Chapter III: Part I: Vol. 35 (second period). pp. 311-321. Part II. Vol. 36 (second (2)

_Christ and the Woman of Samaria_ is treated in a more open manner than either of the two preceding engravings. The beautiful landscape, as also the hill to the left, is entirely in line, while the flick work upon the figures and garments and, even more noticeably, in the foreground to the right, is of a more open character than that which appears in the _Young Shepherd_. It may belong to the latter part of Campagnola’s career as an engraver. There is an amplitude in the design of the seated woman which suggests Giorgione and Palma, though one cannot definitely name any painting by either of these masters from which Campagnola has borrowed his figure.

The last of Campagnola’s plates, left unfinished at his death and completed by DOMENICO CAMPAGNOLA, is _Shepherds in a Landscape_ or, as it is sometimes called, the _Musical Shepherds_. The original drawing, in reverse, for the right-hand half of this print is in the Louvre. It is unquestionably by Giulio Campagnola; but, equally without question, the left-hand portion of the engraving itself is by Domenico. Whether Domenico was a close relative or merely a pupil of Giulio’s has not been determined; but the _Shepherds in a Landscape_ conclusively proves that he was at least the artistic heir of the older master. Domenico’s style is in marked contrast to that of Giulio. Flick work is almost absent from his engravings, which are executed in rather open lines, more in the mode of an etcher than of an engraver working according to established tradition. The skies, in particular, have a romantic quality which is all their own, and which can be seen to advantage in the _Shepherd and the Old Warrior_, dated 1517.

MARCANTONIO RAIMONDI, born in Bologna about 1480, for over three centuries enjoyed a reputation eclipsing that of any other Italian master. Of recent years, however, upon insufficient grounds, he has been somewhat pushed aside and belittled as a “reproductive engraver,” his critics wilfully forgetting the fact that, with the exception of Pollaiuolo and Mantegna, the Italian School is, in the main, derivative, and cannot boast of any original engravers of world-wide fame, such as Schongauer or Dürer. But Marcantonio was far from being a mere translator of alien works. “He is like some great composer who borrows another’s theme only to make it his own by the originality of his setting.”[11]

[11] Marcantonio Raimondi. By Arthur M. Hind. The Print-Collector’s Quarterly, Vol. 3, No. 3. p. 276.

The earliest influence which we may trace in Marcantonio’s work is that of the famous goldsmith and painter, Francesco Francia, with whom Marcantonio served his apprenticeship. Certain nielli, among them _Pyramus and Thisbe_ and _Arion on the Dolphin_, have been assigned to the young Marcantonio and attributed to this period of his life.

_St. George and the Dragon_ is strongly reminiscent of the niello technique, with its dark shadows, against which the figures stand out in relief. The landscape is clearly borrowed or adapted from engravings in Dürer’s earlier period, the trees at the left, in particular, recalling the _Hercules_.

To this early period likewise belongs _Pyramus and Thisbe_, which bears the earliest date--1505--which we find upon any of his engravings. It may well have been executed during his residence in Venice, between 1505 and 1509.

The _Bathers_, of 1510, is an artistic record of Marcantonio’s visit to Florence, on his way to Rome. The figures are taken from Michelangelo’s cartoon of the _Battle of Pisa_; but the landscape, including the thatched barn to the right, is a faithful copy, in reverse, of Lucas van Leyden’s plate of _Mahomet and the Monk Sergius_; for Marcantonio, like all great artists, freely borrowed his material wherever he found it, shaping it to his own ends.

According to Vasari, it was the _Death of Lucretia_, engraved shortly after Marcantonio’s arrival in Rome, about 1510, after a drawing by Raphael, which attracted the attention of that master and showed him how much he might benefit by the reproduction of his work. One would be inclined to think that the _Death of Dido_ rather than the _Death of Lucretia_ might have been the means of bringing about this artistic collaboration; for, if Vasari is correct, the immediate result of Raphael’s personal influence upon Marcantonio was harmful rather than helpful, the _Lucretia_ by general consent being the finer plate of the two.

It is significant that none of Marcantonio’s engravings interprets any existing painting by Raphael. We may infer that the engraver worked entirely after drawings supplied to him by Raphael--either drawings made for the purpose of being interpreted in terms of engraving, or the original studies for paintings, which, in their elaboration, were subjected to many modifications and changes.

