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ENGRA\'ING AND ETCHING
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in 2008 with funding from
IVIicrosoft Corporation
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ENGRAVING
AND
ETCHING
A HANDBOOK FOR THE USE OF
STUDENTS AND PRINT COLLECTORS
DR. PR. LIPPMANN
LATE KEEPER OF THE PRINT ROOM IN THE ROYAL MUSEUM, BERLIN
TRANSLATED FROM THE
THIRD GERMAN EDITION REVISED BY DR. MAX LEHRS
BY
MARTIN HARDIE
NATIONAL ART LIBRARY, VICTORIA AND ALBERT MUSEUM
WITH 131 ILLUSTRATIONS
NEW YORK:
CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS
153—157 FIFTH AVENUE
1906
PRINTED BY
HAZELI., WATSON AND VINEY, LD.,
LONDON AND AYLESBURY,
ENGLAND.
PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION
'^ I ^HE following history of the art of engraving closes
^ approximately with the beginning of the nine-
teenth century. The more recent developments of the
art have not been included, for the advent of steel-
engraving, of lithography, and of modern mechanical
processes has caused so wide a revolution in the repro-
ductive arts that nineteenth-century engraving appears to
require a separate history of its own and an entirely
different treatment.
The illustrations are all made to the exact size of the
originals, though in some cases a detail only of the
original is reproduced.
PREFACE TO THE THIRD EDITION
T^RIEDRICH LIPPMANN died on October 2nd,
^ 1903, and it fell to me, as his successor in office, to
undertake a fresh revision of the handbook in preparation
for a third edition. It has been my object to retain as
far as possible every word of the treatise as its compiler
left it, unsurpassed for clearness and compactness ; and I
have ventured only to remodel to some extent the history
of German and Netherlandish engraving in the fifteenth
century in accordance with the results of recent research.
Dr. Elfried Bock, Assistant in the Print Collection at
Berlin, has availed himself of the compiler's notes in
making a series of additions and corrections.
Max Lehrs.
Berlin, Jl/ay, 1905.
TRANSLATOR'S NOTE
Some additional references to English Engravers have been inserted iu
Chapters VI and VII, and a few Ijooks have been added to the Bibliography.
References to the catalogue numbers of prints described by Bartsch in his
" Peintre-Graveur" are inserted in the form : (B. 37).
CONTENTS
CHAP. PAGE
Introduction, i. The Literature of Engraving ix
2. The Technique of Engraving . i
I. Engraving in Germany to the Time of Durer . i6
II. Engraving in Italy to the Middle of the
Sixteenth Century 68
III. Engraving IN Germany from the Death of Durer
to the End of the Sixteenth Century . no
IV. Dutch and Flemish Engraving . . . .134
V. Engraving in France 190
VI. Engraving in Italy during the Seventeenth
and Eighteenth Centuries . . . .226
VII. Engraving in England and the Development
of Mezzotint 241
VIII. Engraving in Germany during the Seventeenth
AND Eighteenth Centuries .... 259
IX, Engraving in Spain 387
X. Colour Prints 293
vii
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
riG. PAGE
1. The Burin , i
2. Method of holding and using the Burin ....... 2
3. Section of furrow made by the Burin (enlarged) ..... 3
4. The Scraper (reduced) . . . . . . . . . .3
5. The Roulette (different varieties) 6
6. The Rocker (reduced) 7
7. The Mattoir (reduced) 9
8. The Echoppe 9
9. The Flagellation of Christ, of 1446 18
10. The Master of the Playing-cards : a King 19
n. The Master of the Gardens of Love: The Great Garden of Love (detail) 21
12. The Master of the Banderoles : The Betrayal of Christ (detail) . . 23
13. The Ma"ster E. S. of 1466 : Paten (detail) 25
14. The Master E. S. of 1466 : Virgin Enthroned (detail) . . . .27
15. Martin Schongauer : Quarrelsome Goldsmiths' Apprentices . . .29
16. Martin Schongauer : Christ appearing to Mary Magdalene (detail) . 31
17. Martin Schongauer : The Virgin on a Grassy Bank . . . .32
18. The Master of the Amsterdam Cabinet : Death and the Young Man . 35
J9. Master with the Signature yXTfU Q '■ Portrait of a Woman . 37
ao. The Master I. A. of Zwolle : The Crucifixion (detail) . . . .38
21. Master F. V. B. : The Judgment of Solomon (detail) . . . .40
22. Israel von Meckenen : The Card-players (detail) 42
23. The Master P. P. W. : Playmg-card .43
24. The Master /A "T: The Martyrdom of St. Catharine (detail) . . 46
25. Veit Stoss : Virgin and Child (detail) 48
26. The Master L c z : The Temptation (detail) 51
27. Albrecht Diirer : The Holy Family with the Grasshopper (detail) . . 52
28. Albrecht Diirer : The Virgin with the Bird 55
29. Albrecht Diirer : The Virgin with the Pear (detail) . . . .58
30. Albrecht Diirer : The Landscape with the Great Cannon (detail) . , 60
31. Albrecht Diirer : The Apostle Paul 64
32. Albrecht Diirer : Portrait of Cardinal Albrecht von Brandenburg . . 65
33. Florentine engraver of the fifteenth century : Portrait (reduced) , . 69
34. Florentine engraver of the fifteenth century : The Triumph of Love
(detail) 73
35. Florentine engraver of the fifteenth century : The Prophet Daniel . . 75
36. Robetta : Poetry and Music (detail) 76
37. A Master of Ferrara (?) From the series of the so-called Playing-cards
(detail) 78
viii
FIG.
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS ix
PAGE
38. Andrea Mantegna : The Entombment (detail) 8r
39. Jacopo de' Barbari 1 Judith (detail) 84
40. Girolamo Mocetto : The Baptism of Christ (detail) . . . .86
41. Giulio Campagnola : The resting Shepherd 87
42. Nicoletto da Modena : St. George (detail) 89
43. Niello 93
44. Peregrine de Cesena. Niello engraving : Prudence .... 94
45. Marc-Antonio Raimondi : St. Barbara 99
46. Marc-Antonio Raimondi : St. CecHia (detail) too
47. Agostino Veneziano : The Hour of Death 103
48. Giorgio Ghisi : The Birth of Memnon (tletail) 108
49. Lucas Cranach : The Penitence of St. John Chrysostom (detail of back-
ground) m
50. Albrecht Altdorfer : The Holy Family .114
51. Albrecht Altdorfer : Landscape (detail) 115
52. Hans Sebald Beham : The Departure of the Prodigal Son . . .117
53. H. S. Beham: Ornament 118
54. Barthel Beham : The Virgin at the Window 120
55. Georg Pencz : The Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem , . . .121
56. Heinrich Aldegrever : The Judgment of Solomon 123
57. Daniel Hopfer : Christ before Pilate (detail) 125
58. Augustin Hirschvogel : Landscape .... , . 127
59. Hans Sebald Lautensack : Landscape (detail) 129
60. Virgil Solis : Allegorical figure of Truth ... . . 130
6r. Jost Amman : The Four Elements (detail) 132
62. Lucas van Leyden : The great ' Ecce Homo ' (detail) . . . .135
63. Hieronymus Wierix : The child Christ with the Instruments of the
Passion ^39
64. Hendrick Goltzius : The Massacre of the Innocents (detail) . . .141
65. Hendrick Goltzius : Portrait of Niquet (detail) 143
66. Jan Saenredam : Ceres (detail) 1+4
67. Paul Pontius: The Ascension of the Virgin (detail) . . . .147
68. Schelte a Bolswert : The Marriage of the Virgin (detail) . . .149
69. Cornelius Visscher : The Ratcatcher (detail) I53
70. Jonas Suyderhoef: Portrait of the Preacher, van Aken . . . . 154
71. Dirk van Staar ; The Holy Family I55
72. Anthony Van Dyck : Portrait of Ph. Le Roy 157
Cornelis Schut : Allegorical composition (detail) 159
Lucas van Uden : Landscape (detail) 160
75. Allaert van Everdingen : Norwegian Landscape 163
76. Jacob van Ruisdael : Landscape (detail) 164
77. Rembrandt van Rijn : Beggars 168
78. Rembrandt van Rijn : Portrait of himself (detail) 169
79. Rembrandt van Rijn : Landscape with the Church and the Sailing-boat
(detail) »7a
80. Rembrandt van Rijn : The Angel vanishing from the Family of Tobias
(detail) ^73
81. Rembrandt van Rijn : Christ preaching (detail) 174
82. Rembrandt van Rijn : The great ' Ecce Homo ■ (detail) . . .175
83. Rembrandt van Rijn : The Old Haaring (detail) 176
84. JanLievens: The Philosopher (detail) i79
73
74-
X LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
PIG.
PAG2
85. Adriaen van Ostade : The Backgammon Players 181
86. Paul Potter : Head of a Cow 184
87. Nicolaes Berchem : Shepherd playing the Flute (detail). . . .186
88. Jan Both : Landscape (detail) j88
8g. Jean Duvet : Scene from the Apocalypse (detail) 191
90. Etienne Delaune : Abundantia 192
91. Jacques Callot : From the series of ' The Miseries of War ' (detail) . 196
92. Claude Lorrain : The Cowherd 199
93. Claude Mellan : Portrait (detail) 201
94. Gdrard Edelinck : ' The Penitent Magdalen ' after Lebrun (detail) . 203
95. Robert Nanteuil : Portrait of Nicolas Foucquet (detail) . . .205
96. Nicolas Henri Tardieu : ' A Picnic ' after Watteau (detail) . . . 210
97. Pierre Drevet : Portrait of Robert de Cotte (detail) . . . .213
98. Georg Wille : ' Boy blowing Soap Bubbles,' after Caspar Netscher
(detail) 215
99. Jean Honors Fragonard : Frora the set of Satyrs at Play (detail) . . 218
300. Jean Jacques Boissieu : The Village School (detail) .... 220
loi. Jean Michel Moreau (the younger) : The Toilet. (From Delaborde's
" Choix de Chansons," Paris, 1773) 222
102. Joseph de Longueil after P. C. Marillier, Vignette from Dorat's
" Fables," Paris, 1773 224
103. Francesco Parmigianino (Mazzuoli) : The Entombment (detail) . . 227
104. Federigo Barocci : The Annunciation (detail) 228
105. Agostino Carracci : St. Jerome (detail) 229
106. Carlo Maratta : Betrothal of St. Catherine (detail) . . . .231
107. Giuseppe Ribera ; Bacchanal (detail) 232
108. Salvator Rosa : Group of Warriors (detail) 233
109. Giovanni Domenico Tiepolo : Bacchante (detail) 234
no, Antonio Canale (Canaletto) : View in Venice (detail) . . . ,236
111. Raphael Morghen : The Last Supper after Leonardo da Vinci (detail) . 239
112. W^illiam Hogarth : The Laughing Audience (detail) . . . .244
113. Francesco Bartolozzi : Cupid and Psyche (detail) 246
114. Prince Rupert : The ' Great Executioner ' (detail) 251
115. Wallerant Vaillant : Portrait ! ! 252
3i6. Cornelis Dusart ; The Peasant with the Pipe (detail) . . . .253
117. James MacArdell : Portrait (detail) * 255
118. Lucas Kilian : Portrait of Sebastian Schedel (detail) . . . ,260
119. W'enzel Hollar : Landscape (detail) 264
120. Jonas Umbach : Tritons (detail) 266
121. Georg Friedrich Schmidt : Portrait of Quentin de la Tour (detail). . 269
J22. Georg Friedrich Schmidt : Christ and the Daughter of Jairus (detail) . 271
123. Johann Friedrich Bause : Portrait of J. G. Sulzer (detail) . . .275
124. Daniel Chodowiecki : Illustration to Lessing's "Minna von Barnhelm" 280
12.15. Daniel Chodowiecki : Illustration to Gellert's " Fables" . . . 282
126. Bernhard Rode ; ' Head of a Dying Warrior ' (detail)
127. Ferdinand Kobell : Landscape
128. Franz Weirotter : Landscape
129. Spanish Master, fifteenth century : Playing-card .
J30. Francisco Goya : From the series of ' Caprices " .
131- Jean Charles Franyois : Portrait of J. F. Denis (detail).
284
285
286
288
291
299
THE LITERATURE OF ENGRAVING
THE literature dealing with engraving and etching is
very extensive, and only a limited selection of the
more important works can be here given.
General works of reference covering the whole province
of the art are as follows :
Baldinucci, F. Cominciamento e progresso dell' arte dell'
intagliare in rame. Florence, 1686.
Heinecken, H. J. C. Idee generale d'une collection com-
plete d'Estampes. Leipzig, Vienna, 1771.
HuBER und RosT. Handbuch fiir Kunstliebhaber und
Sammler. Zurich, 1796 — 1808. (Vol. ix. contains
references to the principal works of engravers of all
schools and countries, with biographical notes.)
Le Blanc, C. Manuel de I'Amateur d'Estampes. 4 vols.
Paris, 1854 — 1889. (An attempt to give a catalogue of
the works of all known engravers, etchers, etc.)
Nagler, G. K. Kiinstlerlexikon. Munich, 1835^1852.
(Contains biographical notices of artists, and a list,
sometimes incomplete, of their engravings, etc. New
edition in course of publication.)
Nagler, G. K. Die Monogrammisten. 5 vols. Munich,
1858 — 1879. (Serves as a supplement to the above).
Bryan's ' Dictionary of Painters and Engravers.' New ed.
5 vols. London, 1905.
Heller, J. Handbuch fur Kupferstichsammler. Leipzig,
1850. (New edition revised and much improved by
A. Andresen, Leipzig, 1890.)
xii THE LITERATURE OF ENGRAVING
Bartsch, a. Anleitung zur Kupferstichkunde. Vienna,
1821.
QuANDT, J. G. von. Verzeichniss rneiner Kupferstich-
sammlung. Leipzig, 1853.
Renouvier, J. Des Types et des Manieres des Maitres
Graveurs. Montpellier, 1853— 1856. (Gives a history
of engraving, so far as practised by painter-etchers and
painter-engravers to the eighteenth century.)
UuPLESSis, G. Histoire de la Gravure. Paris, 1880.
Maberlv, J. The Print Collector. London, 1844.
WiLLSHiRE, W. An Introduction to the Study and Collection
of Ancient Prints. London, 1874.
Hamerton, p. G. The Graphic Arts. London, 1882.
Delaborde, H. La Gravure. Paris, 1882. (English
translation by R. A. M. Stevenson. London, 1886.)
The origin and early history of engraving have frequently
been the object of special research. Among books dealing
with the beginnings of the art are :
CicoGNARA, L. Memorie spettanti alia storia della Calco-
grafia. Prato, 1831.
Zanetti, a. Le premier Siecle de la Calcographie. Venice,
1837.
Delaborde, H. La gravure en Italic avant Marc-Antoine.
Paris, 1882.
Fisher, R. Introduction to a Catalogue of the Early Italian
Prints in the British Museum. London, 1886.
Duchesne, A. Essai sur les Nielles. Paris, 1826.
Cicognara, L. Deir origine dei Nielli. Venice, 1827.
Ottlev, VV. Young. An Inquiry into the Origin and
early History of Engraving. London, 18 r 6. (Deals
with the history of engraving to the sixteenth
century.)
Renouvier, J. Histoire etc. de la Gravure dans les
Pays-Bas jusqu'a la fin du xv^'"'" siecle. Paris,
1859. (Contains the early history of Netherlandish
engraving.)
THE LITERATURE OE ENGRAVING xiii
The following books deal with separate groups and
periods :
Hymans, Henry. Histoire de la Gravure dans rEcole de
Rubens. Brussels, 1879.
Rosenberg, A. Der Kupferstich unter dem Einfluss der
Schule des Rubens. Vienna, 1888.
DuPLESsis, G. Histoire de la Gravure en France. Paris,
1861.
PoRTALis, R., and Beraldi, H. Les Graveurs du xviii*'"^
siecle. Paris, 1880 — 1882.
British Museum. Catalogue of Prints and Drawings.
Political and Personal Satires. 4 vols. London, 1870.
For a long time there has been a demand for carefully
compiled descriptive catalogues of the collected work of
the masters of engraving. Interest has principally been
attached to the work of those engravers and etchers
(" painter-etchers ") who have worked on the copper from
their own original designs. The following are important
works of reference of this type :
Bartsch, Adam. Le Peintre-Graveur. 21 vols. Vienna,
1803 — 1821. (This is the principal work of reference.
Parts of it have been completed and revised by Joseph
Heller and Rudolph VVeigel.)
Passavant, J. D. Le Peintre-Graveur. Leipzig, i860 —
1864. (Based on Bartsch, and specially valuable for
the engravers of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries.)
DuTUiT, Eugene. Manuel de TAmateur d'Estampes. Paris,
1884— 1885.
Among works dealing with single schools and groups
of artists, the following are the most useful :
Andresen, a. Der deutsche Peintre-Graveur. 5 vols.
Leipzig, 1864 — 1878.
Kellen, J. Ph. van der. Le Peintre-Graveur Hollandais
et Flamand. Utrecht, 1866.
xiv THE LITERATURE OF ENGRAVING
RoBERT-Du^fESNIL, A. P. F. Le Peintre-Graveur FranQais.
II vols. Paris, 1835 — 187 1.
Baudicour, p. de. Le Peintre-Graveur Fran9ais continue.
2 vols. Paris, 1861. (Continuation of the above.)
Smith, J. Chaloner. British Mezzotint© Portraits. 4 vols.
1878— 1883.
BocHER, E. Les Graveurs Fran9ais du xviii^""^ siecle. 6 vols.
Paris, 1875 — 1882.
DiLKE, Lady. French Engravers and Draughtsmen of the
Eighteenth Century. London, 1902.
CoLviN, Sidney. Early Engraving and Engravers in England
(1545—1695). London, 1905.
Vesme, Alexandre de. Le Peintre-Graveur Italien. 4 vols.
Milan, 1906.
Useful as supplements to these works are the descrip-
tive catalogues of large and well-known collections, such
as :
Duchesne, J. Voyage d'un Iconophile. Revue des principaux"
cabinets d'estampes etc., dAllemagne, de Hollande et
d'Angleterre. Paris, 1834.
Bartsch, F. von. Die Kupferstichsammlung der K. K.
Hofbibliothek in Wien. Vienna, 1854.
Delaborde, H. Le Departement des Estampes a la Biblio-
theque Nationale. Paris, 1875.
WiLLSHiRE, W. Hughes. Catalogue of Early Prints in the
British Museum. 2 vols. London, 1879 — 1883.
WiLLSHiRE, W. Hughes. Descriptive Catalogue of the
Playing and other Cards in the British Museum.
London, 1876.
Lehrs, Max. Katalog der im Germanischen Museum
befindlichen deutschen Kupferstiche des xv. Jahrh.
Nuremberg, 1887.
O'DoNOGHUE, F. M. Catalogue of the Collection of Playing
Cards bequeathed by . . . Lady Charlotte Schreiber.
London, 1901.
CusT, L. Index of Artists represented in the British Museum.
Dutch and Flemish Schools ; German Schools ; French
Schools. 2 vols. London, 1893 — 1S96.
THE LITERATURE OF ENGRAVING xv
The work of almost all important engravers, etchers,
etc., has been described in numerous Monographs. As
examples of the mass of works of this type may be
mentioned :
Lehrs, Max. Die altesten deutschen Spielkarten. Dresden.
Der Meister mit den Bandrollen. Dresden, 1886.
Wenzel von Olmiitz. Dresden, 1889.
Der Meister des Liebesgiirten. Dresden, 1893.
Der Meister ^57" .A. Dresden, 1896.
CusT, Lionel. The Master E. S. and the 'Ars Moriendi.'
Oxford, 1898.
Heller, Joseph. Leben und Werke Albrecht Diirers.
Bamberg, 1827 — 1831.
Retberg, R. v. Diirers Kupferstiche und Holzschnitte.
Munich, 1871.
Rosenberg, A. Sebald und Barthel Beham. Leipzig, 1875.
Parthev, G. Wenzel Hollar. Berlin, 1853.
Engelmann, W. Daniel Chodowiecki. Leipzig, 1857.
Jacoby, L. D. Georg Friedr. Schmidts Werke. Berlin,
1815.
Wessely, J. E. Georg Friedr. Schmidt. Hamburg, 1887.
■^ Delaborde, Henri. Marc-Antoine Raimondi. Paris,
1888.
Alvin, L. Catalogue de I'Oeuvre de Jean, Jerome et Antoine
Wierix. Brussels, 1866.
Hymans, H. Lucas Vorsterman. Brussels, 1893.
Wibiral, Fr. L'Iconographie dAntoine van Dyck. Leipzig,
1877.
Bartsch, a. Catalogue de toutes les Estampes de Rem-
brandt. 2 vols. Vienna, 1797.
MiDDLETON, C. H. A Descriptive Catalogue of the Etched
Work of Rembrandt. London, 1878.
RoviNSKi, D. L'Oeuvre Grave de Rembrandt. St. Peters-
burg, 1890.
Seidlitz, W. von. Kritisches Verzeichnis der Radierungen
Rembrandts. Leipzig, 1895.
RoviNSKi, D. L'Oeuvre Grave des Eleves de Rembrandt.
St. Petersburg, 1894.
xvi THE LITERATURE OF ENGRAVING
Faucheux, L. E. Catalogue de toutes les estampes d'Adrien
van Ostade. Paris, 1862.
Meaume, E. Jacques Callot. 2 vols. Paris, i860.
TuER, A. W. Bartolozzi and his Works. London, 1881.
DoBSON, Austin. William Hogarth. 3rd edition. London,
1902.
Fagan, L. a Descriptive Catalogue of the Engraved Works
of W. Faithorne. London, 1888.
A Catalogue Raisonne of the Engraved Work of
William Woollett. London, 1885.
Hamilton, E. Catalogue Raisonne of the Engraved Portraits
and Fancy Subjects painted by T. Gainsborough and
G. Romney. London, 1891.
Halsev, F. R. Raphael Morghen's Engraved Works.
London, 1885.
Among works that deal with technique are the
following :
BossE, A. Traicte de manieres de graver, etc. Paris, 1645.
(New edition, with additions by Leclerc, 1701.)
Evelyn, J. Sculptura : or the history and art of chalcography
and engraving in Copper. To which is annexed a new
manner of Engraving in Mezzo Tinto communicated by
His Highness Prince Rupert. 1662.
GiJTLE, J. C. Die Kunst in Kupfer zu stechen. Nuremberg,
1795-
Barth, C. Die Kupferstecherei. Hildburghausen, 1837.
Fielding, T. H. The Art of Engraving. 1841.
Lostalot, a. de. Les Procedds de la Gravure. Paris,
1883.
Hamerton, p. G. Etching and Etchers. 3rd edition.
London, 1880.
KoEHLER, S. R. Etching. New York, 1885.
Short, Frank. On the Making of Etchings. London,
1888.
Herkomer, Hubert von. Etching and Mezzotint Engrav-
ing. London, 1892.
Singer, H. W., and Strang, W. Etching, Engraving and
the other Methods of Printing Pictures. London, 1897.
THE LITERATURE OF ENGRAVING xvii
Among useful sets of reproductions of engraved work
may be mentioned :
Brulliot, R. Copies photographiques des plus rares gravures
dans la collection royale d'estampes a Munic. Munich,
1854.
Amand-Durand. [Reproductions of the work of Diirer,
Schongauer, Lucas van Leyden, Mantegna, Rembrandt,
etc. In separate volumes.] Paris, 1874 — (1888).
Schmidt, W. Die Inkunabeln des Kupferstichs im Kgl.
Kabinett zu Miinchen. Munich, 1887.
Janitsch and Lichtwark. Stiche und Radierungen von
Schongauer, Uiirer and Rembrandt. Berlin, 1885 —
1886.
Publications of the International Chalcographical Society.
Berlin; London; Paris, 1886 — (1897).
/ Kupferstiche und Holzschnitte alter Meister in Nachbildungen
herausgegeben von der Direktion der Reichs-Druckerei
unter Mitwirkung von F. Lippmann. Berlin, 1889 — 1900.
(English edition. 10 vols. London, 1889 — 1900.)
Prints in the British Museum Reproduced. [14 vols, to
1905.] London, 1886 — 1905.
Fagan, L. History of Engraving in England. 3 vols.
London, 1893.
Publications of the Diirer Society. London, 1898 — ■
The above list is not intended as a scientific bibliography, but only as a
means of reference to some of the principal works dealing with engraving.
There are other important sources of information, such as the sale-
catalogues of well-known collections, and several periodical publications.
Fig. I. The
Burin.
THE TECHNIQUE OF
ENGRAVING
ENGRAVING is the process of making
a design in sunk lines on a copper
plate, so that impressions may be taken
from the plate on paper, parchment, and
the like. These impressions are called
engravings or prints.
The plate intended for engraving must be
of pure copper, absolutely free from flaws,
and must be hammered smooth. It has a
thickness of from an eighth to three-
sixteenths of an inch, in proportion to its
size. After being hammered, it is polished
to the brightness of a mirror.
The different kinds of engraving are
distinguished according to the process of
their production.
In ordinary Line Engravi?ig the design
is engraved on the plate entirely, or at any
rate mainly, with the Burin or Graver
(fig. i). This is a four-sided bar of steel,
square or rhomboidal in section. One end
of the bar is cut off obliquely, so as to
produce a strong sharp point at one angle.
The other end of the graver is fastened in
a wooden handle, which in use rests against
the engraver's palm. Lines which are
I
2 THE TECHNIQUE OF ENGRAVING
intended to appear black in the finished print, must be
forced and driven by the burin deeply into the plate. In
working, the burin is held at a sharp angle to the surface
of the plate (fig. 2). By the pressure of the palm on
the handle of the burin the point is moved forwards
in the direction of the line to be made. If the plate be
small the engraver has it lying on a leather cushion filled
with sand ; if it be large it is fastened on a movable turn-
table, so as to turn and twist to meet the stroke of the
graver. The deeper and clearer the engraved work on
Fig. 2. Method of holding
and using the Burin.
the copper is, the stronger and purer will the lines show
on the finished print.
While the burin makes furrows on the metal answering
to the shape of its point, it raises up a certain amount of
metal on either side (fig. 3). This produces a roughness,
known as Bnrr, which as a rule must be removed. This is
done by means of the Scraper (fig. 4), a short, dagger-
shaped steel instrument with three sharp edges. The
scraper is worked over the surface of the plate, following
the direction of the lines, and by this means the burr is
removed. The scraper is also employed for the purpose
of cutting out a wrong line or a whole space from the plate.
THE TECHNIQUE OF ENGRAVING 3
To restore the necessary smoothness to places that have
been submitted to the scraper they are worked over with
the BuriiisJier, another dagger-shaped steel instrument,
round or ov^al in section, and having a highly polished
surface. By means of the burnisher it is also possible
Fig. 3. Section of furrow made b}- the Burin (enlarged).
to press together, and so reduce, the lines of the burin.
The use of the burnisher corresponds in many ways to that
of india-rubber in drawing with pencil on paper.
The Diy-point needle is a strong steel needle with a
sharp point, with which one draws on the copper in almost
the same way as with, a pencil on paper. The dry-point
scratches the copper, producing extremely fine lines. The
burr resulting from this is removed with the scraper ;
sometimes, however, it is allowed to remain, in order to
produce a particular artistic effect. Dry-point is used in
conjunction with the burin, and in other technical pro-
cesses. It is possible, however, to complete a plate with
Fig. 4. The Scraper (reduced).
the needle only. Engravers frequently use it to indicate
in light lines on the plate the outlines of their composition,
as a guide for completion with the graver.
Etching is so called because the sunk lines in the copper
are produced by means of acids that bite into the metal.
4 THE TECHNIQUE OF ENGRAVING
The polished copper plate for etching is rubbed over with
a resinous substance called EtcJiing-grou7id. There are
a number of different recipes for this ground : a common
one consists of a mixture of wax, resin, asphaltum, and
gum mastic melted together. The mixture is worked
into balls, and wrapped round with a piece of silk. The
plate is warmed, and rubbed over with one of these balls,
and the substance remaining on the metal is distributed
evenly over the surface by means of the Dabber, a ball
of white linen, about the size of one's fist, wrapped up in
silk. When the plate is cold it is blackened by being
smoked. The smoking is done by holding the plate over
a very smoky wax taper, so that the soot settles on the
etching-ground. On this grounded and smoked plate
the etcher draws, exactly as one draws with pencil on
paper, with his EtcJiitig-necdle — a steel needle fastened
in a wooden handle. He must take care that his lines
pierce the etching-ground, scratching through it, and
laying bare the copper evenly throughout the whole
line. In between the lines, on every place intended to
remain white in the finished print, the ground must remain
undisturbed. The etcher uses various needles, sharp or
blunt, in accordance as he wishes to produce fine or
thick lines. When the design is complete on the ground,
the plate is etched. For etching or biting the plate, it
was usual at one time to use nitric acid, known as
aquafortis ; now, however, the etcher has at his disposal
other agents which often serve his purpose better. The usual
method was also to build up, round the edge of the plate,
a rim of wax about one inch high. The surface of the
copper plate thus formed the bottom of a dish, as it were,
into which the acid was poured. The plate is now
usually placed in a shallow dish filled with acid, the
ETCHING 5
back of the plate being painted over with asphaltum or
a varnish that resists acid.
In proportion to its strength, the time allowed for its
action, the temperature, etc., the acid etches and bites,
i.e. dissolves and deepens, the places on the copper laid
bare by the needle, while those portions of the surface
that were covered with the etching-ground remain
undisturbed.
The etched line differs as a rule from the engraved line
in that it retains a similar thickness throughout, and does
not, like the stroke of the burin, end in a fine point. The
process of etching is capable of many different treatments,
and can be used in combination with other methods.
Some parts of the plate may be etched deeper than others
by the process of " stopping out." The plate is partially
covered with varnish after the first biting, and the un-
covered parts then rebitten, so as to produce a gradation
of tone. After being bitten, the plate is warmed, and the
varnish wiped off. The plate, once bitten, may undergo
additional work to any extent with the burin or dr}'-point.
The characteristic qualities of etching and engraving may
be combined in an artistic union — flesh, sk}', water, for
instance, being executed with the burin, the earth and
the background in etching. On the other hand, etching
may be employed merely as a guide for the burin, so that
in the finished work none of the etching remains visible,
all the etched lines having been worked over and deepened
by the graver. Attempts have been made to classify
as different methods all the various treatments of graver-
work and of etching, as well as their combination with one
another and with the other methods of copper-plate
engraving still to be discussed. The history of engraving,
however, shows that a systematic classification is insufficient
6 THE TECHNIQUE OF ENGRAVING
to distinguish exhaustively all the technical procedures
and the manifold resources of the art.*
PVom the sixteenth century onwards many other methods
of working on copper plates, besides those of line engraving
and etching, came into existence. In Stipple engraving a
number of small dots are beaten into the plate by means
of the Punch. This is a steel bar, several inches long,
having one or more points at one end. The punch is held
Fig. 5. The Roulette (different varieties).
perpendicularly on the plate, and the engraver drives the
point (or points) into the metal by tapping the upper end
with a light hammer. The design is produced by means
of a large number of dots coming close together, which in
the shadows are thicker and coarser than towards the light.
* The word "engraving" means, in its narrower sense, work with
the graver, as opposed to etching ; in its wider sense it covers the
whole of those processes by which a design is engraved on copper for
the purpose of being printed.
MEZZOTINT
Closely resembling the punch in the method of its work is
the Roulette (fig. 5). It consists of a small wheel, set with
fine sharp teeth, working on its axis. The axle is fixed in a
forked frame, and the frame in a handle. When the roulette
is worked with more or less firm pressure over the copper,
it produces dotted marks lying in rows, which appear in
the impression as dotted lines, or, where
the work is kept very close, as flat tones.
Quite different from the methods so
far mentioned is the art of Mezzothit.
The plate for a mezzotint, before the
engraver's work begins, must have its
whole surface roughened or rocked. This
is done by means of the Rocker (fig. 6), a
steel instrument ending in a curved edge
and fastened in a strong handle. The
edge is extremely fine, with sharp teeth.
The engraver uses a rocker with teeth set
wide or close, in accordance as he wishes
his roughened surface to be coarse or
fine, with a coarse or fine grain. The
tool has about fifty teeth to each inch
of its perimeter for a coarse grain, and
about double the number for a quite fine
grain. The rocker is held perpendicu-
larly on the plate, and as it is rocked to
and fro the teeth are pressed into the
copper. This rocking of the plate is done first perpendicu-
larly, then horizontally, and after that in diagonal lines, till
the complete surface is evenly roughened. A well-rocked
plate, if at this stage it be inked and printed, should
impart to the paper an even, deep, velvety blackness.
The plate thus prepared is worked with the mezzotint
Fig. 6. The Rocker
(reduced).
8 THE TECHNIQUE OF ENGRAVING
Scraper, a steel instrument shaped like a penknife, with
which all those places intended to remain light in the
print are scraped smooth. The places from which the
burr or roughness is completely removed give the highest
lights ; those left untouched produce the deepest shadows ;
while intermediary tones are obtained by a greater or less
■degree of scraping. Mezzotint, in its procedure, is quite
opposite to line engraving : the mezzotinter works from
•dark to light, the engraver from light to dark. The
process of mezzotint is entirely without lines, and depends
on flat tones of light and shade melting softly into one
another. A mezzotint plate is printed in exactly the same
way as a line engraving. If an impression from a mezzo-
tint plate be closely examined, the marks of the rocker
can be clearly distinguished, especially in the half-tones,
as chisel-shaped cuts, forming an appearance of crosses.
Mezzotint is in many ways akin to Aquatint, which
depends on a process of etching. The plate is first
covered with a ground, just as in etching, and this ground
is removed from all those places that are intended to
show dark in colour in the finished impression. For
this purpose one uses various fluids that dissolve or
remove the ground, such as turpentine or olive-oil, applied
to the plate with a paint-brush. After the acid has
worked, the plate is again wiped clean, and the ground
is allowed to remain completely undisturbed only in those
places which are to remain white in the impression.* The
open spaces of the plate are now dusted over evenly, but
not too thickly, with finely powdered asphaltum or resin,
* This is the early method as invented by Le Prince. The more
usual process in later times, at any rate among English aquatint
engra\'ers, was to cover the whole plate at the outset with a ground
obtained by means of powdered resin, as described, or else by means
of a fluid, consisting of resin dissolved in rectified spirits of wine, which
THE CHALK MANNER
Fig. 7.
The Mattoii-
(reduced).
and the plate is warmed to such a degree as to cause the
particles of resin or asphaltum to melt and cling to the plate
without running into one another. If the plate be now
placed in acid, the minute spaces that remain
open between the particles of resin are bitten,
producing a roughness on the plate which
gives a sepia tone in the print. Gradations
of tone are obtained b}' repeated biting of the
parts that are to appear darker, while lighter
portions are stopped out with varnish. The
aquatint method can be emplo)'ed in com-
bination with etching, line engraving, etc.
The so-called Crayon or Chalk Manner is
simply a combination of different methods
which have been already described. Its pur-
pose is the imitation by means of engraving of the character
of chalk drawings. The plate is provided with an etching-
ground, and then worked with differently
formed roulettes which pierce through
the ground, particularly with the so-
called Mattoir (fig. 7). This is an in-
strument formed like a coarse punch,
and is roughened on its under surface
somewhat like a rasp. The engraver
makes his design with the mattoir on the
etching-ground, and after the biting an
effect is produced surprisingly like crayon lines. Wide
pen-strokes can be imitated on the ground by means of
the so-called EcJioppe (fig. 8). The echoppe is an etching-
Fig. 8.
The Echoppe.
broke into a granulation as it dried on the plate. The parts intended
to remain white in the print were then stopped out with Brunswick
black, and the gradations of tone obtained by successive bitings in the
manner described. — M. H.
lo THE TECHNIQUE OE ENGRAVING
needle, not pointed, but made of hard, round steel, cut off
obliquely at the end.
In all work on copper plates, corrections and alterations
are perfectly possible. Single lines, which are not too
deep, may be removed with the scraper and burnisher. If
a wider surface is affected, the whole place must be beaten
up from the back with a hammer, every mark of the
previous engraving must be cut away, and the place must
be freshly polished before new work can be added.
Copper plates are printed as a rule on paper, and the
paper must be damped before the impression is taken.
Printing-inks are usually composed of a mixture of thick
linseed oil and fine carbon (Frankfort black). The plate
is thoroughly cleaned, and the ink is then spread evenly
over its surface with the inking dabber, which consists
of a ball of fine flannel or muslin. The plate is then
zviped ; that is to say, the ink is removed by means of
rolled-up muslin from all the smooth places on the surface,
until they are absolutely clean, and the tint remains only
in the sunk lines. While being wiped, the plate should be
held on a steel board called the heater, under which is a
pan of glowing charcoal : the reason being that the ink
distributes better into the most delicate touches if the
plate be slightly warmed.
The plate, when wiped, is taken to the printing-
press. The Printing-press consists of a strong framework,
which carries two cylinders, placed horizontally, each
working on its axis by means of machinery. Between
the cylinders, and, like them, in a horizontal position, is
placed a strong, movable board, known as the plank. The
inked plate is laid on the plank with the engraved side
upwards ; over it is spread the paper that has been
previously damped, and above this several layers of fine
LIMIT OF IMPRESSIONS ii
blanket. The plank passes with the plate between the
two cylinders, which are forced against each other with
enormous pressure. By this means the damp paper is
driven so strongly against the plate that all the ink in
the sunk parts of the plate is transferred to the paper.
As soon as the plate has passed between the cylinders,
the printer takes the paper by two corners, and carefully
removes it. The print is now complete, and requires only
careful drying. The printer's skill is chiefly displayed in
the wiping of the plate. He must be able to hit upon the
exact quantity of ink necessary for the intended effect,
and to distribute the tone rightly over the different parts
of the plate.
A plate, in the process of printing, becomes comparatively
quickly worn. One reason is that wiping acts like a
polishing process on the surface of the plate. The work all
becomes flatter, and this is particularly obvious in the most
delicate and finest lines, which soon become unable to hold
a sufficient quantity of ink, and gradually appear weaker in
each impression till finally they vanish completely. The
finer gradations of tone are lost, the lights become broader,
while deep shadows seem to remain comparatively un-
altered. The engraving loses its harmony, till at length,
if the printing be continued, late impressions show only
the deepest shadows, which stand out unaltered in hard
contrast to the cold lights.
The number of good impressions which a plate can
yield depends partly on the method of work, partly
on the care with which it is handled in printing. A
plate that is engraved broadly and with a fairly even
depth of line is in a condition to give, in the end, more
good impressions than one showing fine and delicate work.
A plate worked entirely in dry-point yields the fewest
12 THE TECHNIQUE OF ENGRAVING
impressions of all. There is also a low limit to the
number of good impressions that can be taken from a
mezzotint plate.
From a plate executed entirely with the burin one can
count on obtaining, on the average, about 200 prints that
may be called brilliant, about 600 that are good, and after
that some 800 fair impressions. In all, therefore, the
result is from 1,200 to 1,500 available prints, followed by
a large number of poor impressions, until, when perhaps
3,000 have been taken, the print is completely worn out.
In all kinds of engraving the artist should take Trial
Proofs before the work is completed, to judge the effect
on paper of his work in process. These trial proofs, or
Workiiig Proofs, not only show the results from the
unharmed plate in all its freshness, but also often afford
to the student a valuable glimpse of the artist's style and
method of work. At the same time it must be remarked
that it by no means follows that the very first impressions
from a plate are the best.
Prints taken from an etched plate before the plate is
finished with dry-point or burin, and which therefore show
entirely etched work, arc known as proofs, or working-
proofs of the etched state.
After a plate is completed, alterations are frequently
made, which can be recognised in the corresponding im-
pressions. These alterations may be changes made by
the artist, or may be of a quite external nature, added by
the printer or publisher of the plate. When, owing to such
alterations, a set of impressions is clearly different from
another set of impressions from the same plate, they are
recognised as belonging to different stages in the printing,
and are designated, according to the particular stage, as
belonging to the first, second, third, etc.. State. In the
REWORKED PLATES 13
states one can perceive the artist's first conception and its
subsequent progress, the gradual growth or removal of
figures and details, the development of light and shadow,
the first indications of background, etc. It follows that
states are of considerable value in supplying knowledge
of a particular artist's methods, a value which belongs in
a still greater measure to working proofs, of which a single
example only may be printed, but which, if printed to
any large extent, may rank as states.
The states of a plate may, however, be distinguished
by more external marks, e.i;: by the presence or absence
of monograms, names, dates, etc. The reference on the
plate to the publisher's name is called the address (and
one speaks of plates before, or with the address). In
earlier times a Latin expression was used to describe the
act of publication — excudit (shortened to tur.) or Foruiis.
Proofs before Letters are those taken from the plate
before the references to the artist's name, subject of the
picture, and so forth, have been engraved on the margin
of the plate.
In every case the knowledge of states enables a particular
print to be determined as belonging to a certain group
of impressions, and this denotes the quality of the print,
whether good, bad, or indifferent, more accurately than
any description.
In order to obtain a fresh supply of apparently good
impressions from a plate worn out by printing, it must
be reii'orked. In reworking a plate executed with the
burin it is impossible for the engraver to follow exactly
the original lines. He is compelled to lay fresh lines over
the old ones ; and a plate worked over in this way is
exactly similar to a repainted picture. The original idea
is covered over by the later additions ; and the work loses
14 THE TECHNIQUE OF ENGRAVING
in originality, fineness, and harmon}', especially if, as is
often the case, the retouching is done, not by the original
artist, but by another and less skilful hand. Impressions
from reworked plates can usually be recognised by their
coarseness and lack of harmony. Between the lines made
in retouching, the remains of the old work give the appear-
ance of a grey background. As a rule one would give
the preference to a quite moderately good impression
from a plate that has not been reworked over a more
brilliant one from the retouched plate. A mezzotint plate
becomes quickly worn, and the artist, during the printing
of [an edition, ought to add fresh work with the rocker
here and there, and freshen up the design. Retouching
of this kind influences the artistic value of the impressions
to a comparatively small extent.
Artists who reproduce original work of their own com-
position, by means of etching or any other artistic process
of engraving, are known as Painter-Etc/iers.
The quality of the Paper used in printing contributes
considerably to the artistic results of an engraving.
Artists of all times, who have supervised the printing of
their own plates, or have done the printing themselves,
have alvva}-s made a particular point of obtaining suitable
paper. Good impressions of the works of the best masters
always show paper that is practically perfect. In earlier
times the only kind of paper known was that described
now as hand-made paper, in distinction from machine-
made paper, a discovery of last century.
Water-marks on old papers are marks designating the
factory or the quality of the paper. Knowledge of them
is not without value in the history of engraving both on
wood and metal, inasmuch as water-marks serve at times
as sign-posts to the time and place of origin of cngra\"ings
STEEL ENGRAVINGS 15
and classes of impressions. The indications supplied by
the presence of particular water-marks must, however, be
accepted with care, for paper in quite early times had a
widely distributed market as an article of commerce, so
that the same kinds of paper were used, for example, at
the same time in Italy and the Netherlands. In addition
to this many water-marks, such as tlie so-called Gothic ^
or the fool's-cap, were used at the same period by different
paper-mills, not as a mark of origin but of quality.
The technical conditions of engraving have, during the
last century, undergone substantial changes. Steel plates
began to be used instead of copper, and yielded a very
large number of im.pressions, though they were extremely
troublesome to work with the burin. The steel engraving
survived as an almost mechanical means of reproduction,
and became completely superfluous, when the discovery
of a means of electrotyping and steeling copper plates
made it possible to produce an unlimited number of good
impressions from engraved, etched, and other plates.
I
ENGRAVING IN GERMANY TO THE
TIME OF DiJRER
METAL plates adapted to printing came into
existence at the early period when ornaments^
pictures, and inscriptions were first engraved on metal.
Ancient metal looking-glasses, known as Etruscan mirrors,,
had engraved ornament on the back that with proper
treatment would have been available for printing ; and
throughout the classical period and the Middle Ages the
technique of engraving was employed by goldsmiths and
other metal-workers. The invention, however, of engraving
in the sense in which we here understand it dates from the
time when pictures engraved on metal were first multiplied
by means of printing on paper, and when metal plates were
first engraved for the direct purpose of printing. We do
not know either the inventor, or the time or place of
the invention, of the processes of engraving and printing ;
but we may guess that in the goldsmiths' workshops
originated the artifice of rubbing some oily colour into
the sunk parts of the engraved plates, and of transferring
the lines of the engraving to damped paper by means of
hammering or rubbing the engraved metal ; the reason, in
the first place, being to supply the maker with a pattern
of his design when the finished work left his hand. To all
appearance the art of printing from cut or engraved metal
i6
ORIGIN OF ENGRAVING 17
first originated when the printing of woodcuts was already
known and practised ; and wood-engraving, though depend-
ing on another process, probably supplied the inducement
for the development of line-engraving.
Our conception of the discovery and the beginning of
engraving rests simply on conjectures supplied by the
character of the primitive examples which have survived
to our day. Judging by these, it appears as if engraving
had its origin in the first half of the fifteenth century
somewhere in Germany, but the exact district cannot be
more closely defined. Those existing engravings, that
from their general style and their undeveloped treatment
appear to be very close to the beginnings of the art, are
certainly German, and the oldest dated engravings are also
of German origin. Among them is ' The Flagellation of
Christ' (fig. 9), with the date 1446, in the Print Collection of
the Royal Museum at Berlin, belonging to a series of The
Passion, seven plates of which are in the Berlin collection.
Drawing and composition are rough, though not actually
clumsy ; in character they resemble the work of the
lesser German painters of this period. The graver-work
in these Passion plates, with all its rough strength, can
scarcely be called crude, and constantly shows consider-
able practice on the part of the unknown artist. Any
certain conclusion as to the source of these engravinss
is practically impossible, but as they were discovered in
South Germany their origin in Suabia or Franconia is
not improbable. The existence of the Berlin Passion
series is not enough to justify the attribution of the birth
of engraving to the year 1446, yet it tends to show^
that at this time engraving in Germany first began
to come into general practice. Other engravings, those
of the so-called Master of the Playing-Cards (Meister
GERMAN ENGRAVING TO 1528
der Spielkarten), must have been known and circulated as
early as 1446 and 1454, for in several dated manuscripts
of these years miniaturists have borrowed viotifs'ixova the
engravings of this master. The ' Master of the Playing-
i ! 41;^
Fig. 9. The Flagellation of Christ, of 1446.
Cards ' is so called because his artistic skill was first employed'
on designs for a pack of cards (fig. lo). As draughts-
man and as engraver he ranks essentially higher than
the designer of the Passion of 1446. Engravings such as
the ' Martyrdom of St. Catherine,' some Madonnas, and the:
PLAYING-CARDS 19
figures on the playing-cards, display him as a capable artist
with a strong grasp of design. The movement of his
Fig. 10. The Master of the Playing-cards : a King.
figures is intelligent and clearly expressed, his drawing is
individual and powerful, the features of his well-formed
heads successfully rendered. With a visibly practised
20 GERMAN ENGRAVING TO 1528
hand he lays firm outHnes on the copper, and expresses
the details and the modelling by means of short, close
strokes, laid vertically and without cross-hatching.
In the case of the ' Madonna ' with the mark of a Gothic
^ and the date 145 1 (Pass. II., p. 6), a print often
mentioned in recent art literature, both monogram and
date have been demonstrated to be a modern forgery,
added to a German engraving which does actually belong
to the earliest period of the art. An example of the print
without the mark and the date is to be found in the
library of the Palazzo Riccardi at Florence.
A ' Holy Trinity ' (Munich Library) simply but
powerfully executed bears the manuscript date 1462. To
the early days of engraving must also be ascribed the
work of the * Master of the Gardens of Love ' (Meister der
Liebesgarten), who in two different engravings handles
a favourite subject in the poetry and art of the Middle
Ages, a gathering of gallant lords and ladies in a beauti-
ful garden. In 'The Great Garden of Love' (fig. 11) the
artist places his slender, attenuated figures, moving
naturally in rich landscape scenery, which in spite of his
stiff technique is wonderfully pleasing. His native country
must have been the Netherlands, and some of his en-
gravings are assigned on the evidence of dated copies to
the year 1448.
To the last forty years of the fifteenth century apparently
belongs the active period of the engraver whom the latest
research calls the ' Master of the St. Erasmus ' (Meister
des heiligen Erasmus), so called from a small engraving,
the original plate of which is preserved in the Germanisches
Museum at Nuremberg. Judging by the dialect of the
engraved legend on one of his plates, ' The Good
Shepherd ' at Berlin, this engraver belonged to Lower
Fig. II. The Master of the Gardens of Love : The Great Garden
of Love (detail).
21
22 GERMAN ENGRAVING TO 1528
Germany, probably to Cologne. His drawing is dry and
wooden. With mechanical exactness he engraved rough,
plain outlines on the copper, and completed his work with
a kind of shading of cross-lines scantily laid. From the
large number of prints by the Master of the St. Erasmus
still in existence, and usually of a small size, it may be
concluded that he had a considerable market for his wares.
As his chief works may be mentioned the ' Descent from
the Cross' (Munich), and a 'View of Jerusalem with
scenes from the Boyhood of Christ' (Budapest).
To a very early period also belong the works of the
* Master of 1464,' by whom we have a fantastic alphabet
compiled of figures of men and beasts. The date mentioned
occurs on the initial A, this and the whole alphabet being
copied from a woodcut original of the same year. The
name of ' Master of the Banderoles,' given to him on ac-
count of the scrolls that occur in several of his engravings,
is not very distinctive, since scrolls are by no means rare in
the pictorial work of the fifteenth century. The Master of
the Banderoles puts his rude, and seldom careful, drawing
on the copper with thick outlines. The outlines he fills
with vigorous shading made up of irregular, close strokes,
so that his prints appear like strong, though badly shaded,
pen drawings. From all this we may conjecture that the
engraver was little more than a mechanical producer of
popular prints. This is supported by the fact that he
always borrows his subjects, copying Italian or German
engravings, or adapting from them single ideas for use in
new compositions. On one of his prints, ' The Stages of
Human Life,' and also on a sequence of ' The Seven Days
of Creation,' occur Lower German inscriptions, which
supply a key to the engraver's origin. Beside crude pieces
of work, such as ' The Days of Creation ' or ' The Brethren
MASTER OF THE BANDEROLES
23
Fig. 12. The Master of the Banderoles : The Betrayal of Christ (detail).
of Our Lord,' may be placed single engravings, in which
the artist appears in a more favourable light. Among
these are the ' St. Dominic ' and ' St. Peter, Martyr '
24 GERMAN ENGRAVING TO 1528
(Munich) — not without a certain genuine merit, which for
the most part may be placed to the credit of the probably
Italian original — and the ' Battle of the Women in Men's
Clothing,' in which the composition of the copied Italian
print has been altered with decided ingenuity so as to
become German in costume and feeling. The active
period of the Master of the Banderoles may be supposed
to extend over the years 1460 to 1470.
