History of engraving

The history of engraving has developed parallel to that of other artistic manifestations, with roots dating back to prehistoric times, although its boom occurred in the modern and contemporary ages. Engraving (from the Greek γράφω, "to sculpt, to scratch") is a means of artistic expression through the mechanical reproduction of drawings or compositions of an aesthetic or communicative nature, using various techniques that allow the creation of a print on a sheet of paper pressed by hand or machine against an inked matrix. It is usually included in the graphic arts, which in turn are usually included in the decorative or applied arts.

As a technique, relief engraving is used in numerous artistic procedures -especially in the applied arts- such as glyptics, enameling, goldsmithing, numismatics and medallistics, but engraving is generally considered as a form of printing images with ink on a paper support.^[1] The basis of engraving is drawing, which is why it ideally demonstrates the capabilities of an artist in that art. On the other hand, as a popular means of dissemination, engraving has often been a vehicle for the transmission of political and social ideas, or simply poetic and aesthetic ones, and has greatly helped the dissemination of the work of artists.^[2] It has also contributed to the graphic dissemination of scientific knowledge, through the production of anatomical, topological, archaeological, zoological, botanical or similar engravings.^[3]

By etymology, "engraving" is both the art of tracing compositions by incision on the surface of a material and the result of that art, that is, the printing on a sheet of that incision, also called " stamping".^[4] Several people may be involved in the production process of an engraving, generally an artist who makes the composition and a craftsman who elaborates the technical process, although sometimes they may coincide. Generally, the draftsman signs in the lower left corner with the formula delin. (from delineavit, "drew") and the engraver on the right with sculps. (from sculpsit, "engraved").^[4] A distinction can be made between compositions made by artists to be engraved, called "original engravings," and the reproduction of paintings by famous artists by other engravers, called "reproductions".^[3]

Although there are several procedures close to engraving used since prehistoric times, woodcut (wood engraving) is usually considered the oldest method, with exponents found as early as the 9th century in Chinese art. In Europe it spread from the Middle Ages onwards, not only in engravings but also on fabrics and playing cards. The oldest surviving plate comes from Dijon (France), dated around 1370, while the first surviving woodcut engraving is a St. Christopher from 1423 kept in the John Rylands Library in Manchester. Around 1430 chalcography (copper engraving) appeared, a technique of which the earliest surviving dated work is from 1446. In the 15th century, engraving became widespread and popular throughout Europe, since its serial reproduction allowed an economic cost accessible to a much larger population than painting, which was often reserved for the bourgeoisie, clergy and aristocracy. In the 16th and 17th centuries the most widely used method was etching, while in the 18th century lithography appeared. In Japan, silkscreen printing was developed in the 17th century, and reached Europe in the 19th century.^[5]

There are various engraving processes, which are used to produce a print obtained by means of a plate or matrix. Among them, three main techniques can be distinguished, depending on whether they are in relief (woodcut), chalcography (chalcography) or flat (lithography).^[6]

Woodcut: wood engraving (generally cherry or boxwood), made on a sketch traced on the wooden plate and carved with a knife, gouge, chisel or burin, emptying the white wood and leaving the black ones in relief; it is then inked with a roller and stamped, either by hand or with the press.
Chalcography: engraving on copper made in a hollow, in various techniques: etching, engraving technique consisting of treating the parts of the metal plate not protected by a varnish with "strong water" (nitric acid diluted in water); aquatint, technique that uses a metal plate covered with resin, which once heated adheres to the surface of the plate, then drawing on this surface with a special type of ink, called aquatint; intaglio, which is performed on copper plate, with a burin, with which the drawing is outlined, filling the grooves with ink; drypoint engraving, in this technique the plate is worked directly with a steel, diamond or ruby point, without resorting to varnishes or acids, with which rough lines called "burrs" are obtained, different according to the pressure and angle of incision, which, unlike the burin, does not cut the metal, but scratches it; half-ink engraving (mezzotint), the plate is worked with a multi-pointed scraper (rocker or berceau), obtaining a uniform graining by interlacing lines, which distinguishes light and dark tones.
Lithography: it is an engraving on limestone, which is made by treating the surface with a grease pencil to delimit the drawing and making the engraving according to two procedures: bathing with acid, to corrode the ungreased part and leave the drawing in relief; or by applying two kinds of watery ink and grease, the first being fixed in the background and the second covering the lines drawn in pencil. It was invented by Aloys Senefelder in 1796.

Also worth mentioning are linocut, a relief engraving technique similar to woodcut, but using linoleum instead of wood; and silkscreen printing, a technique by which prints are obtained by filtering the colors through a silk -or, nowadays, nylon- weft, covering with glue the parts that should not be filtered in order to waterproof them. There are other less used techniques, such as electroetching, zinc engraving, pyrography, monotype and chromolithography, while in contemporary times printing methods such as offset, flexography, rotogravure and digital printing have emerged.^[7]

The history of engraving is not, as many people seem to think, that of a minor art form, but that of a very powerful method of communication among men and of its effects on the thought and civilization of Western Europe.
— William Ivins Jr.

Background

*Venus of Laussel*, relief engraved on limestone, found in Marquay (Dordogne) and preserved in the Museum of Aquitaine in Bordeaux (uncertain dating).

The background of engraving is to be found in the technique of incised relief, of which there are traces dating back to prehistoric times. Prehistoric art was the first manifestation of what can be considered artistic by humans.10 Probably one of the first artistic techniques used by prehistoric humans was hollow relief on hard surfaces with instruments such as flint, or relief engraving taking advantage of the irregularities and bulges in the rock, sometimes by extracting material as an additional aid to obtain the desired result. This sculptural relief was favorable to give the material the forms that the incipient artist wanted to express, creating a silhouette that could then be colored. Later, this incision was made in wood, metal or other materials (bone, ivory), and the drawings evolved from naturalistic forms to signs and abstract forms of diverse symbology, which in time also gave rise to writing.11

Among the various manifestations of Paleolithic rock art, it is worth remembering those of the caves of La Peña de Candamo (Asturias), Altamira (Cantabria), Morella (Castellón), El Cogul (Lleida), Lorthet (Hautes-Pyrénées) and the caves of the Dordogne (Combarelles, Font-de-Gaume, Limeuil, Madeleine). Manifestations of rock art by primitive humans are also found on all continents, from Australia and Africa to the Americas. Significant remains have been found in North Africa, such as in the oasis of Djebel Ouénat, between Libya and Sudan, or in Ain Safsaf (Oran). Already in the Neolithic period, stone polishing predominated, especially in megalithic monuments such as dolmens and menhirs, where geometric decoration (circles, spirals, lines, squares, triangles, zigzags) stood out. With the appearance of ceramics, the engraved incision had a special relevance to decorate the elaborated pieces, generally with the same geometric motifs. Metallic pieces such as fibulae, bracelets, weapons and other utensils were also decorated.12

Already in historical times, beginning with the appearance of writing, the so-called ancient art developed, which had its first manifestations in the great civilizations of the Near East (Egypt and Mesopotamia), as well as in the areas of the Indus and the Yellow River in China. In these cultures, relief engraving was used in ceramics, glyptics, metal arts and other minor and decorative arts, both geometric and figurative. In Egypt, beetle-shaped carvings were common, used as amulets, often engraved with the name of the owner and some kind of prayer or magic formula. In Chaldea, carved cylindrical seals were common, which were applied on wax or clay to leave their engraved imprint. They were usually decorated with religious and zodiacal motifs, as well as cuneiform inscriptions, and it was customary to bury them with their owners. This tradition was taken up by the Assyrians, who spread it to the surrounding lands. King Ashurbanipal possessed a library of clay pieces of great importance. In Persia these seals were made in a flat form, decorated with animal figures and everyday scenes. This culture spread to other surrounding peoples, such as the Hittites, Lycians, Phrygians, Phoenicians and Hebrews. Other engraved objects included jewelry, glass and metals.13

The East also saw the development of thriving civilizations that developed their own techniques and styles of engraving, usually done on stone, wood, pottery and metalwork objects. In Brahmanical India, naturalistic representations were common, while with the arrival of Buddhism, religious motifs took over. China was influenced by Buddhist art, adapted to that nation's own aesthetics, based on the imitation of nature -more evocative than realistic-, while Japan inherited Chinese culture in its beginnings.14

The culmination of the Ancient Age was the development of the Greek and Roman civilizations, stylistically encompassed in the so-called classical art, which laid the foundations of Western art. Their scientific, material and aesthetic advances contributed to the history of art a style based on nature and the human being, where harmony and balance, the rationality of forms and volumes, and a sense of imitation (mimesis) of nature prevailed, so that the recurrence to classical forms has been constant throughout the history of Western civilization.15

With antecedents in the Minoan and Mycenaean cultures, archaic Greek art was inspired by human, animal and plant forms, as well as motifs such as spirals, rosettes and circle arches, as well as axes, horns and other objects, present in ceramics, metalwork, glyptics, coins and gold and silver work. All this evolved towards the classical and Hellenistic phases of Greek art, in which the human figure and the representation of scenes from Greek mythology gained importance. Roman art was largely inherited from Greek art, whose culture was assimilated after the conquest of its territory. In ancient Rome, the engraved seal was of great importance, and authentic collections of carvings were created in cabinets called "dactylothecae". With a more mundane culture, the Romans preferred genre scenes and scenes from real life to the mythological images and great epics of the Greeks. From the 2nd century A.D. onwards, these seals became talismans carved with cabbalistic motifs, which were converted into religious images with the arrival of Christianity. In Roman times there are also testimonies that relate the elaboration of portraits on parchment that were produced in series with a currently unknown technique, whose invention is attributed to Marcus Terentius Varro, who owned a collection of seven hundred of these portraits. Also noteworthy during this period was the production of books, made on paper or parchment, which, together with the text, often included images, the antecedents of later printed engravings.16

Beginnings of engraving: China

*Diamond Sutra* (868), the oldest known complete and dated printed book in the world, British Library, London.

