THE EX-LIBRIS SERIES. EDITED BY GLEESON WHITE.
MODERN ILLUSTRATION.
[Illustration: BY F. WALKER. PROCESS BLOCK FROM THE DRAWING ON
WOOD IN SOUTH KENSINGTON MUSEUM.]
Modern Illustration
by Joseph Pennell, author of
"Pen Drawing and Pen Draughtsmen," etc.
[Illustration]
London: George Bell & Sons, York Street,
Covent Garden, & New York. Mdcccxcv
CHISWICK PRESS:--CHARLES WHITTINGHAM AND CO.
TOOKS COURT, CHANCERY LANE, LONDON.
CONTENTS.
CHAP. PAGE
INDEX OF ILLUSTRATIONS vii
PREFATORY CHAPTER xiii
INTRODUCTION 1
I. A GENERAL SURVEY 9
II. THE METHODS OF TO-DAY, THEIR ORIGIN AND DEVELOPMENT 33
III. FRENCH ILLUSTRATION 50
IV. ILLUSTRATION IN GERMANY, SPAIN, AND OTHER COUNTRIES 70
V. ENGLISH ILLUSTRATION 81
VI. AMERICAN ILLUSTRATION 113
VII. CONCLUSION 131
*** The Publishers take this opportunity to thank especially the
following owners of copyrights of various drawings for their kind
permission to reproduce them here:--The editors of "The Daily
Chronicle," "Good Words," "Sunday Magazine," "The Studio," "The
Century Magazine," and "Scribner's Magazine"; Messrs. Chapman and
Hall, H. Grevel and Co., Harper and Brothers, C. Kegan Paul and
Co., Thomas Murby, and Ward, Lock and Bowden.
INDEX OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
_The full page engravings are indexed with the number of the
page nearest to them._
ARTIST ENGRAVER AND SOURCE PAGE
FRED. WALKER From an original drawing on the wood
in the South Kensington Museum.
Process block by C. Hentschel _Frontispiece_
" " Process block by Hentschel, from a
drawing in wash and pencil 95
BOUTET DE MONVEL Process block from "St. Nicolas," the
French xiii
From "Jeanne d'Arc," by Hentschel 65
W. W. RUSSELL Process block by Hentschel, from a pen
drawing in "The Daily Chronicle" xiv
MAURICE Process block by Hentschel, from a pen
GREIFFENHAGEN drawing in "The Daily Chronicle" xvi
E. J. SULLIVAN Process block by Hentschel, from a pen
drawing in "The Daily Chronicle" xx
J. MCNEIL WHISTLER From Thornbury's "Legendary Ballads"
wood-engraving by J. Swain xxii
A. S. HARTRICK Process block by Hentschel, from a pen
drawing in "The Daily Chronicle" xxv
JOHN CONSTABLE From a pencil drawing, process block unsigned 1
UNKNOWN "St. Christopher," from a woodcut, 1423 6
SIR E. BURNE-JONES, Pen drawing; block by Carl Hentschel.
BT. From "The Daily Chronicle" 6
" " Process block by Art Reproduction Co., from
original drawing for Gatty's "Parables" 44
THOMAS BEWICK Wood-engraving from Walton's "Angler" 9
DAVID WILKIE Process block by Carl Hentschel, from
a pen drawing 9
THE LINNELLS Drawings on wood, and engravings from
National Gallery Handbook 10, 11
THOMAS STOTHARD Process block by Carl Hentschel, from
an unpublished pen and wash drawing 10
" " Wood-engravings by L. Clennell 12, 13
WILLIAM HARVEY Wood-engravings by Thompson, from
Milton's Works, etc. 15, 16
" " Original drawing on wood; process, unsigned 17
" " Wood-engraving after B. R. Haydon,
detail of "Dentatus," process block
from it by Dellagana 49
JOHN THURSTON Wood-engravings, unsigned, from Butler's
"Hudibras," Tasso, etc. 19, 21
GEORGE CRUIKSHANK Engravings by S. and T. Williams and
others unsigned, from "Three
Courses," "Table Book," 22, 23, 25
DANTE GABRIEL Process block, by Clarke, from original
ROSSETTI unpublished pen drawing 27
" " Wood-engraving, by Dalziel, from
"Tennyson's Poems" 27
BIRKET FOSTER Wood-engraving from Longfellow's Works,
etc., by Dalziel, Vizetelly, etc. 26-29
" " Process block from an original drawing
on wood 28
HARRISON WEIR Two wood-engravings from "Poetry
for Schools" by A. Slader 30
" " Original wash drawing on wood, process
block unsigned 31
A. COOPER Engraved by M. Jackson, for Walton's
"Angler" 32
RANDOLPH CALDECOTT Engraved by J. D. Cooper; from "Old
Christmas" 33
" " From the "Elegy on a Mad Dog,"
wood engraving, unsigned 83
" " From "Bracebridge Hall," wood-engraving,
unsigned 86
CHARLES KEENE Original unpublished pen drawings,
blocks by Clarke and Dellagana 34, 36
M. E. EDWARDS Wood-engraving from Gatty's "Parables,"
by Harral 38
G. DU MAURIER Wood-engraving by J. D. Cooper 40
" " Process blocks, from pen drawings for
"Trilby" 102, 103
ARTHUR HUGHES Wood-engraving from Hake's "Parables,"
unsigned 41
WALTER CRANE Process block by Carl Hentschel, from
wood-engraving printed in colours,
"Beauty and the Beast" 46
KATE GREENAWAY Key-block for wood-engraving in
colour, by Edmund Evans 48
E. ISABEY Process block by Dellagana, after
wood-engraving by Slader, from
"Paul and Virginia" 50
"GAVARNI" Process block by Dellagana, after
wood-engraving, unsigned, from
"Parisians by themselves" 51
J. M. L. E. Engravings from the "Contes
MEISSONIER Remois" 52, 57
JEAN GIGOUX Process block, unsigned, from wood-engraving
from "Gil Blas" 53
JULES JACQUEMART Pen drawings, reproduced by C. Gillot,
from "The History of Furniture" 55, 56, 64
A. DE NEUVILLE Wood-engraving by Farlet from "Coups de Fusil" 59
GUSTAVE DORÉ Wood-engraving by Brunier, from "Spain" 58
" " Process block by Dellagana, from a lithograph 60
D. VIERGE Pen drawing, process by Gillot, from
"Pablo de Ségovie" 60
LOUIS MORIN Pen drawing, process, unsigned, from
"L'Art et l'Idée" 62, 63
CARLOS SCHWÆBE Pen drawing, process, unsigned, from
Zola's "Le Rêve" 62
E. GRASSET Pen drawing, process by Hare, from
"Quatre Fils Aymon" 63
J. F. RAFFAËLLI Pen drawing, process, unsigned, from
"Paris Illustré" 64
H. IBELS Pen drawing, process, unsigned, from
"L'Art du Rire" 65, 66
STEINLEN Chalk drawings, two process blocks, by
Carl Hentschel, from "Gil Blas" 66
A. WILLETTE Pen drawing, process, unsigned, from
"Les Pierrots" 66, 68
CARAN D'ACHE Pen drawing, process, unsigned, "Album
Caran D'Ache" 67
A. ROBIDA Pen drawing, process, unsigned, from
