DOI chapter:
Chapter II
DOI Page / Citation link:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.62095#0040
CHAPTER II
Chiaroscuro the first step to Colour-Printing—The earliest Chiaroscuro Engraver : Ugo da Carpi, his right to the title,
his history, and the source of his inspiration.
Far cry as it would seem from the chiaroscuro to the colour-print, from the most
charming stipple-engravings printed in colour to the most glaring polychromatic posters
that disfigure or decorate our great city, the root idea of all three lay in the first
invention of an engraving that gave light and shade by other means than laborious line-
work. This invention consisted of successive printings from a series of wood blocks : the
first block carrying the outlines and deep shadows, and the following ones the broad
effects of light, shade, and colour. The results of this process were called cameos, or
engravings in chiaroscuro. For over two centuries this method, with various com-
binations, additions, and alterations, remained the only one employed in the production
of so-called “ picture engravings.”
There are many reasons to justify the naming of Ugo da Carpi as the first engraver in
chiaroscuro ; and Ugo da Carpi seems to have been a very remarkable character. There
was romance in his struggle after the reproduction of the works of the great contemporary
Masters ; and the rights of Germany in general, and Cranach in particular, on which he
may have encroached unconsciously, need count for nothing, when we mark how, under
influences purely personal, and in circumstances negativing piracy, he saw and seized the
advantages of the brush over the burin, dispensed with laborious outlines and line-shadings,
and roughed in his contours in a manner which is now called “ Italian ” but the merit of
which was his alone. For the perfecting of his own invention he used everything that
was known of the art of engraving on stone, on wood, and on metal, from b.c. 1491 to
a.d. 1500 ; and he claimed the credit of his orginality without reserve. It is but just
therefore to call him the first ancestor of the Colour-Printer ; for time has hallowed his
claim, and to dispute it were ungenerous.
The celebrity of Ugo da Carpi, according to Bryan’s Dictionary of Engravers, “ rests
on his wood-engraving ” ; but it has always seemed to me that his celebrity and the interest
he arouses are due rather to his personality, the age and influences that produced him,
and the misfortunes that at once moulded his destiny and directed his ambition.
He was born in or about the year 14.80. Passavant places it earlier, and other
authorities later ; but it will be seen that internal evidence confirms this as nearer the
right date. His birth occurred during the lull that came before the storm : it was at
that period, comparatively peaceful, before the eager hand of Ludovico Sforza had
Chiaroscuro the first step to Colour-Printing—The earliest Chiaroscuro Engraver : Ugo da Carpi, his right to the title,
his history, and the source of his inspiration.
Far cry as it would seem from the chiaroscuro to the colour-print, from the most
charming stipple-engravings printed in colour to the most glaring polychromatic posters
that disfigure or decorate our great city, the root idea of all three lay in the first
invention of an engraving that gave light and shade by other means than laborious line-
work. This invention consisted of successive printings from a series of wood blocks : the
first block carrying the outlines and deep shadows, and the following ones the broad
effects of light, shade, and colour. The results of this process were called cameos, or
engravings in chiaroscuro. For over two centuries this method, with various com-
binations, additions, and alterations, remained the only one employed in the production
of so-called “ picture engravings.”
There are many reasons to justify the naming of Ugo da Carpi as the first engraver in
chiaroscuro ; and Ugo da Carpi seems to have been a very remarkable character. There
was romance in his struggle after the reproduction of the works of the great contemporary
Masters ; and the rights of Germany in general, and Cranach in particular, on which he
may have encroached unconsciously, need count for nothing, when we mark how, under
influences purely personal, and in circumstances negativing piracy, he saw and seized the
advantages of the brush over the burin, dispensed with laborious outlines and line-shadings,
and roughed in his contours in a manner which is now called “ Italian ” but the merit of
which was his alone. For the perfecting of his own invention he used everything that
was known of the art of engraving on stone, on wood, and on metal, from b.c. 1491 to
a.d. 1500 ; and he claimed the credit of his orginality without reserve. It is but just
therefore to call him the first ancestor of the Colour-Printer ; for time has hallowed his
claim, and to dispute it were ungenerous.
The celebrity of Ugo da Carpi, according to Bryan’s Dictionary of Engravers, “ rests
on his wood-engraving ” ; but it has always seemed to me that his celebrity and the interest
he arouses are due rather to his personality, the age and influences that produced him,
and the misfortunes that at once moulded his destiny and directed his ambition.
He was born in or about the year 14.80. Passavant places it earlier, and other
authorities later ; but it will be seen that internal evidence confirms this as nearer the
right date. His birth occurred during the lull that came before the storm : it was at
that period, comparatively peaceful, before the eager hand of Ludovico Sforza had