This “generalization” of the landscape, as it is called, empties it of all that makes it lovely. To the cut, as an example of figure-engraving, the highest praise may be given, but as an entire picture it is harmed by its imperfection of detail. To subordinate by destroying is not the mode of high art, but it is often the mode of the new school.

Of all the work of recent years, however, the best, it is generally admitted, is in the portraits, possibly because the artists are restrained by the definiteness of the form and expression to be conveyed. Mr. Cole’s Modjeska has been already praised, though it is rather a fine figure than a fine portrait. A portrait of Mr. Hunt by Mr. Linton, and of Mr. Fletcher Harper by Mr. Kruell, are also of high merit, and in both a very high level of excellence is sustained. The special character of the new school in portraiture, as a distinct and radical style, is illustrated by Mr. Juengling’s “Spanish Peasant” (Fig. 88). It recalls at once the portrait of Whistler by the same hand. In disposition of color, in certainty of effect, and in skill of execution, all must recognize the engraver’s power; but is the value of the human face, in whose mouldings is expressed the life of years and generations—is the value of the human eye, in which the light never goes out, truly felt? One cannot help feeling that the brutalizing of this face is a matter rather of art than of truth. Contrast the two portraits here given (Figs. 89, 90), one in the bolder, more definite, larger style, admirable in its tones and discrimination of textures, among the very best in this manner; the other finer, with the tendency to fade into the background, but faultless in its rendering of the face, and proving by success the great effectiveness of the fine white cross-line.

FIG. 87.— “Nay, Love, ’tis you who stand With almond clusters in your clasping hand.” Engraved by T. Cole.
FIG. 87.—
“Nay, Love, ’tis you who stand   
With almond clusters in your clasping hand.”      Engraved by T. Cole.

These illustrations of recent engraving are sufficiently numerous and various to offer a fair test of what has been done in different branches of the art. The capacity of any new school should be judged by the best it has produced; but, even in this best work, it is not difficult to discern at times the same tendencies that have been the main cause of failure in the less good work. The obscuration of leading outlines; the disregard of substance, shape, and material in leaf, cloud, and stuffs; the neglect of relief and perspective, the crowding of the ground with meaningless lines, either undirected or misdirected, or uselessly refined; the aim at an effect by an arrangement of color almost independent of form, the attempt to make a momentary impression on the eye, instead of to give lasting pleasure to the mind through the artistic sense, and—especially in the best work—the lack of perfect and masterly finish in all portions of the design, however insignificant by comparison with the leading parts—these must be counted as defects. How much of such failure is due to the designer, it is impossible to determine without sight of the original drawings; a considerable portion of the fault may rest with him; in wood-engravings, as art-works, the union of designer and craftsman is inseparable—the two stand or fall together. But when all deductions have been made, the best engravers may rightly be very proud of their work, confident of their future, and hopeful of great things. With such perfect technical skill as they possess, with such form and texture as they have represented with care, truth, and beauty; with such softness of tone and power of both delicate and strong line as some of their number have earned the mastery of, the value of future work depends only on the wisdom of their aims. If the fundamental grounds on which the foregoing criticism rests be true, these engravers have won success in so far as they have attended to form and texture as the main business of their art, and they have failed in so far as they have destroyed these. From its peculiar and original powers in the interpretation of form and texture by line-work, either black or white, wood-engraving has derived its value and earned the respect due it as an art, both through its great works in the past and, so far as yet appears, through its best works in the present. Wood-engravers, if the design given them to reproduce is in black line, fit for engraving in wood, must copy it simply, and then, should artist-draughtsmen arise, the art in this manner will again produce works of permanent value as in the days of Holbein; if, on the other hand, the design given them is in color or washed tints, or anything of that sort, they must interpret it by lines of their own creation, and then, too, should any engraver-draughtsmen arise among them, the art will possess a similarly high value; but in no other way than by attending to these two kinds of line-work, separately or together, can wood-engraving remain artistic; and even then its success will depend on the knowledge and skill of the designer, whether artist or engraver, in the use and arrangement of the special lines which are best adapted to the art.

FIG. 88.—The Spanish Peasant. Engraved by F. Juengling.
FIG. 88.—The Spanish Peasant. Engraved by F. Juengling.

FIG. 89.—James Russell Lowell. Engraved by Thomas Johnson.
FIG. 89.—James Russell Lowell. Engraved by Thomas Johnson.

FIG. 90.—Arthur Penrhyn Stanley. Engraved by G. Kruell.
FIG. 90.—Arthur Penrhyn Stanley. Engraved by G. Kruell.

