ENGRAVING. 



45 



pato, and those who have followed him, have pro- 

 duced works before unequalled. The Milanese 

 school of engravers in particular, has reached a de- 

 gree of perfection, through Anderloni and Longhi, 

 which no other country can probably equal. Long- 

 hi's Sposalizio is as yet the greatest production in the 

 art of engraving. Toschi, of Parma, has acquir- 

 ed immortality by his Entrance of Henry IV. into 

 Paris (from Gerard), Schaivone, by his Ascension 

 of the Holy Virgin (from the painting of Titian), 

 which may be caUed perfect, in regard to its pic- 

 ture-like effect. Bettelini, Bonato, Gandolffi, Gara- 

 vaglia, Fontana Rosaspina, Benoglio, Gilberti, 

 Paunerini, Poporati, Pavon, (by birth a Spaniard, 

 however,) Rainaldi and Rampoldi have produced 

 beautifully finished engravings; and Luigi Rossini and 

 Pinelli have etched scenes full of me. Splendid 

 works, in which typography and chalcography unite 

 their attractions, have appeared at Florence, Venice, 

 Rome, and Milan. But England is richer in such 

 works than all other countries. The productions 

 of Earlom, Pether, Dixon, Green, are much esteemed. 

 John Brown was one of the best landscape engrav- 

 ers of his day, and distinguished himself in his copies 

 from the ancient masters. He had the merit of 

 producing as a pupil William Woollet, the most emi- 

 nent engraver which had appeared down to his own 

 time, his works being excellent, both in landscape 

 and figures. Need we mention his Dido and 

 Eneas, as a landscape, and his immortal print of The 

 Death of General Wolfe, after West, the finest 

 historical engraving which had then been executed. 

 So highly was it valued, that proof impressions 

 have been known to bring from 30 to iO at 

 sales. The prints of William Sharp and James 

 Heath, were, and are still held in high estimation ; 

 they excelled in figures of a large size, while Neagle, 

 Anken, Smith, and Charles Warren, became distin- 

 guished for the beauty and excellence of smaller 

 figures. All these were confined to the metropolis 

 ot Britain, but contemporary with them sprung up 

 a solitary individual of distinguished taste, in Edin- 

 burgh, the present Robert Scott. His merit became 

 known in London, and Warren associated himself 

 with him. In some of the beautiful illustrations for 

 Cook's edition of the British poets, Warren en- 

 graved the figures, and Scott the landscapes ; these 

 exceeded everything of the kind which had before 

 been executed in any country. Mr Scott, in addi- 

 tion to his own claims as an engraver, has the merit 

 of having been the master and teacher of, perhaps, 

 the greatest engraver which has ever appeared; 

 namely, John Burnet; whose prints, after Wilkie, in 

 all that appertains to the art of engraving, excel 

 every other which have yet been executed! This 

 eminent individual not only ranks at the head of his 

 profession as an engraver, but stands high as a 

 painter, as his Greenwich Pensioners, and other 

 paintings, sufficiently demonstrate. Scott has also 

 the merit of having taught James Stewart, and John 

 Horsburgh, both eminent in their profession. 

 Charles Heath has long stood high as a figure en- 

 graver. We have now in the same department, 

 Edward Finden, the first living artist for small 

 figures, and a host of others ; while in small land- 

 scapes, William Miller of Edinburgh, stands at the 

 top of the tree. Holloway's plates taken from 

 Raphael's cartoons, in Hampton court, are praised 

 as high specimens of the art. 



With the Dutch, the burin is, at present, not very 

 successful, if we compare their present artists to the 

 former school of Pontius and Edelinck. But for 

 picturesque etchings and productions by the needle, 

 the skill formerly displayed has been preserved by 

 Troostwyk, Van Os, Overbeck, Jansen, Chalon, and 



others. For more highly finished productions, in 

 which the graver and needle must unite, in order to 

 produce a tone, as in the engravings of Rembrandt's 

 pictures, Claessens and De Frey are acknowledged 

 masters. What Russia, Denmark, and the Nether- 

 lands have produced in this branch, is not unworthy 

 of notice. The engravings of Switzerland, mostly 

 in Aberli's manner, form a class by themselves. In 

 the United States, engraving has been cultivated 

 with more success than any other department of the 

 fine arts, though it cannot be expected that a country 

 so young, and so distant from the numerous produc- 

 tions of former ages, should rival the great works of 

 the art in Europe. But small engravings, particu- 

 larly on steel, for souvenirs, have been produced, 

 which may bear comparison with European pro- 

 ductions of the kind. Among American engrav- 

 ers, Longacre, Kelly, Durandt, Danforth, (now in 

 London), Cheney, Gallaudet, Ellis, Hatch, and 

 others, well deserve to be engaged on subjects of 

 more permanent interest than Souvenir engravings. 

 Of the European artists who have been most distin- 

 guished in wood engravings, we would mention the 

 names of the Sueurs, Jackson, Moretti, Canossa, 

 Roger, Cargon, Papillon, Beunet, Dugoure. Among 

 the most famous of the living artists in this line, in 

 England, are Thomson, Branston, Wright, Bonner, 

 Slader, Sears J Nesbit, Hughs, and the name of the 

 late Mr Clennel must ever be remembered with the 

 highest respect. In the United States, Anderson, 

 Adams, Mason, Fairchild, Hartwell, and others, are 

 distinguished. After the art of engraving in mezzo- 

 tinto was introduced into England, oy prince Rupert, 

 it was carried to much perfection there. John 

 Smith, who lived towards the end of the seventeenth 

 century, has left more than 500 pieces in this style. 

 He and George White formed a new epoch in the 

 art, which the latter particularly improved, by first 

 etching the plates, whereby they acquired more spirit. 

 Of late years, many artists in England have devoted 

 themselves to this branch : among these are M'Ar- 

 dell, Honston, Earlom, Pether, Green, Watson, 

 Dickinson, Dixon, Hudson, J. Smith, Hogets, &c. 

 For a list of the most distinguished engravers, from 

 the earliest times, see Elmes, Dictionary of the Fine 

 Arts, article Engraving. 



Engraving on precious Stones is accompb'shed with 

 the diamond or emery. The diamond possesses the 

 peculiar property of resisting every body in nature, 

 and, though the hardest of all stones, it may be 

 cut by a part of itself, and polished by its own par- 

 ticles. In order to render this splendid substance 

 fit to perform the operations of the tool, two rough 

 diamonds are cemented fast to the ends of the same 

 number of sticks, and rubbed together till the form 

 is obtained for which they are intended ; the powder 

 thus produced is preserved, and used for polishing 

 them in a kind of mill furnished with a wheel of iron ; 

 the diamond is then secured in a brazen dish, and the 

 dust, mixed with olive-oil, applied ; the wheel is set 

 in motion, and the friction occasions the polished 

 surface so necessary to give their lustre due effect. 

 Other stones, as rubies, topazes, and sapphires, are 

 cut into various angles on a wheel of copper ; and 

 the material for polishing those is tripoli diluted with 

 water. A leaden wheel, covered with emery, mixed 

 with water, is preferred for the cutting of emeralds, 

 amethysts, hyacinths, agates, granites, &c. &c. ; and 

 they are polished on a pewter wheel with tripoli ; 

 opal, lapis lazuli, &c., are polished on a wheel made 

 of wood. Contrary to the method used by persons 

 who turn metals, in which the substance to be wrought 

 is fixed in the lathe, turned by it, and the tool held, 

 to the substance, the engraver of the crystal, lapis 

 lazuli, &c., fixes his tools in the lathe, and holds the 



