EEPOETS FROM THE SECTIONS. 307 



ETCHINe AND ETCHEBS. 



By E. L. MONTEFIOEE. 



l^Read before the Literature and Fine Art Section of the Royal Society of 

 N.S.TF., 27 Ifovember, 1876.2 



He commenced by alluding to tlie common error of styling pen 

 and ink drawings etchings, explaining tliat an etching was a draw- 

 ing produced on a metal plate, by means of lines or strokes bitten 

 in or corroded by the action of acid, from which impressions were 

 afterwards taken through the medium of a printing-press — the 

 artist's ideas being thus capable of reproduction ; and that whilst 

 it required a certain amount of skill in the use of pen or pencil 

 to produce a good etching, a person might produce any charming 

 pen and ink drawings although utterly ignorant of the art of 

 etching. Mr. Montefiore then proceeded to show the difference 

 between etching and engraving, the latter being more of a 

 mechanical process, the effect being produced by a series of 

 regular lines and dots, executed on metal with the " burin" with- 

 out the aid of acid, and necessarily not possessing the freedom of 

 the etching, in the execution of which the artist allows his needle 

 to wander freely over the plate, as though he were drawing with 

 pen or pencil, leaving it to the acid to give the necessary grada- 

 tions of light and shade. Quoting from Grilbert Hammerton, 

 himself an experienced etcher, he remarked that the central idea 

 of etching was the free expression of purely artistic thought, and 

 that of all the arts known it was the best fitted for that especial 

 purpose. The ideal of an etching, said that writer, is that it 

 should be free and spontaneous. When a plate has been labor- 

 iously corrected it always showed signs of fatigue, and so lost in 

 freshness what it might have gained in delicacy and force. A 

 certain kind of self-reliance, almost approaching a conviction of 

 his own personal value, was necessary to an aquafortist. The 

 needful elements of success in direct work of any kind was 

 absolute sincerity and simplicity. G-ood etching, like good 

 manners, did not hesitate about what is to be said or done, and 

 though highly sensitive, was not painfully self-conscious. Abore 

 all, it casts away affectation, the vice of the inferior arts. Etching 

 does not condescend, and therefore really need not be at the 

 trouble to polish its phrases and explain. The truth of these 

 remarks he considered abundantly exemplified in the works of 

 Rembrandt, the great representative master of the art of etching. 



