FINE ARTS.
Engravings in Outline of Ancient Cathedrals, HUtels de Ville, and other Public Buildings in France, Germany, and Italy. By JOHN CONEY. Parts I. to VI.
The magnificence of these fine specimens of Gothic architecture ren- ders a work like the present attractive, though the manner in which the plates are executed is more favourable to the picturesque than to gran- deur of effect. The style of etching in these outlines is bold and forcible, but at the same time coarse, heavy, and monotonous. In endeavouring to convey the appearance of dilapidation and defacement, occasioned by the crumbling of the outer surface of the stone, through the effects of time and weather, the artist has made his lines clumsy and irregular; and thole thehrich and elaborate details of Gothic atrAtece ture look as though represented in filigree-work. He should rather have given them with precision and delicacy, and reduced the sharpness by breaks and hatching : this would have prevented that confusion of forms which is one of the faults of the plates, and have enabled him to do more justice to the technical accuracy of his drawings, all of which are made (we are told) from actual admeasurement.
Among the most splendid examples of the Continental Gothic struc- tures, these Numbers include the Cathedral and other public buildings at Renen ; the Hotel de Ville at Brussels, with its elegant spire ; Milan Cathedral, &c. &c. Brief descriptions by Mr. Teenam accompany the Ledges.
Previous page
