ITALIAN SCHOOL OF ENGRAVING. 



uivity in the Temple;" " Queen Elizabeth receiving News of 

 the Death of Queen Mary of Scotland,'' after R. Weftal' ; 

 " The red Slippei.,'' from the fame painter ; two folio plates 

 for Boydell's Shakfoearo, of which, one in particular, '-The 

 two Gentlemen of Voror.a," afttr Angelica Kauffman, is a 

 very capital print. The name and taler.ts of Schiavonetti were 

 but little known when lie unilr^took this plate, and he en- 

 gajjed to engrave it for thi> low price of two hundred and 

 eighty guineas. It is to the credit of the late Mr. Boydell, 

 that he voluntarily increafed this ftir: to three hundred. 

 The portraits of Albert Rubens, after Rubens, in folio ; 

 the queen of Pruffia, after Tifjhbien ; and the d'.ike of 

 York, after J. Boyle, both in foIi;» ; Mrs. Damer, after Cof- 

 way, in ^to. ; and the right honourable W. Pitt, and 

 lady Cawdor, in fmall folio, after Edridge. 



But far beyond thefe in merit and importance, is a large 

 folioprint of "The Landing of the BritiftiTroops under Gen. 

 Abercrombie, in I'gypt," afa-r de Loutherbourg, in which 

 ■the fire, freedom, and vigorous chiarofcuro (>f that matter 

 are mod happily rendered, and for the produ&ion of which, 

 • the fociety in the Adelphi for the Encouragement of Arts, 

 S:c. did themfelves the honour of prefenting the engraver 

 with a medal. By a judicious admixture of ftippled hatch- 

 ings, in imitation of chalk drawing when performed by the 

 ■hand of a mailer, Schiavonetti has here revived with fupe- 

 rior brilliancy and effed, the real chalk manner of engraving, 

 which we cull thus in contradiftiuelion to Ryland's art of 

 imitating llumpted drawings, or what the French aptly term 

 "en maniere de crayon noir, ' and has even enlarged the 

 former boundaries of this mode of art. On the whole, 

 this is probably the moll perfed chalk-engraving that has 

 yet been executed, and of itfelf, would be a monument of 

 ■reputation in this branch of the art. 



The chief of his eicLhigs arc, a fet of twelve, in fmall 

 ■:.folip, from drawings by W. Blake, of which the fubjeds 

 are taken from Blair's poem of the Grave. Thefe are works 

 of great merit, and (as we venture to pronounce) of hilling 

 .reputation ; and though it be too true, that, in the v.ords of 

 .this poet 



■♦' The bed concerted fcliemes men lay for fame 

 Die fait away ; only tliemfelves die faller:" 



■they yet prove, in oppofition to his leading fentimcnt, that 

 it is not 



" Abfurd to think to over-reach the grave. 



And from the wreck of names to rcfcue our's." 



Faithfully adhering to the charader of art that is im- 

 •plied by the term etrhing, Schiavonetti is here fliglit and 

 ilcetchy, and has produced hi-3 effeds chiefly by the opera- 

 tion of aquafortis, with his ufual fine feelmg, and a con- 

 genial unftudied limplieity of flyle. The eye of difcern- 

 •ment immediately fees that the fame high finifhing which he 

 bellowed on his plates after Vandyke, was never intended, 

 and that what was intended is precifely accomplilhed. 



Of this feries of meritorious etchings, which were printed 

 with Blair's poem and an able preface by the profeflbr 

 Fufeli, and publithcd by Mr. Cromek, the fubjeds are 

 i. The Defcent of Chrift into the Grave ; 2. The Defcent 

 of Man into the Vale of Death ; 3. Death's Door ; 4. The 

 ftrong and wicked Man dying; 5. Tiie good old Man 

 dying ; 6. The Soul hovering over the Body ; 7. The Soul 

 lexploriug the RecelTes of the Grave ; 8. The Counfellor, 

 King, Warrior, Mother, and Child in the Tomb ; 9. The 

 Skeleton re-animatcd; 10. The Re-union of Soul and Body; 

