Chapter 6

One year later, in 1917, Max J. Friedländer[52] commented that relief effects in block printing were not alien additions but natural consequences of the method. His main emphasis, we note, is on the Ricci prints.

A peculiarity of the color woodcut, which first was put up with as a characteristic of the technique but finally was enhanced and utilized fully as a means of expression, is the physical relief that stands out in thick and soft paper with the sharp pressure of die wood-blocks.... No one has employed the relief of the woodcut so consciously and artfully as the Englishman John Baptist Jackson in the eighteenth century, who, particularly in some landscapes, created most effective and richly colored sheets. He has gone so far as to express forms in “blind-printing,” entirely without bordering lines or contrasting colors, merely through relief pressing.

[Footnote 52: Friedländer, 1926 (1st ed. 1917), pp. 224-226.]

Anton Reichel’s important history of chiaroscuro, with its magnificent color plates in facsimile, appeared in 1926.[53] He says of Jackson that his activity in chiaroscuro was “extraordinarily rich,” that he created broad approximations of his subjects which made him neglect details, but that these were “convincingly translated into the language of the woodcut.”

Five heroic landscapes after M. Ricci represent the artistic high point of his work, having a distinctive richness of color not previously attained by any other master of chiaroscuro. Each of the prints has a complete harmony of colors; the single color blocks-- over ten can be counted in each print-- which show in their separate tones the extraordinarily cultivated taste of the artist, give the composition a decorative effect far from any realistic imitation of nature.... The relief impressed with the blocks is so strong that, going beyond all other prior attempts of the kind, it represents an essential factor of the composition through its actual light-and-shadow effects.

[Footnote 53: Reichel, 1926, p. 48.]

Although by this time Jackson’s chiaroscuros were regarded with respect and his color prints were acknowledged to be of prime importance, some of the conservative wallpaper historians were still repelled by their vigor, which did not suit genteel notions of interior decoration. Sugden and Edmondson[54] in 1925 certainly failed to understand both Jackson’s work and the period in which it was done. They comment:

Jackson’s bold claims to originality and merit are scarcely borne out by anything he is known to have achieved. That he had a vogue, however, seems certain, for apart from his “Essay” he has come down to us as a historical figure. To modern tastes in art many of his productions seem almost monstrous, and yet they were to some extent the expression of the time-spirit in which they were born.

[Footnote 54: Sugden and Edmondson, 1925, p. 71.]

[Transcriber’s Note:

The color Plates were printed after the first page of Postscript, at the mid-sentence point “they preferred imitations of sentimental, / banal, story-telling oil paintings”.]

_Postscript_

While Jackson had an influence on a small coterie, it did not prolong the life of the color woodcut. In Europe the medium did not survive his disappearance in 1755; no doubt it seemed to later artists intractable and lacking in nuance. The black-and-white woodcut, moreover, went into further decline and was almost entirely disregarded except for the rudest sort of work. Almost a century and a half were to pass before Gauguin and Munch swept aside old taboos and found exciting new possibilities for color in the woodcut process.

The lack of interest in the color woodcut was also the result of new techniques in the copper-plate media, techniques that could be adapted to color printing. In 1756 J. C. François introduced the crayon manner, an etching process that could imitate the effects of chalk and crayon drawings. During the following decades numerous technical variations were developed, the most popular being the pastel manner, the stipple, and the aquatint.

Of these methods only aquatint survived after early years of the 19th century. It was less limited than its companion processes and had wide application in rendering the effect of water-color wash. But color work in this medium, however attractive to a public that appreciated delicacy and charm, did not have mass appeal. The new audience created by the advancing Industrial Revolution wanted printed pictures of a less subtle type; they preferred imitations of sentimental, banal, story-telling oil paintings with a high, waxy finish. Neither aquatint nor other copper-plate media were suitable for these products, and color lithography did not receive serious attention until the late 1830’s. The wood engraving, which had inherited the function of the woodcut and which had greater flexibility in rendering tones and details, became the logical vehicle for the new color picture.

In this situation Jackson suddenly appeared as the pioneer, as the father of printed pictures based upon paintings in oil or water colors. His intention had been translation rather than imitation and he would have abhorred the feeble new product, but this did not concern his successors-- they were interested only in his technical principles. Moreover, in their naïveté, they imagined they were improving on Jackson because their prints were counterfeit paintings while his were not.

