was still more relieved from the Greek ||tion; and being endowed with uncommon imperfections. He abandoned the use of genius, all the arts and sciences did not labels as means of distinguishing the dif- seem to afford a field sufficient for the exferent figures of a picture, and aimed at, || ertion of his talents. He grasped at all, and attained to, real expression. He mark- and succeeded far better than his predeed out to the Italians the course in which cessors in everything he undertook; but the art should be pursued, as Polygnotus || he wasted much of his time in experihad done to the Greeks near 1800 years ments. Had he confined his great powers. before; although, like him, he failed in to the art of painting, he would probably fully exemplifying his principles. have never been exceeded. 36. His abilities procured him the pa- 40. About the year 1410, oil came to be tronage of Pope Boniface VIII., who em- used as a vehicle for paints. It seems to ployed him at Rome. From this time, have been first applied to this purpose in the art of painting became attached to || Flanders, by John Van Eyck, of Brussels; the papal dignity, and few succeeding or it was, at least, first used by him sucpontiffs have neglected its use. The skill cessfully. The first hint of its utility in and celebrity of this ingenious artist ex- this application is thought, with reason, to cited great emulation, and the arts having || have been obtained from its use as a varobtained an earnest of profit and honour, nish to pictures painted in water-colours. no longer wanted skilful professors or illustrious patrons. 37. In 1350, fourteen years after the death of Giotto, his disciple, Jacopo Cassentino, and nine other artists, founded the Academy of St. Luke, at Florence. This was a grand epoch of the arts; as from this institution arose a large display of talent, increasing in splendour until, within || 150 years, it gave to the world, Masaccio, Leonardo da Vinci, Michael Angelo Buonarotti, and Raphael, besides others of great ability. 38. The art advanced but little after the time of Giotto, until the appearance of Masaccio. Under the hand of this great master, painting is said to have been greatly improved; and it was to him that the artists who succeeded were indebted for a more sure and full direction of the course in which they ought to proceed. He was born in 1402, and died in 1443. 39. Leonardo da Vinci, who was born about two years after the death of Masaccio, brought the art to still greater perfec 41. The art of painting was introduced into Flanders about the time of Giotto, by several Flemings, who had been to Italy for the express purpose of learning it. It was also diffused in practice, about the same time, in Germany; and a particular style of the art grew up in each of these countries. But it was in Italy alone that the art may be said to have flourished in a high state of cultivation; and even there, the principal productions originated from artists of the Florentine school. 42. The art of painting was perfected, perhaps, as far as human ability can carry it, in the first half of the sixteenth century, by Michael Angelo Buonarotti, Raphael, Titian, and Correggio; although it cannot be said that all its excellencies were united in the productions of any one of these distinguished professors: such a union has never yet been displayed, nor can it hardly be expected. 43. The art was essentially aided in its progressive stages of advancement by the liberal patronage of the family of the Me dici at Florence, and by the pontiffs at Rome. Angelo and Raphael were both employed at Rome by Julius II. and Leo X., as well as by others who succeeded them in the papal chair, in ornamenting the palaces and sacred buildings. Their productions have never been exceeded in any country, and they still remain the objects of careful study by artists of this profession.. 44. Titian was also liberally patronized at Rome, as well as in other parts of Italy, and in Spain and Germany, chiefly as a portrait and landscape painter. The unrivalled productions of these great masters, however, were fatal to the art in Italy, since their superior excellence extinguish- || ed emulation, by destroying the prospect of equal or superior success. 45. The flourishing state of the art in Italy, for so long a period, might be expected to have produced a taste for its cultivation in other parts of Europe; but this || was the case only to a limited extent. No other countries have yet been particularly distinguished for artists in this branch of the fine arts, except Flanders and Holland; and these were chiefly indebted for the distinction to Peter Paul Rubens, of Antwerp, who was born at Cologne, in 1577, and to Paul Van Rhyn Rembrandt, who was born in 1606, in his father's mill, near Leyden. Some of the scholars of these masters were eminent painters. Anthony Vandyck, a pupil of the former, in particular, is said to have never yet been equalled as a portrait-painter. 