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A TREATISE ON ETCHING.
"Amongst Frenchmen Claude is the best landscape etcher of past
days, and Lalanne the best of the present day."--P. G. HAMERTON.
[Illustration: Frontispiece]
A TREATISE
ON
ETCHING.
TEXT AND PLATES
BY
MAXIME LALANNE.
* * * * *
AUTHORIZED EDITION, TRANSLATED FROM THE
SECOND FRENCH EDITION
BY
S. R. KOEHLER.
WITH AN INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER AND NOTES BY THE
TRANSLATOR.
* * * * *
BOSTON:
ESTES AND LAURIAT,
Publishers.
_Copyright_,
BY ESTES AND LAURIAT.
1880.
UNIVERSITY PRESS:
JOHN WILSON AND SON, CAMBRIDGE.
TRANSLATOR'S PREFACE.
So much interest has of late years been shown in England in the art of
etching, that it seems hardly necessary to apologize for bringing out an
English edition of a work on the subject from the pen of an artist whom
a weighty English authority has pronounced to be the best French
landscape-etcher of the day. It might be urged, indeed, that more than
enough has already been written concerning the technical as well as the
aesthetic side of etching. But this objection is sufficiently met by the
statement of the fact that there is no other work of the kind in which
the processes involved are described in so plain and lucid a manner as
in M. Lalanne's admirable "_Traite de la Gravure a l'Eau-forte_." In the
laudable endeavor to be complete, most of the similar books now extant
err in loading down the subject with a complicated mass of detail which
is more apt to frighten the beginner than to aid him. M. Lalanne's
_Treatise_, on the contrary, is as simple as a good work of art.
It may, however, be incumbent upon me to offer a few words of excuse
concerning my own connection with the bringing out of this translation;
for, at first sight, it will, no doubt, appear the height of
presumption, especially on the part of one who is not himself a
practising artist, to add an introductory chapter and notes to the work
of a consummate master on his favorite art. But what I have done has
not, in any way, been dictated by the spirit of presumption. The reasons
which induced me to make the additions may be stated as follows.
It is a most difficult feat for one who has thoroughly mastered an
accomplishment, and has practised it successfully for a lifetime, to
lower himself to the level of those who are absolutely uninformed. A
master is apt to forget that he himself had to learn certain things
which, to him, seem to be self-evident, and he therefore takes it for
granted that they _are_ self-evident. A practised etcher thinks nothing
of handling his acid, grounding and smoking his plate, and all the other
little tricks of the craft which, to a beginner, are quite worrying and
exciting. It seemed to me best, therefore, to acquaint the student with
these purely technical difficulties, without complicating his first
attempts by artistic considerations, and hence the origin of the
"Introductory Chapter." Very naturally I was compelled, in this chapter,
to go over much of the ground covered by the _Treatise_ itself. But the
diligent student, who remembers that "Repetition is the mother of
learning," will not look upon the time thus occupied as wasted.
The notes are, perhaps, still more easily explained. M. Lalanne very
rarely stops to inform his reader how the various requisites may be
made. Writing, as he did, at and for Paris, there was, indeed, no reason
for thus encumbering his book; for in Paris the Veuve Cadart is always
ready to supply all the wants of the etcher. For a London reader, Mr.
Charles Roberson, of 99 Long Acre, whom Mr. Hamerton has so well--and
very properly--advertised, is ready to perform the same kind office. But
for those who live away from the great centres of society, it may
oftentimes be necessary either to forego the fascinations of etching, or
else to provide the materials with their own hands. For the benefit of
such persons, I have thought it advisable to describe, in the notes, the
simplest and cheapest methods of making the tools and utensils which are
needed in the execution of M. Lalanne's precepts.
By the arrangement of the paragraphs which I have ventured to introduce,
M. Lalanne's pleasant little book has, perhaps, lost something of its
vivacity and freshness, especially in the fifth chapter. But this dull,
methodical order will be found, I hope, to add to the convenience of the
work as a book of reference, which, according to M. Lalanne's own
statement, is, after all, its main object.
It is due to the English public to say, that the additions were
originally written for the American edition of this book, published by
Messrs. Estes & Lauriat, of Boston, Mass. To free them from the American
character which they very naturally bear, would have necessitated the
resetting of a great part of the work, and a consequent increase in its
cost. It has been deemed advisable, therefore, to leave the whole of the
text in its original condition, more especially as the changes are such
that they can easily be supplied by the reader, and do not in the least
affect the value of the information conveyed.
S. R. KOEHLER.
BEECH GLEN AVENUE, ROXBURY, BOSTON,
July, 1880.
CONTENTS.
PAGE
TRANSLATOR'S PREFACE v
INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER.--THE TECHNICAL ELEMENTS OF ETCHING xiii
Paragraph
1. Definition of Etching xiii
2. Requisites xiv
3. Grounding the Plate xviii
4. Smoking the Plate xviii
5. Points or Needles xix
6. Drawing on the Plate xix
7. Preparing the Plate for the Bath xx
8. The Bath xx
9. Biting and Stopping Out xx
DESCRIPTION OF THE PLATES xxiii
LETTER BY M. CHARLES BLANC xxv
INTRODUCTION (by the Author) 1
CHAPTER I.
DEFINITION AND CHARACTER OF ETCHING.
Paragraph
1. Definition 3
2. Knowledge needed by the Etcher 3
3. Manner of using the Needle.--Character of Lines 4
4. Freedom of Execution 4
5. How to produce Difference in Texture 5
6. The Work of the Acid 5
7. The Use of the Dry Point 5
8. Spirit in which the Etcher must work 5
9. Expression of Individuality in Etching 6
10. Value of Etching to Artists 6
11. Versatility of Etching 7
12. Etching compared to other Styles of Engraving 7
13. Etching as a Reproductive Art 7
CHAPTER II.
TOOLS AND MATERIALS.--PREPARING THE PLATE.--DRAWING ON THE
PLATE WITH THE NEEDLE.
14. Method of using this Manual 9
A. _Tools and Materials._
15. List of Tools and Materials needed 9
16. Quality and Condition of Tools and Materials 10
B. _Preparing the Plate._
17. Laying the Ground, or Varnishing 12
18. Smoking 13
C. _Drawing on the Plate with the Needle._
19. The Transparent Screen 14
20. Needles or Points 14
21. Temperature of the Room 15
22. The Tracing 16
23. Reversing the Design 16
24. Use of the Mirror 17
25. Precautions to be observed while Drawing 17
26. Directions for Drawing with the Needle 17
CHAPTER III.
BITING.
27. Bordering the Plate 20
28. The Tray 20
29. Strength of the Acid 20
30. Label your Bottles! 21
31. The First Biting 21
32. The Use of the Feather 22
33. Stopping Out 22
34. Effect of Temperature on Biting 22
35. Biting continued 23
36. Treatment of the various Distances 23
37. The Creve.--Its Advantages and Disadvantages 24
38. Means of ascertaining the Depth of the Lines 24
39. The Rules which govern the Biting are subordinated to
various Causes 25
40. Strong Acid and Weak Acid 25
41. Strength of Acid in relation to certain Kinds of Work 26
42. Last Stages of Biting 27
CHAPTER IV.
