296 ENGRAVING 



of its foliage with tho most perfect freedom upon the solid block of wood. Each 

 bush has its distinctive loaf. Tho dogs in tho distance are similarly cut out by tho 

 graver on a liuLed ground; and the few lines which cover tho body of tho fox 

 entangled in tho bramble, express its texture with a spirit which no mere cutting of a 

 drawing placed on wood by a professional draughtsman could over give. Bewick's 

 cuts are sometimes termed coarse, but no elaboration of labour will elevate tho costliest 

 woodcut above these works, for which Bewick obtained but nine shillings each ; 

 unless drawing can be expressed by the engraver as perfectly as Bewick could 

 express it. 



Assisted by his brother John, the Newcastle engraver issued a series of works 

 devoted to natural history ; tho best being the ' History of British Birds.' Here 

 Bewick's knowledge of nature and power of expression by means of his graver 

 shono forth conspicuously. His books became equally celebrated for tho humorous 

 tail-pieces ho occasionally introduced redolent of whim and original genius. He laboured 

 stedfastly at his art to a good old age. His brother John left Newcastle to reside in 

 London, where he was much employed, but a pulmonary complaint killed him at tho 

 early age of thirty-five. He died in 1795. Thomas Bewick lived to the advanced 

 age of seventy-five. He died in 1828, having worked upon a largo woodcut only 

 a few days before his death. 



The pupils educated by Bewick wore few. Tho best were Charlton Nesbit, Luko 

 Clennell, William Harvey, and John Jackson. Nosbit settled in ^London, and was 

 extensively employed during a long life. Clennell after a while, devoted himself to 

 painting. Harvey turned his attention to drawing on wood, and his designs for book 

 illustration may be numbered by the thousand ; his best are in Lane's edition of tho 

 ' Arabian Nights' Entertainments.' Jackson was greatly employed by the publisher 

 of the latter work, Mr. Charles Knight, particularly on the best cuts in the once-famed 

 ' Penny Magazine.' 



At the early part of the present century, Mr. Robert Branston founded a London 

 school of wood-engravers, of which he was tho head. His style was peculiar, unlike 

 Bewick's, though like him he was self-taught. His cuts have more refinement, but 

 less knowledge of nature ; his best pupil was John Thompson, who combines in his 

 best cuts the refined knowledge of light and shade with much of Bewick's power of 

 expressing drawing. Samuel Williams was one of the few modern engravers who 

 made his own drawings upon the wood, and he produced very brilliant effects by 

 frequently leaving the wood in solid masses of black. Drawings for wood engravers 

 were at this time chiefly supplied by artists who devoted themselves to that particular 

 branch of the art ; and knew how to design their compositions so that they should 

 best display the peculiarities of wood-engraved effects. Thurston, Craig, and Harvey 

 were the principal artists so engaged. 



A large number of wood engravers, the pupils of the Newcastle and London ateliers, 

 helped to supply the booksellers at home and abroad for a considerable number of 

 years. It was the custom, some thirty years ago, for the foreign booksellers, parti- 

 cularly in Paris, to send the blocks across the Channel to English engravers to execute ; 

 this led ultimately to several settling on the Continent, particularly in France and 

 Germany. The French publishers always sent the wood-block with tho drawing 

 carefully executed on its surface by a native artist. These drawings wore always 

 elaborately executed in pencil, greatly resembling etchings ; little was consequently 

 left for the engraver to do, but follow tho lines and cut away the spaces ; patience 

 hence became tho chief virtue of the wood engraver ; and it was ultimately found 

 that its exercise produced so certain an effect, that apprentices knowing nothing of 

 art might aid in thus working out good engravings ; and tho old stylo of tinted draw- 

 ing on wood was discarded for this ' fac-similo ' work ; tho best draughtsmen among 

 the French and German artists having willingly furnished these drawings, English 

 artists of a higher grade were induced to draw on wood, but they occasionally failed 

 from not clearly understanding the peculiar effects their work should produce, and 

 the characteristics of the art. Generally speaking, wood engravers prefer cutting 

 from tho drawings of professional draughtsmen on wood ; who generally execute thoir 

 work with such elaborate precision, that tho engraver has nothing more to do than 

 follow their lines ; this, however, has made mere mechanism of much modern wood- 

 engraving; and many expensive cuts exhibiting pencilling in crossed and re-* 

 lines, occupying wearisome labour, and costing many ill-bestowed sovereigns, can 

 only bo classed with such 'art' as is devoted to engraving tho Lord's Prayer in tho 

 compass of a silver penny ; and merely produces the same gonoral effect that Bewick 

 would have obtained in a few bold lines. 



The great difference between ancient and modern wood-engraving consists in this 

 very boldness, and the practice of tho art was essentially different in the sixteenth and 

 eighteenth centuries. The old wood engravers cut on large blocks of soft wood, 



