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other artists of that time. After which period it died away, and we hear no more of it. And that this ftyle of workmanship was not the moft ancient, we need only refer to the oldest dated prints, and beyond them to the brass plates on tombs, and other fpecimens of the art, for centuries paft, and we fhall find the ftrokes promifcuoufly laid upon them, forming the fhadows, and crofled or rectoffed without the leaft restraint.

"According to what has been faid, it appears, that 1465 is the carliest date affixed to any print, produced by the Germans, except indeed one mentioned by Sandrart, in his Academy of Painting, which he fays he had feen, bearing date ten years earlier, and marked with a cypher, compofed of an H. and an S. joined to the crofs-bar of the H. precifely in the fame manner as that ufed by Hans Schauflein. But even the moft fanguine of his own countrymen cannot help allowing their fufpicion of a mistake in the date; and fome have faid, it should have been written 1477, which others think is ftill too early. It is readily allowed that an older mafter than Schauflein did exift, who used the fame monogram; but his prints in general bear the evident marks of being copies from others, and by no means, from the manner of their execution, justify the fuppofition of their being the works of a mafter, greatly anterior to the year 1500. The fubject of the print mentioned by Sandrart, is a girl careffing an old man while fhe fteals his purfe from him. This fubject, it is well known, was frequently engraved, both on copper and on wood, by a variety of ancient mafters; but, except Sandrart, I never heard of any one who had feen the print alluded

A fuller account of this artist,

with his works, may be seen in the fecond volume, under the article Schauflein. The ftory, that Peter Schoffer invented the art of engraving on copper, and taking impreffions from plates of that metal, does not bear any fimilitude to the truth; neither have we the leaft plausible reafon given, in support of fuch an affertion.

"With refpect to the edition of Ptolemy, printed at Rome in the year 1478, we must take notice, that the plates were not engraved by Italian artists, but by Conrad Sweynheym, and Arnold Buckinck, both of them Germans. The former, as appears from the dedication, first brought, not only the art of taking impreffions from engraved plates, but that of printing alfo, to Rome, where he died, three years after the commencement of the work, which was at length completed by the lat ter; and the plates for this book are fuppofed to have been begun about the year 1472. It will doubtless feem very extraordinary, that the art of engraving fhould have been difcovered at Florence fo early as 1460, and yet unknown twelve years afterwards at Rome, where it was first introduced by foreign artifts. It appears from this circum. ftance, that though Finiguerra, Boticelli, and Baldini, all of them Florentines, poffeffed the fecret, they did not divulge it fpeedily; and hence, as a good prefumptuous proof, it may be urged, that fuch Italian engravings, as are to be found prior to the year 1472, are by the hand of one or other of these artists. If this be granted, and great plaufibility, at least, is on its fide, it will follow that the originals, from whence the plates II. and III. are taken, are fo. Thefe curious and valuable fpecimens of ancient engravings, which, I be

Ireve, are unique, must have been executed as early as the year 1464; a very short interval, from the time, which Vafara gives us for the invention of the art; and are confiderably more early than to produced, though all the great hitherany foreign libraries have been repeatedly fearched for that purpofe. Two of them, I thought, were fufficient to fhew the ftyle in which they are executed; but the fet confifts of eight plates, namely, the feven planets, and an almanack by way of frontispiece, on which are directions for finding Eafter from the year 1465 to 1517 inclufive; and the dates regularly follow each other, which plainly proves, that there can be no mistake with refpect to the first; and we may be well affured, in this cafe, the engravings were not antedated; for the almanack of course became lefs and lefs valuable every year. A full defcription of all thefe engravings will be given in the feventh chapter of this Effay.

