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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/36751-8.txt b/36751-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..12ef8d2 --- /dev/null +++ b/36751-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,2297 @@ +Project Gutenberg's Engraving for Illustration, by Joseph Kirkbride + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Engraving for Illustration + Historical and Practical Notes + +Author: Joseph Kirkbride + +Release Date: July 17, 2011 [EBook #36751] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ENGRAVING FOR ILLUSTRATION *** + + + + +Produced by Chris Curnow, David Garcia and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This +file was produced from images generously made available +by The Internet Archive) + + + + + + + +ENGRAVING FOR ILLUSTRATION + +Reproduction by R. J. EVERETT & SONS' "INK-PHOTO" Process + +[Illustration: FRONTISPIECE. ENGRAVING FOR ILLUSTRATION.] + + + + + + +ENGRAVING FOR ILLUSTRATION + +_Historical and Practical Notes_ + +BY JOSEPH KIRKBRIDE + +WITH TWO PLATES BY INK PHOTO PROCESS AND SIX ILLUSTRATIONS + + LONDON + SCOTT, GREENWOOD & CO. + 10 LUDGATE HILL, E.C. + + NEW YORK + D. VAN NOSTRAND CO. + 23 MURRAY STREET + 1903 + +[_All Rights remain with Scott, Greenwood & Co._] + + + + +CONTENTS + + PAGE + + +CHAPTER I + + ITS INCEPTION. A Theory of Evolution--A Distinct Progress 1 + + +CHAPTER II + + WOOD ENGRAVING. Rise and Progress--Block Books--Durer's + Influence--Hans Holbein--A Renaissance--Comparison and + Justification--The Illustrator 5 + + +CHAPTER III + + METAL ENGRAVING. The Invention--Early Engravers--National + Characteristics--A Progressive Review 18 + + +CHAPTER IV + + ENGRAVING IN ENGLAND. Introduction of Metal Engraving--Notable + British Engravers--Summary 26 + + +CHAPTER V + + ETCHING. Early Records--Descriptive--Rembrandt's + Influence--Wenceslaus Hollar 38 + + MEZZOTINT. Invention--Description--Artistic Qualities--Dilettanti + Art--A Modern Mezzo Engraver 38 + + +CHAPTER VI + + THE ENGRAVER'S TASK. Inartistic Work--Constructive + Elements--Outline--Extraneous Matter--Composition--Light + and Shade--Expression--Perspective--Execution 48 + + +CHAPTER VII + + PHOTO "PROCESS" ENGRAVING. A Progressive Process--Commercial + and Artistic Features--"Line" Process--"Half Tone"--Artistic + Restoration--Tri-chromatography--Photogravure 57 + + +CHAPTER VIII + + APPRECIATIVE CRITICISM. An Educative Principle--An + Analysis--Realism in Art Retrospect 66 + + +INDEX 70 + + + + +LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS + + + FIG. + + Plate I. _Frontispiece_ + + 1. Old Wood Engraving (Erenburg Castle) _Facing p._ 10 + + 2. Modern Wood Engraving (The Goose Fountain, Nuremburg) " 14 + + 3. Old Wood Engraving " 28 + + 4. Modern Wood Engraving " 54 + + 5. Cross Section of Cyanide Furnace _Page_ 59 + + 6. Process Engraving _Facing p._ 60 + + Plate II. " 64 + + + + +PREFACE + + +A philosopher and writer has declared that "in our fine arts, not +imitation, but creation, is the aim." + +It is to emphasise a distinction between an imitative and a creative +art that the following chapters are offered. + +"Engraving for Illustration" is pre-eminently a creative art by which +the work of the artist is _translated_, "in order to render the effect +of his design in such a form as will admit of rapid and effective +reproduction." + +It is, moreover, a popular art with a well-defined educative principle +underlying the numerous phases of its manifestation; while, at the same +time, its historical and general interest will commend this brief record +of its progress and influence to many who are lovers of art for art's +sake. + + + J. K. + LONDON _June 1903_. + + + + +ENGRAVING FOR ILLUSTRATION + + + + +CHAPTER I + + _ITS INCEPTION_--A THEORY OF EVOLUTION--A DISTINCT PROGRESS + + "In proportion to his force the artist will find in his work + an outlet for his proper character."--Emerson. + + +=Its Inception.=--It was the dawn of a new sense when primitive man +first ornamented his weapons, utensils, and the walls of his cave +dwellings with incised drawings,--pictorial representations which +enabled him to record events or suggest and illustrate thoughts and +ideas when his somewhat limited vocabulary failed him. + +It was a severely utilitarian epoch of the world's history, and the +crude yet intensely realistic manifestations of man's artistic desires +were the more remarkable that they were wholly dependent upon stern +necessity for their realisation. Childlike in their simplicity, yet +both graphic and vigorous in expression, these ancient drawings bear +testimony to the intense desire of primeval man for some suitable and +satisfying form of pictorial expression. Such incised drawings were +undoubtedly the earliest forms, which the mind of man suggested and his +skill attained, of conveying information and displaying pictorial or +ornamental art. They were but crude conceptions of the untutored art of +a savage race, yet, with a characteristic quaintness of expression, they +abundantly prove the existence of an innate, imitative, and artistic +faculty, inspired by an insatiable craving for illustrative delineation. + +=A Theory of Evolution.=--The antiquity of the engraver's art, then, +is exceedingly remote, and its earliest records display frequent +evidences of manipulative skill and artistic perception--evidences which +are still more convincing when the environment and scanty resources of +its exponents are fully appreciated. It was a most unique phase of that +process of evolution whereby the social education of the human race was +advanced, and through countless ages it has indicated the same onward +roll of progressive intelligence. + +Responsive to the ever-changing conditions of life, the necessities of +mankind were constantly increasing. His higher intelligence also created +a greater diversity of interests, and consequently demanded a fuller and +more expressive vehicle of communication for his thoughts. No longer +content with what was only needful for the maintenance of social or +commercial intercourse, he sought to add to the archaic simplicity of +his drawings, skilful arrangement, and a certain degree of artistic +feeling and interpretation. It was as though some transitory flashes of +artistic power in the minds of prehistoric artists were struggling with +an inability to give adequate expression to their inceptions. Their +productions, some of them dating from the Palæolithic and Neolithic +periods, were not pretentious works of art. Their primary purpose being +representative, their merit was, of course, decided by the success or +failure of such representation, apart from any artistic qualities they +might possess. + +=A Distinct Purpose.=--The evident care with which many of the ancient +incised drawings or engravings were executed and preserved, together +with the permanent character of the materials employed, seems to +indicate that these simple yet graphic representations were produced +with the distinct purpose of perpetuating a memory as well as for the +amplification of a meagre language,--a purpose which considerably +enhances their interest, and suggests that the primeval engraver +appreciated some at least of the possibilities of his art. Moreover, +they frequently possess an intense veracity and directness of imitation +which renders them of inestimable value as reliable historical records. +Had caprice alone directed the artist's efforts, they would not in so +many instances have merited the interest and approval which they now +receive. + +Such, then, were the beginnings of an art that subsequently reached its +maturity only by a slow growth of gradual development, and "which, in +the modesty and seriousness of its earlier manifestations, is at least +as interesting as in the audacity of its later and more impressionistic +phases." + +Engraving as a reproductive as well as an ornamental art was at +different periods modified in accordance with ever-changing conditions +produced by the exigencies of national and industrial policy. Its +frequent adaptation to the various circumstances with which it was +indissolubly associated, and the fluctuations of an enthusiasm which was +more or less dependent upon national as well as social prosperity, fully +justifies the statement that "its history is the mirror of a nation's +progress." + +The rude methods of ancient artists can be distinctly traced through +Egyptian, Assyrian, and Grecian history. Hieroglyphic and symbolic +figures, engraved on ancient Egyptian monuments, bear testimony to +a vast progress both in expressive and inventive power. Assyrian +antiquities disclose an art which is even more suggestive and +picturesque, while the ancient Greeks developed the highest qualities of +pictorial power, and raised the art to a marvellous pitch of excellence. + +Beyond this brief epitome of the early history of engraving we need +not venture. The idea of taking impressions from any form of incised +drawings was not suggested until many centuries later. + + + + +CHAPTER II + + _WOOD ENGRAVING_--RISE AND PROGRESS--BLOCK BOOKS--DURER'S + INFLUENCE--HANS HOLBEIN--A RENAISSANCE--COMPARISON AND + JUSTIFICATION--THE ILLUSTRATOR + + "It is therefore beautiful because it is alive, moving, + reproductive. It is therefore useful because it is symmetrical + and fair."--Emerson. + + +=Wood Engraving.=--The most animating event in the whole history of +engraving was the development of engraved wood blocks. Wood engraving +did not receive the impetus of a new discovery as did metal engraving at +a later period. It was to some extent a purely commercial enterprise, +the success of which was assured by an ever increasing interest +in pictorial art. Engraved wood blocks were used for purposes of +reproduction several centuries before their introduction into Europe. +Historians claim that it can be traced back to A.D. 930, when a form of +playing card was known to the Chinese, and printed by them from rough +wood engravings. The commercial intercourse of the Venetians with +Eastern nations would suggest a probability that their navigators +brought home some of these playing cards, and described the method of +their production to their countrymen. + +The further we pursue our investigations, the more remarkable does this +tardy recognition of the utility of wood engraving appear to be. It is +true that somewhere about the middle of the thirteenth century legal +documents were stamped, and merchant marks made with engraved wood +blocks, but no extensive use was made of this method of reproduction +until a much later period. + +The Low Countries claim credit for the first employment of engraved wood +blocks for commercial purposes. Many dispute this claim, but the amount +of credit at stake is so infinitesimal that it renders the contention +of little value. Until the time of that immense progress which wood +engraving made in Germany about the middle and towards the end of the +fifteenth century, no work of any artistic merit whatever had been +produced. The older prints may possess a certain historical or +antiquarian value, but otherwise are both crude and uninteresting. + +=Block Books.=--The Mediæval Block Books were the most important of the +early pictorial reproductions from engraved wood blocks. They also may +be traced to China, where, as early as the ninth century, they were used +for decorative as well as illustrative purposes. They retained their +primitive form for a long period after their first introduction to +Western civilisation, and it is interesting to note that the blocks, +and not the prints, were supplied to the monks,--the scholars of the +day,--the impressions being made by them as required. Towards the end +of the fourteenth century Dutch merchants, like the Venetians, paid +frequent visits to Chinese ports, when they too were impressed with the +novelty and utility of pictorial reproduction as practised in the East. +At any rate, pictorial sheets or cards, very similar in character to +the Chinese playing cards, were published in Holland about that period. +They bore pictures of the saints with the titles or legends engraved +alongside. The production of such prints was evidently a recognised +business during the early part of the fifteenth century, for there +are numerous entries in the civic records of Nuremberg concerning the +wood engraver "Formschneider" and cardmaker "Kartenmacher." It has been +ingenuously suggested that, for convenience, collections of these cards +were pasted into books; and the books available being chiefly of a +religious character, the idea of illustrating religious matter with +such pictures was readily suggested. + +The next step was the application of block engraving and printing +to the production of volumes of a more pretentious character, the +most noteworthy of which were _The Apocalypsio sue Historia Sancti +Johannis_, the _Biblia Pauperum_, and the _Historia Virginis ex +Cantico Canticorum_. In another of these books, the _Speculum Humanæ +Salvationis_, the titles were not engraved on the plates, but were +printed with movable types. This volume was published at Haarlem, +and was composed of fifty-eight plates--a very considerable production +with the materials then at the disposal of the publishers. + +=Durer's Influence.=--In 1490 Albert Durer, who possessed a spirited +imagination and deep enthusiasm for his work, marked out a distinct era +of substantial progress, and impressed the art of wood engraving with +that expressive power of delineation which his truly remarkable genius +ever manifested. + +Durer was an artist of somewhat variable characteristics, but the +diversity and amplitude of his productions afford conclusive evidences +of a remarkable industry and skill. + +Like other artists of his time, and even of much later periods, he did +not engrave his own drawings. He may, of course, have engraved a few +blocks, but most, if not all of the wood engravings signed by Durer, +were executed by Jerome Rock. + +Perhaps the most peculiar characteristic of Durer's designs was +the portrayal of scenes and figures of ancient history and myth in +well-defined imitation of his own surroundings and the conditions of +life then existing. Apropos of this, it was said that he turned the +New Testament into the history of a Flemish village. + +Hans Holbein was another of the early artists who prepared their +drawings for the express purpose of reproduction by means of wood +engraving. That he fully appreciated the resources of his art there +can be no doubt, for he imbued his work with an expressive individual +force which was distinctly progressive and influential. His best known +production consists of forty-one engravings representing "Death--the +King of Terrors," in association with nearly every phase of human life. +Each one of these designs is a picture parable of remarkable power and +suggestiveness. The characteristic drawing and quaint expressiveness of +Holbein's illustrations merit unqualified admiration, and his graphic +use of pure line for pictorial expression stands almost unrivalled. + +Hans Litzelburger engraved Holbein's designs. Towards the end of the +fifteenth and during part of the sixteenth centuries wood engraving +still received enthusiastic attention, and then, for sheer lack of +interest, fell rapidly into decay. Metal engraving was absorbing the +attention of the artistic world, and for many years wood engraving was +regarded as only fit for the reproduction of pictures which may be +charitably described as inartistic, and too often perhaps discreditable. + +As far as our own country was concerned, it was not until the advent +of Thomas Bewick that this decadence received any effective check. + +=A Renaissance.=--The Renaissance of wood engraving in England may be +dated from 1775, when Bewick engraved a picture entitled "The Hound," +and received a prize offered by the Royal Society for the best engraving +on wood. Thomas Bewick was born in 1753, and fourteen years later he was +apprenticed to a metal engraver. It was indeed a fortuitous circumstance +which caused him to transfer his energies and his talents to wood +engraving, in which he displayed a rare skill and inimitable directness +of expression. He was probably the first wood engraver to adopt level +tinting in place of complicated and laborious cross hatching which was +then practised by his continental contemporaries. He usually preferred +to develop his drawing rather than attempt the production of extraneous +effects, and the subtle effectiveness of his pictures affords +incontrovertible proofs of the advantage of such substitution. Their +humour and pathos, vigour and fidelity, remain to this day as memorials +of the consummate, artistic skill and perceptive capacity of a truly +remarkable man. Bewick was a self-contained genius whose rugged emotions +would admit of but one form of pictorial expression, and that peculiarly +his own. His work was pregnant with masterly good sense, and ever +manifested a charming simplicity of purpose. He had but a modest +estimate of his ability as an engraver, and consequently rarely engraved +any other than his own drawings. + +The exact measure of Bewick's influence on the art of wood engraving +for pictorial illustration and reproduction would be difficult to +satisfactorily determine. This much is certain, however, that through it +wood engraving was verified and popularised, and illustrated literature +received a stimulus which subsequent developments combined to maintain +and emphasise. + +[Illustration: Fig. 1.--Old Wood Engraving (Erenburg Castle). + + "Colour values and perspective can only be expressed by thick and + thin lines at varying distances apart." + + _Block supplied by the London Electrotype Agency Ltd., from the + "Illustrated London News."_] + +=A Comparison.=--There is a vast difference between the effects procurable +in an impression from a wood engraving and the print from an engraved +metal plate. In the former, colour values and perspective can only be +expressed by thick and thin lines at varying distances apart, the ink on +the prints being of the same density throughout, no matter how thick or +thin the lines may be. In metal engraving intermediary values may be +obtained by lines of the same thickness, if need be, but of varying +depth. The result is a strong, intense effect produced by the greater +body of pigment held by such portions of the lines as are cut deeply, +and the comparatively grey appearance of the shallower parts. It is +largely due to this that prints from engraved metal plates possess a +peculiar richness and depth of tone. + +The commercial advantages generally claimed for engraved wood blocks +are the ease and rapidity with which impressions can be made from them +as compared with the metal plates, and also the fact that they can be +printed with type, _i.e._ letterpress, without any unusual preparations. +Granting the validity of these claims, it must follow that, owing to the +larger number of impressions made from wood engravings, their intrinsic +worth will be correspondingly less than the limited number of prints +made from engraved metal plates, and their commercial value will be +estimated accordingly. + +=A Justification.=--The somewhat sweeping assertion that wood engraving +affords a medium of expression only for the blunter minds is not the +whole truth. Its strikingly bold conceptions and broad expressive +effects certainly appeal to the untrained eye or untutored mind more +than the artistic qualities of design and execution displayed in metal +engraving; but there is yet in the art of the wood engraver a well-nigh +inexhaustible store of artistic as well as pictorial effects. The +forcible character and charm of its productions are chiefly due to the +disposition and combination of the lines employed, and a variety of +texture which is thereby introduced. It affords also an exceptional +facility of execution, and an almost limitless power of realisation, +which gives to it a deservedly high place among the pictorial and +reproductive arts. The whole matter may be summed up in a statement +once made by a well-known artist and illustrator: "There is no process +in relief which has the same certainty, which gives the same colour and +brightness, and by which gradations of touch can be more truly rendered. +Few of our great artists, however, can be prevailed upon to draw for +wood engraving, and when they do undertake an illustration, say of a +great poem, the drawing, which has to be multiplied 100,000 times, has +less thought bestowed upon it than the painted portrait of a cotton +king." What wonder, then, at the retrogression of this facile and +graphic art of pictorial illustration. + +[Illustration: Fig. 2.--Modern Wood Engraving (the Goose Fountain, +Nuremburg). + + "The forcible character of wood engraving chiefly due to the disposition + and combination of the lines employed." + + _Block supplied by the London Electrotype Agency Ltd., from the + "Religious Tract Society."_] + +=The Illustrator.=--The employment of wood engravings in conjunction +with literature created a new phase of artistic work. The task of the +illustrator or designer is peculiar. He sketches out his design on the +wood block, and then passes it on to the engraver. His drawing is not +intended as a permanent form of pictorial art, but as a suggestive +sketch, which, while perfectly intelligible to the engraver, will be +free from such intricacies in its composition as might interfere with +its effective interpretation. The old wood engravers produced, line for +line, an exact facsimile of the artist's design. His work, no doubt, +required considerable skill and unremitting patience, but it was almost +devoid of independent thought or artistic feeling. The engraver to-day +must _translate_ the work of the illustrator so as to render the effect +of his design in such a form as will admit of rapid and effective +reproduction. The possibilities of the wood engraver's art, therefore, +are manifold. The artist's sketch may give a suggestion of light and +shade, and possibly some idea of its tone. The execution and elaboration +of the drawing is left almost entirely in the hands of the engraver. +Whether it will gain or lose by its translation will, to some extent, +depend upon his artistic perception as well as his manipulative skill. + + + + +CHAPTER III + + _METAL ENGRAVING_--THE INVENTION--EARLY ENGRAVERS--NATIONAL + CHARACTERISTICS--A PROGRESSIVE REVIEW + + "The influence of the graver is so great and extensive that + its productions have constantly been the delight of all + countries of the world and of all seasons of life." + + +=Metal Engraving--The Invention.=--The engraving of metal plates for +pictorial reproduction was a direct development of ornamental engraving. +The Italian Niello work of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries was +chiefly applied to the embellishment of metal ornaments and utensils +with elaborate engravings. To intensify their effect, the designs were +filled in with a black pigment known as _Niello_, L. _Nigellus_--Black. +Hence the name by which the process was generally known. Niello work was +practised chiefly by gold and silversmiths, and it is recorded that one +of these, Finiguerra by name, was filling up the lines of the engraving +with black composition in the usual way when he accidentally spilled +some hot wax over the plate. It rapidly cooled and hardened, and on +scaling off bore a distinct black impression of the engraving. Quick +to perceive the importance of his discovery, Finiguerra promoted a few +experiments which ultimately led to a full realisation of his hopes. +There is yet another account of the metamorphosis of metal engraving +which, if true, reflects much more credit upon Finiguerra than the +accidental discovery already described. To obtain a _proof_ of their +work, the Florentine metal-workers covered the ornamentation with some +fine plastic material. It was then a simple matter to convert the +impression into a mould, which they filled with melted sulphur. The +casts, when hard, formed exact replicas of the engravings, and +afterwards, when the incised lines were filled with a black pigment, +probably Niello, they presented an effective record of the original +work. It is not by any means improbable that Finiguerra made his +discovery when making such a cast. + +It is a noteworthy fact that the idea of producing impressions from +engraved metal plates was not, as might readily be imagined, a +development of wood engraving or of the then well-known method of +printing from engraved wood blocks. It was a fortuitous discovery, and +probably the direct result of an accident. The true importance of this +transition, _i.e._ Niello work to engraving as a reproductive art, is +seldom fully appreciated. It was a momentous change, bristling with +possibilities, which subsequent developments amply proved. The time was +peculiarly propitious. The beneficent influence of the Renaissance was +at its flood, and a feverish spirit of progress swept over Europe. +The imitative instinct inherent in mankind reasserted itself with an +irresistible intensity, and new forms of pictorial expression were +eagerly sought after. The art of engraving provided a medium for the +extension of the artist's fame and the popularising of his creations. +It rapidly gained favour, and its ultimate development and expansion +fully justified the interest it aroused. + +=Early Engravers.=--Baccio Baldine, another Florentine goldsmith, quickly +realised the value of Finiguerra's discovery, and endeavoured to produce +engraved plates for printing purposes. Being a somewhat indifferent +designer, his first efforts were not very successful. He was afterwards +assisted by Sandio Botticelli, and this partnership was the first clear +indication of progress in the art. These two engravers undertook the +illustration of an edition of Dante's works, in which the chief feature +was to be an original headpiece for each canto. They accomplished some +meritorious work in connection therewith, but never quite fulfilled +their task. + +Some impressions from engraved plates were exhibited in Rome about this +time, and attracted the attention of the painter Andrea Mantegna. He +was so impressed with these examples of the new art that he determined +to reproduce some of his own pictures in a like manner. Mantegna's +engravings were not in any way remarkable, yet they were received with +considerable enthusiasm by his countrymen and by artists in various +parts of Europe. + +Marc Antonio Raimondi was another famous Italian engraver of this +period. He first became notorious through copying some of A. Durer's +designs in the exact style affected by that great artist. He also added +Durer's signature to his piracies, and in other ways emphasised the +imitation. + +It is doubtful whether he ever realised the gravity of the deception he +was guilty of, for he took no pains to conceal the fact from his fellow +artists. Apart from this, however, Raimondi was a fine engraver. He +reproduced a number of Raphael's pictures under that artist's direct +supervision, all of which show distinct traces of the great master's +influence. Raimondi engraved between three and four hundred plates. + +It is a remarkable coincidence that the art of engraving in Italy, and +printing in Germany, should each receive the stimulus of a new discovery +about the same period. The art of printing was known to the ancient +Chinese, but movable types were first used by Gutenberg about 1454. + +=National Characteristics.=--Engraving is almost as old as the human +race, yet its full value as a reproductive art was not discovered until +1452, when Finiguerra made his discovery. For at least half a century +after this discovery engraving was held in the highest esteem in Italy. +From that country it passed to Germany, and thence into France. In each +of these countries it flourished for a time, until at last it claimed a +place, and that a high one, amongst the fine arts of our own country. + +The leading characteristics of Italian art, and particularly Italian +engraving, were beautiful outlines and excellent drawing. "Nothing in +any stage of Italian art was carelessly or incompletely done. There is +no rough suggestion of design, no inexact record of artistic invention." +The lines, and especially the outlines, of the early Italian engravings +are indisputably exquisite in their expression of grace and beauty, +though perhaps weak and unsuitable for the portrayal of vigour and +strength. + +The German engravers reached another extreme. Their drawings were +frequently deficient, and even grotesque; but this was more than +compensated for by a mingled force and freedom of delineation which, +added to a rich imaginative symbolism, was in every respect remarkable. +By means of flowing lines they indicated every fold of draperies, +emphasised the varied contour of features, or produced an intricate +and almost perplexing perspective in their pictures. They frequently +sacrificed artistic power for a mere show of dexterous execution, and +consequently the engravings of this period were rarely ever sublime +in their conceptions. Remarkable for their technique, they were yet +productive of a bewildering confusion of ideas and mannerisms. It was +undoubtedly this superiority of technique which attracted so much +attention to the old German engravers. Their portrait engravings display +abundant insight into human character, and in this respect at least +exhibit a rare power of pictorial expression. Indefatigable enthusiasm, +one of the racial characteristics of the French nation, was exemplified +in the reception accorded by her artists to the art of metal engraving. +French engraving was distinguished by a felicitous combination of good +drawing, skilful execution, and "an aptitude to imitate easily any +impression." Outlines were frequently suggested rather than delineated, +and although somewhat unconventional in style, French engravings of the +seventeenth century displayed few traces of a perfunctory art. Certain +vagaries of style, due no doubt to a natural vivacity, indicated an +artistic quality of design and execution which was their peculiar +inheritance. Of modern French engravers on metal, the Audran family were +by far the most notable. For four or five generations that remarkable +family showed artistic talent of a high standard of excellence. Gerard +Audran, who was born in 1640, was the best known and most gifted member +of this family. His productions were everywhere admired. His historical +pictures especially were very fine. He was appointed engraver to Louis +XIV. Died 1703. + +=A Progressive Review.=--For a long period engraving was of the simplest +possible character. About the beginning of the sixteenth century an +effort was made to introduce perspective into the productions of both +brush and graver, and until this important development obtained complete +recognition, even the most skilful artists were guilty of faulty +draughtsmanship. Aërial perspective, or the suggestion of distance, +quickly followed this adoption of linear perspective. It is claimed for +Lucas van Leyden, a Dutch engraver, that he was the first to thoroughly +appreciate and give true value to foreground and distance; in other +words, to fully recognise the artistic value of perspective. + +It has been frequently suggested that the fame of Durer, van Leyden, and +others of the same school, was so widespread as to create an artistic +bias, which other engravers, who were their equals in technical skill, +if not in fertility of design, found it difficult to overcome. One of +these engravers, Henry Goltzius, was determined to obtain recognition +of his merits, and engraved five plates in as many different styles, +copying the mannerisms and artifices of Durer and others. They were +at once accepted as productions of the great artists, and not until +Goltzius had heard the unqualified praise of art critics and patrons +did he reveal his purpose. His countrymen generously forgave him this +deception, and he certainly gained much credit thereby. These pictures +are now known as Goltzius' masterpieces. + +During the seventeenth century Rembrandt's influence developed much of +that technique which modern engravers have copied, and in some instances +claimed to improve. He is also credited with the introduction of +more expressive gradations of tone, for the production and emphatic +suggestion of light and shade. The character of this, too, has been +retained in present day engravings. Rembrandt was more directly +associated with etching than with line engraving, but his influence was +far from exclusive. Encouraged by the influence of his example, the line +engraver endeavoured to add to the expressive power of his pictures by +the introduction of more daring perspectives, more suggestive form, and +infinitely greater diversity of texture. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + + _ENGRAVING IN ENGLAND_--INTRODUCTION OF METAL ENGRAVING--NOTABLE + BRITISH ENGRAVERS--SUMMARY + + "When applied to objects of their proper destination, the arts + are capable of extending our intellect, of supplying new ideas, + and of presenting to us a view of times and places, whatever + their interval or difference."--Dallaway. + + +Engraving as a decorative art was well advanced in this country during +the reign of Alfred the Great, when the Anglo-Saxon metal-workers were +known to be skilful engravers. The art was still further developed under +the Norman rule, and during the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. + +Wood engravings were printed by William Caxton in 1481, but there is no +proof that they were the work of English engravers. + +=Introduction of Metal Engraving.=--The exact date of the introduction +into England of metal engraving as a reproductive art is doubtful. +There is a record of a book published in this country in 1545, which +was illustrated with copper engravings, cut by Thomas Gemeni. It was a +work on anatomy by Vesalius, and was at first printed in Latin. In the +preface to a translation of this work the following quaint note appears: +"Accepte, jentill reader, this Tractise of Anatomie, thankfully +interpreting the labours of Thomas Gemeni the workman. He that with +his great charge, watch and travayle, hath set out the figures in +pourtrature will most willingly be amended, or better perfected of his +own workmanship if admonished." + +It was probably not until Queen Elizabeth's reign was well advanced that +metal engraving obtained any substantial recognition as a fine art which +might be practised with some hope of commercial success. + +Archbishop Parker, a powerful prelate of this time, extended his +patronage to the art, and for a time, at least, kept a private staff +of engravers. A portrait of this archbishop was executed by Remigus +Hogenberg, and is the first record of an engraved portrait produced +and printed in England. + +For about a century the work of English engravers was uninteresting, and +almost devoid of artistic feeling. Their pictures possessed but little +merit, either as works of art or as pictorial records of that eminently +progressive period. + +During the seventeenth century engraving became intimately associated +with literature, and then, as now, the combination was a felicitous one. +Another fortunate circumstance was the settling of the Passe family in +this country. They came from Utrecht, and were engravers of considerable +skill and repute. The elder Passe was a friend and admirer of the famous +painter Reubens, whose style he, to some extent, copied. + +John Payne--the first English artist to distinguish himself with the +graver--was a pupil of Passe. Payne was an undoubted genius, and, but +for his indolence and dissipated habits, might have accomplished a +great work. + +His most noteworthy engraving was a picture of "The Royal Sovereign," +made on two plates, which, when joined together, measured 36 in. × 26 +in. + +Vertue succeeded Payne. His engravings were chiefly of historical value; +as works of art they displayed no unusual merit. Many were portraits +of personages of high degree, in which Vertue evidently copied the +style of Houbraken, a Dutch artist, who some time previously engraved a +similar series of portraits, the commission being given to him because +"_no English engraver was capable of executing it_." + +Vertue's writings on English Art were profuse and thoughtful. They were +afterwards collected and published by Horace Walpole. + +[Illustration: Fig. 3.--Old Wood Engraving. + + "Horace Walpole, the historian of the graphic arts." + + _Block supplied by the London Electrotype Agency Ltd., from the + "Illustrated London News."