New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1876-02-23
BRITISH ART.
uAMrRroN,s ETCHERS AND ETCHING.

JyRoM THE REGULAR CORRESPONDENTS OF rHs TRiBVNhI
LONDON, Jan. 14.-Mr Hamerton IS among inc
beat known Of recent English writers on art no 10
editor of The Portfolio. an illustrated Jourhai u
high character, and his book. Etching ana E,cn-
ara published some years ago, capital BOOK 10
stimulate interest in branch OF art but niue Pae
tced In England and little understood Ii has long
been out of print and copies of it, as the autnor'
with excusaIe compacency, reminds u.s. are oi,iS W
be had occasionally from dealers III rare DOCKS -
fancy prices. new edition-(Etcnihs anu r'o"NS'
ByP G. Hamerton. Illustrated. Macmillan " Co.,
London 1876. 8vo. PIP. xxx" 403.l-wmen II III
many respects a new book. has lately been issued
Ii should be said at that this does not contain
the Illustrations which added much to the worth
of the former edition. There are illustrations out
they are not the same. Those in the first edition
were impressions from original old and modern
eoppers got together with some trouble and ex-
peuse. which when once used had TO be returned to
their owners and are not again available Possessors
of the first edition may therefore rest secure that It
has not been and cannot be duplicated The etehngs
now given arc given with view primarily To the
eucidation of tie text; to instruction rather than
to embellishment. Those on the cover cannot DC
said to contribute much TO either. EtchngS are not
meant to be printed on book muslin III black ana
gold and it may be hoped that publishers VIII some
day find out the right limits to decoration III cloth
Y,
right and wrong methods Of decoration.
In its present form, the book a more practical
book than the other was. lis information about
contemporary etchers has been brought down TO
later dates and additions have been made to the
technical instruction given in 1t. MIR. Hanerton
thinks il necessary to defend himself in his new Pre-
face against some criticisms that have been made on
him in the American press. for, as he puts 1t, eXa-
ing mechanism above mind. l do not know who
q .,1r.l hoo LODI
IN answer. AS well might Mr. Ruskin be accused
Of exalting mechanism above mind because IN the
"Stones of Venice" he gives technical details about
architecture Bat perhaps ii is due to Mr. Hamer-
ton to quote his energetic denial of the accusation,
and his assertion-which is true-that hls teaching
about art sHbordinates everything to the nlhh ol
the artist, even that truth TO nature which
modern superstition regards as if il were something
sacred"
An undue proportion of the book is occupied with
the English school, and this although Mr.. Hamerton
eonfesses frankly enough that the English school is
FAR from being foremost that il is not characterized
by enthusiasm OF activity that i'll England there is
no sus stained energetic work in this art and that 1t
is not sustained as in France, by great publishing
enterprises succeeding each other rapidly. Ills eA-
cuse is that the book intended for Englsn Ie'"-
ers which is the best possible reason why foreign
and not English art should have been most fully
treated Among living English etchers there rs one
really great name-ScyInour Hadcn. Among hVlng
French etchcrs the list Of those entitled 10 place IN
tbefroD rank incIudes F1ameug, JacquemaIt, Charles
Jacque Daubiguy, Rajon, and others The English
name which comes next to Hadens Is undoubtedly
that of James Whistler, whom are i'll the habit
of considering an American. Mr. Hamerton says he
Is of American extraction, and claims him for the
English school. But Mr.. Hamerton is himself half
foreigner by education and residence, and II can
not be said of him that hrs nsulariiy prevents him
from doing justice 10 foreign art. he is thoroughly
familiar with the best work that has been done
abroad Ia place Of the cold praise which il AL chat
he can bestOw on English etchers as a school, we
have such passages on France as tlis:
FcNg movements in ar have bcea. TIE whole, so sue,
cessfrl this revival OF etcalc in France; II VA,
the 18th century. The cgr1s OF tAe revival have ot
only made etching quite truly liN NJ ar aS.n. bnt
that has led tLcm to absolute eX'cu'iYe equality
not mtreiS alive asan La Il Is dive in pcriest strength.
NeyeF iaG cd, IL the history a. the me ails, nav -
eeher within the walls OF single city as there ne ~
t hour N Paris We do not live in some short afie-
N the fuI bright light Of the morning
No one who has had an opportunity TO study
recent French work will think this estimate of il
TOO high. Mr.. Hamerton is impatient with some
English journalists for their ignorance of the extent
and continuance OF this movement. The revival he
is describing began he tells them in his scornful
way-wIth an Introductory which | need not
guote-more than 20 years ago, and has been gather
mg strength ever since. Charles Jaoque ard Dau-
bigny were producing their earliest plates before
$50; jacques first copy of Rembrandt in 1880.
I'm 1866 Jacque had already published 400 etchings
F9aneng-whose fame has only Of late become gen
eral, or reached its present hght-exhibited in
1885.
So careful is Mr.. Hamcrton to bring his book down
10 the very latest dates-eyerybody's appetite for
the newest being quiekened by modern journalism
that in note to the chapter from which have been
uoting he records the appearance of that latest
vel of French enterprise. UArt periodical devoted
20 art published weekly, with page measuring IL
inches by IL inches and with not less high
than the long famous Gazette des Boaar Arts, which
maintains under NJ. Mesnard the place at the head
of periodical art publications which its former dis
tingushed editor NJ Charles Blanc, secured TO it.
Not less care has Mr. Hamerton taken TO give n crit
heal account of the most recent great eichings OF
those appearing since his first edition Not TO speak Of
the or gnal work. take Flamengs copy of Gel
eirsted etching, suppose, that exists. Renbrandts
Hundred Guilder Piece, an impression Of which in
the first state has been sold at auction for 5000
Flamengs reproduction of this, which appeared in
1878 has already achieved fame of its own, though
those who know it only in its ordinary state, as it
appears in NJ. Charles Banc's admirable "Life and
Works OF Rembrandt" can have but faint concep
ton OF the beauty of the earlier proofs above all OF
the matchless impression on Japanese paper which
Tlsneng sent to Vienna, and which is now in private
hands The original is one of Rembrandts most
difficult and complicated works. OF Flamcng's copy
Mr. Hamerton declares that, balancing quality
IL 70 tIo arf,.c tnt,,