diff options
| author | nfenwick <nfenwick@pglaf.org> | 2025-03-08 21:00:15 -0800 |
|---|---|---|
| committer | nfenwick <nfenwick@pglaf.org> | 2025-03-08 21:00:15 -0800 |
| commit | 041ee86854c87fac948dbcf16dbed4e0ba973098 (patch) | |
| tree | 9437de8d41ce72d399f4384a8f9fa1dc3713a321 | |
| parent | a7846c49a0daad5ca9ebe7c83e9a6a85f578320c (diff) | |
196 files changed, 2 insertions, 23107 deletions
diff --git a/40638-0.txt b/40638-0.txt index d1dc572..cb285cc 100644 --- a/40638-0.txt +++ b/40638-0.txt @@ -1,25 +1,4 @@ -Project Gutenberg's A History of Wood-Engraving, by George Edward Woodberry - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with -almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or -re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included -with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org/license - - -Title: A History of Wood-Engraving - -Author: George Edward Woodberry - -Release Date: September 1, 2012 [EBook #40638] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: UTF-8 - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A HISTORY OF WOOD-ENGRAVING *** - - - +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 40638 *** Produced by Chuck Greif and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was @@ -5119,365 +5098,4 @@ cuts, printed by Didot in 1804. End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of A History of Wood-Engraving, by George Edward Woodberry -*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A HISTORY OF WOOD-ENGRAVING *** - -***** This file should be named 40638-0.txt or 40638-0.zip ***** -This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: - http://www.gutenberg.org/4/0/6/3/40638/ - -Produced by Chuck Greif and the Online Distributed -Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was -produced from images available at The Internet Archive) - - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions -will be renamed. - -Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no -one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation -(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without -permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, -set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to -copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to -protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project -Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you -charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you -do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the -rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose -such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and -research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do -practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is -subject to the trademark license, especially commercial -redistribution. - - - -*** START: FULL LICENSE *** - -THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE -PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK - -To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free -distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work -(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project -Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project -Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at -http://gutenberg.org/license). - - -Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm -electronic works - -1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm -electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to -and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property -(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all -the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy -all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. -If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project -Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the -terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or -entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. - -1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be -used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who -agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few -things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works -even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See -paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project -Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement -and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic -works. See paragraph 1.E below. - -1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" -or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project -Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the -collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an -individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are -located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from -copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative -works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg -are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project -Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by -freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of -this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with -the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by -keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project -Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. - -1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern -what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in -a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check -the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement -before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or -creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project -Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning -the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United -States. - -1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: - -1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate -access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently -whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the -phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project -Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, -copied or distributed: - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with -almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or -re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included -with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org/license - -1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived -from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is -posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied -and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees -or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work -with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the -work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 -through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the -Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or -1.E.9. - -1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted -with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution -must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional -terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked -to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the -permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. - -1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm -License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this -work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. - -1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this -electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without -prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with -active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project -Gutenberg-tm License. - -1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, -compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any -word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or -distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than -"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version -posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org), -you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a -copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon -request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other -form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm -License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. - -1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, -performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works -unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. - -1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing -access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided -that - -- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from - the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method - you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is - owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he - has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the - Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments - must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you - prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax - returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and - sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the - address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to - the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." - -- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies - you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he - does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm - License. You must require such a user to return or - destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium - and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of - Project Gutenberg-tm works. - -- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any - money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the - electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days - of receipt of the work. - -- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free - distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. - -1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm -electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set -forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from -both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael -Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the -Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. - -1.F. - -1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable -effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread -public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm -collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic -works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain -"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or -corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual -property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a -computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by -your equipment. - -1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right -of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project -Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project -Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project -Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all -liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal -fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT -LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE -PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE -TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE -LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR -INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH -DAMAGE. - -1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a -defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can -receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a -written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you -received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with -your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with -the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a -refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity -providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to -receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy -is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further -opportunities to fix the problem. - -1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth -in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER -WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO -WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. - -1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied -warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. -If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the -law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be -interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by -the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any -provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. - -1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the -trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone -providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance -with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, -promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, -harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, -that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do -or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm -work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any -Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. - - -Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm - -Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of -electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers -including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists -because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from -people in all walks of life. - -Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the -assistance they need, are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's -goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will -remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project -Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure -and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. -To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation -and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 -and the Foundation web page at http://www.pglaf.org. - - -Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive -Foundation - -The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit -501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the -state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal -Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification -number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at -http://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg -Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent -permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. - -The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. -Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered -throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at -809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email -business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact -information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official -page at http://pglaf.org - -For additional contact information: - Dr. Gregory B. Newby - Chief Executive and Director - gbnewby@pglaf.org - - -Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg -Literary Archive Foundation - -Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide -spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of -increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be -freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest -array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations -($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt -status with the IRS. - -The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating -charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United -States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a -considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up -with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations -where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To -SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any -particular state visit http://pglaf.org - -While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we -have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition -against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who -approach us with offers to donate. - -International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make -any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from -outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. - -Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation -methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other -ways including checks, online payments and credit card donations. -To donate, please visit: http://pglaf.org/donate - - -Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic -works. - -Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm -concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared -with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project -Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. - - -Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed -editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. -unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily -keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. - - -Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: - - http://www.gutenberg.org - -This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, -including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary -Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to -subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 40638 *** diff --git a/40638-0.zip b/40638-0.zip Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index 0e008c0..0000000 --- a/40638-0.zip +++ /dev/null diff --git a/40638-8.txt b/40638-8.txt deleted file mode 100644 index 8351e98..0000000 --- a/40638-8.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,5483 +0,0 @@ -Project Gutenberg's A History of Wood-Engraving, by George Edward Woodberry - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with -almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or -re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included -with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org/license - - -Title: A History of Wood-Engraving - -Author: George Edward Woodberry - -Release Date: September 1, 2012 [EBook #40638] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A HISTORY OF WOOD-ENGRAVING *** - - - - -Produced by Chuck Greif and the Online Distributed -Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was -produced from images available at The Internet Archive) - - - - - - - - -A HISTORY OF WOOD-ENGRAVING - -[Illustration: A HISTORY - -OF - -WOOD-ENGRAVING - -BY - -GEORGE E. WOODBERRY - -_ILLUSTRATED_ - -LONDON - -SAMPSON LOW, MARSTON, SEARLE, & RIVINGTON - -CROWN BUILDINGS, 188 FLEET STREET - -1883] - -Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1882, by - -HARPER & BROTHERS, - -In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington. - -_All rights reserved._ - - - - -PREFACE. - - -In this book I have attempted to gather and arrange such facts as should -be known to men of cultivation interested in the art of engraving in -wood. I have, therefore, disregarded such matter as seems to belong -rather to descriptive bibliography, and have treated wood-engraving, in -its principal works, as a reflection of the life of men and an -illustration of successive phases of civilization. Where there is much -disputed ground, particularly in the early history of the art, the -writers on whom I have relied are referred to, and those who adopt a -different view are named; but where the facts seemed plain, and are -easily verifiable, reference did not appear necessary. - -In conclusion, I have the honor to acknowledge my obligations to the -officers of the Boston Public Library, the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, -and the Harvard College Library, for permission to reproduce several -cuts in their possession; and to Mr. Lindsay Swift, of the Boston Public -Library, for the list of authorities at the end of the volume. -Especially it is my pleasant duty to thank Professor Charles Eliot -Norton, of Harvard University, from whose curious and valuable -collection more than half of these illustrations are derived, both for -them and for suggestion, advice, and criticism, without which, indeed, -the work could not have been written. - -GEORGE EDWARD WOODBERRY. - - - - -CONTENTS. - - -I. - PAGE - -_THE ORIGIN OF THE ART_ 13 - -II. -_THE BLOCK-BOOKS_ 30 - -III. -_EARLY PRINTED BOOKS IN THE NORTH_ 45 - -IV. -_EARLY ITALIAN WOOD-ENGRAVING_ 65 - -V. -_ALBERT DRER AND HIS SUCCESSORS_ 90 - -VI. -_HANS HOLBEIN_ 116 - -VII. -_THE DECLINE AND EXTINCTION OF THE ART_ 135 - -VIII. -_MODERN WOOD-ENGRAVING_ 151 - -_A LIST OF THE PRINCIPAL WORKS UPON WOOD-ENGRAVING -USEFUL TO STUDENTS_ 211 - -_INDEX_ 217 - - - - -LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. - - - -FIG.....PAGE - -1.--From "Epistole di San Hieronymo Volgare." Ferrara, 1497. (Initial -letter).....13 - -2.--St. Christopher, 1423. From Ottley's "Inquiry into the Origin and -Early History of Engraving upon Copper and in Wood".....22 - -3.--The Crucifixion. From the Manuscript "Book of Devotion." 1445.....24 - -4.--From the "Epistole di San Hieronymo." 1497. (Initial letter).....30 - -5.--Elijah Raiseth the Widow's Son (1 K. xvii.). The Raising of Lazarus -(Jno. xi.). Elisha Raiseth the Widow's Son (2 K. iv.). From the original -in the possession of Professor Norton, of Cambridge.....34 - -6.--The Creation of Eve. From the fac-simile of Berjeau.....35 - -7.--Initial letter. Source unknown.....45 - -8.--The Grief of Hannah. From the Cologne Bible, 1470-'75.....49 - -9.--Illustration of Exodus I. From the Cologne Bible, 1470-'75 51 - -10.--The Fifth Day of Creation. From Schedel's "Liber Chronicarum." -Nuremberg, 1493.....54 - -11.--The Dancing Deaths. From Schedel's "Liber Chronicarum." Nuremberg, -1493.....56 - -12.--Jews Sacrificing a Christian Child. From Schedel's "Liber -Chronicarum." Nuremberg, 1493.....58 - -13.--Marginal Border. From Kerver's "Psalterium Virginis Mari." 1509.....61 - -14.--From Ovid's "Metamorphoses." Venice, 1518 (design, 1497). (Initial -letter).....65 - -15.--The Creation. From the "Fasciculus Temporum." Venice, 1484.....68 - -16.--Leviathan. From the "Ortus Sanitatis." Venice, 1511.....68 - -17.--The Stork. From the "Ortus Sanitatis." Venice, 1511.....69 - -18.--View of Venice. From the "Fasciculus Temporum." Venice, 1484.....69 - -19.--The Contest of Apollo and Pan. From Ovid's "Metamorphoses." Venice, -1518 (design, 1497).....70 - -20.--Sirens. From the "Ortus Sanitatis." Venice, 1511.....71 - -21.--Pygmy and Cranes. From the "Ortus Sanitatis." Venice, 1511.....72 - -22.--The Woman and the Thief. From "sop's Fables." Venice, 1491 -(design, 1481).....73 - -23.--The Crow and the Peacock. From "sop's Fables." Venice, 1491 -(design, 1481).....75 - -24.--The Peace of God. From "Epistole di San Hieronymo Volgare." -Ferrara, 1497.....76 - -25.--Mary and the Risen Lord. From "Epistole di San Hieronymo Volgare." -Ferrara, 1497.....77 - -26.--St. Baruch. From the "Catalogus Sanctorum." Venice, 1506.....77 - -27.--Poliphilo by the Stream. From the "Hypnerotomachia Poliphili." -Venice, 1499.....78 - -28.--Poliphilo and the Nymphs. From the "Hypnerotomachia Poliphili." -Venice, 1499.....79 - -29.--Ornament. From the "Hypnerotomachia Poliphili." Venice, 1499.....80 - -30.--Poliphilo meets Polia. From the "Hypnerotomachia Poliphili." -Venice, 1499.....81 - -31.--Nero Fiddling. From the Ovid of 1510. Venice.....82 - -32.--The Physician. From the "Fasciculus Medicin." Venice, 1500.....83 - -33.--Hero and Leander. From the Ovid of 1515. Venice.....85 - -34.--Dante and Beatrice. From the Dante of 1520. Venice.....86 - -35.--St. Jerome Commending the Hermit's Life. From "Epistole di San -Hieronymo." Ferrara, 1497.....86 - -36.--St. Francis and the Beggar. From the "Catalogus Sanctorum." Venice, -1506.....87 - -37.--The Translation of St. Nicolas. From the "Catalogus Sanctorum." -Venice, 1506.....87 - -38.--Romoaldus, the Abbot. From the "Catalogus Sanctorum." Venice, 1506 -88 - -39.--From an Italian Alphabet of the 16th Century. (Initial letter).....90 - -40.--St. John and the Virgin. Vignette to Drer's "Apocalypse".....93 - -41.--Christ Suffering. Vignette to Drer's "Larger Passion".....94 - -42.--Christ Mocked. Vignette to Drer's "Smaller Passion".....95 - -43.--The Descent into Hell. From Drer's "Smaller Passion".....96 - -44.--The Herald. From "The Triumph of Maximilian".....100 - -45.--Tablet. From "The Triumph of Maximilian".....101 - -46.--The Car of the Musicians. From "The Triumph of Maximilian".....102 - -47.--Three Horsemen. From "The Triumph of Maximilian".....103 - -48.--Horseman. From "The Triumph of Maximilian".....107 - -49.--Virgin and Child. From a print by Hans Sebald Behaim......113 - -50.--From the "Epistole di San Hieronymo." Ferrara, 1497. (Initial -letter).....116 - -51.--The Nun. From Holbein's "Images de la Mort." Lyons, 1547.....123 - -52.--The Preacher. From Holbein's "Images de la Mort." Lyons, 1547.....124 - -53.--The Ploughman. From Holbein's "Images de la Mort." Lyons, 1547.....125 - -54.--Nathan Rebuking David. From Holbein's "Icones Historiarum Veteris -Testamenti." Lyons, 1547.....130 - -55.--From "Opera Vergiliana," printed by Sacon. Lyons, 1517. (Initial -letter).....135 - -56.--St. Christopher. From a Venetian print.....142 - -57.--St. Sebastian and St. Francis. Portion of a print by Andreani after -Titian.....143 - -58.--The Annunciation. From a print by Francesco da Nanto.....144 - -59.--Milo of Crotona. From a print by Boldrini after Titian.....145 - -60.--From the "Comedia di Danthe." Venice, 1536. (Initial letter).....151 - -61.--The Peacock. From Bewick's "British Birds".....156 - -62.--The Frightened Mother. From Bewick's "British Quadrupeds".....157 - -63.--The Solitary Cormorant. From Bewick's "British Birds".....157 - -64.--The Snow Cottage.....158 - -65.--Birth-place of Bewick. His last vignette, portraying his own -funeral.....158 - -66.--The Broken Boat. From Bewick's "British Birds".....160 - -67.--The Church-yard. From Bewick's "British Birds".....160 - -68.--The Sheep-fold. By Blake. From "Virgil's Pastorals".....162 - -69.--The Mark of Storm. By Blake. From "Virgil's Pastorals".....162 - -70.--Cave of Despair. By Branston. From Savage's "Hints on Decorative -Printing".....165 - -71.--Vignette from "Rogers's Poems." London, 1827.....167 - -72.--Vignette from "Rogers's Poems." London, 1827.....167 - -73.--Death as a Friend. From a print by Professor Norton, of Cambridge. -Engraved by J. Jungtow.....169 - -74.--Death as a Throttler. From a print by Professor Norton, of -Cambridge. Engraved by Steinbrecher.....170 - -75.--The Creation. Engraved by J. F. Adams.....172 - -76.--The Deluge. Engraved by J. F. Adams.....173 - -77.--Butterflies. Engraved by F. S. King.....175 - -78.--Spring-time. Engraved by F. S. King.....177 - -79.--Mount Lafayette (White Mountains). By J. Tinkey.....183 - -80.--"And silent were the sheep in woolly fold." Engraved by J. G. -Smithwick.....187 - -81.--The Old Orchard. Engraved by F. Juengling.....189 - -82.--Some Art Connoisseurs. Engraved by Robert Hoskin.....191 - -83.--The Travelling Musicians. Engraved by R. A. Muller.....194 - -84.--Shipwrecked. Engraved by Frank French.....196 - -85.--The Tap-room. Engraved by Frank French.....198 - -86.--Going to Church. Engraved by J. P. Davis.....199 - -87.--"Nay, Love, 'tis you who stand with almond clusters in your -clasping hand." Engraved by T. Cole.....201 - -88.--The Spanish Peasant. Engraved by F. Juengling.....203 - -89.--James Russell Lowell. Engraved by Thomas Johnson.....205 - -90.--Arthur Penrhyn Stanley. Engraved by G. Kruell.....207 - - - - -A - -HISTORY OF WOOD-ENGRAVING. - - - - -I. - -_THE ORIGIN OF THE ART._ - - -[Illustration: T FIG. 1.--From "Epistole di San Hieronymo Volgare." -Ferra 1497.] - -The beginning of the art of wood-engraving in Europe, the time when -paper was first laid down upon an engraved wood block and the first rude -print was taken off, is unknown; the name of the inventor and his -country are involved in a double obscurity of ignorance and fable, -darkened still more by national jealousies and vanities; even the -mechanical appliances and processes which led up to and at last resulted -in the new art, can only be conjectured. The art had long lain but just -beyond the border-line of discovery. The principle of making impressions -by means of lines cut in relief upon wood was known to the ancients, who -used engraved wooden stamps to indent figures and letters in soft -substances like wax and clay, and, possibly, to print colors on -surfaces, as had been done from early times in India in the manufacture -of cloth; similar stamps were used in the Middle Ages by notaries and -other public officers to print signatures on documents, by Italian -cloth-makers to impress colors on silk and other fabrics, and by the -illuminators of manuscripts to strike the outlines of initial letters. -This practice may have suggested the new process. - -It is more probable that the art began in the workshops of the -goldsmiths, who were so skilled in engraving upon metal that impressions -of much artistic value have been taken from work executed by them in the -twelfth century, showing that they really were engravers obliged to -remain goldsmiths, because the art of printing from metal plates was -unknown.[1] By their knowledge of design and their artistic execution, -at least, if not by their mechanical inventiveness, the goldsmiths were -the lineal ancestors of the great engravers of the Renaissance. Their -art had been continued from Roman times, with fewer interruptions and -hinderances than any other of the fine arts. It was early employed in -the adornment of the altar, the pax, and other articles of the Church -service; already, in St. Bernard's time, so much attention was given to -workmanship of this kind, and so much wealth lavished upon it, that he -denounced it, with true ascetic spirit, as a decoration of what was soon -to become vile, a waste of what might have been given to the poor, and a -distraction of the spirit from holiness to the admiration of beauty. -"The Church," he said, "shines with the splendor of her walls, and -among her poor is destitution; she clothes her stones with gold, and -leaves her children naked. * * * Finally, so many things are to be seen, -everywhere such a marvellous variety of different forms, that one may -read more upon the sculptured walls than in the written Scriptures, and -spend the whole day in going about in wonder from one such thing to -another, rather than in meditating upon God's law."[2] The art might -have suffered seriously from such uncompromising opposition as St. -Bernard made, had not Suger, the great abbot of St. Denys, taken up its -defence and supported it by his patronage and by his eloquence. "Let -each one have his own opinion," he writes, "but I confess it is my -conviction that whatever is most precious ought to be devoted above all -to that holiest rite of the Eucharist; if golden lavers, if golden cups, -and if golden bowls were used, by the command of God or of the prophet, -to catch the blood of rams or bullocks or heifers, how much more ought -vases of gold, precious stones, and whatever is dearest among all -creatures, ever to be set forth with full devotion to receive the blood -of Jesus Christ!"[3] By such arguments Suger defended the rightfulness -and value of the goldsmith's art in the service of the Church. After -his time the employment of the goldsmiths upon church decoration became -so great that they were really the artists of Europe during the two -hundred years previous to the invention of wood-engraving.[4] In the -pursuit of their craft they practised the arts of modelling, casting, -sculpture, engraving, enamelling, and the setting of precious stones; -and in the thirteenth century they made use of all these resources in -the execution of their beautiful works of art made of gold and silver, -richly engraved, and adorned with bass-reliefs and statuettes, and -brilliant with many-colored enamel and with jewels--the reliquaries in -which were kept the innumerable holy relics that then filled Europe, the -famous shrines for the bodies of the saints, about which pilgrims from -every quarter were ever at prayer, and the tombs of the Crusaders, and -of dignitaries of Church or State. They employed their skill, too, for -the lesser glory of the churches, upon the vessels of the Holy -Communion, the crosses, candelabra, and censers, and the ornaments that -incrusted the vestments of the priests. With the increase of luxury and -wealth they found a new field for their invention in contributing to the -magnificence of secular life; in fashioning into strange forms the -ewers, goblets, flagons, and every vessel which adorned the banquet; -and in ornamenting them with fantastic figures, or with scenes from the -chase, or from the history of Charlemagne and Saladin, as well as in -executing those finely wrought decorations with which the silks and -velvets of the nobles were so heavily charged that the old poet, Martial -d'Auvergne, says the lords and knights were "caparisoned in gold-work -and jewels." Under Charles V. of France (1364) and the great Dukes of -the Low Countries, the jewel-chamber of the prince was his pride in -peace and his treasury in war: it furnished gifts for the bride, the -favorite, and the heir, and for foreign ambassadors and princes; it -afforded pay for retainers before the battle and ransom after it, and in -the days of the great ftes its treasures gave to the courts of France, -Burgundy, and Flanders a magnificence that has seldom been seen in -Europe.[5] - -Under such fortunate encouragement the goldsmiths of the fourteenth -century reached a knowledge of design and a finish in execution that -justified the claim of their art to the first place among the fine arts, -and made their workshops the apprentice-home of many great masters of -art in Italy as well as in the North. They best understood the value of -art, and were best skilled in artistic processes; they were the only -persons[6] who had by them all the means for taking an impression--the -engraved metal plate, iron tools, burnishers for rubbing off a proof, -blackened oil, and paper which they used for tracing their designs; -they would, too, have been aided in their art, merely as goldsmiths, -could they have tested their engraving from time to time by taking an -impression from it in its various stages. It is not unlikely, therefore, -that the art of taking impressions from engraved work was found out, or -at least was first extensively applied, in their workshops, where it -could hardly have failed to be discovered ultimately, as paper came into -use more generally and for more various purposes. If this were the case, -metal-engraving preceded wood-engraving, but only by a brief space of -time, because, as soon as the idea of the new art was fully grasped, -wood must have been almost immediately employed in preference to metal, -on account of the greater ease and speed of working in wood, and of the -less injury done to the paper in printing from it. - -Some support for this view, that the art of printing from engraved metal -plates was discovered by the goldsmiths, and preceded and suggested -wood-engraving, is derived from the peculiar prints in the _manire -crible_, or the dotted style, of which over three hundred are known. -They were produced by a mixed process of engraving in relief and in -intaglio, usually upon a metal plate, but sometimes upon wood. The -effects are given by dots and lines relieved in white upon a black -ground, assisted by dots and lines relieved in black upon a white -ground. These prints have afforded much material for dispute and -controversy, both as to their process and their date; the mode in which -the metal plates from which they were printed were engraved, -particularly the punching out small holes in the metal, which appear -usually as white dots, and give the name to the prints, is the same as -a mode of ornamental work[7] in metal that had been practised for -centuries in the workshops of the goldsmiths, and on this account they -have been ascribed to the goldsmiths of the great Northern cities.[8] -They appeared certainly as early as 1450, and probably much earlier.[9] -Some of these prints are evidently taken from metal plates not -originally meant to be printed from, for the inscriptions on the prints -as well as the actions of the figures appear reversed, the words reading -backward, and the figures performing actions with the left hand almost -always performed by the right hand.[10] These may be the work of the -first years of the fifteenth century, or they may have been taken long -afterward, in a spirit of curiosity or experiment. The existence of -these early prints, however, undoubtedly from the workshops of the -goldsmiths, and after a mode long practised by them, strengthens the -hypothesis--suggested by their wide acquaintance with artistic processes -and their exclusive possession of all the proper instruments--that they -originated the art of taking impressions on paper from engraved work; at -all events, this seems the least wild, the most consistent, and best -supported conjecture which has been put forth. - -There is, however, no lack of more specific accounts of the origin of -wood-engraving. Pliny's[11] reference to the portraits with which Varro -illustrated his works indicates, in the opinion of some writers, a -momentary, isolated, and premature appearance of the art in his day. -Ottley[12] maintains that the art was introduced into Europe by the -Venetians, who learned it "at a very early period of their intercourse -with the people of Tartary, Thibet, and China;" but of this there is no -satisfactory evidence. Papillon,[13] a French engraver of the last -century, relates that in his youth he saw in the library of a retired -Swiss officer nine woodcuts, illustrative of the deeds of Alexander the -Great, executed with a small knife by "two young and amiable twins," -Isabella and Alexander Alberico Cunio, Knt., of Ravenna, in their -seventeenth year, and dedicated by them to Pope Honorius IV., in -1284-85; but, as no one else ever saw or heard of them, and there is no -contemporary reference to them, as no single unquestionable fact has -been adduced in direct support of the story, and as Papillon is an -untrustworthy writer, his tale, although accepted by some -authorities,[14] is generally discredited,[15] and was regarded by -Chatto[16] as the hallucination of a distempered mind. Meerman,[17] the -stout defender of the claim of Lawrence Coster to the invention of -printing with movable types, relying on the authority of Junius,[18] who -wrote from tradition more than a century after the facts, makes Coster -the first printer of woodcuts. Some writers accept this story; but in -spite of them, and of the well-developed genealogical tree with which -Meerman provided his hero, and even of Mr. Sotheby's[19] supposed -discovery of Coster's portrait, his very existence is doubted. The -charming scene in which the idea of the new art first occurred to -Coster, as he was walking after dinner in his garden, and cutting -letters from beech-tree bark with which to print moral sentences for his -grandchildren--the old man surrounded by the childish group in the -well-ordered Haarlem garden--is probably, after all, little more than a -play of antiquarian fancy. These stories have slight historic weight; -they are, to use M. Renouvier's simile, "a group of legends about the -cradle of modern art, like those recounted of ancient art, the history -of Craton, of Saurias, or of the daughter of Dibutades, who invented -design by tracing on a wall the silhouette of her lover." - -[Illustration: FIG 2.--St. Christopher, 1423. From Ottley's "Inquiry -into the Origin and Early History of Engraving upon Copper and in -Wood."] - -The first fact known with certainty in the history of wood-engraving is, -that in the first quarter of the fifteenth century there were scattered -abroad in Northern Europe rude prints, representing scenes from the -Scriptures and the lives of the saints. These pictures were on single -leaves of paper; the outlines were printed from engraved wood-blocks, -but occasionally, it is believed, from metal plates cut in relief; they -were taken off in a pale, brownish ink by rubbing on the back of the -paper with a burnisher, and sometimes in black ink and with a press; -they were then colored, either by hand or by means of a stencil plate, -in order to make them more attractive to the people. The earliest of -these prints which bears an unquestionable date is the famous St. -Christopher (Fig. 2) of 1423, found by Heinecken,[20] in the middle of -the last century, pasted inside the cover of a manuscript in the library -of the convent of Buxheim, in Suabia. It represents St. Christopher, -according to a favorite legend of the Middle Ages, fording a river with -the infant Christ upon his shoulders; opposite, on the right bank, a -hermit holds a lantern before his cell; on the left a peasant, with a -bag on his back, climbs the steep ascent from his mill to the cottage -high up on the cliff, where no swelling of the stream will reach it. The -attitude of the two heads is expressive, and the folds of the saint's -robes are well cast about the shoulders; in other respects the cut has -little artistic merit, but the attempt to mark shadows by a greater or -less width of line is noticeable, and the lines in general are much more -varied than is usual in early work. It was printed in black ink, and -with a press. There are two other early prints, the dates of which are -uncertain, but still sufficiently probable to deserve mention--the -warmly controverted Brussels print[21] of 1418, which represents the -Virgin and Child, surrounded by four saints, in an enclosed garden, in -the style of the Van Eycks, and with more artistic merit than the St. -Christopher in design, drawing, and execution; and, secondly, the St. -Sebastian of 1437, at Vienna. The former was discovered in 1844, in a -bad condition, and the latter in 1779; both are taken off in pale ink, -and with a rubber. There are numerous other prints of this kind, which -have been described in detail and have had conjectural dates assigned to -them, fruitful of much antiquarian dispute. One of these (Fig. 3) is -here reproduced for the first time; it was found stitched into a -manuscript of 1445, and is unquestionably as old as the manuscript; it -represents a Crucifixion, with the Virgin and Longinus at the left, and -St. John and, perhaps, the Centurion at the right; in the upper -left-hand corner is an angel with the Veronica, or handkerchief, which -bears the miraculous portrait of the Saviour, and above are a scourge -and a knife; in the original the body of Christ is covered with dots and -scratches in vermillion, to represent blood. It was taken off in black -ink with a press, and is one of the rudest engravings known.[22] - -[Illustration: FIG. 3.--The Crucifixion. From the Manuscript "Book of -Devotion." 1445.] - -Valueless as these prints[23] are, for the most part, as works of art, -they are of great interest. They were the first pictures the common -people ever had, and doubtless they were highly prized. Rude as they -were, the poor German peasant or humble artisan of the great industrial -cities cared for them; they had been given to him by the monks, like the -rudely-carved wooden images of earlier times, at the end of some -pilgrimage that he had made for penance or devotion, and were treasured -by him as a precious memento; or some preaching friar, to whom he had -devoutly given a small alms for the building of a church or the -decoration of a shrine, had rewarded his piety with a picture of the -saint whom, so far as he could, he had honored; or he had received them -on some day of festival, when in the streets of the Flemish cities the -Lazarists or other orders of monks had marched in grand procession, -scattering these brilliantly colored prints among the populace. Stuck up -on the low walls of his dwelling, they not only recalled his pious -deeds, they brought home before his eyes in daily sight the reality of -that holy living and holy dying of the Saviour and his martyrs in whose -intercession and prayer his hope of salvation lay. Throughout the -fifteenth and a part of the sixteenth centuries, although the -intellectual life of the higher classes began to be secularized, among -the common people these medival sentiments and customs, which gave rise -to the holy prints, continued without change until the Reformation; and -so the workshops of the monks and of the guilds of Augsburg, Nuremberg, -Ulm, Cologne, and the Flemish cities, kept on issuing these saints' -images, as they were called, long after the art had produced refined and -noble works. They remained, in accordance with the true medival spirit, -not only without the name of the craftsman, _nomen vero auctoris -humilitate siletur_, but unmarked by any individuality, impersonal as -well as anonymous; there is little to show even the difference in the -time and place of their production, except that their lines in the first -half of the century were more round and flowing, while in the latter -half they were angular, after the manner of the Van Eycks, and that they -vary in the choice and brilliancy of their colors.[24] - -At the very beginning, too, wood-engraving was applied to a new -industry, which had sprung up rapidly, to furnish amusement for the camp -and the town--the manufacture of playing-cards. Some writers have -maintained that the art was thus applied before it was employed to make -the holy prints; but there are no playing-cards known to have been -printed before 1423, and it is probable that they were painted by hand -and adorned by the stencil for some time after the first unquestioned -mention of them in 1392.[25] The manufacture of both cards and holy -prints soon became a thriving trade; it is mentioned in Augsburg in -1418, and soon afterward in Nuremberg; and in 1441 the exportation of -these articles into Italy had become so large that the Venetian Senate -passed a decree,[26] which is the earliest document relative to -wood-engraving in Italy, forbidding their importation into Venice, -because the guild engaged in this manufacture in the city was suffering -from the foreign competition. Wood-engraving, being only one process in -the craft of the card-maker and the print-maker, seems to have remained -without a distinct name for a long while after its invention. - -In the middle of the fifteenth century, therefore, wood-engraving, the -youngest of the arts of design, after fifty years of obscure and -unnoticed history, held an established position, and was recognized as a -new craft. In art its discovery was the parallel of the invention of -printing in literature; it was a means of multiplying and spreading the -ideas which are expressed by art, of creating a popular appreciation and -knowledge of art, and of bringing beautiful design within the reach of a -larger body of men. It is difficult for a modern mind to realize the -place which pictures filled in medival life, before the invention of -printing had brought about that great change which has resulted in -making books almost the sole means of education. It was not merely that -the paintings upon the walls of the churches conveyed more noble -conceptions to the peasant and the artisan than their slow imagination -could build up out of the words of the preacher; like children, they -apprehended through pictures, they thought upon all higher themes in -pictures rather than in words; their ideas were pictorial rather than -verbal; painting was in spiritual matters more truly a language to them -than their own _patois_. They could not reason, they could not easily -understand intellectual statement, they could not imagine vividly, they -could only see. This accounts for the rapid spread of the new art, and -for the popularity and utility of the holy prints which were so widely -employed to convey religious ideas and quicken religious sentiment; in -the production of these wood-engraving appears from the first in its -true vocation as a democratic art in the service of the people; its -influence was one, and by no means the most insignificant, of the great -forces which were to transform medival into modern life, to make the -civilization of the heart and the brain no longer the exclusive -possession of a few among the fortunately born, but a common blessing. -Wood-engraving was at once the product of the desire for this change and -of the effort toward it, a mirror of the movement the more valuable -because the art was more intimately connected with the popular life than -any other art of the Renaissance, and a power feeding the impulse from -which it derived its own vitality. In this fact lies the historic -interest of the art to the student of civilization. At first it served -medival religion; afterward it took a wider range, and by both its -serious and satirical works afforded valuable aid in the progress of the -Reformation, while it rendered the earliest printed books more -attractive, in which its nobler designs educated the eye in the -perception of beauty. Finally, in the hands of the great engravers--of -Drer, who, still mastered by the medival spirit, employed it to embody -the German Renaissance; of Maximilian's artists, who recorded in it the -dying picturesqueness and chivalric spirit of the Middle Ages; of -Holbein, who first heralded, by means of it, the intelligence and -sentiment of modern times--it produced its chief monuments, which, for -the most part, will here be dealt with, in order to illustrate its value -as a fine art practised for its own sake, as a trustworthy contemporary -record of popular customs, ideas, and taste, and as an element of -considerable power in the advancement of modern civilization. - - - - -II. - -_THE BLOCK-BOOKS._ - - -[Illustration: D FIG. 4.--From the "Epistole di San Hieronymo." 1497.] - -During the first half of the fifteenth century, in more than one quarter -of Europe, ingenious minds were at work seeking by various experiments -and repeated trials, with more and more success, the great invention of -printing with movable types; even now, after the most searching inquiry, -the time and place of the invention are uncertain. Printing with movable -types, however, was preceded and suggested by printing from engraved -wood-blocks. The holy prints sometimes bore the name of the saint, or a -brief _Ora pro nobis_ or other legend impressed upon the paper; the -wood-engravers who first cut these few letters upon the block, although -ignorant of the vast consequences of their humble work, began that great -movement which was to change the face of civilization. After letters had -once been printed, to multiply the words and lengthen the sentences, to -remove them from the field of the cut to the space below it, to engrave -whole columns of text, and, finally, to reproduce entire manuscripts, -and thus make printed books, were merely questions of manual skill and -patience. Where or when or by whom these block-books, as they are -called, were first engraved and printed is unknown; these questions have -been bones of contention among antiquarians for three hundred years, and -in the dispute much patient research has been expended, and much dusty -knowledge heaped together, only to perplex doubt still farther, and to -multiply baseless conjectures. It is probable that they were produced in -the first half of the fifteenth century, when the men of the -Renaissance, whose aroused curiosity made them alert to seize any new -suggestion, were everywhere seeking for means to overthrow the great -barrier to popular civilization, the rarity of the instruments for -intellectual instruction; they soon saw of what service the new art -might be in this task, through the cheapness and rapidity of its -processes, and they applied it to the printing of words as well as of -pictures. - -The most common manuscripts of the time, which had hitherto been the -cheapest mode of intellectual communication, were especially fitted to -be reproduced by the new art; they were those illustrated abridgments of -Scriptural history or doctrine, called _Biblia Pauperum_, or books of -the poor preachers, which had long been used in popular religious -instruction, in accordance with the medival custom of conveying -religious ideas to the illiterate more quickly and vividly through -pictures than was possible by the use of language alone. In the sixth -century Gregory the Great had defended wall-paintings in the churches as -a means of religious instruction for the ignorant population which then -filled the Roman provinces. In a letter to the Bishop of Marseilles, who -had shown indiscreet zeal in destroying the pictures of the saints, he -wrote: "What writing is to those who read, that a picture is to those -who have only eyes; because, however ignorant they are, they see their -duty in a picture, and there, although they have not learned their -letters, they read; wherefore, for the people especially, painting -stands in the place of literature."[27] In conformity with this opinion -these manuscripts were composed at an early period; they were written -rapidly by the scribes, and illustrated with designs made with the pen, -and rudely colored by the rubricators. They served equally to take the -place of the Bible among the poor clergy--for a complete manuscript of -the Scriptures was far too valuable a treasure to be within their -reach--and to aid the people in understanding what was told them; for, -doubtless, in teaching both young and old the monks showed these -pictures to explain their words, and to make a more lasting impression -upon the memory of their hearers. These designs, it is worth while to -point out, exhibit the immobility of mind in the medival communities, -guided, as they were, almost wholly by custom and tradition; the designs -were not original, but were copied from the artistic representations in -the principal churches, where the common people may have seen them, when -upon a pilgrimage or at other times, carved among the bass-reliefs or -glowing in the bright colors of the painted windows. They were copied -without change, the scenes were conceived in the same manner, the -characters were represented after the same conventional type, even in -the details there was slight variation; and as the decorative arts in -the churches were subordinated to architecture, these designs not -infrequently bear the stamp of their original purpose, and are marked by -the characteristics of mural art. They were copied, too, not only by the -scribes from early representations, but they were reproduced by the -great masters of the Renaissance from the manuscripts and block-books -themselves; Drer, Quentin Matzys, Lukas van Leyden, Martin Schn, and, -in earlier times, Taddeo Gaddi and Orcagna, took their conceptions from -these sources. - -Of the block-books which reproduced these and similar manuscripts -several have been preserved, and some of them have been reproduced in -fac-simile, and minutely described. Among the most important of these, -the _Biblia Pauperum_,[28] or Poor Preachers' Bible, of which copies of -several editions exist, deserves to be first mentioned. It is a small -folio, containing forty pages, printed upon one side only, with the pale -brownish ink used in most early prints, and by means of a rubber. The -pages are arranged so that they can be pasted back to back; each page is -divided into five compartments, separated by the pillars and mouldings -of an architectural design, which immediately recall the divisions of a -church window; in the centre is depicted some scene (Fig. 5) from the -Gospels, and on either side are placed scenes from the Old Testament -history illustrative or typical of that commemorated in the central -design; both above and below are two half-length representations of -holy men. Various texts are interspersed in the field, and Latin verses -are written below the central compartments. It will be seen that the -designs not only served to illustrate the preacher's lesson, but -suggested his subject, and indicated and directed the course of his -sermon: they taught him before they taught the people. - -[Illustration: ELIJAH RAISETH THE WIDOW'S SON (1 K, xvii.). THE RAISING -OF LAZARUS (Jno, xi.). ELISHA RAISETH THE WIDOW'S SON (2 K. iv.). - -FIG. 5.--From the original in the possession of Professor Norton, of -Cambridge.] - -[Illustration: FIG. 6.--The Creation of Eve. From the fac-simile of -Berjeau.] - -But, before commenting on this volume, it will be useful to describe -first the much more interesting and more famous _Speculum Human -Salvationis_,[29] or Mirror of Human Salvation, an examination of which -will throw light on the history of the art. It is a small folio, and -contains sixty-three pages, printed upon one side, of which fifty-eight -are surmounted by two designs enclosed in an architectural border, which -are illustrative or symbolical of the life of Christ or of the Virgin; -the designs (Fig. 6) are printed in pale ink by means of a rubber. The -text is not engraved on the block or placed in the field of the cut, but -is printed from movable metallic type in black ink with a press, and -occupies the lower two-thirds of the page, in double columns. The book -is, therefore, a product of the two arts of wood-engraving and -typography in combination. There are four early editions known, two in -Latin, and two in Dutch, all without the name of the printer, or the -date or place of publication. They are printed on paper of the same -manufacture, with woodcuts from the same blocks, and in the same -typographical manner, excepting that one of the Latin editions contains -twenty pages in which the text is printed from engraved wood-blocks in -pale brownish ink, and with a rubber, like the designs. These four -editions, therefore, were issued in the same country. - -This curious book has been the subject of more dispute than any other of -the block-books, because it offers more tangible facts to the -investigator. The type is of a peculiar kind, distinctly different from -that used by the early German printers, and the same in character with -that used in other early books undoubtedly issued in the Low Countries. -The language of the Dutch editions is the pure dialect of North Holland -in the first part of the fifteenth century; the costumes, the short -jackets, the high, broad-brimmed hats, sometimes with flowing ribbons, -the close-fitting hose and low shoes of the men, the head-dresses and -skirts of the women, are of the same period in the Netherlands, and even -in the physiognomy of the faces Flemish features have been seen. The -designs, too, are in the manner of the great Flemish school, renowned as -the best in Europe outside Italy, which was founded by Van Eyck, the -discoverer of the art of painting in oil, and which was marked by a -realism altogether new and easily distinguished; the backgrounds are -filled with architecture of the same time and country. The _Speculum_, -therefore, was produced in the Low Countries; it must have been printed -there before 1483, and probably was printed some time before 1454. The -_Biblia Pauperum_ has so much in common with the _Speculum_ in the -style of its art, its costumes, and its general character, that, -although of earlier date, it may be unhesitatingly ascribed to the same -country. - -The internal evidence, however, only enforces the probabilities -springing from the social condition of the Netherlands, then the most -highly civilized country north of the Alps. Its industries, in the hands -of the great guilds of Bruges, Ghent, Brussels, Louvain, Antwerp, and -Liege, were the busiest in Europe. Its commerce was fast upon the -lagging sails of Venice. The "Lancashire of the Middle Ages," as it has -been fitly called, sent its manufactures abroad wherever the paths of -the sea had been made open, and received the world's wealth in return. -The magnificence of its Court was the wonder of foreigners, and the -prosperity of its people their admiration. The confusion of medival -life, it is true, was still there--fierce temper in the artisans, -blood-thirstiness in the soldiery, everywhere the pitilessness of -military force, wielded by a proud and selfish caste, as Froissart and -Philippe de Comyns plainly recount; but there, nevertheless--although -the brutal sack of Liege was yet to take place--modern life was -beginning; merchant-life, supported by trade, citizen-life, made -possible by the high organization of the great guilds, had begun, -although the merchant and the citizen must still wear the sword; art, -under the guidance of the Van Eycks, was passing out of medival -conventionalism, out of the monastery and the monkish tradition, to deal -no longer with lank, meagre, martyr-like bodies, to care no more for the -moral lesson in contempt of artistic beauty, to come face to face with -nature and humanity as they really were before men's eyes; and modern -intellectual life, too--faint and feeble, no doubt--was nevertheless -beginning to show signs of its presence there, where in after-times -great thinkers were to find a harbor of refuge, and the most heroic -struggle of freedom was to be fought out against Spain and Rome. This -comparatively high state of civilization, the activity of men's minds, -the variety of mechanical pursuits, the excellence of the goldsmiths' -art, the number and character of the early prints undoubtedly issued -there, the mention of incorporated guilds of printers at Antwerp as -early as 1417, and again in 1440, and at Bruges in 1454, make it -probable that the invention of wood-engraving was due to the -Netherlands, and perhaps the invention of typography also. Whether this -were the case or not, it is certain that the artists of the Netherlands -carried the art of engraving in wood to its highest point of excellence -during its first period. - -Antiquarians have not been contented to show that the best of the -block-books came from the Netherlands; they have attempted to discover -the names of the composer of the _Speculum_, the engraver of its -designs, and its printer. But their conjectures[30] are so doubtful that -it is unnecessary to examine them, with the exception of the ascription -of the printing of the _Speculum_ to the Brothers of the Common -Lot.[31] This brotherhood was one of the many orders which arose at that -time in the Netherlands, given to mysticism and enthusiasm, that -resulted in real licentiousness; or to piety and reform, that prepared -the way for the Reformation. Its members were devoted to the spread of -knowledge, and were engaged in copying manuscripts and founding public -schools in the cities. After the invention of printing, they set up the -first presses in Brussels and Louvain, and published many books, always, -however, without their name as publishers. They practised the art of -wood-engraving, and doubtless some of the early holy prints were from -their workshops; sometimes they inserted woodcuts in their manuscripts, -as in the _Spirituale Pomerium_, or Spiritual Garden, of Henri van den -Bogaerde, the head of the retreat at Groenendael, where the painter -Diedrick Bouts occasionally sought retirement, and where he may have -aided the Brothers with his knowledge of design. It is quite possible -that this brotherhood, so favorably placed, produced the _Speculum_ and -others of the block-books, and that they were aided by the painters of -the time whose style of design they followed; but, as Renouvier remarks -in rejecting this account, the monks were not the only persons too -little desirous of notoriety to print their names, and although they -took part in early engraving and printing, a far more important part was -taken by the great civil corporations. In either case, whether the monks -or the secular engravers designed these woodcuts, they were probably -aided at times by the painters, who at that period did not restrict -themselves to the higher branches of art, but frequently put their skill -to very humble tasks. - -The character of the design is very easily seen; the lines are simple, -often graceful and well-arranged; there is but little attempt at marking -shadows; there is less stiffness in the forms, and the draperies follow -the lines of the forms better than in either earlier or later work of a -similar kind, and there is also much less unconscious caricature and -grimace. A whole series needs to be looked at before one can appreciate -the interest which these designs have in indicating the subjects on -which imagination and thought were then exercised, and the modes in -which they were exercised. Symbolism and mysticism pervade the whole. -All nature and history seem to have existed only to prefigure the life -of the Saviour: imagination and thought hover about him, and take color, -shape, and light only from that central form; the stories of the Old -Testament, the histories of David, Samson, and Jonah, the massacres, -victories, and miracles there recorded, foreshadow, as it were in -parables, the narrative of the Gospels; the temple, the altar, and the -ark of the covenant, all the furnishings and observances of the Jewish -ritual, reveal occult meanings; the garden of Solomon's Song, and the -sentiment of the Bridegroom and the Bride who wander in it, are -interpreted, sometimes in graceful or even poetic feeling, under the -inspiration of mystical devotion; old kings of pagan Athens are -transformed into witnesses of Christ, and, with the Sibyl of Rome, -attest spiritual truth. This book and others like it are mirrors of the -ecclesiastical mind; they picture the principal intellectual life of the -Middle Ages; they show the sources of that deep feeling in the earlier -Dutch artists which gave dignity and sweetness to their works. Even in -the rudeness of these books, in the texts as well as in the designs, -there is a _navet_, an openness and freshness of nature, a confidence -in limited experience and contracted vision, which make the sight of -these cuts as charming as conversation with one who had never heard of -America or dreamed of Luther, and who would have found modern life a -puzzle and an offence. The author of the _Speculum_ laments the evils -which fell upon man in consequence of Adam's sin, and recounts them: -blindness, deafness, lameness, floods, fire, pestilence, wild beasts, -and lawsuits (in such order he arranges them); and he ends the long list -with this last and heaviest evil, that men should presume to ask "why -God willed to create man, whose fall he foresaw; why he willed to create -the angels, whose ruin he foreknew; wherefore he hardened the heart of -Pharaoh, and softened the heart of Mary Magdalene unto repentance; -wherefore he made Peter contrite, who had denied him thrice, but allowed -Judas to despair in his sin; wherefore he gave grace to one thief, and -cared not to give grace to his companion." What modern man can fully -realize the mental condition of this poet, who thus weeps over the -temptation to ask these questions, as the supreme and direst curse which -Divine vengeance allows to overtake the perverse children of this world? - -A better illustration of the sentiment and grace sometimes to be found -in the block-books is the _Historia Virginis Mari ex Cantico -Canticorum_, or History of the Virgin, as it is prefigured in the Song -of Solomon. This volume is the finest in design of all the block-books. -In it the Bride, the Bridegroom, three attendant maidens, and an angel -are grouped in successive scenes, illustrating the mystical meaning of -some verse of the Song. The artistic feeling displayed in the -arrangement of the figures is such that the designs have been attributed -directly to Roger Van der Weyden, the greatest of Van Eyck's pupils. -This book, like the _Biblia Pauperum_ and the _Speculum_, came from the -engravers and the printers of the Netherlands; but it shows progress in -art beyond those works, more elegance and vivacity of line, more ability -to render feeling expressively, and especially more delight in nature -and carefulness in delineating natural objects. - -In spite of these three chief monuments of the art of block-printing in -the Netherlands, the claim of that country to the invention of the -block-books is not undisputed. The _Historia Johannis Evangelist -ejusque Visiones Apocalyptic_, or the Apocalypse of St. John, much -ruder in drawing and in execution, is the oldest block-book according to -most writers, and especially those who maintain the claims of Germany to -the honor of the invention. This volume has been ascribed by Chatto to -Upper Germany, where some Greek artist may have designed it; but with -more probability, by Passavant, to Lower Germany, and especially to -Cologne, on account of the coloring, which is in the Cologne manner. The -volume bears a surer sign of early work than mere rudeness of execution: -it is hieratic rather than artistic in character; the artist is -concerned more with enforcing the religious lesson than with designing -pleasant scenes. But although for this reason a very early date -(1440-1460) must be assigned to the book, the question of the origin of -the art of block-printing remains unsettled, even if it be granted that -the volume is of German workmanship. Some evidence must be shown that -the Netherlands imported the art from Cologne or some other German city, -and this is lacking; indeed, the absence in early Flemish work of any -trace of influence from the school of art which flourished at Cologne -before the Van Eycks painted in the Netherlands, is strong negative -evidence against such a supposition. On the other hand, it must be -remembered that Germany produced the St. Christopher, and many other -early prints. In some of the German block-books Heinecken recognized the -modes of the German card-makers; but this may be explained otherwise -than by supposing that the card-makers invented the art of -block-printing. On the whole, the rudeness of early German block-books -must be held to be a result of the unskilfulness and tastelessness of -German workmen, rather than an indication that the art was discovered by -them. The engraving of the Apocalypse, like all other German work, will -bear no comparison with the Netherland engraving, either in refinement, -vivacity, or skill. - -The other block-books, many of which are in themselves interesting and -curious, do not elucidate the history of the art, and therefore need not -be discussed. It is sufficient to say that they are less valuable than -those which have been described, and far ruder in design and execution. -Some of them throw light upon the time. The _Ars Memorandi_, a series of -designs meant to assist the memory in recalling the chapters of the -Apocalypse, is a very curious monument of an age when such a device was -useful; and the _Ars Moriendi_, or Art of Dying, in which were depicted -frightful and eager devils about a dying man's couch, is a book which -may stir our laughter, but was full of a different meaning for the poor -sinner to whose bedside the pious monks carried it to bring him to -repentance, by showing him designs of such horrible suggestion, -enforced, no doubt, by exhortations hardly more humane. These books were -all reproduced many times. This Art of Dying, for example, appeared in -Latin, Flemish, German, Italian, French, and English, with similar -designs, although there were variations in the text. Once popular, they -have long since lost their attraction; few care for the ideas or the -pictures preserved in them; the bibliophile collects them, because they -are rare, costly, and curious; the scholar consults them, because they -reveal the unprofitableness of medival thought, the needs and -characteristics of the class that could prize them, the poverty of the -civilization of which they are the monuments, and because they disclose -glimpses of actual human life as it then was, with its humors, its -burdens, and its imaginations. The world has forgotten them; but they -hold in the history of civilization an honorable place, for by means of -them wood-engraving led the way to the invention of printing, and -thereby performed its greatest service to mankind. - - - - -III. - -_EARLY PRINTED BOOKS IN THE NORTH._ - - -[Illustration: I FIG 7.--Source of this letter unknown.] - -In 1454 the art of printing in movable types and with a press had been -perfected in Germany; soon afterward the art of block-printing, although -it continued to be practised until the end of the century, began to fall -into decay, and the ancient block-books, in which the text had been -subsidiary to the colored engravings, speedily gave place to the modern -printed book, in which the engravings were subsidiary to the text. This -change did not come about without a struggle between the rival arts. In -all the great cities of Germany and the Low Countries, the -block-printers and wood-engravers had long been organized into strong -and compact guilds, enforcing their rights with strict jealousy, and -privileged from the first to make use of movable types and the press; -the new printers, on the other hand, were comparatively few in number, -disunited and scattered, accustomed to go from one town to another, and -every attempt by them to insert woodcuts into their books was looked -upon and resented as an encroachment on the art of the block-printers -and the wood-engravers. At first the new printers closely imitated the -manuscripts of their time. They used woodcuts to take the place of the -miniatures with which the manuscripts were embellished. They copied -directly the handwriting of the scribes in the forms of their type, and -were thus led to the use of ornamental initial letters like those which -had long been designed by the scribes and illuminated by the -rubricators; such are the beautiful initial letters in the Psalter of -Faust and Scheffer, published at Mayence in 1457, which are the earliest -wood-engravings in a dated book, and are designed and executed with a -skill which has rarely been surpassed. It was by such attempts that the -new printers incurred the hostility of the wood-engravers, which was -soon actively shown. Even as late as 1477, the guild at Augsburg, which -was then the most numerous and best-skilled in Germany, opposed the -admission of Gunther Zainer, who had just set up a printing-press there, -to the rights of citizenship, and he owed his freedom from molestation -to the interference of the friendly abbot, Melchior de Stamham. The -guild succeeded in obtaining an ordinance forbidding Zainer to insert -woodcuts or initials engraved on wood into his books--a prohibition -which remained in force until he came to an understanding with them, by -agreeing to use only such woodcuts and initials as should be engraved by -them. In this, or similar ways, as in every displacement of labor by -mechanical improvements, after a short struggle the cheaper and more -rapid art prevailed; the wood-engravers gave up to the printers the -principal part in the making of books, and became their servants. - -The new printers were most active in the great German cities--Cologne, -Mayence, Nuremberg, Ulm, Augsburg, Strasburg, and Basle--and from the -presses of these cities the greatest number of books with woodcuts were -issued. This is one reason why the mastering influence from this time in -Northern wood-engraving was German; why German taste, German rudeness, -coarseness, and crudity became the main characteristics of -wood-engraving in the latter half of the fifteenth century. The Germans -had been, from the first, artisans rather than artists. They had -produced many anonymous prints and block-books, but they had never -attained to the power and elegance of the Flemish school. Now the -quality of their work became even less excellent; for decline had set -in, and the increasing popularity of the new art of copperplate-engraving -combined with the unfavorable influences resulting from printing, which -required cheap and rapid processes, to degrade the art still lower. The -illustrations in the new books had ordinarily little art-value: they -were often grotesque, stiff, ignorant in design, and careless or -inexpert in execution; but they had nevertheless their use and their -interest. - -The German influence was made more powerful, too, by other causes than -the foremost part taken by Germany in printing. The Low Countries, -hitherto so civilized and prosperous, the home and cradle of early -Northern art, the influence of which had spread abroad and become the -most powerful even over the German painters themselves, were now -involved in the turbulence and disaster of the great wars of Charles the -Bold. They not only lost their honorable place at the head of Northern -civilization, but on the marriage of their Duchess, Mary of Burgundy, -the daughter of Charles the Bold, to the Emperor Maximilian, they -yielded in great part to the German influence, and became more nearly -allied in character and spirit to the German cities, as they had before -been more akin to France. The woodcuts in the books of the Netherlands, -where printing was introduced by German workmen, share in the rudeness -of German art; in proportion as their previous performance had been more -excellent, the decline of the art among them seems more great. There -are, occasionally, traces of the old power of design and execution in -their later work; but from the time that books began to be printed -Germany took the lead in wood-engraving. - -The German free cities were then animated with the new spirit which was -to mould the great age of Germany, and result in Drer and Luther. The -growing weakness of the Empire had fostered independence and -self-reliance in the citizens, while the increase of commerce, both on -the north to the German Ocean, and on the south through Venice, had -introduced the wants of a higher civilization, and afforded the means to -satisfy them. Local pride, which showed itself in the rivalries and -public works of the cities, made their enterprise and industry more -active, and gave an added impulse to the rapid transformation of -military and feudal into commercial and democratic life. In these -cities, where the body of men interested in knowledge and with the means -of acquiring it, became every year more numerous, the new presses sent -forth books of all kinds--the religious and ascetic writings of the -clergy, medival histories, chronicles and romances, travels, voyages, -botanical, military, and scientific works, and sometimes the writings of -classic authors; although, in distinction from Italy, Germany was at -first devoted to the reproduction of medival rather than Greek and -Latin literature. The books in Latin, the learned tongue, were usually -without woodcuts; but those in the vulgar tongues, then becoming true -languages, the development and fixing of which are one of the great -debts of the modern world to printing, were copiously illustrated, in -order to make them attractive to the popular taste. - -[Illustration: FIG. 8.--The Grief of Hannah. From the Cologne Bible, -1470-'75] - -[Illustration: FIG. 9.--Illustration of Exodus I. From the Cologne -Bible, 1470-'75.] - -The great book, on which the printers exercised most care, was the -Bible. Many editions were published; but the most important of these, in -respect to the history of wood-engraving, was the Cologne Bible (Figs. -8, 9), which appeared before 1475, both because its one hundred and nine -designs were, probably, after the block-books, the earliest series of -engraved illustrations of Scripture, and were widely copied, and also -because they show an extension of the sphere of thought and increased -intellectual activity. The designers of these cuts relied less upon -tradition, displayed more original feeling, and showed greater variety -and vivacity in their treatment, than the artists who had engraved the -_Biblia Pauperum_. The latter volume contained, as has been seen, nearly -the last impression of century-old pictorial types in the medival -conventional manner; the Cologne Bible defined conceptions of Scriptural -scenes anew, and these conceptions became conventional, and re-appeared -for generations in other illustrated Bibles in all parts of Europe; not, -however, because of an immobility of mind characteristic of the -community, as in earlier times, but partly because the printers -preserved and exchanged old wood-blocks, so that the same designs from -the same blocks appeared in widely distant cities, and partly because it -was less costly for them to employ an inferior workman to copy the old -cut, with slight variations, than to have an artist of original -inventive power to design a wholly new series. Thus the Nuremberg Bible -of 1482 is illustrated from the same blocks as the Cologne Bible, and -the cuts in the Strasburg Bible of 1485 are poor copies of the same -designs. From the marginal border which encloses the first page of the -Cologne Bible it appears that wood-engraving was already looked on, not -only as a means of illustrating what was said in the text, but as a -means of decoration merely. Here, among the foliage and flowers, are -seen running animals, and in the midst the hunter, the jongleur, the -musician, the lover, the lady, and the fool--an indication of delight in -nature and in the variety of human life, which, simply because it is not -directly connected with the text, is the more significant of that freer -range of sympathy and thought characteristic of the age. Afterward these -decorative borders, often in a satiric and not infrequently in a gross -vein, wholly disconnected with the text, and sometimes at strange -variance with its spirit, are not uncommon. The engravings that follow -this frontispiece represent the customary Scriptural scenes, and the -series closes with two striking designs of the Last Judgment and of -Hell. In the former angels are hurling pope, emperor, cardinal, bishop, -and king into hell, and in the latter their bodies lie face to face with -the souls marked with the seal of God--a satire not unexampled before -this time, and indeed hardly bolder than hitherto, but of a spirit which -showed that Luther was already born. "It is no small honor for our -wood-engravers," says Renouvier, "to have expressed public opinion with -such hardihood, and to have shown themselves the advanced sentinels of a -revolution." The engraving in this Bible tells its own story without -need of comment; but, heavy and rude as much of it is, it surpasses -other German work of the same period; and it must not be forgotten that -the awkwardness of the drawing was much obscured by the colors which -were afterward laid on the designs by hand. It is only by accident or -negligence that woodcuts were left uncolored in early German books, for -the conception of a complete picture simply in black and white was a -comparatively late acquisition in art, and did not guide the practice of -wood-engravers until the last decade of the century, when, indeed, it -effected a revolution in the art. - -Of the many other illustrated Bibles which appeared during the last -quarter of the fifteenth century, the one published at Augsburg, about -1475, and attributed to Gunther Zainer, alone has a peculiar interest. -All but two of its seventy-three woodcuts are combined with large -initial letters, occupying the width of a column, for which they serve -as a background, and by which they are framed in; these are the oldest -initial letters in this style, and are original in design, full of -animation and vigor, and rank with the best work of the early Augsburg -wood-engravers. It is not unlikely that these novel and attractive -letters were the very ones of which the Augsburg guild complained in the -action that they brought against Zainer in 1477. Afterward the German -printers gave much attention to ornamented capitals, both in this style, -which reached its most perfect examples in Holbein's alphabets, and in -the Italian mode, in which the design was relieved in white upon a black -ground. - -Next to the Bibles, the early chronicles and histories are of most -interest for the study of wood-engraving. They are records of legendary -and real events, intermingled with much extraneous matter which seemed -to their authors curious or startling. They usually begin with the -Creation, and come down through sacred into early legendary and secular -history, recounting miracles, martyrdoms, sieges, tales of wonder and -superstition, omens, anecdotes of the great princes, and the like. Each -of them dwells especially upon whatever glorifies the saints, or touches -the patriotism, of their respective countries. They are filled with -woodcuts in illustration of their narrative, beginning with scenes from -Genesis. Thus the Chronicle of Saxony, published at Mayence in 1492, -contains representations of the fall of the angels, the ark of Noah, -Romulus founding Rome, the arrival of the Franks and the Saxons, the -deeds of Charlemagne, the overthrow of paganism, the famous emperors, -Otho burning a sorcerer, Frederick Barbarossa, and the Emperor -Maximilian. The Chronicle of Cologne, published in 1492, is similarly -illustrated with views of the great cathedral, with representations of -the Three Kings, the refusal of the five Rhine cities to pay impost, and -like scenes. - -[Illustration: FIG. 10.--The Fifth Day of Creation. From Schedel's -"Liber Chronicarum." Nuremberg, 1493.] - -The most important of the chronicles, in respect to wood-engraving, is -the Chronicle of Nuremberg (Figs. 10, 11, 12), published in that city in -1493. It contains over two thousand cuts which are attributed to William -Pleydenwurff and Michael Wohlgemuth, the latter the master of Albert -Drer; they are rude and often grotesque, possessing an antiquarian -rather than an artistic interest; many of them are repeated several -times, a portrait serving indifferently for one prophet or another, a -view of houses upon a hill representing equally well a city in Asia or -in Italy, just as in many other early books--for example, in the History -of the Kings of Hungary--a battle-piece does for any conflict, or a man -on a throne for any king. The representations were typical rather than -individual. In some of the designs there is, doubtless, a careful -truthfulness, as in the view of Nuremberg, and perhaps in some of the -portraits. The larger cuts show considerable vigor and boldness of -conception, but none of them are so good as the illustrations, also -attributed to Wohlgemuth, in the _Schatzbehalter_, published in the -same city in 1491. The distinction of the Nuremberg chronicle does not -consist in any superiority of design which can be claimed for it in -comparison with other books of the same sort, but in the fact that here -were printed, for the first time, woodcuts simply in black and white, -which were looked on as complete without the aid of the colorist, and -were in all essential points entirely similar to modern works. This -change was brought about by the introduction of cross-hatching, or lines -crossing each other at different intervals and different angles, but -usually obliquely, by means of which blacks and grays of various -intensity, or what is technically called color, were obtained. This was -a process already in use in copperplate-engraving. In that art--the -reverse of wood-engraving since the lines which are to give the -impression on paper are incised into the metal instead of being left -raised as in the wood-block--the engraver grooved out the crossing lines -with the same facility and in the same way as the draughtsman draws them -in a pen-and-ink sketch, the depth of color obtained depending in both -cases on the relative closeness and fineness of the hatchings. In -engraving in wood the task was much more difficult, and required greater -nicety of skill, for, as in this case the crossing lines must be left in -relief, the engraver was obliged to gouge out the minute diamond spaces -between them. At first this was, probably, thought beyond the power of -the workmen. The earliest woodcut in which these cross-hatchings appear -is the frontispiece to Breydenbach's Travels, published at Mayence in -1486, which is, perhaps, the finest wood-engraving of its time. In the -Nuremberg chronicle this process was first extensively employed to -obtain color, and thus this volume marks the beginning of that great -school in wood-engraving which seeks its effects in black lines. - -[Illustration: FIG. 11.--The Dancing Deaths. From Schedel's "Liber -Chronicarum." Nuremberg, 1493.] - -To describe the hundreds of illustrated books which the German printers -published before the end of the century belongs to the bibliographer. -Should any one turn to them, he would find in the cuts that they contain -much diversity in character, but little in merit; he would meet at -Bamberg, in the works printed by Pfister, whose Book of Fables, -published 1461, is the first dated volume with woodcuts of figures, -designs so rude that they are generally believed to have been hacked out -by apprentices wholly destitute of training in the craft; he would -notice in the books of Cologne the greater self-restraint and sense of -proportion, in those of Augsburg the greater variety, vivacity, and -vigor, in those of Nuremberg the greater exaggeration and grotesqueness. -In the publications of some cities he would come upon the burning -questions of that generation: the siege of Rhodes by the Turks, the wars -of Charles the Bold against Switzerland, the martyrdom of John Huss; -elsewhere he would see nave conceptions of medival romance and -chivalry, and not infrequently, as in the Boccaccio of Ulm, grossnesses -not to be described; at Strasburg he would hardly recognize Horace and -Virgil with their Teutonic features and barbaric garb; while at Mayence -botanical works, which strangely mingle science, medicine, and -superstition, would excite his wonder, and at Ulm military works would -picture the forgotten engines of medival warfare; in the Netherlands, -too, he would discern little difference in literature or in design; -everywhere he would find the unevenness of Gothic taste--one moment -creating works with a certain boldness and grandeur of conception, the -next moment falling into the inane and the ludicrous; everywhere German -realism making each person appear as if born in a Rhine city, and each -event as if taking place within its walls; everywhere, too, an -ever-widening interest in the affairs of past times and distant -countries, in the thought and life of the generations that were gone, in -the pursuits of the living, and the multiform problems of that age of -the Reformation then coming on. It is impossible to turn from this wide -survey without a recognition of the large share which wood-engraving, as -the suggester and servant of printing, had in the progress made toward -civilization in the North during that century. Woltmann does not -over-state the fact when he says: "Wood-engraving and -copperplate-engraving were not alone of use in the advance of art; they -form an epoch in the entire life of mind and culture. The idea embodied -and multiplied in pictures became, like that embodied in the printed -word, the herald of every intellectual movement." - -[Illustration: FIG. 12.--Jews Sacrificing a Christian Child. From -Schedel's "Liber Chronicarum." Nuremberg, 1493.] - -As typography spread from Germany through the other countries of Europe, -the art of wood-engraving accompanied it. The first books printed in the -French language appeared about 1475, at Bruges, where the Dukes of -Burgundy had long favored the vulgar tongue, and had collected many -manuscripts written in it in their great library, then one of the finest -in Europe. The first French city to issue French books from its presses -was Lyons, which had learned the arts of printing and of wood-engraving -from Basle, Geneva, and Nuremberg, in consequence of their close -commercial relations. If a few doubtful and scattered examples of early -work be excepted, it was in these Lyonese books that French -wood-engraving first appeared. From the beginning of printing in France, -Lyons was the chief seat of popular literature, and the centre of the -industry of printing books in the vulgar tongue, as Paris was the chief -seat of the literature of the learned, both in Latin and French, and -devoted itself to reproducing religious and scientific works.[32] At the -close of the fifteenth and beginning of the sixteenth centuries the -Lyonese presses issued the largest number of first editions of the -popular romances, which were sought, not merely by French purchasers, -but throughout Europe. These books were meant for the middle class, who -were unable to buy the costly manuscripts, illuminated with splendid -miniatures, in which literature had previously been locked up. They were -not considered valuable enough to be preserved with care, and have -consequently become scarce; but they were published in great numbers, -and exerted an influence in the spread of literary knowledge and taste -which can hardly be over-estimated. Woodcuts were first inserted in them -about 1476; but for twenty years after this wood-engraving was practised -rather as a trade than an art, and its products have no more artistic -merit than similar works in Germany. In 1493 an edition of Terence, in -which the earlier rudeness gave way to some skill in design, showed the -first signs of promise of the excellence which the Lyonese art was to -attain in the sixteenth century. - -In Paris, the German printers, who had been invited to the city by a -prior of the Sorbonne, had issued Latin works for ten years before -wood-engraving began to be practised. After 1483, however, Jean Du Pr, -Guyot Marchand, Pierre Le Rouge, Pierre Le Caron, Antoine Verard, and -other early printers applied themselves zealously to the publication of -volumes of devotion, history, poetry, and romance, in which they made -use of wood-engraving. The figure of the author frequently appears upon -the first page, where he offers his book to the king or princess before -whom he kneels; and here and there may be read sentiments like the -following, which is taken from an early work of Verard's, where they are -inserted in fragmentary verses among the woodcuts: "Every good, loyal, -and gallant Catholic who begins any work of imagery ought, first, to -invoke in all his labor the Divine power by the blessed name of Jesus, -who illumines every human heart and understanding; this is in every deed -a fair beginning."[33] The religious books, especially the _Livres -d'Heures_ (Fig. 13), were filled with the finest examples of the -Parisian art, which sought to imitate the beautiful miniatures for which -Paris had been famous from even before the time when Dante praised them. -In consequence of this effort the woodcut in simple line served -frequently only as a rough draft, to be filled in and finished by the -colorist, who, indeed, sometimes wholly disregarded it and overlaid it -with a new design. Before long, however, the wood-engravers succeeded in -making cuts which, so far from needing color, were only injured by the -addition of it; but these were considered less valuable than the -illuminated designs, and the wood-engravers were hampered in the -practice of their art by the miniaturists, who, like the guilds at -Augsburg and other German towns, complained of the new mode of -illustration as a ruinous encroachment on their craft. - -[Illustration: FIG. 13.--Marginal Border. From Kerver's "Psalterium -Virginis Mari." 1509.] - -Whether with or without color, the engravings in the _Livres d'Heures_ -are beautiful. Each page is enclosed in an ornamental border made up of -small cuts, which are repeated in new arrangements on succeeding leaves; -here and there a large cut, usually representing some Scriptural scene, -is introduced in the upper portion of the page, and the text fills the -vacant spaces. Not infrequently the taste displayed is Gallic rather -than pious, and delights in profane legends and burlesque fancies which -one would not expect to meet in a prayer-book. These volumes were so -highly prized by foreign nations for the beauty of their workmanship, -that they were printed in Flemish, English, and Italian. Those which -were issued by Verard, Vostre, Pigouchet, and Kerver were the best -products of the early French art.[34] The secular works which contain -woodcuts are hardly worthy of mention, excepting Guyot Marchand's La -Danse Macabre, first published in 1485, which is a series of twenty-five -spirited and graceful designs, marked by French vivacity and liveliness -of fancy. In all early French work the peculiar genius of the people is -not so easily distinguishable as in this example, but it is usually -present, and gives a national characteristic to the art, notwithstanding -the indubitable influences of the German archaic school in the earlier -time, and of the Italian school in the first years of the sixteenth -century. - -French wood-engraving is remarkable, in respect to its technique, for -the introduction of _crible_, or dotted work, which has previously[35] -been described, into the backgrounds on which the designs are relieved. -This mode of engraving is probably a survival from the goldsmiths' work -of the first part of the fifteenth century, and it is not unlikely that, -as Renouvier suggests, these _crible_ grounds were meant to represent -the gold grounds on which both miniatures and early paintings were -relieved. From an examination of the peculiarities of these engravings, -some authors[36] have been led to maintain that they were taken off -from metal plates cut in relief, and nearly all writers are ready to -admit that this was sometimes, but not always, the case. The question is -unsettled; but it is probable that wood was sometimes employed, and it -would be impossible to determine with certainty what share in these -prints belongs to wood-engraving and metal-engraving respectively. In -general, French wood-engraving, in its best early examples at Paris, was -characterized by greater fineness and elegance of line, and by more -feeling for artistic effects, than was the case with German -book-illustration; but the Parisian chronicles, histories, botanical -works, and the like, possessed no greater merit than similar -publications at Lyons or in the German cities, and their influence upon -the middle classes in furthering the advance of education and taste was -probably much less. - -England was far behind the other nations of Europe in its appreciation -of art, and wood-engraving throve there as feebly as did the other arts -of design. The first English book with woodcuts was Caxton's Game and -Playe of the Chesse, published about 1476, the first edition of which -was issued two years earlier, without illustrations. It is supposed by -some writers that Caxton imported the blocks from which these cuts were -printed, as he did the type for his text; and it is certain that in -later years wood-blocks and metal-plates were brought over from the -Continent for illustrating English books. It is not improbable that the -art was practised by Englishmen as a part of the printer's craft, and -that there were no professional wood-engravers for many years; indeed, -Chatto doubts whether the art was practised separately even so late as -Holbein's time. The cuts in Caxton's works, and in those of the later -printers, Wynkyn de Worde and Richard Pynson, were altogether rude and -uninteresting in design. If the honor of them belongs to foreign rather -than English workmen, no great hurt is done to English pride. - - - - -IV. - -_EARLY ITALIAN WOOD-ENGRAVING._ - - -[Illustration: P FIG. 14.--From Ovid's "Metamorphoses." Venice, 1518 -(design, 1497).] - -Previous to the time of Drer wood-engraving in the North, as has been -seen, was little more than a trade, and has its main interest to the -scholar as an agent of civilization; in Italy it first became a fine -art, a mode of beautiful expression. The Italians, set in the midst of -natural loveliness and among the ruins of ancient art, had never wholly -lost the sense of beauty; they may have paid but slight attention to -what was about them, but they lived life-long in the daily sight of fair -scenes and beautiful forms, which impressed their senses and moulded -their nature, so that, when with the revival of letters they felt the -native impulses of humanity toward the higher life stirring once more in -their hearts, they found themselves endued with powers of perception and -appreciation beyond any other people in the world. These powers were not -the peculiar possession of a well-born class; the centuries had bred -them unobserved into the nature of the race, into the physical -constitution of the whole people. The artisan, no less than the prince, -took delight in the dawn of art, and welcomed it with equal worship. Nor -was this artistic instinct the only common acquisition; the enthusiasm -for letters was likewise widely shared, so that some of the best -manuscripts of the classics have come down to modern times from the -hands of humble Florentine workmen. Italy, indeed, was the first country -where democratic civilization had place; here the contempt of the -Northern lord for the peasant and the mechanic had never been -wide-spread, partly because mercantile life was early held to be -honorable, and partly because of peculiar social conditions. The long, -uninterrupted intercourse with the remains of Roman civilization in the -unbarbarized East, the contact with Saracenic civilization in the South, -the culture of the court of the Two Sicilies, and the invariably -levelling influence of commerce, had made Italy the most cosmopolitan of -European countries; the sharp and warlike rivalry of small, but -intensely patriotic, states, and the necessity they lay under of -utilizing for their own preservation whatever individual energy might -arise among them, perhaps most of all the powerful example of the -omnipresent Church in which the son of a swineherd might take the Papal -Throne, had contributed to make it comparatively easy to pass from lower -to higher social ranks; the aristocratic structure of society remained, -but the distinction of classes was obscured, and the excellence of the -individual's faculties, the energy and scope of his powers, were -recognized as the real dignities which were worthy of respect. In this -recognition of the individual, and this common taste for art and -letters, lay the conditions of new and vigorous intellectual life; they -resulted in the great age of Italy. It was this in the main that made -possible the popular fervor for the things of the mind in the Italian -Renaissance, to which nothing else in the world's history is comparable -but the popular enthusiasm of the modern Revolution for liberty. Dante -gave his country a native language, the Humanists gave it the literature -of Rome, the Hellenists the literature of Greece; poets sang and artists -painted with a loftiness and dignity of imagination, a sweetness and -delicacy of sentiment, an energy and reach of thought, a music of verse -and harmony of line and color, still unsurpassed. The gifts which these -men brought were not for a few, but for the many who shared in this -mastering, absorbing interest in the things of the mind, in beauty and -wisdom, which was the vital spirit of the Italian Renaissance. - -[Illustration: FIG. 15.--The Creation. From the "Fasciculus Temporum." -Venice, 1484.] - -[Illustration: FIG. 16.--Leviathan. From the "Ortus Sanitatis." Venice, -1511.] - -Thus it happened that when the German printers brought over the Alps the -art which was to do so much toward civilizing the North, they found in -Italy a civilization already culminated, hastening on, indeed, to a -swift decline; they found the people already in possession of the -manuscripts which they came to reproduce and multiply, and the princes, -like Frederick of Urbino,[37] "ashamed to own a printed book" among -their splendid collections, where every art seemed to vie in making -beautiful their volumes of vellum and velvet. Wood-engraving, too, which -here as elsewhere accompanied printing, could be of no use in spreading -ideas and preparing the way for a popular knowledge and appreciation of -art; it was to receive rather than bestow benefits; it was to be made a -fine art before it could perform any real service. The printers, -however, proved the utility of their art, and were soon busily employed -in all the Italian cities in reproducing the precious manuscripts with -which Italy was stored; and from the first they called wood-engraving to -their aid. It is true that the earliest Italian woodcuts--which were, -however, Germanic in design and execution--were as rude as those of the -Northern workshops. They appeared for the first time in an edition of -Cardinal Turrecremata's Meditations, published at Rome by Ulric Hahn, in -1467. In Venice, although without much doubt the art had been practised -there by the makers of cards and prints long before, woodcuts were first -introduced by the German printers. The accompanying cuts are fair -examples of their work (Figs. 15, 16, 17, 18, 20, 21), and at the same -time interesting reflections of popular fable. The views of Venice are -examples of the very common attempts to represent the actual appearance -of the great cities, which possess sometimes an historic value. This -Germanic work is but slightly different from that already noticed; but -as soon as the art became naturalized, and was practised by the Italian -engravers, it was characterized at once by beauty of design. There is -something more than promise in an edition of sop's Fables, published at -Verona in 1481, as may be seen from these examples (Figs. 22, 23), -taken from a Venetian reprint of 1491. An Ovid, printed at Venice in -1497, is adorned with several excellent woodcuts, such as this of The -Contest of Apollo and Pan (Fig. 19); and there are other works of -similar merit belonging to the same period. The finest example of -Italian wood-engraving before it reached its highest perfection in the -Hypnerotomachia Poliphili, or Dream of Poliphilo, is a volume which -contains the epistles of St. Jerome, and a description of cloistral -life. This is adorned with a large number of small woodcuts of simple -beauty, marked by grace and feeling, and full of reminiscences of moods -and sentiments which have long ceased to hold a place in human hearts -(Figs. 24, 25, 26). Here is pictured the religious life; the monk's cell -is barely furnished, but it is seldom without shelves of books and a -window opening upon a distant prospect; the teacher expounds to his -pupils the great volume on the desk before him; the priest administers -consolation to the dying and the bereaved, and encourages the feeble of -spirit and the sinful; the preacher discourses to his brethren and the -crowding people the Blessed Word; the nuns of the sisterhood perform -their daily offices of religion, the panel of the confessional slides -back for them, they wash the feet of the poor, they sit at table -together; all the pieties of their life, which knew no close human -relation, which knew only God and mankind, are depicted; and now and -then there is a thought, too, of the worldly life outside--here the -beautiful youths stop to gaze at the convent gates barred against them. -There are other cuts, also, of landscape, towers, and cities. The great -themes of religion are not forgotten--the Resurrection and the Judgment -unfold their secrets of justice and of the life eternal. In all the -religious spirit prevails, and gives to the whole series a simple and -sweet charm. One may look at them long, and be content to look many -times thereafter. - -[Illustration: FIG. 17.--The Stork. From the "Ortus Sanitatis." Venice, -1511.] - -[Illustration: FIG. 18.--View of Venice. From the "Fasciculus Temporum." -Venice, 1484.] - -[Illustration: FIG. 19.--The Contest of Apollo and Pan. From Ovid's -"Metamorphoses." Venice, 1518 (design, 1497).] - -[Illustration: FIG. 20.--Sirens. From the "Ortus Sanitatis." Venice, -1511.] - -[Illustration: FIG. 21.--Pygmy and Cranes. From the "Ortus Sanitatis." -Venice, 1511.] - -[Illustration: FIG. 22.--The Woman and the Thief. From "sop's Fables." -Venice, 1491 (design, 1481).] - -[Illustration: FIG. 23.--The Crow and the Peacock. From "sop's Fables." -Venice, 1491 (design, 1481).] - -This volume of St. Jerome was, however, only a worthy forerunner of the -Dream of Poliphilo, in which Italian wood-engraving, quickened by the -spirit of the Renaissance, displayed its most beautiful creations. It -was written by a Venetian monk, Francesco Columna, in 1467, and was -first printed by Aldus, in 1499. It is a mystical work, composed in -Italian, strangely mingled with Greek, Latin, Hebrew, and Arabic, and -its theme, which is the praise of beauty and of love, is obscured by -abstruse knowledge and by much varied learning. It recalls Dante's poem -in some ways. The Renaissance Dominican, too, was a lover with a human -Beatrice, of whom his dream is the memorial and the glory; like Dante, -he seems to symbolize, under the beauty and guardianship of his gracious -lady, a body of truth and a theory of life; and, as in Dante's poem -Beatrice typified Divine Wisdom and theology, his Polia stood for the -new gospel of this world's joy, for the loveliness of universal nature -and the perfection of ancient art; in adoring her he worships them, and -in celebrating her, as alike his goal and his guide through the mazes of -his changing dream, he exalts the virtue and the hope that lay in the -Renaissance ideal of life. There is, perhaps, no volume where the -exuberant vigor of that age is more clearly shown, or where the -objects for which that age was impassioned are more glowingly described. -This romantic and fantastic rhapsody mirrors every aspect of nature and -art in which the Italians then took delight--peaceful landscape, where -rivers flow by flower-starred banks and through bird-haunted woods; -noble architecture and exquisite sculpture, the music of soft -instruments, the ruins of antiquity, the legends of old mythology, the -motions of the dance, the elegance of the banquet, splendor of apparel, -courtesy of manners, even the manuscript, with its covers of purple -velvet sown with Eastern pearls--everything which was cared for and -sought in that time, when the gloom of asceticism lifted and disclosed -the wide prospect of the world lying, as it were, in the loveliness of -daybreak. Poliphilo wanders through fields and groves bright with this -morning beauty, voyages down streams and loiters in gardens that are -filled with gladness; he is graciously regaled in the palace, he attends -the sacrifice in the temple, where his eyes are charmed by every -exquisite ornament of art; he encounters in his progress triumphal -processions, as they wind along through the pleasant country, -bewildering the fancy with their lavish magnificence as of an Arabian -dream; chariots that are wrought out of entire precious stones, carved -with bass-reliefs from Grecian fables, and drawn by half-human centaurs -or strange animals,--elephants, panthers, unicorns, in trappings of silk -and jewels, pass before him, bearing exalted in their midst sculptured -figures, Europa and the Bull, Leda and the Swan, Dana in the shower of -gold, and, last and most wonderful, a vase, beautifully engraved and -adorned, out of which springs a golden vine, with leaves of Persian -selenite and grapes of Oriental amethyst; and about all are groups of -attendant nymphs, fauns, satyrs, mnads, and lovely women, crowned with -flowers, with instruments of music in their hands, chanting the praise -of Valor and of Pleasure; again, he lingers among ancient ruins and -remembers their perished glory, and falls into reflection, like that of -the traveller whom he describes, "among those venerable monuments which -still make Rome the queen of cities; where he sees," thinks Poliphilo, -"the hand of Time, which punishes the excess of pride; and, seeking then -on the steps of the amphitheatre the heads of the legions and that -conquering eagle, that Senate whose decrees made and unmade the kings of -the world, those profound historians, those eloquent orators, he finds -there only a rabble of beggars, to whom an ignorant and ofttimes lying -hermit preaches, only altars without honor and saints without a -believer; the artist reigns alone in that vast enclosure; pencil in -hand, rich with memories, he sees the whole of Rome, her pomp and her -glory, in one mutilated block which a fragment of bass-relief adorns." -Inspired by these thoughts, Poliphilo delays among like relics of the -past, and reads on shattered tombs the brief inscriptions which tell the -history of the lost lovers who lie beneath, while the pagan burden of -their sorrow, and the pagan calm of the "adieu" with which each -inscription ends, fill him with tender sentiment. So his dream drifts on -through ever-shifting scenes of beauty and ever-dying moments of delight -to the hour of awakening. These scenes and these moments, which -Francesco Columna called out of his imagination, are pictured in the one -hundred and ninety-two designs (Figs. 27, 28, 29, 30) which adorn his -book; here in simple outline are the gardens, groves, and streams, the -noble buildings, the bath, the palace and the temple, the feast, the -allegory of life, the thronging triumphs, the sacrifices, the ruins, the -tombs, the lover and his beloved, the priestess and the goddess, cupids, -bacchanals, and nymphs--a profusion of loveliness, joy, and revel; here, -too, among the others, are some dramatic scenes: the lion and the -lovers, Poliphilo fainting before Polia, and his revival at the touch of -her lips; altogether, they are a precious memorial of the Renaissance -spirit, reflecting alike its passion for the new learning, passing into -useless and pedantic knowledge, and its ecstacy of the senses passing -into voluptuous delight. - -[Illustration: FIG. 24.--The Peace of God. From "Epistole di San -Hieronymo Volgare." Ferrara, 1497.] - -[Illustration: FIG. 25.--Mary and the Risen Lord. From "Epistole di San -Hieronymo Volgare." Ferrara, 1497.] - -[Illustration: FIG. 26.--St. Baruch. From the "Catalogus Sanctorum." -Venice, 1506.] - -[Illustration: FIG. 27.--Poliphilo by the Stream. From the -"Hypnerotomachia Poliphili." Venice, 1499.] - -[Illustration: FIG. 28.--Poliphilo and the Nymphs. From the -"Hypnerotomachia Poliphili." Venice, 1499.] - -[Illustration: FIG. 29--Ornament. From the "Hypnerotomachia Poliphili." -Venice, 1499.] - -These designs, of which the few that can be given afford only a slight -idea, so various are they in beauty and feeling, have been attributed to -many illustrious masters, Giovanni Bellini and Raphael among others; but -perhaps the conjecture which assigns them to Benedetto Montagna is the -most probable. They show what remarkable artistic taste there was even -in the inferior masters of Italy. "They are," says Professor Sydney -Colvin,[38] "without their like in the history of wood-cutting; they -breathe the spirit of that delightful moment when the utmost of -imaginative _navet_ is combined with all that is needed of artistic -accomplishment, and in their simplicity are in the best instances of a -noble composition, a masculine firmness, a delicate vigor and graceful -tenderness in the midst of luxurious or even licentious fancy, which -cannot be too much admired. They have that union of force and energy -with a sober sweetness, beneath a last vestige of the primitive, which -in the northern schools of Italy betokens the concurrent influence of -the school of Mantegna and the school of Bellini." Italy never afterward -produced so noble a monument of the art as this work of its early days. - -[Illustration: FIG. 30.--Poliphilo meets Polia. From the -"Hypnerotomachia Poliphili." Venice, 1499.] - -[Illustration: FIG. 31.--Nero Fiddling. From the Ovid of 1510. Venice.] - -[Illustration: FIG. 32.--The Physician. From the "Fasciculus Medicin." -Venice, 1500.] - -[Illustration: FIG. 33.--Hero and Leander. From the Ovid of 1515. -Venice.] - -The art did not, however, fall into decline immediately. It is true that -wood-engraving never won for itself in Italy a place in the popular -esteem like that which it held in the North; the Italians were too fond -of color, and possessed too many master-pieces of the nobler arts, to -set a very high value on such simple effects; but, nevertheless, in the -first quarter of the sixteenth century there appeared in Venice, the -chief seat of the art, many volumes which were illustrated by woodcuts -of excellent design, such as this of Nero (Fig. 31), from an Ovid of -1510, the representation of the physician attending a patient stricken -with the plague (Fig. 32), from the _Fasciculus Medicin_, by Johannes -de Ketham, published in 1500, and that of Hero and Leander (Fig. 33), -from an Ovid of 1515. Of Venetian work of lesser merit, the -representation of Dante and Beatrice (Fig. 34), from a Dante of 1520, -and the cuts (Figs. 35, 36, 37, 38), from the Catalogue of the Saints, -by Petrus de Natalis, published in 1506, may serve as examples. The -whole Italian series, even as illustrated by the cuts here given, -exhibits a greater variety of interest, knowledge, and feeling than does -the work of any other nation, and affords a lively notion of the -manifold elements that went to make up the Renaissance; it reflects -fable, superstition, learning, the symbolism of medival theology, -ancient myth and legend, the rise of the modern feeling for nature, the -passion for beauty and art; and, ranging from the life of the scholar -and the nunnery to that of the beggar and the plague, it pictures -vividly contemporary times, while it adds to the interest of history and -humanity the interest of beauty. Its prime, however, was of brief -duration. Venetian engraving, and that of the other Italian cities also, -continued to be marked by this simplicity and skill in design until -1530, when cross-hatching was introduced from the North; after that date -wood-engraving shared in the rapid decline into which all the arts of -Italy fell in consequence of the internal troubles of the country, -which, from the time of the sack of Rome, in 1527, became the common -battlefield of Europe for generations. But, in the short space during -which the Italians practised the art with such success, they showed that -they had mastered it, and had come to an understanding of its -capacities, both as a mode of drawing in black line and as a mode of -relief in white line, such as appears in their arabesques and initial -letters, examples of which are scattered through this volume. They came -to this mastery and understanding before any other nation, because of -their artistic instinct; for the same reason, they did not surpass the -rudeness of German workmen in skill more than they excelled in simple -beauty of design the best of early French work, which was characterized -by such confused exuberance of fancy and such profusion of detail. They -breathed into the art the Italian spirit, and its presence made their -works beautiful. - -[Illustration: FIG. 34.--Dante and Beatrice. From the Dante of 1520. -Venice.] - -[Illustration: FIG. 35.--St. Jerome Commending the Hermit's Life. From -"Epistole di San Hieronymo." Ferrara, 1497.] - -[Illustration: FIG. 36.--St. Francis and the Beggar. From the "Catalogus -Sanctorum." Venice, 1506.] - -[Illustration: FIG. 37.--The Translation of St. Nicolas. From the -"Catalogus Sanctorum." Venice, 1506.] - -To the Italian love of color is due the development of what is known as -engraving in chiaroscuro, a process which, although it had been -practised in Germany since 1506, was claimed as a new invention by Ugo -da Carpi (1460-1523), at Venice, in 1516, and was carried by the -Italians to the highest point of perfection which it reached in the -sixteenth century. It was an attempt to imitate the results of -painting; two, and sometimes several, blocks were used in the process; -on the first the outlines and heavy shadows of the design were engraved, -and a proof was taken off; on the second block the lighter parts of the -design were engraved, and an impression was taken off from this on the -same print in a different color, or, at least, in a color of different -intensity; thus the original proof was overlaid with different tints by -successive impressions from different blocks, and a variety of shades -was obtained in the finished engraving, analogous to those which the -painter gets by laying flat tints over each other with the brush. Great -care had to be taken in laying the original proof down on the second -block, so that the lines of the design should fall in exactly the same -position as in the first block; it is owing to a lack of exactness in -this superposition of the proof on the later blocks that some of these -engravings are so displeasing. There was considerable variety in the -detail of the process. Sometimes the impression from the outline block -was taken last; sometimes the different impressions were taken off in -different colors, but usually in the same color of different -intensities; sometimes the impressions were taken off on colored paper. -The Italians used four blocks at an early time, and were able to imitate -water-colors with some success. All of their prints in this kind are -marked by more artistic feeling and skill than those of the Germans, -even when the latter are by masters. This application of the art, -however, is not a true development, and really lies outside its -province. - -[Illustration: FIG. 38--Romoaldus, the Abbot. From the "Catalogus -Sanctorum." Venice, 1506.] - - - - -V. - -_ALBERT DRER AND HIS SUCCESSORS._ - - -[Illustration: A FIG. 39.--From an Italian Alphabet of the 16th -Century.] - -Already, before the Dream of Poliphilo had been published in Venice, -wood-engraving in the North had passed into the hands of the great -German master who was to transform it; in the studio of Albert Drer -(1471-1528) it had entered upon its great period. The earlier German -engravers, whose woodcuts in simple outline, shadowed by courses of -short parallel lines, showed a nave spirit almost too simple for modern -taste, a force ignorant of the channels of expression and feeling -inexpert in utterance, did not know the full resources of their art. It -was not until the very close of the fifteenth century, when they -discarded the aid of the colorists, and sought all their effects from -simple contrast of black and white, that they conceived of -wood-engraving as an independent art; even then their sense of beauty -was so insignificant, and their power of thought was so feeble, that -their works have only an historical value. Drer was the first to -discover the full capacities of wood-engraving as a mode of artistic -expression; it had begun to imitate the methods of copperplate-engraving -before his day, but he saw immediately that it could not equal the rival -art in that delicacy of line and harmony of tone on which -copperplate-engraving depends for its excellence; the materials and -processes of wood-engraving required different methods, and Drer -prescribed them. He increased the size of the cuts, gave breadth and -boldness to the lines, and obtained new and pleasing effects from strong -contrasts of black and white. He thus showed the true method of -wood-engraving; but the art owes to him much more than this: he brought -to the practice of it the hand and brain of a great master, lifted it, a -mechanic's trade, into the service of high imagination and vigorous -intellect, and placed it among the fine arts--a deed of far more -importance than any improvements in processes or methods, even though -they have such brilliant consequences as followed Bewick's later -innovations. He taught the art a language, put meaning into its words, -and made it capable of conveying the ideas which art can express, and of -spreading them and the appreciation of them among the people. - -The application of Drer's genius to wood-engraving could not fail of -great results. He recorded in it the German Renaissance. Civilization -had gained much in freedom of thought, independence of action, and -community of knowledge, as well as in a respect for nature; but it was -still ruled by the devout and romantic spirit of the Middle Ages. Drer -shared in all the intellectual life of his time, alike in its study of -antiquity and its revolt against Rome; he was interested in all the -higher subjects for which his contemporaries cared, and his versatile -genius enabled him often to work with them in preparing the modern age, -but he was not touched by the modern spirit; in thought and feeling he -remained deeply religious, fantastic, picturesque, mystical--in a word, -medival. He did not possess the modern sense of limitation, the power -to restrict himself to realizing a definite conception, the power to -disregard and refuse what cannot be clearly seen and expressed, which -the modern age, when it came, gave to the perfect artist; he was not -content to embody his idea simply, directly, and forcibly; he -supplemented it with secondary thought and subordinate suggestion in -unmeasured profusion; he did not know when his work was done, but kept -on adding to it in the true wandering, Gothic spirit, which never -finishes its task, because its main purpose does not control it; he -allowed his fancy to encumber the noble work of his imagination, and -allegory to obscure the truth he uttered; he was not master of himself, -but was hurried on by the fire and speed of his own genius along paths -which led only to the obscure and the inaccessible. His imagination was -deeply suggestive, straightforward, and marvellously fertile in -invention; but he interpreted the imaginative world in terms of daily -and often homely life; he represented ideal characters, not under ideal -forms, but realistically under forms such as he saw about him; he knew -beauty only as German beauty, and life and its material surroundings -only as German life and German civilization; and thus his works are -characterized by an uncouthness which offends minds not habituated to -German taste. But there is no need to be irritated at this realism, this -content with gross forms, or to wish with Vasari that he had been born -in Italy and had studied antiquity at Florence, whereby he would have -missed that national endowment which individualized him and gave him a -peculiar charm. The grotesqueness disappears as the eye becomes -acquainted with the unfamiliar, and the mind is occupied with the -emotion, the intellectual idea, and imaginative truth, expressed in -these sometimes ugly modes, for they are of that rare value which wins -forgiveness for far greater defects of formal beauty than are apparent -in Drer's work. Although his spirit was romantic and uncontrolled, and -his imagination dealt with forms not in themselves beautiful, he -possessed the greatest energy of genius of all the masters who have -intrusted their works to wood-engraving, and with him it was a favorite -art. - -[Illustration: FIG. 40.--St. John and the Virgin. Vignette to Drer's -"Apocalypse."] - -[Illustration: FIG. 41.--Christ Suffering. Vignette to Drer's "Larger -Passion."] - -The first of the four famous series of designs by which his skill in -wood-engraving is best known was published in 1498, but it was probably -finished before that time. It consisted of fifteen large cuts in -illustration of the Apocalypse of St. John, to which a vignette (Fig. -40) of wonderful nobility and simplicity was prefixed. The theme must -have been peculiarly attractive to him, because of the opportunities it -afforded for grandeur of conception and for the symbolism in which his -genius delighted; it was supernatural and religious; it dealt with -images and thoughts on which the laws of this world imposed no -restraint, and revealed visionary scenes through types of awe, terror, -and mystery, the impressiveness of which had almost no human relation. -In attempting to bring such a theme within the compass of the powers of -expression which art possesses, he strove to give speech to the -unutterable, and to imprison the unsubstantial, so that it is no wonder -if, although the fertility of invention and power of drawing which he -displayed, and the variety and richness of effect which he obtained, -made his work a masterpiece of art, yet much of what he intended to -express is not readily comprehended. - -[Illustration: FIG. 42.--Christ Mocked. Vignette to Drer's "Smaller -Passion."] - -This series was succeeded by three others, in which the human interest -is far greater, although they are not unmarked by fantastic invention; -they were the Larger Passion of our Lord, a series of twelve cuts, -including this impressive vignette (Fig. 41), Christ Suffering; the Life -of the Virgin, a series of twenty cuts; and the Smaller Passion of our -Lord (Figs. 42, 43), a series of thirty-six cuts, the vignette to which -(Christ Mocked) is a design marvellous for its intensity, for its -seizure of the malignant, mocking spirit in devilish possession of every -lineament of the face and every muscle working in that sinuous gesture, -for the ideal endurance in the Saviour's attitude, which needs not those -symbols of his sufferings beside him for pity, though Drer's genius -must crowd every corner with thought and suggestion. These three great -series were published about 1511, and were probably the work of the -previous six years; they are full of force, and are characterized by -tenderness of sympathy and fervor of devotion, as well as by the -imaginative insight and power of thought which distinguish all his -works. They quickly became popular; several editions were issued, and -they were copied by more than one engraver, especially by the famous -Italian, Marc Antonio Raimondi, who reproduced the Smaller Passion on -copperplate. They marked an epoch in the history of wood-engraving. It -is not possible to over-estimate the debt which the art owes Drer, who -thus suddenly and by his own artistic insight revealed the power and -dignity which wood-engraving might attain, opened to it a great career, -and was its first master in the era of its most splendid accomplishment. - -[Illustration: FIG. 43.--The Descent into Hell. From Drer's "Smaller -Passion."] - -Besides these connected series of woodcuts, many others, making in all -three hundred and forty-seven, are attributed to Drer; and of these one -hundred and seventy are undoubtedly from his hand. They represent nearly -all aspects of German life in the early sixteenth century, and, taken -all together, afford a nearly complete picture of his time, not only in -its general characteristics, but in detail. They show for the first time -the power of wood-engraving to produce works of real artistic value, and -its power to record faithfully the vast variety of contemporary life. -Drer was himself the highest product of the new freedom of individual -development in the North, but his individuality gathered the age within -itself, and became universal in knowledge and interest; so that he was -not only the Reformer of German art and the greatest master in it, but -was in a true sense the historian of the German Renaissance; it is to -his works, and not least to his wood-engraving, that the student of that -age must have recourse for the truest record of its thought and feeling -at their best. - -In his later years he designed two other works which rank among the -chief monuments of wood-engraving; they were the Car and Gate of -Triumph, executed for the Emperor Maximilian, who was then the great -patron of the art, and employed it to perpetuate the glory of his reign -and realm. The Emperor, although the Italians made a jest of him, was -one of the most interesting characters in German history. He -illustrates in practical life, as Drer in artistic and intellectual -life, the age that was passing away, and he foreshadows more than Drer -the age that was coming on. He was romantic by nature, a lover of the -chivalric and picturesque elements of medival life; he was skilful in -all the manly sports which belonged to a princely education--a daring -hunter, and brave in the lists of the tourney; in affairs of more moment -he had always some great adventure in hand, the humbling of France, or -the destruction of Venice, or the protection of Luther; at home he was -devoted to reform, to internal improvements, to establishing permanently -the orderly methods of civilization, to the spread of commerce, and to -increasing the safety and facility of communication. He left his empire -more civilized than he found it; and if he was unsuccessful in war, he -was, in the epigram of the time, fortunate in love, and won by marriage -what the sword could not conquer, so that he prepared by the craft of -his diplomacy that union of the vast possessions of the House of Austria -which made his grandson, Charles V., almost the master of Europe. He was -a lover of art and books; and, being puffed up with imperial vanity, he -employed the engravers and printers to record his career and picture his -magnificence. The great works which by his order were prepared for this -purpose were upon a scale unthought of before that time, and never -attempted in later days. The Triumphal Car, which he employed Drer to -design, was a richly decorated chariot drawn by six pair of horses; the -Emperor is seated in it under a canopy amid female figures, representing -Justice, Truth, and other virtues, who offer him triumphal wreaths; the -driver symbolizes Reason, and guides the horses by the reins of Nobility -and Power; the wheels are inscribed with the words Magnificentia and -Dignitas, and the horses are attended by allegoric figures of swiftness, -foresight, prudence, boldness, and similar virtues. The whole design was -seven feet four inches in length, and about eighteen inches high. The -Gate of Triumph was similarly allegoric in conception; it was an arch -with three entrances, the central one being the gate of Honor and Power, -and those upon the right and left the gates of Nobility and Fame; the -body of the arch was ornamented with portraits of the Roman Emperors -from the time of Csar, shields of arms which indicated the Emperor's -descent and alliances, portraits of his relatives and friends, and -representations of his famous exploits. The size of the cut, which was -made up of ninety-two separate pieces, was about ten and a half feet by -nine and a half feet. In both of these works Drer was limited by the -directions which were given him, and neither of them are equal to his -original creations. - -[Illustration: FIG. 44.--The Herald. From "The Triumph of Maximilian."] - -[Illustration: FIG. 45.--Tablet. From "The Triumph of Maximilian."] - -The chief of the great works of Maximilian was the Triumphal -Procession,[39] which was designed by Hans Burgkmaier, of Augsburg -(1473-1531), whose secular and picturesque genius found its most -congenial occupation in inventing the figures of this splendid train of -nobles, warriors, and commons, on horse, foot, and in chariots, winding -along in symbolical representation of the Emperor's victories and -conquests, and in magnificent display of the wealth, power, and -resources of all the imperial dominions. The herald of the Triumph (Fig. -44), mounted upon a winged griffin, leads the march; behind him go two -led horses supporting a tablet (Fig. 45), on which is written: "This -Triumph has been made for the praise and everlasting memory of the -noble pleasures and glorious victories of the most serene and -illustrious prince and lord, Maximilian, Roman Emperor elect, and Head -of Christendom, King and Heir of Seven Christian Kingdoms, Archduke of -Austria, Duke of Burgundy and of other grand principalities and -provinces of Europe;" his fifer Anthony, with his attendants, his -falconers, led by Teuschel, their hawks pursuing prey, his hunters of -the chamois, the stag, the boar, and the bear, habited for the chase, -follow on; behind them richly caparisoned animals, elk, buffalo, and -camels, draw finely decorated chariots, in which are seated the -Emperor's favorite musicians (Fig. 46), playing diverse instruments; the -jesters (among them that famous Conrad von der Rosen whom Heine tenderly -remembered), the fools, the maskers, the fencers, knights of the tourney -and the joust, armed foot-soldiers of every service, continue the -procession, which lengthens out with cuirassed horsemen (Fig. 47) -carrying banners emblazoned with the arms of the Austrian provinces in -which the Emperor had waged war, and other horsemen (Fig. 48) in the -garb of peace, with standards of the faithful provinces, lasquenets -whose pennants are inscribed with the names of the great battles which -the Emperor had fought, trophy-cars filled with the armorial shields of -the conquered peoples, representations of the Emperor's marriage and -coronation, of the German Empire and the great wars--Flanders, -Burgundy, Hungary, Guelders, Naples, Milan, Venice, an unending -list--the symbols of military power, artillery, treasure, the statues of -the great rulers who were allied by blood to Maximilian or had ruled his -dominions before him, prisoners of war in chains, the Imperial Standard, -the Sword of the Empire, the counts, lords, and knights who owned the -Emperor's sovereignty--a splendid display of the pomp and pride of -medival life. Maximilian himself is the central thought of the whole; -he is never lost sight of in any smaller figure; his servants are there, -as their devices relate, because they served him; his provinces, because -he ruled them; his victories, because he won them; his ancestors, -because they were of his line. His personality groups the variety of -the procession round itself alone; but the real interest of the work -does not lie in him or his praise, but in the revelation there made of -the secular side of the Middle Ages, the outward aspect of life, the -ideal of worldly power and splendor, the spirit of pleasure and -festival, shown forth in this marvellously varied march of laurelled -horses and horsemen whose trappings and armor have the beauty and -glitter of peaceful parade. There is nowhere else a work which so -presents at once the feudal spirit and feudal delights in such -exuberance of picturesque and truthful display. - -[Illustration: FIG. 46.--The Car of the Musicians. From "The Triumph of -Maximilian."] - -[Illustration: FIG. 47.--Three Horsemen. From "The Triumph of -Maximilian."] - -The designs for this work were first painted upon parchment, and were -afterward reproduced by engraving in wood; but the reproduction varied -from the originals in important particulars. The series was far from -completion at the time of Maximilian's death, and was left unfinished; -it was never published until 1796, when the first edition appeared at -Vienna, whither the lost wood-blocks had found their way in 1779. In its -present shape the series consists of one hundred and thirty-five large -cuts, extending for a linear distance of over one hundred and -seventy-five feet; all but sixteen of these are reproductions of the -designs on vellum, which numbered two hundred and eighteen in all, and -these sixteen are so different in style from the others as to suggest a -doubt whether they belong to the Triumph or to some other unknown work. -Hans Burgkmaier is believed to be the designer of all except the few -that are ascribed to Drer; but, owing to their being engraved by -different hands, they vary considerably in merit. - -Maximilian also ordered two curious books to be prepared and adorned -with woodcuts in his own honor, a prose work entitled The Wise King, and -a poem entitled The Adventures of Sir Tewrdannckh. In these volumes the -example of his own life is offered for the instruction of princes, and -the history of his deeds, amours, courtship, perils, and temptations is -written, once for the edification, but now for the amusement, of the -world. The woodcuts in The Adventures of Sir Tewrdannckh are one hundred -and eighteen in number, and are principally, if not entirely, the work -of Hans Schuffelin (1490?-1540); they show how Sir Tewrdannckh, -attended by his squire, started out upon his travels, and what moving -dangers he encountered in his hunting, voyaging, tilting, and fighting, -under the guidance and instigation of his three great enemies, Envy, -Daring, and Curiosity, who at last, when he is happily at the end of his -troubles, are represented as meeting their own fate by the gallows, the -block, and the moat. The engravings are marked by spirit, and due -attention is given to landscape; but they are not infrequently too near -caricature to be pleasing, and cannot pretend to rank beside the other -works of Maximilian. This volume was printed during the Emperor's -lifetime, and was the only one of his works of which he saw the -completion. The Wise King was illustrated by two hundred and -thirty-seven cuts, of which several bear Burgkmaier's mark, one the mark -of Schuffelin and one that of Hans Springinklee (1470?-1540). They -picture the journey of the Emperor's father to Rome, the youth and -education of the young prince, his gradual acquirement of the liberal -arts--kingcraft, the black-art, medicine, the languages, painting, -architecture, music, cookery, dancing, shooting, falconry, angling, -fencing, tilting, gunnery, the art of fortification, and the like; -and they represent, in conclusion, his political career by means of -obscure allegory. They are similar to the illustrations in Sir -Tewrdannckh in general character, and, like them, are inferior to the -other works of Maximilian. In the composition of this volume Maximilian -is supposed to have had a considerable share; it was not printed entire -until 1775. - -[Illustration: FIG. 48.--Horseman. From "The Triumph of Maximilian."] - -These five great works, apart from their value as artistic productions -and their interest as historic records, have a farther importance -because of their influence upon the art, both in the way of -encouragement and of instruction. Although there has been much dispute -about the matter, it must now be acknowledged that the artists -themselves did not ordinarily engrave their designs, but left the actual -cutting of the block to the professional workmen; at most they only -occasionally corrected the lines after the engraver had cut them. The -works of Maximilian employed a number of these engravers, who practised -the art only as a craft; the experience these workmen gained in such -labor as they were now called upon to do, under the superintendence of -artists like Drer and Burgkmaier, who knew what engraving ought to be, -and who held up a high standard of excellence, was most valuable to -them, and made itself felt in a general improvement of the technical -part of the art everywhere. The standard of the engraver's craft was -permanently raised. The engravers' names now became known; and sometimes -the engraver received hardly less admiration for his skill in technique -than the artist for his power of design. - -Other distinguished artists united with Drer and the designers of -Maximilian's works in making this period of wood-engraving the most -illustrious in the German practice of the art. Lukas van Leyden -(1494-1533), whose youthful works in copperplate were wonderful, left -some woodcuts in Drer's bold, broad manner, which illustrate the -attempt of German art to acquire classical taste, and show so much the -more clearly the incapacity of the Germans in the perception of beauty. -The Cranachs, father (1472-1553) and son (1515-1586), who are -interesting because of the share they had in the Reformation, produced -some very striking works, such as the charming scene of the Repose in -Egypt, and were the first to practise chiaro-scuro engraving in the -North. Hans Baldung (1470-1552?), although his designs are sometimes -characterized by exaggeration and too great violence of action, ranks -with the best of the secondary artists of the time; and Hans -Springinklee, who has been already mentioned, reached a high degree of -excellence in his illustrations to the Hortulus Anim, which are still -valued. - -The works of these men, however, were only the most important and the -best of a vast number of woodcuts which, during the first half of the -sixteenth century, appeared in Germany during this period of the -greatest popularity of the art. Under the personal influence of Drer, -or under the influence of the numerous and widely-spread prints by -himself and his associates, many other artists of merit acquired skill -in engraving, both on metal and in wood, and employed it upon a great -variety of subjects. The devotion of medival art wholly to church -decoration and to the representation of religious scenes had passed away -in all quarters of the world; in Italy the artists had come to treat the -subjects of pagan imagination, the beings and scenes of classical -mythology; in Germany the people had homelier tasks, and religious art -there yielded to the interest which men felt in the incidents and -objects of common life; in both countries wealth took the place of -religion as the patron of art; and, although art still dealt with the -story of the Scriptures and the martyrs, because these filled so -important a place in the imagination of the people, still it had become -secularized. This change was naturally shown in the arts of engraving -more than in painting, because engraving in copper and on wood had a far -greater sphere of influence, and came into more intimate relations with -the popular life, and because the illustration of books offered a -greater variety of subject. In German engraving, from this time, the -actual life of the town and the peasantry was represented almost as -often as the history of the Saviour and the saints; the village -festival, the procession of the wedding-guests, the ftes of the town, -the employments and costumes of the citizens, recur with the same -frequency as the passion of the Lord and the Old Testament stories; the -joy and sorrow of ordinary life, the objects of ordinary observation and -thought, the humorous, the humble, and the satirical, sometimes -strangely mingled with ill-understood mythology and badly-caricatured -classicism, are the constant theme of the engravers. - -Chief among the successors of Drer who shared in this vast production -were the group of artists known as the Little Masters, although the name -is one of ill-defined and incomplete application; they were so called -because they chiefly engraved small designs; but they also engraved -large designs, and their number, which is usually limited to seven, -excludes some whose works are on the same small scale. The first of them -was Albrecht Altdorfer (1488-1538), said to have been the pupil of -Drer and the inventor of engraving in this manner; in his day he was -more celebrated as an architect and painter than as an engraver, but his -fame now rests on his works on copper and in wood. The best known of his -sixty-five woodcuts is the series of forty designs, scarcely three -inches by two in size, entitled the Fall and Redemption of Man, in -depicting which he had the Smaller Passion of Drer to guide him. In -these he attempted to obtain effects by the use of fine and close lines, -such as were employed in copperplate-engraving; but, although his -success was certainly remarkable, considering the rude mechanical -processes of the time, yet his method clearly produced results of -inferior artistic value in comparison with the works in the bold, broad -manner of Drer. All of his woodcuts, excepting four, are -representations of religious subjects; they are marked, like his other -works, by an attention to landscape, that truly modern object of art, of -which he probably learned the value from Drer, who was the first to -treat landscape with real appreciation. In Hans Sebald Behaim -(1500-1550?) the spirit of the age is revealed with great clearness and -variety (Fig. 49); both his life and his art were inspired by it. In his -early manhood he was banished from Nuremberg for denying the doctrines -of transubstantiation and the efficacy of baptism, and for entertaining -some vague socialistic and communistic opinions; but it is not clear to -what extent he held them, if he held them at all. He seems to have been -one of the most advanced of the religious Reformers, and he employed his -art in their service, as, for example, in a book entitled The Papacy, -which he illustrated with a series of seventy-four figures of the -different orders of monks in their peculiar costumes, beneath each of -which satirical lines were written. He is best known by his eighty-one -Bible-cuts, which were the most popular, perhaps, of the many series -published in that century, not excepting the impressive Bible figures of -Holbein; they passed through many editions, and were widely copied. The -first English Bible was illustrated by them. Besides these two series, -and one other in illustration of the Apocalypse, he designed many -separate prints, both in the small manner of the Little Masters and in -imitation of the large works of Maximilian, such as his Military Fte, -in honor of Charles V., his Fountain of Youth, and the prints of the -Marauding Soldiers, which measured four or five feet in length. His -representations of peasant life are peculiarly attractive, because of -the force of realism displayed in them, whether he depicted the marriage -festival, or mere jollity or drunken brawl. In the breadth of his -interests, in the variety of his subjects, and in his sympathy with the -special movements of his age, he was as an engraver more characteristic -of the civilization in which he lived than any other of the Little -Masters who gave their attention to wood-engraving. Of the rest of this -group none, excepting Hans Brosamer (1506-1552), left works in -wood-engraving of any consequence; he designed in a free and bold -manner, and his engravings are to be found in books of the third quarter -of the century. - -[Illustration: FIG. 49.--Virgin and Child. From a print by Hans Sebald -Behaim.] - -Other artists of this period devoted their attention to wood-engraving; -but as they did not mark any new progress in the art, or reflect any -aspect of German civilization which has not already been illustrated, -they need not be treated in any detail. Virgil Solis (1514-1562), a very -productive designer, who was employed by the Nuremberg printers to -illustrate the books by which they attempted to rival the productions of -the Lyonese press; Jobst Amman (1539-1591), whose excellent engravings -of costumes and trades are well known; Erhard Schn (d. 1550), Melchior -Lorch (1527-1586), whose works were of little merit; and Tobias Stimmer -(1539-1582), a popular designer for book illustration, are all who -deserve mention. Their engravings are inferior to the productions of -previous artists, and after their death the art in Germany fell into -speedy and irretrievable decay. - -The work of the wood-engravers who were imbued with the German spirit -exhibits the same excellences and defects as other German work in art. -It is characterized by vigor principally, and in its higher range it has -great value, because of the imaginative and reflective spirit by which -it was animated; in its lower range, as a portrayal of life and manners, -it derives from its realism an extraordinary interest. Its great -deficiency is its lack of beauty, and is due to the inborn feebleness of -the sense of beauty in the German race; but, notwithstanding this -deformity, German wood-engraving was invaluably useful in its day in the -cities where it became so popular, because it was so widely and -variously practised, and entered into the life of the people in so many -ways with an effective influence of which it is difficult to form an -adequate conception. It facilitated the spread of literature and helped -on the progress of the Reformation to a degree which is little -recognized; it disseminated ideas and standards of art, and made them -common property; and, finally, it prepared the way for the great master -who was to embody in wood-engraving the highest excellence of art and -thought. - - - - -VI. - -HANS HOLBEIN. - - -[Illustration: G FIG. 50.--From the "Epistole di San Hieronymo." -Ferrara, 1497.] - -Germany produced one artist who freed himself from the limitations of -taste and interest which the place of his birth imposed upon him, and -took rank with the great masters who seem to belong rather to the race -than to their native country. Hans Holbein was neither German nor -Italian, neither classical nor medival. The ideal of his art was not -determined by the culture of any single school, at home or abroad; far -less was it a jarring compromise between the aims and methods of -different schools; it grew out of a faithful study of all, and in it -were rationally blended the elements which were right in each. In style, -theme, and spirit he advanced so far beyond his contemporaries that he -became the first modern artist--the first to clear his vision from the -deceptions of religious enthusiasm, and to subdue in himself the -lawlessness of the romantic spirit; the first to perceive that only the -purely human interest gives lasting significance to any artistic work, -and to depict humanity simply for its own sake; the first to express -his meaning in a way which seems truthful and beautiful universally to -all cultivated men. In this lies the peculiar and profound value of his -works. - -Holbein was born at Augsburg, in 1495 or 1496, into a family of artists. -In that city, then the centre of German culture, he grew up amid the -stir of curiosity and thought which attended the discovery of the -Western World and the first movements of the Reformation. He handled the -pencil and the brush from boyhood, and produced works as wonderful for -their precocious excellence as the early efforts of Mantegna; he was -deeply impressed by the secular and picturesque genius of Burgkmaier, -the great artist of Augsburg, who may have first opened to him the value -of beauty of detail, and inculcated in him that carefulness in respect -to it which afterward distinguished him; he seems, too, even at this -early period, to have been touched by some Italian influence which may -have reached Augsburg in consequence of the close commercial relations -between that city and Venice. Holbein, however, did not arrive at any -mature development until after he left Augsburg and removed to Bsle, -whither he went in 1515, in order to earn his bread by making designs -for books--a trade which was then flourishing and lucrative in that -city. Bsle offered conditions of life more favorable, in some respects, -to the development of energetic individuality than did Augsburg; it was -already the seat of humanistic literature, at the head of which was -Erasmus, and it soon became the safest refuge of the persecuted -Reformers. In such a city there was necessarily a vigorous intellectual -life and a free and liberal spirit, which must have exerted great -influence upon the young artist, who by his profession was brought into -intimate relations with the most learned and advanced thinkers about -him. Holbein was at once profoundly affected by the literary and reform -movements which he was called upon to aid by his designs, and he threw -himself into their service with energy and sympathy. His art, too, under -the influence of Italy, and under the rational direction of his own -thought, grew steadily more refined in ideal and more finished in -execution. He soon learned the value of formal beauty, and gave evidence -that the work of the last great German painter was not to be marred by -German tastelessness. Hitherto the masters of German art, led by a -realistic spirit which did not discriminate regularly and with certainty -between the different values of the lovely and the unlovely, had -expressed their thought and feeling in familiar forms, and, -consequently, often in forms which shared in the grotesqueness, -bordering on caricature, and in the homeliness, bordering on ugliness, -that characterized much of actual German life. Holbein, whose realism -was governed by cultivated taste, expressed his thought and feeling in -beautiful forms. His predecessors had used a dialect of art, as it were, -which could never seem perfectly natural or be immediately intelligible -to any but their own countrymen; Holbein acquired the true language of -art, and was as directly and completely intelligible to the refined -Englishman or Italian as to the citizen of Augsburg or Bsle. Holbein -came, also, to an understanding of the true law of art; as he freed -himself from the Gothic dulness of sight in respect to beauty, he freed -himself from the Gothic license of reverie, fancy, and thought. He -limited himself to the clear and forcible expression of the idea he had -in mind; he admitted no details which interfered with his main purpose, -and which asserted a claim to be there for their own sake; he made every -accessary enforce or illustrate his principal design, and subordinated -each minor portion of his picture to the leading conception; he had one -purpose in view, and he preserved its unity. How different this was from -the practice of Drer, who introduced into his work whatever came into -his mind, however remotely it might be associated with his subject, who -repeated almost wearisomely the same idea in varying symbolism, and -dissipated the intensity of the thought by distracting suggestion -crowded into any available space, need not be pointed out; in just the -proportion in which Drer lost by his practice directness, simplicity, -and force, Holbein gained these by his own method, which was, indeed, -the method of great art, of the art which obeys reason, in distinction -from the art which yields to the wandering sentiment. Holbein differed -from Drer in another respect: he thoroughly understood what he meant to -express; he would have nothing to do with vague dreaming or mystical -contemplation; he thought that whatever could not be definitely -conceived in the brain, and clearly expressed by line and color, lay -outside the domain of his art; he gave up the phantoms of the enthusiast -and the puzzle of the theologian to those who cared for them, and fixed -his attention on human life as he saw it and understood it. He often -treated religious subjects, but in no different spirit from that in -which he treated secular subjects; in all it is the human interest which -attracts him--the life of man as it exists within the bounds of -mortality. Thus he arrived not only at the true language and the true -law of art, but also at its true object. This development of his genius -did not take place suddenly and at once; it was a gradual growth, and -reached full maturity only in his closing years; but, while he still -worked at Bsle, the essential lines of his development were clearly -marked, and he had advanced so far along them as to be even then the -most perfect artist whom the North had produced. - -Holbein began to practise wood-engraving as soon as he settled in Bsle, -and designed many titlepages, initial letters, and cuts for the -publishers of that city. The titlepages, which are numerous, were -usually in the form of an architectural frame, in which groups of -figures were introduced; they show how early his taste for the forms of -Italian architecture became pronounced, and how bold and free was his -power of drawing, and how highly developed was his sense of style, even -in his first efforts. He illustrated the books of the humanists, -especially the Utopia of Sir Thomas More, then a new and popular work; -and he designed the cuts for the biblical translations of Luther, and -for other publications of the Reformers. He served the Reformation, too, -in a humorous as well as in a serious way, for he was as much a master -of satire as of beauty. Two cuts in ridicule of the papal party are -particularly noticeable, one in which he satirizes the sale of -indulgences, contrasting it with true repentance; and one in which he -represents Christ as the Light of the World, with a group of sinners -approaching upon one side, and a group of papal dignitaries led by -Aristotle turning away on the other side. The illustrations in which he -depicts ordinary humble life, particularly the life of peasants and -children, make another great department of his lesser work in -wood-engraving; these scenes are sometimes separate cuts, and sometimes -introduced as backgrounds of initial letters, twenty alphabets of which -are ascribed to him; they represent the pastimes and sports of the -country, just as Holbein may have seen them at any time upon the -way-side, and are full of heartiness, humor, and reality. The sketches -from the life of boys and children are especially graceful and charming, -and reveal an ease and power in delineation which has seldom been -rivalled. This species of _genre_ art, which had first made its -appearance in wood-engraving, because it was considered beneath the -dignity of the higher arts, was very popular; by his work of this sort -Holbein contributed to the pleasure of the people, just as by his -co-operation with the Humanists and the Reformers he served them in more -important ways. Finally he produced at Bsle his two great works in -wood-engraving, the Dance of Death and the Figures of the Bible, which -are the highest achievements of the art at any time. - -The Dance of Death was an old subject. It had possessed for centuries a -powerful and sometimes morbid attraction for the artistic imagination -and for popular reflection. It was peculiarly the product of medival -Christian life, and survives as a representative of the great medival -ideas. That age first surrounded death with terrors, fastened the -attention of man continually upon his doom, and affrighted his spirit -with the dread of that unknown hour of his dissolution which should put -him in danger of the second death of immortal agony. In Greece death had -been the breaking of the chrysalis by the winged butterfly, or, at -least, only the extinction of the torch; here it was the gaunt and -grinning skeleton always jostling the flesh of the living, however -beautiful or joyous they might be. In the churches of the thirteenth -century there swung a banner emblazoned upon one side with the figures -of a youth and maiden before a mirror of their loveliness, and, upon the -reverse, with Death holding his spade beside the worm-pierced corpse; it -was the type of medival Christian teaching. The fear of death was the -recurring burden of the pulpit; it made the heart of every bowed -worshipper tremble, and was taught with fearful distinctness by the -pestilence that again and again suddenly struck the populations of -Europe. The chord of feeling was overstrained; the elastic force of life -asserted itself, and, by a strange transformation, men made a jest of -their terror, and played with death as they have never since done; they -acted the ravages of death in pantomime, made the tragedy comic, put the -figure of Death into their carnivals, and changed the object of their -alarm into the theme of their sport. In the spirit of that democracy -which, in spite of the aristocratic structure of medival society, was -imbedded in the heart of the Christian system, where every soul was of -equal value before God, the people turned the universal moral lesson of -death into a satire against the great; Death was not only the common -executioner, he arrested the prelates and the nobles, stripped them of -their robes and their possessions, and tried them whether they were of -God or Mammon. In these many-varied forms of terror, sport, and irony -Death filled the imagination and reflection of the age; the shrouded -figure or the naked skeleton was seen on the stage of the theatre, amid -the games of the people, on the walls of the churches and the -monasteries, throughout the whole range of art and literature. Holbein -had looked on many representations of this idea: where, as in Drer's -work, Death attends knight and beggar; or where, as in the Nuremberg -Chronicle, the skeletons dance by the open grave; or where, as in the -famous series at Bsle, Death humbles every rank of life in turn. But -Holbein did not look on these scenes as his predecessors had done; he -was free from their spirit. He took the medival idea and re-moulded it, -as Shakspeare re-moulded the tradition of Denmark and Italy, into a work -for all times and generations. He represented Death, but with an -artistic power, an imaginative fervor, a perception of the constant -element in its interest for mankind, which lifted his work out of -medivalism into universal truth; and in doing this he not only showed -the high power of his art, but he unlocked the secrets of his character. - -[Illustration: FIG. 51.