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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;Laurence Roman, post: 1245133, member: 12895&quot;]Firstly, how fascinating! Many thanks for the insight. Secondly, it&#039;s not surprising that &quot;eagle eyes&quot; in 18th and 19th century printmaking have largely died out; so has the medium; certainly as far as its contemporaneous aesthetics are concerned. The likes of Matisse, Picasso and David Hockney appear to engage with the medium of engraving (if I may be excused for lumping all the subcategories about which we have been exchanging thoughts under one heading) from a wholly different direction. Firstly, I get the feeling that before (and even into) the 20th century, prints were broadly considered to be affordable, but necessarily second class, replicas of paintings, whose value and uniqueness placed the originals wildly out of the range of most collectors. Of course there are several examples (Doré, Hogarth and Rembrandt spring immediately to mind) to contradict my suggestion, but as a gross overgeneralisation, it might do for now. By the middle&nbsp; of the 20th century, I need hardly say, the likes of Braque, Miró, Picasso and Chagall clearly considered &quot;the multiple&quot; to be a key, unequivocally artistically pregnant, component in their overall output.</p><p><br /></p><p>Going back to eagle eyes: your eyes are clearly far more &quot;eagle&quot; than most, through immersion in, and love of, your pet medium. I believe I am correct in saying that, from the Renaissance well into&nbsp; the 18th century, great portrait artists relied on secondary collaborators to complete skyscapes, architectural details and clothing (in a nutshell, those elements in a painting considered to be of secondary importance to the main subject(s)). I expect back then key practitioners of the medium could spot at a glance the hand of a tyro touching in a bit of sky or a neoclassical pavilion. I expect a handful of trained experts still can, but with the extinction of the medium must surely, too, have passed the hands- on expertise which went with it. Your insight and experience are perfectly invaluable. Thanks again.</p><p><br /></p><p>I have another technical question: what is a &quot;soft ground&quot; etching? I attach two by Giorgio de Chirico. The lines appear rather fuzzy, almost as though they were graphite. At a glance they look like original pencil drawings. Was this the intention and do you know how the effect is achieved? I thought it was rather ingenious.</p><p><br /></p><p>Again thanks and kind wishes,&nbsp; Laurence.[ATTACH=full]215731[/ATTACH] [ATTACH=full]215732[/ATTACH][/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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