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nous leur avons répondu victorieusement sans doute en donnant les Sabines de David et les Révoltés du Caire de Girodet. Si c'est un tour de force de placer un si grand nombre de figures dans un si petit espace, le graveur a réussi de manière à ne pas laisser de regret sur la petitesse du cadre dont il ne lui était pas permis de sortir; car nous n'avons pas cru devoir adopter la méthode malheureusement trop suivie d'avoir des planches d'une grande dimension qu'il faut plier en deux, en trois et quelquefois en quatre, parce que la plupart du temps ces pièces sont bientôt tellement fatiguées dans les plis, qu'elles se déchirent et rendent ainsi les exemplaires défectueux. Ce n'est donc pas dans l'intérêt de l'éditeur, mais bien dans celui des souscripteurs seulement, qu'on a donné les grands tableaux sans changer la dimension de la planche; d'ailleurs, en quoi pourrait - on trouver difficile ou inconvenant de graver dans un espace de quatre pouces les batailles d'Alexandre de Lebrun, ou tels autres grands tableaux, parce qu'ils contiennent cent cinquante figures de six pieds de proportion, tandis qu'on verrait sans étonnement une Kermesse par Teniers, une Foire par Breughel, ou une Marche d'armée par Callot, dont les figures nombreuses n'ont, dans les tableaux originaux, que dix-huit ou vingt lignes de hauteur, et sont renfermées dans un espace de quelques pouces seulement.?

MUSEUM

OF

PAINTING AND SCULPTURE,

OR,

COLLECTION

OF THE PRINCIPAL PICTURES,

STATUES, AND BASSI-RELIEVI,

IN THE PUBLIC AND PRIVATE GALLERIES OF EUROPE,

DRAWN AND ETCHED,

BY RÉVEIL:

WITH DESCRIPTIVE, CRITICAL, AND HISTORICAL NOTICES, BY DUCHESNE SENIOR.

VOLUME II.

LONDON:

TO BE HAD AT THE PRINCIPAL BOOKSELLERS

AND PRINTSHOPS.

PARIS: PRINTED BY RIGNOUX,

Rue des Francs - Bourgeois - Saint-Michel, n° 8.

SECOND ADVERTISEMENT.

In No 12 bis we announced the impossibility of publishing methodically the pictures and statues of the MUSEUM OF PAINTING AND SCULPTURE: it will indeed be easily conceived, that if we had commenced by giving all the pictures of the old schools of the xv and xvi centuries, it might have appeared fastidious to some persons, who may consider it more agreeable, to find them intermixed with modern compositions, engravings of which are frequently too dear to be purchased by all classes of amateurs. It might not either be very agreeable to receive ten numbers successively containing only pictures by Rubens or Paul Veronese; perhaps even Raphael, the sublime Raphael himself, would not be so welcome if multiplied so rapidly; whilst by continually varying them, placing a Poussin by a Mignard, an Albani by an Ostade, a Caracci by a David, each subscriber is almost sure to meet with something that accords with his peculiar taste; and this same variety will enable him to compare the difference between those masters in their manner of composing and designing.

Many persons appeared to fear that the size of our work would prevent us publishing large pictures: we have triumphantly refuted that idea, by giving the Sabines of David, and Girodet's Insurrection at Cairo. Although it is a difficult attempt to place so many figures in so narrow

II

ADVERTISEMENT.

a compass, the engraver has succeeded in a manner which has left nothing to be regretted on account of the diminutive scale to which he is limited; we have not thought proper to adopt the objectionable method, too often followed, of giving such dimensions to the plate that it becomes necessary to fold it, two or three or even four times, because the creases soon become so worn that they tear, and portions of the subject are rendered defective. It is not then for the interest of the editor, but entirely for the interest of the subscribers, that the large pictures have been given without altering the size of the plates; besides, for what reason would it be difficult or inconvenient to engrave within the space of four inches the Battles of Alexander by Le Brun, or other large pictures, because they contain one hundred and fifty figures whose stature may be six feet, when no surprise is excited in seeing a Kermis by Teniers, a Fair by Breughel, or a Marching Army by Callot, whose numerous figures in the original pictures are little more than an inch high and are enclosed within the space of a few inches only?

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