In China, printmaking began during the Tang dynasty (618-907), linked to the introduction of printing. As early as the Han period, Confucian scholars used stone plates to engrave texts and, occasionally, images. Later, it was the Buddhists who began to use wood to print images - usually Buddhas - by means of inked blocks applied to wet paper, which was the beginning of woodcutting. They used to make large print runs of these images, which were used as amulets. By printing engraved blocks on paper, the Chinese were five or six centuries ahead of the European printing press.17

The printing capital was Chengdu, where the first edition of the Four Books and Five Classics (953), the Buddhist Tripitaka (983) and the Taoist Canon were printed. In the Mogao caves in Dunhuang, archaeologist Marc Aurel Stein discovered the oldest complete and dated printed book in existence, the Diamond Sutra (British Library, London), which bears the date of its creation: "this book was printed on March 11, 868, by Wang Shish, to be distributed free of charge, as a gift, in order to perpetuate the memory of his parents". From then on, numerous poets and scholars commissioned the printing of their works, which became widespread during the Song dynasty (960-1279).17

Chinese woodblock prints were generally religious, devout images for temple worship. It was not considered to have artistic value, but was understood as an instrument of propaganda. It was usually done in black on white and sometimes colored by hand. Sometimes blue or red ink was used instead of black. Printmaking created a thriving industry, which evolved from religious images to the reproduction of paintings -generally portraits or landscapes- or images for hand fans or byōbu.18

Origins of Western engraving: the Middle Ages

*St. Christopher* (1423), John Rylands Library, Manchester, considered the earliest surviving woodcut engraving.

The origins of Western engraving occurred in the Middle Ages. It was a period marked by the feudalization of all the territories formerly administered by the Roman Empire. The new dominant cultures - of Germanic origin - reinterpreted classical art, while the new religion, Christianity, permeated most of medieval artistic production. The main artistic manifestations of this period were Romanesque and Gothic art.19

*Virgin of Brussels*, Royal Library of Belgium. Initially dated 1418, it was considered the oldest surviving engraving, although it was later dated to around 1460.

The appearance of engraving is of uncertain date and place of origin. It could probably derive from the manufacture of playing cards, whose elaboration evolved from the manufacture to the use of patterns and their stamping by means of adjusted wooden molds. This probably inspired the elaboration of images in imitation of the illuminated miniature, by means of several colored blocks that were fitted in one piece and stamped at once, a procedure known as camaïeu. These experiments gave rise to woodcutting, which was probably first practiced in the early 15th century in the Rhine region. Around 1440, the invention of the movable type printing press by Johannes Gutenberg helped to mechanize and spread engraving procedures.20

In the late Middle Ages, engraving began to become popular in Europe: in the middle of the 14th century, linen waste began to be used to make paper in Italy - mainly Treviso, Padua and Fabriano - which provided a useful and cheap support for prints. At the same time, the technique of woodcutting began to spread and the distribution of prints began, generally biblical images and images of saints, made in monasteries by anonymous craftsmen. The oldest surviving engraving is a St. Christopher made in the Charterhouse of Buxheim (Germany) in 1423, preserved in the John Rylands Library in Manchester. The Virgin of Brussels (Royal Library of Belgium), initially dated 1418, was considered the oldest engraving, although it was later dated to around 1460. It shows the Virgin Mary and the Child Jesus with the four virgin martyr saints (Catherine of Alexandria, Barbara, Margaret of Antioch and Dorothea) in an hortus conclusus.1

The production of small religious images evolved towards the creation of large prints destined for altars or the illustration of books, such as the Biblia pauperum, the Speculum Humanæ Salvationis and the Ars moriendi. These images were of poor quality in terms of drawing, disproportionate, with a broad, hard line and without shades of chiaroscuro, but their candor denoted a certain naivety that made them attractive, like children's drawings.21

Metal engraving appeared in the middle of the 15th century, at an uncertain date and place, as did wood engraving. It is usually attributed to the work of goldsmiths and there are various undocumented traditions about its origin: in Germany its invention is attributed to Martin Schoen, from Bavaria, or to Israel Mecheln, from Westphalia; in Italy it is attributed to Maso Finiguerra, a Florentine silversmith who in 1452 made a silver plate of the Coronation of the Virgin for the baptistery of St. John (now in the Bargello Museum). It is likely that the printing of these niello plates were tests of the goldsmiths' work to see the final result, at the same time as instructional material for the apprentices, and that the final objective was enameling; however, they would soon realize the possibilities of engraving using that technique.22

The center of medieval printmaking production was in Germany, Flanders and Burgundy, as well as to a lesser extent Italy. In its beginnings, the Flemish technique was superior to the Italian. It was developed in the Rhine lands, from the Netherlands to Basel (Switzerland), where the work of several masters known today, such as the Master of Cards, the Master of 1446 (because of a Flagellation of his dated in that year), Master E. S. or the Master of the Cabinet of Amsterdam, was outstanding.23

Page from Ulrich Boner's *Der Edelstein*, first printed book with pictures (1461).

At the beginning of the 15th century, the technique of burin engraving, generally performed by goldsmiths, was introduced in Germany and the Netherlands. A copper matrix was engraved with the burin, the concave parts were inked and a dampened sheet of paper was inserted into the inked grooves. The mark of the burin and the interpretation of the artist made it possible to confer a stylistic character to the intaglio engravings more than with woodcuts. The oldest surviving one is a Flagellation from 1466, preserved in Berlin.1

A great impulse to engraving was given with the creation of the letterpress printing press by Johannes Gutenberg, which allowed the serial edition of texts and images on paper, cloth or other materials. The first work printed by Gutenberg was a Bible (Mainz, 1449); in 1457, Gutenberg's partners Johann Fust and Peter Schöffer published the Mainz Psalter, which included for the first time initial letters engraved in wood; in 1461 a book with pictures was published for the first time, Ulrich Boner's Der Edelstein, edited in Bamberg by the printer Albrecht Pfister, which included one hundred and one illustrations; and in 1476 the first book with a frontispiece - a place suitable for the placement of pictures - was published, the Regiomontanus' Calendar, edited in Venice by the printer Erhard Ratdolt. 24

In the Netherlands and Flanders, culturally related, there was at that time a pictorial school of great importance -the so-called Flemish Gothic-, marked by the work of the brothers Jan and Hubert van Eyck. Haarlem was one of the first centers of production, with works of great quality such as the Speculum Humanæ Salvationis. Metal engraving was also developed in this area, especially with the work of Jacob Cornelisz van Oostsanen and the so-called "Engraver of 1480" and "Master of the navette".25

In Germany, engraving had a wide acceptance and diffusion due to its scientific, analytical, realistic character, based on study and observation, at the same time that the possibilities of drawing were more suitable to its religious morality. It was also closely related to the printed book, as the Cologne Bible (1480), the Lübeck Bible (1484), the guide Peregrinatio in Terram Sanctam (1486, Bernard von Breidenbach), the Treasury of Eternal Health (1491) and the Nuremberg Chronicle (1493, by Hartmann Schedel, edited by Anton Koberger and illustrated by Michael Wolgemut and Wilhelm Pleydenwurff) denote. Copperplate engraving also developed notably, with authors such as the so-called "Master of the card game", the "Master of 1464 or of the banners" and Master E. S., the latter one of the first renowned engravers, author of engravings such as the Adoration of the Magi, the Virgin of the Crescent Moon, the Child Jesus in the bath, Samson conquering the lion and the Virgin of Einsiedeln, with a naturalistic and emotive style, with a taste for detail and technical virtuosity.26 He was the teacher of Martin Schongauer, one of the first known names of artists dedicated to engraving, who notably improved intaglio engraving, with a great mastery of the burin and a regular impression of great technical perfection, with systematic carvings and great variety, and a sense of space that preludes the Renaissance effects.23 He was especially dedicated to religious themes: Adoration of the Magi, Death of the Virgin, The Temptation of St. Anthony, The Passion of Christ, The Apostles, The Annunciation, Flight to Egypt; he also produced some genre works, such as Exit to the Market and Group of Villagers at Play. He had several disciples and followers, such as the "Master of the monogram B. S.", Wenzel von Olmütz, Albrecht Glockendon and Israhel van Meckenem.27

