16th Century Chiaroscuro Woodcut
(images to follow)
Historic Overview
Death was a part of life in the Middle Ages and Renaissance. Memento Mori (literally “remember death”) are small objects made to help the Medieval European contemplate death and living a moral and Christian life. These objects vary from mirror cases, paternosters and paintings to almost any everyday object that could be used as a devotional. From my own observation it is one of the most commonly found objects of this subject matter in woodcut prints and engravings. Death, in fact, seems to be the second most popular theme to woodcuts-religious “life of saint(s)” appears most often.
All woodcuts and wood engravings work on cutting away everything that one does not wish to print, this is not to be confused with metal engraving (aka intaglio printing) where one cuts in the lines that one wishes to print. [1]
The most commonly known woodcut artist is Albrect Durer. While Durer was known for his prints. There is a much wider world in woodcuts and wood engravings with many different styles. The “chiaroscuro” is unique for using multiple woodcuts, inked in varying shades or colors to give more depth to the image. It was most commonly used in Germany and Italy in the sixteenth century. [2]
The Design
The designs of these memento mori vary from dancing skeletons to simply skulls. Live people may or may not be present. For the sake of the wood type I was using I choose a simple skull on a table with a message above it. One can find a similar image in the painting by Andrea Previtali. I choose to change the writing to a common saying in memento mori, “Fui quod es, Eris quod sum” (As You are, I was - As I am, You will be). I first thought I would need three plates, so designed the piece with light, medium and black areas, but in the cutting of the black “key” plate, I found that I could get enough variants in shading by varying my cuts. I decided to combine the two lighter ones together. I may have lost a little in the ribbon, but all in all, it made for a more sophisticated cut.
The Process
The preferred wood for creating woodcuts in period was boxwood, which is a slow growing, dense wood cut on the endgrain. [3] It is very expensive. There are modern manmade equivalents, but I didn’t want to go that far away from the original ideal so I opted for a cherry plywood that would allow me to cut a reasonable amount of detail without chipping. I have included individual prints of both plates to show you how they fit together as well as how they look separately.
After the first cutting, the only way to truly test your print is to print it. Once printed there is almost no way to get the ink all the way off the block so one uses talc rubbed into the cuts to read where to fix the cuts (it’s always better to under-cut and re-cut than the opposite) because the image you cut must be the mirror image to what you want to print.
I did use a modern press to print the image. A period press is much too large and expensive for me to own. The basic difference between my little press and a period press is that mine uses the pressure of two rollers to press the image into the paper, whereas a period press one uses a press plate that moves up and down.
The paper I choose is a cotton [4] rag true laid paper. Until around 1730-1750, European paper was created on laid woven molds. [5]
I will be going into mind numbing detail about this process on my blog (livejournal.com/bonacorsi) by next week if you are interested.
[1] Hind, Arthur H.; An Introduction to a History of Woodcut; Dover Publications, Inc. New York, New York, 1935;
page 1
[2] Hind; page 23
[3] Hind; page 8-9
[4] European papermakers used cotton, hemp, and flax in period. The earliest records of western papermaking refer to a cotton paper called Carte de bambace.(Hunter, pg 50) By 1228, Emperor Frederick II banned the use of cotton paper for chancery documents. (Hunter, pg 60) Because of the relative scarcity of cotton and its perishability, most European paper was made with linen and hemp, with a little cotton occasionally in the mix.
[5] Hunter, Dard: Papermaking; The History and Technique of an Ancient Craft; Alfred A. Knopf; New York, New York; page 125
Historic Overview
Death was a part of life in the Middle Ages and Renaissance. Memento Mori (literally “remember death”) are small objects made to help the Medieval European contemplate death and living a moral and Christian life. These objects vary from mirror cases, paternosters and paintings to almost any everyday object that could be used as a devotional. From my own observation it is one of the most commonly found objects of this subject matter in woodcut prints and engravings. Death, in fact, seems to be the second most popular theme to woodcuts-religious “life of saint(s)” appears most often.
All woodcuts and wood engravings work on cutting away everything that one does not wish to print, this is not to be confused with metal engraving (aka intaglio printing) where one cuts in the lines that one wishes to print. [1]
The most commonly known woodcut artist is Albrect Durer. While Durer was known for his prints. There is a much wider world in woodcuts and wood engravings with many different styles. The “chiaroscuro” is unique for using multiple woodcuts, inked in varying shades or colors to give more depth to the image. It was most commonly used in Germany and Italy in the sixteenth century. [2]
The Design
The designs of these memento mori vary from dancing skeletons to simply skulls. Live people may or may not be present. For the sake of the wood type I was using I choose a simple skull on a table with a message above it. One can find a similar image in the painting by Andrea Previtali. I choose to change the writing to a common saying in memento mori, “Fui quod es, Eris quod sum” (As You are, I was - As I am, You will be). I first thought I would need three plates, so designed the piece with light, medium and black areas, but in the cutting of the black “key” plate, I found that I could get enough variants in shading by varying my cuts. I decided to combine the two lighter ones together. I may have lost a little in the ribbon, but all in all, it made for a more sophisticated cut.
The Process
The preferred wood for creating woodcuts in period was boxwood, which is a slow growing, dense wood cut on the endgrain. [3] It is very expensive. There are modern manmade equivalents, but I didn’t want to go that far away from the original ideal so I opted for a cherry plywood that would allow me to cut a reasonable amount of detail without chipping. I have included individual prints of both plates to show you how they fit together as well as how they look separately.
After the first cutting, the only way to truly test your print is to print it. Once printed there is almost no way to get the ink all the way off the block so one uses talc rubbed into the cuts to read where to fix the cuts (it’s always better to under-cut and re-cut than the opposite) because the image you cut must be the mirror image to what you want to print.
I did use a modern press to print the image. A period press is much too large and expensive for me to own. The basic difference between my little press and a period press is that mine uses the pressure of two rollers to press the image into the paper, whereas a period press one uses a press plate that moves up and down.
The paper I choose is a cotton [4] rag true laid paper. Until around 1730-1750, European paper was created on laid woven molds. [5]
I will be going into mind numbing detail about this process on my blog (livejournal.com/bonacorsi) by next week if you are interested.
[1] Hind, Arthur H.; An Introduction to a History of Woodcut; Dover Publications, Inc. New York, New York, 1935;
page 1
[2] Hind; page 23
[3] Hind; page 8-9
[4] European papermakers used cotton, hemp, and flax in period. The earliest records of western papermaking refer to a cotton paper called Carte de bambace.(Hunter, pg 50) By 1228, Emperor Frederick II banned the use of cotton paper for chancery documents. (Hunter, pg 60) Because of the relative scarcity of cotton and its perishability, most European paper was made with linen and hemp, with a little cotton occasionally in the mix.
[5] Hunter, Dard: Papermaking; The History and Technique of an Ancient Craft; Alfred A. Knopf; New York, New York; page 125