Steniging van de godslasteraar 1645 - 1740

This print, "Stoning of the Blasphemer," was made by Christoffel van Sichem II, sometime around the early 17th century. It's a woodcut, a technique with a long history, requiring careful carving of a design into a block of wood. Look closely and you'll see how the linear quality of the image is determined by the grain of the wood itself. Sichem would have used knives and gouges to remove material, leaving the lines of the composition raised. Ink was then applied to the surface, and the image transferred to paper. The act of carving, a skilled and laborious process, contrasts sharply with the image's brutal subject matter. We see a scene of collective violence, the stoning, a form of capital punishment prescribed in the Old Testament, carried out by the community. Consider the labor involved, not only in producing the print, but in gathering and throwing the stones themselves. This work speaks to the social order of the time. It reminds us that even seemingly simple images can be complex objects, imbued with the values and tensions of their historical moment.