A new printing technique was showcased at Burlington House during the Royal Society's 1896 exhibition, as Katherine Marshall reports.
I recently visited my local museum to see their latest exhibit, . While I was there, I discovered that had invented an autographic printing technique which he named after himself: the ‘Herkomergravure’.
The examples on display showed portraits of women in classical robes and floral crowns with a soft painterly quality. This characteristic of painting with print reminded me of the technique employed by Chloe Barnes in her recent monotype portrait of Hannah Fry for Sky Portrait Artist of the Year.
Unlike the one-off nature of , Herkomer wanted to create a way of reproducing multiple copies of his artwork without having to translate the brushwork into the lines of the traditional print. He developed a process from monotyping, whereby ink was applied to a copperplate or lithographic stone, as if painting a canvas; this surface could then be dusted with powder and electroplated to create an intaglio printing plate.
(L) ‘91TV annual conversazione’ by Richard Taylor after Thomas Walter Wilson, 1889 (R) Royal Society conversazione programme, 10 June 1896
The method allowed him to make impressions which have the quality of a black-and-white print but with the freeform mark-making of brushstrokes with graduated tone. Herkomer’s new ‘Black and White Art’ was showcased at the Burlington House home of the Royal Society during the annual exhibition of 1896, alongside other cutting-edge science of the day.
Portrait of Frederick Sleigh Roberts, 1st Earl Roberts by Sir Hubert von Herkomer, Herkomergravure, 1895. , National Portrait Gallery, London. CC BY-NC-ND 3.0
The conversazione programme shows that a series of Herkomergravures were exhibited in the principal library, along with a lantern demonstration of the process in the meeting room. Press reports indicated that Herkomer showed portraits of , and along with facsimiles of well-known pictures. Herkomer had been selected by committee to paint the a few years earlier, and the invitation to take part in the soirée appears to have been facilitated by treasurer Sir John Evans. It followed Herkomer’s lecture at the Fine Art Society, Bond Street in January that year and shows his ambition to reach both artists and scientists alike.
Portrait of Sir John Evans by Hubert von Herkomer, Herkomergravure on chine collé, 1896.
The historical prints can cause confusion when they show up in private collections: the process is little known and the painted appearance can make identification difficult, leading some to believe they have an original painting. During the course of my research I was delighted to discover that the original print of Sir John Evans from the 1896 soirée (above) was hiding within our collection as an ‘engraving by an unknown artist’. So it is with great pleasure that I can report that the has now been updated, the portrait uploaded to our Picture Library (), and the term ‘Herkomergravure’ added to the printing techniques thesaurus. However, given the lack of uptake for this Victorian innovation, I suspect it will be the only one!
