Prints: A Brief Review of Their Technique and History

by Emil H. Richter

JOHANNES ZURENUS

Hendrik Goltzius

It will ever be a matter for surprise that this small country should burst into the full glory of a great period of art at a time of incessant, strenuous warfare. First the long, exhausting war with Spain; then a war with England; finally, a war with the powerful France of Louis XIV. Within the time limit of these wars lie the dates of the birth of Rubens, and of Rembrandt’s death, marking the culmination of art in the Netherlands. If we look back to earlier days of Dutch engraving, we discern the isolated figure of Lucas van Leyden, the only painter-engraver of fame in the Netherlands at the time of Dürer. After his death no master of similar merit arose to carry on his traditions. Engraving, deprived of eminent guidance, sank to levels of commercialism. Saints’ pictures being always in great demand throughout Christendom, engravers in the Netherlands devoted their energies largely to this field, and that country became the center of production of all kinds of engraved devotional prints. Trained by daily routine practice, the engravers acquired a high degree of dexterity in handling the graver. Whole families of engravers—the Wierix, the Van de Passe, the Galle—devoted themselves to this work, which assumed the character of a manufacture of engravings. One did the figures, another the backgrounds, another again the draperies, ornaments, etc., according to their respective aptitudes. Toward the close of the sixteenth century, this Northern skill in handling the graver was communicated to Italy, and there mastered by Agostino Carracci. In Holland manual dexterity was carried to its height by a virtuoso of the graver, Hendrik Goltzius. His “Pietà” in the manner of Dürer, and a series of large plates, in which he exhibits, in turn, characteristics of this and other noted artists, reveal his technical mastery. They disclose also his power of close observation, which appears to best advantage in portraits such as that of Zurenus. Excellent judgment is shown in the selection of line; the effect is sparkling, brilliant; in fact, this very brilliancy, this cleverness in the telling use of the line, becomes an end to be striven for, and no longer the means only employed to express an artistic thought. This worship of technique carries Goltzius and his numerous followers to extremes of mannerism, where we must leave them and turn to the engravers grouped around Rubens.

PETER PAUL RUBENS

Paul Pontius

JAN BRUEGHEL

Anthony van Dyck

Peter Paul Rubens perceived the advantages which prints might bring to a painter by the propagation of his compositions. So he surrounded himself with experienced engravers, whom he guided by suggestions and corrections. How well they interpreted the work of the master may be seen in Rubens’s portrait of himself, engraved by Paul Pontius, one of the noted engravers of this group. A stride toward the expression of color is to be perceived in this plate; great variety in the rendering of cloth, hair, lace, the face, the background and frame. The problem of expressing color, as well as form, now enters more and more into the sphere of engraving; a problem much more difficult than would appear at first thought. Here is the task which faces the engraver: he must keep true to the original he reproduces, true in form, true in color values, by a judicious gradation of tone. At the same time he must strive to make his plate interesting, spirited, brilliant, and apparently easy and free in handling. Singly these qualities are not uncommon, but that engraver is far from common, who, having the power to do such brilliant work, has moreover the wish and ability to efface himself, and let only the artist speak, whose work he interprets. It is a claim to distinction for many engravers of the Rubens group that they came so near to solving this problem. Whether or not Rubens made use of the etching-needle himself remains a matter for speculation; there is no doubt, however, that his great pupil—Anthony van Dyck—used etching very effectively, as will be seen by this portrait taken from his famous “Iconography.”[4] The likeness is sketched with his characteristic sureness and ease upon the grounded copper plate. The biting was doubtless left to the engraver who was to finish the plate. Neither Rubens nor Van Dyck seems to have been interested in etching or engraving as such; to them the graphic arts were excellent means of reproduction, nothing more.