DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.52444#0056
INTRODUCTION.
VII. The Printing of Durer’s Plates.
The different methods of printing exemplified by the impressions from
Diirer’s plates supply material for a most interesting chapter in the
history of printing,— a subject, so far as it applies to the treatment of
engraved plates, hitherto almost entirely neglected. This catalogue may
claim to be the first in which special attention is paid to it. The conclu-
sions arrived at are based on careful studies made in the Departement des
Estampes of the Bibliotheque Nationale at Paris, in the Print Room of the
British Museum at London, and in the Royal Print Cabinets at Dresden
and at Berlin. The notes there made have been tested by an examina-
tion of the Differs in the Museum of Fine Arts at Boston (most of which
belong to the Gray Collection, the property of Harvard College), and of
the fine collection brought together for this exhibition.
Schongauer’s plates are printed with an intensely black, strong ink,
which, being deposited on animal-sized (z. e., glued) paper, assumes a
bright gloss in the heavy lines. Practically, they are clean wiped, that
is to say, all the ink is removed from the surface of the plate, so that
only the lines drawn by the engraver show black on a white, or at least
light ground. Wherever ink was left on the surface of the plate, between
the lines or on unworked parts, it was by accident. This is true also of
Durer’s early plates. Beautiful examples of such clean-wiped impres-
sions are found in this exhibition in No. 7, “The Penance of St. John
Chrysostom,” and No. 13% “The Virgin and Child with the Monkey.”
In these impressions every line is clean and clear, and even in the most
closely worked parts (the darkest shadows) the minute points of copper
left standing between the crossing lines produce white points. Not all
impressions, however, were as successful. If the plate was not sufficiently
close-wiped, the lines were too full, and in the darkest parts they ran to-
gether, so that these parts formed black masses. The difference can very
well be studied in the four impressions of No. 32, “ St. Eustace,” of which
xxxviii
VII. The Printing of Durer’s Plates.
The different methods of printing exemplified by the impressions from
Diirer’s plates supply material for a most interesting chapter in the
history of printing,— a subject, so far as it applies to the treatment of
engraved plates, hitherto almost entirely neglected. This catalogue may
claim to be the first in which special attention is paid to it. The conclu-
sions arrived at are based on careful studies made in the Departement des
Estampes of the Bibliotheque Nationale at Paris, in the Print Room of the
British Museum at London, and in the Royal Print Cabinets at Dresden
and at Berlin. The notes there made have been tested by an examina-
tion of the Differs in the Museum of Fine Arts at Boston (most of which
belong to the Gray Collection, the property of Harvard College), and of
the fine collection brought together for this exhibition.
Schongauer’s plates are printed with an intensely black, strong ink,
which, being deposited on animal-sized (z. e., glued) paper, assumes a
bright gloss in the heavy lines. Practically, they are clean wiped, that
is to say, all the ink is removed from the surface of the plate, so that
only the lines drawn by the engraver show black on a white, or at least
light ground. Wherever ink was left on the surface of the plate, between
the lines or on unworked parts, it was by accident. This is true also of
Durer’s early plates. Beautiful examples of such clean-wiped impres-
sions are found in this exhibition in No. 7, “The Penance of St. John
Chrysostom,” and No. 13% “The Virgin and Child with the Monkey.”
In these impressions every line is clean and clear, and even in the most
closely worked parts (the darkest shadows) the minute points of copper
left standing between the crossing lines produce white points. Not all
impressions, however, were as successful. If the plate was not sufficiently
close-wiped, the lines were too full, and in the darkest parts they ran to-
gether, so that these parts formed black masses. The difference can very
well be studied in the four impressions of No. 32, “ St. Eustace,” of which
xxxviii