GERMAN SCHOOL OF ENGRAVING. 



Jiff yifoeecds to defcrlbe one of the rareft and bed of thefe 

 prints which he found in the collection of the late Dr. Monro. 

 It is ten inches and a half high, by feven and a half in width, 

 and reprefcnts an old man feated in a praying pofture. He 

 has a ftandard refting upon his left fhoulder, and a book 

 before him. Behind liim is an armorial fhield, with three 

 different bearings ; and, at the bottom, a cave with a gate 

 before it. Above the figure is a fcroll, upon which is 

 written, " fee Wilhclnne Dvx Aqvitaine et Comes Picla- 

 tienfis." The head of this figure is well drawn ; the hands 

 are marked in a fpiritcd manner, the folds of the drapery 

 are broad, and boldly exprefled, and the whole is compofed 

 in a (lyle which does much honour to the artift. With 

 refpeft to the mechanical part, it is executed with the graver 

 only, in a dark, clear ftyle, yet without formality, fo as to 

 have the effett of a neat etching. 



It is no fmall addition to the honour of Wolgemut, that 

 he was the tutor of Albert Durer, a name fo greatly cele- 

 brated in the annals of engraving. 



Arrived at the period when engraving both on wood and 

 on copper began to (hine forth with fuperior luftre in 

 Germany, it is neceffary to look back a few years in order 

 to note the introduftion of the latter branch of the art, into 

 that part of Europe. 



The reader wiU find under the article Italian' fchool of 

 Engraving, tlie popular and perhaps the true accoimt of the 

 difcovery of the mode of printing from the incifions of the 

 graver, which, foon after the middle of the fifteenth century, 

 was introduced into Germany. As the firft engravers on 

 wood were the manufacturers of plaving-cards, (called 

 Formfchricuhrs and Br'iefmaLrs in Germany and in France,) 

 fo the eai"!iell modern engravers on metal, both in Germany 

 aiid Italy, were goldfmiths, and the firfl artift who emi- 

 nently dillinguifjied himlelf in the former country was 

 Martin Scho'jn. 



Yet having ;drcacly mentioned Jacob Walch of doubtful 

 chronolog)', it may not be improper in this place to add, 

 that this engraver was particularly fond of introducing. 

 Gothic architefture into his prints, in the delineation of 

 Avhich he took no fmall pains ; but, from a want of know- 

 ledge in perfpeftive, his deUgns of this kind are fadly con- 

 fufed. He drew ver^- incorreftly, and his compofitions are 

 in the extreme of that ftifF and meagre tafte which charae- 

 terizes the early produttions of the German Ichoo!. His 

 mark, confifting of the initial letter of his firname and a 

 kind of lozenge crofs, may be feeu in our firft plate of mono- 

 grams, &c. of the German fchool of engravers ; but it is to 

 be obferved, that there are fome few prints marked with the 

 crofs only, which have the appearance of beina; more ancient 

 than thofe wliich are marked with the W and crofs. 



Of the former kind are, " a hairy, wild, Man fighting with 

 a Bear,'' and " a Woman feated, careffinga Unicorn," both 

 finall, and of tlie upright form. 



Of the latter kind (marked with the W and crofs,) a 

 Gothic ornament for a crozier, a large upright ; " The 

 infide of a Gothic Edifice,'' a middling-lized circular plate, 

 " A Ship ftriking againil a Rock," with the infcription, 

 " Haerdze" in German text, a fmall plate; a fet of mili- 

 tary fubiefts, fmall, and another of faints Handing in Gothic 

 inches, fmall uprights ; " Three Skulls in an Arch, orna- 

 mented with Gothic work ;'' and " The Genealogy of Jefus 

 Chrift," wherein faint Elizabeth appears on a throne, 

 reading, with the Virgin Marj' and infant Chrift below. 

 On the right hand is David with his harp, and on the left 

 Aaron. Behind the throne arifes a genealogical ftem of 

 the lir^age of Chrift from David to Joieph, reprefentcd (as . 



ufual) by half figures. This Jaft is a large uprigFit 

 print. 



