ENGRAVING 287 



only is covered, and the lines already engraved are left clear ; any part of the plate 

 that it may not bo necessary to re-bite, must be stopped out with Brunswick black, 

 and then the acid may be poured over the whole, as in the first process. 



Etching on soft ground is a style of engraving formerly much practised in imitation 

 of chalk or pencil drawings ; since the introduction of lithography, however, it has 

 been entirely abandoned. The soft ground is made by adding one part of hog's lard 

 to three parts of common, or hard, etching-ground, unless the weather be very warm, 

 when a smaller quantity of lard will suffice ; it should be laid on and smoked in the 

 manner already described. Mr. Fielding gives the following method for working on 

 it. 'Draw the outline of your subject faintly on a piece of smooth thin writing- 

 paper, which must be at least an inch larger every way than the plate ; then damp it, 

 and spread it cautiously on the ground, and turning the edges over, paste down to the 

 back of the plate ; in a few hours the paper will be dry, and stretched quite smooth. 

 Eesting your hand on the bridge, take an H or HB pencil, and draw your subject on 

 the paper exactly as you wish it to be, pressing strongly for the darker touches, and 

 more lightly for the delicate parts, and, accordingly as you find the ground more or 

 less soft, which depends on the heat of the weather or the room you work in, use a 

 softer or harder pencil, remembering always that the softer the ground the softer the 

 pencil ' (should be). ' When the drawing is finished, lift up the paper carefully from 

 the plate, and wherever you have touched with the pencil, the ground will stick to 

 the paper, leaving the copper more or less exposed. A wall is then put round the 

 margin, the plate bit in, and if too feeble, re-bit in the same way as a common etching, 

 using hard etching-ground for the re-bite.' 



Line-engraving unquestionably occupies the highest place in the category of the art ; 

 and, taking it as a whole, it is the most suitable for representing the various objects 

 that constitute a picture. The soft, pulpy, and luminous character of flesh ; the rigid, 

 hard, and metallic character of armour ; the graceful folds and undulations of draperies, 

 the twittering, unsteady, and luxuriant foliage of trees, with the bright yet deep-toned 

 colour of skies, have by this mode, when practised by the best engravers, been more 

 successfully rendered than by any other. The process of line-engraving is, first, to 

 etch the plate in the manner already described, and afterwards to finish it with the 

 graver and dry point. An engraver's etching differs from a painter's etching in that 

 every part of the work has an unfinished appearance, though many engravers, espe- 

 cially of landscapes, carry their etchings so far as to make them very effective : 

 engravers of historical and other figure subjects, generally, do little more than etch 

 the outlines, and the broad shadowed masses, or colours, of the draperies ; the flesh 

 being entirely worked in with the burin, or graver: no definite rules can be laid 

 down as to the extent to which the etching should be advanced ere the work of the 

 tool commences, as scarcely two engravers adopt the same plan precisely: much 

 must always depend on the nature of the subject. Neither would it be possible to 

 point out in what particular way the graver should be used in the representation of 

 any particular object : this can only be learned in the studio of the master, or by 

 studying the works of the best engravers : as a rule it may be simply stated, that in 

 making the incision, or line, the graver is pushed forward in the direction required, 

 and should be held by the handle, at an angle very slightly inclined to the plane of 

 the steel or copper plate : the action of the graver is to cut the metal clean out. 



Some years ago an instrument, called a ruling machine, was invented by Mr. "Wilson 

 Lowry, and has been brought into use for laying in flat tints in skies, buildings, and 

 objects requiring straight, or slightly curved lines : considerable time is saved to the 

 artist by its use, and more even tints are produced than the most skilful hand-work 

 generally is able to effect ; but to counterbalance these advantages, freedom is fre- 

 quently sacrificed, and in printing a large number of impressions, the machine-work, 

 unless very skilfully ruled in, is apt to wear, or to become clogged with ink, sooner 

 than that which is graved. 



Mezzotinto engraving is generally supposed to owe its origin to Colonel Ludwig von 

 Siegen, an officer in the service of the Landgrave of Hesse ; there is extant a portrait 

 by him, in this style, of Amelia, princess of Hesse, dated 1643. Von Siegen is said 

 to have communicated his invention to Prince Eupert, to whom many writers have 

 assigned the credit of originating it : there are several plates executed by the Prince 

 still in existence. It differs from every other style of engraving, both in execution 

 and in the appearance of the impression which the plate yields : a mezzotint engraving 

 resembles a drawing done in washes of colour, by means of a camel's-hair pencil, 

 rather than a work executed with any sharp-pointed instrument; but a pure mezzo- 

 tint engraving is rarely produced in the present day, even for portraits : the advan- 

 tages derived from combining lino and stipple, of which we shall speak presently, 

 with it, to express the different kinds of texture in objects, have been rendered so 

 obvious as almost to make them necessary : this combination is termed the mixed 



