Carrying of the Cross, from Passion of Christ
1575/1600
Medium
Engraving in black on ivory laid paper
Dimensions
Plate: 16.5 × 11.5 cm (6 1/2 × 4 9/16 in.); Sheet: 16.8 × 12.8 cm (6 5/8 × 5 1/16 in.)
Classification
engraving
Department
Prints and Drawings
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
93099
Art Historical Context
Jan Sadeler I created this intimate engraving, *Carrying of the Cross*, between 1575 and 1600 as part of his *Passion of Christ* series. The Flemish printmaker specialized in religious subjects, translating dramatic biblical narratives into finely detailed images that could reach wide audiences beyond church walls. The scene captures a pivotal moment from Christ’s final journey, rendered with the precise linework characteristic of engraving on laid paper. Engravings like this played a vital role during the late Renaissance and Counter-Reformation. They allowed complex religious stories to cir...
About the Artist
Jan Sadeler, I · 1550–1600
Jan Sadeler I (1550–1600) was born in Brussels and became the most prominent member of the largest and most successful dynasty of Flemish printmakers in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. The Sadeler family — which included Jan's brothers Aegidius and Raphael — produced an extraordinary volume of engravings that circulated across Catholic Europe, disseminating images of religious subjects, p...