GERMAN SCHOOL OF ENGRAVING. 



brandt head-drefs ; an old man habited as a Pcrfian, after Mufe of Harmony ; all in folio, and after his firft matter, 



Rembrandt ; portrait of a young female, and portrait of a Amiconi. 



voun-r fiffncur, from the fame maftcr ; the Je\vi(h bride, Among the mofl cftccmed of his hiftorical works are, 



and the father of the Jewilli bride, botli after Rembrandt, " The Infant Chrift afleep in a Landfcape," a beautiful 



and from tlie collection of the count dc Kamki ; the profiles print. " The Education of the Virgin." ^' The Prophet 



of Salimbeni, and count Algarotti ; the portrait of the en- Tirefias," infcribed "Tirefias triplex modo vix modo fcem.ina 



jrravcr hinifclf, infcribed " Georg Fridrick Schmidt ; Ko- vates ;" all of the foho fize, and after Amiconi. "The 



uigll Preuff. Hof. Kupfertecher Mitghid der Maler Aca- Holy Family," elevated on a pedeftal, at the foot of which 



deinien /ii Berlin i Paris," dated 1752. arc other faints, after Paolo Veronefe. "The Interview 



His heft hiilorical works, in the taile of Rembrandt, of Jacob and Rachel," after Lucca Giordano, engraved 



are, •' Jefus Chrill prefented to the People, and bufFetted 

 by the Soldiers," after Rembrandt, dated 1756. "The 

 Refufcitation of the Daughter of Jairus," after 

 Rembrandt, with a very fine chiarofcuro, dated 1767. 

 " The prefontation in the Temple," after Dietrich, com- 

 panion to the above. " The Philofopher in his Grot," 



for the Drefden gallery. " Rebecca receiving the Pre- 

 fents," after the fame mafter, and for the fame work. 

 " The Death of Abel," after B. Luti, in large folio. " St. 

 Mary Magdalen," from the fame mafter, and of the fame 

 dimenfions. " The Virgin and Infant Chrill,'' after Soli- 

 mena. " The AflTumption of the Virgin Mary," after 



by fome call-d Anchifes taking refuge in his grotto during Piazetta. " St. John in the Defart," after Carlo Vanloo ; 

 the fack of Troy, in the back-ground of which is a city in all in large folio. 



flames, after Rembrandt, and dated 1768. " The Repent- 

 ance of St. Peter," after F. Bol. " Lot and his Daughters," 

 after Rembrandt, from a picture in the poflefTion of prince 

 Henry of PruiTi.i, to whom the print is dedicated, and 

 the funeral monument of Sir Andrew Mitchell, kniglit of the 

 Bath, and ambaCfidor from the king of Great Britain, who 

 died at Berlin in 1771 ; the two lafl are of folio dimen- 

 fions. 



Jofeph Wagner was born A. D. 1706, at Thalendorf, on 

 the lake of Conftance, and died at Venice fome time about 

 the year 1780. He learned the art of dellgn under J. 

 Amiconi, whom he accompanied to England and to Italy, 

 and, obedient to the advice of this mailer, he afterv,-ards 

 travelled to Paris, and ftudied engraving with very con- 

 fiderable fuccefs under Laurent Cars. In the year 1756 

 he fettled at Venice ; began to pubhlh there the engravings 



A fct of large landfcapes, ornamented v.-ith Italian pafto- 

 ral figures, after Zucarelli, and executed with much tafte, 

 are by Wagner, in conjundlion with Bartolozzi. 



GEnM.vx School of Miific. Though the language and 

 national ftyle of finging in Germany arc n-.uch inferior to 

 thofe of Italy, the inllrnmental mufic of that country is 

 indifputably the firft in the world. It is true that the violin 

 is infinitely obliged to Corelli, Gemiiiiani, Samis, Tartini, 

 and Boccherini ; but for fymphonics, and the union of 

 wind-lnftruments with thofe of the bow, the Italians have 

 nothing at prefent, equal to the full pieces of the elder 

 Stamitz, Vanhal, Haydn, and Mozart ; nor on keyed-inflru- 

 ments have they any compofitions equal to thofe of Emanuel 

 Bach, Haydn, Mozart, and fevcral other great clavecinidcs. 

