for forty years, and his works amount to nearly four hundred plates. In 1774, he was made one of the six associate engravers to the Royal Academy. Thomas Watson, born at London, in 1750, executed some very clever portraits after Reynolds, Lely, Dance, &c., and also some historical subjects after Rembrandt and Correggio. John Raphael Smith, born near Derby, about 1750, was the son of Thomas, generally called Smith of Derby, who was the celebrated etcher and painter of English landscape. Raphael Smith's portraits, after Reynolds, Northcote, and Sir Thomas Lawrence, are much prized. There are many others whom we might mention, if our limits would allow us, but we must pass them over with the exception of the well-known name of Richard Earlom, whose portraits after Rembrandt, Vandyke, &c. are much valued by collectors. The art also was much indebted to him for the improvements he made in it. He was the first person who introduced lines and dots, which tended to give greater force and character to certain portions of the picture. Before quitting this subject, we must just allude to James Christopher Le Blon's method of printing mezzotinto in colours. He was born at Frankfort in 1670, and was a pupil of Carlo Maratti. After working some time with Bonaventura van Overbeck at Amsterdam upon miniatures, he came to England and finished some large pictures according to his method, which we are about to describe. Lord Orford pronounced them to be "very tolerable copies of the best masters.' He however did not meet with success in London, nor was his invention appreciated. He published in 1730 an account of his process, and ten years after ended his life in distress at Paris. His plan was to have for every picture at least three plates, one for red, another for yellow, and a third for blue-sometimes a fourth plate was required for black. The mixture of any of these primitive colours, as our readers well know, would produce others, according to the proportion in which they are mixed. It was requisite also to take great care that the graining of the plate was proportioned to the strength of the colour that the artist wished to impress; for where the graining was too rough the colour would sink in and too dark a tone would appear in the impression. The plates therefore required more care in working up; and the colours used were transparent, so that one would show through the other. As we have already mentioned, although a very ingenious invention, it did not meet with that success that it merited.

Chalk engraving is a French method to imitate drawings in chalk of different studies and subjects. Three French artists are mentioned, who have shared the invention-G. E. Demarteau, born at Liege in 1722, who died at Paris in 1776; Jean Jacques

François, born at Nancy in 1717; and Louis Bonnet, of Paris, born about 1735. This style is more especially adapted for expressing the bold broad lines which the artist produces with his chalk upon paper.

The plate is prepared in the same way as for etching, with the usual ground laid on. Some of our readers may have observed that the stroke made by a chalk pencil consists of a series of dots, for the chalk glances along the surface of the grain of the paper, merely marking the small eminences with which it comes in contact; and the coarser the grain of the paper, the larger are these dots in any bold shading. To imitate this, therefore, the plan is to etch in a series of dots, large or small, according to the boldness of the chalk line the artist is representing in the picture. In the usual manner the prominent parts of the drawing are thus brought out, and the etching ground is removed; should any portions, on examination, prove too faint, the stopping mixture is applied, and the dots are rebitten. After this the other portions of the picture are put in by a constant series of dots. The instruments used for this are the graver and various dotting points. So numerous were the instruments invented for this style, that a complete set amounted to forty. M. Bartsch mentions a single, double and triple etching needle, several mattoix or punches, and various kinds of roulettes, all for the purpose of producing the different kinds of dots that were required. Plates in this style would give four or five hundred good impressions. Common printing ink was used for producing black impressions, and burnt sienna for red. Many prints have so closely resembled the original drawings that it was difficult to distinguish between the two, particularly those in red chalk. The most celebrated artist in this style was a gentleman of Amsterdam, born about the year 1732. His name was Cornelius Ploos van Amstel. He executed, for his own amusement, a very large and interesting collection of plates from the crayon drawings of the most celebrated Dutch masters.

The English method of dotting is only an improvement upon the French; the dots are rounder, smaller, and more closely placed together, as if they were executed with a punch, while those of the French are rough and coarse, and irregularly placed. In short, by the English method the more highly-finished chalk drawings may be imitated with perfect accuracy and great clearness.

M. Bartsch says the invention is due to Jacob Bylaerl, a painter and engraver of Leyden, who published a small treatise upon it. Bartolozzi, however, who then resided in London, was the first to practise it, and added many valuable improvements of his own, and from the very fine plates which he engraved, many have considered him the inventor. The demand for his works was very

great, and he was obliged to employ many of his pupils to finish some of his plates.

William Wynne Ryland made himself eminent in this style of engraving and executed more than two hundred plates with great delicacy and beauty. M. Bartsch mentions some which were printed in coloured inks as being little inferior to miniature painting. Joseph Strutt, born about 1745, the author of The Dictionary of Engravers, executed some very beautiful plates.

