Evening star., 1941-04-06
Star Staff Photos.

10orkS in the display also are
reproduced here.
Star Staff Photos.
are scarce and costly, much priced,
but he is exceptionally we'll repre-
sented in the current showing at the
National Gallery. Here are both his
Nativity" and his Death of the
Virgin" as well as Christ Before
PLATE" ''Ecco Homo" The Cruel
fixion," Virgin Enthroned," Christ
Carrying Cross" Christ Appearing
to the Magdalene" and others from
the Life of Christ" and The Vir-
gin series. And how eXquisitely they
are rendered, with consummate skill,
but also with deep reverence and
tenderness. Some critics find his
compositions tinged with Gothic
rigidity, but, to the contrary, they
come to us today with very strong
humaniStic feeling. What innocence
is embodied in his depictions of the
Virgin, what depths of suffering we
find in the faces of his Christ and
those who mourned Him!
Durer Engraving.
With Schongauer must always be
associated Albrecht Durer of Nurem-
berg, who was also painter as we'll
as engraver, and to whom is owed
the invention of the wood cut. He,
too, gave himself largely to the in
depreciation of religious subjects,
but his manner of working, as may
be readily seen, was utterly different
from that of his forerunners. Among
the most famous of his engravings
in the present exhibition is that
done on metal of The Knight, Death
and the Devil" which is, in all prob
ability, one of the most skillful line
engravingS ever executed. 1t is, of
course, pure allegory-but wonder
fully rendered. reminding little of
Raphael's "St. George and the
Dragon" in the Andrew w. Mellon
collection, which is, however, in
lighter vein. Vasari praised this
plate extravagantly, terming it "a
great display of skill" But, viewing
it with such wood cuts in this COL
lection as THE Betrayal" Christ
Taking Leave of His Mother" and
Last Supper" one realizes the tre-
mendouS genius of the man who
could lend himself, not to one, but
to several eXacting media with SEEM
ingly equal ease. Durer also etched,
and we'll, as is seen in The Can
non," here ShoWn-a very famous
print. Between 1912 and 1918 Durer
made six etchings and three dry
points on which alone rest his repu-
tation as one of the greatest of
etchers. His invention of the wood
cut undoubtedly followed that of
movable type for printing, inasmuch
as illustrative works so rendered
could be reproduced in like manner;
thus again, print-making and print
ing are seen to have gone hand IN
hand.
Also of the German school was
Albrecht Altdorfer, who is charm
ingly represented by a very unusual
Interpretation of the Rest in
Flight to Egypt" the Virgin being
shown standing with the Christ
Child in her arms by three-tiered
font, in a Gothic church, with
Joseph waiting at one side and
angels looking down from above
which, technically, is very fine
work.
Comic Composition.
Likewise of the late 18th century,
but utterly different in style, is Hans
Baldung, who is represented by
prints of Seven Horses" and "The
Bewitched Groom" the latter a
rather comic composition, but a re-
markable study in perspective.
With Schongauer and Durer is al
ways associated, in the minds OF
those who are interested in prints,
Lucas Van Leyden of the Neither
lands. who was not so strong as
Durer. nor, perhaps, so subtle as
Schongauer, but is rated very high
as an engraver. He is represented
by three prints, among which per-
haps the most novel and engaging is
of Virgil Suspended in a Basket, "
high above the ground and against
the wall of rather grim building.
Mention already has been made
of Marcantonio Raimondi's print,
Mars, Venus and Cupid" the spirit
of which was derived from an
tiquity; but, because of his i'm
portance as an engraver, attention
also should be called to his print Of
God Appearing to Noah" which is
essentially a contemporary 18th GEN.
tury interpretation-the Old Testa-
ment up to date. But, regardless of
subject matter, Marcantonio is reck-
onei with the greatest engravers Of
all time. Raphael and Titan COM
missioned him to engrave their
drawings and paintings and so make
them more widely known. He was,
in fact, the first to establish engrav-
ing as a reproductive art. Those
who came before him practiced it as
a means of direct personal express
sion. This was true also of Durer,
and later of Rembrandt and prac-
tically all the great etchers. The
teefnicalities of line engraving are
so great that 1t is practically i'm
possible to compose work in this
medium, but the earliest of the en-
gravers worked chiefly from their
own drawings and, therefore, en-
1