The earliest picture printers therefore, used wood engraving. Among them were Frederich W. Gubitz of Berlin, who began the revival about 1815; William Savage[55] of London, a printer who published a book describing his project in 1822; and George Baxter of London, whose work dates from about 1830. All started with chiaroscuro and moved to full color from a large number of wood blocks, although in 1836 Baxter began printing his transparent oil colors over a base of steel engraving reinforced with aquatint. Only Baxter persevered and was rewarded by sensational popular success. His glassy and trivial prints with their high sweet finish enjoyed a vogue among collectors that lasted into the 20th century. In about 1860, however, he was driven from the market by the rise of a cheaper medium, chromolithography, which was responsible in the next few decades for a universal outpouring of popular bathos. This was picture printing in color geared for the mass audience.

[Footnote 55: Savage, 1822. Jackson’s pioneer work is acknowledged, pp. 15-16.]

It may seem an anticlimax to trace the color woodcut from Jackson to Baxter, and finally to chromolithography, but it is not irrelevant. Although spurned by the better artists, color had too popular an appeal to be ignored. It was inescapable that Jackson’s successful technical procedures should finally be adopted and corrupted in the area of commerce.

Woodcut artists up to Jackson, with few exceptions, had used color for one major purpose, to reproduce drawings in line and tone. By enlarging the conception of the color woodcut Jackson brought the primitive chiaroscuro phase of its history to an end. After him, the chiaroscuro could not be practiced again except as an archaism.[56] The way was open for the modern woodcut, although it was a long time in coming.

[Footnote 56: Only one moderately important chiaroscurist can be mentioned, John Skippe, who worked in England from the 1770’s to about 1810.]

The range of Jackson’s work in tone and color exceeded that of all previous woodcutters and can be divided as follows: (1) chiaroscuros-- after drawings, after paintings, after his own pen and ink drawings after paintings, interpretations of engravings and etchings, and interpretations of sculpture; and (2) full color-- after paintings in gouache and after his own water colors. In addition he treated pictorial subjects in flat color areas without a key or outline block, a procedure used before him only by the 17th-century Chinese; and he combined burin work with knife cutting.

But Jackson’s reputation, in the long perspective, must rest upon his qualities as an artist. He had great distinction as a colorist but lacked originality as a designer and was dependent upon others, for the most part, for basic compositions. As an interpreter of these compositions, however, he was imaginative and forceful. He did not follow the example of most copper plate engravers and reproduce subjects faithfully; his conception of the woodcut as a frank medium precluded exact rendition. Except, possibly, for his first chiaroscuro, he always translated freely, with the aim of making good woodcuts rather than accurate representations of his subjects. Jackson’s work after others, in short, was consciously intended as artful approximation. This emphasis on the spirit rather than the letter, together with his novel techniques, often gave his prints a somewhat hybrid character-- an ambiguous look that might serve to explain the uneasy feelings of many critics. But his largeness of feeling is unmistakable, and this is what finally places him among the masters.

The color woodcut is now an important form of printmaking. For this medium in the Western world, Jackson is the main ancestral figure.

CATALOG

Jackson’s chiaroscuros and color woodcuts have been grouped under three headings. The first and main section includes, besides those of unquestionable authenticity, prints which can be attributed to Jackson with some degree of certainty and those actually seen by earlier writers but which have apparently disappeared. In each case the status of the print in Jackson’s _oeuvre_ has been noted.

The second section lists pieces believed to be by Jackson’s workshop. Prints that might have been done independently by close followers have been included here because we have no evidence that would permit distinctions to be drawn.

The last section lists unverified subjects attributed to Jackson in a number of museums but which have been lost through war or other causes, and doubtful titles found in Nagler and Le Blanc. In each category the prints have been listed in chronological order as far as this can be determined. The sequence of the Venetian set follows Jackson’s description in the _Enquiry_, although the prints themselves are dated somewhat differently.

One difficulty in cataloging Jackson’s work is the prevailing confusion in titling, the same prints being listed differently in different collections. This was to be expected since the artist almost invariably omitted titles. Nagler’s and Le Blanc’s catalogs are not descriptive and consequently there has been much guesswork in checking titles, particularly since the Venetian set and the Ricci prints are only partially listed by both writers, and not entirely correctly. Where subjects have not been recorded at all, the variation in titling has been greater.

The location of prints has been given, with the exception of those in the Venetian set and in the _Essay_, which are, in part or whole, in too many collections to make listing feasible. It is not to be taken as complete. Jackson prints in a number of museums, particularly in Germany, have disappeared but might turn up again; some are still packed in boxes and await return to collections. For the sake of simplicity the names of cities alone have been used with the understanding that the chief print collection is meant. Exceptions are Boston where the Museum of Fine Arts is abbreviated to MFA and the Fogg Art Museum is shortened to Fogg, New York where the Metropolitan Museum of Art is listed as MMA and the New York Public Library as NYPL, and London where the British Museum is noted as BM and the Victoria & Albert as V & A.

