WOOD-ENGRAVING is the art of representing objects on wood, by lines and points, in order to their being impressed on paper. This art is of very ancient date, having been practised by the Egyptians. Some bricks found on the site of ancient Babylon are preserved in the British Museum, with characters upon them which have plainly been indented from engraved blocks of wood. It appears also, from specimens that are extant, that the Greeks and Romans were acquainted with methods of wood-cutting for impressing letters and characters on various substances. The probability of the art being known to the Chinese, or actually having been carried to the extent of delineating figures, in the thirteenth century, has been successfully disproved by Mr Jackson, in his able and learned Treatise on Wood-Engraving. The art was however used in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries for attesting documents, and about the commencement of the fifteenth century, by the Germans, for marking figures on playing-cards.

The most ancient wood-cut of which there is any authentic account, is that of St Christopher carrying an infant Christ through the water, now in the possession of Earl Spencer. It is eleven and a quarter inches high, and eight and one eighth inches wide. The impression is dated in 1423; and the figures of the saint and the youthful Saviour are executed with very considerable spirit and feeling. W∞d-cuts of the Annunciation and of St Bridget of Sweden appear to belong to this period, when tire art began to be much encouraged by the church. Heineken, in allusion to this, tells us, that “having visited in my last tour a great many convents in Franconia, Suabia, Bavaria, and in the Austrian states, I everywhere discovered in their libraries many of those kinds of figures, engraved on wood, and pasted either at the beginning or the end of old volumes of the fifteenth century. I have indeed obtained several of them. These facts, taken altogether, have confirmed me in my opinion, that the next step of the engraver in wood after playing-cards, was to engrave figures of saints, which, being distributed and lost among the laity, were in part preserved by the monks, who pasted them in the earliest printed books with which they furnished their libraries.”

Between 1430 and 1450, several works technically called block-books, chiefly illustrative of the Scriptures, appeared. The most remarkable among these is the Apocalypse, or History of St John, which was probably engraved in 1434, and is reputed to have been the production of Laurence Coster, a Dutchman. According to Heineken, there have been six editions of this book. “Though some of the designs,” Jackson observes, “are very indifferent, yet there are others which display considerable ability, and several of the single figures are decidedly superior to any that are contained in the other block-books. They are drawn with greater vigour and feeling.” The figures in another of these block-books, called the History of the Virgin, are also very gracefully delineated, and the style in which the cuts are engraved exhibits a more advanced stage of the art than we find in the Apocalypse. Another specimen of block-books is called the Βiblia Pauperum (see Plate CCCCXIII. art. Printing ), the figures it contains having, it is conjectured, been executed for the purpose of imparting a knowledge of sacred history to those who could not afford to purchase a manuscript copy of the Scriptures. Several of the cuts in this work, though rude, are not inexpressive of the scenes which they represent. The Alpha- [7:21:917] bet, composed of grotesque figures from wood-engravings, was probably executed about the middle of the fifteenth century; and Jackson, judging from their style, thinks that they are the work of a native of France.

Wood-engraving began to be combined with printing after the invention of the latter art, in the fifteenth century. In the Psalter, printed by Faust and Schoeffer at Mentz in 1457, the large initial letters engraved in wood are so beautiful that they have never been excelled. From the perfection which these letters exhibit, it is evident that the workmen were trained to the art. The practice of introducing wood-cuts became general in Germany, and was known in Italy, towards the end of the fifteenth century. The first books in the English language containing wood-engravings were those printed by Caxton about 1476. The use of cross hatchings (which are black lines crossing each other generally diagonally) produced a great change in the art, giving colour and shadow to the subjects.

The next attempt at improvement in this art was by Hugo da Carpi, to whom is attributed the invention of chiaroscuro. Carpi was an Italian; but the Germans also claim the invention, and produce in evidence several engravings by Mair, a disciple of Martin Schoen. His mode of performing this was very simple. He first engraved the subject upon copper, and finished it as much as the artists of his time usually did. He next prepared a block of wood, upon which he cut out the extreme lights, and then impressed it upon the print; by which means a faint tint was added to all the rest of the piece, excepting only in those parts where the lights were meant to predominate, which appear on the specimens extant to be coloured with white paint. The drawings for this species of engraving were made with a pen on tinted paper, and the lights were drawn upon the paper with white paint.

