The Best Portraits in Engraving Part 1

The Best Portraits in Engraving.

by Charles Sumner.

THE BEST PORTRAITS IN ENGRAVING.

Engraving is one of the fine arts, and in this beautiful family has been the especial handmaiden of painting. Another sister is now coming forward to join this service, lending to it the charm of color. If, in our day, the "chromo" can do more than engraving, it cannot impair the value of the early masters. With them there is no rivalry or compet.i.tion. Historically, as well as aesthetically, they will be masters always.

Everybody knows something of engraving, as of printing, with which it was a.s.sociated in origin. School-books, ill.u.s.trated papers, and shop windows are the ordinary opportunities open to all. But while creating a transient interest, or, perhaps, quickening the taste, they furnish little 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. Suffering from continued prostration, disabling me from the ordinary activities of life, I turned to engravings for employment and pastime. With the invaluable a.s.sistance of that devoted connoisseur, the late Dr. Thies, I went through the Gray collection at Cambridge, enjoying it like a picture-gallery. Other collections in our country were examined also.

Then, in Paris, while undergoing severe medical treatment, my daily medicine for weeks was the vast cabinet of engravings, then called Imperial, now National, counted by the million, where was everything to please or instruct. Thinking of those kindly portfolios, I make this record of grat.i.tude, as to benefactors. Perhaps some other invalid, seeking occupation without burden, may find in them the solace that I did. Happily, it is 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 important place.

Their mult.i.tude may be inferred when I mention that, in one series of portfolios, in the Paris cabinet, I counted no less than forty-seven portraits of Franklin and forty-three of Lafayette, with an equal number of Was.h.i.+ngton, while all the early Presidents were numerously represented. But, in this large company, there are very few possessing artistic value. The great portraits of modern times const.i.tute a very short list, like the great poems or histories, and it is the same with engravings as with pictures. Sir Joshua Reynolds, explaining the difference between an historical painter and a portrait-painter, remarks that the former "paints men in general, a portrait-painter a particular man, and consequently a defective model."[1] A portrait, therefore, may be an accurate presentment of its subject without aesthetic value.

But here, as in other things, genius exercises its accustomed sway without limitation. Even the difficulties of a "defective model" did not prevent Raffaelle, t.i.tian, Rembrandt, Rubens, Velasquez, or Vandyck from producing portraits precious in the history of art. It would be easy to mention heads by Raffaelle, yielding in value to only two or three of his larger masterpieces, like the Dresden Madonna.

Charles the Fifth stooped to pick up the pencil of t.i.tian, saying "it becomes Caesar to serve t.i.tian!" True enough; but this unprecedented compliment from the imperial successor of Charlemagne attests the glory of the portrait-painter. The female figures of t.i.tian, so much admired under the names of Flora, La Bella, his daughter, his mistress, and even his Venus, were portraits from life. Rembrandt turned from his great triumphs in his own peculiar school to portraits of unwonted power; so also did Rubens, showing that in this department his universality of conquest was not arrested. To these must be added Velasquez and Vandyck, each of infinite genius, who won fame especially as portrait-painters. And what other t.i.tle has Sir Joshua himself?

[Sidenote: Suyderhoef.]

Historical pictures are often collections of portraits arranged so as to ill.u.s.trate an important event. Such is the famous PEACE OF MuNSTER, by Terburg, just presented by a liberal Englishman to the National Gallery at London. Here are the plenipotentiaries of Holland, Spain, and Austria, uniting in the great treaty which const.i.tutes an epoch in the Law of Nations. The engraving by Suyderhoef is rare and interesting. Similar in character is the Death of Chatham, by Copley, where the ill.u.s.trious statesman is surrounded by the peers he had been addressing--every one a portrait. To this list must be added the pictures by Trumbull in the Rotunda of the Capitol at Was.h.i.+ngton, especially the Declaration of Independence, in which Thackeray took a sincere interest. Standing before these, the author and artist said to me, "These are the best pictures in the country," and he proceeded to remark on their honesty and fidelity; but doubtless their real value is in their portraits.