In France, the main center of production was Lyon, where several engravers of Germanic origin had settled. An early exponent was Le Miroir de la Rédention Humaine (1478), a book with wood engravings of clear Germanic affiliation. Later, engraving spread to places such as Paris, Nantes and Angoulême, where works were produced in imitation of the miniature, with great importance given to the initial letters, sometimes made by hand. The main specialty produced at the time were the "books of hours", in whose production Simon Vostre and the Pigouchet workshops stood out. Other works of note were Le Roman de Fierabras (1480), the Missel de Verdun (1481), Belial ou la Consolation des pauvres pêcheurs (1484), the Danse macabre (1485), the Calendrier des Bergers (1491) and La Mer des Histoires (1488-1489 and 1491).28

In Italy, metal engraving appeared almost simultaneously with wood engraving, and both were closely linked to the printed book. The first illustrated book was Meditationes reverendissimi patris domini Johannis de Turrecremata, published in Rome in 1467. In Florence, intaglio engraving was preferred, as in Girolamo Savonarola's Predica dell'arte del ben morire (1496). In general, metal engraving was practiced by niello artists, such as Baccio Baldini and Pellegrino da Cesena. Baldini published Dante's Divine Comedy in Florence in 1481, with drawings by Sandro Botticelli. Numerous Italian artists also practiced engraving, but they were already stylistically situated in the Renaissance.29

In Spain, engraving was initially linked to book publishing. In 1480, the first book with engraved illustrations was published, the Fasciculus temporum by Werner Rolevinck, printed in Seville, with woodcuts by an anonymous artist. It was followed the next year by Arte de bien morir, printed in Zaragoza, with eleven woodcuts of Germanic tendency. Other examples were: Enrique de Villena's Labors of Hercules (1483), Aesop's Fables (1489), Ramon Llull's Arbol Scientiae (1489), Joanot Martorell's Tirant lo Blanch (1490), Rodrigo Sánchez de Arévalo's Mirror of Human Life (1491), Cárcel de amor by Diego de San Pedro (1493), the Thesoro de la Passión by Andrés de Li (1494), Las Décadas de Tito Livio (1497), the Viaje de la Tierra Santa (1498) and De octo partibus orationis (1498); all by anonymous artists. Few examples of individual prints are preserved: by an anonymous artist, La rueda de la fortuna and El árbol de la vida are kept in the Biblioteca Nacional de España; a portrait of the Prince of Viana, dated around 1461, may be of Catalan origin. Only two prints by known authors are preserved: the Dominican friar Francisco Doménech, author of the intaglio La Mare de Déu del Roser, els Misteris del Rosari, els sants dominics i el "miracle del Cavaller de Colunya" (1488); and the Mallorcan Francisco Descós, author of a portrait of Ramon Llull (1493), in woodcut.30

Illustration from the Biblia pauperum.
Baptism of Christ (c. 1450), by Master E. S., Musée du Louvre, Paris.
The Inferno, illustration from the Divine Comedy (1481), by Baccio Baldini, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.
Christ Carrying the Cross (c. 1485), from The Passion of the Christ series, by Martin Schongauer, Cooper Hewitt Smithsonian Design Museum, New York.
Illustration from Peregrinatio in Terram Sanctam (1486), by Bernard von Breidenbach.
The Virgin of the Rosary (1488), by Francisco Doménech.
Israhel van Meckenem and his Wife, Ida (c. 1490), by Israhel van Meckenem, Philadelphia Museum of Art.

Renaissance

The Renaissance ushered in the Modern Age, a period of history that brought radical political, economic, social and cultural changes: the consolidation of centralized states led to the establishment of absolutism; the new geographical discoveries - especially the American continent - opened an era of territorial and commercial expansion, and marked the beginning of colonialism; the invention of the printing press led to a greater diffusion of culture, which was opened to all types of public; religion lost the preponderance it had in medieval times, which was helped by the rise of Protestantism; at the same time, humanism emerged as a new cultural trend, giving way to a more scientific conception of man and the universe. 31

The Renaissance was a style that emerged in Italy in the 15th century (Quattrocento), which spread throughout the rest of Europe from the end of that century and the beginning of the 16th century (Cinquecento). The artists were inspired by classical Greco-Roman art, which is why they spoke of an artistic "renaissance" after medieval obscurantism. It was a style inspired by nature, in which new models of representation emerged, such as the use of perspective. Without renouncing religious themes, the representation of human beings and their environment became more relevant.31 During this period, the graphic arts developed notably, especially thanks to the invention of the printing press. Most of the engraving techniques appeared or were perfected.32

The cradle of the Renaissance was Italy, a country where, as seen in the previous section, engraving began to be practiced later than in the Rhine countries, but which soon reached heights of great quality thanks to the genius of its artists, who in the 15th century initiated a revolution in the plastic arts of great relevance. The main center of production in the early days of Italian Renaissance engraving was Florence, where two styles emerged in the 15th century: the "fine style", produced by goldsmiths and strongly influenced by the technique of niello; and the "broad style", more used by artists and influenced by pen drawing.23 The latter was the framework for the "fine style", which was the main focus of the Italian Renaissance engraving movement. The latter includes the work of Antonio Pollaiuolo: he produced few engravings, but of great artistic quality, such as Battle of the Centaurs, Hercules and Antaeus and Battle of the Nudes, works that denote a great anatomical study of the human figure.33 The same style was also practiced by Andrea Mantegna, born in Padua, a skilled engraver, of classicist style and realistic cut, expressive and delicate, with sober and clean strokes, in religious and profane themes. Among his works stand out: The Virgin Mother, Christ between St. Andrew and St. Longinus, The Triumph of Julius Caesar, Bacchanalia and Combat of the Sea Gods. He had several disciples and imitators, such as Cima da Conegliano, Girolamo Mocetto and Giovanni Antonio da Brescia.34

Page from the *Hypnerotomachia Poliphili* by Francesco Colonna (1499), edition printed by Aldo Manucio, Venice.

Engraving was also developed in other Italian cities: in Venice the Manuzio family (Aldus the Elder, Paulus and Aldus the Younger), owners of the so-called Aldine Press, created in 1494, where italic or "cursive" letters were invented. In 1499 they published Francesco Colonna's Hypnerotomachia Poliphili, a remarkable work with highly imaginative illustrations. Another notable illustrated book was De humani corporis fabrica by Andreas Vesalius (1543), an anatomical treatise illustrated by Jan van Calcar. In that city, the painter Titian formed an outstanding workshop of engravers, in which the works of the distinguished artist were mainly reproduced. Also outstanding was the work of Ugo da Carpi, who introduced the camaïeu technique in Italy, in which he produced reproductions of works by Raphael, mainly. Giulio and Domenico Campagnola, Benedetto Montagna and Jacopo de'Barbari also worked in Venice.35 The French engraver Guillaume Le Signerre, author of the Practica Musicæ Franchini Gafori Laudems (1496), as well as the Life of Saint Veronica, made up of ten prints, was also active in Milan. In the Lombard capital, Leonardo da Vinci illustrated Luca Pacioli's treatise De divina proportione in 1498.36 Not very prolific in the field of engraving, his other prints were: Profile of a Young Girl, Knight Fighting and Three Horse's Heads.37

During Mannerism, the preferential use of etching spread, which stimulated freedom of line, virtuosity in execution and creative inspiration of the artist, providing results of an almost pictorial quality. One of its best exponents was Parmigianino. During this period a veritable engraving industry was formed in Rome, with companies dedicated to the intensive production of prints - such as Lafreri - and artists dedicated to the production of prints - often aimed at disseminating the work of the best Italian Renaissance painters - such as Marcantonio Raimondi, Giorgio Ghisi, Giulio Bonasone, Enea Vico, Diana Scultori, Giovanni Jacopo Caraglio and Beatrizet.38 Marcantonio Raimondi devoted himself to recording paintings by famous artists, especially Raphael, whose work he helped to spread throughout Europe. With a simple and clear style he outlined a new flexible and systematic language, which easily allowed the transposition of diverse compositions. Among his disciples, Agostino Veneziano stands out. A notable school developed in Mantua, marked by the influence of Giulio Romano, whose exponents include Giorgio Ghisi, author of reproductions of paintings, such as Raimondi.23 Another famous school was that of Bologna, led by the Carracci brothers (Annibale, Agostino and Ludovico), who developed a classicist style that lasted during the Baroque. They showed a certain Flemish influence, especially that of Cornelis Cort, in religious, mythological, historical and portrait subjects.39 The most gifted, Annibale, mixed etching with engraving, achieving a more intense outline of chiaroscuro. He made engravings of Veronese and Tintoretto, along with his own compositions.40

