Two other instances of the same kind are given by Mr. Maberly-the first, that of Rembrandt's "Four Prints for a Spanish Book." They were engraved upon one plate, but after a few impressions had been taken off, the plate was cut into four pieces. Of these first impressions, the greater number were in like manner cut into four, but one at least escaped this fate. This impression was purchased for 11. 7s., then for 571. 13s., and finally became the property of the British Museum for the sum of 100 guineas. In the second instance, Berghem etched six prints on one plate, which he afterwards cut up into six pieces. The single impression known of the entire plate was purchased for the National collection for 1207.

Rembrandt's etchings are not the only objects of this kind that fetch large prices in the market. A niello of Maso Finiguerra, for instanceBut I should explain what a niello is.

The Florentine goldsmiths of the fifteenth century were very famous for the exquisite designs of flowers, portraits, and groups of figures which they engraved upon various articles of silver, such as watches, snuff-boxes, scabbards, and especially church plate. One of these was the pax-a tablet of silver by which the kiss of peace was circulated through the congregation, after the primitive kiss of peace had given rise to some scandal in the church. The hollow part of these engravings was afterwards filled up with a mixture of silver and lead, which being of a dark colour, was called nigellum or niello, and gave to the work the effect of shadow. An accidental circumstance-one of these nielli coming into contact with some molten sulphur-is said to have suggested to Maso Finiguerra the idea of taking off impressions of his work on paper. Vasari gives us an account of the process in his life of Marc Antonio, but his description is somewhat obscure, and Lanzi's fuller explanation is far more intelligible. "When he had cut the plate, he next proceeded to take a print of it before he inlaid it with niello, upon very fine earth; and from the cut being to the right hand and hollow, the proof consequently came out on the left, shewing the little earthen cast in relief. Upon this last he threw the liquid sulphur, from which he obtained a second proof, which, of course, appeared to the right, and took from the relief a hollow form. He then laid the ink (lamp-black or printer's ink) upon the sulphur in such a way as to fill up the hollows in the more indented cuts, intended to produce the shadow; and next, by degrees, he scooped away from the ground (of the sulphur) what was meant to produce the light. The final work was to polish it with oil, in order to give the sulphur the bright appearance of silver."

By this process Maso was enabled to judge of the effect of his work when filled in with niello. Some of these impressions, both in sulphur and on paper, as well as the silver plates themselves, are still extant; and as, in addition to their great beauty, they are of the utmost interest in the history of engraving, they command large prices. Specimens of all these states are to be found in the noble collection in the British Museum. Some idea of its extent may be formed, when it is remembered that of the

original niello plates alone this collection contains more than forty examples. Of these the most famous is a pax by Maso, representing the "Virgin and Child," with seven figures of saints and two of angels, executed for the church of St. Maria Novella in Florence. It is set in the original frame. At Sir M. M. Sykes's sale this niello produced 315 guineas. Amongst impressions on sulphur, I may mention another treatment of the same subject, with many more figures, and one of the "Coronation of the Virgin," executed for the church of St. Giovanni. It came from the Duke of Buckingham's collection, who is said to have given 2501. for it. The original niello, according to Duchesne, is in the gallery at Florence. It was executed in 1452, and the price then paid for it was "66 florins of gold." An impression of this pax on paper was discovered by Zani in the Imperial collection in Paris, in 1797. At the time of its discovery it was the only niello of Finiguerra known.

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Amongst impressions on paper, the most remarkable is that which, in the judgment of Dr. Waagen, surpasses all others of Maso's works "in point of size, beauty, invention, and execution"-" The Adoration of the Three Kings." In the richness of the composition the artist has evidently taken for his model the exquisite picture of Gentile da Fabrianɔ,' now in the Academy of Florence." Mr. Holford has a copy of this, which was exhibited amongst the art treasures at Manchester. Round it were set, in a border, thirty small nielli, and the price said to have been paid for the whole is 4007.

Duchesne, in his Essai sur Nielles, mentions about 500. Most of these, in some state or other, are in the British Museum. But the richness of the collection will be perhaps most fully understood when I mention that of the nielli selected by Duchesne to illustrate the art, specimens, with a single exception, are to be found in the Museum.

The art has some chance of being again revived. I have just been shown a goblet, with figures and chasings in niello, which, if not equal to the productions of Maso Finiguerra, do not fall far short of them. It was the work of a young Scotch artist, Mr. Mackenzie, who is now engaged as an engraver in one of the large houses at Sheffield.