_] + +Hogarth, "The inimitable Hogarth," + + "Whose pictured morals charm the eye, + And through the eye correct the heart," + +was a brilliant exponent of the expressive power of the engraver's art. +Possessing a profound knowledge of human nature, and a keen sense of all +that is humanely interesting, he expressed in his pictures a wonderful +creative fancy, and a well directed humour. He almost invariably +represented character rather than scenes, and while displaying immense +fertility of design, he retained sufficient realism in the composition +of his pictures to render them valuable as records of the manners and +customs of his times. They, moreover, describe their incidents in the +most direct and piquant fashion. His somewhat defective drawing was +redeemed by a wealth of suggestion and an endless variety of grotesque +conceptions. He possessed the happy art of seizing a fleeting impression +from which he would evolve a caricature full of peculiar and quaint +humour. Hogarth's place in the art annals of this country is undoubtedly +assured, for it has been said that he _represented_ his characters +with more force than most men could _see_ them. His career may be +dated from 1724, when he produced the illustrations for _Hudibras_ and +_La Mortray's Travels_. + +There is a most extraordinary story related in connection with Hogarth's +last engraving. While spending a merry evening with some friends he was +heard to say: "My next undertaking will be _the end of all things_." +"If that is so," remarked one of his companions, "there will soon be +an end of the artist." "Yes, there will be," Hogarth replied, "and the +sooner my task is finished the better." The engraving was executed under +the impulse of an intense excitement. "Finis," he exclaimed, as he +finished that most remarkable design, "All is now over," and, strange +to relate, this was actually his last work, for he died about a month +later. + +Robert Strange, who was contemporary with Hogarth, was a native of the +Orkney Islands. He was an art student in Edinburgh when Prince Charlie +landed, and his Jacobite sympathies led him to throw aside his work +and join the young chevalier. When the remnant of the army of 1745 +was flying before Duke William after the battle of Culloden, Strange, +closely pursued by a number of soldiers, sought shelter in the house +of the Lumsdales. Miss Lumsdale was sitting with her work by one of the +windows, and at once offered to conceal the young soldier underneath +the folds of her skirt. Ladies' skirts of the crinoline period were of +such proportions as to render the concealment easy, and Miss Lumsdale, +to lull the suspicions of the pursuing soldiers, continued her sewing, +and affected considerable surprise and indignation at their intrusion. +They shamefacedly withdrew upon finding the lady alone, and Strange +afterwards made good his escape to France. Gratitude to his deliverer, +intensified by the romantic situation which saved his life, quickly +ripened into love, and, it is needless to add, a good old-fashioned +love match. + +Strange settled in London about 1750, when, by his zeal and skilful +work, he added much to the fame of historical engraving in this country. +He engraved over eighty plates during his lifetime, and displayed a +literary talent of no mean order. He was not a brilliant draughtsman, +but the tone and texture of his engravings are almost perfect. + +He was knighted in 1781. + +There is yet one other engraver of this period whose career merits +a share of attention and interest. + +James Gilray was born in 1757, and, like Hogarth, commenced at the +bottom rung of the ladder as a letter engraver. He also became a notable +caricaturist, and some idea of his skill in this branch of pictorial art +may be gleaned from the fact that over 1200 designs were the product +of his inventive fancy. Though not by any means indolent, his habits +were dissipated, and unfortunately for him he, for many years, resided +with his publisher, who gratified his passions so long as his art was +sufficiently productive. Gilray's designs were not all caricatures. A +number of illustrations for Goldsmith's _Deserted Village_ were designed +and engraved by him. He also engraved a few of Northcote's pictures. +His style was free and spirited, and he was one of the first English +engravers to prove the merits of stipple engraving. + +The stipple manner of engraving was a curious development of the +art. It appeared as though line engraving could not keep pace with +the ever-growing demand for pictures, and was therefore combined with +stipple to facilitate production. In capable hands very fine results +were obtained with this combination. + +English engraving was still in its infancy, however, and continental +productions were favoured by the art patrons of this country, until +a stimulus was given to native art by the painters Reynolds, Wilson, and +West. Profiting by this renewed interest, Woollet entered upon a career +of unqualified success, and eventually succeeded in obtaining full +recognition for the merits of English engraving. + +As a boy Woollet showed his artistic proclivities in a strange manner. +His father, it is stated, won a £5000 prize in a lottery, and bought +an inn, glorying in the name of "The Turk's Head," a title which the +embryonic artist endeavoured to express pictorially on a pewter pot. +The father, struck by some quality in the drawing, apprenticed young +Woollet to an obscure London engraver. From an artistic point of view +this apprenticeship was of little value. Woollet was a born artist, and +although his early training may have intensified the natural bent of his +genius, it did little to cultivate it. He possessed versatile talents. +His historical pictures were, in every respect, equal to his landscapes, +and these will long remain as lasting and convincing monuments of his +skill. The boldness of contrast and accuracy of execution displayed by +Woollet in his landscape engravings far surpassed all previous efforts +to express pictorial effects with the graver. + +Raimbach was a miniature painter of some note, who, like many other +artists, turned from creative to reproductive art, and became a +successful engraver. In 1812 he became associated with David Wilkie, +and it is generally supposed that he was retained by that artist for the +reproduction of his pictures. Raimbach's translations of Wilkie's works +were in every sense artistic productions and faithful representations. +He was said to be so careful and conscientious in his work that he +employed no assistants, but this was not entirely true. Careful and +conscientious he undoubtedly was, but he frequently employed assistants +to engrave the less important parts of his commissions. Raimbach was +born in 1776, and died 1843. + +F. C. Lewis was a progressive engraver contemporary with Raimbach. +His most notable productions were after Landseer and Lawrence. He was +appointed engraver first to George IV., then William IV., and afterwards +to Queen Victoria. + +Samuel Cousins was another most influential engraver. A brief sketch +of his artistic career is given in another chapter. + +C. G. Lewis was both a line and mezzotint engraver. He was probably +Landseer's favourite engraver, and his name is best known in association +with that artist's pictures. Born 1808; died 1880. + +When John Pye engraved his first Turner picture, "Pope's Villa," in +1811, that famous artist expressed his unqualified approval when he +said, "If I had known there was anyone in this country who could have +done that, I would have had it done before," and on more than one +occasion he mentioned Pye's engravings as "the most satisfactory +translations of my colour into black and white." An adequate +interpretation of Turner's pictures requires a masterly appreciation of +the gradations and balance of tone which suggest both colour and space; +and to merit such expressions of satisfaction from the great artist +himself was proof of John Pye's artistic power and skill. + +He began his career as an engraver about the year 1800 after a short +apprenticeship with James Heath, a clever and practical man, who was +quick to perceive the ability of his apprentice. + +John Pye was a recognised authority on the pictorial effect of colour, +and it was said that during his long and eminently useful life "no +engraver did more than he to spread a knowledge of the sound principles +of landscape art." He was frequently consulted by his fellow artists, +and without even a suggestion of professional jealousy, he was ever +ready with his advice and, if need be, practical help. The following +copy of a letter--now in the Swansea Art Gallery--gives some idea of +the esteem in which his opinion was held by contemporary artists:-- + + + _Monday._ + + _To J. Pye, Esq._ + + Thursday night, at half-past five, if you please. I hope that + day will be convenient to you. I should like, if possible, to + see you here by daylight, as your opinion is always valuable + to me, and I have some few things to show you.--Your faithful + servant, + + Ed. Landseer. + + +Pye was long known in art circles as the "Father of landscape engraving," +and he certainly succeeded, as no other engraver has done, in his +translation of colour values and suggestion of aërial perspectives. +Turner's paintings were his favourite subjects, and his interpretations +of them are brilliant in expression, and charged with the very essence +of artistic feeling. + +His life and work indicated a progress as distinct as it was far +reaching. + + "And still the work went on, + And on, and on, and is not yet completed. + The generation that succeeds our own + Perhaps may finish it." + + +It has been through the efforts of these men and others who, though +less influential, were not less skilful perhaps, or less earnest, +that English engraving, in its daring innovations and substantial +improvements, has far outstripped that of other countries. By them +its reputation has been built up and enhanced, so that "its influence +is conspicuously visible in the principles and history of Art." + + + + +CHAPTER V + + _ETCHING_--EARLY RECORDS--DESCRIPTIVE--REMBRANDT'S + INFLUENCE--WENCESLAUS HOLLAR. + _MEZZOTINT_--INVENTION--DESCRIPTION--ARTISTIC + QUALITIES--DILETTANTI ART--A MODERN MEZZO ENGRAVER + + "By its very character of freedom, by the intimate and rapid + connection which it establishes between the hands and the + thoughts of the artists, etching becomes the frankest and most + natural of interpreters."--Lalanne. + + +It has been asserted, and not without some show of reason, that of +all the reproductive arts etching stands pre-eminent as a medium of +pictorial expression wherein perfect freedom of drawing is retained. +It has found considerable favour with artists, because it enables them +to reproduce their own works with ease and rapidity, and without any +perceptible loss of expressive power. + +=Early Records.=--The first account of the art of etching comes from +Dutch sources, but whether or not it had its birth in Holland is a +matter of pure conjecture. It was certainly cradled in the Low +Countries, and finding the time and conditions of art congenial there, +flourished abundantly. A book bearing the title, _A Book of Secrets_, +was published in England in 1599. It was a translation from the Dutch, +and described "A method of engraving with strong waters on steel or +iron." The art of etching must have been known in Holland some time +previous to the date of this publication. + +It was an unfortunate tendency which led the early etchers, or at +any rate etchers of the latter part of the fifteenth and sixteenth +centuries, to practise a style of execution in direct imitation +of the work of the graver. Their productions were robbed of their +peculiar character and charm, their directness and completeness of +representation. + +=Descriptive.=--The practical phase of the etcher's work claims a more +than passing interest from the earnest reader. A carefully polished +sheet of copper is covered with an acid resist in the form of a thin +coating of wax or some similar composition. When this has been blackened +by the smoke of a candle, or by any other suitable means, the drawing is +made with steel points. The bright sheen of the copper exposed by each +stroke of the point or etching needle will show the progress of the work +very distinctly. The etching mordant is poured over the drawing thus +made, when the exposed parts of the plate will be corroded or etched +away until sufficient depth is obtained. These are, of course, but the +bare outlines of the process, yet they will suffice to illustrate the +facility and simplicity of its operations. + +Because it is so admirably adapted for light and sketchy drawings, +etching has been described as a kind of summary of pictorial expression, +and in some respects such a description fits it perfectly; yet, for a +just appreciation of its merits, it will be needful to put aside the +idea that it is little more than a sketchy framework. It is true that +some of the finest etchings have been executed with the fewest possible +lines and without any pretence of elaboration, yet tone and texture +may be fully expressed though not actually realised. Hence the term +sometimes so aptly applied to etching when it is referred to as +"the stenography of artistic thought." It is upon this principle of +limitation that the chief merits of the etcher's art rests,--a system +of pictorial representation which does not always produce illogical and +inartistic interpretation or the imperfect transcription of light and +shade. It may be frequently characterised by a certain amount of caprice +in its execution, but it is nevertheless capable of producing form and +expression of a very high character. Albert Durer, who possessed a most +remarkable artistic versatility, etched a number of plates; but they can +scarcely be regarded as successful examples of his work, for, like other +artists of his time, he endeavoured to imitate the productions of the +graver with his etching needle. It was altogether a futile experiment, +if indeed it can be regarded as an experiment, and Durer's etchings show +but little of that rare power and technical skill for which he was +justly famous in other phases of graphic art. + +=Rembrandt's Influence.=--Rembrandt, who was said to be "The greatest +artistic individuality of the seventeenth century," manifested a deep +and lasting enthusiasm for the art of etching,--an enthusiasm which +was abundantly displayed in the marvellous diversity of form by which +he reproduced the characteristic grace and delicate modelling of his +pictures. His graver and etching needle possessed the same spirited +touch as his brush, and when "with his own hand he presented his bold +principles of light and shade," he almost invariably combined strength +of expression with great facility of invention. + +There is one notable etcher whose chequered career may well be regarded +with interest, for it reveals a depth of artistic enthusiasm almost +unparalleled in the art annals of this or any other country. + +=Hollar.=--Wenceslaus Hollar was a Bohemian by birth, and came to England +under the patronage of the Duke of Arundel in 1637. During a lifetime +of peculiar misfortunes and vicissitudes, he etched something like 2700 +plates. As an ardent Royalist, he was drawn into the civil war of +1643-44. He also passed through the Great Plague and the Fire of London. +Difficulties and hardships ever beset his path, yet his industry and +fond attachment to art never flagged. The very fact that ever-recurring +misfortunes and privations never impaired his power as a most remarkable +and ingenious illustrator is ample proof, if such be required, of his +genius. Hollar's etchings are distinguished by an intense fidelity. They +abound in historical interest of a reliable and fascinating kind, and +though never showy they possess a wealth of artistic beauty and artistic +expression. It is difficult to understand how an artist with Hollar's +gigantic, productive energy should end his days in abject poverty. + +Mezzotint engraving is the art of engraving on metal _in tones_. It +dates back to about the middle of the seventeenth century. Its history +is interesting if only for the fact that it has been developed chiefly +in this country, the high degree of perfection to which it attained +being chiefly due to English artists. So much so, indeed, that it has +frequently been referred to as _la manaire Anglais_. + +=Invention.=--The invention of Mezzotint engraving was the result of an +every-day circumstance which attracted the attention of a soldier more +thoughtful than his fellows. Ludwig von Sigen was a lieutenant-colonel +in the army of the Landgrave of Hesse Cassel when he observed the +corrosive action of moisture on the stock of a musket. The metal work +had been ornamented with an engraved design, and the ground formed +by corrosion in conjunction with the engraved lines suggested an idea +from which von Sigen subsequently developed the mezzotint process. This +story of von Sigen's discovery is regarded by some authorities with +a suspicion of doubt, and a suggestion is made that his purpose was to +invest this introduction of a new reproductive art with a romantic +as well as an artistic interest. In any case, the gallant colonel's +credit is maintained, and it is interesting to note that the principle +of his invention remains still unchanged. The chief purpose of later +developments was to facilitate the production of a perfectly even ground. + +On the presentation of his first print to the Landgrave of Hesse, von +Sigen declared, "There is not a single engraver, or a single artist, who +knows how this work is done." About twelve years afterwards the inventor +divulged his secret to Prince Rupert, by whom it was brought to England. +It is generally supposed that Prince Rupert carefully preserved the +secret of this new process for some time, and then in a generous mood he +imparted it to Vallerant Valliant, who fortunately for English art made +his knowledge widespread. + +When mezzotint engraving was first introduced into England, the famous +artists, Reynolds and Gainsborough, had reached the summit of their +fame. The time was indeed auspicious. Line engraving failed to give +a faithful reproduction of the peculiar style of painting then so +much admired, while mezzotint engraving, with its soft gradations and +attractive qualities of expression, translated with a vivacity and +facility that could not fail to please and satisfy. + +Then, again, a somewhat abrupt change manifested itself in the pictorial +art of this period. Representations of incidents and portraits of famous +personages, which were in themselves interesting, took the place of the +severely artistic productions of the past. The natural result was an +intense interest, which embraced the art and the process by which it +was popularised. + +=Description.=--The mezzotint process of engraving may be described in +a very few sentences. + +The plate of metal is first covered with a ground or _tone_. To +accomplish this, a tool with a serrated edge is passed over the surface +in various directions. The myriads of microscopic indentations thus +produced constitute a _tooth_ or roughness similar to the grain of a +coarse sandstone. This grain holds a certain proportion of printing +ink, and gives a rich, velvety black impression. On such a ground the +engraver works up his design, and, by the skilful use of scraper and +burnisher, obtains a series of tones or almost imperceptible gradations. +He removes just so much of the grain as may be required for the lighter +tones, and by burnishing or polishing, after the scraper has been +used, secures the high lights. In one respect, at least, this form of +reproductive art is peculiar, and unlike any other types of engraving. +The artist works from black to white, and produces, on the plate, the +lights instead of the shadows. + +=Artistic Qualities.=--Although capable of most charming effects, the +mezzotint process never became a really serious menace to line engraving, +with its firm and expressive outlines and peculiarly lustrous textures. +Yet it is not at all surprising that a process, offering the artistic +qualities of reproduction which mezzotint possesses, should prove +successful in the interpretation of such light and shade as, for +example, Turner painted into his pictures. Turner was engaged upon the +series of pictures for his _Liber Studiorum_ when he suddenly realised +the value of mezzotint engraving. He consulted with Charles Turner, an +eminent engraver, who afterwards executed twenty-three of the _Liber +Studiorum_ plates, and eventually decided to adopt a combination of +etching with mezzotint for the reproduction of that famous series of +pictures. The leading or essential lines of each picture were etched, +probably by Turner himself, and the mezzotint added by other engravers. + +It is perhaps to some extent true that prints from mezzo plates lack +somewhat in dignity of effect and fidelity of representation. They are +suggestive rather than representative; yet, when the character of the +work is suitable, this lack of dignity is more than compensated for by +the soft and harmonious effects of light and shade already referred to. +The peculiar beauty and brilliancy of these effects, when artistically +rendered, impart to the prints an alluring charm, which appeals to the +inartistic as well as the accredited artistic eye. + +The fact that Sir Joshua Reynolds, West, Romney, and other famous +artists allowed their paintings to be reproduced by the mezzotint +process, is sufficient proof of their appreciation of its power. It was, +as already stated, to English engravers that mezzo engraving owed its +development and fame as a reproductive art, and for very many years +after its invention it was practised chiefly in England and Holland. +It is a remarkable fact that Germany, the birthplace of this art, had but +a slight connection with its subsequent history; and equally remarkable +that French engravers, who excelled in line engraving when mezzotint was +at the zenith of its fame, should almost entirely neglect to appreciate +its possibilities. + +Another curious fact concerning mezzotint engraving is that it has ever +been the art of the dilettanti. It was first of all invented by von +Sigen, who followed the fine arts for pleasure rather than with any +serious purpose. Prince Rupert brought it over to England with an +enthusiastic, but certainly not a professional, interest, and at several +periods of its history it has received encouragement and substantial +help from like sources. One of the earliest and most ardent mezzo +engravers in this country was Francis Place, a well-known Yorkshire +country squire. H. Lutterel was another such exponent of the art. He was +the first engraver to make any decided improvement in laying the ground. +He evidently realised the importance of a good ground, and constructed +a tool to ensure its evenness and regularity. Another Irishman, Captain +Baillie, a retired cavalry officer, adopted a style of engraving similar +to Rembrandt's, and copied some of that great artist's productions. +He was one of the most enlightened art critics of his time. + +=A Modern Mezzo Engraver.=--A brief outline sketch of the life of Samuel +Cousins, one of the most successful of modern mezzotint engravers, will +form a fitting conclusion to this chapter. + +Samuel Cousins was born in 1800. The story of his precociousness in +artistic matters is certainly extraordinary. Sir Thomas Ackland, an +enthusiastic patron of the fine arts, saw the boy Cousins standing +before a picture dealer's window, and sketching with all the eagerness +and verve of a born artist. Even while yet a child of eleven years his +exceptional ability manifested itself, for he won the silver palette, +presented by the Society of Arts, and again the silver medal when +twelve years. His rapid progress, both as an artist and engraver, was +undoubtedly due to the influence and encouragement of his patron and +friend, Sir Thomas Ackland. He engraved about two hundred plates, +including pictures by Reynolds, Lawrence, Landseer, and Millais. +Cousins died in 1887, after a most brilliant and purposeful career. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + + _THE ENGRAVER'S TASK_--INARTISTIC WORK--CONSTRUCTIVE + ELEMENTS--OUTLINE--EXTRANEOUS MATTER--COMPOSITION--LIGHT + AND SHADE--EXPRESSION--PERSPECTIVE--EXECUTION + + "The highest art is undoubtedly that which is simplest and + most perfect, which gives the experience of a lifetime by a + few lines and touches." + + +=The Engraver's Task.=--Engraving, by whatever process it may be +accomplished, is not by any means a secondary art. Even when it descends +to mere copying, which its commercial associations unfortunately +encourage, it requires for its effective execution exceptional skill, +unremitting patience, and a more than average degree of artistic +feeling. It is almost impossible to appreciate the true value of the +engraver's work without some consideration of the labour it entails. +Each one of the multitudinous lines of an engraving is cut with a +definite purpose and deliberate care, and may be operated upon again and +again to increase the depth or width in various places. Even the dots of +a stipple are not made in that aimless fashion which their appearance +might at first suggest. A mechanical effect is sedulously avoided, +consequently each dot must be cut with scrupulous care, and may require +two or three touches with the graver to produce the desired effect. The +proportionate reduction of pictures for engraving also demands exquisite +skill and accurate draughtsmanship in which the eye and hand of the +artist may be distinctly traced. + +Thus, by a laborious yet picturesque and harmonious interpretation +of the artist's creations, the engraver renders their reproduction +possible, widens the sphere of their interest and influence, and in +many instances procures for them a world-wide reputation. + +Such an art may be both erudite and comprehensive in its information, +for it is executed with a purposeful patience which omits nothing, +forgets nothing, and maintains a convincing directness of expression. + +Outline, light and shade, variety of style and representation of +surfaces, are all within the engraver's control, and a vast diversity of +expression will be requisite for their realisation. It is quite within +his power also to interpret the artist's thoughts as well as imitate +his style, and this involves not only a judicious balancing of tone and +texture, but a knowledge of the principles of art embodied in the +picture--his copy. + +=Inartistic Work.=--Owing to an insatiable craving for pictorial +illustration, there is an ever-growing tendency on the part of the +artist engraver to seek after sensational or entertaining effects which +are not artistic productions. Intensely interesting and attractive +they may be, and yet signally deficient in the true elements of fine +art. It is quite possible to make any art popular, however crude its +conception and manifestation may be, so long as its expression is +sufficiently striking or pleasing. Such products of the graver or +brush may be elaborate compositions and effective forms of pictorial +expression, inasmuch as they provide interesting information concerning +past or current events. They may even possess a certain value as +historical records, and yet not manifest that subtle power of suggestive +beauty and intensity of thought which are _primá facie_ evidences of +masterly genius and artistic power. When the energy and skill of +the artist are thus devoted to expressive delineation in place of +artistic completeness, he becomes satisfied with an inferior degree +of excellence, provided only that it pleases; and the result will +almost assuredly be an incomplete, if not vitiated, production. + +In these days of invention and advancement, when the resources of +mankind are almost limitless, conditions of life favourable, and +opportunities for the acquirement of knowledge and skill always +abounding, there can surely be no valid excuse for this dead level +mediocrity in the engraver's art,--a result which might possibly arise +from the insiduous fever of display, of notoriety, and of commercialism +which is ever seeking fresh victims in this as in every other phase of +human life and effort. + +=Constructive Elements.=--An engraving may be an imitative or +representative interpretation of a picture or drawing in _black_ and +_white_. In such an interpretation, whatever its character may be, +integrity of form is of paramount importance, and essential to the +attainment of any degree of excellence in engraving. It imparts to the +work a distinctive character, and endows it with that delicacy and +precision of execution for which engraving is so justly famous. + +=Outline.=--In the early engravings the constructive element consisted +almost entirely of pure outline, which was rarely monotonous, but +frequently suggestive of form and character. Is it not almost +marvellous, this suggestive power of outline, for is it not in reality +but an imaginary boundary? An actual outline is a thing unknown in +nature, and the very fact that it has its existence only in the +imagination of the artist makes our reconciliation to it and our +admiration of it the more wonderful. The astonishing elasticity of the +human imagination makes it quite easy to fill in the details of a +picture if only the outline be sufficiently suggestive. The primary +function of the outline is, of course, to represent; but its secondary +or suggestive purpose is scarcely of less importance, and can only be +fully realised when the imagination is so stimulated as to perceive more +than is actually exhibited. The completeness and truthfulness of the +outline must be an engraver's first point. An art critic once stated +that "He had finished the picture who had finished the outline." To some +extent such a statement may be perfectly true; but just as in elocution, +or even in ordinary conversation, emphasis is requisite, so in pictorial +art the emphasis of concise expression, modulation, and delicate or +vigorous accentuation are equally necessary and effective. + +=Extraneous Matter.=--In other words, an artist's ideas may be decisively +portrayed in outline, yet for lack of suitable extraneous matter appear +both crude and impoverished. The amount of characteristic form expressed +by constructive elements in the drawing, other than the outlines, is +strikingly illustrated in old German portrait engravings. They are +simply overflowing with details of the most minute description. Nor can +such details be regarded as altogether superfluous, for they each help +to _build up_ the character of the picture. In portrait engraving a mere +likeness may easily be portrayed by a simple outline. Not so, however, +with character. Considerable amplification will be necessary to show +that; and this, perhaps, is the most difficult task of the engraver--to +introduce a satisfactory amount of essential detail without detracting +in any way from a pleasing general effect in the picture. + +=Composition.=--In its broadest sense composition in graphic art refers +to the putting together or combination of the various details into a +pleasing and effective picture. It may comprise--(1) the choice of a +subject; (2) the most effective moment of its representation; (3) the +choice of such circumstantial matter as will best intensify the +interest of the picture, and enhance its artistic value. Nor is one +part much less important than another, for interest in the subject must +necessarily be influenced by effective grouping, and the choice of +harmonious surrounding for both. It is in this that the _finesse_ of +the artist becomes available, and, by clever contrasts and agreeable +combinations, enables him to emphasise the expressive power of his +pictorial art. + +=Light and Shade.=--The importance of light and shade in the composition +of a picture is a fact too well established to require much further +recognition here. If skilfully arranged and distributed it may in some +measure compensate for any lack of cohesion in the design, and thus +become a redeeming feature in what would otherwise prove to be an +ineffective composition. + +It is chiefly by a dexterous arrangement of light and shade that the +artist engraver can produce a faithful and intelligible translation of +his subject. It adds considerably to the force and vigour of pictures, +and produces effects which please the eye and successfully appeal to +the imagination. + +There are, of course, other qualities and conditions which materially +affect the engraver and his work, and these will now be briefly +indicated. + +=Expression.=--"Expression is the representation of an object agreeably +to its nature and character, and the use or office it is intended to +have in the work." It is, in fact, the very essence of a picture. Without +it there can be no character, no emotion, and therefore no faithful +delineation. + +=Perspective.=--Linear perspective in engraving represents the position +or magnitude of the lines or contour of objects portrayed, and suggests +their diminution in proportion to their distance from the eye. + +Aërial perspective, on the other hand, represents the diminution of +colour value of each object as it recedes from the eye. It is, in +reality, a degradation of tone, suggesting the relative distances of +objects. Either may be the direct product of light and shade as well +as of accurate drawing. + +=Execution.=--The execution of an engraving admits of almost any degree +of variety--the display of individual skill, and knowledge of technique. +Execution, as the term implies, is the direct result of individual +dexterity; the ability to interpret colour, tone, and texture of a +picture by an arrangement of lines of varying depth and fineness; the +ability also to imitate, or even create, pictorial expression. + +The work of the engraver, like many other phases of reproductive art, is +a fruitful source of mannerisms; yet even these will produce excellent +results if they create innovations which will be afterwards approved and +recognised as healthy, independent, and entirely original methods. + +[Illustration: Fig. 4.--Modern Wood Engraving. + + "An interpretation of tone and texture by an arrangement of lines." + + _Block supplied by the London Electrotype Agency Ltd., from the + "Religious Tract Society."_] + + + + +CHAPTER VII + + _PHOTO "PROCESS" ENGRAVING_--A PROGRESSIVE PROCESS--COMMERCIAL + AND ARTISTIC FEATURES--"LINE" PROCESS--"HALF TONE"--ARTISTIC + RESTORATION--TRI-CHROMATOGRAPHY--PHOTOGRAVURE + + "It is not knowledge itself which is power, but the ability to + use and apply knowledge." + + +=A Progressive Process.=--Photo process engraving is a method of graphic +reproduction which comes into direct contact with art in its most +popular phases. + +It is a distinctly progressive process which possesses immense +advantages and represents an effective and by no means inartistic aspect +of the graphic arts. The lavish, and in many instances extravagant, +employment of process engraving for purposes of pictorial illustration +is a substantial proof of its popularity and illustrative value. It +may not always reach a high standard of artistic realisation, but it +is almost invariably realistic and attractive in its varied forms of +representation. + +The idea of pictorial illustration, whether as the translation of an +artistic conception or an actual representation of current events, has +ever been a fascinating one; and its evolution, from a photo-mechanical +standpoint, has been one unbroken record of remarkable progress. + +To enter upon a detailed exposition of any of the many photo-mechanical +processes is somewhat beyond the purpose of this short treatise, and to +attempt anything but a full and comprehensive description on such lines +would be both unwise and valueless. Let it suffice, then, to indicate +their more salient points, their illustrative and artistic value, and +the manner in which they may be most successfully applied. + +=Commercial and Artistic Features.=--The commercial advantages of +photo-engraving may be summed up in a very few words:-- + +1. The plates can be produced quickly and economically. + +2. The impressions can be made at a high rate of speed, and in some +of the processes without perceptible deterioration. + +3. The prints will be more or less facsimiles of the original. + +From an artistic point of view, photo-engraving possesses equally +important features. It translates the artist's work with extraordinary +facility and accuracy, retaining a satisfactory proportion of its +expressive feeling, and reproducing subtleties of drawing and texture +which it would be difficult, if not quite impossible, to obtain by any +other process. Of the many photo-mechanical engraving processes, all of +which are more or less associated with pictorial illustration, three at +least merit further consideration. + +[Illustration: Fig. 5.--Cross Section of Cyanide Furnace. + + The "Line Process."] + +(_a_) =The "Line" Process.=--The "line" process is applicable only to +the reproduction of line drawings or prints, in which the design is +represented in simple black and white, with only such gradations of tone +as may be suggested by lines or dots. For the reproduction of pen-and-ink +drawings, it has found considerable favour with illustrators, and many +even of the more conservative artists are compelled to appreciate +its merits and acknowledge its value. An interesting account of the +compulsory acceptance of process engraving by the famous illustrator +"Du Maurier" is suggestive of at least one valuable peculiarity of this +method of reproduction. Owing to failing sight, Du Maurier found it +increasingly difficult to introduce into his drawings on the wood block +that amount of detail which he considered necessary for the adequate +expression of his ideas. Eventually he was compelled to make pen-and-ink +drawings on a much larger scale than was his wont, and to have them +reproduced as photo-line-blocks, the reduction being made as required. + +(_b_) =Half Tone.=--"Half tone" process engraving, as distinguished from +the "line" process, is the reproduction of a design or copy which has +in its composition gradations of tone in the form of flat tints. Wash +drawings and photographs present characteristic examples of such copies. + +[Illustration: Fig. 6.