Studio: international art (3.1894)

Artistic Lithography

There are three manners of work generally used
by artists: first, by simply drawing upon stone
with the chalk of various degrees of hardness,
which is quite straightforward, and offers a scale
ranging from the richest black to white.

In many cases it may be desirable to scheme
out the subject on the stone, before beginning to
work with the chalk ; this may be done with a

FROM A LITHOGRAPH BY DAUMIER

stick of hard charcoal, or by tracing down a pre-
liminary sketch with red transfer-paper, but on no
account must a lead-pencil be used. The artist
should never place his subject close to the edge of
the stone; a clear margin of \\ inches should
always be left all round the smallest drawing, and
proportionately more for a larger one; this margin
being an absolute necessity in the printing.

A good firm touch with the chalk will give the
best results. This will be especially apparent in
the most delicate parts, as a hesitating touch
remains on the surface, and does not penetrate
into the grain, hence it becomes rotten in the
etching. A clean badger-hair brush should be
used to lightly dust the stone with from time to
time, and on no account should the worker attempt
to blow off the loose chalk ; nor should the hand
be allowed to rest on the face of the stone, but a
pad of tissue or blotting paper kept between.

The drawings of Prout—from an excellent speci-
men of whose work the accompanying illustration
is taken—Louis Haghe, and R. J. Lane, A.R.A.,
and Weed-Burners in the Fens, by Mr. Macbeth,
given as a Supplement to the first number of The
Studio, are. examples of this style of lithographic
drawing, from which a large number of impressions
can be printed.

Another method is by stump-drawing or rub-tint,
when the. chalk is applied to the stone by means
of a stump or piece of cloth, giving a very soft
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velvety result, even in the most tender tints. In
this manner one may rub a preliminary tint or
ground of varying degrees of strength all over the
stone, and scrape lights, and add greater depths
with the chalk as may be desired. Much practice
will be found necessary before it is possible to lay
a fairly smooth ground; but when this difficulty is
mastered, it will be found that one can obtain all
the breadth and softness of a mezzotint. J. D.
Harding, Eugene Isabey, and others made much
use of the stump in many of the beautiful works
they executed about 1840.

The third method is litho-tint, in which one
draws with a brush and diluted washes of ink, much
as in a water-colour drawing. This process again
needs considerable practice and experience on the
part of the artist, as from the absorbent nature of
the stone, the moment a wash is laid on it appears
many degrees darker than when it is dry, and con-
sequently each part whilst being worked on is
quite out of tone with the rest of the drawing :
hence one must know from experience the real—
i.e., printing—value of each tint used. Lights may
be taken out with a mezzotint scraper, but this
should not be done until the drawing is otherwise

FROM A LITHOGRAPH BY ANQUETIN

quite finished, as the scraper destroys the grain on
the stone, and makes a surface on which the grease
will no longer hold ; this is indeed the case in
every phase of lithographic work. George Catter-
mole, Nash — whose Gothic Tomb, here repro-