Among his most interesting engravings are _Saint Cecilia_, which may be compared, or rather contrasted, with the famous painting in Bologna; the _Virgin and Child in the Clouds_, which later appears as the _Madonna di Foligno_; and _Poetry_, based on a study by Raphael for the fresco in the Camera della Segnatura, in the Vatican.

The _Massacre of the Innocents_, usually accounted the engraver’s masterpiece, is one of several subjects of which two plates exist. Authorities disagree as to which is the “original,” but some familiarity with both versions leads one to think that Marcantonio may well have been his own interpreter. At least one cannot name certainly any other engraver capable of producing either of the two versions of the _Massacre of the Innocents_, in point of drawing or of technique.

Among Marcantonio’s portrait plates one of the most attractive is that of _Philotheo Achillini_ (“The Guitar Player”), which is in his early manner and probably dates from his Bolognese period. It may be based upon a drawing by Francia, but the trees and distant landscape all show markedly the influence of Dürer.

To a much later period, and engraved in Marcantonio’s most mature manner, belongs the portrait of _Pietro Aretino_. Vasari refers to this plate as “engraved from life,” but its richness and color would seem to point to an original by Titian or Sebastiano del Piombo.

After the death of Raphael, in 1520, Marcantonio’s engraving undergoes a change--a change for the worse, as might be expected, since a number of his plates are interpretations of designs by Giulio Romano. There is less care in the drawing, less delicacy in the management of the burin, and, although we may pity him for the loss of all that he possessed at the sack of Rome, in 1527, we cannot greatly regret that, as an engraver, Marcantonio’s active life terminates with that date.

ITALIAN ENGRAVING: MANTEGNA TO MARCANTONIO RAIMONDI

BIBLIOGRAPHY

MANTEGNA, ANDREA (1431-1506)

DÜRER AND MANTEGNA. _By Sidney Colvin._ 5 illustrations. The Portfolio, Vol. 8, pp. 54-63. London. 1877.

ANDREA MANTEGNA AND THE ITALIAN PRE-RAPHAELITE ENGRAVERS. _Edited by Arthur Mayger Hind._ 75 reproductions. London and New York: Frederick A. Stokes Company, n. d. (Great Engravers.)

ANDREA MANTEGNA. _By Paul Kristeller._ 26 plates and 162 text illustrations. London: Longmans, Green & Co. 1901. Chapter XI, Mantegna as Engraver.

MANTEGNA. _By H. Thode._ 105 illustrations. Bielefeld and Leipzig: Velhagen & Klasing. 1897. (Künstler Monographien. 27.)

BARBARI, JACOPO DE’ (c. 1440-c. 1515)

ENGRAVINGS AND WOODCUTS BY JACOPO DE’ BARBARI. _Edited by Paul Kristeller._ 33 reproductions and 2 text illustrations. London. 1896. (International Chalcographical Society, 1896.)

LORENZO LOTTO. _By Bernhard Berenson._ 30 plates. New York: Putnam’s Sons. 1895. pp. 34-50.

CAMPAGNOLA, GIULIO (c. 1482-c. 1514)

GIULIO CAMPAGNOLA; KUPFERSTICHE UND ZEICHNUNGEN. _Edited by Paul Kristeller._ 27 reproductions. Berlin: Bruno Cassirer. 1907. (Graphische Gesellschaft. Publication 5.)

MARCANTONIO RAIMONDI (c. 1480-c. 1530)

MARC-ANTOINE RAIMONDI; ÉTUDE HISTORIQUE ET CRITIQUE SUIVIE D’UN CATALOGUE RAISONNÉ DES OEUVRES DU MAITRE. _By Henri Delaborde._ 63 illustrations. Paris: Librairie de l’art. 1888.

MARCANTONIO RAIMONDI. _By Arthur Mayger Hind._ 22 illustrations. The Print-Collector’s Quarterly, Vol. 3, No. 3, pp. 243-276. Boston. 1913.

MARCANTONIO AND ITALIAN ENGRAVERS AND ETCHERS OF THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY. _Edited by Arthur Mayger Hind._ 65 reproductions. London and New York: Frederick A. Stokes Company. n. d. (Great Engravers.)