--The Nun. From Holbein's "Images de la Mort." -Lyons, 1547.] - -[Illustration: FIG. 52.--The Preacher. From Holbein's "Images de la -Mort." Lyons, 1547.] - -This work is, in the first edition (1538), a series of forty-one small -cuts, in each of which is depicted the triumph of Death over some person -who is typical of a whole class. Each design represents with intense -dramatic power some scene from daily life; Death lays his summons upon -all in the midst of their habitual occupations: the trader has escaped -shipwreck, and "on the beach undoes his corded bales;" Death plucks him -by the cloak; the weary, pack-laden peddler, plodding on in his -unfinished journey, turns questioningly to the delaying hand upon his -shoulder; the priest goes to the burial of the poor, Death carries the -candle in a lantern before him, and rings the warning bell; the -drunkard gulps his liquor, the judge takes his bribe, the miser counts -his gold--Death interrupts them with a sneer. What poetic feeling, what -dramatic force, there is in the picture of the Nun! (Fig. 51.) She -kneels with head averted from the altar of her devotions toward the -youth who sits upon the bed playing the lute to her sleeping soul, and -at the moment Death stands there to put out the light of the taper which -shall leave her in darkness forever. What sharp satire there is in the -representation of the Preacher (Fig. 52), dilating, perhaps, in his -accustomed, half-mechanical way, upon the terrors of that very Death -already at his elbow! What justness of sight, what grimness of reality, -there is in the representation of the Ploughman (Fig. 53); how directly -does Holbein bring us face to face with the human curse--in the sweat of -thy brow thou shalt earn death! George Sand, looking out on the spring -fields of her remote province and seeing the French peasants ploughing -up the soft and smoking soil, remembered this type of peasant life as -Holbein saw it, and described this cut in words that vivify the -concentrated meaning of the whole series. "The engraving," she says, -"represents a farmer guiding the plough in the middle of a field. A vast -plain extends into the distance, where there are some poor huts; the -sun is setting behind a hill. It is the close of a hard day's work. The -peasant is old, thickset, and in tatters; the team which he drives -before him is lean, worn out by fatigue and scanty food; the ploughshare -is buried in a rugged and stubborn soil. In this scene of sweat and -habitual toil there is only one being in good spirits and light of foot, -a fantastic character, a skeleton with a whip, that runs in the furrow -beside the startled horses and beats them--as it were, a farmer's boy. -It is Death." She takes up the story again, after a while. "Is there -much consolation," she asks, "in this stoicism, and do devout souls find -their account therein? The ambitious, the knave, the tyrant, the -sensualist, all the proud sinners who abuse life, and whom Death drags -away by the hair, are on their way to a reckoning, no doubt; but the -blind, the beggar, the fool, the poor peasant, is there any amends for -their long wretchedness in the single reflection that death is not an -evil for them? No! an inexorable melancholy, a dismaying fatality, -weighs upon the artist's work. It is like a bitter curse launched on the -universal human lot."[40] - -[Illustration: FIG. 53.--The Ploughman. From Holbein's "Images de la -Mort." Lyons, 1547.] - -Certainly the artist's work is a bold and naked statement of man's -mortality, of the close of life contrasted with the worth of its career; -but the melancholy of his work is not more inexorable, its fatality is -not more dismaying, than the reality he saw. He did not choose for his -pencil what was unusual, extraordinary, or abnormal in life; he depicted -its accustomed course and its fixed conclusion in fear, folly, or -dignity. He took almost every character among men, almost every passion -or vice of the race, almost every toil or pursuit in which his -contemporaries engaged, and confronted them with their fate. The king is -at his feast, Death pours the wine; the poor mother is cooking her -humble meal at the hearth, Death steals her child; the bridal pair walk -on absorbed, while Death beats their wedding-march with glee. Throughout -the series there is the same dramatic insight, the same unadorned -reality, the same humanity. Here and there the spirit of the Reformer -reveals itself: the Pope in the exercise of his utmost worldly power -crowns the emperor, but behind is Death; a devil lurks in the shadow, -and over the heads of the cardinals are other devils; the monk, abbot, -and prioress--how they resist and are panic-stricken! There can be no -doubt at what Holbein reckoned these men and their trade. Holbein showed -here, too, his sympathy with the humbler classes in those days of -peasant wars, of the German Bible, and of books in the vulgar -tongue--the days when the people began to be a self-conscious body, with -a knowledge of the opportunities of life and the power to make good -their claim to share in them; as Holbein saw life, it was only the -humble to whom Death was not full of scorn and jesting, they alone stood -dignified in his presence. Beneath this sympathy with the Reformers and -the people need we look farther, as Ruskin does, to find scepticism -hidden in the shadows of Holbein's heart? Holbein saw the Church as -Avarice, trading in the sins of its children; as Cruelty, rejoicing in -the blood of its enemies; as Ignorance, putting out the light of the -mind. There was no faltering in his resolute, indignant denial of that -Church. Did he find any refuge elsewhere in such hope and faith as -remain to man in the suggestions of his own spirit? He saw Death's -triumph, and he made men see it with his eyes; if he saw more than that, -he kept silence concerning it. He did not menace the guilty with any -peril save the peril of Death's mockery; he spoke no word of consolation -for the good; for the inevitable sorrow of the child's loss there is no -cure, for the ploughman's faithful labor there is no reward except in -final repose by the shadow of the distant spire. He did not open the -heavens to let through one gleam of immortal life upon the human lot, -unless it be in the Judgment, where only the saved have risen; -nevertheless, the purport of that scene, even if it be interpreted with -the most Christian realism, cannot destroy the spirit of all others. -"Inexorable melancholy, dismaying fatality"--these, truly, are the -burden of his work. - -The series holds high rank, too, merely as a product of artistic skill. -It shows throughout the designer's ease, simplicity, and economy in -methods of work, his complete control of his resources, and his unerring -correctness in choosing the means proper to fulfil his ends; few lines -are employed, as in the Italian manner, and there is little -cross-hatching; but, as in all great art, every line has its work to do, -its meaning, which it expresses perfectly, with no waste of labor and no -ineffectual effort. In sureness of stroke and accuracy of proportion the -drawing is unsurpassed; you may magnify any of the designs twelve -times, and even the fingers will show no disproportion in whole or in -part. It is true that there is no anatomical accuracy; no single -skeleton is correctly drawn in detail, but the shape of Death, guessed -at as a thing unknown, is so expressed that in the earliest days of the -work men said that in it "Death seemed to live, and the living to be -truly dead." The correctness, vigor, and economy of line in the drawing -of these cuts made them a lesson to later artists like Rubens, merely as -an example of powerful and truthful effects perfectly obtained at the -least expense of labor. In this respect they were in design a triumph of -art, as much as they were in conception a triumph of imagination. - -Holbein made the original drawings for the Dance of Death before he left -Bsle in 1526; but, although some copies were printed in that city, the -work did not become known until it was published in 1538 by the -Trechsels at Lyons, where it appeared without Holbein's name. This -latter circumstance, in connection with a passage in the preface of this -edition, led some writers to question Holbein's title to be considered -the designer of the series, although his friend, Nicolas Bourbon de -Vandoeuvre, the poet, calls him the author of it in a book published at -Lyons in 1538, while Karl van Mander, of Holland, in 1548, and Conrad -Gesner, of Zurich, in 1549, ascribe it to him, and their statements were -unhesitatingly accepted until doubt was expressed in our own time. The -passage in the preface of the first Lyons edition, on which the sceptics -rely, mentions the death "of him who has here imaged (_imagin_) for us -such elegant designs as much in advance of all hitherto issued as the -paintings of Apelles or Zeuxis surpass those of the moderns;" but this -is generally considered to refer to the engraver, Hans Ltzelburger, who -cut the designs in wood after Holbein's drawing, and deserves all the -praise for their extraordinarily skilful technical execution. This is -the most satisfactory explanation which can be framed; but, if it is not -accepted, the balance of evidence in favor of Holbein is so great as to -be conclusive. The original drawings, made with a pen and touched with -bistre, are in the cabinet of the Czar, and show the excellence of the -draughtsmanship more clearly than the woodcuts; the engraver omitted -some striking details, but in general his fidelity and correctness of -rendering were remarkable. The first edition at Lyons contained only -forty-one of the original designs, of which there are forty-six at St. -Petersburg; the later editions, published by Frellon, increased the -number to fifty-three in 1547, and fifty-eight in 1562, including some -beautiful cuts of children at the end of the volume. The popularity of -the work was very great; the text was printed in French, Latin, and -Italian, and thirteen editions from the original blocks were issued -before 1563. Since that time it has been published many times; but the -engravings in the later editions, which were copied from the originals -by workmen much inferior to Ltzelburger, have little comparative value. -Between forty and fifty editions have been printed from wood-blocks, and -as many more from copperplate. - -[Illustration: FIG. 54.--Nathan Rebuking David. From Holbein's "Icones -Historiarum Veteris Testamenti." Lyons, 1547.] - -The Figures of the Bible, which made a series of ninety-two -illustrations of the Old Testament, showed the same qualities of -Holbein's genius as did the Dance of Death, but generally in less -perfection. In designing many of these cuts Holbein accepted the types -of the previous artists, just as nearly all the great painters -frequently took their conceptions of scriptural scenes from their -predecessors; hence these Bible Figures show a marked resemblance in -their general composition to the earlier woodcuts in illustration of the -Scriptures. But while Holbein followed the earlier custom in -representing two or three associated actions in one scene, and kept the -same relative arrangement of the parts, he essentially modified the -total effect by omitting some elements, subordinating others, giving -prominence to the principal group, and informing the whole picture with -a far more vigorous, thoughtful, and expressive spirit. In artistic -merit some of these designs are among the best of Holbein's work; but -the technical skill of the wood-engraver who cut them is inferior to -that shown in the Dance of Death. The scene in which Nathan is -represented rebuking David (Fig. 54) is especially noble in conception: -the prophet does not clothe himself in any superior human dignity as a -divine messenger; but, mindful only of the supreme law which is over all -men equally, kneels loyally and obediently before his king, and calls on -him to humiliate himself, not before man, but in the solitary presence -of God. The power of the universal law, independent alike of the majesty -of the criminal or the lowliness of its servant, has never been pictured -with greater subtlety and force than is here done. There are others -among these designs of equal excellence, both in imagination and art, -but in all the best of them there is some human interest in the scene -which attracted Holbein's heart; in others, such as the illustrations to -the books of the Prophets, he falls into a feebleness of conception and -baldness of allegorical statement which shows clearly how little he -cared for what was merely supernatural. The series, nevertheless, is, as -a whole, the best which was made in that century, and was reprinted -several times to satisfy the popular demand for it; it first appeared, -contemporaneously with the Dance of Death, in 1538, at Lyons; the text -was afterward published in Latin, French, Italian, Spanish, and English, -but the work never obtained the extraordinary popularity of the Dance of -Death. It is noteworthy that no edition of either work was printed in -German--so far had Holbein outstripped his countrymen in the purity of -art. - -When these two works appeared at Lyons, Holbein had been for many years -a resident at the English court, where he painted that series of -portraits which remains unsurpassed as a gallery of typical English men -and women represented by an artist capable of revealing character as -well as of portraying looks. In these later years of his life he busied -himself but little with designing for woodcuts, but he did not entirely -neglect the art, and was, without doubt, of great service in spreading a -taste for it in England, and in improving its practice there. The -English printers imported their best woodcuts, and probably -wood-engraving was hardly a recognized English art before Holbein's day. -The great titlepage which he designed for Coverdale's Bible in 1535 was -apparently cut by some Swiss engraver, as were some other similar works; -but a few designs, which Holbein seems to have drawn so as to require -the least possible skill in the engraver to reproduce them, were -apparently executed in England. They were produced when England was -separating from Rome, in the time of Cromwell's power, and are marked by -the same satirical spirit as Holbein's earlier work at Bsle; the -self-righteous Pharisee wears a cowl, the lawyers, who are offended when -Christ casts out the devil from the possessed one, have bishops' mitres; -the unfaithful shepherd who flees when the wolf comes is a monk. These -cuts, in which Holbein last used his art as a weapon of civilization, -mark the close of his practice of it. - -In the course of that practice he had not merely found utterance for his -genius, but he had shown the entire adequacy of wood-engraving for the -purposes of the artist when the laws which spring out of its peculiar -nature are most rigidly observed. He had employed it with complete -success as a mode of obtaining beautiful architectural design, of -depicting charming _genre_ scenes, of attacking abuses by the keenest -and most effective irony, of making real for the popular comprehension -the solemn and beautiful stories of the Scriptures, and of expressing -passionate feeling and profound thought; and he thus exercised upon his -own time and upon the future an influence which was perhaps more -powerful than that exercised by any contemporary artists. Within the -limits of the Dance of Death he had embodied in wood-engraving tragedy -and humor, satire and sermon, poetic sentiment, dramatic action, and -wise reflection, and he thus gave to that work a special interest for -his contemporaries as an expression of the sympathies, efforts, and -problems of that time, and an enduring interest for all men as the -truest picture of universal human life seen at its most tragic moment -through the hollow sockets of Death. He did this without offering -violence to the peculiar nature of the art, without wresting it from its -appropriate methods or requiring of it any difficult effort; he -perceived more clearly than Drer the essential conditions under which -wood-engraving must be practised, and he conformed to them. If he had -needed cross-hatching, fine and delicate lines, harmonies of tone, and -soft transitions of light, he would have had recourse to copperplate; -but not finding them necessary, he contented himself with the bold -outlines, easily cut and easily printed, which were the peculiar -province of wood-engraving, and by means of them created works which not -only made wood-engraving illustrious, but rank with the high -achievements and valuable legacies of the other arts of design. Holbein -was one of the great geniuses of the race, and he put into his works the -fire and wisdom of genius; but, independently of what his works contain, -and merely as illustrations of artistic methods, they show for the first -time an artist perceiving and choosing to obey the simple laws of the -art, and exhibiting its compass and capacity, its wealth and utility, -within the sphere of those laws. This thorough understanding and -rational practice of the art, in connection with his intellectual and -artistic powers, made Holbein the most perfect master who has ever left -works in wood-engraving, and give his works the utmost value both as -forms of art and as embodiments of imagination and thought. - - - - -VII. - -THE DECLINE AND EXTINCTION OF THE ART. - - -[Illustration: T FIG. 55.--From "Opera Vergiliana," printed by Sacon. -Lyons, 1517.] - -The wood-engravers of France produced no great works like those of -Maximilian, and no single cuts of the artistic value of those by Drer -and his contemporaries. They limited themselves almost exclusively to -the illustration of books. The early printers, who had expended so much -care in the adornment of their religious books, were succeeded by other -printers who were hardly less animated by enthusiastic devotion to their -art, as was shown by their efforts to make their works beautiful both in -text and illustration. The Renaissance had now penetrated into France, -and entered into the arts. Geoffrey Tory (c. 1480-1533), who had -travelled in Italy, appears to have been the first to introduce a -classical spirit into wood-engraving; from his time two distinct schools -may be distinguished in French wood-engraving--one Germanic and archaic, -the other filled by the Italian spirit. The most distinguished engravers -belonged to the latter school, and their work was characterized by the -curiously modified Italian taste which marked the French Renaissance. -They understood design, and showed considerable power in it; they -regarded the main lines and principal harmonies and contrasts of masses -which are necessary to it; but they transformed its simplicity into -elegance, and overlaid it with ornamentation and trifling detail which -marred its effect, and gave to their works an appearance of -artificiality, of over-labored refinement and mistaken scrupulousness of -taste. As a rule, indeed, taste was their characteristic rather than a -developed sense of beauty, and skill rather than power. Finally, they -passed, by a natural progress, into a complexity and fineness of line -which are unsuitable to wood-engraving; they lost the sense of unity in -the abundance of detail, and were forced to give up engraving in wood -and adopt engraving on copperplate, which was so much better fitted to -the meaningless excess of delicacy and accumulation of ornament in which -the French Renaissance ended. - -The most talented of the French designers for wood-engraving was Jean -Cousin (1501-1589), a member of the Reformed Church, little favored at -court and much neglected by his contemporaries. He appears to have been -of a robust and independent spirit, an admirer of Michael Angelo and the -Italians, and an industrious and painstaking workman in many branches of -art. A large number of designs are ascribed to him; but, as is the case -with nearly all the French engravers, there is great difficulty in -making out what really was his work. Among the characteristic products -of French wood-engraving were representations of royal triumphal entries -into the great cities of the kingdom. Two of these are ascribed to -Cousin--the entry of Henry II. into Paris, published in 1549, and his -entry into Rouen, published in the next year. In the latter the captains -of Normandy lead the march; they are followed by ranks of foot-soldiers, -trumpeters, men holding aloft laurel wreaths, other men with antique -arms and banners, and a band which, with a reminiscence from Roman -festivals, carry lambs in their arms for sacrifice to the gods; next -succeed new ranks of soldiers, then elephants and captives, the fool and -musicians leading on Flora and her nymphs, after whom comes the Car of -Happy Fortune, on which the royal family are enthroned, and the -triumphal Chariot of Fame; the procession closes with men-at-arms and -two captains, with succeeding scenes of some places by which the pageant -had passed. In this work the French Renaissance shows itself in the -prime of its career, when some simplicity and nobility of design were -still kept, and the tendency toward refinement of line and -multiplication of ornament were still held in check by a regard for -unity of effect. The Entry of Henry II. into Paris is, perhaps, even -more excellent. The two works rank with the best French wood-engraving -in the sixteenth century. - -The characteristics by which the French Renaissance differed from the -Renaissance in Italy are more clearly and easily seen in the -reproduction of the Dream of Poliphilo, which was published in 1554, and -is ascribed to Cousin. The French artist did not copy the beautiful -designs of the Venetian; he kept the general character of each woodcut, -it is true, but he varied the style. He made Poliphilo elegant in -figure, taller and more modish in gesture and attitude; he represented -the landscape in greater detail and with more realism; he gave greater -height and more careful proportion to the architecture, added ornaments -to its bare faades and smooth lintels, and in the subordinate portions -he varied the curvature of the lines and made them more complex; in the -lesser figures, the statues and monumental devices, he allowed himself -more liberty in changing the original designs, and sometimes practically -transformed them; finally, he introduced a more vigorous dramatic action -throughout, and attempted to obtain more difficult effects of contrast -and to give relief to the figures. Nevertheless, the improvements which -the taste of Cousin required are distinctly injurious. The French -reproduction is inferior to the Italian original in feeling for design, -in simple beauty, in the force and directness of its appeal to the -artistic sense, in the power and sweetness of its charm; much that was -lovely in the original has become simply pretty, much that was noble and -striking has become only tasteful; especially that quality, by virtue of -which the original possessed something suggestive of the calm beauty of -sculpture, has vanished, and in the effort of the new designer to obtain -pictorial effects one has an unpleasant sense of something like -weakness. The comparative study of the two volumes is of extreme -interest, so clearly do they illustrate the different temper of the -Renaissance in France and Italy. France received the word of inspiration -from Italy, but could not become its oracle. Even at that early day -French art was marked by the dispersion of interest, the regard for -externals, and the inability to create the purest imaginative work, -which have since characterized the French people, despite their facility -in acquisition and the ease with which they reach the level of -excellence in any pursuit. - -Of the other works, known or supposed to be by Cousin, the Book of -Perspective, published in 1560, is the most remarkable, because in its -designs considerable difficulties are overcome, and greater power of -relief is shown than in any previous French wood-engraving. This book -was a treatise, similar to those by Drer and Leonardo da Vinci upon the -laws of art, and its dedication is noticeable because of the light it -throws on Cousin's spirit--"neither to kings nor princes, as is -customary," he says, "but to the public." The Bible, usually called Le -Clerc's, which contains two hundred and eighty-seven woodcuts, is said -to be by Cousin, but of this there is no direct evidence; and to him is -ascribed the Triumphal Entry of Charles IX., published in 1572, and -supposed by some to have been designed by the engraver Olivier Codor; -many other works are also added to his list, but they were inferior in -value to those which have been described, and were unmarked by any -special interest. In consequence of the fineness and number of his -productions Cousin must be considered the principal French engraver of -the century; and he undoubtedly deserves a high rank among the artists -of talent, in distinction from the artists of genius, who have practised -wood-engraving. - -About Cousin there were a number of other designers who gave attention -to the art and left works of value; but these works bear so much -resemblance to one another that it is frequently impossible to recognize -in them the hand of any individual of the school--a difficulty by which -Cousin's reputation has profited, because of the eagerness of his -admirers to ascribe to him any excellent work in his style which is not -definitely known to belong to some one of his contemporaries. These -lesser artists were Jean Goujon (c. 1550), who made some excellent cuts -for a Vitruvius of 1547, and is believed by some authorities to have -designed the reproduction of the Dream of Poliphilo; Pierre Woeiriot (b. -1532), whose biblical cuts inserted in a Josephus of 1566 have much -merit; Jean Tortorel (b. 1540?) and Jacques Prissin (b. 1530?), who -designed some interesting illustrations of the Huguenot wars; and -Philibert de Lorme (c. 1570) and Jean Le Clerc (1580-1620), whose -productions are of comparatively little interest. The works of all these -artists lacked that intimate relation with the life of the people which -made the engravings of the lesser German designers valuable, and have -importance only as illustrations of the development of French art in the -Renaissance. - -The only artist who can contest Cousin's foremost place in French -wood-engraving is Bernard Salomon (c. 1550), usually called the Little -Bernard, from the small size of his cuts, who was the leading designer -of Lyons. That city had retained its importance as a centre of popular -literature illustrated by woodcuts, and is said to have sent forth more -books of this kind in the latter part of the sixteenth century than any -other city in Europe. The works of Holbein were the pride of the Lyonese -art, and exerted great influence upon the style of the designers who -were constantly employed in the service of the Lyonese press. Bernard -worked in the small manner which Holbein had made popular, and he -learned from him how to compress much in a little space; but he -multiplied details, and carried the lines to an extreme of fineness -which his engravers were unable to do justice to in cutting the block. -As is the case with Cousin, a vast number of designs are attributed to -Bernard, simply because they are sufficiently excellent to have been -his work; according to Didot, no less than twenty-three hundred cuts -have been claimed for him, and it is believed by some writers that he -not only designed but engraved this large number. A large proportion of -these must have been produced by the unknown contemporaries of Bernard, -because, although he gave his attention wholly to wood-engraving for -thirty years, he could not have accomplished so great a work. His -best-known designs are the illustrations to an Ovid, published by Jean -de Tournes, and two hundred and thirty cuts for the same printer's -edition of the Bible: these rank next to Cousin's works as the most -remarkable productions of French wood-engraving in the sixteenth -century. Of the other Lyonese designers very little is known; indeed, no -other important name has been preserved, excepting that of Jean Moni (c. -1570), who is remembered for a series of Bible cuts inferior to those by -Bernard. In Lyons, as in the rest of France, wood-engraving lost its -value toward the close of the century, in consequence of its attempts at -a kind of delicacy and refinement beyond its reach and inappropriate to -its class; it did not appeal to the taste of the late Renaissance, and -by degrees the engravers lost their technical skill, and the artists -gave up its practice as a fine art. This result was also partly due to -the contempt into which the popular romantic literature of the preceding -century had fallen, and to the degradation of wood-engraving as a mode -of coarse caricature. Copperplate-engraving gradually supplanted the -more simple art, and finally the practice of wood-engraving became -extinct. - -[Illustration: FIG. 56.--St. Christopher. From a Venetian print.] - -[Illustration: FIG. 57.--St. Sebastian and St. Francis. Portion of a -print by Andreani after Titian.] - -In Italy the older style of woodcuts in simple outline continued to be -followed long after it was abandoned in the North. The designs in -Italian books up to the year 1530, when cross-hatching was introduced, -do not differ essentially in character from those of which examples have -already been given. The names of the artists who produced them are -either obscure or unknown, excepting Leonardo da Vinci, to whom are -ascribed the cuts in Luca Pacioli's volume, De Proportione Divina, -published in 1509, and Marc Antonio Raimondi (1478-1534), to whom are -ascribed the remarkably excellent cuts in a volume entitled Epistole et -Evangelii Volgari Hystoriade, published in 1512 in Venice. From the -first, Venice (Fig. 56) had been the chief seat of wood-engraving in -Italy, and now became the rival of Lyons. The most distinguished of the -group of artists who produced woodcuts in that city was Nicolo Boldrini -(c. 1550), who designed several engravings (Fig. 59) after Titian -(1476?-1575) with such boldness and force that some writers have -believed Titian to have drawn the design on the block for Boldrini to -engrave. The works of Titian and other Venetian painters were reproduced -in the same way by Francesco da Nanto (c. 1530); and by other artists, -like Giovanni Battista del Porto (c. 1500), Domenico delle Greche (c. -1550), and Giuseppe Scolari (c. 1580), who also sometimes made woodcuts -from their own designs. Besides these engravings, some very large cuts, -similar to those which the German artists had attempted, were printed -from several blocks; but they have little interest. The illustrations in -Vesalius's Anatomy, published at Bsle in 1543, in which wood-engraving -was first employed as an aid to scientific exposition, were designed in -Venice by Jean Calcar, a pupil of Titian, and are of extraordinary -merit. Finally, in the cuts by Cesare Vecellio (1550-1606) for the -volume entitled Habiti Antiche e Moderne, published in 1590, Venetian -wood-engraving produced its last excellent work--so excellent, indeed, -that the designs have been attributed to Titian himself, who was the -uncle of Vecellio. - -[Illustration: FIG. 58.--The Annunciation. From a print by Francesco da -Nanto.] - -[Illustration: FIG. 59.--Milo of Crotona. From a print by Boldrini after -Titian.] - -The Italians devoted themselves with especial ardor to wood-engraving in -chiaroscuro, and from the time when Ugo da Carpi introduced it in Venice -it was practised by many artists. Nearly all of those designers who have -been mentioned left works in chiaroscuro engraving as well as in the -ordinary manner. Beside them, Antonio da Trento (c. 1530), Giuseppe -Nicolo (c. 1525), Andrea Andreani (c. 1600), and Bartolemeo Coriolano -(c. 1635) produced chiaroscuro engravings which are now much valued and -sought for by collectors of prints. The Italian love of color led these -artists into this application of wood-engraving, which must be regarded -as a wrongly-directed and unfruitful effort of the art to obtain results -beyond its powers. The Italians had been the first to discover the -capacity of wood-engraving as an art of design, but they never developed -it as it was developed in Germany; when they gave up the early simple -manner in which they had achieved great results, and began to follow the -later manner, the great age of Italy was near its close, and the arts -felt the weakening influences of the rapid decline in the vigor of -society. At Venice the arts remained for a while longer powerful and -illustrious, and wood-engraving shared in the excellence which -characterized all the artistic work of that city; but the place which -wood-engraving held in the estimation of the Venetians appears to have -been far lower than its place in the North, where it was popular and -living, highly valued and widely influential as it could not be in any -Italian city. At last in Italy, as in France, it died out altogether, -and was no longer heard of as a fine art. - -In the Netherlands the art had been practised continuously from the time -of the Block-books with varying success, but, excepting in the works of -Lukas van Leyden (1494-1533), it had produced nothing of great value. In -the sixteenth century Hendrick Goltzius (1558-1617) designed some -woodcuts in the common manner as well as chiaroscuro engravings, and -Christopher van Sichem (c. 1620) some woodcuts in the ordinary manner, -which have some worth. The only work of high excellence was due to -Christopher Jegher (c. 1620-1660), who engraved some large designs which -Rubens (1577-1640) drew upon the block; they are inferior to Boldrini's -reproductions of Titian's designs, but are free, bold, and effective, -and succeed in reproducing the designs characterized by the vehement -energy of Rubens's style. Rembrandt (1606-1665) also gave some attention -to the art which the older masters had prized, and left one small -portrait in wood-engraving by his own hand. His example was followed by -his pupils, Jean Livens (1607-1663) and Theodore De Bray (c. 1650), -whose cuts are characterized by the style of their master. - -In England, where the art had not been really practised until Holbein's -day, and had not reached any degree of excellence, some improvement was -made during the sixteenth century in designs for titlepages, portraits, -and separate cuts, particularly in the publications of John Day. In the -next century, during the civil wars, woodcuts of extreme rudeness were -inserted in the pamphlets of the hour, and in the latter half of the -century some interest was still felt in the art. In the eighteenth -century two engravers, Edward Kirkall (c. 1690-1750) and John Baptist -Jackson (1701-1754?), worked both in the ordinary manner and in -chiaroscuro, but both were forced to seek support on the Continent, -where, although the practice of wood-engraving as a fine art had long -been extinct, the tradition of it as a mechanical process by which cheap -ornaments for books were produced was still preserved. In France the -engravers Pierre Le Sueur (1636-1710) and Jean Papillon (1660-1710) -executed cuts of this sort which are without intrinsic value, and in the -next generation their sons produced works which remained at the same low -level of excellence. In Italy an artist, named Lucchesini, engraved some -cuts in the latter part of the century, but they are without merit. In -Germany the art was equally neglected, and the woodcuts in German books -of the eighteenth century are entirely worthless. - -The explanation of this rapid and universal decline of wood-engraving is -to be found in general causes. The great artistic movement, which both -in the North and the South had sprung out of medival religious life, -and had gathered force and spirit as the minds of men grew in strength -and independence, and as the compass of their interests expanded, which -had been so transformed by the study of antiquity that in the South it -seemed to be almost wholly due to that single influence, and in the -North to have suffered an essential change in its spirit and standards, -had at last spent itself. The intellectual movement which had gone along -with it side by side, gaining vigor from the spread of literature, the -debates of the Reformation, and the exercise of the mind upon the -various and novel objects of interest in that age of great discoveries -and inventions, had resulted in a century of religious warfare, -aggravated by the violence of dynastic quarrels which arose in -consequence of the new political organization of Europe. In this -conflict the arts were lost; they all became feeble, and wood-engraving -under the most favorable conditions would have shared in this general -degradation. But for its utter extinction as a fine art there were more -special causes. The popular literature with which it had flourished had -been brought into contempt by Cervantes and Ariosto; the use of -wood-engraving for coarse caricature also reflected discredit upon it; -but the principal cause of its decadence lay in the taste of the age, -which had ceased to prize art as a means of simple and beautiful design, -but valued it rather as a means of complicated and delicate ornament, so -that excessive attention was given to form divorced from meaning, and, -as always happens in such a case, artificiality resulted. The -wood-engravers attempted to satisfy this taste by seeking the refinement -which copperplate-engraving obtained with greater ease and success, and -they failed in the effort; in other words, wood-engraving yielded to -copperplate-engraving because the taste of the age forced it to abandon -its own province, and to contend with its rival on ground where its -peculiar powers were ineffective. - -Here the history of wood-engraving in the old manner, as a means of -reproducing pen-and-ink sketches in fac-simile, came to an end. It has -been seen how valuable it had proved both as an agent of civilization -and as a mode of art; how serviceable it had been in the popularization -of literature and of art, and what influence it had exerted in the -practical questions of the day as a weapon of satire; how faithfully it -had reflected the characteristics of successive periods of civilization, -and how perfectly, in response to the touch of the artist, it had -embodied his imagination and expressed his thought. It had run a great -career; its career seemed to have closed; but, when at the end of the -eighteenth century the movement toward the civilization of the people -again began with vigor and spirit, a new life was opened to it, because -it is essentially a democratic art--a career in which it has already -reached a scope of influence that makes its usefulness far greater than -in the earlier time, and has given promise of a degree of excellence -which, though in design it may not equal Holbein's power, may yet result -in valuable artistic work. - - - - -VIII. - -_MODERN WOOD-ENGRAVING._ - - -[Illustration: T FIG. 60.--From the "Comedia di Danthe." Venice, 1536.] - -The revival of the art began in England, in the workshop of Thomas -Bewick (1753-1828). He is called, not without justice, the father of the -true art of engraving in wood. The history of the art in the older time -is concerned mainly with the designer and the ideas which he endeavored -to convey, and only slightly with the engraver whom he employed for the -mechanical work of cutting the block. In the modern art the engraver -holds a more prominent position, because he is no longer restricted to a -servile following of the designer's work, line for line, but has an -opportunity to show his own artistic powers. This change was brought -about by the invention of white line, as it is called, which was first -used by Bewick. White line was a new mechanical mode of obtaining color. -"I could never discover," says Bewick, "any additional beauty or color -that the cross-strokes gave to the impression beyond the effect produced -by plain parallel lines. This is very apparent when to a certainty the -plain surface of the wood will print as black as ink and balls can make -it, without any farther labor at all; and it may easily be seen that the -thinnest strokes cut upon the plain surface will throw some light on the -subject or design; and if these strokes again are made still wider or of -equal thickness to the black lines, the color these produce will be a -gray; and the more the white strokes are thickened, the nearer will they -in their varied shadings approach to white; and if quite taken away, -then a perfect white is obtained." The practical difference between the -two methods is this: by the old method, after the simple work in outline -of the early Italian engravers had been relinquished for the style of -which Drer was the great master, the block was treated as a white -surface, on which the designer drew with pen and ink, and obtained grays -and blacks by increasing the number of cross-strokes, as if he were -drawing on paper; by the new method the block was treated as a black -surface, and the color was lessened by increasing the number of white -lines. The latter process was as easy for the engraver as the former was -difficult, because whereas in the former he had to gouge out the diamond -spaces between the crossing lines, now he obtained white color by single -strokes of the graver. Bewick may have been led into the use of white -line simply by this consideration of the economy of labor, because he -engraved his own designs, and was directly sensible of the waste of -labor involved in the old method. In both methods color depends, of -course, upon the relative quantity of black and white in the prints; the -new method merely arranges color differently, so that it can be obtained -by an easy mechanical process instead of by a difficult one. - -The use of white line not only affected the art by making it more easy -to practise, but also involved a change in the mode of drawing. Formerly -the effects were given by the designers' lines, now they were given by -the engravers' lines; in other words, the old workman followed the -designer's drawing, the modern workman draws himself with his graver. By -the old method the design was reproduced by keeping the same -line-arrangement that the artist employed; by the new method the design -is not thus reproduced, but is interpreted by a line-arrangement first -conceived by the engraver. In the earlier period the design had to be a -drawing in line for the engraver to cut out and reproduce by leaving the -original lines in relief; now the design may be a washed sketch, the -tints of which the engraver reproduces by cutting lines of his own in -intaglio. The change required the modern engraver to understand how to -arrange white lines so as to obtain artistic effects; he thus becomes an -artist in proportion to his knowledge and skill in such arrangement. It -is clear that, no matter how much mechanical skill, firmness, justness -and delicacy of touch were requisite in the older manner of following -carefully and precisely the lines already drawn upon the block, still -the engraver was precluded from exercising any original artistic power -he might have; he could appreciate the artistic value of the design -before him, and, like Hans Ltzelburger, show his appreciation by his -fidelity in rendering it, but the lines were not his own. The new method -of reproducing artists' work by means of lines first conceived and -arranged by the engraver requires, besides skill of hand, qualities of -mind--perception and origination, and the judgment that results from -cultivated taste. This is what is meant when it is said that the true -art of wood-engraving is not a hundred years old, for it is only within -that time that the value of a print has been due to the engraver's -capacity for thought and his artistic skill in line-arrangement, as well -as to the designer's genius. The use of white line as a mechanical mode -of obtaining color was not unknown in the sixteenth century, and the -artistic value of white line was definitely felt in early French and -Italian wood-engraving; but the possibilities of development were not -seen, and no such development took place. The step in advance was taken -by Bewick, who thus disclosed the opportunities which wood-engraving -offers its craftsmen for the exhibition of high artistic qualities. The -white line revolutionized the art, and this is the essential meaning -there is in calling Bewick the father of wood-engraving. - -Of course the older method has not ceased to be practised; artists have -drawn upon the block, and their lines have been reproduced; sometimes a -part of the lines are thus drawn, particularly the leading lines, and -the minor portions of the sketch have been indicated by the designer by -washes and left to be rendered by the engraver in his own lines. Old or -modern wood-engraving as a mode of reproducing designs in fac-simile is -valuable, but none of the artistic merit they may possess is due to the -engraver; while the artistic merit shown in the new style of -wood-engraving, as an art of design in white line, belongs wholly to the -engraver. It results from this that white line is the peculiar province -of wood-engraving, considered as an art; but that does not exclude it -from being practised in its old manner as a mode of copying and -multiplying ordinary design which it is able to reproduce. - -Thomas Bewick, the founder of the modern art, was born near Newcastle -in 1753. He passed his boyhood in rude country life and received scanty -schooling. At fourteen he was bound apprentice to the Newcastle -engraver, Ralph Beilby; nine years later he went to seek his fortune in -London, where he impatiently endured city life for less than a year; in -the summer of 1777 he returned to his old master, with whom he went into -partnership. Some preliminary training in book-illustration of the rude -sort then in vogue was necessary to reveal his powers to himself; he -received a premium from the Society for the Encouragement of Arts, which -had shown some interest in wood-engraving; and after farther minor work -he began, in 1785, to engrave the first block for his British -Quadrupeds, which, with his British Birds, although his other cuts are -numbered by thousands, is the principal monument of his genius. When he -took the graver in his hand he found the art extinct as a fine art; at -most only large coarse prints were manufactured. Besides his great -service to the art in introducing the white line he substituted boxwood -for the pear or other soft wood of the earlier blocks, and he engraved -across the grain instead of with it, or "the plank way of the wood," as -he called it; he also began the practice of lowering the surface of the -block in places where less color was desired, so that less pressure -would come upon those parts in printing (a device which Aldegrever is -believed to have resorted to in some of his works), and he used the -dabber instead of the inking-roller. - -[Illustration: Fig. 61.--The Peacock. From Bewick's "British Birds."] - -[Illustration: FIG. 62.--The Frightened Mother. From Bewick's "British -Quadrupeds."] - -[Illustration: FIG. 63.--The Solitary Cormorant. From Bewick's "British -Birds."] - -[Illustration: FIG. 64.--The Snow Cottage.] - -[Illustration: FIG. 65.--Birth-place of Bewick. His last vignette, -portraying his own funeral.] - -By such means he was truly, as Ruskin says, "a reformer"--Ruskin adds, -"as stout as Holbein, or Botticelli, or Luther, or Savonarola," and this -is also true within limits. But if in relation to his art, and in answer -to the tests required of him, his reforming spirit proved itself -vigorous, independent, persistent in conviction, and faithful in -practice, his natural endowment in other ways was so far inferior to -those of the great Reformers named as to place him in a different order -of men. He had not a spark of the philosophic spirit of Holbein, and but -a faint glimmer of Holbein's dramatic insight. He was not endowed with -the romantic imagination, the deep reflective power, the broad -intellectual and moral sympathy of Drer. There is no need to magnify -his genius, for it was great and valuable by its own right. He was, -primarily, an observer of nature, and he copied natural facts with -straightforward veracity; he delineated animal life with marvellous -spirit; he knew the value of the texture of a bird's feather (Fig. 61) -as no one before ever realized it. He was open also to the influence -which nature exerts over the emotions, and he rendered the sentiment of -the landscape as few engravers have been able to do. His hearty spirit -responded to country sights (Fig. 62), and he portrayed the humorous -with zest and pleasure, as well as the cheerful and the melancholy with -truth and feeling; his humor is sometimes indelicate, but it is -faithful; usually it is the humor of a situation which strikes him, -seldom the higher humor which appears in such cuts as the superstitious -dog. He is open to pathos, too, but here it is not the higher order of -pathos far-reaching into the bases of life and emotion--in this cut -(Fig. 64), for example, one fancies his heart is nearly altogether with -the uncared-for animal, and takes not much thought of the deserted -hearth. With this veracity, sensitiveness, heartiness, there is also an -unbending virtue--a little like preaching sometimes, with its gallows in -the background--but sturdy and homely; not rising into any eloquent -homily, but with indignation for the boys drowning a cat or the man -beating his overdriven horse. - -As an artist he knows, like Holbein, the method of great art. His -economy of labor, his simplicity, justness, and sureness of stroke show -the master's hand. There was no waste in his work, no ineffective effort -after impossible results, no meaningless lines. For these excellences of -method and of character he has been often praised, especially because he -developed his talents under very unfavorable conditions; but perhaps no -words would have been sweeter to him than those which Charlotte Bront -wrote, sincerely out of her own experience without doubt, for he himself -said he was led to his task by "the hope of administering to the -pleasure and amusement of youth." Charlotte Bront, speaking through the -lips of Jane Eyre of the pleasure she took as a child in looking through -Bewick's books, writes thus: - -"I returned to my book--Bewick's History of British Birds, the -letterpress whereof I cared little for, generally speaking; and yet -there were certain introductory pages that, child as I was, I could not -pass quite as a blank: they were those which treat of the haunts of -sea-fowl; of 'the solitary rocks and promontories' by them only -inhabited; of the coast of Norway, studded with isles from its southern -extremity, the Lindeness, or Naze, to the North Cape-- - - 'Where the Northern Ocean, in vast whirls, - Boils round the naked, melancholy isles - Of farthest Thule, and the Atlantic surge - Pours in among the stormy Hebrides.' - -[Illustration: FIG. 66.--The Broken Boat. From Bewick's "British -Birds."] - -[Illustration: FIG. 67.--The Church-yard. From Bewick's "British -Birds."] - -Nor could I pass unnoticed the suggestion of the black shores of -Lapland, Siberia, Spitzbergen, Nova Zembla, Iceland, Greenland. * * * Of -these death-white realms I formed an idea of my own--shadowy, like all -the half-comprehended notions that float dim through children's brains, -but strangely impressive. The words in these introductory pages -connected themselves with the succeeding vignettes, and gave -significance to the rock standing up alone in a sea of billow and spray; -to the broken boat (Fig. 66) stranded on a desolate coast; to the cold -and ghastly moon glancing through bars of cloud at a wreck just sinking. -I cannot tell what sentiment haunted the quiet, solitary church-yard -(Fig. 67), with its inscribed head-stone, its gate, its two trees, its -low horizon, girdled by a broken wall, and its newly risen crescent -attesting the hour of even-tide. The two ships becalmed on a torpid sea -I believed to be marine phantoms. The fiend pinning down the thief's -pack behind him I passed over quickly: it was an object of terror. So -was the black, horned thing, seated aloof on a rock, surveying a distant -crowd surrounding a gallows. Each picture told a story--mysterious often -to my undeveloped understanding and imperfect feelings, yet ever -profoundly interesting. * * * With Bewick on my knee, I was then happy; -happy at least in my way." - -Bewick published the first edition of the British Quadrupeds in 1790, -the first edition of the first volume of the British Birds in 1797, and -of the second volume in 1804; all these became popular, and were several -times republished with additional cuts. His other works were very -numerous, but, as a whole, they are of inferior value. Both in the -volumes which have been mentioned and in his later work he received much -aid from his pupils, who designed and engraved, subject to his -correction and approval, many illustrations which are ascribed to him. -In his own work, notwithstanding his great excellence, he was by no -means perfect. In delineating rocks and the bark of trees, especially, -he fails; in drawing he sometimes makes errors, particularly when what -he represents was not subject to direct and frequent observation; in the -knowledge of line-arrangement, too, he is less masterly than some of his -successors, and, in this respect, his work is characterized by -effectiveness and spirit rather than by finish. Yet, when these -deductions have been made from his merit, so much remains as to render -him, without doubt, the most distinguished modern engraver in wood. - -[Illustration: FIG. 68.--The Sheep-fold. By Blake. From Virgil's -Pastorals.] - -[Illustration: FIG. 69.--The Mark of Storm. By Blake. From Virgil's -Pastorals.] - -Before Bewick's death, in 1828, another English genius, William Blake -(1758-1827), greater as an artist than as an engraver, produced a series -of woodcuts (Fig. 68) which is remarkable for vigor and originality. -They were published in a reprint of Ambrose Philips's Imitation of -Virgil's First Eclogue, in Dr. Thornton's curious edition of Virgil's -Pastorals which appeared in 1820. One of them (Fig. 69) represents a -landscape swept by violent wind. The idea of autumnal tempest has seldom -been so strikingly and forcibly embodied as in the old gnarled oak -straining with laboring limbs, the hedge-rows blown like -indistinguishable glimmering dust, the keen light of the crescent moon -shining through the driving storm upon the rows of laid corn and over -the verge of the distant hill. Contemporary engravers said the series -was inartistic and worthless, and an uneducated eye can easily discover -faults in it; imaginative genius of the highest order is expressed in -it, nevertheless, and from this the series derives its value. Blake -never made a new trial of the art. - -The revival of wood-engraving was not confined to England. At the end of -the eighteenth century Prussia founded a chair at Berlin for teaching -the art, and made the Ungers, father and son, professors of it; but, -although they contributed to the progress of wood-engraving in Germany, -no real success was obtained until the time of their successor, Gubitz. -In France, too, the Society for the Encouragement of National Industry -began to offer prizes for the best wood-engraving as early as 1805; but -some years passed before any contestants, who practised the true art, -appeared. The publisher Didot deserves much of the credit for reviving -French wood-engraving, because he employed Gubitz, and called to Paris -the English engravers who really founded the modern French school. The -efforts of societies or individuals, however, do not explain the rise of -the art in our time. Wood-engraving merely shared in the renewal of life -which took place at the end of the last century, and so profoundly -affected literature, art, and politics. The barren classical taste -disappeared in what is known as the return to nature, the intellectual -life of the people was stimulated to extraordinary activity, -civilization suffered rapid and important modifications, and every human -pursuit and interest received an impulse or a blow. Wood-engraving felt -the influence of the change, and came into demand with the other cheap -pictorial arts to satisfy popular needs; the interest of the publishers, -the improvements in the processes of printing, and the example of -Bewick and his pupils especially contributed to bring the old art again -into use, and it continued to be practised because its value in -democratic civilization was immediately recognized. - -[Illustration: FIG. 70.--The Cave of Despair. By Branston. From Savage's -"Hints on Decorative Printing."] - -England was naturally the country where wood-engraving most flourished. -The pupils of Bewick, particularly Charlton Nesbit and Luke Clennell, -practised it with great merit, the former with a better knowledge of -line-arrangement than Bewick, and the latter with extraordinary artistic -feeling. The field, however, was not left wholly to those who had -learned the art from Bewick. Robert Branston was, like Bewick, a -self-taught wood-engraver; unlike Bewick, who was never trammelled by -traditions, and was thus able to work out his own methods in his own way -by the light of his own genius, Branston (Fig. 70), who had served an -apprenticeship in engraving on copperplate, and had mastered the art of -incising and arranging lines proper to that material, came to -wood-engraving with all the traditions of copperplate-engraving firmly -fixed in his mind and hand, and he founded a school which began where -the art had left off at the time of its decline--in the imitation of the -methods of engraving on copper. It is true that Branston sometimes -admitted white line where he thought it would be effective, but he -relied on black line for the most part. The wrong step thus taken led to -the next. Engravers on copper began to draw designs on the block for -wood-engravers to cut out. John Thurston, the most distinguished of -these, drew thus for John Thompson, who, however, did not follow the -lines with the servility of the engravers of the sixteenth century, but -modified them as he engraved, changed the direction and character of the -lines, and occasionally introduced white line. In the same way -Clennell, who also engraved after John Thurston's drawing, modified it, -particularly in the disposal of the lights and shadows, and thus -improved it by his own artistic powers. Merely in engraving simple lines -Clennell's artistic feeling placed him in a higher rank than even an -engraver of the power of John Thompson, as may be seen in the cuts which -these two men made after Stothard's drawings in an edition of Rogers's -Poems (Fig. 71, 72); in this volume Clennell has given an effect which -Thompson could not give. Branston's engraving, in the same way, shows -the craftsman's skill and knowledge, but it lacks the artistic quality -of the rival school of Nesbit and Clennell. The imitation of the manner -of copperplate, which Branston introduced, became common, and was -developed in the work of Orrin Smith and William Harvey, in which -wood-engraving lost its distinctive virtues. This school, nevertheless, -was popular, and its engravings were used to illustrate important works -to which for a long time copperplate-engraving alone had been considered -equal; thus wood-engraving once more encroached upon its rival's ground. - -[Illustration: FIG. 71.--Vignette from "Rogers's Poems." London, 1827.] - -[Illustration: FIG. 72.--Vignette from "Rogers's Poems." London, 1827.] - -Meanwhile the great illustrated magazines and papers, to which -wood-engraving owes so much of its encouragement, sprang up, and with -them the necessity for rapid work, and the temptation to be satisfied -with what satisfied the public taste. Cruikshank and Seymour prepared -the way for the designers, Leech, Gilbert, Tenniel, and the Dalziels, -the latter engravers themselves, and carelessness in engraving -accompanied carelessness in drawing; but from the latter charge -Tenniel's designs must be excepted. These artists were inferior in -natural endowment to even the lesser artists of the sixteenth century, -and their work was made worse by the negligent rendering of their -engravers, who were not characterized either by the fidelity of the old -craftsmen, or the skill and knowledge of Thompson, or the artistic sense -of Clennell, but were merely inefficient workmen employed to cut lines -drawn for them as rapidly as possible. Mr. Linton made an attempt to -introduce the practice of rendering artists' drawings by lines conceived -and arranged by the engraver himself; but the current was too strongly -set in another direction, and the engraver kept his old position of -mechanic employed to clear out the designers' lines. The work which was -produced by this method in great quantities was in the mass not valuable -either for the art shown in the design or for the skill of the engraver, -but derived its interest and popularity from qualities which have little -connection with fine art. No great works were produced; and it is only -here and there that separate prints of value are to be found, among -which those by Edmund Evans in Birket Foster's edition of Cowper's Task -deserve to be mentioned. - -[Illustration: FIG. 73.--Death as a Friend.] - -Upon the Continent the development of wood-engraving was by no means so -great as in England, but some excellent work has been done by the pupils -of Thompson, who went to Paris by Didot's invitation; these men, of -whom MM. Best and Leloir were the most distinguished, together with MM. -Brevire, Porret, and Lavoignat, produced some cuts of considerable -value both in book-illustration and in the art magazines. In Germany, -too, wood-engraving counts some good workmen among its following, but -the German woodcuts, of which the two (Figs. 73, 74) here given are -favorable examples, remain inferior for the most part to either the -English or French. - -[Illustration: FIG. 74.--Death as a Throttler.] - -Wood-engraving, however, has been practised in our time less as a fine -art than as a useful art; and if little that is valuable for artistic -worth has been executed by engravers since the days of Nesbit, Clennell, -and Thompson, the application of wood-engraving for merely useful -purposes has been of the greatest service. It has become a most -powerful instrument of popular education; it imparts the largest share -of the visual knowledge which the people have of the things they have -not directly seen; its utility as a means of instruction by its -representation of the objects with which science deals, and the -mechanical contrivances and processes which science employs, and also as -a means of influence in caricature and of simple popular amusement, is -incalculable; and, notwithstanding its low level in art, there can be no -doubt that it frequently assists the exercise of the popular -imagination, and sometimes generates in the better-endowed minds among -the people a real sympathy with the higher products of art and an -appreciation of them. These utilities, indeed, so overbalance its value -simply as a fine art as to give it a distinctive character, when its -practice now is compared with that of any previous time; as, formerly, -it reflected the aspects of changing civilization, now it reflects the -peculiar character of our time, and shows how great has been the gain in -the popular hold upon the material comforts of life and upon -intelligence, and how great has been the loss in the community's -appreciation of purely artistic results. This is especially true of the -earlier American practice of the art, which seldom resulted in any work -of artistic value. - -[Illustration: FIG. 75.--The Creation. Engraved by J. F. Adams.] - -[Illustration: FIG. 76.--The Deluge. Engraved by J. F. Adams.] - -The history of wood-engraving in America, until recent years, is -comparatively insignificant. In art, as in literature, the first -generation of the Republic followed the English tradition almost -slavishly; the engravers, indeed, showed hardly any individuality, and -left no work of permanent value. During Colonial times some very rude -apprentice-work on metal had been produced; but the first certain -engraving in wood bears date of 1794, and was from the hand of Dr. -Alexander Anderson (1775-1870), a physician by profession, but with a -natural bent toward the art, which he had played at from boyhood, and -finally made the principal business of his life. The sight of some of -Bewick's early work had determined him to employ wood as a material in -place of the type-metal on which he had previously engraved in relief, -and the example of Bewick taught him to use white line. At that time, -and for many years afterward, the art was applied mainly to the -production of cuts for advertisements, labels, and the like, as a -servant of trade; its use for illustration simply was confined almost -wholly to juvenile books. The engravers who at the beginning of the -century introduced the art in New York, Boston, Philadelphia, Baltimore, -and New Haven were few, and, for the most part, self-taught; usually -they merely copied English cuts, and thus they reflected in their -poorer work the manner of successive English schools; but at least they -kept the art alive, and handed it on through their pupils. Dr. Anderson -was the best of them; yet, although he was free and bold in his handling -of white line, and once or twice attained an excellence that proved him -a worthy pupil of Bewick, he left nothing of enduring interest, and the -work of his fellows met with even swifter forgetfulness. Woodcuts of -really high value were not produced in America until Joseph Alexander -Adams (b. 1803), one of the young engravers encouraged by Dr. Anderson, -began to do his best work (Figs. 75, 76), about 1834, and applied his -talents to the illustration of the Bible, published by the Harper -Brothers in 1843, with which wood-engraving may be properly said to have -begun its great career in this country. This volume was embellished by -sixteen hundred cuts, executed under the supervision of Mr. Adams, and -plainly exhibits the capacities and limitations of the art at that time. -Other illustrated books followed this from the same press, and from that -of the Putnams; the cuts in the papers and magazines, established during -the second quarter of the century, became more numerous, and the -attention paid by the American Tract Society to the engravings in its -various publications had great influence in encouraging and improving -the art. The work of this first half-century, however, as a whole, does -not deserve any great praise; in judging it, the inexperience of the -engravers and the difficulties of printing must be remembered; but in -its inferior portions it is marked by feebleness and coarseness, and in -its better portion by a hardness and stiffness of line, a lack of -variety and gradation in tone and tint, and a defect in vivacity and -finish. There are here and there exceptional cuts to which these -strictures would not apply, but the body of the work is vitiated either -through an incomplete control of his materials by the engraver, or -through an evil imitation of copperplate-drawing by the designer. Where -the engraver was also the designer the work is usually of higher value. - -[Illustration: FIG. 77.--Butterflies. Engraved by F. S. King.] - -With the second half of the century began that expansion of the press, -that increase in the volume and improvement in the quality of the -reading provided for the public through newspapers and magazines, which -has been one of the most striking and important results of democratic -institutions. The Harpers' Monthly Magazine was established in 1850, and -it was followed within a decade by several illustrated periodicals; -during the civil war there was naturally a slackening in this -development, but, upon its close, numerous new illustrated weekly or -monthly publications began their longer or shorter career, among them -those issued by the Scribners, which were to have so important a bearing -on the history of wood-engraving. The art naturally received a great -impetus from this demand upon its resources; it rapidly advanced; and -being encouraged farther by the popularity of the new and beautifully -illustrated gift-books of the Boston and New York publishers, it has -taken the leading place in the artistic interests of the country. - -[Illustration: FIG. 78.--Engraved by F. S. King.] - -The scope of this volume does not allow any detailed account of the -works of American engravers individually; but while the increased -productiveness and improved technique of the art during the third -quarter of the century are being noticed, it would be unjust to make no -mention of the quiet, careful, and refined woodcuts of Mr. Anthony, or -of the long and unflinching fidelity of Mr. Linton, with its reward in -admirable work, or of the exquisite skill of Mr. Henry Marsh, the best -of American engravers of that period. The latter's marvellous rendering -of insect life in the illustrations to Harris's Insects Injurious to -Vegetation, published in 1862, can never be forgotten by any who have -been fortunate enough to see the artist-proofs. His work is in the -manner of copperplate-engraving, and affords one of the few instances in -which wood-engraving has equalled the rival art in fineness, delicacy, -softness, and gradation of tone. Whatever the critic's theory may be, he -must remember that genius has a higher validity than reason, and must -acknowledge such work as this to be its own justification. -Unfortunately, the cuts in the published volume were not--perhaps at -that time could not be--printed with the success they deserved. The work -of these three engravers illustrates what advance had already been made -in skilful line-arrangement and in technique before 1870, about which -time the indications of an approaching change in the art became -plainly evident. Since then progress has been uninterrupted, swift, -marked by bold experiments and startling surprises. Now American -engravers excel all others in knowledge of the resources of their art, -and in control of its materials, as well as in the interest of their -work. They have not, it is true, produced, as yet, anything to rank in -artistic value with the designs of the older masters; but, in their -hands, the art has gained a width and utility of influence among our -people hitherto unequalled in any nation at any period. From the -beginning of its history wood-engraving has been distinctively a -democratic art; at present the ease and cheapness of its processes and -the variety of its applications make it one of the most accessible -sources of inexpensive information and pleasure; for this reason it has -acquired in our country, where a reading middle class forms the larger -portion of the nation, a popular influence of such far-reaching and -penetrative power as to make it a living art in a sense which none other -of the fine arts can claim. It now enters into the intellectual life and -enjoyment of our people to a degree and with a constancy impossible to -other arts. In this respect, too, it is only at the beginning of its -career; for, as popular education spreads, the place that the art holds -in the national life will continually become more important. These -social conditions, the technical skill of the engravers, and the -appearance among the people of a critical spirit concerning their -work--not perhaps to be called intelligent as yet, but forming, nascent, -feeling its way into conscious and active life--make up a group of most -favorable circumstances for a real artistic development. Whether such a -development will take place depends in large measure on the clearness -with which engravers understand the laws of their art, as presented by -their materials, and on the degree in which such knowledge controls -them. The experiments of recent years are to be judged finally by the -results; but, in spite of the novel effects obtained, and of the new -character that has been given to the art, there is at present no such -unanimity, either among the engravers or the public, as to be decisive -of the worth of the new work as a whole. While the issue is still -doubtful, and the stake is the future of the only art by which those who -care for the growth of civilization can develop in the people a sense of -art, bring them to an appreciation of its value, open their -understandings to its teachings, and fill their lives with its delights, -something may be gained by recurring to fundamental principles, as -illustrated by the practice of the older masters, not with an end to -limit the future by the past, but to foresee it. Such a brief review and -summary of past thought respecting the aims and methods of -wood-engraving, with such corrections as modern improvements in -processes justify, will afford the surest ground for criticism of the -work still to be considered. - -All the graphic arts have to do with some one or more of the three modes -under which nature is revealed to the artist--the mode of pure form, the -mode of pure color, the mode of form and color, as they are affected by -the different lights and shadows in which they exist. In nature these -three modes do not exist separately, and usually no one of them is so -prominent as to efface the others; in the several arts, however, the -principal attention is given, now to one, now to another, of them, -according to the capacities of the art and the powers of the artists. -Thus sculpture deals only with form, and even in painting, which -includes all within its province, different masters make a choice, and -aim principally at reproducing color, or chiaroscuro, or form, as their -talents direct them, for a genius seldom arises with the power to -combine all these with the truth and harmony of nature. Wood-engraving, -there is no need to say, cannot reproduce the real hues of objects, nor -the play of light upon hue and form, nor the more marvellously -transforming touch of shadow; it can represent the form of a peach, but -it cannot paint its delicate tints, nor adequately and accurately show -how the beauty of its bloom in sun differs from the beauty of its bloom -in shade. More broadly, a landscape shot with the evanescent shadows -that hover in rapidly moving mists, or the intermingling light and gloom -of a wind-swept moonlit sky half overcast with clouds, wood-engraving -has no power to mirror in true likeness. The most it can do in this -direction is to indicate, it cannot express; it can exhibit strong -contrasts and delicate gradations of light and shadow, and it can -suggest varying intensity of hues, by the greater or less depth of its -blacks and grays; but real color and perfect chiaroscuro it relinquishes -to painting. - -Form, therefore, is left as the main object of the wood-engraver's -craft, and the representation of form is effected by delineation, -drawing, line-work. This is why the great draughtsmen, such as Drer and -Holbein, succeeded in designing for wood-engraving. They knew how to -express form by lines, and they did not attempt to do more even when -suggesting color-values by the convention of black and gray. Line-work -is thus the main business of the engraver, because form must be -expressed by lines. Line-work, however, is of different kinds, and all -kinds are not equally proper for the art. Hitherto the fineness of line -by which copperplate-engraving easily obtains delicacy of contour and -soft transitions of tone, has been rarely and with difficulty attained -by the best-skilled hand and eye among wood-engravers, and when attained -has, usually, not been successfully printed. There remains, however, no -longer any reason to exclude fine lines from wood-engraving, when once -it has become plain that such work is possible without a wasteful -expenditure of labor, that its results are valuable, and that it can be -properly printed. But if it shall prove that the character of the line -proper to copperplate is also proper to wood, it may be looked on as -certain that the line-arrangement proper to the former material can -never be rationally used for the latter. The crossing of lines to which -the engraver on copperplate resorts is especially laborious to the -engraver in wood, and after all his toil does not give any desirable -effect which would not have resulted from other methods of work. It has -been seen that Drer employed this cross-hatching in imitation of -copperplate-engraving; but he did so because he was ignorant of the way -to arrange color so that this difficult task of engraving -cross-hatchings would be unnecessary. Holbein, who was equally ignorant -of the possibilities of white line, rejected cross-hatching. Bewick also -rejected it, and proved it was unnecessary even where much color was to -be given. In the later work of the sixteenth century, and in modern -English work, wood-engraving imitated its rival art both in the -character and the arrangement of its lines; it failed in both instances -mainly because such imitation involved a waste of labor, and did not -result in works so valuable artistically as were obtained by -copperplate-engraving with far greater ease. At present the objection -to the use of cross-hatching in wood-engraving is as serious as ever, -but the employment of fine lines for some purposes, as in the rendering -of delicate textures and tones, has been justified, mainly in -consequence of innovations in the modes of printing. The charm of this -new and surprising beauty in fine-line woodcuts, however, has not at all -deprived the old broad and bold line of its force and vigor, nor made -less valuable the strong contrasts in which the art won its earlier -success. On the contrary, it is in the old province and by the old -methods that wood-engraving has worked out its most distinctive and -peculiar effects of real value. - -[Illustration: FIG. 79.--Mount Lafayette (White Mountains). By J. -Tinkey.] - -In what has been thus far said of the line-work proper to -wood-engraving, black line-work only has been referred to. -Wood-engraving is also an art of design in white line, and here a -different set of considerations applies. There is not the same -difficulty in cutting fine and delicate white lines, as is the case with -black lines, nor the same unlikelihood of their effect being felt in the -printed design. There is, too, no objection whatever to crossing white -lines, as a mode of work, for it is as easy a process for the -wood-engraver as crossing black lines is for the copperplate-engraver, -and the result thus obtained is sometimes of great value, particularly -in the moulding of the face. The art of design in white line, however, -is but little developed; but, not to depreciate the older method of -black line, which is extremely valuable, nevertheless it is clear that -white line-work is the peculiar province of the wood-engraver, and that -in developing its capacities the future of the art mainly lies, so far -as it rests with him. The merit of all line-work, whether black or -white, fine or broad, bold or subtle, depends upon the certainty with -which the lines serve their purposes. If, as with Holbein, every line -has its work to do, and does that work perfectly; if it fulfils its -function of defining an outline, or marking the moulding of a muscle, or -deepening the intensity of a shadow, or performing some similar service, -then the designer has followed the method of high art, and has produced -something of value. The work of all who practise the art--the -draughtsmen who draw in black line, and the engravers who draw in white -line--has worth just in proportion as they acquire the power to put -intention into their lines and to express something by every stroke; -and, other things being equal, he who conveys most meaning in the fewest -lines, like Holbein and Bewick, is the greatest master. By means of such -lines so arranged wood-engraving does represent form with great power, -and also texture, which is only a finer form; it indicates positive -hues, and, within limits, suggests the play of light and shadow on form -and hue. It thus aims chiefly, in its bolder and more facile work, at -force, spirit, and contrast, and, in its more rare and difficult -efforts, at delicacy, finish, and nice gradation of harmonious tones. - -If there is any value in the teaching of the past, either these -principles must be shown to be no longer valid, or by them the engraving -of the last ten years must be judged. A considerable portion of it -consists of attempts to render original designs--for example, a washed -drawing--not by interpreting its artistic qualities, its form, color, -force, spirit, and manner, so far as these can be given by simple, -defined, firm lines of the engraver's creation, but by imitating as -closely as possible the original effect, and showing the character of -the original process, whether it were water-color, charcoal-sketching, -oil-painting, clay-modelling, or any other. However desirable it may be -to make known the original process, such knowledge does not enhance the -artistic value of the cut; and however pleasing it may be to the public -to obtain copies even successfully, indicating the general effects, -without the charm, of originals in other arts with which wood-engraving -has little affinity, such work will rather satisfy curiosity than -delight the eye. The public may thus derive information; they will not -obtain works of artistic value at all equal to those which -wood-engraving might give them, did it not abdicate its own peculiar -power of expressing nature in a true, accurate, and beautiful way and -descend to mechanical imitation. The application of the art to such -purposes, as little more than another mode of photography, is a -debasement of it; it ceases to be a fine art when it ceases to be -practised for the sake of its own powers of beautiful expression. Such -work, therefore, has only a secondary interest, as being one more -process for the defective reproduction of beautiful things, and requires -only a passing mention. - -[Illustration: FIG. 80.--"And silent were the sheep in woolly -fold."--KEATS, _St. Agnes Eve_. - -Engraved by J. G. Smithwick.] - -[Illustration: FIG. 81.--The Old Orchard. Engraved by F. Juengling.] - -Aside from these imitative cuts, the most striking portion of recent -engraving, that which has been hailed as opening a new career to the -art, is characterized either by a great refinement of line or by a -practical abandonment of line. Of the former tendency Mr. Henry Marsh -affords the most prominent examples by his engravings in illustration of -insect life, or similarly delicate work. The skill of his hand and the -charm of the style he has adopted are beyond question; there is as -little doubt of the truthfulness and beauty of the effects secured in -the rendering of individual objects, the butterfly wing, the pond-lily, -or the spray of the winter forest; the only deduction to be made from -his praise is, that when he binds these several objects into one -picture, as in a landscape, he suffers the too frequent penalty of -fine detail, and loses in the delicacy and finish of the parts the -beauty that should have characterized the whole. There is always in his -cuts grace, poetic feeling, exquisite workmanship, but there is in some -of them a lack of body, substance, distance, of skill in placing the -objects in a natural relation to one another, that mars the total -result. Mr. Marsh is one of the older men, and deserves the credit of -first showing what wood-engraving is capable of in refinement of line; -but younger men have joined him in developing these capacities of the -art, and have made work in this style more common. The best of it is by -Mr. F. S. King, being equal in every quality to Mr. Marsh's most -admirable cuts. Such engraving is exceptional, of course; but the -evenness and transition of tone, the care for line, the discrimination -of both line and color values, shown in these butterflies (Fig. 77), -are characteristic of Mr. King's work in general, although in some of -it a lack of definition in outlines is noticeable. The refinement of -line in these two engravers is justifiable, because they put meaning -into the lines, and express by them something that could not otherwise -be interpreted to the eye through this art; and so long as this remains -the case they will meet with commendation and encouragement. It is only -when such refinement is needlessly resorted to, or is confusing or -meaningless, that it is rightly rebuked. - -[Illustration: FIG. 82.--Some Art Connoisseurs. Engraved by Robert -Hoskin.] - -The second and more evil tendency of recent engraving, toward an -abandonment of line, is exhibited in many phases, and by nearly all the -younger men. In some cases the central portion of the cut seems alone to -be cared for, and is much elaborated, while the surrounding parts fade -off into the background with the uncertainty of a dissolving view; in -other cases there seems to be entire indifference about form or texture: -there is no definition of the one nor discrimination in the other, but -an effect only is sought for, usually vague or startling, always -unsatisfactory, and not infrequently ugly. Such work is the product of -ignorance or carelessness or caprice. In it wood-engraving ceases to be -an art of expression. These obscure masses, meant for trees, in which -one may look with a microscope and see neither leaf, limb, nor bark; -these mottled grounds, meant for grass or houses, in which there is -neither blade nor fibre; these blocks of formless tints, in which all -the veracity of the landscape perishes, do not record natural facts, or -convey thought or sentiment; they are simply vacant of meaning. To -illustrate or criticise such work would be an ungracious as well as a -needless task; but even in the best work of the best engravers, with -which alone these pages are concerned, the marks of tendency in this -wrong direction are palpably present. Here, for example, is some -charming work by Mr. King (Fig. 78), wholly successful in securing the -effect sought--beautiful, well worth doing. The spirit of the season, -the moist days, the April nature, the leafing and budding in mist and -cloudiness, and gleam of light and breath of warm, soft air along -full-flowing streams, the swift and buoyant welcome borne on the forward -flight of the birds straight toward us, the ever-renewed marvel of the -birth of life and the coming on of days of beauty--the feeling of all -this is given, and the success is due in large part to the vagueness -that dims the whole design; but why should the wreathing flowers, the -tender crown of all, lose the curve of their petals and darken the -delicate form of each young blossom, all blurred into the background, -and half-effaced and marred, and tiring the eye with the effort to -define them? If the value of form had been more felt, if the definition -of outline had been firmer, if the spray had really blossomed, would not -the design have been better? There is less doubt of the error in the -next cut. The disappearance of texture and the attenuation of substance -into flat shadow is very plain. To a true woodsman, to one who has lived -with trees, and knows and loves them, there is little of their nature in -these vague, transparent, insubstantial forms, that seem rather skeleton -leaves than strong-limbed, firm-rooted trees that have sung in the -frosty silence and lived through the "bitter cold" of many a St. Agnes -Eve. Who, looking on these pale shadows, would remember that the same -poet, whose verse is here put into picture, thought of trees as -"senators" of the woods? In the disposition of the light of the -atmosphere, in the management of the gray tints, particularly in the -lower portion of the cut, the eye takes more pleasure: there is some -discrimination between the sheep, the old man, and the fold--as much, -perhaps, as the prevailing obscurity admits; but the cut as a whole is -much harmed by the lack of relief, which seems to be a recurring fault -in fine-lined and crowded work. The cut (Fig. 81) by Mr. Juengling, -whose engravings exhibit the tendencies of the new methods in the most -pronounced way, shows, like the preceding illustration, an inattention -to texture in the foliage, and an entire negligence of cloud-form in the -sky, which is a fair example of the abandonment of line, or of -meaningless line, as one chooses to call it. An effect is gained, a -horizon light and shadowed masses, but the landscape is not faithfully -rendered. - -[Illustration: FIG. 83.--The Travelling Musicians. Engraved by R. A. -Muller.] - -Of a different order are the two following cuts, simple, quiet, and -refined. The mountain scene (page 183) is admirable for the disposition -of its lights and shadows, the gradation and variation of its tints, and -the subordination of every element to a truthful total effect. The cut -by Mr. Hoskin (Fig. 82) is a good example of his always excellent work, -showing his power of economy and his feeling for line and tone, while it -evinces self-restraint in methods of work. - -[Illustration: FIG. 84.--Shipwrecked. Engraved by Frank French.] - -The change that has taken place in recent engraving has been less marked -in cuts of landscape, however, than in cuts of figures. In the former -line-arrangement has been affected somewhat, and usually for the worse, -but in the latter the transformation has been greater, and the results -already worked out of more striking novelty. The development, however, -has been in the same directions, in refining or abandoning line, and -examples exhibit the same or analogous variation in the engravers' -regard for form and texture. The first group here given (Fig. 83) shows -clearly, by the character and the direction of its lines, that it is a -reproduction of copperplate-engraving, and as a piece of imitative work -it is remarkable; the figures are life-like, full of vivacity and force, -and the faces are natural and very expressive. It is, however, in the -style of copperplate, and in the qualities mentioned it does not excel -the next cut (Fig. 84), in which the character and direction of the -lines are those peculiar to wood-engraving. The former has an appearance -of more finish, as also of more hardness, but it does not by its more -difficult mode of engraving, accomplish what is aimed at in any higher -degree than does the latter by its simpler, easier, and freer manner. -The Tap-room (Fig. 85), by the same engraver, is less careful work, and -its novel technical quality, while of the same general character as that -of the last cut, is more pronounced and less pleasing. The figures as a -whole are good, but the faces are poor; the use of the cross white line -or stipple for fire, apron, rafter, table-cloth, and face indifferently -cannot be commended, and the character of many of the lines -(particularly in the lower part of the seated figure) is beyond -criticism. It is the still bolder and more general use of the peculiar -modes of engraving in this design that results in the most meaningless, -negligent scratchiness of the new school. Mr. J. P. Davis's "Going to -Church" (Fig. 86) is a favorable example of another considerable class -of cuts that is on first sight novel and pleasing. On examination one -sees that the figures are certainly the best part of the cut; but why -should the maiden's dress be the same in texture as the cow's breast, -and the young man's trousers the same as the cow's back? and why should -the child's face be of a piece with its collar? Notice, too, beyond the -wall the familiar flat and insubstantial trees, with their foliage that -would serve as well for the ground at the foot of the steps. - -[Illustration: FIG. 85.--The Tap-room. Engraved by Frank French.] - -[Illustration: FIG. 86.--Going to Church. Engraved by J. P. Davis.] - -The best work in these figure-cuts, however, is by Mr. T. Cole, who -stands at the head of engravers in the new manner, though he is not -confined by it. The portraits, by which he first became widely known, -were remarkable for an entire absence, in some cases, of any demarcation -between picture and background, and for a concentration of attention -upon some few specially characteristic features of the face. Whoever -deserved the blame so liberally meted out to these heads, Mr. Cole's -reputation rests now upon better work--upon such an exquisitely refined -portrait as that of Modjeska as Juliet, in the Scribner Portfolio of -Proofs, and other cuts of hardly less merit there to be found. -Frequently, however, there is noticeable in some of his best work an -analogous characteristic to that of the earlier portraits--the -concentration of attention on the central figures, to the neglect of the -minor portions of the designs. Thus in the example here given (Fig. 87), -so long as the eye is concerned only with the two stately figures, there -is only pleasure in such admirable workmanship; but when the gaze -wanders to the near, and especially the remote, background, there is -nothing to delight the lover of art or nature in such confusion, -insubstantiality, flat, waving shadows without beauty or meaning. Who -would guess from that obscure and formless net-work in the distance that -the next line of these verses is-- - - "And all the sunset heaven behind your head?" - -This "generalization" of the landscape, as it is called, empties it of -all that makes it lovely. To the cut, as an example of figure-engraving, -the highest praise may be given, but as an entire picture it is harmed -by its imperfection of detail. To subordinate by destroying is not the -mode of high art, but it is often the mode of the new school. - -Of all the work of recent years, however, the best, it is generally -admitted, is in the portraits, possibly because the artists are -restrained by the definiteness of the form and expression to be -conveyed. Mr. Cole's Modjeska has been already praised, though it is -rather a fine figure than a fine portrait. A portrait of Mr. Hunt by Mr. -Linton, and of Mr. Fletcher Harper by Mr. Kruell, are also of high -merit, and in both a very high level of excellence is sustained. The -special character of the new school in portraiture, as a distinct and -radical style, is illustrated by Mr. Juengling's "Spanish Peasant" (Fig. -88). It recalls at once the portrait of Whistler by the same hand. In -disposition of color, in certainty of effect, and in skill of execution, -all must recognize the engraver's power; but is the value of the human -face, in whose mouldings is expressed the life of years and -generations--is the value of the human eye, in which the light never -goes out, truly felt? One cannot help feeling that the brutalizing of -this face is a matter rather of art than of truth. Contrast the two -portraits here given (Figs. 89, 90), one in the bolder, more definite, -larger style, admirable in its tones and discrimination of textures, -among the very best in this manner; the other finer, with the tendency -to fade into the background, but faultless in its rendering of the face, -and proving by success the great effectiveness of the fine white -cross-line. - -[Illustration: FIG. 87.-- - - "Nay, Love, 'tis you who stand - With almond clusters in your clasping hand." - - Engraved by T. Cole. -] - -These illustrations of recent engraving are sufficiently numerous and -various to offer a fair test of what has been done in different branches -of the art. The capacity of any new school should be judged by the best -it has produced; but, even in this best work, it is not difficult to -discern at times the same tendencies that have been the main cause of -failure in the less good work. The obscuration of leading outlines; the -disregard of substance, shape, and material in leaf, cloud, and stuffs; -the neglect of relief and perspective, the crowding of the ground with -meaningless lines, either undirected or misdirected, or uselessly -refined; the aim at an effect by an arrangement of color almost -independent of form, the attempt to make a momentary impression on the -eye, instead of to give lasting pleasure to the mind through the -artistic sense, and--especially in the best work--the lack of perfect -and masterly finish in all portions of the design, however insignificant -by comparison with the leading parts--these must be counted as defects. -How much of such failure is due to the designer, it is impossible to -determine without sight of the original drawings; a considerable portion -of the fault may rest with him; in wood-engravings, as art-works, the -union of designer and craftsman is inseparable--the two stand or fall -together. But when all deductions have been made, the best engravers may -rightly be very proud of their work, confident of their future, and -hopeful of great things. With such perfect technical skill as they -possess, with such form and texture as they have represented with care, -truth, and beauty; with such softness of tone and power of both -delicate and strong line as some of their number have earned the mastery -of, the value of future work depends only on the wisdom of their aims. -If the fundamental grounds on which the foregoing criticism rests be -true, these engravers have won success in so far as they have attended -to form and texture as the main business of their art, and they have -failed in so far as they have destroyed these. From its peculiar and -original powers in the interpretation of form and texture by line-work, -either black or white, wood-engraving has derived its value and earned -the respect due it as an art, both through its great works in the past -and, so far as yet appears, through its best works in the present. -Wood-engravers, if the design given them to reproduce is in black line, -fit for engraving in wood, must copy it simply, and then, should -artist-draughtsmen arise, the art in this manner will again produce -works of permanent value as in the days of Holbein; if, on the other -hand, the design given them is in color or washed tints, or anything of -that sort, they must interpret it by lines of their own creation, and -then, too, should any engraver-draughtsmen arise among them, the art -will possess a similarly high value; but in no other way than by -attending to these two kinds of line-work, separately or together, can -wood-engraving remain artistic; and even then its success will depend on -the knowledge and skill of the designer, whether artist or engraver, in -the use and arrangement of the special lines which are best adapted to -the art. - -[Illustration: FIG. 88.--The Spanish Peasant. Engraved by F. Juengling.] - -[Illustration: FIG. 89.--James Russell Lowell. Engraved by Thomas -Johnson.] - -[Illustration: FIG. 90.--Arthur Penrhyn Stanley. Engraved by G. Kruell.] - -The history of wood-engraving, as it is recorded in the chief monuments -of the art, has now been told from its beginning down to the present -moment. Its historic and artistic value has been mainly dwelt upon, with -the view of showing its utility as a democratic art and its powers as a -fine art. It has had an illustrious career. It has shared in the -great social movements which transformed medival into modern -civilization. It entered into the popular life, in its earliest days, by -representing the saints whom the people worshipped. It contributed to -the cause of popular civilization in the spread of literature. It -assisted the introduction of realism into art, and gave powerful aid in -the gradual secularization of art. It lent itself to the Italian genius, -and was able to preserve something of the loveliness of the Italian -Renaissance. It helped the Reformation. It gave enduring form to the -imagination and thought of Drer and Holbein. It fell into inevitable -decline; but, when the development of democracy again began in the new -age, it entered into the work of popular civilization with -ever-increasing vigor and ever-widening influence. It seems still to -possess unlimited capacities for usefulness in the future in both the -intellectual and artistic education of the people. It may yet crown its -career by making this country an art-loving as well as a book-reading -Republic. - - - - -A LIST OF THE PRINCIPAL WORKS - -UPON - -WOOD-ENGRAVING USEFUL TO STUDENTS. - - -ARCHIV fr die zeichnenden Knste, mit besonderer Beziehung auf -Kupfer-stecher-und Holzschneidekunst. Herausg. von R. Naumann. -1ter-16ter Jahrgang. Leipzig, 1855-'70. 8vo. - -BARTSCH (ADAM). Le Peintre-Graveur. Vienne, 1803-'21. 21 T. 8vo; Atlas, -4to. - -BECKER (C.). Jobst Amman, Zeichner und Formschneider, etc., nebst -Zustzen von R. Weigel. Leipzig, 1854. 4to. - -BERJEAU (J. PH.). Biblia Pauperum. Reproduced in Facsimile from one of -the copies in the British Museum, with an historical and bibliographical -Introduction. London, 1859. Folio. - -Speculum Human Salvationis. Le plus ancien Monument de la Xylographie -et de la Typographic runies. Reproduit en Facsimile, avec Introduction -historique et bibliographique. Londres, 1861. Folio. - -BERNARD (AUGUSTE). De l'Origine de l'Imprimerie. Paris, 1853. 2T. 8vo. - -BIGMORE (E. C.) and WYMAN (C. W. H.). A Bibliography of Printing. With -Notes and Illustrations. [Vol. 1.] A-L. London, 1880. 4to. - -BILDER-ALBUM zur neueren Geschichte des Holzschnitts in Deutschland. -Herausg. vom Albertverein. Leipzig, 1877. 4to. - -BLANC (CHARLES). Grammaire des Arts du Dessin, etc. Paris, 1867. 8vo. - -BREVIRE (A.). De la Xilographie ou Gravure sur bois. Rouen, 1833. 8vo. - -CHATTO (W. A.). A Treatise on Wood-engraving. London, 1839. 8vo. Known -as Jackson (John) and Chatto's History. - -DERSCHAU (H. A. VON). Holzschnitte alter deutscher Meister in den -Originalplatten, gesammelt von Derschau, mit einer Abhandlung ber die -Holzschneidekunst begleitet, von Rudolph Zacharias Becker. Gotha, -1808-'16. 3 Th. Folio. - -DIBDIN (T. F.). A bibliographical, antiquarian, and picturesque Tour in -France and Germany. London, 1821. 3 vols. 8vo. - -Bibliographical Decameron. London, 1817. 3 vols. 8vo. - -Bibliotheca Spenceriana. London, 1814, '15. 4 vols. 8vo. - -DIDOT (AMBROISE FIRMIN). Essai typographique et bibliographique sur -l'Histoire de la Gravure sur Bois. Paris, 1863. 8vo. - -DOCUMENTS iconographiques et typographiques de la Bibliothque royale de -Belgique. Bruxelles, 1877. Folio. - -Premire Livr. Spirituale Pomerium, par L. Alvin. - -Deuxime Livr. Gravures Cribles, par H. Hymans. - -Troisime Livr. La Vierge de 1418, par Ch. Ruelens. - -Cinquime Livr. Les neuf Preux, par . Ftis. - -Sixime Livr. Lgende de Saint Servais, par Ch. Ruelens. - -DUPLESSIS (G. G.). Essai de Bibliographie, contenant l'Indication des -Ouvrages relatifs l'Histoire de la Gravure et des Graveurs. Paris, -1862. 8vo. - -Histoire de la Gravure. Paris, 1880. 8vo. - -Les Merveilles de la Gravure. Paris, 1869. 8vo. - -MERIC-DAVID (T. B.) Discours Historique sur la Gravure en Taille-douce -et sur la Gravure en Bois. Paris, 1809. 8vo. - -FALKENSTEIN (C. C. VON). Geschichte der Buchdruckerkunst. Leipzig, 1840. -4to. - -FOURNIER (P. S.). Dissertation sur l'Origine et les Progrs de l'Art de -Graver en Bois. Paris, 1758. 8vo. - -De l'Origine et des Productions de l'Imprimerie primitive en Taille de -Bois. Paris, 1759. 8vo. - -GARNIER (J. M.). Histoire de l'Imagerie populaire et des Cartes jouer - Chartres. Chartres, 1869. 8vo. - -GILKS (T.). A Sketch of the Origin and Progress of the Art of -Wood-engraving. London, 1868. 8vo. - -HAMERTON (P. G.). The Graphic Arts. London, 1882. Plates. Folio. - -HEINECKEN (K. H., BARON VON). Ide gnrale d'une Collection complette -d'Estampes. Leipsic et Vienne, 1771. 8vo. - -HELLER (JOSEPH). Geschichte der Holzschneidekunst. Bamberg, 1823. 8vo. - -HOLTROP (J. W.). Monumens typographiques des Pays-Bas au quinzime -Sicle. La Haye, 1868. Folio. - -HUMPHREYS (H. NOEL). A History of the Art of Printing. London, 1867. -Folio. - -Masterpieces of the early Printers and Engravers. London, 1870. Folio. - -ILG (ALBERT). Ueber den kunsthistorischen Werth der Hypnerotomachia -Poliphili. Wien, 1872. 8vo. - -JANSEN (H.). Essai sur l'Origine de la Gravure en Bois et en -Taille-douce. Paris, 1808. 2 T. 8vo. - -LABITTE (A.). Gravures sur Bois tires des Livres franais du XVe -Sicle. Paris, 1864. 4to. - -LA BORDE (HENRI). Notice sur deux Estampes de 1406. Gazette des -Beaux-Arts, Mars 1, 1869. - -LA BORDE (LON E. S. J., MARQUIS DE). Dbuts de l'Imprimerie -Strasbourg. Paris, 1840. 8vo. - -Essai d'un Catalogue des Artistes originaires des Pays-Bas. Paris, 1849. -8vo. - -LACROIX (PAUL). Les Arts au Moyen ge et l'poque de la Renaissance. -Paris, 1870. 8vo. - -LANZI (L.). Storia pittorica della Italia dal Risorgimento delle Belle -Arti fin presso al fine del XVIII secolo. 6a ed. Milano, 1823. 6 vols. -8vo. - -MABERLY (J.). The Print Collector. Edited, with Notes and a Bibliography -of Engraving, by R. Hoe, Jr. New York, 1880. 4to. - -MEISTERWERKE der Holzschneidekunst aus dem Gebriete der Architektur, -Sculptur und Malerei. 1ter-3ter Band. Leipzig, 1880, '81. Folio. - -MERLIN (R.). Origine des Cartes Jouer. Paris, 1869. 4to. - -MURR (C. G. VON). Bibliothque de Peinture, de Sculpture, et de Gravure. -Francfort et Leipsic, 1770. 2 vols. 12mo. - -OTTLEY (W. Y.). An Inquiry concerning the Invention of Printing. London, -1863. 4to. - -An Inquiry into the Origin and early History of Engraving, upon Copper -and in Wood. London, 1816. 2 vols. 4to. - -PAEILLE (C.). Essai historique et critique sur l'Invention de -l'Imprimerie. Lille, 1859. 8vo. - -PAPILLON (J. M.). Trait historique et pratique de la Gravure en Bois. -Paris, 1766. 3 T. in 2. 8vo. - -PASSAVANT (J. D.). Le Peintre-Graveur. Leipsic, 1860-'64. 6 T. 8vo. - -RENOUVIER (JULES). Des Gravures en Bois dans les Livres d'Anthoine -Verard. Paris, 1859. 8vo. - -Des Gravures sur Bois dans les Livres de Simon Vostre. Paris, 1862. 8vo. - -Des Types et des Manires des Matres Graveurs pour servir l'Histoire -de la Gravure. Montpellier, 1853-'56. 4to. - -Histoire de l'Origine et des Progrs de la Gravure dans les Pays-Bas et -en Allemagne, jusqu' la fin du quinzime Sicle. Bruxelles, 1860. 8vo. - -RUMOHR (C. F. L. F. VON). Zur Geschichte und Theorie der -Formschneidekunst. Leipzig, 1837. 8vo. - -RUSKIN (JOHN). Ariadne Florentina. Six Lectures on Wood and Metal -Engraving. Orpington, Kent, 1876. 8vo. - -SAVAGE (WILLIAM). Practical Hints on decorative Printing, with -Illustrations engraved on Wood. London, 1822. 4to. - -SCOTT (W. B.). Albert Drer, his Life and Works. London, 1869. Sm. 8vo. -The Little Masters. London, 1879. 8vo. - -SINGER (S. WELLER). Researches into the History of Playing Cards; with -Illustrations of the Origin of Printing and of Engraving on Wood. -London, 1816. 4to. - -SOTHEBY (S. L.). Principia Typographica. The Block-books issued in -Holland, Flanders, and Germany during the fifteenth Century. London, -1858. 3 vols. Folio. - -THAUSING (M.). Albert Drer, his Life and Works. Translated. With -Portraits and Illustrations. London, 1882. 8vo. - -UMBREIT (A. E.). Ueber die Eigenhndigkeit der Malerformschnitte. -Leipzig, 1840. 8vo. - -VRIES (A. DE). claircissemens sur l'Histoire de l'Imprimerie. La Haye, -1843. 8vo. - -WAAGEN (G. F.). Treasures of Art in Great Britain, with Supplement. -London, 1854-'57. 4 vols. 8vo. - -WEIGEL (RUDOLPH). Holzschnitte berhmter Meister in treuen Copien. -Leipzig, 1851-'54. Folio. - -WEIGEL (T. O.) and ZESTERMANN (A. C. A.). Die Anfnge der Drucker-Kunst -in Bild und Schrift. Leipzig, 1866. 2 Bnde. Folio. - -WILLSHIRE (W. H.). An Introduction to the Study and Collection of -ancient Prints. 2d ed. London, 1877. 2 vols. 8vo. - -WOLTMANN (ALFRED). Holbein und seine Zeit. Leipzig. 1866-'68. 2 Th. 8vo. - -WORNUM (R. N.). Some Account of the Life and Works of Holbein. London, -1867. 8vo. - -ZANI (P.). Materiali per servire alla Storia dell'Origine e de' -Progressi dell'Incisione in Rame e in Legno, etc. Parma, 1802. 8vo. - -ZORN (PETER). Historia Bibliorum pictorum. Lipsi, 1743. 4to. - - - - -INDEX. - - -Adams, Joseph Alexander, 173. - -Altdorfer, Albrecht, 111. - -America: - earlier history and characteristics of the art, 171-177; - present position and influence, 177, 178; - works in imitation of other arts, 185; - errors in practice 190, 202; - future of the art, 202-206. - -Amman, Jobst, 114. - -Anderson, Alexander, 172. - -Andreani, Andrea, 146. - -Anthony, A. V. S., 176. - -Ars Memorandi, 43. - -Ars Moriendi, 43. - -Augsburg: - prints, 26; - playing-cards, 27; - Bible, 52; - press, 46, 57. - - -Baldung, Hans, 110. - -Bamberg: press, 56. - -Basle: - characteristics of the city in Holbein's time, 117. - -Behaim, Hans Sebald, 112-114. - -Bernard, St.: - his rebuke of art, 14. - -Best, Adolphe, 169. - -Bewick, Thomas: - the father of modern wood-engraving, 151; - sketch of his life, 154; - reforms effected by him, 154; - character of his genius, 154-160; - his works, 161; - influence on the art in America, 172. - -Bible: - the Cologne, 49; - the Nuremberg, 50; - the Augsburg, 52; - the Strasburg, 50; - Coverdale's, 132; - Le Clerc's, 139; - Jean de Tournes', 141; - Harper's, 173. - -Bible cuts: - Behaim's, 113; - Holbein's, 129-131; - Jean Moni's, 141. - -_Biblia Pauperum_: - their use, 31; - designs not original, 32; - description, 33; - place of issue, 37. - -Blake, William, 162. - -Block-printing: - invention, 30, 31, 42; - decline, 45. - -Boldrini, Nicolo, 144. - -Bouts, Diedrick, 39. - -Branston, Robert, 164, 167. - -Bray, Theodore de, 147. - -Brevire, Henri, 169. - -Breydenbach's Travels, 55. - -Bront, Charlotte, criticism of Bewick, 159-161. - -Brosamer, Hans, 114. - -Brothers of the Common Lot: - their claim to the authorship of the block-books, 39. - -Brussels: print of 1418, 23. - -Burgkmaier, Hans: - genius and works, 99-106; - influence on Holbein, 117 - - -Calcar, Jean, 146. - -Carpi, Ugo da, 87, 146. - -Caxton, William: - Game and Playe of the Chesse, 63. - -Chiaroscuro-engraving, 87-89, 146, 148, 187-189. - -Christopher, St.: - print of 1423, 22. - -Chronicles: - general description, 52; - the Cologne, 53; - the Nuremberg, 53; - the Saxon, 53. - -Clennell, Luke, 164, 167. - -Cole, T., 197, 200. - -Cologne: - early school of art, 42, 43; - Bible, 49; - Chronicle, 53; - press, 57. - -Color: - in the holy prints, 26 _note_; - in early German books, 52; - in the _Livres d'Heures_, 60, 61; - in chiaroscuro-engraving, 87. - -Color, conventional, 55, 151, 152. - -Copperplate-engraving: - influence on wood-engraving, 47, 91, 112, 141, 149, 164, 176, 182. - -Coriolano, Bartolemeo, 146. - -Coster, Lawrence: - claim to the invention of wood-engraving, 21. - -Cousin, Jean, 136-139. - -Cranach, Lukas, 110. - -Crible-work: - description, 18; - in France, 62, 63. - -Cross-hatching: - first use in Germany, 55; - in Italy, 86; - its propriety in wood-engraving, 152, 186. - -Cunio, Isabella and Alexander Alberico, 20. - - -Dalziel, the Brothers, 168. - -Dance of Death: - typical medival idea, 121; - Holbein's, 123-129; - Guyot Marchand's, 62. - -Davis, J. P., 197. - -Day, John, 147. - -Didot, Firmin (pre): - his influence on the French revival of the art, 163. - -Dream of Poliphilo, 70-81, 137, 138. - -Du Pr, Jean, 60. - -Drer, Albert: - influence on the art, 90; - character of his genius, 91, 92; - Apocalypse of St. John, 93, 94; - Larger Passion, Smaller Passion, Life of the Virgin, 95-97; - single prints, 97; - Car and Gate of Triumph, 97-99. - - -England: - early woodcuts, 63; - the art in Holbein's time, 132, 147, 148; - modern revival, 151, 164. - -Evans, Edmund, 168. - - -Form, value of, in wood-engraving, 193. - -France: - early books in French, 58; - early woodcuts, 59-63; - influence of Germany and Italy, 62, 135; - character of the French Renaissance and its art, 135-141; - the modern revival, 163, 169. - -French, Frank, 196. - - -Genre art, first appearance in wood-engraving, 121. - -Germany: - German block-books, 42, 43; - activity and influence of the early printers, 46, 47; - the free cities, 48; - character of the early press, 48, 56, 57; - influence on France, 62; - on Italy, 67; - on Venice, 68; - chiaroscuro-engraving, 87; - the Renaissance, 91, 97, 110, 111, 115; - decline, 148; - the modern revival, 163, 169. - -Gilbert, Sir John, 168. - -Goldsmiths, medival: - their art-works, 14-16; - position in France and the Netherlands, 17; - their claim to the invention of wood-engraving, 18, 19. - -Goltzius, Hendrick, 147. - -Goujon, Jean, 139. - -Greche, Domenico delle, 145. - -Gregory the Great: - his defence of art, 31. - -Groups, modern, 195-200. - -Gubitz, Friedrich Wilhelm, 163. - - -Harvey, William, 167. - -_Historia Johannis Evangelist ejusque Visiones Apocalyptic_, 42. - -_Historia Virginis Mari_, 41. - -History of the Kings of Hungary, 53, 54. - -Holbein, Hans: - the first modern artist, 116; - character and development of his genius, 117-120; - early work, 120; Dance of Death, 123-128; - his democratic, reforming, and sceptical spirit, dramatic and artistic power, 120-127; - Figures of the Bible, 129-131; - his English portraits, 131; - his English woodcuts, 132; - summary of his powers and influence, 132-134. - -Holy prints, 21-26. - -Hoskin, Robert, 195. - -Hypnerotomachia Poliphili: - illustration of the Italian Renaissance, 70-81; - the French reproduction, 137, 138. - - -Initial letters: - in Faust and Scheffer's Psalter, 46; - in the Augsburg Bible, 52; - in Italy, 86; - in Holbein's alphabets, 120, 121. - -Italy: - artistic spirit, 65; - democratic civilization, 66; - the Renaissance, 67; - introduction of printing, 68; - early cuts, 68; - general characterization of the engraved work, 85; - decline, 86; - chiaroscuro-engraving, 87-89; - influence on Holbein, 117, 118. - - -Jackson, John Baptist, 148. - -Jegher, Christopher, 147. - -Jerome, St., Epistles of, 70, 71. - -Juengling, F., 195, 200. - - -Kerver, Thielman, 62. - -King, F. S., 189, 193. - -Kirkall, Edward, 148. - -Kruell, G., 200. - - -Landscape, modern, 186-195. - -Lavoignat, H., 169. - -Le Caron, Pierre, 60. - -Le Clerc, Jean, 139, 140. - -Leech, John, 168. - -Leloir, Auguste, 169. - -Le Rouge, Pierre, 60. - -Le Sueur, Pierre, 148. - -Leyden, Lukas van, 110, 147. - -Linton, W. J., 168, 176, 200. - -Little Masters, 111. - -Livens, Jean, 147. - -_Livres d'Heures_, 60-62. - -Lorch, Melchior, 114. - -Lorme, Philibert de, 140. - -Lucchesini, 148. - -Ltzelburger, Hans, 129. - -Lyons: - earliest seat of the art in France, 59; - character of the earlier press, 59; - the later press, 140. - - -Magazines: use and influence, 167. - -Marchand, Guyot, 60, 62. - -Marsh, Henry, 176, 186. - -Maximilian, Emperor: - life and character, 97; - works executed by his order--the Triumphal Car, 98; - Gate of Triumph, 99; - the Triumphal Procession, 99-105; - The Adventures of Sir Tewrdannckh, 106; - The Wise King, 106; - influence of his patronage, 109. - -Mayence press, 46, 53, 55, 57. - -Metal-engraving earlier than wood-engraving, 18. - -Middle Ages: - position of goldsmiths, 14-18; - impersonal spirit, 26; - value of painting, 28, 31; - immobility of mind, 32; - religious temper and intellectual life, 40, 41; - art, typical, 53; - illustrated by Drer, 92; - by Maximilian's works, 99-105; - by the Dance of Death, 121. - -Moni, Jean, 141. - - -Nanto, Francesco da, 145. - -Nesbit, Charlton, 164. - -Netherlands: - civilization in, 37; - wood-engraving probably invented in, 38; - decline of, 47, 57, 147. - -Nicolo, Giuseppe, 146. - -Nuremburg: - prints, 26; - playing-cards, 27; - Bible, 50; - Chronicle, 53; - press, 57, 114. - - -Painting, place of, in medival popular civilization, 28, 31. - -Papillon, Jean, the Elder, 148; - the Younger, 20. - -Paris: - character of the Parisian press, 59, 60; - early books and printers, 60; - the _Livres d'Heures_, 60, - secular books, 62, 63. - -Prissin, Jacques, 140. - -Pfister, Book of Fables, 56. - -Pigouchet, Philippe, 62. - -Playing-cards, 27. - -Pleydenwurff, William, 53. - -Pliny, reference to Varro's portraits, 20. - -Porret, 169. - -Porto, Giovanni Battista del, 145. - -Portraits, modern, 198, 200-202. - -Principles of wood-engraving, 180-185. - -Processes: - engraving in relief on wood known to the ancients, 13; - of taking impressions, 17; - _en manire crible_, 18; - of taking off the holy prints, 21, 22; - of block-printing, 30; - of cross-hatching, 55; - of chiaroscuro-engraving, 87-89; - white-line and Bewick's other reforms, 151-155. - -Pynson, Richard, 64. - - -Raimondi, Marc Antonio, 96, 142. - -Reformation reflected in wood-engraving, 51, 112, 117, 120, 126, 132. - -Rembrandt, 147. - -Renaissance: in Italy, 67-85; - in Germany, 91, 97, 110, 111, 115; - in France, 135-141. - -Romances, popular, 59, 141. - -Rubens, P. P.: - reproductions after his designs, 147. - -Ruskin, John: - criticism on Holbein, 126; - on Bewick, 155. - - -Saints' images, 21-26. - -Salomon, Bernard, 140-141. - -Sand, George, criticism of Holbein, 124. - -Satire: in Bible-cuts, 50, 51; - in the Little Masters, 112; - in Holbein, 120, 132. - -Saxony: Chronicle, 53. - -_Schatzbehalter_, 54. - -Schuffelin, Hans, 106. - -Schn, Erhard, 114. - -Scolari, Giuseppe, 145. - -Sebastian, St.: - print of 1437, 23. - -Secularization of art, 50, 110, 111. - -Smith, Orrin, 167. - -Solis, Virgil, 114. - -_Speculum Human Salvationis_: - description, 34; - place of issue, 36; - authorship, 38, _note_, 39; - character of the cuts, 40. - -_Spirituale Pomerium_, 39. - -Springinklee, Hans, 106, 110. - -Stamps, engraved, early use, 13. - -Stimmer, Tobias, 114. - -Strasburg: - Bible, 50; - press, 57. - -Suger, defence of art, 15. - - -Tenniel, John, 168. - -Tewrdannckh, Sir, Adventures of, 106. - -Thompson, John, 164. - -Titian, reproductions after his designs, 144-146. - -Tortorel, Jean, 140. - -Tory, Geoffrey, influence on French engraving, 135. - -Trento, Antonio da, 146. - -Turrecremata's, Cardinal, Meditations, 68. - - -Ulm: - prints, 26; - press, 57. - -Unger, Johann Georg, and Johann Gottlieb Friedrich, 163. - - -Van der Weyden, Roger, 42. - -Van Eyck, 36, 37, 42. - -Varro, portraits in his works, 20. - -Vecellio, Cesare, 146. - -Venice: - claim to the origin of wood-engraving, 20; - decree forbidding importation of prints from Germany, 27; - early cuts, 68; - early views of the city, 69; - later cuts, 82-87, 143-147. - -Verard, Antoine, 60, 62. - -Vesalius's Anatomy, 145. - -Vinci, Leonardo da, 142. - -Vostre, Simon, 62. - - -White line: - description, 151; - influence on the art in Bewick's hands, 153; - the engraver's province, 154, 184. - -Wise King, The, 106. - -Woeiriot, Pierre, 140. - -Wohlgemuth, Michael, 53, 54. - -Worde, Wynkyn de, 64. - - -Zainer Gunther, 46, 52. - - -THE END. - - * * * * * - -Typographical errors corrected by the etext transcriber: - -appendix von Albert Ilg. Wein=> appendix von Albert Ilg. Wien {pg 19} - -Guyot Marchand's La Dance Macabre, first published in 1485=> Guyot -Marchand's La Danse Macabre, first published in 1485 {pg 62} - -its bloom in sun difers=> its bloom in sun differs {pg 181} - - * * * * * - - -FOOTNOTES: - -[1] "Documents, Iconographiques et Typographiques de la Bibliothque -Royale de Belgique," Deuxime Livr. Gravure Crible, par M. H. Hymans. -Bruxelles, 1864-1873. Quoted in Willshire, "An Introduction to the Study -and Collection of Ancient Prints." London. 1877; 2 vols.; vol. ii., p. -64. - -[2] "Fulget ecclesia in parietibus, et in pauperibus eget. Suos lapides -induit auro; et suos filios nudos deserit. * * * Tam multa denique, -tamque mira diversarium formarum ubique varietas apparet ut magis legere -libeat in marmoribus, quam in codicibus, totum diem occupare singula -ista mirando quam in lege Dei meditando." Sancti Bernardi opera omnia. -Recognita, etc., curis Dom. J. Mabillon. 4 vols. Paris, 1839; vol. i., -col. 1242-1244, Apologia ad Guillelmum, cap. xii. - -[3] "Abundet unusquisque in suo sensu, mihi fateor hoc potissimum -placuisse ut qucumque cariora, qucumque carissima, sacrosanct -Eucharisti amministrationi super omnia deservire debeant. Si libatoria -aurea, si fial aure et si mortariola aurea ad collectam sanguinis -hircorum aut vitulorum aut vacc ruff, ore Dei aut prophet jussu, -deserviebant; quanto magis ad susceptionem sanguinis Jesu Christi vasa -aurea, lapides preciosi, quque inter omnes creaturas carissima continuo -famulatu, plena devotione exponi debeat." OEuvres compltes de Suger -recueillies, etc., par A. L. de la Marche. Paris, 1867. Sur son -administration Abbatiale, p. 199 _et seq._ - -[4] La Barte, "Histoire des Arts Industriels au Moyen Age et a l'poque -de la Renaissance." 4 tom. (Album, 2 tom.). Paris, 1864. Tom. i., pp. -391-513; tom. ii., pp. 1-592. - -[5] Leon Delaborde, "Notice des Emaux et Objets divers exposs au -Louvre." Paris, 1853; p. 84. - -[6] Leon Delaborde, "La plus ancienne Gravure du Cabinet des Estampes de -la Bibliothque Royale, est-elle ancienne?" Paris, 1840. Quoted in -Willshire, vol. ii., p. 64. - -[7] Theophilus Presbyter, "Schedula Diversarum Artium." Revidirter text, -ubersetzung und appendix von Albert Ilg. Wien, 1874; cap. lxxi., lxxii., -pp. 281-283. - -[8] Renouvier, "Histoire de l'Origine et des Progrs de la Gravure dans -les Pays-Bas et en Allemagne, jusqu' la fin du quinzime Sicle." -Bruxelles, 1860. - -[9] The date of 1406 has been assigned to two examples at Paris with -great ingenuity, but not unquestionably, by M. le Vte. Henri Delaborde, -"Notice sur Deux Estampes de 1406 et sur les commencements de la Gravure -Crible."--_Gazette des Beaux Arts_, Mars 1, 1869. - -[10] Willshire, vol. ii., pp. 62, 63. - -[11] Pliny, "Nat. Hist.," liber xxxv., c. 2. - -[12] W. Y. Ottley, "An Inquiry into the Origin and Early History of -Engraving upon Copper and in Wood." London, 1816; 2 vols.; vol. i., pp. -54-59. - -[13] Papillon, "Trait Historique de la Gravure en Bois." Paris, 1766. -Trois parties en deux tomes; tom. i., p. 83. - -[14] Von Murr, Zani, meric David, Ottley. - -[15] Heinecken, Lanzi, Mariette, Didot. - -[16] Jackson and Chatto, "A Treatise on Wood-engraving." London, 1839; -p. 39. - -[17] Meerman, "Orig. Typogr." Hag, Comit., 1765. - -[18] Hadriani Junii Batavia. Lugdunum Batavorum, 1588. - -[19] S. Sotheby, "Principia Typographica." The block-books issued in -Holland, Flanders, and Germany during the 15th century. London, 1858; 3 -vols.; vol. i., p. 179. - -[20] Heinecken, "Ide Gnrale d'une Collection complette d'Estampes." -Leipsic et Vienne, 1771; p. 250. - -[21] Those who are curious may consult on this print "Quelques Mots sur -la Gravure au millsime de 1418," par C. D. B. (M. de Brou). Bruxelles, -1846. "La Plus Ancienne Gravure connue avec une date," Mmoire par M. le -Baron de Reiffenberg. Bruxelles, 1845; also, in favor of the date, the -works of Ruelens, Luthereau, Renouvier, Berjeau, and against it, the -works of Passavant, LaCroix, and Chatto. - -[22] This print is described by Ottley in his "Inquiry," etc. London, -1863. There is another woodcut on the reverse side of the leaf, -representing the Virgin holding the dead Christ, of which Ottley gives a -fac-simile. The manuscript with these woodcuts is now in the possession -of Professor Norton, of Harvard College. - -[23] Many fine examples of these prints are reproduced, with their -original colors, in Weigel and Zestermann's "Die Anfnge der -Drucker-Kunst in Bild und Schrift." 2 Bnde. Leipzig, 1866. - -[24] Four schools of coloring are reckoned: the Suabian School (Augsburg -and Ulm), marked by bright colors; the Franconian (Nuremberg and -Nrdlingen), marked by less lively colors; the Bavarian (Friesing, -Tegernsee, Kaisersheim), marked by use of pure carmine and ochre; the -Lower Rhine (Cologne, and towns of Burgundy), marked by pure colors in -pale tints. See Willshire, vol. i., p. 175 _et seq._ - -[25] Merlin, "Origine des Cartes Jouer, Recherches nouvelles," etc. -Paris, 1869. - -[26] Printed in Ottley, "An Inquiry," etc., vol. i., p. 47. - -[27] "Nam quod legentibus Scriptura, hoc idiotis prstat pictura -cernentibus, quia in ipsa etiam ignorantes vident quid sequi debeant, in -ipsa legunt qui litteras nesciunt; unde et prcipue gentibus pro -lectione pictura est." Patrologi Cursus Completus, Accurante, J. P. -Migne, tom. lxxvii. Sancti Gregorii Magni, tom, iii., liber xi., epis. -xiii., col. 1128. _Vide_, also, idem, liber ix., epis. cv., col. 1027. - -[28] "Biblia Pauperum." Reproduced in fac-simile, from one of the copies -in the British Museum, with an historical and bibliographical -introduction by J. Ph. Berjeau. London, 1859. - -[29] "Speculum Human Salvationis." Le Plus Ancien Monument de la -Xylographie et de la Typographie runies. Reproduit en fac-simile, avec -introduction Historique et Bibliographique, par J. Ph. Berjeau. Londres, -1861. - -[30] The composition of the poem which forms the text of the _Speculum_ -has been attributed to Vincent de Beauvais, who could not have written -it, and to Conrad d'Altzheim, who might have written it; the designs -have been attributed to various artists, particularly to Steurbout, but -on the slightest grounds; the printing has been assigned to Lawrence -Coster, in whose doubtful if not fabulous name no confidence can be -placed, and to Veldener, Faust and Scheffer, Thierry Martens d'Alost, -and other early German and Flemish printers. - -[31] Renouvier, "Origine," etc., p. 91; and Berjeau's preface to the -Fac-simile Reproduction of the _Speculum_. The claims of the Brotherhood -are supported most fully by Harzen in "Archiv fr die Zeichnenden -Knste." Leipsig, 1855. - -[32] Didot, "Essai Typographique et Bibliographique sur l'Histoire de la -Gravure sur Bois," col. 205. Paris, 1863. - -[33] Renouvier, "Des Gravures sur Bois dans les Livres de Simon Vostre." -Paris, 1862. - -[34] See Duplessis on the works of Simon Vostre, and Brunet's "Manuel du -Libraire," tom v., at the end, for farther information on the devotional -books of the French printers. - -[35] _Ante_, p. 18. - -[36] _Vide_ Renouvier, Didot, Passavant. - -[37] Vespas. Fior., p. 129. Quoted in Burckhardt, "The Civilization of -the Period of the Renaissance in Italy." Translated by S. G. C. -Middlemore. Vol. i., p. 271. London, 1878. - -[38] _The Academy_, October 15, 1872, pp. 383 _et seq._ _Vide_, also, -Albert Ilg, "Ueber den Kunsthistorischen Werth der Hypnerotomachia -Poliphili, ein Beitrag zur Geschichte der Kunstliteratur in der -Renaissance." Wien, 1872. The original edition of the Dream of Poliphilo -is rare and costly. It was re-issued in Venice, in 1545, and in Paris, -with some variations (of which some account is given on a later page), -in 1546. There is an abridged translation in French by Legrand, without -cuts, printed by Didot in 1804. - -[39] "Le Triomphe de l'Empereur Maximilien. Vienne, 1796." - -[40] "La Mare au Diable, par George Sand," pp. 5-7. Paris, 1869. - - - - - - - - -End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of A History of Wood-Engraving, by -George Edward Woodberry - -*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A HISTORY OF WOOD-ENGRAVING *** - -***** This file should be named 40638-8.txt or 40638-8.zip ***** -This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: - http://www.gutenberg.org/4/0/6/3/40638/ - -Produced by Chuck Greif and the Online Distributed -Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was -produced from images available at The Internet Archive) - - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions -will be renamed. - -Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no -one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation -(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without -permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, -set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to -copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to -protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project -Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you -charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you -do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the -rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose -such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and -research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do -practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is -subject to the trademark license, especially commercial -redistribution. - - - -*** START: FULL LICENSE *** - -THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE -PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK - -To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free -distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work -(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project -Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project -Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at -http://gutenberg.org/license). - - -Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm -electronic works - -1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm -electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to -and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property -(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all -the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy -all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. -If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project -Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the -terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or -entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. - -1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be -used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who -agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few -things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works -even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See -paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project -Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement -and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic -works. See paragraph 1.E below. - -1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" -or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project -Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the -collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an -individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are -located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from -copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative -works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg -are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project -Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by -freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of -this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with -the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by -keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project -Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. - -1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern -what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in -a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check -the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement -before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or -creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project -Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning -the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United -States. - -1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: - -1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate -access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently -whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the -phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project -Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, -copied or distributed: - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with -almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or -re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included -with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org/license - -1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived -from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is -posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied -and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees -or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work -with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the -work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 -through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the -Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or -1.E.9. - -1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted -with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution -must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional -terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked -to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the -permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. - -1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm -License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this -work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. - -1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this -electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without -prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with -active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project -Gutenberg-tm License. - -1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, -compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any -word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or -distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than -"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version -posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org), -you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a -copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon -request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other -form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm -License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. - -1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, -performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works -unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. - -1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing -access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided -that - -- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from - the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method - you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is - owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he - has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the - Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments - must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you - prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax - returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and - sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the - address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to - the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." - -- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies - you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he - does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm - License. You must require such a user to return or - destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium - and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of - Project Gutenberg-tm works. - -- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any - money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the - electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days - of receipt of the work. - -- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free - distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. - -1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm -electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set -forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from -both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael -Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the -Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. - -1.F. - -1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable -effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread -public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm -collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic -works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain -"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or -corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual -property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a -computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by -your equipment. - -1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right -of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project -Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project -Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project -Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all -liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal -fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT -LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE -PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE -TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE -LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR -INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH -DAMAGE. - -1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a -defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can -receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a -written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you -received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with -your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with -the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a -refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity -providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to -receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy -is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further -opportunities to fix the problem. - -1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth -in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER -WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO -WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. - -1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied -warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. -If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the -law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be -interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by -the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any -provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. - -1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the -trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone -providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance -with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, -promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, -harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, -that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do -or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm -work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any -Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. - - -Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm - -Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of -electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers -including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists -because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from -people in all walks of life. - -Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the -assistance they need, are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's -goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will -remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project -Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure -and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. -To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation -and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 -and the Foundation web page at http://www.pglaf.org. - - -Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive -Foundation - -The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit -501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the -state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal -Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification -number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at -http://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg -Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent -permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. - -The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. -Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered -throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at -809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email -business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact -information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official -page at http://pglaf.org - -For additional contact information: - Dr. Gregory B. Newby - Chief Executive and Director - gbnewby@pglaf.org - - -Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg -Literary Archive Foundation - -Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide -spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of -increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be -freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest -array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations -($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt -status with the IRS. - -The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating -charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United -States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a -considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up -with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations -where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To -SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any -particular state visit http://pglaf.org - -While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we -have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition -against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who -approach us with offers to donate. - -International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make -any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from -outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. - -Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation -methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other -ways including checks, online payments and credit card donations. -To donate, please visit: http://pglaf.org/donate - - -Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic -works. - -Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm -concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared -with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project -Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. - - -Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed -editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. -unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily -keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. - - -Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: - - http://www.gutenberg.org - -This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, -including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary -Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to -subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. diff --git a/40638-8.zip b/40638-8.zip Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index 875be05..0000000 --- a/40638-8.zip +++ /dev/null diff --git a/40638-h.zip b/40638-h.zip Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index 539fd90..0000000 --- a/40638-h.zip +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/40638-0.txt b/old/40638-0.txt deleted file mode 100644 index d1dc572..0000000 --- a/old/40638-0.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,5483 +0,0 @@ -Project Gutenberg's A History of Wood-Engraving, by George Edward Woodberry - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with -almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or -re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included -with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org/license - - -Title: A History of Wood-Engraving - -Author: George Edward Woodberry - -Release Date: September 1, 2012 [EBook #40638] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: UTF-8 - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A HISTORY OF WOOD-ENGRAVING *** - - - - -Produced by Chuck Greif and the Online Distributed -Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was -produced from images available at The Internet Archive) - - - - - - - - -A HISTORY OF WOOD-ENGRAVING - -[Illustration: A HISTORY - -OF - -WOOD-ENGRAVING - -BY - -GEORGE E. WOODBERRY - -_ILLUSTRATED_ - -LONDON - -SAMPSON LOW, MARSTON, SEARLE, & RIVINGTON - -CROWN BUILDINGS, 188 FLEET STREET - -1883] - -Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1882, by - -HARPER & BROTHERS, - -In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington. - -_All rights reserved._ - - - - -PREFACE. - - -In this book I have attempted to gather and arrange such facts as should -be known to men of cultivation interested in the art of engraving in -wood. I have, therefore, disregarded such matter as seems to belong -rather to descriptive bibliography, and have treated wood-engraving, in -its principal works, as a reflection of the life of men and an -illustration of successive phases of civilization. Where there is much -disputed ground, particularly in the early history of the art, the -writers on whom I have relied are referred to, and those who adopt a -different view are named; but where the facts seemed plain, and are -easily verifiable, reference did not appear necessary. - -In conclusion, I have the honor to acknowledge my obligations to the -officers of the Boston Public Library, the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, -and the Harvard College Library, for permission to reproduce several -cuts in their possession; and to Mr. Lindsay Swift, of the Boston Public -Library, for the list of authorities at the end of the volume. -Especially it is my pleasant duty to thank Professor Charles Eliot -Norton, of Harvard University, from whose curious and valuable -collection more than half of these illustrations are derived, both for -them and for suggestion, advice, and criticism, without which, indeed, -the work could not have been written. - -GEORGE EDWARD WOODBERRY. - - - - -CONTENTS. - - -I. - PAGE - -_THE ORIGIN OF THE ART_ 13 - -II. -_THE BLOCK-BOOKS_ 30 - -III. -_EARLY PRINTED BOOKS IN THE NORTH_ 45 - -IV. -_EARLY ITALIAN WOOD-ENGRAVING_ 65 - -V. -_ALBERT DÜRER AND HIS SUCCESSORS_ 90 - -VI. -_HANS HOLBEIN_ 116 - -VII. -_THE DECLINE AND EXTINCTION OF THE ART_ 135 - -VIII. -_MODERN WOOD-ENGRAVING_ 151 - -_A LIST OF THE PRINCIPAL WORKS UPON WOOD-ENGRAVING -USEFUL TO STUDENTS_ 211 - -_INDEX_ 217 - - - - -LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. - - - -FIG.....PAGE - -1.--From “Epistole di San Hieronymo Volgare.” Ferrara, 1497. (Initial -letter).....13 - -2.--St. Christopher, 1423. From Ottley’s “Inquiry into the Origin and -Early History of Engraving upon Copper and in Wood”.....22 - -3.--The Crucifixion. From the Manuscript “Book of Devotion.” 1445.....24 - -4.--From the “Epistole di San Hieronymo.” 1497. (Initial letter).....30 - -5.--Elijah Raiseth the Widow’s Son (1 K. xvii.). The Raising of Lazarus -(Jno. xi.). Elisha Raiseth the Widow’s Son (2 K. iv.). From the original -in the possession of Professor Norton, of Cambridge.....34 - -6.--The Creation of Eve. From the fac-simile of Berjeau.....35 - -7.--Initial letter. Source unknown.....45 - -8.--The Grief of Hannah. From the Cologne Bible, 1470-’75.....49 - -9.--Illustration of Exodus I. From the Cologne Bible, 1470-’75 51 - -10.--The Fifth Day of Creation. From Schedel’s “Liber Chronicarum.” -Nuremberg, 1493.....54 - -11.--The Dancing Deaths. From Schedel’s “Liber Chronicarum.” Nuremberg, -1493.....56 - -12.--Jews Sacrificing a Christian Child. From Schedel’s “Liber -Chronicarum.” Nuremberg, 1493.....58 - -13.--Marginal Border. From Kerver’s “Psalterium Virginis Mariæ.” 1509.....61 - -14.--From Ovid’s “Metamorphoses.” Venice, 1518 (design, 1497). (Initial -letter).....65 - -15.--The Creation. From the “Fasciculus Temporum.” Venice, 1484.....68 - -16.--Leviathan. From the “Ortus Sanitatis.” Venice, 1511.....68 - -17.--The Stork. From the “Ortus Sanitatis.” Venice, 1511.....69 - -18.--View of Venice. From the “Fasciculus Temporum.” Venice, 1484.....69 - -19.--The Contest of Apollo and Pan. From Ovid’s “Metamorphoses.” Venice, -1518 (design, 1497).....70 - -20.--Sirens. From the “Ortus Sanitatis.” Venice, 1511.....71 - -21.--Pygmy and Cranes. From the “Ortus Sanitatis.” Venice, 1511.....72 - -22.--The Woman and the Thief. From “Æsop’s Fables.” Venice, 1491 -(design, 1481).....73 - -23.--The Crow and the Peacock. From “Æsop’s Fables.” Venice, 1491 -(design, 1481).....75 - -24.--The Peace of God. From “Epistole di San Hieronymo Volgare.” -Ferrara, 1497.....76 - -25.--Mary and the Risen Lord. From “Epistole di San Hieronymo Volgare.” -Ferrara, 1497.....77 - -26.--St. Baruch. From the “Catalogus Sanctorum.” Venice, 1506.....77 - -27.--Poliphilo by the Stream. From the “Hypnerotomachia Poliphili.” -Venice, 1499.....78 - -28.--Poliphilo and the Nymphs. From the “Hypnerotomachia Poliphili.” -Venice, 1499.....79 - -29.--Ornament. From the “Hypnerotomachia Poliphili.” Venice, 1499.....80 - -30.--Poliphilo meets Polia. From the “Hypnerotomachia Poliphili.” -Venice, 1499.....81 - -31.--Nero Fiddling. From the Ovid of 1510. Venice.....82 - -32.--The Physician. From the “Fasciculus Medicinæ.” Venice, 1500.....83 - -33.--Hero and Leander. From the Ovid of 1515. Venice.....85 - -34.--Dante and Beatrice. From the Dante of 1520. Venice.....86 - -35.--St. Jerome Commending the Hermit’s Life. From “Epistole di San -Hieronymo.” Ferrara, 1497.....86 - -36.--St. Francis and the Beggar. From the “Catalogus Sanctorum.” Venice, -1506.....87 - -37.--The Translation of St. Nicolas. From the “Catalogus Sanctorum.” -Venice, 1506.....87 - -38.--Romoaldus, the Abbot. From the “Catalogus Sanctorum.” Venice, 1506 -88 - -39.--From an Italian Alphabet of the 16th Century. (Initial letter).....90 - -40.--St. John and the Virgin. Vignette to Dürer’s “Apocalypse”.....93 - -41.--Christ Suffering. Vignette to Dürer’s “Larger Passion”.....94 - -42.--Christ Mocked. Vignette to Dürer’s “Smaller Passion”.....95 - -43.--The Descent into Hell. From Dürer’s “Smaller Passion”.....96 - -44.--The Herald. From “The Triumph of Maximilian”.....100 - -45.--Tablet. From “The Triumph of Maximilian”.....101 - -46.--The Car of the Musicians. From “The Triumph of Maximilian”.....102 - -47.--Three Horsemen. From “The Triumph of Maximilian”.....103 - -48.--Horseman. From “The Triumph of Maximilian”.....107 - -49.--Virgin and Child. From a print by Hans Sebald Behaim......113 - -50.--From the “Epistole di San Hieronymo.” Ferrara, 1497. (Initial -letter).....116 - -51.--The Nun. From Holbein’s “Images de la Mort.” Lyons, 1547.....123 - -52.--The Preacher. From Holbein’s “Images de la Mort.” Lyons, 1547.....124 - -53.--The Ploughman. From Holbein’s “Images de la Mort.” Lyons, 1547.....125 - -54.--Nathan Rebuking David. From Holbein’s “Icones Historiarum Veteris -Testamenti.” Lyons, 1547.....130 - -55.--From “Opera Vergiliana,” printed by Sacon. Lyons, 1517. (Initial -letter).....135 - -56.--St. Christopher. From a Venetian print.....142 - -57.--St. Sebastian and St. Francis. Portion of a print by Andreani after -Titian.....143 - -58.--The Annunciation. From a print by Francesco da Nanto.....144 - -59.--Milo of Crotona. From a print by Boldrini after Titian.....145 - -60.--From the “Comedia di Danthe.” Venice, 1536. (Initial letter).....151 - -61.--The Peacock. From Bewick’s “British Birds”.....156 - -62.--The Frightened Mother. From Bewick’s “British Quadrupeds”.....157 - -63.--The Solitary Cormorant. From Bewick’s “British Birds”.....157 - -64.--The Snow Cottage.....158 - -65.--Birth-place of Bewick. His last vignette, portraying his own -funeral.....158 - -66.--The Broken Boat. From Bewick’s “British Birds”.....160 - -67.--The Church-yard. From Bewick’s “British Birds”.....160 - -68.--The Sheep-fold. By Blake. From “Virgil’s Pastorals”.....162 - -69.--The Mark of Storm. By Blake. From “Virgil’s Pastorals”.....162 - -70.--Cave of Despair. By Branston. From Savage’s “Hints on Decorative -Printing”.....165 - -71.--Vignette from “Rogers’s Poems.” London, 1827.....167 - -72.--Vignette from “Rogers’s Poems.” London, 1827.....167 - -73.--Death as a Friend. From a print by Professor Norton, of Cambridge. -Engraved by J. Jungtow.....169 - -74.--Death as a Throttler. From a print by Professor Norton, of -Cambridge. Engraved by Steinbrecher.....170 - -75.--The Creation. Engraved by J. F. Adams.....172 - -76.--The Deluge. Engraved by J. F. Adams.....173 - -77.--Butterflies. Engraved by F. S. King.....175 - -78.--Spring-time. Engraved by F. S. King.....177 - -79.--Mount Lafayette (White Mountains). By J. Tinkey.....183 - -80.--“And silent were the sheep in woolly fold.” Engraved by J. G. -Smithwick.....187 - -81.--The Old Orchard. Engraved by F. Juengling.....189 - -82.--Some Art Connoisseurs. Engraved by Robert Hoskin.....191 - -83.--The Travelling Musicians. Engraved by R. A. Muller.....194 - -84.--Shipwrecked. Engraved by Frank French.....196 - -85.--The Tap-room. Engraved by Frank French.....198 - -86.--Going to Church. Engraved by J. P. Davis.....199 - -87.--“Nay, Love, ’tis you who stand with almond clusters in your -clasping hand.” Engraved by T. Cole.....201 - -88.--The Spanish Peasant. Engraved by F. Juengling.....203 - -89.--James Russell Lowell. Engraved by Thomas Johnson.....205 - -90.--Arthur Penrhyn Stanley. Engraved by G. Kruell.....207 - - - - -A - -HISTORY OF WOOD-ENGRAVING. - - - - -I. - -_THE ORIGIN OF THE ART._ - - -[Illustration: T FIG. 1.--From “Epistole di San Hieronymo Volgare.” -Ferra 1497.] - -The beginning of the art of wood-engraving in Europe, the time when -paper was first laid down upon an engraved wood block and the first rude -print was taken off, is unknown; the name of the inventor and his -country are involved in a double obscurity of ignorance and fable, -darkened still more by national jealousies and vanities; even the -mechanical appliances and processes which led up to and at last resulted -in the new art, can only be conjectured. The art had long lain but just -beyond the border-line of discovery. The principle of making impressions -by means of lines cut in relief upon wood was known to the ancients, who -used engraved wooden stamps to indent figures and letters in soft -substances like wax and clay, and, possibly, to print colors on -surfaces, as had been done from early times in India in the manufacture -of cloth; similar stamps were used in the Middle Ages by notaries and -other public officers to print signatures on documents, by Italian -cloth-makers to impress colors on silk and other fabrics, and by the -illuminators of manuscripts to strike the outlines of initial letters. -This practice may have suggested the new process. - -It is more probable that the art began in the workshops of the -goldsmiths, who were so skilled in engraving upon metal that impressions -of much artistic value have been taken from work executed by them in the -twelfth century, showing that they really were engravers obliged to -remain goldsmiths, because the art of printing from metal plates was -unknown.[1] By their knowledge of design and their artistic execution, -at least, if not by their mechanical inventiveness, the goldsmiths were -the lineal ancestors of the great engravers of the Renaissance. Their -art had been continued from Roman times, with fewer interruptions and -hinderances than any other of the fine arts. It was early employed in -the adornment of the altar, the pax, and other articles of the Church -service; already, in St. Bernard’s time, so much attention was given to -workmanship of this kind, and so much wealth lavished upon it, that he -denounced it, with true ascetic spirit, as a decoration of what was soon -to become vile, a waste of what might have been given to the poor, and a -distraction of the spirit from holiness to the admiration of beauty. -“The Church,” he said, “shines with the splendor of her walls, and -among her poor is destitution; she clothes her stones with gold, and -leaves her children naked. * * * Finally, so many things are to be seen, -everywhere such a marvellous variety of different forms, that one may -read more upon the sculptured walls than in the written Scriptures, and -spend the whole day in going about in wonder from one such thing to -another, rather than in meditating upon God’s law.”[2] The art might -have suffered seriously from such uncompromising opposition as St. -Bernard made, had not Suger, the great abbot of St. Denys, taken up its -defence and supported it by his patronage and by his eloquence. “Let -each one have his own opinion,” he writes, “but I confess it is my -conviction that whatever is most precious ought to be devoted above all -to that holiest rite of the Eucharist; if golden lavers, if golden cups, -and if golden bowls were used, by the command of God or of the prophet, -to catch the blood of rams or bullocks or heifers, how much more ought -vases of gold, precious stones, and whatever is dearest among all -creatures, ever to be set forth with full devotion to receive the blood -of Jesus Christ!”[3] By such arguments Suger defended the rightfulness -and value of the goldsmith’s art in the service of the Church. After -his time the employment of the goldsmiths upon church decoration became -so great that they were really the artists of Europe during the two -hundred years previous to the invention of wood-engraving.[4] In the -pursuit of their craft they practised the arts of modelling, casting, -sculpture, engraving, enamelling, and the setting of precious stones; -and in the thirteenth century they made use of all these resources in -the execution of their beautiful works of art made of gold and silver, -richly engraved, and adorned with bass-reliefs and statuettes, and -brilliant with many-colored enamel and with jewels--the reliquaries in -which were kept the innumerable holy relics that then filled Europe, the -famous shrines for the bodies of the saints, about which pilgrims from -every quarter were ever at prayer, and the tombs of the Crusaders, and -of dignitaries of Church or State. They employed their skill, too, for -the lesser glory of the churches, upon the vessels of the Holy -Communion, the crosses, candelabra, and censers, and the ornaments that -incrusted the vestments of the priests. With the increase of luxury and -wealth they found a new field for their invention in contributing to the -magnificence of secular life; in fashioning into strange forms the -ewers, goblets, flagons, and every vessel which adorned the banquet; -and in ornamenting them with fantastic figures, or with scenes from the -chase, or from the history of Charlemagne and Saladin, as well as in -executing those finely wrought decorations with which the silks and -velvets of the nobles were so heavily charged that the old poet, Martial -d’Auvergne, says the lords and knights were “caparisoned in gold-work -and jewels.” Under Charles V. of France (1364) and the great Dukes of -the Low Countries, the jewel-chamber of the prince was his pride in -peace and his treasury in war: it furnished gifts for the bride, the -favorite, and the heir, and for foreign ambassadors and princes; it -afforded pay for retainers before the battle and ransom after it, and in -the days of the great fêtes its treasures gave to the courts of France, -Burgundy, and Flanders a magnificence that has seldom been seen in -Europe.[5] - -Under such fortunate encouragement the goldsmiths of the fourteenth -century reached a knowledge of design and a finish in execution that -justified the claim of their art to the first place among the fine arts, -and made their workshops the apprentice-home of many great masters of -art in Italy as well as in the North. They best understood the value of -art, and were best skilled in artistic processes; they were the only -persons[6] who had by them all the means for taking an impression--the -engraved metal plate, iron tools, burnishers for rubbing off a proof, -blackened oil, and paper which they used for tracing their designs; -they would, too, have been aided in their art, merely as goldsmiths, -could they have tested their engraving from time to time by taking an -impression from it in its various stages. It is not unlikely, therefore, -that the art of taking impressions from engraved work was found out, or -at least was first extensively applied, in their workshops, where it -could hardly have failed to be discovered ultimately, as paper came into -use more generally and for more various purposes. If this were the case, -metal-engraving preceded wood-engraving, but only by a brief space of -time, because, as soon as the idea of the new art was fully grasped, -wood must have been almost immediately employed in preference to metal, -on account of the greater ease and speed of working in wood, and of the -less injury done to the paper in printing from it. - -Some support for this view, that the art of printing from engraved metal -plates was discovered by the goldsmiths, and preceded and suggested -wood-engraving, is derived from the peculiar prints in the _manière -criblée_, or the dotted style, of which over three hundred are known. -They were produced by a mixed process of engraving in relief and in -intaglio, usually upon a metal plate, but sometimes upon wood. The -effects are given by dots and lines relieved in white upon a black -ground, assisted by dots and lines relieved in black upon a white -ground. These prints have afforded much material for dispute and -controversy, both as to their process and their date; the mode in which -the metal plates from which they were printed were engraved, -particularly the punching out small holes in the metal, which appear -usually as white dots, and give the name to the prints, is the same as -a mode of ornamental work[7] in metal that had been practised for -centuries in the workshops of the goldsmiths, and on this account they -have been ascribed to the goldsmiths of the great Northern cities.[8] -They appeared certainly as early as 1450, and probably much earlier.[9] -Some of these prints are evidently taken from metal plates not -originally meant to be printed from, for the inscriptions on the prints -as well as the actions of the figures appear reversed, the words reading -backward, and the figures performing actions with the left hand almost -always performed by the right hand.[10] These may be the work of the -first years of the fifteenth century, or they may have been taken long -afterward, in a spirit of curiosity or experiment. The existence of -these early prints, however, undoubtedly from the workshops of the -goldsmiths, and after a mode long practised by them, strengthens the -hypothesis--suggested by their wide acquaintance with artistic processes -and their exclusive possession of all the proper instruments--that they -originated the art of taking impressions on paper from engraved work; at -all events, this seems the least wild, the most consistent, and best -supported conjecture which has been put forth. - -There is, however, no lack of more specific accounts of the origin of -wood-engraving. Pliny’s[11] reference to the portraits with which Varro -illustrated his works indicates, in the opinion of some writers, a -momentary, isolated, and premature appearance of the art in his day. -Ottley[12] maintains that the art was introduced into Europe by the -Venetians, who learned it “at a very early period of their intercourse -with the people of Tartary, Thibet, and China;” but of this there is no -satisfactory evidence. Papillon,[13] a French engraver of the last -century, relates that in his youth he saw in the library of a retired -Swiss officer nine woodcuts, illustrative of the deeds of Alexander the -Great, executed with a small knife by “two young and amiable twins,” -Isabella and Alexander Alberico Cunio, Knt., of Ravenna, in their -seventeenth year, and dedicated by them to Pope Honorius IV., in -1284-85; but, as no one else ever saw or heard of them, and there is no -contemporary reference to them, as no single unquestionable fact has -been adduced in direct support of the story, and as Papillon is an -untrustworthy writer, his tale, although accepted by some -authorities,[14] is generally discredited,[15] and was regarded by -Chatto[16] as the hallucination of a distempered mind. Meerman,[17] the -stout defender of the claim of Lawrence Coster to the invention of -printing with movable types, relying on the authority of Junius,[18] who -wrote from tradition more than a century after the facts, makes Coster -the first printer of woodcuts. Some writers accept this story; but in -spite of them, and of the well-developed genealogical tree with which -Meerman provided his hero, and even of Mr. Sotheby’s[19] supposed -discovery of Coster’s portrait, his very existence is doubted. The -charming scene in which the idea of the new art first occurred to -Coster, as he was walking after dinner in his garden, and cutting -letters from beech-tree bark with which to print moral sentences for his -grandchildren--the old man surrounded by the childish group in the -well-ordered Haarlem garden--is probably, after all, little more than a -play of antiquarian fancy. These stories have slight historic weight; -they are, to use M. Renouvier’s simile, “a group of legends about the -cradle of modern art, like those recounted of ancient art, the history -of Craton, of Saurias, or of the daughter of Dibutades, who invented -design by tracing on a wall the silhouette of her lover.” - -[Illustration: FIG 2.