Imágenes de páginas
PDF
EPUB

JUNG STILLING." Stilling's autobiography reminds me altogether of Retif de la Bretonne's. Both have genius enough to bring them to this point, that their own spiritual enjoyment (Wollust) was to each a problem which he was forced to solve. On Retif's soul, very strong senses and lusty health were hung like strings; by this machinery alone could his soul speak music. Stilling's intellectual voluptuousness is of a weaker sort, and loses itself and becomes intangible in a region to which it does not naturally belong. He feeds and cherishes, and feasts himself with religion, and is voluptuously pious. But he has this advantage over Retif, that on the mysteries of life, and the limits of human thought, he has original ideas, some of which he is able to work out. This is his substantial, thoughtful, pleasing phasis; on this ground also he remains honestly; and this makes the first half of his life uncommonly attractive. Towards the end, however, he has acquired a sort of officious pleasure in the mere art of turning out his frames of mind—which mars all. and makes that appear affectation which is merely a bad habit."

DE PRADT.—“ I have read the book on the Congress of Vienna. This man is a sort of Marmontel, who may do honest simple people a great deal of harm. An emigrant in his heart, he did homage to the Emperor as a slave, and obeyed with a secret rage, of which he himself was unconscious. He chews and chews at the saws of the age, in bad, hard French, and understands nothing-stone-deaf. He is no thinker. The book would never have been written, could he have forgiven Maret for saying that his dispatches were bad and causing him to wait in the ante-chamber. About Napoleon he has said something-but by accident-he has not said what he meant to say. The man is wise who can learn any thing about the Polish matter from him."

We have said nothing in detail about Rahel's external history-biography generally so called-because there is really nothing to say. She was born in the year 1771, at Berlin, and died in the year 1833, in the same place. We observe nothing remarkable in her history, except the fact in which all its significance to the philosophic psychologist consists-that being born a Jewess, and with no outward advantages to compensate for this grand mischance, she nevertheless raised herself by degreesand without seeking it, but by sheer instinctive elasticity-to be a Queen of thought and taste in the most intellectual country of Europe. Her education seems to have been much neglected in her early years; but with the strength and compass of soul with which she was gifted, this absence of external influence only caused the internal might to develope itself with more freshness and originality of feature. It is only a shallow confined chamber thinker, like the Abbé Siêyes, to whom the self-educating system proves necessarily fatal.

On a death-bed of long and weary torture, Rahel made the following very characteristic remark :

"Dear Augustus, my heart is inwardly quickened. I have thought on Jesus, and wept over his sufferings. I have felt-felt for the first time, that he is my brother. And Mary, what did not she endure ?She saw her beloved son suffer, and yielded not-she stood at the cross. That I could not have done. I have strength, but not to that pitch. God forgive me!-I confess it-I am weak."

So far Rahel's Christianity went-a practical sympathy with the sufferings of Christ. That she was a Christian in any other sense does not appear.

ART. IV.-1. Anleitung zur Kupfer-Stichkunde. By Adam Bartsch. 8vo. Vienna. 1821.

2. History and Practice of Photogenic Drawing, on the true Principles of the Daguerréotype, with a new Method of Dioramic Painting; secrets purchased by the French Government, and by command published for the benefit of Arts and Manufactures, by the Inventor, L. G. Daguerre, Officer of the Legion of Honour, and Member of various Academies. London. 1839.

3. Excursions Daguerriennes; collection de 50 Planches, représentant les Vues et les Monuments les plus remarkables du Globe. Paris. 1840-41.

In our last number our attention was confined entirely to the works of the ancient masters, and to that portion of the art which is termed the simple processes of engraving. We have now to direct the attention of our readers to the compound process of Engraving, so superior to the former from the strength and harmony which is presented in the combined arrangement of the three simple modes of engraving, viz. etching, the use of the burin, and also that of the dry point. Works of this mixed kind have generally been divided into two classes: first, those in which etching is merely used as a foundation, and in which the remainder of the picture is completed partly with the dry point, but most frequently with the burin; secondly, those works in which, although the etching predominates, yet the general effect is completed and strengthened by the graving tool and dry point. Etching is admirable in giving the expression of rocks and uneven ground, and is very effective in delineating ancient and ruined buildings, and also the broken trunks and foliage of trees. But in giving the general expression of an engraving, etching alone would be feeble, and often incorrect. The burin therefore is necessary to give precision, strength, and the requisite sharpness. The uni

versal practice of modern chalcographers therefore, whether in works of a very large or small size, is to give the first effect by etching, which brings the plate into a great state of forwardness, -the general masses are then harmonized and brought together by the graver, after which the more delicate lights are tinted by the dry point.

It was towards the seventeenth century that the first of these classes of the art which we have already mentioned was practised through Gerard Audran and the French school, but the attempt was made before that time in Italy, and not without success.

We are indebted to Ludovico Caracci, born A.D. 1555, and his two cousins Annibale and Francesco, for some beautiful specimens of historical engraving produced by etching, and finished with the burin. Federico Baroccio, of the Roman school, was another most successful artist. We must content ourselves, from the vast number before us, with mentioning those names only which will ever remain as landmarks in the history of engraving. Amongst the various masters which are comprehended under the first class, Giacomo Frey, born at Lucerne, in 1681, pursued the art with eminent success. He was a pupil of Carlo Maratti, whose paintings, together with those of Raffaelle, Guido, and Domenichino, formed the principal subjects of his very perfect engravings. Guiseppe Wagner, of Thalendorf, was another celebrated native of Switzerland, and some of the ablest modern artists emanated from his school at Venice, where he eventually established himself. Francesco Bartolozzi, of Florence, has left behind him evidence of the great genius with which he was endowed. Every thing that he attempted was beautiful and striking. His pupil Giovanni Volpato became as eminent an engraver through his instructions; and the works of Raphael Morghen, born at Naples in 1755, evince the same force and beauty as the last-named

masters.