Out of its stages of awkward and primitive technique
engraving was raised by a master whom, in ignorance of
his real name, we call the ' Master E. S. of 1466' (1467).
The Master E. S. of 1466 first showed the way by
which engraving might attain its full artistic expression.
His efforts in this art may be compared with the work of
the brothers Van E}-ck in the development of painting.
Owing to his distinctly individual style a large number of
engravings may be attributed to him with some certainty,
although only twenty-one bearing his signature actually
exist. Of these some are dated 1466, others 1467. An
explanation of the fact that his signed prints are so few
in comparison with the wide range of his work is sought
in the assumption that he first began to sign his work at
the end of his artistic career, and that 1466 and 1467 are
the last years of his working period.
The Master E. S. belongs to the Upper German School,
and may be supposed to have resided in the neighbour-
hood of Strasburg. The dialect of his inscriptions is
North German to a pronounced degree. Flemish art has
undoubtedly influenced him strongly, but in absorbing
it he has remained independent, and is no mere
imitator of the Van Eyck School. In any case he
belongs to those artists who in the middle of the century
produced a new tendency in Upper German painting.
Fig. 13. The Master E. S.-of 1466 : Paten (detail).
26 GERMAN ENGRAVING TO 1528
His figures are slender even to leanness, bony, lifelike,
and, as a rule, full of movement. Peculiar to him is a
particular type of face — the nose long, slightly curved
inwards, ending in a rounded point ; the brow round and
high ; the mouth small and pursed.
The Master E. S. was the first to use the burin with
absolute sureness and freedom, and with a clear purpose
to a definite end. He obtains his modelling by laying
simple hatchings of vertical lines, becoming finer towards
the light, and produces gradations of tone by means of
dotted marks on the plate.
His famous masterpiece, the so-called ' Mary of Ein-
siedeln,' dated 1466, bears reference to the monastery of
the same name in Switzerland, and was engraved as a
memento for pilgrims of the Festival of the Angelic
Consecration, which was celebrated there in 1466 with
particular pomp. (The legend has it that the chapel was
originally consecrated by angels.) The engraving, exe-
cuted with tenderness and care, was probably not made
on the spot, for the chapel bears no resemblance to the
actual building. Above the chapel are the heavenly hosts
consecrating it, and kneeling pilgrims below.
In his representations of the Virgin the Master E. S.
gives full expression to the sentiment of the older art.
He loves to set her amid the calm and dignity of churchly
surroundings, on a Gothic throne beneath a baldacchino
(fig. i'4). He is also obviously eager to give to his Christ
an expression of strength and earnestness. His first type
tends to fall into affectation, his second into sullenness ;
but wherever he finds scope for realistic representation,
there he is in his element. The landscapes of his back-
grounds, the plants and grass on their natural soil, are
interpreted with loving care. In his pictures of interiors,
THE MASTER E. S.
27
as in the 'Virgin in her Chamber,' he introduces a number
■of cleverly treated details, though with an uncertain grasp
of perspective. His treatment of Gothic ornament is
•always pleasing, as in his large ' Paten ' (fig. 13). In one
Fig. 14. The Master E. S. of 1466 : Virgin Enthroned (detail).
of the packs of playing-cards engraved by him the birds
forming one suit are drawn with a surprising certainty in
the perception of momentary positions and movements.
A number of engravings, approaching very nearly in
28 GERMAN ENGRAVING TO 1528
style to the work of the Master E. S., have been grouped
together as the work of the ' Master of the Sibyl/"
taking their name from one plate, which pictures the
Emperor Augustus with the Sibyl. The only apparent
difference between these and the authentic signed work
of the Master E, S. lies in the fact that the effect is-
usually obtained by dotted strokes, which give a peculiar
character to the prints. The latest supposition is that
this group of engravings belongs to the earliest period
(about 1450) of the Master E. S.
If the Master E. S. won for the art of engraving greater
scope and freedom, to Martin Schongauer belongs the
distinction of having risen above the narrowness and
prejudice in which engraving was still bound up, and
of having created works whose value has been understood
and unreservedly admitted by all later times.
Belonging to a family of artists which had emigrated
to Kolmar, and apparently born there about 1445^
Schongauer seems to have received his education for the
most part in the Netherlands under the influence of Roger
van der Weyden or his School. After this he settled in
Kolmar, and remained there until the time of his death
at Breisach in 1491. During his very short lifetime —
assuming that he really was born in 1445 — he engraved
1 1 5 plates, which all bear his well-known monogram :
/\ ^ S • In their masterly drawing, in the clearness
and sharpness of their line, above all in their sympathy
and sincerity, Schongauer's engravings are full of charm.
Knowing nothing of scientific anatomy, Schongauer
makes his figures, and particularly their extremities, too
slight ; the joints are anatomically incorrect, the hands
shrunken. Nevertheless he rules as an absolute master
in his portrayal of the whole scale of character, expressing
MARTIN SCHOXGAUER
29
with equal skill the roughness of a soldier, the youthful
graciousness of an angel, the tender sympathy of the
Virgin, the intense sublimity of Christ. At the same time
he is no stranger to the humorous and grotesque.
Drapery has been carefully and soundly studied by
Schongauer. The folds of his costumes are angular and
sharp, in accordance with the hang of those silk textiles
which the painters of the fifteenth century imagined as
the clothing of their Virgins and Saints. Schoneauer's
Fig. 15. Martin Schongauer : Quarrelsome Goldsmiths' Apprentices.
graver-work is so strong that good impressions still show
the ink standing in clear relief. His modelling is soft, his
lines shading off in fine strokes towards the lights. His
engravings are always bright and harmonious. None of
Schongauer's plates are dated, so that it is only from
indications of style and technique that we can obtain an
approximate idea of his development. Yet we first make his
acquaintance at the period when, as an independent master,
he had the right to leave this mark. In those engravings
which we ma}- reckon as his earliest, such as the ' Christ
30 GERMAN ENGRAVING TO 1528
with Mary and St. John ' (B. 69) or ' The Virgin on the
Crescent Moon' (B. 31), the graver-work is still thin and
uneven, and to some extent reminiscent of the Master E. S..
In the principal work of this early period, a plate famous-
for its powerful fantasy — ' The Temptation of St. Anthony '
— the demons that drag the saint into the air are not only
full of originality, but in spite of all their abstraction are
wonderfully natural in form, and bear witness to the keen
observation of nature which Schongauer reveals in all his-
work. The same quality, united with sense of humour, ap-
pears in his comic ' Family of Pigs ' (B. 95), in his ' Quarrel-
some Apprentices' (B. 91) [fig. 15], and in his 'Peasants
going to Market.'
To the close of Schongaucr's early period may be assigned
two engravings full of figures — ' The Death of the Virgin'
(B. 33) and the large ' Christ bearing the Cross ' (B. 21 jfthe
latter, in breadth, grandeur of conception, and majesty
of style, being Schongauer's finest work. In the figure of
our Lord crushed under the weight of the cross Schongauer
created an almost universally accepted type, which Raphael
and Diirer made their own. Schongauer's technique, which
in the last-named work is still somewhat unfinished, be-
comes more polished and refined in the twelve plates of
his Passion series;'and in the superb ' Burial of our Lord '
and the ' Christ bearing the Cross ' reaches a full and even
brilliance. The 'Christ appearing to Mary Magdalene'
(fig. 16), a plate that in subject and style attaches itself to
the Passion series, is one of the most moving creations
in German art, equally remarkable for vividness of com-
position and dignity of execution. Closely akjn to it
is the large 'Christ faring the Cross' (B. 2$), a. plate
conceived under the influence of Roger van der Weyden,
but perhaps surpassing his work in depth and sincerity.
Fig. 16. Martin Schongauer: Christ appearing to Mary Magdalene (detail).
31
32
GERMAN ENGRAVING TO 1528
With the gradual development of Schongauer's technique
towards regularity and refinement his expression of the
Fig. 17. Martin Schongauer : The Virgin on a Grassy Bank.
human form and his treatment of human features show a
growing nobility. Particularly in his pictures of the Virgin
is it possible to trace the change from the unripeness of his
MARTIN SCHONGAUER 33
earlier plates to the complete repose and noble dignity
of his later work. At the summit of his art, from this
point of view, stand 'The Annunciation' (B. i) and 'The
Angel of the Annunciation ' (B. 2), the figures being visions
of winsomeness and charm. ' The Virgin on a Grassy
Bank ' (fig. 17), and especially ' The Virgin in the Court,'
must rank, in the masterly simplicity of their composition,
among the noblest representations of the Mother of our Lord.
During his later period Schongauer shows a preference for
single figures, often of extraordinary charm, such as Saints
Catherine, Barbara, Agnes, etc. His growing power of
finely balanced and decorative composition, characterised
by perfect taste, is also expressed in his ornamental
designs, in which he employs the later Gothic style with a
complete sense of proportion. Among his productions
of this kind his ten round shields with coats-of-arms
are particularly interesting and original. Two larger
engravings represent a Gothic censer and a bishop's
crozier.
Even during his lifetime Schongauer was imitated and
copied by numerous painters, engravers, and designers
on wood. Whether he actually taught pupils is not
known. Schongauer's signature appears on a series of
engravings, the work of various hands, belonging to the
end of the fifteenth or the beginning of the sixteenth
century ; others, that are unsigned, are executed in one
or other of his kindred styles. Many of these engravings
are based on the master's compositions ; others belong
to the imitations and forgeries that follow in the train of
every great artist's work.
It is not improbable that other members of the Schon-
gauer family, besides Martin, worked as engravers. The
monogram I4 rf* ^> found on some engravings obviously
3
34 GERMAN ENGRAVING TO 1528
produced under the influence of Martin Schongauer, is
ascribed to Luduig, Martin Schongauer's brother. In
nearer relation to Schongauer stands the engraver with
the mark BM. In many of his plates, as in 'St. John
upon Patmos,' he displays a fine conception, soft and
pleasant drawing, and a style of engraving somewhat
amateurish, but distinctly akin to Schongauer's manner ;
others of his plates, such as 'The Judgment of Solomon,'
telling in composition, but rough in execution, are appar-
ently based on drawings by Schongauer. The signature
t(5( ^ is ascribed by old tradition to an unauthenticated
Barthel Schongauer — an obviously impossible attribution,
for later research reads the monogram as b g and not as
b s. The artist who uses this monogram is a skilled
draughtsman with a preference for genre scenes and single
figures, rendered with much spirit ; but his plates are light
sketches rather than finished engravings. A chance hint
of his period and residence is supplied by a plate, which
is signed with his monogram, and represents the arms of
the Frankfurt families of Rohrbach and Holzhauscn ; it
may be assumed to have been made in record of a
marriage between members of these families in the year
1466. The original copper plate is still in the possession
of the iiolzhausen family. Although the Master t>^ &
copied Schongauer's Passion series, in style and technique
he is in no way dependent on Schongauer. The engraver
^^ $ appears to stand in much nearer relation to the
School of the middle Rhine and to the so-called Master
of the Amsterdam Cabinet.
The Master of the Amsterdam Cabinet, or Master of
1480, as he has been called from a supposed autograph
date on one of his engravings, owes his first title solely
to the circumstance that the finest collection of his work
MASTER OF THE AMSTERDAM CABINET 35
Fig. 18. The Master of the Amsterdam Cabinet : Death and the Young Man.
happens to be in the Museum at Amsterdam ; his art,
however, has no connection whatever with that of Holland.
36 GERMAN ENGRAVING TO 1528
The Master belongs much more evidently to the Rhenish
School, and shows an originality of composition and a
brilliance of drawing that place him among the greatest
German masters. The rarity of his engravings arises
from the fact that his plates could yield extremely few
good impressions, his work on the plate with needle or
burin being extremely delicate. At the same time his
light, almost sketchy, yet highly artistic treatment lends
these plates unusual charm. Ninety engravings which can
be attributed with certainty to this artist are now known.
His pictures of saints and scenes from the Bible are full
of originality and free from all restraints of tradition ;
but he is at his happiest in genre scenes, where he can
allow free play to his individual fancy in the representation
of figures.
Twice he treats with a note of intense tragedy the
theme of Death, in one plate showing Death laying a
warning hand on the shoulder of a gaily clad young man
(fig. 1 8), in another giving the ' Legend of the three Dead
and three Live Kings.' Next to him, though at a con-
siderable distance, if judged by the standard of artistic
merit, stands the above-mentioned Master 1>P< 3, who has
evidently copied a series of lost originals by him, as
was also done by Wenzel von Olmiitz and Israel von
Meckenen.
Along with this group must also be placed an artist
by whom we have four noteworthy engraved portraits,
two signed in the lower margin V7^1B' vigorous in
composition, clever in drawing, clear and firm in engrav-
ing. Their unknown designer, who must have been no
mean artist, belongs to the Suabian School and in any
case is of the fifteenth century. His technique is akin to
that of Schongaucr, but is less refined and regular. In
EARLY ENGRAVED PORTRAITS.
n
Fig. 19. Master with the Signature 'N^'^ P : Portrait of a Woman,
the domain of German art these plates are the earliest
successful attempt at producing portraits from the life by
means of engraving.
The improvements in the technique of engraving
effected by the Master E. S. and by Schongauer are
essentially the foundation on which rests the work of
Fig. 20. The Master I. A. of Zwolle : The Crucifixion (detail).
38
ILLUSTRATIONS TO BOCCACCIO 39
the engravers of the Netherlandish and Lower Rhenish
Schools. Of the personality of these engravers and of
the sequence of their work we have only scanty evidence
here and there ; instead of names we must be content
with the monograms on their plates.
A fairly certain indication of the time and place of
their origin is offered by ten unsigned engravings in
illustration of Giovanni Boccaccio's " Tales of the Mis-
fortunes of Princes." Though they now appear detached,
they are illustrations of an edition of Boccaccio printed,
in a French translation, by Colard Mansion at Bruges
in 1476. Engraved in light outline, they are absolutely
identical, in manner and style, with the miniature illumina-
tions of the Burgundian-Flemish School, which flourished
with such rich results at the time of Charles the Bold.
These outline engravings were intended to serve as a
guide to illuminators, as is shown by a still existing
copy of the book mentioned, in which the nine engravings
occur in the form of painted miniatures.
To the Dutch School of the fifteenth century, whose
principal representatives in painting are Ouwater and
Geertgen van St. Jans, belongs the engraver named, on
account of a mark on his plates (3IABlA=o-^^_^y-N^ ex-
ceedingly difficult to interpret, the Master with the \V eaver's
Shuttle. The word ZWOLL, also found on his plates in
addition to the initials I. A. and the mark placed between,
permits the assumption that the artist came from Zwolle,
or worked there. With the old Dutch School he shares
a love for vigorous expression and passionate movement.
In this and in the keen type of his faces he is particularly
reminiscent of Geertgen van St. Jans. The technique of
the Master of Zwolle is pure, clear, and regular, but at the
same time drier than that of Schongauer. Many of this
Fig. 21. Master F. V. B. : The Judgment of Solomon (detail).
40
THE MASTER F. V. B. 41
master's engravings are of a larger size than was generally
in use among the North German artists of the fifteenth
century. In his 'Betrayal of Christ in Gethsemane ' he
makes an attempt to reproduce the effects of lights in a
night scene. Though in this particular plate he stoops to
exaggeration of violent movement, he is no stranger to the
expression of calm solemnity, as is shown by his ' Adoration
of the Kings' or his ' Holy Women mourning over Christ.'
The Virgin of the Master of Zwolle has a mild and gentle
expression, again recalling the feminine types of Geertgen
van St. Jans. He is fond of introducing intricate Gothic
architecture and forms of ornament. To the Netherlands
also belongs the master with the Monogram -^^ ^, who
shows some relationship with the Master of Zwolle in his
use of Gothic architectural forms, but on the whole appears
more restrained. The Master F. V. B. is stated by old
tradition to be Franz von Bocholt ; but it is still unproved
that there ever was an engraver of this name. This artist
also belongs to the Netherlands or to the Lower Rhine,
and in his expressive style of drawing and composition
recalls the work of Dierick Bouts. The Master F. V. B. is
an excellent artist, who, among the northern engravers ot
this period, must be placed very near in rank to Schongaucr.
His style of engraving is free and sure, but at the same
time careful. His 'Judgment of Solomon ' (fig. 21), with its
throng of figures, is masterly in composition, and its spirited,
powerful treatment makes it one of the most noteworthy
engravings of the fifteenth century. Fine and earnest
in conception are his ' Annunciation ' and his ' Figures
of the Apostles.'
Israel von Meckenen, an extremely active engraver and
goldsmith, whose work amounts to over 570 plates, appears
to have worked at Bocholt at the end of the fifteenth century,
42 GERMAN ENGRAVING TO 1528
and to have died there in 1503. Israel appears as a most
prolific picture-maker, belonging in style to the Flemish
and Netherlandish School, whose types of feature and
form he adopts in most of his works without special
refinement or sympathy. Only when he portrays scenes
taken from dailv life does Meckenen show that he
Fig. 22. Israel von Meckenen : The Card-players (detail).
possesses real power of observation combined with fresh-
ness of humour, as is particularly proved by his various
* Scenes of Domestic Life,' his comic ' Family of Foxes,'
and similar engravings. As a rule, he copies other
artists — Schongauer, the Master E. S., the early work of
Diirer, the Master of the Amsterdam Cabinet, and so
forth ; and apparently most of his engravings are mere
ISRAEL VOX MrXKENEN
43
copies. For a series of cn<^ravings of the ' Life of the
Virgin ' Meckencn has made use of pictures by the elder
Holbein, as is proved without doubt by four of the prints.
Whether Meckcnen himscll saw the pictures, which are
still preserved at Augsburg, or how their composition
was communicated to him, remains still unknown. Plates
by other masters, for example some by the Master F. V. B.,
which came into his hands in a worn condition, he re-
Fig. 23. The Master P. P. W. : Playing-card.
worked, adding his own signature without any shame to
another man's work. Retouching, indeed, plays an im-
portant part throughout Meckenen's work. As soon as his
own plates began to show signs of wear by printing, he
would give them a fresh appearance by going over the
old work and making all manner of cunning additions with
the graver. Mcckenen is one of the first artists whose
engravings appear in several states. All kinds of subjects
pertaining to his time are treated in his prints. In
44 GERMAN ENGRAVING TO 1528
spite of his only moderate artistic skill his engravings attract
by the abundance of their subjects, the manifold variety
of contemporary costumes, and the wealth of their detail,
particularly where opportunity admitted of such display,
as in his 'Birthday of Herod,' 'Judith in the Tent of
Holofernes,' etc. Among his most unsatisfactory prints
are his banal, and often absolutely crude representations of
Christ, the Virgin, and Saints. Meckenen was a capable
goldsmith, and as such reveals himself in some excellent
engravings of ornament, in which beautiful Gothic foliage
unites with figures of men and animals in a delightful
whole.
The engraver with the monogram p p) W worked at
Cologne about the close of the century. We possess
by him the largest engraved work of German origin in
the fifteenth century, six folio plates forming a continu-
ous series picturing the scene of the war with Switzerland
of 1499, which was so unfortunate for Germany. The
landscape is feeble, the hills almost childish, but the
groups of figures are full of life, drawn with a keen
observation of military tactics. At the same time the
dimensions of the figures are much too large in proportion
to the landscape surroundings. The whole is a topical
subject thrown off hastily by a practised hand. By the
same artist is a pack of cards consisting of round plates,
the suits being marked by splendidly drawn hares, butter-
flies, and flowers (fig. 23). His sacred and profane subjects
are of uneven value. The dialect of the German inscriptions
on the .Swiss War is that of Cologne, and this origin is
further indicated by the inscription, " Salve felix Colonia"
on the first plate of his round pack of cards, and also
by the circumstance that the Masters S. and Jacob Binck
copied some of his engravings.
NICOLAUS ALEXANDER MAIR 45
The engravers of this period, who from the style and
nature of their work may be assumed to have belonged
to Eastern Franconia and to Bavaria, are almost entirely
anonymous, appearing as independent craftsmen, whose
work bears only a loose connection with the existing schools
of painting. The Master Ht»ttt/' ^^ho without sufficient
\i['m
evidence has been identified as Hans von Windsheim,
a goldsmith shown by documentary evidence to have
worked in Munich, proves himself an artist of greal
originality. By him we have some large compositions
full of figures and fine in technique, the features being
vigorously expressed; three of these bear the dates 1481
and 1482. Judging by the hard metallic use of the
burin, the engraver may well have been a goldsmith.
To a similar class belongs the engraver with the mark
B CfcfC, dependent on Schongauer, whose type of Virgin
he has adopted, with the addition of an individuality and
charm of his own. He must, nevertheless, be counted as
belonging to the School of the Lower Rhine.
A series of engravings bearing the signature MAIR
are in all probability the work of the painter Nicolaus
Alexander Mair, who has been identified as living at
Landshut between 149 1 and 1541. In spite of the provin-
cial origin of his art, Mair's engravings deserve attention
for their originality and the interest of detail that en-
livens them. Some of his largest plates, rather dry and
empty, but showing considerable regularity and skill of
technique, are happily conceived scenes from life, such
as the plate that pictures a gay assemblage of young men
and women. The spectre of Death that stalks over the
walls of the garden, all unseen by the company, gives
to the picture the allegorical and moral motive of youthful
46
GERMAN ENGRAVING TO 1528
Fig. 24. The Master y\ ) : The Martyrdom of St. Catharine (detail
pleasure and the nearness of death, for which the art of
this time loved to find ever fresh variations.
THE MASTER M. Z. 47
Matthaus Zasinger is the name given, without sound
reason, to the engraver with the monogram /\~j, ^vho
belongs, at an}' rate, to the Bavarian or Eranconian School.
He is only a mediocre draughtsman, his figures are weak
and loose-jointed, but his execution is fine, tender, and
pleasing. Perhaps originally a goldsmith, he may have
gathered artistic influences from various sides. Some-
thing in him is reminiscent of Baldung Grien, and he
seems to have known the work of Jacopo de' Barbari ;
moreover, he is influenced by Diirer's early work, as
appears in his landscape backgrounds. Two of his prints
that are most full of figures, ' A Tourney,' and ' A Festival '
bear the date 1500. Finer in treatment than these is a
'Virgin at the Spring' executed in 1501 under Italian
influence. A charming little genre print, 'The Embrace
in the Room,' belongs to 1503. A nude female figure
standing on a skull — an allegorical rendering of the
transiency of life — recalls Diirer's great 'Fortune.' His
largest plate is a ' Martyrdom of St. Catharine ' (fig. 24), full
of figures. Thirty-two plates in all by the Master M, Z.
are now known.
That sculptors also employed the burin need not
appear strange at a time when the most widely differing
aits and crafts were fi-equently practised side by side in
the same workroom. The Nuremberg sculptor, Veit Stoss
(born about 1450, died at Nuremberg 1533), is mentioned
in contemporary records as an engraver, and the en-
gravings ascribed to him with the signature f ^ ^ show
so much the character of his sculptures, that on this
evidence alone his authorship of them can be accepted
with scarcely any doubt. The somewhat exaggerated but
vigorous style of drawing and the stiff handling of the
48
GERMAN ENGRAVING TO 1528
graver reveal the hand of the sculptor, whose work on
the copper plate does not conceal the touch of the
amateur. By another sculptor, Jorg Syrlin, of Ulm
(who died probably in 1491), we have one engraving,
a strong piece of work, representing a ' Baptismal
Font.'
Fig. 25. Veil Stoss : Virgin and Child (detail).
To the Schongauer tradition clings the engraver with
the monogram ^(3, identified, again without trustworthy
authority, as Albert Glockenton, and taken to be one of
the family of illuminators of this name, who lived at
Nuremberg about 1500. The Master A. G. used the
burin delicately, and copied with skill the large ' Christ
WENZEL VON OLOMUCZ 49
bearing the Cross ' and * The Death of the Virgin ' by Schon-
gauer. A Passion series, executed in the spirit of the
latter master, but with traces of considerable individuality^
is worthy of attention, although somewhat narrow and
limited in its conception. The circumstance that the
Master A. G. supplied engraved coats-of-arms and a
Crucifixion scene to three Prayer-books printed at
Wiirzburg between 1479 and 1483 gives at least some
indication of the time of his activity. Somewhat related
to him, but a still weaker imitator of Schongauer, is the
engraver VC/ /< H' who, without sufficient evidence, has
been placed at Munich and named Wolf Hammer.
Another artist of distinct originality signs his ten known
engravings with • L"<XAv»- He works with a spirited, power-
ful point, and a free style of drawing, indicating the hand
of a painter much rather than that of a goldsmith. He
engraved, however, in 1492, a jewelled ornament for
feminine costume. Powerful in imagination is the remark-
able ' Temptation of Christ' (fig. 26), full of fine feeling the
' Flight to Egypt,' and charming invariably is the Virgin
of this unknown engraver, who without doubt must
have been a master of unusual importance.
An engraver who signs his name V/enzel von Olomucz
(Olmiitz) on a careful copy of Schongauer's ' Death of
the Virgin,' produced numerous copies of Schongauer,
Diirer, and other masters, which he usually signed with
a W. in place of his whole name. The Master W. appears
to possess scarcely any artistic individuality, and, so far
as can be judged by his existing plates, is a mere copyist.
A mistake has been made by recent art critics (by
Thausing, for instance, in his "Life of Diirer") in at-
tributing the monogram W. to Diirer's teacher, Michel
Wohlgemuth.
4
so GERMAN ENGRAVING TO 1528
It was by Albrecht Diirer that the art of engraving
was first raised to such a height of development that it
might claim a position side by side with painting. Diirer
was the first to succeed in clearly rendering with the
burin the natural distribution of light and shade, the
peculiarities of surface texture, its roughness or smooth-
ness, hardness or softness, above all in giving expression to
spiritual significance. If wc follow DiJrer's artistic career,
we find that the phases through which the art of engraving
passed before his time are repeated briefly in his develop-
ment ; but Diirer, with clear intuition, on arriving at the
point where his predecessors came to a stand, sought and
attained new aims for his art. His father, a goldsmith,
probably of German birth, had emigrated from Hungary
and settled at Nuremberg in 1455. Albrecht Diirer, his
third child, was born in 1471, entered at first the gold-
smith's workshop, later became a pupil of the Nuremberg
painter, Michel Wohlgemuth, and started to travel in 1490,
returning in 1494. In the same year he married Agnes
Frey, and took up his permanent residence in his native
town, which he left only twice for any length of time,
staying in Venice from 1505 to 1507, and in 1520 and
1 52 1 travelling in the Netherlands. His years of training
in the goldsmith's workshop must have given him a
thorough acquaintance with the graver, and probably
before starting on his travels he had made some essays
in engraving. Old tradition, supported by a comparison
with his early drawings, gives as Diirer's first individual
engravings ' The Great Courier,* of which only three
examples are known (Vienna, Dresden, Paris), and * The
Violent Old Man,' an evil-looking monster trying to
subdue a woman.
In both of these the use of the burin is loose and
52
GERMAN ENGRAVING TO 1528
heavy, the drawing hard and uncertain. These prints
do not yet bear Diirer's mark, which consisted originally
of a separate A and D, later was formed JR , and
finally, about 1497, took the shade of the world-famous
TT . Durer at first placed his signature, like the
German masters of the fifteenth century, on the middle
of the lower margin of his picture ; later, like the
Fig. 27. AlbiLcht Diircr : 'I'hc Holy Family with the Grasshopper (detail).
Italians, set it frequently on a tablet, or drew it in per-
spective on the ground, a stone, or elsewhere. It was
after 1503 that Diirer first began to date his plates with
frequency.
During the last ten years of the fifteenth century and in
the years immediately following 1500, Diirer was an active
worker with the burin, and in the prints of this period can
be traced clearly the formation of his art and of his tech-
nique. ' The Holy Family with the Grasshopper ' (fig. 27),
ALBRECHT DURER 53
with its imperfect drawing and harsh, uncertain engraving,
may be placed about 1494 or 1495. Following this, but
with more finish in the work, come the ' Seven Soldiers '
and the ' Turk on Horseback ' ; and finally, in 1497, a
distinct advance is marked by the ' Four Witches,' whose
figures show that Diirer, even at this period, departing
from the practice of his German contemporaries, must
have made studies from the nude. At the same time
he was now striving to find a means of so handling and
arranging his lines as to express the modelling of the
figure and the form of muscles. In his 'Lovers Walking '
— a man and a woman wandering at ease in a landscape,
while Death lurks behind a tree — Diirer aims at greater
strength and harmony of treatment, and appears to have
overcome the harshness and unevenness which so far have
characterised his work with the graver. To this same
period, about 1 500, may also be assigned ' The Prodigal
Son,' which shows clearly Diirer's attempt to make the
idea of his composition and his manner of technique
work together in harmonious union. In this, and in its
spiritual significance, ' The Prodigal Son ' ranks as Diirer's
masterpiece. The growth of his style towards more freedom
and lightness is shown in his ' St. Jerome in Penitence,'
' The Rape of Amymone,' and lastly in his ' Jealousy,'
the plate called by Diirer himself ' The Great Hercules,'
which marks absolutely the close of his first period. In
' The Great Hercules ' he shows complete mastery over
his burin, and his technique now surpasses that of all
his predecessors. The modelling of the nude bodies is
expressed softly and clearly, with fine sense of form, by
means of complicated sets of lines, and the separation
of the large figures from the landscape background is
admirably effected. That Diirer handled his tools with
54 GERMAN ENGRAVING TO 1528
absolute consciousness of the end he wished to obtain
is shown by the incomplete proof impression of the
'Hercules' at Berlin (a second proof is in the Albertina,
at Vienna). He renders the outlines of the composition
lightly with the dry-point, working single parts here
and there to a full finish, and leaving spaces next to
them absolutely white. The so-called ' Hercules,' which
is based on an uncertain legend of classical mythology,
may be placed about 1500. Its idea is partly borrowed
from an early Italian engraving, ' Orpheus beaten to
Death by the Lycian Women' (Pass. V., p. 74, no. 120).
The period to which the works so far mentioned belong
shows DiJrer striving with continual advancement in
technique to reproduce with his burin surface lines and
curves with more completeness than the art of engraving
before his time attained. Now, however, he is determined
to make his copper plate capable of imparting the ten-
derest gradations of light and shade, closely and compactly
as in a picture, by the sole means of black and white. In
'The Virgin with the Monkey' this pictorial tendency
becomes for the first time clearly apparent, yet even here
dark shadows stand in contrast to the high lights without
any intermediary half-tones, and the treatment appears
somewhat hard and metallic. A softer method of execution
is adopted in the print usually known as ' The Great
Fortune,' by Diirer himself called ' The Nemesis,' a
print whose meaning still awaits complete interpre-
tation. In this the treatment is softer and more free;
the most delicate reflected lights on the skin of the nude
winged figure are rendered in carefully finished detail,
while the landscape beneath reveals an intimate appre-
ciation of nature. While in the ' Hercules ' and ' The
Virgin with the Monkey' Italian influences make them-
ALBRECHT DURER
55
selves felt, the ' Nemesis ' and the works immediately
following it show a clear and conscious departure from
all Italian tradition and the entrance of pure Northern
Fig. 28. Albrtcht Diircr : The Virgin willi the Bird.
art. Following, probably, close after the plate ju.st men-
tioned, comes Diirer's largest engraving, the' St. Eustace,'
again with rich variety of landscape and carefully executed
56 GERMAN ENGRAVING TO 1528
detail. While in the earlier engravings, the ' Hercules' for
instance, the ground was indicated by single sets of lines,
making it appear like ice, Durer now has acquired the power
of representing by complicated work all the natural variety
of the soil. This desire of reproducing realistically all
the inherent peculiarities of the object represented,
appears most obviously in ' The Coat of Arms with the
Skull,' of 1503. On the steel helmet, that forms the
central point of interest in the picture, Diirer has concen-
trated all his skill to set before our eyes the gleam of
polished metal in glistening actuality. The realistic
method of expressing texture is displayed here in its
purest and finest form. In the 'Adam and Eve' of 1504 -jj^
Diirer solves the problem of how to treat the nude in
a different and more refined way than in the ' Nemesis.'
He succeeds here in clearly displaying, by means of
delicate variations of technique, the difference between the
nude surface of the male and female figures. This keen
observation of nature, made effective by masterly skill
in technique, was the fruit of Durer's studies of the
anatomical proportions of the human form. In 1504 the
Venetian painter, Jacopo de' Barbari, was staying in
Nuremberg ; and it is an accepted fact that from an
earlier meeting with this painter Diirer received his first
inducement to make a scientific study of the human
form and the proportions of the human figure.
To I 505 belong the two engravings, ' The Great Horse '
and ' The Little Horse,' intended perhaps by Diirer to
establish a canon of proportions for the horse — the most
important of animals for the artist — as he had attempted
to do in his ' Adam and Eve ' for the human figure. If
this idea be right, 'The Great Horse' represents the type
of the heavy war-horse, whose destiny is further indicated
ALBRECHT DIRER 57
by the soldier in full armour standing by, while ' The
Little Horse ' is the type of light riding-horse, whose
speed is symbolised by the figure standing near, with
wings like those of Mercury — perhaps Mercury himself
Diirer's visit to Venice for a year and a half, from i 505
to 1507, and his completion of some large work for wood-
cuts after his return, did not permit him to enter on any
extensive undertakings in the field of engraving. After
his return he began his Passion series, the first plate of
which, 'The Man of Sorrows,' is dated 1507. In 15 12
Diirer concentrated his attention on bringing this work
nearer to completion, for no less than ten plates of the
engraved Passion bear this date; and in 15 13 he added
the sixteenth and final print—' SS. Peter and Paul healing
the Sick at the Gate of the Temple.' The execution has
obviously suffered by these delays ; and while the Passion
series in no way belies the masterly skill of its designer,
at the same time it lacks the freshness of conception
which is so marked, for instance, in the ' Little Passion '
on wood. During this period, from 1507 to 15 13, Diirer
worked only on plates of a small size. Among the most
important of these is perhaps ' The Crucifixion,' of 1508,
a finely conceived composition, with the landscape finished
in delicate detail. It is no mere chance that both the
night pieces of the engraved Passion — ' Christ on the
Mount of Olives ' and ' The Betrayal in the Garden ' — were
executed in the same year.
The subtle, painter-like treatment employed by Diirer
in his ' Adam and Eve ' of 1 504, and in his ' Birth of
Christ' of the same period, he abandoned largely in the
'Great' and 'Little Horse,' and still more decidedly in
the Passion series, having learned b}' experience that his
plates, when too delicately executed, could yield only a
58
GERMAN ENGRAVING TO 1528
moderate number of good impressions. About 1505 he
made a change in his technique, and now worked on the
copper with deeply cut, regular lines, giving it greater
power of resistance against the attacks made by the
process of printing. With all its polished execution,
the very sharpness and cleanness of the line-work in this
kind of treatment easily produces a cold and metallic
1 1!^ 29 AlbiLLlit I>urti riiL \ II gin with the Peai (dctailj
effect, which, to take an instance, is particularly noticeable
in ' The Virgin with the Pear' (fig. 29) of 151 1. Diirer could
not get away from the fact that here lay one of the pitfalls
of the engraver's art, and with tact and skill he discovered
a means of combining fine quality of printing with dura-
bility of the plate. The idea of ensuring durability for
the plate by retouching, a method thoroughly unsound
from the artistic point of view, but one known by his
predecessors and still further practised by his followers,
seems to have been treated by Diircr with absolute disdain.
DURER'S ETCHINGS 59
Even after his death no strange hand ventured on the
task of restoring the master's plates.
Pondering over new means of expression, and perhaps
also attempting to replace the slow work of the burin
by some method of more speedy execution, Diirer con-
ducted between 1510 and 15 16 a series of technical ex-
periments. First of all, he had recourse to the dry-point
needle, which had been handled before him with such
splendid results by the enigmatic Master of 1480. Diirer's
first plate executed entirely in dry-point is the ' Veronica
with the Handkerchief,' of 15 10, of which only two copies
(at Dresden and the Albertina at Vienna) are now in
existence ; and this was closely followed by ' The Man of
Sorrows' in 15 12 (B. 21), and by another print of the
same period, the * St. Jerome by the Willow.' In this
last print Diirer has handled the dry-point needle
with all the freedom of a pencil, obtaining a most
charming result. He appears at this period to have
broken through the barriers of sixteenth-century art, and
to have revealed a noteworthy spiritual relationship with
Rembrandt, the greatest master after his time to place
his creations on the copper plate. By leaving the burr
on the 'St. Jerome' a strong, deep black tone was ob-
tained that lasted for only very few impressions. To
judge the true value of this incomparable plate one must
have before one's eyes one of those early proofs (before
the monogram) in the possession of the British Museum
and the Albertina. From his work with dry-point Diirer
passed on to pure etching. The art of etching on iron
with ammoniac, vitriol, and the like had already been
practised in the fifteenth century for the decoration of
armour and weapons. The employment of nitric acid,
essential to etching on copper, was in Diirer's time a
6o
GERMAN ENGRAVING TO 1528
secret known
only to a few ;
and it was not
until after the
first thirty years
of the sixteenth
century that the
use of ' aqua-for-
tis ' passed into
common know-
ledge. Though
Diirer, in his ex-
periments with
etching, had one
or two prede-
cessors, such as
Daniel Hopfer
and Urs Graf, }'et
it was through
him that etching
received the first
impulse which
brought it into
vogue as an art.
Between i 5 i 5
and 1 518 DiJrer
finished five etch-
ings, made on
iron plates with
apparently im-
perfect means.
The lines are
still liarsh and
i\lljrcclit iJiircr : llic Landscape with
the Great Cannon (detail).
ETCHING OX IRON 6i
coarse, and the etcher failed to obtain refinement of
tone.
' The Man of Sorrows ' of 1 5 1 5 (B. 22), unsuccessful as an
etching, was followed by ' Christ on the Mount of Olives '
(B. 19), in which the coarse effect of etching on iron
appears to have been happily employed to express the
night scene with glaring lights. Two other somewhat
unsuccessful plates, * The Sudarium held by an Angel ' and
' Pluto and Proserpine,' were followed in 15 18 by the land-
scape known by the name of the ' Great Cannon ' (fig. 30).
In this fine composition, that recalls the landscapes of
Titian, Diirer discovered a broad, sketchy treatment
admirably suited to etching in iron ; but, as though still
unsatisfied with this result, he now abandoned etching
altogether. In spite of the imperfections which he may have
seen in this class of work, Diirer's early attempts with
the dry-point, and again with etching, were not wasted,
for they were the preparation for the developed art of
etching which has been in constant use from his time
onwards. The years during which Diirer was busied
with the dry-point and with etching embrace the period
of his finest inventions with the burin. During 1513
and 1 5 14 he completed, with inconceivable perseverance,
no fewer than eleven plates, among them the three
engravings which mark the pinnacle of his achievement,
and are chiefly responsible for making his name world-
famous — ' The Knight, Death, and the Devil,' the
' Melancholia,' and ' St. Jerome in his Cell.' The technical
treatment, varying in all three cases, is in perfect harmony
with the spirit of the idea. The fullest palette could not
have expressed more forcibly the conception which
underlies each of these three prints. The- mysterious
composition of the ' Melancholy ' is veiled in a strange
62 GERMAN ENGRAVING TO 1528
mystical twilight. The comfortable chamber of the saint
is filled with warm light penetrating its remotest angles ;
the effect of the flickering rays of sunlight shining through
the round leaded panes of the window is a masterpiece
in itself In ' The Knight, Death, and the Devil ' the gleam
of the polished armour that fills the centre of the picture
was a matter for wonderment to Diirer's contemporaries.
The uniformity in size of these three plates, as well
as their common time of origin, permits the conjecture
that all three form part of a single idea. Varied attempts
have been made to interpret the shades of meaning which
supply a hidden union to compositions so different. To
the ordinary beholder of Diirer's own time the three
engravings may have meant simply what they expressed
on their surface. The ' St. Jerome ' may have been merely
the picture of a much-honoured saint ; the second figure
a knight, who, in spite of death and the devil, rides
courageously through a murky mountain gorge ; the
third, ' Melancholy,' may have been understood at that
time as the personification of philosophy, pondering and
brooding over problems of human science. By all succeeding
ages, however, it has been assumed that in Diirer's inner
consciousness some more mystic and deeper meaning under-
lay these strange works of art. The explanation of the three
engravings as three of the four Temperaments, or Com-
plexions, into which the humanistic wisdom of the day
divided mankind, is for more than one reason insufficient.
Possibly in these compositions we may recognise personifi-
cations of the three cardinal virtues into which contemporary
philosophers divided the ethical qualities of mankind.
According to this idea ' Melancholy,' who is winged
because meditation — the flying spirit of imagination, as
Diirer calls it — rises high above the earth, is the repre-
ALBRECHT DURER 63
scntation of the power of human intellect {Virtutes
intellectuales) ; the ' Knight ' stands for moral strength
( Virtutes Diorales) ; while ' St. Jerome ' is the type of the
search for divine knowledge {^Virtutes tJieologicales).
The fulness of Diirer's artistic power is displayed in
the plates engraved about 15 13 and 15 14 — 'The Virgin
with the Tree ' and ' The Sudarium held by Two Angels ' —
this last particularly noteworthy, because in it the ideal
face of Christ, created by Diirer and prevailing ever since
his day, appears for the first time ; and also ' The Virgin
by the Wall,' and many others. A series of figures of
the Apostles was possibly planned as a continuation of
the engraved Passion. The ' Paul ' (fig. 31) and ' Thomas,'
engraved in 15 14, were followed next in 1523 by
'Bartholomew' and 'Simon,' and in 1526 by 'Philip.'
This series remained incomplete.
This period of active creation was succeeded by a
time during which Diner's engraving yielded the first
place to his other activities, and his prints appeared at
ever-lengthening intervals. In 15 18 he finished his 'Virgin
crowned by Two Angels,' showing already the somewhat
affected expression of the later Madonnas ; and, apparently
also about this time, he produced his smallest engraving,
the so-called ' Maximilian's Sword-hilt.' According to
tradition this was a picture of the Crucifixion, contained
in a circle of an inch and a half in diameter, engraved
on a golden plate, which was intended to adorn the pommel
of a sword made for the Emperor. The sureness of
hand and eye, which in so tiny a space could preserve the
feeling of natural form free from all semblance of arti-
ficiality, remains a matter for lasting astonishment.
Diirer may be considered the originator of the engraved
portrait. German and Italian engravers of the fifteenth
64
GERMAN ENGRAVING TO 1528
century had, it is true, occasionally produced portraits,
such as those of the above-mentioned Suabian engraver
'W^B ; but it was through Diirer that the portrait first
Albrecht Diirer : The Apostle Paul.
became an important and regularly practised branch of
engraving. In this respect the woodcut was to some
extent in advance of engraving. \\c have six encrraved
ALBRECHT DURER
65
^.:3 „^ . . i.^. .^ ^^T^OA\ANAE'ECCLAE*Ti^^AN:.
CHRY^OGONi'PBRCARDINA'
-.. -^ ^- >.. ~^^y/ >A\AGVN'AC'7V\AGDE'ARCHi'-
^W" ^^S'-^i^-f / EPS 'ELECTOR IA\TE-PRiA\:AS
ri V^'^f^T'^^'i {k AD^UN^HALBER'MARCH^
t ^M&kMW^ M-^ .-s^:^^ BRANDENBVilGEN^iS
i^ic^OCVLO^lv^ic^ILLE^GENAvy ^ SIO i
I OKKi FEREBAT ?
I Anno 3-ETATi^i^jvEc^xxiXi
^ A^ - D • X-I-X ♦
Fig. 32. Albrecht Durer : Portrait of Cardinal Albrecht von Brandenburg.
66 ENGRAVING IN GERMANY TO 1528
portraits in all by Diirer, all of them finished between
1 5 19 and 1526. The series is opened by the lifelike,
full-face portrait of Albert von Brandenburg (fig. 32),
Cardinal of Mainz. A second portrait of this keen
patron of the arts, in profile, with the head to the right,
was made by Diirer in 1523. Diirer had met the Cardinal
at the Augsburg Diet of 1518. The features of his
old patron, Frederick the Wise of Saxony, whose por-
trait he had also painted, were perpetuated in 1524 on
copper, with a noteworthy Latin inscription. Frederick's
portrait is the finest of the series, perhaps because handled
by Diirer with greater sympathy than the rest, and
is obviously true to life. It was followed in 1526 by
the portrait of his friend Willibald Pirckheimer, and in
the same year by the profile head of Philip Melancthon.
During his visit to the Netherlands Diirer had made
a sketch in charcoal of Erasmus of Rotterdam. At
the scholar's urgent request he engraved this portrait
four years later at home in Nuremberg — the largest
engraved portrait by Diirer which we possess. The im-
pression of Erasmus's personality must have weakened
by lapse of time ; and for what the work lacked in
immediate freshness Diirer sought to compensate by
careful finish. The arrangement of the figure of Erasmus
seated at his writing-table to the extreme right, and
his surroundings, with so many accessories of books etc.,
produce the impression that Diirer, in his idea for the
engraving, was influenced by one of Holbein's portraits
of Erasmus. He may have seen one of these at the
scholar's house at Rotterdam. If this were the case, it
would be the single instance of any contact, however
indirect, between Diirer and the other great German
master of his time.
ALBRECHT DURER 67
Diirer's last years were occupied by scientific studies
more than by art ; and finally an illness, the first traces
of which had appeared in the Netherlands, brought his
life to a close on April 6th, 1528,
If we study Diirer's engraved work as a whole, it
reveals itself as the life-work of a sublime genius carried
out on an almost preconceived plan, flawless and full of
truth, like a perfect work of art.
II
ENGRAVING IN ITALY TO THE MIDDLE
OF THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY
THE beginnings of Italian engraving are wrapped in
as much darkness as is its origin in the countries
north of the Alps. Early engraved work in Italy scarcely
ever displays the signature of an artist or a date ; and
plates which from their criideness or the simplicity of their
execution may be looked upon as the first offspring of the
art in Italy, supply no indication of the time or the place
of their origin. Vasari's tale of the Florentine goldsmith,
Maso Finiguerra, having discovered in 1450 the method of
printing engraved plates must be banished to the domain
of studio legend. The only real truth appears to be that
the first engravers in Italy, as probably was also the case
in Germany, were goldsmiths by profession. It is possible,
but by no means an absolute certainty, that the secret of
printing engraved plates passed into Italy from Germany.
Primitive Italian engravings consist usually of hard and
heavy outlines, dug deeply into the metal. Inside these
outlines the shadows are expressed, or as a rule simply
suggested, by a few sets of oblique lines laid evenly and
without cross-hatching. This modelling with straight
sloping lines remained for a considerable time a character-
istic peculiarity of Italian engraving. It corresponds to
the method employed by the early Italian painters in
68
ENGRAVING IN ITALY
69
^'g- 33- Florentine engraver of the fifteenth century : Portrait (reduced)
70 ENGRAVING IN ITALY
making drawings with pen or pencil. At a later period
the lines were laid more regularly, the execution became
more tender, and the shadows were more frequently
expressed by cross-hatchings. Finally the German style
of engraving began to exert an influence on Italian artists,
who now began to render shadows and details with more
systematic cross-hatching and with much greater freedom
of line.
The engravers of the early period in Italy in most
cases probably borrowed their subjects from pictures or
drawings by contemporary painters. While they followed
the work of the different schools, they nevertheless treated
in a fairly arbitrary manner not only the composition, but
the actual style of their examples. Only in rare instances,
therefore, can the anonymous engravings of the fifteenth
century in Italy be assigned to any limited period or any
particular school. The dependence of engraving upon
painting is from the first a predominant feature in Italian
art. At the same time there is no absolute lack of pure
painter-etchers, for in many workshops painting and gold-
smith's work were practised side by side.
Vasari's account, which has been mentioned above, places
the discovery of the art of engraving about 1450, but the
earliest certain date on any engraving executed in Italy is
first supplied by a series of engraved illustrations for a
book printed at Florence in 1477, " El Monte Sancto di Dio "
(God's Holy Mountain). It contains three pictures of
religious import — particularly noteworthy being the plate
of ' Our Lord with the Mandorla ' (an acorn-shaped halo) —
all of them finely conceived and marking immense strides
in technique, which can only be the result of long previous
practice in the art of engraving. In actual fact Italian
engravings are known whose primitive character and style
SANDRO BOTTICELLI 71
point to a period of origin long before 1477. Florence
appears to have been, if not the cradle, at any rate the
earliest centre of Italian engraving. Vasari gives credit, as
the first master of engraving, to a Florentine goldsmith,
Baccio Baldini, and relates that the Florentine painter,
Sandro Botticelli, supplied Baldini with subjects for
engraving, and that Botticelli himself used the burin.
There is, however, no documentary Evidence to prove that
a goldsmith, Baccio Baldini, worked at Florence in the
fifteenth century ; but the nineteen engravings which form
the illustrations to an edition of Dante's " Divina Commedia,"
printed at Florence in 148 1, are without any doubt after
drawings by Sandro Botticelli. If Baldini is the engraver
of these illustrations he must have been a very indifferent
artist. The plates of the Dante are far inferior to the
older illustrations of the ' Monte Sancto.' In spite of the
fact that nothing more is known of Baldini than the
scanty and vague account given by Vasari, it has always
been the custom to count him as the engraver of all the prints
that are early-Florentine in style. All that can be accepted
as really certain is that Botticelli's style exercised great
influence on Florentine engraving in the fifteenth century.
