CHAPTER VI.
DIFFERENCE BETWEEN FLAT BITING, AND BITING WITH STOPPING-OUT.
66. Two Kinds of Biting.—Now that you have become familiar with the secrets of biting, I say to my pupil, and are therefore prepared to be on your guard against the accidents to be avoided when you go to work again, I can make clear to you, better than if I had endeavored to do so at the outset, the difference between the two kinds of biting on which rests the whole system of the art of etching, and the distinctive characteristics of which are often confounded. The work thus far done will help you to a more intelligent understanding of this distinction. As it was impossible to explain to you, at one and the same time, all the resources of the needle as well as those of biting, between which, as I told you before, there exist very intimate relations, I had to choose a general example by which to demonstrate the processes employed, and which would allow me to explain the reasons for these processes.
There are two kinds of biting,—flat biting and biting with stopping-out. (See [Pl. III.])
These two kinds of biting resemble one another in this, that they involve only one grounding or varnishing, and consequently only one bath; they differ most markedly in this, that in flat biting the work of the acid is accomplished all over the plate at one and the same time, and with only one immersion in the bath, while in biting with stopping-out there are several successive, or, if you prefer the term, partial bitings, between each of which the plate is withdrawn from the bath, and the parts to be reserved are stopped out with varnish as often as it is thought necessary.
It follows from this, that, with flat biting, the modelling must be done by the needle, using either only one needle, or else several of different thicknesses.
67. Flat Biting.—One Point.—With a single needle the values are obtained by drawing the lines closely together in the foreground and nearer distances, or for passages requiring strength, and by keeping them apart in the off distances, and in the lighter passages of the near distances; furthermore, to obtain a play of light in the same distance, the lines must be drawn farther apart in the lights, and more closely together in the shadows. A single point gives a hint of what we desire to do, but it does not express it. It is undoubtedly sufficient for a sketch intended to represent a drawing executed with pen and ink or with the pencil; but it cannot be successfully employed in a plate which, by the variety of color and the vigor of the biting, is meant to convey the idea of a painting.
68. Flat Biting.—Several Points.—When several points of different thickness are used, the coarser serve for the foreground and near distances, the finer in gradual succession for the receding distances. They are used alternately in the different distances, and the lines are drawn more closely together here, or kept farther apart there, according to the necessities of the effect to be obtained; the depth of the biting is the same throughout, but the difference in thickness of the lines makes it an easy matter, by more elaborate modelling, to give to the etching the appearance of a finished design.
With a single point, as well as with several, the pressure used in drawing must remain the same throughout, so that the acid may act simultaneously, and with equal intensity on all parts of the plate. If there has been any inequality of attack, the values will be unequal in their turn, and different from what they were intended to be.
Pl. IV.
69. Biting with Stopping-out.—One Point.—In biting with stopping-out, it is the biting itself, and not the needle, which gives modelling to the etching. In this case, also, one or several points may be used. The simplest manner is that in which only one point is used. The stopping-out, and consequently the biting, is done in large masses. (See [Pl. V.] Fig. 1.)
70. Biting with Stopping-out.—Several Points.—As a very simple example let us take a case in which it is necessary to have certain very closely lined passages in a foreground alongside of very coarse ones. In that case the first, or close, lines must be etched very delicately, while the whole force of the biting must be brought to bear on the latter (see [Pl. IV.] Fig. 2). In the same way the values of two different objects may be equilibrated; by employing close lines slightly bitten in the one case, and spaced lines more deeply bitten in the other. Biting with stopping-out, combined with the work of several points, requires more attention and discernment than any other.
If the first biting is not successful, the plate is revarnished, and the work of repairing and correcting commences.
Summing up the advantages offered by these various means, you will see what results the combination of the work of one or of several points with partial biting may be made to yield, either in giving to objects their various values, their natural color, and their modelling, or in disposing them in space, and thus producing the harmonious gradation of the several distances.
71. Necessity of Experimenting.—If you will now call to mind our preceding operations, and will hold them together with the explanations just given, you will be able to appreciate them in their totality. The necessity of arriving at truth of expression, with nothing to guide you but these rules, which are influenced by a variety of conditions, will compel you to experiment for yourself, with special reference to the combination of the surrounding temperature, the strength of the acid, the number of partial bitings, the pressure of the point, the different thicknesses of the points, and the various kinds of work that can be done with them, on the one hand; and on the other, with regard to the length of the bitings. If you are called upon to imitate a given object very closely, you must proceed rationally, and your work must be accompanied by continual reflection. To familiarize yourself with these delicate operations, you must experiment for yourself; don't complain if you spoil a few plates; you will learn something by your failures, as your experience in one case will teach you what to do in others. Self-acquired experience is of all teachers the best.
