,a ,,history ,,of ,,wood-,,engraving ,illustration3 ,a ,,history ,,of ,,wood-,,engraving ,,by ,,george ,e4 ,,woodberry ,,illustrated ,,london ,,sampson ,,low1 ,,marston1 ,,searle1 ,,rivington ,,crown ,,buildings1 #ahh ,,fleet ,,street #ahhc ,entered according to ,act of ,congress1 in the year #ahhb1 by ,,harper ,,brothers1 ,in the ,office of the ,librarian of ,congress1 at ,washington4 ,all rights reserved4 ,,preface4 ,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 wood4 ,i have1 therefore1 disregarded such matter as seems to belong rather to descriptive bibliography1 and have treated wood-engraving1 in its principal works1 as a reflection of the life of men and an illustration of successive phases of civilization4 ,where there is much disputed ground1 particularly in the early history of the art1 the writers on whom ,i have relied are referred to1 and those who adopt a different view are named2 but where the facts seemed plain1 and are easily verifiable1 reference did not appear necessary4 ,in conclusion1 ,i have the honor to acknowledge my obligations to the officers of the ,boston ,public ,library1 the ,boston ,museum of ,fine ,arts1 and the ,harvard ,college ,library1 for permission to reproduce several cuts in their possession2 and to ,mr4 ,lindsay ,swift1 of the ,boston ,public ,library1 for the list of authorities at the end of the volume4 ,especially it is my pleasant duty to thank ,professor ,charles ,eliot ,norton1 of ,harvard ,university1 from whose curious and valuable collection more than half of these illustrations are derived1 both for them and for suggestion1 advice1 and criticism1 without which1 indeed1 the work could not have been written4 ,,george ,,edward ,,woodberry4 ,,contents4 ,i4 ,,page ,,the ,,origin ,,of ,,the ,,art #ac ,,ii4 ,,the ,,block-,,books #cj ,,iii4 ,,early ,,printed ,,books ,,in ,,the ,,north #de ,,iv4 ,,early ,,italian ,,wood-,,engraving #fe ,v4 ,,albert ,d,,rer ,,and ,,his ,,successors #ij ,,vi4 ,,hans ,,holbein #aaf ,,vii4 ,,the ,,decline ,,and ,,extinction ,,of ,,the ,,art #ace ,,viii4 ,,modern ,,wood-,,engraving #aea ,a ,,list ,,of ,,the ,,principal ,,works ,,upon ,,wood-,,engraving ,,useful ,,to ,,students #baa ,,index #bag ,,list ,,of ,,illustrations4 ,,fig44444,,page #a4--;,from 8,epistole di ,san ,hieronymo ,volgare40 ,ferrara1 #adig4 7,initial letter744444#ac #b4--,st4 ,christopher1 #adbc4 ,from ,ottley's 8,inquiry into the ,origin and ,early ,history of ,engraving upon ,copper and in ,wood044444#bb #c4--,the ,crucifixion4 ,from the ,manuscript 8,book of ,devotion40 #adde44444bd #d4--;,from the 8,epistole di ,san ,hieronymo40 #adig4 7,initial letter744444#cj #e4--;,elijah ,raiseth the ,widow's ,son 7#a ,k4 xvii474 ,the ,raising of ,lazarus 7,jno4 xi474 ,elisha ,raiseth the ,widow's ,son 7#b ,k4 iv474 ,from the original in the possession of ,professor ,norton1 of ,cambridge44444#cd #f4--,the ,creation of ,eve4 ,from the fac-simile of ,berjeau44444#ce #g4--;,initial letter4 ,source unknown44444#de #h4--,the ,grief of ,hannah4 ,from the ,cologne ,bible1 #adgj-'ge44444di #i4--;,illustration of ,exodus ,i4 ,from the ,cologne ,bible1 #adgj-'ge #ea #aj4--,the ,fifth ,day of ,creation4 ,from ,schedel's 8,liber ,chronicarum40 ,nuremberg1 #adic44444ed #aa4--,the ,dancing ,deaths4 ,from ,schedel's 8,liber ,chronicarum40 ,nuremberg1 #adic44444ef #ab4--;,jews ,sacrificing a ,christian ,child4 ,from ,schedel's 8,liber ,chronicarum40 ,nuremberg1 #adic44444eh #ac4--,marginal ,border4 ,from ,kerver's 8,psalterium ,virginis ,mari40 #aeji44444fa #ad4--;,from ,ovid's 8,metamorphoses40 ,venice1 #aeah 7design1 #adig74 7,initial letter744444#fe #ae4--,the ,creation4 ,from the 8,fasciculus ,temporum40 ,venice1 #adhd44444fh #af4--,leviathan4 ,from the 8,ortus ,sanitatis40 ,venice1 #aeaa44444fh #ag4--,the ,stork4 ,from the 8,ortus ,sanitatis40 ,venice1 #aeaa44444fi #ah4--,view of ,venice4 ,from the 8,fasciculus ,temporum40 ,venice1 #adhd44444fi #ai4--,the ,contest of ,apollo and ,pan4 ,from ,ovid's 8,metamorphoses40 ,venice1 #aeah 7design1 #adig744444gj #bj4--,sirens4 ,from the 8,ortus ,sanitatis40 ,venice1 #aeaa44444ga #ba4--,pygmy and ,cranes4 ,from the 8,ortus ,sanitatis40 ,venice1 #aeaa44444gb #bb4--,the ,woman and the ,thief4 ,from 8sop's ,fables40 ,venice1 #adia 7design1 #adha744444gc #bc4--,the ,crow and the ,peacock4 ,from 8sop's ,fables40 ,venice1 #adia 7design1 #adha744444ge #bd4--,the ,peace of ,god4 ,from 8,epistole di ,san ,hieronymo ,volgare40 ,ferrara1 #adig44444gf #be4--,mary and the ,risen ,lord4 ,from 8,epistole di ,san ,hieronymo ,volgare40 ,ferrara1 #adig44444gg #bf4--,st4 ,baruch4 ,from the 8,catalogus ,sanctorum40 ,venice1 #aejf44444gg #bg4--,poliphilo by the ,stream4 ,from the 8,hypnerotomachia ,poliphili40 ,venice1 #adii44444gh #bh4--,poliphilo and the ,nymphs4 ,from the 8,hypnerotomachia ,poliphili40 ,venice1 #adii44444gi #bi4--,ornament4 ,from the 8,hypnerotomachia ,poliphili40 ,venice1 #adii44444hj #cj4--,poliphilo meets ,polia4 ,from the 8,hypnerotomachia ,poliphili40 ,venice1 #adii44444ha #ca4--,nero ,fiddling4 ,from the ,ovid of #aeaj4 ,venice44444#hb #cb4--,the ,physician4 ,from the 8,fasciculus ,medicin40 ,venice1 #aejj44444hc #cc4--;,hero and ,leander4 ,from the ,ovid of #aeae4 ,venice44444#he #cd4--;,dante and ,beatrice4 ,from the ,dante of #aebj4 ,venice44444#hf #ce4--,st4 ,jerome ,commending the ,hermit's ,life4 ,from 8,epistole di ,san ,hieronymo40 ,ferrara1 #adig44444hf #cf4--,st4 ,francis and the ,beggar4 ,from the 8,catalogus ,sanctorum40 ,venice1 #aejf44444hg #cg4--,the ,translation of ,st4 ,nicolas4 ,from the 8,catalogus ,sanctorum40 ,venice1 #aejf44444hg #ch4--,romoaldus1 the ,abbot4 ,from the 8,catalogus ,sanctorum40 ,venice1 #aejf #hh #ci4--;,from an ,italian ,alphabet of the #afth ,century4 7,initial letter744444#ij #dj4--,st4 ,john and the ,virgin4 ,vignette to ,drer's 8,apocalypse044444#ic #da4--;,christ ,suffering4 ,vignette to ,drer's 8,larger ,passion044444#id #db4--;,christ ,mocked4 ,vignette to ,drer's 8,smaller ,passion044444#ie #dc4--,the ,descent into ,hell4 ,from ,drer's 8,smaller ,passion044444#if #dd4--,the ,herald4 ,from 8,the ,triumph of ,maximilian044444#ajj #de4--,tablet4 ,from 8,the ,triumph of ,maximilian044444#aja #df4--,the ,car of the ,musicians4 ,from 8,the ,triumph of ,maximilian044444#ajb #dg4--,three ,horsemen4 ,from 8,the ,triumph of ,maximilian044444#ajc #dh4--;,horseman4 ,from 8,the ,triumph of ,maximilian044444#ajg #di4--,virgin and ,child4 ,from a print by ,hans ,sebald ,behaim444444#aac #ej4--;,from the 8,epistole di ,san ,hieronymo40 ,ferrara1 #adig4 7,initial letter744444#aaf #ea4--,the ,nun4 ,from ,holbein's 8,images de la ,mort40 ,lyons1 #aedg44444abc #eb4--,the ,preacher4 ,from ,holbein's 8,images de la ,mort40 ,lyons1 #aedg44444abd #ec4--,the ,ploughman4 ,from ,holbein's 8,images de la ,mort40 ,lyons1 #aedg44444abe #ed4--,nathan ,rebuking ,david4 ,from ,holbein's 8,icones ,historiarum ,veteris ,testamenti40 ,lyons1 #aedg44444acj #ee4--;,from 8,opera ,vergiliana10 printed by ,sacon4 ,lyons1 #aeag4 7,initial letter744444#ace #ef4--,st4 ,christopher4 ,from a ,venetian print44444#adb #eg4--,st4 ,sebastian and ,st4 ,francis4 ,portion of a print by ,andreani after ,titian44444#adc #eh4--,the ,annunciation4 ,from a print by ,francesco da ,nanto44444#add #ei4--,milo of ,crotona4 ,from a print by ,boldrini after ,titian44444#ade #fj4--;,from the 8,comedia di ,danthe40 ,venice1 #aecf4 7,initial letter744444#aea #fa4--,the ,peacock4 ,from ,bewick's 8,british ,birds044444#aef #fb4--,the ,frightened ,mother4 ,from ,bewick's 8,british ,quadrupeds044444#aeg #fc4--,the ,solitary ,cormorant4 ,from ,bewick's 8,british ,birds044444#aeg #fd4--,the ,snow ,cottage44444#aeh #fe4--;,birth-place of ,bewick4 ,his last vignette1 portraying his own funeral44444#aeh #ff4--,the ,broken ,boat4 ,from ,bewick's 8,british ,birds044444#afj #fg4--,the ,church-yard4 ,from ,bewick's 8,british ,birds044444#afj #fh4--,the ,sheep-fold4 ,by ,blake4 ,from 8,virgil's ,pastorals044444#afb #fi4--,the ,mark of ,storm4 ,by ,blake4 ,from 8,virgil's ,pastorals044444#afb #gj4--;,cave of ,despair4 ,by ,branston4 ,from ,savage's 8,hints on ,decorative ,printing044444#afe #ga4--,vignette from 8,rogers's ,poems40 ,london1 #ahbg44444afg #gb4--,vignette from 8,rogers's ,poems40 ,london1 #ahbg44444afg #gc4--;,death as a ,friend4 ,from a print by ,professor ,norton1 of ,cambridge4 ,engraved by ,j4 ,jungtow44444#afi #gd4--;,death as a ,throttler4 ,from a print by ,professor ,norton1 of ,cambridge4 ,engraved by ,steinbrecher44444#agj #ge4--,the ,creation4 ,engraved by ,j4 ,f4 ,adams44444#agb #gf4--,the ,deluge4 ,engraved by ,j4 ,f4 ,adams44444#agc #gg4--;,butterflies4 ,engraved by ,f4 ,s4 ,king44444#age #gh4--,spring-time4 ,engraved by ,f4 ,s4 ,king44444#agg #gi4--,mount ,lafayette 7,white ,mountains74 ,by ,j4 ,tinkey44444#ahc #hj4--8;,and silent were the sheep in woolly fold40 ,engraved by ,j4 ,g4 ,smithwick44444#ahg #ha4--,the ,old ,orchard4 ,engraved by ,f4 ,juengling44444#ahi #hb4--,some ,art ,connoisseurs4 ,engraved by ,robert ,hoskin44444#aia #hc4--,the ,travelling ,musicians4 ,engraved by ,r4 ,a4 ,muller44444#aid #hd4--,shipwrecked4 ,engraved by ,frank ,french44444#aif #he4--,the ,tap-room4 ,engraved by ,frank ,french44444#aih #hf4--;,going to ,church4 ,engraved by ,j4 ,p4 ,davis44444#aii #hg4--8,nay1 ,love1 'tis you who stand with almond clusters in your clasping hand40 ,engraved by ,t4 ,cole44444#bja #hh4--,the ,spanish ,peasant4 ,engraved by ,f4 ,juengling44444#bjc #hi4--;,james ,russell ,lowell4 ,engraved by ,thomas ,johnson44444#bje #ij4--;,arthur ,penrhyn ,stanley4 ,engraved by ,g4 ,kruell44444#bjg ,a ,,history ,,of ,,wood-,,engraving4 ,i4 ,,the ,,origin ,,of ,,the ,,art4 ,illustration3 ,t ,,fig4 #a4--;,from 8,epistole di ,san ,hieronymo ,volgare40 ,ferra #adig4 ,the beginning of the art of wood-engraving in ,europe1 the time when paper was first laid down upon an engraved wood block and the first rude print was taken off1 is unknown2 the name of the inventor and his country are involved in a double obscurity of ignorance and fable1 darkened still more by national jealousies and vanities2 even the mechanical appliances and processes which led up to and at last resulted in the new art1 can only be conjectured4 ,the art had long lain but just beyond the border-line of discovery4 ,the principle of making impressions by means of lines cut in relief upon wood was known to the ancients1 who used engraved wooden stamps to indent figures and letters in soft substances like wax and clay1 and1 possibly1 to print colors on surfaces1 as had been done from early times in ,india in the manufacture of cloth2 similar stamps were used in the ,middle ,ages by notaries and other public officers to print signatures on documents1 by ,italian cloth-makers to impress colors on silk and other fabrics1 and by the illuminators of manuscripts to strike the outlines of initial letters4 ,this practice may have suggested the new process4 ,it is more probable that the art began in the workshops of the goldsmiths1 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 century1 showing that they really were engravers obliged to remain goldsmiths1 because the art of printing from metal plates was unknown4#a ,by their knowledge of design and their artistic execution1 at least1 if not by their mechanical inventiveness1 the goldsmiths were the lineal ancestors of the great engravers of the ,renaissance4 ,their art had been continued from ,roman times1 with fewer interruptions and hinderances than any other of the fine arts4 ,it was early employed in the adornment of the altar1 the pax1 and other articles of the ,church service2 already1 in ,st4 ,bernard's time1 so much attention was given to workmanship of this kind1 and so much wealth lavished upon it1 that he denounced it1 with true ascetic spirit1 as a decoration of what was soon to become vile1 a waste of what might have been given to the poor1 and a distraction of the spirit from holiness to the admiration of beauty4 8,the ,church10 he said1 8shines with the splendor of her walls1 and among her poor is destitution2 she clothes her stones with gold1 and leaves her children naked4 99 99 99 ,finally1 so many things are to be seen1 everywhere such a marvellous variety of different forms1 that one may read more upon the sculptured walls than in the written ,scriptures1 and spend the whole day in going about in wonder from one such thing to another1 rather than in meditating upon ,god's law40#b ,the art might have suffered seriously from such uncompromising opposition as ,st4 ,bernard made1 had not ,suger1 the great abbot of ,st4 ,denys1 taken up its defence and supported it by his patronage and by his eloquence4 8,let each one have his own opinion10 he writes1 8but ,i confess it is my conviction that whatever is most precious ought to be devoted above all to that holiest rite of the ,eucharist2 if golden lavers1 if golden cups1 and if golden bowls were used1 by the command of ,god or of the prophet1 to catch the blood of rams or bullocks or heifers1 how much more ought vases of gold1 precious stones1 and whatever is dearest among all creatures1 ever to be set forth with full devotion to receive the blood of ,jesus ,christ60#c ,by such arguments ,suger defended the rightfulness and value of the goldsmith's art in the service of the ,church4 ,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-engraving4#d ,in the pursuit of their craft they practised the arts of modelling1 casting1 sculpture1 engraving1 enamelling1 and the setting of precious stones2 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 silver1 richly engraved1 and adorned with bass-reliefs and statuettes1 and brilliant with many-colored enamel and with jewels--the reliquaries in which were kept the innumerable holy relics that then filled ,europe1 the famous shrines for the bodies of the saints1 about which pilgrims from every quarter were ever at prayer1 and the tombs of the ,crusaders1 and of dignitaries of ,church or ,state4 ,they employed their skill1 too1 for the lesser glory of the churches1 upon the vessels of the ,holy ,communion1 the crosses1 candelabra1 and censers1 and the ornaments that incrusted the vestments of the priests4 ,with the increase of luxury and wealth they found a new field for their invention in contributing to the magnificence of secular life2 in fashioning into strange forms the ewers1 goblets1 flagons1 and every vessel which adorned the banquet2 and in ornamenting them with fantastic figures1 or with scenes from the chase1 or from the history of ,charlemagne and ,saladin1 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 poet1 ,martial d',auvergne1 says the lords and knights were 8caparisoned in gold-work and jewels40 ,under ,charles ,v4 of ,france 7#acfd7 and the great ,dukes of the ,low ,countries1 the jewel-chamber of the prince was his pride in peace and his treasury in war3 it furnished gifts for the bride1 the favorite1 and the heir1 and for foreign ambassadors and princes2 it afforded pay for retainers before the battle and ransom after it1 and in the days of the great ftes its treasures gave to the courts of ,france1 ,burgundy1 and ,flanders a magnificence that has seldom been seen in ,europe4#e ,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 arts1 and made their workshops the apprentice-home of many great masters of art in ,italy as well as in the ,north4 ,they best understood the value of art1 and were best skilled in artistic processes2 they were the only persons#f who had by them all the means for taking an impression--the engraved metal plate1 iron tools1 burnishers for rubbing off a proof1 blackened oil1 and paper which they used for tracing their designs2 they would1 too1 have been aided in their art1 merely as goldsmiths1 could they have tested their engraving from time to time by taking an impression from it in its various stages4 ,it is not unlikely1 therefore1 that the art of taking impressions from engraved work was found out1 or at least was first extensively applied1 in their workshops1 where it could hardly have failed to be discovered ultimately1 as paper came into use more generally and for more various purposes4 ,if this were the case1 metal-engraving preceded wood-engraving1 but only by a brief space of time1 because1 as soon as the idea of the new art was fully grasped1 wood must have been almost immediately employed in preference to metal1 on account of the greater ease and speed of working in wood1 and of the less injury done to the paper in printing from it4 ,some support for this view1 that the art of printing from engraved metal plates was discovered by the goldsmiths1 and preceded and suggested wood-engraving1 is derived from the peculiar prints in the manire crible1 or the dotted style1 of which over three hundred are known4 ,they were produced by a mixed process of engraving in relief and in intaglio1 usually upon a metal plate1 but sometimes upon wood4 ,the effects are given by dots and lines relieved in white upon a black ground1 assisted by dots and lines relieved in black upon a white ground4 ,these prints have afforded much material for dispute and controversy1 both as to their process and their date2 the mode in which the metal plates from which they were printed were engraved1 particularly the punching out small holes in the metal1 which appear usually as white dots1 and give the name to the prints1 is the same as a mode of ornamental work#g in metal that had been practised for centuries in the workshops of the goldsmiths1 and on this account they have been ascribed to the goldsmiths of the great ,northern cities4#h ,they appeared certainly as early as #adej1 and probably much earlier4#i ,some of these prints are evidently taken from metal plates not originally meant to be printed from1 for the inscriptions on the prints as well as the actions of the figures appear reversed1 the words reading backward1 and the figures performing actions with the left hand almost always performed by the right hand4#aj ,these may be the work of the first years of the fifteenth century1 or they may have been taken long afterward1 in a spirit of curiosity or experiment4 ,the existence of these early prints1 however1 undoubtedly from the workshops of the goldsmiths1 and after a mode long practised by them1 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 work2 at all events1 this seems the least wild1 the most consistent1 and best supported conjecture which has been put forth4 ,there is1 however1 no lack of more specific accounts of the origin of wood-engraving4 ,pliny's#aa reference to the portraits with which ,varro illustrated his works indicates1 in the opinion of some writers1 a momentary1 isolated1 and premature appearance of the art in his day4 ,ottley#ab maintains that the art was introduced into ,europe by the ,venetians1 who learned it 8at a very early period of their intercourse with the people of ,tartary1 ,thibet1 and ,china20 but of this there is no satisfactory evidence4 ,papillon1#ac a ,french engraver of the last century1 relates that in his youth he saw in the library of a retired ,swiss officer nine woodcuts1 illustrative of the deeds of ,alexander the ,great1 executed with a small knife by 8two young and amiable twins10 ,isabella and ,alexander ,alberico ,cunio1 ,knt41 of ,ravenna1 in their seventeenth year1 and dedicated by them to ,pope ,honorius ,,iv41 in #abhd-he2 but1 as no one else ever saw or heard of them1 and there is no contemporary reference to them1 as no single unquestionable fact has been adduced in direct support of the story1 and as ,papillon is an untrustworthy writer1 his tale1 although accepted by some authorities1#ad is generally discredited1#ae and was regarded by ,chatto#af as the hallucination of a distempered mind4 ,meerman1#ag the stout defender of the claim of ,lawrence ,coster to the invention of printing with movable types1 relying on the authority of ,junius1#ah who wrote from tradition more than a century after the facts1 makes ,coster the first printer of woodcuts4 ,some writers accept this story2 but in spite of them1 and of the well-developed genealogical tree with which ,meerman provided his hero1 and even of ,mr4 ,sotheby's#ai supposed discovery of ,coster's portrait1 his very existence is doubted4 ,the charming scene in which the idea of the new art first occurred to ,coster1 as he was walking after dinner in his garden1 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 probably1 after all1 little more than a play of antiquarian fancy4 ,these stories have slight historic weight2 they are1 to use ,m4 ,renouvier's simile1 8a group of legends about the cradle of modern art1 like those recounted of ancient art1 the history of ,craton1 of ,saurias1 or of the daughter of ,dibutades1 who invented design by tracing on a wall the silhouette of her lover40 ,illustration3 ,,fig #b4--,st4 ,christopher1 #adbc4 ,from ,ottley's 8,inquiry into the ,origin and ,early ,history of ,engraving upon ,copper and in ,wood40 ,the first fact known with certainty in the history of wood-engraving is1 that in the first quarter of the fifteenth century there were scattered abroad in ,northern ,europe rude prints1 representing scenes from the ,scriptures and the lives of the saints4 ,these pictures were on single leaves of paper2 the outlines were printed from engraved wood-blocks1 but occasionally1 it is believed1 from metal plates cut in relief2 they were taken off in a pale1 brownish ink by rubbing on the back of the paper with a burnisher1 and sometimes in black ink and with a press2 they were then colored1 either by hand or by means of a stencil plate1 in order to make them more attractive to the people4 ,the earliest of these prints which bears an unquestionable date is the famous ,st4 ,christopher 7,fig4 #b7 of #adbc1 found by ,heinecken1#bj in the middle of the last century1 pasted inside the cover of a manuscript in the library of the convent of ,buxheim1 in ,suabia4 ,it represents ,st4 ,christopher1 according to a favorite legend of the ,middle ,ages1 fording a river with the infant ,christ upon his shoulders2 opposite1 on the right bank1 a hermit holds a lantern before his cell2 on the left a peasant1 with a bag on his back1 climbs the steep ascent from his mill to the cottage high up on the cliff1 where no swelling of the stream will reach it4 ,the attitude of the two heads is expressive1 and the folds of the saint's robes are well cast about the shoulders2 in other respects the cut has little artistic merit1 but the attempt to mark shadows by a greater or less width of line is noticeable1 and the lines in general are much more varied than is usual in early work4 ,it was printed in black ink1 and with a press4 ,there are two other early prints1 the dates of which are uncertain1 but still sufficiently probable to deserve mention--the warmly controverted ,brussels print#ba of #adah1 which represents the ,virgin and ,child1 surrounded by four saints1 in an enclosed garden1 in the style of the ,van ,eycks1 and with more artistic merit than the ,st4 ,christopher in design1 drawing1 and execution2 and1 secondly1 the ,st4 ,sebastian of #adcg1 at ,vienna4 ,the former was discovered in #ahdd1 in a bad condition1 and the latter in #aggi2 both are taken off in pale ink1 and with a rubber4 ,there are numerous other prints of this kind1 which have been described in detail and have had conjectural dates assigned to them1 fruitful of much antiquarian dispute4 ,one of these 7,fig4 #c7 is here reproduced for the first time2 it was found stitched into a manuscript of #adde1 and is unquestionably as old as the manuscript2 it represents a ,crucifixion1 with the ,virgin and ,longinus at the left1 and ,st4 ,john and1 perhaps1 the ,centurion at the right2 in the upper left-hand corner is an angel with the ,veronica1 or handkerchief1 which bears the miraculous portrait of the ,saviour1 and above are a scourge and a knife2 in the original the body of ,christ is covered with dots and scratches in vermillion1 to represent blood4 ,it was taken off in black ink with a press1 and is one of the rudest engravings known4#bb ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #c4--,the ,crucifixion4 ,from the ,manuscript 8,book of ,devotion40 #adde4 ,valueless as these prints#bc are1 for the most part1 as works of art1 they are of great interest4 ,they were the first pictures the common people ever had1 and doubtless they were highly prized4 ,rude as they were1 the poor ,german peasant or humble artisan of the great industrial cities cared for them2 they had been given to him by the monks1 like the rudely-carved wooden images of earlier times1 at the end of some pilgrimage that he had made for penance or devotion1 and were treasured by him as a precious memento2 or some preaching friar1 to whom he had devoutly given a small alms for the building of a church or the decoration of a shrine1 had rewarded his piety with a picture of the saint whom1 so far as he could1 he had honored2 or he had received them on some day of festival1 when in the streets of the ,flemish cities the ,lazarists or other orders of monks had marched in grand procession1 scattering these brilliantly colored prints among the populace4 ,stuck up on the low walls of his dwelling1 they not only recalled his pious deeds1 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 lay4 ,throughout the fifteenth and a part of the sixteenth centuries1 although the intellectual life of the higher classes began to be secularized1 among the common people these medival sentiments and customs1 which gave rise to the holy prints1 continued without change until the ,reformation2 and so the workshops of the monks and of the guilds of ,augsburg1 ,nuremberg1 ,ulm1 ,cologne1 and the ,flemish cities1 kept on issuing these saints' images1 as they were called1 long after the art had produced refined and noble works4 ,they remained1 in accordance with the true medival spirit1 not only without the name of the craftsman1 nomen vero auctoris humilitate siletur1 but unmarked by any individuality1 impersonal as well as anonymous2 there is little to show even the difference in the time and place of their production1 except that their lines in the first half of the century were more round and flowing1 while in the latter half they were angular1 after the manner of the ,van ,eycks1 and that they vary in the choice and brilliancy of their colors4#bd ,at the very beginning1 too1 wood-engraving was applied to a new industry1 which had sprung up rapidly1 to furnish amusement for the camp and the town--the manufacture of playing-cards4 ,some writers have maintained that the art was thus applied before it was employed to make the holy prints2 but there are no playing-cards known to have been printed before #adbc1 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 #acib4be ,the manufacture of both cards and holy prints soon became a thriving trade2 it is mentioned in ,augsburg in #adah1 and soon afterward in ,nuremberg2 and in #adda the exportation of these articles into ,italy had become so large that the ,venetian ,senate passed a decree1#bf which is the earliest document relative to wood-engraving in ,italy1 forbidding their importation into ,venice1 because the guild engaged in this manufacture in the city was suffering from the foreign competition4 ,wood-engraving1 being only one process in the craft of the card-maker and the print-maker1 seems to have remained without a distinct name for a long while after its invention4 ,in the middle of the fifteenth century1 therefore1 wood-engraving1 the youngest of the arts of design1 after fifty years of obscure and unnoticed history1 held an established position1 and was recognized as a new craft4 ,in art its discovery was the parallel of the invention of printing in literature2 it was a means of multiplying and spreading the ideas which are expressed by art1 of creating a popular appreciation and knowledge of art1 and of bringing beautiful design within the reach of a larger body of men4 ,it is difficult for a modern mind to realize the place which pictures filled in medival life1 before the invention of printing had brought about that great change which has resulted in making books almost the sole means of education4 ,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 preacher2 like children1 they apprehended through pictures1 they thought upon all higher themes in pictures rather than in words2 their ideas were pictorial rather than verbal2 painting was in spiritual matters more truly a language to them than their own patois4 ,they could not reason1 they could not easily understand intellectual statement1 they could not imagine vividly1 they could only see4 ,this accounts for the rapid spread of the new art1 and for the popularity and utility of the holy prints which were so widely employed to convey religious ideas and quicken religious sentiment2 in the production of these wood-engraving appears from the first in its true vocation as a democratic art in the service of the people2 its influence was one1 and by no means the most insignificant1 of the great forces which were to transform medival into modern life1 to make the civilization of the heart and the brain no longer the exclusive possession of a few among the fortunately born1 but a common blessing4 ,wood-engraving was at once the product of the desire for this change and of the effort toward it1 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 ,renaissance1 and a power feeding the impulse from which it derived its own vitality4 ,in this fact lies the historic interest of the art to the student of civilization4 ,at first it served medival religion2 afterward it took a wider range1 and by both its serious and satirical works afforded valuable aid in the progress of the ,reformation1 while it rendered the earliest printed books more attractive1 in which its nobler designs educated the eye in the perception of beauty4 ,finally1 in the hands of the great engravers--of ,drer1 who1 still mastered by the medival spirit1 employed it to embody the ,german ,renaissance2 of ,maximilian's artists1 who recorded in it the dying picturesqueness and chivalric spirit of the ,middle ,ages2 of ,holbein1 who first heralded1 by means of it1 the intelligence and sentiment of modern times--it produced its chief monuments1 which1 for the most part1 will here be dealt with1 in order to illustrate its value as a fine art practised for its own sake1 as a trustworthy contemporary record of popular customs1 ideas1 and taste1 and as an element of considerable power in the advancement of modern civilization4 ,,ii4 ,,the ,,block-,,books4 ,illustration3 ,d ,,fig4 #d4--;,from the 8,epistole di ,san ,hieronymo40 #adig4 ,during the first half of the fifteenth century1 in more than one quarter of ,europe1 ingenious minds were at work seeking by various experiments and repeated trials1 with more and more success1 the great invention of printing with movable types2 even now1 after the most searching inquiry1 the time and place of the invention are uncertain4 ,printing with movable types1 however1 was preceded and suggested by printing from engraved wood-blocks4 ,the holy prints sometimes bore the name of the saint1 or a brief ,ora pro nobis or other legend impressed upon the paper2 the wood-engravers who first cut these few letters upon the block1 although ignorant of the vast consequences of their humble work1 began that great movement which was to change the face of civilization4 ,after letters had once been printed1 to multiply the words and lengthen the sentences1 to remove them from the field of the cut to the space below it1 to engrave whole columns of text1 and1 finally1 to reproduce entire manuscripts1 and thus make printed books1 were merely questions of manual skill and patience4 ,where or when or by whom these block-books1 as they are called1 were first engraved and printed is unknown2 these questions have been bones of contention among antiquarians for three hundred years1 and in the dispute much patient research has been expended1 and much dusty knowledge heaped together1 only to perplex doubt still farther1 and to multiply baseless conjectures4 ,it is probable that they were produced in the first half of the fifteenth century1 when the men of the ,renaissance1 whose aroused curiosity made them alert to seize any new suggestion1 were everywhere seeking for means to overthrow the great barrier to popular civilization1 the rarity of the instruments for intellectual instruction2 they soon saw of what service the new art might be in this task1 through the cheapness and rapidity of its processes1 and they applied it to the printing of words as well as of pictures4 ,the most common manuscripts of the time1 which had hitherto been the cheapest mode of intellectual communication1 were especially fitted to be reproduced by the new art2 they were those illustrated abridgments of ,scriptural history or doctrine1 called ,biblia ,pauperum1 or books of the poor preachers1 which had long been used in popular religious instruction1 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 alone4 ,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 provinces4 ,in a letter to the ,bishop of ,marseilles1 who had shown indiscreet zeal in destroying the pictures of the saints1 he wrote3 8,what writing is to those who read1 that a picture is to those who have only eyes2 because1 however ignorant they are1 they see their duty in a picture1 and there1 although they have not learned their letters1 they read2 wherefore1 for the people especially1 painting stands in the place of literature40#bg ,in conformity with this opinion these manuscripts were composed at an early period2 they were written rapidly by the scribes1 and illustrated with designs made with the pen1 and rudely colored by the rubricators4 ,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 