The woodcuts reproduced are numbered according to this catalog, and placed as nearly as possible in the same order. When prints have been listed by Nagler or Le Blanc their corresponding numbers have been included. Print sizes are given in inches, vertical sides first.

_Prints by Jackson_

[Transcriber’s Note:

The “Inscriptions” are shown as nearly as possible as printed. Typographic features such as the use of long “s” (ſ) and variation between italic and non-italic small capitals are reproductions of the original. Some computers may not be able to display italic long “s”.

Superscript letters are shown in {braces}. Small capitals (non-italic) are shown +like this+; italic small capitals ‡like this‡.]

1.

_Christ Giving the Keys to St. Peter_, after Raphael [Le Bl. 7, N. 9]

Dimensions:

7¼ × 9¾ inches with letters, 6½ × 9¾ inches without letters.

Blocks, 4:

Light brown, light gray-brown, gray-brown, black.

Inscription, lower left:

“_Raph. Urb. inv._”

Below, under border:

“+Tho. Hollis+ _Arm._ Hospit. Lincoln. D. D. D. J. B. Jackſon _sculptor_.”

About 1727. The dedication was added about 1750. After a drawing, now in the Louvre, for Raphael’s tapestry cartoons.

MFA, BM, Berlin-Dahlem

2.

_Venus and Cupid with a Bow_, after Parmigianino

Dimensions:

9¾ × 6¼ inches with letters, 8¾ × 6¼ inches without letters.

Blocks, 4:

Buff, light brown, terra-cotta red, black.

Inscription, bottom:

“+Tho. Brand+ _Arm._ Hospit. Temp. D. D. D. / J. B. Jackſon _sculptor_.”

Left, running vertically:

“_F. M. Parm. inv._”

1731.

The dedication was added about 1750. Other impressions occur in a combination of green and brown and also in gray and green. Five impressions are in the British Museum including one in which two slanting vertical lines in the table immediately to the left of Cupid’s left leg are omitted.

Philadelphia, MFA, BM, V&A, Berlin-Dahlem, Rotterdam, Brussels

3.

_Woman Standing Holding Jar on Her Head_, after Parmigianino

Dimensions:

6¾ × 3½ inches.

Blocks, 2:

Mustard yellow, black.

Inscription, at bottom:

“_Per Illustri, ac Præclaro Viro +Joseph Smith+ / J. B. Jackson Humiliter Dedicat Donat, et / Sculpsit._ 1731.”

Another state has the following added in small letters:

“Antonius Ma Zanetti a Jacobo Parmense Delin.”

The block for the tone is in two versions. The one illustrated is dotted in the jar to show gradations, while the other one is more loosely handled.

Free copy of line engraving by G. A. Faldoni.

BM, V&A

4.

_Headpiece with Landscape and Ruins_

This print is listed in the Staatliche Kunstsammlungen, Dresden, but has been lost in the war. No information as to color or size is available. The card catalogue has the following description:

“Ruins to the left. In the middle going over a river is a bridge. To the right is a city view with campanile, dome and other buildings. Dated 1731.”

Probably made for use in a book. This seems to be the print described by Baverel and the “_petite vue_” Papillon mentioned.

5.

_Woman Meditating_ (_St. Thais?_), after Parmigianino

Dimensions:

15⅜ × 9¼ inches with letters, 10¾ × 9¼ inches without letters.

Blocks, 2: Pale brown, black. Also in green and blue-green.

After etching by Parmigianino (B. 10).

Inscription, left near top, running diagonally upward:

“_F: M: Parmen* / Inventor / J: B: Jackſon Del / Sculp & excudit._”

Bottom, beneath lower border:

“+Societati Antiquariæ Londinensi+ / _Humillime_ D.D.D. _J.B.J_

_Certo da cor, ch’ alto deſtin non Scelſe, Son l’impreſe magnanime neglette; Ma le bell’ alme alle bell’ opre elette Sanno gioir nelle fatiche eccelſe; Nè biaſmo popular, frale catena, Spirto d’onore, il ſuo cammin raffrena.”_

This inscription was added much later, about 1750.

MFA, MMA, Philadelphia BM, Berlin-Dahlem, Vienna, Bremen, Brussels, Amsterdam, Dresden

6.

