Das radierte Werk des Anders Zorn. By Fortunat von Schubert-Soldern. Illustrated. Dresden: Ernst Arnold. 1905.
Anders Zorn. By Loys Delteil. 328 reproductions. Paris: L’auteur. 1909. (Le Peintre-graveur illustré, XIXᵉ et XXᵉ siècles. Vol. 4.)
Anders Zorn. By Mrs. Schuyler Van Rensselaer. 5 illustrations. The Century, Vol. 24, p. 582 (New Series). New York. 1893.
Anders Zorn: Painter-Etcher. By J. Nilsen Laurvik. 18 illustrations. The Print-Collector’s Quarterly, Vol. 1, No. 5, pp. 611-637. Boston. 1911.
LANDSCAPE ETCHING
IN landscape, as in portraiture, we are greeted on the threshold by Albrecht Dürer. From his many drawings, water-colors, and the beautifully engraved backgrounds in a number of his plates, we know him to have been a profound student of natural forms and of atmospheric effects, sensitive to the character of the country he portrays; and it is a matter of regret that The Cannon is the only plate in which the landscape element outweighs in interest the figures. The Cannon, which is dated 1518, is etched upon an iron plate, not necessarily because Dürer was unacquainted with a suitable mordant for copper, but rather, one is inclined to believe, because, etching having been used in the decoration of arms and armor, iron would naturally suggest itself as the most appropriate metal for the purpose. Although the cannon (“The Nuremberg Field Serpent”), to the left, and the five Turks, to the right, are the main motives of the composition, they are drawn and bitten with lines of exactly the same weight and character as the landscape itself, and we can, if we will, consider them as accessory figures, concentrating our attention upon the altogether delightful village, its church spire pointing heavenwards, while in the distance wooded hills rise towards the sombre sky, and to the left a seaport is indicated. Dürer either ignored or was unaware of the effects to be obtained by repeated rebitings, and consequently the plate is of a uniform tone. Within his self-imposed limits he has thoroughly understood the possibilities of the medium and has availed himself of them, adopting an open, linear technique, in marked contrast to his highly elaborate engravings on copper of this period.
Albrecht Altdorfer, who was born in Regensburg about 1480 and died in February, 1538, is notable as one of the earliest interpreters of landscape for its own sake. He has left us ten landscape etchings. None of them is dated, but they clearly belong to his last period. In them he has merely transferred to metal his mode of pen drawing, an excellent style in a way, since it is linear and suggestive, but lacking distinction and that passionate, dramatic quality which is so impressive in the painting, St. George, in the Munich Gallery, the engraving of the Crucifixion; or the Agony in the Garden, a drawing in the Berlin Print Room.
ALBRECHT DÜRER. THE CANNON
Size of the original etching, 8⅝ × 12⅞ inches
In the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
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