Chapter 2

A Funeral Panegyric pronounced at his death, now before me in the original pamphlet of the time,[5] testifies to more than family or office. In himself he was much, and not of those who, according to the saying of St. Bernard, give out smoke rather than light. Pure glory and innocent riches were his, which were more precious in the sight of good men, and he showed himself incorruptible, and not to be bought at any price. It were easy for him to have turned a deluge of wealth into his house; but he knew that gifts insensibly corrupt,--that the specious pretext of gratitude is the snare in which the greatest souls allow themselves to be caught,--that a man covered with favors has difficulty in setting himself against injustice in all its forms, and that a magistrate divided between a sense of obligations received and the care of the public interest, which he ought always to promote, is a paralytic magistrate, a magistrate deprived of a moiety of himself. So spoke the preacher, while he portrayed a charity tender and prompt for the wretched, a vehemence just and inflexible to the dishonest and wicked, with a sweetness noble and beneficent for all; dwelling also on his countenance, which had not that severe and sour austerity that renders justice to the good only with regret, and to the guilty only with anger; then on his pleasant and gracious address, his intellectual and charming conversation, his ready and judicious replies, his agreeable and intelligent silence, his refusals, which were well received and obliging; while, amidst all the pomp and splendor accompanying him, there shone in his eyes a certain air of humanity and majesty, which secured for him, and for justice itself, love as well as respect. His benefactions were constant. Not content with giving only his own, he gave with a beautiful manner still more rare. He could not abide beauty of intelligence without goodness of soul, and he preferred always the poor, having for them not only compassion but a sort of reverence. He knew that the way to take the poison from riches was to make them tasted by those who had them not. The sentiment of Christian charity for the poor, who were to him in the place of children, was his last thought, as witness especially the General Hospital endowed by him, and presented by the preacher as the greatest and most illustrious work ever undertaken by charity the most heroic.

Thus lived and died the splendid Pompone de Bellièvre, with no other children than his works. Celebrated at the time by a Funeral Panegyric now forgotten, and placed among the Illustrious Men of France in a work remembered only for its engraved portraits, his famous life shrinks, in the voluminous _Biographie Universelle_ of Michaud, to the seventh part of a single page, and in the later _Biographie Généralle_ of Didot disappears entirely. History forgets to mention him. But the lofty magistrate, ambassador, and benefactor, founder of a great hospital, cannot be entirely lost from sight so long as his portrait by Nanteuil holds a place in art.

[Sidenote: Edelinck.]

Younger than Nanteuil by ten years, Gérard Edelinck excelled him in genuine mastery. Born at Antwerp, he became French by adoption, occupying apartments in the Gobelins, and enjoying a pension from Louis XIV. Longhi says that he is the engraver whose works, not only according to his own judgment, but that of the most intelligent, deserve the first place among exemplars, and he attributes to him all perfections in highest degree, design, chiaro-oscuro, ærial perspective, local tints, softness, lightness, variety, in short everything which can enter into the most exact representation of the true and beautiful without the aid of color. Others may have surpassed him in particular things, but, according to the Italian teacher, he remains by common consent "the prince of engraving." Another critic calls him "king."

It requires no remarkable knowledge to recognize his great merits. Evidently he is a master, exercising sway with absolute art, and without attempts to bribe the eye by special effects of light, as on metal or satin. Among his conspicuous productions is the TENT OF DARIUS, a large engraving on two sheets, after Le Brun, where the family of the Persian monarch prostrate themselves before Alexander, who approaches with Hephæstion. There is also a HOLY FAMILY, after Raffaelle, and the BATTLE OF THE STANDARD, after Leonardo da Vinci; but these are less interesting than his numerous portraits, among which that of PHILIPPE DE CHAMPAIGNE is the chief masterpiece; but there are others of signal merit, including especially that of MADAME HELIOT, or _La Belle Religieuse_, a beautiful French coquette praying before a crucifix; MARTIN VAN DER BOGAERT, a sculptor; FREDERIC LÉONARD, printer to the king; MOUTON, the Lute-player; MARTINUS DILGERUS, with a venerable beard white with age; JULES HARDOUIN MANSART, the architect; also a portrait of POMPONE DE BELLIÈVRE which will be found among the prints of Perrault's Illustrious Men.

