DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.7597#0349
FURTHER INQUIRY CONCERNING [chap. iv.
" rounded by a choir of twelve angels and six seraphims, and ten
" female saints; its form is arched at top according to the usage
" adopted in these Paxes, from one of which it was taken, and the
" figures are of surprising beauty, and in every respect analogous
" to those in ' the Assumption.'"*
That Maso Finiguerra was the real inventor of the art of which
we treat, conformably to the testimony of Vasari, is no longer a
matter of doubt or inquiry; nor can the Italian writers be accused
of exaggeration when they place the epoch of his discovery about
1440, or a few years before. Let us now inquire as to the probable
means by which the new art was divulged, and the gradations by
which it was perfected, so far as to be applicable to the useful pur-
poses of publication.
From the simple nature of the operation required to produce an
impression from an engraved plate, such a practice could not long
remain confined to the work-shop of its inventor. A proof on paper
being once shewn to a neighbouring goldsmith, even though the
process which produced it was withheld, could not but lead to
experiment; and experiment could hardly fail of success. The
slightest hint, conveyed by one artist to his friend residing at a
distance, sufficed to awaken ingenuity; and but little ingenuity was
required, the effect being already known, to discover some simple
operation, by which that effect would be, in some degree at least,
obtained. Indeed from the proofs of works of niello in the Durazzo
cabinet alone, their various styles, and the apparent antiquity of
several of them, it seems probable that many years did not elapse,
from the period of Maso's discovery, before the art, in this, its first
state, became pretty generally practised by the workers in niello
throughout Italy.
* Zani, " Materiali," &c. p. 41, et seq. the spandles over the arch, or the surround-
From Zani's description of the print in the ing border. I learn, however, from Mr.
possession of Mr. Borduge, I was some time Woodburne, who saw it during his recent
of opinion that it was an impression taken visit to Paris, that the composition is dif-
from the same plate as my own, but without ferent.
" rounded by a choir of twelve angels and six seraphims, and ten
" female saints; its form is arched at top according to the usage
" adopted in these Paxes, from one of which it was taken, and the
" figures are of surprising beauty, and in every respect analogous
" to those in ' the Assumption.'"*
That Maso Finiguerra was the real inventor of the art of which
we treat, conformably to the testimony of Vasari, is no longer a
matter of doubt or inquiry; nor can the Italian writers be accused
of exaggeration when they place the epoch of his discovery about
1440, or a few years before. Let us now inquire as to the probable
means by which the new art was divulged, and the gradations by
which it was perfected, so far as to be applicable to the useful pur-
poses of publication.
From the simple nature of the operation required to produce an
impression from an engraved plate, such a practice could not long
remain confined to the work-shop of its inventor. A proof on paper
being once shewn to a neighbouring goldsmith, even though the
process which produced it was withheld, could not but lead to
experiment; and experiment could hardly fail of success. The
slightest hint, conveyed by one artist to his friend residing at a
distance, sufficed to awaken ingenuity; and but little ingenuity was
required, the effect being already known, to discover some simple
operation, by which that effect would be, in some degree at least,
obtained. Indeed from the proofs of works of niello in the Durazzo
cabinet alone, their various styles, and the apparent antiquity of
several of them, it seems probable that many years did not elapse,
from the period of Maso's discovery, before the art, in this, its first
state, became pretty generally practised by the workers in niello
throughout Italy.
* Zani, " Materiali," &c. p. 41, et seq. the spandles over the arch, or the surround-
From Zani's description of the print in the ing border. I learn, however, from Mr.
possession of Mr. Borduge, I was some time Woodburne, who saw it during his recent
of opinion that it was an impression taken visit to Paris, that the composition is dif-
from the same plate as my own, but without ferent.