St. James Major, from the series Apostles

German artist Ludolph Büsinck was one of only a handful of seventeenth-century printmakers to promote chiaroscuro woodcuts and was the first to work with the printing method in France. In Paris, he produced woodcuts after drawings by Georges Lallemand—a mannerist painter, draughtsman, and printmaker—for publisher Melchior Tavernier. “Saint James Major” depicts the New Testament apostle from the waist up in three-quarter view holding a pilgrimage staff in his left hand and a book in his right. On his back hangs a hat decorated with pilgrimage-related insignia, including scallop shells referencing Santiago de Campostela, the primary pilgrimage site for Saint James. Büsinck formed the print using three woodblocks printing tan, brown, and black inks.