Christ before Caiaphas
1401 to 1500
Medium
woodcut
Classification
Department
CG-E
Museum
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Credit
Gift of W.G. Russell Allen
Accession Number
1941.1.78
Art Historical Context
In the dimly lit chamber of the high priest Caiaphas, Lucas Cranach the captures a pivotal moment from the Passion of Christ in this striking woodcut, *Christ before Caiaphas*. between 1401 and 1500 during the Northern Renaissance, the print depicts Jesus standing bound before his accusers, a scene drawn from the Gospels (Matthew 26:57-68). Cranach, a prolific German artist from Saxony, was renowned for his vivid religious imagery that blended spiritual devotion with emerging humanist interests, often produced in his bustling workshop to reach a wide audience. Woodcuts like this one were revo...
About the Artist
Lucas Cranach the Elder · 1472–1553
Lucas Cranach the Elder (c. 1472-1553) was one of the most prominent German Renaissance painters and a key artistic figure of the Protestant Reformation. Born in Kronach, Franconia, to the painter Hans Maler, Cranach began his career in Vienna around 1502, where he became one of the founders of the Danube School, a movement characterized by expressive landscape painting and emotional force. His ea...