Drie Maria's bij het graf - Doen Pietersz.

A sixteenth-century hand-coloured woodcut by Doen Pietersz. depicting the Three Marys at the tomb of Christ.

This hand-coloured woodcut by the Dutch printer and publisher Doen Pietersz. depicts the biblical scene of the Three Marys arriving at the tomb of Christ. The composition follows the conventions of early sixteenth-century Northern European book illustration, where narrative clarity and symbolic detail take precedence over naturalistic perspective. The figures are arranged in a profile orientation, with the central Mary holding an ointment jar, a traditional attribute associated with the visit to the sepulchre.

The woodcut technique is characterised by firm, descriptive outlines that define the drapery of the garments and the contours of the landscape. The application of colour, likely added by hand shortly after printing, provides a distinct visual separation between the figures and the background. The rocky terrain and the suggestion of foliage are rendered with schematic patterns, typical of the period's approach to representing outdoor settings in small-scale devotional works.

Doen Pietersz. operated in Amsterdam during the early decades of the sixteenth century, producing various illustrated texts that circulated among a literate and pious audience. This specific print demonstrates the functional nature of such imagery, which was intended to accompany religious texts and aid in meditation. The inclusion of the artist's monogram within the upper right corner of the print is a common practice for the era, identifying the workshop responsible for the block's production. The work remains a clear example of the graphic arts in the Netherlands before the widespread adoption of more complex etching techniques. Its preservation within a bound volume suggests its original purpose as a page illustration, maintaining the integrity of the printed line alongside the added pigments.