Recently, I came across a few interesting steel engraving prints from the 1800s. As always, I started my work by studying these prints, figuring out the depicted subject, its history, artist, engraver, press, publisher…. Suddenly, I stumbled upon ‘THE ORIGINAL PAINTING’ of one of the steel engraving prints I was studying ‘Entrance to Portsmouth Harbour’. These are my magical moments!! So, I thought it would be fascinating to write a blog post about the journey of a steel engraving print from its original painting, particularly for Purathanam followers who are interested in learning more about the steel engraving art form.
What is a steel Engraving?
Steel engraving is a printmaking technique invented by an American physicist in the 18th Century that involves incising lines and details into a steel plate using a sharp tool called burin/ graver. The whole engraving process required great skill and precision, if any mistakes made during the engraving or printing stages could ruin the plate and will have to start over from the beginning.
This is steel engraving print of 'Entrance to Portsmouth Harbour' that I mentioned earlier from the late 1800s, originally engraved from a renowned painting known as the 'Entrance to Portsmouth Harbour', by an English artist Edward William Cooke and engraved by Edward Francis Finden. Here, highlighting the engraver is as important as acknowledging the original artist when it comes to steel engraving prints.
The Engraver:
An 'Engraver' is someone who creates designs or texts onto metal, glass, or wood surfaces. So in copper and steel engraving, the person (Engraver) who draws or traces (Engraves) the original base copy of any selected painting, onto the metal surface using the sharp tool called a ‘burin’ (Graver) becomes an artist of every engraving print they work on. A Burin is a steel shaft ending in a beveled diamond-shaped tip that is set into a rounded wooden handle.
(Left: Gravers, or Burins. Right: Way in Which a Line is Traced by the Graver)
The Engraver’s Art;
In the engraving process, engravers use a specific drawing technique called 'hatching.' They employ multiple kinds of hatching techniques, such as cross-hatching, parallel hatching, contour hatching, and many more, in various arrangements and densities to create a solid sense of atmospheric perspective and contour. Let me explain….
Hatching technique is a very effective way of demonstrating adding value (light and dark) to any drawings. Hatching consists of rows of parallel lines and perpendicular lines placed closely together. The more closer the lines are the darker the area appears. The areas where there are no lines on the metal sheet will appear to be a highlight. The contour lines on the faces helps to sense the volume, highlight and three-dimensionality. Engravers were also known as 'Line Engravers,' as they were specialized in creating these hatching lines.
(This is a reference picture of an engraver creating a drawing (an eye) using a burin on a copper plate.)
(Here's another reference picture for an even more closer look at the contour lines created by the engraver on a steel plate using the burin.)
This is another steel engraving print, a perfect example of our own engraver, E. Finden, titled 'Dover'. Just look at those lines! The more lines there are, the darker they appear, isn't it? During the engraving printing process, the ink gets into the grooves of those thick and thin lines, which hold ink according to their depth on the metal sheet made by the engraver. This essentially assists in transferring the art onto the dampened paper when pressed. Later, it was hand-colored additionally for special prints.
This is basically how the art portion was done in steel engraving. To check out the full process of engraving print, click the link given at the end of the blog
The Engraver’s Studio:
(This print was engraved for the Universal Magazine for J. Hinton at the King's Arms in St.Paul's Church Yard, London in 1748.)
This engraving print visually represents how a studio or workspace of an engraver looked like in the 1700s, the type of assistance they received, and their tools.
While I was browsing for steel engraving prints I found this interesting image and its explanation on a website https://scalar.missouri.edu/vm. And I thought sharing it here Coz, It helped me to visualize a steel engraving studio. Actually this print was made to explain the Engraver’s studio of the two print techniques Engraving and Etching. Only the print making process differs in Engraving and Etching but for both the art forms the artist or engraver are required to draw the base copy on the copper plate. Since both the copper and steel engraving fall under Engraving and differs only in the usage of metal plates we can assume a steel Engraver’s studio might have looked like this. To make the study easier, I have made them into bullet points.
The Engraver’s Studio Explained;
- The engraver is sitting on the right, in front of a screen, which diffuses daylight to avoid glare and provide even light on the copper plate.
- The copper plate is placed on a leather sandbag, as often the engraver moved the plate rather than the graver to produce evenly cut lines.
- Some of the engraver's tools are on his desk, while others are shown at the bottom of the plate.
- Plaster models, books, and tools behind the engraver demonstrate that he was not only a skilled craftsman but also an artist and a man of learning.
The engravers’ assistants could be apprentices, normally between the ages of 14 and 21 years, older journeymen, or family members, including wives, and children of both sexes. The two assistants shown here are engaged in two of the multiple technical activities required before and after the etching of plates by the engraver.
