158 
was in the laft exhibition, and we {poke of 
3t, as it deferved, in the highe terms. To 
fay that this print is engraved with Mr. 
Reynolds’saccufiomed accuracy,force, and 
fpirit, is giving it very high praife, and 
to that praife it is fully entitled. It. is 
the No. [. of a feries of portraits, which 
Mr. Reynolds is. now engraving. 
A great number of prints have been 
lately imported from France, and they 
have afhowy fort of merit ; but one de- 
fC pervades almoft all their engravers, 
and toail of them one critique will almoft 
invariably apply—they ftudy ihe means 
more than the cad. 
L’Education d Achille. _ Gravé par Bervie 
d'apres le tableau peint par F. B. Regnault, 
Membre dl’ Infiitute Nationale des Sciences et 
Arts, Ge. ei : 
This, like mo of Bervie’s produétions, 
is made up by an ofteytatious difplay of 
bright polifhed lines ; and more attention 
is paid to the means than tothe end. Ber- 
Vie was the pupil of old Wille: Wille 
fet off in a laboured ftyle peculiar to him- 
felf, but by which he produced fome very 
fine plates from Gerard Dow, W.Mieris, 
and fimilar mafters ; and for thofe high- 
finifhed cabinet- pictures his ftyle was ad- 
mirably calculated ; but it is not fuited to 
hifforic prints: when Wille attempted 
them, he always failed. His manner is too 
ebtrufive, and draws the eye to the dimes 
rather than the fubjec¥. 
_ Hiiftoric engraving, like hiftoric paint- 
ing, requires a more general treatment.— 
Tf the parts are too much difcriminated in 
either one or the other, it invariably im- 
poverifhes ; and the fpe€tator, inftead of 
faying ‘ How «veil this paffion is expreffed!’ 
fays < how avell this flefh is coloured! how 
exquifite the lace on this cloak, Gc. Gc.— 
The man who withes to engrave hiftory, 
Soould devote his days and his nights to the 
ftudy of Gerard, Audran, Bolfwert, and 
. Jachimo Frey, and not.to the laboured 
and high-finifhed produ€tions of Wille. 
Mr. Ackermann has juft publifhed a 
pair of very beautiful little prints, engrav- 
ed by Agar from defigns by Burney. One 
of them reprelents thé Sybilline Oracles 
brought to Tarquin ; the {tory is very well 
told, and the air of the figures eafy and 
elegant. The other reprefents Brutus of- 
Sering the fiaff to Apolla when confulting 
the Oracles with ihe Tarquins. This is 
defigned in the pure and claffical fpirit of 
the antique, and, as well as the compa- 
nion print, engraved ina tender and deli- 
cate ftyle. 
The vaft continent of America abounds 
with {cenery. for the exercife of the pencil.’ 
Monthly Retrofpect of the. Fine Artse 
[ Sept. I, 
Their rivers ‘are upon an immenfe fcale = 
their mountains are ftupendous, and their 
cataracts are terrific ; but, notwithftand- 
ing the grandeur of their fcenery, the na- 
tives have hitherto fhewn little difpofition 
to the cultivation of the arts in their own 
country. They now feem defirous of re- 
moving this reproach, and appear foli- 
citous to cultivate them. . A fubfcription 
has‘been fet on foot to defray the expence 
of procuring from France, models of the 
Venus de Medicis, the Apollo Belvedere, 
and the group of the Laocoon, as exams 
ples for American fiudents. If this plan 
fhould fucceed, and of its fuccefs there is 
little doubt, it.is intended to carry the 
inftitution much farther, and eftablifh an 
American fchool, to be furnifhed with the 
moft perfect productions of European ar- 
tiffs. 
While obje&ts fo much to the honour of 
the people are purfued in this compara- 
tively new country—while there are pub- 
lic galleries in fo many cities on the con 
tinent—an imperial gallery at Vienna—an 
electoral gallery at Dufieldorf—and fo in- 
calculable a colle&tion of capital works of 
art at Paris—how muff 4t excite aftonifh- 
ment to reflect that there is no public gal- 
lery of pictures in London! An opportu- 
nity of laying a moft fplendid foundation 
of fuch a gallery is now offered to the 
public. 
Jofeph Count Truchfefs, of Zeyl Wur- 
xach, Grand Dean of the cathedral of 
Strafburg, and Canon of the metropolitan 
chapter of Cologne, has juft circulated pro- 
pofals, in which he ftates, that he was ori- 
ginally poffefied of very confiderable pro- 
perty on the left bank of the Rhine, which, 
by means of the French revolution, he has 
loft; this induces, or, perhaps, compels 
him to difpofe of his gallery of pitiures, 
which he has been more than thirty years 
collecting at a moft immenfe expence, and 
with more thancommon judgment. This 
_colle&tion cannot be confidered as the cabi- 
net of an amateur, but as one of the moft 
compleat galleries of painting in Europe, 
as it confifts of fuch a number of piétures 
by the moft capital artilts of every coun- 
try. The Count propofes.to difpofe of 
them for fixty thoufand guineas,which fumy 
large asgit is, he flates to be very inferior 
to their real value. The Count’s well- 
known charaéter for integrity and a good 
tafte in the arts would give great credence 
to his own affertion ; but he adds toit thé 
tekimony of the Vienna Academicians, 
who fome years ago eftimated it at a much 
larger fum, and ftates that Sir William 
Hamilton and Lord Minto, and great eee 
ers 
