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344
HISTORY OF PRINTING.
brated in the annals of engraving as that of the subject of this memoir.
Albert Durer was born Ma^ 20th, 1471, at Nuremberg, in Germany, a city famed at that time, as rich and free, prosperous in trade, and fond of the arts. Having made a slight begin- ning with his pencil in the shop of his fauer, who was a goldsmith, Albert rapidly advanced in painting and engraving, and at the age of twenty-six exhibited some of his works to the public. So highly was he thought of, that his prints found Uieir way to Italy, where Marc Antonio Raimondi not only counterfeited on ^^^^^^^ copper a whole set of beau- ^"^^""""r tifully-executed small wood J^^^^^M cuts of his, on subjects taken f^^^^M from the New TaUmunt, I ^^ I but forged his well-known I ^^ I stamp; a piece of roguery ^^^ \ W ^L which at once carried Durer into Italy to get redress. On his reaching Venice, the senate of that place so far did him justice, as to order M. Antonio to efface the mark : they also forbade any one but the right owner to use it in future. To this event in his life was owing his introduction to that wonderful genius Raphael, who sought his acquaintance : and, in the simple fashion of the times, the new friends mutually exchanged por- traits. His works quickly became the rage: he received high praises from all quarters ; and his style was copied by a first-rate Italian painter, Andrea del Sarto. The substantial re- wards uf merit kept pace with his fame. ■ Hav- ing finished a picture of St. Bartholomew, for the church dedicated to that saint at Venice, the work rose so high in public opinion, that Ro- dolph II., emperor of Germany, sent orders to Venice, that it should be bought for him at any price, and brought to Prague, not by the com- mon mode of carriage, but (to prevent its taking harm) on men's shoulders, by means of a pole. Durer's honours now flowea thick upon him; his fellow-citizens, proud of his talents, and equally so of his private virtues, chose him into the council of Nuremberg; and the emperor Maximilian sent him a pension, and a patent of nobility.
As Durer did not make so much use of the pencil as of the graver, his pictures are scarce, and seldom to be seen but in palaces or great men's houses. His engravings, on the contrary, are so numerous, as well as closely-laboured, that it would betoken a life of no common toil, directed to this one point, to have performed all those which are extant, and fairly allowed as his. _ In the British Museum, and in the Fitz- william Museum at Cambridge, as well as in inany other collections, are various specimens of his skill. His design proves vast invention : his copies of nature are bold und powerful, full of expression, though often extravagant and gro- tesque : his exactness in the composition of parts is also very striking ; and he has given a neat- ness of finish to small points, where most draughtsmen, probably, would have sacrificed
correctness to the general effect. From his power and simplicity in copving nature, as well as from his attention to particulars, the admirers of Durer have called him, by analogy, the Homer of artists, while others, from the wild and romantic spirit of his works, have compared him to our English poet, Spenser, who, in his Faerie Queen, has conveyed so many dark and wondrous legends, and by the magical art of description, has dressed up fiction to look like truth.
With respect to the- invention of etching,* it seems to be not well known to whom it is to be ascribed. One of the most early specimens of Albert Durer, is that print, known by the name of the Cannon, dated 1618, and thought by some, with little foundation, to have been worked on a plate of iron. Another etching by the same artist, is Mo$e$ reeeiving the Tablet of the Law, dated 1624.
One of Durer's best pieces, on wood, is that of St. Hubert at the Chate. The saint is seen kneeling before a slag, which has a crucifix be- tween its horns, while around him are hounds in Various attitudes, surprisingly true to nature. Another is an armed knight on horseback, at- tended by death (also on horseback), and fol- lowed by a frightful fiend, the group having almost as much of the ludicrous as the terrible ; this is called by some Death't Hone, and by others 7%« Worldly Man. But, perhaps, the most remarkable of all his prints is that of Me- lancholy, which conveys the idea of her being the parent of Intention; it is a female form, sitting on the ground, her features marked with the deepest and most solemn shades of thought, and her head resting pensively upon her hand ; above, before, and around her, are a multitude of emblems of science, and instruments of study. This composition, it has been observed, is inte- resting on another account ; namely, as a true picture of the times when it was engraved ; for precisely thus was attention perplexed and dis- tracted on most philosophical subjects, in the age of Albert Durer; and as he himself was au- thor of tewn treatises, most of which are on the metaphysics of art, he had probablv experienced much of that sort of melancnoly, which proceeds from mental weariness and disgust — ^tne usual end of such studies. In this view, the proverb might be true of him, " the painter paints him- self !" But poor Durer had other sources of melancholy, which may help us in ooming to
- Some h&re ucrib«d the invention of etching to Pttn-
dsco MazruoU, of Faima, or to Lucu * Dentecnm, of Zntphen, about the year isso. Bnt wc are certain that it was commonlv practised in Gennany. both at NorembeiT and nancfoit, about 161S; and since the use ofaqoalbrti* was known to Dorer, some scrapie not to give the Inves- tion of etchinc to his master Wolgeorath. — Samdrart.— FatmeKlano, who died in 1140, practised the ait In Italy, and in whose etchings we discover the band ot tte artist woiUog oat a Byatem, as it were, fhnn bis own imagina- tion, and BtrlTlng to prodnce the forms he wanted to ez- preas.— The artists were (sobably not long after this be. fore they foond oat the way of uniting etching wiOi engraving, in the manner that prints are now generally ezecnted. The pndae period cannot be ascertained.— MiermaH,
