e, you are to provide yourself, if possible, with a
Rembrandt etching, or a photograph of one (of figures, not landscape).
It does not matter of what subject, or whether a sketchy or finished
one, but the sketchy ones are generally cheapest, and will teach you
most. Copy it as well as you can, noticing especially that Rembrandt's
most rapid lines have steady purpose; and that they are laid with almost
inconceivable precision when the object becomes at all interesting. The
"Prodigal Son," "Death of the Virgin," "Abraham and Isaac," and such
others, containing incident and character rather than chiaroscuro, will
be the most instructive. You can buy one; copy it well; then exchange
it, at little loss, for another; and so, gradually, obtain a good
knowledge of his system. Whenever you have an opportunity of examining
his work at museums, &c., do so with the greatest care, not looking at
_many_ things, but a long time at each. You must also provide yourself,
if possible, with an engraving of Albert Durer's. This you will not be
able to copy; but you must keep it beside you, and refer to it as a
standard of precision in line. If you can get one with a _wing_ in it,
it will be best. The crest with the cock, that with the skull and satyr,
and the "Melancholy," are the best you could have, but any will do.
Perfection in chiaroscuro drawing lies between these two masters,
Rembrandt and Durer. Rembrandt is often too loose and vague; and Durer
has little or no effect of mist or uncertainty. If you can see anywhere
a drawing by Leonardo, you will find it balanced between the two
characters; but there are no engravings which present this perfection,
and your style will be best formed, therefore, by alternate study of
Rembrandt and Durer. Lean rather to Durer; it is better for amateurs to
err on the side of precision than on that of vagueness: and though, as I
have just said, you cannot copy a Durer, yet try every now and then a
quarter of an inch square or so, and see how much nearer you can come;
you cannot possibly try to draw the leafly crown of the "Melancholia"
too often.

If you cannot get either a Rembrandt or a Durer, you may still learn
much by carefully studying any of George Cruikshank's etchings, or
Leech's woodcuts in Punch, on the free side; with Alfred Rethel's and
Richter's[218] on the severe side. But in so doing you will need to
notice the following points:

When either the material (as the copper or wood) or the t