Lamentation of Christ (after Durer; Pl. 12, the Engraved Passion)

Charles Amand-Durand

The Engraved Passion was Albrecht Durer's first foray into woodengraving and was one of three Passions he created throughout his career; their execution ultimately overlapped between the years 1497 and 1513. The others two Passions were done in woodcut, and did not exhibit the same fine quality or complexity of facial expressions, textures, or chiaroscuro. The works are often noted for their concentration on the spiritual rather than physical suffering, the latter of which had been the traditional focus by artists prior. The sixteen miniature works, apparently never intended to be a set as he executed and sold them individually over the course of six years, would go on to inspire Rembrandt and others.

In 1869 Charles Amand-Durand, already an established engraver, was hired by the Louvre to revive the plates and blocks of Old Masters, as many of the prints available to the public were printed from worn-down specimens that no longer held a crisp line, or were printed on papers of poor quality that did not hold up over time. As such, Amand-Durand spent much of his life tracking down first and second state prints from which to recreate the plate using helio/photogravure, rather than using the blocks and plates.

Amand-Durand's process could take up to six months to recreate one print, aiming for the accuracy of 1/1000mm. He developed a technique that involved exposing materials such as silver, mercury, copper, steel, and asphalt from the Dead Sea to electric light, and carefully incising the linework of Rembrandt, Durer, and other 15th and 16th century Old masters into the plate. His skill was so exact that the Parisian government banned the use of his techniques out of fear that they would be used to print money. His reproductions were sought after by major institutions such as the Bibliotheque Nationale.