Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1877-04-20
The Art Course.


The final lecture of the series for the ben
eft of the Park Gallery of Art, filed the
Unitarian Chapel, with one of the largest
audiences of the course The walls were
hung for the occasion with collection oi
engravlngs of remarkable interest. includ-
ing numerous specimens of the work Of
Albert Durcr, Rembrandt, Lucas Van Ley,
den, Martin Snongauer. Bolswert, Drevet
Nanteuil. Edelinck, Mason, Claude Mellan
Longhi, Baiechou. Woollet. Raphael Nor
CHEN, Desnoyers, William Sharpe. Murphy,
Anderloni. Mandel. and other noted en-
gravers. Among these were original in
pressions of Durer's St. jerome and Rem
brandt's Ecce Homo and Death of the
Virgin; Tho Temptation, Noli Me Tangere,
and other originals Of Lucas Van Leyden
a Christ on tho Cross by NJ artin Schon-
gauer Group of Children, by Raimon-
di; Wille's portraits of Parroeel and
Louis Nv; an impression of Bolswert' S
Agnus adest Agnis, before letters
Edelinck's portraits of Phillip De Cham
| PhS.iS uhu OlDIOuC bC l1CilChlCY
Edelinck's Battle for the Standard "
after Leonardo Da Vinci Drevet's por-
traits Of Bossuet. Cardinal Dubois, the
Painter Rigaud and Louis NV; Mason s
famous '' Gray Haired Man," and portrait
| OF Comte D'liarcourt, otherwise known as
the Cadet 10 Perle -. an excellent
l IF Mall,n'p
| of St. Veronica" or head of Christ
| crowned with thorns and sweating blood
made with single line and also Mellan s
Dead Christ and Virgin; Nanteuil's Moses
and portraits of Van Steenberghen lin
its first state). of Cardinal Mazarin
and Of Pompone De Believre; Des-
Madonna; Sharpe's doctors Of the
Church." called by Mr. Sumner. ION the
whole, the best English engraving" and
| his portraits of Boulton and of himself ;
Bartolozzi's Clytie''; j. G. Muller's st.
John the Evangelist. in its first state,
impression of lSOS; Raphael Nor
ghen's La Poesia, Woolets "Rural Cott, -
sea view by Balechou, Mandcl's Madon-
ma Colonna and Mater Dolorosa !; more
than forty portraits by Edeiinck. Nan
teuil, Drevet Audran and Mason, including
several of life size, ana many other choice
and rare prints. Most of those were loaned
for the occasion. by Mr.. Frederick Keppel,
dealer in fine and rare cngravings. of New
York city. Others wero the property ofthe
Art Gallery. and of private owners. in this
city.
TIE LECTURE.
The true place OF engraving. among the
fine arts. has long been in dispute between
the painters and engrayers. While, con-
sidered purely as works of art. a good en-
craving is a higher achievement than an
| ordinary painting, and while some good
engravings are higher even than some good
| paintings, still Of the two arts of express
sion engraving is of necessity the inferior.
because of the more limited capacity of the
material. Black ink on white paper can
not vie with the infinite variety of color.
| Circumscrlbed thus in its power of EXPIRES
| sion. engraving has for the most part with
drawn from the highest walks Of art-irom
| design and composition-and c0ntented
itself with interpreting. reproducing and
multiplying the productions OF painting,
sculpture and architecture. Yet engraving
| is truly fine art, requiring for its highest
| Efforts and exhibiting in its masters the fine
and rare quality OF soul which We call
| genius; excellirg in certain lines all other
representative arts: and in its grand con-
| tributiOn to the benefcencies which it -
| the mission of art to bestow. surprising all
| the other arts, unless it be that of music
The generic processo of engraving has for
| its object to cut in. or on. a plate OF block,
| a design from which numerous impressions
| can be printed. 1t is linked by one hand
with the pictorial art and by the other
| with that of printing. Contemporary IN
invention with printing 1t Is actnated
| Nv the same spirit-tO bring truth out of
her hiding places in cloistered libraries, and
beauty from the walls of royal galleries
and send them abroad for all TO admire
and love. But no power of indefinite mui-
tiplication would have attracted 50 much
genins to engraving. it its capabilities as
an art had been small. If Raphael was con-
tent to be made known TO all the world
outside of Rome by the work Of the en-
! graver Mare Antonio il Rubens gladly ac-
| cepted the same service from Bolswert; If
/
| ten laid the pencil aside for the etching
needle; if Turner and Stothsrd pnt much of
| the hest work Os their lives into designs for
| the engraver-then We have the Judgment
of the best Judges and masters, Of all lands
| and schools, that the effects attalnahlc by
engraving rank it very near to painting
| The three main classes of engraving are
wood engraving, which WAS treated IN the
| last winters course ; stone engraving or
lithography, which should have separate
treatment in some future course and
metal engraving. In the latter. all the
available metals have been used except
gold The latter has not been used. not
because it il too preciOus-fJr this art has
had its golden age when kings would have
melted their crowns and mobiles their plate
into plates for the epgraver, if art could
have gained anything thereby-hut be-
| cause it il toe soft. Yet the goldsmith :
art was the parent OF engraving-the first
engraving being proof taken by Flor
entine goldsmith Of Il design engraved in
silver, which was to be filled in with
black enamel, called niello. Many of these
nielli eugraviugs are rxtant, and no col
lection of prints is considered complete
| without at least one nt them.
Only about twenty-five years intervened
between the production of the first known
| wood cut and the first metal engraving.
| printed from the niellO plate of Maso Fini-
guerra, about l4JO. But there was vast
difference in artistic merit between the two,
between the childish rudeness OF the wood
cut, and the delicate workmanship of the
niello. Engraving was first an adaptation
of the Goldsmith = art, which was practiced
by the early Hebrews and Egyptians; reach
ed high stage OF perfection in Greece, and
its highest stage in the l4th, 18th and 10th
centuries The 'Pax OF the Assumption.
the first niello printed from, in composition.
correctness OF drawing. ,ase and grace,
shows skill and artistic merit. wrought
out and transmitted by the long line of en-
grayers in gold and silver and precious
stones, from time immem0rial. rne Mel
lists did not themselves turn engrayers !;
but they placed the invention of engraving
before the world; and artists were not want
ing to develop the art. such as Baldini. Bot
ticelli, Robetta and Mantegna, in Italy, and
Schopgauer and Van Mecken. in Germany.
When Marc Antonio Raimondi appeared in
Italy, and Albert Durer, in Germany-the
former under the patronage of Raphael
and the latter the equal of Raphael IN the
power to impress his genius on his coun-
try's art for all time-the art of engrav-
ing was lifted from the stage of experiment.
and entered on its brilliant career
The lecturer proceeded to describe some
of the technical processes OF engraving. In
Etching. the plate is covered with a coating
of wax. through which the design is
scratched with piece of pointed wire,
called an etching needle Nitric acid is
then poured over the plate. which bites
into the copper in the exposed lines Some
etchers finish up the plate with the graver
and - dry point" The fine effects Of this
process, are due largely to Its ease of e1ecu-
ton. The wax intcrposes to the needle only
the slight resistance needed to produce n
steady line, and the work is easy and rapid
| For recording a sudden inspiration. that
will not stay for the slow processes of the
color brush or Crayer for outlining n con
ception whose strength permits the disregard
OF details, etching bears away the palm Its
special field is found in landscapes abound
in in towers, rock work and RUNS, in sea
views, with harbors and shipping in rural
scenes among Doors and heggars, in por-
| traits of gray boards old women and gVpSie-