Artists who have assisted in founding the Pictorial Press--Sir John
Gilbert, R.A., G. H. Thomas, and others--Wood-Engraving and its
Connexion with the Pictorial Press--Other Methods of producing
Illustrations--Wood-Engraving in England before and after Bewick's
time--Its wide Diffusion owing to the kindred Art of Printing--The
resources of the Art developed by Pictorial Newspapers--Conclusion.
Newspapers a Necessity of Civilised Life--The _Acta Diurna_ of the
Romans--Early Newspapers in Venice, Germany, and the Low
Countries--List of Illustrated Newspapers published Abroad.
The establishment of the pictorial press as an English institution was
greatly aided by the active co-operation of many distinguished artists,
the very foremost in this connexion being Sir John Gilbert. Other Royal
Academicians and eminent painters have drawn on wood for the illustrated
newspapers, but Gilbert stands out pre-eminently the great popular
illustrator of the Victorian era. He it was who first gave a distinctive
character to the illustration of news. He seemed to possess an inborn
knowledge of the essentials of newspaper art, and could express by a few
freely drawn lines and touches the hurried movement of street crowds or
the state and dignity of Court ceremonies. Whether he had to draw a knight
in armour or a gentleman in a paletot he did it in a way exactly suited to
rapid engraving and printing. The feeling which, in his pictures, makes
him delight in battle-fields, blazoned banners, velvet and gold, made his
drawings on wood brilliant in handling and always picturesque. It was most
fortunate that the commencement of his career was coincident with the
foundation of the pictorial press. William Harvey and other artists were
already in the field, but Gilbert's style was better adapted to newspaper
work. His quickness and versatility made him just the man that was
wanted. Harvey had drawn some of the subjects published in the _Observer_,
but his style was not suited to the illustration of current events.
Nothing came amiss to Gilbert, who supplied the pictorial press for twenty
years with a constant succession of effective drawings, embracing all
kinds of subjects, and he never failed in that most essential quality of a
newspaper artist--_punctuality_. It is as the popular illustrator that the
name of Gilbert stands at the head of that numerous band of artists who
contributed to the foundation of illustrated journalism in this country.
The late George H. Thomas was not less successful than Gilbert in the
spirit and vigour of his drawings. His bold and eminently artistic
pencil alternated with Gilbert's in portraying the exciting events
following the revolutionary period of 1848-49. His contributions to the
_Illustrated London News_ during the Crimean war were marked by great
force and truthfulness, and procured him the notice and patronage of her
Majesty Queen Victoria. Mr. Thomas's premature death in 1868 was a great
loss to the world of art in general, and to the pictorial press in
particular.
It is remarkable that many of our distinguished artists should have
begun their careers as engravers or draughtsmen on wood. The production
of works in black and white, whether as engravings or drawings, is no
doubt good artistic practice in the study of light and shade, and the
young artist who draws on wood as a means of helping him to live while
he is waiting for fame, is at the same time pursuing a useful branch of
his art education. Luke Fildes, A.R.A., Birket Foster, W. Small, R. C.
Woodville, C. Gregory, A.R.A., and many others began in this way, and
among deceased artists occur the names of S. Read, E. Duncan, and F. W.
Topham. The two last were both engravers. All these men have done good
work on the pictorial press, and some of them first won distinction
through its medium. Both the _Illustrated London News_ and the _Graphic_
may claim to have done good service to art and artists in this respect.
Their pages have always been open to young artists of ability, and while
they have helped forward struggling genius they have opened up new
sources of enjoyment to the general public.
The pictorial press has hitherto been mainly dependent on the art of
wood-engraving for its illustrations, but latterly several inventions
have been used, not unsuccessfully, in the production of blocks in
relief, to be printed in the same manner as woodcuts. The great
improvements that have been made in surface printing render it probable
that in the future these _process_ blocks may be extensively used in
illustrated newspapers. They are recommended by their cheapness and
rapid production; and as the intermediate process of engraving is
dispensed with, they retain the exact touch of the artist, and are not
liable to be mutilated by careless or hasty engraving. It may be said of
all these inventions, however, that they are best suited for slight
sketches, and should not be applied to the production of highly-finished
subjects. For the latter there is nothing better than a woodcut, which,
when well executed and carefully printed, has a richness superior to any
other method of engraving. But in the present day competition is so
great and the march of events is so rapid that cheapness and rapidity of
production will override artistic excellence, and _process_-engraving,
as it is called, will probably be the method adopted for the _daily_
pictorial press, the era of which is approaching.
