Pilate Washing His Hands

1512

Albrecht Dürer

Associated Names
Albrecht Dürer

Artist, German, 1471 - 1528

This print shows a scene with several people by a large wall or building. The central person has a tall hat and is kneeling on a set of steps. They face the left and have distinctive facial features, with a prominent upper lip, upturned nose, and long chin. They hold a large pitcher that they are pouring on to the hands of a seated person at the top of the steps who has a curling beard and moustache and wears a cloth turban. Behind these two is a third person in a flat-topped hat who leans down to watch the water being poured. Behind these people, at the bottom of the steps, there is a group of people with tall crosses and weapons. One person who is turned away from us appears to be wearing a circle of branches or twigs around their head. In the background, there is a fortified town with peaked roofs and towers on a hill that lies next to a body of water.

Media Options

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Artwork overview

  • Medium

    engraving on laid paper

  • Credit Line

    Rosenwald Collection

  • Dimensions

    sheet (trimmed to platemark): 11.6 x 7.5 cm (4 9/16 x 2 15/16 in.)

  • Accession Number

    1943.3.3508

  • Catalogue Raisonné

    Meder, no. 11

Artwork history & notes

Provenance

Brentano-Birckenstock Collection, Vienna and Frankfurt (Lugt 345); Arthur Friederich Theodor Bohnenberger [1826-1893], Stuttgart (Lugt 68); purchased by Lessing J. Rosenwald [1891-1979], Jenkintown, PA (Lugt 1760b and Lugt 1932d), 1928; gift to NGA, 1943.

Associated Names

Exhibition History

1929

  • Engravings by Albrecht Durer from the collection of Lessing J. Rosenwald of Philadelphia, Baltimore Museum of Art, 1929, no. 2.

1997

  • Six Centuries/Six Artists, National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1997.

Bibliography

1932

  • Meder, Joseph. Dürer-Katalog; ein Handbuch über Albrecht Dürers Stiche, Radierungen, Holzschnitte, deren Zustände, Ausgaben und Wasserzeichen. Vienna: Verlag Gilhofer und Ranschburg, 1932. Reprint. New York: Da Capo Press, 1971.

2001

  • Schoch, Rainer, Mattihas Mende, and Anna Scherbaum. Albrecht Dürer: Das druckgraphische Werk. Munich, 2001: vol. 1: no. 53.

Inscriptions

in plate, upper right: 1512 / AD [artist's monogram]; verso, lower right, in graphite by a later hand: 13 [upside down]; verso, bottom left, in graphite by a later hand: NR [?] 25146; verso, bottom center, in graphite by a later hand: B.11

Markings

none

Watermarks

none visible

Wikidata ID

Q18338459

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