Kind schuilt voor onweer in een grot 1628

Christoffel van Sichem II made this small woodcut, "Child Sheltering from the Storm in a Cave," sometime before his death in 1658. The method here is entirely one of removal. Sichem cut away at the block's surface, leaving behind the lines that would ultimately define the image. You can see clearly the marks left by his tools. They are straight and decisive, giving a sharp graphic quality to the storm, the landscape, and the figures. Woodcut is an old printing technique and comparatively cheap, so Sichem’s choice of the medium reflects an intention to produce this image in multiples for wide circulation. Note, too, that the composition is simple and impactful, easily readable even at this small scale. In that sense, the success of this image depends equally on Sichem’s technical skill, and his canny understanding of the print market at the time. By attending to these aspects of making, we can see how such a simple image is full of cultural information.