X is for Xylograph – an artistic print made from an engraving on wood. Many of us learned how to do this in high school art class and we printed pictures that were simplistic. I remember that we weren’t actually using wood … soap I think … and I carved a very folksy looking flower. One of my friends managed to carve an eye and another friend carved the outline of a cat. The carving is dipped into paint or ink, then stamped on canvas or paper.
Those were easy to do, but can you imagine carving this into wood? I’ve know some incredible artists who did great carvings, but nothing this detailed.
Then others were printed and colored or painted … like this one.
These prints are both from the 19th century and were found in the online museum of the Habsburgs, the ruling dynasty of Austria. Visit
english.habsburger.net to learn more about them. To read even more interesting things, like the fact that the House of Habsburg married into so many other royal families in Europe that they eventually ruled over a broad region … and they split the family between the Austrian Habsburgs and the Spanish Habsburgs. The Spanish side of the House liked itself so much that it eventually eliminated its bloodline through inbreeding! Check out
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Habsburgs for the whole story!
I'm linking with Alphabet Thursday, so make sure you go visit
Jenny to see all the other posts! Happy Alphabet Thursday!
