John J. Holtzapffel

INCISED, INTAGLIO, OR SUNK CARVING.

Ornamental D

Ornamental D

Ornamental D

Deep carving, as it is termed by certain writers, is now known among artists as incised, sunk, or intaglio. It is an advanced form of gouge-cutting.

It is a very beautiful yet easy kind of work, which was extensively practised in Italy in early times, and which is deserving special attention because of its applicability not only to bold, large, and even coarse decoration—which was, however, very effective—but to the most delicate and minute objects. “It may,” says General Seaton, who was the first to describe it, which he does with much enthusiasm, “be called sunk carving, for, contrary to the usual method, the carving is sunk, while the ground is left at its original level.” Like engraving on metal, it cuts into the ground, and depends entirely on outline, or drawing, and shadow for its effects. It is suitable for book-covers, or to be employed wherever the carving is liable to be handled or rubbed, because, being sunk beneath the ground, it cannot be rubbed or injured till the ground itself is worn down.

Take any wood except a coarse one,—holly, beech, oak, poplar, pear, or walnut,—and let the surface be well planed, or perhaps polished. If it be a wood of light colour, draw your pattern with a very soft pencil, say B B B, on paper, lay it face down on the wood, and rub the back carefully with an ivory or other polisher. The work is chiefly executed with bent gouges and grainers, flat and hollow, with two or three bent chisels and stamps, and it often happens that a good piece of incised carving can be executed with very few tools. It is executed almost entirely by hand, or without hammering.

Fig. 54. Incised Carving.

Choose some simple pattern, your object being to learn how to cut and not to produce something startling at a first effort. If the wood be dark, such as American walnut, mark the pattern through with the prick-wheel or dot, Fig. 54. If the pupil has not perfect eyesight, or expects to carve at night, it is advisable to outline this dot line with a very fine camel’s hair brush and Chinese white. This prevents many mistakes. Take, to begin, a small gouge, a little less than the stem to be cut in diameter, and run it along the line. When you cut leaves, get gradually towards the centre. Then take a larger gouge and finish the stems.

Keep by you a piece of clay or putty, or moist kneaded bread, and from time to time take an impression of your work. This is important, for the real excellence of intaglio carving consists in its being exactly like relief carving reversed. In this way you will at once perceive, without any special directions, what tools to use in your work.

Fig. 55. Incised Border: Centre in Low Relief.

Fig. 55 is a rather advanced example of this class of carving. The whole of the foliage is cut in cavo relievo, or cavities, with gouges and chisels, both straight and bent, and the lines upon them with bent V tools. The duck in the centre may be in ordinary low relief, to give an effective contrast.

There is another reason for thus learning to make your work perfect. If you carve in hard wood, you can always use a piece of sunk or intaglio carving for a mould. When it is finished take a piece of russet leather, soak it in water till it is quite soft, press it with your fingers and a sponge for some time with great care into the mould, and then take it off. If your wood be well cut, the leather when dry will be quite as attractive as the carving itself, and may be used in many ways. The wood will not be injured in the least if you wipe it dry after taking the impression. With such moulds papier-machÉ casts can also be taken. I have now before me a beautiful specimen of old Byzantine work made in this manner.

There is a peculiar kind of intaglio carving which may be called Egyptian, because the ancient Egyptians used it very extensively on their monuments. It consisted of cutting out the outline of a figure in the following manner. On the outside the carver cut down perpendicularly, while the inside pattern was not cut away, but only had its edges rounded.

The result of this peculiar groove or cut, straight on one side and rounded or curved on the other, was a very strong relief and shadow. It was in fact a simple combination of relief and incised or cavo carving, by means of which a strong relief was attained by little work. The main object was to make the inscription solid and durable, and at the same time very legible. The principle, as I have shown, is quite applicable to ornament, and requires much less labour than even intaglio carving. It is something more, in fact much more, than mere outlining, and it is particularly applicable to mural or wall decoration.

Incised carving is often much improved by being painted, and sometimes varnished. That is to say, the sunken portion is thus coloured. I have seen white and vermilion used with good effect, but black and dark brown are generally preferred. Gilding seems peculiarly rich when thus applied in the hollow, as the shadow gives it a fine tone.

Though the imitation of engravings is not within the range of wood-carving, there is, however, a very pretty and easy art by which drawing and painting are very ingeniously combined with a kind of carving. Take a panel of firm wood of lightish colour, well planed and polished. Draw on it any pattern, or even an animal, or human figures. Incise the principal lines with a V tool, or, according to its size, small gouges may be used. For the fine lines and shading, a tracer, or any point to indent, not so sharp as to scratch; this is a matter of great importance; and the wood, which, if possible, should be of box, sycamore, beech, or holly, must be adapted or prepared to take a mark without breaking. When all the lines are well in, take a miniature fitch pencil, and fill in every line with colour, taking care not to let the paint spread beyond the lines. Different colours may be used. This is hardly wood-carving at all, but in skilful hands it produces beautiful and remarkable effects. It is very effective indeed when applied to leather. As the colour is sunk in the lines, it is well protected; this kind of ornamentation is therefore well adapted to book-covers. I have applied it successfully to heavy card-board panels prepared for artists to paint on in oil.

As I have said, incised cutting will be found useful to workers in leather, papier-machÉ, clay, or plaster of Paris, because by means of it they can make moulds. Another kind of mould is made as follows: Cut out with a saw the outline of the pattern in a piece of board thick enough to give the requisite depth. Then glue the perforated board to another board, the surfaces of both being of course first planed and smoothed. This gives the mould in the rough. Then fill in the angles of the hollows with a composition of clay and size, or putty, or rice and lime with white of egg, or any other suitable cement, and while it is soft shape it with fingers and tools to the details of the pattern required. When perfectly dry go over it carefully, taking proofs here and there with putty, and correct with bent files. Then smooth it where it is at all rough, oil it all, and make your cast.