The most charming early Bible illustrations are the hand-tinted woodcuts in De Bibel Int Carte (Antwerp, 1516): Adam and Eve, Cain and Abel, Noah's Ark, the Tower of Babel, the Offering of Isaac, Joseph and His Brethren, Moses in the Nile and at the Burning Bush, David and Goliath, and Solomon and His Temple. The whole gamut of biblical heroes are portrayed in a reverent yet gently whimsical manner. There is a touching naivete about place and persons. The colors, pale pastel, do not compete with but enhance the delineating woodcut lines. As conceptions of a pious believer fully at home with heroes of his faith-who are nonetheless familiar friends-living with them and sharing their adventures, these portraits are unsurpassed. They are as endearing to the reader as they were dear to the artist. The serpent who intruded into the lives of Adam and Eve is not so much evil as sly and slimy. The ark of Noah is everybody's overburdened boat. Abraham greeting his angelic guests is the genial host, his geniality made possible by a wife in the background busy with her chores. It is not that we enter their world but that they enter ours, which makes it so much more comfortable to be with them and to learn from them. The illustrations, aesthetically entertaining, become pedagogically powerful.
