DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.52444#0044
INTRODUCTION.
hardly have known about the work of Hercules de’ Fideli, and that Grafs
etching, although mentioned by Eduard His as far back as 1873 (see
“ Jahrbiicher fur Kunstwissenschaft,” VI, p. 146, No. 8), attracted no at-
tention until lately.
It may be well to add that the “ etchings ” which have been attributed
to the Master W with the sign somewhat resembling a key, to Wenzel
von Olmutz, and to Hans Baldung Grien, are engravings.
A curious reference to “ Scheidwasser ” (aquafortis, nitric acid) is
found in one of Diirer’s rhymes, “ Von der bosen Welt,” i. e., “ Of the
Wicked World” (L. u. F., p. 85):
Wer bei Bosen wohnt unverletzt,
Den kein Scheidwasser nit fretzt,
(who lives unharmed with bad people will not be bitten by aquafortis).
The familiar way in which “Scheidwasser” is here used in a simile
shows that it must have been well known not only to Diirer, but also to
those to whom he addressed himself, at the time when these rhymes
were written, which, it would seem, cannot have been later than 1510.
Nevertheless it is usually accepted as a fact that the making of nitric
acid, and consequently the knowledge of its properties, was a secret
known only to a few at the time in question, and that it was not gener-
ally introduced before the thirties of the sixteenth century. (Lippmann,
“ Kupferstich,” p. 49.) But however this may be, the dates above given
are not affected by it.
VI. The Technical Processes employed by Durer.
Diirer made designs for wood-cutting, and himself produced printable
plates on metal by engraving, by dry-pointing, and by etching. Of dry-
points there are four: “St. Veronica with the Sudarium,” dated 1510
(No. 62 of this catalogue); “The Man of Sorrows with Hands Tied,”
xxvi
hardly have known about the work of Hercules de’ Fideli, and that Grafs
etching, although mentioned by Eduard His as far back as 1873 (see
“ Jahrbiicher fur Kunstwissenschaft,” VI, p. 146, No. 8), attracted no at-
tention until lately.
It may be well to add that the “ etchings ” which have been attributed
to the Master W with the sign somewhat resembling a key, to Wenzel
von Olmutz, and to Hans Baldung Grien, are engravings.
A curious reference to “ Scheidwasser ” (aquafortis, nitric acid) is
found in one of Diirer’s rhymes, “ Von der bosen Welt,” i. e., “ Of the
Wicked World” (L. u. F., p. 85):
Wer bei Bosen wohnt unverletzt,
Den kein Scheidwasser nit fretzt,
(who lives unharmed with bad people will not be bitten by aquafortis).
The familiar way in which “Scheidwasser” is here used in a simile
shows that it must have been well known not only to Diirer, but also to
those to whom he addressed himself, at the time when these rhymes
were written, which, it would seem, cannot have been later than 1510.
Nevertheless it is usually accepted as a fact that the making of nitric
acid, and consequently the knowledge of its properties, was a secret
known only to a few at the time in question, and that it was not gener-
ally introduced before the thirties of the sixteenth century. (Lippmann,
“ Kupferstich,” p. 49.) But however this may be, the dates above given
are not affected by it.
VI. The Technical Processes employed by Durer.
Diirer made designs for wood-cutting, and himself produced printable
plates on metal by engraving, by dry-pointing, and by etching. Of dry-
points there are four: “St. Veronica with the Sudarium,” dated 1510
(No. 62 of this catalogue); “The Man of Sorrows with Hands Tied,”
xxvi