Heilige met een stok en een boek 1648

Christoffel van Sichem II created this small woodcut, "Heilige met een stok en een boek", sometime in the 17th century. Woodcut is a relief printing process, meaning the artist carves away the areas that will not hold ink, leaving the design raised on the surface of the wood block. This one shows a saint holding a staff and a book, symbols of authority and knowledge. Look closely, and you can see the marks made by the cutting tools. The final print's stark contrast and graphic quality is all thanks to the nature of the wood and the cutting process. Woodcut was a relatively accessible medium, and this print, with its religious subject, would have likely been circulated widely, playing a role in disseminating religious ideas to a broad audience. Van Sichem's choice of woodcut, a less refined medium than engraving, speaks to the democratization of image-making during this period. It challenges the traditional hierarchy of art, elevating a humble craft to a means of powerful communication.