DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.7597#0318
chap, iv.] VASARIS ACCOUNT CONSIDERED.
285
" From this practice," says Vasari, « the art of engraving and
** printing copper-plates was derived." Now the only reasonable
interpretation to be given of this sentence is, that some one of
those who were accustomed to make these sulphurs, as memorials
of their works on silver, discovered by accident—for almost all
great discoveries have been made by accident—that impressions
could also be taken from engraved plates on damped paper.
Vasari's concluding words are, it is true, " so the printers" (that is
the printers of copper-plates) " found out the method of taking off'
1* impressions from engravings on copper, with a press, as is now the
« custom:" but these words, if indeed they are any other than a
mere antithesis, can only mean, that the method of taking off im-
pressions from engraved plates by means of a common roller, or
other imperfect instrument, having been discovered, they—the
printers—improved and perfected the apparatus necessary for such
a purpose : for until the mode of printing engraved plates was dis-
covered, there could be no persons whose occupation it was to print
them; and, indeed, until after the discovery was made known,
no engraved plates left the work-shop of the goldsmith unless when
filled with niello, and, consequently, not in a state admitting of such
an operation. Besides, we have no evidence that Finiguerra him-
self did not become a printer of copper-plate engravings; and the
expression " so the printers," &c. may, therefore, refer to him and
his immediate followers.
The person who made the discovery must, according to all fair
hypotheses, have been a goldsmith. Such, Vasari informs us, in the
introduction to his life of Marc Antonio, was really the case, and
that that goldsmith was Maso Finiguerra.
We are there expressly told, that, " the art of engraving and print-
ing copper-plates, (dell' intagliare le stampe) had its beginning
with Maso Finiguerra, or came from Finiguerra, (venne da Maso
Finiguerra) about the year 1460: for that that artist made sulphur
casts of all the things that he engraved in silver, which were in-
tended to be filled with niello, before he introduced the niello;
285
" From this practice," says Vasari, « the art of engraving and
** printing copper-plates was derived." Now the only reasonable
interpretation to be given of this sentence is, that some one of
those who were accustomed to make these sulphurs, as memorials
of their works on silver, discovered by accident—for almost all
great discoveries have been made by accident—that impressions
could also be taken from engraved plates on damped paper.
Vasari's concluding words are, it is true, " so the printers" (that is
the printers of copper-plates) " found out the method of taking off'
1* impressions from engravings on copper, with a press, as is now the
« custom:" but these words, if indeed they are any other than a
mere antithesis, can only mean, that the method of taking off im-
pressions from engraved plates by means of a common roller, or
other imperfect instrument, having been discovered, they—the
printers—improved and perfected the apparatus necessary for such
a purpose : for until the mode of printing engraved plates was dis-
covered, there could be no persons whose occupation it was to print
them; and, indeed, until after the discovery was made known,
no engraved plates left the work-shop of the goldsmith unless when
filled with niello, and, consequently, not in a state admitting of such
an operation. Besides, we have no evidence that Finiguerra him-
self did not become a printer of copper-plate engravings; and the
expression " so the printers," &c. may, therefore, refer to him and
his immediate followers.
The person who made the discovery must, according to all fair
hypotheses, have been a goldsmith. Such, Vasari informs us, in the
introduction to his life of Marc Antonio, was really the case, and
that that goldsmith was Maso Finiguerra.
We are there expressly told, that, " the art of engraving and print-
ing copper-plates, (dell' intagliare le stampe) had its beginning
with Maso Finiguerra, or came from Finiguerra, (venne da Maso
Finiguerra) about the year 1460: for that that artist made sulphur
casts of all the things that he engraved in silver, which were in-
tended to be filled with niello, before he introduced the niello;