The Best Portraits in Engraving | Page 8

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.
[Illustration: L'INSTRUCTION PATERNELLE, (THE "SATIN GOWN.")
(Painted by Gerard Terburg, and Engraved by Johann Georg Wille.)]
[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.
[Illustration: NAPOLEON I.
(Painted by Fran?ois Gérard, and Engraved by Auguste Boucher Desnoyers.)]
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