One of the principal plates showing the influence of this
master is the ' Assumption of the Virgin,' consisting of
two folio sheets, for a long time accepted as an original
work by Botticelli.
Experimental work in engraving, at times showing
distinct power, has been preserved from a period probably
much before Botticelli, such for example as the fine
profile ' Head of a Young Girl ' (at Berlin). The effect
is produced by little more than an outline engraved on
the copper with masterly skill. About eight other en-
gravings, which may be seen in the collections in Paris,
72 ENGRAVING IN ITALY
London, etc., show a like treatment, though no single one
of them has attained the artistic merits of the profile head
at Berlin.
The Italian engravers worked much more frequently
than the Germans on large-sized plates. This fact,
together with the circumstance that Italian prints
were not sought by collectors till a comparatively late
period, supplies the probable reason for the great rarity
of Italian fifteenth-century engravings. Those which still
survive must represent only a fraction of the original
output. The anonymous prints now known, belonging
to the Florentine School of the fifteenth century, number
about a hundred and fifty in all. They represent,
without doubt, the work of different studios, and
probably also different stages in the work of single
engravers. The lack of any signature on these plates
makes any ascription exceedingly difficult. It is only
possible to indicate certain groups of work that meet on
common ground. Such, for example, are the engravings
which are named after the former possessor of the largest
number of known examples, the ' Engravings of the Otto
Collection.' They form a series consisting mostly of alle-
gorical and ornamental compositions. The impressions
were probably intended to be coloured, and then employed
for the decoration of wooden boxes and similar wares.
Perhaps by the same hand is the large ' Conversion of
Paul ' in the Kunsthalle at Hamburg. Closely related to
this are ' The Seven Planets ' (British Museum), showing
the influence of the stars on the destinies of man. These
engravings show the figures in cramped attitudes, the
contours marked by coarse outlines, and the shadows
expressed with sets of very fine straight lines.
A distinct divergence is marked by another group of
1"^ . •■ 1 1 ,1 g «^ar- -.=sa=."i
Fig. 34. Florentine engraver of the fifteenth 'century : The Triumph
of Love (detail).
73
74 ENGRAVING IN ITALY
engravings, to which belong 'The Six Triumphs' (after
Petrarch's description). In these the figures are more
slender, while the outlines and details are expressed with
strong, but more regular sets of lines, without any scratchy
treatment (fig. 34). Similar to these is the folio-sized print,
' The Meeting of King Solomon and the Queen of Sheba.'
A series of fifteen plates, with scenes from the life
of Christ and of the Virgin, is perhaps based on paintings
by Fra Filippo Lippi. They are the work of a capable
and skilful engraver of the end of the fifteenth century,
but they are certainly not original works of Lippi, as
has been maintained by Passavant.
At a comparatively early period German engravings
must have become known to Italian engravers. Many
primitive Italian prints show absolutely no trace of
German influence, but the engravings of the Master E. S.
of 1466 probably came to the knowledge of Florentine
artists soon after their appearance. This is particularly
noticeable in a series of twelve engravings, probably of
Florentine origin, representing the Twenty-four Prophets
(fig- 35)- Their unknown designer has striven to imitate
the free and supple technique of the German master,
and at the same time has borrowed ideas for the figures
of his apostles from the position and arrangement of the
figures in the Apostle series of the Master E. S.
Out of the crowd of anonymous engravers some
individually known masters gradually begin to emerge.
One of the first is the painter and goldsmith, Antonio
Pollaiuolo (1429 — 1498), who worked in Florence and
Rome. One of his two large engravings, picturing
fights between naked men, bears the signature ' Opus
Antonii Pollaiuoli Florentini,' and in its vigorous drawing
and exaggerated expression of muscles shows a strong
ENGRAVING IN ITALY
75
Fig. 35. Florentine engraver of the fifteenth century : The Prophet Daniel.
76
ENGRAVING IN ITALY
correspondence with
the painter's style.
That the Hne-work
is not strictly char-
acteristic of Pollai-
uolo's style may be
explained on the
ground that the
artist was unused to
the technique of en-
graving ; at the same
time it must remain
doubtful whether
Pollaiuolo was the
actual engraver of
these plates, or sim-
ply the originator
of the compositions.
The goldsmith
Cristoforo Robetta
(born 1462, died at
Florence after 1522)
is almost the only
Florentine engraver
of any note at
this period who
placed his signature
on some of his
plates, and whose
artistic individifality
can be defined with any certainty. Robetta possessed only
mediocre talent, yet he makes up for his weakness to some
extent by a natural freshness, which he imparts to the
Fig. 36. Robetta : Poetry and Music (detail),
CRISTOFORO ROBETTA 77
formula; of the Florentine School. His engravings arc only
rarely from his own original designs ; as a rule he reproduces,
with more or less freedom of rendering, compositions by
the masters of painting who surrounded him. Many of
his prints may be referred with certainty, others with
probability, to paintings or designs by Filippino Lippi,
Antonio Pollaiuolo, Domenico Ghirlandaio and others.
In his technique Robctta strikes a mean between the
style of the older Florentines and the softer, more ex-
pressive line of the German engravers. His principal
work is an ' Adoration of the Kings,' full of figures,
probably after Filippino. At a later period ' Adam and
Eve ' gave him the excuse for an interesting genre picture,
spoiled by his uncertainty in drawing the nude. Of his
allegorical and mythological prints the ' Poetry and
Music' (B. 23, after a group in fresco by Filippino Lippi
in the Church of Sta. Maria Novella at Florence) may
be mentioned as particularly fine (fig. 36).
A noteworthy series, belonging to the fifteenth century,
consists of fifty octavo-sized engravings of single allegorical
figures (fig. '}^7\ For a long time these were considered as
playi»g-cards (" Tarock-karten," B. xiii., p. 120), but are
now much more correctly explained as a kind of illustrated
manual of science. The figures are original in conception, for
the most part thoroughly natural, skilfully drawn, and put
upon the copper by a practised hand. The series certainly
does not belong to the Florentine School, to which it was
in earlier days ascribed ; but is assigned by later opinion,
with much more likelihood, to the School of Ferrara, Two
sets of the whole series are in existence, probably engraved
at about the same period ; they show only slight differences,
and their relation to one another still awaits complete
explanation. The series, however, mentioned by Bartsch
78
ENGRAVING IN ITALY
as a set of copies, seems to possess more originality than
the prints described by the same writer as original.
The greatest master of Italian engraving in the fifteenth
Fig. 37- A Master of Fcrrara (?) From the series of the so-called
Playing-cards (detail).
century, and at the same time the most distinguished
of the painter-engravers of the Italian Renaissance, does
not belong to the Florentine School. This is Andrea
Mantegna, of Padua (born 143 1, died at Mantua in 1506).
ANDREA MANTEGNA 79
Old tradition ascribes to him some twenty-four engravings,
as a rule large in size and full of figures ; and though
none of these bears his signature, their style points to
him without doubt as their author. The technique of
these engravings is particularly original. It is only dis-
tantly related to the Florentine manner, and is completely
different from that of Germany, consisting essentially in
the application to the copper plate of the method of
drawing with pen on paper, practised by Mantegna and
artists of his school. The outlines are firmly expressed,
and the modelling is produced by sets of straight lines,
running obliquely, growing thicker towards the shadows,
and tapering to a point towards the lights. Cross-hatching
is never employed. The work gives the idea of a sculp-
tured bas-relief rather than of true pictorial effect. His
treatment of graver-work as a means of imitating a free
and vigorous drawing, gives Mantegna's prints a broad and
bold character, quite different from that of his pictures
with their carefully finished details ; but the sharpness
and precision of line is common to both. The obvious
differences of style in Mantegna's engravings may be
explained by the fact that they were executed at different
periods. On the other hand, it is impossible to reject
the supposition that many engravings ascribed to Mantegna
are not original, but the work of pupils or assistants in
his studio. Perhaps also the existing replicas of some
of Mantegna's engravings are school-work of this type.
Of the engravings that in view of their artistic merit and
their individuality may be treated as probably original work,
The Seated Virgin bending over the Holy Child ' (B. 8)
is slight in its treatment, and is possibly an earlier and
somewhat unsuccessful attempt. The latest criticism recog-
nises also as original work the ' Christ between SS. Andrew
8o ENGRAVING IN ITALY
and Longinus ' (B. 6) ; ' The Entombment ' (fig. 38 ; B. 3),
a finely designed composition, with all the figures strongly
and firmly drawn ; ' The Fight of the Sea-Gods,' probably
depending for its motive on classical sculpture ; ' The
Bacchanal by the Wine-vat,' also borrowed from the
antique ; and the unfinished plate of ' The Virgin in the
Grotto,' resembling in composition a picture by Mantegna
in the Uffizi. Of the four engravings of ' The Triumphal
Procession of Julius Caesar' probably only two (B. 11
and 12) were executed by the artist himself. While there
can be little doubt that Mantegna did use the graver,,
the task of sifting out his engravings and determining
their authenticity has been made extremely problematic
owing to the circumstance already mentioned, that we
possess no single signed print from his hand. The freedom
and softness of the line in many of the artist's prints
has given rise to the conjecture that Mantegna did not
engrave on copper, but on a soft, ductile metal, possibly
zinc. Independently of the question as to how far the
engravings of Mantegna are absolutely original, the fact
remains that he gave to engraving an entirely new
character, depending altogether on his own personal style
and influence, and thereby has deserved a place among
the greatest of original engravers. In the school of
engravers which followed him we find no talent that is
more than mediocre.
Mantegna's influence may at the first have held
some of the North Italian engravers to the path which
he had trodden ; but the growth of Durer's mighty
influence soon caused them to become unfaithful to their
master.
Zoan Andrea may be regarded as a pupil of Mantegna.
Documentary evidence tells of him as an engraver who
Fig. 3S. Andrea Mantegna : The Entombment (detail).
81 6
82 ENGRAVING IN ITALY
hailed from Verona and came into touch with Mantegna
at Mantua. It may be conjectured that he was an
assistant, who worked under Mantegna's directions on
many of the plates ascribed to the master himself. The
darkness in which Zoan Andrea's personality is wrapped
is made all the deeper by the fact that we have a record — ■
not indeed particularly definite — of an engraver and
woodcutter, Zoan Andrea Vavassorc, who comes to light
in Venice about 1500, and uses the signature Z. A. or
I. A. (Zuan or Zoan being the Venetian form of Johannes
and Giovanni). Whether this Zoan is identical with
Mantegna's assistant, Zoan Andrea, cannot yet be definitely
decided. The engravings, which bear a monogram repre-
senting the name Zoan Andrea, or are ascribed to this
enigmatic artist, are very uneven in execution. Side by
side with prints which show the immediate influence
of Mantegna we find others which in drawing and style
approach the Venetian and Veronese Schools ; then some
that show a mixture of various influences ; and finally
a number of direct copies of Diirer's early engravings.
These works may perhaps be taken as evidences of a
studio whose director was an engraver and v\'oodcutter,
Zoan Andrea.
The same is the case with Giovanni Antonio da Brescia,
of the circumstances of whose life we know only that he
was settled at Venice in 15 14. He copied, perhaps only at
the beginning of his career, engravings by Mantegna, and
also some by Diirer ; but apart from these we have engrav-
ings by him, which are possibly based on his own designs,
or, as is more probable, are made from drawings or paint-
ings by North Italian masters. In his prints of this class he
proves himself a skilful draughtsman and engraver, and, in
spite of his somewhat casual and careless technique, is an
THE MILANESE SCHOOL 83
artist of distinct power. Some sixty engravings are attributed
to him, not all of them, however, bearing his signature.
What is known of engraving in Milan in the fifteenth
century is limited to a few facts and a small number of
existing works. It may be conjectured that several of the
anonymous Italian engravings of this j)criod had their
origin in Milan. In 1479 there appeared at Milan a small
book, the " Summula de Pacifica Conscientia," illustrated
with three engravings, almost worthless from the artistic
point of view. The profile bust of a woman, a study of three
horses' heads, and another plate with sketches of a warrior
on horseback (British Museum), may be regarded as
original experiments in engraving by Leonardo da Vinci,
and in any case they bear witness to the extraordinary
power of their designer. On the other hand, the old
engravings after Leonardo's ' Last Supper ' do not appear
to be by engravers of the ^Milanese school ; still less
can the large plate (British Museum) bearing the name of
Bramante, showing interior architecture in the style of the
full Renaissance, have been executed at Milan. Probably
Milanese, however, are the engravings (' Beheadal of Saint
John,' etc.) ascribed to the earlier Cesare da Sesto ; and
as works of the Milanese school may also be reckoned the
slight and amateurish little plates with the signature of
Altobello da Melone.
A position midway between the Mantcgna influence and
the school of ]Milan is occupied by the INIastcr of 15 15, who
at times adopts Leonardesque subjects, and executes
interesting plates in a somewhat haphazard and irregular,
but always spirited, style. By him we have a series of
mythological and allegorical pictures, as well as ornamental
designs of trophies and studies of architectural details
after antique originals — forty-five plates in all.
84
ENGRAVING IN ITALY
How many of the anonymous Italian engravings of
primitive character had their possible origin in Venice has
never been ascertained ; but it appears as if the art of
engraving became established at Venice considerably later
than in other parts of Italy. Of the engravers who came
into prominence among the Venetian School, mention must
first be made of Jacopo de' Barbari, who also worked as a
painter and a designer of
woodcuts. De' Barbari, al-
though born in Venice, was
probably of German origin,
and had exchanged his origi-
nal family name of Walch
for that of de' Barbari. Ger-
man printers of the name
Walch were working at
Venice in the fifteenth cen-
tury, and it was as
Jakob Walch that
D u rer k ne w hi m . He
stands in close
relationship to the
Nuremberg School
and to the German
artists who migrated
to Venice ; particu-
larly, however, to Diirer, At a late period he travelled
as court painter to Brussels in the retinue of the Arch-
duchess Margaretha, and died there before 15 15. We
know about thirty-two engravings which bear his mark —
a staff with a serpent, like that of Mercury. It remains
doubtful whether he executed these engravings while still
in Venice, or first worked on them in the Netherlands.
Fig- 39. Jacopo de' Barbari : Judith (detail).
GIROLAMO MOCETTO 85
Venetian in character is the manner of their drawing and
composition ; but the resemblance they display is external,
showing a somewhat weak and sentimental imitation of
the Venetian School rather than a real relationship. His
slight, and often over-refined, method of engraving results
from his familiarity with German technique. Above all
else he loved subjects taken from mythology and classical
legend. Dc' Barbari forms an important link between the
German and Venetian art of his period.
The most distinguished representative of Venetian
quattrocento engraving is Girolamo Mocetto (worked after
1484, his will dated 1531), who takes a much more
important position as engraver than as painter. In con-
trast to the style, adopted by Mantegna and his school, of
expressing modelling by an appearance of relief, Mocetto
strove after a softer, more pictorial treatment in the spirit
of Venetian art. He undertook the execution of plates
of large size, working on them in a free style with unevenly
laid sets of fine, but sometimes crude, line-work. His three
prints of the Madonna, showing the Virgin throned and
surrounded by saints, are quite like Bellini in their type
and in the peaceful mildness of the Virgin's expression ;
and a similar resemblance marks his large ' Baptism of
Christ ' (fig. 40). Evidences of more hasty execution appear
in ' The Calumny of Apelles ' ; while ' Judith with the Head
of Holofernes ' ranks in every respect as Mocetto's finest
work. Nearest to Mocetto as an engraver stands Giulio
Campagnola of Padua (born about 1482, died after 15 13),
who belongs entirely to the School of Bellini and is
strongly influenced by Giorgione. Some fourteen plates by
Giulio Campagnola are now known, among them some that
show most finished drawing, and also a very careful and
individual technical treatment. In his use of the burin he
"36
ENGRAVING IN ITALY
seems to take Durer as his principal model, but he attains
a tender and pictorial effect, peculiar to himself, by his
Fig. 40. Girolamo Mocetto : The Baptism of Christ (detail).
method of scattering between the lines a number of small
dots, to express shadows and gradation of tone. Campag-
nola's prints on this accoutit have been taken as stipple
GIULIO CAMPAGNOLA
87
Fig. 41 Giulio Campagnola : The resting Shepherd.
engravings, and the artist has been credited with the dis-
covery of stipple. The assumption is quite erroneous, for
in his engravings the work is done entirely with the burin.
88 ENGRAVING IN ITALY
There is remarkable finish in his finely drawn plate of
' The Rape of Ganymede,' the landscape of which is taken
from Durer's * Virgin with the Monkey.' Campagnola's
peculiar dotted technique is shown at its fullest development
in his engraving of ' Christ and the Samaritan Woman at
the Well,' with its composition borrowed from the Giorgione,
and in his large plate of ' St. John the Evangelist.'
Domenico Campagnola, probably a relation of Giulio
and alleged to be his nephew, was a pupil or assistant in
Titian's studio, and worked at Padua between 15 ii and
1568. His compositions are powerful and full of life,
but the drawing in his engravings is far too careless
and casual. Titian, Giulio Campagnola, and Jacopo de'
Barbari, all apparently influenced his style. He shows
particular nearness to the last-named in his technique,
and in his manner of expressing form with soft and
fluent line. His work with the burin, however, is uncer-
tain and muddled, and there is most cohesion in those
of his plates that were executed under the influence of
Giulio Campagnola or after his paintings. Domenico
perhaps never placed his own designs on the copper, and
apparently practised engraving for a short period only,
since most of the plates signed with his full name, or
a shortened form of it, are dated 15 17 or 15 19. If one
estimates Domenico Campagnola merely as an engraver,
he shows on the whole to far less advantage than in his
beautiful woodcuts which have descended to us.
The engraver who signs his work with two P's joined
by a scroll, and to whom the name Pellegrino da San
Daniele has been assigned, is now ascribed to the School
of Ferrara. By him we have some small plates of won-
derful fineness and precision of drawing, with the outlines
apparently put in more with dry-point than with the
NICOLETTO DA MODENA
89
(■■ ail
Fig. 42. Nicoletto da Modena : St. George (detail).
burin. An allegory, full of figures, showing the influence
of the moon on mankind, and a ' Descent from the
90 ENGRAVING IN ITALY
Cross,' are the principal plates of this highly esteemed
master. Both of them exist in a second state, worked
over with dots exactly in the manner of Campagnola.
Benedetto Montagna (born about 1470, died after 1547 ;
probably a pupil of his father Bartolommeo) is in nearer
relation to the Venetian School than to that of Verona,
to which he originally belonged. His technique is akin
to that of Mocetto, but more precise and regular, yet
at the same time not free from hardness. His work,
amounting to about fifty plates, shows considerable
variations. At times he imitates Diirer. In the prints
of his best period, for instance in the large ' Sacrifice of
Abraham ' and ' Christ on the Mount of Olives,' he is
absolutely Venetian in style ; while in his ' St. Jerome '
and his ' Orpheus ' the influence of Verona is apparent.
Nicoletto da Modena, who frequently signs his full
name (in one instance with the addition of Rosex), and at
the same time uses various monograms made up of NR,
NM, NIC, etc., was originally a goldsmith, as is shown
by his apparently early engravings, which betray their
origin from niello technique. Schongauer and Diirer both
influenced his work ; from the former he made a direct
copy of his 'Peasants going to Market' (B. 88), and he
transformed Diirer's 'Three Witches' into a 'Judgment
of Paris.' His compositions are essentially of the North
Italian type, but show Florentine influence in their
handling. Where Nicoletto is most independent his
technique is indifferent, though always li\ely and effective ;
he remains one of the most noteworthy among the engravers
of second rank. About fifty prints with his signature
are now in existence, but the importation of several
works wrongly attributed to him has made a clear
survey of his work no longer possible. Nicoletto
THE NIELLO 91
may be supposed to have worked for the most part
before 1500; the latest date appearing on his prints
is 1 5 12.
The Master I. R. with the Bird lB^i», whom old,
but unfounded, tradition used to name Giovanni Battista
•del Porto, belongs probably to North Italy. His style,
however, shows so changeable a character that one can
scarcely place him within the narrow limits of a particular
school. His work with the graver is strong and skilful
rather than delicate, and is powerfully influenced by
Diirer's manner. Most of his engravings treat mythological
subjects, some of them charming compositions, which
cannot, however, be regarded throughout as original
designs by the engraver. The background frequently
consists of a landscape in the Diirer style. The ' Leda
and her Children ' and ' The Nymph with two little Satyrs '
recall Robetta, and suggest Florentine originals ; on the
other hand, again, there is much that points to the
relationship of the Master I. B. with Milan, particularly
in some of his woodcuts. The approximate date of his
work is supplied by a print representing twins, who were
born joined together at Rome in 1503, without doubt
picturing an actual contemporary event.
A class of engraving, richly represented in Italian
art, is that of the Niello. The original meaning of the
term was an engraving on silver, the lines of which were
filled up with a black composition made chiefly of
sulphur. This method of technique, already employed in
the Middle Ages for the decoration of ecclesiastical and
other utensils, attained considerable vogue in Italy during
the fifteenth centur}'. If a silver plate is engraved for
this purpose, it is quite possible, before applying the
niello composition, to take impressions from it on paper.
92 ENGRAVING IN ITALY
in exactly the same way as from a copper plate engraved
for the purpose of printing.
Vasari relates that the Florentine goldsmith, Maso
Finiguerra (born 1427), discovered the art of printing
from copper, and therewith the art of engraving,
by taking an impression on paper from an engraved
" pax " (a metal tablet presented to be kissed by the
faithful in church), after rubbing it over with lamp-
black. This story obtains apparent confirmation from
the fact that in 1797, Zani, an Italian art critic, dis-
covered in the Print Collection at Paris an impression
from a niello plate representing ' The Coronation of the
Virgin.' This he took to be an impression from the pax
in the Church of San Giovanni in Florence (now in the
National iMuseum). In actual fact, however, as is now
known, the Paris print came from a copy of the Florentine
pax, and the pax itself is by no means the work of
Finiguerra mentioned by Vasari, but was much more
probably made about 1455 by another Florentine gold-
smith, Matteo Dei. Vasari's story is, therefore, insufficient,
and Zani's conclusions as to the origin of engraving
fall to the ground. At the same time there is nothing
to bar the supposition that the taking of printed or rubbed
impressions from niello plates was a step towards the
idea of printing engravings in Italy. The complete
development of the process of taking impressions from
engraved plates was reached in Germany at a much earlier
period than the supposed discovery attributed by Vasari
to Finiguerra in 1458, and also earlier than the Paris
impression of the niello plate executed by Matteo Dei
in 1455. In Italy the art of engraving was plainly developed
quite independently of the niello.
The printing of niello plates was practised during a
THE NIELLO
93
!S^
considerable time by Italian goldsmiths. It appears that
goldsmiths took the impressions that are now called
niello engravings, or simply nielli, in order to preserve
them as samples of their work and for use in the workshop
after the delivery of the original plate. Such impressions
gained popularity as patterns for goldsmiths' work, and
for this reason several prints from one plate
often came into circulation. The impressions
could be made without complicated appli-
ances and without a press, by simply rubbing
lamp-black and oil into the engraved lines
of the plate, laying a well-damped piece of
paper on the surface, and obtaining an im-
pression by rubbing over the back of the
paper with a smoothing bone or some similar
instrument.
Nielli are almost always small prints, often
less than an inch in size ; the engraving is fine,
and exceedingly skilful (fig. 43). As a rule,
they contain tiny figures standing out from a
dark, deeply scratched background. Besides
* The Coronation of the Virgin,' previously
mentioned, some other existing nielli may
probably be attributed to Matteo Dei. Many
of the nielli which show marks of the Floren-
tine School may have had their origin in the workshop
of the goldsmith Pollaiuoli ; and the Bolognese painter
and goldsmith, Francesco Francia, is considered as the
designer of various niello engravings that show some
relationship to his style.
At a quite early period nielli seem to have been sought
as little works of art, outside the circle of goldsmiths.
Apart from silver plates intended for filling with niello
Fig. 43. Niello.
94
ENGRAVING IN ITALY
and printed only as occasion required, little engravings
of the niello kind were, in consequence, extensively made,
and impressions from them put into circulation. Nielli
of this class — not strictly nielli, because intended fromi
the first to be printed — are often exceedingly difficult to
distinguish clearly from proper nielli ; yet certain marks
of identification may be established. In impressions from
silver plates, intended always to be supplemented with
niello, the engraving as a rule
is particularly fine, clear, and
sharp, and this intentional
sharpness appears also in the
impression, in conjunction with
very deep blacks. In the print,
moreover, any inscriptions must
stand in reverse, since the
plate, and not the impression,
was originally intended for
view. The most certain means
of recognising a false niello is
given by prints that come from
a plate obviously worn out by
frequent printing.
These false nielli, intended from the first for printing,
exist nowadays in large numbers. An artist, who was
particularly diligent in their preparation, gives his name on
a ' Resurrection ' (at Paris), as Peregrino, with the addition
of Cese, which is believed to denote his birthplace, Cesena.
Besides this there are about forty prints of the niello
nature, on which appear signatures such as -0'.^»i>'C^
or a monogram P, which without doubt stands for
Peregrino. His works are treated entirely in the style of
proper nielli — charming compositions, delicately engraved,
Fig. 44. Peregrino de Cesena.
Niello engraving : Prudence.
MARC-ANTONIO RAIMONDI 95
usually mythological or allegorical in subject (fig. 44).
Besides Peregrine, other unknown artists of the Florentine
or of the North Italian School made similar nielli or en-
gravings in the style of nielli — small prints with tiny figures,
and often simply ornamental designs of delightful com-
position. The background, as a rule, is produced by close
cross-hatching, with figures or ornament standing out
brightly against it. Artists such as Marc-Antonio Rai-
mondi, Nicoletto da Modena, and others, borrowed ideas
in many of their engravings from niello technique. If
the art of engraving in Italy did not spring, as was
formerly supposed, from the niello, it obtained never-
theless no small influence from the niello in its develop-
ment. The high value placed by collectors on nielli
gave rise to frequent forgeries, which, particularly at
the end of the eighteenth century, passed into currency
from Italy.
Engraving in Italy during the fifteenth century shows
varying tendencies, according to the different styles of
single artists and of independent studios, where its practice
was more casual than systematic. At the beginning of
the sixteenth century appeared Marc-Antonio Raimondi,
who, like Diirer in Germany, gave to engraving in Italy
an individual tendency, which he forced upon almost all
the engravers of his time and of his country. His great
technical skill, in conjunction with his power of trans-
ferring with absolute truth to the copper plate the character
of works of art created by another hand, opened up for
engraving a new province, that of reproduction. This
statement at once e.xpresses the difference between Marc-
Antonio and the painter-etchers and engravers of the Italian
and Northern Schools. Perhaps scarcely one of Marc-
Antonio's many prints is, from beginning to end, original
96 ENGRAVING IN ITALY
work. Only in altering his copies or in the addition of
backgrounds and accessories does he display a small amount
of individuality. He worked at first from drawings or
paintings by his teacher, Francesco Francia in Bologna,
and after other contemporary masters. His plates, though
perhaps not all of them, are signed with a variously formed
monogram or with a quadrangular tablet — a painter's
palette with thumb-hole.
Marc-Antonio's earliest dated print, the ' Pyramus and
Thisbe ' of 1505, shows some harshness in composition,
like Francia's work, but is powerful in drawing, while in
technique it is still somewhat loose and unfinished. The
study of Diirer's engravings exerted the greatest influence
in the development of his style. At a very early period
he forsook Italian traditions and modelled his style on
the principles of the German engravers and of Lucas
van Leyden. It is noteworthy that at the same time
he displayed particular liking for northern landscape. In
the figure compositions, reproduced by him after Italian
masters, he frequently added landscape backgrounds which
were entirely, or at any rate in character and in single
details, borrowed from Diirer or Lucas van Leyden. This
combination of heterogeneous motives lends his engravings
a curious charm, and helps to make up for the lack of
original invention. In some dated plates, and in others
apparently very early, the quick advance of Marc-Antonio's
technique towards its final perfection can be readily marked.
From the harsh and uneven handling of the above-men-
tioned ' P}Tamus and Thisbe,' the 'Apollo,' 'Hyacinth,'
and 'Cupid ' of 1506, and the probably contemporary ' St.
George,' we find him in his 'Mars and Cupid' of 1508
already arrived at a complete mastery of technical problems
and a finished executive style. This depends essentially
MARC-ANTONIO RAIMONDI 97
on the fact that his work is a happy union of German
methods with the broader Italian handh'ng of the burin.
A special division in Marc-Antonio's work is formed by
his copies after Diirer, of which about eighty are in exist-
ence. With this task he seems to have been occupied
between 1500 and 1510. He not only imitated Diircr's
engravings, and particularly several early plates, with
considerable truth, but also undertook the task of repro-
ducing with the burin on a copper plate, stroke for stroke
in the original size, a large number of Diirer's woodcuts ;
among them seventeen prints of ' The Life of the Virgin,'
the whole thirty-seven of the so-called ' Little Passion '
on wood, and also a number of others. If the power of
Diirer's draughtsmanship seems weakened in these copies,
it nevertheless remains a matter of astonishment how
Marc-Antonio managed to express on copper the character
and technique of a woodcut. When his ' Life of the
Virgin ' was published with text in book form, Diirer com-
plained bitterly at its conclusion of such thefts of his
compositions, a complaint probably aimed at Marc-Antonio.
While copies of this woodcut series possibly appeared at
Venice in 1506, the engravings after the 'Little Passion'
cannot have been made before 151 1, since Diirer's originals
bear the dates 1509 to 151 1.
Marc-Antonio probably remained in Venice till 15 10,
and here was produced the plate known by the name of
' Raphael's Dream,' from a Venetian original of the School
of Giorgione. In 15 10 we find Marc- Antonio at Florence.
To this year belongs the fine print known under the title
of ' The Climbers,' reproducing a group of figures frqm
Michael Angelo's cartoon, 'The Battle of Pisa.' The
landscape -background, supplied by Marc-Antonio to the
figures, is borrowed from the print of ' Mahomet and
7
98 ENGRAVING IN ITALY
Scrgiu-s' by Lucas van Leyden. At this time his style
reached its fullest development. He migrated to Rome,
and attached himself to the School of Raphael. Marc-
Antonio now became the chosen engraver of Raphael's
compositions, and while his plates have contributed to
spread throughout the world the fame of the great artist
of Urbino, it was the brilliancy of Raphael's art on the
other hand that, more than anything else, conferred on
Marc-Antonio's prints the high esteem in which they have
been held by his contemporaries and by all the world
in later days. Through Marc-Antonio Raphael's style
found its best possible interpretation by means of engraving.
.Soon after 1510 a close artistic union seems to have
ibeen formed between Raphael and his engraver. That some
such connection, a kind of apprenticeship of Marc-Antonio
to Raphael, did actually occur, is made clear by the fact
that Marc-Antonio now worked far more frequently after
sketches and studies by Raphael than from finished
paintings. By virtue of his rare power of absorbing
another's style. Marc- Antonio was now in a position to pro-
duce from a hasty sketch a finished and perfect engraving
in the spirit of his example. In consequence of this,
many of Raphael's ideas, expressed only in the form of
drawings, have been preserved in Marc-Antonio's prints.
It is impossible to obtain sufficient evidence to date
Marc-Antonio's succession of engravings during his Roman
period, which lasted from 1510 to about 1527. Moreover,
these plates are very different in their treatment, but
the differences seem to be caused less by the artistic
development of the engraver than by other reasons.
It may be assumed, at any rate in the case of part of
his plates after Raphael, that Marc-Antonio used the
services of pupils and assistants. Out of a number of
MARC-ANTOXIO RAIMONDI
99
engravers who founded their st)'le on his, some, such as
Agostino Veneziano and Marco da Ravenna, were probably
his immediate pupils and studio colleagues in Rome.
The management of Marc-i\ntonio's engraving business
can be fairly circumstantially stated, for Raphael's factotum,
Baviera (Baviera de' Carocci), was the printer and publisher
of the engravings that came
from the studio. The difference
in the treatment of the engrav-
ings corresponds to the differ-
ences in Raphael's originals
which Marc-Antonio had to
reproduce. He clearly made
it his aim to express in his
engraving the character of the
example before him, whether
this was a mere sketch, a study
worked in washes of sepia and
heightened with white, or a
completed painting. His exe-
cution obviously became drier
and more restrained when he
was dealing with a finished
work. His engravings after
Raphael's paintings are, in con-
sequence, usually less successful
than those after his drawings. ' The Massacre of the
Innocents,' for its richness of composition and power of
execution, has long ranked as one of Marc- Antonio's master-
pieces. (A copy, the so-called ' Massacre by the Little Fir-
tree/ is attributed by recent research to Marco da Ravenna.)
^ The Massacre of the Innocents ' may rank as the type of
3. whole group of engravings executed with particular
Fig. 45. Marc-Antonio
Raimondi : St. Barbara.
lOO
ENGRAVING IN ITALY
tenderness. To this group belong ' The Judgment of Paris,'
'Dido' (B. 187), 'God appearing to Noah' (B. 3); 'St.
Cecilia' (fig. 46; B. 116) after an early study differing
strongly from the finished painting ; ' Poetry,' from the
ceiling decoration of the Stanza della Segnatura ; the print
known as the ' Morbetto,' picturing the plague among the
Phrygians described by Virgil; 'The Virgin beneath the
Fig. 46. Marc-Antonio Raimondi : St. Cecilia (detail).
Palm-tree ; ' ' The Dance of Angels ' (B. 217) ; ' The Virgin
mourning over Christ' (B. 35), and many others. The
large ' Ouos Ego,' Neptune restraining the waves — per-
haps after Giulio Romano — marks the transition to a
second group of Marc-Antonio's works, more harsh in
their execution, and producing a feeling of solid relief rather
than of tone. As examples of this method of treatment
may be mentioned the .so-called ' P'ive Saints' (B. 113),
MARC-ANTONIO RAIMONDI loi
' The Last Supper ' (B. 26), ' St. Paul preaching at Athens '
(B. 44), the three prints after Raphael's ceiling decora-
tions in the Farnesina, and ' The Triumph of Galatea,'
after Raphael's fresco in the same place. In this group
of engravings the help of assistants seems probable on
account of the size of the plates, while in some of them,
such as ' The Virgin with the long Thigh,' the work of
pupils clearly preponderates.
After the catastrophe that befell Rome in 1527, Marc-
Antonio seems to have fled to Bologna, where he is said
to have died in 1534. To the last period of his life
probably belong the numerous prints after classical
sculpture, usually coarse in treatment, resembling his latest
work at Rome. That to the end of his career he preserved
his full vigour is shown by engravings which, though they
belong to the last years of his life, are yet among his best
and finest works. Among them are his portrait of ' Pietro
Aretino,' and the largest plate that he ever executed, 'The
Martyrdom of St. Lawrence,' after Bandinelli.
Marc-Antonio's influence on the art of engraving was
widespread, particularly owing to the fact that he gave
the art an entirely new tendency. From this time forward
engraving sought its conscious vocation in the reproduction
of the original work of painters. Marc-Antonio established
engraving in its attitude of dependency upon painting, a
position that for line-engraving proper has in the main
always held good, and from which onl}' a few engravers
have ventured to depart.
Marc-Antonio also exercised an extraordinary and far-
reaching influence as the founder of a School. The list of
followers who built their technique upon his comprises
not only a number of actual pupils, but also a long series
of more remote imitators in Italy and in the studios north
102 ENGRAVING IN ITALY
of the Alps. At almost every period of his career he
seems to have been surrounded by students who, as a rule,
must have been assistants in his studio rather than pupils
in the ordinary sense of the term.
One of the first to be strongly influenced by Marc-
Antonio's style was Jacopo Francia (born before 1487,
died 1557), a son of Francesco Francia of Bologna, and
perhaps in his early days a companion of Marc-Antonio in
his father's studio. By Jacopo Francia are several prints
signed with the initials J. F., while other unsigned
engravings are also attributed to him. They show a
powerful style, akin to that of Marc-Antonio, but the
handling is weaker and more lacking in definition.
In the first rank among the later immediate pupils of
Marc-Antonio one must class Agostino de' Musi, who,
from the place of his birth, has taken the surname of
Veneziano. At the time of his first connection with
Marc-Antonio he was probably already fully fledged as
an engraver, having received his artistic training in Venice.
Veneziano's work, as a copyist of Diirer's and Campagnola's
prints, can be traced back to 15 14. In 15 16 he dated his
* Dead Christ supported by Angels,' after a picture by
Andrea del Sarto. The poorness of this really very
inadequate engraving appears, according to Vasari's story,
to have roused Andrea's wrath. About 15 18 Veneziano
was working along with Marc-Antonio in Rome. To this
year belongs his large, fantastic plate known as the
' Stregozzo ' (a witch riding on a skeleton). In addition to
engravings bearing his signature, after Raphael, Giulio
Romano, Bandinelli and others, a great number of plates,
such as ' The Virgin with the Fish,' formerly ascribed to
Marc- Antonio, may be accepted as Agostino's work. In
his later days Agostino produced numerous prints of
AGOSTINO VENEZIANO
103
ornament, embodying details of classical architecture, and
also portraits, the latter without any fineness of conception,
lie appears to have continued working till about 1540.
Fig. 47. Agostino Vencziano : The Hour of Death.
Another of Marc-Antonio's assistants in Rome appears
to have been Marco da Ravenna, who placed his full
name on an engraving of the Laocoon group of sculpture,
104 ENGRAVING IN ITALY
and his monogram --H^y^. made up of an R and S, on several
prints. By old tradition his name is given as Marco Dentc
da Ravenna (died 1527). Marco was a weak draughtsman,
but a powerful wielder of the burin, clinging more closely
than anyone else to the manner of Marc-Antonio. When
he stands by himself his weakness is apparent, and he fully
realises that his only chance lies in imitation of his master.
Several engravings, once considered as original productions
of Marc-Antonio, are now recognised as copies from the
hand of Dente, among them the so-called ' Massacre of the
Innocents with the Fir-Tree' (B. 20), 'The Virgin with the
Palm-Tree' (B. 62 a), ' Mary mourning over Christ' (B. 35),
and ' Venus ' (B. 321). All of these copies bear, as a sort
of inserted monogram, a little fir-tree, introduced into the
landscape background, which does not appear in Marc-
Antonio's originals.
An artist of greater individuality is the Master with
the Die, who signs with ^§1 o^ ^^'i^h the initials B. V.,
and whose name has been determined by recent research
as Benedetto Verino. He also is a follower of Marc-
Antonio in regard to technique, but adopts the style of
his master's early Roman period, and shows a preference
for compositions of the Raphael School. In his best plates,
such as ' The Virgin upon the Clouds ' (B. 8), Verino does
not fall far short of his model. Two of his engravings,
which number over eighty in all, bear the dates 1532 and
1533, ^"d may be assigned to about the middle period of
his career.
In near connection with the artists just mentioned as
b..ing close followers in the main of Marc-Antonio, comes a
class of engravers whose style is certainly dependent on that
of Marc-Antonio, but who work with less precision, with
GIOVANNI JACOPO CARAGLIO 105
freer drawing, and looser engraving, and so lead gradually
away from Marc-Antonio's standard. The most important
in this second group of dependants on Marc-Antonio is
Giovanni Jacopo Caraglio, born apparently about 1500 at
Parma (died 1570). He is a powerful draughtsman, and
probably studied engraving under Marc-Antonio himself.
The art of Parmigianino, at that time coming into
prominence and dazzling his contemporaries, took Caraglio
also into its embrace, and made his drawing and engraving
a mere echo and repetition. Caraglio was a many-sided
artist. In 1539 he worked as an architect in the service
of the King of Poland, and also practised as an engraver
of gems. Among his works are engravings after Raphael
(' Aeneas carrying Anchises,' B. 60; the ' Gods on Olympus,'
B. 54, etc.) ; but these arc less numerous than his plates
after Parmigianino (' The Betrothal of Mary and Joseph,'
■etc.), Primaticcio, Rosso de' Rossi, and similar masters.
The firmness and formality of the older style of engraving
appear to have been further shaken by Giulio Bonasone.
As a rule, Bonasone also bases his design and treat-
ment on the art of Raphael, but his technique is casual,
and even careless, while his drawing is too often wil-
fully incorrect. Yet Bonasone is of no little importance,
and his work amounts to over three hundred and fifty
plates.
About the middle of the sixteenth century there entered
into Italian engraving, particularly into the School of
Marc-Antonio's followers, an clement that favoured quick
production, and that served still more to sever engraving
from the older and more solid methods of execution. This
was the rise of an extensive business in the publishing of
engravings, that finalh' brought the engraver to complete
dependence on the publisher. Marc-Antonio had already
io6 ENGRAVING IN ITALY
possessed a diligent commercial assistant in Baviera.
Baviera was followed by a Spaniard, Antonio Salamanca,
who established his business in Rome about 1540, and
bought Marc-Antonio's plates. Other art-publishers,
as a rule themselves indifferent engravers, come into
view at this time and later ; among them the enter-
prising Antonio Lafreri, Thomas Barlacchi, Rossi, Dughet,
Mario dell' Abacco, all of them established in Rome. So
long as a shadow of drawing was still visible on the old
plates that the dealers had acquired, they were printed
again and again : hence the number of worthless im-
pressions of Italian engravings. At the same time there
w'as profit to be made in producing fresh engravings, usually
executed at the artist's request, after new compositions
in painting, and also plates of ornament, architecture, and
portraits. Aenea Vico, a gifted engraver, born at Parma,
and working between 1540 and 1560, was entirely in the
pay of a Roman publisher. Vico's style is akin to that of
Agostino Veneziano, but in the fashion of the time his
work shows more freedom. Nicola Beatrizet, of Lorraine,
who changed his name to an Italian form, Beatrizetto, was
as superficial in drawing as he was bungling in technique,
and seems to have taken pride in distorting the originals
of his prints.
In spite of all their faults and deficiencies, these en-
gravers nevertheless preserve certain qualities that reflect
as in a mirror the greater art of the period, and so
bestow a certain value on their work. Along with men
of comparative importance appear a large number of
engravers whose names the history of art has not recorded.
They worked in the service of publishers, and were often
little more than mere journeymen engaged in the rapid
reproduction of works of art.
GIOVANNI BATTISTA SCULTOR 107
Just as Raphael had done for the engravers of the Marc-
Antonio School, so in Mantua his pupil, Giulio Romano,
determined the artistic scope of the engravers of his
native place. The founder of this Mantuan School — a
second founder, if ]\Iantegna is to be considered the first
Mantuan engraver — is Giovanni Battista Scultor (born
1503). Working under Giulio as a sculptor on the
Palazzo del T, he was at the same time busy as an
engraver, and produced some twenty plates, mainly after
Giulio Romano, as well as several original inventions in
the style of his master. In regard to technique Scultor
follows in Marc-Antonio's footsteps, but at the same time
he strives to approach the close, compact handling of the
Little Masters of Germany, while working with dissimilar
and rougher materials. The dates on his plates run only
from 1536 to 1539.
Giovanni's daughter, Diana Scultor (died about 1588),
is recorded to have displayed her genius at an extremely
early age. She was entirely dependent on the style of
Giulio Romano, whose sketches and finished compositions
she reproduced with considerable exaggeration in model-
ling. Inferior talent was displayed by her brother Adamo,
probably at work soon after 1540, and apparently active
till 1585. As engravers both were perhaps influenced less
by their father than by Giorgio Ghisi, of Mantua, the real
head of this School, who probably studied originally as a
pupil of the elder Scultor. By earlier writers the mistake
has been made of attributing to Adamo and Diana Scultor
the family name of Ghisi.
Giorgio Ghisi, il Mantovana (born at ]\Iantua in 1520,
died there in 1582), has command of a firm and pleasing
style. With better success than his master he strove to
unite the solidity of ]\Iarc-Antonio's execution with the
io8
ENGRAVING IN ITALY
delicate treatment of the German Little Masters. Between
the engraved h'nes he was accustomed to scatter a number
of little dots. Ghisi is wanting in the finer sense of
draughtsmanship ; his heads, for instance, are often weak
and inexpressive. When he engraved after Raphael or
Michael Angelo, he worked with a certain coarseness of
48. Giorgio Gliisi : i'tic liiith of .Meiiinon (detailj.
modelling, produced by his study of Giulio Romano's work
at Mantua. Raphael's ' Disputa ' and ' School of Athens '
were engraved by him in folio size, and also ' The Last
Judgment ' of Michael Angelo, in a series of eleven plates,
which, when joined together, form a sheet of four feet in
height. Many of his engravings were made from pictures
and drawings by Giulio Romano. By far the most pleasing
GIORGIO GIIISI IC9
of his works arc those in which he has given free play to
his imagination, for in this case his lack of draughtsman-
ship can most readily be overlooked. One example is the
plate, so pleasing in its richness of careful detail, usually
known as * Raphael's Dream ' or ' The Melancholy of
Michael Angelo.' Ghisi's collected work amounts to
seventy engravings, many of them extremely large. In
1550 we find him at Antwerp working for Hieronymus
Cock, the publisher. Ghisi is one of the most important
bonds of union between the Schools of Italy and the
Netherlands. It must be admitted that the union was,
at any rate to begin with, no great source of blessing
either to the one or to the other.
Ill
ENGRAVING IN GERMANY FROM THE
DEATH OF DURER TO THE END
OF THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY
THERE is no evidence to show that Diirer taught
any pupils as engravers ; we hear only of one
Jorg, an apprentice in his studio, of whom we shall speak
later. There are, however, innumerable engravers who
took Durer as their model ; the engraving of the whole
century shows the marks of the abiding influence of his
style. His work was almost as important in its bearing
on Italian and Netherlandish art as on that of Germany.
Prints with the world-famous monogram could be found
in every engraver's studio ; students and skilled copyists
reproduced them line for line, and frequently placed their
own monograms on the copies, not in order to pass off
Durer's work as their own, but to distinguish as their own
the work that lay in skilful imitation. By the end of the
fifteenth century, and in the course of the sixteenth,
Durer's engravings were reproduced scores of times,
enlarged, reduced, or copied on the same scale, with vary-
ing degrees of success. In the popular market Durer's
engravings held their own for a centur}".
During the period from 1500 to about 1520 no pro-
fessional engravers appear in Nuremberg" besides Durer,
with the exception, perhaps, of the goldsmith and metal-
lic
LUCAS CRAXACII
Fig. 49. Lucas Cranach : The Penitence of St. John Chrysostom
(detail of bacltground).
worker, Ludwig Krug, whose sixteen known prints show
him as an artist of little power and imagination, but
with a command ;of careful technique.
Diirer's contemporary, Lucas Cranach the elder (born at
112 ENGRAVING IN GERMANY (1527—1000)
Kronach in 1472, worked principally at Wittenberg, died
at Weimar in 1553), had far less importance as an engraver
than as a painter, and designer of woodcuts. Yet,
particularly in his early days, he executed some highly
original and pleasing engravings. The simple charm of
his early paintings appears in his quarto-sized engraving,
' The Penitence of St. John Chrysostom ' (fig. 49), with its
delightful wooded landscape ; fresh and powerful imagina-
tion is displayed in his portrait of Frederick the Wise, and
in his portrait of the same ruler along with his brother,
John I. ; lifelike and original in conception is his delicately
engraved portrait of Luther in 1520 ; while that of Cardinal
Albrecht of Mainz, of the same year, is noteworthy as a
mere copy after Diirer's well-known plate.
Urs Graf (born at Solothurn between 1485 and 1490,
died 1529), an artist of great talent and distinct indi-
viduality, worked principally as a designer of woodcuts ;
yet his few engravings, executed in a free and unconven-
tional style, well deserve attention, particularly the spirited
print of' A Seated Soldier' of 1515 and his ' Aristotle and
Phyllis' of 1 5 19. Urs Graf was also a copyist of Diirer
and Schongauer. He is the author of an etching (existing
only in a single example in the Basle Museum), probably
from an iron plate, in close lines somewhat formally
handled, picturing a woman washing her feet (possibly
Bathsheba). It is dated 15 13, and, according, to this date,
is the earliest etching known.
German engraving in the sixteenth century obtains
unique distinction owing to the group of artists known as
the Little Masters. The prominent characteristic of
their work is the delicate execution of minute details on
plates of a correspondingly small size. Scenes from history
or everyday life, as well as religious subjects, arc all
THE LITTLE MASTERS 113
vividly and naturally portrayed. The Little Masters ijavc
particular attention to ornament, and their small prints of
ornamental designs rank as the most original and charming
work which the art of engraving has produced in Germany
since Diirer's day. In their ornamental motives the Little
Masters were strongly influenced by Italy and by classical
art ; their work is full of a fine sense of design, and always
marked by supreme good taste. These prints of ornament
were intended not only to convey pure pleasure by their
beautiful design, but also to serve a practical purpose as
patterns for goldsmiths and other similar craftsmen.
The group of Little j\Iasters has no sharply defined
limitation. The tendency to this kind of minute treat-
ment was already present among the German engravers
of the fifteenth century, and also among contemporary
Italian workers in niello, while' Maximilian's Sword-hilt' by
Diirer is a standing example of this style of art. Yet it
must be allowed that the special peculiarity of the work
of the Little Masters lies in their having given intimate
expression to the tendency of the time, with its preference
for the minute and delicate, a tendency that was par-
ticularly noticeable after about 1520, and that is reflected,
for example, in the small German carvings of the period.
Albrecht Altdorfer (born before 1480, died at Regensburg
in 1538), who worked in Regensburg as painter, architect,
and designer of woodcuts, is the oldest of the artists
who may be counted as the genuine Little Masters. A
remarkable artist, full of imagination, taste, and natural
charm, he had a touch of the amateur in his composition,
and, after the manner of an amateur, followed his own
desires. Altdorfer was probably in Italy, if only for a
short time, before settling in Regensburg, and derived
some inspiration from Italian engravings, A considerable
8
114 ENGRAVING IN GERMANY (1527—1600)
number of his prints, always little in size, show a more or
less clear relationship to niello work. This fact may be
remarked in his prints from his very earliest period, the
first date on any of his plates being 1506. At times he
borrowed ideas from
Marc-Antonio's engrav-
ings, as in his ' Stooping
Venus,' etc. One of
his prints, representing
Prudence seated on a
dragon-like monster, is
an absolute copy of an
Italian niello. Alt-
dorfer's manner of en-
graving, with all its
painstaking delicacy, is
never worried or nig-
gling ; the details are
fluently expressed, and
the final result is re-
markably broad in effect.
