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Concept Version 11
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German Woodcuts

Printmaking by woodcut and engraving was already more developed in Germany and the Low Countries than anywhere else during the Renaissance.

Learning Objective

  • Discuss German woodcuts of the 16th century


Key Points

    • Printmaking by woodcut and engraving was already more developed in Germany and the Low Countries than anywhere else, and the Germans took the lead in developing book illustrations.
    • Martin Schongauer (c.1450–1491) is credited as the first artist to create an engraving.
    • The most well-known artist of the German Renaissance is Albrecht Dürer (1471–1528), who worked as a printmaker and engraver.

Terms

  • woodcut

    A print or a method of printmaking from an engraved block of wood.

  • engraving

    The practice of incising a design onto a hard, flat surface by cutting grooves into it. 

  • Albrecht Dürer

    (1471–1528) A German painter, printmaker, mathematician, and theorist from Nuremberg, often regarded as the greatest artist of the Northern Renaissance.


Full Text

Woodcuts and Engraving

Printmaking by woodcut and engraving was already more developed in Germany and the Low Countries than anywhere else during the Renaissance. The Germans took the lead in developing book illustrations. These were typically of a relatively low artistic standard, but were seen all over Europe, with the woodblocks often being lent to printers of editions in other cities or languages.

Martin Schongauer

Martin Schongauer (c. 1450–1491), from Southern Germany, is credited as the first artist to create an engraving; he was also a well-known painter. He is known for further developing the engraving methods by refining the cross-hatching technique to depict volume and shade. Another notable German printmaker is known as the "Housebook Master." His prints were made in drypoint: he scratched his lines on the plate, leaving them much more shallow than they would be with an engraving.

The Fifth Foolish Virgin, engraving by Martin Schongauer, 1483.

Albrecht Dürer

The greatest artist of the German Renaissance, Albrecht Dürer, began his career as an apprentice to a leading workshop in Nuremberg, that of Michael Wolgemut, who had largely abandoned his painting to exploit the new medium. Dürer worked on the most extravagantly illustrated book of the period, The Nuremberg Chronicle, published by his godfather Anton Koberger, Europe's largest printer-publisher at the time.

After completing his apprenticeship in 1490, Dürer traveled in Germany for four years and to Italy for a few months before establishing his own workshop in Nuremberg. He rapidly became famous all over Europe for his energetic and balanced woodcuts and engravings; he also continued his painting during this period. 

Adam and Eve, engraving by Albrecht Dürer.

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