DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.20658#0346
332 ETCHING.
lest he break his ground. In the management of his aqua-fortis great address is requisite;
and experience is absolutely necessary to manage this powerful agent with success. In making
the ground the ingredients must be melted over a slow fire; and while the asphaltum is putting
in, and even after it is mixed with the other articles, they should be constantly stirred with the
spatula, and suffered to simmer gently, till a drop put on a plate will break between the fingers
when cold : the water into which the composition is poured should be nearly of the same warmth
with the articles, to prevent a kind of cracking which would otherwise happen in the ground
when finished. If any scratches or false strokes happen in the working, they are to be stopped
up with the Venetian varnish and lamp-black, by which means they will be defended from the
action of the aqua-fortis.
A variety of needles or pointers is necessary, some with points as sharp as those of common
needles for the very fine lines. Those used for broad large strokes should be very blunt, ex-
ceeding round and well polished at the point. The sole of a shoe answers very well for polishing
the pointers; but they should be whetted upon the oil stone, some with a more blunt and others
with a sharper point, according to their respective uses: an operation which requires consi-
derable address. The pointers may also be numbered according to their uses.
There are generally speaking two kinds of etching : the one above mentioned, formerly called
etching with the soft, ground, to distinguish it from the other, or etching with the hard ground.
The former has now prevailed nearly to the exclusion of the latter, except in the case of parti-
cular subjects. The hard ground was formerly much in use, though it be undoubtedly a more
modern invention than the etching with the soft ground. It was however more admired formerly
than the other species, on account of the practice more nearly resembling the work of the;
graver; as the firmness of the ground enabled the artist to retouch the lines, or open them when
too narrow with the oval-pointed needles, which was the practice of several French artists: the
chief merit also of etching being considered to consist in the closeness of its imitation to engraving.,
of which art it was considered only as a counterfeit. This servile confinement of the eminent art
of etching was a great cause of retarding its advancement to its present state of perfection ; and
cramped the hand and genius of some of the ablest masters.
It is now however universally admitted, and will be acknowledged by every one conversant
with the subject, that the present general mode of etching with the soft ground affords a power
of expression incompatible with the greater inflexibility of the hard ground, by the freedom with
which it is worked ; while the hard ground confining the lines and hatches to that uniform
regularity and sameness, gives to the whole a certain coldness of effect and stiff appearance, of
wdiich it is afterwards impossible to divest it.
Nevertheless, for the information of the student, T shall give the method of making the hard
ground; the application of it, and the other parts of the work being the same as that above
described, except that after the plate is smoked, it must in this case, be baked or dried over
a gentle fire of charcoal, till the smoke from ihe ground begins to decrease ; great care being
taken not to over-heat the plate or burn the ground.
The preparation of the hard ground used by Callot, commonly called the Florence varnish.
Take four ounces of fat oil very clear and made of good linseed oil, like that used by painters:
heat it in a clean glazed earthenware-pot, and afterwards add to it four ounces of mastic well
powdered:
lest he break his ground. In the management of his aqua-fortis great address is requisite;
and experience is absolutely necessary to manage this powerful agent with success. In making
the ground the ingredients must be melted over a slow fire; and while the asphaltum is putting
in, and even after it is mixed with the other articles, they should be constantly stirred with the
spatula, and suffered to simmer gently, till a drop put on a plate will break between the fingers
when cold : the water into which the composition is poured should be nearly of the same warmth
with the articles, to prevent a kind of cracking which would otherwise happen in the ground
when finished. If any scratches or false strokes happen in the working, they are to be stopped
up with the Venetian varnish and lamp-black, by which means they will be defended from the
action of the aqua-fortis.
A variety of needles or pointers is necessary, some with points as sharp as those of common
needles for the very fine lines. Those used for broad large strokes should be very blunt, ex-
ceeding round and well polished at the point. The sole of a shoe answers very well for polishing
the pointers; but they should be whetted upon the oil stone, some with a more blunt and others
with a sharper point, according to their respective uses: an operation which requires consi-
derable address. The pointers may also be numbered according to their uses.
There are generally speaking two kinds of etching : the one above mentioned, formerly called
etching with the soft, ground, to distinguish it from the other, or etching with the hard ground.
The former has now prevailed nearly to the exclusion of the latter, except in the case of parti-
cular subjects. The hard ground was formerly much in use, though it be undoubtedly a more
modern invention than the etching with the soft ground. It was however more admired formerly
than the other species, on account of the practice more nearly resembling the work of the;
graver; as the firmness of the ground enabled the artist to retouch the lines, or open them when
too narrow with the oval-pointed needles, which was the practice of several French artists: the
chief merit also of etching being considered to consist in the closeness of its imitation to engraving.,
of which art it was considered only as a counterfeit. This servile confinement of the eminent art
of etching was a great cause of retarding its advancement to its present state of perfection ; and
cramped the hand and genius of some of the ablest masters.
It is now however universally admitted, and will be acknowledged by every one conversant
with the subject, that the present general mode of etching with the soft ground affords a power
of expression incompatible with the greater inflexibility of the hard ground, by the freedom with
which it is worked ; while the hard ground confining the lines and hatches to that uniform
regularity and sameness, gives to the whole a certain coldness of effect and stiff appearance, of
wdiich it is afterwards impossible to divest it.
Nevertheless, for the information of the student, T shall give the method of making the hard
ground; the application of it, and the other parts of the work being the same as that above
described, except that after the plate is smoked, it must in this case, be baked or dried over
a gentle fire of charcoal, till the smoke from ihe ground begins to decrease ; great care being
taken not to over-heat the plate or burn the ground.
The preparation of the hard ground used by Callot, commonly called the Florence varnish.
Take four ounces of fat oil very clear and made of good linseed oil, like that used by painters:
heat it in a clean glazed earthenware-pot, and afterwards add to it four ounces of mastic well
powdered: