Waterbury Democrat., 1900-11-15
STEEL ESGR.AyING.s END.

t'tACu tc 1ilf Ite HIS 4IltlluS tItO 1 par lor' not adorned with specimens of the alleged art of more or less iucompe- tent steel engravers.i The I'iI.rim's Progress" The Guardian Angel: di- minutiye and irritating children offer Ing lo2yeS of bread to rrcp0s; erouSly grateful and ragged "pour''-su':G works of art as these adorned the walls of ltEetE-nine ont ot every hundred houses. It was depressing from an artistic point of View, but this feeble imitation testified to tie supremacy of the noble att ut steel engraving Of which the masters were m inspired few The engraved atrocities have vanished from the walls, and along with them the truly beautiful speci- : mems of the art have grown to be less highly prized, except by the con noissuer. Steel engraving has come to be one Of the lost. arts. In n few years all it's followers will have passed away. and the' good cngrayingS now CGtaIt will even moro distinctly become merely. ting subjects fer the col lpCtGr rather than for the admiration of the many.
 Steel engravers have not yet found their occupation gone entirely. The old men who once engraved pictures Of ambitious size and scope now tOil- such of them as are leftover the Ge- tails Of hank notes. It is the one liz ing branch of steel engraving, one worthy enough in it's way, for the work Is beautiful. but one which will never win the admiration once shoWered on hugo copies of great pictures To the general public the figure rather than the design of q bank note is oc inlpor- ance. and few stop to note the dClica- cy of tne lines, the graCeS of the com position, all engraved, very likely, with loving car@ by some old man whose pride in his art remains although the glory of it has gone forever.
 The branch of engraving has reached a higher deyoloDment in America than anywhere else. The delicacy of the work is sometimes extreme, and gives m idea of the standing of the artist in the days when his skill was put to higher uses. The old men are grow ing fewer every year. For the special profession of bank note engraving young men are being trained to take their places, but for the broader WOrl. as it used to be carried on. there will be no successors. The old engravprS are the last of their ancient guild. and with thrm the arf of steel engravipgs as 1t relates to large pictures will die.
 But. narrow as i; thei" field. it is interesting to find that these old artists
 
 minute details of h2 bank note or stock certificate. Much of it is done by geometric lathe in the hands of ap- !TcntireS, but the tOrch of the true artist is parcepIible to his brother, just as it is possible to dc feet in a moment the style of painter.
 There is always infinite pathOs about the idea of the worlds losing anything beautiful it once possessed. It does not matter whether or not there has come something to take it's place-the sadness is there. As q mat ter of fact steel engraving has passed away because something as satisfac- tory and far more cheap has been dis covered. Photography is q good enough substitute fer the inferior work which was So familiar a quarter of century ago. The rage for etching also helped to overthrow steel engraving from it's position of security. but the downfall was brought about chiefly by the invention of photography. The plates engraved by really good workers cost a large sum of money and ,an amount of time diSprOpOrtionate even to the high price. Muller spent six years in perfect.ng his "Sistiuc Ma donna" and the price paid for it re- Warded his time at q less rate than that of an ordinary dry goods clerk of to-day.
 Such works were, ineded a labor of love. and to them there attached a sentimental interest that can never cling around the photograph which has driven the engraving from the field. An ordinary photographer ! that is a man with no special artistic i spiration-can produce the beautiful work which hangs in the place of those once honored copies of great pictures. Of course. steel enGravings arc still | bought and sold and still hang in the | houses of artistic people: but those who buy are in the main collectors. . Tine general public no longer looks at ! the old time favorites. To take up 1 some volume of a good art journal of ! twenty-five years and compare it with recent issues is to meet a forciblC re hinder of tha way in which taste has changed. \ quarter of a century ago the pages of such volumes were filled with steel ersravin@s and nothing else, while now dashing color effects, daring studies in charcoal, fill page after page.
 The position in the art world of the great engravers is quite beyond dis pute. There is DO question of whether or not there is general interest in their manner Of work.
 Inc F3IuP or Jneif ShSfSN!uSS lS fixed. and their service to the world is beyond question. Were it not for Norghen, We might have had no idea of tho beauty of Leonardo da NincIs 7 Last Supper The true spirit of art has heeu nobly preserved by such en- gravers and their followers and there is ahout their work a charm which 1 fashion cannot affect.
 But thesc works are too high priced 1 for the public to know much of them. 1 and every year will increase their i value. For an engraving, if it is to be | perfect, must be printed at the time the plate is made.
 Of all the men who engra ved pie 1 lures which entitled them to rank with ! the old time artists only one is living i today. ard he has attained a great age. This is the German. Edward 7iaudel When I die.' he has said, i fhcre will be no more AialEleFs It.Charles L." Madonna of the Skies" "Van Dyck,' and the rest are in the ! true manner of the old engrayers. But, ,I, ,>II 1;r,n -irlCr hos