The Image as Weapon

The Reformation proved a hard lesson for anyone in power: once images were cheap, control of the message slipped.

• Luther's anti-papal woodcuts reached illiterate audiences who couldn't read his theological texts
• Cranach's Wittenberg workshop gave Protestantism a shared visual language of corrupt popes and humble reformers
• Dürer built the first international art brand through reproducible engravings

The printing press didn't just spread words. It weaponized images. And once a picture could be copied for almost nothing, no pope, king, or institution could fully control the visual narrative again.