Rutland weekly herald. [volume] (Rutland, Vt.) 1859-1877, 1873-04-03
Our Boston Letter
HRoMO-LTHOGRAPHY - ITS RISE AND
PROGRESS.
BosToN, March 90, 1878.

Boston, March 80, 1878.
Editor Rutland Herald In the city
of Prague, about the year 1771, was
born one Senefelder, swhose ingenious
spirit, schooled by poverty and grim ne
cessity, was destined to discover the
great art of TYPOGRAPHY. But it fire.
quently occurs that the projectors of
noble and humane enterprises rarely
wear their merited laurels. Thus has
Senefelder faded into the silent past,
leaving only the immortal foundation of
an art upon which his successors were
to erect structures of surprising beauty
and worth, and for which they were to
receive Ethe applause and gratitude of
nations. Even before his death, and
consequently in the earliest stages of the
progress of TYPOGRAPHY, Alois Senefel-
der, having printed impressions from
the fat surfaces of stones by means of
drawings, chemicals and inks, conceived
that permanent effects in colors might
also be obtained by the same process.
LIS was IIlC III VI C1IOI1O-nlAO-
graphy, or as an Interpretation of the
Greek signifes-a printing upon stone
with colors. From this moment the as
cent of the art to perfection was rapid.
From Germany the novel invention was
introduced into France and from thence
it soon appeared in England, ever in
creasing in perfect detail, until to-day
the art, completed by mastery hands,
has its seat in America, in fact in Bos-
ton, while its benefits and instruction
are felt in every part of our nation where
culture spreads her protecting wing.
The mandatory of the chrome, and
the most complete in arrangement in
the world, is situated at Boston High
lands, and is under the direction of
Prang, the well known artist. The Wis
itor is courteously received at the en-
trance by a detailed guide and is imme-
diately introduced to the artists room,
in which the copy from the original pic
ture is traced upon the stone slab. This
stone, of a peculiar lime formation, is
quarried in Bavaria, and is priced for
the powerful affinity which it possesses
for oily substances. One of these stones,
polished to exquisite perfection, is placed
upon table and the artist traces, with
admirable skill, the outline of the origi-
nal painting before him, with a pencil
composed of a black, fatty substance, or
with an ink of oily ingredients. The
parts of the stone not drawn upon are
then carefully coated with a mixture of
gum and an acid which renders such
parts impervious to oil. Thus the oil of
the pencil or ink forms a union with the
lime of the stone and the drawing is in
dissolubly fixed with an acid This pro-
cess being completed, the stone is placed
upon press and moistened with a
sponge. The ink or color is then ap-
piled with roller The gummed parts
of the stone having retained the damp
ness from the sponge reject the oily
color; whereas, the reverse is the case
with the figure which is drawn with the
fatty crayon, which, having rejected the
water, retains the color The paper is
then applied and the impression obtained.
This is the entire process of finishing
plain Autograph. The picture is of uni
form color throughout, and is the low
est form of production in the art.
The ''full chrome" as it is technically
termed, is plain Autograph having the
colors laid on, one by one, and being
tinted according to the criterion of the
original from which it is drawn. The
process of heightening and deepening,
with here light and there a shade is
accomplished by applying each color to
the plain Autograph separately, and
with consumate care and precision. The
different colors are transferred TO the
paper in exactly the same manner as the |
ink was impaired to the Autograph: the
artist draws with his oily pencil upon a
new stone those parts only of the view
that are to receive the particular color.
and after this is completed, the stone is
placed on the press and the paper is APP
piled again, when this one tint appears
in the desired position. Thus is the
paper treated until all the colors are in