Can the collective wisdom enlighten me? I've been asked what the world of art history thinks of Blair Hedges' research on 16th and 17th century prints, and the dating of them by comparative analysis of plate wear. Fact is, I don't know. I wasn't hanging around with art historians when his work was in the popular press in 2006.
I do know that a number rare book and map people were skeptical. In my opinion, they were overly skeptical, particularly after his more detailed 2008 research was published, see http://www.hedgeslab.org/pubs/195.pdf ). It really seemed as if they hadn't read the actual research papers, and were simply irritated that a scientist who happens to collect prints dared to step outside his professional realm.
The gist of his research is about the fact that (unless the plates are touched up) engraved illustrations are paler (have thinner lines) in later editions of 16th-century books. Received wisdom says this is because the plates compressed with use, thanks to the extreme pressure of the rolling press. His studies indicate that the plates did not compress, and that even if they had, lines would become longer and wider, not shorter and thinner (imagine rolling out pie dough, marking an “X” on it, then using the rolling pin some more. The “X’ will stretch and grow). Instead, his work supports the idea that plates wore out through erosion when they were polished for re-use after storage. Lines become thinner not so much in relation to the number of impressions taken from the plate, but in relation to the time between printing sessions. Using digital images and scientific software designed for image analysis (and an army of research assistants), he gathered data from multiple copies of different dated editions of a book illustration, graphed them to show where the different editions cluster in terms of line density, then saw where data collected from an undated edition of a print fell on the same scale. He also found a correlation between time and image deterioration in woodcut illustrations by counting line breaks (the result of increasing cracks and losses in the raised surface of the block). See http://www.printclock.org for the user-friendly version of the research.
Thanks,
Erin.
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