SOME MASTERS OF PORTRAITURE

You will all remember how John Evelyn, writing to Samuel Pepys, advised him to collect engraved portraits--since, in his own words, “Some are so well done to the life, that they may stand comparison with the best paintings.” He then adds: “This were a cheaper, and so much a more useful, curiosity, as they seldom are without their names, ages and eulogies of the persons whose portraits they represent. I say you will be exceedingly pleased to contemplate the effigies of those who have made such a noise and bustle in the world; either by their madness and folly; or a more conspicuous figure, by their wit and learning. They will greatly refresh you in your study and by your fireside, when you are many years returned.” We know by his “Diary” that Pepys became an enthusiastic collector and that he went over to Paris to buy many of Robert Nanteuil’s engraved portraits--at a later date commissioning his wife to secure for him many more, which he strongly desired.

From the time of Evelyn and Pepys in England, and that prince of print-collectors in France, the Abbé de Marolles--who in 1666 could boast of possessing over 123,000 prints, “and all the portraits extant”--portraits have had, for the student, a peculiar fascination, and it may be interesting to consider briefly the work of some six or eight of the acknowledged masters of the art.

Aside from two unimportant plates by the Master of the Amsterdam Cabinet, which may, or may not, be portraits, the earliest engraver to address himself to portraiture, pure and simple, is the anonymous German master with the monogram =W caduceus B=. So far as we know, he executed four plates only (c. 1480-1485). In them the characterization is strong, the drawing clear and vigorous. The artist’s technique may have owed something to Martin Schongauer, but it is singularly lacking in the refinement and balance which mark the work of that engraver.

DANIEL HOPFER, who, in 1493, was already working in Augsburg, has left us an etching, which certainly cannot be later than 1504, and may have been executed five, or even ten, years earlier. It is a portrait of _Kunz von der Rosen_, the Jester-Adviser of the Emperor Maximilian I. The etching is upon iron, and the quality of the line is well adapted to the rugged character of the personage. This plate was copied, in reverse, with some modifications, by an anonymous North Italian engraver and reappears as _Gonsalvo of Cordova_, who was in Italy, in command of the army of Ferdinand V of Castile, between 1494 and 1504, when Ferdinand’s jealousy caused him to be superseded in the Vice Royalty of Naples.

The earliest in date of DÜRER’S engraved portraits is likewise the best. _Albert of Brandenburg_ was twenty-nine years of age, in 1519, when Dürer engraved this plate. There is a concentration upon the purely portrait element lacking in some of the later prints. The burin work is singularly delicate and beautiful. Indeed, nothing better, from a technical standpoint, has ever been done on copper than Dürer’s six portrait plates; and if he at times succumbs to the temptation of rendering each minor detail with the same loving care which he bestows upon the face itself, he remains, notwithstanding, one of the greatest masters of the burin the world has seen.

Dürer engraved a second plate of _Albert of Brandenburg_, in 1523. The intervening four years had left their mark upon the Cardinal, and neither as a portrait nor as an engraving is it as pleasing as the earlier one. In the following year, 1524, there are two portraits--_Frederic the Wise, Elector of Saxony_ and _Wilibald Pirkheimer_. The former was one of the earliest patrons of Dürer and likewise one of the most liberal-minded princes of his time. The plate is executed in Dürer’s painstaking and careful manner, nor does it lack, as a portrait, the directness and immediacy of appeal of the silver-point drawing, which may have served as its original. Wilibald Pirkheimer, the celebrated patrician and humanist, was Dürer’s life-long and most intimate friend, and it is to him that Dürer’s letters from Venice were addressed.

_Philip Melanchthon_ is the simplest in treatment and the most satisfying, in its elimination of unnecessary detail, of Dürer’s portrait engravings, and is the best likeness of the mild reformer. The inscription reads: “Dürer could depict the features of the living Philip, but the skilled hand could not depict his mind.” Here Dürer does himself less than justice, for it is the portrait-like character which makes this engraving still noteworthy after the lapse of four centuries.

To the same year, 1526, belongs _Erasmus of Rotterdam_. It is a technical masterpiece. Dürer has lavished all his skill upon this plate. It is magnificent; but from a purely portrait standpoint, it is a magnificent failure.

