A Heavenly Craft: The Woodcut in Early Printed Books is a Library of Congress exhibition that presents for the first time all the woodcut-illustrated books purchased by Lessing J. Rosenwald at the Dyson Perrins sale, now part of the legendary Rosenwald Collection at the Library of Congress. These books were printed within the first century after Gutenberg mastered the art of printing with moveable type.
 
Bron: loc.gov/exhibits/heavenlycraft

Cardinal Juan de Torquemada’s Meditations on the life of Christ,
a cornerstone of Italian book illustration, is thought to be the first Italian book illustrated with a series of woodcut images. The first edition was printed in Rome in 1467 by the German printer Ulrich Han. The copy displayed here is the fourth edition, printed Stephan Plannck, Han’s apprentice who took over the business after his death. The designs of the thirty-three woodcuts, though considered rough by some early critics, are distinguished by their spaciousness, clarity, and economy of line, all important characteristics of the Italian woodcut before 1490.

These woodcuts of Adam and Eve in the Garden and The Annunciation are simply constructed, gracefully executed, and eminently accessible to the viewer. A sensuousness in the lines that define Adam’s torso and the fine turn of Eve’s ankle suggests a developed sense of artistic possibility. This emphasis on the physical form demonstrates a new artistic awareness that was developing in Italian woodcut design during the early Renaissance.
 
Bron: loc.gov