A treatise on wood engravings : historical and practical . e, which were all, except one, engraved byThomas Bewick, are, on the whole, superior in point of execution tothose in the Poems of Goldsmith and Parnell. Though boldly designed,some of them display great defects in composition, and among the mostobjectionable in this respect are the Huntsman and three Hounds, at * The cut of the Hermit at his morning devotion was drawi by John Johnson, a cousinof Robert, and also one of Bewicks pupils. REVIVAL OF WOOD ENGKAVINO. 515 page 5 ; the conclusion of the Chase, page 31; and George III. stag-hu
A treatise on wood engravings : historical and practical . e, which were all, except one, engraved byThomas Bewick, are, on the whole, superior in point of execution tothose in the Poems of Goldsmith and Parnell. Though boldly designed,some of them display great defects in composition, and among the mostobjectionable in this respect are the Huntsman and three Hounds, at * The cut of the Hermit at his morning devotion was drawi by John Johnson, a cousinof Robert, and also one of Bewicks pupils. REVIVAL OF WOOD ENGKAVINO. 515 page 5 ; the conclusion of the Chase, page 31; and George III. stag-hunting, page 93. Among the best, both as respects design andexecution, are : Morning, vignette on title-page, remarkably spirited ;Hounds, page 25 ; a Stag drinking, page 27; Fox-hunting, page 63; andOtter-hunting, page 99. The final tail-piece, which has been spoiled inthe engraving, was executed by one of Bewicks pupils. John Bewick, as a designer and engraver on wood, is much inferiorto his brother. Though several of his cuts possess considerable merit. with respect to design, by far the greater number are executed iii a dry,harsh manner. His best cuts may be readily distinguished from hisbrothers by the greater contrast of black and white in the cuts engravedby John, and by the dry and withered appearance of the foliage ofthe trees. The above is a reduced copy of a cut entitled the SadHistorian, drawn and engraved by John Bewick, in the Poems byGoldsmith and Parnell. The most of John Bewicks cuts are much better conceived thanengraved; and this perhaps may in a great measure have arisen from LL 2 516 EEVIVAL OF WOOD ENGEAVING. their having been chiefly executed for childrens books, in which excel-lence of engraving was not required. His style of engraving is not good ;for though some of his cuts are extremely effective from the contrast oflight and shade, yet the lines in almost every one are coarse and harsh,and laid in, to use a technical expression, in a hard and tasteles
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1880, booksubjectwoodengraving, bookye
