46(1 



ENGRAVING. 



were taken in clay or sulphur, both for the con- 

 venience of the artist as he proceeded in bis work, 

 und for distribution among his friends. It occurred 

 to Finiguerra, that the impression might be made 

 on paper instead of clay; and he proceeded to 

 make the experiment, wetting the paper and ap- 

 plying it gently with a roller. Impressions are 

 still preserved in some of the museums of Italy, 

 taken upon paper, and easily recognised by the in- 

 M-ri[)tions being reversed; and the Abbe Zani dis- 

 covered at the Bibliotheque du Roi at Paris, in 

 1803, a print entitled The first impression from 

 :m engraving by Maso Finiguerra in 1452." Some 

 Italian writers, with considerable show of reason, 

 place the epoch of Finiguerra's inventions as early 

 as 1440, or a short time before. German writers 

 claim the honour of the invention for a citizen of 

 Antwerp, Martin Schoengaur, asserting that he 

 practised the art before FiniguSrra. It seems pro- 

 bable, that it appeared nearly simultaneously in 

 both countries. The earliest distinguished engra- 

 vers after the discovery of the art, however, were 

 Italians. 



It does not appear, that Finiguerra pursued his 

 invention any further than to take impressions on 

 paper instead of clay. A contemporary, of the 

 same profession and city, Baccio Baldini, improved 

 upon the invention by engraving on plates for the 

 express purpose of taking impressions. He was 

 u'tv;itly assisted by a distinguished painter, Antonio 

 Pollajuolo, who furnished him with designs for his 

 engravings, and also by another artist, Sandro Bot- 

 ticelli, who made a set of drawings, from which Bal- 

 dini engraved plates for an edition of Dante, pub- 

 lished in 1488, and supposed to be the first book 

 ever embellished with copperplate engravings ; 

 though this notion has been proved false by a Ger- 

 niiin writer. 



The works of Baldini attracted the attention of 

 a Roman engraver, Andrea Mantegna, who had al- 

 ready become distinguished as one of the most suc- 

 cessful of the niellatori. This artist not only as- 

 sisted Baldini with original designs, but also turned 

 his own efforts to the promotion of the newly-dis- 

 covered art, in which he soon became a proficient. 

 Roscoe says of him, that his prints display consid- 

 erable power of invention and expression of char- 

 acter, even bordering upon grace and elegance. 

 The drawing is generally correct, and sometimes 

 exhibits great freedom and spirit. His engravings 

 are distinguished by the shadows being formed by 

 diagonal lines, not crossed as in more recent prints. 



In our notice of the early days of the art, we 

 must not omit mentioning Albert Durer, one of 

 the earliest Dutch engravers. Some knowledge 

 of the art seems to have been previously possessed 

 in Holland by Martin Schoengaur, who is thought 

 by some German writers to have invented it, and 

 who was certainly a contemporary of Finiguerra. 

 The works of Martin, and his disciple Wolge- 

 inuth, inspired the genius of Albert Durer, who 

 did much for the improvement of the art, excel- 

 ling equally on copper and on wood. Among 

 his most famous works are portraits of the Em- 

 peror Maximilian ; of Albert, elector of Mentz ; 

 of Philip Melar.cthon ; a full length of Erasmus, 

 who is represented standing at a desk, writing ; a 

 head of Ulric Vambuler, of the size of life ; and a 

 portrait of himself. He also executed a series of 

 engravings on wood, thirty-six in number, repre- 

 senting scenes from the life of our Saviour. 



We have mentioned these prints, because they 



exercised an important influence on the career of a 

 young Italian, who was now successfully cultivat- 

 ing the same art, and who was destined to carry it 

 to a much higher degree of excellence. Marc-An- 

 tonio Raimondi was born at Bologna, and studied 

 the art of painting with Francesco Francia. He 

 was early distinguished for his works in niello, but 

 seems to have made no attempts at regular engrav- 

 ing until his attention was directed to it by acci- 

 dent. Having taken a journey to Venice, he s;i\v 

 for sale the set of prints, by Albert Durer, repre- 

 senting the life of our Saviour. These prints were 

 held in high estimation, and sold at a very great 

 price ; but the young artist was so much tempted 

 by them, that he could not refrain from the pur- 

 chase, though it completely exhausted his funds. 

 In order to repair his fortunes, he immediately 

 began to make copies of Durer's pieces, which he 

 executed with so much success in copper, that he 

 was able to sell them in Venice, as originals by 

 Durer. The latter, as Vasari tells the story, in 

 his " Lives of Painters," on hearing of the fraud, 

 immediately repaired to Venice, and complained to 

 the senate of the injury ; but obtained no other 

 satisfaction, than a decree forbidding Marc-Antonio 

 from affixing to his prints the name or emblem of 

 Durer. 



From Venice, Marc-Antonio went to Rome, 

 where he had the good fortune to become acquainted 

 with Raphael, who was then residing there. Hav- 

 ing made an engraving from Raphael's Lucretia, he 

 caused it to be shown to the artist, who immedi- 

 ately perceived the great advantage which he 

 should enjoy by means of this invention, in having 

 his works spread over the world ; and from thia 

 time Antonio found his chief occupation in copying 

 the works of this great master, receiving from him 

 many useful hints and directions, so that the art 

 was greatly improved by his labours. His reputa- 

 tion was soon established throughout Italy, and 

 his school was resorted to by numerous disciples; 

 among whom were Marco da Ravenna, Agostino 

 Veneziano, and Giulio Bonasone, who were almost 

 as accomplished and successful as their teacher, arid 

 did much to improve the taste of Europe. 



The art vras thus firmly established in Italy and 

 in Holland. The first kind which was practised 

 was the line engraving, as would naturally be sup- 

 posed, when we remember the origin of the inven- 

 tion. And it is worthy of note, that, although 

 many other ways have been adopted for cutting 

 the copper, the earliest method is still used for the 

 most costly and elaborate works. An account of 

 the different modes of engraving will be found in 

 the body of the Encyclopedia, under the present 

 head. 



There is a species of engraving on copper called 

 the medallic, which has been invented within the 

 last twenty-five years, and is so beautiful a branch 

 of the art that it merits a minute description. The 

 object of this kind of engraving is, to give accurate 

 representations of medals, coins, and bassorilievos 

 of a small size ; and it is effected by applying a 

 machine to the surface of the medal, which will 

 trace a line on the copper corresponding exactly to 

 the outline of the figure on the medal. Those who 

 are familiar with a pentegraph will be able to form 

 an idea of this machine. It is so contrived, that, 

 as it slides over the surface of the coin, every ele- 

 vation or depression which produces a perpendicu- 

 lar motion in the machine, causes at the same time 

 a horizontal movement at the other extremity 



