caricaturas of thofe mafters who have fometimes amufed themfelves with patching together an affemblage of features from their own ideas; fuch are Spaniolet's, which, though admirably executed, ap pear plainly to have no architypes in nature. Hogarth's, on the other hand, are collections of natural curiofities, the Oxford heads, the phyfician's arms, and fome of his other pieces, are exprefsly of this humorous kind; they are truly comic, though ill-natured effufions of mirth more entertaining than Spaniolet's, as they are pure nature but lefs innocent, as they contain ill directed ridicule"; but the fpecies of expreffion in which this mafter moft excels is, that happy art of catching thofe peculiarities of air and gefture, which the ridiculous part of every profeffion contract, and which, for that reafon, become characteristic; of the whole, his counfellors, his undertakers, his lawyers, his ufurers, are all confpicuous at fight; in a word, almoft all profeffions may fee in his works that particular fpecies of affectation which they fhould endeavour to avoid; the execution of this mafter is well fuited to his fubjects and manner of treating them; he etches with great fpirit, and never gives one unneceffary ftroke, there is great fpirit in his little print of a corner of a play-house. CAUTIONS in collecting PRINTS.. THE HE collector of prints may be first cautioned against indulging a defire of becoming poffeffed of all the works of any mafter; there is no mafter whofe works in the grofs deferve notice; no man ist equal to himself in all his compofitions. I have known a collector of Rembrandt give two or three guineas for a print of that mafter to complete his collection, which would have been greatly to Rembrandt's credit if it had been left out: one third of the works of this master will not bear juft criticism. Prince Eugene piqued him felf felf on having all the works of all the mafters; his collection was bulky, and coft eighty thousand pounds, and could not at that time if fifted, be worth fo many hundreds. The collector of prints may be cautioned against a fuperftitious veneration for names; a true connoiffeur leaves the mafter out of the question, and examines the work. With a dabbling little genius, nothing fways like a name, it carries a wonderful force, covers glaring faults, and creates imaginary beauties; that criticism is certainly juft, which examines the different manners of the various malers with a view to discover how a good effect may be produced, but to be curious to find out the mafter, and there to reft the judgment, is a kind of connoiffeurship, very paultry and illiberal; inftead of judging of the mafter by the work, it is judging the work by the master: hence it is those vile prints the Woman in the Cauldron and Mount Parnaffus obtain credit among connoiffeurs; if you afk where their beauties confift, you are informed they are graved by Marc Antonio, and if that will not fatisfy you, they tell you they are after Rafaelle. This abfurd tafte raifed an honeft indignation in Picart, who having hewn the world, by his excellent imitations, how ridiculous it is to pay a veneration to names, tells us, he had compared fome of the gravings of the ancient mafters with the pictures, and found them very bad copies; he speaks of the ftiff manner that runs through them of the hair of children, which resembles pot-hooks, and of their ignorance in anatomy, and the diftribution of light: what folly is that, that makes the public fashion the criterion of tafte; fashion prevails in every thing, while it is confined to drefs, or the idle ceremonies of a vifit, it is of little confequence; but when it becomes the dictator in arts, the matter is serious, yet fo it is, we feldom permit ourfelves to judge of beauty by the rules of art, but follow the catch-word of fashion, and applaud and cenfure from the voice of others: fometimes one mafter, fometimes another master has the run. Rembrandt has long been a fashionable mafter; if the prints prints be good, it fignifies little by whom. The date of Rembrandt is getting over, and other mafters are getting into fashion; for the truth of thefe obfervations, I appeal to the dealers in old prints, who will inform you how uncertain is the value of the goods they vend; hence it is fuch noble productions as the works of Peter Tefta are in fuch little eftcem; the whole collection of this mafter, which confifts of thirty capital prints, may be bought for lefs than is often given for a fingle print of Rembrandt; I fpeak not of his capital print, the price of which is immoderate. The true man of tafte, leaves the voice of fashion entirely out of the queftion, he has a better ftandard of beauty, which he will find frequently at variance with common opinion. A fourth caution in collecting prints may be not to rate their value by their fcarcenefs. Scarcenefs will make