ENGRAVING IN ENGLAND—INTRODUCTION OF METAL ENGRAVING—NOTABLE BRITISH ENGRAVERS—SUMMARY

"When applied to objects of their proper destination, the arts are capable of extending our intellect, of supplying new ideas, and of presenting to us a view of times and places, whatever their interval or difference."—Dallaway.

Engraving as a decorative art was well advanced in this country during the reign of Alfred the Great, when the Anglo-Saxon metal-workers were known to be skilful engravers. The art was still further developed under the Norman rule, and during the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries.

Wood engravings were printed by William Caxton in 1481, but there is no proof that they were the work of English engravers.

Introduction of Metal Engraving.—The exact date of the introduction into England of metal engraving as a reproductive art is doubtful. There is a record of a book published in this country in 1545, which was illustrated with copper engravings, cut by Thomas Gemeni. It was a work on anatomy by Vesalius, and was at first printed in Latin. In the preface to a translation of this work the following quaint note appears: "Accepte, jentill reader, this Tractise of Anatomie, thankfully interpreting the labours of Thomas Gemeni the workman. He that with his great charge, watch and travayle, hath set out the figures in pourtrature will most willingly be amended, or better perfected of his own workmanship if admonished."

It was probably not until Queen Elizabeth's reign was well advanced that metal engraving obtained any substantial recognition as a fine art which might be practised with some hope of commercial success.

Archbishop Parker, a powerful prelate of this time, extended his patronage to the art, and for a time, at least, kept a private staff of engravers. A portrait of this archbishop was executed by Remigus Hogenberg, and is the first record of an engraved portrait produced and printed in England.

For about a century the work of English engravers was uninteresting, and almost devoid of artistic feeling. Their pictures possessed but little merit, either as works of art or as pictorial records of that eminently progressive period.

During the seventeenth century engraving became intimately associated with literature, and then, as now, the combination was a felicitous one. Another fortunate circumstance was the settling of the Passe family in this country. They came from Utrecht, and were engravers of considerable skill and repute. The elder Passe was a friend and admirer of the famous painter Reubens, whose style he, to some extent, copied.

John Payne—the first English artist to distinguish himself with the graver—was a pupil of Passe. Payne was an undoubted genius, and, but for his indolence and dissipated habits, might have accomplished a great work.

His most noteworthy engraving was a picture of "The Royal Sovereign," made on two plates, which, when joined together, measured 36 in. × 26 in.

Vertue succeeded Payne. His engravings were chiefly of historical value; as works of art they displayed no unusual merit. Many were portraits of personages of high degree, in which Vertue evidently copied the style of Houbraken, a Dutch artist, who some time previously engraved a similar series of portraits, the commission being given to him because "no English engraver was capable of executing it."

Vertue's writings on English Art were profuse and thoughtful. They were afterwards collected and published by Horace Walpole.

Hogarth, "The inimitable Hogarth,"

"Whose pictured morals charm the eye,
And through the eye correct the heart,"
was a brilliant exponent of the expressive power of the engraver's art. Possessing a profound knowledge of human nature, and a keen sense of all that is humanely interesting, he expressed in his pictures a wonderful creative fancy, and a well directed humour. He almost invariably represented character rather than scenes, and while displaying immense fertility of design, he retained sufficient realism in the composition of his pictures to render them valuable as records of the manners and customs of his times. They, moreover, describe their incidents in the most direct and piquant fashion. His somewhat defective drawing was redeemed by a wealth of suggestion and an endless variety of grotesque conceptions. He possessed the happy art of seizing a fleeting impression from which he would evolve a caricature full of peculiar and quaint humour. Hogarth's place in the art annals of this country is undoubtedly assured, for it has been said that he represented his characters with more force than most men could see them. His career may be dated from 1724, when he produced the illustrations for Hudibras and La Mortray's Travels.

There is a most extraordinary story related in connection with Hogarth's last engraving. While spending a merry evening with some friends he was heard to say: "My next undertaking will be the end of all things." "If that is so," remarked one of his companions, "there will soon be an end of the artist." "Yes, there will be," Hogarth replied, "and the sooner my task is finished the better." The engraving was executed under the impulse of an intense excitement. "Finis," he exclaimed, as he finished that most remarkable design, "All is now over," and, strange to relate, this was actually his last work, for he died about a month later.

Robert Strange, who was contemporary with Hogarth, was a native of the Orkney Islands. He was an art student in Edinburgh when Prince Charlie landed, and his Jacobite sympathies led him to throw aside his work and join the young chevalier. When the remnant of the army of 1745 was flying before Duke William after the battle of Culloden, Strange, closely pursued by a number of soldiers, sought shelter in the house of the Lumsdales. Miss Lumsdale was sitting with her work by one of the windows, and at once offered to conceal the young soldier underneath the folds of her skirt. Ladies' skirts of the crinoline period were of such proportions as to render the concealment easy, and Miss Lumsdale, to lull the suspicions of the pursuing soldiers, continued her sewing, and affected considerable surprise and indignation at their intrusion. They shamefacedly withdrew upon finding the lady alone, and Strange afterwards made good his escape to France. Gratitude to his deliverer, intensified by the romantic situation which saved his life, quickly ripened into love, and, it is needless to add, a good old-fashioned love match.

