Page:Chats on old prints (IA chatsonoldprints00haydiala).pdf/267

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done in 1770, may be bought in fine condition for a little over £2. His Charles I. (Standing by his Horse), with the Duke of Hamilton, done in 1780, is a rich and bold interpretation of Vandyck; this will cost the collector about the same as the above, and in good state for that sum. The Three Heads of Charles is another splendid example of his graver, as well as a fine portrait of Henrietta Maria, and his superb St. Cecilia after Raphael has no equal in the school of English engraving.

Strange did a very graceful act; he had refused to engrave the portrait of George III., but he relaxed so far as to produce in line a plate after West's picture, the Apotheosis of the Royal Children. This caused him to be summoned to St. James's, where he was knighted by the king. In passing, it is of interest to mention that, by reason of the rivalry of Bartolozzi with Strange, the former seceded with a band of his followers from the Incorporated Society of Artists, and with the king's patronage founded the Royal Academy, from which Strange was excluded. But Benjamin West, his friend the American Quaker and the first President, never succeeded in persuading the Academicians to elect Strange, as in order to fit his case a rule had been made not to admit engravers.

John Boydell, engraver (1719-1804), may be said to have been the first fine art publisher in England. He devoted considerable energy to fostering the art of line engraving and founding a great school. He encouraged interpretative engravers after the old masters. An alderman of the City of London, and