In Germany, engraving evolved from medieval Gothic to the new Renaissance style, with the main centers of production in Mainz, Bamberg, Cologne and Nuremberg, as well as Basel in Switzerland.41 The work of Albrecht Dürer, who combined the technical experience of medieval German engraving with the artistic innovations of the Renaissance, is noteworthy.42 His first woodcuts date from 1495. He was later one of the first to experiment with etching, producing six engravings on iron.1 Dürer elevated engraving to heights of great quality, both technically and artistically. He used both wood and copper, with a drawing of great perfection and a great compositional sense that turned his works into authentic paintings. By varying the density and angle of the carvings, he was able to describe the worked surfaces with great precision, as in Adam and Eve (1504). He produced both isolated prints and series of engravings, such as Apocalypse (1498), Great Passion and Little Passion (1511) and Life of the Virgin (1511). In his last stage his style was simplified and he used other techniques such as drypoint (St. Jerome) and etching on steel (Garden of Olives).23 Dürer excelled both as an engraver and painter and his prints were widely distributed and popular, helping to a great extent to raise the prestige of the art of engraving.42

St. Jerome in his Study (1514), by Albrecht Dürer.

Among his most famous prints are: Knight, Death and the Devil (1513), where a horseman in armor mounted on horseback encounters Death and the Devil on his way, in the form of monstrous figures;43 St. Jerome in his Study (1514), where the saint appears in his study, with a sleeping dog and lion at his feet and a skull on a window sill, a symbol of the transience of life typical of the vanitas genre; 44 and Melencolia I (1514), a mysterious image featuring a winged woman as an allegory of Melancholy, a putto, a dog and various objects, including a sphere, a rhombohedron, an hourglass, a bell, a balance, a magic square and a bat with a cartouche with the text Melencolia I, with a landscape in the background where a comet and a rainbow can be glimpsed. 45 Other outstanding works of his are: Proposition of Love (1495), The Walk (1496), The Prodigal Son (1496), The Witches (1497), The Doctor's Dream (1497), The Sea Monster (1498), Hercules (1498), St. Eustace (1500), The Nemesis (1501), The Emblem of Death (1503), The Great Horse (1505), Dancing Peasants (1514), Rhinoceros (1515), Rapture on the Unicorn (1516), The Cannon (1518) and Erasmus of Rotterdam (1526). 46

Dürer's disciples were Barthel Beham and Heinrich Aldegrever. The former was a notable portraitist, although it was in engraving that he achieved great success, especially with small popular scenes.47 Aldegrever was a painter, engraver and goldsmith influenced by Flemish painting and by Dürer, author of religious, mythological and portrait subjects.48

Other outstanding artists also practiced engraving, such as Lucas Cranach the Elder and Hans Holbein the Younger. The former was an excellent draughtsman, whose compositions he was able to transfer to engraving with great mastery, in works such as St. George, The Apostles, Venus, Adam and Eve, The Rest on the Flight to Egypt, Sufferings of the Martyrs and several portraits of Martin Luther (1520-1521). Holbein stood out for a drawing of great purity, of classical style and naturalistic tendency, with a simple, precise and dynamic line, in works such as Dance of the Dead (1538).49

It is also worth mentioning the work of other German artists: Albrecht Altdorfer, who worked in woodcut and etching, with a spontaneous style, confident stroke and delicate workmanship (St. Jerome, St. Christopher, Crucifixion);50 Hans Baldung Grien, with a naturalistic style, original and of great creative force, author of religious, mythological, realistic and fantastic themes; 51 Hans Burgkmair, of Italianizing tendency, one of the introducers of Renaissance novelties in his country, combined painting with woodcut, in which he made the series Triumph for Maximilian I (1515-1919) and prints such as Strangling Death, which stands out for its chiaroscuro;52 Niklaus Manuel, Swiss painter of heterogeneous style, author of the series of the Foolish Virgins and Prudent Virgins (1518); 53 Urs Graf, also Swiss, made about three hundred engravings of spontaneous line and realistic inspiration, generally of women and soldiers, with sharp drawing and somewhat crisp line; 54 and Johann Ulrich Wechtlin (also called Pilgrim or "Master of the crossed beads"), who was influenced by Dürer and produced works of classical inspiration, with a certain roughness but with drawing precision,55 and who is considered the inventor of camaïeu,56 a type of chiaroscuro woodcut achieved by means of several wooden matrices that were successively stamped on paper, obtaining a result similar to pen drawing. 57 Finally, the names of Jost Amman, Hans Sebald Beham, Daniel and Hieronymus Hopfer, Georg Pencz and Virgil Solis should also be mentioned.58

In the Netherlands, the work of Lucas van Leyden was outstanding. His youthful work, of great originality, does not denote any known affiliation. They are generally genre scenes, of great refinement. Later he was influenced by Dürer and Raimondi.23 Among his works, the following stand out: The Resurrection of Lazarus, David and Saul, Esther before Ahasuerus, Triumph of Mordecai, The Return of the Prodigal Son, Pyramus and Thisbe, St. Peter and St. Paul and The Villagers on a Journey.59 There was also the engraving of translations of paintings in the style of Raimondi, initiated by Hieronymus Cock, engraver and publisher, who brought Giorgio Ghisi to Antwerp and published the works of Brueghel, Frans Floris and Maarten van Heemskerck. Brueghel's landscapes engraved by Cock are the first of the genre in Europe. One of his disciples, Cornelis Cort, settled in Italy and was employed by Titian to engrave his works. Another outstanding engraver was Hendrik Goltzius, in whose school the engravers who worked for Rubens were trained.40 The brothers Hieronymus, Antonius and Jan Wierix were authors of prints of excellent technique and detail, although based on other people's compositions.32 In book illustration, the work of Crispijn van de Passe, Lodewijk Elzevier and Cristóbal Plantino is worth mentioning. 60 Other exponents were Dirck Vellert, Jan Gossaert, Bernard van Orley and Pieter Coecke.23

In France, engraving passed from the Germanic influence of the Middle Ages to the Italian, thanks mainly to the group of Italian artists that Francis I brought to the works of the palace of Fontainebleau. The so-called School of Fontainebleau developed a broad artistic program under the direction, mainly, of the Italian painters Rosso Fiorentino and Primaticcio, in an eclectic style that brought together Italian, Flemish and French influences. A workshop of engravers was formed - mainly etchers - which included, among others, René Boyvin, Geoffroy Dumonstier and Léonard Limousin. In the book field, Geoffroy Tory favored the transition from Gothic to Roman letters and the use of ornamental decoration based on Italian grotesques. Later, artists such as painters Jean Cousin and Jean Clouet, sculptors such as Jean Goujon and Germain Pilon, and architects such as Philibert de l'Orme, Jean Bullant and Pierre Lescot practiced engraving. It is worth mentioning Bernard Salomon, who practiced an Italianate ornamental style, delicate drawing and small compositions, with multiple characters and fantasy elements, as can be seen in his illustration of the Emblems of Andrea Alciato (1547). Jean Duvet, famous for his series of the Apocalypse (1561), also enjoyed fair fame. Other engravers of the period were Nicolas Beatrizet, Georges Reverdy and Étienne Dupérac.