The history of wood-engraving, as it is recorded in the chief monuments of the art, has now been told from its beginning down to the present moment. Its historic and artistic value has been mainly dwelt upon, with the view of showing its utility as a democratic art and its powers as a fine art. It has had an illustrious career. It has shared in the great social movements which transformed mediæval into modern civilization. It entered into the popular life, in its earliest days, by representing the saints whom the people worshipped. It contributed to the cause of popular civilization in the spread of literature. It assisted the introduction of realism into art, and gave powerful aid in the gradual secularization of art. It lent itself to the Italian genius, and was able to preserve something of the loveliness of the Italian Renaissance. It helped the Reformation. It gave enduring form to the imagination and thought of Dürer and Holbein. It fell into inevitable decline; but, when the development of democracy again began in the new age, it entered into the work of popular civilization with ever-increasing vigor and ever-widening influence. It seems still to possess unlimited capacities for usefulness in the future in both the intellectual and artistic education of the people. It may yet crown its career by making this country an art-loving as well as a book-reading Republic.

A LIST OF THE PRINCIPAL WORKS

UPON

WOOD-ENGRAVING USEFUL TO STUDENTS.

Derschau (H. A. von). Holzschnitte alter deutscher Meister in den Originalplatten, gesammelt von Derschau, mit einer Abhandlung über die Holzschneidekunst begleitet, von Rudolph Zacharias Becker. Gotha, 1808-’16. 3 Th. Folio.

Heller (Joseph). Geschichte der Holzschneidekunst. Bamberg, 1823. 8vo.

Paeille (C.). Essai historique et critique sur l’Invention de l’Imprimerie. Lille, 1859. 8vo.

Weigel (Rudolph). Holzschnitte berühmter Meister in treuen Copien. Leipzig, 1851-’54. Folio.

INDEX.

A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I, J, K, L, M, N, P, R, S, T, U, V, W, Z

Adams, Joseph Alexander, 173.
Altdorfer, Albrecht, 111.
America:
earlier history and characteristics of the art, 171-177;
present position and influence, 177, 178;
works in imitation of other arts, 185;
errors in practice 190, 202;
future of the art, 202-206.
Amman, Jobst, 114.
Anderson, Alexander, 172.
Andreani, Andrea, 146.
Anthony, A. V. S., 176.
Ars Memorandi, 43.
Ars Moriendi, 43.
Augsburg:
prints, 26;
playing-cards, 27;
Bible, 52;
press, 46, 57.

Baldung, Hans, 110.
Bamberg: press, 56.
Basle:
characteristics of the city in Holbein’s time, 117.
Behaim, Hans Sebald, 112-114.
Bernard, St.:
his rebuke of art, 14.
Best, Adolphe, 169.
Bewick, Thomas:
the father of modern wood-engraving, 151;
sketch of his life, 154;
reforms effected by him, 154;
character of his genius, 154-160;
his works, 161;
influence on the art in America, 172.
Bible:
the Cologne, 49;
the Nuremberg, 50;
the Augsburg, 52;
the Strasburg, 50;
Coverdale’s, 132;
Le Clerc’s, 139;
Jean de Tourne’s’, 141;
Harper’s, 173.
Bible cuts:
Behaim’s, 113;
Holbein’s, 129-131;
Jean Moni’s, 141.
Biblia Pauperum:
their use, 31;
designs not original, 32;
description, 33;
place of issue, 37.
Blake, William, 162.
Block-printing:
invention, 30, 31, 42;
decline, 45.
Boldrini, Nicolo, 144.
Bouts, Diedrick, 39.
Branston, Robert, 164, 167.
Bray, Theodore de, 147.
Brevière, Henri, 169.
Breydenbach’s Travels, 55.
Brontë, Charlotte, criticism of Bewick, 159-161.
Brosamer, Hans, 114.
Brothers of the Common Lot:
their claim to the authorship of the block-books, 39.
Brussels: print of 1418, 23.
Burgkmaier, Hans:
genius and works, 99-106;
influence on Holbein, 117

Calcar, Jean, 146.
Carpi, Ugo da, 87, 146.
Caxton, William:
Game and Playe of the Chesse, 63.
Chiaroscuro-engraving, 87-89, 146, 148, 187-189.
Christopher, St.:
print of 1423, 22.
Chronicles:
general description, 52;
the Cologne, 53;
the Nuremberg, 53;
the Saxon, 53.
Clennell, Luke, 164, 167.
Cole, T., 197, 200.
Cologne:
early school of art, 42, 43;
Bible, 49;
Chronicle, 53;
press, 57.
Color:
in the holy prints, 26 note;
in early German books, 52;
in the Livres d’Heures, 60, 61;
in chiaroscuro-engraving, 87.
Color, conventional, 55, 151, 152.
Copperplate-engraving:
influence on wood-engraving, 47, 91, 112, 141, 149, 164, 176, 182.
Coriolano, Bartolemeo, 146.
Coster, Lawrence:
claim to the invention of wood-engraving, 21.
Cousin, Jean, 136-139.
Cranach, Lukas, 110.
Criblée-work:
description, 18;
in France, 62, 63.
Cross-hatching:
first use in Germany, 55;
in Italy, 86;
its propriety in wood-engraving, 152, 186.
Cunio, Isabella and Alexander Alberico, 20.

