DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.75271#0305
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prints be good, it signisies little by whom. The date of Rem-
brandt is getting over, and other masters are getting into fashion;
for the truth of these observations, I appeal to the dealers in old
prints, who will inform you how uncertain is the value of the
goods they vend ; hence it is such noble productions as the works
of Peter Testa are in such little esteem; the whole collection
of this master, which consists of thirty capital prints, may be
bought for less than is often given for a single print of Rem-
brandt; I speak not of his capital print, the price of which is
immoderate. The true man of taste, leaves the voice of fashion
entirely out of the question, he has a better standard of beauty, which
he will find frequently at variance with common opinion. A fourth
caution in collecting prints may be not to rate their value by their
scarceness. Scarceness will make a valuable print more valuable,
but to make scarceness the standard of a print's value, is to mistake
an accident for merit; this folly is founded in vanity, to possess
what none else can possess; the want of real merit is made up by
imaginary, and the object is intended to be kept, not looked at; yet
absurd, as this false taste is, a trifling genius may be found, who
will give ten guineas for Hollar's (hells, which, valued according to
real merit, and the scarcity added to the account, are not worth ten
Killings. Le Clerc, in his print of Alexander's Triumph, had given
a profile of that prince, the print was shewn to the Duke of Orleans,
who was pleased with it on the whole, but justly objected to the side
face ; the obsequious artist erased it and engraved a full one; a few
impressions had been taken from the plate in its first state, which sell
amongst the curious for ten times the price of the one since it has
been altered. Callot, once pleafed with a little plate of his own
etching, made a hole in it, through which he drew a ribbon and
wore it on his button: the impreslions after the hole was made,
are scarce and valuable. In a print of the Holy Family from Van
Dyck, St. John was represented laying his hand on the Virgin's
shoulder. Before the print was published, the artist ssiewed it
Nn
among
prints be good, it signisies little by whom. The date of Rem-
brandt is getting over, and other masters are getting into fashion;
for the truth of these observations, I appeal to the dealers in old
prints, who will inform you how uncertain is the value of the
goods they vend ; hence it is such noble productions as the works
of Peter Testa are in such little esteem; the whole collection
of this master, which consists of thirty capital prints, may be
bought for less than is often given for a single print of Rem-
brandt; I speak not of his capital print, the price of which is
immoderate. The true man of taste, leaves the voice of fashion
entirely out of the question, he has a better standard of beauty, which
he will find frequently at variance with common opinion. A fourth
caution in collecting prints may be not to rate their value by their
scarceness. Scarceness will make a valuable print more valuable,
but to make scarceness the standard of a print's value, is to mistake
an accident for merit; this folly is founded in vanity, to possess
what none else can possess; the want of real merit is made up by
imaginary, and the object is intended to be kept, not looked at; yet
absurd, as this false taste is, a trifling genius may be found, who
will give ten guineas for Hollar's (hells, which, valued according to
real merit, and the scarcity added to the account, are not worth ten
Killings. Le Clerc, in his print of Alexander's Triumph, had given
a profile of that prince, the print was shewn to the Duke of Orleans,
who was pleased with it on the whole, but justly objected to the side
face ; the obsequious artist erased it and engraved a full one; a few
impressions had been taken from the plate in its first state, which sell
amongst the curious for ten times the price of the one since it has
been altered. Callot, once pleafed with a little plate of his own
etching, made a hole in it, through which he drew a ribbon and
wore it on his button: the impreslions after the hole was made,
are scarce and valuable. In a print of the Holy Family from Van
Dyck, St. John was represented laying his hand on the Virgin's
shoulder. Before the print was published, the artist ssiewed it
Nn
among