ly on Jackson will receive only
partial citation in the text. They are given in full in the
bibliography, page 171.]

[Footnote 4: Papillon, Paris, 1766. Hereafter cited as the
_Traite_.]

[Footnote 5: Occasional book illustrations in two or three
colors, confined chiefly to initial letters and ornamental
borders, appeared as early as the 15th century. Ratdolt in 1485
printed astronomical diagrams in red, orange, and black, and used
similar colors in a Crucifixion in the _Passau missal_ of 1494.
The _Liber selectarum cantionum_ of Senfel, 1520, however, has a
frontispiece printed in a broad range of colors from more than
four woodblocks. The design is attributed to Hans Weiditz.]

Although critics have been interested in Jackson as an historical
figure, they have been uncertain about the merit of his work. Opinions
vary surprisingly. Most judgments were based on the Venetian
chiaroscuros and depended upon the quality of impressions, many of which
are poor. Criticisms when they have been adverse have been surprisingly
harsh. It is unusual, to say the least, for writers to take time
explaining how bad an artist is. To do this implies, in any case, that
he warrants serious attention; space in histories is not usually wasted
on nonentities. We can see now that Jackson was misunderstood because
the uses of the woodcut were rigidly circumscribed by tradition.

_Status of the Woodcut_

After the 15th century the woodcut lost its primitive power and became a
self-effacing medium for creating facsimile impressions of drawings and
for illustrating and decorating books, periodicals, and cheap popular
broadsides. At its lowest ebb, in the late 17th century, and in the
18th, it was used to make patterns for workers in embroidery and
needlework and to supply outlines for wallpaper designs to be filled in
later by "paper-stainers."

The prime deficiency of the woodcut as an art form lay in the division
of labor which the process permitted. Draughtsmen usually drew on the
blocks; the main function of the cutter was to follow the lines
precisely and carefully. Small room existed for individual style or
original interpretation; there was little in the technique to
distinguish one cutter from another. In spite of these limitations,
gifted cutters could rise beyond the dead level of ordinary practice. As
fine draughtsmen with a feeling for their materials they did not trace
with the