FultERiN AND ENGLISH,

AVHEN it is toinsid■Tc,1 that Iine-engraving is the only style adequate to the translation of a fine picture into the phrase of print, and that the sueeeesful exercise of this difficult and delicate art requires a combina- tion of judgment, feeling, and manual dexterity in the highest degree, the importance of its cultivation to the tine arts of the country. and the claims of its practitioners to encouragement, become sell'-evident. The perfection to which various other nestles of engraving have ar- rived—all of them far more easy of attainment and practice, and neither requiring a tithe of the time and labour bestowed upon a line-plate- acconste for the neglect of the nobler style by the publishers, and the indifference of the public to its productions. People arc apt to regard the line manner as only a more laborious and tedious inetletd of engraving, without reflecting upon its solid and brilliant results. Not only is an elaborate and skilful line-plate a beautiful work et. taste and ingenuity in iteelf but it renders effects of colour and chiaroscuro which neither mezzotint nor the " mixed- ste le cat pretend to imitate. For instancy, it would he hopeless to attempt to convey ina print the colousieg of a Memos of '1'eriee or 111:11eae. she chiaroscuro of Rose- lee or Conetiotts, or the attneepheire enlists of IVILsoN ■ sr TI•IINUR, iu any other way than by line-engraving nor can the beauties of form in li.ser.c vete.: and 'Alicite et, A :ectet.o be so perfectly preservel by any other means. Moreover, there are no line-engravere of the medern school who can se well.--we had almost said who can at all—render pictorial effects of texture, colour, and chiaroscuro. as our own coun- try mem The lcielvtt and I'vl■el line-engravers— the most eele!ureted or to use zio is ;on Englielliteme-are eitnioe it effect : but their mourner is rieia :L101 0141 in comparison; and the leiliene reeara principally 101'111 and expression, Our oh;) t in directing the re.Wer'e attention to the superior qualities of roiii-eniiravniy, is t,i help a sty le chat languishes only eor want of a doe appreeimiim of its excellences, .e do not sed,.. to ileprecinte others : me/ /0;6,1, with the r1.1,1itioll of aching ;ma touches of the invite is competent to render with effect royal portraits, state peguants, and the

" inteed ste le of chalk, dee ipple, eatelteeeny prints of the day ; the

anti etrel.,), is well :1,1,11,1e,1 to time superior class of setral prints : we etcry .;ac bat mate' he done in wood towards embellishing 'woks; and the recce it -scat imprw. ements in .lithography have made it invaluable fcir producing fie-similes of painters .sketchee. Bunt by neither of these. methods can he accomplished what line-migraving in pertieeion is ca- pable of; their resources arc not c onnuensurate to the demands of a

finished picture, whether of figures or landscapes. The quality and I variety of tints requisite to give a gem-like lustre of light and a transparent depth of shadow interfused with hues— uniting solidity with richness and brilliancy with softness—cannot be obtained except by means of lines. The reason is evident. Convolutions of lines of various thicknesses and different widths apart, crossed by others at cer-

tain angles, cause such a play ' and dart, before the eye that any required tint may be made app• .• le an artful arrangement ; the gradations of tint being more suinite and eseensive than any that the most skilful mezzotinter or lithographer can produce, working on a medium of an equal degree of density- throughoe a It is not the lines themselves, but their effect on the vision, that dam asoomplished line- engraver calculates upon. This is a great power to possess; and it requires consummate tact and knowledge, as well as ritelnutical ex- pertness to use it to advantage : nor do we think tl. the practice

of the art in this respect has advanced t'et high der, . of re-

finement of which its exercise is su Th. Gillieilties,

however; are very greet. I' v tex •• ••,- of his int, . lineation the engraver has to represent cos' etre s, •. .fferent sobetance, surface,

