44 



ENGRAVING. 



tion, by more modern artists, yet Uiey have never 

 lii-tii surpassed in accuracy of drawing, and the clia- 

 racteristic portraiture of the animals. The lines, 

 instead of being cut into the substance, are raised, 

 like the letters of printing types, and printed in the 

 same manner. The wood used for this purpose is 

 ln>x, which is preferred for the hardness and closeness 

 of its texture. It is cut across the grain, into pieces 

 of the height of common types, that the engraving 

 may be made upon the end of the grain, as it is im- 

 possible to cut lines running with the grain or thread 

 of the wood. For the coarser kinds of work, plane- 

 tree, and even beech, are used ; but these have neither 

 firmness of texture nor hardness of substance for 

 the finer engravings. The surface must be planed 

 smooth, and the design drawn on it with a black-lead 

 pencil ; the graver is then used, the finer excava- 

 tions which are intended for white interstices between 

 the black lines are produced by cutting lines on the 

 surface of the wood, and the greatest lights are made 

 by cutting away the wood entirely of the intended 

 form, length, and breadth ; but the deepest shades 

 require no engraving. 



The most difficult part of this art is the production 

 of black lines crossing or intersecting each other ; 

 which will be better understood by an examination 

 of the following wood-engraving of a boy writing : 



These black lines will be noticed in the shadow 

 beneath the chin on the left side, and also on the 

 knees and left ancle. They can only be executed, 

 with great labour, by picking out with the graver the 

 interstices between these raised black lines. Crossing 

 with white lines, on the Other hand, is very easy ; 

 a slight specimen of it will be noticed in the under 

 side of the shadow of the pedestal. These are pro- 

 duced by simply cutting lines across with the graver. 

 Some have imagined that the earlier engravers on 

 wood had some mechanical and easy contrivance for 

 the production of black cross lines, from the great 

 quantity of these to be met with in their works ; 

 more particularly in the prints of Albert Durer. 



Much of the beauty of this kind of engraving 

 depends upon the printing. A recent improvement 

 has been made in wood engraving, which is this : 

 The blocks are prepared as before, and covered 

 with flake white. The drawing is then made on this, 

 and the wood engraver has only to cut out the lights. 

 The beautiful wood cuts, executed by Branston and 

 Wright, for the Tower menagerie and Zoological gar- 

 dens (after designs by Harvey), recently published 

 in London, are executed in this manner, and are the 

 finest things of the kind which have been executed 

 in any country. Wood engravings have this advan- 

 tage, that they may be inserted in a page of common 



types, and printed without separate expense. They 

 are very durable, and may be multiplied by the pro- 

 cess of stereotyping. The tools used in this art are 

 very varied, such as chisels, botn flat and hollow, as 

 also round, for cutting out the back-grounds, and 

 common, square, lozenge, and knife-grooves for exe- 

 cuting the fines. 



Coloured Engravings. Coloured engravings are 

 variously executed. The most common are printed 

 in black outline, and afterwards painted separately 

 in water-colours. Sometimes a surface is produced by 

 aquatinto, or stippling, and different colours applied 

 in printing, to different parts, care being taken to 

 wipe oft' the colours in opposite directions, that they 

 may not interfere with each other. But the most 

 perfect as well as the most elaborate productions, are 

 those which are first printed in colours, and after- 

 wards painted by hand. 



Engravers, Modern. Among modem nations, the 

 Italians, French, Germans, and English have rivalled 

 each other in producing great works in the depart- 

 ment of engraving ; but, on the whole, the superi- 

 ority seems to belong to the British both for the 

 number and the value of their productions : and 

 the French are more particularly famous for the ex- 

 cellence of their impressions. Many great works, 

 executed in Germany, are sent to Paris to be struck 

 off. In Germany, Frederic von Muller, whose Ma- 

 donna di S. Sisto is still a jewel in collections, died 

 too early for the art. C. Rahl distinguished himself 

 by his engraving of Fra Bartholomoe's Presentation 

 of Christ in the Temple, and of Raphael's St Mar- 



Cret. K. Hess, Reindel, Umer (lately deceased), 

 sybold, Lutz, and A. Kessler have produced fine 

 cabinet-pieces. John in Vienna, Kobell in Munich, 

 Barth, Amsler and Rushweyh in Rome, are distin- 

 guished in different branches. Chodowiecki, Banse, 

 Bolt, Clemens, Gmelin, and many others, have con- 

 tributed much to advance the art of engraving. In 

 general, it may be mentioned as a favourable sign of 

 the times, that all the first artists in Germany apply 

 their talents to great works, whilst the taste for Sou- 

 venir engravings seems rapidly dying away. Those 

 engravers who have produced the best plates for 

 scientific works, so very important a branch of the 

 art, and those in the department of geography, 

 would deserve to be mentioned if we had room. 

 France has maintained her early fame, in the art of 

 engraving, down to the most recent times. The 

 engravings of A. Boucher-Desnoyers (for instance, 

 the Madonna di Foligno, La Vierge, dite La Belle 

 Jardiniere, Francis I., and Margaret of Navarre, 

 Phaedre and Hippolyte, the portrait of the Prince de 

 Benevento) are acknowledged masterpieces. Lig- 

 non's St Caecilia from Domenichino, his Atala, his 

 portrait of Mademoiselle Mars ; Massard's St Caecilia 

 of Raphael, and Apollo with the Muses of Giulio 

 Romano ; Richomme's, Dien's, Girodet's, Gudin's, 

 Audouin's plates, no less magnificently than care 

 fully executed ; Jazet's large pieces hi aquatinto 

 (for instance, from the paintings of Vernet) all mani- 

 fest how rich France is in great engravers. Neither 

 ought we to forget the magnificent literary works, al- 

 most constantly published in France, which owe their 

 ornaments to the skill of French engravers. In 

 the most recent productions of the French engrav- 

 ers, an imitation of the school of Morghen is observ- 

 able ; whilst some young Italian and German artists 

 have aimed at something higher than even Mor- 

 ghen's productions. Since the art of painting has 

 ceased to produce many works worthy of multiplica- 

 tion by the burin of the first engravers, these have 

 occupied themselves chiefly with ancient master- 

 pieces, and engraving has taken a higher station 

 among the fine arts. Morghen, the pupil of Vol 



