FRENCH SCHOOL OF ENGRAVING. 
After per forming, 
for 
with tolerable ees a few daeacads of the pictures of 
: : t- 1 
made confiderable proficiency. 
his own defigns, and manifelted great power over the in- 
ftruments of iis new art 
Of the ftyle of his engrav ing, as it varied at different 
periods of his life, we = prefently {peak : that of his 
defign is marked by a certain affum a brifknefs in fome 
or of others ; and his 
oe that fe ittiesed 
confid o the French hif- 
Moft of the ee which Mellan eer in Italy, (where 
rema = upwards o made Pies an 
ere, a ced - 
prints eon the Juftini nian gallery, t 
Urban VIII. and that of the marquis Juftinian 
cuted with the graver alone, and in a manner ao ene 
differing from that in which the graver had been employe 
by other artifts : that 4 is, with par allel or converging courfes 
of curve ed | ines, y withthird 
courfes of ines, as the degree of an and texture of 
the fu but after his return 
to Patis ihe invented. anew mode of w orking with fingle ftrokes 
) 
iginal 
ae et fecale this pene ftyle was 
not on principle. The example 
Tove, ong man ae that 
of Mellan does but go to p am 
ing to fecure the approbation of pofterity, 
it is one thin 
ng 
and another to obtain a little breathing-fpace for the fhort- 77 
lived monfters which fafhion has been known to engender « 
upon fine art, in the purlieus ae a French palace. 
the moft celebrated, and I will add, juftly 
On moft juftl 
sages ae ae the engravings of this artift, is - sees 
Veronic 
The euien. if he be no 
“s we fkilled i in ae ea ees — ae to Aud eae that 
eo Veronica was canoniz ing 
ur. Saviour, as he procee eded to Ca 1 Sia. eae unde 
the burthen of the crofs, -her handkerchief or napkin, 
that the impreffion of the divine countenance remaining on 
the drapery, was religioufly preferved, and well it might, as 
ar mott el and Cael —— relic belonging to the order 
ts Face, or St. Ver 
he engraving of M 
face of i 
Bo 
allan, scoring reprefentsthe front 
us alee as ae as idted 
effed on drapery. It 1 
pape entirely se means of a Seen fpiral line, beginning 
t the extremity of the nofe, which is, as nearly as was 
practicable, the center of the engraving, and ‘con tinuing, 
without intermiffion, over the whole face and back-ground of 
sb Tie iverelionet of the-{cience which fhould prefide over 
i y the unprincipled novelties of fafhion, has bee 
— and juftly regretted. Before an artift prides hhimtelf 
n doing what no other man can do, he fhould ai leaft be 
= that what he attempts is worthy o being accomplifhed. 
Le perhaps ies on ee lite mfelf fo much miftake means 
ea other o this 
nt 
pr riling, 3 of he mira na ee and is fo far analogous to. 
its fubje edt, and perhaps is, not without fome laut oe 
addrefied to the prejudices, if ie to the underftandings, of 
thofe wha have faith in the 
oly myfteries of the legend of 
St. Veronica. . Moreover fas fe eblen efs of effect, which 
Strutt ree, ours to ac t for, is here a merit, or at 
le a capable of being fo. pa ee for the impreffion of. 
the holy face thus left_on the Sudarium _ - ee might: 
- be lefs vivid, uke 
nis eafel. So ome things In thefe cafes, 
eft for the sai 
he Ye ear of Mellan’ s return to vais is not mentioned by 
in that 
to refide till the advanced age of eighty-feven, furrounded. 
with ‘honours and blefled with an excellent conftitution,. 
ndant 
le Comte fays, that, “‘ Charles the fecond of England 
fo much pleafed with his performances pe he sajusai him: 
ak Ee in Lo ery ad- 
of them are as follo ginning with se of the alle eae 
and mythological as ‘were invented by himfelf; «« Phoebus 
paffing the Zodiac,”’ ‘ Perfeus and Andro eda,’’. 
ato. ‘ Venus fe ae on a Couch with her Doves,’? 8vo 
Hercules and Atlas,” folio -port whence-is feens 
ock, on which lies a book where are engraved the papal 
arms fabfer ibed, ‘ Ibi confringes tamentes fluctus tuos,’* 
oe and Ma bf Pane feated até 
the Tomb 7 the aeeerie and holding her Portrait,’’. 
in folio eligion in a oe. a rca to a 
Wealth t 
“cc Mal 
In this piece, an angel is breprefnted aiplaying the crofs +6: 
fe evera, al erfon $ kneeling, a ral pi sage in: 
on a bed,. 
hi ehind her a moufe-trap, and before her feveral.. 
infantile genii, one of whom cn her leg, while another 
eee her with a bunch of grapes, in folio. This print, 
h Birt, is very fcarce, and dea A 
ed. A ponies. for a colle&tion of bon mots, + 
sprfetng feveral eye one of which is s feated on a- 
1 
