g
in a great measure arbitrary, may naturally be expected to exhibit
more decidedly the workings of the judgment, the fancy, or perhaps the
caprice, of the artist.

The monogram, as we have seen, is a substitute for the full-length
signature of the artist--the mode of marking their works originally
adopted by the ancients. It is found in an almost infinite number of
varieties.

The earliest, as well as the most natural and easy substitute, was a
simple contraction of the name--as, 'augs ca.,' for Augustinus
Caraccius; or JVL. ROM., for Julius Romanus. This contraction,
however, cannot properly be called a monogram at all; and the same is
to be said of the form of signature adopted by many of the most
eminent painters--the simple, unconnected initials of the name. The
idea of a monogram supposes that the characters, whatever may be their
number considered separately, shall be all connected so as to form one
single device.

The first such form which will occur to one's mind is the mere
combination of the initial letters of the name--as, for example, AB,
or AK, which are the actual monograms of Andrew Both, the celebrated
Flemish landscape painter, and of Antony Koelbel, a distinguished
Austrian artist of more modern times. In some instances, the monogram
is found appended to the full signature of the artist, as in Albert
Duerer's beautiful engraving of Adam and Eve, and in other less
celebrated works, especially those of the early engravers. It is to be
observed, however, that some artists were by no means uniform in the
style of monogram which they employed. The device of the same artist
often varies, not only in the size and figure of the letters which
form it, but sometimes even in the letters themselves. Many artists
have employed two, three, four, and even a greater number of devices;
and of the celebrated engraver just named, Albert Duerer, we ourselves
have seen not less than thirty different modifications of the letters
A D, the initials of his name.

[Transcriber's Note: In the first sentence of the previous
paragraph, the letters AB and AK are joined together, with
the letter A tilted slightly to the right.]

These combinations are seldom so simple and intelligible as in the
signature of Andrew Both, referred to above. In most of the earlier
monograms, the initial of the family name is smaller than that of the
Christian name. It is so in that of Albert Duerer; and it is remarkable
that, th