Altdorfer treats bibli-
cal scenes (fig. 50) as
though they belonged
to everyday life, with
originality and sj'm-
path}'. He shows us a
laying her child in the
on with grandmotherly
is treated as an archi-
ng. 50.
Albrecht Altdorfer ;
Holj- Family.
The
Holy Family with the Virgin
cradle, while St. Anna looks
affection. 'Solomon's Idolatry
tectural piece, just as a Netherlandish artist of the seven-
teenth century would have handled it. German and Italian
formula: and methods of composition are moulded by him
ALRRECHT ALTDORFER
115
into a unified whole, always pleasing in its fresh imagination
and its charm of execution. Answering also to his fan-
tastic imagination is his love of strange effects of light,
shown in the 'St. Christopher' striding through the water
at sunset (B. 19), or in the 'Crucifixion' (B. 8).
Fig. 51. Albrecht Altdorfer : Landscape (detail).
In his engravings, as in his paintings, Altdorfer devotes
particular attention to the landscape backgrounds. He
has also left a series of finely etched plates, picturing
landscape scenes in the hilly country on the German side
of the Alps, with woods and castles, without any intro-
duction of human figures — the earliest use of etching in the
ii6 ENGRAVING IN GERMANY (1627—1600)
representation of pure landscape (fig. 51). These etchings
can be only a little later than those of Diirer, since the
Regensburg synagogue, destroyed in 15 19, is pictured by
Altdorfer in a careful etching, probably made immediately
after the destruction to commemorate the event. Altdorfer's
etchings were apparently all done on copper, and with far
better etching materials than were known to Diirer. By
the same method he produced twenty- four richly decorated
beakers and jugs of excellent design as patterns or examples
for goldsmiths.
In his capacity as engraver and etcher Altdorfer had
no followers in Regensburg ; the other contemporary
Little Masters, at least the principal exponents of the
style, all worked under the influence of Diirer. In the
first place come the brothers Hans Sebald and Barthel
Beham, typical and representative Little Masters. The
former was born about 1500 at Nuremberg, and, owing to
his too liberal views, must have left his native town along
with his brother in 1525; he must, however, have very
soon returned, and during the following years remained,
whenever possible, in Nuremberg. Later he removed to
F"rankfurt on the Main, where he was enrolled as a burgher
1540, and died, as is commonly supposed, in 1550. His
earliest plates, close imitations of Diirer's style, such as ' The
]\Ian of Sorrows ' and ' The Virgin with the Pear ' of 1520,
were followed by a ' Virgin in Glory,' that is quite original
in conception. From this time forward Beham was striving
to develop his own peculiarly subtle execution, which is
remarkably displayed in the ' Moses and Aaron ' of 1526.
At the same time Hans Sebald Beham must have been
acquainted with Italian art, probably that of Venice, and
absorbed its spirit intelligently, without losing- his own
individuality or degenerating into imitation. The style
HANS SEBALD BEHAM
117
now developed by Beham may be described as the
technique of Marc-Antonio transferred to a considerably
reduced scale. The lines are peculiarly fine and close, at
the same time very regularly laid, and firmly and clearly
drawn. The gradations from dark to light are expressed
by means of a tone given by small dots.
At the time of his removal to Frankfurt, about 1531,
Beham's artistic development seems to have reached its
maturity, and there commenced a long period of even
Fig. 52. Hans Sebald Bcham : The departure of the Prodigal Son.
excellence that lasted till the close of the artist's life.
His monogram, which up till about 1531 was composed
of the initials H S P, now becomes H S B. Ninety-two
prints have the first, about two hundred the second signa-
ture. The quick destruction to which his subtly engraved
plates were liable in printing Beham strove to obviate by
careful retouching. His method was to cover over the
old lines with entirely fresh work, and to give fresh
roundness of modelling by means of small dots, often
ii8 ENGRAVING IN GERMANY (1527—1600)
with such a happy result that impressions from his re-worked
plates frequently show a delicacy of work only slightly
inferior to that of the original proofs. At times he copied
and repeated his own engravings, line
for line, with such astonishing fidelity
that prints from the two different plates
are exceedingly difficult to distinguish ;
as, for example, his two treatments of
the ' Sentinel by the Powder Casks.'
Beham's particular province lies in the
genre of humble life. His scenes of
baths, his pictures of peasant and
country clown, are lively and full of
fresh humour, genuine forerunners of the
paintings of the elder Breughel. In his
four splendid prints with the history of
the Prodigal Son (fig. 52), Beham shows
absolute dependence on the great ex-
amples left by Diirer and Lucas van
Leyden ; his Death scenes are worthy of
a place by those of Holbein. In Beham's
purely religious subjects there is lack of
sympathy, and they remain unconvincing.
He was obviously anxious to treat sub-
jects of classical mythology in the
Italian spirit ; yet his natural German
simplicity, which never deserted him,
enabled him to produce compositions
full of freshness and charm, and with-
out any taint of pedantry. Less pleasing, on the whole,
are his allegories, which to-day strike us as cold and
uninteresting. Sixteenth-century Germany, however, had
a strong liking for these pedantic, moralising inventions^
Fig- 53-
H. S. Beham
Ornament.
BARTHEL BEHAM 119
which from this period occupy an ever-increasing space
among the creations of German artists. A delightful
group among Beham's works is formed by his numerous
engravings of ornament, which again show the adaptation
of Italian ideas to German methods of design, and are as
fine in conception as they are remarkable in execution
(^S- S3)- About 1520 Beham produced a series of
etchings from iron plates, showing lighter and closer work
than those of Dlirer.
Barthel Beham (born 1502), a younger brother of Hans
Sebald, appears to have left Nuremberg in 1525, entered
the service of William IV., Duke of Bavaria, in 1527, and
died in 1540, apparently during a journey to Italy.
Next to Altdorfer, Barthel Beham is indisputably the
most important of the Little Masters of Germany. Of
all the German artists of this period he has been carried
furthest along the lines of Italian art, and has most com-
pletely absorbed its sense of proportion without suffering
any loss of individuality. His best qualities are revealed
in his engravings far more than in his paintings. In
general, Barthel Beham's art is closely related to that of
his brother, Hans Sebald, but in many respects he stands
a step higher. At the very beginning of his career, about
1520, when he was only eighteen years old, he produced
such original works as his 'St. Christopher' as a giant,
lifting his unwieldy frame from the ground, and also his
' Genius ' riding through the air. The soldiers and peasants
in his little prints of this period are types of convincing
sincerity. In his method of treatment at this time Beham
was still dependent upon Diirer. An approach to the
style of Marc-Antonio and the influence of Italian art
appear in Barthel Beham's work after he left Nuremberg
in 1525. He now produced his fine plates — 'The Virgin
120 ENGRAVING IN GERMANY (1527— 1G()0)
at the Window ' (fig. 54) and ' The Virgin with the Skull.'
Some compositions, of the nature of frieze designs, repre-
senting a fight of naked men, reveal careful study of the
human form. From 1527 to 1535 Beham was in the service
Fig. 54. Barthel Beham : The Virgin at the Window.
of the Duke of Bavaria, occupied principally in engraving
portraits. Striking in expression of character are his
portraits of Chancellor Leonhard van Eck and the Emperor
Charles V. In this latter Beham attempts to emulate
GEORG PENCZ
121
Marc-Antonio's ' Pietro Arctino,' with perfect success in
regard to the quah'ties of the engraving, the softness and
<leHcacy of the execution. Barthel's prints of ornament
show the same charming union of Italian motives and
German design as in the case of Hans Sebald, but with
perhaps more finished taste and even greater delicacy
of treatment. They must have been executed, as a whole,
while he was still in his twenties. Barthel Beham's work
numbers ninety prints in all.
Of about the same age as the brothers Beham and, like
them, working in
Nuremberg, was
the engraver
Georg Pencz, con-
sidered to be
identical with
Diirer's appren-
tice, Jorg, who is
mentioned in
early documents,
and who married
his master's maid
in 1524. Till his death in 1550 at Brcslau, Pencz re-
mained for the most part working in Nuremberg. Dlirer
and the engravings of Marc-Antonio were his models.
Pencz is a capable draughtsman, following Raphael
rather than the German School in his figure compositions,
but always possessing sufficient originality to steer clear
alike of mere imitation and of mannerism. His style is
not brilliant, but very careful, soft, and harmonious. His
work amounts to a hundred and twenty-five plates, treat-
ing biblical and mythological subjects. That no picture
of the Virgin is included among them is perhaps due to
Fig. 55. Georg Pencz: The Triumphal Entry
into Jerusalem.
122 ENGRAVING IN GERMANY (1527—1600)
his religious attitude, for Pencz, along with the two Behains,
belonged to the 'godless painters,' whom the Nuremberg
Council expelled for their free-thinking views. His return^
however, was soon permitted.
More spirited than his dry scenes from the Life of Christ
are his finely conceived 'Seven Works of Mercy' and the
'Parable of Dives and Lazarus.' In his 'Thetis and
Charon' he has followed Marc-Antonio, not without success.
In a similar way he emulates his Italian model in a great
plate after Giulio Romano, the ' Storming of Carthage.*
Pencz also engraved six plates of Triumphs from the
description by Petrarch, finding new ideas in his treatment
of an often-pictured subject.
To the group of Nuremberg Little Masters must also
be assigned the Engraver with the monogram I. B. The
dates that occur on some of his plates (about fifty of them
are known) run from 1525 to 1530. In his delicate style
of engraving he is related to the Behams, and resembles
them also in that he likes to use his fresh and humorous
invention in translating scenes of everyday life into little
genre pictures. Like Barthel Beham, the Master I. B.
shows fine judgment in the union of Italian and German
principles of ornament.
Heinrich Aldegrever is the single engraver of importance
whom Lower Germany has to show in the first half of the
sixteenth century. Born at Paderborn in 1 502, he worked
as painter and engraver, principally at Soest, and was a
zealous supporter of the Reformation. The latest date
appearing on his prints is 1555. Judging by his drawing,
his composition and general treatment, he must have come
into contact at an early period with the painters of the
Netherlands, with Mabuse and Bernaert van Orley. He
was a careful student of Diirer's prints, and imitated him
HEIXRICH ALDEGREVER
123
as well as Bcham and Fcncz. Aldegrever's figures often
show unpleasing mannerisms ; the bodies are too attenu-
ated, the heads too small. His prints, about two hundred
•^ALOnQN • CWSAJ^- INTER. IJVAS • J^VTJEFXS • DiRLMlT • 1 • KeG\M. 3 : ]
Fig. 56. Heiiirich Aldegrever : The Judgment of Solomon.
and ninety in number, only a few of which exceed quite
small dimensions, show sustained care and finish. Though
he was facile in invention, he frequently found occasion to
borrow from Diirer and other masters. Aldegrever was a
124 ENGRAVING IN GERMANY (1527—1600)
fine portrait painter, and his portrait engravings rank also
with his best work. In two remarkable plates he pictured
Johann Bockhold (John of Leyden), King of the Ana-
baptists, and Bernhard Knipperdolling. His numerous
prints of engraved ornament, among them daggers and
household utensils, such as spoons and buckles, show the
type which Renaissance forms took in Germany at the hands
of such artists as did not come into direct contact with Italy.
These leaders in the group of Little Masters were
followed by a large number of mostly unknown engravers,
who followed their models with endless \-ariations in idea
and treatment, but without adding any fresh element to
the art of engraving in little. A mere copyist, though
many-sided and resourceful in technique, is Jacob Bink, of
Cologne, who for a considerable time was in the service of
the King of Denmark, and died in 1568 or 1569 at Konigs-
berg. \\'ith due adaptation of style he copied and imitated
every attainable print by Diirer, Marc-Antonio, Schongauer
and Caraglio ; incidentally a picture by Mabuse, another by
B. van Orley, and engravings by the Master S. of Brussels.
His best plates are his portraits of Christian III. of
Denmark, and of the Flemish painter Lucas Gassel.
Hans Brosamer, painter, woodcut designer, and engraver
(born at Fulda, worked at Erfurt between 1537 and 1552),
was a sound artist, who imitated Beham and Aldegrever
with a neat, though somewhat dr}-, style of engraving.
Innumerable prints, executed in the style of the Little
Masters during the first half of the sixteenth century in
Germany, arc without signatures, or else bear monograms
which it is impossible to interpret. Their numbers show
how widespread throughout Germany at this time was
the appreciation of this kind of work and the ability to
produce it.
DANIEL HOPFER
125
Once the example had been set by Diirer and Altdorfer,
the art of etching gained an equally growing importance.
Etching on iron was practised to a wide extent by the
Hopfer family of artists at Augsburg, three of whom —
Fig. 57. Daniel Hopfer: Christ before Pilate_(detail).
126 ENGRx'WING Ix\ GERMANY (1527—1600)
Daniel (working at Augsburg from 1493, <^icd 1536),
Hieronymus, and Lambert — managed a kind of picture
manufactory. Real artistic merit was of secondary im-
portance in their eyes. With their broad and expressive
treatment of etching upon iron the Hopfers seem to have
openly competed with the woodcut. Where Daniel Hopfer
shows more care in his execution he appears as an artist
of no mean gifts, with a particularly sound appreciation of
Italian art. As a rule, however, he took particular pleasure
in remodelling other artists' compositions in his own coarse
style, following German and Italian models indiscrimi-
nately. Frequently he uses motives that he can only have
borrowed from Italian paintings. From Mantegna's fresco
in the Chapel of S. Agostino agli Eremitani at Padua,
' St. James before the Judge,' he reconstructs a ' Christ before
Pilate '(fig. 57). With more or less fidelity, but in a heavy
and clumsy style, Hieronymus copied engravings by Diirer,
Jacopo de' Barbari, and others. In their casual and
careless work, that one might almost believe to be wilfully
intentional, the Hopfer prints often verge closely on the
borders of caricature. Hieronymus worked entirely in
Daniel's style as a copyist, principally of German engravings;
Lambert is absolutely unimportant.
Etching on iron fell into disuse as soon as the methods
of etching on copper were brought to greater perfection
and became better known. About 1540 etching on copper
began to occupy its true position, and at once contested
the field not only with line-engraving, but with the woodcut
as well. At the outset the most active influence at work
was clearly supplied by Altdorfer's etchings of landscape.
Augustin Hirschvogel (stated to have been born in
1503 and to have died in 1553), with a remarkable head
for invention, engineer, die-sinker, and maker of enamelled
AUGUSTIX HIRSCHVOGEL
127
earthenware,
etched some
hundred and
fifty plates
with great
precision and
delicacy,
mainly be-
tween 1543
and 1549. His
figure sub-
jects are weak,
but he dis-
plays f i n e
invention and
imagination
in his land-
scape prints,
executed in
light outlines,
with a pre-
ference for
hilly country
and broad
stretches of
water (fig.
58). A little
later Hans
Sebald Lau-
tensack (born
at Nurem-
berg in 1524,
died in 1563, probably at Vienna) began to handle
128 ENGRAVING IN GERMANY (1527—1600)
the etching-needle in a similar way. He worked also at
engraving, and was one of the first after Lucas van Leyden.
to combine line-engraving and etching on the same plate-
In his portraits Lautensack first etched in the clothes and
the background, and then finished with the burin the finer
parts, such as the face and hands. At times, however,,
he employed the burin simply as an aid in strengthening,
and harmonising work executed completely in etching..
The best part of Lautensack's work consists again of land-
scapes, fresh studies of nature with rich variety of finely
wooded country, with villages and watersheds (fig. 59)..
Lautensack's landscapes are pure etching, without any
touch of burin or dry-point, but showing better effects of
tone and finer pictorial feeling than those of Hirschvogel.
The combination of line-engraving and etching, practised
by Lautensack in his portraits, found increasing employ-
ment from this time forward, not so much with a view tO'
serving any artistic purpose as with the idea of attaining
the approximate effect of a line-engraving with greater
quickness and economy of means than was possible with
the burin alone. The new method tended at once to-
increased production and more hasty work, and is one of
the symptoms of the decline of German art, which now
lacked the guidance of any great master. The Reforma-
tion, moreover, limited the province of the arts, and where
they survived in the service of the Catholic faith, there
entered an element of affectation and insincerity in place
of the earlier simplicity. The decline made itself most
strongly felt in painting, and next in the kindred arts
of engraving and wood-cutting. The second half of the
sixteenth century existed almost solely on the lingering
effects of the arts and crafts of the first half. It is true that
the production of engravings underwent no diminution,
HANS SEBALD LAUTEXSACK
129
but rather a visible increase, owing to t!ie circumstances
of the time. The perfected development of etching
caused an ease and simplicity of production unknown in
Fig. 59. Hans Sebald Lautensack : Landscape (detail).
earlier days. There came into existence a class of
merely mechanical producers, whose astounding fertility
kept the art market well supplied. The number of
religious pictures at the same time fell behind that of
profane subjects ; a large space was occupied by allegories,
9
130 ENGRAVING IN GERMANY (1527—1600)
emblems, portraits, and, finally, political manifestoes. Line-
engraving and etching also began to find employment as
book-illustrations in place of woodcuts. Goldsmiths and
craftsmen of every kind were now supplied by engravers
with an incalculable number of patterns and designs.
One of the most important producers of this kind of
work was the Nuremberg artist Virgil Solis (15 14 — 1562).
His work is the natural product of that of the Little
Fig. 60. Virgil Solis : Allegorical figure of Truth.
Masters, but while he depends upon them, he continually
borrows from Marc-Antonio, Ducerceau, and many others.
Yet he is no mere copyist, and when occasion offers he is
full of originality and invention. His work with the burin
is thin and meagre, but his etchings show delicacy and
charm. Of the hundred prints, almost always small in
size, that bear his monogram, probably a large proportion,
was the work of assistants and pupils. Whether the
numerous existing replicas of his plates were made by
Solis himself, or were copied by other hands, is doubtfuk
JOST AMMAN 131
Some contemporary verses describe him, along with other
artists, in doggerel lines :
'As Virgil Solis am I named ;
My art throughout the world is famed.
By my hand's assisting aid
Many a craftsman has been made.
Father of artists me they call,
Faithful servant of artists all.'
On the same lines as Solis worked Matthias Ziindt,
who was a fine ornamentist with a delicate style of etching,
and also the Master of the Vase Designs (Kraterographie),
closely related in style to Ziindt, and possibly identical
with him. His series of designs for goldsmiths, consisting
of cups and vases, dated 1551, shows remarkable fineness
both of form and execution.
Jost Amman (1539 — 1590) born at Ziirich, and working
in Nuremberg, was another prolific etcher, somewhat
commonplace at times in his imitation of Italian methods,
but many-sided and resourceful, and exercising consider-
able influence on the German art of his time.
Amman's etching, even when he worked on plates
of large dimensions, was fine and delicate, as appears in
his allegorical representation of the Four Elements (fig. 61) ;
moreover, he had the power of producing complicated
effects of light, as in the print showing a night scene
with fireworks. That Amman was in a position to do
justice to the higher claims of art is shown by his etched
portraits of Bishop Friedrich of Wlirzburg and of Adam
Kahl. Nuremberg still remained the principal seat of
production of everything connected with the making of
prints. Amman's immediate successors at Nuremberg
were the etchers, Lorenz Strauch(i554 — 1630) and Hans
Sibmacher (died 161 1), the latter of whom designed a
132 ENGRAVING IN GERMANY (1527—1600)
famous " Book of Heraldry," carefully executed in the style
of the Little Masters.
Among the group of Swiss and Strasburg artists, who
at this period were cultivating the art of wood-cutting
with originality and fertility, Christoph Maurer of Zurich
(1558 — 1614), and Abel Stimmer, are noteworthy also as
etchers.
li^^/'-/%. ^^^:^J^^^;;'J Parallel with the
'^^'' "■ new School, at whose
head stands Jost
Amman, certain
artists were carrying
to still further conclu-
sions the traditions of
the old engravers and
of the first generation
of Little Masters.
Among these were
Franz Brun at Stras-
burg (working be-
tween 1559 and 1596),
and Peter Rodelstadt,
Cranach's successor
at the royal court of
Weimar.
The services ren-
dered by engraving and etching to the arts and crafts
were not limited to the prints of ornament and patterns
designed by professional engravers. Burin and needle
were now frequently employed by goldsmiths and crafts-
men of every kind who wished to spread their artistic
ideas, and particularly by ' architects,' by which term must
be understood not so much working architects as painters
Fig. 61. Jost Amman : The Four Elements
(detail).
ILLUSTRATED BOOKS 133
and wood-carvers, who imagined themselves to be archi-
tectural designers. Foremost among these is VVendelin
Dietterlein, who in 1 593 published his " Architectura," with
209 coarsely etched but pleasing plates, a pattern-book
for furniture-makers, joiners, and similar craftsmen. The
book is full of originality, but the wilful extravagance of
some of the ornamental designs exercised no favourable
influence on the development of the later so-called German
Renaissance. Dietterlein was followed by Guckeisen,
Ebelmann, Veit Eck, George Haas, etc.
The comparative ease in producing etchings caused the
possibility of illustrated works, occasionally of enormous
size, which served to satisfy the passion for pictures in the
same way as our modern illustrated newspapers. One of
these is the series of " Views of Towns," published from
1572 by Georg Braun (or Bruin), Dean of the Church of
St. Maria at Cologne, in conjunction with the painter and
etcher, Franz Hogenberg. It contains a hundred folio-
sized views of towns, most of them extremely good, some
by Hogenberg himself, others executed with the assistance
of a well-organised artistic staff, gathered from far and
near. Hogenberg also published, between 1559 and 1593,
his " De Leone Belgico," with a continuous series of line-
engravings depicting events of the war in the Netherlands.
Planned on a still larger scale than these was the descrip-
tion of countries and travels, illustrated with etchings,
published by Theodor de Bry at Frankfurt on the Main
under the title of " The Two Indies," and continued later
by Merian, till it came to a close with the twenty-fourth
folio volume in 1634. The total pictorial production of
this period in Germany, meritorious though it is in part,
left no artistic influence of any permanent value.
IV
ENGRAVING IN THE LOW COUNTRIES
TPlE beginnings of the art of engraving in the Nether-
lands h'e concealed among the productions of
anonymous artists of the fifteenth century. Whether
engraving was practised to any great extent at this period
in the Netherlands remains unknown. The enigmatic
Master of Zwolle (see above, p. 39), if he actually did
work in Zwolle, is an isolated instance. Out of the dark-
ness that wraps the history of Netherlandish engraving
till after 1500 Lucas Jacobsz van Leyden steps suddenly
into the light. Born possibly in 1494, working at Leyden
and also at Antwerp till his death in 1533, he occupied
a position in the Netherlands like that of Diirer in
Germany. Many-sided and active, with an easy, certain
style, he lacked the depth and soul of his Nuremberg
contemporary. Yet he played one of the most important
parts in the development of Netherlandish art, for he
started the art of his country, in ideas and in choice of
subjects, along those lines on which Dutch painting of the
seventeenth century found expansion. The Dutch types
of religious and profane genre subjects may be traced
back to Lucas van Leyden as their originator.
If tradition is right as to the year of his birth, Lucas
van Leyden was a capable artist at the age of fourteen,
for his engraving of ' Mohamed killing the Monk Sergius,'
134
Fig. 62. Lucas van Leyden : the great ' Ecce Homo ' (detail).
135
136 ENGRAVING IN THE LOW COUNTRIES
showing fully developed technique, is dated i 508. Another
apparently very early plate, ' The Raising of Lazarus,'
appears to have been conceived quite in the spirit of
Ouvvater, the father of Dutch painting. Leyden's work,
amounting to about a hundred and eighty prints, shows
significant changes of style. Particularly at the beginning
of his career, he had a poor knowledge of the anatomy and
motion of the human figure, but this was counterbalanced
by the liveliness and actuality of his conceptions. He
accentuates only what is characteristic in his subject ; for
what is merely pleasing he cares nothing.
In his early days Lucas van Leyden worked on the
copper plate with the greatest ease and simplicity. His
graver lines are sharp and delicate, with stronger emphasis
here and there, while the whole effect of his prints is clear
and pleasing. At a later period, particularly under Diirer's
influence, his work became more formal and regular ; but
his earlier works, with their more free and fresh handling,
convey an immediate sense of charm. In his ' Conversion
of Saul,' a large folio-sized engraving of 1509, he attempted
a bolder style ; but in 15 10, in his great 'Ecce Homo' (fig. 62),
and in his series of nine round plates of the Passion, belong-
ing to the same year, he returned to his habit of careful and
detailed work. The ' Ecce Homo,' just mentioned, is one
of his most mature and most highly finished engravings.
To the years 1510 to 1520 belong such important works
as ' The Return of the Prodigal Son,' ' David playing the
Harp before Saul,' and ' The Adoration of the Kings.' The
last, a composition of great nobility of design and masterly
in execution, is dated 1 5 1 3. A number of small plates treat
genre scenes — The Girl with the Cow, Two Pilgrims
Resting, the Village Surgeon, the Dentist — subjects that
a Dutchman of the seventeenth century would have treated
LUCAS VAN LEYDEN 137
in an absolutely similar \va}'. Lcyden's ' Virgin ' is an ugly
and commonplace type ; only where he depicts subjects of
everyday life, does he appear at the height of his art.
A complete change of style and technique appeared in
the work of Lucas van Leyden about 1520, probably in
consequence of his meeting with Diirer at Antwerp. So
pow^erful was the influence of the Nuremberg master upon
him that in a Passion series of 1521 he imitated DUrer's
treatment, and borrowed both ideas of composition and
the size of his plates from Dlirer's engraved Passion. He
seems almost to have discarded his own individuality, till
by gradual stages he arrived at a union of his own style
with that of Diirer, About 1520 Lucas van Leyden,
possibly again under Diirer's guidance, took to etching,
working not on iron, but on copper, and made the first
attempts, so far as we know, to combine burin work with
etching. This is the case with his portrait in 1520 of the
Emperor Maximilian. The period of Diirer's influence
over Lucas van Leyden's work came to an end in 1528
with his acceptation of a new model in the person of
Marc-Antonio Raimondi. For a second time he threw
overboard all his previous principles, this time in order to
draw and engrave like Raphael's pupil.
' Lot and his Daughters,' ' Mars and Venus,' a set of
the Virtues, etc., bear witness to this revolution, which
remained as unsatisfactory as all the attempts of the Nether-
landish artists of the day to accommodate themselves to
the Italian style. The last dated plates of Lucas van
Leyden, all in the manner of Marc-Antonio, are signed
1530. Lucas van Leyden appears neither to have taught
any pupils nor to have found any immediate followers.
His influence asserted itself far more among later artists
than among those living with or immediately after him.
138 ENGRAVING IN THE LOW COUNTRIES
The engravers attached to the School of Mabuse and
Bernhard van Orley attained no very great importance.
By Jan Gossaert, called Mabuse (worked about 1470 to
1541), we have two thinly engraved prints of the Madonna.
In style Mabuse is related to the Master who signs with
a Crab, and whose name may have been Crabbe. Like
him, partly influenced by German art, is the engraver
traditionally known as Allacrt Claesz or Claessen. A
Little Master of the Flemish type is the engraver usually
known as the Master S., of Brussels. The large number
of his existing prints gives rise to the conjecture that the
mark S represents the work of a whole studio. Attached
to him come a number of engravers. Cornelis Metsys
(working from 1520 to about 1560) appears to be a weak
imitator of Marc-Antonio and of the German Little
Masters. The natural development of Netherlandish en-
graving, from the middle of the sixteenth century onwards,
was interrupted by the overpowering influence of Italy,
a power to which Lucas van Leyden had already suc-
cumbed. Netherlandish artists travelled to Italy, and
Italians to the Netherlands, as is proved by Giorgio
Ghisi's stay at Antwerp about 1551. The union of Italian
and Netherlandish elements appears in Lambert Suavius,
who worked at Li'ittich, and was son-in-law and pupil of
Lambert Lombard, possibl}', too, a German by birth
(Suavius, i.e. the Suabian). In composition and in tech-
nique he attempted to strike a mean between Lucas van
Leyden on the one hand and Marc-Antonio on the other.
In the history of engraving at Antwerp the enormious
activity of the Antwerp art publisher, Hieronymus Cock,
is of particular importance. Cock, himself a skilled en-
graver and etcher, had close relations with the engravers
on both sides of the Alps, and in the prints issued by
THE BROTHERS VVIERIX
139
him popularised the work of the elder Breughel, as well
as that of the Italian post-classical painters. During his
visit to Antwerp Giorgio Ghisi engraved some of his prin-
cipal plates for publication by Cock. Cock's pupil and
assistant, Cor-
nel i s C o r t ,
travelled later
to Italy, and
won there a
position of im-
portance and
distinction. Be-
sides the artists
mentioned, and
others like them,
who engraved
after Italian
painters or after
native painters
working on
Italian lines —
such as Adrian
Collaert, Philipp
Galle, Jan van
Stalburch, etc. —
there was a little
group of en-
ijravers who
Fig. 63. Hieronj'mus Wierix : The child Christ
with the Instruments of the Passion.
clung fast to the traditions of the older northern School.
At the head of this group stand those remarkable
engravers, the three brothers Wierix. In order to judge
their work aright it must be clearly borne in mind that
their native town, Antwerp, at the latter part of the
I40 ENGRAVING IN THE LOW COUNTRIES
sixteenth and in the seventeenth century, was the head-
quarters of an artistic industry, which supplied all Catholic
countries with religious pictures, and at the same time
exported large numbers of portraits and profane subjects.
In the production of engravings artists of every rank
found employment : the master engraver finished the
principal parts, leaving the accessories to his assistants;
and frequently father and sons, brothers and sisters, all
handled the burin on common tasks.
The brothers Jan (1549 — i6i5),Hieronymus(i55i — 1619),
and Anton (d. 1624) Wierix are eminent examples of this
partition of work. The eldest, Jan, showed very early
developed talent, and had complete mastery over the burin
at the age of twelve. He was twelve when he copied
Diirer's ' Man of Sorrows,' and at fourteen he made a copy
of ' The Knight, Death, and the Devil,' considered by his
contemporaries to be so near to the original as to be
almost deceptive. The Nuremberg master had a strong;
and lasting influence not only over Jan, but over his
brothers as well. In their handling of tender and silvery
tones, and in fineness and delicacy of drawing, all three
strove to emulate Diirer. The subjects by Flemish
imitators of Italy, Calvaert, Floris, De Vos, Venius, and
the others 'after whom they engraved, and the formal
mannerism of the compositions which they had to follow,,
gives their work the appearance of bastard pictures, with
their great charm of pleasing technique often unpleasantly
contrasted with emptiness of idea and lack of real artistic
feeling. In respect to their actual ability and method of
treatment the three brothers stand almost on a level.
Where the signature is confined to the family name, it is
impossible to distinguish the work of one from another.
The largest place among the engravings of the brothers
THE BROTHERS WIERIX 141
Wierix is taken by their scenes from the New Testament
and the lives of the Saints, the latter usually in the form
made current by the Jesuits. The most valuable part,
however, of the Wierix engravings consists of the portraits,
among which the small ones in particular show high finish,
Fig. 64. Hendrick Goltzius : The Massacre of the Innocents (detail).
and are usually set in an elegant oval. Hieronymus also
undertook the engraving of life-sized heads, such as that of
Henriette d'Etrangues, in which it is absolutely astonishing
how he managed to retain a harmonious effect while
covering large spaces with his close and subtle technique.
142 ENGRAVING IN THE LOW COUNTRIES
The work of the three brothers together amounts to a
total of over two thousand prints.
Nicolas de Bru}'n was born somewhere about 1570, is
known to have been working at Antwerp in 1601, and died
about, or after, 165 1. He not only engraved his own
original work, but also reproduced the paintings of Flemish
artists, such as Vinckboons, Bloemaert, etc. He executed
large plates with a remarkably thin technique, imitated
from Lucas van Leyden, and in his own compositions also
followed the style of the same master, but succeeded only
in producing a somewhat ineffective multiplication of
figures. Much finer are his large and closely worked
landscapes, full of figures, after Vinckboons. The dates
on Bruyn's engravings run from 1594 to 165 1. His best
work falls between 1600 and 1620.
The great expansion of Flemish and Dutch painting
at the close of the sixteenth and the beginning of the
seventeenth century had also its effect on the art of
engraving, for which a new period of prosperity began.
The traditions of the old masters had become exhausted.
The influence of Italian art had for a long time threatened
to estrange Netherlandish artists from their true natural
impulse, till new masters appeared, who united foreign and
native elements, and guided the art of their country into
new paths. In the domain of engraving the principal
author of the change thus accomplished was Hendrick
Goltzius (1558 — 1616), who worked at Haarlem.
W'ith an extraordinary gift for the technical side of
engraving, Goltzius triumphed victoriously over the older
close and detailed treatment and the newer, broader style
for which Agostino Carracci had set the example. In his
early works he imitated Diirer and Lucas van Leyden, as
in his ' Virgin with the Dead Christ,' of 1 596, and his
HENDRICK GOLTZIUS
143
Passion series (B. 27-38). Imitative also are his famous
so-called ' Six Masterpieces,' in which he attempted to
show how he could compose and engrave in the manner
of Raphael, Durer, Lucas van Leyden, Carracci, etc.,
equalling each master in his own particular style. As an
actual fact, ' The Circumcision of Christ ' in Diirer's style,
and ' The Adoration of the Kings ' in the manner of Lucas
outward seeming, marvellous
van Leyden are, in all
imitations ; but it must
be admitted — and, in-
deed, nothing else could
be expected— that they
lack entirely the quali-
ties that form the real
essence of the great
originals. Goltzius is a
finer artist, and appears
in a much more favour-
able light, when he fol-
lows his own natural
course, as in his ' Son
of the Painter Frisius,'
with the large hound.
His numerous portraits,
sometimes of minute size and showing most delicate
work, sometimes almost life-size, such as his own por-
trait with the large beard, are all executed with unsur-
passed boldness in the free sweep of his line. No other
artist has ever had such complete command over the
whole scale of burin work, from the closest to the
broadest handling. In his mythological and allegorical
compositions Goltzius works in the spirit of the northern
imitators of Italy, carrying their mannered treatment
Fig. 65.
Hcndrick Goltzius : Portrait
of Niquet (detail).
144 ENGRAVING IN THE LOW COUNTRIES
to an excess of eccentricity. Sometimes these plates
are engraved after Martin de Vos, Primaticcio, Strada,
and others ; sometimes they are his own composition. It
is only the technical execution, the bravura with which he
cuts the copper cleanly, strongly, and with the greatest
conceivable ease, that
gives their lasting
value to these plates
by Goltzius.
Goltzius supplied in-
spiration to a number
of artists, who were
partly his pupils, and
partly engraved from
his designs. Among
the first to follow him
most closely in great
technical skill were
Jacob Matham(i57i —
163 1 ) and Jan Saenre-
dam (1565 — 1607).
Another pupil of
Goltzius was Jacob de
Gheyn (the Elder),
whose technique was
fine, and who produced
prints, sometimes with
Fig. 66.
Jan Saenredam . Ceres (detail).
unpleasant mannerisms, sometimes spirited and interest-
ing. How much of these was the work of his son, who
bore the same name and was an accomplished draughts-
man, remains undecided.
Jan Muller, another pupil of Goltzius (working from
1598 to 1625), comes very near to his master in dashing
CRISPIN DE PASSE 145
vigour of technique. In his engravings after Spranger, de
Vries, and similar masters he seems scarcely able to satisfy
his love of bold and sweeping, though inexpressive, lines.
It is noteworthy that he had the gift of copying Aldegrever
and Lucas van Leyden, and at the same time of finding
the exact means of expression on the copper plate for a
painting by Rubens, as, for example, in his two fine
portraits of the Archduke Albrecht and his wife. Muller
also engraved a series of plates from his own designs,
which are not particularly original.
Contemporary with the School of Goltzius, Abraham
Bloemaert (of Utrecht, 1564 — 1651) is another engraver of
influence. In his engravings, as in his paintings, the
adherence to Italian methods is clearly apparent. In
contrast to Goltzius, he imitated the " morbidezza " of the
Italians with delicate softness of m.odelling. In spite of
its weakness in some respects, the work of Bloemaert acted
as an excellent counterpoise to that of Goltzius and Muller.
His son, Cornelius Bloemaert (1603 — 1680), followed on the
whole in his father's footsteps, though working in France.
The work of a single family, such as that of the De Passe,
serves to illustrate the extensive scale on which engravings
were produced at this period and the manner of their
making. The first engraver of the family, Crispin de Passe
(died at Rotterdam in 1637), worked in the style of Wierix,
and at times approached that of Goltzius. His sons
Crispin, Simon, Wilhelm, and his daughter Magdalena
followed almost exactly their father's style, and so too did
the son of Crispin the younger, Crispin HI. These last-
named engravers worked by turns in France, Holland
and England, producing a host of portraits, genre pictures,
title-pages and illustrations of all kinds. For more than
ninety years they upheld the traditions of the older style
10
146 ENGRAVING IN THE LOW COUNTRIES
of engraving with its finer technique. Their combined
work between 1587 and 1678 shows such complete harmony
and agreement, that the share taken by the different
members of the Passe family is almost impossible to
distinguish. In spite of their enormous output, amounting
to over two thousand plates, they maintained a remarkably
high standard both from the technical and artistic point
of view.
No artist who was not himself a professional engraver
has ever exercised so far-reaching an influence over the
development of the art of engraving as Peter Paul Rubens.
Like Raphael, Rubens early recognised what valuable
assistance the engraver could supply in the propagation
of his work. To the numerous pupils and assistants
working in his large studio Rubens added engravers whose
task it was to reproduce his paintings as soon as they
were finished. He had the knack of influencing and
directing these engravers, without depriving them of their
technical individuality, to such an extent that they com-
pletely followed him in style and idea ; and he thus
gathered round him a school of engravers such as no other
master of painting, either before or since, has ever called
into existence. By means of the privileges which Rubens
obtained from the Stadtholders of the Netherlands^
the Dutch States-General, and the King of France, he
ensured for himself the full profits procured by the sale of
the prints made from his paintings. At first Rubens had
to rely on engravers who had been trained in other schools,,
and who, before they came to him, had already developed
too far along independent lines to be able to adapt them-
selves closely to his particular style : Cornelis Galle and
Willem Swanenburg may serve as examples. Closer to
Rubens in much of his work stands Jan Muller, though
LUCAS VORSTERMAN
147
he can hardly be claimed as belonging to the Rubens
school. The first of the Rubens engravers trained by the
painter himself was Pieter Soutman of Haarlem (born 1580,
worked after 1620 at Antwerp). His soft and brilliant
treatment in a union of etching and line-engraving
interprets with admirable success Rubens' brush-work and
Fig. 67. Paul Pontius : The Ascension of the Virgin (detail).
drawing. Among his engravings are 'The Destruction of
Sennacherib,' ' Venus rising from the Sea/ ' The Miraculous
Draught of Fishes,' etc. Contemporary with Soutman,
and working partly in his manner for Rubens, was Lucas
Vorsterman, a Dutchman (born 1595, died after 1667),
whom Rubens himself seems to have trained as an
148 ENGRAVING IN THE LOW COUNTRIES
engraver. On the proofs of many of his plates Rubens
made corrections with pencil and white body-colour, which
Vorsterman transferred to the plate with extraordinary
comprehension and skill. Among all the engravers who
worked under the direction of Rubens, Vorsterman stands
easily first in his facility for expressing the individual style
of his master without in any way weakening its strength,
and also in his vigour and freedom of execution. With
inconceivable fertility he produced during the short time
of his connection with Rubens — it seems to have come
to a close in 1622, when Vorsterman was only twenty-
seven — a series of highly important works, such as ' The
Great Crucifixion ' and the enormous ' Battle of the
Amazons.' At a later period he was at work in England,
and again at Antwerp, but no longer in connection with
Rubens. A notable work of this later period is his ' Rose
Garland Festival ' after Caravaggio.
Vorsterman's place was taken by his still younger pupil,
Paul du Pont, called Pontius (1603 — 1658), who after 1623
was under the immediate instruction of Rubens. In skill of
technique he is on a higher rank than his teacher, being more
brilliant, though less fluent in drawing. Rubens' journey
to Spain interrupted for a time the work of Pontius. The
most noteworthy works of his first period are the 'Ascension '
(fig. 6"]^, ' St. Rochs,' the ' Entombment,' ' Tomyris,' and the
large portrait of Rubens by himself To his later period, after
the death of Rubens, belongs ' The Great Massacre of the
Innocents.' Pontius also worked in connection with Van
Dyck, whose style with its evenly balanced finish appealed
to his sympathy more than the nervous manner of Rubens.
Boetius a Bolswert and Schelte a Bolswert were already
proficient engravers when they came to Antwerp about
1620. Before this time they had produced a quantity of
SCHELTE A BOLSWERT
149
work after INIiercvclt, Bloemacrt, and others. Both were
excellent artists, and held fast to pure burin work
without any assistance from etching. Boetius, who died
in 1634, came very close to Vorsterman's style in
Fig. 68. Schclte a Bolswert : The Marriage of the Virgin (detail).
his best plates after Rubens, such as the ' Crucifixion.
Schelte was still more extensively occupied in the repro-
duction of Rubens' compositions. None of the Rubens
engravers had command of such artistic power and
ISO ENGRAVING IN THE LOW COUNTRIES
adaptability. Without losing their character as creations
of Rubens, Schelte's prints maintain their individuality
as independent engravings to a greater extent than the
work of any other engraver after this master. In his
landscapes after Rubens the intention and character of
the painting are most sympathetically rendered. Among
Schelte's best-known works are ' Christ on the Cross,'
' The Miraculous Draught of Fishes,' ' The Birth of
Christ,' ' The Holy Family,' and ' The Annunciation.'
Scarcely less admirable are his engravings after Van
Dyck, Quellinus, etc.
The path indicated by Vorsterman and Pontius was
followed by a number of younger engravers, who showed
marked ability without introducing any new artistic element
into the reproduction of Rubens' works. The engravers
during the last ten years before the death of the master,
1630 — 1640, appear to have no longer stood in such close
relationship to Rubens as was the case at earlier periods.
A more skilful engraver, somewhat dry in technique, was
Pieter de Jode the younger (1606 — 1674), who in his best
work (' The Three Graces,' etc.) approached Bolswert,
though he engraved not only after Rubens, but also after
Van Dyck (' Renard and Armida'), Seghersa nd Jordaens.
His work, however, is uneven and often superficial.
Jan Witdoek (born 1604, died after 1641), a pupil of the
painter and etcher Cornelis Schut, had remarkable power
of expressing colour, but often weakens in an unpleasant
way the drawing of Rubens, particularly the heads.
Vorsterman found capable successors among his numerous
pupils, Nicolas Ryckemans, Nicolas and Conrad Lauwers,
Jacob Neeffs, Anton van der Does, and others, but
particularly in Marin Robin, called Marinus, who had a
perfect grasp of his style.
ANTHONY VAN DYCK 151
The influence of Rubens was not limited to line-engraving
alone, for etching and wood-engraving also owed much
to his active support. In Antwerp itself the Rubens
school of engravers did not long survive the death of its
founder. Its influence, however, extended with rich results
to Holland on the one hand, France on the other, and
descended to several succeeding generations of artists.
It was from his teacher Rubens that Van Dyck obtained
his interest in engraving. Under Van Dyck's direction
appeared the collection of engraved portraits of persons
of distinction, known as the ' Iconography,' for which he
provided the originals, usually in the form of sketches in
grisaille. These sketches were only partly based on actual
portraits from life ; in a large number, certainly in the
portraits of celebrities who were already dead at his
time. Van Dyck must have used older portraits, redrawn
to suit his particular purpose. The natural consequence
was that the separate sketches and the prints prepared
from them were of extremely varying value. Pontius,
Bolswert, Vorsterman, de Jode, and other engravers of
this group took part in the execution of these portraits.
Some of the plates were originally etched by Van Dyck
himself (see below), and then completed with the burin
by one of these engravers. The ' Iconography ' contains
in the different editions from eighty to a hundred and
ninety-nine portraits.
While Dutch painting was at its most flourishing period,
the artists of Holland as a rule devoted their attention
to etching rather than line-engraving ; but the peculiarly
fine qualities of Dutch painting stimulated the (ew
native line-engravers, several of whom possessed distinct
talent, to transfer to copper the pictorial effects of their
native school.
152 ENGRAVING IN THE LOW COUNTRIES
Under the influence of Mierevelt his son-in-law, William
Jacobsz Delff (1580 — 1638), trained himself as an engraver
of portraits, his principal work lying in the reproduction
of a long series of Mierevelt's portraits, in which the
character of the original painting is most excellently
rendered.
Jan van de Velde (born about 1596, working in Haarlem
till after 1641 ; see also below) produced several engravings
marked by delicacy and brilliance, particularly effective being
his landscapes and night-scenes (the ' Story of Tobias,' after
Uijtenbroek, for example). Founded on his style is that
of Hendrick Goudt (Utrecht, 1585 — 1630), best known for
his highly finished reproductions of the work of Elsheimer.
In spite of the shortness of his career, Cornelis Visscher
(1629 — 1662 ; probably working in Amsterdam or Haar-
lem) ranks among the most distinguished engravers of
the seventeenth century. His work with the burin is free
from all conventionality in the arrangement of lines, and
he unites etching and line-engraving with a soft and
harmonious effect, particularly in his own peculiar treat-
ment of flesh and hair. Of Visscher's prints, amounting
to about two hundred in all, the best are his fine and
spirited portraits of his contemporaries, particularly re-
markable being that of the poet Vondel, and that known
as 'The Three Beards' (de Bouma, de Ryck, and Scriverius).
Visscher was also a most skilful interpreter of the paintings
of Ostade and Brouwer, in whose style he produced some ex-
tremely happy compositions of his own, such as his ' Woman
Baking,' ' The Ratcatcher ' (fig, 69), and other prints.
In the same spirit as Visscher, and with fine pictorial
feeling, worked Jonas Suyderhoef (perhaps a pupil of
Souterman), whose dated plates show that he was engraving
in Holland from 1641 to 1669. He used his burin with
Fig. Go, Coi ii£liui \'isscher : The Ratcatcher i^detail_).
154 ENGRAVING IN THE LOW COUNTRIES
absolutely unrestrained freedom, almost like an etching-
needle, and in his bold and vicjorous engravincrs after the
Fig. 70. Jonas Suyderhoef : Portrait of the Preacher, van Aken.
portraits of Frans Hals he succeeded wonderfully in
reproducing the effect of the originals, even to the broad
brush-marks (fig. 70).
JACOB HOUBRAKEN i55
The changes of taste in Dutch art of the eighteenth
century show a swift dccHne. While the remembrance
of the great glories of the past was never quite blotted
out, all the branches of art in Holland at this later
period produced only a few isolated artists who had any
pretension to special importance. One instance of such
isolation is Jacob Houbrakcn (born at Dordrecht in 1698,
died at Amsterdam in
1780), who made it his
special endeavour to
uphold the traditions
of his native school of
engraving, and at the
same time to combine
with them the elegance
of the French school
which was now rising
into prominence. In
the course of his long
life Houbraken executed
some seven hundred
portraits after contem-
porary or earlier paint-
ings. To the very last
he maintained an even
level of excellence in his
careful and well-considered treatment. His drawing is
correct, his technique soft and distinct, the general effect
of his prints bright and pleasing. As a portrait engraver,
Houbraken was in great request. Contemporary with him,
and also working in Holland, were Peter Tanje (1706 —
1761), and Simon Fokke (1712— 1784), both of them
merely weak imitators of French and English methods.
Fig. 71.
Dirk van Staar : The Holy
Family.
156 ENGRAVING IN THE LOW COUNTRIES
Etching came into vogue in the Netherlands during the
sixteenth century somewhat later than in Germany,
About 1520 Lucas van Leyden, in his portrait of the
Emperor Maximilian, used etching as a base for comple-
tion with the burin, but did not practise the new process-
to any further extent. The artist with the signature
D*V, to whom tradition gives the name of Dirk van
Staar (or Staaren), and who appears to have worked as.
a painter of glass in Brussels, perhaps became acquainted
with the process of etching in Germany. His early plates-
(fig. 71), small in size, and dated from 1522 onwards, show
fine technique in the delicate style of the Little Masters;
and the same is the case with his latest work, a ' Deluge ' of
1 544. At the same time, however, he was working also in
pure line-engraving. His engraved work is distinguished
from that of B. van Orley, whom he closely approaches
in style, by greater directness and more natural charm.
Hans Bol (born at Mechlin 1534, died at Amsterdam
1593), a painter of bright little figure subjects among rich
landscape, occasionally worked on the copper plate. As
a rule, the Netherlandish artists received their impulse
towards etching during their journeys- to Italy, and
north-country etching grew to maturity as the daughter
of contemporary Italian art. Frans de Vriendt, called
Frans Floris, who worked at Antwerp about 15 19 — 1570,.
reveals himself in his coarse and unpleasant etchings as
one of the earliest representatives of this imitation of
Italian methods. Bartolomaus Spranger (born at Antwerp
1546, died at Prague 1608?), and Petrus Feddes of Har-
lingen (died at Leuwarden about 1622), followed in the
path of the Italian imitators, while Jan Bouchorst (born at
Haarlem 1 580, died 1630) kept closer in style to the northern
realists and the technique of the older German School.
PETER PAUL RUBEXS
157
The landscape painter, Paulus Bril (born at Antwerp
1554, died at Rome 1626), showed in his work a happy
union of Italian elements with originality of conception
and a simple, effective style. Roeland Savery (born at
Courtrai 1576, died at Utrecht 1639) might almost count
as a pupil of the
older German
etchers ; so too
might David
Vincboons(born
at Mechlin 1578,
died at Amster-
dam 1629), with
his few rough,
but vigorously
drawn plates.
