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Knowing the Difference...p.2
 

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Published 10 years apart in the "Ga-zette des Beaux-Arts", the etching above (1860, by Leopold Flameng after Pierre-Paul Prud' hon), and the litho-graph to the right (1870, by Achille Sirouy after the same Prud'hon por-trait) make an interesting comparison of two entirely different printing tech-niques ...

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... This etching is very uncharacteristic of Flameng, who was a highly skilled and prolific reproductive etcher. Al-though this enlargment shows the clear, differentiated etched lines, it also reveals what happens when an etched portrait, especially a small one, gets too "busy" or "noisy" in the intal-glio process. Of course Flameng, not having the benefit of our counsel ...
 
 
 

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Now let's compare the texture (above) of the lithograph with our "half-tone" dot matrix (right) from the previous page. This is a critical com-parison for anyone venturing into print collecting for the first time...
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

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We display this pair not so much to show differences between full color and sepia, but to make a point about the difference between the artist's skill at execution, different print catagories notwithstanding. (Click either pic for enlarged comparison.) We will offer both for sale. (Click : "Chromoliths",.. p.1 and "Ladies"...p.2) The above sepia etching, by Ernst Forberg after Karl Sohn, Jr., ( published in a German peri-odical, c.1880 ) demonstrates For-berg's fine skill as an academic etcher ...
 
 
 

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... This enlargment reveals the skillful handling of the etched hand and subtle texture of the image, while ...
 
 
 
 
 

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... again, the delicate features of
the face are better revealed in the etching ...
 

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... In addition to the added decorative octagon & statuary embellishments, above lithograph is a better look be-cause, in this case at least, the litho-graph process captured the smooth-ness of the subject's face much more effectively ...
 
 

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...The small irregular "spotty" texture, characteristic of a lithograph, is clearly revealed...
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

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...There are countless "antique" deal-ers who either pretend ignorance, or are simply confused on the point...(I can't begin to count the times I've seen half-tone prints declared to be "original lithographs" or worse, "origi-nal watercolors"...by amateur dealers and collectors alike...)
 

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UP TO THIS POINT, we have illustrated three fundamental cate-gories in the printing process :
 
1) Line & stipple, mezzotint, etching; these are all different types of en-gravings within the same catagory, "intalglio".
 
2) Halftones fall in the "photographic" catagory and finally
 
3) Lithographs (including chromolith-ographs) fall into the "planographic" catagory.
 

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... Though some may prefer color over all, it is important to know that the presence of color neither precludes nor assures quality. While the above chro-molith, published in "Leslie's Pop-ular Monthly" in 1882 ( without credit to either artist ) is still a good render-ing, it simply is not as well drawn as Forberg's etching : take note of the overall delicacy of the figure, espe-cially the face and hands; the skill of the etcher's tool trumps the chromo-lith's more hastily drawn subject. The key word "Popular" may be the issue here; did the American publisher Leslie assume a lack of sophistication of his American clients, compared to the Ger-man public? The scary part is he may have been right even up to this day ...
 
 
 

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... this enlargement brings home why some would prefer the color of the flowers ... However, when returning to the whole (as this is not about flowers; confirmed by the German title) the pic is really about a young, beautiful Span-ish woman who happens to be a "Flower Girl" ... a common trade with many young women in 19thC Europe ...

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... a little cruder and formulaic,
but in color and overall, not bad;
keeping in mind that much more skill
(and training) is required for an artist
to draw the contours of the hand than
of the face, a fact long lost on most
Americans (See "anatomy" and refer
 

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