~ wit 
’ - 
id 
measured fifty-five feet in length, and the 
circumterence of the thickest part intulit 
be equal tothe girth ofan Orkney poney. 
The head was not larger than that of a 
seal, and was furnished with two blow- 
holes. From the back a number of fila- 
ments, resembling in texture the fishing= 
tackle, known by the name of silk-worm 
gut, huug down like a mane. On each 
side of the body were three large fins, 
shaped like paws, and jointed. The body 
” 
Monthly Retrospect of the Fine Arts, 
561 
was unluckily dashed to pieces by a 
tempest; but the fragments have been 
collected by Mr, Laing, and are to be 
transmitted to the imusuem at Eqiu- 
burgh, Mr. Neill concluded with re 
marking that no doubt could be enter 
tained that this was the kind of animad 
described by Ramus, Egede, and Pon 
toppidan, but which scicutlic aud syste- 
matic naturalists had hitherto rejectcd as 
spurious and ideal, 
“MONTHLY RETROSPECT OF THE FINE ARTS. 
Bie Use of all New Prints, and Conmunications of Articles of Intelligence, are requested 
— 
Wew Series of Engravings from the Cartoons of 
Raffacile, in the Collection of bis Majesty, at 
Hampton-court. 
HE indefatigable Holloway still con- 
 tinues to pay the most unremitung 
attention to the engraving of these traly 
wonderful, and hitherto unrivalled ex- 
amples of graphic art. After a steady, 
laborious, and almost daily perseverance, 
for a term of five years, the amount of 
his performance is, that he has nearly 
completed the sixth finished drawing, 
and that the second plate will probably 
be published in the course ef another 
twelvemonth. 
To speak of this undertaking with jus- 
tice to the projector and executor of it, 
it is requisite to contemplate the resclu- 
ion exercised in the total forbearance of 
all petty lucrative employment, of which 
so many are eager to avail themselves in 
all professions; in the long, although to 
him not tedious, confinement to a single 
object; in the narrowing of habitual 
wants and indulgences, for the sake of 
maintaining his independence during a 
length of Jabour; and in the devoticn of 
body and mipd to the accomplishment of 
a work, which he justly conceived to be 
interesting to the lovers of art, in all 
countries, and in all ages. 
The merits of the worl; itself are to be 
duly appreciated less by a comparison 
h the original’ pictures—with those 
emanations of mind which defy the in- 
dustry of the land to rival them, and are 
equally inimitable by all inferior powers 
of talent—than with the efforts of other 
preceding engravers in the execution of 
the same task. The Cartoons of Hamp- 
n-court ‘have been familiarly known 
Biisngt us since the year 1707, by the 
prints of S. Gribelin, and by those of 
Dorigny and Fittler, as well as by Uhe 
Inezzoubtos which bear the names of 
Cooper and J. Simon. The first of these 
sets 1S execuied with great care and fide- 
lity, and conveys a very good general idea 
of the figures, and a general expression 
of characters; but the comparative di- 
mensions of the plates and the pictures 
give little reason to expect any thing 
more. The still more diminutive priuts 
by Fittler are as exquisite remembrances 
of the original as the size and nature of 
the engraving will admit; but, like those 
ot Gribelin, they convey merely a gene 
ral notion of the several composltivns, 
The targer engravings of Dorigny are tree, 
sketchy, and picturesque dravghts frou 
the original designs, with a kind of coarse 
execution which was Wot ill adapted tw 
match the time-worn and unequal sur 
face of the pictures. Lis figures fre- 
guently display much of the spirit of the 
original attitudes, but they will not bear 
a strict comparison either of teaturé or 
expression. « 
Holloway’s work exhibits, as fhy as it 
has proceeded, an accurate investivation 
of every part and every feature, a con- 
stint pursuit of the iudividuad lines and 
expressions of the master, and a miuinute 
acherence to every accident of form: and 
colour, f 
The spirit which prevails in the ens 
gravings of Dorigny is willingly accept- 
ed, ftom an iopulse of transient adiai- 
ration, im exchunye for accurate resein- 
blance; and some portion of freedom, 4t 
is aeknowledged, will always he sacri- 
ficed by laborious finishing, Bus either 
inode of execution will prove, m soine 
degree, uuequal to the original work. Lt 
was 
