Page:A History of Wood-Engraving.djvu/201

characteristic to that of the earlier portraits—the concentration of attention on the central figures, to the neglect of the minor portions of the designs. Thus in the example here given (Fig. 87), so long as the eye is concerned only with the two stately figures, there is only pleasure in such admirable workmanship; but when the gaze wanders to the near, and especially the remote, background, there is nothing to delight the lover of art or nature in such confusion, insub-

Fig. 86.—Going to Church.

Fig. 86.—Going to Church. Engraved by J P. Davis.