Review

Author(s): Bernadine Barnes

Review by: Bernadine Barnes
Source: The Sixteenth Century Journal, Vol. 39, No. 2 (Summer, 2008), pp. 580-581
Published by: Sixteenth Century Journal
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/20478970
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580 Sixteenth
Century
Journal
XXXIX/2(2008)

putative racialuncertaintyof theScottishBorders; themanipulations of the topographical

representationofUlster fromSpeed onward; and thework of Sir Thomas Wilson and the
StatePaper Office. In each area,Netzloffgoes into impressivedepth, covering Irish,
Welsh,
and Scottish contextswith admirable control over thevast secondary as well as primary
literature.
For this reviewer,thisencyclopedic aspect ofNetzloff'swork ispossiblymore useful
than itsoverarchingmodel of internalcolonialism.No doubt otherswill powerfullydis
agree.But Iwill be glad to use thework in consultativefashion,dipping intoa number of
sections to explore itsrichesfarther.

The Simple Art: Printed Images in an Age ofMagnificence. PatriciaEmison,with con

tributionsbyWendy SmithRappa and Sean Roberts.Durham: Art Gallery,University
ofNew Hampshire, 2006. 100 pp. $25.00. ISBN 978-0-9648953-5-5.
The EarlyModern Painter-Etcher.Ed. Michael Cole. UniversityPark: PennsylvaniaState
UniversityPress,2006. 189 pp. $50.00. ISBN 978-0-271-02905-4.

REVIEWEDBY: Bernadine Barnes,Wake ForestUniversity

These twoexhibitioncataloguespresent two ratherdifferent aspects ofprintsand their

makers. Emison's catalogue beginswith a discussion of ideas relatedto reproductiveprints
versus so-called "originalprints"'that is,prints thatwere both designed and executedby an
artist,andmeant fromthestarttobemade intoprints.Although thedistinction(or lackof
distinction)between thesecategorieshas been discussedmany times in recentpublications,
Emison's summary is exceptionallythoroughand thought-provoking. In essence,Emison
countersBartschs overvaluation of "originalprints"by arguing thatcopyingwas deeply
imbedded inRenaissance culture,and thatreproductionsand "original"printswere valued
and collectedwith equal enthusiasm.Consequently thisexhibitdoes not separate theone
fromtheother.
However, this is not reallythepoint of theentireexhibition.Rather, it is to show the
rangeofprint imageryin sixteenth-century Italyand tounderstand the impactofprintson
how people saw and thoughtabout theirworld. It includesnot only theworks of famous
engravers,but also simplewoodcuts by anonymous cutters.Prints thatpay homage to
famousworks of art are included,as are prints thatparody thoseworks and others thatare
purely imaginary.In organizing the exhibit,Emison has avoided the usual categoriesof
designer/inventor, printmaker, medium, countryof origin,or period. The organization is
insteadby subjectmatter,which recallsBartsch'smethod but expands it. Indeed,Emison
seems to resisther own categories; the section on portraits,forexample, includes engrav
ings thatcopy one of theprophets from Michelangelo's SistineCeiling and another repro
ducingRaphael'sDisputa-the one iscalled a "fictiveportrait' theother a group portrait.
The EarlyModern Painter-Etcher, on theotherhand, focuseson a single technique,but
it,too, rangeswidely, treatingprints fromnorthernEurope as well as Italy,with examples
dating from the sixteenth through the eighteenthcenturies. In the introductoryessay,
Michael Cole and Larry Silverexamine specificinstanceswhere a painter turnedto etching
and findmany motivations beyond a desire forfreerexpression.Often the etchingswere
experiments,suggestedby a teacheror relativewho made prints.Early experimenterslike
Durer and Burgkmairwere experiencedprintmakersinothermedia; theyseemed to select
etchingforcertain typesof subjects (such as landscape), and theetchingsappear to emulate
awoodcut technique.Others picked up etchingbecause theyfoundthemselvesin situations

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 BookReviews 581

where professionalengravers withwhom they might haveworkedwere not available.Often

individualpainters chose not to continue etching,and here too therearemany reasons,
some technical,some practical,some artistic.The authorsdo not hold to the idea thatthe
was a failedexperiment;rathertheypoint out thateven afteretchingwas well
etching itself
establishedas thepreferredprintmaking medium, painterscontinued toexperimentwith it
and sometimes abandoned it.They see several qualities that separate the painter-etcher
fromothers:an interestin theprecise scale of thework (oftenparalleling the scale of their
painting),coloristiceffects,and self-referenceto theirroles as painters.However, thereare
also aspects of etchingsmade by painters thatare fullyin linewith engravings-they are
often collaborative:eitherdesigned on commission or executedwith professionalassis
tance.As theessaybyMadeleine Viljoen makes clear,thereare oftenpreliminarydrawings
used in theprocess, and bothmedia could be used to emulate the look of drawing,or,con
versely,could beworked inways thatavoided thatlook.Earlywritersgenerallydo not sep
arateprintsmade in the twomedia; similarly,artistsoftencombine etchingand engraving
on the same print.Theymay ormay not havemore immediacythanan engraving.
Susan Dackerman's essayon Diirer's etchingsexamineswhyGerman artistsof the six
teenthcenturyproduced so fewetchings.For Durer,who worked on ironratherthancop
per plates, therewere probably technicaland aesthetic issues. Iron plates tend to produce
coarser lines and flattenedtones, somethingDiirer tried to adjust by applyingplate tone,
changingthequalityof the ink,or varyingtheamountofpressureused inprinting.She also
points out that themarket probablydid not exist foretchings thatemulated drawings; in
fact themarket did not exist fordrawings thatwere not fullyfinishedeither.Altdorfer's
hand-colored etchings,she argues, are likelyto be attemptstomake them lookmore fin
ished to appeal to collectors.
The essaysbyViljoen and Graham Larkin bring thediscussion into the seventeenth
and eighteenthcenturies, when etchingwas much more thenorm.Larkin'sessay staysclose
to the standardhistoryof printsof theeighteenthcentury;Viljoen's essay,by concentrating
on thevariousways thatdrawingand etching intersect, offersmany new insights.
On thewhole, the two catalogues testestablished categoriesand assumptions about
prints.Both exhibitspresent an interestingrangeof printsand include some of the great
masterpieces ofRenaissance printmakingalongwith some thatare rarelyseen or discussed.
They provide good entrypoints forthose justbeginning to learnaboutRenaissance prints,
and challenging ideas forspecialists.
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Theater of a City: The Places ofLondon Comedy, 1598-1642. JeanE. Howard. Univer
sityPark:PennsylvaniaStateUniversityPress,2006. 312 pp. $55.00. ISBN 978-0-8122
3978-2.

REVIEWEDBY: JohnSchofield,Museum ofLondon

In thisbook JeanHoward investigatestheprocess bywhich Elizabethan and Jacobean

plays,and inparticularcomedies,helped to transform specificplaces inLondon intosignif
icantsocial spaces. She argues thatthe theaterwas importantin shapinghow peoplemade
sense of theirfast-changing urban surroundings.Only inLondon was the riseof theaters
possible. The comedies helped Londoners to form theirnew identitiesat a timeof great
change. They explored new topicsworthy of discussion at the time, such as the role of
women in thecity,thecultureof debt, thepresenceof strangersor foreigners,and thedevel
opment of imported,especiallyFrenchmanners in speech and in dance. At the same time

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