Print collector's quarterly (4.1914)

on the Mount of Olives one sees a rejected outline of
Christ’s profile in the air; the position of the angel hav-
ing made it impossible.
If all the above peculiarities seem due to the fact that
Schongauer was a painter, it must likewise be borne
in mind that he himself was familiär with the gold-
smith’s craft. His father, Kaspar, who was living in
1481, as well as three of his brothers, Paul, George and
Kaspar, were all goldsmiths, and it seems not impossible
that Martin fared like young Dürer, whose father, like-
wise a goldsmith, first apprenticed him in this craft and
gave his sanction to his becoming a painter only after he
had learned neatly to practice the craft first learned.
That Martin was as familiär with hämmer and pincers
as with the brush might well be considered proven by
his masterly and workman-like designs for the Crosier,
the Censer, and by the splendid chandelier in the Death
of the Virgin.
III
A subject of no small importance is Schongauer’s
technique and the advance in the art of engraving to
be ascribed to him. This is not easy to define. Engrav-
ing on copper commences with parallel shade strokes,
extremely delicate shadings, blending, to the naked
eye, into an effect similar to an India ink wash. In
the hands of Master E. S. the separate layers of lines
become clear, distinct and assume an individual röle.
Cross-hatchings are offen found in his plates, but usu-
ally there are several layers criss-crossed over each
other in the deep shadows. Partial shadows are dis-
solved into iittle dashes near the light; the rounding of

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