GERMAN SCHOOL OF ENGRAVING. 



I 



A ill. On the riglit Inn J corner is the lion's head. The lat- 

 ter has been copieil by Lucas of Leyden, and in the opinion 

 of Striitt is Ifrael's inaller-piecc, though perhaps that dif- 

 tinilion ouj^ht ratlii-r to be granted to his moral print of " A 

 Cavalier and Lady, walking in amorous talk, wlulc Death 

 from behind a Tree is (baking an Ilour-glafs," a dcfign which, 

 whoever was its original author, had prcvioully been engra- 

 ven by Sporer or Schauflein, and has been fubfequently co- 

 pied by Albert Durer and feveral others.' 



Of the lingular dcfign confilling of three naked women, 

 with a globe hanging above, which is infcribcd© 215. 31. there 

 is alfo an engraving by Ifrael. 



A folio plate of " The Death of Liicretia ;" a pair in 

 quarto, of " A Woman i'mgiiig, whiL- a Man accompanies her 

 en theLute," and "AMan playing theOrgau.whileaWoman 

 blows the Bellows," both marked L M. ; Schoen's richly 

 ornamented incenfc cup ; and feveral plates of grotefque 

 foliage and other goldfmiths' ornaments, »re all that we fliall 

 mention of the two liundred and fifty engravings by the 

 Ifraels which are enumerated by Heinnekin. Neither of them 

 appears to have hvid any fettled monogram, but marked his en- 

 gravings varioufly, as we have ttated in the courfe of our lift, 

 ometimes adding to his name and refideuce the word " Gold- 

 fchmit,'' and at , others " Tzu Bnckholdt,'' iu the German 

 character. The beft of their works, as lias been before inti- 

 mated, are copies from the fuperior produiftions of Martin 

 Schijen. 



Matthew, or Martin Zagel, Zafinger, or Zinck, goldfmith 

 and engraver, was born in the year 1430, but in what part 

 of Germany is not known, though, from the fubjefts of two 

 of his engravings, it may be gueifcd that he was of Munich: 

 neither is the year of his death certain, though, that lie lived 

 to the beginning of the fixtecnth century, and engraved till 

 the age of feventy-five, may be inferred from the circuin- 

 ilance of one of his prints being dated in the year 1505. 



The extreme of Gothic ftifl'nefs appears in his works. His 

 coniDofition is bad, and his drav.'ing ftill worfe : the mecha- 

 nical part of his engraving, indeed, pofleffes a certain degree 

 of neatnefs, but is without the faintei.1 ray of tafte. It is 

 proper, however, to obl'erve, that from the df!i«-acy, or ra- 

 ther faintnefs of Zagel's manner of engraving, his plates 

 would not Hand many good imprcffions ; that many of the 

 retouched prints, which are exceedingly bad, are abroad in 

 the worlJ, and that tlierefore, to do jullice to the flender 

 fliarc of merit which he poffefled, it is necelfary to fee the 

 early irapreflions of his plates ; nor (liould be left unmen- 

 tioned, that in his latter engravings he diiplays a more intimate 

 knowledge of peripective ilian we find among his predecef- 

 fors in Germany. Zagt 1 marked forae of his prints fim- 

 ply with the initials M. Z. ; and others, as will be found in our 

 lirft plate of the monograms, &c of the engravers of Ger- 

 many. Among his bell engravings may be reckoned 

 " Solomon's Idolatry," a middling-fized upright, dated 

 1501. " A Holy Family,'' in which the Virgin Mary is 

 receiving water from a fountain, in a cup of the fame date 

 with the preceding. " The legendary Story of St. Chrif- 

 topher bringing the Infant Jefus acrofs an Arm of tlie Sea," 

 a fmall upright. " A Lover leated in a Landfcape, enter- 

 taining his Miftrefj," and " Two Lovers Embracing,'' ditto. 