46. Very little is known of the art in Spain, until about the year 1500, although it is supposed to have been cultivated with some success before that time. The examples which were left there by Titian produced a favourable impression, and several native artists of considerable emi nence afterwards appeared; but the art became nearly extinct in the following age. 47. The proximity of France to Italy, and the employment of Leonardo da Vinci and other eminent artists of Italy by Francis I., together with the establishment of a school of fine arts, as stated in the preceding article, might have been expected to lay the foundation of exalted taste in this kingdom. Nevertheless, the only French painters whose names have come down to us with any pretensions to excellence for one hundred and fifty years, were Jean Cousin, Jaques Blanchard, Nicholas Poussin, and Charles Le Brun. The last, although inferior to Poussin, is at the head of the French school of painting. 48. The successors of Le Brun were not wanting in ability, yet, with a few exceptions, they failed in reaching an enviable eminence in the art, on account of their servile imitation of the false taste of their popular model. The fantastic style of Le Brun became unpopular in France some time previous to the revolution in that country; and another, of an opposite character, and by artists of other nations thought to be equally distant from true taste, has been since adopted. 49. Very little is known of the state of the fine arts in England until the time of Henry VIII., who encouraged the abilities of Hans Holbein, an eminent painter from Switzerland. But painting and sculpture, and particularly the former, having become intimately interwoven with the religion of the church of Rome, they fell into disrepute in England after the change of opinion on this subject in that country. They, however, began to revive in the eighteenth century, and England and English America have since produced some eminent painters, among whom are Hogarth, Reynolds, Opie, West, Copley, Trumbull, and Peale. ENGRAVING is the art of cutting let-art from the Chinese, through the Veni ters or figures in wood, metals, or stone. It was practised in very ancient times, and in different countries, for the purposes of ornament and monumental inscription; but the idea of taking impressions on paper, or on any other substance, from engraved surfaces, is comparatively modern. THE WOOD ENGRAVER. 1. THE Chinese are said to have been the first who engraved figures and letters on wood, for the purpose of printing. The precise time at which they commenced the practice, is totally unknown; but a book printed by them in the tenth century is now extant. It is thought by some antiquarians, that the Europeans derived the tians, who traded in that part of the world earlier than any other Europeans. 2. This opinion is somewhat probable, from the circumstance that the tools employed by the early engravers in Europe, are similar to those used in China; and also, like the Chinese, they engraved on the side of the grain. However this may be, it is certain that the art was practised in various parts of Europe in the fourteenth century. The earliest subjects executed, were figures of saints, rudely engraved in outline. The prints taken from them were gaily coloured, and sold to the common people as original paintings. The principal persons engaged in this traffic were monks, to whom the art was confined for a considerable time. 3. At length, larger subjects, with inscrip- by the distinguished William Bewick, of tions in imitation of manuscript, were ex- || Newcastle, England. It is still practised, ecuted. The success of these prints gave especially in England and the United rise to a more extensive application of the States, in a manner which reflects credit art. Scriptural subjects, of many figures, on the ingenuity of the age. with texts of scripture, were engraved, and impressions were taken from them on one side of the paper, two sheets being pasted together to form a leaf. Entire sets were bound up together; and thus were formed the first printed books, which, being produced entirely from wood cuts, are known by the name of block-books. These books made their appearance about the year 1420. 6. The earlier artists operated on various kinds of wood, such as the apple, pear, and beech; but these, being too soft, are now used only for calico-printing and other common purposes. The box-wood, on account of its superior texture, is used for every subject that can be termed a work of art. That from Turkey is the best. 7. The engravers, in the infancy of the art, prepared the wood as the common 4. One of the earliest of these producblock-cutters now do. The tree was cut tions is denominated "The Apocalypse of the way of the grain, in planks, and of St. John;" another "The Poor Man's Bible." course they engraved on the side of the But one of the latest and most celebrated, || grain, as upon a board. This mode of preis called "The Mirror of Salvation," pub- paration enabled them to execute larger lished in 1440. Part of the text was print- subjects. The engravers now prefer the ed from solid blocks, and part from movea- end of the grain, and therefore cut the log ble wooden types. From this fact, it is transversely. easy to discover the origin of printing. After this, most, if not all, of the books, were printed from movable types; but as they were embellished with wood cuts, the demand for such engravings was very much increased, although they were, at first, by no means elegant. 