ENGRAVING. 



than the process of engraving these etched draw- 

 ings can scarcely be imagined. Wood-engravings 

 should possess a character of their own which can- 

 not be mistaken, and not be a mere imitation of 

 any other art ; and to attain this character in the 

 highest possible degree, ought to be the aim of 

 every artist on wood. Much has been said of late 

 years about wood-engraving as a light and re- 

 munerative employment for ladies, and much 

 nonsense talked about its being easily acquired 

 in a few lessons. Without wishing to discourage 

 the idea, we would not be doing our duty if we did 

 not warn them that the patience and perseverance 

 necessary to acquiring the art usefully will be 

 much greater than at first sight may be supposed. 

 To such, however, as can furnish the requisite 

 patience, in addition to decided talent, we would 

 desire to give every encouragement ; there is plenty 

 of room for really good engravers, although, of 

 mediocre hands, there are enough and to spare. 



ENGRAVING ON COPPER AND STEEL. 



In the printing of letter-press or wood-cuts, as 

 has been already noticed, the impressions are 

 effected by the raised faces of the letters, or 

 marks, in the manner of a stamp. Printing from 

 engraved plates is performed on a principle 

 directly the reverse : in this case, the face of the 

 metal, cleared of the ink daubed upon it, gives no 

 representation the printing is effected from the 

 sunk lines. While wood-engravings may be 

 printed along with type-matter, engravings on 

 plates of metal require to be printed by them- 

 selves. 



The discovery of the art of engraving on metal, 

 for the purpose of making impressions on paper, 

 is generally ascribed to Finiguerra, a goldsmith 

 of Florence. He excelled in an art then much 

 practised in Florence called niello. It was the 

 custom with jewellers, in those times, to engrave 

 the outlines of Scripture subjects upon the vessels 

 which they made for the use of the church. When 

 this engraving was completed, they filled the lines 

 with a black substance composed of a mixture of 

 lead and silver, in solution with borax and sul- 

 phur ; and impressions were taken from this in 

 clay or sulphur. The black substance used was 

 called niello, and hence the name of the art. The 

 same process was also used when pieces of 

 armour, household plate, and other articles, were 

 engraved for the purpose of being inlaid with 

 metals, wood, or ivory. 



German writers claim the honour of the inven- 

 tion for a citizen of Antwerp, Martin Schoengaur, 

 asserting that he practised the art before Fini- 

 guerra. It seems probable that it appeared 

 nearly simultaneously in both countries. The 

 earliest distinguished engravers, after the dis- 

 covery of the art, however, were Italians. 



It does not appear that Finiguerra pursued his 

 invention any further than to take impressions on 

 paper instead of clay. A contemporary, of the 

 same profession and city, Baccio Baldini, im- 

 proved upon the invention by engraving on plates 

 for the express purpose of taking impressions on 

 paper. The works of Baldini attracted the atten- 

 tion of a Roman engraver, Andrea Mantegna, 

 who had already become distinguished as one of 

 the most successful of the niellatori. This artist 

 not only assisted Baldini with original designs, 



but also turned his own efforts to the promotion 

 the newly discovered art, in which he soon 

 became a proficient 



In our notice of the early days of the art, we 

 must not omit mentioning Albert DUrer, one of 

 the earliest German engravers. Some knowledge 

 pf the art seems to have been previously possessed 

 in Holland by Martin Schoengaur, who is thought 

 py some German writers, as we have seen, to have 

 invented it, and who was certainly a contem- 

 porary of Finiguerra. The works of Martin, and 

 his disciple Wolgemuth, inspired the genius of 

 Albert Diirer, who did much for the improvement 

 of the art, excelling as much on copper as we have 

 already seen he did on wood. Marc-Antonio 

 Raimondi, an Italian artist, having seen Durer*s 

 prints, improved upon them, and became at Rome 

 a master in the art. Thus the profession was spread 

 simultaneously over Holland and Italy. Although 

 there have been various improvements in the art 

 since this early period of its history, the mode 

 of etching the plates remains substantially the 

 same. At present, there are several kinds of 

 engraving practised, each effected in a different 

 manner, and of these we shall now offer a short 

 account. 



Line-engraving. This is the principal as well 

 as the most ancient species of engraving. When 

 not executed entirely with the graver and dry 

 point that is, when the lines are not cut 

 mechanically and finished with the scraper and 

 burnisher it is commenced by a chemical process 

 called etching. The plate is first cleaned on its 

 polished surface, and heated sufficiently to melt 

 a composition of asphaltum and Burgundy pitch, 

 called etching-ground, which is rubbed upon it, 

 and rendered equal all over, by dabbing with a 

 ball of wool covered with silk. The plate is then 

 held up for the surface to receive the smoke of a 

 wax-taper, until it is rendered black and glossy, 

 into which state it comes, on not being suffered 

 to cool during the process. These preparations 

 being effected, and the plate becoming cold, the 

 etching-ground, which is not thicker than a coat 

 of varnish, is found to be of a hard consistence, 

 and ready to 1 receive the tracing of the subject 

 intended to be etched. The previous preparation 

 of the subject is a very important step in the 

 process. The subject is drawn upon transparent 

 paper with a black-lead pencil, and being laid with 

 the face downward on the etching-ground, the 

 lines or marks of the drawing are pressed upon 

 it with such force, that they arc left on the ground 

 on removing the paper. This is called * trans- 

 ferring ; ' and of course the excellence of the 

 representation to be produced depends on the 

 excellence of the drawing. Engravers, therefore, 

 in copying paintings, require to possess a degree 

 of skill in the art of delineation hardly inferior to 

 that of the original artist. 



The drawing being transferred in the manner 

 described, the engraver applies his tool, or etching- 

 needle, over the lines, carefully removing the 

 ground, at the same time pressing sufficiently 

 hard to scratch the surface of the copper. When 

 any error has been committed, the objectionable 

 lines may be stopped out by working a little of 

 the ground over them with a hair-pencil dipped 

 in turpentine. When set, the parts so treated 

 resist the aquafortis. A wall of wax is now placed 

 round the margin of the plate, and into the 



