Visitatie 1629 - 1740

This print, “Visitatie,” was made by Christoffel van Sichem II, probably in the early 17th century, using a technique called woodcutting. Woodcutting is a relief process, where the artist carves away the areas that will remain white, leaving the design standing in relief. This block is then inked and pressed onto paper. Note the relatively bold, graphic quality of the lines, and the way that forms are defined by hatching. This is characteristic of woodcut, where detail is often sacrificed for overall impact. This kind of print was relatively cheap to produce, making it a good way to disseminate images widely. Woodcutting was a skilled craft, but it could be scaled up: workshops could produce devotional images like this one in large numbers, reflecting the growing commercialization of art during this period. So, while this print depicts a sacred scene, it is also very much an object of its time, made possible by new modes of production and consumption.