Visioen van Jeremia die de val van Jeruzalem aankondigt 1530 - 1533

This small print, *Visioen van Jeremia die de val van Jeruzalem aankondigt* is an early example of mass media. It was made anonymously, most likely in the Netherlands. The print is a woodcut, meaning that the image was carved in relief on a block of wood. The areas that you see in the print as black are the parts of the woodblock that were left standing; the white areas were cut away. The block would then have been inked and pressed onto paper, probably in multiples. Woodcut is an ancient technique, but it really came into its own with the advent of the printing press, and the rise of literacy. The sharp, bold quality of line you see here lent itself well to the rapid communication of information, and the illustration of texts. Consider the labor involved in producing this image. From the cutting of the block, to the inking and pressing, this was a means of distributing imagery to a wide audience. It represents the democratization of art, in its own way.