GERMAN SCHOOL OF ENGRAVING. 



Of Hans Brcfang, a defigner and engraver for the letter 

 prcf?, very little more is known than that he was contempo- 

 , rarv with Bildimg, and has fometimes been miilaken for 

 him from the finrlarity of their cyphers, and their tafte in 

 defigning and engraving. Millaking tlie numeral 5, in the 

 dates of his engravings, for a 6, Strutt has placed him a 

 century too late. 



Thofe of his works which are bed known, are "Adam 

 and Eve in Paradife," of the folio fize ; bearing the cyphrr 

 of Brefaag, and the date 15! 9. A fet of three of tlie 410. 

 dJmenfions, dated 1504; -viz. " Cl'.ri!! on the Crofs ;" 

 « Chriil lamented by the holy Women;" and "A dead 

 Chrift," with angels bearing him away. Another fet of 

 thirteen, of tlie Saviour and twelve apolUes, alfo in fmall 

 410. and the three Defliiiies in a landfcape, dated 15 13, 

 ■a very rare print in 4to. 



Lucas or Lo\iis Krug, or Kriigcn, painter, goldfniith, and 

 engraver, was born at Nuremberg in the year 1489, and died 

 in the fame city in IJ;^5. He formed his talte, in deilgning 

 and engraving, from Itudying the works of Lucas of Ley- 

 den, and drew the human figure better than many of his 

 contemporaries, though his attitudes are ill chofen, and his 

 draperies ftiff. His mark was a fmall pot or jug placed 

 between his initials or. a tablet, as rcprefented in our tirft plate 

 of the monograniE, i2:c.ofthe German engravers, to which 

 the date was in fome inftanccs added. His principal en- 

 gravings are as follow : 



" The Nativitv," " The Adoration of the Shepherds," 

 and " The Adoration of the Kings," th.ree fmall uprights, 

 dated 1516. " The Holy Family," and two prints of the 

 Ecce-Homo, with the inltruments of flagellation, in fmall 

 4to. " St. John the DiWne, writing," while the holy Virgin 

 is diftating to him from the clouds, and below is the ludicrous 

 incident of the devil emptying the ink-horn of the faint. "Two 

 naked Women contemplatiiig a Skull and Hour glafs," and 

 *' A naked Woman fitting with her Back towaids the Spefta- 

 tor," with a city and mountain appearing in the diftance ; all 

 fmall uprights. 



Hans Sehaufvlein, the tliird engraver of that name, was 

 torn at Nuremberg fome time about the yeai" 1487, and 

 died at Nordlingen, a town in Suabia, in 1550. He thidied 

 under Albert Durer, aad imitated his llvle with conliderable 

 fuccefs. 



The moft diftinguilhed of his performances are, " The 

 Creation of Eve," in ato. ; "Chrift with the Crown of 

 Thorns, and the Virgin Mother in Grief;" and " Herodias 

 with the Head of St. .Tohn the Baptift," both in folio. 

 "The Banquet of Herodias," a grand compofition, fup- 

 pofed to be engraven on two blocks in large folio. " Numa 

 PompiHus recommending religious worfhip to the Romans," 

 aud " Lucretia ftabbing herfclf," a pair in 4to. A fet of 

 eight plates of military fubjedts in folio. Another fet of 

 four rare prints of " The Triumplis of the Wives of the 

 celebrated Sots," in fmall folio. The greater number of the fet 

 oft wenty of marriage proceffions. Part of the fet of an hundred 

 and eighteen of "The Perils and Adventures of the excellent 

 and famous chevalier Tewerdanks," a curious and very rare 

 book, printed at Nuremberg in the year 1517. 



But few libraries have the honour of poireffing a complete 

 copy of this celebrated work, of which Melcliior Ptintzing 

 fays, in the dedication to Charles king of Spain, that he had 

 feen moft of the aftions that are therein engraved and 

 defcribed, which in faft are thofe of the emperor Maxi- 

 milian I. under the fiftitious name of Tewerdanks. 



