the year 1518; Antonio Fantuzzi, a pupil of Francis Parmigianino, who
accompanied and assisted Primaticcio at Fontainebleau; Gualtier, and
Andrew Andreani; and lastly, Bartholomew Coriolano, of Bologna, who
would have been the last engraver in this style, were it not for Antonio
M. Zanetti, a celebrated Venetian amateur, who was still nearer to us in
point of date. Two or three Germans, John Ulrich in the sixteenth, and
Louis Buring[40] in the seventeenth, century, also made some engravings
in _camaïeu_, but only with two blocks: one giving the design of the
subject with the outline and cross-hatching, the other introducing a
colour, usually bistre, on which all the lights were taken out, so as to
leave the ground of the paper white. These specimens imitated a
pen-and-ink drawing on coloured paper, and finished with the brush or
pencil.
We must now go back to the year 1452, which is generally fixed upon as
the date of the invention of engraving on metal (Fig. 262).[41] When
discussing the subject of “Goldsmith’s Work,” we mentioned, among the
pupils of the illustrious Ghiberti, Maso Finiguerra, and stated that
this artist had engraved on silver a “Pax” intended for the treasury of
the Church of St. John. Certain writers having recognised in a print now
in the Imperial Library of Paris, and also in another print in the
Library of the Arsenal, an exact impression of this engraving, were led
to attribute to the celebrated Florentine goldsmith the honour of an
invention in which he might perhaps have had no share at all. Possibly
this process of printing off an impression, which was a very natural
thing to do, had been actually practised by goldsmiths long before
Finiguerra; they wished, doubtless, to preserve a pattern of their
_niello-work_, or to see how it progressed in its various stages. The
proofs, thus taken off by hand, having been lost, Finiguerra may have
been considered the originator of a method which he only applied as a
matter of course to his goldsmith’s work. The two circumstances--that
the plate is made of silver and not of any common metal, and that it may
be classed among the numerous _nielli_, engraved plates of decorative
goldsmith’s work, which have been handed down to us and are of even
earlier dates--will alone suffice, in our opinion, to dispose of the
[Illustration: Fig. 262.--The Prophet Isaiah, holding in his hand the
saw which was the instrument of his martyrdom. (Fac-simile from an
Engraving on Copper by an unknown Italian Master of the Fifteenth
Century.)]
idea that this work was expressly executed in order to furnish
impressions on paper. It was nothing but chance that in this case
introduced the name of Finiguerra, which would not have become known in
this connection, if it had not been for the preservation of two ancient
impressions of his _niello-work_; while those taken from other and
perhaps older plates had been destroyed. Thus the date, or the asserted
date, of the invention of engraving on metal was fixed by the
ascertained date of the piece of goldsmith’s work.
Be this as it may, the print of the “Pax,” or rather of the
“Assumption,” engraved by Finiguerra, does not fail, in the opinion of
all writers and amateurs, to bear the title of the earliest print from
metal; a title to which it has a perfect right, and in thus regarding it
we are induced to give a brief description of the subject represented in
the engraving. Jesus Christ, seated on a lofty throne and wearing a cap
similar to that of the Doges, places, with both his hands, a crown on
the head of the Virgin, who, with her hands crossed upon her breast, is
seated upon the same throne; St. Augustine and St. Ambrose are kneeling;
in the centre, below, and on the right, several saints are standing,
among whom we can distinguish St. Catherine and St. Agnes; on the left,
in the rear of St. Augustine, we see St. John the Baptist and other
saints; lastly, on both sides of the throne a number of angels are
blowing trumpets; and, above, are others holding a streamer, on which we
read: “ASSVMPTA. EST. MARIA. IN. CELVM. AVE. EXERCITVS. ANGELORVM;”
“Mary is taken up into Heaven. Hail, army of angels!”
The first of the impressions of this _niello_ found its way into the
Royal Library with the Marolles Collection, bought by Louis XIV. in
1667: the other was discovered only in 1841, by M. Robert Dumesnil, who,
in the Library of the Arsenal, was turning over the leaves of a volume
containing engravings by Callot and Sebastian Le Clerc. This latter
impression, though taken on inferior paper, is nevertheless in a much
better state of preservation than the other; but the ink is of a greyer
hue, and one might readily fancy that, as M. Duchesne, the learned
writer, asserts, it was printed before the final completion of the
plate.
