Christ as the Man of Sorrows Between Two Angels

As one of the earliest Northern printmakers to sign his name to his works, Israhel van Meckenem was acutely aware of the peculiarities of a market for prints. He often made images that were at once familiar or popular and, at the same time, innovative. Dated about 1500, this engraving is van Meckenem's most technically accomplished. Christ as the Man of Sorrows Between Two Angels is also inventive in that it portrays a fictitious moment that combines several episodes from Christ's Passion. Christ is shown as the Man of Sorrows rising from his stone coffin with his stigmata; but he is set within a Gothic interior, probably an ecclesiastical space, with its three windows signifying the Trinity. The emphasis is not on the historical accuracy of the narrative, but on the physical and emotional suffering of its protagonists. The inscription, taken from Isaiah 33:7, reads: "The angels of peace weep bitterly." The angels-one of whom cries, while the other touches his chest-demonstrate to the beholder the appropriate reaction to seeing the tortured body of Christ.