We refer our readers to the sixteenth and five following volumes of Bartsch's Peintre Graveur for a very long list of masters who are included under the second class. We have already mentioned Francesco Mazzuoli, or Parmegiano, as the introducer of etching into Italy. The next most worthy of notice are Lucas Penni, Leon Davent, and Domenico del Barbiere, who were amongst those who were invited by Francis I. to Fontainebleau. Gio. Bat. D'Angeli, better known by the name of Del Moro, who was born at Verona in 1512, was a painter of battle-pieces, but more especially showed the power of his genius in his etchings, of which he executed more than eighteen hundred. Giacomo Callot was another artist extraordinary for his great powers of invention. He was born at Nancy in 1593, and died in 1635. By most authors

he has generally been inrolled amongst the French engravers, but the reply that he made to the powerful and tyrannical Richelieu seems to intimate that he did not wish to be considered a Frenchman. He was employed at Paris to engrave the most memorable sieges and battles of the French, and was particularly pressed, even to the extent of being threatened, to engrave a plate of the siege of Nancy, his native town, which was taken by the French in 1631. His reply was, "I will sooner cut off my right hand than employ it in an act disrespectful to my country or disloyal to my prince." Richelieu was greatly enraged at this answer; but his royal master, with far better grace, was so struck with the conduct of Callot, that he offered him a noble pension, which Callot with still greater gallantry declined. He executed above fifteen hundred plates; and so much care did he bestow upon many of them, that Watelet affirms that he saw no less than four different drawings for his celebrated "Temptation of St. Anthony." Claude Gelée, or Claude Lorraine, was born at Champagne, in Lorraine, in 1600. His style was principally directed to landscapes and sea-ports. His plates do not exceed twenty-eight. The composition is good, but they are generally considered but indifferently executed. A few plates remain of Gaspar Duchet, alias Gaspar Poussin, born at Rome in 1613. They are considered very precious by every collector, as being from the hand of a master who has delighted posterity with such unrivalled landscapes. Salvator Rosa, Bartolomeo Biscaino, Marco Ricci, Francesco Londinio, &c. are contemporary names, with many others remarkable for their genius and inventive powers.

We must now turn to Flanders. Antwerp and Ghent produced able artists, who executed plates of the first class, but not many. M. Bartsch, in his Auleitung, mentions only two artists of any celebrity, Robert van Audenaerde, and Arnold van Westerhout. Antwerp gave birth in 1610 to William de Leeuw, and in 1630 to James Neefs. Their plates after Rubens and Vandyke are considered very fairly executed. Those of the second class are much more numerous; and the first name which claims our attention is of great celebrity,- Rembrandt Gerretz, or Rembrandt van Rhyn, so called from the house of his birth, was born near Leyden, in 1606. We have already mentioned this great master's name as the author of six celebrated pieces, produced solely by the etching needle. According to M. Bartsch, the works of this artist amounted to three hundred and seventy pieces. One of his peculiar merits was his being so perfect a master of chiaroscuro. The portraits of himself were very numerous, amounting to twentyThe most celebrated of these is that with a sabre; but his chef-d'œuvre is the "Hundred Guilders" print, so named from

seven.

that sum (equal to about 10/.) being given for an impression soon after its publication. It is a very exquisite composition, representing our Saviour healing the sick multitude. His portraits however are generally considered his best efforts. John George van Uliet, of Delft, John Lievens, of Leyden, Ferdinand Bol, and some others, were amongst the numerous pupils of Rembrandt, who successfully trod in the footsteps of their master. Adrian van Ostade, born at Lubeck in 1610, is considered next to Rembrandt in the strength and character he threw into his plates. They amount to about fifty, and are held in great estimation. Anthony Waterloo, of Utrecht, some authors say Amsterdam, born in 1612, was considered a very great master by the Dutch school in his particular style of engraving. His habits of intemperance carried him off in the zenith of his fame, so that although he bestowed a far greater portion of his time on engraving than painting, yet his plates do not amount to more than one hundred and fifty. Good impressions of his works are scarce, from the circumstance of the more delicate etchings of his plate being too slenderly bit in; so that when the plate began to wear, portions soon disappeared. We come now to the celebrated Paul Potter, born at Amsterdam in 1635. The few etchings he executed are greatly admired for the correctness of their execution. The indefatigable attention he paid to his canvass ruined his health, and he died at the early age of twenty-nine. The works of Carl du Jardin, born at Amsterdam in 1635, are well known for the truth and beauty with which they are executed. Albert van Everdingen and Francis de Neve were considered admirable etchers of historical landscapes. The former obtained the name of the Salvator Rosa of the north, from the circumstance of his being detained for more than a year in Norway by shipwreck, and his painting many stormy and rocky scenes. He also illustrated, with fifty-seven etchings, the "History of the Fox," a satirical poem. In Germany, amongst the first class of chalcographers, appears John Frederic Bause, born at Halle, in Saxony, in 1738. He is said to have been a self-taught artist. Several of his historical plates show great merit. Charles Guttenburg, of Nuremburg, produced some very good engravings in the work entitled "Voyage Pittoresque du Royaume de Naples," by Abbé St. Nun. There are few other masters of any note; we will therefore mention those who come under the second class.

The family of Merian of Frankfort have left some proofs of their genius. Matthew Merian, the father, produced some very good typographical plates. His son, who applied himself to the same art, was held in great repute. His portrait of Dr. Donne, prefixed to an edition of that author's sermons in 1640, is considered

« AnteriorContinuar »