The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Art and Artists (160 page)
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Authors: Ian Chilvers
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estofado
.
.
etching
.
.
Term applied to a method of engraving in which the design is bitten into the plate with acid, and also to the print so produced. The design is drawn on a metal (usually copper) plate that has been coated with a waxy, acid-resistant substance. Where the waxy coating is scratched through with the etching needle the bare metal is exposed, and when the plate is placed in a bath of acid the acid bites only the lines so exposed. The depth to which the lines are bitten (and hence the darkness with which they will print) depends on how long the plate is immersed in the acid, and it is possible to achieve subtle variations of tone by ‘stopping out’ part of the design (covering it with a protective varnish) while other parts are bitten more deeply. Etching was developed in the early 16th cent. as a shortcut to engraving metal, but it soon became an independent art form, and it reached exalted heights in the hands of
Rembrandt
, the greatest of all etchers. Etching is a much more spontaneous technique than
line engraving
, as it is possible to draw on the waxy ground with virtually the same fluency as with pen or pencil. By the early 19th cent. etching was used mainly for commercial illustration, but from the 1860s to the First World War there was a great renewal of interest in it as a medium for original expression, especially in Britain.
Whistler
and
Sickert
were leading lights of this movement, which is called the Etching Revival. Etching is still a popular technique,
Hockney
being a leading contemporary exponent.
Rembrandt
, the greatest of all etchers. Etching is a much more spontaneous technique than
line engraving
, as it is possible to draw on the waxy ground with virtually the same fluency as with pen or pencil. By the early 19th cent. etching was used mainly for commercial illustration, but from the 1860s to the First World War there was a great renewal of interest in it as a medium for original expression, especially in Britain.
Whistler
and
Sickert
were leading lights of this movement, which is called the Etching Revival. Etching is still a popular technique,
Hockney
being a leading contemporary exponent.
Etty , William
(1787–1849).
English painter, one of the few British artists to specialize almost exclusively in the nude. He was born and died in York, but was active mainly in London, where he trained at the
Royal Academy
Schools and then with
Lawrence
, whose great influence on him was modified by subsequent visits to Italy. His paintings are often of mythological or historical subjects, sometimes on an ambitious scale, but he also made life studies in the RA Schools throughout his career, and these are now probably his most admired works. Etty was poor for much of his life and his pictures were often attacked for their alleged indecency,
The Times
considering them ‘entirely too luscious for the public eye’. However, by the time of his death he was a celebrated figure and his works had begun to fetch high prices. He summed up his attitude to his favourite subject thus: ‘Finding God's most glorious work to be Woman, that all human beauty had been concentrated in her, I dedicated myself to painting—not the Draper's or Milliner's work—but God's most glorious work, more finely than ever had been done.’ His draughtmanship is often criticized, but it is generally agreed that he attained a glowing voluptuousness in the painting of flesh that few British artists have approached. The best collection of Etty's work is in the City Art Gallery, York.
English painter, one of the few British artists to specialize almost exclusively in the nude. He was born and died in York, but was active mainly in London, where he trained at the
Royal Academy
Schools and then with
Lawrence
, whose great influence on him was modified by subsequent visits to Italy. His paintings are often of mythological or historical subjects, sometimes on an ambitious scale, but he also made life studies in the RA Schools throughout his career, and these are now probably his most admired works. Etty was poor for much of his life and his pictures were often attacked for their alleged indecency,
The Times
considering them ‘entirely too luscious for the public eye’. However, by the time of his death he was a celebrated figure and his works had begun to fetch high prices. He summed up his attitude to his favourite subject thus: ‘Finding God's most glorious work to be Woman, that all human beauty had been concentrated in her, I dedicated myself to painting—not the Draper's or Milliner's work—but God's most glorious work, more finely than ever had been done.’ His draughtmanship is often criticized, but it is generally agreed that he attained a glowing voluptuousness in the painting of flesh that few British artists have approached. The best collection of Etty's work is in the City Art Gallery, York.
Euston Road School
.
.
Group of painters centred round the ‘School of Drawing and Painting’ that opened at 12 Fitzroy Street, London, in 1937, and soon transferred to nearby 316 Euston Road. Its founding teachers were William
Coldstream
, Victor
Pasmore
, and Claude
Rogers
; Graham
Bell
and Lawrence
Gowing
were also important members of the circle. These artists were united by a desire to return from abstract and esoteric styles of modernism to a more straightforward
naturalism
. The onset of the Second World War caused the closure of the school, but the term ‘Euston Road’ was used for a decade or so afterwards as a generic description of work in a style similar to that in which the original exponents painted. Coldstream, through his position as Professor at the
Slade
School, was the chief upholder of the tradition.
Coldstream
, Victor
Pasmore
, and Claude
Rogers
; Graham
Bell
and Lawrence
Gowing
were also important members of the circle. These artists were united by a desire to return from abstract and esoteric styles of modernism to a more straightforward
naturalism
. The onset of the Second World War caused the closure of the school, but the term ‘Euston Road’ was used for a decade or so afterwards as a generic description of work in a style similar to that in which the original exponents painted. Coldstream, through his position as Professor at the
Slade
School, was the chief upholder of the tradition.
Everdingen , Allart van
(1621–75).
Dutch landscape and marine painter. He was born in Alkmaar and worked with
Savery
in Utrecht and
Molyn
in Haarlem. In the 1640s he visited Scandinavia, where he developed a taste for subjects inspired by the scenery there—above all mountain torrents—and helped to popularize such themes in the Netherlands.
Ruisdael
, in his pictures of majestic waterfalls, was one of the artists influenced by him. Allart was also a fine etcher. His elder brother
Caesar
(1617–78), who painted portraits and historical pictures, was attracted by the south not the north. Although he never went to Italy, he captured the spirit of Italian art better than many of his countrymen who crossed the Alps: witness his beautiful
Four Muses with Pegasus
(
c.
1650), part of the decoration of the royal villa—the Huis ten Bosch—at The Hague.
Dutch landscape and marine painter. He was born in Alkmaar and worked with
Savery
in Utrecht and
Molyn
in Haarlem. In the 1640s he visited Scandinavia, where he developed a taste for subjects inspired by the scenery there—above all mountain torrents—and helped to popularize such themes in the Netherlands.
Ruisdael
, in his pictures of majestic waterfalls, was one of the artists influenced by him. Allart was also a fine etcher. His elder brother
Caesar
(1617–78), who painted portraits and historical pictures, was attracted by the south not the north. Although he never went to Italy, he captured the spirit of Italian art better than many of his countrymen who crossed the Alps: witness his beautiful
Four Muses with Pegasus
(
c.
1650), part of the decoration of the royal villa—the Huis ten Bosch—at The Hague.
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