A very widespread interest arose in consequence of the article published in the Journal of the Society of Arts; correspondents in all parts of the United Kingdom wrote asking questions, and several came from far-distant parts to take a lesson. In the neighbourhood of London, heads of technical colleges took up the question in a practical form, and at several teaching is now imparted to such pupils as exhibit an aptitude for drawing and modelling. The results already achieved are highly satisfactory, and the work done by pupils has been publicly exhibited on several occasions. A few practical lessons are, of course, of greater value than learning by correspondence or from a book; yet, notwithstanding the difficulty of beginning to cut without a teacher, many are now producing admirable work, though they have had no other instruction than that contained in the Journal of the Society of Arts.

At first, and for a long time after my paper was read at the Society of Arts, I was placed in a great difficulty by correspondents writing for tools, for shells, and for a teacher. Special tools are now manufactured by Mr. Buck, and a teacher was at length strongly recommended by Mr. John Ford, himself an accomplished Cameo engraver, of the firm of Ford & Wright, diamond polishers, Clerkenwell Green. The gentleman in question was Signor Giovanni,3 now of London, who obtained great celebrity in Naples and Rome as an engraver of Cameos, and who, while still at the head of his profession, has laboured to restore the almost lost art of engraving on glass. After the work of six years, he completed the ornamentation of a drinking-cup of pure flint crystal, the subject being the training of young Bacchus. For his triumph in this department of art King Humbert I. bestowed upon him the dignity of a Cavaliere of the Crown of Italy. His designs are full of grace and originality; and the future Cameo engravers of England will be greatly indebted to him for the skill with which he has facilitated their acquiring the art. In the course of interviews with Signor Giovanni, I represented to him how very difficult it was for any to perfect themselves in the work without models, and at my entreaty he was good enough to model, mould, and cast a series of examples in plaster of Paris, with the aid of which, though the teacher may not be near, the chief difficulties a learner has to encounter may be easily overcome. These models embrace the anatomical head and neck, the eye, nose and mouth, and chin; fancy heads, portraits, Cupids, classic heads, plants, flowers, fish, and animals. There are twenty-four in the whole series, and they can be had in sets of six, the dozen, or the whole.

Signor Giovanni’s method of teaching is first of all to get his pupils to carve an ornament upon a piece of Lava. Selected pieces may be purchased at 4d. per lb., and they make an admirable medium for learning to carve. Then afterwards a piece of shell is taken and the figure is cut in Cameo.

The only English workman who is at present engaged in the work of Cameo engraving is Mr. William King, who learned the art in his apprenticeship to Messrs. Francati & Santamaria. He is spoken of by the members of that firm as being equal to any Roman workman.