hue, and tint, under a a infin of produced by the colour- ing and effect of the paintiog ; and all these must blend len•n• aiously into one pervading tone : moreover, to achieve perfection, the mat :s by which this is done should never be obtrusively- apparent either in the harsh cutting or peculiar disposition of the lines ; the more p, ;:t the engraving, the less you are made sensible of the engraver's art, c opt in the magical result. The problem that the line-engraver hoe to solve, is the rendering of prismatic hues in endless combinations into tut answerable variety of mixtures of black and white: and to prove the resources of his art, it is only necessary to state the well-known fact, that the more intense the hues and the more delicate and brilliant the tints of a painting, the more successful is the result. TURNER'S pictures, for this reason, are preferred by line-engravers ; and plates front his works are admired even by the most violent opponents of his colouring,—a proof, by the way, that his chromatic scale is correct, though he tunes his harmonies to too high a pitch. Very few line-engravings, however, will stand tIW trying test of comparison with the picture, in point of effect, even if they will in expression ; indeed, it is only in English line-engravings that the attempt to represent colour is made. The French and Italian prints are engraved from chalk drawings ; and the forms are more regarded than the chiaroscuro, though 11w general tone of the picture is sometimes rendered. A highly-wrought line- engraving by Deposer, from Ian LA Bocue's picture of Soetalfee/ going to Erecntien,* recently published, is an exception to this remark as re- gards the French : the plate was probably engraved directly front the picture. The Germans also, in the ease of modern works, appear to copy from the painting : an elaborate but somewhat wiry print, by Fie.seeo, of the Maids at the Brannen, after a sweet picture by BENDEMANN, is an instance. A small engraving, by Lneavite, of the Sabaufien ef the Virgin, after the MURILLO in the Aguado Gallery, is also remarkable for its striking ellsct ; though the black and white are rather strongly opposed, the effect of colour and chiaroscuro not being rendered with a high degree of refinement. Some engravers are apt, like many admirers of prints, to mistake blackness for depth of colour; whereas it is not only its transparency, but the gradations towards light in the other parts of the print, that constitute black the representative of chiaroscuro. FORSTER'S print of La Vierge as has relief, and of the true Portrait of Rratilelle by himself, especially the latter, arc defective iu the texture of flesh, which is rendered by those little digs of the graver that are substituted for a tenderly-broken line, and destroy all effect of elasticity of substance: the manner of these otherwise admirable prints is also rigid—the grand

defect of the bold system of reticulation. •

In looking over a portfolio of choice Italian engravines, recently brought from Italy by Mr. Hore.owAv, we met with a fine print by Scumvosa, of the famous Terme at Venice, the Assumption qf the Virgin, which had a pictorial effect so different from any thing to be found in the best Italian engravings, as to be very remarkable : but SCHIAVONI, we were told, is a painter—which accounts for the pecu- liarity. The print is of a size sufficiently large to convey an idea of the grand scale and imposing eaect of this the cape deptest of TITIAN ; and the expression is rendered with painter-like neaing, and, we are assurer', with the religious fidelity that characterizes the finest Italian prints : still we feel the want of Tune's rich colouring. hir SC1lI.SVONI SEenIS only to have aimed at preserving the tone ; indeed his execution is scarcely brilliant enough to do more. The exquisite print by LONGHT, one of the most refined of the Italim school, after the Marriage if the Virgin, by ItArre.m.ma speaks by the pure, lively, and tender expression of the laces, for the faithfulness and congenial spirit of the translation ; nor is it devoid of colour and effect. lateolrt's ver- sion of the Madonna della .Ssaaade pleases us butter thita the one by RA FFAELLE MotinDEN ; Who, we cannot help thinkintt, hit been notch

overrated. Another vhcf-d'auvre of the modern Italian school is Christ

Bearing his (.'rocs, after RAVI'A ELIA:, by Tosciir ; wh 1,0111 and

firm stele of lining is admirable, flu:ugh his manner is intmotot,ons tae

emotion in the faces is eloquent of agony mid (nullified itathos ; the anguish of the distracted 3Inilitnt.a. and the godlike :..-trrow of Christ,

who seems to feel only for the grief' of his mother, are expressed with that union of beauty and intensity pseuliar to the divine power of

