Most authors who have written on the history of engraving have incidentally noticed the art of chiaro-scuro engraving on wood, which began to be practised early in the sixteenth century.[V-1] The honour of the invention has been claimed for Italy by Vasari and other Italian writers, who seem to think that no improvement in the arts of design and engraving can originate on this side of the Alps. According to their account, chiaro-scuro engraving on wood was first introduced by Ugo da Carpi, who executed several pieces in that manner from the designs of Raffaele. But, though confident in their assertions, they are weak in their proofs; for they can produce no chiaro-scuros by Ugo da Carpi, or by any other Italian engraver, of an earlier date than 1518. The engravings of Italian artists in this style are not numerous, previous to 1530, and we can scarcely suppose that the earliest of them was executed before 1515. That the art was known and practised in Germany several years before this period there can be no doubt; for a chiaro-scuro wood engraving, a Repose in Egypt, by Lucas Cranach, is dated 1509; two others by Hans Baldung Grün are dated 1509 and 1510; and a portrait, in the same style, by Hans Burgmair, is dated 1512. [Footnote V-1: Chiaro-scuros are executed by means of two or more blocks, in imitation of a drawing in sepia, India ink, or any other colour of two or more shades. The older chiaro-scuros are seldom executed with more than three blocks; on the first of which the general outline of the subject and the stronger shades were engraved and printed in the usual manner; from the second the lighter shades were communicated; and from the third a general tint was printed over the impressions of the other two.]