Artheon MuseumArtheonMuseum

Christ Carrying the Cross

Christ Carrying the Cross by Martin Schongauer (German, c. 1450–1491)

Medium

engraving

Dimensions

29 × 43.6 cm

Classification

Print

Department

Prints

Museum

Cleveland Museum of Art

Credit

Dudley P. Allen Fund

Accession Number

1941.389

Tags

male

About this artwork

This complex engraving depicts Christ's walk to Golgotha, the site of his Crucifixion. A crowd, depicted as violent and uncaring, moves across a rocky landscape. At the center of the procession, Christ has fallen under the weight of his huge cross. Martin Schongauer made Christ's gaze the only one directly confronting and involving the viewer in his anguish. Images like this functioned as devotional tools meant to help the faithful to meditate on Christ's suffering during his trial, torture, and...

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