--Process Engraving. + + _Block by the Arc Engraving Co. Ltd., London._] + +The true relative value of these medium or half tones can only be +retained in the half tone engraving by breaking up the picture into +most minute sections, and thereby producing a grain or series of dots +of varying size and contiguity according to the requirements of the +drawing. This grain or "screen" effect is produced by the interposition +of a network of finely ruled lines in the form of a screen between the +lens and the sensitive plate when photographing. The optical principle +involved is beyond the sphere of this work, but the effect produced is +a matter of vital importance, and requires careful consideration. + +The coarser the ruling of a screen, consistent of course with the class +of work for which it is required, the more vigorous and consequently +more effective the reproduction will appear. The variety of tones will +be greater, and the textures will appear richer. Small prints are +naturally subjected to a close inspection; the screen effect, therefore, +should be less obtrusive than in larger ones. It may also be useful to +know that a finely ruled screen will reproduce the minute details of +a copy. + +=Artistic Restoration.=--It is somewhat doubtful if the half tone +engraving, pure and simple, would ever have any real artistic value for +pictorial illustration but for some method of restoring those qualities +which are so considerably reduced when copying a picture through +the line screen. The pure half tone consists of a grain of varying +gradations over the whole design. There are, therefore, no pure whites +even in the highest lights. The use of the roulette and graver for +accentuating light and shade is therefore not only permissible but +decidedly advantageous, for the monotony of a mechanical grain is +thereby relieved, and the print produced will be an effective and +accurate translation of the artistic sketch. + +"A true half tone will be best obtained by not relying entirely on the +mechanical means, but assisting them with some hand work, either in the +shape of re-etching or engraving, or both." + +The application of hand engraving to photo-mechanical work has been +chiefly due to American process workers, who applied the technique of +the wood engraver's art to the amplification of their half tone blocks. + +=Tri-chromatography.=--The "Three Colour Process" is more or less an +application of half tone engraving to chromo-typography. The colours, +each in their relative value, are produced by purely photo-mechanical +methods--the colours of the original copy being dissected by means of +specially prepared colour screens. Half tone blocks are made from each +of the three negatives, and superimposed in accurate register in the +subsequent printing, when, of course, the primary colours, red, blue, +and yellow, are used. + +The process possesses brilliant and effective illustrative power, +offers ample scope for the ingenuity and manipulative skill of artist, +engraver, and printer, and promises well-nigh unlimited possibilities +as a medium of pictorial expression. + +(_c_) =Photogravure.=--Photogravure may be very briefly described. It +is a photo-mechanical process, in which rich, soft tones of surpassing +delicacy and undeniably artistic effect are striking peculiarities. +Unlike "line" and "half tone" engraving, it is an intaglio process, +in which the printer as well as the etcher must possess a profound +artistic perception. + +[Illustration: Reproduction by R. J. EVERETT & SONS' "INK-PHOTO" Process. + + Plate ENGRAVING FOR ILLUSTRATION + + WITHIN A MILE OF EDINBURGH TOWN.] + +A polished copper plate is grained by dusting resin or asphalt powder +on its surface, and afterwards fixing it by the application of heat. +A _tissue_ negative print is made, squeezed on to the grained plate, +and developed in the usual way. The plate is etched through the tissue. +The action of the etching mordant--perchloride of iron--being in exact +proportion to the light and shade of the developed print. + +The printing is a necessarily slow, and therefore costly, item. +This limitation to their production, however, enhances the value of +photogravure prints. + +=Ink Photo.=--What is known as the ink photo process of reproduction +is interesting chiefly on account of the remarkable fidelity with which +engravings of the finest and most intricate texture can be reproduced by +its agency. It is essentially a photo-mechanical process, but differs +from others of a similar character, inasmuch as the vigour and +expressive power of the original is to a considerable extent preserved. +Colour values also, as far as they can be expressed by the engraver's +art (see p. 11), are reproduced by ink photo methods with surprising +accuracy, and the intensity of impression, that peculiar feature of +prints from engraved plates, is almost invariably well sustained. +A careful criticism of the appended illustration and frontispiece done, +this process will reveal many other interesting points of practical +value. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + + _APPRECIATIVE CRITICISM_--AN EDUCATIVE PRINCIPLE--AN + ANALYSIS--REALISM IN ART--A RETROSPECT + + "Yet when we have said all our fine things about the arts, + we must end in a frank confession that the arts, as we know + them, are but initial. He has conceived meanly of the resources + of man who believes that the best age of production is past." + + +=Appreciative Criticism.=--The art of engraving, and particularly wood +engraving, has fully justified its existence, and the eminently popular +position which it has long held amongst the fine arts of the world. +Through the medium of the pictorial press it has diffused a knowledge +of the noblest principles of art, and has ever exerted a refining +influence even over inartistic minds. For this reason the lack of +knowledge concerning some of the essential qualities of engraving +as a pictorial art is somewhat remarkable. Even more so when it is +considered that never before in the history of the world has such a +wealth of illustrative art been produced and brought well within the +reach of its humblest patrons. + +It is perhaps too much to expect, nor is it at all desirable, that +individual preference should be moulded to one common and fixed +standard. To some minds the picturesque, though perhaps undignified +paintings of the old Dutch masters, would appeal with greater success +than the wondrous light and shade of Turner's pictures. Or, again, the +astonishing technicalities and intricacies of German wood engraving may +stir up a deeper interest and enthusiasm than the simple yet expressive +productions of Thomas Bewick. Yet such a difference of opinion may exist +only in individual appreciation or taste. The appreciative faculties in +mankind are in the main identical. + +=An Educative Principle.=--There is in human life an omnipotent and +omniscient educative principle which may, to some extent at least, be +rendered subservient to the human will, but which in other respects is +as certain in its results and impulses as the course of the planets. + +Those who surround themselves with the beautiful in Nature and in +Art, whose minds are constantly in communion with the grand and noble +purposes they suggest, are infinitely more sensible to their manifold +beauties than those of their fellows who persistently disregard, +and even repel, artistic influences. Their appreciation of the full +significance of any artistic production is deeper, more sincere, and +more equable than is that of those who neglect the aspirations of the +finer fibres of their beings, and thus allow their higher faculties to +become blunted, and their judgments warped. "Verily unto him that hath +shall be given," etc. + +The most independent and most penetrative imagination is not by any +means a free agent. Environment, mental culture, and natural temperament +are each controlling influences of variable power; yet there is much +truth in the philosophy which declares that "It is as easy to excite +the intellectual faculties as the limbs to useful action." + +=The Artist's Purpose.=--A misconception of the artist's aim almost +invariably leads to a condemnation of his work. First of all discover +his purpose, and then decide upon the success or non-success of his +conceptions. The _style_ of their execution, _i.e._ the manner in which +various surfaces and textures are reproduced, is but a means to an end. +It is infinitely easier to assimilate a style once its objective has +been clearly comprehended. + +=An Analysis.=--For obvious reasons, then, an analysis of the merits +and demerits of the engraver's art is not always a simple matter. His +work may be an acceptable pictorial record, though not in any sense +a picture from an artistic point of view. On the other hand, it may +possess artistic qualities in abundance, and yet be far from a truthful +record of an incident or scene. + +=Realism in Art.=--It is frequently claimed for graphic art that when +it cannot faithfully imitate it is permissible for it to interpret. +Quite so; and it is in just such a light that engraving is or ought +to be regarded. A picture, whether illustrating a story or recording +an artistic impression, is never so great as when it enchants the +imagination with an ideal presence. Absolute realism is not always +desirable either in pictorial art or pictorial expression. No matter +how realistic it may be, it is a doubtful gain to introduce into the +composition of a picture a mass of detail which might only prove +disconcerting, and distract attention from the main issues of the +subject. The partial or complete isolation of a central idea often adds +to the vigour and general effectiveness of the whole. Rarely, indeed, +does it render it less picturesque. After all, it is not Nature so much +as Nature's expression which should be represented. Its infinity of +secondary effects, its superabundance of detail, may, often with +advantage, be left out. + +=A Retrospect.=--While in this critical mood, it may be worth while +noting that the sincere and painstaking work of the old-time engravers +is deserving of some praise and an ever tolerant criticism. It manifests +incongruities and exaggerated metaphors which are at times painfully +unconventional or grotesque, yet they have a directness of representation +which admits of no doubt as to their meaning, and bear few traces of +a perfunctory art. + +"Our arts are happy hits. We are like the musician on the lake whose +melody is sweeter than he knows, or like a traveller surprised by a +mountain echo whose trivial word returns to him in romantic +thunders."--Emerson. + + + + +INDEX + + + Ackland, Sir Thomas, 47. + Analysis, 68. + Ancient drawings, 1. + Antiquity of engraving, 2. + _Apocalypsio sue Historia_, 7. + Art representative, 3. + Artistic purpose, 68. + Artistic restoration, 63. + Arundel, Duke of, 41. + Assyrian antiquities, 4. + Audran family, 4. + + + Baillie, Captain, 46. + Baldine, Baccio, 20. + Bewick, Thomas, 9, 67. + _Biblia Pauperum_, 7. + Block books, 6. + Botticelli, Sandio, 20. + + + Cave dwellings, 1. + Caxton, William, 26. + Character, building up of, 52. + Chinese playing cards, 5. + Clever contrasts, 53. + Colour dissection, 64. + Commercial advantages, 13. + Comparisons, 12, 13. + Composition, 52, 53. + Concise expression, 52. + Constructive elements, 51. + Controlling influences, 68. + Cousins, Samuel, 47. + Criticism, appreciative, 66. + + + Dallaway, 26. + Dante, 20. + Degradation of tone, 54. + Details, combination of, 52. + Du Maurier, 60. + Durer, Albert, 8, 21, 24, 40. + Dutch masters, 67. + + + Educative principle, 67. + Egyptian monuments, 4. + Emerson, 1, 5, 69. + Engravers, early, 20. + Engravers, interpretation, 49. + Engravers, task, 48. + Engraving, English, 26. + Etching, 38. + Etching, Dutch records, 38, 39. + Etching, a summary, 40. + Etching, description, 39. + Etching, a stenography, 40. + Etching, pictorial and artistic value, 40. + Etching, light and shade in, 41. + Etchings, Hollar's, 41. + Evolution theory, 2. + Execution, 54. + Expression, 53. + Extraneous matter, 52. + + + Finiguerra, 18, 19, 21. + Formschneider, 7. + French engravers, 46. + French engraving, 23. + + + Gainsborough, 43. + Gemeni, Thomas, 26, 27. + German wood engraving, 6, 67. + German engravers, 22. + German portraits, 52. + Gilray, James, 33. + Goldsmith's _Deserted Village_, 33. + Goltzius, Henry, 24. + Greek art, 4. + Gutenberg, 21. + + + Half tone process engraving, 60, 61, 62. + Heath, James, 36. + Hieroglyphic figures, 4. + _Historia Virginis_, 7. + Historical records, 3, 50. + Hogarth, 28, 31, 32. + Hogenberg, Remigus, 27. + Holbein, Hans, 8. + Houbraken, 28. + Hound, The, 9. + Hudibras, 31. + + + Illustrator, The, 14. + Imaginary boundary, An, 51. + Imaginative instinct, 20. + Imaginative symbolism, 22. + Inartistic work, 49. + Inception of engraving, 1. + Incised drawings, 1, 2. + Intermediary values, 13. + Ink photo, 65. + Ink photo, expressive power, 65. + Ink photo, intensity of, 65. + Italian art, 22. + Italian engraving, 22. + Italian Niello, 18. + + + Jacobite sympathies, 32. + Justification, A, 66. + + + Kartenmacher, 7. + King of Terrors, The, 9. + + + Lalanne, 38. + Landscape engraving, 36. + Landseer, 35, 36, 47. + Lawrence, 35, 47. + Lewis, F. C., 35. + Leyden, Lucas van, 24. + Light and shade, 53. + Line process engraving, 59, 60. + Litzelburger, Hans, 9. + Louis XIV., 23. + Ludwig, von Sigen, 42. + Lutterell, 46. + + + Mannerisms, 22, 54. + Mantegna, Andrea, 20. + Merchant marks, 6. + Metal engraving, 9. + Metal engraving, invention of, 18. + Metal engraving, another account, 19. + Mezzotint engraving, invention, 42, 43. + Mezzotint engraving, qualities, 43, 44. + Mezzotint engraving, popularised, 43, 44. + Mezzotint engraving, described, 44. + Movable types, 7. + + + National characteristics, 21. + Nation's progress, mirror of, 4. + Nature's expression, 69. + Neolithic period, 3. + New Testament, 8. + Northcote's pictures, 33. + Nuremberg records, 7. + + + Outline, 49, 51-52. + Ornamental engraving, 18. + + + Palæolithic period, 3. + Parker, Archbishop, 27. + Passe family, 27. + Payne, John, 28. + Perspective, 24. + Perspective, aërial, 54. + Perspective, linear, 54. + Photo process, 57. + Photogravure, artistic features, 64. + Photogravure, description, 65. + Photogravure, pictorial cards, 7. + Place, Francis, 46. + Pope's villa, 35. + Prehistoric artistic power, 3. + Prehistoric art, purpose of, 3. + Primeval engraver, 3. + Primeval man, 1. + Prince Rupert, 43, 46. + Process engraving, amplification of, 64. + Process engraving, artistic, 58. + Process engraving, commercial features, 58. + Process engraving, value of, 57, 58. + Progressive review, 23. + Progressive process, 57, 58. + Pye, John, 35. + + + Queen Elizabeth, 27. + + + Raimbach, 34, 35. + Raimondi, Marc Antonio, 21. + Raphael, 21. + Realism, 68, 69. + Religious illustrations, 7. + Rembrandt, 24. + Rembrandt's influence, 41. + Renaissance, 19. + Retrospect, 69. + Reynolds, 34, 43. + Rock, Jerome, 8. + Romney, 45. + Royal Sovereign, 28. + + + Screen effect, 60, 61. + Society of Arts, 47. + _Speculum Humanæ Salvationis_, 7. + Stipple engraving, 33. + Strange, Robert, 32, 33. + Style, 68. + Symbolic figures, 4. + + + Technique, 22, 23. + Thirteenth century documents, 6. + Three colour process, 64. + Tone and texture, 49. + Translation, 17. + Tri-chromatography, 64. + Turk's Head, 34. + Turner, 35, 36, 37, 45, 67. + + + Untutored art, 2. + + + Vallerant Valliant, 43. + Venetian navigators, 5. + Vertue, 28. + Vesalius, 26. + + + Walpole, Horace, 28, 30. + West, 34, 45. + Wilkie, David, 35. + Wilson, 34. + Wood blocks, 5. + Wood engraving, 5. + Wood engraving, combination of lines, 14. + Wood engraving, justification of, 13. + Wood engraving, power of realisation, 14. + Wood engraving, pictorial and artistic effects, 14. + Wood engraving, renaissance, 9. + Wood engraving, variety of texture, 14. + + * * * * * + +_Printed by_ MORRISON & GIBB LIMITED, _Edinburgh_ + + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Engraving for Illustration, by Joseph Kirkbride + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ENGRAVING FOR ILLUSTRATION *** + +***** This file should be named 36751-8.txt or 36751-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/3/6/7/5/36751/ + +Produced by Chris Curnow, David Garcia and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This +file was produced from images generously made available +by The Internet Archive) + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Engraving for Illustration + Historical and Practical Notes + +Author: Joseph Kirkbride + +Release Date: July 17, 2011 [EBook #36751] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ENGRAVING FOR ILLUSTRATION *** + + + + +Produced by Chris Curnow, David Garcia and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This +file was produced from images generously made available +by The Internet Archive) + + + + + + +</pre> + + +<div style="height: 6em;"><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /></div> + +<div class="figure"> +<a name="image-0000"><!--IMG--></a> +<img src="images/i_cover.png" width="300" height="485" +alt="(cover)" /> +</div> + +<div style="height: 2em;"><br /><br /></div> + +<p class="center"> +<small>ENGRAVING FOR ILLUSTRATION</small> +</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="pagei" name="pagei"></a>[i]</span></p> + +<div style="height: 2em;"><br /><br /></div> + +<p><!--[Blank Page]--><br /></p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="pageii" name="pageii"></a>[ii]</span></p> + +<div style="height: 2em;"><br /><br /></div> + +<p class="center"> +<span class="sc">Reproduction by R. J. EVERETT & SONS' "INK-PHOTO" Process</span> +</p> + +<div class="figure"> +<a name="image-0001"><!--IMG--></a> +<a href="images/i_005.png"><img src="images/i_005-s.png" width="500" height="332" +alt="FRONTISPIECE. ENGRAVING FOR ILLUSTRATION." /></a> +<br /> +<small>FRONTISPIECE. ENGRAVING FOR ILLUSTRATION. </small> +</div> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="pageiii" name="pageiii"></a>[iii]</span></p> + +<div><a name="h2H_4_0001" id="h2H_4_0001"><!-- H2 anchor --></a></div> + +<div style="height: 4em;"><br /><br /><br /><br /></div> + +<h1> + ENGRAVING FOR ILLUSTRATION +</h1> + +<p class="center"> + <big><i>Historical and Practical Notes</i></big> +</p> + +<p class="center"> +<small>BY</small><br /> +<big>JOSEPH KIRKBRIDE</big> +</p> + +<div style="height: 2em;"><br /><br /></div> + +<p class="center"> +WITH TWO PLATES BY INK PHOTO PROCESS<br /> +AND SIX ILLUSTRATIONS +</p> + +<div style="height: 2em;"><br /><br /></div> + +<p class="center"> + LONDON<br /> + SCOTT, GREENWOOD & CO.<br /> + <small>10 LUDGATE HILL, E.C.</small> +</p> + +<p class="center"> + NEW YORK<br /> + D. VAN NOSTRAND CO.<br /> + <small>23 MURRAY STREET</small><br /> + 1903 +</p> + +<p class="center"> +<small>[<i>All Rights remain with Scott, Greenwood & Co.</i>]</small> +</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="pageiv" name="pageiv"></a>[iv]</span></p> + +<div style="height: 2em;"><br /><br /></div> + +<p><!--[Blank Page]--><br /></p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="pagev" name="pagev"></a>[v]</span></p> + +<div style="height: 4em;"><br /><br /><br /><br /></div> + +<table summary="Table of Contents" style="width: 66%; border: none;"> + +<tr> +<td colspan="2"> +<h2> + CONTENTS +</h2> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td></td> +<td align="right"><small>PAGE</small></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td colspan="2"><p class="center"> CHAPTER I </p></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td> +<p class="hanging"> +<span class="sc">Its Inception.</span> A Theory of Evolution—A Distinct Progress</p> +</td> +<td align="right" style="vertical-align:bottom;"><a href="#page1">1</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td colspan="2"><p class="center"> CHAPTER II </p></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p class="hanging"> +<span class="sc">Wood Engraving.</span> Rise and Progress—Block Books—Durer's +Influence—Hans Holbein—A Renaissance—Comparison +and Justification—The Illustrator</p> +</td> +<td align="right" style="vertical-align:bottom;"><a href="#page5">5</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td colspan="2"><p class="center"> CHAPTER III </p></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td> +<p class="hanging"> +<span class="sc">Metal Engraving.</span> The Invention—Early +Engravers—National Characteristics—A Progressive Review</p> +</td> +<td align="right" style="vertical-align:bottom;"><a href="#page18">18</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td colspan="2"><p class="center"> CHAPTER IV </p></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p class="hanging"> +<span class="sc">Engraving in England.</span> Introduction of Metal +Engraving—Notable British Engravers—Summary</p> +</td> +<td align="right" style="vertical-align:bottom;"><a href="#page26">26</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td colspan="2"><p class="center"> CHAPTER V </p></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td> +<p class="hanging"> +<span class="sc">Etching.</span> Early Records—Descriptive—Rembrandt's +Influence—Wenceslaus Hollar</p> +</td> +<td align="right" style="vertical-align:bottom;"><a href="#page38">38</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td> +<p class="hanging"> +<span class="sc">Mezzotint.</span> Invention—Description—Artistic +Qualities—Dilettanti Art—A Modern Mezzo Engraver</p> +</td> +<td align="right" style="vertical-align:bottom;"><a href="#page38">38</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td colspan="2"> +<span class="pagenum"><a id="pagevi" name="pagevi"></a>[vi]</span> +<p class="center"> CHAPTER VI </p></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td> +<p class="hanging"> +<span class="sc">The Engraver's Task.</span> Inartistic Work—Constructive +Elements—Outline—Extraneous Matter—Composition—Light +and Shade—Expression—Perspective—Execution</p> +</td> +<td align="right" style="vertical-align:bottom;"><a href="#page48">48</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td colspan="2"><p class="center"> CHAPTER VII </p></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td> +<p class="hanging"> +<span class="sc">Photo "Process" Engraving.</span> A Progressive Process—Commercial +and Artistic Features—"Line" Process—"Half Tone"—Artistic +Restoration—Tri-chromatography—Photogravure</p> +</td> +<td align="right" style="vertical-align:bottom;"><a href="#page57">57</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td colspan="2"><p class="center"> CHAPTER VIII </p></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td> +<p class="hanging"> +<span class="sc">Appreciative Criticism.</span> An Educative Principle—An +Analysis—Realism in Art Retrospect</p> +</td> +<td align="right" style="vertical-align:bottom;"><a href="#page66">66</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td> +<p class="hanging"> +<span class="sc">Index</span></p> +</td> +<td align="right" style="vertical-align:bottom;"><a href="#page70">70</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td colspan="2"> + +<div><a name="h2H_LIST" id="h2H_LIST"><!-- H2 anchor --></a></div> + +<div style="height: 4em;"><br /><br /><br /><br /></div> + +<h2> + LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS +</h2> +</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td><p><small>FIG.</small></p> +</td> +<td></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> +<p class="hanging"> +<span class="sc">Plate I.</span></p> +</td> +<td align="right"><a href="#pageii"><i>Frontispiece</i></a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> +<p class="hanging"> +1. <span class="sc">Old Wood Engraving (Erenburg Castle)</span></p> +</td> +<td align="right"><a href="#image-0002"><i>Facing p.</i> 10</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> +<p class="hanging"> +2. <span class="sc">Modern Wood Engraving (The Goose Fountain, Nuremburg)</span></p> +</td> +<td align="right"><a href="#image-0003">" 14</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td> +<p class="hanging"> +3. <span class="sc">Old Wood Engraving</span></p> +</td> +<td align="right"><a href="#image-0004">" 28</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td> +<p class="hanging"> +4. <span class="sc">Modern Wood Engraving</span></p></td> +<td align="right"><a href="#image-0005">" 54</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td> +<p class="hanging"> +5. <span class="sc">Cross Section of Cyanide Furnace</span></p> +</td> +<td align="right"><a href="#image-0006"><i>Page</i> 59</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td> +<p class="hanging"> +6. <span class="sc">Process Engraving</span></p> +</td> +<td align="right"><a href="#image-0007"><i>Facing p.</i> 60</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td> +<p class="hanging"> +<span class="sc">Plate II.</span></p> +</td> +<td align="right"><a href="#image-0008">" 64</a></td> +</tr> +</table> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="pagevii" name="pagevii"></a>[vii]</span></p> + +<div><a name="h2H_PREF" id="h2H_PREF"><!-- H2 anchor --></a></div> + +<div style="height: 4em;"><br /><br /><br /><br /></div> + +<h2> + PREFACE +</h2> + +<p> +A philosopher and writer has declared that "in our fine arts, not +imitation, but creation, is the aim." +</p> +<p> +It is to emphasise a distinction between an imitative and a creative +art that the following chapters are offered. +</p> +<p> +"Engraving for Illustration" is pre-eminently a creative art by which +the work of the artist is <i>translated</i>, "in order to render the effect +of his design in such a form as will admit of rapid and effective +reproduction." +</p> +<p> +It is, moreover, a popular art with a well-defined educative principle +underlying the numerous phases of its manifestation; while, at the same +time, its historical and general interest will commend this brief record +of its progress and influence to many who are lovers of art for art's +sake. +</p> + +<p class="right"> + J. K.<br /> + <span class="sc">London</span> <i>June 1903</i>. +</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="pageviii" name="pageviii"></a>[viii]</span></p> + +<div style="height: 2em;"><br /><br /></div> + +<p><!--[Blank Page]--><br /></p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="page1" name="page1"></a>[1]</span></p> + + +<div><a name="h2H_4_0010" id="h2H_4_0010"><!-- H2 anchor --></a></div> + +<div style="height: 4em;"><br /><br /><br /><br /></div> + +<p class="center"> +<big>ENGRAVING FOR ILLUSTRATION</big> +</p> + +<div><a name="h2HCH0007" id="h2HCH0007"><!-- H2 anchor --></a></div> + +<div style="height: 4em;"><br /><br /><br /><br /></div> + +<h2> + CHAPTER I +</h2> + +<p class="quote"> + <i>ITS INCEPTION</i>—A THEORY OF EVOLUTION—A DISTINCT PROGRESS +</p> +<p class="quote2"> + "In proportion to his force the artist will find in his work + an outlet for his proper character."—<span class="sc">Emerson.</span> +</p> + +<p> +<b>Its Inception.</b>—It was the dawn of a new sense when primitive man +first ornamented his weapons, utensils, and the walls of his cave +dwellings with incised drawings,—pictorial representations which +enabled him to record events or suggest and illustrate thoughts and +ideas when his somewhat limited vocabulary failed him. +</p> +<p> +It was a severely utilitarian epoch of the world's history, and the +crude yet intensely realistic manifestations of man's artistic desires +were the more remarkable that they were wholly dependent upon stern +necessity for their realisation. Childlike in their simplicity, yet +both graphic and vigorous in expression, these ancient drawings bear +testimony + +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page2" name="page2"></a>[2]</span> + + to the intense desire of primeval man for some suitable and +satisfying form of pictorial expression. Such incised drawings were +undoubtedly the earliest forms, which the mind of man suggested and his +skill attained, of conveying information and displaying pictorial or +ornamental art. They were but crude conceptions of the untutored art of +a savage race, yet, with a characteristic quaintness of expression, they +abundantly prove the existence of an innate, imitative, and artistic +faculty, inspired by an insatiable craving for illustrative delineation. +</p> +<p> +<b>A Theory of Evolution.</b>—The antiquity of the engraver's art, then, +is exceedingly remote, and its earliest records display frequent +evidences of manipulative skill and artistic perception—evidences which +are still more convincing when the environment and scanty resources of +its exponents are fully appreciated. It was a most unique phase of that +process of evolution whereby the social education of the human race was +advanced, and through countless ages it has indicated the same onward +roll of progressive intelligence. +</p> +<p> +Responsive to the ever-changing conditions of life, the necessities of +mankind were constantly increasing. His higher intelligence also created +a greater diversity of interests, and consequently demanded a fuller and +more expressive vehicle of communication for his thoughts. No longer +content with what was only needful for the maintenance of social or +commercial intercourse, he sought to add to the archaic simplicity of +his drawings, + +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page3" name="page3"></a>[3]</span> + + skilful arrangement, and a certain degree of artistic +feeling and interpretation. It was as though some transitory flashes of +artistic power in the minds of prehistoric artists were struggling with +an inability to give adequate expression to their inceptions. Their +productions, some of them dating from the Palæolithic and Neolithic +periods, were not pretentious works of art. Their primary purpose being +representative, their merit was, of course, decided by the success or +failure of such representation, apart from any artistic qualities they +might possess. +</p> +<p> +<b>A Distinct Purpose.</b>—The evident care with which many of the ancient +incised drawings or engravings were executed and preserved, together +with the permanent character of the materials employed, seems to +indicate that these simple yet graphic representations were produced +with the distinct purpose of perpetuating a memory as well as for the +amplification of a meagre language,—a purpose which considerably +enhances their interest, and suggests that the primeval engraver +appreciated some at least of the possibilities of his art. Moreover, +they frequently possess an intense veracity and directness of imitation +which renders them of inestimable value as reliable historical records. +Had caprice alone directed the artist's efforts, they would not in so +many instances have merited the interest and approval which they now +receive. +</p> +<p> +Such, then, were the beginnings of an art that + +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page4" name="page4"></a>[4]</span> + + subsequently reached its +maturity only by a slow growth of gradual development, and "which, in +the modesty and seriousness of its earlier manifestations, is at least +as interesting as in the audacity of its later and more impressionistic +phases." +</p> +<p> +Engraving as a reproductive as well as an ornamental art was at +different periods modified in accordance with ever-changing conditions +produced by the exigencies of national and industrial policy. Its +frequent adaptation to the various circumstances with which it was +indissolubly associated, and the fluctuations of an enthusiasm which was +more or less dependent upon national as well as social prosperity, fully +justifies the statement that "its history is the mirror of a nation's +progress." +</p> +<p> +The rude methods of ancient artists can be distinctly traced through +Egyptian, Assyrian, and Grecian history. Hieroglyphic and symbolic +figures, engraved on ancient Egyptian monuments, bear testimony to +a vast progress both in expressive and inventive power. Assyrian +antiquities disclose an art which is even more suggestive and +picturesque, while the ancient Greeks developed the highest qualities of +pictorial power, and raised the art to a marvellous pitch of excellence. +</p> +<p> +Beyond this brief epitome of the early history of engraving we need +not venture. The idea of taking impressions from any form of incised +drawings was not suggested until many centuries later. +</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="page5" name="page5"></a>[5]</span></p> + +<div><a name="h2HCH0008" id="h2HCH0008"><!-- H2 anchor --></a></div> + +<div style="height: 4em;"><br /><br /><br /><br /></div> + +<h2> + CHAPTER II +</h2> +<p class="quote"> + <i>WOOD ENGRAVING</i>—RISE AND PROGRESS—BLOCK BOOKS—DURER'S + INFLUENCE—HANS HOLBEIN—A RENAISSANCE—COMPARISON AND + JUSTIFICATION—THE ILLUSTRATOR +</p> +<p class="quote2"> + "It is therefore beautiful because it is alive, moving, + reproductive. It is therefore useful because it is symmetrical + and fair."—<span class="sc">Emerson.</span> +</p> + +<p> +<b>Wood Engraving.</b>—The most animating event in the whole history of +engraving was the development of engraved wood blocks. Wood engraving +did not receive the impetus of a new discovery as did metal engraving at +a later period. It was to some extent a purely commercial enterprise, +the success of which was assured by an ever increasing interest +in pictorial art. Engraved wood blocks were used for purposes of +reproduction several centuries before their introduction into Europe. +Historians claim that it can be traced back to A.D. 930, when a form of +playing card was known to the Chinese, and printed by them from rough +wood engravings. The commercial intercourse of the Venetians with +Eastern nations would suggest a probability that their navigators +brought home + +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page6" name="page6"></a>[6]</span> + + some of these playing cards, and described the method of +their production to their countrymen. +</p> +<p> +The further we pursue our investigations, the more remarkable does this +tardy recognition of the utility of wood engraving appear to be. It is +true that somewhere about the middle of the thirteenth century legal +documents were stamped, and merchant marks made with engraved wood +blocks, but no extensive use was made of this method of reproduction +until a much later period. +</p> +<p> +The Low Countries claim credit for the first employment of engraved wood +blocks for commercial purposes. Many dispute this claim, but the amount +of credit at stake is so infinitesimal that it renders the contention +of little value. Until the time of that immense progress which wood +engraving made in Germany about the middle and towards the end of the +fifteenth century, no work of any artistic merit whatever had been +produced. The older prints may possess a certain historical or +antiquarian value, but otherwise are both crude and uninteresting. +</p> +<p> +<b>Block Books.</b>—The Mediæval Block Books were the most important of the +early pictorial reproductions from engraved wood blocks. They also may +be traced to China, where, as early as the ninth century, they were used +for decorative as well as illustrative purposes. They retained their +primitive form for a long period after their first introduction to +Western civilisation, and it is interesting to note that the blocks, +and not the prints, were supplied to the + +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page7" name="page7"></a>[7]</span> + + monks,—the scholars of the +day,—the impressions being made by them as required. Towards the end +of the fourteenth century Dutch merchants, like the Venetians, paid +frequent visits to Chinese ports, when they too were impressed with the +novelty and utility of pictorial reproduction as practised in the East. +At any rate, pictorial sheets or cards, very similar in character to +the Chinese playing cards, were published in Holland about that period. +They bore pictures of the saints with the titles or legends engraved +alongside. The production of such prints was evidently a recognised +business during the early part of the fifteenth century, for there +are numerous entries in the civic records of Nuremberg concerning the +wood engraver "Formschneider" and cardmaker "Kartenmacher." It has been +ingenuously suggested that, for convenience, collections of these cards +were pasted into books; and the books available being chiefly of a +religious character, the idea of illustrating religious matter with +such pictures was readily suggested. +</p> +<p> +The next step was the application of block engraving and printing +to the production of volumes of a more pretentious character, the +most noteworthy of which were <i>The Apocalypsio sue Historia Sancti +Johannis</i>, the <i>Biblia Pauperum</i>, and the <i>Historia Virginis ex +Cantico Canticorum</i>. In another of these books, the <i>Speculum Humanæ +Salvationis</i>, the titles were not engraved on the plates, but were +printed with movable types. This volume was published at Haarlem, +and was composed of fifty-eight + +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page8" name="page8"></a>[8]</span> + + plates—a very considerable production +with the materials then at the disposal of the publishers. +</p> +<p> +<b>Durer's Influence.