Printing blocks by Christoffel van Sichem II: a long life for 17th-century woodcuts

Since the invention of printing in Europe around 1450, book illustrations were engraved in wood blocks and the blocks were then printed to illuminate the texts. While countless early modern books were illustrated with such woodcuts, the blocks themselves have been lost in most cases. It is therefore a rare circumstance that eighty original 17th-century printing blocks by the Amsterdam printmaker Christoffel van Sichem II (1581-1658) have been preserved in the collection of Utrecht University Library.

The woodcut (a form of relief printing, like a stamp) remained the most important illustration technique until the sixteenth century, when copper engraving (a form of intaglio printing, the lines of the image are recessed in the printing plate) gradually took over this role. However, woodcuts continued to be used until the 19th century, especially for cheap and popular print.

Van Sichem – the second of four generations of engravers with the same name and monogram – remained faithful to the technique of woodcutting well into the 17th century. The blocks in the Utrecht collection depict biblical scenes that were largely used in the Biblia Sacra that is De geheele Heylighe Schrifture (Amsterdam, 1657), published by Van Sichem's most important patron and publisher: Pieter Jacobsz. Paets (1587–after 1657) (fig. 1). Paets printed this richly illustrated Catholic bible by order of the bishop of Antwerp, thus succeeding Jan Moretus I, who published the first version in 1599.

Printing blocks from the series by Christoffel van Sichem II

The quality and craftsmanship are immediately apparent when looking at the blocks: the images measure only about 10 by 8 cm, but contain a wealth of details that must have been carved with a very fine knife in the hard wood (probably from fruit trees such as pear or cherry).

Although the 80 blocks have been in the possession of Utrecht University Library since 1974, no research has been done on them (yet). In the 1990s, the blocks were printed on the university library's treadle platen press, upon which occasion they were given their current numbering from 1 to 80 (which does not follow the order of the Bible stories). Where did these blocks come from and what has happened to them since Van Sichem cut them in the 17th century? Can modern 3D reproduction techniques help reconcile the blocks' current status as cultural heritage with their original function as utilitarian objects, as printing blocks? These are the questions I investigated for my master's thesis on Art History in 2024.

15th-century bibles as examples

The printing blocks follow the imagery of biblical representations from the 15th and 16th centuries. Van Sichem, like so many others, was a copyist of well-known compositions from painting and printmaking. In 1981, the Flemish researcher Pierre Meulepas catalogued Van Sichem's 843 different woodcuts from the Biblia Sacra of 1657 (several of which were printed multiple times, resulting in a total of 1209 illustrations in this bible edition). On the basis of this catalogue, I indexed all eighty blocks and came to the conclusion that they went back mainly to four standard editions in the history of German print bibles (illustration series by Hans Holbein the Younger, Virgil Solis and Hans Sebald Beham) and a series by the Wierix brothers, the most important engravers of the Antwerp printer Christopher Plantin.

Origins and dissemination – from Armenian murals to children's bibles

Printing block: Jesus in the temple

Apart from the Biblia Sacra of 1657, most of the printing blocks had already been used in various earlier 17th-century publications by Paets. After Paets' death, some of the blocks were used by the Armenian printer Voskan Yerevantsi (1614-1674), who had settled in Amsterdam and was the first to publish a bible here in his native language. This Armenian Bible edition ensured that Van Sichem's work became a standard imagery for Armenian religious art. Block 4, depicting Christ with the teachers in the temple, can be recognised, for example, in the Vank Cathedral in Yerevantsi's hometown of Julfa, in present-day Iran.

Murals in the Vank cathedral in Julfa. Source: Wikipedia/Bernard Gagnon

The printing blocks reappear in the 18th century, when they were used in children's bibles, which, as in the 16th and 17th centuries, applied an emblematic structure (motto, image, verse) for religious lessons. Van Sichem's printing blocks were an efficient source of images for 18th-century printers, as they were already available and could be printed at the same time as the text (unlike copper engravings, which have to be printed on a different kind of press than the text). The educational bible Bybels Lusthof was successively printed by three publishers in Amsterdam and Utrecht in six editions. The first edition was by the firm Hendrik Walpot of Dordrecht in 1739. This edition has unfortunately not survived, but a reprint from around 1750 shows that woodcuts of poor quality based on Van Sichem's prints were used. The Amsterdam publisher Jan Klooster subsequently used Van Sichem's original set of printing blocks in his editions of 1740, 1743 and 1759 respectively. Kemink and son in Utrecht published the last known edition in 1779, also with blocks from this series. Klooster must have been delighted to get his hands on the original printing blocks. Kemink, in turn, must have acquired them from Klooster between 1759 and 1779.

The acquisition of the woodblocks by the University Library in 1974 was arranged by Kemink's last director, S.A. de Jager. Did the blocks lie in the attic at the publishing house for almost two centuries? Were they used during that period in publications that have not been preserved? We don't know. What we do know is that between 1617 and 1779 the printing blocks were used again and again, for a variety of bible editions and edifying works.

Damage

Splitting and glueing of printing block Jonah and the whale

Printing block 80 (fig. 3), depicting Jonah and the whale (Jonah 1:1-17), is one of six blocks in the series that is damaged: the wood has split and was later repaired with hardboard and white plastic. In the above-mentioned prints from the 18th century, each edition shows how the splitting of the wood continued to increase. This indicates that over a period of nearly four decades, increasing damage was considered acceptable and an art historical appreciation, as is the case today, was not an issue.

Damaged printing block Jonah and the whale

3D reproduction: A new life for the printing blocks

Now that the printing blocks are kept as collection objects because of their art historical importance, they lose an important part of their original functionality. After all, printing is no longer possible because the library wants to protect the heritage.

3D print op kersenhout
3D print on cherrywood
3D print Jonah and the whale

To be able to use the printing blocks again without further damaging the fragile wood, an attempt was made to digitise them (3D scanning) and reprint them as 3D prints, in collaboration with the ArtLab and Lili’s Proto Lab. Several  scanning techniques were employed to capture the fine details of the blocks in a simulation. Subsequently, two variant 3D prints of block 80 (Jonah and the whale) were printed on the same treadle platen press on which the original blocks were printed in the 1990s. Against all expectations, this gave fairly quick results, especially after we replaced the modern paper with thicker and more flexible rag paper, handmade according to historical methods. Although the 3D prints could not yet match the sophistication of the original woodcuts, this experiment provided useful insights into the possibilities of digital conservation and re-construction. A valuable and interesting first step was thus taken.

3D-scan of printing block 80, lack of detail. Photo: Cuno Balfoort.

The Renaissance of the woodcuts

The study of Van Sichem's printing blocks not only reveals the rich history of printmaking, but also sheds light on new techniques in digital conservation. The 3D reproduction of the printing blocks opens doors for future research and makes it possible to re-experience the original function of these objects. Above all, I hope that the printing blocks will receive the appreciation they deserve from the research community and that more researchers will study these unique items from the art and cultural history of the Northern Netherlands. We can then rightly speak of a new chapter in the long life of Christoffel van Sichem II's woodcuts.

Author

Ralph Zijlemans, September 2024

Special thanks to Cuno Balfoort, the Utrecht University ArtLab and Lili's Proto Lab