the best portraits in engraving. by charles sumner. _fifth edition._ frederick keppel & co. new york, 20 east 16th street. london, paris, 3 duke street, adelphi. 27 quai de l'horloge. entered according to act of congress, in the year 1875, by frederick keppel, in the office of the librarian of congress at washington. the best portraits in engraving. engraving is one of the fine arts, and in this beautiful family has been the especial handmaiden of painting. another sister is now coming forward to join this service, lending to it the charm of color. if, in our day, the "chromo" can do more than engraving, it cannot impair the value of the early masters. with them there is no rivalry or competition. historically, as well as æsthetically, they will be masters always. everybody knows something of engraving, as of printing, with which it was associated in origin. school-books, illustrated papers, and shop windows are the ordinary opportunities open to all. but while creating a transient interest, or, perhaps, quickening the taste, they furnish little with regard to the art itself, especially in other days. and yet, looking at an engraving, like looking at a book, may be the beginning of a new pleasure and a new study. each person has his own story. mine is simple. suffering from continued prostration, disabling me from the ordinary activities of life, i turned to engravings for employment and pastime. with the invaluable assistance of that devoted connoisseur, the late dr. thies, i went through the gray collection at cambridge, enjoying it like a picture-gallery. other collections in our country were examined also. then, in paris, while undergoing severe medical treatment, my daily medicine for weeks was the vast cabinet of engravings, then called imperial, now national, counted by the million, where was everything to please or instruct. thinking of those kindly portfolios, i make this record of gratitude, as to benefactors. perhaps some other invalid, seeking occupation without burden, may find in them the solace that i did. happily, it is not necessary to visit paris for the purpose. other collections, on a smaller scale, will furnish the same remedy. in any considerable collection, portraits occupy an important place. their multitude may be inferred when i mention that, in one series of portfolios, in the paris cabinet, i counted no less than forty-seven portraits of franklin and forty-three of lafayette, with an equal number of washington, while all the early presidents were numerously represented. but, in this large company, there are very few possessing artistic value. the great portraits of modern times constitute a very short list, like the great poems or histories, and it is the same with engravings as with pictures. sir joshua reynolds, explaining the difference between an historical painter and a portrait-painter, remarks that the former "paints men in general, a portrait-painter a particular man, and consequently a defective model."[1] a portrait, therefore, may be an accurate presentment of its subject without æsthetic value. but here, as in other things, genius exercises its accustomed sway without limitation. even the difficulties of a "defective model" did not prevent raffaelle, titian, rembrandt, rubens, velasquez, or vandyck from producing portraits precious in the history of art. it would be easy to mention heads by raffaelle, yielding in value to only two or three of his larger masterpieces, like the dresden madonna. charles the fifth stooped to pick up the pencil of titian, saying "it becomes cæsar to serve titian!" true enough; but this unprecedented compliment from the imperial successor of charlemagne attests the glory of the portrait-painter. the female figures of titian, so much admired under the names of flora, la bella, his daughter, his mistress, and even his venus, were portraits from life. rembrandt turned from his great triumphs in his own peculiar school to portraits of unwonted power; so also did rubens, showing that in this department his universality of conquest was not arrested. to these must be added velasquez and vandyck, each of infinite genius, who won fame especially as portrait-painters. and what other title has sir joshua himself? [sidenote: suyderhoef.] historical pictures are often collections of portraits arranged so as to illustrate an important event. such is the famous peace of münster, by terburg, just presented by a liberal englishman to the national gallery at london. here are the plenipotentiaries of holland, spain, and austria, uniting in the great treaty which constitutes an epoch in the law of nations. the engraving by suyderhoef is rare and interesting. similar in character is the death of chatham, by copley, where the illustrious statesman is surrounded by the peers he had been addressing--every one a portrait. to this list must be added the pictures by trumbull in the rotunda of the capitol at washington, especially the declaration of independence, in which thackeray took a sincere interest. standing before these, the author and artist said to me, "these are the best pictures in the country," and he proceeded to remark on their honesty and fidelity; but doubtless their real value is in their portraits. unquestionably the finest assemblage of portraits anywhere is that of the artists occupying two halls in the gallery at florence, being autographs contributed by the masters themselves. here is raffaelle, with chestnut-brown hair, and dark eyes full of sensibility, painted when he was twenty-three, and known by the engraving of forster--julio romano, in black and red chalk on paper,--massaccio, called the father of painting, much admired--leonardo da vinci, beautiful and grand,--titian, rich and splendid,--pietro perugino, remarkable for execution and expression,--albert dürer, rigid but masterly,--gerhard dow, finished according to his own exacting style,--and reynolds, with fresh english face; but these are only examples of this incomparable collection, which was begun as far back as the cardinal leopold de medici, and has been happily continued to the present time. here are the lions, painted by themselves, except, perhaps, the foremost of all, michael angelo, whose portrait seems the work of another. the impression from this collection is confirmed by that of any group of historic artists. their portraits excel those of statesmen, soldiers, or divines, as is easily seen by engravings accessible to all. the engraved heads in arnold houbraken's biographies of the dutch and flemish painters, in three volumes, are a family of rare beauty.[2] the relation of engraving to painting is often discussed; but nobody has treated it with more knowledge or sentiment than the consummate engraver longhi in his interesting work, _la calcografia_.[3] dwelling on the general aid it renders to the lovers of art, he claims for it greater merit in "publishing and immortalizing the portraits of eminent men for the example of the present and future generations;" and, "better than any other art, serving as the vehicle for the most extended and remote propagation of deserved celebrity." even great monuments in porphyry and bronze are less durable than these light and fragile impressions subject to all the chances of wind, water, and fire, but prevailing by their numbers where the mass succumbs. in other words, it is with engravings as with books; nor is this the only resemblance between them. according to longhi, an engraving is not a copy or imitation, as is sometimes insisted, but a translation. the engraver translates into another language, where light and shade supply the place of colors. the duplication of a book in the same language is a copy, and so is the duplication of a picture in the same material. evidently an engraving is not a copy; it does not reproduce the original picture, except in drawing and expression; nor is it a mere imitation, but, as bryant's homer and longfellow's dante are presentations of the great originals in another language, so is the engraving a presentation of painting in another material which is like another language. thus does the engraver vindicate his art. but nobody can examine a choice print without feeling that it has a merit of its own different from any picture, and inferior only to a good picture. a work of raffaelle, or any of the great masters, is better in an engraving of longhi or morghen than in any ordinary copy, and would probably cost more in the market. a good engraving is an undoubted work of art, but this cannot be said of many pictures, which, like peter pindar's razors, seem made to sell. much that belongs to the painter belongs also to the engraver, who must have the same knowledge of contours, the same power of expression, the same sense of beauty, and the same ability in drawing with sureness of sight as if, according to michael angelo, he had "a pair of compasses in his eyes." these qualities in a high degree make the artist, whether painter or engraver, naturally excelling in portraits. but choice portraits are less numerous in engraving than in painting, for the reason, that painting does not always find a successful translator. [illustration: philip melancthon. (engraved by albert dürer from his own design.)] [sidenote: dürer.] the earliest engraved portraits which attract attention are by albert dürer, who engraved his own work, translating himself. his eminence as painter was continued as engraver. here he surpassed his predecessors, martin schoen in germany, and mantegna in italy, so that longhi does not hesitate to say that he was the first who carried the art from infancy in which he found it to a condition not far from flourishing adolescence. but, while recognizing his great place in the history of engraving, it is impossible not to see that he is often hard and constrained, if not unfinished. his portrait of erasmus is justly famous, and is conspicuous among the prints exhibited in the british museum. it is dated 1526, two years before the death of dürer, and has helped to extend the fame of the universal scholar and approved man of letters, who in his own age filled a sphere not unlike that of voltaire in a later century. there is another portrait of erasmus by holbein, often repeated, so that two great artists have contributed to his renown. that by dürer is admired. the general fineness of touch, with the accessories of books and flowers, shows the care in its execution; but it wants expression, and the hands are far from graceful. another most interesting portrait by dürer, executed in the same year with the erasmus, is philip melancthon, the st. john of the reformation, sometimes called the teacher of germany. luther, while speaking of himself as rough, boisterous, stormy, and altogether warlike, says, "but master philippus comes along softly and gently, sowing and watering with joy according to the rich gifts which god has bestowed upon him." at the date of the print he was twenty-nine years of age, and the countenance shows the mild reformer. [sidenote: caracci.] agostino caracci, of the bolognese family, memorable in art, added to considerable success as painter undoubted triumphs as engraver. his prints are numerous, and many are regarded with favor; but out of the long list not one is so sure of that longevity allotted to art as his portrait of titian, which bears date 1587, eleven years after the death of the latter. over it is the inscription, _titiani vicellii pictoris celeberrimi ac famosissimi vera effigies_, to which is added beneath, _cujus nomen orbis continere non valet_! although founded on originals by titian himself, it was probably designed by the remarkable engraver. it is very like, and yet unlike the familiar portrait of which we have a recent engraving by mandel, from a repetition in the gallery of berlin. looking at it, we are reminded of the terms by which vasari described the great painter, _guidicioso, bello e stupendo_. such a head, with such visible power, justifies these words, or at least makes us believe them entirely applicable. it is bold, broad, strong, and instinct with life. this print, like the erasmus of dürer, is among those selected for exhibition at the british museum, and it deserves the honor. though only paper with black lines, it is, by the genius of the artist, as good as a picture. in all engraving nothing is better. [sidenote: goltzius.] contemporary with caracci was hendrik goltzius, at harlem, excellent as painter, but, like the italian, pre-eminent as engraver. his prints show mastery of the art, making something like an epoch in its history. his unwearied skill in the use of the burin appears in a tradition gathered by longhi from wille, that, having commenced a line, he carried it to the end without once stopping, while the long and bright threads of copper turned up were brushed aside by his flowing beard, which at the end of a day's labor so shone in the light of a candle that his companions nicknamed him "the man with the golden beard." there are prints by him which shine more than his beard. among his masterpieces is the portrait of his instructor, theodore coernhert, engraver, poet, musician, and vindicator of his country, and author of the national air, "william of orange," whose passion for liberty did not prevent him from giving to the world translations of cicero's offices and seneca's treatise on beneficence. but that of the engraver himself, as large as life, is one of the most important in the art. among the numerous prints by goltzius, these two will always be conspicuous. [illustration: jan lutma. (etched by rembrandt from his own design.)] [sidenote: pontius.] [sidenote: rembrandt.] [sidenote: visscher.] in holland goltzius had eminent successors. among these were paul pontius, designer and engraver, whose portrait of rubens is of great life and beauty, and rembrandt, who was not less masterly in engraving than in painting, as appears sufficiently in his portraits of the burgomaster six, the two coppenols, the advocate tolling, the goldsmith lutma, all showing singular facility and originality. contemporary with rembrandt was cornelis visscher, also designer and engraver, whose portraits were unsurpassed in boldness and picturesque effect. at least one authority has accorded to this artist the palm of engraving, hailing him as corypheus of the art. among his successful portraits is that of a cat; but all yield to what are known as the great beards, being the portraits of william de ryck, an ophthalmist at amsterdam, and of gellius de bouma, the zutphen ecclesiastic. the latter is especially famous. in harmony with the beard is the heavy face, seventy-seven years old, showing the fulness of long-continued potation, and hands like the face, original and powerful, if not beautiful. [illustration: the sleeping cat. (engraved by cornelis visscher from his own design.)] [sidenote: vandyck.] in contrast with visscher was his companion vandyck, who painted portraits with constant beauty and carried into etching the same virgilian taste and skill. his aquafortis was not less gentle than his pencil. among his etched portraits i would select that of snyders, the animal painter, as extremely beautiful. m. renouvier, in his learned and elaborate work, _des types et des maniéres des maîtres graveurs_, though usually moderate in praise, speaks of these sketches as "possessing a boldness and delicacy which charm, being taken, at the height of his genius, by the painter who knew the best how to idealize the painting of portraits." such are illustrative instances from germany, italy, and holland. as yet, power rather than beauty presided, unless in the etchings of vandyck. but the reign of louis xiv. was beginning to assert a supremacy in engraving as in literature. the great school of french engravers which appeared at this time brought the art to a splendid perfection, which many think has not been equalled since, so that masson, nanteuil, edelinck, and drevet may claim fellowship in genius with their immortal contemporaries, corneille, racine, la fontaine, and molière. [illustration: the sudarium of st. veronica. (engraved by claude mellan from his own design.)] [sidenote: mellan.] the school was opened by claude mellan, more known as engraver than painter, and also author of most of the designs he engraved. his life, beginning with the sixteenth century, was protracted beyond ninety years, not without signal honor, for his name appears among the "illustrious men" of france, in the beautiful volumes of perrault, which is also a homage to the art he practiced. one of his works, for a long time much admired, was described by this author: "it is a christ's head, designed and shaded, with his crown of thorns and the blood that gushes forth from all parts, by one single stroke, which, beginning at the tip of the nose, and so still circling on, forms most exactly everything that is represented in this plate, only by the different thickness of the stroke, which, according as it is more or less swelling, makes the eyes, nose, mouth, cheeks, hair, blood, and thorns; the whole so well represented and with such expressions of pain and affliction, that nothing is more dolorous or touching."[4] this print is known as the sudarium of st. veronica. longhi records that it was thought at the time "inimitable," and was praised "to the skies;" but people think differently now. at best it is a curiosity among portraits. a traveler reported some time ago that it was the sole print on the walls of the room occupied by the director of the imperial cabinet of engravings at st. petersburgh. [sidenote: morin.] morin was a contemporary of mellan, and less famous at the time. his style of engraving was peculiar, being a mixture of strokes and dots, but so harmonized as to produce a pleasing effect. one of the best engraved portraits in the history of the art is his cardinal bentivoglio; but here he translated vandyck, whose picture is among his best. a fine impression of this print is a choice possession. [illustration: cardinal bentivoglio. (painted by anthony van dyck, and engraved by jean morin.)] [sidenote: masson.] among french masters antoine masson is conspicuous for brilliant hardihood of style, which, though failing in taste, is powerful in effect. metal, armor, velvet, feather, seem as if painted. he is also most successful in the treatment of hair. his immense skill made him welcome difficulties, as if to show his ability in overcoming them. his print of henri de lorraine, comte d'harcourt, known as _cadet à la perle_, from the pearl in the ear, with the date 1667, is often placed at the head of engraved portraits, although not particularly pleasing or interesting. the vigorous countenance is aided by the gleam and sheen of the various substances entering into the costume. less powerful, but having a charm of its own, is that of brisacier, known as the gray-haired man, executed in 1664. the remarkable representation of hair in this print has been a model for artists, especially for longhi, who recounts that he copied it in his head of washington. somewhat similar is the head of charrier, the criminal judge at lyons. though inferior in hair, it surpasses the other in expression. [sidenote: nanteuil.] nanteuil was an artist of different character, being to masson as vandyck to visscher, with less of vigor than beauty. his original genius was refined by classical studies, and quickened by diligence. though dying at the age of forty-eight, he had executed as many as two hundred and eighty plates, nearly all portraits. the favor he enjoyed during life was not diminished with time. his works illustrate the reign of louis xiv., and are still admired. among these are portraits of the king, annie of austria, john baptiste van steenberghen, the advocate-general of holland, a heavy dutchman, françois de la motte le vayer, a fine and delicate work, turenne, colbert, lamoignon, the poet loret, maridat de serrière, louise-marie de gonzague, louis hesselin, christine of sweden--all masterpieces; but above these is the pompone de bellièvre, foremost among his masterpieces, and a chief masterpiece of art, being, in the judgment of more than one connoisseur, the most beautiful engraved portrait that exists. that excellent authority, dr. thies, who knew engraving more thoroughly and sympathetically than any person i remember in our country, said in a letter to myself, as long ago as march, 1858: "when i call nanteuil's pompone the handsomest engraved portrait, i express a conviction to which i came when i studied all the remarkable engraved portraits at the royal cabinet of engravings at dresden, and at the large and exquisite collection there of the late king of saxony, and in which i was confirmed or perhaps, to which i was led, by the director of the two establishments, the late professor frenzel." and after describing this head, the learned connoisseur proceeds:- "there is an air of refinement, _vornehmheit_, round the mouth and nose as in no other engraving. color and life shine through the skin, and the lips appear red." it is bold, perhaps, thus to exalt a single portrait, giving to it the palm of venus; nor do i know that it is entirely proper to classify portraits according to beauty. in disputing about beauty, we are too often lost in the variety of individual tastes, and yet each person knows when he is touched. in proportion as multitudes are touched, there must be merit. as in music a simple heart-melody is often more effective than any triumph over difficulties, or bravura of manner, so in engraving the sense of the beautiful may prevail over all else, and this is the case with the pompone, although there are portraits by others showing higher art. no doubt there have been as handsome men, whose portraits were engraved, but not so well. i know not if pompone was what would be called a handsome man, although his air is noble and his countenance bright. but among portraits more boldly, delicately, or elaborately engraved, there are very few to contest the palm of beauty. [illustration: pompone de bellièvre. (painted by charles le brun, and engraved by robert nanteuil.)] and who is this handsome man to whom the engraver has given a lease of fame? son, nephew, and grandson of eminent magistrates, high in the nobility of the robe, with two grandfathers chancellors of france, himself at the head of the magistry of france, first president of parliament according to inscription on the engraving, _senatus franciæ princeps_, ambassador to italy, holland, and england, charged in the latter country by cardinal mazarin with the impossible duty of making peace between the long parliament and charles the first, and at his death, great benefactor of the general hospital of paris, bestowing upon it riches and the very bed on which he died. such is the simple catalogue, and yet it is all forgotten. a funeral panegyric pronounced at his death, now before me in the original pamphlet of the time,[5] testifies to more than family or office. in himself he was much, and not of those who, according to the saying of st. bernard, give out smoke rather than light. pure glory and innocent riches were his, which were more precious in the sight of good men, and he showed himself incorruptible, and not to be bought at any price. it were easy for him to have turned a deluge of wealth into his house; but he knew that gifts insensibly corrupt,--that the specious pretext of gratitude is the snare in which the greatest souls allow themselves to be caught,--that a man covered with favors has difficulty in setting himself against injustice in all its forms, and that a magistrate divided between a sense of obligations received and the care of the public interest, which he ought always to promote, is a paralytic magistrate, a magistrate deprived of a moiety of himself. so spoke the preacher, while he portrayed a charity tender and prompt for the wretched, a vehemence just and inflexible to the dishonest and wicked, with a sweetness noble and beneficent for all; dwelling also on his countenance, which had not that severe and sour austerity that renders justice to the good only with regret, and to the guilty only with anger; then on his pleasant and gracious address, his intellectual and charming conversation, his ready and judicious replies, his agreeable and intelligent silence, his refusals, which were well received and obliging; while, amidst all the pomp and splendor accompanying him, there shone in his eyes a certain air of humanity and majesty, which secured for him, and for justice itself, love as well as respect. his benefactions were constant. not content with giving only his own, he gave with a beautiful manner still more rare. he could not abide beauty of intelligence without goodness of soul, and he preferred always the poor, having for them not only compassion but a sort of reverence. he knew that the way to take the poison from riches was to make them tasted by those who had them not. the sentiment of christian charity for the poor, who were to him in the place of children, was his last thought, as witness especially the general hospital endowed by him, and presented by the preacher as the greatest and most illustrious work ever undertaken by charity the most heroic. thus lived and died the splendid pompone de bellièvre, with no other children than his works. celebrated at the time by a funeral panegyric now forgotten, and placed among the illustrious men of france in a work remembered only for its engraved portraits, his famous life shrinks, in the voluminous _biographie universelle_ of michaud, to the seventh part of a single page, and in the later _biographie généralle_ of didot disappears entirely. history forgets to mention him. but the lofty magistrate, ambassador, and benefactor, founder of a great hospital, cannot be entirely lost from sight so long as his portrait by nanteuil holds a place in art. [sidenote: edelinck.] younger than nanteuil by ten years, gérard edelinck excelled him in genuine mastery. born at antwerp, he became french by adoption, occupying apartments in the gobelins, and enjoying a pension from louis xiv. longhi says that he is the engraver whose works, not only according to his own judgment, but that of the most intelligent, deserve the first place among exemplars, and he attributes to him all perfections in highest degree, design, chiaro-oscuro, ærial perspective, local tints, softness, lightness, variety, in short everything which can enter into the most exact representation of the true and beautiful without the aid of color. others may have surpassed him in particular things, but, according to the italian teacher, he remains by common consent "the prince of engraving." another critic calls him "king." it requires no remarkable knowledge to recognize his great merits. evidently he is a master, exercising sway with absolute art, and without attempts to bribe the eye by special effects of light, as on metal or satin. among his conspicuous productions is the tent of darius, a large engraving on two sheets, after le brun, where the family of the persian monarch prostrate themselves before alexander, who approaches with hephæstion. there is also a holy family, after raffaelle, and the battle of the standard, after leonardo da vinci; but these are less interesting than his numerous portraits, among which that of philippe de champaigne is the chief masterpiece; but there are others of signal merit, including especially that of madame heliot, or _la belle religieuse_, a beautiful french coquette praying before a crucifix; martin van der bogaert, a sculptor; frederic léonard, printer to the king; mouton, the lute-player; martinus dilgerus, with a venerable beard white with age; jules hardouin mansart, the architect; also a portrait of pompone de bellièvre which will be found among the prints of perrault's illustrious men. the philippe de champaigne is the head of that eminent french artist after a painting by himself, and it contests the palm with the pompone. mr. marsh, who is an authority, prefers it. dr. thies, who places the latter first in beauty, is constrained to allow that the other is "superior as a work of the graver," being executed with all the resources of the art in its chastest form. the enthusiasm of longhi finds expression in unusual praise: "the work which goes the most to my blood, and with regard to which edelinck, with good reason, congratulated himself, is the portrait of champaigne. i shall die before i cease to contemplate it with wonder always new. here is seen how he was equally great as designer and engraver."[6] [illustration: martin van der bogaert. (painted by hyacinthe rigaud, and engraved by gérard edelinck.)] and he then dwells on various details; the skin, the flesh, the eyes living and seeing, the moistened lips, the chin covered with a beard unshaven for a few days, and the hair in all its forms. between the rival portraits by nanteuil and edelinck it is unnecessary to decide. each is beautiful. in looking at them we recognize anew the transient honors of public service. the present fame of champaigne surpasses that of pompone. the artist outlives the magistrate. but does not the poet tell us that "the artist never dies?" [sidenote: drevet.] as edelinck passed from the scene, the family of drevet appeared, especially the son, pierre imbert drevet, born in 1697, who developed a rare excellence, improving even upon the technics of his predecessor, and gilding his refined gold. the son was born engraver, for at the age of thirteen he produced an engraving of exceeding merit. he manifested a singular skill in rendering different substances, like masson, by the effect of light, and at the same time gave to flesh a softness and transparency which remain unsurpassed. to these he added great richness in picturing costumes and drapery, especially in lace. he was eminently a portrait engraver, which i must insist is the highest form of the art, as the human face is the most important object for its exercise. less clear and simple than nanteuil, and less severe than edelinck, he gave to the face individuality of character, and made his works conspicuous in art. if there was excess in the accessories, it was before the age of sartor resartus, and he only followed the prevailing style in the popular paintings of hyacinthe rigaud. art in all its forms had become florid, if not meretricious, and drevet was a representative of his age. among his works are important masterpieces. i name only bossuet, the famed eagle of meaux; samuel bernard, the rich councillor of state; fénelon, the persuasive teacher and writer; cardinal dubois, the unprincipled minister, and the favorite of the regent of france; and adrienne le couvreur, the beautiful and unfortunate actress, linked in love with the marshal saxe. the portrait of bossuet has everything to attract and charm. there stands the powerful defender of the catholic church, master of french style, and most renowned pulpit orator of france, in episcopal robes, with abundant lace, which is the perpetual envy of the fair who look at this transcendent effort. the ermine of dubois is exquisite, but the general effect of this portrait does not compare with the bossuet, next to which, in fascination, i put the adrienne. at her death the actress could not be buried in consecrated ground; but through art she has the perpetual companionship of the greatest bishop of france. [illustration: jacques bénigne bossuet, bishop of meaux. (painted by hyacinthe rigaud, and engraved by pierre imbert drevet.)] [sidenote: balechou.] [sidenote: beauvarlet.] [sidenote: ficquet.] with the younger drevet closed the classical period of portraits in engraving, as just before had closed the augustan age of french literature. louis xiv. decreed engraving a fine art, and established an academy for its cultivation. pride and ostentation in the king and the great aristocracy created a demand which the genius of the age supplied. the heights that had been reached could not be maintained. there were eminent engravers still; but the zenith had been passed. balechou, who belonged to the reign of louis xv., and beauvarlet, whose life was protracted beyond the reign of terror, both produced portraits of merit. the former is noted for a certain clearness and brilliancy, but with a hardness, as of brass or marble, and without entire accuracy of design; the latter has much softness of manner. they were the best artists of france at the time; but none of their portraits are famous. to these may be added another contemporary artist, without predecessor or successor, stephen ficquet, unduly disparaged in one of the dictionaries as "a reputable french engraver," but undoubtedly remarkable for small portraits, not unlike miniatures, of exquisite finish. among these the rarest and most admired are la fontaine, madame de maintenon, rubens and vandyck. [sidenote: schmidt.] [sidenote: wille.] two other engravers belong to this intermediate period, though not french in origin: georg f. schmidt, born at berlin, 1712, and johann georg wille, born in the small town of königsberg, in the grand duchy of hesse-darmstadt, 1717, but attracted to paris, they became the greatest engravers of the time. their work is french, and they are the natural development of that classical school. [sidenote: schmidt.] schmidt was the son of a poor weaver, and lost six precious years as a soldier in the artillery at berlin. owing to the smallness of his size he was at length dismissed, when he surrendered to a natural talent for engraving. arriving at strasburg, on his way to paris, he fell in with wille, a wandering gunsmith, who joined him in his journey, and eventually, in his studies. the productions of schmidt show ability, originality, and variety, rather than taste. his numerous portraits are excellent, being free and life-like, while the accessories of embroidery and drapery are rendered with effect. as an etcher he ranks next after rembrandt. of his portraits executed with the graver, that of the empress elizabeth of russia is usually called the most important, perhaps on account of the imperial theme, and next those of count rassamowsky, count esterhazy, and de mounsey, which he engraved while in st. petersburgh, where he was called by the empress, founding there the academy of engraving. but his real masterpieces are unquestionably pierre mignard and latour, french painters, the latter represented laughing. [illustration: l'instruction paternelle, (the "satin gown.") (painted by gerard terburg, and engraved by johann georg wille.)] [sidenote: wille.] wille lived to old age, not dying till 1808. during this long life he was active in the art to which he inclined naturally. his mastership of the graver was perfect, lending itself especially to the representation of satin and metal, although less happy with flesh. his satin gown, or _l'instruction paternelle_, after terburg, and _les musiciens ambulans_, after dietrich, are always admired. nothing of the kind in engraving is finer. his style was adapted to pictures of the dutch school, and to portraits with rich surroundings. of the latter the principal are comte de saint-florentin, poisson marquis de marigny, john de boullongne, and the cardinal de tencin. [sidenote: bervic.] [sidenote: toschi.] [sidenote: desnoyers.] [sidenote: müller.] [sidenote: vangelisti.] [sidenote: anderloni and jesi.] especially eminent was wille as a teacher. under his influence the art assumed a new life, so that he became father of the modern school. his scholars spread everywhere, and among them are acknowledged masters. he was teacher of bervic, whose portrait of louis xvi. in his coronation robes is of a high order, himself teacher of the italian toschi, who, after an eminent career, died as late as 1858; also teacher of tardieu, himself teacher of the brilliant desnoyers, whose portrait of the emperor napoleon in his coronation robes is the fit complement to that of louis xvi.; also teacher of the german, j. g. von müller, himself father and teacher of j. frederick von müller, engraver of the sistine madonna, in a plate whose great fame is not above its merit; also teacher of the italian vangelisti, himself teacher of the unsurpassed longhi, in whose school were anderloni and jesi. thus not only by his works, but by his famous scholars, did the humble gunsmith gain sway in art. [illustration: napoleon i. (painted by françois gérard, and engraved by auguste boucher desnoyers.)] among portraits by this school deserving especial mention is that of king jerome of westphalia, brother of napoleon, by the two müllers, where the genius of the artist is most conspicuous, although the subject contributes little. as in the case of the palace of the sun, described by ovid, _materiam superabat opus_. this work is a beautiful example of skill in representation of fur and lace, not yielding even to drevet. [sidenote: longhi.] longhi was a universal master, and his portraits are only parts of his work. that of washington, which is rare, is evidently founded on stuart's painting, but after a design of his own, which is now in the possession of the swiss consul at venice. the artist felicitated himself on the hair, which is modelled after the french masters.[7] the portraits of michael angelo, and of dandolo, the venerable doge of venice, are admired; so also is the napoleon, as king of italy, with the iron crown and finest lace. but his chief portrait is that of eugene beauharnais, viceroy of italy, full length, remarkable for plume in the cap, which is finished with surpassing skill. [sidenote: morghen.] contemporary with longhi was another italian engraver of widely extended fame, who was not the product of the french school, raffaelle morghen, born at florence in 1758. his works have enjoyed a popularity beyond those of other masters, partly from the interest of their subjects, and partly from their soft and captivating style, although they do not possess the graceful power of nanteuil and edelinck, and are without variety. he was scholar and son-in-law of volpato, of rome; himself scholar of wagner, of venice, whose homely round faces were not high models in art. the aurora, of guido, and the last supper, of leonardo da vinci, stand high in engraving, especially the latter, which occupied morghen three years. of his two hundred and one works, no less than seventy-three are portraits, among which are the italian poets dante, petrarch, ariosto, tasso, also boccaccio, and a head called raffaelle, but supposed to be that of bendo altoviti, the great painter's friend, and especially the duke of mencada on horseback, after vandyck, which has received warm praise. but none of his portraits is calculated to give greater pleasure than that of leonardo da vinci, which may vie in beauty even with the famous pompone. here is the beauty of years and of serene intelligence. looking at that tranquil countenance, it is easy to imagine the large and various capacities which made him not only painter, but sculptor, architect, musician, poet, discoverer, philosopher, even predecessor of galileo and bacon. such a character deserves the immortality of art. happily an old venetian engraving reproduced in our day,[8] enables us to see this same countenance at an earlier period of life, with sparkle in the eye. [illustration: giovanni boccaccio firenze presso luigi bardi e c'borgo degli albizzi n^o 460] raffaelle morghen left no scholars who have followed him in portraits; but his own works are still regarded, and a monument in santa croce, the westminster abbey of florence, places him among the mighty dead of italy. [sidenote: houbraken] thus far nothing has been said of english engravers. here, as in art generally, england seems removed from the rest of the world; _et penitus toto divisos orbe britannos_. but though beyond the sphere of continental art, the island of shakespeare was not inhospitable to some of its representatives. vandyck, rubens, sir peter lely, and sir godfrey kneller, all dutch artists, painted the portraits of englishmen, and engraving was first illustrated by foreigners. jacob houbraken, another dutch artist, born in 1698, was employed to execute portraits for birch's "heads of illustrious persons of great britain," published at london in 1743, and in these works may be seen the æsthetic taste inherited from his father, author of the biography of dutch artists, and improved by study of the french masters. although without great force or originality of manner, many of these have positive beauty. i would name especially the sir walter raleigh and john dryden. [illustration: mary queen of scots. (painted by federigo zuccaro, and engraved by francesco bartolozzi.)] [sidenote: bartolozzi.] different in style was bartolozzi, the italian, who made his home in england for forty years, ending in 1807, when he removed to lisbon. the considerable genius which he possessed was spoilt by haste in execution, superseding that care which is an essential condition of art. hence sameness in his work and indifference to the picture he copied. longhi speaks of him as "most unfaithful to his archetypes," and, "whatever the originals, being always bartolozzi." among his portraits of especial interest are several old "wigs," as mansfield and thurlow; also the death of chatham, after the picture of copley in the vernon gallery. but his prettiest piece undoubtedly is mary queen of scots, with her little son james i., after what mrs. jameson calls "the lovely picture of zuccaro at chiswick." in the same style are his vignettes, which are of acknowledged beauty. [sidenote: strange.] meanwhile a scotchman honorable in art comes upon the scene--sir robert strange, born in the distant orkneys in 1721, who abandoned the law for engraving. as a youthful jacobite he joined the pretender in 1745, sharing the disaster of culloden, and owing his safety from pursuers to a young lady dressed in the ample costume of the period, whom he afterwards married in gratitude, and they were both happy. he has a style of his own, rich, soft, and especially charming in the tints of flesh, making him a natural translator of titian. his most celebrated engravings are doubtless the venus and the danaë after the great venetian colorist, but the cleopatra, though less famous, is not inferior in merit. his acknowledged masterpiece is the madonna of st. jerome called the day, after the picture by correggio, in the gallery of parma, but his portraits after vandyck are not less fine, while they are more interesting--as charles first, with a large hat, by the side of his horse, which the marquis of hamilton is holding, and that of the same monarch standing in his ermine robes; also the three royal children with two king charles spaniels at their feet, also henrietta maria, the queen of charles. that with the ermine robes is supposed to have been studied by raffaelle morghen, called sometimes an imitator of strange.[9] to these i would add the rare autograph portrait of the engraver, being a small head after greuze, which is simple and beautiful. [illustration: john hunter (painted by sir joshua reynolds, and engraved by william sharp.)] [sidenote: sharp.] one other name will close this catalogue. it is that of william sharp, who was born at london in 1746, and died there in 1824. though last in order, this engraver may claim kindred with the best. his first essays were the embellishment of pewter pots, from which he ascended to the heights of art, showing a power rarely equalled. without any instance of peculiar beauty, his works are constant in character and expression, with every possible excellence of execution; face, form, drapery--all are as in nature. his splendid qualities appear in the doctors of the church, which has taken its place as the first of english engravings. it is after the picture of guido, once belonging to the houghton gallery, which in an evil hour for english taste was allowed to enrich the collection of the hermitage at st. petersburgh; and i remember well that this engraving by sharp was one of the few ornaments in the drawing-room of macaulay when i last saw him, shortly before his lamented death. next to the doctors of the church is his lear in the storm, after the picture by west, now in the boston athenæum, and his sortie from gibraltar, after the picture by trumbull, also in the boston athenæum. thus, through at least two of his masterpieces whose originals are among us, is our country associated with this great artist. it is of portraits especially that i write, and here sharp is truly eminent. all that he did was well done; but two were models; that of mr. boulton, a strong, well-developed country gentleman, admirably executed, and of john hunter, the eminent surgeon, after the painting by sir joshua reynolds, in the london college of surgeons, unquestionably the foremost portrait in english art, and the coequal companion of the great portraits in the past; but here the engraver united his rare gifts with those of the painter. [sidenote: mandel.] in closing these sketches i would have it observed that this is no attempt to treat of engraving generally, or of prints in their mass or types. the present subject is simply of portraits, and i stop now just as we arrive at contemporary examples, abroad and at home, with the gentle genius of mandel beginning to ascend the sky, and our own engravers appearing on the horizon. there is also a new and kindred art, infinite in value, where the sun himself becomes artist, with works which mark an epoch. charles sumner. washington, 11th dec., 1871. [illustration] footnotes: [footnote 1: discourses before the royal academy, no. iv.] [footnote 2: de groote schonburgh der nederlantsche konctschilders en schilderessen.] [footnote 3: this rare volume is in the congressional library, among the books which belonged originally to hon. george p. marsh, our excellent and most scholarly minister in italy. i asked for it in vain at the paris cabinet of engravings, and also at the imperial library. never translated into french or english; there is a german translation of it by carl barth.] [footnote 4: les hommes illustres, par perrault, tome ii., p. 97. the excellent copy of this work in the congressional library belonged to mr. marsh. the prints are early impressions.] [footnote 5: panégyrique funébre de messire pompone de bellièvre, premier président au parlement, pronouncé á l'hostel-dieu de paris, le 17 avril, 1657, par un chanoine régulier de la congrégation de france. the dedication shows this to have been the work of f. lallemant of st. geneviève.] [footnote 6: _la calcografia_, p. 176.] [footnote 7: _la calcografia_, pp. 165, 418.] [footnote 8: les arts au moyen age et à l'epoque de la renaissance, par paul lacroix, p. 198.] [footnote 9: longhi, _la calcografia_, p. 199.] engraving for illustration reproduction by r. j. everett & sons' "ink-photo" process [illustration: frontispiece. engraving for illustration.] engraving for illustration _historical and practical notes_ by joseph kirkbride with two plates by ink photo process and six illustrations london scott, greenwood & co. 10 ludgate hill, e.c. new york d. van nostrand co. 23 murray street 1903 [_all rights remain with scott, greenwood & co._] contents page chapter i its inception. a theory of evolution--a distinct progress 1 chapter ii wood engraving. rise and progress--block books--durer's influence--hans holbein--a renaissance--comparison and justification--the illustrator 5 chapter iii metal engraving. the invention--early engravers--national characteristics--a progressive review 18 chapter iv engraving in england. introduction of metal engraving--notable british engravers--summary 26 chapter v etching. early records--descriptive--rembrandt's influence--wenceslaus hollar 38 mezzotint. invention--description--artistic qualities--dilettanti art--a modern mezzo engraver 38 chapter vi the engraver's task. inartistic work--constructive elements--outline--extraneous matter--composition--light and shade--expression--perspective--execution 48 chapter vii photo "process" engraving. a progressive process--commercial and artistic features--"line" process--"half tone"--artistic restoration--tri-chromatography--photogravure 57 chapter viii appreciative criticism. an educative principle--an analysis--realism in art retrospect 66 index 70 list of illustrations fig. plate i. _frontispiece_ 1. old wood engraving (erenburg castle) _facing p._ 10 2. modern wood engraving (the goose fountain, nuremburg) " 14 3. old wood engraving " 28 4. modern wood engraving " 54 5. cross section of cyanide furnace _page_ 59 6. process engraving _facing p._ 60 plate ii. " 64 preface a philosopher and writer has declared that "in our fine arts, not imitation, but creation, is the aim." it is to emphasise a distinction between an imitative and a creative art that the following chapters are offered. "engraving for illustration" is pre-eminently a creative art by which the work of the artist is _translated_, "in order to render the effect of his design in such a form as will admit of rapid and effective reproduction." it is, moreover, a popular art with a well-defined educative principle underlying the numerous phases of its manifestation; while, at the same time, its historical and general interest will commend this brief record of its progress and influence to many who are lovers of art for art's sake. j. k. london _june 1903_. engraving for illustration chapter i _its inception_--a theory of evolution--a distinct progress "in proportion to his force the artist will find in his work an outlet for his proper character."--emerson. =its inception.=--it was the dawn of a new sense when primitive man first ornamented his weapons, utensils, and the walls of his cave dwellings with incised drawings,--pictorial representations which enabled him to record events or suggest and illustrate thoughts and ideas when his somewhat limited vocabulary failed him. it was a severely utilitarian epoch of the world's history, and the crude yet intensely realistic manifestations of man's artistic desires were the more remarkable that they were wholly dependent upon stern necessity for their realisation. childlike in their simplicity, yet both graphic and vigorous in expression, these ancient drawings bear testimony to the intense desire of primeval man for some suitable and satisfying form of pictorial expression. such incised drawings were undoubtedly the earliest forms, which the mind of man suggested and his skill attained, of conveying information and displaying pictorial or ornamental art. they were but crude conceptions of the untutored art of a savage race, yet, with a characteristic quaintness of expression, they abundantly prove the existence of an innate, imitative, and artistic faculty, inspired by an insatiable craving for illustrative delineation. =a theory of evolution.=--the antiquity of the engraver's art, then, is exceedingly remote, and its earliest records display frequent evidences of manipulative skill and artistic perception--evidences which are still more convincing when the environment and scanty resources of its exponents are fully appreciated. it was a most unique phase of that process of evolution whereby the social education of the human race was advanced, and through countless ages it has indicated the same onward roll of progressive intelligence. responsive to the ever-changing conditions of life, the necessities of mankind were constantly increasing. his higher intelligence also created a greater diversity of interests, and consequently demanded a fuller and more expressive vehicle of communication for his thoughts. no longer content with what was only needful for the maintenance of social or commercial intercourse, he sought to add to the archaic simplicity of his drawings, skilful arrangement, and a certain degree of artistic feeling and interpretation. it was as though some transitory flashes of artistic power in the minds of prehistoric artists were struggling with an inability to give adequate expression to their inceptions. their productions, some of them dating from the palæolithic and neolithic periods, were not pretentious works of art. their primary purpose being representative, their merit was, of course, decided by the success or failure of such representation, apart from any artistic qualities they might possess. =a distinct purpose.=--the evident care with which many of the ancient incised drawings or engravings were executed and preserved, together with the permanent character of the materials employed, seems to indicate that these simple yet graphic representations were produced with the distinct purpose of perpetuating a memory as well as for the amplification of a meagre language,--a purpose which considerably enhances their interest, and suggests that the primeval engraver appreciated some at least of the possibilities of his art. moreover, they frequently possess an intense veracity and directness of imitation which renders them of inestimable value as reliable historical records. had caprice alone directed the artist's efforts, they would not in so many instances have merited the interest and approval which they now receive. such, then, were the beginnings of an art that subsequently reached its maturity only by a slow growth of gradual development, and "which, in the modesty and seriousness of its earlier manifestations, is at least as interesting as in the audacity of its later and more impressionistic phases." engraving as a reproductive as well as an ornamental art was at different periods modified in accordance with ever-changing conditions produced by the exigencies of national and industrial policy. its frequent adaptation to the various circumstances with which it was indissolubly associated, and the fluctuations of an enthusiasm which was more or less dependent upon national as well as social prosperity, fully justifies the statement that "its history is the mirror of a nation's progress." the rude methods of ancient artists can be distinctly traced through egyptian, assyrian, and grecian history. hieroglyphic and symbolic figures, engraved on ancient egyptian monuments, bear testimony to a vast progress both in expressive and inventive power. assyrian antiquities disclose an art which is even more suggestive and picturesque, while the ancient greeks developed the highest qualities of pictorial power, and raised the art to a marvellous pitch of excellence. beyond this brief epitome of the early history of engraving we need not venture. the idea of taking impressions from any form of incised drawings was not suggested until many centuries later. chapter ii _wood engraving_--rise and progress--block books--durer's influence--hans holbein--a renaissance--comparison and justification--the illustrator "it is therefore beautiful because it is alive, moving, reproductive. it is therefore useful because it is symmetrical and fair."--emerson. =wood engraving.=--the most animating event in the whole history of engraving was the development of engraved wood blocks. wood engraving did not receive the impetus of a new discovery as did metal engraving at a later period. it was to some extent a purely commercial enterprise, the success of which was assured by an ever increasing interest in pictorial art. engraved wood blocks were used for purposes of reproduction several centuries before their introduction into europe. historians claim that it can be traced back to a.d. 930, when a form of playing card was known to the chinese, and printed by them from rough wood engravings. the commercial intercourse of the venetians with eastern nations would suggest a probability that their navigators brought home some of these playing cards, and described the method of their production to their countrymen. the further we pursue our investigations, the more remarkable does this tardy recognition of the utility of wood engraving appear to be. it is true that somewhere about the middle of the thirteenth century legal documents were stamped, and merchant marks made with engraved wood blocks, but no extensive use was made of this method of reproduction until a much later period. the low countries claim credit for the first employment of engraved wood blocks for commercial purposes. many dispute this claim, but the amount of credit at stake is so infinitesimal that it renders the contention of little value. until the time of that immense progress which wood engraving made in germany about the middle and towards the end of the fifteenth century, no work of any artistic merit whatever had been produced. the older prints may possess a certain historical or antiquarian value, but otherwise are both crude and uninteresting. =block books.=--the mediæval block books were the most important of the early pictorial reproductions from engraved wood blocks. they also may be traced to china, where, as early as the ninth century, they were used for decorative as well as illustrative purposes. they retained their primitive form for a long period after their first introduction to western civilisation, and it is interesting to note that the blocks, and not the prints, were supplied to the monks,--the scholars of the day,--the impressions being made by them as required. towards the end of the fourteenth century dutch merchants, like the venetians, paid frequent visits to chinese ports, when they too were impressed with the novelty and utility of pictorial reproduction as practised in the east. at any rate, pictorial sheets or cards, very similar in character to the chinese playing cards, were published in holland about that period. they bore pictures of the saints with the titles or legends engraved alongside. the production of such prints was evidently a recognised business during the early part of the fifteenth century, for there are numerous entries in the civic records of nuremberg concerning the wood engraver "formschneider" and cardmaker "kartenmacher." it has been ingenuously suggested that, for convenience, collections of these cards were pasted into books; and the books available being chiefly of a religious character, the idea of illustrating religious matter with such pictures was readily suggested. the next step was the application of block engraving and printing to the production of volumes of a more pretentious character, the most noteworthy of which were _the apocalypsio sue historia sancti johannis_, the _biblia pauperum_, and the _historia virginis ex cantico canticorum_. in another of these books, the _speculum humanæ salvationis_, the titles were not engraved on the plates, but were printed with movable types. this volume was published at haarlem, and was composed of fifty-eight plates--a very considerable production with the materials then at the disposal of the publishers. =durer's influence.=--in 1490 albert durer, who possessed a spirited imagination and deep enthusiasm for his work, marked out a distinct era of substantial progress, and impressed the art of wood engraving with that expressive power of delineation which his truly remarkable genius ever manifested. durer was an artist of somewhat variable characteristics, but the diversity and amplitude of his productions afford conclusive evidences of a remarkable industry and skill. like other artists of his time, and even of much later periods, he did not engrave his own drawings. he may, of course, have engraved a few blocks, but most, if not all of the wood engravings signed by durer, were executed by jerome rock. perhaps the most peculiar characteristic of durer's designs was the portrayal of scenes and figures of ancient history and myth in well-defined imitation of his own surroundings and the conditions of life then existing. apropos of this, it was said that he turned the new testament into the history of a flemish village. hans holbein was another of the early artists who prepared their drawings for the express purpose of reproduction by means of wood engraving. that he fully appreciated the resources of his art there can be no doubt, for he imbued his work with an expressive individual force which was distinctly progressive and influential. his best known production consists of forty-one engravings representing "death--the king of terrors," in association with nearly every phase of human life. each one of these designs is a picture parable of remarkable power and suggestiveness. the characteristic drawing and quaint expressiveness of holbein's illustrations merit unqualified admiration, and his graphic use of pure line for pictorial expression stands almost unrivalled. hans litzelburger engraved holbein's designs. towards the end of the fifteenth and during part of the sixteenth centuries wood engraving still received enthusiastic attention, and then, for sheer lack of interest, fell rapidly into decay. metal engraving was absorbing the attention of the artistic world, and for many years wood engraving was regarded as only fit for the reproduction of pictures which may be charitably described as inartistic, and too often perhaps discreditable. as far as our own country was concerned, it was not until the advent of thomas bewick that this decadence received any effective check. =a renaissance.=--the renaissance of wood engraving in england may be dated from 1775, when bewick engraved a picture entitled "the hound," and received a prize offered by the royal society for the best engraving on wood. thomas bewick was born in 1753, and fourteen years later he was apprenticed to a metal engraver. it was indeed a fortuitous circumstance which caused him to transfer his energies and his talents to wood engraving, in which he displayed a rare skill and inimitable directness of expression. he was probably the first wood engraver to adopt level tinting in place of complicated and laborious cross hatching which was then practised by his continental contemporaries. he usually preferred to develop his drawing rather than attempt the production of extraneous effects, and the subtle effectiveness of his pictures affords incontrovertible proofs of the advantage of such substitution. their humour and pathos, vigour and fidelity, remain to this day as memorials of the consummate, artistic skill and perceptive capacity of a truly remarkable man. bewick was a self-contained genius whose rugged emotions would admit of but one form of pictorial expression, and that peculiarly his own. his work was pregnant with masterly good sense, and ever manifested a charming simplicity of purpose. he had but a modest estimate of his ability as an engraver, and consequently rarely engraved any other than his own drawings. the exact measure of bewick's influence on the art of wood engraving for pictorial illustration and reproduction would be difficult to satisfactorily determine. this much is certain, however, that through it wood engraving was verified and popularised, and illustrated literature received a stimulus which subsequent developments combined to maintain and emphasise. [illustration: fig. 1.--old wood engraving (erenburg castle). "colour values and perspective can only be expressed by thick and thin lines at varying distances apart." _block supplied by the london electrotype agency ltd., from the "illustrated london news."_] =a comparison.=--there is a vast difference between the effects procurable in an impression from a wood engraving and the print from an engraved metal plate. in the former, colour values and perspective can only be expressed by thick and thin lines at varying distances apart, the ink on the prints being of the same density throughout, no matter how thick or thin the lines may be. in metal engraving intermediary values may be obtained by lines of the same thickness, if need be, but of varying depth. the result is a strong, intense effect produced by the greater body of pigment held by such portions of the lines as are cut deeply, and the comparatively grey appearance of the shallower parts. it is largely due to this that prints from engraved metal plates possess a peculiar richness and depth of tone. the commercial advantages generally claimed for engraved wood blocks are the ease and rapidity with which impressions can be made from them as compared with the metal plates, and also the fact that they can be printed with type, _i.e._ letterpress, without any unusual preparations. granting the validity of these claims, it must follow that, owing to the larger number of impressions made from wood engravings, their intrinsic worth will be correspondingly less than the limited number of prints made from engraved metal plates, and their commercial value will be estimated accordingly. =a justification.=--the somewhat sweeping assertion that wood engraving affords a medium of expression only for the blunter minds is not the whole truth. its strikingly bold conceptions and broad expressive effects certainly appeal to the untrained eye or untutored mind more than the artistic qualities of design and execution displayed in metal engraving; but there is yet in the art of the wood engraver a well-nigh inexhaustible store of artistic as well as pictorial effects. the forcible character and charm of its productions are chiefly due to the disposition and combination of the lines employed, and a variety of texture which is thereby introduced. it affords also an exceptional facility of execution, and an almost limitless power of realisation, which gives to it a deservedly high place among the pictorial and reproductive arts. the whole matter may be summed up in a statement once made by a well-known artist and illustrator: "there is no process in relief which has the same certainty, which gives the same colour and brightness, and by which gradations of touch can be more truly rendered. few of our great artists, however, can be prevailed upon to draw for wood engraving, and when they do undertake an illustration, say of a great poem, the drawing, which has to be multiplied 100,000 times, has less thought bestowed upon it than the painted portrait of a cotton king." what wonder, then, at the retrogression of this facile and graphic art of pictorial illustration. [illustration: fig. 2.--modern wood engraving (the goose fountain, nuremburg). "the forcible character of wood engraving chiefly due to the disposition and combination of the lines employed." _block supplied by the london electrotype agency ltd., from the "religious tract society."_] =the illustrator.=--the employment of wood engravings in conjunction with literature created a new phase of artistic work. the task of the illustrator or designer is peculiar. he sketches out his design on the wood block, and then passes it on to the engraver. his drawing is not intended as a permanent form of pictorial art, but as a suggestive sketch, which, while perfectly intelligible to the engraver, will be free from such intricacies in its composition as might interfere with its effective interpretation. the old wood engravers produced, line for line, an exact facsimile of the artist's design. his work, no doubt, required considerable skill and unremitting patience, but it was almost devoid of independent thought or artistic feeling. the engraver to-day must _translate_ the work of the illustrator so as to render the effect of his design in such a form as will admit of rapid and effective reproduction. the possibilities of the wood engraver's art, therefore, are manifold. the artist's sketch may give a suggestion of light and shade, and possibly some idea of its tone. the execution and elaboration of the drawing is left almost entirely in the hands of the engraver. whether it will gain or lose by its translation will, to some extent, depend upon his artistic perception as well as his manipulative skill. chapter iii _metal engraving_--the invention--early engravers--national characteristics--a progressive review "the influence of the graver is so great and extensive that its productions have constantly been the delight of all countries of the world and of all seasons of life." =metal engraving--the invention.=--the engraving of metal plates for pictorial reproduction was a direct development of ornamental engraving. the italian niello work of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries was chiefly applied to the embellishment of metal ornaments and utensils with elaborate engravings. to intensify their effect, the designs were filled in with a black pigment known as _niello_, l. _nigellus_--black. hence the name by which the process was generally known. niello work was practised chiefly by gold and silversmiths, and it is recorded that one of these, finiguerra by name, was filling up the lines of the engraving with black composition in the usual way when he accidentally spilled some hot wax over the plate. it rapidly cooled and hardened, and on scaling off bore a distinct black impression of the engraving. quick to perceive the importance of his discovery, finiguerra promoted a few experiments which ultimately led to a full realisation of his hopes. there is yet another account of the metamorphosis of metal engraving which, if true, reflects much more credit upon finiguerra than the accidental discovery already described. to obtain a _proof_ of their work, the florentine metal-workers covered the ornamentation with some fine plastic material. it was then a simple matter to convert the impression into a mould, which they filled with melted sulphur. the casts, when hard, formed exact replicas of the engravings, and afterwards, when the incised lines were filled with a black pigment, probably niello, they presented an effective record of the original work. it is not by any means improbable that finiguerra made his discovery when making such a cast. it is a noteworthy fact that the idea of producing impressions from engraved metal plates was not, as might readily be imagined, a development of wood engraving or of the then well-known method of printing from engraved wood blocks. it was a fortuitous discovery, and probably the direct result of an accident. the true importance of this transition, _i.e._ niello work to engraving as a reproductive art, is seldom fully appreciated. it was a momentous change, bristling with possibilities, which subsequent developments amply proved. the time was peculiarly propitious. the beneficent influence of the renaissance was at its flood, and a feverish spirit of progress swept over europe. the imitative instinct inherent in mankind reasserted itself with an irresistible intensity, and new forms of pictorial expression were eagerly sought after. the art of engraving provided a medium for the extension of the artist's fame and the popularising of his creations. it rapidly gained favour, and its ultimate development and expansion fully justified the interest it aroused. =early engravers.=--baccio baldine, another florentine goldsmith, quickly realised the value of finiguerra's discovery, and endeavoured to produce engraved plates for printing purposes. being a somewhat indifferent designer, his first efforts were not very successful. he was afterwards assisted by sandio botticelli, and this partnership was the first clear indication of progress in the art. these two engravers undertook the illustration of an edition of dante's works, in which the chief feature was to be an original headpiece for each canto. they accomplished some meritorious work in connection therewith, but never quite fulfilled their task. some impressions from engraved plates were exhibited in rome about this time, and attracted the attention of the painter andrea mantegna. he was so impressed with these examples of the new art that he determined to reproduce some of his own pictures in a like manner. mantegna's engravings were not in any way remarkable, yet they were received with considerable enthusiasm by his countrymen and by artists in various parts of europe. marc antonio raimondi was another famous italian engraver of this period. he first became notorious through copying some of a. durer's designs in the exact style affected by that great artist. he also added durer's signature to his piracies, and in other ways emphasised the imitation. it is doubtful whether he ever realised the gravity of the deception he was guilty of, for he took no pains to conceal the fact from his fellow artists. apart from this, however, raimondi was a fine engraver. he reproduced a number of raphael's pictures under that artist's direct supervision, all of which show distinct traces of the great master's influence. raimondi engraved between three and four hundred plates. it is a remarkable coincidence that the art of engraving in italy, and printing in germany, should each receive the stimulus of a new discovery about the same period. the art of printing was known to the ancient chinese, but movable types were first used by gutenberg about 1454. =national characteristics.=--engraving is almost as old as the human race, yet its full value as a reproductive art was not discovered until 1452, when finiguerra made his discovery. for at least half a century after this discovery engraving was held in the highest esteem in italy. from that country it passed to germany, and thence into france. in each of these countries it flourished for a time, until at last it claimed a place, and that a high one, amongst the fine arts of our own country. the leading characteristics of italian art, and particularly italian engraving, were beautiful outlines and excellent drawing. "nothing in any stage of italian art was carelessly or incompletely done. there is no rough suggestion of design, no inexact record of artistic invention." the lines, and especially the outlines, of the early italian engravings are indisputably exquisite in their expression of grace and beauty, though perhaps weak and unsuitable for the portrayal of vigour and strength. the german engravers reached another extreme. their drawings were frequently deficient, and even grotesque; but this was more than compensated for by a mingled force and freedom of delineation which, added to a rich imaginative symbolism, was in every respect remarkable. by means of flowing lines they indicated every fold of draperies, emphasised the varied contour of features, or produced an intricate and almost perplexing perspective in their pictures. they frequently sacrificed artistic power for a mere show of dexterous execution, and consequently the engravings of this period were rarely ever sublime in their conceptions. remarkable for their technique, they were yet productive of a bewildering confusion of ideas and mannerisms. it was undoubtedly this superiority of technique which attracted so much attention to the old german engravers. their portrait engravings display abundant insight into human character, and in this respect at least exhibit a rare power of pictorial expression. indefatigable enthusiasm, one of the racial characteristics of the french nation, was exemplified in the reception accorded by her artists to the art of metal engraving. french engraving was distinguished by a felicitous combination of good drawing, skilful execution, and "an aptitude to imitate easily any impression." outlines were frequently suggested rather than delineated, and although somewhat unconventional in style, french engravings of the seventeenth century displayed few traces of a perfunctory art. certain vagaries of style, due no doubt to a natural vivacity, indicated an artistic quality of design and execution which was their peculiar inheritance. of modern french engravers on metal, the audran family were by far the most notable. for four or five generations that remarkable family showed artistic talent of a high standard of excellence. gerard audran, who was born in 1640, was the best known and most gifted member of this family. his productions were everywhere admired. his historical pictures especially were very fine. he was appointed engraver to louis xiv. died 1703. =a progressive review.