"Journal d'un vieux garçon" 67
J. L. FORAIN Pen drawing, process, unsigned, from
"La Comédie Parisienne" 68
P. RENOUARD Wood-engraving, unsigned, from chalk
drawing in "The Graphic" 68
M. LALANNE From pencil drawing, process block by Clarke 70
MARTIN RICO From a pen drawing, process by Dellagana 70
HANS TEGNER Unsigned process, from an original pen drawing 72
" " Pen drawing, from Holberg's "Comedies,"
wood (?) unsigned 73
ADOLPH MENZEL Process block by Hentschel, from
unpublished drawing 73
F. GOYA Process by Dellagana, from etchings in
"Caprices" 74, 78
" From a chalk drawing in the British
Museum, process unsigned 74
M. FORTUNY Process, unsigned, from a pen drawing 74
JOSEPH SATTLER Process, unsigned, from a pen drawing,
"The Dance of Death" 74
G. DE NITTIS Process, unsigned, from wash and brush,
"Paris Illustré" 76
W. BUSCH Process, unsigned, from pen drawing,
"Balduin Bahlamm" 77
A. RETHEL Wood-engraving, by Burkner, "Death
the Friend," process reduction 78
H. SCHLITTGEN Process, unsigned, from pen drawing,
"Ein erster und ein letzter Ball" 78
FRANZ STÜCK Process, unsigned, from painting, "Franz
Stück Album" 79
J. GARCIA Y RAMOS Process, unsigned, from pen and wash drawing 79
W. L. WYLLIE Process, unsigned, pen drawing, "Magazine
of Art" 80
J. W. NORTH From a drawing on wood; block by Dellagana 81
HUGH THOMSON Process, unsigned, pen drawing from
"Our Village" 82
J. M. W. TURNER Process by Dellagana, from Rogers' "Italy" 85
E. GRISET Wood-engraving, unsigned from Hood's
"Comic Annual" 87
SIR J. E. MILLAIS, Wood-engravings, by Dalziel, from
BT. "Good Words" 88, 90
A. BOYD HOUGHTON Wood-engraving, by Dalziel, from
Dalziel's "Arabian Nights" 92
" " Wood-engraving, by Dalziel, from
Dalziel's "Arabian Nights" 92
G. J. PINWELL Process by Hentschel, from drawing
on wood for Goldsmith's Works 93
" " Process by Hentschel, from drawing on
wood for Goldsmith's Works 94
CHARLES GREEN Unknown 94
F. SANDYS Wood-engraving by Swain, from Thornbury's
"Legendary Ballads" 96
F. SHIELDS Wood-engraving, unsigned, from Defoe's
"History of the Plague" 98
J. MAHONEY Process block, from wood-engraving in
"The Sunday Magazine" 100
J. F. SULLIVAN Wood-engraving, unsigned, from Hood's
"Comic Annual" 100
SIR JOHN TENNIEL Engraved on wood by H. Harral,
from Gatty's "Parables" 102
LINLEY SAMBOURNE Engraved by H. Swain, from Kingsley's
"Water Babies" 102
W. G. BAXTER Process, unsigned, from pen drawing
in "Ally Sloper's Cartoons" 103
PHIL MAY Process, unsigned, from pen drawing
in "The Graphic" 103
W. SMALL Engraving on wood by Lacour, from
"Cassell's Magazine" 104, 105
R. ANNING BELL Process block by Hare, from a pen drawing 105
J. BERNARD Process block, unsigned, from pen
PARTRIDGE drawing in "Proverbs in Porcelain" 106
W. HOLMAN HUNT Engraving on wood by Harral, from
Gatty's "Parables" 106
E. H. NEW Process block, from pen drawing in
"The Quest" 107
WINIFRED SMITH Process block, unsigned, from pen
drawing in "Singing Games" 107
ALFRED PARSONS Wood-engraving by J. D. Cooper, from
"The English Illustrated Magazine" 107
" " Process block by Hentschel, from
"The Daily Chronicle" 109
SIR GEORGE REID Wash drawing, engraving on wood,
unsigned, from "A Scotch Naturalist" 108
W. PAGET Wash drawing, process, by Andre and
Sleigh, from "Cassell's Magazine" 109
L. RAVEN-HILL Process, unsigned, from pen drawings
in "The Butterfly" 110, 111
EDGAR WILSON Process, unsigned, from "The Unicorn" 111
C. E. MALLOWS Process, from a pencil drawing in
"The Builder" 111
R. CATON WOODVILLE Process from a wood-engraving, in
"The Illustrated London News" 112
SIDNEY P. HALL Wood-engraving from pencil drawing
in "The Graphic" 112
AUBREY BEARDSLEY Process block by Clarke, from a pen drawing 113
T. WALTER WILSON Process reduction, from "The Illustrated
London News" 113
F. S. CHURCH Process reduction, from "The Continent" 113
C. S. REINHART Wood-engraving by H. Davidson, from
"The Century Magazine" 114
WALTER SHIRLAW Process block, unsigned, from charcoal
drawing in "The Century Magazine" 116
HOWARD PYLE Process block, unsigned, from pen drawing
for "Wonderful One Hoss Shay" 118, 120
" " Wood-engraving, unsigned, from wash
drawing in "The Century Magazine" 119
ALFRED BRENNAN Process, unsigned, from pen drawing
in "The Continent" 121
A. B. FROST Process, unsigned, from pen drawing
in "Stuff and Nonsense" 122, 123
E. A. ABBEY Process, unsigned, from pen drawing
in "Harper's Magazine" 124
" " Wood-engraving, unsigned, from Austin
Dobson's Poems 124
C. D. GIBSON Process, unsigned, from pen drawing
in "The Century Magazine" 125
OLIVER HERFORD Process, unsigned, from pen drawing
in "Fables" 125
ROBERT BLUM Process, unsigned, from pen drawing
in "Scribner's Magazine" 126
" " Process, unsigned, from chalk drawings
in "Scribner's Magazine" 129
CHILDE HASSAM Process, unsigned, from pen drawing
in "The Commercial Advertiser" 126
HOPKINSON SMITH Process, unsigned, from chalk drawing
in "The Century Magazine" 126
FREDERIC REMINGTON Process, unsigned, from pen drawing
in "The Century Magazine" 128
R. BIRCH Process, unsigned, from pen drawing
in "Little Lord Fauntleroy" 129
T. COLE Wood-engraving after W. M. Chase,
from "The Century Magazine" 129
S. PARRISH Process, unsigned, from "The Continent" 130
GILBERT GAUL Wood-engraving, unsigned, from "The
Century Magazine" 130
SELWYN IMAGE Process, unsigned, from "The Fitzroy
Pictures" 131
HEYWOOD SUMNER Process, unsigned, from "The Fitzroy
Pictures" 131
A. J. GASKIN Process, unsigned, from pen drawing
in "Old Fairy Tales" 132
LAURENCE HOUSMAN Process, unsigned, from pen drawing
in "A Farm in Fairyland" 133
T. COTMAN Process reproduction by Dellagana, from
"Architectural Antiquities of Normandy" 134
ERRATA.