Dalziel, the Brothers, 168.
Dance of Death:
typical mediæval idea, 121;
Holbein’s, 123-129;
Guyot Marchand’s, 62.
Davis, J. P., 197.
Day, John, 147.
Didot, Firmin (père):
his influence on the French revival of the art, 163.
Dream of Poliphilo, 70-81, 137, 138.
Du Pré, Jean, 60.
Dürer, Albert:
influence on the art, 90;
character of his genius, 91, 92;
Apocalypse of St. John, 93, 94;
Larger Passion, Smaller Passion, Life of the Virgin, 95-97;
single prints, 97;
Car and Gate of Triumph, 97-99.

England:
early woodcuts, 63;
the art in Holbein’s time, 132, 147, 148;
modern revival, 151, 164.
Evans, Edmund, 168.

Form, value of, in wood-engraving, 193.
France:
early books in French, 58;
early woodcuts, 59-63;
influence of Germany and Italy, 62, 135;
character of the French Renaissance and its art, 135-141;
the modern revival, 163, 169.
French, Frank, 196.

Genre art, first appearance in wood-engraving, 121.
Germany:
German block-books, 42, 43;
activity and influence of the early printers, 46, 47;
the free cities, 48;
character of the early press, 48, 56, 57;
influence on France, 62;
on Italy, 67;
on Venice, 68;
chiaroscuro-engraving, 87;
the Renaissance, 91, 97, 110, 111, 115;
decline, 148;
the modern revival, 163, 169.
Gilbert, Sir John, 168.
Goldsmiths, mediæval:
their art-works, 14-16;
position in France and the Netherlands, 17;
their claim to the invention of wood-engraving, 18, 19.
Goltzius, Hendrick, 147.
Goujon, Jean, 139.
Greche, Domenico delle, 145.
Gregory the Great:
his defence of art, 31.
Groups, modern, 195-200.
Gubitz, Friedrich Wilhelm, 163.

Harvey, William, 167.
Historia Johannis Evangelistæ ejusque Visiones Apocalypticæ, 42.
Historia Virginis Mariæ, 41.
History of the Kings of Hungary, 53, 54.
Holbein, Hans:
the first modern artist, 116;
character and development of his genius, 117-120;
early work, 120; Dance of Death, 123-128;
his democratic, reforming, and sceptical spirit, dramatic and artistic power, 120-127;
Figures of the Bible, 129-131;
his English portraits, 131;
his English woodcuts, 132;
summary of his powers and influence, 132-134.
Holy prints, 21-26.
Hoskin, Robert, 195.
Hypnerotomachia Poliphili:
illustration of the Italian Renaissance, 70-81;
the French reproduction, 137, 138.

Initial letters:
in Faust and Scheffer’s Psalter, 46;
in the Augsburg Bible, 52;
in Italy, 86;
in Holbein’s alphabets, 120, 121.
Italy:
artistic spirit, 65;
democratic civilization, 66;
the Renaissance, 67;
introduction of printing, 68;
early cuts, 68;
general characterization of the engraved work, 85;
decline, 86;
chiaroscuro-engraving, 87-89;
influence on Holbein, 117, 118.

Jackson, John Baptist, 148.
Jegher, Christopher, 147.
Jerome, St., Epistles of, 70, 71.
Juengling, F., 195, 200.

Kerver, Thielman, 62.
King, F. S., 189, 193.
Kirkall, Edward, 148.
Kruell, G., 200.

Landscape, modern, 186-195.
Lavoignat, H., 169.
Le Caron, Pierre, 60.
Le Clerc, Jean, 139, 140.
Leech, John, 168.
Leloir, Auguste, 169.
Le Rouge, Pierre, 60.
Le Sueur, Pierre, 148.
Leyden, Lukas van, 110, 147.
Linton, W. J., 168, 176, 200.
Little Masters, 111.
Livens, Jean, 147.
Livres d’Heures, 60-62.
Lorch, Melchior, 114.
Lorme, Philibert de, 140.
Lucchesini, 148.
Lützelburger, Hans, 129.
Lyons:
earliest seat of the art in France, 59;
character of the earlier press, 59;
the later press, 140.

