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Engraving for Illustration: Historical and Practical Notes
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_its Inception_--a Theory of Evolution--a Distinct Progress
"In proportion to his force the artist will find in his work an outlet for his proper character."--Emerson.
=Its Inception.=--It was the dawn of a new sense when primitive man first ornamented his weapons, utensils, and the walls of his cave dwellings with incised drawings,--pictorial representations which enabled him to record events or suggest and illustrate thoughts and ideas when his somewhat limited vocabulary failed him.
It was a severely utilitarian epoch of the world's history, and the crude yet intensely realistic manifestations of man's artistic desires were the more remarkable that they were wholly dependent upon stern necessity for their realisation. Childlike in their simplicity, yet both graphic and vigorous in expression, these ancient drawings bear testimony to the intense desire of primeval man for some suitable and satisfying form of pictorial expression. Such incised drawings were undoubtedly the earliest forms, which the mind of man suggested and his skill attained, of conveying information and displaying pictorial or ornamental art. They were but crude conceptions of the untutored art of a savage race, yet, with a characteristic quaintness of expression, they abundantly prove the existence of an innate, imitative, and artistic faculty, inspired by an insatiable craving for illustrative delineation.
=A Theory of Evolution.=--The antiquity of the engraver's art, then, is exceedingly remote, and its earliest records display frequent evidences of manipulative skill and artistic perception--evidences which are still more convincing when the environment and scanty resources of its exponents are fully appreciated. It was a most unique phase of that process of evolution whereby the social education of the human race was advanced, and through countless ages it has indicated the same onward roll of progressive intelligence.
Responsive to the ever-changing conditions of life, the necessities of mankind were constantly increasing. His higher intelligence also created a greater diversity of interests, and consequently demanded a fuller and more expressive vehicle of communication for his thoughts. No longer content with what was only needful for the maintenance of social or commercial intercourse, he sought to add to the archaic simplicity of his drawings, skilful arrangement, and a certain degree of artistic feeling and interpretation. It was as though some transitory flashes of artistic power in the minds of prehistoric artists were struggling with an inability to give adequate expression to their inceptions. Their productions, some of them dating from the Palæolithic and Neolithic periods, were not pretentious works of art. Their primary purpose being representative, their merit was, of course, decided by the success or failure of such representation, apart from any artistic qualities they might possess.
=A Distinct Purpose.=--The evident care with which many of the ancient incised drawings or engravings were executed and preserved, together with the permanent character of the materials employed, seems to indicate that these simple yet graphic representations were produced with the distinct purpose of perpetuating a memory as well as for the amplification of a meagre language,--a purpose which considerably enhances their interest, and suggests that the primeval engraver appreciated some at least of the possibilities of his art. Moreover, they frequently possess an intense veracity and directness of imitation which renders them of inestimable value as reliable historical records. Had caprice alone directed the artist's efforts, they would not in so many instances have merited the interest and approval which they now receive.
Such, then, were the beginnings of an art that subsequently reached its maturity only by a slow growth of gradual development, and "which, in the modesty and seriousness of its earlier manifestations, is at least as interesting as in the audacity of its later and more impressionistic phases."
Engraving as a reproductive as well as an ornamental art was at different periods modified in accordance with ever-changing conditions produced by the exigencies of national and industrial policy. Its frequent adaptation to the various circumstances with which it was indissolubly associated, and the fluctuations of an enthusiasm which was more or less dependent upon national as well as social prosperity, fully justifies the statement that "its history is the mirror of a nation's progress."
The rude methods of ancient artists can be distinctly traced through Egyptian, Assyrian, and Grecian history. Hieroglyphic and symbolic figures, engraved on ancient Egyptian monuments, bear testimony to a vast progress both in expressive and inventive power. Assyrian antiquities disclose an art which is even more suggestive and picturesque, while the ancient Greeks developed the highest qualities of pictorial power, and raised the art to a marvellous pitch of excellence.
Beyond this brief epitome of the early history of engraving we need not venture. The idea of taking impressions from any form of incised drawings was not suggested until many centuries later.
"It is therefore beautiful because it is alive, moving, reproductive. It is therefore useful because it is symmetrical and fair."--Emerson.