Page xv, _for_ "T. W. Russell," _read_ "W. W. Russell."
Page 20,} _for_ "1835,"}
Page 25,} _for_ "1838,"} _read_ "1836."
*** I have seen four different dates given for the book.
Page 25, _for_ "1842," _read_ "1840."
Page 32,}
Page 69,} _for_ "Pannemacker," _read_ "Pannemaker."
Page 52, _for_ "Lavoignal," _read_ "Lavoignat."
Page 112, _for_ "Sydney P. Hall," _read_ "Sidney."
" " _for_ "pen" _read_ "pencil."
[Illustration: BY BOUTET DE MONVEL. FROM "ST. NICOLAS" (DELEGRAVE).]
PREFACE.
This book is the result of a request, made to me by the editor of the
Ex-Libris Series, that I should write for him something about the
Illustration of to-day.
The idea, I must acknowledge, and I am glad to do so, is his, not mine.
To the editor also I am indebted for much help, especially in the matter
of the illustrations which the book contains; in fact, if he has not
selected and chosen them all, he has performed the more difficult and
thankless task of obtaining them. Only one who has gone through the
drudgery of finding drawings or blocks, in magazine, book, museum,
artist's studio, or collector's portfolio, and then of getting the
permission of editor, publisher, curator, artist, or amateur, to use or
reproduce them, knows what this means. I know from past experience, and
I was therefore only too glad to shirk the work when I found Mr. Gleeson
White willing to undertake it. I doubt, however, if he will ever again
attempt such a task. For the appearance of the illustrations in the book
he deserves the credit; for much advice and many suggestions of great
value, as well as to the articles he has written, and the lectures he
has delivered, on this subject, I am greatly indebted.
[Illustration: BY T. W. RUSSELL. PEN DRAWING FROM "THE DAILY
CHRONICLE."]
There are many others also whom I must thank. First of all Mr. Austin
Dobson, who, when he learned I was making a study of the subject, took
the trouble to put me on the track of the French illustrated books of
the early part of this century, giving me a most helpful start. Without
his assistance, and that of M. Beraldi, I might never have even been
able to trace the true birth, development, and growth of modern
illustration, which springs from Goya, the Spaniard, as draughtsman,[1]
and Bewick, the Englishman, as engraver; spreading, spontaneously but
quite independently, to France; thence to Germany, back again to
England, and finally to America, whence it has been diffused again all
over the world. Though in all its component parts--drawing, engraving,
and printing--illustration is more advanced in the United States than
anywhere else; still to-day, despite the excellence of much of the work
done there, remarkable results are being obtained in other countries.
Yet this latter-day excellence is so marked in American work that in
many ways it has overshadowed that of England, France, Germany, and
Spain, from the artists and engravers of which countries we Americans
have derived our inspiration.
[1] The Spanish photographer to whom was given the commission by
Messrs. Bell to photograph the Goya drawings in the Museum
of the Prado, never carried it out. For nearly a year they
have been promised _manyana_, but the to-morrow has not yet
dawned.
Once again I must thank the authorities at South Kensington and the
British Museum, Mr. E. F. Strange and the assistants; Mr. A. W. Pollard,
who, though the editor of a rival series, helped me as though the book
was to appear in his own collection; Professor Colvin and Mr. Lionel
Cust, the latter of whom, during his stay in the Print Room of the
British Museum, I bothered persistently; his transfer to a more
important post is a great loss to students at the Museum; Dr. Hans
Singer of Dresden, and many others.
Artists, especially those of the older generation, the men who gave
illustration in this country thirty-five years ago a position it does
not hold to-day, have been untiring in their interest in the book, and
most helpful in every way; it has been a delight and a pleasure to meet
Frederick Sandys, Birket Foster, Harrison Weir, Frederick Shields, and
W. H. Hooper, just as it is an undying proof of the artistic blindness
of a generation which has not the intelligence to use the work of its
masters. Mr. Hooper has told me that he does not believe the Bewick
blocks could be printed any better than they originally were; this is an
interesting problem, but one which can never be solved; from my point of
view they were badly printed. He also thinks that Bewick used overlays.
Mr. Hooper is the English master of _facsimile_ wood-engraving; and some
day, when this fact is generally discovered (as Mr. William Morris has
found out, for Mr. Hooper has engraved the greater part, if not all, of
Sir Edward Burne-Jones's and Mr. Morris's designs), there will be a wild
and fruitless discussion among bibliographers as to the engravers of the
wonderful blocks in Morris's books, and of much of the best work of 1860
to 1870, signed with the name of a firm, or a tiny mark in the most
obscure corner.
Mr. Laurence Housman's article on A. Boyd Houghton in "Bibliographica" I
wish I had seen before the English chapter was written, and I wish I had
had the benefit of his researches concerning this master, as well as the
advice of Mr. A. Strahan, which would have been invaluable.
[Illustration: BY MAURICE GREIFFENHAGEN. PEN DRAWING FROM "THE DAILY
CHRONICLE."]
Mr. W. J. Hennessy has given much help in the American chapter, and I
must thank Mr. Emery Walker, Mr. Horace Townsend, Mr. H. Orrinsmith, Mr.
C. T. Jacobi, Mr. W. E. Henley, and I cannot remember how many more. Mr.
Edmund Gosse kindly allowed us to reproduce his Rossetti, one of the
strongest pieces of work, I think, that artist ever did in pen and ink.
The other drawings not contributed directly by artists, or not obtained
as electros, etc., are mainly from my own collection, for strange as it
may seem, the collection of original drawings is one of my hobbies;
others may collect bad prints, I prefer good originals. The proprietors
of "The Daily Chronicle" allowed us to reproduce a number of designs
made for that paper, and published in it during February, 1895. That no
drawings are included from many of the artists of "Fliegende Blätter" is
because the proprietors refused to allow them to be reproduced or used;
no doubt the publishers have daily applications of the same sort, but as
a book like this is not intended as a rival to a comic paper, I think
their refusal in this case rather uncalled for. Still, I have not
allowed their decision to influence me, nor yet the refusal of one or
two artists, who evidently prefer the advertisement of the vulgar type
of weekly to being included with their equals or masters. No doubt these
confessions will be greeted with applause, especially in that paper
whose boast it was once to be "written by gentlemen for gentlemen." No
doubt I shall be censured for leaving out the work of every man who ever
happened to make an illustration or even a sketch, especially if it was
privately published. No doubt the omission of Miss Alexander and other
Ruskin-boomed amateurs will be noted, but I have no collection of their
works which I should like to unload on the dear public. And as for the
misplaced energy contained in these drawings, I am sorry that their
authors wasted so much time over them. No doubt for making these
confessions, unknown or anonymous nobodies will shriek out that I have
stolen everything in the book from an authority of whom I never heard.
And, finally, no doubt an ordinarily rational paper like the "Spectator"
will remark of certain of the drawings, "they make us sick."
