Cleveland Museum of Art

The Large Passion: The Crucifixion

Albrecht Dürer

Date

c. 1497–1500

Medium

woodcut

Culture

Germany

Department

Prints

Institution

Cleveland Museum of Art

Dürer made seven of the twelve woodcuts for The Large Passion between 1497 and 1500 and then produced four additional woodcuts in 1510. The following year he published the series in book form with a frontispiece and Latin verses composed by Benedict Schwalbe. The Nuremberg monk and poet's text was printed on the back of the sheets. At the same time, Dürer printed a second edition of The Apocalypse and the first edition of The Life of the Virgin . The scenes of The Large Passion executed between 1497 and 1500 retain certain Gothic conventions: a wealth of detail; two-dimensional, awkward figures; ambiguous picture space; and confusing compositions. However, the strong contrast between the thick, black, expressive lines and the white paper creates a vitality lost in the prints from 1510, when Dürer's style changed dramatically. The letters in the banderole above the cross, INRI , are an abbreviation of the Latin phrase Iesus Nazarenus Rex Judaeorum (Jesus of Nazareth the King of the Jews).

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