ENGRAILED, a heraldic term uscd to designate a line made up of concave semi-cir cles. See HERALDRY.
ENGFtAVINGS. For humanity's great indebtedness to the art of pictorial reproduc tion it would be difficUlt to claim too much. Next in irnportance to the art of printing, as. an aid in the history of the advance of civilization, certainly comes that of illustrating. The growth in the art of the manifold reproduction of pictures is one of great interest, as well as importance, and many books have been dedi cated to an exposition of our best engravers and their productions, known to the connots seur as "prints.° And among connoisseurs of art their collections of prints hold a very favor able position.
Etching.— This process is carried out on a copper plate having its upper surface highly polished. This plate is heated. and then coated with. an acid-resisting substance, usually a mix ture of burgundy-pitch, asphaltum and beeswax. Cold applications of certain pastes composed of materials dissolved in oil of lavender or chlo roform are sometimes used. The plate next receives a coating of lamp-black This prepared plate has the drawing scratched through the sur face coating by means of etching-needles. All work is drawn in reverse (negative) of the actual desired impression. The back of the plate is next coated with varnish (the process is termed °stopping-out"). Now the plate is immersed in an acid for the process of "biting in.° Those lines which are to remain the finest are stopped out by varnish early, then the plate is retunaed to the acid bath to attain *the deep black lines. When the process has been car tied on till the artist is satisfied with the condi tion, the varnish and wax are cleaned off and the plate is ready for the press. Next the entire upper surface of the plate is coated with ink, the channels made by the acid being also filled; then the ink on the upper surface is cleaned and a copper-plate press take.s an im pression (called a °print))) on damp paper. Dry-point Etching is done by engraving the design directly into the metal with a needle (using no acid). This scratching of a furrow /eaves a °burr° (or raised ridge of the erased metal) on either side of the channel; the effect of this burr on the impression is characteristic of a dry-point print. Etching, unlike engraving with a °burin° (graver) is done as rapidly as the genius of the operator permits, and there fore is a process frequently used by painters. Among the early painter-etchers were Albert Darer, Lucas van Leyden, Vandyck, Rem brandt, Agostino, etc. Rembrandt was the first exponent of the art of etching (17th cen tury) besides producing the grandest work known. Among other well-Imown early etchers were Van Vliet, Ostade, Paul Potter. etc. In England were Barlow, Gaywood, Hollar, Place; and in France, Callot, Bosse, etc. In the 18th century were Hogarth, Claude Gelee, Guido Reni, Canaletto, etc. In the 19th cen tury were such masters as Ingres, Corot, Meryon, Jacquemart, Seymour Haden, McNeil Whistler, Joseph Pennell. Most noted of etch ings are, probably, those from the drawings of Claude, reproduced by Richard Earlom in the great
Wood Engraving.— Here the technique is just the reverse of etching, inasmuch as the parts to appear in black or color are left the height of the surface, while the background (white) is cut away. Our earliest woodcuts are German (middle 15th century) • and the practice grew up with the sister art of printing. Albrecht Diirer and Hans Holbein greatly aided the advancement. To the early school of wood engravers belong such names as Lucas Cranach, the Behams, Lucas van Leyden, Altdorfer, Burgkmair, Baldung, Ammon, etc. The 17th century witnessed the decadence of wood engraving, but in the 18th century it was revived. The early workers had engraved on the plank or with the grain; in the re vival a modern method of engraving across the grain on boxwood blocks was used The ((white line" now appears, produced by means of making cuts into the wood surface. Thomas Bewick (1758-1828) was one of its earliest ex ponents. The prints period 'show clearly the merits of the ch ed system, allow ing such delicate treatment.' Among its expo nents are Whynsper, Baxtet, Thompson, Lin ton, Harvey, etc., in England; Vogel, Ungel mann, Kretchner, Pfnorr, Weber, etc., in Ger many; the Pannemakers, You, Pisan, Colin, Valloton, etc., in France; Veldheer, Nieuen kampf, etc., in Holland. But another process of wood engraving was brought about by, the fact that wash drawings on the block permitted light and shade effect to be engraved through the painting. This soon put the original work in the hands of draughtsmen- to be engraved by what soon became an artisan engraver class. Decadence set in and the first half of the 19th century found its art work done in the metal (steel). Periodicals (started by the Illustrated Lonclaii- News, in 1842) brought back work again to the engravers as wood engravers, be cause they could put wooden engravings on the press with the type, whereas the metal plate engraving had to be printed from separately. The Victorian School of wood engravers arose from illustrated volumes on India paper for which such artists as Rossetti, Millais, Hughes, etc., did drawings on the block and ((facsimile* work was done by such geniuses of interpreta tion as the Dalziel brothers and Swain. Birket Foster did fine drawings as did also North, Lawless, Small, Boyd, Houghton, Sandys; even Burne-Jones and Whistler did a few. Noted 19th century wood engravers were Roberts, Thomas, Babbage, Comfort, Cooper, etc. Fur nishing drawings from artists quickly led to photographing the picture on the block and reproducing directly (in positive). But wood was not adapted to stand the heavy wear in producing prints on a large, popular scale, hence metal casts were invented to•preserve the original (clichés they were termed). In Amer ica, Harper's Magazine and, later, the Century helped the cause of the wood engraver and they did better justice to the artists' originals, bring ing out the tones displayed in chalk or wash drawing.