8. The end on which the engraver is to exert his skill, is planed and scraped, to render the surface smooth, and the block having been cut to the proper size, the drawing is made upon it in India-ink, or with a lead-pencil. The block is now ready for being cut by the artist, who, in the performance of the operation, holds it with one hand, on a cushion made of sand and leather, while, with the other he cuts away the superfluous wood. The part intended to make the impression in printing, is left standing. 5. Near the close of the fifteenth century, the art began to assume a higher character, principally by the talents of Michael Wolgermuth and William Pluydenwurf. Albert Durer made still greater improvements; and, in 1498, published his celebrated Apocalypse of St. John, printed 9. Wood engravings, well executed, from folio blocks. Other celebrated en- are scarcely inferior to those of copper or gravers succeeded him in the sixteenth steel, and for many purposes they are precentury, which may be considered the era ferred. They are especially convenient, when wood engraving was at its highest in that they can be inserted into a page point of elevation. After this, the art de- of types, where illustrations or embellishclined, and was considered of little im- ments may be required, and be printed portance, until it was revived in 1775, || without separate expense. They will also bear a great number of impressions,-generally 100,000. In this respect, they are decidedly superior to metallic plates. They can likewise be multiplied indefinitely, by the process of stereotyping. THE COPPERPLATE ENGRAVER. 1. THE engravers on metallic surfaces are termed copperplate engravers, not because copper is the only metal on which they exert their skill, but because it is the one on which they usually operate. The plates are prepared for the artists by the coppersmith, by rubbing them with brick- || dust and charcoal, after having cut them of a proper size from sheets of copper. 2. The instruments employed by this artist are few and simple: the principal ones are, the graver, the dry-point, the scraper, and the burnisher. The graver is a small bar of steel, of a square or lozenge form, and, with the short handle into which it is inserted, about five inches in length. One of the angles of the bar is always on the under side of the instrument, and the point is formed by bevelling the end from the upper side, or angle. The square form is used for broad strokes, and the lozenge for fine ones. 3. The dry-point, or needle, is a steel wire with a long cylindrical handle, or it is sometimes of sufficient length and size || to be used without a handle. The scraper has nearly the form of a triangular pyramid; and the cutting part, which has three edges, is two or three inches long. The burnisher has a form nearly conical; and, without the handle, is about three inches long. The last two instruments are frequently made of the same piece of steel, one being forged at each end. In such case, the middle part of the steel is the handle by which they are held. 4. Of engraving on copper, the following are the principal varieties or styles:1. Line engraving; 2. Stippling; 3. Etching; 4. Mezzotinto; 5. Aquatinta. For the purpose of conveying some idea of these different branches, we will describe them under distinct heads. 5. Line engraving. The first thing done, in this species of engraving, is to transfer to the plate an exact copy of the outlines of the design to be executed. In accomplishing this, the plate is moderately heated, and covered with a thin coating of white wax. A piece of transparent paper is then laid over the design to be copied, and traced in outline with a blacklead pencil. The outline thus sketched is turned down upon the coating of white wax, and the whole is subjected to the action of a rolling-press, or is kept for a while under heavy weights. By the application of this pressure, the lines are transferred from the paper to the wax on the plate in a reversed position, which is necessary to make the impression of the finished plate resemble the original. 6. The pencil marks on the wax having been lightly traced on the copper with the dry-point, and the wax having been melted off, a perfect outline is found on the plate. Small subordinate parts of the design are transferred to the plate in the same manner, except that the transparent paper is brought in forcible. contact with the waxed surface by means of the burnisher. 7. At this stage of the process, the artist commences the use of the graver. While operating with this instrument, he holds the handle in the palm of his hand, and pushes the point forward with a firm and steady motion, until a line is produced by the removal of a portion of the metal. By a succession of such strokes, judiciously applied, the work is completed. The burrs, or |