"If we are inclined to refer thefe plates to either of the three Italian artifts before mentioned, we fhall naturally fuppofe them to be the work of Finiguerra, or Baldini; for they are not equal, either in draw ing or compofition, to those ascribed to Boticelli; which we know at least were defigned by him; and as Bal dini is exprefly faid to have worked from the defigns of Boticelli, it will appear moft probable, if they are to be attributed to any one of thefe three artists, they belong to the former. The reader must be left to judge for himself, whether he con. ceives them to be fufficiently well executed; for he is to remember, that Finiguerra is spoken of by Vafari, as a man of no fmall ability. I own, after all, if I could but tell to whom one might reasonably a

fcribe thefe curious plates, I fhould yet be tempted to fuppofe the original of the plate No. V. was really the production of Finiguerra's graver.

tenfions the Italians have laid to the "We have now feen what preinvention of the art of engraving, and have proved, by producing undoubted fpecimens, that it did exift nearly about the time stated by Vafari. With refpect to what he has faid concerning the art of taking impreffions from engraved plates being invented by Finiguerra, the in-. genious obfervations of M. Heineken are well deferving of notice. others, his countrymen, it was the "According to Vafari, fays he, and goldfmith Finiguerra who invented this art, about the year 1460; and perhaps he was not mistaken, if he fpeaks of Italy only. It is very poffible, that the art of engraving fhould have been long practised in Germany, and unknown in Italy. The Italians, thofe of Venice exdence with the Germans. cepted, had very little correfponreafon, Finiguerra might difcover For this this art, without knowing that it had been already invented in Germany. All the merchandizes of this country were fent from Antwerp to the Italians, who were much better acquainted with the people of the Low Countries than thofe of the other provinces. For this caufe, Vafari fuppofed that Culmback, and refided at Colmar, Martin Schoen, who was born at him Martin of Antwerp." was a Fleming, and conftantly calls

mine, what claim the Germans can "We fhall now proceed to exabring, prior to that of the Italians; and in that cafe we fhall have recourse to their works. The earliest dated print I ever faw produced by this fchool, is copied, plate I. and

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foner, as well as from the depofition of witneffes, that Don Juan had lived from his infancy in the family of a rich merchant at Lisbon, who carried on a confiderable trade and correspondence in the Brazils. Don Juan being allowed to take this merchant's name, it was generally fuppofed that he was his natural fon; and a clandestine affair of love having been carried on between him and the merchant's daughter, Jofepha, who was an only child, the became pregnant, and a medicine being administered to her by the hands of Don Juan, fhe died in a few hours after, with all the fymptoms of a perfon who had taken poifon. The mother of the young lady furvived her death but a few days; and the father threw himself into a convent of Mendicants, making over by deed of gift the whole of his property to the fuppofed murderer.

In this account there feemed a ftrange obfcurity of facts; for fome made ftrongly to the crimination of Don Juan, and the latt mentioned circumftance was of fo contradictory a nature, as to throw the whole into perplexity; and therefore to compel the prifoner to a farther elucidation of the cafe, it was thought proper to interrogate him by torture.

"Whilft this was preparing, Don Juan, without betraying the leaft alarm upon what was going forward, told his judges that it would fave them and himself fome trouble, if they would receive his confeffion upon certain points, to which he fhould truly fpeak, but beyond which all the tortures in the world could not force one fyllable. He faid that he was not the fon, as was fuppofed, of the merchant, with whom he lived, nor allied to the deceafed Jofepha any

otherwife than by the tenderest ties of mutual affection and a promise of marriage, which, however, he acknowledged had not been folemnized: that he was the fon of a gentleman of confiderable fortune in the Brazils, who left him an infant to the care of the merchant in question: that the merchant, for reafons best known to himself, chose to call him by his own name, and this being done in his infancy, he was taught to believe that he was an orphan youth, the fon of a di ftant relation of the perfon who adopted him. He begged his judges therefore to obferve, that he never understood Jofepha to be his fifter; that as to her being with child by him, he acknowledged it, and prayed God forgiveness for an offence, which it had been his intention to repair by marrying her; that with refpect to the medicine, he certainly did give it to her with his own hands, for that she was fick in confequence of her pregnancy, and being afraid of creating alarm or fufpicion in her parents, had required him to order certain drugs from an apothecary, as if for himfelf, which he accordingly did; and he verily believed they were faithfully mixed, inafmuch as he ftood by the man whilft he prepared the medicine, and faw every ingredient feparately put in.

