it was not until ,mr4 ,t4 ,h4 ,thomas published his recent work 8,french ,portrait ,engravers of the ,seventeenth and ,eighteenth ,centuries0 that the artist received proper recognition4 ,nanteuil is here frankly recognized as one of the most admirable figures in the history of art1 and proclaimed not only prince of portrait-engravers but also a great artist among the portrait-makers of all times4 ,the thirty pages which are devoted to him constitute the most brilliant and thorough criticism that has ever been made of a line-engraver1--they are a splendid analysis of the artist's technique1 his development1 his influence on his contemporaries1 and the exalted position which he occupied among them4 ,without doubt many readers of that interesting work will wonder why they never had before heard of such an important artist4 ,it was only four years ago that ,i for one made his acquaintance4 ,while ,i was looking through a large collection of old engraved portraits1 one head in particular arrested my attention2 it was drawn with such rare precision1 modeled with such maestria1 it had such expressive eyes and mouth1 that it made all the other portraits seem flat and lifeless4 ,my admiration turned into wonderment when ,i saw by the signature that the artist had drawn it from life as well as engraved it4 ,i had known the work of only those showy engravers who1 in the time of ,louis ,,xv1 were content to copy the work of the leading painters of the day and improve on it if they could4 ,there was no traduttore traditore about this expressive portrait2 here was something of a very different order4 ,the artist was a real portrait-maker1 a student of character1 a worthy comrade of ,holbein1 a draughtsman whose ambition it was first to represent the subject as he really looked1 then to make as fine an engraved plate as possible4 ,the text-books on engraving which fell into my hands informed me of the rank he had occupied in that famous school of engraving established by ,louis ,,xiv and of the great number of prominent people he had drawn from life4 ,that was enough to whet my curiosity to the limit1 for my interest in physiognomy had become a passion1 and whenever ,i had found in the galleries of ,europe a convincing portrait of a well-known historical personage1 my delight had been keen4 ,holbeins1 ,van ,dycks1 ,mierevelts and ,quentin de ,latours had been for years the objects of my enthusiasm2 they were living documents1 revelations of personalities such as few memoirs provided4 ,when the catalogue of ,robert-,dumesnil1 the only complete list of ,nanteuil's portraits1 had informed me that ,nanteuil's models had been in great part the men who had given so much greatness to the reign of the most splendid of modern potentates1 ,i felt that the collection must constitute an historical document of no mean interest1 if the likenesses of those celebrities were as convincing as that of the obscure ,louis ,hesselin1 ,prsident de la ,chambre des ,deniers1 which ,i now owned4 ,but it was not until ,i had pored over the contents of six huge volumes containing his complete works1 at the ,cabinet des ,estampes of the ,bibliothque ,nationale1 that ,i realized what a unique achievement had been that of the engraver from ,rheims4 ,he had made1 it seems1 a multitude of drawings from life of his contemporaries1 in pencil1 silverpoint1 crayons1 and pastels1 from the ,king himself down to the humblest cur of his parish1 and had then engraved many of them on copper1 securing thereby so many impressions that although almost all of his original drawings have disappeared1 his work has been perpetuated for all times4 7,whoever has said that a multitude of sheets of paper scattered among the museums of the world constituted a monument more enduring than the pyramids1 must have been a collector1 for he realized with how much jealousy a treasure can be guarded47 ,throughout all this work ,nanteuil exhibited such power as a draughtsman that his portraits won international fame for their resemblance1 and moreover he engraved with such perfection that his work and the influence he exerted over the great school formed by ,louis ,,xiv mark the ,golden ,age of ,line-engraving4 ,it is therefore in a dual capacity that ,nanteuil must be admired1 and this point has not been sufficiently emphasized by his critics4 ,he is an inspiring example of a man who has set out to do only one thing 7for he never attempted anything but heads7--but has learned to do it so well that he rises far above his rivals and has made his name a synonym for supreme excellence4 ,to carry the engraved portrait to its greatest possible perfection had been his ambition1 and he succeeded in this1 for it is not possible to imagine the burin producing more decided color1 greater fullness of tone1 and finer finish than can be found in a great many portraits by ,nanteuil4 ,it can be said that he used the sharp metal point with the same freedom as a great painter uses a brush2 his technique was so elastic and susceptible of modification that he was enabled to test to the fullest extent the possibilities of his medium and to determine its limitations4 ,when one is lucky enough to have the wonderful collections of the ,cabinet des ,estampes at his disposal1 the next thing to do after having seen the works of ,nanteuil is to examine those of his contemporaries4 ,it becomes perfectly clear which artists have influenced him1 and to what extent2 it will also be evident at a glance that he influenced all the rest4 ,this study1 however superficial1 will take several days1 for the number of peintre-graveurs encouraged by ,louis ,,xiv through the indefatigable ,colbert was great1 and their work was enormous4 ,edelinck1 who until recently has been better known than ,nanteuil1 was extremely prolific1 and ,pitau1 the ,poillys1 ,masson1 ,lombart1 and ,van ,schuppen1 to say nothing of ,mellan and ,morin among many others1 produced a great many portraits4 ,what a collection6 ,what a complete iconography of le grand sicle6 ,here is everybody who was at all prominent in the most civilized country of the time4 ,is it possible not to develop a love of portraiture1 a strong interest in engraving and a desire to collect engraved portraits1 of all pictures the most convenient1 the most possible to acquire and keep in large numbers8 ,i am reminded of ,john ,evelyn and ,samuel ,pepys as well as of the abb ,michel de ,marolles1 who were the first great or systematic collectors of engraved portraits1 the ,frenchman owning twenty thousand prints and all the portraits extant4 ,evelyn wrote to ,pepys advising him to collect them1 for1 as he said1 8some are so well done to the life that they may stand in competition with the best paintings40 ,he then adds3 8,this were a cheaper and so much a more useful curiosity as they seldom are without their names1 ages and eulogies of the persons whose portraits they represent4 ,i say you will be exceedingly pleased to contemplate the effigies of those who have made such a noise and bustle in the world1 either by their madness and folly1 or a more conspicuous figure by their wit and learning4 ,they will greatly refresh you in your study and by your fireside when you are many years returned40 ,we later see him write in his 8,diary0 that he had 8sat to the great ,nanteuil who had been knighted by the king for his art0 and had considered himself 8unworthy of being included in that gallery of models whom ,nanteuil's art has made famous40 ,we know by his own 8,diary0 that ,pepys became an enthusiastic collector and that he went over to ,paris to buy many prints by the great engraver1 at a later date commissioning his wife to secure for him many more which he strongly desired4 ,portrait-painting had at that time become a mania1 and there was no one of any prominence who did not wish to leave to posterity a record of his physical appearance4 ,richelieu in a single order had called for an entire gallery full of portraits of celebrities4 ,the ,french peintre-graveurs proved how effectively color could be translated into black and white1 and by revealing the true relation of engraving to painting shared the fame of their contemporaries in the other arts4 ,it is not possible for the lover of prints to glance at this interminable gallery and not be amazed at the number of portraits which show much originality in their treatment and infinite skill in their execution1 but ,i defy the admirer of truth in art not to be impressed by the small number of those by other engravers which are distinguished by both simplicity and conviction4 ,the heads of ,mellan1 which were drawn with as few lines as possible1 remain absurdly unique1 and the etched portraits of ,morin1 who was a faithful translator of ,philippe de ,champaigne1 are too personal for comparison4 ,but the mass of the peintre-graveurs give constant proofs of having been influenced by ,nanteuil's method1 and in the case of ,van ,schuppen there is a very close following indeed in the master's footsteps4 ,he is supposed to have been his favorite pupil4 ,nevertheless1 ,edelinck1 brilliant colorist as he was and a wonderfully clever artist with his burin1 refused to do any original work and too frequently attempted to add vigor and brilliancy to the portraits he copied4 ,in modeling his faces he1 in the opinion of ,nanteuil himself1 broke his lines unnecessarily4 ,the work of ,masson lacks quiet and balance1 when his faces are not out of drawing1 while that of the rest of the school displays that great vitality and style which made it a model for all the artists of the following century1 without1 however1 combining these qualities with the solidity1 consummate science1 and restraint which characterize almost all ,nanteuil's portraits4 ,illustration3 ,,nanteuil4 ,,louis ,,xiv ,engraved in #afff from ,nanteuil's own drawing from life ,louis ,,xiv was twenty-eight years of age when this portrait was engraved 8,in appearance ,louis1 though admirably proportioned1 was slightly below the middle height4 ,his eyes were blue1 his nose long and well formed4 ,his hair1 which was remarkable for its abundance1 was allowed to fall over his shoulders4 ,with his handsome features and his serious--perhaps phlegmatic--expression he seemed admirably fitted to play the part of a monarch40 ,arthur ,hassall4 ,louis ,,xiv4 ,size of the original engraving1 #ai #af inches ,illustration3 ,,nanteuil4 ,,anne ,,of ,,austria1 ,,queen ,,of ,,france ,engraved in #afff from ,nanteuil's own design from life ,anne of ,austria was the daughter of ,philip ,,iii of ,spain1 wife of ,louis ,,xiii of ,france and mother of ,louis ,,xiv4 ,she was ,regent from #afdc to #affa4 ,size of the original engraving1 #ai #af inches ,nothing more admirable has been done in the realm of engraving than these quiet prints in which there is no affectation1 no parade of technical brilliance1 and it is a question whether anything more sincere has been accomplished in the history of portraiture4 ,the portraits of ,nanteuil take their place with perfect dignity alongside of the subtle crayon portraits of the courtiers of ,henry ,,viii at ,windsor ,castle1 and the exquisite drawings of the courtiers of ,francis ,i and ,henry ,,ii1 which alone would make ,chantilly worthy of a pilgrimage4 ,nanteuil's drawing is perfect and his massing of tones masterly2 his expression of texture has both realism and breadth1 and his indication of skin by means of a system of very close and delicate short strokes is an admirable solution of a problem which had been the despair of the entire school4 ,the most superficial study of his modeling of that side of the face which is in full light1 for instance1 will reveal the supreme delicacy1 the never-failing tact1 with which he carries out this most difficult part of the work4 ,his burin is as light as a feather1 there is not a line too many1 and he knows the exact value of each and every tone4 ,it is interesting to note that1 according to one of his pupils1 he had made a careful study of the chiaroscuro of ,leonardo1 a master for whom he had an especial admiration4 ,the great simplicity of his composition allowed him to concentrate all the resources of his art on the expression of character in the head4 ,with an understanding of character which was the most sympathetic of his day1 he strove to represent his model with all the outward calm of nature which was possible in an age when form reigned supreme and every one was en parade4 ,to secure this touch of life ,nanteuil1 at the last sitting1 would do everything in his power to bring out in his sitter's face that look of amused attention which is so characteristic of his portraits1 with the result that1 as a brilliant critic has recently remarked1 8instead of one vivid impression his portrait is the sum of many impressions1 a balanced conclusion rather than a single piece of evidence40 ,it is this which makes his work so interesting as a historical document4 ,here we see in the truest light the divine monarch1 the arrogant noble1 the worldly prelate1 the serious man-of-letters1 and the humble commoner who fill all the ,french memoirs of the seventeenth century4 ,it is indeed high time that the artist who has been called 8the ,louis ,,xiv of engraving0 came into his own again1 or that he at least be accorded some of the immense popularity which he enjoyed during the palmy days of the grand sicle4 ,for two centuries he has lain in an obscurity which it is not easy to understand1 in spite of the fact that his style of portraiture went out of fashion long before the great monarch died4 ,it remained extremely unpopular throughout the eighteenth century1 for what could those austere bust portraits against a plain dark background1 in the simplest of settings1 have in common with the decorative compositions of the days of ,louis ,,xv1 in which velvet and embroideries1 ermine and rich lace1 inlaid armor1 canopies and complicated furniture1 played such an important part8 ,in comparison with these decorative panels they seem cold and uninteresting1 but on the other hand they alone represent real portraiture2 they reflect the earnestness of ,port-,royal4 ,illustration3 ,,nanteuil4 ,,jules1 ,,cardinal ,,mazarin ,engraved in #afef from ,nanteuil's own drawing from life ,this is one of the most interesting of the many portraits of the great minister engraved by ,nanteuil4 ,size of the original engraving1 #ac #aj inches ,illustration3 ,,nanteuil4 ,,bernard ,,de ,,foix ,,de ,,la ,,valette1 ,,duc ,d',,epernon ,engraved in #afej from ,nanteuil's own drawing from life 8,this man was the son of the ,duc d',epernon1 who was seated in the carriage with ,henry ,,iv at the time when the king was assassinated4 ,the ,duc was suspected of complicity in the plot1 but this never was proved4 ,both the elder and the younger ,espernon were extremely haughty and arrogant men4 ,their possessions in ,guienne were of an almost royal character and they governed them practically independent of the royal authority4 ,both were associated with the reactionary party40 ,j4 ,b4 ,perkins1 ,france under ,richelieu and ,mazarin4 ,size of the original engraving1 #ab #aj inches ,there cannot have been a time when they were not admired by those who possessed true artistic perception1 but there is no indication that any special value was attached to them or that they were collected4 ,suffice it to say that at the ,mariette sale1 in #agge1 the complete works of ,nanteuil1 two hundred and eighty proofs of two hundred and sixteen plates in choice impressions1 realized only a trifle over one hundred dollars4 ,more than five times that sum has recently been paid for one single print4 ,in #ahbe1 at a famous auction1 record prices of twelve dollars and nine dollars were paid respectively for the portraits of ,pompone de ,bellivre and ,richelieu4 ,half a century later their value was not much greater1 and general interest in them remained dormant until four years ago when the collecting world suddenly realized their artistic worth1 and made a raid on the leading markets of ,europe4 ,it is said that ,nanteuil kept a journal2 if so1 we must greatly deplore the fact that it has not been preserved to us1 for we would have been treated to a delightful account of the habits of painters in that time and to many anecdotes connected with their sittings4 ,who shall ever know the number of ,nanteuil's sitters8 ,his studio was found full of pastel portraits many of which had never been engraved1 and his pencil and pen sketches seem to have been innumerable4 ,in spite of his reputation of bon vivant and his popularity with both the bourgeoisie and the nobility1 allusions to ,nanteuil in the memoirs of the day are fragmentary and we know little about the man4 ,we are told1 however1 that he was born in ,rheims about #afcj and that he drew so persistently during his school years that his studies were sadly neglected4 ,it was only through the excellence of the frontispiece which he engraved for his thesis that he succeeded in securing his degree4 ,the conscientious engraver ,regnesson taught him all he knew1 gave him his sister in marriage1 and sent him to ,paris1 not to complete his apprenticeship1 for ,nanteuil was already more famous than his master1 but in order to place him under the influence of the court painters4 ,in the great city his wit and conviviality won him many friends and his talent for securing an excellent likeness secured him instant fame4 ,it is said that he received his first order by following some divinity students to a wine-shop where they were wont to take their meals4 ,there1 having chosen one of the portraits he had brought from ,rheims1 he pretended to look for a sitter whose name and address he had forgotten4 ,it is superfluous to add that the picture was not recognized1 but it was passed from hand to hand1 the price was asked1 the artist was modest in his demands1 and before the end of the repast his career had begun4 ,he made so many portraits in a week that he was advised by a famous connoisseur to limit his production to four4 ,at night he copied them in pen-and-ink for the sake of familiarizing himself with that burin work which later was to astonish ,europe4 ,during many months he catered to the growing demand for the portrait1 with drawings in the style of those of the ,clouets and the ,dumonstiers4 ,one has but to realize in what favor all portrait-makers were in those days in order to understand how this peculiarly gifted artist sprang into such sudden popularity4 ,the dignity of ,french portrait-painting was being upheld by the noble ,philippe de ,champaigne1 under whose influence the painters of the time produced a great number of portraits which1 if not technically brilliant1 were presented with that serious dignity which was characteristic of the early seventeenth century and were drawn with admirable sincerity and correctness4 ,to him ,nanteuil went for advice and encouragement1 and soon after presented the engraved copy of the painter's latest portrait2 it met with so much success that it can be said to have started the tremendous vogue of the engraved portrait and the formation of the great school which ,colbert installed at the ,gobelins4 ,meanwhile the artist1 already a perfect draughtsman and very proficient with pastels1 had carefully studied the technique of all the leading engravers1 and as soon as he had evolved a system of his own bent all his efforts on revolutionizing the art4 ,nanteuil made a picturesque dbut during that incredible opera-bouffe1 the ,war of the ,fronde4 ,he was draughted into military service1 but although frequently active with a blunderbuss and wearing a false beard in imitation of the dreaded ,swiss mercenaries1 he succeeded in making a portrait of all the heroes of the day4 ,for him sat ,cond and the ,duc d',epernon1 the last representative of feudalism in ,france2 the ,ducs de ,bouillon1 de ,mercur1 de ,nemours1 and de ,beaufort1 who met in taverns to appoint the generals of an army which did not exist2 the ,archbishop of ,paris1 de ,retz1 who appeared in ,parliament armed like a pirate2 that fat poet and peasant ,loret1 who sold on street corners his 8,muse ,historique10 a daily satire on the intriguing nobles 8who were not afraid of bullets but who were in deadly fear of winter mud10 and lastly the indomitable prime minister1 ,cardinal ,mazarin1 whom the populace twice drove from ,paris and then so madly welcomed back that many were trampled to death in the riot4 ,of that wily ,italian he engraved as many as fourteen portraits4 ,during the few years which followed the civil war he made his most interesting portraits4 ,it was then that he assiduously frequented the literary salons of the capital where1 a poetaster of some renown1 he was ever welcome and made that beautiful pastel portrait of ,madame de ,svign which has been preserved to us1 and another of ,mlle4 de ,scudry1 who thanked him as follows3 ,nanteuil en faisant mon image ,a de son art divin signal le pouvoir1 ,je hais mes traits dans mon miroir1 ,je les aime dans son ouvrage4 ,at this time he engraved the set of small-size portraits which represents the high-water mark of his talent4 ,can one possibly imagine anything more exquisitely choice than his heads of ,maridat the philosopher and ,hugues de ,lionne the secretary for foreign affairs8 ,with equal excellence he made the portraits of ,chapelain1 one of the founders of the ,french ,academy1 who reported himself to the ,king as a greater poet than ,corneille1 ,scudry1 who signed the popular novels written by his sister1 the witty ,marquis de ,st4 ,brisson1 the poets ,loret and ,sarrazin1 the genial ,abb de ,marolles1 savant and print-collector1 the learned octogenarian ,le ,vayer1 and the ex-preceptor of the ,king1 the archbishop of ,paris1 ,prfixe de ,beaumont4 ,illustration3 ,,nanteuil4 ,,jean ,,loret ,engraved in #affh from ,nanteuil's own drawing from life ,loret is chiefly remembered for his ,gazette1 written in vers libres1 which he began to issue in #afej1 and continued until his death in #afff4 ,size of the original engraving1 #aj #g inches ,illustration3 ,,nanteuil4 ,,fran,,ois ,,de ,,la ,,mothe ,,le ,,vayer ,engraved in #affa from ,nanteuil's own drawing from life ,few were ,le ,vayer's equal either in wit or learning4 ,his writings were exceedingly numerous4 ,regarded as the ,plutarch of his century for his boundless erudition and his mode of reasoning4 ,he died at the age of eighty-six1 in #afgb1 having enjoyed good health to the last days of his life4 ,size of the original engraving1 #aj #g inches ,these portraits owe their size to the fact that they had been used as frontispieces for the works of those various personages1 but the special care1 the con amore finish with which they are executed1 is due to the fact that the subjects were warm personal friends of the artist4 ,the portrait of ,john ,evelyn was made in the same way1 although before the artist's technique had reached its fullest development4 ,before the year #affj ,nanteuil made1 besides many portraits including those mentioned above and several of ,mazarin1 four very remarkable ones of a larger size4 ,they are those of ,cardinal de ,coislin1 the young ,duc de ,bouillon1 ,marie de ,bragelogne1 and the abb ,basile ,fouquet4 ,the prelate was a ,jesuit who became chaplain of ,versailles2 the youth1 as lord chamberlain of ,france1 had the honor of handing the ,king his nightshirt1 an honor which he forfeited forever when on two successive nights he forgot his gloves4 ,the woman was an old love of ,richelieu2 the delicate modeling of her careworn face is worthy of ,holbein's best manner and is executed with a tact that baffles description4 ,this plate reminds us of the fact that out of two hundred and sixteen portraits ,nanteuil made only eight of women2 of these only two were made from life1--that of ,anne of ,austria and the one mentioned above1 but they are gems of purest ray serene which make us sigh when we think of what he could have done with ,henrietta of ,england and ,mesdames de ,lavallire1 de ,montespan1 and de ,maintenon6 ,as to the fourth portrait1 it is that of the brother of the great ,surintendant des ,finances1 ,nicolas ,fouquet2 he was at that time the head spy of ,mazarin as well as the chancellor of the orders of the ,king and the most accomplished rascal who ever fished in troubled waters4 ,these four engraved portraits are masterpieces of characterization1 and exhibit in the most eloquent way the master's powerful draughtsmanship1 his utter lack of mannerisms1 and the sympathetic way in which he varied his entire technical treatment to suit different subjects4 ,here is abundant proof that he was primarily a portrait-maker1 that1 in spite of the fact that he handled the burin with as much ease and sureness as his pencil and chalks1 he never strove after effect and never allowed his skill to carry him away and mar the unity of his perfectly balanced composition4 ,he is a psychologist who consistently strove to brand his model's soul on his countenance4 ,of no other peintre-graveur can we say as much4 ,with the year #affj came the royal marriage1 and a twelvemonth later the death of the despotic ,mazarin and the emancipation of the young ,king4 ,nanteuil's fame by this time was thoroughly established1 he was everywhere recognized as a past-master of his art and was in a position to refuse as many orders as he pleased4 ,the leading men in the church1 the parliament1 and the bourgeoisie1 which always followed the lead of the nobility1 did not rest until they had the artist from ,rheims engrave their portraits and strike off many hundred impressions1 which were quickly enough distributed among their families and friends4 ,among them were the ,matre d',htel and the physician of the ,king1 ,guenault1 the quack who looked after the health of the ,queen1 and ,dreux d',aubray1 who became the first victim of his daughter1 the famous murderess1 the ,marquise de ,brinvilliers4 ,the two great protectors of ,nanteuil at this time were ,michel ,le ,tellier and ,nicolas ,fouquet4 ,of the former1 who was then war minister and who as chancellor of ,france died the day after signing the fatal ,revocation of the ,edict of ,nantes1 we have ten convincing portraits1 as well as five of his son ,charles ,maurice who became the worldliest of archbishops1 and one of his eldest son who became the dreaded war minister ,louvois4 ,these sixteen portraits of the ,le ,tellier family represent some of ,nanteuil's best work4 ,the portrait of ,fouquet is a great historical document1 a piece of most subtle characterization done in the artist's best manner1 and it is interesting to note that it was made only a very short time before the sensational fall of that then most powerful man in the kingdom4 ,could we but know what thoughts ran through the head of the ,lord of ,vaux as he sat for his portrait with a quizzical smile6 ,nanteuil1 by the way1 has left us the record of the appearance of practically all the principal figures of that sensational trial which lasted three years and the outcome of which alone assured the complete independence of the ,king4 ,nanteuil had now patrons influential enough to insure him a gracious welcome at court4 ,his greatest ambition had been to paint the young ,king and he felt able to improve greatly on the efforts of both ,mignard and ,lebrun4 ,with this end in view he addressed to the ,king a petition for a sitting in such eloquent verse that the request was readily granted4 ,the first pastel portrait of the ,king seems to have made a small sensation at court2 8,come and look at your husband in this portrait1 madame10 said ,anne of ,austria to the young ,queen2 8he fairly speaks40 ,still greater1 however1 was the ,king's delight when he saw the engraved copy of the portrait which ,nanteuil later presented to him4 ,he rewarded with a gift of #djjj livres the artist whom he had already named court painter and engraver with a lodging at the ,gobelins1 and at whose bidding he had raised the status of engraving to a fine art4 ,there are in all eleven of these portraits of ,louis ,,xiv and they give us an excellent idea of the haughty appearance1 the conceited expression of the demigod during the happiest period of his life4 ,what care we for the old monarch who later was caricatured by the pomp of ,rigaud's painting and the satire of ,thackeray8 ,this is the young ,alexander who has just seized the reins of government and set up the most brilliant court in history4 ,in the earliest one he is twenty-six years old1 madly in love with ,mlle4 de ,la ,vallire1 and building ,versailles with feverish haste2 at the last sitting he is thirty-eight and hopelessly under the sway of ,madame de ,montespan4 ,here he bears our gaze with a contemptuous air1 the man who1 8if he was not the greatest of kings1 was the greatest actor of majesty who ever filled a throne40 ,these portraits were considered extraordinary in point of resemblance4 ,the great ,bernini himself1 who had come from ,italy to make a bust of the ,king1 warmly congratulated the engraver on 8the best portrait ever made of his ,majesty10 and this before the leading personages of the court4 ,illustration3 ,,nanteuil4 ,,nicolas ,,fouquet ,engraved in #affa from ,nanteuil's own design from life 8,of the three ministers to whom ,louis had openly given his confidence1 ,lionne1 ,le ,tellier1 and ,fouquet1 the last named was the only one who possessed the qualities necessary for a prime minister4 8#8,it was generally believed1' says ,madame de ,la ,fayette1 #8that the ,superintendent would be called upon to take the ,government into his hands4' ,there is no doubt whatever that ,fouquet himself expected eventually to succeed ,mazarin40 ,arthur ,hassall1 ,louis ,,xiv4 ,size of the original engraving1 #ac #aj inches ,illustration3 ,,nanteuil4 ,,basile ,,fouquet ,engraved in #afeh from ,nanteuil's own drawing from life ,basile ,fouquet1 ,abb de ,barbeaux and ,rigny1 ,chancelier des ,ordres du ,roi1 was the brother of ,nicolas ,fouquet1 the famous ,superintendent of ,finance4 ,size of the original engraving1 #ab #i inches ,an unusual feature of these royal portraits is that seven of them are life-size1 a feat which had not been previously attempted4 ,it had become the fashion to hang these portraits in rich frames at the top of the high wainscots used in those days1 and the very large size adopted by ,nanteuil made of them decorative panels which held their own even in a roomful of paintings4 ,many of the nobles must have owned complete sets4 ,they met with such favor that during the last four years of his life the artist engraved entirely in that size1 about twenty-two inches by thirty1 and had started a gallery of all the great men of ,france2 he had actually produced as many as thirty-six before he died in #afgh4 ,the list includes the portraits of the ,queen ,mother ,anne of ,austria1 decked out in all her finery a few weeks before she died1 that of the young ,dauphin1 the effeminate brother of the ,king the ,duc d',orlans1 ,colbert1 ,turenne1 ,louvois1 ,bossuet1 the ,duc de ,chaulnes1 and several other celebrities4 ,they are admirable plates in which he secured broad masses and simple effects by means of the same system he used in his small portraits4 ,in spite of the very large surface and what seems like a million lines there is no confusion1 not a flaw in the unity of his composition4 ,they had formed the special admiration of the last ,medici ,duke of ,tuscany when1 on a visit to ,france1 he had insisted on meeting ,nanteuil4 ,from him he purchased for the ,uffizi ,gallery in ,florence the portrait of the painter himself and those of the ,king and ,turenne4 ,he moreover obliged him to accept a pupil dans l'intimit1 a thing which ,nanteuil had never done for he always locked himself up when he engraved his plates4 ,it was that ,domenico ,tempesti who has left us such an interesting record of the habits of the engraver and the ideas he held on the subject of portraiture4 ,it is from him that we know that the master made all those delightful pastel portraits in three sittings of exactly two hours each4 ,would that we knew how long it took him to engrave them6 we can only form a vague idea of this from the fact that in his most prolific year he made fifteen engraved portraits4 ,robert-,dumesnil limits to ten the portraits engraved entirely by ,nanteuil2 the selection he makes is judicious1 but the number was certainly far greater4 ,of course the purely mechanical draughting of the frame and the filling of the background was the work of assistants1 and it is more than probable that in many of the less important plates and in the life-size portraits1 on account of the great surface to be covered1 the costume was engraved by such pupils as ,pitau and ,van ,schuppen1 for instance1 as their cleverness for such work almost equaled their master's4 ,but in all the small portraits and those of ,turenne and the ,ducs de ,bouillon1 for instance1 we recognize everywhere the vigorous yet tactful touch of ,nanteuil himself4 ,illustration3 ,,nanteuil4 ,,jean ,,chapelain ,engraved in #afee from ,nanteuil's own drawing from life ,jean ,chapelain1 born at ,paris1 ,december #d1 #aeie1 died ,february #bb1 #afgd4 ,his mediocre poem 8,la ,pucelle0 brought him much more renown than the 8,iliad0 brought to ,homer4 ,it was ,chapelain who corrected the first poems of ,racine4 ,size of the original engraving1 #aj #g inches ,illustration3 ,,nanteuil4 ,,pompone ,,de ,,belli,,vre ,engraved in #afeg 7when ,nanteuil was twenty-seven years of age7 after the painting by ,charles ,lebrun4 ,by many authorities it has been described as the most beautiful of all engraved portraits4 ,size of the original engraving1 #ab #i inches ,reproductive work was for ,nanteuil an exception4 ,the plates which he engraved from the paintings of other artists number thirty-eight2 to each of them he affixed the name of the painter with a fairness which ,edelinck1 for one1 seldom exhibited4 ,it is natural that these plates should show little of that inspiration and originality which were distinctive of a born character student like the artist from ,rheims1 but the majority are supremely interesting and the finest are masterpieces4 ,it is evident that in the earliest ones1 notably in the head of ,chavigny1 reputed a son of ,richelieu1 he was experimenting with technique and that several others which were used as frontispieces were merely potboilers4 ,even the portrait of ,queen ,christina of ,sweden and the much overrated one of the ,dutch lawyer van ,steenberghen are nothing more than interesting studies of simple linework and softness of tone4 ,in those of the two little sons of the ,duchesse de ,longueville1 the ,comte de ,dunois and the ,comte de ,saint ,paul1 we see how easy it was for ,nanteuil's technique to express the soft outline and the tender complexion of youth with a charming effect4 ,after ,lebrun he engraved with an admirable chiaroscuro the head of the ,chancellor ,seguier1 and that well-known portrait of ,pompone de ,bellivre1 statesman and philanthropist1 which1 if lacking in vigor1 represents the highest point reached by the intelligent refinement of linework4 ,but it is only with the sober and precise work of his master ,philippe de ,champaigne that ,nanteuil had a positive affinity4 ,the two artists held identical views about portraiture and the ,flemish painter found in the engraver from ,rheims an interpreter who fairly breathed in unison with him4 ,it is not possible to imagine anything more admirable than the engraved portraits of de ,neufville1 bishop of ,chartres1 ,richelieu1 and ,marshal ,turenne4 ,they undoubtedly represent the last word on the subject of line-engraving4 ,the face of the ,cardinal is treated with all the subtlety of ,velasquez and the head of the greatest captain of his time is modeled with a strength of coloring which ,rembrandt himself would have admired4 ,this plate shows in the clearest way ,nanteuil's ability to represent different textures3 the hair1 skin1 lace1 silk1 and steel armor are treated with precision which is wholly satisfying and a breadth which commands the highest admiration4 ,from the inventory made in his house the day after his death we learn that ,nanteuil had for years been dissipating in extravagant living the large sums he had earned with his work4 ,his household goods1 his drawings1 and the tools of his profession were sold under the hammer1 and it is amusing at the present day to realize that a lot consisting of #biff of his prints1 together with many reams of paper and his printing-press1 were valued at only seven hundred dollars4 ,it is also explained why most of his portraits went through so many different states2 it was chiefly on account of the 8theses40 ,a curious fashion it was by which wealthy students in law1 philosophy1 and the arts formally dedicated their graduating theses to one or another distinguished personage whose engraved portrait they ordered from a peintre-graveur4 ,this1 with a lengthy dedication1 was then attached to the printed thesis as a frontispiece and sent to the patron and to many of his friends4 ,it is thus that the ,chancellor d',aligre commissioned ,nanteuil1 who had the monopoly of such work1 to engrave and strike off twenty-five hundred proofs of a new and extra-large portrait of the ,king measuring thirty inches by forty-two for his son's thesis2 for this and the printing of the thesis itself the engraver received the sum of #aj1djj livres1 or about #ijjj of our money4 ,the price of an ordinary engraved portrait was #bjjj4 ,other less wealthy postulants had to be content with ordering a reimpression of a plate which had already been used and which needed only a change of dedication4 ,in this way the portrait of the ,dauphin for instance went through fifteen states and one of the ,king went through eleven2 the plates were naturally often retouched by the artist in order to enable them to withstand so much use4 ,not to these theses alone1 however1 must the great number of royal portraits which were printed be attributed1 for they had become immensely popular throughout the kingdom and whoever could afford it had one hanging in his house4 ,in #affg ,cardinal de ,bouillon ordered the portrait of the ,king for his thesis1 and some years later another student selected for his patron the ,cardinal himself4 ,in #afge it was the son of d',artagnan1 dear to all lovers of romance1 who was presented by his father with the finest of the ,king's portraits for his thesis4 ,illustration3 ,,nanteuil4 ,,henri ,,de ,,la ,,tour ,d',,auvergne1 ,,vicomte ,,de ,,turenne1 ,,mar,,chal ,,de ,,france ,engraved from the painting by ,philippe de ,champaigne 8,it is not possible to imagine anything more admirable than the engraved portraits of de ,neufville1 bishop of ,chartres1 ,richelieu1 and ,marshal ,turenne4 ,they undoubtedly represent the last word on the subject of line-engraving4444 ,the head of the greatest captain of his time is modeled with a strength of coloring which ,rembrandt himself would have admired40 ,louis ,r4 ,metcalfe4 ,size of the original engraving1 #ae #aa inches ,illustration3 ,,nanteuil4 ,,jean-,,baptiste ,,colbert ,engraved in #affh from ,nanteuil's own drawing from life ,to ,colbert ,louis ,,xiv was indebted for much1 if not all1 of the success of his enterprises during the twenty-five years succeeding the death of ,cardinal ,mazarin4 ,size of the original engraving1 #ai #af inches ,of course this custom does not account for all the changes of state4 ,when an archbishop became a cardinal for instance1 the engraver made the necessary modification in the costume on the copper and provided his patron with a new set of impressions2 similarly for a change in a title4 ,in the case of ,fouquet1 the second of five states of his portrait was made necessary by a mistake in spelling in the dedication1 the others being undoubtedly due to the touching-up of the plate on account of the great number of impressions ordered by a powerful man the circle of whose friends constituted the real court of that time4 ,in the case of ,cardinal ,mazarin1 politics undoubtedly played a great part in the use which was made of his portraits4 ,it is not generally known that ,nanteuil was himself the author of most of the titles and dedications both in prose and in verse1 in ,latin as well as in ,french1 which form such an attractive feature of his prints4 ,this was to be expected of the clever versifier who had written such amusing sonnets to the royal family and the leaders of the court in connection with their sittings1 and of the cheerful companion who had known so intimately the beaux-esprits whom the hospitality of ,fouquet had so often convened at his chteau of ,vaux4 ,to the ,queen1 who had a complexion of marvelous whiteness1 he wrote a poem thanking her for the order for her portrait1 which ended with this line3 8,mais prenons courage1 on a peint le soleil mme avec un charbon60 ,nanteuil's original drawings in pencil1 crayons1 and pastels are fewer by far than those of the ,clouets or the pastellists of the eighteenth century which have been preserved to us2 probably not more than twenty are now to be found in public collections4 ,to my knowledge the ,louvre has two1 the ,museum of ,rheims four1 the ,chartres ,museum one1 ,florence three1 ,chantilly four1 and ,stafford ,house1 ,london1 six4 ,they are supremely interesting for that simplicity and sincerity1 that living truth1 which make one feel as if he recognized old acquaintances4 ,as for his engravings1 there are splendid collections of them in ,paris1 ,dresden1 and ,chantilly1 and there doesn't exist a private collection of any importance in the world which does not contain some of the noble work of the past-master of engraved portraiture1 the painter of the most brilliant period in modern history1 the genial artist who had said to his pupil3 8,le temps et la peine ne font pas tant les beaux ouvrages que la bonne humeur et l'intelligence40 ,,rembrandt',s ,,landscape ,,etchings ,,by ,,laurence ,,binyon ,assistant-,keeper of ,prints and ,drawings in the ,british ,museum ,author of 8,dutch ,etchers10 8,painting in the ,far ,east10 etc4 ,the pioneers of landscape art1 those who have opened up new possibilities of design in landscape themes1 were1 at least until the nineteenth century1 certain great masters of figure-painting4 ,titian1 ,rubens1 ,velasquez1 ,rembrandt1 each of these gave a fresh impulse to the painting of landscape1 an impulse which even to-day has not lost its inspiration2 while the conventions established by ,claude1 ,ruysdael and ,salvator ,rosa seem by comparison tame and more or less artificial or demoded4 ,of these masters ,rembrandt is the nearest to modern feeling4 ,the famous ,mill1 in which a landscape motive is treated with a richness and depth of humanity that hitherto had found expression only in figure-subjects1 stands in this respect as a monument in ,european art4 ,yet landscapes form a very small proportion of ,rembrandt's paintings4 ,rembrandt as a painter rarely seems to treat landscape for its own sake4 ,he composes for the most part arbitrarily1 using broad spaces of level and hill-masses with ruined towers as the material elements of a scene for which some visionary play of gleam and cloud seems the real motive in his mind1 the counterpart of the emotions he sought to communicate and evoke4 ,we are now concerned with ,rembrandt as an etcher4 ,here again the proportion of landscape to figure-subjects is small4 ,there are seven and twenty out of a total of some three hundred etchings4 ,we note at once that the etched landscapes present a different aspect from the painted landscapes4 ,in his paintings ,rembrandt shows none of the characteristics of the national landscape school of ,holland1 of those artists who relied on the features of their native land1--its wide pastures1 its canals1 its seaports1 its sand-dunes1 its farms1 its great skies and immense horizons1--and made of the plain portraiture of these familiar scenes their pride and glory4 ,rather he took hints from his traveled countrymen and the painters who had sought the classic ,south4 ,landscape1 whether treated simply or as an adjunct to