Of Prints there are two Kinds : Such as are done by the Masters themselves whose Invention the Work is ; and such as are done by Men not pretending to Invent, but only to Coppy (in Their way) Other men’s Works.
The Latter sort of Prints are always profess’d Coppies with respect to the Invention, Composition, Manner of Designing, Grace, and Greatness. But These Prints may be also Coppied as they frequently are, and to know what are So, and what are Orignals is by being well acquainted with the Hands of the Graver, or Etcher, who in This respect are the Masters, as the Painter from whom They Coppied were to them.

And as the Description of a Picture is a part of the History of the Master, a Copy, or a Print after such a one may be consider’d as a more Exact, and Perfect Description of it than can be given by Words ; These are of great Advantage, in giving us an Idea of the Manner of Think-of that Master, and this in proportion as such a Print, or Copy happens to be. And there is One Advantage which these have in This matter, which even the Works themselves have not ; And that is, In Those commonly their Other Qualities divert, and divide our Attention, and perhaps Sometimes Byass us in their favour throughout ;

Sometimes the Structure of a Picture, or the Tout-Ensemble of its Form, shall resemble dark Clouds on a Light Ground ; As in two Assumptions of the Virgin by Bolswert after Rubens ; indeed a part of These are such Clouds : But in both of them the Figures of these Masses are something too Indistinct. Le Brun in a Ceiling of the same Subject, grav’d, by young Simconneau, has put a Group of Angels, which almost hide the cloudy Voiture of the Virgin ; but this mass is too Regular, and Heavy a Shape. I refer you to Prints, because they are easy to be got, and explain This matter as well as Drawings, or Pictures, and in some Respects Better.

Prints whether Grav’d in Metal, or Wood, Etch’d or Mezzo-Tincto are a sort of Works done in such a Manner as is not so proper as that whereby Paintings, or Drawings are performed, it not being possible by It to make any thing so Excellent as in the Others. But This way of Working is Chosen upon Other Accounts, such as that thereby great Numbers are produced instead of One, so that the thing comes into Many hands ; and that at an Easy Price.
Of Prints there are two Kinds : Such as are done by the Masters themselves whose Invention the Work is ; and such as are done by Men not pretending to Invent, but only to Coppy (in Their way) Other men’s Works.
The Latter sort of Prints are always profess’d Coppies with respect to the Invention, Composition, Manner of Designing, Grace, and Greatness. But These Prints may be also Coppied as they frequently are, and to know what are So, and what are Orignals is by being well acquainted with the Hands of the Graver, or Etcher, who in This respect are the Masters, as the Painter from whom They Coppied were to them.
The Former Sort may again be Subdivised into three Kinds. I. Those they have done after a Painting of their Own. 2. Those done after a Drawing also done by Themselves, or Lastly what is Design’d upon the Plate, which has been Somtimes done especially in Etching. The Ist of these are Coppies after their Own Works ; and so may the 2d, or they may not, according as the Drawing they have made previously to it happens to be : but Both are so but in Part ; what is Thus done being a Different way of Working. But if it be Design’d on the Plate ‘tis a kind of Drawing (as the Others are) tho’ in a Manner Different from the rest, but ‘tis purely, and properly Original.

The Excellence of a Print, as of a Drawing consists not particularly in the Handling ; This is but One, and even one of the Least considerable parts of it : ‘tis the Invention, the Grace, and Greatness, and those Principal things that in the first place are to be regarded. There is better Graving, a finer Burin in many Worthless Prints than in those of Marc Antonio, but those of Him that come after Raffaele are Generally more esteem’d than even those which are Grav’d by the Masters themselves ;

in FRÉART de CHAMBRAY, Roland, An Idea of the Perfection of Painting: demonstrated from the Principles of Art, and by examples conformable to the observations , which Pliny and Quintilian have made upon the most celebrated pieces of Ancient painters parallel’d with some Works of the most Modern Painters, Leonardo da Vinci, Raphael, Julio Romano and N. Poussin, trad. par EVELYN, John, London, Henry Herringman, 1668., p. 563

in DE PILES, Roger, « " Abbildung eines Vollkommenen Mahlers ", in Historie und Leben der berühmtesten europaeischen Mahler, so sich durch ihre Kunst-Stücke bekand gemacht, samt einigen Réflexions darüber und Abbildung eines vollkommenen Mahlers, nach welcher die Mahlerey als einer Regul kann beurtheilet werden, wobey auch der Nutzen und Gebrauch der Kupferstücke und Erklärung der gebräuchlichen Mahler-Wörter », Hamburg, Benjamin Schiller, 1710.