For a full hundred years we have no portraits of note; then there enters upon the scene one of the great princes of the art--VAN DYCK--whose etched portraits vie with those of Rembrandt in vitality, and surpass them in immediacy of appeal. Van Dyck had not that deep humanity, that profound reading of human character, which raises Rembrandt above all rivals; but upon the purely technical side, working within the truest traditions of etching, with due regard to its possibilities and its limitations, Van Dyck may claim precedence. His fifteen original portrait etchings (together with _Erasmus of Rotterdam_, after Holbein) undoubtedly belong to the period between his return from Italy to Antwerp, in 1626, and his settlement in London, in 1632. From the very first, Van Dyck seems to have been in possession of all his powers. His etchings show various modes of treatment, according to the character of the sitter, and it would be difficult to speak of the _development_ of his art, since, by the grace of God, he seems to have been a born etcher.

Van Dyck’s _Portrait of Himself_ naturally interests us most, on account of its subject. So far as Van Dyck has seen fit to carry it, it is a perfect work of art, not the least remarkable feature being the splendid placing of the head upon the plate. Unfortunately, the first state is of such excessive rarity that the majority of print students can know this superb portrait only through reproductions (in which much of its delicacy is necessarily lost) or, in the later state, where the plate is finished with the graver by Jacob Neefs--a distressing piece of work, strangely enough, countenanced by Van Dyck himself; since in the British Museum there is a touched counter-proof of the first state, which proves that Van Dyck directed the elaboration of the plate, no doubt with the intention of using it as a title page to the _Iconography_, a series of a hundred engraved portraits of his friends and contemporaries.

Of even subtler beauty is _Snyders_, unfortunately--like the portrait of Van Dyck himself--of the greatest rarity and also, like that plate, finished with the graver by Jacob Neefs. It is perfectly satisfying from every point of view, combining, as it does, the greatest freedom with absolute certainty of hand. The treatment of the face shows a thorough knowledge of all the technical resources of the art, the high lights having been “stopped out” exactly where needed, the etched dots and lines melting into a perfect harmony.

In marked contrast to the delicacy of _Snyders_ is the bolder and more rugged treatment of _Jan Snellinx_. Fortunately, the plate has remained, until our own day, in essentially the same condition as when it left Van Dyck’s hands, and we can better realize what an artistic treasure-house the _Iconography_ might have been, had the public possessed the intelligence to appreciate, at their true worth, these fine flowerings of Van Dyck’s genius, instead of demanding, as they did, that a plate be absolutely “finished” to the four corners by the professional engraver.

_Lucas Vorsterman_ is, in some ways, the most purely pictorial of Van Dyck’s portrait etchings. Even the taste of the time demanded no further elaboration than an engraved background, which, judiciously added, left undisturbed Van Dyck’s original work.

It would be interesting to know whether REMBRANDT was acquainted with the etched work of Van Dyck. If so, it is all the more astounding that his work should betray no trace of any outside influence.

Rembrandt’s earliest dated etching is also, seemingly, his first etching--a _Portrait of His Mother_, of the year 1628--an unsurpassed little masterpiece. In its own mode of simple, direct, open, linear treatment, there is nothing finer, even in the work of Rembrandt himself. _Saskia with Pearls in Her Hair_, of 1634, as also the _Young Man in a Velvet Cap with Books Beside Him_, which belongs to the year 1637, are in Rembrandt’s best manner, but the crowning triumph of this period is unquestionably _Rembrandt Leaning on a Stone Sill_, bearing the date 1639 and showing Rembrandt at the happiest period of his life--successful, prosperous, and perfect master of his medium.

The portrait of an _Old Man in a Divided Fur_ _Cap_, of the following year, is likewise admirable--not a line too much and every line full of significance. _Jan Cornelis Sylvius_, of 1646, shows in a marked degree Rembrandt’s sympathy with, and appreciation of the beauty of old age. The face is treated in a delicate and sensitive manner, and, with the fewest possible strokes, Rembrandt has indicated the texture and growth of the sparse beard of his aged sitter. Sulphur-tint has been used to give additional modelling to the face, while the background and costume are finished in a way which would have won the admiration of Dürer himself. _Ephraim Bonus_, _Jan Asselyn_, and _Jan Six_ are Rembrandt’s three portrait etchings for the year 1647. _Jan Six_ is Rembrandt’s masterpiece, so far as elaborate finish is concerned. He has availed himself of all the resources of etching, dry-point, and of the burin--used freely as an etcher may use it--to carry forward this plate. The center of the room is bathed in subdued light, which melts into rich and mysterious shadows in the corners.