The PHILIPPE DE CHAMPAIGNE is the head of that eminent French artist after a painting by himself, and it contests the palm with the Pompone. Mr. Marsh, who is an authority, prefers it. Dr. Thies, who places the latter first in beauty, is constrained to allow that the other is "superior as a work of the graver," being executed with all the resources of the art in its chastest form. The enthusiasm of Longhi finds expression in unusual praise:

"The work which goes the most to my blood, and with regard to which Edelinck, with good reason, congratulated himself, is the portrait of Champaigne. I shall die before I cease to contemplate it with wonder always new. Here is seen how he was equally great as designer and engraver."[6]

And he then dwells on various details; the skin, the flesh, the eyes living and seeing, the moistened lips, the chin covered with a beard unshaven for a few days, and the hair in all its forms.

Between the rival portraits by Nanteuil and Edelinck it is unnecessary to decide. Each is beautiful. In looking at them we recognize anew the transient honors of public service. The present fame of Champaigne surpasses that of Pompone. The artist outlives the magistrate. But does not the poet tell us that "the artist never dies?"

[Sidenote: Drevet.]

As Edelinck passed from the scene, the family of Drevet appeared, especially the son, Pierre Imbert Drevet, born in 1697, who developed a rare excellence, improving even upon the technics of his predecessor, and gilding his refined gold. The son was born engraver, for at the age of thirteen he produced an engraving of exceeding merit. He manifested a singular skill in rendering different substances, like Masson, by the effect of light, and at the same time gave to flesh a softness and transparency which remain unsurpassed. To these he added great richness in picturing costumes and drapery, especially in lace.

He was eminently a portrait engraver, which I must insist is the highest form of the art, as the human face is the most important object for its exercise. Less clear and simple than Nanteuil, and less severe than Edelinck, he gave to the face individuality of character, and made his works conspicuous in art. If there was excess in the accessories, it was before the age of Sartor Resartus, and he only followed the prevailing style in the popular paintings of Hyacinthe Rigaud. Art in all its forms had become florid, if not meretricious, and Drevet was a representative of his age.

Among his works are important masterpieces. I name only BOSSUET, the famed eagle of Meaux; SAMUEL BERNARD, the rich Councillor of State; FÉNELON, the persuasive teacher and writer; CARDINAL DUBOIS, the unprincipled minister, and the favorite of the Regent of France; and ADRIENNE LE COUVREUR, the beautiful and unfortunate actress, linked in love with the Marshal Saxe. The portrait of Bossuet has everything to attract and charm. There stands the powerful defender of the Catholic Church, master of French style, and most renowned pulpit orator of France, in episcopal robes, with abundant lace, which is the perpetual envy of the fair who look at this transcendent effort. The ermine of Dubois is exquisite, but the general effect of this portrait does not compare with the Bossuet, next to which, in fascination, I put the Adrienne. At her death the actress could not be buried in consecrated ground; but through art she has the perpetual companionship of the greatest bishop of France.

[Sidenote: Balechou.]

[Sidenote: Beauvarlet.]

[Sidenote: Ficquet.]

With the younger Drevet closed the classical period of portraits in engraving, as just before had closed the Augustan age of French literature. Louis XIV. decreed engraving a fine art, and established an academy for its cultivation. Pride and ostentation in the king and the great aristocracy created a demand which the genius of the age supplied. The heights that had been reached could not be maintained. There were eminent engravers still; but the zenith had been passed. Balechou, who belonged to the reign of Louis XV., and Beauvarlet, whose life was protracted beyond the reign of terror, both produced portraits of merit. The former is noted for a certain clearness and brilliancy, but with a hardness, as of brass or marble, and without entire accuracy of design; the latter has much softness of manner. They were the best artists of France at the time; but none of their portraits are famous. To these may be added another contemporary artist, without predecessor or successor, Stephen Ficquet, unduly disparaged in one of the dictionaries as "a reputable French engraver," but undoubtedly remarkable for small portraits, not unlike miniatures, of exquisite finish. Among these the rarest and most admired are LA FONTAINE, MADAME DE MAINTENON, RUBENS and VANDYCK.

