•GERMAN SCHOOL OF ENGRAVING. 



, Tiie beautiful virgin of Ratifton, engraved from her 

 il;;tuc in Ratiftion cathodra! , is engraved in cliiarofcuro, though 

 ftiinc few impreiTions were printed widiout ihc h;ilf tint : this 

 is a Tare print. 



Of the often repeated fabjeclof St. Jerome, Altdorfer has 

 cnjrraveu two blocks, in one of which the holy man is kneel- 

 i.'i^ before a crucitix in a ca\-ern, and tlv; other may be diilin- 

 p".iiihed by its vory romantic back ground, both are fmall, 

 but iuilly held in erteera. " St. George and the Dra- 

 gon,'' and " The Judgment of Paris," both dated in 151 1, 

 and " St. Chriilopher and the infant Chrill," are all in 410. A 

 mountain Dus landfcape with buildings, and a large tree on 

 the right hand, another of a gateway, and a grand baptil- 

 mal piocelfion, a fort of allegory, where, inlide of a church, 

 th^ virgin and child, fome angel.=i, and a pilgrim, appear in 

 the procefiion, are all of the folio llzc. 



Hans Holbein the e!d<T flourilhcd towards the clofe of 

 the fifteenth century, and was of Augfbourg, but after- 

 wards removed to Dalle in Switzerland. According to pro- 

 feflbr Chrilc, he engraved on wood, and certain prints marked 

 with an H., or the cypher H.B., the B being joined to the 

 tirll perpendicular llroke of the H., arc attributed to him ; 

 but Strutt doubts whether they ought not rather to be afcrib- 

 ed to Burgkmair or Bnldung. 



Tlie great celebrity of his fon has reflected a fteadier light 

 upon his nam.e. Hans, or John Holbein the younger, was 

 bornat A'Jgfbourg in the year 1495 or 1498, and died of 

 the plague in London A.D. 1554. He was the pupil of his 

 father, and gave earneil of his very extraordinary potrers, at 

 a veq-y early age. 



About the time of his father's removal to Bade, the genius 

 of Holbein began to dav.-non the arts cf Europe. At this 

 time,befide engraving, as has been faid by various authors, for 

 theletter-prefs in a vervfuperior ilyle.he painted portraits,'and 

 occalionallyhilloricalfubjectsia diftemperandin oil, and Eral 

 mus, who was then fuperintending the printing of his works 

 at Bafle, came to fit forliis likenefj to young Holbein. 



Being charmed with his portrait, Erafmus foon formed a 

 friendlhip for the artiil, and at his perfuation Holbein foon 

 after travelled to England. He brought with him the por- 

 trait of his friend, and letters of warm recommendation to 

 the great fir Thomas More, who was at that time lord chan- 

 cellor, and high in the favour of Henry VTH. 



HolL 'in was received by the chancellor in the moft friend- 

 ly and flattering manner, and the family of the Mores, be- 

 fides feveral other perions of diitinftion, and finally the king 

 himfelf, honoured our artilt by fitting to him for their por- 

 traits. Patronized by fir Thomas, and poiFelTed of fuch 

 talent in the arts as had not appeared in England before, he 

 was eafily receivedinto the royal fervice upon very libera! terms, 

 and fo proud w.is Henry of the abilities of his protegee, or 

 fojufttothe claims of his genius, that he frequently fat to 

 him for his portrait, and the ftory which we have related of 

 the condefcenfion of the emperor Maximilian to Albert 

 Durer has been often repeated of king Henry and our 

 artift. 



After the death of Henry, Holbein fliill continued to en- 

 joy the royal favour, and feveral portraits of Edward VI. 

 from his hSnd are ftill extant. 



