292 . ENGRAVING 



page of which is divided horizontally into two pictures, with slight descriptive lines 

 on scrolls; or the ' Apocalypsis Sancti Johannes,' which is similarly arranged, and in 

 both of which wo occasionally find much power of drawing and ability of grouping. 

 The dates of these books can only be conjecturally given, but they are probably con- 

 temporary with the St. Christopher, or but a few years later. Judging from general 

 characteristics, the ' Apocalypse ' seems to be the earliest. The figures are executed 

 entirely in outline, with no attempt at shadows, which appear sparingly on the St. 

 Christopher, and are very freely introduced in the ' Canticles,' and still more abun- 

 dantly in the ' Biblia Pauporum.' These effects are always produced by a series of 

 short lines laid parallel to each other, nor is any attempt made to enrich the meagre 

 character of the work by crossing the lines, as in more modern engraving. The do- 

 bate, which has excited so many historians as to the place where printing first had 

 birth, has included many doubts concerning the country where those old block-books 

 were fabricated ; but from the armorial bearings which appear on the shields of some 

 figures in the ' Canticles,' Germany seems to be the country whero that series was 

 designed ; J probably Flanders or Holland may claim the ' Biblia Pauperum,' which 

 does not bear equal traces of refinement in art. The ' Speculum Humanae Salvation is ' 

 has been claimed for Laurence Coster of Haarlem. This book was a combination of 

 block-book and moveablo type, having long cuts across the top of each page, divided by 

 columns into two subjects, with moveable types beneath. It is not unusual to moot 

 with woodcut pages of type alone at this period ; and books with such pages, or with 

 the addition of woodcuts, were produced by the old engravers after the invention of 

 moveable types ; but, as metal-cast letters speedily usurped the place of the wooden 

 ones, the wood engravers seem to have soon confined themselves to the pictorial branch 

 of the art. 



The love of pictured illustrations of narrative history gave a permanence to the 

 art of wood-engraving ; and the works printed in Italy, as well as those introduced 

 into England by Caxton, were adorned with cuts. They are, however, of the 

 rudest kind, with broad heavy lines, and were most probably produced from coarse 

 pen drawings made on the surface of the wood, and mechanically cut by the engraver. 

 Toward the close of the fifteenth century ' cross-hatching ' (as lines of shadow cross- 

 ing each other are technically termed) is first seen, and in the 'Nuremburg Chronicle,' 

 1493, they are freely used. The designers and engravers of these cuts, perceiving 

 the effect, which may be so readily obtained in wood-engraving, by leaving the wood 

 untouched with the graver for solid masses of shadow, have availed themselves of it, 

 and given stronger effect to their cuts thereby. Michael Wohlgemuth and William 

 Ploydenwurff were the designers employed; the former artist was the master of 

 Albert Durer, who ultimately raised wood-engraving to the highest point of ex- 

 cellence. 



Diircr's first great work was a scries of sixteen large cuts illustrative of tho 

 Apocalypse. They were published in 1498, and attracted groat attention from the 

 vigour and strange originality of their design, and the artistic character of their treat- 

 ment. In 1511 another series of cuts was published at Nuremberg by Durer, 

 illustrative of the Apocryphal Life of the Virgin. They evidence the great improve- 

 ment which the artist had made during the interval, and aro certainly the finest wood- 

 cuts which had ever been executed up to that period ; but they aro eclipsed by the 

 series of eleven large cuts published soon after, representing scones in tho Passion of 

 Christ ; and which may bo fairly considered triumphs of the art of wood-engraving, 

 unsurpassed in design and execution by any successors. Tho art had now become 

 appreciated wherever it was known, and 'a host of wood engravers found employ in 

 Nuremberg, cutting the designs of Durer, Hans Burgmair, !i :>IVK'in. and 



other artists ; who found no lack of patronage in tho old imperial city, for the Emperor 

 Maximilian I., extensively employed them in various works illustrative of his real or 

 fancied exploits. 2 



So important was this royal patronage, that tho engravers set no bounds to tho size 

 of tho works they attempted, and hit upon the plan of joining one block of wood to 

 another, until in the engraving representing the triumphal arch in honour of this 

 emperor, a woodcut was completed in this way, measuring ten feet by nine. Tho 

 sizo is, however, not its only claim to attention, for it is throughout designed and en- 

 graved with the utmost caro and beauty. 



In all those cuts of tho great masters of the art of wood-engraving, we only find tho 

 name of the designer recorded ; thus, Diircr, and others of his era, whose 



1 Among them arc the double- headed oaf/lo of Austria, tho Mnok eagle of Germany, the three crowns 

 of Cologne, the cross-keys of Rntisbon, tho arms of Wurteinl>crg, Nymphenburg, and Alsace. 

 " Snch were the adventures of the Knight Thncrdank, under which form the emperor was t 



' The Wise King,' an equally flattering picture of his curly education and actions ; and tho magnificent 

 s, known as the ' Triumphs of Maximilian,' 



series of cuts. 