them2 for1 doubtless1 in teaching both young and old the monks showed these pictures to explain their words1 and to make a more lasting impression upon the memory of their hearers4 ,these designs1 it is worth while to point out1 exhibit the immobility of mind in the medival communities1 guided1 as they were1 almost wholly by custom and tradition2 the designs were not original1 but were copied from the artistic representations in the principal churches1 where the common people may have seen them1 when upon a pilgrimage or at other times1 carved among the bass-reliefs or glowing in the bright colors of the painted windows4 ,they were copied without change1 the scenes were conceived in the same manner1 the characters were represented after the same conventional type1 even in the details there was slight variation2 and as the decorative arts in the churches were subordinated to architecture1 these designs not infrequently bear the stamp of their original purpose1 and are marked by the characteristics of mural art4 ,they were copied1 too1 not only by the scribes from early representations1 but they were reproduced by the great masters of the ,renaissance from the manuscripts and block-books themselves2 ,drer1 ,quentin ,matzys1 ,lukas van ,leyden1 ,martin ,schn1 and1 in earlier times1 ,taddeo ,gaddi and ,orcagna1 took their conceptions from these sources4 ,of the block-books which reproduced these and similar manuscripts several have been preserved1 and some of them have been reproduced in fac-simile1 and minutely described4 ,among the most important of these1 the ,biblia ,pauperum1#bh or ,poor ,preachers' ,bible1 of which copies of several editions exist1 deserves to be first mentioned4 ,it is a small folio1 containing forty pages1 printed upon one side only1 with the pale brownish ink used in most early prints1 and by means of a rubber4 ,the pages are arranged so that they can be pasted back to back2 each page is divided into five compartments1 separated by the pillars and mouldings of an architectural design1 which immediately recall the divisions of a church window2 in the centre is depicted some scene 7,fig4 #e7 from the ,gospels1 and on either side are placed scenes from the ,old ,testament history illustrative or typical of that commemorated in the central design2 both above and below are two half-length representations of holy men4 ,various texts are interspersed in the field1 and ,latin verses are written below the central compartments4 ,it will be seen that the designs not only served to illustrate the preacher's lesson1 but suggested his subject1 and indicated and directed the course of his sermon3 they taught him before they taught the people4 ,illustration3 ,,elijah ,,raiseth ,,the ,,widow',s ,,son 7#a ,k1 xvii474 ,,the ,,raising ,,of ,,lazarus 7,jno1 xi474 ,,elisha ,,raiseth ,,the ,,widow',s ,,son 7#b ,k4 iv474 ,,fig4 #e4--;,from the original in the possession of ,professor ,norton1 of ,cambridge4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #f4--,the ,creation of ,eve4 ,from the fac-simile of ,berjeau4 ,but1 before commenting on this volume1 it will be useful to describe first the much more interesting and more famous ,speculum ,human ,salvationis1#bi or ,mirror of ,human ,salvation1 an examination of which will throw light on the history of the art4 ,it is a small folio1 and contains sixty-three pages1 printed upon one side1 of which fifty-eight are surmounted by two designs enclosed in an architectural border1 which are illustrative or symbolical of the life of ,christ or of the ,virgin2 the designs 7,fig4 #f7 are printed in pale ink by means of a rubber4 ,the text is not engraved on the block or placed in the field of the cut1 but is printed from movable metallic type in black ink with a press1 and occupies the lower two-thirds of the page1 in double columns4 ,the book is1 therefore1 a product of the two arts of wood-engraving and typography in combination4 ,there are four early editions known1 two in ,latin1 and two in ,dutch1 all without the name of the printer1 or the date or place of publication4 ,they are printed on paper of the same manufacture1 with woodcuts from the same blocks1 and in the same typographical manner1 excepting that one of the ,latin editions contains twenty pages in which the text is printed from engraved wood-blocks in pale brownish ink1 and with a rubber1 like the designs4 ,these four editions1 therefore1 were issued in the same country4 ,this curious book has been the subject of more dispute than any other of the block-books1 because it offers more tangible facts to the investigator4 ,the type is of a peculiar kind1 distinctly different from that used by the early ,german printers1 and the same in character with that used in other early books undoubtedly issued in the ,low ,countries4 ,the language of the ,dutch editions is the pure dialect of ,north ,holland in the first part of the fifteenth century2 the costumes1 the short jackets1 the high1 broad-brimmed hats1 sometimes with flowing ribbons1 the close-fitting hose and low shoes of the men1 the head-dresses and skirts of the women1 are of the same period in the ,netherlands1 and even in the physiognomy of the faces ,flemish features have been seen4 ,the designs1 too1 are in the manner of the great ,flemish school1 renowned as the best in ,europe outside ,italy1 which was founded by ,van ,eyck1 the discoverer of the art of painting in oil1 and which was marked by a realism altogether new and easily distinguished2 the backgrounds are filled with architecture of the same time and country4 ,the ,speculum1 therefore1 was produced in the ,low ,countries2 it must have been printed there before #adhc1 and probably was printed some time before #aded4 ,the ,biblia ,pauperum has so much in common with the ,speculum in the style of its art1 its costumes1 and its general character1 that1 although of earlier date1 it may be unhesitatingly ascribed to the same country4 ,the internal evidence1 however1 only enforces the probabilities springing from the social condition of the ,netherlands1 then the most highly civilized country north of the ,alps4 ,its industries1 in the hands of the great guilds of ,bruges1 ,ghent1 ,brussels1 ,louvain1 ,antwerp1 and ,liege1 were the busiest in ,europe4 ,its commerce was fast upon the lagging sails of ,venice4 ,the 8,lancashire of the ,middle ,ages10 as it has been fitly called1 sent its manufactures abroad wherever the paths of the sea had been made open1 and received the world's wealth in return4 ,the magnificence of its ,court was the wonder of foreigners1 and the prosperity of its people their admiration4 ,the confusion of medival life1 it is true1 was still there--fierce temper in the artisans1 blood-thirstiness in the soldiery1 everywhere the pitilessness of military force1 wielded by a proud and selfish caste1 as ,froissart and ,philippe de ,comyns plainly recount2 but there1 nevertheless--although the brutal sack of ,liege was yet to take place--modern life was beginning2 merchant-life1 supported by trade1 citizen-life1 made possible by the high organization of the great guilds1 had begun1 although the merchant and the citizen must still wear the sword2 art1 under the guidance of the ,van ,eycks1 was passing out of medival conventionalism1 out of the monastery and the monkish tradition1 to deal no longer with lank1 meagre1 martyr-like bodies1 to care no more for the moral lesson in contempt of artistic beauty1 to come face to face with nature and humanity as they really were before men's eyes2 and modern intellectual life1 too--faint and feeble1 no doubt--was nevertheless beginning to show signs of its presence there1 where in after-times great thinkers were to find a harbor of refuge1 and the most heroic struggle of freedom was to be fought out against ,spain and ,rome4 ,this comparatively high state of civilization1 the activity of men's minds1 the variety of mechanical pursuits1 the excellence of the goldsmiths' art1 the number and character of the early prints undoubtedly issued there1 the mention of incorporated guilds of printers at ,antwerp as early as #adag1 and again in #addj1 and at ,bruges in #aded1 make it probable that the invention of wood-engraving was due to the ,netherlands1 and perhaps the invention of typography also4 ,whether this were the case or not1 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 period4 ,antiquarians have not been contented to show that the best of the block-books came from the ,netherlands2 they have attempted to discover the names of the composer of the ,speculum1 the engraver of its designs1 and its printer4 ,but their conjectures#cj are so doubtful that it is unnecessary to examine them1 with the exception of the ascription of the printing of the ,speculum to the ,brothers of the ,common ,lot4#ca ,this brotherhood was one of the many orders which arose at that time in the ,netherlands1 given to mysticism and enthusiasm1 that resulted in real licentiousness2 or to piety and reform1 that prepared the way for the ,reformation4 ,its members were devoted to the spread of knowledge1 and were engaged in copying manuscripts and founding public schools in the cities4 ,after the invention of printing1 they set up the first presses in ,brussels and ,louvain1 and published many books1 always1 however1 without their name as publishers4 ,they practised the art of wood-engraving1 and doubtless some of the early holy prints were from their workshops2 sometimes they inserted woodcuts in their manuscripts1 as in the ,spirituale ,pomerium1 or ,spiritual ,garden1 of ,henri van den ,bogaerde1 the head of the retreat at ,groenendael1 where the painter ,diedrick ,bouts occasionally sought retirement1 and where he may have aided the ,brothers with his knowledge of design4 ,it is quite possible that this brotherhood1 so favorably placed1 produced the ,speculum and others of the block-books1 and that they were aided by the painters of the time whose style of design they followed2 but1 as ,renouvier remarks in rejecting this account1 the monks were not the only persons too little desirous of notoriety to print their names1 and although they took part in early engraving and printing1 a far more important part was taken by the great civil corporations4 ,in either case1 whether the monks or the secular engravers designed these woodcuts1 they were probably aided at times by the painters1 who at that period did not restrict themselves to the higher branches of art1 but frequently put their skill to very humble tasks4 ,the character of the design is very easily seen2 the lines are simple1 often graceful and well-arranged2 there is but little attempt at marking shadows2 there is less stiffness in the forms1 and the draperies follow the lines of the forms better than in either earlier or later work of a similar kind1 and there is also much less unconscious caricature and grimace4 ,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 exercised1 and the modes in which they were exercised4 ,symbolism and mysticism pervade the whole4 ,all nature and history seem to have existed only to prefigure the life of the ,saviour3 imagination and thought hover about him1 and take color1 shape1 and light only from that central form2 the stories of the ,old ,testament1 the histories of ,david1 ,samson1 and ,jonah1 the massacres1 victories1 and miracles there recorded1 foreshadow1 as it were in parables1 the narrative of the ,gospels2 the temple1 the altar1 and the ark of the covenant1 all the furnishings and observances of the ,jewish ritual1 reveal occult meanings2 the garden of ,solomon's ,song1 and the sentiment of the ,bridegroom and the ,bride who wander in it1 are interpreted1 sometimes in graceful or even poetic feeling1 under the inspiration of mystical devotion2 old kings of pagan ,athens are transformed into witnesses of ,christ1 and1 with the ,sibyl of ,rome1 attest spiritual truth4 ,this book and others like it are mirrors of the ecclesiastical mind2 they picture the principal intellectual life of the ,middle ,ages2 they show the sources of that deep feeling in the earlier ,dutch artists which gave dignity and sweetness to their works4 ,even in the rudeness of these books1 in the texts as well as in the designs1 there is a navet1 an openness and freshness of nature1 a confidence in limited experience and contracted vision1 which make the sight of these cuts as charming as conversation with one who had never heard of ,america or dreamed of ,luther1 and who would have found modern life a puzzle and an offence4 ,the author of the ,speculum laments the evils which fell upon man in consequence of ,adam's sin1 and recounts them3 blindness1 deafness1 lameness1 floods1 fire1 pestilence1 wild beasts1 and lawsuits 7in such order he arranges them72 and he ends the long list with this last and heaviest evil1 that men should presume to ask 8why ,god willed to create man1 whose fall he foresaw2 why he willed to create the angels1 whose ruin he foreknew2 wherefore he hardened the heart of ,pharaoh1 and softened the heart of ,mary ,magdalene unto repentance2 wherefore he made ,peter contrite1 who had denied him thrice1 but allowed ,judas to despair in his sin2 wherefore he gave grace to one thief1 and cared not to give grace to his companion40 ,what modern man can fully realize the mental condition of this poet1 who thus weeps over the temptation to ask these questions1 as the supreme and direst curse which ,divine vengeance allows to overtake the perverse children of this world8 ,a better illustration of the sentiment and grace sometimes to be found in the block-books is the ,historia ,virginis ,mari ex ,cantico ,canticorum1 or ,history of the ,virgin1 as it is prefigured in the ,song of ,solomon4 ,this volume is the finest in design of all the block-books4 ,in it the ,bride1 the ,bridegroom1 three attendant maidens1 and an angel are grouped in successive scenes1 illustrating the mystical meaning of some verse of the ,song4 ,the artistic feeling displayed in the arrangement of the figures is such that the designs have been attributed directly to ,roger ,van der ,weyden1 the greatest of ,van ,eyck's pupils4 ,this book1 like the ,biblia ,pauperum and the ,speculum1 came from the engravers and the printers of the ,netherlands2 but it shows progress in art beyond those works1 more elegance and vivacity of line1 more ability to render feeling expressively1 and especially more delight in nature and carefulness in delineating natural objects4 ,in spite of these three chief monuments of the art of block-printing in the ,netherlands1 the claim of that country to the invention of the block-books is not undisputed4 ,the ,historia ,johannis ,evangelist ejusque ,visiones ,apocalyptic1 or the ,apocalypse of ,st4 ,john1 much ruder in drawing and in execution1 is the oldest block-book according to most writers1 and especially those who maintain the claims of ,germany to the honor of the invention4 ,this volume has been ascribed by ,chatto to ,upper ,germany1 where some ,greek artist may have designed it2 but with more probability1 by ,passavant1 to ,lower ,germany1 and especially to ,cologne1 on account of the coloring1 which is in the ,cologne manner4 ,the volume bears a surer sign of early work than mere rudeness of execution3 it is hieratic rather than artistic in character2 the artist is concerned more with enforcing the religious lesson than with designing pleasant scenes4 ,but although for this reason a very early date 7#addj-adfj7 must be assigned to the book1 the question of the origin of the art of block-printing remains unsettled1 even if it be granted that the volume is of ,german workmanship4 ,some evidence must be shown that the ,netherlands imported the art from ,cologne or some other ,german city1 and this is lacking2 indeed1 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 ,netherlands1 is strong negative evidence against such a supposition4 ,on the other hand1 it must be remembered that ,germany produced the ,st4 ,christopher1 and many other early prints4 ,in some of the ,german block-books ,heinecken recognized the modes of the ,german card-makers2 but this may be explained otherwise than by supposing that the card-makers invented the art of block-printing4 ,on the whole1 the rudeness of early ,german block-books must be held to be a result of the unskilfulness and tastelessness of ,german workmen1 rather than an indication that the art was discovered by them4 ,the engraving of the ,apocalypse1 like all other ,german work1 will bear no comparison with the ,netherland engraving1 either in refinement1 vivacity1 or skill4 ,the other block-books1 many of which are in themselves interesting and curious1 do not elucidate the history of the art1 and therefore need not be discussed4 ,it is sufficient to say that they are less valuable than those which have been described1 and far ruder in design and execution4 ,some of them throw light upon the time4 ,the ,ars ,memorandi1 a series of designs meant to assist the memory in recalling the chapters of the ,apocalypse1 is a very curious monument of an age when such a device was useful2 and the ,ars ,moriendi1 or ,art of ,dying1 in which were depicted frightful and eager devils about a dying man's couch1 is a book which may stir our laughter1 but was full of a different meaning for the poor sinner to whose bedside the pious monks carried it to bring him to repentance1 by showing him designs of such horrible suggestion1 enforced1 no doubt1 by exhortations hardly more humane4 ,these books were all reproduced many times4 ,this ,art of ,dying1 for example1 appeared in ,latin1 ,flemish1 ,german1 ,italian1 ,french1 and ,english1 with similar designs1 although there were variations in the text4 ,once popular1 they have long since lost their attraction2 few care for the ideas or the pictures preserved in them2 the bibliophile collects them1 because they are rare1 costly1 and curious2 the scholar consults them1 because they reveal the unprofitableness of medival thought1 the needs and characteristics of the class that could prize them1 the poverty of the civilization of which they are the monuments1 and because they disclose glimpses of actual human life as it then was1 with its humors1 its burdens1 and its imaginations4 ,the world has forgotten them2 but they hold in the history of civilization an honorable place1 for by means of them wood-engraving led the way to the invention of printing1 and thereby performed its greatest service to mankind4 ,,iii4 ,,early ,,printed ,,books ,,in ,,the ,,north4 ,illustration3 ,i ,,fig #g4--,source of this letter unknown4 ,in #aded the art of printing in movable types and with a press had been perfected in ,germany2 soon afterward the art of block-printing1 although it continued to be practised until the end of the century1 began to fall into decay1 and the ancient block-books1 in which the text had been subsidiary to the colored engravings1 speedily gave place to the modern printed book1 in which the engravings were subsidiary to the text4 ,this change did not come about without a struggle between the rival arts4 ,in all the great cities of ,germany and the ,low ,countries1 the block-printers and wood-engravers had long been organized into strong and compact guilds1 enforcing their rights with strict jealousy1 and privileged from the first to make use of movable types and the press2 the new printers1 on the other hand1 were comparatively few in number1 disunited and scattered1 accustomed to go from one town to another1 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-engravers4 ,at first the new printers closely imitated the manuscripts of their time4 ,they used woodcuts to take the place of the miniatures with which the manuscripts were embellished4 ,they copied directly the handwriting of the scribes in the forms of their type1 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 rubricators2 such are the beautiful initial letters in the ,psalter of ,faust and ,scheffer1 published at ,mayence in #adeg1 which are the earliest wood-engravings in a dated book1 and are designed and executed with a skill which has rarely been surpassed4 ,it was by such attempts that the new printers incurred the hostility of the wood-engravers1 which was soon actively shown4 ,even as late as #adgg1 the guild at ,augsburg1 which was then the most numerous and best-skilled in ,germany1 opposed the admission of ,gunther ,zainer1 who had just set up a printing-press there1 to the rights of citizenship1 and he owed his freedom from molestation to the interference of the friendly abbot1 ,melchior de ,stamham4 ,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 them1 by agreeing to use only such woodcuts and initials as should be engraved by them4 ,in this1 or similar ways1 as in every displacement of labor by mechanical improvements1 after a short struggle the cheaper and more rapid art prevailed2 the wood-engravers gave up to the printers the principal part in the making of books1 and became their servants4 ,the new printers were most active in the great ,german cities--,cologne1 ,mayence1 ,nuremberg1 ,ulm1 ,augsburg1 ,strasburg1 and ,basle--and from the presses of these cities the greatest number of books with woodcuts were issued4 ,this is one reason why the mastering influence from this time in ,northern wood-engraving was ,german2 why ,german taste1 ,german rudeness1 coarseness1 and crudity became the main characteristics of wood-engraving in the latter half of the fifteenth century4 ,the ,germans had been1 from the first1 artisans rather than artists4 ,they had produced many anonymous prints and block-books1 but they had never attained to the power and elegance of the ,flemish school4 ,now the quality of their work became even less excellent2 for decline had set in1 and the increasing popularity of the new art of copperplate-engraving combined with the unfavorable influences resulting from printing1 which required cheap and rapid processes1 to degrade the art still lower4 ,the illustrations in the new books had ordinarily little art-value3 they were often grotesque1 stiff1 ignorant in design1 and careless or inexpert in execution2 but they had nevertheless their use and their interest4 ,the ,german influence was made more powerful1 too1 by other causes than the foremost part taken by ,germany in printing4 ,the ,low ,countries1 hitherto so civilized and prosperous1 the home and cradle of early ,northern art1 the influence of which had spread abroad and become the most powerful even over the ,german painters themselves1 were now involved in the turbulence and disaster of the great wars of ,charles the ,bold4 ,they not only lost their honorable place at the head of ,northern civilization1 but on the marriage of their ,duchess1 ,mary of ,burgundy1 the daughter of ,charles the ,bold1 to the ,emperor ,maximilian1 they yielded in great part to the ,german influence1 and became more nearly allied in character and spirit to the ,german cities1 as they had before been more akin to ,france4 ,the woodcuts in the books of the ,netherlands1 where printing was introduced by ,german workmen1 share in the rudeness of ,german art2 in proportion as their previous performance had been more excellent1 the decline of the art among them seems more great4 ,there are1 occasionally1 traces of the old power of design and execution in their later work2 but from the time that books began to be printed ,germany took the lead in wood-engraving4 ,the ,german free cities were then animated with the new spirit which was to mould the great age of ,germany1 and result in ,drer and ,luther4 ,the growing weakness of the ,empire had fostered independence and self-reliance in the citizens1 while the increase of commerce1 both on the north to the ,german ,ocean1 and on the south through ,venice1 had introduced the wants of a higher civilization1 and afforded the means to satisfy them4 ,local pride1 which showed itself in the rivalries and public works of the cities1 made their enterprise and industry more active1 and gave an added impulse to the rapid transformation of military and feudal into commercial and democratic life4 ,in these cities1 where the body of men interested in knowledge and with the means of acquiring it1 became every year more numerous1 the new presses sent forth books of all kinds--the religious and ascetic writings of the clergy1 medival histories1 chronicles and romances1 travels1 voyages1 botanical1 military1 and scientific works1 and sometimes the writings of classic authors2 although1 in distinction from ,italy1 ,germany was at first devoted to the reproduction of medival rather than ,greek and ,latin literature4 ,the books in ,latin1 the learned tongue1 were usually without woodcuts2 but those in the vulgar tongues1 then becoming true languages1 the development and fixing of which are one of the great debts of the modern world to printing1 were copiously illustrated1 in order to make them attractive to the popular taste4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #h4--,the ,grief of ,hannah4 ,from the ,cologne ,bible1 #adgj-'ge ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #i4--;,illustration of ,exodus ,i4 ,from the ,cologne ,bible1 #adgj-'ge4 ,the great book1 on which the printers exercised most care1 was the ,bible4 ,many editions were published2 but the most important of these1 in respect to the history of wood-engraving1 was the ,cologne ,bible 7,figs4 #h1 #i71 which appeared before #adge1 both because its one hundred and nine designs were1 probably1 after the block-books1 the earliest series of engraved illustrations of ,scripture1 and were widely copied1 and also because they show an extension of the sphere of thought and increased intellectual activity4 ,the designers of these cuts relied less upon tradition1 displayed more original feeling1 and showed greater variety and vivacity in their treatment1 than the artists who had engraved the ,biblia ,pauperum4 ,the latter volume contained1 as has been seen1 nearly the last impression of century-old pictorial types in the medival conventional manner2 the ,cologne ,bible defined conceptions of ,scriptural scenes anew1 and these conceptions became conventional1 and re-appeared for generations in other illustrated ,bibles in all parts of ,europe2 not1 however1 because of an immobility of mind characteristic of the community1 as in earlier times1 but partly because the printers preserved and exchanged old wood-blocks1 so that the same designs from the same blocks appeared in widely distant cities1 and partly because it was less costly for them to employ an inferior workman to copy the old cut1 with slight variations1 than to have an artist of original inventive power to design a wholly new series4 ,thus the ,nuremberg ,bible of #adhb is illustrated from the same blocks as the ,cologne ,bible1 and the cuts in the ,strasburg ,bible of #adhe are poor copies of the same designs4 ,from the marginal border which encloses the first page of the ,cologne ,bible it appears that wood-engraving was already looked on1 not only as a means of illustrating what was said in the text1 but as a means of decoration merely4 ,here1 among the foliage and flowers1 are seen running animals1 and in the midst the hunter1 the jongleur1 the musician1 the lover1 the lady1 and the fool--an indication of delight in nature and in the variety of human life1 which1 simply because it is not directly connected with the text1 is the more significant of that freer range of sympathy and thought characteristic of the age4 ,afterward these decorative borders1 often in a satiric and not infrequently in a gross vein1 wholly disconnected with the text1 and sometimes at strange variance with its spirit1 are not uncommon4 ,the engravings that follow this frontispiece represent the customary ,scriptural scenes1 and the series closes with two striking designs of the ,last ,judgment and of ,hell4 ,in the former angels are hurling pope1 emperor1 cardinal1 bishop1 and king into hell1 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 time1 and indeed hardly bolder than hitherto1 but of a spirit which showed that ,luther was already born4 8,it is no small honor for our wood-engravers10 says ,renouvier1 8to have expressed public opinion with such hardihood1 and to have shown themselves the advanced sentinels of a revolution40 ,the engraving in this ,bible tells its own story without need of comment2 but1 heavy and rude as much of it is1 it surpasses other ,german work of the same period2 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 hand4 ,it is only by accident or negligence that woodcuts were left uncolored in early ,german books1 for the conception of a complete picture simply in black and white was a comparatively late acquisition in art1 and did not guide the practice of wood-engravers until the last decade of the century1 when1 indeed1 it effected a revolution in the art4 ,of the many other illustrated ,bibles which appeared during the last quarter of the fifteenth century1 the one published at ,augsburg1 about #adge1 and attributed to ,gunther ,zainer1 alone has a peculiar interest4 ,all but two of its seventy-three woodcuts are combined with large initial letters1 occupying the width of a column1 for which they serve as a background1 and by which they are framed in2 these are the oldest initial letters in this style1 and are original in design1 full of animation and vigor1 and rank with the best work of the early ,augsburg wood-engravers4 ,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 #adgg4 ,afterward the ,german printers gave much attention to ornamented capitals1 both in this style1 which reached its most perfect examples in ,holbein's alphabets1 and in the ,italian mode1 in which the design was relieved in white upon a black ground4 ,next to the ,bibles1 the early chronicles and histories are of most interest for the study of wood-engraving4 ,they are records of legendary and real events1 intermingled with much extraneous matter which seemed to their authors curious or startling4 ,they usually begin with the ,creation1 and come down through sacred into early legendary and secular history1 recounting miracles1 martyrdoms1 sieges1 tales of wonder and superstition1 omens1 anecdotes of the great princes1 and the like4 ,each of them dwells especially upon whatever glorifies the saints1 or touches the patriotism1 of their respective countries4 ,they are filled with woodcuts in illustration of their narrative1 beginning with scenes from ,genesis4 ,thus the ,chronicle of ,saxony1 published at ,mayence in #adib1 contains representations of the fall of the angels1 the ark of ,noah1 ,romulus founding ,rome1 the arrival of the ,franks and the ,saxons1 the deeds of ,charlemagne1 the overthrow of paganism1 the famous emperors1 ,otho burning a sorcerer1 ,frederick ,barbarossa1 and the ,emperor ,maximilian4 ,the ,chronicle of ,cologne1 published in #adib1 is similarly illustrated with views of the great cathedral1 with representations of the ,three ,kings1 the refusal of the five ,rhine cities to pay impost1 and like scenes4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #aj4--,the ,fifth ,day of ,creation4 ,from ,schedel's 8,liber ,chronicarum40 ,nuremberg1 #adic4 ,the most important of the chronicles1 in respect to wood-engraving1 is the ,chronicle of ,nuremberg 7,figs4 #aj1 #aa1 #ab71 published in that city in #adic4 ,it contains over two thousand cuts which are attributed to ,william ,pleydenwurff and ,michael ,wohlgemuth1 the latter the master of ,albert ,drer2 they are rude and often grotesque1 possessing an antiquarian rather than an artistic interest2 many of them are repeated several times1 a portrait serving indifferently for one prophet or another1 a view of houses upon a hill representing equally well a city in ,asia or in ,italy1 just as in many other early books--for example1 in the ,history of the ,kings of ,hungary--a battle-piece does for any conflict1 or a man on a throne for any king4 ,the representations were typical rather than individual4 ,in some of the designs there is1 doubtless1 a careful truthfulness1 as in the view of ,nuremberg1 and perhaps in some of the portraits4 ,the larger cuts show considerable vigor and boldness of conception1 but none of them are so good as the illustrations1 also attributed to ,wohlgemuth1 in the ,schatzbehalter1 published in the same city in #adia4 ,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 sort1 but in the fact that here were printed1 for the first time1 woodcuts simply in black and white1 which were looked on as complete without the aid of the colorist1 and were in all essential points entirely similar to modern works4 ,this change was brought about by the introduction of cross-hatching1 or lines crossing each other at different intervals and different angles1 but usually obliquely1 by means of which blacks and grays of various intensity1 or what is technically called color1 were obtained4 ,this was a process already in use in copperplate-engraving4 ,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 sketch1 the depth of color obtained depending in both cases on the relative closeness and fineness of the hatchings4 ,in engraving in wood the task was much more difficult1 and required greater nicety of skill1 for1 as in this case the crossing lines must be left in relief1 the engraver was obliged to gouge out the minute diamond spaces between them4 ,at first this was1 probably1 thought beyond the power of the workmen4 ,the earliest woodcut in which these cross-hatchings appear is the frontispiece to ,breydenbach's ,travels1 published at ,mayence in #adhf1 which is1 perhaps1 the finest wood-engraving of its time4 ,in the ,nuremberg chronicle this process was first extensively employed to obtain color1 and thus this volume marks the beginning of that great school in wood-engraving