FINISHING THE PLATE.
43. Omissions.--Insufficiency of the Work so far done 29
44. Transparent Ground for Retouching 29
45. Ordinary Ground used for Retouching.--Biting the Retouches 30
46. Revarnishing with the Brush 31
47. Partial Retouches.--Patching 31
48. Dry Point 32
49. Use of the Scraper for removing the Bur thrown up by the
Dry Point 33
50. Reducing Over-bitten Passages 33
51. The Burnisher 33
52. Charcoal 34
53. The Scraper 35
54. Hammering Out (Repoussage) 35
55. Finishing the Surface of the Plate 35
CHAPTER V.
ACCIDENTS.
56. Stopping-out Varnish dropped on a Plate while Biting 37
57. Revarnishing with the Roller for Rebiting 37
58. Revarnishing with the Roller in Cases of Partial Rebiting 38
59. Revarnishing with the Dabber for Rebiting 39
60. Revarnishing with the Brush for Rebiting 39
61. Rebiting a Remedy only 39
62. Holes in the Ground 39
63. Planing out Faulty Passages 40
64. Acid Spots on Clothing 41
65. Reducing Over-bitten Passages and Creves 41
CHAPTER VI.
DIFFERENCE BETWEEN FLAT BITING AND BITING WITH STOPPING OUT.
66. Two Kinds of Biting 43
67. Flat Biting.--One Point 44
68. Flat Biting.--Several Points 44
69. Biting with Stopping Out.--One Point 44
70. Biting with Stopping Out.--Several Points 44
71. Necessity of Experimenting 45
72. Various other Methods of Biting 45
CHAPTER VII.
RECOMMENDATIONS AND AUXILIARY PROCESSES.--ZINK AND STEEL
PLATES.--VARIOUS THEORIES.
A. _Recommendations and Auxiliary Processes._
73. The Roulette 49
74. The Flat Point 49
75. The Graver or Burin 49
76. Sandpaper 50
77. Sulphur Tints 50
78. Mottled Tints 51
79. Stopping-out before all Biting 51
B. _Zink Plates and Steel Plates._
80. Zink Plates 52
81. Steel Plates 52
C. _Various other Processes._
82. Soft Ground Etching 52
83. Dry Point Etching 53
84. The Pen Process 54
CHAPTER VIII.
PROVING AND PRINTING.
85. Wax Proofs 55
86. The Printing-Press 55
87. Natural Printing 56
88. Artificial Printing 56
89. Handwiping with Retroussage 57
90. Tinting with a Stiff Rag 57
91. Wiping with the Rag only 58
92. Limits of Artificial Printing 58
93. Printing Inks 59
94. Paper 59
95. Epreuves Volantes 60
96. Proofs before Lettering 60
97. Epreuves de Remarque 60
98. Number of Impressions which a Plate is capable of yielding 60
99. Steel-facing 61
100. Copper-facing Zink Plates 62
NOTES. By the Translator 63
LIST OF WORKS on the Practice and History of Etching 75
A. Technical Treatises 75
B. Historical and Theoretical 77
C. Catalogues of the Works of the Artists 77
a. Dictionaries 77
b. Individual Artists 78
INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER.
THE TECHNICAL ELEMENTS OF ETCHING.
As explained in the Preface, this chapter has been added to enable the
beginner to master the most necessary technical elements of etching,
without complicating his first attempts by artistic considerations. Let
him learn how to use his ground, his points, and his acid, before he
endeavors to employ these requisites in the production of a work of art.
All the materials and tools necessary for making the experiment
described below can be bought at the following places:[A]--
NEW YORK: Henry Leidel, Artist's Materials, 341 Fourth Avenue.
PHILADELPHIA: Janentzky & Co., Artist's Materials, 1125 Chestnut
Street.
BOSTON: J. H. Daniels, Printer, 223 Washington Street.
But any one living within reach of a druggist, a paint-shop, and a
hardware-store can do just as well with the exercise of a little
patience and a very little ingenuity. For the benefit of such persons
all the necessary directions will be given for making what it may be
impossible to buy.
[A] In London, Mr. Hamerton recommends Mr. Charles Roberson, 99 Long
Acre.
* * * * *
1. =Definition of Etching.=--To be able to get an impression on paper
from a metal plate in a copper-plate printing-press, it is necessary to
sink the lines of the design below the surface of the plate, so that
each line is represented by a furrow. The plate is then inked all over,
care being taken to fill each furrow, and finally the ink is cautiously
wiped away from the surface, while the furrows are left charged with it.
A piece of moist paper pressed against a plate so prepared, will take
the ink up out of the furrows. The result is an impression. In
_engraving proper_ these furrows are cut into the plate by mechanical
means; in _etching_ chemical means are used for the same purpose. If
nitric acid is brought into contact with copper, the acid corrodes the
metal and finally eats it up altogether; if it is brought into contact
with wax or resinous substances, no action ensues. Hence, if we cover a
copper plate with a ground or varnish composed of wax and resinous
substances, and then draw lines upon this ground with a steel or iron
style or point, so that each stroke of the point lays bare the copper,
we shall have a drawing in lines of copper (which are affected by nitric
acid) on a ground of varnish (which is not thus affected). If now we
expose the plate to the action of nitric acid for a certain length of
time, we shall find, upon the removal of the ground by means of benzine,
that the lines have been _bitten into_ the plate, so that each line
forms a furrow capable of taking up the ink. The depth and the breadth
of the lines depends upon the thickness of the points used, and upon the
length of time allowed for biting; or, in other words, by varying the
size of the points and the time of exposure the lines may also be made
to vary. This is the whole of the _science_ of etching in a nutshell.
2. =Requisites.=--The following tools and materials are the only ones
which are absolutely necessary for a first experiment:--
1. A COPPER PLATE on which to execute your etching. Do not waste your
money on a large plate. A visiting-card plate is sufficiently large. If
you happen to have an engraved plate of that kind, you can use the back
of it. If you have none, get one at a card-engraver's. The price ought
not to be over fifteen cents. If you do not live in any of the large
cities named above, or cannot find a card-engraver, send fifteen cents
in stamps to Mr. Geo. B. Sharp, 45 Gold St., New York, N. Y., who will
forward a plate to you by mail. Be very particular in giving your full
and correct _post-office_ address. These plates only need cleaning to
fit them for use.
2. BENZINE, used for cleaning the plate, sold by grocers or druggists at
about five cents a pint for common quality.
3. WHITING or SPANISH WHITE, also for cleaning the plate. A very small
quantity will do.
4. CLEAN COTTON RAGS.--Some pieces of soft old shirting are just the
thing.