=--for a long period engraving was of the simplest possible character. about the beginning of the sixteenth century an effort was made to introduce perspective into the productions of both brush and graver, and until this important development obtained complete recognition, even the most skilful artists were guilty of faulty draughtsmanship. aërial perspective, or the suggestion of distance, quickly followed this adoption of linear perspective. it is claimed for lucas van leyden, a dutch engraver, that he was the first to thoroughly appreciate and give true value to foreground and distance; in other words, to fully recognise the artistic value of perspective. it has been frequently suggested that the fame of durer, van leyden, and others of the same school, was so widespread as to create an artistic bias, which other engravers, who were their equals in technical skill, if not in fertility of design, found it difficult to overcome. one of these engravers, henry goltzius, was determined to obtain recognition of his merits, and engraved five plates in as many different styles, copying the mannerisms and artifices of durer and others. they were at once accepted as productions of the great artists, and not until goltzius had heard the unqualified praise of art critics and patrons did he reveal his purpose. his countrymen generously forgave him this deception, and he certainly gained much credit thereby. these pictures are now known as goltzius' masterpieces. during the seventeenth century rembrandt's influence developed much of that technique which modern engravers have copied, and in some instances claimed to improve. he is also credited with the introduction of more expressive gradations of tone, for the production and emphatic suggestion of light and shade. the character of this, too, has been retained in present day engravings. rembrandt was more directly associated with etching than with line engraving, but his influence was far from exclusive. encouraged by the influence of his example, the line engraver endeavoured to add to the expressive power of his pictures by the introduction of more daring perspectives, more suggestive form, and infinitely greater diversity of texture. chapter iv _engraving in england_--introduction of metal engraving--notable british engravers--summary "when applied to objects of their proper destination, the arts are capable of extending our intellect, of supplying new ideas, and of presenting to us a view of times and places, whatever their interval or difference."--dallaway. engraving as a decorative art was well advanced in this country during the reign of alfred the great, when the anglo-saxon metal-workers were known to be skilful engravers. the art was still further developed under the norman rule, and during the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. wood engravings were printed by william caxton in 1481, but there is no proof that they were the work of english engravers. =introduction of metal engraving.=--the exact date of the introduction into england of metal engraving as a reproductive art is doubtful. there is a record of a book published in this country in 1545, which was illustrated with copper engravings, cut by thomas gemeni. it was a work on anatomy by vesalius, and was at first printed in latin. in the preface to a translation of this work the following quaint note appears: "accepte, jentill reader, this tractise of anatomie, thankfully interpreting the labours of thomas gemeni the workman. he that with his great charge, watch and travayle, hath set out the figures in pourtrature will most willingly be amended, or better perfected of his own workmanship if admonished." it was probably not until queen elizabeth's reign was well advanced that metal engraving obtained any substantial recognition as a fine art which might be practised with some hope of commercial success. archbishop parker, a powerful prelate of this time, extended his patronage to the art, and for a time, at least, kept a private staff of engravers. a portrait of this archbishop was executed by remigus hogenberg, and is the first record of an engraved portrait produced and printed in england. for about a century the work of english engravers was uninteresting, and almost devoid of artistic feeling. their pictures possessed but little merit, either as works of art or as pictorial records of that eminently progressive period. during the seventeenth century engraving became intimately associated with literature, and then, as now, the combination was a felicitous one. another fortunate circumstance was the settling of the passe family in this country. they came from utrecht, and were engravers of considerable skill and repute. the elder passe was a friend and admirer of the famous painter reubens, whose style he, to some extent, copied. john payne--the first english artist to distinguish himself with the graver--was a pupil of passe. payne was an undoubted genius, and, but for his indolence and dissipated habits, might have accomplished a great work. his most noteworthy engraving was a picture of "the royal sovereign," made on two plates, which, when joined together, measured 36 in. × 26 in. vertue succeeded payne. his engravings were chiefly of historical value; as works of art they displayed no unusual merit. many were portraits of personages of high degree, in which vertue evidently copied the style of houbraken, a dutch artist, who some time previously engraved a similar series of portraits, the commission being given to him because "_no english engraver was capable of executing it_." vertue's writings on english art were profuse and thoughtful. they were afterwards collected and published by horace walpole. [illustration: fig. 3.--old wood engraving. "horace walpole, the historian of the graphic arts." _block supplied by the london electrotype agency ltd., from the "illustrated london news."_] hogarth, "the inimitable hogarth," "whose pictured morals charm the eye, and through the eye correct the heart," was a brilliant exponent of the expressive power of the engraver's art. possessing a profound knowledge of human nature, and a keen sense of all that is humanely interesting, he expressed in his pictures a wonderful creative fancy, and a well directed humour. he almost invariably represented character rather than scenes, and while displaying immense fertility of design, he retained sufficient realism in the composition of his pictures to render them valuable as records of the manners and customs of his times. they, moreover, describe their incidents in the most direct and piquant fashion. his somewhat defective drawing was redeemed by a wealth of suggestion and an endless variety of grotesque conceptions. he possessed the happy art of seizing a fleeting impression from which he would evolve a caricature full of peculiar and quaint humour. hogarth's place in the art annals of this country is undoubtedly assured, for it has been said that he _represented_ his characters with more force than most men could _see_ them. his career may be dated from 1724, when he produced the illustrations for _hudibras_ and _la mortray's travels_. there is a most extraordinary story related in connection with hogarth's last engraving. while spending a merry evening with some friends he was heard to say: "my next undertaking will be _the end of all things_." "if that is so," remarked one of his companions, "there will soon be an end of the artist." "yes, there will be," hogarth replied, "and the sooner my task is finished the better." the engraving was executed under the impulse of an intense excitement. "finis," he exclaimed, as he finished that most remarkable design, "all is now over," and, strange to relate, this was actually his last work, for he died about a month later. robert strange, who was contemporary with hogarth, was a native of the orkney islands. he was an art student in edinburgh when prince charlie landed, and his jacobite sympathies led him to throw aside his work and join the young chevalier. when the remnant of the army of 1745 was flying before duke william after the battle of culloden, strange, closely pursued by a number of soldiers, sought shelter in the house of the lumsdales. miss lumsdale was sitting with her work by one of the windows, and at once offered to conceal the young soldier underneath the folds of her skirt. ladies' skirts of the crinoline period were of such proportions as to render the concealment easy, and miss lumsdale, to lull the suspicions of the pursuing soldiers, continued her sewing, and affected considerable surprise and indignation at their intrusion. they shamefacedly withdrew upon finding the lady alone, and strange afterwards made good his escape to france. gratitude to his deliverer, intensified by the romantic situation which saved his life, quickly ripened into love, and, it is needless to add, a good old-fashioned love match. strange settled in london about 1750, when, by his zeal and skilful work, he added much to the fame of historical engraving in this country. he engraved over eighty plates during his lifetime, and displayed a literary talent of no mean order. he was not a brilliant draughtsman, but the tone and texture of his engravings are almost perfect. he was knighted in 1781. there is yet one other engraver of this period whose career merits a share of attention and interest. james gilray was born in 1757, and, like hogarth, commenced at the bottom rung of the ladder as a letter engraver. he also became a notable caricaturist, and some idea of his skill in this branch of pictorial art may be gleaned from the fact that over 1200 designs were the product of his inventive fancy. though not by any means indolent, his habits were dissipated, and unfortunately for him he, for many years, resided with his publisher, who gratified his passions so long as his art was sufficiently productive. gilray's designs were not all caricatures. a number of illustrations for goldsmith's _deserted village_ were designed and engraved by him. he also engraved a few of northcote's pictures. his style was free and spirited, and he was one of the first english engravers to prove the merits of stipple engraving. the stipple manner of engraving was a curious development of the art. it appeared as though line engraving could not keep pace with the ever-growing demand for pictures, and was therefore combined with stipple to facilitate production. in capable hands very fine results were obtained with this combination. english engraving was still in its infancy, however, and continental productions were favoured by the art patrons of this country, until a stimulus was given to native art by the painters reynolds, wilson, and west. profiting by this renewed interest, woollet entered upon a career of unqualified success, and eventually succeeded in obtaining full recognition for the merits of english engraving. as a boy woollet showed his artistic proclivities in a strange manner. his father, it is stated, won a £5000 prize in a lottery, and bought an inn, glorying in the name of "the turk's head," a title which the embryonic artist endeavoured to express pictorially on a pewter pot. the father, struck by some quality in the drawing, apprenticed young woollet to an obscure london engraver. from an artistic point of view this apprenticeship was of little value. woollet was a born artist, and although his early training may have intensified the natural bent of his genius, it did little to cultivate it. he possessed versatile talents. his historical pictures were, in every respect, equal to his landscapes, and these will long remain as lasting and convincing monuments of his skill. the boldness of contrast and accuracy of execution displayed by woollet in his landscape engravings far surpassed all previous efforts to express pictorial effects with the graver. raimbach was a miniature painter of some note, who, like many other artists, turned from creative to reproductive art, and became a successful engraver. in 1812 he became associated with david wilkie, and it is generally supposed that he was retained by that artist for the reproduction of his pictures. raimbach's translations of wilkie's works were in every sense artistic productions and faithful representations. he was said to be so careful and conscientious in his work that he employed no assistants, but this was not entirely true. careful and conscientious he undoubtedly was, but he frequently employed assistants to engrave the less important parts of his commissions. raimbach was born in 1776, and died 1843. f. c. lewis was a progressive engraver contemporary with raimbach. his most notable productions were after landseer and lawrence. he was appointed engraver first to george iv., then william iv., and afterwards to queen victoria. samuel cousins was another most influential engraver. a brief sketch of his artistic career is given in another chapter. c. g. lewis was both a line and mezzotint engraver. he was probably landseer's favourite engraver, and his name is best known in association with that artist's pictures. born 1808; died 1880. when john pye engraved his first turner picture, "pope's villa," in 1811, that famous artist expressed his unqualified approval when he said, "if i had known there was anyone in this country who could have done that, i would have had it done before," and on more than one occasion he mentioned pye's engravings as "the most satisfactory translations of my colour into black and white." an adequate interpretation of turner's pictures requires a masterly appreciation of the gradations and balance of tone which suggest both colour and space; and to merit such expressions of satisfaction from the great artist himself was proof of john pye's artistic power and skill. he began his career as an engraver about the year 1800 after a short apprenticeship with james heath, a clever and practical man, who was quick to perceive the ability of his apprentice. john pye was a recognised authority on the pictorial effect of colour, and it was said that during his long and eminently useful life "no engraver did more than he to spread a knowledge of the sound principles of landscape art." he was frequently consulted by his fellow artists, and without even a suggestion of professional jealousy, he was ever ready with his advice and, if need be, practical help. the following copy of a letter--now in the swansea art gallery--gives some idea of the esteem in which his opinion was held by contemporary artists:- _monday._ _to j. pye, esq._ thursday night, at half-past five, if you please. i hope that day will be convenient to you. i should like, if possible, to see you here by daylight, as your opinion is always valuable to me, and i have some few things to show you.--your faithful servant, ed. landseer. pye was long known in art circles as the "father of landscape engraving," and he certainly succeeded, as no other engraver has done, in his translation of colour values and suggestion of aërial perspectives. turner's paintings were his favourite subjects, and his interpretations of them are brilliant in expression, and charged with the very essence of artistic feeling. his life and work indicated a progress as distinct as it was far reaching. "and still the work went on, and on, and on, and is not yet completed. the generation that succeeds our own perhaps may finish it." it has been through the efforts of these men and others who, though less influential, were not less skilful perhaps, or less earnest, that english engraving, in its daring innovations and substantial improvements, has far outstripped that of other countries. by them its reputation has been built up and enhanced, so that "its influence is conspicuously visible in the principles and history of art." chapter v _etching_--early records--descriptive--rembrandt's influence--wenceslaus hollar. _mezzotint_--invention--description--artistic qualities--dilettanti art--a modern mezzo engraver "by its very character of freedom, by the intimate and rapid connection which it establishes between the hands and the thoughts of the artists, etching becomes the frankest and most natural of interpreters."--lalanne. it has been asserted, and not without some show of reason, that of all the reproductive arts etching stands pre-eminent as a medium of pictorial expression wherein perfect freedom of drawing is retained. it has found considerable favour with artists, because it enables them to reproduce their own works with ease and rapidity, and without any perceptible loss of expressive power. =early records.=--the first account of the art of etching comes from dutch sources, but whether or not it had its birth in holland is a matter of pure conjecture. it was certainly cradled in the low countries, and finding the time and conditions of art congenial there, flourished abundantly. a book bearing the title, _a book of secrets_, was published in england in 1599. it was a translation from the dutch, and described "a method of engraving with strong waters on steel or iron." the art of etching must have been known in holland some time previous to the date of this publication. it was an unfortunate tendency which led the early etchers, or at any rate etchers of the latter part of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, to practise a style of execution in direct imitation of the work of the graver. their productions were robbed of their peculiar character and charm, their directness and completeness of representation. =descriptive.=--the practical phase of the etcher's work claims a more than passing interest from the earnest reader. a carefully polished sheet of copper is covered with an acid resist in the form of a thin coating of wax or some similar composition. when this has been blackened by the smoke of a candle, or by any other suitable means, the drawing is made with steel points. the bright sheen of the copper exposed by each stroke of the point or etching needle will show the progress of the work very distinctly. the etching mordant is poured over the drawing thus made, when the exposed parts of the plate will be corroded or etched away until sufficient depth is obtained. these are, of course, but the bare outlines of the process, yet they will suffice to illustrate the facility and simplicity of its operations. because it is so admirably adapted for light and sketchy drawings, etching has been described as a kind of summary of pictorial expression, and in some respects such a description fits it perfectly; yet, for a just appreciation of its merits, it will be needful to put aside the idea that it is little more than a sketchy framework. it is true that some of the finest etchings have been executed with the fewest possible lines and without any pretence of elaboration, yet tone and texture may be fully expressed though not actually realised. hence the term sometimes so aptly applied to etching when it is referred to as "the stenography of artistic thought." it is upon this principle of limitation that the chief merits of the etcher's art rests,--a system of pictorial representation which does not always produce illogical and inartistic interpretation or the imperfect transcription of light and shade. it may be frequently characterised by a certain amount of caprice in its execution, but it is nevertheless capable of producing form and expression of a very high character. albert durer, who possessed a most remarkable artistic versatility, etched a number of plates; but they can scarcely be regarded as successful examples of his work, for, like other artists of his time, he endeavoured to imitate the productions of the graver with his etching needle. it was altogether a futile experiment, if indeed it can be regarded as an experiment, and durer's etchings show but little of that rare power and technical skill for which he was justly famous in other phases of graphic art. =rembrandt's influence.=--rembrandt, who was said to be "the greatest artistic individuality of the seventeenth century," manifested a deep and lasting enthusiasm for the art of etching,--an enthusiasm which was abundantly displayed in the marvellous diversity of form by which he reproduced the characteristic grace and delicate modelling of his pictures. his graver and etching needle possessed the same spirited touch as his brush, and when "with his own hand he presented his bold principles of light and shade," he almost invariably combined strength of expression with great facility of invention. there is one notable etcher whose chequered career may well be regarded with interest, for it reveals a depth of artistic enthusiasm almost unparalleled in the art annals of this or any other country. =hollar.=--wenceslaus hollar was a bohemian by birth, and came to england under the patronage of the duke of arundel in 1637. during a lifetime of peculiar misfortunes and vicissitudes, he etched something like 2700 plates. as an ardent royalist, he was drawn into the civil war of 1643-44. he also passed through the great plague and the fire of london. difficulties and hardships ever beset his path, yet his industry and fond attachment to art never flagged. the very fact that ever-recurring misfortunes and privations never impaired his power as a most remarkable and ingenious illustrator is ample proof, if such be required, of his genius. hollar's etchings are distinguished by an intense fidelity. they abound in historical interest of a reliable and fascinating kind, and though never showy they possess a wealth of artistic beauty and artistic expression. it is difficult to understand how an artist with hollar's gigantic, productive energy should end his days in abject poverty. mezzotint engraving is the art of engraving on metal _in tones_. it dates back to about the middle of the seventeenth century. its history is interesting if only for the fact that it has been developed chiefly in this country, the high degree of perfection to which it attained being chiefly due to english artists. so much so, indeed, that it has frequently been referred to as _la manaire anglais_. =invention.=--the invention of mezzotint engraving was the result of an every-day circumstance which attracted the attention of a soldier more thoughtful than his fellows. ludwig von sigen was a lieutenant-colonel in the army of the landgrave of hesse cassel when he observed the corrosive action of moisture on the stock of a musket. the metal work had been ornamented with an engraved design, and the ground formed by corrosion in conjunction with the engraved lines suggested an idea from which von sigen subsequently developed the mezzotint process. this story of von sigen's discovery is regarded by some authorities with a suspicion of doubt, and a suggestion is made that his purpose was to invest this introduction of a new reproductive art with a romantic as well as an artistic interest. in any case, the gallant colonel's credit is maintained, and it is interesting to note that the principle of his invention remains still unchanged. the chief purpose of later developments was to facilitate the production of a perfectly even ground. on the presentation of his first print to the landgrave of hesse, von sigen declared, "there is not a single engraver, or a single artist, who knows how this work is done." about twelve years afterwards the inventor divulged his secret to prince rupert, by whom it was brought to england. it is generally supposed that prince rupert carefully preserved the secret of this new process for some time, and then in a generous mood he imparted it to vallerant valliant, who fortunately for english art made his knowledge widespread. when mezzotint engraving was first introduced into england, the famous artists, reynolds and gainsborough, had reached the summit of their fame. the time was indeed auspicious. line engraving failed to give a faithful reproduction of the peculiar style of painting then so much admired, while mezzotint engraving, with its soft gradations and attractive qualities of expression, translated with a vivacity and facility that could not fail to please and satisfy. then, again, a somewhat abrupt change manifested itself in the pictorial art of this period. representations of incidents and portraits of famous personages, which were in themselves interesting, took the place of the severely artistic productions of the past. the natural result was an intense interest, which embraced the art and the process by which it was popularised. =description.=--the mezzotint process of engraving may be described in a very few sentences. the plate of metal is first covered with a ground or _tone_. to accomplish this, a tool with a serrated edge is passed over the surface in various directions. the myriads of microscopic indentations thus produced constitute a _tooth_ or roughness similar to the grain of a coarse sandstone. this grain holds a certain proportion of printing ink, and gives a rich, velvety black impression. on such a ground the engraver works up his design, and, by the skilful use of scraper and burnisher, obtains a series of tones or almost imperceptible gradations. he removes just so much of the grain as may be required for the lighter tones, and by burnishing or polishing, after the scraper has been used, secures the high lights. in one respect, at least, this form of reproductive art is peculiar, and unlike any other types of engraving. the artist works from black to white, and produces, on the plate, the lights instead of the shadows. =artistic qualities.=--although capable of most charming effects, the mezzotint process never became a really serious menace to line engraving, with its firm and expressive outlines and peculiarly lustrous textures. yet it is not at all surprising that a process, offering the artistic qualities of reproduction which mezzotint possesses, should prove successful in the interpretation of such light and shade as, for example, turner painted into his pictures. turner was engaged upon the series of pictures for his _liber studiorum_ when he suddenly realised the value of mezzotint engraving. he consulted with charles turner, an eminent engraver, who afterwards executed twenty-three of the _liber studiorum_ plates, and eventually decided to adopt a combination of etching with mezzotint for the reproduction of that famous series of pictures. the leading or essential lines of each picture were etched, probably by turner himself, and the mezzotint added by other engravers. it is perhaps to some extent true that prints from mezzo plates lack somewhat in dignity of effect and fidelity of representation. they are suggestive rather than representative; yet, when the character of the work is suitable, this lack of dignity is more than compensated for by the soft and harmonious effects of light and shade already referred to. the peculiar beauty and brilliancy of these effects, when artistically rendered, impart to the prints an alluring charm, which appeals to the inartistic as well as the accredited artistic eye. the fact that sir joshua reynolds, west, romney, and other famous artists allowed their paintings to be reproduced by the mezzotint process, is sufficient proof of their appreciation of its power. it was, as already stated, to english engravers that mezzo engraving owed its development and fame as a reproductive art, and for very many years after its invention it was practised chiefly in england and holland. it is a remarkable fact that germany, the birthplace of this art, had but a slight connection with its subsequent history; and equally remarkable that french engravers, who excelled in line engraving when mezzotint was at the zenith of its fame, should almost entirely neglect to appreciate its possibilities. another curious fact concerning mezzotint engraving is that it has ever been the art of the dilettanti. it was first of all invented by von sigen, who followed the fine arts for pleasure rather than with any serious purpose. prince rupert brought it over to england with an enthusiastic, but certainly not a professional, interest, and at several periods of its history it has received encouragement and substantial help from like sources. one of the earliest and most ardent mezzo engravers in this country was francis place, a well-known yorkshire country squire. h. lutterel was another such exponent of the art. he was the first engraver to make any decided improvement in laying the ground. he evidently realised the importance of a good ground, and constructed a tool to ensure its evenness and regularity. another irishman, captain baillie, a retired cavalry officer, adopted a style of engraving similar to rembrandt's, and copied some of that great artist's productions. he was one of the most enlightened art critics of his time. =a modern mezzo engraver.=--a brief outline sketch of the life of samuel cousins, one of the most successful of modern mezzotint engravers, will form a fitting conclusion to this chapter. samuel cousins was born in 1800. the story of his precociousness in artistic matters is certainly extraordinary. sir thomas ackland, an enthusiastic patron of the fine arts, saw the boy cousins standing before a picture dealer's window, and sketching with all the eagerness and verve of a born artist. even while yet a child of eleven years his exceptional ability manifested itself, for he won the silver palette, presented by the society of arts, and again the silver medal when twelve years. his rapid progress, both as an artist and engraver, was undoubtedly due to the influence and encouragement of his patron and friend, sir thomas ackland. he engraved about two hundred plates, including pictures by reynolds, lawrence, landseer, and millais. cousins died in 1887, after a most brilliant and purposeful career. chapter vi _the engraver's task_--inartistic work--constructive elements--outline--extraneous matter--composition--light and shade--expression--perspective--execution "the highest art is undoubtedly that which is simplest and most perfect, which gives the experience of a lifetime by a few lines and touches." =the engraver's task.=--engraving, by whatever process it may be accomplished, is not by any means a secondary art. even when it descends to mere copying, which its commercial associations unfortunately encourage, it requires for its effective execution exceptional skill, unremitting patience, and a more than average degree of artistic feeling. it is almost impossible to appreciate the true value of the engraver's work without some consideration of the labour it entails. each one of the multitudinous lines of an engraving is cut with a definite purpose and deliberate care, and may be operated upon again and again to increase the depth or width in various places. even the dots of a stipple are not made in that aimless fashion which their appearance might at first suggest. a mechanical effect is sedulously avoided, consequently each dot must be cut with scrupulous care, and may require two or three touches with the graver to produce the desired effect. the proportionate reduction of pictures for engraving also demands exquisite skill and accurate draughtsmanship in which the eye and hand of the artist may be distinctly traced. thus, by a laborious yet picturesque and harmonious interpretation of the artist's creations, the engraver renders their reproduction possible, widens the sphere of their interest and influence, and in many instances procures for them a world-wide reputation. such an art may be both erudite and comprehensive in its information, for it is executed with a purposeful patience which omits nothing, forgets nothing, and maintains a convincing directness of expression. outline, light and shade, variety of style and representation of surfaces, are all within the engraver's control, and a vast diversity of expression will be requisite for their realisation. it is quite within his power also to interpret the artist's thoughts as well as imitate his style, and this involves not only a judicious balancing of tone and texture, but a knowledge of the principles of art embodied in the picture--his copy. =inartistic work.=--owing to an insatiable craving for pictorial illustration, there is an ever-growing tendency on the part of the artist engraver to seek after sensational or entertaining effects which are not artistic productions. intensely interesting and attractive they may be, and yet signally deficient in the true elements of fine art. it is quite possible to make any art popular, however crude its conception and manifestation may be, so long as its expression is sufficiently striking or pleasing. such products of the graver or brush may be elaborate compositions and effective forms of pictorial expression, inasmuch as they provide interesting information concerning past or current events. they may even possess a certain value as historical records, and yet not manifest that subtle power of suggestive beauty and intensity of thought which are _primá facie_ evidences of masterly genius and artistic power. when the energy and skill of the artist are thus devoted to expressive delineation in place of artistic completeness, he becomes satisfied with an inferior degree of excellence, provided only that it pleases; and the result will almost assuredly be an incomplete, if not vitiated, production. in these days of invention and advancement, when the resources of mankind are almost limitless, conditions of life favourable, and opportunities for the acquirement of knowledge and skill always abounding, there can surely be no valid excuse for this dead level mediocrity in the engraver's art,--a result which might possibly arise from the insiduous fever of display, of notoriety, and of commercialism which is ever seeking fresh victims in this as in every other phase of human life and effort. =constructive elements.=--an engraving may be an imitative or representative interpretation of a picture or drawing in _black_ and _white_. in such an interpretation, whatever its character may be, integrity of form is of paramount importance, and essential to the attainment of any degree of excellence in engraving. it imparts to the work a distinctive character, and endows it with that delicacy and precision of execution for which engraving is so justly famous. =outline.=--in the early engravings the constructive element consisted almost entirely of pure outline, which was rarely monotonous, but frequently suggestive of form and character. is it not almost marvellous, this suggestive power of outline, for is it not in reality but an imaginary boundary? an actual outline is a thing unknown in nature, and the very fact that it has its existence only in the imagination of the artist makes our reconciliation to it and our admiration of it the more wonderful. the astonishing elasticity of the human imagination makes it quite easy to fill in the details of a picture if only the outline be sufficiently suggestive. the primary function of the outline is, of course, to represent; but its secondary or suggestive purpose is scarcely of less importance, and can only be fully realised when the imagination is so stimulated as to perceive more than is actually exhibited. the completeness and truthfulness of the outline must be an engraver's first point. an art critic once stated that "he had finished the picture who had finished the outline." to some extent such a statement may be perfectly true; but just as in elocution, or even in ordinary conversation, emphasis is requisite, so in pictorial art the emphasis of concise expression, modulation, and delicate or vigorous accentuation are equally necessary and effective. =extraneous matter.=--in other words, an artist's ideas may be decisively portrayed in outline, yet for lack of suitable extraneous matter appear both crude and impoverished. the amount of characteristic form expressed by constructive elements in the drawing, other than the outlines, is strikingly illustrated in old german portrait engravings. they are simply overflowing with details of the most minute description. nor can such details be regarded as altogether superfluous, for they each help to _build up_ the character of the picture. in portrait engraving a mere likeness may easily be portrayed by a simple outline. not so, however, with character. considerable amplification will be necessary to show that; and this, perhaps, is the most difficult task of the engraver--to introduce a satisfactory amount of essential detail without detracting in any way from a pleasing general effect in the picture. =composition.=--in its broadest sense composition in graphic art refers to the putting together or combination of the various details into a pleasing and effective picture. it may comprise--(1) the choice of a subject; (2) the most effective moment of its representation; (3) the choice of such circumstantial matter as will best intensify the interest of the picture, and enhance its artistic value. nor is one part much less important than another, for interest in the subject must necessarily be influenced by effective grouping, and the choice of harmonious surrounding for both. it is in this that the _finesse_ of the artist becomes available, and, by clever contrasts and agreeable combinations, enables him to emphasise the expressive power of his pictorial art. =light and shade.=--the importance of light and shade in the composition of a picture is a fact too well established to require much further recognition here. if skilfully arranged and distributed it may in some measure compensate for any lack of cohesion in the design, and thus become a redeeming feature in what would otherwise prove to be an ineffective composition. it is chiefly by a dexterous arrangement of light and shade that the artist engraver can produce a faithful and intelligible translation of his subject. it adds considerably to the force and vigour of pictures, and produces effects which please the eye and successfully appeal to the imagination. there are, of course, other qualities and conditions which materially affect the engraver and his work, and these will now be briefly indicated. =expression.=--"expression is the representation of an object agreeably to its nature and character, and the use or office it is intended to have in the work." it is, in fact, the very essence of a picture. without it there can be no character, no emotion, and therefore no faithful delineation. =perspective.=--linear perspective in engraving represents the position or magnitude of the lines or contour of objects portrayed, and suggests their diminution in proportion to their distance from the eye. aërial perspective, on the other hand, represents the diminution of colour value of each object as it recedes from the eye. it is, in reality, a degradation of tone, suggesting the relative distances of objects. either may be the direct product of light and shade as well as of accurate drawing. =execution.=--the execution of an engraving admits of almost any degree of variety--the display of individual skill, and knowledge of technique. execution, as the term implies, is the direct result of individual dexterity; the ability to interpret colour, tone, and texture of a picture by an arrangement of lines of varying depth and fineness; the ability also to imitate, or even create, pictorial expression. the work of the engraver, like many other phases of reproductive art, is a fruitful source of mannerisms; yet even these will produce excellent results if they create innovations which will be afterwards approved and recognised as healthy, independent, and entirely original methods. [illustration: fig. 4.--modern wood engraving. "an interpretation of tone and texture by an arrangement of lines." _block supplied by the london electrotype agency ltd., from the "religious tract society."_] chapter vii _photo "process" engraving_--a progressive process--commercial and artistic features--"line" process--"half tone"--artistic restoration--tri-chromatography--photogravure "it is not knowledge itself which is power, but the ability to use and apply knowledge." =a progressive process.=--photo process engraving is a method of graphic reproduction which comes into direct contact with art in its most popular phases. it is a distinctly progressive process which possesses immense advantages and represents an effective and by no means inartistic aspect of the graphic arts. the lavish, and in many instances extravagant, employment of process engraving for purposes of pictorial illustration is a substantial proof of its popularity and illustrative value. it may not always reach a high standard of artistic realisation, but it is almost invariably realistic and attractive in its varied forms of representation. the idea of pictorial illustration, whether as the translation of an artistic conception or an actual representation of current events, has ever been a fascinating one; and its evolution, from a photo-mechanical standpoint, has been one unbroken record of remarkable progress. to enter upon a detailed exposition of any of the many photo-mechanical processes is somewhat beyond the purpose of this short treatise, and to attempt anything but a full and comprehensive description on such lines would be both unwise and valueless. let it suffice, then, to indicate their more salient points, their illustrative and artistic value, and the manner in which they may be most successfully applied. =commercial and artistic features.=--the commercial advantages of photo-engraving may be summed up in a very few words:-1. the plates can be produced quickly and economically. 2. the impressions can be made at a high rate of speed, and in some of the processes without perceptible deterioration. 3. the prints will be more or less facsimiles of the original. from an artistic point of view, photo-engraving possesses equally important features. it translates the artist's work with extraordinary facility and accuracy, retaining a satisfactory proportion of its expressive feeling, and reproducing subtleties of drawing and texture which it would be difficult, if not quite impossible, to obtain by any other process. of the many photo-mechanical engraving processes, all of which are more or less associated with pictorial illustration, three at least merit further consideration. [illustration: fig. 5.--cross section of cyanide furnace. the "line process."] (_a_) =the "line" process.=--the "line" process is applicable only to the reproduction of line drawings or prints, in which the design is represented in simple black and white, with only such gradations of tone as may be suggested by lines or dots. for the reproduction of pen-and-ink drawings, it has found considerable favour with illustrators, and many even of the more conservative artists are compelled to appreciate its merits and acknowledge its value. an interesting account of the compulsory acceptance of process engraving by the famous illustrator "du maurier" is suggestive of at least one valuable peculiarity of this method of reproduction. owing to failing sight, du maurier found it increasingly difficult to introduce into his drawings on the wood block that amount of detail which he considered necessary for the adequate expression of his ideas. eventually he was compelled to make pen-and-ink drawings on a much larger scale than was his wont, and to have them reproduced as photo-line-blocks, the reduction being made as required. (_b_) =half tone.=--"half tone" process engraving, as distinguished from the "line" process, is the reproduction of a design or copy which has in its composition gradations of tone in the form of flat tints. wash drawings and photographs present characteristic examples of such copies. [illustration: fig. 6.--process engraving. _block by the arc engraving co. ltd., london._] the true relative value of these medium or half tones can only be retained in the half tone engraving by breaking up the picture into most minute sections, and thereby producing a grain or series of dots of varying size and contiguity according to the requirements of the drawing. this grain or "screen" effect is produced by the interposition of a network of finely ruled lines in the form of a screen between the lens and the sensitive plate when photographing. the optical principle involved is beyond the sphere of this work, but the effect produced is a matter of vital importance, and requires careful consideration. the coarser the ruling of a screen, consistent of course with the class of work for which it is required, the more vigorous and consequently more effective the reproduction will appear. the variety of tones will be greater, and the textures will appear richer. small prints are naturally subjected to a close inspection; the screen effect, therefore, should be less obtrusive than in larger ones. it may also be useful to know that a finely ruled screen will reproduce the minute details of a copy. =artistic restoration.=--it is somewhat doubtful if the half tone engraving, pure and simple, would ever have any real artistic value for pictorial illustration but for some method of restoring those qualities which are so considerably reduced when copying a picture through the line screen. the pure half tone consists of a grain of varying gradations over the whole design. there are, therefore, no pure whites even in the highest lights. the use of the roulette and graver for accentuating light and shade is therefore not only permissible but decidedly advantageous, for the monotony of a mechanical grain is thereby relieved, and the print produced will be an effective and accurate translation of the artistic sketch. "a true half tone will be best obtained by not relying entirely on the mechanical means, but assisting them with some hand work, either in the shape of re-etching or engraving, or both." the application of hand engraving to photo-mechanical work has been chiefly due to american process workers, who applied the technique of the wood engraver's art to the amplification of their half tone blocks. =tri-chromatography.=--the "three colour process" is more or less an application of half tone engraving to chromo-typography. the colours, each in their relative value, are produced by purely photo-mechanical methods--the colours of the original copy being dissected by means of specially prepared colour screens. half tone blocks are made from each of the three negatives, and superimposed in accurate register in the subsequent printing, when, of course, the primary colours, red, blue, and yellow, are used. the process possesses brilliant and effective illustrative power, offers ample scope for the ingenuity and manipulative skill of artist, engraver, and printer, and promises well-nigh unlimited possibilities as a medium of pictorial expression. (_c_) =photogravure.=--photogravure may be very briefly described. it is a photo-mechanical process, in which rich, soft tones of surpassing delicacy and undeniably artistic effect are striking peculiarities. unlike "line" and "half tone" engraving, it is an intaglio process, in which the printer as well as the etcher must possess a profound artistic perception. [illustration: reproduction by r. j. everett & sons' "ink-photo" process. plate engraving for illustration within a mile of edinburgh town.] a polished copper plate is grained by dusting resin or asphalt powder on its surface, and afterwards fixing it by the application of heat. a _tissue_ negative print is made, squeezed on to the grained plate, and developed in the usual way. the plate is etched through the tissue. the action of the etching mordant--perchloride of iron--being in exact proportion to the light and shade of the developed print. the printing is a necessarily slow, and therefore costly, item. this limitation to their production, however, enhances the value of photogravure prints. =ink photo.=--what is known as the ink photo process of reproduction is interesting chiefly on account of the remarkable fidelity with which engravings of the finest and most intricate texture can be reproduced by its agency. it is essentially a photo-mechanical process, but differs from others of a similar character, inasmuch as the vigour and expressive power of the original is to a considerable extent preserved. colour values also, as far as they can be expressed by the engraver's art (see p. 11), are reproduced by ink photo methods with surprising accuracy, and the intensity of impression, that peculiar feature of prints from engraved plates, is almost invariably well sustained. a careful criticism of the appended illustration and frontispiece done, this process will reveal many other interesting points of practical value. chapter viii _appreciative criticism_--an educative principle--an analysis--realism in art--a retrospect "yet when we have said all our fine things about the arts, we must end in a frank confession that the arts, as we know them, are but initial. he has conceived meanly of the resources of man who believes that the best age of production is past." =appreciative criticism.=--the art of engraving, and particularly wood engraving, has fully justified its existence, and the eminently popular position which it has long held amongst the fine arts of the world. through the medium of the pictorial press it has diffused a knowledge of the noblest principles of art, and has ever exerted a refining influence even over inartistic minds. for this reason the lack of knowledge concerning some of the essential qualities of engraving as a pictorial art is somewhat remarkable. even more so when it is considered that never before in the history of the world has such a wealth of illustrative art been produced and brought well within the reach of its humblest patrons. it is perhaps too much to expect, nor is it at all desirable, that individual preference should be moulded to one common and fixed standard. to some minds the picturesque, though perhaps undignified paintings of the old dutch masters, would appeal with greater success than the wondrous light and shade of turner's pictures. or, again, the astonishing technicalities and intricacies of german wood engraving may stir up a deeper interest and enthusiasm than the simple yet expressive productions of thomas bewick. yet such a difference of opinion may exist only in individual appreciation or taste. the appreciative faculties in mankind are in the main identical. =an educative principle.=--there is in human life an omnipotent and omniscient educative principle which may, to some extent at least, be rendered subservient to the human will, but which in other respects is as certain in its results and impulses as the course of the planets. those who surround themselves with the beautiful in nature and in art, whose minds are constantly in communion with the grand and noble purposes they suggest, are infinitely more sensible to their manifold beauties than those of their fellows who persistently disregard, and even repel, artistic influences. their appreciation of the full significance of any artistic production is deeper, more sincere, and more equable than is that of those who neglect the aspirations of the finer fibres of their beings, and thus allow their higher faculties to become blunted, and their judgments warped. "verily unto him that hath shall be given," etc. the most independent and most penetrative imagination is not by any means a free agent. environment, mental culture, and natural temperament are each controlling influences of variable power; yet there is much truth in the philosophy which declares that "it is as easy to excite the intellectual faculties as the limbs to useful action." =the artist's purpose.=--a misconception of the artist's aim almost invariably leads to a condemnation of his work. first of all discover his purpose, and then decide upon the success or non-success of his conceptions. the _style_ of their execution, _i.e._ the manner in which various surfaces and textures are reproduced, is but a means to an end. it is infinitely easier to assimilate a style once its objective has been clearly comprehended. =an analysis.=--for obvious reasons, then, an analysis of the merits and demerits of the engraver's art is not always a simple matter. his work may be an acceptable pictorial record, though not in any sense a picture from an artistic point of view. on the other hand, it may possess artistic qualities in abundance, and yet be far from a truthful record of an incident or scene. =realism in art.=--it is frequently claimed for graphic art that when it cannot faithfully imitate it is permissible for it to interpret. quite so; and it is in just such a light that engraving is or ought to be regarded. a picture, whether illustrating a story or recording an artistic impression, is never so great as when it enchants the imagination with an ideal presence. absolute realism is not always desirable either in pictorial art or pictorial expression. no matter how realistic it may be, it is a doubtful gain to introduce into the composition of a picture a mass of detail which might only prove disconcerting, and distract attention from the main issues of the subject. the partial or complete isolation of a central idea often adds to the vigour and general effectiveness of the whole. rarely, indeed, does it render it less picturesque. after all, it is not nature so much as nature's expression which should be represented. its infinity of secondary effects, its superabundance of detail, may, often with advantage, be left out. =a retrospect.=--while in this critical mood, it may be worth while noting that the sincere and painstaking work of the old-time engravers is deserving of some praise and an ever tolerant criticism. it manifests incongruities and exaggerated metaphors which are at times painfully unconventional or grotesque, yet they have a directness of representation which admits of no doubt as to their meaning, and bear few traces of a perfunctory art. "our arts are happy hits. we are like the musician on the lake whose melody is sweeter than he knows, or like a traveller surprised by a mountain echo whose trivial word returns to him in romantic thunders."--emerson. index ackland, sir thomas, 47. analysis, 68. ancient drawings, 1. antiquity of engraving, 2. _apocalypsio sue historia_, 7. art representative, 3. artistic purpose, 68. artistic restoration, 63. arundel, duke of, 41. assyrian antiquities, 4. audran family, 4. baillie, captain, 46. baldine, baccio, 20. bewick, thomas, 9, 67. _biblia pauperum_, 7. block books, 6. botticelli, sandio, 20. cave dwellings, 1. caxton, william, 26. character, building up of, 52. chinese playing cards, 5. clever contrasts, 53. colour dissection, 64. commercial advantages, 13. comparisons, 12, 13. composition, 52, 53. concise expression, 52. constructive elements, 51. controlling influences, 68. cousins, samuel, 47. criticism, appreciative, 66. dallaway, 26. dante, 20. degradation of tone, 54. details, combination of, 52. du maurier, 60. durer, albert, 8, 21, 24, 40. dutch masters, 67. educative principle, 67. egyptian monuments, 4. emerson, 1, 5, 69. engravers, early, 20. engravers, interpretation, 49. engravers, task, 48. engraving, english, 26. etching, 38. etching, dutch records, 38, 39. etching, a summary, 40. etching, description, 39. etching, a stenography, 40. etching, pictorial and artistic value, 40. etching, light and shade in, 41. etchings, hollar's, 41. evolution theory, 2. execution, 54. expression, 53. extraneous matter, 52. finiguerra, 18, 19, 21. formschneider, 7. french engravers, 46. french engraving, 23. gainsborough, 43. gemeni, thomas, 26, 27. german wood engraving, 6, 67. german engravers, 22. german portraits, 52. gilray, james, 33. goldsmith's _deserted village_, 33. goltzius, henry, 24. greek art, 4. gutenberg, 21. half tone process engraving, 60, 61, 62. heath, james, 36. hieroglyphic figures, 4. _historia virginis_, 7. historical records, 3, 50. hogarth, 28, 31, 32. hogenberg, remigus, 27. holbein, hans, 8. houbraken, 28. hound, the, 9. hudibras, 31. illustrator, the, 14. imaginary boundary, an, 51. imaginative instinct, 20. imaginative symbolism, 22. inartistic work, 49. inception of engraving, 1. incised drawings, 1, 2. intermediary values, 13. ink photo, 65. ink photo, expressive power, 65. ink photo, intensity of, 65. italian art, 22. italian engraving, 22. italian niello, 18. jacobite sympathies, 32. justification, a, 66. kartenmacher, 7. king of terrors, the, 9. lalanne, 38. landscape engraving, 36. landseer, 35, 36, 47. lawrence, 35, 47. lewis, f. c., 35. leyden, lucas van, 24. light and shade, 53. line process engraving, 59, 60. litzelburger, hans, 9. louis xiv., 23. ludwig, von sigen, 42. lutterell, 46. mannerisms, 22, 54. mantegna, andrea, 20. merchant marks, 6. metal engraving, 9. metal engraving, invention of, 18. metal engraving, another account, 19. mezzotint engraving, invention, 42, 43. mezzotint engraving, qualities, 43, 44. mezzotint engraving, popularised, 43, 44. mezzotint engraving, described, 44. movable types, 7. national characteristics, 21. nation's progress, mirror of, 4. nature's expression, 69. neolithic period, 3. new testament, 8. northcote's pictures, 33. nuremberg records, 7. outline, 49, 51-52. ornamental engraving, 18. palæolithic period, 3. parker, archbishop, 27. passe family, 27. payne, john, 28. perspective, 24. perspective, aërial, 54. perspective, linear, 54. photo process, 57. photogravure, artistic features, 64. photogravure, description, 65. photogravure, pictorial cards, 7. place, francis, 46. pope's villa, 35. prehistoric artistic power, 3. prehistoric art, purpose of, 3. primeval engraver, 3. primeval man, 1. prince rupert, 43, 46. process engraving, amplification of, 64. process engraving, artistic, 58. process engraving, commercial features, 58. process engraving, value of, 57, 58. progressive review, 23. progressive process, 57, 58. pye, john, 35. queen elizabeth, 27. raimbach, 34, 35. raimondi, marc antonio, 21. raphael, 21. realism, 68, 69. religious illustrations, 7. rembrandt, 24. rembrandt's influence, 41. renaissance, 19. retrospect, 69. reynolds, 34, 43. rock, jerome, 8. romney, 45. royal sovereign, 28. screen effect, 60, 61. society of arts, 47. _speculum humanæ salvationis_, 7. stipple engraving, 33. strange, robert, 32, 33. style, 68. symbolic figures, 4. technique, 22, 23. thirteenth century documents, 6. three colour process, 64. tone and texture, 49. translation, 17. tri-chromatography, 64. turk's head, 34. turner, 35, 36, 37, 45, 67. untutored art, 2. vallerant valliant, 43. venetian navigators, 5. vertue, 28. vesalius, 26. walpole, horace, 28, 30. west, 34, 45. wilkie, david, 35. wilson, 34. wood blocks, 5. wood engraving, 5. wood engraving, combination of lines, 14. wood engraving, justification of, 13. wood engraving, power of realisation, 14. wood engraving, pictorial and artistic effects, 14. wood engraving, renaissance, 9. wood engraving, variety of texture, 14. * * * * * _printed by_ morrison & gibb limited, _edinburgh_ the essentials of illustration a practical guide to the reproduction of drawings & photographs for the use of scientists & others by t. g. hill reader in vegetable physiology in the university of london, university college london william wesley & son 28 essex street, strand 1915 printed by the westminster press, london, w. contents page intaglio printing 1 intaglio plates 2 line engraving 2 etching 5 soft-ground etching 6 mezzotint 7 photogravure 8 plane surface printing 15 lithography 15 chromolithography 20 photolithographic processes 23 collotype 23 the preparation of illustrated pages 26 relief printing 33 woodcuts and engravings 33 the half-tone process 37 the half-tone three-colour process 46 photomechanical line blocks 49 the drawing of microscopic details 67 the drawing of diagrams and apparatus 72 the drawing of maps 76 the drawing of graphs or curves 79 the swelled gelatine process 84 the relative cost of blocks and plates by various processes 89 literature 95 illustrations 1. plates plate 1 an original lithograph by mr. harry becker. 2 chromolithograph. messrs. gerrards, ltd. 3-5 collotype. messrs. andré, sleigh & anglo, ltd. 6 half tone. swan electric engraving co., ltd. 7 half tone. \ | 8 photogravure. | | 9 collotype. | messrs. andré, sleigh & > anglo, ltd. 10 half tone. | | 11 half tone. | | 12 half tone three colour. / 2. text figures tailpiece, p. 11. electrotype from the original wood engraving by bewick. tailpiece, p. 30. line block. messrs. bourne & co. fig. 1. wood engraving. messrs. edmund evans, ltd. fig. 2. wood cut. mr. g. n. oliver. figs. 3-6. line blocks. messrs. andré, sleigh & anglo, ltd. figs. 7 and 8. line blocks, reproductions of a wood engraving. mr. c. butterworth. fig. 9. line block. figs. 10-13. line blocks, reproductions of wood engravings. fig. 14. line block. fig. 15. line block. messrs. andré, sleigh & anglo, ltd. fig. 16. line block. swan electric engraving co., ltd. fig. 17. line block. messrs. andré, sleigh & anglo, ltd. figs. 18-20. line blocks. figs. 21-23. line blocks. messrs. bourne & co. figs. 24 and 25. line blocks. fig. 26. line block. messrs. bourne & co. fig. 27. line block. figs. 28 and 29. line blocks. messrs. andré, sleigh & anglo, ltd. fig. 30. line block. mr. c. butterworth. fig. 31. line block. messrs. andré, sleigh & anglo, ltd. fig. 32. line block. mr. c. butterworth. figs. 33 and 34. line blocks. figs. 35 and 36. line blocks. messrs. andré, sleigh & anglo, ltd. fig. 37. line block. messrs. bourne & co. fig. 38. lithograph reproduced by the swelled gelatine process. artists illustrators, ltd. tailpiece, p. 86. line block. messrs. andré, sleigh & anglo, ltd. preface modern scientific publications, although they may in some or even many cases equal in their scientific quality the memoirs of earlier workers, do not, on the average, reach a high standard as regards illustration. for instance, in great britain botany is pre-eminent in its morphological aspects; it should therefore follow that the illustrations, which form so important a part of such papers, should be beyond reproach. this is not always so, a fact which must be patent to anyone with the slightest critical knowledge who looks through a typical journal. this is a fact much to be regretted, since many of the earlier scientists were accomplished draughtsmen and, indeed, often artists; in this connection the hookers and professor daniel oliver may be mentioned. the implication is not intended that there are no good amateur draughtsmen nowadays; there are, and in some cases possessed of great ability. the beautiful work of church in his floral mechanisms may be cited as an example. it may, of course, be argued that any picture which serves to illustrate the particular feature is good enough; this is the contention of one who takes an insufficient pride in his work. a feature worthy of an illustration deserves the best the author can produce, more especially as a literary form is still, fortunately, preserved or, at any rate, aimed at. the reason for indifferent illustrations is primarily due to bad or mediocre drawings, or to their unsuitability for the kind of reproduction in view. with regard to the first point: this lack of draughtsmanship often obtains; when education entirely replaces mere instruction, it is to be hoped that all students of science will be trained in the rudiments of drawing. meanwhile the difficulty can be partly overcome, as will be seen later on, by the simple means of drawing on an enlarged scale, in order that in reproduction reduction can be made. the second reason, the onus of which also falls on the authors, is a lack of knowledge regarding the kind of drawing suitable for the different modes of reproduction; this is a very important point, for "technical conditions govern even genius itself." authors, however, are not always to blame; it would appear that even editors sometimes are wanting in the requisite knowledge, for we have known straightforward line drawings reproduced by half-tone; in other cases the paper used is unsuitable for the reproduction and, at other times, the printers are at fault. with a view to remedying, at any rate in part, these deficiencies, a course of lectures, arranged by the board of studies in botany of the university of london, was delivered in the lent term of 1913 in the department of botany of university college, london. in gratifying the wish expressed by some that these lectures should be given a more permanent dress, the author feels that some apology is necessary, for he can lay no claim to authoritative knowledge of much of the subject-matter; questions relating to the graphic arts and to illustrations, however, have always been of interest to him, so that he has tried various experiments, often with disastrous results, and thus has gained some experience. in these matters the author has benefited much through his association with professor f. w. oliver, who, characteristically, has been ever ready to discuss these problems with, and to place his knowledge and experience at the disposal of the author. the outline of the ways and means of illustration contained in the following pages is primarily intended for ordinary working scientists, not for artists, professional draughtsmen or skilled amateurs. the point of view is mainly botanical, primarily because the present writer is a botanist and also because the requirements of modern botany in the way of illustrations are more extensive than those of any other science; the requirements of other sciences, however, have not been overlooked. with regard to other branches of knowledge, the principles considered will, it is hoped, prove of some value to the workers therein. the details of technique have been kept as brief as possible; in fact, sufficient only has been said to indicate the main principles involved. in the literature cited, to which the author is indebted particularly for matters relating to technique, will be found full, and sometimes exhaustive, accounts. with regard to the illustrations, these have been selected to illustrate the various methods of reproduction described or to demonstrate the points raised. in those instances where the source has not been acknowledged or the draughtsman or photographer mentioned by name, the figure is by the author: and since the actual making of plates and blocks is of considerable importance, the firms, when known, responsible for their making are mentioned in the table of illustrations. in this connexion the author desires to express his appreciation of the skill shewn and care taken by messrs. andré, sleigh and anglo, limited, who prepared the majority of the new illustrations which appear in the following pages. the author is indebted to many who have helped in various ways in the production of his work; particularly is he desirous of expressing his warmest thanks to miss o. johnston for the charming drawing of _geranium columbinum_ (plate 2) and to mr. harry becker for his beautiful lithograph (plate 1). to miss s. m. baker, dr. w. g. ridewood, and miss winifred smith thanks are due for the loan of original drawings; also to mr. edward hunter and mr. hugh hunter for information regarding matters of technique and cost. the number of illustrations would have been less but for the generosity of messrs. chapman and hall, the editors of the "annals of botany," "the imprint," and the "new phytologist," professor f. w. oliver and mr. g. n. oliver in lending blocks. recognition also must be made of the kindness of mr. richard g. hatton in consenting to the use of certain blocks from his admirable "craftsman's handbook," of the delegates of the clarendon press for permission to reproduce figure 14, and of messrs. frederick warne and co. for permission to make use of the wood engraving by messrs. edmund evans, ltd., of kate greenaway's charming milkmaid. finally, the author desires to express his sincerest thanks to mr. gerard t. meynell, of the westminster press, for the keen interest he has taken in the work, for his help with the illustrations, and for the great care he has taken in the production of the book. university college, london _january, 1915._ intaglio printing in the biological sciences the massing of illustrations into plates is still the favourite method of illustration, although text-figures have recently become more numerous. this is partly due to innate conservatism, for most of the earlier memoirs were so illustrated, doubtless because it saved time, since if wood engravings were used with a view to text-figures, the compositor had to wait for the blocks, whereas in the case of plates the compositor and the engraver worked independently. also the possibilities of plates are enormous; they may be very beautiful indeed besides being biologically satisfactory, for much finer results can be obtained by engraving metal than by engraving wood. then again there are many different processes available for the making of plates, so that if one proves unsuitable for a subject an excellent reproduction may be obtained by another. before passing on it is desirable to point out the essential differences in the three ways of printing. _intaglio printing._ if the finger-tips be examined, many ridges and furrows will be seen on their under surfaces; if now a thick ink be well rubbed into these so as to fill well the furrows, and the superfluous ink be wiped off from the general surface, an impression will be obtained of the furrows on pressing the fingers on to a piece of smooth white paper. better still, if the copper plate of a visiting card be examined, the name will be found cut into the surface. if an intimate mixture of tallow and lamp-black be well rubbed into these depressions and the excess of ink wiped off the surface of the plate, an impression can be obtained by placing a piece of damp paper on the plate and passing both through the domestic mangle--the kind with rubber-covered rollers. in each case the principle is the same, the pressure forces the paper into the depressions of the plate so that it takes up the ink. _plane surface printing._ this is characteristic of lithography and allied processes. writing or a design well chalked on a blackboard can be transferred on to a smooth piece of paper merely by a little vigorous rubbing on the back of the paper placed in position over the drawing. the transfers of childhood provide a further simple illustration, so also does the hectograph (jellygraph). _relief printing._ in this case, the design is raised above the general surface of the substance. a rubber stamp is an obvious example. it will be noticed that intaglio and relief are the reverse one of the other, whilst plane-surface printing is intermediate between these extremes. in intaglio, the ink is taken from a depression; in relief from an elevation; and in flat printing from a plane surface. intaglio plates. there are several methods of making intaglio plates, but only a few are used in the illustration of scientific papers; attention however may be drawn to the others, not only for their own sake, but also on account of their influence on some modern photo-mechanical processes. line-engraving. line engraving, by which is meant cutting lines into copper, steel, or other suitable material with a burin or graver, is a very ancient art. its employment for illustrative purposes is an outcome of the art of the metal workers--particularly the florentine goldsmiths of the fifteenth century--who filled up the lines cut in the metal with a black enamel of silver and lead sulphides (niello) which was made by heating together a mixture of these metals with sulphur. this enamel when once in was very hard to remove, so that in order to see how their lines were progressing, the artists rubbed well into the metal, in order to fill up the lines, a sticky ink. the superfluous ink was then wiped off the general surface of the metal and a piece of paper was placed in position and pressed sufficiently hard to make it enter the depressions, which alone contained the pigment, and take up the ink. a print was thus obtained of the work and so its state was ascertained. metal engraving is carried out in the same fashion at the present time. a flat plate of copper or steel is well polished and is worked upon with a graver or burin, so that the picture is represented by lines cut into the metal. any line, however fine, will give an impression on printing, hence it is hardly surprising that engraving has long been a popular means of expression by artists, since force, depth and delicacy are possible of attainment. the printing is carried out in exactly the same way as by the early metal workers: the plate is covered with a thick ink which is forced well into the lines and then the superfluous ink is removed. the plate is now ready for printing; to do this, the plate is placed in the bed of a copper-plate press and over it is laid a sheet of damped paper which is covered with two or three layers of blanket. the whole is then passed under the roller which forces the paper into the incised lines, so that not only is the ink picked out, but a mould of them is taken on the paper, hence the very finest lines will give an impression. having passed through the press the paper is carefully peeled off, and thus the print is obtained. with regard to the metal employed, copper is commonly used, since it is soft and easy to work; its softness however is, in a sense, a disadvantage, since the plate will soon wear, the finest lines being the first to go, so that a limited edition of good impressions only is possible. to overcome this difficulty, the plate may be faced with steel, by which means it is rendered very durable. steel, although once popular, is not much used nowadays owing to its hardness and the rapidity with which it rusts. as compared with copper engravings, steel gives a somewhat harder line, whilst copper gives a soft line, but this, of course, does not mean that steel engravings are harsh; the finest work can be done on steel and of remarkable delicacy. at the present day line engraving is seldom or never used as a means of illustrating scientific work. it is obvious that the average scientist has not the time and he certainly does not possess the skill to make his own plates; the engraver must translate the originals into lines, so that much consultation would be necessary. further, a line engraving takes a long time to make, and most publishers would certainly look at the expense. in the past, however, the line engraving was much used, and very beautiful work was often accomplished. the following works contain outstanding examples. bojanus: _anatome testudinis europaeæ_, vilnae, 1819-1821. the plates are beautiful engravings by lehmann after the drawings by the author. chatin: _anatomie comparée des végétaux_. good steel engravings illustrating the structure of various plants. curtis: _flora londinensis_, london, 1777. the illustrations are hand-coloured copper engravings by sowerby and others, many of which, particularly the earlier ones, are of outstanding excellence. the engraving is often nothing more than the mere outline of the plant, whilst in cases where the structures are more massive, a certain amount of shading is used. the colouring is very good indeed, and it is obvious that much care was taken not only in the actual painting but also in the choice of pigments which, as far as can be judged, are as fresh now as when first used. _curtis's botanical magazine_ and _edwards's botanical register_ contain some excellent examples of hand-coloured copper engravings. levaillant: _histoire naturelle des oiseaux d'afrique_. paris, 1805-8. this work contains beautifully coloured engravings by feesard. the original drawings were by reinold. lyonet: _traite anatomique de la chenille_. la haye, 1762. the plates are amongst the best illustrative of zoological science. martius: _flora brasiliensis_. the earlier volumes, _e.g._, vol. 13, part i, contain excellent engravings. passæus: _hortus floridus_. arnheim, 1614-17. sowerby and smith: _english botany_. london, 1790-1866. the illustrations are hand-coloured copper engravings. thuret et bornet: _etudes phycologiques_. paris, 1878. this work contains the finest plates ever published in a botanical work. riocreux drew from the preparations, and his drawings were engraved on steel by picart, thomas and others. etching. etching is a term very loosely used; strictly speaking it consists in corroding a metal plate or a flat stone with acid, or other substance possessed of a kindred action, so that depressions are formed. a pen and ink drawing, although usually so termed, is not an etching. briefly the method is this: a well polished copper, steel or zinc plate is covered with a substance, known as the etching ground, consisting commonly of a mixture of asphaltum, white wax and pitch, which resists the action of the acid. the ground may be laid in more than one way; the simplest, perhaps, is to dissolve the etching ground in some solvent such as chloroform, which readily volatilises, and to pour the solution on to the plate, which is tilted this way and that until the liquid is evenly distributed; the excess is poured off and what remains is allowed to dry, the plate being kept level during the process. the plate is then warmed until the ground is softened, when it is held over a smoking candle and is rapidly moved here and there so that if properly done the fine soot is evenly incorporated in the ground. when the plate is cold, the drawing may be made by cutting through the etching ground, so as to expose the underlying copper, with needles of various sizes. the work is then etched by means of dilute nitric acid. when this is satisfactorily accomplished, the ground is cleaned off, the plate well inked with copperplate ink, and the surface ink removed by coarse muslin. the plate is then gone over with fine muslin, but the ink must not be removed from the depressions; finally the damped paper is placed in position and impressions obtained by the use of the copper-plate press. etching, although suitable, especially when natural-printed,[a] for the illustration of many scientific subjects, is but seldom employed at the present time for this purpose; the preliminary announcement of warburg's _die pflanzenwelt_, however, states that some of the illustrations are etchings. [footnote a: a plate is said to be natural-printed when all the ink is removed except from the depressions; in artificial printing some ink is allowed to remain on the flat parts. artists frequently, after removing the superfluous ink, lightly dab the plate in order to make the pigment spread slightly beyond the actual limits of the depressions; this is known as _retroussage_.] soft-ground etching. this is a somewhat rare method of reproduction nowadays; it may, however, be described briefly, for it would appear to be suitable for scientific purposes, since it should not prove a matter of great difficulty for an author who is a sufficiently skilled draughtsman to make his own plates. the polished copper plate is laid with ordinary ground to which is added lard in a quantity according to the warmth of the weather. over the plate is then placed a sheet, larger than the plate by an inch or two, of damp, thin, grained paper, the edges of which are folded over and pasted to the back of the plate. when the paper is dry it will be well stretched and in close contact with the plate. with the hand resting on a bridge, in order to avoid inadvertent touching of the plate, the drawing is made on the paper with a pencil of a hardness suited to the softness or otherwise of the etching ground. when the drawing is finished the paper is carefully removed; wherever the pencil has been used, the etching ground will adhere to the paper, so that in such places the metal will be exposed. the plate is then etched and printed as in the normal process. no reproductions of drawings of scientific subjects apparently have been reproduced by this method. examples can conveniently be examined in _the seven lamps of architecture_ by ruskin. mezzotint. the characteristic feature of mezzotint is that the subject is translated into tones rather than lines as in the preceding intaglio methods. the surface of a smooth metal plate--usually copper--is raised into innumerable and minute projections by going over it in all directions with a curved steel tool, known as a rocker, the edge of which is finely toothed. an impression taken of the plate in this condition will give a deep rich tone. the high lights are obtained by scraping and burnishing away the elevations so that there are no pits left to hold the ink, and, similarly, intermediate tones are produced by partly removing the pile so that the pits are made of varying degrees of shallowness and consequently will print in tones according to their depth. impressions are taken in the same way as in the case of etchings. mezzotint apparently has never been used for the reproduction of scientific subjects. indeed, in a sense, this process is much too artistic for the purpose. at their best, illustrations reproduced by this method have mystery and depth and give the imagination much employ; in a word, they are subjective rather than objective, qualities unsuited for our purpose. photogravure. photogravure may next be considered, for although it is a photo-mechanical process, it corresponds to mezzotint. excellent results may be obtained by its use provided the drawings--usually executed in monochrome such as sepia--be really good, otherwise they are hardly worth reproducing by this relatively expensive method.