</b>—In 1490 Albert Durer, who possessed a spirited +imagination and deep enthusiasm for his work, marked out a distinct era +of substantial progress, and impressed the art of wood engraving with +that expressive power of delineation which his truly remarkable genius +ever manifested. +</p> +<p> +Durer was an artist of somewhat variable characteristics, but the +diversity and amplitude of his productions afford conclusive evidences +of a remarkable industry and skill. +</p> +<p> +Like other artists of his time, and even of much later periods, he did +not engrave his own drawings. He may, of course, have engraved a few +blocks, but most, if not all of the wood engravings signed by Durer, +were executed by Jerome Rock. +</p> +<p> +Perhaps the most peculiar characteristic of Durer's designs was +the portrayal of scenes and figures of ancient history and myth in +well-defined imitation of his own surroundings and the conditions of +life then existing. Apropos of this, it was said that he turned the +New Testament into the history of a Flemish village. +</p> +<p> +Hans Holbein was another of the early artists who prepared their +drawings for the express purpose of reproduction by means of wood +engraving. That he fully appreciated the resources of his art there +can be no doubt, for he imbued his work with an expressive individual +force which was distinctly progressive and influential. His best known +production + +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page9" name="page9"></a>[9]</span> + + consists of forty-one engravings representing "Death—the +King of Terrors," in association with nearly every phase of human life. +Each one of these designs is a picture parable of remarkable power and +suggestiveness. The characteristic drawing and quaint expressiveness of +Holbein's illustrations merit unqualified admiration, and his graphic +use of pure line for pictorial expression stands almost unrivalled. +</p> +<p> +Hans Litzelburger engraved Holbein's designs. Towards the end of the +fifteenth and during part of the sixteenth centuries wood engraving +still received enthusiastic attention, and then, for sheer lack of +interest, fell rapidly into decay. Metal engraving was absorbing the +attention of the artistic world, and for many years wood engraving was +regarded as only fit for the reproduction of pictures which may be +charitably described as inartistic, and too often perhaps discreditable. +</p> +<p> +As far as our own country was concerned, it was not until the advent +of Thomas Bewick that this decadence received any effective check. +</p> +<p> +<b>A Renaissance.</b>—The Renaissance of wood engraving in England may be +dated from 1775, when Bewick engraved a picture entitled "The Hound," +and received a prize offered by the Royal Society for the best engraving +on wood. Thomas Bewick was born in 1753, and fourteen years later he was +apprenticed to a metal engraver. It was indeed a fortuitous circumstance +which caused him to transfer his energies and his talents to wood +engraving, in + +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page10" name="page10"></a>[10]</span> + + which he displayed a rare skill and inimitable directness +of expression. He was probably the first wood engraver to adopt level +tinting in place of complicated and laborious cross hatching which was +then practised by his continental contemporaries. He usually preferred + +to develop his drawing rather than attempt the production of extraneous +effects, and the subtle effectiveness of his pictures affords +incontrovertible proofs of the advantage of such substitution. Their +humour and pathos, vigour and fidelity, remain to this day as memorials +of the consummate, artistic skill and perceptive capacity of a truly +remarkable man. Bewick was a self-contained genius whose rugged emotions +would admit of but one form of pictorial expression, and that peculiarly +his own. His work was pregnant with masterly good sense, and ever +manifested a charming simplicity of purpose. He had but a modest +estimate of his ability as an engraver, and consequently rarely engraved +any other than his own drawings. +</p> +<p> +The exact measure of Bewick's influence on the art of wood engraving +for pictorial illustration and reproduction would be difficult to +satisfactorily determine. This much is certain, however, that through it +wood engraving was verified and popularised, and illustrated literature +received a stimulus which subsequent developments combined to maintain +and emphasise. +</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="page11" name="page11"></a>[11]</span></p> + +<div style="height: 2em;"><br /><br /></div> + +<div class="figure"> +<a name="image-0002"><!--IMG--></a> +<a href="images/i_022.png"><img src="images/i_022-s.png" width="500" height="400" +alt="Fig. 1.--Old Wood Engraving (Erenburg Castle)." /></a> +<br /> +<span class="sc">Fig. 1.</span>—Old Wood Engraving (Erenburg Castle). +<br /> +"Colour values and perspective can only be expressed by thick and thin +lines at varying distances apart." +<br /> +<small><i>Block supplied by the London Electrotype Agency Ltd., +from the "Illustrated London News."</i></small> +</div> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="page12" name="page12"></a>[12]</span></p> + +<div style="height: 2em;"><br /><br /></div> + +<p><!--[Blank Page]--><br /></p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="page13" name="page13"></a>[13]</span></p> + +<p> +<b>A Comparison.</b>—There is a vast difference between the effects procurable +in an impression +<!--partial paragraph above is moved down from the end of page 10--> + from a wood engraving and the print from an engraved +metal plate. In the former, colour values and perspective can only be +expressed by thick and thin lines at varying distances apart, the ink on +the prints being of the same density throughout, no matter how thick or +thin the lines may be. In metal engraving intermediary values may be +obtained by lines of the same thickness, if need be, but of varying +depth. The result is a strong, intense effect produced by the greater +body of pigment held by such portions of the lines as are cut deeply, +and the comparatively grey appearance of the shallower parts. It is +largely due to this that prints from engraved metal plates possess a +peculiar richness and depth of tone. +</p> +<p> +The commercial advantages generally claimed for engraved wood blocks +are the ease and rapidity with which impressions can be made from them +as compared with the metal plates, and also the fact that they can be +printed with type, <i>i.e.</i> letterpress, without any unusual preparations. +Granting the validity of these claims, it must follow that, owing to the +larger number of impressions made from wood engravings, their intrinsic +worth will be correspondingly less than the limited number of prints +made from engraved metal plates, and their commercial value will be +estimated accordingly. +</p> +<p> +<b>A Justification.</b>—The somewhat sweeping assertion that wood engraving +affords a medium of expression only for the blunter minds is not the +whole truth. Its strikingly bold conceptions and broad expressive + +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page14" name="page14"></a>[14]</span> + + effects certainly appeal to the untrained eye or untutored mind more +than the artistic qualities of design and execution displayed in metal +engraving; but there is yet in the art of the wood engraver a well-nigh +inexhaustible store of artistic as well as pictorial effects. The +forcible character and charm of its productions are chiefly due to the +disposition and combination of the lines employed, and a variety of +texture which is thereby introduced. It affords also an exceptional +facility of execution, and an almost limitless power of realisation, +which gives to it a deservedly high place among the pictorial and +reproductive arts. The whole matter may be summed up in a statement +once made by a well-known artist and illustrator: "There is no process +in relief which has the same certainty, which gives the same colour and +brightness, and by which gradations of touch can be more truly rendered. +Few of our great artists, however, can be prevailed upon to draw for +wood engraving, and when they do undertake an illustration, say of a +great poem, the drawing, which has to be multiplied 100,000 times, has +less thought bestowed upon it than the painted portrait of a cotton +king." What wonder, then, at the retrogression of this facile and +graphic art of pictorial illustration. +</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="page15" name="page15"></a>[15]</span></p> + +<div style="height: 2em;"><br /><br /></div> + +<div class="figure"> +<a name="image-0003"><!--IMG--></a> +<a href="images/i_026.png"><img src="images/i_026-s.png" width="300" height="525" +alt="Fig. 2.--Modern Wood Engraving (the Goose Fountain, Nuremburg)." /></a> +<br /> +<span class="sc">Fig. 2.</span>—Modern Wood Engraving (the Goose Fountain, +Nuremburg). +<br /> +"The forcible character of wood engraving chiefly due to the disposition +and combination of the lines employed." +<br /> +<small><i>Block supplied by the London Electrotype Agency Ltd., +from the "Religious Tract Society."</i></small> +</div> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="page16" name="page16"></a>[16]</span></p> + +<div style="height: 2em;"><br /><br /></div> + +<p><!--[Blank Page]--><br /></p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="page17" name="page17"></a>[17]</span></p> + +<p> +<b>The Illustrator.</b>—The employment of wood engravings in conjunction +with literature created a new phase of artistic work. The task of the +illustrator or designer is peculiar. He sketches out his design on the +wood block, and then passes +<!--partial paragraph above is moved down from the end of page 14--> + it on to the engraver. His drawing is not +intended as a permanent form of pictorial art, but as a suggestive +sketch, which, while perfectly intelligible to the engraver, will be +free from such intricacies in its composition as might interfere with +its effective interpretation. The old wood engravers produced, line for +line, an exact facsimile of the artist's design. His work, no doubt, +required considerable skill and unremitting patience, but it was almost +devoid of independent thought or artistic feeling. The engraver to-day +must <i>translate</i> the work of the illustrator so as to render the effect +of his design in such a form as will admit of rapid and effective +reproduction. The possibilities of the wood engraver's art, therefore, +are manifold. The artist's sketch may give a suggestion of light and +shade, and possibly some idea of its tone. The execution and elaboration +of the drawing is left almost entirely in the hands of the engraver. +Whether it will gain or lose by its translation will, to some extent, +depend upon his artistic perception as well as his manipulative skill. +</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="page18" name="page18"></a>[18]</span></p> + +<div><a name="h2HCH0009" id="h2HCH0009"><!-- H2 anchor --></a></div> + +<div style="height: 4em;"><br /><br /><br /><br /></div> + +<h2> + CHAPTER III +</h2> +<p class="quote"> + <i>METAL ENGRAVING</i>—THE INVENTION—EARLY ENGRAVERS—NATIONAL + CHARACTERISTICS—A PROGRESSIVE REVIEW +</p> +<p class="quote2"> + "The influence of the graver is so great and extensive that + its productions have constantly been the delight of all + countries of the world and of all seasons of life." +</p> + +<p> +<b>Metal Engraving—The Invention.</b>—The engraving of metal plates for +pictorial reproduction was a direct development of ornamental engraving. +The Italian Niello work of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries was +chiefly applied to the embellishment of metal ornaments and utensils +with elaborate engravings. To intensify their effect, the designs were +filled in with a black pigment known as <i>Niello</i>, L. <i>Nigellus</i>—Black. +Hence the name by which the process was generally known. Niello work was +practised chiefly by gold and silversmiths, and it is recorded that one +of these, Finiguerra by name, was filling up the lines of the engraving +with black composition in the usual way when he accidentally spilled +some hot wax over the plate. It rapidly cooled and hardened, and on +scaling off bore a distinct black impression + +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page19" name="page19"></a>[19]</span> + + of the engraving. Quick to +perceive the importance of his discovery, Finiguerra promoted a few +experiments which ultimately led to a full realisation of his hopes. +There is yet another account of the metamorphosis of metal engraving +which, if true, reflects much more credit upon Finiguerra than the +accidental discovery already described. To obtain a <i>proof</i> of their +work, the Florentine metal-workers covered the ornamentation with some +fine plastic material. It was then a simple matter to convert the +impression into a mould, which they filled with melted sulphur. The +casts, when hard, formed exact replicas of the engravings, and +afterwards, when the incised lines were filled with a black pigment, +probably Niello, they presented an effective record of the original +work. It is not by any means improbable that Finiguerra made his +discovery when making such a cast. +</p> +<p> +It is a noteworthy fact that the idea of producing impressions from +engraved metal plates was not, as might readily be imagined, a +development of wood engraving or of the then well-known method of +printing from engraved wood blocks. It was a fortuitous discovery, and +probably the direct result of an accident. The true importance of this +transition, <i>i.e.</i> Niello work to engraving as a reproductive art, is +seldom fully appreciated. It was a momentous change, bristling with +possibilities, which subsequent developments amply proved. The time was +peculiarly propitious. The beneficent influence of the Renaissance was +at its flood, and + +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page20" name="page20"></a>[20]</span> + + a feverish spirit of progress swept over Europe. +The imitative instinct inherent in mankind reasserted itself with an +irresistible intensity, and new forms of pictorial expression were +eagerly sought after. The art of engraving provided a medium for the +extension of the artist's fame and the popularising of his creations. +It rapidly gained favour, and its ultimate development and expansion +fully justified the interest it aroused. +</p> +<p> +<b>Early Engravers.</b>—Baccio Baldine, another Florentine goldsmith, quickly +realised the value of Finiguerra's discovery, and endeavoured to produce +engraved plates for printing purposes. Being a somewhat indifferent +designer, his first efforts were not very successful. He was afterwards +assisted by Sandio Botticelli, and this partnership was the first clear +indication of progress in the art. These two engravers undertook the +illustration of an edition of Dante's works, in which the chief feature +was to be an original headpiece for each canto. They accomplished some +meritorious work in connection therewith, but never quite fulfilled +their task. +</p> +<p> +Some impressions from engraved plates were exhibited in Rome about this +time, and attracted the attention of the painter Andrea Mantegna. He +was so impressed with these examples of the new art that he determined +to reproduce some of his own pictures in a like manner. Mantegna's +engravings were not in any way remarkable, yet they were received with +considerable enthusiasm + +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page21" name="page21"></a>[21]</span> + + by his countrymen and by artists in various +parts of Europe. +</p> +<p> +Marc Antonio Raimondi was another famous Italian engraver of this +period. He first became notorious through copying some of A. Durer's +designs in the exact style affected by that great artist. He also added +Durer's signature to his piracies, and in other ways emphasised the +imitation. +</p> +<p> +It is doubtful whether he ever realised the gravity of the deception he +was guilty of, for he took no pains to conceal the fact from his fellow +artists. Apart from this, however, Raimondi was a fine engraver. He +reproduced a number of Raphael's pictures under that artist's direct +supervision, all of which show distinct traces of the great master's +influence. Raimondi engraved between three and four hundred plates. +</p> +<p> +It is a remarkable coincidence that the art of engraving in Italy, and +printing in Germany, should each receive the stimulus of a new discovery +about the same period. The art of printing was known to the ancient +Chinese, but movable types were first used by Gutenberg about 1454. +</p> +<p> +<b>National Characteristics.</b>—Engraving is almost as old as the human +race, yet its full value as a reproductive art was not discovered until +1452, when Finiguerra made his discovery. For at least half a century +after this discovery engraving was held in the highest esteem in Italy. +From that country it passed to Germany, and thence into + +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page22" name="page22"></a>[22]</span> + + France. In each +of these countries it flourished for a time, until at last it claimed a +place, and that a high one, amongst the fine arts of our own country. +</p> +<p> +The leading characteristics of Italian art, and particularly Italian +engraving, were beautiful outlines and excellent drawing. "Nothing in +any stage of Italian art was carelessly or incompletely done. There is +no rough suggestion of design, no inexact record of artistic invention." +The lines, and especially the outlines, of the early Italian engravings +are indisputably exquisite in their expression of grace and beauty, +though perhaps weak and unsuitable for the portrayal of vigour and +strength. +</p> +<p> +The German engravers reached another extreme. Their drawings were +frequently deficient, and even grotesque; but this was more than +compensated for by a mingled force and freedom of delineation which, +added to a rich imaginative symbolism, was in every respect remarkable. +By means of flowing lines they indicated every fold of draperies, +emphasised the varied contour of features, or produced an intricate +and almost perplexing perspective in their pictures. They frequently +sacrificed artistic power for a mere show of dexterous execution, and +consequently the engravings of this period were rarely ever sublime +in their conceptions. Remarkable for their technique, they were yet +productive of a bewildering confusion of ideas and mannerisms. It was +undoubtedly this superiority + +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page23" name="page23"></a>[23]</span> + + of technique which attracted so much +attention to the old German engravers. Their portrait engravings display +abundant insight into human character, and in this respect at least +exhibit a rare power of pictorial expression. Indefatigable enthusiasm, +one of the racial characteristics of the French nation, was exemplified +in the reception accorded by her artists to the art of metal engraving. +French engraving was distinguished by a felicitous combination of good +drawing, skilful execution, and "an aptitude to imitate easily any +impression." Outlines were frequently suggested rather than delineated, +and although somewhat unconventional in style, French engravings of the +seventeenth century displayed few traces of a perfunctory art. Certain +vagaries of style, due no doubt to a natural vivacity, indicated an +artistic quality of design and execution which was their peculiar +inheritance. Of modern French engravers on metal, the Audran family were +by far the most notable. For four or five generations that remarkable +family showed artistic talent of a high standard of excellence. Gerard +Audran, who was born in 1640, was the best known and most gifted member +of this family. His productions were everywhere admired. His historical +pictures especially were very fine. He was appointed engraver to Louis +<span class="sc">xiv</span>. Died 1703. +</p> +<p> +<b>A Progressive Review.</b>—For a long period engraving was of the simplest +possible character. About the beginning of the sixteenth century an + +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page24" name="page24"></a>[24]</span> + + effort was made to introduce perspective into the productions of both +brush and graver, and until this important development obtained complete +recognition, even the most skilful artists were guilty of faulty +draughtsmanship. Aërial perspective, or the suggestion of distance, +quickly followed this adoption of linear perspective. It is claimed for +Lucas van Leyden, a Dutch engraver, that he was the first to thoroughly +appreciate and give true value to foreground and distance; in other +words, to fully recognise the artistic value of perspective. +</p> +<p> +It has been frequently suggested that the fame of Durer, van Leyden, and +others of the same school, was so widespread as to create an artistic +bias, which other engravers, who were their equals in technical skill, +if not in fertility of design, found it difficult to overcome. One of +these engravers, Henry Goltzius, was determined to obtain recognition +of his merits, and engraved five plates in as many different styles, +copying the mannerisms and artifices of Durer and others. They were +at once accepted as productions of the great artists, and not until +Goltzius had heard the unqualified praise of art critics and patrons +did he reveal his purpose. His countrymen generously forgave him this +deception, and he certainly gained much credit thereby. These pictures +are now known as Goltzius' masterpieces. +</p> +<p> +During the seventeenth century Rembrandt's influence developed much of +that technique which + +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page25" name="page25"></a>[25]</span> + + modern engravers have copied, and in some instances +claimed to improve. He is also credited with the introduction of +more expressive gradations of tone, for the production and emphatic +suggestion of light and shade. The character of this, too, has been +retained in present day engravings. Rembrandt was more directly +associated with etching than with line engraving, but his influence was +far from exclusive. Encouraged by the influence of his example, the line +engraver endeavoured to add to the expressive power of his pictures by +the introduction of more daring perspectives, more suggestive form, and +infinitely greater diversity of texture. +</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="page26" name="page26"></a>[26]</span></p> + +<div><a name="h2HCH0010" id="h2HCH0010"><!-- H2 anchor --></a></div> + +<div style="height: 4em;"><br /><br /><br /><br /></div> + +<h2> + CHAPTER IV +</h2> +<p class="quote"> + <i>ENGRAVING IN ENGLAND</i>—INTRODUCTION OF METAL ENGRAVING—NOTABLE + BRITISH ENGRAVERS—SUMMARY +</p> +<p class="quote2"> + "When applied to objects of their proper destination, the arts + are capable of extending our intellect, of supplying new ideas, + and of presenting to us a view of times and places, whatever + their interval or difference."—<span class="sc">Dallaway.</span> +</p> + +<p> +Engraving as a decorative art was well advanced in this country during +the reign of Alfred the Great, when the Anglo-Saxon metal-workers were +known to be skilful engravers. The art was still further developed under +the Norman rule, and during the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. +</p> +<p> +Wood engravings were printed by William Caxton in 1481, but there is no +proof that they were the work of English engravers. +</p> +<p> +<b>Introduction of Metal Engraving.</b>—The exact date of the introduction +into England of metal engraving as a reproductive art is doubtful. There +is a record of a book published in this country in 1545, which was +illustrated with copper engravings, cut by Thomas Gemeni. It was a work +on anatomy by Vesalius, and was at first printed + +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page27" name="page27"></a>[27]</span> + + in Latin. In the preface +to a translation of this work the following quaint note appears: +"Accepte, jentill reader, this Tractise of Anatomie, thankfully +interpreting the labours of Thomas Gemeni the workman. He that with +his great charge, watch and travayle, hath set out the figures in +pourtrature will most willingly be amended, or better perfected of his +own workmanship if admonished." +</p> +<p> +It was probably not until Queen Elizabeth's reign was well advanced that +metal engraving obtained any substantial recognition as a fine art which +might be practised with some hope of commercial success. +</p> +<p> +Archbishop Parker, a powerful prelate of this time, extended his +patronage to the art, and for a time, at least, kept a private staff +of engravers. A portrait of this archbishop was executed by Remigus +Hogenberg, and is the first record of an engraved portrait produced +and printed in England. +</p> +<p> +For about a century the work of English engravers was uninteresting, and +almost devoid of artistic feeling. Their pictures possessed but little +merit, either as works of art or as pictorial records of that eminently +progressive period. +</p> +<p> +During the seventeenth century engraving became intimately associated +with literature, and then, as now, the combination was a felicitous one. +Another fortunate circumstance was the settling of the Passe family in +this country. They came from Utrecht, and were engravers of considerable +skill and repute. The elder Passe was a friend + +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page28" name="page28"></a>[28]</span> + + and admirer of the famous +painter Reubens, whose style he, to some extent, copied. +</p> +<p> +John Payne—the first English artist to distinguish himself with the +graver—was a pupil of Passe. Payne was an undoubted genius, and, but +for his indolence and dissipated habits, might have accomplished a +great work. +</p> +<p> +His most noteworthy engraving was a picture of "The Royal Sovereign," +made on two plates, which, when joined together, measured 36 in. × 26 +in. +</p> +<p> +Vertue succeeded Payne. His engravings were chiefly of historical value; +as works of art they displayed no unusual merit. Many were portraits +of personages of high degree, in which Vertue evidently copied the +style of Houbraken, a Dutch artist, who some time previously engraved a +similar series of portraits, the commission being given to him because +"<i>no English engraver was capable of executing it</i>." +</p> +<p> +Vertue's writings on English Art were profuse and thoughtful. They were +afterwards collected and published by Horace Walpole. +</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="page29" name="page29"></a>[29]</span></p> + +<div style="height: 2em;"><br /><br /></div> + +<div class="figure"> +<a name="image-0004"><!--IMG--></a> +<a href="images/i_040.png"><img src="images/i_040-s.png" width="400" height="500" +alt="Fig. 3.--Old Wood Engraving." /></a> +<br /> +<span class="sc">Fig. 3.</span>—Old Wood Engraving. +<br /> +"Horace Walpole, the historian of the graphic arts." +<br /> +<small><i>Block supplied by the London Electrotype Agency Ltd., +from the "Illustrated London News."</i></small> +</div> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="page30" name="page30"></a>[30]</span></p> + +<div style="height: 2em;"><br /><br /></div> + +<p><!--[Blank Page]--><br /></p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="page31" name="page31"></a>[31]</span></p> + +<p> +Hogarth, "The inimitable Hogarth," +<br /> +<span class="poem" style="display:block;"> +<span class="stanza" style="display:block;"> +<br /> +<span class="i2"> "Whose pictured morals charm the eye,</span> +<br /> +<span class="i2"> And through the eye correct the heart,"</span> +</span> +</span> +<br /> +was a brilliant exponent of the expressive power of the engraver's art. +Possessing a profound knowledge of human nature, and a keen sense of all +that is humanely interesting, he expressed in his pictures a wonderful +creative fancy, and a well directed +<!--partial paragraph above is moved down from the end of page 28--> + humour. He almost invariably +represented character rather than scenes, and while displaying immense +fertility of design, he retained sufficient realism in the composition +of his pictures to render them valuable as records of the manners and +customs of his times. They, moreover, describe their incidents in the +most direct and piquant fashion. His somewhat defective drawing was +redeemed by a wealth of suggestion and an endless variety of grotesque +conceptions. He possessed the happy art of seizing a fleeting impression +from which he would evolve a caricature full of peculiar and quaint +humour. Hogarth's place in the art annals of this country is undoubtedly +assured, for it has been said that he <i>represented</i> his characters +with more force than most men could <i>see</i> them. His career may be +dated from 1724, when he produced the illustrations for <i>Hudibras</i> and +<i>La Mortray's Travels</i>. +</p> +<p> +There is a most extraordinary story related in connection with Hogarth's +last engraving. While spending a merry evening with some friends he was +heard to say: "My next undertaking will be <i>the end of all things</i>." +"If that is so," remarked one of his companions, "there will soon be +an end of the artist." "Yes, there will be," Hogarth replied, "and the +sooner my task is finished the better." The engraving was executed under +the impulse of an intense excitement. "Finis," he exclaimed, as he +finished that most remarkable design, "All is now over," and, strange +to relate, this was actually + +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page32" name="page32"></a>[32]</span> + + his last work, for he died about a month +later. +</p> +<p> +Robert Strange, who was contemporary with Hogarth, was a native of the +Orkney Islands. He was an art student in Edinburgh when Prince Charlie +landed, and his Jacobite sympathies led him to throw aside his work +and join the young chevalier. When the remnant of the army of 1745 +was flying before Duke William after the battle of Culloden, Strange, +closely pursued by a number of soldiers, sought shelter in the house +of the Lumsdales. Miss Lumsdale was sitting with her work by one of the +windows, and at once offered to conceal the young soldier underneath +the folds of her skirt. Ladies' skirts of the crinoline period were of +such proportions as to render the concealment easy, and Miss Lumsdale, +to lull the suspicions of the pursuing soldiers, continued her sewing, +and affected considerable surprise and indignation at their intrusion. +They shamefacedly withdrew upon finding the lady alone, and Strange +afterwards made good his escape to France. Gratitude to his deliverer, +intensified by the romantic situation which saved his life, quickly +ripened into love, and, it is needless to add, a good old-fashioned +love match. +</p> +<p> +Strange settled in London about 1750, when, by his zeal and skilful +work, he added much to the fame of historical engraving in this country. +He engraved over eighty plates during his lifetime, and displayed a +literary talent of no mean order. He + +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page33" name="page33"></a>[33]</span> + + was not a brilliant draughtsman, +but the tone and texture of his engravings are almost perfect. +</p> +<p> +He was knighted in 1781. +</p> +<p> +There is yet one other engraver of this period whose career merits +a share of attention and interest. +</p> +<p> +James Gilray was born in 1757, and, like Hogarth, commenced at the +bottom rung of the ladder as a letter engraver. He also became a notable +caricaturist, and some idea of his skill in this branch of pictorial art +may be gleaned from the fact that over 1200 designs were the product +of his inventive fancy. Though not by any means indolent, his habits +were dissipated, and unfortunately for him he, for many years, resided +with his publisher, who gratified his passions so long as his art was +sufficiently productive. Gilray's designs were not all caricatures. A +number of illustrations for Goldsmith's <i>Deserted Village</i> were designed +and engraved by him. He also engraved a few of Northcote's pictures. +His style was free and spirited, and he was one of the first English +engravers to prove the merits of stipple engraving. +</p> +<p> +The stipple manner of engraving was a curious development of the +art. It appeared as though line engraving could not keep pace with +the ever-growing demand for pictures, and was therefore combined with +stipple to facilitate production. In capable hands very fine results +were obtained with this combination. +</p> +<p> +English engraving was still in its infancy, however, and continental +productions were favoured by + +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page34" name="page34"></a>[34]</span> + + the art patrons of this country, until +a stimulus was given to native art by the painters Reynolds, Wilson, and +West. Profiting by this renewed interest, Woollet entered upon a career +of unqualified success, and eventually succeeded in obtaining full +recognition for the merits of English engraving. +</p> +<p> +As a boy Woollet showed his artistic proclivities in a strange manner. +His father, it is stated, won a £5000 prize in a lottery, and bought +an inn, glorying in the name of "The Turk's Head," a title which the +embryonic artist endeavoured to express pictorially on a pewter pot. +The father, struck by some quality in the drawing, apprenticed young +Woollet to an obscure London engraver. From an artistic point of view +this apprenticeship was of little value. Woollet was a born artist, and +although his early training may have intensified the natural bent of his +genius, it did little to cultivate it. He possessed versatile talents. +His historical pictures were, in every respect, equal to his landscapes, +and these will long remain as lasting and convincing monuments of his +skill. The boldness of contrast and accuracy of execution displayed by +Woollet in his landscape engravings far surpassed all previous efforts +to express pictorial effects with the graver. +</p> +<p> +Raimbach was a miniature painter of some note, who, like many other +artists, turned from creative to reproductive art, and became a +successful engraver. In 1812 he became associated with + +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page35" name="page35"></a>[35]</span> + + David Wilkie, +and it is generally supposed that he was retained by that artist for the +reproduction of his pictures. Raimbach's translations of Wilkie's works +were in every sense artistic productions and faithful representations. +He was said to be so careful and conscientious in his work that he +employed no assistants, but this was not entirely true. Careful and +conscientious he undoubtedly was, but he frequently employed assistants +to engrave the less important parts of his commissions. Raimbach was +born in 1776, and died 1843. +</p> +<p> +F. C. Lewis was a progressive engraver contemporary with Raimbach. +His most notable productions were after Landseer and Lawrence. He was +appointed engraver first to George IV., then William IV., and afterwards +to Queen Victoria. +</p> +<p> +Samuel Cousins was another most influential engraver. A brief sketch +of his artistic career is given in another chapter. +</p> +<p> +C. G. Lewis was both a line and mezzotint engraver. He was probably +Landseer's favourite engraver, and his name is best known in association +with that artist's pictures. Born 1808; died 1880. +</p> +<p> +When John Pye engraved his first Turner picture, "Pope's Villa," in +1811, that famous artist expressed his unqualified approval when he +said, "If I had known there was anyone in this country who could have +done that, I would have had it done before," and on more than one +occasion he mentioned Pye's engravings as "the most satisfactory + +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page36" name="page36"></a>[36]</span> + + translations of my colour into black and white." An adequate +interpretation of Turner's pictures requires a masterly appreciation of +the gradations and balance of tone which suggest both colour and space; +and to merit such expressions of satisfaction from the great artist +himself was proof of John Pye's artistic power and skill. +</p> +<p> +He began his career as an engraver about the year 1800 after a short +apprenticeship with James Heath, a clever and practical man, who was +quick to perceive the ability of his apprentice. +</p> +<p> +John Pye was a recognised authority on the pictorial effect of colour, +and it was said that during his long and eminently useful life "no +engraver did more than he to spread a knowledge of the sound principles +of landscape art." He was frequently consulted by his fellow artists, +and without even a suggestion of professional jealousy, he was ever +ready with his advice and, if need be, practical help. The following +copy of a letter—now in the Swansea Art Gallery—gives some idea of +the esteem in which his opinion was held by contemporary artists:— +</p> + +<p class="quote" style="text-align: right;"> + <i>Monday.</i> +</p> +<p class="quote"> + <i>To J. Pye, Esq.</i> +</p> +<p class="quote"> + Thursday night, at half-past five, if you please. I hope that + day will be convenient to you. I should like, if possible, to + see you here by daylight, as your opinion is always valuable + to me, and I have some few things to show you.—Your faithful + servant, +</p> +<p class="quote" style="text-align: right;"> + <span class="sc">Ed. Landseer.