GERMAN SCHOOL OF ENGRAVING. 



dilTatisfaftion of thofc who were engaged with him, was 

 obhgcd to difappcar. He died at Paris in the year 1740, 

 in an hofpital. 



The mezzotintos which he produced are not witliout a confi- 

 derable fhare of merit ; but in his colouring procefs he was not 



her defcription could find fubCftence. Among' 

 rts of the CJcrman delators, there was probably 



artift of no otln 



the petty courts ot tlie ticrman ele<itors, there was probably 

 at tins time very little talk-, yet obfervation enough to dif- 

 crmnnate between two or more fet of features ; and pc^fonal 

 vainty and courtly pomp enough, to catch at tlie means of 



always equally fuccefsful. The prefent writer has feen fome, attauinig a certain fpex^ies of pc^iniable popularity. 



We have paiTed hghtly over engravers of this inferior de 



fcnption, ar.d fome we liave cntir°cly omitted, as they con- 

 tributed nothnig toward the advancement of ai't, but rather 

 perhaps retarded its advancement. 



From thefe men of mediocrity, attention turns with plea- 

 lure to the contemplation of tlie extraordiriar)' powers of 

 Jacob, or Giacomo Frev. Frcy was born at Lucerne iii 



which, in refpeft of colouring, may be called good, and others 

 which can fcarcely be elleemcd as any thing better than bad. 

 His colours are rarely vivid and frefli, but frequently flat and 

 dirty, and his drawing of the naked is incorrecl, efpecially 

 in the extremities of his figures. On the whole, his portraits 

 will probably be found to be his beil performances, of which 

 the principal, are thofe of king George H. in large folio, 

 the li/.eof life : his queen, as a companion print. 

 dii'" ----- - 



c 



Va 



"^'^P. '^ u' a ■ f 1 '" Jn ^ ■'"■?' ^"!'''' '^^ ''"'o °^7'''''- . c- r -^'^ r"?' apprenticed 10 theTra'de" 'of'a cartwright, and in 

 1 he belt of Ins hiltoncal works are, " St. Agnes and St. fpite of his propenllties towards the f-ne arts was obliged 

 CecUia." after Dominichino. « A_ Repofe during the to follow that trade till he attained the age of two and twenty 



when he fomehow or other made his way to Rome ; but 



after Dominichino 

 Flight into Egypt ;" and a " Venus Couchant,'' both after 

 Titian. " The Triumph of Galatea," after Carlo Maratti. 

 " Cupid fafhioning his Bow," after Corregio. " The Cha- 

 rity of Jofeph," after C. Cignani. " Chrift on the Mount 

 of Olives," after Caracchi. " Chrilt Entombed,'' after 

 Titian. And an anonymous, but very fine " Magdalen," 

 all of tlie folio lize. 



Martin Bemigeroth was born at Ramelfburg in the year 

 1670, and died at Leipfick in 1733. He produced a num- 

 ber of portraits which is furprifing, and which were collc£t- 



quitting the peaceful and placid vale of Lucerne, he feems 

 to liave broken loofe from all fober reftraint, and on his ar- 

 rival ni Italy, his pafiions, which had hitherto been held in 

 check, hurried him into every dangerous excefe. Yet, as 

 the lame Po, which roars and riots down the Alps, winds 

 atterward a llately river through the plains of Italy, fo it 

 was with our artift : when the cbiiilition of paffion was 

 over, he lirtened with delight to the advice of Arnold van 

 V\ irtenhout, and the inftruttions of Carlo Maratti, and from 



art of 



ed in nine port-fohos in the ducal cabinet at Drefden, many that period began to make furpriling proTiefj in the 



of them being of foho diraenfions. Yet Bcrnigeroth does engraving. ° 



not rile above mediocrity as an engraver. ^ .-'^fp"'c!"'f Maratti to Gi;icomoFrey, which {Irflogly ir.arki 



Jean Martin Bcrnigeroth was the fon and pupil of Martin, his goad fenfe and obfervation, has betn recorded : ""The 