some scene from ,scriptural story1 was to him a source of romantic appeal4 ,and just as ,italian masters1 like ,botticelli1 have sometimes introduced as background foreign scenes from the ,rhineland suggested by the work of ,northern painters1 so ,rembrandt1 to whom mountains had all the fascination of strangeness and romance1 took from actual drawings of ,titian's school which he may have possessed or seen1 or from pictures by traveled ,dutchmen like ,hercules ,seghers1 the features he desired1 fusing them into a world of his own imagination4 ,the etchings1 on the contrary1 are for the most part pure ,holland4 ,yet their inspiration is very different from that of the typical ,dutch painter or etcher4 ,they are not mere portraits of places4 ,even when apparently simple transcripts from the scene before the artist's eyes1 the composing spirit is at work in them1 rearranging and suppressing4 ,and perhaps just because of this absence of the literal topographical spirit1 they seem to contain the essential genius and atmosphere of ,dutch landscape4 ,practically all ,rembrandt's landscape work belongs to the middle period of his life4 ,some writers have sought to account for this by supposing that he turned to such subjects in some rural retreat to soothe his overwhelming grief at the loss of his wife4 ,the actual dates hardly support this supposition4 ,saskia died in the summer of #afdb4 ,but the landscapes begin a few years before that date4 ,the first ten years of the master's life at ,amsterdam--the years of his prosperity--were1 we know1 crowded with portrait commissions2 and landscape work would only have been a relaxation4 ,it was hardly more than this at any time1 but for some reason it interested him more during the ten or twelve years after #afdj than in his youth or old age4 ,the earliest date on a landscape etching is #afda2 the latest1 #afeb4 ,the undated plates can be placed with tolerable certainty within a year or so4 ,in #afcd ,rembrandt had etched the large ,annunciation to the ,shepherds1 in which the landscape is of the same visionary kind as appears in the paintings4 ,the general effect is of white on black1 the supernatural effulgence in the sky1 which so startles the shepherds and their flocks1 calling out of the gloom mysterious waving heights of foliage and obscure gleams of distance4 ,illustration3 ,,rembrandt4 ,,the ,,windmill 8,in the ,windmill ,rembrandt found a perfect subject4 ,there is no adventitious impressiveness lent by strong effect of light and shadow in this beautiful plate3 all is plain and simply rendered4444 ,we feel the stains of weather1 the touch of time1 on the structure2 we feel the air about it and the quiet light that rests on the far horizon as the eye travels over dike and meadow44440 ,laurence ,binyon4 ,size of the original etching1 #e #h inches ,illustration3 ,,rembrandt4 ,,view ,,of ,,amsterdam 8,in the little ,amsterdam1 as in nearly all these etchings1 the sky is left absolutely clear and empty4 ,and how far more truly it suggests to us the brightness of a cloudless day than the most successful of plein-air painting in vivid color1 which stops the imagination instead of leaving it free and active6 ,this little plate is filled with air and sun40 ,laurence ,binyon4 ,size of the original etching1 #d #f inches ,in none of the etchings of pure landscape does ,rembrandt adopt this method and conception4 ,none of them has that effect of illuminated gloom which is so peculiarly associated with the master's name4 ,their effect is of black on white1 and the line is given its full value4 ,one of the earliest1 probably1 is a small plate 7,b4 #bjg71 sometimes called ,a ,large ,tree and a ,house4 ,i believe some critics have cast a doubt on it1 but it is unmistakably ,rembrandt's in conception and 8handwriting40 ,the little piece might well be called ,twilight4 ,we seem to be near the shores of a lake2 light is fading out of the sky and scarcely permits us to discern any details2 the presence of a few figures and a human dwelling is felt rather than seen4 ,all is gray and quiet2 nothing stands out saliently4 ,it is the silvery evenness of tone which is the charm of this tiny plate1 in no way striking1 yet indefinably revealing a master's hand4 ,usually ,rembrandt would make such quiet etched work1 all of one biting1 the basis of a rich effect produced by dry-point4 ,he may have intended to have used the dry-point here1 but perhaps thought the scale was too small4 ,with the ,windmill and the ,cottage and ,hay-barn1 both dated #afda1 we come to a group of plates which are typical of ,rembrandt's landscape manner in etching4 ,close to these in date1 presumably1 are the little ,amsterdam and the ,cottage and ,large ,tree4 ,mr4 ,hind1 in the latest catalogue of the etchings1 follows von ,seidlitz in assigning the ,amsterdam to #afdj1 though ,dr4 ,six maintains that the absence of a tower not finished till #afch proves it to be earlier than that year4 ,rembrandt1 however1 was quite capable of abolishing towers to suit his composition4 ,the simplest materials presented by the country-side are used in these etchings4 ,though ,rembrandt never seems to have cared to make pictures of such subjects1 he made a great number of drawings of them4 ,a wonderful series of these sketches1 once in the possession of his pupil1 ,govert ,flinck1 is at ,chatsworth2 and numbers of course in the great public collections4 ,these summary small drawings1 made with a reed-pen and sepia1 and sometimes with a wash of sepia added1 do not appeal to every one1 certainly not to those whose pleasure is in the external aspect of things1 the softness of verdure1 the glitter of trees2 to say nothing of the want of grandeur and impressiveness in the scenes themselves1 the absence of anything scenic1 such as makes the most obvious appeal1 whether in nature or art4 ,but the more one studies drawings1 and the more one becomes familiar with the qualities which differentiate the first-rate from the second1 the higher one inclines to rank these sketches4 ,for one thing1 they are almost miraculous in the certainty with which the reality of things is evoked1 and the planes of recession indicated4 ,slight as is the means employed1 rough and summary as is the stroke of the blunt pen1 sometimes even with what seems a superficial clumsiness or carelessness1 the things seen are there1--trees1 buildings1 bridges and canals1 men and women1--and not only visible but1 as it were1 tangible4 ,we can walk in imagination into these little landscapes1 and not only do we breathe an infinite air but we are sure of every step4 ,and this is the great test of mastery in such drawings4 ,take1 for instance1 the landscape drawings of ,domenico ,campagnola1 which are also in reed-pen and sepia4 ,these1 with their broken foregrounds1 upland farms among trees of delicate foliage1 and distant mountain-ranges1 are much more attractive to the eye at first sight than the great ,dutchman's sketches4 ,but when in imagination we move into these pleasant landscapes1 we are disconcerted by unrealities2 our steps are uncertain1 for they are not on solid ground4 ,and in fact a pleasant pattern of pen-strokes remains a pattern and nothing else4 ,but ,rembrandt's rough strokes have somehow molded all the ground with its saliences and depressions and filled the whole with light and air4 ,it is the same with the etchings4 ,but there is a difference3 the difference of the medium4 ,true artist as he is1 ,rembrandt conceives all he does in the terms of the material used4 ,his etchings are born as etchings and nothing else2 they are not drawings transferred to copper4 ,there is a specific beauty of the etched line which is quite different from the beauty of a line made by the pen or chalk1 or the line ploughed by a burin on copper4 ,if it is unsuited to the sweeping rhythms of large movement in design1 such as we associate with ,rubens1 for instance1 its want of modulation and even character help a quiet dignity of draughtsmanship2 and the etcher has means of enhancing homeliness of detail unrivaled in any other medium4 ,old buildings1 wharves1 boats and shipping at a river-side or quay1--such things as these naturally attract the etcher1 for they are congenial to his medium4 ,and in the ,windmill 7,b4 #bcc1 dated #afda71 ,rembrandt found a perfect subject4 ,there is no adventitious impressiveness lent by strong effect of light and shadow in this beautiful plate3 all is plain and simply rendered4 ,but we have only to compare this etching with the etchings of some of ,rembrandt's immediate predecessors1 like ,jan and ,esaias ,van de ,velde1 to see the difference not only between a great and an average artist1 but between a great and a commonplace etcher4 ,the picturesque tracery of a windmill's sails and timber-work are seen and enjoyed in the ,van de ,veldes' plates1 but how much more than this is in ,rembrandt's ,mill6 ,we feel the stains of weather1 the touch of time1 on the structure2 we feel the air about it and the quiet light that rests on the far horizon as the eye travels over dike and meadow2 we are admitted to the subtlety and sensitiveness of a sight transcending our own2 and even by some intangible means beyond analysis we partake of something of ,rembrandt's actual mind and feeling1 his sense of what the old mill meant1 not merely as a picturesque object to be drawn1 but as a human element in the landscape1 implying the daily work of human hands and the association of man and earth4 ,here is a classic in its kind which many generations of etchers have found an inspiring model4 ,an accident in the biting apparently is the cause of an aquatint-like broken tone of gray in the sky above the mill2 but it comes with congruous effect1 and is rather a beauty than a blemish4 ,in the little ,amsterdam1 as in nearly all these etchings1 the sky is left absolutely clear and empty4 ,and how far more truly it suggests to us the brightness of a cloudless day than the most successful of plein-air painting in vivid color1 which stops the imagination instead of leaving it free and active6 ,this little plate is filled with air and sun4 ,a first state of this etching belongs to my friend ,mr4 ,gustav ,mayer in ,london1 but is absolutely unknown to all catalogues previous to that of ,mr4 ,hind4 ,in it there is a hare running over the fields1 but it is a thought too big in scale1 and ,rembrandt doubtless suppressed it as a distracting incident4 ,the ,cottage and ,hay-barn 7,b4 #bbe7 and the ,cottage and ,large ,tree 7,b4 #bbf7 seem companion plates2 and though the latter is not dated1 it is natural to assume for it the same date as that inscribed on the former--#afda4 ,if the ,cottage and ,large ,tree is the finer of these two oblong plates in design1 the ,cottage and ,hay-barn is the more brilliant as an etching4 ,the cottage and shed which give the plate its name are in the center of the design1 and the dark mass1 full of tender shadows and reflections1 emphasizes by contrast the play of open light on the fields stretching on either side1 the river1 the house nestling in a wood1 beyond1 and the distant towers of ,amsterdam4 ,though all is treated in ,rembrandt's broad way1 it is surprising how full1 how suggestive of intimate detail the landscape is4 ,as we look at it there comes over us the sense of sleepy1 bright air and sunshine1 the quiet of the fields1 in which1 though nothing outwardly is happening1 we are conscious of the stir of natural life1 of growing things1 of flowers and grass and insects1 and peaceful human occupations going on unobtrusively2 of 8all the live murmur of a summer's day40 ,it is interesting1 in view of ,rembrandt's treatment of topography1 to note that ,dr4 ,jan ,six has shown that the master has here combined two different views in a single composition4 ,in the ,cottage with ,white ,palings 7,b4 #bcb1 dated #afdb71 effective use is made of the broad white planks of the fence to enforce the pattern of black and white in the design4 ,here again the subject is placed in the center with views on either side1 though the horizon is higher than usual4 ,with the ,three ,trees 7,b4 #bab7 of #afdc1 we come to the most famous of ,rembrandt's etched landscapes4 ,this plate stands in the same sort of relation to the rest as the ,mill to the rest of his landscape paintings4 ,it is the grandest and most typical1 most expressive of the master's temperament4 ,here the composition is less accidental1 and more 7so to speak7 architectural4 ,the group of three trees stands up darkly on a bank of high ground at the right4 ,at the left one looks over the level fields to the horizon and a glimmer of distant sea4 ,a thunderstorm is passing away1 with contorted clouds piled in the upper sky and trailing over the plain1 and rods of violent rain slant across the corner of the scene4 ,for once ,rembrandt builds up a landscape design out of sky and earth2 and the something elemental which inspires it gives the etching a pregnancy and significance which are absent from the other landscapes1 in themselves1 at their best1 more intimately charming4 ,there are those who object to the straight1 hard lines of the rain2 but ,i do not find them untrue1 and they are of great value in the design4 ,then1 what beauties lurk in this etching1 wherever one looks into it6 ,the return of the light after rain1 than which there is nothing more beautiful in nature1 gives a wet sparkle to the fields2 and again we notice how the trees in their dark relief give glory to the space of luminous clearness beyond4 ,the wagon on the top of the high bank is moving toward the light1 and a painter sits by the roadside1 sketching the passing of the storm4 ,an angler fishes in a pool2 lovers1 hardly discerned1 sit together1 away from the world in a thicket's obscurity4 ,all the plain1 so solitary at first sight1 is filled with moving life4 ,of what particular species the three trees are1 it might be difficult1 as often with ,rembrandt1 to say with confidence2 from their shape and the sturdy growth of their boughs1 ,i suppose them to be oaks4 ,there is no doubt1 however1 about the willow in the ,omval 7,b4 #bji74 ,the gnarled1 seamed trunk of an old tree1 with its rugged wrinkles and smooth bosses1 irresistibly invites the etcher's needle2 and ,rembrandt1 like other etchers since1 has evidently found a great enjoyment in this willow-stem1 as in that other old willow to which he added1 not very felicitously1 a ,st4 ,jerome reading1 spectacles on nose1 and a perfunctory lion 7,b4 #bcb1 dated #afdh74 ,the ,omval shows a different kind of composition2 the willow at the edge of a thicket1 in whose shadow two lovers are embowered1 divides the plate2 the right and larger part is all light and open--a river-bank on which a man moves down to the ferry1 and the broad sunny stream1 and houses1 masts1 and windmills across the water--a picturesque river-side such as ,whistler and ,haden loved to etch4 ,illustration3 ,,rembrandt4 ,,the ,,three ,,trees 8,with the ,three ,trees of #afdc1 we come to the most famous of ,rembrandt's etched landscapes4 ,this plate stands in the same sort of relation to the rest as the ,mill to the rest of his landscape paintings4 ,it is the grandest and most typical1 most expressive of the master's temperament40 ,laurence ,binyon4 ,size of the original etching1 #h #aa inches ,illustration3 ,,rembrandt4 ,,six',s ,,bridge 8,to the same year--#afde--;belongs the well-known ,six's ,bridge1 a plate in which the pure bitten line1 with no close hatching or shadow-effect1 is given full play4 ,of its kind1 this is a perfect etching40 ,laurence ,binyon4 ,size of the original etching1 #e #h inches ,to the same year--#afde--;belongs the well-known ,six's ,bridge 7,b4 #bjh71 a plate in which the pure bitten line1 with no close hatching or shadow-effect1 is given full play4 ,of its kind1 this is a perfect etching4 ,every one knows the story of its being done while ,six's servant went to fetch the mustard4 ,but there is nothing hasty or incomplete about it3 the masterly economy of lines is perfectly satisfying in its absolute directness and simplicity4 ,there is great pleasure in contemplating a work like this1 so clean1 so free from any superfluous element4 ,but from this time onward ,rembrandt seems to grow dissatisfied with pure etching4 ,he grows more and more fond of dry-point1 using it very frequently to enrich an etched plate1 and in his later years preferring often to dispense with the acid altogether4 ,dry-point is employed in the delightful little plate1 the ,boat-house 7,b4 #bca71 to deepen the shadows of the arch over the water2 but in ordinary impressions this has worn off and only the groundwork of bitten lines remains4 ,this is the kind of subject which most artists would have drawn in delicate detail2 but ,rembrandt is always rather remarkably indifferent to the particular beauty and character of vegetation 7probably this was one of the reasons why he made so little appeal to ,ruskin72 and it is surprising that with all the indifference and roughness in the drawing of the plant-forms on the river-bank1 the little plate should still have so intimate a character and suggest so much of the beauty of dark1 quiet water in which reflections of flower and herbage are asleep4 ,in one or two of the plates of #afej and thereabouts1 as if tired of level horizons1 ,rembrandt closes the view with a mountain or range of hills4 ,such are the ,canal and ,angler and the ,boat in the ,canal 7,b4 #bce and #bcf71 which1 joined together1 form one composition2 and one might add the ,sportsman with ,dogs 7,b4 #baa71 though ,mr4 ,hind assigns the completion1 at any rate1 of this etching to a date of a few years later4 ,illustration3 ,,rembrandt4 ,,landscape ,,with ,a ,,boat ,,in ,,the ,,canal 8,in one or two of the plates of #afej and thereabouts1 as if tired of level horizons1 ,rembrandt closes the view with a mountain or range of hills4 ,such are the ,canal and ,angler and the ,boat in the ,canal40 ,laurence ,binyon4 ,size of the original etching1 #c #d inches ,illustration3 ,,rembrandt4 ,,farm ,,with ,,trees ,,and ,a ,,tower ,,landscape ,,with ,a ,,ruined ,,tower ,,and ,,clear ,,foreground 8444 a long1 oblong plate1 of great beauty for its pattern of light and shade4 ,part of the sky is shadowed1 and the last light1 before a shower pours over the trees1 illuminates the foliage on one side40 ,laurence ,binyon4 ,size of the original etching1 #d #ab inches ,the ,hay-barn with ,flock of ,sheep 7,b4 #bbd7 is an instance of a favorite feature in ,rembrandt's landscape--a road seen in perspective at one side of the design4 ,the ,landscape with a ,cow ,drinking 7,b4 #bcg7 is a beautiful etching in a rather slight manner1 with a suggestion of wind in the branches of trees1 and light coming with the wind4 ,even in the ,three ,trees1 though there is storm1 there is little impression of movement in the air2 and it is characteristic of the landscape etchings as a whole that they are serene and still1 and more often suggest a sunny day than gray skies4 ,dry-point becomes more emphatic in the ,obelisk 7,b4 #bbg72 indeed1 in the earliest impressions of this plate the black of the bur is too pronounced1 and only after it had been printed from till this effect had merged and blended with the etched lines was the right effect attained4 ,here the obelisk gives character to the design2 and in the ,landscape with a ,square ,tower 7,b4 #bah7 a building dominates1--an old tower of rather blunted outlines1 such as ,rembrandt loved to crown dark hills with in the visionary landscapes of his painting4 ,another old tower occurs1 less prominently1 in the ,farm with ,trees and a ,tower 7,b4 #bbc71 a long1 oblong plate1 of great beauty for its pattern of light and shade4 ,part of the sky is shadowed1 and the last light1 before a shower pours over the trees1 illuminates the foliage on one side4 ,in the first two states there is a small cupola on the tower2 but ,rembrandt1 no doubt rightly1 judged that the design would be improved by lopping it off4 ,the change certainly subdues the local character of the scene4 ,another long oblong of perhaps greater beauty is the ,gold-weigher's ,field of #afea 7,b4 #bcd74 ,this is all air and sun and space1 the etched lines light and open1 with dry-point adding a kind of gleam and vibration to the fertile fields4 ,it is a revelation of what a great artist can do1 unaided by tone or color1 with a scene that to the average eye would be tame enough4 ,there is a sense1 too1 of the riches of the earth1 the farmer's pride in broad acres and growing crops1 which gives a human touch1 never absent from ,rembrandt's work4 ,in contrast with this is another plate of the previous year--the ,three ,gabled ,cottages 7,b4 #bag7--where the dry-point is freely used to give color and softness to the thatched roofs1 checkered with the shadow of an old tree4 ,but it is the gratefulness of shadow in the noonday1 not its gloom1 which is the motive of the etching4 ,the last group of landscapes are in pure dry-point4 ,it is interesting to compare one of the earlier bitten plates with the ,road by the ,canal 7,b4 #bba71 delicious in its freshness and spontaneous effect1 or the ,clump of ,trees with a ,vista 7,b4 #bbb74 ,of this last there is a first state with a mere indication of part of the design2 the trees1 with the peep through the thicket1 seem to have been an afterthought4 ,the ,wood over ,palings 7,b4 #cfd71 the principal one of several unfinished studies on one plate1 has velvety dry-point in the foliage4 ,it is a plate that seems to have served for inspiration to ,andrew ,geddes1 the ,scotch artist who was one of the first to inaugurate the revival of etching in the nineteenth century and to realize once again--what had been so unaccountably forgotten since ,rembrandt's time--the possibilities and beauty of the dry-point method4 ,illustration3 ,,rembrandt4 ,,the ,,gold-,,weigher',s ,,field 8,this is all air and sun and space1 the etched lines light and open1 with dry-point adding a kind of gleam and vibration to the fertile fields4 ,it is a revelation of what a great artist can do1 unaided by tone or color1 with a scene that to the average eye would be tame enough4 ,there is a sense1 too1 of the riches of the earth1 the farmer's pride in broad acres and growing crops1 which gives a human touch1 never absent from ,rembrandt's work40 ,laurence ,binyon4 ,size of the original etching1 #d #ab inches ,illustration3 ,,rembrandt4 ,,landscape ,,with ,a ,,milkman ,this etching1 like ,the ,wood over ,palings1 has velvety dry-point in the foliage1 and may have suggested to ,andrew ,geddes1 the ,scotch artist who was one of the first to inaugurate the revival of etching in the nineteenth century and to realize once again--what had been so unaccountably forgotten since ,rembrandt's time--the possibilities and beauty of the dry-point method4 ,size of the original etching1 #b #f inches ,and so the series comes to an end1 and landscape disappears from the master's work1 save as a background to figure-compositions4 ,one of these backgrounds may be noticed for its special interest4 ,about #afec ,rembrandt took up a copperplate already etched by ,hercules ,seghers--a ,tobias and the ,angel 7after a composition of ,elsheimer's7--and transformed it into a ,flight into ,egypt4 ,suppressing the two figures1 which were of very large size in proportion to the design1 he masked the traces of them by a mass of trees1 put in his own figures on a much smaller scale1 and by the most vigorous use of the dry-point wrought the whole into harmony4 ,the treatment of shadowy masses of foliage reminds us how little there is of this element of landscape in the etchings we have been considering4 ,there is nothing of that feeling for the majesty and mystery of leafy forest-trees which ,claude expressed so beautifully in the ,bouvier etching1 and still more in his sepia drawings4 ,critics have also remarked on other limitations of landscape interest in ,rembrandt--the absence of seas and water in movement1 the comparative absence of wind and weather1 in his etchings4 ,for all that1 when we think of the other ,dutch etchers of landscape1 we realize how far he towers over those who professed no other subject1--over ,molyn4 ,ruysdael1 ,everdingen1 ,waterloo1 and ,italianizers like ,both4 ,hercules ,seghers is the one who showed most variety and temperament2 and his work evidently had a great interest for ,rembrandt4 ,he was a curious experimenter1 and though he rarely seems quite master of his intentions1 he was the antithesis of those landscape artists1 so frequent1 who 8take out a patent10 as has been said1 for some particular corner or aspect of nature1 and never do anything else but repeat their favorite theme with variations4 ,with ,rembrandt landscape was a kind of interlude and holiday from more serious design4 ,we feel it in the sunny temper which pervades the majority of the etchings4 ,but how far superior he is to all the rest in his sensitiveness to beauty6 ,as we have seen1 he is not greatly interested in the details of landscape form4 ,we find scribbles and shapelessness in his foliage and plants2 but his grasp of essential truths overrides all criticism of this kind1 and always and everywhere we feel his intense joy in expressing light4 ,the etchings of his contemporaries seem cold and hueless1 without air or sun1 beside his4 ,i find it hard to express a preference among the series4 ,the ,three ,trees stands by itself1 but there are others which touch one with a more vivid charm4 ,turning from one to another1 ,i find each arresting the eye with some particular beauty1 though the set of oblong plates1 from the ,cottage and ,hay-barn to the ,gold-weigher's ,field1 contain1 ,i think1 the most delight2 they are those in which all ,holland seems to lie before us1 with its pastures and its many peaceful waters4 ,the landscape of ,holland1 with its level distances and low horizon1 has inexhaustible attractions for the painter of skies and atmosphere4 ,to the born designer it is less stimulating4 ,one of the things that most impress in any representative exhibition of ,rembrandt's etchings is the extraordinary variety and freshness of his designing4 ,the proportions of the plate1 upright1 square1 or oblong2 the relation of the figures to the frame2 the proportion of light to dark2 the use of tone and line2--all these show a constant variety4 ,those who1 when they think of ,rembrandt1 call up the image of a dark panel with light concentrated on a head or group in the middle of it1 find a series of the etchings quite subversive of their preconception4 ,now to an inventive designer like ,rembrandt the resources of the ,dutch landscape offered but little4 ,where he blends landscape with figure1 as in the infinitely pathetic ,burial of ,christ1 or the ,woman of ,samaria1 or the ,christ ,returning with ,his ,parents from the ,temple1 though the human types1 as always1 are taken from the world around the artist1 the landscape is drawn from his imagination1 or borrowed from others4 ,in the ,st4 ,jerome 7,b4 #ajd7 the background is no doubt taken from a ,venetian drawing4 ,such methods were1 indeed1 inevitable1 since one cannot go on weaving designs of human forms and landscape material where the typical form of this last is little more than a straight line1 or a series of straight lines1 across the field of sight4 ,one may wonder1 perhaps with regret1 why ,rembrandt did not for once etch a landscape of his inner vision1 like those paintings at ,cassel and at ,brunswick4 ,it may be that he felt that for such tone-effects etching was not the appropriate medium4 ,had he lived in a later day1 he might have used mezzotint1 as ,turner did in his ,liber ,studiorum2 and certainly that process should in his hands have yielded marvelous results4 ,but we may well be content with these landscape etchings which he has left us4 ,they express the genius of the ,dutch country1 the 8virtue0 of it1 as ,pater would have said1 as no other of his countrymen has expressed it4 ,the series of plates in which ,legros has expressed the genius of the country of ,northern ,france1 with its poplar-bordered streams and sunny pastures1 has something of the same native quality4 ,each of these masters seems to have seized an essence which no one not born of the soil1 however enamoured of a land's beauty1 can quite possess and make his own4 ,what is it that gives these landscapes their enduring charm1 and why do we rank them so high8 ,many a later etcher has had equal skill with needle and acid2 some have had even greater4 ,whistler is more delicate1 perhaps1 more exquisite1 more unexpected in his gift of spacing4 ,yet neither ,whistler nor any other master of etching has the secret power of ,rembrandt4 ,i say 8secret10 because we cannot argue about it or explain it4 ,it lay in what ,rembrandt was3 in the depth and greatness of his humanity4 ,when we have wondered at the sensitive instrument of his eyesight1 when we have exalted his magical draughtsmanship1 when we have admired his instinctive fidelity to the capacity and limitations of the medium used1 when we have recognized the profound integrity of his art1 there is still something left over1 beyond analysis1 and that the rarest thing of all4 ,how it is we cannot say1 but there has passed into these little works an intangible presence1 of which we cannot choose but be conscious1 though it was not consciously expressed1--the spirit of one of the fullest1 deepest natures that ever breathed4 ,whatever ,rembrandt does1 however slight1 something of that spirit escapes him1 some tinge of his experience1--of those thoughts1 8too deep for tears10 which things meaner than the meanest flowers could stir in him4 ,,giovanni ,,battista ,,piranesi 7#agbj-aggh7 ,,part ,i ,,by ,,benjamin ,,burges ,,moore ,the life of ,piranesi was eminently that of a man of genius1 characterized by all the peculiarities ascribable to genius1 perhaps as failures of human nature1 but also distinguished by that which imparts to its possessor an imperishable renown4 ,those peculiarities are worthy of notice1 as they bear so much on the character of his work2 but his works1 wonderful as they are in point of execution1 are less to be admired for this than for the interest of the subjects he chose1 and that which he imparted to them4 ,in an age of frivolities1 he boldly and single-handed dared to strike out for himself a new road to fame2 and in dedicating his talents to the recording and illustrating from ancient writers the mouldering records of former times1 he met with a success as great as it was deserved1 combining1 as he did1 all that was beautiful in art with all that was interesting in the remains of antiquity40 ,these words were prefixed to an account of ,piranesi's career published in ,london during the year #ahca in 8,the ,library of the ,fine ,arts10 and based upon a sketch of his life written by his son1 ,francesco1 but never published1 although the manuscript at that period had passed into the hands of the publishers1 ,priestly and ,weale1 only to be subsequently lost or destroyed4 ,illustration3 ,,portrait ,,of ,,giovanni ,,battista ,,piranesi ,from the engraving by ,f4 ,polanzani1 dated #agej ,it is impossible to study this little known portrait without being convinced of its accurate likeness4 ,it certainly conveys an impression of the man's dmonic force1 which is not given by the more frequently reproduced statue executed by ,angelini4 ,size of the original etching1 #ae #aa inches ,illustration3 ,,piranesi4 ,,arch ,,of ,,septimius ,,severus ,a rendering almost as faithful as an architect's drawing1 which ,piranesi's unfailing genius has transformed into an enchanting work of art4 ,this arch stands in the ,roman ,forum4 ,it was dedicated #bjc ,a4,d4 in commemoration of victories over the ,parthians4 ,size of the original etching1 #ah #bg inches ,eighty years1 therefore1 have passed since this evaluation of the great ,italian etcher was written1 yet to-day he is no more appreciated at his full worth than he was then4 ,at all times it has been not uncommon for an artist to attain a kind of wide and enduring renown1 although estimated at his true value and for his real excellences by only a few2 but of such a fate it would be difficult to select a more striking or illustrious example than ,giovanni ,battista ,piranesi4 ,living and dying in the ,eternal ,city1 ,rome1 to whose august monuments his fame is inseparably linked1 he was the author of the prodigious number of over thirteen hundred large plates1 combining the arts of etching and engraving1 which1 aside from their intrinsic merit as works of art1 are of incalculable value on account of the inexhaustible supply of classic motives which they offer to all designers1 and to which they1 more than any other influence1 have given currency4 ,these prints1 in early and beautiful proofs1 are still to be bought at relatively low figures1 while each year sees the sale1 by thousands1 of impressions from the steeled plates still existing at ,rome in the ,royal ,calcography2--impressions which1 although in themselves still sufficiently remarkable to be worth possessing1 are yet so debased as to constitute a libel upon the real powers of ,piranesi4 ,the wide diffusion of these ignoble prints1 and the fact that ,piranesi's output was so great as to place his work within the reach of the slenderest purse1 are largely responsible for the failure of the general public to apprehend his real greatness2 for rarity calls attention to merit1 to which in fact it often gives a value entirely fictitious1 while there is always difficulty in realizing that things seen frequently and in quantities may have qualities far outweighing those of work which has aroused interest by its scarcity4 ,this is why the fame of ,piranesi is widely spread1 although his best and most characteristic work is almost unknown1 and his real genius generally unrecognized4 ,born in ,venice1 ,october #dth1 #agbj1 and named after ,saint ,john the ,baptist1 ,piranesi was the son of a mason1 blind in one eye1 and of ,laura ,lucchesi4 ,his maternal uncle was an architect and engineer1--for in those days the same person frequently combined the two professions1--who had executed various water-works and at least one church4 ,from his uncle the young ,giovanni ,battista received his earliest instruction in things artistic1 for which he appears to have displayed a conspicuously precocious aptitude4 ,before he was seventeen he had attracted sufficient attention to assure him success in his father's profession1 but ,rome had already fired his imagination1 and aroused that impetuous determination which marked his entire career4 ,his yearning after ,rome report says to have been first aroused by a young ,roman girl whom he loved1 but1 however that may be1 he overcame the determined opposition of his parents1 and1 in #agch1 at the age of eighteen1 set out for the papal city to study architecture1 engraving1 and in general the fine arts2 for even in those degenerate days there were left some traces of that multiform talent which distinguished the artists of the ,renaissance4 ,when he reached the goal of his longing1 the impression produced by the immortal city on so fervid an imagination must have been so deep1 so overwhelming1 as to annihilate all material considerations1 although they could not have been other than harassing1 since the allowance received from his father was only six ,spanish piastres a month1 or some six or seven lire of the ,italian money of to-day4 ,by what expedients he managed to live we cannot even conjecture1 but it may be supposed that he was boarded1 apprentice-wise1 by the masters under whom he studied4 ,these teachers were ,scalfarotto and ,valeriani1 a noted master of perspective and a pupil of one ,ricci of ,belluno1 who had acquired from the great ,french painter and lover of ,rome1 ,claude ,lorrain1 the habit of painting highly imaginative pictures composed of elements drawn from the ruins of the ,roman ,campagna4 ,this style was transmitted to ,piranesi by ,valeriani1 without doubt stimulating that passionate appreciation of the melancholy grandeur of ruined ,rome already growing in his mind1 and afterward to fill his entire life and work4 ,illustration3 ,,piranesi4 ,,arch ,,of ,,vespasian ,in this1 as in many of ,piranesi's compositions1 the figures are frankly posing1 but their presence adds such charm to the scene that none could wish them absent4 ,size of the original etching1 #ai #bg inches ,illustration3 ,,piranesi4 ,,arch ,,of ,,trajan ,,at ,,benevento1 ,,in ,,the ,,kingdom ,,of ,,naples ,a fine rendering of that air of glory which the most dilapidated fragments of a ,roman ,arch of ,triumph never lose4 ,the ,arch of ,trajan1 one of the finest of ancient arches1 was dedicated ,a4,d4 #aad4 ,it is of white marble1 #dh feet high and #cj wide1 with a single arch measuring #bg by #af feet4 ,the arch is profusely sculptured with reliefs illustrating ,trajan's life and his ,dacian triumphs4 ,size of the original etching1 #ah #bg inches ,at the same time1 he acquired a thorough knowledge of etching and engraving under the ,sicilian1 ,giuseppe ,vasi1 whose etchings first aroused the great ,goethe's longing for ,italy4 ,at the age of twenty1 thinking1 probably not without foundation1 that this master was concealing from him the secret of the correct use of acid in etching1 ,piranesi is reported1 in his anger1 to have made an attempt to murder ,vasi4 ,such an act would not be out of keeping with the character of the fiery ,venetian1 for1 before leaving ,venice1 he had already been described by a fellow-pupil as 8stravagante10 extravagant1 or fantastic1 a term not restricted by ,italians to a man's handling of money1 but applied rather to character as a whole1 in which connection it usually denotes the less fortunate side of that complete and magnificent surrender to an overwhelming passion which aroused so lively an admiration of the ,italian nature in the great ,french writer1 ,stendhal4 ,when we1 tame moderns1 judge the 8extravagance0 of such characters1 it is only fair to recollect that1 with all their faults and crimes1 these same unbridled ,italians were capable of heroic virtues1 unknown to our pale and timid age4 ,men like ,cellini and ,piranesi1 who had much in common1 are simply incarnate emotional force1 a fact which is1 at the same time1 the cause of their follies and the indispensable condition of their genius4 ,after this quarrel ,piranesi returned to ,venice1 where he attempted to gain a livelihood by the practice of architecture4 ,there is reason to believe that at this period he studied under ,tiepolo2 at any rate there exist in his published works a few curious1 rather rococo plates entirely different from his usual manner1 and very markedly influenced by the style of ,tiepolo's etching4 ,he also studied painting with the ,polanzani who is responsible for that portrait of him which forms the frontispiece to the first edition of 8,le ,antichit ,romane10 and gives so vivid an impression of the dmonic nature of the man4 ,meeting with little success in ,venice1 he went to ,naples1 after returning to ,rome1 attracted principally by archological interests4 ,he stayed at ,herculaneum1 ,pompeii1 and ,pstum1 where at this time1 undoubtedly1 he made the drawings of the temples afterward etched and published by his son4 ,the drawings for these etchings of ,pstum1 among the best known of the ,piranesi plates1 are now in the ,soane ,museum in ,london4 ,illustration3 ,,piranesi4 ,,the ,,basilica1 ,p,,stum ,size of the original etching1 #ag #bf inches ,illustration3 ,,piranesi4 ,,the ,,temple ,,of ,,neptune ,,at ,p,,stum ,size of the original etching1 #ai #bf inches ,having decided that he had no vocation for painting1 which he definitely abandoned at this time1 ,piranesi returned to ,rome1 and settled there permanently4 ,his father now wished him to return to ,venice1 but he was altogether unwilling to do so1 and replied1 characteristically1 that ,rome being the seat of all his affections it would be impossible for him to live separated from her monuments4 ,he intimated that in preference to leaving1 he would give up his allowance1 a suggestion upon which his father acted promptly by stopping all remittances1 so that1 estranged from his relatives1 ,piranesi was now entirely dependent upon his own resources for a livelihood4 ,his poverty and suffering at this period were undoubtedly great1 but his indomitable nature could be crippled by no material hardships4 ,he devoted himself entirely to etching and engraving1 and1 when twenty-one1 published his first composition4 ,at this time he was living in the ,corso opposite the ,doria-,pamphili ,palace1 but even if the neighborhood was illustrious1 it is not pleasant to think what wretched garret must have hidden the misery of his struggling genius4 ,his first important and dated work1 the 8,antichit ,romane de' ,tempi della ,republica1 etc410 was published in #agdh1 with a dedication to the noted antiquary1 ,monsignore ,bottari1 chaplain to ,pope ,benedict ,,xiv4 ,this work was received with great favor1 as the first successful attempt to engrave architecture with taste1 and from the day of its appearance ,piranesi may be said to have been famous4 ,however1 he still experienced the utmost difficulty in finding the money necessary to subsist and to procure the materials requisite to his work4 ,yet1 despite his terrible poverty1 his labor was unceasing and tireless to a degree that we can now scarcely conceive4 ,it must be borne in mind that1 in addition to etching and engraving1 he was engaged in the extensive study of archology1 which led him to undertake many remarkable researches4 ,he became a noted archologist of great erudition1 as is shown by numerous controversies with famous antiquarians of the day4 ,some idea of the copiousness of his knowledge can be gained from the fact that his argument covers a hundred folio pages in that controversy in which he upheld the originality of ,roman art against those who claimed it to be a mere offshoot of ,grecian genius4 ,in the preface to one of his books1 he refers to it as the result of 8what ,i have been able to gather from the course of many years of indefatigable and most exact observations1 excavations1 and researches1 things which have never been undertaken in the past40 ,this statement is quite true1 and when we realize that the preparation of a single plate1 such as the plan of the ,campus ,martius1 would1 in itself1 have taken most men many years of work1 we can only feel uncomprehending amazement at the capacity for work possessed by this man of genius4 ,illustration3 ,,piranesi4 ,,the ,,temple ,,of ,,concord ,from this plate it is possible to gain an idea of the greater beauty possessed by ruined ,rome when still shrouded in vegetation4 ,the ,arch of ,septimius ,severus is seen in the middle distance ,size of the original etching1 #ah #bg inches ,illustration3 ,,piranesi4 ,,site ,,of ,,the ,,ancient ,,roman ,,forum ,a very interesting historical document which makes it possible to realize an aspect of the ,forum at present difficult to conceive ,size of the original1 #ad #bc inches ,the very spirit of imperial ,rome would seem to have filled ,piranesi1 making him its own1 so that the vanished splendor was to him ever present and added to the strange melancholy of the vine-grown ruins which alone remained from the 8grandeur that was ,rome40 ,in every age and in every province most ,italians have been animated by a lively sense of their direct descent from classic ,rome1--a feeling that its fame was peculiarly their inheritance in a way true of no other people1 so that this glorious descent was their greatest pride and claim to leadership4 ,in the darkest days of oppression and servitude1 when ,italy sat neglected and disconsolate among her chains1 there were never lacking nobler souls who kept alive a sense of what was fitting in the descendants of classic ,rome1 and took therein a melancholy pride4 ,but no ,italian was ever more completely an ancient ,roman than ,piranesi1 who certainly1 in despite of his ,venetian birth1 considered himself a 8,roman citizen40 ,this sentiment played