_Rembrandt Drawing at a Window_ is one of the most characterful of his portraits. It shows him at the age of forty-two. Years of sorrow have left their mark upon his countenance, but what a strong, resolute face it is! _Clement de Jonghe_ (which should be seen in the first state before the expression of the face was entirely changed) is executed in Rembrandt’s open, linear manner, without strong contrasts of light and dark. For beauty of drawing and subtlety of observation, it is one of his finest plates. _Old Haaring_, of 1655, is a magnificent dry-point, in which Rembrandt has built up, with many lines, a completely harmonious picture; but for grip of character and straightforward presentation of the personality of his sitter, it must yield precedence to the unsurpassed _Jan Lutma_, of the following year. This portrait, in the first state, before the introduction of the window in the background, is one of Rembrandt’s most mature works, in that the method is perfectly adapted to the result desired.

In France there is little of significance in portrait engraving during the sixteenth century. THOMAS DE LEU and LÉONARD GAULTIER based their style upon the miniature portrait engravers of the Northern School, such as the WIERIX. Although their graver work is often quite beautiful, it lacks originality, and when, as frequently happened, they endeavored to interpret the wonderful drawings of the Clouets or Dumonstier, they signally failed in capturing the charm of their originals.

CLAUDE MELLAN, who was born at Abbeville in 1598, is, in a sense, the fountain-head of French portrait engraving. His work is characteristically French, in that it is the result of a system carefully worked out to its logical conclusion. In his desire to keep strictly within the limits of what he considered to be the proper province of engraving, he carried his insistence upon line to a point which borders on mannerism and which, for over two centuries, has militated against his full recognition.

Mellan’s earliest engravings recall the work of Léonard Gaultier, but his first teacher is not known. Dissatisfied with his instruction in Paris, in 1624 he went to Rome where, while studying engraving under Villamena, he came under the influence of the French painter, Simon Vouet, who not only provided his protégé with drawings to engrave, but persuaded him to base all his training upon a thorough ground-work of drawing. It is this severe training as a draughtsman which lies at the foundation of Mellan’s style. His original drawings were executed in pencil, silver-point, or chalk, and in his engravings he preserves all the delicate and elusive charm of his originals.

His manner of engraving is peculiar to himself. The inventor of a mode, he so uses it as to exhaust its possibilities and leaves nothing for his successors to do along similar lines. Consequently, although his influence on French portrait engraving was great and far-reaching, he cannot, in any true sense, be considered as the founder of a “school.” Even in his early portrait plates (incidentally, among the most charming and perfect), such as _Virginia de Vezzo_, the wife of Simon Vouet, engraved in Rome in 1626, we find his style fully developed. Save for four little spots of deepest shadow, the entire portrait is executed in single, uncrossed lines, indicating, by their direction, the contour of the face, which is delicately modelled, while the flow of the hair is realistically and beautifully expressed. From this simple, linear method, adopted thus early, Mellan, with few unimportant exceptions, never departed; and although he lived and worked until 1688, surviving Morin by twenty-two years and Robert Nanteuil by ten, he held to his own self-appointed course, his work showing no trace whatever of the influence of his two most distinguished contemporaries.

Among his many portraits choice is difficult, but, by general consent, his style is seen at its very best in _Fabri de Peiresc_, which excels in point of drawing, grip of character, and straightforwardness of presentation. It is dated 1637 and was engraved on his way from Rome to Paris, in which city he settled, enjoying for many years a reputation and success second to none. Of his other portraits mention must be made of _Henriette-Marie de Buade Frontenac_, of a delightful silvery quality, and of her husband, _Henri-Louis Habert de Montmor_, the richest toned of all his works. _Nicolas Fouquet_ likewise is of peculiar interest, inasmuch as in this plate Mellan has departed for once from his invariable method of pure line work and has modelled the face with an elaborate system of dots, in the manner of Morin.

