The Carrying of the Cross

Ludwig of Ulm

Artist, German, active 1450/1470

This woodblock print showing a man carrying a T-shaped cross surrounded by five other people is created with black outlines, which are colored in with washes of red, tan, green, and yellow. Some unpainted areas of the paper remain cream white, including the faces and hands of the people. At the center of the composition, the man carrying the cross, Jesus, is shown bearded and wearing a long tan robe. He bends over facing our right as he carries the cross across his shoulders and along his back. A green band encircles his head and a yellow halo with three red points surrounds his head. Faint red drops trickle down his face. He looks back to our left toward a person supporting the long end of the cross. That bearded person wears a green cowl over his head and shoulders, a red tunic, yellow stockings, and black shoes. A man wearing a helmet and carrying a hammer pulls a rope tied around Jesus's waist. Another man behind Jesus to our left wears a red robe and cap, and points to our right. Two haloed women with white cloths covering their heads and red and white garments follow the cross to our left.

Media Options

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Artwork overview

  • Medium

    hand-colored woodcut (blockbook page)

  • Credit Line

    Andrew W. Mellon Fund

  • Dimensions

    Overall: 11 x 7.9 cm (4 5/16 x 3 1/8 in.)
    overall (external frame dimensions): 59.7 x 44.5 cm (23 1/2 x 17 1/2 in.)

  • Accession

    1968.18.3


Artwork history & notes

Exhibition History

2005

  • Origins of European Printmaking: Fifteenth-Century Woodcuts and Their Public, NGA and Germanisches Nationalmuseum, Nuremberg, 2005-2006, no. 64c, repro.

Watermarks

none visible

Wikidata ID

Q65511085


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