By the school
of engravers,
who formed the
group of which
Rubens was the
centre, etching
was certainly
practised, but
it never attained
thesameamount
of use or im-
portance as did
line-engraving. Whether Peter Paul Rubens (born at
Siegen 1577, died at Antwerp 1640) actually used the
etching-needle cannot be ascertained with certainty, but
he is always considered to be the author of three plates.
The most free and spirited of these is a ' St. Catharine
Fig. 72.
Anthonj' Van Dyck : Portrait of
Ph. Le Roy.
158 ENGRAVING IN THE LOW COUNTRIES
upon Clouds,' quite in the manner of Rubens' fully de-
veloped style. In the state in which the plate is known
to us it has without doubt been worked over by a
professional engraver, perhaps Vorsterman. This is still
more the case with ' The Old Woman with the Candle/
while the bust of Seneca (a unique proof is in the British
Museum) shows in its state of pure etching a use of line
that approaches very nearly to Rubens' manner of draw-
ing, Anthony Van Dyck (born at Antwerp 1599^
died in London 1641) is of no small importance as an
etcher. During the years of his continuous stay at Ant-
werp, 1628 — 1635, he produced a series of original plates,
which show that he never obtained complete mastery
over the technique of etching, but which, in view of
their power of expression and fineness of conception,
stand at the summit of his art. Of the nineteen por-
traits that Van Dyck flung so finely on to the copper,
though often with mishaps in the etching, the most note-
worthy are his own portrait, the portrait of Le Roy (fig.
72), and those of the engravers Pontius and Vorsterman.
In their later state the plates were worked over with the
burin by professional engravers, who added the costume
and background. Possibly Van Dyck intended these to
serve as patterns and examples for his ' Iconography.'
Cornells Schut (Antwerp, 1597 — 1655) left a large
number of simply treated etchings, which followed
Rubens in the handling of the figures and in variety
of invention (fig. 73). Coarser and less attractive are
the plates of Theodor van Thulden (Herzogenbusch,.
1606 — 1676), in which the burin has been employed
to provide additional strength, and which must perhaps
be considered as partly the work of a quite inferior
encfraver.
DAVID TEXIERS
159
That Jacob Jordacns rAntucrp, 1593 — 1678) was
the author of the poor and dull prints that pass
under his name is extrcmel}- unlikely. Probably-
all of them were executed after Jordacns' composi-
tions by a minor
engraver of no
importance. The
same is the case
with David Teniers
the younger (born
at Antwerp 16 10,
died at Brussels
1690), whose
authorship of the
forty -two plates
that bear his signa-
ture, or are usuall}'
ascribed to him,
may in most cases
be absolutely re-
jected, and in re-
g a r d to the
remainder is at any
rate doubtful. At
times they have a
general air of re-
semblance to his
pictures, but they
are lacking in the
fresh expression of nature which is displayed in his paint-
ings and drawings.
All through this period the landscape etchings of the
Flemish School are more numerous and, on the whole,
Fig. 73. Cornelis Schut : Allegorical
composition (detail).
i6o ENGRAVING IN THE LOW COUNTRIES
more original and pleasing than their figure subjects.
The two small etch.cd landscapes by Jan Breughel the
elder (born at Brussels 1568, died at Antwerp 1625),
establish by their delicate and charming treatment the
genuineness of the signature upon them, and permit the
conjecture that their author was not handling the needle
Fig. 74. Lucas van Uden : Landscape (detail).
for the first time in their making, although we know no
other etchings from his hand. Freely handled, and in
comparison with his paintings almost broad in effect,
are the landscapes of Adriaen van Stalbent (Antwerp,
1580 — 1662), showing a rich variety of scenery and
figures. Lucas van Uden (Antwerp, 1595 — 1672) devoted
himself to the picturing of the undulating plains, studded
LUCAS VAN UDEN i6r
with groups of trees, that are characteristic of his
native land, and shows a fine sense of the relations of
tone in his distances (fig. 74). At a later period he was
strongly influenced by the method of treating landscape
for which Rubens set the example. On many occasions
he etched landscapes after Titian, following drawings or
paintings that had found their way to the Netherlands.
Akin to Van Uden in his early plates is Lodewyck de
Vadder (Brussels, 1605 — 1655), who also reproduced his
native scener}", but afterwards severed his early associa-
tions, and sought his model in the Dutch artist, Water-
loo. Ignatius van der Stock, who was still living at
Brussels in 1660, seems to have clung longest to the
older Flemish traditions in his broad and vigorous land-
scape plates.
The animal pictures of this school are represented in
the domain of etching by the work of Jan Fyt (Antwerp,
161 1 — 1661), the etcher of a series of somewhat coarse,
but carefully handled plates, showing various breeds of
dogs. Pieter Boel (Antwerp, 1623 — 1674) was another
animal etcher, while Jan Baptiste de Wael (Antwerp,
1557 ? — 1633 ?), belonging to an older generation, followed
in the footsteps of the Italianised Flemings, and in general
reproduced other artists' compositions.
While Flemish art of the seventeenth century favoured
engraving rather than etching, in Holland etching won
special popularity, and reached there the full development
of its artistic and technical qualities. Almost all the
Dutch artists of this period used the etching-needle, some
of them only occasionally or experimentally, while others —
and among these were a number of the greatest masters —
found in etching their principal means of artistic expres-
sion.
IT
i62 ENGRAVING IN THE LOW COUNTRIES
The various movements and tendencies of Dutch paint-
ing found corresponding expression in Dutch etching. One
group of artists sought their subjects amid native surround-
ings, while a second found inspiration 'in Italian landscape
and southern life. In the work of both these groups
there are, of course, transitional and intermediary stages.
The etchers, who found their subjects among their
native Dutch scenery, were certainly the successors of
the older Flemish artists, but they ended by giving charm
to their landscapes more by sheer truth to nature than
by rich variety of scenery.
Jan van de Velde (see also above, p. 152) used his
needle in a simple, straightforward style, without definite
aim at painter-like qualities. His series of prints, such
as his Seasons and Months, with their richness of rural
scenery, are pleasing throughout in their clear, sharp
execution ; but he possessed also the art of giving
reality to the charm of simple and quite unpretending
bits of landscape. Jan's elder brother, Esaias van de
Velde (born at Amsterdam before 1590, died at The
Hague 1630) shows similar precision and sharpness of
execution.
The landscape prints of Jan van Goyen (Leyden, 1596 —
1656), one of the founders of Dutch landscape painting,,
appear to belong on the whole to his early period. They
correspond approximately to his style of painting between
1625 and 1630. No particular advance is shown in the
landscapes, studded with large groups of figures, by Pieter
Moly the elder (born in London about 1596, died at
Haarlem 1661). Herman Saftleven (born at Rotterdam
1609, died at Haarlem 1685) whenever he devotes parti-
cular care to his plates shows great power of rendering
happily the fine gradations of tone in distant landscape^
ALLAERT VAN EVERDINGEN
163
but his treatment is frequently harsh and coarse. Jan
Almeloven and Jan van Aken stand in fairly close re-
lationship to Saftleven.
Allaert van Everdingen (born at Alkmaar 1621 ?, died
at Amsterdam 1675), following his master, Roelant Savery,
took special pleasure in depicting hilly and rocky land-
scapes, finding his subjects in the Tyrol and in Norway
Fig. 75- Allaert van Everdingen : Norwegian landscape.
(fig- 75)- ^he years 1645 to 1654 saw the appearance of
the majority of his hundred and sixty-seven prints, usually
small in size, carefully and cleverly worked. Everdingen
also etched fifty-seven illustrations to " Reynard the
Fox," finely designed compositions, which were frequently
imitated by later illustrators of the poem.
By Jacob van Ruisdael (Haarlem, 1628 — 1682) are
ten etched landscapes, whose charming treatment shows
i64 ENGRAVING IN THE LOW COUNTRIES
considerable similarity to the artist's style of painting.
Delicately executed with a fine point is his ' Three Oaks '
(fio-. 'jG) of 1646 ; broadly and richly treated his ' Little
Fig. 76. Jacob van Ruisdael : Landscape (detail).
Bridge' and the 'Two Peasants in a Wood.' In these
prints Ruisdael's artistic individuality is powerfully dis-
played in his careful building up of all the separate details
ANTHONY WATERLOO 165
of the landscape, and in his clear, expressive drawing. In
Ruisdael's etchings there appears no trace of the influence
of Everdingen, whom he frequently followed in his
paintings of rocky landscapes and waterfalls. As an
imitator of Ruisdael may be mentioned Adriaan Verboom
(born 1628, died after 1667) and to a lesser degree C, van
Beeresteyn (died 1648).
Among Ruisdael's followers may be counted Anthony
Waterloo (born about 1618 at Amsterdam, died 1677?),
known almost solely as an etcher. His numerous plates
depict woodland views and the undulating plains dotted
with groups of trees on the borders of Holland and North
Germany. The prints of this artist, who was at one time
appreciated far more than he deserved, are uniform and
mediocre ; the early proofs only of his plates are really
pleasing, later states being all disfigured by reworking.
The etchings of Roelant Roghmans, on which his daughter
Gertruid also worked, resemble those of Waterloo, but
frequently surpass them in feeling for the finer passages
of landscape ; sometimes, however, their clearness and
repose is entirely spoiled by the frequent use of dots
between the lines made by the needle. Simon de Vlieger
(Rotterdam, 1601 — 1653) etched landscapes, enlivened with
figures, in the tender, silvery grey manner that characterises
his paintings. Gillis Neyts and Hendrich Naiwinx
(Neiwinck) etched small plates in a delicate style, choosing
their subjects on the borders of the Netherlands and amid
the river scenery of the upper Maas.
Dutch art of the seventeenth century showed the realisa-
tion of a new element in painting — the power of
picturing dim, subdued light and the fine gradations and
reflections of lights and shadows in the interior of a room.
This quality in painting is called chiaroscuro. The
i66 ENGRAVING IN THE LOW COUNTRIES
development of the appreciation of chiaroscuro can be
followed fairly clearly in oil-painting, but only incompletely
in etching. Elsheimer may be designated as the first who
consciously strove to obtain chiaroscuro effects in painting,
while contemporarily with him Goudt followed the same
tendency in line-engraving. At a later period Rembrandt
succeeded in gaining complete command of chiaroscuro
both in painting and etching, and made use of all the
nuances of light and shade as a means of refined artistic
expression. The fact that Rembrandt's style largely
reacted on that of older artists contemporary with him,
makes it difficult to sketch clearly the actual development
of chiaroscuro. Pieter Eastman (Amsterdam, 1583 — 1633)
may be supposed to have practised in etching the new
method of treating light and shade before Rembrandt's
day. In regard to the etchings of Leonard Bramer (i595 —
1674) and Gerrit Bleecker (worked 1620 — 1656) it may be
assumed that both were already working under the influence
of Rembrandt. Moses van Uijtenbroeck (The Hague,
about 1590 — 1648), a follower of Elsheimer, may perhaps
be counted among the forerunners of Rembrandt. He
etched and engraved biblical and mythological subjects in
a capable and painter-like style. The work of Claes
Cornelisz Moeyaert (Amsterdam, 1600 — 1669) is coarser,
and is probably influenced by Rembrandt.
Of marked importance in the history of etching is the
striking individuaHty of Hercules Seghers (born 1589, died
at Amsterdam about 1650), who to some extent anticipated
the genius of Rembrandt. Adverse external circumstances
manifestly hindered the development of his great talents,
but the little work by him that we possess is pleasing and
original throughout. In his etchings, which picture now
flat low-lying country, now fanciful hilly landscapes, he
REMBRANDT 167
sought to obtain on his copper plate new and hitherto
unknown effects. He printed his etchings not with
printer's ink, but in different colours, and by means of all
manner of devices gave his separate prints the appearance
of cunning sketches in colour. Seghcrs' tentative and
partially successful experiments in obtaining colour-prints
by means of copper plates were renewed a century later
and placed on a practical basis. Fifty prints altogether
by Seghers are now known ; almost invariably separate
proofs of the same print differ from one another in the
colouring.
Almost every aspect of Dutch art, every quality that
helped to form its character, is displayed in the work of
that master-artist Rembrandt Harmensz van Rijn (born
at Leyden 1606, died at Amsterdam 1669). The technical
ability and the imaginative power of the school from
which he sprang were widened and deepened by him to
limits which only a few select masters of painting had
reached before his day, and to which none have since
attained. He recognised no divisions in art ; everything
pictorial he claimed as his own ; but he investigated every-
thing in the clear light of truth, and on its reproduction
he placed the firm stamp of his own personality, creating
masterpieces by sheer power of mighty genius.
All that can be said of Rembrandt as the greatest
painter of this later period may be applied equally to him
as etcher. In both branches of technique he shows the
same characteristic qualities. The changes in treatment
of colour and in subject which divide the different periods
of Rembrandt's work as a painter are displayed equally
in his work on the copper plate. With instinctive certainty
he discovered a corresponding means of expressing in
etching the principles that marked his painting at each
i68 ENGRAVING IN THE LOW COUNTRIES
particular period. If we examine his collected etchings,
which amount to three hundred and sixty prints, we see
unfolded before us the consistent development of his art,
a clear and steady growth of power and purpose, such
as has been shown by scarcely any other artist in early
or modern days.
Rembrandt's first etchings were executed during the
Leyden period, but he
seems to have com-
pletely reworked at a
later time the two
women's heads dated
1628, and it is only in
this later state that they
have come to us. His
large portrait of himself
in 1629 (B. 338) is
roughly sketched on the
copper with a thick
needle. He frequently
at this period etched his
own portrait in various
aspects and positions,
or sketched beggars or
figures in street scenes
from models that came easily to hand. He was still
struggling with technique ; his etching was by no means
as successful as he wished. About 1630 he began to
obtain greater mastery of the art, and besides etching
heads and single figures he placed on the copper during
the year two scenes from the New Testament (B. 51 and 66\
finely executed, but with an obvious uncertainty in obtain-
ing the desired effect. More powerful and vigorous handling
Fig. 77-
Rembrandt van Rijn : Beggars.
REMBRANDT
169
is shown in the five portraits of himself (fig. 78), finished
during the year, and in the numerous figures of beggars
(fig. 'j'jy These last are literal and unbeautiful repro-
ductions of the reality that appealed to his artistic sense,
entirely free from any touch of caricature, and showing a
trace of the modern feeling for the realistic portrayal of
the pathos of human life. To the time of his removal to
Amsterdam in 163 1 belongs his first genre piece, 'The
Fig. 7S. Rembrandt van Rijn : Portrait of himself (detail).
Rat Killer' (B. 121), and probably 'The Raising of
Lazarus ' (B. 73), a work of large dimensions, which in
spite of its fine qualities seems still to indicate a want of
confidence. Rembrandt made frequent alterations and
improvements in this first large work, as is shown by
its ten different states, all marked by considerable varia-
tions. His 'Descent from the Cross' of 1633 (B. 81)
shows a similar broad and coarse, though more complete,
I70 ENGRAVING IN THE LOW COUNTRIES
method of handling. The uncertain action of the acid
on the copper compelled him to reinforce the plate
by re-biting it and by the use of the burin and dry-
point. To the same year, 1633, belongs 'The Good
Samaritan ' (B. 90), a complete and perfect piece of work,
finished throughout with extreme care, though possibly
some details, such as the dog in the foreground, may be
attributed to a pupil. This print marks definitely the
close of Rembrandt's youthful period of technical experi-
ments. In it the etching is sharp and clean ; it shows
increasing employment of the dry-point and diminishing
use of the burin. Quiet light and soft shadows are spread
in tender harmony over the foreground and the lightly
drawn distance. The careful finish and detailed treatment
that mark this plate remained characteristic during the
following years. In ' The Angel appearing to the Shep-
herds ' (B. 44), belonging to the year 1 534, they are
employed in producing an effect of dazzling light in the
midst of darkness. Rembrandt's portrait subjects, which
up to this time had possessed the character of occasional
studies, after 1634 begin to take a more important place
in his work. The rendering of accessories helped to make
the personality of the subject more easily recognisable, as
in the portraits of the preacher Jan Cornelis Sylvius
(B. 266), of Jan Uytenbogaert (B. 279), both belonging
to 1634, and the so-called 'Great Jewish Bride' of 1635
(B. 340). In the years immediately following, as far as
can be determined from dates and otherwise, Rembrandt
does not seem to have occupied himself with etching to
any particular extent. ' The Gold-weigher ' (B. 281), with
the date 1638, is by recent critics rightly rejected. The
large 'Death of the Virgin' of 1639 (B. 99), with its
fine expression of character in the faces, and another
REMBRANDT 171
portrait of himself, arc Rembrandt's principal works of
this period.
After 1 64 1, however, Rembrandt threw himself into
etching with renewed energy, and at once found in land-
scape a new milieu, in which he won the most glorious
triumphs of his art. To the ten years from 1641 to 165 1
belong almost all the twenty-eight landscape etchings which
can with certainty be ascribed to Rembrandt. They are
pictures of his native surroundings, broad plains with a fine
feeling of space and open air. Some cottages or a group
of trees give a note of interest in the foreground, but from
these the eye is drawn to the distant landscape wrapped
in the soft sea-mists of the lowlands of Holland. So
complete is his command of the etcher's craft, so delicate
his perception of tone, so convincing the certainty of his
perspective, that we forget that we have only black and
white before our eyes ; the prints seem to express every-
thing that a finished painting in colour could supply.
Rembrandt's landscapes are treated in widely differing
ways ; sometimes they are rendered simply, sometimes
finished with extreme detail. In this last quality, and in
the completeness of its colour effect, ' The Three Trees '
(B. 212) may well rank as supreme. In 'The Gold-
weigher's Field' (B. 234), 'Six's Bridge' (B. 208), the
*■ View of Omval ' (B. 209), and other prints, an effect is
obtained b}' the most simple means, which further finish
could scarcely improve. The little ' Landscape with a
Milkman' (B. 213), the 'Two Cottages with Pointed
Gables' (B. 214), the 'Cottages beside a Canal, with a
Church and Sailing-boat ' (fig. 79 ; B. 228), are gems of
etching, finished with astonishing delicacy and with incom-
parable skill in the expression of landscape distance ;
while others, such as the ' Three Gabled Cottages ' (B. 217),
172 ENGRAVING IN THE LOW COUNTRIES
show a broad^
painter -like treat-
ment in the brilliant
sunshine contrasted
with deep and power-
ful shadows.
During the years
1641 to 165 1 were also pro-
duced most of those prints
which have brought Rem-
brandt to the height of his
reputation as an etcher. The
most famous of all is ' Christ
healing theSick' (B. 74), called
traditionally ' The Hundred
Guilder Print.' In grandeur
and originality of composition
it is not only a great master-
piece by Rembrandt, but
the most finished work that
etching has produced. Pure
etching plays a very unim-
portant part in this plate, for al-
most all of the work visible on the
print is produced by the dry-point.
The finest impressions, and parti-
cularly the nine existing examples
of the first state, alone show the full
effect of the chiaroscuro and the
perfect harmony of tone. After
taking a few impressions, Rem-
brandt submitted the plate to a
process of considerable reworking^
REMBRANDT
173
altered the form of the high dark vault under which the
scene is laid, and made other variations ; so that im-
pressions of the second state, at any rate the best of
them, in many respects possess an inherent artistic value
as well as those of the first state.
Fig. So. Rembrandt van Rijn : The Angel vanishing from
the family of Tobias (detail).
The realistic and lifelike portraits of Jan Six (B. 285),
Ephraim Bonus (B. 278), and the artist's own portrait
(B. 22), showing him seated at a window sketching, come
very near to the ' Hundred Guilder Print ' in style and
finish.
When Rembrandt had passed his fiftieth year he seems
174 ENGRAVING IN THE LOW COUNTRIES
to have put still more fire into his painting, and to have
worked with even greater breadth of handling ; and there
was a corresponding change in his style of etching. His
biblical subjects appear like \\eird visions wrapped- in,
Fig. 8l. Rembrandt van Rijn : Christ preaching (detail).
mysterious light : witness his powerful ' Crucifixion ' (B. 78),
known as ' The Three Crosses.' Somewhat similar treat-
ment is shown in his 'Christ Preaching' (fig, 81 ; B. 6^]^
' The Adoration of the Shepherds ' (B. 46), ' Christ on
the Mount of Olives' (B. 75), 'The Presentation in the
REMBRANDT
/:>
Temple ' (B. 50), the ' Christ taken down from the Cross
by Torchlight ' (B. 'S^'), etc. Where full daylight reigns,
the etching is treated in the broad sketchy manner of a
pen' drawing, here and there craftily accented. This type
Fig. 82. Rembrandt van Rijn : The great ' Ecce Homo ' (detail).
of treatment appears in the solemn and impressive ' Ecce
Homo' of 1655 (B. yG ; fig- 82); and akin to this plate
are ' Christ at Emmaus ' (B. 8y), ' Christ between his
Parents returning from the Temple ' (B. 60), etc.
During this period Rembrandt showed a clear preference
1/6 ENGRAVING IN THE LOW COUNTRIES
for portraits and biblical subjects, treating landscape as
of secondary interest. In his portraits also the dominant
note is the treatment of reflected light in interiors, filtering
and working its way, as it were, through great masses of
shadow. Of this type are the portraits of Abraham Fransz
(B. 273), Jacob Haaring, called 'The Old Haaring'(fig. 83 ;
B. 274), Jan Lutma, the goldsmith (B. 276), the so-called
* Dr. Faustus' (B. 270), and finally, the largest etching from
Rembrandt's hand,
the print known as
' The large Cop-
penol ' (B. 283), be-
longing to about
1658. Coppenolwas
a writing-master of
Amsterdam, and
Rembrandt had al-
ready etched his
portrait (B. 282) on
a somewhat smaller
plate in 1651.
Rembrandt's last
dated plates are
' Peter and John healing the Cripple at the Gate of the
Temple,' 1659 (B. 94) and the so-called 'Woman with
the Arrow' of 1661 (B. 202), both showing the master still
in possession of all his artistic and technical powers. The
' Peter and John,' indeed, seems almost to belong to the
earlier periods rather than that of 1650 onwards. So
Rembrandt's vigour continued still unimpaired, as fresh
as in the best period of his most famous masterpieces.
For a full appreciation of Rembrandt's art a review
of the different states of his etched plates is essential.
Rembrandt van Rijn : The Old
Haaring (detail).
REMBRANDT 177
In several cases, after the first proofs were pulled,
Rembrandt made alterations which seem to have almost
entirely changed the whole original composition ; and
frequently, even after this process, the plates again under-
went considerable alteration and correction. Rembrandt's
ideas and intentions in making these alterations were
extremely varied, and at times it is difficult to guess what
his purpose was. As a rule he aimed at heightening or
reducing separate parts of the plate, altering the lights
and shadows, and so forth. The result is that, in many
cases, proofs of the various states seem like prints from
completely different plates. One may take as examples,
his great ' Raising of Lazarus,' in the ten states of which
single figures are continually altered ; and ' The Three
Crosses ' (B. yS), whose earliest states show the picture in
full daylight, while from the fourth state onwards the scene
is wrapped in darkness and almost all the figures arc
altered. In the great ' Ecce Homo' of 1655, after taking
a considerable number of impressions from the plate,
Rembrandt removed the large group of foreground
figures and set in their place two dark arches with the
bust of a river-god between them. Rembrandt followed
the same procedure in many of his portraits, frequently
altering the costume and accessories. This is the case
with the large portrait showing the artist himself draw-
ing at a window (B. 22), and with the portraits of
Lutma, the Old Haaring, Coppenol, Abraham Fransz, and
many others. The alterations which he made in his
landscape etchings are by no means so extensive or
important.
Later critics have decided that a number of plates,
which in the older catalogues and by Bartsch have been
accepted as Rembrandt's work, did not really come from
12
178 ENGRAVING IN THE LOW COUNTRIES
the master's hand. Among these are various forgeries
that have been palmed off by dealers as Rembrandt's
work, and also plates by pupils and imitators such as Bol,
Van VHet, and others. In the case of many of the small
and unimportant works the question of their authenticity
must remain open ; but we shall approach fairly near the
truth if we accept as genuine about two hundred and
seventy of the three hundred and seventy-five etchings
which have been attributed to Rembrandt. Among these
are to be included those prints in whose execution Rem-
brandt, to a greater or less degree, availed himself of the
services of pupils or assistants, as for example the great
' Descent from the Cross ' of 1633, ' The Gold-weigher,' and
* The Artist drawing from a Model.'
Numerous etchers were trained in Rembrandt's studio,
or followed him as their master. His influence spread over
the whole field of Dutch art during his own life and after
it ; and, though held in check by other tendencies during
the second half of the seventeenth century, passed far
beyond the borders of his own land and his own period.
Of Rembrandt's immediate pupils, who come into
consideration as etchers, his closest follower was Ferdinand
Bol (born at Dordrecht 1616, died at Amsterdam 1680),
who took up etching at the stage to which his master had
brought it between 1640 and 1650. Bel's treatment in the
numerous portraits and studies of heads, which form the
principal part of his work, seems too thin and loose ; and
this is certainly the case with his larger compositions, such
as ' Abraham's Sacrifice.' His chiaroscuro is lacking in
unity and power. A right judgment of Bol and of
Rembrandt's other pupils is hindered by the circumstance
that their etchings challenge constant comparison with
those of their master. J. G. van Vliet (born about 1600
JAN LIEVENS
179
at Delft, died after 163 1), who is known only as an etcher,
and of the circumstances of whose Ufe we have no closer
information, may be supposed to have become a pupil of
Rembrandt soon after his removal to Amsterdam. Vliet's
work amounts to ninety-two prints, showing careful
execution, part of them being after compositions by
Fig. 84. Jan Lievens : The Philosopher (detail).
Rembrandt, part of them original works in close adherence
to Rembrandt's style. Not an immediate pupil of
Rembrandt, but entirely dependent on his influence, is
Jan Lievens (born at Leyden 1607, died at Amsterdam
1674), In his large 'Raising of Lazarus' he affects with
extraordinary success the style of Rembrandt's first period ;
his 'St. Jerome' is a finely handled piece. His chief
i8o ENGRAVING IN THE LOW COUNTRIES
work, as was the case with Bol, lies in his etchings of
heads in the Rembrandt manner, Salomon Koninck was
another particularly happy imitator of these same portraits
and sketch-heads. Gerbrandt van den Eeckhout in his
few smoothly handled etchings is less akin to Rembrandt
than in his painting. Pieter de Grebber's coarse work
bears only a surface resemblance to that of Rembrandt.
The chief master of Flemish genre painting, Adriaen
van Ostade (Haarlem, 1610 — 1685), also occupies an
important position as an etcher. Perfect expression of
character in his figures and a fine sense of composition are
united in his etchings with spirited drawing and a pleasant
silvery effect. Ostade does not strive after any fulness of
technical treatment, but contents himself with the utmost
simplicity of method. He seems to have practised etching
only as an interlude, and not as a means of livelihood. It
was not till after his death that his etchings were issued in
any numbers, the plates having passed into the possession of
his son-in-law, a doctor, and later into the hands of dealers
who, in order to obtain good prints, had them worked over
by various engravers.
Ostade himself altered and improved many of his
etchings. After a first and often incomplete biting, he
would bring a harmonious and finer effect into his plate
by gradual additions with the dry-point. The resulting-
states of his plates supply interesting glimpses of the
artist's methods. It is only from those proofs that show
his original work undestroyed, and never in the later
retouched states, that the real merit of Ostade's etchings
can be estimated. The chronological order of his
etchings cannot be determined with certainty, for only
eight of his prints from 1647 till after 1670 (the last date
167- is illegible) bear any date. Like Rembrandt, Ostade
ADRIAEN VAN OSTADE
i8i
seems to have begun his experiments in etching with
casual and rapid studies of single figures and small heads ;
his finished compositions are later work. To 1647 belongs
the ' Peasant Family in a Room ' and ' The Begging
Violin-player before the House ' ; to the following year
the print known as the ' Father of a Family ' ; and to
Fig. 85. Adriaen van Ostade : The Backgammon Players.
1653 the ' Grace at the Peasants' Meal.' Once the artist
etched a portrait of himself sitting at his easel in his
studio. Particularly fine in these etchings is the rendering
of the diffused light of an interior, in pleasing harmony with
the peaceful surroundings of the scene. In his open-air
compositions the pictorial sense is less apparent ; their
interest lies in the grouping of the figures and the
i82 ENGRAVING IN THE LOW COUNTRIES
expression of character. Ostade's two largest plates, the
' Dance in the Peasants' Room ' and ' The Peasants'
Festival,' have been completely spoiled by later reworking,
and must be judged only by the extremely rare proofs
of the first state.
Cornelius Pietersz Bega (Haarlem, 1620 — 1664), a pupil
of Ostade, used the needle with great precision and
fineness. The general effect, as in his pictures, is full and
powerful, but his etchings and paintings alike are often
cold and hard. Pieter Jansz Quast (Amsterdam, 1606 —
1647) was influenced by Adriaen Brouwer, and in his
etchings, which are all finished with the burin, seems to
have taken Callot as his model.
Cornells Dusart (1660 — 1704), a pupil of Ostade, uses
every endeavour to show true loyalty to his master.
Dusart's technique is closer and drier than that of Ostade,
but in his best prints, such as the large ' Consecration
of a Village Church,' the treatment is bright and pleasing,
and the whole composition is full of the animation that
characterises Ostade's work. The etchings of Ostade's
last follower, Nicolaus van Haeften (worked at Antwerp
about 1690 — 1 7 10) are inferior, and often verge on carica-
ture.
While marine painting plays an important part in Dutch
art, it is remarkable that etching found so little employ-
ment in this direction. Among the artists who come
into consideration as etchers of seascapes the most
important is Reynier Nooms, called Zeeman (born at
Amsterdam 1623, died between 1663 and 1668). He
possessed considerable skill and a simple and telling style
in picturing the sea with its interest of shipping. Ludolf
Backhuyscn, Abraham Storck, and Bonaventura Peeters
of Antwerp, appear as occasional etchers of sea-pieces.
PAUL POTTER 183
Far more important than the etchings of Dutch marine
painters are those of the animal painters. Aelbert Cuyp
(Dordrecht, 1620 — 1691) produced occasional small and
sketchy studies of cattle ; but Paul Potter (born at Enk-
huysen 1625, died at Amsterdam 1654) is quite the
foremost etcher of animal pieces, just as he is the first
among all animal painters. In his eighteen existing
plates we are charmed, as in his paintings, by the sureness
and sharpness of the drawing, by the certainty and power
with which he pictures animal forms and the fine gradations
of tone in landscape. With extraordinary simplicity of
technique, and yet with wonderful sympathy and compre-
hension, Potter renders the smooth coat of a horse and
the rough hides of cattle. Light and air float over his
landscapes as they vanish into the distance. His two
prints of 'Herdsmen' and 'Shepherds' of 1643, executed
in his eighteenth year, display him already at the height
of his power ; but the palm may perhaps be awarded to
the five etchings of 1652, which show flat landscapes with
horses of various breeds. The cleverness with which the
particular character of each animal type is expressed^
together with their masterly technique, makes these prints
rank as unsurpassed examples of etching at its best.
While Potter never passed beyond the bounds of his
native country and had no connection with Italy, the
animal painters who preceded him, or who followed and
approached his style, were dominated by Italian ideas.
At the head of these artists stands Pieter van Laer
(Haarlem, 1582 — 1642), who spent sixteen years in Rome,
and produced there in 1636 a series of etchings of horses,
cattle, and other animals, in which he appears as a
forerunner of Paul Potter.
Potter may have learned from Van Laer the use of a
184 ENGRAVING IN THE LOW COUNTRIES
sharp point and simplicity of style ; and perhaps owed
entirely to him his inclination towards etching. The two
animal painters, Jan le Ducq (1623 — 1676), a pupil of
Ostade, and Jacob van der Does (1623 — 1673), both
working at The Hague, are closely akin to Van Laer.
Fig. 86. Paul Potter : Head of a Cow.
Next in importance to Paul Potter as a draughtsman
of animals, so far as etching is concerned, comes Adriaen
van de Velde (Amsterdam, 1635 — 1672), who in common
with Potter possessed the power of obtaining a broad and
full effect with the utmost simplicity of means. His
NICOLAES BKRCHEM 185
animal etchings arc admirably drawn, and convey the
same effect of soft, warm light that makes his paintings
:so full of charm. Although Van de Velde never visited
Italy, his landscapes show a liking for southern scenery,
his knowledge of which must have been obtained from the
.sketch-books and paintings of his Dutch contemporaries.
Nicolaes Berchem (born at Haarlem 1620, died at
Amsterdam 1683) probably received his inclination
towards etching from his teachers, Pieter de Grebbcr and
Van Goyen. He chooses subjects from the Campagna,
and obviously endeavours to lend his compositions an air
of classical grandeur. His groups of animals are etched
with great care and skill, but not without certain
mannerisms, which are still more apparent in his treat-
ment of the human figure, in his somewhat woolly
rocks, and in his very conventional foliage. Berchem's
etchings, fifty-six in all, are sometimes broadly and simply
handled, sometimes show great delicacy and precision of
technique. His fame as an etcher in older days was due
to his prints of this latter type, such as 'The Shepherd
playing the Flute ' (fig. 87), and ' The Return from the
Fields' of 1644. Only in the early states can the fine
qualities of these plates be fully appreciated. By Karel
Dujardin (born at Amsterdam 1622, died at Venice 1678)
are fifty-two etchings, produced between 1652 and 1660,
the period of his residence at The Hague. Potter's
influence is particularly app.irent in a series of small
prints, picturing dogs, pigs, and cattle amid peaceful
surroundings. Apart from these, Dujardin also figures as
a landscape etcher of some importance, though only in a
few pieces of Italian scenery, nobly designed and carefully
composed, and carried out in a delicate silvery tone.
These etchings by Dujardin belong in style to the work
Fig. S7. Nicolats Berchem : Shtphenl playing the Flute (detail).
186
JAN BOTH 187
of those Dutch artists who pictured Italian landscape in
the Italian manner. This preference was inherited from
their Flemish forefathers, but in place of the imagination
of a Paul Bril there now ruled the passion for absolute
truth to nature, along with a keen sense of the value of
line and tone.
Bartholomeus Breenberch (born at Deventer 1599, died
at Amsterdam before 1659) etched views near Rome with
great accuracy of detail, but at a later period assumed
a broader style, as may be seen in his principal work,
' Joseph distributing Corn.' Thomas Wijck began by
etching genre subjects in the manner of Ostade, but after-
wards devoted himself to Italian landscape. Jan Gerritsz
Bronkhorst produced a series of views in the Campagna
after the style of Poelenburg. Both as painter and as
etcher Jan Both (Utrecht, 1610 — 1652) is the most distin-
guished of the Dutch artists who pictured idealistic subjects
based on Italian scenery. With great executive skill, and
yet with the utmost simplicity of means, he produces charm-
ing effects in his sunny landscapes (fig. 88). Jan Both's
pupil, Wilhem de Heusch (Utrecht, 1638 — 1669?) comes
very close to his master in his best work. Andries Both,
Jan Both's brother, etched scenes of Italian peasant life,
but frequently showed himself a clumsy draughtsman.
Herman van Swanevelt (born at Woerdek about 1600,
died at Rome 1655) inclines at times to the style of Jan
Both, at times to that of Claude Lorrain, placing biblical
and mythological subjects in a background of classical
landscape. Jan van Ossenbeeck (born at Rotterdam
1627 ?, died at Rcgensburg 1678) appears also as an
etcher of Italian landscapes and mountain scenes. Some-
what akin to him is Adriaen van der Kabel.
At the close of the seventeenth century and at the
Fig. 88. Jan I'.otli : Landscape (detail).
i8S
ROMEYN DE HOOGHE 189
beginning of the eighteenth, the Italianised landscapists
of the Dutch School began to depart from the truth and
freshness of conception which had brought their native art
to the summit of its success. Instead of pictures based on
an intimate study of nature, we find a growing tendency
towards the production of classical landscapes deliberately
composed from reminiscences of Titian, Claude, and Poussin.
This is shown in the etchings of Abraham Genoels (Ant-
werp, 1640 — 1723) and Jan Glauber (Utrecht, 1646— 1726).
Etching shared with Dutch painting its fate of gradual
decline. A pleasant break in its monotony is caused by
the appearance of a fertile and inventive illustrator in
the person of Jan Luiken (Amsterdam, 1649 — 171 2), who
produced a quantity of successful, though somewhat rigid
and mannered, work. Another prolific worker is Romeyn
de Hooghe (born at Amsterdam 1645 or 1646, died at
Haarlem 1708), who in a broad and easy style produced
large and very effective plates of historical scenes, portraits,
views of towns, and landscapes.
The tendencies of seventeenth-century Dutch art appear
again in the following century, but in the domain of
etching little work of any artistic importance was pro-
duced. Jacob de Wit, well known as a decorative painter
(Amsterdam, 1695 — 1754), sketched lightly on copper some
of his facile groups of amorini, but De Wit in style is
rather a late survival of the Rubens School than a genuine
Dutchman. The older native tradition was upheld by
Hendrik Kobell (Rotterdam, 1751 — 1799), who etched a
series of coast views and marine pieces with a power and
freshness of invention that are remarkable at this period.
His son, Jan Kobell (1778— 18 14), followed Potter and Van
de Velde as his models in some not unsuccessful animal
etchings.
V
ENGRAVING IN FRANCE
DURING its first period, lasting till about the end of
the sixteenth century, engraving in France showed
little originality or fixed purpose in its development. The
artists who came to the front depended sometimes on
German, sometimes on Italian influences, so that the
French School of engraving is, at the outset, noteworthy
rather for its peculiarity in the inclusion of foreign
elements than for native individuality.
In the year 1488 there appeared at Lyons a reprint of
Breydenbach's " Journey to the Holy Land," with engraved
copies of the large views of towns, which in the original
Mainz edition of i486 were cut on wood. These copies,
however, show inferior skill in engraving, and were proba-
bly made by a goldsmith. Jean Duvet (born at Langres
in 1485) was the first to obtain any artistic importance for
engraving in France. Duvet founded his style, in part at
any rate, on the North Italian artists ; he appears to have
known Leonardo's art, though only at second hand ; and
while his technique is harsh and irregular, somewhat like
that of the earl}' Italian School, he is at the same time an
imitator of Diirer. The mixture of different styles, united
with abundant fantasy and wealth of ideas, lends continual
charm to Duvet's engravings in spite of many notable
defects. Some of his plates, such as ' The Annunciation,'
190
JEAN DUVET
191
which shows I'lorcntine influence in its concei^tion, are not
without delicac)- and t^racc. His twenty-four illustrations
to the Apocalypse show, moreover, that Duvet was no
n:iean artist, for in spite of many reminiscences of Diirerhe
Fig. 89. Jean I)u\et : Scene from the Apocalypse (detail j.
displays in these prints a remarkable amount of original,
though somewhat unbalanced and unrestrained, power of
invention (fig. 89).
Contemporarily with this schcol of woodcutters and
192
ENGRAVING IN FRANCE
illustrators there was working at Lyons a group of
engravers, which, however, never attained a Hke im-
portance. To these engravers belongs Claude Corneille,.
a poor artist, who to some extent followed the later
German Little Masters, but was more influenced by Italian
methods. The Gothic initials J, G. are now rightly
attributed to Jean Gourmond, who appears first as a
printer in Paris about 1506, and from 1522 to 1526 seems-
to have worked at Lyons. His extremely small plates
show delicate engraving and a fine sense of composition.
Ab
Fig. 90. Etienne Delaune : Abundantia.
obviously influenced by Italian models. At times, too, he
copied the Little Masters of Germany. Gourmond was
particularly fond of setting his subjects amid the rich
architecture of the Renaissance, and of portraying its
intricate perspective with peculiar care.
Stephanus (Etienne) Delaune (Paris, 15 19 — 1583) is a
distinguished representative of the School of the Little
Masters and the foremost engraver in France during the
sixteenth century. His engravings show extremely deli-
cate and minute work, with a peculiar manner of scattering
PIERRE WOEIRIOT 193
dots between the e^raver lines. His ideas are little more
than commonplace, his drawing-, particularly' in his
attenuated human iigurcs, distinctly weak, but his prints,
particularl}- those of small size, are dainty and pleasing
(fig. 90). Like the German Little IMasters he had special
skill in designing ornamental compositions. Eltienne's
work amounts to about four hundred prints. For a long
time he seems to have worked in Strasburg.
Pierre Woeiriot (born at Bonze}' about 1530, worked till
after 1589) shows in his figure compositions the influence
of the contemporary Netherlandish imitators of Italian
methods, particularly of Heemskcrk, and in his technique
is also dependent upon the engravers of the Netherlands.
The finely designed ornamental borders of his numerous
portraits compensate partly for the dry, formal treatment of
the heads. Woeiriot seems to have worked partly in Rome
and partly in Augsburg. He, too, was a very prolific artist,
whose work amounts to about four hundred prints.
The importance of the architect and etcher Jacques
Androuet Ducerceau (born at Paris about 15 10, died about
1580) lies more in his influence on the development of
French Renaissance ornament than in his work as etcher.
In a simple style and with firm drawing he produced a
large number of engravings of classical architecture,
ornament, and so forth, as well as a large work on French
architecture. Many of the prints that carry his signature
are without doubt not Ducerceau's own works, but done
by pupils in his studio.
In the development of French art at this period the
so-called School of Fontainebleau is of particular im-
portance. This name is given to the group of artists
who from about 1550 were working at the decoration of
Pontainebleau and other royal palaces. They were mostly
13
194 ENGRAVING IX FRANCE
Italians, at their head being Rosso Fiorentino and
Francesco Primaticcio, whom Francis I. had invited to
France, but among them were also some native French-
men, who joined the Italian artists.
The School of Fontainebleau was a forerunner upon
French soil of the School of Raphael and Michelangelo,
and exerted an extraordinary influence upon the art of
its country. Exaggeration of form, deliberate straining
after effect, entire opposition to simplicity and nature
were their characteristic qualities ; but with them went
considerable technical ability and remarkable skill in
obtaining decorative effects. Various painters of this
School, such as Antonio Fantuzzi, Leonard Tiry, and
Guido Ruggieri, practised line-engraving and etching,
while a number of anonymous plates in a similar style
show that many other artists, whose names are unknown,
were also occupied in reproductive work. Etching and
engraving owe no new or lasting impulse to this school.
Their etching was broad in treatment, showing little
attention to detail, while the finer and painter-like
qualities of engraving were entirely neglected, and the
whole importance was attached solely to composition.
A demand for engraved portraits was shown in France
during the course of the sixteenth century, and this
branch of art, in which French engravers at a later period
developed their highest powers, began now to find growing
practice and popularity. During the sixteenth century,
however, French artists showed little attempt at originality.
In their portraits they remained entirely dependent on
the Netherlands and on Italy, while in their drawing, as in
the technique of their engraving, there is an obvious lack
at the outset of the qualities that depend on fixed training
and tradition. Mention may be made of Rene Boyvin and
JACQUES CALLOT 195
of the portrait-engravers, Jean Rabel and Thomas de
Leu (1560 — 1620), the latter a fairly skilful imitator of
Crispin de Passe and of Flemish originals.
While French engraving during the sixteenth century
occupied on the whole a subordinate place, at the beginning
of the seventeenth century it was raised by a few great
artists to a position of universal importance. The
engravers, however, who now come to the front can by no
means be considered as belonging to a united school,
Jacques Callot (Nancy, 1592 — 1635) is an etcher of
extraordinary originality. Though he never considered
himself a Frenchman, and indeed boasted his origin from
Lorraine, he may nevertheless now be most conveniently
grouped with the French School. His adventurous youth
had given him opportunities for close study of the life and
manners of the lower orders. His prints, showing the
daily life of the beggars and the rude soldiery of his time,
are often ugly in their realism, but his grasp of character,
his power of clear draughtsmanship, and his certainty in
the arrangement of complicated groups of figures, lend a
peculiar value to his works. He etches with a fine and
precise line, which, particularly in his more finished plates,
gives the effect of burin work. At the same time he
possesses extraordinary skill in throwing on to the copper
light and spirited sketches. To a certain extent Callot
appears to have been influenced by the mannerisms of the
Italian artists, among whom he worked as a student ; his
biblical and historical compositions are unconvincing and
unsatisfactory owing to their deliberate aim at classical
grandeur. In his grotesque and humorous compositions
his imagination rivals that of Breughel and Bosch. His
' Temptation of St. Anthony ' ranks as a classical example of
abtruse demonology. Where he works from actual life
196
ENGRAVING IN FRANCE
and from his own observation his fine talent for the realistic
reproduction of nature finds its best opportunity of display.
Callot's artistic career commenced with a large picture of
the annual fair at Florence known as the festival of the
' Madonna della Impruneta,' a plate unsurpassed in its
rendering of an enormous crowd. In 1624 the Infanta
Fig. 91. Jacques Callot : From the series cf 'The
Miseries of War ' (detail).
Isabella Clara Eugenia summoned him to Brussels to
picture the Siege of Breda, a difficult commission that he
executed with complete success, giving a careful topo-
graphical view of the fortress and its surroundings, and
completing the picture with a lifelike representation of the
dense masses of soldiery. His two series of the ' Miseries
of War' (fig. 91) give a by no means exaggerated picture
of the horrors that attended warfare in Callot's time, and
CLAUDE LORRAIN 197
which he knew only too well from personal experience.
He may be counted as one of the pioneers of the new
methods that were adopted later with so much success by
the Dutch Masters, and may rank among the forerunners
of Rembrandt. His work amounts to a grand total of
fifteen hundred prints. Abraham Bosse (born at Tours
1605, died at Paris 1678) has much in common with Callot
in technique and style of composition. He pictures life
among the upper classes, resembling in this respect some
contemporary Dutchmen, such as Dirk Hals, from whom
he may have learned his art.
Claude Gellee, usually known as Claude Lorrain (born
at Chamagne 1600, died at Rome 1682), one of the
greatest of landscape painters and the creator of the so-
called classical landscape, may fitly be included in the
French School, though in actual fact he worked almost
entirely in Rome. His etchings, about twenty-seven in
number, entitle him to an important place in the history
of this branch of art, although not all of his etched plates
stand on a level with his paintings. In etching he remained
always the amateur, only occasionally taking up the needle,
and producing work that was extremely uneven. It is an
accepted fact that Claude's first inclination towards etching
was obtained from Callot in Nancy, that his earliest
experiments belong to the year 1628, and that his friend
Joachim von Sandrart, a German painter, first instructed
him in the art. His 'Storm at Sea' of 1630 is worked
with a fine point, and shows that he already possessed
remarkable certainty in obtaining his effect ; but his
plates of later date display a notable weakness in treatment.
His ' Ford' of 1634, broadly and almost crudely etched, is
clearly reminiscent of Elsheimer, whose influence had
already appeared elsewhere in Claude's work. Akin to
198 ENGRAVING IN FRANCE
this plate is 'The Rape of Europa,' while in the ' Campo
Vaccino ' of 1636 there is a strong note of the influence of
Callot. To the same year 1636, however, belongs 'The
Cowherd ' (fig. 92), a fine rendering of some cattle wading
through a river, while the cowherd himself is seated on the
bank. It is a masterpiece in its suggestion of warm evening
light ; the only other of Claude's etchings that can stand
beside it is his 'Sunset.' After 1637 there was a long
interval in his production of etchings, and it was not till
165 1 that he again took up his needle. After this date came
a series of larger plates — ' The Herd in a Storm,' ' Mercury
and Argus,' ' Apollo and the Seasons,' and 'The Goat-herd'
— prints that rank as important work, and that at times
approach the best plates of his first period, though without
quite equalling the richness and finish of ' The Cowherd.'
Several of the more important French painters of the
seventeenth century used the etching-needle, but only a
few of them attempted more than occasional experiments.
The art of etching owed no real progress to them, for they
limited themselves to the simplest means of expression
and seldom aimed at any largeness of effect. Yet their
etchings, like genuine drawings, have all the importance of
authentic work. One may mention the prints of Caspar
Dughet, Laurent de la Hire, Francois Millet, Sebastien
Bourdon, and others. Jaques Stella found a faithful
interpreter in his sister, Claudine Baussonet Stella.
Stefano della Bella (1610 — 1664), although of Italian
origin, worked principally in Paris, and may be included
in the French School. He was a vigorous draughtsman,
who produced delicately handled little prints in the
manner of Callot. In some of them, such as his ' View of
the Pont Neuf,' he approaches very near his master in the
successful distribution of a crowd of small figures.
CLAUDE LORRAIN
199
Claude Lorrain : The Cowherd.
Of greater importance than their personal work in the
field of etching is the influence exercised by the French
painters of this period on the art of line-engraving.
Schools of enijravinrr came into existence round the
200 ENGRAVING IN FRANCE
masters of painting in Paris, or under their direction, just
as they grew around Raphael and Rubens. In France,
however, the engravers were by no means in such
close relationship to the painters' studios as they were
in the Rubens School. The tendency of French art
was towards the great historic style, and the engravers
accordingly devoted their talent to the reproduction of
the classical compositions of Raphael and other Italian
masters of the sixteenth century. A prominent place
in this kind of work was taken by Gerard Audran, the
most gifted member of a family of engravers who for more
than a century worked along the same lines. Audran
(born at Lyons 1640, died at Paris 1703) developed a
strong and individual style, showing a union of burin
work with a clear, telling manner of etching in regular sets
of lines, and obtained a vigorous effect by his skill in the
harmonious distribution of his composition over large
surfaces. His large ' Battles of Alexander ' after Lebrun's
paintings are his principal work. Before this Audran had
produced four large plates in Rome after Domenichino.
Lebrun found his best interpreter in Audran, and in a
similar way Vouet owed much to Michel Dorigny, who
practised a style of etching which imitated the appearance
of line-engraving. The work of Lebrun and Simon Vouet
was further reproduced by a number of contemporary
engravers, such as Pierre Daret, Gilles Rousselet, and
others.
The broad method of line-engraving on a large scale,
introduced into Italy by Villamena, and brought to
its perfection by Goltzius and his School, found in
France its principal exponent in Claude Mellan (born
at Abbeville 1598, died at Paris 1688). His technical skill
is so extraordinary that the bravura of his style almost
CLAUDE MELLAX
201
drives into the background his undeniable artistic talent.
