DOI chapter:
Chapter III
DOI Page / Citation link:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.62095#0058
Eighteenth-Century Colour-Prints 20
graduated wiping, nor any of the delicate aids to shading which have combined to produce
the miniature-like effect that we are accustomed to, it is only by means of a magnifying
glass, or by experiments conducted on a similar plan, that one can realise how little in
conception Teyler’s methods differ from those of the eighteenth century. Indeed, it was
only in the finish, and, of course, in the mode of engraving by which he was’handi-
capped, that he fell short of eighteenth-century performances. In Teyler’s book for
instance, there is a set of birds with plumage, notably a penguin, in which every delicate
feather has been painted on the copper-plate by the printer in its special colour, and not
only has this been done, but a trick, which is generally supposed to have been practised
for the first time in the eighteenth-century workshops, has been used to heighten the
tints of the breast and bills. That is, whilst the ink was still wet in the lines of the
engraving, and the plate slightly warm before being passed through the press, a little
dry co our in powder has been dusted carefully in special places over the plate. This
met 0 0 elg tening the tint, generally a red one, may thus easily have been handed
own by international tradition through the older printers, instead of having been
invented, as was supposed, by the Mr. Gamble who claimed it as his own about the
1111 ,e 0 the elshteenth century along with many other inventions and improvements
in colour-printing.
Some of the work in this book by Johannes Teyler has been finished by hand; it is
a comparatively very small portion and by far the worst. The pure colour-prints ; the
birds, the flowers, and some of the classic figures, are perfectly wonderful specimens of
picture-engravings and would. do credit to any century. Johannes Teyler, therefore may
justly be acclaimed the Inventor of modern colour-printing. 7
graduated wiping, nor any of the delicate aids to shading which have combined to produce
the miniature-like effect that we are accustomed to, it is only by means of a magnifying
glass, or by experiments conducted on a similar plan, that one can realise how little in
conception Teyler’s methods differ from those of the eighteenth century. Indeed, it was
only in the finish, and, of course, in the mode of engraving by which he was’handi-
capped, that he fell short of eighteenth-century performances. In Teyler’s book for
instance, there is a set of birds with plumage, notably a penguin, in which every delicate
feather has been painted on the copper-plate by the printer in its special colour, and not
only has this been done, but a trick, which is generally supposed to have been practised
for the first time in the eighteenth-century workshops, has been used to heighten the
tints of the breast and bills. That is, whilst the ink was still wet in the lines of the
engraving, and the plate slightly warm before being passed through the press, a little
dry co our in powder has been dusted carefully in special places over the plate. This
met 0 0 elg tening the tint, generally a red one, may thus easily have been handed
own by international tradition through the older printers, instead of having been
invented, as was supposed, by the Mr. Gamble who claimed it as his own about the
1111 ,e 0 the elshteenth century along with many other inventions and improvements
in colour-printing.
Some of the work in this book by Johannes Teyler has been finished by hand; it is
a comparatively very small portion and by far the worst. The pure colour-prints ; the
birds, the flowers, and some of the classic figures, are perfectly wonderful specimens of
picture-engravings and would. do credit to any century. Johannes Teyler, therefore may
justly be acclaimed the Inventor of modern colour-printing. 7