Crucifixion, from Passion of Christ
1575/1600
Medium
Engraving in black on ivory laid paper
Dimensions
Plate: 16.2 × 11.4 cm (6 7/16 × 4 1/2 in.); Sheet: 17.5 × 12.5 cm (6 15/16 × 4 15/16 in.)
Classification
engraving
Department
Prints and Drawings
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
93101
Rights
Public Domain
About this artwork
On his cross, Christ embodies a powerful vertical center of this composition. The two thieves that flank him barely register their presence as their undulating forms curve into view on the perimeter of the oval. The ribbons bearing grinning skulls and crossbones cascading from their hands denote the thieves as important nonetheless. They stand in stark contrast to the central grouping of pious souls, where Mary, Mary Magdalene, and John the Evangelist look on in adoration.
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...