DiotimosReading Desk

Art

Engraver’s burin

burin

The burin is the engraver’s cutting tool, personified as roguish in the account of Desmahis’s image of Robespierre.

From the book

The Gods Are Athirst

Anatole France · Diotimos Editions · 2026

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Meaning

Lemma.

The burin is the engraver’s cutting tool, personified as roguish in the account of Desmahis’s image of Robespierre. The description transfers the adaptable artist’s manner to his instrument. It is not a paintbrush, and it should not be confused with the completed printing plate. Tool, technique, image and market are brought together when Blaise promptly redirects him towards military subjects.

Places to read

  1. Chapter XXIX, paragraph 2FrenchLe burin picaresque du graveur: the engraver’s roguish burin. Narration attributes the caricatural ugliness to the artist through his tool.