FINE ENGRAVINGS

Evening Post, Volume CXXIV, Issue 55, 2 September 1937, Page 17

FINE ENGRAVINGS

DISPLAY IN GALLERY

LORD GALWAY'S COLLECTION

The National Art Gallery is againi presenting, through the courtesy of his Excellency the Governor-General, an exhibition which will prove of great interest and educational value to residents in Wellington, Lord Galway; has consistently shown his interest in the National Gallery and matters ap^ pertaining to the fine arts, and has now lent a valulble collection of engravings and mezzotints from his private collection. He is visiting the gallery this afternoon to see his own collection and also the exhibition of British printing.

In his Excellency's collection thera are some very fine examples of engravings of members' of the Galway fam-. ily which provide an intimate note. Most of the works on view are by the known engravers of the 18tH century, who provided many now famous and [valuable prints. Engravings of rul[ing Georges from George I to George IV are of particular interest. One of the largest prints on view is of the late King Edward VII, a special plate being struck -with the inscription, "Presented by King George V, in remembrance sdt your vigil" to the officers who guarded the King's -body when it lay in state in Westminster Hall. It is signed by his Majesty King George V. Portraits of famous and beautiful women have always attracted artists, and there are many after portraits by famous men. John Raphael Smith, Valentine Green, Jacobe, T. Watson, Dickinson, James Scott, Kichard Earldom, and William Wynne Ryland, whose work is rarely seen in New Zealand, are represented. ~

ENGRAVING PROCESSES.

An understanding of the processes employed in engraving will make a study of this exhibition decidedly more interesting. These processes may be conveniently under three headings, according' to the materials on which the engraving is made, wood, stone, or metal.. It is not a new art, for it began many hundreds of years ago with the medieval goldsmiths who wrought quaint designs, upon gold armour. That skilled work attracted the attention of the artists and at length it was refined to.a complex.art from which comes the modern revival of etching. \ The engravings on view are mostly examples of line engravings and of. mezzotint. These are engraved qn, metal, which is cut with a tool. Line engraving has a character of its own. A plate of copper or-steel is cut by a V-shaped tool, which turns up a little ridge of metal on each side of the furrow it makes. These ridges are removed and the plate is covered with, ink, wiped, and pressed into a damp sheet of paper to which the ink lines are transferred. Considerable strength; has. to be exerted by the engraver, in forcing his tool through the metal. Tho; pressure has to be evenly applied' toi prevent the line being of, uneven) depth. The process is slow and the line produced even in quality. The great tradition of line engraving is thus one of austerity.

Many of the known engravers of thd past' engraved after works by theJ famous painters,' Sir Joshua Reynold* portraits being used very often.. Land 4 scape too, particularly that of"' Con* stable; lent itself: to thjjs particular art.

; The majority .of : processes of metal engraving involve working from- lighti to dark, but in mezzotint the artisfi works from dark to light. The rich! luminous shadows obtained by mezzotint make it especially suitable for the reproduction of oil painting. To' produce the dark printing surface tha whole plate is mechanically roughened until it is covered with little evenly* distributed teeth of metal which re* tain the ink. Where lights are re< quired these teeth are cut away ot flattened out with a burnisher. .

The brilliant mezzotinters of the 18th century who popularised the portraits of Sir Joshua Reynolds added new an* subtle beauties to the craft. It is a; superb medium for, gifted men who reproduced the paintings of Reynolds and Constable, and it possesses every; important pictorial quality.

In the present exhibition a biography? of the subject and the engraver haal been -typed and placed near each erw graving. In this way the visitor to that exhibition can gain at- a glance all thq necessary information about that atj which he may be looking. The printaj are hung in the two galleries adjoin^ ing that in which the printing exhibi^ tiori is being ilield,, and their exhibition^ is a continuance of the policy ijf theia National Gallery to display works] which it considers of use in the de<|j velopment of cultural' interests., Suchfc, exhibitions.have been varied and con*j tinubus for some time past.. • J