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The Role Of Technology And Art In Fifteenth Century

Decent Essays

Essay I
Vadim Bondarenko
ARTH 2020 – Art History Survey II
Professor Peggy Blood
June 22, 2016

Technology and Art in Fifteenth Century After centuries of wars and the nightmares of the plague, the fifteenth century Europe finally started to close the book on the Middle Ages. The new era brought with it new and exciting changes in society, art, and technology, thanks in part to a newly emerged class of wealthy merchants and bankers who also possessed a keen interest in arts, literature, and education.
Historically, only the church and the heads of state were able to sponsor those areas. But now, this new wave of patronage, caused the explosion of learning and creativity among the scholars and the artists alike (Stokstad 562). For …show more content…

Originally used to only print designs on cloth, by early fifteenth century the process extended to printing text and illustrations on paper (Stokstad 589). One of earliest adapters of the latter, Laurens Koster of Haarlem, began printing pages with text and accompanying pictures produced with woodcut relief method as early as 1430. Unfortunately, Koster died around 1440 and did not carry his invention beyond experimental stages (Slater 6-7). No known prints by Koster exist. The woodcut method was rather involved. The artist would draw a design on a smooth surface of a wooden block. Then, the artist himself or a skilled woodworker, would cut away all areas around the lines with a sharp tool. Prepared block would be smeared with ink, and a piece of paper would be pressed hard against it. The ink from the relief areas would transfer onto the paper, creating a reverse image of the design. Additional details could be added to the design by varying the thickness of the relief lines. Often, the printed images would be hand colored. One of the examples of woodcut prints is “The Buxhium St. Christopher” (Fig. 2), found in southern Germany and dated around mid-fifteenth …show more content…

Instead of using a v-shaped blade to cut deep groves as with regular engraving, a sharp tool with a needle like point used to scratch soft lines into the surface of the metal plate. This method allows for a finer detail of a resulting print or can serve as a starting point of a proposed design for the regular line engraving (drypoint). According the Encyclopedia Brittanica, “Drypoint was in use by the late 15th century, and in the early 16th century the German artist Albrecht Dürer already had a thorough command of the technique. Its greatest master was Rembrandt van Rijn, in whose etchings drypoint became increasingly

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