Etching. 



31 



work, he will uow A'arnisli over those lines which are deep enough, and 

 replace the copper in the bath until the requisite strength is attained 

 (second biting), a process which can, of course, be repeated at the 

 etcher's will. 



If the ground is removed from the plate (for the sake of taking a 

 proof) before the biting is completed, the ground must be re-laid with a 

 roller, which will leave all but the lightest lines uncovered and allow for 

 re-biting in the old lines. If the ground is left transparent, and not 

 blackened, the etcher will be able to see his original work and continue 

 the design. 



As the ground offers practically no resistance to the needle, the 

 etcher's hand will have the same freedom as in drawing. Etching is in 

 consequence far less formal in its style than line-engraving, in which the 

 command of the graver demands a rigid discipline. There is no burr in 

 the etching, as the copper is eaten away from the furrow, not thrown out 

 at the side, so that the etched line prints as clearly as the engraved line 

 with its burr removed. 



Apart from the freedom of the etched line, it is generally easy to 

 distinguish it from the line obtained by the graver or dry-point, in that 

 its ends are more nearly square. The line obtained by the graver or 

 dry-point gradually tapers to a point as the tool comes to the surface of 

 the copper. 



A form of etching which is able to imitate the effect of a pencil or phalk 

 drawing is called soft groimd etching. The soft ground, laid on the 

 plate, is a mixture of ordinary etching ground with tallow. The design 

 is then finely drawn with a pencil on thin paper stretched over the 

 surface of the grounded plate, and when the paper is removed, the ground 

 is found to adhere where it was pressed by the pencil. The surface of the 

 plate is thus uncovered in such a way that the biting produces the effect 

 of the grain of pencil or chalk. It is sometimes difficult to distinguish a 

 soft ground etching from a crayon engraving, which obtains similar 

 effects by other means (see p. 41). 



Etching is also an essential part of the process of stipple (see p. 41). 



History. 



Etching probably originated in the workshops of the armourers, who 

 used this method of decorating iron from about the middle of the XVth 

 century, if not earlier. The earliest dated etching (1513) is by Urs Graf 

 (about 1485-1529), but Daniel Hopfer, an armourer of Augsburg (worked 

 about 1493-1536), probably produced some of his etchings as early as 

 about 1500. Diirer was amongst the earliest to follow, but he only 

 etched a few plates (between 1515 and 1518). 



Among the XVIth century German engravers who have already been 

 cited, Albreeht Altdorfer and H. S. Beham were also etchers. 



Other German etchers of the XVlth century are the landscape artists : 



Augustin Hlrsehvogel. Nuremberg, Vienna. 1503-53 ? 



Hans Sebald Lautensack. Nuremberg, Vienna. About 1524-63. 



The earliest Italian etchings, which hardly appeared before 1520, are 

 by Francesco Mazzuoli (Parmigiano) (Parma; 1503 ?-40), and work 

 in a somewhat similar, but more flamboyant style, in which dry-point 



