Art historians and amateurs, as a rule, consider engraving a secondary form of art, the value of which cannot be compared with the greatness of architecture, painting or sculpture. However, its accessibility and commitment to this type of image of some of the greatest Renaissance artists has led to public recognition and popularity, which medieval engravings still use today. Photos of various museum exhibitions, public and private collections are irrefutable proof of this.
In the sixteenth century, illustrated books were in great demand, being at the same time objects of the highest art, storing on their pages the works of such masters as Albrecht Durer and even Rafael.
Types of engraving
In art, the term "engraving" can be understood not only as the final result of the process. This is a somewhat ambiguous concept that applies both to the type of material, as well as to methods of execution and techniques. Thus, by the type of material, engraving as a final result can be woodcut or linocut, and depending on the technique, it can be etching, aquatint, or mezzo-tinto.
In turn, there are also divisions into types that relate to the method of printing a particular print. There are two well-known procedures - embossing, or letterpress, when the image is obtained due to the high relief obtained by cutting the image (woodcut and linocut) and deep engraving on the metal (etching, aquatint, mezzo-tinto).
Another, more specific aspect of the separation of engraving into types is the use of aggressive processing methods that determine printing technology and are considered manual methods. For example, processing prints using various acids or ferric chloride.
There are other technical methods of engraving, such as mechanical, photochemical, planographic, buffering, etc., however, these types go beyond the scope of engraving, like works of art.
The story of the engraving
The development of engravings can be observed for fifteen centuries. Woodcut or woodcut is the earliest type of graphic art. For the first time, historical sources mention xylography in China in the sixth century. Woodcutting techniques have been used in China to print stamps and text.
The oldest known engraving today dates from the ninth century, while the first engraving appeared in Europe only five centuries later.
With the advent of engraving, art became available to a wider segment of the population of Europe. With the advent of printing presses, medieval engravings began to be printed in books, which were published in a much larger circulation than medieval manuscripts.
Plots of engraving
The first engraved images were, of course, biblical motifs, just like the bibles became the first print media for mass consumption. However, over time and the spread of printing presses, not only reading tastes have changed, but also the plots of images. Medieval erotic engravings appeared, although it was not easy to get them. Along with biblical, everyday motives have become popular. Artists began to depict carnivals, village holidays, moments from life.
With the advent and spread of the Inquisition, the church found new application for the simple and popular method of distributing images, which became medieval engravings: torture, burning at the stake, the course of church courts - all this became a popular plot of prints.
Woodcut
As one of the oldest models and the forerunner of the printing press, xylography developed in two stages.
The first stage in the development of wood engraving was the method of longitudinal or trim engraving, the main element of which was a knife that cut the shape of the image.
The specificity of this engraving technique is the dominance of the black contour line that forms the image and details. It was this method of obtaining print engraving that was the most common in the East and during the European Renaissance. The “black stroke” technique had exceptions, which are especially common in Florentine editions of the XV-XVI centuries. Some masters used a white touch or preferred to print the image in a "negative", as did the Swiss artist Graf Urs. However, these exceptions did not take root in European medieval engravings.
The second stage in the development of xylography was a face or tone engraving on a cross section of a hardwood. Work on the cross-section allowed the masters to achieve the highest accuracy and detail of the images. This allowed artists to use the gradation of shades of black along with the usual black strokes. End woodcut significantly changed the quality of illustrations in print media.
European medieval engraving
The first European engraving, known as Le Bois Protat (Proth tree), dates from 1370–1380 and is named after its owner Jules Proth, the French editor who bought the engraved block in the 19th century, right after it was discovered in Burgundy . The impression on paper is a fragment of the scene of the Crucifixion of Christ with the centurion and two Roman legionaries, and on the obverse is the composition of the Annunciation.
The first medieval engravings in Europe - the work of anonymous masters of the late fourteenth - early fifteenth centuries. Their naive and slightly clumsy compositions portray disproportionate figures, hyperbolic gestures and strange facial expressions.
Biblical motifs were the first compositions engraved on wooden plates, however, they were far from the limit of what they depicted medieval engravings: demons, torture, festivals, animals and birds - all this was popular among artists and publishers.
