A treatise on wood engravings : historical and practical . by Simon Vostre, about 1502, are examples ofthis mode of diminishing the effects of a ground which would otherwisebe entirely black. Books printed in France between 1500 and 1520 affordthe most numerous instances of dark backgrounds dotted with white. Inmany cuts executed about the latter period the dots are of larger size andmore numerous in proportion to the black, and they evidently have been * Bartsch describes this print in his Peintre-Graveur, torn. vi. p. 364, No. 4; but hetakes no notice of Joseph holding a candle, nor of its w
A treatise on wood engravings : historical and practical . by Simon Vostre, about 1502, are examples ofthis mode of diminishing the effects of a ground which would otherwisebe entirely black. Books printed in France between 1500 and 1520 affordthe most numerous instances of dark backgrounds dotted with white. Inmany cuts executed about the latter period the dots are of larger size andmore numerous in proportion to the black, and they evidently have been * Bartsch describes this print in his Peintre-Graveur, torn. vi. p. 364, No. 4; but hetakes no notice of Joseph holding a candle, nor of its wanting a light. + Some single cuts executed in this manner are supposed to be at least as old as the year1450. The earliest that I have noticed in a book occur in a Life of Christ printed at Cologneabout 1485. IN THE TIME OF ALBERT DUREK. 23J produced by means of a lozenge-pointed tool, in imitation of cross-hatching. The greatest promoter of the art of wood engraving, towards theclose of the fifteenth and in the early part of the sixteenth century, was. unquestionably Albert Durer ; not however, as is generally supposed,from having himself engraved the numerous wood-cuts which bear hismark, but from his having thought so well of the art as to have mostof his greatest works engraved on wood from drawings made on theblock by himself. Until within the last thirty years, most writerswho have written on the subject of art, have spoken of Albert Dureras a wood engraver ; and before proceeding to give any account ofhis life, or specimens of some of the principal wood engravings whichbear his mark, it appears necessary to examine the grounds of thisopinion. There are about two hundred subjects engraved on wood which aremarked with the initials of Albert Durers name ; and the greater part ofthem, though evidently designed by the hand of a master, are engravedin a manner which certainly denotes no very great excellence. Of theremainder, which are better engraved, it would be difficult t
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1880, booksubjectwoodengraving, bookye
