Matrix of Confusion. The Production of Woodcut Illustrations in Poland-Lithuania and Prussia

The practice of reusing woodcut blocks and their circulation between printing houses was common in the early modern era but has not yet been the subject of systematic study. The aim of the project was to assess the scale of this phenomenon and to analyse its various aspects, such as the longevity of the use of the woodblocks, their modifications, the circumstances of making copies and, most importantly, the diversity of contexts in which identical or very similar woodcuts appeared. 1 The woodcuts under study mostly formed cycles of illustrations, making the differences between successive editions of the same work a separate issue, as were the relationships between repetitive, though not always identical, sets of illustrations and series of woodcut blocks.

The research showed that both the creation of the woodcut block series and their use were complex processes. Some blocks underwent natural wear and tear, while others were deliberately modified. Missing items were sometimes replaced with copies, and regardless of this, the series was often supplemented with new elements or combined with blocks from other sets. Only some series were designed and created as a coherent whole, but even these gradually lost their integrity over time. Separate issues include the use of particular woodcuts in unexpected contexts or, on the contrary, the disuse (more precisely, no signs of use) of certain blocks from the original set.

A good example of these phenomena is a woodcut with scenes from the Old Testament story of Jacob agreeing to herd Laban’s sheep in order to earn the hand of his daughter, Rachel (Gen 29:1-15). This image was impressed from a woodblock that belongs to a series produced in Wittenberg and used there to illustrate the German translation of the Bible in 1534 (fig. 1) Subsequently, the series was used, consistently to illustrate the Bible, in Prague and, finally, in Krakow. 2 Along the way, the set was enriched with new elements, some blocks were modified and some disappeared, an example of which is the scene of Jacob herding Laban’s sheep. In the Krakow editions of the Polish translation of the Bible, this story is accompanied by a different woodcut, modelled after a more contemporary German design. At the Jagiellonian University Museum Collegium Maius, where a significant part of the woodblocks from the Wittenberg series have been preserved to this day, the scene of Jacob herding sheep is absent. It suggests the possibility that this particular block remained in Prague. However, it cannot be traced in later Czech prints either. Has it therefore been destroyed? It turns out that it did arrive in Krakow but remained unused for a long time. It was only the end of the 17th century that it was finally used for illustrations – not in a religious print, but in a popular farming manual by Jakub Kazimierz Haur where, incidentally, it does not accompany discussions on sheep breeding, but a treatise “on farm poultry” (fig. 2).

At the same time, this case demonstrates the fundamental challenge that is inherent in this type of research. How can one define in advance the chronological, geographical and genre scope of the material when it is impossible to predict the time, area and contexts of use of the woodblocks? Another challenge is the diversity of relationships being analysed, involving a wide range of objects: material objects (woodcut blocks, impressions, copies of books), virtual entities (iconographic themes, designs materialised in prints and literary works materialised in books), as well as people and places.

The answer to both challenges is an advanced digital tool being developed by the project – the Urus service (https://urus.uw.edu.pl/). It combines the function of a website and a publicly accessible database. It collects information on thousands of woodcut blocks and impressions used in various contexts. At the same time, this tool enables the analysis of a variety of relationships: from the material conditions of print production and their changing contexts to tracing the reception paths of woodcuts reproduced by the use of different graphic techniques.

Illustrations

Fig. 1 Jacob herding sheep, in: Biblia, das ist, die gantze Heilige Schrifft Deudsch, Wittenberg: Hans Lufft, 1534, vol. 1, fol. XXr (Regensburg, Staatliche Bibliothek, 999/2Script.366; photo NoC-NC/1.0) https://www.digitale-sammlungen.de/en/view/bsb11059032?page=71

Fig. 2 Jacob herding sheep, in: Jakub Kazimierz Haur, Skład abo skarbiec znakomity sekretow oekonomiey ziemianskiey, Krakow: Mikołaj Aleksander Schedel, 1693, p. 116 (Warsaw, National Library, SD W.3.112; photo POLONA) https://polona.pl/item/sklad-abo-skarbiec-znakomity-sekretow-oekonomiey-ziemianskiey,MzMyOTkxNg/76/#item