New Testament Scene, plate thirteen from Woodcuts from Books of the XVI Century
1582, assembled into portfolio 1937
Medium
Woodcut in black ink with brush and opaque watercolor and stenciling on cream laid paper
Dimensions
Image: 11.1 × 15 cm (4 3/8 × 5 15/16 in.); Image/text: 25.7 × 15.7 cm (10 1/8 × 6 3/16 in.); Sheet: 31 × 20.2 cm (12 1/4 × 8 in.)
Classification
woodcut
Department
Prints and Drawings
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
132158
Rights
Public Domain
About this artwork
Like the nearby Gutenberg Bible leaf (1922.2210), this page from an illustrated German summary of the New Testament for young readers was disbound and repurposed. In 1937 the print scholar Max Geisberg employed it as a plate in his portfolio Woodcuts from Books of the 16th Century. The crisp edges of the hand coloring suggest it was applied by stencil, as in the larger Mary Magdalene woodcut hanging nearby (2014.133). The use of stencils reinforces the fact that the book appeared in several larg...