GERMAN SCHOOL OF ENGRAVING. 



•7 towns, to which he affixed one or the other of the linfrular 

 raoiiogranis wliich will be fouml in our third plate of ihole 

 of the German fchool i)f engravers. 



Diricli v.as born in the f.ime city, and of the fame family, 

 in the year 1571, and his principal work of engravings is a 

 let of portraits of the illnllrious perfons of vSwitzerland. 



Rodolpli, and Conrad, Meyer were the fons of Dirick. 

 The engravings of the former are chiefly portraits, with 

 foiiie L-w emblematical prints : he was tolerably fncccfsful, 

 and marked his prints as may be feen in our plate of German 

 monograms. He was born in the year 1605, and lived only 

 to the age of thirty-three. 



His younger brother Conrad was born in the year 1 6 1 S, and 

 died at'Znrich, the city of hisnativity.in 1689. He produced 

 a confiderable number of prints which were chiefly from his 

 own deligns, among which are the cuts for an edition of 

 Erafmus's Praifc of Folly. A fet of five, which are termed a 

 cojnparifon of the prefent times with thofe of Noah and Lot. 

 "Tlic Deluge;" " The Lad Judgment," and "Memento 

 Mori." A fet of fifteen for the Mirror of Chrif- 

 tians. A fet of cuts for a dance of Death, partly invented 

 by himfelf, and partly by his brother Rodolph. And 

 feveral lets of portraits of tiie burgomafters, reformers, and 

 artills of Zurich. 



Jean Meyer relided about the fame time, or a little earlier, 

 at Nuremberg, but is prefumed by Strutt to have been of 

 the fame family as the preceding. He etched, among oth.cr 

 plates, a fet of battles in a flight but fpirited ftyle, from his 

 own compolitions. 



Felix Mever was more celebrated. He was boi-n at 

 Winteriiour, in Switzerland, in the year 1653, and died at 

 Wevden in 17 13; his genius developed itfelf at Nuremberg, 

 whiill lludying under F. Ermels, a celebrated painter of land- 

 fcape, to wliich he afterwards added the iludy of nature 

 His etchings are defervedly held in eftecm among connoif- 

 leurs, for the freedom and inteUigence which they difplay, 

 combined with effective chiarofcuro. The moft important 

 of thelc are, a fet of twelve, ornamented with ruined edifices 

 and rocks, &c. Another fet of four of the fcenery of Swit- 

 zerland, with ancient monuments and figures, dated 1701. 

 Another fet of four of the fame kind of fubjects, and an- 

 other fet of the fame number, of a more wild, mountainous, 

 and rocky charafter, all of the 4to. dimenfions. 



Joachim Francois Beifch, or Beicli, was born at Munich 

 in the year 166^, and died in the fame city in 1748. He 

 ftudied the principles of defign under his father, who was a 

 painter of Ravenlhurg, but domiciliated at Munich. They 

 both painted landfcape and battles, and Joachim travelled Ut 

 Italy for improvement, where he refided for feveral years, 

 coatemplatiiig the fcenery of that claffical lainlfcape country, 

 and the works of Gafpar Pouffin and Salvator Rofa. 



On his return to Munich, he took up the etching point with 

 ■fucccls, and produced levcral fets of plates of landfcape fce- 

 nery in a grand talle, among which the principal are, a fet of 

 eight mountainous laiidfcapes from his own compofitions, in 

 4to. Anotiier fet of fix. Anotlier fet of fix with rocks, 

 catarads, and banditti, in the ftyle of Salvator Rofa, of the 

 folio fize. 



Ge )rge Philip Rugendas of Augfburg was born in the 

 year 1666. He learned drawing of Ifaac Fifcher, but 

 afterwards ftudied with more advantage from the works of 

 Piftro Tempella, and Bourgognione. He travelled to 

 Vienna, from thence to Venice, and from thence to Rome, 

 where he remained a long time, and revifited Augftjurg in 

 the year 1 695. At this time the war of the Spanilh fuc- 

 ceflion was raging in Germany, and our artift had oppor- 

 tuaity to contemplate its effeds, and draw battles, ikirmilhes, 



and fieges, from nature. Among thefe the bombardment and 

 taking of his native city by the French and Bavarians, formed 

 an iutiivlling fubjeci for his pencil and etching needle, and 

 lie j/ullilhed in iix prints, tV"ir military operations in that 

 neiglibourliood during the years 1703 and 1704. 



