to's
_Crucifixion_ in the Scuola di San Rocco.[29] These were intended to be
joined, if desired, to form one long print measuring about 22 x 50
inches.
[Footnote 29: Jackson mentioned that he was seen drawing the
blocks in the presence of Sir Roger Newdigate, Sir Bouchier Wrey
"and other gentlemen of distinction." The reason for such
reference was probably some comment that he might have traced his
outlines from Agostino Carracci's 1582 engraving of the same
subject in three large sheets (B. 23), each of which joins the
others at precisely the same places as Jackson's sheets. I am
indebted to Dr. Jakob Rosenberg of the Fogg Museum for pointing
out these similarities.]
Of the ten remaining subjects, the last, Jacopo Bassano's _Dives and
Lazarus_, was finished at the end of 1743, and the set of 24 plates
(some paintings, as noted, were reproduced in three sheets and some in
two) was published as a bound volume by J. B. Pasquali in Venice, 1745,
under the title _Titiani Vecelii, Pauli Caliarii, Jacobi Robusti et
Jacobi de Ponte; opera selectiora a Joanne Baptista Jackson, Anglo,
ligno coelata et coloribus adumbrata_.
The Venetian prints were not merely an extension of chiaroscuro, they
represented a daring effort to go beyond line engraving for reproducing
paintings. Justification for this attempt is given in the _Essay_
(p. 6):
... and though those delicate Finishings, and minute Strokes, which
make up great Part of the Merit of engraving on Copper, are not to
be found in those cut on Wood in _Chiaro Oscuro_; yet there is a
masterly and free Drawing, a boldness of Engraving and Relief, which
pleases a true Taste more than all the little Exactness found in the
Engravings on Copper Plates ... and indeed has an Effect which the
best Judges very often prefer to any Prints from Engravings, done
with all that Exactness, minute Strokes of the Graver, and Neatness
of Work, which is sure to captivate the Minds of those whose Taste
is formed upon the little Considerations of delicately handling the
Tools, and not upon the Freedom, Life and Spirit of the separate
Figures, and indeed the whole Composition.
A novel device, embossing, was employed to give added strength to the
prints. This development had been foreshadowed by earlier prints and
pages of text which showed a slight indentation where the dampened paper
received the impression. Embossing had probably f
|