books, trade journals, dictionaries, and other publica- 

 tions could more etTectively teach or describe; scien- 

 tific journals could include in the body of text neat 

 and accurate pictures to enliven the pasjcs and illus- 

 trate the equipment and procedures described. .Ar- 

 ticles on travel couki now ha\e convincingly realistic 

 renditions of architectural landmarks and of foreign 

 sights, customs, personages, aTid views. The wood en- 

 graving, in short, made ])ossil)le the modern illus- 

 trated jniblication because, unlike cupper plate en- 

 graving or etching, it could be quickly set up with 

 printed matter. Its use, therefore, multiplied in- 

 creasinulv until just before 1900, when it was super- 

 seded for these purposes by the photomechanical half- 

 tone. 



But while Bewick was the prime mo\er in this revo- 

 lutionary change, little attention has been given to the 

 important technological development that cleared 

 the way for him. Without it he could not have 

 emerged .so slartlingly; without it there would have 

 been no modern wood engraving. It is not captious 

 to point out the purely industrial basis for his coming 

 to ijrominence. Even had he been a greater artist, a 

 study of the technical means at hand would ha\e 

 validitv in showing the interrelation of industry and 

 art although, of course, the aesthetic contribution 

 would stand by itself. 



But in Bewick's case the aesthetic level is not par- 

 ticularly high. Good as his art was, it wore an every- 

 day aspect: he did not give it that additional expres- 

 sive tmn found in the work of greater artists. It 

 should not be surprising, then, that his work was not 

 inimitable. It is well-known that his pupils made 

 many of the cuts attribiUed to him, makinc; the orig- 

 inal drawings and engraving in his style so well that 

 the results form almost one indistinguishable body of 

 work. The pupils were competent but not gifted, yet 

 they could turn out wood engravings not inferior to 

 Bewick's own. .And so we find that such capable 

 technicians as Nesbit, Clennell, Robinson, Hole, the 

 Johnsons, Harvey, and others all contributed to the 

 Bewick cult. 



Linton, who worshipped him as an artist but found 

 him primitive as a technician, commented: '' "Widely 

 praised by a crowd of unknowing connoisseurs and 

 undiscriminating collectors, we have yet, half a cen- 

 tury after his death, to point out how much of what is 

 attributed to him is reallv bv his hand." 



C'.hatto," who obtained his information from at least 

 one Bewick jjupil, says that many of the best tailpieces 

 in the History of British birds were drawn by Robert 

 Johnson, and that "the greater number of those con- 

 tained in the second volume were engraved by Clen- 

 nell." Granted that the outlook and the engraving 

 style were Bewick's, and that the.se were notable con- 

 tributions, the fact that the results were so close to his 

 fjwn points more to an effective method of illustr;ition 

 than to the outpourings of genius. 



Low Status of rhc Woodcut 



Bewick's training could not have been less promis- 

 ing. Apprenticed to Ralph Beill)y at the age of four- 

 teen, he says of his master: " 



. . . The work-place was filled with ilu- coarsest kind 

 of steel-stamps, pipe moulds, bottle inuulds, brass clock 

 faces, door plates, coffin plates, bookbinders letters and 

 stamps, steel, silver and gold seals, mourning rings,&c. He 

 also undertook the engraving of arms, crests and cyphers, 

 on silver, and every kind of Job from the silversmiths; also 

 engraving bills of e.xchangc, bank notes, invoices, account 

 heads, and cards . . . The higher department of engraving, 

 such as landscapes or historical plates. I dare say, was 

 hardly thought of by my master . . . 



.'\ little engraving on wood was also done, but 

 Bewick tells us that his master was imcomfortable in 

 this field and almost always turned it over to him. 

 His training, ob\iously, was of a rough and ready sort, 

 based upon serviceable but routine engraving on 

 metal. Then; was no study of drawing, com])osition, 

 or any of the refinements that could be learned from 

 a master who had a knowledge of art. Whatever 

 Bewick had of the finer points of drawing and design 

 he nmst have picked up by himself. 



When he completed his a|i|jreiuiceship in 1774 

 at the age of twenty-one, the art of engraving and 

 cutting on wood was just beginning to show signs 

 of life after more than a centui\- and a half of occupy- 

 ins>; the lowest position in the graphic arts. Since it 

 could not produce a full gamut of tones in the gray 

 register, which could be managed brilliantly by the 

 copper plate media — line engraving, etching, mez- 

 zotint and aquatint — it was confined to ruder and 

 less exacting uses, such as ornameiual headbands 

 and tailpieces for printers and as illustrations for 

 cheap popular broadsides. When <;ood illustrations 



' Ibid. 



" William (.llialtu, and .John Jarkson, .1 Inalise on wood en- 

 graving, London, 1861 (1st ed. 1839), pp. 496-498. 



' Thomas Bewick, Memoir of Thomas Bewick, New York, 

 1925 (1st cd. London, 1862), pp. 50, 51. 



188 



BULLETIN 218: CONTRIBUTIONS FROM THE MUSEUM OF HISTORY .XND TECHNOLOGY 



