ese men and the moderns is that these central
masters cut their line for the most part with a single furrow, giving it
depth by force of hand or wrist, and retouching, _not in the furrow
itself, but with others beside it_.[AD] Such work can only be done well
on copper, and it can display all faculty of hand or wrist, precision of
eye, and accuracy of knowledge, which a human creature can possess. But
the dotted or hatched line is not used in this central style, and the
higher conditions of beauty never thought of.

In the Astrology of Bandini,--and remember that the Astrologia of the
Florentine meant what we mean by Astronomy, and much more,--he wishes
you first to look at the face: the lip half open, faltering in wonder;
the amazed, intense, dreaming gaze; the pure dignity of forehead,
undisturbed by terrestrial thought. None of these things could be so
much as attempted in Duerer's method; he can engrave flowing hair, skin
of animals, bark of trees, wreathings of metal-work, with the free hand;
also, with labored chiaroscuro, or with sturdy line, he can reach
expressions of sadness, or gloom, or pain, or soldierly strength,--but
pure beauty,--never.

134. Lastly, you have the Modern school, deepening its lines in
successive cuts. The instant consequence of the introduction of this
method is the restriction of curvature; you cannot follow a complex
curve again with precision through its furrow. If you are a dextrous
plowman, you can drive your plow any number of times along the simple
curve. But you cannot repeat again exactly the motions which cut a
variable one.[AE] You may retouch it, energize it, and deepen it in
parts, but you cannot cut it all through again equally. And the
retouching and energizing in parts is a living and intellectual process;
but the cutting all through, equally, a mechanical one. The difference
is exactly such as that between the dexterity of turning out two similar
moldings from a lathe, and carving them with the free hand, like a Pisan
sculptor. And although splendid intellect, and subtlest sensibility,
have been spent on the production of some modern plates, the mechanical
element introduced by their manner of execution always overpowers both;
nor _can any plate of consummate value ever be produced in the modern
method_.

135. Nevertheless, in landscape, there are two examples in your
Reference series, of insuperable skill and extreme beauty: Miller's
plate, before instanced, of the Gra