5. ETCHING-GROUND, with which to protect the plate against the action of
the acid. This ground is sold in balls about the size of a walnut. If
you do not live in a city where you can buy the ground, you may as well
make it yourself. Here is a recipe for a very cheap and at the same time
very good ground. It is the ground used by Mr. Peter Moran, one of the
most experienced of our American etchers. Buy at a drug-shop (not an
apothecary's) or painter's supply-store:--
Two ounces best natural asphaltum (also called Egyptian asphaltum),
worth about ten cents.
One and a half ounces best white virgin wax, worth about six cents.
One ounce Burgundy pitch, worth say five cents.
Break the wax into small pieces, and reduce the Burgundy pitch to fine
powder in a mortar, or have it powdered at the drug-shop. Take a clean
earthenware pot glazed on the inside, with a handle to it (in Boston you
can buy one for fifteen cents at G. A. Miller & Co.'s, 101 Shawmut
Avenue), and in this pot melt your asphaltum over a slow fire, taking
very good care not to let it boil over, or otherwise you might possibly
set the house afire. When the asphaltum has melted add the wax
gradually, stirring all the while with a clean glass or metal rod. Then
add the Burgundy pitch in the same way. Keep stirring the fluid mass,
and let it boil up two or three times, always taking care to prevent
boiling over! Then pour the whole into a pan full of tepid water, and
while it is still soft and pliant, form into balls of the required size,
working all the while under the water. If you touch the mass while it is
still too hot, you may possibly burn your fingers, but a true enthusiast
does not care for such small things. You will thus get about eight or
nine balls of very good ground at an outlay of about thirty-six cents in
cash, and some little time. Nearly all recipes order the wax to be
melted first, but as the asphaltum requires a greater heat to reduce it
to a fluid condition, it is best to commence with the least tractable
substance. For use, wrap a ball of the ground in a piece of fine and
close silk (taffeta), and tie this together with a string.
6. MEANS OF HEATING THE PLATE.--Any source of heat emitting no smoke
will do, such as a kitchen stove, a spirit lamp, or a small quantity of
alcohol poured on a plate and ignited (when the time arrives).
7. A HAND VICE with a wooden handle, for holding the plate while heating
it; price about seventy-five cents at the hardware-stores. But a small
monkey-wrench will do as well, and for this experiment you can even get
along with a pair of pincers.
8. A DABBER for laying the ground on the plate. Cut a piece of stout
card-board, two or three inches in diameter; on this lay a bunch of
horse-hair, freed from all dust, and over this again some cotton wool.
Cover the whole with one or two pieces of clean taffeta (a clean piece
of an old silk dress will do), draw them together tightly over the
card-board, and tie with a string. When finished the thing will look
something like a lady's toilet-ball. The horse-hair is not absolutely
necessary, and may be omitted.
9. MEANS OF SMOKING THE GROUND.--The ground when laid on the plate with
the dabber, is quite transparent and allows the glitter of the metal to
shine through. To obtain a better working surface the ground is
blackened by smoking it. For this purpose the thin wax-tapers known to
Germans as "Wachsstock," generally sold at German toy-stores, are the
best. They come in balls. Cut the tapers into lengths, and twist six of
them together. In default of these tapers, roll a piece of cotton cloth
into a roll about as thick and as long as your middle finger, and soak
one end of it in common lamp or sperm oil.
10. STOPPING-OUT VARNISH, used for protecting the back and the edges of
the plate, and for "stopping out," of which more hereafter. If you
cannot buy it you can make it by dissolving an ounce of asphaltum, the
same as that used for the ground, in about an ounce and a half of
spirits of turpentine. Add the asphaltum to the turpentine little by
little; shake the bottle containing the mixture frequently; keep it in
the sun or a moderately warm place. The operation will require several
days. The solution when finished should be of the consistency of thick
honey.
11. CAMEL'S-HAIR BRUSHES, two or three of different sizes, for laying on
the stopping-out varnish, and for other purposes.
12. ETCHING POINTS OR NEEDLES, for scratching the lines into the ground.
Rat-tail files of good quality, costing about twenty cents each at the
hardware-stores, are excellent for the purpose. Two are all you need for
your experiment, and even one will be sufficient. Still cheaper points
can be made of sewing, knitting, or any other kind of needles, mounted
in sticks of wood like the lead of a lead-pencil. Use glue or
sealing-wax to fasten them in the wood.
13. AN OIL-STONE for grinding the points.
14. AN ETCHING-TRAY to hold the acid during the operation of biting.
Trays are made of glass, porcelain, or india-rubber, and can generally
be had at the photographer's supply-stores. A small india-rubber tray,
large enough for your experiment, measuring four by five inches, costs
fifty-five cents. But you can make an excellent tray yourself of paper.
Make a box, of the required size and about one and a half inches high,
of pasteboard, covered over by several layers of strong paper, well
glued on. If you can manage to make a lip or spout in one of the
corners, so much the better. After the glue has well dried pour
stopping-out varnish into the box, and float it all over the bottom and
the sides; pour the residue of the varnish back into your bottle, and
allow the varnish in the box to dry; then paint the outside of the box
with the same varnish. Repeat this process three or four times. Such a
tray, with an occasional fresh coating of varnish, will last forever.
For your experiment, however, any small porcelain (_not_ earthenware) or
glass dish will do, if it is only large enough to hold your plate, and
allow the acid to stand over it to the height of about half an inch.
15. A PLATE-LIFTER, to lift your plate into and out of the bath without
soiling your fingers. It consists of two pieces of string, each say
twelve to fifteen inches long, tied to two cross-pieces of wood, each
about six inches long, thus [Illustration]. It is well to keep the
fingers out of the acid, as it causes yellow spots on the skin, which
remain till they wear off.
16. NITRIC ACID for biting in the lines. Any nitric acid sold by
druggists will do, but the best is the so-called chemically pure nitric
acid made by Messrs. Powers & Weightman, of Philadelphia. It comes put
up in glass-stoppered bottles, the smallest of which hold one pound, and
sell for about sixty cents.
17. WATER for mixing with the acid and for washing the plate.
18. BLOTTING-PAPER, soft and thick, several sheets, to dry the plate, as
will be seen hereafter.
19. SPIRITS OF HARTSHORN OR VOLATILE ALKALI.--This is not needed for
etching, but it is well to have it at hand, in case you should spatter
your clothes with acid. Spots produced by the acid can generally be
removed by rubbing with the alkali, which neutralizes the acid.
3. =Grounding the Plate.=--Having procured all these requisites, the
first thing to do will be to clean the plate so as to remove any oil or
other impurities that may have been left on it by the plate-maker. Wash
and rub it well on both sides with a soft cotton rag and benzine, and
then rub with whiting, as you would do if you were to clean a
door-plate. Take care to remove all the whiting with a clean rag. Now
take hold of your plate by one of its corners with the hand-vice,
wrench, or pincers, between the jaws of which you have put a bit of
card-board or stout paper, so as not to mark the plate. Hold it over the
stove, spirit lamp, or ignited alcohol, and see to it that it is heated
evenly throughout. Hold the plate in your left hand while heating it,
and with the other press against it the ball of ground wrapped up in
silk. As soon as you see the ground melting through the silk, distribute
it over the plate by rubbing the ball all over its surface (the
_polished_ surface, as a matter of course), taking care the while that
the plate remains just hot enough to melt the ground. If it is too hot,
the ground will commence to boil and will finally burn. The bubbles
caused by boiling are liable to leave air-holes in the ground through
which the acid may bite little holes in the plate; burning ruins the
ground altogether, so that it loses its power of withstanding the acid.
