ENGRAVING. 



465 



ters are now no longer the exclusive property of a 

 single spot, or a few individuals. They are given 

 to the world, literally published for the benefit of 

 society, and sent abroad into every land, to delight 

 the taste and to inspire the genius of all nations. 



The art of engraving is not, indeed, to be ranked 

 on a level with that of painting. The conception 

 of a piece, the sentiment, moral, or event to be re- 

 presented, the grouping of the figures, the imagina- 

 tion of forms and countenances, all that belongs to 

 creative power, is displayed in the original design. 

 But still there is left a work for the engraver, de- 

 manding a high order of talent. How laborious, 

 delicate, and minute is his labour; how fine, how 

 almost imperceptible, are the millions of strokes, 

 to which the finest hair seems coarse ; how infinite 

 the gradation from the deep and dark shadows to 

 the delicate touch, on which the ink is to be laid 

 so sparingly that the black shall literally appear 

 white ! And yet how bold and decided must his 

 touch be ; life, and even a glow of fire, all the va- 

 ried expressions of the "human face divine," all 

 the spirit that can light up the most gorgeous 

 painting, must be transmitted through the graver. 

 And more than this. The engraver is often called 

 upon to improve upon his copy ; to give, perhaps, 

 to the rude, hard outline of ancient and imperfect 

 drawing the roundness, grace, and fire of life ; to 

 supply strength and boldness, to give dignity and 

 sentiment, to inspire the quaintness of ancient art 

 with the grace of a better period, and at the same 

 time to preserve the gothic and sublime simplicity 

 of the original. In addition to this, in most of the 

 copies which engravers are called upon to make, 

 they are obliged to diminish very greatly the size 

 of the piece. And, in doing this, they must not 

 only give a much greater degree of delicacy to the 

 work, and devote much more time to minute de- 

 tail, but they must carefully preserve the original 

 proportions of the piece. Finally, the engraver 

 must, merely by the management of his lines, con- 

 vey, in some degree at least, the idea of colour. 

 For engraving seems, in this respect, to be the 

 point of meeting between painting and sculpture. 

 It does not exclude the idea of colour, like statu- 

 ary, which consults form alone. It does not, like 

 painting, give the detail of colour. Yet it must 

 convey the notion of different hues, because other- 

 wise no small portion of its purposes would be un- 

 fulfilled. The variety of subjects is much greater 

 for engraving than for sculpture. It is intended 

 to represent familiar and domestic scenes. It is 

 not confined to austere and dignified representa- 

 tions. It enters into every sphere of life, every 

 occupation, from the splendid dramas of the palace 

 and the gorgeous array of the church, to the inte- 

 rior of the hovel, the ale-house, and the stable. 

 To exclude the idea of colour from such represen- 

 tations would destroy the effect. Yet this can be 

 conveyed in engravings only by implication or sug- 

 gestion ; by so managing the width and direction 

 of the lines, that we suppose one colour to be re- 

 presented in one place, another in another place, 

 and so on. This power of the art is remarkably 

 displayed in engravings of landscapes, in which the 

 various hues of nature may be readily suggested to 

 the imagination. All the varieties of foliage, even 

 blossoms and flowers, the clear stream or lake re- 

 flecting the heavens, the gleam of the parting sun 

 upon the waters, even the gorgeous drapery of the 

 sunset sky, may be pictured by this charming art. 



In speaking of the power of engraving, we must 



VII. 



not omit to notice its beautiful adaptation to imi- 

 tate that most difficult branch of painting, the re- 

 presentation of flesh-colour. Here engraving seems 

 to achieve its highest triumph. Every variety of 

 the appearance of flesh, the beautiful smoothness 

 and delicacy of youth, the rough and wrinkled look 

 of age, the hard and weather-worn visage of the 

 seaman, the bright glow of childhood, and the soft- 

 ness of infancy, may be all conveyed by the engra- 

 ver with scarcely less distinctness than in the fin- 

 ished painting. 



Another very important and difficult office of 

 the art is to convey, in the copies from paintings, 

 a correct idea of the style of each great master ; 

 for the capacities of the art undoubtedly are suffi- 

 cient for this purpose. In effecting this important 

 object, it is obvious, that the engraver must be 

 more than a mere copyist. It is not enough to 

 imitate the outline and the shading, to preserve on 

 a smaller scale the just proportions of the original, 

 to convey a notion of the colouring, to give the 

 same expression to countenances, and the same 

 finish to all the detail. A higher order of talent 

 is required in the engraver. He must be able to 

 comprehend and appreciate the genius of the master, 

 whose work is before him. He must understand 

 the feelings which inspired him at the moment 

 when he was pouring out his soul upon the canvas. 

 He must know the enthusiasm that stirred him up, 

 the profound sentiment that filled his heart, the 

 devotion, piety, and ardour, with which he applied 

 himself to the work. He must catch a spark of 

 that heavenly flame, which burned in the soul of 

 the great artist, and kindled into life the portrait- 

 ure upon his canvass. In this way alone can he 

 give to his work that nameless and ethereal charm, 

 which, more than any thing else, distinguishes the 

 works of genius. 



These are some of the leading characteristics of 

 the art of engraving ; an art, which we consider per- 

 fect in its kind, that is, accomplishing all the objects 

 which it professes to undertake, as completely as 

 any of the fine arts. The editor of Horace Wai- 

 pole's " Catalogue of Engravers " remarks, that 

 " want of colouring is the capital deficience of 

 prints." But we think he is entirely mistaken in 

 this respect. Engravings, as we have endeavoured 

 to show, do possess the property of colouring by 

 suggestion, and this is one of the distinguishing 

 beauties of the art. To colour a fine engraving, 

 which is fully finished with all the depth and var- 

 iety of shading, seems to us little less barbarous 

 than to paint a fine statue. 



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 m.ich 

 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. W'nen 

 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 sulph r ; 

 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. Painters were employed to make de- 

 signs for this kind of engraving, and impressions 



