The Large Passion: The Crucifixion

c. 1497–1500

Albrecht Dürer

(German, 1471–1528)

Culture

Germany

Medium

woodcut

Measurements

Sheet: 38.9 x 28.5 cm (15 5/16 x 11 1/4 in.)

Credit Line

Gift of The Print Club of Cleveland in memory of Ralph King 1926.118

Catalogue raisonné

Meder 120

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Location

Not on view

Did You Know?

The letters in the banderole above the cross, INRI, are an abbreviation of the Latin phrase Iesus Nazarenus Rex Judaeorum (Jesus of Nazareth the King of the Jews).

Description

Dürer made seven of the twelve woodcuts for The Large Passion between 1497 and 1500 and then produced four additional woodcuts in 1510. The following year he published the series in book form with a frontispiece and Latin verses composed by Benedict Schwalbe. The Nuremberg monk and poet's text was printed on the back of the sheets. At the same time, Dürer printed a second edition of The Apocalypse and the first edition of The Life of the Virgin. The scenes of The Large Passion executed between 1497 and 1500 retain certain Gothic conventions: a wealth of detail; two-dimensional, awkward figures; ambiguous picture space; and confusing compositions. However, the strong contrast between the thick, black, expressive lines and the white paper creates a vitality lost in the prints from 1510, when Dürer's style changed dramatically.