Christ before Annas. From: The small Passion.

The Passion usually refers to the physical and spiritual suffering of Jesus Christ in the last days of his life. This subject was especially popular in Germany in the 15th and 16th centuries. The Church used art, especially in the form of woodcut prints, to tell the story to an often illiterate public. The iconography (use of symbols to explain the subject matter) was well developed by the late Middle Ages and was easily recognisable. In depicting the Passion, Albrecht Dürer could add something to traditional iconography and increase the number of stories depicted.

The cycle of the Small Passion that the artist started after his second journey to Italy (1505–1507), is a very detailed story of the martyrdom and death of Christ. While only a few of the plates are dated, these suggest that Dürer began with Christ's Entry into Jerusalem and concluded with The Last Judgement. However, as he was concluding the series in c. 1510, he added The Fall of Man, a Biblical antetype (foreshadowing) of the New Testament. The eventual cycle included not only the Passion itself but also stories from the Old Testament linked with the sacrifice of the Saviour and legends about the youth of Jesus. The focus therefore changed to a history of humankind with Adam and Eve as the source of its woes and Jesus as its salvation. 

After his betrayal by Judas, Christ was brought before Annas, the leader of a priestly family, who interrogated him in the hope of finding some evidence by which to condemn him. In this small but powerful image, Dürer presents Christ bound and subdued as he is brought before the impassive Annas, who is enthroned in the background, and attended by a hanger-on. The subject is unique to the Small Passion and is not included in any other Passion cycles by Dürer. He follows the tradition of Passion plays, where Christ is taken before Annas, Caiaphas, Pilate and Herod in that order. In Due Considerations (2008), John Updike notes how in this powerful rendition of suffering and injustice 'the face of Christ is quite hidden; he is visible only as a head of hair'. The worst is yet to come.

See:  Dallas Museum of Art, https://www.dma.org/collection/artwork/albrecht-d-rer/christ-annas

http://www.spaightwoodgalleries.com/Pages/Durer_Small_Passion3.html

Dr Mark Stocker, Curator Historical International Art                               December 2016