DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.7598#0026
494
ANDREA MANTEGNA.
[chap. vii.
occasioned by the hammer in the edges of the plate, are apparent
all round. It bears every mark of having been executed in the
infancy of engraving, and seems to have been printed with a com-
mon roller. The reader will be enabled to form some idea of its
appearance from the annexed fac-simile. This engraving was
copied, in a more finished manner, in the sixteenth century, by
Adam Ghisi, of Mantua, in an opposite direction to the original;
with the addition of the following short inscription underneath the
figure: servus eo laertior quo patientior. The design has always
been attributed to Mantegna.
Lanzi observes, " that we have, as it were, two distinct editions
" of Mantegna's engravings; the one apparently taken off with a
" weak tint, by means of a roller; the other, printed with dark
" glutinous oil-colour, and a press." He might, I think, have added,
though I am aware that in this opinion I differ from Bartsch, that
the artist engraved some of his pieces twice over: perhaps because
he found that the first plates, which are supposed to have been
executed upon some metallic compound less hard than copper, were
worn out before they had furnished the number of impressions for
which he had demand. In addition to the few repetitions which, from
the intelligence and spirit that appear in them throughout, I ascribe
to his own hand, we have others, which I believe to have been
carefully copied under his direction by pupils. These repetitions
are noticed in the following catalogue; besides which I have added
a few pieces engraved from other designs of Mantegna, by anony-
mous artists of the time, who probably studied the art under him,
and engraved them under his superintendence, for the purpose of
publication, at a time when his weightier avocations as a painter,
added, perhaps, to the infirmities of age, prevented his doing them
himself. The reader will perceive that I consider Mantegna not
only as an engraver, but also as a publisher of prints for sale :—per-
haps he was the first.—I have only to add that, as usual, I have
recourse to Bartsch for the descriptions of such pieces in my cata-
logue, as I have not a convenient opportunity of examining.
ANDREA MANTEGNA.
[chap. vii.
occasioned by the hammer in the edges of the plate, are apparent
all round. It bears every mark of having been executed in the
infancy of engraving, and seems to have been printed with a com-
mon roller. The reader will be enabled to form some idea of its
appearance from the annexed fac-simile. This engraving was
copied, in a more finished manner, in the sixteenth century, by
Adam Ghisi, of Mantua, in an opposite direction to the original;
with the addition of the following short inscription underneath the
figure: servus eo laertior quo patientior. The design has always
been attributed to Mantegna.
Lanzi observes, " that we have, as it were, two distinct editions
" of Mantegna's engravings; the one apparently taken off with a
" weak tint, by means of a roller; the other, printed with dark
" glutinous oil-colour, and a press." He might, I think, have added,
though I am aware that in this opinion I differ from Bartsch, that
the artist engraved some of his pieces twice over: perhaps because
he found that the first plates, which are supposed to have been
executed upon some metallic compound less hard than copper, were
worn out before they had furnished the number of impressions for
which he had demand. In addition to the few repetitions which, from
the intelligence and spirit that appear in them throughout, I ascribe
to his own hand, we have others, which I believe to have been
carefully copied under his direction by pupils. These repetitions
are noticed in the following catalogue; besides which I have added
a few pieces engraved from other designs of Mantegna, by anony-
mous artists of the time, who probably studied the art under him,
and engraved them under his superintendence, for the purpose of
publication, at a time when his weightier avocations as a painter,
added, perhaps, to the infirmities of age, prevented his doing them
himself. The reader will perceive that I consider Mantegna not
only as an engraver, but also as a publisher of prints for sale :—per-
haps he was the first.—I have only to add that, as usual, I have
recourse to Bartsch for the descriptions of such pieces in my cata-
logue, as I have not a convenient opportunity of examining.