</span> +</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="page37" name="page37"></a>[37]</span></p> + +<p> +Pye was long known in art circles as the "Father of landscape engraving," +and he certainly succeeded, as no other engraver has done, in his +translation of colour values and suggestion of aërial perspectives. +Turner's paintings were his favourite subjects, and his interpretations +of them are brilliant in expression, and charged with the very essence +of artistic feeling. +</p> +<p> +His life and work indicated a progress as distinct as it was far +reaching. +</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<p class="i14"> "And still the work went on, </p> +<p class="i2"> And on, and on, and is not yet completed. </p> +<p class="i2"> The generation that succeeds our own </p> +<p class="i2"> Perhaps may finish it." </p> +</div> +</div> + +<p> +It has been through the efforts of these men and others who, though +less influential, were not less skilful perhaps, or less earnest, +that English engraving, in its daring innovations and substantial +improvements, has far outstripped that of other countries. By them +its reputation has been built up and enhanced, so that "its influence +is conspicuously visible in the principles and history of Art." +</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="page38" name="page38"></a>[38]</span></p> + +<div><a name="h2HCH0011" id="h2HCH0011"><!-- H2 anchor --></a></div> + +<div style="height: 4em;"><br /><br /><br /><br /></div> + +<h2> + CHAPTER V +</h2> +<p class="quote"> + <i>ETCHING</i>—EARLY RECORDS—DESCRIPTIVE—REMBRANDT'S + INFLUENCE—WENCESLAUS HOLLAR. + <i>MEZZOTINT</i>—INVENTION—DESCRIPTION—ARTISTIC + QUALITIES—DILETTANTI ART—A MODERN MEZZO ENGRAVER +</p> +<p class="quote2"> + "By its very character of freedom, by the intimate and rapid + connection which it establishes between the hands and the + thoughts of the artists, etching becomes the frankest and most + natural of interpreters."—<span class="sc">Lalanne.</span> +</p> + +<p> +It has been asserted, and not without some show of reason, that of +all the reproductive arts etching stands pre-eminent as a medium of +pictorial expression wherein perfect freedom of drawing is retained. +It has found considerable favour with artists, because it enables them +to reproduce their own works with ease and rapidity, and without any +perceptible loss of expressive power. +</p> +<p> +<b>Early Records.</b>—The first account of the art of etching comes from +Dutch sources, but whether or not it had its birth in Holland is a +matter of pure conjecture. It was certainly cradled in the Low +Countries, and finding the time and conditions of art congenial there, +flourished abundantly. A + +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page39" name="page39"></a>[39]</span> + + book bearing the title, <i>A Book of Secrets</i>, +was published in England in 1599. It was a translation from the Dutch, +and described "A method of engraving with strong waters on steel or +iron." The art of etching must have been known in Holland some time +previous to the date of this publication. +</p> +<p> +It was an unfortunate tendency which led the early etchers, or at +any rate etchers of the latter part of the fifteenth and sixteenth +centuries, to practise a style of execution in direct imitation +of the work of the graver. Their productions were robbed of their +peculiar character and charm, their directness and completeness of +representation. +</p> +<p> +<b>Descriptive.</b>—The practical phase of the etcher's work claims a more +than passing interest from the earnest reader. A carefully polished +sheet of copper is covered with an acid resist in the form of a thin +coating of wax or some similar composition. When this has been blackened +by the smoke of a candle, or by any other suitable means, the drawing is +made with steel points. The bright sheen of the copper exposed by each +stroke of the point or etching needle will show the progress of the work +very distinctly. The etching mordant is poured over the drawing thus +made, when the exposed parts of the plate will be corroded or etched +away until sufficient depth is obtained. These are, of course, but the +bare outlines of the process, yet they will suffice to illustrate the +facility and simplicity of its operations. +</p> +<p> +Because it is so admirably adapted for light and + +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page40" name="page40"></a>[40]</span> + + sketchy drawings, +etching has been described as a kind of summary of pictorial expression, +and in some respects such a description fits it perfectly; yet, for a +just appreciation of its merits, it will be needful to put aside the +idea that it is little more than a sketchy framework. It is true that +some of the finest etchings have been executed with the fewest possible +lines and without any pretence of elaboration, yet tone and texture +may be fully expressed though not actually realised. Hence the term +sometimes so aptly applied to etching when it is referred to as +"the stenography of artistic thought." It is upon this principle of +limitation that the chief merits of the etcher's art rests,—a system +of pictorial representation which does not always produce illogical and +inartistic interpretation or the imperfect transcription of light and +shade. It may be frequently characterised by a certain amount of caprice +in its execution, but it is nevertheless capable of producing form and +expression of a very high character. Albert Durer, who possessed a most +remarkable artistic versatility, etched a number of plates; but they can +scarcely be regarded as successful examples of his work, for, like other +artists of his time, he endeavoured to imitate the productions of the +graver with his etching needle. It was altogether a futile experiment, +if indeed it can be regarded as an experiment, and Durer's etchings show +but little of that rare power and technical skill for which he was +justly famous in other phases of graphic art. +</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="page41" name="page41"></a>[41]</span></p> + +<p> +<b>Rembrandt's Influence.</b>—Rembrandt, who was said to be "The greatest +artistic individuality of the seventeenth century," manifested a deep +and lasting enthusiasm for the art of etching,—an enthusiasm which +was abundantly displayed in the marvellous diversity of form by which +he reproduced the characteristic grace and delicate modelling of his +pictures. His graver and etching needle possessed the same spirited +touch as his brush, and when "with his own hand he presented his bold +principles of light and shade," he almost invariably combined strength +of expression with great facility of invention. +</p> +<p> +There is one notable etcher whose chequered career may well be regarded +with interest, for it reveals a depth of artistic enthusiasm almost +unparalleled in the art annals of this or any other country. +</p> +<p> +<b>Hollar.</b>—Wenceslaus Hollar was a Bohemian by birth, and came to England +under the patronage of the Duke of Arundel in 1637. During a lifetime +of peculiar misfortunes and vicissitudes, he etched something like 2700 +plates. As an ardent Royalist, he was drawn into the civil war of +1643-44. He also passed through the Great Plague and the Fire of London. +Difficulties and hardships ever beset his path, yet his industry and +fond attachment to art never flagged. The very fact that ever-recurring +misfortunes and privations never impaired his power as a most remarkable +and ingenious illustrator is ample proof, if such be required, of his +genius. Hollar's etchings are + +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page42" name="page42"></a>[42]</span> + + distinguished by an intense fidelity. They +abound in historical interest of a reliable and fascinating kind, and +though never showy they possess a wealth of artistic beauty and artistic +expression. It is difficult to understand how an artist with Hollar's +gigantic, productive energy should end his days in abject poverty. +</p> +<p> +Mezzotint engraving is the art of engraving on metal <i>in tones</i>. It +dates back to about the middle of the seventeenth century. Its history +is interesting if only for the fact that it has been developed chiefly +in this country, the high degree of perfection to which it attained +being chiefly due to English artists. So much so, indeed, that it has +frequently been referred to as <i>la manaire Anglais</i>. +</p> +<p> +<b>Invention.</b>—The invention of Mezzotint engraving was the result of an +every-day circumstance which attracted the attention of a soldier more +thoughtful than his fellows. Ludwig von Sigen was a lieutenant-colonel +in the army of the Landgrave of Hesse Cassel when he observed the +corrosive action of moisture on the stock of a musket. The metal work +had been ornamented with an engraved design, and the ground formed +by corrosion in conjunction with the engraved lines suggested an idea +from which von Sigen subsequently developed the mezzotint process. This +story of von Sigen's discovery is regarded by some authorities with +a suspicion of doubt, and a suggestion is made that his purpose was to +invest this introduction of a new reproductive art with a romantic +as well as an + +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page43" name="page43"></a>[43]</span> + + artistic interest. In any case, the gallant colonel's +credit is maintained, and it is interesting to note that the principle +of his invention remains still unchanged. The chief purpose of later +developments was to facilitate the production of a perfectly even ground. +</p> +<p> +On the presentation of his first print to the Landgrave of Hesse, von +Sigen declared, "There is not a single engraver, or a single artist, who +knows how this work is done." About twelve years afterwards the inventor +divulged his secret to Prince Rupert, by whom it was brought to England. +It is generally supposed that Prince Rupert carefully preserved the +secret of this new process for some time, and then in a generous mood he +imparted it to Vallerant Valliant, who fortunately for English art made +his knowledge widespread. +</p> +<p> +When mezzotint engraving was first introduced into England, the famous +artists, Reynolds and Gainsborough, had reached the summit of their +fame. The time was indeed auspicious. Line engraving failed to give +a faithful reproduction of the peculiar style of painting then so +much admired, while mezzotint engraving, with its soft gradations and +attractive qualities of expression, translated with a vivacity and +facility that could not fail to please and satisfy. +</p> +<p> +Then, again, a somewhat abrupt change manifested itself in the pictorial +art of this period. Representations of incidents and portraits of famous +personages, which were in themselves interesting, + +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page44" name="page44"></a>[44]</span> + + took the place of the +severely artistic productions of the past. The natural result was an +intense interest, which embraced the art and the process by which it +was popularised. +</p> +<p> +<b>Description.</b>—The mezzotint process of engraving may be described in a +very few sentences. +</p> +<p> +The plate of metal is first covered with a ground or <i>tone</i>. To +accomplish this, a tool with a serrated edge is passed over the surface +in various directions. The myriads of microscopic indentations thus +produced constitute a <i>tooth</i> or roughness similar to the grain of a +coarse sandstone. This grain holds a certain proportion of printing +ink, and gives a rich, velvety black impression. On such a ground the +engraver works up his design, and, by the skilful use of scraper and +burnisher, obtains a series of tones or almost imperceptible gradations. +He removes just so much of the grain as may be required for the lighter +tones, and by burnishing or polishing, after the scraper has been +used, secures the high lights. In one respect, at least, this form of +reproductive art is peculiar, and unlike any other types of engraving. +The artist works from black to white, and produces, on the plate, the +lights instead of the shadows. +</p> +<p> +<b>Artistic Qualities.</b>—Although capable of most charming effects, the +mezzotint process never became a really serious menace to line engraving, +with its firm and expressive outlines and peculiarly lustrous textures. +Yet it is not at all surprising that a process, offering the artistic +qualities of reproduction + +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page45" name="page45"></a>[45]</span> + + which mezzotint possesses, should prove +successful in the interpretation of such light and shade as, for +example, Turner painted into his pictures. Turner was engaged upon the +series of pictures for his <i>Liber Studiorum</i> when he suddenly realised +the value of mezzotint engraving. He consulted with Charles Turner, an +eminent engraver, who afterwards executed twenty-three of the <i>Liber +Studiorum</i> plates, and eventually decided to adopt a combination of +etching with mezzotint for the reproduction of that famous series of +pictures. The leading or essential lines of each picture were etched, +probably by Turner himself, and the mezzotint added by other engravers. +</p> +<p> +It is perhaps to some extent true that prints from mezzo plates lack +somewhat in dignity of effect and fidelity of representation. They are +suggestive rather than representative; yet, when the character of the +work is suitable, this lack of dignity is more than compensated for by +the soft and harmonious effects of light and shade already referred to. +The peculiar beauty and brilliancy of these effects, when artistically +rendered, impart to the prints an alluring charm, which appeals to the +inartistic as well as the accredited artistic eye. +</p> +<p> +The fact that Sir Joshua Reynolds, West, Romney, and other famous +artists allowed their paintings to be reproduced by the mezzotint +process, is sufficient proof of their appreciation of its power. It was, +as already stated, to English engravers that mezzo engraving owed its +development and fame as + +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page46" name="page46"></a>[46]</span> + + a reproductive art, and for very many years +after its invention it was practised chiefly in England and Holland. +It is a remarkable fact that Germany, the birthplace of this art, had but +a slight connection with its subsequent history; and equally remarkable +that French engravers, who excelled in line engraving when mezzotint was +at the zenith of its fame, should almost entirely neglect to appreciate +its possibilities. +</p> +<p> +Another curious fact concerning mezzotint engraving is that it has ever +been the art of the dilettanti. It was first of all invented by von +Sigen, who followed the fine arts for pleasure rather than with any +serious purpose. Prince Rupert brought it over to England with an +enthusiastic, but certainly not a professional, interest, and at several +periods of its history it has received encouragement and substantial +help from like sources. One of the earliest and most ardent mezzo +engravers in this country was Francis Place, a well-known Yorkshire +country squire. H. Lutterel was another such exponent of the art. He was +the first engraver to make any decided improvement in laying the ground. +He evidently realised the importance of a good ground, and constructed +a tool to ensure its evenness and regularity. Another Irishman, Captain +Baillie, a retired cavalry officer, adopted a style of engraving similar +to Rembrandt's, and copied some of that great artist's productions. +He was one of the most enlightened art critics of his time. +</p> +<p> +<b>A Modern Mezzo Engraver.</b>—A brief outline + +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page47" name="page47"></a>[47]</span> + + sketch of the life of Samuel +Cousins, one of the most successful of modern mezzotint engravers, will +form a fitting conclusion to this chapter. +</p> +<p> +Samuel Cousins was born in 1800. The story of his precociousness in +artistic matters is certainly extraordinary. Sir Thomas Ackland, an +enthusiastic patron of the fine arts, saw the boy Cousins standing +before a picture dealer's window, and sketching with all the eagerness +and verve of a born artist. Even while yet a child of eleven years his +exceptional ability manifested itself, for he won the silver palette, +presented by the Society of Arts, and again the silver medal when +twelve years. His rapid progress, both as an artist and engraver, was +undoubtedly due to the influence and encouragement of his patron and +friend, Sir Thomas Ackland. He engraved about two hundred plates, +including pictures by Reynolds, Lawrence, Landseer, and Millais. +Cousins died in 1887, after a most brilliant and purposeful career. +</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="page48" name="page48"></a>[48]</span></p> + +<div><a name="h2HCH0012" id="h2HCH0012"><!-- H2 anchor --></a></div> + +<div style="height: 4em;"><br /><br /><br /><br /></div> + +<h2> + CHAPTER VI +</h2> +<p class="quote"> + <i>THE ENGRAVER'S TASK</i>—INARTISTIC WORK—CONSTRUCTIVE + ELEMENTS—OUTLINE—EXTRANEOUS MATTER—COMPOSITION—LIGHT + AND SHADE—EXPRESSION—PERSPECTIVE—EXECUTION +</p> +<p class="quote2"> + "The highest art is undoubtedly that which is simplest and + most perfect, which gives the experience of a lifetime by a + few lines and touches." +</p> + +<p> +<b>The Engraver's Task.</b>—Engraving, by whatever process it may be +accomplished, is not by any means a secondary art. Even when it descends +to mere copying, which its commercial associations unfortunately +encourage, it requires for its effective execution exceptional skill, +unremitting patience, and a more than average degree of artistic +feeling. It is almost impossible to appreciate the true value of the +engraver's work without some consideration of the labour it entails. +Each one of the multitudinous lines of an engraving is cut with a +definite purpose and deliberate care, and may be operated upon again and +again to increase the depth or width in various places. Even the dots of +a stipple are not made in that aimless fashion which their appearance +might at first suggest. A mechanical + +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page49" name="page49"></a>[49]</span> + + effect is sedulously avoided, +consequently each dot must be cut with scrupulous care, and may require +two or three touches with the graver to produce the desired effect. The +proportionate reduction of pictures for engraving also demands exquisite +skill and accurate draughtsmanship in which the eye and hand of the +artist may be distinctly traced. +</p> +<p> +Thus, by a laborious yet picturesque and harmonious interpretation +of the artist's creations, the engraver renders their reproduction +possible, widens the sphere of their interest and influence, and in +many instances procures for them a world-wide reputation. +</p> +<p> +Such an art may be both erudite and comprehensive in its information, +for it is executed with a purposeful patience which omits nothing, +forgets nothing, and maintains a convincing directness of expression. +</p> +<p> +Outline, light and shade, variety of style and representation of +surfaces, are all within the engraver's control, and a vast diversity of +expression will be requisite for their realisation. It is quite within +his power also to interpret the artist's thoughts as well as imitate +his style, and this involves not only a judicious balancing of tone and +texture, but a knowledge of the principles of art embodied in the +picture—his copy. +</p> +<p> +<b>Inartistic Work.</b>—Owing to an insatiable craving for pictorial +illustration, there is an ever-growing tendency on the part of the +artist engraver to seek after sensational or entertaining effects which +are + +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page50" name="page50"></a>[50]</span> + + not artistic productions. Intensely interesting and attractive +they may be, and yet signally deficient in the true elements of fine +art. It is quite possible to make any art popular, however crude its +conception and manifestation may be, so long as its expression is +sufficiently striking or pleasing. Such products of the graver or +brush may be elaborate compositions and effective forms of pictorial +expression, inasmuch as they provide interesting information concerning +past or current events. They may even possess a certain value as +historical records, and yet not manifest that subtle power of suggestive +beauty and intensity of thought which are <i>primá facie</i> evidences of +masterly genius and artistic power. When the energy and skill of +the artist are thus devoted to expressive delineation in place of +artistic completeness, he becomes satisfied with an inferior degree +of excellence, provided only that it pleases; and the result will +almost assuredly be an incomplete, if not vitiated, production. +</p> +<p> +In these days of invention and advancement, when the resources of +mankind are almost limitless, conditions of life favourable, and +opportunities for the acquirement of knowledge and skill always +abounding, there can surely be no valid excuse for this dead level +mediocrity in the engraver's art,—a result which might possibly arise +from the insiduous fever of display, of notoriety, and of commercialism +which is ever seeking fresh victims in this as in every other phase of +human life and effort. +</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="page51" name="page51"></a>[51]</span></p> + +<p> +<b>Constructive Elements.</b>—An engraving may be an imitative or +representative interpretation of a picture or drawing in <i>black</i> and +<i>white</i>. In such an interpretation, whatever its character may be, +integrity of form is of paramount importance, and essential to the +attainment of any degree of excellence in engraving. It imparts to the +work a distinctive character, and endows it with that delicacy and +precision of execution for which engraving is so justly famous. +</p> +<p> +<b>Outline.</b>—In the early engravings the constructive element consisted +almost entirely of pure outline, which was rarely monotonous, but +frequently suggestive of form and character. Is it not almost +marvellous, this suggestive power of outline, for is it not in reality +but an imaginary boundary? An actual outline is a thing unknown in +nature, and the very fact that it has its existence only in the +imagination of the artist makes our reconciliation to it and our +admiration of it the more wonderful. The astonishing elasticity of the +human imagination makes it quite easy to fill in the details of a +picture if only the outline be sufficiently suggestive. The primary +function of the outline is, of course, to represent; but its secondary +or suggestive purpose is scarcely of less importance, and can only be +fully realised when the imagination is so stimulated as to perceive more +than is actually exhibited. The completeness and truthfulness of the +outline must be an engraver's first point. An art critic once stated +that "He had finished the picture who + +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page52" name="page52"></a>[52]</span> + + had finished the outline." To some +extent such a statement may be perfectly true; but just as in elocution, +or even in ordinary conversation, emphasis is requisite, so in pictorial +art the emphasis of concise expression, modulation, and delicate or +vigorous accentuation are equally necessary and effective. +</p> +<p> +<b>Extraneous Matter.</b>—In other words, an artist's ideas may be decisively +portrayed in outline, yet for lack of suitable extraneous matter appear +both crude and impoverished. The amount of characteristic form expressed +by constructive elements in the drawing, other than the outlines, is +strikingly illustrated in old German portrait engravings. They are +simply overflowing with details of the most minute description. Nor can +such details be regarded as altogether superfluous, for they each help +to <i>build up</i> the character of the picture. In portrait engraving a mere +likeness may easily be portrayed by a simple outline. Not so, however, +with character. Considerable amplification will be necessary to show +that; and this, perhaps, is the most difficult task of the engraver—to +introduce a satisfactory amount of essential detail without detracting +in any way from a pleasing general effect in the picture. +</p> +<p> +<b>Composition.</b>—In its broadest sense composition in graphic art refers +to the putting together or combination of the various details into a +pleasing and effective picture. It may comprise—(1) the choice of a +subject; (2) the most effective moment + +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page53" name="page53"></a>[53]</span> + + of its representation; (3) the +choice of such circumstantial matter as will best intensify the +interest of the picture, and enhance its artistic value. Nor is one +part much less important than another, for interest in the subject must +necessarily be influenced by effective grouping, and the choice of +harmonious surrounding for both. It is in this that the <i>finesse</i> of +the artist becomes available, and, by clever contrasts and agreeable +combinations, enables him to emphasise the expressive power of his +pictorial art. +</p> +<p> +<b>Light and Shade.</b>—The importance of light and shade in the composition +of a picture is a fact too well established to require much further +recognition here. If skilfully arranged and distributed it may in some +measure compensate for any lack of cohesion in the design, and thus +become a redeeming feature in what would otherwise prove to be an +ineffective composition. +</p> +<p> +It is chiefly by a dexterous arrangement of light and shade that the +artist engraver can produce a faithful and intelligible translation of +his subject. It adds considerably to the force and vigour of pictures, +and produces effects which please the eye and successfully appeal to +the imagination. +</p> +<p> +There are, of course, other qualities and conditions which materially +affect the engraver and his work, and these will now be briefly +indicated. +</p> +<p> +<b>Expression.</b>—"Expression is the representation of an object agreeably +to its nature and character, and the use or office it is intended to +have in the + +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page54" name="page54"></a>[54]</span> + + work." It is, in fact, the very essence of a picture. Without +it there can be no character, no emotion, and therefore no faithful +delineation. +</p> +<p> +<b>Perspective.</b>—Linear perspective in engraving represents the position +or magnitude of the lines or contour of objects portrayed, and suggests +their diminution in proportion to their distance from the eye. +</p> +<p> +Aërial perspective, on the other hand, represents the diminution of +colour value of each object as it recedes from the eye. It is, in +reality, a degradation of tone, suggesting the relative distances of +objects. Either may be the direct product of light and shade as well +as of accurate drawing. +</p> +<p> +<b>Execution.</b>—The execution of an engraving admits of almost any degree +of variety—the display of individual skill, and knowledge of technique. +Execution, as the term implies, is the direct result of individual +dexterity; the ability to interpret colour, tone, and texture of a +picture by an arrangement of lines of varying depth and fineness; the +ability also to imitate, or even create, pictorial expression. +</p> +<p> +The work of the engraver, like many other phases of reproductive art, is +a fruitful source of mannerisms; yet even these will produce excellent +results if they create innovations which will be afterwards approved and +recognised as healthy, independent, and entirely original methods. +</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="page55" name="page55"></a>[55]</span></p> + +<div style="height: 2em;"><br /><br /></div> + +<div class="figure"> +<a name="image-0005"><!--IMG--></a> +<a href="images/i_066.png"><img src="images/i_066-s.png" width="400" height="525" +alt="Fig. 4.--Modern Wood Engraving." /></a> +<br /> +<span class="sc">Fig. 4.</span>—Modern Wood Engraving. +<br /> +"An interpretation of tone and texture by an arrangement of lines." +<br /> +<small><i>Block supplied by the London Electrotype Agency Ltd., +from the "Religious Tract Society."</i></small> +</div> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="page56" name="page56"></a>[56]</span></p> + +<div style="height: 2em;"><br /><br /></div> + +<p><!--[Blank Page]--><br /></p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="page57" name="page57"></a>[57]</span></p> + +<div><a name="h2HCH0013" id="h2HCH0013"><!-- H2 anchor --></a></div> + +<div style="height: 4em;"><br /><br /><br /><br /></div> + +<h2> + CHAPTER VII +</h2> +<p class="quote2"> + <i>PHOTO "PROCESS" ENGRAVING</i>—A PROGRESSIVE PROCESS—COMMERCIAL + AND ARTISTIC FEATURES—"LINE" PROCESS—"HALF TONE"—ARTISTIC + RESTORATION—TRI-CHROMATOGRAPHY—PHOTOGRAVURE +</p> +<p class="quote"> + "It is not knowledge itself which is power, but the ability to + use and apply knowledge." +</p> + +<p> +<b>A Progressive Process.</b>—Photo process engraving is a method of graphic +reproduction which comes into direct contact with art in its most +popular phases. +</p> +<p> +It is a distinctly progressive process which possesses immense +advantages and represents an effective and by no means inartistic aspect +of the graphic arts. The lavish, and in many instances extravagant, +employment of process engraving for purposes of pictorial illustration +is a substantial proof of its popularity and illustrative value. It +may not always reach a high standard of artistic realisation, but it +is almost invariably realistic and attractive in its varied forms of +representation. +</p> +<p> +The idea of pictorial illustration, whether as the + +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page58" name="page58"></a>[58]</span> + + translation of an +artistic conception or an actual representation of current events, has +ever been a fascinating one; and its evolution, from a photo-mechanical +standpoint, has been one unbroken record of remarkable progress. +</p> +<p> +To enter upon a detailed exposition of any of the many photo-mechanical +processes is somewhat beyond the purpose of this short treatise, and to +attempt anything but a full and comprehensive description on such lines +would be both unwise and valueless. Let it suffice, then, to indicate +their more salient points, their illustrative and artistic value, and +the manner in which they may be most successfully applied. +</p> +<p> +<b>Commercial and Artistic Features.</b>—The commercial advantages of +photo-engraving may be summed up in a very few words:— +</p> +<p> +1. The plates can be produced quickly and economically. +</p> +<p> +2. The impressions can be made at a high rate of speed, and in some +of the processes without perceptible deterioration. +</p> +<p> +3. The prints will be more or less facsimiles of the original. +</p> +<p> +From an artistic point of view, photo-engraving possesses equally +important features. It translates the artist's work with extraordinary +facility and accuracy, retaining a satisfactory proportion of its +expressive feeling, and reproducing subtleties of drawing and texture +which it would be difficult, if not quite impossible, to obtain by any +other process. + +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page59" name="page59"></a>[59]</span> + + Of the many photo-mechanical engraving processes, all of +which are more or less associated with pictorial illustration, three at +least merit further consideration. +</p> + +<div class="figure"> +<a name="image-0006"><!--IMG--></a> +<a href="images/i_070.png"><img src="images/i_070-s.png" width="400" height="435" +alt="Fig. 5.--Cross Section of Cyanide Furnace." /></a> +<br /> +<span class="sc">Fig. 5.</span>—Cross Section of Cyanide Furnace. +<br /> +The "Line Process." +</div> + +<p> +(<i>a</i>) <b>The "Line" Process.</b>—The "line" process is applicable only to +the reproduction of line drawings or prints, in which the design is +represented + +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page60" name="page60"></a>[60]</span> + + in simple black and white, with only such gradations of tone +as may be suggested by lines or dots. For the reproduction of pen-and-ink +drawings, it has found considerable favour with illustrators, and many +even of the more conservative artists are compelled to appreciate +its merits and acknowledge its value. An interesting account of the +compulsory acceptance of process engraving by the famous illustrator +"Du Maurier" is suggestive of at least one valuable peculiarity of this +method of reproduction. Owing to failing sight, Du Maurier found it +increasingly difficult to introduce into his drawings on the wood block +that amount of detail which he considered necessary for the adequate +expression of his ideas. Eventually he was compelled to make pen-and-ink +drawings on a much larger scale than was his wont, and to have them +reproduced as photo-line-blocks, the reduction being made as required. +</p> +<p> +(<i>b</i>) <b>Half Tone.</b>—"Half tone" process engraving, as distinguished from +the "line" process, is the reproduction of a design or copy which has +in its composition gradations of tone in the form of flat tints. Wash +drawings and photographs present characteristic examples of such copies. +</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="page61" name="page61"></a>[61]</span></p> + +<div style="height: 2em;"><br /><br /></div> + +<div class="figure"> +<a name="image-0007"><!--IMG--></a> +<a href="images/i_072.png"><img src="images/i_072-s.png" width="330" height="500" +alt="Fig. 6.--Process Engraving." /></a> +<br /> +<span class="sc">Fig. 6.</span>—Process Engraving. +<br /> +<small><i>Block by the Arc Engraving Co. Ltd., London.</i></small> +</div> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="page62" name="page62"></a>[62]</span></p> + +<div style="height: 2em;"><br /><br /></div> + +<p><!--[Blank Page]--><br /></p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="page63" name="page63"></a>[63]</span></p> + +<p> +The true relative value of these medium or half tones can only be +retained in the half tone engraving by breaking up the picture into +most minute sections, and thereby producing a grain or series of dots +of varying size and contiguity according to the requirements of the +drawing. This grain or "screen" effect is produced by the interposition +of +<!--partial paragraph above is moved down from the end of page 60--> + a network of finely ruled lines in the form of a screen between the +lens and the sensitive plate when photographing. The optical principle +involved is beyond the sphere of this work, but the effect produced is +a matter of vital importance, and requires careful consideration. +</p> +<p> +The coarser the ruling of a screen, consistent of course with the class +of work for which it is required, the more vigorous and consequently +more effective the reproduction will appear. The variety of tones will +be greater, and the textures will appear richer. Small prints are +naturally subjected to a close inspection; the screen effect, therefore, +should be less obtrusive than in larger ones. It may also be useful to +know that a finely ruled screen will reproduce the minute details of +a copy. +</p> +<p> +<b>Artistic Restoration.</b>—It is somewhat doubtful if the half tone +engraving, pure and simple, would ever have any real artistic value for +pictorial illustration but for some method of restoring those qualities +which are so considerably reduced when copying a picture through +the line screen. The pure half tone consists of a grain of varying +gradations over the whole design. There are, therefore, no pure whites +even in the highest lights. The use of the roulette and graver for +accentuating light and shade is therefore not only permissible but +decidedly advantageous, for the monotony of a mechanical grain is +thereby relieved, and the print produced will be an effective and +accurate translation of the artistic sketch. +</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="page64" name="page64"></a>[64]</span></p> + +<p> +"A true half tone will be best obtained by not relying entirely on the +mechanical means, but assisting them with some hand work, either in the +shape of re-etching or engraving, or both." +</p> +<p> +The application of hand engraving to photo-mechanical work has been +chiefly due to American process workers, who applied the technique of +the wood engraver's art to the amplification of their half tone blocks. +</p> +<p> +<b>Tri-chromatography.</b>—The "Three Colour Process" is more or less an +application of half tone engraving to chromo-typography. The colours, +each in their relative value, are produced by purely photo-mechanical +methods—the colours of the original copy being dissected by means of +specially prepared colour screens. Half tone blocks are made from each +of the three negatives, and superimposed in accurate register in the +subsequent printing, when, of course, the primary colours, red, blue, +and yellow, are used. +</p> +<p> +The process possesses brilliant and effective illustrative power, +offers ample scope for the ingenuity and manipulative skill of artist, +engraver, and printer, and promises well-nigh unlimited possibilities +as a medium of pictorial expression. +</p> +<p> +(<i>c</i>) <b>Photogravure.</b>—Photogravure may be very briefly described. It is +a photo-mechanical process, in which rich, soft tones of surpassing +delicacy and undeniably artistic effect are striking peculiarities. +Unlike "line" and "half tone" engraving, it is an intaglio process, +in which the printer as well as +<!--partial paragraph below is moved up from the top of page 65--> + the etcher must possess a profound +artistic perception. +</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="pagep2a" name="pagep2a"></a>[pg]</span></p> + +<div style="height: 2em;"><br /><br /></div> + +<p class="center"> +<span class="sc">Reproduction by R. J. EVERETT & SONS' "INK-PHOTO" Process.