ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book explores the shifts in the identity of etching as a medium, shifts which were often enacted through contested descriptive terms such as those used by John Ruskin. It describes how the identity of etching as an art was established through institutional and market structures, art criticism and visual imagery. In 1872 Ruskin described etching as 'an indolent and blundering art'. The book examines how, over the course of the nineteenth century, etching acquired a distinct aesthetic and a set of working practices which attempted to resolve the conflicts between amateur and professional practice, and between the languages of art and technical process. It provides an alternative account of etching in nineteenth-century England, an approach which moves away from the examination of careers, institutional and market frameworks and artistic practices which played a key role in redefining the medium over the period.
