The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser. — 1848-02-15 (Liverpool, Merseyside, England)

HOLLOWAY'S CARTOON ENGRAVINGS. The series was commenced in the year 1800,and finished in the year 1842, occupying the time of three engravers during a period of 42 years. The Cartoons of Raphael are England's chief treasures of art ; they have been for centuries the admiration of the world ; and the gallery at Hampton Court, built by Wren for their reception, is as a place of pilgrimage to all who appreciate true excellence and venerate the genius of the greatest master of ancient or of modern times. It is impossible to overrate the value of this great heirloom of the British crown ; critics of all nations have lauded it as a collection of invaluable worth ; these matchless specimens not only supply the safest and surest lessons of art, but they are powerful incentives to virtue and religion ; for never have the mind and hand of the painter so effectually aided the preacher in his great mission— never has divine truth been rendered so impressive by the pencil of the artist. _  Although there are few persons entirely unacquainted with these great works, it may not be amiss to state that the series was produced by Raphael, in the years 1513 • and 1514—in order that tapestries might be worked •to decorate the interior e the Sistine Chapel, where those • tapestries still exist, although in a faded and dilapidated condition. They were purchased by Charles 1., acting under the advice of the painter Rubens ; and, although England has been thrice in danger of losing these invaluable acquisitions, happily they have continued with us, the boast of our country and, according to a quaint _ writer, " the envy of all other polite nations." The cartoons, it is scarcely needful to say, consist of " seven grand designs drawn with chalk upon strong paper, and coloured in distemper." They have been frequently engraved ; but in nearly all instances the engravings have been either " merely neat memoranda," or very inferior productions of the burin. There existed no copies at all comparable with the great originals ; their fame depended mainly on the reports of those who had seen them ; and as lessons in art or incentives to piety more than half their value was lost, because no master mind had been entrusted with the duty of their multiplication. In the year 1800, however, the task was undertaken by a most accomplished engraver, the late Thomas Holloway, and his able coadjutors, R. Slann and T. S. Webb, under the immediate patronage of his majesty George 111. Each print was originally published separately as it was produced ; and it will be obvious that .as works resulting from such immense labour necessarily bore a corresponding price ; their cost has hitherto confined their circulation to the wealthy. Such impediment is now removed, as it is the intention of the present proprietor, Mr. Webb, of London, who is retiring, to submit the entire stock of this truly national series of magnificent engravings from the greatest works in the world to the lovers of fine arts and admiring public in a manner announced in our advertising columns of to-day, which affords an opportunity, by a guinea subscription, of obtaining one engraving for a certainty, which was originally published at four guineas. The series may be justly classed as among the most admirable examples of line engraving that have been executed ; the engravers trusted for fame entirely upon these productions, upon which the energies of the best part of their lives were expended ; and it is not too much to say that, as prints, they are worthy associates of the immortal drawings. The artist has now, therefore, an opportunity of acquiring a means of study which all authorities concerning art unite in characterising as the safest and surest guide to knowledge—unerring guides to learning, facility, and truth ; while to the amateur is opened a new source of easily accessible enjoyment. The collector of fine engravings will also consider this opportunity one which ought not to he lost,—since the value of these productions does not depend upon fashion or caprice : it will increase with time ; for the veritable excellence of the engraved copies, as well as the immortal original drawings, afford security against any diminution of their worth.  On Thursday, another of the wretched murderers, John Renehan, convicted at the Limerick Special Commission, underwent the extreme penalty of the law. The unhappy man made no declaration of his guilt. Very few persons were present. The Irish liberal papers express their sorrow for the fate of these miserable men, by insinuating doubts as to the justice of the verdicts.