DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.28460#0043
Part I.—Introduction.
27
obtained with the graver on tlie end of the wood.1 Almost all
modern wood-engraving since Bewick has been done with the graver,2
but in speaking of woodcuts of the xv-xvn centuries I shall be
speaking only of knife-work.
The knife is still in all essentials what it was then: the handle
has varied more than the blade. A modern wood-engraver’s knife is
figured in Linton, p. 38. Bepresentations of tlie old form of the
knife, as used in the xvi century, are quite common on woodcuts in
connection with the wood-engraver’s signature or monogram.3 There
is also a well-known cut by Jost Amman 4 which shows the “Form-
schneider ” very plainly in the act of cutting the block, while another
cut in the same book shows the draughtsman (“ Beisser ”) engaged
on a design.
Early wood-cutting, then, differed from modern wood-engraving
both in the material of the block and in the tool used to work on the
block. It differed no less in tlie intention with which the artist
worked and in the effect which lre produced.
In the first place early woodcutters scarcely ever attempted to
reproduce a picture.5 The first important exceptions to this rule
were the woodcuts after portraits by Cranach, and the woodcuts of
the school of Titian in Italy and of Bubens in Elanders. Even tlren
the picture was translated into line on the block, and the woodcut
really reproduced a drawing from the picture, not the picture itself.
The old woodcutter was a mechanic whose one aim was to
produce a good facsimile of the drawing which he found on the block,
preserving as nearly as possible the actual quality of the pen-line.
He may sometimes have drawn the lines on the block himself—
it is generally supposecl that this was the common practice in the
xv century—but in all woodcuts which rank high as works of art
the design was prepared on the block by a skilled draughtsman
1 See Linton, “ Masters of Wood-engraving,” p. 125.
2 Tliough it is not possible to use the graver on the plank, it is possible to use the
knife on the end of tbe wood. According to Linton (op. cit., p. 122), the use of the
burin for wood-engraving was unknown in France till 1816, when Charles Thonapson
introduced it from England, while the knife remained in use in Germany till mucli
later, all Unzelmann’s woodcuts after Menzel, for instance, in the works of Frederick
the Great, being done with tlie knife. Quite recently artists who have been doing
original work on wood, botli in England and abroad, have returned to the old use of
knife and plank, which has also been the invariable use of the accomplished wood-
cutters of Japan.
3 There is an interesting article on tliis subject by Mr. S. R. Koehler, with numerous
facsimiles, Chronik fur Vervielfaltigende Kunst, iii, 82 (Vienna, 1890). Mr. Koehler
warns his readers against mistaking the knife on early woodcuts for a graver. I would
add that it must not be mistaken for the somewhat similar pen which betokens tlie
draughtsman of the cut.
4 In Hans Sachs, “Beschreibung aller Stande,” 1568 (Andr. 231). See Linton, p. 25.
5 See, however, Schr. 1155 (note).
Illustrations
of the knife.
Comparison
of early witlr
recent wood-
engraving in
aim—
27
obtained with the graver on tlie end of the wood.1 Almost all
modern wood-engraving since Bewick has been done with the graver,2
but in speaking of woodcuts of the xv-xvn centuries I shall be
speaking only of knife-work.
The knife is still in all essentials what it was then: the handle
has varied more than the blade. A modern wood-engraver’s knife is
figured in Linton, p. 38. Bepresentations of tlie old form of the
knife, as used in the xvi century, are quite common on woodcuts in
connection with the wood-engraver’s signature or monogram.3 There
is also a well-known cut by Jost Amman 4 which shows the “Form-
schneider ” very plainly in the act of cutting the block, while another
cut in the same book shows the draughtsman (“ Beisser ”) engaged
on a design.
Early wood-cutting, then, differed from modern wood-engraving
both in the material of the block and in the tool used to work on the
block. It differed no less in tlie intention with which the artist
worked and in the effect which lre produced.
In the first place early woodcutters scarcely ever attempted to
reproduce a picture.5 The first important exceptions to this rule
were the woodcuts after portraits by Cranach, and the woodcuts of
the school of Titian in Italy and of Bubens in Elanders. Even tlren
the picture was translated into line on the block, and the woodcut
really reproduced a drawing from the picture, not the picture itself.
The old woodcutter was a mechanic whose one aim was to
produce a good facsimile of the drawing which he found on the block,
preserving as nearly as possible the actual quality of the pen-line.
He may sometimes have drawn the lines on the block himself—
it is generally supposecl that this was the common practice in the
xv century—but in all woodcuts which rank high as works of art
the design was prepared on the block by a skilled draughtsman
1 See Linton, “ Masters of Wood-engraving,” p. 125.
2 Tliough it is not possible to use the graver on the plank, it is possible to use the
knife on the end of tbe wood. According to Linton (op. cit., p. 122), the use of the
burin for wood-engraving was unknown in France till 1816, when Charles Thonapson
introduced it from England, while the knife remained in use in Germany till mucli
later, all Unzelmann’s woodcuts after Menzel, for instance, in the works of Frederick
the Great, being done with tlie knife. Quite recently artists who have been doing
original work on wood, botli in England and abroad, have returned to the old use of
knife and plank, which has also been the invariable use of the accomplished wood-
cutters of Japan.
3 There is an interesting article on tliis subject by Mr. S. R. Koehler, with numerous
facsimiles, Chronik fur Vervielfaltigende Kunst, iii, 82 (Vienna, 1890). Mr. Koehler
warns his readers against mistaking the knife on early woodcuts for a graver. I would
add that it must not be mistaken for the somewhat similar pen which betokens tlie
draughtsman of the cut.
4 In Hans Sachs, “Beschreibung aller Stande,” 1568 (Andr. 231). See Linton, p. 25.
5 See, however, Schr. 1155 (note).
Illustrations
of the knife.
Comparison
of early witlr
recent wood-
engraving in
aim—