DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.52444#0047
INTRODUCTION.
that is to say, by reducing its height, its ink-catching capacity may be
reduced, and by removing it entirely this capacity may be destroyed
altogether, leaving only the furrow,— the incised line,—which will then
print the same as any other incised line, simply producing a well-defined
black mark. The wearing of the plate, which gradually reduces and
finally obliterates the bur altogether, has the same effect as scraping.
Impressions from a worn dry-point plate, therefore, show none of the
velvety effects produced by such a plate in good condition. This is very
well illustrated by the dry-points in different states here exhibited (see
Nos. 65 and 66). We are now in a position to gage Thausing’s theory,
according to which Diirer first etched these plates, producing lines that
were too shallow, and that he then entered these lines with the dry-
point, to increase their printing qualities. As the action of the point in
3
the line would have raised a ridge of bur in the line (see Fig. 3), it is
evident that such a proceeding would have filled the line, instead of
deepening it, and the effect would have been the very reverse of that
sought, that is to say, the ink-carrying capacity of the line would have
been reduced, instead of being increased. On the other hand, if the
lines had been so shallow as to have no perceptible ink-holding capacity,
in which case the bur might have risen above them, no artist would
have thought of entering these useless lines with the point, painfully
following one after the other. In the endeavor thus to save a spoiled
plate all the freedom of dry-point work would have been lost, and it
would have been much better to take a fresh plate, and begin anew.
That the plates now under consideration are dry-points admits of
no doubt. There is a peculiarity in impressions from dry-point plates
which, if discoverable, can always be relied upon, and which was first
xxix
that is to say, by reducing its height, its ink-catching capacity may be
reduced, and by removing it entirely this capacity may be destroyed
altogether, leaving only the furrow,— the incised line,—which will then
print the same as any other incised line, simply producing a well-defined
black mark. The wearing of the plate, which gradually reduces and
finally obliterates the bur altogether, has the same effect as scraping.
Impressions from a worn dry-point plate, therefore, show none of the
velvety effects produced by such a plate in good condition. This is very
well illustrated by the dry-points in different states here exhibited (see
Nos. 65 and 66). We are now in a position to gage Thausing’s theory,
according to which Diirer first etched these plates, producing lines that
were too shallow, and that he then entered these lines with the dry-
point, to increase their printing qualities. As the action of the point in
3
the line would have raised a ridge of bur in the line (see Fig. 3), it is
evident that such a proceeding would have filled the line, instead of
deepening it, and the effect would have been the very reverse of that
sought, that is to say, the ink-carrying capacity of the line would have
been reduced, instead of being increased. On the other hand, if the
lines had been so shallow as to have no perceptible ink-holding capacity,
in which case the bur might have risen above them, no artist would
have thought of entering these useless lines with the point, painfully
following one after the other. In the endeavor thus to save a spoiled
plate all the freedom of dry-point work would have been lost, and it
would have been much better to take a fresh plate, and begin anew.
That the plates now under consideration are dry-points admits of
no doubt. There is a peculiarity in impressions from dry-point plates
which, if discoverable, can always be relied upon, and which was first
xxix