RA FFA ELLE. " What. sultjects for the burin ! " sonic one ; "well

may the Italian 'Ants be so admirable.'"frue ; yet lieik at Douti:Nv's

and HoLLOWAV a engravings from the Cartoons : but nir Mr. ItUnNET, who has given in his four-shil:ing prints the spirit (aldose.: immortal designs—iMIllortal, for the soul of beauty ;o ad grandeur lives in those

faded, etiolated, and (worse thee all) botched forgot, and will live while their filo:lines rentain--we should not he able to boa-t a toleralde set

of prints risen thetn. Nit that we arc without engravers able In rival the Italians in intensity of expression, if not in accuracy of' drawing, and to surpass them ill point of pictorial effi.tet ; but they tack employ- ment. Doo is engaged on a picture worthy of his utmost

• An accurate and beautiful tope of this fine plate has leer

tint by Mr. G Lout: t: SA N DER3 ; skilful use of to, an cffcrtive print, and as 11Slit till nppri aclt to the rielineis of the line •erige.iving as mezzotint is capable 4: but atom plates shows the ,ulterior power and beauty of line-enngravi mezzotint appear thin and poor in comparison—especially in n inatfe in nu•zzo- ,liog les,dneed and vm.ied texture teiris,di of the two 1.;!, and makes the tire LAKE'S Pilgrims coining in sight of the Eternal City; WATT is em- ployed on Enters LANDSEER'S Cattle Drovers in the Highlands; and MILLER, GOODALL, IN IMMonE, BRANDARD, and several other landscape. engravers, have plates from Tt:n,SER ready for publication, which only wait the fiat of those arbiters of the engravers' destiny the worshipful company of printsellers, to come forth. But most of these are done at the artist's own risk, like Dueutuitee's unrivalled .11/aerie/ea Reading, from COREGGIO, and perhaps will not repay the cost of labour: for without the salesmen's connexion and influence—and their eloquence and ingenuity are too severely taxed to puff off their own ventures in commodities that won't keep to be wasted on "RafFuelles, Coreggios, re- cent and stuff"—the best print falls dead-born. The character ofthe cent attempt to get up it work of the best works of the great masters, only serves to show that the dealers are quite ready to profit

public reverence for great names and ignorance of fine qualities : we have not arrived at that point when it would be worth the while of a mere trader to get up a series of prints really deserving the title usurped by this collection of third-rate copies of indifferent engravines A knot of liue-engravers associated themselves to produce a set of prints from the pictures in the National Gallery ; and their appeal to the public was nobly responded to ; but they not being men of business, the under- taking was brought to a premature termination, the printsellers having

