Line Here the engraving is done by a graver (burin) of prism form which scoops out a strip of the metal nearly free from Thum) and easily scraped. After cutting out all the lines that go to make up the picture, ink is applied, filling up the lines. Then the sur face is cleaned and an impression (called a print) is taken is damp paper on the press. Line engraving ts a 15th century invention of the Italian goldsmiths, who themselves were artists, and did fine line engravings. In Flor ence were Botticelli, Baldini, Fra Lippi, Ro betta. Andrea Mantegna worked in Padua; Marc Antoni in Bologna; Francesco Francia in Venice; Raimondi in Rome, etc. Clever line engravers in Germany were Albrecht Diner, the van Mechens, Schongauer, Alde grave, Altdorfer, the Behams, Penes, etc.; and in Holland Rubens and Vandyck, with their pupils. In England were Holl, Pelaram, Payne, Cecil, the Audrans, Nanteuil, Roullet, etc. Also numerous 18th and 19th century engravers did fine work all over Europe.
Stipple This process consists of producing a series of dots so related to one another as to size and distance that the com bination produces the desired picture. The usual method is to produce the marks by etch ing, to be further manipulated with a specially prepared graver. While a pure stipple engrav ing consists of dots solely, the line engraver frequently used the stippling method to obtain softness in flesh shading. Crayon drawings were in vogue late in the 18th century so that stipple engraving (best suited) was quite com mon then in reproducing the crayon cartoons of Fragonard, Watteau, etc. The greatest ex ponents of this style were Francisco Bartolozzi (1725-1815) and his school. Stippling never found much favor on the Continent. Wynne specialized largely on Angelica, Kaufmann on drawings and portraits; other noted names are Bond, Bromley, Cheesman, Blake, Picart, Stod dart, the Holls, Heath, etc.
Steel The introduction of soft steel (1822) by Thomas Lupton for engraving mezzotints brought with it two changes. Com mercially the plate was more profitable, pro ducing about three times as many impressions as the copper; and the harder metal permitted much more minute and delicate work to be done. To the untrained eye the difference in ordinary line work is very slight. The incision of the tool is less deep in the harder metal for bidding the bold gradations of line that copper permits. In etching the ink does not produce from steel as artistic an impression as from cop per and is easily recognizable. In mezzotints the steel medium produces a ((thinness" not seen in copper work Most steel engravings are done by etching and later improved by the graver. The stages (atrial states") through which a steel engraving progresses to a finish are so widely apart 'that the work was fre quently divided among several engravers, each having his special part. This commercialization soon brought decadence, the work becoming me chanical. Work of good merit was done by the following, among others, engravers: Fittler, Heath, Smith, Bromley, Danforth, Doo, Good all, Raimbach, Holl, Le Keux, Finden,. Great bach, etc. The later invention of giving a steel coating to a finished copper plate engraving made the old medium as commercially produc tive as the steel, and soon ended the career of the latter.
Turner Prints, The great engravings "after Turner* are generally treated to a spe cial classification. The great painter Joseph Mallord William Turner (1775-1851) did en tirely finished engravings himself but in most cases confined himself to outlines of the repro ductions of his own drawings, and left the con tinuation (always under his close supervision, however) to other engravers. "Turner prints* range from 1794 to 1856 (five years after his death. The most noted collection is a series of 71, engraved for his great 'Liber Studiorum.) Assisting him were such engravers as Basire, Pye, Dunkarton, Clint, Lupton, etc. Turner's medium was mezzotint. Another noted series is his 'Southern Coast,' Whitaker's History of Richmondshire,' etc.
Mezzotints.— In this process the plate ib given an immeasurable number of small "burrs)) or sharp projections. This work is termed "grounding* and is done with a "cradle* or "rocker)* an instrument consisting of a curved blade similar to a cheese cutter. This is rocked from one side of the plate to the other and its teeth create a jagged line (termed "way))). Starting at the top the "ways* are made in parallel till the last one reaches the bottom of the plate. Next these rough lines are made from top to bottom, at right angles to the last ones, then others are done diagonally at every possible angle gradation. The picture is produced on this roughened surface by tooling away the burrs for the lights with a "scraper'; the high lights being next brought out by pol ishing parts with a "burnisher.* The method allows great in "tones' closely similar to those of a painting. The process was in vented by Ludwig von Siegen (1640). Noted mezzotint engravers were Sherwin, Place,, Blooteling, Vandervaart, Beckett, Faithorne, Lutterel, Simon, Pelham, Beard, McArdell, Houston, Miller, Spooner, Purcell, Frye, Green, Earlom, etc.
Aquatints. In this process the surface of theplate is prepared with a "ground)) of resin of finely granulated consistence. The drawing is done with the penetration of the etching needle exposing the plate to the acid. The beauty of the aquatint depends upon the various depths to which the acid bites Into the metal. Certain parts are "stopped out* with the resist ing substance (where only shallow lines are desired) early in the bath, the plate being again immersed for deeper lines, then other lines "stopped out and the plate returned to the acid. This process is continued for perhaps a dozen bitings, each application creating another tone. When finished the work resembles an Indian ink drawing. Noted workers in this method were Le Prince, Mahon, Stadler, Lewis, Sutherland, Turner (C.), Metz, Havell, Prout, F. Goya, Delacroix, etc.
Bibliography.— Hayden, A. 'Chats on Old Prints' (New York 1906) ; Hind, A. M., 'A Short History of Engraving and Etching' (Boston 1908) ; Maberly, J., 'The Print Col lector' (New York 1880) ; Richter, E. H., 'Prints' (Boston 1914) ; Wedmore, F., 'Fine Prints' (New York 1897) ; Weitenkampf, F., 'Prints and Their Production: a List of Works" in the New York Library' (New York 1916).