Koning naar rechts. Met scepter 1598

Christoph Krieger created this image of a King with a scepter using a technique called woodcut. The process starts with a block of wood; the artist then carves away the areas that will not be inked, leaving the design raised on the surface. The linear quality of the print, evident in the king's robe and crown, comes directly from the character of the wood. Notice how the artist used varied densities of hatching to create tone. The relative ease and low cost of woodcut made it ideal for distributing images and texts widely, particularly during the rise of the printing press. It is a process intimately tied to the spread of knowledge and culture and, of course, to the world of commerce and production. The labor involved in producing woodcuts –from the felling of the tree to the cutting of the block– is a reminder that all images, even those that seem simple, are the result of skilled work and a complex material history. By considering the methods and means of production, we gain a deeper understanding of this artwork's cultural and historical context.