Aaron, from De Biblie uth der uthlegginge Doctoris Martini Luthers

Art Historical Context

This woodcut depicts Aaron, the biblical high priest and brother of Moses, as part of an illustrated Low German Bible based on Martin Luther’s translation. Created by Erhard Altdorfer in collaboration with printer Ludwig Dietz, the print belongs to the broader project of making Scripture accessible to lay readers during the Protestant Reformation. Luther’s German Bible, first published in the 1520s and 1530s, relied heavily on such images to engage audiences who could not yet read fluently. Altdorfer’s woodcut technique—carving bold lines into a wooden block for mass reproduction—allowed the ...