The family of the Sadelers, at Brussels, made at this time a conspicuous figure. They drew correctly. Their earlier works have much of the German taste ; but this they in a great measure laid aside when they visited Italy ; we speak here more particularly of John and the elder Raphael Saddler, as the younger branches, Giles or iEgidius, Justus, and the younger Raphael, had the benefit of the instructions of their uncles. Their works are multifarious, consisting of history, landscape, and portraits;_ the latter of which are in general very fine, and much esteemed. There were in the Low Countries at this time many other artists, whose works display great talent ; the elder and younger Peter de Jode, Philip, Theodore, and Cornelius Galle the elder, who all drew correctly ; but as with them engraving was more an article of commerce than an art which was to be cul tivated and improved for its own sake, it received little advantage from their exertions. Cornelius Bloemart in troduced a new style, which was the source from which the great engravers of the French school derived the principles of giving so much colour arid harmony to their works. He tinted the lights on his distances, and other parts of his plates, with great care, lvhich, till his time, had been uniformly left entirely untouched. By this improvement, he laid the foundation of those prin ciples of colour and chiar' oscuro, which form so essen tial a requisite to breadth and unity of effect, and have in later times been practised with so much success. The art received another important improvement from Henry Goltzius, who, on his return from studying at Rome, despising the neatness and stiff dry manner of the little masters, introduced the bold, free, and clear style of cut ting, which distinguish his works. He possessed a most profound knowledge of the figure, and drew correctly ; but, in avoiding the formal style of his countrymen, and endeavouring to imitate the sublimity of Michael An gelo, he, as well as Sprangher, fell into the opposite ex treme of bombastic absurdity and extravagance. How ever, he has never been surpassed, and hardly ever equalled in the freedom and dexterity of handling the graver. He engraved small portraits with much taste, neatness, and good drawing. He also cut, from his own designs, many blocks in chiar' oscuro, in which he was very successful. The outlines are executed with all the freedom and dexterity for which he is so remarka ble ; and the works which he has produced in this way are truly excellent. He was followed by his disciples John Muller and Lucas Kilian, who carried his style to a greater pitch of extravagance than his preceptor had done. But it was imitated with more judgment by Ma them and Saenredam, whose works display more de licacy and correctness.
The brilliancy and splendour of Rubens afforded a new object for the imitation of the engraver, for which the improvements of Corn. Bloemart and Goltzius had prepared the way. About the beginning of the seven teenth century, flourished the two Bolswerts, whose first exertions were in the style 'of Goltzius ; but under the instruction of Rubens, they improved their style. Of this school, Paul Pontius, Vosterman, the younger Pe ter de Jode, and others, make a distinguished figure, principally in their engravings after Rubens and Van dycke. They all drew correctly, and have been very successful in rendering the harmony and beauty of the originals. But after the death of Rubens, the art of en graving gradually declined, and ceased to produce, in the higher department of the art, any specimens worthy of our attention. But in the departments of landscape
and animals, and such subjects, in which the Dutch and Flemish schools excelled, there are many beautiful etchings, executed principally by the painters. In con sidering this part of our subject, we cannot withhold from Rembrandt the pre-eminence to which his works so justly entitle him ; they consist of history, landscape, and portraits. His drawing of the human figure is very bad ; his heads are all of a low and vulgar character ; and even in those historical subjects where dignity and propriety of costume are so imperiously required, he has not scrupled to clothe his figures in the Dutch fashion. But notwithstanding these faults and absurdi ties, when we consider the boldness and freedom of his execution, the richness and variety of his effect, and the depth and brilliancy of his chiar' oscuro, we must allow him to be one of the greatest artists that ever lived. The Hundred Guilder Print, as it is called, the Ecce Homo, and the Descent from the Cross, are wonderful speci mens of his scientific distribution of light, and of the amazing talent he possessed of giving, with the least possible effort, strong character to his heads, (coarse and vulgar, indeed,) as well as of the boldness, freedom, and facility of his execution. His portraits possess all the beauties which we have assigned to historical works ; and as to his landscapes, whether in the varied and bril liant effects of sunshine, or the stillness and solemnity of twilight, we cannot sufficiently admire the beauty, character, and sentiment, which he has so happily infus ed into them ; and even in those slighter works, where in there is little more than outline, every stroke of his point teems with nature, character, and expression. His etchings in general are executed with aquafortis, and finished with the graver and the dry point. They are very numerous, and consequently of very different de grees of merit.
The few etchings which Vandyck has left, are admi rable specimens of his talents in that way. His' prin cipal works are the Ecce Homo, from his own design, and Titian and his Mistress, from a picture of that mas ter. The character of his heads is finely expressed ; the figures are drawn with much taste and correctness ; the hands are firmly marked, and full of energy ; and the effect is rich, broad and clear. In the collection of portraits of the painters and amateurs, published at Antwerp under his inspection, from pictures of his own, are a few etched by himself, which, for spirited and correct drawing, fine expression, and tasteful execution, are not equalled by any similar work. Their great ex cellence will be best seen in those impressions with the address of Martin Vanden Enden, as the plates were af terwards retouched.
Amongst the engravers who have successfully work ed after Rubens, we must not pass over Christopher Jegher, who has left some excellent imitations of Ru bens' pen and ink drawings. They are executed on wood, in a free, bold style, with large powerful strokes ; and he has expressed all the freedom and spirit of the originals, even in the dark cross-hatchings, a part of the art of wood-cutting lost to the moderns. The extremi ties of the figures are well marked ; the heads, though slight, are expressive ; and in all his works the style of the master he worked from is admirahly preserved.