Martin vSchoen, or Schcin, or Sclioengauer, called by the 

 foreign writers on art, Le Beau Martin, or Hiibfe Martin, 

 and miftakenly called by Vafari Martin of Antwerp, was 

 born at Culmbach, a fmall city in the circle of Franconia, 

 in the year 1420. He was educated a goldfmith, and a- 

 certain Luprecht Ruft, and Francis Van Stofs, or Stohlzirs,; 

 have been mentioned as his tutors. At the age of forty,, 

 and probably before, he diftinguidied himfclf bj- his extra- 

 ordinary powers in the arts of paintmg and engraving, par- 

 ticularly tlie latter, and died at Colmar in 1486. His 

 prints are without dates, but he, rather than any other man, 

 may claim the honour of having been the firft to praftife the 

 art of engraving on plates of metal, with a view to their 

 being afterward printed on paper. 



Schoen engraved from his own compofitions r his plate* 

 are numerous, and (hew that his mind was fertile and vigo- 

 rous. If it was not fnfficiently vigorous to burft the Gothic 

 fetters which at that time manacled the tafte of Germany, 

 his admirers may folace therafclves by doubting whether the 

 unaffifted powers of any individual whatever would have- 

 been found adequate to fo difficult an occafion. The- 

 tyranny of eftabhihed cuftom is probably not lefs ftern and 

 unrelenting in the arts of defign than in tliofe of education. 



How the ftifF and meagre manner, — the angular draperies- 

 and emaciated forms which cliarafterize the early produc- 

 tions of the Germans, came to prevail among the Gothic- 

 and Celtic nations, from whom they derived them, is a 

 curious, and perhaps not an unimportant, queftion. By com- 

 paring the early efforts in art of all nations of which we have- 

 any memorials, we may be led to infer, that man Las gra- 

 dually learned to fee objefts as they really exift in natur<; j: 

 tlie images pictured on the retina of the eye appear to be- 

 refracled in their tranfmiffion to the intelleftual retina, and- 

 in every country continue be fo refracted, until, as the 

 fun of fcienee fiowly afcends, the morning dcnfity of the 

 mental medium is gradually rarefied : it is not lefs ebfervable,. 

 nor a lefs curious faCf, that a fimilar haggard lanknefs in the 

 attempts of man in an uncivilized ftate, to imitate the 

 human form, has almoft univerfally prevailed, even in ages- 

 and climates, the raoft diftant from each other. The early art. 

 of Eg^-pt, Perfia, and Hindooftan, agrees in meagrenefs witli 

 the rude efforts of the Mexicans and South-fea iflanders, 

 and with the German art, derived from the Gothic and". 

 Celtic nations, which is now under our ohfervation. 



In the time of Martin Schoen, ar.d Albeit Durer,. 

 German art was much in the fame ftate with European 

 ethics : theory was feparated from praftice; and both art 

 and philoiophy remained perplexed with falfe analogies, 

 metaphyfical jargon, and occult nonfenfe ; till Bacon, and. 

 the refiu-reclion of the antique, referred them to the rcfultg; 

 of experience, as a criterion of principle. 



Neither lord Orford then, nor any otlier man, Ihould have 

 difpraifed either Schoen or Durer, for not having done, what 

 no artift of any other fchool has of himfelf been .iblet>> per- 

 form : for, not only neither of thefe founders of the Ger- 

 man fchool, but none of the early Italian mailers, has fhewn; 

 that he pofTeffed the penetration to fee beytind this gloomy 

 exhalation from the barbaric ages, till the great examjilcs o£ 

 clafiic art began to re-appear, andrcfledt bauk on Nature the: 

 light they had received from her. 



The woiks of Schoen evince a ftrong mifLd operating on-: 

 the co-exifting ftate of things, brooding o\cr the abyis from- 

 whence the future elements of liis art were to be created ; 

 and uling with confiderable fuccefs the material by which it. 

 was fun;ounded : and ih may be regarded as fortunate for 



hia 



