DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.7597#0092
CHAP. II.]
WOOD ENGRAVING ACCOUNTED FOR.
63
on board. It is, therefore, not extraordinary that the ancient use
of wood engraving should have escaped the notice of contempora-
neous historians, since many of them were, perhaps, unconscious
even of the existence of such an art; and those who were acquainted
with it, considered it as an art of small importance.
Similar observations apply to playing cards. These were, no
doubt, at first designed and finished by the hand; but soon became
manufactured in large quantities by the engravers in wood. Never-
theless, persons of elevated rank still continued to employ artists of
superior ability to paint them with the greatest delicacy in minia-
ture ; and it is related that Filippo Maria Visconti, Duke of Milan,
when a young man, paid no less than fifteen hundred crowns of
gold for a pack of cards. * It is probable that the old Venetian
cards described by Lanzi, which, although printed, had the ground
behind the figures gilded, were intended for the use of the higher
classes of the community.
Heineken,-f- and some other writers, have ascribed the invention
of engraving in wood to the manufacturers of cards; but they
have been unable to produce any evidence in support of such an
opinion.
* Filippo Maria Visconti was born 1392,
and died 1447- It is therefore probable, as
Zani observes, (Materiali, 8cc. p. 186) that
these cards were purchased prior to 1412.
It will be seen from the original passage in
which the circumstance is recorded by De-
cembrio in his life of the said Visconti, (Me-
diolani apud Mekhioris Malatesta, 1630,
cap. lxi. p. 33) that these cards were very
different from such as are now used.
" Variis etiam ludendi modis ab adoles-
" centia usus est; nam modo pila se exer-
" cebat, nunc folliculo : plerunque eo ludi
" genere, qui ex imaginibus depictis Jit in
" quo prsecipue oblectatus est adeo ut inte-
grum eorum ludum mille et quingentis
" aureis emerit auctore vel in primis Marti-
" auo Derthonensi ejus Secretario, qui De-
" orum imagines, subjectasque his animalium
" figuras, et avium miro ingenio, summaque
" industria perfecit," &c.
Cards, indeed, appear to have been ex-
ecuted in various manners for people of high
distinction, and of various materials. Jansen
(torn. i. p. 86," Essai sur l'Origine de la Gra-
vure") tells us, that Breitkopf 'describes a pack
of piquet cards, in which the figures were en-
graved and gilt on plates of silver. Judging
from their style of design, he was of opinion
that they were the work of some artist of the
Low Countries in the sixteenth century.
f Idee Generate, p. 237, et seq.
WOOD ENGRAVING ACCOUNTED FOR.
63
on board. It is, therefore, not extraordinary that the ancient use
of wood engraving should have escaped the notice of contempora-
neous historians, since many of them were, perhaps, unconscious
even of the existence of such an art; and those who were acquainted
with it, considered it as an art of small importance.
Similar observations apply to playing cards. These were, no
doubt, at first designed and finished by the hand; but soon became
manufactured in large quantities by the engravers in wood. Never-
theless, persons of elevated rank still continued to employ artists of
superior ability to paint them with the greatest delicacy in minia-
ture ; and it is related that Filippo Maria Visconti, Duke of Milan,
when a young man, paid no less than fifteen hundred crowns of
gold for a pack of cards. * It is probable that the old Venetian
cards described by Lanzi, which, although printed, had the ground
behind the figures gilded, were intended for the use of the higher
classes of the community.
Heineken,-f- and some other writers, have ascribed the invention
of engraving in wood to the manufacturers of cards; but they
have been unable to produce any evidence in support of such an
opinion.
* Filippo Maria Visconti was born 1392,
and died 1447- It is therefore probable, as
Zani observes, (Materiali, 8cc. p. 186) that
these cards were purchased prior to 1412.
It will be seen from the original passage in
which the circumstance is recorded by De-
cembrio in his life of the said Visconti, (Me-
diolani apud Mekhioris Malatesta, 1630,
cap. lxi. p. 33) that these cards were very
different from such as are now used.
" Variis etiam ludendi modis ab adoles-
" centia usus est; nam modo pila se exer-
" cebat, nunc folliculo : plerunque eo ludi
" genere, qui ex imaginibus depictis Jit in
" quo prsecipue oblectatus est adeo ut inte-
grum eorum ludum mille et quingentis
" aureis emerit auctore vel in primis Marti-
" auo Derthonensi ejus Secretario, qui De-
" orum imagines, subjectasque his animalium
" figuras, et avium miro ingenio, summaque
" industria perfecit," &c.
Cards, indeed, appear to have been ex-
ecuted in various manners for people of high
distinction, and of various materials. Jansen
(torn. i. p. 86," Essai sur l'Origine de la Gra-
vure") tells us, that Breitkopf 'describes a pack
of piquet cards, in which the figures were en-
graved and gilt on plates of silver. Judging
from their style of design, he was of opinion
that they were the work of some artist of the
Low Countries in the sixteenth century.
f Idee Generate, p. 237, et seq.