[a] [footnote a: this account refers only to plates made and printed entirely by hand, not to photogravure for printing on a rotary machine.] photogravure is particularly suitable for the reproduction of drawings showing a large amount of detail and made up of a variety of tones rather than lines or stipple. the photographic part of the process is essentially the same as making a carbon print from a photographic negative. this consists in exposing under the negative the carbon tissue, which is a mixture of gelatine, in which is dissolved bichromate of potash, and a suitable pigment. such a film of bichromate gelatine is, when dry, sensitive to light. if no light gains access to it, the gelatine is readily soluble in warm water; if light acts upon it, the gelatine becomes insoluble in proportion to the degree of its exposure. obviously, the pigment will be retained in varying degrees according to the relative insolubility of the different parts of the gelatine. the carbon tissue having been exposed, is rolled down on a wet sheet of paper covered with some adhesive and is dried under pressure. the paper is then soaked in warm water when the basis of the carbon tissue easily peels off; the picture is developed by laving in warm water, which will dissolve the gelatine in proportion to its exposure to the light. the print when dry is remarkably permanent and, from the picturesque point of view, is infinitely superior to the ordinary silver print. the method of making the photogravure plate is, in outline, as follows: the original drawing is photographed, and it is very important that the negative should be as perfect as possible. from the negative, a positive is made upon transparency carbon tissue which is mounted upon a sheet of plate glass. the procedure is, in essentials, exactly the same as described above for the making of a carbon print. this positive when dry may be touched up; after which a negative, which also may be touched up, is made from it upon an ordinary sheet of carbon tissue. the negative so obtained is transferred to a prepared plate of copper, developed with warm water and dried. the copper plate is prepared as follows: after being well polished until quite free from all scratches, the surface is dusted over with finely powdered resin or, more usually, bitumen. the plate is then heated until the dust adheres. after the carbon negative has been stuck on to the plate, developed and dried, the margins and back of the copper are protected with an acid-resisting varnish. when dry, the plate is placed in the etching bath of nitric acid or, more generally, of ferric chloride. the etching fluid will pass through the thinnest parts of the negative first, so that the surface of the copper will be etched to a degree corresponding to the thickness of the gelatine. the high lights on the negative obviously will be represented by thick coatings of gelatine, consequently such parts will be but slightly etched and vice versâ. if the plate had not been laid with resin, the surface after etching would show more or less extensive depressions and elevations; but the grains of resin protect the copper immediately beneath them from the action of the acid, which consequently can only dissolve the exposed parts of the metal between the resinous particles. the result is, therefore, that the plate is covered over with numberless fine pits of varying depths. the deepest ones will, on printing, give the darkest tones, since they will hold more ink, the shallower ones will give the lighter tones, whilst the shallowest and those parts unetched will give the high lights. the plate is usually etched three or four times successively in varying strengths of fluid, after which the etching ground and gelatine is cleaned off. a strong copper-plate ink is then well rubbed in by means of a dabber, after which the ink from the surface is removed, first with a coarse piece of muslin and finally, with fine muslin. the ink must not be removed from the pits. the first pull is then taken as in a line engraving with a copper-plate press, and its appearance shows what corrections are necessary. the plate nearly always requires a certain amount of engraving; the high lights may be improved by means of a burnisher, the shadows by means of a rocker or a roulette--a small steel wheel the rim of which is beset with fine teeth--and so on. finally, if a large edition is required, the plate is steel faced. although much used for the reproduction of pictures, photogravure is too rarely employed for scientific purposes; this is to be regretted, for the process is admirably suited to the reproduction of photographs and drawings with delicate tones. as compared with the usual half-tone, the cost is high, and this no doubt militates against its use. examples of outstanding excellence will be found in the _new phytologist_, vol. xi, 1912, plates 5 and 6. these are absolute facsimiles of the original drawings by mr. mclean, both as regards colour and reproduction of tones. plate 8 may also be examined and compared with plates 9 and 10 which are reproductions of the same subject in collotype and half-tone respectively. plane surface printing [illustration: plate 1.--an original lithograph by mr. harry becker.] plane surface printing lithography. of these methods of printing, lithography is the outstanding example: it is a method of reproduction possessed of great possibilities, for by its employment a facsimile of any drawing can be obtained. as a means of artistic expression it ranks high amongst the graphic arts, and, for the reproduction of drawings of a scientific nature, it is very popular, since it meets most requirements and is comparatively inexpensive. the art, which was discovered by senefelder towards the end of the eighteenth century, depends on the fact that grease and water are immiscible: a drawing made with a greasy pigment upon a suitable surface adheres very strongly, whilst those parts free from it retain water, so that when damped and rolled up (_i.e._, inked), the ink used will stick only to the lines, etc., of the drawing, but not to the other parts. clearly the surface is all important, and this is provided by lithographic stone, a limestone occurring in germany, france, england and canada. the best stones occur at solenhofen near munich, those from other localities being inferior in quality. incidentally it may be mentioned that zinc and aluminium plates are not infrequently used in place of stone. lithographic stones vary in hardness, colour and grain. for the best work the stone should be homogeneous and of a hardness suitable for the subject; the colour affords an indication of the hardness, the lighter-coloured stones, which are much the commoner, being softer than the darker. there are two modes of procedure; the drawing may be made direct on the stone with lithographic ink or crayon--both being mixtures of tallow, wax, soap and shellac, with a sufficiency of pigment to render the drawing visible to the artist--or else the drawing may be made upon transfer paper. the former method, although the more satisfactory and often used by artists, is seldom pursued in scientific drawings except when professional draughtsmen are employed. in such cases it may be necessary to reverse the drawing, which is conveniently done by viewing it in a mirror, and, of course, all lettering must be reversed. the majority of amateur draughtsmen make their drawings in pencil or ink and these the lithographer traces upon lithographic transfer paper and transfers them to the stone; he, the lithographer, may merely trace the salient features and work the drawing up on the stone. the transfer papers are coated with gelatine, starch or gum, or mixtures of these substances, the idea being to interpose between the real paper and the pigment--in the form of lithographic crayon or ink--some substance soluble in water which will hold the pigment and prevent it soaking into the paper, so that a transfer has only to be damped through the back, pressed on to the stone and peeled off. the work, together with more or less of the film, will thus be transferred on to the stone and, of course, will be reversed, since the part uppermost on the stone will be the back of the original drawing. the original drawings may be made upon the transfer paper direct, and in so doing mistakes in tracing will be obviated. suitable papers are made for various purposes, e.g., smooth for ink work and variously granulated for crayon (see plate 1, which was drawn by mr. harry becker on transfer paper). another advantage in drawing directly upon the transfer paper is that the draughtsman can make corrections pretty easily for, if needs be, a bad piece of work can be entirely cut out and a fresh piece of paper inserted. assuming that the transfer method has been employed, the stone must be prepared according as the drawing is made with ink or with crayon. the stone is first thoroughly ground, in order to rid it of all traces of previous work, and then polished for ink work or grained--_i.e._ roughened--for crayon work, the small points produced taking up the crayon in proportion to the amount present on the transfer and the pressure used. the transfer is then damped with water, sometimes with a dilute solution of nitric acid, and placed in position on the stone, which is then passed two or three times through the lithographic press until dry. then the back of the paper is damped and the sheet peeled off. the stone is next proved, _i.e._, prepared for printing. it is first carefully examined for broken lines and other blemishes, which are touched up with ink or crayon. the stone is then painted over with a solution of gum in water which is allowed to dry, it is then washed in water and rolled up with ink. the drawing will now be clearly visible, for if properly inked the clear parts of the stone will not take the pigment, so that any parts which require cleaning up may be deleted. this is accomplished by means of a pencil of snake stone, a piece of pumice stone, an acid stump--a rod of hard wood, the sharpened end of which is dipped into nitric acid--or with a scraper. the stone is again washed and rolled up strongly with ink and etched with a dilute solution of nitric acid which is applied with a sponge; then the surface is again gummed and the stone allowed to dry. it is sometimes necessary to re-etch the stone; if so, the damp stone is rolled up with thin ink and allowed to dry, it is then dusted over with finely powdered resin, the superfluous resin is removed by means of a wet sponge, and the surface is painted over with a solution of gum arabic mixed with dilute nitric acid. if the resin is well incorporated with the ink, the work will suffer no damage in the process. the acid gum is then dabbed off with a rag, the stone is cleaned up with turpentine, rolled up once more, gummed and finally set aside to dry. all this appears complicated, but it is very necessary to get a good surface for printing. the action of the gum does not appear to be clearly understood, the nitric acid obviously will etch the stone, so that the gum will easily penetrate. it is sometimes supposed that the arabic acid of the gum enters into a chemical composition with the calcium carbonate, making a film which is the real ink-resisting surface. this film has not a long life, so that in printing it is necessary to renew it periodically by the application of gum solution. if possible, the stone should be allowed to rest for a day or two after proving, in order that the ink may sink well in. before printing, the gum is washed off and the stone allowed to remain in the press-room until its temperature is the same as its surroundings. the stone is then thoroughly and evenly damped all over, placed in the press, and rolled up with lithographic ink; the paper is then laid on, and the whole passed through the lithographic press. after the first few pulls it will be seen whether all is well. the essentials of a good impression are these: the lines must be black and not grey, provided black ink is used; the lines must not be wider or blacker ("smutty") than those on the stone, nor must they be ragged or broken ("rotten"). in printing, the stone must be damped and inked before each impression is taken, and occasionally re-gumming is required. good printing requires a considerable amount of ability, especially in the case of crayon drawings. the paper used is a very important matter, the selection of which can be safely left to the lithographer, provided he be a good one, unless the author possesses the necessary technical knowledge. if a smooth paper is required, and the paper is not to be damped before printing, india paper is best and plate paper next best. all coarse or grained papers must be damped before printing. as has already been remarked, lithography is a good process for scientific work; but, unfortunately, considering the number of lithographic plates published, really first-class examples are rare. this is largely due to the original draughtsman; it is unreasonable to expect a lithographer, in all probability ignorant of the subject of the plate, to turn out first-class reproductions of drawings which are obviously bad. on the other hand, lithographers vary greatly in their capabilities, and indifferent plates may be entirely due to their ability not being first rate. as drawings have to be traced, mistakes are apt to occur; the proofs should, therefore, be carefully examined, for a certain amount of correction can be made on the stone. the following works contain excellent lithographs, which should be studied by those interested in the subject. bornet et thuret: _notes algologiques_. paris, 1876-1880. this contains some of the best work, illustrative of science, known to the present author. the original drawings mostly were made by bornet, and the lithography was carried out by riocreux--one of the best if not the greatest of botanical artists--arnoul, picart and pierre. davis and thurnam: _crania britannica_. london, 1865. mirbel: _sur le cambium_, paris, 1842. the plates provide excellent examples of ink lithography by laplante. von mohl: _schriften botanischen inhalts_. tübingen, 1845. good examples by federer. the first volumes of the _annales des sciences naturelles_ (paris) may be referred to for lithographic work earlier than the above (1820). for more modern examples the following may be consulted: blackman and welsford: _fertilisation in lilium_, annals of botany, vol. 27, 1913. gravis: _recherches anatomiques sur les organes végétatifs de l'urtica dioica_, bruxelles, 1885. this memoir contains both good and indifferent plates. keibel: _normentafeln zu entwicklungsgeschichte der wirbeltiere_, jena, 1904. reed: _a study of the enzyme-secreting cells in the seedlings of zea mais and ph[oe]nix dactylifera_. annals of botany, vol. 18, 1904. semon: _zoologische forschungsreisen in australien_, jena, 1904. vaizey: _on the morphology of the sporophyte of splachnum luteum_, annals of botany, vol. 5, 1890. woodburn: _spermatogenesis in blasia pusilla_, annals of botany, vol. 27, 1913. several memoirs in the _fauna und flora des golfes von neapel_ (berlin) are illustrated by excellent lithographic plates. many good examples of chromolithography also will be found there. chromolithography. lithography is much used for the reproduction of coloured pictures and illustrations, the process being termed chromolithography. the principles involved are the same as for ordinary work, but it is necessary to print from several stones, one for each colour. it is obvious that much skill is required, for the employment of different colours will give a large number of secondary and tertiary tints when printed one above the other in various combinations. thus, by printing part of a design in yellow and the other part in blue, the finished product would show three colours--yellow, green and blue, and by the use of three primary colours a large number of different tints may be obtained. as already mentioned, each colour is printed by a separate stone, there is thus no limit--excepting that of expense--to the number of different colours which can be obtained. in practice it is usual to make an outline of the essential parts of the composition on a stone, known as the keystone, which is not necessarily used in printing the picture. an impression of this outline is taken upon a sheet of paper, which is used to transfer the design on to the stones, on each of which the artist will draw only those parts which he desires to be printed in one particular pigment. although the sequence of colours is generally blue, red and yellow, it is obvious that various changes in this order must be made according to the colours used and the exact tint required. for instance, a body colour such as cadmium yellow would precede a glaze such as madder-lake; again, two distinct tints may be obtained from red and blue, for example, according to the order of printing--red upon blue will give a mauve, whilst blue upon red will give a purple. a knowledge of pigments is thus all important, and in printing, the superposition must be perfect. plate 2 is an example of a chromolithograph. miss o. johnston first drew the outline of the plant, which was phototransferred on to the stone. an impression was then pulled and tinted by the artist, and from this tinted impression the colour stones were made by the lithographer. it may be added that only three colours were used in printing the plate. examples: baur: _einführung in die experimentelle vererbungslehre_ (plate 1). berlin, 1911. bruce and others: _a note on the occurrence of a trypanosome in the african elephant_. proceedings of the royal society of london, b. vol. 81, 1909. cropper: _the development of a parasite of earthworms_. _id._ vol. 85, 1912. oliver: _on sarcodes sanguinea_. annals of botany, vol. 4, 1889-1891. rubbel: _ueber perlen_ ... zoologische jahrbuecher, vol. 32, 1911-12. biometrika, 1906-7, vol. 5, plate 23. mention has been made of the value of a knowledge of colours. the subject is much too extensive to be considered adequately on the present occasion even if it were desirable; its importance, however, warrants a few passing remarks.[a] [footnote a: see ridgway: _color standards and color nomenclature_.] no two people will describe in the same way the colour of, say, a rose petal; both will have a different conception of the colour "crimson." the majority have but a limited sense of colour, and even when this faculty is possessed, the personal equation looms large; further, the ordinary names of colours are quite inadequate for descriptive purposes. for these reasons the importance of a scientific system of colour nomenclature and colour standards is all important. by the use of such a scheme, the exact colour of an object can be found by comparison with an adequate chart, and the name there given will convey to others exactly what colour is described or desired. the plumage of a bird or the colour of a flower can thus be described correctly, and an author can indicate exactly the colour desired in certain parts of a chromolithograph or other reproduction in colour. [illustration: plate 2.--geranium columbinum. a chromolithographic reproduction of a drawing by miss o. johnston] photolithographic processes.--of these methods of reproduction there are several, their value lying in the fact that the originals can be reduced or enlarged with the greatest of ease. the general principles are as follows. a photographic negative is taken of the original drawing and a positive made on a film of bichromate gelatine. wherever light reaches the film, the gelatine is rendered more or less insoluble according to the intensity of the light acting upon it; through the dark parts of the negative but little light will pass, so that the gelatine will remain soluble. the exposure of the positive having been made, the film, which may be mounted on paper, is inked with lithographic ink in the dark room and then washed. the pigment will adhere to those parts acted on by light, but will wash away from those regions unacted upon; obviously the half-tones will retain ink in direct proportion to their density. the developed positive is then transferred to a stone or zinc plate and impressions taken as in pure lithography for the dark parts are resistant to water and will take the ink, whilst the high lights will retain water and so will not be inked. the intermediate tones will take the pigment according to their density. in distinction to the previous methods, corrections cannot be made except in so far as the negative can be touched up. collotype.--of the various photolithographic methods which have from time to time been employed, collotype is the one in most general use at the present time, especially for the reproduction of photographs. collotype is a simple process which does not require so extensive a technical knowledge and ability as some of those previously described. but notwithstanding this, the results are sometimes unsatisfactory and unequal; faults due to indifferent originals and to unsatisfactory conditions obtaining in the work rooms. the great drawbacks to good collotype are cold and dampness, and it is for these reasons that continental firms, blessed with a more stable climate, often produce much the best work. provided the workshops are properly heated, the collotypers of this country ought to be able to turn out good work at all times of the year; indeed, the best firms do. for this and for other processes in which photographs form the originals to be reproduced, authors should send the negative to the collotyper; if this be impossible, positives of the best possible quality, printed on ordinary p.o.p. paper, toned to various shades of purple, and also on smooth bromide paper, in ordinary black tones, should be provided in order that the collotyper can choose the print he most prefers to work with. also, it is usual to glaze the prints. the method is as follows. a piece of british plate glass, about half-an-inch in thickness, is ground on one side with fine emery powder, and then thoroughly washed and dried. the plate is covered with a filtered mixture of the colloids sodium silicate and dextrine or albumin, and placed in a warm oven to dry. if metal plates are used, such as zinc or copper, this preliminary coating is unnecessary; glass plates, however, must have the substratum in order that the sensitised gelatine--which is next put on--may stick. when the plate is dry, it is thoroughly washed with water in order to remove any free silicate; it is then dried and put away until required for use. the sensitising solution is made up of gelatine and bichromate of potash dissolved in water; before use it is filtered, freed from air bubbles and heated to not more than 120° f. the plate is now placed on a stand, which is provided with levelling screws, in the oven, and, when the temperature has reached 120° f., an amount of the bichromate gelatine solution sufficient to make a thickness of film proper for the mode of printing to be employed is poured upon the plate. the oven is kept at a constant temperature, 120° f., until the gelatine is dry, when it is allowed to cool gradually. whilst the gelatine is setting, precautions against vibration must be taken else the plate will be spoilt. when dry, the collotype plate is sensitive to light and moisture; its surface shows a more or less regular series of convolutions which resemble those of the outer surface of the human brain, although, of course, very much smaller. the character of the grain is very important, for if it be too fine it will not take up a sufficiency of ink, and, on the other hand, if too coarse it will yield coarse impressions. a reversed negative, of a quality beyond reproach, must be made of the original; if the subject is dark or has heavy shadows the negative is frequently slightly over exposed so as to soften them. the collotype plate is then exposed under the negative and washed in cold water until the yellow bichromate no longer comes away. it is then dried. in printing, the plate is damped and rolled up with ink as in lithographic printing; the amount of ink adhering to the film depends on the extent to which the different parts have been acted on by the light, as has already been mentioned. the moistening of the plate--mis-termed etching--is best done with dilute glycerine containing 75 per cent. of water, which when first applied should be allowed to remain on for about half-an-hour. the excess of moisture is taken up with a sponge or a ball of rag, and then the plate is inked and printed in a lithographic or a collotype press. the picture is usually masked with tin foil in order that its edges may be quite clean. of the faults which may occur, the following may be alluded to. a mottled appearance may obtain in the high lights; this is due to the coating of gelatine being too thick. more commonly, the reproductions may appear flat owing to the degradation of the high lights; this is a sign that the sensitive film has been acted upon by moisture during its critical existence between the drying and the washing out of the potassium bichromate, or that the temperature has been too low. the following contain good examples of collotype. karsten and schenck: _vegetationsbilder_, jena. oliver: _notes on trigonocarpus and polylophospermum_. new phytologist, vol. 3, 1904. semon: _zoologische forschungsreisen in australien_. jena. 1912. thompson: _the anatomy and relationships of the gnetales_. annals of botany, vol. 26, 1912. see also plates 3, 4, 5 and 9 in the present work. the preparation of illustrated pages. of the processes dealt with, photogravure lithography and collotype are those most generally used at the present day for the printing of plates or insets. half-tone also is employed, a process which will be considered later since it is essentially relief printing. this, therefore, is a convenient opportunity to make a few general observations on plates. plates should only be employed for the reproduction of subjects of such complexity that cannot be reproduced satisfactorily by figures in the text. a plate or page made up of several illustrations should look well as a whole; in other words, it should not outrage all the canons of composition, it should have some pictorial effect. at the same time, for facility of reference, the individual figures should run in a convenient sequence. this latter point is so important that a plate composed really well is distinctly rare, for a compromise nearly always has to be made. at the same time there are, apparently, comparatively few authors who pay much attention to plate design. although it is not desired to write of the laws of pictorial composition, attention may be drawn to a few points which are amongst those generally neglected. the figures should not be crowded together; a reasonable amount of margin should be left around each. they should be arranged, as far as possible, in such a way that a sense of balance is maintained. as to how this is to be accomplished will depend upon the nature of the illustrations; if they are all about equal in tone, the largest ones should preponderate towards the base of the plate, and not _vice versâ_. the difference which this makes will be obvious if the two accompanying illustrations (figs. 1 and 2, plate 3) be compared. the first is a reduced copy of the plate as it was published: it will be noticed that it has a top-heavy appearance, which is corrected in the second figure by the simple device of turning it upside down. [illustration: plate 3.] if, on the other hand, the figures are some lighter and others darker, the latter should form the base, since low tones give the idea of solidity; this is so marked that in cases where the figures vary much in size and tone, the darker ones may nearly always be situated at the base or at any rate low down on the plate unless they are very much smaller than the lighter toned ones.[a] [footnote a: if, of course, the reader understands chiaroscuro, he will take no notice of this paragraph, but arrange his plates in accordance with his ability.] an examination of the figures on plates 4 and 5 will roughly illustrate these points. the upper figure of plate 4 is well designed, and no improvement could be made, bearing in mind the compromise alluded to above. the lower figure is, however, not so good, it was obviously a difficult one to arrange; it would have been improved if figs. 23, 26 and 28 could have been placed in the top tier, but this would have seriously disturbed the sequence. the first illustration on plate 5 is well designed; it would, however, have been improved by interchanging 8a and 11b. [illustration: plate 4.] [illustration: plate 5.] we may now pass on to the individual figures; these should shew the essential features, together with some surrounding and comparatively extraneous matter; often there is included too much of unimportance and its retention means a waste of valuable space. the first thing to do, therefore, is to trim, if needs be, the figures; their shape is more or less immaterial, provided that in cases where there are a large number of illustrations on one plate, they are not all alike. the american fashion of circular figures is particularly displeasing, at any rate to the author. having trimmed the figures, the next point to decide is whether any require reduction; if they do, cut out pieces of paper (referred to as patterns below) of the size which the figures will ultimately appear: on the whole, it is better to avoid reduction of the originals, for without a good deal of experience it is very difficult to judge exactly what the result will be; a good idea, however, may be gained by the use of a diminishing glass. the size of the available surface of the plate should now be ruled on a white sheet of fairly thick cardboard, and the figures, or their patterns, arranged so as to be easy of reference, to compose as well as may be, and spaced in such a way that, in the case of a quarto plate to be folded vertically, no figure is placed so that the fold will pass through its centre. nothing is more irritating than having an illustration spoilt in this way. all this may be done by arranging in different ways until a satisfactory result is obtained, a process which may take an hour or two. the figures should then be pasted down, covered with several sheets of blotting paper and placed in a press. a press is seldom available; when such is the case, a number of heavy books serve equally well. the lettering must next be attended to. the individual figures are usually designated by numbers; this is a bad method, since it involves referring to the description of the plate. the best way is to use a number, and after it to add the name of the plant or animal, and, if needs be, a description as short as may be. if the author can "print" or write reasonably well, well and good; if not, it is better to attach a slip to the plate with full directions relating to lettering, and to write in pencil on the plate the titles, etc., required in the proper places for the guidance of the craftsman. the typewriter is sometimes employed for this purpose by authors; it is purely a matter of taste, but some readers feel a slight shock when this method is resorted to. in some cases a key to the plate printed on tough translucent tissue paper and having the necessary information, guide lines, etc., is inserted with the plate.[a] [footnote a: see kerner and oliver: _natural history of plants_ (first edition) london, 1894.] in the case of glossy chromolithographs this practice is best avoided, for the key is apt to stick to the plate if too much pressure is used when the book is bound. with regard to the "catch letters" used to indicate different parts: these should be as obvious as possible, and the guide lines should be either in black or in white ink, according to the general tone of the illustration. these lines should be conspicuous without being heavy. not infrequently they, together with the lettering, are printed on the plate by a second impression in red ink. the foregoing is primarily the business of the author; with regard to editors and publishers, all plates should be mounted in a manner to facilitate reference and should be printed on suitable paper; the former is seldom or never done. all plates which must be constantly referred to in reading the text should have a selvedge as broad as the book, so that when unfolded the whole plate is visible, no matter what page is being read. this would, no doubt, prove an additional expense, but this should not militate against the suggestion here made, not by any means an innovation, for in many cases it would save the expense of mounting on guards, and, further, the additional expenditure could be saved several times over in other ways. with regard to paper, this generally is satisfactory; unfortunately, highly glazed paper, mis-termed art paper, with an enamelled or chromo surface, and consisting chiefly of china clay and size, is generally used for printing the best half-tone reproductions. for this purpose a paper with a suitable surface, obtained by means other than those mentioned and not too costly, is highly desirable, since art paper has the reputation of being not at all permanent, owing to the deleterious action of moisture, and is somewhat brittle. when used, art paper, if folded, should have a proper paper hinge along the fold. half-tones are occasionally printed on a kind of vegetable parchment, a paper which should be more extensively used since it will sometimes, but not always, give as good a reproduction as art paper, and the final result is more pleasing from the artistic point of view. [illustration: g. oliver, del.] relief printing [illustration: little maid, little maid, whither goest thou? down in the meadow to milk my cow. fig. 1.--a wood engraving, by edmund evans, from the original drawing by kate greenaway. reproduced by permission of the publishers, fredk. warne & co.] relief printing in order that illustrations may be incorporated in the text, the blocks used must be in relief the same as the type; a mixture of intaglio and relief is impossible, for the whole surface must be level in order to be inked by the rollers, which deposit the pigment evenly, so that only one tone of colour--that of the ink--is possible. up to quite recent times wood cuts and engravings were the only means available for text-illustrations, so that this method may next be considered.[a] [footnote a: see treviranus, c.l.: _die anwendung des holtzschnitts zur bildlichen darstellung von pflanzen_. leipzig, 1855.] wood cuts and engravings. the invention of illustrating by means of wood blocks followed closely on the heels of the use of moveable types for printing. the chinese were the first, as far as is known, to use these methods of printing and illustration; in the western world the first wood blocks date from the beginning of the fifteenth century. all the earlier cuts were made, commonly on pear wood, on the longitudinal face of the wood, in technical language "on the plank," and seemingly, in many instances, were made from drawings in ink. by cutting on the plank, the craftsmen were enabled to make large blocks, but were prohibited from doing anything more than relatively simple and straightforward work. such blocks are known as wood cuts; wood engravings were not made until the possibilities of a hard wood like box carved upon the transverse section were discovered at a much later date. this is, strictly speaking, wood engraving, an art which almost entirely, if not quite, superseded the older craft, on account of its great possibilities; indeed, wood engravers imitated metal engraving so closely as to deceive many. but such work was enormously laborious; for instance, in the case of a fishing net, if the string were to be printed black, the engraver would have to cut out hundreds of small diamond-shaped pieces of wood in order that the string of the net should be in relief. but few artists would do this of their own free will, and generally such laborious work will only be found in wood-engravings which were intended for the reproduction of ink drawings or other kinds of pictures where the lines, shading, etc., had to be faithfully copied. this point may be illustrated by the accompanying cut (fig. 2), which was made by my friend mr. geoffrey oliver, who at the time was totally uninstructed in the art and knew nothing of its literature. it will be seen that he, quite unconsciously, treated his wood in the same way as an engraver would his metal; the result, of course, is just the opposite to metal engraving since the printing of the wood block is the reverse to intaglio. [illustration: fig. 2.] in fact, the cut illustrates the three fundamentals of wood engraving; the white line made by cutting out the wood so that no impression will be obtained when printed; the white space which is similarly obtained; and the black space, which is made by leaving the wood untouched. it was, however, necessary to employ the black line, otherwise the tape with which the two men--the artist and his father--are measuring the trunk of the tree would be invisible where it crosses the sky. in a word, the little picture illustrates very nicely the legitimate use of wood in the graphic arts. as already remarked, the majority of the earlier wood cuts and engravings are reproductions of line drawings, so that although we may admire and often marvel at the technical ability of the engraver, the credit for what artistic merit such illustrations may possess must, in the majority of cases, go to the draughtsman. the work of the earlier wood engravers may be conveniently studied in _a lyttel booke of nonsense_, by r. d., london, 1912. (see also the relevant works cited under literature, p. 94). bewick, of course, is an outstanding example of an artist who used wood engraving for illustrating natural history; the methods he pursued may be studied in the tailpiece on p. 11, which was printed from an electrotype of the original block. wood engraving, up to quite recent times, was the method of reproducing text figures; not only for scientific books and periodicals, but also for general literature and journals. much of this work is of outstanding excellence; for scientific work the following may be studied: duchartre: _eléments de botanique_. paris, 1867. the drawings were made by riocreux and engraved by leblanc. baillon: _histoire des plantes_, paris, 1887. this work contains some beautiful wood engravings, reproductions of drawings by faguet. bentham: _handbook of the british flora_, london, 1865. the engravings are from drawings by w. h. fitch. deschanel: _natural philosophy_, london, 1890. the engravings, many of which are of excellent quality, are by laplante, rapine and others. in many cases, notably in the representation of the rays of light passing through lenses and also in the illustrations of snow crystals, the use of the white line is admirably demonstrated. kerner: _pflanzenleben_, leipzig, 1888. this contains some excellent engravings by winkler and others. le maout et decaisne; _traité général de botanique_, paris, 1876. this work contains splendid examples by riocreux and steinheil (see fig. 8). oliver: _first book of indian botany_, london, 1869. this contains some characteristic work of w. h. fitch. it does not appear to be generally known that excellent reproductions in colour may be obtained from wood blocks by superposed printing in a manner comparable to that followed in chromolithography although, of course, in the present instance, the blocks are in relief (fig. 1). from the foregoing account it is obvious that the engraving even of a small illustration, except it be in mere outline, involves a considerable amount of labour; in fact, if the subject were large it was usual to cut it up into areas and distribute between several engravers, the finished blocks finally being joined together to make the block of the whole picture. hence it is not surprising to find that when the photo-mechanical processes were perfected, the older methods of reproduction were ousted by the newer, more especially since they are much less expensive; these, therefore, may next be considered. the half tone process.--for the making of a relief block by photo-mechanical means, the main difficulty is the proper rendition of the tones intermediate between black and white; this has been solved, at any rate in part, by the discovery of the half-tone process. if an ordinary photographic negative be highly magnified, it will be seen that the high lights, the low lights, and the intermediate tones are made by the varying density of the reduced silver. in the lighter parts the small black particles are surrounded by colourless areas, whilst in the dark regions small colourless patches are surrounded by black areas owing to the closeness of the particles of silver (plate 5, fig. 2). what is required, therefore, is a relief block which will print a number of dots of equal density but of unequal size. vervasser illustrates the point in an ingenious way: a plate, covered with a number of cones, is supposed to be acted upon by light in such a way that the cones are truncated in varying degrees according to intensity of the light falling upon them. the section of such a plate would therefore shew a curve (fig. 3); now if the truncated cones be brought down to one level and a print taken from them, the high lights would be represented by black dots surrounded by white areas and so on. [illustration: fig. 3] this illustrates the principle which obtains in the making of half-tones in which the image is made up of a large number of dots varying in size but all equally dense, so that when viewed from a suitable distance the dots are individually invisible but compose to give gradations of light and shade. in other words, the structure obtaining in a photographic negative is, in a sense, realised by optical chemical means, although the dots in a half-tone block are much coarser than those in a negative (plate 5, fig. 3). this result is obtained by interposing between the diaphragm of the camera and the negative--for the half-tone process is a photo-mechanical one--a glass screen covered with intersecting engraved lines (fig. 4). as a matter of fact, each screen consists of two plates of glass similarly ruled and cemented face to face so that the lines intersect. [illustration: fig. 4] it may at first be thought that the effect of such a screen placed in front of the negative would be to produce merely a cross hatching on the reproduction; this, however, is not the case; if the screen be placed in a proper position relative to the negative and the size of the diaphragm of the camera, the picture will be reproduced in a series of dots of varying size. the optical and other reasons for this phenomenon must be sought elsewhere,[a] but the following brief consideration will serve to illustrate what happens. the rays of light which ultimately reach the sensitive plate are acted upon by two lenses, that of the camera and the meshes of the screen, each one of which acts as a lens on the principle of the pin-hole camera. each mesh, therefore, brings the image of the diaphragm to a focus on the negative, but the lens of the camera focusses the picture as a whole, thus the amount of light falling on the different pin-holes will vary in intensity, and hence the dots produced will vary in size, for it is assumed, with good reason, that each dot is built up from its centre and radially expands according to the amount of light acting upon it. [footnote a: see verfasser, _loc. cit._, p. 94.] it is obvious that the quality of the resulting picture will depend, other things being equal, upon the coarseness of the screen employed. screens are ruled with lines varying from 50 to 400 to the inch: the lower rulings give very coarse reproductions, and are only used for posters, whilst the higher rulings yield very fine impressions and are employed only for the best work. it is hardly necessary to remark that the finer the screen the better must be the skill of the printer. to illustrate the difference in the results obtained by the use of different screens, the two figures on plate 6 have been prepared; both were made from the same negative, but for the upper figure a 100-line screen was used, and for the lower a 200-line screen. it will be observed that there is more contrast in the former, and more detail in the latter. authors should therefore mention when sending in their original pictures the qualities they require in the reproduction; it must, however, be remembered that the blocks made from the finer ruled screens will not print satisfactorily except on more or less highly glazed paper, to the use of the "art" varieties of which there are objections on æsthetic and other grounds. [illustration: plate 6. half tone reproduction of a photograph by mr. w. rowan. part of a shingle beach shewing plants of sea blite (_suaeda fruticosa_) and a ring plover's nest with four eggs.] before passing on it may be mentioned that screens with patterns other than that represented in fig. 4 are sometimes employed; for instance, the wavy-line screen gives the impression of coarse collotype. the preparation of the blocks may now be briefly dealt with. a negative of the picture, using a screen suitable for the purpose, is taken on a special dry gelatine plate ("process" plates) or on some other form of negative, _e.g._, wet collodion which is most commonly employed. this negative requires very careful development in order to get the dots right. from the negative a positive is made upon a copper or zinc plate, suitably coated with a sensitive film. the usual practice is to coat the polished metal plate with a mixture of water, albumen, fish glue, ammonium bichromate, chromic acid and ammonia; the plate is then dried and, when cooled, exposed under the negative. the action of the light on such a film, the essentials of which are the albumen, the glue or gelatine and a chromate, has already been described. the mixture becomes more or less insoluble in water, according to the intensity of the light falling upon it. the positive is now rinsed in water, and is sometimes stained with an aniline dye in order to render the film more visible. next it is developed in a stream of water until the surface of the metal is visible between the dots, the last traces of the soluble gelatine being removed with warm water. after drying, the plate is evenly heated over a bunsen burner until the dots of gelatine mixture turn chocolate colour, when the plate is allowed to cool gradually. this is known as burning in. the plate, if necessary, is now touched up and the back, sides and margins varnished in order to protect them from the acid: when the varnish is dry, the plate is etched in a weak solution (about 2-1/2 per cent.) of nitric acid if the metal be zinc; if the plate be copper, it is usually etched with a solution of iron perchloride. on taking a proof, there is almost certain to be a lack of contrast, the plate is then fine etched, by which means a considerable improvement can be made; and, by covering certain parts with an acid-resisting substance ("stopping out"), it is possible to fine etch locally. incidentally it may be mentioned that machine etching, by which a fine spray of the etching fluid is distributed over the plate, has recently come into vogue, for it is claimed that the results print better and are in other ways an improvement upon the older method. the plate may now pass through the hands of an engraver, who removes any blemishes, as far as is possible, improves the high lights, and so on; in fact, a skilful engraver can improve the plate considerably. after the plate is trimmed, and the superfluous metal cut out by means of a routing machine, it is firmly tacked to a wooden mount, usually of oak, but sometimes of mahogany, especially if the plate is large. in order to obtain the best results, the printing, in a typographical machine, should be done on highly calendered paper--so-called "art" paper; in fact, this is absolutely essential if a fine screen has been used; it is only the blocks made with the coarser screens that will give fair prints on ordinary paper. for this reason reproductions made by the half-tone process are very generally treated as plates unless the glazed paper is used throughout the book. the process is used principally for the reproduction of photographs, and for pencil or wash drawings. with regard to photographs, it has already been mentioned that authors should send the negative or two or three prints differently toned, in order that the operator can choose the one most likely to give the best result. it is sometimes difficult in a photograph of a landscape to obtain a negative in which the particular feature it is desired to represent--_e.g._, in photographs of vegetation--stands out with the requisite contrast. this is due to the position of the sun at the time of exposure, or to the use of ordinary plates. the remedy for the first is to take the photograph when the proper light obtains; with regard to the second, the use of colour correct plates, together with a colour screen in front of the lens, will obviate the defect. since for scientific purposes the correct interpretation of the various tones of the vegetation, for example, may not be essential, variously coloured screens may be used in order to emphasise a particular feature. for instance, it will be noticed how well the bushes in plate 7 stand out. this effect was obtained by the use of a panchromatic plate in conjunction with a red colour screen. [illustration: plate 7.--half tone reproduction of a photograph taken by dr. mees through a red screen.] with regard to drawings in wash, charcoal or pencil, in which there are half-tones; these are better drawn on an enlarged scale, especially if the author is not a skilled draughtsman, for improper gradations in shading and other imperfections will not appear so noticeable in the reduced reproduction. originals should all be made in one colour; in the case of wash drawings, diluted indian ink (really chinese ink) will give excellent results. in making pencil drawings, a fairly stout hand-made paper with not too much grain should be used. if the drawing is to be of some size, the paper may be damped and pasted by its edges on to the drawing board, it will then be stretched quite flat and will not cockle when dry. the outline of the object may first be sketched in lightly with a soft pencil and then the shading may be proceeded with. to do this, broad-pointed soft pencils, 2 b, 3 b, or 4 b, should be used, and it is better generally to work from the high lights to the shadows. to avoid rubbing finished parts, the work should proceed from the top of the board downwards, especially in the case of large drawings. in order to obtain a nice gradation and a more smooth appearance--more especially when a very coarse paper has been used--the work may be gone over with paper stumps of appropriate size and softness, and, of course, india rubber may be employed where it is desired to reduce the density of the shading. when finished, the edges of the various parts may appear woolly owing to the rubbing of the lead; this may be cured by cleaning up the edges with a trimmed piece of india rubber, but in so doing there is always a risk of rubbing out part of the shading, especially if the outline be at all intricate. if preferred, all the shaded parts may be fixed by painting them over with a suitable solution, gelatine for instance, paying particular attention in following the correct outline. when dry, the application of soft india-rubber will soon clean up the blurred edges. if charcoal be used the same procedure may be followed. charcoal and pencil drawings should be fixed, in order to prevent rubbing, before sending to the block makers. a suitable fixative may be purchased or one may be made by dissolving white resin in alcohol and applying it to the paper by means of a scent spray or an atomizer. a very good fixative may be made by dissolving a little gelatine in hot water and applying it whilst hot by means of a broad, flat camel hair brush, or ordinary milk may be used in a similar way. after the fixative has been put on, the drawing should be pinned up by one corner--unless, of course, it was pinned up before the fixative was employed, which is the best way when the fixative is an alcoholic solution--and allowed to dry; it may then be placed under pressure in order to flatten it, for fixed drawings generally shew a tendency to curl, especially when the preparation used for fixing has only been applied to one surface of the paper. in making drawings for reproduction by means of the half-tone process, there are a few general points to which attention should be paid. it should be remembered that there is not infrequently a tendency towards flatness in the reproduction; it is therefore important that the originals should be "plucky," and, on the whole, it is better to exaggerate with regard to high light and shade, especially if there is much modelling or perspective. finally, with regard to lighting, it is better for the majority in drawing their objects--solid objects in relief are referred to--to use a more or less lateral illumination and to represent only the high lights, shades and shadows referable to this main direction of illumination. a high relief will thus be obtained, and the effect will prove more satisfactory than if minor sources of illumination are unsuccessfully dealt with. this is especially important in drawing complicated structures such as models of vascular tissues, embryos, etc. in cases where many such figures are to occur on one page, it is highly desirable that the lighting of each should be from the same direction. the use of the half-tone block is now almost universal, so that it is hardly necessary to mention examples, more especially as they are hard to judge without seeing the original picture. those in the present book are all of a high quality. excellent examples will also be found in tansley's _types of british vegetation_ (cambridge, 1911) and in the _journal of the royal horticultural society_. proofs should be carefully compared with the originals, particular attention being paid to the rendering of the tones; as already remarked, fine etching will clear up a block and will often prove a remedy to flatness. an author will naturally consider whether a photograph is to be reproduced by means of photogravure, collotype or half-tone. it is impossible to lay down any laws on the subject, but the following points should be considered. if it is essential to have the reproduction in the text, a half-tone block must be used; it must, however, be remembered that the paper used for the letterpress may be very unsuited for the printing of half-tones. on the other hand, if it be immaterial where the picture is placed, then the relative merits of photogravure, collotype and kindred processes and half-tone must be weighed. provided that expense need not be considered, photogravure will, in the majority of cases, give the best results; on the other hand, if this process is too costly, then the choice lies between collotype and half-tone. the latter method will often give a result with more contrast as compared with collotype, whilst collotype will give a truer interpretation of the tones. as has already been remarked, the best results with half-tone blocks only are to be obtained by the employment of a paper which seemingly has no lasting qualities; it therefore follows that if the reproduction forms an important record, the use of collotype is indicated, since many varieties of good paper are available. as a general rule photo-micrographs are best reproduced by collotype. in order that the respective qualities of these three processes--photogravure, collotype and half-tone--may be compared, plates 8, 9, and 10 have been made from the same photograph, a view taken by dr. f. f. blackman of the bouche d'erquy, a salt marsh in brittany, which was selected chiefly on account of the large number of tones it contains. [illustration: plate 8. photogravure] [illustration: plate 9. collotype] [illustration: plate 10. half tone] these three plates are not entirely comparable, since the heavy shadows in the right hand bottom portion of the photogravure have been touched up by the engraver. this was not intended by the author, but the plate was retained as it shews that directions regarding this point should not be omitted when sending the drawing or photograph to be reproduced. it also indicates that for critical work, when an exact a facsimile as possible is required, collotype should be used, for the plate cannot be touched up. with regard to the reproduction of drawings shaded by means of wash or pencil, the same remarks apply, with the addition that if it be possible to express what is desired by other means, suitable for reproduction by line block, these latter should be employed. to illustrate this point, figures 5, 6, and plate 11 have been inserted; all illustrate the vascular skeleton of a fern (_marattia fraxinea_), the first one is in outline and the second is shaded by lines of varying thickness; both of these are reproduced by means of the line block, whilst the third is a reproduction by half-tone of a pencil-shaded drawing. in order to obtain a fair comparison, the half-tone is reproduced as a plate, owing to the fact that it would not print satisfactorily on the paper used for the letterpress. [illustration: fig. 5] [illustration: fig. 6] [illustration: plate 11] the half-tone three colour process.--this process is much used for colour reproductions of various subjects; and, in view of the fact that the best results can only be obtained by the best photography, the object should, if possible, be sent to specialists for reproduction. in many cases, however, this is impossible, _e.g._, landscapes and animal and plant portraits amidst their natural surroundings, so that the scientist, if unable to make a water colour drawing, which will give by far the best result, must make his own negatives. the first thing to do is to purchase a set of colour-filters, adapted to the colour-correct plates to be used, from firms who specialize in these matters, messrs. paget or messrs. wratten for instance, and from them the inexperienced should obtain full information regarding exposure, etc., for it is essential that the exposure of the negatives should be correlated in order that all may have the same tone-value. the colour-screens, blue, green and orange, are made by dyeing gelatine with suitable stains; the films are stuck on to perfectly plane glass and are mounted in frames. in practice these screens are usually placed behind the lens, in which case a special camera is necessary, or they may be adapted to fit on to the front of the lens. in either case the procedure is the same; three negatives are taken one after the other through each colour filter, the exposure being modified in order that the tones in each case may be of equal value. there are thus obtained three negatives which, of course, yield positives which look very different one from the other. these prints may be sent to the block makers, but it is better, on the whole, to send the negatives with clear indications as to the colour of each. from each negative there is made by contact a transparency, and from these positives there are prepared a set of half-tone negatives from which are made the half-tone blocks. the reproductions are made by superposed printing of the three blocks, yellow being printed first, then red, and finally blue (plate 12). [illustration: plate 12.--three colour half tone.] as indicated above, it is hardly worth while to make negatives for this process unless the operator is a really skilful or at least an efficient photographer, and even then the final product may prove unsatisfactory. better results are generally to be obtained by sending to the block maker a lumiere colour photograph with full instructions regarding any corrections in the colours which may be necessary. examples:-bateson: _mendel's principles of heredity_, cambridge, 1909. church: _types of floral mechanism_, oxford, 1908. seward: _darwin and modern science_, cambridge, 1909. photo-mechanical line blocks.