which seeks its effects in black lines4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #aa4--,the ,dancing ,deaths4 ,from ,schedel's 8,liber ,chronicarum40 ,nuremberg1 #adic4 ,to describe the hundreds of illustrated books which the ,german printers published before the end of the century belongs to the bibliographer4 ,should any one turn to them1 he would find in the cuts that they contain much diversity in character1 but little in merit2 he would meet at ,bamberg1 in the works printed by ,pfister1 whose ,book of ,fables1 published #adfa1 is the first dated volume with woodcuts of figures1 designs so rude that they are generally believed to have been hacked out by apprentices wholly destitute of training in the craft2 he would notice in the books of ,cologne the greater self-restraint and sense of proportion1 in those of ,augsburg the greater variety1 vivacity1 and vigor1 in those of ,nuremberg the greater exaggeration and grotesqueness4 ,in the publications of some cities he would come upon the burning questions of that generation3 the siege of ,rhodes by the ,turks1 the wars of ,charles the ,bold against ,switzerland1 the martyrdom of ,john ,huss2 elsewhere he would see nave conceptions of medival romance and chivalry1 and not infrequently1 as in the ,boccaccio of ,ulm1 grossnesses not to be described2 at ,strasburg he would hardly recognize ,horace and ,virgil with their ,teutonic features and barbaric garb2 while at ,mayence botanical works1 which strangely mingle science1 medicine1 and superstition1 would excite his wonder1 and at ,ulm military works would picture the forgotten engines of medival warfare2 in the ,netherlands1 too1 he would discern little difference in literature or in design2 everywhere he would find the unevenness of ,gothic taste--one moment creating works with a certain boldness and grandeur of conception1 the next moment falling into the inane and the ludicrous2 everywhere ,german realism making each person appear as if born in a ,rhine city1 and each event as if taking place within its walls2 everywhere1 too1 an ever-widening interest in the affairs of past times and distant countries1 in the thought and life of the generations that were gone1 in the pursuits of the living1 and the multiform problems of that age of the ,reformation then coming on4 ,it is impossible to turn from this wide survey without a recognition of the large share which wood-engraving1 as the suggester and servant of printing1 had in the progress made toward civilization in the ,north during that century4 ,woltmann does not over-state the fact when he says3 8,wood-engraving and copperplate-engraving were not alone of use in the advance of art2 they form an epoch in the entire life of mind and culture4 ,the idea embodied and multiplied in pictures became1 like that embodied in the printed word1 the herald of every intellectual movement40 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #ab4--;,jews ,sacrificing a ,christian ,child4 ,from ,schedel's 8,liber ,chronicarum40 ,nuremberg1 #adic4 ,as typography spread from ,germany through the other countries of ,europe1 the art of wood-engraving accompanied it4 ,the first books printed in the ,french language appeared about #adge1 at ,bruges1 where the ,dukes of ,burgundy had long favored the vulgar tongue1 and had collected many manuscripts written in it in their great library1 then one of the finest in ,europe4 ,the first ,french city to issue ,french books from its presses was ,lyons1 which had learned the arts of printing and of wood-engraving from ,basle1 ,geneva1 and ,nuremberg1 in consequence of their close commercial relations4 ,if a few doubtful and scattered examples of early work be excepted1 it was in these ,lyonese books that ,french wood-engraving first appeared4 ,from the beginning of printing in ,france1 ,lyons was the chief seat of popular literature1 and the centre of the industry of printing books in the vulgar tongue1 as ,paris was the chief seat of the literature of the learned1 both in ,latin and ,french1 and devoted itself to reproducing religious and scientific works4#cb ,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 romances1 which were sought1 not merely by ,french purchasers1 but throughout ,europe4 ,these books were meant for the middle class1 who were unable to buy the costly manuscripts1 illuminated with splendid miniatures1 in which literature had previously been locked up4 ,they were not considered valuable enough to be preserved with care1 and have consequently become scarce2 but they were published in great numbers1 and exerted an influence in the spread of literary knowledge and taste which can hardly be over-estimated4 ,woodcuts were first inserted in them about #adgf2 but for twenty years after this wood-engraving was practised rather as a trade than an art1 and its products have no more artistic merit than similar works in ,germany4 ,in #adic an edition of ,terence1 in which the earlier rudeness gave way to some skill in design1 showed the first signs of promise of the excellence which the ,lyonese art was to attain in the sixteenth century4 ,in ,paris1 the ,german printers1 who had been invited to the city by a prior of the ,sorbonne1 had issued ,latin works for ten years before wood-engraving began to be practised4 ,after #adhc1 however1 ,jean ,du ,pr1 ,guyot ,marchand1 ,pierre ,le ,rouge1 ,pierre ,le ,caron1 ,antoine ,verard1 and other early printers applied themselves zealously to the publication of volumes of devotion1 history1 poetry1 and romance1 in which they made use of wood-engraving4 ,the figure of the author frequently appears upon the first page1 where he offers his book to the king or princess before whom he kneels2 and here and there may be read sentiments like the following1 which is taken from an early work of ,verard's1 where they are inserted in fragmentary verses among the woodcuts3 8,every good1 loyal1 and gallant ,catholic who begins any work of imagery ought1 first1 to invoke in all his labor the ,divine power by the blessed name of ,jesus1 who illumines every human heart and understanding2 this is in every deed a fair beginning40#cc ,the religious books1 especially the ,livres d',heures 7,fig4 #ac71 were filled with the finest examples of the ,parisian art1 which sought to imitate the beautiful miniatures for which ,paris had been famous from even before the time when ,dante praised them4 ,in consequence of this effort the woodcut in simple line served frequently only as a rough draft1 to be filled in and finished by the colorist1 who1 indeed1 sometimes wholly disregarded it and overlaid it with a new design4 ,before long1 however1 the wood-engravers succeeded in making cuts which1 so far from needing color1 were only injured by the addition of it2 but these were considered less valuable than the illuminated designs1 and the wood-engravers were hampered in the practice of their art by the miniaturists1 who1 like the guilds at ,augsburg and other ,german towns1 complained of the new mode of illustration as a ruinous encroachment on their craft4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #ac4--,marginal ,border4 ,from ,kerver's 8,psalterium ,virginis ,mari40 #aeji4 ,whether with or without color1 the engravings in the ,livres d',heures are beautiful4 ,each page is enclosed in an ornamental border made up of small cuts1 which are repeated in new arrangements on succeeding leaves2 here and there a large cut1 usually representing some ,scriptural scene1 is introduced in the upper portion of the page1 and the text fills the vacant spaces4 ,not infrequently the taste displayed is ,gallic rather than pious1 and delights in profane legends and burlesque fancies which one would not expect to meet in a prayer-book4 ,these volumes were so highly prized by foreign nations for the beauty of their workmanship1 that they were printed in ,flemish1 ,english1 and ,italian4 ,those which were issued by ,verard1 ,vostre1 ,pigouchet1 and ,kerver were the best products of the early ,french art4#cd ,the secular works which contain woodcuts are hardly worthy of mention1 excepting ,guyot ,marchand's ,la ,danse ,macabre1 first published in #adhe1 which is a series of twenty-five spirited and graceful designs1 marked by ,french vivacity and liveliness of fancy4 ,in all early ,french work the peculiar genius of the people is not so easily distinguishable as in this example1 but it is usually present1 and gives a national characteristic to the art1 notwithstanding the indubitable influences of the ,german archaic school in the earlier time1 and of the ,italian school in the first years of the sixteenth century4 ,french wood-engraving is remarkable1 in respect to its technique1 for the introduction of crible1 or dotted work1 which has previously#ce been described1 into the backgrounds on which the designs are relieved4 ,this mode of engraving is probably a survival from the goldsmiths' work of the first part of the fifteenth century1 and it is not unlikely that1 as ,renouvier suggests1 these crible grounds were meant to represent the gold grounds on which both miniatures and early paintings were relieved4 ,from an examination of the peculiarities of these engravings1 some authors#cf have been led to maintain that they were taken off from metal plates cut in relief1 and nearly all writers are ready to admit that this was sometimes1 but not always1 the case4 ,the question is unsettled2 but it is probable that wood was sometimes employed1 and it would be impossible to determine with certainty what share in these prints belongs to wood-engraving and metal-engraving respectively4 ,in general1 ,french wood-engraving1 in its best early examples at ,paris1 was characterized by greater fineness and elegance of line1 and by more feeling for artistic effects1 than was the case with ,german book-illustration2 but the ,parisian chronicles1 histories1 botanical works1 and the like1 possessed no greater merit than similar publications at ,lyons or in the ,german cities1 and their influence upon the middle classes in furthering the advance of education and taste was probably much less4 ,england was far behind the other nations of ,europe in its appreciation of art1 and wood-engraving throve there as feebly as did the other arts of design4 ,the first ,english book with woodcuts was ,caxton's ,game and ,playe of the ,chesse1 published about #adgf1 the first edition of which was issued two years earlier1 without illustrations4 ,it is supposed by some writers that ,caxton imported the blocks from which these cuts were printed1 as he did the type for his text2 and it is certain that in later years wood-blocks and metal-plates were brought over from the ,continent for illustrating ,english books4 ,it is not improbable that the art was practised by ,englishmen as a part of the printer's craft1 and that there were no professional wood-engravers for many years2 indeed1 ,chatto doubts whether the art was practised separately even so late as ,holbein's time4 ,the cuts in ,caxton's works1 and in those of the later printers1 ,wynkyn de ,worde and ,richard ,pynson1 were altogether rude and uninteresting in design4 ,if the honor of them belongs to foreign rather than ,english workmen1 no great hurt is done to ,english pride4 ,,iv4 ,,early ,,italian ,,wood-,,engraving4 ,illustration3 ,p ,,fig4 #ad4--;,from ,ovid's 8,metamorphoses40 ,venice1 #aeah 7design1 #adig74 ,previous to the time of ,drer wood-engraving in the ,north1 as has been seen1 was little more than a trade1 and has its main interest to the scholar as an agent of civilization2 in ,italy it first became a fine art1 a mode of beautiful expression4 ,the ,italians1 set in the midst of natural loveliness and among the ruins of ancient art1 had never wholly lost the sense of beauty2 they may have paid but slight attention to what was about them1 but they lived life-long in the daily sight of fair scenes and beautiful forms1 which impressed their senses and moulded their nature1 so that1 when with the revival of letters they felt the native impulses of humanity toward the higher life stirring once more in their hearts1 they found themselves endued with powers of perception and appreciation beyond any other people in the world4 ,these powers were not the peculiar possession of a well-born class2 the centuries had bred them unobserved into the nature of the race1 into the physical constitution of the whole people4 ,the artisan1 no less than the prince1 took delight in the dawn of art1 and welcomed it with equal worship4 ,nor was this artistic instinct the only common acquisition2 the enthusiasm for letters was likewise widely shared1 so that some of the best manuscripts of the classics have come down to modern times from the hands of humble ,florentine workmen4 ,italy1 indeed1 was the first country where democratic civilization had place2 here the contempt of the ,northern lord for the peasant and the mechanic had never been wide-spread1 partly because mercantile life was early held to be honorable1 and partly because of peculiar social conditions4 ,the long1 uninterrupted intercourse with the remains of ,roman civilization in the unbarbarized ,east1 the contact with ,saracenic civilization in the ,south1 the culture of the court of the ,two ,sicilies1 and the invariably levelling influence of commerce1 had made ,italy the most cosmopolitan of ,european countries2 the sharp and warlike rivalry of small1 but intensely patriotic1 states1 and the necessity they lay under of utilizing for their own preservation whatever individual energy might arise among them1 perhaps most of all the powerful example of the omnipresent ,church in which the son of a swineherd might take the ,papal ,throne1 had contributed to make it comparatively easy to pass from lower to higher social ranks2 the aristocratic structure of society remained1 but the distinction of classes was obscured1 and the excellence of the individual's faculties1 the energy and scope of his powers1 were recognized as the real dignities which were worthy of respect4 ,in this recognition of the individual1 and this common taste for art and letters1 lay the conditions of new and vigorous intellectual life2 they resulted in the great age of ,italy4 ,it was this in the main that made possible the popular fervor for the things of the mind in the ,italian ,renaissance1 to which nothing else in the world's history is comparable but the popular enthusiasm of the modern ,revolution for liberty4 ,dante gave his country a native language1 the ,humanists gave it the literature of ,rome1 the ,hellenists the literature of ,greece2 poets sang and artists painted with a loftiness and dignity of imagination1 a sweetness and delicacy of sentiment1 an energy and reach of thought1 a music of verse and harmony of line and color1 still unsurpassed4 ,the gifts which these men brought were not for a few1 but for the many who shared in this mastering1 absorbing interest in the things of the mind1 in beauty and wisdom1 which was the vital spirit of the ,italian ,renaissance4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #ae4--,the ,creation4 ,from the 8,fasciculus ,temporum40 ,venice1 #adhd4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #af4--,leviathan4 ,from the 8,ortus ,sanitatis40 ,venice1 #aeaa4 ,thus it happened that when the ,german printers brought over the ,alps the art which was to do so much toward civilizing the ,north1 they found in ,italy a civilization already culminated1 hastening on1 indeed1 to a swift decline2 they found the people already in possession of the manuscripts which they came to reproduce and multiply1 and the princes1 like ,frederick of ,urbino1#cg 8ashamed to own a printed book0 among their splendid collections1 where every art seemed to vie in making beautiful their volumes of vellum and velvet4 ,wood-engraving1 too1 which here as elsewhere accompanied printing1 could be of no use in spreading ideas and preparing the way for a popular knowledge and appreciation of art2 it was to receive rather than bestow benefits2 it was to be made a fine art before it could perform any real service4 ,the printers1 however1 proved the utility of their art1 and were soon busily employed in all the ,italian cities in reproducing the precious manuscripts with which ,italy was stored2 and from the first they called wood-engraving to their aid4 ,it is true that the earliest ,italian woodcuts--which were1 however1 ,germanic in design and execution--were as rude as those of the ,northern workshops4 ,they appeared for the first time in an edition of ,cardinal ,turrecremata's ,meditations1 published at ,rome by ,ulric ,hahn1 in #adfg4 ,in ,venice1 although without much doubt the art had been practised there by the makers of cards and prints long before1 woodcuts were first introduced by the ,german printers4 ,the accompanying cuts are fair examples of their work 7,figs4 #ae1 #af1 #ag1 #ah1 #bj1 #ba71 and at the same time interesting reflections of popular fable4 ,the views of ,venice are examples of the very common attempts to represent the actual appearance of the great cities1 which possess sometimes an historic value4 ,this ,germanic work is but slightly different from that already noticed2 but as soon as the art became naturalized1 and was practised by the ,italian engravers1 it was characterized at once by beauty of design4 ,there is something more than promise in an edition of sop's ,fables1 published at ,verona in #adha1 as may be seen from these examples 7,figs4 #bb1 #bc71 taken from a ,venetian reprint of #adia4 ,an ,ovid1 printed at ,venice in #adig1 is adorned with several excellent woodcuts1 such as this of ,the ,contest of ,apollo and ,pan 7,fig4 #ai72 and there are other works of similar merit belonging to the same period4 ,the finest example of ,italian wood-engraving before it reached its highest perfection in the ,hypnerotomachia ,poliphili1 or ,dream of ,poliphilo1 is a volume which contains the epistles of ,st4 ,jerome1 and a description of cloistral life4 ,this is adorned with a large number of small woodcuts of simple beauty1 marked by grace and feeling1 and full of reminiscences of moods and sentiments which have long ceased to hold a place in human hearts 7,figs4 #bd1 #be1 #bf74 ,here is pictured the religious life2 the monk's cell is barely furnished1 but it is seldom without shelves of books and a window opening upon a distant prospect2 the teacher expounds to his pupils the great volume on the desk before him2 the priest administers consolation to the dying and the bereaved1 and encourages the feeble of spirit and the sinful2 the preacher discourses to his brethren and the crowding people the ,blessed ,word2 the nuns of the sisterhood perform their daily offices of religion1 the panel of the confessional slides back for them1 they wash the feet of the poor1 they sit at table together2 all the pieties of their life1 which knew no close human relation1 which knew only ,god and mankind1 are depicted2 and now and then there is a thought1 too1 of the worldly life outside--here the beautiful youths stop to gaze at the convent gates barred against them4 ,there are other cuts1 also1 of landscape1 towers1 and cities4 ,the great themes of religion are not forgotten--the ,resurrection and the ,judgment unfold their secrets of justice and of the life eternal4 ,in all the religious spirit prevails1 and gives to the whole series a simple and sweet charm4 ,one may look at them long1 and be content to look many times thereafter4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #ag4--,the ,stork4 ,from the 8,ortus ,sanitatis40 ,venice1 #aeaa4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #ah4--,view of ,venice4 ,from the 8,fasciculus ,temporum40 ,venice1 #adhd4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #ai4--,the ,contest of ,apollo and ,pan4 ,from ,ovid's 8,metamorphoses40 ,venice1 #aeah 7design1 #adig74 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #bj4--,sirens4 ,from the 8,ortus ,sanitatis40 ,venice1 #aeaa4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #ba4--,pygmy and ,cranes4 ,from the 8,ortus ,sanitatis40 ,venice1 #aeaa4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #bb4--,the ,woman and the ,thief4 ,from 8sop's ,fables40 ,venice1 #adia 7design1 #adha74 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #bc4--,the ,crow and the ,peacock4 ,from 8sop's ,fables40 ,venice1 #adia 7design1 #adha74 ,this volume of ,st4 ,jerome was1 however1 only a worthy forerunner of the ,dream of ,poliphilo1 in which ,italian wood-engraving1 quickened by the spirit of the ,renaissance1 displayed its most beautiful creations4 ,it was written by a ,venetian monk1 ,francesco ,columna1 in #adfg1 and was first printed by ,aldus1 in #adii4 ,it is a mystical work1 composed in ,italian1 strangely mingled with ,greek1 ,latin1 ,hebrew1 and ,arabic1 and its theme1 which is the praise of beauty and of love1 is obscured by abstruse knowledge and by much varied learning4 ,it recalls ,dante's poem in some ways4 ,the ,renaissance ,dominican1 too1 was a lover with a human ,beatrice1 of whom his dream is the memorial and the glory2 like ,dante1 he seems to symbolize1 under the beauty and guardianship of his gracious lady1 a body of truth and a theory of life2 and1 as in ,dante's poem ,beatrice typified ,divine ,wisdom and theology1 his ,polia stood for the new gospel of this world's joy1 for the loveliness of universal nature and the perfection of ancient art2 in adoring her he worships them1 and in celebrating her1 as alike his goal and his guide through the mazes of his changing dream1 he exalts the virtue and the hope that lay in the ,renaissance ideal of life4 ,there is1 perhaps1 no volume where the exuberant vigor of that age is more clearly shown1 or where the objects for which that age was impassioned are more glowingly described4 ,this romantic and fantastic rhapsody mirrors every aspect of nature and art in which the ,italians then took delight--peaceful landscape1 where rivers flow by flower-starred banks and through bird-haunted woods2 noble architecture and exquisite sculpture1 the music of soft instruments1 the ruins of antiquity1 the legends of old mythology1 the motions of the dance1 the elegance of the banquet1 splendor of apparel1 courtesy of manners1 even the manuscript1 with its covers of purple velvet sown with ,eastern pearls--everything which was cared for and sought in that time1 when the gloom of asceticism lifted and disclosed the wide prospect of the world lying1 as it were1 in the loveliness of daybreak4 ,poliphilo wanders through fields and groves bright with this morning beauty1 voyages down streams and loiters in gardens that are filled with gladness2 he is graciously regaled in the palace1 he attends the sacrifice in the temple1 where his eyes are charmed by every exquisite ornament of art2 he encounters in his progress triumphal processions1 as they wind along through the pleasant country1 bewildering the fancy with their lavish magnificence as of an ,arabian dream2 chariots that are wrought out of entire precious stones1 carved with bass-reliefs from ,grecian fables1 and drawn by half-human centaurs or strange animals1--elephants1 panthers1 unicorns1 in trappings of silk and jewels1 pass before him1 bearing exalted in their midst sculptured figures1 ,europa and the ,bull1 ,leda and the ,swan1 ,dana in the shower of gold1 and1 last and most wonderful1 a vase1 beautifully engraved and adorned1 out of which springs a golden vine1 with leaves of ,persian selenite and grapes of ,oriental amethyst2 and about all are groups of attendant nymphs1 fauns1 satyrs1 mnads1 and lovely women1 crowned with flowers1 with instruments of music in their hands1 chanting the praise of ,valor and of ,pleasure2 again1 he lingers among ancient ruins and remembers their perished glory1 and falls into reflection1 like that of the traveller whom he describes1 8among those venerable monuments which still make ,rome the queen of cities2 where he sees10 thinks ,poliphilo1 8the hand of ,time1 which punishes the excess of pride2 and1 seeking then on the steps of the amphitheatre the heads of the legions and that conquering eagle1 that ,senate whose decrees made and unmade the kings of the world1 those profound historians1 those eloquent orators1 he finds there only a rabble of beggars1 to whom an ignorant and ofttimes lying hermit preaches1 only altars without honor and saints without a believer2 the artist reigns alone in that vast enclosure2 pencil in hand1 rich with memories1 he sees the whole of ,rome1 her pomp and her glory1 in one mutilated block which a fragment of bass-relief adorns40 ,inspired by these thoughts1 ,poliphilo delays among like relics of the past1 and reads on shattered tombs the brief inscriptions which tell the history of the lost lovers who lie beneath1 while the pagan burden of their sorrow1 and the pagan calm of the 8adieu0 with which each inscription ends1 fill him with tender sentiment4 ,so his dream drifts on through ever-shifting scenes of beauty and ever-dying moments of delight to the hour of awakening4 ,these scenes and these moments1 which ,francesco ,columna called out of his imagination1 are pictured in the one hundred and ninety-two designs 7,figs4 #bg1 #bh1 #bi1 #cj7 which adorn his book2 here in simple outline are the gardens1 groves1 and streams1 the noble buildings1 the bath1 the palace and the temple1 the feast1 the allegory of life1 the thronging triumphs1 the sacrifices1 the ruins1 the tombs1 the lover and his beloved1 the priestess and the goddess1 cupids1 bacchanals1 and nymphs--a profusion of loveliness1 joy1 and revel2 here1 too1 among the others1 are some dramatic scenes3 the lion and the lovers1 ,poliphilo fainting before ,polia1 and his revival at the touch of her lips2 altogether1 they are a precious memorial of the ,renaissance spirit1 reflecting alike its passion for the new learning1 passing into useless and pedantic knowledge1 and its ecstacy of the senses passing into voluptuous delight4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #bd4--,the ,peace of ,god4 ,from 8,epistole di ,san ,hieronymo ,volgare40 ,ferrara1 #adig4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #be4--,mary and the ,risen ,lord4 ,from 8,epistole di ,san ,hieronymo ,volgare40 ,ferrara1 #adig4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #bf4--,st4 ,baruch4 ,from the 8,catalogus ,sanctorum40 ,venice1 #aejf4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #bg4--,poliphilo by the ,stream4 ,from the 8,hypnerotomachia ,poliphili40 ,venice1 #adii4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #bh4--,poliphilo and the ,nymphs4 ,from the 8,hypnerotomachia ,poliphili40 ,venice1 #adii4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #bi--,ornament4 ,from the 8,hypnerotomachia ,poliphili40 ,venice1 #adii4 ,these designs1 of which the few that can be given afford only a slight idea1 so various are they in beauty and feeling1 have been attributed to many illustrious masters1 ,giovanni ,bellini and ,raphael among others2 but perhaps the conjecture which assigns them to ,benedetto ,montagna is the most probable4 ,they show what remarkable artistic taste there was even in the inferior masters of ,italy4 8,they are10 says ,professor ,sydney ,colvin1#ch 8without their like in the history of wood-cutting2 they breathe the spirit of that delightful moment when the utmost of imaginative navet is combined with all that is needed of artistic accomplishment1 and in their simplicity are in the best instances of a noble composition1 a masculine firmness1 a delicate vigor and graceful tenderness in the midst of luxurious or even licentious fancy1 which cannot be too much admired4 ,they have that union of force and energy with a sober sweetness1 beneath a last vestige of the primitive1 which in the northern schools of ,italy betokens the concurrent influence of the school of ,mantegna and the school of ,bellini40 ,italy never afterward produced so noble a monument of the art as this work of its early days4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #cj4--,poliphilo meets ,polia4 ,from the 8,hypnerotomachia ,poliphili40 ,venice1 #adii4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #ca4--,nero ,fiddling4 ,from the ,ovid of #aeaj4 ,venice4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #cb4--,the ,physician4 ,from the 8,fasciculus ,medicin40 ,venice1 #aejj4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #cc4--;,hero and ,leander4 ,from the ,ovid of #aeae4 ,venice4 ,the art did not1 however1 fall into decline immediately4 ,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 ,north2 the ,italians were too fond of color1 and possessed too many master-pieces of the nobler arts1 to set a very high value on such simple effects2 but1 nevertheless1 in the first quarter of the sixteenth century there appeared in ,venice1 the chief seat of the art1 many volumes which were illustrated by woodcuts of excellent design1 such as this of ,nero 7,fig4 #ca71 from an ,ovid of #aeaj1 the representation of the physician attending a patient stricken with the plague 7,fig4 #cb71 from the ,fasciculus ,medicin1 by ,johannes de ,ketham1 published in #aejj1 and that of ,hero and ,leander 7,fig4 #cc71 from an ,ovid of #aeae4 ,of ,venetian work of lesser merit1 the representation of ,dante and ,beatrice 7,fig4 #cd71 from a ,dante of #aebj1 and the cuts 7,figs4 #ce1 #cf1 #cg1 #ch71 from the ,catalogue of the ,saints1 by ,petrus de ,natalis1 published in #aejf1 may serve as examples4 ,the whole ,italian series1 even as illustrated by the cuts here given1 exhibits a greater variety of interest1 knowledge1 and feeling than does the work of any other nation1 and affords a lively notion of the manifold elements that went to make up the ,renaissance2 it reflects fable1 superstition1 learning1 the symbolism of medival theology1 ancient myth and legend1 the rise of the modern feeling for nature1 the passion for beauty and art2 and1 ranging from the life of the scholar and the nunnery to that of the beggar and the plague1 it pictures vividly contemporary times1 while it adds to the interest of history and humanity the interest of beauty4 ,its prime1 however1 was of brief duration4 ,venetian engraving1 and that of the other ,italian cities also1 continued to be marked by this simplicity and skill in design until #aecj1 when cross-hatching was introduced from the ,north2 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 country1 which1 from the time of the sack of ,rome1 in #aebg1 became the common battlefield of ,europe for generations4 ,but1 in the short space during which the ,italians practised the art with such success1 they showed that they had mastered it1 and had come to an understanding of its capacities1 both as a mode of drawing in black line and as a mode of relief in white line1 such as appears in their arabesques and initial letters1 examples of which are scattered through this volume4 ,they came to this mastery and understanding before any other nation1 because of their artistic instinct2 for the same reason1 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 work1 which was characterized by such confused exuberance of fancy and such profusion of detail4 ,they breathed into the art the ,italian spirit1 and its presence made their works beautiful4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #cd4--;,dante and ,beatrice4 ,from the ,dante of #aebj4 ,venice4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #ce4--,st4 ,jerome ,commending the ,hermit's ,life4 ,from 8,epistole di ,san ,hieronymo40 ,ferrara1 #adig4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #cf4--,st4 ,francis and the ,beggar4 ,from the 8,catalogus ,sanctorum40 ,venice1 #aejf4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #cg4--,the ,translation of ,st4 ,nicolas4 ,from the 8,catalogus ,sanctorum40 ,venice1 #aejf4 ,to the ,italian love of color is due the development of what is known as engraving in chiaroscuro1 a process which1 although it had been practised in ,germany since #aejf1 was claimed as a new invention by ,ugo da ,carpi 7#adfj-aebc71 at ,venice1 in #aeaf1 and was carried by the ,italians to the highest point of perfection which it reached in the sixteenth century4 ,it was an attempt to imitate the results of painting2 two1 and sometimes several1 blocks were used in the process2 on the first the outlines and heavy shadows of the design were engraved1 and a proof was taken off2 on the second block the lighter parts of the design were engraved1 and an impression was taken off from this on the same print in a different color1 or1 at least1 in a color of different intensity2 thus the original proof was overlaid with different tints by successive impressions from different blocks1 and a variety of shades was obtained in the finished engraving1 analogous to those which the painter gets by laying flat tints over each other with the brush4 ,great care had to be taken in laying the original proof down on the second block1 so that the lines of the design should fall in exactly the same position as in the first block2 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 displeasing4 ,there was considerable variety in the detail of the process4 ,sometimes the impression from the outline block was taken last2 sometimes the different impressions were taken off in different colors1 but usually in the same color of different intensities2 sometimes the impressions were taken off on colored paper4 ,the ,italians used four blocks at an early time1 and were able to imitate water-colors with some success4 ,all of their prints in this kind are marked by more artistic feeling and skill than those of the ,germans1 even when the latter are by masters4 ,this application of the art1 however1 is not a true development1 and really lies outside its