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    170 THE HISTORY OF WOOD-ENGRAVING.

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    Ny» In Its Ancient And More General Sens...

    pressions from two or more blocks , was cultivated with , great success in ItalbUgo da Carpiabout 1518 whoif not the inventor of

    this art y , , greatl y y improved , it . Most of Hugo , , da Carpi ' s chiaroscuros are from Raffaele ' s designsand it is said that that divine painter

    , himself drew some of the subjects on the blocks . But the woodcuts which are to be found in Italian books printed from 1500 to 1530 are

    mostly meagre in design , and very indifferently engraved ; for the artists of that school continued to adhere to the old method of

    engraving their figures chiefly in outline , with the shadows and the folds of the draperies indicated by parallel lines . _Nevertheless , the

    prints of the Italian school are easily distinguished from those engraved in Germany by the greater simplicity and ease with which

    the former designed the human figure , the result probably of their diligent study of the great works of antiquity .

    The art of wood-engraving , both as regards design and execution , appears to have attained its highest perfection within about ten

    years of Albert Durer's decease . The celebrated Dance of Death , published at Lyons in 1538 , is an example of the truth of this

    assertion : this cut has been generally ascribed to Hans Holbein as the engraver as well as the designer , tnough it is not unlikely that

    he The was wood only - the latter . of Veniceabout the middle of the sixteenth

    the century delicacy , appear of engravers their to have execution excelled they , all other rivalled Italian those engravers of Lyons , , and who for at

    that period were chiefly distinguished for the neat and delicate manner in which they engraved small subjects . From 1580 tol 600

    , wood large , - well-engraved of that woodcuts period are seem comparativel to have been y scarce ambitious , for the of

    naturall wood emulating - engravers engraving y hav the e been delicacy as a expected means of copperp , of they multi failed late ly . ing engraving Between the desi , gns 1650 and , of and as eminent mi 1700 ght ,

    artists , either as , illustrations of books p or as separate cuts , may be considered as having reached its lowest ebb—for though engravings

    of that date are to be found , they only afford , abundant proof that artists no longer furnished designs for the wood-engraver .

    The woodcuts which occur in German books printed between 1700 and 1760 are certainly of the most wretched

    kind—contemp the sam tible e period alike in equal desi l gn y neg and lected execution , arid . the This few art cuts in Ital then y published was about

    at Rome are of the humblest character . In England too , little worin thy Northumberland of notioe was produced 1753 ) un whose til the productions time of Thomas recalled Berwick public , atten ( born

    tion to the neglected , art , of wood-engraving . Some of his best works are cuts illustrating Gay ' s Fablesand some engravings to an

    edition of ' Select Fables , ' for many of , which he- only received 95 . each . His cuts to the ' History of British Birds / and to a similar

    book of Quadrupeds , are perhaps unequalled .

    170 The History Of Wood-Engraving.

    170 THE HISTORY OF _WOOD-ENGRAVING .

• Citation
  • English Woman’s Journal (1858-1864), May 1, 1858, page 170, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/ewj/issues/ewj_01051858/page/26/