The Englishman evidently was kept well occupied with preparing cuts for 

 printers, among them Baglioni and Pezzana. For the latter he made 24 woodcuts 

 for a quarto edition of a Biblia Sacra and an unspecified number of ornaments for 

 a folio edition. Jackson was given a free hand to conceive and carry out the cuts 

 as he pleased. 



While working on these prints he began — 



to consider on his favourite Work in Chiaro Oscuro, and by intervals examined 

 what he had projected at Paris. He began first to make experiments with Tints, 

 and having proved that Four Impressions could produce Ten positive Tints, be- 

 sides Tratti and Lights; he resolved to try a large Piece from Rubens' s Judgment of 

 Solomon, with an intent to prove what could be done with the Efforts of a Type 

 Press before he launched into greater Expences with another Machine. 



He wanted this press in his home, where he could experiment as he pleased with- 

 out tying up workmen or equipment in Pezzana's shop. It might have been pro- 

 fessional delicacy that prompted him to ask Pezzana's permission to have a private 

 press built, or it might have been a bid for patronage from the generous and influ- 

 ential printer. In any event, Pezzana responded by having his carpenters build and 

 install the press at his own expense. To avoid official registrations or craft suspicions, 

 he had it registered as his own. The trial proofs of The Judgment of Solomon, 

 printed from four blocks, pleased Jackson in every regard except vigor of impression. 

 Unfortunately no edidon was published, despite the dedication to Filippo Farsetti. 



Finished in 1735, this woodcut was probably the first to translate a painting 

 in a full range of tones. From the purely technical standpoint it was an incredible 

 achievement. Jackson created a vivid approximation of a large and complex paint- 

 ing and at the same time produced a vigorous woodcut. From four superimposed 

 woodblocks, with almost no linework, he was able to capture the full-blooded 

 forms of Rubens. By keeping his means simple Jackson asserted the importance 

 of his cutting and printing, the expressiveness of his drawing, and the fluidity of 

 his tones. Obviously such a procedure required major decisions as to what to omit 

 and what to stress ; in other words it required interpretive abilities of a high order. 



Evidently Jackson believed that his new chiaroscuro method required heavier 

 pressure than the platen press was capable of. (On the usual wooden screw press 



27 



