162 THE FINE ARTS. 
almost everything depends on the light admitted into the picture; for a 
landscape which is charming by the light of evening may be only tolerable 
in the morning light. Hence the painter should study the landscape which 
he chooses for his subject under every kind of light; and the authors of 
drawing-books should make it a point to represent the same landscape under 
very different lights, in order to show the pupil the various effects of illu- 
mination. All that it would be needful to say on the special points of 
drawing and coloring could be comprised in a single rule; but to carry out 
perfectly this single rule the greatest genius requires an entire lifetime. In 
drawing and coloring all should be so executed that the eye may be com- 
pletely deceived into the belief that it sees nature itself. How protracted 
and minute a study of the conformations of earth, water, clouds, and vege- 
tation, of perspective, of coloring, and of all the effects of light and shade, 
is needed in order to attain this end for the different seasons, and even for 
the different times of day, it is unnecessary that we should here enlarge 
upon. 
4, GRAPHICS. 
The term Graphics denotes the art of drawing in general, including that 
of writing; but it is likewise taken in a narrower sense, and thus we will 
use it, to signify all those arts whose object is to put the productions of 
the draughtsman into a form that will admit of their being multiplied by 
impression. The oldest of this class of arts is Engraving Stamps, &e. 
A. Engraving Stamps and Gems. 
_ The art of gem-engraving was known to the ancients, and works of the 
kind are still extant which were produced by the oldest nations of which we 
have any knowledge, as has already been shown in our treatise on Plastics, 
where we also remarked that the engraved stones of the flourishing period 
of art in Greece and Rome are still among the finest of that class of works 
of art. The same is true to a great extent of the coins which were pro- 
duced by the art of stamp-cutting, a stamp being engraved in hard metal 
and the coin struck with it in soft metal, as is done at the present day. The 
process of stamp-cutting is too generally known to make it necessary for us 
to say anything further concerning it; but we will add a few words respect- 
ing the technics of engraving on stones. 
Gem-engraving is not executed by hand simply, but by the aid of a con- 
trivance which bears the closest resemblance to a small turning-lathe, the 
spindle of which is set in motion by a cord-wheel. This spindle in the 
mandril has at the end a square hole, in which the cutting instruments, 
technically called hands, are stuck and made fast. These hands are small 
steel rods, having at the end a small head, disk, point, or knob, by means 
of which the figures are cut in the stone either raised above the surface 
(cameos) or depressed below it (¢ntaglios). For cutting glass or the softer 
stones the instrument is moistened with oil or emery, but oil and diamond- 
546 
