. An inquiry concerning the invention of printing : in which the systems of Meerman, Heinecken, Santander, and Koning are reviewed : including also notices of the early use of wood-engraving in Europe, the block-books, etc. . serves toprove, that the engravers of these wooden blocks were also, in these ancienttimes, the printers of them at Antwerp. Now, if we were to take this as a fair specimen of Heineckensconnoisseurship, (and it would not be difficult to point out otherinstances of similar blunders, as wrell in this work, as in his Diction-naire des Artistes,) we should be at once justifie
. An inquiry concerning the invention of printing : in which the systems of Meerman, Heinecken, Santander, and Koning are reviewed : including also notices of the early use of wood-engraving in Europe, the block-books, etc. . serves toprove, that the engravers of these wooden blocks were also, in these ancienttimes, the printers of them at Antwerp. Now, if we were to take this as a fair specimen of Heineckensconnoisseurship, (and it would not be difficult to point out otherinstances of similar blunders, as wrell in this work, as in his Diction-naire des Artistes,) we should be at once justified in styling him aperson very incompetent to pass a judgment upon any work of fineart whatever, and quite unqualified to decide as to the style, theschool, or the probable date of any engraving that should chanceto come before him. For this wood-cut, which it is evident he con-sidered a performance of the fifteenth century, happens to be noother than an indifferent copy, with the omission of the landscapeback-ground, of a wood-engraving by Urs Graaf, a Swiss artist, bear-ing on the trunk of a tree in the middle of the print, his monogramcomposed of a V and a G, with the date 1524. A correct imitation g^SjfcMOpCy^tttgi. chap, vi.] THE SYSTEM OF HEINECKEN. 71 of the original may be seen in A Collection of Fac-similes of Scarceand Curious Prints, published in London in 1826, and the print isalso described in the work of Bartsch, Vol. vn. p. 465, No. 16. Twoimpressions of the copy, the name on which is rather, I think, Wil-lem, than as Heinecken has given it, are in the collection at theBritish Museum. Had Heinecken possessed but a very moderateshare of antiquarian knowledge, he must have perceived that theslashed dresses, the bonnet and feathers, and the broad square-toedshoes of the soldiers, and the hat of the lady, bear no resemblance tothe costume of the fifteenth century, but decidedly indicate the ageof Maximilian and Charles V. But, that the reader may the betterjudge of th
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, booksubjectprinting, booksubjectwoodengraving
