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Christ Carrying the Cross

A work made of metalcut in black hand colored with brush and watercolor in yellow, red-brown lake, and green, on ivory laid paper, with manuscript text in pen and brown ink on verso.
CC0 Public Domain Designation

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  • A work made of metalcut in black hand colored with brush and watercolor in yellow, red-brown lake, and green, on ivory laid paper, with manuscript text in pen and brown ink on verso.

Date:

1460–65

Artist:

Artist unknown
Bavarian, 15th century

About this artwork

Communion bread came in different shapes in Renaissance Europe, and this variety is particularly clear from depictions of the Last Supper, when Christ symbolically offers his body to his disciples. In this metalcut series on the life of Christ, the shape of the bread—the traditional Bretzel, or pretzel—betrays that the prints were made in Bavaria. While the handwritten text on the verso of the adjoining sheet in the booklet (once comprising nineteen metalcuts) does not mention the pretzel, it is handcolored in a warm, doughy yellow. A similar glow suffuses the head-on Sudarium at center, an unusually abstract inclusion for an image of the Passion.

The fifteen metalcuts, or “dotted prints,” that form this Passion suite constitute one of the most complete block books in existence. It is possible that the series at one time included as many as nineteen images, each exquisitely hand-colored with the biblical text inscribed on the reverse. The stars, shells, and other repeating patterns were produced by hammering metal punches, such as those used by goldsmiths and armorers, into the soft metal plates.

Status

Currently Off View

Department

Prints and Drawings

Artist

Unknown artist

Title

Christ Carrying the Cross

Place

Germany (Artist's nationality:)

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.

Made 1460–1465

Medium

Metalcut in black hand colored with brush and watercolor in yellow, red-brown lake, and green, on ivory laid paper, with manuscript text in pen and brown ink on verso

Dimensions

Plate: 10 × 7.5 cm (3 15/16 × 3 in.); Sheet: 10.5 × 8 cm (4 3/16 × 3 3/16 in.)

Credit Line

Clarence Buckingham Collection

Reference Number

1983.13.7

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/155504/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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