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of engraving on plates and blocks of wood, to afford prints or im-pressions, was not known till after the invention of painting in oil.Of these last, the most ancient mode is that on wood ; the first im-pressions on paper having been taken from carved wooden blocks.For this invention we are indebted to the brief-malers, or makersof playing cards, who practised the art in Germany , about the be-ginning of the 15th century. From the same source may perhapsbe traced the first idea of moveable types, which appeared notlong after; for these brief mal ers did not entirely confine them-selves to the printing an if painting of cards, but produced alsosubjects of a more devout nature ; many of wjjich, taken from holywrit, are still preserved in German libraries, with the e.\planatorytext facing the figures; the whole engraved in wood.. Thus aspecies of books was formed ; such as, “ liistoria sancti Johannis,ejusque Visiones Apocalypticsp “ liistoria VeterF & Novi Testa-menfi,” known by the name of the " Poor Man’s Bible.” Theseshort mementos were printed only on one side; and two of thembeing pasted together, had the appearance of a single leaf. Theearliest date on any of these wooden cuts is 1423. The subject isSt. Christopher carrying the infant Jesus over the Sea, preservedin a convent at Buxlieim near Menningen . It is of a folio size,illuminated in the same manner as the playing cards ; and at thebottom is this inscription,

Christoferi faciem die quaecunque tueris.

Illanempe die morte mala non morieris.

' Millesimo CCCC° XX 0 tertio.

Upon the invention of moveable types, that branch of the brief-malers business, so far as it regarded the making of books, was gra-dually discontinued ; but the art itself of engraving on wood con-tinued in an improving state; and towards the end of the 15th andbeginning of the Kith century, it became customary for almostevery one ®f the German engravers on copper to engrave on woodalso. The works of Albert Durer in this style of engraving arejustly held in the highest esteem. Italy, France, and Holland ,have produced many capital artists of this kind ; but for boldnessand spirit, we must see the prints of Christopher Jegher, whoworked under the direction of Rubens, and was without doubt as-sisted by that great master. The invention of that species of en-graving distinguished by the appellation of chiaro-scuro , seemsalso to be ju Tv claimed by the Germans , and first practised byMail-; one of whose prints of this kind is dated 1499. Many ex-celhnt works in chiaro-scuro have been produced in France ; andin Italy it was honoured with the performances of Titian and Par-inegiano; but the attempts of Jackson, Kirkali, and others inEngland, have not been equally successful. A set of excellentprints in this way have lately been published by J. Skippe, Esq.a connoisseur and dillettante. In Germany , about A. D. 1450,prints from engraved copper first made their appearance. Theearliest date of acopperplate print is indeed only 14G1 ; hut how-ever faulty this print may be with respect to the drawing, or de-fective in point of taste, the mechanical part of the execution ofit Iras by no means the appearance of being one of the first pro-ductions ot the graver. \V e have also several oilier engravings,evidently the work of the same master; in which the impressionsare so neatly taken from the plates, and the engravings so clearlyprinted in every part, that, according to all appearance, they(•mild not be executed in a much better manner in the present day*,with all the conveniences which the copperplate printers now pos-srs ?> and the additional knowledge they must necessarily have ac-quired in tlie course of more than three centuries, lienee weJ 11a y fairly conclude, that if they were not the-tirst specimens of“}. e engraver’s workmanship, they were much less the first effortsm the copperplate printer's ability. It is likewise to be observed,that Martin Sclioen, who is said to have worked from 1460 toI486, was apparently the scholar of Stoltzhirs ; for he followed hisKyle of engraving, and copied from him a set of prints, represent-ing the passion of our Saviour. Now, allowing Stoltzhirs tohave preceded his disciple only ten years, this carries the a;ra°fthe art back to 1450. as was said above. There is no ground tosuppose, that it was known to the Italians till at least ten yearsafterwards. The earliest prints that are known to be theirs are a setnf tlie seven planets, ami an almanack by way of frontispiece ; onw iich are directions for finding Easter from 1465 to 1517 inclu-su “ : ai| d we may be assured, that the engravings wer; not ante-VOL. li—No, 74:

