CALIGRAPHY. - A word formed from the Greek terms χαλκός (copper) and γράφο (I write), which properly denotes the technique of intaglio engraving on copper. From the middle of the 16th century until the whole of the 19th, it was widely used for the decoration of books, especially in frontispieces, until the ascendancy of etching and the simplification of typographic ornaments slowly brought about its disappearance.
The name has also come to denote both the workshops in which copper is subjected to the chemical processes necessary to produce chalcopyraphy, and collections of original copperplates. Among the latter, great fame was attained by the "Roman Camera chalcopyraphy," founded in 1740 by Pope Clement XII following the purchase of the plates of the De Rossi family, which also included those of A. Lafrery; having passed to the Italian State after 1870, it took the name of "Royal chalcopyraphy." It today contains approximately 20,000 engravings.
In present-day typographic technique, some designate by the term "rotary chalcopyraphy" (German Tiefdruck) that process commonly known as "rotogravure," which is widely used for plates outside the text and for certain types of illustrated newspapers. It is obtained by transferring the drawing, by means of a special sensitized paper, onto a copper cylinder, onto which the engraving is then transferred; after which the cylinder prints the image on the paper like that of an ordinary rotary press. For chalcopyraphy in art, v. INCISIONE.
Bibliography9 worksOn chalcopyraphy as a means of book illustration, see G. Duplessis, Histoire de la gravure en Italie, en Espagne, dans le Pays-Bas, en Angle
BIBL.: On chalcopyraphy as a means of book illustration, see G. Duplessis, Histoire de la gravure en Italie, en Espagne, dans le Pays-Bas, en Angleterre et en France, Paris 1879; P. Kristeller, Kupferstich und Holzschnitt in vier Jahrhunderten, 4th ed., Berlin 1922; W. L. Schreiber, Handbuch der Holzund Metallschnitte des XV. Jahrh., 8 vols., Leipzig 1926-30; M. Pittaluga, L'incisione italiana del Cinquecento, Milan 1930; M. Sander, Le livre à figures italiennes depuis 1467 jusqu'à 1570, 6 vols., ibid. 1943; C. E. Rava, Arte dell'illustrazione nel libro italiano del Rinascimento, ibid. 1946. Cf. moreover the bibliography at the entry INCISIONE. For the Roman Camera chalcopyraphy, in addition to the general works cited, cf. the Catalogo delle stampe intagliate in rame e bulino ed in acquaforte esistenti nella c. della reverenda Camera apostolica, Rome 1823, republished with the list of new accessions (Volpato, Canova, etc.) in 1832 and again in 1842. For rotogravure cf. P. Conter, Le arti grafiche fotomeccaniche, 4th ed., Milan 1909; R. Namias, I moderni processi fotomeccanici, etc., 2nd ed., ibid. 1913; id., I processi di illustrazione grafica, ibid. 1925; G. Fumagalli, Bibliografia, 4th ed., ibid. 1935, pp. 228-29.
Pratesi, Alessandro. “Calcografia.” In Enciclopedia Cattolica, vol. III, coll. 329–330. Città del Vaticano: Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico, 1949. https://azioneromana.com/article/calcografia.
MLA
Pratesi, Alessandro. “Calcografia.” Enciclopedia Cattolica, vol. III, Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico, 1949, coll. 329–330. Azione Romana, https://azioneromana.com/article/calcografia.
BibTeX
@incollection{ec3_calcografia,
author = {Pratesi, Alessandro},
title = {Calcografia},
booktitle = {Enciclopedia Cattolica},
volume = {III},
pages = {329--330},
note = {Cited by column},
publisher = {Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico},
address = {Città del Vaticano},
year = {1949},
url = {https://azioneromana.com/article/calcografia}
}
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