In support of the opinion which we before indirectly expressed, that the
practice of taking impressions from engraved plates of metal might well
be a kind of fortuitous result of a mere professional tradition
incidental to the goldsmith’s art, we may remark that most of the
engravings which have been handed down to us as belonging to the era
fixed upon for the invention of engraving, are the work of Italian
goldsmith-engravers. More than four hundred specimens of this date have
been preserved; among the artists we must mention Amerighi, Michael
Angelo Bandinelli, and Philippo Brunelleschi, of Florence; Forzoni
Spinelli, of Arezzo; Furnio, Gesso, Rossi, and Raibolini, of Bologna;
Teucreo, of Siena; Caradosso and Arcioni, of Milan; Nicholas Rosex, of
Modena, of whose work we have three _nielli_ and more than sixty
engravings; Antonio Pollajuolo, who engraved a print called the “Fight
with Cutlasses,” representing ten naked men fighting; lastly, the most
skilful of the metal-chasing goldsmiths after Finiguerra, Peregrino of
Cesena, who has left his name and his mark on sixty-six _nielli_.
[Illustration: Fig. 263.--Fac-simile of a _Niello_ executed on Ivory,
from the original design of Stradan, representing Columbus on board his
Ship, during his first Voyage to the West.]
More special mention must be made of Bartholomew Baldini, better known
under the name of Baccio, to whom we owe, in addition to some large
engravings both of a sacred and of a mythological character, twenty
vignettes designed for the folio edition (1481) of Dante’s “Inferno;” of
Andrea Mantegna, a renowned painter, who himself engraved many of his
own compositions; and of John van der Straet, called _Stradan_ (Fig.
263), who executed at Florence many remarkable plates.
We find in Germany an engraver who dates several of his works in the
year 1466, but on none of them has he left more than his initials, E. S.
This has not failed to tax the ingenuity of those who would establish
his individuality in some authentic way. Some have agreed to call him
Edward Schön or Stern, on account of the stars he frequently introduces
into the borders of the vestments of his figures; one asserts that he
was born in Bavaria, because in a specimen of his works is the figure of
a woman holding a shield emblazoned with the arms of that country;
another believes him to have been a Swiss, because he twice engraved the
“Pilgrimage of St. Mary of Einsiedeln,” the most celebrated in the
country. But those amateurs who, upon the whole, think more of the work
than the workman, are content to designate him as _the Master of 1466_.
This engraver has left behind him three hundred examples, most of them
of small dimensions, among which, independently of sundry very curious
compositions, we must notice two important series, namely, an _Alphabet_
composed of grotesque figures (Fig. 264), and a pack of _Numeral Cards_,
the greater part of which are in the Imperial Library.
At almost the same epoch Holland also presents us with an anonymous
engraver, who might be called _the Master of 1486_, from the date on one
only of his engravings. The works of this artist, whose manner exhibits
a powerful and original style, are very rare in any collections not
belonging to the country in which he worked. The Cabinet of Engravings
at Amsterdam possesses seventy-six of them, while that of Vienna has but
two, that of Berlin one only, and that of Paris six, among which we may
remark “Samson sleeping on the knees of Delilah,” and “St. George,” on
foot, piercing with his sword the throat of the dragon which menaced the
life of the Queen of Lydia.
We have still three comparatively celebrated engravers to mention before
reaching the epoch at which Marc Antonio Raimondi in Italy, Albert Dürer
in Germany, and Lucas van Leyden in Holland, all simultaneously
flourished.
Martin Schöngauer, for some time designated by the name of Martin Schön,
who died at Colmar in 1488, was a good painter as well as a skilful
engraver. More than one hundred and twenty specimens of his work are
known, the most important of which are--“Christ bearing his Cross,” “The
Battle of the Christians” (waged against the infidels by the apostle
St. James), both very rare compositions of large size; the “Passion of
Jesus Christ,” the “Death of the Virgin,” and “St. Anthony tormented by
Demons,” one proof of which, it is said, was coloured by Michael Angelo.
We must add (and this circumstance shows again the kind of direct
relation which we have already noted as existing between engraving and
goldsmith’s work), that Martin Schöngauer also engraved a pastoral staff
and a censer, both of very beautiful workmanship.
[Illustration: Fig. 264.--Fac-simile of the letter N from the “Grotesque
Alphabet,” engraved by the “Master of 1466.”]
