Christ Carrying the Cross

1475–90

Martin Schongauer

(German, c. 1450–1491)

Culture

Germany

Medium

engraving

Measurements

Sheet: 29 x 43.6 cm (11 7/16 x 17 3/16 in.)

Credit Line

Dudley P. Allen Fund 1941.389

Catalogue raisonné

Lehrs V.69.9

State

I/I

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Location

101B Prints & Drawings

Did You Know?

The large size and composition of this engraving likely emulated a painting of the same subject by the artist Jan Van Eyck, now lost and known only though copies.

Description

This complex engraving depicts Christ's walk to Golgotha, the site of his Crucifixion. A crowd, depicted as violent and uncaring, moves across a rocky landscape. At the center of the procession, Christ has fallen under the weight of his huge cross. Martin Schongauer made Christ's gaze the only one directly confronting and involving the viewer in his anguish. Images like this functioned as devotional tools meant to help the faithful to meditate on Christ's suffering during his trial, torture, and execution.