Salomo's aankomst als koning 1645 - 1740

This print, Salomo's aankomst als koning, was made by Christoffel van Sichem II, a Dutch printmaker active in the early 17th century. It's a woodcut, a relatively accessible printmaking technique. The bold lines and strong contrasts are typical of the process. Sichem would have laboriously cut away the areas of the woodblock that he didn't want to print, leaving a raised design. This was then inked and pressed onto paper. Look closely, and you can almost feel the artist's hand at work, carefully carving away the wood to create the image. Woodcuts like this were relatively inexpensive to produce, making them a popular medium for disseminating images and ideas widely. Sichem produced biblical scenes and portraits of historical figures. Consider the amount of work involved in producing a print like this. It speaks to a culture where images were carefully and deliberately made, and then multiplied for broad distribution. This contrasts sharply with our contemporary world of digital images, instantly created and shared.