FINE ARTS.
PROGRESS OF ENGRAVING.
TAxneo advantage of the fallow-time in the field of art, we have cast a retrospective glance at the state of the late harvest of publication, and investigated the prospect of the print crop for next season ; and the result is alike favourable to the taste of the purchasers, the spirit of the publishers, and the skill of the artists. The day of the " Flow. era of Loveliness" is gone by : the public begin to nauseate these sickly, flaunting weeds; they have been forced into an ephemeral ex- istence, and their decline will be even more rapid than their growth. The expense of rearing them is inversely proportioned to their worth ; and the speculators find themselves in a falling market. The facility with which these meretricious publications are got up renders compe- tition easy: a picture by Wiwi,. or LANDSEER cannot be so readily rivalled ; and publishers are beginning to find that the best works are the safest investment and yield the surest profit, being above the influ- ence of fashion.
Looking back, we find such fine works as LANDSEER'S " Bolton Abbey," and WILKIE'S " Maid of Saragossa," in mezzotint by COUSINS, WILKIE'S "John Knox Preaching," and NEWTON'S " Sterne and the Grisette," in line by Doo, enjoying not only the high reputation they deserve as productions of art, but extensive popularity. First proofs of Bolton Abbey bear a high premium ; and though a line plate is not soon exhausted, choice proofs of the Knox keep their price ; and the publisher, Mr. Moos, the most liberal and enterprising entrepre- neur of engravings, has no reason to regret the expenditure of .5,000/. on that single plate. " The Spanish Mother" and "The First Ear- ring," two smaller plates from WILKIE, ought not to be overlooked in this retrospect; nor the pair of LANDSEER'S Mourning Dogs, and his darling little " Pets "—a child feeding a fawn ; all of which are en. graved in line. The past season, too, has been marked by the corn. mencement of a great undertuking—FieneN's Gallery of British Art; and we must not forget the " National Gallery" of the Associated Engravers, which is making sure and solid though slow and silent pro- gress : both works are employing the first talent in line engraving. Six volumes of fee-simile sketcher, in tinted lithography, hare been also added to the list of publications addressed to the more cuhivated taste. Of these, STANFIELD'S, Stmesv Coorea's, and JOSEPH Nasit's, are preeminent in pictorial beauty ; while Mr. ViviAN's in Spain, RICHARDSON'S on the Continent, and lisalse's of the Danube, pnssess claims to admiration that have not been over. looked. STANFIELD'S Sketches have not had the extensive popularity anticipated for them : they are not found so worthy of his fame as was expected ; moreover, they were not lithographed by the artist himself, as were those of Haurnso, Pitoter, LEWIS, and NASH.
In regarding the state of publication with reference to the popular taste for pictures, BURNETT'S noble enterprise of engraving a series of good and cheap plates from the best designs of the great masters, ought not to be passed over. As yet only three of RAPHAEL'S Cat. Nous have appeared : lint the progress of the series is only interrupted, • he has not abandoned his intention ; and we hope he will be encouraged to proceed with it beyond the Cartoons. Unfortunately, the prints are too cheap to make it worth the while of publishers to " push" them ; and how much the success of the finest %cork depends on the activity of sellers, all who are acquainted with the machinery of pub. lication well know.
More recently, we have bad Mit.t.un's brilliant line-engraving of TURNER'S splendid view of " Venice "—a picture equally beautiful
and wonderful, despite its faults : it is a first-rate performance, and
worthy to range with his beautiful view of Cologne and Cat.seon's Rotterdam. There are no fewer than four of TURNER'S landscapes in
the engravers' hands,—namely, " Mercury and Argus," " Regulus,"
and " Ancient and Modern Italy ;" all to be executed in the finest line manner, by Wir.r.stone, DANIEL Wissos (pulpit of Ithissat), and others. Tunseles popularity in black and %%bite seems to increase with his unpopularity in colours, To be sure, the four forthcoming plates are all the speculation of one publisher, Mr. 'Moos ; butt he is too much a man of business to risk such large sums on unproductive works, and no one knows better the value of a tine picture to back his mine- • tive eloquence. Till we heard of this circumstance, we were appre- hensive that TURNER'S reputation was on the wane ; for, stopping to admire his " Cologne," that bung high up and dim with dust in a print- seller's shop, we were told that it had not been successful; and the publisher of the " Venice," we believe, connects greater ideas of profit with GRANT'S " Meeting of the Royal Hounds on Ascot Heath," than with it. The one will be prized when the other is forgotten ; but your trader looks to a quick return. Pictures like GRANT'S, including portraits of all the " swell sportsmen " of the West end of Cockney. dam, looking as if they were sitting to the painter, and conscious of the unimpeachable " ton" of their costume and air, cannot fail of being profitable ; and we are not at all surprised at his being commissioned to paint the aristocratic foxhtmters of Melton Mowbray as a compa- nion, the success of which is equally certain : but, excepting that they are produced by means of paint and canvas, such productions have less to do with "fine art" than Ntatitcnes sporting books with literature. Of the mass of portraits of the Queen—amounting to nearly fifty, of one sort or another—the same may be said ; but CHALON'S picture of her Majesty in her state robes—which, apart from the merit of the likeness, is the only one combining truth and elegance—is a superb work of art. COUSINS'S mezzotint, however, rich as it is in the re- sources of his style, and a masterly translation into black and white, does not reflect the brilliancy of the original ; in feet, mezzotint cannot. A difference like that between clouds and sunshine, or twilight and daylight, is seen in comparing the pictorial effect of the picture and of the print : but as regards the resemblance merely, we prefer the plate ; it is less ideal, but more truly characteristic. Doo should have engraved this matchless piece of water-colour painting in litre; no other mode could preserve the daylight purity and splendour of the colouring. The Reginamania in the world of art is now taking a wider range— front the Queen to the Coronation. Besides another portrait of Ler Majesty in the coronation-robes, GEORGE HATTER is employed upon a large portrait picture of the august ceremony, to be published by Messrs. Honosox; and PARRIS is getting up another for Mr. Moos. The latter publisher also has put WILKIE'S picture of " The Queen's First Council" into the engraver's hands ; and we are told that the painter has profited by the severe strictures passed on it to improve the likenesses. Every picture that Mute paints, however, is sure to be engraved : Doo has got his "Cotter's Saturday night" to produce in line ; and four of his early works are on the eve of publication,— namely, " The Village Festival" in the National Gallery, and "The Carib-players," both in mezzotint, by CHARLES LEWIS; and "The Only Daughter" and " The Recruit," in line, by ENGELHEART and CHARLES Fox.
Six pictures by EDWIN LANDSEER are also in progress : one of them, by the way, is just out—" The Children of the Marquis of .Abercorn," —an infant lying in the cradle playing with its coral, and a little girl hugging up a pet puppy from the threatened wrath of a noble blood- hound. The group of the Duke of Sutherland's children dressing up a fawn, is to form a companion to it. Both are engraved by COUSINS; who is also engaged on the "Hawking Party," with portraits of Lord and Lady Francis Egerton, as a pendant to Bolton Abbey : the nobler personages are the least interesting feature in the picture, being eclipsed by the horses and hawks ; but few will quarrel with this. The etching which we saw at Mr. Moos's is very spirited arid forcible, and gives promise of a fine plate. The "Distinguished Member of the Humane Society" and the " Queen's Pets" will also enrich the port- folios of the collectors of LANDSEER'S works ; and a companion to the inimitable "Jack in Office" is announced.
It will be seen that the current of publication runs somewhat too exclusively in favour of WILKIE, LANDSEER, and TURNER: why have we nothing Of CALLCOTT'S, Of LESLIE'S, Of 111ACLISE'S? to say nothing of HILTON, ETTY, and painters of that stamp. Easmaee's exqui- site picture of " Pilgrim's coming in Sight of Rome," is, however, erigravir" in line by Doo ; and we were glad to see, from a proof of the etching, that it is in a forward state. A mezzotint by LUCAS of Hmuntqu's view of " Venice" will shortly enable us to compare his with PROUT'S and TURNER'S. flAavEy's homely but characteristic pictures of the " Battle of Drutnclog " and the Scottish sport of" Curl- ing," are nearly finished ; and BCRNET will soon turn out of hand ALLAN'S picture of " Burns in his Cottage," intended as a companion to the same painter's picture of Scott in his study. We will not swell the goodly catalogue with plates of minor importance and temporary inte- rest: these we shall not fail to be reminded of as they appear ; for Messieurs the Publishers are especially careful to procure the best possible advertisement of a new portrait or some trifle of the day, by the timely transmission of an impression for critical notice, while works of higher consideration often lag behind, or are forgotten altogether. On reference to the file of the Spectator, we find that the record of publication is far less complete than we desire it to be, owing to this short-sighted policy ; and as we do not choose to be guided in our selection of sub- jects for remark by the discretion of interested parties, we shall in future notice the current novelties in engraving as they appear, accord- ing to their relative value. We propose therefore to revive an old custom, and take an occasional "peep at the print-shops ; " by which we can see enough of the engravings to enable us to speak generally of their merits, for the information of our readers ; reserving a more attentive scrutiny for such as are worthy of it among those that reach us.
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