province4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #ch--,romoaldus1 the ,abbot4 ,from the 8,catalogus ,sanctorum40 ,venice1 #aejf4 ,v4 ,,albert ,d,,rer ,,and ,,his ,,successors4 ,illustration3 ,a ,,fig4 #ci4--;,from an ,italian ,alphabet of the #afth ,century4 ,already1 before the ,dream of ,poliphilo had been published in ,venice1 wood-engraving in the ,north had passed into the hands of the great ,german master who was to transform it2 in the studio of ,albert ,drer 7#adga-aebh7 it had entered upon its great period4 ,the earlier ,german engravers1 whose woodcuts in simple outline1 shadowed by courses of short parallel lines1 showed a nave spirit almost too simple for modern taste1 a force ignorant of the channels of expression and feeling inexpert in utterance1 did not know the full resources of their art4 ,it was not until the very close of the fifteenth century1 when they discarded the aid of the colorists1 and sought all their effects from simple contrast of black and white1 that they conceived of wood-engraving as an independent art2 even then their sense of beauty was so insignificant1 and their power of thought was so feeble1 that their works have only an historical value4 ,drer was the first to discover the full capacities of wood-engraving as a mode of artistic expression2 it had begun to imitate the methods of copperplate-engraving before his day1 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 excellence2 the materials and processes of wood-engraving required different methods1 and ,drer prescribed them4 ,he increased the size of the cuts1 gave breadth and boldness to the lines1 and obtained new and pleasing effects from strong contrasts of black and white4 ,he thus showed the true method of wood-engraving2 but the art owes to him much more than this3 he brought to the practice of it the hand and brain of a great master1 lifted it1 a mechanic's trade1 into the service of high imagination and vigorous intellect1 and placed it among the fine arts--a deed of far more importance than any improvements in processes or methods1 even though they have such brilliant consequences as followed ,bewick's later innovations4 ,he taught the art a language1 put meaning into its words1 and made it capable of conveying the ideas which art can express1 and of spreading them and the appreciation of them among the people4 ,the application of ,drer's genius to wood-engraving could not fail of great results4 ,he recorded in it the ,german ,renaissance4 ,civilization had gained much in freedom of thought1 independence of action1 and community of knowledge1 as well as in a respect for nature2 but it was still ruled by the devout and romantic spirit of the ,middle ,ages4 ,drer shared in all the intellectual life of his time1 alike in its study of antiquity and its revolt against ,rome2 he was interested in all the higher subjects for which his contemporaries cared1 and his versatile genius enabled him often to work with them in preparing the modern age1 but he was not touched by the modern spirit2 in thought and feeling he remained deeply religious1 fantastic1 picturesque1 mystical--in a word1 medival4 ,he did not possess the modern sense of limitation1 the power to restrict himself to realizing a definite conception1 the power to disregard and refuse what cannot be clearly seen and expressed1 which the modern age1 when it came1 gave to the perfect artist2 he was not content to embody his idea simply1 directly1 and forcibly2 he supplemented it with secondary thought and subordinate suggestion in unmeasured profusion2 he did not know when his work was done1 but kept on adding to it in the true wandering1 ,gothic spirit1 which never finishes its task1 because its main purpose does not control it2 he allowed his fancy to encumber the noble work of his imagination1 and allegory to obscure the truth he uttered2 he was not master of himself1 but was hurried on by the fire and speed of his own genius along paths which led only to the obscure and the inaccessible4 ,his imagination was deeply suggestive1 straightforward1 and marvellously fertile in invention2 but he interpreted the imaginative world in terms of daily and often homely life2 he represented ideal characters1 not under ideal forms1 but realistically under forms such as he saw about him2 he knew beauty only as ,german beauty1 and life and its material surroundings only as ,german life and ,german civilization2 and thus his works are characterized by an uncouthness which offends minds not habituated to ,german taste4 ,but there is no need to be irritated at this realism1 this content with gross forms1 or to wish with ,vasari that he had been born in ,italy and had studied antiquity at ,florence1 whereby he would have missed that national endowment which individualized him and gave him a peculiar charm4 ,the grotesqueness disappears as the eye becomes acquainted with the unfamiliar1 and the mind is occupied with the emotion1 the intellectual idea1 and imaginative truth1 expressed in these sometimes ugly modes1 for they are of that rare value which wins forgiveness for far greater defects of formal beauty than are apparent in ,drer's work4 ,although his spirit was romantic and uncontrolled1 and his imagination dealt with forms not in themselves beautiful1 he possessed the greatest energy of genius of all the masters who have intrusted their works to wood-engraving1 and with him it was a favorite art4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #dj4--,st4 ,john and the ,virgin4 ,vignette to ,drer's 8,apocalypse40 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #da4--;,christ ,suffering4 ,vignette to ,drer's 8,larger ,passion40 ,the first of the four famous series of designs by which his skill in wood-engraving is best known was published in #adih1 but it was probably finished before that time4 ,it consisted of fifteen large cuts in illustration of the ,apocalypse of ,st4 ,john1 to which a vignette 7,fig4 #dj7 of wonderful nobility and simplicity was prefixed4 ,the theme must have been peculiarly attractive to him1 because of the opportunities it afforded for grandeur of conception and for the symbolism in which his genius delighted2 it was supernatural and religious2 it dealt with images and thoughts on which the laws of this world imposed no restraint1 and revealed visionary scenes through types of awe1 terror1 and mystery1 the impressiveness of which had almost no human relation4 ,in attempting to bring such a theme within the compass of the powers of expression which art possesses1 he strove to give speech to the unutterable1 and to imprison the unsubstantial1 so that it is no wonder if1 although the fertility of invention and power of drawing which he displayed1 and the variety and richness of effect which he obtained1 made his work a masterpiece of art1 yet much of what he intended to express is not readily comprehended4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #db4--;,christ ,mocked4 ,vignette to ,drer's 8,smaller ,passion40 ,this series was succeeded by three others1 in which the human interest is far greater1 although they are not unmarked by fantastic invention2 they were the ,larger ,passion of our ,lord1 a series of twelve cuts1 including this impressive vignette 7,fig4 #da71 ,christ ,suffering2 the ,life of the ,virgin1 a series of twenty cuts2 and the ,smaller ,passion of our ,lord 7,figs4 #db1 #dc71 a series of thirty-six cuts1 the vignette to which 7,christ ,mocked7 is a design marvellous for its intensity1 for its seizure of the malignant1 mocking spirit in devilish possession of every lineament of the face and every muscle working in that sinuous gesture1 for the ideal endurance in the ,saviour's attitude1 which needs not those symbols of his sufferings beside him for pity1 though ,drer's genius must crowd every corner with thought and suggestion4 ,these three great series were published about #aeaa1 and were probably the work of the previous six years2 they are full of force1 and are characterized by tenderness of sympathy and fervor of devotion1 as well as by the imaginative insight and power of thought which distinguish all his works4 ,they quickly became popular2 several editions were issued1 and they were copied by more than one engraver1 especially by the famous ,italian1 ,marc ,antonio ,raimondi1 who reproduced the ,smaller ,passion on copperplate4 ,they marked an epoch in the history of wood-engraving4 ,it is not possible to over-estimate the debt which the art owes ,drer1 who thus suddenly and by his own artistic insight revealed the power and dignity which wood-engraving might attain1 opened to it a great career1 and was its first master in the era of its most splendid accomplishment4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #dc4--,the ,descent into ,hell4 ,from ,drer's 8,smaller ,passion40 ,besides these connected series of woodcuts1 many others1 making in all three hundred and forty-seven1 are attributed to ,drer2 and of these one hundred and seventy are undoubtedly from his hand4 ,they represent nearly all aspects of ,german life in the early sixteenth century1 and1 taken all together1 afford a nearly complete picture of his time1 not only in its general characteristics1 but in detail4 ,they show for the first time the power of wood-engraving to produce works of real artistic value1 and its power to record faithfully the vast variety of contemporary life4 ,drer was himself the highest product of the new freedom of individual development in the ,north1 but his individuality gathered the age within itself1 and became universal in knowledge and interest2 so that he was not only the ,reformer of ,german art and the greatest master in it1 but was in a true sense the historian of the ,german ,renaissance2 it is to his works1 and not least to his wood-engraving1 that the student of that age must have recourse for the truest record of its thought and feeling at their best4 ,in his later years he designed two other works which rank among the chief monuments of wood-engraving2 they were the ,car and ,gate of ,triumph1 executed for the ,emperor ,maximilian1 who was then the great patron of the art1 and employed it to perpetuate the glory of his reign and realm4 ,the ,emperor1 although the ,italians made a jest of him1 was one of the most interesting characters in ,german history4 ,he illustrates in practical life1 as ,drer in artistic and intellectual life1 the age that was passing away1 and he foreshadows more than ,drer the age that was coming on4 ,he was romantic by nature1 a lover of the chivalric and picturesque elements of medival life2 he was skilful in all the manly sports which belonged to a princely education--a daring hunter1 and brave in the lists of the tourney2 in affairs of more moment he had always some great adventure in hand1 the humbling of ,france1 or the destruction of ,venice1 or the protection of ,luther2 at home he was devoted to reform1 to internal improvements1 to establishing permanently the orderly methods of civilization1 to the spread of commerce1 and to increasing the safety and facility of communication4 ,he left his empire more civilized than he found it2 and if he was unsuccessful in war1 he was1 in the epigram of the time1 fortunate in love1 and won by marriage what the sword could not conquer1 so that he prepared by the craft of his diplomacy that union of the vast possessions of the ,house of ,austria which made his grandson1 ,charles ,v41 almost the master of ,europe4 ,he was a lover of art and books2 and1 being puffed up with imperial vanity1 he employed the engravers and printers to record his career and picture his magnificence4 ,the great works which by his order were prepared for this purpose were upon a scale unthought of before that time1 and never attempted in later days4 ,the ,triumphal ,car1 which he employed ,drer to design1 was a richly decorated chariot drawn by six pair of horses2 the ,emperor is seated in it under a canopy amid female figures1 representing ,justice1 ,truth1 and other virtues1 who offer him triumphal wreaths2 the driver symbolizes ,reason1 and guides the horses by the reins of ,nobility and ,power2 the wheels are inscribed with the words ,magnificentia and ,dignitas1 and the horses are attended by allegoric figures of swiftness1 foresight1 prudence1 boldness1 and similar virtues4 ,the whole design was seven feet four inches in length1 and about eighteen inches high4 ,the ,gate of ,triumph was similarly allegoric in conception2 it was an arch with three entrances1 the central one being the gate of ,honor and ,power1 and those upon the right and left the gates of ,nobility and ,fame2 the body of the arch was ornamented with portraits of the ,roman ,emperors from the time of ,csar1 shields of arms which indicated the ,emperor's descent and alliances1 portraits of his relatives and friends1 and representations of his famous exploits4 ,the size of the cut1 which was made up of ninety-two separate pieces1 was about ten and a half feet by nine and a half feet4 ,in both of these works ,drer was limited by the directions which were given him1 and neither of them are equal to his original creations4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #dd4--,the ,herald4 ,from 8,the ,triumph of ,maximilian40 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #de4--,tablet4 ,from 8,the ,triumph of ,maximilian40 ,the chief of the great works of ,maximilian was the ,triumphal ,procession1#ci which was designed by ,hans ,burgkmaier1 of ,augsburg 7#adgc-aeca71 whose secular and picturesque genius found its most congenial occupation in inventing the figures of this splendid train of nobles1 warriors1 and commons1 on horse1 foot1 and in chariots1 winding along in symbolical representation of the ,emperor's victories and conquests1 and in magnificent display of the wealth1 power1 and resources of all the imperial dominions4 ,the herald of the ,triumph 7,fig4 #dd71 mounted upon a winged griffin1 leads the march2 behind him go two led horses supporting a tablet 7,fig4 #de71 on which is written3 8,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 lord1 ,maximilian1 ,roman ,emperor elect1 and ,head of ,christendom1 ,king and ,heir of ,seven ,christian ,kingdoms1 ,archduke of ,austria1 ,duke of ,burgundy and of other grand principalities and provinces of ,europe20 his fifer ,anthony1 with his attendants1 his falconers1 led by ,teuschel1 their hawks pursuing prey1 his hunters of the chamois1 the stag1 the boar1 and the bear1 habited for the chase1 follow on2 behind them richly caparisoned animals1 elk1 buffalo1 and camels1 draw finely decorated chariots1 in which are seated the ,emperor's favorite musicians 7,fig4 #df71 playing diverse instruments2 the jesters 7among them that famous ,conrad von der ,rosen whom ,heine tenderly remembered71 the fools1 the maskers1 the fencers1 knights of the tourney and the joust1 armed foot-soldiers of every service1 continue the procession1 which lengthens out with cuirassed horsemen 7,fig4 #dg7 carrying banners emblazoned with the arms of the ,austrian provinces in which the ,emperor had waged war1 and other horsemen 7,fig4 #dh7 in the garb of peace1 with standards of the faithful provinces1 lasquenets whose pennants are inscribed with the names of the great battles which the ,emperor had fought1 trophy-cars filled with the armorial shields of the conquered peoples1 representations of the ,emperor's marriage and coronation1 of the ,german ,empire and the great wars--,flanders1 ,burgundy1 ,hungary1 ,guelders1 ,naples1 ,milan1 ,venice1 an unending list--the symbols of military power1 artillery1 treasure1 the statues of the great rulers who were allied by blood to ,maximilian or had ruled his dominions before him1 prisoners of war in chains1 the ,imperial ,standard1 the ,sword of the ,empire1 the counts1 lords1 and knights who owned the ,emperor's sovereignty--a splendid display of the pomp and pride of medival life4 ,maximilian himself is the central thought of the whole2 he is never lost sight of in any smaller figure2 his servants are there1 as their devices relate1 because they served him2 his provinces1 because he ruled them2 his victories1 because he won them2 his ancestors1 because they were of his line4 ,his personality groups the variety of the procession round itself alone2 but the real interest of the work does not lie in him or his praise1 but in the revelation there made of the secular side of the ,middle ,ages1 the outward aspect of life1 the ideal of worldly power and splendor1 the spirit of pleasure and festival1 shown forth in this marvellously varied march of laurelled horses and horsemen whose trappings and armor have the beauty and glitter of peaceful parade4 ,there is nowhere else a work which so presents at once the feudal spirit and feudal delights in such exuberance of picturesque and truthful display4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #df4--,the ,car of the ,musicians4 ,from 8,the ,triumph of ,maximilian40 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #dg4--,three ,horsemen4 ,from 8,the ,triumph of ,maximilian40 ,the designs for this work were first painted upon parchment1 and were afterward reproduced by engraving in wood2 but the reproduction varied from the originals in important particulars4 ,the series was far from completion at the time of ,maximilian's death1 and was left unfinished2 it was never published until #agif1 when the first edition appeared at ,vienna1 whither the lost wood-blocks had found their way in #aggi4 ,in its present shape the series consists of one hundred and thirty-five large cuts1 extending for a linear distance of over one hundred and seventy-five feet2 all but sixteen of these are reproductions of the designs on vellum1 which numbered two hundred and eighteen in all1 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 work4 ,hans ,burgkmaier is believed to be the designer of all except the few that are ascribed to ,drer2 but1 owing to their being engraved by different hands1 they vary considerably in merit4 ,maximilian also ordered two curious books to be prepared and adorned with woodcuts in his own honor1 a prose work entitled ,the ,wise ,king1 and a poem entitled ,the ,adventures of ,sir ,tewrdannckh4 ,in these volumes the example of his own life is offered for the instruction of princes1 and the history of his deeds1 amours1 courtship1 perils1 and temptations is written1 once for the edification1 but now for the amusement1 of the world4 ,the woodcuts in ,the ,adventures of ,sir ,tewrdannckh are one hundred and eighteen in number1 and are principally1 if not entirely1 the work of ,hans ,schuffelin 7#adij8-aedj72 they show how ,sir ,tewrdannckh1 attended by his squire1 started out upon his travels1 and what moving dangers he encountered in his hunting1 voyaging1 tilting1 and fighting1 under the guidance and instigation of his three great enemies1 ,envy1 ,daring1 and ,curiosity1 who at last1 when he is happily at the end of his troubles1 are represented as meeting their own fate by the gallows1 the block1 and the moat4 ,the engravings are marked by spirit1 and due attention is given to landscape2 but they are not infrequently too near caricature to be pleasing1 and cannot pretend to rank beside the other works of ,maximilian4 ,this volume was printed during the ,emperor's lifetime1 and was the only one of his works of which he saw the completion4 ,the ,wise ,king was illustrated by two hundred and thirty-seven cuts1 of which several bear ,burgkmaier's mark1 one the mark of ,schuffelin and one that of ,hans ,springinklee 7#adgj8-aedj74 ,they picture the journey of the ,emperor's father to ,rome1 the youth and education of the young prince1 his gradual acquirement of the liberal arts--kingcraft1 the black-art1 medicine1 the languages1 painting1 architecture1 music1 cookery1 dancing1 shooting1 falconry1 angling1 fencing1 tilting1 gunnery1 the art of fortification1 and the like2 and they represent1 in conclusion1 his political career by means of obscure allegory4 ,they are similar to the illustrations in ,sir ,tewrdannckh in general character1 and1 like them1 are inferior to the other works of ,maximilian4 ,in the composition of this volume ,maximilian is supposed to have had a considerable share2 it was not printed entire until #agge4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #dh4--;,horseman4 ,from 8,the ,triumph of ,maximilian40 ,these five great works1 apart from their value as artistic productions and their interest as historic records1 have a farther importance because of their influence upon the art1 both in the way of encouragement and of instruction4 ,although there has been much dispute about the matter1 it must now be acknowledged that the artists themselves did not ordinarily engrave their designs1 but left the actual cutting of the block to the professional workmen2 at most they only occasionally corrected the lines after the engraver had cut them4 ,the works of ,maximilian employed a number of these engravers1 who practised the art only as a craft2 the experience these workmen gained in such labor as they were now called upon to do1 under the superintendence of artists like ,drer and ,burgkmaier1 who knew what engraving ought to be1 and who held up a high standard of excellence1 was most valuable to them1 and made itself felt in a general improvement of the technical part of the art everywhere4 ,the standard of the engraver's craft was permanently raised4 ,the engravers' names now became known2 and sometimes the engraver received hardly less admiration for his skill in technique than the artist for his power of design4 ,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 art4 ,lukas van ,leyden 7#adid-aecc71 whose youthful works in copperplate were wonderful1 left some woodcuts in ,drer's bold1 broad manner1 which illustrate the attempt of ,german art to acquire classical taste1 and show so much the more clearly the incapacity of the ,germans in the perception of beauty4 ,the ,cranachs1 father 7#adgb-aeec7 and son 7#aeae-aehf71 who are interesting because of the share they had in the ,reformation1 produced some very striking works1 such as the charming scene of the ,repose in ,egypt1 and were the first to practise chiaro-scuro engraving in the ,north4 ,hans ,baldung 7#adgj-aeeb871 although his designs are sometimes characterized by exaggeration and too great violence of action1 ranks with the best of the secondary artists of the time2 and ,hans ,springinklee1 who has been already mentioned1 reached a high degree of excellence in his illustrations to the ,hortulus ,anim1 which are still valued4 ,the works of these men1 however1 were only the most important and the best of a vast number of woodcuts which1 during the first half of the sixteenth century1 appeared in ,germany during this period of the greatest popularity of the art4 ,under the personal influence of ,drer1 or under the influence of the numerous and widely-spread prints by himself and his associates1 many other artists of merit acquired skill in engraving1 both on metal and in wood1 and employed it upon a great variety of subjects4 ,the devotion of medival art wholly to church decoration and to the representation of religious scenes had passed away in all quarters of the world2 in ,italy the artists had come to treat the subjects of pagan imagination1 the beings and scenes of classical mythology2 in ,germany the people had homelier tasks1 and religious art there yielded to the interest which men felt in the incidents and objects of common life2 in both countries wealth took the place of religion as the patron of art2 and1 although art still dealt with the story of the ,scriptures and the martyrs1 because these filled so important a place in the imagination of the people1 still it had become secularized4 ,this change was naturally shown in the arts of engraving more than in painting1 because engraving in copper and on wood had a far greater sphere of influence1 and came into more intimate relations with the popular life1 and because the illustration of books offered a greater variety of subject4 ,in ,german engraving1 from this time1 the actual life of the town and the peasantry was represented almost as often as the history of the ,saviour and the saints2 the village festival1 the procession of the wedding-guests1 the ftes of the town1 the employments and costumes of the citizens1 recur with the same frequency as the passion of the ,lord and the ,old ,testament stories2 the joy and sorrow of ordinary life1 the objects of ordinary observation and thought1 the humorous1 the humble1 and the satirical1 sometimes strangely mingled with ill-understood mythology and badly-caricatured classicism1 are the constant theme of the engravers4 ,chief among the successors of ,drer who shared in this vast production were the group of artists known as the ,little ,masters1 although the name is one of ill-defined and incomplete application2 they were so called because they chiefly engraved small designs2 but they also engraved large designs1 and their number1 which is usually limited to seven1 excludes some whose works are on the same small scale4 ,the first of them was ,albrecht ,altdorfer 7#adhh-aech71 said to have been the pupil of ,drer and the inventor of engraving in this manner2 in his day he was more celebrated as an architect and painter than as an engraver1 but his fame now rests on his works on copper and in wood4 ,the best known of his sixty-five woodcuts is the series of forty designs1 scarcely three inches by two in size1 entitled the ,fall and ,redemption of ,man1 in depicting which he had the ,smaller ,passion of ,drer to guide him4 ,in these he attempted to obtain effects by the use of fine and close lines1 such as were employed in copperplate-engraving2 but1 although his success was certainly remarkable1 considering the rude mechanical processes of the time1 yet his method clearly produced results of inferior artistic value in comparison with the works in the bold1 broad manner of ,drer4 ,all of his woodcuts1 excepting four1 are representations of religious subjects2 they are marked1 like his other works1 by an attention to landscape1 that truly modern object of art1 of which he probably learned the value from ,drer1 who was the first to treat landscape with real appreciation4 ,in ,hans ,sebald ,behaim 7#aejj-aeej87 the spirit of the age is revealed with great clearness and variety 7,fig4 #di72 both his life and his art were inspired by it4 ,in his early manhood he was banished from ,nuremberg for denying the doctrines of transubstantiation and the efficacy of baptism1 and for entertaining some vague socialistic and communistic opinions2 but it is not clear to what extent he held them1 if he held them at all4 ,he seems to have been one of the most advanced of the religious ,reformers1 and he employed his art in their service1 as1 for example1 in a book entitled ,the ,papacy1 which he illustrated with a series of seventy-four figures of the different orders of monks in their peculiar costumes1 beneath each of which satirical lines were written4 ,he is best known by his eighty-one ,bible-cuts1 which were the most popular1 perhaps1 of the many series published in that century1 not excepting the impressive ,bible figures of ,holbein2 they passed through many editions1 and were widely copied4 ,the first ,english ,bible was illustrated by them4 ,besides these two series1 and one other in illustration of the ,apocalypse1 he designed many separate prints1 both in the small manner of the ,little ,masters and in imitation of the large works of ,maximilian1 such as his ,military ,fte1 in honor of ,charles ,v41 his ,fountain of ,youth1 and the prints of the ,marauding ,soldiers1 which measured four or five feet in length4 ,his representations of peasant life are peculiarly attractive1 because of the force of realism displayed in them1 whether he depicted the marriage festival1 or mere jollity or drunken brawl4 ,in the breadth of his interests1 in the variety of his subjects1 and in his sympathy with the special movements of his age1 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-engraving4 ,of the rest of this group none1 excepting ,hans ,brosamer 7#aejf-aeeb71 left works in wood-engraving of any consequence2 he designed in a free and bold manner1 and his engravings are to be found in books of the third quarter of the century4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #di4--,virgin and ,child4 ,from a print by ,hans ,sebald ,behaim4 ,other artists of this period devoted their attention to wood-engraving2 but as they did not mark any new progress in the art1 or reflect any aspect of ,german civilization which has not already been illustrated1 they need not be treated in any detail4 ,virgil ,solis 7#aead-aefb71 a very productive designer1 who was employed by the ,nuremberg printers to illustrate the books by which they attempted to rival the productions of the ,lyonese press2 ,jobst ,amman 7#aeci-aeia71 whose excellent engravings of costumes and trades are well known2 ,erhard ,schn 7d4 #aeej71 ,melchior ,lorch 7#aebg-aehf71 whose works were of little merit2 and ,tobias ,stimmer 7#aeci-aehb71 a popular designer for book illustration1 are all who deserve mention4 ,their engravings are inferior to the productions of previous artists1 and after their death the art in ,germany fell into speedy and irretrievable decay4 ,the work of the wood-engravers who were imbued with the ,german spirit exhibits the same excellences and defects as other ,german work in art4 ,it is characterized by vigor principally1 and in its higher range it has great value1 because of the imaginative and reflective spirit by which it was animated2 in its lower range1 as a portrayal of life and manners1 it derives from its realism an extraordinary interest4 ,its great deficiency is its lack of beauty1 and is due to the inborn feebleness of the sense of beauty in the ,german race2 but1 notwithstanding this deformity1 ,german wood-engraving was invaluably useful in its day in the cities where it became so popular1 because it was so widely and variously practised1 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 conception4 ,it facilitated the spread of literature and helped on the progress of the ,reformation to a degree which is little recognized2 it disseminated ideas and standards of art1 and made them common property2 and1 finally1 it prepared the way for the great master who was to embody in wood-engraving the highest excellence of art and thought4 ,,vi4 ,,hans ,,holbein4 ,illustration3 ,g ,,fig4 #ej4--;,from the 8,epistole di ,san ,hieronymo40 ,ferrara1 #adig4 ,germany produced one artist who freed himself from the limitations of taste and interest which the place of his birth imposed upon him1 and took rank with the great masters who seem to belong rather to the race than to their native country4 ,hans ,holbein was neither ,german nor ,italian1 neither classical nor medival4 ,the ideal of his art was not determined by the culture of any single school1 at home or abroad2 far less was it a jarring compromise between the aims and methods of different schools2 it grew out of a faithful study of all1 and in it were rationally blended the elements which were right in each4 ,in style1 theme1 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 enthusiasm1 and to subdue in himself the lawlessness of the romantic spirit2 the first to perceive that only the purely human interest gives lasting significance to any artistic work1 and to depict humanity simply for its own sake2 the first to express his meaning in a way which seems truthful and beautiful universally to all cultivated men4 ,in this lies the peculiar and profound value of his works4 ,holbein was born at ,augsburg1 in #adie or #adif1 into a family of artists4 ,in that city1 then the centre of ,german culture1 he grew up amid the stir of curiosity and thought which attended the discovery of the ,western ,world and the first movements of the ,reformation4 ,he handled the pencil and the brush from boyhood1 and produced works as wonderful for their precocious excellence as the early efforts of ,mantegna2 he was deeply impressed by the secular and picturesque genius of ,burgkmaier1 the great artist of ,augsburg1 who may have first opened to him the value of beauty of detail1 and inculcated in him that carefulness in respect to it which afterward distinguished him2 he seems1 too1 even at this early period1 to have been touched by some ,italian influence which may have reached ,augsburg in consequence of the close commercial relations between that city and ,venice4 ,holbein1 however1 did not arrive at any mature development until after he left ,augsburg and removed to ,bsle1 whither he went in #aeae1 in order to earn his bread by making designs for books--a trade which was then flourishing and lucrative in that city4 ,bsle offered conditions of life more favorable1 in some respects1 to the development of energetic individuality than did ,augsburg2 it was already the seat of humanistic literature1 at the head of which was ,erasmus1 and it soon became the safest refuge of the persecuted ,reformers4 ,in such a city there was necessarily a vigorous intellectual life and a free and liberal spirit1 which must have exerted great influence upon the young artist1 who by his profession was brought into intimate relations with the most learned and advanced thinkers about him4 ,holbein was at once profoundly affected by the literary and reform movements which he was called upon to aid by his designs1 and he threw himself into their service with energy and sympathy4 ,his art1 too1 under the influence of ,italy1 and under the rational direction of his own thought1 grew steadily more refined in ideal and more finished in execution4 ,he soon learned the value of formal beauty1 and gave evidence that the work of the last great ,german painter was not to be marred by ,german tastelessness4 ,hitherto the masters of ,german art1 led by a realistic spirit which did not discriminate regularly and with certainty between the different values of the lovely and the unlovely1 had expressed their thought and feeling in familiar forms1 and1 consequently1 often in forms which shared in the grotesqueness1 bordering on caricature1 and in the homeliness1 bordering on ugliness1 that characterized much of actual ,german life4 ,holbein1 whose realism was governed by cultivated taste1 expressed his thought and feeling in beautiful forms4 ,his predecessors had used a dialect of art1 as it were1 which could never seem perfectly natural or be immediately intelligible to any but their own countrymen2 ,holbein acquired the true language of art1 and was as directly and completely intelligible to the refined ,englishman or ,italian as to the citizen of ,augsburg or ,bsle4 ,holbein came1 also1 to an understanding of the true law of art2 as he freed himself from the ,gothic dulness of sight in respect to beauty1 he freed himself from the ,gothic license of reverie1 fancy1 and thought4 ,he limited himself to the clear and forcible expression of the idea he had in mind2 he admitted no details which interfered with his main purpose1 and which asserted a claim to be there for their own sake2 he made every accessary enforce or illustrate his principal design1 and subordinated each minor portion of his picture to the leading conception2 he had one purpose in view1 and he preserved its unity4 ,how different this was from the practice of ,drer1 who introduced into his work whatever came into his mind1 however remotely it might be associated with his subject1 who repeated almost wearisomely the same idea in varying symbolism1 and dissipated the intensity of the thought by distracting suggestion crowded into any available space1 need not be pointed out2 in just the proportion in which ,drer lost by his practice directness1 simplicity1 and force1 ,holbein gained these by his own method1 which was1 indeed1 the method of great art1 of the art which obeys reason1 in distinction from the art which yields to the wandering sentiment4 ,holbein differed from ,drer in another respect3 he thoroughly understood what he meant to express2 he would have nothing to do with vague dreaming or mystical contemplation2 he thought that whatever could not be definitely conceived in the brain1 and clearly expressed by line and color1 lay outside the domain of his art2 he gave up the phantoms of the enthusiast and the puzzle of the theologian to those who cared for them1 and fixed his attention on human life as he saw it and understood it4 ,he often treated religious subjects1 but in no different spirit from that in which he treated secular subjects2 in all it is the human interest which attracts him--the life of man as it exists within the bounds of mortality4 ,thus he arrived not only at the true language and the true law of art1 but also at its true object4 ,this development of his genius did not take place suddenly and at once2 it was a gradual growth1 and reached full maturity only in his closing years2 but1 while he still worked at ,bsle1 the essential lines of his development were clearly marked1 and he had advanced so far along them as to be even then the most perfect artist whom the ,north had produced4 ,holbein began to practise wood-engraving as soon as he settled in ,bsle1 and designed many titlepages1 initial letters1 and cuts for the publishers of that city4 ,the titlepages1 which are numerous1 were usually in the form of an architectural frame1 in which groups of figures were introduced2 they show how early his taste for the forms of ,italian architecture became pronounced1 and how bold and free was his power of drawing1 and how highly developed was his sense of style1 even in his first efforts4 ,he illustrated the books of the humanists1 especially the ,utopia of ,sir ,thomas ,more1 then a new and popular work2 and he designed the cuts for the biblical translations of ,luther1 and for other publications of the ,reformers4 ,he served the ,reformation1 too1 in a humorous as well as in a serious way1 for he was as much a master of satire as of beauty4 ,two cuts in ridicule of the papal party are particularly noticeable1 one in which he satirizes the sale of indulgences1 contrasting it with true repentance2 and one in which he represents ,christ as the ,light of the ,world1 with a group of sinners approaching upon one side1 and a group of papal dignitaries led by ,aristotle turning away on the other side4 ,the illustrations in which he depicts ordinary humble life1 particularly the life of peasants and children1 make another great department of his lesser work in wood-engraving2 these scenes are sometimes separate cuts1 and sometimes introduced as backgrounds of initial letters1 twenty alphabets of which are ascribed to him2 they represent the pastimes and sports of the country1 just as ,holbein may have seen them at any time upon the way-side1 and are full of heartiness1 humor1 and reality4 ,the sketches from the life of boys and children are especially graceful and charming1 and reveal an ease and power in delineation which has seldom been rivalled4 ,this species of genre art1 which had first made its appearance in wood-engraving1 because it was considered beneath the dignity of the higher arts1 was very popular2 by his work of this sort ,holbein contributed to the pleasure of the people1 just as by his co-operation with the ,humanists and the ,reformers he served them in more important ways4 ,finally he produced at ,bsle his two great works in wood-engraving1 the ,dance of ,death and the ,figures of the ,bible1 which are the highest achievements of the art at any time4 ,the ,dance of ,death was an old subject4 ,it had possessed for centuries a powerful and sometimes morbid attraction for the artistic imagination and for popular reflection4 ,it was peculiarly the product of medival ,christian life1 and survives as a representative of the great medival ideas4 ,that age first surrounded death with terrors1 fastened the attention of man continually upon his doom1 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 agony4 ,in ,greece death had been the breaking of the chrysalis by the winged butterfly1 or1 at least1 only the extinction of the torch2 here it was the gaunt and grinning skeleton always jostling the flesh of the living1 however beautiful or joyous they might be4 ,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 loveliness1 and1 upon the reverse1 with ,death holding his spade beside the worm-pierced corpse2 it was the type of medival ,christian teaching4 ,the fear of death was the recurring burden of the pulpit2 it made the heart of every bowed worshipper tremble1 and was taught with fearful distinctness by the pestilence that again and again suddenly struck the populations of ,europe4 ,the chord of feeling was overstrained2 the elastic force of life asserted itself1 and1 by a strange transformation1 men made a jest of their terror1 and played with death as they have never since done2 they acted the ravages of death in pantomime1 made the tragedy comic1 put the figure of ,death into their carnivals1 and changed the object of their alarm into the theme of their sport4 ,in the spirit of that democracy which1 in spite of the aristocratic structure of medival society1 was imbedded in the heart of the ,christian system1 where every soul was of equal value before ,god1 the people turned the universal moral lesson of death into a satire against the great2 ,death was not only the common executioner1 he arrested the prelates and the nobles1 stripped them of their robes and their possessions1 and tried them whether they were of ,god or ,mammon4 ,in these many-varied forms of terror1 sport1 and irony ,death filled the imagination and reflection of the age2 the shrouded figure or the naked skeleton was seen on the stage of the theatre1 amid the games of the people1 on the walls of the churches and the monasteries1 throughout the whole range of art and literature4 ,holbein had looked on many representations of this idea3 where1 as in ,drer's work1 ,death attends knight and beggar2 or where1 as in the ,nuremberg ,chronicle1 the skeletons dance by the open grave2 or where1 as in the famous series at ,bsle1 ,death humbles every rank of life in turn4 ,but ,holbein did not look on these scenes as his predecessors had done2 he was free from their spirit4 ,he took the medival idea and re-moulded it1 as ,shakspeare re-moulded the tradition of ,denmark and ,italy1 into a work for all times and generations4 ,he represented ,death1 but with an artistic power1 an imaginative fervor1 a perception of the constant element in its interest for mankind1 which lifted his work out of medivalism into universal truth2 and in doing this he not only showed the high power of his art1 but he unlocked the secrets of his character4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #ea4--,the ,nun4 ,from ,holbein's 8,images de la ,mort40 ,lyons1 #aedg4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #eb4--,the ,preacher4 ,from ,holbein's 8,images de la ,mort40 ,lyons1 #aedg4 ,this work is1 in the first edition 7#aech71 a series of forty-one small cuts1 in each of which is depicted the triumph of ,death over some person who is typical of a whole class4 ,each design represents with intense dramatic power some scene from daily life2 ,death lays his summons upon all in the midst of their habitual occupations3 the trader has escaped shipwreck1 and 8on the beach undoes his corded bales20 ,death plucks him by the cloak2 the weary1 pack-laden peddler1 plodding on in his unfinished journey1 turns questioningly to the delaying hand upon his shoulder2 the priest goes to the burial of the poor1 ,death carries the candle in a lantern before him1 and rings the warning bell2 the drunkard gulps his liquor1 the judge takes his bribe1 the miser counts his gold--,death interrupts them with a sneer4 ,what poetic feeling1 what dramatic force1 there is in the picture of the ,nun6 7,fig4 #ea47 ,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 soul1 and at the moment ,death stands there to put out the light of the taper which shall leave her in darkness forever4 ,what sharp satire there is in the representation of the ,preacher 7,fig4 #eb71 dilating1 perhaps1 in his accustomed1 half-mechanical way1 upon the terrors of that very ,death already at his elbow6 ,what justness of sight1 what grimness of reality1 there is in the representation of the ,ploughman 7,fig4 #ec72 how directly does ,holbein bring us face to face with the human curse--in the sweat of thy brow thou shalt earn death6 ,george ,sand1 looking out on the spring fields of her remote province and seeing the ,french peasants ploughing up the soft and smoking soil1 remembered this type of peasant life as ,holbein saw it1 and described this cut in words that vivify the concentrated meaning of the whole series4 8,the engraving10 she says1 8represents a farmer guiding the plough in the middle of a field4 ,a vast plain extends into the distance1 where there are some poor huts2 the sun is setting behind a hill4 ,it is the close of a hard day's work4 ,the peasant is old1 thickset1 and in tatters2 the team which he drives before him is lean1 worn out by fatigue and scanty food2 the ploughshare is buried in a rugged and stubborn soil4 ,in this scene of sweat and habitual toil there is only one being in good spirits and light of foot1 a fantastic character1 a skeleton with a whip1 that runs in the furrow beside the startled horses and beats them--as it were1 a farmer's boy4 ,it is ,death40 ,she takes up the story again1 after a while4 8,is there much consolation10 she asks1 8in this stoicism1 and do devout souls find their account therein8 ,the ambitious1 the knave1 the tyrant1 the sensualist1 all the proud sinners who abuse life1 and whom ,death drags away by the hair1 are on their way to a reckoning1 no doubt2 but the blind1 the beggar1 the fool1 the poor peasant1 is there any amends for their long wretchedness in the single reflection that death is not an evil for them8 ,no6 an inexorable melancholy1 a dismaying fatality1 weighs upon the artist's work4 ,it is like a bitter curse launched on the universal human lot40#dj ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #ec4--,the ,ploughman4 ,from ,holbein's 8,images de la ,mort40 ,lyons1 #aedg4 ,certainly the artist's work is a bold and naked statement of man's mortality1 of the close of life contrasted with the worth of its career2 but the melancholy of his work is not more inexorable1 its fatality is not more dismaying1 than the reality he saw4 ,he did not choose for his pencil what was unusual1 extraordinary1 or abnormal in life2 he depicted its accustomed course and its fixed conclusion in fear1 folly1 or dignity4 ,he took almost every character among men1 almost every passion or vice of the race1 almost every toil or pursuit in which his contemporaries engaged1 and confronted them with their fate4 ,the king is at his feast1 ,death pours the wine2 the poor mother is cooking her humble meal at the hearth1 ,death steals her child2 the bridal pair walk on absorbed1 while ,death beats their wedding-march with glee4 ,throughout the series there is the same dramatic insight1 the same unadorned reality1 the same humanity4 ,here and there the spirit of the ,reformer reveals itself3 the ,pope in the exercise of his utmost worldly power crowns the emperor1 but behind is ,death2 a devil lurks in the shadow1 and over the heads of the cardinals are other devils2 the monk1 abbot1 and prioress--how they resist and are panic-stricken6 ,there can be no doubt at what ,holbein reckoned these men and their trade4 ,holbein showed here1 too1 his sympathy with the humbler classes in those days of peasant wars1 of the ,german ,bible1 and of books in the vulgar tongue--the days when the people began to be a self-conscious body1 with a knowledge of the opportunities of life and the power to make good their claim to share in them2 as ,holbein saw life1 it was only the humble to whom ,death was not full of scorn and jesting1 they alone stood dignified in his presence4 ,beneath this sympathy with the ,reformers and the people need we look farther1 as ,ruskin does1 to find scepticism hidden in the shadows of ,holbein's heart8 ,holbein saw the ,church as ,avarice1 trading in the sins of its children2 as ,cruelty1 rejoicing in the blood of its enemies2 as ,ignorance1 putting out the light of the mind4 ,there was no faltering in his resolute1 indignant denial of that ,church4 ,did he find any refuge elsewhere in such hope and faith as remain to man in the suggestions of his own spirit8 ,he saw ,death's triumph1 and he made men see it with his eyes2 if he saw more than that1 he kept silence concerning it4 ,he did not menace the guilty with any peril save the peril of ,death's mockery2 he spoke no word of consolation for the good2 for the inevitable sorrow of the child's loss there is no cure1 for the ploughman's faithful labor there is no reward except in final repose by the shadow of the distant spire4 ,he did not open the heavens to let through one gleam of immortal life upon the human lot1 unless it be in the ,judgment1 where only the saved have risen2 nevertheless1 the purport of that scene1 even if it be interpreted with the most ,christian realism1 cannot destroy the spirit of all others4 8,inexorable melancholy1 dismaying fatality0--these1 truly1 are the burden of his work4 ,the series holds high rank1 too1 merely as a product of artistic skill4 ,it shows throughout the designer's ease1 simplicity1 and economy in methods of work1 his complete control of his resources1 and his unerring correctness in choosing the means proper to fulfil his ends2 few lines are employed1 as in the ,italian manner1 and there is little cross-hatching2 but1 as in all great art1 every line has its work to do1 its meaning1 which it expresses perfectly1 with no waste of labor and no ineffectual effort4 ,in sureness of stroke and accuracy of proportion the drawing is unsurpassed2 you may magnify any of the designs twelve times1 and even the fingers will show no disproportion in whole or in part4 ,it is true that there is no anatomical accuracy2 no single skeleton is correctly drawn in detail1 but the shape of ,death1 guessed at as a thing unknown1 is so expressed that in the earliest days of the work men said that in it 8,death seemed to live1 and the living to be truly dead40 ,the correctness1 vigor1 and economy of line in the drawing of these cuts made them a lesson to later artists like ,rubens1 merely as an example of powerful and truthful effects perfectly obtained at the least expense of labor4 ,in this respect they were in design a triumph of art1 as much as they were in conception a triumph of imagination4 ,holbein made the original drawings for the ,dance of ,death before he left ,bsle in #aebf2 but1 although some copies were printed in that city1 the work did not become known until it was published in #aech by the ,trechsels at ,lyons1 where it appeared without ,holbein's name4 ,this latter circumstance1 in connection with a passage in the preface of this edition1 led some writers to question ,holbein's title to be considered the designer of the series1 although his friend1 ,nicolas ,bourbon de ,vandoeuvre1 the poet1 calls him the author of it in a book published at ,lyons in #aech1 while ,karl van ,mander1 of ,holland1 in #aedh1 and ,conrad ,gesner1 of ,zurich1 in #aedi1 ascribe it to him1 and their statements were unhesitatingly accepted until doubt was expressed in our own time4 ,the passage in the preface of the first ,lyons edition1 on which the sceptics rely1 mentions the death 8of him who has here imaged 7imagin7 for us such elegant designs as much in advance of all hitherto issued as the paintings of ,apelles or ,zeuxis surpass those of the moderns20 but this is generally considered to refer to the engraver1 ,hans ,ltzelburger1 who cut the designs in wood after ,holbein's drawing1 and deserves all the praise for their extraordinarily skilful technical execution4 ,this is the most satisfactory explanation which can be framed2 but1 if it is not accepted1 the balance of evidence in favor of ,holbein is so great as to be conclusive4 ,the original drawings1 made with a pen and touched with bistre1 are in the cabinet of the ,czar1 and show the excellence of the draughtsmanship more clearly than the woodcuts2 the engraver omitted some striking details1 but in general his fidelity and correctness of rendering were remarkable4 ,the first edition at ,lyons contained only forty-one of the original designs1 of which there are forty-six at ,st4 ,petersburg2 the later editions1 published by ,frellon1 increased the number to fifty-three in #aedg1 and fifty-eight in #aefb1 including some beautiful cuts of children at the end of the volume4 ,the popularity of the work was very great2 the text was printed in ,french1 ,latin1 and ,italian1 and thirteen editions from the original blocks were issued before #aefc4 ,since that time it has been published many times2 but the engravings in the later editions1 which were copied from the originals by workmen much inferior to ,ltzelburger1 have little comparative value4 ,between forty and fifty editions have been printed from wood-blocks1 and as many more from copperplate4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #ed4--,nathan ,rebuking ,david4 ,from ,holbein's 8,icones ,historiarum ,veteris ,testamenti40 ,lyons1 #aedg4 ,the ,figures of the ,bible1 which made a series of ninety-two illustrations of the ,old ,testament1 showed the same qualities of ,holbein's genius as did the ,dance of ,death1 but generally in less perfection4 ,in designing many of these cuts ,holbein accepted the types of the previous artists1 just as nearly all the great painters frequently took their conceptions of scriptural scenes from their predecessors2 hence these ,bible ,figures show a marked resemblance in their general composition to the earlier woodcuts in illustration of the ,scriptures4 ,but while ,holbein followed the earlier custom in representing two or three associated actions in one scene1 and kept the same relative arrangement of the parts1 he essentially modified the total effect by omitting some elements1 subordinating others1 giving prominence to the principal group1 and informing the whole picture with a far more vigorous1 thoughtful1 and expressive spirit4 ,in artistic merit some of these designs are among the best of ,holbein's work2 but the technical skill of the wood-engraver who cut them is inferior to that shown in the ,dance of ,death4 ,the scene in which ,nathan is represented rebuking ,david 7,fig4 #ed7 is especially noble in conception3 the prophet does not clothe himself in any superior human dignity as a divine messenger2 but1 mindful only of the supreme law which is over all men equally1 kneels loyally and obediently before his king1 and calls on him to humiliate himself1 not before man1 but in the solitary presence of ,god4 ,the power of the universal law1 independent alike of the majesty of the criminal or the lowliness of its servant1 has never been pictured with greater subtlety and force than is here done4 ,there are others among these designs of equal excellence1 both in imagination and art1 but in all the best of them there is some human interest in the scene which attracted ,holbein's heart2 in others1 such as the illustrations to the books of the ,prophets1 he falls into a feebleness of conception and baldness of allegorical statement which shows clearly how little he cared for what was merely supernatural4 ,the series1 nevertheless1 is1 as a whole1 the best which was made in that century1 and was reprinted several times to satisfy the popular demand for it2 it first appeared1 contemporaneously with the ,dance of ,death1 in #aech1 at ,lyons2 the text was afterward published in ,latin1 ,french1 ,italian1 ,spanish1 and ,english1 but the work never obtained the extraordinary popularity of the ,dance of ,death4 ,it is noteworthy that no edition of either work was printed in ,german--so far had ,holbein outstripped his countrymen in the purity of art4 ,when these two works appeared at ,lyons1 ,holbein had been for many years a resident at the ,english court1 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 looks4 ,in these later years of his life he busied himself but little with designing for woodcuts1 but he did not entirely neglect the art1 and was1 without doubt1 of great service in spreading a taste for it in ,england1 and in improving its practice there4 ,the ,english printers imported their best woodcuts1 and probably wood-engraving was hardly a recognized ,english art before ,holbein's day4 ,the great titlepage which he designed for ,coverdale's ,bible in #aece was apparently cut by some ,swiss engraver1 as were some other similar works2 but a few designs1 which ,holbein seems to have drawn so as to require the least possible skill in the engraver to reproduce them1 were apparently executed in ,england4 ,they were produced when ,england was separating from ,rome1 in the time of ,cromwell's power1 and are marked by the same satirical spirit as ,holbein's earlier work at ,bsle2 the self-righteous ,pharisee wears a cowl1 the lawyers1 who are offended when ,christ casts out the devil from the possessed one1 have bishops' mitres2 the unfaithful shepherd who flees when the wolf comes is a monk4 ,these cuts1 in which ,holbein last used his art as a weapon of civilization1 mark the close of his practice of it4 ,in the course of that practice he had not merely found utterance for his genius1 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 observed4 ,he had employed it with complete success as a mode of obtaining beautiful architectural design1 of depicting charming genre scenes1 of attacking abuses by the keenest and most effective irony1 of making real for the popular comprehension the solemn and beautiful stories of the ,scriptures1 and of expressing passionate feeling and profound thought2 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 artists4 ,within the limits of the ,dance of ,death he had embodied in wood-engraving tragedy and humor1 satire and sermon1 poetic sentiment1 dramatic action1 and wise reflection1 and he thus gave to that work a special interest for his contemporaries as an expression of the sympathies1 efforts1 and problems of that time1 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 ,death4 ,he did this without offering violence to the peculiar nature of the art1 without wresting it from its appropriate methods or requiring of it any difficult effort2 he perceived more clearly than ,drer the essential conditions under which wood-engraving must be practised1 and he conformed to them4 ,if he had needed cross-hatching1 fine and delicate lines1 harmonies of tone1 and soft transitions of light1 he would have had recourse to copperplate2 but not finding them necessary1 he contented himself with the bold outlines1 easily cut and easily printed1 which were the peculiar province of wood-engraving1 and by means of them created works which not only made wood-engraving illustrious1 but rank with the high achievements and valuable legacies of the other arts of design4 ,holbein was one of the great geniuses of the race1 and he put into his works the fire and wisdom of genius2 but1 independently of what his works contain1 and merely as illustrations of artistic methods1 they show for the first time an artist perceiving and choosing to obey the simple laws of the art1 and exhibiting its compass and capacity1 its wealth and utility1 within the sphere of those laws4 ,this thorough understanding and rational practice of the art1 in connection with his intellectual and artistic powers1 made ,holbein the most perfect master who has ever left works in wood-engraving1 and give his works the utmost value both as forms of art and as embodiments of imagination and thought4 ,,vii4 ,,the ,,decline ,,and ,,extinction ,,of ,,the ,,art4 ,illustration3 ,t ,,fig4 #ee4--;,from 8,opera ,vergiliana10 printed by ,sacon4 ,lyons1 #aeag4 ,the wood-engravers of ,france produced no great works like those of ,maximilian1 and no single cuts of the artistic value of those by ,drer and his contemporaries4 ,they limited themselves almost exclusively to the illustration of books4 ,the early printers1 who had expended so much care in the adornment of their religious books1 were succeeded by other printers who were hardly less animated by enthusiastic devotion to their art1 as was shown by their efforts to make their works beautiful both in text and illustration4 ,the ,renaissance had now penetrated into ,france1 and entered into the arts4 ,geoffrey ,tory 7c4 #adhj-aecc71 who had travelled in ,italy1 appears to have been the first to introduce a classical spirit into wood-engraving2 from his time two distinct schools may be distinguished in ,french wood-engraving--one ,germanic and archaic1 the other filled by the ,italian spirit4 ,the most distinguished engravers belonged to the latter school1 and their work was characterized by the curiously modified ,italian taste which marked the ,french ,renaissance4 ,they understood design1 and showed considerable power in it2 they regarded the main lines and principal harmonies and contrasts of masses which are necessary to it2 but they transformed its simplicity into elegance1 and overlaid it with ornamentation and trifling detail which marred its effect1 and gave to their works an appearance of artificiality1 of over-labored refinement and mistaken scrupulousness of taste4 ,as a rule1 indeed1 taste was their characteristic rather than a developed sense of beauty1 and skill rather than power4 ,finally1 they passed1 by a natural progress1 into a complexity and fineness of line which are unsuitable to wood-engraving2 they lost the sense of unity in the abundance of detail1 and were forced to give up engraving in wood and adopt engraving on copperplate1 which was so much better fitted to the meaningless excess of delicacy and accumulation of ornament in which the ,french ,renaissance ended4 ,the most talented of the ,french designers for wood-engraving was ,jean ,cousin 7#aeja-aehi71 a member of the ,reformed ,church1 little favored at court and much neglected by his contemporaries4 ,he appears to have been of a robust and independent spirit1 an admirer of ,michael ,angelo and the ,italians1 and an industrious and painstaking workman in many branches of art4 ,a large number of designs are ascribed to him2 but1 as is the case with nearly all the ,french engravers1 there is great difficulty in making out what really was his work4 ,among the characteristic products of ,french wood-engraving were representations of royal triumphal entries into the great cities of the kingdom4 ,two of these are ascribed to ,cousin--the entry of ,henry ,,ii4 into ,paris1 published in #aedi1 and his entry into ,rouen1 published in the next year4 ,in the latter the captains of ,normandy lead the march2 they are followed by ranks of foot-soldiers1 trumpeters1 men holding aloft laurel wreaths1 other men with antique arms and banners1 and a band which1 with a reminiscence from ,roman festivals1 carry lambs in their arms for sacrifice to the gods2 next succeed new ranks of soldiers1 then elephants and captives1 the fool and musicians leading on ,flora and her nymphs1 after whom comes the ,car of ,happy ,fortune1 on which the royal family are enthroned1 and the triumphal ,chariot of ,fame2 the procession closes with men-at-arms and two captains1 with succeeding scenes of some places by which the pageant had passed4 ,in this work the ,french ,renaissance shows itself in the prime of its career1 when some simplicity and nobility of design were still kept1 and the tendency toward refinement of line and multiplication of ornament were still held in check by a regard for unity of effect4 ,the ,entry of ,henry ,,ii4 into ,paris is1 perhaps1 even more excellent4 ,the two works rank with the best ,french wood-engraving in the sixteenth century4 ,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 ,poliphilo1 which was published in #aeed1 and is ascribed to ,cousin4 ,the ,french artist did not copy the beautiful designs of the ,venetian2 he kept the general character of each woodcut1 it is true1 but he varied the style4 ,he made ,poliphilo elegant in figure1 taller and more modish in gesture and attitude2 he represented the landscape in greater detail and with more realism2 he gave greater height and more careful proportion to the architecture1 added ornaments to its bare faades and smooth lintels1 and in the subordinate portions he varied the curvature of the lines and made them more complex2 in the lesser figures1 the statues and monumental devices1 he allowed himself more liberty in changing the original designs1 and sometimes practically transformed them2 finally1 he introduced a more vigorous dramatic action throughout1 and attempted to obtain more difficult effects of contrast and to give relief to the figures4 ,nevertheless1 the improvements which the taste of ,cousin required are distinctly injurious4 ,the ,french reproduction is inferior to the ,italian original in feeling for design1 in simple beauty1 in the force and directness of its appeal to the artistic sense1 in the power and sweetness of its charm2 much that was lovely in the original has become simply pretty1 much that was noble and striking has become only tasteful2 especially that quality1 by virtue of which the original possessed something suggestive of the calm beauty of sculpture1 has vanished1 and in the effort of the new designer to obtain pictorial effects one has an unpleasant sense of something like weakness4 ,the comparative study of the two volumes is of extreme interest1 so clearly do they illustrate the different temper of the ,renaissance in ,france and ,italy4 ,france received the word of inspiration from ,italy1 but could not become its oracle4 ,even at that early day ,french art was marked by the dispersion of interest1 the regard for externals1 and the inability to create the purest imaginative work1 which have since characterized the ,french people1 despite their facility in acquisition and the ease with which they reach the level of excellence in any pursuit4 ,of the other works1 known or supposed to be by ,cousin1 the ,book of ,perspective1 published in #aefj1 is the most remarkable1 because in its designs considerable difficulties are overcome1 and greater power of relief is shown than in any previous ,french wood-engraving4 ,this book was a treatise1 similar to those by ,drer and ,leonardo da ,vinci upon the laws of art1 and its dedication is noticeable because of the light it throws on ,cousin's spirit--8neither to kings nor princes1 as is customary10 he says1 8but to the public40 ,the ,bible1 usually called ,le ,clerc's1 which contains two hundred and eighty-seven woodcuts1 is said to be by ,cousin1 but of this there is no direct evidence2 and to him is ascribed the ,triumphal ,entry of ,charles ,,ix41 published in #aegb1 and supposed by some to have been designed by the engraver ,olivier ,codor2 many other works are also added to his list1 but they were inferior in value to those which have been described1 and were unmarked by any special interest4 ,in consequence of the fineness and number of his productions ,cousin must be considered the principal ,french engraver of the century2 and he undoubtedly deserves a high rank among the artists of talent1 in distinction from the artists of genius1 who have practised wood-engraving4 ,about ,cousin there were a number of other designers who gave attention to the art and left works of value2 