an important part in1 perhaps1 the most characteristic act of his whole life1 namely1 his fantastic marriage1 of which he himself left an account not unworthy of ,cellini4 ,he was drawing in the ,forum one ,sunday1 when his attention was attracted by a boy and girl1 who proved to be the children of the gardener to ,prince ,corsini4 ,the girl's type of features instantly convinced ,piranesi that she was a direct descendant of the ancient ,romans1 and so aroused his emotions that on the spot he asked if it were possible for her to marry him4 ,her exact reply is not recorded1 although it must have conveyed the fact that she was free1 but it can surprise no one to hear that the girl was thoroughly frightened by such sudden and overpowering determination4 ,his hasty resolution was confirmed when ,piranesi afterward learned that she had a dower of one hundred and fifty piastres1 or some three hundred lire of to-day1 a fact certain to arouse a keen realization both of his poverty and of the value of money in those days4 ,without any delay1 he proceeded to ask the girl's hand in marriage of her parents1 who1 like the girl1 appear to have been so terrified and overwhelmed by the cyclonic nature of the man as to be incapable of the slightest resistance4 ,whatever may have been the motives of all the parties concerned1 the fact is that ,piranesi was married to the descendant of the ancient ,romans exactly five days after he first laid eyes on her classic features6 ,immediately after the wedding1 having placed side by side his wife's dowry and his own finished plates1 together with his unfinished designs1 he informed his presumably astonished bride that their entire fortune was now before them1 but that in three years' time her portion should be doubled2 which proved to be no boast but a promise that he actually fulfilled4 ,according to report1 he told his friends that he was marrying in order to obtain the money required for the completion of his great book on ,roman ,antiquities4 ,however1 even if he did marry for money1 he maintained all his life1 to the poor woman's great discomfort1 as jealous a watch over his wife as could be expected of the most amorous of husbands2 so his affections as well as his vanity may1 perhaps1 have been called into play by his marriage4 ,at any rate1 his ideas as to family life were worthy of the most severe ,roman paterfamilias4 ,his son1 ,francesco1 born in #agef1 relates that1 when absorbed in his studies1 he would quite forget the hours for meals1 while his five children1 neither daring to interrupt him nor eat without him1 experienced all the miseries of hunger4 ,his domestic coercion and discipline were doubtless extreme1 but the family would seem to have lived not too unhappily4 ,illustration3 ,,piranesi4 ,,view ,,of ,,the 8,,campo ,,vaccino0 ,the ,site of the ,ancient ,roman ,forum showing the ,arch of ,septimius ,severus1 ,columns of the ,temple of ,jupiter ,tonans and of the ,temple of ,concord and1 in the distance1 the ,arch of ,titus1 the ,colosseum1 etc41 etc4 ,size of the original etching1 #af #ba inches ,illustration3 ,,piranesi4 ,,the ,,arch ,,of ,,titus ,in this plate can be seen a favorite device of ,piranesi's1 which is to enhance the size and stability of massive architecture by placing on some part of the ruin a human figure in active motion4 ,the ,arch of ,titus was built in commemoration of the taking of ,jerusalem4 ,the vault is richly coffered and sculptured1 and the interior faces of the piers display reliefs of ,titus in triumph1 with the plunder of the temple at ,jerusalem4 ,size of the original etching1 #ah #bg inches ,every two years1 if not oftener1 a monumental book would make its appearance1 to say nothing of separate plates1 and ,piranesi was now a famous man4 ,with the exception of ,winckelmann1 he did more than any one to spread a knowledge and love of classic art1 while his learning and his researches aroused a widespread appreciation of the nobility of ,roman ruins1 thereby largely contributing to their excavation and protection4 ,his exhaustive acquaintance with antiquity and his impassioned admiration for its beauty1 combined with his singular and interesting character1 caused him to mingle with all that was most remarkable in the world of arts and letters in ,rome1 at the same time bringing him into relation with whatever foreigners of distinction might visit the city4 ,he was1 however1 then and always a poor man1 for his first important work1 8,le ,antichit ,romane10 sold in the complete set for the ridiculous pittance of sixteen paoli1 or about seventeen lire1 while later the ,pope was wont to pay him only a thousand lire for eighteen gigantic volumes of etchings4 ,the very fact that his fertility was so enormous1 lowered the price it was possible to ask for his plates during his lifetime1 just as since his death it has militated against a correct valuation of his talent4 ,forty years after he came to ,rome1 he wrote to a correspondent that he had made1 on an average1 some seven thousand lire of modern money a year1 out of which he had had to support his family1 pay for the materials required in his business1 and gather together that collection of antiquities which was a part of his stock in trade4 ,the rapidity with which ,piranesi worked1 and the number of plates1 all of unusually large dimensions1 which he executed1 are so extraordinary as to leave one bewildered by the thought of such incomprehensible industry4 ,competent authorities vary in their statements as to the number of plates produced by ,piranesi1 but accepting as correct the lowest figure1 which is thirteen hundred1 it will be found that for thirty-nine years he produced1 on a rough average1 one plate every two weeks4 ,ordinarily1 great productiveness will be found to have damaged the quality of the work accomplished1 but this is not true in the case of ,piranesi4 ,although his work is of varying merit1 like that of all true artists1 and even comprises examples lacking his usual excellence1 there is no plate which betrays any signs of hurry or careless workmanship1 while in many the meticulous finish is remarkable4 ,such an output is in itself phenomenal1 yet in preparation for these works he found the time to pursue archological researches and studies1 in themselves sufficiently exhaustive to have occupied the life of an ordinary man4 ,moreover1 in his capacity of architect1 he executed various important restorations1 including those of the ,priorato di ,malta1 where he is buried1 and of ,santa ,maria del ,popolo4 ,most of his restorations were undertaken by command of the ,venetian1 ,pope ,clement ,,xiii1 who bestowed on him the title of ,knight1 or ,cavaliere1 a distinction of which he was proud1 as he was of his membership in the 8,royal ,society of ,antiquaries0 in ,london1 of which he was made an honorary fellow in #ageg4 ,illustration3 ,,piranesi4 ,,the ,,arch ,,of ,,titus ,showing the relief of the ,triumph of ,titus and the carrying away of the ,seven-branched ,candle-stick from ,jerusalem4 ,a particularly beautiful and not very well-known plate1 which clearly shows ,piranesi's fine sense of composition1 and his keen appreciation of that singularly picturesque contrast between the ancient ruins and the more modern buildings in which they were then embedded4 ,size of the original etching1 #ae #bd inches ,illustration3 ,,piranesi4 ,,fa,,ade ,,of ,,st4 ,,john ,,lateran ,piranesi1 almost without exception1 placed a written description of the scene on every one of his plates1 using it as a decorative feature4 ,in this case it proves an integral part of a group which makes an interesting etching out of what otherwise would have been a simple architectural drawing4 ,size of the original etching1 #ah #bg inches ,the question of how much assistance ,piranesi received in the execution of his plates is an interesting one4 ,in a few prints1 the figures were etched by one ,jean ,barbault1 whose name sometimes appears on the margins with that of ,piranesi4 ,the latter's son1 ,francesco1 was taught design and architecture by his father1 whose manner he reproduced exactly1 although none of the numerous etchings which he left behind him show any signs of those qualities which constitute the greatness of his parent's work4 ,the daughter1 ,laura1 also etched in the manner of her father and has left some views of ,roman monuments4 ,these two children1 together with one of his pupils1 ,piroli1 undoubtedly aided him1 but their moderate skill is a proof that their assistance could not have been carried very far4 ,that his pupils never formed a sort of factory for the production of work passing under their master's name1 as happened with some famous painters1 is made certain by the fact that he established no school which caught his manner and produced work reminiscent or imitative of his4 ,his unparalleled output must1 therefore1 be almost entirely a result of his own unaided labor4 ,piranesi died at ,rome1 surrounded by his family1 on the ninth of ,november1 #aggh1 of a slight disorder rendered serious by neglect4 ,his body was first buried in the church of ,st4 ,andrea della ,fratte1 but was soon afterward removed to that ,priory of ,santa ,maria ,aventina which he had himself restored4 ,here his family erected a statue of him1 carved by one ,angelini after the design of ,piranesi's pupil1 ,piroli4 ,baron ,stolberg writes in his 8,travels03 8,here is a fine statue of the architect ,piranesi1 as large as life1 placed there by his son4 ,it is the work of a living sculptor1 ,angelini1 and though it certainly cannot be compared with the best antiquities1 it still possesses real merit40 ,the singular figure of ,giovanni ,battista ,piranesi1 with his power1 his fire1 and his passionate love of ,roman grandeur1 not unworthy of some great period of rebirth1 appears all the more phenomenal when viewed in relation to his times and his surroundings4 ,the corruption of the pontifical city had been flagrant since the days when it filled with scorn and loathing the wonderful 8,regrets0 penned by the exiled ,french poet1 ,joachim du ,bellay1 whose homesick heart took less pleasure in the hard marble and audacious fronts of ,roman palaces than in the delicate slate of the distant dwelling built by his ,angevin ancestors1--but its depravity had at least been replete with virility and splendor4 ,after the ,council of ,trent1 however1 the ,counter-,reformation spread over the ,roman prelacy a wave of external reform1 which left the inner rottenness untouched1 but veiled it decently with all the stifling and petty vices of hypocrisy1 until ,roman life gradually grew to be that curious androgynous existence which we see reflected so clearly in ,casanova's memoirs4 ,during the eighteenth century1 when ,piranesi lived1 the whole of ,italy had sunk to depths of degradation such as few great races have ever known1 not because the people were hopelessly decayed1 for their great spirit never died1 but lived to flame forth in #ahdh and create that marvelous present-day regeneration of ,italy1 which is perhaps the most astonishing example of the rebirth of a once great but apparently dead nation that the world has yet seen4 ,the debased condition of ,italy at that time was caused1 rather1 by centuries of priestly and foreign oppression1 which had stifled the entire country until it had fallen into a state of torpor little different to death4 ,any sign of intellectual or political activity1 however slight or innocent1 had long been ruthlessly repressed by ,austria and the petty tyrants who ruled the states of ,italy4 ,since men must find some occupation to fill their lives1 or else go mad1 in a land where every noble and even normal employment was forbidden1 the ,italian of the day was forced to confine himself within the limits of an idle inanity1 concerned only with petty questions and petty interests4 ,it is difficult for people of to-day to conceive the abject futility to which such oppression and enforced inactivity can reduce an entire nation4 ,in ,france the comparative freedom enjoyed under the old rgime gave to the eighteenth century1 in its most frivolous and futile moments1 a charming grace utterly denied to enslaved and priest-ridden ,italy4 ,to realize the situation1 it is only necessary to consider for a moment the institution of the cicisbeo1 and to read ,parini's 8,il ,giorno40 ,in this world of little loveless lovers1 of sonneteers and collector academicians1 the figure of ,piranesi looms gigantic1 like a creature of another world4 ,he had a purity of taste in artistic matters quite unknown to his contemporaries1 while his originality1 his passion1 and his vigor seem indeed those of some antique ,roman suddenly come to life to serve as pattern for a people fallen on dire days4 ,illustration3 ,,piranesi4 ,,view ,,of ,,the ,,ruins ,,of ,,the ,,golden ,,house ,,of ,,nero ,,commonly ,,called ,,the ,,temple ,,of ,,peace ,a striking image of the romantic desolation in ,roman ruins long since removed by modern research ,size of the original etching1 #ai #bh inches ,illustration3 ,,piranesi4 ,,interior ,,of ,,the ,,pantheon1 ,,rome ,a good illustration of ,piranesi's originality in choosing a point of view so curious as to give a novel air to the best known subjects ,the ,pantheon1 completed by ,agrippa ,b4,c4 #bg1 consecrated to the divine ancestors of the ,julian family1 and now dedicated as the ,church of ,santa ,maria ,rotonda1 is #adb feet in diameter and its height1 to the apex of the great hemispherical coffered dome1 is the same4 ,the lighting of the interior is solely from an opening1 #bh feet in diameter1 at the summit of the dome4 ,the dome is practically solid concrete4 ,size of the original etching1 #ah #bb inches ,francesco ,piranesi1 after the death of his father1 sold the collection formed by him to ,gustavus ,,iii of ,sweden in return for an annuity4 ,he continued the publication of etchings1 many1 although unacknowledged1 from drawings by his father1 and was assisted in his archological research by ,pope ,pius ,,vi4 ,after various rather dishonorable transactions1 as spy to the court of ,sweden1 he started for ,paris by sea in #agih1 having with him the plates of his father's etchings1 and accompanied in all probability by his sister ,laura4 ,the ship on which he traveled was captured and all it contained taken as a prize by a ,british man-of-war1 ,england and ,france being then engaged in hostilities4 ,by some curious chance1 the ,english admiral knew the worth of ,piranesi's work1 and persuaded the officers who had made the capture to restore the plates to his son1 and in addition obtained1 by some still more curious chance1 both the admission of the plates into ,french territory free of duty1 and government protection of ,francesco's ownership4 ,at ,paris1 ,francesco ,piranesi and his brother1 ,pietro1 tried to found both an academy and a manufactory of terra-cotta4 ,he also republished his father's etchings and his own1 thus creating the first ,french edition1 already inferior in quality to the original ,roman impressions4 ,he died in ,paris1 in #ahaj1 in straitened circumstances4 ,the plates of both the father's and the son's work passed into the hands of the publishers ,firmin-,didot1 who republished them once more4 ,the original plates1 which at one time were rented for almost nothing to any one who wished them for a day's printing1 finally found a refuge1 as before said1 in the ,royal ,calcography at ,rome1 where they have been coated with steel and rebitten1 so that it is now possible to print as many copies every year as tourists and architects may desire4 ,it can1 therefore1 be seen that1 most unfortunately1 the world is flooded with countless impressions which1 even if they have value for an architect as documents1 or still retain enough character to give them some merit as pictures1 are yet so utterly changed and debased as to do the gravest and most irreparable injustice to the reputation of the genius who created them4 ,illustration3 ,,piranesi4 ,,piazza ,,navona1 ,,rome ,this plate shows how ,piranesi could render a complicated view without confusion and1 at the same time1 give an air of novelty to a well-known place ,size of the original etching1 #ah #bg inches ,illustration3 ,,piranesi4 ,,interior ,,of ,,the ,,villa ,,of ,m,,cenas1 ,,at ,,tivoli ,an example of ,piranesi's skill in making a rather ordinary scene appear dramatic1 and arousing a sense of vastness greater than that imparted by the actual building ,size of the original etching1 #af #bc inches ,,part ,,ii 8,,le ,,carceri ,d',,invenzione0 7,,the ,,prisons7 ,any one who bestows even a passing inspection on the etchings of ,piranesi will be struck by the intensity of imagination which they display1 a quality whose precise nature it will perhaps be useful to analyze1 since1 despite the fact that we use the word constantly1 the thousand differing values which we attach to it render our ideas of its true meaning in general of the vaguest4 ,reduced to its ultimate essence1 imagination would appear to be the faculty of picture-making2 that is to say1 the power of bringing images before the mental eye with absolute exactitude1 and of clothing ideas with a definite form1 so that they have a reality quite as great as that which characterizes the objects of the external world4 ,so long as ideas remain in the mind in the form of abstract conceptions1 they are food for reason1 but have no power to move us4 ,it is only when1 by means of the imaginative faculty1 the concept has presented itself as a definite image1 that it arouses our emotions and becomes a motive of conduct4 ,when1 for example1 the idea of an injury to some one we love comes into our sphere of consciousness1 a concrete picture of that injury presents itself in some form or other to our inner vision1 and is the cause of the emotion which we experience4 ,our sympathy and understanding will be proportionate to the varying distinctness with which our imaginative power offers such images for our contemplation4 ,imagination therefore connotes the ability to conceive the emotions and experiences of others1 and is thus indissolubly connected with sympathy and all the nobler qualities of human nature4 ,illustration3 ,,piranesi4 ,,the ,,temple ,,of ,,apollo1 ,,near ,,tivoli ,size of the original etching1 #ah #bd inches ,illustration3 ,,piranesi4 ,,the ,,falls ,,at ,,tivoli ,this etching illustrates a little known side of ,piranesi's talent1 namely1 his ability to etch pure landscape ,the ,falls of the ,teverone 7the ancient ,anio7 at ,tivoli are fifteen miles east-northeast of ,rome4 ,tivoli was the favorite place of residence of many ,romans--,mcenas1 ,augustus1 ,hadrian--and the ruins of both ,hadrian's ,villa and the ,villa of ,mcenas are still to be seen4 ,size of the original etching1 #ah #bh inches ,the fact that our conduct is determined not by concepts1 but by mental images which motive emotion1 although at first it appear paradoxical1 will certainly be recognized by any one who is willing to study1 if only for a short time1 his own mental experiences4 ,this truth was realized with such force as to be made the base of their entire spiritual discipline by that notable ,spaniard1 ,ignatius ,loyola1 and his followers1 the ,jesuit fathers1 who have understood the complex and subtle mechanism of the human soul more profoundly and exhaustively than any other body of men which has ever existed4 ,in classic times ,horace was cognizant of this peculiarity of man's mind when he wrote that the emotions are aroused more slowly by objects which are presented to consciousness by hearing than by those made known by sight4 ,burke1 it is true1 disputes this dictum of the ,latin poet1 on the ground that1 among the arts1 poetry certainly arouses emotions more intense than those derived from painting4 ,although this is probably true1 for reasons which he details and which it would be wearisome to reiterate here1 it is certain that poetry moves us exactly in ratio to the power it possesses of creating vivid images for our contemplation1 while it is certainly doubtful whether any emotion excited through hearing surpasses in vivacity that experienced on suddenly seeing certain objects or situations4 ,all artists at all worthy of the name are1 therefore1 possessed to a certain degree of imagination4 ,it is the gift which makes visible to them whatever they embody in words1 pictures1 sounds1 or sculpture4 ,if totally deprived of it1 they could create nothing1 for no man can express what does not appear to him as having a real existence for at least the moment of creation4 ,in the domain of art1 imagination1 in its lower forms1 is merely the power of recollecting and reproducing things endowed with material existence2 but in its highest development1 when handling the conceptions and emotions of an original mind1 it acquires the power of actual creation1 and is inseparably attached to the loftiest acts of which man is capable4 ,illustration3 ,,piranesi4 ,,the ,,falls ,,at ,,tivoli ,among later works there are few better expressions of that feeling for nature in its wildest aspects1 which1 practically unknown until the time of ,rousseau1 is now considered the speciality of modern artists4 ,that ,piranesi appreciated this side of nature1 and was able to express its poetry and power1 could be proved by this plate alone4 ,size of the original etching1 #ah #bh inches ,illustration3 ,,piranesi4 ,,st4 ,,peter',s ,,and ,,the ,,vatican ,this is perhaps the best example of ,piranesi's exaggerated perspective4 ,it is quite justified1 in this case at least1 by the success with which it creates an impression of vastness and of grandeur which was certainly aimed at by the architects of ,st4 ,peter's1 but which the exterior of the actual building1 quite as certainly1 fails to arouse4 ,size of the original etching1 #ah #bg inches ,every plate etched by ,piranesi betrays to even a careless glance the presence of imagination in some form1 while in one series this noble faculty is revealed with an amplitude almost unparalleled4 ,if it be only the presentment of fragments of ,roman epitaphs1 he finds a way by some play of light or shade1 or by some trick of picturesque arrangement1 to throw a certain interest about them1 relieving the dryness of barren facts2 if it be the etching of some sepulchral vault1 in itself devoid of any but antiquarian interest1 he introduces some human figure or some suggestive implement to give a flash of imagination to the scene4 ,in those very plates where he depicts the actually existing monuments of classic ,rome1 and in which it was his expressed intention to save these august ruins from further injury and preserve them forever in his engravings1 he created what he saw anew1 and voiced his own distinctive sentiment of the melancholy grandeur of ruined ,rome4 ,to-day the word impressionism has come to have a rather restricted meaning in connection with a recent school of art1 but ,piranesi's work1 like that of all really great artists1 is in the true sense of the word impressionistic4 ,in passing1 it may be remarked that he was one of the rare artists in earlier times who worked directly from nature1 a habit distinctive of our modern impressionism4 ,piranesi is concerned with the expression of his own peculiar impression of what he sees2 for the benefit of others and for his own delight he gives form to his own particular vision of whatever he treats4 ,he certainly was desirous of1 and successful in1 recording the existing forms of the buildings he loved so well2 it is also true that his etchings and engravings are in many ways faithful renderings which have immense historical and antiquarian value1 since they preserve an aspect of ,rome none shall ever see again1 but together with the actual facts1 and transcending them1 he offers the imaginative presentment of his own creative emotion4 ,what he draws is based on nature1 and is full of verisimilitude1 but it is not realistic in the base way that a photograph would be4 ,it contains while it surpasses reality1 and is faithful to the idea of what he sees1 using that word in its ,platonic sense4 ,taine1 in what is probably the most lucid and exhaustive definition of the nature of a work of art ever given1 starts from the statement that all great art is based on an exact imitation of nature2 then proceeds to demonstrate how this imitation of nature must not extend to every detail1 but should1 instead1 confine itself to the relations and mutual dependencies of the parts2 and finally states1 as the condition essential to creating a work of art1 that the artist shall succeed1 by intentional and systematic variation of these relations1 in setting free1 in expressing more clearly and completely than in the real object1 some essential characteristic or predominating idea4 ,this is wherein art transcends nature1 and a work of art is1 therefore1 constituted by the fact that it expresses the essential idea of some series of subjects1 freed from the accidents of individuality1 in a form more harmoniously entire than that attained by any object in nature4 ,now this is precisely what ,piranesi did4 ,he is often taken to task for his departure from a literal statement of fact in his renderings of architectural subjects1 but1 in so departing1 he is varying the interrelation of parts so as to disengage the characteristic essence of what he depicts1 and thus create a work of art1 not a historical document4 ,if he lengthens ,bernini's colonnade in front of ,st4 ,peter's1 he is only composing with the same liberty accorded to ,turner1 when1 in one picture of ,st4 ,germain1 he introduces elements gathered from three separate parts of the river ,seine2 and by so doing he expresses the idea of limitless grandeur1 latent in ,st4 ,peter's1 with a fullness it does not possess in the actual building4 ,in his 8,antiquities of ,rome10 he disengages a sense of devastation and of desolate majesty which is the fundamental characteristic of ,roman ruin1 and one that could have presented itself with such directness and force only to the mind of an artist of genius4 ,his own vision of the inner truth of what he saw1 stripped of everything accidental1 is what he gives to posterity1 and what lifts his work out of the field of simple archology into the proud realm of true art4 ,illustration3 ,,piranesi4 ,,the ,,villa ,d',,este ,,at ,,tivoli ,it is interesting to note that at the time ,piranesi etched this fine plate the avenue of ,cypress trees1 which now adds so much to the picturesqueness of the ,villa d',este1 was not even planted4 ,size of the original etching1 #ah #bg inches ,illustration3 ,,piranesi4 ,,title-,,page ,,of 8,,the ,,prisons0 ,from 8,opere ,varie di ,architettura ,prospettive ,grotteschi ,antichita sul ,gusto ,degli ,antichi ,romani ,inventate1 ed ,incise da ,gio4 ,batista ,piranesi4 ,architetto ,veneziano40 7,rome1 #agej47 ,size of the original etching1 #ba #af inches ,even in those plates where he etches actual scenes with loving care1 ,piranesi passes nature1 as it were1 through the alembic of his own personality1 doing this moreover in a way peculiar to him and to him alone4 ,his originality consists in this1--that his mind1 when considering an object1 seized instinctively on certain distinguishing features peculiar to that object1 qualities which his mind1 and only his1 was capable of extracting from the rough ore of ordinary perception2 and that for the powerful impression which he thus experienced1 he was able to find an adequate and distinctive expression4 ,it was his good fortune to behold ,rome in a moment of pathetic and singular beauty1 irrevocably vanished1 as one of the penalties to be paid for the knowledge gained by modern excavation4 ,in those days the ,roman ruins did not have that trim air1 as of skeletons ranged in a museum1 which they have taken on under our tireless cleansing and research4 ,for centuries the barbarians of ,rome had observed the precept3 8,go ye upon her walls and destroy2 but make not a full end10 so that only the uppermost fragments of temple columns protruded through the earth where the cattle browsed straggling shrubbery above the buried ,forum1 while goats and swine herded among cabins in the filth and century-high dirt which covered the streets that had been trod by the pride of emperors4 ,but that which1 more than anything else1 helped to create an atmosphere of romantic beauty none shall see again1 was the indescribable tangle of vine1 shrub1 and flower1 which in those days draped and hid under a mass of verdure the mighty ruins of baths and halls that still stupefy by their vastness when we see them now1 devoid of their ancient marble dressing1 stripped clean like polished bones4 ,shelley tells how even in his day the ,baths of ,caracalla were covered with 8flowery glades1 and thickets of odoriferous blossoming trees1 which are extended in ever-winding labyrinths40 ,the sentiment of august grandeur inspired by the indestructible mass of ,roman ruins was1 therefore1 in those days curiously complicated by the contrast between them and the fantastic growth of ever-passing1 ever-renewed vegetation which wrapped them as in a mantle4 ,the poignancy of this beauty ,piranesi seized with a felicity and expressed with a plenitude given to no one but to him4 ,he was1 both by nature and by volition1 profoundly classical1 yet he enveloped all that he handled1 however classic it might be in subject1 with a sense of mysterious strangeness so strong as to arouse the sensation called in later times romantic4 ,this contrast is one of the distinctive phases of his originality4 ,it would be pleasant to think that ,edmund ,burke was familiar with the creations of ,giambattista ,piranesi when he wrote so searchingly of 8,the ,sublime and ,beautiful02 but1 if this be perhaps an idle fancy1 it is certainly true that it would not be easy to find concrete examples demonstrating more clearly than the etchings of ,piranesi the truth of large parts of his enquiry1 and in particular of the following definition of the sublime3 8,whatever is fitted in any sort to excite the ideas of pain and danger1 that is to say1 whatever is in any sort terrible1 or is conversant about terrible objects1 or operates in a manner analogous to terror1 is a source of the sublime2 that is1 it is productive of the strongest emotion which the mind is capable of feeling4 ,when danger or pain press too nearly1 they are incapable of giving any delight1 and are simply terrible1 but at certain distances1 and with certain modifications1 they may be1 and they are1 delightful1 as we every day experience40 ,illustration3 ,,piranesi4 ,,the ,,prisons4 ,,plate ,,iii ,size of the original etching1 #ba #af inches ,illustration3 ,,piranesi4 ,,the ,,prisons4 ,,plate ,,iv ,size of the original etching1 #ba #af inches ,the application of these words to the work of ,piranesi will probably surprise those persons acquainted only with his etchings of classic ruins4 ,however1 even these plates exemplify this definition in many ways which it would be tedious to enumerate1 while to feel its full appositeness it is only necessary to study ,piranesi's least-known and greatest achievement1 commonly called 8,the ,prisons10 and known in ,italian as 8,le ,carceri d',invenzione40 ,these sixteen fantasies1 executed at the age of twenty-two and published at thirty1 form a set of prints in which it is no exaggeration to say that imagination is displayed with a power and amplitude that have elsewhere never been surpassed in etching or engraving1 and only rarely in other forms of pictorial art4 ,although scarcely known to the public at large1 they have always formed the delight of those who feel the appeal of imaginative fantasy1 and notably of ,coleridge and of ,de ,quincey1 who has recorded his impression in golden words4 ,they are reputed to represent scenes which burned themselves into the artist's consciousness while delirious with fever1 and it is certain that they do possess that terrible1 vivid reality1 so enormously amplified as to lose the proportions of ordinary existence1 which characterizes all oppressive dreams and particularly those induced by narcotics4 ,they represent interiors of vast and fantastic architecture1 complete yet unfinished1 composed of an inexplicable complexity of enormous arches springing from massive piers built1 like the arches they carry1 of gigantic blocks left rough-hewn4 ,by a contrast that could only have been conceived by genius these monstrous spaces are traversed in every direction by frail scaffoldings1 together with ladders1 bridges1 and all manner of works in wood2 and are filled1 at the same time1 with an inexhaustible succession of ropes1 pulleys1 and engines1 finely described by ,de ,quincey as 8expressive of enormous power put forth or of resistance overcome40 ,they are distinguished by one of ,piranesi's greatest qualities1 the power to express immensity as1 perhaps1 no one else has ever done1 and are flooded with light which seems intense in its opposition to the brilliant shadows1 so that altogether it would be difficult to understand their title of 8,prisons10 were it not for the presence of engines of torment1 and of mighty chains that twine over and depend from huge beams1 or sometimes bind fast the little bodies of human beings4 ,the unusual and inexplicable nature of these 8,prisons0 gives to the beholder's imagination a mighty stimulus productive of strange excitement4 ,illustration3 ,,piranesi4 ,,the ,,prisons4 ,,plate ,v ,size of the original etching1 #ba #af inches ,illustration3 ,,piranesi4 ,,the ,,prisons4 ,,plate ,,vi ,size of the original etching1 #ba #ae inches ,the 8,english ,opium-,eater0 in likening his visions to these pictures1--and what higher praise of their imaginative force could there be8--speaks of their 8power of endless growth and self-reproduction40 ,one of their distinguishing peculiarities is this repetition of parts1 as of things which grow out of themselves unceasingly1 reproducing their parts until the brain reels at the idea of their endlessness4 ,this characteristic1 together with that curious opposition between their air of open immensity and their suggestion of prison-horror1 gives them that particular appearance of absolute reality in the midst of impossibility1 which is a distinctive feature of dreams4 ,in this way they arouse a sense of infinitude in the mind of the beholder2 now1 although size is in itself of no importance1 it is nevertheless true that1 when combined with other qualities of value1 8greatness of dimension is a powerful cause of the sublime40 ,this greatness1 both in conception and in material execution1 they possess1 together with that opposition of light to obscurity which 8seems in general to be necessary to make anything very terrible40 ,indeed1 that these etchings reveal a more imaginative vigor arouse a kind of awe in any one who gives them more than a passing glance1 while the horror which they suggest is never physical so as to nauseate or 8press too nearly0 and cause pain1 but imparts1 on the contrary1 a sense of danger and of terror that causes a delightful excitement1 certainly fulfilling the definition of the sublime as given by ,burke4 ,although it does not follow that ,piranesi is a greater etcher than ,rembrandt1 it may still be true that these etchings reveal a more imaginative vigor than is shown in those of the great ,dutchman4 ,they do not possess that subtle imagination which envelops everything that ,rembrandt ever touched in an air of exquisite mystery1 and gives to his least sketch an inexhaustible fund of suggestion1 nor can they be compared to his etchings as consummate works of art2 yet they do have a titanic1 irresistible force of sheer imagination1 which neither ,rembrandt nor any other etcher1 however superior in other ways1 possessed to the same extent4 ,their preminence in this one point is certainly admissible1 and as it has been shown1 presumably1 that they are imaginative1 original1 and sublime1 is it too much to say that1 at least in the expression of certain intellectual qualities1 ,piranesi in these plates carried the art of etching to the highest point yet attained1 so that no one who does not know these plates can know quite all that etching is capable of expressing8 8,the ,prisons0 are also the most notable example of that principle of opposition1 or contrast1 of which ,piranesi made so masterful a use in whatever he did4 ,the application of this law in the handling1 and at times in the abuse1 of blacks and whites1 is1 of course1 apparent to even the most casual observer in all that came from his hand4 ,in the present series1 however1 this law may be seen carried to its utmost limit4 ,from every stupendous vault there hangs a long1 thin rope1 while up gigantic pillars of rough masonry climb frail ladders of wood1 and great voids between immense piers are spanned by light bridges1 also of wood1 bearing the slightest and most open of iron railings4 ,in his plates of ,roman ruins1 ,piranesi introduces the human figure dressed in the lovely costume of the eighteenth century1 in order to contrast grace with force1 and to oppose the living and the fugitive to the inanimate and the enduring2 but here his use of the human figure rises to the truly dramatic4 ,in the midst of these vast and awful halls with their air of stillness and of power1 of 8resistance overcome10 he places men who seem the smallest and the frailest among creatures4 ,grouped by twos or threes1 whether depicted in violent motion or standing with significant gesture1 they are always enigmatic in their attitudes1 so that their presence and obvious emotion amid this immense and silent grandeur arouse a sense of tragic action1 a feeling of mysterious wonder and curiosity that gives to all lovers of intellectual excitement a pleasure as keen as unusual4 ,particularly in one vision of a monstrous wheel of wood revolving in space1 no one knows how1 above a fragment of rocky architecture1 while three human beings engaged in animated converse are obviously unconscious of the gigantic revolutions1 the limits of fantasy are reached1 and the mind turns instinctively to those images of the spheres rolling eternally in infinite space which are found in ,milton and all mystic poets4 ,illustration3 ,,piranesi4 ,,the ,,prisons4 ,,plate ,,ix ,size of the original etching1 #ba #af inches ,illustration3 ,,piranesi4 ,,the ,,prisons4 ,,plate ,,vii ,size of the original etching1 #ba #af inches ,these plates are also interesting as a striking and curious proof of ,piranesi's conscious mastery of his art4 ,they are filled with such a fury of imagination1 and are etched with such dash and boldness of execution that it seems as though they must be1 if not1 as was once said1 the sane work of a madman1 at least burned directly on the plate by the force of a fever-stricken mind4 ,but not so2 they are1 however fevered their original inspiration may have been1 the result of careful elaboration1 and are but one more proof of the saying of that other and still greater etcher1 ,whistler1 that a work of art is complete1 and only complete1 when all traces have disappeared of the means by which it was created4 ,there exists in the ,british ,museum a unique1 and until recently unknown1 series of first states of 8,the ,prisons40 ,now1 although these first states have the main outline and1 as it were1 the germ of the published states1 these latter are so elaborated and1 on the whole1 improved1 as to make it at first incredible that they could ever have grown out of1 or had any relation to1 the earlier states4 ,the idea of vast masses of masonry is there1 thrown on the paper with a simplicity of decorative effect and a directness of touch which have been lessened in the later work2 but1 on the other hand1 all those scaffolds1 engines of torment1 and groups of men above described1 are lacking1 so that the power of contrast and the sense of terror1 productive of the sublime1 are entirely wanting1 and are1 therefore1 shown to be the result of conscious art used by ,piranesi in elaboration of an original inspiration4 ,piranesi possessed a style so intensely individual that every print he produced is recognizable as his by any person who has ever looked at two or three of his plates with moderate attention1 yet this style never degenerated into manner2 that is to say1 into an imitation not of nature1 but of the peculiarities of other men or of one's own earlier work4 ,it became a manner or process in the hands of his son1 ,francesco1 but with ,giovanni ,battista it always remained style1 which is the expression of an original intellect observing nature before consciously varying the relations of elements drawn by it from nature1 to the end of producing a work of art4 ,this style1 whose faults lie in excessive contrasts of black and white1 in inadequate handling of skies1 and1 at times1 in a certain general hardness of aspect1 is marked by great boldness1 breadth1 and power1 both in conception and in actual execution1 but it is never marred by crudity or roughness4 ,it is a remarkable fact that the immense force1 which first of all impresses one in ,piranesi's work1 does not exclude1 but is1 on the contrary1 often combined or contrasted with extreme elegance and fineness of touch4 ,to cite but one instance3 in that wonderful print which forms the title-page of 8,the ,prisons10--the figure of the chained man1 who imparts such a sense of terror to the whole scene1 is handled with a grace and delicacy worthy of ,moreau or any of those ,french contemporaries who filled the land with their exquisite creations for the endless delight of later generations4 ,it is this contrast1 together with his dramatic introduction and grouping of the human figure1 which gives to ,piranesi's style a character that has been aptly qualified as scenic4 ,an etching by ,piranesi produces very much the same curious effect that a person experiences on entering a theater after the curtain has risen1 so that he receives from the stage a sudden1 sharp impression1 not of a passing moment of the play1 but of one distinct1 dramatic picture4 ,his etchings are never theatrical in the sense of something factitious and exaggerated beyond likeness to nature1 but are always truly dramatic4 ,illustration3 ,,piranesi4 ,,the ,,prisons4 ,,plate ,,viii ,size of the original etching1 #ba #ae inches ,illustration3 ,,piranesi4 ,,the ,,prisons4 ,,plate ,,xi ,size of the original etching1 #af #ba inches ,it will have been noticed that plates by ,piranesi have been referred to both as etchings and engravings2 this is because he used both etching and engraving in the same plate1 a proceeding which1 if decried by theoretical writers1 has none the less been habitually employed by many of the greatest masters of both means of expression4 ,despite his faults and his ,latin exuberance1 ,piranesi is technically one of the great etchers1 in whose hands1 particularly in certain plates in 8,the ,prisons10 the etching-needle attained a breadth of vigorous execution that no one has surpassed4 ,in judging an artist1 the obvious precept1 to consider what he was aiming to do1 is unfortunately too often neglected4 ,to expect of ,piranesi either the incomparable delicacy of ,whistler1 or the unsurpassed crispness of ,meryon would be futile1 but he does possess certain forceful qualities which are not theirs4 ,when he used the burin1 he could handle it with the greatest precision and skill4 ,in such a plate as the one known as ,the ,french ,academy1 the building is engraved with a skill not at all unworthy of the engravers who were at that time doing such wonderful work in ,france1 while the plate1 as a whole1 gains a delightful quality1--that neither pure etching nor pure engraving could have given1--from the contrast which the sharp and delicately engraved lines make with the figures that are etched with a consummate freedom and dash worthy of ,callot1 who1 one cannot but think1 must have influenced ,piranesi4 ,in his valuable monograph on ,piranesi1 ,mr4 ,arthur ,samuel makes the statement that 8architectural etching has culminated with him02 and it is certain that in this field his work surpasses1 both in architectural