[Sidenote: Schmidt.]

[Sidenote: Wille.]

Two other engravers belong to this intermediate period, though not French in origin: Georg F. Schmidt, born at Berlin, 1712, and Johann Georg Wille, born in the small town of Königsberg, in the Grand Duchy of Hesse-Darmstadt, 1717, but attracted to Paris, they became the greatest engravers of the time. Their work is French, and they are the natural development of that classical school.

[Sidenote: Schmidt.]

Schmidt was the son of a poor weaver, and lost six precious years as a soldier in the artillery at Berlin. Owing to the smallness of his size he was at length dismissed, when he surrendered to a natural talent for engraving. Arriving at Strasburg, on his way to Paris, he fell in with Wille, a wandering gunsmith, who joined him in his journey, and eventually, in his studies. The productions of Schmidt show ability, originality, and variety, rather than taste. His numerous portraits are excellent, being free and life-like, while the accessories of embroidery and drapery are rendered with effect. As an etcher he ranks next after Rembrandt. Of his portraits executed with the graver, that of the EMPRESS ELIZABETH OF RUSSIA is usually called the most important, perhaps on account of the imperial theme, and next those of COUNT RASSAMOWSKY, COUNT ESTERHAZY, and DE MOUNSEY, which he engraved while in St. Petersburgh, where he was called by the Empress, founding there the Academy of Engraving. But his real masterpieces are unquestionably PIERRE MIGNARD and LATOUR, French painters, the latter represented laughing.

[Sidenote: Wille.]

Wille lived to old age, not dying till 1808. During this long life he was active in the art to which he inclined naturally. His mastership of the graver was perfect, lending itself especially to the representation of satin and metal, although less happy with flesh. His SATIN GOWN, or _L'Instruction Paternelle_, after Terburg, and _Les Musiciens Ambulans_, after Dietrich, are always admired. Nothing of the kind in engraving is finer. His style was adapted to pictures of the Dutch school, and to portraits with rich surroundings. Of the latter the principal are COMTE DE SAINT-FLORENTIN, POISSON MARQUIS DE MARIGNY, JOHN DE BOULLONGNE, and the CARDINAL DE TENCIN.

[Sidenote: Bervic.]

[Sidenote: Toschi.]

[Sidenote: Desnoyers.]

[Sidenote: Müller.]

[Sidenote: Vangelisti.]

[Sidenote: Anderloni and Jesi.]

Especially eminent was Wille as a teacher. Under his influence the art assumed a new life, so that he became father of the modern school. His scholars spread everywhere, and among them are acknowledged masters. He was teacher of Bervic, whose portrait of Louis XVI. in his coronation robes is of a high order, himself teacher of the Italian Toschi, who, after an eminent career, died as late as 1858; also teacher of Tardieu, himself teacher of the brilliant Desnoyers, whose portrait of the EMPEROR NAPOLEON IN HIS CORONATION ROBES is the fit complement to that of LOUIS XVI.; also teacher of the German, J. G. von Müller, himself father and teacher of J. Frederick von Müller, engraver of the SISTINE MADONNA, in a plate whose great fame is not above its merit; also teacher of the Italian Vangelisti, himself teacher of the unsurpassed Longhi, in whose school were Anderloni and Jesi. Thus not only by his works, but by his famous scholars, did the humble gunsmith gain sway in art.

Among portraits by this school deserving especial mention is that of KING JEROME OF WESTPHALIA, brother of Napoleon, by the two Müllers, where the genius of the artist is most conspicuous, although the subject contributes little. As in the case of the Palace of the Sun, described by Ovid, _Materiam superabat opus_. This work is a beautiful example of skill in representation of fur and lace, not yielding even to Drevet.

[Sidenote: Longhi.]