Next in point of importance come the works of that prince of engravers, Marc Antonio Raimondi. The drawing in some of these is most exquisite; and well it may be, when it was probably that of his great friend Raffaelle, almost certainly in those of "Adam and Eve" and "The Judgment of Paris." Manuel Johnson's copy of this last," one of the finest impressions known "-fetched 3201. His "Adam and Eve" has fetched 150l., and his "Massacre of the Innocents," a proof before the inscription, 250l. Among the engravings in the Dusseldorf collection. attributed to Marc Antonio is one of the Madonna sitting upon clouds, with the infant Saviour standing at her right side, so exquisitely executed, especially in the heads, that Professor Müller says it differs so essentially from all that Marc Antonio has done, he does not hesitate to attribute it to Raffaelle himself.

Of Albert Durer's etchings the most beautiful is his "Adam and Eve." Some time ago the finest known impression of this engraving came into the possession of Mr. Smith, the eminent printseller whom I have mentioned already. He showed the print to Mr. Maberly, who eagerly inquired the price-which, as far as I recollect, was about 60%. Possessing another impression already, Mr. Maberly was at first not inclined to pay this large sum even for such superior excellence. Day after day, however, he came to look at the charming impression, and at last said, "Well, well, I must have it. But you will take back my other impression, won't you, and allow me what I paid you for it-15l. ?” 66 Why, no," said Mr. Smith. "I don't think I can do that. I won't offer you 151., but if you like, I will give you 301." The value of Durer's engravings had been doubled since Mr. Maberly's former purchase. At Mr. Maberly's death his prize sold for 551. Mr. Johnson's impression, which was no doubt a fine one, fetched 461. What a change from the price Durer himself tells us he got for his engraving in 1520,-four stivers (fourpence)! Even taking into account the difference in the value of money in his time and our own, what he received cannot have amounted to a couple of shillings.

Coming down to more modern times, we have F. Müller's engraving of "The Madonna di San Sisto." It proved his death. On taking a proof of his plate to the publisher by whom he was employed, he was told he must go over the whole work again, as it was far too delicate for commercial purposes. With heavy heart he set about his work, but it was too much for him, and on the very day the proofs were taken off from the retouched plate, he died. It fetches large prices now. At Mr. Johnson's sale, a "fine proof before any letters" brought 1207. same sum was obtained for Count Archinto's copy in 1862.

The

I must not forget Raphael Morghen. Wonderfully beautiful are some of his engravings, and their value quite as rare and startling. That of the "Last Supper," after L. da Vinci, "before the letters and with the white plate," sold at Mr. Johnson's sale for 3167., and at Count Archinto's sale for 201. beyond even that price. Another copy was sold at Sotheby's in the same year (1862) for 2751.

Engravings by English artists fetch much more moderate prices than those I have mentioned. Not that in some instances at least they are at all inferior to foreign productions. Mr. Maberly does Sir Robert Strange and Woollett no more than justice when he says that they "are perhaps the finest engravers-the one of subjects and the other of landscapesthat the English school has ever produced; and in some of their qualities they equal indeed any artist of any school." An impression of Woollett's "Niobe," all but unique, fetched at Mr. Johnson's sale 701. His "Fishery" has produced 351. 10s. Some of Strange's portraits bring good sums. His "Charles I.," for instance, has been sold for 621. Still larger prices have been obtained for some portraits by earlier engravers. At Bindley's sale in 1819, Faithorne's "Lady Castlemaine" produced

791.; and at Sir M. M. Sykes's sale in 1824, R. Elstrake's portrait of "The Most Illustrious Prince Henry Lord Darnley, King of Scotland, and the Most Excellent Princess Mary Queen of Scotland," presumed to be unique, 811. 10s. It is not, however, unique; another impression, with some very rare portraits, is bound up in a copy of Dyson's collection of Queen Elizabeth's proclamations in the Bodleian Library. The highest price probably ever paid for an English portrait was 1007., the sum given by Mr. Halliwell for an early and unfinished state of Drocshout's Shak

speare.

