Christ in Limbo, from Speculum passionis domini nostri Ihesu Christi 1507

This print, "Christ in Limbo," was made by Hans Schäufelein in the 16th century, using the woodcut technique. Think about that: this isn’t a unique, hand-painted image, but something made to be reproduced. Schäufelein would have worked laboriously cutting away the areas of a woodblock, leaving the lines of the image raised to catch ink. Consider the skill involved in carving such detail, essentially destroying the block to create the image. The resulting stark contrast between black and white is a signature of woodcut, lending a dramatic quality to the scene of Christ freeing souls from Limbo, while devils threaten from above. It is precisely this contrast that lends the print such power. Prints like these were relatively cheap to produce and were traded widely, and circulated among all levels of society, from merchants to church officials to ordinary people. So, in thinking about this image, remember that the meaning is not just in the subject matter, but also in the means of its making.