He expresses form by bold, sweeping lines, without the aid
of cross-hatching, and obtains his modelling merely by
widening his lines in the shadows and making them finer
towards the light. This method of treatment was de-
veloped to such a height of confident skill as to enable him
Fig. 93. Claude Mellan : Portrait (detail).
to undertake, in a ' Veronica's Handkerchief,' to render the
head of Christ in a single spiral line, starting from the tip
of the nose. Quite apart from a tour de force such as this,
Mellan in his peculiar style obtained effects that lend lasting
value to his work. This is shown by his large portraits,
often half life-size, and by ' St. John the Baptist in the
Wilderness,' 'Jacob and Rachel at the Well,' after Tinto-
202 ENGRAVING IN FRANCE
retto, etc. Particularly free and spirited are many of his
smaller portraits (fig. 93). Owing to his long period of
activity, lasting till the end of the seventeenth century,
Mellan towards the close of his career stands among his
contemporaries in France as a survival of an antique style.
The reign of Louis XIV. inaugurated for French line-
engraving a period of prosperity that only came to an end
with the Revolution. This long-lasting progress was
caused and maintained by the popularity which the en-
graved portrait began to find in France. When the
schools of engraving in the Low Countries fell into decay
France entered on their inheritance, and it was particu-
larly in the province of portrait-engraving that the French
School now won the command which for a long time it
upheld with such brilliance. It must be admitted, however,
that French engravers lacked the freshness and simplicity
of the northern artists ; in portraits their principal concern
was to give an air of distinction and importance to their
sitter, as though detached entirely from the actuality of his
everyday appearance.
Passing over Claude Mellan, who represents a tendency
that remained without any direct following in France, one
may put at the head of the French portraitists Jean Morin
(born in Paris before 1590, died 1650), a pupil of Philippe
de Champagne. He used a combination of etching and
engraving, and expressed the modelling of flesh by means
of etched dots, obtaining a rich, painter-like effect, as is
shown in his portrait of Bentivoglio after Van D}'ck, and
that of the printer, Vitre. By no one was the influence of
the engraving of the Low Countries brought to bear on
French art with greater success than by Gerard Edelinck,
of Antwerp (born 1640, died in Paris 1707). He was a
pupil of Cornelius Galle, and absorbed also from Poilly
GERARD EDELINCK 203
something of French elegance of execution. His innate
talent, and the element in him of northern style, enabled
him to surpass his Paris contemporaries in vig(jur of drawing
and freshness of conception. Edelinck is rightly classed
among the greatest masters of the burin. He seems to
have quickly reached the height of his power, and to have
mm.
Fig. 94. Gerard Edelinck : ' The Penitent Magdalen ' after Lebrun (detail).
maintained his skill without any visible weakening through-
out his life, in the course of which he produced almost four
hundred plates. Among the engravings, some of them
very large in size, which Edelinck executed after the Old
Masters, the best known are ' The Holy Family ' after
Raphael, and the ' Knights Fighting ' of Leonardo, from a
copy of Rubens, particularly valuable as the single existing
204 ENGRAVING IN FRANCE
record of at least one portion of a lost original. Edelinck's
style lent itself more readily to the interpretation of the
work of Lebrun than to the reproduction of Old Masters,
and Lebrun's ' Family of Darius ' and ' Penitent Magdalen '
(fig. 94) were translated by him into masterpieces of sym-
pathetic engraving. His fame, however, rests especially on
his portraits after Philippe de Champagne, Largilliere,
Rigaud, Lebrun, and after his own drawings. Fine percep-
tion of form, harmony, and compactness of execution,
powerful but unobtrusive technique — these are qualities
equally displayed by almost all Edelinck's portraits. The
portraits of Philippe de Champagiie, Nathanael Dilger,
John Dryden, and Martin Desjardin, deserve perhaps the
first place among his works. He has given permanence to
the features of almost all the distinguished personages who
were attached to Louis XIV's court. The King's portrait
at different periods of his life was engraved by Edelinck
no fewer than fourteen times, often on a very large-sized
plate.
Robert Nanteuil (born at Rheims 1623, died at Paris
1678) is the most noteworthy representative of that style
of portrait-engraving which may be distinguished as specifi-
cally French. Originally a poor craftsman, he showed his
first signs of talent when he became an engraver of por-
traits. He began by imitating Mellan's broad style, but
soon forsook it to become an avowed follower of the
Rubens School. On this basis he built up his individual
style, which is remarkable for its harmony, softness, and
brilliance of effect. Against a simply treated background
in an equally simple border his heads and half-lengths
stand out with distinction and repose. Van Dyck is here
his master. He devotes particular care to the costume,,
which is duly subordinate but finely calculated to give
ROBERT XANTEUIL
20;
Fig. 95. Robert Nanteuil : Portrait of Nicolas Foucquct (details
prominence to the head, on which the engraver concentrates
his entire skill. Nanteuil is a master in his treatment and
his modelling of flesh, which he expressed by a system of
delicate lines running off to a sharp point. In most cases
206 ENGRAVING IN FRANCE
Nanteuil engraved his own drawings, made from the life.
His portraits (fig. 95) were considered absolutely true to
nature by his contemporaries, and to us also they bear an
aspect of convincing truth, if we overlook the straining
after effect which is peculiar to the French art of the time.
Nanteuil much more frequently engraved portraits of men
than of women ; those of Pomponius de Bellieyre, Jean
Loret, and the Marquis of Castelnau, count among his
most important prints. In his attempt to engrave por-
traits of life-size, or larger, he was unable to triumph over
the limits that the nature of engraving itself imposes ; yet
in his life-size bust of Louis XIV he made his burin serve
for the production of a most remarkable work.
The brothers Francois and Nicolas de Poilly of Abbe-
ville rank in importance along with Edelinck and Nanteuil.
Francois (born 1622, died in Paris 1693) received his train-
ing in Italy, where he worked after Italian masters.
During his later residence in Paris his engravings were
mainly portraits, executed in a sparkling, but somewhat
dry style. He was surpassed by his younger brother and
pupil Nicolas (born 1626, died in Paris 1690), whose hand-
ling was extraordinarily clear and precise. The latter's
portraits are as a rule skilful and pleasing, but fail to give
expression to the finer traits of character.
The brothers Poilly laid too much stress on the technical
side of engraving, but by Antoine Masson (born at Louvry
1636, died at Paris 1700) technique was still more strongly
accentuated. For his vigorous burin work he may almost
be placed beside Goltzius, but his narrow artistic outlook
and his early training as a goldsmith lend a somewhat
mechanical air to his work. One cannot, however, help
recognising the merit of such portraits as those of Guillaume
de Brisacier and the Duchess of Guise ; while his most
PIETER VAX SCHUPPEN 207
important piece of work, ' Christ at Emmaus ' after Titian,
is a remarkable interpretation of the Venetian master's
painting.
Pieter van Schuppen (born at Antwerp 1623, died 1702)
came to Paris at the same time as tldelinck, and along
with him is the most prominent representative of the
school of engravers from the Low Countries, who partly
adapted themselves to the demands of French taste, and
partly impressed their own personality on French art.
Van Schuppen won his chief success as an engraver
of portraits, his work being broad and the tones skilfully
rendered. Akin to him is his somewhat younger fellow-
countryman, Nicolas Pitau. Mention must also be made
of the French engravers, Jean Lenfant, Antoine Trouvain
and Jean Louis Roullet.
While portrait-engravings have handed down the out-
ward appearance of almost every person of importance
in the France of Louis XIV and Louis XV, these are
supplemented to some extent by magnificent plates of
large size, such as the ' Oath of Louis XV at his
Coronation,' which serve to record the historical events,
ceremonies, and festivities of the period with the utmost
exactness of costume, surroundings, and all accessories.
Another feature of the time was the popularity of
Almanacks, consisting of a printed sheet containing a
calendar for the year enclosed in a most richly engraved
border, often of enormous size. Similar to these are the
academical Theses, records of the exposition of some
learned treatise, whose text is displayed on sheets sur-
rounded by all manner of engraved allegorical decorations
and devices. Among many inferior engravers some
artists of repute such as Edelinck and Xanteuil worked on
such theses, the plates for which, owing to the costliness
208 ENGRAVING IN FRANCE
of their production, were frequcnth' made to serve for more
than one occasion.
The extraordinar)' activity in architectural work and the
keen interest taken in all the ornamental arts gave rise to
magnificent publications with large engravings picturing
royal buildings and their decoration. Engraved orna-
ment found a distinguished exponent in Jean Lepautre
(Paris, 1618 — 1682), who etched his own and others'
designs in a soft, easy and fluent style, with such inex-
haustible fertility that he left over two thousand plates.
His contemporary, Jean Berain, was more a follower of
the classical school, and made designs in the style of
Raphael's Loggie.
With Louis XIV originated the idea of producing a
royal publication on an unprecedented scale, comprising
engravings of all the important works of art of his own
and earlier times, the paintings in the ro}-al palaces, the
palaces themselves, the royal gardens, and also the
principal public buildings. The plan never reached
finality, but the plates which were collected for the
purpose served as the foundation of the Chalcographie
du Louvre, an institution intended for the promotion
of engraving and for the control of the printing and
publication of engravings of national interest or im-
portance. This institution has survived to the present
day, and still pursues essentially its original aims.
No noticeable change came over French engraving with
the turn from the seventeenth to the eighteenth century.
The tradition of the old century lived on into the new
without at first showing any sign of weakness. On
comparing the total results of both periods, however, we
arrive at the conclusion that the seventeenth century was
a period of more actual strength and originality, while in
ENGRAVERS AFTER WATTEAU 209
the eighteenth century a happy knack in the production
of pleasing effects too often took the place of genuine
artistic power. The foreign strain, which French engravers
had introduced from the Low Countries in the seventeenth
century, was now lacking. The French School began to
assume the command, and brilliantly maintained its high
position until the advent of the grave political catastrophes
that marked the close of the century. English art alone
stood aloof and independent from the art of France.
During his short life Antoine Watteau (1684 — 1721) was
the creator of paintings which placed before the e}-es of
the aristocracy of his time an idealised picture of their
daily life ; and in the reproduction of these paintings
engravers found a profitable task. Watteau founded no
school of engravers in the sense that Rubens did, but
nevertheless his pictures served as a source of inspiration
to a group of engravers who worked around him. As
a school they followed mainly the track marked out b>'
Gerard Audran. The main lines and essential features of
the picture are first put in with definite sets of firm and
clear-etched lines, and the intermediary passages are
tenderly filled by the burin with fine expression of tone.
The immediate pupils of Gerard, such as his nephew,
Benoit Audran, and Nicolas Henry Tardieu, are the most
important of the Watteau engravers. Tardieu in particular
had a remarkable gift for happily expressing the silvery
atmosphere of the master's painting (fig. 96). ' The Em-
barkation for Cythera,' which conveys with surprising
success the romantic charm of the original, may rank as his
principal work. Benoit xAudran is another noteworthy
interpreter of Watteau, but the general effect of his plates
is not so sparkling or fine. Close to him in style come
Laurent Cars and Pierre Avelinc, while other members of
14
210
ENGRAVING IN FRANCE
the group are Nicolas de Larmessin, Charles Nicolas
Cochin the elder, and Michel Aubert. The central point
of interest in the engraved work after Watteau lies in the
scenes from the life of the court and the aristocracy, the
Fig. 96. Nicolas Henri Tardieu : 'A Picnic' after Watteau (detail),
so-called Fetes Galantes, taking place against a background
of park or landscape scenery ; and just as Watteau was a
fine landscape painter, so in their treatment of landscape
his engravers show particular skill. Every portion of
Watteau's work, his ornamental designs, his drawings and
GREUZE AND VERXET 211
his sketches, were reproduced by engraving. One of the
painter's admirers, the collector Jean de Julienne, produced
a magnificent edition of the collected prints after Wattcau
by the artists mentioned and by other engravers, such as
Louis Surugue, Jean Philippe Lebas, Bernard Lepicie, etc.
The drawings of Francois Boucher were also transferred to
copper by the Comte de Caylus and by Julienne himself,
Watteau's followers, Lancret and Pater, had compara-
tively small influence on engraving ; on the other hand,
the principal painters of genre pictures of middle-class life,
Jean Simeon, Chardin, and Jean Baptiste Greuze, gave no
little employment to the engravers of their time. Greuze's
manner was particularly well rendered by Jean Jacques
Flipart in a combination of etching and line-engraving.
Francois Boucher's compositions were extensively re-
produced by the same artists who had previously worked
after Watteau. The landscape painter, Claude Joseph
Vernet, also opened up a fertile field for a number of
engravers in the reproduction of his large paintings, which
were so highly treasured at the time of their production.
The most important of the many engravers after Vernet
is Jean Joseph Balechou, whose best work is Vernet's
famous piece ' The Storm.'
The reproduction of paintings by the Old Masters formed
a large portion of the work of French engravers during
the eighteenth century. They engraved not only the
pictures of the classical Italian Schools, already well
known in print form, but also those of seventeenth-
century Dutchmen, and especially the work of genre
painters such as Terborch, Netscher, Teniers, and Wou-
werman. Philippe Lebas' fine choice of means and skill
of execution made him a particularly successful interpreter
of Wouwerman's work.
212 ENGRAVING IN FRANCE
Hyacinthe Rigaud and Nicolas de Largilliere, the prin-
cipal portrait-painters of the period, exercised far-reaching
influence on portrait-engraving, which still remained the
main province of engravers' work.
For almost a century the lead among the portraitists
was taken by the Drevet family of engravers — Pierre
Drevet (1663— 1738), his son Pierre Imbert Drevet (1697 —
1739), and his nephew Claude Drevet (about 1705 — 1782).
Pierre Drevet's talent descended unweakened to his son,
and appeared again, though with some loss of vigour, in
his nephew. The Drevets worked with the burin only in
a style resembling that of Nanteuil, yet Pierre and Pierre
Imbert surpassed in their engraved work all the painter-
like effects that their predecessors had obtained. They
not only worked with great precision and delicacy, but in
the rendering of the actual texture and material of natural
objects they obtained varieties of tone and methods of
expression that were hitherto unknown. Flesh, silk, lace,
fur, are rendered by them with realistic exactness, and at
the same time the whole effect is absolutely harmonious
(fig. 97). Pierre Drevet's talent seems to have reached its
full completion in 1696 with a portrait of ' Antoine
Arnauld ' ; his portrait of Colbert in 1700 shows him at
the very summit of his art. Drevet, however, was strictl)'
dependent on the paintings which fell to him to engrave,
and his prints accordingly have an uneven value cor-
responding to that of the pictures on which they are
based. The principal works of his later period are the
full-length portraits of Louis XIV and Louis XV after
Rigaud.
Pierre Imbert Drevet began his career by engraving after
Lebrun ; in 1718 he finished a small plate engraved with
extreme daintiness and skill, showing ' Bishop Fressan
Fig 97. Pierre i»r<.\tt K u m ct Robert de Cotte (detail)
213
2 14 ENGRAVING IN FRANCE
kneeling before the Madonna ' ; in 1723 he completed his
portrait of Bossuet_after Rigaud, perhaps the finest of all
the engraved portraits of France, and in the following
year his almost equally excellent portrait of Cardinal
Dubois.
Claude Drevet followed the style of his uncle and of
Pierre Imbert, though with less successful results. By
sedulously maintaining the traditions of the Drevet family
he exercised considerable influence on the artists, such
as DauUe, who surrounded him. Claude Drevet in his
earlier days also engraved after Lebrun, and took part in
the execution of the large plate picturing the ' Anointing
of Louis XV at Rheims.' The rare union of skilful
technique and genuine artistic feeling which distinguishes
the works of the two older Drevets does not appear in
the work of Claude or any other of their successors. Too
much stress came to be laid on the technical renderin"- of
externals and accessories, frequently resulting in metallic
hardness. This fault mars the work of otherwise skilled
engravers such as Jean Daulle (1703— 1763) and Jean
Joseph Balechou (17 19 — 1764).
In the domain of pure burin work the master of most
influence during the latter part of the eighteenth century
is Georg Wille (born near Giessen, 171 5 ; died in Paris,
1807). His great talent in the technical side of engraving
deceived his contemporaries, and hides in a remarkable
manner his lack of genuine training and of true artistic
feeling. In his youth Wille came to Paris self-taught, and
remained there during his whole life. He lays his graver-
lines with painful clearness, adapting them with scrupulous
care to the nature of the object he represents. His
drawing accordingly is dry and lifeless, but the outward
perfection of his work assured him of his position as a
GEORG WILLP:
2 I
valued master and teacher almost to the end of his life.
To his numerous followers Wille set the example of
strivinij above all for absolute regularity in the laying of
engraved lines with almost mechanical exactness ; and it
I'lu. (jS, (^L-org Willc: ' Txij- blowing Soap Bubbles,' after
Caspar Nctscher (detail).
was this influence that helped in no small degree to the
decline of the art of line-engraving. Wille reproduced
several pictures by Netscher (fig. 98), Mieris, G. Dow, etc.
One of his most famous plates is the ' Paternal Advice,'
2i6 ENGRAVING IN FRANCE
after Terburg, in which the sheen of the silk dress worn
by the lady standing in the foreground is rendered with
admirable truth. Wille often engraved paintings by
C. W. E. Dietrich, whom he held in high esteem. Among
other excellent plates may be mentioned his portraits of
Frederick the Great after Pesne and of Saint-Florentin
after Tocque.
In opposition to Audran and the engravers of the
Watteau School Wille represents the firm principle that
recognises the burin as the only suitable tool for the
engraver. His successors worked in the same spirit as
representatives of a tendency bound to become classical.
Through pupils and sons of pupils the influence of Wille
has lasted on into our own time.
Wille's younger contemporary, Jean Massard (1740 —
1822), worked under his influence, but with much greater
softness of treatment, and his ' Broken Pitcher ' after
Greuze is reminiscent of Drevet. Massard's ' Death of
Socrates ' after David may rank as a pattern of right
interpretation of the classical school of painting.
Jean Guillaume Bervic (1756 — 1822) combines the best
qualities of Wille with considerably greater freedom of
style. After an unimportant original he engraved his
famous portrait of Louis XVI, indisputably a masterpiece
of French engraving of the second half of the eighteenth
century. In their own kind his ' Education of Achilles'
after J. B. Regnault, and his ' Deianira ' after Guido Reni,
deserve to become classical. During his long life Bervic
produced only fifteen plates, and by his slow manner of
engraving he inaugurated the laborious style, utterly
hostile to all artistic freshness, which has since become
familiar in line-engraving. Bervic's pupils Paolo Toschi,
Louis Henriquel-Dupont, and Raphael Urbin Massard,
BEAUVARLET: FICQUET : GRATELOUP 217
son of the elder Massard, were the principal engravers
in the first half of the nineteenth century. Another of
Wille's pupils, Pierre Alexandre Tardieu (1756 — 1844),
was distinguished as an engraver of portraits (among them
Marie Antoinette as a Vestal, Barras, etc.). Tardieu's
pupil, Auguste Boucher-Desnoyers (1779 — 1857), upheld
the tradition of the French School of the eighteenth
century in his polished and sparkling style, and the
school which he formed lasts to our own time.
Independent of VVille, but with an art related to his, is
Jacques-Firmin Beauvarlet (173 1 — 1797), who has a happy
knack of concealing spiritless drawing by means of refined
and sparkling execution. His plates are after Boucher,
Fragonard, portraits of Clairon, Mme Du Barry, etc.).
The art of miniature painting, principally of portraits,
in enamel and in water-colour, that flourished during the
eighteenth century, gave the engravers an opportunity of
testing their skill in the execution of minute details.
Goltzius and the brothers Wierix had to a certain extent
set the example in their small portraits. The most dis-
tinguished of these little masters of engraving is Etienne
Ficquet (Paris, 17 19 — 1794), who was a pupil of Georg
Friedrich Schmidt during the latter's residence in Paris,
and who combined in a remarkable measure purity of
technique and artistic feeling. His work is in no way
thin or worried, but absolutely free, and apparently never
carried to particular finish. It may perhaps be character-
ised as the execution of Nanteuil or Drevet on a much
smaller scale. In minute work Ficquet is surpassed by an
amateur, Jean Baptiste Grateloup (Paris, 1735 — 18 17),
whose nine portraits, a few inches in size, are marvels of
their kind. To the same group of little masters belongs
Pierre Savart.
2l8
ENGRAVING IN FRANCE
In comparison with line-engraving etching is of only
secondary importance in the French art of this period.
We have, it is true, etchings by almost all the French
painters, but their technique remains simple and un-
developed, and the work of the period wins little admira-
tion. By Watteau are some delicately etched studies of
single figures ; Boucher etches partly after Watteau, and
^i&' 99- Jean Honore Fragonard : From the set of Sat3TS at Play (detail).
partly after his own compositions ; by Nattoir are some
hastily executed groups of children. Honore Fragonard
(1732 — 1806) [fig. 99] was inspired to etch by Tiepolo,
and beside some hasty sketches he executed some careful
plates, such as ' The Lovers in the Cupboard,' etc. Pierre
Parrocel etched after Subleyras and from some of his own
compositions in the contemporary Italian manner, like his
father, Joseph Parrocel, the battle-painter, who founded his
BOISSIEU: NORBLIN: DEXOX 219
style on that of Salvator Rosa. Jean Baptiste Oudry
{1686 — 1755) etched hunting-scenes and animal pieces in
a hard but vigorous style. The illustrations of the large
folio edition of La Fontaine's " Fables " arc for the most
part excellent!}' reproduced by Tardieu, Avcline, Cars,
Lebas, and others, from Oudry's drawings.
In the second half of the century Jean Jacques Boissieu
(1736 — 1 8 10) worked with perseverance and success as a
painter-etcher in Lyons. Originally basing his style on
that of Adrien Manglard (d. 1760), an etcher of seascapes,
he afterwards developed a distinct manner of his own.
Sometimes he reproduces pictures by Ruisdael, Van de
Velde, etc., but as a rule etches with a fine needle
crisply drawn and cleverly bitten subjects from his native
surroundings or from Roman landscapes. His successful
genre pictures (fig. lOO) are on the whole fewer; but, like
his landscapes, they show a pictorial sense rare at this
period ; he frequently calls in the assistance of the roulette.
His most important works, ' Aquapendente,' * The Arch of
Titus,' ' The Coopers,' ' The Great Charlatan,' date from
the beginning of his seventieth \-ear.
Jean Pierre Norblin (1745 — 1830) worked for many
years as director of an Art School at Warsaw, and, like
his German contemporary Dietrich, endeavoured to revive
the methods of Rembrandt. He has at his disposal an
unusual amount of technical dexterity, and his plates,
in which he reproduces his own compositions or originals
ascribed to Dietrich and Rembrandt, are worked with a
fine point and display genuine artistic spirit throughout.
After his return to Paris in 1789 his art work was of no
further importance.
At this point must also be mentioned Dominique Vivant
Denon (1747 — 1825), an amateur of considerable talent
220
ENGRAVING IN FRANCE
lOo, Jean Jacques Boissicu :
Th-c Village School (detail).
and surprising technical
versatility. His love of
art made him conversant
with works of the most
different schools. He
wasparticularly influenced
by the painters of the
Netherlands — he repro-
duced, for instance,
Potter's famous ' Bull ' in
a folio-sized print — distin-
guishing himself gener-
ally by his command of
etching on plates of the
largest size. Denon was
Director of the Musee
Napoleon in Paris.
Jean Duplessi-Bertaux
(1747— i8i 3) works with
a fine needle on the
copper, drawing cleverly
treated military scenes
and small figures. He
has been compared on
this account with Callot,
but is perhaps most closely
akin to his German con-
temporary Chodowiecki.
Genuine painter-etching
was less practised in
France than that manner
of work which approaches
very nearly to the treat-
JEAN MICHEL MOREAU 221
ment and style of line-engraving in its mechanical regularity.
Engravers of the Watteau School had already attempted
to supplant the burin with the etching-needle ; and later
engravers attained this object to a more complete extent.
Augustin de Saint- Aubin (1736 — 1807) had inherited from
his father a crisp style of drawing and a talent for keen
observation. Saint-Aubin's etchings often appear like
engravings delicately worked throughout with the burin,
though only the finishing touches, a sort of final polish,
were given to them with the burin. Augustin de Saint-
Aubin etched after Greuzc, Boucher, the illustrator
Gravelot, and after his own designs, in which he ennobles
the affectation of the so-called " estampes galantes " by his
own grace and charm. A large number of portrait-heads
of distinguished contemporaries were executed by him
with indefatigable industry. Like him in talent, but with
higher qualities at his command, is Jean Michel Moreau
(1741 — 1814), extremely clever in his grasp of dramatic
situation and of character, and a past-master of delicate
work with needle and burin. A good example of his
talent are his fine illustrations to the first volume of the
*' Chansons" by Jean Benjamin Delaborde (fig. loi).
Moreau's greatest importance lies, perhaps, less in his
own engravings than in the large number of charming
compositions reproduced from his designs by engravers
who adapted themselves closely to his style, such as
Noel Lemire, C. and H. Guttenberg, and Jean Baptiste
Simonet. In the " Monuments pour servir a I'Histoirc du
Costume en France " we find Moreau and a Swiss painter,
Sigismund Freudenberger(Freudeberg), contemporary with
him in Paris, working together in the pictorial illustra-
tion of aristocratic life, every disturbing influence being
carefully smoothed away, just as Watteau depicted the
222
ENGRAVING IN FRANCE
social life of the same people's grandparents at the
beginning of the century.
A group of artists, with Jean Michel Moreau among the
chief, took an active part in the production of book-
illustrations. In the eighteenth century line-engraving;
Fig. loi. Jean Michel Moreau (the younger) : The Toilet.
(From Delaborde's " Choix de Chansons," Paris, 1773).
plays a part, like that of the woodcut in the sixteenth
century, but with other motives. The literature of society
had to make its appearance in an artistic guise ; numerous
illustrations are scattered throughout elegant volumes ;
vignettes decorate the beginning, and so-called 'culs-de-
ILLUSTRATED BOOKS 223
lampe ' the end of the chapters. Although it was not
unusual during the seventeenth century to publish books
with copper-plates, yet the French illustrated books of the
eighteenth century form a group of peculiar individuality.
The change of manners, marked outwardly by the disuse
of the great periwig, may be observed both in art and
literature, and in the union of both offered by illustrated
books. In the illustrations by Claude Gillot (1673 — 1722),
a pupil of Watteau, to the " Fables " of Huard de La Motte,
1 7 19, the new fashion and the new style of eighteenth-cen-
tury books make their first appearance ; and in so far may
Gillot be called the father of French eighteenth-century
illustration. Illustrations soon came into vogue, and won
a power with which writers and artists had to reckon.
Pictures produced by favourite artists and engravers
were essential to the success of a new book. Authors of
the high position of Voltaire and Rousseau were glad to
lend their assistance to the most successful artists, and
the literary success of Restif de la Bretonne or of a Dorat
depended to no small degree on the beauty of the editions in
which their poetry appeared. As a rule the designers of
the illustrations were engravers and etchers as well,and acted
as such, but in most cases they supplied the original designs
only, v/hich were reproduced by professional copper-
engravers. These last not infrequently possess astounding
technical dexterity, but are nevertheless only artists of
second rank, and engraving receives no new impulse
from their work. The nature of their task offered them
no opportunity for the display of originality, and they can
be separated from one another only by the degree of
finish and neatness with which their work is executed.
Among the most prominent of those engravers of illus-
trations whose work falls in the second half of the
224
ENGRAVING IN FRANCE
eighteenth century may be mentioned Emanuel de Ghendt,
Joseph de Longueil (fig. 102), Charles Etienne Gaucher,
Nicolas de Launay, Nicolas Ponce, etc.
In order to estimate fairly the worth of French eighteenth-
century illustration, the work of the engravers must be
considered in connection with that of the illustrators.
One of the most prominent illustrators is Hubert Francois
Gravelot (1699 — ^77?))- Among his most remarkable
Fig. 102. Joseph de Longueil after P. C. Marillier. Vignette
from Dorat's " Fables," Paris, 1773.
works, distinguished for charm, originality and vigour, are
the illustrations for Rousseau's " Nouvelle Heloise," the
" Contes Nouveaux " of Marmontel, the " Decameron," etc.
Extraordinarily inventive, full of spirit, but at the same
time more superficial than Gravelot, is Charles Eisen
(1720— 1778). The costly adornment of Durat's " Fables "
and his ' Baisers,' of Montesquieu's " Temple de Cnide," of
Voltaire's " Henriade," is the work of this gifted artist, who
finally came to ruin amid the wanton laxity to which he
so frequently lent his talent.
ILLUSTRATED BOOKS 225
Pierre Philippe Choffard (1730 — 1809) shows masterly
invention in the design of little vignettes and culs-de-
lampe, often tenderly etched by his own hand. Another
clever " little master" with a most dainty style is Clement
Marillier. In his firm and elegant manner Moreau
illustrated Delaborde's " Chansons " and an edition of the
works of Rousseau. Great undertakings, such as the
edition of Ovid's " Metamorphoses," translated by the Abbe
de Banier, and appearing from 1767 to 1777, gave employ-
ment to almost all the principal illustrators and engravers
of Paris. In this book we find a union of Boucher, Eisen,
Gravelot, Moreau, as draughtsmen ; Binet, Duclos, Le
Mire, Massard, Ponce, Longueil, Saint-Aubin and many
others, as engravers. The enormous number of large and
small volumes produced at Paris — often on account of
their contents bearing the name of a fictitious place of
publication — gives us an idea of the absorbing love for
illustrated books which from Paris spread to most of the
civilised world.
A reaction against the tendency indicated by these
illustrated picture-books began in the last ten years of the
century. Joseph Marie Vien and Jean Jacques PVancoise
Lebarbier represent the artistic side of the movement,
which was supported by David (Lebarbier's illustrations to
Racine appeared in 1 796). Of the still living representatives
of the earlier, somewhat lax manner, Michel Moreau
attached himself to the new movement with the greatest
sincerity, but at the sacrifice of his art. With Prudhon's
designs for P. J. Bernard's " L'Art d' Aimer" and for the
" Daphnis and Chloe " of Longus (1800) the new idealistic
art took firm possession of a province on which the French
spirit of the eighteenth century had printed its character of
careless love of pleasure.
15
VI
ENGRAVING IN ITALY DURING THE
SEVENTEENTH AND EIGHTEENTH
CENTURIES
ETCHING made its first appearance on the stage of
Italian art at a time when ItaHan painting was
still living on the inheritance left by the earlier great
masters. Part of this inheritance was a certain facility
and largeness of idea, which found corresponding expression
by means of etching.
Etching was first acclimatised in Italy by Francesco
Mazzuoli, called Parmigianino (Parma, 1503 — 1540). If
we put aside some doubtful etchings, his original work
with its affectation of breadth and fluency is coarse and un-
pleasing to the eye (fig. 103). Andrea Meldolla, who may
be identified as Andrea Schiavone (1522 — 1582), Titian's
pupil and assistant, etched Parmigianino's designs in a
soft and painter-like style. On the whole the Venetian
School preserved its natural character longer than
Parmigianino and other followers of Correggio. From
the Venetians who were working about the middle of the
century, we may single out Battista dell' Angelo Veronese,
called del Moro, working at Venice about 1540, and the
engravers and etchers Giovanni Battista Fontana and
Giulio Fontana.
Federigo Barocci (born at Urbino 1528, worked mainly
226
FEDERIGO BAROCCI
227
at Rome, died 1602) surpassed every one of his
Italian contemporaries in the art of making his etchings
charming and effective. He produced, however, only a
small number of plates, and his example found at first
no followers among his fellow-countrymen. Barocci's
etched ' Annunciation ' (fig. 104) rivals his best paintings
r/r-y
Fig. 103. Francesco Parmigianino (Mazzuoli) : The Entombment (detail).
in fineness of effect, and, in spite of a method of treatment
that hardly wins our sympathy to-day, may be counted as
a masterpiece of etching.
In line-engraving the School of Marc- Antonio, apart
from the engravers of Mantua, could boast only a few
straggling adherents in the latter half of the sixteenth
(Century, the most noteworthy among them being Martino
228
ENGRAVING IN ITALY
Rota, of Sebenico, who worked between 1558 and 1586.
There is something of Netherlandish influence in his fine
and pleasing technique. Among the enormous crowd of
mechanical engravers who were now engaged in reproducing
the paintings of their contemporaries and of older masters,
only a few stand out as of particular importance. Even
Fig. 104. Federigo Barocci : The Annunciation (detail).
the appearance of a master of engraving like Agostino.
Carracci (born at Bologna 1557, died at Parma 1602),,
though his influence passed far beyond the bounds of
Italy, was insufficient to raise Italian engraving to any
permanent greatness. Carracci, as though to maintain his
position as the exponent of monumental dignity in painting,
introduced a large style of engraving (fig. 105) absolutely
AGOSTIXO CARRACCI
229
opposed to the minute precision of the later Little Masters
of the northern schools. Carracci strove to attain neither
any illusion of colour nor brilliance of technique. His
method consisted of simple cross-hatchings with the lines
laid broadly, following the contours of the form to be
expressed, and swelling out to greater width in the
Fig. 105. Agostino Carracci : St. Jerome (detail).
shadows. In addition to much original work he also
engraved after Titian, Paolo Veronese, and other masters
whose style was related to his own. Agostino's brother,
Annibale Carracci (i 560— 1609), made only a few amateur-
ish experiments in etching and engraving. Agostino's true
follower is Cherubino Alberti (i553— 1615), "^vho in his own
light and easy style made some excellent reproductions
230 ENGRAVING IN ITALY
of the paintings of Rosso, Caravaggio, Zuccaro, and
similar masters. Albert! appears, however, to more
advantage when he places his own compositions on the
copper. Francesco Villamena (1566 — 1622?), in spite of
a certain hastiness of execution, is a still more remarkable
engraver for this period. Apparently a pupil of Cornells
Cort at Rome, he works in a light and not unpleasing
style, frequently giving little more than outlines with only
slight indications of modelling. Such isolated engravers
as still worked for the genuine advancement of their art
could not check the decline of line-engraving in Italy.
The retrogression of the art becomes more and more
definite, till in the seventeenth century Italian line-engraving
is scarcely worthy of mention as an artistic process.
With the decline of line-engraving in Italy seemed to
come increasing activity in etching, and increasing fertility
in the artists who employed this method. Among the
most zealous adherents of etching were the artists of the
Bolognese School. Among the etchers of the time we
find almost all the known names in the School of Bologna,
as well as several artists, often very prolific, who are either
quite unknown or else play a very unimportant part as
painters. As a general rule, Italian etchings of the seven-
teenth century are freely and lightly sketched on the
copper. Every means of producing an artistic effect, the
expression of tone by successive bitings, the addition of
work with the dry-point, all the various methods of ob-
taining finish, were almost entirely unknown or rejected.
Looked at as a whole, the Italian etchings of this time
are little else than drawings of an extremely sketchy nature
reproduced in the simplest way by means of a copper
plate. Italian painter-etchers made not the slightest
effort to raise etching to importance as a distinct and
THE SCHOOL OF BOLOGNA
!3i
independent branch of art, as was the case in the Low
Countries.
Of the more important artists of the Bolognese School
may be mentioned as etchers : Guido Reni, Francesco
Albani, Domenichino (Domenico Zampieri), Guercino
(Giovanni Francesco Barbieri), Giacomo Cavedone, EHsa-
Fig. io5. Carlo iMaratta : Betrothal of St. Catherine (detail).
betta Sirani, Maria Canuti, Giovanni Battista Mola, Carlo
Maratta (fig. io6), and the landscape etcher, Francesco
Grimaldi.
A comparatively important influence was exercised even
beyond the limits of Italy by Antonio Tempesta of Flor-
ence (1555 — 1630), whose numerous etchings of all manner
of subjects travelled all over the Continent. They are a
232
ENGRAVING IN ITALY
little cold and mechanical, but the liveliness of the scenes
they depict and a certain natural truth of composition won
much popular approval.
The Neapolitan School gave birth to two distinguished
etchers, Giuseppe Ribera(i588 — 1652) and Salvator Rosa
(161 5 — 1673). Ribera's plates (fig. 107), with their power-
ful, spirited drawing and
their harmonious treat-
ment, indisputably reach
the high-water mark of
seventeenth -century
etching in Italy. Sal-
vator Rosa worked with
a fine point and depicted
mythological and classi-
cal subjects with a fresh
and vigorous sense of
design. He is also note-
worthy as an etcher of
groups of peasants and
brigands, like those
which he introduced into
his paintings.
A distinct personality
among Italian etchers is
Giovanni Benedetto Castiglione (born at Genoa 1616, died
at Mantua 1670). While living at Genoa he came into
contact with Van Dyck, and as a result based his style
on that of the northern etchers. In his biblical and
mythological compositions he imitated Rubens, and also
executed a series of studies of male heads in the
manner of Rembrandt. Somewhat akin to Castiglione
is Bartolommeo Biscaino (163 i — 1657).
Fig. 107. Giuseppe Ribera
Bacchanal (detail).
GIOVANNI BATTISTA TI?:POLO
233
The eighteenth ceiitur}- witnessed the introduction of
fresh elements in Itahan art. In painting, as in etching
and engraving, new and original talent began to appear.
Our modern sympathies are on the whole much more
attuned to the principles of this new movement than to
Fig. loS. Salvator Rosa : Group of Warriors (detail).
those of seventeenth-century Italian art. Etching, indeed,
was practised by only a few artists, but it showed distinct
refinement of technique and a more decided appreciation
of tone and pictorial effect.
In Giovanni Battista Tiepolo (born at Venice 1696, died
at Madrid 1770) the best qualities of the older Venetians
234
ENGRAVING IN ITALY
seem to have again sprung into life. Tiepolo's style of
painting, with its bright and cheerful effects, its sense of
light and air, is reflected in his fifty-six etchings, freshly
and daintily handled throughout. The principal one
Fig. 109. Giovanni Domenico Tiepolo : Bacchante (detail).
among them is an ' Adoration of the Kings,' of folio size
and full of figures. Tiepolo's son and assistant, Giovanni
Domenico Tiepolo (1726 — 1804), placed on the copper a
number of his father's compositions, working in his father's
style. The younger Tiepolo's numerous plates are as
CANALETTO AND BELOTTO 235
light, sparkling, and original as those of the elder, though
carried to furtlier finish and more depth of tone (fig. 109).
In the history of art there arc few instances of the principles
of a master's painting having found such exact expression
in his etchings, as was the case both with the older and
the younger Tiepolo.
An almost new field of art was opened by the Italians
of the eighteenth century in the application of etching to
architectural views. In this connection the first place is
due to Antonio Canalc, called Canalctto (Venice 1697 —
1768), whose etchings deserve the same appreciation that
his pictures have always found. At times he etches with
a light touch in a close and tender technique, at times his
plates are strongly and deeply bitten ; but in every case
he has the power of rendering the clear perspective and
the soft atmosphere of Venice with a style that is un-
affected, apparently very simple and extraordinarily deli-
cate (fig. 1 10). Canaletto may have been first prompted
to take up etching by his master, Luca Carlevariis (1665 —
1734), who had produced a series of finely etched views
of Venice.
Canaletto's pupil and nephew, Bernardo Belotto (bonv
at Venice 1720, worked at Dresden and elsewhere, died at
Warsaw 1780) followed in his master's steps as a painter
and etcher. He was, however, no mere imitator, but an
artist of decided individuality, the result possibl)' of the
fact that he worked mainly in the north. Looking at his
prints, one's eyes are refreshed by the forceful precision of
of the drawing and the masterly handling of the planes
of perspective. Belotto etched coarsel)' in firm, vigorous
lines. His views of Dresden are genuine masterpieces, not
only for their topographical correctness and their clever
renderino" of architecture, but also for their reflection of
236 ENGRAVING IN ITALY
local colour and atmosphere. It is a remarkable fact that
Ital)' produced at the same time several other etchers who
were distinctly related in style to Belotto, but who worked
quite independently of him — among them the two Piranesi,
Giovanni Battista (born 1721 ?, died at Rome 1778), and
Fig. no. Antonio Canale (Canaletto) : View in Venice (detail).
his son, Francesco (born at Rome 1748, died at Paris
1 8 10). The elder Piranesi, originally trained as an archi-
tect, found his milieu in the picturing of ancient Roman
buildings and ruins. In his certainty and precision of line
he is akin to Belotto, but not content, like him, with
GIOVANNI BATTISTA PIRANESI 237
simple and straightforward rendering of nature, he clothes
reality with massivcness of form, grandeur of effect, and
mystery of light and shade. Many of Piranesi's prints are
daring experiments with the technique of etching, and
have almost the effect of a powerful decorative painting.
He obtains in his etchings a remarkable richness and
depth of tone, produced by continuous bitings and by
various technical processes, which he must have preserved
as a secret. Skilful printing, moreover, played an im-
portant part in giving artistic effect to Piranesi's prints.
The younger Piranesi worked with his father and followed
his style so closely that their work can scarcely be
distinguished.
Line-engraving in Ital>' during the eighteenth century
received a new impulse, yet the work of the engravers of
the period is characterised by unambitious correctness
rather than by originality and artistic freedom. Marco
Pittcri (1703 — 1786) opened up new paths, but had no
followers. Pitteri covers his plate with sets of slanting or
vertical lines running evenly and in parallel directions over
all the forms he wishes to render ; and these lines he widens
here and there into irregular swellings accentuated by dots,
thus producing modelling, light and shade — a method of
engraving somewhat akin to that of Claude Mellan in his
famous head of Christ on ' Veronica's Handkerchief.""
Pitteri, who never engraved his own designs, obtains in
many of his usually large plates a soft and pleasing effect.
The majority of Italian engravers in the eighteenth
century were occupied in reproducing the works of the old
masters. To some extent they inherited this from France,.
for French engravers from the seventeenth century had
been occupied in reproducing classical examples until.
French art found for them a fresh field.
238 ENGRAVING IN ITALY
Among the so-called classical engravers of this period
in Italy the leading part was played by Giovanni Volpato
(1738 — 1803), who worked originally in Venice, and later
in Rome, where he was the founder of a large and fruitful
School. His reproductions of Raphael's work, and particu-
larly his prints after the frescoes in the Stanze of the
Vatican, established Volpato's fame. This fame, however,
rests far more on the spirit and importance of the com-
positions that inspired the plates than on the art of the
engraver. His style is not lacking in external grace. His
execution is soft, but spiritless and conventional, while his
insipid drawing is never fair to the originals, least of all in
the heads. Volpato also engraved Raphael's frescoes in
the Loggie of the Vatican, 'The Entombment,' 'The
Madonna della Sedia,' Guercino's ' Aurora,' Claude's
* Cephalus and Procris,' and Poussin's ' Noah ' — prints that
for a long time were held in high esteem.
Volpato was surpassed in every respect by his pupil
and son-in-law, Raphael Morghen (born 1758, died at
Rome 1833), who worked on exactly the same lines.
Morghen's drawing and composition are finer and more
correct, and the whole effect of his prints is pleasing and
brilliant. To Volpato's series of the Stanze prints
Morghen added an eighth plate, ' The Mass at Bologna,'
as well as the frescoes of the Camera della Segnatura.
Morghen's most famous plate, the * Last Supper ' (fig. 1 1 1),
after Leonardo da Vinci, is a fine piece of engraving,
•executed with loving sympathy, and indisputably the
•chief work of Volpato's School. The nature of the art of
his time made it impossible for Morghen to do justice to
Leonardo's characteristic style either in his drawing or in
his choice of engraving as a means of expression. To
our modern eyes his work is much more satisfactory when
239
240 ENGRAVING IN ITALY
he reproduces subjects by some artist nearer to his own
time and whose outlook upon art more resembled his own,
such as Guido Reni's ' Aurora,' Domenichino's ' Diana
Hunting,' or the ' Parnassus ' of Raphael Mengs.
The pupils of Volpato and Morghen, such as Giovanni
Folo and Pietro Anderloni, show the influence of Wille
and Bervic in their endeavour to obtain sharpness and
brilliance of execution and great clearness of modelling, an
endeavour that not seldom leads to dryness and gives
their plates the appearance of having been made from
a sculptured relief rather than from a painting. The
drawing of these later engravers follows the originals with
much more care and exactitude than the unhampered but
also uncritical engravers of earlier times were able to
obtain. But this eager endeavour to bring the engraving
to such a pitch of painfully true reproduction necessarily
killed all artistic freedom. It must also be remembered
that works of this kind were rarely placed on copper in
front of the original. The engraver must have made a
sketch, usually in charcoal, from the painting, and used
this to work from in his studio. What he actually pro-
duced was therefore as a rule only a copy of a copy.
Reproduction, carried on in this manner with changing
fortune, gave continual and profitable employment to a
number of engravers. Giuseppe Longhi, Pietro Anderloni,
Marco Gandolfi, Paolo Toschi, and others, maintained the
good traditions of the past, largely because they clung with
understanding to the technical processes of Edelinck and
other Old Masters. Though it is easy to-day to recognise
faults in their reproductive work, it must not be forgotten
that these so-called classical engravers deserve real credit
for having made the works of the Old Masters a living
possession of the world.
VII
ENGRAVING IN ENGLAND
IN the fifteenth century and at the beginning of the
sixteenth we find no engravers in England ; there
is no record either of artists or of their work. As far as
present research carries us, the first edition of " The
Birth of Mankind" (1540, British Museum) contains the
first anonymous examples of English engraving. After
the middle of the century foreign engravers and etchers
come into notice, among the earliest being Thomas
Gemini, Remigius and Franz Hogenberg. The earliest
native-born engravers known at present are Humphrey
Cole and Augustine Rythcr, but their work consisted
mainly in the production of maps. For a long time
engraving was confined to portraits, title-pages, maps,
and architectural drawings. William Rogers (worked
1589 — 1604) is noteworthy for his magnificent portrait of
Queen Elizabeth and for several finely designed title-
pages, such as that of Gerard's " Herball " (1597). Con-
temporary with him were Thomas Cockson (worked
1 59 1 — 1636) and Renold Elstracke, a Fleming who had
settled in England. Their work is remarkable for its fine
decorative treatment of ornament and heraldry.
In 1 6 16 Simon dc Passe settled in England, followed
in 1 62 1 by his brother Willem. Working in the style of
their father, Crispin de Passe, the two brothers exercised
241 16
242 ENGRAVING IN ENGLAND
considerable influence on the development of the art of
engraving in England. Among their associates and pupils
were some noteworthy engravers of portraits and book
illustrations, such as William Marshall (worked 1617 —
1649), John Payne (1606 — 1648), William Hole, Francis
Delaram and Thomas Cccill. William Faithorne the elder
(1616 — 1691) was a pupil of Jchn Payne, and during the
Civil War had studied in the Netherlands and under
Nanteuil in Paris. His fine portraits will bear placing
beside the best Flemish or French u-ork of his day, and
are remarkable for vigour of line and precision of model-
ling. They show, too, a use of delicate hatching and minute
dot work, probably learned from Nanteuil. David Loggan
(a native of Danzig, f. 1635 — i/OO) worked during all his
life in London. Robert White (1645 — 1704), Loggan's
pupil, engraved a number of highly interesting portraits of
his contemporaries with considerable truth and vivacity,
though with a certain looseness of technique. George
Vertue (London 1684 — 1756), antiquary and writer on
art, engraved a large number of somewhat sketchy
portraits in the manner of Vorsterman and Edelinck. He
possessed no particular merit as an engraver, and both
in composition and drawing his prints are weak and
unsatisfactory, but his work forms a valuable historic
record.
During the second half of the seventeenth century
interest centred so entirely on the newly discovered art
of mezzotint that the other arts of engraving were com-
pletely overshadowed. In the eighteenth century, indeed,
England can show only three line-engravers of real im-
portance— Robert Strange, William Sharp, and William
Woollett. Strange (172 1 — 1792) studied under Lebas in
Paris, but like almost all his contemporaries was influenced
WILLIAM WOOLLKTT 243
by Willc. Returning to England he. devoted his energies
mainly to engraving the paintings of the great Italian
colourists, for which his pure and soft execution was
singularly adapted. In the complicated method of his
line work Strange followed his model W'ille, but the
niceties of form and composiiion are choked by the formal
regularity of his style. William Sharp (1749 — 1824)
perhaps hardly equals him in brilliance of technique, but
frequently surpasses him in his natural freshness, as in his
engravings after Re}'nolds, Trumbull, and other painters.
Greater individuality and more definite power of a dis-
tinctly English type appears in William Woollett (1735 —
1785), whose native genius supplied him with a fluent style
that was purely pictorial in its nature and intention. To
a greater extent than any of his predecessors, Tardieu
perhaps excepted, Woollett had the knack of skilfully
combining the use of the needle and the burin. This
quality was of particular advantage to him in the land-
scape engravings, which form the greater portion of his
work. Claude Lorrain's paintings found in Woollett an
ideal interpreter. He also executed many engravings
after contemporary English landscape painters such as
Richard Wilson. His most famous prints, though not
perhaps his finest work, are the two battle-pieces after
Benjamin West, ' The Death of General Wolfe' and ' The
Battle of La Hogue.' Other engravers contemporary with
Woollett, but of less importance, arc Francis Vivares
(1709—1780), James Peak {c. 1730 — 1782), and John
Browne (1741 — 1801).
An entirely independent position is held by the famous
satirist, William Hogarth (1697 — 1764). Although he is of
incomparably more importance as painter than engraver, his
prints served to win reputation for the artist far more than
244
ENGRAVING IN ENGLAND
his pictures. Hogarth's prints, however, owe this success
rather to the subjects they portray than to their actual
artistic merits. Hogarth, indeed, is an admirable draughts-
man, but the technical execution of his plates never rises
above mediocrity, and one may be pardoned for doubting
whether Hogarth's work occupies a place of any real
importance in the development of engraving. His plates
arc broadly and crudely etched, with frequent assistance
g. 112. William Hogarth : The Laughing Audience (detail).
from the burin ; nowhere is there any attempt at artistic
finish ; the entire aim is to obtain the utmost expressive-
ness with a minimum of labour. In the greater part of
his work he probably relied on outside help, and famous
prints, such as those of the ' Marriage a la Mode ' series,,
were certainly not put on the copper by Hogarth himselL
Hogarth's greatness depends on his subtle power of
expressing the baser qualities of mankind and the follies
WILLIA:^! HOGARTH 245
of his own lime, on his humour, and on his original
combination of satire and moral lessons. His first large
work, the 'Masquerades and Operas' of 1724, already
shows the peculiar inclination of his genius. ' A Harlot's
Progress ' (1734) and ' A Rake's Progress ' (1735), together
with the 'Marriage a la Mode' already mentioned, are
Hogarth's most remarkable work. Hogarth had no pupils
and left no real successors, but he gave to English
caricature and to English humorous illustration an
essentially national quality which in man}' respects has
prevailed until the present day.