In Spain, the Renaissance was of slow penetration and at the beginning of the 16th century the Gothic forms still survived. Engraving was largely linked to the illustration of books, such as the Crónica de San Fernando and the Vida de Santa María Magdalena, printed in Valencia in 1505; the Leyenda de Santa Catalina de Siena, which appeared in the same city in 1511; the Exemplario contra los engaños, published in Zaragoza in 1515; Vita Christi, published in Barcelona in 1527; the Vida y Milagros de la Santa Virgen, printed in Toledo in 1536; and Flor dels Sants, a Barcelona edition of 1565. The publication of engravings of saints also continued, as in the medieval period.62

Among the names of Spanish engravers of the century it is worth remembering: Pedro Ángel, a silversmith and water-engraver from Toledo, author of the portraits of Cardinals Tavera and Cisneros; Juan de Vingles, woodcutter, author with the calligrapher Juan de Yciar of Arte subtilissima por la qual se enseña a escrivir perfectamente (Zaragoza, 1550); and Pieter Perret, a Flemish engraver established in Madrid, author of Sumaria y breve declaración de los diseños y estampas de la fábrica de San Lorenzo del Escorial (1589), with text by Juan de Herrera.63 Also worth mentioning are Antonio de Arfe, son of the silversmith of the same name, a Florentine-influenced woodcutter, author of Vida y fábulas exemplares del Natural Filósofo y Famossísimo Fabulador Esopo (1586), a translation of Aesop's fables illustrated by himself; and his brother Juan de Arfe, goldsmith and engraver, who worked in wood and metal, and illustrated his treatise Quilatador de oro, plata y piedras (1572).64

During this century printing was transplanted to the Spanish colonies in America: in 1532 Viceroy Mendoza installed one in Mexico and, in 1535, the first book was published, La Escala espiritual, the work of the typographer Esteban Martín. In Peru it was carried by Antonio Ricardo in 1584, and the first book published was the Catechism of Christian Doctrine. Printing was also very important in the Spanish possessions in Flanders, where numerous works were published in Spanish, especially religious, military, scientific and literary books, as well as atlases. Among these editions was the Biblia Sacra Hebraice, Chaldaice, Græce & Latine by Benito Arias Montano (1568-1572), printed by Cristóbal Plantino. By Arias himself was the Humanæ salutis monumenta (1571), with drawings by Pieter van der Borcht engraved by Abraham de Bruyn, Pieter Huys and the Wierix brothers.65

Knight and Halberdier (c. 1510), by Hans Wechtlin.
Lucretia (c. 1510-1511), engraving by Marcantonio Raimondi on a design by Raphael.
Rhinoceros (1515), by Albrecht Dürer, British Museum, London.
Diogenes (c. 1524-1529), by Ugo da Carpi.
Respice Finem (c. 1530), by Heinrich Aldegrever, British Museum, London.
Death and the physician, from the series Dance of the Dead (1538), by Hans Holbein the Younger.
Illustration from De humani corporis fabrica by Andreas Vesalius (1543), illustrated by Jan van Calcar.
The Academy of Baccio Bandinelli (c. 1544), by Enea Vico, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.
St. Michael slaying the dragon (1584), by Hieronymus Wierix.
Christ of Caprarola (1597), by Annibale Carracci, National Gallery of Art, Washington D. C.

Baroque

Preparatory drawing by Hans von Aachen for a print with the effigy of Holy Roman Emperor Rhodolph II (National Library of Poland) and Aegidius Sadeler's print of 1603, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

The Baroque developed between the 17th and early 18th centuries. It was a time of great disputes in the political and religious fields, in which a division arose between the Catholic counter-reformist countries, where the absolutist state was strengthened, and the Protestant countries, of a more parliamentary sign. Art became more refined and ornamented, with the survival of a certain classicist rationalism but with more dynamic and dramatic forms, with a taste for the surprising and anecdotal, for optical illusions and effects.66

The graphic arts had a great diffusion during the Baroque, continuing the boom that this sector had during the Renaissance. The rapid profusion of engravings throughout Europe favored the expansion of artistic styles originating in the centers of greatest innovation and production of the time: Italy, France, Flanders and the Netherlands, which were decisive, for example, in the evolution of Spanish painting. The most commonly used techniques were etching and drypoint engraving.67 During this period, the growing popularity of engraving and its propagandistic possibilities were exploited by numerous governments, which produced large print runs for commemorative events. Louis XIV created the Royal Engraving Press in 1670 and Pope Clement XII founded the Cameral Engraving Press in 1738.68

At this stage, the Flemish and Dutch schools, led by Rubens and Rembrandt, respectively, became predominant for their quality. Historical circumstances forced the separation of these two culturally related communities, due to religious disputes between Catholics and Protestants and the struggle against Spanish domination; this also translated into artistic differences, which in the field of engraving took the form of the Flemish preference for sweet engraving and the Dutch for etching.69 In Flanders, Peter Paul Rubens was one of the best artists of the century, with a dynamic, vital and colorful style, where the anatomical roundness stands out, with muscular men and sensual and fleshy women. He formed a workshop of engravers for the reproduction of his works, in conjunction with the publishing house of Jan Moretus. Among his collaborators were Lucas Vorsterman I, Boëtius à Bolswert, Paulus Pontius and Jacob Matham.70 Vorsterman, the most gifted, had a flexible style of short, irregular carvings modeled by dots, without outlines. After working for Rubens for a few years, he settled in England, where he reproduced works by Holbein, Van Dyck, Raphael, Carracci and Caravaggio. He was succeeded in the Rubensian workshop by Pontius, with a gentler style, precise drawing and definition in the chiaroscuro.71 Rubens had several followers, such as Alexander Voet, Jacob Neefs, Cornelis Schut, Pieter de Jode I and II, Hendrik Hondius I and II, Cornelis Galle I and II.72

One of the best engravers of the century was the Dutchman Rembrandt, who reached heights of great mastery not only in drawing but also in the creation of contrasts between light and shade.67 He began with etching and later mixed this technique with drypoint, which gave him a more uniform tone and a more nuanced chiaroscuro. He used to modify the plates during the process of execution, so that some of his works show the additional interest of evolution in the conception of the works, as in The Three Crosses (1653).40 His first engravings were portraits of his family -especially his mother-, of himself -he made about thirty self-portraits- and of various characters of his environment. Between 1630 and 1632 he painted mainly popular scenes, in collaboration with Jan Lievens. Already alone and settled in Amsterdam, he made individual and collective portraits, generally for guilds of the city. He then formed a workshop in which about thirty pupils worked, including Salomon Koninck, Ferdinand Bol, Govert Flinck, Jacob Adriaensz Backer, Pieter Verbeeck and Gerbrand van den Eeckhout. In his mature work he devoted himself to religious and costumbrist subjects, landscapes and fantasy scenes, with greater chiaroscuro effects, as in Christ Driving the Money Changers from the Temple, The Presentation in the Temple, Resurrection of Lazarus, The Good Samaritan, Descent from the Cross, Blind Man Playing the Violin, Ecce Homo, Adam and Eve, The Golden Weigher, Death of the Virgin, The Beheading of the Baptist and Landscape of the Three Trees. After the death of his wife in 1642 he reached heights of great mastery, as can be seen in Christ Healing the Sick -known as the Hundred Guilder Print, The Three Crosses, Holy Family with a Cat, Christ in Emmaus, Christ disputing with the doctors and Abraham sacrificing his son Isaac. He also illustrated books, such as Der Zee-Vaert Lof by Elias Herckmans (1633) and Piedra Gloriosa by Menasseh Ben Israel (1655). After being excommunicated by the Calvinists in 1656, he painted some nudes, such as Christ and the Samaritan Woman, Diana Bathing with her Nymphs with Actaeon and Callisto, Danaë, Joseph and Potiphar's Wife and Black Woman Lying Down.73 Rembrandt's catalog includes 287 recognized engravings, which, due to their quality, helped to raise the artistic category of this technique.74

Other outstanding Dutch engravers were: Anthony van Dyck, an eminent watercolorist, with a spontaneous stroke, precise composition and varying degrees of chiaroscuro according to the desired effect, produced a series of fifteen portraits of artist friends of his (1645), along with portraits and religious works; 75 Hercules Pieterszoon Seghers painted natural and urban landscapes, still lifes, seascapes and animals, with a free style that sometimes bordered on abstraction, especially in landscapes;76 Adriaen van Ostade, genre painter and portraitist, a disciple of Frans Hals and also influenced by Rembrandt, especially in the use of chiaroscuro, treated family, bourgeois and peasant subjects; 77 Allaert van Everdingen was devoted to landscape and animal painting and illustrated La Fontaine's Fables;78 Adriaen Brouwer was an interpreter of popular themes and produced several colorful etchings of drunks and vagabonds;79 Pieter van Laer, also known as il Bamboccio, lived most of his time in Italy, where he initiated a genre of popular scenes called "Bambocciantti", with a grotesque and humorous tone, which he also reflected in his engravings; 80 Jacob van Ruisdael was a great landscape painter, a genre he also treated in engraving, with precise drawing, mastery in the distribution of light and adjusted tones;78 Jan van de Velde II developed a realistic style, in his own compositions or reproductions of other painters;81 Antonie Waterloo elaborated landscapes of dark tones, somewhat reiterative in his models;82 Paulus Potter was a landscape and animalist, with a spirited technique and warm coloration of dark tones; 83 Nicolaes Berchem was also an animalist, author of 53 plates with subjects generally of animals in luminous landscapes;84 Karel Dujardin, disciple of the previous one, made engravings of landscapes and animals of precise line;78 Dirk Stoop, author of landscapes in which he placed hunting scenes or cavalry combats, made twelve etchings of horses that brought him notable fame;85 Nicolaes Visscher was dedicated to popular scenes, with his own compositions or reproductions of Van Ostade's works, generally. 86

