might have been added a few years later. Jost de Negker, working after drawings 

 by Hans Burgkmair, cut blocks which are dated, on the black block at least, as early 

 as 1508, and work by Hans Baldung and Hans Wechtlin appeared shortly after. 



The Italian style originated with Ugo da Carpi, who in 15 16 petitioned the 

 Senate in Venice to grant him exclusive rights to the chiaroscuro process, which he 

 claimed to have invented. For many years, until Bartsch adduced proof in favor of 

 the Germans, da Carpi was conceded to be the founder of this process. His first 

 work dates from 15 18 but obviously he produced prints earlier — how much earlier 

 is uncertain. Working mainly after the loose, fresh wash drawings of Raphael and 

 Parmigianino he developed a method of reducing their tonal constituents to two 

 or three simple areas plus a partial outline, each of which was cut on a separate 

 block. The blocks were then inked with transparent tones and printed one over 

 the other to achieve gradations. White highlights were imitated, as in the German 

 manner, by cutting out lines on a tone block to let the white paper assert itself. The 

 result was a broadly treated facsimile of the original drawing. Some liberties were 

 occasionally taken in interpretation, and sometimes fanciful changes were made in 

 color combinations. 



This technique was followed in Italy during the remainder of the 1500's, the 

 most prominent early workers being Antonio da Trento (Fantuzzi), Domenico 

 Beccafumi, and Giuseppe Niccolo Vicentino. Late in the century Andrea Andreani 

 acquired a large number of blocks by previous Italian chiaroscurists and reissued 

 them, adding his own monogram. By multiplying these subjects he reduced their 

 rarity and emphasized their distinct character, their difference from other types of 

 prints. The Italian term "chiaroscuro," meaning light and dark, has persisted as a 

 generic name for this class of work. 



The Italian and German techniques were often pursued in variant styles. The 

 Germans sometimes used three blocks, with oudines not only in black but in a 

 tone and white as well. Burgkmair's Death as a StrangJer (B. 40)'" and Wechtlin's 

 Alcoji Freeing his Soit from the Serpent (B. 9) are of this type. 



The Italians, in turn, often used two blocks in the German fashion, repro- 

 ducing a complete crosshatched pen drawing with one tint block. Even da Carpi 

 used this procedure more than occasionally, as in St. John Preaching in the Desert 



^^ Adam Bartsch, Le Peintre graveur, Vienna, 1803-1821. 



10 



