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Pentecost and Christ Carrying the Cross

A work made of hand-colored woodcuts, with gilding and letterpress, on vellum.
CC0 Public Domain Designation

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  • A work made of hand-colored woodcuts, with gilding and letterpress, on vellum.

Date:

c. 1500

Artist:

Unknown artist
French, active 15th/16th century

About this artwork

This leaf from a book of hours was printed on vellum (a thin piece of prepared animal skin) and then illuminated and gilded to resemble more expensive devotional manuscripts produced entirely by hand. This page includes several different prayers. The opaque blue pigment coloring the accompanying miniatures obscures most of the printed background. Christ appears iconic and alone in the lower image, as if meditating on his upcoming death, rather than forcing his way through a hostile crowd. In the upper woodcut, the Holy Spirit descends upon the Virgin Mary and the apostles in the form of a glittering dove.

Status

Currently Off View

Department

Prints and Drawings

Artist

Unknown artist

Title

Pentecost and Christ Carrying the Cross

Place

France (Object made in)

Date  Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.

Published 1490–1510

Medium

Hand-colored woodcuts, with gilding and letterpress, on vellum

Dimensions

Sheet: 24.4 × 15.7 cm (9 5/8 × 6 3/16 in.); Text: 20 × 11.6 cm (7 7/8 × 4 5/8 in.)

Credit Line

Gift of Mrs. Robert Sonnenschein

Reference Number

1941.194

IIIF Manifest  The International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF) represents a set of open standards that enables rich access to digital media from libraries, archives, museums, and other cultural institutions around the world.

Learn more.

https://api.artic.edu/api/v1/artworks/40998/manifest.json

Extended information about this artwork

Object information is a work in progress and may be updated as new research findings emerge. To help improve this record, please email . Information about image downloads and licensing is available here.

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