FINE ARTS.
TIM CHEVALIER TOSCHI'S ENGRAVINGS FROM THE FEJS6COE5 OF CORREGGIO AT PARMA.
Ttmt magnificent series of engravings will before many years be the only records of the grandest works of Correggio. His easel pictures have been repeatedly engraved, and, being mostly in fine preservation, may be en- graved again and again; but the frescoes in the cupolas of the two churches at Parma are rapidly losing the characteristic qualities of the master through the combined effects of decay and retouching. Signor Toschi having been commissioned by the Dutchess of Parma to make copies of the whole of the frescoes, has had his exquisite drawings of them engraved under his immediate superintendence,—he himself as well as his pupils working upon tho plots"; and the first fruits of his labours are before us.
There are two faseiouli of plates and one of descriptive letterpress
Italian. he first part contains four plates,—tbe Diana, and two groups of Cupids from the chamber of St Paul, by Correggio; and a lovely group of two female saints by Pamiigiano, the extreme beauty of which warrants its introduction into this work. The second part consists of one large plate of St. John, from the dome of St. Giovanni. The Diana in one of the most remarkable examples of the graceful, as the St. John is of the grand style of Correggio; and both display that greatness of conception and largeness of manner which characterize his frescoes, and distinguish their design and execution from these of his easel picture*. The beautiful pre- dominates in expression: St John is all benignity, and the Diana i ra- diant, with serene intelligence; while the action of the figures and the east of the draperies are in the grandest style. His Cupids, seen through openings in a leafy screen, are beautiful both for the rounded contours and the innocent meekness of childhood. The engravings are executed with the utmost elaboration, and with a conseietniona fidelity that could only be attained by an artist who has studied Correggio as Signor Toschi has done: himself a painter of eminence, as well as an engraver, he has devoted his powers to this great undertaking as a labour of 1(1es,—* work which will identify his name with that of Correggio as Mare An- tonio's was with Raphael's. And his greatest merit in this task is that he has transmitted the spirit of the master in these copies.
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