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 profited1 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 contemporaries4 ,these lesser artists were ,jean ,goujon 7c4 #aeej71 who made some excellent cuts for a ,vitruvius of #aedg1 and is believed by some authorities to have designed the reproduction of the ,dream of ,poliphilo2 ,pierre ,woeiriot 7b4 #aecb71 whose biblical cuts inserted in a ,josephus of #aeff have much merit2 ,jean ,tortorel 7b4 #aedj87 and ,jacques ,prissin 7b4 #aecj871 who designed some interesting illustrations of the ,huguenot wars2 and ,philibert de ,lorme 7c4 #aegj7 and ,jean ,le ,clerc 7#aehj-afbj71 whose productions are of comparatively little interest4 ,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 valuable1 and have importance only as illustrations of the development of ,french art in the ,renaissance4 ,the only artist who can contest ,cousin's foremost place in ,french wood-engraving is ,bernard ,salomon 7c4 #aeej71 usually called the ,little ,bernard1 from the small size of his cuts1 who was the leading designer of ,lyons4 ,that city had retained its importance as a centre of popular literature illustrated by woodcuts1 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 ,europe4 ,the works of ,holbein were the pride of the ,lyonese art1 and exerted great influence upon the style of the designers who were constantly employed in the service of the ,lyonese press4 ,bernard worked in the small manner which ,holbein had made popular1 and he learned from him how to compress much in a little space2 but he multiplied details1 and carried the lines to an extreme of fineness which his engravers were unable to do justice to in cutting the block4 ,as is the case with ,cousin1 a vast number of designs are attributed to ,bernard1 simply because they are sufficiently excellent to have been his work2 according to ,didot1 no less than twenty-three hundred cuts have been claimed for him1 and it is believed by some writers that he not only designed but engraved this large number4 ,a large proportion of these must have been produced by the unknown contemporaries of ,bernard1 because1 although he gave his attention wholly to wood-engraving for thirty years1 he could not have accomplished so great a work4 ,his best-known designs are the illustrations to an ,ovid1 published by ,jean de ,tournes1 and two hundred and thirty cuts for the same printer's edition of the ,bible3 these rank next to ,cousin's works as the most remarkable productions of ,french wood-engraving in the sixteenth century4 ,of the other ,lyonese designers very little is known2 indeed1 no other important name has been preserved1 excepting that of ,jean ,moni 7c4 #aegj71 who is remembered for a series of ,bible cuts inferior to those by ,bernard4 ,in ,lyons1 as in the rest of ,france1 wood-engraving lost its value toward the close of the century1 in consequence of its attempts at a kind of delicacy and refinement beyond its reach and inappropriate to its class2 it did not appeal to the taste of the late ,renaissance1 and by degrees the engravers lost their technical skill1 and the artists gave up its practice as a fine art4 ,this result was also partly due to the contempt into which the popular romantic literature of the preceding century had fallen1 and to the degradation of wood-engraving as a mode of coarse caricature4 ,copperplate-engraving gradually supplanted the more simple art1 and finally the practice of wood-engraving became extinct4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #ef4--,st4 ,christopher4 ,from a ,venetian print4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #eg4--,st4 ,sebastian and ,st4 ,francis4 ,portion of a print by ,andreani after ,titian4 ,in ,italy the older style of woodcuts in simple outline continued to be followed long after it was abandoned in the ,north4 ,the designs in ,italian books up to the year #aecj1 when cross-hatching was introduced1 do not differ essentially in character from those of which examples have already been given4 ,the names of the artists who produced them are either obscure or unknown1 excepting ,leonardo da ,vinci1 to whom are ascribed the cuts in ,luca ,pacioli's volume1 ,de ,proportione ,divina1 published in #aeji1 and ,marc ,antonio ,raimondi 7#adgh-aecd71 to whom are ascribed the remarkably excellent cuts in a volume entitled ,epistole et ,evangelii ,volgari ,hystoriade1 published in #aeab in ,venice4 ,from the first1 ,venice 7,fig4 #ef7 had been the chief seat of wood-engraving in ,italy1 and now became the rival of ,lyons4 ,the most distinguished of the group of artists who produced woodcuts in that city was ,nicolo ,boldrini 7c4 #aeej71 who designed several engravings 7,fig4 #ei7 after ,titian 7#adgf8-aege7 with such boldness and force that some writers have believed ,titian to have drawn the design on the block for ,boldrini to engrave4 ,the works of ,titian and other ,venetian painters were reproduced in the same way by ,francesco da ,nanto 7c4 #aecj72 and by other artists1 like ,giovanni ,battista del ,porto 7c4 #aejj71 ,domenico delle ,greche 7c4 #aeej71 and ,giuseppe ,scolari 7c4 #aehj71 who also sometimes made woodcuts from their own designs4 ,besides these engravings1 some very large cuts1 similar to those which the ,german artists had attempted1 were printed from several blocks2 but they have little interest4 ,the illustrations in ,vesalius's ,anatomy1 published at ,bsle in #aedc1 in which wood-engraving was first employed as an aid to scientific exposition1 were designed in ,venice by ,jean ,calcar1 a pupil of ,titian1 and are of extraordinary merit4 ,finally1 in the cuts by ,cesare ,vecellio 7#aeej-afjf7 for the volume entitled ,habiti ,antiche e ,moderne1 published in #aeij1 ,venetian wood-engraving produced its last excellent work--so excellent1 indeed1 that the designs have been attributed to ,titian himself1 who was the uncle of ,vecellio4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #eh4--,the ,annunciation4 ,from a print by ,francesco da ,nanto4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #ei4--,milo of ,crotona4 ,from a print by ,boldrini after ,titian4 ,the ,italians devoted themselves with especial ardor to wood-engraving in chiaroscuro1 and from the time when ,ugo da ,carpi introduced it in ,venice it was practised by many artists4 ,nearly all of those designers who have been mentioned left works in chiaroscuro engraving as well as in the ordinary manner4 ,beside them1 ,antonio da ,trento 7c4 #aecj71 ,giuseppe ,nicolo 7c4 #aebe71 ,andrea ,andreani 7c4 #afjj71 and ,bartolemeo ,coriolano 7c4 #afce7 produced chiaroscuro engravings which are now much valued and sought for by collectors of prints4 ,the ,italian love of color led these artists into this application of wood-engraving1 which must be regarded as a wrongly-directed and unfruitful effort of the art to obtain results beyond its powers4 ,the ,italians had been the first to discover the capacity of wood-engraving as an art of design1 but they never developed it as it was developed in ,germany2 when they gave up the early simple manner in which they had achieved great results1 and began to follow the later manner1 the great age of ,italy was near its close1 and the arts felt the weakening influences of the rapid decline in the vigor of society4 ,at ,venice the arts remained for a while longer powerful and illustrious1 and wood-engraving shared in the excellence which characterized all the artistic work of that city2 but the place which wood-engraving held in the estimation of the ,venetians appears to have been far lower than its place in the ,north1 where it was popular and living1 highly valued and widely influential as it could not be in any ,italian city4 ,at last in ,italy1 as in ,france1 it died out altogether1 and was no longer heard of as a fine art4 ,in the ,netherlands the art had been practised continuously from the time of the ,block-books with varying success1 but1 excepting in the works of ,lukas van ,leyden 7#adid-aecc71 it had produced nothing of great value4 ,in the sixteenth century ,hendrick ,goltzius 7#aeeh-afag7 designed some woodcuts in the common manner as well as chiaroscuro engravings1 and ,christopher van ,sichem 7c4 #afbj7 some woodcuts in the ordinary manner1 which have some worth4 ,the only work of high excellence was due to ,christopher ,jegher 7c4 #afbj-affj71 who engraved some large designs which ,rubens 7#aegg-afdj7 drew upon the block2 they are inferior to ,boldrini's reproductions of ,titian's designs1 but are free1 bold1 and effective1 and succeed in reproducing the designs characterized by the vehement energy of ,rubens's style4 ,rembrandt 7#afjf-affe7 also gave some attention to the art which the older masters had prized1 and left one small portrait in wood-engraving by his own hand4 ,his example was followed by his pupils1 ,jean ,livens 7#afjg-affc7 and ,theodore ,de ,bray 7c4 #afej71 whose cuts are characterized by the style of their master4 ,in ,england1 where the art had not been really practised until ,holbein's day1 and had not reached any degree of excellence1 some improvement was made during the sixteenth century in designs for titlepages1 portraits1 and separate cuts1 particularly in the publications of ,john ,day4 ,in the next century1 during the civil wars1 woodcuts of extreme rudeness were inserted in the pamphlets of the hour1 and in the latter half of the century some interest was still felt in the art4 ,in the eighteenth century two engravers1 ,edward ,kirkall 7c4 #afij-agej7 and ,john ,baptist ,jackson 7#agja-aged871 worked both in the ordinary manner and in chiaroscuro1 but both were forced to seek support on the ,continent1 where1 although the practice of wood-engraving as a fine art had long been extinct1 the tradition of it as a mechanical process by which cheap ornaments for books were produced was still preserved4 ,in ,france the engravers ,pierre ,le ,sueur 7#afcf-agaj7 and ,jean ,papillon 7#affj-agaj7 executed cuts of this sort which are without intrinsic value1 and in the next generation their sons produced works which remained at the same low level of excellence4 ,in ,italy an artist1 named ,lucchesini1 engraved some cuts in the latter part of the century1 but they are without merit4 ,in ,germany the art was equally neglected1 and the woodcuts in ,german books of the eighteenth century are entirely worthless4 ,the explanation of this rapid and universal decline of wood-engraving is to be found in general causes4 ,the great artistic movement1 which both in the ,north and the ,south had sprung out of medival religious life1 and had gathered force and spirit as the minds of men grew in strength and independence1 and as the compass of their interests expanded1 which had been so transformed by the study of antiquity that in the ,south it seemed to be almost wholly due to that single influence1 and in the ,north to have suffered an essential change in its spirit and standards1 had at last spent itself4 ,the intellectual movement which had gone along with it side by side1 gaining vigor from the spread of literature1 the debates of the ,reformation1 and the exercise of the mind upon the various and novel objects of interest in that age of great discoveries and inventions1 had resulted in a century of religious warfare1 aggravated by the violence of dynastic quarrels which arose in consequence of the new political organization of ,europe4 ,in this conflict the arts were lost2 they all became feeble1 and wood-engraving under the most favorable conditions would have shared in this general degradation4 ,but for its utter extinction as a fine art there were more special causes4 ,the popular literature with which it had flourished had been brought into contempt by ,cervantes and ,ariosto2 the use of wood-engraving for coarse caricature also reflected discredit upon it2 but the principal cause of its decadence lay in the taste of the age1 which had ceased to prize art as a means of simple and beautiful design1 but valued it rather as a means of complicated and delicate ornament1 so that excessive attention was given to form divorced from meaning1 and1 as always happens in such a case1 artificiality resulted4 ,the wood-engravers attempted to satisfy this taste by seeking the refinement which copperplate-engraving obtained with greater ease and success1 and they failed in the effort2 in other words1 wood-engraving yielded to copperplate-engraving because the taste of the age forced it to abandon its own province1 and to contend with its rival on ground where its peculiar powers were ineffective4 ,here the history of wood-engraving in the old manner1 as a means of reproducing pen-and-ink sketches in fac-simile1 came to an end4 ,it has been seen how valuable it had proved both as an agent of civilization and as a mode of art2 how serviceable it had been in the popularization of literature and of art1 and what influence it had exerted in the practical questions of the day as a weapon of satire2 how faithfully it had reflected the characteristics of successive periods of civilization1 and how perfectly1 in response to the touch of the artist1 it had embodied his imagination and expressed his thought4 ,it had run a great career2 its career seemed to have closed2 but1 when at the end of the eighteenth century the movement toward the civilization of the people again began with vigor and spirit1 a new life was opened to it1 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 time1 and has given promise of a degree of excellence which1 though in design it may not equal ,holbein's power1 may yet result in valuable artistic work4 ,,viii4 ,,modern ,,wood-,,engraving4 ,illustration3 ,t ,,fig4 #fj4--;,from the 8,comedia di ,danthe40 ,venice1 #aecf4 ,the revival of the art began in ,england1 in the workshop of ,thomas ,bewick 7#agec-ahbh74 ,he is called1 not without justice1 the father of the true art of engraving in wood4 ,the history of the art in the older time is concerned mainly with the designer and the ideas which he endeavored to convey1 and only slightly with the engraver whom he employed for the mechanical work of cutting the block4 ,in the modern art the engraver holds a more prominent position1 because he is no longer restricted to a servile following of the designer's work1 line for line1 but has an opportunity to show his own artistic powers4 ,this change was brought about by the invention of white line1 as it is called1 which was first used by ,bewick4 ,white line was a new mechanical mode of obtaining color4 8,i could never discover10 says ,bewick1 8any additional beauty or color that the cross-strokes gave to the impression beyond the effect produced by plain parallel lines4 ,this is very apparent when to a certainty the plain surface of the wood will print as black as ink and balls can make it1 without any farther labor at all2 and it may easily be seen that the thinnest strokes cut upon the plain surface will throw some light on the subject or design2 and if these strokes again are made still wider or of equal thickness to the black lines1 the color these produce will be a gray2 and the more the white strokes are thickened1 the nearer will they in their varied shadings approach to white2 and if quite taken away1 then a perfect white is obtained40 ,the practical difference between the two methods is this3 by the old method1 after the simple work in outline of the early ,italian engravers had been relinquished for the style of which ,drer was the great master1 the block was treated as a white surface1 on which the designer drew with pen and ink1 and obtained grays and blacks by increasing the number of cross-strokes1 as if he were drawing on paper2 by the new method the block was treated as a black surface1 and the color was lessened by increasing the number of white lines4 ,the latter process was as easy for the engraver as the former was difficult1 because whereas in the former he had to gouge out the diamond spaces between the crossing lines1 now he obtained white color by single strokes of the graver4 ,bewick may have been led into the use of white line simply by this consideration of the economy of labor1 because he engraved his own designs1 and was directly sensible of the waste of labor involved in the old method4 ,in both methods color depends1 of course1 upon the relative quantity of black and white in the prints2 the new method merely arranges color differently1 so that it can be obtained by an easy mechanical process instead of by a difficult one4 ,the use of white line not only affected the art by making it more easy to practise1 but also involved a change in the mode of drawing4 ,formerly the effects were given by the designers' lines1 now they were given by the engravers' lines2 in other words1 the old workman followed the designer's drawing1 the modern workman draws himself with his graver4 ,by the old method the design was reproduced by keeping the same line-arrangement that the artist employed2 by the new method the design is not thus reproduced1 but is interpreted by a line-arrangement first conceived by the engraver4 ,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 relief2 now the design may be a washed sketch1 the tints of which the engraver reproduces by cutting lines of his own in intaglio4 ,the change required the modern engraver to understand how to arrange white lines so as to obtain artistic effects2 he thus becomes an artist in proportion to his knowledge and skill in such arrangement4 ,it is clear that1 no matter how much mechanical skill1 firmness1 justness and delicacy of touch were requisite in the older manner of following carefully and precisely the lines already drawn upon the block1 still the engraver was precluded from exercising any original artistic power he might have2 he could appreciate the artistic value of the design before him1 and1 like ,hans ,ltzelburger1 show his appreciation by his fidelity in rendering it1 but the lines were not his own4 ,the new method of reproducing artists' work by means of lines first conceived and arranged by the engraver requires1 besides skill of hand1 qualities of mind--perception and origination1 and the judgment that results from cultivated taste4 ,this is what is meant when it is said that the true art of wood-engraving is not a hundred years old1 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-arrangement1 as well as to the designer's genius4 ,the use of white line as a mechanical mode of obtaining color was not unknown in the sixteenth century1 and the artistic value of white line was definitely felt in early ,french and ,italian wood-engraving2 but the possibilities of development were not seen1 and no such development took place4 ,the step in advance was taken by ,bewick1 who thus disclosed the opportunities which wood-engraving offers its craftsmen for the exhibition of high artistic qualities4 ,the white line revolutionized the art1 and this is the essential meaning there is in calling ,bewick the father of wood-engraving4 ,of course the older method has not ceased to be practised2 artists have drawn upon the block1 and their lines have been reproduced2 sometimes a part of the lines are thus drawn1 particularly the leading lines1 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 lines4 ,old or modern wood-engraving as a mode of reproducing designs in fac-simile is valuable1 but none of the artistic merit they may possess is due to the engraver2 while the artistic merit shown in the new style of wood-engraving1 as an art of design in white line1 belongs wholly to the engraver4 ,it results from this that white line is the peculiar province of wood-engraving1 considered as an art2 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 reproduce4 ,thomas ,bewick1 the founder of the modern art1 was born near ,newcastle in #agec4 ,he passed his boyhood in rude country life and received scanty schooling4 ,at fourteen he was bound apprentice to the ,newcastle engraver1 ,ralph ,beilby2 nine years later he went to seek his fortune in ,london1 where he impatiently endured city life for less than a year2 in the summer of #aggg he returned to his old master1 with whom he went into partnership4 ,some preliminary training in book-illustration of the rude sort then in vogue was necessary to reveal his powers to himself2 he received a premium from the ,society for the ,encouragement of ,arts1 which had shown some interest in wood-engraving2 and after farther minor work he began1 in #aghe1 to engrave the first block for his ,british ,quadrupeds1 which1 with his ,british ,birds1 although his other cuts are numbered by thousands1 is the principal monument of his genius4 ,when he took the graver in his hand he found the art extinct as a fine art2 at most only large coarse prints were manufactured4 ,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 blocks1 and he engraved across the grain instead of with it1 or 8the plank way of the wood10 as he called it2 he also began the practice of lowering the surface of the block in places where less color was desired1 so that less pressure would come upon those parts in printing 7a device which ,aldegrever is believed to have resorted to in some of his works71 and he used the dabber instead of the inking-roller4 ,illustration3 ,fig4 #fa4--,the ,peacock4 ,from ,bewick's 8,british ,birds40 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #fb4--,the ,frightened ,mother4 ,from ,bewick's 8,british ,quadrupeds40 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #fc4--,the ,solitary ,cormorant4 ,from ,bewick's 8,british ,birds40 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #fd4--,the ,snow ,cottage4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #fe4--;,birth-place of ,bewick4 ,his last vignette1 portraying his own funeral4 ,by such means he was truly1 as ,ruskin says1 8a reformer0--,ruskin adds1 8as stout as ,holbein1 or ,botticelli1 or ,luther1 or ,savonarola10 and this is also true within limits4 ,but if in relation to his art1 and in answer to the tests required of him1 his reforming spirit proved itself vigorous1 independent1 persistent in conviction1 and faithful in practice1 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 men4 ,he had not a spark of the philosophic spirit of ,holbein1 and but a faint glimmer of ,holbein's dramatic insight4 ,he was not endowed with the romantic imagination1 the deep reflective power1 the broad intellectual and moral sympathy of ,drer4 ,there is no need to magnify his genius1 for it was great and valuable by its own right4 ,he was1 primarily1 an observer of nature1 and he copied natural facts with straightforward veracity2 he delineated animal life with marvellous spirit2 he knew the value of the texture of a bird's feather 7,fig4 #fa7 as no one before ever realized it4 ,he was open also to the influence which nature exerts over the emotions1 and he rendered the sentiment of the landscape as few engravers have been able to do4 ,his hearty spirit responded to country sights 7,fig4 #fb71 and he portrayed the humorous with zest and pleasure1 as well as the cheerful and the melancholy with truth and feeling2 his humor is sometimes indelicate1 but it is faithful2 usually it is the humor of a situation which strikes him1 seldom the higher humor which appears in such cuts as the superstitious dog4 ,he is open to pathos1 too1 but here it is not the higher order of pathos far-reaching into the bases of life and emotion--in this cut 7,fig4 #fd71 for example1 one fancies his heart is nearly altogether with the uncared-for animal1 and takes not much thought of the deserted hearth4 ,with this veracity1 sensitiveness1 heartiness1 there is also an unbending virtue--a little like preaching sometimes1 with its gallows in the background--but sturdy and homely2 not rising into any eloquent homily1 but with indignation for the boys drowning a cat or the man beating his overdriven horse4 ,as an artist he knows1 like ,holbein1 the method of great art4 ,his economy of labor1 his simplicity1 justness1 and sureness of stroke show the master's hand4 ,there was no waste in his work1 no ineffective effort after impossible results1 no meaningless lines4 ,for these excellences of method and of character he has been often praised1 especially because he developed his talents under very unfavorable conditions2 but perhaps no words would have been sweeter to him than those which ,charlotte ,bront wrote1 sincerely out of her own experience without doubt1 for he himself said he was led to his task by 8the hope of administering to the pleasure and amusement of youth40 ,charlotte ,bront1 speaking through the lips of ,jane ,eyre of the pleasure she took as a child in looking through ,bewick's books1 writes thus3 8,i returned to my book--,bewick's ,history of ,british ,birds1 the letterpress whereof ,i cared little for1 generally speaking2 and yet there were certain introductory pages that1 child as ,i was1 ,i could not pass quite as a blank3 they were those which treat of the haunts of sea-fowl2 of #8the solitary rocks and promontories' by them only inhabited2 of the coast of ,norway1 studded with isles from its southern extremity1 the ,lindeness1 or ,naze1 to the ,north ,cape-- #8,where the ,northern ,ocean1 in vast whirls1 ,boils round the naked1 melancholy isles ,of farthest ,thule1 and the ,atlantic surge ,pours in among the stormy ,hebrides4' ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #ff4--,the ,broken ,boat4 ,from ,bewick's 8,british ,birds48 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #fg4--,the ,church-yard4 ,from ,bewick's 8,british ,birds48 ,nor could ,i pass unnoticed the suggestion of the black shores of ,lapland1 ,siberia1 ,spitzbergen1 ,nova ,zembla1 ,iceland1 ,greenland4 99 99 99 ,of these death-white realms ,i formed an idea of my own--shadowy1 like all the half-comprehended notions that float dim through children's brains1 but strangely impressive4 ,the words in these introductory pages connected themselves with the succeeding vignettes1 and gave significance to the rock standing up alone in a sea of billow and spray2 to the broken boat 7,fig4 #ff7 stranded on a desolate coast2 to the cold and ghastly moon glancing through bars of cloud at a wreck just sinking4 ,i cannot tell what sentiment haunted the quiet1 solitary church-yard 7,fig4 #fg71 with its inscribed head-stone1 its gate1 its two trees1 its low horizon1 girdled by a broken wall1 and its newly risen crescent attesting the hour of even-tide4 ,the two ships becalmed on a torpid sea ,i believed to be marine phantoms4 ,the fiend pinning down the thief's pack behind him ,i passed over quickly3 it was an object of terror4 ,so was the black1 horned thing1 seated aloof on a rock1 surveying a distant crowd surrounding a gallows4 ,each picture told a story--mysterious often to my undeveloped understanding and imperfect feelings1 yet ever profoundly interesting4 99 99 99 ,with ,bewick on my knee1 ,i was then happy2 happy at least in my way40 ,bewick published the first edition of the ,british ,quadrupeds in #agij1 the first edition of the first volume of the ,british ,birds in #agig1 and of the second volume in #ahjd2 all these became popular1 and were several times republished with additional cuts4 ,his other works were very numerous1 but1 as a whole1 they are of inferior value4 ,both in the volumes which have been mentioned and in his later work he received much aid from his pupils1 who designed and engraved1 subject to his correction and approval1 many illustrations which are ascribed to him4 ,in his own work1 notwithstanding his great excellence1 he was by no means perfect4 ,in delineating rocks and the bark of trees1 especially1 he fails2 in drawing he sometimes makes errors1 particularly when what he represents was not subject to direct and frequent observation2 in the knowledge of line-arrangement1 too1 he is less masterly than some of his successors1 and1 in this respect1 his work is characterized by effectiveness and spirit rather than by finish4 ,yet1 when these deductions have been made from his merit1 so much remains as to render him1 without doubt1 the most distinguished modern engraver in wood4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #fh4--,the ,sheep-fold4 ,by ,blake4 ,from ,virgil's ,pastorals4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #fi4--,the ,mark of ,storm4 ,by ,blake4 ,from ,virgil's ,pastorals4 ,before ,bewick's death1 in #ahbh1 another ,english genius1 ,william ,blake 7#ageh-ahbg71 greater as an artist than as an engraver1 produced a series of woodcuts 7,fig4 #fh7 which is remarkable for vigor and originality4 ,they were published in a reprint of ,ambrose ,philips's ,imitation of ,virgil's ,first ,eclogue1 in ,dr4 ,thornton's curious edition of ,virgil's ,pastorals which appeared in #ahbj4 ,one of them 7,fig4 #fi7 represents a landscape swept by violent wind4 ,the idea of autumnal tempest has seldom been so strikingly and forcibly embodied as in the old gnarled oak straining with laboring limbs1 the hedge-rows blown like indistinguishable glimmering dust1 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 hill4 ,contemporary engravers said the series was inartistic and worthless1 and an uneducated eye can easily discover faults in it2 imaginative genius of the highest order is expressed in it1 nevertheless1 and from this the series derives its value4 ,blake never made a new trial of the art4 ,the revival of wood-engraving was not confined to ,england4 ,at the end of the eighteenth century ,prussia founded a chair at ,berlin for teaching the art1 and made the ,ungers1 father and son1 professors of it2 but1 although they contributed to the progress of wood-engraving in ,germany1 no real success was obtained until the time of their successor1 ,gubitz4 ,in ,france1 too1 the ,society for the ,encouragement of ,national ,industry began to offer prizes for the best wood-engraving as early as #ahje2 but some years passed before any contestants1 who practised the true art1 appeared4 ,the publisher ,didot deserves much of the credit for reviving ,french wood-engraving1 because he employed ,gubitz1 and called to ,paris the ,english engravers who really founded the modern ,french school4 ,the efforts of societies or individuals1 however1 do not explain the rise of the art in our time4 ,wood-engraving merely shared in the renewal of life which took place at the end of the last century1 and so profoundly affected literature1 art1 and politics4 ,the barren classical taste disappeared in what is known as the return to nature1 the intellectual life of the people was stimulated to extraordinary activity1 civilization suffered rapid and important modifications1 and every human pursuit and interest received an impulse or a blow4 ,wood-engraving felt the influence of the change1 and came into demand with the other cheap pictorial arts to satisfy popular needs2 the interest of the publishers1 the improvements in the processes of printing1 and the example of ,bewick and his pupils especially contributed to bring the old art again into use1 and it continued to be practised because its value in democratic civilization was immediately recognized4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #gj4--,the ,cave of ,despair4 ,by ,branston4 ,from ,savage's 8,hints on ,decorative ,printing40 ,england was naturally the country where wood-engraving most flourished4 ,the pupils of ,bewick1 particularly ,charlton ,nesbit and ,luke ,clennell1 practised it with great merit1 the former with a better knowledge of line-arrangement than ,bewick1 and the latter with extraordinary artistic feeling4 ,the field1 however1 was not left wholly to those who had learned the art from ,bewick4 ,robert ,branston was1 like ,bewick1 a self-taught wood-engraver2 unlike ,bewick1 who was never trammelled by traditions1 and was thus able to work out his own methods in his own way by the light of his own genius1 ,branston 7,fig4 #gj71 who had served an apprenticeship in engraving on copperplate1 and had mastered the art of incising and arranging lines proper to that material1 came to wood-engraving with all the traditions of copperplate-engraving firmly fixed in his mind and hand1 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 copper4 ,it is true that ,branston sometimes admitted white line where he thought it would be effective1 but he relied on black line for the most part4 ,the wrong step thus taken led to the next4 ,engravers on copper began to draw designs on the block for wood-engravers to cut out4 ,john ,thurston1 the most distinguished of these1 drew thus for ,john ,thompson1 who1 however1 did not follow the lines with the servility of the engravers of the sixteenth century1 but modified them as he engraved1 changed the direction and character of the lines1 and occasionally introduced white line4 ,in the same way ,clennell1 who also engraved after ,john ,thurston's drawing1 modified it1 particularly in the disposal of the lights and shadows1 and thus improved it by his own artistic powers4 ,merely in engraving simple lines ,clennell's artistic feeling placed him in a higher rank than even an engraver of the power of ,john ,thompson1 as may be seen in the cuts which these two men made after ,stothard's drawings in an edition of ,rogers's ,poems 7,fig4 #ga1 #gb72 in this volume ,clennell has given an effect which ,thompson could not give4 ,branston's engraving1 in the same way1 shows the craftsman's skill and knowledge1 but it lacks the artistic quality of the rival school of ,nesbit and ,clennell4 ,the imitation of the manner of copperplate1 which ,branston introduced1 became common1 and was developed in the work of ,orrin ,smith and ,william ,harvey1 in which wood-engraving lost its distinctive virtues4 ,this school1 nevertheless1 was popular1 and its engravings were used to illustrate important works to which for a long time copperplate-engraving