The Sun.
London, England, 1863-01-30 00:00:00

ARTISTIC COPYRIGIITS.—A meeting of painters,
engravers, and other persons interested in the bet-
ter protection of artistic copyrights was held on Wednes-
day evening at the Frencla. Gallery, 120, Pall-Mall, to con-
sult as to the best means of obtaining from Parliament an
effective act on this subject. Sir T. Phillips, chairman of
the Council of the Society of Arts, presided, and many of
our leading artists and art-publishers took part in the pro-
ceedings. A letter was received from Lord Granville, ex-
pressing regret at not being able to attend, but desiring to
be apprised of the conclusions at whirl the meeting might
arrive. To illustrate the facility and success with which the
finest and most costly works on which a great amount of
combined genius, skill, capital, and labour may have been
expanded, both by the painter and the engraver, pirated
copies of tha following subjects, made by photography,
zinco-photography, lithography, and the anastatic process,
were exhibited in the room side by side with the original
engravings from which they had been taken :—Portrait of
the Empress of the French, engraved by Dang&n, the
"Farce Somnum rampere," engraved by Raphael Mor-
ghen," Landseer's " Monarch of the Glen," Hunt's " Light
of the World," Rosa Bonheur's Fair," &e. It is almost
unnecessary to say that the genuine production and the
spurious imitation in every case so closely resembled
each other as to be scarcely distinguishable, although the
fair price of the one might be half a guinea or a guinea, and
the other could easily be sold for ls. In introducing the
business, the chairman explained that the act relating to
works of art passed last session recognisd the painter's
claim to the copyright of his pictures for a given period, and
the photographer also enjoyed legislative protection, but the
property of the engraver was still left wholly insecure. An
efficacious remedy for this crying grievanc3 would, he
trusted, before long be provided by law. That eminent ar-
tist, Mr. Frith, who was unable to be present, had given his
views on this subject in a letter, in which he said,—" The
recent act is efficient as regards the copying of pictures, but
while the remedy of the publisher, who has paid liberally
for a copyright, is not secured to him by law against pho-
tographic piracy he will be neither willing nor able to pay
for copyright as heretofore; and if that should happen the
class of art I practise will almost cease to be followed. It is
to me incredible that the law should give a quick and cheap
Triode of redress to the photographer whose works are
pirated, and refuse it to the publisher whose stake is so
large, and the object of whose speculation is often so credit-
able." Mr. Gambert, art publisher, addressed the meeting,
forcibly pointing out the peculiar hardship under which
his class laboured by having their best engravings, produced
at a heavy outlay, pirated by any man who had a little skill
in photography, and could muster 6d. to invest in a few
chymicals. The injustice of this was all the more flagrant
inasmuch as the photographer, who thus unscrupulously
robbed the engraver, was himself amply protected against
piracy on the part of his rivals. No publisher would venture
to give commissions, involving thousands of pounds, to
artists like Mr. Frith or Mr. Holman Hunt, while the law
left their property an easy prey to such unprincipled depre-
dators. Thus, art must be discouraged and the public would
suffer. Mr. Herbert, R.A., Mr. E. Nicholls, R.S.A. ; Mr.
Thomas Landecer, Mr. Redgrave, Mr. Tom Taylor, and
other gentlemen, having also addressed ths meeting, a
series of resolutions was unanimously adopted insisting on
summary redress against this particular class of piracies by
proceedings before any two justices of the peace, together
with the improvement and consolidation of our own laws
relating to artistic copyrights, and the expediency of an as-
similation of the codes of the great European countries on
this matter. The business closed with several formal votes
of thanks.

THE PRESIDENT'S CONIJIIDRI7III TO SECRETARY
WELLEs.—lnstead of removing the old Secretary Welles,
the President confided to him his last invented conundrum,
Why are the millions of greenback notes
which was this—"
like the millions of Israelites ?" " Because they originated
with Abraham, and know no redeemer."