After you have distributed the ground tolerably evenly, and in a thin
layer, lay the plate down on the table (keeping hold of it, however, by
the corner), and finish the distribution of the ground by dabbing with
the dabber. Strike the plate quickly and with some force at first, and
treat it more gently as the ground begins to cool. If it should have
cooled too much, before the distribution is accomplished to your
satisfaction, in which case the dabber will draw threads, heat the plate
gently. The dabber not only equalizes the distribution of the varnish,
but also removes what is superfluous. An extremely thin layer of ground
is sufficient.
4. =Smoking the Plate.=--While the plate is yet hot, and the ground
soft, it must be smoked. Light your tapers or your oil torch, and turn
the plate upside down. Allow the flame just to touch the plate, and keep
moving it about rapidly, so that it may touch all points of the
plate, without remaining long at any one of them. If this precaution is
ignored, the ground will be burned, with the result before stated. The
smoking is finished as soon as the plate is uniformly blackened all
over, and the glimmer of the metal can no longer be seen through the
ground. Now allow the plate to cool so that the ground may harden.
_Avoid dust as much as possible_ while grounding and smoking the plate.
Particles of dust embedded in the ground may cause holes which will
admit the acid where you do not wish it to act.
5. =Points or Needles.=--The plate is now ready for drawing upon it, but
before you can proceed to draw you must prepare your points or needles.
Two will do for this first experiment, a fine one and a coarse one. For
the fine one you may use a sewing-needle, for the coarser one a medium
embroidery needle, both set in wood so that the points project about a
quarter of an inch. If you are going to use rat-tail files, grind the
handle-ends on your oil-stone until they attain the requisite fineness.
Hold the file flat on the stone, so as to get a gradually tapering
point, and turn continually. See to it that even the point of your
finest needle is not too sharp. If it scratches when you draw it lightly
over a piece of card-board, describe circles with it on the board until
it simply makes a mark without scratching. The coarse needle must be
evenly rounded, as otherwise it may have a cutting point somewhere.
[Illustration: Plate A.]
6. =Drawing on the Plate.=--As the purpose of your experiment is simply
to familiarize yourself with the _technicalities_ of etching, that is to
say, with the preparation of the plate, the management of the points,
and the action of the acid, it will be well to confine yourself to the
drawing of lines something like those on Pl. A. It is the office of the
point simply to _remove_ the ground, and _lay bare the copper_. But this
it must do thoroughly, for the slightest covering left on the plate will
prevent the acid from attacking the copper. You must therefore use
sufficient pressure to accomplish this end, but at the same time you
must avoid cutting into the copper by using too much pressure. Wherever
the point has cut the copper the acid acts more rapidly, as the polished
coating of the surface of the plate has been removed. It is evident from
this that an even pressure is necessary to produce an evenly bitten
line. Do not touch the ground with your hands while drawing. Rest your
hand on three or four thicknesses of soft blotting-paper. When you
desire to shift the paper, _lift it_, and _never draw it_ over the
ground. Hold the point, not slantingly like a pencil, but as near as
possible perpendicularly. The point is a hard instrument, with which you
cannot produce a swelling line, as with a pencil or a pen. Therefore
your only aim must be an _even_ line, produced by _even pressure_. The
minute threads of ground thrown up by the point you must remove with
your largest camel's-hair brush; otherwise they may clog your lines.
Before commencing to draw read the description of Pl. A given under the
heading "Description of Plates."
7. =Preparing the Plate for the Bath.=--If you were to put the plate
into the acid bath in the state in which it is at present, the acid
would corrode the unprotected parts. To prevent this paint the back, and
the corner by which you held the plate while grounding it, and the edges
with stopping-out varnish. If you are not in a hurry (_and it is always
best not to be in a hurry_), let the varnish dry over night; if you
cannot wait so long an hour will be sufficient for drying. While the
plate is drying you may lay it, face downward, on a little pile of soft
paper, made up of pieces smaller than the plate, so that the paper may
not touch the varnished edges.
8. =The Bath.=--The preparation of the bath is next in order. Ascertain
the capacity of the dish or tray you are going to use by pouring water
into it to fill it to half its height, and then measuring the water.
Pour _one half_ of this quantity of water back into the tray, and add to
it the same quantity of nitric acid, stirring the mixture well with a
glass rod, or a bit of glass, or a bird's feather, if you happen to have
one, or in default of all these with a bit of stick. The mixing of water
and acid induces chemical action, and this produces heat. The bath must
therefore be allowed to cool half an hour or so, before the plate is put
into it. Nitric acid being a corrosive and poisonous fluid, it is well
to use some care in handling it. Otherwise it may bite holes into your
clothing, and disfigure your hands, as before noted. By the side of your
bath have a large vessel filled with clean water, in which to wash the
plate when it is withdrawn from the bath, and your fingers in case you
should soil them with acid.
9. =Biting and Stopping Out.=--The bath having been prepared, and the
varnish on the back and edges of the plate having dried sufficiently,
lay the plate on the plate-lifter, face upward, and lift it into the
bath. In a few minutes, in hot weather in a few seconds, the acid will
begin to act on the copper. This is made evident to the eye by the
bubbles which collect in the lines, and to the nose by the fumes of
nitrous acid which the bath exhales. The bubbles must be removed by
gently brushing them out of the lines with a brush or the vane of a
feather; the fumes it is best not to inhale, as they irritate the
throat. After the biting has gone on for three minutes in warm, or for
five minutes in cold weather, lift the plate out of the bath into the
vessel filled with water. Having washed it well, so as to remove all
traces of the acid, lay it on a piece of blotting-paper, and take up the
moisture from the face by gently pressing another piece of the same
paper against it. Then fan the plate for some minutes to make sure that
it is absolutely dry. If you have a pair of bellows you may dispense
with the blotting-paper as well as with the fanning. The lines on the
plate, having all bitten for the same length of time, are now all of
about the same depth, and if the plate were cleaned and an impression
taken from it, they would all appear of about the same strength, the
only difference being that produced by difference in spacing and in the
size of the needles. This is the point where the stopping-out varnish
comes in. With a fine camel's-hair brush _stop out_, that is to say,
paint over with stopping-out varnish, those lines or parts of lines
which are to remain as they are. If the varnish should be too thick to
flow easily from the brush, mix a small quantity of it in a paint
saucer, or on a porcelain slab, or a piece of glass, with a few drops of
benzine. The varnish, however, must not be too thin, as in that case it
will run in the lines, and will fill them where you do not wish them to
be filled. If it is of the right consistency, you can draw a clean and
sharp line across the etched lines without danger of running. When you
have laid on your stopping-out varnish, fan it for some minutes until it
has dried sufficiently not to adhere to the finger when lightly touched.