dated, as tin almanack would have thus been less valuable. Theseprints must therefore have been executed in 1464, which is onlyfour years later than the Italians claim. The three earliest Italianengravers arc, Finiguerra, Boticel li. and Baldini. If we are to re-fer these prints to any of the three, vve shall naturally concludethem to be the work of Finiguerra or Baldini ; tor they are notequal either in drawing or composition to those ascribed to Boticelli ,which we know at least were designed by him ; and as Baldini isexpressly said to have worked from the designs of Boticelli , it willappear most probable that they belong to Finiguerra. With re-spect to tlie invention of Etching, it seems to be not well knownto whom it is to be ascribed. One of the most early specimens isthe print by Albert Durer , known by the name of the Cannon,dated 1518, and thought by some, with little foundation, to ha v ebeen worked on a plate of iron. Another etching by the sameartist is Moses receiving the Tables of the Law, dated 1524. Itwas also practised in Ralv soon after this by Parmegiano, in whoseetchings we discover the hand of the artist working out a system asit were from his own imagination, and striving to produce theforms he wanted to express. We see the difficulty he labouredunder; and cannot doubt, from the examination of the mechanicalpart of the execution of his works, that he had no instruction ;and that it was something entirely new to him. If the story istrue, that he kept an engraver by profession in his house, thenovelty of the art is rendered so much th^ more probable. liedied m 1540. As to that species of engraving in which the modesof etching and cutting with the graver are united, it must havebeen found necessary immediately upon the invention of etching :it was, however, first carried to perfection by G. Audran, and isnow almost universally practised, whether the work is in strokes orin dots. Engraving in dots, the present fashionable method, is avery old invention, and the only mode discovered by the Italians .Agostino de Musis, commonly called Augustine of Venice , a pu-pil of Marc Antonig, used it in several of his earliest works,but confined it to the flesh, as in the undated print of An OldMan seated upon a Bank, with a Cottage in the back ground,lie flourished from 1509 to 1536. We also find it in a print of“ A single Figure standing, holding a Cup and looking upwards,”by Giulio Campagmda, who engraved about the year 1516. Thehack ground is executed with round dots, made apparently with adry point. The figure is outlined with a stroke deeply engraved,and finished with dots, in a manner greatly resembling those printswhich Drmarteau engraved at Paris in imitation of red chalk.The hair and beard are expressed by strokes. Stephen cle Laulne,a native of Germany , followed the steps of Campagnola; andmany of his slight works are executed in dots only. John Bou-langer, a French artist, who flourished in the middle of the lastcentury, and his contemporary Nicholas Van Plattenberg, im-proved greatly on this method, and practised it wjth much success.It is only, however, of late, that it has been considered as an ob-jectworthy of general imitation. John Lutma executed this kind'of work with a hammer and a small punch or ciiisscl. Engraving,in mezzotinto was invented about the middle of the 17th century ;and the invention iias generally been attributed to Prince Rupert.Engraving in aquatinta is quite a recent invention, and seems atonce to have been carried to perfection by Saiidby, and other ar-tists of the present age. Engraving with the tool was the kind ori-ginally .practised, and it is yet retained for many purposes.. Forthough etching be more easy, and other advantages attend it; yetwhere great regularity and exactness of tke stroke or lines are re-quired, tiic working with the graver is much more effectual: onwhich account it is more suitable to the precision necessary in theexecution of portraits; as there every thing the most minute must,be made out and expressed, according to the original subject,without any licence to the fancy of the designer in deviating fromit, or varying the ellect either by that masterly negligence andsimplicity in some parts, or those-hold sallies oi the imaginationand hand in others, which give spirit and force to history painting.

Engraving on Copper, the making , correspondent!}’to somedelineated figure or design, such concave lines on a smooth sur-face of copper, either by cutting or corrosion, as render it capa-ble, when charged properly with any coloured fluid, of impartingby compression ail exact representation of the figure or design, topaper or parchment. V* hetlier we. consider this branch of engrav-ing, witli regard to its utility, the pleasure it afford-, or the dilii-4 G culty

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