Israel van Mecken (or Meckenem), supposed to be a pupil of Francis van
Bocholt, as he worked at Bocholt previous to the year 1500, is, of all
German engravers of this epoch, the one whose works are most extensively
known. The Cabinet of Engravings in the Imperial Library, Paris,
possesses three volumes of his engravings, containing two hundred and
twenty-eight superb examples; among these we must especially notice a
composition engraved on two plates of the same height; “St. Gregory
perceiving the Man of Sorrows at the Moment of the Mass.” We must
confine ourselves to the mention, in addition, of his “St. Luke painting
the Portrait of the Virgin;” “St. Odile releasing from Purgatory, by his
prayers, the Soul of his Father, Duke Etichon;” “Herodias” (Fig. 265);
and “Lucretia killing herself in the presence of Collatinus and others,”
which last is the only subject this artist has taken from profane
history.
We mention Wenceslaus of Olmutz, who was engaged in engraving from the
year 1481 to 1497, with the especial object of describing an allegorical
print due to his _burin_; it may serve to give a notion of the fantastic
tendency impressed on the ideas of the day by the religious dissensions
which arose at this epoch between several princes of Germany and the
court of Rome. This print, or rather this graphic satire, most of the
allusions in which are now lost to us, represents the monstrous figure
of a woman entirely naked, seen in profile and turning to the left, her
body covered with scales, with the head and mane of an ass; her right
leg terminates in a cloven foot, and the left in a bird’s claw; her
right arm is terminated by the paw of a lion, and the left by a woman’s
hand. The back of this fantastic being is covered with a hairy mask, and
in the place of a tail she has the neck of a chimera, with a deformed
head from which darts a serpent’s tongue. Above the engraving is
written, “_Roma Caput Mundi_” (“Rome the head of the world”). On the
left hand is a three-storied tower, upon which a flag adorned with the
keys of St. Peter is floating. On the château is written, “_Castelagno_”
(Castle of St. Angelo); in the foreground is a river, upon whose waves
is traced the word “_Tevere_” (the Tiber); lower still is the word
“_Ianrarii_” (January), below the date 1496: on the right, in the
background, is a square tower, upon which is written, “_Tore Di Nona_”
(Tower of the Nones); on the same side, in front, is a vase with two
handles, and in the centre of the lower part the letter W, the
monogrammatic signature of the engraver. Our interest in this plate is
increased by the date it bears; for, being engraved by means of
[Illustration: Fig. 265.--“Herodias,” a Copper-plate Engraving, by
Israel van Mecken.]
_aquafortis_, it proves that Albert Dürer is wrongfully regarded as the
inventor of this mode of engraving, more expeditious than with the
_burin_, as the oldest _aquafortis_ work of Albert Dürer is dated 1515,
that is to say, nineteen years later than that of Wenceslaus of Olmutz.
We now come to three great artists who, at a period in which the art of
engraving had made the most remarkable progress, availed themselves of
it for producing works which eminently characterise each master
respectively.
Albert Dürer, born at Nuremberg in 1471, was a vigorous painter, and was
not less remarkable for the productions of his _burin_ and
etching-needle. We do not intend to describe all his works, though all
are worthy of notice, but must content ourselves with mentioning “Adam
and Eve standing by the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil,” a small
plate of delicate workmanship and admirable perfectness of design; the
“Passion of Jesus Christ,” in a series of sixteen plates; “Christ
praying in the Garden of Gethsemane,” the first work executed by this
master by means of _aquafortis_, then a new method, which, being less
soft than the _burin_, gave rise to an idea not dispelled for some time,
that this print and several others were engraved on iron or tin; several
figures of the “Virgin with the Infant Jesus,” which are all remarkable
for expression and simplicity, and have received odd _sobriquets_ on
account of some accessory object which accompanies them (for instance,
the “Virgin with the pear, butterfly, ape,” &c.); the “Prodigal Son
keeping Swine,” a composition in which the painter himself is
represented; “St. Hubert praying before the Cross borne by a Stag” (Fig.
266), a very rare and beautiful plate; the “Chevalier and his Lady;”
lastly, the “Chevalier of Death,” a _chef-d’œuvre_, dated 1515, and
representing Francis of Sickingen, who was destined to be the firmest
supporter of Luther’s Reformation.[42]
Marc Antonio Raimondi, born at Bologna about the year 1475, was first a
pupil of Francis Raibolini, and afterwards of Raphael,[43] whose style
he often
[Illustration: Fig. 266.--“St. Hubert praying before the Cross borne by
a Stag.” Engraved by Albert Dürer.]
