IX. landajo, as a more complete master of design, c H AP. and the work was commenced with great spirit. Vasari assures us, that if death had not interposed, there was reason to believe, from the part that was executed, that these artists would have performed wonderful things'. engraving on But if the attempts made by Lorenzo to Invention of restore the practice of Mosaick were thus in a copper. great degree frustrated, a discovery was made about the same period which proved an ample substitute for it, and which has given to the works of the painter that permanency which even the durability of Mosaick might not perhaps have supplied. This was the art of transferring to paper impressions from engravings on copper, or other metals; an invention which has tended more t By whose death the further progress of this work was interrupted, may be doubted. The words of Vasari are, "Per lo che Gherardo, assotigliando l'ingegno, harebbe "fatto con Domenico mirabilissime cose, se la morte "non vi si fusse interposta; come si può giudicare dal "principio della detta capella, che rimase imperfetta.” But, by a subsequent passage in the life of Ghirlandajo, it seems it was the death of Lorenzo that prevented the completion of the work. " come, per la morte "del predetto Magnifico Lorenzo, rimase imperfetta in "Fiorenza la Capella di S. Zanobi, comminciata a lavo"rare di Musaico da Domenico in compagnia di Ghe❝rardo miniatore." IX. CHA P. more than any other circumstance to diffuse throughout Europe a just and general taste for the arts. This discovery is attributed by the Italians to Maso, or Tomaso Finiguerra, a goldsmith of Florence, who being accustomed to engrave on different metals, for the purpose of inlaying them, occasionally tried the effects of his work, by taking off impressions, first on sulphur, and afterwards on paper, by means of a roller, in such a manner that the figures seemed to have been traced with a pen. It does not appear that Finiguerra ever applied this invention to any other purpose than that of ascertaining the progress of his work; nor have the researches of the most diligent inquirers discovered a single print that can with any degree of probability be. attributed to him; but Baccio Baldini, another goldsmith, conceiving that this discovery might be applied to more important purposes, began to engrave on metals, solely with a view of transmitting impressions to paper. Possessing, however, no great skill in design, he prevailed on Sandro Botticello to furnish him with drawings suitable for his purpose. The concurrence of Antonio Pollajuoli, and Andrea Mantegna, carried the art to greater perfection. Of the works of the last-mentioned master many speci mens IX. mens yet remain, which do credit to his talents. CHA P. The beginning of the ensuing century produced a much superiour artist in Marcantonio Raimondi, by whose industry the numerous productions of Raffaello, the transcripts of his rich and creative mind, were committed to paper with an accuracy which he himself approved, and may serve as a standard to mark in future times the progress or the decline of the arts". Whilst u The credit of having given rise to this elegant and useful art has been contended for by different countries, and their various pretensions have been weighed and considered by many authors. It is, however, generally agreed, that it began with the goldsmiths, and was afterwards adopted by the painters. The union of these two professions has thus produced a third, which has risen to considerable importance. The Germans, who have disputed with the Italians the honour of the invention with the greatest degree of plausibility, have not in point of fact controverted the narrative given by the Italians of the rise of the art, nor brought forward any account of their own, but have simply endeavoured to shew that it was practised in Germany at an earlier period. Mr. Heineken asserts that the earliest prints engraved in Italy, that bear a date, are the maps to the edition of Ptolemy, printed at Rome in 1478; the earliest picturesque representations, those prefixed to some VOL. II. Rr СНАР. IX. Whilst the art of transferring to paper impressions from copper was thus first prac tised, some of the cantos of Dante in 1482; whilst he adduces instances of German execution that bear the date of 1466, by comparing the manner of which with other pieces, apparently of earlier workmanship, he conjectures that the art had its rise in Germany about the year 1440. Idée Generale, p. 232. Non nostrum tantas componere lites. I shall only observe, that little dependence is to be placed on conjectures from prints without a date, particularly those of German workmanship, as the artists of that country continued to produce them in the most rude and Gothick style, both as to design and execution, long after the beginning of the sixteenth century, when Albert Durer and Luca van Leyden had set them a better example. On the other hand, impartiality obliges me to remark, that Tiraboschi, who strenuously claims for his countrymen the merit of the discovery, has not discussed this subject with his usual accuracy. First, he is mistaken in asserting that Baldinucci fixes the commencement of the art in the beginning of the fifteenth century. Storia della Lett. Ital. v. ii. p. 2. p. 399. Baldinucci only says in general that the art had its beginning in the fifteenth century. “Quest' arte ebbe suo principio nel secolo del 1400." Secondly, on the authority of a document produced by Manni, he supposes that Tomaso Finiguerra, the inventer of the art, died prior to the year 1424; but both Vasari and Baldinucci inform us, that the Finiguerra in question was contemporary with Pollajuolo, who was only born in tised, that of engraving on gems and stones c HAP. was again successfully revived. The predi IX. engraving lection of Lorenzo de' Medici for the beautiful Revival of specimens of skill which the ancients have left on gems in materials of this nature, has frequently been noticed". Of those which once formed a part and stones. in 1426. It is singular that this judicious author did not reflect how slight that evidence must be which rests merely on similarity of name, particularly in Florence, where, for the sake of distinction, it was often necessary to resort to the patronymicks for several generations. v. Vasari, vite de' Pittori, passim. Baldinucci comminciamento e progresso dell' arte dell' intagliare in Rame. Fir. 1686. Heineken Idée generale d'un Collection complette d'Estampes, &c. V The collection of antiques formed by Lorenzo is thus celebrated by a contemporary author: Cælatum argento, vel fulvo quidquid in auro est Quæ collegisti miro virtutis amore Magnanimum reddunt nomen ubique tuum. Artificum monumenta foves, referuntur in auro, Argento, tabulis, et lapide ora Deûm. F. Camerlini, ap. Band. Cat. Bibl. Laur. v. iii. p. 545. |