International studio (19.1903)

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TAKOB CHRISTOFFEL LE BLON
KAND HIS THREE-COLOUR
^JpRINTS. BY DR. HANS W.
SINGER.

Jakob ChristoFel Le Blon, a German by blrth
in spite of his French name, was baptised on
the 23rd of May, 1667, in Frankfort-on-the-Main.
He seems to have studied under Meyer, of Zurich,*


IT was about a decade ago that the hrst speci-
mens of photo-mechanical three-colour prints were
introduced, and the public was startled with the
promise of a complete revolution in matters of
cheap illustration. The apostles of the new pro-
cess were sanguine enough in their hopes to
express a conviction that in a few years all our
journals would present a new appearance, con-
taining scarcely anything but life-Iike coloured
illustrations.
It is not presuming too much to suppose that
not one of these inventors and advocates knew
that what they were striving for had already been
attempted nearly two cen-
turies ago, else they
would no doubt have


been induced to look into
the rnatter and profit
by the experience of a
previous failure. The
name of their forerunner
is Le Blon. He is prob-
ably the first man to have
introduced true colour-
printing, that is, using
several plates to produce
the picture, and inking
each with only one colour.
This priority of course
applies only to him as an
intaglio-engraver. The
special interest attached
to Le Blon, however, is
that he, an enthusiast upon
Newton's theory of the
triple composition of light,
endeavoured to produce his
workonthebasisofthis
theory. The story of Le
Blon's process—of his whole
career, in fact—is full of
vicissitudes, and ends up
with a final failure. He,
too, had to yield his posi-
tion, and admit the imper-
fections resulting when his
beloved theory was put into
practice, and take recourse
to a fourth, black plate.

KtNG GEORGE t. FROM THE THREE-COLOUR PRINT BY J. C. LE BLON

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