Germany: 'The Fall'. Woodblock print by Albrecht Durer (21 May 1471 - 6 April 1528), c. 1500. Albrecht Durer was a German printmaker, painter and theorist active during the German Renaissance. Hailing from Nuremberg, his high-quality woodcut prints made him influential and reputable across Europe, and he was in contact with major contemporary Italian artists such as Raphael and Leonardo da Vinci. From 1512 onwards he was patronised by Emperor Maximilian I. His vast body of work included woodcut prints, altarpieces, portraits and self-portraits, watercolours and his preferred engravings.
Woodcut—formally known as xylography—is a relief printing artistic technique in printmaking in which an image is carved into the surface of a block of wood, with the printing parts remaining level with the surface while the non-printing parts are removed, typically with gouges. The areas to show 'white' are cut away with a knife or chisel, leaving the characters or image to show in 'black' at the original surface level. The block is cut along the grain of the wood (unlike wood engraving where the block is cut in the end-grain). In Europe beechwood was most commonly used; in Japan, a special type of cherry wood was preferred. The surface is covered with ink by rolling over the surface with an ink-covered roller (brayer), leaving ink upon the flat surface but not in the non-printing areas.
Size: 4145px × 4218px
Photo credit: © Pictures From History / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
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