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Christ Carrying the Cross

ca. 1475–80
Not on view
The largest and most painterly of his prints, Christ Carrying the Cross is Schongauer's masterpiece. This engraving depicting Christ's procession to Golgotha is the artist's most visually complex. He created a spectrum of tones from white to gray to black by altering the density of the hatching. Throughout the print, he masterfully offset light and dark areas: for example, he placed the fully shaded figures on the right against a landscape delineated only by outlines and did almost the reverse with the boy in the lower left, situated in front of an area of shadowed ground. Schongauer was inspired by a painting of the subject by Jan van Eyck, now lost and known only through copies, and similarly created an image packed with lively characterizations of exotic figures and incidental detail. Yet he pushed the entire procession to the foreground and, as in devotional icons, he turned Christ's head to confront the viewer, emphasizing man's identification with Christ's suffering.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: Christ Carrying the Cross
  • Artist: Martin Schongauer (German, Colmar ca. 1435/50–1491 Breisach)
  • Date: ca. 1475–80
  • Medium: Engraving
  • Dimensions: Sheet: 11 3/8 × 16 7/8 in. (28.9 × 42.9 cm)
  • Classification: Prints
  • Credit Line: Purchase, The Sylmaris Collection, Gift of George Coe Graves, by exchange, 1935
  • Object Number: 35.27
  • Curatorial Department: Drawings and Prints

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Virgin and Child with an Apple, Martin Schongauer German, Engraving
Virgin and Child with an Apple
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The Baptism of Christ from a set of The Passion, Martin Schongauer (The Baptism of Christ) German, Wool, silk, metal thread (20 warp threads per inch, 8 per cm.), German, Alsace, possibly Strasbourg
The Baptism of Christ from a set of The Passion
Multiple artists/makers
1595
St. Andrew, Martin Schongauer German, Engraving
St. Andrew
Martin Schongauer
1470–91
Rest on the Flight into Egypt, Martin Schongauer German, Engraving
Rest on the Flight into Egypt
Martin Schongauer
ca. 1470–1474
Ornament with Owl Mocked by Day Birds, Martin Schongauer German, Engraving
Ornament with Owl Mocked by Day Birds
Martin Schongauer
1470–1491

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