JEAN MORIN was Mellan’s junior by two years. His style is in the greatest contrast to that of the older master, not only technically, but in that he was always a _reproductive_ engraver, never designing his own portraits, the majority of his plates being after the paintings of Philippe de Champaigne. His plates are executed almost entirely in pure etching, with just sufficient burin work to give crispness and decision. The heads are elaborately modelled, with many minute dots, recalling somewhat Van Dyck’s manner in such a portrait as _Snyders_.

_Antoine Vitré_, the famous printer, shows Morin’s method at its richest; its brilliancy and color place it in the forefront of French portraits, though for charm it may not rank with _Anne of Austria_ or _Cardinal Richelieu_, both after paintings by Philippe de Champaigne.

_Cardinal Guido Bentivoglio_, after Van Dyck, well deserves the reputation which it has so long enjoyed. It is, furthermore, significant as an example of Morin’s power of concentrating all the attention upon the countenance of his sitter. He was primarily a _portrait_ engraver and never allowed himself to be seduced, as were such eighteenth century masters as the Drevets, into lavishing his skill upon the purely ornamental accessories, to the detriment of the portrait itself. Fine though Van Dyck’s full-length painting is, Morin is more than justified in taking from it the head and bust only, since thereby he gives to his plate a vivid and compelling quality which otherwise would be lacking.

ROBERT NANTEUIL is not only the greatest of French portrait engravers; he is one of the greatest portraitists in the history of French art. In his work the clarity and logic of the French temperament is enriched by a study of the engravers of the Flemish and Dutch schools, though in Nanteuil’s plates color is never sought at the expense of balance. His technique is a fusion of the best elements of Mellan and of Morin. From Mellan he derived his carefully balanced system of open line work, while Morin doubtless suggested to him the use of graver flicks in modelling the face.

The date of Nanteuil’s birth is variously given as 1623, 1625, and 1630, the last-named date, which is accepted by Robert-Dumesnil, corresponding best with what we know regarding the development of his work.

His first portrait plates were done in 1648, the year in which he came to Paris, and from that time onwards he devoted himself almost exclusively to portraiture, until his death in 1678. His engravings form a gallery illustrating the reign of Louis XIV, from the King himself, whom he engraved no fewer than eleven times, to the Norman peasant and poet, Loret (incidentally, one of Nanteuil’s finest portrait plates), whose “Gazette” satirized each day “the intriguing nobles who were not afraid of bullets, but who were in deadly fear of winter mud.”

An interesting story is told of Nanteuil’s début in Paris. It is said that he received his first order by following some divinity students to a wine-shop, where they were wont to take their meals. There, having chosen one of the portrait drawings he had brought from Rheims, he pretended to look for a sitter whose name and address he had forgotten. It is superfluous to add that the picture was not recognized, but it was passed from hand to hand, the price was asked, the artist was modest in his demands, and before the end of the repast his career had begun.

One of the most interesting portraits, in his early manner, is that of _Cardinal de Retz_, engraved in 1650. Morin has likewise left us a portrait of this personage, and it is instructive to compare the two engravings. In Nanteuil’s the background is still somewhat stiff, but the costume is treated simply and directly, while the face shows a judicious blending of line and dot work.

Nothing could be finer and more reticent than _Marie de Bragelogne_ of 1656. The pale, elderly, and somewhat sad face of this old love of Cardinal Richelieu is treated with the greatest sympathy. For the most part, it is modelled with delicate flick work, and where lines are employed, they are so used as to blend perfectly into a harmonious whole. In contrast to the face, the collar is rendered in long, flowing lines, without cross-hatching, entirely in the manner of Claude Mellan. It is from Nanteuil’s own drawing from life and is perhaps the most beautiful of the eight engraved portraits of women we have from his hand.

_Pompone de Bellièvre_, of 1657, after Le Brun’s painting, has enjoyed among collectors the reputation of being the most beautiful of all engraved portraits. Fine it undoubtedly is; but it lacks that grip of character which is so conspicuously present in Nanteuil’s engravings from life, and for compelling portrait quality it falls short of _Pierre Seguier_, engraved in the same year, likewise after Le Brun’s painting. _Jean Loret_ certainly does not owe its fame to the beauty of the personage portrayed. It is one of Nanteuil’s most convincing and vital plates. The modelling of the face and the means employed are absolutely adequate. This engraving alone would explain why, in his day, Nanteuil’s greatest fame rested upon the surprisingly life-like quality of his work, whether it be pastel, drawing, or engraving.