He was born at Leipfick in the year 171 3, and died in the engravers of hirtory (i'aid he) make too much ufe of the 



fame city in 1767. He pcifefTed about the fame portion of iurin, and hence arifes a certain harjn.fs in the contours 



talent with his father ; his bell work being a portrait of Jean from which, however, the beft prints cf Dorio-ny are compa- 



Adolphus, duke of Saxe Wciflenfeld, in foho, dated 1745, ratively free. I would advifejor/to faniiliarife yourfelf with 



T( hich fcarcely rifes above mediocrity. _ _ the etching point, becaufe it operates in a far more pifturefque 



» . ■ T) 1.1 r _ ir — : is born at Berlin in the year manner than the graver." 



'ome time about 1 740. His Frey followed this advice. Robert van Audenarde was 



.ortraits are thofe which are at this time his fellow-difciple and liberal rival, but the ranid 



'ithout a certain portion of ilrides of our artill foon left him at an immenfe diftance, 



ig of PrulTu, after AVeide- though a man of abihty. He drew with fuperior taftc ; had 



Antoine Balthafar Koenig was born at Berlin in the year manner than the graver.' 

 1676, and died in the fame city fome time about 1740. His Frey followed this advice, 



prints, of which the follo«nng portraits are thofe which ar 

 held in mod e&eem. are not wi* ' 

 merit. Frederick Wilham, king 



mann. Frederick baron de Derfflinger, general of Prufiian a fine eye for the harmony both of colours and chiarofcurc • 



cava-ry. Charles Gottfried Schrader, aulic counfellcr to the etched with a degree of fpirit and freedom, which have very 



king of Pruffia. Alexander Hermann, Cointe de Wartenfle- rarely been attained; v/orked over and finifned his etchint's 



b.-n, after Ant. Pefne, dated 1716. And the monument of with the graver, at once with tirmncfs and facility; incor- 



Schradcr, with a Latin infcription. _ porating the whole by means of fuch exquifite fteli'nT of the 



Chriflian Albert Wortmann was bo.'-a in Pomerania fome m.eritsof hisoriginaL that it has been emphatically faid of hi» 



time about 1680. He went very young to Berhn, where prints, that they appear rather printed than engraved. He 



he ftudied engraving under Wolfgang, and at the age of was the Gerard Audran of Italy, and feemed only to difier 



t vventy-five was fummoned to Caflel, where he became en- from Audran himfclf, as Raphael, Guido, Dominichino, and 



graver to the landgrave of Hefle. From Caffcl he went to Gucrchino, (after whom his principal works are engraved,) 



Drefden, where he engraved feveral portraits, and among the differ from Le Brun. In faort, his feeling for the peculiar 



reft his celebrated head of Chriftian Frederick Boetiiis. In excellencies of the firll matters of the Italian fchoo's was of 



the year 1727, Wortmann was called to the court of Petcrf- 

 burg, but the time and place of his death have not been re- 

 corded. 



His principal engravings are the portraits of Erncll Louis, 



the highell and pui-eil kind; fo that it may be faid, almod 

 without a metaphor, that in his engravings their forms ap- 

 pear revivified by the fpirit of Giacomo Frey. He died at 

 Rome in the year 1752, the admii-ation of every intelb'gent 



landgrave of Kelfe Darmtladt. Chrillian Frederick Boe- artift, yet before he had received more than an earneft of the 



tius. Joachimus Julius Breithaiipt, doftor in theology, ?fter praifes that are juftly his due. 



J. A. Rudiger. Johan Samuel Drobifch. Hermann Joa- It is to be regretted, that when his plates, which were 



eV.im Halin. Anna, emprefs of Ruflia, after L. Caruvac. publifhed by his ion Philip, began to wear, they were in- 



.\le.\is, fon of Peter I. judicioudy retouched, perhaps by Philip liimfelf, who dc- 



In an age and country of low tafle, an indifferent painter ftroyed all hi? father's Av'cetnefs ar.d harmonious mellownefs- 



or engraver of portraits will find «ncouragenieut, though an fo that good imprcffioas of the prints of Frey, ia their ori- 



VoL XVI. ' lib <r;„a! 