In Germany, engraving was in a certain decline after the medieval and Renaissance splendor, where Dürer's work reached heights that would be difficult to reach. Adam Elsheimer, a painter and engraver concerned with light and chiaroscuro effects, is worth mentioning. Also worth mentioning is the Swiss Matthäus Merian, active in Basel and later in Frankfurt, who specialized in city plans and views. His daughter Maria Sibylla Merian devoted herself to scientific and naturalistic illustration. Merian's disciple was the Bohemian Wenceslaus Hollar, dedicated to genre and fashion themes, such as his series of women's dresses.87 In 1642, Ludwig von Siegen, a lieutenant colonel in the service of Prince Rupert of the Rhine, invented the half-ink (mezzotint) engraving, also called or manière noire, in which he painted the portrait of Amalia Elisabeth of Hanau-Münzenberg. After a few years, Prince Rupert himself began to make some engravings using this technique-which is why some mistakenly attributed its invention to him-after which it began to become popular.88

In Italy, engraving did not have the same level as in Renaissance times, but there were artists of proven solvency. The Bolognese School, initiated by the Carracci family, continued with growing fame, including Guido Reni, Giovanni Lanfranco, Carlo Maratta, Simone Cantarini, Pietro and Teresa del Po, Francesco Brizio, Elisabetta Sirani and Sisto Badalocchio.89 In Florence, Remigio Cantagallina, a watercolorist and author of genre scenes; Antonio Tempesta, illustrator of Torquato Tasso's works; Stefano della Bella, author of religious, military and royal court scenes; and Pietro Testa, interpreter of religious and mythological themes in a somewhat bombastic style. In Genoa, it is worth mentioning Giovanni Benedetto Castiglione, with a Rembrandtian influence, as can be seen in his Resurrection of Lazarus.90 In Rome, Pietro Santi Bartoli took up the tradition of watercolor painting initiated by Raimondi, with reproductions of classical sculpture that were widely used in academic studies in later times.91 It is also worth mentioning Ottavio Leoni, a celebrated portraitist, author of a series of portraits of illustrious figures of his time.92 In Naples, a naturalistic school emerged, initiated by Caravaggio, a painter of great talent who introduced the chiaroscuro effects known as tenebrism or caravaggism. Here Salvator Rosa stood out, a temperamental painter who could be described as an avant-la-lettre romantic, author of etchings of moving composition of generally profane subjects, with inventive fantasy, as shown in his series of Capricci.93

In France, engraving grew in fame and quality, to the point that in 1660 Louis XIV proclaimed engraving as a generic dignity comparable to the other liberal arts.94 It is worth mentioning the work of Jacques Callot, who devoted himself almost exclusively to engraving and was one of the most outstanding original engravers of his time. He introduced hard varnish, giving etching greater flexibility, elegance and sharpness, with a great mastery of multiple bites. His works are generally of small format, with a great technical precision and sense of observation, specialized in figures of beggars and scenes from the picaresque novel and the commedia dell'arte. He was the first great master of etching series, such as Miseries and Misfortunes of War (1633), a work that influenced Goya. He had many followers, such as Israel Silvestre, Jean Le Pautre, the Perelles (Gabriel, Nicolas and Adam), the Bonnarts (Henri, Nicolas, Robert and Jean-Baptiste) and Antoine Trouvain, as well as the Italian Stefano della Bella.40

The great painter Claude Lorrain also produced some forty-four etchings, mostly between 1630 and 1642, early in his career. The first few are somewhat hesitant, but over time he acquired great skill in this medium, especially in shading and the use of interlacing lines to suggest different tones in the landscapes recreated.95 Among his works are: Sunrise, The Herdsman, Landscape with a dance and Landscape with Cattle.96 Other engravers worthy of mention were: Abraham Bosse, author of some 1500 engravings, generally genre scenes; Jacques Bellange, author of religious representations, influenced by Parmigianino;97 Gérard Audran transferred to engraving works by Raphael, Nicolas Poussin, Eustache Le Sueur, Nicolas Mignard and Charles Le Brun; 98 François Chauveau illustrated the works of Molière, as well as La Fontaine's Fables, Racine's Tragedies and Torquato Tasso's Gerusalemme Liberata;99 and Sébastien Leclerc, author of small prints and vignettes influenced by the School of Fontainebleau, creator of the luxurious illustrated edition of Ovid's Metamorphoses (1676). 100 Also worth mentioning are the portrait painters, whose technique was based on reproduction engravings: Jean Morin, Claude Mellan, Robert Nanteuil, Gérard Edelinck, Michel Lasne.40 Several painters also devoted themselves to engraving, such as Claude Vignon, Simon Vouet, Gaspard Dughet, Nicolas Mignard, Charles Le Brun, Laurent de La Hyre and Pierre Brébiette.96

In England, engraving was introduced by foreign artists, such as Hans Holbein the Younger, Anton van Dyck, Jan Lievens and Wenceslaus Hollar. Prince Rupert of the Rhine, grandson of James I of England, introduced half-ink engraving. The portraitist Renold Elstracke published in 1618 a series of engravings of the kings of England. John Evelyn was the author of the series Journey from Rome to Naples, in etching. William Faithorne noted the influence of Rubens, especially in portraiture.101

Spain enjoyed a period of great artistic effervescence, the so-called Golden Age. Engraving was practiced by several painters: Bartolomé Esteban Murillo was the author of Virgin with the Infant Jesus on her lap and St. Francis of Assisi praying in the presence of the Cross, preserved in the Biblitoeca Nacional de España. It is attributed to Alonso Cano a Saint Anthony of Padua with the Child Jesus in his arms, to Juan de Valdés Leal a Self Portrait, to Claudio Coello the Portrait of Charles II, to Francesc Ribalta a Sacrifice of Isaac, to Juan Carreño de Miranda a Saint Anthony of Padua with the Child and to Francisco Herrera the Elder a portrait of Saint Ignatius for the Relación de la fiesta organized in 1610 for the Jesuit's beatification.102

Of all of them, the most dedicated to engraving was Jusepe de Ribera, an artist of strong personality. He lived for a time in Italy -where he was known as Lo Spagnoletto-, where he was influenced by Caravaggio, which led him to use strong chiaroscuro in his work, generally on religious themes. He made numerous engravings, of realistic style and vehement execution, among which we can highlight Saint Jerome penitent, Martyrdom of Saint Bartholomew, Dying Jesus Christ, Saint Sebastian and Saint Peter, as well as several of profane subject matter: Centaur, Triton, Silenus, Whipped Satyr and his magnificent The Poet.103

Among the engravers it is worth mentioning: Vincenzo Carducci, author of Diálogos de la pintura (1633), illustrated by himself and by Francisco Fernández and Francisco López; Pedro de Obregón and his sons Diego and Marcos, authors of devotional vignettes and book ornaments; Pedro de Villafranca was Philip IV's chamber engraver and illustrated the Brief Description of the Monastery of San Lorenzo el Real del Escorial by Francisco de los Santos (1657); Diego de Astor engraved works by El Greco and illustrated the History of Segovia by Diego de Colmenares; Crisóstomo Martínez made several portraits -such as that of Innocent XI- and published an Anatomy with twenty plates; Matias de Arteaga produced portraits, religious images and frontispieces, and illustrated Fiestas de la Santa Iglesia metropolitana y patriarcal de Sevilla al Nuevo Culto del Señor Rey San Fernando el Tercero de Castilla y de León by Fernando de la Torre Farfán (1672), together with Juan de Valdés Leal and his children Luisa de Morales and Lucas de Valdés; Pedro de Campolargo was a landscape painter, working in etching and engraving; and José García Hidalgo, author of Principios para estudiar el nobilísimo y real arte de la pintura (Madrid, 1691). 104 Also worth mentioning is Pedro Perete, son of Pieter Perret -whose surname he castellanized-, engraver to Philip IV, author of an Allegory of the Count-Duke and the illustrations of the Origen y dignidad de la caza by Juan Mateos (1634). It is also worth mentioning the presence of several Flemish engravers who worked in Spain: Juan Schorquens, Alardo de Popma, Cornelis Boel, Johann Filips Jansen, Herman Panneels, Juan de Noort, María Eugenia de Beer; as well as French ones: Jean de Courbes, Robert Cordier.105

St Francis and Brother Leo Meditating on Death (1606), by Diego de Astor, Biblioteca Nacional de España, Madrid.
Frankfurt am Main: view of the city from the southwest (c. 1617-1618), by Matthäus Merian.
Memento mori (1626), by Hendrik Hondius II.
Self-portrait leaning on a window sill (1639), by Rembrandt, National Gallery of Art, Washington D. C.
Cupid and the Swan (1652), by Wencelsaus Hollar, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.
Title page of the Brief Description of the Monastery of San Lorenzo el Real del Escorial (1657), by Pedro de Villafranca.
Alexander Entering Babylon (1675), engraving by Gérard Audran based on a painting by Charles Le Brun, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Suecia Antiqua et Hodierna (1669), by Erik Dahlbergh.