--St. Christopher, 1423. From Ottley’s “Inquiry -into the Origin and Early History of Engraving upon Copper and in -Wood.”] - -The first fact known with certainty in the history of wood-engraving is, -that in the first quarter of the fifteenth century there were scattered -abroad in Northern Europe rude prints, representing scenes from the -Scriptures and the lives of the saints. These pictures were on single -leaves of paper; the outlines were printed from engraved wood-blocks, -but occasionally, it is believed, from metal plates cut in relief; they -were taken off in a pale, brownish ink by rubbing on the back of the -paper with a burnisher, and sometimes in black ink and with a press; -they were then colored, either by hand or by means of a stencil plate, -in order to make them more attractive to the people. The earliest of -these prints which bears an unquestionable date is the famous St. -Christopher (Fig. 2) of 1423, found by Heinecken,[20] in the middle of -the last century, pasted inside the cover of a manuscript in the library -of the convent of Buxheim, in Suabia. It represents St. Christopher, -according to a favorite legend of the Middle Ages, fording a river with -the infant Christ upon his shoulders; opposite, on the right bank, a -hermit holds a lantern before his cell; on the left a peasant, with a -bag on his back, climbs the steep ascent from his mill to the cottage -high up on the cliff, where no swelling of the stream will reach it. The -attitude of the two heads is expressive, and the folds of the saint’s -robes are well cast about the shoulders; in other respects the cut has -little artistic merit, but the attempt to mark shadows by a greater or -less width of line is noticeable, and the lines in general are much more -varied than is usual in early work. It was printed in black ink, and -with a press. There are two other early prints, the dates of which are -uncertain, but still sufficiently probable to deserve mention--the -warmly controverted Brussels print[21] of 1418, which represents the -Virgin and Child, surrounded by four saints, in an enclosed garden, in -the style of the Van Eycks, and with more artistic merit than the St. -Christopher in design, drawing, and execution; and, secondly, the St. -Sebastian of 1437, at Vienna. The former was discovered in 1844, in a -bad condition, and the latter in 1779; both are taken off in pale ink, -and with a rubber. There are numerous other prints of this kind, which -have been described in detail and have had conjectural dates assigned to -them, fruitful of much antiquarian dispute. One of these (Fig. 3) is -here reproduced for the first time; it was found stitched into a -manuscript of 1445, and is unquestionably as old as the manuscript; it -represents a Crucifixion, with the Virgin and Longinus at the left, and -St. John and, perhaps, the Centurion at the right; in the upper -left-hand corner is an angel with the Veronica, or handkerchief, which -bears the miraculous portrait of the Saviour, and above are a scourge -and a knife; in the original the body of Christ is covered with dots and -scratches in vermillion, to represent blood. It was taken off in black -ink with a press, and is one of the rudest engravings known.[22] - -[Illustration: FIG. 3.--The Crucifixion. From the Manuscript “Book of -Devotion.” 1445.] - -Valueless as these prints[23] are, for the most part, as works of art, -they are of great interest. They were the first pictures the common -people ever had, and doubtless they were highly prized. Rude as they -were, the poor German peasant or humble artisan of the great industrial -cities cared for them; they had been given to him by the monks, like the -rudely-carved wooden images of earlier times, at the end of some -pilgrimage that he had made for penance or devotion, and were treasured -by him as a precious memento; or some preaching friar, to whom he had -devoutly given a small alms for the building of a church or the -decoration of a shrine, had rewarded his piety with a picture of the -saint whom, so far as he could, he had honored; or he had received them -on some day of festival, when in the streets of the Flemish cities the -Lazarists or other orders of monks had marched in grand procession, -scattering these brilliantly colored prints among the populace. Stuck up -on the low walls of his dwelling, they not only recalled his pious -deeds, they brought home before his eyes in daily sight the reality of -that holy living and holy dying of the Saviour and his martyrs in whose -intercession and prayer his hope of salvation lay. Throughout the -fifteenth and a part of the sixteenth centuries, although the -intellectual life of the higher classes began to be secularized, among -the common people these mediæval sentiments and customs, which gave rise -to the holy prints, continued without change until the Reformation; and -so the workshops of the monks and of the guilds of Augsburg, Nuremberg, -Ulm, Cologne, and the Flemish cities, kept on issuing these saints’ -images, as they were called, long after the art had produced refined and -noble works. They remained, in accordance with the true mediæval spirit, -not only without the name of the craftsman, _nomen vero auctoris -humilitate siletur_, but unmarked by any individuality, impersonal as -well as anonymous; there is little to show even the difference in the -time and place of their production, except that their lines in the first -half of the century were more round and flowing, while in the latter -half they were angular, after the manner of the Van Eycks, and that they -vary in the choice and brilliancy of their colors.[24] - -At the very beginning, too, wood-engraving was applied to a new -industry, which had sprung up rapidly, to furnish amusement for the camp -and the town--the manufacture of playing-cards. Some writers have -maintained that the art was thus applied before it was employed to make -the holy prints; but there are no playing-cards known to have been -printed before 1423, and it is probable that they were painted by hand -and adorned by the stencil for some time after the first unquestioned -mention of them in 1392.[25] The manufacture of both cards and holy -prints soon became a thriving trade; it is mentioned in Augsburg in -1418, and soon afterward in Nuremberg; and in 1441 the exportation of -these articles into Italy had become so large that the Venetian Senate -passed a decree,[26] which is the earliest document relative to -wood-engraving in Italy, forbidding their importation into Venice, -because the guild engaged in this manufacture in the city was suffering -from the foreign competition. Wood-engraving, being only one process in -the craft of the card-maker and the print-maker, seems to have remained -without a distinct name for a long while after its invention. - -In the middle of the fifteenth century, therefore, wood-engraving, the -youngest of the arts of design, after fifty years of obscure and -unnoticed history, held an established position, and was recognized as a -new craft. In art its discovery was the parallel of the invention of -printing in literature; it was a means of multiplying and spreading the -ideas which are expressed by art, of creating a popular appreciation and -knowledge of art, and of bringing beautiful design within the reach of a -larger body of men. It is difficult for a modern mind to realize the -place which pictures filled in mediæval life, before the invention of -printing had brought about that great change which has resulted in -making books almost the sole means of education. It was not merely that -the paintings upon the walls of the churches conveyed more noble -conceptions to the peasant and the artisan than their slow imagination -could build up out of the words of the preacher; like children, they -apprehended through pictures, they thought upon all higher themes in -pictures rather than in words; their ideas were pictorial rather than -verbal; painting was in spiritual matters more truly a language to them -than their own _patois_. They could not reason, they could not easily -understand intellectual statement, they could not imagine vividly, they -could only see. This accounts for the rapid spread of the new art, and -for the popularity and utility of the holy prints which were so widely -employed to convey religious ideas and quicken religious sentiment; in -the production of these wood-engraving appears from the first in its -true vocation as a democratic art in the service of the people; its -influence was one, and by no means the most insignificant, of the great -forces which were to transform mediæval into modern life, to make the -civilization of the heart and the brain no longer the exclusive -possession of a few among the fortunately born, but a common blessing. -Wood-engraving was at once the product of the desire for this change and -of the effort toward it, a mirror of the movement the more valuable -because the art was more intimately connected with the popular life than -any other art of the Renaissance, and a power feeding the impulse from -which it derived its own vitality. In this fact lies the historic -interest of the art to the student of civilization. At first it served -mediæval religion; afterward it took a wider range, and by both its -serious and satirical works afforded valuable aid in the progress of the -Reformation, while it rendered the earliest printed books more -attractive, in which its nobler designs educated the eye in the -perception of beauty. Finally, in the hands of the great engravers--of -Dürer, who, still mastered by the mediæval spirit, employed it to embody -the German Renaissance; of Maximilian’s artists, who recorded in it the -dying picturesqueness and chivalric spirit of the Middle Ages; of -Holbein, who first heralded, by means of it, the intelligence and -sentiment of modern times--it produced its chief monuments, which, for -the most part, will here be dealt with, in order to illustrate its value -as a fine art practised for its own sake, as a trustworthy contemporary -record of popular customs, ideas, and taste, and as an element of -considerable power in the advancement of modern civilization. - - - - -II. - -_THE BLOCK-BOOKS._ - - -[Illustration: D FIG. 4.--From the “Epistole di San Hieronymo.” 1497.] - -During the first half of the fifteenth century, in more than one quarter -of Europe, ingenious minds were at work seeking by various experiments -and repeated trials, with more and more success, the great invention of -printing with movable types; even now, after the most searching inquiry, -the time and place of the invention are uncertain. Printing with movable -types, however, was preceded and suggested by printing from engraved -wood-blocks. The holy prints sometimes bore the name of the saint, or a -brief _Ora pro nobis_ or other legend impressed upon the paper; the -wood-engravers who first cut these few letters upon the block, although -ignorant of the vast consequences of their humble work, began that great -movement which was to change the face of civilization. After letters had -once been printed, to multiply the words and lengthen the sentences, to -remove them from the field of the cut to the space below it, to engrave -whole columns of text, and, finally, to reproduce entire manuscripts, -and thus make printed books, were merely questions of manual skill and -patience. Where or when or by whom these block-books, as they are -called, were first engraved and printed is unknown; these questions have -been bones of contention among antiquarians for three hundred years, and -in the dispute much patient research has been expended, and much dusty -knowledge heaped together, only to perplex doubt still farther, and to -multiply baseless conjectures. It is probable that they were produced in -the first half of the fifteenth century, when the men of the -Renaissance, whose aroused curiosity made them alert to seize any new -suggestion, were everywhere seeking for means to overthrow the great -barrier to popular civilization, the rarity of the instruments for -intellectual instruction; they soon saw of what service the new art -might be in this task, through the cheapness and rapidity of its -processes, and they applied it to the printing of words as well as of -pictures. - -The most common manuscripts of the time, which had hitherto been the -cheapest mode of intellectual communication, were especially fitted to -be reproduced by the new art; they were those illustrated abridgments of -Scriptural history or doctrine, called _Biblia Pauperum_, or books of -the poor preachers, which had long been used in popular religious -instruction, in accordance with the mediæval custom of conveying -religious ideas to the illiterate more quickly and vividly through -pictures than was possible by the use of language alone. In the sixth -century Gregory the Great had defended wall-paintings in the churches as -a means of religious instruction for the ignorant population which then -filled the Roman provinces. In a letter to the Bishop of Marseilles, who -had shown indiscreet zeal in destroying the pictures of the saints, he -wrote: “What writing is to those who read, that a picture is to those -who have only eyes; because, however ignorant they are, they see their -duty in a picture, and there, although they have not learned their -letters, they read; wherefore, for the people especially, painting -stands in the place of literature.”[27] In conformity with this opinion -these manuscripts were composed at an early period; they were written -rapidly by the scribes, and illustrated with designs made with the pen, -and rudely colored by the rubricators. They served equally to take the -place of the Bible among the poor clergy--for a complete manuscript of -the Scriptures was far too valuable a treasure to be within their -reach--and to aid the people in understanding what was told them; for, -doubtless, in teaching both young and old the monks showed these -pictures to explain their words, and to make a more lasting impression -upon the memory of their hearers. These designs, it is worth while to -point out, exhibit the immobility of mind in the mediæval communities, -guided, as they were, almost wholly by custom and tradition; the designs -were not original, but were copied from the artistic representations in -the principal churches, where the common people may have seen them, when -upon a pilgrimage or at other times, carved among the bass-reliefs or -glowing in the bright colors of the painted windows. They were copied -without change, the scenes were conceived in the same manner, the -characters were represented after the same conventional type, even in -the details there was slight variation; and as the decorative arts in -the churches were subordinated to architecture, these designs not -infrequently bear the stamp of their original purpose, and are marked by -the characteristics of mural art. They were copied, too, not only by the -scribes from early representations, but they were reproduced by the -great masters of the Renaissance from the manuscripts and block-books -themselves; Dürer, Quentin Matzys, Lukas van Leyden, Martin Schön, and, -in earlier times, Taddeo Gaddi and Orcagna, took their conceptions from -these sources. - -Of the block-books which reproduced these and similar manuscripts -several have been preserved, and some of them have been reproduced in -fac-simile, and minutely described. Among the most important of these, -the _Biblia Pauperum_,[28] or Poor Preachers’ Bible, of which copies of -several editions exist, deserves to be first mentioned. It is a small -folio, containing forty pages, printed upon one side only, with the pale -brownish ink used in most early prints, and by means of a rubber. The -pages are arranged so that they can be pasted back to back; each page is -divided into five compartments, separated by the pillars and mouldings -of an architectural design, which immediately recall the divisions of a -church window; in the centre is depicted some scene (Fig. 5) from the -Gospels, and on either side are placed scenes from the Old Testament -history illustrative or typical of that commemorated in the central -design; both above and below are two half-length representations of -holy men. Various texts are interspersed in the field, and Latin verses -are written below the central compartments. It will be seen that the -designs not only served to illustrate the preacher’s lesson, but -suggested his subject, and indicated and directed the course of his -sermon: they taught him before they taught the people. - -[Illustration: ELIJAH RAISETH THE WIDOW’S SON (1 K, xvii.). THE RAISING -OF LAZARUS (Jno, xi.). ELISHA RAISETH THE WIDOW’S SON (2 K. iv.). - -FIG. 5.--From the original in the possession of Professor Norton, of -Cambridge.] - -[Illustration: FIG. 6.--The Creation of Eve. From the fac-simile of -Berjeau.] - -But, before commenting on this volume, it will be useful to describe -first the much more interesting and more famous _Speculum Humanæ -Salvationis_,[29] or Mirror of Human Salvation, an examination of which -will throw light on the history of the art. It is a small folio, and -contains sixty-three pages, printed upon one side, of which fifty-eight -are surmounted by two designs enclosed in an architectural border, which -are illustrative or symbolical of the life of Christ or of the Virgin; -the designs (Fig. 6) are printed in pale ink by means of a rubber. The -text is not engraved on the block or placed in the field of the cut, but -is printed from movable metallic type in black ink with a press, and -occupies the lower two-thirds of the page, in double columns. The book -is, therefore, a product of the two arts of wood-engraving and -typography in combination. There are four early editions known, two in -Latin, and two in Dutch, all without the name of the printer, or the -date or place of publication. They are printed on paper of the same -manufacture, with woodcuts from the same blocks, and in the same -typographical manner, excepting that one of the Latin editions contains -twenty pages in which the text is printed from engraved wood-blocks in -pale brownish ink, and with a rubber, like the designs. These four -editions, therefore, were issued in the same country. - -This curious book has been the subject of more dispute than any other of -the block-books, because it offers more tangible facts to the -investigator. The type is of a peculiar kind, distinctly different from -that used by the early German printers, and the same in character with -that used in other early books undoubtedly issued in the Low Countries. -The language of the Dutch editions is the pure dialect of North Holland -in the first part of the fifteenth century; the costumes, the short -jackets, the high, broad-brimmed hats, sometimes with flowing ribbons, -the close-fitting hose and low shoes of the men, the head-dresses and -skirts of the women, are of the same period in the Netherlands, and even -in the physiognomy of the faces Flemish features have been seen. The -designs, too, are in the manner of the great Flemish school, renowned as -the best in Europe outside Italy, which was founded by Van Eyck, the -discoverer of the art of painting in oil, and which was marked by a -realism altogether new and easily distinguished; the backgrounds are -filled with architecture of the same time and country. The _Speculum_, -therefore, was produced in the Low Countries; it must have been printed -there before 1483, and probably was printed some time before 1454. The -_Biblia Pauperum_ has so much in common with the _Speculum_ in the -style of its art, its costumes, and its general character, that, -although of earlier date, it may be unhesitatingly ascribed to the same -country. - -The internal evidence, however, only enforces the probabilities -springing from the social condition of the Netherlands, then the most -highly civilized country north of the Alps. Its industries, in the hands -of the great guilds of Bruges, Ghent, Brussels, Louvain, Antwerp, and -Liege, were the busiest in Europe. Its commerce was fast upon the -lagging sails of Venice. The “Lancashire of the Middle Ages,” as it has -been fitly called, sent its manufactures abroad wherever the paths of -the sea had been made open, and received the world’s wealth in return. -The magnificence of its Court was the wonder of foreigners, and the -prosperity of its people their admiration. The confusion of mediæval -life, it is true, was still there--fierce temper in the artisans, -blood-thirstiness in the soldiery, everywhere the pitilessness of -military force, wielded by a proud and selfish caste, as Froissart and -Philippe de Comyns plainly recount; but there, nevertheless--although -the brutal sack of Liege was yet to take place--modern life was -beginning; merchant-life, supported by trade, citizen-life, made -possible by the high organization of the great guilds, had begun, -although the merchant and the citizen must still wear the sword; art, -under the guidance of the Van Eycks, was passing out of mediæval -conventionalism, out of the monastery and the monkish tradition, to deal -no longer with lank, meagre, martyr-like bodies, to care no more for the -moral lesson in contempt of artistic beauty, to come face to face with -nature and humanity as they really were before men’s eyes; and modern -intellectual life, too--faint and feeble, no doubt--was nevertheless -beginning to show signs of its presence there, where in after-times -great thinkers were to find a harbor of refuge, and the most heroic -struggle of freedom was to be fought out against Spain and Rome. This -comparatively high state of civilization, the activity of men’s minds, -the variety of mechanical pursuits, the excellence of the goldsmiths’ -art, the number and character of the early prints undoubtedly issued -there, the mention of incorporated guilds of printers at Antwerp as -early as 1417, and again in 1440, and at Bruges in 1454, make it -probable that the invention of wood-engraving was due to the -Netherlands, and perhaps the invention of typography also. Whether this -were the case or not, it is certain that the artists of the Netherlands -carried the art of engraving in wood to its highest point of excellence -during its first period. - -Antiquarians have not been contented to show that the best of the -block-books came from the Netherlands; they have attempted to discover -the names of the composer of the _Speculum_, the engraver of its -designs, and its printer. But their conjectures[30] are so doubtful that -it is unnecessary to examine them, with the exception of the ascription -of the printing of the _Speculum_ to the Brothers of the Common -Lot.[31] This brotherhood was one of the many orders which arose at that -time in the Netherlands, given to mysticism and enthusiasm, that -resulted in real licentiousness; or to piety and reform, that prepared -the way for the Reformation. Its members were devoted to the spread of -knowledge, and were engaged in copying manuscripts and founding public -schools in the cities. After the invention of printing, they set up the -first presses in Brussels and Louvain, and published many books, always, -however, without their name as publishers. They practised the art of -wood-engraving, and doubtless some of the early holy prints were from -their workshops; sometimes they inserted woodcuts in their manuscripts, -as in the _Spirituale Pomerium_, or Spiritual Garden, of Henri van den -Bogaerde, the head of the retreat at Groenendael, where the painter -Diedrick Bouts occasionally sought retirement, and where he may have -aided the Brothers with his knowledge of design. It is quite possible -that this brotherhood, so favorably placed, produced the _Speculum_ and -others of the block-books, and that they were aided by the painters of -the time whose style of design they followed; but, as Renouvier remarks -in rejecting this account, the monks were not the only persons too -little desirous of notoriety to print their names, and although they -took part in early engraving and printing, a far more important part was -taken by the great civil corporations. In either case, whether the monks -or the secular engravers designed these woodcuts, they were probably -aided at times by the painters, who at that period did not restrict -themselves to the higher branches of art, but frequently put their skill -to very humble tasks. - -The character of the design is very easily seen; the lines are simple, -often graceful and well-arranged; there is but little attempt at marking -shadows; there is less stiffness in the forms, and the draperies follow -the lines of the forms better than in either earlier or later work of a -similar kind, and there is also much less unconscious caricature and -grimace. A whole series needs to be looked at before one can appreciate -the interest which these designs have in indicating the subjects on -which imagination and thought were then exercised, and the modes in -which they were exercised. Symbolism and mysticism pervade the whole. -All nature and history seem to have existed only to prefigure the life -of the Saviour: imagination and thought hover about him, and take color, -shape, and light only from that central form; the stories of the Old -Testament, the histories of David, Samson, and Jonah, the massacres, -victories, and miracles there recorded, foreshadow, as it were in -parables, the narrative of the Gospels; the temple, the altar, and the -ark of the covenant, all the furnishings and observances of the Jewish -ritual, reveal occult meanings; the garden of Solomon’s Song, and the -sentiment of the Bridegroom and the Bride who wander in it, are -interpreted, sometimes in graceful or even poetic feeling, under the -inspiration of mystical devotion; old kings of pagan Athens are -transformed into witnesses of Christ, and, with the Sibyl of Rome, -attest spiritual truth. This book and others like it are mirrors of the -ecclesiastical mind; they picture the principal intellectual life of the -Middle Ages; they show the sources of that deep feeling in the earlier -Dutch artists which gave dignity and sweetness to their works. Even in -the rudeness of these books, in the texts as well as in the designs, -there is a _naïveté_, an openness and freshness of nature, a confidence -in limited experience and contracted vision, which make the sight of -these cuts as charming as conversation with one who had never heard of -America or dreamed of Luther, and who would have found modern life a -puzzle and an offence. The author of the _Speculum_ laments the evils -which fell upon man in consequence of Adam’s sin, and recounts them: -blindness, deafness, lameness, floods, fire, pestilence, wild beasts, -and lawsuits (in such order he arranges them); and he ends the long list -with this last and heaviest evil, that men should presume to ask “why -God willed to create man, whose fall he foresaw; why he willed to create -the angels, whose ruin he foreknew; wherefore he hardened the heart of -Pharaoh, and softened the heart of Mary Magdalene unto repentance; -wherefore he made Peter contrite, who had denied him thrice, but allowed -Judas to despair in his sin; wherefore he gave grace to one thief, and -cared not to give grace to his companion.” What modern man can fully -realize the mental condition of this poet, who thus weeps over the -temptation to ask these questions, as the supreme and direst curse which -Divine vengeance allows to overtake the perverse children of this world? - -A better illustration of the sentiment and grace sometimes to be found -in the block-books is the _Historia Virginis Mariæ ex Cantico -Canticorum_, or History of the Virgin, as it is prefigured in the Song -of Solomon. This volume is the finest in design of all the block-books. -In it the Bride, the Bridegroom, three attendant maidens, and an angel -are grouped in successive scenes, illustrating the mystical meaning of -some verse of the Song. The artistic feeling displayed in the -arrangement of the figures is such that the designs have been attributed -directly to Roger Van der Weyden, the greatest of Van Eyck’s pupils. -This book, like the _Biblia Pauperum_ and the _Speculum_, came from the -engravers and the printers of the Netherlands; but it shows progress in -art beyond those works, more elegance and vivacity of line, more ability -to render feeling expressively, and especially more delight in nature -and carefulness in delineating natural objects. - -In spite of these three chief monuments of the art of block-printing in -the Netherlands, the claim of that country to the invention of the -block-books is not undisputed. The _Historia Johannis Evangelistæ -ejusque Visiones Apocalypticæ_, or the Apocalypse of St. John, much -ruder in drawing and in execution, is the oldest block-book according to -most writers, and especially those who maintain the claims of Germany to -the honor of the invention. This volume has been ascribed by Chatto to -Upper Germany, where some Greek artist may have designed it; but with -more probability, by Passavant, to Lower Germany, and especially to -Cologne, on account of the coloring, which is in the Cologne manner. The -volume bears a surer sign of early work than mere rudeness of execution: -it is hieratic rather than artistic in character; the artist is -concerned more with enforcing the religious lesson than with designing -pleasant scenes. But although for this reason a very early date -(1440-1460) must be assigned to the book, the question of the origin of -the art of block-printing remains unsettled, even if it be granted that -the volume is of German workmanship. Some evidence must be shown that -the Netherlands imported the art from Cologne or some other German city, -and this is lacking; indeed, the absence in early Flemish work of any -trace of influence from the school of art which flourished at Cologne -before the Van Eycks painted in the Netherlands, is strong negative -evidence against such a supposition. On the other hand, it must be -remembered that Germany produced the St. Christopher, and many other -early prints. In some of the German block-books Heinecken recognized the -modes of the German card-makers; but this may be explained otherwise -than by supposing that the card-makers invented the art of -block-printing. On the whole, the rudeness of early German block-books -must be held to be a result of the unskilfulness and tastelessness of -German workmen, rather than an indication that the art was discovered by -them. The engraving of the Apocalypse, like all other German work, will -bear no comparison with the Netherland engraving, either in refinement, -vivacity, or skill. - -The other block-books, many of which are in themselves interesting and -curious, do not elucidate the history of the art, and therefore need not -be discussed. It is sufficient to say that they are less valuable than -those which have been described, and far ruder in design and execution. -Some of them throw light upon the time. The _Ars Memorandi_, a series of -designs meant to assist the memory in recalling the chapters of the -Apocalypse, is a very curious monument of an age when such a device was -useful; and the _Ars Moriendi_, or Art of Dying, in which were depicted -frightful and eager devils about a dying man’s couch, is a book which -may stir our laughter, but was full of a different meaning for the poor -sinner to whose bedside the pious monks carried it to bring him to -repentance, by showing him designs of such horrible suggestion, -enforced, no doubt, by exhortations hardly more humane. These books were -all reproduced many times. This Art of Dying, for example, appeared in -Latin, Flemish, German, Italian, French, and English, with similar -designs, although there were variations in the text. Once popular, they -have long since lost their attraction; few care for the ideas or the -pictures preserved in them; the bibliophile collects them, because they -are rare, costly, and curious; the scholar consults them, because they -reveal the unprofitableness of mediæval thought, the needs and -characteristics of the class that could prize them, the poverty of the -civilization of which they are the monuments, and because they disclose -glimpses of actual human life as it then was, with its humors, its -burdens, and its imaginations. The world has forgotten them; but they -hold in the history of civilization an honorable place, for by means of -them wood-engraving led the way to the invention of printing, and -thereby performed its greatest service to mankind. - - - - -III. - -_EARLY PRINTED BOOKS IN THE NORTH._ - - -[Illustration: I FIG 7.--Source of this letter unknown.] - -In 1454 the art of printing in movable types and with a press had been -perfected in Germany; soon afterward the art of block-printing, although -it continued to be practised until the end of the century, began to fall -into decay, and the ancient block-books, in which the text had been -subsidiary to the colored engravings, speedily gave place to the modern -printed book, in which the engravings were subsidiary to the text. This -change did not come about without a struggle between the rival arts. In -all the great cities of Germany and the Low Countries, the -block-printers and wood-engravers had long been organized into strong -and compact guilds, enforcing their rights with strict jealousy, and -privileged from the first to make use of movable types and the press; -the new printers, on the other hand, were comparatively few in number, -disunited and scattered, accustomed to go from one town to another, and -every attempt by them to insert woodcuts into their books was looked -upon and resented as an encroachment on the art of the block-printers -and the wood-engravers. At first the new printers closely imitated the -manuscripts of their time. They used woodcuts to take the place of the -miniatures with which the manuscripts were embellished. They copied -directly the handwriting of the scribes in the forms of their type, and -were thus led to the use of ornamental initial letters like those which -had long been designed by the scribes and illuminated by the -rubricators; such are the beautiful initial letters in the Psalter of -Faust and Scheffer, published at Mayence in 1457, which are the earliest -wood-engravings in a dated book, and are designed and executed with a -skill which has rarely been surpassed. It was by such attempts that the -new printers incurred the hostility of the wood-engravers, which was -soon actively shown. Even as late as 1477, the guild at Augsburg, which -was then the most numerous and best-skilled in Germany, opposed the -admission of Gunther Zainer, who had just set up a printing-press there, -to the rights of citizenship, and he owed his freedom from molestation -to the interference of the friendly abbot, Melchior de Stamham. The -guild succeeded in obtaining an ordinance forbidding Zainer to insert -woodcuts or initials engraved on wood into his books--a prohibition -which remained in force until he came to an understanding with them, by -agreeing to use only such woodcuts and initials as should be engraved by -them. In this, or similar ways, as in every displacement of labor by -mechanical improvements, after a short struggle the cheaper and more -rapid art prevailed; the wood-engravers gave up to the printers the -principal part in the making of books, and became their servants. - -The new printers were most active in the great German cities--Cologne, -Mayence, Nuremberg, Ulm, Augsburg, Strasburg, and Basle--and from the -presses of these cities the greatest number of books with woodcuts were -issued. This is one reason why the mastering influence from this time in -Northern wood-engraving was German; why German taste, German rudeness, -coarseness, and crudity became the main characteristics of -wood-engraving in the latter half of the fifteenth century. The Germans -had been, from the first, artisans rather than artists. They had -produced many anonymous prints and block-books, but they had never -attained to the power and elegance of the Flemish school. Now the -quality of their work became even less excellent; for decline had set -in, and the increasing popularity of the new art of copperplate-engraving -combined with the unfavorable influences resulting from printing, which -required cheap and rapid processes, to degrade the art still lower. The -illustrations in the new books had ordinarily little art-value: they -were often grotesque, stiff, ignorant in design, and careless or -inexpert in execution; but they had nevertheless their use and their -interest. - -The German influence was made more powerful, too, by other causes than -the foremost part taken by Germany in printing. The Low Countries, -hitherto so civilized and prosperous, the home and cradle of early -Northern art, the influence of which had spread abroad and become the -most powerful even over the German painters themselves, were now -involved in the turbulence and disaster of the great wars of Charles the -Bold. They not only lost their honorable place at the head of Northern -civilization, but on the marriage of their Duchess, Mary of Burgundy, -the daughter of Charles the Bold, to the Emperor Maximilian, they -yielded in great part to the German influence, and became more nearly -allied in character and spirit to the German cities, as they had before -been more akin to France. The woodcuts in the books of the Netherlands, -where printing was introduced by German workmen, share in the rudeness -of German art; in proportion as their previous performance had been more -excellent, the decline of the art among them seems more great. There -are, occasionally, traces of the old power of design and execution in -their later work; but from the time that books began to be printed -Germany took the lead in wood-engraving. - -The German free cities were then animated with the new spirit which was -to mould the great age of Germany, and result in Dürer and Luther. The -growing weakness of the Empire had fostered independence and -self-reliance in the citizens, while the increase of commerce, both on -the north to the German Ocean, and on the south through Venice, had -introduced the wants of a higher civilization, and afforded the means to -satisfy them. Local pride, which showed itself in the rivalries and -public works of the cities, made their enterprise and industry more -active, and gave an added impulse to the rapid transformation of -military and feudal into commercial and democratic life. In these -cities, where the body of men interested in knowledge and with the means -of acquiring it, became every year more numerous, the new presses sent -forth books of all kinds--the religious and ascetic writings of the -clergy, mediæval histories, chronicles and romances, travels, voyages, -botanical, military, and scientific works, and sometimes the writings of -classic authors; although, in distinction from Italy, Germany was at -first devoted to the reproduction of mediæval rather than Greek and -Latin literature. The books in Latin, the learned tongue, were usually -without woodcuts; but those in the vulgar tongues, then becoming true -languages, the development and fixing of which are one of the great -debts of the modern world to printing, were copiously illustrated, in -order to make them attractive to the popular taste. - -[Illustration: FIG. 8.--The Grief of Hannah. From the Cologne Bible, -1470-’75] - -[Illustration: FIG. 9.--Illustration of Exodus I. From the Cologne -Bible, 1470-’75.] - -The great book, on which the printers exercised most care, was the -Bible. Many editions were published; but the most important of these, in -respect to the history of wood-engraving, was the Cologne Bible (Figs. -8, 9), which appeared before 1475, both because its one hundred and nine -designs were, probably, after the block-books, the earliest series of -engraved illustrations of Scripture, and were widely copied, and also -because they show an extension of the sphere of thought and increased -intellectual activity. The designers of these cuts relied less upon -tradition, displayed more original feeling, and showed greater variety -and vivacity in their treatment, than the artists who had engraved the -_Biblia Pauperum_. The latter volume contained, as has been seen, nearly -the last impression of century-old pictorial types in the mediæval -conventional manner; the Cologne Bible defined conceptions of Scriptural -scenes anew, and these conceptions became conventional, and re-appeared -for generations in other illustrated Bibles in all parts of Europe; not, -however, because of an immobility of mind characteristic of the -community, as in earlier times, but partly because the printers -preserved and exchanged old wood-blocks, so that the same designs from -the same blocks appeared in widely distant cities, and partly because it -was less costly for them to employ an inferior workman to copy the old -cut, with slight variations, than to have an artist of original -inventive power to design a wholly new series. Thus the Nuremberg Bible -of 1482 is illustrated from the same blocks as the Cologne Bible, and -the cuts in the Strasburg Bible of 1485 are poor copies of the same -designs. From the marginal border which encloses the first page of the -Cologne Bible it appears that wood-engraving was already looked on, not -only as a means of illustrating what was said in the text, but as a -means of decoration merely. Here, among the foliage and flowers, are -seen running animals, and in the midst the hunter, the jongleur, the -musician, the lover, the lady, and the fool--an indication of delight in -nature and in the variety of human life, which, simply because it is not -directly connected with the text, is the more significant of that freer -range of sympathy and thought characteristic of the age. Afterward these -decorative borders, often in a satiric and not infrequently in a gross -vein, wholly disconnected with the text, and sometimes at strange -variance with its spirit, are not uncommon. The engravings that follow -this frontispiece represent the customary Scriptural scenes, and the -series closes with two striking designs of the Last Judgment and of -Hell. In the former angels are hurling pope, emperor, cardinal, bishop, -and king into hell, and in the latter their bodies lie face to face with -the souls marked with the seal of God--a satire not unexampled before -this time, and indeed hardly bolder than hitherto, but of a spirit which -showed that Luther was already born. “It is no small honor for our -wood-engravers,” says Renouvier, “to have expressed public opinion with -such hardihood, and to have shown themselves the advanced sentinels of a -revolution.” The engraving in this Bible tells its own story without -need of comment; but, heavy and rude as much of it is, it surpasses -other German work of the same period; and it must not be forgotten that -the awkwardness of the drawing was much obscured by the colors which -were afterward laid on the designs by hand. It is only by accident or -negligence that woodcuts were left uncolored in early German books, for -the conception of a complete picture simply in black and white was a -comparatively late acquisition in art, and did not guide the practice of -wood-engravers until the last decade of the century, when, indeed, it -effected a revolution in the art. - -Of the many other illustrated Bibles which appeared during the last -quarter of the fifteenth century, the one published at Augsburg, about -1475, and attributed to Gunther Zainer, alone has a peculiar interest. -All but two of its seventy-three woodcuts are combined with large -initial letters, occupying the width of a column, for which they serve -as a background, and by which they are framed in; these are the oldest -initial letters in this style, and are original in design, full of -animation and vigor, and rank with the best work of the early Augsburg -wood-engravers. It is not unlikely that these novel and attractive -letters were the very ones of which the Augsburg guild complained in the -action that they brought against Zainer in 1477. Afterward the German -printers gave much attention to ornamented capitals, both in this style, -which reached its most perfect examples in Holbein’s alphabets, and in -the Italian mode, in which the design was relieved in white upon a black -ground. - -Next to the Bibles, the early chronicles and histories are of most -interest for the study of wood-engraving. They are records of legendary -and real events, intermingled with much extraneous matter which seemed -to their authors curious or startling. They usually begin with the -Creation, and come down through sacred into early legendary and secular -history, recounting miracles, martyrdoms, sieges, tales of wonder and -superstition, omens, anecdotes of the great princes, and the like. Each -of them dwells especially upon whatever glorifies the saints, or touches -the patriotism, of their respective countries. They are filled with -woodcuts in illustration of their narrative, beginning with scenes from -Genesis. Thus the Chronicle of Saxony, published at Mayence in 1492, -contains representations of the fall of the angels, the ark of Noah, -Romulus founding Rome, the arrival of the Franks and the Saxons, the -deeds of Charlemagne, the overthrow of paganism, the famous emperors, -Otho burning a sorcerer, Frederick Barbarossa, and the Emperor -Maximilian. The Chronicle of Cologne, published in 1492, is similarly -illustrated with views of the great cathedral, with representations of -the Three Kings, the refusal of the five Rhine cities to pay impost, and -like scenes. - -[Illustration: FIG. 10.--The Fifth Day of Creation. From Schedel’s -“Liber Chronicarum.” Nuremberg, 1493.] - -The most important of the chronicles, in respect to wood-engraving, is -the Chronicle of Nuremberg (Figs. 10, 11, 12), published in that city in -1493. It contains over two thousand cuts which are attributed to William -Pleydenwurff and Michael Wohlgemuth, the latter the master of Albert -Dürer; they are rude and often grotesque, possessing an antiquarian -rather than an artistic interest; many of them are repeated several -times, a portrait serving indifferently for one prophet or another, a -view of houses upon a hill representing equally well a city in Asia or -in Italy, just as in many other early books--for example, in the History -of the Kings of Hungary--a battle-piece does for any conflict, or a man -on a throne for any king. The representations were typical rather than -individual. In some of the designs there is, doubtless, a careful -truthfulness, as in the view of Nuremberg, and perhaps in some of the -portraits. The larger cuts show considerable vigor and boldness of -conception, but none of them are so good as the illustrations, also -attributed to Wohlgemuth, in the _Schatzbehalter_, published in the -same city in 1491. The distinction of the Nuremberg chronicle does not -consist in any superiority of design which can be claimed for it in -comparison with other books of the same sort, but in the fact that here -were printed, for the first time, woodcuts simply in black and white, -which were looked on as complete without the aid of the colorist, and -were in all essential points entirely similar to modern works. This -change was brought about by the introduction of cross-hatching, or lines -crossing each other at different intervals and different angles, but -usually obliquely, by means of which blacks and grays of various -intensity, or what is technically called color, were obtained. This was -a process already in use in copperplate-engraving. In that art--the -reverse of wood-engraving since the lines which are to give the -impression on paper are incised into the metal instead of being left -raised as in the wood-block--the engraver grooved out the crossing lines -with the same facility and in the same way as the draughtsman draws them -in a pen-and-ink sketch, the depth of color obtained depending in both -cases on the relative closeness and fineness of the hatchings. In -engraving in wood the task was much more difficult, and required greater -nicety of skill, for, as in this case the crossing lines must be left in -relief, the engraver was obliged to gouge out the minute diamond spaces -between them. At first this was, probably, thought beyond the power of -the workmen. The earliest woodcut in which these cross-hatchings appear -is the frontispiece to Breydenbach’s Travels, published at Mayence in -1486, which is, perhaps, the finest wood-engraving of its time. In the -Nuremberg chronicle this process was first extensively employed to -obtain color, and thus this volume marks the beginning of that great -school in wood-engraving which seeks its effects in black lines. - -[Illustration: FIG. 11.--The Dancing Deaths. From Schedel’s “Liber -Chronicarum.” Nuremberg, 1493.] - -To describe the hundreds of illustrated books which the German printers -published before the end of the century belongs to the bibliographer. -Should any one turn to them, he would find in the cuts that they contain -much diversity in character, but little in merit; he would meet at -Bamberg, in the works printed by Pfister, whose Book of Fables, -published 1461, is the first dated volume with woodcuts of figures, -designs so rude that they are generally believed to have been hacked out -by apprentices wholly destitute of training in the craft; he would -notice in the books of Cologne the greater self-restraint and sense of -proportion, in those of Augsburg the greater variety, vivacity, and -vigor, in those of Nuremberg the greater exaggeration and grotesqueness. -In the publications of some cities he would come upon the burning -questions of that generation: the siege of Rhodes by the Turks, the wars -of Charles the Bold against Switzerland, the martyrdom of John Huss; -elsewhere he would see naïve conceptions of mediæval romance and -chivalry, and not infrequently, as in the Boccaccio of Ulm, grossnesses -not to be described; at Strasburg he would hardly recognize Horace and -Virgil with their Teutonic features and barbaric garb; while at Mayence -botanical works, which strangely mingle science, medicine, and -superstition, would excite his wonder, and at Ulm military works would -picture the forgotten engines of mediæval warfare; in the Netherlands, -too, he would discern little difference in literature or in design; -everywhere he would find the unevenness of Gothic taste--one moment -creating works with a certain boldness and grandeur of conception, the -next moment falling into the inane and the ludicrous; everywhere German -realism making each person appear as if born in a Rhine city, and each -event as if taking place within its walls; everywhere, too, an -ever-widening interest in the affairs of past times and distant -countries, in the thought and life of the generations that were gone, in -the pursuits of the living, and the multiform problems of that age of -the Reformation then coming on. It is impossible to turn from this wide -survey without a recognition of the large share which wood-engraving, as -the suggester and servant of printing, had in the progress made toward -civilization in the North during that century. Woltmann does not -over-state the fact when he says: “Wood-engraving and -copperplate-engraving were not alone of use in the advance of art; they -form an epoch in the entire life of mind and culture. The idea embodied -and multiplied in pictures became, like that embodied in the printed -word, the herald of every intellectual movement.” - -[Illustration: FIG. 12.--Jews Sacrificing a Christian Child. From -Schedel’s “Liber Chronicarum.” Nuremberg, 1493.] - -As typography spread from Germany through the other countries of Europe, -the art of wood-engraving accompanied it. The first books printed in the -French language appeared about 1475, at Bruges, where the Dukes of -Burgundy had long favored the vulgar tongue, and had collected many -manuscripts written in it in their great library, then one of the finest -in Europe. The first French city to issue French books from its presses -was Lyons, which had learned the arts of printing and of wood-engraving -from Basle, Geneva, and Nuremberg, in consequence of their close -commercial relations. If a few doubtful and scattered examples of early -work be excepted, it was in these Lyonese books that French -wood-engraving first appeared. From the beginning of printing in France, -Lyons was the chief seat of popular literature, and the centre of the -industry of printing books in the vulgar tongue, as Paris was the chief -seat of the literature of the learned, both in Latin and French, and -devoted itself to reproducing religious and scientific works.[32] At the -close of the fifteenth and beginning of the sixteenth centuries the -Lyonese presses issued the largest number of first editions of the -popular romances, which were sought, not merely by French purchasers, -but throughout Europe. These books were meant for the middle class, who -were unable to buy the costly manuscripts, illuminated with splendid -miniatures, in which literature had previously been locked up. They were -not considered valuable enough to be preserved with care, and have -consequently become scarce; but they were published in great numbers, -and exerted an influence in the spread of literary knowledge and taste -which can hardly be over-estimated. Woodcuts were first inserted in them -about 1476; but for twenty years after this wood-engraving was practised -rather as a trade than an art, and its products have no more artistic -merit than similar works in Germany. In 1493 an edition of Terence, in -which the earlier rudeness gave way to some skill in design, showed the -first signs of promise of the excellence which the Lyonese art was to -attain in the sixteenth century. - -In Paris, the German printers, who had been invited to the city by a -prior of the Sorbonne, had issued Latin works for ten years before -wood-engraving began to be practised. After 1483, however, Jean Du Pré, -Guyot Marchand, Pierre Le Rouge, Pierre Le Caron, Antoine Verard, and -other early printers applied themselves zealously to the publication of -volumes of devotion, history, poetry, and romance, in which they made -use of wood-engraving. The figure of the author frequently appears upon -the first page, where he offers his book to the king or princess before -whom he kneels; and here and there may be read sentiments like the -following, which is taken from an early work of Verard’s, where they are -inserted in fragmentary verses among the woodcuts: “Every good, loyal, -and gallant Catholic who begins any work of imagery ought, first, to -invoke in all his labor the Divine power by the blessed name of Jesus, -who illumines every human heart and understanding; this is in every deed -a fair beginning.”[33] The religious books, especially the _Livres -d’Heures_ (Fig. 13), were filled with the finest examples of the -Parisian art, which sought to imitate the beautiful miniatures for which -Paris had been famous from even before the time when Dante praised them. -In consequence of this effort the woodcut in simple line served -frequently only as a rough draft, to be filled in and finished by the -colorist, who, indeed, sometimes wholly disregarded it and overlaid it -with a new design. Before long, however, the wood-engravers succeeded in -making cuts which, so far from needing color, were only injured by the -addition of it; but these were considered less valuable than the -illuminated designs, and the wood-engravers were hampered in the -practice of their art by the miniaturists, who, like the guilds at -Augsburg and other German towns, complained of the new mode of -illustration as a ruinous encroachment on their craft. - -[Illustration: FIG. 13.--Marginal Border. From Kerver’s “Psalterium -Virginis Mariæ.” 1509.] - -Whether with or without color, the engravings in the _Livres d’Heures_ -are beautiful. Each page is enclosed in an ornamental border made up of -small cuts, which are repeated in new arrangements on succeeding leaves; -here and there a large cut, usually representing some Scriptural scene, -is introduced in the upper portion of the page, and the text fills the -vacant spaces. Not infrequently the taste displayed is Gallic rather -than pious, and delights in profane legends and burlesque fancies which -one would not expect to meet in a prayer-book. These volumes were so -highly prized by foreign nations for the beauty of their workmanship, -that they were printed in Flemish, English, and Italian. Those which -were issued by Verard, Vostre, Pigouchet, and Kerver were the best -products of the early French art.[34] The secular works which contain -woodcuts are hardly worthy of mention, excepting Guyot Marchand’s La -Danse Macabre, first published in 1485, which is a series of twenty-five -spirited and graceful designs, marked by French vivacity and liveliness -of fancy. In all early French work the peculiar genius of the people is -not so easily distinguishable as in this example, but it is usually -present, and gives a national characteristic to the art, notwithstanding -the indubitable influences of the German archaic school in the earlier -time, and of the Italian school in the first years of the sixteenth -century. - -French wood-engraving is remarkable, in respect to its technique, for -the introduction of _criblée_, or dotted work, which has previously[35] -been described, into the backgrounds on which the designs are relieved. -This mode of engraving is probably a survival from the goldsmiths’ work -of the first part of the fifteenth century, and it is not unlikely that, -as Renouvier suggests, these _criblée_ grounds were meant to represent -the gold grounds on which both miniatures and early paintings were -relieved. From an examination of the peculiarities of these engravings, -some authors[36] have been led to maintain that they were taken off -from metal plates cut in relief, and nearly all writers are ready to -admit that this was sometimes, but not always, the case. The question is -unsettled; but it is probable that wood was sometimes employed, and it -would be impossible to determine with certainty what share in these -prints belongs to wood-engraving and metal-engraving respectively. In -general, French wood-engraving, in its best early examples at Paris, was -characterized by greater fineness and elegance of line, and by more -feeling for artistic effects, than was the case with German -book-illustration; but the Parisian chronicles, histories, botanical -works, and the like, possessed no greater merit than similar -publications at Lyons or in the German cities, and their influence upon -the middle classes in furthering the advance of education and taste was -probably much less. - -England was far behind the other nations of Europe in its appreciation -of art, and wood-engraving throve there as feebly as did the other arts -of design. The first English book with woodcuts was Caxton’s Game and -Playe of the Chesse, published about 1476, the first edition of which -was issued two years earlier, without illustrations. It is supposed by -some writers that Caxton imported the blocks from which these cuts were -printed, as he did the type for his text; and it is certain that in -later years wood-blocks and metal-plates were brought over from the -Continent for illustrating English books. It is not improbable that the -art was practised by Englishmen as a part of the printer’s craft, and -that there were no professional wood-engravers for many years; indeed, -Chatto doubts whether the art was practised separately even so late as -Holbein’s time. The cuts in Caxton’s works, and in those of the later -printers, Wynkyn de Worde and Richard Pynson, were altogether rude and -uninteresting in design. If the honor of them belongs to foreign rather -than English workmen, no great hurt is done to English pride. - - - - -IV. - -_EARLY ITALIAN WOOD-ENGRAVING._ - - -[Illustration: P FIG. 14.--From Ovid’s “Metamorphoses.” Venice, 1518 -(design, 1497).] - -Previous to the time of Dürer wood-engraving in the North, as has been -seen, was little more than a trade, and has its main interest to the -scholar as an agent of civilization; in Italy it first became a fine -art, a mode of beautiful expression. The Italians, set in the midst of -natural loveliness and among the ruins of ancient art, had never wholly -lost the sense of beauty; they may have paid but slight attention to -what was about them, but they lived life-long in the daily sight of fair -scenes and beautiful forms, which impressed their senses and moulded -their nature, so that, when with the revival of letters they felt the -native impulses of humanity toward the higher life stirring once more in -their hearts, they found themselves endued with powers of perception and -appreciation beyond any other people in the world. These powers were not -the peculiar possession of a well-born class; the centuries had bred -them unobserved into the nature of the race, into the physical -constitution of the whole people. The artisan, no less than the prince, -took delight in the dawn of art, and welcomed it with equal worship. Nor -was this artistic instinct the only common acquisition; the enthusiasm -for letters was likewise widely shared, so that some of the best -manuscripts of the classics have come down to modern times from the -hands of humble Florentine workmen. Italy, indeed, was the first country -where democratic civilization had place; here the contempt of the -Northern lord for the peasant and the mechanic had never been -wide-spread, partly because mercantile life was early held to be -honorable, and partly because of peculiar social conditions. The long, -uninterrupted intercourse with the remains of Roman civilization in the -unbarbarized East, the contact with Saracenic civilization in the South, -the culture of the court of the Two Sicilies, and the invariably -levelling influence of commerce, had made Italy the most cosmopolitan of -European countries; the sharp and warlike rivalry of small, but -intensely patriotic, states, and the necessity they lay under of -utilizing for their own preservation whatever individual energy might -arise among them, perhaps most of all the powerful example of the -omnipresent Church in which the son of a swineherd might take the Papal -Throne, had contributed to make it comparatively easy to pass from lower -to higher social ranks; the aristocratic structure of society remained, -but the distinction of classes was obscured, and the excellence of the -individual’s faculties, the energy and scope of his powers, were -recognized as the real dignities which were worthy of respect. In this -recognition of the individual, and this common taste for art and -letters, lay the conditions of new and vigorous intellectual life; they -resulted in the great age of Italy. It was this in the main that made -possible the popular fervor for the things of the mind in the Italian -Renaissance, to which nothing else in the world’s history is comparable -but the popular enthusiasm of the modern Revolution for liberty. Dante -gave his country a native language, the Humanists gave it the literature -of Rome, the Hellenists the literature of Greece; poets sang and artists -painted with a loftiness and dignity of imagination, a sweetness and -delicacy of sentiment, an energy and reach of thought, a music of verse -and harmony of line and color, still unsurpassed. The gifts which these -men brought were not for a few, but for the many who shared in this -mastering, absorbing interest in the things of the mind, in beauty and -wisdom, which was the vital spirit of the Italian Renaissance. - -[Illustration: FIG. 15.--The Creation. From the “Fasciculus Temporum.” -Venice, 1484.] - -[Illustration: FIG. 16.--Leviathan. From the “Ortus Sanitatis.” Venice, -1511.] - -Thus it happened that when the German printers brought over the Alps the -art which was to do so much toward civilizing the North, they found in -Italy a civilization already culminated, hastening on, indeed, to a -swift decline; they found the people already in possession of the -manuscripts which they came to reproduce and multiply, and the princes, -like Frederick of Urbino,[37] “ashamed to own a printed book” among -their splendid collections, where every art seemed to vie in making -beautiful their volumes of vellum and velvet. Wood-engraving, too, which -here as elsewhere accompanied printing, could be of no use in spreading -ideas and preparing the way for a popular knowledge and appreciation of -art; it was to receive rather than bestow benefits; it was to be made a -fine art before it could perform any real service. The printers, -however, proved the utility of their art, and were soon busily employed -in all the Italian cities in reproducing the precious manuscripts with -which Italy was stored; and from the first they called wood-engraving to -their aid. It is true that the earliest Italian woodcuts--which were, -however, Germanic in design and execution--were as rude as those of the -Northern workshops. They appeared for the first time in an edition of -Cardinal Turrecremata’s Meditations, published at Rome by Ulric Hahn, in -1467. In Venice, although without much doubt the art had been practised -there by the makers of cards and prints long before, woodcuts were first -introduced by the German printers. The accompanying cuts are fair -examples of their work (Figs. 15, 16, 17, 18, 20, 21), and at the same -time interesting reflections of popular fable. The views of Venice are -examples of the very common attempts to represent the actual appearance -of the great cities, which possess sometimes an historic value. This -Germanic work is but slightly different from that already noticed; but -as soon as the art became naturalized, and was practised by the Italian -engravers, it was characterized at once by beauty of design. There is -something more than promise in an edition of Æsop’s Fables, published at -Verona in 1481, as may be seen from these examples (Figs. 22, 23), -taken from a Venetian reprint of 1491. An Ovid, printed at Venice in -1497, is adorned with several excellent woodcuts, such as this of The -Contest of Apollo and Pan (Fig. 19); and there are other works of -similar merit belonging to the same period. The finest example of -Italian wood-engraving before it reached its highest perfection in the -Hypnerotomachia Poliphili, or Dream of Poliphilo, is a volume which -contains the epistles of St. Jerome, and a description of cloistral -life. This is adorned with a large number of small woodcuts of simple -beauty, marked by grace and feeling, and full of reminiscences of moods -and sentiments which have long ceased to hold a place in human hearts -(Figs. 24, 25, 26). Here is pictured the religious life; the monk’s cell -is barely furnished, but it is seldom without shelves of books and a -window opening upon a distant prospect; the teacher expounds to his -pupils the great volume on the desk before him; the priest administers -consolation to the dying and the bereaved, and encourages the feeble of -spirit and the sinful; the preacher discourses to his brethren and the -crowding people the Blessed Word; the nuns of the sisterhood perform -their daily offices of religion, the panel of the confessional slides -back for them, they wash the feet of the poor, they sit at table -together; all the pieties of their life, which knew no close human -relation, which knew only God and mankind, are depicted; and now and -then there is a thought, too, of the worldly life outside--here the -beautiful youths stop to gaze at the convent gates barred against them. -There are other cuts, also, of landscape, towers, and cities. The great -themes of religion are not forgotten--the Resurrection and the Judgment -unfold their secrets of justice and of the life eternal. In all the -religious spirit prevails, and gives to the whole series a simple and -sweet charm. One may look at them long, and be content to look many -times thereafter. - -[Illustration: FIG. 17.--The Stork. From the “Ortus Sanitatis.” Venice, -1511.] - -[Illustration: FIG. 18.--View of Venice. From the “Fasciculus Temporum.” -Venice, 1484.] - -[Illustration: FIG. 19.--The Contest of Apollo and Pan. From Ovid’s -“Metamorphoses.” Venice, 1518 (design, 1497).] - -[Illustration: FIG. 20.--Sirens. From the “Ortus Sanitatis.” Venice, -1511.] - -[Illustration: FIG. 21.--Pygmy and Cranes. From the “Ortus Sanitatis.” -Venice, 1511.] - -[Illustration: FIG. 22.--The Woman and the Thief. From “Æsop’s Fables.” -Venice, 1491 (design, 1481).] - -[Illustration: FIG. 23.--The Crow and the Peacock. From “Æsop’s Fables.” -Venice, 1491 (design, 1481).] - -This volume of St. Jerome was, however, only a worthy forerunner of the -Dream of Poliphilo, in which Italian wood-engraving, quickened by the -spirit of the Renaissance, displayed its most beautiful creations. It -was written by a Venetian monk, Francesco Columna, in 1467, and was -first printed by Aldus, in 1499. It is a mystical work, composed in -Italian, strangely mingled with Greek, Latin, Hebrew, and Arabic, and -its theme, which is the praise of beauty and of love, is obscured by -abstruse knowledge and by much varied learning. It recalls Dante’s poem -in some ways. The Renaissance Dominican, too, was a lover with a human -Beatrice, of whom his dream is the memorial and the glory; like Dante, -he seems to symbolize, under the beauty and guardianship of his gracious -lady, a body of truth and a theory of life; and, as in Dante’s poem -Beatrice typified Divine Wisdom and theology, his Polia stood for the -new gospel of this world’s joy, for the loveliness of universal nature -and the perfection of ancient art; in adoring her he worships them, and -in celebrating her, as alike his goal and his guide through the mazes of -his changing dream, he exalts the virtue and the hope that lay in the -Renaissance ideal of life. There is, perhaps, no volume where the -exuberant vigor of that age is more clearly shown, or where the -objects for which that age was impassioned are more glowingly described. -This romantic and fantastic rhapsody mirrors every aspect of nature and -art in which the Italians then took delight--peaceful landscape, where -rivers flow by flower-starred banks and through bird-haunted woods; -noble architecture and exquisite sculpture, the music of soft -instruments, the ruins of antiquity, the legends of old mythology, the -motions of the dance, the elegance of the banquet, splendor of apparel, -courtesy of manners, even the manuscript, with its covers of purple -velvet sown with Eastern pearls--everything which was cared for and -sought in that time, when the gloom of asceticism lifted and disclosed -the wide prospect of the world lying, as it were, in the loveliness of -daybreak. Poliphilo wanders through fields and groves bright with this -morning beauty, voyages down streams and loiters in gardens that are -filled with gladness; he is graciously regaled in the palace, he attends -the sacrifice in the temple, where his eyes are charmed by every -exquisite ornament of art; he encounters in his progress triumphal -processions, as they wind along through the pleasant country, -bewildering the fancy with their lavish magnificence as of an Arabian -dream; chariots that are wrought out of entire precious stones, carved -with bass-reliefs from Grecian fables, and drawn by half-human centaurs -or strange animals,--elephants, panthers, unicorns, in trappings of silk -and jewels, pass before him, bearing exalted in their midst sculptured -figures, Europa and the Bull, Leda and the Swan, Danaë in the shower of -gold, and, last and most wonderful, a vase, beautifully engraved and -adorned, out of which springs a golden vine, with leaves of Persian -selenite and grapes of Oriental amethyst; and about all are groups of -attendant nymphs, fauns, satyrs, mænads, and lovely women, crowned with -flowers, with instruments of music in their hands, chanting the praise -of Valor and of Pleasure; again, he lingers among ancient ruins and -remembers their perished glory, and falls into reflection, like that of -the traveller whom he describes, “among those venerable monuments which -still make Rome the queen of cities; where he sees,” thinks Poliphilo, -“the hand of Time, which punishes the excess of pride; and, seeking then -on the steps of the amphitheatre the heads of the legions and that -conquering eagle, that Senate whose decrees made and unmade the kings of -the world, those profound historians, those eloquent orators, he finds -there only a rabble of beggars, to whom an ignorant and ofttimes lying -hermit preaches, only altars without honor and saints without a -believer; the artist reigns alone in that vast enclosure; pencil in -hand, rich with memories, he sees the whole of Rome, her pomp and her -glory, in one mutilated block which a fragment of bass-relief adorns.” -Inspired by these thoughts, Poliphilo delays among like relics of the -past, and reads on shattered tombs the brief inscriptions which tell the -history of the lost lovers who lie beneath, while the pagan burden of -their sorrow, and the pagan calm of the “adieu” with which each -inscription ends, fill him with tender sentiment. So his dream drifts on -through ever-shifting scenes of beauty and ever-dying moments of delight -to the hour of awakening. These scenes and these moments, which -Francesco Columna called out of his imagination, are pictured in the one -hundred and ninety-two designs (Figs. 27, 28, 29, 30) which adorn his -book; here in simple outline are the gardens, groves, and streams, the -noble buildings, the bath, the palace and the temple, the feast, the -allegory of life, the thronging triumphs, the sacrifices, the ruins, the -tombs, the lover and his beloved, the priestess and the goddess, cupids, -bacchanals, and nymphs--a profusion of loveliness, joy, and revel; here, -too, among the others, are some dramatic scenes: the lion and the -lovers, Poliphilo fainting before Polia, and his revival at the touch of -her lips; altogether, they are a precious memorial of the Renaissance -spirit, reflecting alike its passion for the new learning, passing into -useless and pedantic knowledge, and its ecstacy of the senses passing -into voluptuous delight. - -[Illustration: FIG. 24.--The Peace of God. From “Epistole di San -Hieronymo Volgare.” Ferrara, 1497.] - -[Illustration: FIG. 25.--Mary and the Risen Lord. From “Epistole di San -Hieronymo Volgare.” Ferrara, 1497.] - -[Illustration: FIG. 26.--St. Baruch. From the “Catalogus Sanctorum.” -Venice, 1506.] - -[Illustration: FIG. 27.--Poliphilo by the Stream. From the -“Hypnerotomachia Poliphili.” Venice, 1499.] - -[Illustration: FIG. 28.--Poliphilo and the Nymphs. From the -“Hypnerotomachia Poliphili.” Venice, 1499.] - -[Illustration: FIG. 29--Ornament. From the “Hypnerotomachia Poliphili.” -Venice, 1499.] - -These designs, of which the few that can be given afford only a slight -idea, so various are they in beauty and feeling, have been attributed to -many illustrious masters, Giovanni Bellini and Raphael among others; but -perhaps the conjecture which assigns them to Benedetto Montagna is the -most probable. They show what remarkable artistic taste there was even -in the inferior masters of Italy. “They are,” says Professor Sydney -Colvin,[38] “without their like in the history of wood-cutting; they -breathe the spirit of that delightful moment when the utmost of -imaginative _naïveté_ is combined with all that is needed of artistic -accomplishment, and in their simplicity are in the best instances of a -noble composition, a masculine firmness, a delicate vigor and graceful -tenderness in the midst of luxurious or even licentious fancy, which -cannot be too much admired. They have that union of force and energy -with a sober sweetness, beneath a last vestige of the primitive, which -in the northern schools of Italy betokens the concurrent influence of -the school of Mantegna and the school of Bellini.” Italy never afterward -produced so noble a monument of the art as this work of its early days. - -[Illustration: FIG. 30.--Poliphilo meets Polia. From the -“Hypnerotomachia Poliphili.” Venice, 1499.] - -[Illustration: FIG. 31.--Nero Fiddling. From the Ovid of 1510. Venice.] - -[Illustration: FIG. 32.--The Physician. From the “Fasciculus Medicinæ.” -Venice, 1500.] - -[Illustration: FIG. 33.--Hero and Leander. From the Ovid of 1515. -Venice.] - -The art did not, however, fall into decline immediately. It is true that -wood-engraving never won for itself in Italy a place in the popular -esteem like that which it held in the North; the Italians were too fond -of color, and possessed too many master-pieces of the nobler arts, to -set a very high value on such simple effects; but, nevertheless, in the -first quarter of the sixteenth century there appeared in Venice, the -chief seat of the art, many volumes which were illustrated by woodcuts -of excellent design, such as this of Nero (Fig. 31), from an Ovid of -1510, the representation of the physician attending a patient stricken -with the plague (Fig. 32), from the _Fasciculus Medicinæ_, by Johannes -de Ketham, published in 1500, and that of Hero and Leander (Fig. 33), -from an Ovid of 1515. Of Venetian work of lesser merit, the -representation of Dante and Beatrice (Fig. 34), from a Dante of 1520, -and the cuts (Figs. 35, 36, 37, 38), from the Catalogue of the Saints, -by Petrus de Natalis, published in 1506, may serve as examples. The -whole Italian series, even as illustrated by the cuts here given, -exhibits a greater variety of interest, knowledge, and feeling than does -the work of any other nation, and affords a lively notion of the -manifold elements that went to make up the Renaissance; it reflects -fable, superstition, learning, the symbolism of mediæval theology, -ancient myth and legend, the rise of the modern feeling for nature, the -passion for beauty and art; and, ranging from the life of the scholar -and the nunnery to that of the beggar and the plague, it pictures -vividly contemporary times, while it adds to the interest of history and -humanity the interest of beauty. Its prime, however, was of brief -duration. Venetian engraving, and that of the other Italian cities also, -continued to be marked by this simplicity and skill in design until -1530, when cross-hatching was introduced from the North; after that date -wood-engraving shared in the rapid decline into which all the arts of -Italy fell in consequence of the internal troubles of the country, -which, from the time of the sack of Rome, in 1527, became the common -battlefield of Europe for generations. But, in the short space during -which the Italians practised the art with such success, they showed that -they had mastered it, and had come to an understanding of its -capacities, both as a mode of drawing in black line and as a mode of -relief in white line, such as appears in their arabesques and initial -letters, examples of which are scattered through this volume. They came -to this mastery and understanding before any other nation, because of -their artistic instinct; for the same reason, they did not surpass the -rudeness of German workmen in skill more than they excelled in simple -beauty of design the best of early French work, which was characterized -by such confused exuberance of fancy and such profusion of detail. They -breathed into the art the Italian spirit, and its presence made their -works beautiful. - -[Illustration: FIG. 34.--Dante and Beatrice. From the Dante of 1520. -Venice.] - -[Illustration: FIG. 35.--St. Jerome Commending the Hermit’s Life. From -“Epistole di San Hieronymo.” Ferrara, 1497.] - -[Illustration: FIG. 36.--St. Francis and the Beggar. From the “Catalogus -Sanctorum.” Venice, 1506.] - -[Illustration: FIG. 37.--The Translation of St. Nicolas. From the -“Catalogus Sanctorum.” Venice, 1506.] - -To the Italian love of color is due the development of what is known as -engraving in chiaroscuro, a process which, although it had been -practised in Germany since 1506, was claimed as a new invention by Ugo -da Carpi (1460-1523), at Venice, in 1516, and was carried by the -Italians to the highest point of perfection which it reached in the -sixteenth century. It was an attempt to imitate the results of -painting; two, and sometimes several, blocks were used in the process; -on the first the outlines and heavy shadows of the design were engraved, -and a proof was taken off; on the second block the lighter parts of the -design were engraved, and an impression was taken off from this on the -same print in a different color, or, at least, in a color of different -intensity; thus the original proof was overlaid with different tints by -successive impressions from different blocks, and a variety of shades -was obtained in the finished engraving, analogous to those which the -painter gets by laying flat tints over each other with the brush. Great -care had to be taken in laying the original proof down on the second -block, so that the lines of the design should fall in exactly the same -position as in the first block; it is owing to a lack of exactness in -this superposition of the proof on the later blocks that some of these -engravings are so displeasing. There was considerable variety in the -detail of the process. Sometimes the impression from the outline block -was taken last; sometimes the different impressions were taken off in -different colors, but usually in the same color of different -intensities; sometimes the impressions were taken off on colored paper. -The Italians used four blocks at an early time, and were able to imitate -water-colors with some success. All of their prints in this kind are -marked by more artistic feeling and skill than those of the Germans, -even when the latter are by masters. This application of the art, -however, is not a true development, and really lies outside its -province. - -[Illustration: FIG. 38--Romoaldus, the Abbot. From the “Catalogus -Sanctorum.” Venice, 1506.] - - - - -V. - -_ALBERT DÜRER AND HIS SUCCESSORS._ - - -[Illustration: A FIG. 39.--From an Italian Alphabet of the 16th -Century.] - -Already, before the Dream of Poliphilo had been published in Venice, -wood-engraving in the North had passed into the hands of the great -German master who was to transform it; in the studio of Albert Dürer -(1471-1528) it had entered upon its great period. The earlier German -engravers, whose woodcuts in simple outline, shadowed by courses of -short parallel lines, showed a naïve spirit almost too simple for modern -taste, a force ignorant of the channels of expression and feeling -inexpert in utterance, did not know the full resources of their art. It -was not until the very close of the fifteenth century, when they -discarded the aid of the colorists, and sought all their effects from -simple contrast of black and white, that they conceived of -wood-engraving as an independent art; even then their sense of beauty -was so insignificant, and their power of thought was so feeble, that -their works have only an historical value. Dürer was the first to -discover the full capacities of wood-engraving as a mode of artistic -expression; it had begun to imitate the methods of copperplate-engraving -before his day, but he saw immediately that it could not equal the rival -art in that delicacy of line and harmony of tone on which -copperplate-engraving depends for its excellence; the materials and -processes of wood-engraving required different methods, and Dürer -prescribed them. He increased the size of the cuts, gave breadth and -boldness to the lines, and obtained new and pleasing effects from strong -contrasts of black and white. He thus showed the true method of -wood-engraving; but the art owes to him much more than this: he brought -to the practice of it the hand and brain of a great master, lifted it, a -mechanic’s trade, into the service of high imagination and vigorous -intellect, and placed it among the fine arts--a deed of far more -importance than any improvements in processes or methods, even though -they have such brilliant consequences as followed Bewick’s later -innovations. He taught the art a language, put meaning into its words, -and made it capable of conveying the ideas which art can express, and of -spreading them and the appreciation of them among the people. - -The application of Dürer’s genius to wood-engraving could not fail of -great results. He recorded in it the German Renaissance. Civilization -had gained much in freedom of thought, independence of action, and -community of knowledge, as well as in a respect for nature; but it was -still ruled by the devout and romantic spirit of the Middle Ages. Dürer -shared in all the intellectual life of his time, alike in its study of -antiquity and its revolt against Rome; he was interested in all the -higher subjects for which his contemporaries cared, and his versatile -genius enabled him often to work with them in preparing the modern age, -but he was not touched by the modern spirit; in thought and feeling he -remained deeply religious, fantastic, picturesque, mystical--in a word, -mediæval. He did not possess the modern sense of limitation, the power -to restrict himself to realizing a definite conception, the power to -disregard and refuse what cannot be clearly seen and expressed, which -the modern age, when it came, gave to the perfect artist; he was not -content to embody his idea simply, directly, and forcibly; he -supplemented it with secondary thought and subordinate suggestion in -unmeasured profusion; he did not know when his work was done, but kept -on adding to it in the true wandering, Gothic spirit, which never -finishes its task, because its main purpose does not control it; he -allowed his fancy to encumber the noble work of his imagination, and -allegory to obscure the truth he uttered; he was not master of himself, -but was hurried on by the fire and speed of his own genius along paths -which led only to the obscure and the inaccessible. His imagination was -deeply suggestive, straightforward, and marvellously fertile in -invention; but he interpreted the imaginative world in terms of daily -and often homely life; he represented ideal characters, not under ideal -forms, but realistically under forms such as he saw about him; he knew -beauty only as German beauty, and life and its material surroundings -only as German life and German civilization; and thus his works are -characterized by an uncouthness which offends minds not habituated to -German taste. But there is no need to be irritated at this realism, this -content with gross forms, or to wish with Vasari that he had been born -in Italy and had studied antiquity at Florence, whereby he would have -missed that national endowment which individualized him and gave him a -peculiar charm. The grotesqueness disappears as the eye becomes -acquainted with the unfamiliar, and the mind is occupied with the -emotion, the intellectual idea, and imaginative truth, expressed in -these sometimes ugly modes, for they are of that rare value which wins -forgiveness for far greater defects of formal beauty than are apparent -in Dürer’s work. Although his spirit was romantic and uncontrolled, and -his imagination dealt with forms not in themselves beautiful, he -possessed the greatest energy of genius of all the masters who have -intrusted their works to wood-engraving, and with him it was a favorite -art. - -[Illustration: FIG. 40.--St. John and the Virgin. Vignette to Dürer’s -“Apocalypse.”] - -[Illustration: FIG. 41.--Christ Suffering. Vignette to Dürer’s “Larger -Passion.”] - -The first of the four famous series of designs by which his skill in -wood-engraving is best known was published in 1498, but it was probably -finished before that time. It consisted of fifteen large cuts in -illustration of the Apocalypse of St. John, to which a vignette (Fig. -40) of wonderful nobility and simplicity was prefixed. The theme must -have been peculiarly attractive to him, because of the opportunities it -afforded for grandeur of conception and for the symbolism in which his -genius delighted; it was supernatural and religious; it dealt with -images and thoughts on which the laws of this world imposed no -restraint, and revealed visionary scenes through types of awe, terror, -and mystery, the impressiveness of which had almost no human relation. -In attempting to bring such a theme within the compass of the powers of -expression which art possesses, he strove to give speech to the -unutterable, and to imprison the unsubstantial, so that it is no wonder -if, although the fertility of invention and power of drawing which he -displayed, and the variety and richness of effect which he obtained, -made his work a masterpiece of art, yet much of what he intended to -express is not readily comprehended. - -[Illustration: FIG. 42.--Christ Mocked. Vignette to Dürer’s “Smaller -Passion.”] - -This series was succeeded by three others, in which the human interest -is far greater, although they are not unmarked by fantastic invention; -they were the Larger Passion of our Lord, a series of twelve cuts, -including this impressive vignette (Fig. 41), Christ Suffering; the Life -of the Virgin, a series of twenty cuts; and the Smaller Passion of our -Lord (Figs. 42, 43), a series of thirty-six cuts, the vignette to which -(Christ Mocked) is a design marvellous for its intensity, for its -seizure of the malignant, mocking spirit in devilish possession of every -lineament of the face and every muscle working in that sinuous gesture, -for the ideal endurance in the Saviour’s attitude, which needs not those -symbols of his sufferings beside him for pity, though Dürer’s genius -must crowd every corner with thought and suggestion. These three great -series were published about 1511, and were probably the work of the -previous six years; they are full of force, and are characterized by -tenderness of sympathy and fervor of devotion, as well as by the -imaginative insight and power of thought which distinguish all his -works. They quickly became popular; several editions were issued, and -they were copied by more than one engraver, especially by the famous -Italian, Marc Antonio Raimondi, who reproduced the Smaller Passion on -copperplate. They marked an epoch in the history of wood-engraving. It -is not possible to over-estimate the debt which the art owes Dürer, who -thus suddenly and by his own artistic insight revealed the power and -dignity which wood-engraving might attain, opened to it a great career, -and was its first master in the era of its most splendid accomplishment. - -[Illustration: FIG. 43.--The Descent into Hell. From Dürer’s “Smaller -Passion.”] - -Besides these connected series of woodcuts, many others, making in all -three hundred and forty-seven, are attributed to Dürer; and of these one -hundred and seventy are undoubtedly from his hand. They represent nearly -all aspects of German life in the early sixteenth century, and, taken -all together, afford a nearly complete picture of his time, not only in -its general characteristics, but in detail. They show for the first time -the power of wood-engraving to produce works of real artistic value, and -its power to record faithfully the vast variety of contemporary life. -Dürer was himself the highest product of the new freedom of individual -development in the North, but his individuality gathered the age within -itself, and became universal in knowledge and interest; so that he was -not only the Reformer of German art and the greatest master in it, but -was in a true sense the historian of the German Renaissance; it is to -his works, and not least to his wood-engraving, that the student of that -age must have recourse for the truest record of its thought and feeling -at their best. - -In his later years he designed two other works which rank among the -chief monuments of wood-engraving; they were the Car and Gate of -Triumph, executed for the Emperor Maximilian, who was then the great -patron of the art, and employed it to perpetuate the glory of his reign -and realm. The Emperor, although the Italians made a jest of him, was -one of the most interesting characters in German history. He -illustrates in practical life, as Dürer in artistic and intellectual -life, the age that was passing away, and he foreshadows more than Dürer -the age that was coming on. He was romantic by nature, a lover of the -chivalric and picturesque elements of mediæval life; he was skilful in -all the manly sports which belonged to a princely education--a daring -hunter, and brave in the lists of the tourney; in affairs of more moment -he had always some great adventure in hand, the humbling of France, or -the destruction of Venice, or the protection of Luther; at home he was -devoted to reform, to internal improvements, to establishing permanently -the orderly methods of civilization, to the spread of commerce, and to -increasing the safety and facility of communication. He left his empire -more civilized than he found it; and if he was unsuccessful in war, he -was, in the epigram of the time, fortunate in love, and won by marriage -what the sword could not conquer, so that he prepared by the craft of -his diplomacy that union of the vast possessions of the House of Austria -which made his grandson, Charles V., almost the master of Europe. He was -a lover of art and books; and, being puffed up with imperial vanity, he -employed the engravers and printers to record his career and picture his -magnificence. The great works which by his order were prepared for this -purpose were upon a scale unthought of before that time, and never -attempted in later days. The Triumphal Car, which he employed Dürer to -design, was a richly decorated chariot drawn by six pair of horses; the -Emperor is seated in it under a canopy amid female figures, representing -Justice, Truth, and other virtues, who offer him triumphal wreaths; the -driver symbolizes Reason, and guides the horses by the reins of Nobility -and Power; the wheels are inscribed with the words Magnificentia and -Dignitas, and the horses are attended by allegoric figures of swiftness, -foresight, prudence, boldness, and similar virtues. The whole design was -seven feet four inches in length, and about eighteen inches high. The -Gate of Triumph was similarly allegoric in conception; it was an arch -with three entrances, the central one being the gate of Honor and Power, -and those upon the right and left the gates of Nobility and Fame; the -body of the arch was ornamented with portraits of the Roman Emperors -from the time of Cæsar, shields of arms which indicated the Emperor’s -descent and alliances, portraits of his relatives and friends, and -representations of his famous exploits. The size of the cut, which was -made up of ninety-two separate pieces, was about ten and a half feet by -nine and a half feet. In both of these works Dürer was limited by the -directions which were given him, and neither of them are equal to his -original creations. - -[Illustration: FIG. 44.--The Herald. From “The Triumph of Maximilian.”] - -[Illustration: FIG. 45.--Tablet. From “The Triumph of Maximilian.”] - -The chief of the great works of Maximilian was the Triumphal -Procession,[39] which was designed by Hans Burgkmaier, of Augsburg -(1473-1531), whose secular and picturesque genius found its most -congenial occupation in inventing the figures of this splendid train of -nobles, warriors, and commons, on horse, foot, and in chariots, winding -along in symbolical representation of the Emperor’s victories and -conquests, and in magnificent display of the wealth, power, and -resources of all the imperial dominions. The herald of the Triumph (Fig. -44), mounted upon a winged griffin, leads the march; behind him go two -led horses supporting a tablet (Fig. 45), on which is written: “This -Triumph has been made for the praise and everlasting memory of the -noble pleasures and glorious victories of the most serene and -illustrious prince and lord, Maximilian, Roman Emperor elect, and Head -of Christendom, King and Heir of Seven Christian Kingdoms, Archduke of -Austria, Duke of Burgundy and of other grand principalities and -provinces of Europe;” his fifer Anthony, with his attendants, his -falconers, led by Teuschel, their hawks pursuing prey, his hunters of -the chamois, the stag, the boar, and the bear, habited for the chase, -follow on; behind them richly caparisoned animals, elk, buffalo, and -camels, draw finely decorated chariots, in which are seated the -Emperor’s favorite musicians (Fig. 46), playing diverse instruments; the -jesters (among them that famous Conrad von der Rosen whom Heine tenderly -remembered), the fools, the maskers, the fencers, knights of the tourney -and the joust, armed foot-soldiers of every service, continue the -procession, which lengthens out with cuirassed horsemen (Fig. 47) -carrying banners emblazoned with the arms of the Austrian provinces in -which the Emperor had waged war, and other horsemen (Fig. 48) in the -garb of peace, with standards of the faithful provinces, lasquenets -whose pennants are inscribed with the names of the great battles which -the Emperor had fought, trophy-cars filled with the armorial shields of -the conquered peoples, representations of the Emperor’s marriage and -coronation, of the German Empire and the great wars--Flanders, -Burgundy, Hungary, Guelders, Naples, Milan, Venice, an unending -list--the symbols of military power, artillery, treasure, the statues of -the great rulers who were allied by blood to Maximilian or had ruled his -dominions before him, prisoners of war in chains, the Imperial Standard, -the Sword of the Empire, the counts, lords, and knights who owned the -Emperor’s sovereignty--a splendid display of the pomp and pride of -mediæval life. Maximilian himself is the central thought of the whole; -he is never lost sight of in any smaller figure; his servants are there, -as their devices relate, because they served him; his provinces, because -he ruled them; his victories, because he won them; his ancestors, -because they were of his line. His personality groups the variety of -the procession round itself alone; but the real interest of the work -does not lie in him or his praise, but in the revelation there made of -the secular side of the Middle Ages, the outward aspect of life, the -ideal of worldly power and splendor, the spirit of pleasure and -festival, shown forth in this marvellously varied march of laurelled -horses and horsemen whose trappings and armor have the beauty and -glitter of peaceful parade. There is nowhere else a work which so -presents at once the feudal spirit and feudal delights in such -exuberance of picturesque and truthful display. - -[Illustration: FIG. 46.--The Car of the Musicians. From “The Triumph of -Maximilian.”] - -[Illustration: FIG. 47.--Three Horsemen. From “The Triumph of -Maximilian.”] - -The designs for this work were first painted upon parchment, and were -afterward reproduced by engraving in wood; but the reproduction varied -from the originals in important particulars. The series was far from -completion at the time of Maximilian’s death, and was left unfinished; -it was never published until 1796, when the first edition appeared at -Vienna, whither the lost wood-blocks had found their way in 1779. In its -present shape the series consists of one hundred and thirty-five large -cuts, extending for a linear distance of over one hundred and -seventy-five feet; all but sixteen of these are reproductions of the -designs on vellum, which numbered two hundred and eighteen in all, and -these sixteen are so different in style from the others as to suggest a -doubt whether they belong to the Triumph or to some other unknown work. -Hans Burgkmaier is believed to be the designer of all except the few -that are ascribed to Dürer; but, owing to their being engraved by -different hands, they vary considerably in merit. - -Maximilian also ordered two curious books to be prepared and adorned -with woodcuts in his own honor, a prose work entitled The Wise King, and -a poem entitled The Adventures of Sir Tewrdannckh. In these volumes the -example of his own life is offered for the instruction of princes, and -the history of his deeds, amours, courtship, perils, and temptations is -written, once for the edification, but now for the amusement, of the -world. The woodcuts in The Adventures of Sir Tewrdannckh are one hundred -and eighteen in number, and are principally, if not entirely, the work -of Hans Schäuffelin (1490?-1540); they show how Sir Tewrdannckh, -attended by his squire, started out upon his travels, and what moving -dangers he encountered in his hunting, voyaging, tilting, and fighting, -under the guidance and instigation of his three great enemies, Envy, -Daring, and Curiosity, who at last, when he is happily at the end of his -troubles, are represented as meeting their own fate by the gallows, the -block, and the moat. The engravings are marked by spirit, and due -attention is given to landscape; but they are not infrequently too near -caricature to be pleasing, and cannot pretend to rank beside the other -works of Maximilian. This volume was printed during the Emperor’s -lifetime, and was the only one of his works of which he saw the -completion. The Wise King was illustrated by two hundred and -thirty-seven cuts, of which several bear Burgkmaier’s mark, one the mark -of Schäuffelin and one that of Hans Springinklee (1470?-1540). They -picture the journey of the Emperor’s father to Rome, the youth and -education of the young prince, his gradual acquirement of the liberal -arts--kingcraft, the black-art, medicine, the languages, painting, -architecture, music, cookery, dancing, shooting, falconry, angling, -fencing, tilting, gunnery, the art of fortification, and the like; -and they represent, in conclusion, his political career by means of -obscure allegory. They are similar to the illustrations in Sir -Tewrdannckh in general character, and, like them, are inferior to the -other works of Maximilian. In the composition of this volume Maximilian -is supposed to have had a considerable share; it was not printed entire -until 1775. - -[Illustration: FIG. 48.--Horseman. From “The Triumph of Maximilian.”] - -These five great works, apart from their value as artistic productions -and their interest as historic records, have a farther importance -because of their influence upon the art, both in the way of -encouragement and of instruction. Although there has been much dispute -about the matter, it must now be acknowledged that the artists -themselves did not ordinarily engrave their designs, but left the actual -cutting of the block to the professional workmen; at most they only -occasionally corrected the lines after the engraver had cut them. The -works of Maximilian employed a number of these engravers, who practised -the art only as a craft; the experience these workmen gained in such -labor as they were now called upon to do, under the superintendence of -artists like Dürer and Burgkmaier, who knew what engraving ought to be, -and who held up a high standard of excellence, was most valuable to -them, and made itself felt in a general improvement of the technical -part of the art everywhere. The standard of the engraver’s craft was -permanently raised. The engravers’ names now became known; and sometimes -the engraver received hardly less admiration for his skill in technique -than the artist for his power of design. - -Other distinguished artists united with Dürer and the designers of -Maximilian’s works in making this period of wood-engraving the most -illustrious in the German practice of the art. Lukas van Leyden -(1494-1533), whose youthful works in copperplate were wonderful, left -some woodcuts in Dürer’s bold, broad manner, which illustrate the -attempt of German art to acquire classical taste, and show so much the -more clearly the incapacity of the Germans in the perception of beauty. -The Cranachs, father (1472-1553) and son (1515-1586), who are -interesting because of the share they had in the Reformation, produced -some very striking works, such as the charming scene of the Repose in -Egypt, and were the first to practise chiaro-scuro engraving in the -North. Hans Baldung (1470-1552?), although his designs are sometimes -characterized by exaggeration and too great violence of action, ranks -with the best of the secondary artists of the time; and Hans -Springinklee, who has been already mentioned, reached a high degree of -excellence in his illustrations to the Hortulus Animæ, which are still -valued. - -The works of these men, however, were only the most important and the -best of a vast number of woodcuts which, during the first half of the -sixteenth century, appeared in Germany during this period of the -greatest popularity of the art. Under the personal influence of Dürer, -or under the influence of the numerous and widely-spread prints by -himself and his associates, many other artists of merit acquired skill -in engraving, both on metal and in wood, and employed it upon a great -variety of subjects. The devotion of mediæval art wholly to church -decoration and to the representation of religious scenes had passed away -in all quarters of the world; in Italy the artists had come to treat the -subjects of pagan imagination, the beings and scenes of classical -mythology; in Germany the people had homelier tasks, and religious art -there yielded to the interest which men felt in the incidents and -objects of common life; in both countries wealth took the place of -religion as the patron of art; and, although art still dealt with the -story of the Scriptures and the martyrs, because these filled so -important a place in the imagination of the people, still it had become -secularized. This change was naturally shown in the arts of engraving -more than in painting, because engraving in copper and on wood had a far -greater sphere of influence, and came into more intimate relations with -the popular life, and because the illustration of books offered a -greater variety of subject. In German engraving, from this time, the -actual life of the town and the peasantry was represented almost as -often as the history of the Saviour and the saints; the village -festival, the procession of the wedding-guests, the fêtes of the town, -the employments and costumes of the citizens, recur with the same -frequency as the passion of the Lord and the Old Testament stories; the -joy and sorrow of ordinary life, the objects of ordinary observation and -thought, the humorous, the humble, and the satirical, sometimes -strangely mingled with ill-understood mythology and badly-caricatured -classicism, are the constant theme of the engravers. - -Chief among the successors of Dürer who shared in this vast production -were the group of artists known as the Little Masters, although the name -is one of ill-defined and incomplete application; they were so called -because they chiefly engraved small designs; but they also engraved -large designs, and their number, which is usually limited to seven, -excludes some whose works are on the same small scale. The first of them -was Albrecht Altdorfer (1488-1538), said to have been the pupil of -Dürer and the inventor of engraving in this manner; in his day he was -more celebrated as an architect and painter than as an engraver, but his -fame now rests on his works on copper and in wood. The best known of his -sixty-five woodcuts is the series of forty designs, scarcely three -inches by two in size, entitled the Fall and Redemption of Man, in -depicting which he had the Smaller Passion of Dürer to guide him. In -these he attempted to obtain effects by the use of fine and close lines, -such as were employed in copperplate-engraving; but, although his -success was certainly remarkable, considering the rude mechanical -processes of the time, yet his method clearly produced results of -inferior artistic value in comparison with the works in the bold, broad -manner of Dürer. All of his woodcuts, excepting four, are -representations of religious subjects; they are marked, like his other -works, by an attention to landscape, that truly modern object of art, of -which he probably learned the value from Dürer, who was the first to -treat landscape with real appreciation. In Hans Sebald Behaim -(1500-1550?) the spirit of the age is revealed with great clearness and -variety (Fig. 49); both his life and his art were inspired by it. In his -early manhood he was banished from Nuremberg for denying the doctrines -of transubstantiation and the efficacy of baptism, and for entertaining -some vague socialistic and communistic opinions; but it is not clear to -what extent he held them, if he held them at all. He seems to have been -one of the most advanced of the religious Reformers, and he employed his -art in their service, as, for example, in a book entitled The Papacy, -which he illustrated with a series of seventy-four figures of the -different orders of monks in their peculiar costumes, beneath each of -which satirical lines were written. He is best known by his eighty-one -Bible-cuts, which were the most popular, perhaps, of the many series -published in that century, not excepting the impressive Bible figures of -Holbein; they passed through many editions, and were widely copied. The -first English Bible was illustrated by them. Besides these two series, -and one other in illustration of the Apocalypse, he designed many -separate prints, both in the small manner of the Little Masters and in -imitation of the large works of Maximilian, such as his Military Fête, -in honor of Charles V., his Fountain of Youth, and the prints of the -Marauding Soldiers, which measured four or five feet in length. His -representations of peasant life are peculiarly attractive, because of -the force of realism displayed in them, whether he depicted the marriage -festival, or mere jollity or drunken brawl. In the breadth of his -interests, in the variety of his subjects, and in his sympathy with the -special movements of his age, he was as an engraver more characteristic -of the civilization in which he lived than any other of the Little -Masters who gave their attention to wood-engraving. Of the rest of this -group none, excepting Hans Brosamer (1506-1552), left works in -wood-engraving of any consequence; he designed in a free and bold -manner, and his engravings are to be found in books of the third quarter -of the century. - -[Illustration: FIG. 49.--Virgin and Child. From a print by Hans Sebald -Behaim.] - -Other artists of this period devoted their attention to wood-engraving; -but as they did not mark any new progress in the art, or reflect any -aspect of German civilization which has not already been illustrated, -they need not be treated in any detail. Virgil Solis (1514-1562), a very -productive designer, who was employed by the Nuremberg printers to -illustrate the books by which they attempted to rival the productions of -the Lyonese press; Jobst Amman (1539-1591), whose excellent engravings -of costumes and trades are well known; Erhard Schön (d. 1550), Melchior -Lorch (1527-1586), whose works were of little merit; and Tobias Stimmer -(1539-1582), a popular designer for book illustration, are all who -deserve mention. Their engravings are inferior to the productions of -previous artists, and after their death the art in Germany fell into -speedy and irretrievable decay. - -The work of the wood-engravers who were imbued with the German spirit -exhibits the same excellences and defects as other German work in art. -It is characterized by vigor principally, and in its higher range it has -great value, because of the imaginative and reflective spirit by which -it was animated; in its lower range, as a portrayal of life and manners, -it derives from its realism an extraordinary interest. Its great -deficiency is its lack of beauty, and is due to the inborn feebleness of -the sense of beauty in the German race; but, notwithstanding this -deformity, German wood-engraving was invaluably useful in its day in the -cities where it became so popular, because it was so widely and -variously practised, and entered into the life of the people in so many -ways with an effective influence of which it is difficult to form an -adequate conception. It facilitated the spread of literature and helped -on the progress of the Reformation to a degree which is little -recognized; it disseminated ideas and standards of art, and made them -common property; and, finally, it prepared the way for the great master -who was to embody in wood-engraving the highest excellence of art and -thought. - - - - -VI. - -HANS HOLBEIN. - - -[Illustration: G FIG. 50.--From the “Epistole di San Hieronymo.” -Ferrara, 1497.] - -Germany produced one artist who freed himself from the limitations of -taste and interest which the place of his birth imposed upon him, and -took rank with the great masters who seem to belong rather to the race -than to their native country. Hans Holbein was neither German nor -Italian, neither classical nor mediæval. The ideal of his art was not -determined by the culture of any single school, at home or abroad; far -less was it a jarring compromise between the aims and methods of -different schools; it grew out of a faithful study of all, and in it -were rationally blended the elements which were right in each. In style, -theme, and spirit he advanced so far beyond his contemporaries that he -became the first modern artist--the first to clear his vision from the -deceptions of religious enthusiasm, and to subdue in himself the -lawlessness of the romantic spirit; the first to perceive that only the -purely human interest gives lasting significance to any artistic work, -and to depict humanity simply for its own sake; the first to express -his meaning in a way which seems truthful and beautiful universally to -all cultivated men. In this lies the peculiar and profound value of his -works. - -Holbein was born at Augsburg, in 1495 or 1496, into a family of artists. -In that city, then the centre of German culture, he grew up amid the -stir of curiosity and thought which attended the discovery of the -Western World and the first movements of the Reformation. He handled the -pencil and the brush from boyhood, and produced works as wonderful for -their precocious excellence as the early efforts of Mantegna; he was -deeply impressed by the secular and picturesque genius of Burgkmaier, -the great artist of Augsburg, who may have first opened to him the value -of beauty of detail, and inculcated in him that carefulness in respect -to it which afterward distinguished him; he seems, too, even at this -early period, to have been touched by some Italian influence which may -have reached Augsburg in consequence of the close commercial relations -between that city and Venice. Holbein, however, did not arrive at any -mature development until after he left Augsburg and removed to Bâsle, -whither he went in 1515, in order to earn his bread by making designs -for books--a trade which was then flourishing and lucrative in that -city. Bâsle offered conditions of life more favorable, in some respects, -to the development of energetic individuality than did Augsburg; it was -already the seat of humanistic literature, at the head of which was -Erasmus, and it soon became the safest refuge of the persecuted -Reformers. In such a city there was necessarily a vigorous intellectual -life and a free and liberal spirit, which must have exerted great -influence upon the young artist, who by his profession was brought into -intimate relations with the most learned and advanced thinkers about -him. Holbein was at once profoundly affected by the literary and reform -movements which he was called upon to aid by his designs, and he threw -himself into their service with energy and sympathy. His art, too, under -the influence of Italy, and under the rational direction of his own -thought, grew steadily more refined in ideal and more finished in -execution. He soon learned the value of formal beauty, and gave evidence -that the work of the last great German painter was not to be marred by -German tastelessness. Hitherto the masters of German art, led by a -realistic spirit which did not discriminate regularly and with certainty -between the different values of the lovely and the unlovely, had -expressed their thought and feeling in familiar forms, and, -consequently, often in forms which shared in the grotesqueness, -bordering on caricature, and in the homeliness, bordering on ugliness, -that characterized much of actual German life. Holbein, whose realism -was governed by cultivated taste, expressed his thought and feeling in -beautiful forms. His predecessors had used a dialect of art, as it were, -which could never seem perfectly natural or be immediately intelligible -to any but their own countrymen; Holbein acquired the true language of -art, and was as directly and completely intelligible to the refined -Englishman or Italian as to the citizen of Augsburg or Bâsle. Holbein -came, also, to an understanding of the true law of art; as he freed -himself from the Gothic dulness of sight in respect to beauty, he freed -himself from the Gothic license of reverie, fancy, and thought. He -limited himself to the clear and forcible expression of the idea he had -in mind; he admitted no details which interfered with his main purpose, -and which asserted a claim to be there for their own sake; he made every -accessary enforce or illustrate his principal design, and subordinated -each minor portion of his picture to the leading conception; he had one -purpose in view, and he preserved its unity. How different this was from -the practice of Dürer, who introduced into his work whatever came into -his mind, however remotely it might be associated with his subject, who -repeated almost wearisomely the same idea in varying symbolism, and -dissipated the intensity of the thought by distracting suggestion -crowded into any available space, need not be pointed out; in just the -proportion in which Dürer lost by his practice directness, simplicity, -and force, Holbein gained these by his own method, which was, indeed, -the method of great art, of the art which obeys reason, in distinction -from the art which yields to the wandering sentiment. Holbein differed -from Dürer in another respect: he thoroughly understood what he meant to -express; he would have nothing to do with vague dreaming or mystical -contemplation; he thought that whatever could not be definitely -conceived in the brain, and clearly expressed by line and color, lay -outside the domain of his art; he gave up the phantoms of the enthusiast -and the puzzle of the theologian to those who cared for them, and fixed -his attention on human life as he saw it and understood it. He often -treated religious subjects, but in no different spirit from that in -which he treated secular subjects; in all it is the human interest which -attracts him--the life of man as it exists within the bounds of -mortality. Thus he arrived not only at the true language and the true -law of art, but also at its true object. This development of his genius -did not take place suddenly and at once; it was a gradual growth, and -reached full maturity only in his closing years; but, while he still -worked at Bâsle, the essential lines of his development were clearly -marked, and he had advanced so far along them as to be even then the -most perfect artist whom the North had produced. - -Holbein began to practise wood-engraving as soon as he settled in Bâsle, -and designed many titlepages, initial letters, and cuts for the -publishers of that city. The titlepages, which are numerous, were -usually in the form of an architectural frame, in which groups of -figures were introduced; they show how early his taste for the forms of -Italian architecture became pronounced, and how bold and free was his -power of drawing, and how highly developed was his sense of style, even -in his first efforts. He illustrated the books of the humanists, -especially the Utopia of Sir Thomas More, then a new and popular work; -and he designed the cuts for the biblical translations of Luther, and -for other publications of the Reformers. He served the Reformation, too, -in a humorous as well as in a serious way, for he was as much a master -of satire as of beauty. Two cuts in ridicule of the papal party are -particularly noticeable, one in which he satirizes the sale of -indulgences, contrasting it with true repentance; and one in which he -represents Christ as the Light of the World, with a group of sinners -approaching upon one side, and a group of papal dignitaries led by -Aristotle turning away on the other side. The illustrations in which he -depicts ordinary humble life, particularly the life of peasants and -children, make another great department of his lesser work in -wood-engraving; these scenes are sometimes separate cuts, and sometimes -introduced as backgrounds of initial letters, twenty alphabets of which -are ascribed to him; they represent the pastimes and sports of the -country, just as Holbein may have seen them at any time upon the -way-side, and are full of heartiness, humor, and reality. The sketches -from the life of boys and children are especially graceful and charming, -and reveal an ease and power in delineation which has seldom been -rivalled. This species of _genre_ art, which had first made its -appearance in wood-engraving, because it was considered beneath the -dignity of the higher arts, was very popular; by his work of this sort -Holbein contributed to the pleasure of the people, just as by his -co-operation with the Humanists and the Reformers he served them in more -important ways. Finally he produced at Bâsle his two great works in -wood-engraving, the Dance of Death and the Figures of the Bible, which -are the highest achievements of the art at any time. - -The Dance of Death was an old subject. It had possessed for centuries a -powerful and sometimes morbid attraction for the artistic imagination -and for popular reflection. It was peculiarly the product of mediæval -Christian life, and survives as a representative of the great mediæval -ideas. That age first surrounded death with terrors, fastened the -attention of man continually upon his doom, and affrighted his spirit -with the dread of that unknown hour of his dissolution which should put -him in danger of the second death of immortal agony. In Greece death had -been the breaking of the chrysalis by the winged butterfly, or, at -least, only the extinction of the torch; here it was the gaunt and -grinning skeleton always jostling the flesh of the living, however -beautiful or joyous they might be. In the churches of the thirteenth -century there swung a banner emblazoned upon one side with the figures -of a youth and maiden before a mirror of their loveliness, and, upon the -reverse, with Death holding his spade beside the worm-pierced corpse; it -was the type of mediæval Christian teaching. The fear of death was the -recurring burden of the pulpit; it made the heart of every bowed -worshipper tremble, and was taught with fearful distinctness by the -pestilence that again and again suddenly struck the populations of -Europe. The chord of feeling was overstrained; the elastic force of life -asserted itself, and, by a strange transformation, men made a jest of -their terror, and played with death as they have never since done; they -acted the ravages of death in pantomime, made the tragedy comic, put the -figure of Death into their carnivals, and changed the object of their -alarm into the theme of their sport. In the spirit of that democracy -which, in spite of the aristocratic structure of mediæval society, was -imbedded in the heart of the Christian system, where every soul was of -equal value before God, the people turned the universal moral lesson of -death into a satire against the great; Death was not only the common -executioner, he arrested the prelates and the nobles, stripped them of -their robes and their possessions, and tried them whether they were of -God or Mammon. In these many-varied forms of terror, sport, and irony -Death filled the imagination and reflection of the age; the shrouded -figure or the naked skeleton was seen on the stage of the theatre, amid -the games of the people, on the walls of the churches and the -monasteries, throughout the whole range of art and literature. Holbein -had looked on many representations of this idea: where, as in Dürer’s -work, Death attends knight and beggar; or where, as in the Nuremberg -Chronicle, the skeletons dance by the open grave; or where, as in the -famous series at Bâsle, Death humbles every rank of life in turn. But -Holbein did not look on these scenes as his predecessors had done; he -was free from their spirit. He took the mediæval idea and re-moulded it, -as Shakspeare re-moulded the tradition of Denmark and Italy, into a work -for all times and generations. He represented Death, but with an -artistic power, an imaginative fervor, a perception of the constant -element in its interest for mankind, which lifted his work out of -mediævalism into universal truth; and in doing this he not only showed -the high power of his art, but he unlocked the secrets of his character. - -[Illustration: FIG. 51.--The Nun. From Holbein’s “Images de la Mort.” -Lyons, 1547.] - -[Illustration: FIG. 52.--The Preacher. From Holbein’s “Images de la -Mort.” Lyons, 1547.] - -This work is, in the first edition (1538), a series of forty-one small -cuts, in each of which is depicted the triumph of Death over some person -who is typical of a whole class. Each design represents with intense -dramatic power some scene from daily life; Death lays his summons upon -all in the midst of their habitual occupations: the trader has escaped -shipwreck, and “on the beach undoes his corded bales;” Death plucks him -by the cloak; the weary, pack-laden peddler, plodding on in his -unfinished journey, turns questioningly to the delaying hand upon his -shoulder; the priest goes to the burial of the poor, Death carries the -candle in a lantern before him, and rings the warning bell; the -drunkard gulps his liquor, the judge takes his bribe, the miser counts -his gold--Death interrupts them with a sneer. What poetic feeling, what -dramatic force, there is in the picture of the Nun! (Fig. 51.) She -kneels with head averted from the altar of her devotions toward the -youth who sits upon the bed playing the lute to her sleeping soul, and -at the moment Death stands there to put out the light of the taper which -shall leave her in darkness forever. What sharp satire there is in the -representation of the Preacher (Fig. 52), dilating, perhaps, in his -accustomed, half-mechanical way, upon the terrors of that very Death -already at his elbow! What justness of sight, what grimness of reality, -there is in the representation of the Ploughman (Fig. 53); how directly -does Holbein bring us face to face with the human curse--in the sweat of -thy brow thou shalt earn death! George Sand, looking out on the spring -fields of her remote province and seeing the French peasants ploughing -up the soft and smoking soil, remembered this type of peasant life as -Holbein saw it, and described this cut in words that vivify the -concentrated meaning of the whole series. “The engraving,” she says, -“represents a farmer guiding the plough in the middle of a field. A vast -plain extends into the distance, where there are some poor huts; the -sun is setting behind a hill. It is the close of a hard day’s work. The -peasant is old, thickset, and in tatters; the team which he drives -before him is lean, worn out by fatigue and scanty food; the ploughshare -is buried in a rugged and stubborn soil. In this scene of sweat and -habitual toil there is only one being in good spirits and light of foot, -a fantastic character, a skeleton with a whip, that runs in the furrow -beside the startled horses and beats them--as it were, a farmer’s boy. -It is Death.” She takes up the story again, after a while. “Is there -much consolation,” she asks, “in this stoicism, and do devout souls find -their account therein? The ambitious, the knave, the tyrant, the -sensualist, all the proud sinners who abuse life, and whom Death drags -away by the hair, are on their way to a reckoning, no doubt; but the -blind, the beggar, the fool, the poor peasant, is there any amends for -their long wretchedness in the single reflection that death is not an -evil for them? No! an inexorable melancholy, a dismaying fatality, -weighs upon the artist’s work. It is like a bitter curse launched on the -universal human lot.”[40] - -[Illustration: FIG. 53.--The Ploughman. From Holbein’s “Images de la -Mort.” Lyons, 1547.] - -Certainly the artist’s work is a bold and naked statement of man’s -mortality, of the close of life contrasted with the worth of its career; -but the melancholy of his work is not more inexorable, its fatality is -not more dismaying, than the reality he saw. He did not choose for his -pencil what was unusual, extraordinary, or abnormal in life; he depicted -its accustomed course and its fixed conclusion in fear, folly, or -dignity. He took almost every character among men, almost every passion -or vice of the race, almost every toil or pursuit in which his -contemporaries engaged, and confronted them with their fate. The king is -at his feast, Death pours the wine; the poor mother is cooking her -humble meal at the hearth, Death steals her child; the bridal pair walk -on absorbed, while Death beats their wedding-march with glee. Throughout -the series there is the same dramatic insight, the same unadorned -reality, the same humanity. Here and there the spirit of the Reformer -reveals itself: the Pope in the exercise of his utmost worldly power -crowns the emperor, but behind is Death; a devil lurks in the shadow, -and over the heads of the cardinals are other devils; the monk, abbot, -and prioress--how they resist and are panic-stricken! There can be no -doubt at what Holbein reckoned these men and their trade. Holbein showed -here, too, his sympathy with the humbler classes in those days of -peasant wars, of the German Bible, and of books in the vulgar -tongue--the days when the people began to be a self-conscious body, with -a knowledge of the opportunities of life and the power to make good -their claim to share in them; as Holbein saw life, it was only the -humble to whom Death was not full of scorn and jesting, they alone stood -dignified in his presence. Beneath this sympathy with the Reformers and -the people need we look farther, as Ruskin does, to find scepticism -hidden in the shadows of Holbein’s heart? Holbein saw the Church as -Avarice, trading in the sins of its children; as Cruelty, rejoicing in -the blood of its enemies; as Ignorance, putting out the light of the -mind. There was no faltering in his resolute, indignant denial of that -Church. Did he find any refuge elsewhere in such hope and faith as -remain to man in the suggestions of his own spirit? He saw Death’s -triumph, and he made men see it with his eyes; if he saw more than that, -he kept silence concerning it. He did not menace the guilty with any -peril save the peril of Death’s mockery; he spoke no word of consolation -for the good; for the inevitable sorrow of the child’s loss there is no -cure, for the ploughman’s faithful labor there is no reward except in -final repose by the shadow of the distant spire. He did not open the -heavens to let through one gleam of immortal life upon the human lot, -unless it be in the Judgment, where only the saved have risen; -nevertheless, the purport of that scene, even if it be interpreted with -the most Christian realism, cannot destroy the spirit of all others. -“Inexorable melancholy, dismaying fatality”--these, truly, are the -burden of his work. - -The series holds high rank, too, merely as a product of artistic skill. -It shows throughout the designer’s ease, simplicity, and economy in -methods of work, his complete control of his resources, and his unerring -correctness in choosing the means proper to fulfil his ends; few lines -are employed, as in the Italian manner, and there is little -cross-hatching; but, as in all great art, every line has its work to do, -its meaning, which it expresses perfectly, with no waste of labor and no -ineffectual effort. In sureness of stroke and accuracy of proportion the -drawing is unsurpassed; you may magnify any of the designs twelve -times, and even the fingers will show no disproportion in whole or in -part. It is true that there is no anatomical accuracy; no single -skeleton is correctly drawn in detail, but the shape of Death, guessed -at as a thing unknown, is so expressed that in the earliest days of the -work men said that in it “Death seemed to live, and the living to be -truly dead.” The correctness, vigor, and economy of line in the drawing -of these cuts made them a lesson to later artists like Rubens, merely as -an example of powerful and truthful effects perfectly obtained at the -least expense of labor. In this respect they were in design a triumph of -art, as much as they were in conception a triumph of imagination. - -Holbein made the original drawings for the Dance of Death before he left -Bâsle in 1526; but, although some copies were printed in that city, the -work did not become known until it was published in 1538 by the -Trechsels at Lyons, where it appeared without Holbein’s name. This -latter circumstance, in connection with a passage in the preface of this -edition, led some writers to question Holbein’s title to be considered -the designer of the series, although his friend, Nicolas Bourbon de -Vandoeuvre, the poet, calls him the author of it in a book published at -Lyons in 1538, while Karl van Mander, of Holland, in 1548, and Conrad -Gesner, of Zurich, in 1549, ascribe it to him, and their statements were -unhesitatingly accepted until doubt was expressed in our own time. The -passage in the preface of the first Lyons edition, on which the sceptics -rely, mentions the death “of him who has here imaged (_imaginé_) for us -such elegant designs as much in advance of all hitherto issued as the -paintings of Apelles or Zeuxis surpass those of the moderns;” but this -is generally considered to refer to the engraver, Hans Lützelburger, who -cut the designs in wood after Holbein’s drawing, and deserves all the -praise for their extraordinarily skilful technical execution. This is -the most satisfactory explanation which can be framed; but, if it is not -accepted, the balance of evidence in favor of Holbein is so great as to -be conclusive. The original drawings, made with a pen and touched with -bistre, are in the cabinet of the Czar, and show the excellence of the -draughtsmanship more clearly than the woodcuts; the engraver omitted -some striking details, but in general his fidelity and correctness of -rendering were remarkable. The first edition at Lyons contained only -forty-one of the original designs, of which there are forty-six at St. -Petersburg; the later editions, published by Frellon, increased the -number to fifty-three in 1547, and fifty-eight in 1562, including some -beautiful cuts of children at the end of the volume. The popularity of -the work was very great; the text was printed in French, Latin, and -Italian, and thirteen editions from the original blocks were issued -before 1563. Since that time it has been published many times; but the -engravings in the later editions, which were copied from the originals -by workmen much inferior to Lützelburger, have little comparative value. -Between forty and fifty editions have been printed from wood-blocks, and -as many more from copperplate. - -[Illustration: FIG. 54.--Nathan Rebuking David. From Holbein’s “Icones -Historiarum Veteris Testamenti.” Lyons, 1547.] - -The Figures of the Bible, which made a series of ninety-two -illustrations of the Old Testament, showed the same qualities of -Holbein’s genius as did the Dance of Death, but generally in less -perfection. In designing many of these cuts Holbein accepted the types -of the previous artists, just as nearly all the great painters -frequently took their conceptions of scriptural scenes from their -predecessors; hence these Bible Figures show a marked resemblance in -their general composition to the earlier woodcuts in illustration of the -Scriptures. But while Holbein followed the earlier custom in -representing two or three associated actions in one scene, and kept the -same relative arrangement of the parts, he essentially modified the -total effect by omitting some elements, subordinating others, giving -prominence to the principal group, and informing the whole picture with -a far more vigorous, thoughtful, and expressive spirit. In artistic -merit some of these designs are among the best of Holbein’s work; but -the technical skill of the wood-engraver who cut them is inferior to -that shown in the Dance of Death. The scene in which Nathan is -represented rebuking David (Fig. 54) is especially noble in conception: -the prophet does not clothe himself in any superior human dignity as a -divine messenger; but, mindful only of the supreme law which is over all -men equally, kneels loyally and obediently before his king, and calls on -him to humiliate himself, not before man, but in the solitary presence -of God. The power of the universal law, independent alike of the majesty -of the criminal or the lowliness of its servant, has never been pictured -with greater subtlety and force than is here done. There are others -among these designs of equal excellence, both in imagination and art, -but in all the best of them there is some human interest in the scene -which attracted Holbein’s heart; in others, such as the illustrations to -the books of the Prophets, he falls into a feebleness of conception and -baldness of allegorical statement which shows clearly how little he -cared for what was merely supernatural. The series, nevertheless, is, as -a whole, the best which was made in that century, and was reprinted -several times to satisfy the popular demand for it; it first appeared, -contemporaneously with the Dance of Death, in 1538, at Lyons; the text -was afterward published in Latin, French, Italian, Spanish, and English, -but the work never obtained the extraordinary popularity of the Dance of -Death. It is noteworthy that no edition of either work was printed in -German--so far had Holbein outstripped his countrymen in the purity of -art. - -When these two works appeared at Lyons, Holbein had been for many years -a resident at the English court, where he painted that series of -portraits which remains unsurpassed as a gallery of typical English men -and women represented by an artist capable of revealing character as -well as of portraying looks. In these later years of his life he busied -himself but little with designing for woodcuts, but he did not entirely -neglect the art, and was, without doubt, of great service in spreading a -taste for it in England, and in improving its practice there. The -English printers imported their best woodcuts, and probably -wood-engraving was hardly a recognized English art before Holbein’s day. -The great titlepage which he designed for Coverdale’s Bible in 1535 was -apparently cut by some Swiss engraver, as were some other similar works; -but a few designs, which Holbein seems to have drawn so as to require -the least possible skill in the engraver to reproduce them, were -apparently executed in England. They were produced when England was -separating from Rome, in the time of Cromwell’s power, and are marked by -the same satirical spirit as Holbein’s earlier work at Bâsle; the -self-righteous Pharisee wears a cowl, the lawyers, who are offended when -Christ casts out the devil from the possessed one, have bishops’ mitres; -the unfaithful shepherd who flees when the wolf comes is a monk. These -cuts, in which Holbein last used his art as a weapon of civilization, -mark the close of his practice of it. - -In the course of that practice he had not merely found utterance for his -genius, but he had shown the entire adequacy of wood-engraving for the -purposes of the artist when the laws which spring out of its peculiar -nature are most rigidly observed. He had employed it with complete -success as a mode of obtaining beautiful architectural design, of -depicting charming _genre_ scenes, of attacking abuses by the keenest -and most effective irony, of making real for the popular comprehension -the solemn and beautiful stories of the Scriptures, and of expressing -passionate feeling and profound thought; and he thus exercised upon his -own time and upon the future an influence which was perhaps more -powerful than that exercised by any contemporary artists. Within the -limits of the Dance of Death he had embodied in wood-engraving tragedy -and humor, satire and sermon, poetic sentiment, dramatic action, and -wise reflection, and he thus gave to that work a special interest for -his contemporaries as an expression of the sympathies, efforts, and -problems of that time, and an enduring interest for all men as the -truest picture of universal human life seen at its most tragic moment -through the hollow sockets of Death. He did this without offering -violence to the peculiar nature of the art, without wresting it from its -appropriate methods or requiring of it any difficult effort; he -perceived more clearly than Dürer the essential conditions under which -wood-engraving must be practised, and he conformed to them. If he had -needed cross-hatching, fine and delicate lines, harmonies of tone, and -soft transitions of light, he would have had recourse to copperplate; -but not finding them necessary, he contented himself with the bold -outlines, easily cut and easily printed, which were the peculiar -province of wood-engraving, and by means of them created works which not -only made wood-engraving illustrious, but rank with the high -achievements and valuable legacies of the other arts of design. Holbein -was one of the great geniuses of the race, and he put into his works the -fire and wisdom of genius; but, independently of what his works contain, -and merely as illustrations of artistic methods, they show for the first -time an artist perceiving and choosing to obey the simple laws of the -art, and exhibiting its compass and capacity, its wealth and utility, -within the sphere of those laws. This thorough understanding and -rational practice of the art, in connection with his intellectual and -artistic powers, made Holbein the most perfect master who has ever left -works in wood-engraving, and give his works the utmost value both as -forms of art and as embodiments of imagination and thought. - - - - -VII. - -THE DECLINE AND EXTINCTION OF THE ART. - - -[Illustration: T FIG. 55.--From “Opera Vergiliana,” printed by Sacon. -Lyons, 1517.] - -The wood-engravers of France produced no great works like those of -Maximilian, and no single cuts of the artistic value of those by Dürer -and his contemporaries. They limited themselves almost exclusively to -the illustration of books. The early printers, who had expended so much -care in the adornment of their religious books, were succeeded by other -printers who were hardly less animated by enthusiastic devotion to their -art, as was shown by their efforts to make their works beautiful both in -text and illustration. The Renaissance had now penetrated into France, -and entered into the arts. Geoffrey Tory (c. 1480-1533), who had -travelled in Italy, appears to have been the first to introduce a -classical spirit into wood-engraving; from his time two distinct schools -may be distinguished in French wood-engraving--one Germanic and archaic, -the other filled by the Italian spirit. The most distinguished engravers -belonged to the latter school, and their work was characterized by the -curiously modified Italian taste which marked the French Renaissance. -They understood design, and showed considerable power in it; they -regarded the main lines and principal harmonies and contrasts of masses -which are necessary to it; but they transformed its simplicity into -elegance, and overlaid it with ornamentation and trifling detail which -marred its effect, and gave to their works an appearance of -artificiality, of over-labored refinement and mistaken scrupulousness of -taste. As a rule, indeed, taste was their characteristic rather than a -developed sense of beauty, and skill rather than power. Finally, they -passed, by a natural progress, into a complexity and fineness of line -which are unsuitable to wood-engraving; they lost the sense of unity in -the abundance of detail, and were forced to give up engraving in wood -and adopt engraving on copperplate, which was so much better fitted to -the meaningless excess of delicacy and accumulation of ornament in which -the French Renaissance ended. - -The most talented of the French designers for wood-engraving was Jean -Cousin (1501-1589), a member of the Reformed Church, little favored at -court and much neglected by his contemporaries. He appears to have been -of a robust and independent spirit, an admirer of Michael Angelo and the -Italians, and an industrious and painstaking workman in many branches of -art. A large number of designs are ascribed to him; but, as is the case -with nearly all the French engravers, there is great difficulty in -making out what really was his work. Among the characteristic products -of French wood-engraving were representations of royal triumphal entries -into the great cities of the kingdom. Two of these are ascribed to -Cousin--the entry of Henry II. into Paris, published in 1549, and his -entry into Rouen, published in the next year. In the latter the captains -of Normandy lead the march; they are followed by ranks of foot-soldiers, -trumpeters, men holding aloft laurel wreaths, other men with antique -arms and banners, and a band which, with a reminiscence from Roman -festivals, carry lambs in their arms for sacrifice to the gods; next -succeed new ranks of soldiers, then elephants and captives, the fool and -musicians leading on Flora and her nymphs, after whom comes the Car of -Happy Fortune, on which the royal family are enthroned, and the -triumphal Chariot of Fame; the procession closes with men-at-arms and -two captains, with succeeding scenes of some places by which the pageant -had passed. In this work the French Renaissance shows itself in the -prime of its career, when some simplicity and nobility of design were -still kept, and the tendency toward refinement of line and -multiplication of ornament were still held in check by a regard for -unity of effect. The Entry of Henry II. into Paris is, perhaps, even -more excellent. The two works rank with the best French wood-engraving -in the sixteenth century. - -The characteristics by which the French Renaissance differed from the -Renaissance in Italy are more clearly and easily seen in the -reproduction of the Dream of Poliphilo, which was published in 1554, and -is ascribed to Cousin. The French artist did not copy the beautiful -designs of the Venetian; he kept the general character of each woodcut, -it is true, but he varied the style. He made Poliphilo elegant in -figure, taller and more modish in gesture and attitude; he represented -the landscape in greater detail and with more realism; he gave greater -height and more careful proportion to the architecture, added ornaments -to its bare façades and smooth lintels, and in the subordinate portions -he varied the curvature of the lines and made them more complex; in the -lesser figures, the statues and monumental devices, he allowed himself -more liberty in changing the original designs, and sometimes practically -transformed them; finally, he introduced a more vigorous dramatic action -throughout, and attempted to obtain more difficult effects of contrast -and to give relief to the figures. Nevertheless, the improvements which -the taste of Cousin required are distinctly injurious. The French -reproduction is inferior to the Italian original in feeling for design, -in simple beauty, in the force and directness of its appeal to the -artistic sense, in the power and sweetness of its charm; much that was -lovely in the original has become simply pretty, much that was noble and -striking has become only tasteful; especially that quality, by virtue of -which the original possessed something suggestive of the calm beauty of -sculpture, has vanished, and in the effort of the new designer to obtain -pictorial effects one has an unpleasant sense of something like -weakness. The comparative study of the two volumes is of extreme -interest, so clearly do they illustrate the different temper of the -Renaissance in France and Italy. France received the word of inspiration -from Italy, but could not become its oracle. Even at that early day -French art was marked by the dispersion of interest, the regard for -externals, and the inability to create the purest imaginative work, -which have since characterized the French people, despite their facility -in acquisition and the ease with which they reach the level of -excellence in any pursuit. - -Of the other works, known or supposed to be by Cousin, the Book of -Perspective, published in 1560, is the most remarkable, because in its -designs considerable difficulties are overcome, and greater power of -relief is shown than in any previous French wood-engraving. This book -was a treatise, similar to those by Dürer and Leonardo da Vinci upon the -laws of art, and its dedication is noticeable because of the light it -throws on Cousin’s spirit--“neither to kings nor princes, as is -customary,” he says, “but to the public.” The Bible, usually called Le -Clerc’s, which contains two hundred and eighty-seven woodcuts, is said -to be by Cousin, but of this there is no direct evidence; and to him is -ascribed the Triumphal Entry of Charles IX., published in 1572, and -supposed by some to have been designed by the engraver Olivier Codoré; -many other works are also added to his list, but they were inferior in -value to those which have been described, and were unmarked by any -special interest. In consequence of the fineness and number of his -productions Cousin must be considered the principal French engraver of -the century; and he undoubtedly deserves a high rank among the artists -of talent, in distinction from the artists of genius, who have practised -wood-engraving. - -About Cousin there were a number of other designers who gave attention -to the art and left works of value; but these works bear so much -resemblance to one another that it is frequently impossible to recognize -in them the hand of any individual of the school--a difficulty by which -Cousin’s reputation has profited, because of the eagerness of his -admirers to ascribe to him any excellent work in his style which is not -definitely known to belong to some one of his contemporaries. These -lesser artists were Jean Goujon (c. 1550), who made some excellent cuts -for a Vitruvius of 1547, and is believed by some authorities to have -designed the reproduction of the Dream of Poliphilo; Pierre Woeiriot (b. -1532), whose biblical cuts inserted in a Josephus of 1566 have much -merit; Jean Tortorel (b. 1540?) and Jacques Périssin (b. 1530?), who -designed some interesting illustrations of the Huguenot wars; and -Philibert de Lorme (c. 1570) and Jean Le Clerc (1580-1620), whose -productions are of comparatively little interest. The works of all these -artists lacked that intimate relation with the life of the people which -made the engravings of the lesser German designers valuable, and have -importance only as illustrations of the development of French art in the -Renaissance. - -The only artist who can contest Cousin’s foremost place in French -wood-engraving is Bernard Salomon (c. 1550), usually called the Little -Bernard, from the small size of his cuts, who was the leading designer -of Lyons. That city had retained its importance as a centre of popular -literature illustrated by woodcuts, and is said to have sent forth more -books of this kind in the latter part of the sixteenth century than any -other city in Europe. The works of Holbein were the pride of the Lyonese -art, and exerted great influence upon the style of the designers who -were constantly employed in the service of the Lyonese press. Bernard -worked in the small manner which Holbein had made popular, and he -learned from him how to compress much in a little space; but he -multiplied details, and carried the lines to an extreme of fineness -which his engravers were unable to do justice to in cutting the block. -As is the case with Cousin, a vast number of designs are attributed to -Bernard, simply because they are sufficiently excellent to have been -his work; according to Didot, no less than twenty-three hundred cuts -have been claimed for him, and it is believed by some writers that he -not only designed but engraved this large number. A large proportion of -these must have been produced by the unknown contemporaries of Bernard, -because, although he gave his attention wholly to wood-engraving for -thirty years, he could not have accomplished so great a work. His -best-known designs are the illustrations to an Ovid, published by Jean -de Tournes, and two hundred and thirty cuts for the same printer’s -edition of the Bible: these rank next to Cousin’s works as the most -remarkable productions of French wood-engraving in the sixteenth -century. Of the other Lyonese designers very little is known; indeed, no -other important name has been preserved, excepting that of Jean Moni (c. -1570), who is remembered for a series of Bible cuts inferior to those by -Bernard. In Lyons, as in the rest of France, wood-engraving lost its -value toward the close of the century, in consequence of its attempts at -a kind of delicacy and refinement beyond its reach and inappropriate to -its class; it did not appeal to the taste of the late Renaissance, and -by degrees the engravers lost their technical skill, and the artists -gave up its practice as a fine art. This result was also partly due to -the contempt into which the popular romantic literature of the preceding -century had fallen, and to the degradation of wood-engraving as a mode -of coarse caricature. Copperplate-engraving gradually supplanted the -more simple art, and finally the practice of wood-engraving became -extinct. - -[Illustration: FIG. 56.--St. Christopher. From a Venetian print.] - -[Illustration: FIG. 57.--St. Sebastian and St. Francis. Portion of a -print by Andreani after Titian.] - -In Italy the older style of woodcuts in simple outline continued to be -followed long after it was abandoned in the North. The designs in -Italian books up to the year 1530, when cross-hatching was introduced, -do not differ essentially in character from those of which examples have -already been given. The names of the artists who produced them are -either obscure or unknown, excepting Leonardo da Vinci, to whom are -ascribed the cuts in Luca Pacioli’s volume, De Proportione Divina, -published in 1509, and Marc Antonio Raimondi (1478-1534), to whom are -ascribed the remarkably excellent cuts in a volume entitled Epistole et -Evangelii Volgari Hystoriade, published in 1512 in Venice. From the -first, Venice (Fig. 56) had been the chief seat of wood-engraving in -Italy, and now became the rival of Lyons. The most distinguished of the -group of artists who produced woodcuts in that city was Nicolo Boldrini -(c. 1550), who designed several engravings (Fig. 59) after Titian -(1476?-1575) with such boldness and force that some writers have -believed Titian to have drawn the design on the block for Boldrini to -engrave. The works of Titian and other Venetian painters were reproduced -in the same way by Francesco da Nanto (c. 1530); and by other artists, -like Giovanni Battista del Porto (c. 1500), Domenico delle Greche (c. -1550), and Giuseppe Scolari (c. 1580), who also sometimes made woodcuts -from their own designs. Besides these engravings, some very large cuts, -similar to those which the German artists had attempted, were printed -from several blocks; but they have little interest. The illustrations in -Vesalius’s Anatomy, published at Bâsle in 1543, in which wood-engraving -was first employed as an aid to scientific exposition, were designed in -Venice by Jean Calcar, a pupil of Titian, and are of extraordinary -merit. Finally, in the cuts by Cesare Vecellio (1550-1606) for the -volume entitled Habiti Antiche e Moderne, published in 1590, Venetian -wood-engraving produced its last excellent work--so excellent, indeed, -that the designs have been attributed to Titian himself, who was the -uncle of Vecellio. - -[Illustration: FIG. 58.--The Annunciation. From a print by Francesco da -Nanto.] - -[Illustration: FIG. 59.--Milo of Crotona. From a print by Boldrini after -Titian.] - -The Italians devoted themselves with especial ardor to wood-engraving in -chiaroscuro, and from the time when Ugo da Carpi introduced it in Venice -it was practised by many artists. Nearly all of those designers who have -been mentioned left works in chiaroscuro engraving as well as in the -ordinary manner. Beside them, Antonio da Trento (c. 1530), Giuseppe -Nicolo (c. 1525), Andrea Andreani (c. 1600), and Bartolemeo Coriolano -(c. 1635) produced chiaroscuro engravings which are now much valued and -sought for by collectors of prints. The Italian love of color led these -artists into this application of wood-engraving, which must be regarded -as a wrongly-directed and unfruitful effort of the art to obtain results -beyond its powers. The Italians had been the first to discover the -capacity of wood-engraving as an art of design, but they never developed -it as it was developed in Germany; when they gave up the early simple -manner in which they had achieved great results, and began to follow the -later manner, the great age of Italy was near its close, and the arts -felt the weakening influences of the rapid decline in the vigor of -society. At Venice the arts remained for a while longer powerful and -illustrious, and wood-engraving shared in the excellence which -characterized all the artistic work of that city; but the place which -wood-engraving held in the estimation of the Venetians appears to have -been far lower than its place in the North, where it was popular and -living, highly valued and widely influential as it could not be in any -Italian city. At last in Italy, as in France, it died out altogether, -and was no longer heard of as a fine art. - -In the Netherlands the art had been practised continuously from the time -of the Block-books with varying success, but, excepting in the works of -Lukas van Leyden (1494-1533), it had produced nothing of great value. In -the sixteenth century Hendrick Goltzius (1558-1617) designed some -woodcuts in the common manner as well as chiaroscuro engravings, and -Christopher van Sichem (c. 1620) some woodcuts in the ordinary manner, -which have some worth. The only work of high excellence was due to -Christopher Jegher (c. 1620-1660), who engraved some large designs which -Rubens (1577-1640) drew upon the block; they are inferior to Boldrini’s -reproductions of Titian’s designs, but are free, bold, and effective, -and succeed in reproducing the designs characterized by the vehement -energy of Rubens’s style. Rembrandt (1606-1665) also gave some attention -to the art which the older masters had prized, and left one small -portrait in wood-engraving by his own hand. His example was followed by -his pupils, Jean Livens (1607-1663) and Theodore De Bray (c. 1650), -whose cuts are characterized by the style of their master. - -In England, where the art had not been really practised until Holbein’s -day, and had not reached any degree of excellence, some improvement was -made during the sixteenth century in designs for titlepages, portraits, -and separate cuts, particularly in the publications of John Day. In the -next century, during the civil wars, woodcuts of extreme rudeness were -inserted in the pamphlets of the hour, and in the latter half of the -century some interest was still felt in the art. In the eighteenth -century two engravers, Edward Kirkall (c. 1690-1750) and John Baptist -Jackson (1701-1754?), worked both in the ordinary manner and in -chiaroscuro, but both were forced to seek support on the Continent, -where, although the practice of wood-engraving as a fine art had long -been extinct, the tradition of it as a mechanical process by which cheap -ornaments for books were produced was still preserved. In France the -engravers Pierre Le Sueur (1636-1710) and Jean Papillon (1660-1710) -executed cuts of this sort which are without intrinsic value, and in the -next generation their sons produced works which remained at the same low -level of excellence. In Italy an artist, named Lucchesini, engraved some -cuts in the latter part of the century, but they are without merit. In -Germany the art was equally neglected, and the woodcuts in German books -of the eighteenth century are entirely worthless. - -The explanation of this rapid and universal decline of wood-engraving is -to be found in general causes. The great artistic movement, which both -in the North and the South had sprung out of mediæval religious life, -and had gathered force and spirit as the minds of men grew in strength -and independence, and as the compass of their interests expanded, which -had been so transformed by the study of antiquity that in the South it -seemed to be almost wholly due to that single influence, and in the -North to have suffered an essential change in its spirit and standards, -had at last spent itself. The intellectual movement which had gone along -with it side by side, gaining vigor from the spread of literature, the -debates of the Reformation, and the exercise of the mind upon the -various and novel objects of interest in that age of great discoveries -and inventions, had resulted in a century of religious warfare, -aggravated by the violence of dynastic quarrels which arose in -consequence of the new political organization of Europe. In this -conflict the arts were lost; they all became feeble, and wood-engraving -under the most favorable conditions would have shared in this general -degradation. But for its utter extinction as a fine art there were more -special causes. The popular literature with which it had flourished had -been brought into contempt by Cervantes and Ariosto; the use of -wood-engraving for coarse caricature also reflected discredit upon it; -but the principal cause of its decadence lay in the taste of the age, -which had ceased to prize art as a means of simple and beautiful design, -but valued it rather as a means of complicated and delicate ornament, so -that excessive attention was given to form divorced from meaning, and, -as always happens in such a case, artificiality resulted. The -wood-engravers attempted to satisfy this taste by seeking the refinement -which copperplate-engraving obtained with greater ease and success, and -they failed in the effort; in other words, wood-engraving yielded to -copperplate-engraving because the taste of the age forced it to abandon -its own province, and to contend with its rival on ground where its -peculiar powers were ineffective. - -Here the history of wood-engraving in the old manner, as a means of -reproducing pen-and-ink sketches in fac-simile, came to an end. It has -been seen how valuable it had proved both as an agent of civilization -and as a mode of art; how serviceable it had been in the popularization -of literature and of art, and what influence it had exerted in the -practical questions of the day as a weapon of satire; how faithfully it -had reflected the characteristics of successive periods of civilization, -and how perfectly, in response to the touch of the artist, it had -embodied his imagination and expressed his thought. It had run a great -career; its career seemed to have closed; but, when at the end of the -eighteenth century the movement toward the civilization of the people -again began with vigor and spirit, a new life was opened to it, because -it is essentially a democratic art--a career in which it has already -reached a scope of influence that makes its usefulness far greater than -in the earlier time, and has given promise of a degree of excellence -which, though in design it may not equal Holbein’s power, may yet result -in valuable artistic work. - - - - -VIII. - -_MODERN WOOD-ENGRAVING._ - - -[Illustration: T FIG. 60.