As to the text, it is in no sense an attempt at a complete history of
modern illustration; such a subject would fill volumes, and take a
lifetime to prepare. It is but a sketch, and a very slight one, of what
I think is the most important work of this century; from which I know I
shall be told I have omitted almost all that I should have included, and
inserted much that should have been omitted.
But I should like to point out that there are no works that I have been
able to consult on modern illustration, that is on drawing, engraving
and printing as practised to-day in Europe and America; there are a few
excellent books notably a "Chapter on English Illustration," by Mr.
Dobson, in Mr. Lang's "The Library," and Mr. Linton's works on
engraving; Mason Jackson's "Pictorial Press;" a few good monographs on
the great illustrators, Champfleury's "Vignettes Romantiques," for
example; many excellent scattered articles, and an ocean of rubbish. But
I am the unfortunate who will be sacrificed for attempting to write the
first book on a subject he loves. There is another most serious, really
insurmountable difficulty, for me or anyone else who attempts to write
of modern illustration: no illustrations are catalogued to any extent;
only the most important illustrators find a place in either the
catalogues of South Kensington Art Library or the British Museum;
therefore a few years, even a few weeks, after an illustrated book is
published, if it has already passed through several editions, it may
require hours to find the edition one wants. And as for a special
illustration, that necessitates almost always turning over thousands of
pages--unless one knows exactly where to find it. I know of but one
magazine--"Once a Week"--in the bound volumes of which the artist's work
is properly indexed, and even here the engraver's name is omitted.[2] In
Harper's most excellently conducted magazine, for some unknown reason
artists and engravers are ignored in the index. Even "The Century"
leaves much to be desired in this way. Again, it is almost impossible to
obtain the date or the name of the work in which many an important
illustration first appeared. Illustrations are used over and over again,
this has always been done; even a publisher at times cannot help one:
for this reason it is very difficult to tell when one is consulting a
first edition of an illustrated book. Sometimes I fancy this
carelessness is not altogether unassociated with the author's or
publisher's desire to palm off old blocks as new. It is by no means
uncommon to omit the name of the artist altogether from the work he has
illustrated; rarely indeed is it that the engraver's name is given;
sometimes no mention that the work is illustrated is even made on the
title page, or only that it contains so many illustrations; usually if
an attempt is made to describe the method by which the designs have been
reproduced, it is wrong; in rare cases, I am glad to say, this is
intentional--photogravures being called etchings, for example--but it is
mainly the result of sheer ignorance on the part of publisher, author,
or at times, the illustrator.
[2] The "Pall Mall Magazine" has just commenced to index artists and
engravers completely.
Hence there are two matters to which I should like to call attention;
that all library catalogues give the name of artist and engraver
whenever these are printed in the book being catalogued; naturally in a
work like this or a magazine, such a course would be impossible, but at
least the number of illustrations might be given. The name of the
illustrator should always appear on the title page when possible; if his
work is worth printing he should have a decent amount of attention drawn
to it. This matter is not so difficult, nor would it entail in new
catalogues so much work as librarians might think, for I may say in the
British Museum and South Kensington I find that Menzel's work is so
catalogued already.
[Illustration: BY E. J. SULLIVAN. PEN DRAWING FROM "THE DAILY
CHRONICLE."]
Secondly, that bibliographers everywhere should turn their attention
more to modern illustrated works, even if from the bibliographer of the
future it removed much of that pleasant uncertainty which enhances, for
some, the work of to-day. There is scarce an illustrated book of the
fifteenth or sixteenth century, in which we are absolutely sure of the
artist and engraver; but the bibliographers of the future will have a
far bigger puzzle to solve, unless we pay some attention to the work of
to-day, when they come to catalogue and describe the books of this
century.
Most illustrators, it is true, now sign their drawings, but I should not
care to attempt a catalogue of my own work.
I have no doubt that I have omitted to mention some really important
books, but they have been omitted because I have never seen them; with
no good catalogue, no guide, many of the artists dead, and the books
dead too, how is one to find them? I have done what I could to make a
start; I only hope some one will carry it on; certainly I am sure some
of my sincere flatterers will imitate me, as they always do.
But to-day the output of illustration is overwhelming; to study the
subject properly one must see all the books, magazines, and papers
published all over the world. No one man has a chance to do this, and,
if he had, the mere looking at such a mass of material would take up all
his time. Yet one must get some idea of what is being done, for in the
most unexpected places the best work often appears; originality is
barred in many, so-called, high-class journals, and has to struggle, in
the cheapest publications, with the printing-press, ink, and paper.
What magazine, for example, has eclipsed "The Daily Chronicle's"
experiment in illustration? Within the same short period no such
distinguished band of contributors ever appeared.
Again, in this book it is repeatedly stated that certain artists are at
work on certain publications; these have since appeared; I can only say
that the book was not made in a day, and the artists, engravers, and
printers to whom I have referred, have worked faster than I have. Even
the "Yellow Book" has come into existence, and been artistically
eclipsed--I hope but for a short while--since I have been working at
this volume. Temporarily, the shrieking brother and sisterhood have hurt
the pockets of a few artists; but illustrators may be consoled by
remembering that from the time of Dürer to the pre-Raphaelites, from
Whistler to Eternity, Art never has been and never will be understanded
of the people; but they no longer dare to burn our productions, they
only write to the newspapers about them. Art can stand that--even though
it, for the moment, is hard on the artist.
It is now no longer necessary for me to insist on the importance of
illustration; it is acknowledged, and, save that academic honours are
denied him in this country, the illustrator ranks with any other
practitioner of the fine or applied arts.
[Illustration: BY J. Mc NEIL WHISTLER. FROM "LEGENDARY BALLADS"
(CHATTO).]
Nor do I propose to contradict the statement that one can see too much
good art; well, the Elgin marbles stood for centuries where only the
blind could avoid them, and I have not heard that the Athenians were
injured in consequence; now they are shut up in boxes, and only visible
at certain times, hence the British taste has been so elevated, that the
ha'penny comic and the photograph have become its ideal. Still, if
people could see every day, as they had the chance of seeing this
year in the "Chronicle," illustrations by Whistler and Burne-Jones, I do
not think they would be harmed, even if they did not happen to have to
travel in a penny 'bus to the British Museum, or take a Cook's ticket
and a shilling Ruskin in order to walk in Florence. My opinion is, the
better the art around us, even in the penny paper, the better shall we
be able to appreciate the work we must travel to see.
As for the people who would vulgarize art and literature, bringing
everything down to their own low level, we have them always with us. And
they and their hangers-on are the ones against whom the present puritans
should level their attacks--not against men whose art they do not
understand, even if they do object to their personality. Still here it
will be always impossible to separate a man from his work; yet good art
will live, and good illustration is good art. The world may or may not
appreciate it, still "there never was an artistic period, there never
was an art-loving nation."
NOTE.
Since this preface was written much has happened, and I hope I have
learned a little. A show of wood-engravings was held in March, 1895, in
Stationers' Hall, which demonstrated clearly that there are many capable
artists in this branch of illustration, though at present they have but
little encouragement to practise their art; in that exhibition one saw
much good work, and I must at least record the names of H. Harral and C.
