The Montgomery advertiser., 1902-12-24
A PASSING ART

Is the Day of the Wood Engraver's
 Work Almost. at Its EndP
 Frederick W. Gookin in December Dial
 (Chicago.)
 That engraving on wood seems likely to become. like line engraving on steel. ai- most lost art, is but the natura. conse- duence of the invention and perfection of the various processes of photo-mechani- cal reproduction. There are many req sons why this should be so. It is not only that the mechanical processes are both actually and relatively cheap. The gain in literal fidelity Is indisputable; there is no tedious waiting for the tardy engraver; there Is no intrusion of his personality into the result These considerations are commercially effective. and of more weight with both publishers and public than realization of the shortcomings of the process print. The blurring of some qualities and over-accentuation of others In the mechanical reproduction, the inev- itable omission of that intangible vivify- ing something, which. for want of a bet ter name. may be called the soul Of the work. is commonly overlooked. And with
 the improvement of photography by which more accurate rendering of tone values is secured. there Is much reason to fear that the day of the wood engrav- CT Is almost at an end.
 But the end is not quite yet. however, for the greatest of all wood engravers has not yet laid down his tools MT. Timothy
 Coles series ot wood engravings after the old masters of painting may without
 exRggeration be said to represent the crowning achievement of the art This is high praise. but not more than is de- served. Professor John C. Van Dyke does not put 1t too strongly when he says that the series cannot be regarded as other than monumental" The high stan dard set in the old Italian Masters" and "old Dutch and FleniSh Masters is full ly maintained in Mr. Coles new collec- ton of eig..t and forty examples of the
 "old English Masters In cutting the blocks for these, Mir. Cole was constantly occupied for nearly seven years. Many of the plates have appeared in the Gen. tury Magazine, but in their present form they gain much from heavier paper and more careful printing.
 In the technique of his craft MT. Cole is absolutely unsurpassed. His method is in strict accordance with the best tradi- uons of the art. Always and everywhere he uses the pure white line aud stipple around which such animated controver- sies have arisen between advocates of different styles of engraving. How wide, how almost infinitely varied. are the pos abilities of this white line, is nowhere better shown than in Mir. Coles master ly use of 1t. In his hands 1t becomes vl- brnnt instinct with life: yet firm. clear and restful. As in all craftsmanship of the highest order. there is here no traOs of indecision. The handling Is free strong and direct. but without any trace of hardness. It is this combination of strength with softness and delicacy, of md Inkt tAAk veals in MT. Cole not the mere transla- tor of other mems work. but the artist of consummate ability. Yet as trans lator and interpreter of the individual qualities of the painters whose works he has reproduced he has also achieved a high degree of success. It is difficult to say whether. in such an example as the Detail from Hogarth's Marriage a la Mode." we should most admire the ex- auisite nicety with which the quality of the painting. the character and express sion of the several figures. and, in par ticular. the atmosphere-the enveloppe- of the original have been placed before us or the wonderful technique by which this result Is accomplished The achieve ment is the more remarkable whom the narrow range of the tone values in this picture are taken into consideration. A line or a dot misplaced, made a hairs breadth too large, or taken in the wrong direction. would have been fatal to the result. The direction in which the lines made by the grayer shall run is indeed one of the most important questions which the engraver has to decide. 1t is true that 1t is largely determined by the perspective of the planes in which the surfaces lie. But that is not all that needs to be taken into account. Some of the things that have to be considered, and how skilfully MT. Cole has met the va- ried problems presented. may be seen by noting the different ways in which he has treated the faces in the portraits re- produced. How essentially unlike in character are the rhythmic and sinuous lines with which he has placed bafore us the lovely face of the Parsons DauEh- ter." by Romney. and the white lines crossing each other so as to leave little dots at the intersections, which he has employed in the engraving (one of the finest In the series) of Sir Henry Raeburns portrait of Mrs, Scott Moncrien, How different also Is his treatment of the faces In the engravings after ReynOldss portrait of Lord Heath field FIopners portrait of William Pitt. and Raeburns presentation of the mas sive features of Lord Newton! Equally worthy of study are the lines adopted to render the textures of the different fab- rics depicted. and the censummate skill with which both quality of surface and tonal truth have been secured,