- The older assistant is blacking the etching ground on the plate with smoke from a candle, so that the engraver can more clearly see the copper emerge from beneath the displaced etching ground.
- The younger assistant is dipping the plate in a bath of acid or aqua fortis.”
Back in the day, it was impossible for artists to imagine getting multiple copies of any of their paintings, even if they were in high demand. Printing their own paintings were like a dream come true for several artists. That is why around the early 1900s during the era of Oleograph prints Indian painters like Ravi Varma, Vasudeo H. Pandya, G. V. Venkatesha Rao, got their paintings printed in Germany. It was a big deal for them! Alright, first let's take a brief look at the evolution of the printing techniques of Europe since the Medieval period;
In 1400s CE
1. The Wood Engravings:
(Reference of a 16th-century woodcut, of Dürer’s Rhinoceros by Albrecht Dürer, 1515.)
Wood engraving, also known as wood block printing, first came to Europe as a method for printing on cloth during the 1300s. And it slowly evolved to be printed onto paper by 1400 CE. Then wood engraving became popular for producing small religious images, playing cards on paper, illustrations in books, and pamphlets, leading to a significant production boom from 1425 CE.
In 1472 CE
2. The Copper Engravings:
(St. Jerome in his study -1514, engraved by Northern Renaissance master Albrecht Dürer)
The earliest record of Copper engraving is from 1430 CE. Copper engraving is a printmaking technique that involves making designs onto a copper plate using a sharp tool called a burin (our very own graver). The engraved lines hold ink, which is then transferred onto a dampened paper under pressure to create a print. During medieval period, the ‘first born’ Wood engraving was replaced by copper engraving plates in early 1400s for the printing of maps. Due to the limitations of wood as a medium, also for the detailed engravings and for the other advantages offered by metal plates. Later in the history Copper engraving plates were replaced by Steel engraving plates in 18th century.
In 1600s CE
3. Etching:
(Woman with the Arrow, etching by Rembrandt, 1661; in the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.)
The etched carnelian beads of the Indus Valley Civilization date back the etching technique to the 3rd millennium BCE. Meanwhile, the modern etching technique came into use in the 1600s. Modern Etching is a printmaking process where designs are etched onto a metal plate, often copper, using acid. The longer the plate remains in the acid the deeper the bites (lines made on the plate) become. In etching, the plate can be made of iron, copper, or zinc. This was the process of modern Etching and artists like Albrecht Dürer and Rembrandt further refined this process and popularized etching during the Renaissance.
In 1792s CE
4. The Steel Engravings:
(Steel Engraving Print of “Entrance to Portsmouth Harbour’ by E. Cooke & engraved by E. Finden from Purathanam Collection)
Steel engraving Print technique was invented by an American physicist, Jacob Perkins, for the printing of banknotes in 1792 . Until this time engravings had been made using copper plates. These copper plates were good for engraving but copper being relatively a soft metal it would only last for a few thousand impressions after which it would start to show signs of wear. Steel plates on the other hand allowed for more detailed and longer-lasting prints. The Steel Engraving print shown above is the ‘Entrance to Portsmouth Harbour’ by E. Cooke.
Eventually these printing processes made the artists life easier by providing them with multiple copies of their paintings and enabling them to spread their art work across their country and even overseas. The printing techniques continued to evolve, leading to the inventions of zincography, aquatint, mezzotint, oleograph prints, lithograph prints, and ultimately, photography.
Now that I have explained steel engraving and its evolution, let me conclude the blog by showing you the original painting of 'Entrance to Portsmouth Harbour,' which was the actual inspiration for this blog.
This is the original painting of “Entrance to Portsmouth Harbour” (H 29.8 x W 40.6 cm, Oil on panel), painted circa 1829-35 by Edward William Cooke which is currently displayed in Victoria and Albert Museum (gift from John Sheepshanks, 1857).
It was our engraver, Edward Francis Finden, who later recreated or copied this beautiful maritime scene onto a piece of steel in 1800s London, to print multiple copies of ‘Entrance to Portsmouth Harbour’. And one of the prints found its way to me and paved its way to our Purathanam collection. So Purathanam ended up acquiring a piece of art that is connected to a painting sitting in the Victoria and Albert Museum.
If you are interested in this ‘Entrance to Portsmouth Harbour’ steel engraving print, please checkout the link.
Entrance to Portsmouth Harbour Steel Engraving Print.
For the video of the engraving print process checkout the following YouTube link;
References and Image; sources:https://victorianweb.org, Wikipedia, public domains, Pinterest, YouTube, https://scalar.missouri.edu/vm