18th Century: Rococo and Neoclassicism

Ecce Homo (1774-1789), by Jean-Pierre Norblin de La Gourdaine, original print (left) and copper plate (right) with inverted composition, National Museum, Warsaw

In this century the Baroque survived until almost the middle of the century -depending on the area-, followed by Rococo and Neoclassicism, a movement that lasted until the beginning of the 19th century. The Rococo developed approximately between 1730 and 1770,106 and involved the survival of the main artistic manifestations of the Baroque, with a more emphasized sense of decoration and ornamental taste, which were taken to a paroxysm of richness, sophistication and elegance. The progressive social rise of the bourgeoisie and scientific advances, as well as the cultural environment of the Enlightenment, led to the abandonment of religious themes in favor of new themes and more worldly attitudes, in which luxury and ostentation stood out as new factors of social prestige.107

Neoclassicism, on the other hand, can be framed between approximately 1760 and 1830.108 During this period, and especially after the French Revolution, the rise of the bourgeoisie favored the resurgence of classical forms, more pure and austere, as opposed to the ornamental excesses of the Baroque and Rococo, identified with the aristocracy. This atmosphere of appreciation of the classical Greco-Roman legacy was influenced by the archaeological discovery of Pompeii and Herculaneum, together with the dissemination of an ideology of perfection of classical forms by Johann Joachim Winckelmann, who postulated that in ancient Greece there was perfect beauty, which generated a myth about the perfection of classical beauty that still conditions the perception of art today.109

During this period, engraving reached high levels of technical perfection, requiring more and more apprenticeship and professionalization, which meant that most of the works were by engravers by trade and not by the artists themselves, who combined this technique with painting. Likewise, engravers limited themselves to transcribing artists' compositions and rarely made their own compositions, except in a few cases such as Jean-Michel Moreau and Philibert-Louis Debucourt. Nevertheless, some artists did produce their own engravings, especially etchings, such as Jean-Antoine Watteau, Jean-Honoré Fragonard and Gabriel de Saint-Aubin.110

At the end of the century, lithography appeared, a new type of engraving on limestone, invented by Alois Senefelder in 1796. It was used by painters such as Goya, Gainsborough and Géricault.111 Because of its ease of printing and low cost, lithography was widely used in the journalistic medium until the appearance of photomechanical techniques.68 On the other hand, the printing of large series of engravings became popular, usually collected in books, usually on subjects such as landscapes and views (Marco Ricci, Canaletto), satires of manners (William Hogarth, Thomas Rowlandson) or whims and fantasies (Giovanni Battista and Giovanni Domenico Tiepolo, Giovanni Battista Piranesi).68

Rococo emerged in France, where engraving experienced a golden age in this century.112 New engraving techniques were tried out at this time: in 1704, Jacob Christoph Le Blon experimented with color printing combined with half inks; Jean-Charles François combined soft varnish and roller in what he called "pencil style engraving", and tried a brush etching technique close to aquatint, a method perfected by Jean-Baptiste Le Prince.110 In the transition between the 17th and 18th centuries, the work of Claude Gillot stood out, the architect of the change of taste in illustration for an ornamental and ornate style, applied to books as well as ex-libris, labels, business cards, menus, invitations, etc. Two outstanding Rococo painters were also dedicated to engraving, such as Jean-Antoine Watteau and François Boucher. The first was the initiator of the fête galante ("gallant party"), a genre characterized by the representation of court scenes set in bucolic landscapes, in which he produced works such as Figures of fashions and French and comic figures, helped by engravers such as François Joullain, Louis Desplaces and Henri Simon Thomassin. Boucher, perhaps the best watercolorist of the first half of the 18th century in his country, devoted himself mainly to the reproduction of Watteau's work, with a series of 125 etchings using the pencil engraving method. Other interpreters of Watteau's work were Laurent Cars and Anne Claude de Caylus. The work of two of Gérard Audran's nephews, Jean Audran and Benoît Audran the Elder, of skillful precision and technical perfection, should also be mentioned in this period. It is also worth mentioning that engraving was practiced as a hobby by members of the aristocracy, such as Madame de Pompadour -who engraved some of Boucher's drawings-, Philippe II of Orleans -who illustrated in 1718 the novel Daphnis and Cloe- or the Duchess of Luynes. In the second half of the century, the work of Jean-Honoré Fragonard stood out, still in rococo style, author of court scenes in leafy landscapes. Pierre-Philippe Choffard was a renowned draughtsman and watercolorist, author of the Notice sur l'art de la gravure en France. In the last decades, the work of Jean-Michel Moreau, Charles-Nicolas Cochin, Augustin de Saint-Aubin and Charles-Clément Balvay was already close to Neoclassicism. During the French Revolution, the series of two hundred engravings of Historical Pictures of the French Revolution (1791), by Jean Duplessis-Bertaux, is worth mentioning.113

The next generation, between the18th and19th centuries, is that of the neoclassicists, among whom we can mention: Jacques-Louis David, considered the father of French Neoclassicism, a painter of historical paintings in a sober style, produced some etchings with a caricatured tone (English Government, 1793-1794; The Army of Jars, 1793-1794);114 Pierre-Paul Prud'hon, who sporadically practiced engraving, in intaglio (Phrosine et Mélidor) or lithography (A Reading, The Unfortunate Family); 115 Anne-Louis Girodet-Trioson illustrated books by Virgil, Anacreontea, Racine and other writers, which were published by the Didot brothers, a task in which François Gérard was also involved;116 Pierre-Narcisse Guérin was commissioned by the French government to prepare a report on the new method of lithography, for which he produced several essays, such as The Sloth and the Vigilante. 117

In Italy, the Venetian school of etchers, whose specialty was the vedute, the views of Venice, stands out.110 Its two main representatives were Canaletto and Giovanni Battista Tiepolo. The former produced luminous views of his city, generally with small groups of people and broad perspectives of Venetian palaces and canals. Tiepolo had a great creative fantasy, in images of bold composition in which the liveliness of the movements and a dazzling luminosity stand out (Capricci, Scherzi di fantasia). His sons and disciples Giovanni Domenico and Lorenzo Tiepolo followed in his footsteps. Also worth mentioning in Venice were Luca Carlevarijs, Michele Marieschi and Giovanni Marco Pitteri.118 In Rome, the work of Giovanni Battista Piranesi, Venetian by origin, author of famous series of engravings of Roman views (Views of Rome, Magnificence of Roman architecture), as well as others of great inventiveness on fantasy prisons born of his imagination (Prisons of Invention). We should also mention Giovanni Volpato, interpreter of works by Raphael, Claude Lorrain and Anton Raphael Mengs; and his disciple, Raffaello Sanzio Morghen, a great burilist of exquisite workmanship.119

In Germany, Johann Elias Ridinger specialized in images of animals and hunting scenes; Bernhard Rode was a watercolorist influenced by Rubens and Rembrandt; Daniel Chodowiecki decorated books and almanacs with skillful compositional sense, such as Miguel de Cervantes' Don Quixote, Ariosto's Orlando Furioso and Goethe's Werther; Johann Georg Wille and Georg Friedrich Schmidt expatriated to France, where they excelled as portraitists; and Adam von Bartsch was the author of the Peintre-graveur, a catalog of the most famous prints by Flemish, Dutch, German and Italian masters. 120

In the Netherlands, the technique of engraving declined notably during this century, after the heights of great quality reached in the previous century. Jacobus Houbraken and Cornelis Ploos van Amstel deserve to be mentioned.121 The former worked mainly with the burin, and specialized in portraits, especially biographies of illustrious figures of his time.121 Ploos van Amstel was dedicated to the reproduction of works by Nicolaes Berchem, Adriaen van de Velde and Adriaen Brouwer.122

*Beer Street and Gin Lane* (1751), by William Hogarth.