correctness and in artistic merit1 any that has been done either before or since his day4 ,illustration3 ,,piranesi4 ,,the ,,prisons4 ,,plate ,,xiii ,size of the original etching1 #af #ba inches ,illustration3 ,,piranesi4 ,,the ,,prisons4 ,,plate ,,xiv ,size of the original etching1 #af #ba inches ,,part ,,iii ,,the ,,influence ,,of ,,piranesi ,,on ,,decoration ,,in ,,the ,,xviii ,,century ,there is still another side of ,piranesi's originality1 public ignorance of which may be said to be complete--namely1 his relation to architecture1 and the very great debt owed him by that art4 ,that he was an architect who signed himself as such on many plates during his entire life is a fact ignored even by many of those architects who are most indebted to him2 but this fact is negligible1 together with the work which he actually executed as an architect4 ,the benefits which he conferred were rendered in other ways4 ,his first1 and perhaps greatest1 service consisted in the collection of materials4 ,the classic motives which he gathered and etched form an inexhaustible store of ornament on which generation after generation of architects has drawn1 and will continue to draw4 ,the enormous quantity and variety of classic fragments of the best quality that ,piranesi brought together is in itself astounding1 but a fact of still greater importance is that it was he who1 more than any one else1 gave these motives currency4 ,in his day no one1 except ,winckelmann--now known chiefly by his influence on ,goethe1 and by his tragic death--did as much as ,piranesi to foster appreciation and spread knowledge of classic antiquity2 while his plates1 both by their greater currency and higher artistic merit1 did wider and more enduring good than could ever be accomplished by the work of a critic and connoisseur1 even of ,winckelmann's talent and prestige4 ,his boundless enthusiasm and his real learning aroused more people than we shall ever know1 at the same time that his labors1 so indefatigable as to be incredible1 spread abroad in prodigal profusion the reproductions of the remains of classic buildings1 statues1 and ornament4 ,the greater part of these relics would have continued1 but for him1 to be known to only a few collectors and frequenters of museums2 and it is certain that more classic motives have come into use1 directly or indirectly1 from the works of ,piranesi than from any other one source1 with the possible exception of modern photography4 ,in this connection it is impossible to insist too much on his exquisite taste1 which1 although it had its lapses1 as in his designs for chimney-pieces1 was on the whole of the highest4 ,this fact seems quite incredible if the time and place of his life be considered4 ,the intellectual degradation of all ,italy at this period has already been alluded to1 and1 art being always a reflection and expression of contemporary life1 it follows that the artistic degradation of ,piranesi's ,italian contemporaries was complete4 ,it is difficult to conceive the rococo horrors of eighteenth-century ,italy4 ,in ,france the most contorted productions of the ,louis ,,xv style1 or the most far-fetched symbolic lucubrations under ,louis ,,xvi1 never reached such depths of bad taste2 for the ,french1 in their most unfortunate moments1 can never divest themselves entirely of an innate taste and a sense of measure which give some redeeming grace to their worst follies4 ,the lack of tact1 of a sense of limitations1 which often characterizes ,spanish and ,italian art1 and at times makes possible splendid flights never attempted by the ,french1 also permits them1 when misguided1 to sink to abysmal depths4 ,it would be hard to find much good in the heavy contortions of the rococo work of eighteenth-century ,italy1 which1 starting from ,bernini1 exaggerated all his faults and kept none of even his perverted genius4 ,amid this riot of bad taste1 ,piranesi1 with his love of classic simplicity1 his sense of the noble1 and his feeling for balance and distance1 stands out an inexplicable phenomenon4 ,in certain plates1 ,piranesi1 while using elements taken from antiquity1 created a style of ornamental composition which inspired or was copied in work praised for its originality1 and passing under the name of other styles4 ,no one dreams of speaking of a ,piranesi style1 yet there is many a piece of decoration that calls itself ,louis ,,xvi1 or ,adam1 or anything else1 which comes directly from the work of this much-pilfered ,italian4 ,he stands in relation to a great deal of architectural decoration much as do1 in science1 those profound and creative minds who discover a great principle1 but neglect its detailed application1 only to have it taken up by lesser inventors of a practical trend1 who put it to actual uses1 the tangible value of which excites so great an admiration that no thought is taken of the man who discovered the very principle at the base of it all4 ,in such plates as those dedicated to ,robert ,adam and ,pope ,clement ,,xiii there can be found1 fully developed1 the style we call currently ,louis ,,xvi1 although the greater part of it was produced under ,louis ,,xv contemporaneously with the work which goes by that name4 ,the style in question is there1 with its exquisite detail copied from the antique2 we can see its inspiration taken from the classic which it wished to reproduce1 together with its fortunate inability to do so1 and its consequently successful creation of something entirely original but yet filled with classic spirit4 ,that interruption of ornament1 that alternation of the decorated and the plain1 that sense of balance and of contrast1 distinctive of the ,louis ,,xvi style--all are here4 ,to think that these qualities came to ,piranesi through ,french influence would be ridiculous1 for the style under discussion obviously took for its model classic art1 to which it was an attempted return2 and as ,piranesi was all his life in direct contact with the source of this inspiration1 he could scarcely have been formed by a derivation of that which he knew directly4 ,if this be true1 it may be asked why ,piranesi's work did not create in ,italy at least sporadic attempts at a style analogous to that of ,louis ,,xvi4 ,the reason for this lies in the already mentioned condition of the ,italy of that day1 for a work of art is absolutely conditioned by1 and a result of1 the environment in which it occurs4 ,here and there a work of art may1 by some phenomenon1 occur in opposition1 or without apparent relation1 to its surroundings2 but in such circumstances it will have no successors1 just as an unusually hardy orange-tree may thrive far to the north1 but will not bear fruit and propagate itself4 ,a great critic has said3 8,there is a reigning direction1 which is that of the century2 those talents who try to grow in an opposite direction find the issue closed2 the pressure of public spirit and of surrounding manners compresses or turns them aside by imposing on them a fixed flowering40 ,the torpor and bad taste engendered in ,italy by political and intellectual oppression precluded the work of ,piranesi from bearing any fruit in his own country4 ,illustration3 ,statue of ,piranesi1 by ,angelini1 assisted by ,piranesi's son1 and erected in the ,church of ,santa ,maria in ,aventino 7,rome74 ,it faces the great candelabra which ,piranesi had designed to illuminate his statue4 ,this plate was engraved by ,piranesi's son1 ,francesco1 in #agij4 ,size of the original engraving1 #ai #ab inches ,illustration3 ,,piranesi4 ,,antique ,,marble ,,vase ,from 8,vasi4 ,candelabri4 ,cippi4 ,sarcofagi4 ,tripodi4 ,lucerne ed ,ornamenti ,antichi ,disegn4 ed inc4 dal ,cav4 ,gio4 ,batta4 ,piranesi40 7#aggh7 ,vol4 ,,ii1 plate ,no4 #gc4 ,piranesi's dedication of this plate reads3 8,al ,suo ,carissimo ,amico ,il4 ,sig4 ,riccardo ,hayward ,scuttore ,inglese40 ,size of the original etching1 #bd #af inches ,to think1 on the other hand1 that ,piranesi exerted an influence on ,french art of his day is not so fanciful as might at first be supposed4 ,if it be true1 as just stated1 that it is impossible for the work of an artist to produce any result when his environment is hostile1 it is equally true that an artist1 or a body of artists1 can exert an enormous influence when their surroundings favor and the ground is ready to receive the seed they sow4 ,france was ripe for such seed as ,piranesi cast abroad vainly in ,italy1 and in the former country an incalculable influence in the creation of the ,louis ,,xvi style was exerted by those men who accompanied ,mme4 de ,pompadour's brother1 ,abel ,poisson1 ,marquis de ,marigny1 on his travels in ,italy4 ,three years previously this great patron of art had caused her brother to be appointed to the succession of the 8,surintendance des ,beaux-,arts10 and after three years of apprenticeship1 in order to make himself worthy of this important and exalted position1 she sent him1 in the company of a numerous suite1 to ,italy in ,december1 #agdi1 to complete his education by remaining there until ,september1 #agea4 ,in his following were ,soufflot1 the architect1 and ,charles ,nicholas ,cochin fils1 the celebrated engraver4 ,on his return from ,italy1 ,m4 de ,marigny directed all the works of art undertaken by the government throughout ,france1 while ,soufflot built the church of ,ste4 ,genevive1 now known as the ,panthon1 and was one of the most conspicuous and influential men in the world of art in his day4 ,cochin1 aside from being a great engraver1 was intellectually one of the most interesting artists of the day1 and1 as ,m4 de ,marigny's right-hand man1 wielded an influence almost incomprehensible to us of to-day4 ,the latter part of his life1 he really ruled in ,m4 de ,marigny's stead1 and his absolute dictatorship in all matters of art in ,france can only be compared to that of ,le ,brun under ,louis ,,xiv4 ,that his ,italian travels were the decisive influence of ,cochin's career is clearly shown in his own work1 and is expressly stated by ,diderot1 who says of him that1 8judge everywhere else1 he was a scholar at ,rome40 ,soufflot was only seven years older than ,piranesi1 and ,cochin but five4 ,now1 when these distinguished ,frenchmen were in ,rome1 ,piranesi was already famous and frequented the most interesting artistic circles4 ,his talents and his remarkably impetuous personality made him one of the curiosities of ,rome1 so that it is scarcely credible that these visiting foreigners should not have seen much of him4 ,as their express object was the study of antiquity1 and as no one in ,rome knew more of the ruins or had so lively an enthusiasm for them as ,piranesi1 it is certainly probable that he influenced them deeply4 ,illustration3 ,,section ,,of ,,one ,,of ,,the ,,sides ,,of ,,the ,,great ,,room1 ,,or ,,library1 ,,of ,,earl ,,mansfield',s ,,villa ,,at ,,kenwood ,robert ,adam1 ,architect1 #agfg4 ,engraved by ,j4 ,zucchi in #aggd ,from 8,the ,works in ,architecture of ,robert and ,james ,adam40 7,london1 #aggh7 ,illustration3 ,,ionic ,,order ,,of ,,the ,,anteroom1 ,,with ,,the ,,rest ,,of ,,the ,,detail ,,of ,,that ,,room ,,at ,,sion ,,house1 ,,the ,,seat ,,of ,,the ,,duke ,,of ,,northumberland ,,in ,,the ,,county ,,of ,,middlesex ,robert ,adam1 ,architect1 #agfa4 ,engraved by ,piranesi ,from 8,the ,works in ,architecture of ,robert and ,james ,adam40 7,london1 #aggh7 ,aside from these men1 the list is long of famous ,frenchmen who studied in ,rome during the height of ,piranesi's artistic production1 and must certainly have felt his influence4 ,it includes ,augustin ,pajou1 the sculptor1 who went to the ,villa ,mdicis as ,prix de ,rome in #agdh1 at eighteen1 and who afterward decorated the opera built at ,versailles by ,ange ,gabriel1 architect of the faultless buildings which ennoble the ,place de la ,concorde2 ,jean ,jacques ,caffieri1 the sculptor1 who was in ,rome from #agdi to #agec2 ,chalgrin1 ,prix de ,rome in #ageh1 successor to ,soufflot as architect of the city of ,paris1 and architect of ,st4 ,philippe du ,roule and of the ,arc de ,triomphe2 ,jean ,antoine ,houdon1 the sculptor1 ,prix de ,rome in #agfa1 at twenty1 who came to ,america with ,franklin to execute the statue of ,washington now in ,richmond2 and finally ,claude ,franois ,michel1 known as ,clodion1 who gained the ,prix de ,rome for sculpture in #agfc and filled whatever he touched with unrivaled grace1 raising the art of terra-cotta figurines to a degree of loveliness no one else ever attained4 ,it must be remembered that these architects and sculptors did not confine themselves to architecture pure and simple1 as do our prouder and less talented contemporaries4 ,with the spirit which animates all periods of great art1 they considered no object too insignificant to be made lovely by their talent4 ,they decorated theaters and houses1 designing furniture1 clocks1 vases1 and every article of daily life2 filling them all with the consummate1 delicate art that remains the despair of all who have followed4 ,if1 therefore1 as is to be supposed1 they underwent ,piranesi's influence while in ,rome1 it would have made itself felt1 through them1 in all the decorative arts of ,france4 ,if ,piranesi's influence in ,france be a subject for hypothesis1 in ,england it can be decisively proved in the case of the so-called ,adam style1 a vulgar caricature of which is at present so prevalent in ,new ,york4 ,robert ,adam1 a ,scotchman who studied in ,rome1 was so delightfully original and adventurous as to fit out an expedition to explore the then totally unknown ,palace of ,diocletian at ,spalato in ,dalmatia4 ,he was also a friend of ,piranesi1 who dedicated his views of the ,campus ,martius to 8,robert ,adam1 a ,british cultivator of architecture1 as a proof of his affection40 ,now ,adam1 a man of unusually alert mind and delicate taste1 was a poor architect1 with a most defective sense of proportion in the composition of a building as a whole1 who nevertheless possessed unusual and distinctive talent as a decorator4 ,his fine taste led him to cover his work with detail executed and often conceived by remarkable persons1 so that much of the credit for originality and delicacy given to him is due1 as with so many an architect1 to the artists whom he had the cleverness and good fortune to employ and the ability to direct4 ,in the preparation of his monumental book he was assisted by 8,eques ,j4 ,b4 ,piranesi10 as he there signs himself1 who actually engraved three plates with his own hand1 while the rendering of every design in the book shows his influence4 ,knowing this1 it is impossible to doubt that ,adam's taste and style were profoundly influenced by1 and indebted to1 so original and masterly a mind as that of ,piranesi4 ,a comparison of ,adam's book with certain plates by ,piranesi will clearly show the debt1 while a careful study of only three of his compositions--namely1 the title-page before mentioned as dedicated to ,adam and the two plates inscribed with the name of ,pope ,clement ,,xiii--will in itself make clear that much decorative work called either ,louis ,,xvi or ,adam takes its forms as well as its inspiration directly from the creations of ,giambattista ,piranesi4 ,piranesi's influence can also be proved in the case of ,george ,dance1 architect of old ,newgate ,prison2 of ,robert ,mylne1 architect of old ,blackfriars ,bridge2 of ,sir ,john ,soane1 architect of the ,bank of ,england2 and of many more4 ,the subject of ,piranesi's influence in ,england has been so exhaustively treated by ,mr4 ,arthur ,samuels in his monograph as to make useless any attempt to rehandle the subject here4 ,illustration3 ,,piranesi4 ,,title-,,page ,,to 8,,il ,,campo ,,marzio ,,dell' ,,antica ,,roma0 7,rome1 #agfb7 ,the dedication to ,robert ,adam is upon the column to the left ,size of the original etching1 #ai #ac inches ,illustration3 ,,piranesi4 ,,upper ,,left-,,hand ,,portion1 ,,bearing ,a ,,dedication ,,to ,,robert ,,adam1 ,,of ,,piranesi',s ,,etched ,,plan ,,of ,,the ,,campus ,,martius ,size of the original etching 7of which the above is a part only71 #ec #de inches ,still another example of ,piranesi's influence is to be found in the sketches of the present-day ,german1 ,otto ,rieth1 the originality of whose drawings is so vaunted4 ,very talented and individual they certainly are1 but to any one thoroughly familiar with the architectural fantasies of ,piranesi1 the source of inspiration is so obvious as to make it impossible that ,rieth should not have known the work of his great ,italian predecessor4 ,the influence which ,piranesi exerts on the cole des ,beaux-,arts1 and consequently on the leading contemporary architects of both ,france and the ,united ,states1 is enormous1 if hard to define4 ,the use of detail which he furnishes is never-ceasing1 but more important than this is the constant inspiration sought in a study of those architectural fantasies which he has filled with the qualities of grandeur and immensity so much valued by the ,french to-day4 ,the buildings of ,new ,york are covered with motives either inspired by ,piranesi or taken directly from his work--ornament much of which would never have come into vogue but for him2 while a recent number of a leading architectural periodical1 without acknowledgment1 printed a design of his for its cover4 ,it is ardently to be hoped that a wider and more just appreciation of ,piranesi's unique work may gradually gain currency4 ,mere productiveness is1 of course1 of no intrinsic value2 but that any human being should be capable of so vast a labor as ,piranesi must in itself excite in us a lively sense of wonder and admiration4 ,when1 moreover1 it is found that his work1 in addition to putting the art of architecture under an enormous debt1 is distinguished by imagination1 originality1 sublimity1 and immense skill of execution1--a certain portion of it at least possessing these qualities to a degree unsurpassed by any artist using the particular medium employed1--it is surely not unreasonable to attribute to their creator the rare quality of original genius4 ,,note3 ,i desire to acknowledge my indebtedness to ,mr4 ,arthur ,samuel of ,london1 both for material contained in his book and for personal courtesy4 ,,francisco ,,goya ,y ,,lucientes ,,by ,,charles ,h4 ,,caffin ,author of 8,the ,story of ,spanish ,painting10 8,old ,spanish ,masters1 ,engraved by ,timothy ,cole10 etc41 etc4 ,the phenomenon of ,goya is among the curiosities of the history of art4 ,for in the latter half of the eighteenth century1 when1 under the feeble ,bourbon dynasty1 ,spain had reached the lowest ebb of her national and artistic life1 an artist arose who represented more than any other her racial characteristics and was destined to exert a world-wide influence on the art of the succeeding century4 ,while the rest of ,europe was seething with the spirit of revolution1 ,goya1 the man1 was already in revolt1 and at the same time had discovered for himself a revolutionary form of art1 which anticipated by half a century the consciousness elsewhere of the need of a new method to fit the new point of view4 ,in a word1 he drove an entering wedge into the contemporary classicalism that was based upon a dry imitation of ,roman marbles and ,raphaelesque compositions1 restored nature to art1 and adapted his vision of nature to the spirit of inquiry1 observation1 and research that was in process of fermentation4 ,finally1 he adjusted to his vision of life a method of composition1 freer and more flexible than the older ones3 that was preoccupied less with the representation of form than with the expression of movement and character2 its aim1 in fact1 being primarily expressional4 ,thus he anticipated the motive of modern impressionism and determined in advance the methods of rendering it4 ,no less remarkable is the degree in which he was an avatar of the mingled traits of his race4 ,for ethnologically the ,spaniard is a ,celt1 who first was disciplined by ,roman civilization1 then merged in the flood of a ,germanic wave1 and later infused with the blood and culture of the ,arab and the ,moor4 ,a truly wonderful amalgam--the ironic humor of the ,celt2 the mysticism1 vigor1 and grotesque imagination of the forest-bred ,goth2 the subtle inventiveness1 sensuousness1 and abstraction of the ,orient1 and the uncouth strain of the ,black ,man1 whom to-day we are discovering to be the flotsam of a far-off submerged civilization in ,darkest ,africa4 ,all these traits are recognizable in the work of ,goya that he did to please himself3 namely1 in his painted figure-subjects1 other than portraits1 and in his drawings and etchings4 99 99 99 99 99 ,illustration3 ,,goya4 ,,portrait ,,of ,,goya1 ,,drawn ,,and ,,etched ,,by ,,himself ,size of the original etching1 #e #d inches ,illustration3 ,,goya4 ,,the ,,dead ,,branch ,from 8,the ,proverbs0 7,lefort ,no4 #abf7 ,a reference to the ,spanish court1 which rests on a dead branch over an abyss ,size of the original etching1 #h #ab inches ,in the modern craze for making over biographies of past worthies1 so as to bring their lives into conformity with the standards of respectability in the present1 there is a tendency to suggest that many of the records of ,goya's career may be apocryphal4 ,this would rob the story of art of a very picturesque personality2 one1 moreover1 which seems to be quite convincingly represented in his art4 ,he was born in #agdf1 in the little town of ,fuendetodos near ,zaragoza in the province of ,aragn1 his father being a small farmer4 ,reared among the hills1 he breathed independence1 throve mightily in bodily vigor1 and proved precociously disposed to art4 ,accordingly1 at the age of fourteen he was put under a teacher1 ,luzan1 in ,zaragoza4 ,but it was never ,goya's way to take instruction from a spoon1 and at this period he distinguished himself less as a student than as a roistering young fellow1 apt for gallantry and brawls and ready with his rapier4 ,having drawn on himself the attention of the authorities of the ,inquisition1 he found it convenient to proceed to ,madrid4 ,here again his escapades aroused notoriety1 so that he abandoned the capital and set forth for ,rome1 working his way to the sea-board by practising as a bull-fighter4 ,in ,rome he mainly nourished his artistic development by observation of the old masterpieces1 meanwhile indulging in gallantries1 which culminated in a plot to rescue a young lady from a convent4 ,this time he found himself actually in the grip of the ,inquisition and was only released from it by the ,spanish ambassador1 who undertook to ship him back to ,spain4 ,arrived the second time in ,madrid he found a friend in the painter ,francisco ,bayeu1 who gave him his daughter1 ,josefa1 in marriage and introduced him to ,mengs1 the arbiter of art at ,court4 ,josefa bore him twenty children1 none of whom survived him1 and patiently put up with his infidelities4 ,mengs had been urged by the king1 ,charles ,,iii1 to revive the ,tapestry ,works of ,santa ,barbara1 and intrusted ,goya with a series of designs1 which to-day may be seen in the basement galleries of the ,prado1 while some of them1 executed in the weave1 adorn the walls of a room in the ,escoril4 ,the vogue at the time was for ,boucher's pretty pastoral ineptitudes1 but ,goya took a hint from ,teniers and represented the actual pastimes of the ,spanish people4 ,he1 however1 far outstripped the ,flemish artist in the variety1 naturalness1 and vivacity of his subjects1 while in the matter of composition he showed himself already a student of the harmonies of nature rather than a perpetuator of studio traditions4 ,these designs secured his general popularity and paved the way for his entre into royal favor at the accession of ,charles ,,iv in #aghh4 ,goya1 turned forty1 was already the darling of the populace and now became the cynosure of the ,court4 ,he would pit his prowess against the professional strong man in the streets of ,madrid and plunged with equal aplomb and assurance into the gallantries of the royal circle1 which was a hotbed of intrigue under the lax rgime of ,queen ,maria ,luisa1 whose amours were notorious4 ,foremost among her lovers was ,manuel ,godoy1 whom she raised from the rank of a guardsman eventually to be prime minister4 ,he embroiled his country in a war with ,england1 and finally ratted to ,napoleon1 conniving at the invasion of the ,french troops and the placing of ,joseph ,bonaparte on the throne of ,spain4 ,meanwhile1 in the interval before this dbcle1 ,goya1 while dipping into intrigue1 notably with the beautiful ,countess of ,alba1 and establishing his position as an artist to whom every one who would be anybody must sit for a portrait1 maintained an attitude of haughty mental exclusiveness4 ,he was the rebel1 the insurgent1 the nihilist2 lashing with the impartial whip of his satire the rottenness of the ,court and the shams and hypocrisies of the ,middle ,class1 the ,church1 ,law1 ,medicine1 and even ,painting4 ,also1 like many devotees of sensual pleasures1 he was hot in his denunciation of lust1 a terrible exponent of its consequences in satiety and sapped vitality4 ,illustration3 ,,goya4 ,,back ,,to ,,his ,,ancestors6 8,poor animal6 ,the genealogists and the kings of heraldry have muddled his brain1 and he is not the only one40 ,manuel ,godoy1 satirized in this print1 had a long and fictitious genealogy made for himself1 according to which he was a direct descendant of the ancient ,gothic kings of ,spain4 ,from 8,the ,caprices0 7,lefort ,no4 #ci74 ,illustration3 ,,goya4 8,,birds ,,of ,a ,,feather ,,flock ,,together0 8,the question is often raised whether men or women are superior4 ,the vices of either proceed from bad upbringing2 where the men are depraved the women likewise are depraved40 ,from 8,the ,caprices0 7,lefort ,no4 #e74 ,this last is the theme of one of his most horribly arresting subjects in oils1 an allegory of the ,fates1 wherein lust and its accompanying exhaustion represent the futility of man's existence4 ,it is painted in colors of extreme neutrality that almost amount to monochrome4 ,thus it illustrates a dictum of ,goya's that color no more than line exists in nature2 there are only differences of light and shade4 ,it accordingly prepares one for an appreciation of his etchings1 in which aquatint plays so intrinsically important a rle4 ,as a painter he had begun with positive hues--to abandon them1 as soon as he reached his maturity1 for a sparing use of color and a liberal differentiation of color values4 ,in this he was following ,velasquez1 whom he admitted to be one of his teachers1 the others being ,rembrandt and nature4 ,it was ,rembrandt1 unquestionably1 who helped him to a vision of nature that reduced itself to the principle of light and dark2 but from nature herself he gained corroboration of the essential truth of such a vision4 ,how true it is the artist of the present day has learned from ,goya4 ,like the latter1 he sees color in nature not as positive hues1 but as a complex weave of varying intensities of light and shade that play over and transform the hues4 ,it is by the correlation of these varying values that he builds up the structure and secures the planes of his composition1 and realizes a unity and harmony of ensemble4 ,and it is in ,goya's etchings that he finds these principles of color in relation to composition represented with most adequate reliance on simplification1 organization1 and expression--the three watchwords of contemporary artists who are working in the latest modern spirit4 ,expression is the keynote of ,goya's etchings1 as it is of his paintings4 ,it is the quality of feeling rather than of seeing that is interpreted4 ,thus1 in the oil painting of the ,maja1 ,nude1 it was ,goya's intent not so much to represent the young form as to interpret the expression of its youth through the play of light and shadow on the supple torso and limbs2 an expression so exquisitely subtle and tender that it defies the copyist's attempted imitation and eludes the resources of photographic reproduction4 ,similarly1 in the splendid impressionism of the group-portrait of ,charles ,,iv and his family it is not the appearance of the jewels1 clustered on the breasts of the royal pair1 but the effect of their luster that he designed to render4 ,and so throughout his drawings and etchings the prime purpose is not to represent the thing seen but to suggest its effect upon the feelings4 99 99 99 99 99 ,goya's etched work1 as catalogued in #aijg by ,julius ,hofmann1 comprises #bfh pieces4 ,these include #bb ,various ,subjects2 #af ,studies after ,velasquez2 #hc ,caprices2 #ba ,proverbs2 #hb ,disasters of ,war and #dd ,tauromachies1 or ,scenes from the ,bull-,fight4 ,to this list of engraved work are to be added #bj lithographs4 ,the best known of these groups is ,los ,caprichos1 etched in #agid-agih but not published until #ahjc4 ,these ,caprices represent the most spontaneous expression of ,goya's temperament and of his attitude toward the life and the society of his day4 ,at the same time1 the designs1 as in the case of all his etchings and lithographs1 were executed with due deliberation1 worked out previously in drawings in which every effect was carefully calculated and assured4 ,with corresponding fidelity the drawings were copied on the plate4 ,illustration3 ,,goya4 ,,they ,,have ,,kidnapped ,,her 8,the woman who does not know how to guard herself is the first to be attacked4 ,and it is only when there is no longer time to protect herself that she is astonished that she was carried off40 ,from 8,the ,caprices0 7,lefort ,no4 #h74 ,illustration3 ,,goya4 8,,bon ,,voyage60 8,where go they across the shadows1 this infernal cohort which makes the air ring with their cries8 ,if only there were daylight-- 444 ,then it would be another thing3 because with a gun we could bring them down4444 ,but it is night and nobody can see them40 ,from 8,the ,caprices0 7,lefort ,no4 #fd74 ,it is in this set that the creative quality of ,goya's imagination is most demonstrated4 ,he could not only summon visions from the void1 but clothe them in convincing shape4 ,whether he stretched some human type to the limit of caricature or invested it with attributes of bird1 beast1 or reptile1 or used some familiar form of animal1 or created a hybrid monster1 he had the faculty of giving it an actuality that makes it seem reasonable4 ,as to the meaning of the subjects1 the titles which he himself gave them furnish1 except in a few instances1 an intelligible clue4 ,prints of this set were brought to ,england by officers engaged in the ,peninsular ,war and later found their way to ,paris and exercised a very conscious influence upon ,delacroix4 ,for they not only echoed the turbulence of his own spirit1 but helped him to give expression to his own visions of the horrible and fantastic4 ,the best proofs are those of the first edition1 many of which were pulled by the artist himself4 ,the ,proverbs1 although engraved between #ahjj and #ahaj1 were not published until #ahej4 ,while their subjects are often difficult to comprehend1 they show generally a marked technical advance over the previous work4 ,this is apparent not only in the character of the drawing1 but also in the increased simplification and more highly organized arrangement of the composition4 ,some of the latter1 as for example in the case of ,the ,infuriated ,stallion and ,the ,bird-,men1 present designs of extraordinary distinction4 ,the last prints of ,la ,tauromachie are dated #ahae4 ,this series falls short of the others in esthetic interest1 being more conspicuously illustrative4 ,it was1 indeed1 designed to represent the various phases through which the baiting of bulls in ,spain had passed4 ,beginning with the early hunting of the bull in the open country1 both on horseback and on foot1 it proceeds to the methods introduced by the ,moors1 who are represented in the attire of ,turks4 ,thence it gradually traces the development of a precise science and technique in the management of the sport and incidentally commemorates the prowess of individual bull-fighters1 beginning with the ,emperor ,charles ,v1 and passing to well-known professional toreadors4 ,contemporary proofs of ,goya are very rare2 and it was not until #ahee that a complete set was published in ,madrid4 ,a later issue1 including seven extra prints1 was published by ,loizelet in ,paris4 ,illustration3 ,,goya4 ,,the ,,infuriated ,,stallion ,from 8,the ,proverbs0 7,lefort ,no4 #acc7 ,size of the original etching1 #h #ab inches ,illustration3 ,,goya4 ,,the ,,bird-,,men ,from 8,the ,proverbs0 7,lefort ,no4 #acf7 ,size of the original etching1 #h #ab inches ,of the ,disasters of ,war no prints exist prior to those of the set published by the ,academy of ,san ,fernando in #ahfc4 ,etched during #ahaj and the succeeding years of the ,peninsular ,war1 the ,disasters are regarded as the finest products of ,goya's needle4 ,yet he was sixty-four years old when he commenced them4 ,though he had subscribed to the ,bonaparte rgime and still held the position of ,court painter1 he lived apart from active affairs in the seclusion of his country home4 ,the prints are inspired by his country's sufferings1 but he did not publish them4 ,to do so would have been to raise a protest against the crime of the ,french invasion and to stir his countrymen to increased patriotism4 ,under the circumstances of his equivocal position ,goya may have thought such a course impolitic4 ,perhaps he felt the national condition to be hopeless4 ,at any rate1 he closed himself around in an atmosphere of profound pessimism4 8,was it for this they were born80 is the legend beneath one of the prints which shows a heap of mangled corpses4 ,it is the note of the whole series--the criminal horror of war1 and its futility4 ,nowhere else is the element of the macabre in his genius more fully revealed4 ,the designs are in no sense illustrative2 they are visions of his own brooding1 projected against darkness and emptiness4 ,yet1 just as in the ,caprices he gave bone and flesh to the eery fabrics of his imagination1 so by the magic of his needle his abstract imaginings of the enormity of war became visualized into concrete actuality4 ,of ,goya's lithographs it must suffice here to mention the set of four prints1 ,the ,bulls of ,bordeaux4 ,they were executed in that city in #ahbe4 ,for after the expulsion of the ,french by ,wellington and the restoration of the ,bourbon dynasty in the person of ,ferdinand ,,vii1 ,goya again turned his coat4 8,for your treason you deserve to be hanged10 remarked the new king1 8but you are a great artist and ,i overlook the past40 ,he was reappointed ,court painter2 but1 broken in health and spirits1 so deaf that he could no longer indulge his musical taste in playing1 he obtained the king's permission to retire to ,bordeaux1 where he was cared for by a ,madame ,weiss and her daughter4 ,it was during this time that he visited ,paris and was enthusiastically welcomed by ,delacroix and the other ,romanticists4 ,when he drew ,the ,bulls of ,bordeaux he was in his seventy-ninth year and able to work only with the aid of a powerful magnifying-glass4 ,yet the prints in their intense and vigorous movement show no slackening of artistic power4 ,he died three years later1 in #ahbh1 and was buried in the cemetery of ,bordeaux4 ,after lying there for seventy-one years1 his body was claimed by his country and interred with honors in ,madrid4 ,for by this time the modern world of art had recognized ,goya's greatness and its own indebtedness to his genius4 99 99 99 99 99 ,goya's etchings reveal him a great master of design4 ,the versatility of his invention suggests the exuberance of nature1 yet calculated art determines each composition4 ,it is architectonic1 organic1 functional2 possessing the quality of a built-up structure1 with perfect correlation of its parts and absolute adjustment of means to end4 ,moreover1 it carries the final mark of distinction in that it appears to have grown3 it has the vitality1 movement1 and character of a living organism4 ,it is discovered to be the product of a new mating of nature and geometry1 inspired by a wider and more penetrating observation of the former and a more extended and imaginative use of the latter4 ,hence1 at times it strangely anticipates what we are now familiar with in ,oriental composition4 ,most remarkable also is the plastic quality1 which is realized not only in the ensemble but also in the component parts4 ,goya's compositions are no mere patterning of surfaces1 but an example of actual space-filling1 in the true sense that they occupy the third dimension4 ,the substance of his forms and their position in space are so concretely realized that they most actively excite the tactile sense4 ,and yet1 for all their concreteness1 they are permeated with a quality of abstraction4 ,thus they fascinate alike by their actuality and their suggestion of a vision4 ,they are frequently hideous1 but in their capacity of sense-enhancement and in their stimulus to the esthetic intellectuality they are beautiful4 ,illustration3 ,,goya4 ,,good ,,advice 8,and this advice is worthy of her who gives it4 ,worse yet is the damsel who follows it to the letter1 and misfortune to the first one who accosts her60 ,from 8,the ,caprices0 7,lefort ,no4 #ae74 ,illustration3 ,,goya4 ,,god ,,forgive ,,her--,,it',s ,,her ,,own ,,mother6 8,the damsel while young left her native land1 served her apprenticeship in ,cadiz1 and is now returned to ,madrid4 ,she has drawn a prize in the lottery1 goes one day to the ,prado1 and is accosted by an old and decrepit beggar--she repulses her2 the beggar woman insists4 ,the beauty turns and recognizes her--this poor old woman is her mother40 ,from 8,the ,caprices0 7,lefort ,no4 #af74 ,and the beauty of these compositions is materially increased by the sense of color which they suggest4 ,in consequence of ,goya's influence aquatint is coming largely into vogue with modern etchers2 but he with this process1 and his contemporary1 ,turner1 with mezzotint1 were the first to explore fully the resources of tint in combination with line4 ,the ,english artist1 however1 used it mainly as a convenient method of representation4 ,in ,goya's hand it became a medium of intellectual and emotional expression1 comparable to tone in music4 ,goya1 in fact1 by his study of nature1 advanced the circle of his art1 so that1 on the one hand1 it embraced more of the universal geometry and1 on the other1 intersected more freely the circles of the other arts4 ,thus he anticipated the latest modern thought1 in its consciousness of the essential unity of the arts and of the essential unity of art with life4 ,a ,,note ,,on ,,goya ,,by ,,william ,m4 ,,ivins1 ,,jr4 ,no other artist in black and white has ever exhibited such tremendous vitality as ,goya4 ,look back along the line1 and there is no maker of prints who has put into them the same exuberant1 full-blooded delight in life4 ,for sheer physical strength ,mantegna only may be compared with him4 ,and1 strangely1 with this often almost delirious overflow of animal spirits there is the most remarkable sensitiveness to the significance of gesture4 ,who1 except ,hokusai1 has ever expressed1 in black and white1 weight--the heaviness of tired bodies1 the leaden fall of an unconscious woman's arm1 or the buoyancy of excitement--as this ,spaniard8 ,who has ever made motion so moving--made young limbs so supple1 elastic1 and graceful8 ,his every line is kinetic--he does not relate motion1 he exhibits it--and in art as elsewhere deeds are worth more than words4 ,for sensitiveness to the beauty of the human body1 for curious research in the esthetic inversion1 the beauty of the hideous1 ,goya stands alone4 ,no one1 not even ,leonardo1 has plumbed so deep in the hidden shadowy parts4 ,no one has so pictured fear--theatricalities a plenty--but only here real terror4 ,illustration3 ,,goya4 ,,love ,,and ,,death 8,here is a lover who1 like those in ,calderon1 because he could not refrain from mocking his rival1 is dying in the arms of his beloved1 and by his temerity has lost all4 ,it is not well to draw the sword too often40 ,from 8,the ,caprices0 7,lefort ,no4 #aj74 ,illustration3 ,,goya4 ,,hunting ,,for ,,teeth 8,the teeth of those who have been hanged are very efficacious in bringing luck4 ,without this ingredient nothing worth while can be done4 ,is it not pitiful that the common folk believe such foolishness80 ,from 8,the ,caprices0 7,lefort ,no4 #ab74 ,on the purely technical side--the broad massing of sharply contrasted light and shade1 the ability to tell a tale with the simplest means1 the instinctive choice of the pictorially dramatic detail--,rembrandt and ,goya stand alone4 ,on another side that is purely technical1 it should be borne in mind that ,goya is the only one who has availed himself of all the possibilities of aquatint--the only one who has used the medium with audacity and resolution and success2 the only one who has dared use it to express powerful and fundamental things4 ,goya1 both in himself and for his influence1 is one of the greatest artists that the world has seen these last hundred and fifty years--and his greatest work is his black and white4 ,,the ,,etchings ,,of ,,fortuny ,,by ,,royal ,,cortissoz ,literary and ,art ,editor of the ,new ,york ,tribune ,the etchings of ,fortuny make an inviting theme1 inviting in itself and doubly sympathetic because it provokes talk about ,fortuny4 ,i have always had a weakness for that endearing personality and ,i cannot1 for the life of me1 go with foot-rule and a spirit of cold analysis through the twenty-five or thirty plates--twenty-nine1 to be exact--recorded in the useful compendium of ,beraldi4 ,you cannot be pedantic about an artist whose work has meant to you an early enthusiasm and a lifelong sense of gaiety and brilliance4 ,the first work of art ,i ever yearned to possess was a drawing by ,fortuny4 ,i did not get it into my hands4 ,the spell faded1 but it was revived1 and long afterward it involved me in an enchanting task4 ,in ,paris1 one summer1 the late ,philip ,gilbert ,hamerton asked me to write a memoir of ,fortuny and for two years ,i spent a good deal of my leisure going hither and yon1 collecting material4 ,the book never got itself written1 for reasons which ,i found both pathetic and comic4 ,too much of the 8material0 aforesaid proved too heart-breakingly expensive4 ,mr4 ,hamerton and ,i and his ,london publisher1 the late ,mr4 ,seeley1 ruefully concluded as we counted up the figures1 that1 humorously speaking1 ruin stared us in the face4 ,we turned to other things4 ,illustration3 ,,fortuny4 ,,arab ,,watching ,,beside ,,the ,,dead ,,body ,,of ,,his ,,friend 7,beraldi ,no4 #a7 ,size of the original etching1 #g #ae inches ,illustration3 ,,fortuny4 ,,idyll 7,beraldi ,no4 #d7 ,size of the original etching1 #g #e inches ,that1 as ,i have said1 was years ago1 but every now and then ,i go back to ,fortuny1 for old sake's sake if for no other reason1 though he was1 of course1 a remarkable artist to whom one would be bound1 anyway1 frequently to return4 ,as a matter of fact1 his genius has needed1 of late1 to be restored to the public consciousness4 ,when the ,impressionists came in1 ,fortuny1 or perhaps ,i should more specifically say1 the hypothesis for which he stood1 went out4 ,one of the results of my understanding with ,mr4 ,hamerton was a series of visits to the palazzo in ,venice which is still the home of ,fortuny's family1 and there you found a contrast that was full of meaning4 ,on the piano nobile ,fortuny's art held its own in numerous unfinished pictures1 sketches1 and the like4 ,but1 up-stairs1 in his son's studio1 all was changed4 ,when young ,marianito sought inspiration as a painter1 he did not follow in his father's footsteps1 but went to ,munich1 and on his walls ,i saw huge canvases illustrating ,wagnerian motives in a huge and splashy manner1 strongly suggestive of ,franz ,stuck and his followers4 ,i confess that at this distance of time ,i do not recall very accurately just what they were all about2 but ,i can remember as though it were yesterday how extremely different