in DE PILES, Roger, Beknopt verhaal van het leven der vermaardste Schilders : met Aanmerkingen over hunne werken, trad. par VERHOEK, Joannes, Amsterdam, Balthazar Lakeman, 1725., p. 69-74

in DU FRESNOY, Charles-Alphonse et DE PILES, Roger, De Schilderkonst eerst in Latynze Vaerzen Beschreven door C.A. Dufresnoy in't Frans gebragt en met Aantekekeningen verrykt Door den Heer De Piles Nevens een Zaammeuspraak over het koloriet, trad. par VERHOEK, Joannes, Amsterdam, Balthazar Lakeman, 1722., p. 58

in DU FRESNOY, Charles-Alphonse et DE PILES, Roger, De Schilderkonst eerst in Latynze Vaerzen Beschreven door C.A. Dufresnoy in't Frans gebragt en met Aantekekeningen verrykt Door den Heer De Piles Nevens een Zaammeuspraak over het koloriet, trad. par VERHOEK, Joannes, Amsterdam, Balthazar Lakeman, 1722., p. 89

in DU BOS, Jean-Baptiste, Oordeelkundige aanmerkingen over de poëszy, en schilderkunst [...] uit het Fransch vertaald, ten deele gevolgd, en met zommige aanmerkingen vermeerderd. Eerste Deel, trad. par ZWEERTS, Philip, Amsterdam, Jacobus Loeveringh, 1740, 3 vol. , vol. I., p. 507

in DU BOS, Jean-Baptiste, Oordelkundige Aanmrkingen over de Poëzie, en Schilderkunst. Tweede Deel., trad. par ZWEERTS, Philip, Amsterdam, Jacobus Loeveringh, 1740., p. 563

in BOUTET, Claude, The Art of Painting in Miniature: Teaching The speedy and perfect Acquisition of that Art without a Master. By Rules so easy, and in a Method so natural as to render this charming Accomplishment universally attainable. Containing I. The Difference between Painting in Miniature, and other Kinds of Painting. II. The Management of Colours in Draperies, Linnen, Lace, Furrs, &c. III. The Method of mixing Colours for Carnations ; for painting of Architecture, or any Building of Stone or Wood ; for Landskips, Terrasses, Water, Ruins, Rocks, &c. IV. The Art of Painting all Sorts of Flowers, with the proper Colours required to represent Nature to the highest Perfection. V. The various Methods of Painting. Translated from the Original French. The Fourth Edition. To which are now added, I. Certain Secrets of one of the greatest Italian Painters for making the finest Colours, Burnished Gold, Shell Gold, &c. II. Some general instructive Lessons for the Art of Drawing. And III. The Usefulness and Benefit of Prints, London, J. Hodges - J. James - T. Cooper, 1739., p. 48-50.

in DE PILES, Roger et DU FRESNOY, Charles-Alphonse, The Art of Painting by C.A. DU FRESNOY with Remarks, trad. par DRYDEN, John, London, W. Rogers, 1695., p.134

in DE PILES, Roger et DU FRESNOY, Charles-Alphonse, The Art of Painting by C.A. DU FRESNOY with Remarks, trad. par DRYDEN, John, London, W. Rogers, 1695., p.161

in DU BOS, Jean-Baptiste, Critical Reflections on Poetry, Painting and Music, With An Inquiry into the Rise and Progress of the Theatrical Entertainments of the Ancients, vol. 1, trad. par NUGENT, Thomas, London, John Nourse, 1748, vol. 1., p.392

in DU BOS, Jean-Baptiste, Critical Reflections on Poetry, Painting and Music, vol. 2, trad. par NUGENT, Thomas, London, John Nourse, 1748, 3 vol., vol. 2., p. 384