Unquestionably the finest a.s.semblage of portraits anywhere is that of the artists occupying two halls in the gallery at Florence, being autographs contributed by the masters themselves. Here is Raffaelle, with chestnut-brown hair, and dark eyes full of sensibility, painted when he was twenty-three, and known by the engraving of Forster--Julio Romano, in black and red chalk on paper,--Ma.s.saccio, called the father of painting, much admired--Leonardo da Vinci, beautiful and grand,--t.i.tian, rich and splendid,--Pietro Perugino, remarkable for execution and expression,--Albert Durer, rigid but masterly,--Gerhard Dow, finished according to his own exacting style,--and Reynolds, with fresh English face; but these are only examples of this incomparable collection, which was begun as far back as the Cardinal Leopold de Medici, and has been happily continued to the present time. Here are the lions, painted by themselves, except, perhaps, the foremost of all, Michael Angelo, whose portrait seems the work of another. The impression from this collection is confirmed by that of any group of historic artists. Their portraits excel those of statesmen, soldiers, or divines, as is easily seen by engravings accessible to all. The engraved heads in Arnold Houbraken's biographies of the Dutch and Flemish painters, in three volumes, are a family of rare beauty.[2]

The relation of engraving to painting is often discussed; but n.o.body has treated it with more knowledge or sentiment than the consummate engraver Longhi in his interesting work, _La Calcografia_.[3] Dwelling on the general aid it renders to the lovers of art, he claims for it greater merit in "publis.h.i.+ng and immortalizing the portraits of eminent men for the example of the present and future generations;"

and, "better than any other art, serving as the vehicle for the most extended and remote propagation of deserved celebrity." Even great monuments in porphyry and bronze are less durable than these light and fragile impressions subject to all the chances of wind, water, and fire, but prevailing by their numbers where the ma.s.s succ.u.mbs. In other words, it is with engravings as with books; nor is this the only resemblance between them. According to Longhi, an engraving is not a copy or imitation, as is sometimes insisted, but a translation. The engraver translates into another language, where light and shade supply the place of colors. The duplication of a book in the same language is a copy, and so is the duplication of a picture in the same material. Evidently an engraving is not a copy; it does not reproduce the original picture, except in drawing and expression; nor is it a mere imitation, but, as Bryant's Homer and Longfellow's Dante are presentations of the great originals in another language, so is the engraving a presentation of painting in another material which is like another language.

Thus does the engraver vindicate his art. But n.o.body can examine a choice print without feeling that it has a merit of its own different from any picture, and inferior only to a good picture. A work of Raffaelle, or any of the great masters, is better in an engraving of Longhi or Morghen than in any ordinary copy, and would probably cost more in the market. A good engraving is an undoubted work of art, but this cannot be said of many pictures, which, like Peter Pindar's razors, seem made to sell.

Much that belongs to the painter belongs also to the engraver, who must have the same knowledge of contours, the same power of expression, the same sense of beauty, and the same ability in drawing with sureness of sight as if, according to Michael Angelo, he had "a pair of compa.s.ses in his eyes." These qualities in a high degree make the artist, whether painter or engraver, naturally excelling in portraits. But choice portraits are less numerous in engraving than in painting, for the reason, that painting does not always find a successful translator.

[Ill.u.s.tration: PHILIP MELANCTHON.

(Engraved by Albert Durer from his own Design.)]

[Sidenote: Durer.]

