Biblia ad vetustissima exemplaria nunc recens castigata 1566

This image, by Jost Amman, is a woodcut, a relief printing process which was popular during the Renaissance. The artist starts with a block of wood, then carves away the areas that should not receive ink, leaving the design standing in relief. Woodcuts like these were produced on a large scale because they could be integrated with movable type for printing books. The bold lines are typical of the technique; they allowed for clear reproduction even with the relatively crude printing presses of the time. In this print, we can see the story of the Wedding at Cana unfolding, where Jesus turned water into wine. The making of wine, then as now, was arduous work. Consider the labor involved, both in the depicted scene and in the printmaking process itself. The woodcut was a crucial technology, enabling the mass production of images and ideas. By understanding these methods, we recognize them not just as illustrations, but as products of a specific technological and social context.