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MEZZOTINTS rnrtWMs. MEZZOTINTS BY CYRIL DAVENPORT, F.S.A. Connoisseurs METHUEN AND CO. 36 ESSEX STREET A LONDON X V Printers to His Edinburgh : T. and A. CONSTABIE, Majesty NOTE BURLINGTON FINE ARTS CLUB has done its fair share of work in drawing attention THEto the beautiful art of mezzotint engraving. In 1872 there was an exhibition of Turner's Liber Studiorum; in 1881 a general exhibition showing the best available specimens of work of all the most eminent mezzotint engravers; in 1886 a special show was arranged of the work of James MacArdell, an Irishman, one of the finest of our engravers in this manner; and in 1902 yet another exhibition was got together. This time a special style and a special were the executed period illustrated, namely portraits in England from about 1750 to about 1830, among which are to be found the finest examples of en- graving in mezzotint. The greater number of the prints shown at the last exhibition belonged to the late Lord Cheylesmore, who has bequeathed his magnificent collection to the nation. The collection of mezzo- tints at the British Museum was already very rich, but more particularly in the earlier examples, and although specimens of the work of most of the in the engravers represented Cheylesmore bequest were to be found, yet our national collection was in and we can welcome certainly weak them, heartily the addition of the very large number of splendid v MEZZOTINTS it I think it is prints added to by this bequest. safe to say that the British Museum now possesses the finest collection of mezzotint engravings in the world, and that no important engraver is entirely unrepresented. As to the artistic value of mezzotinting. Sir Joshua Reynolds is said to have given his opinion that it is the best calculated of all the various styles of engraving to express a painter-like feeling, especially in the case of portraits. I do not think that mezzotinting is a lost art. There are several engravers living who are able to execute beautiful work in the old style, and there are signs that a new style may possibly be evolving itself, the germs of which may be found in some of the work of Mr. Frank Short, as well as in that of Mr. R. S. Clouston. I do not allude to the engravings that these gentlemen have engraved purposely in the old manner, such as Mr. Short's fine plates of the Liber Studiorum, but to those which they have done independently after their own fashion, and in these cases there is much similarity of treatment in the work of these two artists. I feel that if mezzotints mean to keep their supreme position as the finest form of engraving upon metal, they should be engraved upon copper, and the copper should never be steeled. If an engraver chooses to take the trouble to engrave a mezzotint upon steel, let him say so on his and Lucas did there plate as, say, Lupton ; is no objection to it, and a purchaser would value the knowledge it is a proper thing to do. But although the publisher, and possibly the artist, like the large editions which a copper plate, steeled, vi NOTE can supply, it nevertheless seems to me a wrong towards the public, as well as a bad thing for the esteem in which the engraver hopes to be held by ' ' future generations. If J. R. Smith's Mrs. Carnac had been from a steeled it would not printed plate, have been so highly esteemed as it now is. Another important point concerns the printing. I think every mezzotint engraver should make his own prints, and not only superintend the process as much as the printer will let him. The inking of a mezzotint plate is a most important process, and the proper person to do it is the engraver himself. Rembrandt printed many of his etchings, and like Rembrandt every mezzotint engraver should have his own printing-press in his own house. Other great etchers besides Rembrandt have done the same. The engraver alone knows what latent power lies in his engraved copper or steel, and he alone ought to be responsible for the exact effect is which seen on each print from it, but as things are now, he cannot, in most cases, properly be held so responsible, because he has had little to do with it. I am well aware that inking an engraved metal is a and troublesome matter but plate very dirty ; it carries much compensation with it, for the interest and delight which can be found when successful prints are made by an engraver from his own work are very great. Many years ago, when the French etcher Auguste Deltre was in London, he initiated me into the mysteries of and from on inking printing etchings copper, and he