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Print

ca. 1500 - 1536? (made)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

This is an etching. The technique was originally developed in the Middle East for decorating armour. Daniel Hopfer, who was an armourer by trade, was one of the first artists in Europe to experiment with the technique for making prints.

The contrast with engraving can be seen especially in the bush behind the table, in the tree bark and feathers of the man’s hat. As the design is drawn onto the surface of the plate, curved and irregular lines are far easier to create in an etching than in an engraving. The acid also creates softer edges to the lines. However it removes some control from the artist - this image has ‘foul biting’ in the top centre, where acid has seeped into an area meant to remain white.

Hopfer used steel for his plates, a natural choice for an armourer. Steel is tough and produces a harsh effect. In 1520, Lucas van Leyden experimented with combining etching with engraving. He used copper plates instead of steel because the latter was too hard for engraving. Copper also proved a more satisfactory metal for etching, producing softer results.


Object details

Categories
Object type
Materials and techniques
Etching on iron
Brief description
Soldier embracing a woman by Daniel Hopfer (ca 1470-1536); etching, ca. 1500-1536.
Physical description
In a roundel with ornamental border is an image of a soldier singing to his lover with his arm around her shoulder. They sit under an apple? tree and next to the lady is a table with two apples and a lidded jug. The plate is rectangular. Above and below the roundel is ornament comprising a bowl of foliage and foliate ornament above and dragons facing each other below.
Dimensions
  • Platemark height: 96mm
  • Platemark width: 65mm
  • Sheet max, trimmed, irreg height: 117mm
  • Sheet max, trimmed irreg width: 90mm
Style
Marks and inscriptions
D H (Lower left and right within platemark)
Object history
This impression dates to before Funck number added. Plate subsequently owned by David Funck, a Nuremberg bookseller (1642-1705) and distant relative of Daniel Hopfer, who numbered the plates and reprinted these under the title Operae Hopferianae.
Production
This impression dates to before Funck number added see object history note
Subjects depicted
Summary
This is an etching. The technique was originally developed in the Middle East for decorating armour. Daniel Hopfer, who was an armourer by trade, was one of the first artists in Europe to experiment with the technique for making prints.

The contrast with engraving can be seen especially in the bush behind the table, in the tree bark and feathers of the man’s hat. As the design is drawn onto the surface of the plate, curved and irregular lines are far easier to create in an etching than in an engraving. The acid also creates softer edges to the lines. However it removes some control from the artist - this image has ‘foul biting’ in the top centre, where acid has seeped into an area meant to remain white.

Hopfer used steel for his plates, a natural choice for an armourer. Steel is tough and produces a harsh effect. In 1520, Lucas van Leyden experimented with combining etching with engraving. He used copper plates instead of steel because the latter was too hard for engraving. Copper also proved a more satisfactory metal for etching, producing softer results.
Bibliographic references
  • Bartsch, Adam von, 1757-1821. The illustrated Bartsch. New York : Abaris Books, 1978-, 17, 1981, 146
  • Hollstein, F. W. H. German engravings, etchings, and woodcuts, ca. 1400-1700. Amsterdam : M. Hertzberger, 1954-
  • Bartsch, Adam von. Peintre-Graveur. VIII, 1808., 489, nr. 69
Other number
69 - Le Peintre-Graveur
Collection
Accession number
E.1308-1923

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Record createdJune 30, 2009
Record URL
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