_Ulysses and Polyphemus_, after Primaticcio

Dimensions:

7¾ × 10⅛ inches.

Blocks, 2:

Greenish yellow, black.

Inscription, bottom right:

“J. 9”

Some copies lack the inscription. This is from plate 9 of Theodor Van Thulden’s 58 etchings reproducing designs by Primaticcio in Fontainebleau, published as “_Les Travaux d’Ulisse_” by P. Mariette in Paris, 1633.

These etchings were published again in 1740 as “_Errores Ulyssis_.” Listed as by Jackson in Weigel’s _Kunstlagercatalog_, 1843, vol. 2., p. 103.

BM, V&A

7.

_Bookplate_

Dimensions:

4¼ × 6 inches, approximately.

Blocks, 2:

Reddish brown, black.

Inscription left and right top, in ribbon:

“+Litterarum Felicitas+”

BM

8.

_Judgment of Solomon_, after Rubens

Dimensions:

17 × 20⅜ inches.

Blocks, 4:

Yellow-buff, light brown, violet-brown, dark brown.

Inscription, lower right:

“_Ill.{mo} et Exc.{mo} D.D. +Philippo Farsetti+, / Patritio ‡Veneto‡, Patrono suo Benefic.{mo}_ / Tabulam _hanc ‡Petri Pauli Rubens‡. / In Ligno cœlavit, et in sui Obsequii et grati Animi / Monumentum humiliter Devovet J. B. Jackson._”

1735.

BM, Brussels, Venice

9.

_The Visitation_, after Annibale Carracci

Dimensions:

14¼ × 10¼ inches.

Blocks, 4:

Light yellow, buff, brown, dark gray.

Inscription, upper right:

“_[AL]. Caratius Pinx{t}. / J: B: Jackson Fecit / +Venezia+ 1735._”

Weigel described this print as _Der Besuch bei Elisabeth_ in his _Kunstlagercatalog_, 1843, vol. 2, p. 103.

Smithsonian Institution (U.S. National Museum) MFA, Philadelphia, BM, Dresden

10.

_Julius Caesar_, after Titian

Dimensions:

12 × 9½ inches.

Blocks, 4:

Tones of brown with dark brown key block.

About 1738.

This is a free translation of an engraving by Egidius Sadeler [Le Bl. 143] after one of a series of Roman emperors attributed to Titian. The original paintings have been lost.

BM

11.

_St. Rocco_, after Cherubino Alberti

Dimensions:

12¼ × 10¼ inches.

Blocks, 3:

Green, reddish tan, black.

“S. Rocco” added by another hand.

Some impressions lack the inscription. Also in two colors, mustard yellow and black.

Free transcription of a line engraving by Cherubino Alberti after an undetermined painter (Le Bl. 61). A facsimile in grayed chartreuse and black was published by the Reichsdruckerei in Berlin, about 1925.

MFA, BM

12.

_Statuette of Neptune_, after Giovanni da Bologna [Le Bl. 19, N. 8]

Dimensions:

22½ × 15⅜ inches.

Blocks, 4:

Tones of tan and brown.

Inscription, bottom:

“_Ex Prototypo Æreo +Joannis· Bolonia+ ‡Duacensis‡ in / Museo ‡D: Josephi Smith‡ Venetiis. / J.B. Jackſon Anglus Sculp & exc._”

About 1738.

The first state is without letters. Third state has inscription on top of statue base,

“+Gul. Lloyd+ _Arm. D.D.D. J.B.J._”

Smithsonian Institution (U.S. National Museum) MFA, Los Angeles, BM, Paris, Berlin-Dahlem, Wiemar, Amsterdam

13.

_Descent from the Cross_, after Rembrandt [Le Bl. 10, N. 3]

Dimensions:

14 × 11 inches (arched print).

Blocks, 4:

Yellow, gray, light brown, dark violet-brown.

Inscription, bottom left:

“_Rembrandt pinxit, alt. p. 1. lat. unc x. Extat Venetiis in domo +J: Smith+._”

Bottom right:

“_J: B: Jackson figuras juxta Archetypum Sculp. & excudit. 1738._”

Bottom:

“Acceperunt ergo Corpus JESU, & ligaverunt illud linteis / cum Aromatibus, sicut mos est Judæis sepelire. _S. Joan. Cap. +xix+ Ver. xi._”/

Lower, with coat of arms:

“_Perillustri ac Praeclaro Viro ‡D. Josepho Smith‡ / Insigne hoc Opus affabre in Ligno coelavit, & in sui / obseqii & grati Animi monu-mentum humiliter devovet / J: B: Jackson_”

Smithsonian Institution (U.S. National Museum)

MFA, Fogg, MMA, NYPL, Chapel Hill, Philadelphia BM, Paris, Berlin-Dahlem, Vienna, Rotterdam, Hamburg, Prague

14.