Roberts among English engravers on wood who have done notable large
blocks--while excellent engraving has been recently accomplished by
Messrs. M. Stainforth, O. Lacour, J. D. Cooper, R. Paterson, A. Worf, F.
Babbage, J. M. Johnstone, and W. Spielmeyer, the latter of whom was good
enough to give me much help in the German chapter of this book. Edmund
Evans, the engraver and colour-printer, loaned me the original drawings
on the wood by Birket Foster, William Harvey, and Harrison Weir, now for
the first time reproduced, while William Archer allowed us to reproduce
the Tegner on page 72.
[Illustration: BY A. S. HARTRICK. FROM A PEN DRAWING IN "THE DAILY
CHRONICLE."]
Among artists too I should have noted the work of G. H. Thomas and
Samuel Palmer, who made some designs for Sacred Allegories, mainly
engraved by W. T. Green, 1856. One of the earliest and best of modern
illustrated books, "Poets of the Nineteenth Century," 1857, and
Wilmott's "Sacred Poetry," 1863, are worth preservation for their
illustrations. The more I see of this illustration of twenty or thirty
years ago, the better and more interesting I find it. Arthur Hughes'
work grows on one; certainly his illustrations to Christina Rossetti's
"Sing Song," are very charming. I have made no mention scarcely of the
splendid work Charles Green, Luke Fildes, and Fred. Barnard did for
Charles Dickens. My only excuse is that till yesterday I never saw it.
Griset's grotesques, too, I have but just come across--but while one
is looking up the work of a few years ago, that of the present is
unseen. I have said nothing of many interesting illustrators who have
come to the front almost within a few months, illustrators are being
made almost daily, one cannot keep track of them, good as their work is
much of it is like journalism, bound to perish, only the best will live;
but when one is right in the midst of it, difficult indeed is the task
of picking out the good from the almost good, the clever from the
distinguished.
LONDON,
_September 30th, 1895._
[Illustration: BY CONSTABLE. PROCESS BLOCK FROM AN ORIGINAL DRAWING IN
POSSESSION OF THE AUTHOR.]
MODERN ILLUSTRATION.
INTRODUCTION.
Illustration is not only the oldest, but the only form of artistic
expression which graphic artists have ever been able to employ. For that
matter, every expression of the artist, whether conveyed by means of
monochrome or colour, even the work of the plastic artist, is but an
illustration.
For an illustration is the recording, by means of some artistic medium,
either of something seen by the artist which he wishes to convey
to--that is, illustrate for--others; or else the direct interpretation
by some artistic means of a written description, or the chronicling of
an historical event; or, it is a composition which has been suggested to
him by some occurrence in nature; or, again, his impression of some
phase of nature or life. Therefore all art is illustration, though it
rather seems to follow that all illustration is not art.
In the past, the great illustrators were employed by the great patrons
of art in the church and at court. The church, by means of graphic or
plastic illustration, warned or encouraged her followers, terrifying
them by endless purgatories and _infernos_, more gruesome and ghastly
than the British idea of the Salon picture; turning their thoughts
towards heaven mainly by cloying sweetness, which the typical member of
the Royal Academy finds much difficulty in approaching. Though such
illustration, in a certain sense, was made for the people, it was not
given into their possession as modern illustration is to-day; it was
meant not for their pleasure, but for their instruction.
The old illustrator in his work was simply nothing if not a moralist,
though he himself may have been a most amusing person, while his
treatment of even the most sacred subjects was frequently the broadest
and most suggestive. Still, he was commissioned solely to "point a moral
and adorn a tale." As for the court painters, their work was never seen
by the people at all, any more than it is now, often luckily. But what
were the portraits of Velasquez, the groups of Rembrandt, the feasts of
Veronese, the processions of Carpaccio? The work of all court and
portrait painters is but the recording, that is, the illustration, of
human vanity; and the work of all subject painters is but the recording,
that is, the illustration, of great and important events; while
landscape painting, a modern invention, is only more or less glorified
topography.
With the writing and illustrating of manuscripts, however, there had
been developed a school of minor artists and craftsmen: illuminators and
scribes who--mainly taking for their subjects either a portion of some
painting by a master, but usually the mere mechanical part of the early
painters' backgrounds, the mechanical gold punch design of the
primitives, the elaborate, but mannered and conventional, foregrounds of
Botticelli, and the entire compositions, more or less altered, of Fra
Angelico and Pinturicchio--by "lifting" these things judiciously,
evolved the art of illumination. It must be borne in mind that this
illumination, in its detail and accessories often very beautiful and
conventionally decorative, in its main subject almost always as
realistic as possible, was the work, with two or three most notable
exceptions, of second- and third-rate clever technicians, but in no
sense great creative artists at all. Only a few well-known painters were
ever employed to illuminate important manuscripts.
After the introduction of printing, the same state of affairs continued.
Although the most beautiful books which came from the early German press
appeared during the lifetime of Dürer, his contributions as an
illustrator are curiously limited, considering the amount of
black-and-white work which he produced. He illustrated not more than
three or four books, and of these only the Missal of the Emperor
Maximilian was worked out completely.[3] The great Italians never did
anything of any importance, if we except Botticelli's designs for Dante
which were never completed. Velasquez has left nothing behind him; nor
has Rembrandt. A few of Rubens' sketches for title-pages exist in
Antwerp, and Dürer's monograms and various decorative designs have
proved a veritable mine for the minor artists, or greatest thieves--I
mean the decorators--who are with us still. With the exception of Hans
Holbein, there never was in the past a great artist who devoted himself
to illustration. The glorification of these minor craftsmen into great
illustrators is unjust, incorrect, and absurd, when one seriously
considers it. Dürer's designs were really published and sold as
portfolios of engravings, or separately, although there was a little
text with them, but not as illustrated books. So, too, were those of
Rubens; while Rembrandt's etchings were altogether published separately.
It was the same with the work of the early Italians. Holbein is almost
the only exception proving the rule that great artists in the past
were not illustrators of books. Still, one can never be absolutely
certain on this point, since on some of the finest books, like the
"Hypnerotomachia," a great artist was employed whose name has never been
recorded.
[3] This is a combination of illumination and printing, the
illustrations being original drawings by Dürer. The text
is printed; but two or three copies exist.
Although it is impossible now to give with absolute certainty the true
reasons why the best-known artists did not illustrate the important
publications of their own day, there seem to be three very good ones.
First, because it is almost certain that the wood-cutter, when he was
known at all, and this implied his being reasonably successful, was the
head of a large shop in which the artist and the actual engraver were
mere necessary evils; the proprietor, I do not doubt, taking not only
all the credit, as we know, but most likely the bulk of the cash as
well. Secondly, we have Dürer's own testimony that his wood-cutters were
incompetent, and careless, and the much belauded line of Dürer which one
is bidden to admire in the wood-block to-day, he himself, it is almost
certain, did not cut.[4] But he sketched freely on paper, his design was
then copied by another person on the block, and the third man cut it.
