Jakob zegent Efraïm en Manasse - Veit Rudolf Specklin

A sixteenth-century woodcut by Veit Rudolf Specklin depicting the biblical scene of Jacob blessing Ephraim and Manasseh.

This woodcut depicts the biblical narrative of Jacob blessing his grandsons, Ephraim and Manasseh. Veit Rudolf Specklin, a German artist active in the sixteenth century, employs the characteristic graphic language of the period to render this domestic scene. The composition centres on the elderly Jacob, who reclines in a bed, his hands extended to bestow a blessing upon the kneeling figures before him. Joseph, the father of the boys, stands to the right, guiding their position, while another figure observes from the left.

The work displays the technical conventions of mid-sixteenth-century printmaking. Specklin uses parallel hatching and cross-hatching to define form, shadow, and the folds of the garments. The spatial arrangement is relatively shallow, typical of woodcuts intended for book illustration, where the narrative clarity takes precedence over atmospheric perspective. The bed, with its simple frame and draped canopy, provides a domestic setting that grounds the theological event in a recognisable human context. The figures are rendered with a focus on gesture and posture, conveying the solemnity of the transmission of the patriarchal blessing.

Specklin, who was also known for his work as an architect and engineer in Strasbourg, brought a disciplined approach to his graphic output. This print reflects the broader tradition of German woodcut illustration, which sought to make biblical stories accessible through clear, readable imagery. The lines are firm and deliberate, reflecting the physical demands of carving into a woodblock. The print serves as a record of the stylistic preferences of the era, where the emphasis lay on the legibility of the narrative and the balanced distribution of figures within the frame. It is a representative example of the functional, illustrative art that circulated widely during the Reformation period.