Opstanding - Doen Pietersz.

A sixteenth-century Dutch woodcut depicting the Resurrection of Christ, featuring hand-coloured details and traditional Northern Renaissance iconography.

This hand-coloured woodcut by Doen Pietersz. depicts the Resurrection of Christ, a subject frequently explored in early sixteenth-century Dutch printmaking. The composition follows traditional iconographic conventions: Christ rises from the tomb, his figure surrounded by a radiant mandorla, while the soldiers guarding the sepulchre react with alarm and confusion. The artist employs a clear, linear style typical of the period, where the woodcut lines define the forms before the application of colour.

Pietersz. was an active printer and publisher in Amsterdam during the early decades of the sixteenth century. His work often appeared in devotional books, where small-scale illustrations provided visual narratives for the accompanying texts. The figures are rendered with a focus on narrative clarity rather than anatomical precision, reflecting the stylistic priorities of contemporary book illustration. The soldiers are dressed in anachronistic armour, a common practice in Northern Renaissance art to bring biblical events into the viewer's own time.

The hand-colouring adds a layer of visual interest to the print, with the use of primary colours helping to distinguish the figures from the background. The presence of the monogram 'IMA' within the print suggests its inclusion in a larger series or a specific publication. This piece offers an insight into the production of religious imagery in the Netherlands before the full impact of the Reformation altered the demand for such devotional works. The print remains a representative example of the technical and aesthetic standards of Dutch woodcut production during the early modern era, demonstrating the collaborative nature of printmaking where design, carving, and colouring were often distinct stages in the creation of a final image.