There was little genuine painter-etching in England
during the eighteenth century. Mention may be made of
Thomas W'orlidge (1700 — 1766), who etched a series of
portraits and sketches of heads in imitation of Rembrandt,
and Captain William Baillie (1723 — 1810), who resembles
his German contemporary, Dietrich. He possessed consider-
able skill, though only of a technical nature, and followed
the manner of Rembrandt, producing also mezzotint,
stipple, and aquatint plates. He retouched the original
plate of Rembrandt's Hundred Guilder Print, which had
fallen into his hands, a piece of work which met with
approval at the time, but which we are not inclined to
regard so fa\'ourab!\' to-da}'. More originality is displayed
in the large and broadly handled portrait-etchings of
Benjamin Wilson (London, 1750 — 1788). Some experi-
ments in etching were also made by Angelica Kauffmann
and Bartolozzi, while to caricaturists such as Rowlandson,
Dighton, Gillray, Aiken and the Cruikshanks etching was
a ready and quick means for the production of their
prints. A real revival of etching began with the etched
work of Turner for his "Liber Studiorum " (1807 — 1819),
of Sir David Wilkie and Andrew Geddes, and of the
246
ENGRAVING IN ENGLAND
Norwich School represented by Crome, Cotman, Stark,
Vincent and the Rev. E. T. Daniell.
In the second half of the century stipple engraving
attained extraordinary popularity in England, and from
England passed over to the Continent, where it was
known as " la maniere anglaise." The art of stipple
Fig. 113. Francesco Barlolozzi : Cupid and Psyche (detail).
engraving was introduced into England by William
Wynne Ryland (1738—1783)- The great founder of the
stipple school was the Italian Francesco Bartolozzi, who
was born in 1728, worked from 1764 to 1S02 in London,
and in 1802 went to Lisbon, where he remained till his
death in 1815. He was a naturally gifted engraver, and
FRANCESCO BARTOLOZZI 247
he came to London at the very time when Dcmarteau's
plates, printed in red and various colours (.see p. 300), were
held in great esteem. Angelica Kauffmann and the
Italian painter, Cipriani, then working in London, per-
suaded Bartolozzi to adopt the crayon manner for the
reproduction of their work. Bartolozzi refined and
perfected this method, and produced during his London
period an extraordinary number of plates after these
and other artists. The stipple method was wonderfully
successful in rendering the sweet sentimental expression
of the soft effeminate heads by Angelica and Cipriani and
their woolly, insipid modelling. From the technical point
of view, however, many of Bartolozzi's pieces, such as his
' Clytia ' after Carracci, his ' Penelope ' after Angelica
Kauffmann, and various portraits, are distinctly meritorious
performances.
Among the best of the stipple-engravers working with
Bartolozzi in London may be mentioned his pupils, Lewis
Schiavonetti (1765 — 1810), Giovanni Vendramini (1769 —
1839), William Nutter (1754— 1802), Peter William
Tomkins, John Keyse Sherwin and Caroline Watson.
Other engravers and mezzotinters, such as Earlom and
John Raphael Smith, were driven to follow the popular
taste and to adapt themselves to stipple, certainly with
excellent results.
Outside of England only a few engravers deserve
mention as having worked in stipple, but at the beginning
of the nineteenth century the method was highly popular
for the production of dainty and elegant views, used as
illustrations for almanacs, etc.
The process of aquatint found in England its first
exponent in Paul Sandby, who.se earliest aquatint appeared
in 1774. tic is believed to have been the first to use a
248 ENGRAVING IN ENGLAND
spirit ground. At the end of the century aquatint gained
great popularity as a means of producing coloured plates
and collections of landscapes, architectural views, costume,
caricatures, etc. The method was largely used after 1790
for the illustration of coloured books, such as those issued
by the Boydells, Ackermann, Ormc, and other publishers.
Among the more prominent artists who followed Sandby
may be mentioned T. Malton, W. and T. Daniell, R. and
D. Havell, T. Sutherland, J. Bluck, and F. C. Lewis.
With the close of the eighteenth and the beginning of
nineteenth century line-engraving also was widely applied
to the illustration of books of a small size, decorated with
plates and dainty vignettes. Stothard and Westall
supplied the drawings for a large number of illustrations
of this type. There was another development in the use
of steel plates after the commencement of the nineteenth
century, and a large school of line engravers was inspired
by the paintings of J. M. \V. Turner, and under his
personal guidance produced some remarkable work.
Among them may be mentioned J. C. Allen, E. Finden,
G. and W. B. Cooke, E. Goodall, W. Miller and R. Wallis.
Shortly after the middle of the seventeenth century the
hitherto known methods of reproduction were increased by
the appearance of a new process, that of mezzotint. It
was a time when the ruling tendency in line-engraving and
etching alike was to obtain a full pictorial effect with the
utmost manipulation of light and shade. It seemed to
be the vocation of the new art to surpass all the other
methods of engraving in power and richness of effect. Its
inventor, Ludwig von Siegcn, gave it to the world almost
complete in every part, and without the possibility or
DISCOVERY OF MEZZOTINT 249
necessity of an\- essential improvement. The wrong idea
was once prevalent that the forerunner of mezzotint was
the art of engra\ing by means of the punch and mallet,
a method practised by German and Italian goldsmiths in
the sixteenth century, and in the seventeenth century
adapted to a wider artistic j^urpose by the Amsterdam
goldsmith, Jan Lutma (died 16S9). The method of
working with a punch is entirely different from mezzotint.
In the case of the former process the dots that suppl\- the
indications of form are beaten deepl}' in the plate by
means of the punch, whereas in mezzotint the plate is
first roughened all over, and the indications of form
are produced by smoothing down the rough surface (see
" Introduction," pp. 5, 6).
Ludwig von Siegen, called von Sechten, was born at
Utrecht in 1609. His father belonged to an old family
^\•hich held the tenure of Sechten, belonging to the
Archbishopric of Cologne ; his mother was Spanish.
Young Siegen was educated at Cassel, and information as
to his later life is extremely scanty. He seems at an early
period to have taken an amateur's interest in all manner of
artistic work. From 164 1 he was living in Amsterdam,
and completed there in 1642 a large portrait of the
Landgravine Amelia of Hesse, the earliest known mezzo-
tint plate. Nothing is known of the circumstances or of
the previous experiments that led Siegen to his discovery.
In 1643 followed the life-size head and shoulders of the
Empress Eleonora, wife of Ferdinand II., and in 1644 the
portraits of William of Orange and his wife, superb prints,
quite remarkable for the sympathy and skill with which
the possibilities of the new process w ere grasped. Siegen s
technique at this time was not limited to the use of the
scraper, for he called the burin to aid in completing the
250 ENGRAVING IN ENGLAND
background, which was usually v.-orked in close cross-
hatching, and in the accentuation of the finer details.
Siegen appears to have roughened only parts of his plate,
and never the whole surface, mapping out like a painter
the larger masses of his picture, and using the roughened
portions from the very first as a suggestion of modelling.
High lights and gradation of tone were then expressed by
means of the scraper. Siegen is supposed to have rough-
ened his plate by means of a sort of circular file ; the
ordinary rocker counts as the invention of Blooteling. It
was not till 1654, when Siegen was successively at Regens-
burg, Mainz, and Cologne, that he produced some further
mezzotint plates, but these showed no artistic advance on his
former work. In these later plates the whole surface was
roughened, and, as was the case with his successors, the
remaining work was done entirely with the scraper. By
1657 Siegen's artistic output came to a close, though he is
mentioned as still living in 1676.
Siegen kept his new process a secret, but it seems about
1654 to have become known to Prince Rupert, whom
Siegen met at Brussels, and to Theodor Caspar von
Fih-stenberg, a prebendary of Mainz. Prince Rupert
(16 19 — 1682), a keen amateur who executed several
etchings, left a series of mezzotint plates after different
masters, somewhat hard in treatment but always thoroughly
sound in workmanship, among them ' The Great f'xecu-
tioner' of 1658 after Ribera (fig. 114)— called the
'Great Executioner' to distinguish it from the smaller
replica made by Prince Rupert as an illustration to John
p:velyn's " Sculptura " (1662). Furstenberg (died 1675)
is on the whole of little importance, though he is note-
worthy as a skilful craftsman in the technique of the
new art.
PRINCE RUPERT
2;i
The art of mezzotint was introduced into the Low
Countries and England by Prince Rupert, and into
Germany by P^iirstenberg. While the process was still
1' ig. 114. Prince Riijuit : I'he '(ircat
regarded as something of a secret, it became known to
Wallerant Vaillant (born at Lille 1623, died at Antwerp
1677), who was an able painter of the school of Ouellinus,
252
ENGRAVING IN ENGLAND
and possessed special skill in drawing portraits in a sort
of slight pastel method with coloured chalks. In mezzo-
tint Vaillant found a method absolutely suited to his
natural style, and was the first trained artist to adopt
the new manner. Vaillant executed more than two
Fig. 115. Wallcraiit Vaillant : Portrait.
hundred mezzotints in all, working occasional!)' fiom his
own drawings, but mainl)' after Dutch portraits and genre
jiictures. His work is pleasing on the whole, though at
times somewhat heav}' and dark in tone. In Holland the
art was also practised by Abraham Blootcling, an engraver
M'lio worked.'. in the manner of Suydcrhoef, and by his
CORNELIS DUSART
253
pLipil'^, Jan and Nicolas Vcrkoljc. The density of tone, in
which Vaillant's plates had set the example, is common to
all these engravers. Cornclis Dusart was the first Dutch-
man to bring any fresh quality into mezzotint. His prints,
handled with a fine artistic sense, are bright and pleasing
in effect, and uncjuestionabl}' the best work produced by
Holland in this provii:cc of art. Dusart's mezzotint
Fisr. 1 16. Cornells Dusart : The Peasant \\
I'ipe (detail).
subjects, like those of his etchings, are scenes from peasant
life, often with a strong dash of caricature.
In Germany the art of mezzotint never rose to particular
distinction. By Flirstenberg the process was communi-
cated to an unimportant artist named Friedrich Eltz, and
by him again to a large number of Nuremberg and
Augsburg portrait engravers, such as Georg and Michael
Fenitzer, Christof Weigel, Johann Elias and Johann
Gottfried Haid, Bernard Vogcl, etc., most of them un-
inspired craftsmen. Rising somewhat above the average
254 ENGRAVING IN ENGLAND
productions of this group are the mezzotints of the
Augsburg battle-painter, Georg Phih'pp Rugendas (1666 —
1742).
In the eighteenth century also mezzotint engraving was
practised in Germany to a comparatively small extent.
The most important of the artists who come under our
consideration is Hcinrich Sintzenich (born at Mannheim
1752, died at Munich 1812), who acquired in England the
ground-work of his technical skill. Together with him must
be mentioned Johann Peter Pichler (Vienna, 1765 — 1806),
with a series of excellent plates after old masters.
Originally practised in England only by a few amateurs,
mezzotint soon began to make rapid strides. It was in
England that the method first reached its full extent of
high technical and artistic refinement, which made it an
art of a peculiarly national character. When mezzotint
came into vogue in England there was no school of
engraving worthy of the name. English portraitists, such
as Peter Lely, Kneller, Gainsborough, and above all the
great master of portrait-painting, Sir Joshua Reynolds,
began to find in mezzotint the process that did greater
justice to their art than had been possible with any other
means of reproduction. As English painting gained much
from Van Dyck, so mezzotint owed its development to artists
who had emigrated from Flanders and Holland, such as
Abraham Blooteling, Gerard Valk, Nicolas Verkolje, and
Pieter van Somen After about 1670 the place of
foreigners was taken b}' native-born artists of considerable
distinction, such as William Sherwin (1669 — i/H)* Francis
Place (1647— 1728), Isaac Beckett (1653— 171 5 ?), Robert
Williams (worked 1700 — 171 5) and John Smith (1654 —
1742). In their hands the art of mezzotint reached its
full perfection, one special step in advance being the more
Fig. 117. James MacArdell : Portrait (detail).
255
256 ENGRAVING IN ENGLAND
careful rocking of the plate with a finer and more delicate
burr. As a result of this it became possible to produce
much richer tone effects, details could be more sharply-
accented, and mezzotint work lost the hard coarseness that
had clung to the plates of the Dutch artists, with the
exception perhaps of Dusart. This great advance was
due to Beckett, and particularly to John Smith. Smith
was the favoured scraper of Kneller's r.umerous portraits,
and left several hundred prints. Equally successful was
his follower, John Eaber the younger (1684 — 1756). Both
of them, however, were surpassed by James MacArdell,
who was born at Dublin in 1729, worked in London,
and died there in 1765. In refinement of drawing and
sensitiveness of tone his plates rank as perhaps the very
finest work of the English mezzotint school. MacArdell
was recognised by Sir Joshua Reynolds as his ideal
interpreter, yet he was equally skilful in doing justice to
the entirely different methods of Gainsborough. Among
other Irish masters of the art were Houston, Spooner,
and Purcell.
In the second half of the century a broader and more
robust style was displayed in the work of such distin-
guished engravers as James Watson (1740 — 1790), William
Dickinson (born 1746, died in Paris 1823), and John
Raphael Smith (1752 — 18 12), the last being remarkable
as an engraver of original portraits. Other contemporary
artists were John Dean and James W'alker, who worked
with great accuracy of delicate detail. These engravers
confined their talent mainly to English portraits, but
there was another group whose principal work was the
reproduction of paintings by old masters and of large
figure-subjects, notably after Wright of Derby. Among
them are William Pether (1731 — 1795), Valentine Green
MASTERS OF MEZZOTINT 257
(1739 — 18131, and Richard Earlom f 1743— 1822), the
last being held in particular esteem to-da\' on the
Continent. In their sheer vigour, their command of tone,
and their admirable effect, Earlom's landscapes after
Hobbema, his flower pieces after Dc Heem, and his still-
life after Sn}'der, are veritable masterpieces.
Among other prominent mezzotint engravers may be
mentioned Richard Houston, Hugo Spilsbury, John Dixon,
Robert Dunkarton, Thomas Burke, and James and William
Ward, all working together in London during the second
half of the eighteenth century. Occasionally they en-
graved portraits from the life or reproduced their own
compositions, but the greater part of their work consisted
in engraving after the contemporary portrait- painters.
The art of Reynolds seems peculiarly adapted to
mezzotint rendering, and gave inspiration to the prints
that are most treasured to-day, but the engravers of the
time were no less successful in translating the paintings oi
Gainsborough, Romney, Raeburn, Hoppner, and others. It
is a remarkable fact that the best English mezzotinters
always preserved a distinct originality of treatment, and
never fell into an indiscriminate group of merely
mechanical craftsmen. Within certain limits the more
prominent among them developed a separate individuality
of style, rendered possible by the great improvements
that the art of mezzotint had now undergone in various
branches of its technique. There was a notable advance
in more scientific and careful rocking of the plate, and in
the careful attention given to the refinements of printing,
the plate being printed sometimes in a velvety black,
sometimes in a warm brown tone ; particularly in working
proofs and proofs before letters it yielded impressions of
unsurpassed excellence.
17
258 ENGRAVING IN ENGLAND
Towards the close of the century a large number of
mezzotint engravers found their inspiration in the domestic
and rural genre subjects of George Morland. J. R. Smith,
J. and W. Ward, P. Dawe, and J. Dean, among others,
produced some of their best work after Norland's originals.
Mention must also be made of J. M. W. Turner's " Liber
Studiorum," published from 1807 to 18 19. Seventy-one
plates in all were issued, a large number being etched
by Turner himself, and then finished mostly in mezzotint
by engravers such as Say, Dunkarton, Clint, Lupton, and
Dawe.
Till after the beginning of last century mezzotint re-
mained the popular process of reproduction in England ;
but the sound and pure mezzotint technique began to
be ousted by a new style, known as the " mixed method,"
in which etching, line-engraving, stipple and roulette work
were all called into assistance, with unfortunate results
from the artistic point of view. During the first half of
the nineteenth century in England a large number of
purely mechanical plates of this type were produced as
mere wall-decoration. Steel plates were also employed
for mezzotint, again without any profit to the art. The
teeth of the rocker can make only a shallow impression
on the steel, and mezzotint engravers on steel obtained
limited and weak tones in place of the full richness,
procurable from the copper plate.
VIII
ENGRAVING IN GERMANY DURING
THE SEVENTEE NT H AND
EIGHTEENTH CENTURIES.
OF the great qualities which characterised German
engraving in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries
only a small portion fell to the inheritance of the seven-
teenth. German art, both in painting and in its natural
dependant, engraving, seems to have lost its individuality
and its creative power ; engraving, indeed, appears to
have prolonged a precarious existence merely as an off-
shoot, drawing its vigour from the flourishing French,
Dutch, and Flemish Schools. The existing productions of
the period show simply that, in spite of all adverse cir-
cumstances, Germany had not entirely lost pleasure in the
art of engraving. During the seventeenth century prints
of a religious type disappeared into the background ;
allegorical and genre subjects took their place in popularity.
The woodcut fell almost completely into disuse, while
etching and engraving became the exclusive methods of
book-illustration. The principal field, however, for
engravers was supplied by portraits. Engraved portraits
of persons of distinction were produced in incredible
numbers, and people of little importance also gave occu-
pation to the engraver in perpetuating their features.
The engraving of portraits was largely organised into a
259
26o
ENGRAVING IN GERMANY
systematic trade with a regular division of labour, the
master-craftsman executing heads and hands, apprentices
and assistants adding the clothes and accessories.
Augsburg and Nuremberg were the principal seats of
engraving during the seventeenth century and part of
the eighteenth, and in Augsburg the good old traditions
of the art were
notabl)' upheld for
longer than in
Nuremberg.
Alexander Mair
(1559 — 1620) was
working at Augs-
burg about 1600,
still following the
style of the six-
teen th century
Little Masters.
Even during his
lifetime the art of
the Netherlands
began to gain
ground in the
south. Its main
supporter was the
engraver and publisher, Dominicus Gustos of Antwerp,
who settled at Augsburg in 1584, and was a successful
imitator of Crispin de Passe. From his studio came the
large collection of portraits, ' Fuggerorum et Fuggerarum
Effigies,' illustrating the genealogy of the Fugger family.
Custos's step-sons, Lucas and Wolfgang Kilian, adopted his
style. Lucas Kilian (1579 — 1637), the more important of
the two, began his career in his father's publishing busi-
Fig. 118. Lucas Kilian : Portrait of
Sebastian Schedel (detail).
EGIDIUS SADELER 261
ness by engraving after Paolo Veronese, Tintoretto, and
others. He was a quick worker, and it is said that he
frequently completed two engraved portraits within a
week ; but on his best plates he seems to have worked
with careful mechanical precision, particularly in his
closely and finely handled earlier portraits. At a later
period Lucas Kilian sought comparison with Goltzius,
much to his own disadvantage.
Like Gustos, the brothers Johann and Rafifael Sadeler of
Brussels also transferred their sphere of work to Germany,
and for a time were in the service of the Duke of Bavaria,
More important than these two engravers, known princi-
pally for their great fertility, is their nephew Egidius
Sadeler (died 1629), He was a fine artist, and chiefly
noteworthy for having striven with some success in his
engravings after old masters to analyse and preserve the-
style and treatment of the original. Particularly excellent
in this respect are Sadeler's ' Virgin with the Beasts ' from
a drawing by Dlirer, and a set of pictures of the months,
after Paul Bril. For some time Sadeler was retained in
the service of the Emperor Rudolf H at Prague,
At Nuremberg worked Peter Isselburg of Cologne
(1568 — 1630), a student of the northern engravers, and of
particular note as a portraitist, Joachim von Sandrart
estimated Isselburg as the most distinguished engraver of
his time, A panoramic view of Coburg, almost six feet
in length, engraved by Isselburg with genuine power, is
indisputably one of the best of the large views of towns
that were so popular at this period.
Jeremias Falk (Danzig, 1610 — 1677) probably received
his first instruction from William Hondius at Danzig.
He worked afterwards at Stockholm, Amsterdam and
Hamburg, and with a style based on that of the Low
262 ENGRAVING IN GERMANY
Countries became an engraver of sterling merit. In many
of his portraits, notably in that of Daniel Dilger, he
developed marked originality. The full expansion of his
distinct power and facility was principally hindered by the
fact that the portraits in oil, which it was his lot to engrave
in his own country as well as at Stockholm and Hamburg,
were in the main quite inferior works of art.
Mathias Greuter and Friedrich Brentel worked on in
Strasburg quite uninfluenced by the newer developments
of engraving, and in the first part of the seventeenth
century still remained loyal to the older methods of the
German Little Masters. With them is associated the
Swiss Dietrich Meyer (born at Eglisau, 1572), chiefly
known as an etcher. His work is very reminiscent of
Holbein, and in the history of the technical side of en-
graving he deserves no unimportant place as the inventor
of soft-ground etching.
One of the most popular names in the German art of
the seventeenth century is that of Merian. The founder of
the Merian family was Matthaus Merian (born at Basle in
1593). He worked as a pupil under Dietrich Meyer at
Zurich, studied also under Callot, and in his method of
composing etched landscapes is related to Savery, Momper,
and Bril. His etchings are built up of sharply drawn,
distinct lines ; precision of line rather than tonality is his
aim. From 1625 he resided in Frankfurt, and carried on
with success the publishing business of his father-in-law,
Theodor de Bry. The series of topographical volumes which
appeared from 1640 onwards with innumerable etched
illustrations has served more than anything else to bring
Merian's name into prominence. At the time of his death
in 1650 the greater part of the work dealing with the
various districts of Germany was complete. The best
WENZEL HOLLAR 263
etchings were probably the work of Matthaus himself, but
in some he had the assistance of his son, Matthaus Mcrian
the younger, who rose to some eminence later as a painter
and as an occasional etcher of portraits in the style of
Van Dyck. Another worker on the plates was Wenzel
Hollar. In spite of a lack of sustained excellence, this
topographical work of Merian remains unsurpassed of its
kind. The views of towns are rendered in sharp, firm
lines, which give clear expression to all the architectural
features, while groups of trees and various details of the
foreground lend life and character to the whole. Almost
larger in size was the ' Theatrum Europseum,' a kind of
illustrated history of the times, consisting of fourteen folio
volumes. The publishing firm of Merian carried on its
work into the eighteenth century^ on the s\-stem laid down
by its founder.
The most successful etcher among the followers of the
elder Merian was Wenzel Hollar (born at Prague 1607).
After working successively at Frankfurt, Strasburg, and
Cologne, Hollar travelled in 1636 to London in the
company of the famous connoisseur and collector, Thomas
Howard, Earl of Arundel. There he resided continuously
till his death in 1677, with the exception of a visit to
Antwerp from 1644 to 1652, and several extended journeys.
An active worker. Hollar etched well-nigh three thousand
plates, obtaining with his fine point a \elvety softness of
shadows and a pleasing effect. From Merian he had
learned exactly the right way of composing landscapes
on the copper. His little prints, reproducing bits of land-
scapes from the sketch-books that accompanied him on
his many journeys, are charming in their absolute rightness,
their simplicity of effect, and their neatness of drawing.
The reproduction of these original drawings forms the
264
ENGRAVING IN GERMANY
main part of Hollar's work, along with his series of
numerous costume plates and the well-known prints which
depict fur, mussels, etc., with extraordinary observation
of nature. Far inferior to this original work are Hollar's
portraits and figure subjects after Van Dyck and other
Flemish and Dutch masters. Much more pleasing are
his reproductions after the older landscape painters, such
as Breughel and Bril, and he is at his best in rendering
Fig, 119. Wenzel Hollar : Landscape (detail).
the tone and character of the paintings of Elsheimer. In
the style and quality of his work Hollar stands apart from
all the tendencies of his time, and seems like a belated
product of the sixteenth century. His work was done
almost entirely in foreign lands, and remains almost
without any influence on German art.
Etching in Germany at this period was influenced not
only by old native traditions, but also by Italian art.
This is shown by the work of Gcorg Pecham of Munich,
and Philipp Uffcnbach of Frankfurt, the latter of whom
JOHAXX WILHKLM BAUR 265
was an artist of remarkable orii;inality and the teacher of
Adam Elsheimer. Elshcimer pla\-ed an important part in
the history of sevcntcenth-centurx' painting, but contributed
Httle to the development of etching, even supposing that
he actually did execute some of the eight indifferent
etchings that are usually attributed to him. The Italian
inlluence appears in the work of Johann Wilhelm Baur,
a follower of Tintoretto, Poussin, and Claude. Baur (born
at Strasburg about 1600, worked in Italy, Austria, etc.,
died 1642) was an artist of indisputably great talent in
etching plates on a large scale, containing great numbers
of figures ; his fine work is reminiscent of Stefano della
Bella. Baur's numerous ceiling decorations were repro-
duced in careful etchings by Melchior Kiissel of Augsburg,
and were published in 1670 with the title of the ' Icono-
graphia.'
About the middle of the century Dutch influence makes
itself felt in Germany, and genuine painter-etchers begin
to appear, such as Hans Ulrich Frank (born at Kaufbeuren
1603, died at Augsburg 1680), Heinrich Schonfeld, and
Jonas Umbach (1624 — 1700), the last being the author
of numerous spirited plates, which follow Rubens and the
later Venetians, but at the same time display considerable
originality. Johann Philipp Lembke (1631 — 1713), who
worked at Nuremberg and later at Stockholm, was a
follower of Rembrandt.
The foremost upholder of Dutch methods on German
soil was Johann Heinrich Roos (born at Ottersburg 163 1,
worked at Frankfurt, died 16S5). He studied in Holland,
and worked in the manner of Dujardin, Berchem, and
Marc de Bye, both as animal painter and as etcher. He
places his animals, usually pasturing goats and sheep, amid
Roman landscape, and groups them carefully, avoiding the
266
ENGRAVING IN GERMANY
fault of haphazard reahsm and want of arrangement into
which Dutch etchers of animal pieces so often fall. Roos
has the knack of giving a happy expression of light and
air ; his print of ' The Resting Shepherd ' breathes the
sultry heat of afternoon. Johann Heinrich's younger
brother, Theodor Roos, held in some esteem as a painter,
Fig. I20. Jonas Umbach : Tritons (detail).
and his son, Johann Melchior, both made occasional essays
with the etching-needle.
Genre scenes of peasant life found a gifted interpreter
in Matthias Scheits {c. 1640 — c. 1700), a Hamburg painter,
who etched in a light and easy style somewhat in the
spirit of Ostade. A powerful, and for this period a re-
markable etcher, though essentially imitative, was Joachim
Franz Beich of Munich (1666 — 1748), who took as his
model first Salvator Rosa, then Poussin and Berchem
FRENCH INFLUENCE 267
Joachim von Sandrart (born at Frankfurt on the Main
1606, died at Nuremberg 1688), a painter and writer on
art, was originally trained as an engraver, and though he
only rarely used the burin himself, he made constant and
successful attempts to raise the art of engraving in
Germany to a higher artistic level. For his large " German
Academy of Architecture, Sculpture, and Painting," which
appeared from 1675 to 1679, he made it his aim to have
the numerous illustrations executed by the best obtain-
able artists of his day, with the idea of giving them an
opportunity of winning success by a practical display of
their talents. Philipp Kilian of Augsburg, Johann Jacob
Thurneysser, and Sandrart's nephew, Jacob von Sandrart,
Avere his principal assistants on this great work. The
last named, Jacob von Sandrart (Nuremberg, 1630 —
1708), was a successful portrait-engraver, particularly
worthy of attention where he worked direct from nature.
Towards the close of the seventeenth century French
engraving began to exercise a far more potent influence
in Germany than that of the Dutch etchers. The splendid
development of line-engraving in France came as a fresh
revelation, and the new style of the French engravers
met with such ready acceptation that from then till the
close of the eighteenth century German engraving re-
mained entirely dependent upon that of France. This
dependence, however, was no loss to Germany, but rather a
distinct gain, in that all the national qualities which German
■engraving had once possessed had completely vanished,
and the forces necessary for a new and individual awaken-
ing were entirely wanting. The lesson taught by the
French was that of solid and vigorous technique, which is
just where German art fails to-da}- ; and we frequently
find German engravers of this period travelling to Paris
268 ENGRAVING IN GERMANY
to seek their education there. Among the first to intro-
duce French methods into Germany were the brothers
Johann and EHas Hainzelmann of Augsburg. Both went
at an early age to study under Francois Poilly in Paris..
Johann (1640 — 1693), the more important of the two,,
became French to the finger-tips, and in his best works
was almost equal to his master, as is shown by his portrait
of Louvois after Vouet, engraved while he was still in
Paris.
In 1688 Hainzelmann settled in Berlin as Court
Engraver, and executed a portrait of Derfflinger, which is
remarkable for its brilliant rendering of a striking person-
ality, and a portrait of the Empress Sophie Charlotte,.
whose affected expression fails to spoil the fineness of the
workmanship. Le.ss successful is his portrait of the Great
Elector. Johann Hainzelmann also produced larger plates
after Carracci, Bourdon, and similar masters. Working
immediately after Hainzelmann in Berlin was another
powerful engraver of the same type, Samuel Blesendorf
(died 1706).
At Augsburg the French spirit was represented by the
younger of the brothers Hainzelmann, Elias (1640 — 1693);
at Munich by Gustav Ambling ; while Johann Jacob
Thurneyssen, or Thurneysser, of Basle (1636 — i/ii)^
worked in various parts of Germany as a somiewhat
successful follower of Claude Mellan.
From the union between German engravers and the
French School sprang one of the greatest masters of
engraving produced by the eighteenth century — Georg
Friedrich Schmidt (Berlin, 1712 — 1775). At first a
student at the Berlin Academy, he afterwards received a
good technical training from an indifferent engraver, Georg
Paul Busch. Of his own accord he was workintj in the
Fig. 121. Gcori; Friednch Schmidt: Portrait of Ouentin de la Tour (detail).
269
270 ENGRAVING IN GERMANY
manner of Edclinck and the French engravers of his school
(as is shown by his portrait of Clermont), when in 1736
an opportunity offered itself of his going to Paris, where
he became a pupil of Larmessin. In his reproductions of
the paintings of the Watteau School Schmidt rose instantly
superior to his French acquaintances, but he was compelled
at first to suffer his work, such as ' Nicaise,' 'The Falcon,*
and ' Youth,' to go out into the world under Larmessin's
name. A commission, however, from the publisher
Odieuvre for some small engraved portraits soon directed
Schmidt towards the class of work for which he
possessed such peculiar talent. His first striking success
was won by his large portrait, dated 1739, of Henry Louis
de la Tour d'Auvergne, after a fine original by Rigaud.
For a long time the art of engraving had produced no
plate which could hold its own with this for power and
energy. This was followed by portraits of Jean Baptiste
Rousseau and of Chambrier, in which Schmidt aimed at a
more delicate and softer effect with the subordination of
mere technical dexterity ; yet throughout his life he
remained faithful to the system of laying strictly regular
sets of lines with absolutely conventional execution. The
hardness that one feels in the ' De la Tour ' has been
successfully overcome in his portrait of the painter
Mignard after Rigaud, finished in 1744. The robust,,
painter-like treatment of this incomparable print almost
makes the spectator forget that he has before his eyes
mere black and white. The artist seems in this print to have
employed the burin with consummate ease in the rendering
of texture and material ; it is a masterpiece of realism. This,
portrait of Mignard established Schmidt's fame as a great
master of technique. With only trifling lapses he main-
tained his style at this high level of excellence. It consists
GF.ORG FRIEDRICH SCHMIDT 271
essentially in the completion of the plate without any
assistance from etching, and closely resembles the manner
of the older Drevet. The lines are cut deeply and firmly
Fig. 122. Georg Friedrich Schmidt : Christ and the Daughter
of Jairus (detail).
in the copper, the thickness of each stroke as it progresses
from shadow into light being moderated with unfailing
appreciation of the value of tone. In expressing materials
and surface texture, the system of lines is so carefully chosen
272 ENGRAVING IN GERMANY
that it seems to be automatically inspired by the nature
of the object represented. Schmidt excels particularly in
his rendering of silk, polished wood, and white textiles.
In spite of his now fully ensured position in Paris,
Schmidt determined to return to Berlin as his permanent
home. In Berlin he remained faithful to the style he had
developed in France, without any loss of harmony in his
work, for his French method of treatment and the some-
what French pose of his subjects were perfectly becoming
to the personages of Frederick's court, whom he now had
to portray. In Berlin he stood in a similar relationship to
the painter Antoine Pesne as he had done earlier in Paris
to Rigaud.
Without any notable abatement of power, Schmidt to
the end of his career remained in the high position which
he had now reached, though he never created a second
Mignard. He showed wonderful technical skill in his
happy rendering of the soft light of Pesne's painting, as is
shown in Pesne's portraits of himself, and of \"oguell,
Filers, and others.
In 1757 Schmidt received an imperial summons to St.
Petersburg for the purpose of founding there a school of
engraving, and of executing a portrait of the Czarina
Elisabeth. This engraving, after Tocque's painting, occu-
pied him till 1762. In spite of all the pains he bestowed
upon his work, the clumsy magnificence of the costume
prevented his ever obtaining any satisfactory and har-
monious effect ; but his portraits of the Esterhaz}-s,
Schuvvaloffs, Rasumowskys and other notabilities of St.
Petersburg, executed concurrently with the other, rank
among his finest works.
Etching plays an important part in Schmidt's work.
In his early prints made in Paris under Larmessin's
GEORG FRIEDRICH SCHMIDT 273
guidance he had already used the needle, but later in
Berlin he frequently made etchings, and after his return
from St. Petersburg almost entirely abandoned the burin
in order to devote himself to pure etching.
As etcher, no less than as engraver, Schmidt was the
most efficient craftsman of the eighteenth century in
Germany. In his ideas of composition and in his search
for artistic expression he took Rembrandt as his model, and
these prints invariably betray the hand of the engraver
to whom conventional regularity in the laying of his
lines has become second nature. Schmidt's etchings were
executed after real or supposed paintings by Rembrandt,
or after his own studies, and always convey a pleasing
and harmonious effect. The artistic limitations amid
which Schmidt had grown up forbade his ever grasping
the real essence of Rembrandt's art, but he shows an
astonishing facility in giving expression in his etched
reproductions not only to Rembrandt's colour schemes
but also to his actual brush-work. This is shown by his
print after Rembrandt of ' Samson threatening his Father-
in-law,' and by ' The Jewish Bride,' a quite different type
of etching, but one that is again a remarkable translation
of the original. This latter print is, in its sheer brilliance,
one of the finest etchings that has ever been made.
While Schmidt upheld French methods in Berlin, his
contemporary, Jacob Schmutzer (1733 — 18 11), was loyal to
the same principles in Vienna. After some early struggles
he succeeded in going to Paris in 1762, and there, like so
many German artists, was enrolled as a pupil of Wille.
This Paris period was very fruitful of results in Schmutzer's
work, but it was all too short to make up entirely for his
lack of sound training in earlier days. He never succeeded
in attaining real depth and fineness of conception in his
18
274 ENGRAVING IN GERMANY
work. In contrast to Schmidt, it was in his portraits —
the Empress Maria Theresa, Prince Kaunitz, etc. — that
Schmutzer was at his weakest. Schmutzer's reputation
rests on his engravings after pictures by Rubens ; he
renders their character with great success on the whole,
if we overlook his somewhat academical treatment of
the nude. His technique is robust and brilliant, but
his method of setting his lines is too aggressive and
mechanical. Schmutzer trained a number of pupils, and
for a long time remained a powerful influence among the
engravers of Vienna. No artist of special distinction
appeared among his followers, yet one must give special
mention at this point to Adam Bartsch (Vienna, 1757 —
T821), the author of the " Peintre Graveur," who with
remarkable technical skill executed a number of etchings
after the old and later masters, as well as some line-
engravings.
Somewhat isolated from the recognised schools is
Johann Friedrich Bause of Leipzig (1738 — 1814)
who selected Schmidt and Wille as his patterns, but
otherwise was entirely self-educated. Bause's principal
claim to honour lies in his vigorous reproduction of
the portraits of Anton Graff, and in the fact that he has
handed down to posterity the features of many of his
contemporaries with great naturalness and truth to life.
One finds least pleasure in his engravings after Mengs,
Dietrich, and others.
A successful exponent of French principles was Gott-
hard von Miiller (1747 — 1830), who worked in Stuttgart,,
and belonged to the group of engravers inspired by Wille.
It was his keen endeavour to combine the fluent technique
of the earlier Netherlandish engravers with the brilliant
execution of his contemporary Bervic, and he sought also-
GOTTHARD VON MULLER
275
to borrow from the English engraver, Strange, something
of his soft treatment of flesh. Miiller's portrait of Louis
Galloche after Tocqu^, and his large, finely handled
portrait of Louis XVI after Duplessis, may count among
the best results of this French and German union. His
Fig. 123. Johaiin Fricdricli Bausc : Portrait ol J. G. Sulzcr (detail).
'Battle of Bunker's Hill,' after Turnbull, ranks as one
of the most successful reproductions of more modern
paintings. At a later period Miiller, with great detriment
to his fine talent, fell under the influence of the classical
revival among contemporary Italian engravers, as is shown
b)' his ' Madonna dclla Sedia,' etc.
276 ENGRAVING IN GERMANY
Gotthard von Miiller's talent was inherited by his son.
Friedrich Wilhelm Muller (1782 — 1816) was the most
gifted and brilliant upholder of the stern conviction that
the great province of engraving lay in the reproduction
of compositions by the classical masters of Italy. His
first important work, ' St. John the Evangelist,' after
Domenichino, shows all the strength as well as the weak-
ness of his school; the artificial arrangement of the line-
work and the conventional machinery by which the whole
result is built up are entirely out of keeping with the
qualities of the painting and the style of the original
reproduced. Miiller's ' Sistine Madonna ' was for long
esteemed as an undeniable masterpiece of modern
engraving and as a faithful interpretation of Raphael's
art. The print is undeniably harmonious and striking,
though Raphael's sense of style is never really grasped,
but is merely transferred to the copper with a soft
sentimentality absolutely alien to the spirit of the original.
One succeeds best in coming to a right appreciation
of this and similar reproductive engravings by keeping
strictly before one's eyes the fact that the spirit of the
period has stamped its own peculiar mark on these and
on every other product of the time, and by disregarding
as far as possible the originals on which the engravings
are based. Miiller's example was completely fatal to the less
talented engravers who succeeded him. After long suffering
under the spell, German engraving is only now beginning to
free itself from the mannerism into which it was beguiled
by Bervic, Wille, and Miiller.
During the eighteenth century in Germany etching
was practised by numerous painters as well as by pro-
fessional etchers, and in the art history of the time it
deserves an important place.
JOHANN ELIAS RIDIXGKR 277
The originator of an almost new class of work in
etching was Johann Elias RicHngcr (1695 — 1767), who
worked at Augsburg and for a time at Regensburg, and
may be described as the classical artist of hunting scenes.
He pictures the quarry now browsing quietly, now in terror-
stricken flight, and again at the moment of its death.
Ridinger's special skill lies in his power of correctly
rendering moments of intense interest and active motion,
and it is this correctness that has made his reputation
among lovers of the chase. Yet Ridinger's is only a
mediocre talent. His knowledge of the form and anatomy
even of the animals most frequently portrayed by him
is superficial and limited. In the delicate expression of
animal character Ridinger is never successful : his hounds
have always the same inexpressive grimace, the same
lack of character, whether at rest or in the full heat of
the chase ; his birds are always clumsy and ill-drawn.
His lack of genuine skill is particularly apparent when he
departs from his usual class of subject and undertakes to
draw direct from nature animal forms, such as lions, of
which he has little knowledge. His method of drawing is
firm and forcible ; he uses a broad needle and bites his
plate deeply ; he cares nothing for half-tones and qualities
of colour. His prints sufficed admirably to fulfil their
purpose in the satisfaction of a public want, as is shown
by their continuous popularity till the present time. His
collected work shows a total of nearly 1,300 prints.
Among the best of these are the extremely typical series
of ' The Pleasure of Princes ' and ' The Description of
Wild Beasts.' In twelve folio-sized prints he treated the
story of the 'Fall of Man' as an opportunity for the
display of the crowds of wild animals that filled Paradise.
Christian VVilhelm Ernst Dietrich (born at Weimar 17 12,
278 ENGRAVING IN GERMANY
died at Dresden 1774) won much admiration among his
contemporaries, who saw in him the spirit of the seven-
teenth-century Dutch artists revivified. To-day he appears
to us a poor imitator of the period from which he has
slavishly adapted both style and method of composition.
His etching shows a fluent and yet always forcible manner
that, like his painting, bears an outward resemblance to
Dutch work. For biblical subjects Dietrich usually
chooses Rembrandtesque motives, and even ventures to
vie with the ' Hundred Guilder ' print by producing a large
etching of the same subject. In peasant genre he is at
the beck of Ostade ; he never records the result of original
observation ; everything is supplied at second-hand. In
spite of all this Dietrich is by no means an unimportant
artist ; but he was essentially receptive and impressionable,
and reminiscences of others' work were a perpetual
stumbling-block in his path. The numerous states through
which Dietrich made his etchings pass have given them
among connoisseurs and collectors much greater attention
than they deserve.
Among the etchers of this period Salomon Gcssner, of
Zurich (1730 — 1788), must not be omitted, even though he
can only be mentioned as an amateur. The etched illus-
trations with which he decorated the editions of his
" Idylls " are weak in drawing, but they possess a certain
naif charm, that amid the vogue of French artificiality
came like a fresh breeze from nature, and enlisted many
admirers for Gessner's art.
Contemporary with Schmidt in Berlin, but absolutely
independent of him, was working the most original artist
whom eighteenth-century Germany has to show. This
was Daniel Chodowiecki, who was born at Danzig in 1726,
and died at Berlin in 1801. Beset by many difficulties,
DANIEL CHODOWIECKI 279
and largely self-taught, he managed to obtain some training
as an artist, worked at miniature and enamel painting, and
about the years 1756 to 1758 began to give his attention
to etching. Without ever having been in France, Chodo-
wiecki is to be reckoned a pupil of the French schools,
inasmuch as it was from French illustrators and painters
of contemporary manners that he learned his i}iilieu.
Chardin, Risen, Moreau, Saint-Aubin, were Chodowiecki's
models, but the resemblance is only superficial, a matter of
outward form and technical treatment ; by the atmosphere
of French art Chodowiecki was never influenced. With
keen observation and with an extraordinary talent for the
analysis and expression of character, he sought his subjects
amid his native surroundings. In this way Chodowiecki
won a unique reputation as the illustrator of the domestic
life of the Prussian people and of Berlin society in the
second half of the eighteenth century. The outward
appearance of the classes he depicted was perpetuated by
him in a much more faithful and unbiassed spirit than
was the type of French society by the Parisian illustrators.
Chodowiecki never attempted to deny the essentially
honest and middle-class traits of his models and their
surroundings ; in fact he seems to accentuate them in
deliberate contrast to the lightness and laxity of the
French illustrators of manners. The strength, as well as
the limit of his talent, is shown in his power of seizing
and giving life to natural incidents and characteristic
situations. As soon as Chodowiecki applied himself to a
picture whose scope extended beyond his immediate
horizon he became dull and affected.
Between the years 1757 and 1759 Chodowiecki made"
intermittent and tentative experiments in etching single
figures and groups, in which Chardin's influence is clearly
280
ENGRAVING IN GERMANY
apparent. Eight years later began a period of regular
unbroken activity with the needle. About 1767 Chodo-
wiecki discovered in the illustration of pocket-books and
almanacs the style of subject which was soon to make
him so popular an artist. As a rule he drew on the
copper from light pen-
cil sketches with the
utmost sharpness of
detail, even in a tiny
head. His method of
working w ith a certain
regularity of line, some-
what as if he were using
a burin, brings a re-
collection of Moreau,
but he never reaches
the same brilliancy of
effect that Moreau ob-
tained. The finer gra-
dations of tone and the
finishing touches were
all given with the dry-
point. If Chodowiecki
used the burin at all, it
was only to a very
small extent. So long
as he was occupied
with quite small plates his work invariably had an appear-
ance of freshness and truth, and his drawing was correct
and natural ; his art failed him in pictures where the figures
were of any size. Prints such as * General Zietcn sitting in
the Presence of his King' and its companion piece,
' Zieten sleeping before his King,' are dull and clumsy,
Fig. 124. Daniel Chodowiecki : Illustra-
tion to Lessing's " Minna von Barnhelm."
DANIEL CHODOWIECKI 281
recalling the popular broad-sheets depicting the same
persons.
In his illustrations (fig. 124) to Lessing's "Minna von
Barnhelm " (1769) Chodowiecki first entered on the theme
of middle-class genre which was so eminently adapted to his
genius. The success of these illustrations was so complete
that an immediate reissue of the twenty-four etchings
became necessary. His illustrations made in 1771 for
Gessner's " Idylls " show the artist at the highest pitch of
his technical capability. In their brilliance of effect they
have almost the appearance of delicate line-engravings.
From this time till the close of his active career there
was no sign of falling-off in Chodowiecki's work. In his
print 'A Painter's Studio' we see the artist himself seated
at a table drawing, while his family are grouped about
him sharing the same room — a true and realistic picture not
only of German middle-class life but of the artist's method
of work and of his natural surroundings. In this etching,
and indeed in every print where Chodowiecki pictures
what has passed before his own eyes, he shows his best
side, his clearness of perception, his power of grasping a
situation. When, however, as in many of his illustrations,
he endeavours to point a moral, the result is an unpleasant
feeling of dull and sober pedantry. It is only fair to add
that to a large extent this is due to the books which he
had to illustrate.
Chodowiecki's drawing seems to grow sharper and more
definite in proportion to the sinallness of his subject, as is
shown by his sketches on the borders of his plates. Such
sketches are usually small figures and minute scenes
scratched lightly with the needle at the side of the picture
proper. They allow free play for all the fantastic ideas
that seek escape from many an artist's brain in the
ENGRAVING IN GERMANY
course of his work, and in Chodovviecki's case they form
not the least charming part of his inventions. In these
marginal sketches Chodowiecki records notes that have
sometimes a close, and sometimes a remote, reference to
his main subject. In his case, moreover, they serve to
mark the early impres-
sions of his plates, for
before printing the
actual edition he was
always accustomed to
burnish off these mar-
ginal notes. Chodo-
wiecki was particularly
fond of issuing his
prints in numerous
states. He was not,
however, always in-
duced by artistic mo-
tives to make his many
little alterations ; there
can be no doubt that
he had before his eyes
the collective instinct,
with its insatiate desire
of possessing every
possible state of each
different print.
Daniel Chodowiccki's brother Gottfried and his son
Wilhelm worked for some time as his assistants. In their
comparatively few original etchings they appear as his
unmistakable followers.
Working at the same time in Berlin was Johann
Wilhelm Meil (1733—1805), an extraordinarily prolific
Fig. 125. Daniel Chodowiecki : Illus
tration to Gellert's "Fables."
CHRISTIAN BERNHARD RODE 283
etcher. Possessed of a natural genius for ornament, he
was quick in the latter part of his career to adapt himself
to the changes of fashion and to make a cunning return
from the rococo style to the classical revival which came
into vogue from France. Allegorical and mythological
book-illustrations and vignettes form the principal part of his
achievements. On the whole Meil differs considerably in
manner from Chodowiecki, but his illustrations to Engel's
" Mimik " and N icolai's " Sebaldus Nothanker " show a fine
grasp of character. He works with a light and pliant
touch, and his prints are bright and pleasing. At times
Meil etched after Bernhard Rode and other artists. The
total number of his plates is more than a thousand.
Christian Bernhard Rode (1725 — 1797) is the single
painter in the Berlin art circle of this period who comes
into notice as an etcher as well. He, too, received his
training in Paris, and in his mythological compositions
there is a flash here and there of the gay spirit of rococo,
but the remainder of his work is dominated by the calm
severity of the academical ideals which were now gaining
ground. In the technique of his etchings Rode seems to
have chosen Tiepolo as his model. He uses the needle
with great breadth and freedom, accentuating only the
prominent features of his subject, sometimes with a
remarkable effect of colour. His prints, amounting to
about two hundred and fifty, some of very large size, usually
deal with subjects from the Bible and from the history of
the Middle Ages. Among his best and most careful work
are his etchings after Schliiter's sculptures, particularly that
after the ' Head of a Dying Warrior' at Berlin (fig. 126).
Daniel Berger (Berlin, 1744 — 1824) covered a large
amount of ground both as engraver and as etcher, and
is one of the few artists in Germany who practised stipple
284
ENGRAVING IN GERMANY
with any success. It was only rarely, however, that
Berger rose above a certain mediocrity. He executed
numerous book-illustrations, showing himself a loyal
adherent to Chodowiecki. His work is vigorous and
striking, and is quite uninfluenced by the technical
weakness which was already prevalent in the engraving; of
his time.
Fig. 126. Bernhard Rode: 'Head of a Dying Warrior' (detail).
The etchers who worked in other parts of Germany fall
even less easily into definite groups than ".those of Berlin.
Ferdinand Kobell (1740 — 1799) studied under Wille in
Paris, and worked at Mannheim and Munich, His
etchings are usually small landscapes, in which he follows
Ruisdael, Everdingen, and Waterloo, always viewing
nature as though with the eyes of his predecessor. In this
FRANZ EDMUND WEIROTTER
285
respect he is somewhat akin to Dietrich. Friedrich Oeser
of Leipzig (17 17 — 1790) resembles the older Dutch etchers
in his closeness and precision of execution, but his art has
no other connection with theirs.