no interest in promoting its success. The volume they have produced, though including but a few names, contains some very fine prints,—esae. eially the three REMBRANDTS, by Bunxier ; the three VANDYNES, by Joni II. ROBINSON; the MultILLO, by HUMPHREYS ; the Banished Lord and Coneoo to's Holy Family, by Doo ; the CLAUDES and Gm s s nom) uGo9, by W. MILLER and F.. GOODALL; and the Runees, by GeeATBAcrr. Nor should we pass over Pates sound and faithful but hard plates from ('LAUDE and GAse.se Poussix : altogether, the work is a rich trophy of the modern statool of British line-engraving. As FonstrEa is the that artist of Ftelich engraving, so SCHIAVONETTI WilS the first of the Eealish ; succeeding to the three worthies litsout, STRANGE, and WooLLETT. SCHIAVONETTI it was who did a great per- thin of Sserries :cols (*.tutcriesey Pilgrims ; which, being ably finished by JArs es IleATA, attes.s ;lie union of powerful effect of colour with lively expression : to SCIIIAVONIMI we feel inclined to attribute the great advance In richness that the modern school has attained. VANDYKE'S Charles the First. with the page holding his horse, is the masterpiece of STRANGE, and it IS eminently pictorial in style : Snafu S large prim of The alssetneelen q. the I-iryin, titter GUIDO, also represents the painter's peculiar style of effect : but neither have the depth and force of SCIIIA• VONETTI ; Whose Portrait qf Sir Joseph Ba»hs, after Puir.L es, shows what his style could achieve in this particular. In refinement of style and artistic:II feeling, however, it le impossible to surpass S.IARP'S Portrait V John Hunter, after REYNOLDS ; and in landscape nothing can go beyond the sunny brilliancy of atmosphere, and imitation of the painter's style, in Woote.rerr's copies from WiasoN: RADneten's forcible version of Witastit's Parish Beadle, and other prints after the sante painter ; Werr's brilliant print of Isestaa's Alay-Day in the Time of Elizabeth ; Humitutiev's of his Suncho and the Dutchess; and the series of prints after NEW vox, by Doo, (who more than any other exc,ls in rendering the pictorial character,) with many fine works that we lire not space left to mention, exemplify the posers and resources of the British engravers. We have seen the success that attended their small work of the National Gallery, hardly as the business part appears to have been managed; and FANDEN'S Gallery of British Act is, we be- lieve, prospering,—though, as We endeavour to criticize fairly mai eschew puffery, the proprietors have not challenged our attention to the progress of their undertaking lately. There are eager buyers too, we are glad to hear, for the finest French and Italian plates from the Old -Masters: and So it NY (Illiq scout, Sii1(2e it answered the purpose. of 31r. llootaawAv to traverse the Continent and boy up en- gravers' proofs. Mri.i.Ett•s grand arint of the Madonna di Sou Sido of RA:rem:met fetehes, we are told, fifty guineas. These are hopei'al signs that the polite taste is capable of appreciating something better than the caterers are now in the habit of providing; and though we cannot expect the mere dealt:its ':o lay out thousands on a work whose excellence should be its only reen.iiineinia; ion, the line-engravers alight, conjointly or singly, enter upon -I grand speculation t list wonid bring to them in the shape of repumtion what might compensate for the pecuniary sacrifice. A fine engraving from a iamous picture finds purchasers all over the world ; and a series of I lege priids itt' the o:',-;/•;•,l'ii ,trrc of painting, under- taken by first-rate e a ion. me, a ilia the view of saes, ii what the Brid di school is minable of in treating the works Of the great masters of t!.:• sign and colour, world surely meet t...1,?: encomta;zeinent. Paithttrl translations of the ::firriftge V C,:na, I,y PAOLO VI.. IION ESE, the .c!. Peter ,l/artor of 'I' titi.t N, the MiiViii:i'tn't lion of ll.A FPA ELLE. t'le .1.,/,/.//h/f/hic.il Or ....11.:11A1:i. A Nonfat, the :Lest .`,"1,pper of HA VINUI, the IhNecla Ji oni the L',,.. s of RUIlliNS, conveying ideas of the grandeur of conceptute and power ib execution tit th:. ;I: i.. indb., arc actually wanted : none stteli are to be procured at tiny price : white indifferent prints, from their scarcity :dom., bear a premium. We have artists eminently competent. to making it.:;need collies in water-colours of the different 'themes, ou the scale of the prints, flint should represent the rich and brilliaut tone ;Ind ell'eet as wed as the beautiful drawing aril divine seetimeut•miu a eon (1, their characteristic qualities. Chalk drawhat, however eequisitc, :lo r i ca:Sde the eimea vet. to represent the eeleur or the uri.iiiial ; :.;ei :', wic Ld; a sales:nail having wanes to vend a ill venture on the hardy asogtion that engravings, however flue, are hest to copy from. The cepa, should, however, lie made by artists hawing a thorough knowledge of awl s kindred feeling for the acauties of the

toaster; and their accuracy Le verified by competent supervision. Such miniature copies would bring back the cost of their production when the io tended purpose was served. A work le•guit and carried on in a spirit 01 reverence for the great originals, and with it souse of the importance of the trust imposed on all parties, could not fail to do 1 honour to the arts of the country and benefit the popular taste. Since the above remarks were written, we have had the gratification

• to find that Mr. Doo has undeitaken a work of this kind, single-handed ; Laving accidentally me, with a prospectus put forth by him of "a series

of large mid elaborate line-eugravings front pictures of the most emt- tient Italian masters,"—commenchig with the Ecee Homo of Coneocto, which is now in progress under the express sanction of the Trustees

of the National Gallery. The size of the engraving will be 15 inches by 12, the heads being nearly one-fourth the size of nature : and we are glad to hear that the fifty proofs before letti!rs were eagerly sought for by the trade, and that there. is every probability of the engraver being rewarded for his enterprising spirit.