The career of Holbein was but thort, but as the poet on 

 a lefs interefting occafion has beautifully faid, " the fands of 

 his hcur-glafs were diamond-fparks," which, as they fell, 

 jrlitteredin the radiance of his reputation. He died, as we 

 have before mcnzioned, -oi the plague, in his apartments at 

 V/hitehjU. ■ 



• For an account of his merits as a painter the reader is re- 

 ferred to the article Holbein. He beg..n engraving when 



he was about fixtcen years of age, and very numerous and 

 of extraordi.iary merit are the lettcr-prefs cuts wliich are 

 faid to be from his hand, and after liis own defigns, wliich 

 adorn the books that were printed about this time at Bafle, 

 Zuric, Lyons, Lcydeu, and London. 



Holbein appears to have fonned his ftyle, probably under 

 the direttion of his father, from iludying the works of liis 

 contemporary Altdorfer, who was nov.' rifing in reputation, 

 though not more than ten years older than our artift, £nd it 

 feems highly probable that the wh-ole of whatever lettcr-prefs 

 engravings are from the hand of Holbein himfelf, air the 

 production of thofe fifteen years of his life which elapfed be- 

 tween the years IJII and 1526, when he came to England, 

 for it is not ver/ likely that he would be led afide from the ad- 

 vantages of the royal and noble patronage v.hicli he enjoyed 

 ill England as a painter, by any inducements wiiich the prin- 

 ters and book'i'eliers of the continent might offer. Engaged 

 in fuperior purfuits, th.e prefent writer is inclined to think 

 that he did no more than defign the little wood-cuts v«hie!i 

 are aferibed to him during his refidence in our ifland. 



Tlie foreign \vriters on art, however, call "him " the glo- 

 ry of wood engraving," and " the phenomenon of liis age," 

 adding that in order duly to appreciate his merit as an en- 

 graver, the connoiflcur fliould not look at the hallily printed 

 and worn imprelTions which arc common, but (liould have 

 before him, early proofs, printed only on one fide the paper, 

 fuch as were lately in the colleflion of M. Otto, an ama- 

 teur of Leipzig, which, in point of dehcacy, exceed all that 

 had previoufly been exhibited. 



His moll clleemed production in this way bears the Latin 

 infcription 



" Ccrnere vis Hofpes fimulacra fimillima vivis ? 

 Hoc opus Holbinx nobils cerne manus ;" 



and confills of a ferics of ninety fmall letter-prefs cuts, of 

 unequal merit, of which the fubjcAs are taken from the 

 Old Teilament. The encomiums that have been repeatedly 

 palfed on the whole, namely, that " boldnefs, fpirit, and de- 

 hcacy are united in their execution,'" are only applicable to the 

 beil of tliefe cuts : the rcfl are fcarcely, if at all, fuperior to 

 the common place of the day. 



The firil edition of this work, whieh is commonly 

 termed Holbein's Bible, is faid to have been printed 

 (at Lyons, by the brothers Melchior and Gafpar 

 Trefchel) in the year 1539, and as this was thirteen years 

 alter his departure for England, it is not eafy to beUcve that 

 thefe cuts are really eugravin by Holbein, notwithllanding 

 what is afi"erted in the infcription : and they are on the whole 

 inferior both in defign and engraving to the " Dance of 

 Death,"' of which we fhall prefently fpeak. 



That the craft of publifhers on fucii an occaficn {hould 

 have out!lrii)ped the flriclnefs of truth, and that a name 

 which had refounded through Europe ihould be ufed as the 

 trumpet of popularity and the means of profit, would be 

 no very extraordinary occurrence. The work was for the 

 multitude, and the multitude, on fuch a point, were eafily 

 deceived ; nor could Holbein, if he were really the author 

 ot the ilfjigiis, eafily contradict the complimentary infcrip- 

 lica. 



" The Dance of Peafants,'' engraved from a piftur? 

 which he painted in the fiih-market at Bafil, and evidently 

 before his departure for England, of wliich fine imprelfiocjj 

 are now become rare and valuable. 



Tiie cuts for " The Praife of Folly,' ' of his friend Erafmus, 

 have alfo been aferibed to Holbein, befides feveral detached 

 frontifpieces, jewellery ornaments, and vignettes, and, laillr, 

 we ih;iil mention the " Imagines Mortis,'" or " Dance of 



Death ■' 