Then introduce the plate into the bath again, and let the biting
continue another five minutes. Remove again, stop out as before, and
continue these operations as often as you wish. But it would be useless
to let your accumulated bitings on this experimental plate exceed more
than thirty minutes. Having finished your last biting, clean the plate
with benzine. Then apply the same process to your hands, and follow it
up with a vigorous application of soap and nail-brush. This will leave
your hands as beautiful as they were before.
It is hardly worth while to bother with taking an impression from this
trial plate, unless you happen to have a printer near by. The plate
itself will show you how the acid has enlarged the lines at each
successive biting, and it stands to reason that the broader and deeper
lines should give a darker impression than the finer and shallower ones.
If, however, you have no printer at hand, and still desire to see how
your work looks in black and white, you may consult the chapter on
"Proving and Printing," p. 55 of M. Lalanne's "Treatise."
* * * * *
You have now gained some idea of the theory of etching, have acquainted
yourself with the use of tools and materials, and have mastered the most
elementary technical difficulties of the process. You are therefore in a
position to profit by the teachings of M. Lalanne which follow.
In conclusion, let me assure you that the home-made appliances described
in the foregoing paragraphs are quite sufficient, technically, for the
purposes of the etcher. Plate B, Mr. Walter F. Lansil's first essay in
etching, was executed according to the directions here given, and the
artist has kindly consented to let me use it for the special purpose of
illustrating this point.
[Illustration: Plate B.]
DESCRIPTION OF THE PLATES.
PLATE A. _A Trial Plate._ This plate is given to show the effect of
difference in length of biting. The lines in the eight upper rectangles
were all drawn before the first immersion of the plate, those on the
left with a fine point, those on the right with a somewhat coarser one.
After the plate had been in the bath for three minutes, it was
withdrawn, and the upper rectangle on the left stopped out. The upper
rectangle on the right, however, had hardly been attacked by the acid,
as the lines had been drawn with a blunter point, which had not
scratched the copper, while the fine point had. It was therefore allowed
to bite another three minutes before it was stopped out. The other
rectangles were allowed to bite ten, twenty, and thirty minutes
respectively, by which means the difference in value was produced. The
figures _a_, _b_, _c_ perhaps show the results of partial biting still
better. The three were simply lined with the same point. After the first
biting they all looked like _a_. This was then stopped out, together
with the corners of _b_ and _c_. After the second biting _b_ and _c_
were both as _b_ now is. The whole of _b_ was now stopped out, and part
of _c_, allowing only the inner lozenge to remain exposed to the acid.
It is evident that the difference in color in these figures is not due
to the drawing, but is entirely the result of biting.
PLATE B. _Vessels in Boston Harbor._ A first essay in etching by Mr.
Walter F. Lansil, marine painter, of Boston. The artist has kindly given
me permission to use this plate, for the purpose of showing that the
home-made tools and materials described in the Introductory Chapter are
quite sufficient for all the technical purposes of the etcher. It is
eminently "home-made." The ground was prepared according to the recipe
given; the points used were a sewing-needle and a knitting-needle; the
tray in which it was etched was made of paper covered with stopping-out
varnish; even the plate (a zink plate by the way) did not come from the
plate-maker, but was ground and polished at home.
PLATE I_a_. _Etching after Claude Lorrain._ _Unfinished plate_, or
"first state" (see pp. 23 and 29). This, however, is not the etching
itself; it is a photo-engraving from the unfinished etching. But it does
well enough to show the imperfections alluded to by M. Lalanne in the
text.
PLATE I. _Etching after Claude Lorrain._ _Finished plate_, or "second
state" (see pp. 36 and 56). Clean wiped.
PLATE II. _Etching after Claude Lorrain._ Printed from the same plate as
Pl. I, but treated as described on p. 57. The difference between the two
plates shows what the art of the printer can do for an etching. The
difference would be still greater if Pl. II. were better printed; for it
is not printed as well as it might be, although it was done in Paris.
PLATE III. _A plat, une pointe_--flat biting, drawn with one point; that
is to say, the plate was immersed only once, and the lines are all the
result of the same needle, so that the effect is only produced by
placing the lines close together in the foreground, and farther apart as
the distance recedes (see p. 43). _A plat, plusieurs pointes_--flat
biting, several points, that is to say, one immersion only, but the work
of finer and coarser points is intermingled in the drawing. _Par
couvertures, plusieurs pointes_--stopping out and the work of several
points combined.
PLATE IV. _Fig. 1._ See p. 27. _Fig. 2._ See p. 45. _Figs. 3, 4 and 5._
See p. 46.
PLATE V. _Fig. 1._ Worked with one point; effect produced by stopping
out (see p. 44). _Fig. 2._ Mottled tint in the building, &c., in the
foreground; stopping out before biting, in the sky (see p. 51).
PLATE VI. _Soft-ground etchings._ See p. 52.
PLATE VII. _Dry-point etching._ See p. 53.
PLATE VIII. _A Seville._ A sketch, given as a specimen of printing (see
p. 58).
PLATE IX. _A Anvers._ _Le Haag, Amsterdam._ Sketches from nature, to
serve as examples.
PLATE X. (Frontispiece). _Souvenir de Bordeaux._ To be consulted in
regard to the manner of using the points and partial bitings.
MY DEAR MONSIEUR LALANNE,[B]
[B] This letter preceded also the first edition of 1866.
If there is any one living who can write about Etching, it must
certainly be you, as you possess all the secrets of the art, and are
versed in all its refinements, its resources, and its effects.
Nevertheless, when I was told that you intended to publish a book on the
subject, I feared that you were about to attempt the impossible; for it
seemed as if Abraham Bosse had exhausted the theme two hundred years
ago, and that you would be condemned to repeat all that this excellent
man had said in his treatise, in which, with charming _naivete_, he
teaches _the art of engraving to perfection_.
I must confess, however, that the reading of your manuscript very
quickly undeceived me. I find in it numberless useful and interesting
things not to be found anywhere else, and I comprehend that Abraham
Bosse wrote for those who know, while you write for those who do not
know.
I was quite young, and had just left college, when accident threw into
my hands the _Traite des manieres de graver en taille douce sur l'airain
par le moyen des eaux fortes et des vernis durs et mols_. Perhaps I
might have paid no attention to this book, if I had not previously
noticed on the stands on the _Quai Voltaire_ some etchings by Rembrandt,
which had opened to me an entirely new world of poetry and of dreams.
These prints had taken such hold upon my imagination that I desired to
learn, from Bosse's "Treatise," how the Dutch painter had managed to
produce his strange and startling effects and his mysterious tones, the
fantastic play of his lights and the silence of his shadows. Rembrandt's
etchings on the one hand, and Bosse's book on the other, were the causes
of my resolution to learn the art of engraving, and of my subsequent
entry into the studio of Calamatta and Mercuri.