Strange settled in London about 1750, when, by his zeal and skilful work, he added much to the fame of historical engraving in this country. He engraved over eighty plates during his lifetime, and displayed a literary talent of no mean order. He was not a brilliant draughtsman, but the tone and texture of his engravings are almost perfect.

He was knighted in 1781.

There is yet one other engraver of this period whose career merits a share of attention and interest.

James Gilray was born in 1757, and, like Hogarth, commenced at the bottom rung of the ladder as a letter engraver. He also became a notable caricaturist, and some idea of his skill in this branch of pictorial art may be gleaned from the fact that over 1200 designs were the product of his inventive fancy. Though not by any means indolent, his habits were dissipated, and unfortunately for him he, for many years, resided with his publisher, who gratified his passions so long as his art was sufficiently productive. Gilray's designs were not all caricatures. A number of illustrations for Goldsmith's Deserted Village were designed and engraved by him. He also engraved a few of Northcote's pictures. His style was free and spirited, and he was one of the first English engravers to prove the merits of stipple engraving.

The stipple manner of engraving was a curious development of the art. It appeared as though line engraving could not keep pace with the ever-growing demand for pictures, and was therefore combined with stipple to facilitate production. In capable hands very fine results were obtained with this combination.

English engraving was still in its infancy, however, and continental productions were favoured by the art patrons of this country, until a stimulus was given to native art by the painters Reynolds, Wilson, and West. Profiting by this renewed interest, Woollet entered upon a career of unqualified success, and eventually succeeded in obtaining full recognition for the merits of English engraving.

As a boy Woollet showed his artistic proclivities in a strange manner. His father, it is stated, won a £5000 prize in a lottery, and bought an inn, glorying in the name of "The Turk's Head," a title which the embryonic artist endeavoured to express pictorially on a pewter pot. The father, struck by some quality in the drawing, apprenticed young Woollet to an obscure London engraver. From an artistic point of view this apprenticeship was of little value. Woollet was a born artist, and although his early training may have intensified the natural bent of his genius, it did little to cultivate it. He possessed versatile talents. His historical pictures were, in every respect, equal to his landscapes, and these will long remain as lasting and convincing monuments of his skill. The boldness of contrast and accuracy of execution displayed by Woollet in his landscape engravings far surpassed all previous efforts to express pictorial effects with the graver.

Raimbach was a miniature painter of some note, who, like many other artists, turned from creative to reproductive art, and became a successful engraver. In 1812 he became associated with David Wilkie, and it is generally supposed that he was retained by that artist for the reproduction of his pictures. Raimbach's translations of Wilkie's works were in every sense artistic productions and faithful representations. He was said to be so careful and conscientious in his work that he employed no assistants, but this was not entirely true. Careful and conscientious he undoubtedly was, but he frequently employed assistants to engrave the less important parts of his commissions. Raimbach was born in 1776, and died 1843.

F. C. Lewis was a progressive engraver contemporary with Raimbach. His most notable productions were after Landseer and Lawrence. He was appointed engraver first to George IV., then William IV., and afterwards to Queen Victoria.

Samuel Cousins was another most influential engraver. A brief sketch of his artistic career is given in another chapter.

C. G. Lewis was both a line and mezzotint engraver. He was probably Landseer's favourite engraver, and his name is best known in association with that artist's pictures. Born 1808; died 1880.

When John Pye engraved his first Turner picture, "Pope's Villa," in 1811, that famous artist expressed his unqualified approval when he said, "If I had known there was anyone in this country who could have done that, I would have had it done before," and on more than one occasion he mentioned Pye's engravings as "the most satisfactory translations of my colour into black and white." An adequate interpretation of Turner's pictures requires a masterly appreciation of the gradations and balance of tone which suggest both colour and space; and to merit such expressions of satisfaction from the great artist himself was proof of John Pye's artistic power and skill.

He began his career as an engraver about the year 1800 after a short apprenticeship with James Heath, a clever and practical man, who was quick to perceive the ability of his apprentice.

John Pye was a recognised authority on the pictorial effect of colour, and it was said that during his long and eminently useful life "no engraver did more than he to spread a knowledge of the sound principles of landscape art." He was frequently consulted by his fellow artists, and without even a suggestion of professional jealousy, he was ever ready with his advice and, if need be, practical help. The following copy of a letter—now in the Swansea Art Gallery—gives some idea of the esteem in which his opinion was held by contemporary artists:—

Monday.

To J. Pye, Esq.

Thursday night, at half-past five, if you please. I hope that day will be convenient to you. I should like, if possible, to see you here by daylight, as your opinion is always valuable to me, and I have some few things to show you.—Your faithful servant,

Ed. Landseer.

Pye was long known in art circles as the "Father of landscape engraving," and he certainly succeeded, as no other engraver has done, in his translation of colour values and suggestion of aËrial perspectives. Turner's paintings were his favourite subjects, and his interpretations of them are brilliant in expression, and charged with the very essence of artistic feeling.

His life and work indicated a progress as distinct as it was far reaching.

It has been through the efforts of these men and others who, though less influential, were not less skilful perhaps, or less earnest, that English engraving, in its daring innovations and substantial improvements, has far outstripped that of other countries. By them its reputation has been built up and enhanced, so that "its influence is conspicuously visible in the principles and history of Art."