He was

artist named Tinney, and received no other instruction. excellent in every department of the art that he undertook. His admirable plate of the Death of Wolfe, after West, procured him great fame not only in England, but also abroad, and raised the English school on the continent to a higher grade of estimation than it had ever before attained. His landscapes after Wilson show the great power he possessed in the arrangement of his lines. At the same period we find William Byrne, an eminent engraver of landscapes, who executed some beautiful and numerous plates after Domenichino, Claude, Wilson, Kearne, Harrington, &c. We close our notice of the masters of the first class with the name of John Keyse Sherwin, born in 1746. He was appointed engraver to the king, and executed some very fine portraits after Gainsborough, Dance, and Reynolds, besides many historical subjects after Poussin Stodhart.

In the list of the second class, the first name is John Evelyn, born at Wotton, in Surrey, in 1620. We have already mentioned this gentleman's name as the author of the work entitled "Sculp tura," which is the first English publication on the subject that we possess it contains much valuable information. In a journey from Rome to Naples, he etched five plates of the scenes which presented themselves as he was on the road, which are considered well executed. Francis Place was another engraver of the same period, who has executed some very fine etchings after Barlow, and also some portraits after Kneller, Vandyke, and others. He was originally brought up to the law, but abandoned his profession for his favourite art. He had great powers of execution, but a sad want of application. Lord Orford, in his "Anecdotes of Painting," relates that Place was offered 5007. by Charles the Second to draw the royal navy, but refused. Sir James Thornhill, the father-in-law of the great Hogarth, the painter of the dome of St. Paul's, and the greatest decorator of private dwellings in the style of staircase and ceiling pictures, among English artists, executed some very good etchings with much boldness and freedom. F. Zuccherelli, one of the early members of our Royal Academy, employed himself in early life with etching. George Stubbs, the admirable painter of horses of that period, etched all his own plates for "The Anatomy of the Horse." We now come to William Hogarth, born at London in 1697. As an engraver he was more remarkable for the characteristic points he threw into his figures, than for his attention to the arrangement of his lines or the delicacy of his lights and shades. From the extraordinary demand for his works, he had several hands to assist him. Scotin, Baron and S. Ravenet, all foreigners, assisted him in his "Marriage à la Mode;" C. Grignon, together with La Cave and Aveline, worked

with him at his four plates of "The Election." He also employed some of the ablest English artists. Woollett, in 1759, assisted him in his illustrations of "Tristram Shandy; "and Luke Sullivan, a native of Ireland, an artist of much humour, easily seized the droll points that Hogarth threw with so much force into his admirable characters, and proved a very useful assistant. Edward Brooker was very happy in his engravings of architectural views; amongst his best works is a plate with the sections of St. Paul's cathedral. John Boydell, born at Dorrington in 1719, by his energy and talents, contributed greatly to the improvement of the art. His father brought him up to his own business as a land surveyor, but he was one day so much attracted with the architectural engravings by an artist of the name of Toms, that at the age of twenty-six he repaired to London, and became his pupil for six years. After that, he got on so rapidly that he published a small work containing views near London, and about England and Wales. From this commencement he made rapid progress towards wealth and distinction. He did a great deal of business throughout Europe, in prints, and amassed a greal deal of money. It is said that the French Revolution was of great injury to him, so much so that he was obliged to dispose of his celebrated Shakspeare Gallery by lottery, when he had intended to have bequeathed it to his country. He was much respected, not only by his brother artists, but also by his fellow citizens, and in 1770 was made alderman of his ward, and in 1791 rose to the dignity of lord mayor. William Elliot, who was much appreciated as a landscape engraver, executed many plates after Cuyp, Rosa da Tivoli, Polemberg, and others. James Basire, born at London, in 1740, was a very good historical engraver, and executed some works after Reynolds, Wilson, and West. He is remarkable as having produced the largest plate that was ever executed of that period; a print twenty-seven inches by forty-seven, from the picture at Windsor, representing "The Field of the Cloth of Gold." We have one other name to mention of this period, Hamlet Winstanley, who was a pupil of Sir Godfrey Kneller. He visited Italy, and on his return to England applied himself to engraving. He executed a set of prints from the dome of St. Paul's. There are also more than twenty different prints by this artist, after Titian, Tintoretto, P. Veronese, Guido, and C. Maratti, and others. The elder Winstanley was the unfortunate projector and builder of the Eddystone lighthouse; he perished in the ruins during the great storm of 1703, which swept almost every vestige into the deep.

