BY
CHARLES SUMNER.
Fifth Edition.
FREDERICK KEPPEL & CO.
NEW YORK,
20 EAST 16th STREET.
LONDON, PARIS,
3 DUKE STREET, ADELPHI. 27 QUAI DE L'HORLOGE.
Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1875, by
FREDERICK KEPPEL,
In the Office of the Librarian of Congress at Washington.
Engraving is one of the fine arts, and in thisbeautiful family has been the especial handmaidenof painting. Another sister is now coming forward tojoin this service, lending to it the charm of color. If, inour day, the "chromo" can do more than engraving, itcannot impair the value of the early masters. With themthere is no rivalry or competition. Historically, as wellas æsthetically, they will be masters always.
Everybody knows something of engraving, as of printing,with which it was associated in origin. School-books,illustrated papers, and shop windows are the ordinary opportunitiesopen to all. But while creating a transientinterest, or, perhaps, quickening the taste, they furnishlittle with regard to the art itself, especially in other days.And yet, looking at an engraving, like looking at a book,may be the beginning of a new pleasure and a new study.
Each person has his own story. Mine is simple. Sufferingfrom continued prostration, disabling me from theordinary activities of life, I turned to engravings for employmentand pastime. With the invaluable assistanceof that devoted connoisseur, the late Dr. Thies, I wentthrough the Gray collection at Cambridge, enjoying it like[4]a picture-gallery. Other collections in our country wereexamined also. Then, in Paris, while undergoing severemedical treatment, my daily medicine for weeks was thevast cabinet of engravings, then called Imperial, now National,counted by the million, where was everything toplease or instruct. Thinking of those kindly portfolios, Imake this record of gratitude, as to benefactors. Perhapssome other invalid, seeking occupation without burden,may find in them the solace that I did. Happily, itis not necessary to visit Paris for the purpose. Other collections,on a smaller scale, will furnish the same remedy.
In any considerable collection, portraits occupy an importantplace. Their multitude may be inferred when Imention that, in one series of portfolios, in the Paris cabinet,I counted no less than forty-seven portraits of Franklinand forty-three of Lafayette, with an equal number ofWashington, while all the early Presidents were numerouslyrepresented. But, in this large company, there arevery few possessing artistic value. The great portraits ofmodern times constitute a very short list, like the greatpoems or histories, and it is the same with engravings aswith pictures. Sir Joshua Reynolds, explaining the differencebetween an historical painter and a portrait-painter,remarks that the former "paints men in general, a portrait-paintera particular man, and consequently a defectivemodel."[ BU KİTABI OKUMAK İÇİN ÜYE OLUN VEYA GİRİŞ YAPIN!
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