WILLIAMSBURGH Size of the original print, 64 by 9 inches. From the etchings by Charles A. Platt of New York. "In the foremost group of American painter-etchers stands the work of Charles A. Platt. Distinguished alike for vigorous brilliancy and richness of effect, it shows that he has every variety of technical means at his disposal and is a master of each in some special way." Will Jenkins, "Modern Etching and Engraving in America."

FISHERMEN'S HOUSES, CAPE ANN

Size of the original print, 12 by 19 inches.

From the etchings by Stephen Parrish of Philadelphia.

Besides the incomparable etchings of Whistler (who worked almost entirely in Europe) other American painters have done genuinely good work in etching. Among these men the name of Stephen Parrish ranks deservedly high. His etchings are all of American scenes.

PERSONAL SKETCHES OF SOME

FAMOUS ETCHERS

An Unpublished Lecture delivered before the Grolier Club of New York, and afterward repeated at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Yale University, Johns Hopkins University, etc.

IT

T has been said of a well-known book - John Forster's Life of Dickens - that it was less a biography of the novelist than a glorification of the biographer himself, and Forster's case is not the only one which warns me of a similar danger to myself in that which I have undertaken this evening.

66

In addressing you on the subject selected, I am, perforce, somewhat in the position of the old narrator of whom Tennyson writes that he was himself a part of what he told," and for this reason I cannot avoid the occasional use of that obnoxious personal pronoun "I." But still, I shall try to remember that while legitimate personal sketches of these famous artists form a subject of general interest, the personality of the mere narrator does not.

It is true that a less personal and more abstract view of the artists and their work might have been chosen; but those who are competent to

treat of these etchings from a high critical standpoint may not have gone in and out among the etchers themselves, for years, as I have done. It is also evident that an adequate critical review of the works of these famous etchers cannot be presented in an address of one hour's duration. But these cursory sketches will not prejudice the subject hereafter, nor prevent the work of any of these artists from being taken up separately and treated more exhaustively and critically by abler hands than mine.

No man is so sure of undying fame as the true and great artist. He who produces a masterpiece in poetry, music, architecture, sculpture, or painting, or even in the art of etching, will be remembered and revered when the political great ones of the earth, now "dressed in a little brief authority," are supplanted and forgotten.

Two and a half centuries ago Holland was a powerful nation, and the Burgomaster of Amsterdam was a personage of the highest distinction. It happened that the Burgomaster of that period was a man who had the discrimination to see something good in the paintings and etchings of a certain obscure young artist, who had left his father's windmill, in the country, and had come to the great city to seek his fortune. Not only did the Burgomaster buy the artist's pictures, but he invited him to his house and made him his friend. No doubt many excellent people of that day were both puzzled and scandalized at this absurd condescension on the part of their chief

Size of the original print, 152 by 23 inches.

From the etchings by Peter Moran, of Philadelphia.

The renowned French painter, Jules Breton, on seeing Peter Moran's etchings in Paris, asked in surprise whose works they were. The answer given him was, "An American." "Why, they are admirable," said he. "The man who etched those plates is a master!" Later, Jules Breton sent to America and procured them for his own collection, writing a most complimentary letter to the artist about them.