Part 5 (1/2)

Those apparently careless and free sketches on the wood ought to have been stern and deliberate; those exquisitely toned and finished engravings on ht to have looked, instead, like free ink sketches on white paper That is the theorem which I propose to you for consideration, and which, in the two branches of its assertion, I hope to prove to you; the first part of it, (that wood-cutting should be careful,) in this present lecture; the second, (that ree than it is now, slight, and free,) in the following one

79 Next, observe the distinction in respect of _thickness_, no less than number, of lines which raving, it is easier to lay a fine line than a thick one; and however fine the lineit requires extreme precision and skill to leave a thin dark line, and when left, it will be quickly beaten down by a careless printer Therefore, the virtue of wood engraving is to exhibit the qualities and power of _thick_ lines; and of , to exhibit the qualities and power of _thin_ ones

All thin dark lines, therefore, in wood, broadly speaking, are to be used only in case of necessity; and thick lines, on h, however, thin _dark_ lines cannot easily be produced in wood, thin _light_ ones ht ones must not be used, except with extreme caution For observe, they are equally useless as outline, and for expression of htful your boy's first quite voluntary exercises in white line drawing on your slate were? You could, indeed, draw a goblin satisfactorily in such s to it, and a scratch under two dots in the middle, would answer the purpose; but if you wanted to draw a pretty face, you took pencil or pen, and paper--not your slate Now, that instinctive feeling that a white outline is wrong, is deeply founded For Nature herself draith diffused light, and concentrated dark;--never, except in storht; and the thing we all like best to see drawn--the human face--cannot be drahite touches, but by extreme labor For the pupil and iris of the eye, the eyebrow, the nostril, and the lip are all set in dark on pale ground You can't drahite eyebrohite pupil of the eye, a white nostril, and a white et But the saive the idea of a beautiful face And what is true of the subtlest subject you have to represent, is equally true of inferior ones Nothing lovely can be quickly represented by white touches You must hew out, if your means are so restricted, the for and dextrous The Florentine masters, and Durer, often practice the achievena, and other leading Italian draughtsreat perfection with the white line; but only for the sake of severest study, nor is their work imitable by inferior men And such studies, however accoard chiaroscuro too much, and local color too little

We conclude, then, that we must never trust, in wood, to our power of outline hite; and our general laws, thus far determined, will be--thick lines in wood; thin ones inon wood; sketches, if we choose, on metal

81 But why, in wood, lines at all? Why not cut out white _spaces_, and use the chisel as if its incisions were soare indeed executed on this principle Bewick does nearly all his foliage so; and continually paints the light plule touches of his chisel, as if he were laying on white

But this is not the finest ht and shade in which the shadow is totally black

Now, no light and shade can be good, much less pleasant, in which all the shade is stark black Therefore the finest wood-cutting ignores light and shade, and expresses only form, and _dark local color_ And it is convenient, for simplicity's sake, to anticipate what I should otherwise defer telling you until next lecture, that fine ht and shade; and that, in a word, all good engraving whatsoever does so

82 I hope that er to interrupt s, and Lupton's mezzotints, and Le Keux's line-work,--do you ht and shade?'

I never said that _ht to do so Mezzotint is properly to be considered as chiaroscuro drawing on s, and Le Keux's finished line-work, are ard chiaroscuro; and that consu never uses it as a primal element of pleasure

[Illustration: THE LAST FURROW

(Fig 2) Facsiot our principles so far defined that I can proceed to illustration of them by example

Here are facsiravings ever produced by art,--two subjects in Holbein's Dance of Death You will probably like best that I should at once proceed to verifydisdained chiaroscuro

This vignette (Fig 2) represents a sunset in the open mountainous fields of southern Gerht and shade, which a Dutch froether where his light coure is cast froht across the picture, while the sun is in front

And there is not the slightest atteht in the sky, darkness in the forest, or any other positive element of chiaroscuro

This is not because Holbein cannot give chiaroscuro if he chooses He is twenty tier master of it than Rembrandt; but he, therefore, knows exactly when and how to use it; and that wood engraving is not the proper means for it The quantity of it which is needful for his story, and will not, by any sensational violence, either divert, or vulgarly enforce, the attention, he will give; and that with an unrivaled subtlety Therefore I must ask you for a moment or two to quit the subject of technics, and look what these toodcuts mean

84 The one I have first shown you is of a plow

It is Holbein's object, here, to express the diffused and intense light of a golden surander purposes A lish chiaroscurist would have covered his sky with fleecy clouds, and relieved the plow black, and put sparkling touches on the furrows and grass Holbein scornfully casts all such tricks aside; and draws the whole scene in pure white, with simple outlines

[Illustration: THE TWO PREACHERS

(Fig 3) Facsimile from Holbein's woodcut]

85 And yet, when I put it beside this second vignette, (Fig 3,) which is of a preacher preaching in a feebly lighted church, you will feel that the diffused warht in the other, are complete; and they will finally be to you ht out with every superficial means of effect, on each block

For it is as a symbol, not as a scenic effect, that in each case the chiaroscuro is given Holbein, I said, is at the head of the painter-refor of all the foriven, in this epoch, to the _Rationalist_ spirit of refor the new Gospel of Death,--”It is no matter whether you are priest or layman, what you believe, or what you do: here is the end” You shall see, in the course of our inquiry, that Botticelli, in like manner, represents the _Faithful_ and _Catholic_ te of Holbein is therefore always melancholy,--for the nation against all who, either by actual injustice in this life, or by what he holds to be false proy, of the few days which ainst the rich, the luxurious, the Pharisee, the false lawyer, the priest, and the unjust judge, Holbein uses his fiercest mockery; but he is never hiives the facts as he knows the the pohich he hates, the pathetic and ingenious preaching of untruth is one of the chief; and it is curious to find his biographer, knowing this, and reasoning, as Gere, not perception, iine instantly that he sees hypocrisy in the face of Holbein's preacher ”How skillfully,”

says Dr Wolthly is his hypocrisy expressed in the features of his countenance, and in the gestures of his hands” But look at the cut yourself, candidly I challenge you to find the slightest trace of hypocrisy in either feature or gesture Holbein knew better It is not the hypocrite who has power in the pulpit It is the _sincere_ preacher of untruth who does mischief there The hypocrite's place of power is in trade, or in general society; none but the sincere ever get fatal influence in the pulpit This htful, and kind He scarcely uses the vantage even of his pulpit,--co; he is intent on being understood--_is_ understood; his congregation are delighted--youthe under the pulpit,) and asleep just because the teacher is as gentle as he is earnest, and speaks quietly

88 How are we to know, then, that he speaks in vain? First, because a all his hearers you will not find one shrewd face They are all either simple or stupid people: there is one nice woman in front of all, (else Holbein's representation had been caricature,) but she is not a shrewd one

Secondly, by the light and shade The church is not in extre, but the sun is totally shut out of it;--not a ray comes in even at the --_that_ is darker than the walls, or vault