National features of European engravings
Various engraving techniques began to develop in Europe in the fifteenth century. During this period, engraving began to be popular not only in Germany, but also in France, the Netherlands and Italy, each country, in addition to common technologies, gave its engravings small, but significant national differences. An almost universal division of labor appeared during this period: the artist created the image, and the engraver transferred it to the metal. There were also artists who studied and developed the technique of engraving on their own. Images completely created and engraved by one person were called autogravures.
The art of engraving and its specific features acquire special significance after the invention of the printing press in 1440. In 1490, illustrated books began to be published. In Nuremberg, in the workshop of the great artist and master of medieval engraving Albrecht Durer, a unique discovery takes place - a technology for the simultaneous printing of text and images has been created. The application of this discovery takes place in 1493, when the first illustrated book by Welchronick ("The General Chronicle") with the images of Michael Wolgemuth was published.
Woodcut in Germany
The first engraving created in Germany is dated 1423 and depicts St. Christopher with the baby Jesus in his arms. However, the representative of the German Renaissance, Albrecht Durer, created several cycles of images by wood engraving: the Apocalypse (1499) and the Life of the Virgin (1511), however, became a recognized master of engraving. In addition to these cycles, Dürer created a lot of individual images, the most famous of which is “Melancholy” (copper engraving, 1514).
Durer's masterful works elevated the engraving to the rank of the highest art of medieval Europe. His work was crucial for the further development of wood and not only.
The magnificent works of Dürer were followed by the work of such representatives of the Northern Renaissance as Albrecht Altdorfer, Hans Baldung, Lucas Cranach, Graf Urs, Hans Holbein and others.
Numerous bibles for the poor, encyclopedias, chronicles, and other publications illustrated by famous artists of the time appeared in European countries.
At the same time, in Italy (XV century), against the backdrop of the brightest flowering of painting in the history of mankind, engraving is not very popular. Only a few illustrations for Savonarola’s sermons, the illustrated bible of Mahlermy and the Ovid Metamorphoses were created and printed by unknown artists and engravers.
New woodcutting techniques in the Netherlands
In the Netherlands, the history of medieval engraving began with Lucas van Leiden, who first applied perspective, scaling, various shades and tones, affecting the intensity of light. The most important achievements of the engraving technique in the second half of the sixteenth century were demonstrated by Hendrik Goltzius, who replaced the clear lines of graphic work, playing with the form, volumetric variations, chiaroscuro and combining the lines using various intersections.
Metal engraving
One of the most effective methods of engraving in art is considered to be engraving on metal. Originating in the fifteenth century and practiced by many famous artists of the time, this technique and its creation are disputed by the Germans and Italians.
The most famous engravings on metal belong to German masters, the earliest of them date from the year 1410. In the book by Giorgio Vasari, the creation of the technique of metal engraving is attributed to the Florentine jeweler Maso Finiguerra (XV century). Nevertheless, there are images engraved on metal before the Finiguerra experiments performed in 1430 and owned by anonymous Scandinavian craftsmen.
Japanese engraving
Ukiyo-e is a type of woodcut practiced in Japan. Japanese medieval engraving most often depicted landscapes, historical or theatrical scenes.
This art genre. It became popular in the metropolitan culture of Edo (later Tokyo) in the second half of the 17th century and most often depicted this medieval city. Engravings of this style depict a "changing world" in which natural landscapes give way to urban ones. At first, only black ink was used, with some lithographs painted by hand. In the next century, after Suzuki Harunobu invented and popularized the technique of polychrome lithography, starting in the 1760s, the production of color prints became a common standard.
Engraving popularity
The specifics of engraving on metal or wood differs from other techniques in the field of fine art. If a drawing or a painting can be changed during the work, even at the very end of the work, then changes in the engraving process are extremely limited or impossible. The artist is forced to be concise and accurate in the process of engraving the composition on the plate.
Another aspect of this art genre is the division of the work process. On all European engravings, after the signature of the artist who created the composition, the names of the masters who engraved it follow.
The interest in engraving was originally due to the easy way to obtain a huge number of images with minimal cost. One engraving could be published in a large print run. That is what served as one of the main factors in the continuous development of engraving techniques. Even in the twentieth century, with the advent of dense cardboard and linoleum, new types of engravings appeared. It is easy to imagine that this form of fine art has a long past, as well as a future.