. Engraving and etching : a handbook for the use of students and print collectors . sely and compactlyas in a picture, by the sole means of black and white. InThe Virgin with the Monkey this pictorial tendencybecomes for the first time clearly apparent, yet even heredark shadows stand in contrast to the high lights withoutany intermediary half-tones, and the treatment appearssomewhat hard and metallic. A softer method of executionis adopted in the print usually known as The GreatFortune, by Diirer himself called The Nemesis, aprint whose meaning still awaits complete interpre-tation. In this t
. Engraving and etching : a handbook for the use of students and print collectors . sely and compactlyas in a picture, by the sole means of black and white. InThe Virgin with the Monkey this pictorial tendencybecomes for the first time clearly apparent, yet even heredark shadows stand in contrast to the high lights withoutany intermediary half-tones, and the treatment appearssomewhat hard and metallic. A softer method of executionis adopted in the print usually known as The GreatFortune, by Diirer himself called The Nemesis, aprint whose meaning still awaits complete interpre-tation. In this the treatment is softer and more free;the most delicate reflected lights on the skin of the nudewinged figure are rendered in carefully finished detail,while the landscape beneath reveals an intimate appre-ciation of nature. While in the Hercules and TheVirgin with the Monkey Italian influences make them- ALBRECHT DURER 55 selves felt, the Nemesis and the works immediatelyfollowing it show a clear and conscious departure fromall Italian tradition and the entrance of pure Northern. Fig. 28. Albrtcht Diircr : The Virgin willi the Bird. art. Following, probably, close after the plate men-tioned, comes Diirers largest engraving, theSt. Eustace,again with rich variety of landscape and carefully executed 56 GERMAN ENGRAVING TO 1528 detail. While in the earlier engravings, the Hercules forinstance, the ground was indicated by single sets of lines,making it appear like ice, Durer now has acquired the powerof representing by complicated work all the natural varietyof the soil. This desire of reproducing realistically allthe inherent peculiarities of the object represented,appears most obviously in The Coat of Arms with theSkull, of 1503. On the steel helmet, that forms thecentral point of interest in the picture, Diirer has concen-trated all his skill to set before our eyes the gleam ofpolished metal in glistening actuality. The realisticmethod of expressing texture is displayed he
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