Christ Taking Leave from his Mother, from "The Small Passion"
ca. 1508
Medium
Woodcut
Dimensions
sheet: 5 x 3 7/8 in. (12.6 x 9.8 cm)
Classification
Prints
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Gift of Junius Spencer Morgan, 1919
Accession Number
19.73.175
Tags
Art Historical Context
Albrecht Dürer, the renowned German artist of the Northern Renaissance, created *Christ Taking Leave from his* around 1508 as part of his *Small Passion* series—a set of 37 woodcut prints depicting key moments in Christ's life and Passion. This intimate scene captures a tender, emotional farewell between Jesus and the Virgin Mary before his journey to Jerusalem, emphasizing themes of devotion and human connection that resonated deeply with 16th-century audiences amid the early Reformation. Printed on a modest sheet measuring just 5 x 3 7/8 inches, this woodcut exemplifies Dürer's revolutionar...
About the Artist
Albrecht Dürer · 1471–1528
Albrecht Dürer (1471–1528) stands as the preeminent figure of the Northern Renaissance and arguably the most influential artist in the history of printmaking. Born in Nuremberg on May 21, 1471, and dying in the same city on April 6, 1528, Dürer revolutionized the status of the artist in Northern Europe, transforming printmaking from a commercial craft into an independent fine art and establishing ...