--the photo-mechanical line block, commonly known as a zinco, is in a sense the lineal descendant of the wood block. as a means of reproduction the possibilities of line blocks are very great, for not only is it possible to reproduce by their means all kinds of line drawings, but also drawings in charcoal and crayon, provided they be suitably executed on a proper grained surface. in fact, an artist or draughtsman who has a thorough knowledge of the process and its capabilities can obtain extraordinary results. the process has the further advantage of being both quick and inexpensive, a few hours only being required to make the finished product. their mode of manufacture is the same in principle as for half-tone blocks; in the case of the latter, the method known as the enamel process was described; in the present instance a different procedure may be dealt with. a photograph of the drawing is taken on a negative, the wet collodion process being generally followed, although dry process plates may be used. a highly polished zinc plate is sensitised with bichromate of potash and gelatine, or by other means, and, when dry, is exposed under the negative. the exposed metal plate is then taken into the dark room and evenly, but thinly, coated with etching ink. when the ink is dry, the plate is developed in water; the unexposed gelatine, and with it, the ink, will come away, its removal being helped by the judicious application of a dabber of wet cotton wool. the plate may next be "rolled over" with an ink which will more stoutly resist the action of the acid than that used in the first inking, but prior to this it is usual to soak the plate in a mixture of gallic acid, phosphoric acid and gum. this second rolling up must be carried out as if the plate were for lithographic reproduction; and, when dry, powdered resin may be applied, in order to make a better acid-resist, as in the preparation of a lithographic stone. the plate is now etched slightly in a weak solution of nitric acid; it is then rinsed, dabbed dry and placed upon a hot plate until the resin has stuck well to the ink. when cool, the margins, sides and back are protected from the action of the acid by means of a varnish and the plate is given its first real etch, which is a very slight one. after rinsing and drying, the plate is again heated until the ink and resin have melted and flowed down the exposed sides of the ridges of metal produced in the first etching. this application of ink and resin must be repeated in order that the exposed sides of the ridges may be well covered with the acid-resist and so will not be undercut. the plate is then given its second etch, and this is done with a stronger acid, after which the sides of the lines are again protected with resinous material in the same way as before. the third etch follows, after which the metal is thoroughly cleansed from all the ink, etc. in order to smooth the shoulders of the lines, the plate is given a finishing etch: the cleaned plate is warmed and rolled up with hard etching ink; the metal is then heated until the ink becomes glazed, and, when cool, is placed in the acid bath for the requisite amount of time. if necessary the plate, after cleaning, is touched up with a graver, and the superfluous metal is cut away. finally it is mounted on a block of wood, and after the corners and sides have been trimmed square, the block is ready for the press. to illustrate the enormous improvement which may result from the block passing through the hands of a skilful engraver, two line blocks of a wood engraving by riocreux (see p. 36) have been prepared. fig. 7 is the impression given by the block as ordinarily turned out, whilst fig. 8 is a precisely similar block which has been worked up by an engraver. [illustration: fig. 7] [illustration: fig. 8] there are several other methods of making the blocks, but the principles are the same as in the foregoing process. in examining the proofs it must be remembered that deletions are not the only alterations that can be made in the finished block; not only can lines be cut away, or their character altered by removing part of the metal from them, but additions can be made in reason. for instance, lines can be added across open spaces, and if part of the printing surface has been accidentally removed in cutting away the superfluous metal, the damage can be made good by building up with solder and working on this with the graver. if, however, the additions required are at all extensive or complicated, it is better to have a new block made. inasmuch as scientific illustrations are to describe and explain definite facts, the drawings must needs be materialistic rather than suggestive; in other words, a more or less conventional system must be employed. in making their drawings for reproduction by line blocks, authors have at their disposal the black line, the white line, the black space, the white space, the black dot and the white dot, all of which may be combined in various ways. no tones, other than black and white, are available; if it be desired to represent half-tones, they must be rendered by the above-mentioned means. in the majority of cases the originals should be made with black ink on white bristol board or smooth white paper; ordinary lead pencil drawings on smooth paper are useless, and lead pencil, black crayon or charcoal in combination with grained paper or board should not be employed unless the draughtsman has the requisite skill and knows exactly the limitations of the line block. for all ordinary folk black ink and bristol board cannot be improved upon. the drawing may be made first with a soft lead pencil, using the camera lucida or other optical aids to correct delineation. the pencil lines are then gone over with ink; for this purpose a good black ink is necessary. wolff's indian ink, higgins' waterproof ink and steuber's waterproof drawing ink are highly satisfactory, and there are many others. with regard to pens, a suitable implement is all-important; gillott's lithographic pens and brandauer's no. 515 are recommended. for straight lines of an even thickness a ruling pen is very useful, and these may be obtained fitted with an adjustment which enables the worker to rule a line of a definite thickness, _e.g._, .5 mm. and so on. all drawings should be made larger than it is intended the reproduction to be, for slight inaccuracies, ragged lines, and other blemishes will thus appear less obvious. this drawing on a large scale is often a stumbling block, because the work appears too open and the draughtsman is tempted to put in too much; this must be avoided, else the crowded lines may join together in the reduced reproduction. also it must be remembered not to draw too finely, else the work in parts may disappear entirely in the reproduction. in drawing on an enlarged scale a certain amount of exaggeration may be employed, in order that when reduced the drawing may not be quite spiritless. when representing a solid object, such as a plant or an animal, to shew the external morphology, it is to be borne in mind that form is the main thing to represent, and this can be expressed by outline drawing alone. in fact, more or less primitive methods must be employed, and better models cannot be followed than the best wood cuts. [illustration: fig. 9. the lesser celandine (_ranunculus ficaria_). by r. g. hatton. (from hatton's _craftsman's handbook_).] [illustration: fig. 10. the lesser celandine. after fuchs. (from hatton's _craftsman's handbook_.)] an examination of figures 10 and 12 will shew that fuchs[a] attained his object by simple outline drawings; he never employed local colour, and shading he used very sparsely indeed, and then only to give expression to the form of some thick part. fuchs's celandine (fig. 10) should be compared with the drawing of the same plant (fig. 9) by r. g. hatton. [footnote a: the methods followed by the illustrators of the herbals may be conveniently studied in hatton's "the craftsman's plant book," london, 1909, and arber's "herbals," cambridge, 1912.] [illustration: fig. 11. the apple (_pyrus malus_). after matthiolus. (from hatton's _craftsman's handbook_).] the methods of matthiolus (figs. 11 and 13) were somewhat more advanced, for he used shading not only to express form but also to give a certain amount of relief. it will be noticed that he shaded by lines which followed the moulding of the parts. the work of riocreux (fig. 8) should also be studied; it will be observed that he managed to get a very high relief in his drawings by the simple means of straight or curved lines, according to the shape of the part, of varying thicknesses. [illustration: fig. 12. charlock (_brassica sinapis_). after fuchs. (from hatton's _craftsman's handbook_)] there is no necessity for keeping all the lines of even thickness. for instance, provided the character of the form is not altered, the outline on the shaded side may be made thicker than on the illuminated side; also distance can be indicated by the use of thinner lines, for these, although really black, will give the impression of greyness. then again, a line may be drawn with local increases and decreases in thickness, as in ordinary writing, and such lines drawn by a skilled hand can be made to express a marvellous amount of modelling. [illustration: fig. 13. sea lavender (_statice limonium_). after matthiolus. (from hatton's _craftsman's handbook_.)] the draughtsman, however, is not restricted to lines; any marks which can be made with a pen and black ink may be employed, provided they be sufficiently firm and large. the accompanying figure (14) which is a reduction of an illustration in church's _floral mechanisms_, illustrates the use of lines of varying lengths for shading. [illustration: fig. 14. _viola odorata_: floral morphology. a reduction of a figure in church's _floral mechanisms_.] in shading, the effect of shadow may be obtained by increasing the thickness of the lines, but they must not be drawn too closely together; on the other hand, the lighter parts can be represented by thinner lines placed further and further apart, and the lightest parts by the white of the paper. cross hatching may also be employed (see fig. 15), but the crossed lines must not be too close together, for otherwise they will tend to thicken in the making of the block and so will print too black. [illustration: fig. 15. a seedling of _abronia villosa_.] for very delicate shading and tinting, stipple may be employed, but the dots must be quite definite, sufficiently large to stand reduction, and not too close together (figs. 18, 28c, and 32). a particularly good example of this method will be found in butler's paper on _allomyces_ in the annals of botany, 1911, vol. 25. dots have also been employed in fig. 28c (p. 69). with regard to local colour; this may be indicated by shading, by a white space, or by a black space. hitherto, drawing with black ink on white paper alone has been considered, but the reverse is equally available; much can be expressed by drawing with white ink on black paper. drawing in white upon a black ground is not frequently attempted, but an excellent example by miss janet robertson is shewn in figure 16, which is well worthy of study, since it illustrates to a nicety some of the means at the disposal of the draughtsman for line blocks. the black surface is best obtained by the use of a waterproof indian ink applied with a brush to a white surface, the drawing being made with a dense white ink, using a pen or a brush. the white ink may be made by diluting any good opaque white water-colour paint, or process white may be used. the composition of this should be zinc oxide or baryta, for these do not darken with age; the author once used for this purpose a white pigment which proved excellent at the time; the drawings, however, subsequently turned dark brown owing to the fact that the basis of the paint was apparently a compound of silver. [illustration: fig. 16. _neuropteris heterophylla_. a line reproduction of a drawing by miss janet robertson.] the top part of the drawing (fig. 16), shewing the general morphology of the plant, was drawn with a brush charged with white ink upon a black ground. in the simplest possible way relief has been obtained by representing the leaflets of the nearer fronds by white spaces, whilst those further away are represented by white outlines. an enlargement of a frond is shewn on the lower part of the picture, and here the parts are represented in black on a white ground. the leaflets are in black outline and the fruits are made to stand out, as in the upper part, by the use of local colour--in this instance black--their shape being indicated by the curve of the higher lights. in brief, a very effective drawing has been made by the simplest use of the white line, the white space, the black line and the black space. [illustration: fig. 17. _fucus volubilis_, var. _flexuosus_, a seaweed. (from a drawing by miss baker.)] this may be compared with figure 17, which was drawn by miss baker; the method pursued is entirely different to the last, it being a pure pen and ink drawing on white paper. no local colour has been employed, and the modelling has been expressed by the lines used for shading which have been made by short strokes with a fine pen. the result is suggestive of an engraving but this was not intentional; under no circumstances should an attempt be made to imitate in a relief block effects which can only be obtained by intaglio. from what has been said it is obvious that the photo-mechanical line block can be used for the reproduction of all kinds of drawings in pure black and white; to illustrate this figures 18-26 have been inserted. [illustration: fig. 18. the larkspur (_delphinium ajacis_). by r. g. hatton. (hatton, _craftsman's handbook_.)] [illustration: fig. 19. hollyhock (_althaea rosea_). by r. g. hatton. (hatton, _craftsman's handbook_.)] [illustration: fig. 20. a liverwort (_lepidozia reptans_). (evans, _annals of botany_, 1912, vol. 26.)] [illustration: fig. 21. a seedling of _bruguiera gymnorhiza_, a mangrove. drawn by mrs. f. e. fritsch. (tansley and fritsch, _new phytologist_, 1905, vol. 4.)] [illustration: fig. 22 a diagrammatic sketch by mrs. f. e. fritsch of _rhizophora conjugata_, a mangrove. (tansley and fritsch, _new phytologist_, 1905, vol. 4.)] [illustration: fig. 23 a shoot of _acanthus ilicifolia_, a mangrove. drawn by mrs. f. e. fritsch. (tansley and fritsch, _new phytologist_, 1905, vol. 4.)] [illustration: fig. 24 a longitudinal section of a fossil seed, _conostoma oblongum_. drawn by dr. e. j. salisbury. (oliver and salisbury, _annals of botany_, 1911, vol. 25.)] [illustration: fig. 25 the meadowsweet (_spiraea ulmaria_), shewing four years' growth. (yapp, _annals of botany_, 1912, vol. 26.).] [illustration: fig. 26. the chesil bank. (oliver, _new phytologist_, 1912, vol. 11.)] the drawing of microscopic details. questions relating to the drawing of microscope sections may now be dealt with. usually these are drawn in pencil and reproduced by means of lithography; this is quite wrong, for in addition to its being an unnecessary expense, it is also an inconvenience to a reader, since the figures are necessarily divorced from the letterpress. there are very few histological details which cannot be represented by line blocks, and with a proper co-operation between the author, the block maker, the printer and the publisher, even the delicacies of karyokinesis could be reproduced in the text. for demonstration purposes, transverse sections of plant-structures may first be taken. the walls of the various elements may be represented by lines of more or less equal breadth, but in those cases where the walls are particularly thick, _e.g._, the elements of the wood, the thickening may be represented by an additional line. this is seen in fig. 27, in which it will be noticed that the middle lamellæ of the wood-elements are represented by black lines. [illustration: fig. 27. (from butler's paper on gummosis of _prunus_ and _citrus_. _annals of botany_, 1911, vol. 25).] this is a particularly good drawing, but, unfortunately, it has been over reduced. on the other hand, the various tissues may be represented by lines of varying breadths, the thickest walled cells having the same double contour as in the above, but with the addition of local colour in the shape of diagonal shading. this is not uncommonly found in papers dealing with the anatomy of plants by french authors; it is illustrated in figure 28 _a_. if preferred, such thick-walled elements may be entirely represented by thick black lines as in figure 28_b_, and when such cells are relatively few in number, this method has much to recommend it since a greater relief is obtained. [illustration: fig. 28 _a_ _b_ _c_ a transverse section to shew the vascular cylinder of the root of the spinach, _c_ is somewhat older than _a_ and _b_.] finally, an attempt may be made to draw in a more detailed fashion as in figure 28_c_. here the thickness of the cells of the wood is represented by broad black lines, the middle lamellæ being left white. the lines marking the boundaries of the other cells vary slightly in thickness, but this is to a great extent masked by the representation of the cell contents, which consist entirely of dots in the case of the protoplasm, whilst the nuclei are represented by dark ovals--black relieved with small white areas. by varying the size of the dots and their distance apart, varying densities can be indicated. it has been mentioned above that it is possible to reproduce fine detail by means of the line block; this is illustrated in figs. 29 and 30. [illustration: fig. 29] fig. 29, which illustrates a stage in the division of a nucleus, was drawn with black crayon on a rough-grained piece of whatman's water-colour paper. the cytologist will, doubtless, criticize its coarseness, but it may be mentioned that the roughest paper at hand was designedly employed in order to illustrate the point raised. that a finer grained paper will give more delicate results is shewn by fig. 30, which is a reproduction of a drawing, kindly lent by dr. w. g. ridewood, made with ordinary lead pencil on grained bristol board. its delicacy is obvious, and at first sight it could easily be mistaken for a lithograph.[a] [footnote a: many similar examples will be found in ridewood's memoir _on the cranial osteology of the clupeoid fishes_, proc. zoo. soc., lond., 1904, vol. 11, p. 448.] [illustration: fig. 30] a half-tone can be put on to a line block during its manufacture. all that the draughtsman has to do, is to indicate by blue pencil lines those parts on which he requires the dots, which give the half-tone, to be placed, and to select the pattern of the stipple he desires to be used. the result may appear somewhat mechanical since the dots are regularly arranged, but a drawing sometimes may be considerably improved by this means if used with judgment. it is frequently employed in representing drapery, and many examples may be found on those pages of newspapers devoted to ladies' dress (fig. 31; see also fig. 32). [illustration: fig. 31. after a water-colour design by miss winifred pearse.] the drawing of diagrams and apparatus. much valuable information may be conveyed by diagrams; in fact, these could be used more freely than they are. [illustration: fig. 32] the principles to be borne in mind are the same as for other ink drawings. they should always be drawn upon an enlarged scale, and with as little detail as possible, which generally should be indicated in the most conventional ways--dots, black spaces, lines, and so on (figures 33 and 34). the main thing to be aimed at is clearness, so that it is often necessary to sacrifice true relative proportions in order to gain this end (fig. 34). [illustration: fig. 33. a diagram by mr. e. lee. (_annals of botany_, 1911, vol. 25.)] [illustration: fig. 34 a diagram from the _annals of botany_, 1912, vol. 26.] in certain cases it is possible to combine detail and diagram in one drawing; this is shewn in fig. 32, taken from dr. ridewood's admirably illustrated memoir on the _gills of lamellibranchiata_ (transactions of the royal society of london, b. vol. 195, 1903). the shading employed was either done by the draughtsman (at _ch_ and in the cells with irregularly arranged dots), or else was put on the block during its manufacture (_af_). if a lens be used, the difference will at once be obvious. the finished drawing should be bold and neat, and all lettering should be very clear. if several figures are included in one diagram they may be separated one from the other by ruled lines, and in no case should one tier of figures--taking the frames as the boundaries--unevenly overlap another tier, otherwise the diagram, to use an expressive phrase, will look "like a pig with one ear." under the heading of diagrams must be included the representation of apparatus. there are two ways of drawing apparatus; the objects may be drawn as a study in still life, as, for example, in many of the figures illustrating deschanel's _natural philosophy_ (london, 1890) or they may be represented in a purely conventional fashion. the latter is the better way, and it is preferable to draw for the most part in section in order that all connections, inlets, outlets, etc., may be clearly shewn. a study of a good example is infinitely better than a written description, wherefore figure 35 has been inserted. [illustration: fig. 35] it will be observed that all glass vessels and tubing are represented in section, and in the thermometers, the fine capillary bores are represented by a single line in each case; corks by diagonal shading; wood by lines in imitation of its grain; metal parts by vertical shading or dead black; more or less still liquids by a series of lines broken below and continuous at the surface, and gradually becoming closer and closer together towards the surface. mercury, on the other hand, may be indicated by dead black relieved by a few white lines to represent its reflecting surface, also its free surface may be drawn convex. finally thumb screws may be shewn by a combination of black areas and vertical shading. these conventionalities need not all be followed; for instance, rubber connexions may be indicated by broad black lines and wood by diagonal shading. the drawing should be very bold and the different parts clearly and freely indicated by writing or "printing." the drawing of maps. in the drawing of maps for reproduction by the line block process, if an existing map serves the purpose, a tracing may be made in ink on translucent linen. if, on the other hand, the author has to make his own map, the problem becomes more difficult. for the obtaining of the data for map making information must be sought for elsewhere, since we are only concerned in the preparation of the map for publication. and as regards this, but few general rules can be laid down since the character of maps is so diverse. the amount of detail in the physical features represented depends to a great extent upon the scale. thus streams of a greater breadth than, say, 10 feet, may in large scale maps be represented by double lines, whilst no stream less than 2 feet in breadth will be shewn in low scale maps. [illustration: fig. 36 _a_ contoured. _b_ spot-levels. _c_ layered. these three figures illustrate in three different ways the varying levels of a piece of ground surveyed by prof. f. w. oliver and mr. a. g. tansley.] the indication of hills is always a problem; the most satisfactory way is by the drawing of contours (figure 36_a_), and this whenever possible should be followed, since it is scientifically the most correct method, inasmuch as when properly drawn the form of the hill is shewn exactly; further, contours obscure the detail to a much less extent than does shading, and but little artistic talent is required to draw them. if, however, contouring be impossible, the various heights above the datum may be shewn by spot levels (figure 36_b_) or the relative levels may be shewn by layers; that is to say, by a system of shading each kind of which indicates a certain level. thus dots may be used for all parts not more than 100 feet above sea level, vertical lines for regions between 100 and 200 feet, horizontal lines for parts between 200 and 300 feet, and so on (figure 36_c_). it is obvious that this method cannot be pursued if vegetation also is to be shewn. the last choice is to represent the hill by shading in much the same way as many of us did when children; the method referred to was known as "herring bones" or "hairy caterpillars." the sea or a broad expanse of water may be indicated by fine lines which follow the coast-line and which may be placed at gradually increasing distances apart. if geological strata are to be represented, the accepted symbols should be used; if the map is intended to represent the distribution of soils, convenient signs may be employed, _e.g._, large dots for shingle or gravels, small dots for sand, black areas for clay, and so on; finally, if the distribution of plants or of animals is to be shewn, symbols again may be employed. these, however, must be quite simple and as far as possible give an idea of the organism represented. this, in the case of animals, may be a difficulty, but, with regard to plants, simple signs are easily inserted which give a very good idea of the plant it is intended to represent. many of the signs used by the ordnance survey are ready to hand, and these can often be used to designate plant associations. the delimitation of areas should always be clearly shewn, and all names should be very clearly "printed" indeed, and if they must be placed on a dark portion of the map, they should have a good white border around them. the north should always be indicated. this may be done by drawing in its proper position a representation of a compass or merely an arrow pointing to the north. unless otherwise stated, the arrow is assumed to point to the magnetic north, and if no north be actually shewn it is taken for granted by an intelligent reader that one of the vertical sides is a true north and south line, with the north at the top. finally, under no circumstances should a scale be omitted--it is the first thing a reader should look for. for a map to look well two things are all-important, neatness and clearness; both of these may nearly always be secured by drawing on a large scale, bearing in mind what has been said about crowding the detail, etc., and carefully considering how much reduction the original can stand. this last point is of vital importance, for an over-reduced map is an abomination; we have seen really good maps absolutely ruined by this stupid error. the inexperienced author should study the methods pursued by prof. yapp in figure 37. for comparison, the simpler way adopted by mr. wilson may be studied (_annals of botany_, 1911, vol. 25). [illustration: figure 37. a map of the fenland by prof. yapp. (_new phytologist_, 1908, vol. 7)] graphs or curves. simple though it be, the plotting of a curve for reproduction requires thought and care. in the first instance, the curve is drawn on squared paper, and the question naturally arises--to what extent are the squares to be represented? if it be desired to reproduce all the lines, say the paper is ruled in millimetres, a half-tone may be employed, or all these lines can be ruled over in black ink where the reproduction by line block is possible. it is, however, seldom necessary to represent all the smallest squares; it will generally be found that the centimetre squares are sufficient. if the original be plotted on paper which is ruled in pale blue, it can be reproduced by line block without re-drawing, since the blue will photograph as white with the plates commonly used; all the essential lines and curves must, of course, be in black. if, however, the rulings of the squared paper are in red, yellow, or dark blue, a tracing must be made. the horizontal and vertical sides should be ruled with a broad black line, but the internal intersecting lines should be much thinner. the actual curve may be in a continuous line if one only be shewn on the graph; if more are drawn, then each must be different, the obvious variations being the thick continuous line ---the thin continuous line ----, dashes either thick or thin ----------, dots . . . . . , and finally combinations of dots and dashes ---. ---. ---. owing to the difficulty which some experience in drawing freehand a continuous line, the plot should be made twice the linear size of the intended reproduction. a good rule to follow in drawing lines is to keep the eye fixed on the point where the line is to end, the hand will then guide the pen in the right path, especially after a little practice. in many cases the ruler may be used, not only for straight but also for curved lines, for good curve rules may be purchased. in order that the figure may look neat, the lines should be of an even thickness throughout their length; this is easily accomplished by means of a ruling pen. it has been stated above that bristol board is the best material to use for the making of drawings for line blocks; other materials may, however, be employed, although they are not so nice to work upon. for instance, it may be necessary to reproduce a map; this, as has already been mentioned, may be conveniently done by pinning over the map a sheet of pale blue tracing linen, and tracing the map on this with indian ink. the fact that the linen is blue does not matter, for it will photograph as if it were white. then again, many subjects may be of so complicated a nature as to be beyond the skill of the author to draw. in such a case a good plan is to take a photograph of the object and make a positive on smooth bromide paper, which need only be developed sufficiently far to give a print which just shows the features. the print, when dry, can then be worked on with fixed indian ink. the finished drawing, when quite dry, may be immersed in any solution which will dissolve out the silver; a solution of iodine in potassium iodide answers sufficiently well. the print will turn very dark, but it must be allowed to remain in the bath until all the silver has dissolved; it is then removed, rinsed under the tap and placed in an ordinary fixing bath of hyposulphite of soda. all the colouration will be quickly removed so that the ink drawing will stand out well against the white paper. all that it now requires is a thorough washing in water; when dry it may be touched up and then placed under pressure in order to make it quite flat.[a] [footnote a: the chief disadvantage of iodine solution is its slowness of action; the following methods are much quicker. (_a_) to a solution of 4 oz. of hyposulphite of soda in one pint of water, add a 10 per cent. aqueous solution of potassium ferricyanide until the mixture is lemon coloured. when the silver image has quite disappeared, wash the print thoroughly in water. since the mixture does not keep, the ferricyanide solution should be added to the hyposulphite solution immediately before use. (_b_) mix 125 ccs. of a 10 per cent. alcoholic solution of iodine with 21 ccs. of a 10 per cent. aqueous solution of potassium cyanide, add to the mixture 1 litre of water. when the image has disappeared, which will be in less than a minute, wash for five minutes in water and dry.] this method of drawing over photographic prints will often save a considerable amount of time. for instance, it may be desired to reproduce a consecutive series of drawings to illustrate the microscopic structure of the subject. the ordinary way of doing this is to make camera lucida drawings of the sections, which is a lengthy and tiresome process; a photograph of each section will take much less time and will give quite as good results. before sending any line drawings to press they should be carefully examined; pencil marks may be rubbed out, lines touched up, unnecessary lines removed by painting them out with white or black ink according to the background, and, finally, a frame ruled around, if necessary. the amount of reduction, which should be marked clearly on the margin, requires very careful consideration since under reduction may cause the reproduction to appear too coarse whilst over-reduction may result in the loss of the finer detail and the drawing may, moreover, appear spiritless. it must also be remembered that a reduction of, say, 1/2 linear means that the reproduction will be a quarter the area of the original. the best way to indicate the reduction required is to draw a vertical or horizontal line, parallel to a side or the base of the picture, of the exact length; or, the line may be roughly drawn and its length indicated by figures thus ------------2-1/2"--------. the question arises as to when line drawings for reproduction by the zinc block should be employed. the answer is, whenever possible. the advantages to a reader of having the illustrations in the text has already been commented upon. it is about the only method commonly employed in which practically everything depends on the draughtsman; the author thus exercises the greatest control. finally the fact that it is very inexpensive will appeal to editors and publishers. as a matter of curiosity, the present writer picked out at random a recent volume of a scientific journal to examine the illustrations; although there were a number of text figures, an examination of the plates--chiefly lithographs and collotypes--showed that there were a large number of figures which ought to have been in the text. a more detailed inspection of the plates was therefore made, with the result that nearly 200 figures were found which with the minimum amount of alteration--merely drawing in ink instead of pencil in the majority of cases, and leaving out unnecessary shading in the others--could have been reproduced by line blocks. if this had been done, a saving of over 20 per cent. could have been effected on the plates. some of this would, of course, have been absorbed in the making of zincos, but not much, since line blocks of excellent quality can be obtained for 2-1/2d. and 3d. per square inch. the above relates only to the most obvious examples; the saving in plates would have been enormous if the authors had drawn for the line process. the swelled gelatine process. from the foregoing account of the line-block it may, perhaps, be thought that a drawing shewing the finest detail cannot be reproduced in the text by a relief block made by photo-chemical means. this is not the case; the swelled gelatine process is such that at its best the very finest work can be so reproduced. the method is not extensively used, chiefly owing to the remarkable amount of skill required to produce the best results and to the facts that the blocks take longer to make and are more expensive than the ordinary line block. this, however, should not militate against its use, for the increased cost is but very little, and the longer time in making, say two days, should not be of any consequence in a monthly or quarterly periodical. the great point in its favour is its great fidelity as compared with the ordinary photo-chemical relief blocks: for instance, a close cross-hatching reproduced by a line block will often come out as a series of white dots owing to the fact that at the points of intersection the black lines tend to thicken; hence, on printing, the white spaces, instead of being sharply cut and diamond-shaped, are rounded. this will not occur in a good block made by the swelled gelatine method. further, the process does not restrict the draughtsman to dead black ink; the drawings may be made in pencil, crayon, or in ordinary writing ink: it is even claimed that wash drawings and photographs can be reproduced satisfactorily by this method. in the case of pencil drawings, the best results will be given when the surface of the paper used by the draughtsman is slightly rough; a pencil drawing on bristol board, for example, will not be so well reproduced as one on ordinary smooth drawing paper. in brief, the process is as follows: a photographic negative of the drawing is made, and under it is exposed a bichromate gelatine plate. this plate is then developed in water. as already described, the gelatine will swell up in proportion to the amount of light to which it was exposed. the "positive" thus obtained will be in relief, the high lights being at a higher level than the shadows. a wax mould of the gelatine positive is then taken, covered with a thin layer of plumbago and electrically covered with copper. the "casting" so obtained is built up with metal and then mounted on wood in the same way as a zinco or a half-tone. the capabilities of the process may be judged by a study of fig. 38, which is an extremely faithful reproduction of a lithograph, by s. prout, by the swelled gelatine process. [illustration: fig. 38. a lithograph by s. prout reproduced by the swelled gelatine process.] [illustration] cost relative cost of blocks and plates the question of cost is one of very great difficulty; in all probability no two firms will agree in their quotations for different kinds of work, and the reason for this lies in the large number of factors involved, many of which are very difficult to compute exactly. with respect to line engravings, etching, mezzotint, wood cuts and wood engravings, it is impossible to give any idea of the cost. it depends entirely on the complexity of the subject and the artist employed. as regards lithographic processes for reproduction in one colour the cost varies with the nature of the work. if an artist be commissioned to make an autolithograph, the fee would be agreed upon beforehand. photolithography and collotype, on the other hand, are processes which do not require the hand of an artist, and these methods of reproduction are relatively inexpensive. the price quoted by the lithographer or collotyper is for printing so many copies, hence the relative cost per copy depends upon the run and on the quality of the paper used. lithography is cheaper than collotype; but if several illustrations are sent at the same time to be reproduced by collotype, the cost for each would be less than if sent separately. in chromolithography a separate stone is necessary for each colour, hence the cost depends upon the number of stones used, and as several may be necessary to obtain a first-rate reproduction, it is obvious that the process may prove very expensive. turning to photomechanical processes, the prices vary according to the grade of work required--the best possible, good, and, lastly, cheap work. by best possible is meant the best that can be made under existing conditions, the price being immaterial; in good work the cost will be a limiting but not a preponderating factor, hence the work will be open to criticism; finally, in cheap work, the price is all important, so that the result is a block or a plate which will print well but which must not be criticized as regards its being a faithful reproduction of the original. it is obvious that in the last two cases the quality of the work will depend upon the agreed price, whilst in the first case the cost will depend on the amount of time and skill required. it is obvious, therefore, that a comparison of cost cannot be made between these grades; it is, however, possible to draw up a scale of relative cost of the processes under consideration for work of the same grade. in the table given below, a represents the best possible work, b indicates good work, and c stands for cheap work. since the line block is the least expensive it is taken as the unit of price; that is to say, if a line block costs 3d. per square inch the cost of half tone, three colour half tone and photogravure would be 7-1/4d., 3s., and 1s. 2-1/2d. respectively. a b c line 1 1 1 half tone and swelled gelatine 2-1/2 2-1/4 2 half tone three colour (three plates required) 9 12 10-1/2 photogravure 4-1/2 4-3/4 5 it must not be thought that if the area of a block is 3 square inches, the cost will, therefore, be 9d. there is, for obvious reasons, a minimum size at which the block or plate is charged although it may be smaller. these minima vary; in general terms they may be taken as 12 inches for line, half tone and swelled gelatine blocks, and 20 inches for half tone three colour blocks and photogravure plates. the measurements are the areas of the etched surface, the actual plate or block may be larger, but for this margin no charge is made. with regard to cost of printing, nothing need be said about blocks which are set up with the type, namely line, swelled gelatine and coarse half tone blocks. the price of printing fine half tones and three colour blocks depends upon the quality of the paper used and the fineness of the work. photogravure plates must be hand printed (photogravure printing on rotary machines is not considered here), and skill is required; for ordinary printing on good plate paper the price would be 10s. to 12s. 6d. per hundred copies, whilst for india printing the cost would be about 25s. for the same number. literature barnes: _illustrating botanical papers_, botanical gazette, vol. 43, 1907. bock: _zincography_, london, 1910. cumming: _handbook of lithography_, london, 1904. cundall: _a brief history of wood-engraving from its invention_, london, 1895. gamble: _line photo-engraving_, london, n.d. hamerton: _drawing and engraving_, london, 1892. _etching and etchers_, london, 1880. _the graphic arts_, london, 1882. pennell: _lithography and lithographers_, london. richmond: _grammar of lithography_, london, 1909. robertson: _the art of etching_, london, 1885. verfasser: _the half-tone process_, london, n.d. wilkinson: _photo-mechanical processes_, london, n.d. * * * * * transcriber's note some extraneous headings on otherwise blank pages have been removed. each footnote has been indented and placed beneath the paragraph to which it refers. the plates, which were on un-numbered pages, and some of the figures, have been moved to (usually) below the paragraphs which first refer to them. page 35: 'revelant' corrected to 'relevant' ... "see also the relevant works cited under literature" page 90: the table of costings does not appear to make sense, but has been left as in the original. hyphenation is not consistent in this book. _library edition_ the complete works of john ruskin the eagle's nest love's meinie ariadne florentina val d'arno proserpina national library association new york chicago ariadne florentina. six lectures on wood and metal engraving with appendix. given before the university of oxford, in michaelmas term, 1872. contents. lecture i. page definition of the art of engraving 1 lecture ii. the relation of engraving to other arts in florence 22 lecture iii. the technics of wood engraving 42 lecture iv. the technics of metal engraving 61 lecture v. design in the german schools of engraving (holbein and dürer) 81 lecture vi. design in the florentine schools of engraving (sandro botticelli) 108 appendix. article i. notes on the present state of engraving in england 143 ii. detached notes 157 list of plates facing page diagram 27 the last furrow (fig. 2). facsimile from holbein's woodcut 47 the two preachers (fig. 3). facsimile from holbein's woodcut 48 i. things celestial and terrestrial, as apparent to the english mind 56 ii. star of florence 62 iii. "at evening from the top of fésole" 72 iv. "by the springs of parnassus" 77 v. "heat considered as a mode of motion." florentine natural philosophy 92 vi. fairness of the sea and air. in venice and athens 95 the child's bedtime (fig. 5). facsimile from holbein's woodcut 103 "he that hath ears to hear let him hear" (fig. 6). facsimile from holbein's woodcut 105 vii. for a time, and times 130 viii. the nymph beloved of apollo (michael angelo) 131 ix. in the woods of ida 132 x. grass of the desert 135 xi. "obediente domino voci hominis" 145 xii. the coronation in the garden 158 ariadne florentina. lecture i. definition of the art of engraving. 1. the entrance on my duty for to-day begins the fourth year of my official work in oxford; and i doubt not that some of my audience are asking themselves, very doubtfully--at all events, i ask myself, very anxiously--what has been done. for practical result, i have not much to show. i announced, a fortnight since, that i would meet, the day before yesterday, any gentleman who wished to attend this course for purposes of study. my class, so minded, numbers four, of whom three wish to be artists, and ought not therefore, by rights, to be at oxford at all; and the fourth is the last remaining unit of the class i had last year. 2. yet i neither in this reproach myself, nor, if i could, would i reproach the students who are not here. i do not reproach myself; for it was impossible for me to attend properly to the schools and to write the grammar for them at the same time; and i do not blame the absent students for not attending a school from which i have generally been absent myself. in all this, there is much to be mended, but, in true light, nothing to be regretted. i say, i had to write my school grammar. these three volumes of lectures under my hand,[a] contain, carefully set down, the things i want you first to know. none of my writings are done fluently; the second volume of "modern painters" was all of it written twice--most of it, four times,--over; and these lectures have been written, i don't know how many times. you may think that this was done merely in an author's vanity, not in a tutor's care. to the vanity i plead guilty,--no man is more intensely vain than i am; but my vanity is set on having it _known_ of me that i am a good master, not in having it _said_ of me that i am a smooth author. my vanity is never more wounded than in being called a fine writer, meaning--that nobody need mind what i say. 3. well, then, besides this vanity, i have some solicitude for your progress. you may give me credit for it or not, as you choose, but it is sincere. and that your advance may be safe, i have taken the best pains i could in laying down laws for it. in these three years i have got my grammar written, and, with the help of many friends, all working instruments in good order; and now we will try what we can do. not that, even now, you are to depend on my presence with you in personal teaching. i shall henceforward think of the lectures less, of the schools more; but my best work for the schools will often be by drawing in florence or in lancashire--not here. 4. i have already told you several times that the course through which i mean every student in these schools should pass, is one which shall enable them to understand the elementary principles of the finest art. it will necessarily be severe, and seem to lead to no immediate result. some of you will, on the contrary, wish to be taught what is immediately easy, and gives prospect of a manifest success. but suppose they should come to the professor of logic and rhetoric, and tell him they want to be taught to preach like mr. spurgeon, or the bishop of ----. he would say to them,--i cannot, and if i could i would not, tell you how to preach like mr. spurgeon, or the bishop of ----. your own character will form your style; your own zeal will direct it; your own obstinacy or ignorance may limit or exaggerate it; but my business is to prevent, as far as i can, your having _any_ particular style; and to teach you the laws of all language, and the essential power of your own. in like manner, this course, which i propose to you in art, will be calculated only to give you judgment and method in future study, to establish to your conviction the laws of general art, and to enable you to draw, if not with genius, at least with sense and propriety. the course, so far as it consists in practice, will be defined in my instructions for the schools. and the theory connected with that practice is set down in the three lectures at the end of the first course i delivered--those on line, light, and color. you will have, therefore, to get this book,[b] and it is the only one which you will need to have of your own,--the others are placed, for reference, where they will be accessible to you. 5. in the 139th paragraph it states the order of your practical study in these terms:-"i wish you to begin by getting command of line;--that is to say, by learning to draw a steady line, limiting with absolute correctness the form or space you intend it to limit; to proceed by getting command over flat tints, so that you may be able to fill the spaces you have inclosed evenly, either with shade or color, according to the school you adopt; and, finally, to obtain the power of adding such fineness of drawing, within the masses, as shall express their undulation, and their characters of form and texture." and now, since in your course of practice you are first required to attain the power of drawing lines accurately and delicately, so in the course of theory, or grammar, i wish you first to learn the principles of linear design, exemplified by the schools which (§ 137) you will find characterized as the schools of line. 6. if i had command of as much time as i should like to spend with you on this subject, i would begin with the early forms of art which used the simplest linear elements of design. but, for general service and interest, it will be better that i should sketch what has been accomplished by the greatest masters in that manner; the rather that their work is more or less accessible to all, and has developed into the vast industries of modern engraving, one of the most powerful existing influences of education and sources of pleasure among civilized people. and this investigation, so far from interrupting, will facilitate our examination of the history of the nobler arts. you will see in the preface to my lectures on greek sculpture that i intend them to be followed by a course on architecture, and that by one on florentine sculpture. but the art of engraving is so manifestly, at florence, though not less essentially elsewhere, a basis of style both in architecture and sculpture, that it is absolutely necessary i should explain to you in what the skill of the engraver consists, before i can define with accuracy that of more admired artists. for engraving, though not altogether in the method of which you see examples in the print-shops of the high street, is, indeed, a prior art to that either of building or sculpture, and is an inseparable part of both, when they are rightly practiced. 7. and while we thus examine the scope of this first of the arts, it will be necessary that we learn also the scope of mind of the early practicers of it, and accordingly acquaint ourselves with the main events in the biography of the schools of florence. to understand the temper and meaning of one great master is to lay the best, if not the only, foundation for the understanding of all; and i shall therefore make it the leading aim of this course of lectures to remind you of what is known, and direct you to what is knowable, of the life and character of the greatest florentine master of engraving, sandro botticelli; and, incidentally, to give you some idea of the power of the greatest master of the german, or any northern, school, hans holbein. 8. you must feel, however, that i am using the word "engraving" in a somewhat different, and, you may imagine, a wider, sense, than that which you are accustomed to attach to it. so far from being a wider sense, it is in reality a more accurate and restricted one, while yet it embraces every conceivable right application of the art. and i wish, in this first lecture, to make entirely clear to you the proper meaning of the word, and proper range of the art of, engraving; in my next following lecture, to show you its place in italian schools, and then, in due order, the place it ought to take in our own, and in all schools. 9. first then, to-day, of the differentia, or essential quality of engraving, as distinguished from other arts. what answer would you make to me, if i asked casually what engraving was? perhaps the readiest which would occur to you would be, "the translation of pictures into black and white by means admitting reduplication of impressions." but if that be done by lithography, we do not call it engraving,--whereas we speak contentedly and continually of seal engraving, in which there is no question of black and white. and, as scholars, you know that this customary mode of speaking is quite accurate; and that engraving means, primarily, making a permanent cut or furrow in something. the central syllable of the word has become a sorrowful one, meaning the most permanent of furrows. 10. but are you prepared absolutely to accept this limitation with respect to engraving as a pictorial art? will you call nothing an engraving, except a group of furrows or cavities cut in a hard substance? what shall we say of mezzotint engraving, for instance, in which, though indeed furrows and cavities are produced mechanically as a ground, the artist's work is in effacing them? and when we consider the power of engraving in representing pictures and multiplying them, are we to recognize and admire no effects of light and shade except those which are visibly produced by dots or furrows? i mean, will the virtue of an engraving be in exhibiting these imperfect means of its effect, or in concealing them? 11. here, for instance, is the head of a soldier by dürer,--a mere gridiron of black lines. would this be better or worse engraving if it were more like a photograph or lithograph, and no lines seen?--suppose, more like the head of mr. santley, now in all the music-shops, and really quite deceptive in light and shade, when seen from over the way? do you think dürer's work would be better if it were more like that? and would you have me, therefore, leaving the question of technical method of production altogether to the craftsman, consider pictorial engraving simply as the production of a light-and-shade drawing, by some method permitting its multiplication for the public? 12. this, you observe, is a very practical question indeed. for instance, the illustrations of my own lectures on sculpture are equivalent to permanent photographs. there can be little doubt that means will be discovered of thus producing perfect facsimiles of artists' drawings; so that, if no more than facsimile be required, the old art of cutting furrows in metal may be considered as, at this day, virtually ended. and, indeed, it is said that line engravers cannot any more get apprentices, and that a pure steel or copper plate is not likely to be again produced, when once the old living masters of the bright field shall have been all laid in their earth-furrows. 13. suppose, then, that this come to pass; and more than this, suppose that wood engraving also be superseded, and that instead of imperfect transcripts of drawings, on wood-blocks or metal-plates, photography enabled us to give, quite cheaply, and without limit to number, facsimiles of the finished light-and-shade drawings of artists themselves. another group of questions instantly offers itself, on these new conditions; namely, what are the best means for a light-and-shade drawing--the pen, or the pencil, the charcoal, or the flat wash? that is to say, the pen, producing shade by black lines, as old engraving did; the pencil, producing shade by gray lines, variable in force; the charcoal, producing a smoky shadow with no lines in it, or the washed tint, producing a transparent shadow with no lines in it. which of these methods is the best?--or have they, each and all, virtues to be separately studied, and distinctively applied? 14. see how curiously the questions multiply on us. 1st, is engraving to be only considered as cut work? 2d, for present designs multipliable without cutting, by the sunshine, what methods or instruments of drawing will be best? and now, 3dly, before we can discuss these questions at all, is there not another lying at the root of both,--namely, what a light-and-shade drawing itself properly _is_, and how it differs, or should differ, from a painting, whether by mere deficiency, or by some entirely distinct merit? 15. for instance, you know how confidently it is said, in common talk about turner, that his works are intelligible and beautiful when engraved, though incomprehensible as paintings. admitting this to be so, do you suppose it is because the translation into light and shade is deficient in some qualities which the painting had, or that it possesses some quality which the painting had not? does it please more because it is deficient in the color which confused a feeble spectator, and offended a dogmatic one,--or because it possesses a decision in its steady linear labor which interprets, or corrects, the swift penciling of the artist? 16. do you notice the two words i have just used, _decision_, and _linear_?--decision, again introducing the idea of cuts or divisions, as opposed to gradations; linear, as opposed to massive or broad? yet we use all these words at different times in praise, while they evidently mark inconsistent qualities. softness and decision, breadth and delineation, cannot co-exist in equal degrees. there must surely therefore be a virtue in the engraving inconsistent with that of the painting, and vice versâ. now, be clear about these three questions which we have to-day to answer. a. is all engraving to be cut work? b. if it need not be cut work, but only the reproduction of a drawing, what methods of executing a light-and-shade drawing will be best? c. is the shaded drawing itself to be considered only as a deficient or imperfect painting, or as a different thing from a painting, having a virtue of its own, belonging to black and white, as opposed to color? 17. i will give you the answers at once, briefly, and amplify them afterwards. a. all engraving must be cut work;--_that_ is its differentia. unless your effect be produced by cutting into some solid substance, it is not engraving at all. b. the proper methods for light-and-shade drawing vary according to subject, and the degree of completeness desired,--some of them having much in common with engraving, and others with painting. c. the qualities of a light-and-shade drawing ought to be entirely different from those of a painting. it is not a deficient or partial representation of a colored scene or picture, but an entirely different reading of either. so that much of what is intelligible in a painting ought to be unintelligible in a light-and-shade study, and _vice versâ_. you have thus three arts,--engraving, light-and-shade drawing, and painting. now i am not going to lecture, in this course, on painting, nor on light-and-shade drawing, but on engraving only. but i must tell you something about light-and-shade drawing first; or, at least, remind you of what i have before told. 18. you see that the three elementary lectures in my first volume are on line, light, and color,--that is to say, on the modes of art which produce linear designs,--which produce effects of light,--and which produce effects of color. i must, for the sake of new students, briefly repeat the explanation of these. here is an arabian vase, in which the pleasure given to the eye is only by lines;--no effect of light, or of color, is attempted. here is a moonlight by turner, in which there are no lines at all, and no colors at all. the pleasure given to the eye is only by modes of light and shade, or effects of light. finally, here is an early florentine painting, in which there are no lines of importance, and no effect of light whatever; but all the pleasure given to the eye is in gayety and variety of color. 19. i say, the pleasure given to the _eye_. the lines on this vase write something; but the ornamentation produced by the beautiful writing is independent of its meaning. so the moonlight is pleasant, first, as light; and the figures, first, as color. it is not the shape of the waves, but the light on them; not the expression of the figures, but their color, by which the _ocular_ pleasure is to be given. these three examples are violently marked ones; but, in preparing to draw _any_ object, you will find that, practically, you have to ask yourself, shall i aim at the color of it, the light of it, or the lines of it? you can't have all three; you can't even have any two out of the three in equal strength. the best art, indeed, comes so near nature as in a measure to unite all. but the best is not, and cannot be, as good as nature; and the mode of its deficiency is that it must lose some of the color, some of the light, or some of the delineation. and in consequence, there is one great school which says, we will have the color, and as much light and delineation as are consistent with it. another which says, we will have shade, and as much color and delineation as are consistent with it. the third, we will have delineation, and as much color and shade as are consistent with it. 20. and though much of the two subordinate qualities may in each school be consistent with the leading one, yet the schools are evermore separate: as, for instance, in other matters, one man says, i will have my fee, and as much honesty as is consistent with it; another, i will have my honesty, and as much fee as is consistent with it. though the man who will have his fee be subordinately honest,--though the man who will have his honor, subordinately rich, are they not evermore of diverse schools? so you have, in art, the utterly separate provinces, though in contact at their borders, of the delineators; the chiaroscurists; and the colorists. 21. the delineators are the men on whom i am going to give you this course of lectures. they are essentially engravers, an engraved line being the best means of delineation. the chiaroscurists are essentially draughtsmen with chalk, charcoal, or single tints. many of them paint, but always with some effort and pain. lionardo is the type of them; but the entire dutch school consists of them, laboriously painting, without essential genius for color. the colorists are the true painters; and all the faultless (as far, that is to say, as men's work can be so,) and consummate masters of art belong to them. 22. the distinction between the colorist and chiaroscurist school is trenchant and absolute: and may soon be shown you so that you will never forget it. here is a florentine picture by one of the pupils of giotto, of very good representative quality, and which the university galleries are rich in possessing. at the distance at which i hold it, you see nothing but a checker-work of brilliant, and, as it happens, even glaring colors. if you come near, you will find this patchwork resolve itself into a visitation, and birth of st. john; but that st. elizabeth's red dress, and the virgin's blue and white one, and the brown posts of the door, and the blue spaces of the sky, are painted in their own entirely pure colors, each shaded with more powerful tints of itself,--pale blue with deep blue, scarlet with crimson, yellow with orange, and green with richer green. the whole is therefore as much a mosaic work of brilliant color as if it were made of bits of glass. there is no effect of light attempted, or so much as thought of: you don't know even where the sun is: nor have you the least notion what time of day it is. the painter thinks you cannot be so superfluous as to want to know what time of day it is. 23. here, on the other hand, is a dutch picture of good average quality, also out of the university galleries. it represents a group of cattle, and a herdsman watching them. and you see in an instant that the time is evening. the sun is setting, and there is warm light on the landscape, the cattle, and the standing figure. nor does the picture in any conspicuous way seem devoid of color. on the contrary, the herdsman has a scarlet jacket, which comes out rather brilliantly from the mass of shade round it; and a person devoid of color faculty, or ill taught, might imagine the picture to be really a fine work of color. but if you will come up close to it, you will find that the herdsman has brown sleeves, though he has a scarlet jacket; and that the shadows of both are painted with precisely the same brown, and in several places with continuous touches of the pencil. it is only in the light that the scarlet is laid on. this at once marks the picture as belonging to the lower or chiaroscurist school, even if you had not before recognized it as such by its pretty rendering of sunset effect. 24. you might at first think it a painting which showed greater skill than that of the school of giotto. but the skill is not the primary question. the power of imagination is the first thing to be asked about. this italian work imagines, and requires you to imagine also, a st. elizabeth and st. mary, to the best of your power. but this dutch one only wishes you to imagine an effect of sunlight on cow-skin, which is a far lower strain of the imaginative faculty. also, as you may see the effect of sunlight on cow-skin, in reality, any summer afternoon, but cannot so frequently see a st. elizabeth, it is a far less useful strain of the imaginative faculty. and, generally speaking, the dutch chiaroscurists are indeed persons without imagination at all,--who, not being able to get any pleasure out of their thoughts, try to get it out of their sensations; note, however, also their technical connection with the greek school of shade, (see my sixth inaugural lecture, § 158,) in which color was refused, not for the sake of deception, but of solemnity. 25. with these final motives you are not now concerned; your present business is the quite easy one of knowing, and noticing, the universal distinction between the methods of treatment in which the aim is light, and in which it is color; and so to keep yourselves guarded from the danger of being misled by the, often very ingenious, talk of persons who have vivid color sensations without having learned to distinguish them from what else pleases them in pictures. there is an interesting volume by professor taine on the dutch school, containing a valuable historical analysis of the influences which formed it; but full of the gravest errors, resulting from the confusion in his mind between color and tone, in consequence of which he imagines the dutch painters to be colorists. 26. it is so important for you to be grounded securely in these first elements of pictorial treatment, that i will be so far tedious as to show you one more instance of the relative intellectual value of the pure color and pure chiaroscuro school, not in dutch and florentine, but in english art. here is a copy of one of the lost frescoes of our painted chamber of westminster;--fourteenth-century work, entirely conceived in color, and calculated for decorative effect. there is no more light and shade in it than in a queen of hearts in a pack of cards;--all that the painter at first wants you to see is that the young lady has a white forehead, and a golden crown, and a fair neck, and a violet robe, and a crimson shield with golden leopards on it; and that behind her is clear blue sky. then, farther, he wants you to read her name, "debonnairete," which, when you have read, he farther expects you to consider what it is to be debonnaire, and to remember your chaucer's description of the virtue:- she was not brown, nor dun of hue, but white as snowe, fallen new, with eyen glad, and browes bent, her hair down to her heeles went, and she was simple, as dove on tree, full debonnair of heart was she. 27. you see chaucer dwells on the color just as much as the painter does, but the painter has also given her the english shield to bear, meaning that good-humor, or debonnairete, cannot be maintained by self-indulgence;--only by fortitude. farther note, with chaucer, the "eyen glad," and brows "bent" (high-arched and calm), the strong life, (hair down to the heels,) and that her gladness is to be without subtlety,--that is to say, without the slightest pleasure in any form of advantage-taking, or any shrewd or mocking wit: "she was simple as dove on tree;" and you will find that the color-painting, both in the fresco and in the poem, is in the very highest degree didactic and intellectual; and distinguished, as being so, from all inferior forms of art. farther, that it requires you yourself first to understand the nature of simplicity, and to like simplicity in young ladies better than subtlety; and to understand why the second of love's five kind arrows (beauté being the first)- simplece ot nom, la seconde qui maint homme parmi le monde et mainte dame fait amer. nor must you leave the picture without observing that there is another reason for debonnairete's bearing the royal shield,--of all shields that, rather than another. "de-bonne-aire" meant originally "out of a good eagle's nest," the "aire" signifying the eagle's nest or eyrie especially, because it is flat, the latin "area" being the root of all. and this coming out of a good nest is recognized as, of all things, needfulest to give the strength which enables people to be good-humored; and thus you have "debonnaire" forming the third word of the group, with "gentle" and "kind," all first signifying "of good race." you will gradually see, as we go on, more and more why i called my third volume of lectures eagle's nest; for i am not fantastic in these titles, as is often said; but try shortly to mark my chief purpose in the book by them. 28. now for comparison with this old art, here is a modern engraving, in which color is entirely ignored; and light and shade alone are used to produce what is supposed to be a piece of impressive religious instruction. but it is not a piece of religious instruction at all;--only a piece of religious sensation, prepared for the sentimental pleasure of young ladies; whom (since i am honored to-day by the presence of many) i will take the opportunity of warning against such forms of false theological satisfaction. this engraving represents a young lady in a very long and, though plain, very becoming white dress, tossed upon the waves of a terrifically stormy sea, by which neither her hair nor her becoming dress is in the least wetted; and saved from despair in that situation by closely embracing a very thick and solid stone cross. by which far-sought and original metaphor young ladies are expected, after some effort, to understand the recourse they may have, for support, to the cross of christ, in the midst of the troubles of this world. 29. as those troubles are for the present, in all probability, limited to the occasional loss of their thimbles when they have not taken care to put them into their work-boxes,--the concern they feel at the unsympathizing gayety of their companions,--or perhaps the disappointment at not hearing a favorite clergyman preach,--(for i will not suppose the young ladies interested in this picture to be affected by any chagrin at the loss of an invitation to a ball, or the like worldliness,)--it seems to me the stress of such calamities might be represented, in a picture, by less appalling imagery. and i can assure my fair little lady friends,--if i still have any,--that whatever a young girl's ordinary troubles or annoyances may be, her true virtue is in shaking them off, as a rose-leaf shakes off rain, and remaining debonnaire and bright in spirits, or even, as the rose would be, the brighter for the troubles; and not at all in allowing herself to be either drifted or depressed to the point of requiring religious consolation. but if any real and deep sorrow, such as no metaphor can represent, fall upon her, does she suppose that the theological advice of this piece of modern art can be trusted? if she will take the pains to think truly, she will remember that christ himself never says anything about holding by his cross. he speaks a good deal of bearing it; but never for an instant of holding by it. it is his hand, not his cross, which is to save either you, or st. peter, when the waves are rough. and the utterly reckless way in which modern religious teachers, whether in art or literature, abuse the metaphor somewhat briefly and violently leant on by st. paul, simply prevents your understanding the meaning of any word which christ himself speaks on this matter! so you see this popular art of light and shade, catching you by your mere thirst of sensation, is not only undidactic, but the reverse of didactic--deceptive and illusory. 30. this _popular_ art, you hear me say, scornfully; and i have told you, in some of my teaching in "aratra pentelici," that all great art must be popular. yes, but great art is popular, as bread and water are to children fed by a father. and vile art is popular, as poisonous jelly is, to children cheated by a confectioner. and it is quite possible to make any kind of art popular on those last terms. the color school may become just as poisonous as the colorless, in the hands of fools, or of rogues. here is a book i bought only the other day,--one of the things got up cheap to catch the eyes of mothers at bookstalls,--puss in boots, illustrated; a most definite work of the color school--red jackets and white paws and yellow coaches as distinct as giotto or raphael would have kept them. but the thing is done by fools for money, and becomes entirely monstrous and abominable. here, again, is color art produced by fools for religion: here is indian sacred painting,--a black god with a hundred arms, with a green god on one side of him and a red god on the other; still a most definite work of the color school. giotto or raphael could not have made the black more resolutely black, (though the whole color of the school of athens is kept in distinct separation from one black square in it), nor the green more unquestionably green. yet the whole is pestilent and loathsome. 31. now but one point more, and i have done with this subject for to-day. you must not think that this manifest brilliancy and harlequin's-jacket character is essential in the color school. the essential matter is only that everything should be of _its own_ definite color: it may be altogether sober and dark, yet the distinctness of hue preserved with entire fidelity. here, for instance, is a picture of hogarth's,--one of quite the most precious things we have in our galleries. it represents a meeting of some learned society--gentlemen of the last century, very gravely dressed, but who, nevertheless, as gentlemen pleasantly did in that day,--you remember goldsmith's weakness on the point--wear coats of tints of dark red, blue, or violet. there are some thirty gentlemen in the room, and perhaps seven or eight different tints of subdued claret-color in their coats; and yet every coat is kept so distinctly of its own proper claret-color, that each gentleman's servant would know his master's. yet the whole canvas is so gray and quiet, that as i now hold it by this dutch landscape, with the vermilion jacket, you would fancy hogarth's had no color in it at all, and that the dutchman was half-way to becoming a titian; whereas hogarth's is a consummate piece of the most perfect colorist school, which titian could not beat, in its way; and the dutchman could no more paint half an inch of it than he could summon a rainbow into the clouds. 32. here then, you see, are, altogether, five works, all of the absolutely pure color school:- 1. one, indian,--religious art; 2. one, florentine,--religious art; 3. one, english,--from painted chamber, westminster,--ethic art; 4. one, english,--hogarth,--naturalistic art; 5. one, english,--to-day sold in the high street,--caricaturist art. and of these, the florentine and old english are divine work, god-inspired; full, indeed, of faults and innocencies, but divine, as good children are. then this by hogarth is entirely wise and right; but worldly-wise, not divine. while the old indian, and this, with which we feed our children at this hour, are entirely damnable art;--every bit of it done by the direct inspiration of the devil,--feeble, ridiculous,--yet mortally poisonous to every noble quality in body and soul. 33. i have now, i hope, guarded you sufficiently from the danger either of confusing the inferior school of chiaroscuro with that of color, or of imagining that a work must necessarily be good, on the sole ground of its belonging to the higher group. i can now proceed securely to separate the third school, that of delineation, from both; and to examine its special qualities. it begins (see "inaugural lectures," § 137) in the primitive work of races insensible alike to shade and to color, and nearly devoid of thought and of sentiment, but gradually developing into both. now as the design is primitive, so are the means likely to be primitive. a line is the simplest work of art you can produce. what are the simplest means you can produce it with? a cumberland lead-pencil is a work of art in itself, quite a nineteenth-century machine. pen and ink are complex and scholarly; and even chalk or charcoal not always handy. but the primitive line, the first and last, generally the best of lines, is that which you have elementary faculty of at your fingers' ends, and which kittens can draw as well as you--the scratch. the first, i say, and the last of lines. permanent exceedingly,--even in flesh, or on mahogany tables, often more permanent than we desire. but when studiously and honorably made, divinely permanent, or delightfully--as on the venerable desks of our public schools, most of them, now, specimens of wood engraving dear to the heart of england. 34. engraving, then, is, in brief terms, the art of scratch. it is essentially the cutting into a solid substance for the sake of making your ideas as permanent as possible, graven with an iron pen in the rock forever. _permanence_, you observe, is the object, not multiplicability;--that is quite an accidental, sometimes not even a desirable, attribute of engraving. duration of your work--fame, and undeceived vision of all men, on the pane of glass of the window on a wet day, or on the pillars of the castle of chillon, or on the walls of the pyramids;--a primitive art,--yet first and last with us. since then engraving, we say, is essentially cutting into the surface of any solid; as the primitive design is in lines or dots, the primitive cutting of such design is a scratch or a hole; and scratchable solids being essentially three--stone, wood, metal,--we shall have three great schools of engraving to investigate in each material. 35. on tablet of stone, on tablet of wood, on tablet of steel,--the first giving the law to everything; the second true athenian, like athena's first statue in olive-wood, making the law legible and homely; and the third true vulcanian, having the splendor and power of accomplished labor. now of stone engraving, which is joined inseparably with sculpture and architecture, i am not going to speak at length in this course of lectures. i shall speak only of wood and metal engraving. but there is one circumstance in stone engraving which it is necessary to observe in connection with the other two branches of the art. the great difficulty for a primitive engraver is to make his scratch deep enough to be visible. visibility is quite as essential to your fame as permanence; and if you have only your furrow to depend on, the engraved tablet, at certain times of day, will be illegible, and passed without notice. but suppose you fill in your furrow with something black, then it will be legible enough at once; and if the black fall out or wash out, still your furrow is there, and may be filled again by anybody. therefore, the noble stone engravers, using marble to receive their furrow, fill that furrow with marble ink. and you have an engraved plate to purpose;--with the whole sky for its margin! look here--the front of the church of san michele of lucca,--white marble with green serpentine for ink; or here,--the steps of the giant's stair, with lead for ink; or here,--the floor of the pisan duomo, with porphyry for ink. such cutting, filled in with color or with black, branches into all sorts of developments,--florentine mosaic on the one hand, niello on the other, and infinite minor arts. 36. yet we must not make this filling with color part of our definition of engraving. to engrave is, in final strictness, "to decorate a surface with furrows." (cameos, in accuratest terms, are minute sculptures, not engravings.) a plowed field is the purest type of such art; and is, on hilly land, an exquisite piece of decoration. therefore it will follow that engraving distinguishes itself from ordinary drawing by greater need of muscular effort. the quality of a pen drawing is to be produced easily,--deliberately, always,[c] but with a point that _glides_ over the paper. engraving, on the contrary, requires always force, and its virtue is that of a line produced by pressure, or by blows of a chisel. it involves, therefore, always, ideas of power and dexterity, but also of restraint; and the delight you take in it should involve the understanding of the difficulty the workman dealt with. you perhaps doubt the extent to which this feeling justly extends, (in the first volume of "modern painters," expressed under the head "ideas of power.") but why is a large stone in any building grander than a small one? simply because it was more difficult to raise it. so, also, an engraved line is, and ought to be, recognized as more grand than a pen or pencil line, because it was more difficult to execute it. in this mosaic of lucca front you forgive much, and admire much, because you see it is all cut in stone. so, in wood and steel, you ought to see that every line has been costly; but observe, costly of deliberative, no less than athletic or executive power. the main use of the restraint which makes the line difficult to draw, is to give time and motive for deliberation in drawing it, and to insure its being the best in your power. 