late 18th century (made)
| Artist/Maker | |
| Place of origin |
To appreciate the detail within this engraving by Francis Holl (1815–84), you must look through a magnifier. The printmaker has used stipple for the facial features and extremely fine lines for the hair. He created the black of the clergyman’s clothing using extremely close triple hatching. This print is a steel engraving. The hardness of steel allowed for much finer and shallower lines to be engraved, making triple hatching possible – on copper this would cause the ink to pool too much to allow printing. The dark background almost seems to have been deliberately chosen to demonstrate the capability of steel for rendering these extremely close lines.
Steel was used from the early 1800s for large commercial print runs because it was capable of printing 10 times the number of impressions as copper before it would start to wear down.
Steel was used from the early 1800s for large commercial print runs because it was capable of printing 10 times the number of impressions as copper before it would start to wear down.
Object details
| Categories | |
| Object type | |
| Materials and techniques | engraving |
| Brief description | Steel engraving. Portrait of a clergyman, Francis Holl, Great Britain, late 18th century. |
| Physical description | Engraved portrait of a clergyman. The plate from which this print was taken was unfinished. |
| Dimensions |
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| Subjects depicted | |
| Summary | To appreciate the detail within this engraving by Francis Holl (1815–84), you must look through a magnifier. The printmaker has used stipple for the facial features and extremely fine lines for the hair. He created the black of the clergyman’s clothing using extremely close triple hatching. This print is a steel engraving. The hardness of steel allowed for much finer and shallower lines to be engraved, making triple hatching possible – on copper this would cause the ink to pool too much to allow printing. The dark background almost seems to have been deliberately chosen to demonstrate the capability of steel for rendering these extremely close lines. Steel was used from the early 1800s for large commercial print runs because it was capable of printing 10 times the number of impressions as copper before it would start to wear down. |
| Associated object | E.579-1928 (Original) |
| Bibliographic reference | Victoria and Albert Museum, Department of Engraving, Illustration and Design and Department of Paintings, Accessions 1929, London: Board of Education, 1930. |
| Collection | |
| Accession number | E.2790-1929 |
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| Record created | June 30, 2009 |
| Record URL |
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