As soon as I knew how to hold the burin and the point, these grave and
illustrious masters placed before me an allegorical figure engraved by
Edelinck, whose drapery was executed in waving and winding lines,
incomparable in their correctness and beauty. To break my hand to the
work, it was necessary to copy on my plate these solemnly classical and
majestically disposed lines. But while I cut into the copper with
restrained impatience, my attention was secretly turned towards
Rembrandt's celebrated portrait of Janus Lutma, a good impression of
which I owned, and which I thought of copying.
To make my _debut_ in this severe school--in which we were allowed to
admire only Marc Antonio, the Ghisis, the Audrans, and Nanteuil--with an
etching by Rembrandt, would have been a heresy of the worst sort. Hence
to be able to risk this infraction of discipline, I took very good care
to keep my project to myself. Secretly I bought ground, wax, and a
plate, and profited of the absence of my teachers to attempt, with
fevered hands, to make a fac-simile of the Lutma. I had followed the
instructions of Abraham Bosse with regard to the ground, and I proceeded
to bite in my plate with the assistance of a comrade, Charles
Noerdlinger, at present engraver to the king of Wurtemburg, at Stuttgart,
whom I had admitted as my accomplice in this delightful expedition.
You may well imagine, my dear Monsieur Lalanne, that I met with all
sorts of accidents, such as are likely to befall a novice, and all of
which you describe so carefully, while at the same time you indicate
fully and lucidly the remedies that may be applied. The ground cracked
in several places,--happily in the dark parts. My wax border had been
hastily constructed, and I did not know then, although Bosse says so,
that it is the rule to pass a heated key along the lower line of the
border, so as to melt the wax, and thus render all escape impossible.
Consequently the acid filtered through under the wax, and in trying to
arrest the flow, I burned my fingers. Furthermore, when it came to the
biting in of the shadows in the portrait of Lutma, the greenish and then
whitish ebullition produced by the long-continued biting so frightened
me, that I hastened to empty the acid into a pail, not, however, without
having spattered a few drops on a proof of the _Vow of Louis XIII._,
which had been scratched in the printing, and which we were about to
repair. At last I removed the ground, and, trembling all over, went to
have a proof taken, but not to the printer regularly employed by
Calamatta.
What a disappointment! I believed my etching to have been sufficiently,
nay, even over-bitten, and in reality I had stopped half-way. The color
of the copper had deceived me. I had seen my portrait on the fine red
ground of the metal, and now I saw it on the crude white of the paper. I
hardly knew it again. It lacked the profundity, the mystery, the harmony
in the shadows, which were precisely what I had striven for. The plate
was only roughly cut up by lines crossing in all directions, through the
network of which shone the ground which Rembrandt had subdued, so as to
give all the more brilliancy to the window with its leaded panes, to the
lights in the foreground, and to the cheek of the pensive head of Lutma.
As luck would have it, all the light part in the upper half of the print
came out pretty well; the expression of the face was satisfactory, and
the grimaces of the two small heads of monsters which surmount the back
of the chair were perfectly imitated. I had to strengthen the shadows by
means of the roulette, and to go over the most prominent folds of the
coat with the graver; for I had not the knowledge necessary to enable me
to undertake a second biting. Bosse says a few words on this subject,
which, as they are wanting in clearness, are apt to lead a beginner into
error. He speaks of smoked ground, while, as you have so admirably
shown, white ground must be used for retouching. I therefore finished my
plate by patching and cross-hatching and stippling, and finally obtained
a passable copy, which, at a little distance, looked something like the
original, although, to a practised eye, it was really nothing but a very
rude imitation. It is needless to say that we carefully obliterated all
evidence of our proceedings, and that, my teachers having returned, I
went to work again, with hypocritical compunction, upon what I called
the _military_ lines of Gerard Edelinck. But we were betrayed by some
incautious words of the chamber-woman, and M. Calamatta, having
discovered "the rose-pot," scolded Charles Noerdlinger and myself roundly
for this romantic escapade. If my plate had been worse,----the good Lord
only knows what might have happened!
All this, my dear M. Lalanne, is simply intended to show to you how
greatly I esteem the excellent advice which you give to the young
etcher, or _aqua-fortiste_ (as the phrase goes now-a-days, according to
a neologism which is hardly less barbaric than the word _artistic_).
When I recall the efforts of my youth, the ardor with which I deceived
myself, the hot haste with which I fell into the very errors which you
point out, I understand that your book is an absolute necessity; and
that the artist or the amateur, who, hidden away in some obscure
province, desires to enjoy the agreeable pastime of etching, need only
follow, step by step, the intelligent and methodical order of your
precepts, to be enabled to carry the most complicated plate to a
satisfactory end, whether he chooses to employ the soft ground used by
Decamps, Masson, and Marvy, or whether he confines himself to the
ordinary processes which you make sensible even to the touch with a
lucidity, a familiarity with details, and a certainty of judgment, not
to be sufficiently commended.
Having read your "Treatise," I admit, not only that you have surpassed
your worthy predecessor, Abraham Bosse, but that you have absolutely
superseded his book by making your own indispensable. If only the
amateurs, whose time hangs heavily upon them; if the artists, who wish
to fix a fleeting impression; if the rich, who are sated with the
pleasures of photography,--had an idea of the great charm inherent in
etching, your little work would have a marvellous success! Even our
elegant ladies and literary women, tired of their do-nothing lives and
their nick-nacks, might find a relaxation full of attractions in the art
of drawing on the ground and biting-in their passing fancies. Madame de
Pompadour, when she had ceased to govern, although she continued to
reign, took upon herself a colossal enterprise,--to amuse the king and
to divert herself. You know the sixty-three pieces executed by this
charming engraver (note, if you please, that I do not say
_engraveress_!). Her etchings after Eisen and Boucher are exquisite. The
pulsation of life, the fulness of the carnations, are expressed in them
by delicately trembling lines; and I do think that Madame de Pompadour
could not have done better, even if she had been your pupil.
