Universitätsbibliothek HeidelbergUniversitätsbibliothek Heidelberg
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Ottley, William Young
An inquiry into the origin and early history of engraving: upon copper and in wood ; with an account of engravers and their works, from the invention of chalcography by Maso Finiguerra to the time of Marc Antonio Raimondi (Band 1) — London, 1816 [Cicognara, 266A]

DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.7597#0310
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chap, iv.] SULPHUR BY FINIGUERRA DESCRIBED. 277

" safety; since, as there is no silver without some alloy of copper,
" the plate itself would be corroded in the operation, and rendered
" unfit for printing.

« I conceived that the small particles of copper and silver, used
** in composing the niello, finding themselves insulated and sepa-
" rated by the solution of the lead, the borax, and the sulphur,
*' with which they had been bound together, would have come
" away of themselves; leaving the engraved cavities, made by the
" burin in the plate, entirely empty. In works of niello coarsely
" engraved, and especially in letters of not too small a size, this
" was the case ; and such engraved plates, which had, at first, been
" filled with niello, were rendered capable of furnishing impres-
" sions. ' But with those of minute and delicate workmanship 1
" could never succeed. Some solution of the niello was, indeed,
" effected; but, I suppose, the small component particles of silver
" and copper remained so tightly fixed in the fine strokes made
" by the burin, that it was impossible for them to disengage them-
" selves. The impressions which we have of works of niello, must
■ i have been taken, either from those niellos Avhich were executed
" in the time of Baldini and Botticelli, when the art had been
" discovered of taking impressions from engraved plates, on paper,
" previous to introducing the niello; or from such plates as had
" not been finished, and in which the melted niello had conse-
" quently never been introduced."

" The print of the conversion of S. Paul, is from a plate which
" was intended to be worked in niello, by an artist of the name of
" Dati :* the plate was discovered in its present unfinished state,
" and, in consequence, it has been capable of furnishing impres-

* The Count Seratti was some time go-
vernor of Leghorn. It was there that Fini-
guerra's sulphur was shewn to Zani, to whom,
upon his departure, the Count presented the
dissertation which he had written. The
above concluding paragraph probably relates

to a print in the Count's collection, concern-
ing which some conversation had taken place
during Zani's stay at Leghorn ; and of which,
it is to be regretted, Zani himself makes no
further mention in his notes.
 
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