Page:Chats on old prints (IA chatsonoldprints00haydiala).pdf/356

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with colour, somnolent with a grandeur transmitted from centuries of decadent magnificence. It is here that a long line of Doges have wedded with mystic pageantry the city of sleeping palaces and drowsy canals to the blue waters of the Adriatic. As a companion picture from the graver of T. A. Prior is another scene of Venice showing the Doge's Palace with the Bridge of Sighs, and behind stands erect the turret of the Campanile of St. Mark's, which has now fallen, and at its fall men and women wept at the ruin of their beloved tower. But London would stand dry-eyed even if the Abbey were demolished. Trafalgar Square, apparently, is no man's land. The most glorious site in Europe is given up to ornamental fountains which spurt green water into a greener pool, and to complete the harmony a "Tube" station opens upon the space which might well be planted with shrubs and trees and laid out with grass.

In order to familiarise himself with the better-known Turner prints the beginner cannot do better than refer to the various volumes and series alluded to in order to become acquainted with the appearance of the prints. By frequenting the lesser-known print shops he will not infrequently be able to procure for less than a shilling apiece odd prints from one of these. Of course those on India-paper are more costly, and their appearance in this state naturally induces the printseller to demand a higher price, but in the initial stages of Turner-collecting it is an excellent training to commence with loose prints at small prices, and gradually advance to finer states.