Evening star., 1938-06-12

also a painter, most often he was a
highly trained technician who copied
with utmost skill and accuracy the
work Of a fellow-artist-a painting
or drawing originally conceived and
executed. 1t was in fact through this
medium alone that reproductions
could be made up to the time that
photography was discovered, and it
was therefore the engravers who, by
and large. made the works of their
fellow-artists widely known and ap-
preciated. All book illustrations had
to be engraved, besides which the
pictures on the walls of the middle
class homes were chiefly engravings
So important was the engraver, as
what today we would call publicity
agent" for the state, that the posi-
ton Of "engraver to his majesty, the
king" was established. and the hold
ers thereof well paid and handsomely
pensioned. Undoubtedly many of the
prints included in the current ex-
hibition were issued to lend glory
to the nation whose victory they re-
cord. Their superscriptions trumpet
forth praise calculated to increase
national pride and reflect glamour. not
only on the navy but its commanders
and the service. Many are respectfully
inscribed to the ruling monarch or
other royal parsonage.
But what concerns us today is that
thew O mi O vinn1xy xv,ol1 hot
by painters and engravers--so well
that we forget both as intermediates
and are brought face to face with the
event and its incidental elements.
One Of the first prints to attract the
visitors attention upon entrance is a
picture Of The Battle Of La Hogue,"
engraved by William Woollett, engraver
to his majesty. after a painting by
Benjamin West, historical painter to
the king. 1t is a dramatic composition
and shows not only the glory but the
price of victory, tattered ships, wound-
ed and drowning seamen. The painter
was none other than our own West,
who learned the rudiments of paint
ing, 1t is said, from the Indians and
after making reputation in Phila-
delphia Jared forth to London and
took his place with the great artists
OF England in that day-never forget
ting, however, to reach out a help
ing hand to young artists from Amer
lea who sought instruction abroad.
The engraver Woollett was in his own
line no less noted. Coming from hum
Bile origin, he attained to highest
distinction-in fact he is said to have
carried landscape engraving to a per-
fection unknown before his time and
never surpassed. His engraving Of
The Battle Of La Hogue" is reck-
oned among his best achievements, as
is also his plate from Vests paint
ing, The Death Of Wolfe" Woollett
took his profession very seriously. Ac-
cording to repute, he kept a cannon
on the roof of his house which he
fired of whenever he completed a
plate. A memorial to him was placed
in Westminster Abbey.
A BRITISH painter of the 18th
century, Richard Patton, is espe-
cially well represented in this collec-
ton through the art Of such distin-
guished engravers as Rodney, Canot,
Fittler, Lerpeniere and others. He
was found in the streets as a poor
boy by Admiral Knowles. by whom
he was sent to sea. Self-taught he
won admission to the Royal Academy,
and specializing In sea fights, recorded
pictorially almost all of importance
in his time. The prints in this exhi-
bition of the defeat of the Spanish
squadron of Cape st. Vincent by the
British in 1880, the view Of Gibralter
September a., 1882, after the last at
tack Of the combined French and
Spanish forces had been repelled by
the use Of floating batteries, the pic
ture OF the imperial Russian fleet
combating the Turkish fleet of the
coast of Natalia and of the blue
squadron" at Doggerbank are all from
Paton's paintings.
James Fittler, whose work is re-
peatedly represented, is at his best in
Glorious Victory Over the French
Fleet by British Fleet Under Earl
Howe" which. from the pictorial
standpoint, is one of the most inter-
esting of the exhibits. The ships in
combat occupy the center Of the COM
position and are shown In great de-
tail, even to their graceful figure
heads. carved decorations and pic
turesque rigging, while in the FORE
ground are boat and raft loads of in
jured men struggling for safety. Earl
Howe, to whom the credit for this
victory goes, was, it will be remem-
bered, brother of Viscount Howe, who
was killed at Ticonderoga and was
himself in command of naval forces
in American waters during the Revo-