John Baptist Jackson | Page 6

required separate
printing. The typical German chiaroscuro was therefore from two
blocks. The earliest dated print in this style is Lucas Cranach's Venus,
with "1506" appearing on the black block. But the brown tint might
have been added a few years later. Jost de Negker, working after
drawings by Hans Burgkmair, cut blocks which are dated, on the black
block at least, as early as 1508, and work by Hans Baldung and Hans
Wechtlin appeared shortly after.
The Italian style originated with Ugo da Carpi, who in 1516 petitioned
the Senate in Venice to grant him exclusive rights to the chiaroscuro
process, which he claimed to have invented. For many years, until
Bartsch adduced proof in favor of the Germans, da Carpi was conceded
to be the founder of this process. His first work dates from 1518 but
obviously he produced prints earlier-- how much earlier is uncertain.
Working mainly after the loose, fresh wash drawings of Raphael and
Parmigianino he developed a method of reducing their tonal
constituents to two or three simple areas plus a partial outline, each of
which was cut on a separate block. The blocks were then inked with
transparent tones and printed one over the other to achieve gradations.
White highlights were imitated, as in the German manner, by cutting

out lines on a tone block to let the white paper assert itself. The result
was a broadly treated facsimile of the original drawing. Some liberties
were occasionally taken in interpretation, and sometimes fanciful
changes were made in color combinations.
This technique was followed in Italy during the remainder of the 1500's,
the most prominent early workers being Antonio da Trento (Fantuzzi),
Domenico Beccafumi, and Giuseppe Niccolo Vicentino. Late in the
century Andrea Andreani acquired a large number of blocks by
previous Italian chiaroscurists and reissued them, adding his own
monogram. By multiplying these subjects he reduced their rarity and
emphasized their distinct character, their difference from other types of
prints. The Italian term "chiaroscuro," meaning light and dark, has
persisted as a generic name for this class of work.
The Italian and German techniques were often pursued in variant styles.
The Germans sometimes used three blocks, with outlines not only in
black but in a tone and white as well. Burgkmair's Death as a Strangler
(B. 40)[10] and Wechtlin's Alcon Freeing his Son from the Serpent (B.
9) are of this type.
[Footnote 10: Adam Bartsch, Le Peintre graveur, Vienna, 1803-1821.]
The Italians, in turn, often used two blocks in the German fashion,
reproducing a complete crosshatched pen drawing with one tint block.
Even da Carpi used this procedure more than occasionally, as in St.
John Preaching in the Desert after Raphael (B. XII), and in The
Harvest after Giulio Romano (B. XII). Most other Italian chiaroscurists
made frequent use of this method which had the virtue of simplicity.
Outstanding exponents included Niccolo Boldrini, who worked chiefly
after drawings by Titian, and in the early 17th century the brothers
Bartolomeo and G. B. Coriolano. Andreani's prints were usually in a
more independent style which employed a clear outline in gray or soft
brown with three tints blocks. While technical procedures were
identical in Italian and German chiaroscuros after pen drawings, the
Italian work tended to be looser than the German, which was more
careful and methodical.

The Italian style, then, strictly interpreted, was simply the da Carpi
style. Less rigorously considered, it included the free Italian variants of
the German process.
Hendrick Goltzius of Haarlem, whose first chiaroscuros date from 1588,
combined both Italian and German influences with marvelously crisp
drawing and cutting and sharper color combinations than were common.
Paulus Moreelse, a Dutch artist in the first half of the 17th century,
employed a dark block in clear outline but modeled his forms internally
in the da Carpi manner. The technical procedure was therefore close to
Andreani's.
A number of other well-known artists including Simon Vouet and
Christoffel Jegher, and quite a few anonymous ones, also turned out
occasional pieces in the first half of the 17th century, generally in the
manner of da Carpi or Goltzius. Perhaps the most prolific was Ludolph
Businck, who created prints in France especially after drawings by
George Lallemand.
After this period little was done in the medium until 1721, when Count
Antonio Maria Zanetti in Venice made his first chiaroscuro woodcut.
He worked consistently for almost thirty years and sent proofs to his
friends in Europe, mostly important connoisseurs, through whom the
prints became widely known. For the most part they were in the da
Carpi style, to which he added a light charm. Between 1722 and 1724
Elisha Kirkall in London published twelve chiaroscuros after Italian
masters. The prints were done in a combination of media-- etching and
mezzotint with relief blocks in either wood or