Crucifixion. From: The engraved Passion.

The Engraved Passion (1507-1512) was one of four major series of religious prints made by Albrecht Dürer, and helped to establish his reputation as an outstanding Renaissance printmaker. The others were the woodcut series, the Life of the Virgin, the Great Passion and the Little Passion, all published in 1511. The Engraved Passion consists of fifteen small scale engravings and tells the story of Christ's betrayal by Judas, his crucifixion and resurrection. Dürer is renowned for inventing new and imaginative ways to depict scenes from Christian stories, and in the Engraved Passion the compositions of each plate are dramatic, intricate and complex, with emotive contrasts of light and shadow. Unlike the more populist woodcut prints, they were designed to appeal to a more exclusive market of connoisseurs and collectors. Because it took several years for the series to be completed, it is likely that individual images were sold separately. The series was also sold in sets for devotional use, and was widely copied by other printmakers and in other media.

Theologian Richard Viladiseau admirably tells you everything you see before you:

'...Jesus is portrayed already dead. His face has an expression of peace. His body is muscular and heroic. The figure is majestic. One leg is crossed over the other, so that the feet can be shown nailed together; but the body does not appear to sag downward. The loincloth billows out to one side, and then blows in the other direction. Christ's long hair under the enormous crown of thorns also blows away from his face (although nothing else in the picture shows the presence of wind). An open wound is seen in Christ's side (the centurion stands behind), but no blood is seen. Mary and John are dignified in their contemplation of the crucified. Behind the cross, barely visible, Mary Magdalene kneels with an expression of grief. At the bottom of the cross is a skull, representing Golgotha ('place of the skull') and often associated with Adam, whose sin Christ redeems'. (Richard Viladiseau,  The Triumph of the Cross: The Passion of Christ in Theology and the Arts from the Renaissance to the Counter-Reformation [Oxford, 2008], p. 148).

Dr Mark Stocker   Curator, Historical International Art    December 2016