LOW COUNTRIES, ENGRAVERS OF THE. 



time the great iiicropoUtan temple, the fanftified centre of 

 pilgrimage, where, from all parts of the civilized world, met 

 the devotees ot art. 



The wonders of Rome, the miracles of art which he there 

 beheld, called forth all his eiithiiiiaf'.Ti ; but taught him to 

 hope humbly. He applied himfelf with afilduity to the 

 praclical iludy ot art ; and drew diligently m the Roman 

 fchools : but under what matter he learned the rudiments 

 of engraving is not known. Nor is it furpriling that the 

 progrefs of his improvements was rapid ; for this will ever 

 be liie cafe ivherf the mind of a ihident is operated upon 

 by pleafurable ilmiuli alone, and is free from the rellraints 

 and pecuniary obftrudlioiis by which the advancement of a 

 large majority ot artiils is fadly retarded. 



In this great metropolis, furrounded and pervaded as it is 

 "by an highly falubrious atmofphere of art, every mind de- 

 voted to fuch purfuits, freelv infpires and imbibes what is 

 congenial to its nature. Adam EKliiemer of Franckfort, 

 of whom we have treated in vol. xiii., had been ftudying 

 there for fome years whi-n our young artilt arrived, and the 

 admiration with which he beheld the works of that great 

 painter, gradually brought them acquainted. 



Another circumftance contributed much to increafe their 

 intimacy. The misfortunes of EKhiemer had been pitied, 

 but not-rehcvod. Goudt had the happinefs of releafing him 

 from prifou, and of becoming at once the firm friend, pupil, 

 and generous henefaftar of the man in the world, to whom, 

 of r.ll others, he looked up with the mofl heartfelt reve- 

 rence. 



From this period he ftudied ur;der the direftion of El- 

 {hiemer, and appears to have exclulively devoted himfelf to 

 the taflc of engraving after his piftures. We know not of 

 a (ingle work of Goudt's that is engraved after any othe* 

 mafter. 



From this period, too, his peculiar talent for engraving 

 began to develope itfelf. By comparing nature with the 

 exquifite produftions of his mafter, he formed an original 

 ftyle of engraving, in moll. (though we thirik not in all) re- 

 fpefts perredlly homogeneous with that of Elfhieiner's paint- 

 ing, and v.'hich difcovers deep and clear infight into the 

 recondite energies of the engraver's art. No man before 

 Goudt had produced thofe bright, fudden, and power- 

 ful eflefts of chiaro-fcuro, which we behold with fo much 

 gratification in his fire, moon, and torch, lights, from wh'ch 

 the engravers of the prefent, and of after ages, may flndy 

 with advantage. No man, like EKhiemer, had dipped his 

 pencil in the depth of night, and in the dawn of morning. 

 And no man before Goudt, and fcarcely any fince, lias been 

 able to fuggeft, in his engravings, the lliades between du- 

 bious and pclitive colour wliich tlien prevail. 



His " Aurora" is, in this refpeft, a perfect mailer-piece. 

 The fcene is a bird's-eye view, or rather a view from an 

 eminence, over a hilly and extenfive country : bi.l the frcfh- 

 nefs of a fummer's morning, at the early hour of day-break, 

 is rendered with poetic feHcity. It is, in the words of Gray, 

 an 



• " incenfe-brcathing morn." 



^nd the charmed fpeftator fees the miftn exhaling, and 

 liilens wiri a poet'^ ear to the hymn of inanimate nature. 



All had hitherto been enjoyment with connt Goudt. 