always impressed upon me that he could make a truer print from one of his own etchings than vn MEZZOTINTS any one else could, because he understood them what was wanted and this thoroughly and knew ; is equally true of a mezzotint, although it would It also be not apply to a line engraving. would of much interest if printers of mezzotints would borrow another little fashion from the etcher, and add their names on the copper. The printer is worthy of more honour than he receives, and of most honour when he has also engraved the plate. I am aware that my views on some of the points considered in the following pages are not at all in accordance with those of many of my friends. I realise, however, that mezzotint engravers are not always their own masters, but are some- times compelled by circumstances to agree to certain stipulations which are more commercial than artistic in their nature. Very likely many of my adverse or fault-finding criticisms may well be due more to the commercial necessities of the trade in prints than to the independent action of the engravers themselves. A book such as the present one has naturally a tendency to fall into the form of a catalogue, and in this form it is of the greatest value to collectors. But as an introduction, and possibly an incentive, to the taste for mezzotints, a few general criticisms and appreciations may yet have their value. Great collectors have their Chaloner Smith to refer to. The only objection to that inestimable book is that it does not give a small plate of every print mentioned in it. In time all such catalogues will have to be fully illustrated, and show a picture of each state of each print, and then they will have their full usefulness. Vlll NOTE The notes which I have made about the work of individual engravers will be found in a rough chronological order, arranged as nearly as possible to the date of the first work according engraved ; but as I have given a full index, it will be best to consult that directly if the work of any particular engraver is to be studied. The illustrations will bear their own witness to the truth of what I have said as to photogravure and its but as I feel possibilities ; good they are, that in the near future such work will be still better done, so they must only at present be counted as charming copies of infinitely finer originals. C. D. IX CONTENTS r.v.t NOTE, . .... v LIST OF THE MORE IMPORTANT WORKS ON MEZZOTINTS, xv INDEX TO PLATES, xix I. CHAPTER Mezzotint engraving on metal : what it is and how it is done. How prints are made from mezzotinted plates, and how to keep them when they are made. Inks, papers, and coloured rints. The enemies of prints, and the R terature of mezzotints. Continental engravers in mezzotint, ... i CHAPTER II. The pioneers of mezzotint en- graving who worked about the middle of the seventeenth century: Lud- wig von Siegen, Prince Rupert, T. C. von Furstenberg, Wallerant Vaillant, The Van Somers, Abraham Blooteling, William Sherwin, and Francis Place. The later mezzotint engravers of the seventeenth century: E. Luttrell, Isaac Beckett, W. Faithorne, R. Williams, J. Vandervaart, John Smith, and J. Verkolje 50 xi MEZZOTINTS PAGE CHAPTER III. The mezzotint engravers of the eighteenth century : the Fabers, P. Pelham, T. Frye, J. MacArdell, R. Houston, R. Earlom, Valentine Green, E. Fisher, W. Dickinson, J. Watson, J. Spilsbury, R. Dunkarton, John Dean, J. R. Smith, J. Murphy, and C. Turner, I 08 CHAPTER IV. Mezzotint engraving in the nineteenth century. The work of S. W. Reynolds, J. M. W. Turner, W. Say, G. Clint, T. G. Lupton, W. and J. Ward, D. Lucas, Samuel Cousins, C. W. Campbell, Frank Short, John D. Miller, Gerald P. Robinson, Miss E. Gulland, R. S. Clouston, and Norman Hirst, 171 INDEX, 2O I Xll I AM much indebted to the compilers of the following works of reference, which I have consulted freely during the writing of this book : BRYAN (M.) : Dictionary of Painters and En- gravers. London, 1886-89. NAGLER (G. K.) : Kiinstler-Lexicon. Munchen, 1835-52. REDGRAVE (S.) : Dictionary of Artists of the English School. London, 1874. SMITH (J. CHALONER) : British Mezzotinto Por- traits. London, 1883. STEPHEN (L.) : Dictionary of National Biography. London, 1885-1900. XI 11 LIST of the more important Works on MEZZOTINTS, as well as of Books con- taining valuable references to them. BROWNE (ALEXANDER) : Ars Pictoria : or an Academy treating of Drawing, Painting, Limning, Etching, etc. London, 1669. Containing a short technical description of the art of engraving in mezzotint, being the first printed account of the processes used in that art.