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ETCHINGS 
 
 BY 
 
 MRS. ALFRED GATTY 
 
 PRIVATELY PRINTED. 
 
 1870. 
 
I» 
 
 THE ETCHINGS. 
 
 T is thought that a few remarks will enhance what little interest may' 
 attach to these etchings, and certainly make them more useful to 
 amateur beginners. 
 
 I. Wycliffe Rectory. 
 
 N the Print Room at the British Museum there is {vide a note in my sketch book) 
 an etching by Neurether (modern German School) representing as follows :- — 
 Two men "biting in" an etching, one regulating time by his watch, the other bending over 
 the plate on which he is pouring the acid. His mouth is covered by a cloth. Some whim- 
 sical goblins are seen rising from the smoky fumes produced by the action of the vitriol on 
 the copper. Underneath are the lines : — 
 
 " Schiitzen wohl magst du den Miind von dem Geist aus atzendem wasser, 
 Gegen den Kobold in ihm schiitzet kein mittel dein Bild." 
 
 That is to say, roughly translated : — 
 
 " Thy mouth canst thou easily guard from the fumes of the vitriol water, 
 But trom the goblin within no art can thy picture protect." 
 
 Now though the goblin will not account for all the imperfections of etchings (it is not his 
 fault, for instance, if the picture be not well drawn) here is undoubtedly a case in point. The 
 acid has bitten sideways as well as downwards all over the foreground, and this from no assign- 
 able cause that could be discovered. If it was not the goblin therefore, what was it ? 
 
 In this case, however, he did not work ill-naturedly. It may be doubted whether the 
 general effect is not greatly improved by the accident. 
 
II. Hendon Church. 
 
 {From the Pathway.) 
 
 ET amateurs observe that this etching is one that needs help from the shadows of 
 printing ink. There is great art in using this judiciously, and there is a great risk of 
 overdoing the experiment. Still this etching, when printed quite plainly, is a little bald 
 in appearance, a fact which is no reflection on the drawing, be it observed, only on the amount 
 of filling up. 
 
 III. Cottage, Kiplin. 
 
 ^^SHE remark upon " Hendon Church from the pathway" applies here. Without the ink 
 shadow the effect is poor, but this may be excused in a first attempt. 
 
 IV. Water and Duck.s, Kiplin. 
 ^^^N the left corner of the plate there was an awkward crossing of trees and a too bright 
 light. It has been thought desirable to omit this portion. 
 
 V. Trees, Kiplin. 
 I^'HIS bears taking off plain, though not elaborately worked. 
 
 VI. COLBURN. 
 
 nIVEN as a warning. The plate was laid by so many years before it was bit in, that the 
 ground gave way before the operation was half over. Hence a general confusion. 
 Foreground and background of one depth. But had the process been continued the whole 
 surface of the plate would have been eaten. 
 
 VII. Tree.s with Marten. 
 
 ^^^HERE is a warning to be taken from this too. It is not a sketch from nature but a made 
 np picture, and suffers accordingly. It was worked with great care for a book by a friend, 
 and the details are not incorrect separately, but the putting together is very faulty. The martin 
 was copied from an etching by Reidiger, and ho is too big for his surroundings. In short, it is 
 easy to see from this etching that the roughest sketch from nature is a thousand times 
 more satisfactory than the most carefully elaborated made-up picture, unless some artist genius 
 has superintended the putting together. The filling in is happily accomplished here, however. 
 
[ 3 ] 
 
 VIII. The Epiphany Storm, Kiplin. 
 
 URING the night of January 6th, 1839, a gale, almost amounting to a hurricane, did 
 endless damage among Yorkshire trees, and admirable subjects for sketching abounded 
 for long afterwards, in consequence of which this is one. But it was not etched till 1842. 
 
 IX. Woodland Scene, Brough. 
 
 HE goblin is innocent of all fault. The etcher grew desperate at the confusion among 
 the branches to the left (which has eventuated in a black blotch), and gave up the plate 
 in despair— scratching in the foreground without any care. It was a pity, for the oak tree by the 
 gate deserved good surroundings, and the blotch would have been excused had all the rest been 
 carefully worked. 
 
 X. Wycliffe. 
 
 HE road down to the Suspension Bridge. The effect of light and shade was tempting 
 here. Perhaps the background is rather too dark, but it did look dark in reality. May 
 one venture to apologize for some rather clumsy cows 
 
 XI. Catterick. 
 
 BROTHER of Mr. Denham, the traveller, turned the pencil sketch from which this 
 etching was taken into a water-colour drawing in grey and brown. It was a lesson in 
 effects. He threw more clouds into the upper part of the sky, and more shadows in front, and 
 there came more distance into the picture at once. But the etching was already made and 
 could not be altered. Perhaps all amateurs who are fond of exact drawing are apt to pay too 
 little attention to general effect. 
 
 XII. Kiplin. 
 
 be observed that both the etchings on the plate are sufficiently finished to be 
 JSIS printed plainly. They do not need the help of printing-ink shadows. 
 
 XIII. Redheugh (near Newcastle). 
 
 F any one remarks, on looking over these etchings, " How fond the artist seems of 
 gates," no one can gainsay the fact. As a sketcher "she" does love gates and gate- 
 ways, rails, posts, and palings, especially those flat ones so often seen in the south of England, 
 blackened with tar through the crevices of which creep brambles and honeysuckle 
 
[ 4 ] 
 
 XIV. Hendon. 
 
 I^HE goblin is not to blame, but the scene is, alas ! reversed, and therefore valueless as a 
 likeness. It was thoughtlessly etched from the sketch itself, instead of from the 
 reflection of the sketch in a looking-glass. A stranded ship is a beacon at sea, and young 
 artists will do well to notice and remember the blunder. 
 
 XV. Nelson. 
 
 |R0M a sketch by Jackson, but a landscape artist cannot pretend to the delicate exactness 
 ' necessary for transferring so exquisite a portrait drawing to copper. 
 
 1 
 
 XVI. Dial. 
 ^^VER the porch of Felton Church, Northumberland. 
 
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