Portfolio of Eight Etchings. (Art Union of London.)—Mezzo tint has
always been an English art, but the taste for etchings, except in the shape of the unrivalled plates of Rembrandt and a few other early masters, has come to us mainly from the French, though stimulated here, and even in France itself, by the work of a few of our own prominent etchers. The portfolio under notice, consisting of eight etchings of landscapes, is purely English, both with regard to the subjects and the artists who have rendered them. Amongst them we would select for preference Mr. Slocombe's "View on the Kennet," which represents that cheerful little river flowing smoothly and rapidly among the wintry elms of one of the many pleasant parks of merry Berkshire. Mr. Percy Robertson's bridge would have been improved, in our opinion, by the omission of some of the figures with which he seems to have overcrowded his fore- ground. In spite of the shortcomings of this group of etchings, they are a pleasing little series, the grace of which is enhanced by their unpretentiousness.
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