Christus verschijnt aan de ongelovige Tomas - Doen Pietersz.

A hand-coloured woodcut from the early sixteenth century depicting the biblical scene of the Incredulity of Saint Thomas.

This hand-coloured woodcut by the Dutch printer and publisher Doen Pietersz. depicts the biblical narrative of the Incredulity of Saint Thomas. The scene captures the moment when the resurrected Christ invites Thomas to touch the wound in his side, a subject frequently explored in Northern Renaissance art to examine themes of faith and physical evidence.

Pietersz. employs a direct, graphic style characteristic of early sixteenth-century book illustration. The composition is tightly arranged, focusing on the central figures of Christ and Thomas, while the surrounding disciples are rendered in a compressed space. Christ holds a tall cross-staff, his body marked by the stigmata, while Thomas kneels in a gesture of humble inquiry. The use of bold, black outlines provides structure to the figures, which are then filled with flat, applied colour. This technique was common for prints intended for inclusion in devotional books or pamphlets, where clarity and narrative legibility were prioritised over atmospheric perspective.

The background features a dark, star-filled sky, which contrasts with the golden halo radiating from Christ, drawing the viewer's eye to the centre of the action. The print reflects the aesthetic of the period, where woodcut production served as a primary medium for disseminating religious imagery to a wider audience. The physical presence of the paper, visible in the surrounding margins of the original book page, provides context for the work as a functional object of religious instruction. The artist's monogram is visible at the base of the print, a common practice for printmakers of the era to claim their work within the competitive market of Amsterdam's early printing industry.