--From the “Comedia di Danthe.” Venice, 1536.] - -The revival of the art began in England, in the workshop of Thomas -Bewick (1753-1828). He is called, not without justice, the father of the -true art of engraving in wood. The history of the art in the older time -is concerned mainly with the designer and the ideas which he endeavored -to convey, and only slightly with the engraver whom he employed for the -mechanical work of cutting the block. In the modern art the engraver -holds a more prominent position, because he is no longer restricted to a -servile following of the designer’s work, line for line, but has an -opportunity to show his own artistic powers. This change was brought -about by the invention of white line, as it is called, which was first -used by Bewick. White line was a new mechanical mode of obtaining color. -“I could never discover,” says Bewick, “any additional beauty or color -that the cross-strokes gave to the impression beyond the effect produced -by plain parallel lines. This is very apparent when to a certainty the -plain surface of the wood will print as black as ink and balls can make -it, without any farther labor at all; and it may easily be seen that the -thinnest strokes cut upon the plain surface will throw some light on the -subject or design; and if these strokes again are made still wider or of -equal thickness to the black lines, the color these produce will be a -gray; and the more the white strokes are thickened, the nearer will they -in their varied shadings approach to white; and if quite taken away, -then a perfect white is obtained.” The practical difference between the -two methods is this: by the old method, after the simple work in outline -of the early Italian engravers had been relinquished for the style of -which Dürer was the great master, the block was treated as a white -surface, on which the designer drew with pen and ink, and obtained grays -and blacks by increasing the number of cross-strokes, as if he were -drawing on paper; by the new method the block was treated as a black -surface, and the color was lessened by increasing the number of white -lines. The latter process was as easy for the engraver as the former was -difficult, because whereas in the former he had to gouge out the diamond -spaces between the crossing lines, now he obtained white color by single -strokes of the graver. Bewick may have been led into the use of white -line simply by this consideration of the economy of labor, because he -engraved his own designs, and was directly sensible of the waste of -labor involved in the old method. In both methods color depends, of -course, upon the relative quantity of black and white in the prints; the -new method merely arranges color differently, so that it can be obtained -by an easy mechanical process instead of by a difficult one. - -The use of white line not only affected the art by making it more easy -to practise, but also involved a change in the mode of drawing. Formerly -the effects were given by the designers’ lines, now they were given by -the engravers’ lines; in other words, the old workman followed the -designer’s drawing, the modern workman draws himself with his graver. By -the old method the design was reproduced by keeping the same -line-arrangement that the artist employed; by the new method the design -is not thus reproduced, but is interpreted by a line-arrangement first -conceived by the engraver. In the earlier period the design had to be a -drawing in line for the engraver to cut out and reproduce by leaving the -original lines in relief; now the design may be a washed sketch, the -tints of which the engraver reproduces by cutting lines of his own in -intaglio. The change required the modern engraver to understand how to -arrange white lines so as to obtain artistic effects; he thus becomes an -artist in proportion to his knowledge and skill in such arrangement. It -is clear that, no matter how much mechanical skill, firmness, justness -and delicacy of touch were requisite in the older manner of following -carefully and precisely the lines already drawn upon the block, still -the engraver was precluded from exercising any original artistic power -he might have; he could appreciate the artistic value of the design -before him, and, like Hans Lützelburger, show his appreciation by his -fidelity in rendering it, but the lines were not his own. The new method -of reproducing artists’ work by means of lines first conceived and -arranged by the engraver requires, besides skill of hand, qualities of -mind--perception and origination, and the judgment that results from -cultivated taste. This is what is meant when it is said that the true -art of wood-engraving is not a hundred years old, for it is only within -that time that the value of a print has been due to the engraver’s -capacity for thought and his artistic skill in line-arrangement, as well -as to the designer’s genius. The use of white line as a mechanical mode -of obtaining color was not unknown in the sixteenth century, and the -artistic value of white line was definitely felt in early French and -Italian wood-engraving; but the possibilities of development were not -seen, and no such development took place. The step in advance was taken -by Bewick, who thus disclosed the opportunities which wood-engraving -offers its craftsmen for the exhibition of high artistic qualities. The -white line revolutionized the art, and this is the essential meaning -there is in calling Bewick the father of wood-engraving. - -Of course the older method has not ceased to be practised; artists have -drawn upon the block, and their lines have been reproduced; sometimes a -part of the lines are thus drawn, particularly the leading lines, and -the minor portions of the sketch have been indicated by the designer by -washes and left to be rendered by the engraver in his own lines. Old or -modern wood-engraving as a mode of reproducing designs in fac-simile is -valuable, but none of the artistic merit they may possess is due to the -engraver; while the artistic merit shown in the new style of -wood-engraving, as an art of design in white line, belongs wholly to the -engraver. It results from this that white line is the peculiar province -of wood-engraving, considered as an art; but that does not exclude it -from being practised in its old manner as a mode of copying and -multiplying ordinary design which it is able to reproduce. - -Thomas Bewick, the founder of the modern art, was born near Newcastle -in 1753. He passed his boyhood in rude country life and received scanty -schooling. At fourteen he was bound apprentice to the Newcastle -engraver, Ralph Beilby; nine years later he went to seek his fortune in -London, where he impatiently endured city life for less than a year; in -the summer of 1777 he returned to his old master, with whom he went into -partnership. Some preliminary training in book-illustration of the rude -sort then in vogue was necessary to reveal his powers to himself; he -received a premium from the Society for the Encouragement of Arts, which -had shown some interest in wood-engraving; and after farther minor work -he began, in 1785, to engrave the first block for his British -Quadrupeds, which, with his British Birds, although his other cuts are -numbered by thousands, is the principal monument of his genius. When he -took the graver in his hand he found the art extinct as a fine art; at -most only large coarse prints were manufactured. Besides his great -service to the art in introducing the white line he substituted boxwood -for the pear or other soft wood of the earlier blocks, and he engraved -across the grain instead of with it, or “the plank way of the wood,” as -he called it; he also began the practice of lowering the surface of the -block in places where less color was desired, so that less pressure -would come upon those parts in printing (a device which Aldegrever is -believed to have resorted to in some of his works), and he used the -dabber instead of the inking-roller. - -[Illustration: Fig. 61.--The Peacock. From Bewick’s “British Birds.”] - -[Illustration: FIG. 62.--The Frightened Mother. From Bewick’s “British -Quadrupeds.”] - -[Illustration: FIG. 63.--The Solitary Cormorant. From Bewick’s “British -Birds.”] - -[Illustration: FIG. 64.--The Snow Cottage.] - -[Illustration: FIG. 65.--Birth-place of Bewick. His last vignette, -portraying his own funeral.] - -By such means he was truly, as Ruskin says, “a reformer”--Ruskin adds, -“as stout as Holbein, or Botticelli, or Luther, or Savonarola,” and this -is also true within limits. But if in relation to his art, and in answer -to the tests required of him, his reforming spirit proved itself -vigorous, independent, persistent in conviction, and faithful in -practice, his natural endowment in other ways was so far inferior to -those of the great Reformers named as to place him in a different order -of men. He had not a spark of the philosophic spirit of Holbein, and but -a faint glimmer of Holbein’s dramatic insight. He was not endowed with -the romantic imagination, the deep reflective power, the broad -intellectual and moral sympathy of Dürer. There is no need to magnify -his genius, for it was great and valuable by its own right. He was, -primarily, an observer of nature, and he copied natural facts with -straightforward veracity; he delineated animal life with marvellous -spirit; he knew the value of the texture of a bird’s feather (Fig. 61) -as no one before ever realized it. He was open also to the influence -which nature exerts over the emotions, and he rendered the sentiment of -the landscape as few engravers have been able to do. His hearty spirit -responded to country sights (Fig. 62), and he portrayed the humorous -with zest and pleasure, as well as the cheerful and the melancholy with -truth and feeling; his humor is sometimes indelicate, but it is -faithful; usually it is the humor of a situation which strikes him, -seldom the higher humor which appears in such cuts as the superstitious -dog. He is open to pathos, too, but here it is not the higher order of -pathos far-reaching into the bases of life and emotion--in this cut -(Fig. 64), for example, one fancies his heart is nearly altogether with -the uncared-for animal, and takes not much thought of the deserted -hearth. With this veracity, sensitiveness, heartiness, there is also an -unbending virtue--a little like preaching sometimes, with its gallows in -the background--but sturdy and homely; not rising into any eloquent -homily, but with indignation for the boys drowning a cat or the man -beating his overdriven horse. - -As an artist he knows, like Holbein, the method of great art. His -economy of labor, his simplicity, justness, and sureness of stroke show -the master’s hand. There was no waste in his work, no ineffective effort -after impossible results, no meaningless lines. For these excellences of -method and of character he has been often praised, especially because he -developed his talents under very unfavorable conditions; but perhaps no -words would have been sweeter to him than those which Charlotte Brontë -wrote, sincerely out of her own experience without doubt, for he himself -said he was led to his task by “the hope of administering to the -pleasure and amusement of youth.” Charlotte Brontë, speaking through the -lips of Jane Eyre of the pleasure she took as a child in looking through -Bewick’s books, writes thus: - -“I returned to my book--Bewick’s History of British Birds, the -letterpress whereof I cared little for, generally speaking; and yet -there were certain introductory pages that, child as I was, I could not -pass quite as a blank: they were those which treat of the haunts of -sea-fowl; of ‘the solitary rocks and promontories’ by them only -inhabited; of the coast of Norway, studded with isles from its southern -extremity, the Lindeness, or Naze, to the North Cape-- - - ‘Where the Northern Ocean, in vast whirls, - Boils round the naked, melancholy isles - Of farthest Thule, and the Atlantic surge - Pours in among the stormy Hebrides.’ - -[Illustration: FIG. 66.--The Broken Boat. From Bewick’s “British -Birds.“] - -[Illustration: FIG. 67.--The Church-yard. From Bewick’s “British -Birds.“] - -Nor could I pass unnoticed the suggestion of the black shores of -Lapland, Siberia, Spitzbergen, Nova Zembla, Iceland, Greenland. * * * Of -these death-white realms I formed an idea of my own--shadowy, like all -the half-comprehended notions that float dim through children’s brains, -but strangely impressive. The words in these introductory pages -connected themselves with the succeeding vignettes, and gave -significance to the rock standing up alone in a sea of billow and spray; -to the broken boat (Fig. 66) stranded on a desolate coast; to the cold -and ghastly moon glancing through bars of cloud at a wreck just sinking. -I cannot tell what sentiment haunted the quiet, solitary church-yard -(Fig. 67), with its inscribed head-stone, its gate, its two trees, its -low horizon, girdled by a broken wall, and its newly risen crescent -attesting the hour of even-tide. The two ships becalmed on a torpid sea -I believed to be marine phantoms. The fiend pinning down the thief’s -pack behind him I passed over quickly: it was an object of terror. So -was the black, horned thing, seated aloof on a rock, surveying a distant -crowd surrounding a gallows. Each picture told a story--mysterious often -to my undeveloped understanding and imperfect feelings, yet ever -profoundly interesting. * * * With Bewick on my knee, I was then happy; -happy at least in my way.” - -Bewick published the first edition of the British Quadrupeds in 1790, -the first edition of the first volume of the British Birds in 1797, and -of the second volume in 1804; all these became popular, and were several -times republished with additional cuts. His other works were very -numerous, but, as a whole, they are of inferior value. Both in the -volumes which have been mentioned and in his later work he received much -aid from his pupils, who designed and engraved, subject to his -correction and approval, many illustrations which are ascribed to him. -In his own work, notwithstanding his great excellence, he was by no -means perfect. In delineating rocks and the bark of trees, especially, -he fails; in drawing he sometimes makes errors, particularly when what -he represents was not subject to direct and frequent observation; in the -knowledge of line-arrangement, too, he is less masterly than some of his -successors, and, in this respect, his work is characterized by -effectiveness and spirit rather than by finish. Yet, when these -deductions have been made from his merit, so much remains as to render -him, without doubt, the most distinguished modern engraver in wood. - -[Illustration: FIG. 68.--The Sheep-fold. By Blake. From Virgil’s -Pastorals.] - -[Illustration: FIG. 69.--The Mark of Storm. By Blake. From Virgil’s -Pastorals.] - -Before Bewick’s death, in 1828, another English genius, William Blake -(1758-1827), greater as an artist than as an engraver, produced a series -of woodcuts (Fig. 68) which is remarkable for vigor and originality. -They were published in a reprint of Ambrose Philips’s Imitation of -Virgil’s First Eclogue, in Dr. Thornton’s curious edition of Virgil’s -Pastorals which appeared in 1820. One of them (Fig. 69) represents a -landscape swept by violent wind. The idea of autumnal tempest has seldom -been so strikingly and forcibly embodied as in the old gnarled oak -straining with laboring limbs, the hedge-rows blown like -indistinguishable glimmering dust, the keen light of the crescent moon -shining through the driving storm upon the rows of laid corn and over -the verge of the distant hill. Contemporary engravers said the series -was inartistic and worthless, and an uneducated eye can easily discover -faults in it; imaginative genius of the highest order is expressed in -it, nevertheless, and from this the series derives its value. Blake -never made a new trial of the art. - -The revival of wood-engraving was not confined to England. At the end of -the eighteenth century Prussia founded a chair at Berlin for teaching -the art, and made the Ungers, father and son, professors of it; but, -although they contributed to the progress of wood-engraving in Germany, -no real success was obtained until the time of their successor, Gubitz. -In France, too, the Society for the Encouragement of National Industry -began to offer prizes for the best wood-engraving as early as 1805; but -some years passed before any contestants, who practised the true art, -appeared. The publisher Didot deserves much of the credit for reviving -French wood-engraving, because he employed Gubitz, and called to Paris -the English engravers who really founded the modern French school. The -efforts of societies or individuals, however, do not explain the rise of -the art in our time. Wood-engraving merely shared in the renewal of life -which took place at the end of the last century, and so profoundly -affected literature, art, and politics. The barren classical taste -disappeared in what is known as the return to nature, the intellectual -life of the people was stimulated to extraordinary activity, -civilization suffered rapid and important modifications, and every human -pursuit and interest received an impulse or a blow. Wood-engraving felt -the influence of the change, and came into demand with the other cheap -pictorial arts to satisfy popular needs; the interest of the publishers, -the improvements in the processes of printing, and the example of -Bewick and his pupils especially contributed to bring the old art again -into use, and it continued to be practised because its value in -democratic civilization was immediately recognized. - -[Illustration: FIG. 70.--The Cave of Despair. By Branston. From Savage’s -“Hints on Decorative Printing.”] - -England was naturally the country where wood-engraving most flourished. -The pupils of Bewick, particularly Charlton Nesbit and Luke Clennell, -practised it with great merit, the former with a better knowledge of -line-arrangement than Bewick, and the latter with extraordinary artistic -feeling. The field, however, was not left wholly to those who had -learned the art from Bewick. Robert Branston was, like Bewick, a -self-taught wood-engraver; unlike Bewick, who was never trammelled by -traditions, and was thus able to work out his own methods in his own way -by the light of his own genius, Branston (Fig. 70), who had served an -apprenticeship in engraving on copperplate, and had mastered the art of -incising and arranging lines proper to that material, came to -wood-engraving with all the traditions of copperplate-engraving firmly -fixed in his mind and hand, and he founded a school which began where -the art had left off at the time of its decline--in the imitation of the -methods of engraving on copper. It is true that Branston sometimes -admitted white line where he thought it would be effective, but he -relied on black line for the most part. The wrong step thus taken led to -the next. Engravers on copper began to draw designs on the block for -wood-engravers to cut out. John Thurston, the most distinguished of -these, drew thus for John Thompson, who, however, did not follow the -lines with the servility of the engravers of the sixteenth century, but -modified them as he engraved, changed the direction and character of the -lines, and occasionally introduced white line. In the same way -Clennell, who also engraved after John Thurston’s drawing, modified it, -particularly in the disposal of the lights and shadows, and thus -improved it by his own artistic powers. Merely in engraving simple lines -Clennell’s artistic feeling placed him in a higher rank than even an -engraver of the power of John Thompson, as may be seen in the cuts which -these two men made after Stothard’s drawings in an edition of Rogers’s -Poems (Fig. 71, 72); in this volume Clennell has given an effect which -Thompson could not give. Branston’s engraving, in the same way, shows -the craftsman’s skill and knowledge, but it lacks the artistic quality -of the rival school of Nesbit and Clennell. The imitation of the manner -of copperplate, which Branston introduced, became common, and was -developed in the work of Orrin Smith and William Harvey, in which -wood-engraving lost its distinctive virtues. This school, nevertheless, -was popular, and its engravings were used to illustrate important works -to which for a long time copperplate-engraving alone had been considered -equal; thus wood-engraving once more encroached upon its rival’s ground. - -[Illustration: FIG. 71.--Vignette from “Rogers’s Poems.” London, 1827.] - -[Illustration: FIG. 72.--Vignette from “Rogers’s Poems.” London, 1827.] - -Meanwhile the great illustrated magazines and papers, to which -wood-engraving owes so much of its encouragement, sprang up, and with -them the necessity for rapid work, and the temptation to be satisfied -with what satisfied the public taste. Cruikshank and Seymour prepared -the way for the designers, Leech, Gilbert, Tenniel, and the Dalziels, -the latter engravers themselves, and carelessness in engraving -accompanied carelessness in drawing; but from the latter charge -Tenniel’s designs must be excepted. These artists were inferior in -natural endowment to even the lesser artists of the sixteenth century, -and their work was made worse by the negligent rendering of their -engravers, who were not characterized either by the fidelity of the old -craftsmen, or the skill and knowledge of Thompson, or the artistic sense -of Clennell, but were merely inefficient workmen employed to cut lines -drawn for them as rapidly as possible. Mr. Linton made an attempt to -introduce the practice of rendering artists’ drawings by lines conceived -and arranged by the engraver himself; but the current was too strongly -set in another direction, and the engraver kept his old position of -mechanic employed to clear out the designers’ lines. The work which was -produced by this method in great quantities was in the mass not valuable -either for the art shown in the design or for the skill of the engraver, -but derived its interest and popularity from qualities which have little -connection with fine art. No great works were produced; and it is only -here and there that separate prints of value are to be found, among -which those by Edmund Evans in Birket Foster’s edition of Cowper’s Task -deserve to be mentioned. - -[Illustration: FIG. 73.--Death as a Friend.] - -Upon the Continent the development of wood-engraving was by no means so -great as in England, but some excellent work has been done by the pupils -of Thompson, who went to Paris by Didot’s invitation; these men, of -whom MM. Best and Leloir were the most distinguished, together with MM. -Brevière, Porret, and Lavoignat, produced some cuts of considerable -value both in book-illustration and in the art magazines. In Germany, -too, wood-engraving counts some good workmen among its following, but -the German woodcuts, of which the two (Figs. 73, 74) here given are -favorable examples, remain inferior for the most part to either the -English or French. - -[Illustration: FIG. 74.--Death as a Throttler.] - -Wood-engraving, however, has been practised in our time less as a fine -art than as a useful art; and if little that is valuable for artistic -worth has been executed by engravers since the days of Nesbit, Clennell, -and Thompson, the application of wood-engraving for merely useful -purposes has been of the greatest service. It has become a most -powerful instrument of popular education; it imparts the largest share -of the visual knowledge which the people have of the things they have -not directly seen; its utility as a means of instruction by its -representation of the objects with which science deals, and the -mechanical contrivances and processes which science employs, and also as -a means of influence in caricature and of simple popular amusement, is -incalculable; and, notwithstanding its low level in art, there can be no -doubt that it frequently assists the exercise of the popular -imagination, and sometimes generates in the better-endowed minds among -the people a real sympathy with the higher products of art and an -appreciation of them. These utilities, indeed, so overbalance its value -simply as a fine art as to give it a distinctive character, when its -practice now is compared with that of any previous time; as, formerly, -it reflected the aspects of changing civilization, now it reflects the -peculiar character of our time, and shows how great has been the gain in -the popular hold upon the material comforts of life and upon -intelligence, and how great has been the loss in the community’s -appreciation of purely artistic results. This is especially true of the -earlier American practice of the art, which seldom resulted in any work -of artistic value. - -[Illustration: FIG. 75.--The Creation. Engraved by J. F. Adams.] - -[Illustration: FIG. 76.--The Deluge. Engraved by J. F. Adams.] - -The history of wood-engraving in America, until recent years, is -comparatively insignificant. In art, as in literature, the first -generation of the Republic followed the English tradition almost -slavishly; the engravers, indeed, showed hardly any individuality, and -left no work of permanent value. During Colonial times some very rude -apprentice-work on metal had been produced; but the first certain -engraving in wood bears date of 1794, and was from the hand of Dr. -Alexander Anderson (1775-1870), a physician by profession, but with a -natural bent toward the art, which he had played at from boyhood, and -finally made the principal business of his life. The sight of some of -Bewick’s early work had determined him to employ wood as a material in -place of the type-metal on which he had previously engraved in relief, -and the example of Bewick taught him to use white line. At that time, -and for many years afterward, the art was applied mainly to the -production of cuts for advertisements, labels, and the like, as a -servant of trade; its use for illustration simply was confined almost -wholly to juvenile books. The engravers who at the beginning of the -century introduced the art in New York, Boston, Philadelphia, Baltimore, -and New Haven were few, and, for the most part, self-taught; usually -they merely copied English cuts, and thus they reflected in their -poorer work the manner of successive English schools; but at least they -kept the art alive, and handed it on through their pupils. Dr. Anderson -was the best of them; yet, although he was free and bold in his handling -of white line, and once or twice attained an excellence that proved him -a worthy pupil of Bewick, he left nothing of enduring interest, and the -work of his fellows met with even swifter forgetfulness. Woodcuts of -really high value were not produced in America until Joseph Alexander -Adams (b. 1803), one of the young engravers encouraged by Dr. Anderson, -began to do his best work (Figs. 75, 76), about 1834, and applied his -talents to the illustration of the Bible, published by the Harper -Brothers in 1843, with which wood-engraving may be properly said to have -begun its great career in this country. This volume was embellished by -sixteen hundred cuts, executed under the supervision of Mr. Adams, and -plainly exhibits the capacities and limitations of the art at that time. -Other illustrated books followed this from the same press, and from that -of the Putnams; the cuts in the papers and magazines, established during -the second quarter of the century, became more numerous, and the -attention paid by the American Tract Society to the engravings in its -various publications had great influence in encouraging and improving -the art. The work of this first half-century, however, as a whole, does -not deserve any great praise; in judging it, the inexperience of the -engravers and the difficulties of printing must be remembered; but in -its inferior portions it is marked by feebleness and coarseness, and in -its better portion by a hardness and stiffness of line, a lack of -variety and gradation in tone and tint, and a defect in vivacity and -finish. There are here and there exceptional cuts to which these -strictures would not apply, but the body of the work is vitiated either -through an incomplete control of his materials by the engraver, or -through an evil imitation of copperplate-drawing by the designer. Where -the engraver was also the designer the work is usually of higher value. - -[Illustration: FIG. 77.--Butterflies. Engraved by F. S. King.] - -With the second half of the century began that expansion of the press, -that increase in the volume and improvement in the quality of the -reading provided for the public through newspapers and magazines, which -has been one of the most striking and important results of democratic -institutions. The Harpers’ Monthly Magazine was established in 1850, and -it was followed within a decade by several illustrated periodicals; -during the civil war there was naturally a slackening in this -development, but, upon its close, numerous new illustrated weekly or -monthly publications began their longer or shorter career, among them -those issued by the Scribners, which were to have so important a bearing -on the history of wood-engraving. The art naturally received a great -impetus from this demand upon its resources; it rapidly advanced; and -being encouraged farther by the popularity of the new and beautifully -illustrated gift-books of the Boston and New York publishers, it has -taken the leading place in the artistic interests of the country. - -[Illustration: FIG. 78.--Engraved by F. S. King.] - -The scope of this volume does not allow any detailed account of the -works of American engravers individually; but while the increased -productiveness and improved technique of the art during the third -quarter of the century are being noticed, it would be unjust to make no -mention of the quiet, careful, and refined woodcuts of Mr. Anthony, or -of the long and unflinching fidelity of Mr. Linton, with its reward in -admirable work, or of the exquisite skill of Mr. Henry Marsh, the best -of American engravers of that period. The latter’s marvellous rendering -of insect life in the illustrations to Harris’s Insects Injurious to -Vegetation, published in 1862, can never be forgotten by any who have -been fortunate enough to see the artist-proofs. His work is in the -manner of copperplate-engraving, and affords one of the few instances in -which wood-engraving has equalled the rival art in fineness, delicacy, -softness, and gradation of tone. Whatever the critic’s theory may be, he -must remember that genius has a higher validity than reason, and must -acknowledge such work as this to be its own justification. -Unfortunately, the cuts in the published volume were not--perhaps at -that time could not be--printed with the success they deserved. The work -of these three engravers illustrates what advance had already been made -in skilful line-arrangement and in technique before 1870, about which -time the indications of an approaching change in the art became -plainly evident. Since then progress has been uninterrupted, swift, -marked by bold experiments and startling surprises. Now American -engravers excel all others in knowledge of the resources of their art, -and in control of its materials, as well as in the interest of their -work. They have not, it is true, produced, as yet, anything to rank in -artistic value with the designs of the older masters; but, in their -hands, the art has gained a width and utility of influence among our -people hitherto unequalled in any nation at any period. From the -beginning of its history wood-engraving has been distinctively a -democratic art; at present the ease and cheapness of its processes and -the variety of its applications make it one of the most accessible -sources of inexpensive information and pleasure; for this reason it has -acquired in our country, where a reading middle class forms the larger -portion of the nation, a popular influence of such far-reaching and -penetrative power as to make it a living art in a sense which none other -of the fine arts can claim. It now enters into the intellectual life and -enjoyment of our people to a degree and with a constancy impossible to -other arts. In this respect, too, it is only at the beginning of its -career; for, as popular education spreads, the place that the art holds -in the national life will continually become more important. These -social conditions, the technical skill of the engravers, and the -appearance among the people of a critical spirit concerning their -work--not perhaps to be called intelligent as yet, but forming, nascent, -feeling its way into conscious and active life--make up a group of most -favorable circumstances for a real artistic development. Whether such a -development will take place depends in large measure on the clearness -with which engravers understand the laws of their art, as presented by -their materials, and on the degree in which such knowledge controls -them. The experiments of recent years are to be judged finally by the -results; but, in spite of the novel effects obtained, and of the new -character that has been given to the art, there is at present no such -unanimity, either among the engravers or the public, as to be decisive -of the worth of the new work as a whole. While the issue is still -doubtful, and the stake is the future of the only art by which those who -care for the growth of civilization can develop in the people a sense of -art, bring them to an appreciation of its value, open their -understandings to its teachings, and fill their lives with its delights, -something may be gained by recurring to fundamental principles, as -illustrated by the practice of the older masters, not with an end to -limit the future by the past, but to foresee it. Such a brief review and -summary of past thought respecting the aims and methods of -wood-engraving, with such corrections as modern improvements in -processes justify, will afford the surest ground for criticism of the -work still to be considered. - -All the graphic arts have to do with some one or more of the three modes -under which nature is revealed to the artist--the mode of pure form, the -mode of pure color, the mode of form and color, as they are affected by -the different lights and shadows in which they exist. In nature these -three modes do not exist separately, and usually no one of them is so -prominent as to efface the others; in the several arts, however, the -principal attention is given, now to one, now to another, of them, -according to the capacities of the art and the powers of the artists. -Thus sculpture deals only with form, and even in painting, which -includes all within its province, different masters make a choice, and -aim principally at reproducing color, or chiaroscuro, or form, as their -talents direct them, for a genius seldom arises with the power to -combine all these with the truth and harmony of nature. Wood-engraving, -there is no need to say, cannot reproduce the real hues of objects, nor -the play of light upon hue and form, nor the more marvellously -transforming touch of shadow; it can represent the form of a peach, but -it cannot paint its delicate tints, nor adequately and accurately show -how the beauty of its bloom in sun differs from the beauty of its bloom -in shade. More broadly, a landscape shot with the evanescent shadows -that hover in rapidly moving mists, or the intermingling light and gloom -of a wind-swept moonlit sky half overcast with clouds, wood-engraving -has no power to mirror in true likeness. The most it can do in this -direction is to indicate, it cannot express; it can exhibit strong -contrasts and delicate gradations of light and shadow, and it can -suggest varying intensity of hues, by the greater or less depth of its -blacks and grays; but real color and perfect chiaroscuro it relinquishes -to painting. - -Form, therefore, is left as the main object of the wood-engraver’s -craft, and the representation of form is effected by delineation, -drawing, line-work. This is why the great draughtsmen, such as Dürer and -Holbein, succeeded in designing for wood-engraving. They knew how to -express form by lines, and they did not attempt to do more even when -suggesting color-values by the convention of black and gray. Line-work -is thus the main business of the engraver, because form must be -expressed by lines. Line-work, however, is of different kinds, and all -kinds are not equally proper for the art. Hitherto the fineness of line -by which copperplate-engraving easily obtains delicacy of contour and -soft transitions of tone, has been rarely and with difficulty attained -by the best-skilled hand and eye among wood-engravers, and when attained -has, usually, not been successfully printed. There remains, however, no -longer any reason to exclude fine lines from wood-engraving, when once -it has become plain that such work is possible without a wasteful -expenditure of labor, that its results are valuable, and that it can be -properly printed. But if it shall prove that the character of the line -proper to copperplate is also proper to wood, it may be looked on as -certain that the line-arrangement proper to the former material can -never be rationally used for the latter. The crossing of lines to which -the engraver on copperplate resorts is especially laborious to the -engraver in wood, and after all his toil does not give any desirable -effect which would not have resulted from other methods of work. It has -been seen that Dürer employed this cross-hatching in imitation of -copperplate-engraving; but he did so because he was ignorant of the way -to arrange color so that this difficult task of engraving -cross-hatchings would be unnecessary. Holbein, who was equally ignorant -of the possibilities of white line, rejected cross-hatching. Bewick also -rejected it, and proved it was unnecessary even where much color was to -be given. In the later work of the sixteenth century, and in modern -English work, wood-engraving imitated its rival art both in the -character and the arrangement of its lines; it failed in both instances -mainly because such imitation involved a waste of labor, and did not -result in works so valuable artistically as were obtained by -copperplate-engraving with far greater ease. At present the objection -to the use of cross-hatching in wood-engraving is as serious as ever, -but the employment of fine lines for some purposes, as in the rendering -of delicate textures and tones, has been justified, mainly in -consequence of innovations in the modes of printing. The charm of this -new and surprising beauty in fine-line woodcuts, however, has not at all -deprived the old broad and bold line of its force and vigor, nor made -less valuable the strong contrasts in which the art won its earlier -success. On the contrary, it is in the old province and by the old -methods that wood-engraving has worked out its most distinctive and -peculiar effects of real value. - -[Illustration: FIG. 79.--Mount Lafayette (White Mountains). By J. -Tinkey.] - -In what has been thus far said of the line-work proper to -wood-engraving, black line-work only has been referred to. -Wood-engraving is also an art of design in white line, and here a -different set of considerations applies. There is not the same -difficulty in cutting fine and delicate white lines, as is the case with -black lines, nor the same unlikelihood of their effect being felt in the -printed design. There is, too, no objection whatever to crossing white -lines, as a mode of work, for it is as easy a process for the -wood-engraver as crossing black lines is for the copperplate-engraver, -and the result thus obtained is sometimes of great value, particularly -in the moulding of the face. The art of design in white line, however, -is but little developed; but, not to depreciate the older method of -black line, which is extremely valuable, nevertheless it is clear that -white line-work is the peculiar province of the wood-engraver, and that -in developing its capacities the future of the art mainly lies, so far -as it rests with him. The merit of all line-work, whether black or -white, fine or broad, bold or subtle, depends upon the certainty with -which the lines serve their purposes. If, as with Holbein, every line -has its work to do, and does that work perfectly; if it fulfils its -function of defining an outline, or marking the moulding of a muscle, or -deepening the intensity of a shadow, or performing some similar service, -then the designer has followed the method of high art, and has produced -something of value. The work of all who practise the art--the -draughtsmen who draw in black line, and the engravers who draw in white -line--has worth just in proportion as they acquire the power to put -intention into their lines and to express something by every stroke; -and, other things being equal, he who conveys most meaning in the fewest -lines, like Holbein and Bewick, is the greatest master. By means of such -lines so arranged wood-engraving does represent form with great power, -and also texture, which is only a finer form; it indicates positive -hues, and, within limits, suggests the play of light and shadow on form -and hue. It thus aims chiefly, in its bolder and more facile work, at -force, spirit, and contrast, and, in its more rare and difficult -efforts, at delicacy, finish, and nice gradation of harmonious tones. - -If there is any value in the teaching of the past, either these -principles must be shown to be no longer valid, or by them the engraving -of the last ten years must be judged. A considerable portion of it -consists of attempts to render original designs--for example, a washed -drawing--not by interpreting its artistic qualities, its form, color, -force, spirit, and manner, so far as these can be given by simple, -defined, firm lines of the engraver’s creation, but by imitating as -closely as possible the original effect, and showing the character of -the original process, whether it were water-color, charcoal-sketching, -oil-painting, clay-modelling, or any other. However desirable it may be -to make known the original process, such knowledge does not enhance the -artistic value of the cut; and however pleasing it may be to the public -to obtain copies even successfully, indicating the general effects, -without the charm, of originals in other arts with which wood-engraving -has little affinity, such work will rather satisfy curiosity than -delight the eye. The public may thus derive information; they will not -obtain works of artistic value at all equal to those which -wood-engraving might give them, did it not abdicate its own peculiar -power of expressing nature in a true, accurate, and beautiful way and -descend to mechanical imitation. The application of the art to such -purposes, as little more than another mode of photography, is a -debasement of it; it ceases to be a fine art when it ceases to be -practised for the sake of its own powers of beautiful expression. Such -work, therefore, has only a secondary interest, as being one more -process for the defective reproduction of beautiful things, and requires -only a passing mention. - -[Illustration: FIG. 80.--“And silent were the sheep in woolly -fold.”--KEATS, _St. Agnes Eve_. - -Engraved by J. G. Smithwick.] - -[Illustration: FIG. 81.--The Old Orchard. Engraved by F. Juengling.] - -Aside from these imitative cuts, the most striking portion of recent -engraving, that which has been hailed as opening a new career to the -art, is characterized either by a great refinement of line or by a -practical abandonment of line. Of the former tendency Mr. Henry Marsh -affords the most prominent examples by his engravings in illustration of -insect life, or similarly delicate work. The skill of his hand and the -charm of the style he has adopted are beyond question; there is as -little doubt of the truthfulness and beauty of the effects secured in -the rendering of individual objects, the butterfly wing, the pond-lily, -or the spray of the winter forest; the only deduction to be made from -his praise is, that when he binds these several objects into one -picture, as in a landscape, he suffers the too frequent penalty of -fine detail, and loses in the delicacy and finish of the parts the -beauty that should have characterized the whole. There is always in his -cuts grace, poetic feeling, exquisite workmanship, but there is in some -of them a lack of body, substance, distance, of skill in placing the -objects in a natural relation to one another, that mars the total -result. Mr. Marsh is one of the older men, and deserves the credit of -first showing what wood-engraving is capable of in refinement of line; -but younger men have joined him in developing these capacities of the -art, and have made work in this style more common. The best of it is by -Mr. F. S. King, being equal in every quality to Mr. Marsh’s most -admirable cuts. Such engraving is exceptional, of course; but the -evenness and transition of tone, the care for line, the discrimination -of both line and color values, shown in these butterflies (Fig. 77), -are characteristic of Mr. King’s work in general, although in some of -it a lack of definition in outlines is noticeable. The refinement of -line in these two engravers is justifiable, because they put meaning -into the lines, and express by them something that could not otherwise -be interpreted to the eye through this art; and so long as this remains -the case they will meet with commendation and encouragement. It is only -when such refinement is needlessly resorted to, or is confusing or -meaningless, that it is rightly rebuked. - -[Illustration: FIG. 82.--Some Art Connoisseurs. Engraved by Robert -Hoskin.] - -The second and more evil tendency of recent engraving, toward an -abandonment of line, is exhibited in many phases, and by nearly all the -younger men. In some cases the central portion of the cut seems alone to -be cared for, and is much elaborated, while the surrounding parts fade -off into the background with the uncertainty of a dissolving view; in -other cases there seems to be entire indifference about form or texture: -there is no definition of the one nor discrimination in the other, but -an effect only is sought for, usually vague or startling, always -unsatisfactory, and not infrequently ugly. Such work is the product of -ignorance or carelessness or caprice. In it wood-engraving ceases to be -an art of expression. These obscure masses, meant for trees, in which -one may look with a microscope and see neither leaf, limb, nor bark; -these mottled grounds, meant for grass or houses, in which there is -neither blade nor fibre; these blocks of formless tints, in which all -the veracity of the landscape perishes, do not record natural facts, or -convey thought or sentiment; they are simply vacant of meaning. To -illustrate or criticise such work would be an ungracious as well as a -needless task; but even in the best work of the best engravers, with -which alone these pages are concerned, the marks of tendency in this -wrong direction are palpably present. Here, for example, is some -charming work by Mr. King (Fig. 78), wholly successful in securing the -effect sought--beautiful, well worth doing. The spirit of the season, -the moist days, the April nature, the leafing and budding in mist and -cloudiness, and gleam of light and breath of warm, soft air along -full-flowing streams, the swift and buoyant welcome borne on the forward -flight of the birds straight toward us, the ever-renewed marvel of the -birth of life and the coming on of days of beauty--the feeling of all -this is given, and the success is due in large part to the vagueness -that dims the whole design; but why should the wreathing flowers, the -tender crown of all, lose the curve of their petals and darken the -delicate form of each young blossom, all blurred into the background, -and half-effaced and marred, and tiring the eye with the effort to -define them? If the value of form had been more felt, if the definition -of outline had been firmer, if the spray had really blossomed, would not -the design have been better? There is less doubt of the error in the -next cut. The disappearance of texture and the attenuation of substance -into flat shadow is very plain. To a true woodsman, to one who has lived -with trees, and knows and loves them, there is little of their nature in -these vague, transparent, insubstantial forms, that seem rather skeleton -leaves than strong-limbed, firm-rooted trees that have sung in the -frosty silence and lived through the “bitter cold” of many a St. Agnes -Eve. Who, looking on these pale shadows, would remember that the same -poet, whose verse is here put into picture, thought of trees as -“senators” of the woods? In the disposition of the light of the -atmosphere, in the management of the gray tints, particularly in the -lower portion of the cut, the eye takes more pleasure: there is some -discrimination between the sheep, the old man, and the fold--as much, -perhaps, as the prevailing obscurity admits; but the cut as a whole is -much harmed by the lack of relief, which seems to be a recurring fault -in fine-lined and crowded work. The cut (Fig. 81) by Mr. Juengling, -whose engravings exhibit the tendencies of the new methods in the most -pronounced way, shows, like the preceding illustration, an inattention -to texture in the foliage, and an entire negligence of cloud-form in the -sky, which is a fair example of the abandonment of line, or of -meaningless line, as one chooses to call it. An effect is gained, a -horizon light and shadowed masses, but the landscape is not faithfully -rendered. - -[Illustration: FIG. 83.--The Travelling Musicians. Engraved by R. A. -Muller.] - -Of a different order are the two following cuts, simple, quiet, and -refined. The mountain scene (page 183) is admirable for the disposition -of its lights and shadows, the gradation and variation of its tints, and -the subordination of every element to a truthful total effect. The cut -by Mr. Hoskin (Fig. 82) is a good example of his always excellent work, -showing his power of economy and his feeling for line and tone, while it -evinces self-restraint in methods of work. - -[Illustration: FIG. 84.--Shipwrecked. Engraved by Frank French.] - -The change that has taken place in recent engraving has been less marked -in cuts of landscape, however, than in cuts of figures. In the former -line-arrangement has been affected somewhat, and usually for the worse, -but in the latter the transformation has been greater, and the results -already worked out of more striking novelty. The development, however, -has been in the same directions, in refining or abandoning line, and -examples exhibit the same or analogous variation in the engravers’ -regard for form and texture. The first group here given (Fig. 83) shows -clearly, by the character and the direction of its lines, that it is a -reproduction of copperplate-engraving, and as a piece of imitative work -it is remarkable; the figures are life-like, full of vivacity and force, -and the faces are natural and very expressive. It is, however, in the -style of copperplate, and in the qualities mentioned it does not excel -the next cut (Fig. 84), in which the character and direction of the -lines are those peculiar to wood-engraving. The former has an appearance -of more finish, as also of more hardness, but it does not by its more -difficult mode of engraving, accomplish what is aimed at in any higher -degree than does the latter by its simpler, easier, and freer manner. -The Tap-room (Fig. 85), by the same engraver, is less careful work, and -its novel technical quality, while of the same general character as that -of the last cut, is more pronounced and less pleasing. The figures as a -whole are good, but the faces are poor; the use of the cross white line -or stipple for fire, apron, rafter, table-cloth, and face indifferently -cannot be commended, and the character of many of the lines -(particularly in the lower part of the seated figure) is beyond -criticism. It is the still bolder and more general use of the peculiar -modes of engraving in this design that results in the most meaningless, -negligent scratchiness of the new school. Mr. J. P. Davis’s “Going to -Church” (Fig. 86) is a favorable example of another considerable class -of cuts that is on first sight novel and pleasing. On examination one -sees that the figures are certainly the best part of the cut; but why -should the maiden’s dress be the same in texture as the cow’s breast, -and the young man’s trousers the same as the cow’s back? and why should -the child’s face be of a piece with its collar? Notice, too, beyond the -wall the familiar flat and insubstantial trees, with their foliage that -would serve as well for the ground at the foot of the steps. - -[Illustration: FIG. 85.--The Tap-room. Engraved by Frank French.] - -[Illustration: FIG. 86.--Going to Church. Engraved by J. P. Davis.] - -The best work in these figure-cuts, however, is by Mr. T. Cole, who -stands at the head of engravers in the new manner, though he is not -confined by it. The portraits, by which he first became widely known, -were remarkable for an entire absence, in some cases, of any demarcation -between picture and background, and for a concentration of attention -upon some few specially characteristic features of the face. Whoever -deserved the blame so liberally meted out to these heads, Mr. Cole’s -reputation rests now upon better work--upon such an exquisitely refined -portrait as that of Modjeska as Juliet, in the Scribner Portfolio of -Proofs, and other cuts of hardly less merit there to be found. -Frequently, however, there is noticeable in some of his best work an -analogous characteristic to that of the earlier portraits--the -concentration of attention on the central figures, to the neglect of the -minor portions of the designs. Thus in the example here given (Fig. 87), -so long as the eye is concerned only with the two stately figures, there -is only pleasure in such admirable workmanship; but when the gaze -wanders to the near, and especially the remote, background, there is -nothing to delight the lover of art or nature in such confusion, -insubstantiality, flat, waving shadows without beauty or meaning. Who -would guess from that obscure and formless net-work in the distance that -the next line of these verses is-- - - “And all the sunset heaven behind your head?” - -This “generalization” of the landscape, as it is called, empties it of -all that makes it lovely. To the cut, as an example of figure-engraving, -the highest praise may be given, but as an entire picture it is harmed -by its imperfection of detail. To subordinate by destroying is not the -mode of high art, but it is often the mode of the new school. - -Of all the work of recent years, however, the best, it is generally -admitted, is in the portraits, possibly because the artists are -restrained by the definiteness of the form and expression to be -conveyed. Mr. Cole’s Modjeska has been already praised, though it is -rather a fine figure than a fine portrait. A portrait of Mr. Hunt by Mr. -Linton, and of Mr. Fletcher Harper by Mr. Kruell, are also of high -merit, and in both a very high level of excellence is sustained. The -special character of the new school in portraiture, as a distinct and -radical style, is illustrated by Mr. Juengling’s “Spanish Peasant” (Fig. -88). It recalls at once the portrait of Whistler by the same hand. In -disposition of color, in certainty of effect, and in skill of execution, -all must recognize the engraver’s power; but is the value of the human -face, in whose mouldings is expressed the life of years and -generations--is the value of the human eye, in which the light never -goes out, truly felt? One cannot help feeling that the brutalizing of -this face is a matter rather of art than of truth. Contrast the two -portraits here given (Figs. 89, 90), one in the bolder, more definite, -larger style, admirable in its tones and discrimination of textures, -among the very best in this manner; the other finer, with the tendency -to fade into the background, but faultless in its rendering of the face, -and proving by success the great effectiveness of the fine white -cross-line. - -[Illustration: FIG. 87.-- - - “Nay, Love, ’tis you who stand - With almond clusters in your clasping hand.” - - Engraved by T. Cole. -] - -These illustrations of recent engraving are sufficiently numerous and -various to offer a fair test of what has been done in different branches -of the art. The capacity of any new school should be judged by the best -it has produced; but, even in this best work, it is not difficult to -discern at times the same tendencies that have been the main cause of -failure in the less good work. The obscuration of leading outlines; the -disregard of substance, shape, and material in leaf, cloud, and stuffs; -the neglect of relief and perspective, the crowding of the ground with -meaningless lines, either undirected or misdirected, or uselessly -refined; the aim at an effect by an arrangement of color almost -independent of form, the attempt to make a momentary impression on the -eye, instead of to give lasting pleasure to the mind through the -artistic sense, and--especially in the best work--the lack of perfect -and masterly finish in all portions of the design, however insignificant -by comparison with the leading parts--these must be counted as defects. -How much of such failure is due to the designer, it is impossible to -determine without sight of the original drawings; a considerable portion -of the fault may rest with him; in wood-engravings, as art-works, the -union of designer and craftsman is inseparable--the two stand or fall -together. But when all deductions have been made, the best engravers may -rightly be very proud of their work, confident of their future, and -hopeful of great things. With such perfect technical skill as they -possess, with such form and texture as they have represented with care, -truth, and beauty; with such softness of tone and power of both -delicate and strong line as some of their number have earned the mastery -of, the value of future work depends only on the wisdom of their aims. -If the fundamental grounds on which the foregoing criticism rests be -true, these engravers have won success in so far as they have attended -to form and texture as the main business of their art, and they have -failed in so far as they have destroyed these. From its peculiar and -original powers in the interpretation of form and texture by line-work, -either black or white, wood-engraving has derived its value and earned -the respect due it as an art, both through its great works in the past -and, so far as yet appears, through its best works in the present. -Wood-engravers, if the design given them to reproduce is in black line, -fit for engraving in wood, must copy it simply, and then, should -artist-draughtsmen arise, the art in this manner will again produce -works of permanent value as in the days of Holbein; if, on the other -hand, the design given them is in color or washed tints, or anything of -that sort, they must interpret it by lines of their own creation, and -then, too, should any engraver-draughtsmen arise among them, the art -will possess a similarly high value; but in no other way than by -attending to these two kinds of line-work, separately or together, can -wood-engraving remain artistic; and even then its success will depend on -the knowledge and skill of the designer, whether artist or engraver, in -the use and arrangement of the special lines which are best adapted to -the art. - -[Illustration: FIG. 88.--The Spanish Peasant. Engraved by F. Juengling.] - -[Illustration: FIG. 89.--James Russell Lowell. Engraved by Thomas -Johnson.] - -[Illustration: FIG. 90.--Arthur Penrhyn Stanley. Engraved by G. Kruell.] - -The history of wood-engraving, as it is recorded in the chief monuments -of the art, has now been told from its beginning down to the present -moment. Its historic and artistic value has been mainly dwelt upon, with -the view of showing its utility as a democratic art and its powers as a -fine art. It has had an illustrious career. It has shared in the -great social movements which transformed mediæval into modern -civilization. It entered into the popular life, in its earliest days, by -representing the saints whom the people worshipped. It contributed to -the cause of popular civilization in the spread of literature. It -assisted the introduction of realism into art, and gave powerful aid in -the gradual secularization of art. It lent itself to the Italian genius, -and was able to preserve something of the loveliness of the Italian -Renaissance. It helped the Reformation. It gave enduring form to the -imagination and thought of Dürer and Holbein. It fell into inevitable -decline; but, when the development of democracy again began in the new -age, it entered into the work of popular civilization with -ever-increasing vigor and ever-widening influence. It seems still to -possess unlimited capacities for usefulness in the future in both the -intellectual and artistic education of the people. It may yet crown its -career by making this country an art-loving as well as a book-reading -Republic. - - - - -A LIST OF THE PRINCIPAL WORKS - -UPON - -WOOD-ENGRAVING USEFUL TO STUDENTS. - - -ARCHIV für die zeichnenden Künste, mit besonderer Beziehung auf -Kupfer-stecher-und Holzschneidekunst. Herausg. von R. Naumann. -1ter-16ter Jahrgang. Leipzig, 1855-’70. 8vo. - -BARTSCH (ADAM). Le Peintre-Graveur. Vienne, 1803-’21. 21 T. 8vo; Atlas, -4to. - -BECKER (C.). Jobst Amman, Zeichner und Formschneider, etc., nebst -Zusätzen von R. Weigel. Leipzig, 1854. 4to. - -BERJEAU (J. PH.). Biblia Pauperum. Reproduced in Facsimile from one of -the copies in the British Museum, with an historical and bibliographical -Introduction. London, 1859. Folio. - -Speculum Humanæ Salvationis. Le plus ancien Monument de la Xylographie -et de la Typographic réunies. Reproduit en Facsimile, avec Introduction -historique et bibliographique. Londres, 1861. Folio. - -BERNARD (AUGUSTE). De l’Origine de l’Imprimerie. Paris, 1853. 2T. 8vo. - -BIGMORE (E. C.) and WYMAN (C. W. H.). A Bibliography of Printing. With -Notes and Illustrations. [Vol. 1.] A-L. London, 1880. 4to. - -BILDER-ALBUM zur neueren Geschichte des Holzschnitts in Deutschland. -Herausg. vom Albertverein. Leipzig, 1877. 4to. - -BLANC (CHARLES). Grammaire des Arts du Dessin, etc. Paris, 1867. 8vo. - -BREVIÈRE (A.). De la Xilographie ou Gravure sur bois. Rouen, 1833. 8vo. - -CHATTO (W. A.). A Treatise on Wood-engraving. London, 1839. 8vo. Known -as Jackson (John) and Chatto’s History. - -DERSCHAU (H. A. VON). Holzschnitte alter deutscher Meister in den -Originalplatten, gesammelt von Derschau, mit einer Abhandlung über die -Holzschneidekunst begleitet, von Rudolph Zacharias Becker. Gotha, -1808-’16. 3 Th. Folio. - -DIBDIN (T. F.). A bibliographical, antiquarian, and picturesque Tour in -France and Germany. London, 1821. 3 vols. 8vo. - -Bibliographical Decameron. London, 1817. 3 vols. 8vo. - -Bibliotheca Spenceriana. London, 1814, ’15. 4 vols. 8vo. - -DIDOT (AMBROISE FIRMIN). Essai typographique et bibliographique sur -l’Histoire de la Gravure sur Bois. Paris, 1863. 8vo. - -DOCUMENTS iconographiques et typographiques de la Bibliothèque royale de -Belgique. Bruxelles, 1877. Folio. - -Première Livr. Spirituale Pomerium, par L. Alvin. - -Deuxième Livr. Gravures Criblées, par H. Hymans. - -Troisième Livr. La Vierge de 1418, par Ch. Ruelens. - -Cinquième Livr. Les neuf Preux, par É. Fétis. - -Sixième Livr. Légende de Saint Servais, par Ch. Ruelens. - -DUPLESSIS (G. G.). Essai de Bibliographie, contenant l’Indication des -Ouvrages relatifs à l’Histoire de la Gravure et des Graveurs. Paris, -1862. 8vo. - -Histoire de la Gravure. Paris, 1880. 8vo. - -Les Merveilles de la Gravure. Paris, 1869. 8vo. - -ÉMERIC-DAVID (T. B.) Discours Historique sur la Gravure en Taille-douce -et sur la Gravure en Bois. Paris, 1809. 8vo. - -FALKENSTEIN (C. C. VON). Geschichte der Buchdruckerkunst. Leipzig, 1840. -4to. - -FOURNIER (P. S.). Dissertation sur l’Origine et les Progrès de l’Art de -Graver en Bois. Paris, 1758. 8vo. - -De l’Origine et des Productions de l’Imprimerie primitive en Taille de -Bois. Paris, 1759. 8vo. - -GARNIER (J. M.). Histoire de l’Imagerie populaire et des Cartes à jouer -à Chartres. Chartres, 1869. 8vo. - -GILKS (T.). A Sketch of the Origin and Progress of the Art of -Wood-engraving. London, 1868. 8vo. - -HAMERTON (P. G.). The Graphic Arts. London, 1882. Plates. Folio. - -HEINECKEN (K. H., BARON VON). Idée générale d’une Collection complette -d’Estampes. Leipsic et Vienne, 1771. 8vo. - -HELLER (JOSEPH). Geschichte der Holzschneidekunst. Bamberg, 1823. 8vo. - -HOLTROP (J. W.). Monumens typographiques des Pays-Bas au quinzième -Siècle. La Haye, 1868. Folio. - -HUMPHREYS (H. NOEL). A History of the Art of Printing. London, 1867. -Folio. - -Masterpieces of the early Printers and Engravers. London, 1870. Folio. - -ILG (ALBERT). Ueber den kunsthistorischen Werth der Hypnerotomachia -Poliphili. Wien, 1872. 8vo. - -JANSEN (H.). Essai sur l’Origine de la Gravure en Bois et en -Taille-douce. Paris, 1808. 2 T. 8vo. - -LABITTE (A.). Gravures sur Bois tirées des Livres français du XVe -Siècle. Paris, 1864. 4to. - -LA BORDE (HENRI). Notice sur deux Estampes de 1406. Gazette des -Beaux-Arts, Mars 1, 1869. - -LA BORDE (LÉON E. S. J., MARQUIS DE). Débuts de l’Imprimerie à -Strasbourg. Paris, 1840. 8vo. - -Essai d’un Catalogue des Artistes originaires des Pays-Bas. Paris, 1849. -8vo. - -LACROIX (PAUL). Les Arts au Moyen Âge et à l’Époque de la Renaissance. -Paris, 1870. 8vo. - -LANZI (L.). Storia pittorica della Italia dal Risorgimento delle Belle -Arti fin presso al fine del XVIII secolo. 6a ed. Milano, 1823. 6 vols. -8vo. - -MABERLY (J.). The Print Collector. Edited, with Notes and a Bibliography -of Engraving, by R. Hoe, Jr. New York, 1880. 4to. - -MEISTERWERKE der Holzschneidekunst aus dem Gebriete der Architektur, -Sculptur und Malerei. 1ter-3ter Band. Leipzig, 1880, ’81. Folio. - -MERLIN (R.). Origine des Cartes à Jouer. Paris, 1869. 4to. - -MURR (C. G. VON). Bibliothèque de Peinture, de Sculpture, et de Gravure. -Francfort et Leipsic, 1770. 2 vols. 12mo. - -OTTLEY (W. Y.). An Inquiry concerning the Invention of Printing. London, -1863. 4to. - -An Inquiry into the Origin and early History of Engraving, upon Copper -and in Wood. London, 1816. 2 vols. 4to. - -PAEILLE (C.). Essai historique et critique sur l’Invention de -l’Imprimerie. Lille, 1859. 8vo. - -PAPILLON (J. M.). Traité historique et pratique de la Gravure en Bois. -Paris, 1766. 3 T. in 2. 8vo. - -PASSAVANT (J. D.). Le Peintre-Graveur. Leipsic, 1860-’64. 6 T. 8vo. - -RENOUVIER (JULES). Des Gravures en Bois dans les Livres d’Anthoine -Verard. Paris, 1859. 8vo. - -Des Gravures sur Bois dans les Livres de Simon Vostre. Paris, 1862. 8vo. - -Des Types et des Manières des Maîtres Graveurs pour servir à l’Histoire -de la Gravure. Montpellier, 1853-’56. 4to. - -Histoire de l’Origine et des Progrès de la Gravure dans les Pays-Bas et -en Allemagne, jusqu’à la fin du quinzième Siècle. Bruxelles, 1860. 8vo. - -RUMOHR (C. F. L. F. VON). Zur Geschichte und Theorie der -Formschneidekunst. Leipzig, 1837. 8vo. - -RUSKIN (JOHN). Ariadne Florentina. Six Lectures on Wood and Metal -Engraving. Orpington, Kent, 1876. 8vo. - -SAVAGE (WILLIAM). Practical Hints on decorative Printing, with -Illustrations engraved on Wood. London, 1822. 4to. - -SCOTT (W. B.). Albert Dürer, his Life and Works. London, 1869. Sm. 8vo. -The Little Masters. London, 1879. 8vo. - -SINGER (S. WELLER). Researches into the History of Playing Cards; with -Illustrations of the Origin of Printing and of Engraving on Wood. -London, 1816. 4to. - -SOTHEBY (S. L.). Principia Typographica. The Block-books issued in -Holland, Flanders, and Germany during the fifteenth Century. London, -1858. 3 vols. Folio. - -THAUSING (M.). Albert Dürer, his Life and Works. Translated. With -Portraits and Illustrations. London, 1882. 8vo. - -UMBREIT (A. E.). Ueber die Eigenhändigkeit der Malerformschnitte. -Leipzig, 1840. 8vo. - -VRIES (A. DE). Éclaircissemens sur l’Histoire de l’Imprimerie. La Haye, -1843. 8vo. - -WAAGEN (G. F.). Treasures of Art in Great Britain, with Supplement. -London, 1854-’57. 4 vols. 8vo. - -WEIGEL (RUDOLPH). Holzschnitte berühmter Meister in treuen Copien. -Leipzig, 1851-’54. Folio. - -WEIGEL (T. O.) and ZESTERMANN (A. C. A.). Die Anfänge der Drucker-Kunst -in Bild und Schrift. Leipzig, 1866. 2 Bände. Folio. - -WILLSHIRE (W. H.). An Introduction to the Study and Collection of -ancient Prints. 2d ed. London, 1877. 2 vols. 8vo. - -WOLTMANN (ALFRED). Holbein und seine Zeit. Leipzig. 1866-’68. 2 Th. 8vo. - -WORNUM (R. N.). Some Account of the Life and Works of Holbein. London, -1867. 8vo. - -ZANI (P.). Materiali per servire alla Storia dell’Origine e de’ -Progressi dell’Incisione in Rame e in Legno, etc. Parma, 1802. 8vo. - -ZORN (PETER). Historia Bibliorum pictorum. Lipsiæ, 1743. 4to. - - - - -INDEX. - - -Adams, Joseph Alexander, 173. - -Altdorfer, Albrecht, 111. - -America: - earlier history and characteristics of the art, 171-177; - present position and influence, 177, 178; - works in imitation of other arts, 185; - errors in practice 190, 202; - future of the art, 202-206. - -Amman, Jobst, 114. - -Anderson, Alexander, 172. - -Andreani, Andrea, 146. - -Anthony, A. V. S., 176. - -Ars Memorandi, 43. - -Ars Moriendi, 43. - -Augsburg: - prints, 26; - playing-cards, 27; - Bible, 52; - press, 46, 57. - - -Baldung, Hans, 110. - -Bamberg: press, 56. - -Basle: - characteristics of the city in Holbein’s time, 117. - -Behaim, Hans Sebald, 112-114. - -Bernard, St.: - his rebuke of art, 14. - -Best, Adolphe, 169. - -Bewick, Thomas: - the father of modern wood-engraving, 151; - sketch of his life, 154; - reforms effected by him, 154; - character of his genius, 154-160; - his works, 161; - influence on the art in America, 172. - -Bible: - the Cologne, 49; - the Nuremberg, 50; - the Augsburg, 52; - the Strasburg, 50; - Coverdale’s, 132; - Le Clerc’s, 139; - Jean de Tournes’, 141; - Harper’s, 173. - -Bible cuts: - Behaim’s, 113; - Holbein’s, 129-131; - Jean Moni’s, 141. - -_Biblia Pauperum_: - their use, 31; - designs not original, 32; - description, 33; - place of issue, 37. - -Blake, William, 162. - -Block-printing: - invention, 30, 31, 42; - decline, 45. - -Boldrini, Nicolo, 144. - -Bouts, Diedrick, 39. - -Branston, Robert, 164, 167. - -Bray, Theodore de, 147. - -Brevière, Henri, 169. - -Breydenbach’s Travels, 55. - -Brontë, Charlotte, criticism of Bewick, 159-161. - -Brosamer, Hans, 114. - -Brothers of the Common Lot: - their claim to the authorship of the block-books, 39. - -Brussels: print of 1418, 23. - -Burgkmaier, Hans: - genius and works, 99-106; - influence on Holbein, 117 - - -Calcar, Jean, 146. - -Carpi, Ugo da, 87, 146. - -Caxton, William: - Game and Playe of the Chesse, 63. - -Chiaroscuro-engraving, 87-89, 146, 148, 187-189. - -Christopher, St.: - print of 1423, 22. - -Chronicles: - general description, 52; - the Cologne, 53; - the Nuremberg, 53; - the Saxon, 53. - -Clennell, Luke, 164, 167. - -Cole, T., 197, 200. - -Cologne: - early school of art, 42, 43; - Bible, 49; - Chronicle, 53; - press, 57. - -Color: - in the holy prints, 26 _note_; - in early German books, 52; - in the _Livres d’Heures_, 60, 61; - in chiaroscuro-engraving, 87. - -Color, conventional, 55, 151, 152. - -Copperplate-engraving: - influence on wood-engraving, 47, 91, 112, 141, 149, 164, 176, 182. - -Coriolano, Bartolemeo, 146. - -Coster, Lawrence: - claim to the invention of wood-engraving, 21. - -Cousin, Jean, 136-139. - -Cranach, Lukas, 110. - -Criblée-work: - description, 18; - in France, 62, 63. - -Cross-hatching: - first use in Germany, 55; - in Italy, 86; - its propriety in wood-engraving, 152, 186. - -Cunio, Isabella and Alexander Alberico, 20. - - -Dalziel, the Brothers, 168. - -Dance of Death: - typical mediæval idea, 121; - Holbein’s, 123-129; - Guyot Marchand’s, 62. - -Davis, J. P., 197. - -Day, John, 147. - -Didot, Firmin (père): - his influence on the French revival of the art, 163. - -Dream of Poliphilo, 70-81, 137, 138. - -Du Pré, Jean, 60. - -Dürer, Albert: - influence on the art, 90; - character of his genius, 91, 92; - Apocalypse of St. John, 93, 94; - Larger Passion, Smaller Passion, Life of the Virgin, 95-97; - single prints, 97; - Car and Gate of Triumph, 97-99. - - -England: - early woodcuts, 63; - the art in Holbein’s time, 132, 147, 148; - modern revival, 151, 164. - -Evans, Edmund, 168. - - -Form, value of, in wood-engraving, 193. - -France: - early books in French, 58; - early woodcuts, 59-63; - influence of Germany and Italy, 62, 135; - character of the French Renaissance and its art, 135-141; - the modern revival, 163, 169. - -French, Frank, 196. - - -Genre art, first appearance in wood-engraving, 121. - -Germany: - German block-books, 42, 43; - activity and influence of the early printers, 46, 47; - the free cities, 48; - character of the early press, 48, 56, 57; - influence on France, 62; - on Italy, 67; - on Venice, 68; - chiaroscuro-engraving, 87; - the Renaissance, 91, 97, 110, 111, 115; - decline, 148; - the modern revival, 163, 169. - -Gilbert, Sir John, 168. - -Goldsmiths, mediæval: - their art-works, 14-16; - position in France and the Netherlands, 17; - their claim to the invention of wood-engraving, 18, 19. - -Goltzius, Hendrick, 147. - -Goujon, Jean, 139. - -Greche, Domenico delle, 145. - -Gregory the Great: - his defence of art, 31. - -Groups, modern, 195-200. - -Gubitz, Friedrich Wilhelm, 163. - - -Harvey, William, 167. - -_Historia Johannis Evangelistæ ejusque Visiones Apocalypticæ_, 42. - -_Historia Virginis Mariæ_, 41. - -History of the Kings of Hungary, 53, 54. - -Holbein, Hans: - the first modern artist, 116; - character and development of his genius, 117-120; - early work, 120; Dance of Death, 123-128; - his democratic, reforming, and sceptical spirit, dramatic and artistic power, 120-127; - Figures of the Bible, 129-131; - his English portraits, 131; - his English woodcuts, 132; - summary of his powers and influence, 132-134. - -Holy prints, 21-26. - -Hoskin, Robert, 195. - -Hypnerotomachia Poliphili: - illustration of the Italian Renaissance, 70-81; - the French reproduction, 137, 138. - - -Initial letters: - in Faust and Scheffer’s Psalter, 46; - in the Augsburg Bible, 52; - in Italy, 86; - in Holbein’s alphabets, 120, 121. - -Italy: - artistic spirit, 65; - democratic civilization, 66; - the Renaissance, 67; - introduction of printing, 68; - early cuts, 68; - general characterization of the engraved work, 85; - decline, 86; - chiaroscuro-engraving, 87-89; - influence on Holbein, 117, 118. - - -Jackson, John Baptist, 148. - -Jegher, Christopher, 147. - -Jerome, St., Epistles of, 70, 71. - -Juengling, F., 195, 200. - - -Kerver, Thielman, 62. - -King, F. S., 189, 193. - -Kirkall, Edward, 148. - -Kruell, G., 200. - - -Landscape, modern, 186-195. - -Lavoignat, H., 169. - -Le Caron, Pierre, 60. - -Le Clerc, Jean, 139, 140. - -Leech, John, 168. - -Leloir, Auguste, 169. - -Le Rouge, Pierre, 60. - -Le Sueur, Pierre, 148. - -Leyden, Lukas van, 110, 147. - -Linton, W. J., 168, 176, 200. - -Little Masters, 111. - -Livens, Jean, 147. - -_Livres d’Heures_, 60-62. - -Lorch, Melchior, 114. - -Lorme, Philibert de, 140. - -Lucchesini, 148. - -Lützelburger, Hans, 129. - -Lyons: - earliest seat of the art in France, 59; - character of the earlier press, 59; - the later press, 140. - - -Magazines: use and influence, 167. - -Marchand, Guyot, 60, 62. - -Marsh, Henry, 176, 186. - -Maximilian, Emperor: - life and character, 97; - works executed by his order--the Triumphal Car, 98; - Gate of Triumph, 99; - the Triumphal Procession, 99-105; - The Adventures of Sir Tewrdannckh, 106; - The Wise King, 106; - influence of his patronage, 109. - -Mayence press, 46, 53, 55, 57. - -Metal-engraving earlier than wood-engraving, 18. - -Middle Ages: - position of goldsmiths, 14-18; - impersonal spirit, 26; - value of painting, 28, 31; - immobility of mind, 32; - religious temper and intellectual life, 40, 41; - art, typical, 53; - illustrated by Dürer, 92; - by Maximilian’s works, 99-105; - by the Dance of Death, 121. - -Moni, Jean, 141. - - -Nanto, Francesco da, 145. - -Nesbit, Charlton, 164. - -Netherlands: - civilization in, 37; - wood-engraving probably invented in, 38; - decline of, 47, 57, 147. - -Nicolo, Giuseppe, 146. - -Nuremburg: - prints, 26; - playing-cards, 27; - Bible, 50; - Chronicle, 53; - press, 57, 114. - - -Painting, place of, in mediæval popular civilization, 28, 31. - -Papillon, Jean, the Elder, 148; - the Younger, 20. - -Paris: - character of the Parisian press, 59, 60; - early books and printers, 60; - the _Livres d’Heures_, 60, - secular books, 62, 63. - -Périssin, Jacques, 140. - -Pfister, Book of Fables, 56. - -Pigouchet, Philippe, 62. - -Playing-cards, 27. - -Pleydenwurff, William, 53. - -Pliny, reference to Varro’s portraits, 20. - -Porret, 169. - -Porto, Giovanni Battista del, 145. - -Portraits, modern, 198, 200-202. - -Principles of wood-engraving, 180-185. - -Processes: - engraving in relief on wood known to the ancients, 13; - of taking impressions, 17; - _en manière criblée_, 18; - of taking off the holy prints, 21, 22; - of block-printing, 30; - of cross-hatching, 55; - of chiaroscuro-engraving, 87-89; - white-line and Bewick’s other reforms, 151-155. - -Pynson, Richard, 64. - - -Raimondi, Marc Antonio, 96, 142. - -Reformation reflected in wood-engraving, 51, 112, 117, 120, 126, 132. - -Rembrandt, 147. - -Renaissance: in Italy, 67-85; - in Germany, 91, 97, 110, 111, 115; - in France, 135-141. - -Romances, popular, 59, 141. - -Rubens, P. P.: - reproductions after his designs, 147. - -Ruskin, John: - criticism on Holbein, 126; - on Bewick, 155. - - -Saints’ images, 21-26. - -Salomon, Bernard, 140-141. - -Sand, George, criticism of Holbein, 124. - -Satire: in Bible-cuts, 50, 51; - in the Little Masters, 112; - in Holbein, 120, 132. - -Saxony: Chronicle, 53. - -_Schatzbehalter_, 54. - -Schäuffelin, Hans, 106. - -Schön, Erhard, 114. - -Scolari, Giuseppe, 145. - -Sebastian, St.: - print of 1437, 23. - -Secularization of art, 50, 110, 111. - -Smith, Orrin, 167. - -Solis, Virgil, 114. - -_Speculum Humanæ Salvationis_: - description, 34; - place of issue, 36; - authorship, 38, _note_, 39; - character of the cuts, 40. - -_Spirituale Pomerium_, 39. - -Springinklee, Hans, 106, 110. - -Stamps, engraved, early use, 13. - -Stimmer, Tobias, 114. - -Strasburg: - Bible, 50; - press, 57. - -Suger, defence of art, 15. - - -Tenniel, John, 168. - -Tewrdannckh, Sir, Adventures of, 106. - -Thompson, John, 164. - -Titian, reproductions after his designs, 144-146. - -Tortorel, Jean, 140. - -Tory, Geoffrey, influence on French engraving, 135. - -Trento, Antonio da, 146. - -Turrecremata’s, Cardinal, Meditations, 68. - - -Ulm: - prints, 26; - press, 57. - -Unger, Johann Georg, and Johann Gottlieb Friedrich, 163. - - -Van der Weyden, Roger, 42. - -Van Eyck, 36, 37, 42. - -Varro, portraits in his works, 20. - -Vecellio, Cesare, 146. - -Venice: - claim to the origin of wood-engraving, 20; - decree forbidding importation of prints from Germany, 27; - early cuts, 68; - early views of the city, 69; - later cuts, 82-87, 143-147. - -Verard, Antoine, 60, 62. - -Vesalius’s Anatomy, 145. - -Vinci, Leonardo da, 142. - -Vostre, Simon, 62. - - -White line: - description, 151; - influence on the art in Bewick’s hands, 153; - the engraver’s province, 154, 184. - -Wise King, The, 106. - -Woeiriot, Pierre, 140. - -Wohlgemuth, Michael, 53, 54. - -Worde, Wynkyn de, 64. - - -Zainer Gunther, 46, 52. - - -THE END. - - * * * * * - -Typographical errors corrected by the etext transcriber: - -appendix von Albert Ilg. Wein=> appendix von Albert Ilg. Wien {pg 19} - -Guyot Marchand’s La Dance Macabre, first published in 1485=> Guyot -Marchand’s La Danse Macabre, first published in 1485 {pg 62} - -its bloom in sun difers=> its bloom in sun differs {pg 181} - - * * * * * - - -FOOTNOTES: - -[1] “Documents, Iconographiques et Typographiques de la Bibliothèque -Royale de Belgique,” Deuxième Livr. Gravure Criblée, par M. H. Hymans. -Bruxelles, 1864-1873. Quoted in Willshire, “An Introduction to the Study -and Collection of Ancient Prints.” London. 1877; 2 vols.; vol. ii., p. -64. - -[2] “Fulget ecclesia in parietibus, et in pauperibus eget. Suos lapides -induit auro; et suos filios nudos deserit. * * * Tam multa denique, -tamque mira diversarium formarum ubique varietas apparet ut magis legere -libeat in marmoribus, quam in codicibus, totum diem occupare singula -ista mirando quam in lege Dei meditando.” Sancti Bernardi opera omnia. -Recognita, etc., curis Dom. J. Mabillon. 4 vols. Paris, 1839; vol. i., -col. 1242-1244, Apologia ad Guillelmum, cap. xii. - -[3] “Abundet unusquisque in suo sensu, mihi fateor hoc potissimum -placuisse ut quæcumque cariora, quæcumque carissima, sacrosanctæ -Eucharistiæ amministrationi super omnia deservire debeant. Si libatoria -aurea, si fialæ aureæ et si mortariola aurea ad collectam sanguinis -hircorum aut vitulorum aut vaccæ ruffæ, ore Dei aut prophetæ jussu, -deserviebant; quanto magis ad susceptionem sanguinis Jesu Christi vasa -aurea, lapides preciosi, quæque inter omnes creaturas carissima continuo -famulatu, plena devotione exponi debeat.” Œuvres complètes de Suger -recueillies, etc., par A. L. de la Marche. Paris, 1867. Sur son -administration Abbatiale, p. 199 _et seq._ - -[4] La Barte, “Histoire des Arts Industriels au Moyen Age et a l’époque -de la Renaissance.” 4 tom. (Album, 2 tom.). Paris, 1864. Tom. i., pp. -391-513; tom. ii., pp. 1-592. - -[5] Leon Delaborde, “Notice des Emaux et Objets divers exposés au -Louvre.” Paris, 1853; p. 84. - -[6] Leon Delaborde, “La plus ancienne Gravure du Cabinet des Estampes de -la Bibliothèque Royale, est-elle ancienne?” Paris, 1840. Quoted in -Willshire, vol. ii., p. 64. - -[7] Theophilus Presbyter, “Schedula Diversarum Artium.” Revidirter text, -ubersetzung und appendix von Albert Ilg. Wien, 1874; cap. lxxi., lxxii., -pp. 281-283. - -[8] Renouvier, “Histoire de l’Origine et des Progrès de la Gravure dans -les Pays-Bas et en Allemagne, jusqu’à la fin du quinzième Siècle.” -Bruxelles, 1860. - -[9] The date of 1406 has been assigned to two examples at Paris with -great ingenuity, but not unquestionably, by M. le Vte. Henri Delaborde, -“Notice sur Deux Estampes de 1406 et sur les commencements de la Gravure -Criblée.”--_Gazette des Beaux Arts_, Mars 1, 1869. - -[10] Willshire, vol. ii., pp. 62, 63. - -[11] Pliny, “Nat. Hist.,” liber xxxv., c. 2. - -[12] W. Y. Ottley, “An Inquiry into the Origin and Early History of -Engraving upon Copper and in Wood.” London, 1816; 2 vols.; vol. i., pp. -54-59. - -[13] Papillon, “Traité Historique de la Gravure en Bois.” Paris, 1766. -Trois parties en deux tomes; tom. i., p. 83. - -[14] Von Murr, Zani, Émeric David, Ottley. - -[15] Heinecken, Lanzi, Mariette, Didot. - -[16] Jackson and Chatto, “A Treatise on Wood-engraving.” London, 1839; -p. 39. - -[17] Meerman, “Orig. Typogr.” Hagæ, Comit., 1765. - -[18] Hadriani Junii Batavia. Lugdunum Batavorum, 1588. - -[19] S. Sotheby, “Principia Typographica.” The block-books issued in -Holland, Flanders, and Germany during the 15th century. London, 1858; 3 -vols.; vol. i., p. 179. - -[20] Heinecken, “Idée Générale d’une Collection complette d’Estampes.” -Leipsic et Vienne, 1771; p. 250. - -[21] Those who are curious may consult on this print “Quelques Mots sur -la Gravure au millésime de 1418,” par C. D. B. (M. de Brou). Bruxelles, -1846. “La Plus Ancienne Gravure connue avec une date,” Mémoire par M. le -Baron de Reiffenberg. Bruxelles, 1845; also, in favor of the date, the -works of Ruelens, Luthereau, Renouvier, Berjeau, and against it, the -works of Passavant, LaCroix, and Chatto. - -[22] This print is described by Ottley in his “Inquiry,” etc. London, -1863. There is another woodcut on the reverse side of the leaf, -representing the Virgin holding the dead Christ, of which Ottley gives a -fac-simile. The manuscript with these woodcuts is now in the possession -of Professor Norton, of Harvard College. - -[23] Many fine examples of these prints are reproduced, with their -original colors, in Weigel and Zestermann’s “Die Anfänge der -Drucker-Kunst in Bild und Schrift.” 2 Bände. Leipzig, 1866. - -[24] Four schools of coloring are reckoned: the Suabian School (Augsburg -and Ulm), marked by bright colors; the Franconian (Nuremberg and -Nördlingen), marked by less lively colors; the Bavarian (Friesing, -Tegernsee, Kaisersheim), marked by use of pure carmine and ochre; the -Lower Rhine (Cologne, and towns of Burgundy), marked by pure colors in -pale tints. See Willshire, vol. i., p. 175 _et seq._ - -[25] Merlin, “Origine des Cartes à Jouer, Recherches nouvelles,” etc. -Paris, 1869. - -[26] Printed in Ottley, “An Inquiry,” etc., vol. i., p. 47. - -[27] “Nam quod legentibus Scriptura, hoc idiotis præstat pictura -cernentibus, quia in ipsa etiam ignorantes vident quid sequi debeant, in -ipsa legunt qui litteras nesciunt; unde et præcipue gentibus pro -lectione pictura est.” Patrologiæ Cursus Completus, Accurante, J. P. -Migne, tom. lxxvii. Sancti Gregorii Magni, tom, iii., liber xi., epis. -xiii., col. 1128. _Vide_, also, idem, liber ix., epis. cv., col. 1027. - -[28] “Biblia Pauperum.” Reproduced in fac-simile, from one of the copies -in the British Museum, with an historical and bibliographical -introduction by J. Ph. Berjeau. London, 1859. - -[29] “Speculum Humanæ Salvationis.” Le Plus Ancien Monument de la -Xylographie et de la Typographie réunies. Reproduit en fac-simile, avec -introduction Historique et Bibliographique, par J. Ph. Berjeau. Londres, -1861. - -[30] The composition of the poem which forms the text of the _Speculum_ -has been attributed to Vincent de Beauvais, who could not have written -it, and to Conrad d’Altzheim, who might have written it; the designs -have been attributed to various artists, particularly to Steurbout, but -on the slightest grounds; the printing has been assigned to Lawrence -Coster, in whose doubtful if not fabulous name no confidence can be -placed, and to Veldener, Faust and Scheffer, Thierry Martens d’Alost, -and other early German and Flemish printers. - -[31] Renouvier, “Origine,” etc., p. 91; and Berjeau’s preface to the -Fac-simile Reproduction of the _Speculum_. The claims of the Brotherhood -are supported most fully by Harzen in “Archiv für die Zeichnenden -Künste.” Leipsig, 1855. - -[32] Didot, “Essai Typographique et Bibliographique sur l’Histoire de la -Gravure sur Bois,” col. 205. Paris, 1863. - -[33] Renouvier, “Des Gravures sur Bois dans les Livres de Simon Vostre.” -Paris, 1862. - -[34] See Duplessis on the works of Simon Vostre, and Brunet’s “Manuel du -Libraire,” tom v., at the end, for farther information on the devotional -books of the French printers. - -[35] _Ante_, p. 18. - -[36] _Vide_ Renouvier, Didot, Passavant. - -[37] Vespas. Fior., p. 129. Quoted in Burckhardt, “The Civilization of -the Period of the Renaissance in Italy.” Translated by S. G. C. -Middlemore. Vol. i., p. 271. London, 1878. - -[38] _The Academy_, October 15, 1872, pp. 383 _et seq._ _Vide_, also, -Albert Ilg, “Ueber den Kunsthistorischen Werth der Hypnerotomachia -Poliphili, ein Beitrag zur Geschichte der Kunstliteratur in der -Renaissance.” Wien, 1872. The original edition of the Dream of Poliphilo -is rare and costly. It was re-issued in Venice, in 1545, and in Paris, -with some variations (of which some account is given on a later page), -in 1546. There is an abridged translation in French by Legrand, without -cuts, printed by Didot in 1804. - -[39] “Le Triomphe de l’Empereur Maximilien. Vienne, 1796.” - -[40] “La Mare au Diable, par George Sand,” pp. 5-7. Paris, 1869. - - - - - - - - -End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of A History of Wood-Engraving, by -George Edward Woodberry - -*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A HISTORY OF WOOD-ENGRAVING *** - -***** This file should be named 40638-0.txt or 40638-0.zip ***** -This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: - http://www.gutenberg.org/4/0/6/3/40638/ - -Produced by Chuck Greif and the Online Distributed -Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was -produced from images available at The Internet Archive) - - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions -will be renamed. - -Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no -one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation -(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without -permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, -set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to -copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to -protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project -Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you -charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you -do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the -rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose -such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and -research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do -practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is -subject to the trademark license, especially commercial -redistribution. - - - -*** START: FULL LICENSE *** - -THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE -PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK - -To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free -distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work -(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project -Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project -Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at -http://gutenberg.org/license). - - -Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm -electronic works - -1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm -electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to -and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property -(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all -the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy -all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. -If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project -Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the -terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or -entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. - -1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be -used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who -agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few -things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works -even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See -paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project -Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement -and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic -works. See paragraph 1.E below. - -1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" -or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project -Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the -collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an -individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are -located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from -copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative -works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg -are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project -Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by -freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of -this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with -the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by -keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project -Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. - -1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern -what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in -a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check -the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement -before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or -creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project -Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning -the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United -States. - -1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: - -1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate -access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently -whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the -phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project -Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, -copied or distributed: - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with -almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or -re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included -with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org/license - -1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived -from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is -posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied -and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees -or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work -with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the -work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 -through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the -Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or -1.E.9. - -1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted -with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution -must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional -terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked -to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the -permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. - -1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm -License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this -work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. - -1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this -electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without -prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with -active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project -Gutenberg-tm License. - -1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, -compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any -word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or -distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than -"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version -posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org), -you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a -copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon -request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other -form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm -License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. - -1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, -performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works -unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. - -1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing -access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided -that - -- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from - the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method - you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is - owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he - has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the - Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments - must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you - prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax - returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and - sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the - address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to - the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." - -- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies - you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he - does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm - License. You must require such a user to return or - destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium - and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of - Project Gutenberg-tm works. - -- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any - money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the - electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days - of receipt of the work. - -- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free - distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. - -1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm -electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set -forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from -both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael -Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the -Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. - -1.F. - -1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable -effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread -public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm -collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic -works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain -"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or -corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual -property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a -computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by -your equipment. - -1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right -of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project -Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project -Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project -Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all -liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal -fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT -LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE -PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE -TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE -LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR -INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH -DAMAGE. - -1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a -defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can -receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a -written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you -received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with -your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with -the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a -refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity -providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to -receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy -is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further -opportunities to fix the problem. - -1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth -in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER -WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO -WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. - -1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied -warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. -If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the -law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be -interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by -the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any -provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. - -1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the -trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone -providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance -with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, -promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, -harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, -that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do -or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm -work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any -Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. - - -Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm - -Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of -electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers -including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists -because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from -people in all walks of life. - -Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the -assistance they need, are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's -goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will -remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project -Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure -and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. -To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation -and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 -and the Foundation web page at http://www.pglaf.org. - - -Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive -Foundation - -The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit -501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the -state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal -Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification -number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at -http://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg -Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent -permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. - -The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. -Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered -throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at -809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email -business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact -information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official -page at http://pglaf.org - -For additional contact information: - Dr. Gregory B. Newby - Chief Executive and Director - gbnewby@pglaf.org - - -Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg -Literary Archive Foundation - -Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide -spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of -increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be -freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest -array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations -($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt -status with the IRS. - -The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating -charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United -States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a -considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up -with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations -where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To -SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any -particular state visit http://pglaf.org - -While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we -have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition -against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who -approach us with offers to donate. - -International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make -any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from -outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. - -Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation -methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other -ways including checks, online payments and credit card donations. -To donate, please visit: http://pglaf.org/donate - - -Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic -works. - -Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm -concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared -with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project -Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. - - -Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed -editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. -unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily -keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. - - -Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: - - http://www.gutenberg.org - -This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, -including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary -Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to -subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. diff --git a/old/40638-0.zip b/old/40638-0.zip Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index 0e008c0..0000000 --- a/old/40638-0.zip +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/40638-8.txt b/old/40638-8.txt deleted file mode 100644 index 8351e98..0000000 --- a/old/40638-8.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,5483 +0,0 @@ -Project Gutenberg's A History of Wood-Engraving, by George Edward Woodberry - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with -almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or -re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included -with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org/license - - -Title: A History of Wood-Engraving - -Author: George Edward Woodberry - -Release Date: September 1, 2012 [EBook #40638] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A HISTORY OF WOOD-ENGRAVING *** - - - - -Produced by Chuck Greif and the Online Distributed -Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was -produced from images available at The Internet Archive) - - - - - - - - -A HISTORY OF WOOD-ENGRAVING - -[Illustration: A HISTORY - -OF - -WOOD-ENGRAVING - -BY - -GEORGE E. WOODBERRY - -_ILLUSTRATED_ - -LONDON - -SAMPSON LOW, MARSTON, SEARLE, & RIVINGTON - -CROWN BUILDINGS, 188 FLEET STREET - -1883] - -Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1882, by - -HARPER & BROTHERS, - -In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington. - -_All rights reserved._ - - - - -PREFACE. - - -In this book I have attempted to gather and arrange such facts as should -be known to men of cultivation interested in the art of engraving in -wood. I have, therefore, disregarded such matter as seems to belong -rather to descriptive bibliography, and have treated wood-engraving, in -its principal works, as a reflection of the life of men and an -illustration of successive phases of civilization. Where there is much -disputed ground, particularly in the early history of the art, the -writers on whom I have relied are referred to, and those who adopt a -different view are named; but where the facts seemed plain, and are -easily verifiable, reference did not appear necessary. - -In conclusion, I have the honor to acknowledge my obligations to the -officers of the Boston Public Library, the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, -and the Harvard College Library, for permission to reproduce several -cuts in their possession; and to Mr. Lindsay Swift, of the Boston Public -Library, for the list of authorities at the end of the volume. -Especially it is my pleasant duty to thank Professor Charles Eliot -Norton, of Harvard University, from whose curious and valuable -collection more than half of these illustrations are derived, both for -them and for suggestion, advice, and criticism, without which, indeed, -the work could not have been written. - -GEORGE EDWARD WOODBERRY. - - - - -CONTENTS. - - -I. - PAGE - -_THE ORIGIN OF THE ART_ 13 - -II. -_THE BLOCK-BOOKS_ 30 - -III. -_EARLY PRINTED BOOKS IN THE NORTH_ 45 - -IV. -_EARLY ITALIAN WOOD-ENGRAVING_ 65 - -V. -_ALBERT DRER AND HIS SUCCESSORS_ 90 - -VI. -_HANS HOLBEIN_ 116 - -VII. -_THE DECLINE AND EXTINCTION OF THE ART_ 135 - -VIII. -_MODERN WOOD-ENGRAVING_ 151 - -_A LIST OF THE PRINCIPAL WORKS UPON WOOD-ENGRAVING -USEFUL TO STUDENTS_ 211 - -_INDEX_ 217 - - - - -LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. - - - -FIG.....PAGE - -1.--From "Epistole di San Hieronymo Volgare." Ferrara, 1497. (Initial -letter).....13 - -2.--St. Christopher, 1423. From Ottley's "Inquiry into the Origin and -Early History of Engraving upon Copper and in Wood".....22 - -3.--The Crucifixion. From the Manuscript "Book of Devotion." 1445.....24 - -4.--From the "Epistole di San Hieronymo." 1497. (Initial letter).....30 - -5.--Elijah Raiseth the Widow's Son (1 K. xvii.). The Raising of Lazarus -(Jno. xi.). Elisha Raiseth the Widow's Son (2 K. iv.). From the original -in the possession of Professor Norton, of Cambridge.....34 - -6.--The Creation of Eve. From the fac-simile of Berjeau.....35 - -7.--Initial letter. Source unknown.....45 - -8.--The Grief of Hannah. From the Cologne Bible, 1470-'75.....49 - -9.--Illustration of Exodus I. From the Cologne Bible, 1470-'75 51 - -10.--The Fifth Day of Creation. From Schedel's "Liber Chronicarum." -Nuremberg, 1493.....54 - -11.--The Dancing Deaths. From Schedel's "Liber Chronicarum." Nuremberg, -1493.....56 - -12.--Jews Sacrificing a Christian Child. From Schedel's "Liber -Chronicarum." Nuremberg, 1493.....58 - -13.--Marginal Border. From Kerver's "Psalterium Virginis Mari." 1509.....61 - -14.--From Ovid's "Metamorphoses." Venice, 1518 (design, 1497). (Initial -letter).....65 - -15.--The Creation. From the "Fasciculus Temporum." Venice, 1484.....68 - -16.--Leviathan. From the "Ortus Sanitatis." Venice, 1511.....68 - -17.--The Stork. From the "Ortus Sanitatis." Venice, 1511.....69 - -18.--View of Venice. From the "Fasciculus Temporum." Venice, 1484.....69 - -19.--The Contest of Apollo and Pan. From Ovid's "Metamorphoses." Venice, -1518 (design, 1497).....70 - -20.--Sirens. From the "Ortus Sanitatis." Venice, 1511.....71 - -21.--Pygmy and Cranes. From the "Ortus Sanitatis." Venice, 1511.....72 - -22.--The Woman and the Thief. From "sop's Fables." Venice, 1491 -(design, 1481).....73 - -23.--The Crow and the Peacock. From "sop's Fables." Venice, 1491 -(design, 1481).....75 - -24.--The Peace of God. From "Epistole di San Hieronymo Volgare." -Ferrara, 1497.....76 - -25.--Mary and the Risen Lord. From "Epistole di San Hieronymo Volgare." -Ferrara, 1497.....77 - -26.--St. Baruch. From the "Catalogus Sanctorum." Venice, 1506.....77 - -27.--Poliphilo by the Stream. From the "Hypnerotomachia Poliphili." -Venice, 1499.....78 - -28.--Poliphilo and the Nymphs. From the "Hypnerotomachia Poliphili." -Venice, 1499.....79 - -29.--Ornament. From the "Hypnerotomachia Poliphili." Venice, 1499.....80 - -30.--Poliphilo meets Polia. From the "Hypnerotomachia Poliphili." -Venice, 1499.....81 - -31.--Nero Fiddling. From the Ovid of 1510. Venice.....82 - -32.--The Physician. From the "Fasciculus Medicin." Venice, 1500.....83 - -33.--Hero and Leander. From the Ovid of 1515. Venice.....85 - -34.--Dante and Beatrice. From the Dante of 1520. Venice.....86 - -35.--St. Jerome Commending the Hermit's Life. From "Epistole di San -Hieronymo." Ferrara, 1497.....86 - -36.--St. Francis and the Beggar. From the "Catalogus Sanctorum." Venice, -1506.....87 - -37.--The Translation of St. Nicolas. From the "Catalogus Sanctorum." -Venice, 1506.....87 - -38.--Romoaldus, the Abbot. From the "Catalogus Sanctorum." Venice, 1506 -88 - -39.--From an Italian Alphabet of the 16th Century. (Initial letter).....90 - -40.--St. John and the Virgin. Vignette to Drer's "Apocalypse".....93 - -41.--Christ Suffering. Vignette to Drer's "Larger Passion".....94 - -42.--Christ Mocked. Vignette to Drer's "Smaller Passion".....95 - -43.--The Descent into Hell. From Drer's "Smaller Passion".....96 - -44.--The Herald. From "The Triumph of Maximilian".....100 - -45.--Tablet. From "The Triumph of Maximilian".....101 - -46.--The Car of the Musicians. From "The Triumph of Maximilian".....102 - -47.--Three Horsemen. From "The Triumph of Maximilian".....103 - -48.--Horseman. From "The Triumph of Maximilian".....107 - -49.--Virgin and Child. From a print by Hans Sebald Behaim......113 - -50.--From the "Epistole di San Hieronymo." Ferrara, 1497. (Initial -letter).....116 - -51.--The Nun. From Holbein's "Images de la Mort." Lyons, 1547.....123 - -52.--The Preacher. From Holbein's "Images de la Mort." Lyons, 1547.....124 - -53.--The Ploughman. From Holbein's "Images de la Mort." Lyons, 1547.....125 - -54.--Nathan Rebuking David. From Holbein's "Icones Historiarum Veteris -Testamenti." Lyons, 1547.....130 - -55.--From "Opera Vergiliana," printed by Sacon. Lyons, 1517. (Initial -letter).....135 - -56.--St. Christopher. From a Venetian print.....142 - -57.--St. Sebastian and St. Francis. Portion of a print by Andreani after -Titian.....143 - -58.--The Annunciation. From a print by Francesco da Nanto.....144 - -59.--Milo of Crotona. From a print by Boldrini after Titian.....145 - -60.--From the "Comedia di Danthe." Venice, 1536. (Initial letter).....151 - -61.--The Peacock. From Bewick's "British Birds".....156 - -62.--The Frightened Mother. From Bewick's "British Quadrupeds".....157 - -63.--The Solitary Cormorant. From Bewick's "British Birds".....157 - -64.--The Snow Cottage.....158 - -65.--Birth-place of Bewick. His last vignette, portraying his own -funeral.....158 - -66.--The Broken Boat. From Bewick's "British Birds".....160 - -67.--The Church-yard. From Bewick's "British Birds".....160 - -68.--The Sheep-fold. By Blake. From "Virgil's Pastorals".....162 - -69.--The Mark of Storm. By Blake. From "Virgil's Pastorals".....162 - -70.--Cave of Despair. By Branston. From Savage's "Hints on Decorative -Printing".....165 - -71.--Vignette from "Rogers's Poems." London, 1827.....167 - -72.--Vignette from "Rogers's Poems." London, 1827.....167 - -73.--Death as a Friend. From a print by Professor Norton, of Cambridge. -Engraved by J. Jungtow.....169 - -74.--Death as a Throttler. From a print by Professor Norton, of -Cambridge. Engraved by Steinbrecher.....170 - -75.--The Creation. Engraved by J. F. Adams.....172 - -76.--The Deluge. Engraved by J. F. Adams.....173 - -77.--Butterflies. Engraved by F. S. King.....175 - -78.--Spring-time. Engraved by F. S. King.....177 - -79.--Mount Lafayette (White Mountains). By J. Tinkey.....183 - -80.--"And silent were the sheep in woolly fold." Engraved by J. G. -Smithwick.....187 - -81.--The Old Orchard. Engraved by F. Juengling.....189 - -82.--Some Art Connoisseurs. Engraved by Robert Hoskin.....191 - -83.--The Travelling Musicians. Engraved by R. A. Muller.....194 - -84.--Shipwrecked. Engraved by Frank French.....196 - -85.--The Tap-room. Engraved by Frank French.....198 - -86.--Going to Church. Engraved by J. P. Davis.....199 - -87.--"Nay, Love, 'tis you who stand with almond clusters in your -clasping hand." Engraved by T. Cole.....201 - -88.--The Spanish Peasant. Engraved by F. Juengling.....203 - -89.--James Russell Lowell. Engraved by Thomas Johnson.....205 - -90.--Arthur Penrhyn Stanley. Engraved by G. Kruell.....207 - - - - -A - -HISTORY OF WOOD-ENGRAVING. - - - - -I. - -_THE ORIGIN OF THE ART._ - - -[Illustration: T FIG. 1.--From "Epistole di San Hieronymo Volgare." -Ferra 1497.] - -The beginning of the art of wood-engraving in Europe, the time when -paper was first laid down upon an engraved wood block and the first rude -print was taken off, is unknown; the name of the inventor and his -country are involved in a double obscurity of ignorance and fable, -darkened still more by national jealousies and vanities; even the -mechanical appliances and processes which led up to and at last resulted -in the new art, can only be conjectured. The art had long lain but just -beyond the border-line of discovery. The principle of making impressions -by means of lines cut in relief upon wood was known to the ancients, who -used engraved wooden stamps to indent figures and letters in soft -substances like wax and clay, and, possibly, to print colors on -surfaces, as had been done from early times in India in the manufacture -of cloth; similar stamps were used in the Middle Ages by notaries and -other public officers to print signatures on documents, by Italian -cloth-makers to impress colors on silk and other fabrics, and by the -illuminators of manuscripts to strike the outlines of initial letters. -This practice may have suggested the new process. - -It is more probable that the art began in the workshops of the -goldsmiths, who were so skilled in engraving upon metal that impressions -of much artistic value have been taken from work executed by them in the -twelfth century, showing that they really were engravers obliged to -remain goldsmiths, because the art of printing from metal plates was -unknown.[1] By their knowledge of design and their artistic execution, -at least, if not by their mechanical inventiveness, the goldsmiths were -the lineal ancestors of the great engravers of the Renaissance. Their -art had been continued from Roman times, with fewer interruptions and -hinderances than any other of the fine arts. It was early employed in -the adornment of the altar, the pax, and other articles of the Church -service; already, in St. Bernard's time, so much attention was given to -workmanship of this kind, and so much wealth lavished upon it, that he -denounced it, with true ascetic spirit, as a decoration of what was soon -to become vile, a waste of what might have been given to the poor, and a -distraction of the spirit from holiness to the admiration of beauty. -"The Church," he said, "shines with the splendor of her walls, and -among her poor is destitution; she clothes her stones with gold, and -leaves her children naked. * * * Finally, so many things are to be seen, -everywhere such a marvellous variety of different forms, that one may -read more upon the sculptured walls than in the written Scriptures, and -spend the whole day in going about in wonder from one such thing to -another, rather than in meditating upon God's law."[2] The art might -have suffered seriously from such uncompromising opposition as St. -Bernard made, had not Suger, the great abbot of St. Denys, taken up its -defence and supported it by his patronage and by his eloquence. "Let -each one have his own opinion," he writes, "but I confess it is my -conviction that whatever is most precious ought to be devoted above all -to that holiest rite of the Eucharist; if golden lavers, if golden cups, -and if golden bowls were used, by the command of God or of the prophet, -to catch the blood of rams or bullocks or heifers, how much more ought -vases of gold, precious stones, and whatever is dearest among all -creatures, ever to be set forth with full devotion to receive the blood -of Jesus Christ!"[3] By such arguments Suger defended the rightfulness -and value of the goldsmith's art in the service of the Church. After -his time the employment of the goldsmiths upon church decoration became -so great that they were really the artists of Europe during the two -hundred years previous to the invention of wood-engraving.[4] In the -pursuit of their craft they practised the arts of modelling, casting, -sculpture, engraving, enamelling, and the setting of precious stones; -and in the thirteenth century they made use of all these resources in -the execution of their beautiful works of art made of gold and silver, -richly engraved, and adorned with bass-reliefs and statuettes, and -brilliant with many-colored enamel and with jewels--the reliquaries in -which were kept the innumerable holy relics that then filled Europe, the -famous shrines for the bodies of the saints, about which pilgrims from -every quarter were ever at prayer, and the tombs of the Crusaders, and -of dignitaries of Church or State. They employed their skill, too, for -the lesser glory of the churches, upon the vessels of the Holy -Communion, the crosses, candelabra, and censers, and the ornaments that -incrusted the vestments of the priests. With the increase of luxury and -wealth they found a new field for their invention in contributing to the -magnificence of secular life; in fashioning into strange forms the -ewers, goblets, flagons, and every vessel which adorned the banquet; -and in ornamenting them with fantastic figures, or with scenes from the -chase, or from the history of Charlemagne and Saladin, as well as in -executing those finely wrought decorations with which the silks and -velvets of the nobles were so heavily charged that the old poet, Martial -d'Auvergne, says the lords and knights were "caparisoned in gold-work -and jewels." Under Charles V. of France (1364) and the great Dukes of -the Low Countries, the jewel-chamber of the prince was his pride in -peace and his treasury in war: it furnished gifts for the bride, the -favorite, and the heir, and for foreign ambassadors and princes; it -afforded pay for retainers before the battle and ransom after it, and in -the days of the great ftes its treasures gave to the courts of France, -Burgundy, and Flanders a magnificence that has seldom been seen in -Europe.[5] - -Under such fortunate encouragement the goldsmiths of the fourteenth -century reached a knowledge of design and a finish in execution that -justified the claim of their art to the first place among the fine arts, -and made their workshops the apprentice-home of many great masters of -art in Italy as well as in the North. They best understood the value of -art, and were best skilled in artistic processes; they were the only -persons[6] who had by them all the means for taking an impression--the -engraved metal plate, iron tools, burnishers for rubbing off a proof, -blackened oil, and paper which they used for tracing their designs; -they would, too, have been aided in their art, merely as goldsmiths, -could they have tested their engraving from time to time by taking an -impression from it in its various stages. It is not unlikely, therefore, -that the art of taking impressions from engraved work was found out, or -at least was first extensively applied, in their workshops, where it -could hardly have failed to be discovered ultimately, as paper came into -use more generally and for more various purposes. If this were the case, -metal-engraving preceded wood-engraving, but only by a brief space of -time, because, as soon as the idea of the new art was fully grasped, -wood must have been almost immediately employed in preference to metal, -on account of the greater ease and speed of working in wood, and of the -less injury done to the paper in printing from it. - -Some support for this view, that the art of printing from engraved metal -plates was discovered by the goldsmiths, and preceded and suggested -wood-engraving, is derived from the peculiar prints in the _manire -crible_, or the dotted style, of which over three hundred are known. -They were produced by a mixed process of engraving in relief and in -intaglio, usually upon a metal plate, but sometimes upon wood. The -effects are given by dots and lines relieved in white upon a black -ground, assisted by dots and lines relieved in black upon a white -ground. These prints have afforded much material for dispute and -controversy, both as to their process and their date; the mode in which -the metal plates from which they were printed were engraved, -particularly the punching out small holes in the metal, which appear -usually as white dots, and give the name to the prints, is the same as -a mode of ornamental work[7] in metal that had been practised for -centuries in the workshops of the goldsmiths, and on this account they -have been ascribed to the goldsmiths of the great Northern cities.[8] -They appeared certainly as early as 1450, and probably much earlier.[9] -Some of these prints are evidently taken from metal plates not -originally meant to be printed from, for the inscriptions on the prints -as well as the actions of the figures appear reversed, the words reading -backward, and the figures performing actions with the left hand almost -always performed by the right hand.[10] These may be the work of the -first years of the fifteenth century, or they may have been taken long -afterward, in a spirit of curiosity or experiment. The existence of -these early prints, however, undoubtedly from the workshops of the -goldsmiths, and after a mode long practised by them, strengthens the -hypothesis--suggested by their wide acquaintance with artistic processes -and their exclusive possession of all the proper instruments--that they -originated the art of taking impressions on paper from engraved work; at -all events, this seems the least wild, the most consistent, and best -supported conjecture which has been put forth. - -There is, however, no lack of more specific accounts of the origin of -wood-engraving. Pliny's[11] reference to the portraits with which Varro -illustrated his works indicates, in the opinion of some writers, a -momentary, isolated, and premature appearance of the art in his day. -Ottley[12] maintains that the art was introduced into Europe by the -Venetians, who learned it "at a very early period of their intercourse -with the people of Tartary, Thibet, and China;" but of this there is no -satisfactory evidence. Papillon,[13] a French engraver of the last -century, relates that in his youth he saw in the library of a retired -Swiss officer nine woodcuts, illustrative of the deeds of Alexander the -Great, executed with a small knife by "two young and amiable twins," -Isabella and Alexander Alberico Cunio, Knt., of Ravenna, in their -seventeenth year, and dedicated by them to Pope Honorius IV., in -1284-85; but, as no one else ever saw or heard of them, and there is no -contemporary reference to them, as no single unquestionable fact has -been adduced in direct support of the story, and as Papillon is an -untrustworthy writer, his tale, although accepted by some -authorities,[14] is generally discredited,[15] and was regarded by -Chatto[16] as the hallucination of a distempered mind. Meerman,[17] the -stout defender of the claim of Lawrence Coster to the invention of -printing with movable types, relying on the authority of Junius,[18] who -wrote from tradition more than a century after the facts, makes Coster -the first printer of woodcuts. Some writers accept this story; but in -spite of them, and of the well-developed genealogical tree with which -Meerman provided his hero, and even of Mr. Sotheby's[19] supposed -discovery of Coster's portrait, his very existence is doubted. The -charming scene in which the idea of the new art first occurred to -Coster, as he was walking after dinner in his garden, and cutting -letters from beech-tree bark with which to print moral sentences for his -grandchildren--the old man surrounded by the childish group in the -well-ordered Haarlem garden--is probably, after all, little more than a -play of antiquarian fancy. These stories have slight historic weight; -they are, to use M. Renouvier's simile, "a group of legends about the -cradle of modern art, like those recounted of ancient art, the history -of Craton, of Saurias, or of the daughter of Dibutades, who invented -design by tracing on a wall the silhouette of her lover." - -[Illustration: FIG 2.--St. Christopher, 1423. From Ottley's "Inquiry -into the Origin and Early History of Engraving upon Copper and in -Wood."] - -The first fact known with certainty in the history of wood-engraving is, -that in the first quarter of the fifteenth century there were scattered -abroad in Northern Europe rude prints, representing scenes from the -Scriptures and the lives of the saints. These pictures were on single -leaves of paper; the outlines were printed from engraved wood-blocks, -but occasionally, it is believed, from metal plates cut in relief; they -were taken off in a pale, brownish ink by rubbing on the back of the -paper with a burnisher, and sometimes in black ink and with a press; -they were then colored, either by hand or by means of a stencil plate, -in order to make them more attractive to the people. The earliest of -these prints which bears an unquestionable date is the famous St. -Christopher (Fig. 2) of 1423, found by Heinecken,[20] in the middle of -the last century, pasted inside the cover of a manuscript in the library -of the convent of Buxheim, in Suabia. It represents St. Christopher, -according to a favorite legend of the Middle Ages, fording a river with -the infant Christ upon his shoulders; opposite, on the right bank, a -hermit holds a lantern before his cell; on the left a peasant, with a -bag on his back, climbs the steep ascent from his mill to the cottage -high up on the cliff, where no swelling of the stream will reach it. The -attitude of the two heads is expressive, and the folds of the saint's -robes are well cast about the shoulders; in other respects the cut has -little artistic merit, but the attempt to mark shadows by a greater or -less width of line is noticeable, and the lines in general are much more -varied than is usual in early work. It was printed in black ink, and -with a press. There are two other early prints, the dates of which are -uncertain, but still sufficiently probable to deserve mention--the -warmly controverted Brussels print[21] of 1418, which represents the -Virgin and Child, surrounded by four saints, in an enclosed garden, in -the style of the Van Eycks, and with more artistic merit than the St. -Christopher in design, drawing, and execution; and, secondly, the St. -Sebastian of 1437, at Vienna. The former was discovered in 1844, in a -bad condition, and the latter in 1779; both are taken off in pale ink, -and with a rubber. There are numerous other prints of this kind, which -have been described in detail and have had conjectural dates assigned to -them, fruitful of much antiquarian dispute. One of these (Fig. 3) is -here reproduced for the first time; it was found stitched into a -manuscript of 1445, and is unquestionably as old as the manuscript; it -represents a Crucifixion, with the Virgin and Longinus at the left, and -St. John and, perhaps, the Centurion at the right; in the upper -left-hand corner is an angel with the Veronica, or handkerchief, which -bears the miraculous portrait of the Saviour, and above are a scourge -and a knife; in the original the body of Christ is covered with dots and -scratches in vermillion, to represent blood. It was taken off in black -ink with a press, and is one of the rudest engravings known.[22] - -[Illustration: FIG. 3.--The Crucifixion. From the Manuscript "Book of -Devotion." 1445.] - -Valueless as these prints[23] are, for the most part, as works of art, -they are of great interest. They were the first pictures the common -people ever had, and doubtless they were highly prized. Rude as they -were, the poor German peasant or humble artisan of the great industrial -cities cared for them; they had been given to him by the monks, like the -rudely-carved wooden images of earlier times, at the end of some -pilgrimage that he had made for penance or devotion, and were treasured -by him as a precious memento; or some preaching friar, to whom he had -devoutly given a small alms for the building of a church or the -decoration of a shrine, had rewarded his piety with a picture of the -saint whom, so far as he could, he had honored; or he had received them -on some day of festival, when in the streets of the Flemish cities the -Lazarists or other orders of monks had marched in grand procession, -scattering these brilliantly colored prints among the populace. Stuck up -on the low walls of his dwelling, they not only recalled his pious -deeds, they brought home before his eyes in daily sight the reality of -that holy living and holy dying of the Saviour and his martyrs in whose -intercession and prayer his hope of salvation lay. Throughout the -fifteenth and a part of the sixteenth centuries, although the -intellectual life of the higher classes began to be secularized, among -the common people these medival sentiments and customs, which gave rise -to the holy prints, continued without change until the Reformation; and -so the workshops of the monks and of the guilds of Augsburg, Nuremberg, -Ulm, Cologne, and the Flemish cities, kept on issuing these saints' -images, as they were called, long after the art had produced refined and -noble works. They remained, in accordance with the true medival spirit, -not only without the name of the craftsman, _nomen vero auctoris -humilitate siletur_, but unmarked by any individuality, impersonal as -well as anonymous; there is little to show even the difference in the -time and place of their production, except that their lines in the first -half of the century were more round and flowing, while in the latter -half they were angular, after the manner of the Van Eycks, and that they -vary in the choice and brilliancy of their colors.[24] - -At the very beginning, too, wood-engraving was applied to a new -industry, which had sprung up rapidly, to furnish amusement for the camp -and the town--the manufacture of playing-cards. Some writers have -maintained that the art was thus applied before it was employed to make -the holy prints; but there are no playing-cards known to have been -printed before 1423, and it is probable that they were painted by hand -and adorned by the stencil for some time after the first unquestioned -mention of them in 1392.[25] The manufacture of both cards and holy -prints soon became a thriving trade; it is mentioned in Augsburg in -1418, and soon afterward in Nuremberg; and in 1441 the exportation of -these articles into Italy had become so large that the Venetian Senate -passed a decree,[26] which is the earliest document relative to -wood-engraving in Italy, forbidding their importation into Venice, -because the guild engaged in this manufacture in the city was suffering -from the foreign competition. Wood-engraving, being only one process in -the craft of the card-maker and the print-maker, seems to have remained -without a distinct name for a long while after its invention. - -In the middle of the fifteenth century, therefore, wood-engraving, the -youngest of the arts of design, after fifty years of obscure and -unnoticed history, held an established position, and was recognized as a -new craft. In art its discovery was the parallel of the invention of -printing in literature; it was a means of multiplying and spreading the -ideas which are expressed by art, of creating a popular appreciation and -knowledge of art, and of bringing beautiful design within the reach of a -larger body of men. It is difficult for a modern mind to realize the -place which pictures filled in medival life, before the invention of -printing had brought about that great change which has resulted in -making books almost the sole means of education. It was not merely that -the paintings upon the walls of the churches conveyed more noble -conceptions to the peasant and the artisan than their slow imagination -could build up out of the words of the preacher; like children, they -apprehended through pictures, they thought upon all higher themes in -pictures rather than in words; their ideas were pictorial rather than -verbal; painting was in spiritual matters more truly a language to them -than their own _patois_. They could not reason, they could not easily -understand intellectual statement, they could not imagine vividly, they -could only see. This accounts for the rapid spread of the new art, and -for the popularity and utility of the holy prints which were so widely -employed to convey religious ideas and quicken religious sentiment; in -the production of these wood-engraving appears from the first in its -true vocation as a democratic art in the service of the people; its -influence was one, and by no means the most insignificant, of the great -forces which were to transform medival into modern life, to make the -civilization of the heart and the brain no longer the exclusive -possession of a few among the fortunately born, but a common blessing. -Wood-engraving was at once the product of the desire for this change and -of the effort toward it, a mirror of the movement the more valuable -because the art was more intimately connected with the popular life than -any other art of the Renaissance, and a power feeding the impulse from -which it derived its own vitality. In this fact lies the historic -interest of the art to the student of civilization. At first it served -medival religion; afterward it took a wider range, and by both its -serious and satirical works afforded valuable aid in the progress of the -Reformation, while it rendered the earliest printed books more -attractive, in which its nobler designs educated the eye in the -perception of beauty. Finally, in the hands of the great engravers--of -Drer, who, still mastered by the medival spirit, employed it to embody -the German Renaissance; of Maximilian's artists, who recorded in it the -dying picturesqueness and chivalric spirit of the Middle Ages; of -Holbein, who first heralded, by means of it, the intelligence and -sentiment of modern times--it produced its chief monuments, which, for -the most part, will here be dealt with, in order to illustrate its value -as a fine art practised for its own sake, as a trustworthy contemporary -record of popular customs, ideas, and taste, and as an element of -considerable power in the advancement of modern civilization. - - - - -II. - -_THE BLOCK-BOOKS._ - - -[Illustration: D FIG. 4.--From the "Epistole di San Hieronymo." 1497.] - -During the first half of the fifteenth century, in more than one quarter -of Europe, ingenious minds were at work seeking by various experiments -and repeated trials, with more and more success, the great invention of -printing with movable types; even now, after the most searching inquiry, -the time and place of the invention are uncertain. Printing with movable -types, however, was preceded and suggested by printing from engraved -wood-blocks. The holy prints sometimes bore the name of the saint, or a -brief _Ora pro nobis_ or other legend impressed upon the paper; the -wood-engravers who first cut these few letters upon the block, although -ignorant of the vast consequences of their humble work, began that great -movement which was to change the face of civilization. After letters had -once been printed, to multiply the words and lengthen the sentences, to -remove them from the field of the cut to the space below it, to engrave -whole columns of text, and, finally, to reproduce entire manuscripts, -and thus make printed books, were merely questions of manual skill and -patience. Where or when or by whom these block-books, as they are -called, were first engraved and printed is unknown; these questions have -been bones of contention among antiquarians for three hundred years, and -in the dispute much patient research has been expended, and much dusty -knowledge heaped together, only to perplex doubt still farther, and to -multiply baseless conjectures. It is probable that they were produced in -the first half of the fifteenth century, when the men of the -Renaissance, whose aroused curiosity made them alert to seize any new -suggestion, were everywhere seeking for means to overthrow the great -barrier to popular civilization, the rarity of the instruments for -intellectual instruction; they soon saw of what service the new art -might be in this task, through the cheapness and rapidity of its -processes, and they applied it to the printing of words as well as of -pictures. - -The most common manuscripts of the time, which had hitherto been the -cheapest mode of intellectual communication, were especially fitted to -be reproduced by the new art; they were those illustrated abridgments of -Scriptural history or doctrine, called _Biblia Pauperum_, or books of -the poor preachers, which had long been used in popular religious -instruction, in accordance with the medival custom of conveying -religious ideas to the illiterate more quickly and vividly through -pictures than was possible by the use of language alone. In the sixth -century Gregory the Great had defended wall-paintings in the churches as -a means of religious instruction for the ignorant population which then -filled the Roman provinces. In a letter to the Bishop of Marseilles, who -had shown indiscreet zeal in destroying the pictures of the saints, he -wrote: "What writing is to those who read, that a picture is to those -who have only eyes; because, however ignorant they are, they see their -duty in a picture, and there, although they have not learned their -letters, they read; wherefore, for the people especially, painting -stands in the place of literature."[27] In conformity with this opinion -these manuscripts were composed at an early period; they were written -rapidly by the scribes, and illustrated with designs made with the pen, -and rudely colored by the rubricators. They served equally to take the -place of the Bible among the poor clergy--for a complete manuscript of -the Scriptures was far too valuable a treasure to be within their -reach--and to aid the people in understanding what was told them; for, -doubtless, in teaching both young and old the monks showed these -pictures to explain their words, and to make a more lasting impression -upon the memory of their hearers. These designs, it is worth while to -point out, exhibit the immobility of mind in the medival communities, -guided, as they were, almost wholly by custom and tradition; the designs -were not original, but were copied from the artistic representations in -the principal churches, where the common people may have seen them, when -upon a pilgrimage or at other times, carved among the bass-reliefs or -glowing in the bright colors of the painted windows. They were copied -without change, the scenes were conceived in the same manner, the -characters were represented after the same conventional type, even in -the details there was slight variation; and as the decorative arts in -the churches were subordinated to architecture, these designs not -infrequently bear the stamp of their original purpose, and are marked by -the characteristics of mural art. They were copied, too, not only by the -scribes from early representations, but they were reproduced by the -great masters of the Renaissance from the manuscripts and block-books -themselves; Drer, Quentin Matzys, Lukas van Leyden, Martin Schn, and, -in earlier times, Taddeo Gaddi and Orcagna, took their conceptions from -these sources. - -Of the block-books which reproduced these and similar manuscripts -several have been preserved, and some of them have been reproduced in -fac-simile, and minutely described. Among the most important of these, -the _Biblia Pauperum_,[28] or Poor Preachers' Bible, of which copies of -several editions exist, deserves to be first mentioned. It is a small -folio, containing forty pages, printed upon one side only, with the pale -brownish ink used in most early prints, and by means of a rubber. The -pages are arranged so that they can be pasted back to back; each page is -divided into five compartments, separated by the pillars and mouldings -of an architectural design, which immediately recall the divisions of a -church window; in the centre is depicted some scene (Fig. 5) from the -Gospels, and on either side are placed scenes from the Old Testament -history illustrative or typical of that commemorated in the central -design; both above and below are two half-length representations of -holy men. Various texts are interspersed in the field, and Latin verses -are written below the central compartments. It will be seen that the -designs not only served to illustrate the preacher's lesson, but -suggested his subject, and indicated and directed the course of his -sermon: they taught him before they taught the people. - -[Illustration: ELIJAH RAISETH THE WIDOW'S SON (1 K, xvii.). THE RAISING -OF LAZARUS (Jno, xi.). ELISHA RAISETH THE WIDOW'S SON (2 K. iv.). - -FIG. 5.--From the original in the possession of Professor Norton, of -Cambridge.] - -[Illustration: FIG. 6.--The Creation of Eve. From the fac-simile of -Berjeau.] - -But, before commenting on this volume, it will be useful to describe -first the much more interesting and more famous _Speculum Human -Salvationis_,[29] or Mirror of Human Salvation, an examination of which -will throw light on the history of the art. It is a small folio, and -contains sixty-three pages, printed upon one side, of which fifty-eight -are surmounted by two designs enclosed in an architectural border, which -are illustrative or symbolical of the life of Christ or of the Virgin; -the designs (Fig. 6) are printed in pale ink by means of a rubber. The -text is not engraved on the block or placed in the field of the cut, but -is printed from movable metallic type in black ink with a press, and -occupies the lower two-thirds of the page, in double columns. The book -is, therefore, a product of the two arts of wood-engraving and -typography in combination. There are four early editions known, two in -Latin, and two in Dutch, all without the name of the printer, or the -date or place of publication. They are printed on paper of the same -manufacture, with woodcuts from the same blocks, and in the same -typographical manner, excepting that one of the Latin editions contains -twenty pages in which the text is printed from engraved wood-blocks in -pale brownish ink, and with a rubber, like the designs. These four -editions, therefore, were issued in the same country. - -This curious book has been the subject of more dispute than any other of -the block-books, because it offers more tangible facts to the -investigator. The type is of a peculiar kind, distinctly different from -that used by the early German printers, and the same in character with -that used in other early books undoubtedly issued in the Low Countries. -The language of the Dutch editions is the pure dialect of North Holland -in the first part of the fifteenth century; the costumes, the short -jackets, the high, broad-brimmed hats, sometimes with flowing ribbons, -the close-fitting hose and low shoes of the men, the head-dresses and -skirts of the women, are of the same period in the Netherlands, and even -in the physiognomy of the faces Flemish features have been seen. The -designs, too, are in the manner of the great Flemish school, renowned as -the best in Europe outside Italy, which was founded by Van Eyck, the -discoverer of the art of painting in oil, and which was marked by a -realism altogether new and easily distinguished; the backgrounds are -filled with architecture of the same time and country. The _Speculum_, -therefore, was produced in the Low Countries; it must have been printed -there before 1483, and probably was printed some time before 1454. The -_Biblia Pauperum_ has so much in common with the _Speculum_ in the -style of its art, its costumes, and its general character, that, -although of earlier date, it may be unhesitatingly ascribed to the same -country. - -The internal evidence, however, only enforces the probabilities -springing from the social condition of the Netherlands, then the most -highly civilized country north of the Alps. Its industries, in the hands -of the great guilds of Bruges, Ghent, Brussels, Louvain, Antwerp, and -Liege, were the busiest in Europe. Its commerce was fast upon the -lagging sails of Venice. The "Lancashire of the Middle Ages," as it has -been fitly called, sent its manufactures abroad wherever the paths of -the sea had been made open, and received the world's wealth in return. -The magnificence of its Court was the wonder of foreigners, and the -prosperity of its people their admiration. The confusion of medival -life, it is true, was still there--fierce temper in the artisans, -blood-thirstiness in the soldiery, everywhere the pitilessness of -military force, wielded by a proud and selfish caste, as Froissart and -Philippe de Comyns plainly recount; but there, nevertheless--although -the brutal sack of Liege was yet to take place--modern life was -beginning; merchant-life, supported by trade, citizen-life, made -possible by the high organization of the great guilds, had begun, -although the merchant and the citizen must still wear the sword; art, -under the guidance of the Van Eycks, was passing out of medival -conventionalism, out of the monastery and the monkish tradition, to deal -no longer with lank, meagre, martyr-like bodies, to care no more for the -moral lesson in contempt of artistic beauty, to come face to face with -nature and humanity as they really were before men's eyes; and modern -intellectual life, too--faint and feeble, no doubt--was nevertheless -beginning to show signs of its presence there, where in after-times -great thinkers were to find a harbor of refuge, and the most heroic -struggle of freedom was to be fought out against Spain and Rome. This -comparatively high state of civilization, the activity of men's minds, -the variety of mechanical pursuits, the excellence of the goldsmiths' -art, the number and character of the early prints undoubtedly issued -there, the mention of incorporated guilds of printers at Antwerp as -early as 1417, and again in 1440, and at Bruges in 1454, make it -probable that the invention of wood-engraving was due to the -Netherlands, and perhaps the invention of typography also. Whether this -were the case or not, it is certain that the artists of the Netherlands -carried the art of engraving in wood to its highest point of excellence -during its first period. - -Antiquarians have not been contented to show that the best of the -block-books came from the Netherlands; they have attempted to discover -the names of the composer of the _Speculum_, the engraver of its -designs, and its printer. But their conjectures[30] are so doubtful that -it is unnecessary to examine them, with the exception of the ascription -of the printing of the _Speculum_ to the Brothers of the Common -Lot.[31] This brotherhood was one of the many orders which arose at that -time in the Netherlands, given to mysticism and enthusiasm, that -resulted in real licentiousness; or to piety and reform, that prepared -the way for the Reformation. Its members were devoted to the spread of -knowledge, and were engaged in copying manuscripts and founding public -schools in the cities. After the invention of printing, they set up the -first presses in Brussels and Louvain, and published many books, always, -however, without their name as publishers. They practised the art of -wood-engraving, and doubtless some of the early holy prints were from -their workshops; sometimes they inserted woodcuts in their manuscripts, -as in the _Spirituale Pomerium_, or Spiritual Garden, of Henri van den -Bogaerde, the head of the retreat at Groenendael, where the painter -Diedrick Bouts occasionally sought retirement, and where he may have -aided the Brothers with his knowledge of design. It is quite possible -that this brotherhood, so favorably placed, produced the _Speculum_ and -others of the block-books, and that they were aided by the painters of -the time whose style of design they followed; but, as Renouvier remarks -in rejecting this account, the monks were not the only persons too -little desirous of notoriety to print their names, and although they -took part in early engraving and printing, a far more important part was -taken by the great civil corporations. In either case, whether the monks -or the secular engravers designed these woodcuts, they were probably -aided at times by the painters, who at that period did not restrict -themselves to the higher branches of art, but frequently put their skill -to very humble tasks. - -The character of the design is very easily seen; the lines are simple, -often graceful and well-arranged; there is but little attempt at marking -shadows; there is less stiffness in the forms, and the draperies follow -the lines of the forms better than in either earlier or later work of a -similar kind, and there is also much less unconscious caricature and -grimace. A whole series needs to be looked at before one can appreciate -the interest which these designs have in indicating the subjects on -which imagination and thought were then exercised, and the modes in -which they were exercised. Symbolism and mysticism pervade the whole. -All nature and history seem to have existed only to prefigure the life -of the Saviour: imagination and thought hover about him, and take color, -shape, and light only from that central form; the stories of the Old -Testament, the histories of David, Samson, and Jonah, the massacres, -victories, and miracles there recorded, foreshadow, as it were in -parables, the narrative of the Gospels; the temple, the altar, and the -ark of the covenant, all the furnishings and observances of the Jewish -ritual, reveal occult meanings; the garden of Solomon's Song, and the -sentiment of the Bridegroom and the Bride who wander in it, are -interpreted, sometimes in graceful or even poetic feeling, under the -inspiration of mystical devotion; old kings of pagan Athens are -transformed into witnesses of Christ, and, with the Sibyl of Rome, -attest spiritual truth. This book and others like it are mirrors of the -ecclesiastical mind; they picture the principal intellectual life of the -Middle Ages; they show the sources of that deep feeling in the earlier -Dutch artists which gave dignity and sweetness to their works. Even in -the rudeness of these books, in the texts as well as in the designs, -there is a _navet_, an openness and freshness of nature, a confidence -in limited experience and contracted vision, which make the sight of -these cuts as charming as conversation with one who had never heard of -America or dreamed of Luther, and who would have found modern life a -puzzle and an offence. The author of the _Speculum_ laments the evils -which fell upon man in consequence of Adam's sin, and recounts them: -blindness, deafness, lameness, floods, fire, pestilence, wild beasts, -and lawsuits (in such order he arranges them); and he ends the long list -with this last and heaviest evil, that men should presume to ask "why -God willed to create man, whose fall he foresaw; why he willed to create -the angels, whose ruin he foreknew; wherefore he hardened the heart of -Pharaoh, and softened the heart of Mary Magdalene unto repentance; -wherefore he made Peter contrite, who had denied him thrice, but allowed -Judas to despair in his sin; wherefore he gave grace to one thief, and -cared not to give grace to his companion." What modern man can fully -realize the mental condition of this poet, who thus weeps over the -temptation to ask these questions, as the supreme and direst curse which -Divine vengeance allows to overtake the perverse children of this world? - -A better illustration of the sentiment and grace sometimes to be found -in the block-books is the _Historia Virginis Mari ex Cantico -Canticorum_, or History of the Virgin, as it is prefigured in the Song -of Solomon. This volume is the finest in design of all the block-books. -In it the Bride, the Bridegroom, three attendant maidens, and an angel -are grouped in successive scenes, illustrating the mystical meaning of -some verse of the Song. The artistic feeling displayed in the -arrangement of the figures is such that the designs have been attributed -directly to Roger Van der Weyden, the greatest of Van Eyck's pupils. -This book, like the _Biblia Pauperum_ and the _Speculum_, came from the -engravers and the printers of the Netherlands; but it shows progress in -art beyond those works, more elegance and vivacity of line, more ability -to render feeling expressively, and especially more delight in nature -and carefulness in delineating natural objects. - -In spite of these three chief monuments of the art of block-printing in -the Netherlands, the claim of that country to the invention of the -block-books is not undisputed. The _Historia Johannis Evangelist -ejusque Visiones Apocalyptic_, or the Apocalypse of St. John, much -ruder in drawing and in execution, is the oldest block-book according to -most writers, and especially those who maintain the claims of Germany to -the honor of the invention. This volume has been ascribed by Chatto to -Upper Germany, where some Greek artist may have designed it; but with -more probability, by Passavant, to Lower Germany, and especially to -Cologne, on account of the coloring, which is in the Cologne manner. The -volume bears a surer sign of early work than mere rudeness of execution: -it is hieratic rather than artistic in character; the artist is -concerned more with enforcing the religious lesson than with designing -pleasant scenes. But although for this reason a very early date -(1440-1460) must be assigned to the book, the question of the origin of -the art of block-printing remains unsettled, even if it be granted that -the volume is of German workmanship. Some evidence must be shown that -the Netherlands imported the art from Cologne or some other German city, -and this is lacking; indeed, the absence in early Flemish work of any -trace of influence from the school of art which flourished at Cologne -before the Van Eycks painted in the Netherlands, is strong negative -evidence against such a supposition. On the other hand, it must be -remembered that Germany produced the St. Christopher, and many other -early prints. In some of the German block-books Heinecken recognized the -modes of the German card-makers; but this may be explained otherwise -than by supposing that the card-makers invented the art of -block-printing. On the whole, the rudeness of early German block-books -must be held to be a result of the unskilfulness and tastelessness of -German workmen, rather than an indication that the art was discovered by -them. The engraving of the Apocalypse, like all other German work, will -bear no comparison with the Netherland engraving, either in refinement, -vivacity, or skill. - -The other block-books, many of which are in themselves interesting and -curious, do not elucidate the history of the art, and therefore need not -be discussed. It is sufficient to say that they are less valuable than -those which have been described, and far ruder in design and execution. -Some of them throw light upon the time. The _Ars Memorandi_, a series of -designs meant to assist the memory in recalling the chapters of the -Apocalypse, is a very curious monument of an age when such a device was -useful; and the _Ars Moriendi_, or Art of Dying, in which were depicted -frightful and eager devils about a dying man's couch, is a book which -may stir our laughter, but was full of a different meaning for the poor -sinner to whose bedside the pious monks carried it to bring him to -repentance, by showing him designs of such horrible suggestion, -enforced, no doubt, by exhortations hardly more humane. These books were -all reproduced many times. This Art of Dying, for example, appeared in -Latin, Flemish, German, Italian, French, and English, with similar -designs, although there were variations in the text. Once popular, they -have long since lost their attraction; few care for the ideas or the -pictures preserved in them; the bibliophile collects them, because they -are rare, costly, and curious; the scholar consults them, because they -reveal the unprofitableness of medival thought, the needs and -characteristics of the class that could prize them, the poverty of the -civilization of which they are the monuments, and because they disclose -glimpses of actual human life as it then was, with its humors, its -burdens, and its imaginations. The world has forgotten them; but they -hold in the history of civilization an honorable place, for by means of -them wood-engraving led the way to the invention of printing, and -thereby performed its greatest service to mankind. - - - - -III. - -_EARLY PRINTED BOOKS IN THE NORTH._ - - -[Illustration: I FIG 7.--Source of this letter unknown.] - -In 1454 the art of printing in movable types and with a press had been -perfected in Germany; soon afterward the art of block-printing, although -it continued to be practised until the end of the century, began to fall -into decay, and the ancient block-books, in which the text had been -subsidiary to the colored engravings, speedily gave place to the modern -printed book, in which the engravings were subsidiary to the text. This -change did not come about without a struggle between the rival arts. In -all the great cities of Germany and the Low Countries, the -block-printers and wood-engravers had long been organized into strong -and compact guilds, enforcing their rights with strict jealousy, and -privileged from the first to make use of movable types and the press; -the new printers, on the other hand, were comparatively few in number, -disunited and scattered, accustomed to go from one town to another, and -every attempt by them to insert woodcuts into their books was looked -upon and resented as an encroachment on the art of the block-printers -and the wood-engravers. At first the new printers closely imitated the -manuscripts of their time. They used woodcuts to take the place of the -miniatures with which the manuscripts were embellished. They copied -directly the handwriting of the scribes in the forms of their type, and -were thus led to the use of ornamental initial letters like those which -had long been designed by the scribes and illuminated by the -rubricators; such are the beautiful initial letters in the Psalter of -Faust and Scheffer, published at Mayence in 1457, which are the earliest -wood-engravings in a dated book, and are designed and executed with a -skill which has rarely been surpassed. It was by such attempts that the -new printers incurred the hostility of the wood-engravers, which was -soon actively shown. Even as late as 1477, the guild at Augsburg, which -was then the most numerous and best-skilled in Germany, opposed the -admission of Gunther Zainer, who had just set up a printing-press there, -to the rights of citizenship, and he owed his freedom from molestation -to the interference of the friendly abbot, Melchior de Stamham. The -guild succeeded in obtaining an ordinance forbidding Zainer to insert -woodcuts or initials engraved on wood into his books--a prohibition -which remained in force until he came to an understanding with them, by -agreeing to use only such woodcuts and initials as should be engraved by -them. In this, or similar ways, as in every displacement of labor by -mechanical improvements, after a short struggle the cheaper and more -rapid art prevailed; the wood-engravers gave up to the printers the -principal part in the making of books, and became their servants. - -The new printers were most active in the great German cities--Cologne, -Mayence, Nuremberg, Ulm, Augsburg, Strasburg, and Basle--and from the -presses of these cities the greatest number of books with woodcuts were -issued. This is one reason why the mastering influence from this time in -Northern wood-engraving was German; why German taste, German rudeness, -coarseness, and crudity became the main characteristics of -wood-engraving in the latter half of the fifteenth century. The Germans -had been, from the first, artisans rather than artists. They had -produced many anonymous prints and block-books, but they had never -attained to the power and elegance of the Flemish school. Now the -quality of their work became even less excellent; for decline had set -in, and the increasing popularity of the new art of copperplate-engraving -combined with the unfavorable influences resulting from printing, which -required cheap and rapid processes, to degrade the art still lower. The -illustrations in the new books had ordinarily little art-value: they -were often grotesque, stiff, ignorant in design, and careless or -inexpert in execution; but they had nevertheless their use and their -interest. - -The German influence was made more powerful, too, by other causes than -the foremost part taken by Germany in printing. The Low Countries, -hitherto so civilized and prosperous, the home and cradle of early -Northern art, the influence of which had spread abroad and become the -most powerful even over the German painters themselves, were now -involved in the turbulence and disaster of the great wars of Charles the -Bold. They not only lost their honorable place at the head of Northern -civilization, but on the marriage of their Duchess, Mary of Burgundy, -the daughter of Charles the Bold, to the Emperor Maximilian, they -yielded in great part to the German influence, and became more nearly -allied in character and spirit to the German cities, as they had before -been more akin to France. The woodcuts in the books of the Netherlands, -where printing was introduced by German workmen, share in the rudeness -of German art; in proportion as their previous performance had been more -excellent, the decline of the art among them seems more great. There -are, occasionally, traces of the old power of design and execution in -their later work; but from the time that books began to be printed -Germany took the lead in wood-engraving. - -The German free cities were then animated with the new spirit which was -to mould the great age of Germany, and result in Drer and Luther. The -growing weakness of the Empire had fostered independence and -self-reliance in the citizens, while the increase of commerce, both on -the north to the German Ocean, and on the south through Venice, had -introduced the wants of a higher civilization, and afforded the means to -satisfy them. Local pride, which showed itself in the rivalries and -public works of the cities, made their enterprise and industry more -active, and gave an added impulse to the rapid transformation of -military and feudal into commercial and democratic life. In these -cities, where the body of men interested in knowledge and with the means -of acquiring it, became every year more numerous, the new presses sent -forth books of all kinds--the religious and ascetic writings of the -clergy, medival histories, chronicles and romances, travels, voyages, -botanical, military, and scientific works, and sometimes the writings of -classic authors; although, in distinction from Italy, Germany was at -first devoted to the reproduction of medival rather than Greek and -Latin literature. The books in Latin, the learned tongue, were usually -without woodcuts; but those in the vulgar tongues, then becoming true -languages, the development and fixing of which are one of the great -debts of the modern world to printing, were copiously illustrated, in -order to make them attractive to the popular taste. - -[Illustration: FIG. 8.