The Martyrdom of a Saint 

This woodcut, “The Martyrdom of a Saint”, was made by an anonymous artist at an unknown date. The coarse lines suggest that it was made sometime in the fifteenth or sixteenth century when printmaking was still relatively new. Images like these, widely circulated, were powerful tools of persuasion and were especially important to religious movements during the Reformation. The image depicts a saint about to be boiled alive, but note the impassive expression on his face. The people who carry out this deed are portrayed unsympathetically, even as grotesque caricatures. The setting is clearly meant to evoke a specific time and place, but at the same time, it has a universal quality, as if such acts of injustice could take place anywhere. These kinds of images helped to solidify social identities and group allegiances, especially in times of conflict. Through careful historical study of such images, as well as the political events surrounding them, we can better understand their original social context.