 Two large and very rare folio engravings of " The Grand 

 Ball and Tournament at Munich :" in the former of which 

 is reprefented a dance and card party, in whicli the duke of 

 Bavaria is engaged at play, and in the latter a tournament, 

 at whieh the duke is prefent. " The Martyrs St. Cathe- 

 rine and St. Urfula," both in 8vo, " The Martyrdom of 

 St. Sebaftian," in 4to. " The March to War," ditto, and 

 •* Ariitotle the Philofopher," a fubjcd often j-epeated, and 



called by fome Socrates and Xantippe. The lall is a very 

 rare print, in 410. 



Albert Glockenton was a native of Nuremberg, born in 

 the year 1432, and who flourilhed as an engraver at the com- 

 mencement of the fixteenth century ; but the time and place 

 of his death are uncertain. Strutt fays of him, that if he did 

 learn his art from Schiien, he not only imitated his manner, 

 but copied a great number of his prints : which copies con- 

 ftitute the greater part of the works of Glockenton. He 

 executed his plates with the graver in a neat but fcrvile man- 

 ner, by no means improving the drawing of his original?. 

 He marked his engravings with a fort of hali Gothic initials 

 of his name, as may be feen in our firft plate of tlie monograms 

 of the German engravers, and fometimes added the date. 



The principal works of Glockenton, after the original? 

 of Martin Schocn, are " Chriil bearing his Crofs,'' and 

 " Chrift crucified;" both rare and of the folio fize ; 

 " Tlie deatli of the 'Virgin." The fet of the wife and 

 foolifli virgins, ten plates ; the pailion of our Saviour, a fet 

 of ten others, both of which are more particularly men- 

 tioned in our account of Schoen, and the " Virgin and 

 Child at an Altar ;'' in 4to. The latter is fuperior, in point 

 of compofition, to theGerman art of that period, is marked 

 with only a Gothic G, and bears the very early date of 

 1466 ; which is perhaps the moil ancient that is to be found 

 on any copper-plate print whatever. Of this engraving 

 particular mention is made under the article Glockenton, 

 in the " Catalogue Raifonnee du Cabinet d'ellampes de 

 Brandes '' 



Contemporary and co-equal with Zagel and Glockenton, 

 was an engraver for whom Strutt claims a fort of doubtful 

 exillence, by the name of Wcnceflaus of Olmut/,, in Bohe- 

 mia He found a copy of Manin Schoen's " Death of 

 the Virgin" in the Monro collection, which had not only 

 the name of this artiil infcribed upon it, but the date of the 

 year in which it was engraved, namely 1481. He adds, 

 •' there is no doubt of its being a copy from Schocn, becaufe 

 it bears the evident marks of a fervile imitation. It 

 is highly probable that Wcnceflaus was the difciple of 

 Schoen,'' — "another obfervation arifes from a llrift exami- 

 nation of this print, upon comparing it with the ancient 

 German engravings marked -with the W onlv ; which is, 

 that thev ;u-e evidently the work of the fame artift as the 

 preceding, though they have ufually been attributed to 

 Michael Wolgemut, die mafter of Durer. The name is 

 perfeclly plain,'' but the words that follow are far lefs 

 legible, and in the opinion of the prefent writer are much 

 more like Olomuce Ibidem than Olmutz in Bohemia. 



Of thefe prints marked with the letter W only, Strutt 

 mentions the following ; 



The " Annunciation,'' where the Deity appears above and 

 a pot of flowers is introduced on the fore-ground ; a fmall up- 

 right ; " The Cavalier and Lady hecdlefs of Death ;" " The 

 Laft Supper;'' "The Crucifixion of St. Anthony ;" fmall and 

 nearly fquare ; and the fet of fmall uprightsfrom the "Life and 

 Paffion of Chrift." 



The above are all from Schoen ; thofe which follow are 

 from the Ifraels of Mekenin. 



" An old Man leading a little Boy, with a Woman fol- 

 lowing carrying a Girl at her back ;" and " A Lover en- 

 tertaining his Millrefs ;'' two fmall uprights; and "The 

 naked Women with a Globe fufpendcd from above." 



We are now again arrived at the time when the Nurem- 

 berg Chronicle was publiflied, and thofe extraordinary 

 works both on copper and on wood began to appear, 

 which are known to the world under the highly refpedled. 

 name of Albert Durer.. 



Of 



