Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume VI.djvu/662

650 ENGRAVING devoted themselves to the works of modern masters, the most eminent perhaps is Hen- riquel-Dupont, whose line engraving of Dela- roche's fresco in the hemicycle of the palais des beaux-arts is unsurpassed in merit or dimen- sions by any recent work of the kind. Blan- chard, Prudhomme, Louis, and the brothers Francois, have engraved many of the works of Vernet, Delaroche, and Scheffer, and C. R. J. Francois has confined himself exclusively to Delaroche's works. Girardet (died 1865) en- graved from these masters, and also several subjects from American history, including Leutze's "Washington Crossing the Dela- ware," Stuart's portrait of "Washington, &c. Jazet is celebrated for his aquatints from the battle pieces of Gros and Vernet, and Cala- matta (died 1869) executed admirable portrait prints of Lamennais, Guizot, Fourier, and Madame Dudevant. Calame, a Swiss artist (died 1864), produced many admirable etch- ings. The practice of copying the old masters, and to a considerable extent of line engraving, has fallen into disuse in England, the latter being employed principally in large landscapes or in the higher class of figure pieces. Here again, as in Germany and France, the works of a few eminent native artists have occupied the attention of the chief engravers almost ex- clusively, and under the influence of painters like Reynolds, Lawrence, Wilkie, Turner, and Landseer, the art has been prosecuted with great success. Raimbach, Stewart, Burnet, Smith, and others, have made Wilkie's pic- tures generally known through the medium of excellent line engravings ; and Goodall, Will- more, Pye, Wilson, Prior, Finden, Wallis, and Cousen have done the same for the landscapes of Turner, Stanfield, Constable, Callcott, Rob- erts, and the other great English masters of this department of painting. Martin's mezzo- tints of the "Fall of Babylon," " Belshazzar's Feast," &c., after his own designs, are striking works and well known. The engraving of Sir Edwin Landseer's works, of which nearly 200 different prints have appeared, has employed a numerous band of engravers, prominent among whom are the artist's brother Thomas Land- seer, Cousins, Lucas, Bromley, Ryall, Atkin- son, Baker, Wass, Gibbon, Graves, Bacon, and Robinson. Doo, Watt, Heath, Hollaway, who engraved the cartoons of Raphael in Hampton court, and others, have produced good line engravings from the old masters; and the more modern English painters, such as Leslie, Newton, Eastlake, Etty, Ward, Webster, Maclise, Millais, Frank Stone, Her- ring, and T. Faed, have found ready inter- preters in Richardson, Bellin, Sadd, Howison, Walker, Simmons, Stocks, Reynolds, J. Faed, Hall, and many others. The etchings of George Cruikshank from his own designs are also of the highest order of merit. Wood en- graving in Europe, and particularly in Eng- land, has reached a perfection unknown to any previous era in the history of art ; and in the latter country the woodcuts of the Dalziel brothers, Evans, Cooper, Palmer, Linton, and others, have a richness and delicacy of finish not inferior to the highest efforts of the en- gravers on metal. In the Netherlands the principal engravers are Vinkeles and Van Ge- nus, Van Trostwyck, Van Os, Overbeck, Jan- son, Chalon, Claessens, De Frey, and Corr. In the United States the most eminent names are Durand, Cheney, Smillie, Danforth, Dick, Hal- pin, Marshall, and Andrews. According to the material used for receiving the designs, the art is designated as xylography, chalcography, siderography, and lithography from wood, x a ^ K ^ copper, oiSijpoq, steel, and stone. The last will be treated under its own designation. Engraving proper may be considered under two heads: wood engra- ving, where the print is made from a sur- face, and plate engraving, where the impres- sion is made from lines cut into the metal or other substance on which the engraving is made. I. XYLOGEAPHY, or WOOD ENGRAVING, is the earliest, simplest, and cheapest form. Various woods are used, boxwood exclusively for fine work, and mahogany, maple, and pine, and occasionally pear, apple, and beech, for coarse work. The old engravers cut on large blocks of soft wood, such as pear tree, the way of the grain; those of the present day use small blocks of hard wood, and cut across the grain. Some soft woods, such as pine, used for engraving placards and posters, are still cut with the grain. In preparing boxwood blocks, the log is sawn into transverse slices, " type high " (about }| of an inch),' so that the face of the engraving will be even with the type when in the form. After thorough dry- ing, to prevent warping and cracking, it is trimmed square. If the cut is large, a number of these blocks are put into the hands of differ- ent engravers, each of whom executes a part, and the various pieces are then fitted together and securely clamped. In this manner a very large engraving can be produced in a short time. The face of the block having been made smooth and free from inequalities, the artist covers it with a light coat of flake white mixed with gum water. This makes a ground for the drawing, and retains pencil marks or India ink. Drawings may be made with a lead pen- cil, pen, brush, or with brush and lead pencil combined. The drawings of the time of Al- bert Diirer are supposed to have been made with pen and ink. Modern drawings, not be- ing fixed, are liable to be obliterated by the engraver, and are usually covered with paper, a small piece being torn away from the part on which he is engaged. Drawings made with the lead pencil and the pen require more me- chanical than artistic skill in the engraver; those with the brush, or brush and pencil combined, the reverse. The work of the wood engraver is precisely the opposite of that of the plate engraver. The latter cuts the lines of the drawing into the metal ; the former cuts