--The Grief of Hannah. From the Cologne Bible, -1470-'75] - -[Illustration: FIG. 9.--Illustration of Exodus I. From the Cologne -Bible, 1470-'75.] - -The great book, on which the printers exercised most care, was the -Bible. Many editions were published; but the most important of these, in -respect to the history of wood-engraving, was the Cologne Bible (Figs. -8, 9), which appeared before 1475, both because its one hundred and nine -designs were, probably, after the block-books, the earliest series of -engraved illustrations of Scripture, and were widely copied, and also -because they show an extension of the sphere of thought and increased -intellectual activity. The designers of these cuts relied less upon -tradition, displayed more original feeling, and showed greater variety -and vivacity in their treatment, than the artists who had engraved the -_Biblia Pauperum_. The latter volume contained, as has been seen, nearly -the last impression of century-old pictorial types in the medival -conventional manner; the Cologne Bible defined conceptions of Scriptural -scenes anew, and these conceptions became conventional, and re-appeared -for generations in other illustrated Bibles in all parts of Europe; not, -however, because of an immobility of mind characteristic of the -community, as in earlier times, but partly because the printers -preserved and exchanged old wood-blocks, so that the same designs from -the same blocks appeared in widely distant cities, and partly because it -was less costly for them to employ an inferior workman to copy the old -cut, with slight variations, than to have an artist of original -inventive power to design a wholly new series. Thus the Nuremberg Bible -of 1482 is illustrated from the same blocks as the Cologne Bible, and -the cuts in the Strasburg Bible of 1485 are poor copies of the same -designs. From the marginal border which encloses the first page of the -Cologne Bible it appears that wood-engraving was already looked on, not -only as a means of illustrating what was said in the text, but as a -means of decoration merely. Here, among the foliage and flowers, are -seen running animals, and in the midst the hunter, the jongleur, the -musician, the lover, the lady, and the fool--an indication of delight in -nature and in the variety of human life, which, simply because it is not -directly connected with the text, is the more significant of that freer -range of sympathy and thought characteristic of the age. Afterward these -decorative borders, often in a satiric and not infrequently in a gross -vein, wholly disconnected with the text, and sometimes at strange -variance with its spirit, are not uncommon. The engravings that follow -this frontispiece represent the customary Scriptural scenes, and the -series closes with two striking designs of the Last Judgment and of -Hell. In the former angels are hurling pope, emperor, cardinal, bishop, -and king into hell, and in the latter their bodies lie face to face with -the souls marked with the seal of God--a satire not unexampled before -this time, and indeed hardly bolder than hitherto, but of a spirit which -showed that Luther was already born. "It is no small honor for our -wood-engravers," says Renouvier, "to have expressed public opinion with -such hardihood, and to have shown themselves the advanced sentinels of a -revolution." The engraving in this Bible tells its own story without -need of comment; but, heavy and rude as much of it is, it surpasses -other German work of the same period; and it must not be forgotten that -the awkwardness of the drawing was much obscured by the colors which -were afterward laid on the designs by hand. It is only by accident or -negligence that woodcuts were left uncolored in early German books, for -the conception of a complete picture simply in black and white was a -comparatively late acquisition in art, and did not guide the practice of -wood-engravers until the last decade of the century, when, indeed, it -effected a revolution in the art. - -Of the many other illustrated Bibles which appeared during the last -quarter of the fifteenth century, the one published at Augsburg, about -1475, and attributed to Gunther Zainer, alone has a peculiar interest. -All but two of its seventy-three woodcuts are combined with large -initial letters, occupying the width of a column, for which they serve -as a background, and by which they are framed in; these are the oldest -initial letters in this style, and are original in design, full of -animation and vigor, and rank with the best work of the early Augsburg -wood-engravers. It is not unlikely that these novel and attractive -letters were the very ones of which the Augsburg guild complained in the -action that they brought against Zainer in 1477. Afterward the German -printers gave much attention to ornamented capitals, both in this style, -which reached its most perfect examples in Holbein's alphabets, and in -the Italian mode, in which the design was relieved in white upon a black -ground. - -Next to the Bibles, the early chronicles and histories are of most -interest for the study of wood-engraving. They are records of legendary -and real events, intermingled with much extraneous matter which seemed -to their authors curious or startling. They usually begin with the -Creation, and come down through sacred into early legendary and secular -history, recounting miracles, martyrdoms, sieges, tales of wonder and -superstition, omens, anecdotes of the great princes, and the like. Each -of them dwells especially upon whatever glorifies the saints, or touches -the patriotism, of their respective countries. They are filled with -woodcuts in illustration of their narrative, beginning with scenes from -Genesis. Thus the Chronicle of Saxony, published at Mayence in 1492, -contains representations of the fall of the angels, the ark of Noah, -Romulus founding Rome, the arrival of the Franks and the Saxons, the -deeds of Charlemagne, the overthrow of paganism, the famous emperors, -Otho burning a sorcerer, Frederick Barbarossa, and the Emperor -Maximilian. The Chronicle of Cologne, published in 1492, is similarly -illustrated with views of the great cathedral, with representations of -the Three Kings, the refusal of the five Rhine cities to pay impost, and -like scenes. - -[Illustration: FIG. 10.--The Fifth Day of Creation. From Schedel's -"Liber Chronicarum." Nuremberg, 1493.] - -The most important of the chronicles, in respect to wood-engraving, is -the Chronicle of Nuremberg (Figs. 10, 11, 12), published in that city in -1493. It contains over two thousand cuts which are attributed to William -Pleydenwurff and Michael Wohlgemuth, the latter the master of Albert -Drer; they are rude and often grotesque, possessing an antiquarian -rather than an artistic interest; many of them are repeated several -times, a portrait serving indifferently for one prophet or another, a -view of houses upon a hill representing equally well a city in Asia or -in Italy, just as in many other early books--for example, in the History -of the Kings of Hungary--a battle-piece does for any conflict, or a man -on a throne for any king. The representations were typical rather than -individual. In some of the designs there is, doubtless, a careful -truthfulness, as in the view of Nuremberg, and perhaps in some of the -portraits. The larger cuts show considerable vigor and boldness of -conception, but none of them are so good as the illustrations, also -attributed to Wohlgemuth, in the _Schatzbehalter_, published in the -same city in 1491. The distinction of the Nuremberg chronicle does not -consist in any superiority of design which can be claimed for it in -comparison with other books of the same sort, but in the fact that here -were printed, for the first time, woodcuts simply in black and white, -which were looked on as complete without the aid of the colorist, and -were in all essential points entirely similar to modern works. This -change was brought about by the introduction of cross-hatching, or lines -crossing each other at different intervals and different angles, but -usually obliquely, by means of which blacks and grays of various -intensity, or what is technically called color, were obtained. This was -a process already in use in copperplate-engraving. In that art--the -reverse of wood-engraving since the lines which are to give the -impression on paper are incised into the metal instead of being left -raised as in the wood-block--the engraver grooved out the crossing lines -with the same facility and in the same way as the draughtsman draws them -in a pen-and-ink sketch, the depth of color obtained depending in both -cases on the relative closeness and fineness of the hatchings. In -engraving in wood the task was much more difficult, and required greater -nicety of skill, for, as in this case the crossing lines must be left in -relief, the engraver was obliged to gouge out the minute diamond spaces -between them. At first this was, probably, thought beyond the power of -the workmen. The earliest woodcut in which these cross-hatchings appear -is the frontispiece to Breydenbach's Travels, published at Mayence in -1486, which is, perhaps, the finest wood-engraving of its time. In the -Nuremberg chronicle this process was first extensively employed to -obtain color, and thus this volume marks the beginning of that great -school in wood-engraving which seeks its effects in black lines. - -[Illustration: FIG. 11.--The Dancing Deaths. From Schedel's "Liber -Chronicarum." Nuremberg, 1493.] - -To describe the hundreds of illustrated books which the German printers -published before the end of the century belongs to the bibliographer. -Should any one turn to them, he would find in the cuts that they contain -much diversity in character, but little in merit; he would meet at -Bamberg, in the works printed by Pfister, whose Book of Fables, -published 1461, is the first dated volume with woodcuts of figures, -designs so rude that they are generally believed to have been hacked out -by apprentices wholly destitute of training in the craft; he would -notice in the books of Cologne the greater self-restraint and sense of -proportion, in those of Augsburg the greater variety, vivacity, and -vigor, in those of Nuremberg the greater exaggeration and grotesqueness. -In the publications of some cities he would come upon the burning -questions of that generation: the siege of Rhodes by the Turks, the wars -of Charles the Bold against Switzerland, the martyrdom of John Huss; -elsewhere he would see nave conceptions of medival romance and -chivalry, and not infrequently, as in the Boccaccio of Ulm, grossnesses -not to be described; at Strasburg he would hardly recognize Horace and -Virgil with their Teutonic features and barbaric garb; while at Mayence -botanical works, which strangely mingle science, medicine, and -superstition, would excite his wonder, and at Ulm military works would -picture the forgotten engines of medival warfare; in the Netherlands, -too, he would discern little difference in literature or in design; -everywhere he would find the unevenness of Gothic taste--one moment -creating works with a certain boldness and grandeur of conception, the -next moment falling into the inane and the ludicrous; everywhere German -realism making each person appear as if born in a Rhine city, and each -event as if taking place within its walls; everywhere, too, an -ever-widening interest in the affairs of past times and distant -countries, in the thought and life of the generations that were gone, in -the pursuits of the living, and the multiform problems of that age of -the Reformation then coming on. It is impossible to turn from this wide -survey without a recognition of the large share which wood-engraving, as -the suggester and servant of printing, had in the progress made toward -civilization in the North during that century. Woltmann does not -over-state the fact when he says: "Wood-engraving and -copperplate-engraving were not alone of use in the advance of art; they -form an epoch in the entire life of mind and culture. The idea embodied -and multiplied in pictures became, like that embodied in the printed -word, the herald of every intellectual movement." - -[Illustration: FIG. 12.--Jews Sacrificing a Christian Child. From -Schedel's "Liber Chronicarum." Nuremberg, 1493.] - -As typography spread from Germany through the other countries of Europe, -the art of wood-engraving accompanied it. The first books printed in the -French language appeared about 1475, at Bruges, where the Dukes of -Burgundy had long favored the vulgar tongue, and had collected many -manuscripts written in it in their great library, then one of the finest -in Europe. The first French city to issue French books from its presses -was Lyons, which had learned the arts of printing and of wood-engraving -from Basle, Geneva, and Nuremberg, in consequence of their close -commercial relations. If a few doubtful and scattered examples of early -work be excepted, it was in these Lyonese books that French -wood-engraving first appeared. From the beginning of printing in France, -Lyons was the chief seat of popular literature, and the centre of the -industry of printing books in the vulgar tongue, as Paris was the chief -seat of the literature of the learned, both in Latin and French, and -devoted itself to reproducing religious and scientific works.[32] At the -close of the fifteenth and beginning of the sixteenth centuries the -Lyonese presses issued the largest number of first editions of the -popular romances, which were sought, not merely by French purchasers, -but throughout Europe. These books were meant for the middle class, who -were unable to buy the costly manuscripts, illuminated with splendid -miniatures, in which literature had previously been locked up. They were -not considered valuable enough to be preserved with care, and have -consequently become scarce; but they were published in great numbers, -and exerted an influence in the spread of literary knowledge and taste -which can hardly be over-estimated. Woodcuts were first inserted in them -about 1476; but for twenty years after this wood-engraving was practised -rather as a trade than an art, and its products have no more artistic -merit than similar works in Germany. In 1493 an edition of Terence, in -which the earlier rudeness gave way to some skill in design, showed the -first signs of promise of the excellence which the Lyonese art was to -attain in the sixteenth century. - -In Paris, the German printers, who had been invited to the city by a -prior of the Sorbonne, had issued Latin works for ten years before -wood-engraving began to be practised. After 1483, however, Jean Du Pr, -Guyot Marchand, Pierre Le Rouge, Pierre Le Caron, Antoine Verard, and -other early printers applied themselves zealously to the publication of -volumes of devotion, history, poetry, and romance, in which they made -use of wood-engraving. The figure of the author frequently appears upon -the first page, where he offers his book to the king or princess before -whom he kneels; and here and there may be read sentiments like the -following, which is taken from an early work of Verard's, where they are -inserted in fragmentary verses among the woodcuts: "Every good, loyal, -and gallant Catholic who begins any work of imagery ought, first, to -invoke in all his labor the Divine power by the blessed name of Jesus, -who illumines every human heart and understanding; this is in every deed -a fair beginning."[33] The religious books, especially the _Livres -d'Heures_ (Fig. 13), were filled with the finest examples of the -Parisian art, which sought to imitate the beautiful miniatures for which -Paris had been famous from even before the time when Dante praised them. -In consequence of this effort the woodcut in simple line served -frequently only as a rough draft, to be filled in and finished by the -colorist, who, indeed, sometimes wholly disregarded it and overlaid it -with a new design. Before long, however, the wood-engravers succeeded in -making cuts which, so far from needing color, were only injured by the -addition of it; but these were considered less valuable than the -illuminated designs, and the wood-engravers were hampered in the -practice of their art by the miniaturists, who, like the guilds at -Augsburg and other German towns, complained of the new mode of -illustration as a ruinous encroachment on their craft. - -[Illustration: FIG. 13.--Marginal Border. From Kerver's "Psalterium -Virginis Mari." 1509.] - -Whether with or without color, the engravings in the _Livres d'Heures_ -are beautiful. Each page is enclosed in an ornamental border made up of -small cuts, which are repeated in new arrangements on succeeding leaves; -here and there a large cut, usually representing some Scriptural scene, -is introduced in the upper portion of the page, and the text fills the -vacant spaces. Not infrequently the taste displayed is Gallic rather -than pious, and delights in profane legends and burlesque fancies which -one would not expect to meet in a prayer-book. These volumes were so -highly prized by foreign nations for the beauty of their workmanship, -that they were printed in Flemish, English, and Italian. Those which -were issued by Verard, Vostre, Pigouchet, and Kerver were the best -products of the early French art.[34] The secular works which contain -woodcuts are hardly worthy of mention, excepting Guyot Marchand's La -Danse Macabre, first published in 1485, which is a series of twenty-five -spirited and graceful designs, marked by French vivacity and liveliness -of fancy. In all early French work the peculiar genius of the people is -not so easily distinguishable as in this example, but it is usually -present, and gives a national characteristic to the art, notwithstanding -the indubitable influences of the German archaic school in the earlier -time, and of the Italian school in the first years of the sixteenth -century. - -French wood-engraving is remarkable, in respect to its technique, for -the introduction of _crible_, or dotted work, which has previously[35] -been described, into the backgrounds on which the designs are relieved. -This mode of engraving is probably a survival from the goldsmiths' work -of the first part of the fifteenth century, and it is not unlikely that, -as Renouvier suggests, these _crible_ grounds were meant to represent -the gold grounds on which both miniatures and early paintings were -relieved. From an examination of the peculiarities of these engravings, -some authors[36] have been led to maintain that they were taken off -from metal plates cut in relief, and nearly all writers are ready to -admit that this was sometimes, but not always, the case. The question is -unsettled; but it is probable that wood was sometimes employed, and it -would be impossible to determine with certainty what share in these -prints belongs to wood-engraving and metal-engraving respectively. In -general, French wood-engraving, in its best early examples at Paris, was -characterized by greater fineness and elegance of line, and by more -feeling for artistic effects, than was the case with German -book-illustration; but the Parisian chronicles, histories, botanical -works, and the like, possessed no greater merit than similar -publications at Lyons or in the German cities, and their influence upon -the middle classes in furthering the advance of education and taste was -probably much less. - -England was far behind the other nations of Europe in its appreciation -of art, and wood-engraving throve there as feebly as did the other arts -of design. The first English book with woodcuts was Caxton's Game and -Playe of the Chesse, published about 1476, the first edition of which -was issued two years earlier, without illustrations. It is supposed by -some writers that Caxton imported the blocks from which these cuts were -printed, as he did the type for his text; and it is certain that in -later years wood-blocks and metal-plates were brought over from the -Continent for illustrating English books. It is not improbable that the -art was practised by Englishmen as a part of the printer's craft, and -that there were no professional wood-engravers for many years; indeed, -Chatto doubts whether the art was practised separately even so late as -Holbein's time. The cuts in Caxton's works, and in those of the later -printers, Wynkyn de Worde and Richard Pynson, were altogether rude and -uninteresting in design. If the honor of them belongs to foreign rather -than English workmen, no great hurt is done to English pride. - - - - -IV. - -_EARLY ITALIAN WOOD-ENGRAVING._ - - -[Illustration: P FIG. 14.--From Ovid's "Metamorphoses." Venice, 1518 -(design, 1497).] - -Previous to the time of Drer wood-engraving in the North, as has been -seen, was little more than a trade, and has its main interest to the -scholar as an agent of civilization; in Italy it first became a fine -art, a mode of beautiful expression. The Italians, set in the midst of -natural loveliness and among the ruins of ancient art, had never wholly -lost the sense of beauty; they may have paid but slight attention to -what was about them, but they lived life-long in the daily sight of fair -scenes and beautiful forms, which impressed their senses and moulded -their nature, so that, when with the revival of letters they felt the -native impulses of humanity toward the higher life stirring once more in -their hearts, they found themselves endued with powers of perception and -appreciation beyond any other people in the world. These powers were not -the peculiar possession of a well-born class; the centuries had bred -them unobserved into the nature of the race, into the physical -constitution of the whole people. The artisan, no less than the prince, -took delight in the dawn of art, and welcomed it with equal worship. Nor -was this artistic instinct the only common acquisition; the enthusiasm -for letters was likewise widely shared, so that some of the best -manuscripts of the classics have come down to modern times from the -hands of humble Florentine workmen. Italy, indeed, was the first country -where democratic civilization had place; here the contempt of the -Northern lord for the peasant and the mechanic had never been -wide-spread, partly because mercantile life was early held to be -honorable, and partly because of peculiar social conditions. The long, -uninterrupted intercourse with the remains of Roman civilization in the -unbarbarized East, the contact with Saracenic civilization in the South, -the culture of the court of the Two Sicilies, and the invariably -levelling influence of commerce, had made Italy the most cosmopolitan of -European countries; the sharp and warlike rivalry of small, but -intensely patriotic, states, and the necessity they lay under of -utilizing for their own preservation whatever individual energy might -arise among them, perhaps most of all the powerful example of the -omnipresent Church in which the son of a swineherd might take the Papal -Throne, had contributed to make it comparatively easy to pass from lower -to higher social ranks; the aristocratic structure of society remained, -but the distinction of classes was obscured, and the excellence of the -individual's faculties, the energy and scope of his powers, were -recognized as the real dignities which were worthy of respect. In this -recognition of the individual, and this common taste for art and -letters, lay the conditions of new and vigorous intellectual life; they -resulted in the great age of Italy. It was this in the main that made -possible the popular fervor for the things of the mind in the Italian -Renaissance, to which nothing else in the world's history is comparable -but the popular enthusiasm of the modern Revolution for liberty. Dante -gave his country a native language, the Humanists gave it the literature -of Rome, the Hellenists the literature of Greece; poets sang and artists -painted with a loftiness and dignity of imagination, a sweetness and -delicacy of sentiment, an energy and reach of thought, a music of verse -and harmony of line and color, still unsurpassed. The gifts which these -men brought were not for a few, but for the many who shared in this -mastering, absorbing interest in the things of the mind, in beauty and -wisdom, which was the vital spirit of the Italian Renaissance. - -[Illustration: FIG. 15.--The Creation. From the "Fasciculus Temporum." -Venice, 1484.] - -[Illustration: FIG. 16.--Leviathan. From the "Ortus Sanitatis." Venice, -1511.] - -Thus it happened that when the German printers brought over the Alps the -art which was to do so much toward civilizing the North, they found in -Italy a civilization already culminated, hastening on, indeed, to a -swift decline; they found the people already in possession of the -manuscripts which they came to reproduce and multiply, and the princes, -like Frederick of Urbino,[37] "ashamed to own a printed book" among -their splendid collections, where every art seemed to vie in making -beautiful their volumes of vellum and velvet. Wood-engraving, too, which -here as elsewhere accompanied printing, could be of no use in spreading -ideas and preparing the way for a popular knowledge and appreciation of -art; it was to receive rather than bestow benefits; it was to be made a -fine art before it could perform any real service. The printers, -however, proved the utility of their art, and were soon busily employed -in all the Italian cities in reproducing the precious manuscripts with -which Italy was stored; and from the first they called wood-engraving to -their aid. It is true that the earliest Italian woodcuts--which were, -however, Germanic in design and execution--were as rude as those of the -Northern workshops. They appeared for the first time in an edition of -Cardinal Turrecremata's Meditations, published at Rome by Ulric Hahn, in -1467. In Venice, although without much doubt the art had been practised -there by the makers of cards and prints long before, woodcuts were first -introduced by the German printers. The accompanying cuts are fair -examples of their work (Figs. 15, 16, 17, 18, 20, 21), and at the same -time interesting reflections of popular fable. The views of Venice are -examples of the very common attempts to represent the actual appearance -of the great cities, which possess sometimes an historic value. This -Germanic work is but slightly different from that already noticed; but -as soon as the art became naturalized, and was practised by the Italian -engravers, it was characterized at once by beauty of design. There is -something more than promise in an edition of sop's Fables, published at -Verona in 1481, as may be seen from these examples (Figs. 22, 23), -taken from a Venetian reprint of 1491. An Ovid, printed at Venice in -1497, is adorned with several excellent woodcuts, such as this of The -Contest of Apollo and Pan (Fig. 19); and there are other works of -similar merit belonging to the same period. The finest example of -Italian wood-engraving before it reached its highest perfection in the -Hypnerotomachia Poliphili, or Dream of Poliphilo, is a volume which -contains the epistles of St. Jerome, and a description of cloistral -life. This is adorned with a large number of small woodcuts of simple -beauty, marked by grace and feeling, and full of reminiscences of moods -and sentiments which have long ceased to hold a place in human hearts -(Figs. 24, 25, 26). Here is pictured the religious life; the monk's cell -is barely furnished, but it is seldom without shelves of books and a -window opening upon a distant prospect; the teacher expounds to his -pupils the great volume on the desk before him; the priest administers -consolation to the dying and the bereaved, and encourages the feeble of -spirit and the sinful; the preacher discourses to his brethren and the -crowding people the Blessed Word; the nuns of the sisterhood perform -their daily offices of religion, the panel of the confessional slides -back for them, they wash the feet of the poor, they sit at table -together; all the pieties of their life, which knew no close human -relation, which knew only God and mankind, are depicted; and now and -then there is a thought, too, of the worldly life outside--here the -beautiful youths stop to gaze at the convent gates barred against them. -There are other cuts, also, of landscape, towers, and cities. The great -themes of religion are not forgotten--the Resurrection and the Judgment -unfold their secrets of justice and of the life eternal. In all the -religious spirit prevails, and gives to the whole series a simple and -sweet charm. One may look at them long, and be content to look many -times thereafter. - -[Illustration: FIG. 17.--The Stork. From the "Ortus Sanitatis." Venice, -1511.] - -[Illustration: FIG. 18.--View of Venice. From the "Fasciculus Temporum." -Venice, 1484.] - -[Illustration: FIG. 19.--The Contest of Apollo and Pan. From Ovid's -"Metamorphoses." Venice, 1518 (design, 1497).] - -[Illustration: FIG. 20.--Sirens. From the "Ortus Sanitatis." Venice, -1511.] - -[Illustration: FIG. 21.--Pygmy and Cranes. From the "Ortus Sanitatis." -Venice, 1511.] - -[Illustration: FIG. 22.--The Woman and the Thief. From "sop's Fables." -Venice, 1491 (design, 1481).] - -[Illustration: FIG. 23.--The Crow and the Peacock. From "sop's Fables." -Venice, 1491 (design, 1481).] - -This volume of St. Jerome was, however, only a worthy forerunner of the -Dream of Poliphilo, in which Italian wood-engraving, quickened by the -spirit of the Renaissance, displayed its most beautiful creations. It -was written by a Venetian monk, Francesco Columna, in 1467, and was -first printed by Aldus, in 1499. It is a mystical work, composed in -Italian, strangely mingled with Greek, Latin, Hebrew, and Arabic, and -its theme, which is the praise of beauty and of love, is obscured by -abstruse knowledge and by much varied learning. It recalls Dante's poem -in some ways. The Renaissance Dominican, too, was a lover with a human -Beatrice, of whom his dream is the memorial and the glory; like Dante, -he seems to symbolize, under the beauty and guardianship of his gracious -lady, a body of truth and a theory of life; and, as in Dante's poem -Beatrice typified Divine Wisdom and theology, his Polia stood for the -new gospel of this world's joy, for the loveliness of universal nature -and the perfection of ancient art; in adoring her he worships them, and -in celebrating her, as alike his goal and his guide through the mazes of -his changing dream, he exalts the virtue and the hope that lay in the -Renaissance ideal of life. There is, perhaps, no volume where the -exuberant vigor of that age is more clearly shown, or where the -objects for which that age was impassioned are more glowingly described. -This romantic and fantastic rhapsody mirrors every aspect of nature and -art in which the Italians then took delight--peaceful landscape, where -rivers flow by flower-starred banks and through bird-haunted woods; -noble architecture and exquisite sculpture, the music of soft -instruments, the ruins of antiquity, the legends of old mythology, the -motions of the dance, the elegance of the banquet, splendor of apparel, -courtesy of manners, even the manuscript, with its covers of purple -velvet sown with Eastern pearls--everything which was cared for and -sought in that time, when the gloom of asceticism lifted and disclosed -the wide prospect of the world lying, as it were, in the loveliness of -daybreak. Poliphilo wanders through fields and groves bright with this -morning beauty, voyages down streams and loiters in gardens that are -filled with gladness; he is graciously regaled in the palace, he attends -the sacrifice in the temple, where his eyes are charmed by every -exquisite ornament of art; he encounters in his progress triumphal -processions, as they wind along through the pleasant country, -bewildering the fancy with their lavish magnificence as of an Arabian -dream; chariots that are wrought out of entire precious stones, carved -with bass-reliefs from Grecian fables, and drawn by half-human centaurs -or strange animals,--elephants, panthers, unicorns, in trappings of silk -and jewels, pass before him, bearing exalted in their midst sculptured -figures, Europa and the Bull, Leda and the Swan, Dana in the shower of -gold, and, last and most wonderful, a vase, beautifully engraved and -adorned, out of which springs a golden vine, with leaves of Persian -selenite and grapes of Oriental amethyst; and about all are groups of -attendant nymphs, fauns, satyrs, mnads, and lovely women, crowned with -flowers, with instruments of music in their hands, chanting the praise -of Valor and of Pleasure; again, he lingers among ancient ruins and -remembers their perished glory, and falls into reflection, like that of -the traveller whom he describes, "among those venerable monuments which -still make Rome the queen of cities; where he sees," thinks Poliphilo, -"the hand of Time, which punishes the excess of pride; and, seeking then -on the steps of the amphitheatre the heads of the legions and that -conquering eagle, that Senate whose decrees made and unmade the kings of -the world, those profound historians, those eloquent orators, he finds -there only a rabble of beggars, to whom an ignorant and ofttimes lying -hermit preaches, only altars without honor and saints without a -believer; the artist reigns alone in that vast enclosure; pencil in -hand, rich with memories, he sees the whole of Rome, her pomp and her -glory, in one mutilated block which a fragment of bass-relief adorns." -Inspired by these thoughts, Poliphilo delays among like relics of the -past, and reads on shattered tombs the brief inscriptions which tell the -history of the lost lovers who lie beneath, while the pagan burden of -their sorrow, and the pagan calm of the "adieu" with which each -inscription ends, fill him with tender sentiment. So his dream drifts on -through ever-shifting scenes of beauty and ever-dying moments of delight -to the hour of awakening. These scenes and these moments, which -Francesco Columna called out of his imagination, are pictured in the one -hundred and ninety-two designs (Figs. 27, 28, 29, 30) which adorn his -book; here in simple outline are the gardens, groves, and streams, the -noble buildings, the bath, the palace and the temple, the feast, the -allegory of life, the thronging triumphs, the sacrifices, the ruins, the -tombs, the lover and his beloved, the priestess and the goddess, cupids, -bacchanals, and nymphs--a profusion of loveliness, joy, and revel; here, -too, among the others, are some dramatic scenes: the lion and the -lovers, Poliphilo fainting before Polia, and his revival at the touch of -her lips; altogether, they are a precious memorial of the Renaissance -spirit, reflecting alike its passion for the new learning, passing into -useless and pedantic knowledge, and its ecstacy of the senses passing -into voluptuous delight. - -[Illustration: FIG. 24.--The Peace of God. From "Epistole di San -Hieronymo Volgare." Ferrara, 1497.] - -[Illustration: FIG. 25.--Mary and the Risen Lord. From "Epistole di San -Hieronymo Volgare." Ferrara, 1497.] - -[Illustration: FIG. 26.--St. Baruch. From the "Catalogus Sanctorum." -Venice, 1506.] - -[Illustration: FIG. 27.--Poliphilo by the Stream. From the -"Hypnerotomachia Poliphili." Venice, 1499.] - -[Illustration: FIG. 28.--Poliphilo and the Nymphs. From the -"Hypnerotomachia Poliphili." Venice, 1499.] - -[Illustration: FIG. 29--Ornament. From the "Hypnerotomachia Poliphili." -Venice, 1499.] - -These designs, of which the few that can be given afford only a slight -idea, so various are they in beauty and feeling, have been attributed to -many illustrious masters, Giovanni Bellini and Raphael among others; but -perhaps the conjecture which assigns them to Benedetto Montagna is the -most probable. They show what remarkable artistic taste there was even -in the inferior masters of Italy. "They are," says Professor Sydney -Colvin,[38] "without their like in the history of wood-cutting; they -breathe the spirit of that delightful moment when the utmost of -imaginative _navet_ is combined with all that is needed of artistic -accomplishment, and in their simplicity are in the best instances of a -noble composition, a masculine firmness, a delicate vigor and graceful -tenderness in the midst of luxurious or even licentious fancy, which -cannot be too much admired. They have that union of force and energy -with a sober sweetness, beneath a last vestige of the primitive, which -in the northern schools of Italy betokens the concurrent influence of -the school of Mantegna and the school of Bellini." Italy never afterward -produced so noble a monument of the art as this work of its early days. - -[Illustration: FIG. 30.--Poliphilo meets Polia. From the -"Hypnerotomachia Poliphili." Venice, 1499.] - -[Illustration: FIG. 31.--Nero Fiddling. From the Ovid of 1510. Venice.] - -[Illustration: FIG. 32.--The Physician. From the "Fasciculus Medicin." -Venice, 1500.] - -[Illustration: FIG. 33.--Hero and Leander. From the Ovid of 1515. -Venice.] - -The art did not, however, fall into decline immediately. It is true that -wood-engraving never won for itself in Italy a place in the popular -esteem like that which it held in the North; the Italians were too fond -of color, and possessed too many master-pieces of the nobler arts, to -set a very high value on such simple effects; but, nevertheless, in the -first quarter of the sixteenth century there appeared in Venice, the -chief seat of the art, many volumes which were illustrated by woodcuts -of excellent design, such as this of Nero (Fig. 31), from an Ovid of -1510, the representation of the physician attending a patient stricken -with the plague (Fig. 32), from the _Fasciculus Medicin_, by Johannes -de Ketham, published in 1500, and that of Hero and Leander (Fig. 33), -from an Ovid of 1515. Of Venetian work of lesser merit, the -representation of Dante and Beatrice (Fig. 34), from a Dante of 1520, -and the cuts (Figs. 35, 36, 37, 38), from the Catalogue of the Saints, -by Petrus de Natalis, published in 1506, may serve as examples. The -whole Italian series, even as illustrated by the cuts here given, -exhibits a greater variety of interest, knowledge, and feeling than does -the work of any other nation, and affords a lively notion of the -manifold elements that went to make up the Renaissance; it reflects -fable, superstition, learning, the symbolism of medival theology, -ancient myth and legend, the rise of the modern feeling for nature, the -passion for beauty and art; and, ranging from the life of the scholar -and the nunnery to that of the beggar and the plague, it pictures -vividly contemporary times, while it adds to the interest of history and -humanity the interest of beauty. Its prime, however, was of brief -duration. Venetian engraving, and that of the other Italian cities also, -continued to be marked by this simplicity and skill in design until -1530, when cross-hatching was introduced from the North; after that date -wood-engraving shared in the rapid decline into which all the arts of -Italy fell in consequence of the internal troubles of the country, -which, from the time of the sack of Rome, in 1527, became the common -battlefield of Europe for generations. But, in the short space during -which the Italians practised the art with such success, they showed that -they had mastered it, and had come to an understanding of its -capacities, both as a mode of drawing in black line and as a mode of -relief in white line, such as appears in their arabesques and initial -letters, examples of which are scattered through this volume. They came -to this mastery and understanding before any other nation, because of -their artistic instinct; for the same reason, they did not surpass the -rudeness of German workmen in skill more than they excelled in simple -beauty of design the best of early French work, which was characterized -by such confused exuberance of fancy and such profusion of detail. They -breathed into the art the Italian spirit, and its presence made their -works beautiful. - -[Illustration: FIG. 34.--Dante and Beatrice. From the Dante of 1520. -Venice.] - -[Illustration: FIG. 35.--St. Jerome Commending the Hermit's Life. From -"Epistole di San Hieronymo." Ferrara, 1497.] - -[Illustration: FIG. 36.--St. Francis and the Beggar. From the "Catalogus -Sanctorum." Venice, 1506.] - -[Illustration: FIG. 37.--The Translation of St. Nicolas. From the -"Catalogus Sanctorum." Venice, 1506.] - -To the Italian love of color is due the development of what is known as -engraving in chiaroscuro, a process which, although it had been -practised in Germany since 1506, was claimed as a new invention by Ugo -da Carpi (1460-1523), at Venice, in 1516, and was carried by the -Italians to the highest point of perfection which it reached in the -sixteenth century. It was an attempt to imitate the results of -painting; two, and sometimes several, blocks were used in the process; -on the first the outlines and heavy shadows of the design were engraved, -and a proof was taken off; on the second block the lighter parts of the -design were engraved, and an impression was taken off from this on the -same print in a different color, or, at least, in a color of different -intensity; thus the original proof was overlaid with different tints by -successive impressions from different blocks, and a variety of shades -was obtained in the finished engraving, analogous to those which the -painter gets by laying flat tints over each other with the brush. Great -care had to be taken in laying the original proof down on the second -block, so that the lines of the design should fall in exactly the same -position as in the first block; it is owing to a lack of exactness in -this superposition of the proof on the later blocks that some of these -engravings are so displeasing. There was considerable variety in the -detail of the process. Sometimes the impression from the outline block -was taken last; sometimes the different impressions were taken off in -different colors, but usually in the same color of different -intensities; sometimes the impressions were taken off on colored paper. -The Italians used four blocks at an early time, and were able to imitate -water-colors with some success. All of their prints in this kind are -marked by more artistic feeling and skill than those of the Germans, -even when the latter are by masters. This application of the art, -however, is not a true development, and really lies outside its -province. - -[Illustration: FIG. 38--Romoaldus, the Abbot. From the "Catalogus -Sanctorum." Venice, 1506.] - - - - -V. - -_ALBERT DRER AND HIS SUCCESSORS._ - - -[Illustration: A FIG. 39.--From an Italian Alphabet of the 16th -Century.] - -Already, before the Dream of Poliphilo had been published in Venice, -wood-engraving in the North had passed into the hands of the great -German master who was to transform it; in the studio of Albert Drer -(1471-1528) it had entered upon its great period. The earlier German -engravers, whose woodcuts in simple outline, shadowed by courses of -short parallel lines, showed a nave spirit almost too simple for modern -taste, a force ignorant of the channels of expression and feeling -inexpert in utterance, did not know the full resources of their art. It -was not until the very close of the fifteenth century, when they -discarded the aid of the colorists, and sought all their effects from -simple contrast of black and white, that they conceived of -wood-engraving as an independent art; even then their sense of beauty -was so insignificant, and their power of thought was so feeble, that -their works have only an historical value. Drer was the first to -discover the full capacities of wood-engraving as a mode of artistic -expression; it had begun to imitate the methods of copperplate-engraving -before his day, but he saw immediately that it could not equal the rival -art in that delicacy of line and harmony of tone on which -copperplate-engraving depends for its excellence; the materials and -processes of wood-engraving required different methods, and Drer -prescribed them. He increased the size of the cuts, gave breadth and -boldness to the lines, and obtained new and pleasing effects from strong -contrasts of black and white. He thus showed the true method of -wood-engraving; but the art owes to him much more than this: he brought -to the practice of it the hand and brain of a great master, lifted it, a -mechanic's trade, into the service of high imagination and vigorous -intellect, and placed it among the fine arts--a deed of far more -importance than any improvements in processes or methods, even though -they have such brilliant consequences as followed Bewick's later -innovations. He taught the art a language, put meaning into its words, -and made it capable of conveying the ideas which art can express, and of -spreading them and the appreciation of them among the people. - -The application of Drer's genius to wood-engraving could not fail of -great results. He recorded in it the German Renaissance. Civilization -had gained much in freedom of thought, independence of action, and -community of knowledge, as well as in a respect for nature; but it was -still ruled by the devout and romantic spirit of the Middle Ages. Drer -shared in all the intellectual life of his time, alike in its study of -antiquity and its revolt against Rome; he was interested in all the -higher subjects for which his contemporaries cared, and his versatile -genius enabled him often to work with them in preparing the modern age, -but he was not touched by the modern spirit; in thought and feeling he -remained deeply religious, fantastic, picturesque, mystical--in a word, -medival. He did not possess the modern sense of limitation, the power -to restrict himself to realizing a definite conception, the power to -disregard and refuse what cannot be clearly seen and expressed, which -the modern age, when it came, gave to the perfect artist; he was not -content to embody his idea simply, directly, and forcibly; he -supplemented it with secondary thought and subordinate suggestion in -unmeasured profusion; he did not know when his work was done, but kept -on adding to it in the true wandering, Gothic spirit, which never -finishes its task, because its main purpose does not control it; he -allowed his fancy to encumber the noble work of his imagination, and -allegory to obscure the truth he uttered; he was not master of himself, -but was hurried on by the fire and speed of his own genius along paths -which led only to the obscure and the inaccessible. His imagination was -deeply suggestive, straightforward, and marvellously fertile in -invention; but he interpreted the imaginative world in terms of daily -and often homely life; he represented ideal characters, not under ideal -forms, but realistically under forms such as he saw about him; he knew -beauty only as German beauty, and life and its material surroundings -only as German life and German civilization; and thus his works are -characterized by an uncouthness which offends minds not habituated to -German taste. But there is no need to be irritated at this realism, this -content with gross forms, or to wish with Vasari that he had been born -in Italy and had studied antiquity at Florence, whereby he would have -missed that national endowment which individualized him and gave him a -peculiar charm. The grotesqueness disappears as the eye becomes -acquainted with the unfamiliar, and the mind is occupied with the -emotion, the intellectual idea, and imaginative truth, expressed in -these sometimes ugly modes, for they are of that rare value which wins -forgiveness for far greater defects of formal beauty than are apparent -in Drer's work. Although his spirit was romantic and uncontrolled, and -his imagination dealt with forms not in themselves beautiful, he -possessed the greatest energy of genius of all the masters who have -intrusted their works to wood-engraving, and with him it was a favorite -art. - -[Illustration: FIG. 40.--St. John and the Virgin. Vignette to Drer's -"Apocalypse."] - -[Illustration: FIG. 41.--Christ Suffering. Vignette to Drer's "Larger -Passion."] - -The first of the four famous series of designs by which his skill in -wood-engraving is best known was published in 1498, but it was probably -finished before that time. It consisted of fifteen large cuts in -illustration of the Apocalypse of St. John, to which a vignette (Fig. -40) of wonderful nobility and simplicity was prefixed. The theme must -have been peculiarly attractive to him, because of the opportunities it -afforded for grandeur of conception and for the symbolism in which his -genius delighted; it was supernatural and religious; it dealt with -images and thoughts on which the laws of this world imposed no -restraint, and revealed visionary scenes through types of awe, terror, -and mystery, the impressiveness of which had almost no human relation. -In attempting to bring such a theme within the compass of the powers of -expression which art possesses, he strove to give speech to the -unutterable, and to imprison the unsubstantial, so that it is no wonder -if, although the fertility of invention and power of drawing which he -displayed, and the variety and richness of effect which he obtained, -made his work a masterpiece of art, yet much of what he intended to -express is not readily comprehended. - -[Illustration: FIG. 42.--Christ Mocked. Vignette to Drer's "Smaller -Passion."] - -This series was succeeded by three others, in which the human interest -is far greater, although they are not unmarked by fantastic invention; -they were the Larger Passion of our Lord, a series of twelve cuts, -including this impressive vignette (Fig. 41), Christ Suffering; the Life -of the Virgin, a series of twenty cuts; and the Smaller Passion of our -Lord (Figs. 42, 43), a series of thirty-six cuts, the vignette to which -(Christ Mocked) is a design marvellous for its intensity, for its -seizure of the malignant, mocking spirit in devilish possession of every -lineament of the face and every muscle working in that sinuous gesture, -for the ideal endurance in the Saviour's attitude, which needs not those -symbols of his sufferings beside him for pity, though Drer's genius -must crowd every corner with thought and suggestion. These three great -series were published about 1511, and were probably the work of the -previous six years; they are full of force, and are characterized by -tenderness of sympathy and fervor of devotion, as well as by the -imaginative insight and power of thought which distinguish all his -works. They quickly became popular; several editions were issued, and -they were copied by more than one engraver, especially by the famous -Italian, Marc Antonio Raimondi, who reproduced the Smaller Passion on -copperplate. They marked an epoch in the history of wood-engraving. It -is not possible to over-estimate the debt which the art owes Drer, who -thus suddenly and by his own artistic insight revealed the power and -dignity which wood-engraving might attain, opened to it a great career, -and was its first master in the era of its most splendid accomplishment. - -[Illustration: FIG. 43.--The Descent into Hell. From Drer's "Smaller -Passion."] - -Besides these connected series of woodcuts, many others, making in all -three hundred and forty-seven, are attributed to Drer; and of these one -hundred and seventy are undoubtedly from his hand. They represent nearly -all aspects of German life in the early sixteenth century, and, taken -all together, afford a nearly complete picture of his time, not only in -its general characteristics, but in detail. They show for the first time -the power of wood-engraving to produce works of real artistic value, and -its power to record faithfully the vast variety of contemporary life. -Drer was himself the highest product of the new freedom of individual -development in the North, but his individuality gathered the age within -itself, and became universal in knowledge and interest; so that he was -not only the Reformer of German art and the greatest master in it, but -was in a true sense the historian of the German Renaissance; it is to -his works, and not least to his wood-engraving, that the student of that -age must have recourse for the truest record of its thought and feeling -at their best. - -In his later years he designed two other works which rank among the -chief monuments of wood-engraving; they were the Car and Gate of -Triumph, executed for the Emperor Maximilian, who was then the great -patron of the art, and employed it to perpetuate the glory of his reign -and realm. The Emperor, although the Italians made a jest of him, was -one of the most interesting characters in German history. He -illustrates in practical life, as Drer in artistic and intellectual -life, the age that was passing away, and he foreshadows more than Drer -the age that was coming on. He was romantic by nature, a lover of the -chivalric and picturesque elements of medival life; he was skilful in -all the manly sports which belonged to a princely education--a daring -hunter, and brave in the lists of the tourney; in affairs of more moment -he had always some great adventure in hand, the humbling of France, or -the destruction of Venice, or the protection of Luther; at home he was -devoted to reform, to internal improvements, to establishing permanently -the orderly methods of civilization, to the spread of commerce, and to -increasing the safety and facility of communication. He left his empire -more civilized than he found it; and if he was unsuccessful in war, he -was, in the epigram of the time, fortunate in love, and won by marriage -what the sword could not conquer, so that he prepared by the craft of -his diplomacy that union of the vast possessions of the House of Austria -which made his grandson, Charles V., almost the master of Europe. He was -a lover of art and books; and, being puffed up with imperial vanity, he -employed the engravers and printers to record his career and picture his -magnificence. The great works which by his order were prepared for this -purpose were upon a scale unthought of before that time, and never -attempted in later days. The Triumphal Car, which he employed Drer to -design, was a richly decorated chariot drawn by six pair of horses; the -Emperor is seated in it under a canopy amid female figures, representing -Justice, Truth, and other virtues, who offer him triumphal wreaths; the -driver symbolizes Reason, and guides the horses by the reins of Nobility -and Power; the wheels are inscribed with the words Magnificentia and -Dignitas, and the horses are attended by allegoric figures of swiftness, -foresight, prudence, boldness, and similar virtues. The whole design was -seven feet four inches in length, and about eighteen inches high. The -Gate of Triumph was similarly allegoric in conception; it was an arch -with three entrances, the central one being the gate of Honor and Power, -and those upon the right and left the gates of Nobility and Fame; the -body of the arch was ornamented with portraits of the Roman Emperors -from the time of Csar, shields of arms which indicated the Emperor's -descent and alliances, portraits of his relatives and friends, and -representations of his famous exploits. The size of the cut, which was -made up of ninety-two separate pieces, was about ten and a half feet by -nine and a half feet. In both of these works Drer was limited by the -directions which were given him, and neither of them are equal to his -original creations. - -[Illustration: FIG. 44.--The Herald. From "The Triumph of Maximilian."] - -[Illustration: FIG. 45.--Tablet. From "The Triumph of Maximilian."] - -The chief of the great works of Maximilian was the Triumphal -Procession,[39] which was designed by Hans Burgkmaier, of Augsburg -(1473-1531), whose secular and picturesque genius found its most -congenial occupation in inventing the figures of this splendid train of -nobles, warriors, and commons, on horse, foot, and in chariots, winding -along in symbolical representation of the Emperor's victories and -conquests, and in magnificent display of the wealth, power, and -resources of all the imperial dominions. The herald of the Triumph (Fig. -44), mounted upon a winged griffin, leads the march; behind him go two -led horses supporting a tablet (Fig. 45), on which is written: "This -Triumph has been made for the praise and everlasting memory of the -noble pleasures and glorious victories of the most serene and -illustrious prince and lord, Maximilian, Roman Emperor elect, and Head -of Christendom, King and Heir of Seven Christian Kingdoms, Archduke of -Austria, Duke of Burgundy and of other grand principalities and -provinces of Europe;" his fifer Anthony, with his attendants, his -falconers, led by Teuschel, their hawks pursuing prey, his hunters of -the chamois, the stag, the boar, and the bear, habited for the chase, -follow on; behind them richly caparisoned animals, elk, buffalo, and -camels, draw finely decorated chariots, in which are seated the -Emperor's favorite musicians (Fig. 46), playing diverse instruments; the -jesters (among them that famous Conrad von der Rosen whom Heine tenderly -remembered), the fools, the maskers, the fencers, knights of the tourney -and the joust, armed foot-soldiers of every service, continue the -procession, which lengthens out with cuirassed horsemen (Fig. 47) -carrying banners emblazoned with the arms of the Austrian provinces in -which the Emperor had waged war, and other horsemen (Fig. 48) in the -garb of peace, with standards of the faithful provinces, lasquenets -whose pennants are inscribed with the names of the great battles which -the Emperor had fought, trophy-cars filled with the armorial shields of -the conquered peoples, representations of the Emperor's marriage and -coronation, of the German Empire and the great wars--Flanders, -Burgundy, Hungary, Guelders, Naples, Milan, Venice, an unending -list--the symbols of military power, artillery, treasure, the statues of -the great rulers who were allied by blood to Maximilian or had ruled his -dominions before him, prisoners of war in chains, the Imperial Standard, -the Sword of the Empire, the counts, lords, and knights who owned the -Emperor's sovereignty--a splendid display of the pomp and pride of -medival life. Maximilian himself is the central thought of the whole; -he is never lost sight of in any smaller figure; his servants are there, -as their devices relate, because they served him; his provinces, because -he ruled them; his victories, because he won them; his ancestors, -because they were of his line. His personality groups the variety of -the procession round itself alone; but the real interest of the work -does not lie in him or his praise, but in the revelation there made of -the secular side of the Middle Ages, the outward aspect of life, the -ideal of worldly power and splendor, the spirit of pleasure and -festival, shown forth in this marvellously varied march of laurelled -horses and horsemen whose trappings and armor have the beauty and -glitter of peaceful parade. There is nowhere else a work which so -presents at once the feudal spirit and feudal delights in such -exuberance of picturesque and truthful display. - -[Illustration: FIG. 46.--The Car of the Musicians. From "The Triumph of -Maximilian."] - -[Illustration: FIG. 47.--Three Horsemen. From "The Triumph of -Maximilian."] - -The designs for this work were first painted upon parchment, and were -afterward reproduced by engraving in wood; but the reproduction varied -from the originals in important particulars. The series was far from -completion at the time of Maximilian's death, and was left unfinished; -it was never published until 1796, when the first edition appeared at -Vienna, whither the lost wood-blocks had found their way in 1779. In its -present shape the series consists of one hundred and thirty-five large -cuts, extending for a linear distance of over one hundred and -seventy-five feet; all but sixteen of these are reproductions of the -designs on vellum, which numbered two hundred and eighteen in all, and -these sixteen are so different in style from the others as to suggest a -doubt whether they belong to the Triumph or to some other unknown work. -Hans Burgkmaier is believed to be the designer of all except the few -that are ascribed to Drer; but, owing to their being engraved by -different hands, they vary considerably in merit. - -Maximilian also ordered two curious books to be prepared and adorned -with woodcuts in his own honor, a prose work entitled The Wise King, and -a poem entitled The Adventures of Sir Tewrdannckh. In these volumes the -example of his own life is offered for the instruction of princes, and -the history of his deeds, amours, courtship, perils, and temptations is -written, once for the edification, but now for the amusement, of the -world. The woodcuts in The Adventures of Sir Tewrdannckh are one hundred -and eighteen in number, and are principally, if not entirely, the work -of Hans Schuffelin (1490?-1540); they show how Sir Tewrdannckh, -attended by his squire, started out upon his travels, and what moving -dangers he encountered in his hunting, voyaging, tilting, and fighting, -under the guidance and instigation of his three great enemies, Envy, -Daring, and Curiosity, who at last, when he is happily at the end of his -troubles, are represented as meeting their own fate by the gallows, the -block, and the moat. The engravings are marked by spirit, and due -attention is given to landscape; but they are not infrequently too near -caricature to be pleasing, and cannot pretend to rank beside the other -works of Maximilian. This volume was printed during the Emperor's -lifetime, and was the only one of his works of which he saw the -completion. The Wise King was illustrated by two hundred and -thirty-seven cuts, of which several bear Burgkmaier's mark, one the mark -of Schuffelin and one that of Hans Springinklee (1470?-1540). They -picture the journey of the Emperor's father to Rome, the youth and -education of the young prince, his gradual acquirement of the liberal -arts--kingcraft, the black-art, medicine, the languages, painting, -architecture, music, cookery, dancing, shooting, falconry, angling, -fencing, tilting, gunnery, the art of fortification, and the like; -and they represent, in conclusion, his political career by means of -obscure allegory. They are similar to the illustrations in Sir -Tewrdannckh in general character, and, like them, are inferior to the -other works of Maximilian. In the composition of this volume Maximilian -is supposed to have had a considerable share; it was not printed entire -until 1775. - -[Illustration: FIG. 48.--Horseman. From "The Triumph of Maximilian."] - -These five great works, apart from their value as artistic productions -and their interest as historic records, have a farther importance -because of their influence upon the art, both in the way of -encouragement and of instruction. Although there has been much dispute -about the matter, it must now be acknowledged that the artists -themselves did not ordinarily engrave their designs, but left the actual -cutting of the block to the professional workmen; at most they only -occasionally corrected the lines after the engraver had cut them. The -works of Maximilian employed a number of these engravers, who practised -the art only as a craft; the experience these workmen gained in such -labor as they were now called upon to do, under the superintendence of -artists like Drer and Burgkmaier, who knew what engraving ought to be, -and who held up a high standard of excellence, was most valuable to -them, and made itself felt in a general improvement of the technical -part of the art everywhere. The standard of the engraver's craft was -permanently raised. The engravers' names now became known; and sometimes -the engraver received hardly less admiration for his skill in technique -than the artist for his power of design. - -Other distinguished artists united with Drer and the designers of -Maximilian's works in making this period of wood-engraving the most -illustrious in the German practice of the art. Lukas van Leyden -(1494-1533), whose youthful works in copperplate were wonderful, left -some woodcuts in Drer's bold, broad manner, which illustrate the -attempt of German art to acquire classical taste, and show so much the -more clearly the incapacity of the Germans in the perception of beauty. -The Cranachs, father (1472-1553) and son (1515-1586), who are -interesting because of the share they had in the Reformation, produced -some very striking works, such as the charming scene of the Repose in -Egypt, and were the first to practise chiaro-scuro engraving in the -North. Hans Baldung (1470-1552?), although his designs are sometimes -characterized by exaggeration and too great violence of action, ranks -with the best of the secondary artists of the time; and Hans -Springinklee, who has been already mentioned, reached a high degree of -excellence in his illustrations to the Hortulus Anim, which are still -valued. - -The works of these men, however, were only the most important and the -best of a vast number of woodcuts which, during the first half of the -sixteenth century, appeared in Germany during this period of the -greatest popularity of the art. Under the personal influence of Drer, -or under the influence of the numerous and widely-spread prints by -himself and his associates, many other artists of merit acquired skill -in engraving, both on metal and in wood, and employed it upon a great -variety of subjects. The devotion of medival art wholly to church -decoration and to the representation of religious scenes had passed away -in all quarters of the world; in Italy the artists had come to treat the -subjects of pagan imagination, the beings and scenes of classical -mythology; in Germany the people had homelier tasks, and religious art -there yielded to the interest which men felt in the incidents and -objects of common life; in both countries wealth took the place of -religion as the patron of art; and, although art still dealt with the -story of the Scriptures and the martyrs, because these filled so -important a place in the imagination of the people, still it had become -secularized. This change was naturally shown in the arts of engraving -more than in painting, because engraving in copper and on wood had a far -greater sphere of influence, and came into more intimate relations with -the popular life, and because the illustration of books offered a -greater variety of subject. In German engraving, from this time, the -actual life of the town and the peasantry was represented almost as -often as the history of the Saviour and the saints; the village -festival, the procession of the wedding-guests, the ftes of the town, -the employments and costumes of the citizens, recur with the same -frequency as the passion of the Lord and the Old Testament stories; the -joy and sorrow of ordinary life, the objects of ordinary observation and -thought, the humorous, the humble, and the satirical, sometimes -strangely mingled with ill-understood mythology and badly-caricatured -classicism, are the constant theme of the engravers. - -Chief among the successors of Drer who shared in this vast production -were the group of artists known as the Little Masters, although the name -is one of ill-defined and incomplete application; they were so called -because they chiefly engraved small designs; but they also engraved -large designs, and their number, which is usually limited to seven, -excludes some whose works are on the same small scale. The first of them -was Albrecht Altdorfer (1488-1538), said to have been the pupil of -Drer and the inventor of engraving in this manner; in his day he was -more celebrated as an architect and painter than as an engraver, but his -fame now rests on his works on copper and in wood. The best known of his -sixty-five woodcuts is the series of forty designs, scarcely three -inches by two in size, entitled the Fall and Redemption of Man, in -depicting which he had the Smaller Passion of Drer to guide him. In -these he attempted to obtain effects by the use of fine and close lines, -such as were employed in copperplate-engraving; but, although his -success was certainly remarkable, considering the rude mechanical -processes of the time, yet his method clearly produced results of -inferior artistic value in comparison with the works in the bold, broad -manner of Drer. All of his woodcuts, excepting four, are -representations of religious subjects; they are marked, like his other -works, by an attention to landscape, that truly modern object of art, of -which he probably learned the value from Drer, who was the first to -treat landscape with real appreciation. In Hans Sebald Behaim -(1500-1550?) the spirit of the age is revealed with great clearness and -variety (Fig. 49); both his life and his art were inspired by it. In his -early manhood he was banished from Nuremberg for denying the doctrines -of transubstantiation and the efficacy of baptism, and for entertaining -some vague socialistic and communistic opinions; but it is not clear to -what extent he held them, if he held them at all. He seems to have been -one of the most advanced of the religious Reformers, and he employed his -art in their service, as, for example, in a book entitled The Papacy, -which he illustrated with a series of seventy-four figures of the -different orders of monks in their peculiar costumes, beneath each of -which satirical lines were written. He is best known by his eighty-one -Bible-cuts, which were the most popular, perhaps, of the many series -published in that century, not excepting the impressive Bible figures of -Holbein; they passed through many editions, and were widely copied. The -first English Bible was illustrated by them. Besides these two series, -and one other in illustration of the Apocalypse, he designed many -separate prints, both in the small manner of the Little Masters and in -imitation of the large works of Maximilian, such as his Military Fte, -in honor of Charles V., his Fountain of Youth, and the prints of the -Marauding Soldiers, which measured four or five feet in length. His -representations of peasant life are peculiarly attractive, because of -the force of realism displayed in them, whether he depicted the marriage -festival, or mere jollity or drunken brawl. In the breadth of his -interests, in the variety of his subjects, and in his sympathy with the -special movements of his age, he was as an engraver more characteristic -of the civilization in which he lived than any other of the Little -Masters who gave their attention to wood-engraving. Of the rest of this -group none, excepting Hans Brosamer (1506-1552), left works in -wood-engraving of any consequence; he designed in a free and bold -manner, and his engravings are to be found in books of the third quarter -of the century. - -[Illustration: FIG. 49.--Virgin and Child. From a print by Hans Sebald -Behaim.] - -Other artists of this period devoted their attention to wood-engraving; -but as they did not mark any new progress in the art, or reflect any -aspect of German civilization which has not already been illustrated, -they need not be treated in any detail. Virgil Solis (1514-1562), a very -productive designer, who was employed by the Nuremberg printers to -illustrate the books by which they attempted to rival the productions of -the Lyonese press; Jobst Amman (1539-1591), whose excellent engravings -of costumes and trades are well known; Erhard Schn (d. 1550), Melchior -Lorch (1527-1586), whose works were of little merit; and Tobias Stimmer -(1539-1582), a popular designer for book illustration, are all who -deserve mention. Their engravings are inferior to the productions of -previous artists, and after their death the art in Germany fell into -speedy and irretrievable decay. - -The work of the wood-engravers who were imbued with the German spirit -exhibits the same excellences and defects as other German work in art. -It is characterized by vigor principally, and in its higher range it has -great value, because of the imaginative and reflective spirit by which -it was animated; in its lower range, as a portrayal of life and manners, -it derives from its realism an extraordinary interest. Its great -deficiency is its lack of beauty, and is due to the inborn feebleness of -the sense of beauty in the German race; but, notwithstanding this -deformity, German wood-engraving was invaluably useful in its day in the -cities where it became so popular, because it was so widely and -variously practised, and entered into the life of the people in so many -ways with an effective influence of which it is difficult to form an -adequate conception. It facilitated the spread of literature and helped -on the progress of the Reformation to a degree which is little -recognized; it disseminated ideas and standards of art, and made them -common property; and, finally, it prepared the way for the great master -who was to embody in wood-engraving the highest excellence of art and -thought. - - - - -VI. - -HANS HOLBEIN. - - -[Illustration: G FIG. 50.--From the "Epistole di San Hieronymo." -Ferrara, 1497.] - -Germany produced one artist who freed himself from the limitations of -taste and interest which the place of his birth imposed upon him, and -took rank with the great masters who seem to belong rather to the race -than to their native country. Hans Holbein was neither German nor -Italian, neither classical nor medival. The ideal of his art was not -determined by the culture of any single school, at home or abroad; far -less was it a jarring compromise between the aims and methods of -different schools; it grew out of a faithful study of all, and in it -were rationally blended the elements which were right in each. In style, -theme, and spirit he advanced so far beyond his contemporaries that he -became the first modern artist--the first to clear his vision from the -deceptions of religious enthusiasm, and to subdue in himself the -lawlessness of the romantic spirit; the first to perceive that only the -purely human interest gives lasting significance to any artistic work, -and to depict humanity simply for its own sake; the first to express -his meaning in a way which seems truthful and beautiful universally to -all cultivated men. In this lies the peculiar and profound value of his -works. - -Holbein was born at Augsburg, in 1495 or 1496, into a family of artists. -In that city, then the centre of German culture, he grew up amid the -stir of curiosity and thought which attended the discovery of the -Western World and the first movements of the Reformation. He handled the -pencil and the brush from boyhood, and produced works as wonderful for -their precocious excellence as the early efforts of Mantegna; he was -deeply impressed by the secular and picturesque genius of Burgkmaier, -the great artist of Augsburg, who may have first opened to him the value -of beauty of detail, and inculcated in him that carefulness in respect -to it which afterward distinguished him; he seems, too, even at this -early period, to have been touched by some Italian influence which may -have reached Augsburg in consequence of the close commercial relations -between that city and Venice. Holbein, however, did not arrive at any -mature development until after he left Augsburg and removed to Bsle, -whither he went in 1515, in order to earn his bread by making designs -for books--a trade which was then flourishing and lucrative in that -city. Bsle offered conditions of life more favorable, in some respects, -to the development of energetic individuality than did Augsburg; it was -already the seat of humanistic literature, at the head of which was -Erasmus, and it soon became the safest refuge of the persecuted -Reformers. In such a city there was necessarily a vigorous intellectual -life and a free and liberal spirit, which must have exerted great -influence upon the young artist, who by his profession was brought into -intimate relations with the most learned and advanced thinkers about -him. Holbein was at once profoundly affected by the literary and reform -movements which he was called upon to aid by his designs, and he threw -himself into their service with energy and sympathy. His art, too, under -the influence of Italy, and under the rational direction of his own -thought, grew steadily more refined in ideal and more finished in -execution. He soon learned the value of formal beauty, and gave evidence -that the work of the last great German painter was not to be marred by -German tastelessness. Hitherto the masters of German art, led by a -realistic spirit which did not discriminate regularly and with certainty -between the different values of the lovely and the unlovely, had -expressed their thought and feeling in familiar forms, and, -consequently, often in forms which shared in the grotesqueness, -bordering on caricature, and in the homeliness, bordering on ugliness, -that characterized much of actual German life. Holbein, whose realism -was governed by cultivated taste, expressed his thought and feeling in -beautiful forms. His predecessors had used a dialect of art, as it were, -which could never seem perfectly natural or be immediately intelligible -to any but their own countrymen; Holbein acquired the true language of -art, and was as directly and completely intelligible to the refined -Englishman or Italian as to the citizen of Augsburg or Bsle. Holbein -came, also, to an understanding of the true law of art; as he freed -himself from the Gothic dulness of sight in respect to beauty, he freed -himself from the Gothic license of reverie, fancy, and thought. He -limited himself to the clear and forcible expression of the idea he had -in mind; he admitted no details which interfered with his main purpose, -and which asserted a claim to be there for their own sake; he made every -accessary enforce or illustrate his principal design, and subordinated -each minor portion of his picture to the leading conception; he had one -purpose in view, and he preserved its unity. How different this was from -the practice of Drer, who introduced into his work whatever came into -his mind, however remotely it might be associated with his subject, who -repeated almost wearisomely the same idea in varying symbolism, and -dissipated the intensity of the thought by distracting suggestion -crowded into any available space, need not be pointed out; in just the -proportion in which Drer lost by his practice directness, simplicity, -and force, Holbein gained these by his own method, which was, indeed, -the method of great art, of the art which obeys reason, in distinction -from the art which yields to the wandering sentiment. Holbein differed -from Drer in another respect: he thoroughly understood what he meant to -express; he would have nothing to do with vague dreaming or mystical -contemplation; he thought that whatever could not be definitely -conceived in the brain, and clearly expressed by line and color, lay -outside the domain of his art; he gave up the phantoms of the enthusiast -and the puzzle of the theologian to those who cared for them, and fixed -his attention on human life as he saw it and understood it. He often -treated religious subjects, but in no different spirit from that in -which he treated secular subjects; in all it is the human interest which -attracts him--the life of man as it exists within the bounds of -mortality. Thus he arrived not only at the true language and the true -law of art, but also at its true object. This development of his genius -did not take place suddenly and at once; it was a gradual growth, and -reached full maturity only in his closing years; but, while he still -worked at Bsle, the essential lines of his development were clearly -marked, and he had advanced so far along them as to be even then the -most perfect artist whom the North had produced. - -Holbein began to practise wood-engraving as soon as he settled in Bsle, -and designed many titlepages, initial letters, and cuts for the -publishers of that city. The titlepages, which are numerous, were -usually in the form of an architectural frame, in which groups of -figures were introduced; they show how early his taste for the forms of -Italian architecture became pronounced, and how bold and free was his -power of drawing, and how highly developed was his sense of style, even -in his first efforts. He illustrated the books of the humanists, -especially the Utopia of Sir Thomas More, then a new and popular work; -and he designed the cuts for the biblical translations of Luther, and -for other publications of the Reformers. He served the Reformation, too, -in a humorous as well as in a serious way, for he was as much a master -of satire as of beauty. Two cuts in ridicule of the papal party are -particularly noticeable, one in which he satirizes the sale of -indulgences, contrasting it with true repentance; and one in which he -represents Christ as the Light of the World, with a group of sinners -approaching upon one side, and a group of papal dignitaries led by -Aristotle turning away on the other side. The illustrations in which he -depicts ordinary humble life, particularly the life of peasants and -children, make another great department of his lesser work in -wood-engraving; these scenes are sometimes separate cuts, and sometimes -introduced as backgrounds of initial letters, twenty alphabets of which -are ascribed to him; they represent the pastimes and sports of the -country, just as Holbein may have seen them at any time upon the -way-side, and are full of heartiness, humor, and reality. The sketches -from the life of boys and children are especially graceful and charming, -and reveal an ease and power in delineation which has seldom been -rivalled. This species of _genre_ art, which had first made its -appearance in wood-engraving, because it was considered beneath the -dignity of the higher arts, was very popular; by his work of this sort -Holbein contributed to the pleasure of the people, just as by his -co-operation with the Humanists and the Reformers he served them in more -important ways. Finally he produced at Bsle his two great works in -wood-engraving, the Dance of Death and the Figures of the Bible, which -are the highest achievements of the art at any time. - -The Dance of Death was an old subject. It had possessed for centuries a -powerful and sometimes morbid attraction for the artistic imagination -and for popular reflection. It was peculiarly the product of medival -Christian life, and survives as a representative of the great medival -ideas. That age first surrounded death with terrors, fastened the -attention of man continually upon his doom, and affrighted his spirit -with the dread of that unknown hour of his dissolution which should put -him in danger of the second death of immortal agony. In Greece death had -been the breaking of the chrysalis by the winged butterfly, or, at -least, only the extinction of the torch; here it was the gaunt and -grinning skeleton always jostling the flesh of the living, however -beautiful or joyous they might be. In the churches of the thirteenth -century there swung a banner emblazoned upon one side with the figures -of a youth and maiden before a mirror of their loveliness, and, upon the -reverse, with Death holding his spade beside the worm-pierced corpse; it -was the type of medival Christian teaching. The fear of death was the -recurring burden of the pulpit; it made the heart of every bowed -worshipper tremble, and was taught with fearful distinctness by the -pestilence that again and again suddenly struck the populations of -Europe. The chord of feeling was overstrained; the elastic force of life -asserted itself, and, by a strange transformation, men made a jest of -their terror, and played with death as they have never since done; they -acted the ravages of death in pantomime, made the tragedy comic, put the -figure of Death into their carnivals, and changed the object of their -alarm into the theme of their sport. In the spirit of that democracy -which, in spite of the aristocratic structure of medival society, was -imbedded in the heart of the Christian system, where every soul was of -equal value before God, the people turned the universal moral lesson of -death into a satire against the great; Death was not only the common -executioner, he arrested the prelates and the nobles, stripped them of -their robes and their possessions, and tried them whether they were of -God or Mammon. In these many-varied forms of terror, sport, and irony -Death filled the imagination and reflection of the age; the shrouded -figure or the naked skeleton was seen on the stage of the theatre, amid -the games of the people, on the walls of the churches and the -monasteries, throughout the whole range of art and literature. Holbein -had looked on many representations of this idea: where, as in Drer's -work, Death attends knight and beggar; or where, as in the Nuremberg -Chronicle, the skeletons dance by the open grave; or where, as in the -famous series at Bsle, Death humbles every rank of life in turn. But -Holbein did not look on these scenes as his predecessors had done; he -was free from their spirit. He took the medival idea and re-moulded it, -as Shakspeare re-moulded the tradition of Denmark and Italy, into a work -for all times and generations. He represented Death, but with an -artistic power, an imaginative fervor, a perception of the constant -element in its interest for mankind, which lifted his work out of -medivalism into universal truth; and in doing this he not only showed -the high power of his art, but he unlocked the secrets of his character. - -[Illustration: FIG. 51.--The Nun. From Holbein's "Images de la Mort." -Lyons, 1547.] - -[Illustration: FIG. 52.--The Preacher. From Holbein's "Images de la -Mort." Lyons, 1547.] - -This work is, in the first edition (1538), a series of forty-one small -cuts, in each of which is depicted the triumph of Death over some person -who is typical of a whole class. Each design represents with intense -dramatic power some scene from daily life; Death lays his summons upon -all in the midst of their habitual occupations: the trader has escaped -shipwreck, and "on the beach undoes his corded bales;" Death plucks him -by the cloak; the weary, pack-laden peddler, plodding on in his -unfinished journey, turns questioningly to the delaying hand upon his -shoulder; the priest goes to the burial of the poor, Death carries the -candle in a lantern before him, and rings the warning bell; the -drunkard gulps his liquor, the judge takes his bribe, the miser counts -his gold--Death interrupts them with a sneer. What poetic feeling, what -dramatic force, there is in the picture of the Nun! (Fig. 51.) She -kneels with head averted from the altar of her devotions toward the -youth who sits upon the bed playing the lute to her sleeping soul, and -at the moment Death stands there to put out the light of the taper which -shall leave her in darkness forever. What sharp satire there is in the -representation of the Preacher (Fig. 52), dilating, perhaps, in his -accustomed, half-mechanical way, upon the terrors of that very Death -already at his elbow! What justness of sight, what grimness of reality, -there is in the representation of the Ploughman (Fig. 53); how directly -does Holbein bring us face to face with the human curse--in the sweat of -thy brow thou shalt earn death! George Sand, looking out on the spring -fields of her remote province and seeing the French peasants ploughing -up the soft and smoking soil, remembered this type of peasant life as -Holbein saw it, and described this cut in words that vivify the -concentrated meaning of the whole series. "The engraving," she says, -"represents a farmer guiding the plough in the middle of a field. A vast -plain extends into the distance, where there are some poor huts; the -sun is setting behind a hill. It is the close of a hard day's work. The -peasant is old, thickset, and in tatters; the team which he drives -before him is lean, worn out by fatigue and scanty food; the ploughshare -is buried in a rugged and stubborn soil. In this scene of sweat and -habitual toil there is only one being in good spirits and light of foot, -a fantastic character, a skeleton with a whip, that runs in the furrow -beside the startled horses and beats them--as it were, a farmer's boy. -It is Death." She takes up the story again, after a while. "Is there -much consolation," she asks, "in this stoicism, and do devout souls find -their account therein? The ambitious, the knave, the tyrant, the -sensualist, all the proud sinners who abuse life, and whom Death drags -away by the hair, are on their way to a reckoning, no doubt; but the -blind, the beggar, the fool, the poor peasant, is there any amends for -their long wretchedness in the single reflection that death is not an -evil for them? No! an inexorable melancholy, a dismaying fatality, -weighs upon the artist's work. It is like a bitter curse launched on the -universal human lot."[40] - -[Illustration: FIG. 53.--The Ploughman. From Holbein's "Images de la -Mort." Lyons, 1547.] - -Certainly the artist's work is a bold and naked statement of man's -mortality, of the close of life contrasted with the worth of its career; -but the melancholy of his work is not more inexorable, its fatality is -not more dismaying, than the reality he saw. He did not choose for his -pencil what was unusual, extraordinary, or abnormal in life; he depicted -its accustomed course and its fixed conclusion in fear, folly, or -dignity. He took almost every character among men, almost every passion -or vice of the race, almost every toil or pursuit in which his -contemporaries engaged, and confronted them with their fate. The king is -at his feast, Death pours the wine; the poor mother is cooking her -humble meal at the hearth, Death steals her child; the bridal pair walk -on absorbed, while Death beats their wedding-march with glee. Throughout -the series there is the same dramatic insight, the same unadorned -reality, the same humanity. Here and there the spirit of the Reformer -reveals itself: the Pope in the exercise of his utmost worldly power -crowns the emperor, but behind is Death; a devil lurks in the shadow, -and over the heads of the cardinals are other devils; the monk, abbot, -and prioress--how they resist and are panic-stricken! There can be no -doubt at what Holbein reckoned these men and their trade. Holbein showed -here, too, his sympathy with the humbler classes in those days of -peasant wars, of the German Bible, and of books in the vulgar -tongue--the days when the people began to be a self-conscious body, with -a knowledge of the opportunities of life and the power to make good -their claim to share in them; as Holbein saw life, it was only the -humble to whom Death was not full of scorn and jesting, they alone stood -dignified in his presence. Beneath this sympathy with the Reformers and -the people need we look farther, as Ruskin does, to find scepticism -hidden in the shadows of Holbein's heart? Holbein saw the Church as -Avarice, trading in the sins of its children; as Cruelty, rejoicing in -the blood of its enemies; as Ignorance, putting out the light of the -mind. There was no faltering in his resolute, indignant denial of that -Church. Did he find any refuge elsewhere in such hope and faith as -remain to man in the suggestions of his own spirit? He saw Death's -triumph, and he made men see it with his eyes; if he saw more than that, -he kept silence concerning it. He did not menace the guilty with any -peril save the peril of Death's mockery; he spoke no word of consolation -for the good; for the inevitable sorrow of the child's loss there is no -cure, for the ploughman's faithful labor there is no reward except in -final repose by the shadow of the distant spire. He did not open the -heavens to let through one gleam of immortal life upon the human lot, -unless it be in the Judgment, where only the saved have risen; -nevertheless, the purport of that scene, even if it be interpreted with -the most Christian realism, cannot destroy the spirit of all others. -"Inexorable melancholy, dismaying fatality"--these, truly, are the -burden of his work. - -The series holds high rank, too, merely as a product of artistic skill. -It shows throughout the designer's ease, simplicity, and economy in -methods of work, his complete control of his resources, and his unerring -correctness in choosing the means proper to fulfil his ends; few lines -are employed, as in the Italian manner, and there is little -cross-hatching; but, as in all great art, every line has its work to do, -its meaning, which it expresses perfectly, with no waste of labor and no -ineffectual effort. In sureness of stroke and accuracy of proportion the -drawing is unsurpassed; you may magnify any of the designs twelve -times, and even the fingers will show no disproportion in whole or in -part. It is true that there is no anatomical accuracy; no single -skeleton is correctly drawn in detail, but the shape of Death, guessed -at as a thing unknown, is so expressed that in the earliest days of the -work men said that in it "Death seemed to live, and the living to be -truly dead." The correctness, vigor, and economy of line in the drawing -of these cuts made them a lesson to later artists like Rubens, merely as -an example of powerful and truthful effects perfectly obtained at the -least expense of labor. In this respect they were in design a triumph of -art, as much as they were in conception a triumph of imagination. - -Holbein made the original drawings for the Dance of Death before he left -Bsle in 1526; but, although some copies were printed in that city, the -work did not become known until it was published in 1538 by the -Trechsels at Lyons, where it appeared without Holbein's name. This -latter circumstance, in connection with a passage in the preface of this -edition, led some writers to question Holbein's title to be considered -the designer of the series, although his friend, Nicolas Bourbon de -Vandoeuvre, the poet, calls him the author of it in a book published at -Lyons in 1538, while Karl van Mander, of Holland, in 1548, and Conrad -Gesner, of Zurich, in 1549, ascribe it to him, and their statements were -unhesitatingly accepted until doubt was expressed in our own time. The -passage in the preface of the first Lyons edition, on which the sceptics -rely, mentions the death "of him who has here imaged (_imagin_) for us -such elegant designs as much in advance of all hitherto issued as the -paintings of Apelles or Zeuxis surpass those of the moderns;" but this -is generally considered to refer to the engraver, Hans Ltzelburger, who -cut the designs in wood after Holbein's drawing, and deserves all the -praise for their extraordinarily skilful technical execution. This is -the most satisfactory explanation which can be framed; but, if it is not -accepted, the balance of evidence in favor of Holbein is so great as to -be conclusive. The original drawings, made with a pen and touched with -bistre, are in the cabinet of the Czar, and show the excellence of the -draughtsmanship more clearly than the woodcuts; the engraver omitted -some striking details, but in general his fidelity and correctness of -rendering were remarkable. The first edition at Lyons contained only -forty-one of the original designs, of which there are forty-six at St. -Petersburg; the later editions, published by Frellon, increased the -number to fifty-three in 1547, and fifty-eight in 1562, including some -beautiful cuts of children at the end of the volume. The popularity of -the work was very great; the text was printed in French, Latin, and -Italian, and thirteen editions from the original blocks were issued -before 1563. Since that time it has been published many times; but the -engravings in the later editions, which were copied from the originals -by workmen much inferior to Ltzelburger, have little comparative value. -Between forty and fifty editions have been printed from wood-blocks, and -as many more from copperplate. - -[Illustration: FIG. 54.--Nathan Rebuking David. From Holbein's "Icones -Historiarum Veteris Testamenti." Lyons, 1547.] - -The Figures of the Bible, which made a series of ninety-two -illustrations of the Old Testament, showed the same qualities of -Holbein's genius as did the Dance of Death, but generally in less -perfection. In designing many of these cuts Holbein accepted the types -of the previous artists, just as nearly all the great painters -frequently took their conceptions of scriptural scenes from their -predecessors; hence these Bible Figures show a marked resemblance in -their general composition to the earlier woodcuts in illustration of the -Scriptures. But while Holbein followed the earlier custom in -representing two or three associated actions in one scene, and kept the -same relative arrangement of the parts, he essentially modified the -total effect by omitting some elements, subordinating others, giving -prominence to the principal group, and informing the whole picture with -a far more vigorous, thoughtful, and expressive spirit. In artistic -merit some of these designs are among the best of Holbein's work; but -the technical skill of the wood-engraver who cut them is inferior to -that shown in the Dance of Death. The scene in which Nathan is -represented rebuking David (Fig. 54) is especially noble in conception: -the prophet does not clothe himself in any superior human dignity as a -divine messenger; but, mindful only of the supreme law which is over all -men equally, kneels loyally and obediently before his king, and calls on -him to humiliate himself, not before man, but in the solitary presence -of God. The power of the universal law, independent alike of the majesty -of the criminal or the lowliness of its servant, has never been pictured -with greater subtlety and force than is here done. There are others -among these designs of equal excellence, both in imagination and art, -but in all the best of them there is some human interest in the scene -which attracted Holbein's heart; in others, such as the illustrations to -the books of the Prophets, he falls into a feebleness of conception and -baldness of allegorical statement which shows clearly how little he -cared for what was merely supernatural. The series, nevertheless, is, as -a whole, the best which was made in that century, and was reprinted -several times to satisfy the popular demand for it; it first appeared, -contemporaneously with the Dance of Death, in 1538, at Lyons; the text -was afterward published in Latin, French, Italian, Spanish, and English, -but the work never obtained the extraordinary popularity of the Dance of -Death. It is noteworthy that no edition of either work was printed in -German--so far had Holbein outstripped his countrymen in the purity of -art. - -When these two works appeared at Lyons, Holbein had been for many years -a resident at the English court, where he painted that series of -portraits which remains unsurpassed as a gallery of typical English men -and women represented by an artist capable of revealing character as -well as of portraying looks. In these later years of his life he busied -himself but little with designing for woodcuts, but he did not entirely -neglect the art, and was, without doubt, of great service in spreading a -taste for it in England, and in improving its practice there. The -English printers imported their best woodcuts, and probably -wood-engraving was hardly a recognized English art before Holbein's day. -The great titlepage which he designed for Coverdale's Bible in 1535 was -apparently cut by some Swiss engraver, as were some other similar works; -but a few designs, which Holbein seems to have drawn so as to require -the least possible skill in the engraver to reproduce them, were -apparently executed in England. They were produced when England was -separating from Rome, in the time of Cromwell's power, and are marked by -the same satirical spirit as Holbein's earlier work at Bsle; the -self-righteous Pharisee wears a cowl, the lawyers, who are offended when -Christ casts out the devil from the possessed one, have bishops' mitres; -the unfaithful shepherd who flees when the wolf comes is a monk. These -cuts, in which Holbein last used his art as a weapon of civilization, -mark the close of his practice of it. - -In the course of that practice he had not merely found utterance for his -genius, but he had shown the entire adequacy of wood-engraving for the -purposes of the artist when the laws which spring out of its peculiar -nature are most rigidly observed. He had employed it with complete -success as a mode of obtaining beautiful architectural design, of -depicting charming _genre_ scenes, of attacking abuses by the keenest -and most effective irony, of making real for the popular comprehension -the solemn and beautiful stories of the Scriptures, and of expressing -passionate feeling and profound thought; and he thus exercised upon his -own time and upon the future an influence which was perhaps more -powerful than that exercised by any contemporary artists. Within the -limits of the Dance of Death he had embodied in wood-engraving tragedy -and humor, satire and sermon, poetic sentiment, dramatic action, and -wise reflection, and he thus gave to that work a special interest for -his contemporaries as an expression of the sympathies, efforts, and -problems of that time, and an enduring interest for all men as the -truest picture of universal human life seen at its most tragic moment -through the hollow sockets of Death. He did this without offering -violence to the peculiar nature of the art, without wresting it from its -appropriate methods or requiring of it any difficult effort; he -perceived more clearly than Drer the essential conditions under which -wood-engraving must be practised, and he conformed to them. If he had -needed cross-hatching, fine and delicate lines, harmonies of tone, and -soft transitions of light, he would have had recourse to copperplate; -but not finding them necessary, he contented himself with the bold -outlines, easily cut and easily printed, which were the peculiar -province of wood-engraving, and by means of them created works which not -only made wood-engraving illustrious, but rank with the high -achievements and valuable legacies of the other arts of design. Holbein -was one of the great geniuses of the race, and he put into his works the -fire and wisdom of genius; but, independently of what his works contain, -and merely as illustrations of artistic methods, they show for the first -time an artist perceiving and choosing to obey the simple laws of the -art, and exhibiting its compass and capacity, its wealth and utility, -within the sphere of those laws. This thorough understanding and -rational practice of the art, in connection with his intellectual and -artistic powers, made Holbein the most perfect master who has ever left -works in wood-engraving, and give his works the utmost value both as -forms of art and as embodiments of imagination and thought. - - - - -VII. - -THE DECLINE AND EXTINCTION OF THE ART. - - -[Illustration: T FIG. 55.--From "Opera Vergiliana," printed by Sacon. -Lyons, 1517.] - -The wood-engravers of France produced no great works like those of -Maximilian, and no single cuts of the artistic value of those by Drer -and his contemporaries. They limited themselves almost exclusively to -the illustration of books. The early printers, who had expended so much -care in the adornment of their religious books, were succeeded by other -printers who were hardly less animated by enthusiastic devotion to their -art, as was shown by their efforts to make their works beautiful both in -text and illustration. The Renaissance had now penetrated into France, -and entered into the arts. Geoffrey Tory (c. 1480-1533), who had -travelled in Italy, appears to have been the first to introduce a -classical spirit into wood-engraving; from his time two distinct schools -may be distinguished in French wood-engraving--one Germanic and archaic, -the other filled by the Italian spirit. The most distinguished engravers -belonged to the latter school, and their work was characterized by the -curiously modified Italian taste which marked the French Renaissance. -They understood design, and showed considerable power in it; they -regarded the main lines and principal harmonies and contrasts of masses -which are necessary to it; but they transformed its simplicity into -elegance, and overlaid it with ornamentation and trifling detail which -marred its effect, and gave to their works an appearance of -artificiality, of over-labored refinement and mistaken scrupulousness of -taste. As a rule, indeed, taste was their characteristic rather than a -developed sense of beauty, and skill rather than power. Finally, they -passed, by a natural progress, into a complexity and fineness of line -which are unsuitable to wood-engraving; they lost the sense of unity in -the abundance of detail, and were forced to give up engraving in wood -and adopt engraving on copperplate, which was so much better fitted to -the meaningless excess of delicacy and accumulation of ornament in which -the French Renaissance ended. - -The most talented of the French designers for wood-engraving was Jean -Cousin (1501-1589), a member of the Reformed Church, little favored at -court and much neglected by his contemporaries. He appears to have been -of a robust and independent spirit, an admirer of Michael Angelo and the -Italians, and an industrious and painstaking workman in many branches of -art. A large number of designs are ascribed to him; but, as is the case -with nearly all the French engravers, there is great difficulty in -making out what really was his work. Among the characteristic products -of French wood-engraving were representations of royal triumphal entries -into the great cities of the kingdom. Two of these are ascribed to -Cousin--the entry of Henry II. into Paris, published in 1549, and his -entry into Rouen, published in the next year. In the latter the captains -of Normandy lead the march; they are followed by ranks of foot-soldiers, -trumpeters, men holding aloft laurel wreaths, other men with antique -arms and banners, and a band which, with a reminiscence from Roman -festivals, carry lambs in their arms for sacrifice to the gods; next -succeed new ranks of soldiers, then elephants and captives, the fool and -musicians leading on Flora and her nymphs, after whom comes the Car of -Happy Fortune, on which the royal family are enthroned, and the -triumphal Chariot of Fame; the procession closes with men-at-arms and -two captains, with succeeding scenes of some places by which the pageant -had passed. In this work the French Renaissance shows itself in the -prime of its career, when some simplicity and nobility of design were -still kept, and the tendency toward refinement of line and -multiplication of ornament were still held in check by a regard for -unity of effect. The Entry of Henry II. into Paris is, perhaps, even -more excellent. The two works rank with the best French wood-engraving -in the sixteenth century. - -The characteristics by which the French Renaissance differed from the -Renaissance in Italy are more clearly and easily seen in the -reproduction of the Dream of Poliphilo, which was published in 1554, and -is ascribed to Cousin. The French artist did not copy the beautiful -designs of the Venetian; he kept the general character of each woodcut, -it is true, but he varied the style. He made Poliphilo elegant in -figure, taller and more modish in gesture and attitude; he represented -the landscape in greater detail and with more realism; he gave greater -height and more careful proportion to the architecture, added ornaments -to its bare faades and smooth lintels, and in the subordinate portions -he varied the curvature of the lines and made them more complex; in the -lesser figures, the statues and monumental devices, he allowed himself -more liberty in changing the original designs, and sometimes practically -transformed them; finally, he introduced a more vigorous dramatic action -throughout, and attempted to obtain more difficult effects of contrast -and to give relief to the figures. Nevertheless, the improvements which -the taste of Cousin required are distinctly injurious. The French -reproduction is inferior to the Italian original in feeling for design, -in simple beauty, in the force and directness of its appeal to the -artistic sense, in the power and sweetness of its charm; much that was -lovely in the original has become simply pretty, much that was noble and -striking has become only tasteful; especially that quality, by virtue of -which the original possessed something suggestive of the calm beauty of -sculpture, has vanished, and in the effort of the new designer to obtain -pictorial effects one has an unpleasant sense of something like -weakness. The comparative study of the two volumes is of extreme -interest, so clearly do they illustrate the different temper of the -Renaissance in France and Italy. France received the word of inspiration -from Italy, but could not become its oracle. Even at that early day -French art was marked by the dispersion of interest, the regard for -externals, and the inability to create the purest imaginative work, -which have since characterized the French people, despite their facility -in acquisition and the ease with which they reach the level of -excellence in any pursuit. - -Of the other works, known or supposed to be by Cousin, the Book of -Perspective, published in 1560, is the most remarkable, because in its -designs considerable difficulties are overcome, and greater power of -relief is shown than in any previous French wood-engraving. This book -was a treatise, similar to those by Drer and Leonardo da Vinci upon the -laws of art, and its dedication is noticeable because of the light it -throws on Cousin's spirit--"neither to kings nor princes, as is -customary," he says, "but to the public." The Bible, usually called Le -Clerc's, which contains two hundred and eighty-seven woodcuts, is said -to be by Cousin, but of this there is no direct evidence; and to him is -ascribed the Triumphal Entry of Charles IX., published in 1572, and -supposed by some to have been designed by the engraver Olivier Codor; -many other works are also added to his list, but they were inferior in -value to those which have been described, and were unmarked by any -special interest. In consequence of the fineness and number of his -productions Cousin must be considered the principal French engraver of -the century; and he undoubtedly deserves a high rank among the artists -of talent, in distinction from the artists of genius, who have practised -wood-engraving. - -About Cousin there were a number of other designers who gave attention -to the art and left works of value; but these works bear so much -resemblance to one another that it is frequently impossible to recognize -in them the hand of any individual of the school--a difficulty by which -Cousin's reputation has profited, because of the eagerness of his -admirers to ascribe to him any excellent work in his style which is not -definitely known to belong to some one of his contemporaries. These -lesser artists were Jean Goujon (c. 1550), who made some excellent cuts -for a Vitruvius of 1547, and is believed by some authorities to have -designed the reproduction of the Dream of Poliphilo; Pierre Woeiriot (b. -1532), whose biblical cuts inserted in a Josephus of 1566 have much -merit; Jean Tortorel (b. 1540?) and Jacques Prissin (b. 1530?), who -designed some interesting illustrations of the Huguenot wars; and -Philibert de Lorme (c. 1570) and Jean Le Clerc (1580-1620), whose -productions are of comparatively little interest. The works of all these -artists lacked that intimate relation with the life of the people which -made the engravings of the lesser German designers valuable, and have -importance only as illustrations of the development of French art in the -Renaissance. - -The only artist who can contest Cousin's foremost place in French -wood-engraving is Bernard Salomon (c. 1550), usually called the Little -Bernard, from the small size of his cuts, who was the leading designer -of Lyons. That city had retained its importance as a centre of popular -literature illustrated by woodcuts, and is said to have sent forth more -books of this kind in the latter part of the sixteenth century than any -other city in Europe. The works of Holbein were the pride of the Lyonese -art, and exerted great influence upon the style of the designers who -were constantly employed in the service of the Lyonese press. Bernard -worked in the small manner which Holbein had made popular, and he -learned from him how to compress much in a little space; but he -multiplied details, and carried the lines to an extreme of fineness -which his engravers were unable to do justice to in cutting the block. -As is the case with Cousin, a vast number of designs are attributed to -Bernard, simply because they are sufficiently excellent to have been -his work; according to Didot, no less than twenty-three hundred cuts -have been claimed for him, and it is believed by some writers that he -not only designed but engraved this large number. A large proportion of -these must have been produced by the unknown contemporaries of Bernard, -because, although he gave his attention wholly to wood-engraving for -thirty years, he could not have accomplished so great a work. His -best-known designs are the illustrations to an Ovid, published by Jean -de Tournes, and two hundred and thirty cuts for the same printer's -edition of the Bible: these rank next to Cousin's works as the most -remarkable productions of French wood-engraving in the sixteenth -century. Of the other Lyonese designers very little is known; indeed, no -other important name has been preserved, excepting that of Jean Moni (c. -1570), who is remembered for a series of Bible cuts inferior to those by -Bernard. In Lyons, as in the rest of France, wood-engraving lost its -value toward the close of the century, in consequence of its attempts at -a kind of delicacy and refinement beyond its reach and inappropriate to -its class; it did not appeal to the taste of the late Renaissance, and -by degrees the engravers lost their technical skill, and the artists -gave up its practice as a fine art. This result was also partly due to -the contempt into which the popular romantic literature of the preceding -century had fallen, and to the degradation of wood-engraving as a mode -of coarse caricature. Copperplate-engraving gradually supplanted the -more simple art, and finally the practice of wood-engraving became -extinct. - -[Illustration: FIG. 56.--St. Christopher. From a Venetian print.] - -[Illustration: FIG. 57.--St. Sebastian and St. Francis. Portion of a -print by Andreani after Titian.] - -In Italy the older style of woodcuts in simple outline continued to be -followed long after it was abandoned in the North. The designs in -Italian books up to the year 1530, when cross-hatching was introduced, -do not differ essentially in character from those of which examples have -already been given. The names of the artists who produced them are -either obscure or unknown, excepting Leonardo da Vinci, to whom are -ascribed the cuts in Luca Pacioli's volume, De Proportione Divina, -published in 1509, and Marc Antonio Raimondi (1478-1534), to whom are -ascribed the remarkably excellent cuts in a volume entitled Epistole et -Evangelii Volgari Hystoriade, published in 1512 in Venice. From the -first, Venice (Fig. 56) had been the chief seat of wood-engraving in -Italy, and now became the rival of Lyons. The most distinguished of the -group of artists who produced woodcuts in that city was Nicolo Boldrini -(c. 1550), who designed several engravings (Fig. 59) after Titian -(1476?-1575) with such boldness and force that some writers have -believed Titian to have drawn the design on the block for Boldrini to -engrave. The works of Titian and other Venetian painters were reproduced -in the same way by Francesco da Nanto (c. 1530); and by other artists, -like Giovanni Battista del Porto (c. 1500), Domenico delle Greche (c. -1550), and Giuseppe Scolari (c. 1580), who also sometimes made woodcuts -from their own designs. Besides these engravings, some very large cuts, -similar to those which the German artists had attempted, were printed -from several blocks; but they have little interest. The illustrations in -Vesalius's Anatomy, published at Bsle in 1543, in which wood-engraving -was first employed as an aid to scientific exposition, were designed in -Venice by Jean Calcar, a pupil of Titian, and are of extraordinary -merit. Finally, in the cuts by Cesare Vecellio (1550-1606) for the -volume entitled Habiti Antiche e Moderne, published in 1590, Venetian -wood-engraving produced its last excellent work--so excellent, indeed, -that the designs have been attributed to Titian himself, who was the -uncle of Vecellio. - -[Illustration: FIG. 58.--The Annunciation. From a print by Francesco da -Nanto.] - -[Illustration: FIG. 59.--Milo of Crotona. From a print by Boldrini after -Titian.] - -The Italians devoted themselves with especial ardor to wood-engraving in -chiaroscuro, and from the time when Ugo da Carpi introduced it in Venice -it was practised by many artists. Nearly all of those designers who have -been mentioned left works in chiaroscuro engraving as well as in the -ordinary manner. Beside them, Antonio da Trento (c. 1530), Giuseppe -Nicolo (c. 1525), Andrea Andreani (c. 1600), and Bartolemeo Coriolano -(c. 1635) produced chiaroscuro engravings which are now much valued and -sought for by collectors of prints. The Italian love of color led these -artists into this application of wood-engraving, which must be regarded -as a wrongly-directed and unfruitful effort of the art to obtain results -beyond its powers. The Italians had been the first to discover the -capacity of wood-engraving as an art of design, but they never developed -it as it was developed in Germany; when they gave up the early simple -manner in which they had achieved great results, and began to follow the -later manner, the great age of Italy was near its close, and the arts -felt the weakening influences of the rapid decline in the vigor of -society. At Venice the arts remained for a while longer powerful and -illustrious, and wood-engraving shared in the excellence which -characterized all the artistic work of that city; but the place which -wood-engraving held in the estimation of the Venetians appears to have -been far lower than its place in the North, where it was popular and -living, highly valued and widely influential as it could not be in any -Italian city. At last in Italy, as in France, it died out altogether, -and was no longer heard of as a fine art. - -In the Netherlands the art had been practised continuously from the time -of the Block-books with varying success, but, excepting in the works of -Lukas van Leyden (1494-1533), it had produced nothing of great value. In -the sixteenth century Hendrick Goltzius (1558-1617) designed some -woodcuts in the common manner as well as chiaroscuro engravings, and -Christopher van Sichem (c. 1620) some woodcuts in the ordinary manner, -which have some worth. The only work of high excellence was due to -Christopher Jegher (c. 1620-1660), who engraved some large designs which -Rubens (1577-1640) drew upon the block; they are inferior to Boldrini's -reproductions of Titian's designs, but are free, bold, and effective, -and succeed in reproducing the designs characterized by the vehement -energy of Rubens's style. Rembrandt (1606-1665) also gave some attention -to the art which the older masters had prized, and left one small -portrait in wood-engraving by his own hand. His example was followed by -his pupils, Jean Livens (1607-1663) and Theodore De Bray (c. 1650), -whose cuts are characterized by the style of their master. - -In England, where the art had not been really practised until Holbein's -day, and had not reached any degree of excellence, some improvement was -made during the sixteenth century in designs for titlepages, portraits, -and separate cuts, particularly in the publications of John Day. In the -next century, during the civil wars, woodcuts of extreme rudeness were -inserted in the pamphlets of the hour, and in the latter half of the -century some interest was still felt in the art. In the eighteenth -century two engravers, Edward Kirkall (c. 1690-1750) and John Baptist -Jackson (1701-1754?), worked both in the ordinary manner and in -chiaroscuro, but both were forced to seek support on the Continent, -where, although the practice of wood-engraving as a fine art had long -been extinct, the tradition of it as a mechanical process by which cheap -ornaments for books were produced was still preserved. In France the -engravers Pierre Le Sueur (1636-1710) and Jean Papillon (1660-1710) -executed cuts of this sort which are without intrinsic value, and in the -next generation their sons produced works which remained at the same low -level of excellence. In Italy an artist, named Lucchesini, engraved some -cuts in the latter part of the century, but they are without merit. In -Germany the art was equally neglected, and the woodcuts in German books -of the eighteenth century are entirely worthless. - -The explanation of this rapid and universal decline of wood-engraving is -to be found in general causes. The great artistic movement, which both -in the North and the South had sprung out of medival religious life, -and had gathered force and spirit as the minds of men grew in strength -and independence, and as the compass of their interests expanded, which -had been so transformed by the study of antiquity that in the South it -seemed to be almost wholly due to that single influence, and in the -North to have suffered an essential change in its spirit and standards, -had at last spent itself. The intellectual movement which had gone along -with it side by side, gaining vigor from the spread of literature, the -debates of the Reformation, and the exercise of the mind upon the -various and novel objects of interest in that age of great discoveries -and inventions, had resulted in a century of religious warfare, -aggravated by the violence of dynastic quarrels which arose in -consequence of the new political organization of Europe. In this -conflict the arts were lost; they all became feeble, and wood-engraving -under the most favorable conditions would have shared in this general -degradation. But for its utter extinction as a fine art there were more -special causes. The popular literature with which it had flourished had -been brought into contempt by Cervantes and Ariosto; the use of -wood-engraving for coarse caricature also reflected discredit upon it; -but the principal cause of its decadence lay in the taste of the age, -which had ceased to prize art as a means of simple and beautiful design, -but valued it rather as a means of complicated and delicate ornament, so -that excessive attention was given to form divorced from meaning, and, -as always happens in such a case, artificiality resulted. The -wood-engravers attempted to satisfy this taste by seeking the refinement -which copperplate-engraving obtained with greater ease and success, and -they failed in the effort; in other words, wood-engraving yielded to -copperplate-engraving because the taste of the age forced it to abandon -its own province, and to contend with its rival on ground where its -peculiar powers were ineffective. - -Here the history of wood-engraving in the old manner, as a means of -reproducing pen-and-ink sketches in fac-simile, came to an end. It has -been seen how valuable it had proved both as an agent of civilization -and as a mode of art; how serviceable it had been in the popularization -of literature and of art, and what influence it had exerted in the -practical questions of the day as a weapon of satire; how faithfully it -had reflected the characteristics of successive periods of civilization, -and how perfectly, in response to the touch of the artist, it had -embodied his imagination and expressed his thought. It had run a great -career; its career seemed to have closed; but, when at the end of the -eighteenth century the movement toward the civilization of the people -again began with vigor and spirit, a new life was opened to it, because -it is essentially a democratic art--a career in which it has already -reached a scope of influence that makes its usefulness far greater than -in the earlier time, and has given promise of a degree of excellence -which, though in design it may not equal Holbein's power, may yet result -in valuable artistic work. - - - - -VIII. - -_MODERN WOOD-ENGRAVING._ - - -[Illustration: T FIG. 60.--From the "Comedia di Danthe." Venice, 1536.] - -The revival of the art began in England, in the workshop of Thomas -Bewick (1753-1828). He is called, not without justice, the father of the -true art of engraving in wood. The history of the art in the older time -is concerned mainly with the designer and the ideas which he endeavored -to convey, and only slightly with the engraver whom he employed for the -mechanical work of cutting the block. In the modern art the engraver -holds a more prominent position, because he is no longer restricted to a -servile following of the designer's work, line for line, but has an -opportunity to show his own artistic powers. This change was brought -about by the invention of white line, as it is called, which was first -used by Bewick. White line was a new mechanical mode of obtaining color. -"I could never discover," says Bewick, "any additional beauty or color -that the cross-strokes gave to the impression beyond the effect produced -by plain parallel lines. This is very apparent when to a certainty the -plain surface of the wood will print as black as ink and balls can make -it, without any farther labor at all; and it may easily be seen that the -thinnest strokes cut upon the plain surface will throw some light on the -subject or design; and if these strokes again are made still wider or of -equal thickness to the black lines, the color these produce will be a -gray; and the more the white strokes are thickened, the nearer will they -in their varied shadings approach to white; and if quite taken away, -then a perfect white is obtained." The practical difference between the -two methods is this: by the old method, after the simple work in outline -of the early Italian engravers had been relinquished for the style of -which Drer was the great master, the block was treated as a white -surface, on which the designer drew with pen and ink, and obtained grays -and blacks by increasing the number of cross-strokes, as if he were -drawing on paper; by the new method the block was treated as a black -surface, and the color was lessened by increasing the number of white -lines. The latter process was as easy for the engraver as the former was -difficult, because whereas in the former he had to gouge out the diamond -spaces between the crossing lines, now he obtained white color by single -strokes of the graver. Bewick may have been led into the use of white -line simply by this consideration of the economy of labor, because he -engraved his own designs, and was directly sensible of the waste of -labor involved in the old method. In both methods color depends, of -course, upon the relative quantity of black and white in the prints; the -new method merely arranges color differently, so that it can be obtained -by an easy mechanical process instead of by a difficult one. - -The use of white line not only affected the art by making it more easy -to practise, but also involved a change in the mode of drawing. Formerly -the effects were given by the designers' lines, now they were given by -the engravers' lines; in other words, the old workman followed the -designer's drawing, the modern workman draws himself with his graver. By -the old method the design was reproduced by keeping the same -line-arrangement that the artist employed; by the new method the design -is not thus reproduced, but is interpreted by a line-arrangement first -conceived by the engraver. In the earlier period the design had to be a -drawing in line for the engraver to cut out and reproduce by leaving the -original lines in relief; now the design may be a washed sketch, the -tints of which the engraver reproduces by cutting lines of his own in -intaglio. The change required the modern engraver to understand how to -arrange white lines so as to obtain artistic effects; he thus becomes an -artist in proportion to his knowledge and skill in such arrangement. It -is clear that, no matter how much mechanical skill, firmness, justness -and delicacy of touch were requisite in the older manner of following -carefully and precisely the lines already drawn upon the block, still -the engraver was precluded from exercising any original artistic power -he might have; he could appreciate the artistic value of the design -before him, and, like Hans Ltzelburger, show his appreciation by his -fidelity in rendering it, but the lines were not his own. The new method -of reproducing artists' work by means of lines first conceived and -arranged by the engraver requires, besides skill of hand, qualities of -mind--perception and origination, and the judgment that results from -cultivated taste. This is what is meant when it is said that the true -art of wood-engraving is not a hundred years old, for it is only within -that time that the value of a print has been due to the engraver's -capacity for thought and his artistic skill in line-arrangement, as well -as to the designer's genius. The use of white line as a mechanical mode -of obtaining color was not unknown in the sixteenth century, and the -artistic value of white line was definitely felt in early French and -Italian wood-engraving; but the possibilities of development were not -seen, and no such development took place. The step in advance was taken -by Bewick, who thus disclosed the opportunities which wood-engraving -offers its craftsmen for the exhibition of high artistic qualities. The -white line revolutionized the art, and this is the essential meaning -there is in calling Bewick the father of wood-engraving. - -Of course the older method has not ceased to be practised; artists have -drawn upon the block, and their lines have been reproduced; sometimes a -part of the lines are thus drawn, particularly the leading lines, and -the minor portions of the sketch have been indicated by the designer by -washes and left to be rendered by the engraver in his own lines. Old or -modern wood-engraving as a mode of reproducing designs in fac-simile is -valuable, but none of the artistic merit they may possess is due to the -engraver; while the artistic merit shown in the new style of -wood-engraving, as an art of design in white line, belongs wholly to the -engraver. It results from this that white line is the peculiar province -of wood-engraving, considered as an art; but that does not exclude it -from being practised in its old manner as a mode of copying and -multiplying ordinary design which it is able to reproduce. - -Thomas Bewick, the founder of the modern art, was born near Newcastle -in 1753. He passed his boyhood in rude country life and received scanty -schooling. At fourteen he was bound apprentice to the Newcastle -engraver, Ralph Beilby; nine years later he went to seek his fortune in -London, where he impatiently endured city life for less than a year; in -the summer of 1777 he returned to his old master, with whom he went into -partnership. Some preliminary training in book-illustration of the rude -sort then in vogue was necessary to reveal his powers to himself; he -received a premium from the Society for the Encouragement of Arts, which -had shown some interest in wood-engraving; and after farther minor work -he began, in 1785, to engrave the first block for his British -Quadrupeds, which, with his British Birds, although his other cuts are -numbered by thousands, is the principal monument of his genius. When he -took the graver in his hand he found the art extinct as a fine art; at -most only large coarse prints were manufactured. Besides his great -service to the art in introducing the white line he substituted boxwood -for the pear or other soft wood of the earlier blocks, and he engraved -across the grain instead of with it, or "the plank way of the wood," as -he called it; he also began the practice of lowering the surface of the -block in places where less color was desired, so that less pressure -would come upon those parts in printing (a device which Aldegrever is -believed to have resorted to in some of his works), and he used the -dabber instead of the inking-roller. - -[Illustration: Fig. 61.--The Peacock. From Bewick's "British Birds."] - -[Illustration: FIG. 62.--The Frightened Mother. From Bewick's "British -Quadrupeds."] - -[Illustration: FIG. 63.--The Solitary Cormorant. From Bewick's "British -Birds."] - -[Illustration: FIG. 64.--The Snow Cottage.] - -[Illustration: FIG. 65.--Birth-place of Bewick. His last vignette, -portraying his own funeral.] - -By such means he was truly, as Ruskin says, "a reformer"--Ruskin adds, -"as stout as Holbein, or Botticelli, or Luther, or Savonarola," and this -is also true within limits. But if in relation to his art, and in answer -to the tests required of him, his reforming spirit proved itself -vigorous, independent, persistent in conviction, and faithful in -practice, his natural endowment in other ways was so far inferior to -those of the great Reformers named as to place him in a different order -of men. He had not a spark of the philosophic spirit of Holbein, and but -a faint glimmer of Holbein's dramatic insight. He was not endowed with -the romantic imagination, the deep reflective power, the broad -intellectual and moral sympathy of Drer. There is no need to magnify -his genius, for it was great and valuable by its own right. He was, -primarily, an observer of nature, and he copied natural facts with -straightforward veracity; he delineated animal life with marvellous -spirit; he knew the value of the texture of a bird's feather (Fig. 61) -as no one before ever realized it. He was open also to the influence -which nature exerts over the emotions, and he rendered the sentiment of -the landscape as few engravers have been able to do. His hearty spirit -responded to country sights (Fig. 62), and he portrayed the humorous -with zest and pleasure, as well as the cheerful and the melancholy with -truth and feeling; his humor is sometimes indelicate, but it is -faithful; usually it is the humor of a situation which strikes him, -seldom the higher humor which appears in such cuts as the superstitious -dog. He is open to pathos, too, but here it is not the higher order of -pathos far-reaching into the bases of life and emotion--in this cut -(Fig. 64), for example, one fancies his heart is nearly altogether with -the uncared-for animal, and takes not much thought of the deserted -hearth. With this veracity, sensitiveness, heartiness, there is also an -unbending virtue--a little like preaching sometimes, with its gallows in -the background--but sturdy and homely; not rising into any eloquent -homily, but with indignation for the boys drowning a cat or the man -beating his overdriven horse. - -As an artist he knows, like Holbein, the method of great art. His -economy of labor, his simplicity, justness, and sureness of stroke show -the master's hand. There was no waste in his work, no ineffective effort -after impossible results, no meaningless lines. For these excellences of -method and of character he has been often praised, especially because he -developed his talents under very unfavorable conditions; but perhaps no -words would have been sweeter to him than those which Charlotte Bront -wrote, sincerely out of her own experience without doubt, for he himself -said he was led to his task by "the hope of administering to the -pleasure and amusement of youth." Charlotte Bront, speaking through the -lips of Jane Eyre of the pleasure she took as a child in looking through -Bewick's books, writes thus: - -"I returned to my book--Bewick's History of British Birds, the -letterpress whereof I cared little for, generally speaking; and yet -there were certain introductory pages that, child as I was, I could not -pass quite as a blank: they were those which treat of the haunts of -sea-fowl; of 'the solitary rocks and promontories' by them only -inhabited; of the coast of Norway, studded with isles from its southern -extremity, the Lindeness, or Naze, to the North Cape-- - - 'Where the Northern Ocean, in vast whirls, - Boils round the naked, melancholy isles - Of farthest Thule, and the Atlantic surge - Pours in among the stormy Hebrides.' - -[Illustration: FIG. 66.--The Broken Boat. From Bewick's "British -Birds."] - -[Illustration: FIG. 67.--The Church-yard. From Bewick's "British -Birds."] - -Nor could I pass unnoticed the suggestion of the black shores of -Lapland, Siberia, Spitzbergen, Nova Zembla, Iceland, Greenland. * * * Of -these death-white realms I formed an idea of my own--shadowy, like all -the half-comprehended notions that float dim through children's brains, -but strangely impressive. The words in these introductory pages -connected themselves with the succeeding vignettes, and gave -significance to the rock standing up alone in a sea of billow and spray; -to the broken boat (Fig. 66) stranded on a desolate coast; to the cold -and ghastly moon glancing through bars of cloud at a wreck just sinking. -I cannot tell what sentiment haunted the quiet, solitary church-yard -(Fig. 67), with its inscribed head-stone, its gate, its two trees, its -low horizon, girdled by a broken wall, and its newly risen crescent -attesting the hour of even-tide. The two ships becalmed on a torpid sea -I believed to be marine phantoms. The fiend pinning down the thief's -pack behind him I passed over quickly: it was an object of terror. So -was the black, horned thing, seated aloof on a rock, surveying a distant -crowd surrounding a gallows. Each picture told a story--mysterious often -to my undeveloped understanding and imperfect feelings, yet ever -profoundly interesting. * * * With Bewick on my knee, I was then happy; -happy at least in my way." - -Bewick published the first edition of the British Quadrupeds in 1790, -the first edition of the first volume of the British Birds in 1797, and -of the second volume in 1804; all these became popular, and were several -times republished with additional cuts. His other works were very -numerous, but, as a whole, they are of inferior value. Both in the -volumes which have been mentioned and in his later work he received much -aid from his pupils, who designed and engraved, subject to his -correction and approval, many illustrations which are ascribed to him. -In his own work, notwithstanding his great excellence, he was by no -means perfect. In delineating rocks and the bark of trees, especially, -he fails; in drawing he sometimes makes errors, particularly when what -he represents was not subject to direct and frequent observation; in the -knowledge of line-arrangement, too, he is less masterly than some of his -successors, and, in this respect, his work is characterized by -effectiveness and spirit rather than by finish. Yet, when these -deductions have been made from his merit, so much remains as to render -him, without doubt, the most distinguished modern engraver in wood. - -[Illustration: FIG. 68.--The Sheep-fold. By Blake. From Virgil's -Pastorals.] - -[Illustration: FIG. 69.--The Mark of Storm. By Blake. From Virgil's -Pastorals.] - -Before Bewick's death, in 1828, another English genius, William Blake -(1758-1827), greater as an artist than as an engraver, produced a series -of woodcuts (Fig. 68) which is remarkable for vigor and originality. -They were published in a reprint of Ambrose Philips's Imitation of -Virgil's First Eclogue, in Dr. Thornton's curious edition of Virgil's -Pastorals which appeared in 1820. One of them (Fig. 69) represents a -landscape swept by violent wind. The idea of autumnal tempest has seldom -been so strikingly and forcibly embodied as in the old gnarled oak -straining with laboring limbs, the hedge-rows blown like -indistinguishable glimmering dust, the keen light of the crescent moon -shining through the driving storm upon the rows of laid corn and over -the verge of the distant hill. Contemporary engravers said the series -was inartistic and worthless, and an uneducated eye can easily discover -faults in it; imaginative genius of the highest order is expressed in -it, nevertheless, and from this the series derives its value. Blake -never made a new trial of the art. - -The revival of wood-engraving was not confined to England. At the end of -the eighteenth century Prussia founded a chair at Berlin for teaching -the art, and made the Ungers, father and son, professors of it; but, -although they contributed to the progress of wood-engraving in Germany, -no real success was obtained until the time of their successor, Gubitz. -In France, too, the Society for the Encouragement of National Industry -began to offer prizes for the best wood-engraving as early as 1805; but -some years passed before any contestants, who practised the true art, -appeared. The publisher Didot deserves much of the credit for reviving -French wood-engraving, because he employed Gubitz, and called to Paris -the English engravers who really founded the modern French school. The -efforts of societies or individuals, however, do not explain the rise of -the art in our time. Wood-engraving merely shared in the renewal of life -which took place at the end of the last century, and so profoundly -affected literature, art, and politics. The barren classical taste -disappeared in what is known as the return to nature, the intellectual -life of the people was stimulated to extraordinary activity, -civilization suffered rapid and important modifications, and every human -pursuit and interest received an impulse or a blow. Wood-engraving felt -the influence of the change, and came into demand with the other cheap -pictorial arts to satisfy popular needs; the interest of the publishers, -the improvements in the processes of printing, and the example of -Bewick and his pupils especially contributed to bring the old art again -into use, and it continued to be practised because its value in -democratic civilization was immediately recognized. - -[Illustration: FIG. 70.--The Cave of Despair. By Branston. From Savage's -"Hints on Decorative Printing."] - -England was naturally the country where wood-engraving most flourished. -The pupils of Bewick, particularly Charlton Nesbit and Luke Clennell, -practised it with great merit, the former with a better knowledge of -line-arrangement than Bewick, and the latter with extraordinary artistic -feeling. The field, however, was not left wholly to those who had -learned the art from Bewick. Robert Branston was, like Bewick, a -self-taught wood-engraver; unlike Bewick, who was never trammelled by -traditions, and was thus able to work out his own methods in his own way -by the light of his own genius, Branston (Fig. 70), who had served an -apprenticeship in engraving on copperplate, and had mastered the art of -incising and arranging lines proper to that material, came to -wood-engraving with all the traditions of copperplate-engraving firmly -fixed in his mind and hand, and he founded a school which began where -the art had left off at the time of its decline--in the imitation of the -methods of engraving on copper. It is true that Branston sometimes -admitted white line where he thought it would be effective, but he -relied on black line for the most part. The wrong step thus taken led to -the next. Engravers on copper began to draw designs on the block for -wood-engravers to cut out. John Thurston, the most distinguished of -these, drew thus for John Thompson, who, however, did not follow the -lines with the servility of the engravers of the sixteenth century, but -modified them as he engraved, changed the direction and character of the -lines, and occasionally introduced white line. In the same way -Clennell, who also engraved after John Thurston's drawing, modified it, -particularly in the disposal of the lights and shadows, and thus -improved it by his own artistic powers. Merely in engraving simple lines -Clennell's artistic feeling placed him in a higher rank than even an -engraver of the power of John Thompson, as may be seen in the cuts which -these two men made after Stothard's drawings in an edition of Rogers's -Poems (Fig. 71, 72); in this volume Clennell has given an effect which -Thompson could not give. Branston's engraving, in the same way, shows -the craftsman's skill and knowledge, but it lacks the artistic quality -of the rival school of Nesbit and Clennell. The imitation of the manner -of copperplate, which Branston introduced, became common, and was -developed in the work of Orrin Smith and William Harvey, in which -wood-engraving lost its distinctive virtues. This school, nevertheless, -was popular, and its engravings were used to illustrate important works -to which for a long time copperplate-engraving alone had been considered -equal; thus wood-engraving once more encroached upon its rival's ground. - -[Illustration: FIG. 71.--Vignette from "Rogers's Poems." London, 1827.] - -[Illustration: FIG. 72.--Vignette from "Rogers's Poems." London, 1827.] - -Meanwhile the great illustrated magazines and papers, to which -wood-engraving owes so much of its encouragement, sprang up, and with -them the necessity for rapid work, and the temptation to be satisfied -with what satisfied the public taste. Cruikshank and Seymour prepared -the way for the designers, Leech, Gilbert, Tenniel, and the Dalziels, -the latter engravers themselves, and carelessness in engraving -accompanied carelessness in drawing; but from the latter charge -Tenniel's designs must be excepted. These artists were inferior in -natural endowment to even the lesser artists of the sixteenth century, -and their work was made worse by the negligent rendering of their -engravers, who were not characterized either by the fidelity of the old -craftsmen, or the skill and knowledge of Thompson, or the artistic sense -of Clennell, but were merely inefficient workmen employed to cut lines -drawn for them as rapidly as possible. Mr. Linton made an attempt to -introduce the practice of rendering artists' drawings by lines conceived -and arranged by the engraver himself; but the current was too strongly -set in another direction, and the engraver kept his old position of -mechanic employed to clear out the designers' lines. The work which was -produced by this method in great quantities was in the mass not valuable -either for the art shown in the design or for the skill of the engraver, -but derived its interest and popularity from qualities which have little -connection with fine art. No great works were produced; and it is only -here and there that separate prints of value are to be found, among -which those by Edmund Evans in Birket Foster's edition of Cowper's Task -deserve to be mentioned. - -[Illustration: FIG. 73.--Death as a Friend.] - -Upon the Continent the development of wood-engraving was by no means so -great as in England, but some excellent work has been done by the pupils -of Thompson, who went to Paris by Didot's invitation; these men, of -whom MM. Best and Leloir were the most distinguished, together with MM. -Brevire, Porret, and Lavoignat, produced some cuts of considerable -value both in book-illustration and in the art magazines. In Germany, -too, wood-engraving counts some good workmen among its following, but -the German woodcuts, of which the two (Figs. 73, 74) here given are -favorable examples, remain inferior for the most part to either the -English or French. - -[Illustration: FIG. 74.--Death as a Throttler.] - -Wood-engraving, however, has been practised in our time less as a fine -art than as a useful art; and if little that is valuable for artistic -worth has been executed by engravers since the days of Nesbit, Clennell, -and Thompson, the application of wood-engraving for merely useful -purposes has been of the greatest service. It has become a most -powerful instrument of popular education; it imparts the largest share -of the visual knowledge which the people have of the things they have -not directly seen; its utility as a means of instruction by its -representation of the objects with which science deals, and the -mechanical contrivances and processes which science employs, and also as -a means of influence in caricature and of simple popular amusement, is -incalculable; and, notwithstanding its low level in art, there can be no -doubt that it frequently assists the exercise of the popular -imagination, and sometimes generates in the better-endowed minds among -the people a real sympathy with the higher products of art and an -appreciation of them. These utilities, indeed, so overbalance its value -simply as a fine art as to give it a distinctive character, when its -practice now is compared with that of any previous time; as, formerly, -it reflected the aspects of changing civilization, now it reflects the -peculiar character of our time, and shows how great has been the gain in -the popular hold upon the material comforts of life and upon -intelligence, and how great has been the loss in the community's -appreciation of purely artistic results. This is especially true of the -earlier American practice of the art, which seldom resulted in any work -of artistic value. - -[Illustration: FIG. 75.--The Creation. Engraved by J. F. Adams.] - -[Illustration: FIG. 76.--The Deluge. Engraved by J. F. Adams.] - -The history of wood-engraving in America, until recent years, is -comparatively insignificant. In art, as in literature, the first -generation of the Republic followed the English tradition almost -slavishly; the engravers, indeed, showed hardly any individuality, and -left no work of permanent value. During Colonial times some very rude -apprentice-work on metal had been produced; but the first certain -engraving in wood bears date of 1794, and was from the hand of Dr. -Alexander Anderson (1775-1870), a physician by profession, but with a -natural bent toward the art, which he had played at from boyhood, and -finally made the principal business of his life. The sight of some of -Bewick's early work had determined him to employ wood as a material in -place of the type-metal on which he had previously engraved in relief, -and the example of Bewick taught him to use white line. At that time, -and for many years afterward, the art was applied mainly to the -production of cuts for advertisements, labels, and the like, as a -servant of trade; its use for illustration simply was confined almost -wholly to juvenile books. The engravers who at the beginning of the -century introduced the art in New York, Boston, Philadelphia, Baltimore, -and New Haven were few, and, for the most part, self-taught; usually -they merely copied English cuts, and thus they reflected in their -poorer work the manner of successive English schools; but at least they -kept the art alive, and handed it on through their pupils. Dr. Anderson -was the best of them; yet, although he was free and bold in his handling -of white line, and once or twice attained an excellence that proved him -a worthy pupil of Bewick, he left nothing of enduring interest, and the -work of his fellows met with even swifter forgetfulness. Woodcuts of -really high value were not produced in America until Joseph Alexander -Adams (b. 1803), one of the young engravers encouraged by Dr. Anderson, -began to do his best work (Figs. 75, 76), about 1834, and applied his -talents to the illustration of the Bible, published by the Harper -Brothers in 1843, with which wood-engraving may be properly said to have -begun its great career in this country. This volume was embellished by -sixteen hundred cuts, executed under the supervision of Mr. Adams, and -plainly exhibits the capacities and limitations of the art at that time. -Other illustrated books followed this from the same press, and from that -of the Putnams; the cuts in the papers and magazines, established during -the second quarter of the century, became more numerous, and the -attention paid by the American Tract Society to the engravings in its -various publications had great influence in encouraging and improving -the art. The work of this first half-century, however, as a whole, does -not deserve any great praise; in judging it, the inexperience of the -engravers and the difficulties of printing must be remembered; but in -its inferior portions it is marked by feebleness and coarseness, and in -its better portion by a hardness and stiffness of line, a lack of -variety and gradation in tone and tint, and a defect in vivacity and -finish. There are here and there exceptional cuts to which these -strictures would not apply, but the body of the work is vitiated either -through an incomplete control of his materials by the engraver, or -through an evil imitation of copperplate-drawing by the designer. Where -the engraver was also the designer the work is usually of higher value. - -[Illustration: FIG. 77.--Butterflies. Engraved by F. S. King.] - -With the second half of the century began that expansion of the press, -that increase in the volume and improvement in the quality of the -reading provided for the public through newspapers and magazines, which -has been one of the most striking and important results of democratic -institutions. The Harpers' Monthly Magazine was established in 1850, and -it was followed within a decade by several illustrated periodicals; -during the civil war there was naturally a slackening in this -development, but, upon its close, numerous new illustrated weekly or -monthly publications began their longer or shorter career, among them -those issued by the Scribners, which were to have so important a bearing -on the history of wood-engraving. The art naturally received a great -impetus from this demand upon its resources; it rapidly advanced; and -being encouraged farther by the popularity of the new and beautifully -illustrated gift-books of the Boston and New York publishers, it has -taken the leading place in the artistic interests of the country. - -[Illustration: FIG. 78.--Engraved by F. S. King.] - -The scope of this volume does not allow any detailed account of the -works of American engravers individually; but while the increased -productiveness and improved technique of the art during the third -quarter of the century are being noticed, it would be unjust to make no -mention of the quiet, careful, and refined woodcuts of Mr. Anthony, or -of the long and unflinching fidelity of Mr. Linton, with its reward in -admirable work, or of the exquisite skill of Mr. Henry Marsh, the best -of American engravers of that period. The latter's marvellous rendering -of insect life in the illustrations to Harris's Insects Injurious to -Vegetation, published in 1862, can never be forgotten by any who have -been fortunate enough to see the artist-proofs. His work is in the -manner of copperplate-engraving, and affords one of the few instances in -which wood-engraving has equalled the rival art in fineness, delicacy, -softness, and gradation of tone. Whatever the critic's theory may be, he -must remember that genius has a higher validity than reason, and must -acknowledge such work as this to be its own justification. -Unfortunately, the cuts in the published volume were not--perhaps at -that time could not be--printed with the success they deserved. The work -of these three engravers illustrates what advance had already been made -in skilful line-arrangement and in technique before 1870, about which -time the indications of an approaching change in the art became -plainly evident. Since then progress has been uninterrupted, swift, -marked by bold experiments and startling surprises. Now American -engravers excel all others in knowledge of the resources of their art, -and in control of its materials, as well as in the interest of their -work. They have not, it is true, produced, as yet, anything to rank in -artistic value with the designs of the older masters; but, in their -hands, the art has gained a width and utility of influence among our -people hitherto unequalled in any nation at any period. From the -beginning of its history wood-engraving has been distinctively a -democratic art; at present the ease and cheapness of its processes and -the variety of its applications make it one of the most accessible -sources of inexpensive information and pleasure; for this reason it has -acquired in our country, where a reading middle class forms the larger -portion of the nation, a popular influence of such far-reaching and -penetrative power as to make it a living art in a sense which none other -of the fine arts can claim. It now enters into the intellectual life and -enjoyment of our people to a degree and with a constancy impossible to -other arts. In this respect, too, it is only at the beginning of its -career; for, as popular education spreads, the place that the art holds -in the national life will continually become more important. These -social conditions, the technical skill of the engravers, and the -appearance among the people of a critical spirit concerning their -work--not perhaps to be called intelligent as yet, but forming, nascent, -feeling its way into conscious and active life--make up a group of most -favorable circumstances for a real artistic development. Whether such a -development will take place depends in large measure on the clearness -with which engravers understand the laws of their art, as presented by -their materials, and on the degree in which such knowledge controls -them. The experiments of recent years are to be judged finally by the -results; but, in spite of the novel effects obtained, and of the new -character that has been given to the art, there is at present no such -unanimity, either among the engravers or the public, as to be decisive -of the worth of the new work as a whole. While the issue is still -doubtful, and the stake is the future of the only art by which those who -care for the growth of civilization can develop in the people a sense of -art, bring them to an appreciation of its value, open their -understandings to its teachings, and fill their lives with its delights, -something may be gained by recurring to fundamental principles, as -illustrated by the practice of the older masters, not with an end to -limit the future by the past, but to foresee it. Such a brief review and -summary of past thought respecting the aims and methods of -wood-engraving, with such corrections as modern improvements in -processes justify, will afford the surest ground for criticism of the -work still to be considered. - -All the graphic arts have to do with some one or more of the three modes -under which nature is revealed to the artist--the mode of pure form, the -mode of pure color, the mode of form and color, as they are affected by -the different lights and shadows in which they exist. In nature these -three modes do not exist separately, and usually no one of them is so -prominent as to efface the others; in the several arts, however, the -principal attention is given, now to one, now to another, of them, -according to the capacities of the art and the powers of the artists. -Thus sculpture deals only with form, and even in painting, which -includes all within its province, different masters make a choice, and -aim principally at reproducing color, or chiaroscuro, or form, as their -talents direct them, for a genius seldom arises with the power to -combine all these with the truth and harmony of nature. Wood-engraving, -there is no need to say, cannot reproduce the real hues of objects, nor -the play of light upon hue and form, nor the more marvellously -transforming touch of shadow; it can represent the form of a peach, but -it cannot paint its delicate tints, nor adequately and accurately show -how the beauty of its bloom in sun differs from the beauty of its bloom -in shade. More broadly, a landscape shot with the evanescent shadows -that hover in rapidly moving mists, or the intermingling light and gloom -of a wind-swept moonlit sky half overcast with clouds, wood-engraving -has no power to mirror in true likeness. The most it can do in this -direction is to indicate, it cannot express; it can exhibit strong -contrasts and delicate gradations of light and shadow, and it can -suggest varying intensity of hues, by the greater or less depth of its -blacks and grays; but real color and perfect chiaroscuro it relinquishes -to painting. - -Form, therefore, is left as the main object of the wood-engraver's -craft, and the representation of form is effected by delineation, -drawing, line-work. This is why the great draughtsmen, such as Drer and -Holbein, succeeded in designing for wood-engraving. They knew how to -express form by lines, and they did not attempt to do more even when -suggesting color-values by the convention of black and gray. Line-work -is thus the main business of the engraver, because form must be -expressed by lines. Line-work, however, is of different kinds, and all -kinds are not equally proper for the art. Hitherto the fineness of line -by which copperplate-engraving easily obtains delicacy of contour and -soft transitions of tone, has been rarely and with difficulty attained -by the best-skilled hand and eye among wood-engravers, and when attained -has, usually, not been successfully printed. There remains, however, no -longer any reason to exclude fine lines from wood-engraving, when once -it has become plain that such work is possible without a wasteful -expenditure of labor, that its results are valuable, and that it can be -properly printed. But if it shall prove that the character of the line -proper to copperplate is also proper to wood, it may be looked on as -certain that the line-arrangement proper to the former material can -never be rationally used for the latter. The crossing of lines to which -the engraver on copperplate resorts is especially laborious to the -engraver in wood, and after all his toil does not give any desirable -effect which would not have resulted from other methods of work. It has -been seen that Drer employed this cross-hatching in imitation of -copperplate-engraving; but he did so because he was ignorant of the way -to arrange color so that this difficult task of engraving -cross-hatchings would be unnecessary. Holbein, who was equally ignorant -of the possibilities of white line, rejected cross-hatching. Bewick also -rejected it, and proved it was unnecessary even where much color was to -be given. In the later work of the sixteenth century, and in modern -English work, wood-engraving imitated its rival art both in the -character and the arrangement of its lines; it failed in both instances -mainly because such imitation involved a waste of labor, and did not -result in works so valuable artistically as were obtained by -copperplate-engraving with far greater ease. At present the objection -to the use of cross-hatching in wood-engraving is as serious as ever, -but the employment of fine lines for some purposes, as in the rendering -of delicate textures and tones, has been justified, mainly in -consequence of innovations in the modes of printing. The charm of this -new and surprising beauty in fine-line woodcuts, however, has not at all -deprived the old broad and bold line of its force and vigor, nor made -less valuable the strong contrasts in which the art won its earlier -success. On the contrary, it is in the old province and by the old -methods that wood-engraving has worked out its most distinctive and -peculiar effects of real value. - -[Illustration: FIG. 79.