That Dürer did work on the wood, correcting his designs and criticising
his wood-cutters, there can be little doubt, simply from the improvement
in this method of reproduction which began with him. But the reason that
a great artist like Dürer did not contribute illustrations to books most
probably is because he was not decently paid for them, and because his
designs were all cut to pieces. Finally, not only was almost all the
engraving, except work done under the direct supervision, or influence,
of Dürer, absolutely characterless so far as the quality of the line
went, but there is not a single early printed book to be found in which
the illustrations are decently printed. There is scarcely a solid black
in any of them.[5]
[4] See "Literary Remains of Albert Dürer," and F. Didot's
"Gravure sur Bois."
[5] Some of Ratdolt's are among the exceptions.
When one considers these facts, which have been carefully ignored by a
small set of artists, and, of course, are absolutely unknown to the
ordinary critic and authority on the early printed book, two things
become evident. First, that the great artists of the past did not
illustrate; and, second, that the reason they did not was because they
could be neither decently engraved nor printed.
[Illustration: ST. CHRISTOPHER, 1423.]
[Illustration: BY SIR EDWARD BURNE-JONES, BART. REDUCED FROM A LARGE
PROCESS BLOCK IN "THE DAILY CHRONICLE."]
With the introduction of steel and copper-plate engraving and etching,
the paintings and sculptures of great artists were not infrequently used
as the subjects of book illustrations, but they were seldom made
expressly for the books they illustrate. And as the steel or copper
engraving must be printed separately, and as the best proofs of these
engravings were almost always sold as separate works of art, it hardly
seems to me that engravings on metal or on stone, like lithographs,
properly come under the head of illustration for printed books.
The use of what we call now _clichés_ and stock blocks was almost
universal, even from the very invention of printing, when the
illustrations to the block-books were cut up for this purpose; and not
only this: the same map was made to do duty for as many countries as
were required, and one and the same portrait or town served for as many
characters and places as happened to figure in the book. While, under
the heading of appropriateness of decoration and fitness, it may be
remarked that most of the old printers only had one set of initials, and
if they did possess two sets of borders, they usually chopped them up,
and, by judicious mixing, obtained a variety apparently pleasing to
their patrons.
It is not until the eighteenth century that one finds artists of note
illustrating books, always with the exception of Holbein. Even then the
illustrations were usually steel or copper-plate engravings made very
freely from other men's drawings, although the artists were beginning to
be commissioned to produce designs themselves. One might devote much
space to the work of Piranesi, Canaletto, Watteau, Greuze, Hogarth,
Chodowiecki, and the illustrators of La Fontaine. But this does not
come really within my subject, since the making of modern illustration,
that is, the employment of great artists to produce great works of art
to appear with letterpress in printed books, dates entirely from this
century, and is due altogether to the genius of four men: Meissonier in
France, Menzel in Germany, Goya in Spain, and Bewick in England. It is
to these four that modern illustration is solely and entirely due;
though a word--and a strong one--of praise should be given to the
patrons and publishers who employed and encouraged them.
[Illustration: BY SIR DAVID WILKIE. FROM AN ORIGINAL DRAWING IN THE
POSSESSION OF THE AUTHOR.]
[Illustration: WOOD-ENGRAVING BY THOMAS BEWICK. FROM WALTON'S "COMPLETE
ANGLER" (BOHN).]
CHAPTER I.
A GENERAL SURVEY.
Nowhere were the conditions of illustration more deplorable than in
England when Bewick, and Stothard, and Blake appeared upon the scene.
There was a decided revolution when Gay's "Fables," the "General History
of Quadrupeds," "British Land and Water Birds," all illustrated by
Bewick's wood-engravings, were issued. Bewick, as has been said before,
and cannot be repeated too often, was an artist who happened to engrave
his designs on wood, instead of drawing them on paper or painting them
on canvas; he was not a mere wood-engraver, interpreting other men's
work which he only half understood or appreciated; and this is a
distinction to be borne in mind. Bewick, virtually, did for himself what
the new mechanical processes almost succeed in doing for contemporary
illustrators. For him were none of the difficulties and miseries of the
draughtsman who made his designs on the block, saw them ruthlessly
ruined by an incompetent, or unscrupulous engraver, and then had but the
print, which could not prove the reproduction to be the wretched
caricature of the original that it really was. This was the chief reason
for Bewick's success. He invented wood-engraving; he showed what good
work ought to be; in a word, he revolutionized the art of illustration
in England.[6]
[6] The printing is, however, always bad.
Whatever may have brought about this sudden activity and revival of
excellence, Bewick's books were far from being its sole outcome. "The
Songs of Innocence and Experience," the "Inventions to the Book of Job,"
Blair's "Grave," Mary Wollstonecraft's stories, with Blake's
illustrations, belong to the same period, though this was but a chance.
The illustrations were mostly done on metal, and Blake had his own
peculiar methods. He belongs to no special time or group.
[Illustration: "CHRIST AND PETER." BY CARACCI. Wood-engraving by the
Linnells.]
[Illustration: "THE HOLY FAMILY." BY PERUGINO. Wood-engraving by the
Linnells.]
Book after book with Stothard's illustrations, the "Pilgrim's
Progress," Richardson's novels, tales now forgotten, above all, Rogers'
"Poems," with the engravings by Clennell, helped to prove the
possibilities of good illustration, and emphasize, by force of contrast,
the inappropriateness of work done by some of the most popular
Academicians of the day for Boydell's "Shakespeare," immortalized by
Thackeray as that "black and ghastly gallery of murky Opies, glum
Northcotes, straddling Fuselis."
[Illustration: BY STOTHARD. FROM AN ORIGINAL DRAWING IN THE POSSESSION
OF THE AUTHOR.]
[Illustration: FROM A PAINTING BY WILSON. Wood-engraving by the
Linnells.]
[Illustration: FROM A PAINTING BY RUBENS. Wood-engraving by the
Linnells.]
[Illustration: BY STOTHARD. FROM ROGERS' "POEMS" (CADELL). Engraved on
wood by Clennell.]
[Illustration: BY STOTHARD. FROM ROGERS' "POEMS" (CADELL). Engraved on
wood by Clennell.]
But the most important outcome of Bewick's work was the appearance of an
excellent school of wood-engravers in England: Clennell, Branston,
Harvey and Nesbit, the Thompsons, the Williamses, and Orrinsmith. These
engravers tried, in the beginning, to produce exactly the same sort of
work that is being done by the so-called school of American
wood-engravers to-day. One has only to look at Stothard's illustrations
to Rogers' "Poems," engraved by Clennell, to see an example of
_facsimile_ engraving after pen drawing. But, as a general thing, these
men all endeavoured to imitate the qualities of steel engraving or
etching. First, because steel or metal engraving was the prevailing form
of illustration, enjoying, for a while, tremendous popularity in the
long series of "Keepsakes," "Forget-Me-Nots," and "Albums;" and,
secondly, because they were forced mainly to copy old metal engravings,
since scarcely any artist, always excepting Stothard and a few others,
knew how to draw on the wood. So great was the rage for popularizing
engravings on metal, that John Thompson projected an edition of Hogarth
on wood, about two inches by three, showing that, instead of being able
to produce new work done specially for the wood, engravers were
continually thrown back upon the copying of steel or copper-plates, or
the work of their predecessors. Another notable instance, though
published much later, is that of the first illustrated catalogue of the
National Gallery by the Linnells.[7]
[7] So far as I know, the original of that system of abomination.