At present, moreover, etching has, in some measure, become the fashion
again as a substitute for lithography, an art which developed charm as
well as strength under the crayon of Charlet, of Gericault, of Gigoux,
and of Gavarni. The _Societe des Aqua-fortistes_ is the fruit of this
renaissance. The art, which, in our own day, has been rendered
illustrious by the inimitable Jacque, now has its adepts in all
countries, and in all imaginable spheres of society. Etchings come to us
from all points of the compass: the Hague sends those of M. Cornet,
conservator of the Museum; Poland, those which form the interesting
album of M. Bronislas Zaleski, the _Life of the Kirghise Steppes_;
London, those of M. Seymour Haden, so original and full of life, and so
well described in the catalogue of our friend Burty; Lisbon, those of
King Ferdinand of Portugal, who etches as Grandville drew, but with
more suppleness and freedom. But after all Paris is the place where the
best etchings appear, more especially in the _Gazette des Beaux-Arts_,
and in the publications of the _Societe des Aqua-fortistes_. Do you
desire to press this capricious process into your service for the
translation of the old or modern masters? Hedouin, Flameng, Bracquemont,
will do wonders for you. You have told me yourself that, in my _OEuvre
de Rembrandt_, Flameng has so well imitated this great man, that he
himself would be deceived if he should come to life again. As to Jules
Jacquemart, he is perfectly unique of his kind; he compels etching to
say what it never before was able to say. With the point of his needle
he expresses the density of porphyry; the coldness of porcelain; the
insinuating surface of Chinese lacquer; the transparent and imponderable
_finesse_ of Venetian glassware; the reliefs and the chased lines of the
most delicate works of the goldsmith, almost imperceptible in their
slightness; the polish of iron and steel; the glitter, the reflections,
and even the sonority of bronze; the color of silver and of gold, as
well as all the lustre of the diamond and all the appreciable shades of
the emerald, the turquoise, and the ruby. I shall not speak of you, my
dear monsieur, nor of your etchings, in which the style of Claude is so
well united to the grace of Karel Dujardin. You preach by practising;
and if one had only seen the plates with which you have illustrated your
excellent lessons, one would recognize not only the instructor but the
master. Hence, be without fear or hesitation; put forth confidently your
little book; it is just in time to help regenerate the art of etching,
and to direct its renaissance. For these reasons--mark my
prediction!--its success will be brilliant and lasting.
CHARLES BLANC.
INTRODUCTION.
Since the year 1866, when the first edition of this treatise appeared,
the art of etching, which was then in full course of regeneration, has
gained considerably in extent. The tendencies of modern art must
necessarily favor the soaring flight of this method of engraving, which
has been left in oblivion quite too long. It remained for our
contemporary school to accord to it those honors which the school of the
first empire had denied to it, and which that of 1830 had given but
timidly. At the period last named some of our illustrious masters, by
applying their talent to occasional essays in etching, set an example
which our own generation, expansive in its aspirations, and anxiously
desirous of guarding the rights of individuality, was quick to follow.
The _Gazette des Beaux Arts_ comprehended this movement, and contributed
to its extension by attracting to itself the artists who rendered
themselves illustrious by the work done for its pages, while, by a sort
of natural reciprocity, they shed around it the prestige of their
talents. The _Societe des Aqua-fortistes_ (Etching Club), founded in
1863 by Alfred Cadart, has also, by the united efforts of many eminent
etchers, done its share towards bringing the practice of this art into
notice, and has popularized it in the world of amateurs, whose numbers
it has been instrumental in augmenting; while at the same time, owing to
the nature of its constitution, it has given material support to the
artists. Private collections have been formed, and are growing in
richness from day to day. Two royal artists, King Ferdinand of Portugal
and King Charles XV. of Sweden, have, through their works, taken an
active part in the renewal of etching; they were the happy sponsors of a
publication which, under the name of _L'Illustration Nouvelle_, follows
in the footsteps, and continues the traditions, of the _Societe des
Aqua-fortistes_.
Similar societies, organized in England and in Belgium,[1] are
prospering. On the other hand, a great number of art journals, of books,
and of albums, owe their success to the use made in them of etchings.
This is true also of those special editions which are sumptuously
printed in small numbers, and are the delight of lovers of books.
Etching has thus taken a position in modern art which cannot fail to
become still more important. "Everything has been said," wrote La
Bruyere, concerning the works of the pen, "and we can only glean after
the poets." The literature of two centuries has given the lie to the
assertion of the celebrated moralist, and it may also be affirmed that
etching has not yet spoken its last word. Not only has it no need of
gleaning after the old masters, but it may rather seek for precious
models in the works of our contemporary etchers. In their experience may
be found fruit for the present as well as useful information for the
future.
[Illustration: AN ETCHER'S STUDIO.
From the Third Edition of Abraham Bosse's "Treatise," Paris, 1758.]
A TREATISE ON ETCHING.
CHAPTER I.
DEFINITION AND CHARACTER OF ETCHING.
1. =Definition.=--An etching is a design fixed on metal by the action of
an acid. The art of etching consists, in the first place, in drawing,
with a _point_ or _needle_, upon a metal plate, which is perfectly
polished, and covered with a layer of varnish, or ground, blackened by
smoke; and, secondly, in exposing the plate, when the drawing is
finished, to the action of nitric acid. The acid, which does not affect
fatty substances but corrodes metal, eats into the lines which have been
laid bare by the needle, and thus the drawing is _bitten in_. The
varnish is then removed by washing the plate with spirits of
turpentine,[2] and the design will be found to be engraved, as it were,
on the plate. But, as the color of the copper is misleading, it is
impossible to judge properly of the quality of the work done until a
_proof_ has been taken.
2. =Knowledge needed by the Etcher.=--The aspirant in the art of
etching, having familiarized himself by a few trials with the appearance
of the bright lines produced by the needle on the dark ground of smoked
varnish, will soon go to work on his plate confidently and
unhesitatingly; and, without troubling himself much about the uniform
appearance of his work, he will gradually learn to calculate in advance
the conversion of his lines into lines more or less deeply bitten, and
the change in appearance which these lines undergo when transferred to
paper by means of ink and press.
It follows from this that the etcher must, from the very beginning of
his work, have a clear conception of the idea he intends to realize on
his plate, as the work of the needle must harmonize with the character
of the subject, and as the effect produced is finally determined by the
combination of this work with that of the acid.
The knowledge needed to bring about these intimate relations between the
needle, which produces the _drawing_, and the biting-in, which supplies
the _color_, constitutes the whole science of the etcher.
3. =Manner of Using the Needle.--Character of Lines.=--The needle or
point must be allowed to play lightly on the varnish, so as to permit
the hand to move with that unconcern which is necessary to great freedom
of execution. The use of a moderately sharp needle will insure lines
which are full and nourished in the delicate as well as in the vigorous
parts of the work. We shall thus secure the means of being simple. Nor
will it be necessary to depart from this character even in plates
requiring the most minute execution; all that is required will be a
finer point, and lines of a more delicate kind. But the spaces left
between the latter will be proportionately the same, or perhaps even
somewhat wider, so as to prevent the acid from confusing the lines by
eating away the ridges of metal which are left standing between the
furrows. Freshness and neatness depend on these conditions in small as
well as in large plates.
4. =Freedom of Execution.=--It is a well-known fact that the engraver
who employs the burin (or graver), produces lines on the naked copper or
steel which cross one another, and are measured and regular. It is a
necessary consequence of the importance of line-engraving, growing out
of its application to classical works of high style, that it should
always show the severity and coldness of positive and almost
mathematical workmanship. With etching this is not the case: the point
must be free and capricious; it must accentuate the forms of objects
without stiffness or dryness, and must delicately bring out the various
distances, without following any other law than that of a picturesque
harmony in the execution. It may be made to work with precision,
whenever that is needed, but only to be abandoned afterwards to its
natural grace. It will be well, however, to avoid over-excitement and
violence in execution, which give an air of slovenliness to that which
ought to be simply a revery.
