PAGE FROM HYPNEROTOMACHIA POLIPHILI
Venice, 1499
This development is common to Germany and Italy alike; but throughout the early productions of the Southern country, we seem to hear an echo of the sublime harmonies achieved in painting. For instance, in this large “Helgen” of Italy: a simple outline woodcut, this Virgin and Child with St. John, but in its simplicity what dignity and strength. The accents introduced by slight decorative indications and the shade-lines in the hair add charm to the simple, charming composition, by contrast of tone. Excellent cutting, this, after a masterly design. But in a country which has just reached the zenith of artistic achievement, we may expect, likewise, such remarkable decorative designs as the title-page border for the Venetian “Herodotus” of 1494, which frames the title of this volume.
PAGE FROM MORGANTE MAGGIORE
Florence, 1500
It is the golden era of typography, this last decade of the fifteenth century. Brought to Italian towns by German printers, both type and illustration soon fall in line with the prevailing high standard of excellence. If further proof were needed, it would be found in this page from a Venetian publication, the “Hypnerotomachia Poliphili.” See how well the beautiful type of the text harmonizes with the illustration, how nicely the values of both are adjusted to form a harmonious page. Simple, unpretentious outline is used to convey the beauty of the artistic conception. These same characteristics will be met again in engraving as it is used by Italian masters. Woodcut as well as the other forms of reproductive art remain the servants, never become the friends of artists in Italy.
For brevity’s sake, we must pass by northern Italy and turn to Florence which was, next to Venice, the foremost southern publishing center. In this example, taken from Pulci’s “Morgante Maggiore,” published in 1500, we notice a keener appreciation of the possibilities of woodcut. Broad masses of white, with severe outline, scantily shaded, contrast with bold masses of black, whose intensity of effect is modified and blended by means of tenuous white lines, a manner likewise adopted in illustrations for the forceful sermons of Savonarola, whose teachings, widely read, necessitated a number of successive editions.