Longhi was a universal master, and his portraits are only parts of his work. That of WASHINGTON, which is rare, is evidently founded on Stuart's painting, but after a design of his own, which is now in the possession of the Swiss Consul at Venice. The artist felicitated himself on the hair, which is modelled after the French masters.[7] The portraits of MICHAEL ANGELO, and of DANDOLO, the venerable Doge of Venice, are admired; so also is the NAPOLEON, AS KING OF ITALY, with the iron crown and finest lace. But his chief portrait is that of EUGENE BEAUHARNAIS, VICEROY OF ITALY, full length, remarkable for plume in the cap, which is finished with surpassing skill.

[Sidenote: Morghen.]

Contemporary with Longhi was another Italian engraver of widely extended fame, who was not the product of the French school, Raffaelle Morghen, born at Florence in 1758. His works have enjoyed a popularity beyond those of other masters, partly from the interest of their subjects, and partly from their soft and captivating style, although they do not possess the graceful power of Nanteuil and Edelinck, and are without variety. He was scholar and son-in-law of Volpato, of Rome; himself scholar of Wagner, of Venice, whose homely round faces were not high models in art. The AURORA, OF GUIDO, and the LAST SUPPER, OF LEONARDO DA VINCI, stand high in engraving, especially the latter, which occupied Morghen three years. Of his two hundred and one works, no less than seventy-three are portraits, among which are the Italian poets DANTE, PETRARCH, ARIOSTO, TASSO, also BOCCACCIO, and a head called RAFFAELLE, but supposed to be that of BENDO ALTOVITI, the great painter's friend, and especially the DUKE OF MENCADA on horseback, after Vandyck, which has received warm praise. But none of his portraits is calculated to give greater pleasure than that of LEONARDO DA VINCI, which may vie in beauty even with the famous Pompone. Here is the beauty of years and of serene intelligence. Looking at that tranquil countenance, it is easy to imagine the large and various capacities which made him not only painter, but sculptor, architect, musician, poet, discoverer, philosopher, even predecessor of Galileo and Bacon. Such a character deserves the immortality of art. Happily an old Venetian engraving reproduced in our day,[8] enables us to see this same countenance at an earlier period of life, with sparkle in the eye.

Raffaelle Morghen left no scholars who have followed him in portraits; but his own works are still regarded, and a monument in Santa Croce, the Westminster Abbey of Florence, places him among the mighty dead of Italy.

[Sidenote: Houbraken]

Thus far nothing has been said of English engravers. Here, as in art generally, England seems removed from the rest of the world; _Et penitus toto divisos orbe Britannos_. But though beyond the sphere of Continental art, the island of Shakespeare was not inhospitable to some of its representatives. Vandyck, Rubens, Sir Peter Lely, and Sir Godfrey Kneller, all Dutch artists, painted the portraits of Englishmen, and engraving was first illustrated by foreigners. Jacob Houbraken, another Dutch artist, born in 1698, was employed to execute portraits for Birch's "Heads of Illustrious Persons of Great Britain," published at London in 1743, and in these works may be seen the æsthetic taste inherited from his father, author of the biography of Dutch artists, and improved by study of the French masters. Although without great force or originality of manner, many of these have positive beauty. I would name especially the SIR WALTER RALEIGH and JOHN DRYDEN.

[Sidenote: Bartolozzi.]

Different in style was Bartolozzi, the Italian, who made his home in England for forty years, ending in 1807, when he removed to Lisbon. The considerable genius which he possessed was spoilt by haste in execution, superseding that care which is an essential condition of art. Hence sameness in his work and indifference to the picture he copied. Longhi speaks of him as "most unfaithful to his archetypes," and, "whatever the originals, being always Bartolozzi." Among his portraits of especial interest are several old "wigs," as MANSFIELD and THURLOW; also the DEATH OF CHATHAM, after the picture of Copley in the Vernon Gallery. But his prettiest piece undoubtedly is MARY QUEEN OF SCOTS, with her little son James I., after what Mrs. Jameson calls "the lovely picture of Zuccaro at Chiswick." In the same style are his vignettes, which are of acknowledged beauty.

[Sidenote: Strange.]

