FINE ARTS. .

ENGRAVING OP TURNER'S vamw OP HATDIELHERII.

A CELEBRATED Italian singer who was very fond of prints after Turner, being desirous of possessing a painting by the artist whose works he so greatly admired in the engravings from them, was directed to go to the Royal Academy exhibition, where he would see several paintings by his favourite: but he could not believe that the pictures he saw there were by the same Turner whose works he was acquainted with; so he went to the Water-colour exhibition and bought a drawing by another Mr. Tuner congratulating himself on being the possessor of an original work by the: master he prized.

This anecdote proves that what Turner's works lose in splendour by the process of eng,raving, they gain in intelligibility: the black and white medium of the print is as a smoked glass, that enables the eyes that are dazzled by

his brilliant colouring to look upon the gorgeous scene. Other painters lose' by translation; Turner gains: however opinions may differ as to the merits

of his paintings, the prints from them are generally liked. The reputation.

of the painter is vindicated by the engraver; when, as in this engraving of Heidelberg by Mr. Prior, the picture is rendered with skilful and intelli- gent fidelity. To the learned student of art and the admirers of thisz master there are qualities in Turner's paintings that no engraving-whatever can preserve; but, like the translation of a poem in a foreign language to readers who cannot understand or procure the original; or a pianoffirte' arrangement of a piece of music to those who are unable to master the score, the print is highly acceptable. It conveys the painter's idea of the scene, and exhibits the power of his art in an agreeable manner. This view of Heidelberg is taken from the opposite bank of the river, which also is introduced; the bridge, with its arches reflected in the cairn surface of the stream, forms a prominent feature in the picture; but the

principal point of attraction is the castle, embedded in the foliage of the

lofty hills above, to which the eye is led by the spire of the church from the town below. A rack of storm,clonds, spanned by a rainbow, scuds across the sky, veiling the outline of the hills, and produoing a grand effect of contrasted brightness and gloom on the scene. In the foreground are groups of German students smoking and women washing linen; the figures better drawn than usual. The view is full of objects—not a corner is void; and there is a sense of life and movement: yet a feeling of repose, that essential quality in landscape, is produced by the tranquil river with its myriad reflections, disturbed only by a. man watering horses, that gives an idea of quiet and warmth. The mastery of the painter is conspicuous in the vast extent of view and number of points of character included in the picture, without crowding or confusion, by means of an ample breadth of light and an ex- tent of atmospheric distance that only Turner can depict. Every arch of the bridge spans a little view, while the summits of the hills melt into vapoury masses of cloud; the town on both sides appears full of life and

crammed with buildings; but all is so massed as to be subordinate to the most picturesque object—the ruined castle on its throne of verdure canopied,

with clouds. The art with which this—the grand subject of the pictura,, yet in size the smallest and in position the most remote—is made the prin- cipal point of attraction, without interfering with the keeping of the view, is remarkable: the brilliant play of light in the reflections of the niver—the

opposition of light and dark in the bridge and the foreground; and in the rainbow and the rain-clouds above—always powerful means of attracting

the eye, are here made subordinate to a seemingly faint indication of the old castle, in which there is scarcely a single line distinctly visible apart' from its whole mass: the shadows are tender and the light is subdued) upon the face of the building, between which and the point of sight &NOV volume of atmosphere:intervenes.

The artist has only effected what. we see in nature; but the limitations{ of painting, and the still narrower scope of engraving, considered, the re-

sult is marvellous, and would defy any other painter but Turner to pro.,

duce it. Throughout the whole picture there is not a harsh line or edge: the architecture, and objects of the most distinct and simple form, are re-

presented by their mass, not by their outline. It is the same in nature;,

though the strong opposition of solidity to air makes the boundary-lines of form more striking than the substance they contain. By the observance-of this principle, and the exquisite gradations of light and shade with intervening atmosphere, is Turner enabled to produce those wonderful effects of space ant distance, sunshine and storm, that render his works so varied and beautiful':

apart from that neglect of local colour and details of form which is the pros,

veiling defect of his recent pictures, and the stumbling-block to those whoq cannot make allowance for this deficiency, and for the excesses into which. his over-sensitive perceptions lead him. We do not defend Turner's devia, tions from exact truth either in hue or form; we only desire to draw atten- tion to his extraordinary merits. These are best appretiated by the public in the engravings from his works; of which this of Heidelberg by Mr. Prior is one of the very finest. Turner's pictures are the most difficult of any to render in black and white; but they are the most satisfactory to the

engraver, whose pains are well repaid by the result. Mr. Prior has well• understood the merits of Turner; and has evidently studied the picture, most completely, to have succeeded in rendering it withso much power and

delicacy. The variety of texture and touch in. this engraving shows great command of his art in executive skill; and both as a translation of the original and an unostentatious display of the resources of engraving this is a most admirable print. Mr. Prior has made himself a name and achieved a great reputation by this one work; and he will have no cause to regret venturing on this undertaking, which, we understand, has cost him three years labour.