Christ Stilling the Storm 

This tiny roundel, "Christ Stilling the Storm," was made sometime around 1525-1530 by the artist known only as Master I.B. It’s an etching, meaning the artist covered a metal plate with wax, scratched this away to create the design, then bathed the plate in acid. This bit into the exposed metal, creating lines that would hold ink. Look closely and you’ll see that the medium determined the message. The artist had to work with the possibilities of the technique, building up the image with a dense vocabulary of lines. Notice how the waves are rendered. How about the way the clouds echo them above? This wasn’t just an aesthetic decision; it reflected the printmaker’s world. In early modern Europe, printed images circulated widely, making art accessible and affordable. The etching process was a clever way to multiply images quickly, almost industrially. So, in a way, the drama of Christ calming the storm is mirrored by the technology used to depict it. It’s a reminder that even religious art is bound to the material conditions of its making.