Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1877-04-20

or less OF the burr by scraper. Pure
mezzotint has no lines. 1t deals only with
light and shade, and succeeds best in repre-
senting masses of color or texture. 1t is
adapted to the representation of clouds,
masses of drapery, flesh, and moonlight
and candle scenes. 1t has been used in
portraits with success, especially in Eng
land, where 1t has been so much employed
as to be often called in Europe, the Eng
lsh method" The chief masters of mezzo-
tint have beer Prince Rupert, the reputed
inventor of the process-the real inventor
being Ludwig Won Siegen, of Utrecht
Bloeteling, of Amsterdam, and the English
men John Smith, George White, John
Murphy, Valentine Green, and Others.
John Sartain, of Philadelphia, has done
some creditable work in the method Of
mixed mezzotlnt and line, though the
immense number of inferior prints that bear
his name have disgusted the American pub
lie and brought Mezzotint into contempt
which it does not deserve.
In Stippling, known also as the chalk
method, from the resemblance of its effects
to chalk drawings on rough paper, the
shadows are produced by dots mado By
etching needles of different sizes, or by a
punch and mallet. Though employed from
the first by line engrsvers in parts of their
work, it was not used as r. separate tcchnic
till the 18th century. 1t is easier than line
engraving, and its effects are mellow and
agreeable, and not devoid of good degree
of strength. Ryland and Bartolozzi in
England, have used it in both large and
small works and always with great charm
and brilliancY of effect.
In Line Engraving proper, the metal
used was always copper till about 1920.
Since then soft steel has been much used, as
it will give much greater number of I'M
pressions. The instrument peculiar to line
engraving is the BURN, a cutting instru-
ment In the shape of qusdrangular
prism, bevelled to a sharp point at one
of the angles. In all modern prints and
in many old ones, much of the early
work on plate is done by etching. before
! the burin is introduced TO complete the
plate. In this species of engraving. every
thing is represented by some combination of
lines, continuous or broken, broad. deep,
! slight or shallow, parallel or divergent.
Every combination of lines has its express
sional value. and these are the only resource
for expressing form, color, texture, light
! and shade. Each master has his peculiari-
ties in the use of these; and we recognize
tho graphic language of Durer, Edelinck
and Woollet, as We do the poetic language
of Chaucer. Shakespeare and Wordsworth.
| Some engravers have bizarre styles. like
that of Carlyle in language. Thus it is one
of the simplest rules of the art that shadows
are produced by cross-hstchings but
| Claude Mellan. in the far-famed "Suds-
rum has shown what effects be could pro-
duce BY simply thickening the line in spots.
Coming to the elements of expression, the
first is form. The rudest way OF indicating
this is BY outline, and there may be great
expression in a mere outline, as seen in
Retzch's illustrations Of Shakespeare and
Schiller. Yet the outline picture is sug-
gestion and not an imitation of nature. OBJ
jects in nature have no outlines. We see
the cessation of one color and the begin
ming of another. but no boundary lines.
| Painting is under less temptation than en-
craving to violate this law of nature. The
brush makes an outline only with effort:
| yet this il what gives the hard and flat ap-
pearance to the old pre-Raphael pictures.
Engraving expresses form by hanging one
| shade upon another. If YOU find form IN
dicated by outline and not by shading, it is
evidence of neglect and hurry in the artist.
Next the surface and texture of
objects must be indicated. Here engraving
must be inferior to painting. The engraver
succeeds only by making his lines follow
some obvious or subtle suggestion OF the
| objects themselves. Thus the back of the
hand is marked by lines in various curves.
