of close, careful observation, and truthfully, suggestively expresses actual nature. Another notable feature is the subordination of the figures. Here, as in Rembrandt’s “Three Trees,” the figures are quite subordinate; the quiet beauty of the scenery presented is the main theme of the artist’s message. Passing by numerous other delightful landscape etchers, Everdingen, Waterloo, Saftleven, likewise the gifted etcher of animals, Paul Potter, we must turn now to Nicolas Berghem, who combines animal life with landscape. In his masterpiece, known as the “Diamond,” there is apparent the close study of nature, characteristic of the period, also much clever _mise en scène_, but as we examine the plate more closely, we realize the admixture of Italian inspiration. The vigor of home influences is weakening, and the art of the South again asserts itself as we approach the eighteenth century. The same Southern influence pervades the landscapes of Jan Both; they are very pleasing, technically fine, but the evil which creeps into Dutch art is quite evident here. The ideal landscape of Titian, Poussin, and Claude Lorrain gradually warps the former frank realistic rendering of nature; elegance, hollow display gradually take the place of the good, wholesome naturalness of Dutch art. With the advent of the eighteenth century, painting and the graphic arts decline to levels which we may pass by in this rapid survey. [Illustration: THE DIAMOND Nicolaes Berghem] VII FRANCE Having considered the fate of the graphic arts in Italy, Germany, and the Netherlands, our attention must dwell for a while on developments of the printed picture in France. In each of the countries above mentioned, we have witnessed a definite era of excellence in the sphere of prints; in Germany and in Italy, this zenith was reached in the late fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries. In the Netherlands, as we have just seen, the great awakening took place fully a century later. In this same seventeenth century, toward its close, as art declines in the Low Countries, French engraving rises to its highest perfection.