</span> +</p> + +<div class="figure"> +<a name="image-0008"><!--IMG--></a> +<a href="images/i_076.png"><img src="images/i_076-s.png" width="400" height="500" +alt="WITHIN A MILE OF EDINBURGH TOWN." /></a> +<br /> +<small>PLATE — ENGRAVING FOR ILLUSTRATION</small><br /> +WITHIN A MILE OF EDINBURGH TOWN. +</div> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="pagep2b" name="pagep2b"></a>[pg]</span></p> + +<div style="height: 2em;"><br /><br /></div> + +<p><!--[Blank Page]--><br /></p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="page65" name="page65"></a>[65]</span></p> + +<p> +A polished copper plate is grained by dusting resin or asphalt powder +on its surface, and afterwards fixing it by the application of heat. +A <i>tissue</i> negative print is made, squeezed on to the grained plate, +and developed in the usual way. The plate is etched through the tissue. +The action of the etching mordant—perchloride of iron—being in exact +proportion to the light and shade of the developed print. +</p> +<p> +The printing is a necessarily slow, and therefore costly, item. +This limitation to their production, however, enhances the value of +photogravure prints. +</p> +<p> +<b>Ink Photo.</b>—What is known as the ink photo process of reproduction +is interesting chiefly on account of the remarkable fidelity with which +engravings of the finest and most intricate texture can be reproduced by +its agency. It is essentially a photo-mechanical process, but differs +from others of a similar character, inasmuch as the vigour and +expressive power of the original is to a considerable extent preserved. +Colour values also, as far as they can be expressed by the engraver's +art (see p. 11), are reproduced by ink photo methods with surprising +accuracy, and the intensity of impression, that peculiar feature of +prints from engraved plates, is almost invariably well sustained. +A careful criticism of the appended illustration and frontispiece done, +this process will reveal many other interesting points of practical +value. +</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="page66" name="page66"></a>[66]</span></p> + +<div><a name="h2HCH0014" id="h2HCH0014"><!-- H2 anchor --></a></div> + +<div style="height: 4em;"><br /><br /><br /><br /></div> + +<h2> + CHAPTER VIII +</h2> +<p class="quote"> + <i>APPRECIATIVE CRITICISM</i>—AN EDUCATIVE PRINCIPLE—AN + ANALYSIS—REALISM IN ART—A RETROSPECT +</p> +<p class="quote2"> + "Yet when we have said all our fine things about the arts, + we must end in a frank confession that the arts, as we know + them, are but initial. He has conceived meanly of the resources + of man who believes that the best age of production is past." +</p> + +<p> +<b>Appreciative Criticism.</b>—The art of engraving, and particularly wood +engraving, has fully justified its existence, and the eminently popular +position which it has long held amongst the fine arts of the world. +Through the medium of the pictorial press it has diffused a knowledge +of the noblest principles of art, and has ever exerted a refining +influence even over inartistic minds. For this reason the lack of +knowledge concerning some of the essential qualities of engraving +as a pictorial art is somewhat remarkable. Even more so when it is +considered that never before in the history of the world has such a +wealth of illustrative art been produced and brought well within the +reach of its humblest patrons. +</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="page67" name="page67"></a>[67]</span></p> + +<p> +It is perhaps too much to expect, nor is it at all desirable, that +individual preference should be moulded to one common and fixed +standard. To some minds the picturesque, though perhaps undignified +paintings of the old Dutch masters, would appeal with greater success +than the wondrous light and shade of Turner's pictures. Or, again, the +astonishing technicalities and intricacies of German wood engraving may +stir up a deeper interest and enthusiasm than the simple yet expressive +productions of Thomas Bewick. Yet such a difference of opinion may exist +only in individual appreciation or taste. The appreciative faculties in +mankind are in the main identical. +</p> +<p> +<b>An Educative Principle.</b>—There is in human life an omnipotent and +omniscient educative principle which may, to some extent at least, be +rendered subservient to the human will, but which in other respects is +as certain in its results and impulses as the course of the planets. +</p> +<p> +Those who surround themselves with the beautiful in Nature and in +Art, whose minds are constantly in communion with the grand and noble +purposes they suggest, are infinitely more sensible to their manifold +beauties than those of their fellows who persistently disregard, +and even repel, artistic influences. Their appreciation of the full +significance of any artistic production is deeper, more sincere, and +more equable than is that of those who neglect the aspirations of the +finer fibres of their beings, and thus allow their higher faculties to +become blunted, and their + +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page68" name="page68"></a>[68]</span> + + judgments warped. "Verily unto him that hath +shall be given," etc. +</p> +<p> +The most independent and most penetrative imagination is not by any +means a free agent. Environment, mental culture, and natural temperament +are each controlling influences of variable power; yet there is much +truth in the philosophy which declares that "It is as easy to excite +the intellectual faculties as the limbs to useful action." +</p> +<p> +<b>The Artist's Purpose.</b>—A misconception of the artist's aim almost +invariably leads to a condemnation of his work. First of all discover +his purpose, and then decide upon the success or non-success of his +conceptions. The <i>style</i> of their execution, <i>i.e.</i> the manner in which +various surfaces and textures are reproduced, is but a means to an end. +It is infinitely easier to assimilate a style once its objective has +been clearly comprehended. +</p> +<p> +<b>An Analysis.</b>—For obvious reasons, then, an analysis of the merits +and demerits of the engraver's art is not always a simple matter. His +work may be an acceptable pictorial record, though not in any sense +a picture from an artistic point of view. On the other hand, it may +possess artistic qualities in abundance, and yet be far from a truthful +record of an incident or scene. +</p> +<p> +<b>Realism in Art.</b>—It is frequently claimed for graphic art that when +it cannot faithfully imitate it is permissible for it to interpret. +Quite so; and it is in just such a light that engraving is or ought to +be regarded. A picture, whether illustrating + +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page69" name="page69"></a>[69]</span> + + a story or recording an +artistic impression, is never so great as when it enchants the +imagination with an ideal presence. Absolute realism is not always +desirable either in pictorial art or pictorial expression. No matter +how realistic it may be, it is a doubtful gain to introduce into the +composition of a picture a mass of detail which might only prove +disconcerting, and distract attention from the main issues of the +subject. The partial or complete isolation of a central idea often adds +to the vigour and general effectiveness of the whole. Rarely, indeed, +does it render it less picturesque. After all, it is not Nature so much +as Nature's expression which should be represented. Its infinity of +secondary effects, its superabundance of detail, may, often with +advantage, be left out. +</p> +<p> +<b>A Retrospect.</b>—While in this critical mood, it may be worth while +noting that the sincere and painstaking work of the old-time engravers +is deserving of some praise and an ever tolerant criticism. It manifests +incongruities and exaggerated metaphors which are at times painfully +unconventional or grotesque, yet they have a directness of representation +which admits of no doubt as to their meaning, and bear few traces of +a perfunctory art. +</p> +<p> +"Our arts are happy hits. We are like the musician on the lake whose +melody is sweeter than he knows, or like a traveller surprised by a +mountain echo whose trivial word returns to him in romantic +thunders."—<span class="sc">Emerson</span>. +</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="page70" name="page70"></a>[70]</span></p> + +<div><a name="h2H_4_0019" id="h2H_4_0019"><!-- H2 anchor --></a></div> + +<div style="height: 4em;"><br /><br /><br /><br /></div> + +<h2> + INDEX +</h2> + +<ul> +<li>Ackland, Sir Thomas, <a href="#page47">47</a>.</li> +<li>Analysis, <a href="#page68">68</a>.</li> +<li>Ancient drawings, <a href="#page1">1</a>.</li> +<li>Antiquity of engraving, <a href="#page2">2</a>.</li> +<li><i>Apocalypsio sue Historia</i>, <a href="#page7">7</a>.</li> +<li>Art representative, <a href="#page3">3</a>.</li> +<li>Artistic purpose, <a href="#page68">68</a>.</li> +<li>Artistic restoration, <a href="#page63">63</a>.</li> +<li>Arundel, Duke of, <a href="#page41">41</a>.</li> +<li>Assyrian antiquities, <a href="#page4">4</a>.</li> +<li>Audran family, <a href="#page4">4</a>.</li> +</ul> +<ul> +<li>Baillie, Captain, <a href="#page46">46</a>.</li> +<li>Baldine, Baccio, <a href="#page20">20</a>.</li> +<li>Bewick, Thomas, <a href="#page9">9</a>, <a href="#page67">67</a>.</li> +<li><i>Biblia Pauperum</i>, <a href="#page7">7</a>.</li> +<li>Block books, <a href="#page6">6</a>.</li> +<li>Botticelli, Sandio, <a href="#page20">20</a>.</li> +</ul> +<ul> +<li>Cave dwellings, <a href="#page1">1</a>.</li> +<li>Caxton, William, <a href="#page26">26</a>.</li> +<li>Character, building up of, <a href="#page52">52</a>.</li> +<li>Chinese playing cards, <a href="#page5">5</a>.</li> +<li>Clever contrasts, <a href="#page53">53</a>.</li> +<li>Colour dissection, <a href="#page64">64</a>.</li> +<li>Commercial advantages, <a href="#page13">13</a>.</li> +<li>Comparisons, <a href="#page12">12</a>, <a href="#page13">13</a>.</li> +<li>Composition, <a href="#page52">52</a>, <a href="#page53">53</a>.</li> +<li>Concise expression, <a href="#page52">52</a>.</li> +<li>Constructive elements, <a href="#page51">51</a>.</li> +<li>Controlling influences, <a href="#page68">68</a>.</li> +<li>Cousins, Samuel, <a href="#page47">47</a>.</li> +<li>Criticism, appreciative, <a href="#page66">66</a>.</li> +</ul> +<ul> +<li>Dallaway, <a href="#page26">26</a>.</li> +<li>Dante, <a href="#page20">20</a>.</li> +<li>Degradation of tone, <a href="#page54">54</a>.</li> +<li>Details, combination of, <a href="#page52">52</a>.</li> +<li>Du Maurier, <a href="#page60">60</a>.</li> +<li>Durer, Albert, <a href="#page8">8</a>, <a href="#page21">21</a>, <a href="#page24">24</a>, <a href="#page40">40</a>.</li> +<li>Dutch masters, <a href="#page67">67</a>.</li> +</ul> +<ul> +<li>Educative principle, <a href="#page67">67</a>.</li> +<li>Egyptian monuments, <a href="#page4">4</a>.</li> +<li>Emerson, <a href="#page1">1</a>, <a href="#page5">5</a>, <a href="#page69">69</a>.</li> +<li>Engravers, early, <a href="#page20">20</a>.</li> +<li>Engravers, interpretation, <a href="#page49">49</a>.</li> +<li>Engravers, task, <a href="#page48">48</a>.</li> +<li>Engraving, English, <a href="#page26">26</a>.</li> +<li>Etching, <a href="#page38">38</a>.</li> +<li>Etching, Dutch records, <a href="#page38">38</a>, <a href="#page39">39</a>.</li> +<li>Etching, a summary, <a href="#page40">40</a>.</li> +<li>Etching, description, <a href="#page39">39</a>.</li> +<li>Etching, a stenography, <a href="#page40">40</a>.</li> +<li>Etching, pictorial and artistic value, <a href="#page40">40</a>.</li> +<li>Etching, light and shade in, <a href="#page41">41</a>.</li> +<li>Etchings, Hollar's, <a href="#page41">41</a>.</li> +<li>Evolution theory, <a href="#page2">2</a>.</li> +<li>Execution, <a href="#page54">54</a>.</li> +<li>Expression, <a href="#page53">53</a>.</li> +<li>Extraneous matter, <a href="#page52">52</a>.</li> +</ul> +<ul> +<li>Finiguerra, <a href="#page18">18</a>, <a href="#page19">19</a>, <a href="#page21">21</a>.</li> +<li>Formschneider, <a href="#page7">7</a>.</li> +<li>French engravers, <a href="#page46">46</a>.</li> +<li>French engraving, <a href="#page23">23</a>.</li> +</ul> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="page71" name="page71"></a>[71]</span></p> + +<ul> +<li>Gainsborough, <a href="#page43">43</a>.</li> +<li>Gemeni, Thomas, <a href="#page26">26</a>, <a href="#page27">27</a>.</li> +<li>German wood engraving, <a href="#page6">6</a>, <a href="#page67">67</a>.</li> +<li>German engravers, <a href="#page22">22</a>.</li> +<li>German portraits, <a href="#page52">52</a>.</li> +<li>Gilray, James, <a href="#page33">33</a>.</li> +<li>Goldsmith's <i>Deserted Village</i>, <a href="#page33">33</a>.</li> +<li>Goltzius, Henry, <a href="#page24">24</a>.</li> +<li>Greek art, <a href="#page4">4</a>.</li> +<li>Gutenberg, <a href="#page21">21</a>.</li> +</ul> +<ul> +<li>Half tone process engraving, <a href="#page60">60</a>, <a href="#page61">61</a>, <a href="#page62">62</a>.</li> +<li>Heath, James, <a href="#page36">36</a>.</li> +<li>Hieroglyphic figures, <a href="#page4">4</a>.</li> +<li><i>Historia Virginis</i>, <a href="#page7">7</a>.</li> +<li>Historical records, <a href="#page3">3</a>, <a href="#page50">50</a>.</li> +<li>Hogarth, <a href="#page28">28</a>, <a href="#page31">31</a>, <a href="#page32">32</a>.</li> +<li>Hogenberg, Remigus, <a href="#page27">27</a>.</li> +<li>Holbein, Hans, <a href="#page8">8</a>.</li> +<li>Houbraken, <a href="#page28">28</a>.</li> +<li>Hound, The, <a href="#page9">9</a>.</li> +<li>Hudibras, <a href="#page31">31</a>.</li> +</ul> +<ul> +<li>Illustrator, The, <a href="#page14">14</a>.</li> +<li>Imaginary boundary, An, <a href="#page51">51</a>.</li> +<li>Imaginative instinct, <a href="#page20">20</a>.</li> +<li>Imaginative symbolism, <a href="#page22">22</a>.</li> +<li>Inartistic work, <a href="#page49">49</a>.</li> +<li>Inception of engraving, <a href="#page1">1</a>.</li> +<li>Incised drawings, <a href="#page1">1</a>, <a href="#page2">2</a>.</li> +<li>Intermediary values, <a href="#page13">13</a>.</li> +<li>Ink photo, <a href="#page65">65</a>.</li> +<li>Ink photo, expressive power, <a href="#page65">65</a>.</li> +<li>Ink photo, intensity of, <a href="#page65">65</a>.</li> +<li>Italian art, <a href="#page22">22</a>.</li> +<li>Italian engraving, <a href="#page22">22</a>.</li> +<li>Italian Niello, <a href="#page18">18</a>.</li> +</ul> +<ul> +<li>Jacobite sympathies, <a href="#page32">32</a>.</li> +<li>Justification, A, <a href="#page66">66</a>.</li> +</ul> +<ul> +<li>Kartenmacher, <a href="#page7">7</a>.</li> +<li>King of Terrors, The, <a href="#page9">9</a>.</li> +</ul> +<ul> +<li>Lalanne, <a href="#page38">38</a>.</li> +<li>Landscape engraving, <a href="#page36">36</a>.</li> +<li>Landseer, <a href="#page35">35</a>, <a href="#page36">36</a>, <a href="#page47">47</a>.</li> +<li>Lawrence, <a href="#page35">35</a>, <a href="#page47">47</a>.</li> +<li>Lewis, F. C., <a href="#page35">35</a>.</li> +<li>Leyden, Lucas van, <a href="#page24">24</a>.</li> +<li>Light and shade, <a href="#page53">53</a>.</li> +<li>Line process engraving, <a href="#page59">59</a>, <a href="#page60">60</a>.</li> +<li>Litzelburger, Hans, <a href="#page9">9</a>.</li> +<li>Louis <small>XIV.</small>, <a href="#page23">23</a>.</li> +<li>Ludwig, von Sigen, <a href="#page42">42</a>.</li> +<li>Lutterell, <a href="#page46">46</a>.</li> +</ul> +<ul> +<li>Mannerisms, <a href="#page22">22</a>, <a href="#page54">54</a>.</li> +<li>Mantegna, Andrea, <a href="#page20">20</a>.</li> +<li>Merchant marks, <a href="#page6">6</a>.</li> +<li>Metal engraving, <a href="#page9">9</a>.</li> +<li>Metal engraving, invention of, <a href="#page18">18</a>.</li> +<li>Metal engraving, another account, <a href="#page19">19</a>.</li> +<li>Mezzotint engraving, invention, <a href="#page42">42</a>, <a href="#page43">43</a>.</li> +<li>Mezzotint engraving, qualities, <a href="#page43">43</a>, <a href="#page44">44</a>.</li> +<li>Mezzotint engraving, popularised, <a href="#page43">43</a>, <a href="#page44">44</a>.</li> +<li>Mezzotint engraving, described, <a href="#page44">44</a>.</li> +<li>Movable types, <a href="#page7">7</a>.</li> +</ul> +<ul> +<li>National characteristics, <a href="#page21">21</a>.</li> +<li>Nation's progress, mirror of, <a href="#page4">4</a>.</li> +<li>Nature's expression, <a href="#page69">69</a>.</li> +<li>Neolithic period, <a href="#page3">3</a>.</li> +<li>New Testament, <a href="#page8">8</a>.</li> +<li>Northcote's pictures, <a href="#page33">33</a>.</li> +<li>Nuremberg records, <a href="#page7">7</a>.</li> +</ul> +<ul> +<li>Outline, <a href="#page49">49</a>, <a href="#page51">51</a>-<a href="#page52">52</a>.</li> +<li>Ornamental engraving, <a href="#page18">18</a>.</li> +</ul> +<ul> +<li>Palæolithic period, <a href="#page3">3</a>.</li> +<li>Parker, Archbishop, <a href="#page27">27</a>.</li> +<li>Passe family, <a href="#page27">27</a>.</li> +<li>Payne, John, <a href="#page28">28</a>.</li> +<li>Perspective, <a href="#page24">24</a>.</li> +<li>Perspective, aërial, <a href="#page54">54</a>.</li> +<li>Perspective, linear, <a href="#page54">54</a>.</li> +<li>Photo process, <a href="#page57">57</a>.</li> +<li>Photogravure, artistic features, <a href="#page64">64</a>.</li> +<li>Photogravure, description, <a href="#page65">65</a>.</li> + +<li> +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page72" name="page72"></a>[72]</span> + + Photogravure, pictorial cards, <a href="#page7">7</a>.</li> +<li>Place, Francis, <a href="#page46">46</a>.</li> +<li>Pope's villa, <a href="#page35">35</a>.</li> +<li>Prehistoric artistic power, <a href="#page3">3</a>.</li> +<li>Prehistoric art, purpose of, <a href="#page3">3</a>.</li> +<li>Primeval engraver, <a href="#page3">3</a>.</li> +<li>Primeval man, <a href="#page1">1</a>.</li> +<li>Prince Rupert, <a href="#page43">43</a>, <a href="#page46">46</a>.</li> +<li>Process engraving, amplification of, <a href="#page64">64</a>.</li> +<li>Process engraving, artistic, <a href="#page58">58</a>.</li> +<li>Process engraving, commercial features, <a href="#page58">58</a>.</li> +<li>Process engraving, value of, <a href="#page57">57</a>, <a href="#page58">58</a>.</li> +<li>Progressive review, <a href="#page23">23</a>.</li> +<li>Progressive process, <a href="#page57">57</a>, <a href="#page58">58</a>.</li> +<li>Pye, John, <a href="#page35">35</a>.</li> +</ul> +<ul> +<li>Queen Elizabeth, <a href="#page27">27</a>.</li> +</ul> +<ul> +<li>Raimbach, <a href="#page34">34</a>, <a href="#page35">35</a>.</li> +<li>Raimondi, Marc Antonio, <a href="#page21">21</a>.</li> +<li>Raphael, <a href="#page21">21</a>.</li> +<li>Realism, <a href="#page68">68</a>, <a href="#page69">69</a>.</li> +<li>Religious illustrations, <a href="#page7">7</a>.</li> +<li>Rembrandt, <a href="#page24">24</a>.</li> +<li>Rembrandt's influence, <a href="#page41">41</a>.</li> +<li>Renaissance, <a href="#page19">19</a>.</li> +<li>Retrospect, <a href="#page69">69</a>.</li> +<li>Reynolds, <a href="#page34">34</a>, <a href="#page43">43</a>.</li> +<li>Rock, Jerome, <a href="#page8">8</a>.</li> +<li>Romney, <a href="#page45">45</a>.</li> +<li>Royal Sovereign, <a href="#page28">28</a>.</li> +</ul> +<ul> +<li>Screen effect, <a href="#page60">60</a>, <a href="#page61">61</a>.</li> +<li>Society of Arts, <a href="#page47">47</a>.</li> +<li><i>Speculum Humanæ Salvationis</i>, <a href="#page7">7</a>.</li> +<li>Stipple engraving, <a href="#page33">33</a>.</li> +<li>Strange, Robert, <a href="#page32">32</a>, <a href="#page33">33</a>.</li> +<li>Style, <a href="#page68">68</a>.</li> +<li>Symbolic figures, <a href="#page4">4</a>.</li> +</ul> +<ul> +<li>Technique, <a href="#page22">22</a>, <a href="#page23">23</a>.</li> +<li>Thirteenth century documents, <a href="#page6">6</a>.</li> +<li>Three colour process, <a href="#page64">64</a>.</li> +<li>Tone and texture, <a href="#page49">49</a>.</li> +<li>Translation, <a href="#page17">17</a>.</li> +<li>Tri-chromatography, <a href="#page64">64</a>.</li> +<li>Turk's Head, <a href="#page34">34</a>.</li> +<li>Turner, <a href="#page35">35</a>, <a href="#page36">36</a>, <a href="#page37">37</a>, <a href="#page45">45</a>, <a href="#page67">67</a>.</li> +</ul> +<ul> +<li>Untutored art, <a href="#page2">2</a>.</li> +</ul> +<ul> +<li>Vallerant Valliant, <a href="#page43">43</a>.</li> +<li>Venetian navigators, <a href="#page5">5</a>.</li> +<li>Vertue, <a href="#page28">28</a>.</li> +<li>Vesalius, <a href="#page26">26</a>.</li> +</ul> +<ul> +<li>Walpole, Horace, <a href="#page28">28</a>, <a href="#page30">30</a>.</li> +<li>West, <a href="#page34">34</a>, <a href="#page45">45</a>.</li> +<li>Wilkie, David, <a href="#page35">35</a>.</li> +<li>Wilson, <a href="#page34">34</a>.</li> +<li>Wood blocks, <a href="#page5">5</a>.</li> +<li>Wood engraving, <a href="#page5">5</a>.</li> +<li>Wood engraving, combination of lines, <a href="#page14">14</a>.</li> +<li>Wood engraving, justification of, <a href="#page13">13</a>.</li> +<li>Wood engraving, power of realisation, <a href="#page14">14</a>.</li> +<li>Wood engraving, pictorial and artistic effects, <a href="#page14">14</a>.</li> +<li>Wood engraving, renaissance, <a href="#page9">9</a>.</li> +<li>Wood engraving, variety of texture, <a href="#page14">14</a>.</li> +</ul> + +<hr /> + +<div style="height: 2em;"><br /><br /></div> + +<p class="center"> +<i>Printed by</i> <span class="sc">Morrison & Gibb Limited</span>, <i>Edinburgh</i> +</p> + +<div style="height: 6em;"><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /></div> + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Engraving for Illustration, by Joseph Kirkbride + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ENGRAVING FOR ILLUSTRATION *** + +***** This file should be named 36751-h.htm or 36751-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/3/6/7/5/36751/ + +Produced by Chris Curnow, David Garcia and the Online 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Engraving for Illustration + Historical and Practical Notes + +Author: Joseph Kirkbride + +Release Date: July 17, 2011 [EBook #36751] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ENGRAVING FOR ILLUSTRATION *** + + + + +Produced by Chris Curnow, David Garcia and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This +file was produced from images generously made available +by The Internet Archive) + + + + + + + +ENGRAVING FOR ILLUSTRATION + +Reproduction by R. J. EVERETT & SONS' "INK-PHOTO" Process + +[Illustration: FRONTISPIECE. ENGRAVING FOR ILLUSTRATION.] + + + + + + +ENGRAVING FOR ILLUSTRATION + +_Historical and Practical Notes_ + +BY JOSEPH KIRKBRIDE + +WITH TWO PLATES BY INK PHOTO PROCESS AND SIX ILLUSTRATIONS + + LONDON + SCOTT, GREENWOOD & CO. + 10 LUDGATE HILL, E.C. + + NEW YORK + D. VAN NOSTRAND CO. + 23 MURRAY STREET + 1903 + +[_All Rights remain with Scott, Greenwood & Co._] + + + + +CONTENTS + + PAGE + + +CHAPTER I + + ITS INCEPTION. A Theory of Evolution--A Distinct Progress 1 + + +CHAPTER II + + WOOD ENGRAVING. Rise and Progress--Block Books--Durer's + Influence--Hans Holbein--A Renaissance--Comparison and + Justification--The Illustrator 5 + + +CHAPTER III + + METAL ENGRAVING. The Invention--Early Engravers--National + Characteristics--A Progressive Review 18 + + +CHAPTER IV + + ENGRAVING IN ENGLAND. Introduction of Metal Engraving--Notable + British Engravers--Summary 26 + + +CHAPTER V + + ETCHING. Early Records--Descriptive--Rembrandt's + Influence--Wenceslaus Hollar 38 + + MEZZOTINT. Invention--Description--Artistic Qualities--Dilettanti + Art--A Modern Mezzo Engraver 38 + + +CHAPTER VI + + THE ENGRAVER'S TASK. Inartistic Work--Constructive + Elements--Outline--Extraneous Matter--Composition--Light + and Shade--Expression--Perspective--Execution 48 + + +CHAPTER VII + + PHOTO "PROCESS" ENGRAVING. A Progressive Process--Commercial + and Artistic Features--"Line" Process--"Half Tone"--Artistic + Restoration--Tri-chromatography--Photogravure 57 + + +CHAPTER VIII + + APPRECIATIVE CRITICISM. An Educative Principle--An + Analysis--Realism in Art Retrospect 66 + + +INDEX 70 + + + + +LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS + + + FIG. + + Plate I. _Frontispiece_ + + 1. Old Wood Engraving (Erenburg Castle) _Facing p._ 10 + + 2. Modern Wood Engraving (The Goose Fountain, Nuremburg) " 14 + + 3. Old Wood Engraving " 28 + + 4. Modern Wood Engraving " 54 + + 5. Cross Section of Cyanide Furnace _Page_ 59 + + 6. Process Engraving _Facing p._ 60 + + Plate II. " 64 + + + + +PREFACE + + +A philosopher and writer has declared that "in our fine arts, not +imitation, but creation, is the aim." + +It is to emphasise a distinction between an imitative and a creative +art that the following chapters are offered. + +"Engraving for Illustration" is pre-eminently a creative art by which +the work of the artist is _translated_, "in order to render the effect +of his design in such a form as will admit of rapid and effective +reproduction." + +It is, moreover, a popular art with a well-defined educative principle +underlying the numerous phases of its manifestation; while, at the same +time, its historical and general interest will commend this brief record +of its progress and influence to many who are lovers of art for art's +sake. + + + J. K. + LONDON _June 1903_. + + + + +ENGRAVING FOR ILLUSTRATION + + + + +CHAPTER I + + _ITS INCEPTION_--A THEORY OF EVOLUTION--A DISTINCT PROGRESS + + "In proportion to his force the artist will find in his work + an outlet for his proper character."--Emerson. + + +=Its Inception.=--It was the dawn of a new sense when primitive man +first ornamented his weapons, utensils, and the walls of his cave +dwellings with incised drawings,--pictorial representations which +enabled him to record events or suggest and illustrate thoughts and +ideas when his somewhat limited vocabulary failed him. + +It was a severely utilitarian epoch of the world's history, and the +crude yet intensely realistic manifestations of man's artistic desires +were the more remarkable that they were wholly dependent upon stern +necessity for their realisation. Childlike in their simplicity, yet +both graphic and vigorous in expression, these ancient drawings bear +testimony to the intense desire of primeval man for some suitable and +satisfying form of pictorial expression. Such incised drawings were +undoubtedly the earliest forms, which the mind of man suggested and his +skill attained, of conveying information and displaying pictorial or +ornamental art. They were but crude conceptions of the untutored art of +a savage race, yet, with a characteristic quaintness of expression, they +abundantly prove the existence of an innate, imitative, and artistic +faculty, inspired by an insatiable craving for illustrative delineation. + +=A Theory of Evolution.=--The antiquity of the engraver's art, then, +is exceedingly remote, and its earliest records display frequent +evidences of manipulative skill and artistic perception--evidences which +are still more convincing when the environment and scanty resources of +its exponents are fully appreciated. It was a most unique phase of that +process of evolution whereby the social education of the human race was +advanced, and through countless ages it has indicated the same onward +roll of progressive intelligence. + +Responsive to the ever-changing conditions of life, the necessities of +mankind were constantly increasing. His higher intelligence also created +a greater diversity of interests, and consequently demanded a fuller and +more expressive vehicle of communication for his thoughts. No longer +content with what was only needful for the maintenance of social or +commercial intercourse, he sought to add to the archaic simplicity of +his drawings, skilful arrangement, and a certain degree of artistic +feeling and interpretation. It was as though some transitory flashes of +artistic power in the minds of prehistoric artists were struggling with +an inability to give adequate expression to their inceptions. Their +productions, some of them dating from the Palaeolithic and Neolithic +periods, were not pretentious works of art. Their primary purpose being +representative, their merit was, of course, decided by the success or +failure of such representation, apart from any artistic qualities they +might possess. + +=A Distinct Purpose.=--The evident care with which many of the ancient +incised drawings or engravings were executed and preserved, together +with the permanent character of the materials employed, seems to +indicate that these simple yet graphic representations were produced +with the distinct purpose of perpetuating a memory as well as for the +amplification of a meagre language,--a purpose which considerably +enhances their interest, and suggests that the primeval engraver +appreciated some at least of the possibilities of his art. Moreover, +they frequently possess an intense veracity and directness of imitation +which renders them of inestimable value as reliable historical records. +Had caprice alone directed the artist's efforts, they would not in so +many instances have merited the interest and approval which they now +receive. + +Such, then, were the beginnings of an art that subsequently reached its +maturity only by a slow growth of gradual development, and "which, in +the modesty and seriousness of its earlier manifestations, is at least +as interesting as in the audacity of its later and more impressionistic +phases." + +Engraving as a reproductive as well as an ornamental art was at +different periods modified in accordance with ever-changing conditions +produced by the exigencies of national and industrial policy. Its +frequent adaptation to the various circumstances with which it was +indissolubly associated, and the fluctuations of an enthusiasm which was +more or less dependent upon national as well as social prosperity, fully +justifies the statement that "its history is the mirror of a nation's +progress." + +The rude methods of ancient artists can be distinctly traced through +Egyptian, Assyrian, and Grecian history. Hieroglyphic and symbolic +figures, engraved on ancient Egyptian monuments, bear testimony to +a vast progress both in expressive and inventive power. Assyrian +antiquities disclose an art which is even more suggestive and +picturesque, while the ancient Greeks developed the highest qualities of +pictorial power, and raised the art to a marvellous pitch of excellence. + +Beyond this brief epitome of the early history of engraving we need +not venture. The idea of taking impressions from any form of incised +drawings was not suggested until many centuries later. + + + + +CHAPTER II + + _WOOD ENGRAVING_--RISE AND PROGRESS--BLOCK BOOKS--DURER'S + INFLUENCE--HANS HOLBEIN--A RENAISSANCE--COMPARISON AND + JUSTIFICATION--THE ILLUSTRATOR + + "It is therefore beautiful because it is alive, moving, + reproductive. It is therefore useful because it is symmetrical + and fair."--Emerson. + + +=Wood Engraving.=--The most animating event in the whole history of +engraving was the development of engraved wood blocks. Wood engraving +did not receive the impetus of a new discovery as did metal engraving at +a later period. It was to some extent a purely commercial enterprise, +the success of which was assured by an ever increasing interest +in pictorial art. Engraved wood blocks were used for purposes of +reproduction several centuries before their introduction into Europe. +Historians claim that it can be traced back to A.D. 930, when a form of +playing card was known to the Chinese, and printed by them from rough +wood engravings. The commercial intercourse of the Venetians with +Eastern nations would suggest a probability that their navigators +brought home some of these playing cards, and described the method of +their production to their countrymen. + +The further we pursue our investigations, the more remarkable does this +tardy recognition of the utility of wood engraving appear to be. It is +true that somewhere about the middle of the thirteenth century legal +documents were stamped, and merchant marks made with engraved wood +blocks, but no extensive use was made of this method of reproduction +until a much later period. + +The Low Countries claim credit for the first employment of engraved wood +blocks for commercial purposes. Many dispute this claim, but the amount +of credit at stake is so infinitesimal that it renders the contention +of little value. Until the time of that immense progress which wood +engraving made in Germany about the middle and towards the end of the +fifteenth century, no work of any artistic merit whatever had been +produced. The older prints may possess a certain historical or +antiquarian value, but otherwise are both crude and uninteresting. + +=Block Books.=--The Mediaeval Block Books were the most important of the +early pictorial reproductions from engraved wood blocks. They also may +be traced to China, where, as early as the ninth century, they were used +for decorative as well as illustrative purposes. They retained their +primitive form for a long period after their first introduction to +Western civilisation, and it is interesting to note that the blocks, +and not the prints, were supplied to the monks,--the scholars of the +day,--the impressions being made by them as required. Towards the end +of the fourteenth century Dutch merchants, like the Venetians, paid +frequent visits to Chinese ports, when they too were impressed with the +novelty and utility of pictorial reproduction as practised in the East. +At any rate, pictorial sheets or cards, very similar in character to +the Chinese playing cards, were published in Holland about that period. +They bore pictures of the saints with the titles or legends engraved +alongside. The production of such prints was evidently a recognised +business during the early part of the fifteenth century, for there +are numerous entries in the civic records of Nuremberg concerning the +wood engraver "Formschneider" and cardmaker "Kartenmacher." It has been +ingenuously suggested that, for convenience, collections of these cards +were pasted into books; and the books available being chiefly of a +religious character, the idea of illustrating religious matter with +such pictures was readily suggested. + +The next step was the application of block engraving and printing +to the production of volumes of a more pretentious character, the +most noteworthy of which were _The Apocalypsio sue Historia Sancti +Johannis_, the _Biblia Pauperum_, and the _Historia Virginis ex +Cantico Canticorum_. In another of these books, the _Speculum Humanae +Salvationis_, the titles were not engraved on the plates, but were +printed with movable types. This volume was published at Haarlem, +and was composed of fifty-eight plates--a very considerable production +with the materials then at the disposal of the publishers. + +=Durer's Influence.=--In 1490 Albert Durer, who possessed a spirited +imagination and deep enthusiasm for his work, marked out a distinct era +of substantial progress, and impressed the art of wood engraving with +that expressive power of delineation which his truly remarkable genius +ever manifested. + +Durer was an artist of somewhat variable characteristics, but the +diversity and amplitude of his productions afford conclusive evidences +of a remarkable industry and skill. + +Like other artists of his time, and even of much later periods, he did +not engrave his own drawings. He may, of course, have engraved a few +blocks, but most, if not all of the wood engravings signed by Durer, +were executed by Jerome Rock. + +Perhaps the most peculiar characteristic of Durer's designs was +the portrayal of scenes and figures of ancient history and myth in +well-defined imitation of his own surroundings and the conditions of +life then existing. Apropos of this, it was said that he turned the +New Testament into the history of a Flemish village. + +Hans Holbein was another of the early artists who prepared their +drawings for the express purpose of reproduction by means of wood +engraving. That he fully appreciated the resources of his art there +can be no doubt, for he imbued his work with an expressive individual +force which was distinctly progressive and influential. His best known +production consists of forty-one engravings representing "Death--the +King of Terrors," in association with nearly every phase of human life. +Each one of these designs is a picture parable of remarkable power and +suggestiveness. The characteristic drawing and quaint expressiveness of +Holbein's illustrations merit unqualified admiration, and his graphic +use of pure line for pictorial expression stands almost unrivalled. + +Hans Litzelburger engraved Holbein's designs. Towards the end of the +fifteenth and during part of the sixteenth centuries wood engraving +still received enthusiastic attention, and then, for sheer lack of +interest, fell rapidly into decay. Metal engraving was absorbing the +attention of the artistic world, and for many years wood engraving was +regarded as only fit for the reproduction of pictures which may be +charitably described as inartistic, and too often perhaps discreditable. + +As far as our own country was concerned, it was not until the advent +of Thomas Bewick that this decadence received any effective check. + +=A Renaissance.