estampas

Estampa is a term used in Spanish to denote a printed image produced by a printing process, such as woodcut, copperplate engraving, etching, lithography, or later photographic reproduction. The plural estampas covers a broad range of printed pictures, from secular illustrations to devotional images. In many Spanish- and Portuguese-speaking cultures, estampas have a long tradition as affordable religious images used in private worship and popular culture.

Religious estampas, known as estampas religiosas, were especially widespread from the 16th to 19th centuries. They commonly depict saints, the Virgin Mary, Jesus, biblical scenes, or Marian icons, and circulated as single sheets, part of devotional booklets, or as ex-votos offerings. They served educational and ceremonial purposes and were distributed in markets, fairs, parish churches, and bookshops. In addition to religious subjects, estampas include secular prints: portraits, landscapes, genre scenes, and book illustrations produced by engravers, woodcut artists, or lithographers.

Techniques evolved over time: from copperplate engravings and woodcuts to lithographs and later photographic processes, which allowed greater repetition and lower cost. The term is also used in art history to categorize such works regardless of technique, and in some contexts may overlap with etchings or mezzotints.

Today, estampas remain objects of study for art historians and are collected by museums and private collectors. Modern artists continue the practice of producing limited-edition prints and posters, expanding the term beyond traditional religious or illustrative purposes.