164 THE FINE ARTS. 
wood-engraving, and great pains were bestowed upon its revival. The 
first step towards improvement was to cease cutting the blocks with the 
grain as was practised in the middle ages, and to cut them out of box-wood 
across the grain. In this manner not only a finer and more even surface 
was produced, but the laying open of the numerous pores made the block 
better adapted to receive the printing-ink. The second principal improve- 
ment was to exchange the use of the knife formerly employed for the burin of 
the copper-plate engraver, so that the block was no longer cut but engrawed. 
In Germany there are now but few, though these are the most celebrated 
artists, who understand the far more difficult art of cutting on the side of 
the woody fibre; among these are Unzelmann, Kretzschmar, and Gubitz. 
The third, and perhaps the greatest of the improvements in wood-engraving, 
is that of varying the height of the block’s surface. When the engraving 
is executed upon a perfectly even surface, all the lines which are to appear 
in the printing must stand in relief, while in the places that are to remain 
white, a portion of the thickness of the wood must be removed; a line, of 
course, must make throughout its whole length an equally black impression, 
and the only way of lightening the shade is to make the lines finer, and to 
increase the breadth of the white spaces between them. But even then the 
lines cut off suddenly will press their ends sharply into the soft paper, 
where not unlikely they will make little black spots, such as often disfigure 
the older wood-cuts. Hence it becomes necessary that the lightly-shaded 
parts should be treated in some way to prevent their taking up and giving 
off too much color. The object was effected by lowering such parts a little 
below the proper type-level, so that during the impression these sunken lines 
and shadows but slightly touch the paper, the inking-roller likewise impart- 
ing to them less color than to the more elevated portions. This process 
produces the most admirable results, but it requires very skilful artists ; 
because those parts of the design which have been lowered must be drawn 
over again. It has been erroneously supposed that the lowering of the face 
of the block to obtain lighter shades was an invention of Thomas Bewick in 
1828. As Bewick was a self-taught artist, the idea may: have been original 
with him; although he practised it long before 1828, which was the year 
of his death. The same expedient, however, was in use centuries before his 
time, as may be seen by referring to Jackson’s Treatise on Wood-Engraving, 
p. 548. 
The English acted on the spur of practical utility; to the useful the 
French added the agreeable, and to them we owe the first editions of classical 
writers illustrated with wood-engravings. In Germany, also, the utility of 
the art of wood-engraving soon became apparent. Gubitz, in a manner, 
created this art anew in Germany, and his productions are still among the 
best. His pupils are found everywhere. He was followed by Blasius 
Hofel in Vienna, who also invented chromo-xylography, or a mode of print- 
ing in different colors by using a succession of blocks of the same size, each 
having only those objects engraved on it which are to ‘appear in one par- 
ticular color, a sort of chiaroscuro or camayeux. Germany is now rich in 
artists who can compete with the best English and French wood-engravers, 
548 
