ENGRAVING. 441 



teenth century and the beginning of the sixteenth century, it be- 

 came c istomary for almost every one of the German engravers 

 on copper to engrave on wood also. The works of Albert Durer 

 in this style of engraving are justly held in the highest esteem. 

 Italy, France, and Holland, have produced many capital artists of 

 this kind ; but for boldness and spirit we must see the prints of 

 Christopher Jegher. who worked under the direction of Rubens, 

 and was without doubt assisted by that great roaster. The in. 

 vention of that species of engraving distinguished by the appella- 

 tion of chiaro.scitro, seems also to be justly claimed by the Ger- 

 mans, and first practised by Mair ; one of whose prints of this 

 kind is dated 1499. Many excellent works in chiaro-scuro have 

 been produced in France ; and in Italy it was honoured with the 

 performances of Titian and Parmegiano, but the attempts of 

 Jackson, Kirkall, and others in Knjand, have not been suc- 

 cessful. A set of excellent prints in this way have lately been 

 published by J. Skippe, esq. a connoisseur and dillettante. In 

 Germany, about A. D. 1450, prints from engraved copper first 

 made their appearance. The earliest date of a copperplate print 

 is indeed only 1461 ; but however faulty this print may be with 

 respect to the drawing, or defe tive in point of taste, the mecha- 

 nical part of (he execution of it has by no means the appearance 

 of being one of the firf productions of the.graver. We have also 

 several gther engravings evidently the work of the same master; 

 jn which the impressions are so neatly taken from the plates, and 

 the engravings so clearly printed in every part, that according to 

 all appearance, they could not be exeruted in a much better man- 

 ner in the present day, with all the com', niom-ie- which the cop. 

 perplate printers now possess, and the additional knowledge they 

 must necessarily have acquired in the course of more than three 

 centuries. Hence we may fairly conclude, that if they were not 

 the first specimens of the engraver's workmanship, they were much 

 less the first efforts of the copperplate printer's ability. It is 

 likewise to be observed, that Martin Shoen, who is said to have 

 worked from 1460 to i486', was apparently the scholar of Stoltz. 

 for he followed his style of engraving, and copied from him 

 a set of prints, representing the passion of our Saviour. Now, 

 allowing Stoltzhirs to have preceded his disciple only ten years, 

 this carries the era of the art back to 1450. as was said above. 

 There is no ground to suppose that it wis known to the Italians 