But there is a material difference between the chiaroscuro of the old German masters and that of the Italians. Mair and Cranach engraved the outlines and deep shadows upon copper. The impression taken in this state was tinted over by means of a single block of wood, with those parts hollowed out which were designed to be left white upon the print. On the contrary, the mode of engraving by Hugo da Carpi was, to cut the outline on one block of wood, the dark shadows upon a second, and the light shadows, or half-tint, upon a third. The first being impressed upon the paper, the outlines only appeared. This block being taken away, the second was put in its place, and being also impressed on the paper, the dark shadows were added to the outlines; and the third block being put in the same place upon the removal of the second, and also impressed upon the paper, made the dim tints, when the print was completed. In some instances the number of blocks was increased, but the operation was still the same, the print receiving an impression from every block.

Albert Durer, towards the end of the fifteenth and commencement of the sixteenth century, was the great promoter of wood-engraving. It is supposed that many of the wood-cuts, though bearing his name, were only engraved from drawings made on the block by him. “One of the peculiar advantages of wood-engraving,” Mr Jackson observes, “is the effect with which strong shades can be represented; and of this Durer has generally availed himself with the greatest skill. On comparing his works engraved on wood with all those previously executed in the same manner, we shall find that his figures are not only much better drawn and more skilfully grouped, but that, instead of sticking, in hard outline, against the back-ground, they stand out with the natural appearance of rotundity. The rules of perspective are more attentively observed, the back-grounds better filled, and a number of subordinate objects introduced, such as trees, herbage, flowers, ani mals, and children, which at once give a pleasing variety to the subject, and impart to it the stamp of truth. Though the figures in many of his designs may not indeed be correct in point of costume,—for though he diligently studied nature, it was only in her German dress,—yet their character and expression are generally appropriate and natural. Though incapable of imparting to sacred subjects the elevated character which is given to them by Raffacle, his representations are perhaps no less like the originals than those of the great Italian master.”

Besides Durer, there were Burgmair, Cranach, Schauf-flein, and other German artists of celebrity, who engraved on wood. At this period the best wood-engravings were of considerable size, and designed in a bold and free manner; and at no time was the art more encouraged and esteemed. Hans Holbein, in 1538, produced the Dance of Death, in a series of wood-cuts, which for truth and freedom of execution has never been surpassed. “The manner,” Mr Jackson remarks, “in which they are engraved is comparatively simple; there is no laboured and unnecessary cross-hatching where the same effect might be obtained by simpler means; no display of fine work merely to show the artist’s talent in cutting delicate lines. Every line is expressive, and the end is always obtained by the simplest means. In this the talent and feeling of the engraver are chiefly displayed. He wastes not his time in mere mechanical execution, which in the present day is often mistaken for excellence; he endeavours to give to each character its appropriate expression; and in this he appears to have succeeded better, considering the small size of the cuts, than any other wood-engraver, either of times past or present.”

Wood-engraving now made considerable progress in Italy, particularly in Venice; and the engravings of this period in that country were little inferior to the German works. The art rather declined on the continent about the end of the sixteenth century, when copperplate engraving came into use. In England, it continued to flourish, as several works of the time show. Jegher of Antwerp, who was born in 1578, was so eminent in the art, that he was employed by Rubens to work under his inspection; and he executed several pieces which are held in much estimation. They are particularly distinguished for boldness and spirit. Towards the end of the seventeenth century, wood-engraving was greatly neglected, and was employed only for common decorations, and never almost to delineate any subject of interest.

About the year 1723, John Michael Papillon produced many successful works in wood-engraving, particularly ornamental foliage, flowers, and shells. In 1766, he published his History of Wood-Engraving, the cuts in which are his own workmanship. The book, although deficient in many respects, evinces a laudable diligence in bringing the art into more extended employment.

