DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.52444#0051
INTRODUCTION.
upon copper only in so far as he blended it with his burin work. The
dry-point had shown itself insufficient; he therefore subordinated it to
the well-tried burin. He secured to the latter the preponderance, con-
tenting himself with a very slight preparatory etching of his engravings,
with a view to trimming them line for line and completing them with
the graver. Even so the laborious work of the burin would receive con-
siderable help, and a method would thus be established which has been
practised for centuries. Compare, for instance . . . B31 (No. 44) . . .
and B 32 (No. 86), . . . and the great contrast in their general tone
will be apparent at first sight. But upon closer inspection evidence of
the traces of etching will also be found in the blunter, frayed lines of the
plate last named. Experienced collectors and dealers, therefore, have
long ago come to the conclusion that the faint gray impressions from
Diirer’s later plates are preferable to the lush, blacker ones ” (2d Germ,
ed., II, pp. 70-71).
It is significant thatThausing takes as his starting-point the “ Madonna
sitting near the Wall of a City,” B 40 (No. 75 of this catalogue). This
plate does hold a special place among Diirer’s engravings, but for reasons
quite different from the one assigned by Thausing. It was pointed out
above that there is a progression noticeable in Diirer’s work, from pure
black and white to a coloristic effect. As extreme types “ The Virgin
and Child with the Monkey” (No. 13) and the plate just named were
cited. In the former there is almost absolute uniformity of treatment
(if we except a slight differentiation in the sleeve of the undergarment
of the Virgin, as seen on her left arm), in the latter the variety of tex-
ture has been carried farther than in any other plate ever engraved by
Diirer. The flesh is treated very simply,— almost wholly line, with but
little dotting; in the garments of the Virgin at least three different tex-
tures are noticeable,— and let it be understood here that “ texture ” has
nothing to do with the way in which the drapery reflects the light or
breaks into folds,— in the sleeve of the under garment, in the fur-
trimmed wrapper, and in the satin-like scarf which covers the head,
5 xxxiii
upon copper only in so far as he blended it with his burin work. The
dry-point had shown itself insufficient; he therefore subordinated it to
the well-tried burin. He secured to the latter the preponderance, con-
tenting himself with a very slight preparatory etching of his engravings,
with a view to trimming them line for line and completing them with
the graver. Even so the laborious work of the burin would receive con-
siderable help, and a method would thus be established which has been
practised for centuries. Compare, for instance . . . B31 (No. 44) . . .
and B 32 (No. 86), . . . and the great contrast in their general tone
will be apparent at first sight. But upon closer inspection evidence of
the traces of etching will also be found in the blunter, frayed lines of the
plate last named. Experienced collectors and dealers, therefore, have
long ago come to the conclusion that the faint gray impressions from
Diirer’s later plates are preferable to the lush, blacker ones ” (2d Germ,
ed., II, pp. 70-71).
It is significant thatThausing takes as his starting-point the “ Madonna
sitting near the Wall of a City,” B 40 (No. 75 of this catalogue). This
plate does hold a special place among Diirer’s engravings, but for reasons
quite different from the one assigned by Thausing. It was pointed out
above that there is a progression noticeable in Diirer’s work, from pure
black and white to a coloristic effect. As extreme types “ The Virgin
and Child with the Monkey” (No. 13) and the plate just named were
cited. In the former there is almost absolute uniformity of treatment
(if we except a slight differentiation in the sleeve of the undergarment
of the Virgin, as seen on her left arm), in the latter the variety of tex-
ture has been carried farther than in any other plate ever engraved by
Diirer. The flesh is treated very simply,— almost wholly line, with but
little dotting; in the garments of the Virgin at least three different tex-
tures are noticeable,— and let it be understood here that “ texture ” has
nothing to do with the way in which the drapery reflects the light or
breaks into folds,— in the sleeve of the under garment, in the fur-
trimmed wrapper, and in the satin-like scarf which covers the head,
5 xxxiii