BA.RTO LOZ Z L* THE book before us is an
elaborate second edition of the large illustrated first edition of the same name. But it is more than this, for Mr. Tuer has taken the opportunity of a fresh start to
omit much that was, in his own words, "of little value to the general reader," and to insert "fresh matter of interest." The present book is undoubtedly improved, from the point of view of its read ablenese, both by its smaller shape, by the omission of the former illustrations—which, to tell the truth, were neither very interesting nor very beautiful—and by the absence of a long catalogue rgsunte of Bartolozzi's prints, which, however useful for purposes of reference, was rather cumbersome, and inconsistent with the general gossipy nature of the book. For the rest, the faults and merits of the work remain very much the same. It has the freshness and impulse of a writer who is in love with his subject ; it treats incidentally,
and in an easy, natural manner, of a good many details of prints, print-makers, print-sellers, and print-collectors; and it abounds with criticism of the technical kind which is fairly correct and intelligent. But in other ways the deficiencies of the work are very marked. The subjects are scattered about with little sequence or intelligible reason ; half the matter might be omitted without anything which is vital to Bartolozzi being removed ; and there is a kind of strenuous irrelevance, if one may use such an expression, in the manner in which the author pushes head-over-heels into his text any fact or incident which can possibly be supposed to have the slightest con- nection with the subject in hand. And, far worse than this, at least to most readers, may be noted the artistic deficiency of the writer. Mr. Tuer suffers from that terrible failing of experts which renders so much expert opinion compara- tively valueless. He is a good authority, we should imagine from the intrinsic evidence, on the question of whether any given print is or is not by Bartolozzi ; but he is on equally good showing a bad judge as to whether the print in question, whoever it may be by, is worth anything. For, though it may not be generally believed, the knowledge of handicraft in art is wholly distinct from a knowledge of art itself. The picture-dealer who would not once in a thousand times buy a spurious Cox or Turner, is, as a rule, wholly incapable of telling the varying merit which attaches to undoubtedly genuine works, —he knows a Co; but he does not know a good Cox. It is in this power of discrimination that Mr. Andrew Tuer displays his deficiency. The place in which he puts Bartolozzi amongst engravers is far too high ; his estimate of the man's work and its importance is greatly exaggerated ; and his comparison of the engravings by this master with those of other workers in the same material, rarely touches the real point at issue. As an example of this over-appreciation of Bartolozzi, and lack of dis- crimination in critical remark, may be noted the passage on p. 72, descriptive of Bartolozzi's style :—
"Bartolozzi's 'style' is sometimes spoken of as if it were a dis- tinctive 'manner,' sealing his work with an unmistakable cachet. But, in truth, he had neither manner nor mannerism ; for he worked in all styles, and always without affectation. In dealing with great originals, he was grand or graceful, fanciful or fiery, gentle or power- ful, according to the temper of the artist after whom he was at work. No engraver ever reproduced with more truthful fidelity the character of the painter ; but it cannot be denied that while he adhered to the spirit of the original, he often added a dignity and force, or infused a sweetness and grace, as the subject demanded, softening hardness of treatment, and even correcting drawing, in a manner which in many cases added vastly to the reputation of the painter."
De guetibus non eat dieputanclum ; and if Mr. Tuer chooses to deny that Bartolozzi had either manner or mannerism, we can-
not absolutely prove the contrary. But it may be suggested, and left to the consideration of our readers, whether it is not the mannerisms of Bartolozzi which constitute his greatest charm. Certainly, in our opinion, we should answer this question in the affirmative. After all, what is mannerism in art ? Is it not the practice of an artist, who, no matter what
his subject may be, treats it in a certain given way, which he has adopted in many previous instances ? It may be either a mannerism of method, or a mannerism of mind; but the vital peculiarity of mannered work is that its character springs from
the artist, and is personal to him, and to him alone. Surely, of all men that ever lived, Bartolozzi's work is in this sense mannered. Not only has it peculiarities of handicraft and of drawing, which distinguish it from all previous work, but it has a special mental character of its own,—a sort of
• Earto/ossi and his Works. By Andrew Tear. London : Field and Tam airy lightness, and easy, smiling grace, which is very indi- vidual. In fact, we should feel inclined to say that, so far from his work having no unmistakable cachet, it was the unmistakable cachet that was its attraction. A great engraver, in the sense of an interpreter of great works, Bartolozzi decidedly and indubitably was not. His power was, that he imported into the solid, stolid, and frequently brutal English art of his day, qualities of sportiveness and delicate fancy, with qualities of style, such as were unknown in England ; and that he did this in a manner peculiar to himself. The man was an Italian and a Catholic, and his art was essentially Italian and Catholic in character. He was educated in Italy, at Florence, Venice, and Rome ; and all his work smacks of the bastard char- acter of the Italian art of the later Renaissance. If you want to see what Bartolozzi was as an artist, what his own predilections were, and what he did when he got a chance of original work, you have only to look at his drawings in black and red chalk, the majority of which are in private collections in England. They are, roughly speaking, of the Cupid and flower-pot order, in which cornucopias and scrolls, and fruit and flowers, and fat- limbed women, and chubby-winged Loves, are all muddled up together in an invertebrate and yet pleasing manner. The art was of a bad kind, almost, one may say, of the worst kind, for it was but a reproduction, more or less servile, of the most degraded elements of Renaissance work ; but it was done well,— it had a meaning even in its no-meaning,—it followed a definite tradition, and could be traced back to a definite source.
The most interesting portions of this work are those in which Mr. Tuer talks about the tricks of the trade, and the way in which they affect private collectors and the public generally ; but into these we have no space to follow him, nor would it be entertaining to the general reader. Probably the worst chapter in the book is that on "Painters' Etching." Mr. Tuer evidently does not appreciate the peculiarities of that art, nor does he seem to understand that the character of the etched line differs from that of engraving, not only in the instrument which is employed, but in the actual shape of the line itself. To use Mr. Hamerton's description, the depression in the copper caused by the etching-needle and subsequent corrosion by acid, resembles an inverted Moorish arch ; whereas the engraved line has simply two sloping sides which meet at a sharp angle. The difference is a much more important one than it seems, for it affects the manner in which the printing-ink is retained by the copper. It is useless to follow Mr. Tuer throughout this and the subsequent chapters on print-restoring, copper and steel-plate printing, the Printsellers' Association, art auction-rooms, do. ; for the whole of this latter part of the book has as little as may be to do with Bartolozzi, but is a pleasant gossip upon prints, printing, and printers. In conclusion, we may say that the great draw- back of the work is, that a large proportion of its contents have only the most perfunctory connection with its subject. It is, like so many gift-books of the present day, stuffed out with irrelevant matter.
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