Image
German
Description
Maker
Culture
Title
Year
Medium
Materials/Techniques
-
Supports
Dimensions
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Image: 24.8 x 17.2 cm (9 3/4 x 6 3/4 inches)
Signature / Inscription / Marks
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Inscribed in pen and ink below image: "Ex missali Ordin. majoris ecclesiae hildensemensis 1490 circiter"
Type
Credit
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Gift of Mrs. Gustav Radeke
Object Number
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29.037
About
Made by transferring ink from a carved woodblock onto a sheet of paper, woodcuts were the earliest printed images in the Western world. In the 1400s, woodcuts were printed in black or sometimes dark brown ink (as in the Adoration, on the left), then frequently were hand-colored with thin layers of transparent pigments. While the flat, swiftly applied coloring in the Adoration speaks of rapid production, the carefully colored Crucifixion is more typical of woodcuts that illustrated printed books. Central to Christian symbolism, the blood of Jesus rarely was depicted by black woodcut lines, suggesting that printmakers expected the images to be completed with the addition of color.
Inscribed in pen and ink below image: "Ex missali Ordin. majoris ecclesiae hildensemensis 1490 circiter"