a valuable print more valuable, but to make scarcenefs the standard of a print's value, is to mistake an accident for merit; this folly is founded in vanity, to poffefs what none elfe can poffefs; the want of real merit is made up by imaginary, and the object is intended to be kept, not looked at; yet abfurd, as this falfe tafte is, a trifling genius may be found, who will give ten guineas for Hollar's fhells, which, valued according to real merit, and the fcarcity added to the account, are not worth ten fhillings. Le Clerc, in his print of Alexander's Triumph, had given a profile of that prince, the print was fhewn to the Duke of Orleans, who was pleased with it on the whole, but justly objected to the fide face; the obfequious artift erafed it and engraved a full one; a few impreffions had been taken from the plate in its firft ftate, which fell amongst the curious for ten times the price of the one fince it has been altered. Callot, once pleafed with a little plate of his own etching, made a hole in it, through which he drew a ribbon and wore it on his button: the impreffions after the hole was made, are scarce and valuable. In a print of the Holy Family from Van Dyck, St. John was reprefented laying his hand on the Virgin's fhoulder. Before the print was publifhed, the artift fhewed it among his critical friends, fome of whom thought the action of St. John too familiar; the painter was convinced, and removed the hand, but he was miflaken when he thought he added value to the print by the alteration; the impreffions that got out with the hand on the shoulder would buy up all the reft three times over in any auction where it was properly pointed out: many of Rembrandt's prints receive a value from accidental alterations of this kind. A few impreffions were taken from one plate before a fign-poft was inferted at an alehoufe door; at a fecond, before a dog was introduced; at a third, before a white horfe tail was turned into a black. Let the collectors of prints be cautious about buying copies for originals, many of the works of the copiers may be fo well, that a perfon not verfed in prints may be eafily deceived: were the copies really as good as the originals, they contract a ftiffnefs from the fear of erring, that they are easily difcerned when compared. The laft caution I fhall give to collectors is, to take care not to purchase bad impreffions. There are three things which make an impreffion bad: the firft is, its being ill taken off, fome prints feem to have received the force of the roller, at intervals the impreffion is double, and gives that glimmering appearance that illudes the eye. A fecond, which makes an impreffion bad is a worn plate; there is often as much difference between the firft and laft impeffions, as two different prints, the effect is wholly loft in a faint impreffion, and you have nothing left but a vapid defign, without fpirit, and without force; in mezzotinto especially, a ftrong impreffion is defirable, for its fpirit quickly evaporates, without which, it is the moft infipid of all prints. In engraving or etching there will be always here and there a dark touch, which long preferves an appearance of spirit, but mezzotinto is a flat furface, and when it begins to wear it wears all over; too many of the works of all the great mafters that are hawked about at auctions, or fold in fhops, are in this wretched ftate; it is difficult to meet with a good im preffion preffion of the Salvator's, Rembrandt's, and Waterloo's, except in fome choice collections, they are feldom better than mere reverses; you see the form of the print, but the elegant mafterly touches are gone; back grounds and fore grounds are jumbled together by the confuffion of all distance, and you have rather the fhadow than the print itself. The last thing which makes a bad impreffion is, the retouching a worn plate; fometimes indeed it is done by the mafter himself, there the spirit may be preferved, but it is generally done by fome bungler, into whofe hands the plate has fallen, and then it isexecrable; in a worn plate you have the remains of fomething excellent, but in a plate fcratched over by a wretched bungler, the idea of the mafter is loft: fuch prints there are of Rembrandt and Waterloo, which thofe great mafters would have fhuddered to have owned; yet, as we are often obliged to take up with what we can get, let us rather choofe faint impreffions than retouched ones. EXPLANATION OF TERMS. COMPOSITION-Means a picture in general, in a large sense. In a particular fenfe the art of grouping figures, and combining the parts of a picture; in this latter fenfe, it is fynonimous with dif pofition. DESIGN-In its ftrict fenfe, applied chiefly to drawing in an enlarged one, the general conduct of the piece, and reprefentation of the story. A WHOLE-The idea of one object a picture must give in a comprehenfive view. |