Letter T c. 16th century

Editor: Here we have the woodcut print, "Letter T", by an anonymous artist. It looks like a decorated initial for a page of text. I notice these figures holding books. What’s going on here? Curator: This image likely functioned within a larger system of knowledge production. Before standardized fonts, such decorated initials were crucial. Consider how this print, disseminated perhaps in religious texts, helped shape visual literacy and cultural understanding. Editor: So, it’s not just pretty decoration but also about access to information? Curator: Precisely. The figures holding books underscore the importance of literacy and religious knowledge within the culture that produced this print. Notice how the haloed figures flank the "T", framing it as something divinely sanctioned. What do you make of that? Editor: It gives the letter, and thus the text it introduces, a sense of authority. I never thought about how something like a letter could have so much cultural weight.