 And though the bcft German fingers are, in general, in- 

 ferior to Xhe pta-ma, or ftreet fingers of Italy ; yet Ger- 



of himfelf and pupils, and finally eftablifted a beneficial many has, now and then, furni(hed a vocal performer equal 



commerce with feveral parts of Europe. Among his 

 difciples were Flipart, Berardi, and, above all, Bartolozzi, 

 whofe talents have done honour to his mafter, to himfelf, to 

 Italy, and to England, and who Hill lives engraving in Portu- 

 gal amid the din of arms. 



to the beft of Italy : fuch as Raaf, the Mingotti, theTaibcr, 

 the Tofi, Mara, &c. 



M. Suard, ci-devant member de I'Academie Francoife, 

 an extremely fevere and faftidious critic of the dramatic 

 mufic of Italy, and a determined Gluckift, begins a 



The ftyle of Wagner's engraving is particularly eafy and long article in the Encyclopedic Methodique an the hiftory 

 engaging, and is in fine art, what in manners we term of mufic in Germany ; but though the article confifts 

 amiable. It is built on the firm foundation of found draw- of twelve quarto pages, only four or five of them are be- 

 ing ; and partakes highly of the merits of Gerard Audran ftowed on German mufic in general, before the author 

 and Giacomo Fi\:y. Like them he harm.onioufly mingled haftcns to his hero Gluck, whofe fife he gives, and an ample 

 etching with the work of the graver and dry needle, and, lift of his works, fince he quitted the Italian ftyle of corn- 

 like them, he evinced a high feeling of the merits of thofe pofition for that of France. All this is minutely and ably 



mafters after whom it was his fortune to engrave. 



The elements of his ftyle are, vigour tempered with 

 mildnefs and fuavity ; hence he is delicately bold, and, 

 without the leall appearance of labour, produces, in his beft: 

 works, an effeft of finiftiing, v.hich others labour after in 

 ■rain, and which is more particularly obfervable and 

 •appropriate in infantile fubjefts, or where he has to touch 

 the imagination with indefinite grace. In his figures of the 

 Infant Saviour and St. John, where the charaftcrs in his 

 original allowed him to be fo, he is, indeed, the Fiamingo 

 cf his art ; though if living artifts had found a place in our 

 Cyclopaedia, that honour muft rather have been awarded to 

 the moft diftinguiftied of his pupils. 



Wagner's firft attempts in engraving are faid to have 



done, and would be fatisfadlory to all mufical readers, if the 

 author's zeal for Gluck, and his ftyle were not f.vclujive, and 

 his cenfures fo fevere, of all that has been admired in Italy, 

 both in compofition and performance, by all the reft of 

 Europe, except France. No vocal compofitions but thofe 

 of Gluck efeape condemnation. IMetaftafio's dramas are 

 not written to his mind. The compofers are too florid, 

 and the finging too important. 



If M. Suard had confeffed that the ftyle of finging in 

 France was bad, and tliat its native public fingers were 

 unable to execute fuch fongs as the great Italian mafters have 

 compofed ; and therefore that it was moft prudent to have 

 as little finging as poffible ; the airs very ftiort and fimple 

 no introduftory fyniphonies, or ritornels to impede the 



been the portraits of the Englifh princeflcs Anne, Amelia, progrefs of the drama ; to fet the poet above the compofer 



and Caroline, daughters of George II. Of his other por 

 traits, the moft remarkable are, a pair in folio, whole length 

 figures of theemprefs Anne of Ruffia, and Peter the Great, 

 condufted by Minerva. The emprefs Elizabeth Pctrowna, 

 -with a Ruffiap inr<;ription, and Farinelli crowned by the 



and the adlor above the finger : with thefe conceftions all 

 Europe would have admitted his reafoning to be juft ; but 

 when M. Suard infifts on all Europe implicitlv following the 

 French model in mufical dramas ; that where great opera com- 

 pofers and refined fingers abound, they arc not to be em- 

 ployed, 



