Stencil woodcut from the 19th century. Until 1790, woodcuts were cut on board along the grain. A certain Thomas Bewick developed a technique for cutting the design across (he used the soft and finely grained boxwood for this purpose). The new technique and the use of small styluses made it possible to render the drawing extremely accurately and realistically, showing every detail and particularity. This can be seen perfectly in the image of the gentleman presented here. Just look at the oriental costume of the Bosnian shepherd - every detail, be it the shirt buttons or embroidered socks, not to mention the Turkish yatagana, rifle and two small arms clipped behind the belt, is rendered with great reverence.
The creator of the woodcut is a certain Theodore Valerio (1819-1879), whose camouflaged signature we can find on the graphic - but it is done in mirror technique. Why? Well, probably because the easel woodcuts were mirror images of the reproduced object (incidentally, the artists used a mirror when working). The author's signature on the original drawing was written normally, while on the wooden form it came out in a mirror image. It is completely different with the signatures of the engravers who worked on the work and also put their signatures on the works.
The woodcut is framed in a green passe partout frame and a wooden frame with gilding and a glass pane.
Dimensions:
In frame: 460 x 350 mm, in passe partout alone: 430 x 320 mm, woodcut alone: approx. 325 x 230 mm.