Meanwhile a Scotchman honorable in art comes upon the scene--Sir Robert Strange, born in the distant Orkneys in 1721, who abandoned the law for engraving. As a youthful Jacobite he joined the Pretender in 1745, sharing the disaster of Culloden, and owing his safety from pursuers to a young lady dressed in the ample costume of the period, whom he afterwards married in gratitude, and they were both happy. He has a style of his own, rich, soft, and especially charming in the tints of flesh, making him a natural translator of Titian. His most celebrated engravings are doubtless the VENUS and the DANAË after the great Venetian colorist, but the CLEOPATRA, though less famous, is not inferior in merit. His acknowledged masterpiece is the MADONNA OF ST. JEROME called THE DAY, after the picture by Correggio, in the gallery of Parma, but his portraits after Vandyck are not less fine, while they are more interesting--as CHARLES FIRST, with a large hat, by the side of his horse, which the Marquis of Hamilton is holding, and that of the same Monarch standing in his ermine robes; also the THREE ROYAL CHILDREN with two King Charles spaniels at their feet, also HENRIETTA MARIA, the Queen of Charles. That with the ermine robes is supposed to have been studied by Raffaelle Morghen, called sometimes an imitator of Strange.[9] To these I would add the rare autograph PORTRAIT OF THE ENGRAVER, being a small head after Greuze, which is simple and beautiful.

[Sidenote: Sharp.]

One other name will close this catalogue. It is that of William Sharp, who was born at London in 1746, and died there in 1824. Though last in order, this engraver may claim kindred with the best. His first essays were the embellishment of pewter pots, from which he ascended to the heights of art, showing a power rarely equalled. Without any instance of peculiar beauty, his works are constant in character and expression, with every possible excellence of execution; face, form, drapery--all are as in nature. His splendid qualities appear in the DOCTORS OF THE CHURCH, which has taken its place as the first of English engravings. It is after the picture of Guido, once belonging to the Houghton gallery, which in an evil hour for English taste was allowed to enrich the collection of the Hermitage at St. Petersburgh; and I remember well that this engraving by Sharp was one of the few ornaments in the drawing-room of Macaulay when I last saw him, shortly before his lamented death. Next to the Doctors of the Church is his LEAR IN THE STORM, after the picture by West, now in the Boston Athenæum, and his SORTIE FROM GIBRALTAR, after the picture by Trumbull, also in the Boston Athenæum. Thus, through at least two of his masterpieces whose originals are among us, is our country associated with this great artist.

It is of portraits especially that I write, and here Sharp is truly eminent. All that he did was well done; but two were models; that of MR. BOULTON, a strong, well-developed country gentleman, admirably executed, and of JOHN HUNTER, the eminent surgeon, after the painting by Sir Joshua Reynolds, in the London College of Surgeons, unquestionably the foremost portrait in English art, and the coequal companion of the great portraits in the past; but here the engraver united his rare gifts with those of the painter.

[Sidenote: Mandel.]

In closing these sketches I would have it observed that this is no attempt to treat of engraving generally, or of prints in their mass or types. The present subject is simply of portraits, and I stop now just as we arrive at contemporary examples, abroad and at home, with the gentle genius of Mandel beginning to ascend the sky, and our own engravers appearing on the horizon. There is also a new and kindred art, infinite in value, where the sun himself becomes artist, with works which mark an epoch.

CHARLES SUMNER.

WASHINGTON, 11TH DEC., 1871.

FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote 1: Discourses before the Royal Academy, No. IV.]

[Footnote 2: De Groote Schonburgh der Nederlantsche Konctschilders en Schilderessen.]

[Footnote 3: This rare volume is in the Congressional Library, among the books which belonged originally to Hon. George P. Marsh, our excellent and most scholarly minister in Italy. I asked for it in vain at the Paris Cabinet of Engravings, and also at the Imperial Library. Never translated into French or English; there is a German translation of it by Carl Barth.]

[Footnote 4: Les Hommes Illustres, par Perrault, Tome ii., p. 97. The excellent copy of this work in the Congressional Library belonged to Mr. Marsh. The prints are early impressions.]

[Footnote 5: Panégyrique Funébre de Messire Pompone de Bellièvre, Premier Président au Parlement, pronouncé á l'Hostel-Dieu de Paris, le 17 Avril, 1657, par un Chanoine régulier de la Congrégation de France. The dedication shows this to have been the work of F. Lallemant of St. Geneviève.]