Such were the most famous artists who distinguished themselves in compound chalcography previous to the nineteenth century. We will now describe the other modes of engraving

which have been practised with more or less success; and the first is an old method entitled Opus Mallei, which was performed by a punch and mallet, and which is very seldom, if ever, used in any country. It was originally designed to imitate chalk drawings, but the process seldom repaid the artist for the time and trouble he expended in it. The outline was traced on the copper in the usual manner. The artist then proceeded with a series of small steel punches to mark out the various outlines in his picture, and the shadings were beaten in with the punch in the same manner. The number of prints which a plate of this kind would yield is but small; not more than from a slightly etched plate. The printing ink adhering unevenly from the rough surface thrown up by the punch, the impressions are of course by no means clear. M. Bartsch mentions four artists who were worthy of mention in this style of engraving, particularly Giulio Campagnola, of about 1500, who executed a print of "John the Baptist holding a Cup."

The invention of Mezzotinto is ascribed by Lord Orford and Vertue to Prince Rupert; but Baron Heineken considers that the first idea of it was conceived by Ludwig von Siegen, a lieutenant-colonel in the service of the Landgrave of Hesse. He executed a portrait of the Princess of Hesse, which is dated 1643, seventeen years before the discovery is said to have been made by Prince Rupert. It is further said, that Prince Rupert learnt the secret from von Siegen, and brought it with him into this country as his own, when he came over with Charles the Second at the Restoration. Some again contend, that Rembrandt was the author of it, but M. Bartsch, we conceive, shows very clearly that he had no claim to it.

Before we remark upon the progress this portion of the art has made, or upon those masters who have made themselves eminent by following it, we will give a short account of the manner in which it is performed.

The tools which are used in this process are, first, an instrument called a berceau or cradle. It consists of a series of points, like the extreme ends of a small-tooth comb, to which a handle is attached at the top. These are not in a line, but form a portion of a circle, of which the radius is six inches: this, therefore, will be similar to the support of a child's cradle, and when used in an upright position, is rocked backwards and forwards on the plate, having the effect of ploughing up the surface; hence its name of cradle. The other tools are scrapers, shading-tools, and roulettes. The last named instruments are similar to the rowel of a spur, and are used to work off any additional part of the surface of the copper. The plate, after being polished in the usual manner, is divided equally by lines of soft chalk parallel to each other, the