"The judges thereupon afked him, if he would take it on his confcience to fay, that the lady did not die by poifon. Don Juan, bursting into tears for the first time, answered, to his eternal forrow he knew that the did die by poifon.Was that poifon contained in the medicine he took? It was.-Did he impute the crime of mixing the poifon in the medicine to the apothecary, or did he take it on himfelf? Neither the apothecary nor

himielt

multifarious as thofe of Martin Schoen's, was born at Mecheln, a fmall village near Bocholt, where he chiefly refided. The latter is a town fituated upon the banks of the Aa, in the bishoprick of Munfter, in Weftphalia. He died, A. D. 1523. According to the tradition of the inhabitants of Bocholt, the father of this artist was a goldfmith, and his baptifmal name was Ifrael. Hence M. Heineken concludes, that he also was an engraver, and that a great part of the prints, attributed to the fon, belong to him. "An attentive examination (concludes that author) will make it appear, that all these prints are not by the fame hand. I am almoft certain, that Ifrael the father engraved feveral, those especially, which have the greatest marks of antiquity, and are executed in a rude ftyle, approaching nearest to the work of the goldfmith." "Nor (adds he) will I deny, but that the fon may have commenced originally as a goldfmith, by armorial bearings, foliages, croffes, and other ornamental works. But as he was a painter as well as an engraver, and a man of tolerable abilities in the art of defign, confidering the time in which he lived, it is not at all aftonishing, that among the prints produced by his graver, we fhould find fome by no means wanting in merit." How far thefe obfervations may be confidered as juft by the experienced collector, I cannot pretend to fay. for my own part, I fee no reason to divide the works of this artist; nor can I find, upon strict examination, any other difference in the prints, which I have feen at tributed to him, than what one might reasonably expect to find in the works of any one man, who with his own hand performed fo great a number of engravings. Of

courfe, his moft early productions are the rudeft, and manifeft the leaft fkill; but all of them are equally defective in point of drawing, efpecially when he attempted to exprefs the naked parts of the figure.

"It is certainly true, that the manner of engraving, adopted by Martin Schoen, differed exceedingly from that of Ifrael van Mechelen. The works of the former are more firm and determined, and, upon the whole, greatly fuperior. Let any one take the trouble of examining the print reprefenting St. Anthony carried into the air by the demons, which was firft engraved by Martin Schoen, and afterwards copied by Ifrael, and the question will be rea dily decided in favour of the former, without adding the anecdote, recorded by Vafari, that Michael Angelo was fo pleased with this engraving, which is truly a masterpiece of Schoen's, that he copied it in colours. The inferiority of If rael van Mechelen, when compared to Martin Schoen as an artist, is by no means any proof of his priority in point of time. The only advantage which M. Heineken gains by making the father of van Mechelen an artist, as well as himself, is a greater length of time for the execution of those works attributed to him; and upon this fuppofition he fays, "I place the engravings of the two Ifraels between the years 1450 and 1503." The fon was certainly a more modern artift than Martin Schoen; and we have a print by him, which bears fo late a date as 1502. He was contemporary with Albert Durer; and fome have fuppofed, that he vifited that artist at Nuremberg. Sandrart attributes to Ifrael van Mechelen the invention of engraving, and tells us, that his first prints were exe

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cuted

cuted about the year 1450. If this account. indeed be true, it must make much in favour of M. Heineken's conjecture, concerning the engravings of the father; but the argument at prefent unfortunately wants fufficient proof to be admitted as abfolutely conclufive; and, until fome more fatisfactory account fhall be produced, I cannot help declaring, that I am of a different opinion. The earliest dated print which I have feen by Ifrael van Mechelen, is in the collection of Dr. Monro. It reprefents the Virgin and Child with four angels. The engraving is rude, and coarfer than the works of that artist are in general; and the date is 1480. He engraved, however, I believe, fomething earlier than this period. In the fame collection is preferved a circular print, where the Deity appears furrounded by an ornamental border, in which the fymbolical reprefentations of the four Evange

lifts are depicted with St. Jerom, and three other faints. Upon the defk of St, Jerom, who is feated and writing, is the date 1466. There are feveral copies of this plate, and one of them by Ifrael van Mechelen, apparently not greatly pofte rior to the original, which probably was executed by the fame mater as the print, dated 1461, mentioned already in the prefent chapter.

"What has been faid will, I doubt not, fufficiently prove, that there is the greate eafon to believe, that the art of taking impres fions from engraved plates was prac tifed in Germany before it reached Italy; efpecially if we agree with Vafari, who exprefly declares it did not appear in that country before the year 1460; when, on the other hand, we may, I think, with the greatest juftice, place it at leaft ten years earlier among the Ger« mans,"

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