134 On the Art of Aqiiatinta Engraving. 



taste of the artist, some using one substance and some an- 

 other. 



" In order to produce a coarse or fine orain, it is neces- 

 sary to use a greater or smaller quantity of resin ; and to 

 ascertain the proper proportions, several spare pieces of 

 copper must be provided, on which the liquid may be 

 poured, and the grain examined before it is applied to the 

 plate to be engraved. 



" After the solution is mude, it must stand still and un- 

 disturbed for a day or two, till all the impurities of the resin 

 have settled to the bottom, and the fluid is perfectly pel- 

 lucid. No other method of freeing it from those impurities 

 has been found to answer. Straining it through Imen or 

 muslin tills it with hairs, which are rumous to the grain. 



" The room in which the liquid is poured on the p'ate 

 must be perfectlv still, and free from dust, which, whenever 

 it falls on the plate while wet, causes the grain to form a 

 white spot, which it is impossible to remove without laving 

 the grain afresh. 



" The plate must be previously cleaned, with the greatest 

 possible caie, with a rag and whiting, as ihe smallest stain 

 or particle of grease produces a streak or blemish in the 

 grain. 



" All these attentions are absolutely necessary to produce 

 a tolerable regular grain ; and, after ever}' thing that can be 

 done by the most experienced artists, still there is much un- 

 certainty in the process. They are sometimes obliged to 

 lav on the grain several times before they procure one suf- 

 ficiently regular. The same proportions of materials do not 

 always produce the same eflect, as it depends in some de- 

 gree upon their qualities, and it is even materially afl'ectcd 

 by the weather. These difficulties are not to be surmounted 

 but by a great deal of experience; and those wlio are daily 

 in the habit of practising the art are frequently liable to the 

 most unaccountable accidents. Indeed it is much to be 

 lamented, that so elegant and useful a process should be so 

 delicate and uncertain. 



" It being necessary to hold the plate in a slanting di- 

 rection in order to drain off the superfluous fluid, there 

 will naturally be a greater body of the liquid at the bottom 

 than at the ton of the plate. Dn this account, a grain laid 

 in this way is always coarser at that side of the plate that 

 was held lowermost. The most usual way is, to keep the 

 coarsest side for the foreground, being generallv the part 

 that has the deepest shadows. lu large landscapes, some- 

 limes 



