DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.52444#0050
INTRODUCTION.
forwarding by etching, that is to say, the process of first biting-in the
lines of a plate, or of certain parts of a plate, and then finishing the work
with the graver,— a process which is generally said to have been first
practised by the engravers of the Rubens school, and which is to-day
almost universally used by engravers. We have seen that Thausing tried
to make out of Diirer’s dry-point plates etchings gone over with the
dry-point. Having thus failed in his attempt to work with acid on
copper, Thausing goes on to say, Diirer began, about 1514, to etch on
iron, and, succeeding in this, he “ found in etching a welcome means of
reducing the labor and securing the perfection of engraving on copper”
(2d German ed., II, p. 70). This, we are told, explains why there is a
total change of character in Diirer’s engravings from the year 1514. His
older plates yield brilliant black impressions. “This still holds good of
the plates of 1513, the ‘ Madonna by the Tree,’ B 35 (No. 67 of this cata-
logue), of the ‘Sudarium held by two Angels,’ B 25 (No. 68), and of
the celebrated ‘ Rider ’ or ‘ The Knight, Death, and the Devil,’ B 98
(No. 69). It is only the later engravings by Diirer which show the
peculiar, more uniform, fainter tone, that delicate, silver-gray garb,
which gives them such a distinguished appearance. The ‘Madonna
sitting near the Wall of a City,’ B 40 (No. 75), forms, as it would seem,
the transition to the new technic. The treatment of this plate is
unequal, and shows, especially in the flesh parts of the child and the
head of Mary, the sharper, blacker burin lines of the older plates. It
takes its position, therefore, close by the border line of the two methods.
On the other hand, the ‘ Virgin with short Hair, upon the Crescent,’ B
33 (No. 74), and all the other six coppers of the year 1514, including
such important pieces as the ‘ Melancholy ’ (No. 70) and the ‘ St.
Jerome in the Chamber’ (No. 71), belong to the new group. This
suddenly appearing difference presupposes a method differing in prin-
ciple. . . . From the evidence at hand, I can explain this difference only
by the sharper edges of the burin line, as against the porous limits of
the etched line. It would appear, therefore, that Differ gave up etching
xxxii
forwarding by etching, that is to say, the process of first biting-in the
lines of a plate, or of certain parts of a plate, and then finishing the work
with the graver,— a process which is generally said to have been first
practised by the engravers of the Rubens school, and which is to-day
almost universally used by engravers. We have seen that Thausing tried
to make out of Diirer’s dry-point plates etchings gone over with the
dry-point. Having thus failed in his attempt to work with acid on
copper, Thausing goes on to say, Diirer began, about 1514, to etch on
iron, and, succeeding in this, he “ found in etching a welcome means of
reducing the labor and securing the perfection of engraving on copper”
(2d German ed., II, p. 70). This, we are told, explains why there is a
total change of character in Diirer’s engravings from the year 1514. His
older plates yield brilliant black impressions. “This still holds good of
the plates of 1513, the ‘ Madonna by the Tree,’ B 35 (No. 67 of this cata-
logue), of the ‘Sudarium held by two Angels,’ B 25 (No. 68), and of
the celebrated ‘ Rider ’ or ‘ The Knight, Death, and the Devil,’ B 98
(No. 69). It is only the later engravings by Diirer which show the
peculiar, more uniform, fainter tone, that delicate, silver-gray garb,
which gives them such a distinguished appearance. The ‘Madonna
sitting near the Wall of a City,’ B 40 (No. 75), forms, as it would seem,
the transition to the new technic. The treatment of this plate is
unequal, and shows, especially in the flesh parts of the child and the
head of Mary, the sharper, blacker burin lines of the older plates. It
takes its position, therefore, close by the border line of the two methods.
On the other hand, the ‘ Virgin with short Hair, upon the Crescent,’ B
33 (No. 74), and all the other six coppers of the year 1514, including
such important pieces as the ‘ Melancholy ’ (No. 70) and the ‘ St.
Jerome in the Chamber’ (No. 71), belong to the new group. This
suddenly appearing difference presupposes a method differing in prin-
ciple. . . . From the evidence at hand, I can explain this difference only
by the sharper edges of the burin line, as against the porous limits of
the etched line. It would appear, therefore, that Differ gave up etching
xxxii