=Wood Engraving.=--The most animating event in the whole history of engraving was the development of engraved wood blocks. Wood engraving did not receive the impetus of a new discovery as did metal engraving at a later period. It was to some extent a purely commercial enterprise, the success of which was assured by an ever increasing interest in pictorial art. Engraved wood blocks were used for purposes of reproduction several centuries before their introduction into Europe. Historians claim that it can be traced back to A.D. 930, when a form of playing card was known to the Chinese, and printed by them from rough wood engravings. The commercial intercourse of the Venetians with Eastern nations would suggest a probability that their navigators brought home some of these playing cards, and described the method of their production to their countrymen.
The further we pursue our investigations, the more remarkable does this tardy recognition of the utility of wood engraving appear to be. It is true that somewhere about the middle of the thirteenth century legal documents were stamped, and merchant marks made with engraved wood blocks, but no extensive use was made of this method of reproduction until a much later period.
The Low Countries claim credit for the first employment of engraved wood blocks for commercial purposes. Many dispute this claim, but the amount of credit at stake is so infinitesimal that it renders the contention of little value. Until the time of that immense progress which wood engraving made in Germany about the middle and towards the end of the fifteenth century, no work of any artistic merit whatever had been produced. The older prints may possess a certain historical or antiquarian value, but otherwise are both crude and uninteresting.
=Block Books.=--The Mediæval Block Books were the most important of the early pictorial reproductions from engraved wood blocks. They also may be traced to China, where, as early as the ninth century, they were used for decorative as well as illustrative purposes. They retained their primitive form for a long period after their first introduction to Western civilisation, and it is interesting to note that the blocks, and not the prints, were supplied to the monks,--the scholars of the day,--the impressions being made by them as required. Towards the end of the fourteenth century Dutch merchants, like the Venetians, paid frequent visits to Chinese ports, when they too were impressed with the novelty and utility of pictorial reproduction as practised in the East. At any rate, pictorial sheets or cards, very similar in character to the Chinese playing cards, were published in Holland about that period. They bore pictures of the saints with the titles or legends engraved alongside. The production of such prints was evidently a recognised business during the early part of the fifteenth century, for there are numerous entries in the civic records of Nuremberg concerning the wood engraver "Formschneider" and cardmaker "Kartenmacher." It has been ingenuously suggested that, for convenience, collections of these cards were pasted into books; and the books available being chiefly of a religious character, the idea of illustrating religious matter with such pictures was readily suggested.
The next step was the application of block engraving and printing to the production of volumes of a more pretentious character, the most noteworthy of which were The Apocalypsio sue Historia Sancti Johannis, the Biblia Pauperum, and the Historia Virginis ex Cantico Canticorum. In another of these books, the Speculum Humanæ Salvationis, the titles were not engraved on the plates, but were printed with movable types. This volume was published at Haarlem, and was composed of fifty-eight plates--a very considerable production with the materials then at the disposal of the publishers.
=Durer's Influence.=--In 1490 Albert Durer, who possessed a spirited imagination and deep enthusiasm for his work, marked out a distinct era of substantial progress, and impressed the art of wood engraving with that expressive power of delineation which his truly remarkable genius ever manifested.
Durer was an artist of somewhat variable characteristics, but the diversity and amplitude of his productions afford conclusive evidences of a remarkable industry and skill.
Like other artists of his time, and even of much later periods, he did not engrave his own drawings. He may, of course, have engraved a few blocks, but most, if not all of the wood engravings signed by Durer, were executed by Jerome Rock.
Perhaps the most peculiar characteristic of Durer's designs was the portrayal of scenes and figures of ancient history and myth in well-defined imitation of his own surroundings and the conditions of life then existing. Apropos of this, it was said that he turned the New Testament into the history of a Flemish village.
Hans Holbein was another of the early artists who prepared their drawings for the express purpose of reproduction by means of wood engraving. That he fully appreciated the resources of his art there can be no doubt, for he imbued his work with an expressive individual force which was distinctly progressive and influential. His best known production consists of forty-one engravings representing "Death--the King of Terrors," in association with nearly every phase of human life. Each one of these designs is a picture parable of remarkable power and suggestiveness. The characteristic drawing and quaint expressiveness of Holbein's illustrations merit unqualified admiration, and his graphic use of pure line for pictorial expression stands almost unrivalled.
Hans Litzelburger engraved Holbein's designs. Towards the end of the fifteenth and during part of the sixteenth centuries wood engraving still received enthusiastic attention, and then, for sheer lack of interest, fell rapidly into decay. Metal engraving was absorbing the attention of the artistic world, and for many years wood engraving was regarded as only fit for the reproduction of pictures which may be charitably described as inartistic, and too often perhaps discreditable.
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