=--The Renaissance of wood engraving in England may be +dated from 1775, when Bewick engraved a picture entitled "The Hound," +and received a prize offered by the Royal Society for the best engraving +on wood. Thomas Bewick was born in 1753, and fourteen years later he was +apprenticed to a metal engraver. It was indeed a fortuitous circumstance +which caused him to transfer his energies and his talents to wood +engraving, in which he displayed a rare skill and inimitable directness +of expression. He was probably the first wood engraver to adopt level +tinting in place of complicated and laborious cross hatching which was +then practised by his continental contemporaries. He usually preferred +to develop his drawing rather than attempt the production of extraneous +effects, and the subtle effectiveness of his pictures affords +incontrovertible proofs of the advantage of such substitution. Their +humour and pathos, vigour and fidelity, remain to this day as memorials +of the consummate, artistic skill and perceptive capacity of a truly +remarkable man. Bewick was a self-contained genius whose rugged emotions +would admit of but one form of pictorial expression, and that peculiarly +his own. His work was pregnant with masterly good sense, and ever +manifested a charming simplicity of purpose. He had but a modest +estimate of his ability as an engraver, and consequently rarely engraved +any other than his own drawings. + +The exact measure of Bewick's influence on the art of wood engraving +for pictorial illustration and reproduction would be difficult to +satisfactorily determine. This much is certain, however, that through it +wood engraving was verified and popularised, and illustrated literature +received a stimulus which subsequent developments combined to maintain +and emphasise. + +[Illustration: Fig. 1.--Old Wood Engraving (Erenburg Castle). + + "Colour values and perspective can only be expressed by thick and + thin lines at varying distances apart." + + _Block supplied by the London Electrotype Agency Ltd., from the + "Illustrated London News."_] + +=A Comparison.=--There is a vast difference between the effects procurable +in an impression from a wood engraving and the print from an engraved +metal plate. In the former, colour values and perspective can only be +expressed by thick and thin lines at varying distances apart, the ink on +the prints being of the same density throughout, no matter how thick or +thin the lines may be. In metal engraving intermediary values may be +obtained by lines of the same thickness, if need be, but of varying +depth. The result is a strong, intense effect produced by the greater +body of pigment held by such portions of the lines as are cut deeply, +and the comparatively grey appearance of the shallower parts. It is +largely due to this that prints from engraved metal plates possess a +peculiar richness and depth of tone. + +The commercial advantages generally claimed for engraved wood blocks +are the ease and rapidity with which impressions can be made from them +as compared with the metal plates, and also the fact that they can be +printed with type, _i.e._ letterpress, without any unusual preparations. +Granting the validity of these claims, it must follow that, owing to the +larger number of impressions made from wood engravings, their intrinsic +worth will be correspondingly less than the limited number of prints +made from engraved metal plates, and their commercial value will be +estimated accordingly. + +=A Justification.=--The somewhat sweeping assertion that wood engraving +affords a medium of expression only for the blunter minds is not the +whole truth. Its strikingly bold conceptions and broad expressive +effects certainly appeal to the untrained eye or untutored mind more +than the artistic qualities of design and execution displayed in metal +engraving; but there is yet in the art of the wood engraver a well-nigh +inexhaustible store of artistic as well as pictorial effects. The +forcible character and charm of its productions are chiefly due to the +disposition and combination of the lines employed, and a variety of +texture which is thereby introduced. It affords also an exceptional +facility of execution, and an almost limitless power of realisation, +which gives to it a deservedly high place among the pictorial and +reproductive arts. The whole matter may be summed up in a statement +once made by a well-known artist and illustrator: "There is no process +in relief which has the same certainty, which gives the same colour and +brightness, and by which gradations of touch can be more truly rendered. +Few of our great artists, however, can be prevailed upon to draw for +wood engraving, and when they do undertake an illustration, say of a +great poem, the drawing, which has to be multiplied 100,000 times, has +less thought bestowed upon it than the painted portrait of a cotton +king." What wonder, then, at the retrogression of this facile and +graphic art of pictorial illustration. + +[Illustration: Fig. 2.--Modern Wood Engraving (the Goose Fountain, +Nuremburg). + + "The forcible character of wood engraving chiefly due to the disposition + and combination of the lines employed." + + _Block supplied by the London Electrotype Agency Ltd., from the + "Religious Tract Society."_] + +=The Illustrator.=--The employment of wood engravings in conjunction +with literature created a new phase of artistic work. The task of the +illustrator or designer is peculiar. He sketches out his design on the +wood block, and then passes it on to the engraver. His drawing is not +intended as a permanent form of pictorial art, but as a suggestive +sketch, which, while perfectly intelligible to the engraver, will be +free from such intricacies in its composition as might interfere with +its effective interpretation. The old wood engravers produced, line for +line, an exact facsimile of the artist's design. His work, no doubt, +required considerable skill and unremitting patience, but it was almost +devoid of independent thought or artistic feeling. The engraver to-day +must _translate_ the work of the illustrator so as to render the effect +of his design in such a form as will admit of rapid and effective +reproduction. The possibilities of the wood engraver's art, therefore, +are manifold. The artist's sketch may give a suggestion of light and +shade, and possibly some idea of its tone. The execution and elaboration +of the drawing is left almost entirely in the hands of the engraver. +Whether it will gain or lose by its translation will, to some extent, +depend upon his artistic perception as well as his manipulative skill. + + + + +CHAPTER III + + _METAL ENGRAVING_--THE INVENTION--EARLY ENGRAVERS--NATIONAL + CHARACTERISTICS--A PROGRESSIVE REVIEW + + "The influence of the graver is so great and extensive that + its productions have constantly been the delight of all + countries of the world and of all seasons of life." + + +=Metal Engraving--The Invention.=--The engraving of metal plates for +pictorial reproduction was a direct development of ornamental engraving. +The Italian Niello work of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries was +chiefly applied to the embellishment of metal ornaments and utensils +with elaborate engravings. To intensify their effect, the designs were +filled in with a black pigment known as _Niello_, L. _Nigellus_--Black. +Hence the name by which the process was generally known. Niello work was +practised chiefly by gold and silversmiths, and it is recorded that one +of these, Finiguerra by name, was filling up the lines of the engraving +with black composition in the usual way when he accidentally spilled +some hot wax over the plate. It rapidly cooled and hardened, and on +scaling off bore a distinct black impression of the engraving. Quick +to perceive the importance of his discovery, Finiguerra promoted a few +experiments which ultimately led to a full realisation of his hopes. +There is yet another account of the metamorphosis of metal engraving +which, if true, reflects much more credit upon Finiguerra than the +accidental discovery already described. To obtain a _proof_ of their +work, the Florentine metal-workers covered the ornamentation with some +fine plastic material. It was then a simple matter to convert the +impression into a mould, which they filled with melted sulphur. The +casts, when hard, formed exact replicas of the engravings, and +afterwards, when the incised lines were filled with a black pigment, +probably Niello, they presented an effective record of the original +work. It is not by any means improbable that Finiguerra made his +discovery when making such a cast. + +It is a noteworthy fact that the idea of producing impressions from +engraved metal plates was not, as might readily be imagined, a +development of wood engraving or of the then well-known method of +printing from engraved wood blocks. It was a fortuitous discovery, and +probably the direct result of an accident. The true importance of this +transition, _i.e._ Niello work to engraving as a reproductive art, is +seldom fully appreciated. It was a momentous change, bristling with +possibilities, which subsequent developments amply proved. The time was +peculiarly propitious. The beneficent influence of the Renaissance was +at its flood, and a feverish spirit of progress swept over Europe. +The imitative instinct inherent in mankind reasserted itself with an +irresistible intensity, and new forms of pictorial expression were +eagerly sought after. The art of engraving provided a medium for the +extension of the artist's fame and the popularising of his creations. +It rapidly gained favour, and its ultimate development and expansion +fully justified the interest it aroused. + +=Early Engravers.=--Baccio Baldine, another Florentine goldsmith, quickly +realised the value of Finiguerra's discovery, and endeavoured to produce +engraved plates for printing purposes. Being a somewhat indifferent +designer, his first efforts were not very successful. He was afterwards +assisted by Sandio Botticelli, and this partnership was the first clear +indication of progress in the art. These two engravers undertook the +illustration of an edition of Dante's works, in which the chief feature +was to be an original headpiece for each canto. They accomplished some +meritorious work in connection therewith, but never quite fulfilled +their task. + +Some impressions from engraved plates were exhibited in Rome about this +time, and attracted the attention of the painter Andrea Mantegna. He +was so impressed with these examples of the new art that he determined +to reproduce some of his own pictures in a like manner. Mantegna's +engravings were not in any way remarkable, yet they were received with +considerable enthusiasm by his countrymen and by artists in various +parts of Europe. + +Marc Antonio Raimondi was another famous Italian engraver of this +period. He first became notorious through copying some of A. Durer's +designs in the exact style affected by that great artist. He also added +Durer's signature to his piracies, and in other ways emphasised the +imitation. + +It is doubtful whether he ever realised the gravity of the deception he +was guilty of, for he took no pains to conceal the fact from his fellow +artists. Apart from this, however, Raimondi was a fine engraver. He +reproduced a number of Raphael's pictures under that artist's direct +supervision, all of which show distinct traces of the great master's +influence. Raimondi engraved between three and four hundred plates. + +It is a remarkable coincidence that the art of engraving in Italy, and +printing in Germany, should each receive the stimulus of a new discovery +about the same period. The art of printing was known to the ancient +Chinese, but movable types were first used by Gutenberg about 1454. + +=National Characteristics.=--Engraving is almost as old as the human +race, yet its full value as a reproductive art was not discovered until +1452, when Finiguerra made his discovery. For at least half a century +after this discovery engraving was held in the highest esteem in Italy. +From that country it passed to Germany, and thence into France. In each +of these countries it flourished for a time, until at last it claimed a +place, and that a high one, amongst the fine arts of our own country. + +The leading characteristics of Italian art, and particularly Italian +engraving, were beautiful outlines and excellent drawing. "Nothing in +any stage of Italian art was carelessly or incompletely done. There is +no rough suggestion of design, no inexact record of artistic invention." +The lines, and especially the outlines, of the early Italian engravings +are indisputably exquisite in their expression of grace and beauty, +though perhaps weak and unsuitable for the portrayal of vigour and +strength. + +The German engravers reached another extreme. Their drawings were +frequently deficient, and even grotesque; but this was more than +compensated for by a mingled force and freedom of delineation which, +added to a rich imaginative symbolism, was in every respect remarkable. +By means of flowing lines they indicated every fold of draperies, +emphasised the varied contour of features, or produced an intricate +and almost perplexing perspective in their pictures. They frequently +sacrificed artistic power for a mere show of dexterous execution, and +consequently the engravings of this period were rarely ever sublime +in their conceptions. Remarkable for their technique, they were yet +productive of a bewildering confusion of ideas and mannerisms. It was +undoubtedly this superiority of technique which attracted so much +attention to the old German engravers. Their portrait engravings display +abundant insight into human character, and in this respect at least +exhibit a rare power of pictorial expression. Indefatigable enthusiasm, +one of the racial characteristics of the French nation, was exemplified +in the reception accorded by her artists to the art of metal engraving. +French engraving was distinguished by a felicitous combination of good +drawing, skilful execution, and "an aptitude to imitate easily any +impression." Outlines were frequently suggested rather than delineated, +and although somewhat unconventional in style, French engravings of the +seventeenth century displayed few traces of a perfunctory art. Certain +vagaries of style, due no doubt to a natural vivacity, indicated an +artistic quality of design and execution which was their peculiar +inheritance. Of modern French engravers on metal, the Audran family were +by far the most notable. For four or five generations that remarkable +family showed artistic talent of a high standard of excellence. Gerard +Audran, who was born in 1640, was the best known and most gifted member +of this family. His productions were everywhere admired. His historical +pictures especially were very fine. He was appointed engraver to Louis +XIV. Died 1703. + +=A Progressive Review.=--For a long period engraving was of the simplest +possible character. About the beginning of the sixteenth century an +effort was made to introduce perspective into the productions of both +brush and graver, and until this important development obtained complete +recognition, even the most skilful artists were guilty of faulty +draughtsmanship. Aerial perspective, or the suggestion of distance, +quickly followed this adoption of linear perspective. It is claimed for +Lucas van Leyden, a Dutch engraver, that he was the first to thoroughly +appreciate and give true value to foreground and distance; in other +words, to fully recognise the artistic value of perspective. + +It has been frequently suggested that the fame of Durer, van Leyden, and +others of the same school, was so widespread as to create an artistic +bias, which other engravers, who were their equals in technical skill, +if not in fertility of design, found it difficult to overcome. One of +these engravers, Henry Goltzius, was determined to obtain recognition +of his merits, and engraved five plates in as many different styles, +copying the mannerisms and artifices of Durer and others. They were +at once accepted as productions of the great artists, and not until +Goltzius had heard the unqualified praise of art critics and patrons +did he reveal his purpose. His countrymen generously forgave him this +deception, and he certainly gained much credit thereby. These pictures +are now known as Goltzius' masterpieces. + +During the seventeenth century Rembrandt's influence developed much of +that technique which modern engravers have copied, and in some instances +claimed to improve. He is also credited with the introduction of +more expressive gradations of tone, for the production and emphatic +suggestion of light and shade. The character of this, too, has been +retained in present day engravings. Rembrandt was more directly +associated with etching than with line engraving, but his influence was +far from exclusive. Encouraged by the influence of his example, the line +engraver endeavoured to add to the expressive power of his pictures by +the introduction of more daring perspectives, more suggestive form, and +infinitely greater diversity of texture. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + + _ENGRAVING IN ENGLAND_--INTRODUCTION OF METAL ENGRAVING--NOTABLE + BRITISH ENGRAVERS--SUMMARY + + "When applied to objects of their proper destination, the arts + are capable of extending our intellect, of supplying new ideas, + and of presenting to us a view of times and places, whatever + their interval or difference."--Dallaway. + + +Engraving as a decorative art was well advanced in this country during +the reign of Alfred the Great, when the Anglo-Saxon metal-workers were +known to be skilful engravers. The art was still further developed under +the Norman rule, and during the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. + +Wood engravings were printed by William Caxton in 1481, but there is no +proof that they were the work of English engravers. + +=Introduction of Metal Engraving.=--The exact date of the introduction +into England of metal engraving as a reproductive art is doubtful. +There is a record of a book published in this country in 1545, which +was illustrated with copper engravings, cut by Thomas Gemeni. It was a +work on anatomy by Vesalius, and was at first printed in Latin. In the +preface to a translation of this work the following quaint note appears: +"Accepte, jentill reader, this Tractise of Anatomie, thankfully +interpreting the labours of Thomas Gemeni the workman. He that with +his great charge, watch and travayle, hath set out the figures in +pourtrature will most willingly be amended, or better perfected of his +own workmanship if admonished." + +It was probably not until Queen Elizabeth's reign was well advanced that +metal engraving obtained any substantial recognition as a fine art which +might be practised with some hope of commercial success. + +Archbishop Parker, a powerful prelate of this time, extended his +patronage to the art, and for a time, at least, kept a private staff +of engravers. A portrait of this archbishop was executed by Remigus +Hogenberg, and is the first record of an engraved portrait produced +and printed in England. + +For about a century the work of English engravers was uninteresting, and +almost devoid of artistic feeling. Their pictures possessed but little +merit, either as works of art or as pictorial records of that eminently +progressive period. + +During the seventeenth century engraving became intimately associated +with literature, and then, as now, the combination was a felicitous one. +Another fortunate circumstance was the settling of the Passe family in +this country. They came from Utrecht, and were engravers of considerable +skill and repute. The elder Passe was a friend and admirer of the famous +painter Reubens, whose style he, to some extent, copied. + +John Payne--the first English artist to distinguish himself with the +graver--was a pupil of Passe. Payne was an undoubted genius, and, but +for his indolence and dissipated habits, might have accomplished a +great work. + +His most noteworthy engraving was a picture of "The Royal Sovereign," +made on two plates, which, when joined together, measured 36 in. x 26 +in. + +Vertue succeeded Payne. His engravings were chiefly of historical value; +as works of art they displayed no unusual merit. Many were portraits +of personages of high degree, in which Vertue evidently copied the +style of Houbraken, a Dutch artist, who some time previously engraved a +similar series of portraits, the commission being given to him because +"_no English engraver was capable of executing it_." + +Vertue's writings on English Art were profuse and thoughtful. They were +afterwards collected and published by Horace Walpole. + +[Illustration: Fig. 3.--Old Wood Engraving. + + "Horace Walpole, the historian of the graphic arts." + + _Block supplied by the London Electrotype Agency Ltd., from the + "Illustrated London News."_] + +Hogarth, "The inimitable Hogarth," + + "Whose pictured morals charm the eye, + And through the eye correct the heart," + +was a brilliant exponent of the expressive power of the engraver's art. +Possessing a profound knowledge of human nature, and a keen sense of all +that is humanely interesting, he expressed in his pictures a wonderful +creative fancy, and a well directed humour. He almost invariably +represented character rather than scenes, and while displaying immense +fertility of design, he retained sufficient realism in the composition +of his pictures to render them valuable as records of the manners and +customs of his times. They, moreover, describe their incidents in the +most direct and piquant fashion. His somewhat defective drawing was +redeemed by a wealth of suggestion and an endless variety of grotesque +conceptions. He possessed the happy art of seizing a fleeting impression +from which he would evolve a caricature full of peculiar and quaint +humour. Hogarth's place in the art annals of this country is undoubtedly +assured, for it has been said that he _represented_ his characters +with more force than most men could _see_ them. His career may be +dated from 1724, when he produced the illustrations for _Hudibras_ and +_La Mortray's Travels_. + +There is a most extraordinary story related in connection with Hogarth's +last engraving. While spending a merry evening with some friends he was +heard to say: "My next undertaking will be _the end of all things_." +"If that is so," remarked one of his companions, "there will soon be +an end of the artist." "Yes, there will be," Hogarth replied, "and the +sooner my task is finished the better." The engraving was executed under +the impulse of an intense excitement. "Finis," he exclaimed, as he +finished that most remarkable design, "All is now over," and, strange +to relate, this was actually his last work, for he died about a month +later. + +Robert Strange, who was contemporary with Hogarth, was a native of the +Orkney Islands. He was an art student in Edinburgh when Prince Charlie +landed, and his Jacobite sympathies led him to throw aside his work +and join the young chevalier. When the remnant of the army of 1745 +was flying before Duke William after the battle of Culloden, Strange, +closely pursued by a number of soldiers, sought shelter in the house +of the Lumsdales. Miss Lumsdale was sitting with her work by one of the +windows, and at once offered to conceal the young soldier underneath +the folds of her skirt. Ladies' skirts of the crinoline period were of +such proportions as to render the concealment easy, and Miss Lumsdale, +to lull the suspicions of the pursuing soldiers, continued her sewing, +and affected considerable surprise and indignation at their intrusion. +They shamefacedly withdrew upon finding the lady alone, and Strange +afterwards made good his escape to France. Gratitude to his deliverer, +intensified by the romantic situation which saved his life, quickly +ripened into love, and, it is needless to add, a good old-fashioned +love match. + +Strange settled in London about 1750, when, by his zeal and skilful +work, he added much to the fame of historical engraving in this country. +He engraved over eighty plates during his lifetime, and displayed a +literary talent of no mean order. He was not a brilliant draughtsman, +but the tone and texture of his engravings are almost perfect. + +He was knighted in 1781. + +There is yet one other engraver of this period whose career merits +a share of attention and interest. + +James Gilray was born in 1757, and, like Hogarth, commenced at the +bottom rung of the ladder as a letter engraver. He also became a notable +caricaturist, and some idea of his skill in this branch of pictorial art +may be gleaned from the fact that over 1200 designs were the product +of his inventive fancy. Though not by any means indolent, his habits +were dissipated, and unfortunately for him he, for many years, resided +with his publisher, who gratified his passions so long as his art was +sufficiently productive. Gilray's designs were not all caricatures. A +number of illustrations for Goldsmith's _Deserted Village_ were designed +and engraved by him. He also engraved a few of Northcote's pictures. +His style was free and spirited, and he was one of the first English +engravers to prove the merits of stipple engraving. + +The stipple manner of engraving was a curious development of the +art. It appeared as though line engraving could not keep pace with +the ever-growing demand for pictures, and was therefore combined with +stipple to facilitate production. In capable hands very fine results +were obtained with this combination. + +English engraving was still in its infancy, however, and continental +productions were favoured by the art patrons of this country, until +a stimulus was given to native art by the painters Reynolds, Wilson, and +West. Profiting by this renewed interest, Woollet entered upon a career +of unqualified success, and eventually succeeded in obtaining full +recognition for the merits of English engraving. + +As a boy Woollet showed his artistic proclivities in a strange manner. +His father, it is stated, won a L5000 prize in a lottery, and bought +an inn, glorying in the name of "The Turk's Head," a title which the +embryonic artist endeavoured to express pictorially on a pewter pot. +The father, struck by some quality in the drawing, apprenticed young +Woollet to an obscure London engraver. From an artistic point of view +this apprenticeship was of little value. Woollet was a born artist, and +although his early training may have intensified the natural bent of his +genius, it did little to cultivate it. He possessed versatile talents. +His historical pictures were, in every respect, equal to his landscapes, +and these will long remain as lasting and convincing monuments of his +skill. The boldness of contrast and accuracy of execution displayed by +Woollet in his landscape engravings far surpassed all previous efforts +to express pictorial effects with the graver. + +Raimbach was a miniature painter of some note, who, like many other +artists, turned from creative to reproductive art, and became a +successful engraver. In 1812 he became associated with David Wilkie, +and it is generally supposed that he was retained by that artist for the +reproduction of his pictures. Raimbach's translations of Wilkie's works +were in every sense artistic productions and faithful representations. +He was said to be so careful and conscientious in his work that he +employed no assistants, but this was not entirely true. Careful and +conscientious he undoubtedly was, but he frequently employed assistants +to engrave the less important parts of his commissions. Raimbach was +born in 1776, and died 1843. + +F. C. Lewis was a progressive engraver contemporary with Raimbach. +His most notable productions were after Landseer and Lawrence. He was +appointed engraver first to George IV., then William IV., and afterwards +to Queen Victoria. + +Samuel Cousins was another most influential engraver. A brief sketch +of his artistic career is given in another chapter. + +C. G. Lewis was both a line and mezzotint engraver. He was probably +Landseer's favourite engraver, and his name is best known in association +with that artist's pictures. Born 1808; died 1880. + +When John Pye engraved his first Turner picture, "Pope's Villa," in +1811, that famous artist expressed his unqualified approval when he +said, "If I had known there was anyone in this country who could have +done that, I would have had it done before," and on more than one +occasion he mentioned Pye's engravings as "the most satisfactory +translations of my colour into black and white." An adequate +interpretation of Turner's pictures requires a masterly appreciation of +the gradations and balance of tone which suggest both colour and space; +and to merit such expressions of satisfaction from the great artist +himself was proof of John Pye's artistic power and skill. + +He began his career as an engraver about the year 1800 after a short +apprenticeship with James Heath, a clever and practical man, who was +quick to perceive the ability of his apprentice. + +John Pye was a recognised authority on the pictorial effect of colour, +and it was said that during his long and eminently useful life "no +engraver did more than he to spread a knowledge of the sound principles +of landscape art." He was frequently consulted by his fellow artists, +and without even a suggestion of professional jealousy, he was ever +ready with his advice and, if need be, practical help. The following +copy of a letter--now in the Swansea Art Gallery--gives some idea of +the esteem in which his opinion was held by contemporary artists:-- + + + _Monday._ + + _To J. Pye, Esq._ + + Thursday night, at half-past five, if you please. I hope that + day will be convenient to you. I should like, if possible, to + see you here by daylight, as your opinion is always valuable + to me, and I have some few things to show you.--Your faithful + servant, + + Ed. Landseer. + + +Pye was long known in art circles as the "Father of landscape engraving," +and he certainly succeeded, as no other engraver has done, in his +translation of colour values and suggestion of aerial perspectives. +Turner's paintings were his favourite subjects, and his interpretations +of them are brilliant in expression, and charged with the very essence +of artistic feeling. + +His life and work indicated a progress as distinct as it was far +reaching. + + "And still the work went on, + And on, and on, and is not yet completed. + The generation that succeeds our own + Perhaps may finish it." + + +It has been through the efforts of these men and others who, though +less influential, were not less skilful perhaps, or less earnest, +that English engraving, in its daring innovations and substantial +improvements, has far outstripped that of other countries. By them +its reputation has been built up and enhanced, so that "its influence +is conspicuously visible in the principles and history of Art." + + + + +CHAPTER V + + _ETCHING_--EARLY RECORDS--DESCRIPTIVE--REMBRANDT'S + INFLUENCE--WENCESLAUS HOLLAR. + _MEZZOTINT_--INVENTION--DESCRIPTION--ARTISTIC + QUALITIES--DILETTANTI ART--A MODERN MEZZO ENGRAVER + + "By its very character of freedom, by the intimate and rapid + connection which it establishes between the hands and the + thoughts of the artists, etching becomes the frankest and most + natural of interpreters."--Lalanne. + + +It has been asserted, and not without some show of reason, that of +all the reproductive arts etching stands pre-eminent as a medium of +pictorial expression wherein perfect freedom of drawing is retained. +It has found considerable favour with artists, because it enables them +to reproduce their own works with ease and rapidity, and without any +perceptible loss of expressive power. + +=Early Records.=--The first account of the art of etching comes from +Dutch sources, but whether or not it had its birth in Holland is a +matter of pure conjecture. It was certainly cradled in the Low +Countries, and finding the time and conditions of art congenial there, +flourished abundantly. A book bearing the title, _A Book of Secrets_, +was published in England in 1599. It was a translation from the Dutch, +and described "A method of engraving with strong waters on steel or +iron." The art of etching must have been known in Holland some time +previous to the date of this publication. + +It was an unfortunate tendency which led the early etchers, or at +any rate etchers of the latter part of the fifteenth and sixteenth +centuries, to practise a style of execution in direct imitation +of the work of the graver. Their productions were robbed of their +peculiar character and charm, their directness and completeness of +representation. + +=Descriptive.=--The practical phase of the etcher's work claims a more +than passing interest from the earnest reader. A carefully polished +sheet of copper is covered with an acid resist in the form of a thin +coating of wax or some similar composition. When this has been blackened +by the smoke of a candle, or by any other suitable means, the drawing is +made with steel points. The bright sheen of the copper exposed by each +stroke of the point or etching needle will show the progress of the work +very distinctly. The etching mordant is poured over the drawing thus +made, when the exposed parts of the plate will be corroded or etched +away until sufficient depth is obtained. These are, of course, but the +bare outlines of the process, yet they will suffice to illustrate the +facility and simplicity of its operations. + +Because it is so admirably adapted for light and sketchy drawings, +etching has been described as a kind of summary of pictorial expression, +and in some respects such a description fits it perfectly; yet, for a +just appreciation of its merits, it will be needful to put aside the +idea that it is little more than a sketchy framework. It is true that +some of the finest etchings have been executed with the fewest possible +lines and without any pretence of elaboration, yet tone and texture +may be fully expressed though not actually realised. Hence the term +sometimes so aptly applied to etching when it is referred to as +"the stenography of artistic thought." It is upon this principle of +limitation that the chief merits of the etcher's art rests,--a system +of pictorial representation which does not always produce illogical and +inartistic interpretation or the imperfect transcription of light and +shade. It may be frequently characterised by a certain amount of caprice +in its execution, but it is nevertheless capable of producing form and +expression of a very high character. Albert Durer, who possessed a most +remarkable artistic versatility, etched a number of plates; but they can +scarcely be regarded as successful examples of his work, for, like other +artists of his time, he endeavoured to imitate the productions of the +graver with his etching needle. It was altogether a futile experiment, +if indeed it can be regarded as an experiment, and Durer's etchings show +but little of that rare power and technical skill for which he was +justly famous in other phases of graphic art. + +=Rembrandt's Influence.=--Rembrandt, who was said to be "The greatest +artistic individuality of the seventeenth century," manifested a deep +and lasting enthusiasm for the art of etching,--an enthusiasm which +was abundantly displayed in the marvellous diversity of form by which +he reproduced the characteristic grace and delicate modelling of his +pictures. His graver and etching needle possessed the same spirited +touch as his brush, and when "with his own hand he presented his bold +principles of light and shade," he almost invariably combined strength +of expression with great facility of invention. + +There is one notable etcher whose chequered career may well be regarded +with interest, for it reveals a depth of artistic enthusiasm almost +unparalleled in the art annals of this or any other country. + +=Hollar.=--Wenceslaus Hollar was a Bohemian by birth, and came to England +under the patronage of the Duke of Arundel in 1637. During a lifetime +of peculiar misfortunes and vicissitudes, he etched something like 2700 +plates. As an ardent Royalist, he was drawn into the civil war of +1643-44. He also passed through the Great Plague and the Fire of London. +Difficulties and hardships ever beset his path, yet his industry and +fond attachment to art never flagged. The very fact that ever-recurring +misfortunes and privations never impaired his power as a most remarkable +and ingenious illustrator is ample proof, if such be required, of his +genius. Hollar's etchings are distinguished by an intense fidelity. They +abound in historical interest of a reliable and fascinating kind, and +though never showy they possess a wealth of artistic beauty and artistic +expression. It is difficult to understand how an artist with Hollar's +gigantic, productive energy should end his days in abject poverty. + +Mezzotint engraving is the art of engraving on metal _in tones_. It +dates back to about the middle of the seventeenth century. Its history +is interesting if only for the fact that it has been developed chiefly +in this country, the high degree of perfection to which it attained +being chiefly due to English artists. So much so, indeed, that it has +frequently been referred to as _la manaire Anglais_. + +=Invention.