Page:Chats on old prints (IA chatsonoldprints00haydiala).pdf/197

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were published by Messrs. Macmillan. In this latter issue of wood engravings an édition de luxe was issued at thirty guineas net. This edition is printed on hand-made paper, and is accompanied by two portfolios of proofs on Japanese paper, each engraving signed by the artist.

Mr. Timothy Cole was born—as was Browning—at Camberwell, and went to America when a child. He was apprenticed at Chicago to wood engraving, and built his style largely on W. J. Linton's work, who commended him in his early efforts. He is most thorough in his methods. In his pilgrimage to the galleries of Europe he lives with his subjects and does not allow haste to creep into anything he undertakes.

He is essentially a member of the new school of engraving, and Linton's formulæ as to objects in the foreground being bolder, and in the background finer, has little place in his technique. He seeks by every known means to reproduce in black and white what the artist portrays in colours. He applies himself faithfully to study the technique of the original before he translates it into wood engraving.

His method is to get a photograph of the original picture on the wood block and to sit with his back to the canvas, having a mirror to show the picture in reverse. He is thus able week after week to live with his picture in the Vatican or in the Louvre, or at the Pitti Gallery at Florence, or at the National Gallery in London. His magnificent series after the old masters stands as a monument to his powers as the greatest living interpretative wood engraver. In