DOI chapter:
Chapter VIII
DOI Page / Citation link:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.62095#0095
CHAPTER VIII
Bartolozzi—His character as a man and its effect upon his reputation as an artist—Eleven representative illustrations of
his works and the reasons for their selection—-The prints described and a short list given of other desirable specimens
of his Colour-Printed stipple-work.
In the final chapter I intend to mention briefly the most prominent of those of the stipple-
engravers who were in the habit of employing the colour-printers, but who for various reasons
are not illustrated in the volume. In this and the following chapters will be found a
short account of those men who may fairly be considered, at least, as amongst the most
successful of the workers under the allied flags, and who sufficiently exemplify, if they do
not absolutely define, the scope of the alliance. I have not attempted anything like a
complete list of the works of any one artist; for the value and interest of such a list would
in no way be commensurate with the expenditure of time and labour it would involve;
and it is not within the limited scope of my ambition to become the Chailoner Smith
of stipple-engravings. The public demand for coloured engravings during the twenty
years from 1780 to 1800 so far outstripped the powers of the men best able to cope with
it, that there was not one amongst them but was guilty, at one time or another, of
falling below, in some cases infinitely below, the high-water mark of his talents. I
have contented myself, therefore, with merely indicating, for the benefit of my brother
and sister collectors, the directions in which they should look for an increase of their
treasures. When they have secured forty out of the fifty prints illustrated in the
following volume, together with a selection of those incidentally mentioned in the pages;
and have added a complete set of “ The Cries of London,” a complete set of “ The
Months,” and a few carefully selected specimens after Buck’s unequal work, produced
early in the present century, which they will have come across in the course of their
search for those prints already mentioned, they will probably know quite as much as, or
more than, I do of what they require, and they will be able to cover the rest of the
ground without assistance. They will then, probably, send the greater part of the
contents of their portfolios to the salerooms, and yearn to diversify their walls with
mezzotints printed in monochrome !
I take the engravers in alphabetical order, although this has not proved the most
aesthetic method of arranging the plates.
Bartolozzi (Francesco), 1727-1815, to whom, in the absence of a convenient
example of Ryland’s work, the place of honour in the volume justly pertains, was born
in Florence. He was the son of a goldsmith, and was a student at the Florentine
Bartolozzi—His character as a man and its effect upon his reputation as an artist—Eleven representative illustrations of
his works and the reasons for their selection—-The prints described and a short list given of other desirable specimens
of his Colour-Printed stipple-work.
In the final chapter I intend to mention briefly the most prominent of those of the stipple-
engravers who were in the habit of employing the colour-printers, but who for various reasons
are not illustrated in the volume. In this and the following chapters will be found a
short account of those men who may fairly be considered, at least, as amongst the most
successful of the workers under the allied flags, and who sufficiently exemplify, if they do
not absolutely define, the scope of the alliance. I have not attempted anything like a
complete list of the works of any one artist; for the value and interest of such a list would
in no way be commensurate with the expenditure of time and labour it would involve;
and it is not within the limited scope of my ambition to become the Chailoner Smith
of stipple-engravings. The public demand for coloured engravings during the twenty
years from 1780 to 1800 so far outstripped the powers of the men best able to cope with
it, that there was not one amongst them but was guilty, at one time or another, of
falling below, in some cases infinitely below, the high-water mark of his talents. I
have contented myself, therefore, with merely indicating, for the benefit of my brother
and sister collectors, the directions in which they should look for an increase of their
treasures. When they have secured forty out of the fifty prints illustrated in the
following volume, together with a selection of those incidentally mentioned in the pages;
and have added a complete set of “ The Cries of London,” a complete set of “ The
Months,” and a few carefully selected specimens after Buck’s unequal work, produced
early in the present century, which they will have come across in the course of their
search for those prints already mentioned, they will probably know quite as much as, or
more than, I do of what they require, and they will be able to cover the rest of the
ground without assistance. They will then, probably, send the greater part of the
contents of their portfolios to the salerooms, and yearn to diversify their walls with
mezzotints printed in monochrome !
I take the engravers in alphabetical order, although this has not proved the most
aesthetic method of arranging the plates.
Bartolozzi (Francesco), 1727-1815, to whom, in the absence of a convenient
example of Ryland’s work, the place of honour in the volume justly pertains, was born
in Florence. He was the son of a goldsmith, and was a student at the Florentine