Pentecost and Christ Carrying the Cross
c. 1500
Medium
Hand-colored woodcuts, with gilding and letterpress, on vellum
Dimensions
Sheet: 24.4 × 15.7 cm (9 5/8 × 6 3/16 in.); Text: 20 × 11.6 cm (7 7/8 × 4 5/8 in.)
Classification
woodcut
Department
Prints and Drawings
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
40998
Rights
Public Domain
About this artwork
This leaf from a book of hours was printed on vellum (a thin piece of prepared animal skin) and then illuminated and gilded to resemble more expensive devotional manuscripts produced entirely by hand. This page includes several different prayers. The opaque blue pigment coloring the accompanying miniatures obscures most of the printed background. Christ appears iconic and alone in the lower image, as if meditating on his upcoming death, rather than forcing his way through a hostile crowd. In the...