The earliest engraved portraits which attract attention are by Albert Durer, who engraved his own work, translating himself. His eminence as painter was continued as engraver. Here he surpa.s.sed his predecessors, Martin Schoen in Germany, and Mantegna in Italy, so that Longhi does not hesitate to say that he was the first who carried the art from infancy in which he found it to a condition not far from flouris.h.i.+ng adolescence. But, while recognizing his great place in the history of engraving, it is impossible not to see that he is often hard and constrained, if not unfinished. His portrait of ERASMUS is justly famous, and is conspicuous among the prints exhibited in the British Museum. It is dated 1526, two years before the death of Durer, and has helped to extend the fame of the universal scholar and approved man of letters, who in his own age filled a sphere not unlike that of Voltaire in a later century. There is another portrait of Erasmus by Holbein, often repeated, so that two great artists have contributed to his renown. That by Durer is admired. The general fineness of touch, with the accessories of books and flowers, shows the care in its execution; but it wants expression, and the hands are far from graceful.

Another most interesting portrait by Durer, executed in the same year with the Erasmus, is PHILIP MELANCTHON, the St. John of the Reformation, sometimes called the teacher of Germany. Luther, while speaking of himself as rough, boisterous, stormy, and altogether warlike, says, "but Master Philippus comes along softly and gently, sowing and watering with joy according to the rich gifts which G.o.d has bestowed upon him." At the date of the print he was twenty-nine years of age, and the countenance shows the mild reformer.

[Sidenote: Caracci.]

Agostino Caracci, of the Bolognese family, memorable in art, added to considerable success as painter undoubted triumphs as engraver. His prints are numerous, and many are regarded with favor; but out of the long list not one is so sure of that longevity allotted to art as his portrait of t.i.tIAN, which bears date 1587, eleven years after the death of the latter. Over it is the inscription, _t.i.tiani Vicellii Pictoris celeberrimi ac famosissimi vera effigies_, to which is added beneath, _Cujus nomen orbis continere non valet_! Although founded on originals by t.i.tian himself, it was probably designed by the remarkable engraver. It is very like, and yet unlike the familiar portrait of which we have a recent engraving by Mandel, from a repet.i.tion in the gallery of Berlin. Looking at it, we are reminded of the terms by which Vasari described the great painter, _guidicioso, bello e stupendo_. Such a head, with such visible power, justifies these words, or at least makes us believe them entirely applicable. It is bold, broad, strong, and instinct with life.

This print, like the Erasmus of Durer, is among those selected for exhibition at the British Museum, and it deserves the honor. Though only paper with black lines, it is, by the genius of the artist, as good as a picture. In all engraving nothing is better.

[Sidenote: Goltzius.]

Contemporary with Caracci was Hendrik Goltzius, at Harlem, excellent as painter, but, like the Italian, pre-eminent as engraver.

His prints show mastery of the art, making something like an epoch in its history. His unwearied skill in the use of the burin appears in a tradition gathered by Longhi from Wille, that, having commenced a line, he carried it to the end without once stopping, while the long and bright threads of copper turned up were brushed aside by his flowing beard, which at the end of a day's labor so shone in the light of a candle that his companions nicknamed him "the man with the golden beard." There are prints by him which s.h.i.+ne more than his beard. Among his masterpieces is the portrait of his instructor, THEODORE COERNHERT, engraver, poet, musician, and vindicator of his country, and author of the national air, "William of Orange," whose pa.s.sion for liberty did not prevent him from giving to the world translations of Cicero's Offices and Seneca's Treatise on Beneficence. But that of the ENGRAVER HIMSELF, as large as life, is one of the most important in the art. Among the numerous prints by Goltzius, these two will always be conspicuous.

[Ill.u.s.tration: JAN LUTMA.

(Etched by Rembrandt from his own Design.)]

[Sidenote: Pontius.]

[Sidenote: Rembrandt.]

[Sidenote: Visscher.]

In Holland Goltzius had eminent successors. Among these were Paul Pontius, designer and engraver, whose portrait of RUBENS is of great life and beauty, and Rembrandt, who was not less masterly in engraving than in painting, as appears sufficiently in his portraits of the BURGOMASTER SIX, the two COPPENOLS, the ADVOCATE TOLLING, the goldsmith LUTMA, all showing singular facility and originality.

