International studio (27.1905/1906(1906))

The Etchings of Sir J. C. Robinson

character of the curving downs at their foot, which
responds to his less definite touch. Nevertheless,
where decision is needed, he applies it with skill;
witness his most finished architectural plate, the
Santa Maria, Merida, where the belfry betrays the
touch of the true lover of old stone. A less am-
bitious, but significant, study in the same field is
his etching of the Greyhound Inn, Corfe Castle,
which would doubtless be even better if the changes
indicated by the artist in pencil and Chinese white
on the impression from which the reproduction is
taken, were to be carried out.
We have still to mention his two best plates, the
Nine Barrow Down and the Newton Manor, which
alone would secure Sir Charles Robinson a place
of honour among the etchers of the last Century.
Both are early works (they date in 1872 and 1874
respectively), but they none the less stand at the
head of his whole achievement. The earlier of the
two, the Nine Barrow Down (the etching to which
I alluded as having been reproduced by The
Studio), is a remarkably perfect piece of pure etching

in the soundest traditions of the art. The land-
scape is simply yet significantly treated, and the
rainstorm, seen from a height in the foreground,
advancing in a column across the plain, is rendered
with convincing truth. In the economical use of
line it has a counterpart, less brilliant to be sure, in
the Agglestone, Isle of Purbeck, where a few strokes
Crossing the brow of the hill suffice to create the
sense of atmosphere dwelling heavily about the
summit of the rock.
The second, the view of the artist’s home,
Newton Manor, possesses a certain vigour to which
the Nine Barrow Down did not pretend. Thebleak-
ness of the storm-swept countryside, emphasised
by the two donkeys which huddle together for
mutual protection in the foreground, and the
heavy clouds rolling in black rnasses over the
distant hills, are admirably expressed. These two
plates are, in fine, the work of a true master.
The etched line, byitself, seems almost inadequate
to copewith the subjects Sir Charles Robinson has
chosen, and the particular ends of his art may


“ NEWTON MANOR, SWANAGE
3°4

FROM THE ETCHING BY SIR J. C. ROBINSON