_Christ and the Woman of Samaria_

Dimensions:

14¼ × 20⅜ inches.

Blocks, 3:

Buff, greenish yellow, black.

After a Bolognese master. Weigel described this as a “beautiful” chiaroscuro by Jackson.

MFA

15.

_Romulus and Remus, Wolf and Sea God_

Dimensions:

2¾ × 7½ inches.

Blocks, 2:

Green, black.

Attributed to Jackson. Probably an illustration for a book.

BM

16.

_The Death of St. Peter Martyr_, after Titian [Le Bl. 16, N. 10]

Dimensions:

21¼ × 13½ inches.

Blocks, 4:

Buff, pale greenish gray, brown, dark gray.

Inscription, lower left (inside border):

“_J: B: Jackson Sculp: & Excudit Venetiis_ 1739.”

Outside bottom frame, center:

“+Titianus Vecellius Cad. Invenit & Pinxit.+”

The painting was destroyed by fire in 1867.

17.

_The Presentation in the Temple_ (The Circumcision), after Veronese [Le Bl. 4, N. 15]

Dimensions:

21⅛ × 15⅛ inches.

Blocks, 4:

Buff, reddish gray, dark gray, dark brown.

Inscription, bottom:

“_Illustrissimo, & Erudito Viro +Carolo Frederick+ Armigero, liberalium Artium Patrono, / ‡Pauli Cagliari‡ praeclarum hoc Opus in Ligno coelatum, in grati animi argumentum humiliter_ D. D. D. / _J: B: Jackson_.”

1739.

18.

_The Massacre of the Innocents_, after Tintoretto [Le Bl. 5]

Dimensions:

15½ × 21 inches.

Blocks, 4:

Buff, violet-gray, light brown, dark violet-brown.

Inscription, center bottom:

“_Illustrissimo, / et Praeclaro Viro Dno. Dno. / +Smart Lethieullier+ / Eruditæ Antiquitatis Studioso / Investigatori, Tabellam hanc / ‡Jacobi Robusti‡_ in sui / obsequium D. D. D. _J: B: Jackson_.”

1739.

19.

_The Entombment_, after Jacopo Bassano [Le Bl. 12., N. 5]

Dimensions:

21⅞ × 15¼ inches.

Blocks, 4:

Buff, light reddish tan, gray, dark brown.

Inscription on urn, above lower right-hand corner:

“_J: B: Jackson Delin Sculp & excudit 1739_”

Across bottom:

“_Insignem hanc Tabulam a +Jacobo de Ponte+ depictam. Clarissimo Viro +Jacobo Facciolato+ Seminarii Patavini Præsidi; Archigymnasii ornamenta / ingenii doctrinæ, & in primis Latina eloquentia laude celeberrimo J B Jackson D. C._”

20.

_Holy Family and Four Saints_, after Veronese

Dimensions:

22⅛ × 13⅝ inches.

Blocks, 4:

Light yellow, light greenish gray, dark brown, dark gray.

Inscription, bottom center:

“_Perillustri et Nobili Viro ‡D{no} D{no}‡ / +Bourchier Wrey+ ‡Barronetto‡ / Generoso Artium Liberalium Fautori / in sui Obsequium_ D. D. D. _J. B. Jackson / P: C: Veronese Pinxit._”.

1739.

21.

_The Mystic Marriage of St. Catherine_, after Veronese [Le Bl. 18, N. 4]

Dimensions:

22 × 15¼ inches.

Blocks, 4:

Pale greenish gray, pale violet-gray, medium greenish gray, deep cold gray.

Inscription, lower center:

“+Gulielmo Windham+ / _Armigero, Artium Elegantiorum / Fautori, hanc Tabulam humillime / Dedicat / J. B. Jackson._”

Bottom left:

“_Paulo Veronese Pinxit J B J f 1740_”

Many impressions are found in brown tones.

22.

_The Crucifixion_, after Tintoretto [Le Bl. 9, N. 13]

Dimensions:

21½ × 16¼ inches (left plate), 22¾ × 16⅜ inches (center plate), 21½ × 16½ inches (right plate).

Blocks, 4:

Buff, light brown, gray, reddish brown.

Inscription, bottom center (center plate):