Vrouw uit Biskaje met punthoed 1598

Christoph Krieger created this image, titled *Woman from Biscay with Pointed Hat*, using woodcut, a process intimately linked with the rise of the printing press. The choice of wood as a material is crucial. Unlike the refined lines of an etching, woodcut yields a bolder, more graphic image, defined by the sharp contrast between what's cut away and what remains. Think of this block as a relief, where the design stands proud, ready to be inked and pressed onto paper. The image shows a woman, likely from the Basque region, wearing a tall, conical hat. The lines are crisp, almost architectural, giving the figure a sense of solidity, despite the relative crudeness of the medium. Woodcut was a democratic medium, capable of producing images quickly and cheaply. It speaks to a world where visual information was increasingly available, not just to the elite but to a wider public. It's a potent reminder that art is always embedded in the social and economic conditions of its making.