Part 8 (1/2)

But I was resolved to have them, somehow; and actually facsi in the Florentinea quarter of an hour to forge out the likeness of one return in the zigzag which h twenty returns in two seconds; and so successfully, that he did not detect my artifice till I showed it hiain And it was only thirty years afterwards that I found I had been quite right after all, and working like Baccio Bandini! But the patience which carried h all the thirty years, and enabled me to analyze, and in a measure imitate, the method of work employed by every master; so that, whether you believe me or not at first, you will find what I tell you of their superiority, or inferiority, to be true

132 When lines are studied with this degree of care, you h for you to see them and enjoy theravers, therefore, leave much white paper, and use their entire power on the outlines

133 Next to them come the men of the Renaissance schools, headed by Durer, who, less careful of the beauty and refineor, accuracy, and complexity And the essential difference between these men and the moderns is that these central le furrow, giving it depth by force of hand or wrist, and retouching, _not in the furrow itself, but with others beside it_[AD] Such work can only be done well on copper, and it can display all faculty of hand or wrist, precision of eye, and accuracy of knowledge, which a human creature can possess But the dotted or hatched line is not used in this central style, and the higher conditions of beauty never thought of

In the Astrology of Bandini,--and reia of the Florentine meant e mean by Astronomy, and much more,--he wishes you first to look at the face: the lip half open, faltering in wonder; the anity of forehead, undisturbed by terrestrial thought None of these things could be sohair, skin of anis of metal-work, with the free hand; also, with labored chiaroscuro, or with sturdy line, he can reach expressions of sadness, or glooth,--but pure beauty,--never

134 Lastly, you have the Modern school, deepening its lines in successive cuts The instant consequence of the introduction of this method is the restriction of curvature; you cannot follow a coh its furrow If you are a dextrous plow the siain exactly the motions which cut a variable one[AE] You ize it, and deepen it in parts, but you cannot cut it all through again equally And the retouching and energizing in parts is a living and intellectual process; but the cutting all through, equally, a mechanical one The difference is exactly such as that between the dexterity of turning out two si theh splendid intellect, and subtlest sensibility, have been spent on the production of some modern plates, the mechanical element introduced by their manner of execution always overpowers both; nor _can any plate of consummate value ever be produced in the modern method_

135 Nevertheless, in landscape, there are two examples in your Reference series, of insuperable skill and extreme beauty: Miller's plate, before instanced, of the Grand Canal, Venice; and E Goodall's of the upper fall of the Tees The ht have been exquisite artists; but their patience and enthusiasm were held captive in the false systes, wonderful as they are, are neither of the, scratched in ten minutes with the point of an old fork; and the co are none of the, or puppy, out of the corner of a Bewick vignette

136 And now, I think, you cannot fail to understand clearly what you are to look for in engraving, as a separate art froia' as a perfect type of the purest school

She is gazing at stars, and croith the! You cannot have a raving for chiaroscuro

Nevertheless, her body is half in shade, and her left foot; and she casts a shadow, and there is a bar of shade behind her

All these are merely so ive value to the linear portions The face, though turned froain Every lock of the hair is designed and set in its place with the subtlest care, but there is no luster attes are set studiously in their places,--they, also, lusterless That even their fila the, are conditions of design, not execution Of these in a future lecture[AF]

[Illustration: IV

”By the Springs of PARNassUS”]

137 The 'Poesia,' Plate IV, opposite, is a still eneric, an exa it aloldsmith's orna water shows neither luster nor reflection; but notice that the observer's attention is supposed to be so close to every dark touch of the graver that he will see thefrom the vase into the pool

138 This habit of strict and calm attention, constant in the artist, and expected in the observer, makes all the difference between the art of Intellect, and of , if you care to understand it This is Poetry, sitting by the fountain of Castalia, which flows first out of a formal urn, to show that it is not artless; but the rocks of Parnassus are behind, and on the top of them--only one tree, like a mushroom with a thick stalk You at first are inclined to say, How very absurd, to put only one tree on Parnassus! but this one tree is the Iamemnon, and at once connects our Poesia with the Iliad Then, this is the heetation which springs up under her feet,--this is the heaven and earth united by her power,--this is the fountain of Castalia flowing out afresh arass,--and these are the drops hich, out of a pitcher, Poetry is nourishi+ng the fountain of Castalia

All which youabout Castalia, or about poetry; and pleasantly think more upon, for yourself

But the poor dunces, Sandro and Baccio, feeling the you all this, except suggestively

They can't engrave grass of Parnassus, nor sweet springs so as to look like water; but they can make a pretty da lines, and so leave you soreat reat s areany idea of finished pictures, out of our reach'

Yes, all that is true; and e exa upon taste in recent art, ill discuss thesewhat the best work is, and why it is so Although, however, I do not now press further , I n to you, in feords, the reason of its recent decline Engravers co have ended their finer craft No corounded They the it Content in their beautiful mechanism, they ceased to learn, and to feel, as artists; they put themselves under the order of publishers and print-sellers; they worked indiscriminately froly as from Turner, and from Mulready as carefully as froes of gift books, with elaborate rubbish, and piteous abortions of delicate industry They worked cheap, and cheaper,--sot armies of assistants, and surrounded the their stale tricks with blundering avidity They had fallen--before the days of photography--into providers of frontispieces for housekeepers' pocket-books I do not know if photography itself, their redoubted enee

140 Such the fault of the engraver,--very pardonable; scarcely avoidable,--however fatal Fault entlemen? what the patrons' fault, who have permitted so aste of adenius? It was yours to have directed, yours to have raised and rejoiced in, the skill, the entle and industrious race;--copyists with their _heart_ The coalleries with their easels and pots, are, almost without exception, persons too stupid to be painters, and too lazy to be engravers The real copyists--the men who can put their soul into another's work--are e to ood work profitable to all men

And in their submission to the public taste they are truly national servants as much as Prime Ministers are They fulfill the demand of the nation; what, as a people, you wish to have for possession in art, these ive you

And what have you hitherto asked of theton Station,--these, I think, are typical of your chief demands; the cartoons of Raphael--which you don't care to see theht into the empyrean, the Madonna di San Sisto And literally, there are hundreds of cities and villages in Italy in which roof and wall are blazoned with the noblest divinity and philosophy ever iined by ive you not _one_ exalish hand!

Well, you are in the ate Sands and the Paddington Station, because there you can see yourselves

Make yourselves, then, worthy to be seen forever, and let English engraving becolish loveliness and honor