 As Virtue beckoned him forward, Pleafure attended his 

 fteps, and ftrewed his path with flov\-ers. But earth is not 

 ■heaven, and fublunary happinefs is rarely of long conti- 

 Auanee. It was the ill fortune of our artilt to Hve during 

 the Aurora of rational philofophy, when fir Francis Bacon 

 hid npt fhonc forlhj and my fiery and credulity were not dif- 



fipated. He remained at Rome as long as EKliiemer lived ; 

 but on his return to Utrecht, a fuperllitious female, by 

 whom he was beloved, the Medea of the town, believing in 

 the occult virtues of herbs and minerals, when combined 

 with judicial allrology, to controul or infiame the paflions, 

 adminiflered, at an entertainment, what was termed a love 

 potion, which (he fatally believed would have the efTeft of 

 fixing his affeftions on hrrfclf ; and thus literally poifoned 

 his cup of delight. He was from this time afiiidted with a 

 fpecies of delirium, or idiutilm, of the mod melancholy 

 charafter, under which he Ijnguiflied for foir.e confiderable 

 time, and at length died ia his native city, at the age of 

 forty-five. 



It has bce'i remarked as extraordinary, but is probably 

 only an ordinary denotation, and refult of the mafter-paflion, 

 that though the mind of Goudt was loft to every other in- 

 tereft ; yet, whcn^iine art became the fubjecl of convcrfa- 

 tiori, he would difcourie upon it in a very rational manner. 



By thofe who do not narrowly examine his prints, it vrill 

 fcarcely be credited that the graver was the fole inftrument 

 of his art, fo remarkably loofe and free is his delineation 

 of the forms of uncultivated oLjefts. A ftriking inftance 

 of this, may be fecn in the vine-leaves, and other foliage, near 

 the door of the cottage where Ceres is drinking from a 

 pitcher. His effefts are always powerful, and his (liadows 

 produced by neat and numerous crofs-hatchings ; fo that in 

 very dark receflfes he fometimes has not fewer than five 

 courf.-s of lines. In commenting on the above print, Strutt 

 obferves, tliat, " confidering tue precifion v.-ith which he 

 executed his engravings, the freedom of handling the graver, 

 which may be difcovercd in them, is very afloniftiing. The 

 weeds, and other parts of the fore-ground in that admirable 

 print of Ceres, are very finely exprefTed. The heads of the 

 figures are correftly drawn, and the other extremities are 

 managed in a judicious manner. The powerful and flriking 

 effedl of this engraving cannot be properly dcfcribed. The 

 very deep (hadows are perhaps rather too fudden upon the 

 ftrong hghts in fome few inftances ; but in the fine impref- 

 fions this is by no means fo confpicuous as in thofe after the 

 plate had been re-touched." 



His engravings, from the elaborate neatnefs and care be- 

 ftowed on tliem, could have been but (lowly produced ; 

 when we refleS, too, that his object was to excel other 

 men in the merit, not the number of his pnnts ; that he 

 followed this art only for the pleafure it aflbrded, aad did 

 not engrave when his mind was not attuned to the purfuit, 

 it will not appear furprifing that the v.umber of his perform- 

 ances fliculd be fo fraall. 



The following feven are generally enumerated as being 

 the whole of his works ; they are all after the p.iintings of 

 his friend Elthiemer ; but the coUeflion of Mariette con- 

 tained nine, which, at a public auftion at Pans, were fold 

 for two hundred and feventy livres. 



I . The Ceres mentioned above, in fmall upright folio, which 

 is by fome diftingiiifhed by the title of " The Sorcery ;" 

 2. The Flight into Egypt, in folio; and a laiidfcape (uith 

 fmall figiires ) in which the efFefts of fire-light and moon-light 

 are contrailed v/ith great flciil : the liars alfo fiiine forth, and 

 the mahiSM is faintly difcernible. 3. Another landfcape, in 

 fmall folio, in v;hich the angel and Tobit are introduced. 

 The weeds on the fore-ground of this engraving, and the 

 br-'.nches of the trees in front, as well as the foliage and 

 weeds hanging from them, are beautifully expreiTed. On 

 this print an obfervaticn has been made which is applicai^le 

 alfo to feveral palTages in the other engravings of Goudt ; 

 na.nely, that he tails w the diilam woods, which grada:e one 



from 