Magazines: use and influence, 167.
Marchand, Guyot, 60, 62.
Marsh, Henry, 176, 186.
Maximilian, Emperor:
life and character, 97;
works executed by his order—the Triumphal Car, 98;
Gate of Triumph, 99;
the Triumphal Procession, 99-105;
The Adventures of Sir Tewrdannckh, 106;
The Wise King, 106;
influence of his patronage, 109.
Mayence press, 46, 53, 55, 57.
Metal-engraving earlier than wood-engraving, 18.
Middle Ages:
position of goldsmiths, 14-18;
impersonal spirit, 26;
value of painting, 28, 31;
immobility of mind, 32;
religious temper and intellectual life, 40, 41;
art, typical, 53;
illustrated by Dürer, 92;
by Maximilian’s works, 99-105;
by the Dance of Death, 121.
Moni, Jean, 141.

Nanto, Francesco da, 145.
Nesbit, Charlton, 164.
Netherlands:
civilization in, 37;
wood-engraving probably invented in, 38;
decline of, 47, 57, 147.
Nicolo, Giuseppe, 146.
Nuremburg:
prints, 26;
playing-cards, 27;
Bible, 50;
Chronicle, 53;
press, 57, 114.

Painting, place of, in mediæval popular civilization, 28, 31.
Papillon, Jean, the Elder, 148;
the Younger, 20.
Paris:
character of the Parisian press, 59, 60;
early books and printers, 60;
the Livres d’Heures, 60,
secular books, 62, 63.
Périssin, Jacques, 140.
Pfister, Book of Fables, 56.
Pigouchet, Philippe, 62.
Playing-cards, 27.
Pleydenwurff, William, 53.
Pliny, reference to Varro’s portraits, 20.
Porret, 169.
Porto, Giovanni Battista del, 145.
Portraits, modern, 198, 200-202.
Principles of wood-engraving, 180-185.
Processes:
engraving in relief on wood known to the ancients, 13;
of taking impressions, 17;
en manière criblée, 18;
of taking off the holy prints, 21, 22;
of block-printing, 30;
of cross-hatching, 55;
of chiaroscuro-engraving, 87-89;
white-line and Bewick’s other reforms, 151-155.
Pynson, Richard, 64.

Raimondi, Marc Antonio, 96, 142.
Reformation reflected in wood-engraving, 51, 112, 117, 120, 126, 132.
Rembrandt, 147.
Renaissance: in Italy, 67-85;
in Germany, 91, 97, 110, 111, 115;
in France, 135-141.
Romances, popular, 59, 141.
Rubens, P. P.:
reproductions after his designs, 147.
Ruskin, John:
criticism on Holbein, 126;
on Bewick, 155.

Saints’ images, 21-26.
Salomon, Bernard, 140-141.
Sand, George, criticism of Holbein, 124.
Satire: in Bible-cuts, 50, 51;
in the Little Masters, 112;
in Holbein, 120, 132.
Saxony: Chronicle, 53.
Schatzbehalter, 54.
Schäuffelin, Hans, 106.
Schön, Erhard, 114.
Scolari, Giuseppe, 145.
Sebastian, St.:
print of 1437, 23.
Secularization of art, 50, 110, 111.
Smith, Orrin, 167.
Solis, Virgil, 114.
Speculum Humanæ Salvationis:
description, 34;
place of issue, 36;
authorship, 38, note, 39;
character of the cuts, 40.
Spirituale Pomerium, 39.
Springinklee, Hans, 106, 110.
Stamps, engraved, early use, 13.
Stimmer, Tobias, 114.
Strasburg:
Bible, 50;
press, 57.
Suger, defence of art, 15.

Tenniel, John, 168.
Tewrdannckh, Sir, Adventures of, 106.
Thompson, John, 164.
Titian, reproductions after his designs, 144-146.
Tortorel, Jean, 140.
Tory, Geoffrey, influence on French engraving, 135.
Trento, Antonio da, 146.
Turrecremata’s, Cardinal, Meditations, 68.

Ulm:
prints, 26;
press, 57.
Unger, Johann Georg, and Johann Gottlieb Friedrich, 163.

Van der Weyden, Roger, 42.
Van Eyck, 36, 37, 42.
Varro, portraits in his works, 20.
Vecellio, Cesare, 146.
Venice:
claim to the origin of wood-engraving, 20;
decree forbidding importation of prints from Germany, 27;
early cuts, 68;
early views of the city, 69;
later cuts, 82-87, 143-147.
Verard, Antoine, 60, 62.
Vesalius’s Anatomy, 145.
Vinci, Leonardo da, 142.
Vostre, Simon, 62.

White line:
description, 151;
influence on the art in Bewick’s hands, 153;
the engraver’s province, 154, 184.
Wise King, The, 106.
Woeiriot, Pierre, 140.
Wohlgemuth, Michael, 53, 54.
Worde, Wynkyn de, 64.

Zainer Gunther, 46, 52.