alone had been considered equal2 thus wood-engraving once more encroached upon its rival's ground4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #ga4--,vignette from 8,rogers's ,poems40 ,london1 #ahbg4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #gb4--,vignette from 8,rogers's ,poems40 ,london1 #ahbg4 ,meanwhile the great illustrated magazines and papers1 to which wood-engraving owes so much of its encouragement1 sprang up1 and with them the necessity for rapid work1 and the temptation to be satisfied with what satisfied the public taste4 ,cruikshank and ,seymour prepared the way for the designers1 ,leech1 ,gilbert1 ,tenniel1 and the ,dalziels1 the latter engravers themselves1 and carelessness in engraving accompanied carelessness in drawing2 but from the latter charge ,tenniel's designs must be excepted4 ,these artists were inferior in natural endowment to even the lesser artists of the sixteenth century1 and their work was made worse by the negligent rendering of their engravers1 who were not characterized either by the fidelity of the old craftsmen1 or the skill and knowledge of ,thompson1 or the artistic sense of ,clennell1 but were merely inefficient workmen employed to cut lines drawn for them as rapidly as possible4 ,mr4 ,linton made an attempt to introduce the practice of rendering artists' drawings by lines conceived and arranged by the engraver himself2 but the current was too strongly set in another direction1 and the engraver kept his old position of mechanic employed to clear out the designers' lines4 ,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 engraver1 but derived its interest and popularity from qualities which have little connection with fine art4 ,no great works were produced2 and it is only here and there that separate prints of value are to be found1 among which those by ,edmund ,evans in ,birket ,foster's edition of ,cowper's ,task deserve to be mentioned4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #gc4--;,death as a ,friend4 ,upon the ,continent the development of wood-engraving was by no means so great as in ,england1 but some excellent work has been done by the pupils of ,thompson1 who went to ,paris by ,didot's invitation2 these men1 of whom ,,mm4 ,best and ,leloir were the most distinguished1 together with ,,mm4 ,brevire1 ,porret1 and ,lavoignat1 produced some cuts of considerable value both in book-illustration and in the art magazines4 ,in ,germany1 too1 wood-engraving counts some good workmen among its following1 but the ,german woodcuts1 of which the two 7,figs4 #gc1 #gd7 here given are favorable examples1 remain inferior for the most part to either the ,english or ,french4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #gd4--;,death as a ,throttler4 ,wood-engraving1 however1 has been practised in our time less as a fine art than as a useful art2 and if little that is valuable for artistic worth has been executed by engravers since the days of ,nesbit1 ,clennell1 and ,thompson1 the application of wood-engraving for merely useful purposes has been of the greatest service4 ,it has become a most powerful instrument of popular education2 it imparts the largest share of the visual knowledge which the people have of the things they have not directly seen2 its utility as a means of instruction by its representation of the objects with which science deals1 and the mechanical contrivances and processes which science employs1 and also as a means of influence in caricature and of simple popular amusement1 is incalculable2 and1 notwithstanding its low level in art1 there can be no doubt that it frequently assists the exercise of the popular imagination1 and sometimes generates in the better-endowed minds among the people a real sympathy with the higher products of art and an appreciation of them4 ,these utilities1 indeed1 so overbalance its value simply as a fine art as to give it a distinctive character1 when its practice now is compared with that of any previous time2 as1 formerly1 it reflected the aspects of changing civilization1 now it reflects the peculiar character of our time1 and shows how great has been the gain in the popular hold upon the material comforts of life and upon intelligence1 and how great has been the loss in the community's appreciation of purely artistic results4 ,this is especially true of the earlier ,american practice of the art1 which seldom resulted in any work of artistic value4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #ge4--,the ,creation4 ,engraved by ,j4 ,f4 ,adams4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #gf4--,the ,deluge4 ,engraved by ,j4 ,f4 ,adams4 ,the history of wood-engraving in ,america1 until recent years1 is comparatively insignificant4 ,in art1 as in literature1 the first generation of the ,republic followed the ,english tradition almost slavishly2 the engravers1 indeed1 showed hardly any individuality1 and left no work of permanent value4 ,during ,colonial times some very rude apprentice-work on metal had been produced2 but the first certain engraving in wood bears date of #agid1 and was from the hand of ,dr4 ,alexander ,anderson 7#agge-ahgj71 a physician by profession1 but with a natural bent toward the art1 which he had played at from boyhood1 and finally made the principal business of his life4 ,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 relief1 and the example of ,bewick taught him to use white line4 ,at that time1 and for many years afterward1 the art was applied mainly to the production of cuts for advertisements1 labels1 and the like1 as a servant of trade2 its use for illustration simply was confined almost wholly to juvenile books4 ,the engravers who at the beginning of the century introduced the art in ,new ,york1 ,boston1 ,philadelphia1 ,baltimore1 and ,new ,haven were few1 and1 for the most part1 self-taught2 usually they merely copied ,english cuts1 and thus they reflected in their poorer work the manner of successive ,english schools2 but at least they kept the art alive1 and handed it on through their pupils4 ,dr4 ,anderson was the best of them2 yet1 although he was free and bold in his handling of white line1 and once or twice attained an excellence that proved him a worthy pupil of ,bewick1 he left nothing of enduring interest1 and the work of his fellows met with even swifter forgetfulness4 ,woodcuts of really high value were not produced in ,america until ,joseph ,alexander ,adams 7b4 #ahjc71 one of the young engravers encouraged by ,dr4 ,anderson1 began to do his best work 7,figs4 #ge1 #gf71 about #ahcd1 and applied his talents to the illustration of the ,bible1 published by the ,harper ,brothers in #ahdc1 with which wood-engraving may be properly said to have begun its great career in this country4 ,this volume was embellished by sixteen hundred cuts1 executed under the supervision of ,mr4 ,adams1 and plainly exhibits the capacities and limitations of the art at that time4 ,other illustrated books followed this from the same press1 and from that of the ,putnams2 the cuts in the papers and magazines1 established during the second quarter of the century1 became more numerous1 and the attention paid by the ,american ,tract ,society to the engravings in its various publications had great influence in encouraging and improving the art4 ,the work of this first half-century1 however1 as a whole1 does not deserve any great praise2 in judging it1 the inexperience of the engravers and the difficulties of printing must be remembered2 but in its inferior portions it is marked by feebleness and coarseness1 and in its better portion by a hardness and stiffness of line1 a lack of variety and gradation in tone and tint1 and a defect in vivacity and finish4 ,there are here and there exceptional cuts to which these strictures would not apply1 but the body of the work is vitiated either through an incomplete control of his materials by the engraver1 or through an evil imitation of copperplate-drawing by the designer4 ,where the engraver was also the designer the work is usually of higher value4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #gg4--;,butterflies4 ,engraved by ,f4 ,s4 ,king4 ,with the second half of the century began that expansion of the press1 that increase in the volume and improvement in the quality of the reading provided for the public through newspapers and magazines1 which has been one of the most striking and important results of democratic institutions4 ,the ,harpers' ,monthly ,magazine was established in #ahej1 and it was followed within a decade by several illustrated periodicals2 during the civil war there was naturally a slackening in this development1 but1 upon its close1 numerous new illustrated weekly or monthly publications began their longer or shorter career1 among them those issued by the ,scribners1 which were to have so important a bearing on the history of wood-engraving4 ,the art naturally received a great impetus from this demand upon its resources2 it rapidly advanced2 and being encouraged farther by the popularity of the new and beautifully illustrated gift-books of the ,boston and ,new ,york publishers1 it has taken the leading place in the artistic interests of the country4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #gh4--;,engraved by ,f4 ,s4 ,king4 ,the scope of this volume does not allow any detailed account of the works of ,american engravers individually2 but while the increased productiveness and improved technique of the art during the third quarter of the century are being noticed1 it would be unjust to make no mention of the quiet1 careful1 and refined woodcuts of ,mr4 ,anthony1 or of the long and unflinching fidelity of ,mr4 ,linton1 with its reward in admirable work1 or of the exquisite skill of ,mr4 ,henry ,marsh1 the best of ,american engravers of that period4 ,the latter's marvellous rendering of insect life in the illustrations to ,harris's ,insects ,injurious to ,vegetation1 published in #ahfb1 can never be forgotten by any who have been fortunate enough to see the artist-proofs4 ,his work is in the manner of copperplate-engraving1 and affords one of the few instances in which wood-engraving has equalled the rival art in fineness1 delicacy1 softness1 and gradation of tone4 ,whatever the critic's theory may be1 he must remember that genius has a higher validity than reason1 and must acknowledge such work as this to be its own justification4 ,unfortunately1 the cuts in the published volume were not--perhaps at that time could not be--printed with the success they deserved4 ,the work of these three engravers illustrates what advance had already been made in skilful line-arrangement and in technique before #ahgj1 about which time the indications of an approaching change in the art became plainly evident4 ,since then progress has been uninterrupted1 swift1 marked by bold experiments and startling surprises4 ,now ,american engravers excel all others in knowledge of the resources of their art1 and in control of its materials1 as well as in the interest of their work4 ,they have not1 it is true1 produced1 as yet1 anything to rank in artistic value with the designs of the older masters2 but1 in their hands1 the art has gained a width and utility of influence among our people hitherto unequalled in any nation at any period4 ,from the beginning of its history wood-engraving has been distinctively a democratic art2 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 pleasure2 for this reason it has acquired in our country1 where a reading middle class forms the larger portion of the nation1 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 claim4 ,it now enters into the intellectual life and enjoyment of our people to a degree and with a constancy impossible to other arts4 ,in this respect1 too1 it is only at the beginning of its career2 for1 as popular education spreads1 the place that the art holds in the national life will continually become more important4 ,these social conditions1 the technical skill of the engravers1 and the appearance among the people of a critical spirit concerning their work--not perhaps to be called intelligent as yet1 but forming1 nascent1 feeling its way into conscious and active life--make up a group of most favorable circumstances for a real artistic development4 ,whether such a development will take place depends in large measure on the clearness with which engravers understand the laws of their art1 as presented by their materials1 and on the degree in which such knowledge controls them4 ,the experiments of recent years are to be judged finally by the results2 but1 in spite of the novel effects obtained1 and of the new character that has been given to the art1 there is at present no such unanimity1 either among the engravers or the public1 as to be decisive of the worth of the new work as a whole4 ,while the issue is still doubtful1 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 art1 bring them to an appreciation of its value1 open their understandings to its teachings1 and fill their lives with its delights1 something may be gained by recurring to fundamental principles1 as illustrated by the practice of the older masters1 not with an end to limit the future by the past1 but to foresee it4 ,such a brief review and summary of past thought respecting the aims and methods of wood-engraving1 with such corrections as modern improvements in processes justify1 will afford the surest ground for criticism of the work still to be considered4 ,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 form1 the mode of pure color1 the mode of form and color1 as they are affected by the different lights and shadows in which they exist4 ,in nature these three modes do not exist separately1 and usually no one of them is so prominent as to efface the others2 in the several arts1 however1 the principal attention is given1 now to one1 now to another1 of them1 according to the capacities of the art and the powers of the artists4 ,thus sculpture deals only with form1 and even in painting1 which includes all within its province1 different masters make a choice1 and aim principally at reproducing color1 or chiaroscuro1 or form1 as their talents direct them1 for a genius seldom arises with the power to combine all these with the truth and harmony of nature4 ,wood-engraving1 there is no need to say1 cannot reproduce the real hues of objects1 nor the play of light upon hue and form1 nor the more marvellously transforming touch of shadow2 it can represent the form of a peach1 but it cannot paint its delicate tints1 nor adequately and accurately show how the beauty of its bloom in sun differs from the beauty of its bloom in shade4 ,more broadly1 a landscape shot with the evanescent shadows that hover in rapidly moving mists1 or the intermingling light and gloom of a wind-swept moonlit sky half overcast with clouds1 wood-engraving has no power to mirror in true likeness4 ,the most it can do in this direction is to indicate1 it cannot express2 it can exhibit strong contrasts and delicate gradations of light and shadow1 and it can suggest varying intensity of hues1 by the greater or less depth of its blacks and grays2 but real color and perfect chiaroscuro it relinquishes to painting4 ,form1 therefore1 is left as the main object of the wood-engraver's craft1 and the representation of form is effected by delineation1 drawing1 line-work4 ,this is why the great draughtsmen1 such as ,drer and ,holbein1 succeeded in designing for wood-engraving4 ,they knew how to express form by lines1 and they did not attempt to do more even when suggesting color-values by the convention of black and gray4 ,line-work is thus the main business of the engraver1 because form must be expressed by lines4 ,line-work1 however1 is of different kinds1 and all kinds are not equally proper for the art4 ,hitherto the fineness of line by which copperplate-engraving easily obtains delicacy of contour and soft transitions of tone1 has been rarely and with difficulty attained by the best-skilled hand and eye among wood-engravers1 and when attained has1 usually1 not been successfully printed4 ,there remains1 however1 no longer any reason to exclude fine lines from wood-engraving1 when once it has become plain that such work is possible without a wasteful expenditure of labor1 that its results are valuable1 and that it can be properly printed4 ,but if it shall prove that the character of the line proper to copperplate is also proper to wood1 it may be looked on as certain that the line-arrangement proper to the former material can never be rationally used for the latter4 ,the crossing of lines to which the engraver on copperplate resorts is especially laborious to the engraver in wood1 and after all his toil does not give any desirable effect which would not have resulted from other methods of work4 ,it has been seen that ,drer employed this cross-hatching in imitation of copperplate-engraving2 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 unnecessary4 ,holbein1 who was equally ignorant of the possibilities of white line1 rejected cross-hatching4 ,bewick also rejected it1 and proved it was unnecessary even where much color was to be given4 ,in the later work of the sixteenth century1 and in modern ,english work1 wood-engraving imitated its rival art both in the character and the arrangement of its lines2 it failed in both instances mainly because such imitation involved a waste of labor1 and did not result in works so valuable artistically as were obtained by copperplate-engraving with far greater ease4 ,at present the objection to the use of cross-hatching in wood-engraving is as serious as ever1 but the employment of fine lines for some purposes1 as in the rendering of delicate textures and tones1 has been justified1 mainly in consequence of innovations in the modes of printing4 ,the charm of this new and surprising beauty in fine-line woodcuts1 however1 has not at all deprived the old broad and bold line of its force and vigor1 nor made less valuable the strong contrasts in which the art won its earlier success4 ,on the contrary1 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 value4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #gi4--,mount ,lafayette 7,white ,mountains74 ,by ,j4 ,tinkey4 ,in what has been thus far said of the line-work proper to wood-engraving1 black line-work only has been referred to4 ,wood-engraving is also an art of design in white line1 and here a different set of considerations applies4 ,there is not the same difficulty in cutting fine and delicate white lines1 as is the case with black lines1 nor the same unlikelihood of their effect being felt in the printed design4 ,there is1 too1 no objection whatever to crossing white lines1 as a mode of work1 for it is as easy a process for the wood-engraver as crossing black lines is for the copperplate-engraver1 and the result thus obtained is sometimes of great value1 particularly in the moulding of the face4 ,the art of design in white line1 however1 is but little developed2 but1 not to depreciate the older method of black line1 which is extremely valuable1 nevertheless it is clear that white line-work is the peculiar province of the wood-engraver1 and that in developing its capacities the future of the art mainly lies1 so far as it rests with him4 ,the merit of all line-work1 whether black or white1 fine or broad1 bold or subtle1 depends upon the certainty with which the lines serve their purposes4 ,if1 as with ,holbein1 every line has its work to do1 and does that work perfectly2 if it fulfils its function of defining an outline1 or marking the moulding of a muscle1 or deepening the intensity of a shadow1 or performing some similar service1 then the designer has followed the method of high art1 and has produced something of value4 ,the work of all who practise the art--the draughtsmen who draw in black line1 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 stroke2 and1 other things being equal1 he who conveys most meaning in the fewest lines1 like ,holbein and ,bewick1 is the greatest master4 ,by means of such lines so arranged wood-engraving does represent form with great power1 and also texture1 which is only a finer form2 it indicates positive hues1 and1 within limits1 suggests the play of light and shadow on form and hue4 ,it thus aims chiefly1 in its bolder and more facile work1 at force1 spirit1 and contrast1 and1 in its more rare and difficult efforts1 at delicacy1 finish1 and nice gradation of harmonious tones4 ,if there is any value in the teaching of the past1 either these principles must be shown to be no longer valid1 or by them the engraving of the last ten years must be judged4 ,a considerable portion of it consists of attempts to render original designs--for example1 a washed drawing--not by interpreting its artistic qualities1 its form1 color1 force1 spirit1 and manner1 so far as these can be given by simple1 defined1 firm lines of the engraver's creation1 but by imitating as closely as possible the original effect1 and showing the character of the original process1 whether it were water-color1 charcoal-sketching1 oil-painting1 clay-modelling1 or any other4 ,however desirable it may be to make known the original process1 such knowledge does not enhance the artistic value of the cut2 and however pleasing it may be to the public to obtain copies even successfully1 indicating the general effects1 without the charm1 of originals in other arts with which wood-engraving has little affinity1 such work will rather satisfy curiosity than delight the eye4 ,the public may thus derive information2 they will not obtain works of artistic value at all equal to those which wood-engraving might give them1 did it not abdicate its own peculiar power of expressing nature in a true1 accurate1 and beautiful way and descend to mechanical imitation4 ,the application of the art to such purposes1 as little more than another mode of photography1 is a debasement of it2 it ceases to be a fine art when it ceases to be practised for the sake of its own powers of beautiful expression4 ,such work1 therefore1 has only a secondary interest1 as being one more process for the defective reproduction of beautiful things1 and requires only a passing mention4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #hj4--8;,and silent were the sheep in woolly fold40--,,keats1 ,st4 ,agnes ,eve4 ,engraved by ,j4 ,g4 ,smithwick4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #ha4--,the ,old ,orchard4 ,engraved by ,f4 ,juengling4 ,aside from these imitative cuts1 the most striking portion of recent engraving1 that which has been hailed as opening a new career to the art1 is characterized either by a great refinement of line or by a practical abandonment of line4 ,of the former tendency ,mr4 ,henry ,marsh affords the most prominent examples by his engravings in illustration of insect life1 or similarly delicate work4 ,the skill of his hand and the charm of the style he has adopted are beyond question2 there is as little doubt of the truthfulness and beauty of the effects secured in the rendering of individual objects1 the butterfly wing1 the pond-lily1 or the spray of the winter forest2 the only deduction to be made from his praise is1 that when he binds these several objects into one picture1 as in a landscape1 he suffers the too frequent penalty of fine detail1 and loses in the delicacy and finish of the parts the beauty that should have characterized the whole4 ,there is always in his cuts grace1 poetic feeling1 exquisite workmanship1 but there is in some of them a lack of body1 substance1 distance1 of skill in placing the objects in a natural relation to one another1 that mars the total result4 ,mr4 ,marsh is one of the older men1 and deserves the credit of first showing what wood-engraving is capable of in refinement of line2 but younger men have joined him in developing these capacities of the art1 and have made work in this style more common4 ,the best of it is by ,mr4 ,f4 ,s4 ,king1 being equal in every quality to ,mr4 ,marsh's most admirable cuts4 ,such engraving is exceptional1 of course2 but the evenness and transition of tone1 the care for line1 the discrimination of both line and color values1 shown in these butterflies 7,fig4 #gg71 are characteristic of ,mr4 ,king's work in general1 although in some of it a lack of definition in outlines is noticeable4 ,the refinement of line in these two engravers is justifiable1 because they put meaning into the lines1 and express by them something that could not otherwise be interpreted to the eye through this art2 and so long as this remains the case they will meet with commendation and encouragement4 ,it is only when such refinement is needlessly resorted to1 or is confusing or meaningless1 that it is rightly rebuked4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #hb4--,some ,art ,connoisseurs4 ,engraved by ,robert ,hoskin4 ,the second and more evil tendency of recent engraving1 toward an abandonment of line1 is exhibited in many phases1 and by nearly all the younger men4 ,in some cases the central portion of the cut seems alone to be cared for1 and is much elaborated1 while the surrounding parts fade off into the background with the uncertainty of a dissolving view2 in other cases there seems to be entire indifference about form or texture3 there is no definition of the one nor discrimination in the other1 but an effect only is sought for1 usually vague or startling1 always unsatisfactory1 and not infrequently ugly4 ,such work is the product of ignorance or carelessness or caprice4 ,in it wood-engraving ceases to be an art of expression4 ,these obscure masses1 meant for trees1 in which one may look with a microscope and see neither leaf1 limb1 nor bark2 these mottled grounds1 meant for grass or houses1 in which there is neither blade nor fibre2 these blocks of formless tints1 in which all the veracity of the landscape perishes1 do not record natural facts1 or convey thought or sentiment2 they are simply vacant of meaning4 ,to illustrate or criticise such work would be an ungracious as well as a needless task2 but even in the best work of the best engravers1 with which alone these pages are concerned1 the marks of tendency in this wrong direction are palpably present4 ,here1 for example1 is some charming work by ,mr4 ,king 7,fig4 #gh71 wholly successful in securing the effect sought--beautiful1 well worth doing4 ,the spirit of the season1 the moist days1 the ,april nature1 the leafing and budding in mist and cloudiness1 and gleam of light and breath of warm1 soft air along full-flowing streams1 the swift and buoyant welcome borne on the forward flight of the birds straight toward us1 the ever-renewed marvel of the birth of life and the coming on of days of beauty--the feeling of all this is given1 and the success is due in large part to the vagueness that dims the whole design2 but why should the wreathing flowers1 the tender crown of all1 lose the curve of their petals and darken the delicate form of each young blossom1 all blurred into the background1 and half-effaced and marred1 and tiring the eye with the effort to define them8 ,if the value of form had been more felt1 if the definition of outline had been firmer1 if the spray had really blossomed1 would not the design have been better8 ,there is less doubt of the error in the next cut4 ,the disappearance of texture and the attenuation of substance into flat shadow is very plain4 ,to a true woodsman1 to one who has lived with trees1 and knows and loves them1 there is little of their nature in these vague1 transparent1 insubstantial forms1 that seem rather skeleton leaves than strong-limbed1 firm-rooted trees that have sung in the frosty silence and lived through the 8bitter cold0 of many a ,st4 ,agnes ,eve4 ,who1 looking on these pale shadows1 would remember that the same poet1 whose verse is here put into picture1 thought of trees as 8senators0 of the woods8 ,in the disposition of the light of the atmosphere1 in the management of the gray tints1 particularly in the lower portion of the cut1 the eye takes more pleasure3 there is some discrimination between the sheep1 the old man1 and the fold--as much1 perhaps1 as the prevailing obscurity admits2 but the cut as a whole is much harmed by the lack of relief1 which seems to be a recurring fault in fine-lined and crowded work4 ,the cut 7,fig4 #ha7 by ,mr4 ,juengling1 whose engravings exhibit the tendencies of the new methods in the most pronounced way1 shows1 like the preceding illustration1 an inattention to texture in the foliage1 and an entire negligence of cloud-form in the sky1 which is a fair example of the abandonment of line1 or of meaningless line1 as one chooses to call it4 ,an effect is gained1 a horizon light and shadowed masses1 but the landscape is not faithfully rendered4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #hc4--,the ,travelling ,musicians4 ,engraved by ,r4 ,a4 ,muller4 ,of a different order are the two following cuts1 simple1 quiet1 and refined4 ,the mountain scene 7page #ahc7 is admirable for the disposition of its lights and shadows1 the gradation and variation of its tints1 and the subordination of every element to a truthful total effect4 ,the cut by ,mr4 ,hoskin 7,fig4 #hb7 is a good example of his always excellent work1 showing his power of economy and his feeling for line and tone1 while it evinces self-restraint in methods of work4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #hd4--,shipwrecked4 ,engraved by ,frank ,french4 ,the change that has taken place in recent engraving has been less marked in cuts of landscape1 however1 than in cuts of figures4 ,in the former line-arrangement has been affected somewhat1 and usually for the worse1 but in the latter the transformation has been greater1 and the results already worked out of more striking novelty4 ,the development1 however1 has been in the same directions1 in refining or abandoning line1 and examples exhibit the same or analogous variation in the engravers' regard for form and texture4 ,the first group here given 7,fig4 #hc7 shows clearly1 by the character and the direction of its lines1 that it is a reproduction of copperplate-engraving1 and as a piece of imitative work it is remarkable2 the figures are life-like1 full of vivacity and force1 and the faces are natural and very expressive4 ,it is1 however1 in the style of copperplate1 and in the qualities mentioned it does not excel the next cut 7,fig4 #hd71 in which the character and direction of the lines are those peculiar to wood-engraving4 ,the former has an appearance of more finish1 as also of more hardness1 but it does not by its more difficult mode of engraving1 accomplish what is aimed at in any higher degree than does the latter by its simpler1 easier1 and freer manner4 ,the ,tap-room 7,fig4 #he71 by the same engraver1 is less careful work1 and its novel technical quality1 while of the same general character as that of the last cut1 is more pronounced and less pleasing4 ,the figures as a whole are good1 but the faces are poor2 the use of the cross white line or stipple for fire1 apron1 rafter1 table-cloth1 and face indifferently cannot be commended1 and the character of many of the lines 7particularly in the lower part of the seated figure7 is beyond criticism4 ,it is the still bolder and more general use of the peculiar modes of engraving in this design that results in the most meaningless1 negligent scratchiness of the new school4 ,mr4 ,j4 ,p4 ,davis's 8,going to ,church0 7,fig4 #hf7 is a favorable example of another considerable class of cuts that is on first sight novel and pleasing4 ,on examination one sees that the figures are certainly the best part of the cut2 but why should the maiden's dress be the same in texture as the cow's breast1 and the young man's trousers the same as the cow's back8 and why should the child's face be of a piece with its collar8 ,notice1 too1 beyond the wall the familiar flat and insubstantial trees1 with their foliage that would serve as well for the ground at the foot of the steps4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #he4--,the ,tap-room4 ,engraved by ,frank ,french4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #hf4--;,going to ,church4 ,engraved by ,j4 ,p4 ,davis4 ,the best work in these figure-cuts1 however1 is by ,mr4 ,t4 ,cole1 who stands at the head of engravers in the new manner1 though he is not confined by it4 ,the portraits1 by which he first became widely known1 were remarkable for an entire absence1 in some cases1 of any demarcation between picture and background1 and for a concentration of attention upon some few specially characteristic features of the face4 ,whoever deserved the blame so liberally meted out to these heads1 ,mr4 ,cole's reputation rests now upon better work--upon such an exquisitely refined portrait as that of ,modjeska as ,juliet1 in the ,scribner ,portfolio of ,proofs1 and other cuts of hardly less merit there to be found4 ,frequently1 however1 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 figures1 to the neglect of the minor portions of the designs4 ,thus in the example here given 7,fig4 #hg71 so long as the eye is concerned only with the two stately figures1 there is only pleasure in such admirable workmanship2 but when the gaze wanders to the near1 and especially the remote1 background1 there is nothing to delight the lover of art or nature in such confusion1 insubstantiality1 flat1 waving shadows without beauty or meaning4 ,who would guess from that obscure and formless net-work in the distance that the next line of these verses is-- 8,and all the sunset heaven behind your head80 ,this 8generalization0 of the landscape1 as it is called1 empties it of all that makes it lovely4 ,to the cut1 as an example of figure-engraving1 the highest praise may be given1 but as an entire picture it