Prints

The earliest European prints were woodcut reliefs, and the earliest extant examples are playing cards and devotional images. Block books of the 15th century were produced as prints, with each page of the images and text carved on a single block of wood. Because during the latter 14th century, paper mills in northern Europe were well established, printers of the early Renaissance had a ready supply of paper. By the mid-15th century, intaglio engraving on metal had become feasible. Several of the best print-makers were trained as goldsmiths, a craft that requires the same close attention to detail as does printmaking. The present section discusses a few of the artists who were important printmakers during the Renaissance. (See Chapter 2, Religion, for more information on religious prints; chapter 4, Architecture and Urban Planning, for views; Chapter 5, Literature and Language, for information on illustrated books; and chapter 9, Exploration and Travel, for information on printed maps and exotic imagery.)

Martin Schongauer (1435/50-91), though known as a painter during his lifetime, is now remembered for his prints. The style of this northern artist is Gothic, in that much of his religious imagery consists of swirling crowds of figures. He refined the technique of engraving, however, with clarity of line and delicacy of expression. Another significant contribution were his engravings of ornaments, some of which were surely used by artisans in creating the decorative arts described later. With the advent of such prints, artists no longer needed to draw their own pattern books as a source for ornamental designs. Schongauer’s work had a tremendous influence on the young Albrecht Durer, who traveled to Colmar, then part of Germany, to study with Schon-gauer but arrived after he had died. Durer became famous through the international marketing of his prints, beginning with the 15 large woodcut prints in his Apocalypse series issued in 1498. His style in this series combined the Gothic idiom with harmonious appropriation of pictorial space. Durer’s nude Adam in his print Adam and Eve represents a bold step forward in northern figural form, virtually transforming Adam into a Roman deity. His many prints provided a lively business for the artist, as well as a medium of exchange with other artists, such as Lucas van Leyden and Raphael.

Although only a few engravings by the Gonzaga court painter Andrea Mantegna (1430/31-1506) are extant, they show his mastery of classical forms, especially the bacchanals. These prints also demonstrate his ability to create emotional power through figural expression in the monochromatic medium of prints. Raphael collaborated with Marcantonio Raimondi to publish his compositions as prints, an arrangement that greatly benefited the engraver. Raimondi established a workshop for reproducing artworks in print format, setting strict standards for his pupils. He helped to make printmaking a profession that functioned within the workshop system. Raimondi’s prints distributed the designs of Renaissance painters worldwide, giving artisans new models to follow. Titian used both woodcuts and engravings to make his compositions available to a broader market, simultaneously advertising his paintings. Scholars think that Titian himself may have drawn directly onto the wood block rather than trusting someone else to transfer his drawing to the block for cutting. Given the tonality of Titian’s paintings, the greater sensitivity of intaglio engraving was more suited to his style, and by the mid-16th century he was issuing his images from engravings.