37. for, as with deliberation, so without repentance, your engraved line must be. it may, indeed, be burnished or beaten out again in metal, or patched and botched in stone; but always to disadvantage, and at pains which must not be incurred often. and there is a singular evidence in one of dürer's finest plates that, in his time, or at least in his manner of work, it was not possible at all. among the disputes as to the meaning of dürer's knight and death, you will find it sometimes suggested, or insisted, that the horse's raised foot is going to fall into a snare. what has been fancied a noose is only the former outline of the horse's foot and limb, uneffaced. the engraved line is therefore to be conclusive; not experimental. "i have determined this," says the engraver. much excellent pen drawing is excellent in being tentative,--in being experimental. indeterminate, not through want of meaning, but through fullness of it--halting _wisely_ between two opinions--feeling cautiously after clearer opinions. but your engraver has made up his opinion. this is so, and must forever be so, he tells you. a very proper thing for a thoughtful man to say; a very improper and impertinent thing for a foolish one to say. foolish engraving is consummately foolish work. look,--all the world,--look for evermore, says the foolish engraver; see what a fool i have been! how many lines i have laid for nothing! how many lines upon lines, with no precept, much less superprecept! 38. here, then, are two definite ethical characters in all engraved work. it is athletic; and it is resolute. add one more; that it is obedient;--in their infancy the nurse, but in their youth the slave, of the higher arts; servile, both in the mechanism and labor of it, and in its function of interpreting the schools of painting as superior to itself. and this relation to the higher arts we will study at the source of chief power in all the normal skill of christendom, florence; and chiefly, as i said, in the work of one florentine master, sandro botticelli. footnotes: [a] "inaugural series," "aratra pentelici," and "eagle's nest." [b] my inaugural series of seven lectures (now published uniform in size with this edition. 1890). [c] compare inaugural lectures, § 144. lecture ii. the relation of engraving to other arts in florence. 39. from what was laid before you in my last lecture, you must now be aware that i do not mean, by the word 'engraving,' merely the separate art of producing plates from which black pictures may be printed. i mean, by engraving, the art of producing decoration on a surface by the touches of a chisel or a burin; and i mean by its relation to other arts, the subordinate service of this linear work, in sculpture, in metal work, and in painting; or in the representation and repetition of painting. and first, therefore, i have to map out the broad relations of the arts of sculpture, metal work, and painting, in florence, among themselves, during the period in which the art of engraving was distinctly connected with them.[d] 40. you will find, or may remember, that in my lecture on michael angelo and tintoret i indicated the singular importance, in the history of art, of a space of forty years, between 1480, and the year in which raphael died, 1520. within that space of time the change was completed, from the principles of ancient, to those of existing, art;--a manifold change, not definable in brief terms, but most clearly characterized, and easily remembered, as the change of conscientious and didactic art, into that which proposes to itself no duty beyond technical skill, and no object but the pleasure of the beholder. of that momentous change itself i do not purpose to speak in the present course of lectures; but my endeavor will be to lay before you a rough chart of the course of the arts in florence up to the time when it took place; a chart indicating for you, definitely, the growth of conscience, in work which is distinctively conscientious, and the perfecting of expression and means of popular address, in that which is distinctively didactic. 41. means of popular address, observe, which have become singularly important to us at this day. nevertheless, remember that the power of printing, or reprinting, black _pictures_,--practically contemporary with that of reprinting black _letters_,--modified the art of the draughtsman only as it modified that of the scribe. beautiful and unique writing, as beautiful and unique painting or engraving, remain exactly what they were; but other useful and reproductive methods of both have been superadded. of these, it is acutely said by dr. alfred woltmann,[e]- "a far more important part is played in the art-life of germany by the technical arts for the _multiplying_ of works; for germany, while it was the land of book-printing, is also the land of picture-printing. indeed, wood-engraving, which preceded the invention of book-printing, _prepared the way for it, and only left one step more necessary for it_. _book-printing_ and _picture-printing_ have both the same inner cause for their origin, namely, the impulse to make each mental gain a common blessing. not merely princes and rich nobles were to have the privilege of adorning their private chapels and apartments with beautiful religious pictures; the poorest man was also to have his delight in that which the artist had devised and produced. it was not sufficient for him when it stood in the church as an altar-shrine, visible to him and to the congregation from afar; he desired to have it as his own, to carry it about with him, to bring it into his own home. the grand importance of wood-engraving and copperplate is not sufficiently estimated in historical investigations. they were not alone of use in the advance of art; they form an epoch in the entire life of mind and culture. the idea embodied and multiplied in pictures became like that embodied in the printed word, the herald of every intellectual movement, and conquered the world." 42. "conquered the world"? the rest of the sentence is true, but this, hyperbolic, and greatly false. it should have been said that both painting and engraving have conquered much of the good in the world, and, hitherto, little or none of the evil. nor do i hold it usually an advantage to art, in teaching, that it _should_ be common, or constantly seen. in becoming intelligibly and kindly beautiful, while it remains solitary and unrivaled, it has a greater power. westminster abbey is more didactic to the english nation, than a million of popular illustrated treatises on architecture. nay, even that it cannot be understood but with some difficulty, and must be sought before it can be seen, is no harm. the noblest didactic art is, as it were, set on a hill, and its disciples come to it. the vilest destructive and corrosive art stands at the street corners, crying, "turn in hither; come, eat of my bread, and drink of my wine, which i have mingled." and dr. woltmann has allowed himself too easily to fall into the common notion of liberalism, that bad art, disseminated, is instructive, and good art isolated, not so. the question is, first, i assure you, whether what art you have got is good or bad. if essentially bad, the more you see of it, the worse for you. entirely popular art is all that is noble, in the cathedral, the council chamber, and the market-place; not the paltry colored print pinned on the wall of a private room. 43. i despise the poor!--do i, think you? not so. they only despise the poor who think them better off with police news, and colored tracts of the story of joseph and potiphar's wife, than they were with luini painting on their church walls, and donatello carving the pillars of their market-places. nevertheless, the effort to be universally, instead of locally, didactic, modified advantageously, as you know, and in a thousand ways varied, the earlier art of engraving: and the development of its popular power, whether for good or evil, came exactly--so fate appointed--at a time when the minds of the masses were agitated by the struggle which closed in the reformation in some countries, and in the desperate refusal of reformation in others.[f] the two greatest masters of engraving whose lives we are to study, were, both of them, passionate reformers: holbein no less than luther; botticelli no less than savonarola. 44. reformers, i mean, in the full and, accurately, the only, sense. not preachers of new doctrines; but witnesses against the betrayal of the old ones, which were on the lips of all men, and in the lives of none. nay, the painters are indeed more pure reformers than the priests. they rebuked the manifest vices of men, while they realized whatever was loveliest in their faith. priestly reform soon enraged itself into mere contest for personal opinions; while, without rage, but in stern rebuke of all that was vile in conduct or thought,--in declaration of the always-received faiths of the christian church, and in warning of the power of faith, and death,[g] over the petty designs of men,--botticelli and holbein together fought foremost in the ranks of the reformation. 45. to-day i will endeavor to explain how they attained such rank. then, in the next two lectures, the technics of both,--their way of speaking; and in the last two, what they had got to say. first, then, we ask how they attained this rank;--who taught _them_ what they were finally best to teach? how far must every people--how far did this florentine people--teach its masters, before _they_ could teach _it_? even in these days, when every man is, by hypothesis, as good as another, does not the question sound strange to you? you recognize in the past, as you think, clearly, that national advance takes place always under the guidance of masters, or groups of masters, possessed of what appears to be some new personal sensibility or gift of invention; and we are apt to be reverent to these alone, as if the nation itself had been unprogressive, and suddenly awakened, or converted, by the genius of one man. no idea can be more superficial. every nation must teach its tutors, and prepare itself to receive them; but the fact on which our impression is founded--the rising, apparently by chance, of men whose singular gifts suddenly melt the multitude, already at the point of fusion; or suddenly form, and _in_form, the multitude which has gained coherence enough to be capable of formation,--enables us to measure and map the gain of national intellectual territory, by tracing first the lifting of the mountain chains of its genius. 46. i have told you that we have nothing to do at present with the great transition from ancient to modern habits of thought which took place at the beginning of the sixteenth century. i only want to go as far as that point;--where we shall find the old superstitious art represented _finally_ by perugino, and the modern scientific and anatomical art represented _primarily_ by michael angelo. and the epithet bestowed on perugino by michael angelo, 'goffo nell' arte,' dunce, or blockhead, in art,--being, as far as my knowledge of history extends, the most cruel, the most false, and the most foolish insult ever offered by one great man to another,--does you at least good service, in showing how trenchant the separation is between the two orders of artists,[h]--how exclusively we may follow out the history of all the 'goffi nell' arte,' and write our florentine dunciad, and laus stultitiæ, in peace; and never trench upon the thoughts or ways of these proud ones, who showed their fathers' nakedness, and snatched their masters' fame. 47. the florentine dunces in art are a multitude; but i only want you to know something about twenty of them. twenty!--you think that a grievous number? it may, perhaps, appease you a little to be told that when you really have learned a very little, accurately, about these twenty dunces, there are only five more men among the artists of christendom whose works i shall ask you to examine while you are under my care. that makes twenty-five altogether,--an exorbitant demand on your attention, you still think? and yet, but a little while ago, you were all agog to get me to go and look at mrs. a's sketches, and tell you what was to be thought about _them_; and i've had the greatest difficulty to keep mrs. b's photographs from being shown side by side with the raphael drawings in the university galleries. and you will waste any quantity of time in looking at mrs. a's sketches or mrs. b's photographs; and yet you look grave, because, out of nineteen centuries of european art-labor and thought, i ask you to learn something seriously about the works of five-and-twenty men! 48. it is hard upon you, doubtless, considering the quantity of time you must nowadays spend in trying which can hit balls farthest. so i will put the task into the simplest form i can. 1200 1300 1400 | 1250 | 1350 | + + + + + niccola pisano |-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-| | | | | | | | | | | | | arnolfo |-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-| | | | | | | | | | cimabue |-|-|-|-|-|-| | | | | | | | | | | giovanni pisano |-|-|-|-|-|-|-| | | | | | | | | andrea pisano |-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-| | | | | | giotto |-|-|-|-|-|-|-| | | | | | | orcagna |-|-|-|-|-|-|-| | | 1400 1500 1600 | 1450 | 1550 | + + + + + quercia |-|-|-|-|-|-|-| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | brunelleschi |-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | ghiberti |-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | donatello |-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-| | | | | | | | | | | | | | luca della robbia |-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-| | | | | | | | | | | | | filippo lippi |-|-|-|-|-|-| | | | | | | | | | | | | | giovanni bellini |-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-| | | | | | | | | mantegna |-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-| | | | | | | | | | verrocchio |-|-|-|-|-|-| | | | | | | | | | | | perugino |-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-| | | | | | | | botticelli |-|-|-|-|-|-|-| | | | | | | | | luini |-|-|-|-|-|-|-| | | | | | | dürer |-|-|-|-|-|-| | | | | | | | cima |-|-|-|-| | | | | | | | | carpaccio |-|-|-|-| | | | | | | | correggio |-|-|-|-|-| | | | | | | holbein |-|-|-|-|-| | | | | | tintoret |-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-| here are the names of the twenty-five men,[i] and opposite each, a line indicating the length of his life, and the position of it in his century. the diagram still, however, needs a few words of explanation. very chiefly, for those who know anything of my writings, there is needed explanation of its not including the names of titian, reynolds, velasquez, turner, and other such men, always reverently put before you at other times. they are absent, because i have no fear of your not looking at these. all your lives through, if you care about art, you will be looking at them. but while you are here at oxford, i want to make you learn what you should know of these earlier, many of them weaker, men, who yet, for the very reason of their greater simplicity of power, are better guides for you, and of whom some will remain guides to all generations. and, as regards the subject of our present course, i have a still more weighty reason;--vandyke, gainsborough, titian, reynolds, velasquez, and the rest, are essentially portrait painters. they give you the likeness of a man: they have nothing to say either about his future life, or his gods. 'that is the look of him,' they say: 'here, on earth, we know no more.' 49. but these, whose names i have engraved, have something to say--generally much,--either about the future life of man, or about his gods. they are therefore, literally, seers or prophets. false prophets, it may be, or foolish ones; of that you must judge; but you must read before you can judge; and read (or hear) them consistently; for you don't know them till you have heard them out. but with sir joshua, or titian, one portrait is as another: it is here a pretty lady, there a great lord; but speechless, all;--whereas, with these twenty-five men, each picture or statue is not merely another person of a pleasant society, but another chapter of a sibylline book. 50. for this reason, then, i do not want sir joshua or velasquez in my defined group; and for my present purpose, i can spare from it even four others:--namely, three who have _too_ special gifts, and must each be separately studied--correggio, carpaccio, tintoret;--and one who has no special gift, but a balanced group of many--cima. this leaves twenty-one for classification, of whom i will ask you to lay hold thus. you must continually have felt the difficulty caused by the names of centuries not tallying with their years;--the year 1201 being the first of the thirteenth century, and so on. i am always plagued by it myself, much as i have to think and write with reference to chronology; and i mean for the future, in our art chronology, to use as far as possible a different form of notation. 51. in my diagram the vertical lines are the divisions of tens of years; the thick black lines divide the centuries. the horizontal lines, then, at a glance, tell you the length and date of each artist's life. in one or two instances i cannot find the date of birth; in one or two more, of death; and the line indicates then only the ascertained[j] period during which the artist worked. and, thus represented, you see nearly all their lives run through the year of a new century; so that if the lines representing them were needles, and the black bars of the years 1300, 1400, 1500 were magnets, i could take up nearly all the needles by lifting the bars. 52. i will actually do this, then, in three other simple diagrams. i place a rod for the year 1300 over the lines of life, and i take up all it touches. i have to drop niccola pisano, but i catch five. now, with my rod of 1400, i have dropped orcagna indeed, but i again catch five. now, with my rod of 1500, i indeed drop filippo lippi and verrocchio, but i catch seven. and here i have three pennons, with the staves of the years 1300, 1400, and 1500 running through them,--holding the names of nearly all the men i want you to study in easily remembered groups of five, five, and seven. and these three groups i shall hereafter call the 1300 group, 1400 group, and 1500 group. 1300. ^ | 1240-1302 cimabue +-+-+-+-+-+-+ | 1250-1321 giovanni pisano +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+ | 1232-1310 arnolfo -+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+ | 1270-1345 andrea pisano +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+ | 1276-1336 giotto +-+-+-+-+-+ 1400. ^ | 1374-1438 quercia -+-+-+-+-+-+-+ | 1381-1455 ghiberti +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+ | 1377-1446 brunelleschi +-+-+-+-+-+-+ | 1386-1468 donatello +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+ | 1400-1481 luca +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+ 1500. ^ | 1431-1506 mantegna -+-+-+-+-+-+-+ | 1457-1515 botticelli +-+-+-+-+-+ | 1426-1516 bellini +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+ | 1446-1524 perugino +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+ | 1470-1535 luini +-+-+-+-+-+-+ | 1471-1527 dürer -+-+-+-+-+ | 1498-1543 holbein +-+-+-+-+ 53. but why should four unfortunate masters be dropped out? well, i want to drop them out, at any rate; but not in disrespect. in hope, on the contrary, to make you remember them very separately indeed;--for this following reason. we are in the careless habit of speaking of men who form a great number of pupils, and have a host of inferior satellites round them, as masters of great schools. but before you call a man a master, you should ask, are his pupils greater or less than himself? if they are greater than himself, he is a master indeed;--he has been a true teacher. but if all his pupils are less than himself, he may have been a great _man_, but in all probability has been a bad _master_, or no master. now these men, whom i have signally left out of my groups, are true _masters_. niccola pisano taught all italy; but chiefly his own son, who succeeded, and in some things very much surpassed him. orcagna taught all italy, after him, down to michael angelo. and these two--lippi, the religious schools, verrocchio, the artist schools, of their century. lippi taught sandro botticelli; and verrocchio taught lionardo da vinci, lorenzo di credi, and perugino. have i not good reason to separate the masters of such pupils from the schools they created? 54. but how is it that i can drop just the cards i want out of my pack? well, certainly i force and fit matters a little: i leave some men out of my list whom i should like to have in it;--benozzo gozzoli, for instance, and mino da fiesole; but i can do without them, and so can you also, for the present. i catch luca by a hair's-breadth only, with my 1400 rod; but on the whole, with very little coaxing, i get the groups in this memorable and quite literally 'handy' form. for see, i write my lists of five, five, and seven, on bits of pasteboard; i hinge my rods to these; and you can brandish the school of 1400 in your left hand, and of 1500 in your right, like--railway signals;--and i wish all railway signals were as clear. once learn, thoroughly, the groups in this artificially contracted form, and you can refine and complete afterwards at your leisure. 55. and thus actually flourishing my two pennons, and getting my grip of the men, in either hand, i find a notable thing concerning my two flags. the men whose names i hold in my left hand are all sculptors; the men whose names i hold in my right are all painters. you will infallibly suspect me of having chosen them thus on purpose. no, honor bright!--i chose simply the greatest men,--those i wanted to talk to you about. i arranged them by their dates; i put them into three conclusive pennons; and behold what follows! 56. farther, note this: in the 1300 group, four out of the five men are architects as well as sculptors and painters. in the 1400 group, there is one architect; in the 1500, none. and the meaning of that is, that in 1300 the arts were all united, and duly led by architecture; in 1400, sculpture began to assume too separate a power to herself; in 1500, painting arrogated all, and, at last, betrayed all. from which, with much other collateral evidence, you may justly conclude that the three arts ought to be practiced together, and that they naturally are so. i long since asserted that no man could be an architect who was not a sculptor. as i learned more and more of my business, i perceived also that no man could be a sculptor who was not an architect;--that is to say, who had not knowledge enough, and pleasure enough in structural law, to be able to build, on occasion, better than a mere builder. and so, finally, i now positively aver to you that nobody, in the graphic arts, can be quite rightly a master of anything, who is not master of everything! 57. the junction of the three arts in men's minds, at the best times, is shortly signified in these words of chaucer. love's garden, everidele enclosed was, and walled well with high walls, embatailled, portrayed without, and well entayled with many rich portraitures. the french original is better still, and gives four arts in unison:- quant suis avant un pou alé et vy un vergier grant et le, bien cloz de bon mur batillié pourtrait dehors, et entaillié ou (for au) maintes riches escriptures. read also carefully the description of the temples of mars and venus in the knight's tale. contemporary french uses 'entaille' even of solid sculpture and of the living form; and pygmalion, as a perfect master, professes wood carving, ivory carving, waxwork, and iron-work, no less than stone sculpture:- pimalion, uns entaillieres pourtraians en fuz[k] et en pierres, en mettaux, en os, et en cire, et en toute autre matire. 58. i made a little sketch, when last in florence, of a subject which will fix the idea of this unity of the arts in your minds. at the base of the tower of giotto are two rows of hexagonal panels, filled with bas-reliefs. some of these are by unknown hands,--some by andrea pisano, some by luca della robbia, two by giotto himself; of these i sketched the panel representing the art of painting. you have in that bas-relief one of the foundation-stones of the most perfectly built tower in europe; you have that stone carved by its architect's own hand; you find, further, that this architect and sculptor was the greatest painter of his time, and the friend of the greatest poet; and you have represented by him a painter in his shop,--bottega,--as symbolic of the entire art of painting. 59. in which representation, please note how carefully giotto shows you the tabernacles or niches, in which the paintings are to be placed. not independent of their frames, these panels of his, you see! have you ever considered, in the early history of painting, how important also is the history of the frame maker? it is a matter, i assure you, needing your very best consideration. for the frame was made before the picture. the painted window is much, but the aperture it fills was thought of before it. the fresco by giotto is much, but the vault it adorns was planned first. who thought of these;--who built? questions taking us far back before the birth of the shepherd boy of fésole--questions not to be answered by history of painting only, still less of painting in _italy_ only. 60. and in pointing out to you this fact, i may once for all prove to you the essential unity of the arts, and show you how impossible it is to understand one without reference to another. which i wish you to observe all the more closely, that you may use, without danger of being misled, the data, of unequaled value, which have been collected by crowe and cavalcaselle, in the book which they have called a history of painting in italy, but which is in fact only a dictionary of details relating to that history. such a title is an absurdity on the face of it. for, first, you can no more write the history of painting in italy than you can write the history of the south wind in italy. the sirocco does indeed produce certain effects at genoa, and others at rome; but what would be the value of a treatise upon the winds, which, for the honor of any country, assumed that every city of it had a native sirocco? but, further,--imagine what success would attend the meteorologist who should set himself to give an account of the south wind, but take no notice of the north! and, finally, suppose an attempt to give you an account of either wind, but none of the seas, or mountain passes, by which they were nourished, or directed. 61. for instance, i am in this course of lectures to give you an account of a single and minor branch of graphic art,--engraving. but observe how many references to local circumstances it involves. there are three materials for it, we said;--stone, wood, and metal. stone engraving is the art of countries possessing marble and gems; wood engraving, of countries overgrown with forest; metal engraving, of countries possessing treasures of silver and gold. and the style of a stone engraver is formed on pillars and pyramids; the style of a wood engraver under the eaves of larch cottages; the style of a metal engraver in the treasuries of kings. do you suppose i could rightly explain to you the value of a single touch on brass by finiguerra, or on box by bewick, unless i had grasp of the great laws of climate and country; and could trace the inherited sirocco or tramontana of thought to which the souls and bodies of the men owed their existence? 62. you see that in this flag of 1300 there is a dark strong line in the center, against which you read the name of arnolfo. in writing our florentine dunciad, or history of fools, can we possibly begin with a better day than all fools' day? on all fools' day--the first, if you like better so to call it, of the month of _opening_,--in the year 1300, is signed the document making arnolfo a citizen of florence, and in 1310 he dies, chief master of the works of the cathedral there. to this man, crowe and cavalcaselle give half a page, out of three volumes of five hundred pages each. but lower down in my flag, (not put there because of any inferiority, but by order of chronology,) you will see a name sufficiently familiar to you--that of giotto; and to him, our historians of painting in italy give some hundred pages, under the impression, stated by them at page 243 of their volume, that "in his hands, art in the peninsula became entitled for the first time to the name of italian." 63. art became italian! yes, but _what_ art? your authors give a perspective--or what they call such,--of the upper church of assisi, as if that were merely an accidental occurrence of blind walls for giotto to paint on! but how came the upper church of assisi there? how came it to be vaulted--to be aisled? how came giotto to be asked to paint upon it? the art that built it, good or bad, must have been an italian one, before giotto. he could not have painted on the air. let us see how his panels were made for him. 64. this captain--the center of our first group--arnolfo, has always hitherto been called 'arnolfo di lapo;'--arnolfo the son of lapo. modern investigators come down on us delightedly, to tell us--arnolfo was _not_ the son of lapo. in these days you will have half a dozen doctors, writing each a long book, and the sense of all will be,--arnolfo wasn't the son of lapo. much good may you get of that! well, you will find the fact to be, there was a great northman builder, a true son of thor, who came down into italy in 1200, served the order of st. francis there, built assisi, taught arnolfo how to build, with thor's hammer, and disappeared, leaving his name uncertain--jacopo--lapo--nobody knows what. arnolfo always recognizes this man as his true father, who put the soul-life into him; he is known to his florentines always as lapo's arnolfo. that, or some likeness of that, is the vital fact. you never can get at the literal limitation of living facts. they disguise themselves by the very strength of their life: get told again and again in different ways by all manner of people;--the literalness of them is turned topsy-turvy, inside-out, over and over again;--then the fools come and read them wrong side upwards, or else, say there never was a fact at all. nothing delights a true blockhead so much as to prove a negative;--to show that everybody has been wrong. fancy the delicious sensation, to an empty-headed creature, of fancying for a moment that he has emptied everybody else's head as well as his own! nay, that, for once, his own hollow bottle of a head has had the best of other bottles, and has been _first_ empty;--first to know--nothing. 65. hold, then, steadily the first tradition about this arnolfo. that his real father was called "cambio" matters to you not a straw. that he never called himself cambio's arnolfo--that nobody else ever called him so, down to vasari's time, is an infinitely significant fact to you. in my twenty-second letter in fors clavigera you will find some account of the noble habit of the italian artists to call themselves by their masters' names, considering their master as their true father. if not the name of the master, they take that of their native place, as having owed the character of their life to that. they rarely take their own family name: sometimes it is not even known,--when best known, it is unfamiliar to us. the great pisan artists, for instance, never bear any other name than 'the pisan;' among the other five-and-twenty names in my list, not above six, i think, the two german, with four italian, are family names. perugino, (peter of perugia,) luini, (bernard of luino,) quercia, (james of quercia,) correggio, (anthony of correggio,) are named from their native places. nobody would have understood me if i had called giotto, 'ambrose bondone;' or tintoret, robusti; or even raphael, sanzio. botticelli is named from his master; ghiberti from his father-in-law; and ghirlandajo from his work. orcagna, who _did_, for a wonder, name himself from his father, andrea cione, of florence, has been always called 'angel' by everybody else; while arnolfo, who never named himself from his father, is now like to be fathered against his will. but, i again beg of you, keep to the old story. for it represents, however inaccurately in detail, clearly in sum, the fact, that some great master of german gothic at this time came down into italy, and changed the entire form of italian architecture by his touch. so that while niccola and giovanni pisano are still virtually greek artists, experimentally introducing gothic forms, arnolfo and giotto adopt the entire gothic ideal of form, and thenceforward use the pointed arch and steep gable as the limits of sculpture. 66. hitherto i have been speaking of the relations of my twenty-five men to each other. but now, please note their relations altogether to the art before them. these twenty-five include, i say, all the great masters of _christian_ art. before them, the art was too savage to be christian; afterwards, too carnal to be christian. too savage to be christian? i will justify that assertion hereafter; but you will find that the european art of 1200 includes all the most developed and characteristic conditions of the style in the north which you have probably been accustomed to think of as norman, and which you may always most conveniently call so; and the most developed conditions of the style in the south, which, formed out of effete greek, persian, and roman tradition, you may, in like manner, most conveniently express by the familiar word byzantine. whatever you call them, they are in origin adverse in temper, and remain so up to the year 1200. then an influence appears, seemingly that of one man, nicholas the pisan, (our first master, observe,) and a new spirit adopts what is best in each, and gives to what it adopts a new energy of its own; namely, this conscientious and didactic power which is the speciality of its progressive existence. and just as the new-born and natural art of athens collects and reanimates pelasgian and egyptian tradition, purifying their worship, and perfecting their work, into the living heathen faith of the world, so this new-born and natural art of florence collects and animates the norman and byzantine tradition, and forms out of the perfected worship and work of both, the honest christian faith, and vital craftsmanship, of the world. 67. get this first summary, therefore, well into your minds. the word 'norman' i use roughly for north-savage;--roughly, but advisedly. i mean lombard, scandinavian, frankish; everything north-savage that you can think of, except saxon. (i have a reason for that exception; never mind it just now.)[l] all north-savage i call norman, all south-savage i call byzantine; this latter including dead native greek primarily--then dead foreign greek, in rome;--then arabian--persian--phoenician--indian--all you can think of, in art of hot countries, up to this year 1200, i rank under the one term byzantine. now all this cold art--norman, and all this hot art--byzantine, is virtually dead, till 1200. it has no conscience, no didactic power;[m] it is devoid of both, in the sense that dreams are. then in the thirteenth century, men wake as if they heard an alarum through the whole vault of heaven, and true human life begins again, and the cradle of this life is the val d'arno. there the northern and southern nations meet; there they lay down their enmities; there they are first baptized unto john's baptism for the remission of sins; there is born, and thence exiled,--thought faithless, for breaking the font of baptism to save a child from drowning, in his 'bel san giovanni,'--the greatest of christian poets; he who had pity even for the lost. 68. now, therefore, my whole history of _christian_ architecture and painting begins with this baptistery of florence, and with its associated cathedral. arnolfo brought the one into the form in which you now see it; he laid the foundation of the other, and that to purpose, and he is therefore the captain of our first school. for this florentine baptistery[n] is the great one of the world. here is the center of christian knowledge and power. and it is one piece of large _engraving_. white substance, cut into, and filled with black, and dark-green. no more perfect work was afterwards done; and i wish you to grasp the idea of this building clearly and irrevocably,--first, in order (as i told you in a previous lecture) to quit yourselves thoroughly of the idea that ornament should be decorated construction; and, secondly, as the noblest type of the intaglio ornamentation, which developed itself into all minor application of black and white to engraving. 69. that it should do so first at florence, was the natural sequence, and the just reward, of the ancient skill of etruria in chased metal-work. the effects produced in gold, either by embossing or engraving, were the direct means of giving interest to his surfaces at the command of the 'auri faber,' or orfevre: and every conceivable artifice of studding, chiseling, and interlacing was exhausted by the artists in gold, who were at the head of the metal-workers, and from whom the ranks of the sculptors were reinforced. the old french word 'orfroiz,' (aurifrigia,) expresses essentially what we call 'frosted' work in gold; that which resembles small dew or crystals of hoar-frost; the 'frigia' coming from the latin frigus. to chase, or enchase, is not properly said of the gold; but of the jewel which it secures with hoops or ridges, (french, _en_chasser[o]). then the armorer, or cup and casket maker, added to this kind of decoration that of flat inlaid enamel; and the silver-worker, finding that the raised filigree (still a staple at genoa) only attracted tarnish, or got crushed, early sought to decorate a surface which would bear external friction, with labyrinths of safe incision. 70. of the _security_ of incision as a means of permanent decoration, as opposed to ordinary carving, here is a beautiful instance in the base of one of the external shafts of the cathedral of lucca; thirteenth-century work, which by this time, had it been carved in relief, would have been a shapeless remnant of indecipherable bosses. but it is still as safe as if it had been cut yesterday, because the smooth round mass of the pillar is entirely undisturbed; into that, furrows are cut with a chisel as much under command and as powerful as a burin. the effect of the design is trusted entirely to the depth of these incisions--here dying out and expiring in the light of the marble, there deepened, by drill holes, into as definitely a black line as if it were drawn with ink; and describing the outline of the leafage with a delicacy of touch and of perception which no man will ever surpass, and which very few have rivaled, in the proudest days of design. 71. this security, in silver plates, was completed by filling the furrows with the black paste which at once exhibited and preserved them. the transition from that niello-work to modern engraving is one of no real moment: my object is to make you understand the qualities which constitute the _merit_ of the engraving, whether charged with niello or ink. and this i hope ultimately to accomplish by studying with you some of the works of the four men, botticelli and mantegna in the south, dürer and holbein in the north, whose names i have put in our last flag, above and beneath those of the three mighty painters, perugino the captain, bellini on one side--luini on the other. the four following lectures[p] will contain data necessary for such study: you must wait longer before i can place before you those by which i can justify what must greatly surprise some of my audience--my having given perugino the captain's place among the three painters. 72. but i do so, at least primarily, because what is commonly thought affected in his design is indeed the true remains of the great architectural symmetry which was soon to be lost, and which makes him the true follower of arnolfo and brunelleschi; and because he is a sound craftsman and workman to the very heart's core. a noble, gracious, and quiet laborer from youth to death,--never weary, never impatient, never untender, never untrue. not tintoret in power, not raphael in flexibility, not holbein in veracity, not luini in love,--their gathered gifts he has, in balanced and fruitful measure, fit to be the guide, and impulse, and father of all. footnotes: [d] compare "aratra pentelici," § 154. [e] "holbein and his time," 4to, bentley, 1872, (a very valuable book,) p. 17. italics mine. [f] see carlyle, "frederick," book iii., chap. viii. [g] i believe i am taking too much trouble in writing these lectures. this sentence, § 44, has cost me, i suppose, first and last, about as many hours as there are lines in it;--and my choice of these two words, faith and death, as representatives of power, will perhaps, after all, only puzzle the reader. [h] he is said by vasari to have called francia the like. francia is a child compared to perugino; but a finished working-goldsmith and ornamental painter nevertheless; and one of the very last men to be called 'goffo,' except by unparalleled insolence. [i] the diagram used at the lecture is engraved on page 30; the reader had better draw it larger for himself, as it had to be made inconveniently small for this size of leaf. [j] 'ascertained,' scarcely any date ever is, quite satisfactorily. the diagram only represents what is practically and broadly true. i may have to modify it greatly in detail. [k] for fust, log of wood, erroneously 'fer' in the later printed editions. compare the account of the works of art and nature, towards the end of the romance of the rose. [l] of course it would have been impossible to express in any accurate terms, short enough for the compass of a lecture, the conditions of opposition between the heptarchy and the northmen;--between the byzantine and roman;--and between the byzantine and arab, which form minor, but not less trenchant, divisions of art-province, for subsequent delineation. if you can refer to my "stones of venice," see § 20 of its first chapter. [m] again much too broad a statement: not to be qualified but by a length of explanation here impossible. my lectures on architecture, now in preparation ("val d'arno"), will contain further detail. [n] at the side of my page, here, i find the following memorandum, which was expanded in the viva-voce lecture. the reader must make what he can of it, for i can't expand it here. _sense_ of italian church plan. baptistery, to make christians in; house, or dome, for them to pray and be preached to in; bell-tower, to ring all over the town, when they were either to pray together, rejoice together, or to be warned of danger. harvey's picture of the covenanters, with a shepherd on the outlook, as a campanile. [o] and 'chassis,' a window frame, or tracery. [p] this present lecture does not, as at present published, justify its title; because i have not thought it necessary to write the viva-voce portions of it which amplified the 69th paragraph. i will give the substance of them in better form elsewhere; meantime the part of the lecture here given may be in its own way useful. lecture iii. the technics of wood engraving. 73. i am to-day to begin to tell you what it is necessary you should observe respecting methods of manual execution in the two great arts of engraving. only to _begin_ to tell you. there need be no end of telling you such things, if you care to hear them. the theory of art is soon mastered; but 'dal detto al fatto, v'e gran tratto;' and as i have several times told you in former lectures, every day shows me more and more the importance of the hand. 74. of the hand as a servant, observe,--not of the hand as a master. for there are two great kinds of manual work: one in which the hand is continually receiving and obeying orders; the other in which it is acting independently, or even giving orders of its own. and the dependent and submissive hand is a noble hand; but the independent or imperative hand is a vile one. that is to say, as long as the pen, or chisel, or other graphic instrument, is moved under the direct influence of mental attention, and obeys orders of the brain, it is working nobly;--the moment it moves independently of them, and performs some habitual dexterity of its own, it is base. 75. _dexterity_--i say;--some 'right-handedness' of its own. we might wisely keep that word for what the hand does at the mind's bidding; and use an opposite word--sinisterity,--for what it does at its own. for indeed we want such a word in speaking of modern art; it is all full of sinisterity. hands independent of brains;--the left hand, by division of labor, not knowing what the right does,--still less what it ought to do. 76. turning, then, to our special subject. all engraving, i said, is intaglio in the solid. but the solid, in wood engraving, is a coarse substance, easily cut; and in metal, a fine substance, not easily. therefore, in general, you may be prepared to accept ruder and more elementary work in one than the other; and it will be the means of appeal to blunter minds. you probably already know the difference between the actual methods of producing a printed impression from wood and metal; but i may perhaps make the matter a little more clear. in metal engraving, you cut ditches, fill them with ink, and press your paper into them. in wood engraving, you leave ridges, rub the tops of them with ink, and stamp them on your paper. the instrument with which the substance, whether of the wood or steel, is cut away, is the same. it is a solid plowshare, which, instead of throwing the earth aside, throws it up and out, producing at first a simple ravine, or furrow, in the wood or metal, which you can widen by another cut, or extend by successive cuts. this (fig. 1) is the general shape of the solid plowshare: but it is of course made sharper or blunter at pleasure. the furrow produced is at first the wedge-shaped or cuneiform ravine, already so much dwelt upon in my lectures on greek sculpture. [illustration: fig. 1] 77. since, then, in wood printing, you print from the surface left solid; and, in metal printing, from the hollows cut into it, it follows that if you put few touches on wood, you draw, as on a slate, with white lines, leaving a quantity of black; but if you put few touches on metal, you draw with black lines, leaving a quantity of white. now the eye is not in the least offended by quantity of white, but is, or ought to be, greatly saddened and offended by quantity of black. hence it follows that you must never put little work on wood. you must not sketch upon it. you may sketch on metal as much as you please. 78. "paradox," you will say, as usual. "are not all our journals,--and the best of them, punch, par excellence,--full of the most brilliantly swift and slight sketches, engraved on wood; while line-engravings take ten years to produce, and cost ten guineas each when they are done?" yes, that is so; but observe, in the first place, what appears to you a sketch on wood is not so at all, but a most laborious and careful imitation of a sketch on paper; whereas when you see what appears to be a sketch on metal, it _is_ one. and in the second place, so far as the popular fashion is contrary to this natural method,--so far as we do in reality try to produce effects of sketching in wood, and of finish in metal,--our work is wrong. those apparently careless and free sketches on the wood ought to have been stern and deliberate; those exquisitely toned and finished engravings on metal ought to have looked, instead, like free ink sketches on white paper. that is the theorem which i propose to you for consideration, and which, in the two branches of its assertion, i hope to prove to you; the first part of it, (that wood-cutting should be careful,) in this present lecture; the second, (that metal-cutting should be, at least in a far greater degree than it is now, slight, and free,) in the following one. 79. next, observe the distinction in respect of _thickness_, no less than number, of lines which may properly be used in the two methods. in metal engraving, it is easier to lay a fine line than a thick one; and however fine the line may be, it lasts;--but in wood engraving it requires extreme precision and skill to leave a thin dark line, and when left, it will be quickly beaten down by a careless printer. therefore, the virtue of wood engraving is to exhibit the qualities and power of _thick_ lines; and of metal engraving, to exhibit the qualities and power of _thin_ ones. all thin dark lines, therefore, in wood, broadly speaking, are to be used only in case of necessity; and thick lines, on metal, only in case of necessity. 80. though, however, thin _dark_ lines cannot easily be produced in wood, thin _light_ ones may be struck in an instant. nevertheless, even thin light ones must not be used, except with extreme caution. for observe, they are equally useless as outline, and for expression of mass. you know how far from exemplary or delightful your boy's first quite voluntary exercises in white line drawing on your slate were? you could, indeed, draw a goblin satisfactorily in such method;--a round o, with arms and legs to it, and a scratch under two dots in the middle, would answer the purpose; but if you wanted to draw a pretty face, you took pencil or pen, and paper--not your slate. now, that instinctive feeling that a white outline is wrong, is deeply founded. for nature herself draws with diffused light, and concentrated dark;--never, except in storm or twilight, with diffused dark, and concentrated light; and the thing we all like best to see drawn--the human face--cannot be drawn with white touches, but by extreme labor. for the pupil and iris of the eye, the eyebrow, the nostril, and the lip are all set in dark on pale ground. you can't draw a white eyebrow, a white pupil of the eye, a white nostril, and a white mouth, on a dark ground. try it, and see what a specter you get. but the same number of dark touches, skillfully applied, will give the idea of a beautiful face. and what is true of the subtlest subject you have to represent, is equally true of inferior ones. nothing lovely can be quickly represented by white touches. you must hew out, if your means are so restricted, the form by sheer labor; and that both cunning and dextrous. the florentine masters, and dürer, often practice the achievement, and there are many drawings by the lippis, mantegna, and other leading italian draughtsmen, completed to great perfection with the white line; but only for the sake of severest study, nor is their work imitable by inferior men. and such studies, however accomplished, always mark a disposition to regard chiaroscuro too much, and local color too little. we conclude, then, that we must never trust, in wood, to our power of outline with white; and our general laws, thus far determined, will be--thick lines in wood; thin ones in metal; complete drawing on wood; sketches, if we choose, on metal. 81. but why, in wood, lines at all? why not cut out white _spaces_, and use the chisel as if its incisions were so much white paint? many fine pieces of wood-cutting are indeed executed on this principle. bewick does nearly all his foliage so; and continually paints the light plumes of his birds with single touches of his chisel, as if he were laying on white. but this is not the finest method of wood-cutting. it implies the idea of a system of light and shade in which the shadow is totally black. now, no light and shade can be good, much less pleasant, in which all the shade is stark black. therefore the finest wood-cutting ignores light and shade, and expresses only form, and _dark local color_. and it is convenient, for simplicity's sake, to anticipate what i should otherwise defer telling you until next lecture, that fine metal engraving, like fine wood-cutting, ignores light and shade; and that, in a word, all good engraving whatsoever does so. 82. i hope that my saying so will make you eager to interrupt me. 'what! rembrandt's etchings, and lupton's mezzotints, and le keux's line-work,--do you mean to tell us that these ignore light and shade?' i never said that _mezzotint_ ignored light and shade, or ought to do so. mezzotint is properly to be considered as chiaroscuro drawing on metal. but i do mean to tell you that both rembrandt's etchings, and le keux's finished line-work, are misapplied labor, in so far as they regard chiaroscuro; and that consummate engraving never uses it as a primal element of pleasure. [illustration: the last furrow. (fig. 2) facsimile from holbein's woodcut.] 83. we have now got our principles so far defined that i can proceed to illustration of them by example. here are facsimiles, very marvelous ones,[q] of two of the best wood engravings ever produced by art,--two subjects in holbein's dance of death. you will probably like best that i should at once proceed to verify my last and most startling statement, that fine engraving disdained chiaroscuro. this vignette (fig. 2) represents a sunset in the open mountainous fields of southern germany. and holbein is so entirely careless about the light and shade, which a dutchman would first have thought of, as resulting from the sunset, that, as he works, he forgets altogether where his light comes from. here, actually, the shadow of the figure is cast from the side, right across the picture, while the sun is in front. and there is not the slightest attempt to indicate gradation of light in the sky, darkness in the forest, or any other positive element of chiaroscuro. this is not because holbein cannot give chiaroscuro if he chooses. he is twenty times a stronger master of it than rembrandt; but he, therefore, knows exactly when and how to use it; and that wood engraving is not the proper means for it. the quantity of it which is needful for his story, and will not, by any sensational violence, either divert, or vulgarly enforce, the attention, he will give; and that with an unrivaled subtlety. therefore i must ask you for a moment or two to quit the subject of technics, and look what these two woodcuts mean. 84. the one i have first shown you is of a plowman plowing at evening. it is holbein's object, here, to express the diffused and intense light of a golden summer sunset, so far as is consistent with grander purposes. a modern french or english chiaroscurist would have covered his sky with fleecy clouds, and relieved the plowman's hat and his horses against it in strong black, and put sparkling touches on the furrows and grass. holbein scornfully casts all such tricks aside; and draws the whole scene in pure white, with simple outlines. [illustration: the two preachers. (fig. 3) facsimile from holbein's woodcut.] 85. and yet, when i put it beside this second vignette, (fig. 3,) which is of a preacher preaching in a feebly lighted church, you will feel that the diffused warmth of the one subject, and diffused twilight in the other, are complete; and they will finally be to you more impressive than if they had been wrought out with every superficial means of effect, on each block. for it is as a symbol, not as a scenic effect, that in each case the chiaroscuro is given. holbein, i said, is at the head of the painter-reformers, and his dance of death is the most energetic and telling of all the forms given, in this epoch, to the _rationalist_ spirit of reform, preaching the new gospel of death,--"it is no matter whether you are priest or layman, what you believe, or what you do: here is the end." you shall see, in the course of our inquiry, that botticelli, in like manner, represents the _faithful_ and _catholic_ temper of reform. 86. the teaching of holbein is therefore always melancholy,--for the most part purely rational; and entirely furious in its indignation against all who, either by actual injustice in this life, or by what he holds to be false promise of another, destroy the good, or the energy, of the few days which man has to live. against the rich, the luxurious, the pharisee, the false lawyer, the priest, and the unjust judge, holbein uses his fiercest mockery; but he is never himself unjust; never caricatures or equivocates; gives the facts as he knows them, with explanatory symbols, few and clear. 87. among the powers which he hates, the pathetic and ingenious preaching of untruth is one of the chief; and it is curious to find his biographer, knowing this, and reasoning, as german critics nearly always do, from acquired knowledge, not perception, imagine instantly that he sees hypocrisy in the face of holbein's preacher. "how skillfully," says dr. woltmann, "is the preacher propounding his doctrines; how thoroughly is his hypocrisy expressed in the features of his countenance, and in the gestures of his hands." but look at the cut yourself, candidly. i challenge you to find the slightest trace of hypocrisy in either feature or gesture. holbein knew better. it is not the hypocrite who has power in the pulpit. it is the _sincere_ preacher of untruth who does mischief there. the hypocrite's place of power is in trade, or in general society; none but the sincere ever get fatal influence in the pulpit. this man is a refined gentleman--ascetic, earnest, thoughtful, and kind. he scarcely uses the vantage even of his pulpit,--comes aside out of it, as an eager man would, pleading; he is intent on being understood--_is_ understood; his congregation are delighted--you might hear a pin drop among them: one is asleep indeed, who cannot see him, (being under the pulpit,) and asleep just because the teacher is as gentle as he is earnest, and speaks quietly. 88. how are we to know, then, that he speaks in vain? first, because among all his hearers you will not find one shrewd face. they are all either simple or stupid people: there is one nice woman in front of all, (else holbein's representation had been caricature,) but she is not a shrewd one. secondly, by the light and shade. the church is not in extreme darkness--far from that; a gray twilight is over everything, but the sun is totally shut out of it;--not a ray comes in even at the window--_that_ is darker than the walls, or vault. lastly, and chiefly, by the mocking expression of death. mocking, but not angry. the man has been preaching what he thought true. death laughs at him, but is not indignant with him. death comes quietly: _i_ am going to be preacher now; here is your own hour-glass, ready for me. you have spoken many words in your day. but "of the things which you have spoken, _this_ is the sum,"--your death-warrant, signed and sealed. there's your text for to-day. 89. of this other picture, the meaning is more plain, and far more beautiful. the husbandman is old and gaunt, and has passed his days, not in speaking, but pressing the iron into the ground. and the payment for his life's work is, that he is clothed in rags, and his feet are bare on the clods; and he has no hat--but the brim of a hat only, and his long, unkempt gray hair comes through. but all the air is full of warmth and of peace; and, beyond his village church, there is, at last, light indeed. his horses lag in the furrow, and his own limbs totter and fail: but one comes to help him. 'it is a long field,' says death; 'but we'll get to the end of it to-day,--you and i.' 90. and now that we know the meaning, we are able to discuss the technical qualities farther. both of these engravings, you will find, are executed with blunt lines; but more than that, they are executed with quiet lines, entirely steady. now, here i have in my hand a lively woodcut of the present day--a good average type of the modern style of wood-cutting, which you will all recognize.[r] the shade in this is drawn on the wood, (not _cut_, but drawn, observe,) at the rate of at least ten lines in a second: holbein's, at the rate of about one line in three seconds.[s] 91. now there are two different matters to be considered with respect to these two opposed methods of execution. the first, that the rapid work, though easy to the artist, is very difficult to the wood-cutter; so that it implies instantly a separation between the two crafts, and that your wood-cutter has ceased to be a draughtsman. i shall return to this point. i wish to insist on the other first; namely, the effect of the more deliberate method on the drawing itself. 92. when the hand moves at the rate of ten lines in a second, it is indeed under the government of the muscles of the wrist and shoulder; but it cannot possibly be under the complete government of the brains. i am able to do this zigzag line evenly, because i have got the use of the hand from practice; and the faster it is done, the evener it will be. but i have no mental authority over every line i thus lay: chance regulates them. whereas, when i draw at the rate of two or three seconds to each line, my hand disobeys the muscles a little--the mechanical accuracy is not so great; nay, there ceases to be any _appearance_ of dexterity at all. but there is, in reality, more manual skill required in the slow work than in the swift,--and all the while the hand is thoroughly under the orders of the brains. holbein deliberately resolves, for every line, as it goes along, that it shall be so thick, so far from the next,--that it shall begin here, and stop there. and he is deliberately assigning the utmost quantity of meaning to it, that a line will carry. 93. it is not fair, however, to compare common work of one age with the best of another. here is a woodcut of tenniel's, which i think contains as high qualities as it is possible to find in modern art.[t] i hold it as beyond others fine, because there is not the slightest caricature in it. no face, no attitude, is pushed beyond the degree of natural humor they would have possessed in life; and in precision of momentary expression, the drawing is equal to the art of any time, and shows power which would, if regulated, be quite adequate to producing an immortal work. 94. why, then, is it _not_ immortal? you yourselves, in compliance with whose demand it was done, forgot it the next week. it will become historically interesting; but no man of true knowledge and feeling will ever keep this in his cabinet of treasure, as he does these woodcuts of holbein's. the reason is that this is base coin,--alloyed gold. there _is_ gold in it, but also a quantity of brass and lead--willfully added--to make it fit for the public. holbein's is beaten gold, seven times tried in the fire. of which commonplace but useful metaphor the meaning here is, first, that to catch the vulgar eye a quantity of,--so-called,--light and shade is added by tenniel. it is effective to an ignorant eye, and is ingeniously disposed; but it is entirely conventional and false, unendurable by any person who knows what chiaroscuro is. secondly, for one line that holbein lays, tenniel has a dozen. there are, for instance, a hundred and fifty-seven lines in sir peter teazle's wig, without counting dots and slight cross-hatching;--but the entire face and flowing hair of holbein's preacher are done with forty-five lines, all told. 95. now observe what a different state of mind the two artists must be in on such conditions;--one, never in a hurry, never doing anything that he knows is wrong; never doing a line badly that he can do better; and appealing only to the feelings of sensitive persons, and the judgment of attentive ones. that is holbein's habit of soul. what is the habit of soul of every modern engraver? always in a hurry; everywhere doing things which he knows to be wrong--(tenniel knows his light and shade to be wrong as well as i do)--continually doing things badly which he was able to do better; and appealing exclusively to the feelings of the dull, and the judgment of the inattentive. do you suppose that is not enough to make the difference between mortal and immortal art,--the original genius being supposed alike in both?[u] 96. thus far of the state of the artist himself. i pass, next to the relation between him and his subordinate, the wood-cutter. the modern artist requires him to cut a hundred and fifty-seven lines in the wig only,--the old artist requires him to cut forty-five for the face, and long hair, altogether. the actual proportion is roughly, and on the average, about one to twenty of cost in manual labor, ancient to modern,--the twentieth part of the mechanical labor, to produce an immortal instead of a perishable work,--the twentieth part of the labor; and--which is the greatest difference of all--that twentieth part, at once less mechanically difficult, and more mentally pleasant. mr. otley, in his general history of engraving, says, "the greatest difficulty in wood engraving occurs in clearing out the minute quadrangular lights;" and in any modern woodcut you will see that where the lines of the drawing cross each other to produce shade, the white interstices are cut out so neatly that there is no appearance of any jag or break in the lines; they look exactly as if they had been drawn with a pen. it is chiefly difficult to cut the pieces clearly out when the lines cross at right angles; easier when they form oblique or diamond-shaped interstices; but in any case some half-dozen cuts, and in square crossings as many as twenty, are required to clear one interstice. therefore if i carelessly draw six strokes with my pen across other six, i produce twenty-five interstices, each of which will need at least six, perhaps twenty, careful touches of the burin to clear out.--say ten for an average; and i demand two hundred and fifty exquisitely precise touches from my engraver, to render ten careless ones of mine. 97. now i take up punch, at his best. the whole of the left side of john bull's waistcoat--the shadow on his knee-breeches and great-coat--the whole of the lord chancellor's gown, and of john bull's and sir peter teazle's complexions, are worked with finished precision of cross-hatching. these have indeed some purpose in their texture; but in the most wanton and gratuitous way, the wall below the window is cross-hatched too, and that not with a double, but a treble line (fig. 4). there are about thirty of these columns, with thirty-five interstices each: approximately, 1,050--certainly not fewer--interstices to be deliberately cut clear, to get that two inches square of shadow. now calculate--or think enough to feel the impossibility of calculating--the number of woodcuts used daily for our popular prints, and how many men are night and day cutting 1,050 square holes to the square inch, as the occupation of their manly life. and mrs. beecher stowe and the north americans fancy they have abolished slavery! [illustration: fig. 4.] 98. the workman cannot have even the consolation of pride; for his task, even in its finest accomplishment, is not really difficult,--only tedious. when you have once got into the practice, it is as easy as lying. to cut regular holes without a purpose is easy enough; but to cut _ir_regular holes with a purpose, that is difficult, forever;--no tricks of tool or trade will give you power to do that. the supposed difficulty--the thing which, at all events, it takes time to learn, is to cut the interstices neat, and each like the other. but is there any reason, do you suppose, for their being neat, and each like the other? so far from it, they would be twenty times prettier if they were irregular, and each different from the other. and an old wood-cutter, instead of taking pride in cutting these interstices smooth and alike, resolutely cuts them rough and irregular; taking care, at the same time, never to have any more than are wanted, this being only one part of the general system of intelligent manipulation, which made so good an artist of the engraver that it is impossible to say of any standard old woodcut, whether the draughtsman engraved it himself or not. i should imagine, from the character and subtlety of the touch, that every line of the dance of death had been engraved by holbein; we know it was not, and that there can be no certainty given by even the finest pieces of wood execution of anything more than perfect harmony between the designer and workman. and consider how much this harmony demands in the latter. not that the modern engraver is unintelligent in applying his mechanical skill: very often he greatly improves the drawing; but we never could mistake his hand for holbein's. 99. the true merit, then, of wood execution, as regards this matter of cross-hatching, is first that there be no more crossing than necessary; secondly, that all the interstices be various, and rough. you may look through the entire series of the dance of death without finding any cross-hatching whatever, except in a few unimportant bits of background, so rude as to need scarcely more than one touch to each interstice. albert dürer crosses more definitely; but yet, in any fold of his drapery, every white spot differs in size from every other, and the arrangement of the whole is delightful, by the kind of variety which the spots on a leopard have. on the other hand, where either expression or form can be rendered by the shape of the lights and darks, the old engraver becomes as careful as in an ordinary ground he is careless. the endeavor, with your own hand, and common pen and ink, to copy a small piece of either of the two holbein woodcuts (figures 2 and 3) will prove this to you better than any words. 100. i said that, had tenniel been rightly trained, there might have been the making of a holbein, or nearly a holbein, in him. i do not know; but i can turn from his work to that of a man who was not trained at all, and who was, without training, holbein's equal. equal, in the sense that this brown stone, in my left hand, is the equal, though not the likeness, of that in my right. they are both of the same true and pure crystal; but the one is brown with iron, and never touched by forming hand; the other has never been in rough companionship, and has been exquisitely polished. so with these two men. the one was the companion of erasmus and sir thomas more. his father was so good an artist that you cannot always tell their drawings asunder. but the other was a farmer's son; and learned his trade in the back shops of newcastle. yet the first book i asked you to get was his biography; and in this frame are set together a drawing by hans holbein, and one by thomas bewick. i know which is most scholarly; but i do _not_ know which is best. 101. it is much to say for the self-taught englishman;--yet do not congratulate yourselves on his simplicity. i told you, a little while since, that the english nobles had left the history of birds to be written, and their spots to be drawn, by a printer's lad;--but i did not tell you their farther loss in the fact that this printer's lad could have written their own histories, and drawn their own spots, if they had let him. but they had no history to be written; and were too closely maculate to be portrayed;--white ground in most places altogether obscured. had there been mores and henrys to draw, bewick could have drawn them; and would have found his function. as it was, the nobles of his day left him to draw the frogs, and pigs, and sparrows--of his day, which seemed to him, in his solitude, the best types of its nobility. no sight or thought of beautiful things was ever granted him;--no heroic creature, goddess-born--how much less any native deity--ever shone upon him. to his utterly english mind, the straw of the sty, and its tenantry, were abiding truth;--the cloud of olympus, and its tenantry, a child's dream. he could draw a pig, but not an aphrodite. 102. the three pieces of woodcut from his fables (the two lower ones enlarged) in the opposite plate, show his utmost strength and utmost rudeness. i must endeavor to make you thoroughly understand both:--the magnificent artistic power, the flawless virtue, veracity, tenderness,--the infinite humor of the man; and yet the difference between england and florence, in the use they make of such gifts in their children. for the moment, however, i confine myself to the examination of technical points; and we must follow our former conclusions a little further. [illustration: i. things celestial and terrestrial, as apparent to the english mind.] 103. because our lines in wood must be thick, it becomes an extreme virtue in wood engraving to economize lines,--not merely, as in all other art, to save time and power, but because, our lines being necessarily blunt, we must make up our minds to do with fewer, by many, than are in the object. but is this necessarily a disadvantage? _absolutely_, an immense disadvantage,--a woodcut never can be so beautiful or good a thing as a painting, or line engraving. but in its own separate and useful way, an excellent thing, because, practiced rightly, it exercises in the artist, and summons in you, the habit of abstraction; that is to say, of deciding what are the essential points in the things you see, and seizing these; a habit entirely necessary to strong humanity; and so natural to all humanity, that it leads, in its indolent and undisciplined states, to all the vulgar amateur's liking of sketches better than pictures. the sketch seems to put the thing for him into a concentrated and exciting form. 104. observe, therefore, to guard you from this error, that a bad sketch is good for nothing; and that nobody can make a good sketch unless they generally are trying to finish with extreme care. but the abstraction of the essential particulars in his subject by a line-master, has a peculiar didactic value. for painting, when it is complete, leaves it much to your own judgment what to look at; and, if you are a fool, you look at the wrong thing;--but in a fine woodcut, the master says to you, "you _shall_ look at this, or at nothing." 105. for example, here is a little tailpiece of bewick's, to the fable of the frogs and the stork.[v] he is, as i told you, as stout a reformer as holbein,[w] or botticelli, or luther, or savonarola; and, as an impartial reformer, hits right and left, at lower or upper classes, if he sees them wrong. most frequently, he strikes at vice, without reference to class; but in this vignette he strikes definitely at the degradation of the viler popular mind which is incapable of being governed, because it cannot understand the nobleness of kingship. he has written--better than written, engraved, sure to suffer no slip of type--his legend under the drawing; so that we know his meaning: "set them up with a king, indeed!" 