DOI chapter:
Chapter VII
DOI Page / Citation link:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.62095#0091
62 Eighteenth-Century Colour-Prints
interested friends, of whom my grandfather, his neighbour, happened, fortunately, to be
one.
A copper-plate, engraved and ready for printing, was given to the workman, together,
as a rule, with a water-colour drawing for a guide to the colours. I have seen many of
these water-colour drawings by Harding, by Downman, by Hamilton, by Bartolozzi, and
more recently by Adam Buck. It was not at all unusual for the engraver and not the
artist to make this water-colour drawing. Comparing these drawings with the prints, I
should say that the instructions were to get as nearly as possible the general effect, not to
consider detail of shade or colour. I incline to this theory because in the prints I have
seen with the drawings, the artists have signed proofs as being satisfactory, which, whilst
conveying the effect of the drawings, differ very much from them in many particulars. A
few sets of these drawings with the prints are in the British Museum. The only “ unknown
quantity ” that may invalidate this argument is, that time may have altered the printed
colours, and left unchanged the drawings ; a perfectly conceivable possibility dependent on
the fugitive nature of certain colours when mixed with burnt oil—blue, for instance.
The printer having the plate, which he carefully cleaned with turpentine, and the
colour-scheme, which he closely studied, commenced by selecting the ground-tint. He
noted the prevailing tone, generally a brown, or black, or gray of greater or lesser
strength, and with this he inked or filled in the work over the entire plate, as if he were
preparing for monochrome. But instead of wiping the ink lightly into the lines or dots,
as he would have done in that case, he wiped it out of them ; that is to say, having inked
the plate, he went over it with the muslin in the endeavour to get it as nearly clean as
possible, leaving only the tone or neutral tint on which to build up his picture. Slight
as this tone was, little of it as was left on the plate, the preparation and consideration of
this stage of the proceedings were more uncertain, and required more knowledge, than
almost any of the others. This slight tone dominated the picture, lightened or deepened
the plate, changed the relation of all the colours, and affected the ultimate result in every
detail.
Having thus secured the ground-tint, the next point was to select the brighter
colours in the picture, the blues and reds, the mauves and greens. This was where, to a
certain extent, the printer worked in the dark, at least as far as proving the plate was
concerned. The plate with its dull tinge of ground was on the printing-table before him ;
his palette was prepared ; the colours mixed in accordance with the pattern. But there
was a grand uncertainty in the action ; the blue, which had exactly matched the pattern
while it was on the palette, might print lighter or darker as the ground-tint modified or
rejected it; the engraving, strong or faint, might hold the red or throw it off, and all
this could only be seen after the press had done its work. The printer had to experiment,
had to bring his experiences and patience to bear, whilst in the meantime, with brush,
poupee, or stump, he inked in the hat or the ribbon, the dress or the drapery, with the
colour he had prepared. This inking had to be very neatly, very accurately done, and
the outlines kept clear. The difficulty can be understood when the size of some of the
figures is considered, as well as the fact that it was not enough to paint the surface ; the
colour had to be rubbed into the engraving in such a manner as to fill in the line or
stipple completely.
interested friends, of whom my grandfather, his neighbour, happened, fortunately, to be
one.
A copper-plate, engraved and ready for printing, was given to the workman, together,
as a rule, with a water-colour drawing for a guide to the colours. I have seen many of
these water-colour drawings by Harding, by Downman, by Hamilton, by Bartolozzi, and
more recently by Adam Buck. It was not at all unusual for the engraver and not the
artist to make this water-colour drawing. Comparing these drawings with the prints, I
should say that the instructions were to get as nearly as possible the general effect, not to
consider detail of shade or colour. I incline to this theory because in the prints I have
seen with the drawings, the artists have signed proofs as being satisfactory, which, whilst
conveying the effect of the drawings, differ very much from them in many particulars. A
few sets of these drawings with the prints are in the British Museum. The only “ unknown
quantity ” that may invalidate this argument is, that time may have altered the printed
colours, and left unchanged the drawings ; a perfectly conceivable possibility dependent on
the fugitive nature of certain colours when mixed with burnt oil—blue, for instance.
The printer having the plate, which he carefully cleaned with turpentine, and the
colour-scheme, which he closely studied, commenced by selecting the ground-tint. He
noted the prevailing tone, generally a brown, or black, or gray of greater or lesser
strength, and with this he inked or filled in the work over the entire plate, as if he were
preparing for monochrome. But instead of wiping the ink lightly into the lines or dots,
as he would have done in that case, he wiped it out of them ; that is to say, having inked
the plate, he went over it with the muslin in the endeavour to get it as nearly clean as
possible, leaving only the tone or neutral tint on which to build up his picture. Slight
as this tone was, little of it as was left on the plate, the preparation and consideration of
this stage of the proceedings were more uncertain, and required more knowledge, than
almost any of the others. This slight tone dominated the picture, lightened or deepened
the plate, changed the relation of all the colours, and affected the ultimate result in every
detail.
Having thus secured the ground-tint, the next point was to select the brighter
colours in the picture, the blues and reds, the mauves and greens. This was where, to a
certain extent, the printer worked in the dark, at least as far as proving the plate was
concerned. The plate with its dull tinge of ground was on the printing-table before him ;
his palette was prepared ; the colours mixed in accordance with the pattern. But there
was a grand uncertainty in the action ; the blue, which had exactly matched the pattern
while it was on the palette, might print lighter or darker as the ground-tint modified or
rejected it; the engraving, strong or faint, might hold the red or throw it off, and all
this could only be seen after the press had done its work. The printer had to experiment,
had to bring his experiences and patience to bear, whilst in the meantime, with brush,
poupee, or stump, he inked in the hat or the ribbon, the dress or the drapery, with the
colour he had prepared. This inking had to be very neatly, very accurately done, and
the outlines kept clear. The difficulty can be understood when the size of some of the
figures is considered, as well as the fact that it was not enough to paint the surface ; the
colour had to be rubbed into the engraving in such a manner as to fill in the line or
stipple completely.