 ^1. A family Meeting in Heaven ; and 12. The Laft .f udg- 

 ineat. Thefe are preceded by a portrait of Mr. W. Blake, 



the poetic defigner of the work, after T. Phillips, R. A. 

 in which our engraver has manifelled great judgment and 

 tafte. It is alfo an etching, treated in the vignette ftyle, 

 with fmall afTiftance from the gr.iver and dry-point, where a 

 certain degree of mellownefs or blending were wanted, and 

 the whole brought to a focus in the animated and thinking 

 countenance which is the proper fubjed of the print. Two 

 etchings after Caracci, in folio, were afterward finilhed in 

 aquatinta, for Mr. Chamberlayne's work from the Royal 

 coiledion ; two unpubliflied large folio plates of " The De- 

 parture, and the Return, of the Savoyard Muficians," 

 flight, but performed with fingular felicity. 



Fini/hed Engravings — " Tl\e Madr^* Dolorofa," or dead 

 Chrill on the Lap of his Mother, after Vandyke, which he 

 engraved in fmall folio, for the French publication, after 

 their national gallery at Paris, is of a dillinil clafs and cha- 

 rader, from the above ; more elaborate, more difficult of 

 accompliihment, and combining merits of a loftier and more 

 exquilite kind. 



Here the mellow and harmonious mixture of etching, 

 with the work of the graver and dry needle ; the various 

 combinations, by means of thefe inftruments, of clear, broken, 

 comtrafted, and partially obfcured, lines and ttipphng, by 

 which he has expreSi'ed in their refpedive degrees of fubor- 

 dination to the purpofe of the painter, rock, fKy, hair, white 

 and coloured draperies, and, above all, the anatomical 

 markings, carnation tints, and flelhy texture, of the exqui- 

 fitely tinidied naked figure of Jefus Chrift, are truly ad- 

 mirable 1 and if not unparalleled, have certainly not been 

 fiirpaffed. Nor are the extremities of every figure in the 

 compofition rendered with lefs of tafte, knowledge, or (Icill. 

 Bolfwert had engraved a larger print of this fubjed from 

 Vandyke'.'! original pidure, a print of great merit ; and to 

 a nice oblerver, it is interefting to compare the details of the 

 two engravings, and fee how feduloufly, and with what de- 

 licacy of difceriiment, the Italian artill has avoided every 

 error, and improved every beauty, of the Fleming. 



It is exceedingly to be regretted that among the works 

 of Schiavonetti, we find fo few of this inimitable clafs, for 

 no man more than he, has united the excellencies which 

 muft enter into the conftitution of a highly finifhed en- 

 graving. Another of thei'e highly finiftied engravings, 

 wliich is alfo after Vandyke, and of large 4to. fize, is a 

 portrait of the painter himfeif, habited as a peafant, and 

 the fame general obi'ervations will apply to both, for both 

 are admirable epitomes of the powers of Vandyke ; of the 

 latter it has been truly faid, that " its excellencies will be 

 found to confill in its being at the fame time a complete 

 epitome of the original pidure and of the powers whicli an 

 engraver of genius can difplay upon fo conllned a fubjed as 

 a half length figure, without landfcape, llcy, or any other ac- 

 companiment of back ground. It is throughout quite a.s well 

 drawn as Vandyke's original; the texture of flefli is as 

 perfedly exprefl'cd, with all its varieties and inflexions of 

 furface and chiarofcuro ; nor is the drapery lefs well fell 

 and underftood, nor fcarcely lefs fltilfully engraven, than tlic 

 naked parts of the figure ; all are fufiiciently finhhed, but 

 without petty trickery, or vain labour, and the eye fparkles 

 with all the fire of Vandyke's." 



Thefe remarks are taken from "The Review of Art," 

 (vol. i. p. 40 ) which proceeds to Hate what is equally ap- 

 pHcable to both thefe engravings after Vandyke, namely, 

 that " in addition to all their other perfedions, they power- 

 fully fuggeft the idea of colour, minghng its magic blan- 

 dilhments with thofe of light and (hade ; and prcfcnt the 

 moft perfed example we have yet fcen on paper of the ftyle 

 of Vandyke's penciUing, and Vandyke is in this rcfpcd the 

 7 very 



