history to an end. After him, the chiaroscuro could not be practiced again except 

 as an archaism/" The way was open for the modern woodcut, although it was a 

 long time in coming. 



The range of Jackson's work in tone and color exceeded that of all previous 

 woodcutters and can be divided as follows: (i) chiaroscuros — after drawings, 

 after paintings, after his own pen and ink drawings after paintings, interpretations 

 of engravings and etchings, and interpretations of sculpture; and (2) full color — 

 after paintings in gouache and after his own water colors. In addition he treated 

 pictorial subjects in flat color areas without a key or outline block, a procedure 

 used before him only by the 17th-century Chinese; and he combined burin work 

 with knife cutting. 



But Jackson's reputation, in the long perspective, must rest upon his quaUties 

 as an artist. He had great distinction as a colorist but lacked originality as a de-- 

 signer and was dependent upon others, for the most part, for basic compositions. 

 As an interpreter of these compositions, however, he was imaginative and forceful. 

 He did not follow the example of most copper plate engravers and reproduce sub- 

 jects faithfully; his conception of the woodcut as a frank medium precluded exact 

 rendition. Except, possibly, for his first chiaroscuro, he always translated freely, with 

 the aim of making good woodcuts rather than accurate representations of his sub- 

 jects. Jackson's work after others, in short, was consciously intended as artful ap- 

 proximation. This emphasis on the spirit rather than the letter, together with his 

 novel techniques, often gave his prints a somewhat hybrid character — an ambiguous 

 look that might serve to explain the uneasy feelings of many critics. But his largeness 

 of feeling is unmistakable, and this is what finally places him among the masters. 



The color woodcut is now an important form of printmaking. For this me- 

 dium in the Western world, Jackson is the main ancestral figure. 



'^"Only one moderately important chiaroscurist can be mentioned, John Skippe, who worked in 

 England from the 1770's to about 1810. 



68 



