These same medallions, as well as the borders of the 'Thesaurus amicorum,' have been used in a multitude of other publications, which are known to us only through detached fragments. I will mention particularly eight leaves preserved in the Cabinet des Estampes, printed on one side only, having a border with a portrait on each page.[439] Also, four leaves without borders, on each of which two portraits are printed, side by side.[440]
As for the borders, they appear again,—first, in the edition of Marot's Psalms, published by Jean de Tournes in 1557, in octavo; and second, with less impropriety, in the various editions, both in French and in Italian, of Ovid's 'Metamorphoses,' issued by the same printer.
Jean de Tournes published also, in 1556, a small octavo volume of specimens of his woodcuts, printed on one side only. This volume, which is well known to collectors, and which may be found in the Cabinet des Estampes, has on the first page these words alone: 'A Lion, Ian de Tournes, M.D.LVI.'[441] This page has a border of white arabesques on a black ground, in which the Lorraine cross is perfectly visible, at the foot. There are 22 engravings representing scenes from the theatre of the ancients.
The ninth bears the Lorraine cross. In the midst of this series, on leaf 21, is a piece which does not belong to the series; it represents a dog lying on a cushion.[442] After this series come various engravings which we find in Maurice de Seve's 'Saulsaye' (octavo, Lyon, 1547), in Ovid's 'Metamorphoses,' and the 'Hymnes du Temps' of Guillaume Gueroult, which were printed subsequently; then 11 plates bearing two figures facing each other, taken from a work on Chiromancy and Physiognomy, by Indagine (octavo, Lyon, 1549); 5 engravings from the edition of Petrarch issued by the first Jean in 1545; and 9 small miscellaneous subjects.[443] The Cabinet des Estampes also contains one leaf of a folio specimen of the woodcuts of the de Tournes, in which we find again the plates of the Petrarch. It lacks, however, the Lac d'Amour, which is on folio 5 of the collection we are describing, and is altogether in the manner of the seven epitaphs published by Tory in 1530.[444]
I will not enumerate here the other books with engravings, of later date, published by the second Jean de Tournes, because there is nothing to justify me in attributing them to Tory's workshop; but one may conclude from what I have said heretofore, that many engravings of the printers of Lyon, hitherto attributed to Salomon Bernard, called Le Petit Bernard, came from Tory's establishment. Indeed, we may well wish that Le Petit Bernard might be relieved of the enormous mass of engravings which have been attributed to him for lack of information concerning them, but which render uncertain the attribution of those which most certainly belong to him.[445]
Our list includes only engravings on wood; but I have no doubt that Tory engraved also on metal, and not alone letters, which we should naturally expect from Garamond's master, but plates as well. Now that the eyes of collectors are about to be opened, I should not be surprised if some one should discover one marked with his cross.[446] To forward such discovery I will insert the estimate of Tory's draughtsmanship formed by M. Renouvier, who is so competent a judge of such matters.
'The plates of "Champ fleury," the first of which is dated 1526, have an Italian after-taste, which manifests itself by the correctness of the figures, and by their costumes; but the delicacy of expression, the fineness of line, distinguish them clearly from the Venetian vignettes. The vignettes of the Hours published between 1524 and 1543, varying in execution, always delicate and with little shading, exhibit a degree of taste which the Parmesan School sometimes achieves; but by the delicacy of their execution they deserve the praise bestowed upon them by Dibdin. Even if the figures are slightly confused in their attitudes and in their draperies, or defective at some of the extremities, still, the spirited drawing of the heads, and the arrangement of the scenes, amid charming architectural designs, or in very restricted fields, show that our engravers of vignettes lost nothing of their talent in passing from gothic to italic letters, and, despite the name of the latter, it is certain that Italy never produced any like them. Simplicity took the place of Gothic goguenarderie; their expression is in the most refined French sentiment of the period.[447]
'I seem to recognize Geofroy Tory's style in the "Tableau de Cèbes," published by Denis Janot and Gilles Corrozet in 1543, the vignettes of which are often attributed to Jean Cousin. As for Tory's drawing, I should recognize it through several layers of wood, by the delicately drawn heads, the slender figures, the split extremities, to say nothing of the floriated letters and the borders, in which the Italian grotesques are mingled with natural vegetations, and in which he has often engraved his name, his Pot Cassé and his mottoes. In Tory's vignettes there are doubtless qualities that are more subtle than great, but they are our qualities.'