THE NEW-YORK EXHIBITION ILLUSTRATED.

engraving exhibited at the Crystal Palace; a fact "which affords an excellentcheck on counterfeits. Some of these, and other American engravers, rankvery high in their profession, though unfortunately there rarely happens to theseartists, an opportunity of applying their talents to those great works indispensa-ble for an established reputation.

Stippling is a peculiar species of engraving, in which effects are producedsolely by the use of dots, or indented points, made either with the graver, thepoint, or by etching. The graver dots or holes in the plate are angular, and thosemade by the dry point and etching needle are circular. Their grouping anddegree of crowding, regulate both the lines of the subject and its distribution oflight and shade. The heaviest shades are produced by condensing the dots, andby opening them out, the gradation into white may be realized in the softest andmost delicate manner. Stippling can be used with exceedingly beautiful effect inrounding the arms, cheeks, and other swelling parts of the human figure, andespecially in copying the soft lights of statuary. It is also well adapted to vig-nettes and flowers. This method of engraving dates back to the beginning ofthe seventeenth century, and was revived with much improvement near the endof the eighteenth century. The English have acquired a very marked superiorityin this style, and many fine instances of its use may be seen in the Art Journal.Hyland and Bartolozzi are names of special distinction in this field. In arrangingthe dots, they are placed with some regularity in curved lines, as a random orderof location would give a patched and rough look to the tints. The dots beingmade by the graver or dry point, burrs or swellings are raised around the rim ofeach indentation. This prevents the completion of the dotting at once, andmakes it necessary to use the scraper for removing the burr, when dots are againinterpolated. Several scrapings of the burr may be necessary. Sometimes instippling, a roulette or mounted spur-wheel is used for running in dots, but it israther an unmanageable tool for this purpose, and not proper for the best work.The required effects are governed by the size, and placing or condensation of thedots, and the good masiagement of these two elements demands all the skill of theengraver. Stippling is a slow and very costly mode of engraving, nor can it beappropriately used except in subjects where a peculiar softness of effect is desired.The Opus Mallei species of work hardly constitutes a distinct style of engraving,nor is it much used. It belongs to the seventeenth century, and was first prac-tised by James Lutma. It is executed with a minute chisel, or a short and sharppoint, which is struck by a small hammer. It is chiefly restricted to harmonizingdesigns already etched or drawn.

Etching is a general name for all the methods of engraving on metals orglass by the use of acids. More definitively it is the mode of engraving by layinga protecting ground over the surface of a plate, and drawing through this groundwith a needle or etching point the lines of the design, which by the applicationof an acid, are bitten into the plate elsewhere protected by the ground layer.Albert Durer is supposed to have invented the art of etching, as his works arethe earliest in which its use is traceable. It has been practised by many first-classartists, though the palm of highest excellence is conceived to be due, at least inthe architectural department, to Piranesi, a Venetian, who died in 1170. Etchingis used either for the entire completion of engravings, or the stronger etched linesare retouched by the graver, and the irregularities of other etched lines are inlike manner removed. Stippling is also executed by the needle on etchingground, and then bitten in. The use of the etching needle bears a close relationto drawing with the pen or hard pencil, and the lines of etching have that freeflowing character which the graver cannot realize. Etching has some points ofdecided advantage over the graver, and some as decided inferiorities, especially inthe unevenness of the acid action and the consequent raggedness of its lines.'Hence a combination of the two is very much employed, in which the graversuperadds its own excellencies to the ease of the etching needle.

The ground composition is a mixture of asphaltum, Burgundy pitch and bees-wax, which is formed into a ball, and enveloped in a silk cover for use. It isapplied by rubbing it over the heated plate, and is smoked with a taper to makethe drawing apparent. A soft ground is also sometimes used for etching, inimitation of chalk drawings. The hard ground composition is mixed for thispurpose with mutton suet or lard, and over this oft ground a sheet of thinpaper is stretched. The drawing is then made on this paper, and when it isremoved, it lifts off by adhesion the soft ground from the plate where the linesand shading strokes fell, so that on etching an imitation of the drawing results.When a drawing on a hard ground is completed with an etching needle or a point, itis inclosed in a ridge of bordering wax, and a solution of nitric acid is poured on.This attacks the metal through the lines, and an effervescence results, the bubblesof which are carefully brushed from the plate by a soft brush or feather. Whenthe biting in has progressed as far as required by the lightest work, the acid ispoured off, and these parts are coated with varnish, or stopped out as it is called.The biting is then renewed, mid the stopping out extended as often as requiredfor the best effect in the engraving. Then the plate is cleaned, retouched bythe graver, and the bordering and lettering added. Both copper and steel areextensively engraved by etching, the process being much the most rapid onsteel.

