Carpi, Hugo Da

, a native of Italy, who flourished about the beginning of the sixteenth century, was not in any degree considerable as a painter, but is justly entitled to fame as an engraver on wood. He was not, however, the first engraver on that material, as some have asserted, but certainly invented that species distinguished by the name of chiaro-scuro, in imitation of drawing. This he performed by using three blocks the first for the outline and dark shadows the second for the lighter shadows and the third for the half tint. His prints, though slight, are usually very spirited, and in a masterly style. They preserve, at least, a bold, striking resemblance of the sketches of the great painters from whose designs they are taken. Strutt, and, before him, Vasari, mention the following viz. “A Sibyl reading in a book, with an infant holding a flambeau to light her” “The burning of Troy, with Æneas saving his father Anchises” “A descent from the cross” “David cutting off the head of’Goliah;” all from Raphael; and a “Magician seated on the ground, with a book open before him, and in the back-ground a bird with its feathers plucked off,” from Parmigiano. This species of engraving was carried to great perfection by Andrea Andriani, and also by Balthasar Perezzi of Siena, and Parmigiano ²