Not only have I not exaggerated the part played by my hero, as authors are somewhat in the habit of doing,—on the contrary, I have restricted it as much as possible. Since the publication of my first edition, an attempt has been made to prove Tory to be the maker, or, at least, the decorator, of the beautiful Henri II porcelains, so-called, the subject of a recent publication of MM. Delange, father and son. M. Didot himself adopted this opinion,[298] which is based upon a vague similarity, but is completely refuted by the date of Tory's death. So far as I am concerned, appearances are of no consequence, unless they are accompanied by some substantial evidence; and that is why I have excluded from the list of Tory's works some engravings that Messrs. Renouvier and Didot do not hesitate to attribute to him because of certain similarities, but which do not bear his mark. It is that mark which has served me as a guide in identifying Tory's work. The objection is made, to be sure, that this plan requires the attribution to Tory of engravings of very dissimilar styles. Every plan has its disadvantages; but, all things considered, I prefer one that has something to stand upon to one that has nothing. Moreover, it is easy to explain the different styles of the artist of the Lorraine cross by referring to what has often taken place in the careers of other artists. In truth, how many painters have we seen change their style of painting at a certain period of their lives! But there is an even simpler way of explaining these dissimilarities in different engravings, namely, by admitting with me that the Lorraine cross was the mark of Tory's workshop, but that in that workshop there were other artists of very diverse abilities. In the same way, we see to-day a multitude of engravings signed 'Andrew,' 'Best,' 'Leloir,' to which those artists certainly never put their hands.
But let us have done with argument and come to the facts: they will prove more conclusively than any number of dissertations the truth of our statement concerning Tory; they will prove, in fact, that all the works signed by the cross alone were engraved during that artist's lifetime, or in the establishment which he founded and which his widow retained until about 1556.
To make the demonstration clearer, I will divide what I still have to say into three sections. In the first I will include all the manuscripts the decoration of which can be attributed to Tory; in the second I will describe all the engravings marked with the Lorraine cross that are known to me, arranging them in chronological order; and in the third I will mention such marks of printer-booksellers bearing the aforesaid cross, as I have been able to discover. As it is impossible for me to follow the chronological order in this last category, I have adopted the alphabetical order, which will enable one to find at once such of these marks as are mentioned in the second section.
SECTION I. MANUSCRIPTS DECORATED WITH MINIATURES BY TORY.
1. COMMENTAIRES DE CÉSAR.
2. TRIOMPHES DE PÉTRARQUE.