the Test, Erith Marshes, 1865, and Sunset on the Thames are most representative.
The reader by this time will have seen that etching is divided into three broad classes. And the order in which they are placed below is that of their relative value.
In the first rank of etchers are those who conceived their own designs and etched them in swift lines with the needle on the copper, as, for example, Rembrandt, Méryon, Seymour Haden, and Whistler. Méryon, before his grand period (1850-1854), did not disdain to etch after Salvator Rosa and other old masters, and, similarly, Lalanne, Bracquemond, and others translated, in addition to producing original work. But it is the latter which entitles them to come under this first class.
Next in order come the etchers who translated their own paintings into black and white, as did the Dutch etchers of the seventeenth century.
Lastly there are the etchers who have limited themselves to interpreting the paintings of other men, either old masters or contemporary painters, The great exponents of this class are Gaucherel, Waltner, Rajon, and others of the modern French school, and Unger of Austria.
Line engravers and mezzotinters have also used etching in conjunction with their work, to which allusion will be made later. Turner was a masterly etcher, but used it as a means to an end, as will be explained subsequently.
Modern etching does not come under the heading of old prints, but Mr. Frank Short has produced,