In Great Britain, the Italian Francesco Bartolozzi introduced dot engraving (also called "crayon") and formed a school of engravers including John Keyse Sherwin, John Raphael Smith and Caroline Watson; he also worked occasionally with Angelica Kauffmann. Thomas Bewick introduced a new woodcut technique by cutting the wood across the grain ("a la testa"); an ornithologist by profession, he produced bird engravings of great quality (British Birds, 1797-1804). William Woollett, a skilled engraver and aquaphorist, made engravings of the works of Claude Lorrain and especially Richard Wilson. The Frenchman Simon François Ravenet was an outstanding portraitist. The painter Thomas Gainsborough engraved a few landscapes with careful attention to detail. Another painter, William Hogarth, was one of the most outstanding engravers of his time, with genre scenes of satirical and moralistic tone, in series such as The Four Stages of Cruelty, The Four Times of the Day, Industry and Idleness and Fashionable Marriage. Thomas Rowlandson, author of the series Human Miseries, had the same satirical-moralizing tone, as did James Gillray, a famous caricaturist. It is also worth mentioning the editorial work of John Boydell, creator of the Boydell Shakespeare Gallery, in charge of the production of engravings inspired by the literary works of William Shakespeare. He also promoted the engraving of the series of drawings of the Liber Veritatis of Claude of Lorraine by Richard Earlom.123

Between the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, and close to a certain pre-Romanticism, the work of Johann Heinrich Füssli and William Blake should be highlighted. Of Swiss origin, Füssli's work brings together currents that come from the classicist and mannerist traditions with others that are specific to English and Nordic painting, and that reflect a conception of the sublime that is manifested in English art and literature of the eighteenth century. Between 1755 and 1757 he illustrated the Till Eulenspiegel in a style between mannerist and baroque, influenced by Dürer, which combined both expressiveness and realism. He later illustrated works by Dante, Shakespeare, Milton, and Thomas Gray, and worked occasionally for John Boydell.124 Blake was an original writer and artist, difficult to classify, who devoted himself especially to illustration, in the manner of the ancient codex illuminators. He trained for seven years with the engraver James Basire, in whose workshop he acquired a taste for the Gothic style. From this training he owes the precision in the execution of his works, which contrasted with the prevailing pictorial style of the time. His work focused on allegorical figures of literary inspiration, especially from Shakespeare, Dante, Milton and the Bible, as well as his own writings. His first works were the illustration of his poetry books Songs of Innocence (1789) and Songs of Experience (1794), in hand-colored relief etching, with a simple, linear stylistic style, reminiscent of medieval times. Then followed works such as the Creation of Adam, Nebuchadnezzar, Pietà and the House of Death, where he shows the influence of Füssli and Michelangelo, and which stand out for their intense coloring. Between 1804 and 1820 he wrote and illustrated Jerusalem, his most ambitious work. In 1824 he began to illustrate the Divine Comedy, which he left unfinished.125

In Spain, engraving declined in this century due to the lack of official protection -as it happened in other countries- and its abandonment to private initiative, although at the end of the century it gave the exceptional figure of Goya. As in previous centuries, it was mainly linked to editorial work, together with a small number of original prints and reproductions of paintings by the best painters. The favorite technique continued to be etching. In the publishing field, it is worth mentioning: Matías de Irala, author of 41 plates for the Sacred and Divine Geroglyphs of Luis de Solís y Villaluz (1734) and the illustrations of The Adventures of Telemachus by Fénelon (1758); Miquel Sorelló made in Italy several plates of the paintings of Herculaneum, published in Naples between 1757 and 1761. In the field of reproduction and original creation, Carlos Casanova, painter and engraver to Ferdinand VI, made a Portrait of the monarch, the San Agustín by Sebastián Herrera Barnuevo and the plates of the Journey of Jorge Juan and Antonio Ulloa; his son Francisco Casanova made religious images; Juan Bautista Ravanals was the author of a Portrait of Felipe V (1703); Antonio Carnicero was a creator of religious images, especially of Marian invocations; and Simón Brieva made portraits, such as the portrait of Columbus, as well as architectural plates. 126 Some painters also practiced engraving, such as Francisco and Ramón Bayeu, Mariano Salvador Maella, Luis Paret, José Camarón Boronat, José Antonio Ximeno y Carrera and Francesc Tramulles.127 It should be noted that Carlos III practiced engraving as a hobby, and his Virgen con el Niño Jesús en brazos is noteworthy.128

During this century there were two institutions that promoted the teaching and dissemination of engraving: the Royal Academy of Fine Arts of San Fernando in Madrid and the Board of Trade of Barcelona. In the former, the work of Juan Bernabé Palomino, chamber engraver to Ferdinand VI and director of Engraving at the Academy, author of portraits such as those of Louis XV, María Ana de Borbón, Isabel de Farnesio, Juan de Palafox and José Cervi, as well as the illustration of the Pictorial Museum of his uncle Antonio Palomino, was outstanding. He was the teacher of engravers such as Nicolás Carrasco, Jerónimo Antonio Gil, Antonio Espinosa de los Monteros, Juan Minguet, Juan Barcelón and Charles Joseph Flipart.129 He was also director of the Academy Tomás Francisco Prieto, who was the engraver of the Royal Mint, author of the portraits of Fernando VI and Bárbara de Braganza.130 Another distinguished professor of the Academy was Manuel Salvador Carmona, author of portraits and reproductions in etching and engraving, among which the Portrait of Fernando VI and reproductions of works by Van Loo, Greuze, Murillo, Mengs and Velázquez stand out. His disciples were: his brother Juan Antonio Salvador Carmona, Fernando Selma, Rafael Esteve, Tomás López Enguídanos, Francisco Muntaner, José Gómez de Navia, Manuel Alegre and Luis Fernández Noseret. In the costumbrista genre, Juan de la Cruz Cano y Olmedilla, in a more neoclassical style, and Miguel Gamborino, with a pre-Romantic tone, are worth mentioning. In Barcelona, the Board of Trade created a series of scholarships for the training of engravers and, in 1775, promoted the creation of the Free School of Drawing and Engraving. Pasqual Pere Moles and Blas Ametller stood out among the Board's boarders. The former practiced etching and sweet carving, generally in reproductions of French artists of the time. Ametller made portraits and reproductions of Velázquez, Ribera, Murillo and French and Italian artists. Other scholarship holders were Esteban Boix and Francesc Fontanals.131 In 1789 the Real Calcografía -later Calcografía Nacional- was founded in Madrid, promoted by the Count of Floridablanca; its first director was Nicolás Barsanti.132

In the transition between the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, one of the most outstanding artists was Francisco de Goya, who evolved from a style close to rococo to a certain prerromanticism, but with a personal and expressive work with a strong intimate tone. He practiced etching, aquatint, mezzotint and, from the age of 73, lithography. His first known engraving was a Flight into Egypt, an etching of 1771. Among his earliest works is a series of reproductions of works by Velázquez, of which sixteen copperplates are known, which he showed in January 1779 to the royal family.133

However, most of his engravings correspond to his mature stage, marked by an illness that left him deaf in 1792. His character became more sour and sullen, which is evident in his graphic production, which surely served as an escape valve to express his deepest feelings. Thus arose the first of his great series of engravings, Los caprichos, published in 1799. They are eighty etchings in mixed technique of etching and aquatint, with drypoint retouches. The images, as the title indicates, are personal fantasies of the artist, in which there is, however, a good dose of social criticism, of "censorship of human errors and vices", as he expressed in an advertisement he published in the press. He opened the series with a self-portrait, in which he shows himself as a self-confident man with a critical eye. One of the most relevant prints is No. 43, El sueño de la razón produce monstruos, in which a sleeping man -probably the artist- dreams of a series of monstrous animals that appear behind him, a metaphor of the excessive confidence in reason in the Enlightenment era.134

The following series are marked by the War of Independence against the French occupation. The first was Los prisioneros (c. 1810-1815), three etchings with images of prisoners in chains, as a critique of the excesses and arbitrariness of justice. This was followed by Los desastres de la guerra (1810-1815), a series of eighty-two etchings -with some drypoint, burnisher and gouache-, which denounce the horrors of war in an impartial manner, without taking sides for Spanish or French, for the artist they are all victims of barbarism -the only mythologizing is practiced in the figure of Agustina de Aragón-. Next come Los disparates (1815-1824, not published until 1864 under the name of Los Proverbios), twenty-two etchings in etching and aquatint with drypoint and burnisher retouches, in which he developed a cycle of images difficult to classify, without thematic link, ranging from dreamlike visions to images of violence and sex; in some of them there is criticism of the established power and the Ancien Régime. In these images he emphasized chiaroscuro more than ever, with great effects of tenebrism and the use of close-ups.136

The last series of engravings were dedicated to one of his hobbies: bullfighting. In La tauromaquia (1816) he made thirty-three engravings -eight were not published initially because they contained small defects-, in which he showed various suertes of bullfighting. During his exile in Bordeaux -already seventy-eight years old- he produced Los toros de Burdeos (1824-1825), four lithographs in which, as opposed to the professional bullfighting of the previous series, he portrays bullfights and popular festivities.137 Despite his age, he worked hard to learn a new technique, which he managed to make the most of, with a torn, scratched style, with zigzagging stripes, handling the lithographic pencils as if they were brushes.138