154 ANIMAL PAINTERS 



In one important respect, however, John Scott 

 is entitled to a place abov^e his predecessors ; it 

 was reserved to him to found a school of en- 

 gravers, whose speciality was the reproduction of 

 pictures of animal life and incidents of sport. A 

 place may perhaps be claimed for him above all 

 save the two Florentines whose genius first opened 

 the eyes of the world to the artistic quality and 

 beauties of engraving. His conspicuous success 

 as an engraver must not allow us to forget that 

 John Scott was also a clever draughtsman and 

 designer ; he designed, among other plates, many 

 exquisite pieces which stand as frontispieces to 

 volumes of The Sporting Magazine and other 

 publications. He particularly excelled in impart- 

 ing a life-like expression to his beasts and birds ; 

 as an instance of his talents in this direction 

 maybe cited his plate of "The Lurcher," which 

 appears in The Sportsman s Cabinet, published by 

 J. Cundee, London, in 1804. This picture, by the 

 way, was one of the class which Scott considered 

 by far the most difficult to reproduce by reason of 

 the delicate handling required to preserve the moon- 

 light effect. 



In every case attention is arrested by the 

 marvellous skill with which his burin conveys 

 the sense of texture in the coats of his animals, 

 and the animation in the eyes of his dogs. The 