106. there is an audience of seven frogs, listening to a speaker, or croaker, in the middle; and bewick has set himself to show in all, but especially in the speaker, essential frogginess of mind--the marsh temper. he could not have done it half so well in painting as he has done by the abstraction of wood-outline. the characteristic of a manly mind, or body, is to be gentle in temper, and firm in constitution; the contrary essence of a froggy mind and body is to be angular in temper, and flabby in constitution. i have enlarged bewick's orator-frog for you, plate i. c., and i think you will feel that he is entirely expressed in those essential particulars. this being perfectly good wood-cutting, notice especially its deliberation. no scrawling or scratching, or cross-hatching, or '_free_' work of any sort. most deliberate laying down of solid lines and dots, of which you cannot change one. the real difficulty of wood engraving is to cut every one of these black lines or spaces of the exactly right shape, and not at all to cross-hatch them cleanly. 107. next, examine the technical treatment of the pig, above. i have purposely chosen this as an example of a white object on dark ground, and the frog as a dark object on light ground, to explain to you what i mean by saying that fine engraving regards local color, but not light and shade. you see both frog and pig are absolutely without light and shade. the frog, indeed, casts a shadow; but his hind leg is as white as his throat. in the pig you don't even know which way the light falls. but you know at once that the pig is white, and the frog brown or green. 108. there are, however, two pieces of chiaroscuro _implied_ in the treatment of the pig. it is assumed that his curly tail would be light against the background--dark against his own rump. this little piece of heraldic quartering is absolutely necessary to solidify him. he would have been a white ghost of a pig, flat on the background, but for that alternative tail, and the bits of dark behind the ears. secondly: where the shade is necessary to suggest the position of his ribs, it is given with graphic and chosen points of dark, as few as possible; not for the sake of the shade at all, but of the skin and bone. 109. that, then, being the law of refused chiaroscuro, observe further the method of outline. we said that we were to have thick lines in wood, if possible. look what thickness of black outline bewick has left under our pig's chin, and above his nose. but that is not a line at all, you think? no;--a modern engraver would have made it one, and prided himself on getting it fine. bewick leaves it actually thicker than the snout, but puts all his ingenuity of touch to vary the forms, and break the extremities of his white cuts, so that the eye may be refreshed and relieved by new forms at every turn. the group of white touches filling the space between snout and ears might be a wreath of fine-weather clouds, so studiously are they grouped and broken. and nowhere, you see, does a single black line cross another. look back to figure 4, page 54, and you will know, henceforward, the difference between good and bad wood-cutting. 110. we have also, in the lower woodcut, a notable instance of bewick's power of abstraction. you will observe that one of the chief characters of this frog, which makes him humorous,--next to his vain endeavor to get some firmness into his fore feet,--is his obstinately angular hump-back. and you must feel, when you see it so marked, how important a general character of a frog it is to have a hump-back,--not at the shoulders, but the loins. 111. here, then, is a case in which you will see the exact function that anatomy should take in art. all the most scientific anatomy in the world would never have taught bewick, much less you, how to draw a frog. but when once you _have_ drawn him, or looked at him, so as to know his points, it then becomes entirely interesting to find out _why_ he has a hump-back. so i went myself yesterday to professor rolleston for a little anatomy, just as i should have gone to professor phillips for a little geology; and the professor brought me a fine little active frog; and we put him on the table, and made him jump all over it, and then the professor brought in a charming squelette of a frog, and showed me that he needed a projecting bone from his rump, as a bird needs it from its breast,--the one to attach the strong muscles of the hind legs, as the other to attach those of the fore legs or wings. so that the entire leaping power of the frog is in his hump-back, as the flying power of the bird is in its breast-bone. and thus this frog parliament is most literally a rump parliament--everything depending on the hind legs, and nothing on the brains; which makes it wonderfully like some other parliaments we know of nowadays, with mr. ayrton and mr. lowe for their æsthetic and acquisitive eyes, and a rump of railway directors. 112. now, to conclude, for want of time only--i have but touched on the beginning of my subject,--understand clearly and finally this simple principle of all art, that the best is that which realizes absolutely, if possible. here is a viper by carpaccio: you are afraid to go near it. here is an arm-chair by carpaccio: you who came in late, and are standing, to my regret, would like to sit down in it. this is consummate art; but you can only have that with consummate means, and exquisitely trained and hereditary mental power. with inferior means, and average mental power, you must be content to give a rude abstraction; but if rude abstraction _is_ to be made, think what a difference there must be between a wise man's and a fool's; and consider what heavy responsibility lies upon you in your youth, to determine, among realities, by what you will be delighted, and, among imaginations, by whose you will be led. footnotes: [q] by mr. burgess. the toil and skill necessary to produce a facsimile of this degree of precision will only be recognized by the reader who has had considerable experience of actual work. [r] the ordinary title-page of punch. [s] in the lecture-room, the relative rates of execution were shown; i arrive at this estimate by timing the completion of two small pieces of shade in the two methods. [t] john bull, as sir oliver surface, with sir peter teazle and joseph surface. it appeared in punch, early in 1863. [u] in preparing these passages for the press, i feel perpetual need of qualifications and limitations, for it is impossible to surpass the humor, or precision of expressional touch, in the really golden parts of tenniel's works; and they _may_ be immortal, as representing what is best in their day. [v] from bewick's æsop's fables. [w] see _ante_, § 43. lecture iv. the technics of metal engraving. 113. we are to-day to examine the proper methods for the technical management of the most perfect of the arms of precision possessed by the artist. for you will at once understand that a line cut by a finely-pointed instrument upon the smooth surface of metal is susceptible of the utmost fineness that can be given to the _definite_ work of the human hand. in drawing with pen upon paper, the surface of the paper is slightly rough; necessarily, two points touch it instead of one, and the liquid flows from them more or less irregularly, whatever the draughtsman's skill. but you cut a metallic surface with one edge only; the furrow drawn by a skater on the surface of ice is like it on a large scale. your surface is polished, and your line may be wholly faultless, if your hand is. 114. and because, in such material, effects may be produced which no penmanship could rival, most people, i fancy, think that a steel plate half engraves itself; that the workman has no trouble with it, compared to that of a pen draughtsman. to test your feeling in this matter accurately, here is a manuscript book written with pen and ink, and illustrated with flourishes and vignettes. you will all, i think, be disposed, on examining it, to exclaim, how wonderful! and even to doubt the possibility of every page in the book being completed in the same manner. again, here are three of my own drawings, executed with the pen, and indian ink, when i was fifteen. they are copies from large lithographs by prout; and i imagine that most of my pupils would think me very tyrannical if i requested them to do anything of the kind themselves. and yet, when you see in the shop windows a line engraving like this,[x] or this,[x] either of which contains, alone, as much work as fifty pages of the manuscript book, or fifty such drawings as mine, you look upon its effect as quite a matter of course,--you never say 'how wonderful' _that_ is, nor consider how you would like to have to live, by producing anything of the same kind yourselves. [illustration: ii. the star of florence.] 115. yet you cannot suppose it is in reality easier to draw a line with a cutting point, not seeing the effect at all, or, if any effect, seeing a gleam of light instead of darkness, than to draw your black line at once on the white paper? you cannot really think[y] that there is something complacent, sympathetic, and helpful in the nature of steel; so that while a pen-and-ink sketch may always be considered an achievement proving cleverness in the sketcher, a sketch on steel comes out by mere favor of the indulgent metal; or that the plate is woven like a piece of pattern silk, and the pattern is developed by pasteboard cards punched full of holes? not so. look close at this engraving, or take a smaller and simpler one, turner's mercury and argus,--imagine it to be a drawing in pen and ink, and yourself required similarly to produce its parallel! true, the steel point has the one advantage of not blotting, but it has tenfold or twentyfold disadvantage, in that you cannot slur, nor efface, except in a very resolute and laborious way, nor play with it, nor even see what you are doing with it at the moment, far less the effect that is to be. you must _feel_ what you are doing with it, and know precisely what you have got to do; how deep, how broad, how far apart your lines must be, etc. and etc., (a couple of lines of etceteras would not be enough to imply all you must know). but suppose the plate _were_ only a pen drawing: take your pen--your finest--and just try to copy the leaves that entangle the head of io, and her head itself; remembering always that the kind of work required here is mere child's play compared to that of fine figure engraving. nevertheless, take a small magnifying glass to this--count the dots and lines that gradate the nostrils and the edges of the facial bone; notice how the light is left on the top of the head by the stopping, at its outline, of the coarse touches which form the shadows under the leaves; examine it well, and then--i humbly ask of you--try to do a piece of it yourself! you clever sketcher--you young lady or gentleman of genius--you eye-glassed dilettante--you current writer of criticism royally plural,--i beseech you,--do it yourself; do the merely etched outline yourself, if no more. look you,--you hold your etching needle this way, as you would a pencil, nearly; and then,--you scratch with it! it is as easy as lying. or if you think that too difficult, take an easier piece;--take either of the light sprays of foliage that rise against the fortress on the right, pass your lens over them--look how their fine outline is first drawn, leaf by leaf; then how the distant rock is put in between, with broken lines, mostly stopping before they touch the leaf-outline; and again, i pray you, do it yourself,--if not on that scale, on a larger. go on into the hollows of the distant rock,--traverse its thickets,--number its towers;--count how many lines there are in a laurel bush--in an arch--in a casement; some hundred and fifty, or two hundred, deliberately drawn lines, you will find, in every square quarter of an inch;--say _three thousand to the inch_,--each, with skillful intent, put in its place! and then consider what the ordinary sketcher's work must appear, to the men who have been trained to this! 116. "but might not more have been done by three thousand lines to a square inch?" you will perhaps ask. well, possibly. it may be with lines as with soldiers: three hundred, knowing their work thoroughly, may be stronger than three thousand less sure of their aim. we shall have to press close home this question about numbers and purpose presently;--it is not the question now. suppose certain results required,--atmospheric effects, surface textures, transparencies of shade, confusions of light,--then, more could _not_ be done with less. there are engravings of this modern school, of which, with respect to their particular aim, it may be said, most truly, they "cannot be better done." here is one just finished,--or, at least, finished to the eyes of ordinary mortals, though its fastidious master means to retouch it;--a quite pure line engraving, by mr. charles henry jeens; (in calling it pure line, i mean that there are no mixtures of mezzotint or any mechanical tooling, but all is steady hand-work,) from a picture by mr. armytage, which, without possessing any of the highest claims to admiration, is yet free from the vulgar vices which disgrace most of our popular religious art; and is so sweet in the fancy of it as to deserve, better than many works of higher power, the pains of the engraver to make it a common possession. it is meant to help us to imagine the evening of the day when the father and mother of christ had been seeking him through jerusalem: they have come to a well where women are drawing water; st. joseph passes on,--but the tired madonna, leaning on the well's margin, asks wistfully of the women if they have seen such and such a child astray. now will you just look for a while into the lines by which the expression of the weary and anxious face is rendered; see how unerring they are,--how calm and clear; and think how many questions have to be determined in drawing the most minute portion of any one,--its curve,--its thickness,--its distance from the next,--its own preparation for ending, invisibly, where it ends. think what the precision must be in these that trace the edge of the lip, and make it look quivering with disappointment, or in these which have made the eyelash heavy with restrained tears. 117. or if, as must be the case with many of my audience, it is impossible for you to conceive the difficulties here overcome, look merely at the draperies, and other varied substances represented in the plate; see how silk, and linen, and stone, and pottery, and flesh, are all separated in texture, and gradated in light, by the most subtle artifices and appliances of line,--of which artifices, and the nature of the mechanical labor throughout, i must endeavor to give you to-day a more distinct conception than you are in the habit of forming. but as i shall have to blame some of these methods in their general result, and i do not wish any word of general blame to be associated with this most excellent and careful plate by mr. jeens, i will pass, for special examination, to one already in your reference series, which for the rest exhibits more various treatment in its combined landscape, background, and figures; the belle jardinière of raphael, drawn and engraved by the baron desnoyers. you see, in the first place, that the ground, stones, and other coarse surfaces are distinguished from the flesh and draperies by broken and wriggled lines. those broken lines cannot be executed with the burin, they are etched in the early states of the plate, and are a modern artifice, never used by old engravers; partly because the older men were not masters of the art of etching, but chiefly because even those who were acquainted with it would not employ lines of this nature. they have been developed by the importance of landscape in modern engraving, and have produced some valuable results in small plates, especially of architecture. but they are entirely erroneous in principle, for the surface of stones and leaves is not broken or jagged in this manner, but consists of mossy, or blooming, or otherwise organic texture, which cannot be represented by these coarse lines; their general consequence has therefore been to withdraw the mind of the observer from all beautiful and tender characters in foreground, and eventually to destroy the very school of landscape engraving which gave birth to them. considered, however, as a means of relieving more delicate textures, they are in some degree legitimate, being, in fact, a kind of chasing or jagging one part of the plate surface in order to throw out the delicate tints from the rough field. but the same effect was produced with less pains, and far more entertainment to the eye, by the older engravers, who employed purely ornamental variations of line; thus in plate iv., opposite § 137, the drapery is sufficiently distinguished from the grass by the treatment of the latter as an ornamental arabesque. the grain of wood is elaborately engraved by marc antonio, with the same purpose, in the plate given in your standard series. 118. next, however, you observe what difference of texture and force exists between the smooth, continuous lines themselves, which are all really _engraved_. you must take some pains to understand the nature of this operation. the line is first cut lightly through its whole course, by absolute decision and steadiness of hand, which you may endeavor to imitate if you like, in its simplest phase, by drawing a circle with your compass-pen; and then, grasping your penholder so that you can push the point like a plow, describing other circles inside or outside of it, in exact parallelism with the mathematical line, and at exactly equal distances. to approach, or depart, with your point at finely gradated intervals, may be your next exercise, if you find the first unexpectedly easy. 119. when the line is thus described in its proper course, it is plowed deeper, where depth is needed, by a second cut of the burin, first on one side, then on the other, the cut being given with gradated force so as to take away most steel where the line is to be darkest. every line of gradated depth in the plate has to be thus cut eight or ten times over at least, with retouchings to smooth and clear all in the close. jason has to plow his field ten-furrow deep, with his fiery oxen well in hand, all the while. when the essential lines are thus produced in their several directions, those which have been drawn across each other, so as to give depth of shade, or richness of texture, have to be farther enriched by dots in the interstices; else there would be a painful appearance of network everywhere; and these dots require each four or five jags to produce them; and each of these jags must be done with what artists and engravers alike call 'feeling,'--the sensibility, that is, of a hand completely under mental government. so wrought, the dots look soft, and like touches of paint; but mechanically dug in, they are vulgar and hard. 120. now, observe, that, for every piece of shadow throughout the work, the engraver has to decide with what quantity and kind of line he will produce it. exactly the same quantity of black, and therefore the same depth of tint in general effect, may be given with six thick lines; or with twelve, of half their thickness; or with eighteen, of a third of the thickness. the second six, second twelve, or second eighteen, may cross the first six, first twelve, or first eighteen, or go between them; and they may cross at any angle. and then the third six may be put between the first six, or between the second six, or across both, and at any angle. in the network thus produced, any kind of dots may be put in the severally shaped interstices. and for any of the series of superadded lines, dots, of equivalent value in shade, may be substituted. (some engravings are wrought in dots altogether.) choice infinite, with multiplication of infinity, is, at all events, to be made, for every minute space, from one side of the plate to the other. 121. the excellence of a beautiful engraving is primarily in the use of these resources to exhibit the qualities of the original picture, with delight to the eye in the method of translation; and the language of engraving, when once you begin to understand it, is, in these respects, so fertile, so ingenious, so ineffably subtle and severe in its grammar, that you may quite easily make it the subject of your life's investigation, as you would the scholarship of a lovely literature. but in doing this, you would withdraw, and necessarily withdraw, your attention from the higher qualities of art, precisely as a grammarian, who is that, and nothing more, loses command of the matter and substance of thought. and the exquisitely mysterious mechanisms of the engraver's method have, in fact, thus entangled the intelligence of the careful draughtsmen of europe; so that since the final perfection of this translator's power, all the men of finest patience and finest hand have stayed content with it;--the subtlest draughtsmanship has perished from the canvas,[z] and sought more popular praise in this labyrinth of disciplined language, and more or less dulled or degraded thought. and, in sum, i know no cause more direct or fatal, in the destruction of the great schools of european art, than the perfectness of modern line engraving. 122. this great and profoundly to be regretted influence i will prove and illustrate to you on another occasion. my object to-day is to explain the perfectness of the art itself; and above all to request you, if you will not look at pictures instead of photographs, at least not to allow the cheap merits of the chemical operation to withdraw your interest from the splendid human labor of the engraver. here is a little vignette from stothard, for instance, in rogers' poems, to the lines, "soared in the swing, half pleased and half afraid, 'neath sister elms, that waved their summer shade." you would think, would you not? (and rightly,) that of all difficult things to express with crossed black lines and dots, the face of a young girl must be the most difficult. yet here you have the face of a bright girl, radiant in light, transparent, mysterious, almost breathing,--her dark hair involved in delicate wreath and shade, her eyes full of joy and sweet playfulness,--and all this done by the exquisite order and gradation of a very few lines, which, if you will examine them through a lens, you find dividing and checkering the lip, and cheek, and chin, so strongly that you would have fancied they could only produce the effect of a grim iron mask. but the intelligences of order and form guide them into beauty, and inflame them with delicatest life. 123. and do you see the size of this head? about as large as the bud of a forget-me-not! can you imagine the fineness of the little pressures of the hand on the steel, in that space, which at the edge of the almost invisible lip, fashioned its less or more of smile? my chemical friends, if you wish ever to know anything rightly concerning the arts, i very urgently advise you to throw all your vials and washes down the gutter-trap; and if you will ascribe, as you think it so clever to do, in your modern creeds, all virtue to the sun, use that virtue through your own heads and fingers, and apply your solar energies to draw a skillful line or two, for once or twice in your life. you may learn more by trying to engrave, like goodall, the tip of an ear, or the curl of a lock of hair, than by photographing the entire population of the united states of america,--black, white, and neutral-tint. and one word, by the way, touching the complaints i hear at my having set you to so fine work that it hurts your eyes. you have noticed that all great sculptors--and most of the great painters of florence--began by being goldsmiths. why do you think the goldsmith's apprenticeship is so fruitful? primarily, because it forces the boy to do small work, and mind what he is about. do you suppose michael angelo learned his business by dashing or hitting at it? he laid the foundation of all his after power by doing precisely what i am requiring my own pupils to do,--copying german engravings in facsimile! and for your eyes--you all sit up at night till you haven't got any eyes worth speaking of. go to bed at half-past nine, and get up at four, and you'll see something out of them, in time. 124. nevertheless, whatever admiration you may be brought to feel, and with justice, for this lovely workmanship,--the more distinctly you comprehend its merits, the more distinctly also will the question rise in your mind, how is it that a performance so marvelous has yet taken no rank in the records of art of any permanent or acknowledged kind? how is it that these vignettes from stothard and turner,[aa] like the woodcuts from tenniel, scarcely make the name of the engraver known; and that they never are found side by side with this older and apparently ruder art, in the cabinets of men of real judgment? the reason is precisely the same as in the case of the tenniel woodcut. this modern line engraving is alloyed gold. rich in capacity, astonishing in attainment, it nevertheless admits willful fault, and misses what it ought first to have attained. it is therefore, to a certain measure, vile in its perfection; while the older work is noble even in its failure, and classic no less in what it deliberately refuses, than in what it rationally and rightly prefers and performs. 125. here, for instance, i have enlarged the head of one of dürer's madonnas for you out of one of his most careful plates.[ab] you think it very ugly. well, so it is. don't be afraid to think so, nor to say so. frightfully ugly; vulgar also. it is the head, simply, of a fat dutch girl, with all the pleasantness left out. there is not the least doubt about that. don't let anybody force albert dürer down your throats; nor make you expect pretty things from him. stothard's young girl in the swing, or sir joshua's age of innocence, is in quite angelic sphere of another world, compared to this black domain of poor, laborious albert. we are not talking of female beauty, so please you, just now, gentlemen, but of engraving. and the merit, the classical, indefeasible, immortal merit of this head of a dutch girl with all the beauty left out, is in the fact that every line of it, as engraving, is as good as can be;--good, not with the mechanical dexterity of a watch-maker, but with the intellectual effort and sensitiveness of an artist who knows precisely what can be done, and ought to be attempted, with his assigned materials. he works easily, fearlessly, flexibly; the dots are not all measured in distance; the lines not all mathematically parallel or divergent. he has even missed his mark at the mouth in one place, and leaves the mistake, frankly. but there are no petrified mistakes; nor is the eye so accustomed to the look of the mechanical furrow as to accept it for final excellence. the engraving is full of the painter's higher power and wider perception; it is classically perfect, because duly subordinate, and presenting for your applause only the virtues proper to its own sphere. among these, i must now reiterate, the first of all is the _decorative_ arrangement of _lines_. 126. you all know what a pretty thing a damask tablecloth is, and how a pattern is brought out by threads running one way in one space, and across in another. so, in lace, a certain delightfulness is given by the texture of meshed lines. similarly, on any surface of metal, the object of the engraver is, or ought to be, to cover it with lovely _lines_, forming a lace-work, and including a variety of spaces, delicious to the eye. and this is his business, primarily; before any other matter can be thought of, his work must be ornamental. you know i told you a sculptor's business is first to cover a surface with pleasant _bosses_, whether they mean anything or not; so an engraver's is to cover it with pleasant _lines_, whether they mean anything or not. that they should mean something, and a good deal of something, is indeed desirable afterwards; but first we must be ornamental. 127. now if you will compare plate ii. at the beginning of this lecture, which is a characteristic example of good florentine engraving, and represents the planet and power of aphrodite, with the aphrodite of bewick in the upper division of plate i., you will at once understand the difference between a primarily ornamental, and a primarily realistic, style. the first requirement in the florentine work, is that it shall be a lovely arrangement of lines; a pretty thing upon a page. bewick _has_ a secondary notion of making his vignette a pretty thing upon a page. but he is overpowered by his vigorous veracity, and bent first on giving you his idea of venus. quite right, he would have been, mind you, if he had been carving a statue of her on mount eryx; but not when he was engraving a vignette to æsop's fables. to engrave well is to ornament a surface well, not to create a realistic impression. i beg your pardon for my repetitions; but the point at issue is the root of the whole business, and i _must_ get it well asserted, and variously. let me pass to a more important example. 128. three years ago, in the rough first arrangement of the copies in the educational series, i put an outline of the top of apollo's scepter, which, in the catalogue, was said to be probably by baccio bandini of florence, for your first real exercise; it remains so, the olive being put first only for its mythological rank. the series of engravings to which the plate from which that exercise is copied belongs, are part of a number, executed chiefly, i think, from early designs of sandro botticelli, and some in great part by his hand. he and his assistant, baccio, worked together; and in such harmony, that bandini probably often does what sandro wants, better than sandro could have done it himself; and, on the other hand, there is no design of bandini's over which sandro does not seem to have had influence. and wishing now to show you three examples of the finest work of the old, the renaissance, and the modern schools,--of the old, i will take baccio bandini's astrologia, plate iii., opposite. of the renaissance, dürer's adam and eve. and of the modern, this head of the daughter of herodias, engraved from luini by beaugrand, which is as affectionately and sincerely wrought, though in the modern manner, as any plate of the old schools. [illustration: iii. "at ev'ning from the top of fésole."] 129. now observe the progress of the feeling for light and shade in the three examples. the first is nearly all white paper; you think of the outline as the constructive element throughout. the second is a vigorous piece of _white_ and _black_--not of _light_ and _shade_,--for all the high lights are equally white, whether of flesh, or leaves, or goat's hair. the third is complete in chiaroscuro, as far as engraving can be. now the dignity and virtue of the plates is in the exactly inverse ratio of their fullness in chiaroscuro. bandini's is excellent work, and of the very highest school. dürer's entirely accomplished work, but of an inferior school. and beaugrand's, excellent work, but of a vulgar and non-classical school. and these relations of the schools are to be determined by the quality in the _lines_; we shall find that in proportion as the light and shade is neglected, the lines are studied; that those of bandini are perfect; of dürer perfect, only with a lower perfection; but of beaugrand, entirely faultful. 130. i have just explained to you that in modern engraving the lines are cut in clean furrow, widened, it may be, by successive cuts; but, whether it be fine or thick, retaining always, when printed, the aspect of a continuous line drawn with the pen, and entirely black throughout its whole course. now we may increase the delicacy of this line to any extent by simply printing it in gray color instead of black. i obtained some very beautiful results of this kind in the later volumes of 'modern painters,' with mr. armytage's help, by using subdued purple tints; but, in any case, the line thus engraved must be monotonous in its character, and cannot be expressive of the finest qualities of form. accordingly, the old florentine workmen constructed the line _itself_, in important places, of successive minute touches, so that it became a chain of delicate links which could be opened or closed at pleasure.[ac] if you will examine through a lens the outline of the face of this astrology, you will find it is traced with an exquisite series of minute touches, susceptible of accentuation or change absolutely at the engraver's pleasure; and, in result, corresponding to the finest conditions of a pencil line drawing by a consummate master. in the fine plates of this period, you have thus the united powers of the pen and pencil, and both absolutely secure and multipliable. 131. i am a little proud of having independently discovered, and had the patience to carry out, this florentine method of execution for myself, when i was a boy of thirteen. my good drawing-master had given me some copies calculated to teach me freedom of hand; the touches were rapid and vigorous,--many of them in mechanically regular zigzags, far beyond any capacity of mine to imitate in the bold way in which they were done. but i was resolved to have them, somehow; and actually facsimiled a considerable portion of the drawing in the florentine manner, with the finest point i could cut to my pencil, taking a quarter of an hour to forge out the likeness of one return in the zigzag which my master carried down through twenty returns in two seconds; and so successfully, that he did not detect my artifice till i showed it him,--on which he forbade me ever to do the like again. and it was only thirty years afterwards that i found i had been quite right after all, and working like baccio bandini! but the patience which carried me through that early effort, served me well through all the thirty years, and enabled me to analyze, and in a measure imitate, the method of work employed by every master; so that, whether you believe me or not at first, you will find what i tell you of their superiority, or inferiority, to be true. 132. when lines are studied with this degree of care, you may be sure the master will leave room enough for you to see them and enjoy them, and not use any at random. all the finest engravers, therefore, leave much white paper, and use their entire power on the outlines. 133. next to them come the men of the renaissance schools, headed by dürer, who, less careful of the beauty and refinement of the line, delight in its vigor, accuracy, and complexity. and the essential difference between these men and the moderns is that these central masters cut their line for the most part with a single furrow, giving it depth by force of hand or wrist, and retouching, _not in the furrow itself, but with others beside it_.[ad] such work can only be done well on copper, and it can display all faculty of hand or wrist, precision of eye, and accuracy of knowledge, which a human creature can possess. but the dotted or hatched line is not used in this central style, and the higher conditions of beauty never thought of. in the astrology of bandini,--and remember that the astrologia of the florentine meant what we mean by astronomy, and much more,--he wishes you first to look at the face: the lip half open, faltering in wonder; the amazed, intense, dreaming gaze; the pure dignity of forehead, undisturbed by terrestrial thought. none of these things could be so much as attempted in dürer's method; he can engrave flowing hair, skin of animals, bark of trees, wreathings of metal-work, with the free hand; also, with labored chiaroscuro, or with sturdy line, he can reach expressions of sadness, or gloom, or pain, or soldierly strength,--but pure beauty,--never. 134. lastly, you have the modern school, deepening its lines in successive cuts. the instant consequence of the introduction of this method is the restriction of curvature; you cannot follow a complex curve again with precision through its furrow. if you are a dextrous plowman, you can drive your plow any number of times along the simple curve. but you cannot repeat again exactly the motions which cut a variable one.[ae] you may retouch it, energize it, and deepen it in parts, but you cannot cut it all through again equally. and the retouching and energizing in parts is a living and intellectual process; but the cutting all through, equally, a mechanical one. the difference is exactly such as that between the dexterity of turning out two similar moldings from a lathe, and carving them with the free hand, like a pisan sculptor. and although splendid intellect, and subtlest sensibility, have been spent on the production of some modern plates, the mechanical element introduced by their manner of execution always overpowers both; nor _can any plate of consummate value ever be produced in the modern method_. 135. nevertheless, in landscape, there are two examples in your reference series, of insuperable skill and extreme beauty: miller's plate, before instanced, of the grand canal, venice; and e. goodall's of the upper fall of the tees. the men who engraved these plates might have been exquisite artists; but their patience and enthusiasm were held captive in the false system of lines, and we lost the painters; while the engravings, wonderful as they are, are neither of them worth a turner etching, scratched in ten minutes with the point of an old fork; and the common types of such elaborate engraving are none of them worth a single frog, pig, or puppy, out of the corner of a bewick vignette. 136. and now, i think, you cannot fail to understand clearly what you are to look for in engraving, as a separate art from that of painting. turn back to the 'astrologia' as a perfect type of the purest school. she is gazing at stars, and crowned with them. but the stars are _black_ instead of shining! you cannot have a more decisive and absolute proof that you must not look in engraving for chiaroscuro. nevertheless, her body is half in shade, and her left foot; and she casts a shadow, and there is a bar of shade behind her. all these are merely so much acceptance of shade as may relieve the forms, and give value to the linear portions. the face, though turned from the light, is shadowless. again. every lock of the hair is designed and set in its place with the subtlest care, but there is no luster attempted,--no texture,--no mystery. the plumes of the wings are set studiously in their places,--they, also, lusterless. that even their filaments are not drawn, and that the broad curve embracing them ignores the anatomy of a bird's wing, are conditions of design, not execution. of these in a future lecture.[af] [illustration: iv. "by the springs of parnassus."] 137. the 'poesia,' plate iv., opposite, is a still more severe, though not so generic, an example; its decorative foreground reducing it almost to the rank of goldsmith's ornamentation. i need scarcely point out to you that the flowing water shows neither luster nor reflection; but notice that the observer's attention is supposed to be so close to every dark touch of the graver that he will see the minute dark spots which indicate the sprinkled shower falling from the vase into the pool. 138. this habit of strict and calm attention, constant in the artist, and expected in the observer, makes all the difference between the art of intellect, and of mere sensation. for every detail of this plate has a meaning, if you care to understand it. this is poetry, sitting by the fountain of castalia, which flows first out of a formal urn, to show that it is not artless; but the rocks of parnassus are behind, and on the top of them--only one tree, like a mushroom with a thick stalk. you at first are inclined to say, how very absurd, to put only one tree on parnassus! but this one tree is the immortal plane tree, planted by agamemnon, and at once connects our poesia with the iliad. then, this is the hem of the robe of poetry,--this is the divine vegetation which springs up under her feet,--this is the heaven and earth united by her power,--this is the fountain of castalia flowing out afresh among the grass,--and these are the drops with which, out of a pitcher, poetry is nourishing the fountain of castalia. all which you may find out if you happen to know anything about castalia, or about poetry; and pleasantly think more upon, for yourself. but the poor dunces, sandro and baccio, feeling themselves but 'goffi nell' arte,' have no hope of telling you all this, except suggestively. they can't engrave grass of parnassus, nor sweet springs so as to look like water; but they can make a pretty damasked surface with ornamental leaves, and flowing lines, and so leave you something to think of--if you will. 139. 'but a great many people won't, and a great many more can't; and surely the finished engravings are much more delightful, and the only means we have of giving any idea of finished pictures, out of our reach.' yes, all that is true; and when we examine the effects of line engraving upon taste in recent art, we will discuss these matters; for the present, let us be content with knowing what the best work is, and why it is so. although, however, i do not now press further my cavils at the triumph of modern line engraving, i must assign to you, in few words, the reason of its recent decline. engravers complain that photography and cheap wood-cutting have ended their finer craft. no complaint can be less grounded. they themselves destroyed their own craft, by vulgarizing it. content in their beautiful mechanism, they ceased to learn, and to feel, as artists; they put themselves under the order of publishers and print-sellers; they worked indiscriminately from whatever was put into their hands,--from bartlett as willingly as from turner, and from mulready as carefully as from raphael. they filled the windows of print-sellers, the pages of gift books, with elaborate rubbish, and piteous abortions of delicate industry. they worked cheap, and cheaper,--smoothly, and more smoothly,--they got armies of assistants, and surrounded themselves with schools of mechanical tricksters, learning their stale tricks with blundering avidity. they had fallen--before the days of photography--into providers of frontispieces for housekeepers' pocket-books. i do not know if photography itself, their redoubted enemy, has even now ousted them from that last refuge. 140. such the fault of the engraver,--very pardonable; scarcely avoidable,--however fatal. fault mainly of humility. but what has _your_ fault been, gentlemen? what the patrons' fault, who have permitted so wide waste of admirable labor, so pathetic a uselessness of obedient genius? it was yours to have directed, yours to have raised and rejoiced in, the skill, the modesty, the patience of this entirely gentle and industrious race;--copyists with their _heart_. the common painter-copyists who encumber our european galleries with their easels and pots, are, almost without exception, persons too stupid to be painters, and too lazy to be engravers. the real copyists--the men who can put their soul into another's work--are employed at home, in their narrow rooms, striving to make their good work profitable to all men. and in their submission to the public taste they are truly national servants as much as prime ministers are. they fulfill the demand of the nation; what, as a people, you wish to have for possession in art, these men are ready to give you. and what have you hitherto asked of them?--ramsgate sands, and dolly vardens, and the paddington station,--these, i think, are typical of your chief demands; the cartoons of raphael--which you don't care to see themselves; and, by way of a flight into the empyrean, the madonna di san sisto. and literally, there are hundreds of cities and villages in italy in which roof and wall are blazoned with the noblest divinity and philosophy ever imagined by men; and of all this treasure, i can, as far as i know, give you not _one_ example, in line engraving, by an english hand! well, you are in the main matter right in this. you want essentially ramsgate sands and the paddington station, because there you can see yourselves. make yourselves, then, worthy to be seen forever, and let english engraving become noble as the record of english loveliness and honor. footnotes: [x] miller's large plate of the grand canal, venice, after turner; and goodall's, of tivoli, after turner. the other examples referred to are left in the university galleries. [y] this paragraph was not read at the lecture, time not allowing:--it is part of what i wrote on engraving some years ago, in the papers for the art journal, called the cestus of aglaia. (refer now to "on the old road.") [z] an effort has lately been made in france, by meissonier, gérome, and their school, to recover it, with marvelous collateral skill of engravers. the etching of gérome's louis xiv. and molière is one of the completest pieces of skillful mechanism ever put on metal. [aa] i must again qualify the too sweeping statement of the text. i think, as time passes, some of these nineteenth century line engravings will become monumental. the first vignette of the garden, with the cut hedges and fountain, for instance, in rogers' poems, is so consummate in its use of every possible artifice of delicate line, (note the look of _tremulous_ atmosphere got by the undulatory etched lines on the pavement, and the broken masses, worked with dots, of the fountain foam,) that i think it cannot but, with some of its companions, survive the refuse of its school, and become classic. i find in like manner, even with all their faults and weaknesses, the vignettes to heyne's virgil to be real art-possessions. [ab] plate xi., in the appendix, taken from the engraving of the virgin sitting in the fenced garden, with two angels crowning her. [ac] the method was first developed in engraving designs on silver--numbers of lines being executed with dots by the punch, for variety's sake. for niello, and printing, a transverse cut was substituted for the blow. the entire style is connected with the later roman and byzantine method of drawing lines with the drill hole, in marble. see above, lecture ii., section 70. [ad] this most important and distinctive character was pointed out to me by mr. burgess. [ae] this point will be further examined and explained in the appendix. [af] see appendix, article i. lecture v. design in the german schools of engraving. 141. by reference to the close of the preface to 'eagle's nest,' you will see, gentlemen, that i meant these lectures, from the first, rather to lead you to the study of the characters of two great men, than to interest you in the processes of a secondary form of art. as i draw my materials into the limited form necessary for the hour, i find my divided purpose doubly failing; and would fain rather use my time to-day in supplying the defects of my last lecture, than in opening the greater subject, which i must treat with still more lamentable inadequacy. nevertheless, you must not think it is for want of time that i omit reference to other celebrated engravers, and insist on the special power of these two only. many not inconsiderable reputations are founded merely on the curiosity of collectors of prints, or on partial skill in the management of processes; others, though resting on more secure bases, are still of no importance to you in the general history of art; whereas you will find the work of holbein and botticelli determining for you, without need of any farther range, the principal questions of moment in the relation of the northern and southern schools of design. nay, a wider method of inquiry would only render your comparison less accurate in result. it is only in holbein's majestic range of capacity, and only in the particular phase of teutonic life which his art adorned, that the problem can be dealt with on fair terms. we northerns can advance no fairly comparable antagonist to the artists of the south, except at that one moment, and in that one man. rubens cannot for an instant be matched with tintoret, nor memling with lippi; while reynolds only rivals titian in what he learned from him. but in holbein and botticelli we have two men trained independently, equal in power of intellect, similar in material and mode of work, contemporary in age, correspondent in disposition. the relation between them is strictly typical of the constant aspects to each other of the northern and southern schools. 142. their point of closest contact is in the art of engraving, and this art is developed entirely as the servant of the great passions which perturbed or polluted europe in the fifteenth century. the impulses which it obeys are all new; and it obeys them with its own nascent plasticity of temper. painting and sculpture are only modified by them; but engraving is educated. these passions are in the main three; namely, 1. the thirst for classical literature, and the forms of proud and false taste which arose out of it, in the position it had assumed as the enemy of christianity. 2. the pride of science, enforcing (in the particular domain of art) accuracy of perspective, shade, and anatomy, never before dreamed of. 3. the sense of error and iniquity in the theological teaching of the christian church, felt by the highest intellects of the time, and necessarily rendering the formerly submissive religious art impossible. to-day, then, our task is to examine the peculiar characters of the design of the northern schools of engraving, as affected by these great influences. 143. i have not often, however, used the word 'design,' and must clearly define the sense in which i now use it. it is vaguely used in common art-parlance; often as if it meant merely the drawing of a picture, as distinct from its color; and in other still more inaccurate ways. the accurate and proper sense, underlying all these, i must endeavor to make clear to you. 'design' properly signifies that power in any art-work which has a purpose other than of imitation, and which is 'designed,' composed, or separated to that end. it implies the rejection of some things, and the insistence upon others, with a given object.[ag] let us take progressive instances. here is a group of prettily dressed peasant children, charmingly painted by a very able modern artist--not absolutely without design, for he really wishes to show you how pretty peasant children can be, (and, in so far, is wiser and kinder than murillo, who likes to show how ugly they can be); also, his group is agreeably arranged, and its component children carefully chosen. nevertheless, any summer's day, near any country village, you may come upon twenty groups in an hour as pretty as this; and may see--if you have eyes--children in them twenty times prettier than these. a photograph, if it could render them perfectly, and in color, would far excel the charm of this painting; for in it, good and clever as it is, there is nothing supernatural, and much that is subnatural. 144. beside this group of, in every sense of the word, 'artless' little country girls, i will now set one--in the best sense of the word--'artful' little country girl,--a sketch by gainsborough. you never saw her like before. never will again, now that gainsborough is dead. no photography,--no science,--no industry, will touch or reach for an instant this _super_-naturalness. you will look vainly through the summer fields for such a child. "nor up the lawn, nor by the wood," is she. whence do you think this marvelous charm has come? alas! if we knew, would not we all be gainsboroughs? this only you may practically ascertain, as surely as that a flower will die if you cut its root away, that you cannot alter a single touch in gainsborough's work without injury to the whole. half a dozen spots, more or less, in the printed gowns of these other children whom i first showed you, will not make the smallest difference to them; nor a lock or two more or less in their hair, nor a dimple or two more or less in their cheeks. but if you alter one wave of the hair of gainsborough's girl, the child is gone. yet the art is so subtle, that i do not expect you to believe this. it looks so instinctive, so easy, so 'chanceux,'--the french word is better than ours. yes, and in their more accurate sense, also, 'il a de la chance.' a stronger designer than he was with him. he could not tell you himself how the thing was done. 145. i proceed to take a more definite instance--this greek head of the lacinian juno. the design or appointing of the forms now entirely prevails over the resemblance to nature. no real hair could ever be drifted into these wild lines, which mean the wrath of the adriatic winds round the cape of storms. and yet, whether this be uglier or prettier than gainsborough's child--(and you know already what i think about it, that no greek goddess was ever half so pretty as an english girl, of pure clay and temper,)--uglier or prettier, it is more dignified and impressive. it at least belongs to the domain of a lordlier, more majestic, more guiding and ordaining art. 146. i will go back another five hundred years, and place an egyptian beside the greek divinity. the resemblance to nature is now all but lost, the ruling law has become all. the lines are reduced to an easily counted number, and their arrangement is little more than a decorative sequence of pleasant curves cut in porphyry,--in the upper part of their contour following the outline of a woman's face in profile, over-crested by that of a hawk, on a kind of pedestal. but that the sign-engraver meant by his hawk, immortality, and by her pedestal, the house or tavern of truth, is of little importance now to the passing traveler, not yet preparing to take the sarcophagus for his place of rest. 147. how many questions are suggested to us by these transitions! is beauty contrary to law, and grace attainable only through license? what we gain in language, shall we lose in thought? and in what we add of labor, more and more forget its ends? not so. look at this piece of sandro's work, the libyan sibyl.[ah] it is as ordered and normal as the egyptian's--as graceful and facile as gainsborough's. it retains the majesty of old religion; it is invested with the joy of newly awakened childhood. mind, i do not expect you--do not wish you--to enjoy botticelli's dark engraving as much as gainsborough's aerial sketch; for due comparison of the men, painting should be put beside painting. but there is enough even in this copy of the florentine plate to show you the junction of the two powers in it--of prophecy, and delight. 148. will these two powers, do you suppose, be united in the same manner in the contemporary northern art? that northern school is my subject to-day; and yet i give you, as type of the intermediate condition between egypt and england--not holbein, but botticelli. i am obliged to do this; because in the southern art, the religious temper remains unconquered by the doctrines of the reformation. botticelli was--what luther wished to be, but could not be--a reformer still believing in the church: his mind is at peace; and his art, therefore, can pursue the delight of beauty, and yet remain prophetic. but it was far otherwise in germany. there the reformation of manners became the destruction of faith; and art therefore, not a prophecy, but a protest. it is the chief work of the greatest protestant who ever lived,[ai] which i ask you to study with me to-day. 149. i said that the power of engraving had developed itself during the introduction of three new--(practically and vitally new, that is to say)--elements, into the minds of men: elements which briefly may be expressed thus: 1. classicism, and literary science. 2. medicine, and physical science.[aj] 3. reformation, and religious science. and first of classicism. you feel, do not you, in this typical work of gainsborough's, that his subject as well as his picture is 'artless' in a lovely sense;--nay, not only artless, but ignorant, and unscientific, in a beautiful way? you would be afterwards remorseful, i think, and angry with yourself--seeing the effect produced on her face--if you were to ask this little lady to spell a very long word? also, if you wished to know how many times the sevens go in forty-nine, you would perhaps wisely address yourself elsewhere. on the other hand, you do not doubt that _this_ lady[ak] knows very well how many times the sevens go in forty-nine, and is more mistress of arts than any of us are masters of them. 150. you have then, in the one case, a beautiful simplicity, and a blameless ignorance; in the other, a beautiful artfulness, and a wisdom which you do not dread,--or, at least, even though dreading, love. but you know also that we may remain in a hateful and culpable ignorance; and, as i fear too many of us in competitive effort feel, become possessed of a hateful knowledge. ignorance, therefore, is not evil absolutely; but, innocent, may be lovable. knowledge also is not good absolutely; but, guilty, may be hateful. so, therefore, when i now repeat my former statement, that the first main opposition between the northern and southern schools is in the simplicity of the one, and the scholarship of the other, that statement may imply sometimes the superiority of the north, and sometimes of the south. you may have a heavenly simplicity opposed to a hellish (that is to say, a lustful and arrogant) scholarship; or you may have a barbarous and presumptuous ignorance opposed to a divine and disciplined wisdom. ignorance opposed to learning in both cases; but evil to good, as the case may be. 151. for instance: the last time i was standing before raphael's arabesques in the loggias of the vatican, i wrote down in my pocket-book the description, or, more modestly speaking, the inventory, of the small portion of that infinite wilderness of sensual fantasy which happened to be opposite me. it consisted of a woman's face, with serpents for hair, and a virgin's breasts, with stumps for arms, ending in blue butterflies' wings, the whole changing at the waist into a goat's body, which ended below in an obelisk upside-down, to the apex at the bottom of which were appended, by graceful chains, an altar, and two bunches of grapes. now you know in a moment, by a glance at this 'design'--beautifully struck with free hand, and richly gradated in color,--that the master was familiar with a vast range of art and literature: that he knew all about egyptian sphinxes, and greek gorgons; about egyptian obelisks, and hebrew altars; about hermes, and venus, and bacchus, and satyrs, and goats, and grapes. you know also--or ought to know, in an instant,--that all this learning has done him no good; that he had better have known nothing than any of these things, since they were to be used by him only to such purpose; and that his delight in armless breasts, legless trunks, and obelisks upside-down, has been the last effort of his expiring sensation, in the grasp of corrupt and altogether victorious death. and you have thus, in gainsborough as compared with raphael, a sweet, sacred, and living simplicity, set against an impure, profane, and paralyzed knowledge. 152. but, next, let us consider the reverse conditions. let us take instance of contrast between faultful and treacherous ignorance, and divinely pure and fruitful knowledge. in the place of honor at the end of one of the rooms of your royal academy--years ago--stood a picture by an english academician, announced as a representation of moses sustained by aaron and hur, during the discomfiture of amalek. in the entire range of the pentateuch, there is no other scene (in which the visible agents are mortal only) requiring so much knowledge and thought to reach even a distant approximation to the probabilities of the fact. one saw in a moment that the painter was both powerful and simple, after a sort; that he had really sought for a vital conception, and had originally and earnestly read his text, and formed his conception. and one saw also in a moment that he had chanced upon this subject, in reading or hearing his bible, as he might have chanced on a dramatic scene accidentally in the street. that he knew nothing of the character of moses,--nothing of his law,--nothing of the character of aaron, nor of the nature of a priesthood,--nothing of the meaning of the event which he was endeavoring to represent, of the temper in which it would have been transacted by its agents, or of its relations to modern life. 153. on the contrary, in the fresco of the earlier scenes in the life of moses, by sandro botticelli, you know--not 'in a moment,' for the knowledge of knowledge cannot be so obtained; but in proportion to the discretion of your own reading, and to the care you give to the picture, you _may_ know,--that here is a sacredly guided and guarded learning; here a master indeed, at whose feet you may sit safely, who can teach you, better than in words, the significance of both moses' law and aaron's ministry; and not only these, but, if he chose, could add to this an exposition as complete of the highest philosophies both of the greek nation, and of his own; and could as easily have painted, had it been asked of him, draco, or numa, or justinian, as the herdsman of jethro. 154. it is rarely that we can point to an opposition between faultful, because insolent, ignorance, and virtuous, because gracious, knowledge, so direct, and in so parallel elements, as in this instance. in general, the analysis is much more complex. it is intensely difficult to indicate the mischief of involuntary and modest ignorance, calamitous only in a measure; fruitful in its lower field, yet sorrowfully condemned to that lower field--not by sin, but fate. when first i introduced you to bewick, we closed our too partial estimate of his entirely magnificent powers with one sorrowful concession--he could draw a pig, but not a venus. eminently he could so, because--which is still more sorrowfully to be conceded--he liked the pig best. i have put now in your educational series a whole galaxy of pigs by him; but, hunting all the fables through, i find only one venus, and i think you will all admit that she is an unsatisfactory venus.[al] there is honest simplicity here; but you regret it; you miss something that you find in holbein, much more in botticelli. you see in a moment that this man knows nothing of sphinxes, or muses, or graces, or aphrodites; and, besides, that, knowing nothing, he would have no liking for them even if he saw them; but much prefers the style of a well-to-do english housekeeper with corkscrew curls, and a portly person. 155. you miss something, i said, in bewick which you find in holbein. but do you suppose holbein himself, or any other northern painter, could wholly quit himself of the like accusations? i told you, in the second of these lectures, that the northern temper, refined from savageness, and the southern, redeemed from decay, met, in florence. holbein and botticelli are the purest types of the two races. holbein is a civilized boor; botticelli a reanimate greek. holbein was polished by companionship with scholars and kings, but remains always a burgher of augsburg in essential nature. bewick and he are alike in temper; only the one is untaught, the other perfectly taught. but botticelli _needs_ no teaching. he is, by his birth, scholar and gentleman to the heart's core. christianity itself can only inspire him, not refine him. he is as tried gold chased by the jeweler,--the roughest part of him is the outside. now how differently must the newly recovered scholastic learning tell upon these two men. it is all out of holbein's way; foreign to his nature, useless at the best, probably cumbrous. but botticelli receives it as a child in later years recovers the forgotten dearness of a nursery tale; and is more himself, and again and again himself, as he breathes the air of greece, and hears, in his own italy, the lost voice of the sibyl murmur again by the avernus lake. 156. it is not, as we have seen, every one of the southern race who can thus receive it. but it graces them all; is at once a part of their being; destroys them, if it is to destroy, the more utterly because it so enters into their natures. it destroys raphael; but it graces him, and is a part of him. it all but destroys mantegna; but it graces him. and it does not hurt holbein, just because it does _not_ grace him--never is for an instant a part of him. it is with raphael as with some charming young girl who has a new and beautifully made dress brought to her, which entirely becomes her,--so much, that in a little while, thinking of nothing else, she becomes _it_; and is only the decoration of her dress. but with holbein it is as if you brought the same dress to a stout farmer's daughter who was going to dine at the hall; and begged her to put it on that she might not discredit the company. she puts it on to please you; looks entirely ridiculous in it, but is not spoiled by it,--remains herself, in spite of it. 157. you probably have never noticed the extreme awkwardness of holbein in wearing this new dress; you would the less do so because his own people think him all the finer for it, as the farmer's wife would probably think her daughter. dr. woltmann, for instance, is enthusiastic in praise of the splendid architecture in the background of his annunciation. a fine mess it must have made in the minds of simple german maidens, in their notion of the virgin at home! i cannot show you this annunciation; but i have under my hand one of holbein's bible cuts, of the deepest seriousness and import--his illustration of the canticles, showing the church as the bride of christ. [illustration] you could not find a subject requiring more tenderness, purity, or dignity of treatment. in this maid, symbolizing the church, you ask for the most passionate humility, the most angelic beauty: "behold, thou art fair, my dove." now here is holbein's ideal of that fairness; here is his "church as the bride." i am sorry to associate this figure in your minds, even for a moment, with the passages it is supposed to illustrate; but the lesson is too important to be omitted. remember, holbein represents the temper of northern reformation. he has all the nobleness of that temper, but also all its baseness. he represents, indeed, the revolt of german truth against italian lies; but he represents also the revolt of german animalism against hebrew imagination. this figure of holbein's is half-way from solomon's mystic bride, to rembrandt's wife, sitting on his knee while he drinks. but the key of the question is not in this. florentine animalism has at this time, also, enough to say for itself. but florentine animalism, at this time, feels the joy of a gentleman, not of a churl. and a florentine, whatever he does,--be it virtuous or sinful, chaste or lascivious, severe or extravagant,--does it with a grace. 158. you think, perhaps, that holbein's solomon's bride is so ungraceful chiefly because she is overdressed, and has too many feathers and jewels. no; a florentine would have put any quantity of feathers and jewels on her, and yet never lost her grace. you shall see him do it, and that to a fantastic degree, for i have an example under my hand. look back, first, to bewick's venus (lecture iii.). you can't accuse her of being overdressed. she complies with every received modern principle of taste. sir joshua's precept that drapery should be "drapery, and nothing more," is observed more strictly even by bewick than by michael angelo. if the absence of decoration could exalt the beauty of his venus, here had been her perfection. now look back to plate ii. (lecture iv.), by sandro; venus in her planet, the ruling star of florence. anything more grotesque in conception, more unrestrained in fancy of ornament, you cannot find, even in the final days of the renaissance. yet venus holds her divinity through all; she will become majestic to you as you gaze; and there is not a line of her chariot wheels, of her buskins, or of her throne, which you may not see was engraved by a gentleman. [illustration: v. "heat considered as a mode of motion." florentine natural philosophy.] 159. again, plate v., opposite, is a facsimile of another engraving of the same series--the sun in leo. it is even more extravagant in accessories than the venus. you see the sun's epaulets before you see the sun; the spiral scrolls of his chariot, and the black twisted rays of it, might, so far as types of form only are considered, be a design for some modern court-dress star, to be made in diamonds. and yet all this wild ornamentation is, if you will examine it, more purely greek in spirit than the apollo belvedere. you know i have told you, again and again, that the soul of greece is her veracity; that what to other nations were fables and symbolisms, to her became living facts--living gods. the fall of greece was instant when her gods again became fables. the apollo belvedere is the work of a sculptor to whom apollonism is merely an elegant idea on which to exhibit his own skill. he does not himself feel for an instant that the handsome man in the unintelligible attitude,[am] with drapery hung over his left arm, as it would be hung to dry over a clothes-line, is the power of the sun. but the florentine believes in apollo with his whole mind, and is trying to explain his strength in every touch. for instance; i said just now, "you see the sun's epaulets before the sun." well, _don't_ you, usually, as it rises? do you not continually mistake a luminous cloud for it, or wonder where it is, behind one? again, the face of the apollo belvedere is agitated by anxiety, passion, and pride. is the sun's likely to be so, rising on the evil and the good? this prince sits crowned and calm: look at the quiet fingers of the hand holding the scepter,--at the restraint of the reins merely by a depression of the wrist. 160. you have to look carefully for those fingers holding the scepter, because the hand--which a great anatomist would have made so exclusively interesting--is here confused with the ornamentation of the arm of the chariot on which it rests. but look what the ornamentation is;--fruit and leaves, abundant, in the mouth of a cornucopia. a quite vulgar and meaningless ornament in ordinary renaissance work. is it so here, think you? are not the leaves and fruits of earth in the sun's hand?[an] you thought, perhaps, when i spoke just now of the action of the right hand, that less than a depression of the wrist would stop horses such as those. you fancy botticelli drew them so, because he had never seen a horse; or because, able to draw fingers, he could not draw hoofs! how fine it would be to have, instead, a prancing four-in-hand, in the style of piccadilly on the derby-day, or at least horses like the real greek horses of the parthenon! yes; and if they had had real ground to trot on, the florentine would have shown you he knew how they should trot. but these have to make their way up the hill-side of other lands. look to the example in your standard series, hermes eriophoros. you will find his motion among clouds represented precisely in this laboring, failing, half-kneeling attitude of limb. these forms, toiling up through the rippled sands of heaven, are--not horses;--they are clouds themselves, _like_ horses, but only a little like. look how their hoofs lose themselves, buried in the ripples of cloud; it makes one think of the quicksands of morecambe bay. and their tails--what extraordinary tufts of tails, ending in points! yes; but do you not see, nearly joining with them, what is not a horse tail at all; but a flame of fire, kindled at apollo's knee? all the rest of the radiance about him shoots _from_ him. but this is rendered _up_ to him. as the fruits of the earth are in one of his hands, its fire is in the other. and all the warmth, as well as all the light of it, are his. we had a little natural philosophy, gentlemen, as well as theology, in florence, once upon a time. 161. natural philosophy, and also natural art, for in this the greek reanimate was a nobler creature than the greek who had died. his art had a wider force and warmer glow. i have told you that the first greeks were distinguished from the barbarians by their simple humanity; the second greeks--these florentine greeks reanimate--are human more strongly, more deeply, leaping from the byzantine death at the call of christ, "loose him, and let him go." and there is upon them at once the joy of resurrection, and the solemnity of the grave. [illustration: vi. fairness of the sea and air. in venice and athens.] 162. of this resurrection of the greek, and the form of the tomb he had been buried in "those four days," i have to give you some account in the last lecture. i will only to-day show you an illustration of it which brings us back to our immediate question as to the reasons why northern art could not accept classicism. when, in the closing lecture of "aratra pentelici,"[ao] i compared florentine with greek work, it was to point out to you the eager passions of the first as opposed to the formal legalism and proprieties of the other. greek work, i told you, while truthful, was also restrained, and never but under majesty of law; while gothic work was true, in the perfect law of liberty or franchise. and now i give you in facsimile (plate vi.) the two aphrodites thus compared--the aphrodite thalassia of the tyrrhene seas, and the aphrodite urania of the greek skies. you may not at first like the tuscan best; and why she is the best, though both are noble, again i must defer explaining to next lecture. but now turn back to bewick's venus, and compare her with the tuscan venus of the stars, (plate ii.); and then here, in plate vi., with the tuscan venus of the seas, and the greek venus of the sky. why is the english one vulgar? what is it, in the three others, which makes them, if not beautiful, at least refined?--every one of them 'designed' and drawn, indisputably, by a gentleman? i never have been so puzzled by any subject of analysis as, for these ten years, i have been by this. every answer i give, however plausible it seems at first, fails in some way, or in some cases. but there is the point for you, more definitely put, i think, than in any of my former books;--at present, for want of time, i must leave it to your own thoughts. 