for his lost effort.

Vincent Le Sueur objected to the combination method and withdrew early
from the project. Possibly Jackson, who also disliked this method and
was not known for his discretion, was considered by Crozat to be a
disruptive element. Possibly his style of cutting was not retiring
enough for Crozat's tasteful French notion of chiaroscuro. This project,
in any case, aroused the Englishman's interest in the process. _Christ
Giving the Keys to St. Peter_, after Raphael, made about 1727, was
probably Jackson's first chiaroscuro woodcut. No doubt he produced it on
his own and offered it as a plate for the publication, perhaps at the
time he was commissioned to cut the tint blocks to be used in
combination with de Caylus' etching of this subject.

With both Papillon and the powerful Crozat against him, Jackson was
finished in Paris. De Caylus urged him to go to Italy. Accordingly, in
April 1730, he left Paris in the company of John Lewis, an English
painter, and set out for Rome, where he expected to continue his studies
in drawing and deepen his knowledge of art.

Jackson's style was still being formed during his Paris period. Confined
for the most part to initial letters, headbands, and tailpieces, his
work differed from contemporary French cuts only in its technical
handling, which was firmer and broader. Little of a more creative nature
came his way, and the Paris stay therefore served as a useful interim
during which he became adept in his craft. The necessity for keeping
himself alive by cutting on wood developed his powers of invention and
his facility: he became a remarkably rapid and skillful cutter. Jackson
gathered strength in Paris, but it was in Venice that he really came to
maturity as an artist.

[Illustration:
TAILPIECE in _Histoire generale de Languedoc_, by Claude Vic and
J. J. Vaissete, Paris, 1730, vol. 1. Note the even tone and clean
cutting compared with Papillon's light-and-dark contrasts and
dainty cutting.
Actual size.]

_Venice: The Heroic Effort_

After leaving Paris, Jackson and Lewis journeyed to Marseilles, where
Jackson became seriously ill and remained for six months, while Lewis
continued to Genoa. Regaining his health, Jackson went on to Genoa and
then to Leghorn, Pisa, and Lucca, arriving in Florence in January 1731.
There, during a stay of several months, he discussed with the Grand Duke
of Tuscany a reprinting of Vasari's _Lives of the Paint