Abraham Entertaining the Angels by Rembrandt van Rijn

Lucas van Leyden, The Poet Virgil Suspended in a Basket, c. 1512, woodcut, National Gallery of Art, Washington, Gift of W.G. Russell Allen 1941.1.170

The technique of woodcut, seen here in an example by the artist Lucas van Leyden, was practiced and perfected in earlier centuries. Woodcut is a relief process in which the printmaker carves away wood to create raised lines. When inked and pressed against a sheet of paper, the lines form the image. The background areas, being carved out, remain blank.