they were from the paintings down-stairs4 ,of course no one could blame ,marianito4 ,an artist must seek salvation in his own way4 ,but it is impossible not to feel a certain indignation over the ignorance of those who have tried to wave ,fortuny aside as a painter of bric-a-brac4 ,we saw too much of that sort of thing when the works of ,sorolla and ,zuloaga were shown at the ,hispanic ,museum and people went into hysterics over them1 talking especially about how the first of these painters was rejuvenating ,spanish art4 ,i used to hear such talk in ,madrid1 some fifteen years ago1 amongst the younger men who were even then hailing ,sorolla as a pioneer4 ,they were right1 and it is right1 as ,i have argued elsewhere1 to recognize in this painter's work an influence of the highest value to the modern ,spanish school4 ,but there were great men before ,agamemnon1 and it is stupid to ignore what was done for ,spanish painting by ,fortuny long before any one ever heard of ,sorolla4 ,i have great respect and plenty of admiration for that accomplished technician1 and yet ,i think that he himself1 if pressed in the matter1 would cheerfully admit that nothing he ever painted could quite touch the portrait in the ,metropolitan ,museum1 ,a ,spanish ,lady1 which ,fortuny painted in #ahfe4 ,outside of ,france that was not a particularly good year amongst painters1 but ,fortuny1 then twenty-seven years old1 was proving himself not unworthy of ,velasquez4 ,he was drawing with mastery and he was painting blacks with amazing skill and taste1 with amazing sensitiveness to the beauties lying entangled in one of the most difficult of a colorist's problems4 ,indeed1 ,i may note in passing that this picture alone would show ,fortuny to have enforced lessons in tone which no ,spaniard since his time1 not even the prodigiously clever ,sorolla1 has begun to commence to prepare to equal4 ,illustration3 ,,fortuny4 ,,the ,,serenade 7,beraldi ,no4 #aj7 ,size of the original etching1 #ae #ab inches ,illustration3 ,,fortuny4 ,a ,,moroccan ,,seated 7,beraldi ,no4 #ai7 ,size of the original etching1 #e #d inches ,there are many other paintings of his over which it would be pleasant to linger1 but1 having the etchings in view1 ,i forbear4 ,at the same time ,i have driven at nothing irrelevant in speaking of ,fortuny's command over the brush1 for that is very closely related to his command over the needle4 ,it is important to remember1 in the first place1 that he was a born draughtsman4 ,the fact was brought home to me when ,i made a pilgrimage to ,barcelona1 to see the big ,moroccan battle-piece which he painted for the municipality not long after he had won the ,prix de ,rome4 ,i saw in the spirited picture the ,fortuny we all know1 but ,i saw also1 in some earlier pieces1 the kind of academic work that he did under the influence of old ,soberano1 his master at ,reus1 where he was born in #ahch4 ,yes1 it was academic work1 but it was the work of a youngster of genius who had a flair for form and drew it with astonishing adroitness4 ,there1 to be sure1 you have the essence of ,fortuny1 more even than in the glitter of light and color conventionally associated with his name4 ,the artists and critics who think that the history of painting began with ,manet are wont to damn ,fortuny with faint praise1 talking about his dexterity as though that were a very ordinary and perhaps specious gift4 ,well1 there is a dexterity1 there is a sleight of hand1 as honest as anything that you will find in ,manet1 and ,fortuny had it4 ,there are moments1 no doubt1 in which it takes your breath away as though by some deceptive stroke of conjuror's work4 ,but at bottom there is a sterling sincerity about it1 and this1 ,i think1 is sharply perceptible in the etchings4 ,paradoxically1 these do not proclaim ,fortuny what the master of etching is wont to be--a lover of line for its own sake1 a user of it as a language possessing its own special character and charm4 ,rembrandt's strength and ,whistler's exquisiteness were alike unknown to him4 ,the truth is that ,fortuny employed the needle somewhat as he employed the pen1 simply for purposes of swift and free expression4 ,there are some bewitching drawings of his1 reproduced by the ,amand-,durand process in the memoir by ,baron ,davillier1 and there are others in the catalogue of the great sale of his studio effects in #ahge1 which1 for the impression they leave1 might almost be regarded as etchings4 ,the impression in either category is very much one of 8black-and-white40 ,has not ,fortuny been the master of a generation of illustrators8 ,nevertheless his drawings and his etchings are not absolutely interchangeable4 ,in the latter there is too much of the painter for that2 his figures are too closely modeled and his backgrounds are too transparent4 ,some of his plates1 such as ,the ,serenade1 ,the ,anchorite1 the ,kabyle ,mort1 and ,the ,farrier1 are wonderfully rich in color such as no pen draughtsman could secure4 ,he knew how to fill his backgrounds with deep warm tone1 and he could use the same vivifying touch in his treatment of the figure4 ,it is worth while to go carefully through the little collection of etchings that he left1 looking more particularly for those rather thin staccato effects which his imitators affect--one is so delightfully disappointed4 ,i have spoken of his sincerity1 his honesty4 ,amongst all the plates there is only one1 ,la ,victoire1 which hints a contradiction4 ,there is something factitious about the composition1 recalling the ,sicilian nudities hawked about by the photographers in ,southern ,italy4 ,but even this etching has undeniable brilliance as a piece of technique1 and1 for the rest1 ,fortuny is the quite artless connoisseur of picturesqueness1 etching his ,moorish types and his portraits in the mood of the serious observer of nature aiming at the truth4 ,on two or three occasions he appears to have let his fancy rove4 ,his ,amateur de ,jardin and his ,mditation both belong amongst those graceful studies of costume and pseudo-romantic sentiment with which his paintings have made us so familiar4 ,and once he turned poet in a small way1 etching that charming ,idylle which may reflect no emotion whatever1 but has1 at all events1 a certain dainty elegance2 but do not think that ,fortuny was really a poet4 ,it was not in his temperament4 ,he was sensuous1 mundane1 in the soul of him2 the very man to enjoy just the career that fell to his lot4 ,illustration3 ,,fortuny4 ,a ,,horse ,,of ,,morocco 7,beraldi ,no4 #bj7 ,size of the original etching1 #d #f inches ,illustration3 ,,fortuny4 ,,interior ,,of ,,the ,,church ,,of ,,saint ,,joseph1 ,,madrid 7,beraldi ,no4 #ba7 ,size of the original etching1 #e #i inches ,new ,yorkers will recall the sale here of the collection formed by the late ,w4 ,h4 ,stewart in ,paris1 the 8,cher ,monsieur ,guillermo0 of more than one of the artist's letters printed by ,davillier4 ,it was full of ,fortunys1 which made a dazzling array when they were put up at auction4 ,but it was better to see them scattered about in ,mr4 ,stewart's home by the ,seine1 and there they breathed the atmosphere of a clearly defined character4 ,you did not think of ,fortuny in ,spain1 quietly painting at ,granada2 you did not think of him on the more adventurous soil of ,morocco1 nor did you dwell on thoughts of his days in ,rome and on the beach at ,portici4 ,you thought1 instead1 of the ,fortuny who took the collectors of ,paris by storm1 who moved ,thophile ,gautier to jeweled eloquence1 who was young1 successful1 and happy1 who had a great gift and used it truly with a gaillard grace4 ,he was not the specious entertainer1 bemusing his audience with incredible tricks4 ,all his wizardry1 all his diabolical cleverness1 was quite natural to him1 springing from his heart and in no wise diminishing his weight and seriousness as a student of nature4 ,beraldi applauds his etchings for their originality4 ,let us honor them too for their fidelity to life1 for their simple strength1 as well as for their light1 vivacious charm4 ,,personal ,,characteristics ,,of ,,sir ,,seymour ,,haden1 ,p4,r4,e4 ,,part ,i ,,by ,,frederick ,,keppel ,many treatises have been published on ,seymour ,haden the artist1 but not one1 as yet1 on ,seymour ,haden the man4 ,this is as it should be2 because no one can write freely and frankly on the personality of a famous man while that man is still living1 and ,sir ,seymour lived until the year #aiaj1 when he died at the great age of ninety-three4 ,i met him often every year for about thirty years1 and ,i first made his acquaintance when he lived in his very handsome house in the aristocratic region known as ,mayfair1 in the west end of ,london4 ,his house adjoined the residence of the ,lord ,chief ,justice of ,england4 ,the doctrine held by the ancients that the ,goddess of ,fortune was stone-blind has much to warrant it4 ,let us take the case of three contemporary nineteenth-century etchers1 all three being men of genius4 ,i mean the two ,french masters1 ,charles ,meryon and ,jean-,franois ,millet1 and the ,englishman ,seymour ,haden4 ,the two ,french etchers lived in dire poverty and often had to go hungry because they had not the means to pay for a meal2 while1 to their ,english contemporary1 8the lines were fallen in pleasant places0 and he never knew the wants that pinch the poor4 ,born in #ahah1 in his father's fine house in ,sloane ,street1 ,london ,west1 ,francis ,seymour ,haden had the advantage of coming of a good and well-known family1 in easy circumstances1 and the further advantage of having received an excellent university education1 so that he found himself1 from the first1 the social equal of many of the best in the land1 and he never had to invade and overcome that formidable social barrier which in ,england so sternly divides the 8somebodies0 from the 8nobodies02 and during his long and active life he certainly did nothing to diminish or discredit the high social standing to which he was born and bred4 ,this being so1 he remained to the end of his life an ideal ,tory aristocrat1 a condition which might be compared to that of the ,bourbon kings1 who 8never forgot anything and never learned anything40 ,in maintaining any opinion which he had formed1 or inherited1 he was as immovable as the rock of ,gibraltar1 and it made no difference to him if later evidence showed that his earlier opinions were wrong4 ,illustration3 ,,portrait ,,of ,,seymour ,,haden ,,at ,,the ,,age ,,of ,,sixty-,,two ,from the engraving by ,c4 ,w4 ,sherborn ,size of the original engraving1 #f #c inches ,illustration3 ,,portrait ,,of ,,seymour ,,haden ,,at ,,the ,,age ,,of ,,forty-,,four ,from his etching from life1 done in #ahfb ,size of the original print1 #g #aj inches ,i well remember hearing that man of genius1 ,henry ,ward ,beecher1 say in a sermon3 8,talk of the sin of ,pride--we haven't half enough of it60 ,be that as it may1 ,seymour ,haden was always a proud man1 and this innate pride sometimes rendered him intolerant of the opinions of other good men whose ideas were also entitled to due respect4 ,indeed1 ,i have never known a man who set a higher value on himself4 ,nothing was too good for him--whether it might be his collection of the best prints by older masters1 his house and its appointments great and small1 or the instruments which he used when he practised surgery1--everything must be of the very best4 ,this determination of his was1 within limits1 a noble one1 although it sometimes made him intolerant of other men who were unable to rise to his high ideals4 ,in this ingrained pride and self-esteem of ,seymour ,haden's he was far too proud to be vain4 ,i do not think he had any vanity at all4 ,in this respect he differed1 8as far as the east is from the west10 from his illustrious brother-in-law1 ,whistler4 ,the latter's lifelong habit was to pose and to perform like an actor on the stage--whether his audience consisted of many auditors or of only one2 while ,haden1 though an eminently well-bred gentleman1 cared nothing whatever about the impression he might be making on his auditors--so long as his actions were approved by himself4 ,on such occasions all went charmingly until some other person uttered a heterodox opinion on art1 or politics1 or any other subject2 but when that happened ,sir ,seymour's indignation would burst forth like a raging volcano4 ,on one such occasion1 while ,i was a guest in his country house1 ,i infuriated him--though with no evil intention4 ,it was at the time when the patriot ,charles ,stewart ,parnell was making such a brave struggle in the ,house of ,commons on behalf of ,home ,rule for ,ireland1 ,i expressed my admiration for ,parnell1 when ,sir ,seymour got very angry and so made all the company uncomfortable4 ,thus far ,i did not blame myself2 but a year later ,i certainly was ashamed of my own indiscretion4 ,i had quite forgotten about the outbreak of the former year and ,i again expressed my warm sympathy with the cause of ,irish ,home ,rule4 ,it was just at the beginning of dinner at ,sir ,seymour's hospitable table1 but no sooner had ,i mentioned the subject than he flung down knife and fork1 marched out of the dining-room1 banged the door behind him1 and tramped up-stairs to his bedroom4 ,that sweet woman1 ,lady ,haden1 said to me very quietly1 8,we shall see no more of ,sir ,seymour to-night10 and next morning1 before my host appeared at breakfast1 his very tactful wife1 laying her hand gently on my arm1 said to me1 8,mr4 ,keppel1 in conversing with my husband1 pray avoid the subject of ,home ,rule in ,ireland40 ,most readers would think that the little incident ended here2 but it didn't4 ,presently ,sir ,seymour came down to breakfast and carried in his hand a large and handsome book which he presented to me4 ,on the fly-leaf ,i read a long and most kindly dedication written by himself2 and so that was the end of the incident4 ,i remember that when ,i received this amende honorable my first impulse was to recall a characteristic ,irish adage which says3 8,first cut my head1 an' then give me a plasther60 ,illustration3 ,,sir ,,seymour ,,haden ,from the drawing by ,alphonse ,legros1 done in #ahie ,illustration3 ,,woodcote ,,manor 7the ,home of ,sir ,seymour ,haden7 ,from the etching by ,percy ,thomas ,size of the original etching1 #f #aj inches ,lady ,haden was1 in a very quiet and refined way1 a remarkable woman4 ,she was daughter of an ,american army officer1 ,major ,whistler1 and she bore the ,puritan ,christian names of ,deborah ,delano4 ,in more than one of ,sir ,seymour's etchings her first name is quieted down to 8,dasha40 ,she was half-sister to the great ,whistler1 who was the issue of her father's second marriage1 and she clung to her 8brother ,jimmie0 to the end of her life4 ,all the art which was inherent in the ,whistler family manifested itself in ,lady ,haden's music4 ,she was a marvelous reader of piano music1 and when ,sir ,seymour got possession of the fine old ,elizabethan mansion of ,woodcote ,manor in ,hampshire1 ,lady ,haden1 perceiving that there was no musical skill among the young men of the neighboring village of ,bramdean1 organized a band or orchestra for these rustics4 ,to one she taught the violin1 to another the flute1 to another the trombone1 etc4 ,after about two years of drilling ,i had the opportunity of hearing her band performing in the school-house at ,bramdean1 and they played respectably well1 while the sweet old lady conducted the music with her baton4 ,toward the end of her life she became totally blind1 and after that ,i never was more affected in my life than when1 at ,woodcote ,manor1 ,i saw her grope her way to her piano and heard her play1 superbly1 some great compositions by ,beethoven and ,chopin4 ,at ,woodcote ,manor ,sir ,seymour enjoyed his life thoroughly 7except when something went wrong and made him angry74 ,the mansion stood in its own park and there was a beautiful old garden inclosed with high stone walls4 ,one summer when his long hedge of sweet pea was in full bloom he took me to see it and told me that he had thought out a new and interesting botanical fact1 on which he had written a paper for the learned ,royal ,society1 and that he intended to send it to them in ,london and to invite some eminent botanists of the ,society to come to ,woodcote and see the phenomenon for themselves4 ,his theory was that garden flowers always had a tendency to return to the original color of the same blossoms in the wild plant1 especially when the garden plant grew tall1 and then he showed me that1 in his hedge of sweet pea1 the purple blossoms at the top were much more numerous than the flowers of pink or blue or white which were lower down1 thus proving that when a garden sweet pea grew tall the blossoms returned to the original purple color of the wild pea4 ,i had always been somewhat of a horticulturist myself and so ,i said to him3 8,it is evident that the plants here bearing purple flowers grow taller than the others2 but you must remember that any single plant of sweet pea can give you nothing but one and the same color in its blossoms40 ,sir ,seymour sent for his pig-headed old ,hampshire gardener1 put the question to him1 and although the old man was greatly in awe of his master he gave his decision on my side and against ,sir ,seymour4 8,you are a pair of fools10 was the old gentleman's angry answer1 and he started to leave us4 ,but ,i overtook him and said3 8,now1 ,sir ,seymour1 it is not fair to me to leave this little scientific question undecided4 ,pray come back for a few minutes and let me cut two or three of your plants at the roots1 disentangle them from the hedge1 and show you that although they mingle when growing close together yet you never get more than one colored bloom from one plant40 ,to this he consented1 and of course my demonstration showed that his theory was wrong2 but his anger against me lasted till bedtime1 and it was only next morning that he said to me3 8,keppel1 you made me angry yesterday about those sweet peas1--but1 all the same1 ,i am glad you saved me from making a damned fool of myself before the ,royal ,society40 ,illustration3 ,,reproduction1 ,,in ,,reduced ,,size1 ,,of ,a ,,page ,,of ,,manuscript ,,in ,,the ,,handwriting ,,of ,,sir ,,seymour ,,haden ,illustration3 ,,facsimile1 ,,in ,,reduced ,,size1 ,,of ,,the ,,certificate ,,of ,,seymour ,,haden',s ,,candidacy ,,for ,,membership ,,in ,,the ,,athen,,um ,,club ,sir ,seymour's anger on this occasion was mild compared with the rage he flew into with his gardener when1 after the master had been absent for a day in ,london1 he returned and found that his man had spent a laborious day in scraping off the beautiful green moss which adorned the trunks and larger branches of the old apple-trees in the garden4 ,i was with ,sir ,seymour when he made the distressing discovery and ,i heard the furious sound of the vials of wrath which he poured on the stupid old man's head4 ,after ,sir ,seymour had gone the poor gardener said to me3 8,and that's my thanks for having worked hard to make his old apple-trees look neat and tidy60 ,besides being a fellow of the ,royal ,college of ,surgeons1 ,sir ,seymour ,haden was a member of the most exclusive club in ,london--if not in the world--the ,athenum4 ,it generally took from fifteen to twenty years for any candidate to be elected4 ,sir ,seymour had to wait eighteen years4 ,the usage of this club is to hang on the wall a large sheet of paper setting forth the name and the qualities of the candidate1 and any member who approved of this candidate would sign this paper4 ,whether many of these eminent persons had much idea of the quality of a fine etching is quite another matter1 but ,sir ,seymour's nomination sheet at the club was crammed with signatures of eminent men advocating his election4 ,among these signatures are those of ,robert ,browning1 ,anthony ,trollope1 ,matthew ,arnold1 ,dr4 ,tait1 ,archbishop of ,canterbury2 ,huxley1 the great scientist2 ,lord ,chief ,justice ,coleridge1 and ,sir ,e4 ,j4 ,poynter1 now ,president of the ,royal ,academy of ,arts4 ,besides the signatures of these famous men who had 8achieved greatness0 other signers of this ,athenum document had been 8born great10 including several hereditary peers2 and--to finish ,shakespeare's sentence--the gentleman chiefly concerned never waited to have 8greatness thrust upon him10 for he was always quite willing to meet greatness half-way4 ,the ,athenum ,club is so desperately exclusive that no member can bring in an outsider except to a little sentry-box inside the main portal1 which room is only large enough to accommodate two persons4 ,on one occasion when ,i was visiting ,sir ,seymour ,i did one of the few deliberately wicked things that ever ,i did in my life4 ,as ,i stood in the little sentry-box ,i perceived ,his ,grace the ,archbishop of ,york entering with a friend at the front door of the club4 ,the two walked straight to the glass door of the little sentry-box where ,i was1 and the eminent prelate said to his friend1 in a loud authoritative voice3 8,we can sign the documents here in a moment40 ,then it was that 8,satan entered into me40 ,i knew that this was my only chance ever to make a ,british archbishop wait till ,i was 8good and ready10 and so1 although ,i had finished my business with ,sir ,seymour1 ,i began talking and talking about his friends in ,paris and what they were doing1 until ,i kept the very impatient archbishop striding up and down before the little door for more than ten minutes1 and twice when ,i caught his eye he looked at his watch1 glared at me1 and exclaimed1 8,dear me1 how tiresome60 7,it will be remembered that in genteel ,english parlance the word 8tiresome0 means 8annoying0 or 8provoking407 ,at last1 when ,i could talk no more1 ,sir ,seymour rose from his chair1 opened the door1 and met the raging ,dr4 ,maclagan outside4 8,oh1 ,archbishop10 said he1 8,i do hope we have not kept you waiting10 and ,his ,grace made answer in a very fretful voice1 8,well1 in point of fact1 ,sir ,seymour1 you have60 ,i cannot claim that this prank of mine did me any credit1 but in my boyhood days in ,england my family and ,i had suffered from the pomposity of ,english prelates4 ,illustration3 ,,haden4 ,,whistler',s ,,house1 ,,old ,,chelsea ,etched in #ahfc4 ,on the left is ,lindsay ,row1 in which ,whistler's house is indicated by a small stellated mark above the chimney4 ,to the right is old ,chelsea ,church and ,battersea ,bridge ,size of the original etching1 #f #ac inches ,illustration3 ,,haden4 ,,battersea ,,reach ,a view of the ,thames at ,battersea1 etched in #ahfc1 looking out of ,whistler's window ,size of the original etching1 #e #h inches ,the feud between ,seymour ,haden and ,whistler was known throughout ,europe4 ,whistler loathed ,haden and ,haden detested ,whistler4 ,but ,sir ,seymour drew a distinction between the man whom he abominated and the artist whom he greatly admired4 ,this admiration led him to make a notable collection of ,whistler's prints4 ,on one occasion ,sir ,seymour said to me that if he were forced to part with his ,rembrandt etchings or with his ,whistlers he would find it hard to determine which master's works he must let go4 ,later on ,i repeated this saying to ,whistler and that modest gentleman calmly remarked3 8,why1 ,haden should first part with his ,rembrandts1 of course40 ,among the historic questions which can never be definitely determined is the one--whether ,seymour ,haden was the man who kicked ,whistler down-stairs or whether it was ,whistler who administered this violent treatment to ,haden4 ,i have heard the story from both1 and each of these eminent men stoutly maintained that he had been the kicker and his adversary the kicked one4 ,as president of the ,royal ,society of ,painter-,etchers ,sir ,seymour did a great work in maintaining sound doctrine in etching4 ,nothing was admitted which was 8commercial0 in character1 and etchings which were done after paintings by other hands were rigorously ruled out4 ,the membership comprised foreign as well as ,british artists1 and membership was eagerly sought for1--so much so that many famous etchers never were elected1 although they tried hard to be4 ,the members often had to complain of the masterful ways of their president2 he ruled them with a rod of iron1 but still the malcontents were forced to endure it1--well knowing that no other man could give to the ,society the prestige and authority that ,seymour ,haden gave to it4 ,in all other art exhibitions a good thing1 done by an outsider1 is accepted and welcomed1 but the ,royal ,society of ,painter-,etchers exhibits nothing except the work of its own members4 ,we have seen that ,sir ,seymour ,haden1 in spite of his good qualities--and his great qualities--was a man of a domineering and disputatious nature4 ,i know of no figure in dramatic literature whom he resembled so closely as ,sheridan's ,sir ,anthony ,absolute4 ,both of these ,sirs were of a violent and masterful temper1 and yet both of them were good men4 ,illustration3 ,,haden4 ,,out ,,of ,,study ,,window ,etched from an upper window in ,mr4 ,haden's house in ,sloane ,street4 ,in the mid-distance is the suburb of ,brompton ,size of the original etching1 #d #aj inches ,illustration3 ,,haden4 ,,thomas ,,haden ,,of ,,derby 8,thomas ,haden of ,derby1 my grandfather1 was1 under a polished exterior1 one of the most determined men ,i have ever known1 and one of the bravest4 ,he would have made a hero of romance if he had had the chance4 ,at the age of eighty-five he defended his home against the whole mob of ,derby1 keeping them at bay all night40 ,seymour ,haden4 ,size of the original etching1 #ac #i inches ,besides ,seymour ,haden's signal achievements as etcher and as surgeon1 and his zeal as an angler1 he1 like some other good men1 had a special hobby which he rode for years1 and which he often ventilated in the ,london ,times4 ,his theory was that no corpse should be buried in a solid wooden coffin1 but that it should be inclosed in a loose wicker case1 where the earth could come in direct contact with the dead body4 ,he contended that such contact would very quickly turn 8earth to earth40 ,one of his demonstrations was practised on the dead body of a large old sow that died in his farm-yard4 7,the animal's name1 ,i remember1 was ,mary ,jane47 ,sir ,seymour had ,mary ,jane buried in the garden1 in a shallow grave1 and he had a covering of not more than three inches of earth laid over her4 ,then every visitor to ,woodcote ,manor had to visit the grave and to use his olfactory organs over it4 ,i myself had to do this on two occasions and ,i must say that ,i detected no foul odor whatever4 ,for more than twenty years ,i enjoyed a peculiar privilege in connection with ,woodcote ,manor4 ,the old couple1 used to the stir and bustle of ,london1 where they had 8troops of friends10 sometimes found themselves somewhat lonely in the solitude of ,hampshire1 and so it happened that for more than twenty years ,i was given carte blanche to invite to ,woodcote any person ,i pleased4 ,i was very particular as to the persons whom ,i thus invited2 but the people so invited were charmed with their visit1 whether it lasted for three days or for two weeks1 and the ,english know very well how to make a guest comfortable4 ,in the park at ,woodcote ,manor there is an etched tablet1 nailed to the trunk of an ancient hawthorn-tree4 ,it reads3 ,a loyal friend through weal and woe1 ,at last1 stern death o'ertakes him3 ,here sleeps my loving1 wise old crow1 ,till ,gabriel's trumpet wakes him4 ,i wrote this epitaph at ,lady ,seymour ,haden's request4 ,she gave to my dear old pet crow a resting-place when he died4 ,that crow was more like a friend than a pet4 ,on ,atlantic steamers he would fly about among the sea-gulls1 and in ,london ,i used to open the windows and he flew where he pleased1 but ,i was always sure that he would come back to me4 99 99 99 99 99 ,the present article is already so long that ,i must not prolong it further2 but in a later number of ,,the ,,print-,,collector',s ,,quarterly ,i intend to give an account of ,sir ,seymour ,haden's visit to the ,united ,states4 ,,part ,,ii ,,seymour ,,haden ,,in ,,america ,the former chapter of my article on ,sir ,seymour ,haden referred entirely to my experiences with him in ,europe2 this second and concluding portion will contain nothing except an account of his sayings and doings during his visit to the ,united ,states in the year #ahhb4 ,the purpose of his ,american visit was to expound and vindicate the importance of original etching as a fine art4 ,this he did by delivering a series of lectures on the subject1 and these lectures1 in the main1 were very well received4 ,illustration3 ,,portrait ,,of ,,seymour ,,haden ,from a photograph from life3 taken in ,new ,york in #ahhb ,illustration3 ,,champney4 ,,portrait ,,of ,,sir ,,seymour ,,haden ,sketched 7unknown to him7 in the ,print ,room of the ,british ,museum by ,j4 ,wells ,champney of ,new ,york4 ,sir ,seymour afterward wrote on this sketch4 8,excellent6 ,s4 ,h4 #ahii40 ,size of the original drawing1 #i #h inches ,being a born and case-hardened controversialist he soon found out that in ,america no man's unproved ipse dixit1 however eminent he might be1 was dutifully accepted as it would have been in one of the older civilizations of ,europe1 and so it came about that several unprofitable controversies were hotly waged on both sides4 ,seymour ,haden was by nature pugnacious and 8toplofty10 and such an attitude went down badly in ,america4 ,but1 all the same1 the man himself was treated with distinguished consideration here1 and his lectures did genuine good to the cause of true art4 ,he lectured in all our principal cities from ,new ,york to ,chicago1 and although when he landed here ,i think he had very few personal acquaintances 7except myself71 yet when he sailed back to ,england he took with him the cordial friendship and good will of many ,americans of the right sort4 ,his first lecture was delivered before a distinguished audience in ,chickering ,hall1 ,fifth ,avenue1 ,new ,york4 ,he had plenty of voice to make his auditors hear him2 but his lecture dragged considerably--for a peculiarly ,british reason3 it is known to some of us that in an ,englishman's public oration he is not genteel or distinguished if he speaks freely and fluently4 ,no1 no2 he must befog and entangle his words with all sorts of hesitations and amendments4 ,it is the same in the ,british ,house of ,commons4 ,i do not mean such master orators as ,gladstone was1 but the public speech of the average ,british member1--let us call him ,sir ,huddleston ,fuddleston--sounds like this3 8,the honorable1 hum--the honorable and gallant member from--ha--hum--from ,hull1 has been good enough to--a--um--to say--etc40 ,well1 ,seymour ,haden modeled his oratory on this preposterous but genteel ,british usage2 and yet1 in private conversation1 ,i have never known a man who used more elegant and appropriate language than he4 ,on the day following that of the lecture1 ,i received a visit from my kind and valued friend the ,right ,reverend ,monsignor ,doane1 who was a genuine lover of fine prints1 and he said to me3 8,well1 ,i heard your ,english friend last evening humming and hawing through his lecture40 ,soon afterward ,i had the opportunity of bringing these two distinguished men together1 and after that1 during his yearly visit to ,england1 the monsignor used to be a welcome and honored guest of ,sir ,seymour and ,lady ,haden4 ,the artist's lectures in ,boston were listened to with earnest attention and he was the guest of honor at a reception given at the ,st4 ,botolph ,club2 but even there storms and tempests arose4 ,he quarreled with the one eminent ,american whom1 the rest of us would think1 nobody could quarrel with1--namely1 ,oliver ,wendell ,holmes4 ,it was all about a 8fool0 difference of opinion on some question of medical ethics and usages in ,america as compared with ,england4 ,illustration3 ,,haden4 ,,mytton ,,hall 8,mytton ,hall is an old ,henry the ,seventh house which ,mr4 ,haden was in the habit of staying at for the purpose of his salmon fishing in the river ,ribble 7the ,lancashire ,river7 which runs past it40 ,seymour ,haden4 ,size of the original dry-point1 #d #aj inches ,illustration3 ,,haden4 ,,on ,,the ,,test 8,this plate and ,a ,water ,meadow were done on the same day1 one at noon1 the other very late in the evening4 ,the ,test 7in ,hampshire7 is a famous trout stream40 ,seymour ,haden4 ,size of the original dry-point1 #f #h inches ,before the evening of his reception at the ,st4 ,botolph ,club1 ,seymour ,haden procured a list of the principal personages whom he was to meet there4 ,he brought it to me1 and said3 8,now1 what should ,i know about these people80 ,i wrote down for him as many notes as ,i could1 and when he met the ,bostonians1 ,i was astonished to see how well he had coached himself about them4 ,on his return to ,new ,york1 he received a great number of letters4 ,he was staying at the old ,hotel ,brunswick1 ,fifth ,avenue1 and every morning ,i had to go there and tell him 8who was who0 among the writers of the letters4 ,one day he was called down to the parlor by a message that a lady wished to see him4 ,he went down and when he came back to his room carrying a card in his hand1 he said to me1 8,well1 ,i certainly am in an extraordinary country4 ,that visitor1 whom ,i never knew1 is evidently a lady1 and she has invited me to come and spend a week with her husband and herself at ,yonkers40 ,glancing at the card1 ,i read the name of ,mrs4 ,james ,b4 ,colgate1 and said to ,seymour ,haden1 8,i should certainly advise you to accept10 and ,i went on to say that it was easy enough for a stranger from ,england to see our public show places1 big hotels1 etc41 but not so easy to get an entre to the home of a really nice ,american family4 ,seymour ,haden accepted the invitation and spent a week with ,mr4 and ,mrs4 ,colgate4 ,in those years1 ,i myself lived in ,yonkers1 and ,i called on him at the ,colgate house the day after his arrival there4 ,the eminent banker showed us into his library1 and leaving us alone he closed the door4 ,the ,english visitor1 first looking around to see that there was no other person present1 said to me in a sort of whisper3 8,i am very comfortable here1 with but one serious drawback4 ,i have been in the habit1 all my life1 of taking wine with my dinner2 but last evening1 what do you suppose they gave me in the place of wine8--milk60 ,this was about nine o'clock at night1 and when ,i got home ,i stated the case to my dear old mother4 ,she laughed a little wickedly1 and said1 8,i think ,i can help your friend in this case40 ,we happened to have some very good sherry4 ,the old lady got a large flat bottle1 filled it with the wine1 corked it and put it into an innocent-looking pasteboard box1 telling me to take it to him4 ,before leaving my home1 ,i wrote a brief note to ,seymour ,haden saying that the package which ,i had to deliver to him must be opened only in the privacy of his own chamber4 ,the ,colgates were total abstainers of so pronounced a kind that when ,mr4 ,colgate rented any house of his in ,yonkers1 he made a condition in the lease that no intoxicants of any kind were ever to be received in that house4 ,further than that1 one of his principles was1 not only never to drink wine or spirits1 but never to touch or carry them4 ,when ,i got back to ,mr4 ,colgate's house1 it was ten o'clock at night1 and all the lights in the big house were extinguished and the doors locked4 ,i rang and rang at the bell1 and at last ,mr4 ,colgate himself1 wearing trousers and slippers1 opened the door4 ,i had to manufacture a small fiction1 which recalls ,sir ,walter ,scott's couplet3 ,oh1 what a tangled web we weave1 ,when first we practise to deceive4 ,mr4 ,colgate said to me rather fretfully that all the household had retired1 and that ,mr4 ,seymour ,haden must wait until the morning4 ,i said to him in reply1 that he would do me a great favor1 if when he was passing his guest's chamber door1 he would knock at it and deliver the package1 and this ,mr4 ,colgate consented to do4 ,some days later a reception was given to ,seymour ,haden at the ,lotos ,club1 ,fifth ,avenue1 and ,i accompanied him from ,yonkers to ,new ,york on that occasion4 ,when ,mr4 ,haden found himself safe in the train1 he said to me3 8,i couldn't have slept a wink except for that excellent sherry that your mother sent me1 but ,i took deucd good care to carry away the empty bottle in my bag40 ,i remember that from the train we saw the gorgeous sight of the sun setting behind the ,palisades1 and mirrored in the ,hudson ,river1 and ,mr4 ,haden said to me1 with something like reproach in his voice3 8,now1 why have ,i never been told of the beauty of all this80 ,later on1 he said to me1 looking about in the crowded train3 8,now1 isn't it melancholy to think that nobody among all these people1 except myself 7and perhaps you71 has the slightest sense of the beauty of this magnificent sunset60 ,i was tempted to say to him that he had no right to assume such callous insensibility on the part of the ,americans1 but though ,i thought it1 ,i did not say it4 ,seymour ,haden's reception at the ,lotos ,club was a notable function4 ,i remember that the ,president1 the ,hon4 ,whitelaw ,reid1 made a very graceful speech in honor of his guest1 and ,i recall vividly the marvelous cleverness of a very young man who had been invited to entertain the company4 ,one of this young man's monologues represented an intimate talk between three ,italian opera singers1 the soprano1 the tenor1 and the basso2 the three continually interrupting one another4 ,the speaking of the young man was in 8fake0 ,italian1 and the three speaking voices were admirably differentiated4 ,i inquired who this young man was1 and was told that he was the son of the famous oratorio singer1 ,madame ,rudersdorf of ,boston1 that his name was ,richard ,mansfield1 and that he was studying for the stage4 ,i then uttered a prophecy that that young man would be a great actor later on2 and so he was4 ,illustration3 ,,haden4 ,a ,,by-,,road ,,in ,,tipperary ,this magnificent plate was etched in #ahfj1 in the park of ,viscount ,hawarden4 ,all things considered1 it is the artist's finest rendering of tree-forms ,size of the original etching1 #g #aa inches ,illustration3 ,,haden4 ,a ,,sunset ,,in ,,ireland 8,this plate1 and also ,a ,by-road in ,tipperary1 were done in the park of ,viscount ,hawarden1 in the most beautiful part of ,tipperary40 ,seymour ,haden4 ,size of the original dry-point1 #e #h inches ,after his return from ,boston1 the artist spent several weeks in ,new ,york1 and while he was there1 ,i arranged for him the first public exhibition of his etchings which was ever made in ,america4 ,the ,new ,york press took up the subject with enthusiasm1 and every important newspaper printed a long review of the artist and his work4 ,i collected all of these very laudatory articles1 and took them to ,mr4 ,haden at the ,hotel ,brunswick4 ,next day he said to me1 8,do you know that these reviews of the ,new ,york press are distinctly abler and more intelligent than if they had been written in ,london80 ,he added1 8,i wish you would pay my particular compliments to the gentleman who wrote the review in the ,new ,york ,world2 that article in particular ,i found to be admirable40 ,he was surprised when he saw me begin to laugh1 but ,i explained to him that the 8gentleman0 in question was a lady1 and the article which he so greatly admired was from the pen of ,mrs4 ,schuyler van ,rensselaer4 ,one very seldom finds that the imaginative and creative artist is also endowed with a logical and judicial cast of mind4 ,it was so with ,seymour ,haden4 ,he had brought from ,england a large collection of excellent lantern-slides to illustrate these lectures by means of a stereopticon1 and in the lecturer's zeal to glorify original etching at the expense of prints done by any other method1 he had procured one lantern slide of the beautiful little portrait which ,rembrandt had etched of himself1 the complete print of which is hardly bigger than a postage stamp4 ,it was the ,rembrandt trois moustaches4 ,alongside of this1 ,mr4 ,haden had printed a morsel of the same size1 taken from a crude and unimportant part of the foreground of ,william ,sharp's famous line-engraving of the ,holy ,family1 after the painting by ,sir ,joshua ,reynolds4 ,thus this special pleader1 ,haden1 displayed an etching in its entirety1 and less than one-hundredth part of a line-engraving of very large size4 ,wherever1 during his lectures1 this illustration was exhibited by a stereopticon1 there was a universal outcry against the unfairness of it4 ,people all1 with one accord1 declared that if the artist wanted to confront and contrast etching with line-engraving1 fairness would require the lecturer to have chosen two prints of the same size2 but there was no 8budging0 ,seymour ,haden1 when he had formed an opinion4 ,illustration3 ,,haden4 ,a ,,lancashire ,,river4 ,a well-known salmon pool on the ,ribble4 ,in ,sir ,seymour's opinion this is one of his very finest plates4 ,it was awarded the ,medal of ,honor at the ,paris ,exposition of #ahhi4 ,size of the original etching1 #aa #af inches ,illustration3 ,,haden4 ,,sawley ,,abbey ,sawley ,abbey stands by a salmon river1 the ,ribble1 which here is enlarged into a wide pool4 ,seymour ,haden often came here for his salmon fishing4 ,size of the original etching1 #aj #ad inches ,while in ,new ,york1 he visited the exhibition of paintings at the ,national ,academy of ,design1 and was escorted through the galleries by the late ,james ,d4 ,smillie1 ,n4,a4 ,when his eye fell upon a certain painting1 he suddenly stopped as if he were paralyzed4 8,who did that picture80 8,it is the work of one of our ,new ,york artists1 ,miss ,so-and-,so40 8,why do you allow such dreadful things on your walls80 8,well10 said ,mr4 ,smillie1 8we like to exemplify various phases in art40 8,hum10 rejoined ,seymour ,haden1 while glaring at the picture2 8she ought to be disemboweled60 ,of at least one of our well-known ,american artists1 ,seymour ,haden expressed the strongest admiration4 ,this was the late ,john ,lafarge1 ,n4,a41 and he also spoke with enthusiasm of the original ,american etchings of thirty years ago1 the work of such men as ,stephen ,parrish1 ,charles ,a4 ,platt1 ,peter ,moran1 and ,joseph ,pennell4 ,on seeing a very large1 intricate plate by ,mr4 ,parrish1 ,mr4 ,haden made the remark to me1 8,that young man does not know what the sense of fatigue in making a picture is40 ,even at this period1 ,seymour ,haden was known throughout ,europe as being the judge par excellence of a fine print1 and he was also recognized as an admirable judge of paintings4 ,while on this subject of ,haden's learned judgment of pictures1 ,i will record what he remarked to me after he had visited ,niagara for the first time4 ,what he said was3 8,no artist1 except ,turner1 should have ever dared to attempt making a picture of the ,falls of ,niagara40 ,one of ,seymour ,haden's exceptionally good days was the ,sunday which he spent in visiting that famous art collector and admirable man1 ,james ,l4 ,claghorn1 of ,philadelphia4 ,on that occasion1 ,i myself was included as a sort of 8make-weight40 ,the ,englishman1 with genuine zeal1 went through ,mr4 ,claghorn's collection of prints1 and he wrote with pencil on several of them that they were exceptionally fine4 ,on another side ,mr4 ,haden excelled as a judge1 and that was in the matter of first-class food and first-class cooking4 ,at lunch1 our host treated us to a delicious dish of terrapin4 ,seymour ,haden found it wonderfully good and declared that not only had he never tasted terrapin before1 but he had never heard of the dish4 8,oh1 yes10 said ,i to him2 8you certainly have heard of terrapin2 don't you remember at church on ,sundays1 when they sing the #8,te ,deum1' they sing1 #8,terrapin and ,seraphim4'0 8,oh1 tut1 tut10 said he1 8,i want to hear no irreverence40 ,seymour ,haden had ranked as