Nebraska advertiser., 1870-01-13
ChrOmns-HO,r Made.

Mr.. James Parton, the most reada-
bic of all American magazine writers,
has published in the Atlantic Monthly
an interesting essay on "PODularizing
Art, ~ in which he describes the cOm-
plex process by which modern science
succeeds in producing those exquisite
fae-similes Of oil paintings, known
and admired everywhere as PTang's
American chromOs.
LithOgTaphy was invented by aeci-
dent. An impatient washeFWOman
and the absence of q piece of paper
caused poor actor, named M. Sene-
fielder, to write his ''list" on a smooth
slab of limestone with composition
of SCOT and grease with which he had
been making experiments in printing.
Now oil or grease has a chemical afii-
nifty for lime; that is to say, it will
mix with it, while oil and water, on
the other hand, are antagonists. The
whole secret of lithOgraphy lies in
these two facts Of chemistry. To pro-
duce a common lithOgraph the draw
ing Is made on a smooth slab Of lime
stone with a greasy pencil; the surface
of the slab Is then dampene2 with
water which the drawing sheds while
which is mixed with oil, is then APP
piled and the opposite effect is pro-
duced the plain parts refuse 10 take
the color, while the greasy parts
that is the drawing-retains il. An
impression is then taken and a per-
feet copy made from q perfectly
smooth surface. 1t is singular that
| the quarry from which Senefelder
| lob - l,r,r ~ rok
covered that produces a limestone fit
! for the purposes of lithOgraphy. For
| the limestone must be hard enough
to receive a fine polish, and only the
Bavarian quarry furnishes that quail
| ity of stone.
ChrOmO-lithOgraphy, says Mr.. Par
/ ton, by which our houses and school
rooms are now filled with beautiful
pictures, is a combination of Senefel-'
der's invention with an ancient me-
thOd of printing in colOrs by using
two or more blocks. Antiquity, how
ever, only gave the hint, which has
| been developed with wonderful rapid
ity by accomplished artists and arti-
sans in Germany, France, England
and the United States-the German
Engelmann being the chief Origina-
tor of methods. The first patents
relating to chrOmO-lithOgraDhy bear
date 1885, and in these thirty-fOuF
years the art has made such progress
that copies of fine oil paintings are
now daily reproduced, which contain
all of the original picture, which the
public can see, and which none but
close observer can tell from the Origi'
nal. Mr.. Parton adds -
a A / r,f ii,
mos in Boston, there is a gallery in
which the proprietor sometimes hangs,
side by side, an oil painting and the
acknowledgement taken from it, both
framed alike. / think that not even
the artist who painted the picture
could always tell them apart, aud L
am sure that few others could. 1t
would be a safe thing to wager that
the critics who have endeavOTed to
write down these beautiful prOduc-
tiOns would not be always able, with
out handling them, TO decide which
was brush and which was printing
press"
After describing how The Bare
foot Boy" (Prang's celebrated and
beautiful chrome of Eastman john
sons painting, illustrative of Whit
tiers pOem) is gradually produced,
that is, by being printed, here little,
now with one color, then with another
tint, until il has gone through the
press no less than twenty-siX times,
Mr.. Parton says that it is then passed
through the press still again, upon a
stone which is grained in such q way
as to impart to the picture the rough
ness of canvas, after which 10 Is
mounted upon thick pasteboard and
vanished. "The resemblance to the
original is then such that it is doubt
ful if Mr.. Eastman Johnson could
pick out his own boy if he were sur
rounded with a number Of copies"
Mr.. Parton adds that it is not every
picture that admits of such successful
treatment as this, nor does every chrO-
mo-lithOgrapher bestOw upon his pro-
ductiOns so much pains and expense.
A saleable picture could be made OF
this boy in ten impressions; but, as
we have seen, he receives twenty-siX.
''It is an error" he says, 'tO regard
these interesting works as mechani-
cal. A mere mechanic. it is true, by
a certain Chinese seTvility Of copying,
can produce an extremely close, hard
imitation Of an oil painting; and
much work of this kind is done I'm
| Germany and England. But in our
Boston establishment no mechanic
puts pencil to one Of the stones en-
plOyed in producing fine pictures.
The artistic work is executed by art
lists of repUte, who have themselves
produced respectable painting Of the
kind which they are employed to imi-
tate. Any one who watches Mr..
Harring transferring to a long series
of lithOgraphic stones Mr.. Hills
painting of Yosemite Valley will
perceive that he is labOring in the
spirit of an artist and by the methods
of an artist. It would be highly ab-
surd to claim for any eOpyist equal
rank with the creator Of the original,
or to say that any copy can possess
the intrinsic value of an original,
But it is unjust to reduce to the rank
of artisans the skillful and patient
artists who know how to catch the
spirit and preserve the details Of fine.
work, reproduce in countless copies
all Of both which the public can dis
ceTn.
Mr.. Parton suggests that the art Of
chrOmO-lithOgraphy harmOnizes we'll
with the special work Of America at
the present moment, which is, not 10
create, but to diffuse not to produce
literature, but to distribute the spell
ingbOOk; not to add to the worlds
treasures of art, but to educate the
mass Of mankind to an intelligent en-
/ jOyment Of those which we already
possess. What our sweet and tender-
ly beloved tory friends style the ''scUm
Of Europe" who are pouring upon our
shOres-these people, az well S. the
emaneipated slaves of the South, 10
J devOlves upon US Of this generation
and the next to convert into thinking,
knowing, skillful, tasteful, American
citizen. MIR. PTang has furnished his
mandatory just in time. BY his as
sistance we may hope to diffuse among
all classes of the people that feeling
for art which must precede the pro-
ductiOu of excellent national works. -