Saint Christopher Seated with the Infant Christ 1500 - 1538

Albrecht Altdorfer created this small woodcut of Saint Christopher and the Infant Christ. Altdorfer was a master of his material. Look at the miniscule marks that form the image. With just a few precisely placed cuts into the block, Altdorfer creates a full sense of depth and atmosphere. Notice the texture of the tree bark, achieved with fine parallel lines, versus the more open cuts that define the landscape in the distance. Woodcut, as a medium, was closely aligned with printmaking, a technology that enabled the rapid dissemination of images and ideas. These prints were more accessible than paintings to a wider public. So, while Altdorfer was a court painter, he was also invested in this more democratic and commercially driven form. The sheer labor of carving these blocks, in reverse, and the many prints that could be pulled from them, speaks to the changing landscape of artistic production in the 16th century. Understanding Altdorfer's woodcut, therefore, requires that we see it as both a work of devotion and a product of its time.