only the one stopping out is made. The stopping
out varnish and the ' ground ' is now dissolved off
with turpentine, and there we have the copper again,
with the lines we drew through the wax all sunk
into the plate, and of the different depths we
arranged for them.
This, in a very elementary form, is the basis of
the whole technique of etching. It will be under-
stood that many variations of this method can be
made. For instance, the scratching of the lines can
be done while the plate is in tjie acid itself (only, a
bath called the ' Dutch mordant ' is then generally
employed, because it is slower in action, and does
not give oflF gas), and, the deepest lines being drawn
first and the faintest last, something approaching a
gradation of depth from the first to the last is
obtained ; or, if you do not like drawing in the
bath, the deepest lines can be drawn on the plate
and bitten a little by themselves, and then the next
deepest ones added, and both the sets bitten again,
and so on for anv number of divisions till the last
lines added are quite tamt and the first ones quite
dark. And if the first proof of the plate is not
satisfactory (a first proof seldom is), new work
can be added to fill in or darken, bv laying a fresli
ground (not smoked this time, so as to allow of the
old work being seen through), which will cover up
the old lines from the acid, and allow of the new-
ones biting independently ; or the old lines can be
rebitten by laying a ground on the surface of the
plate only, by means of a leather roller and a paste
made of etching ground dissolved in oil of lavender.
Dry-point work can be mixed in with the bitten
work, and (with the burr removed) is a verv valuable
lielp. Lines on a plate can be taken out more
cleanly than from a ]iiecc of paper, bv means of
scraping the surface of the copper away to the
bottom of the lines. In the case of a very little bit
being taken out in this way, the lowering of the
surface would be too abrupt to print cleanly, so the
plate is made level again by ' knocking up ' that bit
of plate from the back with a punch or small-nosed
hammer, the face of the plate being laid meanwhile
upon a polished steel anvil. It is good not to be
afraid of the plate. Of course a new plate looks so
nice and smooth that at first one feels rather afraid
of spoiling it.
Now we want to see a proof of our experimental
plate. So the etcher takes a little ink on his finger
(on a larger plate he would use a printing dabber to
put it on), and with the plate just warm rubs it
into the lines and all over the surface ; then he
takes the coarse muslin and wipes it away again,
finishing the cleaning witii the palm of his hand,
on which he has some ink and i'hitenine mixed
He explains, as he does this, that printing is quite
an art also, and that to show all the different
methods of printing a plate would take a very
long time indeed. Some amount of ink, he shows
us, is left on the surface of the plate by his
hand, and the quantity (and quality) of the tone
can be regulated just as he desires. The plate is
now laid upon the bed of the press, just warm, a
piece of damped paper is laid iqion it, the surface to
take the impression having been brushed with a
stiff brush, the blankets (three or four thicknesses of
a kind of felt) are pulled over the paper, and the
wjiole rolls through the press, squeezing the damp
paper into all the hollows on the plate, and taking
off the ink which was there, both from the lines and
from the surface of the plate.
Fh.vxk Shout.
NOTES ON ART.
The Academy of the Beaux-Aits has just fixed the dates for the competition for the Prix de Rome next year. I mention this as it reminds me of the rather unsatisfactory competition last year. The subject was * Odysseus appearing to Nausicaa ' — a charming theme — charmingly treated by Maurice Eliot, a young artist of great talent, who had already taken a third medal at the Salon. But, alas for Eliot ! his painting was treated with the heresy of impressionism, it looked a little toomuch like out-doors ; and the worthy Academicians, though they could not deny it the first place, refused to give any Grand Prize at all ; and Eliot was rewarded for his pains with a second prize. There is a great effort being made to have at the Universal Exposition next year a special exhibit of the work of Barye, the great French animal sculptor. Everything will be done to make it a perfect exhibit, containing all the work that he ever did. Barye, more fortunate than some others, lived to enjoy some part of his fame; but could hardly have dreamed of so magnificent a recognition of his genius as this exhibition may be made. There is also to be a retrospective exhibition of all French art. This is what M. Larroumet, in distributing the prizes to llie pupils of the Ecole des Beaux -Arts, says of it: 'A retrospective exhibition is to be opened on the first of May. One can then see if one race has not wholly expressed itself through the medium of plastic art, if we have not run the gamut of feelings and passions ; if a single emotion which the sight of nature rouses in the soul of the artist has not found among us an interpretation which shall be immortal.'
Two provincial Exhibitions were opened during last month. One, the Exhibition of the Kilmarnock Fine Art Institute, and the other, that of Aberdeen. The Aberdeen Exhibition was opened on Monday December 4, when interesting speeches were delivered, specially dealing with .Scottish art, by the Marquis of Huntly and Mr. John Forbes Whyte. Mr. Whyte referred to the growth of provincial schools of art, and pointed out that these tended to correct centralisation, and to check the power of academies and governmental training schools. He pointed out that the adoption of so-called French methods was really a return to the methods of Constable.
Miss Jane E. Harrison's Lectures.— The second lecture, given 9th November, dealt mainly with the Dioscuri, the cults con-