5. =How to produce Difference in Texture.=--The manner of execution to
be selected must conform to the nature of the objects. This is
essential, as we have at our disposition only a point, the play of which
on the varnish is always the same. It follows that we must vary its
strokes, so as to make it express difference in texture. If we examine
the etchings of the old masters, we shall find that they had a special
way of expressing foliage, earth, rocks, water, the sky, figures,
architecture, &c., without, however, making themselves the slaves of too
constraining a tradition.
6. =The Work of the Acid.=--After the subject has been drawn on the
ground, the acid steps in to give variety to the forms which were laid
out for it by the needle, to impart vibration to this work of uniform
aspect, and to inform it with the all-pervading warmth of life. In
principle, a single biting ought to be sufficient; but if the artist
desires to secure greater variety in the result by a succession of
partial bitings, the different distances may be made to detach
themselves from one another by covering up with varnish the parts
sufficiently bitten each time the plate is withdrawn from the bath. The
different parts which the mordant is to play must be regulated by the
feeling: discreet and prudent, it will impart delicacy to the tender
values; controlled in its subtle functions, it will carefully mark the
relative tones of the various distances; less restrained and used more
incisively, it will dig into the accentuated parts and will give them
force.
7. =The Use of the Dry Point.=--If harmony has not been sufficiently
attained, the _dry point_ is used on the bare metal, to modify the
values incompletely rendered, or expressed too harshly. Its office is to
cover such insufficient passages with a delicate tint, and to serve, as
Charles Blanc has very well expressed it, as a _glaze_ in engraving.
8. =Spirit in which the Etcher must work.=--Follow your feeling, combine
your modes of expression, establish points of comparison, and adopt from
among the practical means at command (which depend on the effect, and on
which the effect depends) those which will best render the effect
desired: this is the course to be followed by the etcher. There is
plenty of the instinctive which practice will develop in him, and in
this he will find a growing charm and an irresistible attraction. What
happy effects, what surprises, what unforeseen discoveries, when the
varnish is removed from the plate! A bit of good luck and of
inspiration often does more than a methodical rule, whether we are
engaged on subjects of our own invention,--_capricci_, as the Italians
call them,--or whether we are drawing from nature directly on the
copper. The great aim is to arrive at the first onset at the realization
of our ideas as they are present in our mind. An etching must be
virginal, like an improvisation.
9. =Expression of Individuality in Etching.=--Having once mastered the
processes, the designer or painter need only carry his own individuality
into a species of work which will no longer be strange to him, there to
find again the expression of the talent which he displayed in another
field of art. He will comprehend that etching has this essentially vital
element,--and in it lies the strength of its past and the guaranty of
its future,--that, more than any other kind of engraving on metal, it
bears the imprint of the character of the artist. It personifies and
represents him so well, it identifies itself so closely with his idea,
that it often seems on the point of annihilating itself as a process in
favor of this idea. Rembrandt furnishes a striking example of this: by
the intermixture and diversity of the methods employed by him, he
arrived at a suavity of expression which may be called magical; he
diffused grace and depth throughout his work. In some of his plates the
processes lend themselves so marvellously to the severest requirements
of modelling, and attain such an extreme limit of delicacy, that the eye
can no longer follow them, thus leaving the completest enjoyment to the
intellect alone.
Claude Lorrain, on the other hand, knew how to conciliate freedom of
execution with majesty of style.
10. =Value of Etching to Artists.=--Speaking of this subordination of
processes in etching to feeling, I am induced to point out how many of
the masters of our time, judging by the character of their work, might
have added to their merits had they but substituted the etcher's needle
for the crayon. Was not Decamps, who handled the point but little, an
etcher in his drawings and his lithographs? Ingres only executed one
solitary etching, and yet, simply by virtue of his great knowledge, it
seems as if in it he had given a presentiment of all the secrets of the
craft. And did not Gigoux give us a foretaste of the work of the acid,
when he produced the illustrations to his "Gil Blas," conceived in the
spirit of an etcher, which, after thirty years of innumerable similar
productions, are still the _chef-d'oeuvre_ and the model of engraving
on wood. And would Mouilleron have been inferior, if from the stone he
had passed to the copper plate? It would be an easy matter to multiply
examples chosen from among the artists who have boldly handled the
needle, or from among those who might have taken it up with equal
advantage, to prove that etching is not, as it has been called, a
secondary method. There are no secondary methods for the manifestation
of genius.
11. =Versatility of Etching.=--The needle is the crayon; the acid adds
color. The needle is sometimes all the more eloquent because its means
of expression are confined within more restricted limits. It is familiar
and lively in the sketch, which by a very little must say a great deal;
the sketch is the spontaneous letter. It all but reaches the highest
expression when it is called in to translate a grand spectacle, or one
of those fugitive effects of light which nature seems to produce but
sparingly, so as to leave to art the merit of fixing them.
12. =Etching compared to other Styles of Engraving.=--By its very
character of freedom, by the intimate and rapid connection which it
establishes between the hand and the thoughts of the artist, etching
becomes the frankest and most natural of interpreters. These are the
qualities which make it an honor to art, of which it is a glorious
branch. All other styles of engraving can never be any thing but a means
of reproduction. We must admire the knowledge, the intelligence, and the
self-denial which the line-engraver devotes to the service of his art.
But, after all, it is merely the art of assimilating an idea which is
foreign to him, and of which he is the slave. By him the
_chefs-d'oeuvre_ of the masters are multiplied and disseminated, and
sometimes, in giving eternity to an original work, he immortalizes his
own name; but the part he has assumed inevitably excludes him from all
creative activity.
13. =Etching as a Reproductive Art.=--These reserves having been made in
regard to the engraver, whose instrument is the burin, justice requires
that the reproductive etcher should come in for his proportional share,
and that his functions should be defined. Some years ago, a school of
etchers arose among us, whose mission it is to interpret those works of
the brush which, by the delicacy and elegance of their character, cannot
be harmonized with the severity of the burin. This school, to which Mr.
Gaucherel gave a great impulse, has been called in to fill a regrettable
void in the collections of amateurs. Every one knows those remarkable
publications, _Les Artistes Contemporains_, and _Les Peintres Vivants_,
which, for the last twenty years, have reproduced in lithography the
_chefs-d'oeuvre_ of our exhibitions of paintings. To-day etching takes
the place of lithography; it excels in the reproduction of modern
landscapes, and of the _genre_ subjects which we owe to our most
esteemed painters. It is not less happy in the interpretation of certain
of the old masters, whose works make it impossible to approach them with
the burin. The catalogues of celebrated galleries which have lately been
sold also testify to the important services rendered to art by the
reproductive etcher. His methods are free and rapid; they are not
subjected to a severe convention of form. He may rest his own work on
the genius of others, so as to attain a success like that of the
painter-etcher; but the latter, as he bathes his inspiration in the acid
and triumphantly withdraws it, finds his power and his resources within
himself alone. He is at once the translator and the poet.