--Mount Lafayette (White Mountains). By J. -Tinkey.] - -In what has been thus far said of the line-work proper to -wood-engraving, black line-work only has been referred to. -Wood-engraving is also an art of design in white line, and here a -different set of considerations applies. There is not the same -difficulty in cutting fine and delicate white lines, as is the case with -black lines, nor the same unlikelihood of their effect being felt in the -printed design. There is, too, no objection whatever to crossing white -lines, as a mode of work, for it is as easy a process for the -wood-engraver as crossing black lines is for the copperplate-engraver, -and the result thus obtained is sometimes of great value, particularly -in the moulding of the face. The art of design in white line, however, -is but little developed; but, not to depreciate the older method of -black line, which is extremely valuable, nevertheless it is clear that -white line-work is the peculiar province of the wood-engraver, and that -in developing its capacities the future of the art mainly lies, so far -as it rests with him. The merit of all line-work, whether black or -white, fine or broad, bold or subtle, depends upon the certainty with -which the lines serve their purposes. If, as with Holbein, every line -has its work to do, and does that work perfectly; if it fulfils its -function of defining an outline, or marking the moulding of a muscle, or -deepening the intensity of a shadow, or performing some similar service, -then the designer has followed the method of high art, and has produced -something of value. The work of all who practise the art--the -draughtsmen who draw in black line, and the engravers who draw in white -line--has worth just in proportion as they acquire the power to put -intention into their lines and to express something by every stroke; -and, other things being equal, he who conveys most meaning in the fewest -lines, like Holbein and Bewick, is the greatest master. By means of such -lines so arranged wood-engraving does represent form with great power, -and also texture, which is only a finer form; it indicates positive -hues, and, within limits, suggests the play of light and shadow on form -and hue. It thus aims chiefly, in its bolder and more facile work, at -force, spirit, and contrast, and, in its more rare and difficult -efforts, at delicacy, finish, and nice gradation of harmonious tones. - -If there is any value in the teaching of the past, either these -principles must be shown to be no longer valid, or by them the engraving -of the last ten years must be judged. A considerable portion of it -consists of attempts to render original designs--for example, a washed -drawing--not by interpreting its artistic qualities, its form, color, -force, spirit, and manner, so far as these can be given by simple, -defined, firm lines of the engraver's creation, but by imitating as -closely as possible the original effect, and showing the character of -the original process, whether it were water-color, charcoal-sketching, -oil-painting, clay-modelling, or any other. However desirable it may be -to make known the original process, such knowledge does not enhance the -artistic value of the cut; and however pleasing it may be to the public -to obtain copies even successfully, indicating the general effects, -without the charm, of originals in other arts with which wood-engraving -has little affinity, such work will rather satisfy curiosity than -delight the eye. The public may thus derive information; they will not -obtain works of artistic value at all equal to those which -wood-engraving might give them, did it not abdicate its own peculiar -power of expressing nature in a true, accurate, and beautiful way and -descend to mechanical imitation. The application of the art to such -purposes, as little more than another mode of photography, is a -debasement of it; it ceases to be a fine art when it ceases to be -practised for the sake of its own powers of beautiful expression. Such -work, therefore, has only a secondary interest, as being one more -process for the defective reproduction of beautiful things, and requires -only a passing mention. - -[Illustration: FIG. 80.--"And silent were the sheep in woolly -fold."--KEATS, _St. Agnes Eve_. - -Engraved by J. G. Smithwick.] - -[Illustration: FIG. 81.--The Old Orchard. Engraved by F. Juengling.] - -Aside from these imitative cuts, the most striking portion of recent -engraving, that which has been hailed as opening a new career to the -art, is characterized either by a great refinement of line or by a -practical abandonment of line. Of the former tendency Mr. Henry Marsh -affords the most prominent examples by his engravings in illustration of -insect life, or similarly delicate work. The skill of his hand and the -charm of the style he has adopted are beyond question; there is as -little doubt of the truthfulness and beauty of the effects secured in -the rendering of individual objects, the butterfly wing, the pond-lily, -or the spray of the winter forest; the only deduction to be made from -his praise is, that when he binds these several objects into one -picture, as in a landscape, he suffers the too frequent penalty of -fine detail, and loses in the delicacy and finish of the parts the -beauty that should have characterized the whole. There is always in his -cuts grace, poetic feeling, exquisite workmanship, but there is in some -of them a lack of body, substance, distance, of skill in placing the -objects in a natural relation to one another, that mars the total -result. Mr. Marsh is one of the older men, and deserves the credit of -first showing what wood-engraving is capable of in refinement of line; -but younger men have joined him in developing these capacities of the -art, and have made work in this style more common. The best of it is by -Mr. F. S. King, being equal in every quality to Mr. Marsh's most -admirable cuts. Such engraving is exceptional, of course; but the -evenness and transition of tone, the care for line, the discrimination -of both line and color values, shown in these butterflies (Fig. 77), -are characteristic of Mr. King's work in general, although in some of -it a lack of definition in outlines is noticeable. The refinement of -line in these two engravers is justifiable, because they put meaning -into the lines, and express by them something that could not otherwise -be interpreted to the eye through this art; and so long as this remains -the case they will meet with commendation and encouragement. It is only -when such refinement is needlessly resorted to, or is confusing or -meaningless, that it is rightly rebuked. - -[Illustration: FIG. 82.--Some Art Connoisseurs. Engraved by Robert -Hoskin.] - -The second and more evil tendency of recent engraving, toward an -abandonment of line, is exhibited in many phases, and by nearly all the -younger men. In some cases the central portion of the cut seems alone to -be cared for, and is much elaborated, while the surrounding parts fade -off into the background with the uncertainty of a dissolving view; in -other cases there seems to be entire indifference about form or texture: -there is no definition of the one nor discrimination in the other, but -an effect only is sought for, usually vague or startling, always -unsatisfactory, and not infrequently ugly. Such work is the product of -ignorance or carelessness or caprice. In it wood-engraving ceases to be -an art of expression. These obscure masses, meant for trees, in which -one may look with a microscope and see neither leaf, limb, nor bark; -these mottled grounds, meant for grass or houses, in which there is -neither blade nor fibre; these blocks of formless tints, in which all -the veracity of the landscape perishes, do not record natural facts, or -convey thought or sentiment; they are simply vacant of meaning. To -illustrate or criticise such work would be an ungracious as well as a -needless task; but even in the best work of the best engravers, with -which alone these pages are concerned, the marks of tendency in this -wrong direction are palpably present. Here, for example, is some -charming work by Mr. King (Fig. 78), wholly successful in securing the -effect sought--beautiful, well worth doing. The spirit of the season, -the moist days, the April nature, the leafing and budding in mist and -cloudiness, and gleam of light and breath of warm, soft air along -full-flowing streams, the swift and buoyant welcome borne on the forward -flight of the birds straight toward us, the ever-renewed marvel of the -birth of life and the coming on of days of beauty--the feeling of all -this is given, and the success is due in large part to the vagueness -that dims the whole design; but why should the wreathing flowers, the -tender crown of all, lose the curve of their petals and darken the -delicate form of each young blossom, all blurred into the background, -and half-effaced and marred, and tiring the eye with the effort to -define them? If the value of form had been more felt, if the definition -of outline had been firmer, if the spray had really blossomed, would not -the design have been better? There is less doubt of the error in the -next cut. The disappearance of texture and the attenuation of substance -into flat shadow is very plain. To a true woodsman, to one who has lived -with trees, and knows and loves them, there is little of their nature in -these vague, transparent, insubstantial forms, that seem rather skeleton -leaves than strong-limbed, firm-rooted trees that have sung in the -frosty silence and lived through the "bitter cold" of many a St. Agnes -Eve. Who, looking on these pale shadows, would remember that the same -poet, whose verse is here put into picture, thought of trees as -"senators" of the woods? In the disposition of the light of the -atmosphere, in the management of the gray tints, particularly in the -lower portion of the cut, the eye takes more pleasure: there is some -discrimination between the sheep, the old man, and the fold--as much, -perhaps, as the prevailing obscurity admits; but the cut as a whole is -much harmed by the lack of relief, which seems to be a recurring fault -in fine-lined and crowded work. The cut (Fig. 81) by Mr. Juengling, -whose engravings exhibit the tendencies of the new methods in the most -pronounced way, shows, like the preceding illustration, an inattention -to texture in the foliage, and an entire negligence of cloud-form in the -sky, which is a fair example of the abandonment of line, or of -meaningless line, as one chooses to call it. An effect is gained, a -horizon light and shadowed masses, but the landscape is not faithfully -rendered. - -[Illustration: FIG. 83.--The Travelling Musicians. Engraved by R. A. -Muller.] - -Of a different order are the two following cuts, simple, quiet, and -refined. The mountain scene (page 183) is admirable for the disposition -of its lights and shadows, the gradation and variation of its tints, and -the subordination of every element to a truthful total effect. The cut -by Mr. Hoskin (Fig. 82) is a good example of his always excellent work, -showing his power of economy and his feeling for line and tone, while it -evinces self-restraint in methods of work. - -[Illustration: FIG. 84.--Shipwrecked. Engraved by Frank French.] - -The change that has taken place in recent engraving has been less marked -in cuts of landscape, however, than in cuts of figures. In the former -line-arrangement has been affected somewhat, and usually for the worse, -but in the latter the transformation has been greater, and the results -already worked out of more striking novelty. The development, however, -has been in the same directions, in refining or abandoning line, and -examples exhibit the same or analogous variation in the engravers' -regard for form and texture. The first group here given (Fig. 83) shows -clearly, by the character and the direction of its lines, that it is a -reproduction of copperplate-engraving, and as a piece of imitative work -it is remarkable; the figures are life-like, full of vivacity and force, -and the faces are natural and very expressive. It is, however, in the -style of copperplate, and in the qualities mentioned it does not excel -the next cut (Fig. 84), in which the character and direction of the -lines are those peculiar to wood-engraving. The former has an appearance -of more finish, as also of more hardness, but it does not by its more -difficult mode of engraving, accomplish what is aimed at in any higher -degree than does the latter by its simpler, easier, and freer manner. -The Tap-room (Fig. 85), by the same engraver, is less careful work, and -its novel technical quality, while of the same general character as that -of the last cut, is more pronounced and less pleasing. The figures as a -whole are good, but the faces are poor; the use of the cross white line -or stipple for fire, apron, rafter, table-cloth, and face indifferently -cannot be commended, and the character of many of the lines -(particularly in the lower part of the seated figure) is beyond -criticism. It is the still bolder and more general use of the peculiar -modes of engraving in this design that results in the most meaningless, -negligent scratchiness of the new school. Mr. J. P. Davis's "Going to -Church" (Fig. 86) is a favorable example of another considerable class -of cuts that is on first sight novel and pleasing. On examination one -sees that the figures are certainly the best part of the cut; but why -should the maiden's dress be the same in texture as the cow's breast, -and the young man's trousers the same as the cow's back? and why should -the child's face be of a piece with its collar? Notice, too, beyond the -wall the familiar flat and insubstantial trees, with their foliage that -would serve as well for the ground at the foot of the steps. - -[Illustration: FIG. 85.--The Tap-room. Engraved by Frank French.] - -[Illustration: FIG. 86.--Going to Church. Engraved by J. P. Davis.] - -The best work in these figure-cuts, however, is by Mr. T. Cole, who -stands at the head of engravers in the new manner, though he is not -confined by it. The portraits, by which he first became widely known, -were remarkable for an entire absence, in some cases, of any demarcation -between picture and background, and for a concentration of attention -upon some few specially characteristic features of the face. Whoever -deserved the blame so liberally meted out to these heads, Mr. Cole's -reputation rests now upon better work--upon such an exquisitely refined -portrait as that of Modjeska as Juliet, in the Scribner Portfolio of -Proofs, and other cuts of hardly less merit there to be found. -Frequently, however, there is noticeable in some of his best work an -analogous characteristic to that of the earlier portraits--the -concentration of attention on the central figures, to the neglect of the -minor portions of the designs. Thus in the example here given (Fig. 87), -so long as the eye is concerned only with the two stately figures, there -is only pleasure in such admirable workmanship; but when the gaze -wanders to the near, and especially the remote, background, there is -nothing to delight the lover of art or nature in such confusion, -insubstantiality, flat, waving shadows without beauty or meaning. Who -would guess from that obscure and formless net-work in the distance that -the next line of these verses is-- - - "And all the sunset heaven behind your head?" - -This "generalization" of the landscape, as it is called, empties it of -all that makes it lovely. To the cut, as an example of figure-engraving, -the highest praise may be given, but as an entire picture it is harmed -by its imperfection of detail. To subordinate by destroying is not the -mode of high art, but it is often the mode of the new school. - -Of all the work of recent years, however, the best, it is generally -admitted, is in the portraits, possibly because the artists are -restrained by the definiteness of the form and expression to be -conveyed. Mr. Cole's Modjeska has been already praised, though it is -rather a fine figure than a fine portrait. A portrait of Mr. Hunt by Mr. -Linton, and of Mr. Fletcher Harper by Mr. Kruell, are also of high -merit, and in both a very high level of excellence is sustained. The -special character of the new school in portraiture, as a distinct and -radical style, is illustrated by Mr. Juengling's "Spanish Peasant" (Fig. -88). It recalls at once the portrait of Whistler by the same hand. In -disposition of color, in certainty of effect, and in skill of execution, -all must recognize the engraver's power; but is the value of the human -face, in whose mouldings is expressed the life of years and -generations--is the value of the human eye, in which the light never -goes out, truly felt? One cannot help feeling that the brutalizing of -this face is a matter rather of art than of truth. Contrast the two -portraits here given (Figs. 89, 90), one in the bolder, more definite, -larger style, admirable in its tones and discrimination of textures, -among the very best in this manner; the other finer, with the tendency -to fade into the background, but faultless in its rendering of the face, -and proving by success the great effectiveness of the fine white -cross-line. - -[Illustration: FIG. 87.-- - - "Nay, Love, 'tis you who stand - With almond clusters in your clasping hand." - - Engraved by T. Cole. -] - -These illustrations of recent engraving are sufficiently numerous and -various to offer a fair test of what has been done in different branches -of the art. The capacity of any new school should be judged by the best -it has produced; but, even in this best work, it is not difficult to -discern at times the same tendencies that have been the main cause of -failure in the less good work. The obscuration of leading outlines; the -disregard of substance, shape, and material in leaf, cloud, and stuffs; -the neglect of relief and perspective, the crowding of the ground with -meaningless lines, either undirected or misdirected, or uselessly -refined; the aim at an effect by an arrangement of color almost -independent of form, the attempt to make a momentary impression on the -eye, instead of to give lasting pleasure to the mind through the -artistic sense, and--especially in the best work--the lack of perfect -and masterly finish in all portions of the design, however insignificant -by comparison with the leading parts--these must be counted as defects. -How much of such failure is due to the designer, it is impossible to -determine without sight of the original drawings; a considerable portion -of the fault may rest with him; in wood-engravings, as art-works, the -union of designer and craftsman is inseparable--the two stand or fall -together. But when all deductions have been made, the best engravers may -rightly be very proud of their work, confident of their future, and -hopeful of great things. With such perfect technical skill as they -possess, with such form and texture as they have represented with care, -truth, and beauty; with such softness of tone and power of both -delicate and strong line as some of their number have earned the mastery -of, the value of future work depends only on the wisdom of their aims. -If the fundamental grounds on which the foregoing criticism rests be -true, these engravers have won success in so far as they have attended -to form and texture as the main business of their art, and they have -failed in so far as they have destroyed these. From its peculiar and -original powers in the interpretation of form and texture by line-work, -either black or white, wood-engraving has derived its value and earned -the respect due it as an art, both through its great works in the past -and, so far as yet appears, through its best works in the present. -Wood-engravers, if the design given them to reproduce is in black line, -fit for engraving in wood, must copy it simply, and then, should -artist-draughtsmen arise, the art in this manner will again produce -works of permanent value as in the days of Holbein; if, on the other -hand, the design given them is in color or washed tints, or anything of -that sort, they must interpret it by lines of their own creation, and -then, too, should any engraver-draughtsmen arise among them, the art -will possess a similarly high value; but in no other way than by -attending to these two kinds of line-work, separately or together, can -wood-engraving remain artistic; and even then its success will depend on -the knowledge and skill of the designer, whether artist or engraver, in -the use and arrangement of the special lines which are best adapted to -the art. - -[Illustration: FIG. 88.--The Spanish Peasant. Engraved by F. Juengling.] - -[Illustration: FIG. 89.--James Russell Lowell. Engraved by Thomas -Johnson.] - -[Illustration: FIG. 90.--Arthur Penrhyn Stanley. Engraved by G. Kruell.] - -The history of wood-engraving, as it is recorded in the chief monuments -of the art, has now been told from its beginning down to the present -moment. Its historic and artistic value has been mainly dwelt upon, with -the view of showing its utility as a democratic art and its powers as a -fine art. It has had an illustrious career. It has shared in the -great social movements which transformed medival into modern -civilization. It entered into the popular life, in its earliest days, by -representing the saints whom the people worshipped. It contributed to -the cause of popular civilization in the spread of literature. It -assisted the introduction of realism into art, and gave powerful aid in -the gradual secularization of art. It lent itself to the Italian genius, -and was able to preserve something of the loveliness of the Italian -Renaissance. It helped the Reformation. It gave enduring form to the -imagination and thought of Drer and Holbein. It fell into inevitable -decline; but, when the development of democracy again began in the new -age, it entered into the work of popular civilization with -ever-increasing vigor and ever-widening influence. It seems still to -possess unlimited capacities for usefulness in the future in both the -intellectual and artistic education of the people. It may yet crown its -career by making this country an art-loving as well as a book-reading -Republic. - - - - -A LIST OF THE PRINCIPAL WORKS - -UPON - -WOOD-ENGRAVING USEFUL TO STUDENTS. - - -ARCHIV fr die zeichnenden Knste, mit besonderer Beziehung auf -Kupfer-stecher-und Holzschneidekunst. Herausg. von R. Naumann. -1ter-16ter Jahrgang. Leipzig, 1855-'70. 8vo. - -BARTSCH (ADAM). Le Peintre-Graveur. Vienne, 1803-'21. 21 T. 8vo; Atlas, -4to. - -BECKER (C.). Jobst Amman, Zeichner und Formschneider, etc., nebst -Zustzen von R. Weigel. Leipzig, 1854. 4to. - -BERJEAU (J. PH.). Biblia Pauperum. Reproduced in Facsimile from one of -the copies in the British Museum, with an historical and bibliographical -Introduction. London, 1859. Folio. - -Speculum Human Salvationis. Le plus ancien Monument de la Xylographie -et de la Typographic runies. Reproduit en Facsimile, avec Introduction -historique et bibliographique. Londres, 1861. Folio. - -BERNARD (AUGUSTE). De l'Origine de l'Imprimerie. Paris, 1853. 2T. 8vo. - -BIGMORE (E. C.) and WYMAN (C. W. H.). A Bibliography of Printing. With -Notes and Illustrations. [Vol. 1.] A-L. London, 1880. 4to. - -BILDER-ALBUM zur neueren Geschichte des Holzschnitts in Deutschland. -Herausg. vom Albertverein. Leipzig, 1877. 4to. - -BLANC (CHARLES). Grammaire des Arts du Dessin, etc. Paris, 1867. 8vo. - -BREVIRE (A.). De la Xilographie ou Gravure sur bois. Rouen, 1833. 8vo. - -CHATTO (W. A.). A Treatise on Wood-engraving. London, 1839. 8vo. Known -as Jackson (John) and Chatto's History. - -DERSCHAU (H. A. VON). Holzschnitte alter deutscher Meister in den -Originalplatten, gesammelt von Derschau, mit einer Abhandlung ber die -Holzschneidekunst begleitet, von Rudolph Zacharias Becker. Gotha, -1808-'16. 3 Th. Folio. - -DIBDIN (T. F.). A bibliographical, antiquarian, and picturesque Tour in -France and Germany. London, 1821. 3 vols. 8vo. - -Bibliographical Decameron. London, 1817. 3 vols. 8vo. - -Bibliotheca Spenceriana. London, 1814, '15. 4 vols. 8vo. - -DIDOT (AMBROISE FIRMIN). Essai typographique et bibliographique sur -l'Histoire de la Gravure sur Bois. Paris, 1863. 8vo. - -DOCUMENTS iconographiques et typographiques de la Bibliothque royale de -Belgique. Bruxelles, 1877. Folio. - -Premire Livr. Spirituale Pomerium, par L. Alvin. - -Deuxime Livr. Gravures Cribles, par H. Hymans. - -Troisime Livr. La Vierge de 1418, par Ch. Ruelens. - -Cinquime Livr. Les neuf Preux, par . Ftis. - -Sixime Livr. Lgende de Saint Servais, par Ch. Ruelens. - -DUPLESSIS (G. G.). Essai de Bibliographie, contenant l'Indication des -Ouvrages relatifs l'Histoire de la Gravure et des Graveurs. Paris, -1862. 8vo. - -Histoire de la Gravure. Paris, 1880. 8vo. - -Les Merveilles de la Gravure. Paris, 1869. 8vo. - -MERIC-DAVID (T. B.) Discours Historique sur la Gravure en Taille-douce -et sur la Gravure en Bois. Paris, 1809. 8vo. - -FALKENSTEIN (C. C. VON). Geschichte der Buchdruckerkunst. Leipzig, 1840. -4to. - -FOURNIER (P. S.). Dissertation sur l'Origine et les Progrs de l'Art de -Graver en Bois. Paris, 1758. 8vo. - -De l'Origine et des Productions de l'Imprimerie primitive en Taille de -Bois. Paris, 1759. 8vo. - -GARNIER (J. M.). Histoire de l'Imagerie populaire et des Cartes jouer - Chartres. Chartres, 1869. 8vo. - -GILKS (T.). A Sketch of the Origin and Progress of the Art of -Wood-engraving. London, 1868. 8vo. - -HAMERTON (P. G.). The Graphic Arts. London, 1882. Plates. Folio. - -HEINECKEN (K. H., BARON VON). Ide gnrale d'une Collection complette -d'Estampes. Leipsic et Vienne, 1771. 8vo. - -HELLER (JOSEPH). Geschichte der Holzschneidekunst. Bamberg, 1823. 8vo. - -HOLTROP (J. W.). Monumens typographiques des Pays-Bas au quinzime -Sicle. La Haye, 1868. Folio. - -HUMPHREYS (H. NOEL). A History of the Art of Printing. London, 1867. -Folio. - -Masterpieces of the early Printers and Engravers. London, 1870. Folio. - -ILG (ALBERT). Ueber den kunsthistorischen Werth der Hypnerotomachia -Poliphili. Wien, 1872. 8vo. - -JANSEN (H.). Essai sur l'Origine de la Gravure en Bois et en -Taille-douce. Paris, 1808. 2 T. 8vo. - -LABITTE (A.). Gravures sur Bois tires des Livres franais du XVe -Sicle. Paris, 1864. 4to. - -LA BORDE (HENRI). Notice sur deux Estampes de 1406. Gazette des -Beaux-Arts, Mars 1, 1869. - -LA BORDE (LON E. S. J., MARQUIS DE). Dbuts de l'Imprimerie -Strasbourg. Paris, 1840. 8vo. - -Essai d'un Catalogue des Artistes originaires des Pays-Bas. Paris, 1849. -8vo. - -LACROIX (PAUL). Les Arts au Moyen ge et l'poque de la Renaissance. -Paris, 1870. 8vo. - -LANZI (L.). Storia pittorica della Italia dal Risorgimento delle Belle -Arti fin presso al fine del XVIII secolo. 6a ed. Milano, 1823. 6 vols. -8vo. - -MABERLY (J.). The Print Collector. Edited, with Notes and a Bibliography -of Engraving, by R. Hoe, Jr. New York, 1880. 4to. - -MEISTERWERKE der Holzschneidekunst aus dem Gebriete der Architektur, -Sculptur und Malerei. 1ter-3ter Band. Leipzig, 1880, '81. Folio. - -MERLIN (R.). Origine des Cartes Jouer. Paris, 1869. 4to. - -MURR (C. G. VON). Bibliothque de Peinture, de Sculpture, et de Gravure. -Francfort et Leipsic, 1770. 2 vols. 12mo. - -OTTLEY (W. Y.). An Inquiry concerning the Invention of Printing. London, -1863. 4to. - -An Inquiry into the Origin and early History of Engraving, upon Copper -and in Wood. London, 1816. 2 vols. 4to. - -PAEILLE (C.). Essai historique et critique sur l'Invention de -l'Imprimerie. Lille, 1859. 8vo. - -PAPILLON (J. M.). Trait historique et pratique de la Gravure en Bois. -Paris, 1766. 3 T. in 2. 8vo. - -PASSAVANT (J. D.). Le Peintre-Graveur. Leipsic, 1860-'64. 6 T. 8vo. - -RENOUVIER (JULES). Des Gravures en Bois dans les Livres d'Anthoine -Verard. Paris, 1859. 8vo. - -Des Gravures sur Bois dans les Livres de Simon Vostre. Paris, 1862. 8vo. - -Des Types et des Manires des Matres Graveurs pour servir l'Histoire -de la Gravure. Montpellier, 1853-'56. 4to. - -Histoire de l'Origine et des Progrs de la Gravure dans les Pays-Bas et -en Allemagne, jusqu' la fin du quinzime Sicle. Bruxelles, 1860. 8vo. - -RUMOHR (C. F. L. F. VON). Zur Geschichte und Theorie der -Formschneidekunst. Leipzig, 1837. 8vo. - -RUSKIN (JOHN). Ariadne Florentina. Six Lectures on Wood and Metal -Engraving. Orpington, Kent, 1876. 8vo. - -SAVAGE (WILLIAM). Practical Hints on decorative Printing, with -Illustrations engraved on Wood. London, 1822. 4to. - -SCOTT (W. B.). Albert Drer, his Life and Works. London, 1869. Sm. 8vo. -The Little Masters. London, 1879. 8vo. - -SINGER (S. WELLER). Researches into the History of Playing Cards; with -Illustrations of the Origin of Printing and of Engraving on Wood. -London, 1816. 4to. - -SOTHEBY (S. L.). Principia Typographica. The Block-books issued in -Holland, Flanders, and Germany during the fifteenth Century. London, -1858. 3 vols. Folio. - -THAUSING (M.). Albert Drer, his Life and Works. Translated. With -Portraits and Illustrations. London, 1882. 8vo. - -UMBREIT (A. E.). Ueber die Eigenhndigkeit der Malerformschnitte. -Leipzig, 1840. 8vo. - -VRIES (A. DE). claircissemens sur l'Histoire de l'Imprimerie. La Haye, -1843. 8vo. - -WAAGEN (G. F.). Treasures of Art in Great Britain, with Supplement. -London, 1854-'57. 4 vols. 8vo. - -WEIGEL (RUDOLPH). Holzschnitte berhmter Meister in treuen Copien. -Leipzig, 1851-'54. Folio. - -WEIGEL (T. O.) and ZESTERMANN (A. C. A.). Die Anfnge der Drucker-Kunst -in Bild und Schrift. Leipzig, 1866. 2 Bnde. Folio. - -WILLSHIRE (W. H.). An Introduction to the Study and Collection of -ancient Prints. 2d ed. London, 1877. 2 vols. 8vo. - -WOLTMANN (ALFRED). Holbein und seine Zeit. Leipzig. 1866-'68. 2 Th. 8vo. - -WORNUM (R. N.). Some Account of the Life and Works of Holbein. London, -1867. 8vo. - -ZANI (P.). Materiali per servire alla Storia dell'Origine e de' -Progressi dell'Incisione in Rame e in Legno, etc. Parma, 1802. 8vo. - -ZORN (PETER). Historia Bibliorum pictorum. Lipsi, 1743. 4to. - - - - -INDEX. - - -Adams, Joseph Alexander, 173. - -Altdorfer, Albrecht, 111. - -America: - earlier history and characteristics of the art, 171-177; - present position and influence, 177, 178; - works in imitation of other arts, 185; - errors in practice 190, 202; - future of the art, 202-206. - -Amman, Jobst, 114. - -Anderson, Alexander, 172. - -Andreani, Andrea, 146. - -Anthony, A. V. S., 176. - -Ars Memorandi, 43. - -Ars Moriendi, 43. - -Augsburg: - prints, 26; - playing-cards, 27; - Bible, 52; - press, 46, 57. - - -Baldung, Hans, 110. - -Bamberg: press, 56. - -Basle: - characteristics of the city in Holbein's time, 117. - -Behaim, Hans Sebald, 112-114. - -Bernard, St.: - his rebuke of art, 14. - -Best, Adolphe, 169. - -Bewick, Thomas: - the father of modern wood-engraving, 151; - sketch of his life, 154; - reforms effected by him, 154; - character of his genius, 154-160; - his works, 161; - influence on the art in America, 172. - -Bible: - the Cologne, 49; - the Nuremberg, 50; - the Augsburg, 52; - the Strasburg, 50; - Coverdale's, 132; - Le Clerc's, 139; - Jean de Tournes', 141; - Harper's, 173. - -Bible cuts: - Behaim's, 113; - Holbein's, 129-131; - Jean Moni's, 141. - -_Biblia Pauperum_: - their use, 31; - designs not original, 32; - description, 33; - place of issue, 37. - -Blake, William, 162. - -Block-printing: - invention, 30, 31, 42; - decline, 45. - -Boldrini, Nicolo, 144. - -Bouts, Diedrick, 39. - -Branston, Robert, 164, 167. - -Bray, Theodore de, 147. - -Brevire, Henri, 169. - -Breydenbach's Travels, 55. - -Bront, Charlotte, criticism of Bewick, 159-161. - -Brosamer, Hans, 114. - -Brothers of the Common Lot: - their claim to the authorship of the block-books, 39. - -Brussels: print of 1418, 23. - -Burgkmaier, Hans: - genius and works, 99-106; - influence on Holbein, 117 - - -Calcar, Jean, 146. - -Carpi, Ugo da, 87, 146. - -Caxton, William: - Game and Playe of the Chesse, 63. - -Chiaroscuro-engraving, 87-89, 146, 148, 187-189. - -Christopher, St.: - print of 1423, 22. - -Chronicles: - general description, 52; - the Cologne, 53; - the Nuremberg, 53; - the Saxon, 53. - -Clennell, Luke, 164, 167. - -Cole, T., 197, 200. - -Cologne: - early school of art, 42, 43; - Bible, 49; - Chronicle, 53; - press, 57. - -Color: - in the holy prints, 26 _note_; - in early German books, 52; - in the _Livres d'Heures_, 60, 61; - in chiaroscuro-engraving, 87. - -Color, conventional, 55, 151, 152. - -Copperplate-engraving: - influence on wood-engraving, 47, 91, 112, 141, 149, 164, 176, 182. - -Coriolano, Bartolemeo, 146. - -Coster, Lawrence: - claim to the invention of wood-engraving, 21. - -Cousin, Jean, 136-139. - -Cranach, Lukas, 110. - -Crible-work: - description, 18; - in France, 62, 63. - -Cross-hatching: - first use in Germany, 55; - in Italy, 86; - its propriety in wood-engraving, 152, 186. - -Cunio, Isabella and Alexander Alberico, 20. - - -Dalziel, the Brothers, 168. - -Dance of Death: - typical medival idea, 121; - Holbein's, 123-129; - Guyot Marchand's, 62. - -Davis, J. P., 197. - -Day, John, 147. - -Didot, Firmin (pre): - his influence on the French revival of the art, 163. - -Dream of Poliphilo, 70-81, 137, 138. - -Du Pr, Jean, 60. - -Drer, Albert: - influence on the art, 90; - character of his genius, 91, 92; - Apocalypse of St. John, 93, 94; - Larger Passion, Smaller Passion, Life of the Virgin, 95-97; - single prints, 97; - Car and Gate of Triumph, 97-99. - - -England: - early woodcuts, 63; - the art in Holbein's time, 132, 147, 148; - modern revival, 151, 164. - -Evans, Edmund, 168. - - -Form, value of, in wood-engraving, 193. - -France: - early books in French, 58; - early woodcuts, 59-63; - influence of Germany and Italy, 62, 135; - character of the French Renaissance and its art, 135-141; - the modern revival, 163, 169. - -French, Frank, 196. - - -Genre art, first appearance in wood-engraving, 121. - -Germany: - German block-books, 42, 43; - activity and influence of the early printers, 46, 47; - the free cities, 48; - character of the early press, 48, 56, 57; - influence on France, 62; - on Italy, 67; - on Venice, 68; - chiaroscuro-engraving, 87; - the Renaissance, 91, 97, 110, 111, 115; - decline, 148; - the modern revival, 163, 169. - -Gilbert, Sir John, 168. - -Goldsmiths, medival: - their art-works, 14-16; - position in France and the Netherlands, 17; - their claim to the invention of wood-engraving, 18, 19. - -Goltzius, Hendrick, 147. - -Goujon, Jean, 139. - -Greche, Domenico delle, 145. - -Gregory the Great: - his defence of art, 31. - -Groups, modern, 195-200. - -Gubitz, Friedrich Wilhelm, 163. - - -Harvey, William, 167. - -_Historia Johannis Evangelist ejusque Visiones Apocalyptic_, 42. - -_Historia Virginis Mari_, 41. - -History of the Kings of Hungary, 53, 54. - -Holbein, Hans: - the first modern artist, 116; - character and development of his genius, 117-120; - early work, 120; Dance of Death, 123-128; - his democratic, reforming, and sceptical spirit, dramatic and artistic power, 120-127; - Figures of the Bible, 129-131; - his English portraits, 131; - his English woodcuts, 132; - summary of his powers and influence, 132-134. - -Holy prints, 21-26. - -Hoskin, Robert, 195. - -Hypnerotomachia Poliphili: - illustration of the Italian Renaissance, 70-81; - the French reproduction, 137, 138. - - -Initial letters: - in Faust and Scheffer's Psalter, 46; - in the Augsburg Bible, 52; - in Italy, 86; - in Holbein's alphabets, 120, 121. - -Italy: - artistic spirit, 65; - democratic civilization, 66; - the Renaissance, 67; - introduction of printing, 68; - early cuts, 68; - general characterization of the engraved work, 85; - decline, 86; - chiaroscuro-engraving, 87-89; - influence on Holbein, 117, 118. - - -Jackson, John Baptist, 148. - -Jegher, Christopher, 147. - -Jerome, St., Epistles of, 70, 71. - -Juengling, F., 195, 200. - - -Kerver, Thielman, 62. - -King, F. S., 189, 193. - -Kirkall, Edward, 148. - -Kruell, G., 200. - - -Landscape, modern, 186-195. - -Lavoignat, H., 169. - -Le Caron, Pierre, 60. - -Le Clerc, Jean, 139, 140. - -Leech, John, 168. - -Leloir, Auguste, 169. - -Le Rouge, Pierre, 60. - -Le Sueur, Pierre, 148. - -Leyden, Lukas van, 110, 147. - -Linton, W. J., 168, 176, 200. - -Little Masters, 111. - -Livens, Jean, 147. - -_Livres d'Heures_, 60-62. - -Lorch, Melchior, 114. - -Lorme, Philibert de, 140. - -Lucchesini, 148. - -Ltzelburger, Hans, 129. - -Lyons: - earliest seat of the art in France, 59; - character of the earlier press, 59; - the later press, 140. - - -Magazines: use and influence, 167. - -Marchand, Guyot, 60, 62. - -Marsh, Henry, 176, 186. - -Maximilian, Emperor: - life and character, 97; - works executed by his order--the Triumphal Car, 98; - Gate of Triumph, 99; - the Triumphal Procession, 99-105; - The Adventures of Sir Tewrdannckh, 106; - The Wise King, 106; - influence of his patronage, 109. - -Mayence press, 46, 53, 55, 57. - -Metal-engraving earlier than wood-engraving, 18. - -Middle Ages: - position of goldsmiths, 14-18; - impersonal spirit, 26; - value of painting, 28, 31; - immobility of mind, 32; - religious temper and intellectual life, 40, 41; - art, typical, 53; - illustrated by Drer, 92; - by Maximilian's works, 99-105; - by the Dance of Death, 121. - -Moni, Jean, 141. - - -Nanto, Francesco da, 145. - -Nesbit, Charlton, 164. - -Netherlands: - civilization in, 37; - wood-engraving probably invented in, 38; - decline of, 47, 57, 147. - -Nicolo, Giuseppe, 146. - -Nuremburg: - prints, 26; - playing-cards, 27; - Bible, 50; - Chronicle, 53; - press, 57, 114. - - -Painting, place of, in medival popular civilization, 28, 31. - -Papillon, Jean, the Elder, 148; - the Younger, 20. - -Paris: - character of the Parisian press, 59, 60; - early books and printers, 60; - the _Livres d'Heures_, 60, - secular books, 62, 63. - -Prissin, Jacques, 140. - -Pfister, Book of Fables, 56. - -Pigouchet, Philippe, 62. - -Playing-cards, 27. - -Pleydenwurff, William, 53. - -Pliny, reference to Varro's portraits, 20. - -Porret, 169. - -Porto, Giovanni Battista del, 145. - -Portraits, modern, 198, 200-202. - -Principles of wood-engraving, 180-185. - -Processes: - engraving in relief on wood known to the ancients, 13; - of taking impressions, 17; - _en manire crible_, 18; - of taking off the holy prints, 21, 22; - of block-printing, 30; - of cross-hatching, 55; - of chiaroscuro-engraving, 87-89; - white-line and Bewick's other reforms, 151-155. - -Pynson, Richard, 64. - - -Raimondi, Marc Antonio, 96, 142. - -Reformation reflected in wood-engraving, 51, 112, 117, 120, 126, 132. - -Rembrandt, 147. - -Renaissance: in Italy, 67-85; - in Germany, 91, 97, 110, 111, 115; - in France, 135-141. - -Romances, popular, 59, 141. - -Rubens, P. P.: - reproductions after his designs, 147. - -Ruskin, John: - criticism on Holbein, 126; - on Bewick, 155. - - -Saints' images, 21-26. - -Salomon, Bernard, 140-141. - -Sand, George, criticism of Holbein, 124. - -Satire: in Bible-cuts, 50, 51; - in the Little Masters, 112; - in Holbein, 120, 132. - -Saxony: Chronicle, 53. - -_Schatzbehalter_, 54. - -Schuffelin, Hans, 106. - -Schn, Erhard, 114. - -Scolari, Giuseppe, 145. - -Sebastian, St.: - print of 1437, 23. - -Secularization of art, 50, 110, 111. - -Smith, Orrin, 167. - -Solis, Virgil, 114. - -_Speculum Human Salvationis_: - description, 34; - place of issue, 36; - authorship, 38, _note_, 39; - character of the cuts, 40. - -_Spirituale Pomerium_, 39. - -Springinklee, Hans, 106, 110. - -Stamps, engraved, early use, 13. - -Stimmer, Tobias, 114. - -Strasburg: - Bible, 50; - press, 57. - -Suger, defence of art, 15. - - -Tenniel, John, 168. - -Tewrdannckh, Sir, Adventures of, 106. - -Thompson, John, 164. - -Titian, reproductions after his designs, 144-146. - -Tortorel, Jean, 140. - -Tory, Geoffrey, influence on French engraving, 135. - -Trento, Antonio da, 146. - -Turrecremata's, Cardinal, Meditations, 68. - - -Ulm: - prints, 26; - press, 57. - -Unger, Johann Georg, and Johann Gottlieb Friedrich, 163. - - -Van der Weyden, Roger, 42. - -Van Eyck, 36, 37, 42. - -Varro, portraits in his works, 20. - -Vecellio, Cesare, 146. - -Venice: - claim to the origin of wood-engraving, 20; - decree forbidding importation of prints from Germany, 27; - early cuts, 68; - early views of the city, 69; - later cuts, 82-87, 143-147. - -Verard, Antoine, 60, 62. - -Vesalius's Anatomy, 145. - -Vinci, Leonardo da, 142. - -Vostre, Simon, 62. - - -White line: - description, 151; - influence on the art in Bewick's hands, 153; - the engraver's province, 154, 184. - -Wise King, The, 106. - -Woeiriot, Pierre, 140. - -Wohlgemuth, Michael, 53, 54. - -Worde, Wynkyn de, 64. - - -Zainer Gunther, 46, 52. - - -THE END. - - * * * * * - -Typographical errors corrected by the etext transcriber: - -appendix von Albert Ilg. Wein=> appendix von Albert Ilg. Wien {pg 19} - -Guyot Marchand's La Dance Macabre, first published in 1485=> Guyot -Marchand's La Danse Macabre, first published in 1485 {pg 62} - -its bloom in sun difers=> its bloom in sun differs {pg 181} - - * * * * * - - -FOOTNOTES: - -[1] "Documents, Iconographiques et Typographiques de la Bibliothque -Royale de Belgique," Deuxime Livr. Gravure Crible, par M. H. Hymans. -Bruxelles, 1864-1873. Quoted in Willshire, "An Introduction to the Study -and Collection of Ancient Prints." London. 1877; 2 vols.; vol. ii., p. -64. - -[2] "Fulget ecclesia in parietibus, et in pauperibus eget. Suos lapides -induit auro; et suos filios nudos deserit. * * * Tam multa denique, -tamque mira diversarium formarum ubique varietas apparet ut magis legere -libeat in marmoribus, quam in codicibus, totum diem occupare singula -ista mirando quam in lege Dei meditando." Sancti Bernardi opera omnia. -Recognita, etc., curis Dom. J. Mabillon. 4 vols. Paris, 1839; vol. i., -col. 1242-1244, Apologia ad Guillelmum, cap. xii. - -[3] "Abundet unusquisque in suo sensu, mihi fateor hoc potissimum -placuisse ut qucumque cariora, qucumque carissima, sacrosanct -Eucharisti amministrationi super omnia deservire debeant. Si libatoria -aurea, si fial aure et si mortariola aurea ad collectam sanguinis -hircorum aut vitulorum aut vacc ruff, ore Dei aut prophet jussu, -deserviebant; quanto magis ad susceptionem sanguinis Jesu Christi vasa -aurea, lapides preciosi, quque inter omnes creaturas carissima continuo -famulatu, plena devotione exponi debeat." OEuvres compltes de Suger -recueillies, etc., par A. L. de la Marche. Paris, 1867. Sur son -administration Abbatiale, p. 199 _et seq._ - -[4] La Barte, "Histoire des Arts Industriels au Moyen Age et a l'poque -de la Renaissance." 4 tom. (Album, 2 tom.). Paris, 1864. Tom. i., pp. -391-513; tom. ii., pp. 1-592. - -[5] Leon Delaborde, "Notice des Emaux et Objets divers exposs au -Louvre." Paris, 1853; p. 84. - -[6] Leon Delaborde, "La plus ancienne Gravure du Cabinet des Estampes de -la Bibliothque Royale, est-elle ancienne?" Paris, 1840. Quoted in -Willshire, vol. ii., p. 64. - -[7] Theophilus Presbyter, "Schedula Diversarum Artium." Revidirter text, -ubersetzung und appendix von Albert Ilg. Wien, 1874; cap. lxxi., lxxii., -pp. 281-283. - -[8] Renouvier, "Histoire de l'Origine et des Progrs de la Gravure dans -les Pays-Bas et en Allemagne, jusqu' la fin du quinzime Sicle." -Bruxelles, 1860. - -[9] The date of 1406 has been assigned to two examples at Paris with -great ingenuity, but not unquestionably, by M. le Vte. Henri Delaborde, -"Notice sur Deux Estampes de 1406 et sur les commencements de la Gravure -Crible."--_Gazette des Beaux Arts_, Mars 1, 1869. - -[10] Willshire, vol. ii., pp. 62, 63. - -[11] Pliny, "Nat. Hist.," liber xxxv., c. 2. - -[12] W. Y. Ottley, "An Inquiry into the Origin and Early History of -Engraving upon Copper and in Wood." London, 1816; 2 vols.; vol. i., pp. -54-59. - -[13] Papillon, "Trait Historique de la Gravure en Bois." Paris, 1766. -Trois parties en deux tomes; tom. i., p. 83. - -[14] Von Murr, Zani, meric David, Ottley. - -[15] Heinecken, Lanzi, Mariette, Didot. - -[16] Jackson and Chatto, "A Treatise on Wood-engraving." London, 1839; -p. 39. - -[17] Meerman, "Orig. Typogr." Hag, Comit., 1765. - -[18] Hadriani Junii Batavia. Lugdunum Batavorum, 1588. - -[19] S. Sotheby, "Principia Typographica." The block-books issued in -Holland, Flanders, and Germany during the 15th century. London, 1858; 3 -vols.; vol. i., p. 179. - -[20] Heinecken, "Ide Gnrale d'une Collection complette d'Estampes." -Leipsic et Vienne, 1771; p. 250. - -[21] Those who are curious may consult on this print "Quelques Mots sur -la Gravure au millsime de 1418," par C. D. B. (M. de Brou). Bruxelles, -1846. "La Plus Ancienne Gravure connue avec une date," Mmoire par M. le -Baron de Reiffenberg. Bruxelles, 1845; also, in favor of the date, the -works of Ruelens, Luthereau, Renouvier, Berjeau, and against it, the -works of Passavant, LaCroix, and Chatto. - -[22] This print is described by Ottley in his "Inquiry," etc. London, -1863. There is another woodcut on the reverse side of the leaf, -representing the Virgin holding the dead Christ, of which Ottley gives a -fac-simile. The manuscript with these woodcuts is now in the possession -of Professor Norton, of Harvard College. - -[23] Many fine examples of these prints are reproduced, with their -original colors, in Weigel and Zestermann's "Die Anfnge der -Drucker-Kunst in Bild und Schrift." 2 Bnde. Leipzig, 1866. - -[24] Four schools of coloring are reckoned: the Suabian School (Augsburg -and Ulm), marked by bright colors; the Franconian (Nuremberg and -Nrdlingen), marked by less lively colors; the Bavarian (Friesing, -Tegernsee, Kaisersheim), marked by use of pure carmine and ochre; the -Lower Rhine (Cologne, and towns of Burgundy), marked by pure colors in -pale tints. See Willshire, vol. i., p. 175 _et seq._ - -[25] Merlin, "Origine des Cartes Jouer, Recherches nouvelles," etc. -Paris, 1869. - -[26] Printed in Ottley, "An Inquiry," etc., vol. i., p. 47. - -[27] "Nam quod legentibus Scriptura, hoc idiotis prstat pictura -cernentibus, quia in ipsa etiam ignorantes vident quid sequi debeant, in -ipsa legunt qui litteras nesciunt; unde et prcipue gentibus pro -lectione pictura est." Patrologi Cursus Completus, Accurante, J. P. -Migne, tom. lxxvii. Sancti Gregorii Magni, tom, iii., liber xi., epis. -xiii., col. 1128. _Vide_, also, idem, liber ix., epis. cv., col. 1027. - -[28] "Biblia Pauperum." Reproduced in fac-simile, from one of the copies -in the British Museum, with an historical and bibliographical -introduction by J. Ph. Berjeau. London, 1859. - -[29] "Speculum Human Salvationis." Le Plus Ancien Monument de la -Xylographie et de la Typographie runies. Reproduit en fac-simile, avec -introduction Historique et Bibliographique, par J. Ph. Berjeau. Londres, -1861. - -[30] The composition of the poem which forms the text of the _Speculum_ -has been attributed to Vincent de Beauvais, who could not have written -it, and to Conrad d'Altzheim, who might have written it; the designs -have been attributed to various artists, particularly to Steurbout, but -on the slightest grounds; the printing has been assigned to Lawrence -Coster, in whose doubtful if not fabulous name no confidence can be -placed, and to Veldener, Faust and Scheffer, Thierry Martens d'Alost, -and other early German and Flemish printers. - -[31] Renouvier, "Origine," etc., p. 91; and Berjeau's preface to the -Fac-simile Reproduction of the _Speculum_. The claims of the Brotherhood -are supported most fully by Harzen in "Archiv fr die Zeichnenden -Knste." Leipsig, 1855. - -[32] Didot, "Essai Typographique et Bibliographique sur l'Histoire de la -Gravure sur Bois," col. 205. Paris, 1863. - -[33] Renouvier, "Des Gravures sur Bois dans les Livres de Simon Vostre." -Paris, 1862. - -[34] See Duplessis on the works of Simon Vostre, and Brunet's "Manuel du -Libraire," tom v., at the end, for farther information on the devotional -books of the French printers. - -[35] _Ante_, p. 18. - -[36] _Vide_ Renouvier, Didot, Passavant. - -[37] Vespas. Fior., p. 129. Quoted in Burckhardt, "The Civilization of -the Period of the Renaissance in Italy." Translated by S. G. C. -Middlemore. Vol. i., p. 271. London, 1878. - -[38] _The Academy_, October 15, 1872, pp. 383 _et seq._ _Vide_, also, -Albert Ilg, "Ueber den Kunsthistorischen Werth der Hypnerotomachia -Poliphili, ein Beitrag zur Geschichte der Kunstliteratur in der -Renaissance." Wien, 1872. The original edition of the Dream of Poliphilo -is rare and costly. It was re-issued in Venice, in 1545, and in Paris, -with some variations (of which some account is given on a later page), -in 1546. There is an abridged translation in French by Legrand, without -cuts, printed by Didot in 1804. - -[39] "Le Triomphe de l'Empereur Maximilien. Vienne, 1796." - -[40] "La Mare au Diable, par George Sand," pp. 5-7. Paris, 1869. - - - - - - - - -End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of A History of Wood-Engraving, by -George Edward Woodberry - -*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A HISTORY OF WOOD-ENGRAVING *** - -***** This file should be named 40638-8.txt or 40638-8.zip ***** -This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: - http://www.gutenberg.org/4/0/6/3/40638/ - -Produced by Chuck Greif and the Online Distributed -Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was -produced from images available at The Internet Archive) - - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions -will be renamed. - -Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no -one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation -(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without -permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, -set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to -copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to -protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project -Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you -charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you -do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the -rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose -such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and -research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do -practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is -subject to the trademark license, especially commercial -redistribution. - - - -*** START: FULL LICENSE *** - -THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE -PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK - -To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free -distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work -(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project -Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project -Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at -http://gutenberg.org/license). - - -Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm -electronic works - -1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm -electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to -and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property -(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all -the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy -all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. -If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project -Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the -terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or -entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. - -1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be -used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who -agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few -things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works -even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See -paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project -Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement -and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic -works. See paragraph 1.E below. - -1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" -or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project -Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the -collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an -individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are -located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from -copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative -works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg -are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project -Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by -freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of -this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with -the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by -keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project -Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. - -1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern -what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in -a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check -the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement -before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or -creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project -Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning -the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United -States. - -1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: - -1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate -access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently -whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the -phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project -Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, -copied or distributed: - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with -almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or -re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included -with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org/license - -1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived -from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is -posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied -and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees -or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work -with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the -work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 -through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the -Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or -1.E.9. - -1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted -with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution -must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional -terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked -to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the -permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. - -1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm -License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this -work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. - -1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this -electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without -prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with -active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project -Gutenberg-tm License. - -1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, -compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any -word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or -distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than -"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version -posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org), -you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a -copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon -request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other -form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm -License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. - -1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, -performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works -unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. - -1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing -access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided -that - -- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from - the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method - you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is - owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he - has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the - Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments - must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you - prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax - returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and - sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the - address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to - the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." - -- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies - you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he - does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm - License. You must require such a user to return or - destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium - and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of - Project Gutenberg-tm works. - -- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any - money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the - electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days - of receipt of the work. - -- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free - distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. - -1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm -electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set -forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from -both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael -Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the -Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. - -1.F. - -1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable -effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread -public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm -collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic -works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain -"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or -corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual -property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a -computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by -your equipment. - -1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right -of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project -Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project -Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project -Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all -liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal -fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT -LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE -PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE -TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE -LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR -INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH -DAMAGE. - -1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a -defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can -receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a -written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you -received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with -your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with -the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a -refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity -providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to -receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy -is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further -opportunities to fix the problem. - -1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth -in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER -WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO -WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. - -1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied -warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. -If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the -law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be -interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by -the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any -provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. - -1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the -trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone -providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance -with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, -promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, -harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, -that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do -or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm -work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any -Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. - - -Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm - -Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of -electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers -including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists -because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from -people in all walks of life. - -Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the -assistance they need, are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's -goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will -remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project -Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure -and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. -To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation -and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 -and the Foundation web page at http://www.pglaf.org. - - -Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive -Foundation - -The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit -501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the -state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal -Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification -number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at -http://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg -Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent -permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. - -The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. -Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered -throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at -809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email -business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact -information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official -page at http://pglaf.org - -For additional contact information: - Dr. Gregory B. Newby - Chief Executive and Director - gbnewby@pglaf.org - - -Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg -Literary Archive Foundation - -Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide -spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of -increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be -freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest -array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations -($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt -status with the IRS. - -The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating -charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United -States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a -considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up -with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations -where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To -SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any -particular state visit http://pglaf.org - -While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we -have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition -against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who -approach us with offers to donate. - -International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make -any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from -outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. - -Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation -methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other -ways including checks, online payments and credit card donations. -To donate, please visit: http://pglaf.org/donate - - -Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic -works. - -Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm -concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared -with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project -Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. - - -Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed -editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. -unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily -keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. - - -Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: - - http://www.gutenberg.org - -This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, -including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary -Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to -subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. diff --git a/old/40638-8.zip b/old/40638-8.zip Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index 875be05..0000000 --- a/old/40638-8.zip +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/40638-h.zip b/old/40638-h.zip Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index 539fd90..0000000 --- a/old/40638-h.zip +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/40638-h/40638-h.htm b/old/40638-h/40638-h.htm deleted file mode 100644 index c90e713..0000000 --- a/old/40638-h/40638-h.htm +++ /dev/null @@ -1,6261 +0,0 @@ -<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" -"http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd"> - -<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" lang="en" xml:lang="en"> - <head> <link rel="coverpage" href="images/cover.jpg" /> -<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html;charset=utf-8" /> -<title> - The Project Gutenberg eBook of A History of Wood-engraving, by George E. Woodberry. -</title> -<style type="text/css"> - p {margin-top:.2em;text-align:justify;margin-bottom:.2em;text-indent:4%;} - -.c {text-align:center;text-indent:0%;} - -.cb {text-align:center;text-indent:0%;font-weight:bold;} - -.errata {color:red;text-decoration:underline;} - -.hang {text-indent:-2%;margin-left:2%;} - -.letra {font-size:250%;float:left;margin-top:-.75%;} - -.letrra {float:left;margin-top:-.75%;padding:0.5%; -text-align:center;} - -.nind {text-indent:0%;} - -.r {text-align:right;margin-right: 5%;} - -small {font-size: 70%;} - - h1 {margin-top:5%;text-align:center;clear:both;} - - h2 {margin-top:5%;margin-bottom:2%;text-align:center;clear:both; - font-size:120%;} - - hr.full {width: 50%;margin:5% auto 5% auto;border:4px double gray;} - - table {margin-top:5%;margin-bottom:5%;margin-left:auto;margin-right:auto;border:none;text-align:left;} - - body{margin-left:2%;margin-right:2%;background:#fdfdfd;color:black;font-family:"Times New Roman", serif;font-size:medium;} - -a:link {background-color:#ffffff;color:blue;text-decoration:none;} - - link {background-color:#ffffff;color:blue;text-decoration:none;} - -a:visited {background-color:#ffffff;color:purple;text-decoration:none;} - -a:hover {background-color:#ffffff;color:#FF0000;text-decoration:underline;} - -.smcap {font-variant:small-caps;font-size:95%;} - - img {border:none;} - - sup {font-size:75%;vertical-align:top;} - -.caption {font-weight:normal;font-size:60%;} - -.figcenter {margin-top:3%;margin-bottom:3%; -margin-left:auto;margin-right:auto;text-align:center;text-indent:0%;} - -.figleft {float:left;clear:left;margin-left:0;margin-bottom:1em;margin-top:1em;margin-right:1em;padding:0;text-align:center;} - -.figright {float:right;clear:right;margin-left:1em;margin-bottom:1em;margin-top:1em;margin-right:0;padding:0;text-align:center;} - -.footnotes {border:dotted 3px gray;margin-top:15%;clear:both;} - -.footnote {width:95%;margin:auto 3% 1% auto;font-size:0.9em;position:relative;} - -.label {position:relative;left:-.5em;top:0;text-align:left;font-size:.8em;} - -.fnanchor {vertical-align:30%;font-size:.8em;} - -.poem {margin-left:25%;text-indent:0%;} -.poem .stanza {margin-top: 1em;margin-bottom:1em;} -.poem span.i0 {display: block; margin-left: 0em; padding-left: 3em; text-indent: -3em;} -.poem span.i1 {display: block; margin-left: .55em; padding-left: 3em; text-indent: -3em;} -</style> - </head> -<body> - - -<pre> - -Project Gutenberg's A History of Wood-Engraving, by George Edward Woodberry - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with -almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or -re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included -with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org/license - - -Title: A History of Wood-Engraving - -Author: George Edward Woodberry - -Release Date: September 1, 2012 [EBook #40638] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: UTF-8 - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A HISTORY OF WOOD-ENGRAVING *** - - - - -Produced by Chuck Greif and the Online Distributed -Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was -produced from images available at The Internet Archive) - - - - - - -</pre> - -<hr class="full" /> - -<p class="figcenter"> -<a href="images/cover_lg.jpg"> -<img src="images/cover.jpg" width="414" height="550" -alt="cover" title="cover" /></a> -</p> - -<p class="cb"><a name="page_001" id="page_001"></a><br />A HISTORY OF WOOD-ENGRAVING</p> - -<p><a name="page_002" id="page_002"></a></p> - -<p><a name="page_003" id="page_003"></a></p> - -<p class="figcenter"> -<a href="images/illpg003.png"> -<img src="images/illpg003_sml.png" width="419" height="644" alt="A HISTORY -OF -WOOD-ENGRAVING -BY -GEORGE E. WOODBERRY -ILLUSTRATED -LONDON -SAMPSON LOW, MARSTON, SEARLE, & RIVINGTON -CROWN BUILDINGS, 188 FLEET STREET -1883" title="A HISTORY -OF -WOOD-ENGRAVING -BY -GEORGE E. WOODBERRY -ILLUSTRATED -LONDON -SAMPSON LOW, MARSTON, SEARLE, & RIVINGTON -CROWN BUILDINGS, 188 FLEET STREET -1883" /></a> -</p> - -<p><a name="page_004" id="page_004"></a></p> - -<p class="c"> -Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1882, by<br /> -<br /> -H A R P E R & B R O T H E R S,<br /> -<br /> -In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington.<br /> -<br /> -<i>All rights reserved.</i></p> - -<p><a name="page_005" id="page_005"></a></p> - -<h2><a name="PREFACE" id="PREFACE"></a>PREFACE.</h2> - -<p class="nind"><span class="letra">I</span>N this book I have attempted to gather and arrange such facts as should -be known to men of cultivation interested in the art of engraving in -wood. I have, therefore, disregarded such matter as seems to belong -rather to descriptive bibliography, and have treated wood-engraving, in -its principal works, as a reflection of the life of men and an -illustration of successive phases of civilization. Where there is much -disputed ground, particularly in the early history of the art, the -writers on whom I have relied are referred to, and those who adopt a -different view are named; but where the facts seemed plain, and are -easily verifiable, reference did not appear necessary.</p> - -<p>In conclusion, I have the honor to acknowledge my obligations to the -officers of the Boston Public Library, the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, -and the Harvard College Library, for permission to reproduce several -cuts in their possession; and to Mr. Lindsay Swift, of the Boston Public -Library, for the list of authorities at the end of the volume.<a name="page_006" id="page_006"></a> -Especially it is my pleasant duty to thank Professor Charles Eliot -Norton, of Harvard University, from whose curious and valuable -collection more than half of these illustrations are derived, both for -them and for suggestion, advice, and criticism, without which, indeed, -the work could not have been written.</p> - -<p class="r">G<small>EORGE</small> E<small>DWARD</small> W<small>OODBERRY</small>.</p> - -<p><a name="page_007" id="page_007"></a></p> - -<h2><a name="CONTENTS" id="CONTENTS"></a>CONTENTS.</h2> - -<table border="0" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="0" summary=""> -<tr><td align="center" colspan="2"><a href="#I">I</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td align="right" colspan="2"><small>PAGE</small></td></tr> - -<tr><td><i>THE ORIGIN OF THE ART</i> </td><td align="right" valign="bottom"><a href="#page_013">13</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td align="center" colspan="2"><a href="#II">II</a></td></tr> -<tr><td><i>THE BLOCK-BOOKS</i></td><td align="right" valign="bottom"><a href="#page_030">30</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td align="center" colspan="2"><a href="#III">III</a></td></tr> -<tr><td><i>EARLY PRINTED BOOKS IN THE NORTH</i></td><td align="right" valign="bottom"><a href="#page_045">45</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td align="center" colspan="2"><a href="#IV">IV</a></td></tr> -<tr><td><i>EARLY ITALIAN WOOD-ENGRAVING</i></td><td align="right" valign="bottom"><a href="#page_065">65</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td align="center" colspan="2"><a href="#V">V</a></td></tr> -<tr><td><i>ALBERT DÜRER AND HIS SUCCESSORS</i></td><td align="right" valign="bottom"><a href="#page_090">90</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td align="center" colspan="2"><a href="#VI">VI</a></td></tr> -<tr><td><i>HANS HOLBEIN</i></td><td align="right" valign="bottom"><a href="#page_116">116</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td align="center" colspan="2"><a href="#VII">VII</a></td></tr> -<tr><td><i>THE DECLINE AND EXTINCTION OF THE ART</i></td><td align="right" valign="bottom"><a href="#page_135">135</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td align="center" colspan="2"><a href="#VIII">VIII</a></td></tr> -<tr><td><i>MODERN WOOD-ENGRAVING</i></td><td align="right" valign="bottom"><a href="#page_151">151</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td><i>A LIST OF THE PRINCIPAL WORKS UPON WOOD-ENGRAVING<br /> -USEFUL TO STUDENTS</i></td><td align="right" valign="bottom"><a href="#page_211">211</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td><a href="#INDEX"><i>INDEX</i></a></td><td align="right" valign="bottom"><a href="#page_217">217</a></td></tr> -</table> - -<p><a name="page_008" id="page_008"></a></p> - -<p><a name="page_009" id="page_009"></a></p> - -<h2><a name="LIST_OF_ILLUSTRATIONS" id="LIST_OF_ILLUSTRATIONS"></a>LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.</h2> - -<p class="c">[Some of the illustrations have been moved from -inside of paragraphs for ease of reading. Clicking on the figure -number in this list will take you to it. Click directly on the image -to view it in a larger size. (n. etext transcriber)]</p> - -<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary=""> - -<tr><td><small>FIG.</small></td> <td> </td> <td><small>PAGE</small></td></tr> - -<tr><td align="right" valign="top"><a href="#ill_1">1</a>.</td><td>—From “Epistole di San Hieronymo Volgare.” Ferrara, 1497. (Initial letter) </td><td align="right" valign="bottom"><a href="#page_013">13</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td align="right" valign="top"><a href="#ill_2">2</a>.</td><td>—St. Christopher, 1423. From Ottley’s “Inquiry into the Origin and Early History -of Engraving upon Copper and in Wood”</td><td align="right" valign="bottom"><a href="#page_022">22</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td align="right" valign="top"><a href="#ill_3">3</a>.</td><td>—The Crucifixion. From the Manuscript “Book of Devotion.” 1445</td><td align="right" valign="bottom"><a href="#page_024">24</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td align="right" valign="top"><a href="#ill_4">4</a>.</td><td>—From the “Epistole di San Hieronymo.” 1497. (Initial letter)</td><td align="right" valign="bottom"><a href="#page_030">30</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td align="right" valign="top"><a href="#ill_5">5</a>.</td><td>—Elijah Raiseth the Widow’s Son (1 K. xvii.). The Raising of Lazarus (Jno. xi.). -Elisha Raiseth the Widow’s Son (2 K. iv.). From the original in the possession -of Professor Norton, of Cambridge</td><td align="right" valign="bottom"><a href="#page_034">34</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td align="right" valign="top"><a href="#ill_6">6</a>.</td><td>—The Creation of Eve. From the fac-simile of Berjeau</td><td align="right" valign="bottom"><a href="#page_035">35</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td align="right" valign="top"><a href="#ill_7">7</a>.</td><td>—Initial letter. Source unknown</td><td align="right" valign="bottom"><a href="#page_045">45</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td align="right" valign="top"><a href="#ill_8">8</a>.</td><td>—The Grief of Hannah. From the Cologne Bible, 1470-’75</td><td align="right" valign="bottom"><a href="#page_049">49</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td align="right" valign="top"><a href="#ill_9">9</a>.</td><td>—Illustration of Exodus I. From the Cologne Bible, 1470-’75</td><td align="right" valign="bottom"><a href="#page_051">51</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td align="right" valign="top"><a href="#ill_10">10</a>.</td><td>—The Fifth Day of Creation. From Schedel’s “Liber Chronicarum.” Nuremberg, -1493</td><td align="right" valign="bottom"><a href="#page_054">54</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td align="right" valign="top"><a href="#ill_11">11</a>.</td><td>—The Dancing Deaths. From Schedel’s “Liber Chronicarum.” Nuremberg, 1493</td><td align="right" valign="bottom"><a href="#page_056">56</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td align="right" valign="top"><a href="#ill_12">12</a>.</td><td>—Jews Sacrificing a Christian Child. From Schedel’s “Liber Chronicarum.” -Nuremberg, 1493</td><td align="right" valign="bottom"><a href="#page_058">58</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td align="right" valign="top"><a href="#ill_13">13</a>.</td><td>—Marginal Border. From Kerver’s “Psalterium Virginis Mariæ.” 1509</td><td align="right" valign="bottom"><a href="#page_061">61</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td align="right" valign="top"><a href="#ill_14">14</a>.</td><td>—From Ovid’s “Metamorphoses.” Venice, 1518 (design, 1497). (Initial letter)</td><td align="right" valign="bottom"><a href="#page_065">65</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td align="right" valign="top"><a href="#ill_15">15</a>.</td><td>—The Creation. From the “Fasciculus Temporum.” Venice, 1484</td><td align="right" valign="bottom"><a href="#page_068">68</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td align="right" valign="top"><a href="#ill_16">16</a>.</td><td>—Leviathan. From the “Ortus Sanitatis.” Venice, 1511</td><td align="right" valign="bottom"><a href="#page_068">68</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td align="right" valign="top"><a href="#ill_17">17</a>.</td><td>—The Stork. From the “Ortus Sanitatis.” Venice, 1511</td><td align="right" valign="bottom"><a href="#page_069">69</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td align="right" valign="top"><a href="#ill_18">18</a>.</td><td>—View of Venice. From the “Fasciculus Temporum.” Venice, 1484</td><td align="right" valign="bottom"><a href="#page_069">69</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td align="right" valign="top"><a href="#ill_19">19</a>.</td><td>—The Contest of Apollo and Pan. From Ovid’s “Metamorphoses.” Venice, 1518 -(design, 1497)</td><td align="right" valign="bottom"><a href="#page_070">70</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td align="right" valign="top"><a href="#ill_20">20</a>.</td><td>—Sirens. From the “Ortus Sanitatis.” Venice, 1511</td><td align="right" valign="bottom"><a href="#page_071">71</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td align="right" valign="top"><a href="#ill_21">21</a>.</td><td>—Pygmy and Cranes. From the “Ortus Sanitatis.” Venice, 1511</td><td align="right" valign="bottom"><a href="#page_072">72</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td align="right" valign="top"><a href="#ill_22">22</a>.</td><td>—The Woman and the Thief. From “Æsop’s Fables.” Venice, 1491 (design, 1481)<a name="page_010" id="page_010"></a></td><td align="right" valign="bottom"><a href="#page_073">73</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td align="right" valign="top"><a href="#ill_23">23</a>.</td><td>—The Crow and the Peacock. From “Æsop’s Fables.” Venice, 1491 (design, 1481)</td><td align="right" valign="bottom"><a href="#page_075">75</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td align="right" valign="top"><a href="#ill_24">24</a>.</td><td>—The Peace of God. From “Epistole di San Hieronymo Volgare.” Ferrara, 1497</td><td align="right" valign="bottom"><a href="#page_076">76</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td align="right" valign="top"><a href="#ill_25">25</a>.</td><td>—Mary and the Risen Lord. From “Epistole di San Hieronymo Volgare.” Ferrara, -1497</td><td align="right" valign="bottom"><a href="#page_077">77</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td align="right" valign="top"><a href="#ill_26">26</a>.</td><td>—St. Baruch. From the “Catalogus Sanctorum.” Venice, 1506</td><td align="right" valign="bottom"><a href="#page_077">77</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td align="right" valign="top"><a href="#ill_27">27</a>.</td><td>—Poliphilo by the Stream. From the “Hypnerotomachia Poliphili.” Venice, 1499</td><td align="right" valign="bottom"><a href="#page_078">78</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td align="right" valign="top"><a href="#ill_28">28</a>.</td><td>—Poliphilo and the Nymphs. From the “Hypnerotomachia Poliphili.” Venice, 1499</td><td align="right" valign="bottom"><a href="#page_079">79</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td align="right" valign="top"><a href="#ill_29">29</a>.</td><td>—Ornament. From the “Hypnerotomachia Poliphili.” Venice, 1499</td><td align="right" valign="bottom"><a href="#page_080">80</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td align="right" valign="top"><a href="#ill_30">30</a>.</td><td>—Poliphilo meets Polia. From the “Hypnerotomachia Poliphili.” Venice, 1499</td><td align="right" valign="bottom"><a href="#page_081">81</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td align="right" valign="top"><a href="#ill_31">31</a>.</td><td>—Nero Fiddling. From the Ovid of 1510. Venice</td><td align="right" valign="bottom"><a href="#page_082">82</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td align="right" valign="top"><a href="#ill_32">32</a>.</td><td>—The Physician. From the “Fasciculus Medicinæ.” Venice, 1500</td><td align="right" valign="bottom"><a href="#page_083">83</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td align="right" valign="top"><a href="#ill_33">33</a>.</td><td>—Hero and Leander. From the Ovid of 1515. Venice</td><td align="right" valign="bottom"><a href="#page_085">85</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td align="right" valign="top"><a href="#ill_34">34</a>.</td><td>—Dante and Beatrice. From the Dante of 1520. Venice</td><td align="right" valign="bottom"><a href="#page_086">86</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td align="right" valign="top"><a href="#ill_35">35</a>.</td><td>—St. Jerome Commending the Hermit’s Life. From “Epistole di San Hieronymo.” -Ferrara, 1497</td><td align="right" valign="bottom"><a href="#page_086">86</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td align="right" valign="top"><a href="#ill_36">36</a>.</td><td>—St. Francis and the Beggar. From the “Catalogus Sanctorum.” Venice, 1506</td><td align="right" valign="bottom"><a href="#page_087">87</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td align="right" valign="top"><a href="#ill_37">37</a>.</td><td>—The Translation of St. Nicolas. From the “Catalogus Sanctorum.” Venice, 1506</td><td align="right" valign="bottom"><a href="#page_087">87</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td align="right" valign="top"><a href="#ill_38">38</a>.</td><td>—Romoaldus, the Abbot. From the “Catalogus Sanctorum.” Venice, 1506</td><td align="right" valign="bottom"><a href="#page_088">88</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td align="right" valign="top"><a href="#ill_39">39</a>.</td><td>—From an Italian Alphabet of the 16th Century. (Initial letter)</td><td align="right" valign="bottom"><a href="#page_090">90</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td align="right" valign="top"><a href="#ill_40">40</a>.</td><td>—St. John and the Virgin. Vignette to Dürer’s “Apocalypse”</td><td align="right" valign="bottom"><a href="#page_093">93</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td align="right" valign="top"><a href="#ill_41">41</a>.</td><td>—Christ Suffering. Vignette to Dürer’s “Larger Passion”</td><td align="right" valign="bottom"><a href="#page_094">94</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td align="right" valign="top"><a href="#ill_42">42</a>.</td><td>—Christ Mocked. Vignette to Dürer’s “Smaller Passion”</td><td align="right" valign="bottom"><a href="#page_095">95</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td align="right" valign="top"><a href="#ill_43">43</a>.</td><td>—The Descent into Hell. From Dürer’s “Smaller Passion”</td><td align="right" valign="bottom"><a href="#page_096">96</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td align="right" valign="top"><a href="#ill_44">44</a>.</td><td>—The Herald. From “The Triumph of Maximilian”</td><td align="right" valign="bottom"><a href="#page_100">100</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td align="right" valign="top"><a href="#ill_45">45</a>.</td><td>—Tablet. From “The Triumph of Maximilian”</td><td align="right" valign="bottom"><a href="#page_101">101</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td align="right" valign="top"><a href="#ill_46">46</a>.</td><td>—The Car of the Musicians. From “The Triumph of Maximilian”</td><td align="right" valign="bottom"><a href="#page_102">102</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td align="right" valign="top"><a href="#ill_47">47</a>.</td><td>—Three Horsemen. From “The Triumph of Maximilian”</td><td align="right" valign="bottom"><a href="#page_103">103</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td align="right" valign="top"><a href="#ill_48">48</a>.</td><td>—Horseman. From “The Triumph of Maximilian”</td><td align="right" valign="bottom"><a href="#page_107">107</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td align="right" valign="top"><a href="#ill_49">49</a>.</td><td>—Virgin and Child. From a print by Hans Sebald Behaim.</td><td align="right" valign="bottom"><a href="#page_113">113</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td align="right" valign="top"><a href="#ill_50">50</a>.</td><td>—From the “Epistole di San Hieronymo.” Ferrara, 1497. (Initial letter)</td><td align="right" valign="bottom"><a href="#page_116">116</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td align="right" valign="top"><a href="#ill_51">51</a>.</td><td>—The Nun. From Holbein’s “Images de la Mort.” Lyons, 1547</td><td align="right" valign="bottom"><a href="#page_123">123</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td align="right" valign="top"><a href="#ill_52">52</a>.</td><td>—The Preacher. From Holbein’s “Images de la Mort.” Lyons, 1547</td><td align="right" valign="bottom"><a href="#page_124">124</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td align="right" valign="top"><a href="#ill_53">53</a>.</td><td>—The Ploughman. From Holbein’s “Images de la Mort.” Lyons, 1547</td><td align="right" valign="bottom"><a href="#page_125">125</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td align="right" valign="top"><a href="#ill_54">54</a>.</td><td>—Nathan Rebuking David. From Holbein’s “Icones Historiarum Veteris Testamenti.” -Lyons, 1547</td><td align="right" valign="bottom"><a href="#page_130">130</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td align="right" valign="top"><a href="#ill_55">55</a>.</td><td>—From “Opera Vergiliana,” printed by Sacon. Lyons, 1517. (Initial letter)</td><td align="right" valign="bottom"><a href="#page_135">135</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td align="right" valign="top"><a href="#ill_56">56</a>.</td><td>—St. Christopher. From a Venetian print<a name="page_011" id="page_011"></a></td><td align="right" valign="bottom"><a href="#page_142">142</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td align="right" valign="top"><a href="#ill_57">57</a>.</td><td>—St. Sebastian and St. Francis. Portion of a print by Andreani after Titian</td><td align="right" valign="bottom"><a href="#page_143">143</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td align="right" valign="top"><a href="#ill_58">58</a>.</td><td>—The Annunciation. From a print by Francesco da Nanto</td><td align="right" valign="bottom"><a href="#page_144">144</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td align="right" valign="top"><a href="#ill_59">59</a>.</td><td>—Milo of Crotona. From a print by Boldrini after Titian</td><td align="right" valign="bottom"><a href="#page_145">145</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td align="right" valign="top"><a href="#ill_60">60</a>.</td><td>—From the “Comedia di Danthe.” Venice, 1536. (Initial letter)</td><td align="right" valign="bottom"><a href="#page_151">151</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td align="right" valign="top"><a href="#ill_61">61</a>.</td><td>—The Peacock. From Bewick’s “British Birds”</td><td align="right" valign="bottom"><a href="#page_156">156</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td align="right" valign="top"><a href="#ill_62">62</a>.</td><td>—The Frightened Mother. From Bewick’s “British Quadrupeds”</td><td align="right" valign="bottom"><a href="#page_157">157</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td align="right" valign="top"><a href="#ill_63">63</a>.</td><td>—The Solitary Cormorant. From Bewick’s “British Birds”</td><td align="right" valign="bottom"><a href="#page_157">157</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td align="right" valign="top"><a href="#ill_64">64</a>.</td><td>—The Snow Cottage</td><td align="right" valign="bottom"><a href="#page_158">158</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td align="right" valign="top"><a href="#ill_65">65</a>.</td><td>—Birth-place of Bewick. His last vignette, portraying his own funeral</td><td align="right" valign="bottom"><a href="#page_158">158</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td align="right" valign="top"><a href="#ill_66">66</a>.</td><td>—The Broken Boat. From Bewick’s “British Birds”</td><td align="right" valign="bottom"><a href="#page_160">160</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td align="right" valign="top"><a href="#ill_67">67</a>.</td><td>—The Church-yard. From Bewick’s “British Birds”</td><td align="right" valign="bottom"><a href="#page_160">160</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td align="right" valign="top"><a href="#ill_68">68</a>.</td><td>—The Sheep-fold. By Blake. From “Virgil’s Pastorals”</td><td align="right" valign="bottom"><a href="#page_162">162</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td align="right" valign="top"><a href="#ill_69">69</a>.</td><td>—The Mark of Storm. By Blake. From “Virgil’s Pastorals”</td><td align="right" valign="bottom"><a href="#page_162">162</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td align="right" valign="top"><a href="#ill_70">70</a>.</td><td>—Cave of Despair. By Branston. From Savage’s “Hints on Decorative Printing”</td><td align="right" valign="bottom"><a href="#page_165">165</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td align="right" valign="top"><a href="#ill_71">71</a>.</td><td>—Vignette from “Rogers’s Poems.” London, 1827</td><td align="right" valign="bottom"><a href="#page_167">167</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td align="right" valign="top"><a href="#ill_72">72</a>.</td><td>—Vignette from “Rogers’s Poems.” London, 1827</td><td align="right" valign="bottom"><a href="#page_167">167</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td align="right" valign="top"><a href="#ill_73">73</a>.</td><td>—Death as a Friend. From a print by Professor Norton, of Cambridge. Engraved -by J. Jungtow</td><td align="right" valign="bottom"><a href="#page_169">169</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td align="right" valign="top"><a href="#ill_74">74</a>.</td><td>—Death as a Throttler. From a print by Professor Norton, of Cambridge. Engraved -by Steinbrecher</td><td align="right" valign="bottom"><a href="#page_170">170</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td align="right" valign="top"><a href="#ill_75">75</a>.</td><td>—The Creation. Engraved by J. F. Adams</td><td align="right" valign="bottom"><a href="#page_172">172</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td align="right" valign="top"><a href="#ill_76">76</a>.</td><td>—The Deluge. Engraved by J. F. Adams</td><td align="right" valign="bottom"><a href="#page_173">173</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td align="right" valign="top"><a href="#ill_77">77</a>.</td><td>—Butterflies. Engraved by F. S. King</td><td align="right" valign="bottom"><a href="#page_175">175</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td align="right" valign="top"><a href="#ill_78">78</a>.</td><td>—Spring-time. Engraved by F. S. King</td><td align="right" valign="bottom"><a href="#page_177">177</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td align="right" valign="top"><a href="#ill_79">79</a>.</td><td>—Mount Lafayette (White Mountains). By J. Tinkey</td><td align="right" valign="bottom"><a href="#page_183">183</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td align="right" valign="top"><a href="#ill_80">80</a>.</td><td>—“And silent were the sheep in woolly fold.” Engraved by J. G. Smithwick</td><td align="right" valign="bottom"><a href="#page_187">187</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td align="right" valign="top"><a href="#ill_81">81</a>.</td><td>—The Old Orchard. Engraved by F. Juengling</td><td align="right" valign="bottom"><a href="#page_189">189</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td align="right" valign="top"><a href="#ill_82">82</a>.</td><td>—Some Art Connoisseurs. Engraved by Robert Hoskin</td><td align="right" valign="bottom"><a href="#page_191">191</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td align="right" valign="top"><a href="#ill_83">83</a>.</td><td>—The Travelling Musicians. Engraved by R. A. Muller</td><td align="right" valign="bottom"><a href="#page_194">194</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td align="right" valign="top"><a href="#ill_84">84</a>.</td><td>—Shipwrecked. Engraved by Frank French</td><td align="right" valign="bottom"><a href="#page_196">196</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td align="right" valign="top"><a href="#ill_85">85</a>.</td><td>—The Tap-room. Engraved by Frank French</td><td align="right" valign="bottom"><a href="#page_198">198</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td align="right" valign="top"><a href="#ill_86">86</a>.</td><td>—Going to Church. Engraved by J. P. Davis</td><td align="right" valign="bottom"><a href="#page_199">199</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td align="right" valign="top"><a href="#ill_87">87</a>.</td><td>—“Nay, Love, ’tis you who stand with almond clusters in your clasping hand.” -Engraved by T. Cole</td><td align="right" valign="bottom"><a href="#page_201">201</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td align="right" valign="top"><a href="#ill_88">88</a>.</td><td>—The Spanish Peasant. Engraved by F. Juengling</td><td align="right" valign="bottom"><a href="#page_203">203</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td align="right" valign="top"><a href="#ill_89">89</a>.</td><td>—James Russell Lowell. Engraved by Thomas Johnson</td><td align="right" valign="bottom"><a href="#page_205">205</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td align="right" valign="top"><a href="#ill_90">90</a>.</td><td>—Arthur Penrhyn Stanley. Engraved by G. Kruell</td><td align="right" valign="bottom"><a href="#page_207">207</a></td></tr> -</table> - -<p><a name="page_012" id="page_012"></a></p> - -<p><a name="page_013" id="page_013"></a></p> - -<h1>A<br /><br /> -HISTORY OF WOOD-ENGRAVING.</h1> - -<h2><a name="I" id="I"></a>I.<br /><br /> -<i>THE ORIGIN OF THE ART.</i></h2> - -<p class="nind"><span class="letrra"> -<a name="ill_1" id="ill_1"></a> -<a href="images/illpg013.png"> -<img src="images/illpg013_sml.png" -width="150" -height="149" -alt="T" -title="T" -/></a><br /> -<span class="caption"> -F<small>IG</small>. 1.—From “Epistole di<br /> -San Hieronymo Volgare.”<br /> -Ferra 1497.</span></span>HE beginning of the art of wood-engraving in Europe, the time when -paper was first laid down upon an engraved wood block and the first rude -print was taken off, is unknown; the name of the inventor and his -country are involved in a double obscurity of ignorance and fable, -darkened still more by national jealousies and vanities; even the -mechanical appliances and processes which led up to and at last resulted -in the new art, can only be conjectured. The art had long lain but just -beyond the border-line of discovery. The principle of making impressions -by means of lines cut in relief upon wood was known to the ancients, who -used engraved wooden stamps to indent figures and letters in soft -substances like wax and clay, and, possibly, to print colors on -surfaces, as had been<a name="page_014" id="page_014"></a> done from early times in India in the manufacture -of cloth; similar stamps were used in the Middle Ages by notaries and -other public officers to print signatures on documents, by Italian -cloth-makers to impress colors on silk and other fabrics, and by the -illuminators of manuscripts to strike the outlines of initial letters. -This practice may have suggested the new process.</p> - -<p>It is more probable that the art began in the workshops of the -goldsmiths, who were so skilled in engraving upon metal that impressions -of much artistic value have been taken from work executed by them in the -twelfth century, showing that they really were engravers obliged to -remain goldsmiths, because the art of printing from metal plates was -unknown.<a name="FNanchor_1_1" id="FNanchor_1_1"></a><a href="#Footnote_1_1" class="fnanchor">[1]</a> By their knowledge of design and their artistic execution, -at least, if not by their mechanical inventiveness, the goldsmiths were -the lineal ancestors of the great engravers of the Renaissance. Their -art had been continued from Roman times, with fewer interruptions and -hinderances than any other of the fine arts. It was early employed in -the adornment of the altar, the pax, and other articles of the Church -service; already, in St. Bernard’s time, so much attention was given to -workmanship of this kind, and so much wealth lavished upon it, that he -denounced it, with true ascetic spirit, as a decoration of what was soon -to become vile, a waste of what might have been given to the poor, and a -distraction of the spirit from holiness to the admiration of beauty. -“The Church,” he said, “shines with<a name="page_015" id="page_015"></a> the splendor of her walls, and -among her poor is destitution; she clothes her stones with gold, and -leaves her children naked. * * * Finally, so many things are to be seen, -everywhere such a marvellous variety of different forms, that one may -read more upon the sculptured walls than in the written Scriptures, and -spend the whole day in going about in wonder from one such thing to -another, rather than in meditating upon God’s law.”<a name="FNanchor_2_2" id="FNanchor_2_2"></a><a href="#Footnote_2_2" class="fnanchor">[2]</a> The art might -have suffered seriously from such uncompromising opposition as St. -Bernard made, had not Suger, the great abbot of St. Denys, taken up its -defence and supported it by his patronage and by his eloquence. “Let -each one have his own opinion,” he writes, “but I confess it is my -conviction that whatever is most precious ought to be devoted above all -to that holiest rite of the Eucharist; if golden lavers, if golden cups, -and if golden bowls were used, by the command of God or of the prophet, -to catch the blood of rams or bullocks or heifers, how much more ought -vases of gold, precious stones, and whatever is dearest among all -creatures, ever to be set forth with full devotion to receive the blood -of Jesus Christ!”<a name="FNanchor_3_3" id="FNanchor_3_3"></a><a href="#Footnote_3_3" class="fnanchor">[3]</a> By such arguments Suger defended the rightfulness -and<a name="page_016" id="page_016"></a> value of the goldsmith’s art in the service of the Church. After -his time the employment of the goldsmiths upon church decoration became -so great that they were really the artists of Europe during the two -hundred years previous to the invention of wood-engraving.<a name="FNanchor_4_4" id="FNanchor_4_4"></a><a href="#Footnote_4_4" class="fnanchor">[4]</a> In the -pursuit of their craft they practised the arts of modelling, casting, -sculpture, engraving, enamelling, and the setting of precious stones; -and in the thirteenth century they made use of all these resources in -the execution of their beautiful works of art made of gold and silver, -richly engraved, and adorned with bass-reliefs and statuettes, and -brilliant with many-colored enamel and with jewels—the reliquaries in -which were kept the innumerable holy relics that then filled Europe, the -famous shrines for the bodies of the saints, about which pilgrims from -every quarter were ever at prayer, and the tombs of the Crusaders, and -of dignitaries of Church or State. They employed their skill, too, for -the lesser glory of the churches, upon the vessels of the Holy -Communion, the crosses, candelabra, and censers, and the ornaments that -incrusted the vestments of the priests. With the increase of luxury and -wealth they found a new field for their invention in contributing to the -magnificence of secular life; in fashioning into strange forms the -ewers, goblets, flagons, and<a name="page_017" id="page_017"></a> every vessel which adorned the banquet; -and in ornamenting them with fantastic figures, or with scenes from the -chase, or from the history of Charlemagne and Saladin, as well as in -executing those finely wrought decorations with which the silks and -velvets of the nobles were so heavily charged that the old poet, Martial -d’Auvergne, says the lords and knights were “caparisoned in gold-work -and jewels.” Under Charles V. of France (1364) and the great Dukes of -the Low Countries, the jewel-chamber of the prince was his pride in -peace and his treasury in war: it furnished gifts for the bride, the -favorite, and the heir, and for foreign ambassadors and princes; it -afforded pay for retainers before the battle and ransom after it, and in -the days of the great fêtes its treasures gave to the courts of France, -Burgundy, and Flanders a magnificence that has seldom been seen in -Europe.<a name="FNanchor_5_5" id="FNanchor_5_5"></a><a href="#Footnote_5_5" class="fnanchor">[5]</a></p> - -<p>Under such fortunate encouragement the goldsmiths of the fourteenth -century reached a knowledge of design and a finish in execution that -justified the claim of their art to the first place among the fine arts, -and made their workshops the apprentice-home of many great masters of -art in Italy as well as in the North. They best understood the value of -art, and were best skilled in artistic processes; they were the only -persons<a name="FNanchor_6_6" id="FNanchor_6_6"></a><a href="#Footnote_6_6" class="fnanchor">[6]</a> who had by them all the means for taking an impression—the -engraved metal plate, iron tools, burnishers for rubbing off a proof, -blackened oil, and paper<a name="page_018" id="page_018"></a> which they used for tracing their designs; -they would, too, have been aided in their art, merely as goldsmiths, -could they have tested their engraving from time to time by taking an -impression from it in its various stages. It is not unlikely, therefore, -that the art of taking impressions from engraved work was found out, or -at least was first extensively applied, in their workshops, where it -could hardly have failed to be discovered ultimately, as paper came into -use more generally and for more various purposes. If this were the case, -metal-engraving preceded wood-engraving, but only by a brief space of -time, because, as soon as the idea of the new art was fully grasped, -wood must have been almost immediately employed in preference to metal, -on account of the greater ease and speed of working in wood, and of the -less injury done to the paper in printing from it.</p> - -<p>Some support for this view, that the art of printing from engraved metal -plates was discovered by the goldsmiths, and preceded and suggested -wood-engraving, is derived from the peculiar prints in the <i>manière -criblée</i>, or the dotted style, of which over three hundred are known. -They were produced by a mixed process of engraving in relief and in -intaglio, usually upon a metal plate, but sometimes upon wood. The -effects are given by dots and lines relieved in white upon a black -ground, assisted by dots and lines relieved in black upon a white -ground. These prints have afforded much material for dispute and -controversy, both as to their process and their date; the mode in which -the metal plates from which they were printed were engraved, -particularly the punching out small holes in the metal, which appear -usually as white dots, and give the name to the prints, is the same<a name="page_019" id="page_019"></a> as -a mode of ornamental work<a name="FNanchor_7_7" id="FNanchor_7_7"></a><a href="#Footnote_7_7" class="fnanchor">[7]</a> in metal that had been practised for -centuries in the workshops of the goldsmiths, and on this account they -have been ascribed to the goldsmiths of the great Northern cities.<a name="FNanchor_8_8" id="FNanchor_8_8"></a><a href="#Footnote_8_8" class="fnanchor">[8]</a> -They appeared certainly as early as 1450, and probably much earlier.<a name="FNanchor_9_9" id="FNanchor_9_9"></a><a href="#Footnote_9_9" class="fnanchor">[9]</a> -Some of these prints are evidently taken from metal plates not -originally meant to be printed from, for the inscriptions on the prints -as well as the actions of the figures appear reversed, the words reading -backward, and the figures performing actions with the left hand almost -always performed by the right hand.<a name="FNanchor_10_10" id="FNanchor_10_10"></a><a href="#Footnote_10_10" class="fnanchor">[10]</a> These may be the work of the -first years of the fifteenth century, or they may have been taken long -afterward, in a spirit of curiosity or experiment. The existence of -these early prints, however, undoubtedly from the workshops of the -goldsmiths, and after a mode long practised by them, strengthens the -hypothesis—suggested by their wide acquaintance with artistic processes -and their exclusive possession of all the proper instruments—that they -originated the art of taking impressions on paper from engraved work; at -all events, this seems the least wild, the most consistent, and best -supported conjecture which has been put forth.<a name="page_020" id="page_020"></a></p> - -<p>There is, however, no lack of more specific accounts of the origin of -wood-engraving. Pliny’s<a name="FNanchor_11_11" id="FNanchor_11_11"></a><a href="#Footnote_11_11" class="fnanchor">[11]</a> reference to the portraits with which Varro -illustrated his works indicates, in the opinion of some writers, a -momentary, isolated, and premature appearance of the art in his day. -Ottley<a name="FNanchor_12_12" id="FNanchor_12_12"></a><a href="#Footnote_12_12" class="fnanchor">[12]</a> maintains that the art was introduced into Europe by the -Venetians, who learned it “at a very early period of their intercourse -with the people of Tartary, Thibet, and China;” but of this there is no -satisfactory evidence. Papillon,<a name="FNanchor_13_13" id="FNanchor_13_13"></a><a href="#Footnote_13_13" class="fnanchor">[13]</a> a French engraver of the last -century, relates that in his youth he saw in the library of a retired -Swiss officer nine woodcuts, illustrative of the deeds of Alexander the -Great, executed with a small knife by “two young and amiable twins,” -Isabella and Alexander Alberico Cunio, Knt., of Ravenna, in their -seventeenth year, and dedicated by them to Pope Honorius IV., in -1284-85; but, as no one else ever saw or heard of them, and there is no -contemporary reference to them, as no single unquestionable fact has -been adduced in direct support of the story, and as Papillon is an -untrustworthy writer, his tale, although accepted by some -authorities,<a name="FNanchor_14_14" id="FNanchor_14_14"></a><a href="#Footnote_14_14" class="fnanchor">[14]</a> is generally discredited,<a name="FNanchor_15_15" id="FNanchor_15_15"></a><a href="#Footnote_15_15" class="fnanchor">[15]</a> and was regarded by -Chatto<a name="FNanchor_16_16" id="FNanchor_16_16"></a><a href="#Footnote_16_16" class="fnanchor">[16]</a> as the hallucination of a distempered mind. Meerman,<a name="FNanchor_17_17" id="FNanchor_17_17"></a><a href="#Footnote_17_17" class="fnanchor">[17]</a> the -stout defender of<a name="page_021" id="page_021"></a> the claim of Lawrence Coster to the invention of -printing with movable types, relying on the authority of Junius,<a name="FNanchor_18_18" id="FNanchor_18_18"></a><a href="#Footnote_18_18" class="fnanchor">[18]</a> who -wrote from tradition more than a century after the facts, makes Coster -the first printer of woodcuts. Some writers accept this story; but in -spite of them, and of the well-developed genealogical tree with which -Meerman provided his hero, and even of Mr. Sotheby’s<a name="FNanchor_19_19" id="FNanchor_19_19"></a><a href="#Footnote_19_19" class="fnanchor">[19]</a> supposed -discovery of Coster’s portrait, his very existence is doubted. The -charming scene in which the idea of the new art first occurred to -Coster, as he was walking after dinner in his garden, and cutting -letters from beech-tree bark with which to print moral sentences for his -grandchildren—the old man surrounded by the childish group in the -well-ordered Haarlem garden—is probably, after all, little more than a -play of antiquarian fancy. These stories have slight historic weight; -they are, to use M. Renouvier’s simile, “a group of legends about the -cradle of modern art, like those recounted of ancient art, the history -of Craton, of Saurias, or of the daughter of Dibutades, who invented -design by tracing on a wall the silhouette of her lover.”</p> - -<p><a name="ill_2" id="ill_2"></a></p> - -<p class="figcenter"> -<a href="images/illpg022.png"> -<img src="images/illpg022_sml.png" width="296" height="369" -alt="FIG. 2.—St. Christopher, 1423. From Ottley’s “Inquiry -into the Origin and Early History of Engraving upon Copper and in -Wood.”" title="FIG. 2.—St. Christopher, 1423. From Ottley’s “Inquiry -into the Origin and Early History of Engraving upon Copper and in -Wood.”" /></a> -<br /> -<span class="caption">FIG. 2.—St. Christopher, 1423. From Ottley’s “Inquiry -into the Origin and Early History of Engraving upon Copper and in -Wood.”</span> -</p> - -<p>The first fact known with certainty in the history of wood-engraving is, -that in the first quarter of the fifteenth century there were scattered -abroad in Northern Europe rude prints, representing scenes from the -Scriptures and the lives of the saints. These pictures were on single -leaves of paper; the outlines were printed from engraved wood-blocks, -but occasionally, it is believed, from metal plates cut<a name="page_022" id="page_022"></a> in relief; they -were taken off in a pale, brownish ink by rubbing on the back of the -paper with a burnisher, and sometimes in black ink and with a press; -they were then colored, either by hand or by means of a stencil plate, -in order to make them more attractive to the people. The earliest of -these prints which bears an unquestionable date is the famous St. -Christopher (Fig. 2) of 1423, found by<a name="page_023" id="page_023"></a> Heinecken,<a name="FNanchor_20_20" id="FNanchor_20_20"></a><a href="#Footnote_20_20" class="fnanchor">[20]</a> in the middle of -the last century, pasted inside the cover of a manuscript in the library -of the convent of Buxheim, in Suabia. It represents St. Christopher, -according to a favorite legend of the Middle Ages, fording a river with -the infant Christ upon his shoulders; opposite, on the right bank, a -hermit holds a lantern before his cell; on the left a peasant, with a -bag on his back, climbs the steep ascent from his mill to the cottage -high up on the cliff, where no swelling of the stream will reach it. The -attitude of the two heads is expressive, and the folds of the saint’s -robes are well cast about the shoulders; in other respects the cut has -little artistic merit, but the attempt to mark shadows by a greater or -less width of line is noticeable, and the lines in general are much more -varied than is usual in early work. It was printed in black ink, and -with a press. There are two other early prints, the dates of which are -uncertain, but still sufficiently probable to deserve mention—the -warmly controverted Brussels print<a name="FNanchor_21_21" id="FNanchor_21_21"></a><a href="#Footnote_21_21" class="fnanchor">[21]</a> of 1418, which represents the -Virgin and Child, surrounded by four saints, in an enclosed garden, in -the style of the Van Eycks, and with more artistic merit than the St. -Christopher in design, drawing, and execution; and, secondly, the St. -Sebastian of 1437, at Vienna. The former was discovered in 1844, in a -bad condition, and the latter in 1779; both are taken off in pale ink, -and with a<a name="page_024" id="page_024"></a> rubber. There are numerous other prints of this kind, which -have been described in detail and have had conjectural dates assigned to -them, fruitful of much antiquarian dispute. One of these (Fig. 3) is -here reproduced for the first time; it was found stitched into a -manuscript of 1445, and is unquestionably as old as the manuscript; it -represents a Crucifixion,<a name="page_025" id="page_025"></a> with the Virgin and Longinus at the left, and -St. John and, perhaps, the Centurion at the right; in the upper -left-hand corner is an angel with the Veronica, or handkerchief, which -bears the miraculous portrait of the Saviour, and above are a scourge -and a knife; in the original the body of Christ is covered with dots and -scratches in vermillion, to represent blood. It was taken off in black -ink with a press, and is one of the rudest engravings known.<a name="FNanchor_22_22" id="FNanchor_22_22"></a><a href="#Footnote_22_22" class="fnanchor">[22]</a></p> - -<p><a name="ill_3" id="ill_3"></a></p> - -<p class="figcenter"> -<a href="images/illpg024.png"> -<img src="images/illpg024_sml.png" width="327" height="429" -alt="FIG. 3.—The Crucifixion. From the Manuscript “Book of -Devotion.” 1445." title="FIG. 3.—The Crucifixion. From the Manuscript “Book of -Devotion.” 1445." /></a> -<br /> -<span class="caption">FIG. 3.—The Crucifixion. From the Manuscript “Book of -Devotion.” 1445.</span> -</p> - -<p>Valueless as these prints<a name="FNanchor_23_23" id="FNanchor_23_23"></a><a href="#Footnote_23_23" class="fnanchor">[23]</a> are, for the most part, as works of art, -they are of great interest. They were the first pictures the common -people ever had, and doubtless they were highly prized. Rude as they -were, the poor German peasant or humble artisan of the great industrial -cities cared for them; they had been given to him by the monks, like the -rudely-carved wooden images of earlier times, at the end of some -pilgrimage that he had made for penance or devotion, and were treasured -by him as a precious memento; or some preaching friar, to whom he had -devoutly given a small alms for the building of a church or the -decoration of a shrine, had rewarded his piety with a picture of the -saint whom, so far as he could, he had honored; or he had received them -on some day of festival, when in the streets of the Flemish cities the -Lazarists or other orders of monks had marched<a name="page_026" id="page_026"></a> in grand procession, -scattering these brilliantly colored prints among the populace. Stuck up -on the low walls of his dwelling, they not only recalled his pious -deeds, they brought home before his eyes in daily sight the reality of -that holy living and holy dying of the Saviour and his martyrs in whose -intercession and prayer his hope of salvation lay. Throughout the -fifteenth and a part of the sixteenth centuries, although the -intellectual life of the higher classes began to be secularized, among -the common people these mediæval sentiments and customs, which gave rise -to the holy prints, continued without change until the Reformation; and -so the workshops of the monks and of the guilds of Augsburg, Nuremberg, -Ulm, Cologne, and the Flemish cities, kept on issuing these saints’ -images, as they were called, long after the art had produced refined and -noble works. They remained, in accordance with the true mediæval spirit, -not only without the name of the craftsman, <i>nomen vero auctoris -humilitate siletur</i>, but unmarked by any individuality, impersonal as -well as anonymous; there is little to show even the difference in the -time and place of their production, except that their lines in the first -half of the century were more round and flowing, while in the latter -half they were angular, after the manner of the Van Eycks, and that they -vary in the choice and brilliancy of their colors.<a name="FNanchor_24_24" id="FNanchor_24_24"></a><a href="#Footnote_24_24" class="fnanchor">[24]</a></p> - -<p>At the very beginning, too, wood-engraving was applied<a name="page_027" id="page_027"></a> to a new -industry, which had sprung up rapidly, to furnish amusement for the camp -and the town—the manufacture of playing-cards. Some writers have -maintained that the art was thus applied before it was employed to make -the holy prints; but there are no playing-cards known to have been -printed before 1423, and it is probable that they were painted by hand -and adorned by the stencil for some time after the first unquestioned -mention of them in 1392.<a name="FNanchor_25_25" id="FNanchor_25_25"></a><a href="#Footnote_25_25" class="fnanchor">[25]</a> The manufacture of both cards and holy -prints soon became a thriving trade; it is mentioned in Augsburg in -1418, and soon afterward in Nuremberg; and in 1441 the exportation of -these articles into Italy had become so large that the Venetian Senate -passed a decree,<a name="FNanchor_26_26" id="FNanchor_26_26"></a><a href="#Footnote_26_26" class="fnanchor">[26]</a> which is the earliest document relative to -wood-engraving in Italy, forbidding their importation into Venice, -because the guild engaged in this manufacture in the city was suffering -from the foreign competition. Wood-engraving, being only one process in -the craft of the card-maker and the print-maker, seems to have remained -without a distinct name for a long while after its invention.</p> - -<p>In the middle of the fifteenth century, therefore, wood-engraving, the -youngest of the arts of design, after fifty years of obscure and -unnoticed history, held an established position, and was recognized as a -new craft. In art its discovery was the parallel of the invention of -printing in literature; it was a means of multiplying and spreading the -ideas which are expressed by art, of creating a popular appreciation and -knowledge of art, and of bringing beautiful design within the reach of a -larger body of men. It is difficult for a modern<a name="page_028" id="page_028"></a> mind to realize the -place which pictures filled in mediæval life, before the invention of -printing had brought about that great change which has resulted in -making books almost the sole means of education. It was not merely that -the paintings upon the walls of the churches conveyed more noble -conceptions to the peasant and the artisan than their slow imagination -could build up out of the words of the preacher; like children, they -apprehended through pictures, they thought upon all higher themes in -pictures rather than in words; their ideas were pictorial rather than -verbal; painting was in spiritual matters more truly a language to them -than their own <i>patois</i>. They could not reason, they could not easily -understand intellectual statement, they could not imagine vividly, they -could only see. This accounts for the rapid spread of the new art, and -for the popularity and utility of the holy prints which were so widely -employed to convey religious ideas and quicken religious sentiment; in -the production of these wood-engraving appears from the first in its -true vocation as a democratic art in the service of the people; its -influence was one, and by no means the most insignificant, of the great -forces which were to transform mediæval into modern life, to make the -civilization of the heart and the brain no longer the exclusive -possession of a few among the fortunately born, but a common blessing. -Wood-engraving was at once the product of the desire for this change and -of the effort toward it, a mirror of the movement the more valuable -because the art was more intimately connected with the popular life than -any other art of the Renaissance, and a power feeding the impulse from -which it derived its own vitality. In this fact lies the historic -interest of the art to the student of civilization. At first it served -mediæval<a name="page_029" id="page_029"></a> religion; afterward it took a wider range, and by both its -serious and satirical works afforded valuable aid in the progress of the -Reformation, while it rendered the earliest printed books more -attractive, in which its nobler designs educated the eye in the -perception of beauty. Finally, in the hands of the great engravers—of -Dürer, who, still mastered by the mediæval spirit, employed it to embody -the German Renaissance; of Maximilian’s artists, who recorded in it the -dying picturesqueness and chivalric spirit of the Middle Ages; of -Holbein, who first heralded, by means of it, the intelligence and -sentiment of modern times—it produced its chief monuments, which, for -the most part, will here be dealt with, in order to illustrate its value -as a fine art practised for its own sake, as a trustworthy contemporary -record of popular customs, ideas, and taste, and as an element of -considerable power in the advancement of modern civilization.<a name="page_030" id="page_030"></a></p> - -<h2><a name="II" id="II"></a>II.<br /><br /> -<i>THE BLOCK-BOOKS.</i></h2> - -<p class="nind"><span class="letrra"> -<a name="ill_4" id="ill_4"></a> -<a href="images/illpg030.png"> -<img src="images/illpg030_sml.png" -width="150" -height="149" -alt="D" -title="D" -/></a><br /> -<span class="caption"> -F<small>IG</small>. 4.—From the “Epistole<br /> -di San Hieronymo.” 1497.</span></span>URING the first half of the fifteenth century, in more than one quarter -of Europe, ingenious minds were at work seeking by various experiments -and repeated trials, with more and more success, the great invention of -printing with movable types; even now, after the most searching inquiry, -the time and place of the invention are uncertain. Printing with movable -types, however, was preceded and suggested by printing from engraved -wood-blocks. The holy prints sometimes bore the name of the saint, or a -brief <i>Ora pro nobis</i> or other legend impressed upon the paper; the -wood-engravers who first cut these few letters upon the block, although -ignorant of the vast consequences of their humble work, began that great -movement which was to change the face of civilization. After letters had -once been printed, to multiply the words and lengthen the sentences, to -remove them from the field of the cut to the space below it, to engrave -whole columns of text, and, finally, to reproduce entire manuscripts, -and thus make printed books, were merely questions of manual skill<a name="page_031" id="page_031"></a> and -patience. Where or when or by whom these block-books, as they are -called, were first engraved and printed is unknown; these questions have -been bones of contention among antiquarians for three hundred years, and -in the dispute much patient research has been expended, and much dusty -knowledge heaped together, only to perplex doubt still farther, and to -multiply baseless conjectures. It is probable that they were produced in -the first half of the fifteenth century, when the men of the -Renaissance, whose aroused curiosity made them alert to seize any new -suggestion, were everywhere seeking for means to overthrow the great -barrier to popular civilization, the rarity of the instruments for -intellectual instruction; they soon saw of what service the new art -might be in this task, through the cheapness and rapidity of its -processes, and they applied it to the printing of words as well as of -pictures.</p> - -<p>The most common manuscripts of the time, which had hitherto been the -cheapest mode of intellectual communication, were especially fitted to -be reproduced by the new art; they were those illustrated abridgments of -Scriptural history or doctrine, called <i>Biblia Pauperum</i>, or books of -the poor preachers, which had long been used in popular religious -instruction, in accordance with the mediæval custom of conveying -religious ideas to the illiterate more quickly and vividly through -pictures than was possible by the use of language alone. In the sixth -century Gregory the Great had defended wall-paintings in the churches as -a means of religious instruction for the ignorant population which then -filled the Roman provinces. In a letter to the Bishop of Marseilles, who -had shown indiscreet zeal in destroying the pictures of the saints, he -wrote: “What writing is to those who<a name="page_032" id="page_032"></a> read, that a picture is to those -who have only eyes; because, however ignorant they are, they see their -duty in a picture, and there, although they have not learned their -letters, they read; wherefore, for the people especially, painting -stands in the place of literature.”<a name="FNanchor_27_27" id="FNanchor_27_27"></a><a href="#Footnote_27_27" class="fnanchor">[27]</a> In conformity with this opinion -these manuscripts were composed at an early period; they were written -rapidly by the scribes, and illustrated with designs made with the pen, -and rudely colored by the rubricators. They served equally to take the -place of the Bible among the poor clergy—for a complete manuscript of -the Scriptures was far too valuable a treasure to be within their -reach—and to aid the people in understanding what was told them; for, -doubtless, in teaching both young and old the monks showed these -pictures to explain their words, and to make a more lasting impression -upon the memory of their hearers. These designs, it is worth while to -point out, exhibit the immobility of mind in the mediæval communities, -guided, as they were, almost wholly by custom and tradition; the designs -were not original, but were copied from the artistic representations in -the principal churches, where the common people may have seen them, when -upon a pilgrimage or at other times, carved among the bass-reliefs or -glowing in the bright colors of the painted windows. They were copied -without change, the scenes were conceived in the same manner, the -characters were represented after the<a name="page_033" id="page_033"></a> same conventional type, even in -the details there was slight variation; and as the decorative arts in -the churches were subordinated to architecture, these designs not -infrequently bear the stamp of their original purpose, and are marked by -the characteristics of mural art. They were copied, too, not only by the -scribes from early representations, but they were reproduced by the -great masters of the Renaissance from the manuscripts and block-books -themselves; Dürer, Quentin Matzys, Lukas van Leyden, Martin Schön, and, -in earlier times, Taddeo Gaddi and Orcagna, took their conceptions from -these sources.</p> - -<p>Of the block-books which reproduced these and similar manuscripts -several have been preserved, and some of them have been reproduced in -fac-simile, and minutely described. Among the most important of these, -the <i>Biblia Pauperum</i>,<a name="FNanchor_28_28" id="FNanchor_28_28"></a><a href="#Footnote_28_28" class="fnanchor">[28]</a> or Poor Preachers’ Bible, of which copies of -several editions exist, deserves to be first mentioned. It is a small -folio, containing forty pages, printed upon one side only, with the pale -brownish ink used in most early prints, and by means of a rubber. The -pages are arranged so that they can be pasted back to back; each page is -divided into five compartments, separated by the pillars and mouldings -of an architectural design, which immediately recall the divisions of a -church window; in the centre is depicted some scene (Fig. 5) from the -Gospels, and on either side are placed scenes from the Old Testament -history illustrative or typical of that commemorated in the central -design; both<a name="page_034" id="page_034"></a> above and below are two half-length representations of -holy men. Various texts are interspersed in the field, and Latin verses -are written below the central compartments. It will be seen that the -designs not only served to illustrate the preacher’s lesson, but -suggested his subject, and indicated and directed the course of his -sermon: they taught him before they taught the people.</p> - -<p><a name="ill_5" id="ill_5"></a></p> - -<p class="figcenter"> -<a href="images/illpg034.png"> -<img src="images/illpg034_sml.png" width="399" height="289" -alt="Elijah Raiseth the Widow’s Son (1 K, xvii.). The Raising -of Lazarus (Jno, xi.). Elisha Raiseth the Widow’s Son (2 K. iv.). -FIG. 5.—From the original in the possession of Professor Norton, of -Cambridge." title="Elijah Raiseth the Widow’s Son (1 K, xvii.). The Raising -of Lazarus (Jno, xi.). Elisha Raiseth the Widow’s Son (2 K. iv.). -FIG. 5.—From the original in the possession of Professor Norton, of -Cambridge." /></a> -<br /> -<span class="caption">Elijah Raiseth the Widow’s Son (1 K, xvii.). The Raising<br /> -of Lazarus (Jno, xi.). Elisha Raiseth the Widow’s Son (2 K. iv.).<br /> -FIG. 5.—From the original in the possession of Professor Norton, of -Cambridge.</span> -</p> - -<p><a name="ill_6" id="ill_6"></a></p> - -<p class="figcenter"> -<a href="images/illpg035.png"> -<img src="images/illpg035_sml.png" width="281" height="280" -alt="FIG. 6.—The Creation of Eve. From the fac-simile of -Berjeau." title="FIG. 6.—The Creation of Eve. From the fac-simile of -Berjeau." /></a> -<br /> -<span class="caption">FIG. 6.—The Creation of Eve. From the fac-simile of -Berjeau.</span> -</p> - -<p>But, before commenting on this volume, it will be useful to describe -first the much more interesting and more famous <i>Speculum Humanæ -Salvationis</i>,<a name="FNanchor_29_29" id="FNanchor_29_29"></a><a href="#Footnote_29_29" class="fnanchor">[29]</a> or Mirror of Human Salvation,<a name="page_035" id="page_035"></a> an examination of which -will throw light on the history of the art. It is a small folio, and -contains sixty-three pages, printed upon one side, of which fifty-eight -are surmounted by two designs enclosed in an architectural border, which -are illustrative or symbolical of the life of Christ or of the Virgin; -the designs (Fig. 6) are printed in pale ink by means of a rubber. The -text is not engraved on the block or placed in the field of the cut, but -is printed from movable metallic type in black ink with a press, and -occupies the lower two-thirds of the page, in double columns. The book -is, therefore, a product of the two arts of wood-engraving and -typography in combination. There are four<a name="page_036" id="page_036"></a> early editions known, two in -Latin, and two in Dutch, all without the name of the printer, or the -date or place of publication. They are printed on paper of the same -manufacture, with woodcuts from the same blocks, and in the same -typographical manner, excepting that one of the Latin editions contains -twenty pages in which the text is printed from engraved wood-blocks in -pale brownish ink, and with a rubber, like the designs. These four -editions, therefore, were issued in the same country.</p> - -<p>This curious book has been the subject of more dispute than any other of -the block-books, because it offers more tangible facts to the -investigator. The type is of a peculiar kind, distinctly different from -that used by the early German printers, and the same in character with -that used in other early books undoubtedly issued in the Low Countries. -The language of the Dutch editions is the pure dialect of North Holland -in the first part of the fifteenth century; the costumes, the short -jackets, the high, broad-brimmed hats, sometimes with flowing ribbons, -the close-fitting hose and low shoes of the men, the head-dresses and -skirts of the women, are of the same period in the Netherlands, and even -in the physiognomy of the faces Flemish features have been seen. The -designs, too, are in the manner of the great Flemish school, renowned as -the best in Europe outside Italy, which was founded by Van Eyck, the -discoverer of the art of painting in oil, and which was marked by a -realism altogether new and easily distinguished; the backgrounds are -filled with architecture of the same time and country. The <i>Speculum</i>, -therefore, was produced in the Low Countries; it must have been printed -there before 1483, and probably was printed some time before 1454. The -<i>Biblia Pauperum</i><a name="page_037" id="page_037"></a> has so much in common with the <i>Speculum</i> in the -style of its art, its costumes, and its general character, that, -although of earlier date, it may be unhesitatingly ascribed to the same -country.</p> - -<p>The internal evidence, however, only enforces the probabilities -springing from the social condition of the Netherlands, then the most -highly civilized country north of the Alps. Its industries, in the hands -of the great guilds of Bruges, Ghent, Brussels, Louvain, Antwerp, and -Liege, were the busiest in Europe. Its commerce was fast upon the -lagging sails of Venice. The “Lancashire of the Middle Ages,” as it has -been fitly called, sent its manufactures abroad wherever the paths of -the sea had been made open, and received the world’s wealth in return. -The magnificence of its Court was the wonder of foreigners, and the -prosperity of its people their admiration. The confusion of mediæval -life, it is true, was still there—fierce temper in the artisans, -blood-thirstiness in the soldiery, everywhere the pitilessness of -military force, wielded by a proud and selfish caste, as Froissart and -Philippe de Comyns plainly recount; but there, nevertheless—although -the brutal sack of Liege was yet to take place—modern life was -beginning; merchant-life, supported by trade, citizen-life, made -possible by the high organization of the great guilds, had begun, -although the merchant and the citizen must still wear the sword; art, -under the guidance of the Van Eycks, was passing out of mediæval -conventionalism, out of the monastery and the monkish tradition, to deal -no longer with lank, meagre, martyr-like bodies, to care no more for the -moral lesson in contempt of artistic beauty, to come face to face with -nature and humanity as they really were before men’s eyes; and modern -intellectual<a name="page_038" id="page_038"></a> life, too—faint and feeble, no doubt—was nevertheless -beginning to show signs of its presence there, where in after-times -great thinkers were to find a harbor of refuge, and the most heroic -struggle of freedom was to be fought out against Spain and Rome. This -comparatively high state of civilization, the activity of men’s minds, -the variety of mechanical pursuits, the excellence of the goldsmiths’ -art, the number and character of the early prints undoubtedly issued -there, the mention of incorporated guilds of printers at Antwerp as -early as 1417, and again in 1440, and at Bruges in 1454, make it -probable that the invention of wood-engraving was due to the -Netherlands, and perhaps the invention of typography also. Whether this -were the case or not, it is certain that the artists of the Netherlands -carried the art of engraving in wood to its highest point of excellence -during its first period.</p> - -<p>Antiquarians have not been contented to show that the best of the -block-books came from the Netherlands; they have attempted to discover -the names of the composer of the <i>Speculum</i>, the engraver of its -designs, and its printer. But their conjectures<a name="FNanchor_30_30" id="FNanchor_30_30"></a><a href="#Footnote_30_30" class="fnanchor">[30]</a> are so doubtful that -it is unnecessary to examine them, with the exception of the ascription -of the printing of the <i>Speculum</i> to the Brothers of the Common<a name="page_039" id="page_039"></a> -Lot.<a name="FNanchor_31_31" id="FNanchor_31_31"></a><a href="#Footnote_31_31" class="fnanchor">[31]</a> This brotherhood was one of the many orders which arose at that -time in the Netherlands, given to mysticism and enthusiasm, that -resulted in real licentiousness; or to piety and reform, that prepared -the way for the Reformation. Its members were devoted to the spread of -knowledge, and were engaged in copying manuscripts and founding public -schools in the cities. After the invention of printing, they set up the -first presses in Brussels and Louvain, and published many books, always, -however, without their name as publishers. They practised the art of -wood-engraving, and doubtless some of the early holy prints were from -their workshops; sometimes they inserted woodcuts in their manuscripts, -as in the <i>Spirituale Pomerium</i>, or Spiritual Garden, of Henri van den -Bogaerde, the head of the retreat at Groenendael, where the painter -Diedrick Bouts occasionally sought retirement, and where he may have -aided the Brothers with his knowledge of design. It is quite possible -that this brotherhood, so favorably placed, produced the <i>Speculum</i> and -others of the block-books, and that they were aided by the painters of -the time whose style of design they followed; but, as Renouvier remarks -in rejecting this account, the monks were not the only persons too -little desirous of notoriety to print their names, and although they -took part in early engraving and printing, a far more important part was -taken by the great civil corporations. In either case, whether the monks -or the secular engravers designed these woodcuts, they were probably -aided<a name="page_040" id="page_040"></a> at times by the painters, who at that period did not restrict -themselves to the higher branches of art, but frequently put their skill -to very humble tasks.</p> - -<p>The character of the design is very easily seen; the lines are simple, -often graceful and well-arranged; there is but little attempt at marking -shadows; there is less stiffness in the forms, and the draperies follow -the lines of the forms better than in either earlier or later work of a -similar kind, and there is also much less unconscious caricature and -grimace. A whole series needs to be looked at before one can appreciate -the interest which these designs have in indicating the subjects on -which imagination and thought were then exercised, and the modes in -which they were exercised. Symbolism and mysticism pervade the whole. -All nature and history seem to have existed only to prefigure the life -of the Saviour: imagination and thought hover about him, and take color, -shape, and light only from that central form; the stories of the Old -Testament, the histories of David, Samson, and Jonah, the massacres, -victories, and miracles there recorded, foreshadow, as it were in -parables, the narrative of the Gospels; the temple, the altar, and the -ark of the covenant, all the furnishings and observances of the Jewish -ritual, reveal occult meanings; the garden of Solomon’s Song, and the -sentiment of the Bridegroom and the Bride who wander in it, are -interpreted, sometimes in graceful or even poetic feeling, under the -inspiration of mystical devotion; old kings of pagan Athens are -transformed into witnesses of Christ, and, with the Sibyl of Rome, -attest spiritual truth. This book and others like it are mirrors of the -ecclesiastical mind; they picture the principal intellectual life of the -Middle Ages; they show the sources of that deep feeling<a name="page_041" id="page_041"></a> in the earlier -Dutch artists which gave dignity and sweetness to their works. Even in -the rudeness of these books, in the texts as well as in the designs, -there is a <i>naïveté</i>, an openness and freshness of nature, a confidence -in limited experience and contracted vision, which make the sight of -these cuts as charming as conversation with one who had never heard of -America or dreamed of Luther, and who would have found modern life a -puzzle and an offence. The author of the <i>Speculum</i> laments the evils -which fell upon man in consequence of Adam’s sin, and recounts them: -blindness, deafness, lameness, floods, fire, pestilence, wild beasts, -and lawsuits (in such order he arranges them); and he ends the long list -with this last and heaviest evil, that men should presume to ask “why -God willed to create man, whose fall he foresaw; why he willed to create -the angels, whose ruin he foreknew; wherefore he hardened the heart of -Pharaoh, and softened the heart of Mary Magdalene unto repentance; -wherefore he made Peter contrite, who had denied him thrice, but allowed -Judas to despair in his sin; wherefore he gave grace to one thief, and -cared not to give grace to his companion.” What modern man can fully -realize the mental condition of this poet, who thus weeps over the -temptation to ask these questions, as the supreme and direst curse which -Divine vengeance allows to overtake the perverse children of this world?</p> - -<p>A better illustration of the sentiment and grace sometimes to be found -in the block-books is the <i>Historia Virginis Mariæ ex Cantico -Canticorum</i>, or History of the Virgin, as it is prefigured in the Song -of Solomon. This volume is the finest in design of all the block-books. -In it the Bride, the Bridegroom, three attendant maidens, and an<a name="page_042" id="page_042"></a> angel -are grouped in successive scenes, illustrating the mystical meaning of -some verse of the Song. The artistic feeling displayed in the -arrangement of the figures is such that the designs have been attributed -directly to Roger Van der Weyden, the greatest of Van Eyck’s pupils. -This book, like the <i>Biblia Pauperum</i> and the <i>Speculum</i>, came from the -engravers and the printers of the Netherlands; but it shows progress in -art beyond those works, more elegance and vivacity of line, more ability -to render feeling expressively, and especially more delight in nature -and carefulness in delineating natural objects.</p> - -<p>In spite of these three chief monuments of the art of block-printing in -the Netherlands, the claim of that country to the invention of the -block-books is not undisputed. The <i>Historia Johannis Evangelistæ -ejusque Visiones Apocalypticæ</i>, or the Apocalypse of St. John, much -ruder in drawing and in execution, is the oldest block-book according to -most writers, and especially those who maintain the claims of Germany to -the honor of the invention. This volume has been ascribed by Chatto to -Upper Germany, where some Greek artist may have designed it; but with -more probability, by Passavant, to Lower Germany, and especially to -Cologne, on account of the coloring, which is in the Cologne manner. The -volume bears a surer sign of early work than mere rudeness of execution: -it is hieratic rather than artistic in character; the artist is -concerned more with enforcing the religious lesson than with designing -pleasant scenes. But although for this reason a very early date -(1440-1460) must be assigned to the book, the question of the origin of -the art of block-printing remains unsettled, even if it be granted that -the volume is of German workmanship. Some evidence<a name="page_043" id="page_043"></a> must be shown that -the Netherlands imported the art from Cologne or some other German city, -and this is lacking; indeed, the absence in early Flemish work of any -trace of influence from the school of art which flourished at Cologne -before the Van Eycks painted in the Netherlands, is strong negative -evidence against such a supposition. On the other hand, it must be -remembered that Germany produced the St. Christopher, and many other -early prints. In some of the German block-books Heinecken recognized the -modes of the German card-makers; but this may be explained otherwise -than by supposing that the card-makers invented the art of -block-printing. On the whole, the rudeness of early German block-books -must be held to be a result of the unskilfulness and tastelessness of -German workmen, rather than an indication that the art was discovered by -them. The engraving of the Apocalypse, like all other German work, will -bear no comparison with the Netherland engraving, either in refinement, -vivacity, or skill.</p> - -<p>The other block-books, many of which are in themselves interesting and -curious, do not elucidate the history of the art, and therefore need not -be discussed. It is sufficient to say that they are less valuable than -those which have been described, and far ruder in design and execution. -Some of them throw light upon the time. The <i>Ars Memorandi</i>, a series of -designs meant to assist the memory in recalling the chapters of the -Apocalypse, is a very curious monument of an age when such a device was -useful; and the <i>Ars Moriendi</i>, or Art of Dying, in which were depicted -frightful and eager devils about a dying man’s couch, is a book which -may stir our laughter, but was full of a different meaning for the poor -sinner to whose bedside the pious monks<a name="page_044" id="page_044"></a> carried it to bring him to -repentance, by showing him designs of such horrible suggestion, -enforced, no doubt, by exhortations hardly more humane. These books were -all reproduced many times. This Art of Dying, for example, appeared in -Latin, Flemish, German, Italian, French, and English, with similar -designs, although there were variations in the text. Once popular, they -have long since lost their attraction; few care for the ideas or the -pictures preserved in them; the bibliophile collects them, because they -are rare, costly, and curious; the scholar consults them, because they -reveal the unprofitableness of mediæval thought, the needs and -characteristics of the class that could prize them, the poverty of the -civilization of which they are the monuments, and because they disclose -glimpses of actual human life as it then was, with its humors, its -burdens, and its imaginations. The world has forgotten them; but they -hold in the history of civilization an honorable place, for by means of -them wood-engraving led the way to the invention of printing, and -thereby performed its greatest service to mankind.<a name="page_045" id="page_045"></a></p> - -<h2><a name="III" id="III"></a>III.<br /><br /> -<i>EARLY PRINTED BOOKS IN THE NORTH.</i></h2> - -<p class="nind"><span class="letrra"> -<a name="ill_7" id="ill_7"></a> -<a href="images/illpg045.png"> -<img src="images/illpg045_sml.png" -width="150" -height="153" -alt="I" -title="I" -/></a><br /> -<span class="caption"> -F<small>IG</small>. 7.—Source of this letter<br /> -unknown.</span></span>N 1454 the art of printing in movable types and with a press had been -perfected in Germany; soon afterward the art of block-printing, although -it continued to be practised until the end of the century, began to fall -into decay, and the ancient block-books, in which the text had been -subsidiary to the colored engravings, speedily gave place to the modern -printed book, in which the engravings were subsidiary to the text. This -change did not come about without a struggle between the rival arts. In -all the great cities of Germany and the Low Countries, the -block-printers and wood-engravers had long been organized into strong -and compact guilds, enforcing their rights with strict jealousy, and -privileged from the first to make use of movable types and the press; -the new printers, on the other hand, were comparatively few in number, -disunited and scattered, accustomed to go from one town to another, and -every attempt by them to insert woodcuts into their books was looked -upon and resented as an encroachment on the art of the block-printers -and the wood-engravers. At first<a name="page_046" id="page_046"></a> the new printers closely imitated the -manuscripts of their time. They used woodcuts to take the place of the -miniatures with which the manuscripts were embellished. They copied -directly the handwriting of the scribes in the forms of their type, and -were thus led to the use of ornamental initial letters like those which -had long been designed by the scribes and illuminated by the -rubricators; such are the beautiful initial letters in the Psalter of -Faust and Scheffer, published at Mayence in 1457, which are the earliest -wood-engravings in a dated book, and are designed and executed with a -skill which has rarely been surpassed. It was by such attempts that the -new printers incurred the hostility of the wood-engravers, which was -soon actively shown. Even as late as 1477, the guild at Augsburg, which -was then the most numerous and best-skilled in Germany, opposed the -admission of Gunther Zainer, who had just set up a printing-press there, -to the rights of citizenship, and he owed his freedom from molestation -to the interference of the friendly abbot, Melchior de Stamham. The -guild succeeded in obtaining an ordinance forbidding Zainer to insert -woodcuts or initials engraved on wood into his books—a prohibition -which remained in force until he came to an understanding with them, by -agreeing to use only such woodcuts and initials as should be engraved by -them. In this, or similar ways, as in every displacement of labor by -mechanical improvements, after a short struggle the cheaper and more -rapid art prevailed; the wood-engravers gave up to the printers the -principal part in the making of books, and became their servants.</p> - -<p>The new printers were most active in the great German cities—Cologne, -Mayence, Nuremberg, Ulm, Augsburg, Strasburg,<a name="page_047" id="page_047"></a> and Basle—and from the -presses of these cities the greatest number of books with woodcuts were -issued. This is one reason why the mastering influence from this time in -Northern wood-engraving was German; why German taste, German rudeness, -coarseness, and crudity became the main characteristics of -wood-engraving in the latter half of the fifteenth century. The Germans -had been, from the first, artisans rather than artists. They had -produced many anonymous prints and block-books, but they had never -attained to the power and elegance of the Flemish school. Now the -quality of their work became even less excellent; for decline had set -in, and the increasing popularity of the new art of -copperplate-engraving combined with the unfavorable influences resulting -from printing, which required cheap and rapid processes, to degrade the -art still lower. The illustrations in the new books had ordinarily -little art-value: they were often grotesque, stiff, ignorant in design, -and careless or inexpert in execution; but they had nevertheless their -use and their interest.</p> - -<p>The German influence was made more powerful, too, by other causes than -the foremost part taken by Germany in printing. The Low Countries, -hitherto so civilized and prosperous, the home and cradle of early -Northern art, the influence of which had spread abroad and become the -most powerful even over the German painters themselves, were now -involved in the turbulence and disaster of the great wars of Charles the -Bold. They not only lost their honorable place at the head of Northern -civilization, but on the marriage of their Duchess, Mary of Burgundy, -the daughter of Charles the Bold, to the Emperor Maximilian, they -yielded in great part to the German influence, and became more<a name="page_048" id="page_048"></a> nearly -allied in character and spirit to the German cities, as they had before -been more akin to France. The woodcuts in the books of the Netherlands, -where printing was introduced by German workmen, share in the rudeness -of German art; in proportion as their previous performance had been more -excellent, the decline of the art among them seems more great. There -are, occasionally, traces of the old power of design and execution in -their later work; but from the time that books began to be printed -Germany took the lead in wood-engraving.</p> - -<p>The German free cities were then animated with the new spirit which was -to mould the great age of Germany, and result in Dürer and Luther. The -growing weakness of the Empire had fostered independence and -self-reliance in the citizens, while the increase of commerce, both on -the north to the German Ocean, and on the south through Venice, had -introduced the wants of a higher civilization, and afforded the means to -satisfy them. Local pride, which showed itself in the rivalries and -public works of the cities, made their enterprise and industry more -active, and gave an added impulse to the rapid transformation of -military and feudal into commercial and democratic life. In these -cities, where the body of men interested in knowledge and with the means -of acquiring it, became every year more numerous, the new presses sent -forth books of all kinds—the religious and ascetic writings of the -clergy, mediæval histories, chronicles and romances, travels, voyages, -botanical, military, and scientific works, and sometimes the writings of -classic authors; although, in distinction from Italy, Germany was at -first devoted to the reproduction of mediæval rather than Greek and -Latin literature. The books in Latin, the learned<a name="page_049" id="page_049"></a> tongue, were usually -without woodcuts; but those in the vulgar tongues, then becoming true -languages, the development and fixing of which are one of the great -debts of the modern world to printing, were copiously illustrated, in -order to make them attractive to the popular taste.</p> - -<p><a name="ill_8" id="ill_8"></a></p> - -<p class="figcenter"> -<a href="images/illpg049.png"> -<img src="images/illpg049_sml.png" width="373" height="234" -alt="FIG. 8.—The Grief of Hannah. From the Cologne Bible, -1470-’75" title="FIG. 8.—The Grief of Hannah. From the Cologne Bible, -1470-’75" /></a> -<br /> -<span class="caption">FIG. 8.—The Grief of Hannah. From the Cologne Bible, -1470-’75</span> -</p> - -<p><a name="ill_9" id="ill_9"></a></p> - -<p class="figcenter"> -<a href="images/illpg051.png"> -<img src="images/illpg051_sml.png" width="367" height="232" -alt="FIG. 9.—Illustration of Exodus I. From the Cologne -Bible, 1470-’75." title="FIG. 9.—Illustration of Exodus I. From the Cologne -Bible, 1470-’75." /></a> -<br /> -<span class="caption">FIG. 9.—Illustration of Exodus I. From the Cologne -Bible, 1470-’75.</span> -</p> - -<p>The great book, on which the printers exercised most care, was the -Bible. Many editions were published; but the most important of these, in -respect to the history of wood-engraving, was the Cologne Bible (Figs. -8, 9), which appeared before 1475, both because its one hundred and nine -designs were, probably, after the block-books, the earliest series of -engraved illustrations of Scripture, and were widely copied, and also -because they show an extension of the sphere of thought and increased -intellectual activity. The designers of these cuts relied less upon -tradition, displayed<a name="page_050" id="page_050"></a> more original feeling, and showed greater variety -and vivacity in their treatment, than the artists who had engraved the -<i>Biblia Pauperum</i>. The latter volume contained, as has been seen, nearly -the last impression of century-old pictorial types in the mediæval -conventional manner; the Cologne Bible defined conceptions of Scriptural -scenes anew, and these conceptions became conventional, and re-appeared -for generations in other illustrated Bibles in all parts of Europe; not, -however, because of an immobility of mind characteristic of the -community, as in earlier times, but partly because the printers -preserved and exchanged old wood-blocks, so that the same designs from -the same blocks appeared in widely distant cities, and partly because it -was less costly for them to employ an inferior workman to copy the old -cut, with slight variations, than to have an artist of original -inventive power to design a wholly new series. Thus the Nuremberg Bible -of 1482 is illustrated from the same blocks as the Cologne Bible, and -the cuts in the Strasburg Bible of 1485 are poor copies of the same -designs. From the marginal border which encloses the first page of the -Cologne Bible it appears that wood-engraving was already looked on, not -only as a means of illustrating what was said in the text, but as a -means of decoration merely. Here, among the foliage and flowers, are -seen running animals, and in the midst the hunter, the jongleur, the -musician, the lover, the lady, and the fool—an indication of delight in -nature and in the variety of human life, which, simply because it is not -directly connected with the text, is the more significant of that freer -range of sympathy and thought characteristic of the age. Afterward these -decorative borders, often in a satiric and not infrequently in a<a name="page_051" id="page_051"></a> gross -vein, wholly disconnected with the text, and sometimes at strange -variance with its spirit, are not uncommon. The engravings that follow -this frontispiece represent the customary Scriptural scenes, and the -series closes with two striking designs of the Last Judgment and of -Hell. In the former angels are hurling pope, emperor, cardinal, bishop, -and king into hell, and in the latter their bodies lie face to face with -the souls marked with the seal of God—a satire not unexampled before -this time, and indeed hardly bolder than hitherto, but of a spirit which -showed that Luther was already born. “It is no small honor for our -wood-engravers,” says Renouvier, “to have expressed public opinion with -such hardihood, and to have shown themselves the advanced sentinels of a -revolution.” The engraving in this Bible tells its own story without -need of comment; but,<a name="page_052" id="page_052"></a> heavy and rude as much of it is, it surpasses -other German work of the same period; and it must not be forgotten that -the awkwardness of the drawing was much obscured by the colors which -were afterward laid on the designs by hand. It is only by accident or -negligence that woodcuts were left uncolored in early German books, for -the conception of a complete picture simply in black and white was a -comparatively late acquisition in art, and did not guide the practice of -wood-engravers until the last decade of the century, when, indeed, it -effected a revolution in the art.</p> - -<p>Of the many other illustrated Bibles which appeared during the last -quarter of the fifteenth century, the one published at Augsburg, about -1475, and attributed to Gunther Zainer, alone has a peculiar interest. -All but two of its seventy-three woodcuts are combined with large -initial letters, occupying the width of a column, for which they serve -as a background, and by which they are framed in; these are the oldest -initial letters in this style, and are original in design, full of -animation and vigor, and rank with the best work of the early Augsburg -wood-engravers. It is not unlikely that these novel and attractive -letters were the very ones of which the Augsburg guild complained in the -action that they brought against Zainer in 1477. Afterward the German -printers gave much attention to ornamented capitals, both in this style, -which reached its most perfect examples in Holbein’s alphabets, and in -the Italian mode, in which the design was relieved in white upon a black -ground.</p> - -<p>Next to the Bibles, the early chronicles and histories are of most -interest for the study of wood-engraving. They<a name="page_053" id="page_053"></a> are records of legendary -and real events, intermingled with much extraneous matter which seemed -to their authors curious or startling. They usually begin with the -Creation, and come down through sacred into early legendary and secular -history, recounting miracles, martyrdoms, sieges, tales of wonder and -superstition, omens, anecdotes of the great princes, and the like. Each -of them dwells especially upon whatever glorifies the saints, or touches -the patriotism, of their respective countries. They are filled with -woodcuts in illustration of their narrative, beginning with scenes from -Genesis. Thus the Chronicle of Saxony, published at Mayence in 1492, -contains representations of the fall of the angels, the ark of Noah, -Romulus founding Rome, the arrival of the Franks and the Saxons, the -deeds of Charlemagne, the overthrow of paganism, the famous emperors, -Otho burning a sorcerer, Frederick Barbarossa, and the Emperor -Maximilian. The Chronicle of Cologne, published in 1492, is similarly -illustrated with views of the great cathedral, with representations of -the Three Kings, the refusal of the five Rhine cities to pay impost, and -like scenes.</p> - -<p><a name="ill_10" id="ill_10"></a></p> - -<p class="figcenter"> -<a href="images/illpg054.png"> -<img src="images/illpg054_sml.png" width="383" height="392" -alt="FIG. 10.—The Fifth Day of Creation. From Schedel’s -“Liber Chronicarum.” Nuremberg, 1493." title="FIG. 10.—The Fifth Day of Creation. From Schedel’s -“Liber Chronicarum.” Nuremberg, 1493." /></a> -<br /> -<span class="caption">FIG. 10.—The Fifth Day of Creation. From Schedel’s -“Liber Chronicarum.” Nuremberg, 1493.</span> -</p> - -<p>The most important of the chronicles, in respect to wood-engraving, is -the Chronicle of Nuremberg (Figs. 10, 11, 12), published in that city in -1493. It contains over two thousand cuts which are attributed to William -Pleydenwurff and Michael Wohlgemuth, the latter the master of Albert -Dürer; they are rude and often grotesque, possessing an antiquarian -rather than an artistic interest; many of them are repeated several -times, a portrait serving indifferently for one prophet or another, a -view of houses upon a hill representing equally well a city in Asia or -in Italy, just as in many other early books—for example, in the History -of<a name="page_054" id="page_054"></a> the Kings of Hungary—a battle-piece does for any conflict, or a man -on a throne for any king. The representations were typical rather than -individual. In some of the designs there is, doubtless, a careful -truthfulness, as in the view of Nuremberg, and perhaps in some of the -portraits. The larger cuts show considerable vigor and boldness of -conception, but none of them are so good as the illustrations, also -attributed to Wohlgemuth, in the <i>Schatzbehalter</i>, published<a name="page_055" id="page_055"></a> in the -same city in 1491. The distinction of the Nuremberg chronicle does not -consist in any superiority of design which can be claimed for it in -comparison with other books of the same sort, but in the fact that here -were printed, for the first time, woodcuts simply in black and white, -which were looked on as complete without the aid of the colorist, and -were in all essential points entirely similar to modern works. This -change was brought about by the introduction of cross-hatching, or lines -crossing each other at different intervals and different angles, but -usually obliquely, by means of which blacks and grays of various -intensity, or what is technically called color, were obtained. This was -a process already in use in copperplate-engraving. In that art—the -reverse of wood-engraving since the lines which are to give the -impression on paper are incised into the metal instead of being left -raised as in the wood-block—the engraver grooved out the crossing lines -with the same facility and in the same way as the draughtsman draws them -in a pen-and-ink sketch, the depth of color obtained depending in both -cases on the relative closeness and fineness of the hatchings. In -engraving in wood the task was much more difficult, and required greater -nicety of skill, for, as in this case the crossing lines must be left in -relief, the engraver was obliged to gouge out the minute diamond spaces -between them. At first this was, probably, thought beyond the power of -the workmen. The earliest woodcut in which these cross-hatchings appear -is the frontispiece to Breydenbach’s Travels, published at Mayence in -1486, which is, perhaps, the finest wood-engraving of its time. In the -Nuremberg chronicle this process was first extensively employed to -obtain color, and thus this volume marks the beginning<a name="page_056" id="page_056"></a> of that great -school in wood-engraving which seeks its effects in black lines.