In France, however, there were plenty of artists, willing to draw on the
wood, who could not get their designs engraved, at the very time that in
England there were plenty of engravers who could find no artists to draw
for them.
[Illustration: FROM TITIAN, "ARIADNE AND BACCHUS." Wood-engraving by the
Linnells.]
In 1816 Charles Thompson went to Paris, partly for pleasure and partly
in search of work. He was at once successful. He arrived at the right
moment: already a Society for the Encouragement of National Industry in
France had offered a prize of two thousand francs for wood-engravings
done in that country, so impressed had Frenchmen been with the
excellence of the work produced in England.
[Illustration: BY HARVEY. FROM "MILTON'S POETICAL WORKS" (BOHN).
Engraved on wood by Thompson.]
[Illustration: BY HARVEY. FROM "MILTON'S POETICAL WORKS" (BOHN).
Engraved on wood by Thompson.]
A little later on, Lavoignat and other engravers came over and worked in
London with the Williamses. The result was, that, within ten years of
their return, a school of wood-engravers, nearly as good as the English,
arose in France, together with a number of draughtsmen, greatly superior
to those of England. Among the engravers who should be mentioned are
Best, Brévière, Leveille, Lavoignat, Piaud, Pisan, and Poirret. They
worked after Gigoux, the Johannots, Isabey, Paul Huet, Jacque,
Meissonier, Charlet, Daubigny, Daumier, Gavarni, Monnier, and Raffet.
[Illustration: FROM AN ORIGINAL DRAWING ON THE WOOD BY HARVEY.]
In both countries this new illustration began to make its mark about
1835. Although, in its own way, Bewick's engraving was unsurpassed,
still a refinement, a freedom, was introduced by the French artists, and
a faithfulness of _facsimile_ by their engravers, many of whom, as I
have said, were English, quite unknown at that time in work published
in England. So great was the reputation of these illustrators, artists
and engravers both, that two Germans, Braun and Roehle, came to Paris to
work with Brévière. This international exchange of engravers has kept
up, in a measure, till the present time; M. Lepère, for instance,
studied in England with Smeeton, while it is well known that the
director of the "Graphic" was working in Paris almost up to 1870.
[Illustration: BY HARVEY. FROM MILTON'S POETICAL WORKS (BOHN).
Wood-engraving, unsigned.]
In 1830 I think one may safely say that the first really important
modern illustrated book, in which wood was substituted for metal
engraving, appeared in France. This was the "Histoire du Roi de Bohème,"
by Johannot. Though published twenty years later than Rogers' "Poems,"
with Stothard's illustrations, as an example of engraving it was
scarcely any better. But the designs--little head and tail-pieces--were
so good that they were used over and over again by "L'Artiste," the
organ of the Romanticists, in which they were accepted as the perfection
of illustration.
At this date there is to be noted in England, among the best work done,
the beautiful alphabet by Stothard, published by Pickering.
[Illustration: BY THURSTON. FROM BUTLER'S "HUDIBRAS" (BOHN).
Wood-engraving, unsigned.]
[Illustration: BY THURSTON. FROM BUTLER'S "HUDIBRAS" (BOHN).
Wood-engraving, unsigned.]
If, up to 1830, England and France were in equal rank, so far as
illustration went, for the next ten or fifteen years France utterly
eclipsed her earlier rival. In 1833 appeared the "Gil Blas"[8] of
Gigoux, containing hundreds of drawings, which all Frenchmen, I believe,
consider to be the illustrated book of the period. To Gigoux, Daniel
Vierge owes more probably than he would care to acknowledge; while
Gigoux himself is founded on Goya. In 1838, however, was issued a book
which, in drawing, engraving, and printing, completely outdistanced
anything that had heretofore appeared in England or in France: Curmer's
edition of "Paul et Virginie," dedicated by a grateful publisher, "Aux
artistes qui ont élevé ce monument typographique à la mémoire de J. H.
Bernardin de Saint-Pierre." These artists include the names of nearly
everyone who was then, or soon became famous in French art. The book
contains marines by Isabey, beautiful landscapes by Paul Huet, animals
and figures by Jacque, and, above all, drawings by Meissonier, who
contributed over a hundred to this story and to the "Chaumière
Indienne," published under the same cover. All the best French and
English engravers collaborated. Even the printing was excellent, for the
use of overlays, made by Aristide Derniame, had begun to be fully
understood.[9] The printers' name deserves to be remembered: Everal et
Cie.
[8] My own copy, apparently a first edition, is dated 1836.
[9] Charles Whittingham, the founder of the Chiswick Press,
who died in 1840, has the credit of being the first printer
in England to use overlays, and as an early example might
be mentioned, "The Gardens and Menageries of the Zoological
Society delineated," published by Tilt in 1830, containing
drawings by William Harvey, engraved by Branston and Wright,
assisted by other artists.
After this, for some ten years, there was a perfect deluge of finely
illustrated books. The "Vicar of Wakefield," with Jacque's drawings,
Molière, "Don Quixote," "Le Diable Boiteux." Magazines, too, were
brought out; the "Magazin Pittoresque," which had started in 1833,
published in 1848 Meissonier's "Deux Joueurs," engraved by Lavoignat; in
many ways this remains, even to-day, one of the best pieces of
_facsimile_ wood-engraving ever made. At that time it was simply
unapproached anywhere. In "L'Artiste" and "Gazette des Entants," 1840,
will be found many remarkable lithographs by Gavarni; but most of
Daumier's works must be looked for in the cheaper prints, notably in "La
Caricature," where also may be found, from 1830, in lithography the
work of Delacroix, Monnier, Lami, and others.
[Illustration: BY THURSTON. FROM TASSO (BOHN). Engraved on wood by
Corbould.]
[Illustration: FROM CRUIKSHANK'S "THREE COURSES." Engraved on wood by S.
Williams.]
[Illustration: FROM CRUIKSHANK'S "THREE COURSES."]
[Illustration: FROM CRUIKSHANK'S "THREE COURSES." Wood-engravings, not
signed.]
In England, too, very good work was being done, though it was not so
absolutely artistic as the French. Among the men who were working were
Thurston, Stothard, Harvey, Landseer, Wilkie, Calcott, and Mulready. The
"Penny Magazine" was started in 1832 by Charles Knight. Gray's "Elegy"
appeared in 1836, the "Arabian Nights" in 1838, and, about the same time
the "Solace of Song," both containing much of Harvey's best work; while
later came those drawings by Cruikshank, which mainly owe their claim to
notice to the marvellous interpretations of them made by the Thompsons
and the Williamses. In England, however, the engravers were seeking more
and more to imitate steel, the artist's simplest washes being turned
into the most elaborate cross-hatching, which made each block look as if
it were a mass of pen-and-ink or pencil detail, when no such work was
ever put on it by the draughtsman. The artist was ignored by the
engraver, until finally the latter became absolutely supreme, that is to
say, his shop became supreme, while the artist who, when he had the
chance, could give on a piece of wood an inch or two square, most
beautiful, even great, effects of landscape, was subordinated wholly to
his interpreter. For an accurate account of this inartistic triumph I
would recommend the works of Mr. W. J. Linton.
