STEEL ENGRAVING – “LAKE AVERNUS” from the painting by Richard Wilson, engraved by J.C. Bentley, printed in 1885.  This engraving is in very good condition.  The engraving measures 6 ¼” x 9 ¾”, and is matted to 12” x 16” for easy framing.

     No notice of this painting would be complete which omitted to specify the relation in which it stands to the work of another great English painter; for the scene is the same as that of William Turner’s “The Golden Bough.”  As all comparison is difficult because we often seek to isolate for ourselves one or two leading characteristics divested of their partial subservience to others, so is it in comparing the intrinsic power and merit of two artists from their different works.  In the case before us a great opportunity offers; the element difference of subject is kept constant, and we are guided towards an accurate comparison of the two great masters of English landscape painting.  Not that such an exercise in art criticism is to be attempted without a due appreciation, or attempt to appreciate its difficulties; it is some of the highest work of the kind, and the start must be made in the midst of misgivings which do not clear off even at the close.

     In opposition to Turner’s poetical dream stands Wilson’s natural representation of the lake as it appeared in his time.  Avernus or Averno, as it is now called, is a circular sheet of water not more than a mile and half in circumference; the water is clear and of great depth, and is surrounded with high banks, which are covered with vineyards and gardens.  Here is no trace of the gloominess and impenetrable blackness ascribed by the ancients to the thick and foul exhalations from the waters.  It is likely, however, that when the surrounding banks were covered with forest trees overhanging the lake, it might have had a much more dismal appearance than at present; but the trees had been cut down even before Strabo’s time – the commencement of the Christian era – and the sides of the hills partially covered with vines.  The story of this locality emitting such impurities as to kill birds that flew over its surface may not have been altogether unfounded, as the whole region is of volcanic formation, and there is little doubt of the lake itself being the crater of a volcano.  Hence too, perhaps, the origin of the fable, that it was the entrance to the infernal regions.

   With what different ideas do we contemplate the scene reposing in the tranquility of a delicious sunset, as we find it in Wilson’s picture!  Beyond the lake the eye is carried over the blue waters which stretch towards the Bay of Naples and Mount Vesuvius, while we look in vain for any of those sights and sounds of gloomy portent that the old classic writer have associated with it.

IMPORTANT TO NOTE

Antique prints, engravings, and lithographs are printing processes, which use steel, copper, stone or wood blocks or plates to produce a picture on paper.

Most antique prints and engravings, which are seen on the internet today, are bookplates.  Because they are pages from a book, there are multiple copies in existence.  This does not, however, mean that they are "reproductions" that have been printed recently.  Because they were, at some point, part of books, some have been preserved in excellent condition, while others show signs of age, as yellow spots or darkness on the edge of the page from being handled.

Engravings, and lithographs are high quality pieces of art, as it took a highly trained artist many hours of work to produce one.  Although there may be multiple copies still in existence, the date of the item should be stated, thus giving the buyer an idea of its age.

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