</p> - -<p><a name="ill_11" id="ill_11"></a></p> - -<p class="figcenter"> -<a href="images/illpg056.png"> -<img src="images/illpg056_sml.png" width="352" height="300" -alt="FIG. 11.—The Dancing Deaths. From Schedel’s “Liber -Chronicarum.” Nuremberg, 1493." title="FIG. 11.—The Dancing Deaths. From Schedel’s “Liber -Chronicarum.” Nuremberg, 1493." /></a> -<br /> -<span class="caption">FIG. 11.—The Dancing Deaths. From Schedel’s “Liber -Chronicarum.” Nuremberg, 1493.</span> -</p> - -<p>To describe the hundreds of illustrated books which the German printers -published before the end of the century belongs to the bibliographer. -Should any one turn to them, he would find in the cuts that they contain -much diversity in character, but little in merit; he would meet at -Bamberg, in the works printed by Pfister, whose Book of Fables, -published 1461, is the first dated volume with woodcuts of figures, -designs so rude that they are generally believed to have been hacked out -by apprentices wholly destitute of training in the craft; he would -notice in the<a name="page_057" id="page_057"></a> books of Cologne the greater self-restraint and sense of -proportion, in those of Augsburg the greater variety, vivacity, and -vigor, in those of Nuremberg the greater exaggeration and grotesqueness. -In the publications of some cities he would come upon the burning -questions of that generation: the siege of Rhodes by the Turks, the wars -of Charles the Bold against Switzerland, the martyrdom of John Huss; -elsewhere he would see naïve conceptions of mediæval romance and -chivalry, and not infrequently, as in the Boccaccio of Ulm, grossnesses -not to be described; at Strasburg he would hardly recognize Horace and -Virgil with their Teutonic features and barbaric garb; while at Mayence -botanical works, which strangely mingle science, medicine, and -superstition, would excite his wonder, and at Ulm military works would -picture the forgotten engines of mediæval warfare; in the Netherlands, -too, he would discern little difference in literature or in design; -everywhere he would find the unevenness of Gothic taste—one moment -creating works with a certain boldness and grandeur of conception, the -next moment falling into the inane and the ludicrous; everywhere German -realism making each person appear as if born in a Rhine city, and each -event as if taking place within its walls; everywhere, too, an -ever-widening interest in the affairs of past times and distant -countries, in the thought and life of the generations that were gone, in -the pursuits of the living, and the multiform problems of that age of -the Reformation then coming on. It is impossible to turn from this wide -survey without a recognition of the large share which wood-engraving, as -the suggester and servant of printing, had in the progress made toward -civilization in the North during that century. Woltmann does not -over-state the fact when<a name="page_058" id="page_058"></a> he says: “Wood-engraving and -copperplate-engraving were not alone of use in the advance of art; they -form an epoch in the entire life of mind and culture. The idea embodied -and multiplied in pictures became, like that embodied in the printed -word, the herald of every intellectual movement.”</p> - -<p><a name="ill_12" id="ill_12"></a></p> - -<p class="figcenter"> -<a href="images/illpg058.png"> -<img src="images/illpg058_sml.png" width="393" height="337" -alt="FIG. 12.—Jews Sacrificing a Christian Child. From -Schedel’s “Liber Chronicarum.” Nuremberg, 1493." title="FIG. 12.—Jews Sacrificing a Christian Child. From -Schedel’s “Liber Chronicarum.” Nuremberg, 1493." /></a> -<br /> -<span class="caption">FIG. 12.—Jews Sacrificing a Christian Child. From -Schedel’s “Liber Chronicarum.” Nuremberg, 1493.</span> -</p> - -<p>As typography spread from Germany through the other countries of Europe, -the art of wood-engraving accompanied it. The first books printed in the -French language appeared about 1475, at Bruges, where the Dukes of -Burgundy had long favored the vulgar tongue, and had collected<a name="page_059" id="page_059"></a> many -manuscripts written in it in their great library, then one of the finest -in Europe. The first French city to issue French books from its presses -was Lyons, which had learned the arts of printing and of wood-engraving -from Basle, Geneva, and Nuremberg, in consequence of their close -commercial relations. If a few doubtful and scattered examples of early -work be excepted, it was in these Lyonese books that French -wood-engraving first appeared. From the beginning of printing in France, -Lyons was the chief seat of popular literature, and the centre of the -industry of printing books in the vulgar tongue, as Paris was the chief -seat of the literature of the learned, both in Latin and French, and -devoted itself to reproducing religious and scientific works.<a name="FNanchor_32_32" id="FNanchor_32_32"></a><a href="#Footnote_32_32" class="fnanchor">[32]</a> At the -close of the fifteenth and beginning of the sixteenth centuries the -Lyonese presses issued the largest number of first editions of the -popular romances, which were sought, not merely by French purchasers, -but throughout Europe. These books were meant for the middle class, who -were unable to buy the costly manuscripts, illuminated with splendid -miniatures, in which literature had previously been locked up. They were -not considered valuable enough to be preserved with care, and have -consequently become scarce; but they were published in great numbers, -and exerted an influence in the spread of literary knowledge and taste -which can hardly be over-estimated. Woodcuts were first inserted in them -about 1476; but for twenty years after this wood-engraving was practised -rather as a trade than an art, and its products have no more artistic -merit than similar works in Germany.<a name="page_060" id="page_060"></a> In 1493 an edition of Terence, in -which the earlier rudeness gave way to some skill in design, showed the -first signs of promise of the excellence which the Lyonese art was to -attain in the sixteenth century.</p> - -<p>In Paris, the German printers, who had been invited to the city by a -prior of the Sorbonne, had issued Latin works for ten years before -wood-engraving began to be practised. After 1483, however, Jean Du Pré, -Guyot Marchand, Pierre Le Rouge, Pierre Le Caron, Antoine Verard, and -other early printers applied themselves zealously to the publication of -volumes of devotion, history, poetry, and romance, in which they made -use of wood-engraving. The figure of the author frequently appears upon -the first page, where he offers his book to the king or princess before -whom he kneels; and here and there may be read sentiments like the -following, which is taken from an early work of Verard’s, where they are -inserted in fragmentary verses among the woodcuts: “Every good, loyal, -and gallant Catholic who begins any work of imagery ought, first, to -invoke in all his labor the Divine power by the blessed name of Jesus, -who illumines every human heart and understanding; this is in every deed -a fair beginning.”<a name="FNanchor_33_33" id="FNanchor_33_33"></a><a href="#Footnote_33_33" class="fnanchor">[33]</a> The religious books, especially the <i>Livres -d’Heures</i> (Fig. 13), were filled with the finest examples of the -Parisian art, which sought to imitate the beautiful miniatures for which -Paris had been famous from even before the time when Dante praised them. -In consequence of this effort the woodcut in simple line served -frequently only as a rough draft, to be filled in and finished<a name="page_061" id="page_061"></a> by the -colorist, who, indeed, sometimes wholly disregarded it and overlaid it -with a new design. Before long, however, the wood-engravers succeeded in -making cuts which, so far from needing color, were only injured by the -addition of it; but these were considered less valuable than the -illuminated designs, and the wood-engravers were hampered in the -practice of their art by the miniaturists, who, like the guilds at -Augsburg and other German towns, complained of the new mode of -illustration as a ruinous encroachment on their craft.</p> - -<p><a name="ill_13" id="ill_13"></a></p> - -<div class="figright"> -<a href="images/illpg061.png"> -<img src="images/illpg061_sml.png" width="386" height="564" -alt="FIG. 13.—Marginal Border. From Kerver’s “Psalterium -Virginis Mariæ.” 1509." title="FIG. 13.—Marginal Border. From Kerver’s “Psalterium -Virginis Mariæ.” 1509." /></a> -<br /> -<span class="caption">FIG. 13.—Marginal Border. From Kerver’s “Psalterium -Virginis Mariæ.” 1509.</span> -</div> - -<p>Whether with or without color, the engravings in the <i>Livres d’Heures</i> -are beautiful. Each page is enclosed in an ornamental border made up of -small cuts, which are repeated in new arrangements on succeeding leaves; -here and there a large cut, usually representing some Scriptural scene, -is introduced in the upper portion of the page, and the text fills the -vacant spaces. Not infrequently the taste displayed is Gallic rather -than pious, and delights in profane legends and burlesque<a name="page_062" id="page_062"></a> fancies which -one would not expect to meet in a prayer-book. These volumes were so -highly prized by foreign nations for the beauty of their workmanship, -that they were printed in Flemish, English, and Italian. Those which -were issued by Verard, Vostre, Pigouchet, and Kerver were the best -products of the early French art.<a name="FNanchor_34_34" id="FNanchor_34_34"></a><a href="#Footnote_34_34" class="fnanchor">[34]</a> The secular works which contain -woodcuts are hardly worthy of mention, excepting Guyot Marchand’s La -Danse Macabre, first published in 1485, which is a series of twenty-five -spirited and graceful designs, marked by French vivacity and liveliness -of fancy. In all early French work the peculiar genius of the people is -not so easily distinguishable as in this example, but it is usually -present, and gives a national characteristic to the art, notwithstanding -the indubitable influences of the German archaic school in the earlier -time, and of the Italian school in the first years of the sixteenth -century.</p> - -<p>French wood-engraving is remarkable, in respect to its technique, for -the introduction of <i>criblée</i>, or dotted work, which has previously<a name="FNanchor_35_35" id="FNanchor_35_35"></a><a href="#Footnote_35_35" class="fnanchor">[35]</a> -been described, into the backgrounds on which the designs are relieved. -This mode of engraving is probably a survival from the goldsmiths’ work -of the first part of the fifteenth century, and it is not unlikely that, -as Renouvier suggests, these <i>criblée</i> grounds were meant to represent -the gold grounds on which both miniatures and early paintings were -relieved. From an examination of the peculiarities of these engravings, -some authors<a name="FNanchor_36_36" id="FNanchor_36_36"></a><a href="#Footnote_36_36" class="fnanchor">[36]</a> have been<a name="page_063" id="page_063"></a> led to maintain that they were taken off -from metal plates cut in relief, and nearly all writers are ready to -admit that this was sometimes, but not always, the case. The question is -unsettled; but it is probable that wood was sometimes employed, and it -would be impossible to determine with certainty what share in these -prints belongs to wood-engraving and metal-engraving respectively. In -general, French wood-engraving, in its best early examples at Paris, was -characterized by greater fineness and elegance of line, and by more -feeling for artistic effects, than was the case with German -book-illustration; but the Parisian chronicles, histories, botanical -works, and the like, possessed no greater merit than similar -publications at Lyons or in the German cities, and their influence upon -the middle classes in furthering the advance of education and taste was -probably much less.</p> - -<p>England was far behind the other nations of Europe in its appreciation -of art, and wood-engraving throve there as feebly as did the other arts -of design. The first English book with woodcuts was Caxton’s Game and -Playe of the Chesse, published about 1476, the first edition of which -was issued two years earlier, without illustrations. It is supposed by -some writers that Caxton imported the blocks from which these cuts were -printed, as he did the type for his text; and it is certain that in -later years wood-blocks and metal-plates were brought over from the -Continent for illustrating English books. It is not improbable that the -art was practised by Englishmen as a part of the printer’s craft, and -that there were no professional wood-engravers for many years; indeed, -Chatto doubts whether the art was practised separately even so late as -Holbein’s time. The cuts in<a name="page_064" id="page_064"></a> Caxton’s works, and in those of the later -printers, Wynkyn de Worde and Richard Pynson, were altogether rude and -uninteresting in design. If the honor of them belongs to foreign rather -than English workmen, no great hurt is done to English pride.<a name="page_065" id="page_065"></a></p> - -<h2><a name="IV" id="IV"></a>IV.<br /><br /> -<i>EARLY ITALIAN WOOD-ENGRAVING.</i></h2> - -<p class="nind"><span class="letrra"> -<a name="ill_14" id="ill_14"></a> -<a href="images/illpg065.png"> -<img src="images/illpg065_sml.png" -width="150" -height="166" -alt="P" -title="P" -/></a><br /> -<span class="caption"> -F<small>IG</small>. 14.—From Ovid’s “Metamorphoses.”<br /> -Venice, 1518 -(design, 1497).</span></span>REVIOUS to the time of Dürer wood-engraving in the North, as has been -seen, was little more than a trade, and has its main interest to the -scholar as an agent of civilization; in Italy it first became a fine -art, a mode of beautiful expression. The Italians, set in the midst of -natural loveliness and among the ruins of ancient art, had never wholly -lost the sense of beauty; they may have paid but slight attention to -what was about them, but they lived life-long in the daily sight of fair -scenes and beautiful forms, which impressed their senses and moulded -their nature, so that, when with the revival of letters they felt the -native impulses of humanity toward the higher life stirring once more in -their hearts, they found themselves endued with powers of perception and -appreciation beyond any other people in the world. These powers were not -the peculiar possession of a well-born class; the centuries had bred -them unobserved into the nature of the race, into<a name="page_066" id="page_066"></a> the physical -constitution of the whole people. The artisan, no less than the prince, -took delight in the dawn of art, and welcomed it with equal worship. Nor -was this artistic instinct the only common acquisition; the enthusiasm -for letters was likewise widely shared, so that some of the best -manuscripts of the classics have come down to modern times from the -hands of humble Florentine workmen. Italy, indeed, was the first country -where democratic civilization had place; here the contempt of the -Northern lord for the peasant and the mechanic had never been -wide-spread, partly because mercantile life was early held to be -honorable, and partly because of peculiar social conditions. The long, -uninterrupted intercourse with the remains of Roman civilization in the -unbarbarized East, the contact with Saracenic civilization in the South, -the culture of the court of the Two Sicilies, and the invariably -levelling influence of commerce, had made Italy the most cosmopolitan of -European countries; the sharp and warlike rivalry of small, but -intensely patriotic, states, and the necessity they lay under of -utilizing for their own preservation whatever individual energy might -arise among them, perhaps most of all the powerful example of the -omnipresent Church in which the son of a swineherd might take the Papal -Throne, had contributed to make it comparatively easy to pass from lower -to higher social ranks; the aristocratic structure of society remained, -but the distinction of classes was obscured, and the excellence of the -individual’s faculties, the energy and scope of his powers, were -recognized as the real dignities which were worthy of respect. In this -recognition of the individual, and this common taste for art and -letters, lay the conditions of new and vigorous<a name="page_067" id="page_067"></a> intellectual life; they -resulted in the great age of Italy. It was this in the main that made -possible the popular fervor for the things of the mind in the Italian -Renaissance, to which nothing else in the world’s history is comparable -but the popular enthusiasm of the modern Revolution for liberty. Dante -gave his country a native language, the Humanists gave it the literature -of Rome, the Hellenists the literature of Greece; poets sang and artists -painted with a loftiness and dignity of imagination, a sweetness and -delicacy of sentiment, an energy and reach of thought, a music of verse -and harmony of line and color, still unsurpassed. The gifts which these -men brought were not for a few, but for the many who shared in this -mastering, absorbing interest in the things of the mind, in beauty and -wisdom, which was the vital spirit of the Italian Renaissance.</p> - -<p><a name="ill_15" id="ill_15"></a></p> - -<div class="figleft" style="width: 138px;"> -<a href="images/illpg068-a.png"> -<img src="images/illpg068-a_sml.png" width="138" height="285" -alt="FIG. 15.—The Creation. From the “Fasciculus Temporum.” -Venice, 1484." title="FIG. 15.—The Creation. From the “Fasciculus Temporum.” -Venice, 1484." /></a> -<br /> -<span class="caption">FIG. 15.—The Creation. From the “Fasciculus Temporum.” -Venice, 1484.</span> -</div> - -<p><a name="ill_16" id="ill_16"></a></p> - -<div class="figright" style="width: 211px;"> -<a href="images/illpg068-b.png"> -<img src="images/illpg068-b_sml.png" width="211" height="186" -alt="FIG. 16.—Leviathan. From the “Ortus Sanitatis.” Venice, -1511." title="FIG. 16.—Leviathan. From the “Ortus Sanitatis.” Venice, -1511." /></a> -<br /> -<span class="caption">FIG. 16.—Leviathan. From the “Ortus Sanitatis.” Venice, -1511.</span> -</div> - -<p>Thus it happened that when the German printers brought over the Alps the -art which was to do so much toward civilizing the North, they found in -Italy a civilization already culminated, hastening on, indeed, to a -swift decline; they found the people already in possession of the -manuscripts which they came to reproduce and multiply, and the princes, -like Frederick of Urbino,<a name="FNanchor_37_37" id="FNanchor_37_37"></a><a href="#Footnote_37_37" class="fnanchor">[37]</a> “ashamed to own a printed book” among -their splendid collections, where every art seemed to vie in making -beautiful their volumes of vellum and velvet. Wood-engraving, too, which -here as elsewhere accompanied printing, could be of no use in spreading -ideas and preparing the way for a popular knowledge<a name="page_068" id="page_068"></a> and appreciation of -art; it was to receive rather than bestow benefits; it was to be made a -fine art before it could perform any real service. The printers, -however, proved the utility of their art, and were soon busily employed -in all the Italian cities in reproducing the precious manuscripts with -which Italy was stored; and from the first they called wood-engraving to -their aid. It is true that the earliest Italian woodcuts—which were, -however, Germanic in design and execution—were as rude as those of the -Northern workshops. They appeared for the first time in an edition of -Cardinal Turrecremata’s Meditations, published at Rome by Ulric Hahn, in -1467. In Venice, although without much doubt the art had been practised -there by the makers of cards and prints long before, woodcuts were first -introduced by the German printers. The accompanying cuts are fair -examples of their work (Figs. 15, 16, 17, 18, 20, 21), and at the same -time interesting reflections of<a name="page_069" id="page_069"></a> popular fable. The views of Venice are -examples of the very common attempts to represent the actual appearance -of the great cities, which possess sometimes an historic value. This -Germanic work is but slightly different from that already noticed; but -as soon as the art became naturalized, and was practised by the Italian -engravers, it was characterized at once by beauty of design. There is -something more than promise in an edition of Æsop’s Fables, published at -Verona in 1481, as may be seen from these examples (Figs.<a name="page_070" id="page_070"></a> 22, 23), -taken from a Venetian reprint of 1491. An Ovid, printed at Venice in -1497, is adorned with several excellent woodcuts, such as this of The -Contest of Apollo and Pan (Fig. 19); and there are other works of -similar merit belonging to the same period. The finest example of -Italian wood-engraving before it reached its highest perfection in the -Hypnerotomachia Poliphili, or Dream of Poliphilo, is a volume which -contains the epistles of St. Jerome, and a description of cloistral -life. This is adorned with a large number of small woodcuts of simple -beauty, marked by grace and feeling, and full of reminiscences of moods -and sentiments which have long ceased to hold a place in human hearts -(Figs. 24, 25, 26). Here is pictured the religious life; the monk’s cell -is barely furnished, but it is seldom without shelves of books and a -window opening upon a distant prospect; the teacher expounds<a name="page_071" id="page_071"></a> to his -pupils the great volume on the desk before him; the priest administers -consolation to the dying and the bereaved, and encourages the feeble of -spirit and the sinful; the preacher discourses to his brethren and the -crowding people the Blessed Word; the nuns of the sisterhood perform -their daily offices of religion, the panel of the confessional slides -back for them, they wash the feet of the poor, they sit at table -together; all the pieties of their life, which knew no close human -relation, which knew only God and mankind, are depicted; and now and -then there is a thought, too, of the worldly life outside—here the -beautiful youths stop to gaze at the convent gates barred against them. -There are other cuts, also, of landscape, towers, and cities. The great -themes of religion are not forgotten—the Resurrection and the Judgment -unfold their secrets of justice and of the life eternal. In all the -religious spirit prevails, and gives to the whole series a simple and -sweet charm. One may look at them long, and be content to look many -times thereafter.</p> - -<p><a name="ill_17" id="ill_17"></a></p> - -<div class="figright" style="width: 249px;"> -<a href="images/illpg069-a.png"> -<img src="images/illpg069-a_sml.png" width="249" height="267" -alt="FIG. 17.—The Stork. From the “Ortus Sanitatis.” Venice, -1511." title="FIG. 17.—The Stork. From the “Ortus Sanitatis.” Venice, -1511." /></a> -<br /> -<span class="caption">FIG. 17.—The Stork. From the “Ortus Sanitatis.” Venice, -1511.</span> -</div> - -<p><a name="ill_18" id="ill_18"></a></p> - -<p class="figcenter"> -<a href="images/illpg069-b.png"> -<img src="images/illpg069-b_sml.png" width="325" height="161" -alt="FIG. 18.—View of Venice. From the “Fasciculus Temporum.” -Venice, 1484." title="FIG. 18.—View of Venice. From the “Fasciculus Temporum.” -Venice, 1484." /></a> -<br /> -<span class="caption">FIG. 18.—View of Venice. From the “Fasciculus Temporum.” -Venice, 1484.</span> -</p> - -<p><a name="ill_19" id="ill_19"></a></p> - -<p class="figcenter"> -<a href="images/illpg070.png"> -<img src="images/illpg070_sml.png" width="322" height="225" -alt="FIG. 19.—The Contest of Apollo and Pan. From Ovid’s -“Metamorphoses.” Venice, 1518 (design, 1497)." title="FIG. 19.—The Contest of Apollo and Pan. From Ovid’s -“Metamorphoses.” Venice, 1518 (design, 1497)." /></a> -<br /> -<span class="caption">FIG. 19.—The Contest of Apollo and Pan. From Ovid’s -“Metamorphoses.” Venice, 1518 (design, 1497).</span> -</p> - -<p><a name="ill_20" id="ill_20"></a></p> - -<div class="figright" style="width: 209px;"> -<a href="images/illpg071.png"> -<img src="images/illpg071_sml.png" width="209" height="222" -alt="FIG. 20.—Sirens. From the “Ortus Sanitatis.” Venice, -1511." title="FIG. 20.—Sirens. From the “Ortus Sanitatis.” Venice, -1511." /></a> -<br /> -<span class="caption">FIG. 20.—Sirens. From the “Ortus Sanitatis.” Venice, -1511.</span> -</div> - -<p><a name="ill_21" id="ill_21"></a></p> - -<div class="figleft" style="width: 246px;"> -<a href="images/illpg072.png"> -<img src="images/illpg072_sml.png" width="246" height="268" -alt="FIG. 21.—Pygmy and Cranes. From the “Ortus Sanitatis.” -Venice, 1511." title="FIG. 21.—Pygmy and Cranes. From the “Ortus Sanitatis.” -Venice, 1511." /></a> -<br /> -<span class="caption">FIG. 21.—Pygmy and Cranes. From the “Ortus Sanitatis.” -Venice, 1511.</span> -</div> - -<p><a name="ill_22" id="ill_22"></a></p> - -<p class="figcenter"> -<a href="images/illpg073.png"> -<img src="images/illpg073_sml.png" width="359" height="507" -alt="FIG. 22.—The Woman and the Thief. From “Æsop’s Fables.” -Venice, 1491 (design, 1481)." title="FIG. 22.—The Woman and the Thief. From “Æsop’s Fables.” -Venice, 1491 (design, 1481)." /></a> -<br /> -<span class="caption">FIG. 22.—The Woman and the Thief. From “Æsop’s Fables.” -Venice, 1491 (design, 1481).</span> -</p> - -<p><a name="ill_23" id="ill_23"></a></p> - -<p class="figcenter"> -<a href="images/illpg075.png"> -<img src="images/illpg075_sml.png" width="349" height="311" -alt="FIG. 23.—The Crow and the Peacock. From “Æsop’s Fables.” -Venice, 1491 (design, 1481)." title="FIG. 23.—The Crow and the Peacock. From “Æsop’s Fables.” -Venice, 1491 (design, 1481)." /></a> -<br /> -<span class="caption">FIG. 23.—The Crow and the Peacock. From “Æsop’s Fables.” -Venice, 1491 (design, 1481).</span> -</p> - -<p>This volume of St. Jerome was, however, only a worthy forerunner of the -Dream of Poliphilo, in which Italian wood-engraving, quickened by the -spirit of the Renaissance, displayed its most beautiful creations. It -was written by a<a name="page_072" id="page_072"></a> Venetian monk, Francesco Columna, in 1467, and was -first printed by Aldus, in 1499. It is a mystical work, composed in -Italian, strangely mingled with Greek, Latin, Hebrew, and Arabic, and -its theme, which is the praise of beauty and of love, is obscured by -abstruse knowledge and by much varied learning. It recalls Dante’s poem -in some ways. The Renaissance Dominican, too, was a lover with a human -Beatrice, of whom his dream is the memorial and the glory; like Dante, -he seems to symbolize, under the beauty and guardianship of his gracious -lady, a body of truth and a theory of life; and, as in Dante’s poem -Beatrice typified Divine Wisdom and theology, his Polia stood for the -new gospel of this world’s joy, for the loveliness of universal nature -and the perfection of ancient art; in adoring her he worships them, and -in celebrating her, as alike his goal and his guide through the mazes of -his changing dream, he exalts the virtue and the hope that lay in the -Renaissance ideal of life. There is, perhaps, no volume where the -exuberant vigor of that age is more clearly shown, or where -<a name="page_074" id="page_074"></a> -<a name="page_075" id="page_075"></a><a name="page_073" id="page_073"></a> the -objects for which that age was impassioned are more glowingly described. -This romantic and fantastic rhapsody mirrors every aspect of nature and -art in which the Italians then took delight—peaceful landscape, where -rivers flow by flower-starred banks and through bird-haunted woods; -noble architecture and exquisite sculpture, the music of soft -instruments, the ruins of antiquity, the legends of old mythology, the -motions of the dance, the elegance of the banquet, splendor of apparel, -courtesy of manners, even the manuscript, with its covers of purple -velvet sown with Eastern pearls—everything which was cared for and -sought in that time,<a name="page_076" id="page_076"></a> when the gloom of asceticism lifted and disclosed -the wide prospect of the world lying, as it were, in the loveliness of -daybreak. Poliphilo wanders through fields and groves bright with this -morning beauty, voyages down streams and loiters in gardens that are -filled with gladness; he is graciously regaled in the palace, he attends -the sacrifice in the temple, where his eyes are charmed by every -exquisite ornament of art; he encounters in his progress triumphal -processions, as they wind along through the pleasant country, -bewildering the fancy with their lavish magnificence as of an Arabian -dream; chariots that are wrought out of entire precious stones, carved -with bass-reliefs from Grecian fables, and drawn by half-human centaurs -or strange animals,—elephants, panthers, unicorns, in trappings of silk -and jewels, pass before him, bearing exalted in their midst sculptured -figures, Europa and the Bull, Leda and the Swan, Danaë in the shower of -gold, and, last and most wonderful, a vase, beautifully engraved and -adorned, out of which springs a golden vine, with leaves of Persian -selenite and grapes of Oriental amethyst; and about all are groups of -attendant nymphs, fauns, satyrs, mænads, and lovely women, crowned with -flowers, with instruments of music in their hands, chanting the praise -of<a name="page_077" id="page_077"></a> Valor and of Pleasure; again, he lingers among ancient ruins and -remembers their perished glory, and falls into reflection, like that of -the traveller whom he describes, “among those venerable monuments which -still make Rome the queen of cities; where he sees,” thinks Poliphilo, -“the hand of Time, which punishes the excess of pride; and, seeking then -on the steps of the amphitheatre the heads of the legions and that -conquering eagle, that Senate whose decrees made and unmade the kings of -the world, those profound historians, those eloquent orators, he finds -there only a rabble of beggars, to whom an ignorant and ofttimes lying -hermit preaches, only altars without honor and saints without a -believer; the artist reigns alone in that vast enclosure; pencil in -hand, rich with memories, he sees the whole of Rome, her pomp and her -glory, in one mutilated block which a fragment of bass-relief adorns.” -Inspired<a name="page_078" id="page_078"></a> by these thoughts, Poliphilo delays among like relics of the -past, and reads on shattered tombs the brief inscriptions which tell the -history of the lost lovers who lie beneath, while the pagan burden of -their sorrow, and the pagan calm of the “adieu” with which each -inscription ends, fill him with tender sentiment. So his dream drifts on -through ever-shifting scenes of beauty and ever-dying moments of delight -to the hour of awakening. These scenes and these moments, which -Francesco Columna called out of his imagination, are pictured in the one -hundred and ninety-two designs (Figs. 27, 28, 29, 30) which adorn his -book; here in simple outline are the gardens, groves, and streams, the -noble<a name="page_079" id="page_079"></a> buildings, the bath, the palace and the temple, the feast, the -allegory of life, the thronging triumphs, the sacrifices, the ruins, the -tombs, the lover and his beloved, the priestess and the goddess, cupids, -bacchanals, and nymphs—a profusion of loveliness, joy, and revel; here, -too, among the others, are some dramatic scenes: the lion and the -lovers, Poliphilo fainting before Polia, and his revival at the touch of -her lips; altogether, they are a precious memorial of the Renaissance -spirit, reflecting alike its passion for the new learning, passing into -useless and pedantic knowledge, and its ecstacy of the senses passing -into voluptuous delight.</p> - -<p><a name="ill_24" id="ill_24"></a></p> - -<div class="figleft" style="width: 248px;"> -<a href="images/illpg076.png"> -<img src="images/illpg076_sml.png" width="248" height="162" -alt="FIG. 24.—The Peace of God. From “Epistole di San -Hieronymo Volgare.” Ferrara, 1497." title="FIG. 24.—The Peace of God. From “Epistole di San -Hieronymo Volgare.” Ferrara, 1497." /></a> -<br /> -<span class="caption">FIG. 24.—The Peace of God. From “Epistole di San -Hieronymo Volgare.” Ferrara, 1497.</span> -</div> - -<p><a name="ill_25" id="ill_25"></a></p> - -<div class="figright" style="width: 239px;"> -<a href="images/illpg077-a.png"> -<img src="images/illpg077-a_sml.png" width="239" height="159" -alt="FIG. 25.—Mary and the Risen Lord. From “Epistole di San -Hieronymo Volgare.” Ferrara, 1497." title="FIG. 25.—Mary and the Risen Lord. From “Epistole di San -Hieronymo Volgare.” Ferrara, 1497." /></a> -<br /> -<span class="caption">FIG. 25.—Mary and the Risen Lord. From “Epistole di San -Hieronymo Volgare.” Ferrara, 1497.</span> -</div> - -<p><a name="ill_26" id="ill_26"></a></p> - -<div class="figleft" style="width: 247px;"> -<a href="images/illpg077-b.png"> -<img src="images/illpg077-b_sml.png" width="247" height="159" -alt="FIG. 26.—St. Baruch. From the “Catalogus Sanctorum.” -Venice, 1506." title="FIG. 26.—St. Baruch. From the “Catalogus Sanctorum.” -Venice, 1506." /></a> -<br /> -<span class="caption">FIG. 26.—St. Baruch. From the “Catalogus Sanctorum.” -Venice, 1506.</span> -</div> - -<p><a name="ill_27" id="ill_27"></a></p> - -<p class="figcenter"> -<a href="images/illpg078.png"> -<img src="images/illpg078_sml.png" width="373" height="306" -alt="FIG. 27.—Poliphilo by the Stream. From the -“Hypnerotomachia Poliphili.” Venice, 1499." title="FIG. 27.—Poliphilo by the Stream. From the -“Hypnerotomachia Poliphili.” Venice, 1499." /></a> -<br /> -<span class="caption">FIG. 27.—Poliphilo by the Stream. From the -“Hypnerotomachia Poliphili.” Venice, 1499.</span> -</p> - -<p><a name="ill_28" id="ill_28"></a></p> - -<p class="figcenter"> -<a href="images/illpg079.png"> -<img src="images/illpg079_sml.png" width="388" height="315" -alt="FIG. 28.—Poliphilo and the Nymphs. From the -“Hypnerotomachia Poliphili.” Venice, 1499." title="FIG. 28.—Poliphilo and the Nymphs. From the -“Hypnerotomachia Poliphili.” Venice, 1499." /></a> -<br /> -<span class="caption">FIG. 28.—Poliphilo and the Nymphs. From the -“Hypnerotomachia Poliphili.” Venice, 1499.</span> -</p><p><a name="page_080" id="page_080"></a></p> - -<p><a name="ill_29" id="ill_29"></a></p> - -<div class="figleft" style="width: 187px;"> -<a href="images/illpg080.png"> -<img src="images/illpg080_sml.png" width="187" height="313" -alt="FIG. 29—Ornament. From the “Hypnerotomachia Poliphili.” -Venice, 1499." title="FIG. 29—Ornament. From the “Hypnerotomachia Poliphili.” -Venice, 1499." /></a> -<br /> -<span class="caption">FIG. 29—Ornament. From the “Hypnerotomachia Poliphili.” -Venice, 1499.</span> -</div> - -<p>These designs, of which the few that can be given afford only a slight -idea, so various are they in beauty and feeling, have been attributed to -many illustrious masters, Giovanni Bellini and Raphael among others; but -perhaps the conjecture which assigns them to Benedetto Montagna is the -most probable. They show what remarkable artistic taste there was even -in the inferior masters of Italy. “They are,” says Professor Sydney -Colvin,<a name="FNanchor_38_38" id="FNanchor_38_38"></a><a href="#Footnote_38_38" class="fnanchor">[38]</a><a name="page_081" id="page_081"></a> “without their like in the history of wood-cutting; they -breathe the spirit of that delightful moment when the utmost of -imaginative <i>naïveté</i> is combined with all that is needed of artistic -accomplishment, and in their simplicity are in the best instances of a -noble composition, a masculine firmness, a delicate vigor and graceful -tenderness in the midst of luxurious or even licentious fancy, which -cannot be too much admired. They have that union of force and energy -with a sober sweetness, beneath a last vestige of the primitive, which -in the northern schools of Italy betokens the concurrent influence of -the school of Mantegna and the school of Bellini.” Italy never afterward -produced so noble a monument of the art as this work of its early days.</p> - -<p><a name="ill_30" id="ill_30"></a></p> - -<p class="figcenter"> -<a href="images/illpg081.png"> -<img src="images/illpg081_sml.png" width="392" height="373" -alt="FIG. 30.—Poliphilo meets Polia. From the -“Hypnerotomachia Poliphili.” Venice, 1499." title="FIG. 30.—Poliphilo meets Polia. From the -“Hypnerotomachia Poliphili.” Venice, 1499." /></a> -<br /> -<span class="caption">FIG. 30.—Poliphilo meets Polia. From the -“Hypnerotomachia Poliphili.” Venice, 1499.</span> -</p> - -<p><a name="ill_31" id="ill_31"></a></p> - -<p class="figcenter"> -<a href="images/illpg082.png"> -<img src="images/illpg082_sml.png" width="291" height="228" -alt="FIG. 31.—Nero Fiddling. From the Ovid of 1510. Venice." title="FIG. 31.—Nero Fiddling. From the Ovid of 1510. Venice." /></a> -<br /> -<span class="caption">FIG. 31.—Nero Fiddling. From the Ovid of 1510. Venice.</span> -</p> - -<p><a name="ill_32" id="ill_32"></a></p> - -<p class="figcenter"> -<a href="images/illpg083.png"> -<img src="images/illpg083_sml.png" width="308" height="475" -alt="FIG. 32.—The Physician. From the “Fasciculus Medicinæ.” -Venice, 1500." title="FIG. 32.—The Physician. From the “Fasciculus Medicinæ.” -Venice, 1500." /></a> -<br /> -<span class="caption">FIG. 32.—The Physician. From the “Fasciculus Medicinæ.” -Venice, 1500.</span> -</p> - -<p><a name="ill_33" id="ill_33"></a></p> - -<p class="figcenter"> -<a href="images/illpg085.png"> -<img src="images/illpg085_sml.png" width="284" height="282" -alt="FIG. 33.—Hero and Leander. From the Ovid of 1515. -Venice." title="FIG. 33.—Hero and Leander. From the Ovid of 1515. -Venice." /></a> -<br /> -<span class="caption">FIG. 33.—Hero and Leander. From the Ovid of 1515. -Venice.</span> -</p> - -<p>The art did not, however, fall into decline immediately. It is true that -wood-engraving never won for itself in Italy<a name="page_082" id="page_082"></a> a place in the popular -esteem like that which it held in the North; the Italians were too fond -of color, and possessed too many master-pieces of the nobler arts, to -set a very high value on such simple effects; but, nevertheless, in the -first quarter of the sixteenth century there appeared in Venice, the -chief seat of the art, many volumes which were illustrated by woodcuts -of excellent design, such as this of Nero (Fig. 31), from an Ovid of -1510, the representation of the physician attending a patient stricken -with the plague (Fig. 32), from the <i>Fasciculus Medicinæ</i>, by Johannes -de Ketham, published in 1500, and that of Hero and Leander (Fig. 33), -from an Ovid of 1515. Of Venetian work of lesser merit, the -representation of Dante and Beatrice (Fig. 34), from a Dante of 1520, -and the cuts (Figs. 35, 36, 37, 38), from the Catalogue of the Saints, -by Petrus de Natalis, published in 1506, may serve as examples. The -whole<a name="page_084" id="page_084"></a> -<a name="page_085" id="page_085"></a><a name="page_083" id="page_083"></a> Italian series, even as illustrated by the cuts here given, -exhibits a greater variety of interest, knowledge, and feeling than does -the work of any other nation, and affords a lively notion of the -manifold elements that went to make up the Renaissance; it reflects -fable, superstition, learning, the symbolism of mediæval theology, -ancient myth and legend, the rise of the modern feeling for nature, the -passion for beauty and art; and, ranging from the life of the scholar -and the nunnery to that of the beggar and the plague, it pictures -vividly contemporary times, while it adds to the interest of history and -humanity the interest of beauty. Its prime, however, was of brief -duration. Venetian engraving, and that of the other Italian cities also, -continued to be marked by this<a name="page_086" id="page_086"></a> simplicity and skill in design until -1530, when cross-hatching was introduced from the North; after that date -wood-engraving shared in the rapid decline into which all the arts of -Italy fell in consequence of the internal troubles of the country, -which, from the time of the sack of Rome, in 1527, became the common -battlefield of Europe for generations. But, in the short space during -which the Italians practised the art with such success, they showed that -they had mastered it, and had come to an understanding of its -capacities, both as a mode of drawing in black line and as a mode of -relief in white line, such as appears in their arabesques and initial -letters, examples of which are scattered through this volume. They came -to this mastery and understanding before any other nation, because of -their artistic instinct; for the same reason, they did not surpass the -rudeness of German workmen in<a name="page_087" id="page_087"></a> skill more than they excelled in simple -beauty of design the best of early French work, which was characterized -by such confused exuberance of fancy and such profusion of detail. They -breathed into the art the Italian spirit, and its presence made their -works beautiful.</p> - -<p><a name="ill_34" id="ill_34"></a></p> - -<div class="figleft" style="width: 194px;"> -<a href="images/illpg086-a.png"> -<img src="images/illpg086-a_sml.png" width="194" height="192" -alt="FIG. 34.—Dante and Beatrice. From the Dante of 1520. -Venice." title="FIG. 34.—Dante and Beatrice. From the Dante of 1520. -Venice." /></a> -<br /> -<span class="caption">FIG. 34.—Dante and Beatrice. From the Dante of 1520. -Venice.</span> -</div> - -<p><a name="ill_35" id="ill_35"></a></p> - -<div class="figright" style="width: 242px;"> -<a href="images/illpg086-b.png"> -<img src="images/illpg086-b_sml.png" width="242" height="175" -alt="FIG. 35.—St. Jerome Commending the Hermit’s Life. From -“Epistole di San Hieronymo.” Ferrara, 1497." title="FIG. 35.—St. Jerome Commending the Hermit’s Life. From -“Epistole di San Hieronymo.” Ferrara, 1497." /></a> -<br /> -<span class="caption">FIG. 35.—St. Jerome Commending the Hermit’s Life. From -“Epistole di San Hieronymo.” Ferrara, 1497.</span> -</div> - -<p><a name="ill_36" id="ill_36"></a></p> - -<div class="figright" style="width: 252px;"> -<a href="images/illpg087-a.png"> -<img src="images/illpg087-a_sml.png" width="252" height="199" -alt="FIG. 36.—St. Francis and the Beggar. From the “Catalogus -Sanctorum.” Venice, 1506." title="FIG. 36.—St. Francis and the Beggar. From the “Catalogus -Sanctorum.” Venice, 1506." /></a> -<br /> -<span class="caption">FIG. 36.—St. Francis and the Beggar. From the “Catalogus -Sanctorum.” Venice, 1506.</span> -</div> - -<p><a name="ill_37" id="ill_37"></a></p> - -<div class="figleft" style="width: 258px;"> -<a href="images/illpg087-b.png"> -<img src="images/illpg087-b_sml.png" width="258" height="202" -alt="FIG. 37.—The Translation of St. Nicolas. From the -“Catalogus Sanctorum.” Venice, 1506." title="FIG. 37.—The Translation of St. Nicolas. From the -“Catalogus Sanctorum.” Venice, 1506." /></a> -<br /> -<span class="caption">FIG. 37.—The Translation of St. Nicolas. From the -“Catalogus Sanctorum.” Venice, 1506.</span> -</div> - -<p>To the Italian love of color is due the development of what is known as -engraving in chiaroscuro, a process which, although it had been -practised in Germany since 1506, was claimed as a new invention by Ugo -da Carpi (1460-1523), at Venice, in 1516, and was carried by the -Italians to the highest point of perfection which it reached in the -sixteenth century. It was an<a name="page_088" id="page_088"></a> attempt to imitate the results of -painting; two, and sometimes several, blocks were used in the process; -on the first the outlines and heavy shadows of the design were engraved, -and a proof was taken off; on the second block the lighter parts of the -design were engraved, and an impression was taken off from this on the -same print in a different color, or, at least, in a color of different -intensity; thus the original proof was overlaid with different tints by -successive impressions from different blocks, and a variety of shades -was obtained in the finished engraving, analogous to those which the -painter gets by laying flat tints over each other with the brush. Great -care had to be taken in laying the original proof down on the second -block, so that the lines of the design should fall in exactly the same -position as in the first block; it is owing to a lack of exactness in -this<a name="page_089" id="page_089"></a> superposition of the proof on the later blocks that some of these -engravings are so displeasing. There was considerable variety in the -detail of the process. Sometimes the impression from the outline block -was taken last; sometimes the different impressions were taken off in -different colors, but usually in the same color of different -intensities; sometimes the impressions were taken off on colored paper. -The Italians used four blocks at an early time, and were able to imitate -water-colors with some success. All of their prints in this kind are -marked by more artistic feeling and skill than those of the Germans, -even when the latter are by masters. This application of the art, -however, is not a true development, and really lies outside its -province.</p> - -<p><a name="ill_38" id="ill_38"></a></p> - -<p class="figcenter"> -<a href="images/illpg088.png"> -<img src="images/illpg088_sml.png" width="317" height="246" -alt="FIG. 38—Romoaldus, the Abbot. From the “Catalogus -Sanctorum.” Venice, 1506." title="FIG. 38—Romoaldus, the Abbot. From the “Catalogus -Sanctorum.” Venice, 1506." /></a> -<br /> -<span class="caption">FIG. 38—Romoaldus, the Abbot. From the “Catalogus -Sanctorum.” Venice, 1506.</span> -</p><p><a name="page_090" id="page_090"></a></p> - -<h2><a name="V" id="V"></a>V.<br /><br /> -<i>ALBERT DÜRER AND HIS SUCCESSORS.</i></h2> - -<p class="figcenter"> -<a href="images/illpg093.png"> -<img src="images/illpg093_sml.png" width="286" height="286" -alt="A FIG. 39.—From an Italian Alphabet of the 16th -Century." title="A FIG. 39.—From an Italian Alphabet of the 16th -Century." /></a> -<br /> -<span class="caption">A FIG. 39.—From an Italian Alphabet of the 16th -Century.</span> -</p> - -<p class="nind"><span class="letrra"> -<a name="ill_39" id="ill_39"></a> -<a href="images/illpg090.png"> -<img src="images/illpg090_sml.png" -width="150" -height="155" -alt="A" -title="A" -/></a><br /> -<span class="caption"> -F<small>IG</small>. 39.—From an Italian<br /> -Alphabet of the 16th -Century.</span></span>LREADY, before the Dream of Poliphilo had been published in Venice, -wood-engraving in the North had passed into the hands of the great -German master who was to transform it; in the studio of Albert Dürer -(1471-1528) it had entered upon its great period. The earlier German -engravers, whose woodcuts in simple outline, shadowed by courses of -short parallel lines, showed a naïve spirit almost too simple for modern -taste, a force ignorant of the channels of expression and feeling -inexpert in utterance, did not know the full resources of their art. It -was not until the very close of the fifteenth century, when they -discarded the aid of the colorists, and sought all their effects from -simple contrast of black and white, that they conceived of -wood-engraving as an independent art; even then their sense of beauty -was so insignificant, and their power of thought was so feeble, that -their works have only an historical value. Dürer was the first to -discover the full capacities of wood-engraving as a mode of artistic -expression; it had begun to imitate the methods of -copperplate<a name="page_091" id="page_091"></a>-engraving before his day, but he saw immediately that it -could not equal the rival art in that delicacy of line and harmony of -tone on which copperplate-engraving depends for its excellence; the -materials and processes of wood-engraving required different methods, -and Dürer prescribed them. He increased the size of the cuts, gave -breadth and boldness to the lines, and obtained new and pleasing effects -from strong contrasts of black and white. He thus showed the true method -of wood-engraving; but the art owes to him much more than this: he -brought to the practice of it the hand and brain of a great master, -lifted it, a mechanic’s trade, into the service of high imagination and -vigorous intellect, and placed it among the fine arts—a deed of far -more importance than any improvements in processes or methods, even -though they have such brilliant consequences as followed Bewick’s later -innovations. He taught the art a language, put meaning into its words, -and made it capable of conveying the ideas which art can express, and of -spreading them and the appreciation of them among the people.</p> - -<p>The application of Dürer’s genius to wood-engraving could not fail of -great results. He recorded in it the German Renaissance. Civilization -had gained much in freedom of thought, independence of action, and -community of knowledge, as well as in a respect for nature; but it was -still ruled by the devout and romantic spirit of the Middle Ages. Dürer -shared in all the intellectual life of his time, alike in its study of -antiquity and its revolt against Rome; he was interested in all the -higher subjects for which his contemporaries cared, and his versatile -genius enabled him often to work with them in preparing the modern age, -but<a name="page_092" id="page_092"></a> he was not touched by the modern spirit; in thought and feeling he -remained deeply religious, fantastic, picturesque, mystical—in a word, -mediæval. He did not possess the modern sense of limitation, the power -to restrict himself to realizing a definite conception, the power to -disregard and refuse what cannot be clearly seen and expressed, which -the modern age, when it came, gave to the perfect artist; he was not -content to embody his idea simply, directly, and forcibly; he -supplemented it with secondary thought and subordinate suggestion in -unmeasured profusion; he did not know when his work was done, but kept -on adding to it in the true wandering, Gothic spirit, which never -finishes its task, because its main purpose does not control it; he -allowed his fancy to encumber the noble work of his imagination, and -allegory to obscure the truth he uttered; he was not master of himself, -but was hurried on by the fire and speed of his own genius along paths -which led only to the obscure and the inaccessible. His imagination was -deeply suggestive, straightforward, and marvellously fertile in -invention; but he interpreted the imaginative world in terms of daily -and often homely life; he represented ideal characters, not under ideal -forms, but realistically under forms such as he saw about him; he knew -beauty only as German beauty, and life and its material surroundings -only as German life and German civilization; and thus his works are -characterized by an uncouthness which offends minds not habituated to -German taste. But there is no need to be irritated at this realism, this -content with gross forms, or to wish with Vasari that he had been born -in Italy and had studied antiquity at Florence, whereby he would have -missed that national endowment which individualized him and gave<a name="page_093" id="page_093"></a> him a -peculiar charm. The grotesqueness disappears as the eye becomes -acquainted with the unfamiliar, and the mind is occupied with the -emotion, the intellectual idea, and imaginative truth, expressed in -these sometimes ugly modes, for they are of that rare value which wins -forgiveness for far greater defects of formal beauty than are apparent -in Dürer’s work. Although his spirit was romantic and uncontrolled, and -his imagination dealt with forms not in themselves beautiful, he -possessed the greatest energy of genius of all the masters who have -intrusted their works to wood-engraving, and with him it was a favorite -art.</p> - -<p><a name="ill_40" id="ill_40"></a></p> - -<p class="figcenter"> -<a href="images/illpg093.png"> -<img src="images/illpg093_sml.png" width="286" height="286" -alt="FIG. 40.—St. John and the Virgin. Vignette to Dürer’s -“Apocalypse.”" title="FIG. 40.—St. John and the Virgin. Vignette to Dürer’s -“Apocalypse.”" /></a> -<br /> -<span class="caption">FIG. 40.—St. John and the Virgin. Vignette to Dürer’s -“Apocalypse.”</span> -</p> - -<p><a name="ill_41" id="ill_41"></a></p> - -<p class="figcenter"> -<a href="images/illpg094.png"> -<img src="images/illpg094_sml.png" width="299" height="314" -alt="FIG. 41.—Christ Suffering. Vignette to Dürer’s “Larger -Passion.”" title="FIG. 41.—Christ Suffering. Vignette to Dürer’s “Larger -Passion.”" /></a> -<br /> -<span class="caption">FIG. 41.—Christ Suffering. Vignette to Dürer’s “Larger -Passion.”</span> -</p> - -<p>The first of the four famous series of designs by which his skill in -wood-engraving is best known was published in<a name="page_094" id="page_094"></a> 1498, but it was probably -finished before that time. It consisted of fifteen large cuts in -illustration of the Apocalypse of St. John, to which a vignette (Fig. -40) of wonderful nobility and simplicity was prefixed. The theme must -have been peculiarly attractive to him, because of the opportunities it -afforded for grandeur of conception and for the symbolism in which his -genius delighted; it was supernatural and religious; it dealt with -images and thoughts on which the laws of this world imposed no -restraint, and revealed visionary scenes through types of awe, terror, -and mystery, the impressiveness of which had almost no human relation.<a name="page_095" id="page_095"></a> -In attempting to bring such a theme within the compass of the powers of -expression which art possesses, he strove to give speech to the -unutterable, and to imprison the unsubstantial, so that it is no wonder -if, although the fertility of invention and power of drawing which he -displayed, and the variety and richness of effect which he obtained, -made his work a masterpiece of art, yet much of what he intended to -express is not readily comprehended.</p> - -<p><a name="ill_42" id="ill_42"></a></p> - -<div class="figright" style="width: 193px;"> -<a href="images/illpg095.png"> -<img src="images/illpg095_sml.png" width="193" height="199" -alt="FIG. 42.—Christ Mocked. Vignette to Dürer’s “Smaller -Passion.”" title="FIG. 42.—Christ Mocked. Vignette to Dürer’s “Smaller -Passion.”" /></a> -<br /> -<span class="caption">FIG. 42.—Christ Mocked. Vignette to Dürer’s “Smaller -Passion.”</span> -</div> - -<p>This series was succeeded by three others, in which the human interest -is far greater, although they are not unmarked by fantastic invention; -they were the Larger Passion of our Lord, a series of twelve cuts, -including this impressive vignette (Fig. 41), Christ Suffering; the Life -of the Virgin, a series of twenty cuts; and the Smaller Passion of our -Lord (Figs. 42, 43), a series of thirty-six cuts, the vignette to which -(Christ Mocked) is a design marvellous for its intensity, for its -seizure of the malignant, mocking spirit in devilish possession of every -lineament of the face and every muscle working in that sinuous gesture, -for the ideal endurance in the Saviour’s attitude, which needs not those -symbols of his sufferings beside him for pity, though Dürer’s genius -must crowd every corner with thought and suggestion. These three great -series were published about 1511,<a name="page_096" id="page_096"></a> and were probably the work of the -previous six years; they are full of force, and are characterized by -tenderness of sympathy and fervor of devotion, as well as by the -imaginative insight and power of thought which distinguish all his -works. They quickly became popular; several editions were issued, and -they were copied by more than one engraver, especially by the famous -Italian, Marc Antonio Raimondi, who reproduced the Smaller Passion on -copperplate. They marked an epoch in the history of wood-engraving. It -is not possible to over-estimate the debt which<a name="page_097" id="page_097"></a> the art owes Dürer, who -thus suddenly and by his own artistic insight revealed the power and -dignity which wood-engraving might attain, opened to it a great career, -and was its first master in the era of its most splendid accomplishment.</p> - -<p><a name="ill_43" id="ill_43"></a></p> - -<p class="figcenter"> -<a href="images/illpg096.png"> -<img src="images/illpg096_sml.png" width="264" height="334" -alt="FIG. 43.—The Descent into Hell. From Dürer’s “Smaller -Passion.”" title="FIG. 43.—The Descent into Hell. From Dürer’s “Smaller -Passion.”" /></a> -<br /> -<span class="caption">FIG. 43.—The Descent into Hell. From Dürer’s “Smaller -Passion.”</span> -</p> - -<p>Besides these connected series of woodcuts, many others, making in all -three hundred and forty-seven, are attributed to Dürer; and of these one -hundred and seventy are undoubtedly from his hand. They represent nearly -all aspects of German life in the early sixteenth century, and, taken -all together, afford a nearly complete picture of his time, not only in -its general characteristics, but in detail. They show for the first time -the power of wood-engraving to produce works of real artistic value, and -its power to record faithfully the vast variety of contemporary life. -Dürer was himself the highest product of the new freedom of individual -development in the North, but his individuality gathered the age within -itself, and became universal in knowledge and interest; so that he was -not only the Reformer of German art and the greatest master in it, but -was in a true sense the historian of the German Renaissance; it is to -his works, and not least to his wood-engraving, that the student of that -age must have recourse for the truest record of its thought and feeling -at their best.</p> - -<p>In his later years he designed two other works which rank among the -chief monuments of wood-engraving; they were the Car and Gate of -Triumph, executed for the Emperor Maximilian, who was then the great -patron of the art, and employed it to perpetuate the glory of his reign -and realm. The Emperor, although the Italians made a jest of him, was -one of the most interesting characters in German<a name="page_098" id="page_098"></a> history. He -illustrates in practical life, as Dürer in artistic and intellectual -life, the age that was passing away, and he foreshadows more than Dürer -the age that was coming on. He was romantic by nature, a lover of the -chivalric and picturesque elements of mediæval life; he was skilful in -all the manly sports which belonged to a princely education—a daring -hunter, and brave in the lists of the tourney; in affairs of more moment -he had always some great adventure in hand, the humbling of France, or -the destruction of Venice, or the protection of Luther; at home he was -devoted to reform, to internal improvements, to establishing permanently -the orderly methods of civilization, to the spread of commerce, and to -increasing the safety and facility of communication. He left his empire -more civilized than he found it; and if he was unsuccessful in war, he -was, in the epigram of the time, fortunate in love, and won by marriage -what the sword could not conquer, so that he prepared by the craft of -his diplomacy that union of the vast possessions of the House of Austria -which made his grandson, Charles V., almost the master of Europe. He was -a lover of art and books; and, being puffed up with imperial vanity, he -employed the engravers and printers to record his career and picture his -magnificence. The great works which by his order were prepared for this -purpose were upon a scale unthought of before that time, and never -attempted in later days. The Triumphal Car, which he employed Dürer to -design, was a richly decorated chariot drawn by six pair of horses; the -Emperor is seated in it under a canopy amid female figures, representing -Justice, Truth, and other virtues, who offer him triumphal wreaths; the -driver symbolizes Reason, and guides the horses by the reins of Nobility -and Power;<a name="page_099" id="page_099"></a> the wheels are inscribed with the words Magnificentia and -Dignitas, and the horses are attended by allegoric figures of swiftness, -foresight, prudence, boldness, and similar virtues. The whole design was -seven feet four inches in length, and about eighteen inches high. The -Gate of Triumph was similarly allegoric in conception; it was an arch -with three entrances, the central one being the gate of Honor and Power, -and those upon the right and left the gates of Nobility and Fame; the -body of the arch was ornamented with portraits of the Roman Emperors -from the time of Cæsar, shields of arms which indicated the Emperor’s -descent and alliances, portraits of his relatives and friends, and -representations of his famous exploits. The size of the cut, which was -made up of ninety-two separate pieces, was about ten and a half feet by -nine and a half feet. In both of these works Dürer was limited by the -directions which were given him, and neither of them are equal to his -original creations.</p> - -<p><a name="ill_44" id="ill_44"></a></p> - -<p class="figcenter"> -<a href="images/illpg100.png"> -<img src="images/illpg100_sml.png" width="415" height="350" -alt="FIG. 44.—The Herald. From “The Triumph of Maximilian.”" title="FIG. 44.—The Herald. From “The Triumph of Maximilian.”" /></a> -<br /> -<span class="caption">FIG. 44.—The Herald. From “The Triumph of Maximilian.”</span> -</p> - -<p><a name="ill_45" id="ill_45"></a></p> - -<div class="figright" style="width: 212px;"> -<a href="images/illpg101.png"> -<img src="images/illpg101_sml.png" width="212" height="423" -alt="FIG. 45.—Tablet. From “The Triumph of Maximilian.”" title="FIG. 45.—Tablet. From “The Triumph of Maximilian.”" /></a> -<br /> -<span class="caption">FIG. 45.—Tablet. From “The Triumph of Maximilian.”</span> -</div> - -<p>The chief of the great works of Maximilian was the Triumphal -Procession,<a name="FNanchor_39_39" id="FNanchor_39_39"></a><a href="#Footnote_39_39" class="fnanchor">[39]</a> which was designed by Hans Burgkmaier, of Augsburg -(1473-1531), whose secular and picturesque genius found its most -congenial occupation in inventing the figures of this splendid train of -nobles, warriors, and commons, on horse, foot, and in chariots, winding -along in symbolical representation of the Emperor’s victories and -conquests, and in magnificent display of the wealth, power, and -resources of all the imperial dominions. The herald of the Triumph (Fig. -44), mounted upon a winged griffin, leads the march; behind him go two -led horses supporting a tablet (Fig. 45), on which is written:<a name="page_100" id="page_100"></a> “This -Triumph has been made for the praise and everlasting memory of the -noble pleasures and glorious victories of the most serene and -illustrious prince and lord, Maximilian, Roman Emperor elect, and Head -of Christendom, King and Heir of Seven Christian Kingdoms, Archduke of -Austria, Duke of Burgundy and of other grand principalities and -provinces of Europe;” his fifer Anthony, with his attendants, his -falconers, led by Teuschel, their hawks pursuing prey, his hunters of -the chamois, the stag, the boar, and the bear, habited for the chase, -follow on; behind them richly caparisoned animals, elk, buffalo,<a name="page_101" id="page_101"></a> and -camels, draw finely decorated chariots, in which are seated the -Emperor’s favorite musicians (Fig. 46), playing diverse instruments; the -jesters (among them that famous Conrad von der Rosen whom Heine tenderly -remembered), the fools, the maskers, the fencers, knights of the tourney -and the joust, armed foot-soldiers of every service, continue the -procession, which lengthens out with cuirassed horsemen (Fig. 47) -carrying banners emblazoned with the arms of the Austrian provinces in -which the Emperor had waged war, and other horsemen (Fig. 48) in the -garb of peace, with standards of the faithful provinces, lasquenets -whose pennants are inscribed with the names of the great battles which -the Emperor had fought, trophy-cars filled with the armorial shields of -the conquered peoples, representations of the Emperor’s marriage and -coronation, of the German Empire and the great wars—Flanders, -Burgundy,<a name="page_102" id="page_102"></a> Hungary, Guelders, Naples, Milan, Venice, an unending -list—the symbols of military power, artillery, treasure, the statues of -the great rulers who were allied by blood to Maximilian or had ruled his -dominions before him, prisoners of war in chains, the Imperial Standard, -the Sword of the Empire, the counts, lords, and knights who owned the -Emperor’s sovereignty—a splendid display of the pomp and pride of -mediæval life. Maximilian himself is the central thought of the whole; -he is never lost sight of in any smaller figure; his servants are there, -as their devices relate, because they served him; his provinces, because -he ruled them; his victories, because he won them; his ancestors, -because they<a name="page_104" id="page_104"></a> -<a name="page_105" id="page_105"></a><a name="page_103" id="page_103"></a> were of his line. His personality groups the variety of -the procession round itself alone; but the real interest of the work -does not lie in him or his praise, but in the revelation there made of -the secular side of the Middle Ages, the outward aspect of life, the -ideal of worldly power and splendor, the spirit of pleasure and -festival, shown forth in this marvellously varied march of laurelled -horses and horsemen whose trappings and armor have the beauty and -glitter of peaceful parade. There is nowhere else a work which so -presents at once the feudal spirit and feudal delights in such -exuberance of picturesque and truthful display.</p> - -<p><a name="ill_46" id="ill_46"></a></p> - -<p class="figcenter"> -<a href="images/illpg102.png"> -<img src="images/illpg102_sml.png" width="424" height="317" -alt="FIG. 46.—The Car of the Musicians. From “The Triumph of -Maximilian.”" title="FIG. 46.—The Car of the Musicians. From “The Triumph of -Maximilian.”" /></a> -<br /> -<span class="caption">FIG. 46.—The Car of the Musicians. From “The Triumph of -Maximilian.”</span> -</p> - -<p><a name="ill_47" id="ill_47"></a></p> - -<p class="figcenter"> -<a href="images/illpg103.png"> -<img src="images/illpg103_sml.png" width="415" height="432" -alt="FIG. 47.—Three Horsemen. From “The Triumph of -Maximilian.”" title="FIG. 47.—Three Horsemen. From “The Triumph of -Maximilian.”" /></a> -<br /> -<span class="caption">FIG. 47.—Three Horsemen. From “The Triumph of -Maximilian.”</span> -</p> - -<p>The designs for this work were first painted upon parchment, and were -afterward reproduced by engraving in wood; but the reproduction varied -from the originals in important particulars. The series was far from -completion at the time of Maximilian’s death, and was left unfinished; -it was never published until 1796, when the first edition appeared at -Vienna, whither the lost wood-blocks had found their way in 1779. In its -present shape the series consists of one hundred and thirty-five large -cuts, extending for a linear distance of over one hundred and -seventy-five feet; all but sixteen of these are reproductions of the -designs on vellum, which numbered two hundred and eighteen in all, and -these sixteen are so different in style from the others as to suggest a -doubt whether they belong to the Triumph or to some other unknown work. -Hans Burgkmaier is believed to be the designer of all except the few -that are ascribed to Dürer; but, owing to their being engraved by -different hands, they vary considerably in merit.</p> - -<p>Maximilian also ordered two curious books to be prepared<a name="page_106" id="page_106"></a> and adorned -with woodcuts in his own honor, a prose work entitled The Wise King, and -a poem entitled The Adventures of Sir Tewrdannckh. In these volumes the -example of his own life is offered for the instruction of princes, and -the history of his deeds, amours, courtship, perils, and temptations is -written, once for the edification, but now for the amusement, of the -world. The woodcuts in The Adventures of Sir Tewrdannckh are one hundred -and eighteen in number, and are principally, if not entirely, the work -of Hans Schäuffelin (1490?-1540); they show how Sir Tewrdannckh, -attended by his squire, started out upon his travels, and what moving -dangers he encountered in his hunting, voyaging, tilting, and fighting, -under the guidance and instigation of his three great enemies, Envy, -Daring, and Curiosity, who at last, when he is happily at the end of his -troubles, are represented as meeting their own fate by the gallows, the -block, and the moat. The engravings are marked by spirit, and due -attention is given to landscape; but they are not infrequently too near -caricature to be pleasing, and cannot pretend to rank beside the other -works of Maximilian. This volume was printed during the Emperor’s -lifetime, and was the only one of his works of which he saw the -completion. The Wise King was illustrated by two hundred and -thirty-seven cuts, of which several bear Burgkmaier’s mark, one the mark -of Schäuffelin and one that of Hans Springinklee (1470?-1540). They -picture the journey of the Emperor’s father to Rome, the youth and -education of the young prince, his gradual acquirement of the liberal -arts—kingcraft, the black-art, medicine, the languages, painting, -architecture, music, cookery, dancing, shooting, falconry, angling, -fencing, tilting, gunnery, the art of fortification, and<a name="page_108" id="page_108"></a> -<a name="page_109" id="page_109"></a><a name="page_107" id="page_107"></a> the like; -and they represent, in conclusion, his political career by means of -obscure allegory. They are similar to the illustrations in Sir -Tewrdannckh in general character, and, like them, are inferior to the -other works of Maximilian. In the composition of this volume Maximilian -is supposed to have had a considerable share; it was not printed entire -until 1775.</p> - -<p><a name="ill_48" id="ill_48"></a></p> - -<p class="figcenter"> -<a href="images/illpg107.png"> -<img src="images/illpg107_sml.png" width="359" height="532" -alt="FIG. 48.—Horseman. From “The Triumph of Maximilian.”" title="FIG. 48.—Horseman. From “The Triumph of Maximilian.”" /></a> -<br /> -<span class="caption">FIG. 48.—Horseman. From “The Triumph of Maximilian.”</span> -</p> - -<p>These five great works, apart from their value as artistic productions -and their interest as historic records, have a farther importance -because of their influence upon the art, both in the way of -encouragement and of instruction. Although there has been much dispute -about the matter, it must now be acknowledged that the artists -themselves did not ordinarily engrave their designs, but left the actual -cutting of the block to the professional workmen; at most they only -occasionally corrected the lines after the engraver had cut them. The -works of Maximilian employed a number of these engravers, who practised -the art only as a craft; the experience these workmen gained in such -labor as they were now called upon to do, under the superintendence of -artists like Dürer and Burgkmaier, who knew what engraving ought to be, -and who held up a high standard of excellence, was most valuable to -them, and made itself felt in a general improvement of the technical -part of the art everywhere. The standard of the engraver’s craft was -permanently raised. The engravers’ names now became known; and sometimes -the engraver received hardly less admiration for his skill in technique -than the artist for his power of design.</p> - -<p>Other distinguished artists united with Dürer and the designers of -Maximilian’s works in making this period of<a name="page_110" id="page_110"></a> wood-engraving the most -illustrious in the German practice of the art. Lukas van Leyden -(1494-1533), whose youthful works in copperplate were wonderful, left -some woodcuts in Dürer’s bold, broad manner, which illustrate the -attempt of German art to acquire classical taste, and show so much the -more clearly the incapacity of the Germans in the perception of beauty. -The Cranachs, father (1472-1553) and son (1515-1586), who are -interesting because of the share they had in the Reformation, produced -some very striking works, such as the charming scene of the Repose in -Egypt, and were the first to practise chiaro-scuro engraving in the -North. Hans Baldung (1470-1552?), although his designs are sometimes -characterized by exaggeration and too great violence of action, ranks -with the best of the secondary artists of the time; and Hans -Springinklee, who has been already mentioned, reached a high degree of -excellence in his illustrations to the Hortulus Animæ, which are still -valued.</p> - -<p>The works of these men, however, were only the most important and the -best of a vast number of woodcuts which, during the first half of the -sixteenth century, appeared in Germany during this period of the -greatest popularity of the art. Under the personal influence of Dürer, -or under the influence of the numerous and widely-spread prints by -himself and his associates, many other artists of merit acquired skill -in engraving, both on metal and in wood, and employed it upon a great -variety of subjects. The devotion of mediæval art wholly to church -decoration and to the representation of religious scenes had passed away -in all quarters of the world; in Italy the artists had come to treat the -subjects of pagan imagination, the beings and scenes of classical -mythology; in Germany the people<a name="page_111" id="page_111"></a> had homelier tasks, and religious art -there yielded to the interest which men felt in the incidents and -objects of common life; in both countries wealth took the place of -religion as the patron of art; and, although art still dealt with the -story of the Scriptures and the martyrs, because these filled so -important a place in the imagination of the people, still it had become -secularized. This change was naturally shown in the arts of engraving -more than in painting, because engraving in copper and on wood had a far -greater sphere of influence, and came into more intimate relations with -the popular life, and because the illustration of books offered a -greater variety of subject. In German engraving, from this time, the -actual life of the town and the peasantry was represented almost as -often as the history of the Saviour and the saints; the village -festival, the procession of the wedding-guests, the fêtes of the town, -the employments and costumes of the citizens, recur with the same -frequency as the passion of the Lord and the Old Testament stories; the -joy and sorrow of ordinary life, the objects of ordinary observation and -thought, the humorous, the humble, and the satirical, sometimes -strangely mingled with ill-understood mythology and badly-caricatured -classicism, are the constant theme of the engravers.</p> - -<p>Chief among the successors of Dürer who shared in this vast production -were the group of artists known as the Little Masters, although the name -is one of ill-defined and incomplete application; they were so called -because they chiefly engraved small designs; but they also engraved -large designs, and their number, which is usually limited to seven, -excludes some whose works are on the same small scale. The first of them -was Albrecht Altdorfer (1488-1538), said to<a name="page_112" id="page_112"></a> have been the pupil of -Dürer and the inventor of engraving in this manner; in his day he was -more celebrated as an architect and painter than as an engraver, but his -fame now rests on his works on copper and in wood. The best known of his -sixty-five woodcuts is the series of forty designs, scarcely three -inches by two in size, entitled the Fall and Redemption of Man, in -depicting which he had the Smaller Passion of Dürer to guide him. In -these he attempted to obtain effects by the use of fine and close lines, -such as were employed in copperplate-engraving; but, although his -success was certainly remarkable, considering the rude mechanical -processes of the time, yet his method clearly produced results of -inferior artistic value in comparison with the works in the bold, broad -manner of Dürer. All of his woodcuts, excepting four, are -representations of religious subjects; they are marked, like his other -works, by an attention to landscape, that truly modern object of art, of -which he probably learned the value from Dürer, who was the first to -treat landscape with real appreciation. In Hans Sebald Behaim -(1500-1550?) the spirit of the age is revealed with great clearness and -variety (Fig. 49); both his life and his art were inspired by it. In his -early manhood he was banished from Nuremberg for denying the doctrines -of transubstantiation and the efficacy of baptism, and for entertaining -some vague socialistic and communistic opinions; but it is not clear to -what extent he held them, if he held them at all. He seems to have been -one of the most advanced of the religious Reformers, and he employed his -art in their service, as, for example, in a book entitled The Papacy, -which he illustrated with a series of seventy-four figures of the -different orders of monks in their peculiar costumes, beneath<a name="page_113" id="page_113"></a> each of -which satirical lines were written. He is best known by his eighty-one -Bible-cuts, which were the most popular, perhaps, of the many series -published in that century, not excepting the impressive Bible figures of -Holbein; they passed through many editions, and were widely copied. The -first English Bible was illustrated by them. Besides<a name="page_114" id="page_114"></a> these two series, -and one other in illustration of the Apocalypse, he designed many -separate prints, both in the small manner of the Little Masters and in -imitation of the large works of Maximilian, such as his Military Fête, -in honor of Charles V., his Fountain of Youth, and the prints of the -Marauding Soldiers, which measured four or five feet in length. His -representations of peasant life are peculiarly attractive, because of -the force of realism displayed in them, whether he depicted the marriage -festival, or mere jollity or drunken brawl. In the breadth of his -interests, in the variety of his subjects, and in his sympathy with the -special movements of his age, he was as an engraver more characteristic -of the civilization in which he lived than any other of the Little -Masters who gave their attention to wood-engraving. Of the rest of this -group none, excepting Hans Brosamer (1506-1552), left works in -wood-engraving of any consequence; he designed in a free and bold -manner, and his engravings are to be found in books of the third quarter -of the century.</p> - -<p><a name="ill_49" id="ill_49"></a></p> - -<p class="figcenter"> -<a href="images/illpg113.png"> -<img src="images/illpg113_sml.png" width="271" height="394" -alt="FIG. 49.—Virgin and Child. From a print by Hans Sebald -Behaim." title="FIG. 49.—Virgin and Child. From a print by Hans Sebald -Behaim." /></a> -<br /> -<span class="caption">FIG. 49.—Virgin and Child. From a print by Hans Sebald -Behaim.</span> -</p> - -<p>Other artists of this period devoted their attention to wood-engraving; -but as they did not mark any new progress in the art, or reflect any -aspect of German civilization which has not already been illustrated, -they need not be treated in any detail. Virgil Solis (1514-1562), a very -productive designer, who was employed by the Nuremberg printers to -illustrate the books by which they attempted to rival the productions of -the Lyonese press; Jobst Amman (1539-1591), whose excellent engravings -of costumes and trades are well known; Erhard Schön (d. 1550), Melchior -Lorch (1527-1586), whose works were of little merit; and Tobias Stimmer -(1539-1582), a popular designer for book<a name="page_115" id="page_115"></a> illustration, are all who -deserve mention. Their engravings are inferior to the productions of -previous artists, and after their death the art in Germany fell into -speedy and irretrievable decay.</p> - -<p>The work of the wood-engravers who were imbued with the German spirit -exhibits the same excellences and defects as other German work in art. -It is characterized by vigor principally, and in its higher range it has -great value, because of the imaginative and reflective spirit by which -it was animated; in its lower range, as a portrayal of life and manners, -it derives from its realism an extraordinary interest. Its great -deficiency is its lack of beauty, and is due to the inborn feebleness of -the sense of beauty in the German race; but, notwithstanding this -deformity, German wood-engraving was invaluably useful in its day in the -cities where it became so popular, because it was so widely and -variously practised, and entered into the life of the people in so many -ways with an effective influence of which it is difficult to form an -adequate conception. It facilitated the spread of literature and helped -on the progress of the Reformation to a degree which is little -recognized; it disseminated ideas and standards of art, and made them -common property; and, finally, it prepared the way for the great master -who was to embody in wood-engraving the highest excellence of art and -thought.<a name="page_116" id="page_116"></a></p> - -<h2><a name="VI" id="VI"></a>VI.<br /><br /> -HANS HOLBEIN.</h2> - -<p class="nind"><span class="letrra"> -<a name="ill_50" id="ill_50"></a> -<a href="images/illpg116.png"> -<img src="images/illpg116_sml.png" -width="150" -height="154" -alt="G" -title="G" -/></a><br /> -<span class="caption"> -F<small>IG</small>. 50.—From the “Epistole<br /> -di San Hieronymo.” -Ferrara,<br /> -1497.</span></span>ERMANY produced one artist who freed himself from the limitations of -taste and interest which the place of his birth imposed upon him, and -took rank with the great masters who seem to belong rather to the race -than to their native country. Hans Holbein was neither German nor -Italian, neither classical nor mediæval. The ideal of his art was not -determined by the culture of any single school, at home or abroad; far -less was it a jarring compromise between the aims and methods of -different schools; it grew out of a faithful study of all, and in it -were rationally blended the elements which were right in each. In style, -theme, and spirit he advanced so far beyond his contemporaries that he -became the first modern artist—the first to clear his vision from the -deceptions of religious enthusiasm, and to subdue in himself the -lawlessness of the romantic spirit; the first to perceive that only the -purely human interest gives lasting significance to any artistic work, -and to depict humanity simply for its own sake; the first to express -his<a name="page_117" id="page_117"></a> meaning in a way which seems truthful and beautiful universally to -all cultivated men. In this lies the peculiar and profound value of his -works.</p> - -<p>Holbein was born at Augsburg, in 1495 or 1496, into a family of artists. -In that city, then the centre of German culture, he grew up amid the -stir of curiosity and thought which attended the discovery of the -Western World and the first movements of the Reformation. He handled the -pencil and the brush from boyhood, and produced works as wonderful for -their precocious excellence as the early efforts of Mantegna; he was -deeply impressed by the secular and picturesque genius of Burgkmaier, -the great artist of Augsburg, who may have first opened to him the value -of beauty of detail, and inculcated in him that carefulness in respect -to it which afterward distinguished him; he seems, too, even at this -early period, to have been touched by some Italian influence which may -have reached Augsburg in consequence of the close commercial relations -between that city and Venice. Holbein, however, did not arrive at any -mature development until after he left Augsburg and removed to Bâsle, -whither he went in 1515, in order to earn his bread by making designs -for books—a trade which was then flourishing and lucrative in that -city. Bâsle offered conditions of life more favorable, in some respects, -to the development of energetic individuality than did Augsburg; it was -already the seat of humanistic literature, at the head of which was -Erasmus, and it soon became the safest refuge of the persecuted -Reformers. In such a city there was necessarily a vigorous intellectual -life and a free and liberal spirit, which must have exerted great -influence upon the young artist, who by his profession was brought into -intimate<a name="page_118" id="page_118"></a> relations with the most learned and advanced thinkers about -him. Holbein was at once profoundly affected by the literary and reform -movements which he was called upon to aid by his designs, and he threw -himself into their service with energy and sympathy. His art, too, under -the influence of Italy, and under the rational direction of his own -thought, grew steadily more refined in ideal and more finished in -execution. He soon learned the value of formal beauty, and gave evidence -that the work of the last great German painter was not to be marred by -German tastelessness. Hitherto the masters of German art, led by a -realistic spirit which did not discriminate regularly and with certainty -between the different values of the lovely and the unlovely, had -expressed their thought and feeling in familiar forms, and, -consequently, often in forms which shared in the grotesqueness, -bordering on caricature, and in the homeliness, bordering on ugliness, -that characterized much of actual German life. Holbein, whose realism -was governed by cultivated taste, expressed his thought and feeling in -beautiful forms. His predecessors had used a dialect of art, as it were, -which could never seem perfectly natural or be immediately intelligible -to any but their own countrymen; Holbein acquired the true language of -art, and was as directly and completely intelligible to the refined -Englishman or Italian as to the citizen of Augsburg or Bâsle. Holbein -came, also, to an understanding of the true law of art; as he freed -himself from the Gothic dulness of sight in respect to beauty, he freed -himself from the Gothic license of reverie, fancy, and thought. He -limited himself to the clear and forcible expression of the idea he had -in mind; he admitted no details which interfered with his main purpose,<a name="page_119" id="page_119"></a> -and which asserted a claim to be there for their own sake; he made every -accessary enforce or illustrate his principal design, and subordinated -each minor portion of his picture to the leading conception; he had one -purpose in view, and he preserved its unity. How different this was from -the practice of Dürer, who introduced into his work whatever came into -his mind, however remotely it might be associated with his subject, who -repeated almost wearisomely the same idea in varying symbolism, and -dissipated the intensity of the thought by distracting suggestion -crowded into any available space, need not be pointed out; in just the -proportion in which Dürer lost by his practice directness, simplicity, -and force, Holbein gained these by his own method, which was, indeed, -the method of great art, of the art which obeys reason, in distinction -from the art which yields to the wandering sentiment. Holbein differed -from Dürer in another respect: he thoroughly understood what he meant to -express; he would have nothing to do with vague dreaming or mystical -contemplation; he thought that whatever could not be definitely -conceived in the brain, and clearly expressed by line and color, lay -outside the domain of his art; he gave up the phantoms of the enthusiast -and the puzzle of the theologian to those who cared for them, and fixed -his attention on human life as he saw it and understood it. He often -treated religious subjects, but in no different spirit from that in -which he treated secular subjects; in all it is the human interest which -attracts him—the life of man as it exists within the bounds of -mortality. Thus he arrived not only at the true language and the true -law of art, but also at its true object. This development of his genius -did not take place suddenly and at once; it was a gradual<a name="page_120" id="page_120"></a> growth, and -reached full maturity only in his closing years; but, while he still -worked at Bâsle, the essential lines of his development were clearly -marked, and he had advanced so far along them as to be even then the -most perfect artist whom the North had produced.</p> - -<p>Holbein began to practise wood-engraving as soon as he settled in Bâsle, -and designed many titlepages, initial letters, and cuts for the -publishers of that city. The titlepages, which are numerous, were -usually in the form of an architectural frame, in which groups of -figures were introduced; they show how early his taste for the forms of -Italian architecture became pronounced, and how bold and free was his -power of drawing, and how highly developed was his sense of style, even -in his first efforts. He illustrated the books of the humanists, -especially the Utopia of Sir Thomas More, then a new and popular work; -and he designed the cuts for the biblical translations of Luther, and -for other publications of the Reformers. He served the Reformation, too, -in a humorous as well as in a serious way, for he was as much a master -of satire as of beauty. Two cuts in ridicule of the papal party are -particularly noticeable, one in which he satirizes the sale of -indulgences, contrasting it with true repentance; and one in which he -represents Christ as the Light of the World, with a group of sinners -approaching upon one side, and a group of papal dignitaries led by -Aristotle turning away on the other side. The illustrations in which he -depicts ordinary humble life, particularly the life of peasants and -children, make another great department of his lesser work in -wood-engraving; these scenes are sometimes separate cuts, and sometimes -introduced as backgrounds of initial letters, twenty alphabets<a name="page_121" id="page_121"></a> of which -are ascribed to him; they represent the pastimes and sports of the -country, just as Holbein may have seen them at any time upon the -way-side, and are full of heartiness, humor, and reality. The sketches -from the life of boys and children are especially graceful and charming, -and reveal an ease and power in delineation which has seldom been -rivalled. This species of <i>genre</i> art, which had first made its -appearance in wood-engraving, because it was considered beneath the -dignity of the higher arts, was very popular; by his work of this sort -Holbein contributed to the pleasure of the people, just as by his -co-operation with the Humanists and the Reformers he served them in more -important ways. Finally he produced at Bâsle his two great works in -wood-engraving, the Dance of Death and the Figures of the Bible, which -are the highest achievements of the art at any time.</p> - -<p>The Dance of Death was an old subject. It had possessed for centuries a -powerful and sometimes morbid attraction for the artistic imagination -and for popular reflection. It was peculiarly the product of mediæval -Christian life, and survives as a representative of the great mediæval -ideas. That age first surrounded death with terrors, fastened the -attention of man continually upon his doom, and affrighted his spirit -with the dread of that unknown hour of his dissolution which should put -him in danger of the second death of immortal agony. In Greece death had -been the breaking of the chrysalis by the winged butterfly, or, at -least, only the extinction of the torch; here it was the gaunt and -grinning skeleton always jostling the flesh of the living, however -beautiful or joyous they might be. In the churches of the thirteenth -century there swung a banner emblazoned<a name="page_122" id="page_122"></a> upon one side with the figures -of a youth and maiden before a mirror of their loveliness, and, upon the -reverse, with Death holding his spade beside the worm-pierced corpse; it -was the type of mediæval Christian teaching. The fear of death was the -recurring burden of the pulpit; it made the heart of every bowed -worshipper tremble, and was taught with fearful distinctness by the -pestilence that again and again suddenly struck the populations of -Europe. The chord of feeling was overstrained; the elastic force of life -asserted itself, and, by a strange transformation, men made a jest of -their terror, and played with death as they have never since done; they -acted the ravages of death in pantomime, made the tragedy comic, put the -figure of Death into their carnivals, and changed the object of their -alarm into the theme of their sport. In the spirit of that democracy -which, in spite of the aristocratic structure of mediæval society, was -imbedded in the heart of the Christian system, where every soul was of -equal value before God, the people turned the universal moral lesson of -death into a satire against the great; Death was not only the common -executioner, he arrested the prelates and the nobles, stripped them of -their robes and their possessions, and tried them whether they were of -God or Mammon. In these many-varied forms of terror, sport, and irony -Death filled the imagination and reflection of the age; the shrouded -figure or the naked skeleton was seen on the stage of the theatre, amid -the games of the people, on the walls of the churches and the -monasteries, throughout the whole range of art and literature. Holbein -had looked on many representations of this idea: where, as in Dürer’s -work, Death attends knight and beggar; or where, as in the Nuremberg<a name="page_123" id="page_123"></a> -Chronicle, the skeletons dance by the open grave; or where, as in the -famous series at Bâsle, Death humbles every rank of life in turn. But -Holbein did not look on these scenes as his predecessors had done; he -was free from their spirit. He took the mediæval idea and re-moulded it, -as Shakspeare re-moulded the tradition of Denmark and Italy, into a work -for all times and generations. He represented Death, but with an -artistic power, an imaginative fervor, a perception of the constant -element in its interest for mankind, which lifted his work out of -mediævalism into universal truth; and in doing this he not only showed -the high power of his art, but he unlocked the secrets of his character.</p> - -<p><a name="ill_51" id="ill_51"></a></p> - -<div class="figright" style="width: 174px;"> -<a href="images/illpg123.png"> -<img src="images/illpg123_sml.png" width="174" height="227" -alt="FIG. 51.—The Nun. From Holbein’s “Images de la Mort.” -Lyons, 1547." title="FIG. 51.—The Nun. From Holbein’s “Images de la Mort.” -Lyons, 1547." /></a> -<br /> -<span class="caption">FIG. 51.—The Nun. From Holbein’s “Images de la Mort.” -Lyons, 1547.</span> -</div> - -<p><a name="ill_52" id="ill_52"></a></p> - -<div class="figleft" style="width: 175px;"> -<a href="images/illpg124.png"> -<img src="images/illpg124_sml.png" width="175" height="219" -alt="FIG. 52.—The Preacher. From Holbein’s “Images de la -Mort.” Lyons, 1547." title="FIG. 52.—The Preacher. From Holbein’s “Images de la -Mort.” Lyons, 1547." /></a> -<br /> -<span class="caption">FIG. 52.—The Preacher. From Holbein’s “Images de la -Mort.” Lyons, 1547.</span> -</div> - -<p>This work is, in the first edition (1538), a series of forty-one small -cuts, in each of which is depicted the triumph of Death over some person -who is typical of a whole class. Each design represents with intense -dramatic power some scene from daily life; Death lays his summons upon -all in the midst of their habitual occupations: the trader has escaped -shipwreck, and “on the beach undoes his corded bales;” Death plucks him -by the cloak; the weary, pack-laden peddler, plodding on in his -unfinished journey, turns questioningly to the delaying hand upon his -shoulder; the priest goes to the burial of the poor, Death carries the -candle<a name="page_124" id="page_124"></a> in a lantern before him, and rings the warning bell; the -drunkard gulps his liquor, the judge takes his bribe, the miser counts -his gold—Death interrupts them with a sneer. What poetic feeling, what -dramatic force, there is in the picture of the Nun! (Fig. 51.) She -kneels with head averted from the altar of her devotions toward the -youth who sits upon the bed playing the lute to her sleeping soul, and -at the moment Death stands there to put out the light of the taper which -shall leave her in darkness forever. What sharp satire there is in the -representation of the Preacher (Fig. 52), dilating, perhaps, in his -accustomed, half-mechanical way, upon the terrors of that very Death -already at his elbow! What justness of sight, what grimness of reality, -there is in the representation of the Ploughman (Fig. 53); how directly -does Holbein bring us face to face with the human curse—in the sweat of -thy brow thou shalt earn death! George Sand, looking out on the spring -fields of her remote province and seeing the French peasants ploughing -up the soft and smoking soil, remembered this type of peasant life as -Holbein saw it, and described this cut in words that vivify the -concentrated meaning of the whole series. “The engraving,” she says,<a name="page_125" id="page_125"></a> -“represents a farmer guiding the plough in the middle of a field. A vast -plain extends into the distance, where there are some poor huts; the -sun is setting behind a hill. It is the close of a hard day’s work. The -peasant is old, thickset, and in tatters; the team which he drives -before him is lean, worn out by fatigue and scanty food; the ploughshare -is buried in a rugged and stubborn soil. In this scene of sweat and -habitual toil there is only one being in good spirits and light of foot, -a fantastic character, a skeleton with a whip, that runs in the furrow -beside the startled horses and beats them—as it were, a farmer’s boy. -It is Death.” She takes up the story again, after a while. “Is there -much consolation,” she asks, “in this stoicism, and do devout souls find -their account therein? The ambitious, the knave, the tyrant, the -sensualist, all the proud sinners who abuse life, and whom Death drags -away by the hair, are on their way to a reckoning, no doubt; but the -blind, the beggar, the fool, the poor peasant, is there any amends for -their long wretchedness in the single reflection that death is not an -evil for them? No! an inexorable melancholy, a dismaying fatality, -weighs upon the artist’s work. It is like a bitter curse launched on the -universal human lot.”<a name="FNanchor_40_40" id="FNanchor_40_40"></a><a href="#Footnote_40_40" class="fnanchor">[40]</a></p> - -<p><a name="ill_53" id="ill_53"></a></p> - -<div class="figright" style="width: 170px;"> -<a href="images/illpg125.png"> -<img src="images/illpg125_sml.png" width="170" height="221" -alt="FIG. 53.—The Ploughman. From Holbein’s “Images de la -Mort.” Lyons, 1547." title="FIG. 53.—The Ploughman. From Holbein’s “Images de la -Mort.” Lyons, 1547." /></a> -<br /> -<span class="caption">FIG. 53.—The Ploughman. From Holbein’s “Images de la -Mort.” Lyons, 1547.</span> -</div> - -<p>Certainly the artist’s work is a bold and naked statement<a name="page_126" id="page_126"></a> of man’s -mortality, of the close of life contrasted with the worth of its career; -but the melancholy of his work is not more inexorable, its fatality is -not more dismaying, than the reality he saw. He did not choose for his -pencil what was unusual, extraordinary, or abnormal in life; he depicted -its accustomed course and its fixed conclusion in fear, folly, or -dignity. He took almost every character among men, almost every passion -or vice of the race, almost every toil or pursuit in which his -contemporaries engaged, and confronted them with their fate. The king is -at his feast, Death pours the wine; the poor mother is cooking her -humble meal at the hearth, Death steals her child; the bridal pair walk -on absorbed, while Death beats their wedding-march with glee. Throughout -the series there is the same dramatic insight, the same unadorned -reality, the same humanity. Here and there the spirit of the Reformer -reveals itself: the Pope in the exercise of his utmost worldly power -crowns the emperor, but behind is Death; a devil lurks in the shadow, -and over the heads of the cardinals are other devils; the monk, abbot, -and prioress—how they resist and are panic-stricken! There can be no -doubt at what Holbein reckoned these men and their trade. Holbein showed -here, too, his sympathy with the humbler classes in those days of -peasant wars, of the German Bible, and of books in the vulgar -tongue—the days when the people began to be a self-conscious body, with -a knowledge of the opportunities of life and the power to make good -their claim to share in them; as Holbein saw life, it was only the -humble to whom Death was not full of scorn and jesting, they alone stood -dignified in his presence. Beneath this sympathy with the Reformers and -the people need we look farther, as Ruskin does, to find scepticism -hidden<a name="page_127" id="page_127"></a> in the shadows of Holbein’s heart? Holbein saw the Church as -Avarice, trading in the sins of its children; as Cruelty, rejoicing in -the blood of its enemies; as Ignorance, putting out the light of the -mind. There was no faltering in his resolute, indignant denial of that -Church. Did he find any refuge elsewhere in such hope and faith as -remain to man in the suggestions of his own spirit? He saw Death’s -triumph, and he made men see it with his eyes; if he saw more than that, -he kept silence concerning it. He did not menace the guilty with any -peril save the peril of Death’s mockery; he spoke no word of consolation -for the good; for the inevitable sorrow of the child’s loss there is no -cure, for the ploughman’s faithful labor there is no reward except in -final repose by the shadow of the distant spire. He did not open the -heavens to let through one gleam of immortal life upon the human lot, -unless it be in the Judgment, where only the saved have risen; -nevertheless, the purport of that scene, even if it be interpreted with -the most Christian realism, cannot destroy the spirit of all others. -“Inexorable melancholy, dismaying fatality”—these, truly, are the -burden of his work.</p> - -<p>The series holds high rank, too, merely as a product of artistic skill. -It shows throughout the designer’s ease, simplicity, and economy in -methods of work, his complete control of his resources, and his unerring -correctness in choosing the means proper to fulfil his ends; few lines -are employed, as in the Italian manner, and there is little -cross-hatching; but, as in all great art, every line has its work to do, -its meaning, which it expresses perfectly, with no waste of labor and no -ineffectual effort. In sureness of stroke and accuracy of proportion the -drawing is unsurpassed;<a name="page_128" id="page_128"></a> you may magnify any of the designs twelve -times, and even the fingers will show no disproportion in whole or in -part. It is true that there is no anatomical accuracy; no single -skeleton is correctly drawn in detail, but the shape of Death, guessed -at as a thing unknown, is so expressed that in the earliest days of the -work men said that in it “Death seemed to live, and the living to be -truly dead.” The correctness, vigor, and economy of line in the drawing -of these cuts made them a lesson to later artists like Rubens, merely as -an example of powerful and truthful effects perfectly obtained at the -least expense of labor. In this respect they were in design a triumph of -art, as much as they were in conception a triumph of imagination.</p> - -<p>Holbein made the original drawings for the Dance of Death before he left -Bâsle in 1526; but, although some copies were printed in that city, the -work did not become known until it was published in 1538 by the -Trechsels at Lyons, where it appeared without Holbein’s name. This -latter circumstance, in connection with a passage in the preface of this -edition, led some writers to question Holbein’s title to be considered -the designer of the series, although his friend, Nicolas Bourbon de -Vandoeuvre, the poet, calls him the author of it in a book published at -Lyons in 1538, while Karl van Mander, of Holland, in 1548, and Conrad -Gesner, of Zurich, in 1549, ascribe it to him, and their statements were -unhesitatingly accepted until doubt was expressed in our own time. The -passage in the preface of the first Lyons edition, on which the sceptics -rely, mentions the death<a name="page_129" id="page_129"></a> “of him who has here imaged (<i>imaginé</i>) for us -such elegant designs as much in advance of all hitherto issued as the -paintings of Apelles or Zeuxis surpass those of the moderns;” but this -is generally considered to refer to the engraver, Hans Lützelburger, who -cut the designs in wood after Holbein’s drawing, and deserves all the -praise for their extraordinarily skilful technical execution. This is -the most satisfactory explanation which can be framed; but, if it is not -accepted, the balance of evidence in favor of Holbein is so great as to -be conclusive. The original drawings, made with a pen and touched with -bistre, are in the cabinet of the Czar, and show the excellence of the -draughtsmanship more clearly than the woodcuts; the engraver omitted -some striking details, but in general his fidelity and correctness of -rendering were remarkable. The first edition at Lyons contained only -forty-one of the original designs, of which there are forty-six at St. -Petersburg; the later editions, published by Frellon, increased the -number to fifty-three in 1547, and fifty-eight in 1562, including some -beautiful cuts of children at the end of the volume. The popularity of -the work was very great; the text was printed in French, Latin, and -Italian, and thirteen editions from the original blocks were issued -before 1563. Since that time it has been published many times; but the -engravings in the later editions, which were copied from the originals -by workmen much inferior to Lützelburger, have little comparative value. -Between forty and fifty editions have been printed from wood-blocks, and -as many more from copperplate.</p> - -<p><a name="ill_54" id="ill_54"></a></p> - -<p class="figcenter"> -<a href="images/illpg130.png"> -<img src="images/illpg130_sml.png" width="305" height="209" -alt="FIG. 54.—Nathan Rebuking David. From Holbein’s “Icones -Historiarum Veteris Testamenti.” Lyons, 1547." title="FIG. 54.—Nathan Rebuking David. From Holbein’s “Icones -Historiarum Veteris Testamenti.” Lyons, 1547." /></a> -<br /> -<span class="caption">FIG. 54.—Nathan Rebuking David. From Holbein’s “Icones -Historiarum Veteris Testamenti.” Lyons, 1547.</span> -</p> - -<p>The Figures of the Bible, which made a series of ninety-two -illustrations of the Old Testament, showed the same qualities of -Holbein’s genius as did the Dance of Death, but generally in less -perfection. In designing many of these cuts Holbein accepted the types -of the previous artists,<a name="page_130" id="page_130"></a> just as nearly all the great painters -frequently took their conceptions of scriptural scenes from their -predecessors; hence these Bible Figures show a marked resemblance in -their general composition to the earlier woodcuts in illustration of the -Scriptures. But while Holbein followed the earlier custom in -representing two or three associated actions in one scene, and kept the -same relative arrangement of the parts, he essentially modified the -total effect by omitting some elements, subordinating others, giving -prominence to the principal group, and informing the whole picture with -a far more vigorous, thoughtful, and expressive spirit. In artistic -merit some of these designs are among the best of Holbein’s work; but -the technical skill of the wood-engraver who cut them is inferior to -that shown in the Dance of Death. The scene in which Nathan is -represented rebuking David (Fig. 54) is especially noble in conception: -the prophet does not clothe himself in any superior<a name="page_131" id="page_131"></a> human dignity as a -divine messenger; but, mindful only of the supreme law which is over all -men equally, kneels loyally and obediently before his king, and calls on -him to humiliate himself, not before man, but in the solitary presence -of God. The power of the universal law, independent alike of the majesty -of the criminal or the lowliness of its servant, has never been pictured -with greater subtlety and force than is here done. There are others -among these designs of equal excellence, both in imagination and art, -but in all the best of them there is some human interest in the scene -which attracted Holbein’s heart; in others, such as the illustrations to -the books of the Prophets, he falls into a feebleness of conception and -baldness of allegorical statement which shows clearly how little he -cared for what was merely supernatural. The series, nevertheless, is, as -a whole, the best which was made in that century, and was reprinted -several times to satisfy the popular demand for it; it first appeared, -contemporaneously with the Dance of Death, in 1538, at Lyons; the text -was afterward published in Latin, French, Italian, Spanish, and English, -but the work never obtained the extraordinary popularity of the Dance of -Death. It is noteworthy that no edition of either work was printed in -German—so far had Holbein outstripped his countrymen in the purity of -art.</p> - -<p>When these two works appeared at Lyons, Holbein had been for many years -a resident at the English court, where he painted that series of -portraits which remains unsurpassed as a gallery of typical English men -and women represented by an artist capable of revealing character as -well as of portraying looks. In these later years of his life he busied -himself but little with designing for woodcuts, but<a name="page_132" id="page_132"></a> he did not entirely -neglect the art, and was, without doubt, of great service in spreading a -taste for it in England, and in improving its practice there. The -English printers imported their best woodcuts, and probably -wood-engraving was hardly a recognized English art before Holbein’s day. -The great titlepage which he designed for Coverdale’s Bible in 1535 was -apparently cut by some Swiss engraver, as were some other similar works; -but a few designs, which Holbein seems to have drawn so as to require -the least possible skill in the engraver to reproduce them, were -apparently executed in England. They were produced when England was -separating from Rome, in the time of Cromwell’s power, and are marked by -the same satirical spirit as Holbein’s earlier work at Bâsle; the -self-righteous Pharisee wears a cowl, the lawyers, who are offended when -Christ casts out the devil from the possessed one, have bishops’ mitres; -the unfaithful shepherd who flees when the wolf comes is a monk. These -cuts, in which Holbein last used his art as a weapon of civilization, -mark the close of his practice of it.</p> - -<p>In the course of that practice he had not merely found utterance for his -genius, but he had shown the entire adequacy of wood-engraving for the -purposes of the artist when the laws which spring out of its peculiar -nature are most rigidly observed. He had employed it with complete -success as a mode of obtaining beautiful architectural design, of -depicting charming <i>genre</i> scenes, of attacking abuses by the keenest -and most effective irony, of making real for the popular comprehension -the solemn and beautiful stories of the Scriptures, and of expressing -passionate feeling and profound thought; and he thus exercised upon his -own time and upon the future an influence which was perhaps more<a name="page_133" id="page_133"></a> -powerful than that exercised by any contemporary artists. Within the -limits of the Dance of Death he had embodied in wood-engraving tragedy -and humor, satire and sermon, poetic sentiment, dramatic action, and -wise reflection, and he thus gave to that work a special interest for -his contemporaries as an expression of the sympathies, efforts, and -problems of that time, and an enduring interest for all men as the -truest picture of universal human life seen at its most tragic moment -through the hollow sockets of Death. He did this without offering -violence to the peculiar nature of the art, without wresting it from its -appropriate methods or requiring of it any difficult effort; he -perceived more clearly than Dürer the essential conditions under which -wood-engraving must be practised, and he conformed to them. If he had -needed cross-hatching, fine and delicate lines, harmonies of tone, and -soft transitions of light, he would have had recourse to copperplate; -but not finding them necessary, he contented himself with the bold -outlines, easily cut and easily printed, which were the peculiar -province of wood-engraving, and by means of them created works which not -only made wood-engraving illustrious, but rank with the high -achievements and valuable legacies of the other arts of design. Holbein -was one of the great geniuses of the race, and he put into his works the -fire and wisdom of genius; but, independently of what his works contain, -and merely as illustrations of artistic methods, they show for the first -time an artist perceiving and choosing to obey the simple laws of the -art, and exhibiting its compass and capacity, its wealth and utility, -within the sphere of those laws. This thorough understanding and -rational practice of the art, in connection with his intellectual and -artistic powers,<a name="page_134" id="page_134"></a> made Holbein the most perfect master who has ever left -works in wood-engraving, and give his works the utmost value both as -forms of art and as embodiments of imagination and thought.<a name="page_135" id="page_135"></a></p> - -<h2><a name="VII" id="VII"></a>VII.<br /><br /> -THE DECLINE AND EXTINCTION OF THE ART.</h2> - -<p class="nind"><span class="letrra"> -<a name="ill_55" id="ill_55"></a> -<a href="images/illpg135.png"> -<img src="images/illpg135_sml.png" -width="150" -height="149" -alt="T" -title="T" -/></a><br /> -<span class="caption"> -F<small>IG</small>. 55.—From “Opera Vergiliana,”<br /> -printed by Sacon.<br /> -Lyons, 1517.</span></span>HE wood-engravers of France produced no great works like those of -Maximilian, and no single cuts of the artistic value of those by Dürer -and his contemporaries. They limited themselves almost exclusively to -the illustration of books. The early printers, who had expended so much -care in the adornment of their religious books, were succeeded by other -printers who were hardly less animated by enthusiastic devotion to their -art, as was shown by their efforts to make their works beautiful both in -text and illustration. The Renaissance had now penetrated into France, -and entered into the arts. Geoffrey Tory (c. 1480-1533), who had -travelled in Italy, appears to have been the first to introduce a -classical spirit into wood-engraving; from his time two distinct schools -may be distinguished in French wood-engraving—one Germanic and archaic, -the other filled by the Italian spirit. The most distinguished engravers -belonged to the latter school, and their<a name="page_136" id="page_136"></a> work was characterized by the -curiously modified Italian taste which marked the French Renaissance. -They understood design, and showed considerable power in it; they -regarded the main lines and principal harmonies and contrasts of masses -which are necessary to it; but they transformed its simplicity into -elegance, and overlaid it with ornamentation and trifling detail which -marred its effect, and gave to their works an appearance of -artificiality, of over-labored refinement and mistaken scrupulousness of -taste. As a rule, indeed, taste was their characteristic rather than a -developed sense of beauty, and skill rather than power. Finally, they -passed, by a natural progress, into a complexity and fineness of line -which are unsuitable to wood-engraving; they lost the sense of unity in -the abundance of detail, and were forced to give up engraving in wood -and adopt engraving on copperplate, which was so much better fitted to -the meaningless excess of delicacy and accumulation of ornament in which -the French Renaissance ended.</p> - -<p>The most talented of the French designers for wood-engraving was Jean -Cousin (1501-1589), a member of the Reformed Church, little favored at -court and much neglected by his contemporaries. He appears to have been -of a robust and independent spirit, an admirer of Michael Angelo and the -Italians, and an industrious and painstaking workman in many branches of -art. A large number of designs are ascribed to him; but, as is the case -with nearly all the French engravers, there is great difficulty in -making out what really was his work. Among the characteristic products -of French wood-engraving were representations of royal triumphal entries -into the great cities of the kingdom. Two of these are ascribed to -Cousin—the entry of<a name="page_137" id="page_137"></a> Henry II. into Paris, published in 1549, and his -entry into Rouen, published in the next year. In the latter the captains -of Normandy lead the march; they are followed by ranks of foot-soldiers, -trumpeters, men holding aloft laurel wreaths, other men with antique -arms and banners, and a band which, with a reminiscence from Roman -festivals, carry lambs in their arms for sacrifice to the gods; next -succeed new ranks of soldiers, then elephants and captives, the fool and -musicians leading on Flora and her nymphs, after whom comes the Car of -Happy Fortune, on which the royal family are enthroned, and the -triumphal Chariot of Fame; the procession closes with men-at-arms and -two captains, with succeeding scenes of some places by which the pageant -had passed. In this work the French Renaissance shows itself in the -prime of its career, when some simplicity and nobility of design were -still kept, and the tendency toward refinement of line and -multiplication of ornament were still held in check by a regard for -unity of effect. The Entry of Henry II. into Paris is, perhaps, even -more excellent. The two works rank with the best French wood-engraving -in the sixteenth century.</p> - -<p>The characteristics by which the French Renaissance differed from the -Renaissance in Italy are more clearly and easily seen in the -reproduction of the Dream of Poliphilo, which was published in 1554, and -is ascribed to Cousin. The French artist did not copy the beautiful -designs of the Venetian; he kept the general character of each woodcut, -it is true, but he varied the style. He made Poliphilo elegant in -figure, taller and more modish in gesture and attitude; he represented -the landscape in greater detail and with more realism; he gave greater -height and more careful<a name="page_138" id="page_138"></a> proportion to the architecture, added ornaments -to its bare façades and smooth lintels, and in the subordinate portions -he varied the curvature of the lines and made them more complex; in the -lesser figures, the statues and monumental devices, he allowed himself -more liberty in changing the original designs, and sometimes practically -transformed them; finally, he introduced a more vigorous dramatic action -throughout, and attempted to obtain more difficult effects of contrast -and to give relief to the figures. Nevertheless, the improvements which -the taste of Cousin required are distinctly injurious. The French -reproduction is inferior to the Italian original in feeling for design, -in simple beauty, in the force and directness of its appeal to the -artistic sense, in the power and sweetness of its charm; much that was -lovely in the original has become simply pretty, much that was noble and -striking has become only tasteful; especially that quality, by virtue of -which the original possessed something suggestive of the calm beauty of -sculpture, has vanished, and in the effort of the new designer to obtain -pictorial effects one has an unpleasant sense of something like -weakness. The comparative study of the two volumes is of extreme -interest, so clearly do they illustrate the different temper of the -Renaissance in France and Italy. France received the word of inspiration -from Italy, but could not become its oracle. Even at that early day -French art was marked by the dispersion of interest, the regard for -externals, and the inability to create the purest imaginative work, -which have since characterized the French people, despite their facility -in acquisition and the ease with which they reach the level of -excellence in any pursuit.<a name="page_139" id="page_139"></a></p> - -<p>Of the other works, known or supposed to be by Cousin, the Book of -Perspective, published in 1560, is the most remarkable, because in its -designs considerable difficulties are overcome, and greater power of -relief is shown than in any previous French wood-engraving. This book -was a treatise, similar to those by Dürer and Leonardo da Vinci upon the -laws of art, and its dedication is noticeable because of the light it -throws on Cousin’s spirit—“neither to kings nor princes, as is -customary,” he says, “but to the public.” The Bible, usually called Le -Clerc’s, which contains two hundred and eighty-seven woodcuts, is said -to be by Cousin, but of this there is no direct evidence; and to him is -ascribed the Triumphal Entry of Charles IX., published in 1572, and -supposed by some to have been designed by the engraver Olivier Codoré; -many other works are also added to his list, but they were inferior in -value to those which have been described, and were unmarked by any -special interest. In consequence of the fineness and number of his -productions Cousin must be considered the principal French engraver of -the century; and he undoubtedly deserves a high rank among the artists -of talent, in distinction from the artists of genius, who have practised -wood-engraving.</p> - -<p>About Cousin there were a number of other designers who gave attention -to the art and left works of value; but these works bear so much -resemblance to one another that it is frequently impossible to recognize -in them the hand of any individual of the school—a difficulty by which -Cousin’s reputation has profited, because of the eagerness of his -admirers to ascribe to him any excellent work in his style which is not -definitely known to belong to some one of his contemporaries. These -lesser artists were Jean Goujon<a name="page_140" id="page_140"></a> (c. 1550), who made some excellent cuts -for a Vitruvius of 1547, and is believed by some authorities to have -designed the reproduction of the Dream of Poliphilo; Pierre Woeiriot (b. -1532), whose biblical cuts inserted in a Josephus of 1566 have much -merit; Jean Tortorel (b. 1540?) and Jacques Périssin (b. 1530?), who -designed some interesting illustrations of the Huguenot wars; and -Philibert de Lorme (c. 1570) and Jean Le Clerc (1580-1620), whose -productions are of comparatively little interest. The works of all these -artists lacked that intimate relation with the life of the people which -made the engravings of the lesser German designers valuable, and have -importance only as illustrations of the development of French art in the -Renaissance.</p> - -<p>The only artist who can contest Cousin’s foremost place in French -wood-engraving is Bernard Salomon (c. 1550), usually called the Little -Bernard, from the small size of his cuts, who was the leading designer -of Lyons. That city had retained its importance as a centre of popular -literature illustrated by woodcuts, and is said to have sent forth more -books of this kind in the latter part of the sixteenth century than any -other city in Europe. The works of Holbein were the pride of the Lyonese -art, and exerted great influence upon the style of the designers who -were constantly employed in the service of the Lyonese press. Bernard -worked in the small manner which Holbein had made popular, and he -learned from him how to compress much in a little space; but he -multiplied details, and carried the lines to an extreme of fineness -which his engravers were unable to do justice to in cutting the block. -As is the case with Cousin, a vast number of designs are attributed to -Bernard, simply because they are sufficiently excellent<a name="page_141" id="page_141"></a> to have been -his work; according to Didot, no less than twenty-three hundred cuts -have been claimed for him, and it is believed by some writers that he -not only designed but engraved this large number. A large proportion of -these must have been produced by the unknown contemporaries of Bernard, -because, although he gave his attention wholly to wood-engraving for -thirty years, he could not have accomplished so great a work. His -best-known designs are the illustrations to an Ovid, published by Jean -de Tournes, and two hundred and thirty cuts for the same printer’s -edition of the Bible: these rank next to Cousin’s works as the most -remarkable productions of French wood-engraving in the sixteenth -century. Of the other Lyonese designers very little is known; indeed, no -other important name has been preserved, excepting that of Jean Moni (c. -1570), who is remembered for a series of Bible cuts inferior to those by -Bernard. In Lyons, as in the rest of France, wood-engraving lost its -value toward the close of the century, in consequence of its attempts at -a kind of delicacy and refinement beyond its reach and inappropriate to -its class; it did not appeal to the taste of the late Renaissance, and -by degrees the engravers lost their technical skill, and the artists -gave up its practice as a fine art. This result was also partly due to -the contempt into which the popular romantic literature of the preceding -century had fallen, and to the degradation of wood-engraving as a mode -of coarse caricature. Copperplate-engraving gradually supplanted the -more simple art, and finally the practice of wood-engraving became -extinct.</p> - -<p><a name="ill_56" id="ill_56"></a></p> - -<p class="figcenter"> -<a href="images/illpg142.png"> -<img src="images/illpg142_sml.png" width="316" height="392" -alt="FIG. 56.—St. Christopher. From a Venetian print." title="FIG. 56.—St. Christopher. From a Venetian print." /></a> -<br /> -<span class="caption">FIG. 56.—St. Christopher. From a Venetian print.</span> -</p> - -<p><a name="ill_57" id="ill_57"></a></p> - -<p class="figcenter"> -<a href="images/illpg143.png"> -<img src="images/illpg143_sml.png" width="305" height="479" -alt="FIG. 57.—St. Sebastian and St. Francis. Portion of a -print by Andreani after Titian." title="FIG. 57.—St. Sebastian and St. Francis. Portion of a -print by Andreani after Titian." /></a> -<br /> -<span class="caption">FIG. 57.—St. Sebastian and St. Francis. Portion of a -print by Andreani after Titian.</span> -</p> - -<p>In Italy the older style of woodcuts in simple outline continued to be -followed long after it was abandoned in the<a name="page_142" id="page_142"></a> North. The designs in -Italian books up to the year 1530, when cross-hatching was introduced, -do not differ essentially in character from those of which examples have -already been given. The names of the artists who produced them are -either obscure or unknown, excepting Leonardo da Vinci, to whom are -ascribed the cuts in Luca Pacioli’s volume, De Proportione Divina, -published in 1509, and Marc Antonio Raimondi (1478-1534), to whom are -ascribed the<a name="page_143" id="page_143"></a> remarkably excellent cuts in a volume entitled Epistole et -Evangelii Volgari Hystoriade, published in 1512 in Venice. From the -first, Venice (Fig. 56) had been the chief seat of<a name="page_144" id="page_144"></a> wood-engraving in -Italy, and now became the rival of Lyons. The most distinguished of the -group of artists who produced woodcuts in that city was Nicolo Boldrini -(c. 1550), who designed several engravings (Fig. 59) after Titian -(1476?-1575)<a name="page_145" id="page_145"></a> with such boldness and force that some writers have -believed Titian to have drawn the design on the block for Boldrini to -engrave. The works of Titian and other Venetian painters were reproduced -in the same way by Francesco da Nanto (c. 1530); and by other artists, -like Giovanni Battista del Porto (c. 1500), Domenico delle Greche (c. -1550), and Giuseppe Scolari (c. 1580), who also sometimes made woodcuts -from their own designs. Besides these engravings, some very large cuts, -similar to those which the German artists had attempted, were printed -from several blocks; but they have little interest. The illustrations in -Vesalius’s Anatomy, published at Bâsle in 1543, in which wood-engraving<a name="page_146" id="page_146"></a> -was first employed as an aid to scientific exposition, were designed in -Venice by Jean Calcar, a pupil of Titian, and are of extraordinary -merit. Finally, in the cuts by Cesare Vecellio (1550-1606) for the -volume entitled Habiti Antiche e Moderne, published in 1590, Venetian -wood-engraving produced its last excellent work—so excellent, indeed, -that the designs have been attributed to Titian himself, who was the -uncle of Vecellio.</p> - -<p><a name="ill_58" id="ill_58"></a></p> - -<p class="figcenter"> -<a href="images/illpg144.png"> -<img src="images/illpg144_sml.png" width="320" height="445" -alt="FIG. 58.—The Annunciation. From a print by Francesco da -Nanto." title="FIG. 58.—The Annunciation. From a print by Francesco da -Nanto." /></a> -<br /> -<span class="caption">FIG. 58.—The Annunciation. From a print by Francesco da -Nanto.</span> -</p> - -<p><a name="ill_59" id="ill_59"></a></p> - -<p class="figcenter"> -<a href="images/illpg145.png"> -<img src="images/illpg145_sml.png" width="393" height="290" -alt="FIG. 59.—Milo of Crotona. From a print by Boldrini after -Titian." title="FIG. 59.—Milo of Crotona. From a print by Boldrini after -Titian." /></a> -<br /> -<span class="caption">FIG. 59.—Milo of Crotona. From a print by Boldrini after -Titian.</span> -</p> - -<p>The Italians devoted themselves with especial ardor to wood-engraving in -chiaroscuro, and from the time when Ugo da Carpi introduced it in Venice -it was practised by many artists. Nearly all of those designers who have -been mentioned left works in chiaroscuro engraving as well as in the -ordinary manner. Beside them, Antonio da Trento (c. 1530), Giuseppe -Nicolo (c. 1525), Andrea Andreani (c. 1600), and Bartolemeo Coriolano -(c. 1635) produced chiaroscuro engravings which are now much valued and -sought for by collectors of prints. The Italian love of color led these -artists into this application of wood-engraving, which must be regarded -as a wrongly-directed and unfruitful effort of the art to obtain results -beyond its powers. The Italians had been the first to discover the -capacity of wood-engraving as an art of design, but they never developed -it as it was developed in Germany; when they gave up the early simple -manner in which they had achieved great results, and began to follow the -later manner, the great age of Italy was near its close, and the arts -felt the weakening influences of the rapid decline in the vigor of -society. At Venice the arts remained for a while longer powerful and -illustrious, and wood-engraving shared in the excellence which -characterized all the artistic work of that city; but the place<a name="page_147" id="page_147"></a> which -wood-engraving held in the estimation of the Venetians appears to have -been far lower than its place in the North, where it was popular and -living, highly valued and widely influential as it could not be in any -Italian city. At last in Italy, as in France, it died out altogether, -and was no longer heard of as a fine art.</p> - -<p>In the Netherlands the art had been practised continuously from the time -of the Block-books with varying success, but, excepting in the works of -Lukas van Leyden (1494-1533), it had produced nothing of great value. In -the sixteenth century Hendrick Goltzius (1558-1617) designed some -woodcuts in the common manner as well as chiaroscuro engravings, and -Christopher van Sichem (c. 1620) some woodcuts in the ordinary manner, -which have some worth. The only work of high excellence was due to -Christopher Jegher (c. 1620-1660), who engraved some large designs which -Rubens (1577-1640) drew upon the block; they are inferior to Boldrini’s -reproductions of Titian’s designs, but are free, bold, and effective, -and succeed in reproducing the designs characterized by the vehement -energy of Rubens’s style. Rembrandt (1606-1665) also gave some attention -to the art which the older masters had prized, and left one small -portrait in wood-engraving by his own hand. His example was followed by -his pupils, Jean Livens (1607-1663) and Theodore De Bray (c. 1650), -whose cuts are characterized by the style of their master.</p> - -<p>In England, where the art had not been really practised until Holbein’s -day, and had not reached any degree of excellence, some improvement was -made during the sixteenth century in designs for titlepages, portraits, -and separate cuts, particularly in the publications of John Day. In the -next<a name="page_148" id="page_148"></a> century, during the civil wars, woodcuts of extreme rudeness were -inserted in the pamphlets of the hour, and in the latter half of the -century some interest was still felt in the art. In the eighteenth -century two engravers, Edward Kirkall (c. 1690-1750) and John Baptist -Jackson (1701-1754?), worked both in the ordinary manner and in -chiaroscuro, but both were forced to seek support on the Continent, -where, although the practice of wood-engraving as a fine art had long -been extinct, the tradition of it as a mechanical process by which cheap -ornaments for books were produced was still preserved. In France the -engravers Pierre Le Sueur (1636-1710) and Jean Papillon (1660-1710) -executed cuts of this sort which are without intrinsic value, and in the -next generation their sons produced works which remained at the same low -level of excellence. In Italy an artist, named Lucchesini, engraved some -cuts in the latter part of the century, but they are without merit. In -Germany the art was equally neglected, and the woodcuts in German books -of the eighteenth century are entirely worthless.</p> - -<p>The explanation of this rapid and universal decline of wood-engraving is -to be found in general causes. The great artistic movement, which both -in the North and the South had sprung out of mediæval religious life, -and had gathered force and spirit as the minds of men grew in strength -and independence, and as the compass of their interests expanded, which -had been so transformed by the study of antiquity that in the South it -seemed to be almost wholly due to that single influence, and in the -North to have suffered an essential change in its spirit and standards, -had at last spent itself. The intellectual movement which had gone along -with it side by side, gaining vigor from the spread of literature,<a name="page_149" id="page_149"></a> the -debates of the Reformation, and the exercise of the mind upon the -various and novel objects of interest in that age of great discoveries -and inventions, had resulted in a century of religious warfare, -aggravated by the violence of dynastic quarrels which arose in -consequence of the new political organization of Europe. In this -conflict the arts were lost; they all became feeble, and wood-engraving -under the most favorable conditions would have shared in this general -degradation. But for its utter extinction as a fine art there were more -special causes. The popular literature with which it had flourished had -been brought into contempt by Cervantes and Ariosto; the use of -wood-engraving for coarse caricature also reflected discredit upon it; -but the principal cause of its decadence lay in the taste of the age, -which had ceased to prize art as a means of simple and beautiful design, -but valued it rather as a means of complicated and delicate ornament, so -that excessive attention was given to form divorced from meaning, and, -as always happens in such a case, artificiality resulted. The -wood-engravers attempted to satisfy this taste by seeking the refinement -which copperplate-engraving obtained with greater ease and success, and -they failed in the effort; in other words, wood-engraving yielded to -copperplate-engraving because the taste of the age forced it to abandon -its own province, and to contend with its rival on ground where its -peculiar powers were ineffective.</p> - -<p>Here the history of wood-engraving in the old manner, as a means of -reproducing pen-and-ink sketches in fac-simile, came to an end. It has -been seen how valuable it had proved both as an agent of civilization -and as a mode of art; how serviceable it had been in the popularization -of<a name="page_150" id="page_150"></a> literature and of art, and what influence it had exerted in the -practical questions of the day as a weapon of satire; how faithfully it -had reflected the characteristics of successive periods of civilization, -and how perfectly, in response to the touch of the artist, it had -embodied his imagination and expressed his thought. It had run a great -career; its career seemed to have closed; but, when at the end of the -eighteenth century the movement toward the civilization of the people -again began with vigor and spirit, a new life was opened to it, because -it is essentially a democratic art—a career in which it has already -reached a scope of influence that makes its usefulness far greater than -in the earlier time, and has given promise of a degree of excellence -which, though in design it may not equal Holbein’s power, may yet result -in valuable artistic work.<a name="page_151" id="page_151"></a></p> - -<h2><a name="VIII" id="VIII"></a>VIII.<br /><br /> -<i>MODERN WOOD-ENGRAVING.</i></h2> - -<p class="nind"><span class="letrra"> -<a name="ill_60" id="ill_60"></a> -<a href="images/illpg151.png"> -<img src="images/illpg151_sml.png" -width="150" -height="152" -alt="T" -title="T" -/></a><br /> -<span class="caption"> -F<small>IG</small>. 60.—From the “Comedia di<br /> -Danthe.” Venice, 1536.</span></span>HE revival of the art began in England, in the workshop of Thomas -Bewick (1753-1828). He is called, not without justice, the father of the -true art of engraving in wood. The history of the art in the older time -is concerned mainly with the designer and the ideas which he endeavored -to convey, and only slightly with the engraver whom he employed for the -mechanical work of cutting the block. In the modern art the engraver -holds a more prominent position, because he is no longer restricted to a -servile following of the designer’s work, line for line, but has an -opportunity to show his own artistic powers. This change was brought -about by the invention of white line, as it is called, which was first -used by Bewick. White line was a new mechanical mode of obtaining color. -“I could never discover,” says Bewick,<a name="page_152" id="page_152"></a> “any additional beauty or color -that the cross-strokes gave to the impression beyond the effect produced -by plain parallel lines. This is very apparent when to a certainty the -plain surface of the wood will print as black as ink and balls can make -it, without any farther labor at all; and it may easily be seen that the -thinnest strokes cut upon the plain surface will throw some light on the -subject or design; and if these strokes again are made still wider or of -equal thickness to the black lines, the color these produce will be a -gray; and the more the white strokes are thickened, the nearer will they -in their varied shadings approach to white; and if quite taken away, -then a perfect white is obtained.” The practical difference between the -two methods is this: by the old method, after the simple work in outline -of the early Italian engravers had been relinquished for the style of -which Dürer was the great master, the block was treated as a white -surface, on which the designer drew with pen and ink, and obtained grays -and blacks by increasing the number of cross-strokes, as if he were -drawing on paper; by the new method the block was treated as a black -surface, and the color was lessened by increasing the number of white -lines. The latter process was as easy for the engraver as the former was -difficult, because whereas in the former he had to gouge out the diamond -spaces between the crossing lines, now he obtained white color by single -strokes of the graver. Bewick may have been led into the use of white -line simply by this consideration of the economy of labor, because he -engraved his own designs, and was directly sensible of the waste of -labor involved in the old method. In both methods color depends, of -course, upon the relative quantity of black and white in the prints; the -new method merely arranges color differently, so that it can be obtained -by an easy mechanical process instead of by a difficult one.</p> - -<p>The use of white line not only affected the art by making<a name="page_153" id="page_153"></a> it more easy -to practise, but also involved a change in the mode of drawing. Formerly -the effects were given by the designers’ lines, now they were given by -the engravers’ lines; in other words, the old workman followed the -designer’s drawing, the modern workman draws himself with his graver. By -the old method the design was reproduced by keeping the same -line-arrangement that the artist employed; by the new method the design -is not thus reproduced, but is interpreted by a line-arrangement first -conceived by the engraver. In the earlier period the design had to be a -drawing in line for the engraver to cut out and reproduce by leaving the -original lines in relief; now the design may be a washed sketch, the -tints of which the engraver reproduces by cutting lines of his own in -intaglio. The change required the modern engraver to understand how to -arrange white lines so as to obtain artistic effects; he thus becomes an -artist in proportion to his knowledge and skill in such arrangement. It -is clear that, no matter how much mechanical skill, firmness, justness -and delicacy of touch were requisite in the older manner of following -carefully and precisely the lines already drawn upon the block, still -the engraver was precluded from exercising any original artistic power -he might have; he could appreciate the artistic value of the design -before him, and, like Hans Lützelburger, show his appreciation by his -fidelity in rendering it, but the lines were not his own. The new method -of reproducing artists’ work by means of lines first conceived and -arranged by the engraver requires, besides skill of hand, qualities of -mind—perception and origination, and the judgment that results from -cultivated taste. This is what is meant when it is said that the true -art of wood-engraving is not a hundred years old,<a name="page_154" id="page_154"></a> for it is only within -that time that the value of a print has been due to the engraver’s -capacity for thought and his artistic skill in line-arrangement, as well -as to the designer’s genius. The use of white line as a mechanical mode -of obtaining color was not unknown in the sixteenth century, and the -artistic value of white line was definitely felt in early French and -Italian wood-engraving; but the possibilities of development were not -seen, and no such development took place. The step in advance was taken -by Bewick, who thus disclosed the opportunities which wood-engraving -offers its craftsmen for the exhibition of high artistic qualities. The -white line revolutionized the art, and this is the essential meaning -there is in calling Bewick the father of wood-engraving.</p> - -<p>Of course the older method has not ceased to be practised; artists have -drawn upon the block, and their lines have been reproduced; sometimes a -part of the lines are thus drawn, particularly the leading lines, and -the minor portions of the sketch have been indicated by the designer by -washes and left to be rendered by the engraver in his own lines. Old or -modern wood-engraving as a mode of reproducing designs in fac-simile is -valuable, but none of the artistic merit they may possess is due to the -engraver; while the artistic merit shown in the new style of -wood-engraving, as an art of design in white line, belongs wholly to the -engraver. It results from this that white line is the peculiar province -of wood-engraving, considered as an art; but that does not exclude it -from being practised in its old manner as a mode of copying and -multiplying ordinary design which it is able to reproduce.</p> - -<p>Thomas Bewick, the founder of the modern art, was born<a name="page_155" id="page_155"></a> near Newcastle -in 1753. He passed his boyhood in rude country life and received scanty -schooling. At fourteen he was bound apprentice to the Newcastle -engraver, Ralph Beilby; nine years later he went to seek his fortune in -London, where he impatiently endured city life for less than a year; in -the summer of 1777 he returned to his old master, with whom he went into -partnership. Some preliminary training in book-illustration of the rude -sort then in vogue was necessary to reveal his powers to himself; he -received a premium from the Society for the Encouragement of Arts, which -had shown some interest in wood-engraving; and after farther minor work -he began, in 1785, to engrave the first block for his British -Quadrupeds, which, with his British Birds, although his other cuts are -numbered by thousands, is the principal monument of his genius. When he -took the graver in his hand he found the art extinct as a fine art; at -most only large coarse prints were manufactured. Besides his great -service to the art in introducing the white line he substituted boxwood -for the pear or other soft wood of the earlier blocks, and he engraved -across the grain instead of with it, or “the plank way of the wood,” as -he called it; he also began the practice of lowering the surface of the -block in places where less color was desired, so that less pressure -would come upon those parts in printing (a device which Aldegrever is -believed to have resorted to in some of his works), and he used the -dabber instead of the inking-roller.</p> - -<p><a name="ill_61" id="ill_61"></a></p> - -<p class="figcenter"> -<a href="images/illpg156.png"> -<img src="images/illpg156_sml.png" width="303" height="366" -alt="Fig. 61.—The Peacock. From Bewick’s “British Birds.”" title="Fig. 61.—The Peacock. From Bewick’s “British Birds.”" /></a> -<br /> -<span class="caption">Fig. 61.—The Peacock. From Bewick’s “British Birds.”</span> -</p> - -<p><a name="ill_62" id="ill_62"></a></p> - -<p class="figcenter"> -<a href="images/illpg157-a.png"> -<img src="images/illpg157-a_sml.png" width="274" height="155" -alt="FIG. 62.—The Frightened Mother. From Bewick’s “British -Quadrupeds.”" title="FIG. 62.—The Frightened Mother. From Bewick’s “British -Quadrupeds.”" /></a> -<br /> -<span class="caption">FIG. 62.—The Frightened Mother. From Bewick’s “British -Quadrupeds.”</span> -</p> - -<p><a name="ill_63" id="ill_63"></a></p> - -<p class="figcenter"> -<a href="images/illpg157-b.png"> -<img src="images/illpg157-b_sml.png" width="250" height="133" -alt="FIG. 63.—The Solitary Cormorant. From Bewick’s “British -Birds.”" title="FIG. 63.—The Solitary Cormorant. From Bewick’s “British -Birds.”" /></a> -<br /> -<span class="caption">FIG. 63.—The Solitary Cormorant. From Bewick’s “British -Birds.”</span> -</p> - -<p><a name="ill_64" id="ill_64"></a></p> - -<p class="figcenter"> -<a href="images/illpg158-a.png"> -<img src="images/illpg158-a_sml.png" width="269" height="152" -alt="FIG. 64.—The Snow Cottage." title="FIG. 64.—The Snow Cottage." /></a> -<br /> -<span class="caption">FIG. 64.—The Snow Cottage.</span> -</p> - -<p><a name="ill_65" id="ill_65"></a></p> - -<p class="figcenter"> -<a href="images/illpg158-b.png"> -<img src="images/illpg158-b_sml.png" width="286" height="185" -alt="FIG. 65.—Birth-place of Bewick. His last vignette, -portraying his own funeral." title="FIG. 65.—Birth-place of Bewick. His last vignette, -portraying his own funeral." /></a> -<br /> -<span class="caption">FIG. 65.—Birth-place of Bewick. His last vignette, -portraying his own funeral.</span> -</p> - -<p>By such means he was truly, as Ruskin says, “a reformer”—Ruskin adds, -“as stout as Holbein, or Botticelli, or Luther, or Savonarola,” and this -is also true within limits. But if in relation to his art, and in answer -to the tests required<a name="page_156" id="page_156"></a> of him, his reforming spirit proved itself -vigorous, independent, persistent in conviction, and faithful in -practice, his natural endowment in other ways was so far inferior to -those of the great Reformers named as to place him in a different order -of men. He had not a spark of the philosophic spirit of Holbein, and but -a faint glimmer of Holbein’s dramatic insight. He was not endowed with -the romantic imagination, the deep reflective power, the broad -intellectual and moral sympathy of Dürer. There is no<a name="page_157" id="page_157"></a> need to magnify -his genius, for it was great and valuable by its own right. He was, -primarily, an observer of nature, and he copied natural facts with -straightforward veracity; he delineated animal life with marvellous -spirit; he knew the value of the texture of a bird’s feather (Fig. 61) -as no one before ever realized it. He was open also to the influence -which nature exerts over the emotions, and he rendered the sentiment of -the landscape as few engravers have been able to do. His hearty spirit -responded to country sights (Fig. 62), and he portrayed the humorous -with zest and pleasure, as well as the cheerful and the melancholy<a name="page_158" id="page_158"></a> with -truth and feeling; his humor is sometimes indelicate, but it is -faithful; usually it is the humor of a situation which strikes him, -seldom the higher humor which appears in such cuts as the superstitious -dog. He is open to pathos, too, but here it is not the higher order of -pathos far-reaching into the bases of life and emotion—in this cut -(Fig. 64), for example, one fancies his heart is nearly altogether with -the uncared-for animal, and takes not much thought of the deserted -hearth. With this veracity, sensitiveness,<a name="page_159" id="page_159"></a> heartiness, there is also an -unbending virtue—a little like preaching sometimes, with its gallows in -the background—but sturdy and homely; not rising into any eloquent -homily, but with indignation for the boys drowning a cat or the man -beating his overdriven horse.</p> - -<p>As an artist he knows, like Holbein, the method of great art. His -economy of labor, his simplicity, justness, and sureness of stroke show -the master’s hand. There was no waste in his work, no ineffective effort -after impossible results, no meaningless lines. For these excellences of -method and of character he has been often praised, especially because he -developed his talents under very unfavorable conditions; but perhaps no -words would have been sweeter to him than those which Charlotte Brontë -wrote, sincerely out of her own experience without doubt, for he himself -said he was led to his task by “the hope of administering to the -pleasure and amusement of youth.” Charlotte Brontë, speaking through the -lips of Jane Eyre of the pleasure she took as a child in looking through -Bewick’s books, writes thus:</p> - -<p>“I returned to my book—Bewick’s History of British Birds, the -letterpress whereof I cared little for, generally speaking; and yet -there were certain introductory pages that, child as I was, I could not -pass quite as a blank: they were those which treat of the haunts of -sea-fowl; of ‘the solitary rocks and promontories’ by them only -inhabited; of the coast of Norway, studded with isles from its southern -extremity, the Lindeness, or Naze, to the North Cape—</p> - -<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> -<span class="i0">‘Where the Northern Ocean, in vast whirls,<br /></span> -<span class="i1">Boils round the naked, melancholy isles<br /></span> -<span class="i1">Of farthest Thule, and the Atlantic surge<br /></span> -<span class="i1">Pours in among the stormy Hebrides.’<br /></span> -</div></div> - -<p><a name="page_160" id="page_160"></a></p> - -<p><a name="ill_66" id="ill_66"></a></p> - -<p class="figcenter"> -<a href="images/illpg160-a.png"> -<img src="images/illpg160-a_sml.png" width="253" height="117" -alt="FIG. 66.—The Broken Boat. From Bewick’s “British -Birds.“" title="FIG. 66.—The Broken Boat. From Bewick’s “British -Birds.“" /></a> -<br /> -<span class="caption">FIG. 66.—The Broken Boat. From Bewick’s “British -Birds.“</span> -</p> - -<p><a name="ill_67" id="ill_67"></a></p> - -<p class="figcenter"> -<a href="images/illpg160-b.png"> -<img src="images/illpg160-b_sml.png" width="255" height="127" -alt="FIG. 67.—The Church-yard. From Bewick’s “British -Birds.“" title="FIG. 67.—The Church-yard. From Bewick’s “British -Birds.“" /></a> -<br /> -<span class="caption">FIG. 67.—The Church-yard. From Bewick’s “British -Birds.“</span> -</p> - -<p>Nor could I pass unnoticed the suggestion of the black shores of -Lapland, Siberia, Spitzbergen, Nova Zembla, Iceland, Greenland. * * * Of -these death-white realms I formed an idea of my own—shadowy, like all -the half-comprehended notions that float dim through children’s brains, -but strangely impressive. The words in these introductory pages -connected themselves with the succeeding vignettes, and gave -significance to the rock standing up alone in a sea of billow and spray; -to the broken boat (Fig. 66) stranded on a desolate coast; to the cold -and ghastly moon glancing through bars of cloud at a wreck just sinking. -I cannot tell what sentiment haunted the quiet, solitary church-yard -(Fig. 67), with its inscribed head-stone, its gate, its two trees, its -low horizon, girdled by a broken wall, and its newly risen crescent -<a name="page_161" id="page_161"></a>attesting the hour of even-tide. The two ships becalmed on a torpid sea -I believed to be marine phantoms. The fiend pinning down the thief’s -pack behind him I passed over quickly: it was an object of terror. So -was the black, horned thing, seated aloof on a rock, surveying a distant -crowd surrounding a gallows. Each picture told a story—mysterious often -to my undeveloped understanding and imperfect feelings, yet ever -profoundly interesting. * * * With Bewick on my knee, I was then happy; -happy at least in my way.”</p> - -<p>Bewick published the first edition of the British Quadrupeds in 1790, -the first edition of the first volume of the British Birds in 1797, and -of the second volume in 1804; all these became popular, and were several -times republished with additional cuts. His other works were very -numerous, but, as a whole, they are of inferior value. Both in the -volumes which have been mentioned and in his later work he received much -aid from his pupils, who designed and engraved, subject to his -correction and approval, many illustrations which are ascribed to him. -In his own work, notwithstanding his great excellence, he was by no -means perfect. In delineating rocks and the bark of trees, especially, -he fails; in drawing he sometimes makes errors, particularly when what -he represents was not subject to direct and frequent observation; in the -knowledge of line-arrangement, too, he is less masterly than some of his -successors, and, in this respect, his work is characterized by -effectiveness and spirit rather than by finish. Yet, when these -deductions have been made from his merit, so much remains as to render -him, without doubt, the most distinguished modern engraver in wood.<a name="page_162" id="page_162"></a></p> - -<p><a name="ill_68" id="ill_68"></a></p> - -<p class="figcenter"> -<a href="images/illpg162-a.png"> -<img src="images/illpg162-a_sml.png" width="268" height="125" -alt="FIG. 68.—The Sheep-fold. By Blake. From Virgil’s -Pastorals." title="FIG. 68.—The Sheep-fold. By Blake. From Virgil’s -Pastorals." /></a> -<br /> -<span class="caption">FIG. 68.—The Sheep-fold. By Blake. From Virgil’s -Pastorals.</span> -</p> - -<p><a name="ill_69" id="ill_69"></a></p> - -<p class="figcenter"> -<a href="images/illpg162-b.png"> -<img src="images/illpg162-b_sml.png" width="270" height="124" -alt="FIG. 69.—The Mark of Storm. By Blake. From Virgil’s -Pastorals." title="FIG. 69.—The Mark of Storm. By Blake. From Virgil’s -Pastorals." /></a> -<br /> -<span class="caption">FIG. 69.—The Mark of Storm. By Blake. From Virgil’s -Pastorals.</span> -</p> - -<p>Before Bewick’s death, in 1828, another English genius, William Blake -(1758-1827), greater as an artist than as an engraver, produced a series -of woodcuts (Fig. 68) which is remarkable for vigor and originality. -They were published in a reprint of Ambrose Philips’s Imitation of -Virgil’s First Eclogue, in Dr. Thornton’s curious edition of Virgil’s -Pastorals which appeared in 1820. One of them (Fig. 69) represents a -landscape swept by violent wind. The idea of autumnal tempest has seldom -been so strikingly and forcibly embodied as in the old gnarled oak -straining with laboring limbs, the hedge-rows blown like -indistinguishable glimmering dust, the keen light of the crescent moon -shining through the driving storm upon the rows of laid corn and over -the verge of the distant hill. Contemporary engravers<a name="page_163" id="page_163"></a> said the series -was inartistic and worthless, and an uneducated eye can easily discover -faults in it; imaginative genius of the highest order is expressed in -it, nevertheless, and from this the series derives its value. Blake -never made a new trial of the art.</p> - -<p>The revival of wood-engraving was not confined to England. At the end of -the eighteenth century Prussia founded a chair at Berlin for teaching -the art, and made the Ungers, father and son, professors of it; but, -although they contributed to the progress of wood-engraving in Germany, -no real success was obtained until the time of their successor, Gubitz. -In France, too, the Society for the Encouragement of National Industry -began to offer prizes for the best wood-engraving as early as 1805; but -some years passed before any contestants, who practised the true art, -appeared. The publisher Didot deserves much of the credit for reviving -French wood-engraving, because he employed Gubitz, and called to Paris -the English engravers who really founded the modern French school. The -efforts of societies or individuals, however, do not explain the rise of -the art in our time. Wood-engraving merely shared in the renewal of life -which took place at the end of the last century, and so profoundly -affected literature, art, and politics. The barren classical taste -disappeared in what is known as the return to nature, the intellectual -life of the people was stimulated to extraordinary activity, -civilization suffered rapid and important modifications, and every human -pursuit and interest received an impulse or a blow. Wood-engraving felt -the influence of the change, and came into demand with the other cheap -pictorial arts to satisfy popular needs; the interest of the publishers, -the improvements in the processes<a name="page_164" id="page_164"></a> of printing, and the example of -Bewick and his pupils especially contributed to bring the old art again -into use, and it continued to be practised because its value in -democratic civilization was immediately recognized.</p> - -<p><a name="ill_70" id="ill_70"></a></p> - -<p class="figcenter"> -<a href="images/illpg165.png"> -<img src="images/illpg165_sml.png" width="353" height="540" -alt="FIG. 70.—The Cave of Despair. By Branston. From Savage’s -“Hints on Decorative Printing.”" title="FIG. 70.—The Cave of Despair. By Branston. From Savage’s -“Hints on Decorative Printing.”" /></a> -<br /> -<span class="caption">FIG. 70.—The Cave of Despair. By Branston. From Savage’s -“Hints on Decorative Printing.”</span> -</p> - -<p>England was naturally the country where wood-engraving most flourished. -The pupils of Bewick, particularly Charlton Nesbit and Luke Clennell, -practised it with great merit, the former with a better knowledge of -line-arrangement than Bewick, and the latter with extraordinary artistic -feeling. The field, however, was not left wholly to those who had -learned the art from Bewick. Robert Branston was, like Bewick, a -self-taught wood-engraver; unlike Bewick, who was never trammelled by -traditions, and was thus able to work out his own methods in his own way -by the light of his own genius, Branston (Fig. 70), who had served an -apprenticeship in engraving on copperplate, and had mastered the art of -incising and arranging lines proper to that material, came to -wood-engraving with all the traditions of copperplate-engraving firmly -fixed in his mind and hand, and he founded a school which began where -the art had left off at the time of its decline—in the imitation of the -methods of engraving on copper. It is true that Branston sometimes -admitted white line where he thought it would be effective, but he -relied on black line for the most part. The wrong step thus taken led to -the next. Engravers on copper began to draw designs on the block for -wood-engravers to cut out. John Thurston, the most distinguished of -these, drew thus for John Thompson, who, however, did not follow the -lines with the servility of the engravers of the sixteenth century, but -modified them as he engraved, changed the direction and character of the -lines, and occasionally<a name="page_166" id="page_166"></a> -<a name="page_167" id="page_167"></a><a name="page_165" id="page_165"></a> introduced white line. In the same way -Clennell, who also engraved after John Thurston’s drawing, modified it, -particularly in the disposal of the lights and shadows, and thus -improved it by his own artistic powers. Merely in engraving simple lines -Clennell’s artistic feeling placed him in a higher rank than even an -engraver of the power of John Thompson, as may be seen in the cuts which -these two men made after Stothard’s drawings in an edition of Rogers’s -Poems (Fig. 71, 72); in this volume Clennell has given an effect which -Thompson could not give. Branston’s engraving, in the same way, shows -the craftsman’s skill and knowledge, but it lacks the artistic quality -of the rival school of Nesbit and Clennell. The imitation of the manner -of copperplate, which Branston introduced, became common, and was -developed in the work of Orrin Smith and William Harvey, in which -wood-engraving lost its distinctive virtues. This school, nevertheless, -was popular, and its engravings were used to illustrate important works -to which for a long time copperplate-engraving alone had been considered -equal; thus wood-engraving once more encroached upon its rival’s ground.</p> - -<p><a name="ill_71" id="ill_71"></a></p> - -<div class="figright" style="width: 128px;"> -<a href="images/illpg167-a.png"> -<img src="images/illpg167-a_sml.png" width="128" height="82" -alt="FIG. 71.—Vignette from “Rogers’s Poems.” London, 1827." title="FIG. 71.—Vignette from “Rogers’s Poems.” London, 1827." /></a> -<br /> -<span class="caption">FIG. 71.—Vignette from “Rogers’s Poems.” London, 1827.</span> -</div> - -<p><a name="ill_72" id="ill_72"></a></p> - -<div class="figleft" style="width: 151px;"> -<a href="images/illpg167-b.png"> -<img src="images/illpg167-b_sml.png" width="151" height="157" -alt="FIG. 72.—Vignette from “Rogers’s Poems.” London, 1827." title="FIG. 72.—Vignette from “Rogers’s Poems.” London, 1827." /></a> -<br /> -<span class="caption">FIG. 72.—Vignette from “Rogers’s Poems.” London, 1827.</span> -</div> - -<p>Meanwhile the great illustrated magazines and papers, to which -wood-engraving owes so much of its encouragement, sprang up, and with -them the necessity for rapid work, and the<a name="page_168" id="page_168"></a> temptation to be satisfied -with what satisfied the public taste. Cruikshank and Seymour prepared -the way for the designers, Leech, Gilbert, Tenniel, and the Dalziels, -the latter engravers themselves, and carelessness in engraving -accompanied carelessness in drawing; but from the latter charge -Tenniel’s designs must be excepted. These artists were inferior in -natural endowment to even the lesser artists of the sixteenth century, -and their work was made worse by the negligent rendering of their -engravers, who were not characterized either by the fidelity of the old -craftsmen, or the skill and knowledge of Thompson, or the artistic sense -of Clennell, but were merely inefficient workmen employed to cut lines -drawn for them as rapidly as possible. Mr. Linton made an attempt to -introduce the practice of rendering artists’ drawings by lines conceived -and arranged by the engraver himself; but the current was too strongly -set in another direction, and the engraver kept his old position of -mechanic employed to clear out the designers’ lines. The work which was -produced by this method in great quantities was in the mass not valuable -either for the art shown in the design or for the skill of the engraver, -but derived its interest and popularity from qualities which have little -connection with fine art. No great works were produced; and it is only -here and there that separate prints of value are to be found, among -which those by Edmund Evans in Birket Foster’s edition of Cowper’s Task -deserve to be mentioned.