Kardinaal en dokter 1502 - 1532

Ugo da Carpi made this print, Kardinaal en dokter, sometime in the early 16th century. It's a chiaroscuro woodcut, meaning that it’s made with multiple blocks of wood, each inked with a different tone. Think about the labor involved; first, the artist would have had to design the image, then carve away the wood in precise layers to create a series of printing blocks. This process would have required tremendous skill, not just in carving but in understanding how the different colors would interact when printed together. The fact that da Carpi chose to work in this technique is also significant. Woodcuts were a relatively accessible medium at the time, yet he used it to create a sophisticated image with subtle gradations of tone. By emphasizing the material and the process, we can see how da Carpi blurred the boundaries between high art and craft.