graver than
painter, and also author of most of the designs he engraved. His life,
beginning with the sixteenth century, was protracted beyond ninety
years, not without signal honor, for his name appears among the
"Illustrious Men" of France, in the beautiful volumes of Perrault,
which is also a homage to the art he practiced. One of his works, for
a long time much admired, was described by this author:

"It is a Christ's head, designed and shaded, with his crown
of thorns and the blood that gushes forth from all parts, by
one single stroke, which, beginning at the tip of the nose,
and so still circling on, forms most exactly everything that
is represented in this plate, only by the different
thickness of the stroke, which, according as it is more or
less swelling, makes the eyes, nose, mouth, cheeks, hair,
blood, and thorns; the whole so well represented and with
such expressions of pain and affliction, that nothing is
more dolorous or touching."[4]

This print is known as the SUDARIUM OF ST. VERONICA. Longhi records
that it was thought at the time "inimitable," and was praised "to the
skies;" but people think differently now. At best it is a curiosity
among portraits. A traveler reported some time ago that it was the
sole print on the walls of the room occupied by the director of the
Imperial Cabinet of Engravings at St. Petersburgh.

[Sidenote: Morin.]

Morin was a contemporary of Mellan, and less famous at the time. His
style of engraving was peculiar, being a mixture of strokes and dots,
but so harmonized as to produce a pleasing effect. One of the best
engraved portraits in the history of the art is his CARDINAL
BENTIVOGLIO; but here he translated Vandyck, whose picture is among
his best. A fine impression of this print is a choice possession.

[Illustration: CARDINAL BENTIVOGLIO.

(Painted by Anthony Van Dyck, and Engraved by Jean Morin.)]

[Sidenote: Masson.]

Among French masters Antoine Masson is conspicuous for brilliant
hardihood of style, which, though failing in taste, is powerful in
effect. Metal, armor, velvet, feather, seem as if painted. He is also
most successful in the treatment of hair. His immense skill made him
welcome difficulties, as if to show his ability in overcoming them.
His print of HENRI DE LORRAINE, COMTE D'HARCOURT, known as _Cadet a la
Perle_, from the pearl in the ear, with the date 1667, is often placed
at the head of engra