The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of October 11, 2026

A vertically oriented print in dense black-inked fine lines depicts a man with bound hands and a crown of thorns on a stone platform. A bearded figure in a turban stands beside him, gesturing toward a man in a long light-colored cloak. In the background, several bearded men stand near a wooden cross. Fine, intersecting lines create texture and shadow throughout. A monogram is visible on the lower stone step.

Ecce Homo

1515

Albrecht Dürer

(German, 1471–1528)
Germany
engraving
Gift of The Print Club of Cleveland 1921.1168
Catalogue raisonné: Meder 10
Location: Not on view

Description

This scene of the presentation of Christ to the people, or ecce homo (“behold the man”) from the Engraved Passion series exemplifies Albrecht Dürer’s instinct for the graphic possibilities of the engraved line. Working with a burin on a copperplate, he crossed lines at different angles and varied the thickness of the lines to create dramatic tonal areas and highly descriptive textures. In this closely cropped composition, the focus on Christ’s clenched and pained body as he stands in judgment before a crowd contrasts with the disinterest emanating from the man standing calmly before him.
  • McK., W. McC. "Print Club's Little Passion by Dürer." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 8, no. 9 (1921): 132-34. Mentioned: pp. 132-134 www.jstor.org
  • A Lasting Impression: Gifts of the Print Club of Cleveland. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (May 5-September 22, 2019).
    16th Century German Engravings. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (December 13, 1938-January 22, 1939).
  • {{cite web|title=Ecce Homo|url=false|author=Albrecht Dürer|year=1515|access-date=11 October 2026|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1921.1168