In France the art of illustration continued to improve. It culminated in
1858 in the "Contes Rémois," with Meissonier for draughtsman and
Lavoignat and Leveille for engravers. These illustrations are absolutely
equal to Menzel's best work, and are by far the finest ever produced in
France.
[Illustration: FROM CRUIKSHANK'S "TABLE BOOK." Engraved on wood by T.
Williams.]
I had always supposed Menzel to occupy a position quite as original as
Bewick's. But I find that he was really a follower of Meissonier. His
"Life of Frederick the Great" was not published until 1842, while the
"Paul et Virginie" had appeared in 1835. Besides, the first of his
drawings for the "Frederick" Menzel confided to French engravers,[10]
especially to the men who had reproduced Tony Johannot. But this
artist's illustrations, though in point of size the most important, in
point of excellence are the worst in the French book, being not unlike
characterless steel engravings. It is therefore not surprising that
Menzel was dissatisfied with the results, and that he proceeded at once
to train a number of Germans to produce engravings of his work in
_facsimile_. The best of these men were Bentworth, Unzelmann, the
Vogels, Kreitzschmar, who engraved the drawings for the "Works of
Frederick the Great," and the "Heroes of War and Peace," those monuments
to Menzel's art and German illustration. Indeed, it seems to me that,
until the introduction of photography, there is little to be said of
German illustration that does not relate entirely to Menzel and Dietz,
and some of the artists on "Fliegende Blätter," which was founded in
1844.
[10] Rather English and French, Andrew, Best, Leloir.
But in England it is just before the invention of photographing on wood
that some of the most marvellous drawings were produced; really the most
marvellous that have ever been done in the country. It is true that Sir
John Gilbert had been making his striking and powerful designs, Mr.
Birket Foster his exquisite drawings, while much good _facsimile_ work
was done after Mr. Harrison Weir; the Abbotsford edition of Scott was
appearing, and the "Liber Studiorum;" true, also, that the
"Illustrated London News," started in 1842, had done much to raise the
general standard; "Punch," also, was commenced in 1842; much, too, had
been accomplished in lithography. Still, it is with the appearance of
Frederick Sandys, Rossetti, Walker, Pinwell, A. Boyd Houghton, Small,
Du Maurier, Keene, Crane, Leighton, Millais, and Tenniel, with the
publication of the "Cornhill," "Once a Week," "Good Words," the
"Shilling Magazine," and such books as Moxon's "Tennyson," that the best
period of English illustration begins. Mr. Ruskin's own drawings for his
books must not be forgotten.
[Illustration: BY BIRKET FOSTER. FROM "LONGFELLOW'S POEMS" (BELL).
Engraved on wood by Vizetelly.]
[Illustration: BY SIR JOHN GILBERT. FROM MARRYAT'S "MISSION" (BOHN).
Engraved on wood by Dalziel.]
[Illustration: BY DANTE GABRIEL ROSSETTI. FROM "TENNYSON'S POEMS."
Moxon, 1857. Engraved on wood by Dalziel.]
[Illustration: BY DANTE GABRIEL ROSSETTI. PROCESS BLOCK FROM A DRAWING
IN THE POSSESSION OF EDMUND GOSSE, ESQ.]
[Illustration: BY BIRKET FOSTER. FROM "LONGFELLOW'S POEMS" (BELL).
Engraved on wood by H. Vizetelly.]
[Illustration: BY BIRKET FOSTER. FROM "BELL'S SCHOOL READER."
Wood-engraving unsigned.]
Among the English engravers, outside of the large shops of Dalziel and
Swain, there are only two names that stand out conspicuously: W. J.
Linton and W. H. Hooper. The excellent work of the latter,
unfortunately, has been overshadowed by that of Mr. Linton, who,
however, cannot be considered his equal as an engraver.
[Illustration: BY BIRKET FOSTER. PROCESS BLOCK FROM AN ORIGINAL DRAWING
ON THE WOOD BLOCK, NEVER ENGRAVED.]
[Illustration: BY BIRKET FOSTER. FROM "GOLDSMITH'S POEMS" (BELL).
Engraved on wood by Dalziel.]
In America F. O. C. Darley was certainly the first illustrator, while
the French tradition was carried on for years in "Harper's Magazine" by
C. E. Doepler, who produced some very excellent little blocks.
Harper's "Illuminated Bible," with more than fourteen hundred drawings
by J. G. Chapman, engraved by J. A. Adams, was begun in 1837, and
finished in 1843. But the greatest number of the better American
drawings were either borrowed from English sources, or, as in the case
of the American Tract Society, English artists, like Sir John Gilbert,
were commissioned to make them. After the Civil War, the first man to
appear prominently was Winslow Homer. Contemporary with him, and later,
were John La Farge, Thomas and Peter Moran, Alfred Fredericks, W. L.
Shepherd, and the older of the men working to-day. Among the
caricaturists, Thomas Nast was preeminent.
[Illustration: BY HARRISON WEIR. FROM POETRY FOR SCHOOLS (BELL).]
[Illustration: BY HARRISON WEIR. FROM POETRY FOR SCHOOLS (BELL).
Engraved on wood by A. Slader.]
[Illustration: BY HARRISON WEIR. FROM A WASH DRAWING ON THE WOOD.]
There is one American book, however, which deserves special mention.
This is Harris's "Insects Injurious to Vegetation," the drawings for
which were the work of Sourel and Burckhardt. It is one of the most
artistic books of the sort ever published in America or elsewhere. Then,
too, amid a flood of other things, appeared, in 1872, "Picturesque
America," and later "Picturesque Europe," which then reached really the
high-water mark of American publishing enterprise in the United States,
just as surely as Doré at the same time in France and England was the
most exploited of all illustrators. The greater number of drawings for
these books were made by Harry Fenn and J. D. Woodward. The profession
of illustration at this period must have been almost equal to that of
gold-mining. Everything the artist chose to produce was accepted. It
would be more accurate to say everything he half produced, for the
school of Turner being then superseded by that of Doré, wood-engravers,
like Pannemacker, for instance, had been specially trained by the artist
to carry out the ideas which he merely suggested on the block.
But a change was coming; the incessant output of illustration killed not
only the artists themselves, but the process. In its stead arose a
better, truer method, a more artistic method, which we are even now,
only developing. This later American illustration may be said to have
had its beginning in the year 1876.
[Illustration: BY A. COOPER. FROM WALTON'S "ANGLER" (BOHN). Engraved on
wood by M. Jackson.]
[Illustration: BY RANDOLPH CALDECOTT. FROM "OLD CHRISTMAS" (MACMILLAN,
1875).]