Albert Altdorfer, whom fome have millakenly fuppofed to 

 have been of Altdorff in Switzerland, was a native of Altdorf 

 in Bavaria, born in the yeai' 148S. His name is found in the 



regifter of the citizens of Ratifbon in the vear 151 1, v.liere, 

 having paffed the routine of preparatory civil offices, he was 

 made a member of the interior fenate, and arcliiteft of the 

 city of Ratiibon, and where, in 1538, he died without iffue. 

 Some of hispidures may yet be I'een «t Ratifbon, and at 

 the town houfe is preferved a complete coUeAion of liis en- 

 gravings. The French call him " le petit Albert," pre- 

 iumptively in contradiftinftion to the _frt-a/ Albert Durer, 

 and becaufe his engravings are fmall, i'or which reafon alf» 

 he is ufually ranked with "the little mafters." 



His merit was however not inconfidcrable. He engraved 

 both for the rolling-prefs and letter-prcfs ; but thofe wiiicli 

 he did for the latter are his beft performances. He pofieffed 

 a hvely fancy, a free hand, and great facility of invention. Yet 

 his ftyle is German, and his drawi.v.g, though fpirited, is in- 

 correft. He marked his plates and blocks with the Ufo 

 forts 01 monograms which appear in our plate of the cy- 

 phers. Sec. of the German fchool. One of thefe marks has 

 been attributed to Aldegrever ; but tlie evident fuperiority 

 of the latter mafter is of itfelf fufiicient (independent of the 

 cypher) to corretl the millake. 



From the fpirited wooden cuts of Altdorfer, Holbein, 

 of whom we fliall prefently fpeak, is faid, and probably 

 \\ith truth, to have deri\ed great affilhuice in the progrels 

 of his ftudies. 



Altdorfer's principal engravings on copper are the por- 

 trait of himfelf ; and that of Martin Luther, in an oval, fur- 

 rounded by fohage ; the head of an infant, one of his earliell 

 works, dated in 1507; "Adam and Eve in Paiadife ;'' 

 "Solomon's Idolatry ;" " Ualilah and Sampfon ; ' " Ju- 

 dith and Holofernes;" feveral fmall prints of the Madonna 

 and infant Chrift ; a Crucifi.xion, with numerous figures ; 

 another with the Virgin Mary and St. John, both fmall up- 

 rights ; " St. Jerome ftanding in a Cavern," where is an aliar, 

 book, crucifix, and a tablet, with the monogram of the ar- 

 tift ; another St. Jerome among buildings, accompanied by 

 a lion ; " St. George combating the Dragon ;" two etch- 

 ings of the death of Dido, and that of Lucretia ; a pair co- 

 pied from Marc Antonio, of " Venus accompanied by Cupid 

 entering the Bath," and " Venus leaving the Bath :" thcfc are 

 fmall uprights and in a neat ftyle. " Cupid Sporting with 

 Sea-horfes." "Amphion faved by Dolphins," dated 1525. A 

 pair of " Lafcivioufnefs," and prefumptively, " Chaility," 

 reprefented by a female fitting on an altar, and holding a 

 fceptre, with numerous attendants bearing lanterns. " A 

 Warrior precipitating himfelf into the Sea." A pair of 

 fmall landfcapes lengthways, one with rocks and the other 

 with trees, which are touched with confiderable freedom. 

 The " Synagogue," with a Latin infcription ; and two pktci 

 of ornameHted vafes in 4to. 



The number of engravings by this mafter, which arc fup- 

 pofed to have been performed on wood, is confiderable, 

 probably exceeding a hundred, of which' the following are 

 moft valued : — A fet of forty of " The Fall and Redemp- 

 tion of Man," fmall uprights, executed in Altdorfer's beil. 

 manner, and much valued : but coUeftors (hould be careful 

 not to admit into their portfolios, inftead of thefe, a fet of 

 which all but two ai-e coJ>ifs from Altdorfer, and which were 

 publifticd at Zuric A. D. 1604, under the forged name of 

 Albert Durer. " The Sacrifice of Abraham," and " Jolhua 

 and Caleb," both fmall. " The Annunciation," ditto, dated 



'513 



The four following are in 4to. " The Purification ;" " The 

 Maflacre of the Innocents," dated 151 1; " The Decollation 

 of St. John the Baptift," and " The Refurreaion of Chrift," 

 both dated 1512, and the latter efteemed one of the moil 

 fpirited works of the iraftcr. 