Wood-engraving was for many years in a very degenerate state, and almost wholly lost, till it was revived in England by the celebrated Thomas Bewick. This artist was born in the parish of Ovingham, in Northumberland, in 1753. Having shown a taste for drawing, he was entered apprentice with Mr Ralph Beilby, engraver, at Newcastle-upon-Tyne; and in 1775 he had made such progress as to obtain a premium from the Society of Arts for his wood-engraving of the “old hound.” He afterwards produced his well-known History of Quadrupeds, which was succeeded by his History of British Birds and other standard works, which brought him so much celebrity, that he was universally hailed as the reviver as well as improver of the art. His great excellence was the singular fidelity of his designs. “It needs only to glance at the works of Bewick,” observes an anonymous writer, “to convince ourselves with what wonderful facility the very countenance [7:21:918]and air of his animals are marked and distinguished. There is the grave owl; the silly, wavering lapwing; the pert jay; the impudent, overfed sparrow; the airy lark; the sleepy-headed gourmand duck; the restless titmouse; the insignificant wren; the clean, harmless gull; the keen, rapacious kite; every one has character. There are no ‘ muffin faces.’ This is far beyond the mere pencilling of fur or feathers; it is the seizure and transfusion of countenance. In this Bewick’s skill seems unapproached, and unapproachable, by any other artist who has ever attempted this line.” This was written in 1825, during the lifetime of Bewick; and since that time, although he has perhaps been surpassed by some of his pupils in mechanical skill, none has equalled him in his truthful conception and delineation of nature.

John Bewick, brother to Thomas, acquired the art from him, and practised it in London for several years. His abilities, though respectable, were not so brilliant as those of his brother. His cuts have not the same interest, and his style of engraving is not considered very good. He died in 1795, aged thirty-five. His more illustrious brother Thomas lived till 1828, and continued to ply his art till within a short time of his death. Wood-engraving is much indebted to this famous artist, not only for the excellence to which he brought it, but for the taste he created for such productions; a taste which has been maintained by the many admirable works of his pupils, and other artists of the present day. Of late, wood-engraving has made considerable progress in Germany and France.

The wood generally used by wood-engravers is box, which, from its hardness and toughness, bears the action of the press better than any other; and the smallest kinds, being the most compact, are preferred. The blocks are cut directly across the grain. Before the drawing is made, the block is rubbed over with Bath-brick and a little water. If the drawing is a delicate one, the block, except the place where the artist commences, is covered with paper. The habit of using magnifying glasses is not recommended to beginners.

There are four kinds of cutting tools used in wood-engraving, gravers, tint tools, gouges or scoopers, and flat tools or chisels. The gravers are of various sizes, and are employed for the principal part of the work. What are called tint-tools are chiefly for cutting parallel lines. Gouges are for scooping out the wood towards the centre of the block, and chisels for cutting away the wood towards the edges. The printing press is employed in taking impressions from an engraved block of wood. “The block,” according to Mr Jackson, “is inked by being beat with the pressman’s balls or roller, in the same manner as type; and the paper being turned over upon it from the tympan, it is then run in under the platten, which being acted on by the lever, presses the paper on to the raised lines of the block, and thus produces the impression. Impressions from wood are thus obtained by the on-pression of the paper against the raised or prominent lines.”

Wood-engraving is now generally used in illustrating publications of all kinds. “In the child’s first book,” Mr Jackson observes, “wood-cuts are introduced, to enable the infant mind to connect words with things. The youth gains his knowledge of the forms of foreign animals from wood-cuts; and the mathematician avails himself of wood-engraving to execute his diagrams. It has been employed, in the representation of religious subjects, as an aid to devotion; to celebrate the triumphs of kings and warriors; to illustrate the pages of the historian, the traveller, and the poet; and, by its means, copies of the works of the greatest artists of former times have been afforded, at a price which enabled the very poorest classes to become purchasers. As at least one hundred thousand good impressions can be obtained from a wood-cut, if properly engraved and carefully printed, and as the additional cost of printing wood-cuts with letter-press is inconsiderable when compared with the cost of printing steel or copper plates separately, the art will never want encouragement, nor again sink into neglect, so long as there are artists of talent to furnish designs, and good engravers to execute them.” The great utility of wood-engraving will indeed, in all probability, prevent the art from ever again declining. Within these few years it has attained a very high degree of perfection; and every day, works are issuing from the press, adorned with the most varied specimens of this valuable art. (z. z.)