NEV PRINTS.
ONE of NEWTON'S happiest efforts, Sterne and the Grisette, has ben engraved by GEORGE Doo in the boldest style of line, and with such consummate art that it almost defies objection. We have neat Kett so daring and successful a display of graphic skill, nor one in which greater justice is done to the original : for animation and force of expression in the persons, and fidelity in rendering the pictorial effect, this plate is a masterpiece ; and in the manner of its execution it is a tour de force. The physiognomical character of Sterne is seized with great vigour ; the sensual and intellectual characteristics of the man are embodied in his countenance ; his gaze is rivetted by the charms of the Grisette on whom he gloats with the intensity of a refined voluptuary.
The unconscious innocence of the girl, who with downcast eyes and ma. dest grace is intent on the selection of the gloves, is more characteristic of the English than the French shopkeeper. But the face is so dim and slight in the engraving—as if the features were concealed by a gauze mask that we incline to think it was left unfinished in the on. ginal. However, it gives greater value and importance to the person of Sterne ; of whom this print may be said to be a portrait in cha- racter. We still must protest, however, against the ostentatious exhibition of the mechanism of the burin, exquisite as it is in detail, and power- ful in effect, in this instance. In the costume and accessories ot the picture it is less objectionable—though it is here carried too far even in these—and there is little to find fault with in the head of Sterne; but the face of the Grisette is not like flesh; the hand she is men. swing is cork, and the glove on the other is of net-work. But what the unrivalled skill of Doo renders admirable, in hands of inferior dexterity becomes intolerable.
The Last Moments of King Charles the First, painted by W. Fist, and
engraved in mezzotint by JAMES Scorr, is a feeble and abortive attempt at an historical picture ; and we can only account for its having found a publisher by supposing that such subjects are popular, awl that no better versions of them are to be had,—which says more for the public taste than the genius of the painters.
The series of Isnaxer's ,Studies from Nature is now completed, by the publication of Plates 11 and 12. No. 11 is a sweet female face, dated " Venice," but with nothing peculiarly national in either character or costume. No. 12 is apparently a Spanish donna : the sensual erre,- sion may be more characteristic than it is agreeable. There is some- thing attractive about this set of heads, but the variety of character ii not so great as to overcome the sameness of the artist's manner.
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