In the case of one of Hogarth's prints, there is an impression containing a peculiarity that gives it a very factitious value- The Modern Midnight Conversation." The print usually fetches thirty shillings, but the impression in question, in which modern was spelt with two d's, was bought by the British Museum for 78 guineas.

con

Portraits of all kinds, good, bad, and indifferent, were in great request a few years since, when there was a rage for illustrating such books as Grainger's Biographical History of England. To this rage is owing, in great measure, the fact that so many books are minus the portraits which ought to accompany them. Unscrupulous collectors did not hesitate to convey" a good many rarities out of the volumes they were sulting" in public libraries. Horace Walpole, in one of his letters, says, "We have at present a rage for prints of English portraits; lately I assisted a clergyman in compiling a catalogue of them. Since this publication scarce heads in books not worth threepence will sell for five guineas." Perhaps the finest of these collections is the Sutherland Clarendon now in the Bodleian. Amongst the multitude of portraits it contains is one of John Felton, for which Mrs. Sutherland, after her husband's death, was offered 100 guineas. Mr. Sutherland had given 801. for it.

In comparing the ancient prices of prints on their first publication with the modern ones- -(I have already mentioned Durer's "Adam and Eve;' and Mr. Maberly tells us that Durer purchased Lucas Van Leyden's "Eulenspeigel," now worth, when in good state, 50l., for a stiver)—we must not forget the immensely larger sums that engravers are paid nowa-days than what were usual in former times. The artist then was often his own publisher; but even when he was engaged by some other person, he received what would be considered at present most inadequate remuneration. Woollett, for instance, a hundred years ago, asked only 50 guineas for engraving his "Niobe," though Alderman Boydell generously gave him 100. The price at which it was published was five shillings, no difference being made between proofs and prints,-the subscribers being allowed to take which they pleased. Contrast these prices with those that are obtained now. We will take an instance from France. Louis XIV. commenced a "Chalcographie du Musée Royale," a series of engravings from pictures in the Louvre. The series is still continued; and in 1854 the sum voted for this purpose was nearly 9,000l. Of this H. Dupont was to receive 1,6661. for engraving Paul Veronese's "Pilgrims of Emmaus;"

and De François (the artist engaged for Frith's "Derby Day "), 1,250. for Fra Angelico's "Coronation of the Virgin." When in 1847 there was a similar commission contemplated by the English Government, it was said that the sum Mr. J. H. Robinson was to receive for engraving "The Raising of Lazarus" was 5,000l. A publisher will often spend several thousand pounds in bringing out a first-class engraving. The "copyright" alone is a most serious item. Landseer got for the "Peace and War," now in the Vernon Gallery, 2,6501. The prices charged for the impressions must of course be in proportion. For instance, when Colnaghi published Doo's engraving of the "Raising of Lazarus," there were 100 artist's proofs at 20 guineas, 100 proofs on India paper at 15 guineas, 100 proofs on plain paper at 10 guineas, 200 prints on India paper at 6 guineas, whilst the prints themselves were charged 5 guineas each.

As I have mentioned nielli as the earliest works in engraving properly so called, perhaps it will be as well just to allude to the earliest known specimens of three other kinds of illustration-woodcuts, etchings, and mezzotints.

date is that discovered by MS. book of prayers in the It is of folio size, 11 inches

The earliest wood engraving with a Heinecken, pasted inside the cover of a Chartreuse of Buxheim, near Memmingen. high by 8 inches wide, and represents S. Christopher carrying the infant Christ. Under it are the following lines and date :

Christofori faciem die quacunque tueris,
Illa nempe die morte mala non morieris.

Millesimo ccccxx. tercio.

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It is now in the possession of Earl Spencer. A facsimile of this very interesting woodcut may be seen in Ottley's valuable work, The Early History of Engraving. Early, however, as is this woodcut, the art itself, introduced apparently by the Venetians from China, was almost certainly practised in Venice for two or three centuries before that date. Indeed, if Papillon's story in the Peintre Graveur be true-and there seem no sufficient grounds for rejecting it-that author actually found at Bagneux, near Mont Rouge, a book containing woodcuts illustrative of the history of Alexander the Great, executed by a brother and sister called Cunio, dedicated to Pope Honorius IV., who lived in the latter part of the thirteenth century (1284-5). The book itself, however, has disappeared.

It is a matter of considerable doubt who first practised etching. In the British Museum are two specimens attributed to Leonardo da Vinci (A.D. 1492-1519): one the bust of a young and beautiful female; the other a study of three horses' heads. In the same collection is another by Wenceslaus d'Olmutz, with the date 1496. Whether the art was first practised in Italy or Germany is a point which perhaps cannot now be determined.

In Evelyn's Sculptura is an early mezzotinto engraving, which is interesting not only as the work of a royal artist, Prince Rupert, but because the Prince, on Evelyn's authority was for a long time considered