| crossed by other curves, while the palm is
| turrowed by parallel lines like those in
Damascus steel. In an engraving by
Strange or Desnoyers. famous for their
| flesh, you see m exact imitation OF these
natural lines. For the faces of women and
the bodies of children, dots take the place
| of ii,oc, ial llvrp Tho fuli Irp
suggesting a finer texture. The horizontal
| line being an expression of repose. a. the
vertical is of precipitsncy, We find clear sky
! and still water represented by smooth,
parallel, horizontal lines. Fabrics have u
linear texture which the engravers will i'm
1 itate, with fine, delicate cross-hatehings at
right angles for silks and heavier lines for
thicker stuffs. The French engrayers show
the greatest perfection in drspery, as in
the laccs and ermines of Drevet, and the
/ satins of Willie
Of the element of light and shade, en-
| craving has complete control-save that col
| Ored light-as the yellow of the sunset glow,
or the lurid light of the srorm, arc above
| our art. Yet, some astonishing effects are
secured even here. "a in the light on the
BelIsarlus. by Desnoyers, in looking at
which we can scarcelv realize that the light
il only the white of the paper. and We in
stinotively glance to the sky on the lett to
see where it all comes from, As if the print
| had n sun OF its own.
| While engraving cannot initiate actual
color, it can initiate the effects OF color.
In an engraving by Edellnck or Gerard
| Audran, we find color aS distinguished
from lig BIT and shade. Not that We can say
this tunic Is blue. this hair brown, this lip
yermilllon vet We get the impression OF
rich tints here, and cool tintS there, and
we speak OF the great colorists among en-
gravers, such as Bolswert. Ejelinck.
| Strange, Audran. and Mandel.
| President Buckham next took w the
chief schools OF engraving. noticing tirst
in the Italian school, Mare Antonio Raj
mondi, who, by counterteting Durer. learn
| ed from him freedom and vigor which, ad-
| ded to the native grace OF his own school.
entitled him to the rank he long enjoyed as
d" Prince OF Engravers. He was employed
and assisted by Raphael. His drawing is
superlativelv beautiful. while his shading
is formal and without feeling. His most
famous works are his Adam and Eve-a
copy Of which. in 1868, brought 81 200 :;
the Massacre OF the Innocents," the
Cleopatra" (all after Raphael). and the
portrait Of Aretino.
| After the death of Marc Antonio and of
several of his disciples. the Italian school
seems to have lspsed into mediocrity. until
we reach the modern school, represented in
| the last and present centuries by Rafael
Morghen, Anderloni. Perfetti, Longhi, and
Toschi. OF these Rafael Morghen is the
most famous. lie engraved. with great
beauty and finish, the - Aurora of Guido"
" Raphael's TRANSPORTATION, "Leonsrdo's
Last Supper" and many cha rming por-
traits. among them those of Leonardo and
the daughter of Carlo Dolce. known as
- La Poesia' Longhi added lustre to his
school by his plates of the Marriage OF
the Virgin" the - Vision OF Ezskiel. after
Raphael and tho " Reading Madonna OF
Corregio." lie lett unfinished at his
death, in 1927. an engraving of michael
Angeles Last Judgment, which, had he
, lived to finish it, would probably have been
his masterpiece. Toschi has engraved the
frescoes of Corregio. in the Cathedral OF
Parma, with exceeding sweetness and bril-
lisncy.
At the head of the German school OF metal
engrayers stands Albert Durer, q man Of
vast original power. whom it is impossible
to understand, impossible rot to admire.
: Durer seems to be one of the great typical
minds of the Gothic race, thoroughly pos
sessed by great religious ideas which he
could not master and yet would not belittle
to his capacity, and so he strikes out here
| and there, IN grand way hall intelligibly to
himself and not halt intolligibly to ~, great
conceptions which like scripture mysteries
are revealed with veil over them. Who
shal. tell us what he meant by his " Melan-
| cholia, or by his -" Knight and Death,
or many other pieces 80 elaborate ss to show
that he wrought deliberately at something
which was worthy of his work and our study;
| but which like the apocslyptic books no
man is able to read Tor US. But We are
concerned now rather with his technic-not
80 much with what he said as how he said
it. On looking first at Duror' : wood cuts
and then at his mctsl-work, We are struck
with the contrast between the strength of
his lines in the cuts, and the delieacy and
slenderncss ot his hatchings in metal. But
when We remember that he was taught tho
goldsmith's art by his father. We see how
the delicate work which the goldsmith
art favored hampcred the engrayer. But
purcr'S genius trIumnbed over his nethAd