DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.7597#0121
90
WOOD PRINTS OF ST. CHRISTOPHER [chap. n.
" the convent perhaps desired to preserve it, and at that time no
** one troubled himself about the Antiquity of Engraving, or dis-
*' puted upon the question."*
It was due to Heineken that I should describe this most interest-
ing specimen of early wood engraving in his own words; since, but
for his research, it might have continued to lie unnoticed in the
convent of Buxheim, perhaps, for centuries to come. It has now
found an asylum worthy of so precious and rare a document, in the
splendid library of Earl Spencer, where it is preserved in the same
state in which Heineken discovered it, pasted in the inside of one
of the covers of a manuscript in the Latin language,-f- of the year
1417. Lord Spencer, with a liberality for which he is eminently
distinguished, has permitted it to be faithfully copied, of the same
dimensions as the original, for the present work; and the reader
will therefore be a competent judge of its merits,—except as respects
the colours, with which, like the last described print, it was tinted
after printing, and which it has been judged proper to omit, that its
true pretensions, as a work of engraving, may the better appear.
I shall say but a few words concerning this engraving, as a work
of art. The principal group is composed with dignity ; and, indeed,
as respects its arrangement, is not inferior to many pictures of the
same subject, executed by esteemed artists of later times. The
reciprocity between St. Christopher and the sacred infant, is well
conceived; the head of the saint is expressive; and the drapery,
floating over his shoulder, is folded in a grand style. But the ex-
tremities, and some other parts of the figures, are so defective in
point of drawing, as to give reason to suspect that the artist, who
* i* Idee Generate," p. 250. the print of " The Annunciation," in the same
f The MS. is entitled " Latjs Virginis." volume; both of the dimensions of the ori-
See Mr. Dibdin's " Bibliotheca Spenceri- ginals, and accurately executed. A bad copy
ana," vol. i. p. iv. Mr. Dibdin has given a of the print of " St. Christopher" is intro-
fac-simile of the group of St. Christopher duced in Janseris work so often cited, copied,
-and the Child, and another of the Angel, in I believe, from one made by De Murr.
WOOD PRINTS OF ST. CHRISTOPHER [chap. n.
" the convent perhaps desired to preserve it, and at that time no
** one troubled himself about the Antiquity of Engraving, or dis-
*' puted upon the question."*
It was due to Heineken that I should describe this most interest-
ing specimen of early wood engraving in his own words; since, but
for his research, it might have continued to lie unnoticed in the
convent of Buxheim, perhaps, for centuries to come. It has now
found an asylum worthy of so precious and rare a document, in the
splendid library of Earl Spencer, where it is preserved in the same
state in which Heineken discovered it, pasted in the inside of one
of the covers of a manuscript in the Latin language,-f- of the year
1417. Lord Spencer, with a liberality for which he is eminently
distinguished, has permitted it to be faithfully copied, of the same
dimensions as the original, for the present work; and the reader
will therefore be a competent judge of its merits,—except as respects
the colours, with which, like the last described print, it was tinted
after printing, and which it has been judged proper to omit, that its
true pretensions, as a work of engraving, may the better appear.
I shall say but a few words concerning this engraving, as a work
of art. The principal group is composed with dignity ; and, indeed,
as respects its arrangement, is not inferior to many pictures of the
same subject, executed by esteemed artists of later times. The
reciprocity between St. Christopher and the sacred infant, is well
conceived; the head of the saint is expressive; and the drapery,
floating over his shoulder, is folded in a grand style. But the ex-
tremities, and some other parts of the figures, are so defective in
point of drawing, as to give reason to suspect that the artist, who
* i* Idee Generate," p. 250. the print of " The Annunciation," in the same
f The MS. is entitled " Latjs Virginis." volume; both of the dimensions of the ori-
See Mr. Dibdin's " Bibliotheca Spenceri- ginals, and accurately executed. A bad copy
ana," vol. i. p. iv. Mr. Dibdin has given a of the print of " St. Christopher" is intro-
fac-simile of the group of St. Christopher duced in Janseris work so often cited, copied,
-and the Child, and another of the Angel, in I believe, from one made by De Murr.