![](https://media.tate.org.uk/aztate-prd-ew-dg-wgtail-st1-ctr-data/images/.width-340_7HnPRHs.jpg)
Edward Calvert
The Brook (1829)
Tate
Wood engraving is a relief form of printmaking. It is usually done on the end grain of a block of boxwood, which is very hard, and so extremely fine detail is possible.
It became widely used in the nineteenth century as a method of reproducing pictures in books, newspapers and journals before the invention of photo-mechanical methods of reproduction, but was also occasionally used by artists, such as Edward Calvert, as an original printmaking medium.