The New Orleans Daily Democrat

A NEW SYSTEM

Strollings of a Reporter Amongst the Pictures.

A few days ago we had the pleasure of inspecting several pictures produced by that new process—photogravure. These works of art were on exhibition at the gallery of that well known connoisseur, Mr. Seebold, of Canal street. One of the pictures shown was that of a Roman emperor, representing Claudius, concealed behind a curtain in a palace in fear of personal harm, and sharing the fate of Caligula and his family, whose bodies are lying on the floor before the curtain. The picture of abject cowardice on the face of Claudius is accurately transposed from the original painting, and is a proof of accuracy of the process. The following is a succinct description of the means and manner employed in perfecting these valuable works of high art:

The process, hinted at in such detail as is permissible in the cause of a patent, seems to be briefly as follows: Through a glass negative taken from the original work of art, exactly as in ordinary photography, light is allowed to fall, not as in the old process, upon sensitive paper, but upon a plate prepared with a sensitive saline or crystalline solution, and the surface is thus etched by the sun's rays in a manner analogous to the potion of the burning or the graver. From this plate, by well known processes of transfer, other and more permanent metal plates are taken, which are then used for printing, much as in the ordinary steel and copper plate processes.

The result is singularly gratifying to the eye both of the technician and the art connoisseur. The blurring and the exaggerated softness, the confusion of tones, in some cases too much equalized, in others faded, omitted, or unduly blackened and intensified the whole abnormal and unpleasant character of the ordinary photograph disappears in this process. While outline and detail are as clear and precise as in the finest copper plate, as crisp and pearly as in the most delicate etching, there is a gradation of tone and harmony of chiaroscuro which open up new possibilities in the art of artistic transfer. Each picture carries with it the strong impression of the artist's specific manner, not only in general features of arrangement, composition, drawing and the like, but in the more subtle and, to the instructed eye, delightful quality of specific touch, which in the present process is rendered with almost startling fidelity. Certain variations of quality in the general tones of the picture would seem to be attainable at the will of the operator. Among the various masterpieces from the best modern French artists in Messrs. Goupil's collection, some of the figure-pieces hint at the mezzotint treatment; others, in clearness and sharpness, rival the best steel plate, while one or two of the landscapes have a delicious warmth of tone, with lightness and dainty grace of line and stippling, which recall the peculiar charm of the eau-forte.