a very able physician4 ,an incident occurred while we were at ,mr4 ,claghorn's house which shows how wise he was in this respect3 ,mr4 ,claghorn was a huge and corpulent man of about sixty1 but he was full of force and energy4 ,while we were in his library he got up and bustled out on some errand1 and ,seymour ,haden said to me3 8,your friend will not live long1 and when he dies he will go off very suddenly40 ,i was shocked on hearing such an unexpected prophecy1 and ,i asked ,mr4 ,haden how long ,mr4 ,claghorn was likely to live4 ,in answer he said1 8,just about two years40 ,two years later1 within ten days of the time ,haden had designated1 ,mr4 ,claghorn suddenly fell dead4 ,illustration3 ,,haden4 ,,the ,,breaking-,,up ,,of ,,the ,,agamemnon ,perhaps1 all things considered1 the artist's masterpiece4 ,collectors differ as to the relative merits of the various etchings by ,seymour ,haden1 but all are agreed in ranking this as a masterpiece1 ,moreover1 it was the first etching to be treated in this particular manner1 and it has become the model for many imitators4 ,this fine plate was etched on the ,thames1 at ,greenwich1 in #ahgj4 ,sir ,seymour devoted the money obtained from the sale of the proofs to the aid of the ,london ,hospital for ,incurables4 ,size of the original etching1 #g #af inches ,illustration3 ,,haden4 ,,calais ,,pier ,etched by ,seymour ,haden after the painting by ,j4 ,m4 ,w4 ,turner in the ,national ,gallery1 ,london4 ,this superb etching stands alone in the history of the art4 ,the scene could not be more strongly felt nor more vividly presented had the etcher been working from nature instead of from a painting by another hand4 ,when this etching appeared1 ,seymour ,haden received an enthusiastic letter from ,john ,ruskin1 in which the latter exhorted him to devote the remainder of his life to etching the paintings of ,turner4 ,size of the original print1 #bc #cc inches ,still continuing the subject of ,mr4 ,haden's critical judgment in dining4 ,i may mention that wherever he went1 he would never partake1 at a hotel1 of a table d'hte meal4 ,he insisted on selecting particular dishes which he wished for1 and he had them specially cooked for him4 ,on his return from ,cincinnati1 he told me that while there he met my own dear friend1 the late ,herman ,goepper1 and he had given him1 at a club1 the very best1 and best-served1 dinner that he had ever partaken of4 ,seymour ,haden's course of lectures at ,chicago was a great success1 and a very notable reception was tendered to him4 ,during the course of that reception1 a very influential ,chicago lady marched up and said in a loud voice3 8,why don't you educate your women in ,england80 8,i know what you mean10 said the ,englishman1 8but we don't like to have our ,english women crammed with a lot of abstruse isms and ologies40 ,another lady1 who thought the ,english guest had been rather unfairly attacked1 said to him1 8,now1 ,mr4 ,haden1 can't you attack her in return80 8,well1 yes10 said he3 8in ,america1 you don't know how to make tea1 and your table knives will not cut anything40 ,another little dispute arose in ,detroit4 ,haden had arrived late at night1 very much fatigued1 at the ,russell ,house4 ,at about eight o'clock in the morning he was awakened from a much-needed sleep by a sound of hammering and grinding in the wall outside his window4 ,he got up1 raised the window1 and saw two men boring a hole into the front wall of the hotel1 for the purpose of inserting an iron bar from which a sign was to be swung4 ,mr4 ,haden remonstrated at being disturbed4 ,the two mechanics answered that they were 8on that job0 and that they were going to do it4 ,then1 as the ,detroit ,free ,press related the incident1 the elderly gentleman1 dressed in night-clothes and a nightcap1 had pushed out both his arms1 seized the offending and disturbing crowbar1 hauled it into his room and shut down the window4 ,very soon after1 the proprietor of the hotel came1 knocked at his guest's door1 and said that the crowbar which had been seized was not his property and that he would get into trouble if it were not given up at once1 but ,seymour ,haden before giving it up stipulated that he was not to be disturbed with any more noise until such time as he was ready to leave his bed4 ,it will be noticed that1 while in my former article ,i called him ,sir ,seymour ,haden1 in the present one ,i call him plain ,mister4 ,this was because it was after his return from ,america to ,england that ,queen ,victoria gave him his title1 and although in ,london he had a large medical practice he never was even ,doctor ,haden4 ,in ,england a surgeon1 however eminent1 is never addressed as ,doctor4 ,illustration3 ,,haden4 ,,an ,,early ,,riser ,engraved in pure mezzotint in #ahig4 ,to this plate and ,sir ,seymour's mezzotint ,grayling ,fishing was awarded the ,medal of ,honor at the ,paris ,exposition of #aijj4 ,size of the original mezzotint1 #h #aa inches ,illustration3 ,,haden4 ,,harlech ,in ,harlech the artist has first mezzotinted his composition and has then strengthened and defined the outlines with etched lines4 ,this is the reverse of the method employed by ,turner in the 8,liber ,studiorum40 ,turner first etched the main lines of his composition and then finished the plate in mezzotint4 ,size of the original engraving1 #h #ab inches ,this change to a title of nobility reminds me of a couplet in ,thackeray's fine ,irish ballad1 8,mr4 ,molony's ,account of the ,ball03 ,there was ,lord ,crowhurst1 ,i knew him first ,when only ,misther ,pips he was4 ,during his stay in ,america he learned to like our people greatly1 and it was his intention to make us a second visit and to bring his charming ,american wife along with him2 but this purpose of his was never carried out4 ,shortly before leaving our shores1 he said to me3 8,one thing alone would render it impossible for me ever to reside permanently in the ,united ,states1 and that is the intolerable and brutal insolence of the lower classes40 ,to this ,i made answer3 8,but1 ,mr4 ,haden1 in ,america we have no #8lower classes4' ,what you suffered from these people was really your own fault4 ,it is all very well in ,england for a fine gentleman to bully and denounce the cabman1 the railway-porter1 and the servants at hotels1 but it will not do here1 and no ,american1 however eminent1 ever does it40 ,when ,seymour ,haden returned to ,england he took with him the genuine good will of many ,americans1 and the lasting friendship of not a few4 ,,the ,,water-,,colors ,,and ,,drawings ,,of ,,sir ,,seymour ,,haden1 ,p4,r4,e4 ,,by ,h4 ,,nazeby ,,harrington ,author of 8,the ,engraved ,work of ,sir ,francis ,seymour ,haden1 ,p4,r4,e40 ,as an etcher the work of ,sir ,seymour ,haden is known to all lovers of art the wide world over1 and not least in the ,united ,states1 but his general capacity as an artist in other forms of expression is less well known1 partly from lack of opportunity and partly from the very limited amount of material4 ,it must never be forgotten that art was not the main business of his life2 it was but an occasional and fitful relaxation in a life devoted to another profession and full of other and varied interests4 ,the wonder is1 not that his artistic work was so limited1 but that it was so great and so successful4 ,when a medical student in ,paris1 instead of spending his evenings in the usual frivolities of the ,quartier ,latin1 he attended the classes of the ,government ,school of ,art1 which were held in the same building as the ,school of ,medicine4 ,this was done1 not from any positive love for art1 but rather with the fixed idea that such study would train his powers of observation and make the hands more alert to obey the impulses of the will1 and in this way help him in his surgical work4 ,what he dissected he drew1 what he drew he modeled1 and in this way obtained a remarkable knowledge of anatomy and some facility in the technique of graphic art4 ,in this way he got into the habit of using drawing as a sort of shorthand1 and so1 when in #ahdd he traveled in ,italy1 his diaries were filled with sketches rather than verbal descriptions--sketches that unfortunately have been too generously scattered4 ,while in ,italy he met1 and spent some time in the company of1 ,duval le ,camus1 a capable ,french artist who painted a good deal in water-color1 and from him no doubt he picked up some knowledge of that medium4 ,in ,naples and its neighborhood they spent many happy days sketching together4 ,during the next fourteen or fifteen years ,seymour ,haden had not much time for the practice of art4 ,his professional work took up all his time and vigor1 but he always took a great interest in art and artists and counted many artists among his friends4 ,he was appointed ,surgeon to the ,department of ,science and ,art at ,south ,kensington1 and became a collector of etchings by the old masters1 not merely for the sake of acquisition but rather for the purpose of study and comparison4 ,he also became the possessor of many pictures and water-color drawings1 amongst others of several by ,turner2 and so1 when in #aheh his young brother-in-law ,j4 ,m4 ,whistler returned from ,france with his recently etched plates and his inciting tales of work in the ,paris studios1 ,haden became readily infected and took up etching again1 with the result we all know4 ,thenceforward1 whenever a rare afternoon's holiday could be stolen1 or a few moments spared between the casts of the line during the annual vacation devoted to fishing1 or on the rarer occasions of a continental holiday1 the copper plate or the sketching block was brought into use4 ,and so we find sketches done on the ,thames and the ,ribble1 the ,teivy1 the ,test and the ,spey2 in ,holland and in ,germany1 in ,spain and ,madeira2 at ,chatsworth1 in the old towns of ,rye and ,winchelsea1 and above all in the fascinating ,isle of ,purbeck--sketches done for his own pleasure or for his friends1 with never a thought of placing them before either the critic or the purchaser4 ,the earliest sketch that ,i have seen is one dated #ahda4 ,it is in pen and sepia and represents an early morning execution outside the ,old ,bailey4 ,at a first glance it might be mistaken for an etching by ,cruikshank4 ,it measures only three and one half by two and one fourth inches1 but is masterly in its drawing1 and marvelous in its suggestiveness of a large crowd4 ,the drawings done in #ahdd in ,france and ,italy vary from mere thumb-nail sketches to comparatively finished drawings4 ,some of them in their carefulness and decision resemble the early drawings of ,turner4 ,two or three figure sketches1 notably portraits of ,duval le ,camus and the ,marquis de ,belluno 7two of his companions71 are very expressive and full of character4 ,while in ,rome1 through the introduction of the ,marquis de ,belluno1 ,haden had many interviews with ,pope ,gregory ,,xvi1 and during two or three of them he took the opportunity of sketching1 on one of his shirt cuffs1 a somewhat elaborate portrait of ,his ,holiness4 ,the ,pope very kindly professed not to notice what the artist was doing until the portrait was finished4 ,he then quietly remarked that he 8now understood why ,m4 ,haden had attended at three audiences without a change of linen40 ,one would give much to see this portrait 7which ,sir ,seymour always said was an excellent one71 but it has disappeared1 having been lent to a friend and never returned4 ,illustration3 ,,haden4 ,,salmon ,,pool ,,on ,,the ,,spey ,size of the original charcoal drawing1 #ad #bj inches ,illustration3 ,,haden4 ,,old ,,oaks1 ,,chatsworth ,size of the original charcoal drawing1 #ad #bj inches ,the drawings done after #aheh were much broader in style than the early sketches1 and vary in method1 being in lead pencil1 pen and ink1 chalk1 charcoal1 and water-color4 ,thrown off in a moment of inspiration1 as a poet would throw off a lyric1 he chose the material which chanced to be at hand4 ,some are on sheets of writing paper1 and many valuable ones are on perishable blotting paper4 ,here and there among these 8slight0 sketches are specimens that in their economy of line1 their stamp of decision1 and their interpretative insight1 suggest the work of his great master ,rembrandt4 ,what strikes one above all is their vigor and 8bigness40 ,there is no dainty indecision about them2 they go straight for the heart of the subject1 giving the vigorous impression of a vigorous mind4 ,they do not give all that could be said on the subject1 but they give all that he feels is best worth saying4 ,they make an intellectual appeal to the mind and do not tire with unnecessary platitudes4 ,the water-color drawings show a good but scarcely a great colorist4 ,they are in the 8grand0 manner and the best of them have a fine atmospheric quality1 as in the ,dinkley ,ferry here1 which reminds one of a good ,de ,wint4 ,the ,course of the ,ribble is probably one of the most finished drawings he ever did1 and shows to the highest degree of what he was capable in this medium when time allowed and when loving care was exercised4 ,it is wonderfully mellow1 good in color1 and true in drawing1 but has less of the white heat of inspiration3--,i envy the fortunate possessor6 ,the ,lancashire ,river1 a drawing of the same subject as the etching with the same title1 is perhaps his finest piece of color4 ,but it is in his large charcoal drawings of the end of the seventies that he rises to his greatest heights1--in the sketches done around ,swanage in the south of ,dorsetshire1 and at ,chatsworth1 and two or three drawn from the stores of his memory4 ,what a revelation it was to me when--,i scarcely like to count how many years ago--,i first passed into that peaceful little 8garden room0 that looked out upon the old-time bowling green at ,woodcote ,manor and saw around its walls some four and twenty of these large charcoal drawings6 ,it was as though some new planet swam into my ken6 ,i had never seen so much suggested with such simple means4 ,two or three hours' work with a sheet of rough paper1 a piece of charcoal1 and a mezzotint scraper6 ,heath and woodland1 sea cliff and river glen1 radiant light and quivering mist1 houses sleeping in the sun and mysterious shadows lurking in the corners of the quaint old kitchen or the romantic ruin1 or lying full length before the giant boles of centuries-old oaks2 all suggested with equal ease and magic mastery6 ,many and many an hour did ,i afterward spend in that little treasure-house1 ever finding fresh beauties revealed to me1 and learning through them to see in ,nature much that had previously been hidden from me4 ,haden's etchings had proved him to be a great master in line1 these drawings proved him to be almost equally great in tone4 ,what particularly strikes one is the variety and transparency of his shadows4 ,they are not black patches1 but receding planes of varying densities4 ,and what atmospheric quality they have6 ,driving mist and slanting rain1 and sun rays penetrating the moisture-laden air1 as though by a magician1 are fixed for us on paper4 ,illustration3 ,,haden4 ,,course ,,of ,,the ,,ribble ,,below ,,preston ,size of the original water-color1 #ab #ai inches ,illustration3 ,,haden4 ,,dinkley ,,ferry ,size of the original water-color1 #aj #af inches ,the origin of many of these drawings has been described by ,sir ,seymour himself in an article written some years ago in ,harper's ,magazine1 8,on the ,revival of ,mezzotint as a ,painter's ,art40 ,with the idea that he could use mezzotint as he had done etching1 face to face with ,nature1 he had taken a previously grounded plate to the bank of the ,river ,test and attempted to scrape upon it what he saw before him4 ,the result was the plate numbered #bcd in my catalogue 7,the ,test at ,longparish ,no4 #c71 interesting1 but not wholly satisfactory and incomplete in intention4 ,this proved that1 unlike etching1 mezzotint was too slow a process with which to work from nature at a single sitting1 and a return on a later day only proved that the natural effect had changed1 or that the artist was in a different phase of mind or not in the humor to complete the original impression4 ,so instead of taking a grounded plate out with him he took a sheet of rough paper which had been rubbed all over with charcoal1 this black surface corresponding to the mezzotint ground upon the copper plate1 and on this prepared surface he scraped away the lights4 ,as will be readily understood1 this softer material could be much more rapidly manipulated than the harder copper1 and so he found that in two or three hours the desired effect could be obtained4 ,his intention was to reproduce in the studio and at his leisure the effects of these studies upon the copper plate4 ,and so1 with modifications1 in several instances he did--,i say with modifications1 for it was almost impossible for him to closely copy even his own work4 ,the ,salmon ,pool on the ,spey provided the motif for the mezzotint plate with the same title 7,h4 #bej71 and more closely of the little ,salmon ,river1 which served as a frontispiece to ,dr4 ,hamilton's book on 8,fly ,fishing40 ,the ,encombe ,woods supplied the subject for the two plates ,h4 #bah and #bai1 which were intended to be a combination of etching and mezzotint1 but the latter part of the project was never carried out4 ,this too was the case with ,early ,morning 7,h4 #bdd7 and ,by the ,waters of ,babylon 7,h4 #bde71 ,ars ,longa1 ,vita ,brevis 7,h4 #baj7 and ,a ,study of ,rocks 7,h4 #baa71 all of which were etched or dry-pointed from charcoal drawings4 ,the only important plates inspired by these drawings that were fully completed1 were ,evening ,fishing1 ,longparish 7,h4 #bci71 ,an ,early ,riser 7,h4 #bdj71 ,grayling ,fishing 7,h4 #bda71 and ,the ,pillar of ,salt 7,h4 #bdf72 but they are sufficient to prove what a series of masterpieces we have lost through the dimming of the eye and the numbing of the hand by relentless ,age4 ,illustration3 ,,haden4 ,,encombe ,,woods ,size of the original charcoal drawing1 #ad #bj inches ,illustration3 ,,haden4 ,,an ,,elderly ,,couple1 ,,chatsworth ,,park ,size of the original charcoal drawing1 #ac #ai inches ,however1 we must be thankful for what we have1 and the regret one has that these drawings should be scattered in different directions1 is tempered by the hope that by one of the marvelous photographic processes of to-day this wonderful series of visions may be reproduced1 and so again brought together for all of us who love beautiful things1 and who reverence the master who produced them4 ,,meryon ,,and ,,baudelaire ,,by ,,william ,,aspenwall ,,bradley ,all ,french poets of the middle part of the nineteenth century were interested1 theoretically at least1 in painting and the graphic arts1 which afforded them an ideal and an example of objectivity for their own verbal representations of reality4 ,from ,thophile ,gautier1 godfather of ,parnassianism1 who reserved for his prose the full resources of his superb ,turneresque palate1 to ,verlaine1 creator of decadence1 with his limpid and lovely aquarelles1 pictorial preoccupations were1 on the whole1 paramount4 ,charles ,baudelaire almost alone appears1 in part1 an exception to this rule2 but if1 in his work1 the purely visual element is less pronounced than in that of most of his contemporaries--if the images of sight yield there in number and in clear evocative power to those of sound and of scent1 thereby preluding the way for a new poetic dispensation--he nevertheless fits into the late romantic tradition1 if only by reason of his keen sthetic appreciation of the arts of design1 and of his association1 as a disinterested friend or sympathetic critic1 with many of the most illustrious artists of the age4 ,himself a rebel and an outlaw in the domain of orthodox taste1 though with a distinct tinge of the traditional1 he was especially drawn to the insurgent leader1 like ,delacroix1 his championship of whom is as famous as his espousal of the cause of ,wagner's music in ,paris1 or to the solitary attard of romanticism who1 like ,constantin ,guys1 worked out his own salvation in his own way4 ,it is not that he did not welcome new movements in all their collectivity of talents and temperaments2 but these1 to find favor with him1 must be vouched for by unmistakable evidences of creative vigor and originality in the individual artists1 not merely by plausible theories or pretentious dogmas professed scholastically4 ,intellectual distinctions counted but little with him in matters of art1 and a new way of rendering what was actually seen or felt seemed to him of infinitely more importance than any merely academic discussion as to what an artist should or should not look for1 deliberately1 in order to put it into or leave it out of his pictures4 ,thus it was that while he shrugged his shoulders at the realists who were not really observers1 he turned an attentive eye to the work of the group of young painter-etchers who1 about #ahei1 were beginning to attract attention in the salons4 ,baudelaire thought highly of etching because it afforded an opportunity for 8the most clean-cut possible translation of the character of the artist10 and he was attracted to those who were engaged in reviving this almost obsolete medium1 because they gave clear proof in their work of that personal force and distinction which he valued above all else1 and which he was always on the alert to discover in the productions of the new and the unknown4 ,in his article1 ,peintres et ,aqua-fortistes1 included in the volume of his collected works entitled ,l',art ,romantique1 ,baudelaire mentions the following etchers as among those through whose efforts the medium was to recover its ancient vitality3 ,seymour ,haden1 ,manet1 ,legros1 ,bracquemond1 ,jongkind1 ,meryon1 ,millet1 ,daubigny1 ,saint-,marcel1 ,jacquemart1 and ,whistler4 ,with at least two of these1 on the evidence of his published correspondence1#b he had personal relations3 ,bracquemond and ,meryon4 ,the name of the former occurs frequently in the letters with reference to a device which ,baudelaire wished to adopt as a frontispiece to the second edition of ,fleurs du ,mal4 ,the idea of this device came to him1 as he writes to ,flix ,nadar 7,may #af1 #ahei71 while turning the leaves of the ,histoire des ,danses ,macabres1 by ,hyacinthe ,langlois4 ,it was to be 8an arborescent skeleton1 the legs and the ribs forming the trunk1 the arms extended in the form of a cross breaking into leaf and shoot1 and protecting several rows of poisonous plants arranged in rising tiers of pots1 as in a greenhouse40 ,in casting about for an artist to execute this design1 ,baudelaire mentions and dismisses ,dor1 ,penguilly--whom he afterward wished he had taken--and ,clestin ,nanteuil4 ,finally1 perhaps at the instance of his publisher1 ,poulet-,malassis1 he chose ,bracquemond1--a most unhappy selection as it turned out1 for that artist was either unable or unwilling to grasp the poet's conception1 and the plate which he etched for this purpose was not used4 ,a few proofs were pulled1 however1 and impressions in both the first and second states of the plate are now in the ,samuel ,p4 ,avery collection in the ,new ,york ,public ,library4 #b ,charles ,baudelaire3 ,lettres1 #ahda-ahff4 ,paris1 #aijg4 ,illustration3 ,,bracquemond4 ,,frontispiece ,,for 8,,les ,,fleurs ,,du ,,mal0 ,,of ,,baudelaire ,the seven plants symbolize the ,seven ,deadly ,sins1 and the outstretched arms of the skeleton will support1 later1 the ,fruits of ,evil4 ,this romantic and remarkable frontispiece was never used4 ,baudelaire criticized the drawing of the skeleton severely1 as well as the spirit and arrangement of the whole design4 ,size of the original etching1 #f #d inches ,illustration3 ,,portrait ,,of ,,charles ,,baudelaire ,from the etching by ,flix ,bracquemond4 ,of the same size as the original etching4 ,evidently an excellent likeness1 since it exactly renders that ecclesiastical aspect of the poet which made one of his friends compare him to a cardinal4 ,baudelaire's negotiations with the 8terrible ,bracquemond10 as he came to call him1 were carried on for the most part through ,poulet-,malassis1 which perhaps affords a partial explanation of the misunderstanding concerning the macabre frontispiece4 ,and1 although he speaks in one letter of having met the artist and repeated verbally the instructions which he had already given1 with characteristically minute attention to detail1 in writing1 no such special interest attaches to this meeting1 by no means unique1 as to that between ,baudelaire and ,meryon which occurred about the same time1 and to which we owe one of the most vivid and fantastic presentments we possess of that mad genius4 ,in his ,salon of #ahei1 ,baudelaire had written of ,meryon with an enthusiasm which awoke a responsive reverberation in the breast of ,victor ,hugo4 8,since you know ,m4 ,meryon10 the latter wrote to ,baudelaire 7,april #bi1 #ahfj71 8tell him that his splendid etchings have dazzled me4 ,without color1 with nothing save shadow and light1 chiaroscuro pure and simple and left to itself3 that is the problem of etching4 ,m4 ,meryon solves it magisterially4 ,what he does is superb4 ,his plates live1 radiate1 and think4 ,he is worthy of the profound and luminous page with which he has inspired you40 ,this page1 which ,baudelaire afterward incorporated in his ,peintres et ,aqua-fortistes1 where he speaks further of ,meryon as 8the true type of the accomplished aqua-fortiste10 and praises the famous perspective of ,san ,francisco as his masterpiece1 does1 indeed1 betray the subtle penetration of the poet into the very spirit of his fellow-artist3 8,by the severity1 the delicacy1 and the certitude of his design1 ,m4 ,meryon recalls what is best in the old aqua-fortistes4 ,i have rarely seen represented with more poetry the natural solemnity of a great capital4 ,the majesties of accumulated stone1 the spires pointing a finger to the skies1 the obelisks of industry vomiting their thick clouds of smoke heavenward1 the prodigious scaffoldings of monuments under repair1 relieved against the solid mass of architecture1 their tracery of a filmy and paradoxical beauty1 the misty sky1 charged with wrath and with rancor1 the depths of the perspectives augmented by the thought of the dramas contained therein1--none of the complex elements of which the dolorous and glorious setting of civilization is composed is here forgotten40 ,grateful for such recognition on the part of a distinguished man of letters who was also accepted as one of the leading art critics of the day in ,paris1 ,meryon evidently wrote to ,baudelaire1 thanking him1 and asking permission to call2 for in his letter of ,january #h1 #ahfj1 to ,poulet-,malassis1 the poet writes as follows3 8,what ,i write to-night10 he begins1 8is worth the trouble of writing3 ,m4 ,meryon has sent me his card1 and we have met4 ,he said to me3 ,you live in a hotel whose name must have attracted you1 because of the relation it bears1 ,i presume1 to your tastes4--,then ,i looked at the envelope of his letter4 ,on it was #8,htel de ,thbes1' and yet his letter reached me40 ,illustration3 ,,portrait ,,of ,,charles ,,meryon ,from the etching by ,flix ,bracquemond1 done in #ahec ,size of the original etching1 #h_/ #f inches ,illustration3 ,,meryon4 ,,le ,,pont ,,au ,,change 8,in one of his great plates1 he has substituted for a little balloon a flight of birds of prey1 and1 when ,i remarked to him that it was lacking in verisimilitude to put so many eagles into a ,parisian sky1 he replied that what he had done was not devoid of foundation in fact1 since ces gens-l the imperial government had often released eagles so as to study the presages1 according to the rite1--and that this had been printed in the newspapers1 even in ,le ,moniteur40 ,charles ,baudelaire in a letter to ,poulet-,malassis 7,january #h1 #ahfj74 ,it is necessary to interrupt the letter at this point to explain what is obscure in the foregoing allusion for one not familiar with ,baudelaire's haunts and homes in ,paris4 ,he was living at this time1 not in the ,htel ,pimodan where he dwelt so long1 and where he held those famous meetings described by ,gautier in his introductory essay to ,fleurs du ,mal1 but in modest quarters in the ,hotel de ,dieppe1 #bb1 rue d',amsterdam1 whose principal advantage was its proximity to the ,gare de l',ouest whence he took the train for ,honfleur on his frequent visits to his mother4 ,thus1 through a bizarre confusion between the two words1 ,dieppe and ,thbes1 is explained ,meryon's curious mistake in addressing his letter to ,baudelaire4 ,the poet proceeds with the following report of their conversation3 8,in one of his great plates1#c he ,meryon has substituted for a little balloon a flight of birds of prey1 and1 when ,i remarked to him that it was lacking in verisimilitude to put so many eagles into a ,parisian sky1 he replied that what he had done was not devoid of foundation in fact1 since ces gens-l the imperial government had often released eagles so as to study the presages1 according to the rite1--and that this had been printed in the newspapers1 even in ,le ,moniteur4 #c ,the ,pont-au-,change4 8,i must tell you that he makes no attempt to conceal his respect for all superstitions1 but he explains them badly1 and he sees cabal everywhere4 8,he drew my attention to the fact1 in another of his plates1 that the shadows cast by one of the masonry constructions of the ,pont-,neuf#d on the lateral wall of the quay represented exactly the profile of a sphinx2 that this had been1 on his part1 quite involuntary1 and that he had only remarked this singularity later1 on recalling that this design had been made a short time before the coup d'tat4 ,but the ,prince is the real person who1 by his acts and his visage1 bears the closest resemblance to a sphinx4 #d ,an error of ,baudelaire's4 ,the plate is the ,petit-,pont4 8,he asked me if ,i had read the tales of a certain ,edgar ,poe4 ,i answered that ,i knew them better than any one else1 and for a good reason4 ,he then asked me in a very emphatic manner1 if ,i believed in the reality of this ,edgar ,poe4 ,i naturally asked him to whom he attributed all his tales4 ,he replied3 #8,to a society of men of letters who are very clever1 very powerful1 and who are in touch with everything4' ,and here is one of his reasons3 #8,the ,rue ,morgue4 ,i have made a design of the ,morgue4--,an ,orang-ou-tang4 ,i have often been compared to a monkey4--,this monkey murders two women1 a mother and her daughter4 ,i also have morally assassinated two women1 a mother and her daughter4--,i have always taken the story as an allusion to my misfortunes4 ,you would be doing me a great favor if you could find out for me the date when ,edgar ,poe1 supposing that he was not helped by any one1 composed this story1 so that ,i could see if the date coincided with my adventures4' 8,he spoke to me1 with admiration1 of ,michelet's book on ,jeanne d',arc1 but he is convinced that this book is not by ,michelet4 8,one of his great preoccupations is cabalistical science1 but he interprets it in a strange fashion that would make a cabalist laugh4 ,illustration3 ,,meryon4 ,,le ,,petit ,,pont 8,he drew my attention to the fact1 in another of his plates1 that the shadows cast by one of the masonry constructions of the ,pont-,neuf on the lateral wall of the quay represented exactly the profile of a sphinx2 that this had been1 on his part1 quite involuntary1 and that he had only remarked this singularity later1 on recalling that this design had been made a short time before the coup d'tat40 ,charles ,baudelaire in a letter to ,poulet-,malassis 7,january #h1 #ahfj74 ,size of the original etching1 #i #g inches ,illustration3 ,,portrait ,,of ,,charles ,,meryon ,from the drawing by ,lopold ,flameng1 made in ,may1 #aheh1 in ,meryon's room in the rue des ,fosss-,saint-,jacques1 the night before ,meryon became dangerously mad and was taken by his friends1 in a cab1 to ,charenton for the first time4 ,later he was discharged1 and took up his lodging in the rue ,duperr1 and in ,october1 #ahff1 returned to ,charenton1 where he died in ,february1 #ahfh4 8,do not laugh at all this with mchants bougres4 ,for nothing in the world would ,i wish to injure a man of talent4444 8,after he left me1 ,i asked myself how it happened that ,i1 who have always had1 in my mind and in my nerves1 all that was needed to make me mad1 had not become so4 ,seriously1 ,i addressed to heaven the thanksgivings of the ,pharisee40 99 99 99 99 99 ,it is not surprising that ,baudelaire should have been somewhat disconcerted by this interview which confirmed so strikingly the reports of the mental malady of his visitor to which he had alluded in his ,salon of #ahei1 and that he should soon have sought1 after some brief intercourse1 to avoid personal and private encounters which might have proved embarrassing4 ,he gave notice in ways the artist could not long mistake1 that he did not wish to continue the acquaintance on a footing of intimacy1 though1 as ,crpet1 in his ,charles ,baudelaire#e points out1 he by no means ceased to interest himself in the artist1 several sets of whose ,eaux-,fortes sur ,paris he was instrumental1 with one or two other admirers of ,meryon1 in having purchased by the ,ministry4 ,poor ,meryon6 ,with an incomplete realization of his own condition which rendered him incapable of divining the real truth1 he felt he had offended ,baudelaire in some way1 and finally addressed him the following appeal1 tragic in its note of noble and unconscious pathos3 #e ,charles ,baudelaire3 tude biographique d',eugne ,crpet revue et mise au jour par ,jacques ,crpet4 ,paris1 #aijg4 8,dear ,sir3 ,i called on you yesterday evening at the ,htel de ,dieppe4 ,i was informed that you had changed your domicile4 ,i wished1 above all1 to see you1 in order to learn from your own lips that you were not angry with me1 for ,i do not think ,i have ever done anything to you which could serve as a motive for your change of manner toward me4 ,only1 as the last letter which ,i wrote you has remained unanswered1 and as three times ,i have left my name at your dwelling without my having had the slightest word from you1 ,i am entitled to believe that you have some reason for breaking with me4 ,i did not remind you of your promise to write a newspaper article about my work1 because1 quite frankly1 ,i was sure that you could make much better employment of your time and of your literary skill4 ,my etchings are known to nearly all whom they could interest and rather too much good has been said of them4 ,as to the interruption of our relations1 which have been but of brief duration and of slight importance1 ,i agree to this without a word if such is your desire1 and ,i shall conserve1 none the less1 the recollection of the eminent services you have rendered me in coming to see me1 and in occupying yourself with me at a time when ,i was utterly destitute4 8,i have forwarded to ,m4 ,lavielle1 whom ,i had the advantage of meeting once with you1 the set of my views1 reworked and a trifle modified2 he has1 perhaps1 shown them to you4 ,i have had difficulty in procuring the ten sets of them 7the printer being very busy at that time7 that ,i have disposed of with sufficient rapidity4 ,i have no longer any left and ,i have destroyed the ,petit-,pont1 which ,i propose to engrave anew1 after ,i have made in it some rather important corrections4 8,adieu1 dear sir1 with all possible good wishes4 8,i am your sincere and devoted friend1 8,c4 ,,meryon4 8#bj1 rue ,duperr40 ,the letter to which ,meryon refers in the opening paragraph of the foregoing as having remained unanswered by ,baudelaire is doubtless that bearing the date of ,february #bc1 #ahfj1 which is the only other one given by ,crpet in the appendix to his volume4 ,this is it3 8,dear ,sir3 ,i send you a set of my #8,views of ,paris4'#f ,as you can see1 they are well printed1 on ,chinese tissue mounted on laid paper1 and consequently de bonne tenue4 ,it is on my part a feeble means of recognizing the devotion you have shown on my behalf4 ,however1 ,i dare hope that they will serve sometimes to fix your imagination1 curious of the things of the past4 ,i myself1 who made them at an epoch1 it is true1 when my nave heart was still seized with sudden aspirations toward a happiness which ,i believed ,i could attain1 look over some of these pieces with a veritable pleasure4 ,they may1 then1 be able to produce nearly the same effect upon you who also love to dream4 8,i have not yet terminated the notes that ,i promised to make in order to aid you in your work2 at all events1 ,i shall go to see you soon to discuss the matter with you further4 ,as the publisher recoils before the steps which would still have to be taken1 he says1 for the placing of these prints1 there is nothing pressing about the affair4 ,thus1 do not let this disturb you4 8,adieu1 monsieur2 ,i hope that before your departure1 ,i shall be able to profit by the kindly reception that ,i have received from you4 8,i am your very humble and very devoted servant4 8,i am going to try to place sets with those persons who have been so good1 on your recommendation1 as to interest themselves in this work4 8,,meryon4 8#bj1 rue ,duperr40 #f ,baudelaire had already tried to obtain a set of these prints4 ,in writing to ,charles ,asselineau 7,february #bj1 #ahei7 he commissions his friend to get from douard ,houssaye 8all the engravings of ,meryon 7views of ,paris71 good proofs on ,chinese paper4 ,pour parer notre chambre1 as ,dorine says40 ,he was not successful1 however1 at that time4 ,in quoting ,molire1 ,baudelaire refers to ,toinette's speech in ,le ,malade ,imaginaire 7,act ,,ii slc v74 ,this letter renders sufficiently clear the kind of service ,baudelaire had rendered ,meryon over and above the public praise contained in his writings4 ,what1 at the first glance1 is less certain is the work on which the poet was engaged at this time and for which ,meryon1 on his own testimony1 had promised to assist him with notes4 ,in a foot-note to this letter1 ,m4 ,jacques ,crpet states that it was 8doubtless ,l'eau-forte est la mode1 an anonymous article published by the ,revue anecdotique in the latter half of ,april1 #ahfb40 ,personally1 ,i doubt the correctness of this conjecture4 ,one has but to turn to ,baudelaire's letters of the period to see that there was then under discussion another piece of work for which ,meryon would have been much more likely to give assistance in the form of notes1 since it directly concerned himself4 ,indeed1 the matter almost amounted to a project of collaboration between ,meryon and ,baudelaire4 ,the publisher ,deltre had promised to bring out an album of the 8,vues de ,paris10 and had asked the poet to prepare some text for the plates4 ,the first reference to this tentative undertaking occurs in ,baudelaire's letter of ,february #af1 #ahfj 7just a week before ,meryon's71 to ,poulet-,malassis3 8,and then ,meryon60--he broaches the matter abruptly1 after having expressed his impatience at the attitude of two other artists1 ,champfleury and ,duranty1 friends of his1 toward ,constantin ,guys1 and at a certain note of pedantry and dogmatism that was stealing into art under the influence and sanction of 8realism0--8,and then ,meryon6 ,oh1 as for him1 it is intolerable4 ,deltre asks me to write some text for the album4 ,good6 there is an occasion to write some reveries--ten lines1 twenty or thirty lines--on beautiful engravings1 the philosophical reveries of a ,parisian flaneur4 ,but ,meryon1 whose idea is different1 objects4 ,i am to say3 on the right you see this2 on the left you see that4 ,i must say3 here originally there were twelve windows1 reduced to six by the artist1 and finally ,i must go to the ,htel de ,ville to find out the exact epoch of the demolitions4 ,m4 ,meryon talks1 his eyes fixed on the ceiling1 and without listening to any observation40 ,thus it was historical and antiquarian notes that1 in all probability1 ,meryon had promised to jot down to facilitate the composition of a running commentary on the etchings4 ,meryon's reference to the reluctance of the publisher in the very same paragraph in which he speaks of these notes1 serves to remove the least doubt as to what is meant4 ,when he tells ,baudelaire not to be disturbed1 it is clearly as to the time at his disposal for the preparation of his text4 ,baudelaire1 however1 seems to have been less concerned about his own share in the work than about the fate of the project as a whole4 ,evidently he was not satisfied at the prospects of the work with ,deltre1 for1 on ,march #i1 #ahfj1 he wrote in a postscript to ,poulet-,malassis3 8,i turn my letter1 to ask you1 very seriously1 if it would not be advisable for you to be the publisher of ,meryon's album 7which will be augmented7 and for which ,i am to write the text4 ,you know that1 unfortunately1 this text will not be in accordance with my wishes4 8,i warn you that ,i have made overtures to the house of ,gide4444 8,this ,meryon does not know how to go about things2 he knows nothing of life4 ,he does not know how to sell2 he does not know how to find a publisher4 ,his work is readily salable40 ,and again1 on ,march #ac1 he writes1 in response to some proposition from his friend3 8,relative to ,meryon1 do you mean by buying the plates to buy the metal plates1 or rather the right of selling an indefinite number of proofs from them8 ,i can conceive that you fear the conversations with ,meryon4 ,you should carry on the negotiations by letter 7#bj1 rue ,duperr74 ,i warn you that ,meryon's great fear is lest the publisher should change the format and the paper4444 ,what you say to me of ,meryon does not affect what ,i write to you concerning him40 ,the excellent business sense1 the note of prudence and painstaking1 that comes out in all this correspondence on the part of ,baudelaire1 and which is scarcely less notable than his unwearied devotion to the interests of his friends1 ought to go far toward discountenancing the theory that a poet cannot be a good man of affairs4 ,still again he writes on the same subject1 with recapitulations of what he had said before1 to the same correspondent3 8,i am very much embarrassed1 mon cher1 to reply to you relatively to the ,meryon affair4 ,i have no rights in the matter whatsoever2 ,m4 ,meryon has repulsed1 with a species of horror1 the idea of a text composed of a dozen little poems or sonnets2 he has refused the idea of poetic meditations in prose4 ,so as not to wound him1 ,i have promised to write for him1 in return for three copies with the good proofs1 a text in the style of a guide or manual1 unsigned4 ,it is1 therefore1 with him alone that you will have to treat4444 ,the thing has presented itself to my mind very simply4 ,on one side1 an unfortunate madman1 who does not know how to conduct his affairs1 and who has executed a beautiful work2 on the other1 you1 on whose list ,i want to see the best books possible4 ,as the journalists say1 ,i have considered for you the double pleasure of a good bit of business and of a good act40 ,and he compares ,meryon's case with that of ,daumier1 then without a publisher1 to wind whom up1 8like a clock10 would also1 he tells ,poulet-,malassis1 be 8a great and good bit of business40 ,this is the last reference in any of the letters to ,meryon1 or to the album1 for which ,baudelaire never wrote his text1 since no publisher was willing to publish the work4 ,had ,poulet-,malassis not failed in #ahfa1 it might have appeared1 and then1 in spite of the restrictions imposed upon the restive spirit of the poet1 we might have had in ,baudelaire's text some literary equivalent of ,meryon's etchings4 ,how sympathetic this would have been1 is shown by the descriptive and interpretative passage from the ,salon de #ahei already quoted1 which1 in a few sentences1 completely defines the form of ,meryon's imaginative genius1 and reveals the inmost source of its power to stir the emotions4 ,there was1 indeed1 much that was common to the genius of ,meryon and of ,baudelaire4 ,the work of both was profoundly