Aquatinta engraving was invented for the imitation of drawings which have been washed in with Indian ink. It is generally supposed that the invention is due to a French artist, the Abbé de St. Non, who communicated it to his friend Jean Baptiste le Prince, a French painter of some talent. Le Prince offered for a certain sum to sell the secret. No one, however, came forward to claim it, and on his death-bed he communicated the process to his niece and heiress; soon after that the king purchased the secret for the Academy, by settling upon her an annuity. The following is the mode of engraving in aquatinta :-The plate is prepared in the usual manner, and the subject is etched in. After this, the plate is thoroughly cleansed from the etching ground, and a liquid composed of resinous gum dissolved in highly rectified spirits of wine is poured on the plate. A little tin trough is provided with a spout to pour back any superfluous ground, which may be thrown away in case any particles of dust should have adhered to it, which would render it useless to apply to any other plate. The spirits of wine evaporate, and the resinous ground remains. There are some precautions to be observed in Jaying the ground, and the most important is to prevent what is called watering, which is, drops of water forming on the ground as it begins to granulate, and the portion of the ground under each drop is of a coarser nature than the rest; this often results from the spirits of wine being bad. The mode of obviating this is dashing over the plate a bason of cold water, so that every part may be covered at the same time. Another precaution previous to laying the ground is to fill up the lines which are etched with printer's ink, or it frequently happens that a white line appears on the ground, which ultimately produces a very disagreeable effect. The next thing is to varnish over the margin of the plate with a mixture composed of lamp-black or oxide of bismuth and turpentine varnish, merely leaving a little slip free at the bottom, which is for the purpose of seeing the effect of each application of the acid. In the case where the picture has not been previously etched in, the subject is either transferred to the plate by a pencil or by tracing; in the latter case, great care must be taken that there is not too much oil in the preparation of the

coloured paper, for every stroke of the tracing point will stop out or make a white line when the plate is bit in: the greatest difficulty is the stopping out those parts which the acid is not to touch, and which therefore in the impression will appear as the lights of the picture. This is delicately performed by a sharp-pointed red table brush with oxide of bismuth and turpentine varnish. The various tints are now obtained by different solutions of diluted aquafortis, care being taken to thoroughly wash the plate in clean water between each new application of the acid. As the artist advances he stops out those parts which have been sufficiently bit in. An ordinary engraving is done in eight or ten bites. The first generally takes about a minute, the second a minute and a half, the third two minutes and a half, and so on, gradually progressing in time according to the depths of shade that are required in the engraving. A portion of the little slip, which we mentioned, was left on the margin, after every bite is stopped up, so that on the completion of the engraving the artist may clearly perceive the effect of each application of the acid. There are two or three other plans in vogue, but we have described the most common. This style of engraving is chiefly adapted for washed drawings and light subjects, but it would never produce a print of a highly finished picture.

Aquatinta engraving was introduced into England by Paul Sandby, who was born at Nottingham in 1732. At the early age of sixteen he was employed as a draughtsman, under Mr. David West, to complete a survey of the north and west parts of the Highlands of Scotland. While he was employed upon this, he showed his superior talents by making some beautiful sketches of some of the finest and wildest parts of that scenery. His rising genius procured him the patronage and notice of Sir Joseph Banks and Sir Watkin Williams Wynne. He accompanied the former in a tour through North and South Wales; and the latter baronet employed him in making drawings of the most beautiful landscapes of the Welsh scenery. Some little time after the completion of these views, he engraved them in aquatinta. In 1768 he was made one of the original members of the Royal Academy, and in the same year was appointed drawing-master to the Royal Military Academy at Woolwich, where he remained until his death. J. Bapt. Le Prince was born at Paris in 1733, and after working some time in his native city, he made a journey to Russia, where he remained some years designing all the costumes, and returned to Paris with a very numerous collection, many of which he engraved in the aquatinta style. Robert Kobell, born at Manheim in 1770, executed some very good plates, representing the peculiar style of the Dutch masters. We will

conclude with the name of Carl Kunz, born at Manheim in 1770, His paintings of cattle and landscapes are justly admired; and from his own designs and others he executed some very clever engravings, particularly three large ones, after Henry Roos, Paul Potter, and A. Vandervelde.

Aquarilla engraving is the imitation of drawings washed in different colours. Like Le Blon's invention it requires as many plates as there are simple colours. The outlines of the figures, &c. are etched in, and the plate being cleaned is worked upon with roulettes, care being taken to make the grain very fine: the same process is observed in the other plates, the quality of the grain being proportioned to the quantity of colour to be impressed upon the paper. Great effect can be produced by this method, for not only do we have the abrupt tones of shade as in aquatinta, but also the beautiful and soft gradations of light which give the appearance of a finished drawing. Plates executed in this manner yield about two hundred copies. The invention is due to Pierre François Charpentier, an engraver of Paris, who was born at Blois in 1730, and first conceived the idea in 1762. The French artists kept it entirely to themselves for a long period, The most remarkable in this style were François Janinet, born at Paris in 1752, and his pupil Charles Melchior Descourtis.

We have now enumerated the various modes in which the graphic art is practised, both on wood and metal. The third and last material, which modern art has called into practice for the purpose of producing impressions, is that of stone, of which we shall give a short account. Lithography was accidentally discovered by Alois Senefelder, about the year 1792. He was the son of Peter Senefelder, an actor in the Theatre Royal of Munich. The father, wishing to bring up his son to the profession of the law, sent him to the university of Ingoldstadt. The strong partiality of young Alois for the stage showed itself in private theatricals. He composed a little comedy in 1789, entitled Die Mädchenkenner, which was very much approved of, and had a very good run. Upon his father's death he quitted the university and attached himself to the stage. Another play that he wrote was unfortunately too late for the Easter book-fair at Leipzig, and the consequence was, that the proceeds hardly paid for the printing. He passed much of his time at the printing office, anxiously trying to hasten the publication, and his attention was then first directed to the business of the pressman. In his work on Lithography he observes, "I thought it so easy that I wished for nothing more thau to possess a small printing press, and thus to become the composer, printer, and publisher of my own productions," Being too poor to enter into the expenses of