The Pictorial Language of German Art, 1400–1650

Summary

The Buxheim St. Christopher (1423, fig. 1) is a simple yet elegant print. When conceiving this image the south German (Swabian?) artist had to consider the choice of medium (a woodcut), of subject (St. Christopher carrying the Christ Child across a river), of mood (the surprised expression of St. Christopher contrasted with the calmness of the Christ Child), of composition (where to place the figures, the river, and other secondary features), and of aesthetics (a qualitative and economic-based decision to add delicate color washes to supplement the black ink on white paper). Each determination affected the potential audience for and functions of the print.

These decisions are integral features of a pictorial language that is unique to every work of art and its maker. Much like a writer choosing a genre of literature and a distinctive way of phrasing words, the artist, whether alone or in collaboration with other masters, devises a visual text. The following essay does not pretend to be a balanced survey of German art of the early modern period, which would be impossible to do in a single essay. Instead, I wish to use both familiar and unfamiliar images to consider the creative means by which artists and audiences communicated. The style of an object was individual to a particular master yet part of the broader visual language of the period. One must learn how to read such images. The nuances of form and the expectations of the reader/viewer can be just as varied as a poem is to an epic text. Frequently, as in the St. Christopher woodcut, image and text are combined to enhance the possible dialogue between audience and object. The occasional duet between visual and verbal languages will be a subtheme of our discussion.

The Buxheim St. Christopher, dated to 1423, is one of the oldest extant woodcuts made in the German-speaking lands. During the late fourteenth century, blocks of wood were cut to make designs that could be stamped onto textiles. As paper gradually became more available following the establishment of the first documented paper mill in Nuremberg in 1390, the artistic and commercial possibilities of printmaking soon became evident. An image like St. Christopher could be produced inexpensively in large quantities. Often several hundred copies could be pulled before the woodblock physically wore down. For the first time, a work of art was widely reproducible.