The Poacher's Snare. Painted by W. KIDD, and engraved in.
Mezzotint by J. STEWART, Mr. Kin's range of subjects must depend for their value solelyon their fidelity of delineation and truth of character. The nature is the only justification of his art. But his expressions are forced, his effects artificial, and his incidents strained. The present print is designed as a companion to "The Poacher Detected ;" which, however, is not merely the most appropriate, but almost the only title that could be given to the present design. It represents a rustic, much too simple for a poacher, who has been setting a springe for game in a pathway close to a stile, that everybody may see and applaud his ingenuity, and who waits till the full light of the morning before he goes to take up the wires. He is scratching his head with surprise and delight, at seeing his snare has succeeded in securing a pheasant ; and the artist begs the spectator will believe that the poacher does not see a booby gamekeeper with a servant behind him, who with his gun cocked is about to let fly under his nose. The impossibility of the scene and improbability of the incident are very suitable to the laboured feebleness of the execution and the worthlessness of the design. This is "The Poacher Detected," and the former print should be "The Poacher Convicted." It is not by any means equal to the first ; and that was in a very mawkish style of art. If such subjects as these are not well treated, they are nothing worth.
Previous page
