Natural History largely depended on artists before the invention of photography. Some of the most successful scientific expeditions such as the Voyage of the Endeavor by Captain James Cook had artists on board that would sketch and draw. These drawings would later be masterfully retraced onto copper plates for reproduction in a dedicated studio that required a lot of resources beyond the capacity of a ship. The process was extremely labor intensive and slow but the results were impressive for archival. It would take more than 10 years to reproduce scientific work recorded during the first voyage by Joseph Banks. After the crew returned in 1771 Banks employed five water colorists from the winter of 1773 to complete 595 new artworks based on the expedition artist and botanist Sydney Parkinson’s unfinished work who died during the voyage together with the other artist Herman Spöring from Finland. He then also employed 18 engravers until 1784, to cut copper printing plates, based on 743 artworks, in readiness for scientific publication in color.
Map makers were also employing the same techniques.
Here, a demonstration by Andrew Stein Raftery, Associate Professor of Printmaking, Rhode Island School of Design shows us the steps and techniques used in copper engravings. Raftery creates a copper engraving with the same methods done by the old masters of Europe. The project was created to celebrate “The Brilliant Line” an engraving exhibition at RISD’s Museum of Art. Video shot and directed by Eric Meier (RISD 1986). Editing in collaboration with Collin William (RISD MFA 2010).
The following video shows a different copper plate etching technique by the artist Angus Fisher:
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