personal1 and in both a powerful and somber imagination was tinged with a subtle fantasy supplied by a morbid exaggeration in the senses1 which did not1 however1 preclude an intense and ardent preoccupation with formal perfection4 ,on the contrary1 these two modern dtraqus present in their work a solidity of construction and an absolute rectitude in the rendering of their moods and dreams1 that is scarcely to be found in the work of even their best-balanced and sanest contemporaries4 ,the art of ,baudelaire has been compared to that of ,racine1 and1 in the same way1 ,meryon's design has the complete economy and control of ,robert ,nanteuil or of ,callot4 ,men like these make us doubt and reconsider our stock distinctions of 8romantic0 and 8classic40 ,the work of ,meryon and of ,baudelaire answers equally to both descriptions1 and assures them a place apart in their generation4 ,thus1 while their paths crossed but for a moment1 and while they never shared with each other their secret thoughts and aspirations1 there is1 nevertheless1 no small interest for the student in these slight and fragmentary records of what1 had it not been for a cruel freak of fate1 might have proved an enduring and fruitful friendship4 ,f,,lix ,,bracquemond3 ,,an ,,etcher ,,of ,,birds ,,by ,,frank ,,weitenkampf ,chief of the ,department of ,prints1 ,new ,york ,public ,library ,even the artist of various interests actively expressed1--the versatile artist1 if that adjective be used without the suspicion of superficiality which is often its aftertaste--is very apt to become associated in the public mind with some one specialty4 ,flix ,bracquemond is known particularly well as an etcher of birds4 ,yet he has done many things1 more than one well enough to have established a reputation4 ,at twenty he painted1 and exhibited at the ,salon of #ahec1 a portrait of himself1 in a manner that carries you back to ,holbein1 that even faintly suggests the spirit of ,van ,eyck in its precise and detailed utterance4 ,the portrait clearly indicates his future activity1 for he holds in his hand a bottle of acid1 while etching tools lie on a table near him4 ,his etched portraits are numerous1 and include such comparatively free productions as the ones of ,legros and of ,meryon1 and the large1 minutely finished one of ,edmond de ,goncourt4 ,the last named is a characteristic and typical example of ,bracquemond's art1 which1 even when most painstaking1 somehow or other never seems labored4 ,bracquemond appears as a peculiar and interesting mingling of ,teutonic thoroughness and ,gallic esprit4 ,illustration3 ,,bracquemond4 ,,ducks ,,at ,,play ,size of the original etching1 #ab #i inches ,illustration3 ,,bracquemond4 ,a ,,flock ,,of ,,teal ,,alighting ,size of the original etching1 #ab #i inches ,the characteristic elements in his portraits--8robustness1 versatility and a resourceful mastery of technique0--are peculiar to all his work4 ,the same artist who carefully and with honest and sympathetic adaptation translated such different products of painter's personality as ,millet's ,man with the ,hoe and ,meissonier's ,la ,rixe1 as well as canvases and drawings by ,holbein 7the magisterial portrait of ,erasmus71 ,corot1 ,gustave ,moreau1 ,gavarni and ,delacroix1 also1 under ,japanese influence1 etched numerous designs for ceramic ware 7he was for a time a sort of artist director at the ,haviland factory at ,limoges71 fishes and birds in swirling1 decorative outline4 ,in contrast to these last named are his numerous well-finished pictures of birds and mammals4 ,his hares1 moles and mice done with loving emphasis on the texture of their furry pelts4 7,the vision of happy days1 seen by poor bunny suspended by one leg1 was reproduced as far afield as ,poland1 in ,tygdnik ,illustrowny47 ,the birds1 with the delightful and strong modeling of their bodies felt under the sleek surface of their feathery coverings4 ,a master craftsman1 he has found delight1 like ,buhot1 ,gurard and ,mielatz1 in technical experiments1 and his interest and skill in reproductive methods are illustrated in etchings1 dry-points1 aquatints1 lithographs1 photogravures retouched with etching1 engravings in color1 and plates showing combinations of processes4 ,burty once wrote3 8,he contrives by repeated use of the acid on certain parts of the plate to get a black which for depth and intensity has never been equaled40 ,and ,meryon avowed of him3 8,i cannot etch4 ,that one1 there1 he is the true etcher40 ,his active interests1 and his all-embracing outlook on the life about him1 found expression in such occasional productions as the etchings of figures modeled in snow by ,french sculptors in ,paris during the ,commune2 the symbolical lithograph of ,france defending himself against the ,prussian eagle1 while strangling his own imperial bird2 the ceramic compliment to ,uncle ,sam3 ,the ,old ,world and ,young ,america1 or the very large plate done as a memorial tablet for ,meryon's coffin4 ,his hand recorded the placid1 rural beauties of ,bas ,meudon and the quick impression of a steamboat1 amusingly described by ,beraldi 7see ,no4 #ahe74 ,and a bit of woodland1 possibly in the ,bois de ,boulogne1 in winter snows1 in combination with a gaunt wolf probably studied at the ,jardin d',acclimatation 7the ,paris 8,zoo071 gave him opportunity for his effective ,wolf in the ,snow1 also known as ,winter 7,beraldi ,no4 #ahj71 which in its spirit of desolation might be many hundred miles from ,paris4 ,and with all this1 his etchings only have been spoken of here1--and they are about #hjj in number4 ,but the catalogue 7issued in an edition of #bbj copies7 of his work exhibited at the ,socit ,nationale des ,beaux-,arts 7,salon7 in #aijg1 includes not only etchings1 but paintings1 water-colors1 pastels and designs executed in embroidered silk1 ceramics1 iron1 cloisonn enamel1 jade1 wood and bookbindings4 ,illustration3 ,,bracquemond4 ,,pheasants ,,at ,,dawn3 ,,morning ,,mists ,size of the original etching1 #i #ac inches ,illustration3 ,,bracquemond4 ,,the ,,bather 7,,canards ,,surpris7 ,size of the original etching1 #ad #aj inches ,yet the late ,walter ,s4 ,carter of ,brooklyn1 a most catholic print-collector1 ventured fearlessly on the inviting but not always safe sliding pond of analogy1 and proclaimed ,bracquemond the 8,michelangelo of ducks40 ,without regard to the manner of the statement1 we may accept the classification4 ,for had ,bracquemond never etched anything but his bird plates1 he would have won his place in the annals of the fascinating art of needle and acid4 ,perhaps he realized that when he furnished a title-page design for the third volume1 devoted to himself1 of ,beraldi's 8,graveurs du ,,xix ,sicle10 consisting solely of a duck and a portfolio of prints4 ,much slighter in execution1 but more significantly allegorical1 was his frontispiece 7,beraldi ,no4 #dhj7 for the catalogue of the second portion of the ,burty collection4 ,it represented a stand holding an open portfolio from which prints flying upward are gradually evolved into cranes4 ,ducks1 however1 have apparently been his special delight4 ,he has pictured them in action1 as in the delightful oblong picture of two ducks swimming 7,beraldi ,no4 #ahe7 and in the equally1 and amusingly1 lifelike one of five ducks swimming hurriedly to a central point of common interest4 ,or in allegorical attitude1 as in the ,canard 7,beraldi ,no4 #aaf71 the herald of 8fake0 news4 ,he has observed the teal along the riverside and the ,gambols of ducks 7,beraldi ,no4 #bba71 done with a simple and sympathetic delight in the doings of these water-fowl4 ,hardly ever1 perhaps1 has he better characterized the useful bird whose call1 onomatopoetically imitated1 has long served to characterize medical charlatanry1 than in the plate known as ,the ,bather or ,canards surpris4 ,the three birds1 who have come down to their accustomed swimming hole only to find it already occupied by a comely young woman1 are alive and moving4 ,the beholder can fairly see and hear their wonder at the unwarranted intrusion on their rights1 and regards their wagging tails with much of the fascination that ,septimus and ,wiggleswick 7in ,w4 ,j4 ,locke's 8,septimus07 felt in the same diversion4 ,while the duck apparently appealed most to him1 ,bracquemond was attracted also by other members of the family of ,aves4 ,the goose1 cousin to the ,anas1 he showed collectively in ,geese in a ,storm 7,the ,storm ,cloud4 ,beraldi ,no4 #bai71 which may be studied in the ,avery collection at the ,new ,york ,public ,library1 in a series of touched proofs in which the fortuitous effect of gradually added work in the sky gives somewhat the impression of a storm rising as you look at the consecutive proofs4 ,ducks in a ,marsh also move under a lowering sky1 and in ,it's ,raining ,pitchforks 7,beraldi ,no4 #bab7 the flood-gates of heaven are fully opened1 so that the water-fowl appear to find themselves doubly in their element4 ,illustration3 ,,bracquemond4 ,,geese ,,in ,a ,,storm ,size of the original etching1 #i #ac inches ,illustration3 ,,bracquemond4 ,,sea-,,gulls ,size of the original etching1 #aj #ah inches ,bracquemond sometimes labored through a number of states on a plate4 ,the large portrait of ,edmond de ,goncourt was patiently carried through a number of progressive proofs4 ,and in the process of thus searching for ultimate satisfactoriness he may give us such pleasant surprises as the fourth state of ,morning ,mists 7,beraldi ,no4 #ggi71 a pheasant piece1 with its delightful background addition of trees--an airy1 light impression of early morning4 ,he has done several landscapes of a lightness which approaches a ,legros-like delicacy1 so that it is perplexing to compare them with such a faithfully studied but somewhat hard plate as that of the duck perplexed at sight of a turtle 7,l',inconnu1 ,beraldi ,no4 #agd71 and to realize that the same hand did both4 ,venturing still farther into the field of ornithology1 he depicted golden pheasants1 partridges1 swallows1 with sympathy for his subject and an open eye for its artistic possibilities4 ,the human element enters into these pictures very rarely1 and then only when absolutely in place4 ,so in ,at the ,jardin d',acclimatation 7,beraldi ,no4 #bad71 in which two stylishly dressed young ladies are looking at golden pheasants in an inclosure4 ,once1 at least1 in ,sea-gulls 7,beraldi ,no4 #ghb71 he felt and rendered the beautiful effect of a circling1 gliding flight of gulls over rolling waves1 in a graceful swirl of lines combining into a harmonious pattern4 ,the peculiar effect of this last named plate1 with its mingling of ,japanese and other influences1 is in striking contrast to his early and most remarkable ,haut d'un battant de ,porte 7,beraldi ,no4 #aaj1 done at the age of nineteen71 in which the dead bodies of three birds of prey and a bat are shown nailed to a barn door1 held up as a warning example in a not too smoothly flowing quatrain4 ,to his plates of moralizing or emblematic intention1 such as the one just referred to1 or the ,canard 7,beraldi ,no4 #aaf71 he delighted in adding such inscriptions1 generally in rhyme4 ,his verses in such cases partake a little of the halting metre of those which poor ,meryon attached to certain of his plates4 ,such etched letterpress additions appear also in ,margot la ,critique 7,beraldi ,no4 #aac7 and in ,le ,corbeau4 ,the last named delineation of an old bow-legged crow presents a creature so weird1 so uncanny1 that without adventitious effects it appears as a symbol of some sinister power1 felt though not realized4 ,but a still more famous plate1 because most strongly characteristic1 is ,the ,old ,cock 7the original drawing for which is owned by ,samuel ,p4 ,avery71 a masterly portrait of chanticleer1 in all the dignity and pomp of his mature vigor and serene self-sufficiency4 ,here is the poem for this3 ,h1 vieux coq1 ,vieux ,don ,juan1 ,vieille voix1 tu t'railles1 ,toi-mme tu seras ,la pierre du festin fait tes funerailles ,et les convives1 las ,de livrer ta chair de trop rudes batailles ,se reposeront des dents et des bras ,racontant l'envie1 tes amours1 tes combats4 ,he japonized this magnificent fowl in a purely decorative spirit1 without the psychological element4 ,and on the occasion of the visit of the ,russian fleet to ,toulon in #ahic1 he repeated and emphasized the theme to the verge almost of the grotesque1 in a representation of the ,gallic cock1 a ,hercules of his kind1 with the aggressiveness of conscious strength1 trumpeting forth his ,vive le ,tsar6 with triumphant enthusiasm4 ,this emblematic use of ornithological specimens has been already referred to in the case of the ,canard4 ,it appears notably also in ,margot la ,critique4 ,the critic may note that ,margot happens to be particularly unctuous in the state before the verses1 but will not be otherwise adversely influenced by this etched philippic against his brethren4 ,illustration3 ,,bracquemond4 ,,the ,,old ,,cock 8,but a still more famous plate1 because most strongly characteristic1 is ,the ,old ,cock1 a masterly portrait of chanticleer1 in all the dignity and pomp of his mature vigor and serene self-sufficiency40 ,frank ,weitenkampf1 ,flix ,bracquemond3 ,an ,etcher of ,birds4 ,size of the original etching1 #aa #i inches ,illustration3 ,,bracquemond4 ,,swallows ,,in ,,flight ,size of the original etching1 #ab #aj inches ,but besides these many realistic studies of bird life there are just about as many of purely decorative interest1 showing strong ,japanese influence1 and mostly executed for ceramic decoration4 ,there are also decorative combinations of ,reeds and ,teal1 ,swallows flying in graceful curves and swirls1 ,lapwing and ,teal swimming and flying4 ,here again we have an entirely different point of view4 ,the loving study of nature1 sometimes expressed in an uncompromising hardness in the reproduction of form or detail1 or elsewhere in an almost playful lightness of touch in obedience to a passing mood1 appears here with quite different results4 ,seemingly endless changes on the same theme of swirling1 undulating curves of flying1 running1 strutting1 swimming bodies of birds and fishes delight the eye with the rhythmic flow of ever recurrent accent on the pure beauty of line4 ,and at the end1 when you have gone through the many portfolios of ,bracquemond's work1 there occurs to you his own statement quoted by ,clement ,janin4 ,it is to the effect that a work of graphic art must bear on its face1 undisguised1 the characteristics of the technique by which it was produced4 ,a lithograph must be a lithograph2 a wood-engraving a wood-engraving and not the imitation of an engraving on copper or of a photograph4 ,a review of the arts of reproduction proves that this is not the truism it may seem4 ,it is a basic principle in all art1 and will bear earnest and repeated emphasis4 ,and the notable recognition of this fact by ,bracquemond is a prime factor in his success in the art that has meant so much to him4 ,,auguste ,,lep,,re ,,by ,,elisabeth ,,luther ,,cary ,art ,editor of the ,new ,york ,times ,,it is the fashion of the moment to specialize in art as in other professions1 and we no longer expect to find the multiple tendencies and ambitions of a ,leonardo or a ,drer1 or even of the self-contained ,rembrandt1 in the modern artist4 ,he is a painter or a sculptor or a wood-engraver or an etcher4 ,he is even more closely classified as a portrait- or a landscape-painter1 an animalier or a decorator1 a dry-point engraver or a disciple of pure etching4 ,if1 as sometimes happens1 he escapes from the threads of the ,lilliputians and swings his arms in a wider sweep1 it is in the mood of deprecation or excuse1 as a writer may choose to whittle wood or hammer metal in order to clear his word-fogged brain4 ,there is1 however1 a wholesome and growing impression among thoughtful observers that extreme limitation and restriction produce weakness rather than strength1 and when we find an artist who has something of the ancient flexibility of mind and hand it is worth our while to acclaim him4 ,illustration3 ,,lep,,re4 ,,rheims ,,cathedral ,size of the original etching1 #ad #aj inches ,illustration3 ,,lep,,re4 ,,belle ,,matin,e4 ,,automne ,size of the original etching1 #g #aa inches ,auguste ,lepre has pursued a free course of development1 rounding his capacities1 and forming himself with balanced and reasonable attention to diversified interests4 ,he was born in ,paris in #ahdi4 ,his father was the talented sculptor ,franois ,lepre1 and he got1 no doubt1 from his father something of the latter's taste for suggesting passion1 even frenzy1 in small but monumental figures4 ,while quite young he studied with the ,english engraver ,smeeon1 and spent his first professional years in the service of illustration for ,le ,monde ,illustr1 ,l',illustration1 ,le ,magasin ,pittoresque1 and ,la ,revue ,illustre in ,paris1 the ,graphic and ,black and ,white in ,london1 and ,scribner's and ,harper's in ,america4 ,tiring of this field1 he tried all things4 ,he became in turn a metal-chaser1 a decorator of leathers1 a ceramist1 an etcher1 a wood-engraver and a painter4 ,if we consider him chiefly as an etcher1 it must be with the full appreciation that any craft mastered by him is made subsidiary to the larger principles upon which all works of art are based1 whatever the medium or process4 ,he has consistently declined to fritter away his admirable technique upon technicalities undertaken for their own sake1 and his work in etching as in painting is the work of an intellect concerned with the problems of rhythm and harmony1 color1 tone and form1 which assail artists in every field4 ,as an etcher he received his initiation from ,bracquemond1 the most robust of temperaments and at the same time the most fastidious of technicians4 ,lepre has been worthy of his teaching4 ,from the first he has sought to render his impression1 recorded by a vision singularly prompt and synthetic1 with precise care1 patiently assembling all the complex virtues of his method to the task4 ,to his slightest plate he has brought conscience and sincerity1 and also a quality without which all the moral gifts with which human nature may be endowed would have availed him nothing as an artist3 the rare capacity1 that is1 for retaining the freshness of his vision throughout a slow process of translation4 ,before examining a few of his plates to discern their significant qualities1 it will be interesting to consider his own words on the aim of the engraver3 notes written with reference to the change in methods of reproduction from interpretation by means of the engraver's art to the use of photography and the resultant processes4 ,even his notes on engraving for the purpose of reproduction1 though less closely allied to the work of his riper years than the notes on engraving from nature as an original art1 are excellent reading1 since they throw a clear light upon his ideals and definite convictions3 8,formerly10 he says1 8when an engraver had a work to reproduce1 it was absolutely necessary for him to see it4 ,he could then study it1 comprehend it1 and consequently extract its essential principle1 simplify it1 adapt it to his mode of expression1 engrave it4 8,if he had not the gift of composition1 that of design was necessary in order to make his transposition2 that of interpretation1 in order to gather the idea of the creator of his model4 ,his work was almost the equal of the work of an original engraver who usually interprets a composition or a model given by nature4 8,his art was that of transposition4 ,he took color or mass and made a song in a different key1 keeping only the relative values of the shadows and lights and the contours of the objects4 ,illustration3 ,,lep,,re4 ,,vue ,,du ,,port ,,de ,,la ,,meule ,size of the original etching1 #h #ab inches ,illustration3 ,,lep,,re4 ,,peupliers ,t,,tards ,size of the original etching1 #g #i inches 8,photography has come to change all that4 ,it has facilitated the task of the engraver1 who1 for the most part1 has not even seen the works he reproduces4 ,the science of design is almost reduced to knowing how to trace2 as for simplifying a photograph1 it can only make matters worse4 ,such as it is1 a photograph forms a perfect gamut in which nothing can be changed without losing everything2 to extract a line from it is impossible1 so indiscernible is the passage from one object to another1 a figure in the background1 etc41 etc4 8,photography is a reproduction2 it becomes a betrayal4 ,what is the copy interpreted by this betrayal8 ,how can one extract the character of anything if the true model is not there8 8,here1 then1 is our engraver obliged to copy with his precise art from something quite vague4 ,photography sees the globs of color1 the accidents of a picture1 with as much interest as the most beautiful design4 ,what will he put in the place of these accidents8 ,he traces1 he copies2 and as the photograph is stupid1 he copies a stupidity4 8,he does this so thoroughly that he can be dispensed with1 the means of printing a photograph having been discovered4 ,what imitates a photograph most completely if not a photogravure8 ,this attains to a degree of impersonality so great that the poor engraver can no longer battle against it4 8,for the engraver who possesses no faculty of composition to do artistic work it is necessary that he be an interpreter1 a simplifier1 with a very well-defined idea of the necessities of his craft1 and that he know how to draw directly6 ,he must renounce all attempts to overstep the boundaries of his craft2 he must not try to express colors4 ,one may1 in an engraving1 express cold and heat2 that is1 indeed1 the main thing4 ,but it is impossible to engrave red1 yellow1 or green4 ,these are researches that encroach upon the domain of the painter and spoil everything40 ,of the original engraver more is exacted4 ,as a true artist he must respect both his craft and the quality of his vision4 ,he must synthetize1 simplify1 express1 avoid photographic vision and trivialities of style2 he must employ only the means forbidden to photography3 those well-affirmed indications of the movements of the point which are the very foundation of the beautiful technique of engraving4 ,and in one phrase is summed up the essential aim of the engraver who treats his art with respect1 whether he uses it for purposes of reproduction or for original work3 8,not to imitate4 ,to express40 ,lepre has followed his own doctrine to its logical conclusion4 ,never servile1 even in his most faithful portraiture of a nature that enchants him1 he works with a plenitude of science1 but also with unwearied freshness of inspiration and a sympathetic feeling for the character of his subject1 whether it is a curve of the river near ,ntre ,dame where horses come down to drink1 or a poor man's hut with climbing vines in bloom1 or the wide marshes of the ,vende4 ,with the passage of time his vision has grown larger and calmer1 his interpretations magisterial2 but in his most classic moments he does not forget to infuse into his composition a strong feeling for this intimate characterization4 ,he is a true creator1 living not only above but in his conception4 ,he is at once serene and moved1 in command of his intellectual instrument and impelled by his personal interest4 ,the ,journe d',inventaire is a plate that shows clearly this double action of the artist's mind4 ,the composition is stately in both line and mass4 ,in the background rises the lofty architecture of the ,amiens ,cathedral2 in the foreground1 in deep shadow1 is a group of figures diversely occupied4 ,the upraised arms of these figures lead naturally to the pointed arches and ascending spires4 ,in a similar fashion1 the strong darks of the foreground mount in diminishing quantity through the heavy shadows in the recesses of the doorways to the luminous blacks that mark the slender openings in the towers4 ,it is a beautiful upward movement that repeats the song of the ,gothic spirit4 ,these wonderful darks have also another function4 ,echoed as they are1 in the small1 sharp shadows of the multitudinous detail1 they send the light quivering all through the picture4 ,it pours down from a sky empty of clouds1 and causes the web of decorative imagery with which the structure is draped to shimmer like a fabric set with precious stones4 ,only a true master of the subtleties possible to interwoven dark and light could thus command his atmospheric effect1 and evoke from his slight and restricted materials the grandeur of the immense pile of stone raised by the hands of man1 and the contrasting evanescence of the passing sunshine caressing every boss and hollow in the richly manipulated surfaces4 ,it is perhaps not too much to say that nothing more remarkable in its kind has been done in the present century4 ,the element of drama is added by the turmoil of little figures in shadow at the base of the cathedral1 seen in minute detail through the translucent darkness and agitated by their human accidents and emotions4 ,the whole spirit of ,france1 its imperishable monuments1 its sparkle of sunshine1 its reasonable architecture1 its vivid life1 may be inferred from this remarkable plate4 ,very different in sentiment and less close to perfection in the relation of the parts of the design to the whole1 is ,la ,chte de ,ballon2 yet this also is a beautiful plate4 ,as in the ,journe d',inventaire1 the eye is led upward by the gestures of the crowd in the foreground to the point of interest1 the balloon hung poised above the trees and houses4 ,there is the same contrast of movement1 too1 in the agitated figures of the foreground with the calm lines and clear light of the distance4 ,in this plate1 however1 is greater piquancy of light and shade4 ,the abrupt lines and minor episodes are carried so far into the composition as to dominate the general impression1 leaving the open distance to play a secondary instead of primary part4 ,figures are hurrying in excitement toward the scene of the arial drama2 tree branches are tossing1 there are little restless clouds passing rapidly across the sky2 the air is brisk1 it is a bright day1 there is much to see and do1 and interest is keen--that is the story one carries away from the handsome1 stirring print1 and also a subtle poetic suggestion that beyond the town1 as one follows the slow length of a white cliff1 to where it meets the horizon1 is a very great world that turns from night to day1 from day to night1 interminably1 unchecked and unspeeded by the passing storms of human glee and human woe4 ,illustration3 ,,lep,,re4 ,,le ,,moulin ,,des ,,chapelles ,size of the original etching1 #d #e inches ,illustration3 ,,lep,,re4 ,a ,,gentilly ,size of the original etching1 #g #i inches ,illustration3 ,,lep,,re4 ,,la ,,chaumi,,re ,,du ,,vieux ,,pecheur ,size of the original etching1 #h #ae inches ,illustration3 ,,lep,,re4 ,,le ,,nid ,size of the original etching1 #f #f inches ,la ,seine l',embouchure du ,canal ,saint-,martin is more commonplace in subject1 the river and its barges having entered into the artistic life of nearly all ,french etchers2 but how few could pass with such sureness of plan1 such precision of execution1 from the dark bulk of the vessel in the lower left corner to the snapping black of the tree-top in the upper right corner1 along a perfect diagonal1 without a suspicion of stiffness or formalism in the fluent arrangement of innumerable details of pattern6 ,this strong sense of appropriate and austere design1 supported by such an easy grace of handling1 is unusual in any age1 and especially in our own1 when grace and austerity find it almost impossible to live together in one man's work4 ,turning away from these subjects1 in which nature presents a wide range to the artist and inspires him to breadth and dignity of treatment1 to the quaint and touching subjects drawn from peasant life in the ,vendean homes1 we find beneath the admirable form of ,lepre's expression thoughts tender and merry and filled with sympathy for common experience4 ,his work becomes picturesque and living1 the mood of the observer changes in response1 and the pleasure given is that inspired by simple things1 although the treatment of the given scene is often far from simple4 ,while all these plates are admirably expressive1 one in particular1 ,le ,nid1 seems to me filled with melody1 color and charm as well as with the efficient intelligence always to be found in ,lepre's work4 ,a little solid house with thick walls stands in greenery4 ,children1 natural1 happy1 unconcerned1 are playing in the foreground4 ,beyond is a curve of low hill and a glimpse of flat plain2 and still beyond1 a little town with its spire4 ,it is all very nave and fresh2 the outdoor setting has much beauty2 the types of the children are unhackneyed2 the gestures and positions unconventional and spontaneous4 ,a mere glance reveals the felicity of the subject-matter1 but longer acquaintance is necessary before all the resources of the design are appreciated4 ,even in this playful note of pleasant summer pastime we get something of the gravity and serious purpose indispensable to great etchers as to great painters4 ,it was this characteristic that led ,lepre to pull down all the detail of the middle distance below the noble swinging line of the hillock1 in order to keep the severity of that magnificent curve4 ,it was this which led him to follow a repeating curve in the arrangement and environment of the children1 apparently so carelessly disposed among their shrubs and flowers4 8,let all things play and bloom and make holiday10 he seems to exclaim in this rare plate1 8so long as the power of my design is not weakened by them40 ,the artist whose work says that to us is sure of long life in our memories4 ,there are several of these subjects in which children at play near their homes are the principal feature1 and it would be easy to find in each some special note of gaiety and charm and quick ,gallic wit4 ,in ,les deux ,bourrines1 for example1 the groups of little ugly creatures1 who form again a curved line of beauty1 are characterized with a frank acceptance of their unclassic physiognomies that would have delighted the heart of ,daumier4 ,le ,nid de ,pauvres is not less romantic in its ,gothic avoidance of the ideal type4 ,illustration3 ,,lep,,re4 ,,provins ,size of the original etching1 #f #aa inches ,illustration3 ,,lep,,re4 ,l',,eglise ,,de ,,jouy ,,le ,,moutier ,size of the original etching1 #f #f inches ,illustration3 ,,lep,,re4 ,l',,enfant ,,prodigue ,size of the original etching1 #i #ab inches ,classic ,lepre can be1 however1 with a curiously vital appreciation of what the living classic must have been4 ,he has an etching of a swineherd entering the yard in which the beasts are penned4 ,they move1 grunting1 toward him4 ,outside is a cluster of great trees with bushy foliage4 ,the light is clear and warm4 ,the folds of the swineherd's mantle and his gesture are ,greek4 ,his figure might have passed across the ,athenian stage1 one fancies1 at the time of ,sophoclean drama4 ,and the landscape has the deep repose immortalized in classic verse--such songs as in his extreme old age ,sophocles made to do honor to his native village3 ,our home1 ,colonus1 gleaming fair and white3 ,the nightingale still haunteth all our woods1 ,green with the flush of spring2 ,and sweet1 melodious floods ,of softest song through grove and thicket ring4 ,lepre is not often found in this mood1 however1 and the swineherd plate cannot be considered wholly characteristic of his temper of mind4 ,it seems to have been one of those rare happenings when the mind is lifted above its habitual plane1 occasion serves1 and the trained hand obediently records a moment of peculiar exaltation4 ,he is perhaps most of all his daily self in the little plate called ,le ,moulin des ,chapelles4 ,here he shows us the machinery of the mill and the round white column of the structure as others have done1 but he also shows us what others seldom do--the use of the mill4 ,a patient horse is standing near1 a man is shifting the bags of flour to his back4 ,it is not a mere accident of landscape2 it has a social and utilitarian function2 it is connected with human life4 ,this is the most characteristic attitude of mind for an artist so alert to the significance of visible things2 and it is immensely to his credit as an artist that he almost never permits this keen and throbbing interest in the world about him to trespass upon his logical use of his great instrument4 ,if organization of line and space1 ability to establish in each of his compositions a decorative scheme adequate to support easily all the delightful episodes and figures which he chooses to introduce1 is the most important element in ,lepre's artistic equipment1 the next in significance is the clarity and precision of his utterance4 ,there is no vapor in his imagination2 he is a poet as well as an artist1 with a poet's sensitiveness to definition of form4 ,all that he lacks is the intensity of emotion that sweeps away interest in everything but the personal feeling4 ,we suspect that the world for him will always be 8full of a number of things10 and that he will not be able to forget any of them in the exaltation of profound self-absorption4 ,but he has a genius for infusing a rich suggestiveness into all that he observes1 and for giving his narrative an epic character4 ,,herman ,a4 ,,webster ,,by ,,martin ,,hardie 8,did you ever see a barber sharpen his razor8 ,that's what it wants--the decision and the smacks40 ,that is one of the many quaint remarks that old ,john ,varley used to hurl at the pupils who came to him for lessons in the complete art of painting in water-color4 ,it is a remark very appropriate to the vast quantity of etchings1 mechanically correct1 but unimpassioned and uninteresting1 which are produced to-day4 ,there are wonderfully few etchers whose work strikes a note of imagination and individuality1 and appeals by its force and directness1 its decisions and its smacks4 ,one of that small company is ,mr4 ,herman ,a4 ,webster4 ,an artist's life is written in his work1 and the cold facts of his biography are of little real importance4 ,to some extent1 however1 they act as a commentary upon his productions1 and at the worst they serve to satisfy the not unpardonable curiosity which impels all of us to inquire into the age and life-history of any man whose pictures or prints awaken our instant sympathy4 ,so ,i put here a few outlines of ,mr4 ,webster's career1 merely the mile-stones that mark the route along which he has proceeded4 ,it has been a career of strenuous activity1 for the artist who now prints his finely-wrought plates in his studio in the ,rue de ,furstenberg at ,paris 7the street of which ,whistler made a lithograph in #ahid7 has graduated at a famous university1 traveled round the world1 spent two years in commercial life1 toiled as general reporter to a big daily paper1 worked in a coal-mine1 and acted as assistant cashier in a bank4 ,and the tale of his years is only just over thirty1 for he was born in #ahgh4 ,need ,i add--for an ,english reader it would be quite superfluous--that ,mr4 ,webster is an ,american1 with ,new ,york as his native city8 ,mr4 ,webster came into the world with an innate love of art4 ,in his school-days1 before he had received any instruction in drawing1 he made posters1 that were perhaps crude but not ineffective1 for the school games2 and at ,yale he was one of the editors and a valued illustrator of the ,yale ,record4 ,this love of art was fostered by a visit to the #aijj ,exposition at ,paris1 where the genius loci has a stronger spell for the young artist than anywhere else upon earth4 ,studios and restaurants of the ,quartier ,latin are fragrant with great memories1 still haunted by the mighty spirits of the past3 ,louvre and ,luxembourg are filled with the living realities that abide4 ,amid the enchantment of this artistic atmosphere1 with all its traditions and associations1 ,mr4 ,webster lingered for some months1 and then set out on a trans-,siberian tour to the ,orient1 staying long enough in ,japan and ,china for his natural instinct to be quickened by the marvelous art which has exerted so strong an influence on the ,western world4 ,on returning home his desire to adopt art as his life-calling was checked by family opposition4 ,here in ,england--for ,i write as one of ,mr4 ,webster's ,english admirers--many a boy artist has been thwarted by a foolish antipathy in the home circle to art in the abstract1 but for a parent in the ,new ,world the conviction must be even more sincere that business is the only lucrative profession1 while art is at least something precarious1 if not a downward road to poverty and starvation4 ,and so1 at his father's wish1 ,mr4 ,webster1 in the office of the ,chicago ,record-,herald and elsewhere1 served two years of bondage to commerce4 ,determination1 however1 won its way at last1 and in ,february1 #aijd1 he set out to ,paris with the family consent to 8try it for a year40 ,that year is still continuing4 ,illustration3 ,,webster4 ,,st4 ,,ouen1 ,,rouen 8,his chief delight is in the nooks and corners of old-world thoroughfares and culs-de-sac1 where deep shadows lurk in the angles of time-worn buildings1 and sunlight ripples over crumbling walls1 seamy gables1 and irregular tiled roofs40 ,martin ,hardie4 ,size of the original etching1 #e #c inches ,illustration3 ,,webster4 ,,la ,,rue ,,grenier ,,sur ,l',,eau1 ,,paris 8,a fourth plate1 perhaps even finer than any of these in its force1 directness1 and concentrated simplicity1 is the ,rue ,grenier sur l',eau4 ,there is much of ,meryon in its clear1 crisp line-work40 ,martin ,hardie4 ,size of the original etching1 #h #d inches ,seven months during #aijd were spent at the ,acadmie ,julien under ,jean ,paul ,laurens1 in study from the nude2 and that is the only academic instruction which ,mr4 ,webster has received4 ,a few months after his arrival in ,paris1 chance led him to the ,bibliothque ,nationale1 where he saw some of ,meryon's etchings1 and fell instantly under the spell of the great artist whose sinister needle first revealed the mysterious and somber poetry of ,paris and the ,seine4 ,from ,meryon and from books he forthwith taught himself to etch1 receiving no outside instruction1 but evolving his own methods till he attained mastery of the 8teasing1 temper-trying1 yet fascinating art0--a mastery the more valuable and complete in that it was based on his own experience4 ,a first attempt was made from his studio window in the ,rue de ,furstenberg1 and some copperplates went with him on his autumn holiday at ,grez1 that 8pretty and very melancholy village0 in the ,forest of ,fontainebleau1 where ,robert ,louis ,stevenson met the romance of his life4 ,as the first-fruits of this holiday three little etchings won their way into the next summer's ,salon--the ,rue de l',abbaye1 ,the ,loing at ,grez1 and ,the ,court1 ,bourron1 the last being the forerunner of several subjects of similar type4 ,at the ,salon also was hung a large oil-painting of still life1 a study of fabrics and porcelain2 but though color will no doubt claim allegiance again1 ,mr4 ,webster has been too closely held in thrall by etching to essay further experiments in the painter's craft4 ,a pilgrimage to ,spain in the spring of #aije was the source of several spontaneous and effective plates1 among them ,st4 ,martin's ,bridge1 ,toledo1 and ,mirada de las ,reinas1 ,alhambra4 ,up to this point ,mr4 ,webster's work may be considered1 in a large measure1 tentative and experimental1 but from #aijf onward he has found in ,normandy--at ,pont de l',arche and ,rouen--at ,bruges1 and above all in ,paris1 the inspiration for a series of plates noteworthy for their fine craftsmanship and their expression of individuality4 ,they have won him the recognition of connoisseurs and public without his passing through any period of undeserved obscurity4 ,at the ,paris ,salon1 at the ,royal ,academy1 and in his native land1 his etchings have constantly been exhibited and admired4 ,nor must ,i forget to add that in #aijh he was elected an ,associate of the ,royal ,society of ,painter-,etchers1 which1 under the presidency of its veteran founder1 ,sir ,francis ,seymour ,haden1 has done so much to foster the revived art of etching4 ,illustration3 ,,webster4 ,,quai ,,montebello 8,few etchers have ever preached the gospel of light with more truth and earnestness than ,webster himself in the ,quai ,montebello and many other plates40 ,martin ,hardie4 ,size of the original etching1 #g #e inches ,illustration3 ,,webster4 ,,le ,,pont ,,neuf1 ,,paris 8,a fitting companion to this vision of ,notre ,dame is ,le ,pont ,neuf1 another of the etcher's largest and most distinguished plates4 ,the stern solidity of the bridge1 with its massive masonry1 its corbeled turrets1 and its deeply shadowed arches1 makes pleasing contrast with the irregular sky-line of the sunlit houses that rise beyond40 ,martin ,hardie4 ,size of the original etching1 #h #aa inches ,it is of some of the chief works produced and exhibited during the last three years that ,i have now to speak1 and in doing so may perhaps indicate a few leading characteristics of the etcher's work4 ,his chief delight is in the nooks and corners of old-world thoroughfares and culs-de-sac1 where deep shadows lurk in the angles of time-worn buildings1 and sunlight ripples over crumbling walls1 seamy gables1 and irregular tiled roofs4 ,of such is a series of subjects found in old ,rouen--the ,st4 ,ouen2 the ,rue du ,hallage1 where the cathedral spire towers high above old timbered houses2 and that charming plate with the title ,old ,houses1 ,rouen1 a quaint corner of tenements whose high-pitched roofs stand propped against one another for all the world like a castle of cards4 ,the etcher of this and of the ,st4 ,ouen was welcomed with warm sympathy by the ,gazette des ,beaux-,arts1 which said that 8never before has there been so fervent and skilled an interpreter of the bowed timber and crumbling plaster of the old houses of ,rouen1 which line the street ending in the cathedral with its pointed spire against the open sky40 ,and so we pass to two courtyard scenes--belonging1 like the ,rouen subjects1 to the year #aijf--the ,cour1 ,normandie1 and ,les ,blanchisseuses4 ,in both we find the artist becoming more adept in using broad and balanced disposition of light and shade to give not merely chiaroscuro but the suggestion of actual color1 and more skilled in adding exquisiteness of detail to refined truth of visual impression4 ,les ,blanchisseuses1 in particular1 with its rich mystery of shadow1 with its sunshine falling on white walls and lighting the seamed interstices of plaster and timber1 has an indefinable charm that1 for myself at any rate1 makes it a high-water mark in ,mr4 ,webster's art4 ,of similar type is the ,old ,butter ,market1 ,bruges1 where a cobbled street curves beneath a shadowed archway2 and then for variety you step from ,bruges la ,morte1 from the silent cobbles that centuries ago were a busy thoroughfare for ringing feet1 to the ,bruges of to-day4 ,it is ,bruges in a very different aspect1 this free and spirited study made on ,july #bg1 #aijg1 on the day of the ,fte de l',arbre d',or1 giving a quick impression of gay holiday crowds1 of banners fluttering against the open sky1 and of the 8belfry old and brown0 whose carillon inspired ,america's poet1 as its tall form and fretted outline have inspired the ,american etcher of whom ,i write4 ,this ,bruges en ,fte1 and ,paysanne1 a clever and direct figure-study of an old peasant at ,marlotte1 come as an episode of pleasing variety in ,mr4 ,webster's work1 and tend to show that1 though he has his preferences1 he is not really fettered by any limitation of subject or treatment4 ,illustration3 ,,webster4 ,,la ,,rue ,,cardinale 8,la ,rue ,cardinale has affinity of general treatment with ,rue de la ,parcheminerie1 and is not the less interesting for an amazing tour de force in the rendering of color and texture in the striped blind over a