Maria Magdalena luistert naar Christus en bekeert zich 1485 - 1491

This small print, Maria Magdalena Listening to Christ and Repenting, was made by an artist known only as the Master of Antwerp, probably in the 1500s. It is a woodcut, meaning the artist carved an image into a block of wood, then inked and printed it. The material, wood, is quite assertive here: it accepts ink but also resists it, resulting in an image that is full of striations and texture. Think about the labor involved: the careful paring away of the wood, the mixing of inks, and the pressure needed to transfer the image to paper. This process was a relatively accessible technology, but one that demanded skill and precision. The resulting prints were often hand-colored afterwards, as this one is, with flat washes of pigment that add another layer of visual interest. The relative affordability of prints like these meant that religious imagery could circulate widely, finding its way into many hands. So, the materiality of this little artwork speaks to both artistic craft and the broader social context of religious devotion.