=--The invention of Mezzotint engraving was the result of an +every-day circumstance which attracted the attention of a soldier more +thoughtful than his fellows. Ludwig von Sigen was a lieutenant-colonel +in the army of the Landgrave of Hesse Cassel when he observed the +corrosive action of moisture on the stock of a musket. The metal work +had been ornamented with an engraved design, and the ground formed +by corrosion in conjunction with the engraved lines suggested an idea +from which von Sigen subsequently developed the mezzotint process. This +story of von Sigen's discovery is regarded by some authorities with +a suspicion of doubt, and a suggestion is made that his purpose was to +invest this introduction of a new reproductive art with a romantic +as well as an artistic interest. In any case, the gallant colonel's +credit is maintained, and it is interesting to note that the principle +of his invention remains still unchanged. The chief purpose of later +developments was to facilitate the production of a perfectly even ground. + +On the presentation of his first print to the Landgrave of Hesse, von +Sigen declared, "There is not a single engraver, or a single artist, who +knows how this work is done." About twelve years afterwards the inventor +divulged his secret to Prince Rupert, by whom it was brought to England. +It is generally supposed that Prince Rupert carefully preserved the +secret of this new process for some time, and then in a generous mood he +imparted it to Vallerant Valliant, who fortunately for English art made +his knowledge widespread. + +When mezzotint engraving was first introduced into England, the famous +artists, Reynolds and Gainsborough, had reached the summit of their +fame. The time was indeed auspicious. Line engraving failed to give +a faithful reproduction of the peculiar style of painting then so +much admired, while mezzotint engraving, with its soft gradations and +attractive qualities of expression, translated with a vivacity and +facility that could not fail to please and satisfy. + +Then, again, a somewhat abrupt change manifested itself in the pictorial +art of this period. Representations of incidents and portraits of famous +personages, which were in themselves interesting, took the place of the +severely artistic productions of the past. The natural result was an +intense interest, which embraced the art and the process by which it +was popularised. + +=Description.=--The mezzotint process of engraving may be described in +a very few sentences. + +The plate of metal is first covered with a ground or _tone_. To +accomplish this, a tool with a serrated edge is passed over the surface +in various directions. The myriads of microscopic indentations thus +produced constitute a _tooth_ or roughness similar to the grain of a +coarse sandstone. This grain holds a certain proportion of printing +ink, and gives a rich, velvety black impression. On such a ground the +engraver works up his design, and, by the skilful use of scraper and +burnisher, obtains a series of tones or almost imperceptible gradations. +He removes just so much of the grain as may be required for the lighter +tones, and by burnishing or polishing, after the scraper has been +used, secures the high lights. In one respect, at least, this form of +reproductive art is peculiar, and unlike any other types of engraving. +The artist works from black to white, and produces, on the plate, the +lights instead of the shadows. + +=Artistic Qualities.=--Although capable of most charming effects, the +mezzotint process never became a really serious menace to line engraving, +with its firm and expressive outlines and peculiarly lustrous textures. +Yet it is not at all surprising that a process, offering the artistic +qualities of reproduction which mezzotint possesses, should prove +successful in the interpretation of such light and shade as, for +example, Turner painted into his pictures. Turner was engaged upon the +series of pictures for his _Liber Studiorum_ when he suddenly realised +the value of mezzotint engraving. He consulted with Charles Turner, an +eminent engraver, who afterwards executed twenty-three of the _Liber +Studiorum_ plates, and eventually decided to adopt a combination of +etching with mezzotint for the reproduction of that famous series of +pictures. The leading or essential lines of each picture were etched, +probably by Turner himself, and the mezzotint added by other engravers. + +It is perhaps to some extent true that prints from mezzo plates lack +somewhat in dignity of effect and fidelity of representation. They are +suggestive rather than representative; yet, when the character of the +work is suitable, this lack of dignity is more than compensated for by +the soft and harmonious effects of light and shade already referred to. +The peculiar beauty and brilliancy of these effects, when artistically +rendered, impart to the prints an alluring charm, which appeals to the +inartistic as well as the accredited artistic eye. + +The fact that Sir Joshua Reynolds, West, Romney, and other famous +artists allowed their paintings to be reproduced by the mezzotint +process, is sufficient proof of their appreciation of its power. It was, +as already stated, to English engravers that mezzo engraving owed its +development and fame as a reproductive art, and for very many years +after its invention it was practised chiefly in England and Holland. +It is a remarkable fact that Germany, the birthplace of this art, had but +a slight connection with its subsequent history; and equally remarkable +that French engravers, who excelled in line engraving when mezzotint was +at the zenith of its fame, should almost entirely neglect to appreciate +its possibilities. + +Another curious fact concerning mezzotint engraving is that it has ever +been the art of the dilettanti. It was first of all invented by von +Sigen, who followed the fine arts for pleasure rather than with any +serious purpose. Prince Rupert brought it over to England with an +enthusiastic, but certainly not a professional, interest, and at several +periods of its history it has received encouragement and substantial +help from like sources. One of the earliest and most ardent mezzo +engravers in this country was Francis Place, a well-known Yorkshire +country squire. H. Lutterel was another such exponent of the art. He was +the first engraver to make any decided improvement in laying the ground. +He evidently realised the importance of a good ground, and constructed +a tool to ensure its evenness and regularity. Another Irishman, Captain +Baillie, a retired cavalry officer, adopted a style of engraving similar +to Rembrandt's, and copied some of that great artist's productions. +He was one of the most enlightened art critics of his time. + +=A Modern Mezzo Engraver.=--A brief outline sketch of the life of Samuel +Cousins, one of the most successful of modern mezzotint engravers, will +form a fitting conclusion to this chapter. + +Samuel Cousins was born in 1800. The story of his precociousness in +artistic matters is certainly extraordinary. Sir Thomas Ackland, an +enthusiastic patron of the fine arts, saw the boy Cousins standing +before a picture dealer's window, and sketching with all the eagerness +and verve of a born artist. Even while yet a child of eleven years his +exceptional ability manifested itself, for he won the silver palette, +presented by the Society of Arts, and again the silver medal when +twelve years. His rapid progress, both as an artist and engraver, was +undoubtedly due to the influence and encouragement of his patron and +friend, Sir Thomas Ackland. He engraved about two hundred plates, +including pictures by Reynolds, Lawrence, Landseer, and Millais. +Cousins died in 1887, after a most brilliant and purposeful career. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + + _THE ENGRAVER'S TASK_--INARTISTIC WORK--CONSTRUCTIVE + ELEMENTS--OUTLINE--EXTRANEOUS MATTER--COMPOSITION--LIGHT + AND SHADE--EXPRESSION--PERSPECTIVE--EXECUTION + + "The highest art is undoubtedly that which is simplest and + most perfect, which gives the experience of a lifetime by a + few lines and touches." + + +=The Engraver's Task.=--Engraving, by whatever process it may be +accomplished, is not by any means a secondary art. Even when it descends +to mere copying, which its commercial associations unfortunately +encourage, it requires for its effective execution exceptional skill, +unremitting patience, and a more than average degree of artistic +feeling. It is almost impossible to appreciate the true value of the +engraver's work without some consideration of the labour it entails. +Each one of the multitudinous lines of an engraving is cut with a +definite purpose and deliberate care, and may be operated upon again and +again to increase the depth or width in various places. Even the dots of +a stipple are not made in that aimless fashion which their appearance +might at first suggest. A mechanical effect is sedulously avoided, +consequently each dot must be cut with scrupulous care, and may require +two or three touches with the graver to produce the desired effect. The +proportionate reduction of pictures for engraving also demands exquisite +skill and accurate draughtsmanship in which the eye and hand of the +artist may be distinctly traced. + +Thus, by a laborious yet picturesque and harmonious interpretation +of the artist's creations, the engraver renders their reproduction +possible, widens the sphere of their interest and influence, and in +many instances procures for them a world-wide reputation. + +Such an art may be both erudite and comprehensive in its information, +for it is executed with a purposeful patience which omits nothing, +forgets nothing, and maintains a convincing directness of expression. + +Outline, light and shade, variety of style and representation of +surfaces, are all within the engraver's control, and a vast diversity of +expression will be requisite for their realisation. It is quite within +his power also to interpret the artist's thoughts as well as imitate +his style, and this involves not only a judicious balancing of tone and +texture, but a knowledge of the principles of art embodied in the +picture--his copy. + +=Inartistic Work.=--Owing to an insatiable craving for pictorial +illustration, there is an ever-growing tendency on the part of the +artist engraver to seek after sensational or entertaining effects which +are not artistic productions. Intensely interesting and attractive +they may be, and yet signally deficient in the true elements of fine +art. It is quite possible to make any art popular, however crude its +conception and manifestation may be, so long as its expression is +sufficiently striking or pleasing. Such products of the graver or +brush may be elaborate compositions and effective forms of pictorial +expression, inasmuch as they provide interesting information concerning +past or current events. They may even possess a certain value as +historical records, and yet not manifest that subtle power of suggestive +beauty and intensity of thought which are _prima facie_ evidences of +masterly genius and artistic power. When the energy and skill of +the artist are thus devoted to expressive delineation in place of +artistic completeness, he becomes satisfied with an inferior degree +of excellence, provided only that it pleases; and the result will +almost assuredly be an incomplete, if not vitiated, production. + +In these days of invention and advancement, when the resources of +mankind are almost limitless, conditions of life favourable, and +opportunities for the acquirement of knowledge and skill always +abounding, there can surely be no valid excuse for this dead level +mediocrity in the engraver's art,--a result which might possibly arise +from the insiduous fever of display, of notoriety, and of commercialism +which is ever seeking fresh victims in this as in every other phase of +human life and effort. + +=Constructive Elements.=--An engraving may be an imitative or +representative interpretation of a picture or drawing in _black_ and +_white_. In such an interpretation, whatever its character may be, +integrity of form is of paramount importance, and essential to the +attainment of any degree of excellence in engraving. It imparts to the +work a distinctive character, and endows it with that delicacy and +precision of execution for which engraving is so justly famous. + +=Outline.=--In the early engravings the constructive element consisted +almost entirely of pure outline, which was rarely monotonous, but +frequently suggestive of form and character. Is it not almost +marvellous, this suggestive power of outline, for is it not in reality +but an imaginary boundary? An actual outline is a thing unknown in +nature, and the very fact that it has its existence only in the +imagination of the artist makes our reconciliation to it and our +admiration of it the more wonderful. The astonishing elasticity of the +human imagination makes it quite easy to fill in the details of a +picture if only the outline be sufficiently suggestive. The primary +function of the outline is, of course, to represent; but its secondary +or suggestive purpose is scarcely of less importance, and can only be +fully realised when the imagination is so stimulated as to perceive more +than is actually exhibited. The completeness and truthfulness of the +outline must be an engraver's first point. An art critic once stated +that "He had finished the picture who had finished the outline." To some +extent such a statement may be perfectly true; but just as in elocution, +or even in ordinary conversation, emphasis is requisite, so in pictorial +art the emphasis of concise expression, modulation, and delicate or +vigorous accentuation are equally necessary and effective. + +=Extraneous Matter.=--In other words, an artist's ideas may be decisively +portrayed in outline, yet for lack of suitable extraneous matter appear +both crude and impoverished. The amount of characteristic form expressed +by constructive elements in the drawing, other than the outlines, is +strikingly illustrated in old German portrait engravings. They are +simply overflowing with details of the most minute description. Nor can +such details be regarded as altogether superfluous, for they each help +to _build up_ the character of the picture. In portrait engraving a mere +likeness may easily be portrayed by a simple outline. Not so, however, +with character. Considerable amplification will be necessary to show +that; and this, perhaps, is the most difficult task of the engraver--to +introduce a satisfactory amount of essential detail without detracting +in any way from a pleasing general effect in the picture. + +=Composition.=--In its broadest sense composition in graphic art refers +to the putting together or combination of the various details into a +pleasing and effective picture. It may comprise--(1) the choice of a +subject; (2) the most effective moment of its representation; (3) the +choice of such circumstantial matter as will best intensify the +interest of the picture, and enhance its artistic value. Nor is one +part much less important than another, for interest in the subject must +necessarily be influenced by effective grouping, and the choice of +harmonious surrounding for both. It is in this that the _finesse_ of +the artist becomes available, and, by clever contrasts and agreeable +combinations, enables him to emphasise the expressive power of his +pictorial art. + +=Light and Shade.=--The importance of light and shade in the composition +of a picture is a fact too well established to require much further +recognition here. If skilfully arranged and distributed it may in some +measure compensate for any lack of cohesion in the design, and thus +become a redeeming feature in what would otherwise prove to be an +ineffective composition. + +It is chiefly by a dexterous arrangement of light and shade that the +artist engraver can produce a faithful and intelligible translation of +his subject. It adds considerably to the force and vigour of pictures, +and produces effects which please the eye and successfully appeal to +the imagination. + +There are, of course, other qualities and conditions which materially +affect the engraver and his work, and these will now be briefly +indicated. + +=Expression.=--"Expression is the representation of an object agreeably +to its nature and character, and the use or office it is intended to +have in the work." It is, in fact, the very essence of a picture. Without +it there can be no character, no emotion, and therefore no faithful +delineation. + +=Perspective.=--Linear perspective in engraving represents the position +or magnitude of the lines or contour of objects portrayed, and suggests +their diminution in proportion to their distance from the eye. + +Aerial perspective, on the other hand, represents the diminution of +colour value of each object as it recedes from the eye. It is, in +reality, a degradation of tone, suggesting the relative distances of +objects. Either may be the direct product of light and shade as well +as of accurate drawing. + +=Execution.=--The execution of an engraving admits of almost any degree +of variety--the display of individual skill, and knowledge of technique. +Execution, as the term implies, is the direct result of individual +dexterity; the ability to interpret colour, tone, and texture of a +picture by an arrangement of lines of varying depth and fineness; the +ability also to imitate, or even create, pictorial expression. + +The work of the engraver, like many other phases of reproductive art, is +a fruitful source of mannerisms; yet even these will produce excellent +results if they create innovations which will be afterwards approved and +recognised as healthy, independent, and entirely original methods. + +[Illustration: Fig. 4.--Modern Wood Engraving. + + "An interpretation of tone and texture by an arrangement of lines." + + _Block supplied by the London Electrotype Agency Ltd., from the + "Religious Tract Society."_] + + + + +CHAPTER VII + + _PHOTO "PROCESS" ENGRAVING_--A PROGRESSIVE PROCESS--COMMERCIAL + AND ARTISTIC FEATURES--"LINE" PROCESS--"HALF TONE"--ARTISTIC + RESTORATION--TRI-CHROMATOGRAPHY--PHOTOGRAVURE + + "It is not knowledge itself which is power, but the ability to + use and apply knowledge." + + +=A Progressive Process.=--Photo process engraving is a method of graphic +reproduction which comes into direct contact with art in its most +popular phases. + +It is a distinctly progressive process which possesses immense +advantages and represents an effective and by no means inartistic aspect +of the graphic arts. The lavish, and in many instances extravagant, +employment of process engraving for purposes of pictorial illustration +is a substantial proof of its popularity and illustrative value. It +may not always reach a high standard of artistic realisation, but it +is almost invariably realistic and attractive in its varied forms of +representation. + +The idea of pictorial illustration, whether as the translation of an +artistic conception or an actual representation of current events, has +ever been a fascinating one; and its evolution, from a photo-mechanical +standpoint, has been one unbroken record of remarkable progress. + +To enter upon a detailed exposition of any of the many photo-mechanical +processes is somewhat beyond the purpose of this short treatise, and to +attempt anything but a full and comprehensive description on such lines +would be both unwise and valueless. Let it suffice, then, to indicate +their more salient points, their illustrative and artistic value, and +the manner in which they may be most successfully applied. + +=Commercial and Artistic Features.=--The commercial advantages of +photo-engraving may be summed up in a very few words:-- + +1. The plates can be produced quickly and economically. + +2. The impressions can be made at a high rate of speed, and in some +of the processes without perceptible deterioration. + +3. The prints will be more or less facsimiles of the original. + +From an artistic point of view, photo-engraving possesses equally +important features. It translates the artist's work with extraordinary +facility and accuracy, retaining a satisfactory proportion of its +expressive feeling, and reproducing subtleties of drawing and texture +which it would be difficult, if not quite impossible, to obtain by any +other process. Of the many photo-mechanical engraving processes, all of +which are more or less associated with pictorial illustration, three at +least merit further consideration. + +[Illustration: Fig. 5.--Cross Section of Cyanide Furnace. + + The "Line Process."] + +(_a_) =The "Line" Process.=--The "line" process is applicable only to +the reproduction of line drawings or prints, in which the design is +represented in simple black and white, with only such gradations of tone +as may be suggested by lines or dots. For the reproduction of pen-and-ink +drawings, it has found considerable favour with illustrators, and many +even of the more conservative artists are compelled to appreciate +its merits and acknowledge its value. An interesting account of the +compulsory acceptance of process engraving by the famous illustrator +"Du Maurier" is suggestive of at least one valuable peculiarity of this +method of reproduction. Owing to failing sight, Du Maurier found it +increasingly difficult to introduce into his drawings on the wood block +that amount of detail which he considered necessary for the adequate +expression of his ideas. Eventually he was compelled to make pen-and-ink +drawings on a much larger scale than was his wont, and to have them +reproduced as photo-line-blocks, the reduction being made as required. + +(_b_) =Half Tone.=--"Half tone" process engraving, as distinguished from +the "line" process, is the reproduction of a design or copy which has +in its composition gradations of tone in the form of flat tints. Wash +drawings and photographs present characteristic examples of such copies. + +[Illustration: Fig. 6.--Process Engraving. + + _Block by the Arc Engraving Co. Ltd., London._] + +The true relative value of these medium or half tones can only be +retained in the half tone engraving by breaking up the picture into +most minute sections, and thereby producing a grain or series of dots +of varying size and contiguity according to the requirements of the +drawing. This grain or "screen" effect is produced by the interposition +of a network of finely ruled lines in the form of a screen between the +lens and the sensitive plate when photographing. The optical principle +involved is beyond the sphere of this work, but the effect produced is +a matter of vital importance, and requires careful consideration. + +The coarser the ruling of a screen, consistent of course with the class +of work for which it is required, the more vigorous and consequently +more effective the reproduction will appear. The variety of tones will +be greater, and the textures will appear richer. Small prints are +naturally subjected to a close inspection; the screen effect, therefore, +should be less obtrusive than in larger ones. It may also be useful to +know that a finely ruled screen will reproduce the minute details of +a copy. + +=Artistic Restoration.=--It is somewhat doubtful if the half tone +engraving, pure and simple, would ever have any real artistic value for +pictorial illustration but for some method of restoring those qualities +which are so considerably reduced when copying a picture through +the line screen. The pure half tone consists of a grain of varying +gradations over the whole design. There are, therefore, no pure whites +even in the highest lights. The use of the roulette and graver for +accentuating light and shade is therefore not only permissible but +decidedly advantageous, for the monotony of a mechanical grain is +thereby relieved, and the print produced will be an effective and +accurate translation of the artistic sketch. + +"A true half tone will be best obtained by not relying entirely on the +mechanical means, but assisting them with some hand work, either in the +shape of re-etching or engraving, or both." + +The application of hand engraving to photo-mechanical work has been +chiefly due to American process workers, who applied the technique of +the wood engraver's art to the amplification of their half tone blocks. + +=Tri-chromatography.=--The "Three Colour Process" is more or less an +application of half tone engraving to chromo-typography. The colours, +each in their relative value, are produced by purely photo-mechanical +methods--the colours of the original copy being dissected by means of +specially prepared colour screens. Half tone blocks are made from each +of the three negatives, and superimposed in accurate register in the +subsequent printing, when, of course, the primary colours, red, blue, +and yellow, are used. + +The process possesses brilliant and effective illustrative power, +offers ample scope for the ingenuity and manipulative skill of artist, +engraver, and printer, and promises well-nigh unlimited possibilities +as a medium of pictorial expression. + +(_c_) =Photogravure.=--Photogravure may be very briefly described. It +is a photo-mechanical process, in which rich, soft tones of surpassing +delicacy and undeniably artistic effect are striking peculiarities. +Unlike "line" and "half tone" engraving, it is an intaglio process, +in which the printer as well as the etcher must possess a profound +artistic perception. + +[Illustration: Reproduction by R. J. EVERETT & SONS' "INK-PHOTO" Process. + + Plate ENGRAVING FOR ILLUSTRATION + + WITHIN A MILE OF EDINBURGH TOWN.] + +A polished copper plate is grained by dusting resin or asphalt powder +on its surface, and afterwards fixing it by the application of heat. +A _tissue_ negative print is made, squeezed on to the grained plate, +and developed in the usual way. The plate is etched through the tissue. +The action of the etching mordant--perchloride of iron--being in exact +proportion to the light and shade of the developed print. + +The printing is a necessarily slow, and therefore costly, item. +This limitation to their production, however, enhances the value of +photogravure prints. + +=Ink Photo.=--What is known as the ink photo process of reproduction +is interesting chiefly on account of the remarkable fidelity with which +engravings of the finest and most intricate texture can be reproduced by +its agency. It is essentially a photo-mechanical process, but differs +from others of a similar character, inasmuch as the vigour and +expressive power of the original is to a considerable extent preserved. +Colour values also, as far as they can be expressed by the engraver's +art (see p. 11), are reproduced by ink photo methods with surprising +accuracy, and the intensity of impression, that peculiar feature of +prints from engraved plates, is almost invariably well sustained. +A careful criticism of the appended illustration and frontispiece done, +this process will reveal many other interesting points of practical +value. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + + _APPRECIATIVE CRITICISM_--AN EDUCATIVE PRINCIPLE--AN + ANALYSIS--REALISM IN ART--A RETROSPECT + + "Yet when we have said all our fine things about the arts, + we must end in a frank confession that the arts, as we know + them, are but initial. He has conceived meanly of the resources + of man who believes that the best age of production is past." + + +=Appreciative Criticism.=--The art of engraving, and particularly wood +engraving, has fully justified its existence, and the eminently popular +position which it has long held amongst the fine arts of the world. +Through the medium of the pictorial press it has diffused a knowledge +of the noblest principles of art, and has ever exerted a refining +influence even over inartistic minds. For this reason the lack of +knowledge concerning some of the essential qualities of engraving +as a pictorial art is somewhat remarkable. Even more so when it is +considered that never before in the history of the world has such a +wealth of illustrative art been produced and brought well within the +reach of its humblest patrons. + +It is perhaps too much to expect, nor is it at all desirable, that +individual preference should be moulded to one common and fixed +standard. To some minds the picturesque, though perhaps undignified +paintings of the old Dutch masters, would appeal with greater success +than the wondrous light and shade of Turner's pictures. Or, again, the +astonishing technicalities and intricacies of German wood engraving may +stir up a deeper interest and enthusiasm than the simple yet expressive +productions of Thomas Bewick. Yet such a difference of opinion may exist +only in individual appreciation or taste. The appreciative faculties in +mankind are in the main identical. + +=An Educative Principle.=--There is in human life an omnipotent and +omniscient educative principle which may, to some extent at least, be +rendered subservient to the human will, but which in other respects is +as certain in its results and impulses as the course of the planets. + +Those who surround themselves with the beautiful in Nature and in +Art, whose minds are constantly in communion with the grand and noble +purposes they suggest, are infinitely more sensible to their manifold +beauties than those of their fellows who persistently disregard, +and even repel, artistic influences. Their appreciation of the full +significance of any artistic production is deeper, more sincere, and +more equable than is that of those who neglect the aspirations of the +finer fibres of their beings, and thus allow their higher faculties to +become blunted, and their judgments warped. "Verily unto him that hath +shall be given," etc. + +The most independent and most penetrative imagination is not by any +means a free agent. Environment, mental culture, and natural temperament +are each controlling influences of variable power; yet there is much +truth in the philosophy which declares that "It is as easy to excite +the intellectual faculties as the limbs to useful action." + +=The Artist's Purpose.=--A misconception of the artist's aim almost +invariably leads to a condemnation of his work. First of all discover +his purpose, and then decide upon the success or non-success of his +conceptions. The _style_ of their execution, _i.e._ the manner in which +various surfaces and textures are reproduced, is but a means to an end. +It is infinitely easier to assimilate a style once its objective has +been clearly comprehended. + +=An Analysis.=--For obvious reasons, then, an analysis of the merits +and demerits of the engraver's art is not always a simple matter. His +work may be an acceptable pictorial record, though not in any sense +a picture from an artistic point of view. On the other hand, it may +possess artistic qualities in abundance, and yet be far from a truthful +record of an incident or scene. + +=Realism in Art.=--It is frequently claimed for graphic art that when +it cannot faithfully imitate it is permissible for it to interpret. +Quite so; and it is in just such a light that engraving is or ought +to be regarded. A picture, whether illustrating a story or recording +an artistic impression, is never so great as when it enchants the +imagination with an ideal presence. Absolute realism is not always +desirable either in pictorial art or pictorial expression. No matter +how realistic it may be, it is a doubtful gain to introduce into the +composition of a picture a mass of detail which might only prove +disconcerting, and distract attention from the main issues of the +subject. The partial or complete isolation of a central idea often adds +to the vigour and general effectiveness of the whole. Rarely, indeed, +does it render it less picturesque. After all, it is not Nature so much +as Nature's expression which should be represented. Its infinity of +secondary effects, its superabundance of detail, may, often with +advantage, be left out. + +=A Retrospect.=--While in this critical mood, it may be worth while +noting that the sincere and painstaking work of the old-time engravers +is deserving of some praise and an ever tolerant criticism. It manifests +incongruities and exaggerated metaphors which are at times painfully +unconventional or grotesque, yet they have a directness of representation +which admits of no doubt as to their meaning, and bear few traces of +a perfunctory art. + +"Our arts are happy hits. We are like the musician on the lake whose +melody is sweeter than he knows, or like a traveller surprised by a +mountain echo whose trivial word returns to him in romantic +thunders."--Emerson. + + + + +INDEX + + + Ackland, Sir Thomas, 47. + Analysis, 68. + Ancient drawings, 1. + Antiquity of engraving, 2. + _Apocalypsio sue Historia_, 7. + Art representative, 3. + Artistic purpose, 68. + Artistic restoration, 63. + Arundel, Duke of, 41. + Assyrian antiquities, 4. + Audran family, 4. + + + Baillie, Captain, 46. + Baldine, Baccio, 20. + Bewick, Thomas, 9, 67. + _Biblia Pauperum_, 7. + Block books, 6. + Botticelli, Sandio, 20. + + + Cave dwellings, 1. + Caxton, William, 26. + Character, building up of, 52. + Chinese playing cards, 5. + Clever contrasts, 53. + Colour dissection, 64. + Commercial advantages, 13. + Comparisons, 12, 13. + Composition, 52, 53. + Concise expression, 52. + Constructive elements, 51. + Controlling influences, 68. + Cousins, Samuel, 47. + Criticism, appreciative, 66. + + + Dallaway, 26. + Dante, 20. + Degradation of tone, 54. + Details, combination of, 52. + Du Maurier, 60. + Durer, Albert, 8, 21, 24, 40. + Dutch masters, 67. + + + Educative principle, 67. + Egyptian monuments, 4. + Emerson, 1, 5, 69. + Engravers, early, 20. + Engravers, interpretation, 49. + Engravers, task, 48. + Engraving, English, 26. + Etching, 38. + Etching, Dutch records, 38, 39. + Etching, a summary, 40. + Etching, description, 39. + Etching, a stenography, 40. + Etching, pictorial and artistic value, 40. + Etching, light and shade in, 41. + Etchings, Hollar's, 41. + Evolution theory, 2. + Execution, 54. + Expression, 53. + Extraneous matter, 52. + + + Finiguerra, 18, 19, 21. + Formschneider, 7. + French engravers, 46. + French engraving, 23. + + + Gainsborough, 43. + Gemeni, Thomas, 26, 27. + German wood engraving, 6, 67. + German engravers, 22. + German portraits, 52. + Gilray, James, 33. + Goldsmith's _Deserted Village_, 33. + Goltzius, Henry, 24. + Greek art, 4. + Gutenberg, 21. + + + Half tone process engraving, 60, 61, 62. + Heath, James, 36. + Hieroglyphic figures, 4. + _Historia Virginis_, 7. + Historical records, 3, 50. + Hogarth, 28, 31, 32. + Hogenberg, Remigus, 27. + Holbein, Hans, 8. + Houbraken, 28. + Hound, The, 9. + Hudibras, 31. + + + Illustrator, The, 14. + Imaginary boundary, An, 51. + Imaginative instinct, 20. + Imaginative symbolism, 22. + Inartistic work, 49. + Inception of engraving, 1. + Incised drawings, 1, 2. + Intermediary values, 13. + Ink photo, 65. + Ink photo, expressive power, 65. + Ink photo, intensity of, 65. + Italian art, 22. + Italian engraving, 22. + Italian Niello, 18. + + + Jacobite sympathies, 32. + Justification, A, 66. + + + Kartenmacher, 7. + King of Terrors, The, 9. + + + Lalanne, 38. + Landscape engraving, 36. + Landseer, 35, 36, 47. + Lawrence, 35, 47. + Lewis, F. C., 35. + Leyden, Lucas van, 24. + Light and shade, 53. + Line process engraving, 59, 60. + Litzelburger, Hans, 9. + Louis XIV., 23. + Ludwig, von Sigen, 42. + Lutterell, 46. + + + Mannerisms, 22, 54. + Mantegna, Andrea, 20. + Merchant marks, 6. + Metal engraving, 9. + Metal engraving, invention of, 18. + Metal engraving, another account, 19. + Mezzotint engraving, invention, 42, 43. + Mezzotint engraving, qualities, 43, 44. + Mezzotint engraving, popularised, 43, 44. + Mezzotint engraving, described, 44. + Movable types, 7. + + + National characteristics, 21. + Nation's progress, mirror of, 4. + Nature's expression, 69. + Neolithic period, 3. + New Testament, 8. + Northcote's pictures, 33. + Nuremberg records, 7. + + + Outline, 49, 51-52. + Ornamental engraving, 18. + + + Palaeolithic period, 3. + Parker, Archbishop, 27. + Passe family, 27. + Payne, John, 28. + Perspective, 24. + Perspective, aerial, 54. + Perspective, linear, 54. + Photo process, 57. + Photogravure, artistic features, 64. + Photogravure, description, 65. + Photogravure, pictorial cards, 7. + Place, Francis, 46. + Pope's villa, 35. + Prehistoric artistic power, 3. + Prehistoric art, purpose of, 3. + Primeval engraver, 3. + Primeval man, 1. + Prince Rupert, 43, 46. + Process engraving, amplification of, 64. + Process engraving, artistic, 58. + Process engraving, commercial features, 58. + Process engraving, value of, 57, 58. + Progressive review, 23. + Progressive process, 57, 58. + Pye, John, 35. + + + Queen Elizabeth, 27. + + + Raimbach, 34, 35. + Raimondi, Marc Antonio, 21. + Raphael, 21. + Realism, 68, 69. + Religious illustrations, 7. + Rembrandt, 24. + Rembrandt's influence, 41. + Renaissance, 19. + Retrospect, 69. + Reynolds, 34, 43. + Rock, Jerome, 8. + Romney, 45. + Royal Sovereign, 28. + + + Screen effect, 60, 61. + Society of Arts, 47. + _Speculum Humanae Salvationis_, 7. + Stipple engraving, 33. + Strange, Robert, 32, 33. + Style, 68. + Symbolic figures, 4. + + + Technique, 22, 23. + Thirteenth century documents, 6. + Three colour process, 64. + Tone and texture, 49. + Translation, 17. + Tri-chromatography, 64. + Turk's Head, 34. + Turner, 35, 36, 37, 45, 67. + + + Untutored art, 2. + + + Vallerant Valliant, 43. + Venetian navigators, 5. + Vertue, 28. + Vesalius, 26. + + + Walpole, Horace, 28, 30. + West, 34, 45. + Wilkie, David, 35. + Wilson, 34. + Wood blocks, 5. + Wood engraving, 5. + Wood engraving, combination of lines, 14. + Wood engraving, justification of, 13. + Wood engraving, power of realisation, 14. + Wood engraving, pictorial and artistic effects, 14. + Wood engraving, renaissance, 9. + Wood engraving, variety of texture, 14. + + * * * * * + +_Printed by_ MORRISON & GIBB LIMITED, _Edinburgh_ + + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Engraving for Illustration, by Joseph Kirkbride + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ENGRAVING FOR ILLUSTRATION *** + +***** This file should be named 36751.txt or 36751.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/3/6/7/5/36751/ + +Produced by Chris Curnow, David Garcia and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This +file was produced from images generously made available +by The Internet Archive) + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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