Rugendas defervedly holds a diilinguiflicd rank amorg 

 battle painters. His dcfigns are at once bold and corrcft, 

 his compofition orderly, his pencil facile, and his colouring 

 performed on principle ; above all, the vaiied attitudes and 

 graces of his cavalry are juftly admired. 



Befidcs the pidiires from his hand, which arc not ancom- 

 mon in the galleries and cabinets of Germany, Rugendas 

 lia-; performed a confiderable number of etchings and plates 

 in niezzotinto, of wliicli the fubjefts are chiefly hunting and 

 battles ; fome by himfelf, and others in conjunftion witli his 

 fons, of whom he had three that were educated to the arts. 



We begin our lift with a fi-loftion from his etchings : a fet 

 of fix of " Capricci de Georgio Filippo Rugendas," dated 

 1698. Three fets of " Cavaliers Marching, in Aftion, &c." 

 conllfting of twenty-two plates, in 8vo. A fet of iix very 

 capital etchings, in folio, of " Les Operations militaires del 

 Francois et des Bavarois a Auglbourg et h fes Environs/' 

 dated 1 704. 



His beft mezzotintos are, " A Colonel of Huflars on 

 Horfeback." A fet of four, of " Combats between Hun- 

 garian and Prufiian Hulfars." A fet of four, " Hunting 

 Pieces." A let of four, '• Battles, &c. in the Turkifh 

 Campaign." Another fet of fix, entitled " Les Operations 

 et les Occupations militaires,'' &c. all in foho. 



Tiie following -were produced in conjunftion with his fons: 

 A pair of " Mountainous Landfcapes," in 4to. A pair of 

 " Combats between Cavalry." A fet of four, of " Marchei 

 and Halts." Another fet of four, of " Camps and Skir- 

 millies," all in 4to. A fet of fix, of " The Amufements 

 of the Camp." Two fets of Battles, confifting of fix 

 in each. A fet eight, of " Marche?, Halts, and Combats 

 of Cavalry," all in folio ; and a fet of twenty of variou* 

 military fubjefts, in 4to. 



Jaques Chriftophe le Blond, or Blon, an engraver in mez- 

 zotinto, was born at Frankfort in 1670. He travelled i» 

 Rome in the year 1 696, in the fuite of the imperial ambaf- 

 fador, where he ftudied painting under Carlo Maratti, but 

 his genius being of a mechanical turn, he entered with 

 warmth into various fpcculations : at length he learned to 

 fcrape mezzotinto, and difcovered a method of printing mez- 

 zotinto plates in colours. The Dutch painter Overbeek per- 

 fuaded him to bring his new difcovery to Anifterdam, from 

 whence he emirrrated to En<jland. 



Eagerly bent on the execution of his new projeft, he ex- 

 ecuted in London feveral large plates in mezzotinto, from 

 piftiircs by the greateft matters, and difpofed of the prints 

 by lottery : but thofe who obtained the prizes appear not 

 to have held them in any very great ellimation. He made 

 known the manner in which he performed and printed thefe 

 plates, in a book entitled " Coloritto, or the Harmony of 

 Colours in Painting, reduced to mechanical praftice, under 

 eafy precepts and infallible rules," which were printed both 

 in Engliih and French : but nothing is more common than 

 the failure of infalUble pi-etenfions, and the fpirit of fine art 

 has always evaporated in the various attempts to reduce 

 it to mechanical practice. Le Blond's projeft did not fuc- 

 ceed. 



He afterward fet on foot a fcheme for copying the Car- 

 toons of Raphael in tapeftry, and made dra%vings for that 

 purpofe ; but though money was fubfcribed, houfes built, 

 and looms erefted at the Mulberry-ground, nem- Chelfea, 

 this project alfo failed, and poor le Blond, to the «o fmall 



