The acquisition of seven early hand-coloured engravings from the prayer book of an Utrecht nun and the return of a wartime loss, the Book of Hours for Autun printed in 1506 and illustrated with metalcuts, provide a welcome opportunity to take a closer look at the subject of books and images. The exhibition opens with examples of hand-painted book illuminations, followed by printed images for handwritten books like the recently acquired engravings by the Master of the Dutuit Mount of Olives and the Master of the Martyrdom of the Ten Thousand. Representative examples of important techniques and themes – large-format images of Christ Crucified, singe-sheet prints, coloured woodcuts of popular saints as well as special printing techniques such as dotted prints and white-line woodcuts – shed more light on this development. At the profane end of the development is the oldest known printed playing card.
