Christ Carrying the Cross

c. 1470/1480

German 15th Century

Associated Names
This print shows a group of six people. In the center is a bearded man with long hair wearing a robe and holding a large wooden cross over his shoulder, facing the left. There is a halo around his head, and a streak of green paint has been applied over what appears to be a crown made of twisting lines that he wears. Another bearded man stands behind him on the right, holding the bottom of the cross. On the left, a person wearing armor holds the end of a robe that appears to be tied to the central man, and with his other hand he raises a club-like weapon. Three more people stand in the background, observing. The two people on the right, near the upper right corner of the print, have halos around their heads; one is a person with shoulder-length hair, and the other is a person with a dotted cloth draped over their head and around their body. In the upper right corner, there is a hint of a brown building with two tall towers, and on the left there is a sloping shape. The sky is blank, and the ground beneath the people's feet is green and covered with dots and small grass. The central image is surrounded by a yellow border filled with curved lines. Paint has been applied unevenly to the print, and the color frequently bleeds beyond the lines of the people and objects.

Media Options

This object’s media is free and in the public domain. Read our full Open Access policy for images.

Artwork overview

  • Medium

    metalcut, hand-colored in yellow, red-brown lake, and green

  • Credit Line

    Rosenwald Collection

  • Dimensions

    sheet: 6.3 × 4.8 cm (2 1/2 × 1 7/8 in.)

  • Accession Number

    1943.3.667

  • Catalogue Raisonné

    Schreiber, Vol. IX, no. 2305, State d

  • Series Title

    Eight Scenes from a Passion Set


Artwork history & notes

Provenance

Martin Aufhäuser [1875-1944], Munich, Holland, and Los Angeles; [1] Lessing J. Rosenwald, Jenkintown, PA; gift to NGA, 1943.
[1] For complete information on Aufhäuser's collection, see Rosenwald Papers, box 9, and Richard S. Field, Fifteenth Century Woodcuts and Metalcuts, Washington, D.C., 1965, Preface (np).

Associated Names

Exhibition History

1965

  • Fifteenth-Century Woodcuts and Metalcuts from the Collection of the National Gallery of Art, NGA, 1965-1966, no. 326, repro.

Bibliography

1926

  • Schreiber, Wilhelm Ludwig. Handbuch de Holz- und Metailschnitte des XV Jahrhunderts. 8 vols. Leipzig: Verlag Karl W. Hierseman, 1926-1930.

1965

  • Field, Richard S. Fifteenth Century Woodcuts and Metalcuts from the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.. Exh. cat. Washington: National Gallery of Art, 1965.

Watermarks

none

Wikidata ID

Q64953199

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