followed, and in his compositions did his utmost to imitate his pure and
noble manner. Everything in his designs is ideally true, and all is
harmonious in the _ensemble_ of his works. Most of his engravings still
existing are very much sought after, and as any description we could
give would only convey but an imperfect idea of the excellence of these
works, the strongest testimony in favour of their merit will be to
mention the high prices given for certain prints by this master at the
public sale which took place in 1844. For example:--“Adam and Eve,” a
print after Raphael, 1,010 francs (£40); “God commanding Noah to build
the Ark,” from the same master, 700 francs (£28); the “Massacre of the
Innocents,” 1,200 francs (£48); “St. Paul preaching at Athens,” 2,500
francs (£100); the “Lord’s Supper,” 2,900 francs (£116); the “Judgment
of Paris,” which is regarded as the _chef-d’œuvre_ of Marc Antonio,
3,350 francs (£134); three pendentives of the “Farnesina,” 1,620 francs
(£64 10s.), &c. Subsequently, these enormous prices have been even
exceeded.
Lucas van Leyden, born in 1494, and, like Albert Dürer, a clever painter
as well as skilful engraver, has left about eighty plates, the most
remarkable of which are “David playing the Harp before Saul;” the
“Adoration of the Magi;” a large “Ecce Homo,” engraved by the artist at
the age of sixteen; a “Peasant and Peasant-woman with a Cow;” the “Monk
Sergius killed by Mahomet;” the “Seven Virtues;” a plate called the
“Little Milkmaid,” very rare; lastly, a “Poor Family travelling,” of
which only five proofs are known; they were bought for sixteen louis
d’or by the Abbot of Marolles, when he formed his cabinet of prints,
which became one of the richest additions to the Imperial Library.
In a befitting rank below these famous artists we may class a French
engraver, Jean Duret, born at Langres in 1488, who was goldsmith to
Henri II., and executed several beautiful allegorical plates on the
intrigues of the king and Diana of Poitiers, as well as twenty-four
compositions taken from the Apocalypse; also Pierre Woeiriot (or
Voeiriot), an engraver and goldsmith of Lorraine, born in 1531, who
produced numerous fine works down to the end of the century; the most
famous of them, designated by the name of the “Bull of Phalaris” (Fig.
267), represents the tyrant of Agrigentum shutting up human victims
destined to be burnt alive in a brazen bull.
There were at work in Italy at the same epoch Augustine of Musi
[Illustration: Fig. 267.--“Phalaris, Tyrant of Agrigentum, causing
Victims destined to be burnt alive to be shut up in a Brazen Bull.”
Engraved by P. Woeiriot. (French School of the Sixteenth Century.)]
(Agustino de Musis, called the Venetian), Giacomo Caraglio, the
Ghisis,[44] Eneas Vico; in Germany, Altdorfer (Fig. 268), George
Pencz,[45] Aldegrever, Jacque Binck, Bartel and Hans Sebald Beham (Fig.
269), who are designated under the collective name of the “Little
Masters;” in Holland, Thierry (Dirk) van Staren.
[Illustration: Fig. 268.--“Repose of the Holy Family.” Engraved by A.
Altdorfer.]
In the course of the sixteenth century engraving reached its culminating
point, and at that time Italy and Germany no longer took the lead in
this branch of art, for the most skilful and renowned masters then
belonged to Holland and France.
Those of Holland were Henry Goltzius (or Goltz), born in 1558, and his
pupils Matham and the Mullers, whose vigorous gravers might remind one
of brilliant effects of colour without any loss of purity of design; the
two brothers, Boetius and Scheltius Bolswaert, so called from their
native town Bolswaert, born in 1580 and 1586 respectively; Paul Pontius
and Lucas Vorsterman, both born in 1590, whose engravings so well
represent the _chiaroscuro_ and colour of Van Dyck and Jordaens.
In France was Jacques Callot, born in 1594, whose works were both
numerous and original, and enjoyed a somewhat popular celebrity; among
them the most worthy of remark are the “Temptation of St. Anthony,” the
“Fair of the Madonna d’Imprunette,” “The Garden” and the “Parterre,”
both scenes in Nancy; as well as several series, such as the “Miseries
of War,” &c. There were also Michael Lasne, born in 1596, who engraved a
number of historical portraits; and Etienne (Stephen) Baudet, who
reproduced eight large landscapes after Poussin.
[Illustration: Fig. 269.--“Ferdinand I., Brother of Charles V.” Engraved
by Bart. Beham in 1531.]
