Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 17.djvu/537

Rh N I E N I E 495 goldsmiths of that period. Apart from the beauty of the works they produced, this art had a special importance and interest from its having led the way to the invention of printing from engravings on metal plates. For the description of how this happened see ENGRAVING, vol. viii. p. 439. Vasari s account of this invention, given in his lives of Pollajuolo and Maso Finiguerra ( Vite dei Pittori e Scultori}, is very interesting, but he is probably wrong in asserting that Maso was the first worker in niello who took proofs or impressions of his plates. The most important work of this sort by Maso Finiguerra, described at length by Vasari, still exists in the Opera del Duomo at Florence. It is a pax with a very rich and delicate niello picture of the coronation of the virgin ; the composi tion is very full, and the work almost microscopic in minuteness; it was made in 1452. Impressions from it are preserved in the British Museum, the Louvre, and other collections. Among the many great Italian artists who were also niellists occur the names of Brunelleschi, Ant. Pollajuolo, Baccio Baldini, Francia, Pellegrino da Cesena, Cellini, Caradosso, and Foppa. Some fine speci mens signed by Francia are preserved in the Bargello at Florence. The British Museum, the Louvre, the Berlin Museum, and the royal gallery of Vienna are especially rich both in nielli and in sulphur and paper impressions. The British Museum also possesses the finest existing example of 15th-century German niello. It is a silver beaker, covered with graceful scroll-work, forming medal lions, in which are figures of cupids employed in various occupations ; J it is a very remarkable piece of silver-work, both for design and beauty of execution. The art of niello-work is still practised with considerable skill both in Russia and in various parts of India. The &quot; bidri work,&quot; so called from Bedar in Hyderabad, is a variety of niello, in which the pattern shows as silver on a niello ground. The modern revival of the art in Paris has been hitherto very unsuccessful. Literature. The Archaeological Journal (vol. xix. p. 323) lias an excellent monograph on the subject, see also vol. xii. p. 79 and vol. iv. p. 247; Archasologia, vol. xxxi. p. 404; Merrifield, Ancient Practice of Painting, vol. i., 1849 (gives MSS. of Eraclius and other early writers) ; Catalogue of Museum of Royal Irish Academy; Les Nielles a la Cath. d Aix-la-Chapelle, Paris, 1859; Alvin, Nielles de la BibliotMqueroy. de Belgique, 1857; Duchesne, Nielles des Orfevres Florentine, 1826; Passavant, Le Peintrc- graveur, 1860-64 ; Ottley, History of Engraving (1816) and Collection of Fac-similes of Prints (1826); Cicognara, Storia della Scultura (iii. p. 168, Prato, 1823) and Storia della Calcografia, (Prato, 1831); Lanzi, Storia Pittorica, ep. i. sec. iii., 1809; Baldi- nucci, Professori del Disegno (1681-1728) and L Arte di Intagliare in Ramc (1686); Zani, Origine dell Incisions, in Rame, 1802; Labarte, Arts of the Middle Ages, 1855; Texier, Dictionnaire de rOrfevrerie, p. 1822, Paris, 1857; Bartsch, Le Peintre-graveur, vol. xiii. pp. 1-35; Rumohr, Uhtersuchung der Grunde filr die Annahme, &c., Leipsic, 1841; and Lessing, Collectaneen zur Littcr- atur (vol. xii. art. &quot;Niellum&quot;). (J. H. M.) NIEMCEWICZ, JULIAN URSIN (1757-1841), was born in 1757 in Lithuania. In the earlier part of his life he acted as adjutant to Kosciusko, was taken prisoner with him at the fatal battle of Maciejowice (1794), and shared his captivity at St Petersburg. On his release he travelled for some time in America, where he married. He died as an emigrant at Paris in 1841. Niemcewicz tried many styles of composition. He wrote comedies (one of which, The Return of the Deputy, enjoyed a great reputation), tragedies, and a novel, John of Tenczyn, in the style of Scott, which gives a vigorous picture of old Polish days. He was also the author of a History of the Reign of Sigismund III. Perhaps, how ever, he is now best remembered