is harmed by its imperfection of detail4 ,to subordinate by destroying is not the mode of high art1 but it is often the mode of the new school4 ,of all the work of recent years1 however1 the best1 it is generally admitted1 is in the portraits1 possibly because the artists are restrained by the definiteness of the form and expression to be conveyed4 ,mr4 ,cole's ,modjeska has been already praised1 though it is rather a fine figure than a fine portrait4 ,a portrait of ,mr4 ,hunt by ,mr4 ,linton1 and of ,mr4 ,fletcher ,harper by ,mr4 ,kruell1 are also of high merit1 and in both a very high level of excellence is sustained4 ,the special character of the new school in portraiture1 as a distinct and radical style1 is illustrated by ,mr4 ,juengling's 8,spanish ,peasant0 7,fig4 #hh74 ,it recalls at once the portrait of ,whistler by the same hand4 ,in disposition of color1 in certainty of effect1 and in skill of execution1 all must recognize the engraver's power2 but is the value of the human face1 in whose mouldings is expressed the life of years and generations--is the value of the human eye1 in which the light never goes out1 truly felt8 ,one cannot help feeling that the brutalizing of this face is a matter rather of art than of truth4 ,contrast the two portraits here given 7,figs4 #hi1 #ij71 one in the bolder1 more definite1 larger style1 admirable in its tones and discrimination of textures1 among the very best in this manner2 the other finer1 with the tendency to fade into the background1 but faultless in its rendering of the face1 and proving by success the great effectiveness of the fine white cross-line4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #hg4-- 8,nay1 ,love1 'tis you who stand ,with almond clusters in your clasping hand40 ,engraved by ,t4 ,cole4 ,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 art4 ,the capacity of any new school should be judged by the best it has produced2 but1 even in this best work1 it is not difficult to discern at times the same tendencies that have been the main cause of failure in the less good work4 ,the obscuration of leading outlines2 the disregard of substance1 shape1 and material in leaf1 cloud1 and stuffs2 the neglect of relief and perspective1 the crowding of the ground with meaningless lines1 either undirected or misdirected1 or uselessly refined2 the aim at an effect by an arrangement of color almost independent of form1 the attempt to make a momentary impression on the eye1 instead of to give lasting pleasure to the mind through the artistic sense1 and--especially in the best work--the lack of perfect and masterly finish in all portions of the design1 however insignificant by comparison with the leading parts--these must be counted as defects4 ,how much of such failure is due to the designer1 it is impossible to determine without sight of the original drawings2 a considerable portion of the fault may rest with him2 in wood-engravings1 as art-works1 the union of designer and craftsman is inseparable--the two stand or fall together4 ,but when all deductions have been made1 the best engravers may rightly be very proud of their work1 confident of their future1 and hopeful of great things4 ,with such perfect technical skill as they possess1 with such form and texture as they have represented with care1 truth1 and beauty2 with such softness of tone and power of both delicate and strong line as some of their number have earned the mastery of1 the value of future work depends only on the wisdom of their aims4 ,if the fundamental grounds on which the foregoing criticism rests be true1 these engravers have won success in so far as they have attended to form and texture as the main business of their art1 and they have failed in so far as they have destroyed these4 ,from its peculiar and original powers in the interpretation of form and texture by line-work1 either black or white1 wood-engraving has derived its value and earned the respect due it as an art1 both through its great works in the past and1 so far as yet appears1 through its best works in the present4 ,wood-engravers1 if the design given them to reproduce is in black line1 fit for engraving in wood1 must copy it simply1 and then1 should artist-draughtsmen arise1 the art in this manner will again produce works of permanent value as in the days of ,holbein2 if1 on the other hand1 the design given them is in color or washed tints1 or anything of that sort1 they must interpret it by lines of their own creation1 and then1 too1 should any engraver-draughtsmen arise among them1 the art will possess a similarly high value2 but in no other way than by attending to these two kinds of line-work1 separately or together1 can wood-engraving remain artistic2 and even then its success will depend on the knowledge and skill of the designer1 whether artist or engraver1 in the use and arrangement of the special lines which are best adapted to the art4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #hh4--,the ,spanish ,peasant4 ,engraved by ,f4 ,juengling4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #hi4--;,james ,russell ,lowell4 ,engraved by ,thomas ,johnson4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #ij4--;,arthur ,penrhyn ,stanley4 ,engraved by ,g4 ,kruell4 ,the history of wood-engraving1 as it is recorded in the chief monuments of the art1 has now been told from its beginning down to the present moment4 ,its historic and artistic value has been mainly dwelt upon1 with the view of showing its utility as a democratic art and its powers as a fine art4 ,it has had an illustrious career4 ,it has shared in the great social movements which transformed medival into modern civilization4 ,it entered into the popular life1 in its earliest days1 by representing the saints whom the people worshipped4 ,it contributed to the cause of popular civilization in the spread of literature4 ,it assisted the introduction of realism into art1 and gave powerful aid in the gradual secularization of art4 ,it lent itself to the ,italian genius1 and was able to preserve something of the loveliness of the ,italian ,renaissance4 ,it helped the ,reformation4 ,it gave enduring form to the imagination and thought of ,drer and ,holbein4 ,it fell into inevitable decline2 but1 when the development of democracy again began in the new age1 it entered into the work of popular civilization with ever-increasing vigor and ever-widening influence4 ,it seems still to possess unlimited capacities for usefulness in the future in both the intellectual and artistic education of the people4 ,it may yet crown its career by making this country an art-loving as well as a book-reading ,republic4 ,a ,,list ,,of ,,the ,,principal ,,works ,,upon ,,wood-,,engraving ,,useful ,,to ,,students4 ,,archiv fr die zeichnenden ,knste1 mit besonderer ,beziehung auf ,kupfer-stecher-und ,holzschneidekunst4 ,herausg4 von ,r4 ,naumann4 #ater-#after ,jahrgang4 ,leipzig1 #ahee-'gj4 #hvo4 ,,bartsch 7,,adam74 ,le ,peintre-,graveur4 ,vienne1 #ahjc-'ba4 #ba ,t4 #hvo2 ,atlas1 #dto4 ,,becker 7,c474 ,jobst ,amman1 ,zeichner und ,formschneider1 etc41 nebst ,zustzen von ,r4 ,weigel4 ,leipzig1 #ahed4 #dto4 ,,berjeau 7,j4 ,,ph474 ,biblia ,pauperum4 ,reproduced in ,facsimile from one of the copies in the ,british ,museum1 with an historical and bibliographical ,introduction4 ,london1 #ahei4 ,folio4 ,speculum ,human ,salvationis4 ,le plus ancien ,monument de la ,xylographie et de la ,typographic runies4 ,reproduit en ,facsimile1 avec ,introduction historique et bibliographique4 ,londres1 #ahfa4 ,folio4 ,,bernard 7,,auguste74 ,de l',origine de l',imprimerie4 ,paris1 #ahec4 #b,t4 #hvo4 ,,bigmore 7,e4 ,c47 and ,,wyman 7,c4 ,w4 ,h474 ,a ,bibliography of ,printing4 ,with ,notes and ,illustrations4 ,vol4 #a4 ,a-,l4 ,london1 #ahhj4 #dto4 ,,bilder-,,album zur neueren ,geschichte des ,holzschnitts in ,deutschland4 ,herausg4 vom ,albertverein4 ,leipzig1 #ahgg4 #dto4 ,,blanc 7,,charles74 ,grammaire des ,arts du ,dessin1 etc4 ,paris1 #ahfg4 #hvo4 ,,brevi,,re 7,a474 ,de la ,xilographie ou ,gravure sur bois4 ,rouen1 #ahcc4 #hvo4 ,,chatto 7,w4 ,a474 ,a ,treatise on ,wood-engraving4 ,london1 #ahci4 #hvo4 ,known as ,jackson 7,john7 and ,chatto's ,history4 ,,derschau 7,h4 ,a4 ,,von74 ,holzschnitte alter deutscher ,meister in den ,originalplatten1 gesammelt von ,derschau1 mit einer ,abhandlung ber die ,holzschneidekunst begleitet1 von ,rudolph ,zacharias ,becker4 ,gotha1 #ahjh-'af4 #c ,th4 ,folio4 ,,dibdin 7,t4 ,f474 ,a bibliographical1 antiquarian1 and picturesque ,tour in ,france and ,germany4 ,london1 #ahba4 #c vols4 #hvo4 ,bibliographical ,decameron4 ,london1 #ahag4 #c vols4 #hvo4 ,bibliotheca ,spenceriana4 ,london1 #ahad1 '#ae4 #d vols4 #hvo4 ,,didot 7,,ambroise ,,firmin74 ,essai typographique et bibliographique sur l',histoire de la ,gravure sur ,bois4 ,paris1 #ahfc4 #hvo4 ,,documents iconographiques et typographiques de la ,bibliothque royale de ,belgique4 ,bruxelles1 #ahgg4 ,folio4 ,premire ,livr4 ,spirituale ,pomerium1 par ,l4 ,alvin4 ,deuxime ,livr4 ,gravures ,cribles1 par ,h4 ,hymans4 ,troisime ,livr4 ,la ,vierge de #adah1 par ,ch4 ,ruelens4 ,cinquime ,livr4 ,les neuf ,preux1 par 4 ,ftis4 ,sixime ,livr4 ,lgende de ,saint ,servais1 par ,ch4 ,ruelens4 ,,duplessis 7,g4 ,g474 ,essai de ,bibliographie1 contenant l',indication des ,ouvrages relatifs l',histoire de la ,gravure et des ,graveurs4 ,paris1 #ahfb4 #hvo4 ,histoire de la ,gravure4 ,paris1 #ahhj4 #hvo4 ,les ,merveilles de la ,gravure4 ,paris1 #ahfi4 #hvo4 ,,meric-,,david 7,t4 ,b47 ,discours ,historique sur la ,gravure en ,taille-douce et sur la ,gravure en ,bois4 ,paris1 #ahji4 #hvo4 ,,falkenstein 7,c4 ,c4 ,,von74 ,geschichte der ,buchdruckerkunst4 ,leipzig1 #ahdj4 #dto4 ,,fournier 7,p4 ,s474 ,dissertation sur l',origine et les ,progrs de l',art de ,graver en ,bois4 ,paris1 #ageh4 #hvo4 ,de l',origine et des ,productions de l',imprimerie primitive en ,taille de ,bois4 ,paris1 #agei4 #hvo4 ,,garnier 7,j4 ,m474 ,histoire de l',imagerie populaire et des ,cartes jouer ,chartres4 ,chartres1 #ahfi4 #hvo4 ,,gilks 7,t474 ,a ,sketch of the ,origin and ,progress of the ,art of ,wood-engraving4 ,london1 #ahfh4 #hvo4 ,,hamerton 7,p4 ,g474 ,the ,graphic ,arts4 ,london1 #ahhb4 ,plates4 ,folio4 ,,heinecken 7,k4 ,h41 ,,baron ,,von74 ,ide gnrale d'une ,collection complette d',estampes4 ,leipsic et ,vienne1 #agga4 #hvo4 ,,heller 7,,joseph74 ,geschichte der ,holzschneidekunst4 ,bamberg1 #ahbc4 #hvo4 ,,holtrop 7,j4 ,w474 ,monumens typographiques des ,pays-,bas au quinzime ,sicle4 ,la ,haye1 #ahfh4 ,folio4 ,,humphreys 7,h4 ,,noel74 ,a ,history of the ,art of ,printing4 ,london1 #ahfg4 ,folio4 ,masterpieces of the early ,printers and ,engravers4 ,london1 #ahgj4 ,folio4 ,,ilg 7,,albert74 ,ueber den kunsthistorischen ,werth der ,hypnerotomachia ,poliphili4 ,wien1 #ahgb4 #hvo4 ,,jansen 7,h474 ,essai sur l',origine de la ,gravure en ,bois et en ,taille-douce4 ,paris1 #ahjh4 #b ,t4 #hvo4 ,,labitte 7,a474 ,gravures sur ,bois tires des ,livres franais du ,x,ve ,sicle4 ,paris1 #ahfd4 #dto4 ,,la ,,borde 7,,henri74 ,notice sur deux ,estampes de #adjf4 ,gazette des ,beaux-,arts1 ,mars #a1 #ahfi4 ,,la ,,borde 7,l,,on ,e4 ,s4 ,j41 ,,marquis ,,de74 ,dbuts de l',imprimerie ,strasbourg4 ,paris1 #ahdj4 #hvo4 ,essai d'un ,catalogue des ,artistes originaires des ,pays-,bas4 ,paris1 #ahdi4 #hvo4 ,,lacroix 7,,paul74 ,les ,arts au ,moyen ge et l'poque de la ,renaissance4 ,paris1 #ahgj4 #hvo4 ,,lanzi 7,l474 ,storia pittorica della ,italia dal ,risorgimento delle ,belle ,arti fin presso al fine del ,,xviii secolo4 #f;a ed4 ,milano1 #ahbc4 #f vols4 #hvo4 ,,maberly 7,j474 ,the ,print ,collector4 ,edited1 with ,notes and a ,bibliography of ,engraving1 by ,r4 ,hoe1 ,jr4 ,new ,york1 #ahhj4 #dto4 ,,meisterwerke der ,holzschneidekunst aus dem ,gebriete der ,architektur1 ,sculptur und ,malerei4 #ater-#cter ,band4 ,leipzig1 #ahhj1 '#ha4 ,folio4 ,,merlin 7,r474 ,origine des ,cartes ,jouer4 ,paris1 #ahfi4 #dto4 ,,murr 7,c4 ,g4 ,,von74 ,bibliothque de ,peinture1 de ,sculpture1 et de ,gravure4 ,francfort et ,leipsic1 #aggj4 #b vols4 #abmo4 ,,ottley 7,w4 ,y474 ,an ,inquiry concerning the ,invention of ,printing4 ,london1 #ahfc4 #dto4 ,an ,inquiry into the ,origin and early ,history of ,engraving1 upon ,copper and in ,wood4 ,london1 #ahaf4 #b vols4 #dto4 ,,paeille 7,c474 ,essai historique et critique sur l',invention de l',imprimerie4 ,lille1 #ahei4 #hvo4 ,,papillon 7,j4 ,m474 ,trait historique et pratique de la ,gravure en ,bois4 ,paris1 #agff4 #c ,t4 in #b4 #hvo4 ,,passavant 7,j4 ,d474 ,le ,peintre-,graveur4 ,leipsic1 #ahfj-'fd4 #f ,t4 #hvo4 ,,renouvier 7,,jules74 ,des ,gravures en ,bois dans les ,livres d',anthoine ,verard4 ,paris1 #ahei4 #hvo4 ,des ,gravures sur ,bois dans les ,livres de ,simon ,vostre4 ,paris1 #ahfb4 #hvo4 ,des ,types et des ,manires des ,matres ,graveurs pour servir l',histoire de la ,gravure4 ,montpellier1 #ahec-'ef4 #dto4 ,histoire de l',origine et des ,progrs de la ,gravure dans les ,pays-,bas et en ,allemagne1 jusqu' la fin du quinzime ,sicle4 ,bruxelles1 #ahfj4 #hvo4 ,,rumohr 7,c4 ,f4 ,l4 ,f4 ,,von74 ,zur ,geschichte und ,theorie der ,formschneidekunst4 ,leipzig1 #ahcg4 #hvo4 ,,ruskin 7,,john74 ,ariadne ,florentina4 ,six ,lectures on ,wood and ,metal ,engraving4 ,orpington1 ,kent1 #ahgf4 #hvo4 ,,savage 7,,william74 ,practical ,hints on decorative ,printing1 with ,illustrations engraved on ,wood4 ,london1 #ahbb4 #dto4 ,,scott 7,w4 ,b474 ,albert ,drer1 his ,life and ,works4 ,london1 #ahfi4 ,sm4 #hvo4 ,the ,little ,masters4 ,london1 #ahgi4 #hvo4 ,,singer 7,s4 ,,weller74 ,researches into the ,history of ,playing ,cards2 with ,illustrations of the ,origin of ,printing and of ,engraving on ,wood4 ,london1 #ahaf4 #dto4 ,,sotheby 7,s4 ,l474 ,principia ,typographica4 ,the ,block-books issued in ,holland1 ,flanders1 and ,germany during the fifteenth ,century4 ,london1 #aheh4 #c vols4 ,folio4 ,,thausing 7,m474 ,albert ,drer1 his ,life and ,works4 ,translated4 ,with ,portraits and ,illustrations4 ,london1 #ahhb4 #hvo4 ,,umbreit 7,a4 ,e474 ,ueber die ,eigenhndigkeit der ,malerformschnitte4 ,leipzig1 #ahdj4 #hvo4 ,,vries 7,a4 ,,de74 claircissemens sur l',histoire de l',imprimerie4 ,la ,haye1 #ahdc4 #hvo4 ,,waagen 7,g4 ,f474 ,treasures of ,art in ,great ,britain1 with ,supplement4 ,london1 #ahed-'eg4 #d vols4 #hvo4 ,,weigel 7,,rudolph74 ,holzschnitte berhmter ,meister in treuen ,copien4 ,leipzig1 #ahea-'ed4 ,folio4 ,,weigel 7,t4 ,o47 and ,,zestermann 7,a4 ,c4 ,a474 ,die ,anfnge der ,drucker-,kunst in ,bild und ,schrift4 ,leipzig1 #ahff4 #b ,bnde4 ,folio4 ,,willshire 7,w4 ,h474 ,an ,introduction to the ,study and ,collection of ancient ,prints4 #b;d ed4 ,london1 #ahgg4 #b vols4 #hvo4 ,,woltmann 7,,alfred74 ,holbein und seine ,zeit4 ,leipzig4 #ahff-'fh4 #b ,th4 #hvo4 ,,wornum 7,r4 ,n474 ,some ,account of the ,life and ,works of ,holbein4 ,london1 #ahfg4 #hvo4 ,,zani 7,p474 ,materiali per servire alla ,storia dell',origine e de' ,progressi dell',incisione in ,rame e in ,legno1 etc4 ,parma1 #ahjb4 #hvo4 ,,zorn 7,,peter74 ,historia ,bibliorum pictorum4 ,lipsi1 #agdc4 #dto4 ,,index4 ,adams1 ,joseph ,alexander1 #agc4 ,altdorfer1 ,albrecht1 #aaa4 ,america3 earlier history and characteristics of the art1 #aga-agg2 present position and influence1 #agg1 #agh2 works in imitation of other arts1 #ahe2 errors in practice #aij1 #bjb2 future of the art1 #bjb-bjf4 ,amman1 ,jobst1 #aad4 ,anderson1 ,alexander1 #agb4 ,andreani1 ,andrea1 #adf4 ,anthony1 ,a4 ,v4 ,s41 #agf4 ,ars ,memorandi1 #dc4 ,ars ,moriendi1 #dc4 ,augsburg3 prints1 #bf2 playing-cards1 #bg2 ,bible1 #eb2 press1 #df1 #eg4 ,baldung1 ,hans1 #aaj4 ,bamberg3 press1 #ef4 ,basle3 characteristics of the city in ,holbein's time1 #aag4 ,behaim1 ,hans ,sebald1 #aab-aad4 ,bernard1 ,st43 his rebuke of art1 #ad4 ,best1 ,adolphe1 #afi4 ,bewick1 ,thomas3 the father of modern wood-engraving1 #aea2 sketch of his life1 #aed2 reforms effected by him1 #aed2 character of his genius1 #aed-afj2 his works1 #afa2 influence on the art in ,america1 #agb4 ,bible3 the ,cologne1 #di2 the ,nuremberg1 #ej2 the ,augsburg1 #eb2 the ,strasburg1 #ej2 ,coverdale's1 #acb2 ,le ,clerc's1 #aci2 ,jean de ,tournes'1 #ada2 ,harper's1 #agc4 ,bible cuts3 ,behaim's1 #aac2 ,holbein's1 #abi-aca2 ,jean ,moni's1 #ada4 ,biblia ,pauperum3 their use1 #ca2 designs not original1 #cb2 description1 #cc2 place of issue1 #cg4 ,blake1 ,william1 #afb4 ,block-printing3 invention1 #cj1 #ca1 #db2 decline1 #de4 ,boldrini1 ,nicolo1 #add4 ,bouts1 ,diedrick1 #ci4 ,branston1 ,robert1 #afd1 #afg4 ,bray1 ,theodore de1 #adg4 ,brevire1 ,henri1 #afi4 ,breydenbach's ,travels1 #ee4 ,bront1 ,charlotte1 criticism of ,bewick1 #aei-afa4 ,brosamer1 ,hans1 #aad4 ,brothers of the ,common ,lot3 their claim to the authorship of the block-books1 #ci4 ,brussels3 print of #adah1 #bc4 ,burgkmaier1 ,hans3 genius and works1 #ii-ajf2 influence on ,holbein1 #aag ,calcar1 ,jean1 #adf4 ,carpi1 ,ugo da1 #hg1 #adf4 ,caxton1 ,william3 ,game and ,playe of the ,chesse1 #fc4 ,chiaroscuro-engraving1 #hg-hi1 #adf1 #adh1 #ahg-ahi4 ,christopher1 ,st43 print of #adbc1 #bb4 ,chronicles3 general description1 #eb2 the ,cologne1 #ec2 the ,nuremberg1 #ec2 the ,saxon1 #ec4 ,clennell1 ,luke1 #afd1 #afg4 ,cole1 ,t41 #aig1 #bjj4 ,cologne3 early school of art1 #db1 #dc2 ,bible1 #di2 ,chronicle1 #ec2 press1 #eg4 ,color3 in the holy prints1 #bf note2 in early ,german books1 #eb2 in the ,livres d',heures1 #fj1 #fa2 in chiaroscuro-engraving1 #hg4 ,color1 conventional1 #ee1 #aea1 #aeb4 ,copperplate-engraving3 influence on wood-engraving1 #dg1 #ia1 #aab1 #ada1 #adi1 #afd1 #agf1 #ahb4 ,coriolano1 ,bartolemeo1 #adf4 ,coster1 ,lawrence3 claim to the invention of wood-engraving1 #ba4 ,cousin1 ,jean1 #acf-aci4 ,cranach1 ,lukas1 #aaj4 ,crible-work3 description1 #ah2 in ,france1 #fb1 #fc4 ,cross-hatching3 first use in ,germany1 #ee2 in ,italy1 #hf2 its propriety in wood-engraving1 #aeb1 #ahf4 ,cunio1 ,isabella and ,alexander ,alberico1 #bj4 ,dalziel1 the ,brothers1 #afh4 ,dance of ,death3 typical medival idea1 #aba2 ,holbein's1 #abc-abi2 ,guyot ,marchand's1 #fb4 ,davis1 ,j4 ,p41 #aig4 ,day1 ,john1 #adg4 ,didot1 ,firmin 7pre73 his influence on the ,french revival of the art1 #afc4 ,dream of ,poliphilo1 #gj-ha1 #acg1 #ach4 ,du ,pr1 ,jean1 #fj4 ,drer1 ,albert3 influence on the art1 #ij2 character of his genius1 #ia1 #ib2 ,apocalypse of ,st4 ,john1 #ic1 #id2 ,larger ,passion1 ,smaller ,passion1 ,life of the ,virgin1 #ie-ig2 single prints1 #ig2 ,car and ,gate of ,triumph1 #ig-ii4 ,england3 early woodcuts1 #fc2 the art in ,holbein's time1 #acb1 #adg1 #adh2 modern revival1 #aea1 #afd4 ,evans1 ,edmund1 #afh4 ,form1 value of1 in wood-engraving1 #aic4 ,france3 early books in ,french1 #eh2 early woodcuts1 #ei-fc2 influence of ,germany and ,italy1 #fb1 #ace2 character of the ,french ,renaissance and its art1 #ace-ada2 the modern revival1 #afc1 #afi4 ,french1 ,frank1 #aif4 ,genre art1 first appearance in wood-engraving1 #aba4 ,germany3 ,german block-books1 #db1 #dc2 activity and influence of the early printers1 #df1 #dg2 the free cities1 #dh2 character of the early press1 #dh1 #ef1 #eg2 influence on ,france1 #fb2 on ,italy1 #fg2 on ,venice1 #fh2 chiaroscuro-engraving1 #hg2 the ,renaissance1 #ia1 #ig1 #aaj1 #aaa1 #aae2 decline1 #adh2 the modern revival1 #afc1 #afi4 ,gilbert1 ,sir ,john1 #afh4 ,goldsmiths1 medival3 their art-works1 #ad-af2 position in ,france and the ,netherlands1 #ag2 their claim to the invention of wood-engraving1 #ah1 #ai4 ,goltzius1 ,hendrick1 #adg4 ,goujon1 ,jean1 #aci4 ,greche1 ,domenico delle1 #ade4 ,gregory the ,great3 his defence of art1 #ca4 ,groups1 modern1 #aie-bjj4 ,gubitz1 ,friedrich ,wilhelm1 #afc4 ,harvey1 ,william1 #afg4 ,historia ,johannis ,evangelist ejusque ,visiones ,apocalyptic1 #db4 ,historia ,virginis ,mari1 #da4 ,history of the ,kings of ,hungary1 #ec1 #ed4 ,holbein1 ,hans3 the first modern artist1 #aaf2 character and development of his genius1 #aag-abj2 early work1 #abj2 ,dance of ,death1 #abc-abh2 his democratic1 reforming1 and sceptical spirit1 dramatic and artistic power1 #abj-abg2 ,figures of the ,bible1 #abi-aca2 his ,english portraits1 #aca2 his ,english woodcuts1 #acb2 summary of his powers and influence1 #acb-acd4 ,holy prints1 #ba-bf4 ,hoskin1 ,robert1 #aie4 ,hypnerotomachia ,poliphili3 illustration of the ,italian ,renaissance1 #gj-ha2 the ,french reproduction1 #acg1 #ach4 ,initial letters3 in ,faust and ,scheffer's ,psalter1 #df2 in the ,augsburg ,bible1 #eb2 in ,italy1 #hf2 in ,holbein's alphabets1 #abj1 #aba4 ,italy3 artistic spirit1 #fe2 democratic civilization1 #ff2 the ,renaissance1 #fg2 introduction of printing1 #fh2 early cuts1 #fh2 general characterization of the engraved work1 #he2 decline1 #hf2 chiaroscuro-engraving1 #hg-hi2 influence on ,holbein1 #aag1 #aah4 ,jackson1 ,john ,baptist1 #adh4 ,jegher1 ,christopher1 #adg4 ,jerome1 ,st41 ,epistles of1 #gj1 #ga4 ,juengling1 ,f41 #aie1 #bjj4 ,kerver1 ,thielman1 #fb4 ,king1 ,f4 ,s41 #ahi1 #aic4 ,kirkall1 ,edward1 #adh4 ,kruell1 ,g41 #bjj4 ,landscape1 modern1 #ahf-aie4 ,lavoignat1 ,h41 #afi4 ,le ,caron1 ,pierre1 #fj4 ,le ,clerc1 ,jean1 #aci1 #adj4 ,leech1 ,john1 #afh4 ,leloir1 ,auguste1 #afi4 ,le ,rouge1 ,pierre1 #fj4 ,le ,sueur1 ,pierre1 #adh4 ,leyden1 ,lukas van1 #aaj1 #adg4 ,linton1 ,w4 ,j41 #afh1 #agf1 #bjj4 ,little ,masters1 #aaa4 ,livens1 ,jean1 #adg4 ,livres d',heures1 #fj-fb4 ,lorch1 ,melchior1 #aad4 ,lorme1 ,philibert de1 #adj4 ,lucchesini1 #adh4 ,ltzelburger1 ,hans1 #abi4 ,lyons3 earliest seat of the art in ,france1 #ei2 character of the earlier press1 #ei2 the later press1 #adj4 ,magazines3 use and influence1 #afg4 ,marchand1 ,guyot1 #fj1 #fb4 ,marsh1 ,henry1 #agf1 #ahf4 ,maximilian1 ,emperor3 life and character1 #ig2 works executed by his order--the ,triumphal ,car1 #ih2 ,gate of ,triumph1 #ii2 the ,triumphal ,procession1 #ii-aje2 ,the ,adventures of ,sir ,tewrdannckh1 #ajf2 ,the ,wise ,king1 #ajf2 influence of his patronage1 #aji4 ,mayence press1 #df1 #ec1 #ee1 #eg4 ,metal-engraving earlier than wood-engraving1 #ah4 ,middle ,ages3 position of goldsmiths1 #ad-ah2 impersonal spirit1 #bf2 value of painting1 #bh1 #ca2 immobility of mind1 #cb2 religious temper and intellectual life1 #dj1 #da2 art1 typical1 #ec2 illustrated by ,drer1 #ib2 by ,maximilian's works1 #ii-aje2 by the ,dance of ,death1 #aba4 ,moni1 ,jean1 #ada4 ,nanto1 ,francesco da1 #ade4 ,nesbit1 ,charlton1 #afd4 ,netherlands3 civilization in1 #cg2 wood-engraving probably invented in1 #ch2 decline of1 #dg1 #eg1 #adg4 ,nicolo1 ,giuseppe1 #adf4 ,nuremburg3 prints1 #bf2 playing-cards1 #bg2 ,bible1 #ej2 ,chronicle1 #ec2 press1 #eg1 #aad4 ,painting1 place of1 in medival popular civilization1 #bh1 #ca4 ,papillon1 ,jean1 the ,elder1 #adh2 the ,younger1 #bj4 ,paris3 character of the ,parisian press1 #ei1 #fj2 early books and printers1 #fj2 the ,livres d',heures1 #fj1 secular books1 #fb1 #fc4 ,prissin1 ,jacques1 #adj4 ,pfister1 ,book of ,fables1 #ef4 ,pigouchet1 ,philippe1 #fb4 ,playing-cards1 #bg4 ,pleydenwurff1 ,william1 #ec4 ,pliny1 reference to ,varro's portraits1 #bj4 ,porret1 #afi4 ,porto1 ,giovanni ,battista del1 #ade4 ,portraits1 modern1 #aih1 #bjj-bjb4 ,principles of wood-engraving1 #ahj-ahe4 ,processes3 engraving in relief on wood known to the ancients1 #ac2 of taking impressions1 #ag2 en manire crible1 #ah2 of taking off the holy prints1 #ba1 #bb2 of block-printing1 #cj2 of cross-hatching1 #ee2 of chiaroscuro-engraving1 #hg-hi2 white-line and ,bewick's other reforms1 #aea-aee4 ,pynson1 ,richard1 #fd4 ,raimondi1 ,marc ,antonio1 #if1 #adb4 ,reformation reflected in wood-engraving1 #ea1 #aab1 #aag1 #abj1 #abf1 #acb4 ,rembrandt1 #adg4 ,renaissance3 in ,italy1 #fg-he2 in ,germany1 #ia1 #ig1 #aaj1 #aaa1 #aae2 in ,france1 #ace-ada4 ,romances1 popular1 #ei1 #ada4 ,rubens1 ,p4 ,p43 reproductions after his designs1 #adg4 ,ruskin1 ,john3 criticism on ,holbein1 #abf2 on ,bewick1 #aee4 ,saints' images1 #ba-bf4 ,salomon1 ,bernard1 #adj-ada4 ,sand1 ,george1 criticism of ,holbein1 #abd4 ,satire3 in ,bible-cuts1 #ej1 #ea2 in the ,little ,masters1 #aab2 in ,holbein1 #abj1 #acb4 ,saxony3 ,chronicle1 #ec4 ,schatzbehalter1 #ed4 ,schuffelin1 ,hans1 #ajf4 ,schn1 ,erhard1 #aad4 ,scolari1 ,giuseppe1 #ade4 ,sebastian1 ,st43 print of #adcg1 #bc4 ,secularization of art1 #ej1 #aaj1 #aaa4 ,smith1 ,orrin1 #afg4 ,solis1 ,virgil1 #aad4 ,speculum ,human ,salvationis3 description1 #cd2 place of issue1 #cf2 authorship1 #ch1 note1 #ci2 character of the cuts1 #dj4 ,spirituale ,pomerium1 #ci4 ,springinklee1 ,hans1 #ajf1 #aaj4 ,stamps1 engraved1 early use1 #ac4 ,stimmer1 ,tobias1 #aad4 ,strasburg3 ,bible1 #ej2 press1 #eg4 ,suger1 defence of art1 #ae4 ,tenniel1 ,john1 #afh4 ,tewrdannckh1 ,sir1 ,adventures of1 #ajf4 ,thompson1 ,john1 #afd4 ,titian1 reproductions after his designs1 #add-adf4 ,tortorel1 ,jean1 #adj4 ,tory1 ,geoffrey1 influence on ,french engraving1 #ace4 ,trento1 ,antonio da1 #adf4 ,turrecremata's1 ,cardinal1 ,meditations1 #fh4 ,ulm3 prints1 #bf2 press1 #eg4 ,unger1 ,johann ,georg1 and ,johann ,gottlieb ,friedrich1 #afc4 ,van der ,weyden1 ,roger1 #db4 ,van ,eyck1 #cf1 #cg1 #db4 ,varro1 portraits in his works1 #bj4 ,vecellio1 ,cesare1 #adf4 ,venice3 claim to the origin of wood-engraving1 #bj2 decree forbidding importation of prints from ,germany1 #bg2 early cuts1 #fh2 early views of the city1 #fi2 later cuts1 #hb-hg1 #adc-adg4 ,verard1 ,antoine1 #fj1 #fb4 ,vesalius's ,anatomy1 #ade4 ,vinci1 ,leonardo da1 #adb4 ,vostre1 ,simon1 #fb4 ,white line3 description1 #aea2 influence on the art in ,bewick's hands1 #aec2 the engraver's province1 #aed1 #ahd4 ,wise ,king1 ,the1 #ajf4 ,woeiriot1 ,pierre1 #adj4 ,wohlgemuth1 ,michael1 #ec1 #ed4 ,worde1 ,wynkyn de1 #fd4 ,zainer ,gunther1 #df1 #eb4 ,,the ,,end4 99 99 99 99 99 ,typographical errors corrected by the etext transcriber3 appendix von ,albert ,ilg4 ,wein appendix von ,albert ,ilg4 ,wien pg #ai ,guyot ,marchand's ,la ,dance ,macabre1 first published in #adhe ,guyot ,marchand's ,la ,danse ,macabre1 first published in #adhe pg #fb its bloom in sun difers its bloom in sun differs pg #aha 99 99 99 99 99 ,,footnotes3 #a 8,documents1 ,iconographiques et ,typographiques de la ,bibliothque ,royale de ,belgique10 ,deuxime ,livr4 ,gravure ,crible1 par ,m4 ,h4 ,hymans4 ,bruxelles1 #ahfd-ahgc4 ,quoted in ,willshire1 8,an ,introduction to the ,study and ,collection of ,ancient ,prints40 ,london4 #ahgg2 #b vols42 vol4 ii41 p4 #fd4 #b 8,fulget ecclesia in parietibus1 et in pauperibus eget4 ,suos lapides induit auro2 et suos filios nudos deserit4 99 99 99 ,tam multa denique1 tamque mira diversarium formarum ubique varietas apparet ut magis legere libeat in marmoribus1 quam in codicibus1 totum diem occupare singula ista mirando quam in lege ,dei meditando40 ,sancti ,bernardi opera omnia4 ,recognita1 etc41 curis ,dom4 ,j4 ,mabillon4 #d vols4 ,paris1 #ahci2 vol4 i41 col4 #abdb-abdd1 ,apologia ad ,guillelmum1 cap4 xii4 #c 8,abundet unusquisque in suo sensu1 mihi fateor hoc potissimum placuisse ut qucumque cariora1 qucumque carissima1 sacrosanct ,eucharisti amministrationi super omnia deservire debeant4 ,si libatoria aurea1 si fial aure et si mortariola aurea ad collectam sanguinis hircorum aut vitulorum aut vacc ruff1 ore ,dei aut prophet jussu1 deserviebant2 quanto magis ad susceptionem sanguinis ,jesu ,christi vasa aurea1 lapides preciosi1 quque inter omnes creaturas carissima continuo famulatu1 plena devotione exponi debeat40 uvres compltes de ,suger recueillies1 etc41 par ,a4 ,l4 de la ,marche4 ,paris1 #ahfg4 ,sur son administration ,abbatiale1 p4 #aii et seq4 #d ,la ,barte1 8,histoire des ,arts ,industriels au ,moyen ,age et a l'poque de la ,renaissance40 #d tom4 7,album1 #b tom474 ,paris1 #ahfd4 ,tom4 i41 pp4 #cia-eac2 tom4 ii41 pp4 #a-eib4 #e ,leon ,delaborde1 8,notice des ,emaux et ,objets divers exposs au ,louvre40 ,paris1 #ahec2 p4 #hd4 #f ,leon ,delaborde1 8,la plus ancienne ,gravure du ,cabinet des ,estampes de la ,bibliothque ,royale1 est-elle ancienne80 ,paris1 #ahdj4 ,quoted in ,willshire1 vol4 ii41 p4 #fd4 #g ,theophilus ,presbyter1 8,schedula ,diversarum ,artium40 ,revidirter text1 ubersetzung und appendix von ,albert ,ilg4 ,wien1 #ahgd2 cap4 lxxi41 lxxii41 pp4 #bha-bhc4 #h ,renouvier1 8,histoire de l',origine et des ,progrs de la ,gravure dans les ,pays-,bas et en ,allemagne1 jusqu' la fin du quinzime ,sicle40 ,bruxelles1 #ahfj4 #i ,the date of #adjf has been assigned to two examples at ,paris with great ingenuity1 but not unquestionably1 by ,m4 le ,vte4 ,henri ,delaborde1 8,notice sur ,deux ,estampes de #adjf et sur les commencements de la ,gravure ,crible40--,gazette des ,beaux ,arts1 ,mars #a1 #ahfi4 #aj ,willshire1 vol4 ii41 pp4 #fb1 #fc4 #aa ,pliny1 8,nat4 ,hist410 liber xxxv41 c4 #b4 #ab ,w4 ,y4 ,ottley1 8,an ,inquiry into the ,origin and ,early ,history of ,engraving upon ,copper and in ,wood40 ,london1 #ahaf2 #b vols42 vol4 i41 pp4 #ed-ei4 #ac ,papillon1 8,trait ,historique de la ,gravure en ,bois40 ,paris1 #agff4 ,trois parties en deux tomes2 tom4 i41 p4 #hc4 #ad ,von ,murr1 ,zani1 meric ,david1 ,ottley4 #ae ,heinecken1 ,lanzi1 ,mariette1 ,didot4 #af ,jackson and ,chatto1 8,a ,treatise on ,wood-engraving40 ,london1 #ahci2 p4 #ci4 #ag ,meerman1 8,orig4 ,typogr40 ,hag1 ,comit41 #agfe4 #ah ,hadriani ,junii ,batavia4 ,lugdunum ,batavorum1 #aehh4 #ai ,s4 ,sotheby1 8,principia ,typographica40 ,the block-books issued in ,holland1 ,flanders1 and ,germany during the #aeth century4 ,london1 #aheh2 #c vols42 vol4 i41 p4 #agi4 #bj ,heinecken1 8,ide ,gnrale d'une ,collection complette d',estampes40 ,leipsic et ,vienne1 #agga2 p4 #bej4 #ba ,those who are curious may consult on this print 8,quelques ,mots sur la ,gravure au millsime de #adah10 par ,c4 ,d4 ,b4 7,m4 de ,brou74 ,bruxelles1 #ahdf4 8,la ,plus ,ancienne ,gravure connue avec une date10 ,mmoire par ,m4 le ,baron de ,reiffenberg4 ,bruxelles1 #ahde2 also1 in favor of the date1 the works of ,ruelens1 ,luthereau1 ,renouvier1 ,berjeau1 and against it1 the works of ,passavant1 ,la,croix1 and ,chatto4 #bb ,this print is described by ,ottley in his 8,inquiry10 etc4 ,london1 #ahfc4 ,there is another woodcut on the reverse side of the leaf1 representing the ,virgin holding the dead ,christ1 of which ,ottley gives a fac-simile4 ,the manuscript with these woodcuts is now in the possession of ,professor ,norton1 of ,harvard ,college4 #bc ,many fine examples of these prints are reproduced1 with their original colors1 in ,weigel and ,zestermann's 8,die ,anfnge der ,drucker-,kunst in ,bild und ,schrift40 #b ,bnde4 ,leipzig1 #ahff4 #bd ,four schools of coloring are reckoned3 the ,suabian ,school 7,augsburg and ,ulm71 marked by bright colors2 the ,franconian 7,nuremberg and ,nrdlingen71 marked by less lively colors2 the ,bavarian 7,friesing1 ,tegernsee1 ,kaisersheim71 marked by use of pure carmine and ochre2 the ,lower ,rhine 7,cologne1 and towns of ,burgundy71 marked by pure colors in pale tints4 ,see ,willshire1 vol4 i41 p4 #age et seq4 #be ,merlin1 8,origine des ,cartes ,jouer1 ,recherches nouvelles10 etc4 ,paris1 #ahfi4 #bf ,printed in ,ottley1 8,an ,inquiry10 etc41 vol4 i41 p4 #dg4 #bg 8,nam quod legentibus ,scriptura1 hoc idiotis prstat pictura cernentibus1 quia in ipsa etiam ignorantes vident quid sequi debeant1 in ipsa legunt qui litteras nesciunt2 unde et prcipue gentibus pro lectione pictura est40 ,patrologi ,cursus ,completus1 ,accurante1 ,j4 ,p4 ,migne1 tom4 lxxvii4 ,sancti ,gregorii ,magni1 tom1 iii41 liber xi41 epis4 xiii41 col4 #aabh4 ,vide1 also1 idem1 liber ix41 epis4 cv41 col4 #ajbg4 #bh 8,biblia ,pauperum40 ,reproduced in fac-simile1 from one of the copies in the ,british ,museum1 with an historical and bibliographical introduction by ,j4 ,ph4 ,berjeau4 ,london1 #ahei4 #bi 8,speculum ,human ,salvationis40 ,le ,plus ,ancien ,monument de la ,xylographie et de la ,typographie runies4 ,reproduit en fac-simile1 avec introduction ,historique et ,bibliographique1 par ,j4 ,ph4 ,berjeau4 ,londres1 #ahfa4 #cj ,the composition of the poem which forms the text of the ,speculum has been attributed to ,vincent de ,beauvais1 who could not have written it1 and to ,conrad d',altzheim1 who might have written it2 the designs have been attributed to various artists1 particularly to ,steurbout1 but on the slightest grounds2 the printing has been assigned to ,lawrence ,coster1 in whose doubtful if not fabulous name no confidence can be placed1 and to ,veldener1 ,faust and ,scheffer1 ,thierry ,martens d',alost1 and other early ,german and ,flemish printers4 #ca ,renouvier1 8,origine10 etc41 p4 #ia2 and ,berjeau's preface to the ,fac-simile ,reproduction of the ,speculum4 ,the claims of the ,brotherhood are supported most fully by ,harzen in 8,archiv fr die ,zeichnenden ,knste40 ,leipsig1 #ahee4 #cb ,didot1 8,essai ,typographique et ,bibliographique sur l',histoire de la ,gravure sur ,bois10 col4 #bje4 ,paris1 #ahfc4 #cc ,renouvier1 8,des ,gravures sur ,bois dans les ,livres de ,simon ,vostre40 ,paris1 #ahfb4 #cd ,see ,duplessis on the works of ,simon ,vostre1 and ,brunet's 8,manuel du ,libraire10 tom v41 at the end1 for farther information on the devotional books of the ,french printers4 #ce ,ante1 p4 #ah4 #cf ,vide ,renouvier1 ,didot1 ,passavant4 #cg ,vespas4 ,fior41 p4 #abi4 ,quoted in ,burckhardt1 8,the ,civilization of the ,period of the ,renaissance in ,italy40 ,translated by ,s4 ,g4 ,c4 ,middlemore4 ,vol4 i41 p4 #bga4 ,london1 #ahgh4 #ch ,the ,academy1 ,october #ae1 #ahgb1 pp4 #chc et seq4 ,vide1 also1 ,albert ,ilg1 8,ueber den ,kunsthistorischen ,werth der ,hypnerotomachia ,poliphili1 ein ,beitrag zur ,geschichte der ,kunstliteratur in der ,renaissance40 ,wien1 #ahgb4 ,the original edition of the ,dream of ,poliphilo is rare and costly4 ,it was re-issued in ,venice1 in #aede1 and in ,paris1 with some variations 7of which some account is given on a later page71 in #aedf4 ,there is an abridged translation in ,french by ,legrand1 without cuts1 printed by ,didot in #ahjd4 #ci 8,le ,triomphe de l',empereur ,maximilien4 ,vienne1 #agif40 #dj 8,la ,mare au ,diable1 par ,george ,sand10 pp4 #e-g4 ,paris1 #ahfi4