y the
texture of meshed lines.

Similarly, on any surface of metal, the object of the engraver is, or
ought to be, to cover it with lovely _lines_, forming a lace-work, and
including a variety of spaces, delicious to the eye.

And this is his business, primarily; before any other matter can be
thought of, his work must be ornamental. You know I told you a
sculptor's business is first to cover a surface with pleasant _bosses_,
whether they mean anything or not; so an engraver's is to cover it with
pleasant _lines_, whether they mean anything or not. That they should
mean something, and a good deal of something, is indeed desirable
afterwards; but first we must be ornamental.

127. Now if you will compare Plate II. at the beginning of this lecture,
which is a characteristic example of good Florentine engraving, and
represents the Planet and power of Aphrodite, with the Aphrodite of
Bewick in the upper division of Plate I., you will at once understand
the difference between a primarily ornamental, and a primarily
realistic, style. The first requirement in the Florentine work, is that
it shall be a lovely arrangement of lines; a pretty thing upon a page.
Bewick _has_ a secondary notion of making his vignette a pretty thing
upon a page. But he is overpowered by his vigorous veracity, and bent
first on giving you his idea of Venus. Quite right, he would have been,
mind you, if he had been carving a statue of her on Mount Eryx; but not
when he was engraving a vignette to AEsop's fables. To engrave well is to
ornament a surface well, not to create a realistic impression. I beg
your pardon for my repetitions; but the point at issue is the root of
the whole business, and I _must_ get it well asserted, and variously.

Let me pass to a more important example.

128. Three years ago, in the rough first arrangement of the copies in
the Educational Series, I put an outline of the top of Apollo's scepter,
which, in the catalogue, was said to be probably by Baccio Bandini of
Florence, for your first real exercise; it remains so, the olive being
put first only for its mythological rank.

The series of engravings to which the plate from which that exercise is
copied belongs, are part of a number, executed chiefly, I think, from
early designs of Sandro Botticelli, and some in great part by his hand.
He and his assistant, Baccio, worked together; and in such harmony, that
Bandini probably often does what Sandro wants, better than Sandr