We must now leave line work, for though, as we have shown, very subtle suggestions of tone can be obtained by the use of cross-hatching, still true tonality and modelling cannot be obtained by any save more perfect methods. Directly an artist has a method by which he can express subtle tonality, he has a great additional power.
Charcoal.
Charcoal.—With this method the scale is limited as the black is not so deep as many other blacks used in the arts, but by its means delicate tonality can be obtained, but not the most delicate. The values too in a charcoal drawing are not true for this reason, because the most delicate light greys are lost; neither do we like the texture it gives. It is not true; nevertheless the result is often very fine. We had quite lately the opportunity of comparing the charcoal drawing of a very fine subject with nature, and also with a very fine painting of the same subject, and our opinion is that the charcoal drawing suggested the scene better than any line method could have done, but the suggestion was very far off the suggestion offered by the painting.
Monochrome.
Monochrome Painting.—A monochrome painting may be in any colour, but since the scale is so limited, say in red for example, and the effect, except for portraits, is so incongruous that no artist dares use it. Indian ink and sepia are the commonest colours used. Monochrome painting, did it portray the different colours, would follow the same laws as painting, and would have to be considered from the same stand-point. Therein then lies the difference, a good artist may express much in monochrome, and give the suggestion of nature to a very great extent, but he is limited by this method. Delicate tonality and modelling can be obtained, but there is an unnaturalness of the middle tints and an artificial look in the textures. Notwithstanding, very fine work is done in this way, especially by some of the modern French and Dutch painters.
Aquatint.
Aquatint, as its name implies, is a form of engraving best suited to reproduce water-colours. The plate is prepared in much the same way as it is for photo-etching, the acid biting between the dots of resin. This method is now rarely used.
Mezzotint.
Mezzotint.—In this process the plate is roughened all over by an instrument called a “cradle” or berceau. This is really a broad chisel with a cradle-shaped edge, on which are small rough edges. This is worked by the hand all over the plate until it is rough enough to hold ink. The scale in this method is wide, the blacks being very deep. The tones are formed by scraping away the ink by the engraver, the highest light being the deepest. It gives a very good tonality, and is really the only rival to photo-etching, but the plate will not last well, thirty good prints often being all that can be taken from a plate. The engraver, too, has not sufficient control over his work. As a rule it is only used for fac-simile work, and not for original work. It will in our opinion be the last form of engraving to succumb to photo-etching. It is better suited for portraiture than landscape work; the mezzotints from Constable’s paintings are very feeble and untrue.
Photography.