</p> - -<p><a name="ill_73" id="ill_73"></a></p> - -<p class="figcenter"> -<a href="images/illpg169.png"> -<img src="images/illpg169_sml.png" width="345" height="389" -alt="FIG. 73.—Death as a Friend." title="FIG. 73.—Death as a Friend." /></a> -<br /> -<span class="caption">FIG. 73.—Death as a Friend.</span> -</p> - -<p>Upon the Continent the development of wood-engraving was by no means so -great as in England, but some excellent work has been done by the pupils -of Thompson, who went to Paris by Didot’s invitation; these men, of -whom<a name="page_169" id="page_169"></a> MM. Best and Leloir were the most distinguished, together with MM. -Brevière, Porret, and Lavoignat, produced some cuts of considerable -value both in book-illustration and in the art magazines. In Germany, -too, wood-engraving counts some good workmen among its following, but -the German woodcuts, of which the two (Figs. 73, 74) here given are -favorable<a name="page_170" id="page_170"></a> examples, remain inferior for the most part to either the -English or French.</p> - -<p><a name="ill_74" id="ill_74"></a></p> - -<p class="figcenter"> -<a href="images/illpg170.png"> -<img src="images/illpg170_sml.png" width="350" height="397" -alt="FIG. 74.—Death as a Throttler." title="FIG. 74.—Death as a Throttler." /></a> -<br /> -<span class="caption">FIG. 74.—Death as a Throttler.</span> -</p> - -<p>Wood-engraving, however, has been practised in our time less as a fine -art than as a useful art; and if little that is valuable for artistic -worth has been executed by engravers since the days of Nesbit, Clennell, -and Thompson, the application of wood-engraving for merely useful -purposes has<a name="page_171" id="page_171"></a> been of the greatest service. It has become a most -powerful instrument of popular education; it imparts the largest share -of the visual knowledge which the people have of the things they have -not directly seen; its utility as a means of instruction by its -representation of the objects with which science deals, and the -mechanical contrivances and processes which science employs, and also as -a means of influence in caricature and of simple popular amusement, is -incalculable; and, notwithstanding its low level in art, there can be no -doubt that it frequently assists the exercise of the popular -imagination, and sometimes generates in the better-endowed minds among -the people a real sympathy with the higher products of art and an -appreciation of them. These utilities, indeed, so overbalance its value -simply as a fine art as to give it a distinctive character, when its -practice now is compared with that of any previous time; as, formerly, -it reflected the aspects of changing civilization, now it reflects the -peculiar character of our time, and shows how great has been the gain in -the popular hold upon the material comforts of life and upon -intelligence, and how great has been the loss in the community’s -appreciation of purely artistic results. This is especially true of the -earlier American practice of the art, which seldom resulted in any work -of artistic value.</p> - -<p><a name="ill_75" id="ill_75"></a></p> - -<p class="figcenter"> -<a href="images/illpg172.png"> -<img src="images/illpg172_sml.png" width="335" height="228" -alt="FIG. 75.—The Creation. Engraved by J. F. Adams." title="FIG. 75.—The Creation. Engraved by J. F. Adams." /></a> -<br /> -<span class="caption">FIG. 75.—The Creation. Engraved by J. F. Adams.</span> -</p> - -<p><a name="ill_76" id="ill_76"></a></p> - -<p class="figcenter"> -<a href="images/illpg173.png"> -<img src="images/illpg173_sml.png" width="331" height="227" -alt="FIG. 76.—The Deluge. Engraved by J. F. Adams." title="FIG. 76.—The Deluge. Engraved by J. F. Adams." /></a> -<br /> -<span class="caption">FIG. 76.—The Deluge. Engraved by J. F. Adams.</span> -</p> - -<p>The history of wood-engraving in America, until recent years, is -comparatively insignificant. In art, as in literature, the first -generation of the Republic followed the English tradition almost -slavishly; the engravers, indeed, showed hardly any individuality, and -left no work of permanent value. During Colonial times some very rude -apprentice-work on metal had been produced; but the first certain -engraving<a name="page_172" id="page_172"></a> in wood bears date of 1794, and was from the hand of Dr. -Alexander Anderson (1775-1870), a physician by profession, but with a -natural bent toward the art, which he had played at from boyhood, and -finally made the principal business of his life. The sight of some of -Bewick’s early work had determined him to employ wood as a material in -place of the type-metal on which he had previously engraved in relief, -and the example of Bewick taught him to use white line. At that time, -and for many years afterward, the art was applied mainly to the -production of cuts for advertisements, labels, and the like, as a -servant of trade; its use for illustration simply was confined almost -wholly to juvenile books. The engravers who at the beginning of the -century introduced the art in New York, Boston, Philadelphia, Baltimore, -and New Haven were few, and, for the most part, self-taught; usually -they merely copied English cuts, and thus<a name="page_173" id="page_173"></a> they reflected in their -poorer work the manner of successive English schools; but at least they -kept the art alive, and handed it on through their pupils. Dr. Anderson -was the best of them; yet, although he was free and bold in his handling -of white line, and once or twice attained an excellence that proved him -a worthy pupil of Bewick, he left nothing of enduring interest, and the -work of his fellows met with even swifter forgetfulness. Woodcuts of -really high value were not produced in America until Joseph Alexander -Adams (b. 1803), one of the young engravers encouraged by Dr. Anderson, -began to do his best work (Figs. 75, 76), about 1834, and applied his -talents to the illustration of the Bible, published by the Harper -Brothers in 1843, with which wood-engraving may be properly said to have -begun its great career in this country. This volume was embellished by -sixteen hundred cuts, executed under the supervision of Mr.<a name="page_174" id="page_174"></a> Adams, and -plainly exhibits the capacities and limitations of the art at that time. -Other illustrated books followed this from the same press, and from that -of the Putnams; the cuts in the papers and magazines, established during -the second quarter of the century, became more numerous, and the -attention paid by the American Tract Society to the engravings in its -various publications had great influence in encouraging and improving -the art. The work of this first half-century, however, as a whole, does -not deserve any great praise; in judging it, the inexperience of the -engravers and the difficulties of printing must be remembered; but in -its inferior portions it is marked by feebleness and coarseness, and in -its better portion by a hardness and stiffness of line, a lack of -variety and gradation in tone and tint, and a defect in vivacity and -finish. There are here and there exceptional cuts to which these -strictures would not apply, but the body of the work is vitiated either -through an incomplete control of his materials by the engraver, or -through an evil imitation of copperplate-drawing by the designer. Where -the engraver was also the designer the work is usually of higher value.</p> - -<p><a name="ill_77" id="ill_77"></a></p> - -<p class="figcenter"> -<a href="images/illpg175.png"> -<img src="images/illpg175_sml.png" width="380" height="588" -alt="FIG. 77.—Butterflies. Engraved by F. S. King." title="FIG. 77.—Butterflies. Engraved by F. S. King." /></a> -<br /> -<span class="caption">FIG. 77.—Butterflies. Engraved by F. S. King.</span> -</p> - -<p>With the second half of the century began that expansion of the press, -that increase in the volume and improvement in the quality of the -reading provided for the public through newspapers and magazines, which -has been one of the most striking and important results of democratic -institutions. The Harpers’ Monthly Magazine was established in 1850, and -it was followed within a decade by several illustrated periodicals; -during the civil war there was naturally a slackening in this -development, but, upon its close, numerous new illustrated weekly or -monthly publications began their<a name="page_175" id="page_175"></a> longer or shorter career, among them -those issued by the Scribners, which were to have so important a bearing -on the history of wood-engraving.<a name="page_176" id="page_176"></a> The art naturally received a great -impetus from this demand upon its resources; it rapidly advanced; and -being encouraged farther by the popularity of the new and beautifully -illustrated gift-books of the Boston and New York publishers, it has -taken the leading place in the artistic interests of the country.</p> - -<p><a name="ill_78" id="ill_78"></a></p> - -<p class="figcenter"> -<a href="images/illpg177.png"> -<img src="images/illpg177_sml.png" width="402" height="575" -alt="FIG. 78.—Engraved by F. S. King." title="FIG. 78.—Engraved by F. S. King." /></a> -<br /> -<span class="caption">FIG. 78.—Engraved by F. S. King.</span> -</p> - -<p>The scope of this volume does not allow any detailed account of the -works of American engravers individually; but while the increased -productiveness and improved technique of the art during the third -quarter of the century are being noticed, it would be unjust to make no -mention of the quiet, careful, and refined woodcuts of Mr. Anthony, or -of the long and unflinching fidelity of Mr. Linton, with its reward in -admirable work, or of the exquisite skill of Mr. Henry Marsh, the best -of American engravers of that period. The latter’s marvellous rendering -of insect life in the illustrations to Harris’s Insects Injurious to -Vegetation, published in 1862, can never be forgotten by any who have -been fortunate enough to see the artist-proofs. His work is in the -manner of copperplate-engraving, and affords one of the few instances in -which wood-engraving has equalled the rival art in fineness, delicacy, -softness, and gradation of tone. Whatever the critic’s theory may be, he -must remember that genius has a higher validity than reason, and must -acknowledge such work as this to be its own justification. -Unfortunately, the cuts in the published volume were not—perhaps at -that time could not be—printed with the success they deserved. The work -of these three engravers illustrates what advance had already been made -in skilful line-arrangement and in technique before 1870, about which -time the indications of an approaching change in the art<a name="page_178" id="page_178"></a> -<a name="page_179" id="page_179"></a><a name="page_177" id="page_177"></a> became -plainly evident. Since then progress has been uninterrupted, swift, -marked by bold experiments and startling surprises. Now American -engravers excel all others in knowledge of the resources of their art, -and in control of its materials, as well as in the interest of their -work. They have not, it is true, produced, as yet, anything to rank in -artistic value with the designs of the older masters; but, in their -hands, the art has gained a width and utility of influence among our -people hitherto unequalled in any nation at any period. From the -beginning of its history wood-engraving has been distinctively a -democratic art; at present the ease and cheapness of its processes and -the variety of its applications make it one of the most accessible -sources of inexpensive information and pleasure; for this reason it has -acquired in our country, where a reading middle class forms the larger -portion of the nation, a popular influence of such far-reaching and -penetrative power as to make it a living art in a sense which none other -of the fine arts can claim. It now enters into the intellectual life and -enjoyment of our people to a degree and with a constancy impossible to -other arts. In this respect, too, it is only at the beginning of its -career; for, as popular education spreads, the place that the art holds -in the national life will continually become more important. These -social conditions, the technical skill of the engravers, and the -appearance among the people of a critical spirit concerning their -work—not perhaps to be called intelligent as yet, but forming, nascent, -feeling its way into conscious and active life—make up a group of most -favorable circumstances for a real artistic development. Whether such a -development will take place depends in large measure on the clearness -with which engravers<a name="page_180" id="page_180"></a> understand the laws of their art, as presented by -their materials, and on the degree in which such knowledge controls -them. The experiments of recent years are to be judged finally by the -results; but, in spite of the novel effects obtained, and of the new -character that has been given to the art, there is at present no such -unanimity, either among the engravers or the public, as to be decisive -of the worth of the new work as a whole. While the issue is still -doubtful, and the stake is the future of the only art by which those who -care for the growth of civilization can develop in the people a sense of -art, bring them to an appreciation of its value, open their -understandings to its teachings, and fill their lives with its delights, -something may be gained by recurring to fundamental principles, as -illustrated by the practice of the older masters, not with an end to -limit the future by the past, but to foresee it. Such a brief review and -summary of past thought respecting the aims and methods of -wood-engraving, with such corrections as modern improvements in -processes justify, will afford the surest ground for criticism of the -work still to be considered.</p> - -<p>All the graphic arts have to do with some one or more of the three modes -under which nature is revealed to the artist—the mode of pure form, the -mode of pure color, the mode of form and color, as they are affected by -the different lights and shadows in which they exist. In nature these -three modes do not exist separately, and usually no one of them is so -prominent as to efface the others; in the several arts, however, the -principal attention is given, now to one, now to another, of them, -according to the capacities of the art and the powers of the artists. -Thus sculpture deals only with form, and even in painting, which -includes all<a name="page_181" id="page_181"></a> within its province, different masters make a choice, and -aim principally at reproducing color, or chiaroscuro, or form, as their -talents direct them, for a genius seldom arises with the power to -combine all these with the truth and harmony of nature. Wood-engraving, -there is no need to say, cannot reproduce the real hues of objects, nor -the play of light upon hue and form, nor the more marvellously -transforming touch of shadow; it can represent the form of a peach, but -it cannot paint its delicate tints, nor adequately and accurately show -how the beauty of its bloom in sun differs from the beauty of its bloom -in shade. More broadly, a landscape shot with the evanescent shadows -that hover in rapidly moving mists, or the intermingling light and gloom -of a wind-swept moonlit sky half overcast with clouds, wood-engraving -has no power to mirror in true likeness. The most it can do in this -direction is to indicate, it cannot express; it can exhibit strong -contrasts and delicate gradations of light and shadow, and it can -suggest varying intensity of hues, by the greater or less depth of its -blacks and grays; but real color and perfect chiaroscuro it relinquishes -to painting.</p> - -<p>Form, therefore, is left as the main object of the wood-engraver’s -craft, and the representation of form is effected by delineation, -drawing, line-work. This is why the great draughtsmen, such as Dürer and -Holbein, succeeded in designing for wood-engraving. They knew how to -express form by lines, and they did not attempt to do more even when -suggesting color-values by the convention of black and gray. Line-work -is thus the main business of the engraver, because form must be -expressed by lines. Line-work, however, is of different kinds, and all -kinds are not equally<a name="page_182" id="page_182"></a> proper for the art. Hitherto the fineness of line -by which copperplate-engraving easily obtains delicacy of contour and -soft transitions of tone, has been rarely and with difficulty attained -by the best-skilled hand and eye among wood-engravers, and when attained -has, usually, not been successfully printed. There remains, however, no -longer any reason to exclude fine lines from wood-engraving, when once -it has become plain that such work is possible without a wasteful -expenditure of labor, that its results are valuable, and that it can be -properly printed. But if it shall prove that the character of the line -proper to copperplate is also proper to wood, it may be looked on as -certain that the line-arrangement proper to the former material can -never be rationally used for the latter. The crossing of lines to which -the engraver on copperplate resorts is especially laborious to the -engraver in wood, and after all his toil does not give any desirable -effect which would not have resulted from other methods of work. It has -been seen that Dürer employed this cross-hatching in imitation of -copperplate-engraving; but he did so because he was ignorant of the way -to arrange color so that this difficult task of engraving -cross-hatchings would be unnecessary. Holbein, who was equally ignorant -of the possibilities of white line, rejected cross-hatching. Bewick also -rejected it, and proved it was unnecessary even where much color was to -be given. In the later work of the sixteenth century, and in modern -English work, wood-engraving imitated its rival art both in the -character and the arrangement of its lines; it failed in both instances -mainly because such imitation involved a waste of labor, and did not -result in works so valuable artistically as were obtained by -copperplate-engraving with far greater<a name="page_183" id="page_183"></a> ease. At present the objection -to the use of cross-hatching in wood-engraving is as serious as ever, -but the employment of fine lines for<a name="page_184" id="page_184"></a> some purposes, as in the rendering -of delicate textures and tones, has been justified, mainly in -consequence of innovations in the modes of printing. The charm of this -new and surprising beauty in fine-line woodcuts, however, has not at all -deprived the old broad and bold line of its force and vigor, nor made -less valuable the strong contrasts in which the art won its earlier -success. On the contrary, it is in the old province and by the old -methods that wood-engraving has worked out its most distinctive and -peculiar effects of real value.</p> - -<p><a name="ill_79" id="ill_79"></a></p> - -<p class="figcenter"> -<a href="images/illpg183.png"> -<img src="images/illpg183_sml.png" width="399" height="544" -alt="FIG. 79.—Mount Lafayette (White Mountains). By J. -Tinkey." title="FIG. 79.—Mount Lafayette (White Mountains). By J. -Tinkey." /></a> -<br /> -<span class="caption">FIG. 79.—Mount Lafayette (White Mountains). By J. -Tinkey.</span> -</p> - -<p>In what has been thus far said of the line-work proper to -wood-engraving, black line-work only has been referred to. -Wood-engraving is also an art of design in white line, and here a -different set of considerations applies. There is not the same -difficulty in cutting fine and delicate white lines, as is the case with -black lines, nor the same unlikelihood of their effect being felt in the -printed design. There is, too, no objection whatever to crossing white -lines, as a mode of work, for it is as easy a process for the -wood-engraver as crossing black lines is for the copperplate-engraver, -and the result thus obtained is sometimes of great value, particularly -in the moulding of the face. The art of design in white line, however, -is but little developed; but, not to depreciate the older method of -black line, which is extremely valuable, nevertheless it is clear that -white line-work is the peculiar province of the wood-engraver, and that -in developing its capacities the future of the art mainly lies, so far -as it rests with him. The merit of all line-work, whether black or -white, fine or broad, bold or subtle, depends upon the certainty with -which the lines serve their purposes. If, as with Holbein, every line -has its work to do, and does that work<a name="page_185" id="page_185"></a> perfectly; if it fulfils its -function of defining an outline, or marking the moulding of a muscle, or -deepening the intensity of a shadow, or performing some similar service, -then the designer has followed the method of high art, and has produced -something of value. The work of all who practise the art—the -draughtsmen who draw in black line, and the engravers who draw in white -line—has worth just in proportion as they acquire the power to put -intention into their lines and to express something by every stroke; -and, other things being equal, he who conveys most meaning in the fewest -lines, like Holbein and Bewick, is the greatest master. By means of such -lines so arranged wood-engraving does represent form with great power, -and also texture, which is only a finer form; it indicates positive -hues, and, within limits, suggests the play of light and shadow on form -and hue. It thus aims chiefly, in its bolder and more facile work, at -force, spirit, and contrast, and, in its more rare and difficult -efforts, at delicacy, finish, and nice gradation of harmonious tones.</p> - -<p>If there is any value in the teaching of the past, either these -principles must be shown to be no longer valid, or by them the engraving -of the last ten years must be judged. A considerable portion of it -consists of attempts to render original designs—for example, a washed -drawing—not by interpreting its artistic qualities, its form, color, -force, spirit, and manner, so far as these can be given by simple, -defined, firm lines of the engraver’s creation, but by imitating as -closely as possible the original effect, and showing the character of -the original process, whether it were water-color, charcoal-sketching, -oil-painting, clay-modelling, or any other. However desirable it may be -to make known the original process,<a name="page_186" id="page_186"></a> such knowledge does not enhance the -artistic value of the cut; and however pleasing it may be to the public -to obtain copies even successfully, indicating the general effects, -without the charm, of originals in other arts with which wood-engraving -has little affinity, such work will rather satisfy curiosity than -delight the eye. The public may thus derive information; they will not -obtain works of artistic value at all equal to those which -wood-engraving might give them, did it not abdicate its own peculiar -power of expressing nature in a true, accurate, and beautiful way and -descend to mechanical imitation. The application of the art to such -purposes, as little more than another mode of photography, is a -debasement of it; it ceases to be a fine art when it ceases to be -practised for the sake of its own powers of beautiful expression. Such -work, therefore, has only a secondary interest, as being one more -process for the defective reproduction of beautiful things, and requires -only a passing mention.</p> - -<p><a name="ill_80" id="ill_80"></a></p> - -<p class="figcenter"> -<a href="images/illpg187.png"> -<img src="images/illpg187_sml.png" width="351" height="540" -alt="FIG. 80.—“And silent were the sheep in woolly -fold.”—KEATS, St. Agnes Eve. -Engraved by J. G. Smithwick." title="FIG. 80.—“And silent were the sheep in woolly -fold.”—KEATS, St. Agnes Eve. -Engraved by J. G. Smithwick." /></a> -<br /> -<span class="caption">FIG. 80.—“And silent were the sheep in woolly -fold.”—KEATS, St. Agnes Eve.<br /> -Engraved by J. G. Smithwick.</span> -</p> - -<p><a name="ill_81" id="ill_81"></a></p> - -<p class="figcenter"> -<a href="images/illpg189.png"> -<img src="images/illpg189_sml.png" width="371" height="225" -alt="FIG. 81.—The Old Orchard. Engraved by F. Juengling." title="FIG. 81.—The Old Orchard. Engraved by F. Juengling." /></a> -<br /> -<span class="caption">FIG. 81.—The Old Orchard. Engraved by F. Juengling.</span> -</p> - -<p>Aside from these imitative cuts, the most striking portion of recent -engraving, that which has been hailed as opening a new career to the -art, is characterized either by a great refinement of line or by a -practical abandonment of line. Of the former tendency Mr. Henry Marsh -affords the most prominent examples by his engravings in illustration of -insect life, or similarly delicate work. The skill of his hand and the -charm of the style he has adopted are beyond question; there is as -little doubt of the truthfulness and beauty of the effects secured in -the rendering of individual objects, the butterfly wing, the pond-lily, -or the spray of the winter forest; the only deduction to be made from -his praise is, that when he binds these several objects into one -picture, as in a landscape, he suffers the too frequent<a name="page_188" id="page_188"></a> -<a name="page_189" id="page_189"></a><a name="page_187" id="page_187"></a> penalty of -fine detail, and loses in the delicacy and finish of the parts the -beauty that should have characterized the whole. There is always in his -cuts grace, poetic feeling, exquisite workmanship, but there is in some -of them a lack of body, substance, distance, of skill in placing the -objects in a natural relation to one another, that mars the total -result. Mr. Marsh is one of the older men, and deserves the credit of -first showing what wood-engraving is capable of in refinement of line; -but younger men have joined him in developing these capacities of the -art, and have made work in this style more common. The best of it is by -Mr. F. S. King, being equal in every quality to Mr. Marsh’s most -admirable cuts. Such engraving is exceptional, of course; but the -evenness and transition of tone, the care for line, the discrimination -of both line and color values, shown in these butterflies (Fig. 77), -are<a name="page_190" id="page_190"></a> characteristic of Mr. King’s work in general, although in some of -it a lack of definition in outlines is noticeable. The refinement of -line in these two engravers is justifiable, because they put meaning -into the lines, and express by them something that could not otherwise -be interpreted to the eye through this art; and so long as this remains -the case they will meet with commendation and encouragement. It is only -when such refinement is needlessly resorted to, or is confusing or -meaningless, that it is rightly rebuked.</p> - -<p><a name="ill_82" id="ill_82"></a></p> - -<p class="figcenter"> -<a href="images/illpg191.png"> -<img src="images/illpg191_sml.png" width="373" height="549" -alt="FIG. 82.—Some Art Connoisseurs. Engraved by Robert -Hoskin." title="FIG. 82.—Some Art Connoisseurs. Engraved by Robert -Hoskin." /></a> -<br /> -<span class="caption">FIG. 82.—Some Art Connoisseurs. Engraved by Robert -Hoskin.</span> -</p> - -<p>The second and more evil tendency of recent engraving, toward an -abandonment of line, is exhibited in many phases, and by nearly all the -younger men. In some cases the central portion of the cut seems alone to -be cared for, and is much elaborated, while the surrounding parts fade -off into the background with the uncertainty of a dissolving view; in -other cases there seems to be entire indifference about form or texture: -there is no definition of the one nor discrimination in the other, but -an effect only is sought for, usually vague or startling, always -unsatisfactory, and not infrequently ugly. Such work is the product of -ignorance or carelessness or caprice. In it wood-engraving ceases to be -an art of expression. These obscure masses, meant for trees, in which -one may look with a microscope and see neither leaf, limb, nor bark; -these mottled grounds, meant for grass or houses, in which there is -neither blade nor fibre; these blocks of formless tints, in which all -the veracity of the landscape perishes, do not record natural facts, or -convey thought or sentiment; they are simply vacant of meaning. To -illustrate or criticise such work would be an ungracious as well as a -needless task; but even in the best work of the best engravers, with -which alone these pages are concerned,<a name="page_192" id="page_192"></a> -<a name="page_193" id="page_193"></a><a name="page_191" id="page_191"></a> the marks of tendency in this -wrong direction are palpably present. Here, for example, is some -charming work by Mr. King (Fig. 78), wholly successful in securing the -effect sought—beautiful, well worth doing. The spirit of the season, -the moist days, the April nature, the leafing and budding in mist and -cloudiness, and gleam of light and breath of warm, soft air along -full-flowing streams, the swift and buoyant welcome borne on the forward -flight of the birds straight toward us, the ever-renewed marvel of the -birth of life and the coming on of days of beauty—the feeling of all -this is given, and the success is due in large part to the vagueness -that dims the whole design; but why should the wreathing flowers, the -tender crown of all, lose the curve of their petals and darken the -delicate form of each young blossom, all blurred into the background, -and half-effaced and marred, and tiring the eye with the effort to -define them? If the value of form had been more felt, if the definition -of outline had been firmer, if the spray had really blossomed, would not -the design have been better? There is less doubt of the error in the -next cut. The disappearance of texture and the attenuation of substance -into flat shadow is very plain. To a true woodsman, to one who has lived -with trees, and knows and loves them, there is little of their nature in -these vague, transparent, insubstantial forms, that seem rather skeleton -leaves than strong-limbed, firm-rooted trees that have sung in the -frosty silence and lived through the “bitter cold” of many a St. Agnes -Eve. Who, looking on these pale shadows, would remember that the same -poet, whose verse is here put into picture, thought of trees as -“senators” of the woods? In the disposition of the light of the -atmosphere, in the management of the gray tints,<a name="page_194" id="page_194"></a> particularly in the -lower portion of the cut, the eye takes more pleasure: there is some -discrimination between the sheep, the old man, and the fold—as much, -perhaps, as the<a name="page_195" id="page_195"></a> prevailing obscurity admits; but the cut as a whole is -much harmed by the lack of relief, which seems to be a recurring fault -in fine-lined and crowded work. The cut (Fig. 81) by Mr. Juengling, -whose engravings exhibit the tendencies of the new methods in the most -pronounced way, shows, like the preceding illustration, an inattention -to texture in the foliage, and an entire negligence of cloud-form in the -sky, which is a fair example of the abandonment of line, or of -meaningless line, as one chooses to call it. An effect is gained, a -horizon light and shadowed masses, but the landscape is not faithfully -rendered.</p> - -<p><a name="ill_83" id="ill_83"></a></p> - -<p class="figcenter"> -<a href="images/illpg194.png"> -<img src="images/illpg194_sml.png" width="370" height="486" -alt="FIG. 83.—The Travelling Musicians. Engraved by R. A. -Muller." title="FIG. 83.—The Travelling Musicians. Engraved by R. A. -Muller." /></a> -<br /> -<span class="caption">FIG. 83.—The Travelling Musicians. Engraved by R. A. -Muller.</span> -</p> - -<p>Of a different order are the two following cuts, simple, quiet, and -refined. The mountain scene (page 183) is admirable for the disposition -of its lights and shadows, the gradation and variation of its tints, and -the subordination of every element to a truthful total effect. The cut -by Mr. Hoskin (Fig. 82) is a good example of his always excellent work, -showing his power of economy and his feeling for line and tone, while it -evinces self-restraint in methods of work.</p> - -<p><a name="ill_84" id="ill_84"></a></p> - -<p class="figcenter"> -<a href="images/illpg196.png"> -<img src="images/illpg196_sml.png" width="277" height="464" -alt="FIG. 84.—Shipwrecked. Engraved by Frank French." title="FIG. 84.—Shipwrecked. Engraved by Frank French." /></a> -<br /> -<span class="caption">FIG. 84.—Shipwrecked. Engraved by Frank French.</span> -</p> - -<p>The change that has taken place in recent engraving has been less marked -in cuts of landscape, however, than in cuts of figures. In the former -line-arrangement has been affected somewhat, and usually for the worse, -but in the latter the transformation has been greater, and the results -already worked out of more striking novelty. The development, however, -has been in the same directions, in refining or abandoning line, and -examples exhibit the same or analogous variation in the engravers’ -regard for form and texture. The first group here given (Fig. 83) shows -clearly, by the character and the direction of its lines, that it is a -reproduction<a name="page_196" id="page_196"></a> of copperplate-engraving, and as a piece of imitative work -it is remarkable; the figures are life-like, full of vivacity and force, -and the faces are natural and very expressive. It is, however, in the -style of copperplate, and in<a name="page_197" id="page_197"></a> the qualities mentioned it does not excel -the next cut (Fig. 84), in which the character and direction of the -lines are those peculiar to wood-engraving. The former has an appearance -of more finish, as also of more hardness, but it does not by its more -difficult mode of engraving, accomplish what is aimed at in any higher -degree than does the latter by its simpler, easier, and freer manner. -The Tap-room (Fig. 85), by the same engraver, is less careful work, and -its novel technical quality, while of the same general character as that -of the last cut, is more pronounced and less pleasing. The figures as a -whole are good, but the faces are poor; the use of the cross white line -or stipple for fire, apron, rafter, table-cloth, and face indifferently -cannot be commended, and the character of many of the lines -(particularly in the lower part of the seated figure) is beyond -criticism. It is the still bolder and more general use of the peculiar -modes of engraving in this design that results in the most meaningless, -negligent scratchiness of the new school. Mr. J. P. Davis’s “Going to -Church” (Fig. 86) is a favorable example of another considerable class -of cuts that is on first sight novel and pleasing. On examination one -sees that the figures are certainly the best part of the cut; but why -should the maiden’s dress be the same in texture as the cow’s breast, -and the young man’s trousers the same as the cow’s back? and why should -the child’s face be of a piece with its collar? Notice, too, beyond the -wall the familiar flat and insubstantial trees, with their foliage that -would serve as well for the ground at the foot of the steps.</p> - -<p><a name="ill_85" id="ill_85"></a></p> - -<p class="figcenter"> -<a href="images/illpg198.png"> -<img src="images/illpg198_sml.png" width="412" height="345" -alt="FIG. 85.—The Tap-room. Engraved by Frank French." title="FIG. 85.—The Tap-room. Engraved by Frank French." /></a> -<br /> -<span class="caption">FIG. 85.—The Tap-room. Engraved by Frank French.</span> -</p> - -<p><a name="ill_86" id="ill_86"></a></p> - -<p class="figcenter"> -<a href="images/illpg199.png"> -<img src="images/illpg199_sml.png" width="396" height="383" -alt="FIG. 86.—Going to Church. Engraved by J. P. Davis." title="FIG. 86.—Going to Church. Engraved by J. P. Davis." /></a> -<br /> -<span class="caption">FIG. 86.—Going to Church. Engraved by J. P. Davis.</span> -</p> - -<p>The best work in these figure-cuts, however, is by Mr. T. Cole, who -stands at the head of engravers in the new manner, though he is not -confined by it. The portraits, by<a name="page_198" id="page_198"></a> which he first became widely known, -were remarkable for an entire absence, in some cases, of any demarcation -between picture and background, and for a concentration of attention -upon some few specially characteristic features of the face. Whoever -deserved the blame so liberally meted out to these heads, Mr. Cole’s -reputation rests now upon better work—upon such an exquisitely refined -portrait as that of Modjeska as Juliet, in the Scribner Portfolio of -Proofs, and other cuts of hardly less merit there to be found. -Frequently, however, there is noticeable in some of his best work an -analogous<a name="page_199" id="page_199"></a> characteristic to that of the earlier portraits—the -concentration of attention on the central figures, to the neglect of the -minor portions of the designs. Thus in the example here given (Fig. 87), -so long as the eye is concerned only with the two stately figures, there -is only pleasure in such admirable workmanship; but when the gaze -wanders to the near, and especially the remote, background, there is -nothing to delight the lover of art or nature in such confusion, -insubstantiality,<a name="page_200" id="page_200"></a> flat, waving shadows without beauty or meaning. Who -would guess from that obscure and formless net-work in the distance that -the next line of these verses is—</p> - -<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> -<span class="i0">“And all the sunset heaven behind your head?”<br /></span> -</div></div> - -<p>This “generalization” of the landscape, as it is called, empties it of -all that makes it lovely. To the cut, as an example of figure-engraving, -the highest praise may be given, but as an entire picture it is harmed -by its imperfection of detail. To subordinate by destroying is not the -mode of high art, but it is often the mode of the new school.</p> - -<p>Of all the work of recent years, however, the best, it is generally -admitted, is in the portraits, possibly because the artists are -restrained by the definiteness of the form and expression to be -conveyed. Mr. Cole’s Modjeska has been already praised, though it is -rather a fine figure than a fine portrait. A portrait of Mr. Hunt by Mr. -Linton, and of Mr. Fletcher Harper by Mr. Kruell, are also of high -merit, and in both a very high level of excellence is sustained. The -special character of the new school in portraiture, as a distinct and -radical style, is illustrated by Mr. Juengling’s “Spanish Peasant” (Fig. -88). It recalls at once the portrait of Whistler by the same hand. In -disposition of color, in certainty of effect, and in skill of execution, -all must recognize the engraver’s power; but is the value of the human -face, in whose mouldings is expressed the life of years and -generations—is the value of the human eye, in which the light never -goes out, truly felt? One cannot help feeling that the brutalizing of -this face is a matter rather of art than of truth. Contrast the two -portraits here given (Figs. 89, 90), one in the bolder, more definite, -larger style, admirable<a name="page_201" id="page_201"></a> in its tones and discrimination of textures, -among the very best in this manner; the other finer, with the tendency<a name="page_202" id="page_202"></a> -to fade into the background, but faultless in its rendering of the face, -and proving by success the great effectiveness of the fine white -cross-line.</p> - -<p><a name="ill_87" id="ill_87"></a></p> - -<p class="figcenter"> -<a href="images/illpg201.png"> -<img src="images/illpg201_sml.png" width="380" height="483" alt="FIG. 87.— -“Nay, Love, ’tis you who stand -With almond clusters in your clasping hand.” -Engraved by T. Cole." title="FIG. 87.— -“Nay, Love, ’tis you who stand -With almond clusters in your clasping hand.” -Engraved by T. Cole." /></a> -<br /> -<span class="caption">FIG. 87.—<br /> -“Nay, Love, ’tis you who stand <br /> -With almond clusters in your clasping hand.” -Engraved by T. Cole.</span> -</p> - -<p>These illustrations of recent engraving are sufficiently numerous and -various to offer a fair test of what has been done in different branches -of the art. The capacity of any new school should be judged by the best -it has produced; but, even in this best work, it is not difficult to -discern at times the same tendencies that have been the main cause of -failure in the less good work. The obscuration of leading outlines; the -disregard of substance, shape, and material in leaf, cloud, and stuffs; -the neglect of relief and perspective, the crowding of the ground with -meaningless lines, either undirected or misdirected, or uselessly -refined; the aim at an effect by an arrangement of color almost -independent of form, the attempt to make a momentary impression on the -eye, instead of to give lasting pleasure to the mind through the -artistic sense, and—especially in the best work—the lack of perfect -and masterly finish in all portions of the design, however insignificant -by comparison with the leading parts—these must be counted as defects. -How much of such failure is due to the designer, it is impossible to -determine without sight of the original drawings; a considerable portion -of the fault may rest with him; in wood-engravings, as art-works, the -union of designer and craftsman is inseparable—the two stand or fall -together. But when all deductions have been made, the best engravers may -rightly be very proud of their work, confident of their future, and -hopeful of great things. With such perfect technical skill as they -possess, with such form and texture as they have represented with care, -truth, and beauty; with such softness<a name="page_204" id="page_204"></a> -<a name="page_205" id="page_205"></a><a name="page_203" id="page_203"></a> of tone and power of both -delicate and strong line as some of their number have earned the mastery -of, the value of<a name="page_206" id="page_206"></a> future work depends only on the wisdom of their aims. -If the fundamental grounds on which the foregoing criticism rests be -true, these engravers have won success in so far as they have attended -to form and texture as the main business of their art, and they have -failed in so far as they have destroyed these. From its peculiar and -original powers in the interpretation of form and texture by line-work, -either black or white, wood-engraving has derived its value and earned -the respect due it as an art, both through its great works in the past -and, so far as yet appears, through its best works in the present. -Wood-engravers, if the design given them to reproduce is in black line, -fit for engraving in wood, must copy it simply, and then, should -artist-draughtsmen arise, the art in this manner will again produce -works of permanent value as in the days of Holbein; if, on the other -hand, the design given them is in color or washed tints, or anything of -that sort, they must interpret it by lines of their own creation, and -then, too, should any engraver-draughtsmen arise among them, the art -will possess a similarly high value; but in no other way than by -attending to these two kinds of line-work, separately or together, can -wood-engraving remain artistic; and even then its success will depend on -the knowledge and skill of the designer, whether artist or engraver, in -the use and arrangement of the special lines which are best adapted to -the art.</p> - -<p><a name="ill_88" id="ill_88"></a></p> - -<p class="figcenter"> -<a href="images/illpg203.png"> -<img src="images/illpg203_sml.png" width="416" height="577" -alt="FIG. 88.—The Spanish Peasant. Engraved by F. Juengling." title="FIG. 88.—The Spanish Peasant. Engraved by F. Juengling." /></a> -<br /> -<span class="caption">FIG. 88.—The Spanish Peasant. Engraved by F. Juengling.</span> -</p> - -<p><a name="ill_89" id="ill_89"></a></p> - -<p class="figcenter"> -<a href="images/illpg205.png"> -<img src="images/illpg205_sml.png" width="375" height="484" -alt="FIG. 89.—James Russell Lowell. Engraved by Thomas -Johnson." title="FIG. 89.—James Russell Lowell. Engraved by Thomas -Johnson." /></a> -<br /> -<span class="caption">FIG. 89.—James Russell Lowell. Engraved by Thomas -Johnson.</span> -</p> - -<p><a name="ill_90" id="ill_90"></a></p> - -<p class="figcenter"> -<a href="images/illpg207.png"> -<img src="images/illpg207_sml.png" width="396" height="589" -alt="FIG. 90.—Arthur Penrhyn Stanley. Engraved by G. Kruell." title="FIG. 90.—Arthur Penrhyn Stanley. Engraved by G. Kruell." /></a> -<br /> -<span class="caption">FIG. 90.—Arthur Penrhyn Stanley. Engraved by G. Kruell.</span> -</p> - -<p>The history of wood-engraving, as it is recorded in the chief monuments -of the art, has now been told from its beginning down to the present -moment. Its historic and artistic value has been mainly dwelt upon, with -the view of showing its utility as a democratic art and its powers as a -fine art. It has had an illustrious career. It has shared in<a name="page_208" id="page_208"></a> -<a name="page_209" id="page_209"></a><a name="page_207" id="page_207"></a> the -great social movements which transformed mediæval into modern -civilization. It entered into the popular life, in its earliest days, by -representing the saints whom the people worshipped. It contributed to -the cause of popular civilization in the spread of literature. It -assisted the introduction of realism into art, and gave powerful aid in -the gradual secularization of art. It lent itself to the Italian genius, -and was able to preserve something of the loveliness of the Italian -Renaissance. It helped the Reformation. It gave enduring form to the -imagination and thought of Dürer and Holbein. It fell into inevitable -decline; but, when the development of democracy again began in the new -age, it entered into the work of popular civilization with -ever-increasing vigor and ever-widening influence. It seems still to -possess unlimited capacities for usefulness in the future in both the -intellectual and artistic education of the people. It may yet crown its -career by making this country an art-loving as well as a book-reading -Republic.</p> - -<p><a name="page_210" id="page_210"></a></p> - -<p><a name="page_211" id="page_211"></a></p> - -<h2><a name="A_LIST_OF_THE_PRINCIPAL_WORKS" id="A_LIST_OF_THE_PRINCIPAL_WORKS"></a>A LIST OF THE PRINCIPAL WORKS<br /><br /> -<small>UPON<br /><br /> -WOOD-ENGRAVING USEFUL TO STUDENTS.</small></h2> - -<p class="hang"><span class="smcap">Archiv</span> für die zeichnenden Künste, mit besonderer Beziehung auf -Kupfer-stecher-und Holzschneidekunst. Herausg. von R. Naumann. -1ter-16ter Jahrgang. Leipzig, 1855-’70. 8vo.</p> - -<p class="hang"><span class="smcap">Bartsch (Adam).</span> Le Peintre-Graveur. Vienne, 1803-’21. 21 T. 8vo; Atlas, -4to.</p> - -<p class="hang"><span class="smcap">Becker (C.).</span> Jobst Amman, Zeichner und Formschneider, etc., nebst -Zusätzen von R. Weigel. Leipzig, 1854. 4to.</p> - -<p class="hang"><span class="smcap">Berjeau (J. Ph.).</span> Biblia Pauperum. Reproduced in Facsimile from one of -the copies in the British Museum, with an historical and bibliographical -Introduction. London, 1859. Folio.</p> - -<p>Speculum Humanæ Salvationis. Le plus ancien Monument de la Xylographie -et de la Typographic réunies. Reproduit en Facsimile, avec Introduction -historique et bibliographique. Londres, 1861. Folio.</p> - -<p class="hang"><span class="smcap">Bernard (Auguste).</span> De l’Origine de l’Imprimerie. Paris, 1853. 2T. 8vo.</p> - -<p class="hang"><span class="smcap">Bigmore (E. C.)</span> and <span class="smcap">Wyman (C. W. H.).</span> A Bibliography of Printing. With -Notes and Illustrations. [Vol. 1.] A-L. London, 1880. 4to.</p> - -<p class="hang"><span class="smcap">Bilder-Album</span> zur neueren Geschichte des Holzschnitts in Deutschland. -Herausg. vom Albertverein. Leipzig, 1877. 4to.</p> - -<p class="hang"><span class="smcap">Blanc (Charles).</span> Grammaire des Arts du Dessin, etc. Paris, 1867. 8vo.</p> - -<p class="hang"><span class="smcap">Brevière (A.).</span> De la Xilographie ou Gravure sur bois. Rouen, 1833. 8vo.</p> - -<p class="hang"><span class="smcap">Chatto (W. A.).</span> A Treatise on Wood-engraving. London, 1839. 8vo. Known -as Jackson (John) and Chatto’s History.</p> - -<p class="hang"><span class="smcap">Derschau (H. A. von).</span> Holzschnitte alter deutscher Meister in den -Originalplatten, gesammelt von Derschau, mit einer Abhandlung über die -Holzschneidekunst begleitet, von Rudolph Zacharias Becker. Gotha, -1808-’16. 3 Th. Folio.<a name="page_212" id="page_212"></a></p> - -<p class="hang"><span class="smcap">Dibdin (T. F.).</span> A bibliographical, antiquarian, and picturesque Tour in -France and Germany. London, 1821. 3 vols. 8vo.</p> - -<p>Bibliographical Decameron. London, 1817. 3 vols. 8vo.</p> - -<p>Bibliotheca Spenceriana. London, 1814, ’15. 4 vols. 8vo.</p> - -<p class="hang"><span class="smcap">Didot (Ambroise Firmin).</span> Essai typographique et bibliographique sur -l’Histoire de la Gravure sur Bois. Paris, 1863. 8vo.</p> - -<p class="hang"><span class="smcap">Documents</span> iconographiques et typographiques de la Bibliothèque royale de -Belgique. Bruxelles, 1877. Folio.</p> - -<p>Première Livr. Spirituale Pomerium, par L. Alvin.</p> - -<p>Deuxième Livr. Gravures Criblées, par H. Hymans.</p> - -<p>Troisième Livr. La Vierge de 1418, par Ch. Ruelens.</p> - -<p>Cinquième Livr. Les neuf Preux, par É. Fétis.</p> - -<p>Sixième Livr. Légende de Saint Servais, par Ch. Ruelens.</p> - -<p class="hang"><span class="smcap">Duplessis (G. G.).</span> Essai de Bibliographie, contenant l’Indication des -Ouvrages relatifs à l’Histoire de la Gravure et des Graveurs. Paris, -1862. 8vo.</p> - -<p>Histoire de la Gravure. Paris, 1880. 8vo.</p> - -<p>Les Merveilles de la Gravure. Paris, 1869. 8vo.</p> - -<p class="hang"><span class="smcap">Émeric-David (T. B.)</span> Discours Historique sur la Gravure en Taille-douce -et sur la Gravure en Bois. Paris, 1809. 8vo.</p> - -<p class="hang"><span class="smcap">Falkenstein (C. C. von).</span> Geschichte der Buchdruckerkunst. Leipzig, 1840. -4to.</p> - -<p class="hang"><span class="smcap">Fournier (P. S.).</span> Dissertation sur l’Origine et les Progrès de l’Art de -Graver en Bois. Paris, 1758. 8vo.</p> - -<p>De l’Origine et des Productions de l’Imprimerie primitive en Taille de -Bois. Paris, 1759. 8vo.</p> - -<p class="hang"><span class="smcap">Garnier (J. M.).</span> Histoire de l’Imagerie populaire et des Cartes à jouer -à Chartres. Chartres, 1869. 8vo.</p> - -<p class="hang"><span class="smcap">Gilks (T.).</span> A Sketch of the Origin and Progress of the Art of -Wood-engraving. London, 1868. 8vo.</p> - -<p class="hang"><span class="smcap">Hamerton (P. G.).</span> The Graphic Arts. London, 1882. Plates. Folio.</p> - -<p class="hang"><span class="smcap">Heinecken (K. H., Baron von).</span> Idée générale d’une Collection complette -d’Estampes. Leipsic et Vienne, 1771. 8vo.</p> - -<p class="hang"><span class="smcap">Heller (Joseph).</span> Geschichte der Holzschneidekunst. Bamberg, 1823. 8vo.<a name="page_213" id="page_213"></a></p> - -<p class="hang"><span class="smcap">Holtrop (J. W.).</span> Monumens typographiques des Pays-Bas au quinzième -Siècle. La Haye, 1868. Folio.</p> - -<p class="hang"><span class="smcap">Humphreys (H. Noel).</span> A History of the Art of Printing. London, 1867. -Folio.</p> - -<p>Masterpieces of the early Printers and Engravers. London, 1870. Folio.</p> - -<p class="hang"><span class="smcap">Ilg (Albert).</span> Ueber den kunsthistorischen Werth der Hypnerotomachia -Poliphili. Wien, 1872. 8vo.</p> - -<p class="hang"><span class="smcap">Jansen (H.)</span>. Essai sur l’Origine de la Gravure en Bois et en -Taille-douce. Paris, 1808. 2 T. 8vo.</p> - -<p class="hang"><span class="smcap">Labitte (A.).</span> Gravures sur Bois tirées des Livres français du XV<sup>e</sup> -Siècle. Paris, 1864. 4to.</p> - -<p class="hang"><span class="smcap">La Borde (Henri).</span> Notice sur deux Estampes de 1406. Gazette des -Beaux-Arts, Mars 1, 1869.</p> - -<p class="hang"><span class="smcap">La Borde (Léon E. S. J., Marquis de).</span> Débuts de l’Imprimerie à -Strasbourg. Paris, 1840. 8vo.</p> - -<p>Essai d’un Catalogue des Artistes originaires des Pays-Bas. Paris, 1849. -8vo.</p> - -<p class="hang"><span class="smcap">Lacroix (Paul).</span> Les Arts au Moyen Âge et à l’Époque de la Renaissance. -Paris, 1870. 8vo.</p> - -<p class="hang"><span class="smcap">Lanzi (L.).</span> Storia pittorica della Italia dal Risorgimento delle Belle -Arti fin presso al fine del XVIII secolo. 6a ed. Milano, 1823. 6 vols. -8vo.</p> - -<p class="hang"><span class="smcap">Maberly (J.).</span> The Print Collector. Edited, with Notes and a Bibliography -of Engraving, by R. Hoe, Jr. New York, 1880. 4to.</p> - -<p class="hang"><span class="smcap">Meisterwerke</span> der Holzschneidekunst aus dem Gebriete der Architektur, -Sculptur und Malerei. 1ter-3ter Band. Leipzig, 1880, ’81. Folio.</p> - -<p class="hang"><span class="smcap">Merlin (R.).</span> Origine des Cartes à Jouer. Paris, 1869. 4to.</p> - -<p class="hang"><span class="smcap">Murr (C. G. von).</span> Bibliothèque de Peinture, de Sculpture, et de Gravure. -Francfort et Leipsic, 1770. 2 vols. 12mo.</p> - -<p class="hang"><span class="smcap">Ottley (W. Y.).</span> An Inquiry concerning the Invention of Printing. London, -1863. 4to.</p> - -<p>An Inquiry into the Origin and early History of Engraving, upon Copper -and in Wood. London, 1816. 2 vols. 4to.</p> - -<p class="hang"><span class="smcap">Paeille (C.).</span> Essai historique et critique sur l’Invention de -l’Imprimerie. Lille, 1859. 8vo.<a name="page_214" id="page_214"></a></p> - -<p class="hang"><span class="smcap">Papillon (J. M.).</span> Traité historique et pratique de la Gravure en Bois. -Paris, 1766. 3 T. in 2. 8vo.</p> - -<p class="hang"><span class="smcap">Passavant (J. D.).</span> Le Peintre-Graveur. Leipsic, 1860-’64. 6 T. 8vo.</p> - -<p class="hang"><span class="smcap">Renouvier (Jules).</span> Des Gravures en Bois dans les Livres d’Anthoine -Verard. Paris, 1859. 8vo.</p> - -<p>Des Gravures sur Bois dans les Livres de Simon Vostre. Paris, 1862. 8vo.</p> - -<p>Des Types et des Manières des Maîtres Graveurs pour servir à l’Histoire -de la Gravure. Montpellier, 1853-’56. 4to.</p> - -<p>Histoire de l’Origine et des Progrès de la Gravure dans les Pays-Bas et -en Allemagne, jusqu’à la fin du quinzième Siècle. Bruxelles, 1860. 8vo.</p> - -<p class="hang"><span class="smcap">Rumohr (C. F. L. F. von).</span> Zur Geschichte und Theorie der -Formschneidekunst. Leipzig, 1837. 8vo.</p> - -<p class="hang"><span class="smcap">Ruskin (John).</span> Ariadne Florentina. Six Lectures on Wood and Metal -Engraving. Orpington, Kent, 1876. 8vo.</p> - -<p class="hang"><span class="smcap">Savage (William).</span> Practical Hints on decorative Printing, with -Illustrations engraved on Wood. London, 1822. 4to.</p> - -<p class="hang"><span class="smcap">Scott (W. B.).</span> Albert Dürer, his Life and Works. London, 1869. Sm. 8vo. -The Little Masters. London, 1879. 8vo.</p> - -<p class="hang"><span class="smcap">Singer (S. Weller).</span> Researches into the History of Playing Cards; with -Illustrations of the Origin of Printing and of Engraving on Wood. -London, 1816. 4to.</p> - -<p class="hang"><span class="smcap">Sotheby (S. L.).</span> Principia Typographica. The Block-books issued in -Holland, Flanders, and Germany during the fifteenth Century. London, -1858. 3 vols. Folio.</p> - -<p class="hang"><span class="smcap">Thausing (M.).</span> Albert Dürer, his Life and Works. Translated. With -Portraits and Illustrations. London, 1882. 8vo.</p> - -<p class="hang"><span class="smcap">Umbreit (A. E.).</span> Ueber die Eigenhändigkeit der Malerformschnitte. -Leipzig, 1840. 8vo.</p> - -<p class="hang"><span class="smcap">Vries (A. de).</span> Éclaircissemens sur l’Histoire de l’Imprimerie. La Haye, -1843. 8vo.</p> - -<p class="hang"><span class="smcap">Waagen (G. F.).</span> Treasures of Art in Great Britain, with Supplement. -London, 1854-’57. 4 vols. 8vo.</p> - -<p class="hang"><span class="smcap">Weigel (Rudolph).</span> Holzschnitte berühmter Meister in treuen Copien. -Leipzig, 1851-’54. Folio.<a name="page_215" id="page_215"></a></p> - -<p class="hang"><span class="smcap">Weigel (T. O.)</span> and <span class="smcap">Zestermann (A. C. A.).</span> Die Anfänge der Drucker-Kunst -in Bild und Schrift. Leipzig, 1866. 2 Bände. Folio.</p> - -<p class="hang"><span class="smcap">Willshire (W. H.).</span> An Introduction to the Study and Collection of -ancient Prints. 2d ed. London, 1877. 2 vols. 8vo.</p> - -<p class="hang"><span class="smcap">Woltmann (Alfred).</span> Holbein und seine Zeit. Leipzig. 1866-’68. 2 Th. 8vo.</p> - -<p class="hang"><span class="smcap">Wornum (R. N.).</span> Some Account of the Life and Works of Holbein. London, -1867. 8vo.</p> - -<p class="hang"><span class="smcap">Zani (P.).</span> Materiali per servire alla Storia dell’Origine e de’ -Progressi dell’Incisione in Rame e in Legno, etc. Parma, 1802. 8vo.</p> - -<p class="hang"><span class="smcap">Zorn (Peter).</span> Historia Bibliorum pictorum. Lipsiæ, 1743. 4to.</p> - -<p><a name="page_216" id="page_216"></a></p> - -<p><a name="page_217" id="page_217"></a></p> - -<h2><a name="INDEX" id="INDEX"></a>INDEX.</h2> - -<p class="cb"><a href="#A">A</a>, -<a href="#B">B</a>, -<a href="#C">C</a>, -<a href="#D">D</a>, -<a href="#E">E</a>, -<a href="#F">F</a>, -<a href="#G">G</a>, -<a href="#H">H</a>, -<a href="#I-i">I</a>, -<a href="#J">J</a>, -<a href="#K">K</a>, -<a href="#L">L</a>, -<a href="#M">M</a>, -<a href="#N">N</a>, -<a href="#P">P</a>, -<a href="#R">R</a>, -<a href="#S">S</a>, -<a href="#T">T</a>, -<a href="#U">U</a>, -<a href="#V-i">V</a>, -<a href="#W">W</a>, -<a href="#Z">Z</a></p> - -<p class="nind"> -<a name="A" id="A"></a>Adams, Joseph Alexander, <a href="#page_173">173</a>.<br /> -Altdorfer, Albrecht, <a href="#page_111">111</a>.<br /> -America:<br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">earlier history and characteristics of the art, <a href="#page_171">171-177</a>;</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">present position and influence, <a href="#page_177">177</a>, <a href="#page_178">178</a>;</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">works in imitation of other arts, <a href="#page_185">185</a>;</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">errors in practice <a href="#page_190">190</a>, <a href="#page_202">202</a>;</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">future of the art, 2<a href="#page_002">02-206</a>.</span><br /> -Amman, Jobst, <a href="#page_114">114</a>.<br /> -Anderson, Alexander, <a href="#page_172">172</a>.<br /> -Andreani, Andrea, <a href="#page_146">146</a>.<br /> -Anthony, A. V. S., <a href="#page_176">176</a>.<br /> -Ars Memorandi, <a href="#page_043">43</a>.<br /> -Ars Moriendi, <a href="#page_043">43</a>.<br /> -Augsburg:<br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">prints, <a href="#page_026">26</a>;</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">playing-cards, <a href="#page_027">27</a>;</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Bible, <a href="#page_052">52</a>;</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">press, <a href="#page_046">46</a>, <a href="#page_057">57</a>.</span><br /> -<br /> -<a name="B" id="B"></a>Baldung, Hans, <a href="#page_110">110</a>.<br /> -Bamberg: press, <a href="#page_056">56</a>.<br /> -Basle:<br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">characteristics of the city in Holbein’s time, <a href="#page_117">117</a>.</span><br /> -Behaim, Hans Sebald, <a href="#page_112">112-114</a>.<br /> -Bernard, St.:<br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his rebuke of art, <a href="#page_014">14</a>.</span><br /> -Best, Adolphe, <a href="#page_169">169</a>.<br /> -Bewick, Thomas:<br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">the father of modern wood-engraving, <a href="#page_151">151</a>;</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">sketch of his life, <a href="#page_154">154</a>;</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">reforms effected by him, <a href="#page_154">154</a>;</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">character of his genius, <a href="#page_154">154-160</a>;</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his works, <a href="#page_161">161</a>;</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">influence on the art in America, <a href="#page_172">172</a>.</span><br /> -Bible:<br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">the Cologne, <a href="#page_049">49</a>;</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">the Nuremberg, <a href="#page_050">50</a>;</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">the Augsburg, <a href="#page_052">52</a>;</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">the Strasburg, <a href="#page_050">50</a>;</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Coverdale’s, <a href="#page_132">132</a>;</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Le Clerc’s, <a href="#page_139">139</a>;</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Jean de Tourne’s’, <a href="#page_141">141</a>;</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Harper’s, <a href="#page_173">173</a>.</span><br /> -Bible cuts:<br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Behaim’s, <a href="#page_113">113</a>;</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Holbein’s, <a href="#page_129">129-131</a>;</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Jean Moni’s, <a href="#page_141">141</a>.</span><br /> -<i>Biblia Pauperum</i>:<br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">their use, <a href="#page_031">31</a>;</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">designs not original, <a href="#page_032">32</a>;</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">description, <a href="#page_033">33</a>;</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">place of issue, <a href="#page_037">37</a>.</span><br /> -Blake, William, <a href="#page_162">162</a>.<br /> -Block-printing:<br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">invention, <a href="#page_030">30</a>, <a href="#page_031">31</a>, <a href="#page_042">42</a>;</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">decline, <a href="#page_045">45</a>.</span><br /> -Boldrini, Nicolo, <a href="#page_144">144</a>.<br /> -Bouts, Diedrick, <a href="#page_039">39</a>.<br /> -Branston, Robert, <a href="#page_164">164</a>, <a href="#page_167">167</a>.<br /> -Bray, Theodore de, <a href="#page_147">147</a>.<br /> -Brevière, Henri, <a href="#page_169">169</a>.<br /> -Breydenbach’s Travels, <a href="#page_055">55</a>.<br /> -Brontë, Charlotte, criticism of Bewick, <a href="#page_159">159-161</a>.<br /> -Brosamer, Hans, <a href="#page_114">114</a>.<br /> -Brothers of the Common Lot:<br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">their claim to the authorship of the block-books, <a href="#page_039">39</a>.</span><br /> -Brussels: print of 1418, <a href="#page_023">23</a>.<br /> -Burgkmaier, Hans:<br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">genius and works, <a href="#page_099">99-106</a>;</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">influence on Holbein, 117</span><br /> -<br /> -<a name="C" id="C"></a>Calcar, Jean, <a href="#page_146">146</a>.<br /> -Carpi, Ugo da, <a href="#page_087">87</a>, <a href="#page_146">146</a>.<br /> -Caxton, William:<br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Game and Playe of the Chesse, <a href="#page_063">63</a>.</span><br /> -Chiaroscuro-engraving, <a href="#page_087">87-89</a>, <a href="#page_146">146</a>, <a href="#page_148">148</a>, <a href="#page_187">187-189</a>.<a name="page_218" id="page_218"></a><br /> -Christopher, St.:<br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">print of 1423, <a href="#page_022">22</a>.</span><br /> -Chronicles:<br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">general description, <a href="#page_052">52</a>;</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">the Cologne, <a href="#page_053">53</a>;</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">the Nuremberg, <a href="#page_053">53</a>;</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">the Saxon, <a href="#page_053">53</a>.</span><br /> -Clennell, Luke, <a href="#page_164">164</a>, <a href="#page_167">167</a>.<br /> -Cole, T., <a href="#page_197">197</a>, <a href="#page_200">200</a>.<br /> -Cologne:<br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">early school of art, <a href="#page_042">42</a>, <a href="#page_043">43</a>;</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Bible, <a href="#page_049">49</a>;</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Chronicle, <a href="#page_053">53</a>;</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">press, <a href="#page_057">57</a>.</span><br /> -Color:<br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in the holy prints, 26 <i>note</i>;</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in early German books, <a href="#page_052">52</a>;</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in the <i>Livres d’Heures</i>, <a href="#page_060">60</a>, <a href="#page_061">61</a>;</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in chiaroscuro-engraving, <a href="#page_087">87</a>.</span><br /> -Color, conventional, <a href="#page_055">55</a>, <a href="#page_151">151</a>, <a href="#page_152">152</a>.<br /> -Copperplate-engraving:<br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">influence on wood-engraving, <a href="#page_047">47</a>, <a href="#page_091">91</a>, <a href="#page_112">112</a>, <a href="#page_141">141</a>, <a href="#page_149">149</a>, <a href="#page_164">164</a>, <a href="#page_176">176</a>, <a href="#page_182">182</a>.</span><br /> -Coriolano, Bartolemeo, <a href="#page_146">146</a>.<br /> -Coster, Lawrence:<br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">claim to the invention of wood-engraving, <a href="#page_021">21</a>.</span><br /> -Cousin, Jean, <a href="#page_136">136-139</a>.<br /> -Cranach, Lukas, <a href="#page_110">110</a>.<br /> -Criblée-work:<br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">description, <a href="#page_018">18</a>;</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in France, <a href="#page_062">62</a>, <a href="#page_063">63</a>.</span><br /> -Cross-hatching:<br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">first use in Germany, <a href="#page_055">55</a>;</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in Italy, <a href="#page_086">86</a>;</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">its propriety in wood-engraving, <a href="#page_152">152</a>, <a href="#page_186">186</a>.</span><br /> -Cunio, Isabella and Alexander Alberico, <a href="#page_020">20</a>.<br /> -<br /> -<a name="D" id="D"></a>Dalziel, the Brothers, <a href="#page_168">168</a>.<br /> -Dance of Death:<br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">typical mediæval idea, <a href="#page_121">121</a>;</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Holbein’s, <a href="#page_123">123-129</a>;</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Guyot Marchand’s, <a href="#page_062">62</a>.</span><br /> -Davis, J. P., <a href="#page_197">197</a>.<br /> -Day, John, <a href="#page_147">147</a>.<br /> -Didot, Firmin (père):<br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his influence on the French revival of the art, <a href="#page_163">163</a>.</span><br /> -Dream of Poliphilo, <a href="#page_070">70-81</a>, <a href="#page_137">137</a>, <a href="#page_138">138</a>.<br /> -Du Pré, Jean, <a href="#page_060">60</a>.<br /> -Dürer, Albert:<br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">influence on the art, <a href="#page_090">90</a>;</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">character of his genius, <a href="#page_091">91</a>, <a href="#page_092">92</a>;</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Apocalypse of St. John, <a href="#page_093">93</a>, <a href="#page_094">94</a>;</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Larger Passion, Smaller Passion, Life of the Virgin, <a href="#page_095">95-97</a>;</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">single prints, <a href="#page_097">97</a>;</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Car and Gate of Triumph, <a href="#page_097">97-99</a>.</span><br /> -<br /> -<a name="E" id="E"></a>England:<br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">early woodcuts, <a href="#page_063">63</a>;</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">the art in Holbein’s time, <a href="#page_132">132</a>, <a href="#page_147">147</a>, <a href="#page_148">148</a>;</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">modern revival, <a href="#page_151">151</a>, <a href="#page_164">164</a>.</span><br /> -Evans, Edmund, <a href="#page_168">168</a>.<br /> -<br /> -<a name="F" id="F"></a>Form, value of, in wood-engraving, <a href="#page_193">193</a>.<br /> -France:<br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">early books in French, <a href="#page_058">58</a>;</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">early woodcuts, <a href="#page_059">59-63</a>;</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">influence of Germany and Italy, <a href="#page_062">62</a>, <a href="#page_135">135</a>;</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">character of the French Renaissance and its art, <a href="#page_135">135-141</a>;</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">the modern revival, <a href="#page_163">163</a>, <a href="#page_169">169</a>.</span><br /> -French, Frank, <a href="#page_196">196</a>.<br /> -<br /> -<a name="G" id="G"></a>Genre art, first appearance in wood-engraving, <a href="#page_121">121</a>.<br /> -Germany:<br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">German block-books, <a href="#page_042">42</a>, <a href="#page_043">43</a>;</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">activity and influence of the early printers, <a href="#page_046">46</a>, <a href="#page_047">47</a>;</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">the free cities, <a href="#page_048">48</a>;</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">character of the early press, <a href="#page_048">48</a>, <a href="#page_056">56</a>, <a href="#page_057">57</a>;</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">influence on France, <a href="#page_062">62</a>;</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">on Italy, <a href="#page_067">67</a>;</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">on Venice, <a href="#page_068">68</a>;</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">chiaroscuro-engraving, <a href="#page_087">87</a>;</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">the Renaissance, <a href="#page_091">91</a>, <a href="#page_097">97</a>, <a href="#page_110">110</a>, <a href="#page_111">111</a>, <a href="#page_115">115</a>;</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">decline, <a href="#page_148">148</a>;</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">the modern revival, <a href="#page_163">163</a>, <a href="#page_169">169</a>.</span><br /> -Gilbert, Sir John, <a href="#page_168">168</a>.<br /> -Goldsmiths, mediæval:<br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">their art-works, <a href="#page_014">14-16</a>;</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">position in France and the Netherlands, <a href="#page_017">17</a>;</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">their claim to the invention of wood-engraving, <a href="#page_018">18</a>, <a href="#page_019">19</a>.</span><br /> -Goltzius, Hendrick, <a href="#page_147">147</a>.<br /> -Goujon, Jean, <a href="#page_139">139</a>.<br /> -Greche, Domenico delle, <a href="#page_145">145</a>.<br /> -Gregory the Great:<br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his defence of art, <a href="#page_031">31</a>.</span><br /> -Groups, modern, <a href="#page_195">195-200</a>.<br /> -Gubitz, Friedrich Wilhelm, <a href="#page_163">163</a>.<br /> -<br /> -<a name="H" id="H"></a>Harvey, William, <a href="#page_167">167</a>.<br /> -<i>Historia Johannis Evangelistæ ejusque Visiones Apocalypticæ</i>, <a href="#page_042">42</a>.<a name="page_219" id="page_219"></a><br /> -<i>Historia Virginis Mariæ</i>, <a href="#page_041">41</a>.<br /> -History of the Kings of Hungary, <a href="#page_053">53</a>, <a href="#page_054">54</a>.<br /> -Holbein, Hans:<br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">the first modern artist, <a href="#page_116">116</a>;</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">character and development of his genius, <a href="#page_117">117-120</a>;</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">early work, <a href="#page_120">120</a>; Dance of Death, <a href="#page_123">123-128</a>;</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his democratic, reforming, and sceptical spirit, dramatic and artistic power, <a href="#page_120">120-127</a>;</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Figures of the Bible, <a href="#page_129">129-131</a>;</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his English portraits, <a href="#page_131">131</a>;</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his English woodcuts, <a href="#page_132">132</a>;</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">summary of his powers and influence, <a href="#page_132">132-134</a>.</span><br /> -Holy prints, <a href="#page_021">21-26</a>.<br /> -Hoskin, Robert, <a href="#page_195">195</a>.<br /> -Hypnerotomachia Poliphili:<br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">illustration of the Italian Renaissance, <a href="#page_070">70-81</a>;</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">the French reproduction, <a href="#page_137">137</a>, <a href="#page_138">138</a>.</span><br /> -<br /> -<a name="I-i" id="I-i"></a>Initial letters:<br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in Faust and Scheffer’s Psalter, <a href="#page_046">46</a>;</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in the Augsburg Bible, <a href="#page_052">52</a>;</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in Italy, <a href="#page_086">86</a>;</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in Holbein’s alphabets, <a href="#page_120">120</a>, <a href="#page_121">121</a>.</span><br /> -Italy:<br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">artistic spirit, <a href="#page_065">65</a>;</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">democratic civilization, <a href="#page_066">66</a>;</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">the Renaissance, <a href="#page_067">67</a>;</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">introduction of printing, <a href="#page_068">68</a>;</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">early cuts, <a href="#page_068">68</a>;</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">general characterization of the engraved work, <a href="#page_085">85</a>;</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">decline, <a href="#page_086">86</a>;</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">chiaroscuro-engraving, <a href="#page_087">87-89</a>;</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">influence on Holbein, <a href="#page_117">117</a>, <a href="#page_118">118</a>.</span><br /> -<br /> -<a name="J" id="J"></a>Jackson, John Baptist, <a href="#page_148">148</a>.<br /> -Jegher, Christopher, <a href="#page_147">147</a>.<br /> -Jerome, St., Epistles of, <a href="#page_070">70</a>, <a href="#page_071">71</a>.<br /> -Juengling, F., <a href="#page_195">195</a>, <a href="#page_200">200</a>.<br /> -<br /> -<a name="K" id="K"></a>Kerver, Thielman, <a href="#page_062">62</a>.<br /> -King, F. S., <a href="#page_189">189</a>, <a href="#page_193">193</a>.<br /> -Kirkall, Edward, <a href="#page_148">148</a>.<br /> -Kruell, G., <a href="#page_200">200</a>.<br /> -<br /> -<a name="L" id="L"></a>Landscape, modern, <a href="#page_186">186-195</a>.<br /> -Lavoignat, H., <a href="#page_169">169</a>.<br /> -Le Caron, Pierre, <a href="#page_060">60</a>.<br /> -Le Clerc, Jean, <a href="#page_139">139</a>, <a href="#page_140">140</a>.<br /> -Leech, John, <a href="#page_168">168</a>.<br /> -Leloir, Auguste, <a href="#page_169">169</a>.<br /> -Le Rouge, Pierre, <a href="#page_060">60</a>.<br /> -Le Sueur, Pierre, <a href="#page_148">148</a>.<br /> -Leyden, Lukas van, <a href="#page_110">110</a>, <a href="#page_147">147</a>.<br /> -Linton, W. J., <a href="#page_168">168</a>, <a href="#page_176">176</a>, <a href="#page_200">200</a>.<br /> -Little Masters, <a href="#page_111">111</a>.<br /> -Livens, Jean, <a href="#page_147">147</a>.<br /> -<i>Livres d’Heures</i>, <a href="#page_060">60-62</a>.<br /> -Lorch, Melchior, <a href="#page_114">114</a>.<br /> -Lorme, Philibert de, <a href="#page_140">140</a>.<br /> -Lucchesini, <a href="#page_148">148</a>.<br /> -Lützelburger, Hans, <a href="#page_129">129</a>.<br /> -Lyons:<br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">earliest seat of the art in France, <a href="#page_059">59</a>;</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">character of the earlier press, <a href="#page_059">59</a>;</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">the later press, <a href="#page_140">140</a>.</span><br /> -<br /> -<a name="M" id="M"></a>Magazines: use and influence, <a href="#page_167">167</a>.<br /> -Marchand, Guyot, <a href="#page_060">60</a>, <a href="#page_062">62</a>.<br /> -Marsh, Henry, <a href="#page_176">176</a>, <a href="#page_186">186</a>.<br /> -Maximilian, Emperor:<br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">life and character, <a href="#page_097">97</a>;</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">works executed by his order—the Triumphal Car, <a href="#page_098">98</a>;</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Gate of Triumph, <a href="#page_099">99</a>;</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">the Triumphal Procession, <a href="#page_099">99-105</a>;</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">The Adventures of Sir Tewrdannckh, <a href="#page_106">106</a>;</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">The Wise King, <a href="#page_106">106</a>;</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">influence of his patronage, <a href="#page_109">109</a>.</span><br /> -Mayence press, <a href="#page_046">46</a>, <a href="#page_053">53</a>, <a href="#page_055">55</a>, <a href="#page_057">57</a>.<br /> -Metal-engraving earlier than wood-engraving, <a href="#page_018">18</a>.<br /> -Middle Ages:<br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">position of goldsmiths, <a href="#page_014">14-18</a>;</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">impersonal spirit, <a href="#page_026">26</a>;</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">value of painting, <a href="#page_028">28</a>, <a href="#page_031">31</a>;</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">immobility of mind, <a href="#page_032">32</a>;</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">religious temper and intellectual life, <a href="#page_040">40</a>, <a href="#page_041">41</a>;</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">art, typical, <a href="#page_053">53</a>;</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">illustrated by Dürer, <a href="#page_092">92</a>;</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">by Maximilian’s works, <a href="#page_099">99-105</a>;</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">by the Dance of Death, <a href="#page_121">121</a>.</span><br /> -Moni, Jean, <a href="#page_141">141</a>.<br /> -<br /> -<a name="N" id="N"></a>Nanto, Francesco da, <a href="#page_145">145</a>.<br /> -Nesbit, Charlton, <a href="#page_164">164</a>.<a name="page_220" id="page_220"></a><br /> -Netherlands:<br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">civilization in, <a href="#page_037">37</a>;</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">wood-engraving probably invented in, <a href="#page_038">38</a>;</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">decline of, <a href="#page_047">47</a>, <a href="#page_057">57</a>, <a href="#page_147">147</a>.</span><br /> -Nicolo, Giuseppe, <a href="#page_146">146</a>.<br /> -Nuremburg:<br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">prints, <a href="#page_026">26</a>;</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">playing-cards, <a href="#page_027">27</a>;</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Bible, <a href="#page_050">50</a>;</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Chronicle, <a href="#page_053">53</a>;</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">press, <a href="#page_057">57</a>, <a href="#page_114">114</a>.</span><br /> -<br /> -<a name="P" id="P"></a>Painting, place of, in mediæval popular civilization, <a href="#page_028">28</a>, <a href="#page_031">31</a>.<br /> -Papillon, Jean, the Elder, <a href="#page_148">148</a>;<br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">the Younger, <a href="#page_020">20</a>.</span><br /> -Paris:<br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">character of the Parisian press, <a href="#page_059">59</a>, <a href="#page_060">60</a>;</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">early books and printers, <a href="#page_060">60</a>;</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">the <i>Livres d’Heures</i>, <a href="#page_060">60</a>,</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 2em;">secular books, <a href="#page_062">62</a>, <a href="#page_063">63</a>.</span><br /> -Périssin, Jacques, <a href="#page_140">140</a>.<br /> -Pfister, Book of Fables, <a href="#page_056">56</a>.<br /> -Pigouchet, Philippe, <a href="#page_062">62</a>.<br /> -Playing-cards, <a href="#page_027">27</a>.<br /> -Pleydenwurff, William, <a href="#page_053">53</a>.<br /> -Pliny, reference to Varro’s portraits, <a href="#page_020">20</a>.<br /> -Porret, <a href="#page_169">169</a>.<br /> -Porto, Giovanni Battista del, <a href="#page_145">145</a>.<br /> -Portraits, modern, <a href="#page_198">198</a>, <a href="#page_200">200-202</a>.<br /> -Principles of wood-engraving, <a href="#page_180">180-185</a>.<br /> -Processes:<br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">engraving in relief on wood known to the ancients, <a href="#page_013">13</a>;</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">of taking impressions, <a href="#page_017">17</a>;</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;"><i>en manière criblée</i>, <a href="#page_018">18</a>;</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">of taking off the holy prints, <a href="#page_021">21</a>, <a href="#page_022">22</a>;</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">of block-printing, <a href="#page_030">30</a>;</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">of cross-hatching, <a href="#page_055">55</a>;</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">of chiaroscuro-engraving, <a href="#page_087">87-89</a>;</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">white-line and Bewick’s other reforms, <a href="#page_151">151-155</a>.</span><br /> -Pynson, Richard, <a href="#page_064">64</a>.<br /> -<br /> -<a name="R" id="R"></a>Raimondi, Marc Antonio, <a href="#page_096">96</a>, <a href="#page_142">142</a>.<br /> -Reformation reflected in wood-engraving, <a href="#page_051">51</a>, <a href="#page_112">112</a>, <a href="#page_117">117</a>, <a href="#page_120">120</a>, <a href="#page_126">126</a>, <a href="#page_132">132</a>.<br /> -Rembrandt, <a href="#page_147">147</a>.<br /> -Renaissance: in Italy, <a href="#page_067">67-85</a>;<br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in Germany, <a href="#page_091">91</a>, <a href="#page_097">97</a>, <a href="#page_110">110</a>, <a href="#page_111">111</a>, <a href="#page_115">115</a>;</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in France, <a href="#page_135">135-141</a>.</span><br /> -Romances, popular, <a href="#page_059">59</a>, <a href="#page_141">141</a>.<br /> -Rubens, P. P.:<br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">reproductions after his designs, <a href="#page_147">147</a>.</span><br /> -Ruskin, John:<br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">criticism on Holbein, <a href="#page_126">126</a>;</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">on Bewick, <a href="#page_155">155</a>.</span><br /> -<br /> -<a name="S" id="S"></a>Saints’ images, <a href="#page_021">21-26</a>.<br /> -Salomon, Bernard, <a href="#page_140">140-141</a>.<br /> -Sand, George, criticism of Holbein, <a href="#page_124">124</a>.<br /> -Satire: in Bible-cuts, <a href="#page_050">50</a>, <a href="#page_051">51</a>;<br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in the Little Masters, <a href="#page_112">112</a>;</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in Holbein, <a href="#page_120">120</a>, <a href="#page_132">132</a>.</span><br /> -Saxony: Chronicle, <a href="#page_053">53</a>.<br /> -<i>Schatzbehalter</i>, <a href="#page_054">54</a>.<br /> -Schäuffelin, Hans, <a href="#page_106">106</a>.<br /> -Schön, Erhard, <a href="#page_114">114</a>.<br /> -Scolari, Giuseppe, <a href="#page_145">145</a>.<br /> -Sebastian, St.:<br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">print of 1437, <a href="#page_023">23</a>.</span><br /> -Secularization of art, <a href="#page_050">50</a>, <a href="#page_110">110</a>, <a href="#page_111">111</a>.<br /> -Smith, Orrin, <a href="#page_167">167</a>.<br /> -Solis, Virgil, <a href="#page_114">114</a>.<br /> -<i>Speculum Humanæ Salvationis</i>:<br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">description, <a href="#page_034">34</a>;</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">place of issue, <a href="#page_036">36</a>;</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">authorship, <a href="#page_038">38</a>, <i>note</i>, <a href="#page_039">39</a>;</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">character of the cuts, <a href="#page_040">40</a>.</span><br /> -<i>Spirituale Pomerium</i>, <a href="#page_039">39</a>.<br /> -Springinklee, Hans, <a href="#page_106">106</a>, <a href="#page_110">110</a>.<br /> -Stamps, engraved, early use, <a href="#page_013">13</a>.<br /> -Stimmer, Tobias, <a href="#page_114">114</a>.<br /> -Strasburg:<br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Bible, <a href="#page_050">50</a>;</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">press, <a href="#page_057">57</a>.</span><br /> -Suger, defence of art, <a href="#page_015">15</a>.<br /> -<br /> -<a name="T" id="T"></a>Tenniel, John, <a href="#page_168">168</a>.<br /> -Tewrdannckh, Sir, Adventures of, <a href="#page_106">106</a>.<br /> -Thompson, John, <a href="#page_164">164</a>.<br /> -Titian, reproductions after his designs, <a href="#page_144">144-146</a>.<br /> -Tortorel, Jean, <a href="#page_140">140</a>.<br /> -Tory, Geoffrey, influence on French engraving, <a href="#page_135">135</a>.<br /> -Trento, Antonio da, <a href="#page_146">146</a>.<br /> -Turrecremata’s, Cardinal, Meditations, <a href="#page_068">68</a>.<a name="page_221" id="page_221"></a><br /> -<br /> -<a name="U" id="U"></a>Ulm:<br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">prints, <a href="#page_026">26</a>;</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">press, <a href="#page_057">57</a>.</span><br /> -Unger, Johann Georg, and Johann Gottlieb Friedrich, <a href="#page_163">163</a>.<br /> -<br /> -<a name="V-i" id="V-i"></a>Van der Weyden, Roger, <a href="#page_042">42</a>.<br /> -Van Eyck, <a href="#page_036">36</a>, <a href="#page_037">37</a>, <a href="#page_042">42</a>.<br /> -Varro, portraits in his works, <a href="#page_020">20</a>.<br /> -Vecellio, Cesare, <a href="#page_146">146</a>.<br /> -Venice:<br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">claim to the origin of wood-engraving, <a href="#page_020">20</a>;</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">decree forbidding importation of prints from Germany, <a href="#page_027">27</a>;</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">early cuts, <a href="#page_068">68</a>;</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">early views of the city, <a href="#page_069">69</a>;</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">later cuts, <a href="#page_082">82-87</a>, <a href="#page_143">143-147</a>.</span><br /> -Verard, Antoine, <a href="#page_060">60</a>, <a href="#page_062">62</a>.<br /> -Vesalius’s Anatomy, <a href="#page_145">145</a>.<br /> -Vinci, Leonardo da, <a href="#page_142">142</a>.<br /> -Vostre, Simon, <a href="#page_062">62</a>.<br /> -<br /> -<a name="W" id="W"></a>White line:<br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">description, <a href="#page_151">151</a>;</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">influence on the art in Bewick’s hands, <a href="#page_153">153</a>;</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">the engraver’s province, <a href="#page_154">154</a>, <a href="#page_184">184</a>.</span><br /> -Wise King, The, <a href="#page_106">106</a>.<br /> -Woeiriot, Pierre, <a href="#page_140">140</a>.<br /> -Wohlgemuth, Michael, <a href="#page_053">53</a>, <a href="#page_054">54</a>.<br /> -Worde, Wynkyn de, <a href="#page_064">64</a>.<br /> -<br /> -<a name="Z" id="Z"></a>Zainer Gunther, <a href="#page_046">46</a>, <a href="#page_052">52</a>.<br /> -</p> - -<p class="c">THE END.</p> - -<p><a name="page_222" id="page_222"></a></p> - -<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary="" -style="padding:2%;border:3px double gray;"> -<tr><th align="center">Typographical errors corrected by the etext transcriber:</th></tr> -<tr><td align="center">appendix von Albert Ilg. <span class="errata">Wein</span>=> appendix von Albert Ilg. Wien {pg 19}</td></tr> -<tr><td align="center">Guyot Marchand’s La <span class="errata">Dance</span> Macabre, first published in 1485=> Guyot Marchand’s La Danse Macabre, first published in 1485 {pg 62}</td></tr> -<tr><td align="center">its bloom in sun <span class="errata">difers</span>=> its bloom in sun differs {pg 181}</td></tr> -</table> - -<div class="footnotes"><p class="cb">FOOTNOTES:</p> - -<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1_1" id="Footnote_1_1"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1_1"><span class="label">[1]</span></a> “Documents, Iconographiques et Typographiques de la -Bibliothèque Royale de Belgique,” Deuxième Livr. Gravure Criblée, par M. -H. Hymans. Bruxelles, 1864-1873. Quoted in Willshire, “An Introduction -to the Study and Collection of Ancient Prints.” London. 1877; 2 vols.; -vol. ii., p. 64.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_2_2" id="Footnote_2_2"></a><a href="#FNanchor_2_2"><span class="label">[2]</span></a> “Fulget ecclesia in parietibus, et in pauperibus eget. Suos -lapides induit auro; et suos filios nudos deserit. * * * Tam multa -denique, tamque mira diversarium formarum ubique varietas apparet ut -magis legere libeat in marmoribus, quam in codicibus, totum diem -occupare singula ista mirando quam in lege Dei meditando.” Sancti -Bernardi opera omnia. Recognita, etc., curis Dom. J. Mabillon. 4 vols. -Paris, 1839; vol. i., col. 1242-1244, Apologia ad Guillelmum, cap. xii.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_3_3" id="Footnote_3_3"></a><a href="#FNanchor_3_3"><span class="label">[3]</span></a> “Abundet unusquisque in suo sensu, mihi fateor hoc -potissimum placuisse ut quæcumque cariora, quæcumque carissima, -sacrosanctæ Eucharistiæ amministrationi super omnia deservire debeant. -Si libatoria aurea, si fialæ aureæ et si mortariola aurea ad collectam -sanguinis hircorum aut vitulorum aut vaccæ ruffæ, ore Dei aut prophetæ -jussu, deserviebant; quanto magis ad susceptionem sanguinis Jesu Christi -vasa aurea, lapides preciosi, quæque inter omnes creaturas carissima -continuo famulatu, plena devotione exponi debeat.” Œuvres complètes -de Suger recueillies, etc., par A. L. de la Marche. Paris, 1867. Sur son -administration Abbatiale, p. 199 <i>et seq.</i></p></div> - -<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_4_4" id="Footnote_4_4"></a><a href="#FNanchor_4_4"><span class="label">[4]</span></a> La Barte, “Histoire des Arts Industriels au Moyen Age et a -l’époque de la Renaissance.” 4 tom. (Album, 2 tom.). Paris, 1864. Tom. -i., pp. 391-513; tom. ii., pp. 1-592.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_5_5" id="Footnote_5_5"></a><a href="#FNanchor_5_5"><span class="label">[5]</span></a> Leon Delaborde, “Notice des Emaux et Objets divers exposés -au Louvre.” Paris, 1853; p. 84.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_6_6" id="Footnote_6_6"></a><a href="#FNanchor_6_6"><span class="label">[6]</span></a> Leon Delaborde, “La plus ancienne Gravure du Cabinet des -Estampes de la Bibliothèque Royale, est-elle ancienne?” Paris, 1840. -Quoted in Willshire, vol. ii., p. 64.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_7_7" id="Footnote_7_7"></a><a href="#FNanchor_7_7"><span class="label">[7]</span></a> Theophilus Presbyter, “Schedula Diversarum Artium.” -Revidirter text, ubersetzung und appendix von Albert Ilg. Wien, 1874; -cap. lxxi., lxxii., pp. 281-283.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_8_8" id="Footnote_8_8"></a><a href="#FNanchor_8_8"><span class="label">[8]</span></a> Renouvier, “Histoire de l’Origine et des Progrès de la -Gravure dans les Pays-Bas et en Allemagne, jusqu’à la fin du quinzième -Siècle.” Bruxelles, 1860.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_9_9" id="Footnote_9_9"></a><a href="#FNanchor_9_9"><span class="label">[9]</span></a> The date of 1406 has been assigned to two examples at Paris -with great ingenuity, but not unquestionably, by M. le Vte. Henri -Delaborde, “Notice sur Deux Estampes de 1406 et sur les commencements de -la Gravure Criblée.”—<i>Gazette des Beaux Arts</i>, Mars 1, 1869.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_10_10" id="Footnote_10_10"></a><a href="#FNanchor_10_10"><span class="label">[10]</span></a> Willshire, vol. ii., pp. 62, 63.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_11_11" id="Footnote_11_11"></a><a href="#FNanchor_11_11"><span class="label">[11]</span></a> Pliny, “Nat. Hist.,” liber xxxv., c. 2.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_12_12" id="Footnote_12_12"></a><a href="#FNanchor_12_12"><span class="label">[12]</span></a> W. Y. Ottley, “An Inquiry into the Origin and Early -History of Engraving upon Copper and in Wood.” London, 1816; 2 vols.; -vol. i., pp. 54-59.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_13_13" id="Footnote_13_13"></a><a href="#FNanchor_13_13"><span class="label">[13]</span></a> Papillon, “Traité Historique de la Gravure en Bois.” -Paris, 1766. Trois parties en deux tomes; tom. i., p. 83.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_14_14" id="Footnote_14_14"></a><a href="#FNanchor_14_14"><span class="label">[14]</span></a> Von Murr, Zani, Émeric David, Ottley.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_15_15" id="Footnote_15_15"></a><a href="#FNanchor_15_15"><span class="label">[15]</span></a> Heinecken, Lanzi, Mariette, Didot.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_16_16" id="Footnote_16_16"></a><a href="#FNanchor_16_16"><span class="label">[16]</span></a> Jackson and Chatto, “A Treatise on Wood-engraving.” -London, 1839; p. 39.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_17_17" id="Footnote_17_17"></a><a href="#FNanchor_17_17"><span class="label">[17]</span></a> Meerman, “Orig. Typogr.” Hagæ, Comit., 1765.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_18_18" id="Footnote_18_18"></a><a href="#FNanchor_18_18"><span class="label">[18]</span></a> Hadriani Junii Batavia. Lugdunum Batavorum, 1588.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_19_19" id="Footnote_19_19"></a><a href="#FNanchor_19_19"><span class="label">[19]</span></a> S. Sotheby, “Principia Typographica.” The block-books -issued in Holland, Flanders, and Germany during the 15th century. -London, 1858; 3 vols.; vol. i., p. 179.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_20_20" id="Footnote_20_20"></a><a href="#FNanchor_20_20"><span class="label">[20]</span></a> Heinecken, “Idée Générale d’une Collection complette -d’Estampes.” Leipsic et Vienne, 1771; p. 250.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_21_21" id="Footnote_21_21"></a><a href="#FNanchor_21_21"><span class="label">[21]</span></a> Those who are curious may consult on this print “Quelques -Mots sur la Gravure au millésime de 1418,” par C. D. B. (M. de Brou). -Bruxelles, 1846. “La Plus Ancienne Gravure connue avec une date,” -Mémoire par M. le Baron de Reiffenberg. Bruxelles, 1845; also, in favor -of the date, the works of Ruelens, Luthereau, Renouvier, Berjeau, and -against it, the works of Passavant, LaCroix, and Chatto.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_22_22" id="Footnote_22_22"></a><a href="#FNanchor_22_22"><span class="label">[22]</span></a> This print is described by Ottley in his “Inquiry,” etc. -London, 1863. There is another woodcut on the reverse side of the leaf, -representing the Virgin holding the dead Christ, of which Ottley gives a -fac-simile. The manuscript with these woodcuts is now in the possession -of Professor Norton, of Harvard College.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_23_23" id="Footnote_23_23"></a><a href="#FNanchor_23_23"><span class="label">[23]</span></a> Many fine examples of these prints are reproduced, with -their original colors, in Weigel and Zestermann’s “Die Anfänge der -Drucker-Kunst in Bild und Schrift.” 2 Bände. Leipzig, 1866.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_24_24" id="Footnote_24_24"></a><a href="#FNanchor_24_24"><span class="label">[24]</span></a> Four schools of coloring are reckoned: the Suabian School -(Augsburg and Ulm), marked by bright colors; the Franconian (Nuremberg -and Nördlingen), marked by less lively colors; the Bavarian (Friesing, -Tegernsee, Kaisersheim), marked by use of pure carmine and ochre; the -Lower Rhine (Cologne, and towns of Burgundy), marked by pure colors in -pale tints. See Willshire, vol. i., p. 175 <i>et seq.</i></p></div> - -<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_25_25" id="Footnote_25_25"></a><a href="#FNanchor_25_25"><span class="label">[25]</span></a> Merlin, “Origine des Cartes à Jouer, Recherches -nouvelles,” etc. Paris, 1869.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_26_26" id="Footnote_26_26"></a><a href="#FNanchor_26_26"><span class="label">[26]</span></a> Printed in Ottley, “An Inquiry,” etc., vol. i., p. 47.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_27_27" id="Footnote_27_27"></a><a href="#FNanchor_27_27"><span class="label">[27]</span></a> “Nam quod legentibus Scriptura, hoc idiotis præstat -pictura cernentibus, quia in ipsa etiam ignorantes vident quid sequi -debeant, in ipsa legunt qui litteras nesciunt; unde et præcipue gentibus -pro lectione pictura est.” Patrologiæ Cursus Completus, Accurante, J. P. -Migne, tom. lxxvii. Sancti Gregorii Magni, tom, iii., liber xi., epis. -xiii., col. 1128. <i>Vide</i>, also, idem, liber ix., epis. cv., col. 1027.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_28_28" id="Footnote_28_28"></a><a href="#FNanchor_28_28"><span class="label">[28]</span></a> “Biblia Pauperum.” Reproduced in fac-simile, from one of -the copies in the British Museum, with an historical and bibliographical -introduction by J. Ph. Berjeau. London, 1859.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_29_29" id="Footnote_29_29"></a><a href="#FNanchor_29_29"><span class="label">[29]</span></a> “Speculum Humanæ Salvationis.” Le Plus Ancien Monument de -la Xylographie et de la Typographie réunies. Reproduit en fac-simile, -avec introduction Historique et Bibliographique, par J. Ph. Berjeau. -Londres, 1861.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_30_30" id="Footnote_30_30"></a><a href="#FNanchor_30_30"><span class="label">[30]</span></a> The composition of the poem which forms the text of the -<i>Speculum</i> has been attributed to Vincent de Beauvais, who could not -have written it, and to Conrad d’Altzheim, who might have written it; -the designs have been attributed to various artists, particularly to -Steurbout, but on the slightest grounds; the printing has been assigned -to Lawrence Coster, in whose doubtful if not fabulous name no confidence -can be placed, and to Veldener, Faust and Scheffer, Thierry Martens -d’Alost, and other early German and Flemish printers.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_31_31" id="Footnote_31_31"></a><a href="#FNanchor_31_31"><span class="label">[31]</span></a> Renouvier, “Origine,” etc., p. 91; and Berjeau’s preface -to the Fac-simile Reproduction of the <i>Speculum</i>. The claims of the -Brotherhood are supported most fully by Harzen in “Archiv für die -Zeichnenden Künste.” Leipsig, 1855.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_32_32" id="Footnote_32_32"></a><a href="#FNanchor_32_32"><span class="label">[32]</span></a> Didot, “Essai Typographique et Bibliographique sur -l’Histoire de la Gravure sur Bois,” col. 205. Paris, 1863.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_33_33" id="Footnote_33_33"></a><a href="#FNanchor_33_33"><span class="label">[33]</span></a> Renouvier, “Des Gravures sur Bois dans les Livres de Simon -Vostre.” Paris, 1862.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_34_34" id="Footnote_34_34"></a><a href="#FNanchor_34_34"><span class="label">[34]</span></a> See Duplessis on the works of Simon Vostre, and Brunet’s -“Manuel du Libraire,” tom v., at the end, for farther information on the -devotional books of the French printers.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_35_35" id="Footnote_35_35"></a><a href="#FNanchor_35_35"><span class="label">[35]</span></a> <i>Ante</i>, p. 18.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_36_36" id="Footnote_36_36"></a><a href="#FNanchor_36_36"><span class="label">[36]</span></a> <i>Vide</i> Renouvier, Didot, Passavant.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_37_37" id="Footnote_37_37"></a><a href="#FNanchor_37_37"><span class="label">[37]</span></a> Vespas. Fior., p. 129. Quoted in Burckhardt, “The -Civilization of the Period of the Renaissance in Italy.” Translated by -S. G. C. Middlemore. Vol. i., p. 271. London, 1878.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_38_38" id="Footnote_38_38"></a><a href="#FNanchor_38_38"><span class="label">[38]</span></a> <i>The Academy</i>, October 15, 1872, pp. 383 <i>et seq.</i> <i>Vide</i>, -also, Albert Ilg, “Ueber den Kunsthistorischen Werth der Hypnerotomachia -Poliphili, ein Beitrag zur Geschichte der Kunstliteratur in der -Renaissance.” Wien, 1872. The original edition of the Dream of Poliphilo -is rare and costly. It was re-issued in Venice, in 1545, and in Paris, -with some variations (of which some account is given on a later page), -in 1546. There is an abridged translation in French by Legrand, without -cuts, printed by Didot in 1804.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_39_39" id="Footnote_39_39"></a><a href="#FNanchor_39_39"><span class="label">[39]</span></a> “Le Triomphe de l’Empereur Maximilien. Vienne, 1796.”</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_40_40" id="Footnote_40_40"></a><a href="#FNanchor_40_40"><span class="label">[40]</span></a> “La Mare au Diable, par George Sand,” pp. 5-7. Paris, -1869.</p></div> - -</div> -<hr class="full" /> - - - - - - - -<pre> - - - - - -End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of A History of Wood-Engraving, by -George Edward Woodberry - -*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A HISTORY OF WOOD-ENGRAVING *** - -***** This file should be named 40638-h.htm or 40638-h.zip ***** -This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: - http://www.gutenberg.org/4/0/6/3/40638/ - -Produced by Chuck Greif and the Online Distributed -Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was -produced from images available at The Internet Archive) - - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions -will be renamed. - -Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no -one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation -(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without -permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, -set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to -copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to -protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project -Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you -charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you -do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the -rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose -such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and -research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do -practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is -subject to the trademark license, especially commercial -redistribution. - - - -*** START: FULL LICENSE *** - -THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE -PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK - -To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free -distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work -(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project -Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project -Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at -http://gutenberg.org/license). - - -Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm -electronic works - -1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm -electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to -and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property -(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all -the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy -all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. -If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project -Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the -terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or -entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. - -1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be -used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who -agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few -things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works -even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See -paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project -Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement -and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic -works. See paragraph 1.E below. - -1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" -or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project -Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the -collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an -individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are -located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from -copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative -works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg -are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project -Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by -freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of -this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with -the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by -keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project -Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. - -1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern -what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in -a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check -the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement -before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or -creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project -Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning -the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United -States. - -1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: - -1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate -access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently -whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the -phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project -Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, -copied or distributed: - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with -almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or -re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included -with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org/license - -1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived -from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is -posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied -and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees -or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work -with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the -work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 -through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the -Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or -1.E.9. - -1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted -with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution -must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional -terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked -to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the -permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. - -1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm -License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this -work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. - -1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this -electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without -prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with -active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project -Gutenberg-tm License. - -1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, -compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any -word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or -distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than -"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version -posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org), -you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a -copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon -request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other -form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm -License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. - -1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, -performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works -unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. - -1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing -access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided -that - -- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from - the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method - you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is - owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he - has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the - Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments - must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you - prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax - returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and - sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the - address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to - the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." - -- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies - you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he - does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm - License. You must require such a user to return or - destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium - and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of - Project Gutenberg-tm works. - -- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any - money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the - electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days - of receipt of the work. - -- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free - distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. - -1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm -electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set -forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from -both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael -Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the -Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. - -1.F. - -1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable -effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread -public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm -collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic -works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain -"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or -corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual -property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a -computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by -your equipment. - -1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right -of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project -Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project -Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project -Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all -liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal -fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT -LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE -PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE -TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE -LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR -INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH -DAMAGE. - -1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a -defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can -receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a -written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you -received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with -your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with -the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a -refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity -providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to -receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy -is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further -opportunities to fix the problem. - -1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth -in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER -WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO -WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. - -1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied -warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. -If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the -law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be -interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by -the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any -provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. - -1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the -trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone -providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance -with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, -promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, -harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, -that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do -or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm -work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any -Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. - - -Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm - -Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of -electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers -including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists -because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from -people in all walks of life. - -Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the -assistance they need, are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's -goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will -remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project -Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure -and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. -To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation -and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 -and the Foundation web page at http://www.pglaf.org. - - -Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive -Foundation - -The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit -501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the -state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal -Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification -number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at -http://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg -Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent -permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. - -The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. -Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered -throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at -809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email -business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact -information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official -page at http://pglaf.org - -For additional contact information: - Dr. Gregory B. Newby - Chief Executive and Director - gbnewby@pglaf.org - - -Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg -Literary Archive Foundation - -Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide -spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of -increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be -freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest -array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations -($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt -status with the IRS. - -The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating -charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United -States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a -considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up -with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations -where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To -SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any -particular state visit http://pglaf.org - -While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we -have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition -against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who -approach us with offers to donate. - -International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make -any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from -outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. - -Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation -methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other -ways including checks, online payments and credit card donations. -To donate, please visit: http://pglaf.org/donate - - -Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic -works. - -Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm -concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared -with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project -Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. - - -Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed -editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. -unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily -keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. - - -Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: - - http://www.gutenberg.org - -This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, -including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary -Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to -subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. - - -</pre> - -</body> -</html> diff --git a/old/40638-h/images/cover.jpg b/old/40638-h/images/cover.jpg Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index 5eb5e3c..0000000 --- a/old/40638-h/images/cover.jpg +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/40638-h/images/cover_lg.jpg b/old/40638-h/images/cover_lg.jpg Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index 72c3307..0000000 --- a/old/40638-h/images/cover_lg.jpg +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/40638-h/images/illpg003.png b/old/40638-h/images/illpg003.png Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index df91d64..0000000 --- a/old/40638-h/images/illpg003.png +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/40638-h/images/illpg003_sml.png b/old/40638-h/images/illpg003_sml.png Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index bdf826a..0000000 --- a/old/40638-h/images/illpg003_sml.png +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/40638-h/images/illpg013.png b/old/40638-h/images/illpg013.png Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index af46f12..0000000 --- a/old/40638-h/images/illpg013.png +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/40638-h/images/illpg013_sml.png b/old/40638-h/images/illpg013_sml.png Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index 6c84615..0000000 --- a/old/40638-h/images/illpg013_sml.png +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/40638-h/images/illpg022.png b/old/40638-h/images/illpg022.png Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index 9fbe125..0000000 --- a/old/40638-h/images/illpg022.png +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/40638-h/images/illpg022_sml.png b/old/40638-h/images/illpg022_sml.png Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index 5b0837d..0000000 --- a/old/40638-h/images/illpg022_sml.png +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/40638-h/images/illpg024.png b/old/40638-h/images/illpg024.png Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index 407755c..0000000 --- a/old/40638-h/images/illpg024.png +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/40638-h/images/illpg024_sml.png b/old/40638-h/images/illpg024_sml.png Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index 4401662..0000000 --- a/old/40638-h/images/illpg024_sml.png +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/40638-h/images/illpg030.png b/old/40638-h/images/illpg030.png Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index 7940f33..0000000 --- a/old/40638-h/images/illpg030.png +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/40638-h/images/illpg030_sml.png b/old/40638-h/images/illpg030_sml.png Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index eb60b7d..0000000 --- a/old/40638-h/images/illpg030_sml.png +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/40638-h/images/illpg034.png b/old/40638-h/images/illpg034.png Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index db3ffc1..0000000 --- a/old/40638-h/images/illpg034.png +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/40638-h/images/illpg034_sml.png b/old/40638-h/images/illpg034_sml.png Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index ac07f8f..0000000 --- a/old/40638-h/images/illpg034_sml.png +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/40638-h/images/illpg035.png b/old/40638-h/images/illpg035.png Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index 8ddf3b3..0000000 --- a/old/40638-h/images/illpg035.png +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/40638-h/images/illpg035_sml.png b/old/40638-h/images/illpg035_sml.png Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index 0e7f125..0000000 --- a/old/40638-h/images/illpg035_sml.png +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/40638-h/images/illpg045.png b/old/40638-h/images/illpg045.png Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index 1f27b58..0000000 --- a/old/40638-h/images/illpg045.png +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/40638-h/images/illpg045_sml.png b/old/40638-h/images/illpg045_sml.png Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index b66ab1c..0000000 --- a/old/40638-h/images/illpg045_sml.png +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/40638-h/images/illpg049.png b/old/40638-h/images/illpg049.png Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index 42c2180..0000000 --- a/old/40638-h/images/illpg049.png +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/40638-h/images/illpg049_sml.png b/old/40638-h/images/illpg049_sml.png Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index 1509346..0000000 --- a/old/40638-h/images/illpg049_sml.png +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/40638-h/images/illpg051.png b/old/40638-h/images/illpg051.png Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index faf31c9..0000000 --- a/old/40638-h/images/illpg051.png +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/40638-h/images/illpg051_sml.png b/old/40638-h/images/illpg051_sml.png Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index 0eca4db..0000000 --- a/old/40638-h/images/illpg051_sml.png +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/40638-h/images/illpg054.png b/old/40638-h/images/illpg054.png Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index f4bf893..0000000 --- a/old/40638-h/images/illpg054.png +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/40638-h/images/illpg054_sml.png b/old/40638-h/images/illpg054_sml.png Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index ec6b1d6..0000000 --- a/old/40638-h/images/illpg054_sml.png +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/40638-h/images/illpg056.png b/old/40638-h/images/illpg056.png Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index 02beb12..0000000 --- a/old/40638-h/images/illpg056.png +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/40638-h/images/illpg056_sml.png b/old/40638-h/images/illpg056_sml.png Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index 973728c..0000000 --- a/old/40638-h/images/illpg056_sml.png +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/40638-h/images/illpg058.png b/old/40638-h/images/illpg058.png Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index a9db3df..0000000 --- a/old/40638-h/images/illpg058.png +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/40638-h/images/illpg058_sml.png b/old/40638-h/images/illpg058_sml.png Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index 9fefd7c..0000000 --- a/old/40638-h/images/illpg058_sml.png +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/40638-h/images/illpg061.png b/old/40638-h/images/illpg061.png Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index 20c1197..0000000 --- a/old/40638-h/images/illpg061.png +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/40638-h/images/illpg061_sml.png b/old/40638-h/images/illpg061_sml.png Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index f2ef3fc..0000000 --- a/old/40638-h/images/illpg061_sml.png +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/40638-h/images/illpg065.png b/old/40638-h/images/illpg065.png Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index f3094a3..0000000 --- a/old/40638-h/images/illpg065.png +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/40638-h/images/illpg065_sml.png b/old/40638-h/images/illpg065_sml.png Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index f0da4e7..0000000 --- a/old/40638-h/images/illpg065_sml.png +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/40638-h/images/illpg068-a.png b/old/40638-h/images/illpg068-a.png Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index 6988bb5..0000000 --- a/old/40638-h/images/illpg068-a.png +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/40638-h/images/illpg068-a_sml.png b/old/40638-h/images/illpg068-a_sml.png Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index 4122c7f..0000000 --- a/old/40638-h/images/illpg068-a_sml.png +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/40638-h/images/illpg068-b.png b/old/40638-h/images/illpg068-b.png Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index 5b85e21..0000000 --- a/old/40638-h/images/illpg068-b.png +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/40638-h/images/illpg068-b_sml.png b/old/40638-h/images/illpg068-b_sml.png Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index ee1b64c..0000000 --- a/old/40638-h/images/illpg068-b_sml.png +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/40638-h/images/illpg069-a.png b/old/40638-h/images/illpg069-a.png Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index 174fbee..0000000 --- a/old/40638-h/images/illpg069-a.png +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/40638-h/images/illpg069-a_sml.png b/old/40638-h/images/illpg069-a_sml.png Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index 30d516b..0000000 --- a/old/40638-h/images/illpg069-a_sml.png +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/40638-h/images/illpg069-b.png b/old/40638-h/images/illpg069-b.png Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index 8e41ce7..0000000 --- a/old/40638-h/images/illpg069-b.png +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/40638-h/images/illpg069-b_sml.png b/old/40638-h/images/illpg069-b_sml.png Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index e9da238..0000000 --- a/old/40638-h/images/illpg069-b_sml.png +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/40638-h/images/illpg070.png b/old/40638-h/images/illpg070.png Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index f71122c..0000000 --- a/old/40638-h/images/illpg070.png +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/40638-h/images/illpg070_sml.png b/old/40638-h/images/illpg070_sml.png Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index 6d42572..0000000 --- a/old/40638-h/images/illpg070_sml.png +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/40638-h/images/illpg071.png b/old/40638-h/images/illpg071.png Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index d10a390..0000000 --- a/old/40638-h/images/illpg071.png +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/40638-h/images/illpg071_sml.png b/old/40638-h/images/illpg071_sml.png Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index be90b81..0000000 --- a/old/40638-h/images/illpg071_sml.png +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/40638-h/images/illpg072.png b/old/40638-h/images/illpg072.png Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index efd4039..0000000 --- a/old/40638-h/images/illpg072.png +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/40638-h/images/illpg072_sml.png b/old/40638-h/images/illpg072_sml.png Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index b0ec915..0000000 --- a/old/40638-h/images/illpg072_sml.png +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/40638-h/images/illpg073.png b/old/40638-h/images/illpg073.png Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index 4adc5f2..0000000 --- a/old/40638-h/images/illpg073.png +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/40638-h/images/illpg073_sml.png b/old/40638-h/images/illpg073_sml.png Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index a110513..0000000 --- a/old/40638-h/images/illpg073_sml.png +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/40638-h/images/illpg075.png b/old/40638-h/images/illpg075.png Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index 7909f2f..0000000 --- a/old/40638-h/images/illpg075.png +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/40638-h/images/illpg075_sml.png b/old/40638-h/images/illpg075_sml.png Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index 3df12f3..0000000 --- a/old/40638-h/images/illpg075_sml.png +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/40638-h/images/illpg076.png b/old/40638-h/images/illpg076.png Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index 9b08506..0000000 --- a/old/40638-h/images/illpg076.png +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/40638-h/images/illpg076_sml.png b/old/40638-h/images/illpg076_sml.png Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index 4c9e5c9..0000000 --- a/old/40638-h/images/illpg076_sml.png +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/40638-h/images/illpg077-a.png b/old/40638-h/images/illpg077-a.png Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index 19e5fc5..0000000 --- a/old/40638-h/images/illpg077-a.png +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/40638-h/images/illpg077-a_sml.png b/old/40638-h/images/illpg077-a_sml.png Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index 616efb7..0000000 --- a/old/40638-h/images/illpg077-a_sml.png +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/40638-h/images/illpg077-b.png b/old/40638-h/images/illpg077-b.png Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index 4ca1029..0000000 --- a/old/40638-h/images/illpg077-b.png +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/40638-h/images/illpg077-b_sml.png b/old/40638-h/images/illpg077-b_sml.png Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index 8657892..0000000 --- a/old/40638-h/images/illpg077-b_sml.png +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/40638-h/images/illpg078.png b/old/40638-h/images/illpg078.png Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index e0d3e2e..0000000 --- a/old/40638-h/images/illpg078.png +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/40638-h/images/illpg078_sml.png b/old/40638-h/images/illpg078_sml.png Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index ffda141..0000000 --- a/old/40638-h/images/illpg078_sml.png +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/40638-h/images/illpg079.png b/old/40638-h/images/illpg079.png Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index bdc74ad..0000000 --- a/old/40638-h/images/illpg079.png +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/40638-h/images/illpg079_sml.png b/old/40638-h/images/illpg079_sml.png Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index 40f0d77..0000000 --- a/old/40638-h/images/illpg079_sml.png +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/40638-h/images/illpg080.png b/old/40638-h/images/illpg080.png Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index c054e18..0000000 --- a/old/40638-h/images/illpg080.png +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/40638-h/images/illpg080_sml.png b/old/40638-h/images/illpg080_sml.png Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index 01ae8a6..0000000 --- a/old/40638-h/images/illpg080_sml.png +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/40638-h/images/illpg081.png b/old/40638-h/images/illpg081.png Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index 9b93680..0000000 --- a/old/40638-h/images/illpg081.png +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/40638-h/images/illpg081_sml.png b/old/40638-h/images/illpg081_sml.png Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index bc7b5ee..0000000 --- a/old/40638-h/images/illpg081_sml.png +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/40638-h/images/illpg082.png b/old/40638-h/images/illpg082.png Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index 156d10d..0000000 --- a/old/40638-h/images/illpg082.png +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/40638-h/images/illpg082_sml.png b/old/40638-h/images/illpg082_sml.png Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index 16e460e..0000000 --- a/old/40638-h/images/illpg082_sml.png +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/40638-h/images/illpg083.png b/old/40638-h/images/illpg083.png Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index a7d6362..0000000 --- a/old/40638-h/images/illpg083.png +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/40638-h/images/illpg083_sml.png b/old/40638-h/images/illpg083_sml.png Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index 7535517..0000000 --- a/old/40638-h/images/illpg083_sml.png +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/40638-h/images/illpg085.png b/old/40638-h/images/illpg085.png Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index c4458eb..0000000 --- a/old/40638-h/images/illpg085.png +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/40638-h/images/illpg085_sml.png b/old/40638-h/images/illpg085_sml.png Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index d0bb23a..0000000 --- a/old/40638-h/images/illpg085_sml.png +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/40638-h/images/illpg086-a.png b/old/40638-h/images/illpg086-a.png Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index 040ea80..0000000 --- a/old/40638-h/images/illpg086-a.png +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/40638-h/images/illpg086-a_sml.png b/old/40638-h/images/illpg086-a_sml.png Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index cb723bb..0000000 --- a/old/40638-h/images/illpg086-a_sml.png +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/40638-h/images/illpg086-b.png b/old/40638-h/images/illpg086-b.png Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index e3498df..0000000 --- a/old/40638-h/images/illpg086-b.png +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/40638-h/images/illpg086-b_sml.png b/old/40638-h/images/illpg086-b_sml.png Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index e2e2c41..0000000 --- a/old/40638-h/images/illpg086-b_sml.png +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/40638-h/images/illpg087-a.png b/old/40638-h/images/illpg087-a.png Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index e17c4f5..0000000 --- a/old/40638-h/images/illpg087-a.png +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/40638-h/images/illpg087-a_sml.png b/old/40638-h/images/illpg087-a_sml.png Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index 0a36bf0..0000000 --- a/old/40638-h/images/illpg087-a_sml.png +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/40638-h/images/illpg087-b.png b/old/40638-h/images/illpg087-b.png Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index 622dd9a..0000000 --- a/old/40638-h/images/illpg087-b.png +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/40638-h/images/illpg087-b_sml.png b/old/40638-h/images/illpg087-b_sml.png Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index a4c886e..0000000 --- a/old/40638-h/images/illpg087-b_sml.png +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/40638-h/images/illpg088.png b/old/40638-h/images/illpg088.png Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index 38e8076..0000000 --- a/old/40638-h/images/illpg088.png +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/40638-h/images/illpg088_sml.png b/old/40638-h/images/illpg088_sml.png Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index 28972f6..0000000 --- a/old/40638-h/images/illpg088_sml.png +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/40638-h/images/illpg090.png b/old/40638-h/images/illpg090.png Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index 05f2bc8..0000000 --- a/old/40638-h/images/illpg090.png +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/40638-h/images/illpg090_sml.png b/old/40638-h/images/illpg090_sml.png Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index d55d271..0000000 --- a/old/40638-h/images/illpg090_sml.png +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/40638-h/images/illpg093.png b/old/40638-h/images/illpg093.png Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index fd8435f..0000000 --- a/old/40638-h/images/illpg093.png +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/40638-h/images/illpg093_sml.png b/old/40638-h/images/illpg093_sml.png Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index 53b1ee8..0000000 --- a/old/40638-h/images/illpg093_sml.png +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/40638-h/images/illpg094.png b/old/40638-h/images/illpg094.png Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index 45ca365..0000000 --- a/old/40638-h/images/illpg094.png +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/40638-h/images/illpg094_sml.png b/old/40638-h/images/illpg094_sml.png Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index becfc43..0000000 --- a/old/40638-h/images/illpg094_sml.png +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/40638-h/images/illpg095.png b/old/40638-h/images/illpg095.png Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index 2c64ea9..0000000 --- a/old/40638-h/images/illpg095.png +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/40638-h/images/illpg095_sml.png b/old/40638-h/images/illpg095_sml.png Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index a2f1dc9..0000000 --- a/old/40638-h/images/illpg095_sml.png +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/40638-h/images/illpg096.png b/old/40638-h/images/illpg096.png Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index 77df095..0000000 --- a/old/40638-h/images/illpg096.png +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/40638-h/images/illpg096_sml.png b/old/40638-h/images/illpg096_sml.png Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index d396d26..0000000 --- a/old/40638-h/images/illpg096_sml.png +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/40638-h/images/illpg100.png b/old/40638-h/images/illpg100.png Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index 1a3b6b2..0000000 --- a/old/40638-h/images/illpg100.png +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/40638-h/images/illpg100_sml.png b/old/40638-h/images/illpg100_sml.png Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index 6a70fee..0000000 --- a/old/40638-h/images/illpg100_sml.png +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/40638-h/images/illpg101.png b/old/40638-h/images/illpg101.png Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index df625ec..0000000 --- a/old/40638-h/images/illpg101.png +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/40638-h/images/illpg101_sml.png b/old/40638-h/images/illpg101_sml.png Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index f3c1da3..0000000 --- a/old/40638-h/images/illpg101_sml.png +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/40638-h/images/illpg102.png b/old/40638-h/images/illpg102.png Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index 0aca7e1..0000000 --- a/old/40638-h/images/illpg102.png +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/40638-h/images/illpg102_sml.png b/old/40638-h/images/illpg102_sml.png Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index 6c3372d..0000000 --- a/old/40638-h/images/illpg102_sml.png +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/40638-h/images/illpg103.png b/old/40638-h/images/illpg103.png Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index 6729971..0000000 --- a/old/40638-h/images/illpg103.png +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/40638-h/images/illpg103_sml.png b/old/40638-h/images/illpg103_sml.png Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index 104f761..0000000 --- a/old/40638-h/images/illpg103_sml.png +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/40638-h/images/illpg107.png b/old/40638-h/images/illpg107.png Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index 09fffa8..0000000 --- a/old/40638-h/images/illpg107.png +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/40638-h/images/illpg107_sml.png b/old/40638-h/images/illpg107_sml.png Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index 0e63748..0000000 --- a/old/40638-h/images/illpg107_sml.png +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/40638-h/images/illpg113.png b/old/40638-h/images/illpg113.png Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index e0440e4..0000000 --- a/old/40638-h/images/illpg113.png +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/40638-h/images/illpg113_sml.png b/old/40638-h/images/illpg113_sml.png Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index 61e40a0..0000000 --- a/old/40638-h/images/illpg113_sml.png +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/40638-h/images/illpg116.png b/old/40638-h/images/illpg116.png Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index bf035c2..0000000 --- a/old/40638-h/images/illpg116.png +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/40638-h/images/illpg116_sml.png b/old/40638-h/images/illpg116_sml.png Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index c1f8cde..0000000 --- a/old/40638-h/images/illpg116_sml.png +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/40638-h/images/illpg123.png b/old/40638-h/images/illpg123.png Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index a0c2f47..0000000 --- a/old/40638-h/images/illpg123.png +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/40638-h/images/illpg123_sml.png b/old/40638-h/images/illpg123_sml.png Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index 331ed74..0000000 --- a/old/40638-h/images/illpg123_sml.png +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/40638-h/images/illpg124.png b/old/40638-h/images/illpg124.png Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index 12af26c..0000000 --- a/old/40638-h/images/illpg124.png +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/40638-h/images/illpg124_sml.png b/old/40638-h/images/illpg124_sml.png Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index 2c255ca..0000000 --- a/old/40638-h/images/illpg124_sml.png +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/40638-h/images/illpg125.png b/old/40638-h/images/illpg125.png Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index 4bb2c8b..0000000 --- a/old/40638-h/images/illpg125.png +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/40638-h/images/illpg125_sml.png b/old/40638-h/images/illpg125_sml.png Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index c438152..0000000 --- a/old/40638-h/images/illpg125_sml.png +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/40638-h/images/illpg130.png b/old/40638-h/images/illpg130.png Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index f3dcda0..0000000 --- a/old/40638-h/images/illpg130.png +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/40638-h/images/illpg130_sml.png b/old/40638-h/images/illpg130_sml.png Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index 64f7b65..0000000 --- a/old/40638-h/images/illpg130_sml.png +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/40638-h/images/illpg135.png b/old/40638-h/images/illpg135.png Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index 9c77241..0000000 --- a/old/40638-h/images/illpg135.png +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/40638-h/images/illpg135_sml.png b/old/40638-h/images/illpg135_sml.png Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index 149fc18..0000000 --- a/old/40638-h/images/illpg135_sml.png +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/40638-h/images/illpg142.png b/old/40638-h/images/illpg142.png Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index 7c36d4b..0000000 --- a/old/40638-h/images/illpg142.png +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/40638-h/images/illpg142_sml.png b/old/40638-h/images/illpg142_sml.png Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index af09d26..0000000 --- a/old/40638-h/images/illpg142_sml.png +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/40638-h/images/illpg143.png b/old/40638-h/images/illpg143.png Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index 2eb98a5..0000000 --- a/old/40638-h/images/illpg143.png +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/40638-h/images/illpg143_sml.png b/old/40638-h/images/illpg143_sml.png Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index 66a0269..0000000 --- a/old/40638-h/images/illpg143_sml.png +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/40638-h/images/illpg144.png b/old/40638-h/images/illpg144.png Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index 221a3aa..0000000 --- a/old/40638-h/images/illpg144.png +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/40638-h/images/illpg144_sml.png b/old/40638-h/images/illpg144_sml.png Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index a6e09b4..0000000 --- a/old/40638-h/images/illpg144_sml.png +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/40638-h/images/illpg145.png b/old/40638-h/images/illpg145.png Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index b6a8f4e..0000000 --- a/old/40638-h/images/illpg145.png +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/40638-h/images/illpg145_sml.png b/old/40638-h/images/illpg145_sml.png Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index e73c268..0000000 --- a/old/40638-h/images/illpg145_sml.png +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/40638-h/images/illpg151.png b/old/40638-h/images/illpg151.png Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index 54fc3f8..0000000 --- a/old/40638-h/images/illpg151.png +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/40638-h/images/illpg151_sml.png b/old/40638-h/images/illpg151_sml.png Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index 9567d02..0000000 --- a/old/40638-h/images/illpg151_sml.png +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/40638-h/images/illpg156.png b/old/40638-h/images/illpg156.png Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index afc2269..0000000 --- a/old/40638-h/images/illpg156.png +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/40638-h/images/illpg156_sml.png b/old/40638-h/images/illpg156_sml.png Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index 24b92f8..0000000 --- a/old/40638-h/images/illpg156_sml.png +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/40638-h/images/illpg157-a.png b/old/40638-h/images/illpg157-a.png Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index 60e5ed2..0000000 --- a/old/40638-h/images/illpg157-a.png +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/40638-h/images/illpg157-a_sml.png b/old/40638-h/images/illpg157-a_sml.png Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index 0a5168f..0000000 --- a/old/40638-h/images/illpg157-a_sml.png +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/40638-h/images/illpg157-b.png b/old/40638-h/images/illpg157-b.png Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index cf9042b..0000000 --- a/old/40638-h/images/illpg157-b.png +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/40638-h/images/illpg157-b_sml.png b/old/40638-h/images/illpg157-b_sml.png Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index 4277741..0000000 --- a/old/40638-h/images/illpg157-b_sml.png +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/40638-h/images/illpg158-a.png b/old/40638-h/images/illpg158-a.png Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index b0d0567..0000000 --- a/old/40638-h/images/illpg158-a.png +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/40638-h/images/illpg158-a_sml.png b/old/40638-h/images/illpg158-a_sml.png Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index b922348..0000000 --- a/old/40638-h/images/illpg158-a_sml.png +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/40638-h/images/illpg158-b.png b/old/40638-h/images/illpg158-b.png Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index dfa1f39..0000000 --- a/old/40638-h/images/illpg158-b.png +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/40638-h/images/illpg158-b_sml.png b/old/40638-h/images/illpg158-b_sml.png Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index 52fec0d..0000000 --- a/old/40638-h/images/illpg158-b_sml.png +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/40638-h/images/illpg160-a.png b/old/40638-h/images/illpg160-a.png Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index 2cccf49..0000000 --- a/old/40638-h/images/illpg160-a.png +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/40638-h/images/illpg160-a_sml.png b/old/40638-h/images/illpg160-a_sml.png Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index d489cd7..0000000 --- a/old/40638-h/images/illpg160-a_sml.png +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/40638-h/images/illpg160-b.png b/old/40638-h/images/illpg160-b.png Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index 954d365..0000000 --- a/old/40638-h/images/illpg160-b.png +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/40638-h/images/illpg160-b_sml.png b/old/40638-h/images/illpg160-b_sml.png Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index fdf5035..0000000 --- a/old/40638-h/images/illpg160-b_sml.png +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/40638-h/images/illpg162-a.png b/old/40638-h/images/illpg162-a.png Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index 7a85ade..0000000 --- a/old/40638-h/images/illpg162-a.png +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/40638-h/images/illpg162-a_sml.png b/old/40638-h/images/illpg162-a_sml.png Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index e77ede0..0000000 --- a/old/40638-h/images/illpg162-a_sml.png +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/40638-h/images/illpg162-b.png b/old/40638-h/images/illpg162-b.png Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index b6244ec..0000000 --- a/old/40638-h/images/illpg162-b.png +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/40638-h/images/illpg162-b_sml.png b/old/40638-h/images/illpg162-b_sml.png Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index 0756d95..0000000 --- a/old/40638-h/images/illpg162-b_sml.png +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/40638-h/images/illpg165.png b/old/40638-h/images/illpg165.png Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index f2fc454..0000000 --- a/old/40638-h/images/illpg165.png +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/40638-h/images/illpg165_sml.png b/old/40638-h/images/illpg165_sml.png Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index 9f37c49..0000000 --- a/old/40638-h/images/illpg165_sml.png +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/40638-h/images/illpg167-a.png b/old/40638-h/images/illpg167-a.png Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index cd12a2a..0000000 --- a/old/40638-h/images/illpg167-a.png +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/40638-h/images/illpg167-a_sml.png b/old/40638-h/images/illpg167-a_sml.png Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index f1e8236..0000000 --- a/old/40638-h/images/illpg167-a_sml.png +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/40638-h/images/illpg167-b.png b/old/40638-h/images/illpg167-b.png Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index 5e197c4..0000000 --- a/old/40638-h/images/illpg167-b.png +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/40638-h/images/illpg167-b_sml.png b/old/40638-h/images/illpg167-b_sml.png Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index 42c0df0..0000000 --- a/old/40638-h/images/illpg167-b_sml.png +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/40638-h/images/illpg169.png b/old/40638-h/images/illpg169.png Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index 81bb5b4..0000000 --- a/old/40638-h/images/illpg169.png +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/40638-h/images/illpg169_sml.png b/old/40638-h/images/illpg169_sml.png Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index 16b99b1..0000000 --- a/old/40638-h/images/illpg169_sml.png +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/40638-h/images/illpg170.png b/old/40638-h/images/illpg170.png Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index deaa2ff..0000000 --- a/old/40638-h/images/illpg170.png +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/40638-h/images/illpg170_sml.png b/old/40638-h/images/illpg170_sml.png Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index cbb47c6..0000000 --- a/old/40638-h/images/illpg170_sml.png +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/40638-h/images/illpg172.png b/old/40638-h/images/illpg172.png Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index 6d7b4ed..0000000 --- a/old/40638-h/images/illpg172.png +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/40638-h/images/illpg172_sml.png b/old/40638-h/images/illpg172_sml.png Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index 5f2818c..0000000 --- a/old/40638-h/images/illpg172_sml.png +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/40638-h/images/illpg173.png b/old/40638-h/images/illpg173.png Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index 5ea7933..0000000 --- a/old/40638-h/images/illpg173.png +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/40638-h/images/illpg173_sml.png b/old/40638-h/images/illpg173_sml.png Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index 1f66fe7..0000000 --- a/old/40638-h/images/illpg173_sml.png +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/40638-h/images/illpg175.png b/old/40638-h/images/illpg175.png Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index d6b11be..0000000 --- a/old/40638-h/images/illpg175.png +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/40638-h/images/illpg175_sml.png b/old/40638-h/images/illpg175_sml.png Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index 67a0642..0000000 --- a/old/40638-h/images/illpg175_sml.png +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/40638-h/images/illpg177.png b/old/40638-h/images/illpg177.png Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index b5ef1f1..0000000 --- a/old/40638-h/images/illpg177.png +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/40638-h/images/illpg177_sml.png b/old/40638-h/images/illpg177_sml.png Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index 6bc53fc..0000000 --- a/old/40638-h/images/illpg177_sml.png +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/40638-h/images/illpg183.png b/old/40638-h/images/illpg183.png Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index 8eb2d5d..0000000 --- a/old/40638-h/images/illpg183.png +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/40638-h/images/illpg183_sml.png b/old/40638-h/images/illpg183_sml.png Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index 5f0b78b..0000000 --- a/old/40638-h/images/illpg183_sml.png +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/40638-h/images/illpg187.png b/old/40638-h/images/illpg187.png Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index 4832c2d..0000000 --- a/old/40638-h/images/illpg187.png +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/40638-h/images/illpg187_sml.png b/old/40638-h/images/illpg187_sml.png Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index 715ae6f..0000000 --- a/old/40638-h/images/illpg187_sml.png +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/40638-h/images/illpg189.png b/old/40638-h/images/illpg189.png Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index a8e26c1..0000000 --- a/old/40638-h/images/illpg189.png +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/40638-h/images/illpg189_sml.png b/old/40638-h/images/illpg189_sml.png Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index 56c7b02..0000000 --- a/old/40638-h/images/illpg189_sml.png +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/40638-h/images/illpg191.png b/old/40638-h/images/illpg191.png Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index b1df45e..0000000 --- a/old/40638-h/images/illpg191.png +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/40638-h/images/illpg191_sml.png b/old/40638-h/images/illpg191_sml.png Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index 0ee9684..0000000 --- a/old/40638-h/images/illpg191_sml.png +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/40638-h/images/illpg194.png b/old/40638-h/images/illpg194.png Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index a18f7cd..0000000 --- a/old/40638-h/images/illpg194.png +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/40638-h/images/illpg194_sml.png b/old/40638-h/images/illpg194_sml.png Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index cc2f13a..0000000 --- a/old/40638-h/images/illpg194_sml.png +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/40638-h/images/illpg196.png b/old/40638-h/images/illpg196.png Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index 86c30e7..0000000 --- a/old/40638-h/images/illpg196.png +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/40638-h/images/illpg196_sml.png b/old/40638-h/images/illpg196_sml.png Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index dd20bf1..0000000 --- a/old/40638-h/images/illpg196_sml.png +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/40638-h/images/illpg198.png b/old/40638-h/images/illpg198.png Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index fc500a6..0000000 --- a/old/40638-h/images/illpg198.png +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/40638-h/images/illpg198_sml.png b/old/40638-h/images/illpg198_sml.png Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index bd3627c..0000000 --- a/old/40638-h/images/illpg198_sml.png +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/40638-h/images/illpg199.png b/old/40638-h/images/illpg199.png Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index 8f8b4fd..0000000 --- a/old/40638-h/images/illpg199.png +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/40638-h/images/illpg199_sml.png b/old/40638-h/images/illpg199_sml.png Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index 1aa7f2e..0000000 --- a/old/40638-h/images/illpg199_sml.png +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/40638-h/images/illpg201.png b/old/40638-h/images/illpg201.png Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index 0bfb21c..0000000 --- a/old/40638-h/images/illpg201.png +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/40638-h/images/illpg201_sml.png b/old/40638-h/images/illpg201_sml.png Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index fad1077..0000000 --- a/old/40638-h/images/illpg201_sml.png +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/40638-h/images/illpg203.png b/old/40638-h/images/illpg203.png Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index 30bc34d..0000000 --- a/old/40638-h/images/illpg203.png +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/40638-h/images/illpg203_sml.png b/old/40638-h/images/illpg203_sml.png Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index 8b377e3..0000000 --- a/old/40638-h/images/illpg203_sml.png +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/40638-h/images/illpg205.png b/old/40638-h/images/illpg205.png Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index ae31791..0000000 --- a/old/40638-h/images/illpg205.png +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/40638-h/images/illpg205_sml.png b/old/40638-h/images/illpg205_sml.png Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index 738d4ad..0000000 --- a/old/40638-h/images/illpg205_sml.png +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/40638-h/images/illpg207.png b/old/40638-h/images/illpg207.png Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index 3eb6474..0000000 --- a/old/40638-h/images/illpg207.png +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/40638-h/images/illpg207_sml.png b/old/40638-h/images/illpg207_sml.png Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index a2d72db..0000000 --- a/old/40638-h/images/illpg207_sml.png +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/readme.htm b/old/readme.htm deleted file mode 100644 index 170893e..0000000 --- a/old/readme.htm +++ /dev/null @@ -1,13 +0,0 @@ -<!DOCTYPE html> -<html lang="en"> -<head> - <meta charset="utf-8"> -</head> -<body> -<div> -Versions of this book's files up to October 2024 are here.<br> -More recent changes, if any, are reflected in the GitHub repository: -<a href="https://github.com/gutenbergbooks/40638">https://github.com/gutenbergbooks/40638</a> -</div> -</body> -</html> |
