centre, with its reflections, needs no comment. Note the glancing lights under the bridge. This is a very glorious and perfect instance.

"St. Julien, Tours.' Especially remarkable for its preservation of deep points of gloom, because the whole picture is one of extended shade."

Mr. Ruskin enumerates, from the same series of plates, a few instances of chiaroscuro more especially deserving of study-namely, "Scene between Quillebœuf and Villequier;" "Honfleur;" "The Scene between Nantes and Vernon;" "The Lantern of St. Cloud;" "Confluence of the Seine and Marne;" and "Troyes." He also instances the following:

"Jumièges.' The haze of sunlit rain of this most magnificent picture, the gradual retirement of the dark wood into its depth, and the sparkling and evanescent light which sends its variable flashes on the abbey, figures, foliage, and foam, require no comment. They speak home at once. But there is added to this noble composition an incident which may serve us at once for a further illustration of the nature and forms of cloud, and, for a final proof, how deeply and philosophically Turner has studied them. We have on the right of the picture the steam and the smoke of a passing steamboat. Now steam is nothing but an artificial cloud in the process of dissipation; it is as much a cloud as those of the sky itself—that is, a quantity of moisture rendered visible in the air by imperfect solution. Accordingly, observe how exquisitely irregular and broken are its forms, how sharp and spray-like; but with the convex side to the wind, the sharp edge on that side, the

SMOKE AND CLOUD.

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other soft and lost. Smoke, on the contrary, is an actual substance, existing independently in the air, a solid opaque body, subject to no absorption but that of tenuity. Observe its volumes; there is no breaking up or disappearing here; the wind carries its elastic globes before it, but does not dissolve nor break them. Equally convex and void of angles on all sides, they are the exact representations of the clouds of old masters, and serve at once to show the ignorance and falsehood of the latter, and the accuracy of study which has guided Turner to the truth."

moon.

Mr. Ruskin also instances the following subjects from plates contained in the before-mentioned volume as remarkable examples of the effects of light given by Turner:-"Beaugency," as representing the sun halfan-hour risen; cloudless sky. "Lantern of St. Cloud;" mid-day, serene and bright, with streaky clouds. "Amboise;" sun setting, detached, light cirri, and clear air. 66 Troyes;" sun setting, cloudless; new "Caudebec;" sun just set; sky covered with clouds; new moon setting. "Montjean;" sun five minutes set, serene; new moon. "Château de Blois;" sun a quarter-of-an-hour set, cloudless. "Clairmont;" sun half-an-hour set; light cirri. "St. Julien, Tours;" an hour after sunset; no moon; torchlight. "Nantes;" the same hour, moon rising. "Calais;" midnight; moonless, with lighthouses. He also refers, for instances of a grand simplicity of treatment, to Honfleur, and the scene between Clairmont and Mauves; the latter more especially for its expression of the furrowing of the hills by descending water, the com

plete roundness and symmetry of their curves, and the delicate and sharp shadows which are cast in the undulating ravines. He cites "Caudebec" as an example of the mode by which the height of the observer above the river is indicated by the loss of the reflections on the banks.

The illustrations to Rogers's "Italy" have never since been equalled. Turner's best work is there engraved in the best manner and on the costliest paper. The figures and animals-such as the banditti, the dogs, and the monks, the boating party on Como, the goats on the Campagna, are among the best he ever drew. The Alps and Lake of Geneva, his Moonlight, and his Rome, are all quite gems. All that he liked to do best he seems to have done then. The Moonlight is serener, the Rome more solid, the Venice more fairy-like than any one else's Rome, Venice, or Moonlight.

CHAPTER XIII.

TURNER'S WORK FOR THE ENGRAVERS.

THERE were so few good engravers in England in 1703, that to procure plates for his folio Cæsar, Tonson had to go to Holland in search of artists.*

In George II.'s reign, Vandergucht and Faber, the one a Fleming, the other a Dutchman, engraved a few plates; but in 1725, the thirteen octavo volumes of Rapin's "History of England," translated by Tindal and illustrated with George Virtue's portraits, drew much attention to home-born talent. In 1732, a folio edition was published in weekly numbers, and sold by thousands.

To this followed Picart's "Religious Ceremonies of all Nations," illustrated by Gavelot and Scotin; whom Hogarth also employed, together with Ravenel, Grignon, and Walker. In 1719, Dorigny completed his plates from Raphael's Cartoons; and in 1751, Messrs. Knapton published a series of historical prints

* Our earlier engravers were Faithorne, who died 1691; Whister, who died 1704; Smith (mezzotint), who died 1720; Boydell, born 1719, died 1804; Strange, born 1721, died 1792; Basile, born 1730, died 1802; Ryland, born 1732, died 1783; Woollett, born 1755, died 1785; Sharp, born 1740, died 1824; Rooker, born 1748, died 1801.

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ILLUSTRATED WORKS.

after the English artists Hayman and Blakely; in the same reign Dubosc brought out "The Battle of Blenheim;" and Pine his copies of "The Tapestry in the House of Lords." In fact, between 1740 and 1750 engraving began to develope English talent; mezzotint portraits became common, and the printsellers commenced to exhibit likenesses of distinguished characters.

Illustrated editions of English works now increased in number, and the magazines rivalled each other in their engravings and increased the taste for art. Hayman, who decorated Vauxhall, drew much for the booksellers at two guineas a drawing; the inferior artists received only one; though Lownes, the publisher, gave Wale for each of his designs to "Clarissa Harlowe" half-a-crown extra. Hayman illustrated Moore's "Fables," 1744; Hanmer's "Shakspeare," 1744; and Milton's Works, 1749.

Gravelot also drew antiquities, designed for upholsterers, and illustrated books between 1735 and 1745. His best work is the "Decamerone," 1757-a work published, however, after his return to France.

In 1741, Boydell, a young English engraver, began to publish a series of views in and about London, the size folio, the price one shilling; they were placed for sale in toy-shop windows. Encouraged by success, he extended his tours all through England and Wales between 1741 and 1755.

From 1780, Rooker, Ryland, Strange, and Woollett began to get patronage. In 1751, Strange commenced his series of copies from the old masters: in 1752, the year that Reynolds returned from abroad,