Wood-engraving, as an art, scarcely existed in this country before the
time of Thomas Bewick. To him we owe its revival, and he was thus
indirectly concerned in the creation of the pictorial newspaper. Though
we have seen that the _Grub Street Journal_ and the _Observer_ on a few
occasions used copperplate illustrations, it is perfectly certain that
an illustrated newspaper, properly so-called, never could have existed
but for the art of wood-engraving. It was an essential agent in bringing
into life this novel offspring of the printing press, just as it
assisted in the birth of the old 'block books.' When Caxton brought the
art of printing into this country the woodcuts printed at his press were
probably executed by the printers whom he brought with him. His
successors illustrated their books in the same way, and even after
wood-engraving was practised in England as a distinct profession many of
the illustrations in books and pamphlets were the work of printers. When
something of superior design and finish was wanted, ready-made woodcuts
were procured from Nuremberg or Lyons, then the chief marts for such
productions. The blocks so obtained were sometimes used without much
regard to the book in which they were printed. Cuts originally designed
for an edition of _Ovid_ appeared in the Bible, and no notice was taken
of this mixture of sacred and profane things. Albert Duerer's influence
on the art of wood-engraving was very great, but it never extended to
this country. Hans Holbein, who came to England two years before Duerer's
death, made a few designs for the wood-engravers during his long
residence here. His transient use of the art, however, did not raise it
to a better condition, and printers continued to be the chief producers
of woodcuts. In the time of Queen Elizabeth there flourished a printer
and engraver of the name of John Day, who took for his mark an
emblematic device of the day-spring of the reformed religion, with the
motto, 'Arise, for it is Day.' The best illustrated books of that period
were produced by him. About this time the art was rapidly declining in
other countries, but in England it was in a better condition than at any
previous period. It soon, however, declined in this country also, but
was kept alive by Edward Kirkall, John Baptiste Jackson, and others,
until it was revived by Thomas Bewick.
The low condition of the art of wood-engraving in this country was
chiefly owing to the want of good designers, and it was not until a man
arose who possessed the power to _draw_ as well as to _engrave_ that an
English school of wood-engraving was created. Bewick possessed the
artistic faculty as a direct gift from nature; and though it was from
accidental circumstances that he was led to exercise this innate power
in drawing and engraving on wood, he soon discovered of what the art was
capable, and devoted his chief attention to it. He drew such things as
he understood and had studied from nature, and thoroughly comprehending
the scope and power of wood-engraving, he was able, with little labour,
to produce the best results.
At the time of Bewick's death, in 1828, England had scarcely recovered
from the exhausting wars of Napoleon, trade was stagnant, and taxation
was heavy. The mass of the people had no money to spend on such luxuries
as illustrated books, and the enterprise of publishers was confined to
the production of the well-known 'Annuals' of that day; but they were
illustrated with steel engravings, and were only purchased by the
wealthier classes. Such works as _Robinson Crusoe_ and the _Pilgrim's
Progress_, for which there is always a demand, were illustrated by
Cruikshank and Harvey. There was _Northcote's Fables_, on which all the
best engravers of the day were employed; but it was not until the
Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge began its operations, and
Charles Knight took the lead in illustrated literature, that
wood-engraving began to be extensively used. The art was so little known
that when the woodcuts of the _Penny Magazine_ began to attract
attention a nobleman of that day spoke of them as the productions of a
new art. Illustrations were so seldom used that the preparation of even
a small woodcut was of much moment to all concerned. I have heard the
late William Harvey relate that when Whittingham, the well-known
printer, wanted a new cut for his 'Chiswick Press' series, he would
write to Harvey and John Thompson, the engraver, appointing a meeting at
Chiswick, when printer, designer, and engraver talked over the matter
with as much deliberation as if they were about to produce a costly
national monument, and after they had settled all points over a snug
supper, the result of their labours was the production, months
afterwards, of a small woodcut measuring perhaps two inches by three. At
this time only about a dozen persons, besides Bewick's pupils, were
practising the art of wood-engraving in England, and in France the art
was so low that a few years later the blocks for the _Magazin
Pittoresque_ were sent from Paris to London to be engraved. In Germany,
the cradle of the art, it languished as in other countries, while in
America, a country which is now taking a leading part in the cultivation
of wood-engraving, the art was almost unknown as a native production. It
is now in use all over the civilised world, and there is scarcely a
capital city without its newspaper illustrated with woodcuts. It has
even penetrated to the sunless regions of ice and snow. In the Library
of the South Kensington Museum there is a book with illustrations drawn
and engraved on wood by Esquimaux!