Contemporary with Rembrandt was Cornelis Visscher, also designer and engraver, whose portraits were unsurpa.s.sed in boldness and picturesque effect. At least one authority has accorded to this artist the palm of engraving, hailing him as Corypheus of the art. Among his successful portraits is that of a CAT; but all yield to what are known as the GREAT BEARDS, being the portraits of WILLIAM DE RYCK, an ophthalmist at Amsterdam, and of GELLIUS DE BOUMA, the Zutphen ecclesiastic. The latter is especially famous. In harmony with the beard is the heavy face, seventy-seven years old, showing the fulness of long-continued potation, and hands like the face, original and powerful, if not beautiful.

[Ill.u.s.tration: THE SLEEPING CAT.

(Engraved by Cornelis Visscher from his own Design.)]

[Sidenote: Vandyck.]

In contrast with Visscher was his companion Vandyck, who painted portraits with constant beauty and carried into etching the same Virgilian taste and skill. His aquafortis was not less gentle than his pencil. Among his etched portraits I would select that of SNYDERS, the animal painter, as extremely beautiful. M. Renouvier, in his learned and elaborate work, _Des Types et des Manieres des Maitres Graveurs_, though usually moderate in praise, speaks of these sketches as "possessing a boldness and delicacy which charm, being taken, at the height of his genius, by the painter who knew the best how to idealize the painting of portraits."

Such are ill.u.s.trative instances from Germany, Italy, and Holland. As yet, power rather than beauty presided, unless in the etchings of Vandyck. But the reign of Louis XIV. was beginning to a.s.sert a supremacy in engraving as in literature. The great school of French engravers which appeared at this time brought the art to a splendid perfection, which many think has not been equalled since, so that Ma.s.son, Nanteuil, Edelinck, and Drevet may claim fellows.h.i.+p in genius with their immortal contemporaries, Corneille, Racine, La Fontaine, and Moliere.

[Ill.u.s.tration: THE SUDARIUM OF ST. VERONICA.

(Engraved by Claude Mellan from his own Design.)]

[Sidenote: Mellan.]

The school was opened by Claude Mellan, more known as engraver than painter, and also author of most of the designs he engraved. His life, beginning with the sixteenth century, was protracted beyond ninety years, not without signal honor, for his name appears among the "Ill.u.s.trious Men" of France, in the beautiful volumes of Perrault, which is also a homage to the art he practiced. One of his works, for a long time much admired, was described by this author:

"It is a Christ's head, designed and shaded, with his crown of thorns and the blood that gushes forth from all parts, by one single stroke, which, beginning at the tip of the nose, and so still circling on, forms most exactly everything that is represented in this plate, only by the different thickness of the stroke, which, according as it is more or less swelling, makes the eyes, nose, mouth, cheeks, hair, blood, and thorns; the whole so well represented and with such expressions of pain and affliction, that nothing is more dolorous or touching."[4]

This print is known as the SUDARIUM OF ST. VERONICA. Longhi records that it was thought at the time "inimitable," and was praised "to the skies;" but people think differently now. At best it is a curiosity among portraits. A traveler reported some time ago that it was the sole print on the walls of the room occupied by the director of the Imperial Cabinet of Engravings at St. Petersburgh.

[Sidenote: Morin.]

Morin was a contemporary of Mellan, and less famous at the time. His style of engraving was peculiar, being a mixture of strokes and dots, but so harmonized as to produce a pleasing effect. One of the best engraved portraits in the history of the art is his CARDINAL BENTIVOGLIO; but here he translated Vandyck, whose picture is among his best. A fine impression of this print is a choice possession.

[Ill.u.s.tration: CARDINAL BENTIVOGLIO.

(Painted by Anthony Van Dyck, and Engraved by Jean Morin.)]