DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.52444#0049
INTRODUCTION.
with no thought whatever of the effects of light and shade which it is
capable of producing.
Diirer’s six etched plates need not detain us long. Their technical
character is sufficiently manifest, and we know from ocular demonstra-
tion that, like the plates of the Hopfers, they were etched on iron (see
under No. 82). Again, it is not to be wondered at that Diirer did not
take kindly to the process. Great investigator that he was, it was quite
natural that he should try all the processes he heard of, and, com-
pelled as he was to work for the market, it was equally natural that
he should not be averse to labor-saving devices. He, therefore, gave
etching a somewhat more extended trial than dry-pointing, and he tried
it in various directions:—for religious representations, like “The Suda-
rium displayed by one Angel,” etc. (see Nos. 81-83), for the enigmatical
nude pseudo-classical “ Rape of a Young Woman ” (No. 84), and finally
and very characteristically, after a couple of years’ interval, for a popular
subject appealing to the interests of the day, “The Cannon” (No. 89).
He had evidently gaged it for what it really was to the many artisan-
artists who used it in the sixteenth century,— a cheap substitute for
engraving. Hence he used it once more in 1518 for “The Cannon,”
which, without doubt, he wished to bring out quickly, so as to turn to
profit the momentary interest aroused by this great “ dog of war,” and
then he threw it aside for ever. His care was for subject and for careful
elaboration, and for these purposes the graver was the far more congenial
instrument. It needed the development of the individualistic spirit,
with Rembrandt again as the leader, to make of etching a great art,—
the exponent of individualism among all the multiplying arts.
Up to the time of the appearance of Thausing’s book, it would have
been quite unnecessary to consider the technical character of Diirer’s
engravings. They were acknowledged to be pure works of the burin,
and as such they had never been questioned.
In the laudable endeavor to heap honor upon his hero, Thausing
attempts to make Diirer not only the inventor of etching, but also of
xxxi
with no thought whatever of the effects of light and shade which it is
capable of producing.
Diirer’s six etched plates need not detain us long. Their technical
character is sufficiently manifest, and we know from ocular demonstra-
tion that, like the plates of the Hopfers, they were etched on iron (see
under No. 82). Again, it is not to be wondered at that Diirer did not
take kindly to the process. Great investigator that he was, it was quite
natural that he should try all the processes he heard of, and, com-
pelled as he was to work for the market, it was equally natural that
he should not be averse to labor-saving devices. He, therefore, gave
etching a somewhat more extended trial than dry-pointing, and he tried
it in various directions:—for religious representations, like “The Suda-
rium displayed by one Angel,” etc. (see Nos. 81-83), for the enigmatical
nude pseudo-classical “ Rape of a Young Woman ” (No. 84), and finally
and very characteristically, after a couple of years’ interval, for a popular
subject appealing to the interests of the day, “The Cannon” (No. 89).
He had evidently gaged it for what it really was to the many artisan-
artists who used it in the sixteenth century,— a cheap substitute for
engraving. Hence he used it once more in 1518 for “The Cannon,”
which, without doubt, he wished to bring out quickly, so as to turn to
profit the momentary interest aroused by this great “ dog of war,” and
then he threw it aside for ever. His care was for subject and for careful
elaboration, and for these purposes the graver was the far more congenial
instrument. It needed the development of the individualistic spirit,
with Rembrandt again as the leader, to make of etching a great art,—
the exponent of individualism among all the multiplying arts.
Up to the time of the appearance of Thausing’s book, it would have
been quite unnecessary to consider the technical character of Diirer’s
engravings. They were acknowledged to be pure works of the burin,
and as such they had never been questioned.
In the laudable endeavor to heap honor upon his hero, Thausing
attempts to make Diirer not only the inventor of etching, but also of
xxxi