The cause of this wide diffusion and extended employment of the art of
wood-engraving is undoubtedly its close alliance with the kindred art of
printing. No other method of engraving lends itself so easily to the
rapid productions of the printing-press. From the earliest days of
printing the two arts have advanced hand in hand, aiding in the growth
of knowledge and the spread of civilisation. The application of steam to
the art of printing revolutionised the world of typography, and
wood-engraving was not slow in adapting itself to the new conditions.
The advancing spirit of education created a demand for cheap knowledge.
Penny magazines and pictorial newspapers came into existence. The steam
printing-press spread them far and wide, and wood-engraving since the
time of Bewick has shown that it possesses capabilities which that
genuine old artist would have rejoiced to behold.
In tracing the origin and progress of the pictorial press I have
confined my researches to British journalism, but the subject might be
widely extended. From the days of the _Acta Diurna_ of the Romans
something in the shape of a newspaper appears to have been a necessity
of civilised life. Soon after the invention of printing small
news-sheets appeared in various towns of Germany and in Venice. In the
Low Countries an illustrated war gazette was published as early as 1605.
It was called the _Niewetijdinghe_, and it was the precursor of the
_Gazette van Antwerpen_, which survived till 1805. During the Spanish
and Austrian rule in Belgium each town had its privileged newspaper. As
the printers of those days were well acquainted with the art of
wood-engraving, it is not unlikely that some of these early newspapers
contained illustrations. The earlier newspapers of Holland were chiefly
devoted to commercial intelligence, and afforded little scope for
illustration, but illustrated broadsides were not uncommon. In Germany
the first regular newspaper appeared in 1615, when the art of
wood-engraving had greatly declined; and when the physician Renaudot
started the first newspaper in France, in 1631, if the idea of
illustrating it had occurred to him he would have had to rely on his
printer for the production of the woodcuts. As, however, the low
condition of illustrative art in the seventeenth century did not deter
English printers of 'News-books' from seeking such pictorial aid as they
could obtain, it is highly probable their Continental brethren did the
same, however insufficient might be the means at their command.
When the history of our own age comes to be written the pictorial
newspapers will form an inexhaustible store-house for the historian. The
following list of cities in Europe, America, and the English colonies,
with the names of the illustrated newspapers published by them, will
convey some idea of the extent to which pictorial journalism has spread
during the last forty years:--
PARIS:
_L'Illustration._
_Le Monde Illustre._
_L'Univers Illustre._
_La Republique Illustree._
_La France Illustree._
BERLIN:
_Deutsche Illustrirte Zeitung._
STUTTGART:
_Uber Land und Meer._
_Das Buch fuer Alle._
LEIPZIG:
_Illustrirte Zeitung._
VIENNA:
_Neue Illustrirte Zeitung._
MILAN:
_L'Illustrazione Universale._
_L'Illustrazione Italiana._
MADRID:
_La Illustracion Espanola._
BARCELONA:
_La Illustracion Catolica._
WARSAW:
_Klosy._
_Tycodnik Powszechny._
AMSTERDAM:
_De Hollandsche Illustratie._
ST. PETERSBURG:
_Universal Illustration._
COPENHAGEN:
_Illustreret Tidende._
CHRISTIANIA:
_Nu Illustreret Tidende._
NEW YORK:
_Harper's Weekly._
_Harper's Bazaar._
_Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper._
_Spirit of the Times._
_The Daily Graphic._
_Illustrirte Zeitung_ (printed in German).
WASHINGTON:
_Illustrated Washington Chronicle._
MONTREAL:
_Canadian Illustrated News._
_Le Monde Illustre_ (French).
SYDNEY:
_Illustrated Sydney News._
MELBOURNE:
_Illustrated Australian News._
_Australian Sketcher._
MEXICO:
_Revista Universal._
MONTEVIDEO:
_La Illustracion Uruguaya._
RIO DE JANEIRO:
_A Illustracao._
CAPE TOWN:
_South African Illustrated News._
THE END.
[Illustration]
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