72. Various other Methods of Biting.—The two preceding methods, which, in a general way, comprehend the rules of biting, do not exclude other particular methods of a similar nature. Thus, it may be well sometimes to etch at first only the simple outline, biting it in more or less vigorously, according to the nature of the case ([Pl. IV.] Fig. 3); and then, having revarnished and resmoked the plate, to elaborate the drawing by going over it either in some parts only or throughout the whole. Rembrandt often pursued this course; and we may follow the several stages of his work by studying the various states of his plates. We see that he took great pains to work out some part of his subject very carefully, without touching the other parts; he then took a proof, and afterwards went over the same part with finer lines, and passed on to the other parts, treating them according to the effect which he desired to reach.
This method is often imitated; it is employed when it is necessary to lay a shadow over a passage full of detail, as, for instance, in architectural subjects, in the execution of which it is easier, and tends to avoid confusion, to fix the lines of the design first, and then, having laid the ground a second time, to add the shadows. (See [Pl. IV.] Fig. 4.)
“Pardon me! But might not this result be obtained by the same biting, if the lines of the design were drawn with a coarse point, and the shading were added with a finer one?”
Certainly; and in that case we should have an instance of work executed with several needles, such as I pointed out to you before.
From the explanations previously given, it will be clear, also, that, the nature of the subject permitting, it may be advantageous sometimes to execute a plate by drawing and biting each distance by itself. Thus you may commence with the foreground, and may bite it in; having had a proof taken, revarnish your plate, and proceed in the same fashion to the execution of the other distances, and of the sky, always having a proof taken after each biting to serve you as a guide.
This mode of operation—essentially that of the engraver—is of special advantage in putting in a sky or a background behind complicated foliage. You can draw and bite your sky or your background all by itself (see [Pl. IV.] Fig. 5), and then, having revarnished your plate, you can execute your trees on the background. As the trees are bitten by themselves, it is evident that we have avoided a difficulty which is almost insurmountable,—that, namely, of stopping out with the brush the lines of the sky between intricate masses of foliage. But we can also proceed differently. We can commence with the trees, drawing them and biting them in, and can finish with the sky, having revarnished the plate as usual: the sky will thus fall into its place behind the trees. You need not trouble yourself because the lines of the sky pass across the lines of the trees. The biting of the sky must be so delicate that it will not affect the value of the foliage, and you may therefore carry your point in all directions, and use it as freely as you please.
Some etchers find it more convenient to commence with the sky and the background, on account of the points of resistance encountered by the needle in the more deeply bitten lines of the trees, which destroys their freedom of execution. They are correct, whenever the sky to be executed is very complicated; but if only a few lines are involved, it will be better to introduce them afterwards. It is, besides, an easy matter to get accustomed to the jumping of the point when it is working on a ground that has previously been bitten.
What I have just told you applies also to the masts and the rigging of vessels, &c., and, indeed, to all lines which cut clearly and strongly across a delicately bitten distance.
An etcher of great merit has conceived the original idea of executing an etching in the bath itself, commencing with the passages which need a vigorous biting, then successively passing on to the more delicate parts, and finally ending with the sky. [C] The various distances thus receive their due proportion of biting; but it is necessary to work very quickly, as the biting of a plate etched in the bath in this manner proceeds five to six times more rapidly than if done in the ordinary manner. Every etcher ought to be curious to try this bold method of working, so that he may see how it is possible to ally the inspiration of the moment with the uncertain duration of the biting, which in this process has emancipated itself from all methodical rule, and follows no law but that imposed upon it by the caprice of the artist.[16]
All this goes to show you that there is ample liberty of choice as to processes in etching. It is well to try them all, as it is well to try every thing that may give new and unknown results, may inspire ideas, or may lead to progress, neither of which is likely to happen in the pursuit of mere routine work.
[C]The bath, in this case, is composed as follows:—
| 880 | gr. | water. |
| 100 | „ | pure hydrochloric (muriatic) acid. |
| 20 | „ | potassium chlorate. |