To the year 1658 also belongs _Basile Fouquet_, brother of Nicolas Fouquet, the famous Superintendent of Finance. Not less beautiful than _Pompone de Bellièvre_, there is a vitality about the _Basile Fouquet_ lacking in the better-known plate.

Three years later, in 1661, Nanteuil engraved the portrait of _Nicolas Fouquet_--one of his masterpieces of characterization. Nothing could be finer than the way in which he has portrayed the great finance minister, whose ambition it was to succeed Mazarin as virtual ruler of the kingdom. It is a historical document of prime importance, of the greatest beauty, and preserves for all time the features of the then most powerful man in France, gazing out upon the world with a half quizzical expression, totally unaware of the sensational reversal of Fortune already drawing near.

A plate not less admirable in its way--a little masterpiece--is _François de la Mothe le Vayer_, who was regarded as the Plutarch of his time for his boundless erudition and his mode of reasoning. Nanteuil’s engraving shows him at the age of seventy-five, in full possession of all his intellectual powers and in the enjoyment of that good health which lasted until his death, eleven years later, at the ripe age of eighty-six.

The masterly portrait of _Turenne_, engraved in 1663, after a painting by Philippe de Champaigne, is one of the engraver’s most vigorous plates, of a size somewhat larger than had hitherto been his wont. From this period date the life-size portraits, thirty-six of which were completed before he died in 1678, the last four years of his life being devoted entirely to these large plates--seven of them of the King himself. They were obviously intended to be framed and hung above the high wainscots used in those times, and although they do not show Nanteuil at his best, and--in the majority of cases--are, in part, the work of assistants, they are a remarkable performance.

Nanteuil established the tradition of portrait engraving in France once and for all, and although his successors, profiting by his example, have left us many superbly engraved plates, none of them were able to combine the qualities of great engraver with great portraitist, which make Nanteuil supreme in the history of portrait engraving.

The nineteenth century has produced three master portrait etchers. Of what previous century can we say as much? Other portraits may possess more charm, but none have a greater measure of dignity than those by ALPHONSE LEGROS. He has been called a “belated old master,” and in his portrait plates are combined the qualities which prove him to be a master indeed--not old, in the sense of out of touch with his time, but displaying the same qualities which make the portraits of Rembrandt or Van Dyck so compelling and of such continuing interest.

_Cardinal Manning_--the triumph of spirit over flesh--simple, austere; _G. F. Watts_, in which the gravity and beauty of old age is portrayed as no one since Rembrandt has portrayed it, are plates which will assure his artistic immortality.

MR. WHISTLER, when asked which of his etchings he considered the best, is reported to have answered, “All.” Fortunately for us, in the case of his portraits he has indicated his preference. “_One of my very best_” is written beneath a proof of _Annie Haden_, now in the Lenox Library; and Whistler, in the course of conversation with Mr. E. G. Kennedy, told him that if he had to make a decision as to which plate was his best, he would rest his reputation upon _Annie Haden_. It is the culmination of that wonderful series to which belong such masterpieces as _Becquet_, _Drouet_, _Finette_, _Arthur Haden_, _Mr. Mann_ and _Riault, the Engraver_. Whistler himself never surpassed this portrait, which for perfect balance, certainty of hand, and sheer charm, is not only one of the most delightful portrait plates in the history of the art, but one of the few successful representations of the elusive charm of young girlhood.

Hardly less beautiful are the portraits of _Florence Leyland_, standing, holding her hoop in her right hand, every line of the slender figure rhythmic and beautiful; or of _Fanny Leyland_, seated, the soft flounces of her white muslin dress indicated with the fewest and most delicate lines; or _Weary_, lying back in her chair, with hair outspread. _Weary_ suggests the _Jenny_ of Rossetti’s poem, but it is a portrait of “Jo”--Joanna Heffernan--whom Whistler painted as _The White Girl_ and _La Belle Irlandaise_, and of whom, in 1861, two years previously, he had made a superb dry-point.

