Due to the continuous development and prosperity of urban handicraft industry and commercial economy, the public's demand for printmaking is increasing day by day. A variety of exquisite gravure maps, portraits of celebrities, religious images, newly discovered strange scenery, political propaganda and book illustrations. , are all kinds, and almost amazing. In order to meet the needs of society, various publishing and sales enterprises came into being, and various sales networks spread all over Europe. The original prints of artists, especially those of deceased artists, have become valuable assets for art dealers and publishers to make profits. After they bought the original, they were copied in large quantities by fixed craftsmen, and the number of copies reached the highest point of sales. In order to meet the unlimited sales, after the original edition is printed, craftsmen are invited to carve and print it repeatedly until the edition is scrapped, and the result is often far from the original edition.

This mercenary sale of prints not only affects the reputation of prints among the people, but also seriously damages the rights and interests of artists. As early as the end of15th century, in order to protect his works from being copied, Diu Lei not only carved the identification mark "AD" symbolizing his original works, but also went to Florence, Italy, to protest against the famous bronze sculptor Raimondi at that time, so as to prevent his works from being illegally reproduced. Willian Huo Jiasi (1697-1764) was a famous British painter in the 8th century. His provocative and fashionable "A Prostitute's Experience" (Figure 48), the first set of six oil paintings, only earned 34 Guinea. But before these paintings were copied into etchings by the publishing house, more than 1200 people had already booked this set of etched etchings. Huo Jiasi's works are so popular that artists have to appeal to Congress to enact copyright laws to protect artists' copyrights. To this end, Britain has promulgated the 1753 copyright law.

The law of commodity economy makes painters see that making a print is more profitable than painting an oil painting. Therefore, at that time, almost all painters had made or commissioned bronze engravers to make copper prints. In addition to the above-mentioned masters, there are also Italian Renaissance masters Leonardo da Vinci (1452- 15 19) and Raphael (1485- 1520). French painter Carlo (Callot,1592-1645); Rubens, Belgium (Rubens,1577-1640); Tiepolo (1696- 1770), the last representative of the old Venetian school; Famous French painters Eduardo (1634- 1720), Boucher (1903- 1770) and Xia Erdan (1699-1770); Spanish giant Goye (1746- 1828), British W. Blake (1757- 1827) and so on. The print market, such as a reliable link, makes painters closely connected with the public, and also acts as a lubricant to promote the perfection of copperplate prints in a virtuous circle.

It has been 1513 years since the rise of copperplate prints in the middle of15 century. The earliest etched copperplate prints were made by Hopfer; /kloc-at the beginning of the 7th century, Siengen (1609- 1682) founded mezodine. /kloc-in the 8th century, the French sculptor Belgin de Maarto invented roulette. About 1760, the French prince invented Aquatint10. In the late 8th century, French copperplate workshops successively introduced soft grinding etching, lifting grinding etching or sugar staining. At this point, as a modern copperplate art has been formed. On the contrary, during the 200-300 years when woodcut developed and prospered, woodcut only interacted with books, gradually declined, and finally was on the verge of being eliminated.

6. The revival of woodcut

/kloc-At the beginning of the 8th century, bronze plates were introduced to Britain from Hogarth. Unlike continental Europe, British woodcut prints began to decline. At this time, many skilled sculptors, because of the exclusion of copperplate prints, had to give up copying the works of famous artists such as Veronica, Tuodi and Titian, and were forced to make wallpaper. 1at the end of the 8th century (1775), in order to revitalize woodcut, the government specially rewarded the winners of woodcut. The first winning work is the woodcut Hound by British printmaker Thomas Bewick (1753- 1828) (Figure 53-). He invented the woodcut and high-quality alloy carving knife, abandoned the original wooden board and simple tools, and created the woodcut shading method of carving white lines (negative lines), which is delicate and realistic, comparable to copper engraving. Thanks to Bijuk's innovation, the ancient woodcut was revived. Different from copperplate prints, woodcut can combine plates with words and print them on the computer at the same time. Therefore, the woodcut of Mukou was quickly popularized and applied in a large number of newspapers on both sides of the Atlantic, covering the whole Victorian era (1819-1901), and was read and appreciated by more and more people.

All Victorian artists and their disciples, especially in the11860s, drew sketches for the sculptors' sculptures directly on wooden blocks. For example, a simple collection of poems, Poems by the Roadside, contains many poetic woodcuts, all drawn by painters North, Pinwill and Walker, and carved by the brother of highly skilled sculptor Darzier. Their unparalleled carving skills have reached the exquisiteness unimaginable in previous woodcuts. After the rise of mukou woodcut in Britain, it soon spread to Europe and America, which greatly overwhelmed the momentum of copper engraving. /kloc-in the second half of the 9th century, the French painter Du Lei (1832- 1883) pushed woodcut to the peak again. At that time, his woodcuts were called "Du Lei Style" (Figures 58 and 59), which were directly written in ink by the painter on the woodcut board and then carefully carved by his sculptor), and were well received by the public. People like it to be precise and unambiguous, while mocking copperplate is simple, sketchy and too vague. However, the potential threat to both is emerging photography.

7. The threat of photography

1826, the French lithograph painter Niepce (1765- 1833) took the earliest photos-the courtyard outside the window and Degel (1839). Forty years later (1880), photographic plate making entered the printing industry. At this point, it has increasingly threatened the printmaking industry that painters and sculptors engaged in earlier. The French painter Paul Delaroche (1797- 1856) once lamented that "painting ends here", and this wise saying has been circulated for some time (Figure 60). However, it is portrait painters and printmakers, especially copperprinters, who really panic. They hanged themselves, and copperprinters go to hell! Big slogans were common in cartoons at that time. Lithography was invented at the end of18th century and prevailed in19th century. Due to the challenge of photography, copperplate prints soon lost their former glory. And at this time, the public's interest has been more and more concentrated on the prints drawn directly by artists, rather than the replicas drawn by craftsmen. In order to avoid the fatigue of carving, painters focus on the personal painting of lithographs. The most representative painters here are Goya (1746- 1828), Du Miai (1808- 1879) and Lautrec (1846-6879). Under the threat of photography, some far-sighted artists realize that printmaking as a means of copying painting should die out. In order to survive, they began to look for a new way out. In order to get rid of the subordinate position of printmaking in printing, they strongly advocate hand-made and crude antique, so that printmaking can truly become an original painting.