A separate notice is reserved for Jonas Suyderoef, born at Leyden in
1600, who, by combining the graver, the etching-needle, and aquafortis,
gave an exceptional character to his works. Among the two hundred
engravings by this master the most admired are the “Treaty of Munster,”
after Terburg; and the “Burgomasters of Amsterdam receiving the News of
the Arrival of Queen Mary of Medicis,” after De Keyser.
We are now touching closely upon, even if we have not already exceeded,
the limits to which we are prescribed by the scope of our notices; but
as the history of engraving does not present, like that of so many other
arts, the spectacle of a grievous decadence after a period of
brilliancy, we cannot without regret come to a conclusion, when mention
might still be made of many distinguished names among the engravers of
every country.
We should also scarcely be able to pass on to another subject without
having alluded to those men whose works belong, indeed, to the following
epoch, but the date of whose birth connects them with that we are
considering. We could not, in fact, assume to have treated of engraving
had we passed over in silence Van Dyck, Claude Lorraine, and Rembrandt
(Fig. 270), those greatest of masters who were equally celebrated for
painting and engraving. In truth, perhaps, we could not say anything of
them which would not be superfluous.
Who is not acquainted with at least some few works by Van Dyck? This
celebrated pupil of Rubens has left in painting as many masterpieces as
canvases; and in engraving he knew how to give to his etching-needle so
much _verve_ and spirit, that his prints are perfect models to follow,
and have never been surpassed. Who is there that does not admire the
landscapes of Claude Lorraine, which are equally remarkable for the
light diffused over them, and the misty atmosphere that tempers its
brilliancy? We all know this master produced, as if for recreation,
certain engravings which for truth and melancholy (_mélancolic_) are
hardly surpassed by his marvellous paintings. And how can we speak of
Rembrandt without seeming to be commonplace? For his fertile and varied
talent no difficulty ever seemed to exist; a theme, the most simple and
common in appearance, becomes in his hands the basis of a masterly
conception; nature, to which he seemed to lend a new life, while seizing
upon its most striking realities, was for him an inexhaustible source of
powerful compositions.
The mention of these artists on the threshold of an epoch into which we
[Illustration: Fig. 270.--“Portrait of John Lutma, Goldsmith of
Groningen.” Designed and Engraved in aquafortis by Rembrandt.]
are precluded from following them, must suffice to convey some idea of
the height that art had attained during this century. We will, however,
enumerate after them a few names among foreign engravers. The Flemish
artists, Nicolas Berghem and Paul Potter, both great animal-painters,
have left some prints in aquafortis for the possession of which amateurs
contend; Wenceslaus Hollar, the Englishman,[46] engraved “The Queen of
Sheba,” after Veronese; to Cornelius Visscher, a Dutchman, we owe the
famous “Seller of Ratsbane;” and to Stefano della Bella, of Florence,
the “View from the Pont-Neuf, Paris.” Rupert, the Prince-Palatine
(nephew of Charles I. of England), was the inventor of the mezzo-tinto,
or black style of engraving; and William Faithorne, an Englishman,
engraved several portraits after Van Dyck. France also presents to our
notice some justly celebrated names. The views of towns by Israel
Silvestre, of Nancy, are very beautiful; François de Poilly, of
Abbeville, reproduced several pictures by Raphael; Jean Pesne, of Rouen,
himself a painter, engraved especially after Poussin; Antoine Masson, of
Orleans, has left a print of the “Pilgrims of Emmaus,” after the picture
by Titian, which is regarded as a _chef-d’œuvre_. Lastly, Robert
Nanteuil, of Rheims, the famous portrait-painter, engraved Péréfixe,
Archbishop of Paris, four times; the Archbishop of Rheims five times;
Colbert six times; Michel Le Tellier, Chancellor of France, ten times;
Louis XIV. eleven times, and Cardinal Mazarin fourteen times.
[Illustration: Fig. 271.--“The Holy Virgin.” Engraved by Aldegrever in
1527.]
SCULPTURE.
Origin of Christian Sculpture.--Statues in Gold and
Silver.--Traditions of Antique Art.--Sculpture in
Ivory.--Iconoclasts.--Diptychs.--The highest Style of Sculpture
follows the Phases of Architecture.--Cathedrals and Monasteries
from the Year 1000.--Schools of Burgundy, Champagne, Normandy,
Lorraine, &c.--German, English, Spanish, and Italian
Schools.--Nicholas of Pisa and his Successors.--Position of French
Sculpture in the Thirteenth Century.--Florentine Sculpture and
Ghiberti.--French Sculptors from the Fifteenth to the Sixteenth
Century.