DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.28460#0020
4
Early German and Flemish Woodcuts.
“ Woodcuts ”
also used in a
wider sense.
Origin
of wood-
engraviug.
Printing on
stuff.
botli woodcuts ” ancl metal-cuts/’ but tbe second alone of tliese
three compounds is so completely naturalised that it may be usecl
without a word of apology. The absence of a lyphen is significant.
We do, in fact, use “woodcuts” in a wider sense, as equivalent to-
“ relief-cuts.” We speak of the woodcuts of Holbein, for instance,
without a thought of exclucling those designs which were cut on
metal. I may therefore, perhaps, be pardoned if, in the course of
this Introduction, I sometimes speak of <c woodcuts ” somewhat
loosely. Wherever the clistinction between woocl and metal becomes
important it will be carefully observed.
We are not concerned with the early invention of wood-engraving
in China, still less with the use of relief-blocks in early times, both
in Asia and in Europe, for such purposes as stamping bricks or
attaching the signatures of illiterate sovereigns to documents. It is
now generally agreed that wood-engraving in Western Europe, in the
modern sense—engraving on woocl for tlie purpose of producing an
impression on paper—is a development of tlie use of wooclen blocks
for printing patterns on textiles (£< Zeugdruck ”). A considerable
number of specimens of stuffs have been preserved, in whicli the
pattern, instead of being woven, has been printecl on the finished
stuff in gold or silver, in colour or in black. The practice is saicl to
have been known in the East as early as the vi century. The dates
assigned to European specimens, on the ground of the style of clraw
ing and the cliaracter of the ornaments employed, range from the
xn to the xv century. The wearing of £< estampados ” was forbidden
in 1234 by a sumptuary law of James I of Spain. The process
of printing these stuffs is described by Cennino Cennini in liis
“ Treatise on Painting ” (composed, according to the editor Milanesi,
before 1437), in chapter 173, <£ II modo di lavorare colla forma dipinti
in panno.” The printed pattern served sometimes, aceording to
Essenwein, the first director of the Germanic Museum at Nuremberg,
not merely as a decoration in itself but as a ground for embroidery.
The wooden blocks on whicli the patterns were cut were called in
Germany “Eormen,” the craftsmen wlio cut them, “Formschneider,”1
1 The earliest “ Formsclmeirler ” recorded in documents under this name is Hans
Formschneider, Nuremberg, 1397. This man, however, was himself by trade a tailor;
the name is therefore derived, in all probabilitv, from his father’s craft, and used by
the son as a distinguishing surname. The name “ Formschneider ” next occurs in 1423
and 1444 (botli times at Nuremberg). At these dates it is open to doubt whether tlie
“ Form ” from which tlie craftsman took his name would be the old pattern-block or
the new sort of block for printing woodcuts in the modern sense. Tlie name “Form-
schneider ” was used from about that time at any rate, if not earlier, till at least the
xvii century, for what wre call a wood-engraver. Local terms used instead of “ Form-
sclmeider,” in its origmal sense, are “ Schreiner,” Nordlingen, 1428, and “Schnitzer,”
Ulm. 1441.
Early German and Flemish Woodcuts.
“ Woodcuts ”
also used in a
wider sense.
Origin
of wood-
engraviug.
Printing on
stuff.
botli woodcuts ” ancl metal-cuts/’ but tbe second alone of tliese
three compounds is so completely naturalised that it may be usecl
without a word of apology. The absence of a lyphen is significant.
We do, in fact, use “woodcuts” in a wider sense, as equivalent to-
“ relief-cuts.” We speak of the woodcuts of Holbein, for instance,
without a thought of exclucling those designs which were cut on
metal. I may therefore, perhaps, be pardoned if, in the course of
this Introduction, I sometimes speak of <c woodcuts ” somewhat
loosely. Wherever the clistinction between woocl and metal becomes
important it will be carefully observed.
We are not concerned with the early invention of wood-engraving
in China, still less with the use of relief-blocks in early times, both
in Asia and in Europe, for such purposes as stamping bricks or
attaching the signatures of illiterate sovereigns to documents. It is
now generally agreed that wood-engraving in Western Europe, in the
modern sense—engraving on woocl for tlie purpose of producing an
impression on paper—is a development of tlie use of wooclen blocks
for printing patterns on textiles (£< Zeugdruck ”). A considerable
number of specimens of stuffs have been preserved, in whicli the
pattern, instead of being woven, has been printecl on the finished
stuff in gold or silver, in colour or in black. The practice is saicl to
have been known in the East as early as the vi century. The dates
assigned to European specimens, on the ground of the style of clraw
ing and the cliaracter of the ornaments employed, range from the
xn to the xv century. The wearing of £< estampados ” was forbidden
in 1234 by a sumptuary law of James I of Spain. The process
of printing these stuffs is described by Cennino Cennini in liis
“ Treatise on Painting ” (composed, according to the editor Milanesi,
before 1437), in chapter 173, <£ II modo di lavorare colla forma dipinti
in panno.” The printed pattern served sometimes, aceording to
Essenwein, the first director of the Germanic Museum at Nuremberg,
not merely as a decoration in itself but as a ground for embroidery.
The wooden blocks on whicli the patterns were cut were called in
Germany “Eormen,” the craftsmen wlio cut them, “Formschneider,”1
1 The earliest “ Formsclmeirler ” recorded in documents under this name is Hans
Formschneider, Nuremberg, 1397. This man, however, was himself by trade a tailor;
the name is therefore derived, in all probabilitv, from his father’s craft, and used by
the son as a distinguishing surname. The name “ Formschneider ” next occurs in 1423
and 1444 (botli times at Nuremberg). At these dates it is open to doubt whether tlie
“ Form ” from which tlie craftsman took his name would be the old pattern-block or
the new sort of block for printing woodcuts in the modern sense. Tlie name “Form-
schneider ” was used from about that time at any rate, if not earlier, till at least the
xvii century, for what wre call a wood-engraver. Local terms used instead of “ Form-
sclmeider,” in its origmal sense, are “ Schreiner,” Nordlingen, 1428, and “Schnitzer,”
Ulm. 1441.