by his Historical Songs, a series of lyrical compositions in which the chief heroes of 1 It is well illustrated in Shaw s Dresses and Decorations of the Middle Ages, vol. ii. , 1858. Polish history are introduced. The poet dwells with delight upon the golden age of Sigismund I., and the reigns of Stephen Bathori and Sobieski. With the last of these, as with the fall of Polish grandeur, the collection closes, one piece only being added by way of supplement, entitled &quot; The Funeral of Prince Joseph Poniatowski,&quot; the marshal of Napoleon, drowned in the Elster in 181 3 after the battle of Leipsic. Niemcewicz also translated a great deal from the English, among other poems Pope s Rape of the Lock and Gray s Elegy. His reputation has somewhat waned since his death. He has been eclipsed in modern times by the genius of Mickiewicz, to say nothing of Slowacki and Krasinski, all poets of much greater calibre. Perhaps some of the enthusiasm which his writings once kindled may have been due to his being a patriot and a man of action during the death-struggles of his unfortunate country. NIEPCE, JOSEPH NICEPHORE (1765-1833), one of the inventors of photography, was born at Chalon-sur-Saone on March 7, 1765. His father, a &quot;conseiller du roi,&quot;was in good circumstances, and young Niepce, who was of a meditative and poetical temperament, showed no eagerness to choose a profession. In 1792, however, he entered the army as a sub-lieutenant, and in the following year he saw active service in Italy. Ill-health and failing eyesight compelled him to resign his commission before he had risen above the rank of lieutenant; but in 1795 he was nominated &quot; administrateur &quot; of the district of Nice, and he held the post until 1801. Returning in that year to his birthplace, he gave himself along with his brother to mechanical and chemical researches; and in 1811 he directed his attention to the rising art of lithography. In 1813 the idea of obtaining sun pictures first suggested itself to him in this connexion ; the history of the subse quent development of the conception will be found under DAGUERRE (vol. vi. p. 761) and PHOTOGRAPHY. Niepce died at Gras, his property near Chalon, on July 3, 1833. A nephew, Claude Felix Abel Niepce de Saint-Victor (1805-1870), served with destinction in the army, and also made important contributions towards the advance ment of the art of photography (actinescence) ; he pub lished Recherches photographiques (Paris, 1855) and Traitc pratique de gravure heliographique (Paris, 1866). NIEVRE, a central department of France, formed out of the old province of Nivernais with a small portion of the Orle&quot;anais, lies between 46 40 and 47 35 N. lat. and between 2 50 and 4 12 E. long., and is bounded N.W. by Loiret, N. by Yonne, N.E. by Cote d Or, E. and S.E. by Saone-et-Loire, S.W. and W. by Allier, and W. by Cher. It belongs partly to the basin of the Loire, partly to that of the Seine. Towards the west its limits are marked by the Allier-Loire valley, the Loire striking across the south west corner of the department by Decize and Nevers and then continuing the line of its great affluent the Allier northwards by Fourchambault, La Charite&quot;, Pouilly, and Cosne. Secondary feeders of the Loire are the Nievre, which gives its name to the department, and the Aron, whose valley is traversed by the Nivernais Canal. The largest Seine tributary in Nievre is the Yonne, which rises in the south east, passes by Clamecy, and carries along with it the northern part of the Nivernais Canal. The Cure, the principal affluent of the Yonne (with which, however, it does not unite till after it has left the department), is the outlet of a lake, Lac des Settons, which serves as a reservoir for the practical regulation of the river. The watershed between the two river systems runs, like the general slope of .the department, from south-east to north-west, the highest summits belonging to the Morvan, an uplift of granite, porphyry, and gneiss, which extends into Saone-et-Loire, Cote d Or, and Yonne. Here stands