A technical dictionary of printmaking, André Béguin.
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imitative engraving
Generally speaking imitative engraving is synonymous with fac-simile engraving [engraving (facsimile)] in that such engraving imitates the effects of drawing or even painting [good colour rendition].
However, the term imitative engraving can also be considered to exceed fac-simile work in that it can go so far as to become a simulation. Fac-simile work, especially when applied to 19th century wood engraving, does not simulate what it reproduces as it always maintains the characteristics of a print. Fac-simile engraving as well as imitative engraving are the opposites of interpretative engraving.
It must be remembered that before the invention of photomechanical reproduction processes engraving (on wood or metal) was the only means of making exact reproductions. Chiaroscuro woodcuts were used to reproduce drawings as of the 16th century whereas line engraving and stippling were used to reproduce the paintings of the masters. The "manners" invented in the 18th century went so far as to imitate wash work, pastel work, and even the very grain of the paper on which the line was drawn.
The care taken to be rigorously exact and faithful was such that engravings were sometimes mistaken for original drawings. Already chiaroscuro woodcuts had led to such confusion: "the effect obtained by this process were, from the very beginning so perfect that some chiaroscuro impressions were sold as being the original drawing done by the master himself" (A. de Lostalot, Les procédés de la gravure). In much the same way in the 18th century Cochin could say that the crayon manner was an invention "thanks to which it is possible to imitate the drawings of masters to such an extent that even connoisseurs can be fooled". Louis-Mann Bonnet, who invented the pastel manner, said of his process that "it creates the same illusions and is in no way worse than a painting insofar as concerns the freshness and vivacious-ness of the colours".
At this point one can distinguish two different currents in imitative engraving. The first current is the one in which efforts are made to copy the whole drawing while the second current is the one in which the efforts are made to imitate the technique used to make a particular drawing. These two currents often coincide.
In a more general sense imitative engraving is the same as reproductive engraving when the engraver is a professional. If the engraver also drew the image, imitative engraving is the same as original engraving.
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