Aguatint engraving was invented about 1662, in France, by St. Non, andwas introduced into England by Paul Sandby. It has been practised in Englandwith much better success than elsewhere, and is among the important facilitiesto art publication. Its effect is similar to that of India ink or sepia drawing, andit is much used for good works which are to be colored. The outline beingdrawn or etched very lightly on the plate, it is polished, and prepared for layingthe ground. This is laid by pouring a solution of resin in spirits of wine over thesurface of the plate placed slightly sloping, until the whole surface is covered,when the plate is quickly turned to a horizontal position. The spirits of winerapidly evaporates, leaving the resin in a granulated form on the plate, and pro-ducing a minute network of open lines, through which the acid can reach theplate. The quality of the graining is affected by the strength of the resinoussolution, the quantity applied, the slope of the plate, and the time during whichit stands aslope after the solution is poured on. The ground being prepared, thenext process is the stopping out, as it is called, or the laying of a varnish on thelights to be protected from the acid. The margin and the white lights arestopped out before the first etching takes plaoe; and then this proceeds until thebiting has progressed far enough to give the lowest tone of shade, when it isarrested, and the stopping out is extended to all shades of this class. By repeat-ing this process the heaviest shades are produced at last, and the plate is finallycleaned. Then the scraper is applied to bring out the lights when requisite, andthe burnisher is used for softening down the joinings of the successive shades, andfor toning down such parts as come out too dark. Much care and skill are requiredfor the successful practice of biting in, while the stopping out requires the samequalities in the artist as water-color painting. Much diversity of practice pre-vails among different engravers in the details of aquatinting, and on the whole,this species of work is capable of producing the finest or the very worst effects,according to the skill exercised in its practice.

Mezzotinting was invented in 1611, by Louis Siegen, or by Prince Rupert, or bySir Christopher Wren, for each of whom claims are advanced. It has been mostsuccessfully practised in England, and it is very advantageously applied to nightscenes, or other subjects demanding a dark ground, for which it approaches theeffect of oil paintings. Mezzotint plates unfortunately wear out very rapidly,generally giving only about 200 good impressions, though the facility with whichthey are engraved in part compensates for this defect. It is also difficult toprint mezzotints well, though a successful impression has a peculiar power oflight and shade, which no other style possesses.

The mode of engraving is quite peculiar. First of all, the whole surface of theplate is so filled with intersecting cuts, that it will print a uniform strong blacktint. This is done by rocking with the hand backwards and forwards, under aslight pressure and over the entire plate, a cutting grounding tool or sharp-edgedsegment; then lines are thus cut crosswise, and again diagonally. Thus the sur-face is thoroughly worked over and covered with intersecting lines, which givea black impression. Grounds are sometimes prepared by etching and by dottingwith the roulette. Rembrandt so cross-ruled etching grounds as that the plateprinted black. Wo have seen a tint produced by printing from the parallel rulingby a machine, which was so delicate that the naked eye could scarcely detect thelines; and this, if cross-ruled, would have given an exquisite dark ground.Saulnier has applied a special machine to mezzotint grounding, and readygrounded plates are now an article of regular trade supply. On the ground,however prepared, the drawing outline is transferred and traced with the etchingneedle, and the lights are then produced by scraping out the ground with thescraper, and by smoothing it down with the burnisher. The extent to which theground is removed, measures the light which will result in the print. The en-graver has for his task to produce strong lights by entire erasure, medium lightsby moderate burnishing, and to preserve the original ground for deep shades.Thus mezzotinting and aquatinting are like dark ground wood-cutting, in thefact of engraving the lights, and leaving the shades.

Engraving on stone is much used for maps, botanical illustrations, and mecha-nical drawings. These are cut into the stone, just as they would be into metal,by using a dry point. Stone engravings are rather hard to print, though theycan be readily transferred on to a flat stone surface, and printed like other litho-graphic work. Stone engraving cannot be made as fine as metal engraving,though excellent work of certain kinds can thus be done.

We have now presented a synopsis of the chief modes of engraving, thoughsome other processes have been tried which might have been added. Specimensin the various styles described are exhibited in the Crystal Palace, some of whichare highly honorable to art and to their authors. They are distributed through-out the building, and in a great variety of forms, from the gigantic ordnancemaps to “ The Homes of American Authors.” Specific criticism, even though itwere our object, would be in great part baffled by the lack of salient subjects, onwhich to concentrate attention. In matters so directly addressed to the eye asengravings are, the critic will hardly make the spectator see more or less than hewould of his own accord. But the processes on which we have dwelt, are notthus obvious to the senses, and this synopsis may therefore be of service in givingdesired information, and of thus contributing a new element of interest.

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