distance between each line being equal to one-third of the length of the face of the cradle. This instrument is then placed between the two first lines at the top of the plate, and worked backwards and forwards in the same direction. This must be done very steadily, until the operator has completely ploughed up the surface of the plate. He thus goes on from line to line until the whole of the plate has been operated upon. Other lines are then chalked down at right angles to the former ones, and the same treatment of the plate is pursued in the new direction. A third order of lines is then drawn diagonally, and the same process with the cradle is observed. When this operation is completed, the plate is said to have undergone one turn. In order to produce a very dark and uniform ground, the plate must undergo a repetition of this tedious process at least twenty times. M. Bartsch says, that a plate of two feet long and eight inches broad requires three weeks to produce a jet-black impression, and a larger plate sometimes more than a month. In other kinds of engraving the artist has a clear burnished surface to work on, and his business is to work up his intended effect by a series of lines arranged according to what he wishes to represent; but in mezzotinto engraving the process of producing the picture is perfectly the reverse. Here the operator has a perfectly black surface to work upon, and his object is to arrive at the middle tints and extreme lights by removing more or less of the grained surface of the plate. This is effected with scrapers of different sizes. The strongest lights are taken out first, and many parts, where great clearness is required, are burnished. The different degrees of shading are then introduced, and afterwards the reflected lights. We have few instances now of pure mezzotinto being executed. The outline of the subject is almost always laid in with a strong bold etching, which gives greater effect, and relieves that extreme softness which has been complained of in this branch of engraving. Its peculiar advantages, however, consist in the soft gradations of light, so that a good mezzotinto print appears as if it were executed with the brush. The number of impressions that can be taken from a plate are about 150; but by working up the plate again, after every 50 copies have been taken off, some 400 or 500 can be obtained. The immediate followers of Von Siegen are Johann Frederich van Eltz, and his pupil Johann Jacob Kremer, of about 1656; also Johann Jacobb, born at Vienna in 1733, with various others, the last of whom is Vinzenz Kininger, professor of mezzotinto in the Academy at Vienna. Wallerant Vaillant, born at Lisle in 1623, accompanied Prince Rupert to England, and he was there instructed by the prince in the art; he afterwards went to Paris, where he obtained great success in portraits. Abraham Blooleling, born at Amsterdam in 1634, came to England in 1673,

scenes.

and proved himself to be a very clever and industrious artist. He was accompanied by his brother-in-law, Gerard Valch, who executed so excellent an engraving of the Duchess of Mazarin, that Lord Orford pronounced it to be the finest print he had ever seen. Amongst the Flemish and Dutch artists we may mention John van Hugtenburg, born at Haerlem in 1645, famous for battle Cornelius Trovet, termed the Dutch Watteau, was born at Amsterdam in 1697, and died in 1750, and Peter Schenck executed the portraits of the British sovereigns, and also about a hundred views near Rome. We pass over, from their paucity in numbers, the Italian and French schools, and we now proceed to the English. The first name of any consequence is that of Henry Lutterel, born at Dublin in 1650. Lord Orford gives a description of the manner in which he acquired the art, in his “Anecdotes of Painting."

"He was bred," says his lordship, "at New Inn, but abandoned the law. He set himself to discover the secret, for so it then was, and laid his grounds by a roller, which succeeded tolerably but not to his satisfaction. He then persuaded his friend Lloyd, who kept a print-shop near the Strand, to bribe one Blois (who laid grounds for Blooleling and was returning to Holland) to disclose the mystery. Lloyd for forty shillings purchased the secret, but refused to make it known to Lutterel, on which they quarrelled. Meantime Isaac Becket, a calico printer, found means of inducing Lloyd (who was ignorant how to put his knowledge into practice) to accept of his services. And Lutterel having made the acquaintance of Paul van Somer learnt from him the whole process. Becket, getting into difficulties, was assisted by Lutterel, and they became intimate; but Becket, on his marriage afterwards to a woman of fortune, set up for himself and employed Lutterel, who was the better draughtsman, to assist him."

This was considered the first introduction of mezzotinto engraving into England. James M'Ardell, born in Ireland in 1710, is considered one of the most eminent artists of that time. He has executed a number of plates after Vandyke, Rubens, Rembrandt and Murillo, and many portraits after Reynolds, Zoffany, and others. Thomas Beard was another Irishman who was a very good artist. Richard Houston showed the same talents as M'Ardell, and executed some excellent portraits after Reynolds, Rembrandt, and others. Valentine Green, born in Warwickshire, in 1739, was brought up to the study of the law, but soon abandor.ed that profession and applied himself to the study of mezzotinto engraving. Without any other aid than his own talents he rose to a very high grade in the art, and executed many admirable prints after West-the most striking amongst these is his Hannibal and Regulus. He produced also many portraits after Reynolds, Romney, and Zoffany. He employed himself most successfully