163. ii. the second influence under which engraving developed itself, i said, was that of medicine and the physical sciences. gentlemen, the most audacious, and the most valuable, statement which i have yet made to you on the subject of practical art, in these rooms, is that of the evil resulting from the study of anatomy. it is a statement so audacious, that not only for some time i dared not make it to you, but for ten years, at least, i dared not make it to myself. i saw, indeed, that whoever studied anatomy was in a measure injured by it; but i kept attributing the mischief to secondary causes. it _can't_ be this drink itself that poisons them, i said always. this drink is medicinal and strengthening: i see that it kills them, but it must be because they drink it cold when they have been hot, or they take something else with it that changes it into poison. the drink itself _must_ be good. well, gentlemen, i found out the drink itself to be poison at last, by the breaking of my choicest venice glass. i could not make out what it was that had killed tintoret, and laid it long to the charge of chiaroscuro. it was only after my thorough study of his paradise, in 1870, that i gave up this idea, finding the chiaroscuro, which i had thought exaggerated, was, in all original and undarkened passages, beautiful and most precious. and then at last i got hold of the true clue: "il disegno di michel agnolo." and the moment i had dared to accuse that, it explained everything; and i saw that the betraying demons of italian art, led on by michael angelo, had been, not pleasure, but knowledge; not indolence, but ambition; and not love, but horror. 164. but when first i ventured to tell you this, i did not know, myself, the fact of all most conclusive for its confirmation. it will take me a little while to put it before you in its total force, and i must first ask your attention to a minor point. in one of the smaller rooms of the munich gallery is holbein's painting of st. margaret and st. elizabeth of hungary,--standard of his early religious work. here is a photograph from the st. elizabeth; and, in the same frame, a french lithograph of it. i consider it one of the most important pieces of comparison i have arranged for you, showing you at a glance the difference between true and false sentiment. of that difference, generally, we cannot speak to-day, but one special result of it you are to observe;--the omission, in the french drawing, of holbein's daring representation of disease, which is one of the vital honors of the picture. quite one of the chief strengths of st. elizabeth, in the roman catholic view, was in the courage of her dealing with disease, chiefly leprosy. now observe, i say _roman_ catholic view, very earnestly just now; i am not at all sure that it is so in a catholic view--that is to say, in an eternally christian and divine view. and this doubt, very nearly now a certainty, only came clearly into my mind the other day after many and many a year's meditation on it. i had read with great reverence all the beautiful stories about christ's appearing as a leper, and the like; and had often pitied and rebuked myself alternately for my intense dislike and horror of disease. i am writing at this moment within fifty yards of the grave of st. francis, and the story of the likeness of his feelings to mine had a little comforted me, and the tradition of his conquest of them again humiliated me; and i was thinking very gravely of this, and of the parallel instance of bishop hugo of lincoln, always desiring to do service to the dead, as opposed to my own unmitigated and louis-quinze-like horror of funerals;--when by chance, in the cathedral of palermo, a new light was thrown for me on the whole matter. 165. i was drawing the tomb of frederick ii., which is shut off by a grating from the body of the church; and i had, in general, quite an unusual degree of quiet and comfort at my work. but sometimes it was paralyzed by the unconscious interference of one of the men employed in some minor domestic services about the church. when he had nothing to do, he used to come and seat himself near my grating, not to look at my work, (the poor wretch had no eyes, to speak of,) nor in any way meaning to be troublesome; but there was his habitual seat. his nose had been carried off by the most loathsome of diseases; there were two vivid circles of scarlet round his eyes; and as he sat, he announced his presence every quarter of a minute (if otherwise i could have forgotten it) by a peculiarly disgusting, loud, and long expectoration. on the second or third day, just i had forced myself into some forgetfulness of him, and was hard at my work, i was startled from it again by the bursting out of a loud and cheerful conversation close to me; and on looking round, saw a lively young fledgling of a priest, seventeen or eighteen years old, in the most eager and spirited chat with the man in the chair. he talked, laughed, and spat, himself, companionably, in the merriest way, for a quarter of an hour; evidently without feeling the slightest disgust, or being made serious for an instant, by the aspect of the destroyed creature before him. 166. his own face was simply that of the ordinary vulgar type of thoughtless young italians, rather beneath than above the usual standard; and i was certain, as i watched him, that he was not at all my superior, but very much my inferior, in the coolness with which he beheld what was to me so dreadful. i was positive that he could look this man in the face, precisely because he could _not_ look, discerningly, at any beautiful or noble thing; and that the reason i dared not, was because i had, spiritually, as much better eyes than the priest, as, bodily, than his companion. having got so much of clear evidence given me on the matter, it was driven home for me a week later, as i landed on the quay of naples. almost the first thing that presented itself to me was the sign of a traveling theatrical company, displaying the principal scene of the drama to be enacted on their classical stage. fresh from the theater of taormina, i was curious to see the subject of the neapolitan popular drama. it was the capture, by the police, of a man and his wife who lived by boiling children. one section of the police was coming in, armed to the teeth, through the passage; another section of the police, armed to the teeth, and with high feathers in its caps, was coming up through a trap-door. in fine dramatic unconsciousness to the last moment, like the clown in a pantomime, the child-boiler was represented as still industriously chopping up a child, pieces of which, ready for the pot, lay here and there on the table in the middle of the picture. the child-boiler's wife, however, just as she was taking the top off the pot to put the meat in, had caught a glimpse of the foremost policeman, and stopped, as much in rage as in consternation. 167. now it is precisely the same feeling, or want of feeling, in the lower italian (nor always in the lower classes only) which makes him demand the kind of subject for his secular drama; and the crucifixion and pietà for his religious drama. the only part of christianity he can enjoy is its horror; and even the saint and saintess are not always denying themselves severely, either by the contemplation of torture, or the companionship with disease. nevertheless, we must be cautious, on the other hand, to allow full value to the endurance, by tender and delicate persons, of what is really loathsome or distressful to them in the service of others; and i think this picture of holbein's indicative of the exact balance and rightness of his own mind in this matter, and therefore of his power to conceive a true saint also. he had to represent st. catherine's chief effort;--he paints her ministering to the sick, and, among them, is a leper; and finding it thus his duty to paint leprosy, he courageously himself studies it from the life. not to insist on its horror; but to assert it, to the needful point of fact, which he does with medical accuracy. now here is just a case in which science, in a subordinate degree, is really required for a spiritual and moral purpose. and you find holbein does not shrink from it even in this extreme case in which it is most painful. 168. if, therefore, you _do_ find him in other cases not using it, you may be sure he knew it to be unnecessary. now it may be disputable whether in order to draw a living madonna, one needs to know how many ribs she has; but it would have seemed indisputable that in order to draw a skeleton, one must know how many ribs _it_ has. holbein is par excellence the draughtsman of skeletons. his painted dance of death was, and his engraved dance of death is, principal of such things, without any comparison or denial. he draws skeleton after skeleton, in every possible gesture; but never so much as counts their ribs! he neither knows nor cares how many ribs a skeleton has. there are always enough to rattle. monstrous, you think, in impudence,--holbein for his carelessness, and i for defending him! nay, i triumph in him; nothing has ever more pleased me than this grand negligence. nobody wants to know how many ribs a skeleton has, any more than how many bars a gridiron has, so long as the one can breathe, and the other broil; and still less, when the breath and the fire are both out. 169. but is it only of the bones, think you, that holbein is careless?[ap] nay, incredible though it may seem to you,--but, to me, explanatory at once of much of his excellence,--he did not know anatomy at all! i told you in my preface,[aq] already quoted, holbein studies the face first, the body secondarily; but i had no idea, myself, how completely he had refused the venomous science of his day. i showed you a dead christ of his, long ago. can you match it with your academy drawings, think you? and yet he did not, and would not, know anatomy. _he_ would not; but dürer would, and did:--went hotly into it--wrote books upon it, and upon 'proportions of the human body,' etc., etc., and all your modern recipes for painting flesh. how did his studies prosper his art? people are always talking of his knight and death, and his melancholia, as if those were his principal works. they are his characteristic ones, and show what he might have been _without_ his anatomy; but they were mere by-play compared to his greater fortune, and adam and eve. look at these. here is his full energy displayed; here are both male and female forms drawn with perfect knowledge of their bones and muscles, and modes of action and digestion,--and i hope you are pleased. but it is not anatomy only that master albert studies. he has a taste for optics also; and knows all about refraction and reflection. what with his knowledge of the skull inside, and the vitreous lens outside, if any man in the world is to draw an eye, here's the man to do it, surely! with a hand which can give lessons to john bellini, and a care which would fain do all so that it can't be done better, and acquaintance with every crack in the cranium, and every humor in the lens,--if we can't draw an eye, we should just like to know who can! thinks albert. so having to engrave the portrait of melanchthon, instead of looking at melanchthon as ignorant holbein would have been obliged to do,--wise albert looks at the room window; and finds it has four cross-bars in it, and knows scientifically that the light on melanchthon's eye must be a reflection of the window with its four bars--and engraves it so, accordingly; and who shall dare to say, now, it isn't like melanchthon? unfortunately, however, it isn't, nor like any other person in his senses; but like a madman looking at somebody who disputes his hobby. while in this drawing of holbein's, where a dim gray shadow leaves a mere crumb of white paper,--accidentally it seems, for all the fine scientific reflection,--behold, it is an eye indeed, and of a noble creature. 170. what is the reason? do you ask me; and is all the common teaching about generalization of details true, then? no; not a syllable of it is true. holbein is right, not because he draws more generally, but more truly, than dürer. dürer draws what he knows is there; but holbein, only what he sees. and, as i have told you often before, the really scientific artist is he who not only asserts bravely what he _does_ see, but confesses honestly what he does _not_. you must not draw all the hairs in an eyelash; not because it is sublime to generalize them, but because it is impossible to see them. how many hairs there are, a sign painter or anatomist may count; but how few of them you can see, it is only the utmost masters, carpaccio, tintoret, reynolds, and velasquez, who count, or know. 171. such was the effect, then, of his science upon dürer's ideal of beauty, and skill in portraiture. what effect had it on the temper and quantity of his work, as compared with poor ignorant holbein's! you have only three portraits, by dürer, of the great men of his time, and those bad ones; while he toils his soul out to draw the hoofs of satyrs, the bristles of swine, and the distorted aspects of base women and vicious men. what, on the contrary, has ignorant holbein done for you? shakespeare and he divide between them, by word and look, the story of england under henry and elizabeth. 172. of the effect of science on the art of mantegna and marc antonio, (far more deadly than on dürer's,) i must tell you in a future lecture;--the effect of it on their minds, i must partly refer to now, in passing to the third head of my general statement--the influence of new theology. for dürer and mantegna, chiefly because of their science, forfeited their place, not only as painters of men, but as servants of god. neither of them has left one completely noble or completely didactic picture; while holbein and botticelli, in consummate pieces of art, led the way before the eyes of all men, to the purification of their church and land. 173. iii. but the need of reformation presented itself to these two men last named on entirely different terms. to holbein, when the word of the catholic church proved false, and its deeds bloody; when he saw it selling permission of sin in his native augsburg, and strewing the ashes of its enemies on the pure alpine waters of constance, what refuge was there for _him_ in more ancient religion? shall he worship thor again, and mourn over the death of balder? he reads nature in her desolate and narrow truth, and she teaches him the triumph of death. but, for botticelli, the grand gods are old, are immortal. the priests may have taught falsely the story of the virgin;--did they not also lie, in the name of artemis, at ephesus;--in the name of aphrodite, at cyprus?--but shall, therefore, chastity or love be dead, or the full moon paler over arno? saints of heaven and gods of earth!--shall _these_ perish because vain men speak evil of them! let _us_ speak good forever, and grave, as on the rock, for ages to come, the glory of beauty, and the triumph of faith. 174. holbein had bitterer task. of old, the one duty of the painter had been to exhibit the virtues of this life, and hopes of the life to come. holbein had to show the vices of this life, and to obscure the hope of the future. "yes, we walk through the valley of the shadow of death, and fear all evil, for thou art not with us, and thy rod and thy staff comfort us not." he does not choose this task. it is thrust upon him,--just as fatally as the burial of the dead is in a plague-struck city. these are the things he sees, and must speak. he will not become a better artist thereby; no drawing of supreme beauty, or beautiful things, will be possible to him. yet we cannot say he ought to have done anything else, nor can we praise him specially in doing this. it is his fate; the fate of all the bravest in that day. [illustration: the child's bedtime. (fig. 5) facsimile from holbein's woodcut.] 175. for instance, there is no scene about which a shallow and feeble painter would have been more sure to adopt the commonplaces of the creed of his time than the death of a child,--chiefly, and most of all, the death of a country child,--a little thing fresh from the cottage and the field. surely for such an one, angels will wait by its sick bed, and rejoice as they bear its soul away; and over its shroud flowers will be strewn, and the birds will sing by its grave. so your common sentimentalist would think, and paint. holbein sees the facts, as they verily are, up to the point when vision ceases. he speaks, then, no more. the country laborer's cottage--the rain coming through its roof, the clay crumbling from its partitions, the fire lighted with a few chips and sticks on a raised piece of the mud floor,--such dais as can be contrived, for use, not for honor. the damp wood sputters; the smoke, stopped by the roof, though the rain is not, coils round again, and down. but the mother can warm the child's supper of bread and milk so--holding the pan by the long handle; and on mud floor though it be, they are happy,--she, and her child, and its brother,--if only they could be left so. they shall not be left so: the young thing must leave them--will never need milk warmed for it any more. it would fain stay,--sees no angels--feels only an icy grip on its hand, and that it cannot stay. those who loved it shriek and tear their hair in vain, amazed in grief. 'oh, little one, must you lie out in the fields then, not even under this poor torn roof of thy mother's to-night?' [illustration: "he that hath ears to hear, let him hear." (fig. 6) facsimile from holbein's woodcut.] 176. again: there was not in the old creed any subject more definitely and constantly insisted on than the death of a miser. he had been happy, the old preachers thought, till then: but his hour has come; and the black covetousness of hell is awake and watching; the sharp harpy claws will clutch his soul out of his mouth, and scatter his treasure for others. so the commonplace preacher and painter taught. not so holbein. the devil want to snatch his soul, indeed! nay, he never _had_ a soul, but of the devil's giving. his misery to begin on his death-bed! nay, he had never an unmiserable hour of life. the fiend is with him now,--a paltry, abortive fiend, with no breath even to blow hot with. he supplies the hell-blast _with a machine_. it is winter, and the rich man has his furred cloak and cap, thick and heavy; the beggar, bare-headed to beseech him, skin and rags hanging about him together, touches his shoulder, but all in vain; there is other business in hand. more haggard than the beggar himself, wasted and palsied, the rich man counts with his fingers the gain of the years to come. but of those years, infinite that are to be, holbein says nothing. 'i know not; i see not. this only i see, on this very winter's day, the low pale stumbling-block at your feet, the altogether by you unseen and forgotten death. you shall not pass _him_ by on the other side; here is a fasting figure in skin and bone, at last, that will stop you; and for all the hidden treasures of earth, here is your spade: dig now, and find them.' 177. i have said that holbein was condemned to teach these things. he was not happy in teaching them, nor thanked for teaching them. nor was botticelli for his lovelier teaching. but they both could do no otherwise. they lived in truth and steadfastness; and with both, in their marvelous design, veracity is the beginning of invention, and love its end. i have but time to show you, in conclusion, how this affectionate self-forgetfulness protects holbein from the chief calamity of the german temper, vanity, which is at the root of all dürer's weakness. here is a photograph of holbein's portrait of erasmus, and a fine proof of dürer's. in holbein's, the face leads everything; and the most lovely qualities of the face lead in that. the cloak and cap are perfectly painted, just because you look at them neither more nor less than you would have looked at the cloak in reality. you don't say, 'how brilliantly they are touched,' as you would with rembrandt; nor 'how gracefully they are neglected,' as you would with gainsborough; nor 'how exquisitely they are shaded,' as you would with lionardo; nor 'how grandly they are composed,' as you would with titian. you say only, 'erasmus is surely there; and what a pleasant sight!' you don't think of holbein at all. he has not even put in the minutest letter h, that i can see, to remind you of him. drops his h's, i regret to say, often enough. 'my hand should be enough for you; what matters my name?' but now, look at dürer's. the very first thing you see, and at any distance, is this great square tablet with "the image of erasmus, drawn from the life by albert dürer, 1526," and a great straddling a.d. besides. then you see a cloak, and a table, and a pot, with flowers in it, and a heap of books with all their leaves and all their clasps, and all the little bits of leather gummed in to mark the places; and last of all you see erasmus's face; and when you do see it, the most of it is wrinkles. all egotism and insanity, this, gentlemen. hard words to use; but not too hard to define the faults which rendered so much of dürer's great genius abortive, and to this day paralyze, among the details of a lifeless and ambitious precision, the student, no less than the artist, of german blood. for too many an erasmus, too many a dürer, among them, the world is all cloak and clasp, instead of face or book; and the first object of their lives is to engrave their initials. 178. for us, in england, not even so much is at present to be hoped; and yet, singularly enough, it is more our modesty, unwisely submissive, than our vanity, which has destroyed our english school of engraving. at the bottom of the pretty line engravings which used to represent, characteristically, our english skill, one saw always _two_ inscriptions. at the left-hand corner, "drawn by--so-and-so;" at the right-hand corner, "engraved by--so-and-so." only under the worst and cheapest plates--for the stationers' almanack, or the like--one saw sometimes, "drawn and engraved by--so-and-so," which meant nothing more than that the publisher would not go to the expense of an artist, and that the engraver haggled through as he could. (one fortunate exception, gentlemen, you have in the old drawings for your oxford almanack, though the publishers, i have no doubt, even in that case, employed the cheapest artist they could find.[ar]) but in general, no engraver thought himself able to draw; and no artist thought it his business to engrave. 179. but the fact that this and the following lecture are on the subject of design in engraving, implies of course that in the work we have to examine, it was often the engraver himself who designed, and as often the artist who engraved. and you will observe that the only engravings which bear imperishable value are, indeed, in this kind. it is true that, in wood-cutting, both dürer and holbein, as in our own days leech and tenniel, have workmen under them who can do all they want. but in metal cutting it is not so. for, as i have told you, in metal cutting, ultimate perfection of line has to be reached; and it can be reached by none but a master's hand; nor by his, unless in the very moment and act of designing. never, unless under the vivid first force of imagination and intellect, can the line have its full value. and for this high reason, gentlemen, that paradox which perhaps seemed to you so daring, is nevertheless deeply and finally true, that while a woodcut may be laboriously finished, a grand engraving on metal must be comparatively incomplete. for it must be done, throughout, with the full fire of temper in it, visibly governing its lines, as the wind does the fibers of cloud. 180. the value hitherto attached to rembrandt's etchings, and others imitating them, depends on a true instinct in the public mind for this virtue of line. but etching is an indolent and blundering method at the best; and i do not doubt that you will one day be grateful for the severe disciplines of drawing required in these schools, in that they will have enabled you to know what a line may be, driven by a master's chisel on silver or marble, following, and fostering as it follows, the instantaneous strength of his determined thought. footnotes: [ag] if you paint a bottle only to amuse the spectator by showing him how like a painting may be to a bottle, you cannot be considered, in art-philosophy, as a designer. but if you paint the cork flying out of the bottle, and the contents arriving in an arch at the mouth of a recipient glass, you are so far forth a designer or signer; probably meaning to express certain ultimate facts respecting, say, the hospitable disposition of the landlord of the house; but at all events representing the bottle and glass in a designed, and not merely natural, manner. not merely natural--nay, in some sense non-natural, or supernatural. and all great artists show both this fantastic condition of mind in their work, and show that it has arisen out of a communicative or didactic purpose. they are the signpainters of god. i have added this note to the lecture in copying my memoranda of it here at assisi, june 9th, being about to begin work in the tavern, or tabernaculum, of the lower church, with its variously significant four great 'signs.' [ah] plate x., lecture vi. [ai] i do not mean the greatest teacher of reformed faith; but the greatest protestant against faith unreformed. [aj] it has become the permitted fashion among modern mathematicians, chemists, and apothecaries, to call themselves 'scientific men,' as opposed to theologians, poets, and artists. they know their sphere to be a separate one; but their ridiculous notion of its being a peculiarly scientific one ought not to be allowed in our universities. there is a science of morals, a science of history, a science of grammar, a science of music, and a science of painting; and all these are quite beyond comparison higher fields for human intellect, and require accuracies of intenser observation, than either chemistry, electricity, or geology. [ak] the cumaean sibyl, plate vii., lecture vi. [al] lecture iii., § 101. [am] i read somewhere, lately, a new and very ingenious theory about the attitude of the apollo belvedere, proving, to the author's satisfaction, that the received notion about watching the arrow was all a mistake. the paper proved, at all events, one thing--namely, the statement in the text. for an attitude which has been always hitherto taken to mean one thing, and is plausibly asserted now to mean another, must be in itself unintelligible. [an] it may be asked, why not corn also? because that belongs to ceres, who is equally one of the great gods. [ao] "aratra pentelici," § 181. [ap] or inventive! see woltmann, p. 267. "the shinbone, or the lower part of the arm, exhibits only one bone, while the upper arm and thigh are often allowed the luxury of two!" [aq] see ante, § 141. the "preface" is that to "the eagle's nest." [ar] the drawings were made by turner, and are now among the chief treasures of the oxford galleries. i ought to add some notice of hogarth to this lecture in the appendix; but fear i shall have no time: besides, though i have profound respect for hogarth, as, in literature, i have for fielding, i can't criticise them, because i know nothing of their subjects. lecture vi. design in the florentine schools of engraving. 181. in the first of these lectures, i stated to you their subject, as the investigation of the engraved work of a group of men, to whom engraving, as a means of popular address, was above all precious, because their art was distinctively didactic. some of my hearers must be aware that, of late years, the assertion that art should be didactic has been clamorously and violently derided by the countless crowd of artists who have nothing to represent, and of writers who have nothing to say; and that the contrary assertion--that art consists only in pretty colors and fine words,--is accepted, readily enough, by a public which rarely pauses to look at a picture with attention, or read a sentence with understanding. 182. gentlemen, believe me, there never was any great advancing art yet, nor can be, without didactic purpose. the leaders of the strong schools are, and must be always, either teachers of theology, or preachers of the moral law. i need not tell you that it was as teachers of theology on the walls of the vatican that the masters with whose names you are most familiar obtained their perpetual fame. but however great their fame, you have not practically, i imagine, ever been materially assisted in your preparation for the schools either of philosophy or divinity by raphael's 'school of athens,' by raphael's 'theology,'--or by michael angelo's 'judgment.' my task, to-day, is to set before you some part of the design of the first master of the works in the sistine chapel; and i believe that, from his teaching, you will, even in the hour which i ask you now to give, learn what may be of true use to you in all your future labor, whether in oxford or elsewhere. 183. you have doubtless, in the course of these lectures, been occasionally surprised by my speaking of holbein and sandro botticelli, as reformers, in the same tone of respect, and with the same implied assertion of their intellectual power and agency, with which it is usual to speak of luther and savonarola. you have been accustomed, indeed, to hear painting and sculpture spoken of as supporting or enforcing church doctrine; but never as reforming or chastising it. whether protestant or roman catholic, you have admitted what in the one case you held to be the abuse of painting in the furtherance of idolatry,--in the other, its amiable and exalting ministry to the feebleness of faith. but neither has recognized,--the protestant his ally,--or the catholic his enemy, in the far more earnest work of the great painters of the fifteenth century. the protestant was, in most cases, too vulgar to understand the aid offered to him by painting; and in all cases too terrified to believe in it. he drove the gift-bringing greek with imprecations from his sectarian fortress, or received him within it only on the condition that he should speak no word of religion there. 184. on the other hand, the catholic, in most cases too indolent to read, and, in all, too proud to dread, the rebuke of the reforming painters, confused them with the crowd of his old flatterers, and little noticed their altered language or their graver brow. in a little while, finding they had ceased to be amusing, he effaced their works, not as dangerous, but as dull; and recognized only thenceforward, as art, the innocuous bombast of michael angelo, and fluent efflorescence of bernini. but when you become more intimately and impartially acquainted with the history of the reformation, you will find that, as surely and earnestly as memling and giotto strove in the north and south to set forth and exalt the catholic faith, so surely and earnestly did holbein and botticelli strive, in the north, to chastise, and, in the south, to revive it. in what manner, i will try to-day briefly to show you. 185. i name these two men as the reforming leaders: there were many, rank and file, who worked in alliance with holbein; with botticelli, two great ones, lippi and perugino. but both of these had so much pleasure in their own pictorial faculty, that they strove to keep quiet, and out of harm's way,--involuntarily manifesting themselves sometimes, however; and not in the wisest manner. lippi's running away with a novice was not likely to be understood as a step in church reformation correspondent to luther's marriage.[as] nor have protestant divines, even to this day, recognized the real meaning of the reports of perugino's 'infidelity.' botticelli, the pupil of the one, and the companion of the other, held the truths they taught him through sorrow as well as joy; and he is the greatest of the reformers, because he preached without blame; though the least known, because he died without victory. i had hoped to be able to lay before you some better biography of him than the traditions of vasari, of which i gave a short abstract some time back in fors clavigera (letter xxii.); but as yet i have only added internal evidence to the popular story, the more important points of which i must review briefly. it will not waste your time if i read,--instead of merely giving you reference to,--the passages on which i must comment. 186. "his father, mariano filipepi, a florentine citizen, brought him up with care, and caused him to be instructed in all such things as are usually taught to children before they choose a calling. but although the boy readily acquired whatever he wished to learn, yet was he constantly discontented; neither would he take any pleasure in reading, writing, or accounts, insomuch that the father, disturbed by the eccentric habits of his son, turned him over in despair to a gossip of his, called botticello, who was a goldsmith, and considered a very competent master of his art, to the intent that the boy might learn the same." "he took no pleasure in reading, writing, nor accounts"! you will find the same thing recorded of cimabue; but it is more curious when stated of a man whom i cite to you as typically a gentleman and a scholar. but remember, in those days, though there were not so many entirely correct books issued by the religious tract society for boys to read, there were a great many more pretty things in the world for boys to see. the val d'arno was pater-noster row to purpose; their father's row, with books of his writing on the mountain shelves. and the lad takes to looking at things, and thinking about them, instead of reading about them,--which i commend to you also, as much the more scholarly practice of the two. to the end, though he knows all about the celestial hierarchies, he is not strong in his letters, nor in his dialect. i asked mr. tyrwhitt to help me through with a bit of his italian the other day. mr. tyrwhitt could only help me by suggesting that it was "botticelli for so-and-so." and one of the minor reasons which induced me so boldly to attribute these sibyls to him, instead of bandini, is that the lettering is so ill done. the engraver would assuredly have had his lettering all right,--or at least neat. botticelli blunders through it, scratches impatiently out when he goes wrong: and as i told you there's no repentance in the engraver's trade, leaves all the blunders visible. 187. i may add one fact bearing on this question lately communicated to me.[at] in the autumn of 1872 i possessed myself of an italian book of pen drawings, some, i have no doubt, by mantegna in his youth, others by sandro himself. in examining these, i was continually struck by the comparatively feeble and blundering way in which the titles were written, while all the rest of the handling was really superb; and still more surprised when, on the sleeves and hem of the robe of one of the principal figures of women, ("helena rapita da paris,") i found what seemed to be meant for inscriptions, intricately embroidered; which nevertheless, though beautifully drawn, i could not read. in copying botticelli's zipporah this spring, i found the border of her robe wrought with characters of the same kind, which a young painter, working with me, who already knows the minor secrets of italian art better than i,[au] assures me are letters,--and letters of a language hitherto undeciphered. 188. "there was at that time a close connection and almost constant intercourse between the goldsmiths and the painters, wherefore sandro, who possessed considerable ingenuity, and was strongly disposed to the arts of design, became enamored of painting, and resolved to devote himself entirely to that vocation. he acknowledged his purpose at once to his father; and the latter, who knew the force of his inclination, took him accordingly to the carmelite monk, fra filippo, who was a most excellent painter of that time, with whom he placed him to study the art, as sandro himself had desired. devoting himself thereupon entirely to the vocation he had chosen, sandro so closely followed the directions, and imitated the manner, of his master, that fra filippo conceived a great love for him, and instructed him so effectually, that sandro rapidly attained to such a degree in art as none would have predicted for him." i have before pointed out to you the importance of training by the goldsmith. sandro got more good of it, however, than any of the other painters so educated,--being enabled by it to use gold for light to color, in a glowing harmony never reached with equal perfection, and rarely attempted, in the later schools. to the last, his paintings are partly treated as work in niello; and he names himself, in perpetual gratitude, from this first artisan master. nevertheless, the fortunate fellow finds, at the right moment, another, even more to his mind, and is obedient to him through his youth, as to the other through his childhood. and this master loves him; and instructs him 'so effectually,'--in grinding colors, do you suppose, only; or in laying of lines only; or in anything more than these? 189. i will tell you what lippi must have taught any boy whom he loved. first, humility, and to live in joy and peace, injuring no man--if such innocence might be. nothing is so manifest in every face by him, as its gentleness and rest. secondly, to finish his work perfectly, and in such temper that the angels might say of it--not he himself--'iste perfecit opus.' do you remember what i told you in the eagle's nest (§ 53), that true humility was in hoping that angels might sometimes admire _our_ work; not in hoping that we should ever be able to admire _theirs_? thirdly,--a little thing it seems, but was a great one,--love of flowers. no one draws such lilies or such daisies as lippi. botticelli beat him afterwards in roses, but never in lilies. fourthly, due honor for classical tradition. lippi is the only religious painter who dresses john baptist in the camelskin, as the greeks dressed heracles in the lion's--over the head. lastly, and chiefly of all,--le père hyacinthe taught his pupil certain views about the doctrine of the church, which the boy thought of more deeply than his tutor, and that by a great deal; and master sandro presently got himself into such question for painting heresy, that if he had been as hot-headed as he was true-hearted, he would soon have come to bad end by the tar-barrel. but he is so sweet and so modest, that nobody is frightened; so clever, that everybody is pleased: and at last, actually the pope sends for him to paint his own private chapel,--where the first thing my young gentleman does, mind you, is to paint the devil in a monk's dress, tempting christ! the sauciest thing, out and out, done in the history of the reformation, it seems to me; yet so wisely done, and with such true respect otherwise shown for what was sacred in the church, that the pope didn't mind: and all went on as merrily as marriage bells. 190. i have anticipated, however, in telling you this, the proper course of his biography, to which i now return. "while still a youth he painted the figure of fortitude, among those pictures of the virtues which antonio and pietro pollaiuolo were executing in the mercatanzia, or tribunal of commerce, in florence. in santo spirito, a church of the same city, he painted a picture for the chapel of the bardi family: this work he executed with great diligence, and finished it very successfully, depicting certain olive and palm trees therein with extraordinary care." it is by a beautiful chance that the first work of his, specified by his italian biographer, should be the fortitude.[av] note also what is said of his tree drawing. "having, in consequence of this work, obtained much credit and reputation, sandro was appointed by the guild of porta santa maria to paint a picture in san marco, the subject of which is the coronation of our lady, who is surrounded by a choir of angels--the whole extremely well designed, and finished by the artist with infinite care. he executed various works in the medici palace for the elder lorenzo, more particularly a figure of pallas on a shield wreathed with vine branches, whence flames are proceeding: this he painted of the size of life. a san sebastiano was also among the most remarkable of the works executed for lorenzo. in the church of santa maria maggiore, in florence, is a pietà, with small figures, by this master: this is a very beautiful work. for different houses in various parts of the city sandro painted many pictures of a round form, with numerous figures of women undraped. of these there are still two examples at castello, a villa of the duke cosimo,--one representing the birth of venus, who is borne to earth by the loves and zephyrs; the second also presenting the figure of venus crowned with flowers by the graces: she is here intended to denote the spring, and the allegory is expressed by the painter with extraordinary grace." our young reformer enters, it seems, on a very miscellaneous course of study; the coronation of our lady; st. sebastian; pallas in vine-leaves; and venus,--without fig-leaves. not wholly calvinistic, fra filippo's teaching seems to have been! all the better for the boy--being such a boy as he was: but i cannot in this lecture enter farther into my reasons for saying so. 191. vasari, however, has shot far ahead in telling us of this picture of the spring, which is one of botticelli's completest works. long before he was able to paint greek nymphs, he had done his best in idealism of greater spirits; and, while yet quite a youth, painted, at castello, the assumption of our lady, with "the patriarchs, the prophets, the apostles, the evangelists, the martyrs, the confessors, the doctors, the virgins, and the hierarchies!" imagine this subject proposed to a young, (or even old) british artist, for his next appeal to public sensation at the academy! but do you suppose that the young british artist is wiser and more civilized than lippi's scholar, because his only idea of a patriarch is of a man with a long beard; of a doctor, the m.d. with the brass plate over the way; and of a virgin, miss ---of the ---theater? not that even sandro was able, according to vasari's report, to conduct the entire design himself. the proposer of the subject assisted him; and they made some modifications in the theology, which brought them both into trouble--so early did sandro's innovating work begin, into which subjects our gossiping friend waives unnecessary inquiry, as follows. "but although this picture is exceedingly beautiful, and ought to have put envy to shame, yet there were found certain malevolent and censorious persons who, not being able to affix any other blame to the work, declared that matteo and sandro had erred gravely in that matter, and had fallen into grievous heresy. "now, whether this be true or not, let none expect the judgment of that question from me: it shall suffice me to note that the figures executed by sandro in that work are entirely worthy of praise; and that the pains he took in depicting those circles of the heavens must have been very great, to say nothing of the angels mingled with the other figures, or of the various foreshortenings, all which are designed in a very good manner. "about this time sandro received a commission to paint a small picture with figures three parts of a braccio high,--the subject an adoration of the magi. "it is indeed a most admirable work; the composition, the design, and the coloring are so beautiful that every artist who examines it is astonished; and, at the time, it obtained so great a name in florence, and other places, for the master, that pope sixtus iv. having erected the chapel built by him in his palace at rome, and desiring to have it adorned with paintings, commanded that sandro botticelli should be appointed superintendent of the work." 192. vasari's words, "about this time," are evidently wrong. it must have been many and many a day after he painted matteo's picture that he took such high standing in florence as to receive the mastership of the works in the pope's chapel at rome. of his position and doings there, i will tell you presently; meantime, let us complete the story of his life. "by these works botticelli obtained great honor and reputation among the many competitors who were laboring with him, whether florentines or natives of other cities, and received from the pope a considerable sum of money; but this he consumed and squandered totally, during his residence in rome, where he lived without due care, as was his habit." 193. well, but one would have liked to hear _how_ he squandered his money, and whether he was without care--of other things than money. it is just possible, master vasari, that botticelli may have laid out his money at higher interest than you know of; meantime, he is advancing in life and thought, and becoming less and less comprehensible to his biographer. and at length, having got rid, somehow, of the money he received from the pope; and finished the work he had to do, and uncovered it,--free in conscience, and empty in purse, he returned to florence, where, "being a sophistical person, he made a comment on a part of dante, and drew the inferno, and put it in engraving, in which he consumed much time; and not working for this reason, brought infinite disorder into his affairs." 194. unpaid work, this engraving of dante, you perceive,--consuming much time also, and not appearing to vasari to be work at all. it is but a short sentence, gentlemen,--this, in the old edition of vasari, and obscurely worded,--a very foolish person's contemptuous report of a thing to him totally incomprehensible. but the thing itself is out-and-out the most important fact in the history of the religious art of italy. i can show you its significance in not many more words than have served to record it. botticelli had been painting in rome; and had expressly chosen to represent there,--being master of works, in the presence of the defender of the faith,--the foundation of the mosaic law; to his mind the eternal law of god,--that law of which modern evangelicals sing perpetually their own original psalm, "oh, how hate i thy law! it is my abomination all the day." returning to florence, he reads dante's vision of the hell created by its violation. he knows that the pictures he has painted in rome cannot be understood by the people; they are exclusively for the best trained scholars in the church. dante, on the other hand, can only be read in manuscript; but the people could and would understand _his_ lessons, if they were pictured in accessible and enduring form. he throws all his own lauded work aside,--all for which he is most honored, and in which his now matured and magnificent skill is as easy to him as singing to a perfect musician. and he sets himself to a servile and despised labor,--his friends mocking him, his resources failing him, infinite 'disorder' getting into his affairs--of this world. 195. never such another thing happened in italy any more. botticelli engraved her pilgrim's progress for her, putting himself in prison to do it. she would not read it when done. raphael and marc antonio were the theologians for her money. pretty madonnas, and satyrs with abundance of tail,--let our pilgrim's progress be in _these_ directions, if you please. botticelli's own pilgrimage, however, was now to be accomplished triumphantly, with such crowning blessings as heaven might grant to him. in spite of his friends and his disordered affairs, he went his own obstinate way; and found another man's words worth engraving as well as dante's; not without perpetuating, also, what he deemed worthy of his own. 196. what would that be, think you? his chosen works before the pope in rome?--his admired madonnas in florence?--his choirs of angels and thickets of flowers? some few of these yes, as you shall presently see; but "the best attempt of this kind from his hand is the triumph of faith, by fra girolamo savonarola, of ferrara, of whose sect our artist was so zealous a partisan that he totally abandoned painting, and not having any other means of living, he fell into very great difficulties. but his attachment to the party he had adopted increased; he became what was then called a piagnone, or mourner, and abandoned all labor; insomuch that, finding himself at length become old, being also very poor, he must have died of hunger had he not been supported by lorenzo de' medici, for whom he had worked at the small hospital of volterra and other places, who assisted him while he lived, as did other friends and admirers of his talents." 197. in such dignity and independence--having employed his talents not wholly at the orders of the dealer--died, a poor bedesman of lorenzo de' medici, the president of that high academy of art in rome, whose academicians were perugino, ghirlandajo, angelico, and signorelli; and whose students, michael angelo and raphael. 'a worthless, ill-conducted fellow on the whole,' thinks vasari, 'with a crazy fancy for scratching on copper.' well, here are some of the scratches for you to see; only, first, i must ask you seriously for a few moments to consider what the two powers were, which, with this iron pen of his, he has set himself to reprove. 198. two great forms of authority reigned over the entire civilized world, confessedly, and by name, in the middle ages. they reign over it still, and must forever, though at present very far from confessed; and, in most places, ragingly denied. the first power is that of the teacher, or true father; the father 'in god.' it may be--happy the children to whom it is--the actual father also; and whose parents have been their tutors. but, for the most part, it will be some one else who teaches them, and molds their minds and brain. all such teaching, when true, being from above, and coming down from the father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning, is properly that of the holy catholic '[greek: ekklêsia],' council, church, or papacy, of many fathers in god, not of one. eternally powerful and divine; reverenced of all humble and lowly scholars, in jewry, in greece, in rome, in gaul, in england, and beyond sea, from arctic zone to zone. the second authority is the power of national law, enforcing justice in conduct by due reward and punishment. power vested necessarily in magistrates capable of administering it with mercy and equity; whose authority, be it of many or few, is again divine, as proceeding from the king of kings, and was acknowledged, throughout civilized christendom, as the power of the holy empire, or holy roman empire, because first throned in rome; but it is forever also acknowledged, namelessly, or by name, by all loyal, obedient, just, and humble hearts, which truly desire that, whether for them or against them, the eternal equities and dooms of heaven should be pronounced and executed; and as the wisdom or word of their father should be taught, so the will of their father should be done, on earth, as it is in heaven. 199. you all here know what contention, first, and then what corruption and dishonor, had paralyzed these two powers before the days of which we now speak. reproof, and either reform or rebellion, became necessary everywhere. the northern reformers, holbein, and luther, and henry, and cromwell, set themselves to their task rudely, and, it might seem, carried it through. the southern reformers, dante, and savonarola, and botticelli, set hand to their task reverently, and, it seemed, did not by any means carry it through. but the end is not yet. 200. now i shall endeavor to-day to set before you the art of botticelli, especially as exhibiting the modesty of great imagination trained in reverence, which characterized the southern reformers; and as opposed to the immodesty of narrow imagination, trained in self-trust, which characterized the northern reformers. 'the modesty of great _imagination_;' that is to say, of the power which conceives all things in true relation, and not only as they affect ourselves. i can show you this most definitely by taking one example of the modern, and unschooled temper, in bewick;[aw] and setting it beside botticelli's treatment of the same subject of thought,--namely, the meaning of war, and the reforms necessary in the carrying on of war. 201. both the men are entirely at one in their purpose. they yearn for peace and justice to rule over the earth, instead of the sword; but see how differently they will say what is in their hearts to the people they address. to bewick, war was more an absurdity than it was a horror: he had not seen battle-fields, still less had he read of them, in ancient days. he cared nothing about heroes,--greek, roman, or norman. what he knew, and saw clearly, was that farmer hodge's boy went out of the village one holiday afternoon, a fine young fellow, rather drunk, with a colored ribbon in his hat; and came back, ten years afterwards, with one leg, one eye, an old red coat, and a tobacco-pipe in the pocket of it. that is what he has got to say, mainly. so, for the pathetic side of the business, he draws you two old soldiers meeting as bricklayers' laborers; and for the absurd side of it, he draws a stone, sloping sideways with age, in a bare field, on which you can just read, out of a long inscription, the words "glorious victory;" but no one is there to read them,--only a jackass, who uses the stone to scratch himself against. 202. now compare with this botticelli's reproof of war. _he_ had seen it, and often; and between noble persons;--knew the temper in which the noblest knights went out to it;--knew the strength, the patience, the glory, and the grief of it. he would fain see his florence in peace; and yet he knows that the wisest of her citizens are her bravest soldiers. so he seeks for the ideal of a soldier, and for the greatest glory of war, that in the presence of these he may speak reverently, what he must speak. he does not go to greece for his hero. he is not sure that even her patriotic wars were always right. but, by his religious faith, he cannot doubt the nobleness of the soldier who put the children of israel in possession of their promised land, and to whom the sign of the consent of heaven was given by its pausing light in the valley of ajalon. must then setting sun and risen moon stay, he thinks, only to look upon slaughter? may no soldier of christ bid them stay otherwise than so? he draws joshua, but quitting his hold of the sword: its hilt rests on his bent knee; and he kneels before the sun, not commands it; and this is his prayer:-"oh, king of kings, and lord of lords, who alone rulest always in eternity, and who correctest all our wanderings,--giver of melody to the choir of the angels, listen thou a little to our bitter grief, and come and rule us, oh thou highest king, with thy love which is so sweet!" is not that a little better, and a little wiser, than bewick's jackass? is it not also better, and wiser, than the sneer of modern science? 'what great men are we!--we, forsooth, can make almanacs, and know that the earth turns round. joshua indeed! let us have no more talk of the old-clothes-man.' all bewick's simplicity is in that; but none of bewick's understanding. 203. i pass to the attack made by botticelli upon the guilt of wealth. so i had at first written; but i should rather have written, the appeal made by him against the cruelty of wealth, then first attaining the power it has maintained to this day. the practice of receiving interest had been confined, until this fifteenth century, with contempt and malediction, to the profession, so styled, of usurers, or to the jews. the merchants of augsburg introduced it as a convenient and pleasant practice among christians also; and insisted that it was decorous and proper even among respectable merchants. in the view of the christian church of their day, they might more reasonably have set themselves to defend adultery.[ax] however, they appointed dr. john eck, of ingoldstadt, to hold debates in all possible universities, at their expense, on the allowing of interest; and as these augsburgers had in venice their special mart, fondaco, called of the germans, their new notions came into direct collision with old venetian ones, and were much hindered by them, and all the more, because, in opposition to dr. john eck, there was preaching on the other side of the alps. the franciscans, poor themselves, preached mercy to the poor: one of them, brother marco of san gallo, planned the 'mount of pity' for their defense, and the merchants of venice set up the first in the world, against the german fondaco. the dispute burned far on towards our own times. you perhaps have heard before of one antonio, a merchant of venice, who persistently retained the then obsolete practice of lending money gratis, and of the peril it brought him into with the usurers. but you perhaps did not before know why it was the flesh, or heart of flesh, in him, that they so hated. 204. against this newly risen demon of authorized usury, holbein and botticelli went out to war together. holbein, as we have partly seen in his designs for the dance of death, struck with all his soldier's strength.[ay] botticelli uses neither satire nor reproach. he turns altogether away from the criminals; appeals only to heaven for defense against them. he engraves the design which, of all his work, must have cost him hardest toil in its execution,--the virgin praying to her son in heaven for pity upon the poor: "for these are also my children."[az] underneath, are the seven works of mercy; and in the midst of them, the building of the mount of pity: in the distance lies italy, mapped in cape and bay, with the cities which had founded mounts of pity,--venice in the distance, chief. little seen, but engraved with the master's loveliest care, in the background there is a group of two small figures--the franciscan brother kneeling, and an angel of victory crowning him. 205. i call it an angel of victory, observe, with assurance; although there is no legend claiming victory, or distinguishing this angel from any other of those which adorn with crowns of flowers the nameless crowds of the blessed. for botticelli has other ways of speaking than by written legends. i know by a glance at this angel that he has taken the action of it from a greek coin; and i know also that he had not, in his own exuberant fancy, the least need to copy the action of any figure whatever. so i understand, as well as if he spoke to me, that he expects me, if i am an educated gentleman, to recognize this particular action as a greek angel's; and to know that it is a temporal victory which it crowns. 206. and now farther, observe, that this classical learning of botticelli's, received by him, as i told you, as a native element of his being, gives not only greater dignity and gentleness, but far wider range, to his thoughts of reformation. as he asks for pity from the cruel jew to the _poor_ gentile, so he asks for pity from the proud christian to the _untaught_ gentile. nay, for more than pity, for fellowship, and acknowledgment of equality before god. the learned men of his age in general brought back the greek mythology as anti-christian. but botticelli and perugino, as pre-christian; nor only as pre-christian, but as the foundation of christianity. but chiefly botticelli, with perfect grasp of the mosaic and classic theology, thought over and seized the harmonies of both; and he it was who gave the conception of that great choir of the prophets and sibyls, of which michael angelo, more or less ignorantly borrowing it in the sistine chapel, in great part lost the meaning, while he magnified the aspect. 207. for, indeed, all christian and heathen mythology had alike become to michael angelo only a vehicle for the display of his own powers of drawing limbs and trunks: and having resolved, and made the world of his day believe, that all the glory of design lay in variety of difficult attitude, he flings the naked bodies about his ceiling with an upholsterer's ingenuity of appliance to the corners they could fit, but with total absence of any legible meaning. nor do i suppose that one person in a million, even of those who have some acquaintance with the earlier masters, takes patience in the sistine chapel to conceive the original design. but botticelli's mastership of the works evidently was given to him as a theologian, even more than as a painter; and the moment when he came to rome to receive it, you may hold for the crisis of the reformation in italy. the main effort to save her priesthood was about to be made by her wisest reformer,--face to face with the head of her church,--not in contest with him, but in the humblest subjection to him; and in adornment of his own chapel for his own delight, and more than delight, if it might be. 208. sandro brings to work, not under him, but with him, the three other strongest and worthiest men he knows, perugino, ghirlandajo, and luca signorelli. there is evidently entire fellowship in thought between botticelli and perugino. they two together plan the whole; and botticelli, though the master, yields to perugino the principal place, the end of the chapter, on which is to be the assumption of the virgin. it was perugino's favorite subject, done with his central strength; assuredly the crowning work of his life, and of lovely christian art in europe. michael angelo painted it out, and drew devils and dead bodies all over the wall instead. but there remains to us, happily, the series of subjects designed by botticelli to lead up to this lost one. 209. he came, i said, not to attack, but to restore the papal authority. to show the power of inherited honor, and universal claim of divine law, in the jewish and christian church,--the law delivered first by moses; then, in final grace and truth, by christ. he designed twelve great pictures, each containing some twenty figures the size of life, and groups of smaller ones scarcely to be counted. twelve pictures,--six to illustrate the giving of the law by moses; and six, the ratification and completion of it by christ. event by event, the jurisprudence of each dispensation is traced from dawn to close in this correspondence. 1. covenant of circumcision. 2. entrance on his ministry by moses. 3. moses by the red sea. 4. delivery of law on sinai. 5. destruction of korah. 6. death of moses. 7. covenant of baptism. 8. entrance on his ministry by christ. 9. peter and andrew by the sea of galilee. 10. sermon on mount. 11. giving keys to st. peter. 12. last supper. of these pictures, sandro painted three himself, perugino three, and the assumption; ghirlandajo one, signorelli one, and rosselli four.[ba] i believe that sandro intended to take the roof also, and had sketched out the main succession of its design; and that the prophets and sibyls which he meant to paint, he drew first small, and engraved his drawings afterwards, that some part of the work might be, at all events, thus communicable to the world outside of the vatican. 210. it is not often that i tell you my beliefs; but i am forced here, for there are no dates to found more on. is it not wonderful that among all the infinite mass of fools' thoughts about the "majestic works of michael angelo" in the sistine chapel, no slightly more rational person has ever asked what the chapel was first meant to be like, and how it was to be roofed? nor can i assume myself, still less you, that all these prophets and sibyls are botticelli's. of many there are two engravings, with variations: some are inferior in parts, many altogether. he signed none; never put grand tablets with 's. b.' into his skies; had other letters than those to engrave, and no time to spare. i have chosen out of the series three of the sibyls, which have, i think, clear internal evidence of being his; and these you shall compare with michael angelo's. but first i must put you in mind what the sibyls were. 211. as the prophets represent the voice of god in man, the sibyls represent the voice of god in nature. they are properly all forms of one sibyl, [greek: dios boulê], the counsel of god; and the chief one, at least in the roman mind, was the sibyl of cumae. from the traditions of her, the romans, and we through them, received whatever lessons the myth, or fact, of sibyl power has given to mortals. how much have you received, or may you yet receive, think you, of that teaching? i call it the myth, or fact; but remember that, _as_ a myth, it _is_ a fact. this story has concentrated whatever good there is in the imagination or visionary powers in women, inspired by nature only. the traditions of witch and gypsy are partly its offshoots. you despise both, perhaps. but can you, though in utmost pride of your supreme modern wisdom, suppose that the character--say, even of so poor and far-fallen a sibyl as meg merrilies--is only the coinage of scott's brain; or that, even being no more, it is valueless? admit the figure of the cumaean sibyl, in like manner, to be the coinage only of virgil's brain. as such, it, and the words it speaks, are yet facts in which we may find use, if we are reverent to them. to me, personally, (i must take your indulgence for a moment to speak wholly of myself,) they have been of the truest service--quite material and indisputable. i am writing on st. john's day, in the monastery of assisi; and i had no idea whatever, when i sat down to my work this morning, of saying any word of what i am now going to tell you. i meant only to expand and explain a little what i said in my lecture about the florentine engraving. but it seems to me now that i had better tell you what the cumaean sibyl has actually done for me. 212. in 1871, partly in consequence of chagrin at the revolution in paris, and partly in great personal sorrow, i was struck by acute inflammatory illness at matlock, and reduced to a state of extreme weakness; lying at one time unconscious for some hours, those about me having no hope of my life. i have no doubt that the immediate cause of the illness was simply, eating when i was not hungry; so that modern science would acknowledge nothing in the whole business but an extreme and very dangerous form of indigestion; and entirely deny any interference of the cumaean sibyl in the matter. i once heard a sermon by dr. guthrie, in edinburgh, upon the wickedness of fasting. it was very eloquent and ingenious, and finely explained the superiority of the scotch free church to the benighted catholic church, in that the free church saw no merit in fasting. and there was no mention, from beginning to end of the sermon, of even the existence of such texts as daniel i. 12, or matthew vi. 16. without the smallest merit, i admit, in fasting, i was nevertheless reduced at matlock to a state very near starvation; and could not rise from my pillow, without being lifted, for some days. and in the first clearly pronounced stage of recovery, when the perfect powers of spirit had returned, while the body was still as weak as it well could be, i had three dreams, which made a great impression on me; for in ordinary health my dreams are supremely ridiculous, if not unpleasant; and in ordinary conditions of illness, very ugly, and always without the slightest meaning. but these dreams were all distinct and impressive, and had much meaning, if i chose to take it. 213. the first[bb] was of a venetian fisherman, who wanted me to follow him down into some water which i thought was too deep; but he called me on, saying he had something to show me; so i followed him; and presently, through an opening, as if in the arsenal wall, he showed me the bronze horses of st. mark's, and said, 'see, the horses are putting on their harness.' the second was of a preparation at rome, in st. peter's, (or a vast hall as large as st. peter's,) for the exhibition of a religious drama. part of the play was to be a scene in which demons were to appear in the sky; and the stage servants were arranging gray fictitious clouds, and painted fiends, for it, under the direction of the priests. there was a woman dressed in black, standing at the corner of the stage watching them, having a likeness in her face to one of my own dead friends; and i knew somehow that she was not that friend, but a spirit; and she made me understand, without speaking, that i was to watch, for the play would turn out other than the priests expected. and i waited; and when the scene came on, the clouds became real clouds, and the fiends real fiends, agitating them in slow quivering, wild and terrible, over the heads of the people and priests. i recollected distinctly, however, when i woke, only the figure of the black woman mocking the people, and of one priest in an agony of terror, with the sweat pouring from his brow, but violently scolding one of the stage servants for having failed in some ceremony, the omission of which, he thought, had given the devils their power. the third dream was the most interesting and personal. some one came to me to ask me to help in the deliverance of a company of italian prisoners who were to be ransomed for money. i said i had no money. they answered, yes, i had some that belonged to me as a brother of st. francis, if i would give it up. i said i did not know even that i _was_ a brother of st. francis; but i thought to myself, that perhaps the franciscans of fésole, whom i had helped to make hay in their field in 1845, had adopted me for one; only i didn't see how the consequence of that would be my having any money. however, i said they were welcome to whatever i had; and then i heard the voice of an italian woman singing; and i have never heard such divine singing before nor since;--the sounds absolutely strong and real, and the melody altogether lovely. if i could have written it! but i could not even remember it when i woke,--only how beautiful it was. 214. now these three dreams have, every one of them, been of much use to me since; or so far as they have failed to be useful, it has been my own fault, and not theirs; but the chief use of them at the time was to give me courage and confidence in myself, both in bodily distress, of which i had still not a little to bear; and worse, much mental anxiety about matters supremely interesting to me, which were turning out ill. and through all such trouble--which came upon me as i was recovering, as if it meant to throw me back into the grave,--i held out and recovered, repeating always to myself, or rather having always murmured in my ears, at every new trial, one latin line, tu ne cede malis, sed contra fortior ito. now i had got this line out of the tablet in the engraving of raphael's vision, and had forgotten where it came from. and i thought i knew my sixth book of virgil so well, that i never looked at it again while i was giving these lectures at oxford, and it was only here at assisi, the other day, wanting to look more accurately at the first scene by the lake avernus, that i found i had been saved by the words of the cumaean sibyl. 215. "quam tua te fortuna sinet," the completion of the sentence, has yet more and continual teaching in it for me now; as it has for all men. her opening words, which have become hackneyed, and lost all present power through vulgar use of them, contain yet one of the most immortal truths ever yet spoken for mankind; and they will never lose their power of help for noble persons. but observe, both in that lesson, "facilis descensus averni," etc.; and in the still more precious, because universal, one on which the strength of rome was founded,--the burning of the books,--the sibyl speaks only as the voice of nature, and of her laws;--not as a divine helper, prevailing over death; but as a mortal teacher warning us against it, and strengthening us for our mortal time; but not for eternity. of which lesson her own history is a part, and her habitation by the avernus lake. she desires immortality, fondly and vainly, as we do ourselves. she receives, from the love of her _refused_ lover, apollo, not immortality, but length of life;--her years to be as the grains of dust in her hand. and even this she finds was a false desire; and her wise and holy desire at last is--to die. she wastes away; becomes a shade only, and a voice. the nations ask her, what wouldst thou? she answers, peace; only let my last words be true. "l'ultimo mie parlar sie verace." [illustration: vii. for a time, and times.] 216. therefore, if anything is to be conceived, rightly, and chiefly, in the form of the cumaean sibyl, it must be of fading virginal beauty, of enduring patience, of far-looking into futurity. "for after my death there shall yet return," she says, "another virgin." jam redit et virgo;--redeunt saturnia regna, ultima cumaei venit jam carminis aetas. here then is botticelli's cumaean sibyl. she is armed, for she is the prophetess of roman fortitude;--but her faded breast scarcely raises the corselet; her hair floats, not falls, in waves like the currents of a river,--the sign of enduring life; the light is full on her forehead: she looks into the distance as in a dream. it is impossible for art to gather together more beautifully or intensely every image which can express her true power, or lead us to understand her lesson. [illustration: viii. the nymph beloved of apollo. (michael angelo.)] 217. now you do not, i am well assured, know one of michael angelo's sibyls from another: unless perhaps the delphian, whom of course he makes as beautiful as he can. but of this especially italian prophetess, one would have thought he might, at least in some way, have shown that he knew the history, even if he did not understand it. she might have had more than one book, at all events, to burn. she might have had a stray leaf or two fallen at her feet. he could not indeed have painted her only as a voice; but his anatomical knowledge need not have hindered him from painting her virginal youth, or her wasting and watching age, or her inspired hope of a holier future. 218. opposite,--fortunately, photograph from the figure itself, so that you can suspect me of no exaggeration,--is michael angelo's cumaean sibyl, wasting away. it is by a grotesque and most strange chance that he should have made the figure of this sibyl, of all others in the chapel, the most fleshly and gross, even proceeding to the monstrous license of showing the nipples of the breast as if the dress were molded over them like plaster. thus he paints the poor nymph beloved of apollo,--the clearest and queenliest in prophecy and command of all the sibyls,--as an ugly crone, with the arms of goliath, poring down upon a single book. 219. there is one point of fine detail, however, in botticelli's cumaean sibyl, and in the next i am going to show you, to explain which i must go back for a little while to the question of the direct relation of the italian painters to the greek. i don't like repeating in one lecture what i have said in another; but to save you the trouble of reference, must remind you of what i stated in my fourth lecture on greek birds, when we were examining the adoption of the plume crests in armor, that the crest signifies command; but the diadem, _obedience_; and that every crown is primarily a diadem. it is the thing that binds, before it is the thing that honors. now all the great schools dwell on this symbolism. the long flowing hair is the symbol of life, and the [greek: diadêma] of the law restraining it. royalty, or kingliness, over life, restraining and glorifying. in the extremity of restraint--in death, whether noble, as of death to earth, or ignoble, as of death to heaven, the [greek: diadêma] is fastened with the mort-cloth: "bound hand and foot with grave-clothes, and the face bound about with the napkin." 