Franz Edmund Weirottcr (1730 — 1771) is one of the
most fertile landscape etchers of the period. After study-
ing under VVille in Paris he worked in Vienna, producing
numerous landscape plates mainly after old masters such
as Van Neer and Van Goyen, who gave a favourable
Fig. 127. Ferdinand Kobell : Landscape.
opportunity for the display of his sound technical ability.
Karl Wilhelm Kolbe (born at Berlin 1757, died at Dresden
1835) inclines towards the masters of classical landscape
in his numerous and finely handled plates. He is eminently
skilful in rendering luxurious vegetation, without, however,
having any real understanding of plant form and w ithout
rising above a conventional treatment of foliage. Of the
same type is Johann Georg von Dillis (Munich, 1759 —
1 841). Johann Christian Reinhardt (1761 — 1847) worked
mainly in Rome, but remained in close relationship to the
286 ENGRAVING IN GERMANY
art of his native land. As a sympathetic and skilful etcher
of Italian landscape scenery Reinhardt occupies a promi-
nent place in his period. His numerous plates belong for
the most part to the early period of his residence in
Rome. At the beginning of the nineteenth century
etching still had many supporters among German artists.
Fig. 128. Franz Weirotter : Landscape.
Johann Christoph Erhard (1795 — 1822) and Johann Adam
Klein (1792 — 1875) still maintained the traditions of the
older generation at a time when new methods and new
ideas were gaining ground in Germany, and etching so
declined that in our own days it has had to undergo, as
it were, a fresh discovery.
IX
ENGRAVING IN SPAIN
PRIMITIVE engravings actually in existence lead
one to the conclusion that the art of engraving was
practised in Spain as early as the fifteenth centurs', though
perhaps only to a limited extent. The National Library
in Madrid possesses a modern impression from an old
plate with scenes of the lives of Christ and of Eulalia, the
patron saint of Barcelona. It is a roughly executed
engraving, and bears in the under margin the signature
" Fr. Domenech 1488." Fr. may be read as a contraction
for Frater, and it is conjectured that the engraver was a
Dominican who obtained his knowledge of the art in Italy.
In the Madrid collection are also some other evidences of
Spanish fifteenth-century engraving, among them a small
folio print picturing with a simple and primitive treatment
Charles, Prince of Viana, a popular saint and hero, beneath
a Gothic canopy, with two Spanish coats of arms above.
Even more awkward and almost crude in style are a
' Wheel of Fortune ' and a ' Tree of Life,' w hich show a
distinct relationship to an engraving by the German
Master of the Banderoles. Distinctly finer in drawing and
in technique are three playing-cards in the Berlin Cabinet
somewhat akin to the work of the better Italian masters
of this period. They represent the King, Queen (fig. 129),
and Knight, and, as a mark of the different suits, the
2S7
288 ENGRAVING IN SPAIN
figures bear in their hands round shields with a Spanish
coat of arms and the inscription Valenzia.
Fig. 129. Spanish Master, fifteenth century : Playing-card.
These primitive examples point to the definite existence
of engraving during the latter part of the fifteenth century.
JOSE GARCIA HIDALGO 289
The existing fragments can represent only a small portion
of the prints originally produced, and in view of this it
is the more remarkable that there is absolutely no trace
of engraving in Spain during the first half of the sixteenth
century. It is only towards the close of this period that
single engravers of title-pages or pictures of saints begin
to appear, such as Francisco Hernandez and Pedro
Roman. The seventeenth century is somewhat richer in
engraved work. We meet with a fair number of names
of engravers cropping up in different parts of Spain, most
of them hardly to be ranked as artists, but rather as
mere journeymen engravers, working on the commercial
production of titles for books and of popular representa-
tions of saints. Besides native Spaniards there appear
some engravers of Netherlandish or German origin, such
as Cornelio Boel, working at Madrid in 1616, and Juan
Federico Greuter, a member of a Strasburg family of
artists, who appears at Madrid in 1654.
The high achievement of Spanish painting in the
seventeenth century was without any influence on en-
graving. Unlike the artists of the north, Spanish painters
of this century took no interest in engraving and etching,
and never recognised their value or their possibilities. One
is inclined to doubt the genuineness of isolated etchings,
or rather experiments in etching, attributed to the
famous artists of Spain, such as the etched portrait head
of Olivarez ascribed to Velasquez, the ' Crucifixion ' said
to be by Claudio Coello, and the various prints with which
Murillo is credited. Better authenticated are some few
etchings by artists of a lower rank, such as those in the
" Principos para estudiar el arte de Pintura " (" The Art of
Drawing and Painting"), 1691, by Jose Garcia Hidalgo,
who was born in 1640, and worked at Valencia and Madrid.
19
290 ENGRAVING IN SPAIN
It was not till the second half of the eighteenth century
that engraving and etching in Spain acquired any real
importance. Foremost among Spanish engravers of this
date are Manuel Salvador Carmona (1730 — 1808), who
received his training in Paris, and established a small
school of engraving at Madrid ; and Pasqual Pedro Moles
(1741 — 1797), who worked in Barcelona. Next in im-
portance comes Carmona's pupil, Bias Amcttler, and after
him Francisco Muntaner, Fernando Selma, Bartolome
Vasquez, and Vincente Mariani, all working together
during the second half of the century. Thomas Lopez
Enguidanos (born in 1773) produced some effective work
in Beauvarlet's brilliant style. Noteworthy as an etcher
is Ramon Bayeu y Subias (Saragossa, 1746 — 1796), whose
work shows the influence of Rafael Mengs and his school.
The most famous, however, of all the native and foreign
painters working in Spain during the eighteenth century
is Francisco Jose de Goya y Lucientes (born in 1746, died
at Bordeaux in 1828). His etchings form by far the most
important part of his work, and he may have been
directed to the process by his contemporary Subias. In
some spirited reproductions of paintings by the old
masters of Spain (' Bacchus and his Companions,' portraits
of Spanish rulers on horseback, ' Las Meninas,' after
Velasquez, etc.) he appears to have based his style on that
of Tiepolo. At a later period his technique became more
individual and his execution nervous and hasty, while he
frequently employed aquatint to gain additional strength.
His prints, repulsive and fascinating, leave an indelible
impression on the mind of every one who beholds them^
whether the artist depicts gruesome incidents with awful
realism, or gives free play to his fantastic imagination.
Goya was the inventor of a branch of art peculiarly his
FRANCISCO GOYA
291
Fig. 130. Francisco Goya : From the series of 'Caprices."
own, which may be described as satire carried to the
utmost verge of cruelty, brutah'ty, and ugliness. His series
292 ENGRAVING IN SPAIN
of plates that appeared under the titles of ' Caprices ' and
' Proverbs ' lead one amid mysterious and allegoric scenes
and through the wildest errors and the deepest pathos
of human life.
The miseries of war have never been pictured so vividly
by Callot, or any other artist, as by Goya in his ' Disasters
of War.' The series was inspired by the French invasion
of Spain, and was so pregnant with horror that it was
not till long after Goya's death that any one ventured to
give it open publication.
X
COLOUR PRINTS
PRINTING in colours from engraved copper plates, in
line, etching, stipple, or any other method, may be
accomplished in two different ways. A print in colours
may be produced by means of successive superimposed
printings from several copper plates, or by a single
printing from one plate.
The discoverer of the method of colour-printing from
several plates was Jacob Christoph Le Blon, born in 1667
at Frankfort. Originally a miniature painter and engraver,
Le Blon began to busy himself in Amsterdam about 1710
with the problem of printing in colours. His aim was to
reproduce by engraving the effect of oil-painting. We
know very little of his career or of the periods at which
his existing works were produced. In the production
of his colour prints Le Blon employed from three to five
plates, which he executed as a rule in mezzotint, but some-
times in engraving or etching, and frequently in a combi-
nation of various kinds of technique. The different plates
used for each print were of exactly equal size. On the
first plate everything was engraved that in the finished
picture was intended to give a yellow colour or half-tones
containing yellow, on the second plate those parts which
were to appear blue, and on the third plate the reds. Green
was produced by superprinting blue upon yellow ; brown
293
294 COLOUR PRINTS
by the combination of red and yellow, and so on. The
simultaneous employment of these colours on white paper
in the manner indicated permits the reproduction, at any
rate in theory, of all the colour tones that appear in
nature ; but in practice Le Blon and his immediate followers
were obliged to call in the assistance of a black or deep-
brown plate for their deepest tones. From Amsterdam
Le Blon went to London, where he applied his discovery
to anatomical illustrations etc., with good results. He
then travelled to Paris, received there the grant of a royal
patent in 1740, but died in the following year. Le Blon's
work is extremely uneven. His colouring is remarkably
pale, and where he worked on his plates with etching-
needle or burin, as in the life-size half-length portrait of
Cardinal Fleury, there is an entire lack of gradation of
tone. His colour prints, which depend on a basis of
mezzotint, produce a stronger and better result. Foremost
among the prints of this kind is his portrait of George H,
without doubt executed in London, where Le Blon in
making his plates could obtain the help of the distin-
guished mezzotinters there established. In the portrait of
George II the effect of a painting in rich luminous
colouring is astonishingly well obtained, and this remark-
able work remains unsurpassed of its kind as a colour
print to the present day. Separate portions, like the
peruque, are worked with the graver. Perhaps the best
impression of this print is that preserved in the Berlin
Museum. The life-size head and shoulders of Louis XV,
probably executed in Paris, does not exactly fail in artistic
merit, but the colouring is pale and lacking in harmony.
Le Blon fell into the other extreme in his reproductions
of paintings by old masters. In these the shadows
almost always appear too heavy, and disturb the full
COLOURED MEZZOTINT 295
harmony of the effect. Moreover, these larger plates are
frequently spoiled by a coat of varnish, intended to make
them resemble oil-paintings (e._^. Rubens' ' Children,'
Correggio's ' Angel,' etc.). In spite of all the zeal with
which Le Rlon pursued his ideas, he appears to have
obtained successful results only in exceptional cases, and
in reality never to have passed beyond the stage of
experiment. No better success was obtained by his pupil
Jacques Gautier Dagoty (1717 — 1/86), who was inferior to
Le Blon as an artist, and whose works are always heav\'
and unsatisfactory. Dagoty also reproduced the paintings
of old masters. His son, Edouard Gautier Dagoty, had to
struggle against a similar lack of skill amid similar
difficulties ; a good example of his colour-printing is his
plate after Raphael's ' Madonna della Sedia.' Portraits by
the two Dagotys never seemed to pass beyond the initial
stages of the work, and always appear experimental. In
fact, the great stumbling-block to all the French artists,
Le Blon included, who practised colour-printing with a
basis of mezzotint, was that they never had any real grasp
of the art of mezzotint, and that in Paris neither artists
nor printers could be found who had obtained an\- mastery
of the art. The tendency of the mezzotint plate to fail
beneath the wear and tear of printing was another notable
hindrance to the development of this branch of colour-
printing.
The appearance of the aquatint process made it possible
to use plates which possessed every quality essential for
printing in colour. The inventor of aquatint was the
painter Jean Baptiste Le Prince(i733 — 1781), who perhaps
stumbled originally on the process by mere accident, and
employed it in the facsimile reproduction of some wash-
drawings made by him during a journey in Russia. Other
296 COLOUR PRINTS
artists before Le Prince had sought, though with little
success, some means of rendering on copper the effect of
drawings in bistre or sepia. The first successful application
of Le Prince's discovery to colour-printing was made by
Francois Janinet (1752 — 1813). Janinet styles himself, on
an otherwise unimportant plate, the discoverer of a new
process — " Grave a I'imitation du lavis en couleur par
F. Janinet, le seul qui ait trouve cette maniere."
In colour-printing Janinet displayed a many-sided and
resourceful talent. He had the knack of giving full value
to the breadth and hastiness of a water-colour sketch,
such as the landscapes of Hubert Robert, as well as to the
smooth polish and enamel-like finish typical of the popular
miniatures of the time, as in his portrait of Dugazon the
actress. At the same time Janinet's colour prints are
never slavish imitations of original paintings, like some
modern chromo-lithographs, but are always artistic trans-
lations adapted with sympathy to the technical means at
his hand. The execution, indeed, does not always show
equal care, but much of his work may have been hastily
done to meet market demands. The highest place in
Janinet's work is taken by his pictures of the manners and
morals of his time. These are nearly always remarkably
successful in drawing and in colour effect as well ; but in
colour-printing, as in all engraving, it is only the best and
most successful prints that show the real merit of the work.
A brilliant example of Janinet's work is his portrait of
Marie Antoinette in a rich border printed in gold and
colour. Janinet also reproduced a series of water-colour
drawings by Adriaen Ostade, rendering the colour-scheme
of the originals with great fidelity and charm.
Janinet's pupil, Charles Melchior Descourtis (1753 —
1820), is somewhat inferior to his master in power of
LOUIS PHILIBERT DEBUCOURT 297
draughtsmanship, but his best works show great tenderness
and delicacy of colour. Descourtis' ' Village Festival ' and
'Village Fair' have quite the effect of finely finished
water-colour drawings.
Louis Philibert Debucourt (1755 — 1832) is the greatest
master of colour-printing. He not only obtains the
greatest perfection of technique, but his work has a
particular value in that he uses his own original com-
positions designed from the first with a view to their
effect as colour prints. His prints, on this account, possess
a higher measure of individual merit, with greater unity
of design and conception, than those of his fellows.
During Debucourt's best period, lasting only till about 1 800,
his drawing is full of spirit, and his plates render with verve
and humour the outdoor appearance of the Paris bcaii inonde
at the close of the eighteenth century. The ' Promenade
in the Gallery of the Palais Royal ' is rightly considered
Debucourt's greatest work. It gives an unsurpassed and
convincing picture of the gaiety and the fashionable
costumes of the high society, or what considered itself
the high society, of the time, with possibly less suggestion
of caricature than at the first glance one is inclined to
assume. While this print shows a bright interior with a
soft diffused light, its almost equally remarkable com-
panion piece, the ' Public Promenade,' reveals no less
resource in rendering the effect of bright sunlight glitter-
ing beneath an open roof of foliage. Debucourt's mastery
of the complicated technique of colour-printing is specially
displayed in the absolute freedom with which he produces
his colour effects ; almost every one of his plates shows
a fresh system of colour, always eminently suitable and
always harmonious. Among his best prints, besides those
mentioned, are ' The Minuet of the New Bride,' ' The New
298 COLOUR PRINTS
Year's Wish,' ' The Grandfather's Birthday,' a portrait of
the Duke of Orleans, etc.
Pierre M. Alix (^1762 — 18 17) was a diligent and usually
capable craftsman, but an inferior artist ; he produced an
immense amount of work, mainly portraits of contempo-
rary personages.
All the details of the actual colour-printing processes
employed by the artists of this period are unknown, and
cannot always be ascertained with sufficient certainty
from the prints still in existence. Many of the artifices
employed in printing with several colours remained
secrets of the craft, and disappeared into oblivion as the
art vanished after the opening of the nineteenth century.
The unsuccessful trial proofs, which must doubtless have
been very numerous in this process, appear to have been
always destroyed ; on the other hand, successful examples
were often helped out by the addition here and there of
touches of colour applied by hand with extraordinary
cunning and often scarcely discoverable.
Count Caylus (1692 — 1765), a many-sided amateur and
patron of art, had helped by means of his extensive
publications to rouse an interest in the drawings of the
old masters. Engravers were eager to perfect some
method of producing imitations of such works of art,
for which the various newly discovered processes and the
art of colour-printing were peculiarly adapted. The
reproduction of drawings and sketches by old and modern
masters formed a recognised province for artistic energy,
and collectors were inspired with a keen desire for such
imitations. In rendering the character of drawings in
red chalk or charcoal, and wash-drawings in Indian ink
or sepia, various combinations of etching, aquatint,
stipple, and the crayon manner were employed to give the
JEAN CHARLES FRAXgOIS
299
required effect. Occasionally wood blocks were also used
in the production of broad surface tints and to ^^ive a tone
to the paper. The advent of the crayon manner was
particularly efficacious in smoothing the way for the
reproduction of drawings. Its inventor was Jean Charles
Francois (born at Xanc)- 1717, died at Paris 1769^. Me
conceived his
first idea for the
process while
living in great
poverty at Dijon,
•and brought it
to perfection in
Paris. In re-
ceipt of an
annual pension
from the king,
he produced a
series of plates
after the old
masters, repro-
ductions that for
the time were
wonderfully true
to the originals,
and were an ad-
mirable attempt
to render the character of chalk drawings. At the same
time the new process did not altogether fulfil the high
expectations which it had inspired, and this fact no doubt
contributed to Francois' early death. Francois was no
mean artist, and possessed extraordinary genius for the
technical side of engraving. One of his plates is a portrait,
JlcHI Lli.u li ^ 1 I .im
J. F. Dciiis (detail).
300 COLOUR PRINTS
which shows almost every possible method of treating the
plate — line-engraving, aquatint, and the crayon manner —
all of them wrought into such harmony that at first it
is scarcely possible to distinguish the different technical
methods in separate parts of the plate,
A genius akin to his was possessed by Louis Bonnet^
who worked in Paris, and for a time at St. Petersburg.
He was skilled not only in reproducing simple drawings
done in two colours of chalk, but he could render a full
scheme of pastel colouring with such illusion that one
almost seems to see in his print the actual grain and
texture of the pastel. Bonnet was particularly famous as
the discoverer of a white colour material which he applied
to the plate in a final printing, obtaining by this means
much more favourable results than by the ordinary
conventional method of using the untouched surface of the
paper to indicate the high lights. Since his day no one
has been able to print satisfactorily with pure white, and
even Bonnet could not avoid retouching with the brush.
Bonnet's work amounts to about five hundred and sixty
prints, among them a large number of studies of heads
and figures after Boucher and other masters, some of them
with a rich framework printed in gold, making them rather
an article of commerce than a work of art.
Bonnet was followed by Gilles Demarteau (1729 — 1776),.
also working in Paris. He employed the crayon manner
with considerable skill in his reproductions of slight
sketches by Boucher, Huet and Eisen.
Cornelis Ploos van Amstel (1726 — 1798) was engaged
at Amsterdam in preparing and publishing repro-
ductions of drawings by the old Dutch masters, but his
work was that of a leisured amateur, intended more to
satisfy his artistic instincts than as a source of profit. In
REPRODUCTIONS OF DRAWINGS 301
printing he frequently used a series of copper plates, and
had all kinds of devices at his command. His facsimiles,
published in 1765, show by far the most perfect result
obtained by the technical processes known at his time.
Van Amstel's plates passed into the hands of his pupil
and relation. Christian Josi, who published in London a
"Collection d'Imitations de Dessins d'apres les principaux
Maitres Hollandais et Flamards, commencee par C. Ploos
van Amstel, continuee et portee au nombre de cent
morceaux ' (18 19).
The interest in drawings and prints b>* the old masters
caused a demand in London for several handsome volumes,
like this by Josi, with reproductions in various processes
of engraving and colour-printing. Among these may be
mentioned the " Collection of Prints in Imitation of Draw-
ings " (1778), with plates by Bartolozzi, Ryland, S. Watts,
and others. Another noteworthy book of this class is the
" Imitations of Original Drawings by Hans Holbein,"
published in 1792, with eighty-four plates in colour, nearly
all of them by Bartolozzi. Other engravers who worked
on colour reproductions of this type were C. M. Metz,
A. Cardon, P. W. Tomkins, L. Schiavonetti, and F. C. Lewis.
A prominent colour-printer in Germany was Johann
Theophilus Prestel (1739 — 1808), who worked in con-
junction with his wife and his daughter, both named
Catharina. In response to the growing appreciation of
art, they made it their object to render the drawings of
the old masters of all schools readily accessible in good
reproductions. The facsimiles published by the Prestel
family of the Praun Collection at Nuremberg (1778 — 1780)
and of other smaller collections naturally lose something
of the spirit of the original drawings, but are none the
less excellent and charming reproductions.
302 COLOUR PRINTS
In the latter half of the eighteenth century the process
of producing colour prints by means of one printing from
a single plate was brought to great perfection. The
process has little in common with the method of colour-
printing with several plates. The ordinary means of
printing a single plate in black ink is to cover with ink
the whole surface of the plate ; but to print in colours
from a single plate, it is necessary to apply separate
colours to the different portions of the engraving, so as
to obtain exactly the required result in the print ; trees
must be inked with a green colour, the earth with a
brown, faces with a flesh colour, and so on. This practi-
cally amounts to painting the copper plate. Each colour
is applied with a small pad to its proper portion of the
plate, and the superfluous colour is wiped from the smooth
surface just as in ordinary printing with black ink. The
plate is then printed in the usual manner. Any plate
one wishes may be printed in colour by this means,
whether it be worked in mezzotint, line-engraving, or any
other process. Since all the colouring is done on the
plate itself the success of a colour print depends entirely
on care and skill in applying the colour and in printing.
Moreover, since only one layer of colour can be applied
to the paper, it is only possible to give the effect of
separate local colours without the depth of tone that can
be produced by superimposing several tints, as is the
case in printing with several plates, or even with successive
printings from a single plate. In spite of the difficulties
and limitations of the process, some remarkably pleasing
work in colour-printing with one plate was done by the
engravers of the eighteenth century. At the same time
it is but right to add that much inferior and poor work
was also produced.
COLOURED STIPPLE 305
Hercules Seghers (sec p. 167) seems to have been one of
the first to conceive the idea of printing in colours from a
copper plate. By using blue, brown, and green inks, and
by printing in various successive light tones, he gave his
landscape etchings the appearance of sketches in colour.
Towards the close of the eighteenth century colour-printing
was also used with some success by Peter Schenk, an
engraver and publisher (born at Eberfeld 1645, w^orked at
Amsterdam, died 17 15?). He produced a series of line-
engravings and mezzotints, flower and figure pieces,
landscapes, birds, etc., printed in somewhat hard, yet not
unpleasing schemes of colour, with considerable technical
facility.
While colour-printing with several plates was practised
exclusively in Paris, single-plate colour-printing gained
extraordinary popularity in England in the latter part of
the eighteenth century, its mainstay being the stipple
method introduced by Ryland. By a careful application
of colour stipple engravings will yield a charming effect
with delightfully soft and broken tints. Ryland and
Bartolozzi caused a revolution in the print trade and
created an unequalled market for colour prints. Beautiful
prints in colour were produced not only from their plates,
but from those of their followers, T. Burke, T. Cheesman,
C. Knight, P. W. Tomkins, W. Dickinson, W. Nutter, etc.
At the same time the market was flooded with popular
prints more or less extensively touched up with water-
colours to hide their deficiencies. E\en in the best colour
prints, however, touches of water-colour were used to
heighten and indicate details that could not easily be
rendered by means of the copper plate. A noteworthy
feature in the history of colour-printing in England is the
large number of genre, hunting, and sporting scenes.
304 COLOUR PRINTS
Coloured mezzotints after Morland by J. R. Smith, W.
Ward and others have always been deservedly popular,
and at the beginning of the nineteenth century were
extensively exported to the Continent.
In Germany colour-printing was practised about this
time to a less extent than in England, but some excellent
results were produced that show great technical merit.
One may note the coloured mezzotints of Johann Peter
Pichler, of Vienna, and the coloured stipple engravings
of Heinrich Sintzenich and Daniel Berger of Berlin. The
advent of lithography crushed engraving almost out of
existence, and colour-printing from copper plates became
a lost art.
INDEX
* An asterisk indicates that the artist's work is illustrated.
I'AGE
A
Abacco, Marii) dell'
1 06
Ak^-n, Jan van
•63
Albani, Francesco .
231
Alberti, Cherubino .
229
*Aldegrever, Heinrich
122
Alix, Pierre-Michel .
298
Allen, J. C. .
248
Almanachs
207
Almeloven, Jan
163
*AUdorrer, Albrecht
"3
Altobello da JMelone
83
Ambling, Gustav
268
Amettler, Bias
290
* Amman, Jost
131
Amstel, Cornelius Ploos van
300
Anderloni, Pietro
240
Andrea, Zoan .
80
Aquatint, process of
8
Aubert, Michel
210
Audran, Benoit
209 •
Audran, Gerard
200
Aveline, Pierre
209
Backhuysen, Ludolf
Baillie, William
Baldini, Baccio
Balechou, Jean-Joseph
*Barbari, Jacopo de'
P>arlacchi, Thomas .
*Barocci, Federigo .
*Bartolozzi, Francesco
245> 246,
ISartsch, Adam
Baur, Johann Wilhelm
*Bause, Johann Friedrich
Bayeu y Subias, Ramon .
Beatrizet, Nicola
182
245
71
214
84
106
226
303
274
265
274
290
106
I'AGE
Beauvarlet, Jacques-P'irmin
217
Beckett, Isaac
254
Beeresteyn, C. van .
165
Bega, Cornel is Pietersz .
182
*Beham, Barthel
119
*Beham, Hans Sebald
116
Beich, Joachim Franz
266
Bella, Stefano della .
19S
Belotto, Bernardo .
235
Berain, Jean .
208
*Berchem, Nicolaes
185
Berger, Daniel . . 28
3> 304
Bervic, Jean-Guillaume .
216
Biak, Jacob
124
Biscaino, Bartolommeo .
232
Blasco (Francisco Hernandez)
289
Bleecker, Gerrit
166
Blesendorf, Samuel
26S
Bloemaert, Aljraham
145
Bloemaert, Cornells
145
Blocteling, Abraham . 25
2, 254
Bluck, J.
248
*Bocholt, Franz von (Masle
F. V. B.) .
41
Boel, Cornelio
289
Boel, Pieter .
161
*Boissieu, Jean-Jacques .
219
Bol, Ferdinand
17S
Bol, Hans
156
Bolswert, Boetius a .
148
*Bols\vert, Schelte a
14S
Bonasone, Giulio
105
Bonnet, Louis .
300
Bosse, Abraham
197
Both, Andries .
187
*Both, Jan
187
Botticelli, Sandro
71
Boucher, Francois . .21
I, 218
Boucher-Desnoyers, Augusta
217
Bouchorst, Jan
156
Bourdon, Sebaslien .
1 98
Boyvin, Rene .
194
305
20
\o6
INDEX
Bramante
Bramer, Leonard
Breenberch, Bartholomeus
Brentel, Fiiedrich .
Breughel, Jan .
Brescia, Giovanni Antonio
Bril, Paulus
Bronkhorst, Jan Gerritsz
Brosamer, Hans
Browne, John .
Brun, Franz
Bruyn, Nicolas de .
Bry, Theodor de
*Burin
Burke, Thomas
Burnisher
Burr
Busch, Georg Paul .
da
PAGE
83
166
187
262
160
82
187
124
132
142
133
I
*Callot, Jacques
195
Campagnola, Domenico .
88
*Campagnola, Giulio
85
*Canale, Antcnio, called Cana-
letto
235
Canuti, Maria . . . .
231
Caraglio, Giovanni Jacopo
105
Cavdon, Antoine
3=1
Carlevariis, Luca
235
Carmona, Manuel Salvador
290
*Carracci, Agostino
22S
Carracci, Annibale .
229
Cars, Laurent .
209
Castiglione, Giov. Benedetto
232
Cavedone, Giacomo
231
Caylus, Count . . .21
I. 29S
Cecill, Thomas
242
Cesare da Sesto
83
*Cesena, Peregrino da
94
Chalcographie du Louvre
208
Chalk manner .
9
Cheesman, Thomas .
303
*Chodowiecki, Daniel
278
Chodowiecki, Gottfried .
. 282
Chodowiecki. Wilhelm
. 282
Choffard, Pierre-Philippe
• 225
Claesz, Allaert
. 138
Cochin, Charles-Nicolas, th
elder ....
. 210
Cock, Ilieronymus .
. 138
Cockson, Thomas
• 241
Coello, Claud io
. 289
Cole, Humphrey
. 241
Collaert, Adriaen
Colour Prints .
Cooke, George
Cooke, William Bernard .
Corneille, Claude
Cort, Cornells .
*Cranach, Lucas, the elder
Crayon manner
Cuyp, Aelbert
Custos, Dominicus .
Dabber ....
Daret, Pierre .
Dagoty, Edouard-Gautier
Uagoty, Jacques-Gautier .
Daniell, Thomas
Daniell, William
Daulle, Jean .
Dawe, George .
Dean, John
Debucourt, Louis-Philibert
Dei, Matteo
Delaram, Francis
*Delaune, Etienne .
Delff, Willem Jacobsz
Demarteau, Gilles .
Denon, Dominique-Vivant
Dente, Marco, da Ravenna
Descourtis, Charles-Melchior
Dickinson, William . 256
Dietrich, Christian Wilhelm
Ernst ....
Dietterlein, Wendelin
Dillis, Johann Georg
Dixon, John .
Does, Anton van der
Does, Jacob van der
Domenech
Domenichino (Domenico
Zampieri)
Dorigny, Michel
Drevet, Claude
*Drevet, Pierre
Drevet, Pierre-Imbert
Dry-point needle
Ducerceau, Jacques Androuet
Ducq, Jan le .
*Durer, Albrecht . . 50,
Dughet, Caspar
Dughet (Publisher)
Dujardin, Karel
Dunkarton, Robert . . 257
INDEX
307
Duplessi-Iiertaux, Jean
*Dusart, Cornelis
Duvet, Jean
I'AGE
. 219
182, 253
. 190
Earlom, RicharJ . . 247,
Ebelmann
*Echnppe
Eck, Veit
*Eclelinck, Gerard .
Eckhout, Geibrandt van den
EistTn, Charles
Elsheimer, Adam
Elstracke, Kenold .
Eliz, Friedrich
Engraving
Enguidanos, Thomas Lopez
Erhard, Johann Christoph
Etching-ground
Etching-needle
Etching, process of .
*Everdingen, AUaert van
257
133
9
133
202
180
224
265
241
253
I, 6
290
2S6
4
4
3
163
Eaber, John . . . .
256
Faithorne, William .
242
P'alk, Jeremias
261
Fantuzzi. Antonio .
194
Fedde>, Petrus, von Ilarlingen
156
Fenitzer, Georg
253
Fenitzer, Michael .
253
Ficquet, Etienne
217
Finden, E. . . . .
248
Finiguerra, Maso
68, 92
Flipart, Jean-Jacques
211
Floris, Frans (Frans de Vriendt^
156
Fokke, Simon .
155
Folo, Giovanni
2.0
Fontainebleau, School of.
193
Fontana, Giovanni Battista
226
F'ontana, Giulio
226
*Fragonard, Jean Honore
218
Francia, Francesco .
93
Francia, Jacopo
102
Francois, Jean-Charles .
299
Frank, Hans Ulrich
265
Fiirstcnberg, Theodor Caspa
von ....
250
Fyt, Jan ....
. 161
Galle, Cornelis . . .146
Galle, Philipp . . . .139
Gandolfi, Marco . . . 240
Gaucher, Charles-Etienne . 226
Geddes, Andrew . . . 245
*Gellce, Claude (Claude
Lorrain) . . -197
Gemini, Thomas . . . 241
Genoels, Abraham . . . 1S9
Gessner, Salomon . . .278
Ghendt, Emanuel de . . 224
Gheyn, Jacob de . . .144
*Ghisi, Giorgio . . . 107
Gillot, Claude . . .223
Glauber. Jan .... 189
Glockenton, Alhert (Master
^(5) . . . -48
*Goltzius,Hendrick . . 142
Goodall, Edward . . . 248
Gossart, Jan, called Mabuse . 138
Goudt, Ilendrick . . -152
Gourmond, Jean (Master J. G.) 192
*Goya y Lucientes, Francisco
Jose de .... 290
Goyen, Ian van . . .162
Graf, Urs . . . .112
Grateloup, Jean-Baptiste . . 217
Gravelot, Hubert-Fran9ois . 224
Graver ..... i
Grebber, Pieter de . . . iSo
Green, \'alentine . . . 256
Greuter, [uan Federico . . 289
Greuter. Matthias . . . 262
Grimaldi, Francesco . . 231
Guckeisen . . . '133
Guercino (Giov. F'rancesco
Barbieri) .... 231
Guttenberg, C. . . .221
Guttenberg, H. . . .221
H
Haas, Georg ....
Haeften, Nicolaus van
Haid, Johann Elias .
Haid, Johann Gottfried .
Hainzelmann, Elias
Hainzelmann, Johann
Hammer, Wolfgang (Master
W A H) . . .
Havell, Daniel
182
253
253
268
268
49
24S
\oS
INDEX
flavull, Robert
Hcnrlquel-Dupont, Louis
Hernandez, Francisco (Blasco)
Heusch, Willem de
Hidalgo, Jose Garcia
Hire, Laurent de la
*Hirschvogel, Augustin
* Hogarth, William .
Hcjgenberg, Franz .
Hogenberg, Remigius
Hole, William
* Hollar, Wenzel
Ilooghe, Romeyn de
*IIopfer, Daniel
Hopfer, Hieronymus
Hopfer, Lambert
Houbraken, Jacob .
Houston, Richard .
2^6
Isselburg, Peter
K
PAGE
248
216
289
187
289
198
126
, 241
241
242
263
189
126
126
126
261
Janinet, Fran9ois
. 296
Jode, Pieter de
. 150
Jordaens, Jakob
• 159
Josi, Christian
. 30>
Julienne, Jean de
. 211
Kabel, Adriaen van der .
187
Kauffmann, Angelica
245
*Kilian, Lucas
260
Kilian, Philipp
267
Kilian, Wolfgang
260
Klein, Johann Adam
2S6
Knight, Charles
303
*Kobell, Ferdinand
284
Kobell, Hendrick .
189
Kobell, Jan
189
Kolbe, Karl Wilhelm
285
Koninck, Salomon .
180
Krug. Ludwig
III
Kussel, Melchior
265
Laer, Pictcr van
Lafreri, Antonio
1S3
106
Larmesiin, Nicolas de
Lastman, Pieter
Launay, Nicolas de
*Lautensack. Hans Sebald
Lauvvers, Conrad
Lauwers, Nicolas
Lebarbier, Jean-Jacques- Fran
9ois ....
Lebas, Jean-Philippe
Lebas, Philippe-
Le Blon, Jacob Christoph
Lembke, Johann Philipp
Lemire, Noel .
Lenfant, Jean
Lepautre, Jean
Lepicie, Bernard
Le Prince, Jean-Baptiste . 8,
Leu, Thomas de . . .
Lewis, F. C. . . . 248,
*Leyden, Lucas van . 134,
*Lievens, Jan .
Leonardo da Vinci .
Line-engraving
Lippi, Fra Filippo .
Literature of Engraving and
Etching
Little Masters, The .
Loggan, David
Longhi, Giuseppe
*Longueil, Joseph de
*Lorrain, Claude (Claude
Gellee)
Lucientes. See Goya.
Luiken, Jan
Lupton, Thomas Goff
Lutma, Tan .
M
ALabuse, Jan van (Jan Gossart)
*ALacArdell, James
Mair, Alexander
Mair, Nicolaus Alexander
Malton, Thomas
Manglard, Adrien .
RLansion, Colard
*Manlegna, Andrea
*Maratta, Carlo
Marc-Antonio Raimondi
Mariani, Vincente .
Marillier, Pierre-Clement
Marinus (Marin Robin)
Marshall, William .
Massard, jean
INDEX
309
Massard, Raphael Urbin
Masson, Antoinc
Master of 145 1 (Master with
the mark ^B ) .
*Master of 1464 (Master of
the Banderoles) .
Master of 1466 (Master E. S.)
*Master of 1480 (Master of the
Amsterdam Cabinet)
Master of 151 5
Master ^ (r, (Albert
Glockenton)
Master BM.
Master g ^fc, fV •
Master b C< ff (Barthel
Schongauer ? ) •
Master 13. V. (Master with the
Die)
*MasterD.*V. (Dirk van Staar)
Master E. S. of 1466 (1467) •
*Master F. V. B. (Eraiiz von
Bocholt) . . . •
*Master f i O (^'eit Stoss)
Master I. A. M. of Zwolle
(Master of the Weaver's
Shuttle) ....
Master ] Ef^= •
Master I. B
Master J. G. (Jean Gourmond)
Master L* Qt* ^ (Ludwig
Schongauer)
♦Master -L-C^'^-
* Master M "T (Matthans
J \J Zasinger) .
Master ^Master of 1451)
Master p p) W
Master S. of Brussels
Master W. (Wenzel von
Olmutz) . • ■ •
Master "W^.B • •
Master \V /K H (Wolf-
gang Hammer) .
Master ^X/ ^
216
Master
km
(Hans
Windsheim)
22
24
34
S3
48
34
45
34
104
156
24
41
4?
39
92
1 22
192
49
47
20
44
>3S
49
36
49
41
*Master of the Amsterdam
Cabinet (Master of 1480)
* Master of the Banderoles
(Master of 1464) .
Master of the Boccaccio En
gravings
Master of the Crab .
Master of the Die .
*Master of the Gardens of
Love ....
*Master of the Playing-cards
Master of the Sibyl .
Master of the St. Erasmus
Master of the Vase Designs
(Kraterographie)
*Master of the Weaver'
Shuttle (Master I. A. M. of
Zwolle)
Matham, Jacob
*Mattoir
Maurer, Christoph .
*Mazzuoli, Francesco, called
Parmigianino
*Meckenen, Israel von
Meil, Johann Wilhelm
MeldoUa, Andrea .
*Mellan, Claude
Melone, Altobello da
Merian, Matthaus, the elder
Merian, Matthaus, the younger
Metsvs, Cornells
Metz', C. M. .
Meyer, Dietrich
Mezzotint, process of
Miller, William
Millet, Francois
*Mocetto, Girolamo
*Modena, Nicoletto da .
IMoeyaert, Claes Cornelisz
Mola, Giov. Battista
Moles, Pasqual Pedro
Molyn, Pieter, the elder .
Montagna, Benedetto
Monte Sancto di Dio (Florence
1477) ....
*Moreau, Jean-Michel
*Morghen. Raphael
Morin, Jean
Muller,"Friedrich Wilhelm
Miiller, Gotthard von
Muller, Jan
Muntaner, Francisco
45
34
34
39
138
104
20
17
28
20
131
39
144
9
132
226
41
282
226
200
83
262
263
138
301
262
7
248
198
85
90
166
231
290
162
90
70
I, 225
238
202
276
274
144
290
3IO
INDEX
I'AGE
Murillo, liaitol. Esteban . . 289
Musi, Agostino de' (Agoslino
Veneziano) . . . .102
N
Naiwinx, Hendrick .
*Nanteuil, Robert .
Nattoir, Charles-Fran9f)is
Neeffs, Jacob .
Neyts, Gillis .
*Nicoletto da Modena
*NielIo ....
Nooms, Reynier, called Zeeman
Norblin. Jean-Pierre
Nutter, William
O
Oeser, Adam Fried rich .
Olmiitz, Wenzel von
Ossenbeck. Jan van .
*Ostade, Adriaen van
Otto Collection, Engravings of
the
Oudry, Jean-Baptiste
165
204
218
150
165
90
91
182
219
303
285
49
187
I So
72
218
Painter-etchers
14
Paper ....
14
*Parmigianino, Francesco
(Mazzuoli) .
226
Parrocel, Joseph
21S
Parrocel, Pierre
218
Passe, Crispin de
145
Passe, Magdalena de
145
Passe, Simon de
Passe, Wilhelm de .
I45>
145.
241
241
Payne, John .
Peak, James .
Pecham, Georg
Peeters, Bonaventura
242
243
264
1S2
Pellegrino da San Daniele
88
*Pencz, Georg
121
*Peregrino
Pether, William
94
256
Pichler, Johann Peter
Piranesi, Francesco .
254,
304
236
Piranesi, Giov. Batista
236
Pitau, Nicolas .
207
Pitteri, Marco .
237
Place, Francis .
Planets, seven (Italian engrav
ings of the 15th cent.)
Plank ....
Ploos v. Amstel, Cornells
Poilly, P'ran9ois de .
Poilly, Nicolas de .
Pollajuolo, Antonio
Ponce. Nicolas
*Pontius, Paul
* Potter, Paulus
Prestel, Catharina .
Prestel, Joh. Theophilus
Prince. See Le Prince.
Printing .
Printing-ink
Printing-press .
Proofs before letters
*Prophets, Twenty-four (pro
bably Florentine, 15th cent.
Punch ....
Purcell, Richard
Quast, Pieter Jansz
R
I'AGE
254
72
10
300
206
2o5
74
224
148
i«3
301
301
10
10
10
13
74
6
256
1S2
Rabel, Jean
195
*Raimondi, Marc- Antonio
95
Ravenna, Marco da (Marcc
1
Dente)
103
Reinhardt, Johann Christian
285
* Rembrandt liarmenszvan Rijr
^ 167
Remigius
241
Reni, Guido .
231
Reworking
13
*Ribera, Giuseppe .
232
Ridinger, Johann Elias .
277
*Robetta, Cristoforo
76
Robin, INIarin (Marinus) .
150
Rocker ....
7
*Rode, Christian Bernhard
2S3
Rodelstadt, Peter
132
Rogers, William
241
Roghmans, Roelant
165
Roman, Pedro
289
Roos, Johann Heinrich .
265
Roos, Johann Melchior .
266
Roos, Theodor
266
*Rosa, Salvator
232
Rossi ....
106
INDEX
311
lAGE
Kota, Mailino .
228
Roulette .
6
Roullet, Jean-Louis .
207
Rousselet, Gilles
200
Rowlandson, Thomas
24'5
Rubens, Peter Paul .
146,
157
Rugendas, Geoig Phil
PP
254
Ruggieri, Guido
194
*Ruisdael, Jacob van
163
Rupert, Prince
350
Ryckemans, Nicolas
150
Ryland, William Wynne
246
303
Ryther, Augustine .
241
Sadeler, Egidius
Sadeler, Johann
Sadeler, Raftael
Saenredani. Jan
Saftleven, Herman
Saint-Aubin, Augustin de
Salamanca, Antonio
Sandby, Paul .
Sandrart, Jacol:) von
Sandrart, Joachim Franz
Savart, Pierre .
Savery, Roeland
Say, William .
Scheits, Matthias
Schenk, Peter .
Schiavone, Andrea .
Schiavonetti, Lewis
*Schmidt, Georg Friedrich
Schmutzer, Jacob
Schdnfeld, Heinrich
Schongauer, Barthel
Schongauer, Ludwig
*Schongauer, Martin
Schuppen, Pieter van
*Schut, Cornelis
Scraper .
Scultor, Adamo
Scultor, Diana
Scultor, Giovanni Battis
Seghers, Herkules .
Selma, Fernando
Sesto, Cesare da
Sharp, William
Sherwin, John Keyse
Sibmacher, Hans
Siegen, Ludwig von
Simonet, Jean-Baptiste
Sintzenich, Heinrich
24
261
261
261
144
162
221
106
247
267
267
217
157
258
266
303
226
301
268
273
265
34
34
28
207
158
107
107
107
. 303
290
83
242
, 254
131
248
221
254, 304
166
247
Sirani, Klisabetta
Smith, John
Smith, John Raphael 247, 25
*Solis, Virgil .
Somer, Pieter van .
Soutman, Pieter
Spilsbury, Hugo
Spooner, Charles
Spranger, Bartolomaus
*Staar, Dirk van
Stalbent, Adriaen van
Stalburch, Jan van .
States ....
Steel plates
Stella, Claudine Baussonet
Stella, Jacques
Stimmer, Abel
Stip|ile. process of .
Stoek, Ignatius van der .
Storck, Abraham
Stoss, Veit (Master f ^ P
Strange, Robert
Strauch, Lorenz
Suavius, Lambert .
Subias, Ramon Bayeu y
Surugue, Louis
Sutherland, T.
*Suyderhoef, Jonas .
Swanenburg, Willem
Swanevelt, Herman van
Syrlin, Jorg .
I'AGE
23«
254
,25s
130
254
147
257
256
156
156
160
139
12
15
198
198
132
6
161
1S2
47
242
131
138
290
211
248
152
146
187
48
Tanje, Peter .
*Tardieu, Nicolaus-IIchi-y
Tardieu, Pierre- Alexandre
Tarockkarten(Italian isth cent.
Technique
Tempesta, Antonio .
Teniers, David
Theses .
Thulden, Theodor van
Thurneysser, J oh. Jacob
220, 267,
Tiepolo, Giov. Battista .
*Tiepolo, Giov. Domenico
Tiry, Leonard ....
Tomkins, Peter William . 247,
Toschi, Paolo . . . 216,
Trial proofs ....
155
209
217
77
I
231
159
207
15S
268
233
234
194
301
240
12
312
INDEX
I'AfJE
Trouvain, Antoine . . . 207
Turner, Joseph Mallord William
245, 24S, 25S
U
*Uden, Lucas van . . .160
Uffenbach, Philipp . . . 264
Uijlenbroeck, AKises van . . 166
*Umbach, Jonas . . . 265
Vadder, Lodewyck de . . )6i
*Vaillant, Wallerant . -251
Valk, Gerard .... 254
Van Dyck, Anthony . 151, 1 58
Vasquez, Bartolome . . 290
Vavassore, Zoan Andrea . . So
Velazquez, Diego . . . 289
Velde, Adriaen van de . . 1S4
Velde, Esaias van de . . ^162
Velde, Jan van de . 128, 152, '162
Vendramini, Giovanni . . 247
*Veneziano, Agostino . . 102
Verboom, Adriaen . . .165
Verino, Benedetto . . . 104
Verkolje, Jan .... 253
Verkolje, Nicolas . . 253, 254
Veronese, Battista dell' Angelo,
called del JNIoro . . . 226
Vertue, George . . . 242
Vico, Enea .... 106
Vien, Joseph-Marie . . . 225
Villamena, Francesco . . 230
Vinckboons, David . . -157
*Visscher, Comelis . . .152
Vivares, Francis . . . 243
Vliet, J. G. van . . . 17S
Vlieger, Simon de . . . 165
Vogel, Bcrnhard . . -25^
Volpalo, Giovanni . . . 238
Vorstermann, Lucas . . 147
Vriendt, Franz de (FransFloris) 156
W
Wael, Jan Bapliste de
Walker, James
Wallis, Robert
Ward, William . . 257,
Waterloo, Antoni
Water-marks .
W^atson, Carol ne
Watson, James
*Watteau, Antoine . . 209,
Weigel, Christof
*Weirotter, Franz Edmund
Wenzel von Olomucz (Olniiitz
White, Kobert
W^ierix, Anton
*W^ierix, Flieronymus
Wierix, Jan
Wijck, Thomas
Wilkie, David
*Wille, Georg
Williams, Robert
Wilson, Benjamin .
Windsheim, Hans (>Laster
k-mi
Wit, Jacob de .
Wiidoek, Jan .
Woeiriot, Pierre
Woollett, William
Working proofs
Worlidge, Thomas
*Zasinger, Matth. (Master
A3) . ; .
Zeeman (Reynier Nooms)
Ziindt, Matthias
161
256
248
258
165
14
247
256
218
253
2S5
49
242
140
140
140
187
245
214
254
245
47
1 89
150
193
242
12
245
47
182
131
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will rank beside Goethe's Letters to Frau von Stein." — Scofe;;/aH.
"Of all Wagner books in existence, this book of letters should be the most popular
with the musician, with the student of psychology of genius, and with the general
reader."— Pn// Mall Gazelle.
Coppespondence of Wagnep and Liszt.
Translated into English, with a Preface by Dr. Fkanxis Hueffer.
2 Vols. 8vo. Cloth, gilt top. £\ \s.
"Nothing more instructive with regard to the real character and relations of Liszt
and Wagner has been published. Seldom have the force and fervour of Wagner's
German been rendered with such accuracy ar.d character in a strange tongue." —
Manchestir Guardian.
Richapd "Wagnep's Letteps to Otto Wesendonek et al.
Translated and Inde.xed Ijy Wm. A.shton Ellis. i6mo. Cloth, gilt
tup. 5.f. net.
Letteps of Richapd W^agnep to Emil Heekel.
With a Brief History of the Hayreuth Festivals Translated and Indexed
by W.M. AsiiTON Ellls. i6nio. Cloth, gilt top. 5r. net.
Letteps to Fpanz Liszt.
Edited and Collected by La Maka. Translated by Constance B.ache.
Vol. I. YeaPS of Tpavel as ViPtUOSO. With a Portrait.
Vol. II. FPOm Rome to the End. With a Frontispiece.
2 \'ols. Crown Svo. Cloth, ^i is.
"Between six and seven hundred letters, every one of which is worth reading, are
reproduced in this collection, and are lavishly supplemented by Chronological and
Explanatory Note?, which render the book extremely valuable to musicians and men
of letters as a woik of reference. Its technical production, moreover, is in every
respect exemplary." — Di'lv Tclciiraph.
Wagnep and his "Wopks.
The Story of his Life, with Critical Comments, by Henry T. Finck.
With Two Portraits. 2 Vols. Crown Svo. Cloth. £\ \s.
" Mr. Finck's work is perhaps the most exhaustive and appreciative account of the
great composer that has appeared in the English language." — Times.
J. E. Matthew. A Handbook of Musical Histopy
and Biog"paphy.
With i6o Illustrations of Portraits, Musical Instruments, Facsimiles of
rare and curious Musical W^orks. Demy Svo. Cloth. lOi-. 6d.
" The author covers the entire ground of his subject from the time of St. Gregory to
the present day, and serves admirably for those who wish to obtain some general idea
as to the progress of the art. The lacts are succinctly set forth, the statements are
correct, and the many illustrations give the work a distinct value.''— Daily Telegraph.
FENCING.
Capt. Alfped Hutton. The Swopdsman.
A Manual of Fence for the Foil, Sabre, and Bayonet. With an Appendi.x
consisting of a Code of Rules for Assaults, Competitions, etc. New
Edition. \Vith 42 Illusiraiions. Crown Svo. Buards. is. 6d.
Capt. Alfped Hutton. Old Swopd Play.
With 58 Illustrations, containing a Series of Studies of the Swordsmanship
of the i6th, 17th, and iSlh Centuries, embracing the Twohand Sword,
Rapier and Dagger, Broadsword and Buckler, "Case of Rapiers," Early
Small Sword PJay, etc. Superfine Dutch paper. (Limited to 300
Copies.) Royal Svo. Buckram. ;^I i.f. net.
II, King Street, Covent Garden, London, W.C.
L.) pjoYin O^y :
if:
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