shop-front40 ,martin ,hardie4 ,size of the original etching1 #aj #g inches ,illustration3 ,,webster4 ,,la ,,rue ,,de ,,la ,,parcheminerie1 ,,paris 8,closely akin to ,rue ,brise ,miche in restful balance of composition and in fine shadow effect is the ,rue de la ,parcheminerie--of special value now1 for the old street has disappeared largely since the making of the plate40 ,martin ,hardie4 ,size of the original etching1 #aa #g inches ,it is but natural that an artist of ,mr4 ,webster's temperament1 a devoted admirer of ,meryon1 should become absorbed in ,paris herself and endeavor to put upon copperplate the 8posie profonde et compliqu d'une vaste capitale40 ,the ,bruges and ,rouen plates showed ,mr4 ,webster to be keenly susceptible to the magnetism and charm of medieval tradition1 but ,paris1 steeped in sentiment even more than ,rouen or ,bruges1 was to rouse a still greater warmth and feeling4 ,he began by searching out those picturesque streets in the old quarters that have survived the wholesale demolishment of ,baron ,haussmann1 a name hated by artists as that of ,granger by lovers of books4 ,the ,rue ,brise ,miche found its way to the ,royal ,academy1 and was also honored by publication in the ,gazette des ,beaux-,arts 7,july1 #aijg74 ,closely akin to it in restful balance of composition and in fine shadow effect is the ,rue de la ,parcheminerie--of special value now1 for the old street has disappeared largely since the making of the plate4 ,la ,rue ,cardinale has affinity of general treatment1 and is not the less interesting for an amazing tour de force in the rendering of color and texture in the striped blind over a shop-front4 ,a fourth plate1 perhaps even finer than any of these in its force1 directness1 and concentrated simplicity1 is the ,rue ,grenier sur l',eau4 ,there is much of ,meryon in its clear1 crisp line-work4 ,some day perhaps these loving studies of the old ,paris of ,balzac may be gathered in a series illustrating the 8,quartier ,marais10 and published in an dition de luxe with descriptive text by the etcher4 ,let us hope that this may come to pass1 for the buildings that ,mr4 ,webster depicts are far more than a prosaic record of architectural features4 ,there is a spiritual and human suggestiveness behind the mortar and bricks of his pictures3 as a poet of his own nation has it1 they are 8latent with unseen existences40 ,he has appreciated the fact that etching--an art hedged in by limitations and depending upon power of suggestion--is the one art that can give at once those delicate lines1 those broad shadows1 those crumbling bits of texture4 ,the lover of etching can regard his subject with indifference1 and take full joy in the soft play of sunlight1 the fine choice of line1 the effective massing of light and shade4 ,another plate of this 8,quartier ,marais0 series is a noble representation of ,notre ,dame seen from an unusual aspect4 ,it is a drawing from near the ,htel de ,ville and shows the splendid mass of the cathedral rising above the irregular houses that face the ,quartier ,marais and the ,quai aux ,fleurs4 ,there is freedom and charm in the treatment of the foreground1 where a little tug puffs along the river and the big barges move cumbrously under the lee of the near bank1 and in the middle distance where the light plays pleasantly over the old houses2 but the roof of the cathedral itself1 put in with unpleasing rigidity of line1 comes like cold fact in the middle of romance4 ,it is as though ,meryon here had imposed his weakness as well as his strength upon ,mr4 ,webster1 for in the ,morgue1 for instance1 the one small blemish is the ruled precision of the lines upon a roof4 ,a fitting companion to this vision of ,notre ,dame is ,le ,pont ,neuf1 another of the etcher's largest and most distinguished plates4 ,the stern solidity of the bridge1 with its massive masonry1 its corbeled turrets1 and its deeply shadowed arches1 makes pleasing contrast with the irregular sky-line of the sunlit houses that rise beyond4 ,it may be said of all ,mr4 ,webster's etchings--and perhaps there could be no higher praise--that each possesses the faculty of provoking fresh interest4 ,that is certainly the case with four of his most recent plates4 ,one is an interior of ,st4 ,saturnin1 ,toulouse1 majestic and stately1 full of suggestive mystery in the religious light that falls with soft touch upon the pillars1 throws into relief the dark masses of the choir-stalls1 and strives to penetrate the dim recesses of the vaulted roof4 ,st4 ,saturnin will be among the rariora of the collector1 for the plate unfortunately broke when twelve proofs only had been printed4 ,the artist's subtle perception of light and his refined draughtsmanship have been used to singular advantage in the ,ancienne ,facult de ,mdecine1 #afjh4 ,one is grateful to him for his fine record of this domed building that was a little gem of ,renaissance art1 though there is a note of sadness in the substructure of balks and struts set at its base by the ruthless hand of the destroyer4 ,illustration3 ,,webster4 8,,st4 ,,saturnin1 ,,toulouse0 ,size of the original etching1 #aj #d inches ,illustration3 ,,webster4 ,,ancienne ,,facult ,,de ,m,,decine1 ,,paris 8,the artist's subtle perception of light and his refined draftsmanship have been used to singular advantage in the ,ancienne ,facult de ,mdecine1 #afjh4 ,one is grateful to him for his fine record of this domed building that was a little gem of ,renaissance art1 though there is a note of sadness in the substructure of balks and struts set at its base by the ruthless hand of the destroyer40 ,martin ,hardie4 ,size of the original etching1 #aa #g inches ,gothic canopies and tracery are drawn with loving care in the ,porte des ,marmousets1 ,st4 ,ouen1 ,rouen1 but here again it is the mystery of shadow in the deep porch that supplies the true theme4 ,a church porch has also supplied the subject of one of ,mr4 ,webster's latest works1 ,notre ,dame des ,andelys4 ,the ordinary observer will delight in the print for its beautiful rendering of a noble fragment of architecture4 ,those who have real knowledge of etching will appreciate it still more for its clever biting and for its subtle delicacy of line so cunningly used for the indication of stone1 glass1 and woodwork with their different surfaces and textures4 ,that plate of ,notre ,dame des ,andelys1 though not the most instantly engaging1 is perhaps the most accomplished which the artist has produced4 ,it is in this accomplishment that from the coldly critical point of view ,i see an indication--a hint only--of possible danger4 ,here1 and to some extent in the ,pont ,neuf and the ,rue ,grenier1 the careful1 tense1 concentrated work shows almost too disciplined a self-control4 ,close study of these prints gives just a touch of the irritation that comes from watching the monotonous perfection of a first-class game-shot or golfer1 bringing a malicious desire for some mistake or piece of recklessness4 ,the true etching always appeals in some degree by its spice of adventure1 by some happiness of accident1 and so while the ,pont ,neuf and the ,notre ,dame des ,andelys rouse full admiration and respect for their splendid artistry1 the more haphazard methods of the ,rue ,brise ,miche and ,les ,blanchisseuses touch a far deeper note of sympathy4 ,they have in them the breezy1 natural oratory that is often so much more stirring than the fluent1 polished periods of the accomplished speaker4 ,but even where ,mr4 ,webster is most precise in his articulation1 most resolute in his adherence to familiar truths1 he always combines with this a personal aspect and a power of selection that1 disregarding the commonplace and petty1 lends poetry to the interpretation4 ,his 8careful0 work is very far removed from the cold and careful work of the ordinary uninspired craftsman4 ,in studying the work of a young etcher--and ,mr4 ,webster is still young as an etcher--it is almost always possible to trace certain influences which1 quite legitimately1 have acted upon his choice of subject and his technique4 ,in one of his first etchings1 ,the ,court1 ,bourron1 the ,whistler influence is frankly apparent4 ,les ,blanchisseuses is in no sense an imitative plate1 but ,i should have said it was the work of a man who knew ,whistler's ,unsafe ,tenement by heart4 ,and there comes in the critic's danger of leaping to rash conclusions1 for ,mr4 ,webster tells me he never saw that print by ,whistler till long after his etching was made4 ,for the ,meryon influence1 which is clearly apparent in much of his work1 ,mr4 ,webster makes no apology4 ,nor need he do so2 for if he reminds us1 here a little of ,whistler1 there a little of ,meryon1 there is always a large measure of himself besides4 ,the true artist lights his torch from that of his predecessors3 it is his business to carry on great traditions4 8,i have done my best simply to learn from him1 not to steal0--that is ,mr4 ,webster's own expressive way of putting it4 ,illustration3 ,,webster4 ,,notre ,,dame ,,des ,,andelys 8,the ordinary observer will delight in ,notre ,dame des ,andelys for its beautiful rendering of a noble fragment of architecture4 ,those who have real knowledge of etching will appreciate it still more for its clever biting and for its subtle delicacy of line so cunningly used for the indication of stone1 glass1 and woodwork with their different surfaces and textures40 ,martin ,hardie4 ,size of the original etching1 #aa #g inches ,illustration3 ,,webster4 ,,porte ,,des ,,marmousets1 ,,st4 ,,ouen1 ,,rouen 8,gothic canopies and tracery are drawn with loving care in the ,porte des ,marmousets1 ,st4 ,ouen1 ,rouen1 but here again it is the mystery of shadow in the deep porch that supplies the true theme40 ,martin ,hardie4 ,size of the original etching1 #aj #g inches ,mr4 ,webster has not learned from ,meryon at the cost of his own individuality1 and one reason for the freshness that characterizes his work is that he is one of those who like to transfer their first impressions of nature direct to the plate in the open air4 ,with very few exceptions1 that is how his etchings have been made4 ,a certain amount of work is necessarily done afterward in the retirement of the studio1 but the straightforward method of rendering nature gives a vividness and spontaneity that careful work from intermediate studies in pencil or color can rarely produce4 ,this spontaneity is the very essence of good etching1 for with etching1 as with water-color1 its highest charm is inevitably troubled by mechanical labor2 it is essentially a method of which one feels that 8if 'twere done1 'twere well done quickly40 ,the etcher should no more be able to stay the quick gliding of his needle in the middle of a line than the skater to stand still upon the outside edge4 ,and ,i think that the etcher who works straight from nature is more apt to search out the notes and accents of character and to seize upon those structural lines which are a fundamental necessity to his work4 ,another chief excellence in ,mr4 ,webster's work lies in the fact that from the first he has been his own printer4 ,he is no believer in the principle followed by many other etchers of biting their plate and leaving it to some one 8with the palm of a duchess0 to do the rest4 ,patient acquisition of craftsmanship is bound to tell1 for the paid printer1 be he never so skilled1 cannot hope to understand an artist's intentions quite so well as the artist himself4 ,mr4 ,webster1 however1 has no need of any artifice2 there is no trace in his etchings of the meretricious printing which ,whistler condemned as 8treacly40 ,light and shade enter into charming alliance in his prints1 but line is always of the confederacy1 and it is to purity of line that the shadows which tell so strongly owe their strength4 ,in the very depths of them there is always a luminous gloom1 never a trace of the harshness and opacity that come from slurred workmanship and reliance upon printer's ink4 ,perhaps ,i have said too much already1 for ,mr4 ,webster's work is well able to speak for itself4 ,but there is one noteworthy feature1 common to all his plates1 that claims attention1 and that is his power of rendering sunlight4 ,if he loves dark and dingy thoroughfares with dilapidated roofs and moldering plaster1 it is for the sake of those quaint shadows that peep from their recesses and climb the high walls1 and still more for the patches of brilliant1 quivering sunlight to which the shadows give so full a value4 ,he seems to hear1 like ,corot1 the actual crash of the sun upon the wall--8l'clat du soleil qui frappe40 ,,part ,,ii ,it is difficult to clothe one's speech in the detached terms of a catalogue when writing of an artist whose work always kindles fresh enthusiasm4 ,and so ,i may perhaps be pardoned if1 in adding something to a previous essay upon the etchings of ,herman ,a4 ,webster1 ,i venture to strike a more personal note4 ,illustration3 ,,webster4 ,,vieilles ,,maisons1 ,,rue ,,hautefeuille1 ,,paris 8,he loves dark and dingy thoroughfares with dilapidated roofs and moldering plaster1 444 for the patches of brilliant1 quivering sunlight to which the shadows give so full a value40 ,martin ,hardie4 ,size of the original etching1 #aa #e inches ,illustration3 ,,webster4 ,,la ,,route ,,de ,,louviers 8,in landscape1 as in his architectural work1 ,webster sets his theme upon the plate with fine skill of arrangement and with exquisite draughtsmanship40 ,martin ,hardie4 ,size of the original etching1 #f #h inches ,there can be few men to whom art is more of a religion than to ,webster4 ,on two occasions when ,i saw him during his hurried visits to ,london in the spring of #aiaj1 he spoke of his art with all the zeal of a missionary and the fervor of a convert4 ,he seemed to be laboring in a slough of despond1 beset with a feeling that his past work was something worthless1 to be thrown aside like ,christian's bundle4 ,he appeared to be torn in sunder by divers doctrines1 telling me of the constant ebb and flow of argument in the ,paris cafs and studios between the parti mtier and the parti me--those who maintained that finished technique1 the 8cuisine0 of the ,french student1 was the final aim1 and those who held that the artist's own emotion1 howsoever it might find expression1 was the greatest thing of all4 ,webster felt--and it was a fact1 indeed1 at which ,i hinted in writing of his work before--that he was sacrificing something of the me to the mtier2 and his own realization of that is already becoming apparent in his outlook and his style4 ,then1 too1 his talk was all of the attainment and suggestion of light as the supreme quality in an etching2 and here ,i could reassure him1 for few have ever preached the gospel of light with more truth and earnestness than ,webster himself in the ,quai ,montebello and many other plates4 ,still1 there matters stood more than a year ago1 and the plates that ,webster had etched at ,marseilles and elsewhere lay rejected and unbitten in his studio4 ,then he set out to ,america1 where he spent the summer of #aiaj1 and1 like ,mr4 ,pennell1 fell a victim to the sky-scrapers of ,new ,york4 8,they are the most marvelous things10 he wrote1 8on the face of ,mother ,earth to-day4 ,it took me two months to begin to see them1 but then they began to glow1 to take shape1 and to grow4 ,perhaps no work of human hands in all the world offers such a stupendous picture as ,new ,york seen from almost anywhere within the down-town district1 or from the river or the bay4 ,there are cliffs and caons where sun and shadow work the weirdest miracles1 and soaring above them1 between forty and fifty stories from the ground1 rise arched roofs and pointed ones1 gray and gold and brown1 that one must see with one's own eyes to have the faintest conception of4 ,from across the ,hudson in the afternoon when the sun goes down you can watch the shadows creep up the sides of these mountains of brick and stone until you'd swear you were looking out on some gigantic fairyland40 ,his admiration of those sky-scrapers found expression in a series of drawings made on behalf of ,the ,century ,magazine1 and in1 at any rate1 one etching--the ,cortlandt ,street1 ,new ,york4 ,the subject will appeal most1 perhaps1 to those who live beneath the familiar shade of these monstrous habitations1 with their hundreds of staring eyes2 but the ordinary man1 though he may find it strangely uninspiring and unromantic1 will at any rate admire the firm decision of the drawing and welcome the slender filaments and trembling gray spirals of smoke--so difficult to express in line with a point of steel--that cast a veil over the sordid reality of the scene4 ,though ,webster carried that one plate to a finish1 he was still obsessed by all sorts of doubts4 ,many drawings were torn up1 and many plates that he etched were wilfully destroyed4 ,just as the golfer falls victim to too much reading of theoretical works1 so for ,webster his eager indulgence in theory and science put him 8off his game40 ,i say all this to account for what must seem a small output during two years for a man whose sole work is etching4 ,it is all to the artist's credit2 but1 none the less1 we have suffered1 nous autres1 for his convictions4 ,now1 however1 ,richard is himself again4 ,a month or more spent in ,frankfort this summer has produced a series of pencil-drawings and etchings which should bring satisfaction and content both to the artist and to all who admire his work4 ,illustration3 ,,webster4 ,,bendergasse1 ,,frankfort 8,then there are the ,street of the ,three ,kings1 the ,bendergasse1 and ,sixteenth ,century ,houses1 all of them felicitous in charm of theme1 in play of light and shade1 and in the suggestion of life given by the animated figures40 ,martin ,hardie4 ,size of the original etching1 #h #e inches ,illustration3 ,,webster4 ,,cortlandt ,,street ,size of the original etching1 #ab #g inches ,before speaking of the ,frankfort series of etchings1 a word may be said about ,webster's pencil-drawings4 ,i know of no other artist1 save perhaps ,mr4 ,muirhead ,bone1 who can use the pencil-point with such exquisite fineness and precision in the production of an architectural drawing that1 with all its accuracy1 still retains the freshness of a sketch4 ,finding in a portfolio a drawing of ,cortlandt ,street and several others that repeated the subjects of the ,frankfort etchings1 ,i felt curious as to the exact relationship between these drawings and the work on the copperplate4 ,this interest was largely1 perhaps1 that of a fellow-etcher1 keen to see 8how the wheels go round10 but ,webster's reply to a question on this subject may interest others as well4 8,i determine my composition10 he wrote1 8in outline first4 ,this outline ,i transfer to the plate4 ,then ,i go out and carefully study in pencil1 on the original outline sketch1 the subject ,i want to do1 so as to #8get acquainted' with it before beginning the more exacting work upon the copperplate4 ,i never use a drawing to work from except sometimes as an extra guide in the biting1 where a careful study can be very useful40 ,they are beautiful things1 these pencil-drawings of ,new ,york and ,frankfort1 but there can be only one of each4 ,the etchings1 fortunately1 can be shared and enjoyed by many possessors4 ,frankfort has grown to be a large and very modern town with broad thoroughfares and palatial buildings2 but it has its old quarter as well1 and among the houses that nestle in narrow streets round the cathedral1 ,webster has found the same kind of subject that fascinated him before in ,bruges and ,marseilles and ,paris4 ,a brilliant draughtsman1 he never seems to hesitate or lose his way among the manifold intricacies of the old-world buildings that he depicts4 ,he aims always at knitting his subjects into fine unity of composition by broad massing of light and shade4 8,in the last few months10 he writes1 8,i have grown never to make an etching for etching's sake1 but for the means it gives of studying closely the play of light across my subject40 ,that is his main theme3 the light that travels now with cold curiosity as it did centuries ago1 glancing into open windows1 throwing into relief a corbel or a crocket1 casting a shadow under eave or window ledge1 revealing1 like a patch in some tattered garment1 the cracks and seams in moldering plaster or time-worn timber4 ,in depicting these storehouses of human joys and aspirations1 hopes and despairs1 he has none of ,meryon's gloom and morbidness4 ,it is true that behind many of the windows in these poor homes of his pictures some ,marie ,claire may be toiling in sad-eyed poverty2 yet for ,webster the outside shall be sunny1 little white curtains shall veil the gloom1 and flowers shall blossom on the window ledge1 though the sad worker may have watered them with her tears4 ,and if sunshine is still potent in these new plates1 there is also a fresh and joyous note of life and movement in the streets4 ,the introduction of figures1 well placed and full of character1 is a new development in ,webster's art4 ,bustling workers1 or happy groups of gossiping women1 or the dark mass of a distant crowd1 are introduced with consummate skill1 and the picturesqueness of the old streets gains new value from the suggestion of this living stream of human traffic4 ,the presence of modern life enhances the gray and wrinkled age of the buildings which have watched so many generations come and go4 ,illustration3 ,,webster4 ,,lowenpl,,tzchen1 ,,frankfort ,size of the original etching1 #h #f inches ,illustration3 ,,webster4 ,,der ,,langer ,,franz1 ,,frankfort 8,der ,langer ,franz1 a view of the ,rathaus tower that took its nickname from a tall burgomaster of the town1 is a little gem1 brilliant with light and rich in the mystery of shadow40 ,martin ,hardie4 ,size of the original etching4 #d #c inches ,among the new plates are four that deal with street scenes in the ,alt ,stadt of ,frankfort4 ,der ,langer ,franz1 a view of the ,rathaus tower that took its nickname from a tall burgomaster of the town1 is the smallest of all1 but a little gem1 brilliant with light and rich in the mystery of shadow4 ,then there are the ,street of the ,three ,kings1 the ,bendergasse1 and ,sixteenth-century ,houses1 all of them felicitous in charm of theme1 in play of light and shade1 and in the suggestion of life given by the animated figures4 ,there are admirable figures again in ,an ,old ,court1 one of the plates that the collector of future days will most desire to possess4 ,there is less in it of obvious labor than in the street scenes2 the etcher has overcome a natural fear of blank spaces2 and his reticence and more summary execution have lent to this plate much of the unconscious and unpremeditated charm that is one of the finest qualities which an etching can possess4 ,two etchings of old bridges over the ,main at ,frankfort must rank among the best work that ,webster has yet produced4 ,one is a small and spirited plate showing the tower of the cathedral and a row of houses1 most delicately drawn1 rising with a beautiful sky-line above the solid mass of the shadowed bridge with its heavy buttresses4 ,the other shows the old bridge that spans the ,main between ,frankfort and ,sachsenhausen4 ,legend tells that in compensation for finishing the building within a certain time the architect made a vow to sacrifice to the devil the first living being that crossed the bridge4 ,then1 when the fatal day arrived1 he drove a cock across1 and so cheated the devil of his due4 ,much the same story of outwitting the devil is told about the building of the cathedral at ,aix-la-,chapelle4 ,whether ,webster ventured upon any compact ,i do not know2 but this plate1 in its building1 in its well-constructed composition1 in its splendid effect of brilliant sunshine1 is one of the most successful tasks he has ever accomplished4 ,the group of figures on the near bank1 happily placed like those in ,vermeer's famous ,view of ,delft1 adds no little to the charm of the scene4 ,i would set this plate beside ,les ,blanchisseuses and the ,quai ,montebello1 which ,mr4 ,wedmore has found 8modestly perfect10 as representing the very summit of ,webster's art4 ,illustration3 ,,webster4 ,,the ,,old ,,bridge1 ,,frankfort ,this old bridge spans the river ,main between ,frankfort and ,sachsenhausen 8,i would set this plate beside ,les ,blanchisseuses and ,quai ,montebello1 which ,mr4 ,wedmore has found #8modestly perfect1' as representing the very summit of ,webster's art40 ,martin ,hardie4 ,size of the original etching1 #e #h inches ,illustration3 ,,webster4 ,,la ,,rue ,,st4 ,,jacques1 ,,paris 8444 ,one of the best etchings he has ever made4444 ,it is not merely fine in its pattern of light and shade1 but it has a direct force and simplification that are rich with promise for the future40 ,martin ,hardie4 ,size of the original etching1 #h #e inches ,while he has surrendered for the time being to the charm of ,frankfort1 ,webster has not been unfaithful to the ,paris of his early love4 ,of ,paris he might say1 like ,montaigne1 8,that city has ever had my heart2 and it has fallen out to me1 as of excellent things1 that the more of other fine cities ,i have seen since1 the more the beauty of this gains on my affections4 ,i love it tenderly1 even with all its warts and blemishes40 ,all the more for the warts and blemishes of its old buildings ,webster loves it1 too2 and while working on his ,frankfort plates he has completed another of ,la ,rue ,st4 ,jacques1 ,paris1 which1 ,i think1 is one of the best etchings he has ever made4 ,at times1 even in his ,frankfort plates1 one still feels that his superb draughtsmanship and his love of detail--ce superflu1 si ncessaire--have led him to a uniformity of finish that is almost too 8icily regular40 ,i do not mean that ,webster's elaboration is the cold1 almost meaningless1 elaboration of the line-engraver2 nor do ,i forget that the technique of ,meryon1 one of the greatest masters of etchings1 was1 in ,mr4 ,wedmore's happy phrasing1 8one of unfaltering firmness and regularity1 one of undeterred deliberation40 ,all the same1 one wishes that ,meryon had done a few more things like the ,rue des ,mauvais ,garons1 and wishes that ,webster also1 in a similar way1 were now and then less sure of himself1 were held sometimes by a trembling hesitancy1 or driven sometimes by the passion of the moment to allow room for fortunate accident and rapid suggestion4 ,for that reason ,i welcome his ,rue ,st4 ,jacques4 ,it is not merely fine in its pattern of light and shade1 but it has a direct force and simplification that are rich with promise for the future4 ,since writing the above1 ,i have seen working-proofs of two new etchings of landscape4 ,and here1 too1 there is high promise4 ,they show1 at least1 that ,webster is not going to remain a man of one subject2 that he is opening his heart to the beauty and romance of simple nature4 ,he has sought his first themes in that pleasant countryside where1 between tall poplars1 you get peeps of ,chteau ,gaillard1 nobly set upon its hill4 ,in landscape1 as in his architectural work1 ,webster sets his theme upon the plate with fine skill of arrangement and with exquisite draughtsmanship4 ,these two plates1 ,chteau ,gaillard and ,la ,route de ,louviers1 are exhilarating in their feeling of sunshine1 and they please by their absolute simplicity of statement4 ,they are honest1 and without artifice4 ,printed 8as clean as a whistle10 without any of the doubtful expedients that give a meretricious attractiveness to so much modern etching1 they appeal by their rightness of pattern and precision of line4 ,those who see high promise as well as present fulfilment in ,webster's art1 will not regret that he has left the town and set out where thro' the green land1 ,vistas of change and adventure1 ,the gray roads go beckoning and winding4 ,,anders ,,zorn--,,painter-,,etcher ,,by ,j4 ,,nilsen ,,laurvik ,broadly speaking there are but two kinds of artists--innovators and imitators4 ,the first may be known by the opposition they arouse in the sacred sanctums of mediocrity and by their final but reluctant acceptance by the self-appointed custodians of the ,hall of ,fame whose business it is to exclude genius until ,time shall have tempered all its buoyant1 youthful enthusiasms1 which are the very signs and tokens of those starry creatures whom the gods have blessed4 ,youth and all its amazing prodigality are of the very essence of genius1 and it is by virtue of this exuberant overflowing of the spirit that the works of ,anders ,zorn make their vital appeal4 ,he celebrates with fervent1 dramatic strokes the pageant of the visible world1 and all that his alert eyes can see his nimble fingers depict with an unfailing sense of the pictorial possibilities inherent in the passing procession of contemporary life4 ,there is in his work something of childlike spontaneity1--a healthy1 natural enjoyment in the mere practice of his art that is infectious4 ,he has the same impartial love for nature as it is as had ,velasquez and ,frans ,hals1 and the same incomparable interdependence of head and hand4 ,his art is1 in the best sense of the word1 purely objective1 dedicated to a specific transcription of the outward semblance of things4 ,these bright1 vivacious plates are not evolved by any painful process of mental cogitation1 nor are they the result of imaginative vagaries4 ,zorn is concerned but little with abstract form or involved compositions4 ,but he cannot be accused of evading difficulties through any fear of failure1 as he has so convincingly demonstrated in his vivid1 sun-flecked ,interior of a ,parisian ,omnibus with its sharply characterized passengers1 and in his dramatically effective ,waltz with its assemblage of swaying figures moving rhythmically through the spacious ball-room1 both marvels of discerning observation recorded with an almost clairvoyant magic of line that evoke the kaleidoscopic shimmer and brilliancy of the scenes depicted4 ,the difficulties presented by these complex subjects are surmounted with the same nonchalant ease and certainty that distinguish his long series of individual portraits and figure pieces4 ,that the latter predominate in the hierarchy of his etched work is a matter of choice rather than of chance and may1 ,i think1 be taken as an indication of his keen appreciation of the limitations as well as the possibilities of this medium4 ,no one1 not even ,whistler1 has realized more clearly than he that etching at its best is essentially an impressionistic art1 to be practised only in the happiest moods1 and his finest plates are marvels of swift1 stenographic notations that have been scratched upon the copper direct from nature in a white heat of enthusiasm4 ,illustration3 ,,zorn4 ,,portrait ,,of ,,the ,,artist ,,and ,,his ,,wife ,size of the original etching1 #ab #h inches ,illustration3 ,,zorn4 ,,the ,,waltz ,size of the original etching1 #ac #i inches ,he calls etching his diversion1 which accounts for the uniformly high quality of this side of his art4 ,done for the sheer love of it1 as other men would ride horseback or play golf1 these plates are the product of a joyousness that is the mother of all great art4 ,it is typical of him that he should have taken up the practice of this exacting though elusive art merely as an amusement1 as he himself says1 8with which to while away odd hours1 instead of sitting at home or going about for entertainment40 ,this is characteristic of his whole life and harks back to the genesis of his artistic career when1 as a mere lad1 he carved in birch-wood with his clasp-knife images of the flocks he tended in the ,dalecarlian forests4 ,even in those early days this son of humble peasant folk revealed a power of lifelike characterization that did not pass unnoticed by these shrewd1 clear-eyed peasantry whose sole criterion in matters of art was whether or not the counterfeit presentment looked like the original4 ,and in these small carved images of cows and sheep they found a striking resemblance to their models that aroused their keenest admiration4 ,his first patron was one of these peasant folk1 a shepherd friend of his1 who bought from him a carved statuette of an enraged cow for which ,zorn received in payment a sou and a little white loaf4 ,to make his sculpture more lifelike he used to imitate antique statuary by tinting his work4 ,his palette was the palm of his hand1 in which he mixed a composite of bilberry juice and certain coloring substances obtained from little forest flowers4 ,that was the beginning of a sturdy naturalism that no subsequent academic training has been able to nullify4 ,even in these first tentative attempts at personal expression he revealed the essential qualities of his genius1--his very powerful color sense and his acute observation of natural phenomena4 ,his work betrays an almost savage delight in the truth of nature1 and if to be truthful is to be cruel1 then ,zorn is often cruel4 ,he employs no gentle gloss1 and1 whether it be friend or casual sitter1 each is treated with unblushing frankness4 ,a full-blooded art1 somewhat primitive and exulting in its crude strength1 it gives one a pulsating sense of reality4 ,his work has the natural daring of one who is on familiar terms with all the secrets of his art4 ,conveying an appearance of brilliant1 almost reckless improvisation1 it is none the less the result of astute and penetrating observation that has in each case recorded the face of actuality as well as its deeper and abiding spirit4 ,strongly opposed to all the conventionalities of the studio1 he abhors posing as much as he dislikes monogamy1 preferring to study his subjects under natural conditions when they are off their guard and then to transcribe his impressions very largely from memory1 after the essential lines have been noted4 ,thus have come into being some of his most memorable plates1 such as the ,renan1 and the portrait of himself and his wife1 each executed in a few hours of concentrated effort4 ,the very swiftness with which these impressions have been recorded has no doubt contributed much toward giving them that convincing finality which1 paradoxically enough1 are theirs in a preminent degree no matter how casual may appear the means by which this effect has been achieved4 ,that is the impression left upon one by his illuminating portrait of the pontifical-looking ,renan1 for example4 ,illustration3 ,,zorn4 ,,madame ,,simon ,size of the original etching1 #i #f inches ,illustration3 ,,zorn4 ,,ernest ,,renan ,size of the original etching1 #i #ac inches ,here is set down for all time in a few unerring lines the soul and body of the man--the casuist and the voluptuary of thought1 the ,balzacian bulk of him physically and the bigness of him mentally4 ,the massive and apparently grotesque exterior of this speculative dreamer1 immersed in his own meditations1 conveys something of the same sense of aloofness with which ,rodin has invested his statue of ,balzac4 ,they both appear to be dreaming of life and its mysteries until the immense torso seems but an ,olympian pedestal supporting the domelike head4 ,it is more than a pocket-edition biography1 this portrait4 ,executed in one sitting in ,renan's study in ,april of #ahib1 nine years after his initiation into the mysteries of etching1 this plate may be said to epitomize the whole art of ,zorn1--his vigorous truthfulness1 his synthetic treatment of salient points of character1 and his love of dramatic contrasts of sharply juxtaposed masses of black and white4 ,moreover1 it furnishes a striking exposition of the purely technical side of his art in which he has created for himself a highly original and personal method4 ,no one has eschewed more rigorously than he the 8happy accidents0 employed as a convenient cloak by masquerading incompetents1 foisting their meaningless scrawls on a bewildered public1 to whom etching has become synonymous with a pretty dilettantism that is within the easy reach of every aspiring fledgling of art4 ,these parallel1 slanting strokes that seem to cut and divide the form into unrelated sections are really the expression of an accurate and well-defined intention that manifests itself in the extraordinary verisimilitude of the figure and its adroitly suggested accessories4 ,it is like a fleeting glimpse in a mirror in which the impalpable spirit of reality is reflected1 evoking by some mysterious incantation the most fugitive nuances of expression and gesture with the slightest inflection of his modeling4 ,it is the extreme refinement and subtility in this seeming brutality that give to these plates their unique value and interest4 ,seldom has a man suggested his predecessors less than does ,zorn in these epigrammatic etchings4 ,they are according to no established formula4 ,if he has looked upon ,rembrandt1 as what practitioner of aqua fortis has not1 there is but slight evidence of it in these straightforward vibrant plates4 ,to be sure1 he has the same love of bold contrasts of light and shade as had the master of ,amsterdam1 without the romantic glamour of the dreamy ,dutchman4 ,this modern ,swede is more direct1 more incisive1 his line has something of the penetrating and biting analysis of a page from ,strindberg1 and not infrequently1 as in the case of his haunting portrait of the besotted poet ,paul ,verlaine1 there is discernible a sort of ironic humor that throws a revealing light upon his sitter4 ,with what discerning and subtle insight he has portrayed that gentle flavor of intellectual skepticism which is the chief characteristic of ,anatole ,france2 while the head of ,rodin1 laughing in his foaming beard1 is highly indicative of the immense creative energy of the author of ,le ,penseur4 ,in every instance he has successfully summarized the essential and abiding characteristics of his sitter1 no less effectually accomplished in the twenty-minute impromptu of ,marcelin ,berthelot than in the more deliberately studied portrait of ,marquand1 or the very succinctly realized version of ,august ,strindberg1 the ,swedish author4 ,these portraits of contemporary men and women are fascinating records of repeated excursions into the realm of character1 which holds for ,zorn the strongest appeal1 as it has ever for all men of the ,north1 whose supreme happiness is the realization of a clearly defined individualism4 ,illustration3 ,,zorn4 ,,august ,,strindberg ,size of the original etching1 #aa #g inches ,illustration3 ,,zorn4 ,,sunday ,,morning ,,in ,,dalecarlia ,size of the original etching1 #aj #g inches ,while ,zorn to-day occupies a position of unchallenged supremacy in the difficult and exacting field of portraiture--his portrait etchings would alone make a notable ,pantheon of contemporary worthies--it is in his frank1 unabashed nudes and in his delineations of ,swedish peasant types that we find the most personal expression of his peculiar genius4 ,nowhere has his faculty of instantaneous perception1 his ability to grasp at a glance and in its entirety either an isolated individual or a group of figures1 been employed to greater advantage than in these brilliant1 dazzling nudes and in these veracious records of his beloved ,dalecarlian peasants4 ,with a few swift1 sure strokes he gives us the soft contour1 the undulating curves of the fresh1 firm flesh1 of these strong-limbed ,junos1 as well as the wrinkled1 time-worn visages of the aged tillers of the soil4 ,his interest in this type is not episodic1 it is persistent4 ,they were his first subjects as well as his first patrons1 and throughout his career it is to them that he has turned for rest and refreshment from the social banalities of the mundane life in the great capitals of the world where he is in constant demand as a painter of exclusive society4 ,at heart he remains a peasant1 retaining a strong love for the scenes of his boyhood with all their simple associations4 ,here he is at home1 and here he has given untrammeled expression to that paganism which is the dominant trait of his character4 ,he delights in portraying these sturdy1 flaxen-haired peasants in all the unconscious abandon of their nave natures1 and the series of plates celebrating the intimate life of these people are the most authentic expressions of his art because the most closely related to the mainsprings of his personality4 ,his love of the unstudied1 unposed naturalness of life has found its culminating expression in these nudes of women and children as seen in the open air in the free solitude of the shores of ,dalecarlia4 ,zorn regards nature with the eagerness of the primitive1 and these ruddy women are virile protests against the anemic1 hypersthetic refinements of the school-room conventions4 ,stripped of all regard for the accepted ideals of feminine beauty these women of ,zorn repel or appeal by the unfeigned candor of every look and gesture4 ,these big1 blonde women1 whose naked bodies move with unrestrained freedom through the tonic1 balsam air are imbued with a superb1 healthy animalism such as has never been depicted in the whole history of art4 ,they spring from a strong artistic impulse that has its roots in the subsoil of nature4 ,to see these frankly realistic versions of unsophisticated1 throbbing femininity is to feel that the nude has never before been adequately portrayed--all other nudes seem mere means toward some elaborately preconceived end while those of ,zorn are gloriously self-sufficing1 an end in themselves4 ,illustration3 ,,zorn4 ,,the ,,bather1 ,,seated ,size of the original etching1 #f #d inches ,illustration3 ,,zorn4 ,,edo 8,edo0 is the name of the ,swedish island where ,zorn etched this beautiful plate ,size of the original etching1 #g #d inches ,an ardent sensuousness marks all these things1 but it is sane and wholesome1 with no trace of doubtful submeaning4 ,that is strikingly exemplified in ,my ,model and my ,boat1 in which the exuberant1 re-creating force of life is presented in all its tantalizing seductiveness of ample1 quivering curves4 ,the beauty of vigorous symmetry1 of inherent strength1 overcome the somewhat obvious coarseness of the type of woman depicted here1 and one can have nothing but admiration for the underlying sincerity as well as the consummate mastery revealed in every stroke of these plates4 ,but the purely physical allure of his nudes is by no means always as insistent as in the foregoing4 ,the elusive and half-reticent feminine charm has not escaped him1 and there are some nudes out of doors1 in the lambent light of dawn and twilight1 more delicate1 more subtly suggestive1 than anything hitherto accomplished in etching4 ,the nudes of ,rembrandt would look singularly coarse and heavy by comparison with these silvery1 exquisitely modeled ,brunhildas of ,zorn1 who disport themselves on the sunlit beach or emerge from the enveloping shadow of some protruding cliff with a childlike unconsciousness and a pagan navet that disarms prudish prejudices4 ,in its supple grace and vibrant vitality the delicately modulated back of the bending figure of ,the ,bather--,evening is a pantheistic hymn to the eternal efflorescence of life4 ,she pauses in the silvery twilight1 before breaking the surface of the mirror-like lake into a thousand jewels of refracted light1 and she is as much a part of the enshrouding stillness as the aged rocks on which she stands4 ,whistler never did anything more evanescent than the landscape of this plate1 which is printed in a key as light and airy as the magically executed lines1 that give the softness of the figure's contours as well as the hardness of the rocks and the veiled serenity of distant lake and woodland4 ,it is a splendid affirmation of the extremely delicate sensibilities possessed by this most vigorous and brilliant of contemporary etchers1 whose art is one of the most powerful and significant manifestations of the re-awakened sthetic impulse of the twentieth century4 ,transcriber's ,notes3 ,italics are shown thus3 sloping4 ,small capitals have been capitalised4 ,variations in spelling and hyphenation are retained4 ,perceived typographical errors have been changed4