Of Whistler’s portraits of men, _Riault_ is assuredly one of the finest, both in execution and in portrayal of character. The concentration of the wood-engraver on his task is expressed with convincing power, and those who mistakenly attribute to Whistler grace at the expense of strength could hardly do better than study this dry-point.

Could there be a greater contrast than the work of Whistler and ZORN? Could anything better illustrate the infinite possibilities of the art, the pliability of the medium to serve the needs of etchers as dissimilar in method as in point of attack? With the fewest possible lines (_slashed_, one might almost say, into the copper) Zorn evolves a portrait of compelling power, vibrant with life. Mere speed counts for little, and it is of small significance that a masterpiece such as _Ernest Renan_ is the result of a single sitting of one hour only. It was done in Renan’s studio in Paris, in April, 1892. “His friends,” the artist relates, “came and asked me to make an etching of him. He arranged for a sitting. He was very ill, but I sat studying him for a little while, then took the plate and drew him. I asked him if it was a characteristic pose and he replied, ‘No, I very seldom sit like this.’ But his wife came in and said, ‘You have caught him to perfection, it is himself. When he is not watched he is always like that.’ She was really touched by it.” What is significant in the portrait of _Renan_, astounding, one might say, is that with lines so few Zorn has given us not only the outer man, but a character study of profound insight. Renan, sunk in his chair, the bulky body topped by the massive head, the hair suggested with a mere handful of lines, was like a bomb-shell to such print-collectors as previously were unacquainted with Zorn’s work. It was, however, only one of a group of masterpieces with which the artist made his début in America, in 1892: _Zorn and His Wife_, _Faure_, _The Waltz_, _The Omnibus_, _Olga Bratt_, with its elusive charm, and the piquant _Girl with the Cigarette_, and _Madame Simon_, which still remains one of his most powerful portraits.

_The Toast_ is etched from Zorn’s picture painted by him to celebrate the thirtieth anniversary of the Society of the Idun, a scientific and artistic society in Stockholm. Wieselgren, the President of the Society, a Viking-like figure, is about to propose a toast; beyond him, characterized with the fewest lines, are seen Nordenskjöld, the Arctic explorer; Hildebrand, the archæologist; Axel Key, professor of medicine; and Woern, the Minister of Finance. The plate has all the freshness, all the spontaneity, of an etching done directly from life and at a white heat.

Among his many portraits of women, it is difficult to make a selection. _Miss Anna Burnett, seated at the Piano_, is charming. _Annie_, _Mrs. Granberg_, and _Kesti_--each, in its own way, fascinates us; but if one were to express a personal preference, it would be for _Miss Emma Rassmussen_. The blond beauty of her hair, the fair, tender flesh, sparkling eyes, and lips slightly open, showing the firm, small, even teeth, are in perfect harmony. The line is more delicate than is the artist’s wont, and both as a portrait and as an etching it is a lasting delight.

SOME MASTERS OF PORTRAITURE

BIBLIOGRAPHY

PRINTS AND THEIR MAKERS. _Edited by FitzRoy Carrington._ 200 illustrations. New York: Century Co. 1912.

ETCHING AND ETCHERS. _By Philip Gilbert Hamerton._ 35 original etchings. London: Macmillan & Co. 1868.

----. Same. 6th edition. Boston: Roberts Brothers. 1892.

THE GOLDEN AGE OF ENGRAVING. _By Frederick Keppel._ 161 illustrations. New York: The Baker and Taylor Company. 1910.

THE BEST PORTRAITS IN ENGRAVING. _By Charles Sumner._ New York: Frederick Keppel. 1875.

DÜRER, ALBRECHT (see Bibliography under “The Master of the Amsterdam Cabinet and Albrecht Dürer,” page 137).

VAN DYCK, ANTHONY (1599-1641)

EAUX-FORTES DE ANTOINE VAN DYCK; REPRODUITES ET PUBLIÉES PAR AMAND-DURAND. _Edited by Georges Duplessis._ 21 reproductions. Paris: Amand-Durand. 1874.

VAN DYCK; HIS ORIGINAL ETCHINGS AND HIS ICONOGRAPHY. _By Arthur Mayger Hind._ 38 illustrations. The Print-Collector’s Quarterly, 2 parts.