Page:Chats on old prints (IA chatsonoldprints00haydiala).pdf/50

 original print illustrated (opposite p. 198) is only 2 in. by 2-1/2 in. in area. The result is produced by nothing but dots, as is shown in the enlargement. Similarly in the adjacent enlargement on the same page representing the bow in the ribbon binding the hair in the Portrait of Princess Charlotte, which appears in its entirety (opposite p. 198), the marvellous arrangement of dots, and nothing but dots, goes to the formation of a delicate portrait.

The enlargements of mezzotint engraving provide similar food for reflection. The upper illustration is the crease in the elbow of the Portrait of Spencer Compton, Baron of Wilmington, by Pelham (opposite p. 242). Below this is a portion of Spring engraved in mezzotint by Lucas after Constable appearing as an illustration (opposite p. 250). In both these examples the ground peculiar to mezzotint is clearly shown. In the former no lines appear; in true mezzotint this is a feature, but in later work, as in the second example, lines are discernible as in the reins in the ploughman's hand, and the outline of the plough itself.

The last two examples of enlargements are from an aquatint and from a lithograph. The upper one is from a portion of the aquatint by Dibdin, of oval shape, appearing in Chapter XIII. (opposite p. 262). The ground differs from that of mezzotint, and it should not be difficult after examining one or two specimens of known aquatints to identify this form of engraving. The lower enlargement shows a tuft of grass on the opposite bank of river in the lithograph by Allongé, illustrated in Chapter XIV. (facing