220. now look back to the first greek head i ever showed you, used as the type of archaic sculpture in aratra pentelici, and then look at the crown in botticelli's astrologia. it is absolutely the greek form,--even to the peculiar oval of the forehead; while the diadem--the governing law--is set with appointed stars--to rule the destiny and thought. then return to the cumaean sibyl. she, as we have seen, is the symbol of enduring life--almost immortal. the diadem is withdrawn from the forehead--reduced to a narrow fillet--here, and the hair thrown free. [illustration: ix. in the woods of ida.] 221. from the cumaean sibyl's diadem, traced only by points, turn to that of the hellespontic, (plate 9, opposite). i do not know why botticelli chose her for the spirit of prophecy in old age; but he has made this the most interesting plate of the series in the definiteness of its connection with the work from dante, which becomes his own prophecy in old age. the fantastic yet solemn treatment of the gnarled wood occurs, as far as i know, in no other engravings but this, and the illustrations to dante; and i am content to leave it, with little comment, for the reader's quiet study, as showing the exuberance of imagination which other men at this time in italy allowed to waste itself in idle arabesque, restrained by botticelli to his most earnest purposes; and giving the withered tree-trunks, hewn for the rude throne of the aged prophetess, the same harmony with her fading spirit which the rose has with youth, or the laurel with victory. also in its weird characters, you have the best example i can show you of the orders of decorative design which are especially expressible by engraving, and which belong to a group of art instincts scarcely now to be understood, much less recovered, (the influence of modern naturalistic imitation being too strong to be conquered)--the instincts, namely, for the arrangement of pure line, in labyrinthine intricacy, through which the grace of order may give continual clue. the entire body of ornamental design, connected with writing, in the middle ages seems as if it were a sensible symbol, to the eye and brain, of the methods of error and recovery, the minglings of crooked with straight, and perverse with progressive, which constitute the great problem of human morals and fate; and when i chose the title for the collected series of these lectures, i hoped to have justified it by careful analysis of the methods of labyrinthine ornament, which, made sacred by theseian traditions,[bc] and beginning, in imitation of physical truth, with the spiral waves of the waters of babylon as the assyrian carved them, entangled in their returns the eyes of men, on greek vase and christian manuscript--till they closed in the arabesques which sprang round the last luxury of venice and rome. but the labyrinth of life itself, and its more and more interwoven occupation, become too manifold, and too difficult for me; and of the time wasted in the blind lanes of it, perhaps that spent in analysis or recommendation of the art to which men's present conduct makes them insensible, has been chiefly cast away. on the walls of the little room where i finally revise this lecture,[bd] hangs an old silken sampler of great-grandame's work: representing the domestic life of abraham: chiefly the stories of isaac and ishmael. sarah at her tent-door, watching, with folded arms, the dismissal of hagar: above, in a wilderness full of fruit trees, birds, and butterflies, little ishmael lying at the root of a tree, and the spent bottle under another; hagar in prayer, and the angel appearing to her out of a wreathed line of gloomily undulating clouds, which, with a dark-rayed sun in the midst, surmount the entire composition in two arches, out of which descend shafts of (i suppose) beneficent rain; leaving, however, room, in the corner opposite to ishmael's angel, for isaac's, who stays abraham in the sacrifice; the ram in the thicket, the squirrel in the plum tree above him, and the grapes, pears, apples, roses, and daisies of the foreground, being all wrought with involution of such ingenious needlework as may well rank, in the patience, the natural skill, and the innocent pleasure of it, with the truest works of florentine engraving. nay; the actual tradition of many of the forms of ancient art is in many places evident,--as, for instance, in the spiral summits of the flames of the wood on the altar, which are like a group of first-springing fern. on the wall opposite is a smaller composition, representing justice with her balance and sword, standing between the sun and moon, with a background of pinks, borage, and corn-cockle: a third is only a cluster of tulips and iris, with two byzantine peacocks; but the spirits of penelope and ariadne reign vivid in all the work--and the richness of pleasurable fancy is as great still, in these silken labors, as in the marble arches and golden roof of the cathedral of monreale. but what is the use of explaining or analyzing it? such work as this means the patience and simplicity of all feminine life; and can be produced, among _us_ at least, no more. gothic tracery itself, another of the instinctive labyrinthine intricacies of old, though analyzed to its last section, has become now the symbol only of a foolish ecclesiastical sect, retained for their shibboleth, joyless and powerless for all good. the very labyrinth of the grass and flowers of our fields, though dissected to its last leaf, is yet bitten bare, or trampled to slime, by the minotaur of our lust; and for the traceried spire of the poplar by the brook, we possess but the four-square furnace tower, to mingle its smoke with heaven's thunder-clouds.[be] we will look yet at one sampler more of the engraved work, done in the happy time when flowers were pure, youth simple, and imagination gay,--botticelli's libyan sibyl. glance back first to the hellespontic, noting the close fillet, and the cloth bound below the face, and then you will be prepared to understand the last i shall show you, and the loveliest of the southern pythonesses. [illustration: x. grass of the desert.] 222. a less deep thinker than botticelli would have made her parched with thirst, and burnt with heat. but the voice of god, through nature, to the arab or the moor, is not in the thirst, but in the fountain--not in the desert, but in the grass of it. and this libyan sibyl is the spirit of wild grass and flowers, springing in desolate places. you see, her diadem is a wreath of them; but the blossoms of it are not fastening enough for her hair, though it is not long yet--(she is only in reality a florentine girl of fourteen or fifteen)--so the little darling knots it under her ears, and then makes herself a necklace of it. but though flowing hair and flowers are wild and pretty, botticelli had not, in these only, got the power of spring marked to his mind. any girl might wear flowers; but few, for ornament, would be likely to wear grass. so the sibyl shall have grass in her diadem; not merely interwoven and bending, but springing and strong. you thought it ugly and grotesque at first, did not you? it was made so, because precisely what botticelli wanted you to look at. but that's not all. this conical cap of hers, with one bead at the top,--considering how fond the florentines are of graceful head-dresses, this seems a strange one for a young girl. but, exactly as i know the angel of victory to be greek, at his mount of pity, so i know this head-dress to be taken from a greek coin, and to be meant for a greek symbol. it is the petasus of hermes--the mist of morning over the dew. lastly, what will the libyan sibyl say to you? the letters are large on her tablet. her message is the oracle from the temple of the dew: "the dew of thy birth is as the womb of the morning."--"ecce venientem diem, et latentia aperientem, tenebit gremio gentium regina." 223. why the daybreak came not then, nor yet has come, but only a deeper darkness; and why there is now neither queen nor king of nations, but every man doing that which is right in his own eyes, i would fain go on, partly to tell you, and partly to meditate with you: but it is not our work for to-day. the issue of the reformation which these great painters, the scholars of dante, began, we may follow, farther, in the study to which i propose to lead you, of the lives of cimabue and giotto, and the relation of their work at assisi to the chapel and chambers of the vatican. 224. to-day let me finish what i have to tell you of the style of southern engraving. what sudden bathos in the sentence, you think! so contemptible the question of style, then, in painting, though not in literature? you study the 'style' of homer; the style, perhaps, of isaiah; the style of horace, and of massillon. is it so vain to study the style of botticelli? in all cases, it is equally vain, if you think of their style first. but know their purpose, and then, their way of speaking is worth thinking of. these apparently unfinished and certainly unfilled outlines of the florentine,--clumsy work, as vasari thought them,--as mr. otley and most of our english amateurs still think them,--are these good or bad engraving? you may ask now, comprehending their motive, with some hope of answering or being answered rightly. and the answer is, they are the finest gravers' work ever done yet by human hand. you may teach, by process of discipline and of years, any youth of good artistic capacity to engrave a plate in the modern manner; but only the noblest passion, and the tenderest patience, will ever engrave one line like these of sandro botticelli. 225. passion, and patience! nay, even these you may have to-day in england, and yet both be in vain. only a few years ago, in one of our northern iron-foundries, a workman of intense power and natural art-faculty set himself to learn engraving;--made his own tools; gave all the spare hours of his laborious life to learn their use; learnt it; and engraved a plate which, in manipulation, no professional engraver would be ashamed of. he engraved his blast furnace, and the casting of a beam of a steam engine. this, to him, was the power of god,--it was his life. no greater earnestness was ever given by man to promulgate a gospel. nevertheless, the engraving is absolutely worthless. the blast furnace _is not_ the power of god; and the life of the strong spirit was as much consumed in the flames of it, as ever driven slave's by the burden and heat of the day. how cruel to say so, if he yet lives, you think! no, my friends; the cruelty will be in you, and the guilt, if, having been brought here to learn that god is your light, you yet leave the blast furnace to be the only light of england. 226. it has been, as i said in the note above (§ 200), with extreme pain that i have hitherto limited my notice of our own great engraver and moralist, to the points in which the disadvantages of english art-teaching made him inferior to his trained florentine rival. but, that these disadvantages were powerless to arrest or ignobly depress him;--that however failing in grace and scholarship, he should never fail in truth or vitality; and that the precision of his unerring hand[bf]--his inevitable eye--and his rightly judging heart--should place him in the first rank of the great artists not of england only, but of all the world and of all time:--that _this_ was possible to him, was simply because he lived a _country_ life. bewick himself, botticelli himself, apelles himself, and twenty times apelles, condemned to slavery in the hell-fire of the iron furnace, could have done--nothing. absolute paralysis of all high human faculty _must_ result from labor near fire. the poor engraver of the piston-rod had faculties--not like bewick's, for if he had had those, he never would have endured the degradation; but assuredly, (i know this by his work,) faculties high enough to have made him one of the most accomplished figure painters of his age. and they are scorched out of him, as the sap from the grass in the oven: while on his northumberland hill-sides, bewick grew into as stately life as their strongest pine. 227. and therefore, in words of his, telling consummate and unchanging truth concerning the life, honor, and happiness of england, and bearing directly on the points of difference between class and class which i have not dwelt on without need, i will bring these lectures to a close. "i have always, through life, been of opinion that there is no business of any kind that can be compared to that of a man who farms his own land. it appears to me that every earthly pleasure, with health, is within his reach. but numbers of these men (the old statesmen) were grossly ignorant, and in exact proportion to that ignorance they were sure to be offensively proud. this led them to attempt appearing above their station, which hastened them on to their ruin; but, indeed, this disposition and this kind of conduct invariably leads to such results. there were many of these lairds on tyneside; as well as many who held their lands on the tenure of 'suit and service,' and were nearly on the same level as the lairds. some of the latter lost their lands (not fairly, i think) in a way they could not help; many of the former, by their misdirected pride and folly, were driven into towns, to slide away into nothingness, and to sink into oblivion, while their 'ha' houses' (halls), that ought to have remained in their families from generation to generation, have moldered away. i have always felt extremely grieved to see the ancient mansions of many of the country gentlemen, from somewhat similar causes, meet with a similar fate. the gentry should, in an especial manner, prove by their conduct that they are guarded against showing any symptom of foolish pride; at the same time that they soar above every meanness, and that their conduct is guided by truth, integrity, and patriotism. if they wish the people to partake with them in these good qualities, they must set them the example, without which no real respect can ever be paid to them. gentlemen ought never to forget the respectable station they hold in society, and that they are the natural guardians of public morals and may with propriety be considered as the head and the heart of the country, while 'a bold peasantry' are, in truth, the arms, the sinews, and the strength of the same; but when these last are degraded, they soon become dispirited and mean, and often dishonest and useless." * * * * * "this singular and worthy man[bg] was perhaps the most invaluable acquaintance and friend i ever met with. his moral lectures and advice to me formed a most important succedaneum to those imparted by my parents. his wise remarks, his detestation of vice, his industry, and his temperance, crowned with a most lively and cheerful disposition, altogether made him appear to me as one of the best of characters. in his workshop i often spent my winter evenings. this was also the case with a number of young men who might be considered as his pupils; many of whom, i have no doubt, he directed into the paths of truth and integrity, and who revered his memory through life. he rose early to work, lay down when he felt weary, and rose again when refreshed. his diet was of the simplest kind; and he ate when hungry, and drank when dry, without paying regard to meal-times. by steadily pursuing this mode of life he was enabled to accumulate sums of money--from ten to thirty pounds. this enabled him to get books, of an entertaining and moral tendency, printed and circulated at a cheap rate. his great object was, by every possible means, to promote honorable feelings in the minds of youth, and to prepare them for becoming good members of society. i have often discovered that he did not overlook ingenious mechanics, whose misfortunes--perhaps mismanagement--had led them to a lodging in newgate. to these he directed his compassionate eye, and for the deserving (in his estimation), he paid their debt, and set them at liberty. he felt hurt at seeing the hands of an ingenious man tied up in prison, where they were of no use either to himself or to the community. this worthy man had been educated for a priest; but he would say to me, 'of a "trouth," thomas, i did not like their ways.' so he gave up the thoughts of being a priest, and bent his way from aberdeen to edinburgh, where he engaged himself to allan ramsay, the poet, then a bookseller at the latter place, in whose service he was both shopman and bookbinder. from edinburgh he came to newcastle. gilbert had had a liberal education bestowed upon him. he had read a great deal, and had reflected upon what he had read. this, with his retentive memory, enabled him to be a pleasant and communicative companion. i lived in habits of intimacy with him to the end of his life; and, when he died, i, with others of his friends, attended his remains to the grave at the ballast hills." and what graving on the sacred cliffs of egypt ever honored them, as that grass-dimmed furrow does the mounds of our northern land? footnotes: [as] the world was not then ready for le père hyacinthe;--but the real gist of the matter is that lippi did, openly and bravely, what the highest prelates in the church did basely and in secret; also he loved, where they only lusted; and he has been proclaimed therefore by them--and too foolishly believed by us--to have been a shameful person. of his true life, and the colors given to it, we will try to learn something tenable, before we end our work in florence. [at] i insert supplementary notes, when of importance, in the text of the lecture, for the convenience of the general reader. [au] mr. charles f. murray. [av] some notice of this picture is given at the beginning of my third morning in florence, 'before the soldan.' [aw] i am bitterly sorry for the pain which my partial references to the man whom of all english artists whose histories i have read, i most esteem, have given to one remaining member of his family. i hope my meaning may be better understood after she has seen the close of this lecture. [ax] read ezekiel xviii. [ay] see also the account by dr. woltmann of the picture of the triumph of riches. 'holbein and his time,' p. 352. [az] these words are engraved in the plate, as spoken by the virgin. [ba] cosimo rosselli, especially chosen by the pope for his gay coloring. [bb] i am not certain of their order at this distance of time. [bc] callimachus, 'delos,' 304, etc. [bd] in the old king's arms hotel, lancaster. [be] a manufacturer wrote to me the other day, "we don't _want_ to make smoke!" who said they did?--a hired murderer does not want to commit murder, but does it for sufficient motive. (even our shipowners don't want to drown their sailors; they will only do it for sufficient motive.) if the dirty creatures _did_ want to make smoke, there would be more excuse for them: and that they are not clever enough to consume it, is no praise to them. a man who can't help his hiccough leaves the room: why do they not leave the england they pollute? [bf] i know no drawing so subtle as bewick's, since the fifteenth century, except holbein's and turner's. i have been greatly surprised lately by the exquisite water-color work in some of stothard's smaller vignettes; but he cannot set the line like turner or bewick. [bg] gilbert gray, bookbinder. i have to correct the inaccurate--and very harmfully inaccurate, expression which i used of bewick, in love's meinie (§ 3), 'a printer's lad at newcastle.' his first master was a goldsmith and engraver, else he could never have been an artist. i am very heartily glad to make this correction, which establishes another link of relation between bewick and botticelli; but my error was partly caused by the impression which the above description of his "most invaluable friend" made on me, when i first read it. much else that i meant to correct, or promised to explain, in this lecture, must be deferred to the appendix; the superiority of the tuscan to the greek aphrodite i may perhaps, even at last, leave the reader to admit or deny as he pleases, having more important matters of debate on hand. but as i mean only to play with proserpina during the spring, i will here briefly anticipate a statement i mean in the appendix to enforce, namely, of the extreme value of colored copies by hand, of paintings whose excellence greatly consists in color, as auxiliary to engravings of them. the prices now given without hesitation for nearly worthless original drawings by fifth-rate artists, would obtain for the misguided buyers, in something like a proportion of ten to one, most precious copies of drawings which can only be represented at all in engraving by entire alteration of their treatment, and abandonment of their finest purposes. i feel this so strongly that i have given my best attention, during upwards of ten years, to train a copyist to perfect fidelity in rendering the work of turner; and having now succeeded in enabling him to produce facsimiles so close as to look like replicas, facsimiles which i must sign with my own name and his, in the very work of them, to prevent their being sold for real turner vignettes, i can obtain no custom for him, and am obliged to leave him to make his bread by any power of captivation his original sketches may possess in the eyes of a public which maintains a nation of copyists in rome, but is content with black and white renderings of great english art; though there is scarcely one cultivated english gentleman or lady who has not been twenty times in the vatican, for once that they have been in the national gallery. notes. 228. i. the following letter, from one of my most faithful readers, corrects an important piece of misinterpretation in the text. the waving of the reins must be only in sign of the fluctuation of heat round the sun's own chariot:- "spring field, ambleside, "february 11, 1875. "dear mr. ruskin,--your fifth lecture on engraving i have to hand. "sandro intended those wavy lines meeting under the sun's right[bh] hand, (plate v.) primarily, no doubt, to represent the four ends of the four reins dangling from the sun's hand. the flames and rays are seen to continue to radiate from the platform of the chariot between and beyond these ends of the reins, and over the knee. he may have wanted to acknowledge that the warmth of the earth was apollo's, by making these ends of the reins spread out separately and wave, and thereby inclose a form like a flame. but i cannot think it. "believe me, "ever yours truly, "chas. wm. smith." ii. i meant to keep labyrinthine matters for my appendix; but the following most useful by-words from mr. tyrwhitt had better be read at once:-"in the matter of cretan labyrinth, as connected by virgil with the ludus trojæ, or equestrian game of winding and turning, continued in england from twelfth century; and having for last relic the maze[bi] called 'troy town,' at troy farm, near somerton, oxfordshire, which itself resembles the circular labyrinth on a coin of cnossus in fors clavigera. (letter 23, p. 12.) "the connecting quotation from virg., æn., v. 588, is as follows: 'ut quondam creta fertur labyrinthus in alta parietibus textum cæcis iter, ancipitemque mille viis habuisse dolum, qua signa sequendi falleret indeprensus et inremeabilis error. haud alio teucrün nati vestigia cursu impediunt, texuntque fagas et proelia ludo, delphinum similes.'" labyrinth of ariadne, as cut on the downs by shepherds from time immemorial,-shakespeare, 'midsummer night's dream,' act ii., sc. 2: "_oberon._ the nine-men's morris[bj] is filled up with mud; and the quaint mazes in the wanton green by lack of tread are undistinguishable." the following passage, 'merchant of venice,' act iii., sc. 2, confuses (to all appearance) the athenian tribute to crete, with the story of hesione: and may point to general confusion in the elizabethan mind about the myths: "_portia._ ... with much more love than young alcides, when he did reduce the virgin-tribute paid by howling troy to the sea monster."[bk] theseus is the attic hercules, however; and troy may have been a sort of house of call for mythical monsters, in the view of midland shepherds. footnotes: [bh] "would not the design have looked better, to us, on the plate than on the print? on the plate, the reins would be in the left hand; and the whole movement be from the left to the right? the two different forms that the radiance takes would symbolize respectively heat and light, would they not?" [bi] strutt, pp. 97-8, ed. 1801. [bj] explained as "a game still played by the shepherds, cowkeepers," etc., in the midland counties. [bk] see iliad, 20, 145. [illustration: xi. "obediente domino voci hominis."] appendix. article i. notes on the present state of engraving in england. 229. i have long deferred the completion of this book, because i had hoped to find time to show, in some fullness, the grounds for my conviction that engraving, and the study of it, since the development of the modern finished school, have been ruinous to european knowledge of art. but i am more and more busied in what i believe to be better work, and can only with extreme brevity state here the conclusions of many years' thought. these, in several important particulars, have been curiously enforced on me by the carelessness shown by the picture dealers about the copies from turner which it has cost mr. ward and me[bl] fifteen years of study together to enable ourselves to make. "they are only copies," say they,--"nobody will look at them." 230. it never seems to occur even to the most intelligent persons that an engraving also is 'only a copy,' and a copy done with refusal of color, and with disadvantage of means in rendering shade. but just because this utterly inferior copy can be reduplicated, and introduces a different kind of skill, in another material, people are content to lose all the composition, and all the charm, of the original,--so far as these depend on the chief gift of a _painter_,--color; while they are gradually misled into attributing to the painter himself qualities impertinently added by the engraver to make his plate popular: and, which is far worse, they are as gradually and subtly prevented from looking, in the original, for the qualities which engraving could never render. further, it continually happens that the very best color-compositions engrave worst; for they often extend colors over great spaces at equal pitch, and the green is as dark as the red, and the blue as the brown; so that the engraver can only distinguish them by lines in different directions, and his plate becomes a vague and dead mass of neutral tint; but a bad and forced piece of color, or a piece of work of the bolognese school, which is everywhere black in the shadows, and colorless in the lights, will engrave with great ease, and appear spirited and forcible. hence engravers, as a rule, are interested in reproducing the work of the worst schools of painting. also, the idea that the merit of an engraving consisted in light and shade, has prevented the modern masters from even attempting to render works dependent mainly on outline and expression; like the early frescoes, which should indeed have been the objects of their most attentive and continual skill: for outline and expression are entirely within the scope of engraving; and the scripture histories of an aisle of a cloister might have been engraved, to perfection, with little more pains than are given by ordinary workmen to round a limb by correggio, or imitate the texture of a dress by sir joshua,--and both, at last, inadequately. 231. i will not lose more time in asserting or lamenting the mischief arising out of the existing system: but will rapidly state what the public should now ask for. 1. exquisitely careful engraved outlines of all remaining frescoes of the thirteenth, fourteenth, and fifteenth centuries in italy, with so much pale tinting as may be explanatory of their main masses; and with the local darks and local lights brilliantly relieved. the arundel society have published some meritorious plates of this kind from angelico,--not, however, paying respect enough to the local colors, but conventionalizing the whole too much into outline. 2. finished small plates for book illustration. the cheap wood-cutting and etching of popular illustrated books have been endlessly mischievous to public taste: they first obtained their power in a general reaction of the public mind from the insipidity of the lower school of line engraving, brought on it by servile persistence in hack work for ignorant publishers. the last dregs of it may still be seen in the sentimental landscapes engraved for cheap ladies' pocket-books. but the woodcut can never, educationally, take the place of serene and accomplished line engraving; and the training of young artists in whom the gift of delineation prevails over their sense of color, to the production of scholarly, but small plates, with their utmost honor of skill, would give a hitherto unconceived dignity to the character and range of our popular literature. 3. vigorous mezzotints from pictures of the great masters, which originally present noble contrasts of light and shade. many venetian works are magnificent in this character. 4. original design by painters themselves, decisively engraved in few lines--(_not_ etched); and with such insistence by dotted work on the main contours as we have seen in the examples given from italian engraving. 5. on the other hand, the men whose quiet patience and exquisite manual dexterity are at present employed in producing large and costly plates, such as that of the belle jardinière de florence, by m. boucher desnoyers, should be entirely released from their servile toil, and employed exclusively in producing colored copies, or light drawings, from the original work. the same number of hours of labor, applied with the like conscientious skill, would multiply precious likenesses of the real picture, full of subtle veracities which no steel line could approach, and conveying, to thousands, true knowledge and unaffected enjoyment of painting; while the finished plate lies uncared for in the portfolio of the virtuoso, serving only, so far as it is seen in the printseller's window by the people, to make them think that sacred painting must always be dull, and unnatural. 232. i have named the above engraving, because, for persons wishing to study the present qualities and methods of line-work, it is a pleasant and sufficient possession, uniting every variety of texture with great serenity of unforced effect, and exhibiting every possible artifice and achievement in the distribution of even and rugged, or of close and open line; artifices for which,--while i must yet once more and emphatically repeat that they are illegitimate, and could not be practiced in a revived school of classic art,--i would fain secure the reader's reverent admiration, under the conditions exacted by the school to which they belong. let him endeavor, with the finest point of pen or pencil he can obtain, to imitate the profile of this madonna in its relief against the gray background of the water surface; let him examine, through a good lens, the way in which the lines of the background are ended in a lance-point as they approach it; the exact equality of depth of shade being restored by inserted dots, which prepare for the transition to the manner of shade adopted in the flesh: then let him endeavor to trace with his own hand some of the curved lines at the edge of the eyelid, or in the rounding of the lip; or if these be too impossible, even a few of the quiet undulations which gradate the folds of the hood behind the hair; and he will, i trust, begin to comprehend the range of delightful work which would be within the reach of such an artist, employed with more tractable material on more extended subject. 233. if, indeed, the present system were capable of influencing the mass of the people, and enforcing among them the subtle attention necessary to appreciate it, something might be pleaded in defense of its severity. but all these plates are entirely above the means of the lower middle classes, and perhaps not one reader in a hundred can possess himself, for the study i ask of him, even of the plate to which i have just referred. what, in the stead of such, he can and does possess, let him consider,--and, if possible, just after examining the noble qualities of this conscientious engraving. 234. take up, for an average specimen of modern illustrated works, the volume of dickens's 'master humphrey's clock,' containing 'barnaby rudge.' you have in that book an entirely profitless and monstrous story, in which the principal characters are a coxcomb, an idiot, a madman, a savage blackguard, a foolish tavern-keeper, a mean old maid, and a conceited apprentice,--mixed up with a certain quantity of ordinary operatic pastoral stuff, about a pretty dolly in ribbons, a lover with a wooden leg, and an heroic locksmith. for these latter, the only elements of good, or life, in the filthy mass of the story,[bm] observe that the author must filch the wreck of those old times of which we fiercely and frantically destroy every living vestige, whenever it is possible. you cannot have your dolly varden brought up behind the counter of a railway station; nor your jolly locksmith trained at a birmingham brass-foundry. and of these materials, observe that you can only have the ugly ones illustrated. the cheap popular art cannot draw for you beauty, sense, or honesty; and for dolly varden, or the locksmith, you will look through the vignettes in vain. but every species of distorted folly and vice,--the idiot, the blackguard, the coxcomb, the paltry fool, the degraded woman,--are pictured for your honorable pleasure in every page, with clumsy caricature, struggling to render its dullness tolerable by insisting on defect,--if perchance a penny or two more may be coined out of the cockney reader's itch for loathsomeness. 235. or take up, for instance of higher effort, the 'cornhill magazine' for this month, july, 1876. it has a vignette of venice for an illuminated letter. that is what your decorative art has become, by help of kensington! the letter to be produced is a t. there is a gondola in the front of the design, with the canopy slipped back to the stern like a saddle over a horse's tail. there is another in the middle distance, all gone to seed at the prow, with its gondolier emaciated into an oar, at the stern; then there is a church of the salute, and a ducal palace,--in which i beg you to observe all the felicity and dexterity of modern cheap engraving; finally, over the ducal palace there is something, i know not in the least what meant for, like an umbrella dropping out of a balloon, which is the ornamental letter t. opposite this ornamental design, there is an engraving of two young ladies and a parasol, between two trunks of trees. the white face and black feet of the principal young lady, being the points of the design, are done with as much care,--not with as much dexterity,--as an ordinary sketch of du maurier's in punch. the young lady's dress, the next attraction, is done in cheap white and black cutting, with considerably less skill than that of any ordinary tailor's or milliner's shop-book pattern drawing. for the other young lady, and the landscape, take your magnifying glass, and look at the hacked wood that forms the entire shaded surface--one mass of idiotic scrabble, without the remotest attempt to express a single leaf, flower, or clod of earth. it is such landscape as the public sees out of its railroad window at sixty miles of it in the hour--and good enough for such a public. 236. then turn to the last--the poetical plate, p. 122: "lifts her--lays her down with care." look at the gentleman with a spade, promoting the advance, over a hillock of hay, of the reposing figure in the black-sided tub. take your magnifying glass to _that_, and look what a dainty female arm and hand your modern scientific and anatomical schools of art have provided you with! look at the tender horizontal flux of the sea round the promontory point above. look at the tender engraving of the linear light on the divine horizon, above the ravenous sea-gull. here is development and progress for you, from the days of perugino's horizon, and dante's daybreaks! truly, here it seems "si che le bianche e le vermiglie guance per troppa etate divenivan rance." 237. i have chosen no gross or mean instances of modern work. it is one of the saddest points connected with the matter that the designer of this last plate is a person of consummate art faculty, but bound to the wheel of the modern juggernaut, and broken on it. these woodcuts, for 'barnaby rudge' and the 'cornhill magazine,' are favorably representative of the entire illustrative art industry of the modern press,--industry enslaved to the ghastly service of catching the last gleams in the glued eyes of the daily more bestial english mob,--railroad born and bred, which drags itself about the black world it has withered under its breath, in one eternal grind and shriek,--gobbling,--staring,--chattering,--giggling,--trampling out every vestige of national honor and domestic peace, wherever it sets the staggering hoof of it; incapable of reading, of hearing, of thinking, of looking,--capable only of greed for money, lust for food, pride of dress, and the prurient itch of momentary curiosity for the politics last announced by the newsmonger, and the religion last rolled by the chemist into electuary for the dead. 238. in the miserably competitive labor of finding new stimulus for the appetite--daily more gross--of this tyrannous mob, we may count as lost, beyond any hope, the artists who are dull, docile, or distressed enough to submit to its demands; and we may count the dull and the distressed by myriads;--and among the docile, many of the best intellects we possess. the few who have sense and strength to assert their own place and supremacy, are driven into discouraged disease by their isolation, like turner and blake; the one abandoning the design of his 'liber studiorum' after imperfectly and sadly, against total public neglect, carrying it forward to what it is,--monumental, nevertheless, in landscape engraving; the other producing, with one only majestic series of designs from the book of job, nothing for his life's work but coarsely iridescent sketches of enigmatic dream. 239. and, for total result of our english engraving industry during the last hundred and fifty years, i find that practically at this moment i cannot get a _single_ piece of true, sweet, and comprehensible art, to place for instruction in any children's school! i can get, for ten pounds apiece, well-engraved portraits of sir joshua's beauties showing graceful limbs through flowery draperies; i can get--dirt-cheap--any quantity of dutch flats, ditches, and hedges, enlivened by cows chewing the cud, and dogs behaving indecently; i can get heaps upon heaps of temples, and forums, and altars, arranged as for academical competition, round seaports, with curled-up ships that only touch the water with the middle of their bottoms. i can get, at the price of lumber, any quantity of british squires flourishing whips and falling over hurdles; and, in suburban shops, a dolorous variety of widowed mothers nursing babies in a high light with the bible on a table, and baby's shoes on a chair. also, of cheap prints, painted red and blue, of christ blessing little children, of joseph and his brethren, the infant samuel, or daniel in the lions' den, the supply is ample enough to make every child in these islands think of the bible as a somewhat dull story-book, allowed on sunday;--but of trained, wise, and worthy art, applied to gentle purposes of instruction, no single example can be found in the shops of the british printseller or bookseller. and after every dilettante tongue in european society has filled drawing-room and academy alike with idle clatter concerning the divinity of raphael and michael angelo, for these last hundred years, i cannot at this instant, for the first school which i have some power of organizing under st. george's laws, get a good print of raphael's madonna of the tribune, or an ordinarily intelligible view of the side and dome of st. peter's! 240. and there are simply no words for the mixed absurdity and wickedness of the present popular demand for art, as shown by its supply in our thoroughfares. abroad, in the shops of the rue de rivoli, brightest and most central of parisian streets, the putrescent remnant of what was once catholicism promotes its poor gilded pedlars' ware of nativity and crucifixion into such honorable corners as it can find among the more costly and studious illuminations of the brothel: and although, in pall mall, and the strand, the large-margined landseer,--stanfield,--or turner-proofs, in a few stately windows, still represent, uncared-for by the people, or inaccessible to them, the power of an english school now wholly perished,--these are too surely superseded, in the windows that stop the crowd, by the thrilling attraction with which doré, gérome, and tadema have invested the gambling table, the dueling ground, and the arena; or by the more material and almost tangible truth with which the apothecary-artist stereographs the stripped actress, and the railway mound. 241. under these conditions, as i have now repeatedly asserted, no professorship, nor school, of art can be of the least use to the general public. no race can understand a visionary landscape, which blasts its real mountains into ruin, and blackens its river-beds with foam of poison. nor is it of the least use to exhibit ideal diana at kensington, while substantial phryne may be worshiped in the strand. the only recovery of our art-power possible,--nay, when once we know the full meaning of it, the only one desirable,--must result from the purification of the nation's heart, and chastisement of its life: utterly hopeless now, for our adult population, or in our large cities, and their neighborhood. but, so far as any of the sacred influence of former design can be brought to bear on the minds of the young, and so far as, in rural districts, the first elements of scholarly education can be made pure, the foundation of a new dynasty of thought may be slowly laid. i was strangely impressed by the effect produced in a provincial seaport school for children, chiefly of fishermen's families, by the gift of a little colored drawing of a single figure from the paradise of angelico in the accademia of florence. the drawing was wretched enough, seen beside the original; i had only bought it from the poor italian copyist for charity: but, to the children, it was like an actual glimpse of heaven; they rejoiced in it with pure joy, and their mistress thanked me for it more than if i had sent her a whole library of good books. of such copies, the grace-giving industry of young girls, now worse than lost in the spurious charities of the bazaar, or selfish ornamentations of the drawing-room, might, in a year's time, provide enough for every dame-school in england; and a year's honest work of the engravers employed on our base novels, might represent to our advanced students every frescoed legend of philosophy and morality extant in christendom. 242. for my own part, i have no purpose, in what remains to me of opportunity, either at oxford or elsewhere, to address any farther course of instruction towards the development of existing schools. after seeing the stream of the teviot as black as ink, and a putrid carcass of a sheep lying in the dry channel of the jed, under jedburgh abbey, (the entire strength of the summer stream being taken away to supply a single mill,) i know, finally, what value the british mind sets on the 'beauties of nature,' and shall attempt no farther the excitement of its enthusiasm in that direction. i shall indeed endeavor to carry out, with mr. ward's help, my twenty years' held purpose of making the real character of turner's work known, to the persons who, formerly interested by the engravings from him, imagined half the merit was of the engraver's giving. but i know perfectly that to the general people, trained in the midst of the ugliest objects that vice can design, in houses, mills, and machinery, _all_ beautiful form and color is as invisible as the seventh heaven. it is not a question of appreciation at all; the thing is physically invisible to them, as human speech is inaudible during a steam whistle. 243. and i shall also use all the strength i have to convince those, among our artists of the second order, who are wise and modest enough not to think themselves the matches of turner or michael angelo, that in the present state of art they only waste their powers in endeavoring to produce original pictures of human form or passion. modern aristocratic life is too vulgar, and modern peasant life too unhappy, to furnish subjects of noble study; while, even were it otherwise, the multiplication of designs by painters of second-rate power is no more desirable than the writing of music by inferior composers. they may, with far greater personal happiness, and incalculably greater advantage to others, devote themselves to the affectionate and sensitive copying of the works of men of just renown. the dignity of this self-sacrifice would soon be acknowledged with sincere respect; for copies produced by men working with such motive would differ no less from the common trade-article of the galleries than the rendering of music by an enthusiastic and highly trained executant differs from the grinding of a street organ. and the change in the tone of public feeling, produced by familiarity with such work, would soon be no less great than in their musical enjoyment, if having been accustomed only to hear black christys, blind fiddlers, and hoarse beggars scrape or howl about their streets, they were permitted daily audience of faithful and gentle orchestral rendering of the work of the highest classical masters. 244. i have not, until very lately, rightly appreciated the results of the labor of the arundel society in this direction. although, from the beginning, i have been honored in being a member of its council, my action has been hitherto rather of check than help, because i thought more of the differences between our copies and the great originals, than of their unquestionable superiority to anything the public could otherwise obtain. i was practically convinced of their extreme value only this last winter, by staying at the house of a friend in which the arundel engravings were the principal decoration; and where i learned more of masaccio from the arundel copy of the contest with simon magus, than in the brancacci chapel itself; for the daily companionship with the engraving taught me subtleties in its composition which had escaped me in the multitudinous interest of visits to the actual fresco. but the work of the society has been sorely hindered hitherto, because it has had at command only the skill of copyists trained in foreign schools of color, and accustomed to meet no more accurate requisitions than those of the fashionable traveler. i have always hoped for, and trust at last to obtain, co-operation with our too mildly laborious copyists, of english artists possessing more brilliant color faculty; and the permission of our subscribers to secure for them the great ruins of the noble past, undesecrated by the trim, but treacherous, plastering of modern emendation. 245. finally, i hope to direct some of the antiquarian energy often to be found remaining, even when love of the picturesque has passed away, to encourage the accurate delineation and engraving of historical monuments, as a direct function of our schools of art. all that i have generally to suggest on this matter has been already stated with sufficient clearness in the first of my inaugural lectures at oxford: and my forthcoming 'elements of drawing'[bn] will contain all the directions i can give in writing as to methods of work for such purpose. the publication of these has been hindered, for at least a year, by the abuses introduced by the modern cheap modes of printing engravings. i find the men won't use any ink but what pleases them; nor print but with what pressure pleases them; and if i can get the foreman to attend to the business, and choose the ink right, the men change it the moment he leaves the room, and threaten to throw up the job when they are detected. all this, i have long known well, is a matter of course, in the outcome of modern principles of trade; but it has rendered it hitherto impossible for me to produce illustrations, which have been ready, as far as my work or that of my own assistants is concerned, for a year and a half. any one interested in hearing of our progress--or arrest, may write to my turner copyist, mr. ward:[bo] and, in the meantime, they can help my designs for art education best by making these turner copies more generally known; and by determining, when they travel, to spend what sums they have at their disposal, not in fady photography, but in the encouragement of any good _water-color_ and _pencil_ draughtsmen whom they find employed in the _galleries_ of europe. article ii. detached notes. i. _on the series of sibyl engravings attributed to botticelli._ 246. since i wrote the earlier lectures in this volume, i have been made more doubtful on several points which were embarrassing enough before, by seeing some better (so-called) impressions of my favorite plates containing light and shade which did not improve them. i do not choose to waste time or space in discussion, till i know more of the matter; and that more i must leave to my good friend mr. reid of the british museum to find out for me; for i have no time to take up the subject myself, but i give, for frontispiece to this appendix, the engraving of joshua referred to in the text, which however beautiful in thought, is an example of the inferior execution and more elaborate shade which puzzle me. but whatever is said in the previous pages of the plates chosen for example, by whomsoever done, is absolutely trustworthy. thoroughly fine they are, in their existing state, and exemplary to all persons and times. and of the rest, in fitting place i hope to give complete--or at least satisfactory account. ii. _on the three excellent engravers representative of the first, middle, and late schools._ [illustration: xii. the coronation in the garden.] 247. i have given opposite a photograph, slightly reduced from the dürer madonna, alluded to often in the text, as an example of his best conception of womanhood. it is very curious that dürer, the least able of all great artists to represent womanhood, should of late have been a very principal object of feminine admiration. the last thing a woman should do is to write about art. they never see anything in pictures but what they are told, (or resolve to see out of contradiction,)--or the particular things that fall in with their own feelings. i saw a curious piece of enthusiastic writing by an edinburgh lady, the other day, on the photographs i had taken from the tower of giotto. she did not care a straw what giotto had meant by them, declared she felt it her duty only to announce what they were to _her_; and wrote two pages on the bas-relief of heracles and antæus--assuming it to be the death of abel. 248. it is not, however, by women only that dürer has been over-praised. he stands so alone in his own field, that the people who care much for him generally lose the power of enjoying anything else rightly; and are continually attributing to the force of his imagination quaintnesses which are merely part of the general mannerism of his day. the following notes upon him, in relation to two other excellent engravers, were written shortly for extempore expansion in lecturing. i give them, with the others in this terminal article, mainly for use to myself in future reference; but also as more or less suggestive to the reader, if he has taken up the subject seriously, and worth, therefore, a few pages of this closing sheet. 249. the men i have named as representative of all the good ones composing their school, are alike resolved their engraving shall be lovely. but botticelli, the ancient, wants, with as little engraving, as much sibyl as possible. dürer, the central, wants, with as much engraving as possible, anything of sibyl that may chance to be picked up with it. beaugrand, the modern, wants, as much sibyl as possible, and as much engraving too. 250. i repeat--for i want to get this clear to you--botticelli wants, with as little engraving, as much sibyl as possible. for his head is full of sibyls, and his heart. he can't draw them fast enough: one comes, and another and another; and all, gracious and wonderful and good, to be engraved forever, if only he had a thousand hands and lives. he scratches down one, with no haste, with no fault, divinely careful, scrupulous, patient, but with as few lines as possible. 'another sibyl--let me draw another, for heaven's sake, before she has burnt all her books, and vanished.' dürer is exactly botticelli's opposite. he is a workman, to the heart, and will do his work magnificently. 'no matter what i do it on, so that my craft be honorably shown. anything will do; a sibyl, a skull, a madonna and christ, a hat and feather, an adam, an eve, a cock, a sparrow, a lion with two tails, a pig with five legs,--anything will do for me. but see if i don't show you what engraving is, be my subject what it may!' 251. thirdly: beaugrand, i said, wants as much sibyl as possible, and as much engraving. he is essentially a copyist, and has no ideas of his own, but deep reverence and love for the work of others. he will give his life to represent another man's thought. he will do his best with every spot and line,--exhibit to you, if you will only look, the most exquisite completion of obedient skill; but will be content, if you will not look, to pass his neglected years in fruitful peace, and count every day well spent that has given softness to a shadow, or light to a smile. iii. _on dürer's landscape, with reference to the sentence on p. 101_: "i hope you are pleased." 252. i spoke just now only of the ill-shaped body of this figure of fortune, or pleasure. beneath her feet is an elaborate landscape. it is all drawn out of dürer's head;--he would look at bones or tendons carefully, or at the leaf details of foreground;--but at the breadth and loveliness of real landscape, never. he has tried to give you a bird's-eye view of germany; rocks, and woods, and clouds, and brooks, and the pebbles in their beds, and mills, and cottages, and fences, and what not; but it is all a feverish dream, ghastly and strange, a monotone of diseased imagination. and here is a little bit of the world he would not look at--of the great river of his land, with a single cluster of its reeds, and two boats, and an island with a village, and the way for the eternal waters opened between the rounded hills.[bp] it is just what you may see any day, anywhere,--innocent, seemingly artless; but the artlessness of turner is like the face of gainsborough's village girl, and a joy forever. iv. _on the study of anatomy._ 253. the virtual beginner of artistic anatomy in italy was a man called 'the poulterer'--from his grandfather's trade; 'pollajuolo,' a man of immense power, but on whom the curse of the italian mind in this age[bq] was set at its deepest. any form of passionate excess has terrific effects on body and soul, in nations as in men; and when this excess is in rage, and rage against your brother, and rage accomplished in habitual deeds of blood,--do you think nature will forget to set the seal of her indignation upon the forehead? i told you that the great division of spirit between the northern and southern races had been reconciled in the val d'arno. the font of florence, and the font of pisa, were as the very springs of the life of the christianity which had gone forth to teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the prince of peace. yet these two brother cities were to each other--i do not say as abel and cain, but as eteocles and polynices, and the words of æschylus are now fulfilled in them to the uttermost. the arno baptizes their dead bodies:--their native valley between its mountains is to them as the furrow of a grave;--"and so much of their land they have, as is sepulcher." nay, not of florence and pisa only was this true: venice and genoa died in death-grapple; and eight cities of lombardy divided between them the joy of leveling milan to her lowest stone. nay, not merely in city against city, but in street against street, and house against house, the fury of the theban dragon flamed ceaselessly, and with the same excuse upon men's lips. the sign of the shield of polynices, justice bringing back the exile, was to them all, in turn, the portent of death: and their history, in the sum of it and substance, is as of the servants of joab and abner by the pool of gibeon. "they caught every one his fellow by the head, and thrust his sword in his fellow's side; so they fell down together: wherefore that place was called 'the field of the strong men.'" 254. now it is not possible for christian men to live thus, except under a fever of insanity. i have before, in my lectures on prudence and insolence in art, deliberately asserted to you the logical accuracy of the term 'demoniacal possession'[br]--the being in the power or possession of a betraying spirit; and the definite sign of such insanity is delight in witnessing pain, usually accompanied by an instinct that gloats over or plays with physical uncleanness or disease, and always by a morbid egotism. it is not to be recognized for demoniacal power so much by its _viciousness_, as its _paltriness_,--the taking pleasure in minute, contemptible, and loathsome things.[bs] now, in the middle of the gallery of the brera at milan, there is an elaborate study of a dead christ, entirely characteristic of early fifteenth century italian madman's work. it is called--and was presented to the people as--a christ; but it _is_ only an anatomical study of a vulgar and ghastly dead body, with the soles of the feet set straight at the spectator, and the rest foreshortened. it is either castagno's or mantegna's,--in my mind, set down to castagno; but i have not looked at the picture for years, and am not sure at this moment. it does not matter a straw which: it is exactly characteristic of the madness in which all of them--pollajuolo, castagno, mantegna, lionardo da vinci, and michael angelo, polluted their work with the science of the sepulcher,[bt] and degraded it with presumptuous and paltry technical skill. foreshorten your christ, and paint him, if you can, half putrefied,--that is the scientific art of the renaissance. 255. it is impossible, however, in so vast a subject to distinguish always the beginner of things from the establisher. to the poulterer's son, pollajuolo, remains the eternal shame of first making insane contest the only subject of art; but the two _establishers_ of anatomy were lionardo and michael angelo. you hear of lionardo chiefly because of his last supper, but italy did not hear of him for that. this was not what brought _her_ to worship lionardo--but the battle of the standard. v. _fragments on holbein and others._ 256. of holbein's st. elizabeth, remember, she is not a perfect saint elizabeth, by any means. she is an honest and sweet german lady,--the best he could see; he could do no better;--and so i come back to my old story,--no man can do better than he sees: if he can reach the nature round him, it is well; he may fall short of it; he cannot rise above it; "the best, in this kind, are but shadows." * * * * * yet that intense veracity of holbein is indeed the strength and glory of all the northern schools. they exist only in being true. their work among men is the definition of what is, and the abiding by it. they cannot dream of what is not. they make fools of themselves if they try. think how feeble even shakspere is when he tries his hand at a goddess;--women, beautiful and womanly, as many as you choose; but who cares what his minerva or juno says, in the masque of the tempest? and for the painters--when sir joshua tries for a madonna, or vandyke for a diana--they can't even _paint_! they become total simpletons. look at rubens' mythologies in the louvre, or at modern french heroics, or german pietisms! why, all--cornelius, hesse, overbeck, and david--put together, are not worth one de hooghe of an old woman with a broom sweeping a back-kitchen. the one thing we northerns can do is to find out what is fact, and insist on it: mean fact it may be, or noble--but fact always, or we die. 257. yet the intensest form of northern realization can be matched in the south, when the southerns choose. there are two pieces of animal drawing in the sistine chapel unrivaled for literal veracity. the sheep at the well in front of zipporah; and afterwards, when she is going away, leading her children, her eldest boy, like every one else, has taken his chief treasure with him, and this treasure is his pet dog. it is a little sharp-nosed white fox-terrier, full of fire and life; but not strong enough for a long walk. so little gershom, whose name was "the stranger" because his father had been a stranger in a strange land,--little gershom carries his white terrier under his arm, lying on the top of a large bundle to make it comfortable. the doggie puts its sharp nose and bright eyes out, above his hand, with a little roguish gleam sideways in them, which means,--if i can read rightly a dog's expression,--that he has been barking at moses all the morning and has nearly put him out of temper:--and without any doubt, i can assert to you that there is not any other such piece of animal painting in the world,--so brief, intense, vivid, and absolutely balanced in truth: as tenderly drawn as if it had been a saint, yet as humorously as landseer's lord chancellor poodle. 258. oppose to- holbein's veracity--botticelli's fantasy. " shade " color. " despair " faith. " grossness " purity. true fantasy. botticelli's tree in hellespontic sibyl. not a real tree at all--yet founded on intensest perception of beautiful reality. so the swan of clio, as opposed to dürer's cock, or to turner's swan. the italian power of abstraction into one mythologic personage--holbein's death is only literal. he has to split his death into thirty different deaths; and each is but a skeleton. but orcagna's death is one--the power of death itself. there may thus be as much _breadth in thought_, as in execution. * * * * * 259. what then, we have to ask, is a man _conscious of_ in what he sees? for instance, in all cruikshank's etchings--however slight the outline--there is an intense consciousness of light and shade, and of local color, _as a part_ of light and shade; but none of color itself. he was wholly incapable of coloring; and perhaps this very deficiency enabled him to give graphic harmony to engraving. * * * * * bewick--snow-pieces, etc. _gray_ predominant; _perfect sense of color_, coming out in patterns of birds;--yet so uncultivated, that he engraves the brown birds better than pheasant or peacock! for quite perfect consciousness of color makes engraving impossible, and you have instead--correggio. vi. _final notes on light and shade._ 260. you will find in the 138th and 147th paragraphs of my inaugural lectures, statements which, if you were reading the book by yourselves, would strike you probably as each of them difficult, and in some degree inconsistent,--namely, that the school of color has exquisite character and sentiment; but is childish, cheerful, and fantastic; while the school of shade is deficient in character and sentiment; but supreme in intellect and veracity. "the way by light and shade," i say, "is taken by men of the highest powers of thought and most earnest desire for truth." the school of shade, i say, is deficient in character and sentiment. compare any of dürer's madonnas with any of angelico's. yet you may discern in the apocalypse engravings that dürer's mind was seeking for truths, and dealing with questions, which no more could have occurred to angelico's mind than to that of a two-years-old baby. 261. the two schools unite in various degrees; but are always distinguishably generic, the two headmost masters representing each being tintoret and perugino. the one, deficient in sentiment, and continually offending us by the want of it, but full of intellectual power and suggestion. the other, repeating ideas with so little reflection that he gets blamed for doing the same thing over again, (vasari); but exquisite in sentiment and the conditions of taste which it forms, so as to become the master of it to raphael and to all succeeding him; and remaining such a type of sentiment, too delicate to be felt by the latter practical mind of dutch-bred england, that goldsmith makes the admiration of him the test of absurd connoisseurship. but yet, with under-current of intellect, which gets him accused of free-thinking, and therefore with under-current of entirely exquisite chiaroscuro. light and shade, then, imply the understanding of things--color, the imagination and the sentiment of them. 262. in turner's distinctive work, color is scarcely acknowledged unless under influence of sunshine. the sunshine is his treasure; his lividest gloom contains it; his grayest twilight regrets it, and remembers. blue is always a blue shadow; brown or gold, always light;--nothing is cheerful but sunshine; wherever the sun is not, there is melancholy or evil. apollo is god; and all forms of death and sorrow exist in opposition to him. but in perugino's distinctive work,--and therefore i have given him the captain's place over all,--there is simply _no_ darkness, _no_ wrong. every color is lovely, and every space is light. the world, the universe, is divine: all sadness is a part of harmony; and all gloom, a part of peace. the end. footnotes: [bl] see note to the close of this article, p. 156. [bm] the raven, however, like all dickens's animals, is perfect: and i am the more angry with the rest because i have every now and then to open the book to look for him. [bn] "laws of fésole." [bo] 2, church terrace, richmond, surrey. note.--i have hitherto permitted mr. ward to copy any turner drawing he was asked to do; but, finding there is a run upon the vignettes of loch lomond and derwent, i have forbidden him to do more of them for the present, lest his work should get the least mechanical. the admirable drawings of venice, by my good assistant, mr. bunney, resident there, will become of more value to their purchasers every year, as the buildings from which they are made are destroyed. i was but just in time, working with him at verona, to catch record of fra giocondo's work in the smaller square; the most beautiful renaissance design in north italy. [bp] the engraving of turner's "scene on the rhine" (near bingen?) with boats on the right, and reedy foreground on the left; the opening between its mountain banks in central distance. it is exquisitely engraved, the plate being of the size of the drawing, about ten inches by six, and finished with extreme care and feeling. [bq] see the horrible picture of st. sebastian by him in our own national gallery. [br] see "the eagle's nest," § 79. [bs] as in the muscles of the legs and effort in stretching bows, of the executioners, in the picture just referred to. [bt] observe, i entirely distinguish the study of _anatomy_--i.e., of intense bone and muscle--from study of the nude, as the greeks practiced it. this for an entirely great painter is absolutely necessary; but yet i believe, in the case of botticelli, it was nobly restricted. the following note by mr. tyrwhitt contains, i think, the probable truth:-"the facts relating to sandro botticelli's models, or rather to his favorite model (as it appears to me), are but few; and it is greatly to be regretted that his pictures are seldom dated;--if it were certain in what order they appeared, what follows here might approach moral certainty. "there is no doubt that he had great personal regard for fra filippo, up to that painter's death in 1469, sandro being then twenty-two years old. he may probably have got only good from him; anyhow he would get a strong turn for realism,--i.e. the treatment of sacred and all other subjects in a realistic manner. he is described in crowe and cavalcaselle from filippino lippi's martyrdom of st. peter, as a sullen and sensual man, with beetle brows, large fleshy mouth, etc., etc. probably he was a strong man, and intense in physical and intellectual habit. "this man, then, begins to paint in his strength, with conviction--rather happy and innocent than not--that it is right to paint any beautiful thing, and best to paint the most beautiful,--say in 1470, at twenty-three years of age. the allegorical spring and the graces, and the aphrodite now in the ufficii, were painted for cosmo, and seem to be taken by vasari and others as early, or early-central, works in his life: also the portrait of simonetta vespucei[1]. he is known to have painted much in early life for the vespucei and the medici;--and this daughter of the former house seems to have been inamorata or mistress of giuliano de' medici, murdered by the pazzi in 1478. now it seems agreed by crowe and cavalcaselle, pater, etc., (and i am quite sure of it myself as to the pictures mentioned)--first, that the same slender and long-throated model appears in spring, the aphrodite, calumny, and other works.[2] secondly, that she was simonetta, the original of the pitti portrait. "now i think she must have been induced to let sandro draw from her whole person undraped, more or less; and that he must have done so as such a man probably would, in strict honor as to deed, word, and _definite_ thought, but under occasional accesses of passion of which he said nothing, and which in all probability and by grace of god refined down to nil, or nearly so, as he got accustomed to look in honor at so beautiful a thing. (he may have left off the undraped after her death.) first, her figure is absolutely fine gothic; i don't think any antique is so slender. secondly, she has the sad, passionate, and exquisite lombard mouth. thirdly, her limbs shrink together, and she seems not quite to have 'liked it' or been an accustomed model. fourthly, there is tradition, giving her name to all those forms. "her lover giuliano was murdered in 1478, and savonarola hanged and burnt in 1498. now, can her distress, and savonarola's preaching, between them, have taken, in few years, all the carnality out of sandro, supposing him to have come already, by seventy-eight, to that state in which the sight of her delighted him, without provoking ulterior feelings? all decent men accustomed to draw from the nude tell us they get to that. "sandro's dante is dated as published in 1482. he may have been saddening by that time, and weary of beauty, pure or mixed;--though he went on painting madonnas, i fancy. (can simonetta be traced in any of them? i think not. the sistine paintings extend from 1481 to 1484, however. i cannot help thinking zipporah is impressed with her.) after savonarola's death, sandro must have lost heart, and gone into dante altogether. most ways in literature and art lead to dante; and this question about the nude and the purity of botticelli is no exception to the rule. "now in the purgatorio, lust is the last sin of which we are to be made pure, and it has to be burnt out of us; being itself as searching as fire, as smoldering, devouring, and all that. corruptio: optimi pessima; and it is the most searching and lasting of evils, because it really is a corruption attendant on true love, which is eternal--whatever the word means. that this is so, seems to me to demonstrate the truth of the fall of man from the condition of moral very-goodness in god's sight. and i think that dante connected the purifying pains of his intermediate state with actual sufferings in this life, working out repentance,--in himself and others. and the 'torment' of this passion, to the repentant or resisting, or purity-seeking soul is decidedly like the pain of physical burning. "further, its casuistry is impracticable; because the more you stir the said 'fire' the stronger hold it takes. therefore, men and women are _rightly_ secret about it, and detailed confessions unadvisable. much talk about 'hypocrisy' in this matter is quite wrong and unjust. then, its connection with female beauty, as a cause of love between man and woman, seems to me to be the inextricable nodus of the fall, the here inseparable mixture of good and evil, till soul and body are parted. for the sense of seen beauty is the awakening of love, at whatever distance from any kind of return or sympathy--as with a rose, or what not. sandro may be the man who has gone nearest to the right separation of delight from desire: supposing that he began with religion and a straight conscience; saw lovingly the error of fra filippo's way; saw with intense distant love the error of simonetta's; and reflected on florence and _its_ way, and drew nearer and nearer to savonarola, being yet too big a man for asceticism; and finally wearied of all things and sunk into poverty and peace." [1] pitti, stanza di prometeo, 348. [2] i think zipporah may be a remembrance of her. +----------------------------------------------------------------------+ | transcribers' notes | | | | | | general: corrections to punctuation have not been individually | | documented | | | | list of plates: fac-simile standardised to facsimile (3 occurrences) | | | | list of plates, illustration iii: fesole standardised to fésole | | | | list of plates: obedienta corrected to obediente | | | | pages 10, 31, 105: leonardo standardised to lionardo | | | | pages 26, 78: nell' arte as in original | | | | page 27: diagram has been split into two parts as it was too wide to | | display | | | | page 27: durer standardised to dürer (in diagram) | | | | page 46: line work standardised to line-work (first occurrence) | | | | page 47, 51, 54, 70, 151: wood-cuts standardised to woodcuts | | | | page 50, 51, 53, 56, 57, 59, 70, 107, 147: wood-cut standardised to | | woodcut | | | | page 76: dexterous standardised to dextrous | | | | page 103: "holbein had bitterer task." as in the original | | | | page 112: beame corrected to became | +----------------------------------------------------------------------+ 