Mr. Cattermole is privately exhibiting, at 25 Beniers Street, some
speci- mens of his Portfolio of Lithotint Drawings, preparing for publication by subscription. Looked at as they are shown, mounted and framed, it is at first sight difficult to believe that such beautiful works of art could have been produced through the medium of any process of printing: so free and painter-like is the handling, and such a total absence is there of the mechanism of print-making.
The subjects are various, including landscape and architecture as well at groups of figures; and every design tells a story with dramatic effect, and the Imaginative power and picturesque feeling that characterize all the works of Cattermole. They are not mere studies, but complete works; and among them are the well-remembered designs of Saleator Rosa Sketch- ing Banditti, Old English Hospitality, Convent Almsgiving, Bothwelhaugh Lying in Wait f .r the Regent Murray, St. George Fighting the Dragon, and other admired pictures.
George Cattermole is strongly imbued with the spirit and feeling of the Old Masters: his fancy loves to dwell in the past; and he is most successful in carrying the mind back into the olden time of chivalry and monkery. Deep sentiment and grave purpose animate all his conceptions: his sym- pathy is strongest with acts of charity and devotion and deeds of bravery and loyalty; and in depicting the baser passions he always infuses a human interest into the scene, that prevents it from being merely shocking.
The artistic beauties of Cattermole's painting—his pictorial effects and masterly treatment of accessories—are as conspicuous in these lithotint drawings as the skilful composition and fine expression of the originals; of which they are repetitions by the artist in chiaroscuro. The quality of the black and white tints is remarkable for depth and purity; and various texture is given to them by a dexterous use of the scraper and etching- point: the metallic lustre of armour, the velvety softness of drapery, the abraded surface of stone, the delicate tints of flesh and yielding masses of foliage, are all successfully produced in lithotint. And above all, the feel- ing and style of the artist are visible on the impressions. These drawings of Mr. Cattermole stamp the art of lithotint as the painter's engraving: they show of what it is capable in the hands of a master; and how valuable a means of multiplying their original drawings, its inventor, Mr. Hullman- del, has placed at the service of artists.
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