Page:The brothers Dalziel; a record of fifty years' work in conjunction with many of the most distinguished artists of the period, 1840-1890; (IA brothersdalzielr00dalz).pdf/9



, who revived the art of wood engraving in England. was apprenticed to Ralph Beilby, as a copperplate engraver, in 1767. About 1770 he began to engrave on wood. The work at first was rough, and chiefly for newspaper advertisements; but he soon saw the capabilities of the material, and he rapidly developed into the great master of his art. The excellence of his wood engraving may be said to have culminated in his “Book of British Birds,” the first volume of which was published in 1797. For a century from that date the art of wood engraving has been the most popular as well as the best method for the reproduction of all classes of drawings. and during that hundred years much beautiful: work has been done.

Bewick’s pupils were all artists in the fullest meaning of the word—John Bewick (his brother), Robert Johnson, Luke Clenell, Charlton Nesbit, Isaac Nicholson, and Wiliam Harvey. What a grand start the first half of the century of wood engraving had with such great men!

In the second half—in which we claim to have had our share—were such brilliant contemporaries as John Jackson, John Thomson, the Williams’s,