The Crown of Thorns; men putting crown of thorns on Christ who blesses kneeling man, after Dürer
ca. 1500–1534
Medium
Engraving; second state of three
Dimensions
Sheet: 5 3/16 × 3 7/8 in. (13.2 × 9.9 cm)
Classification
Prints
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Gift of Henry Walters, 1917
Accession Number
17.37.251
Tags
Art Historical Context
This poignant engraving, titled *The Crown of Thorns captures a dramatic moment from Christ's Passion: tormentors placing the thorny crown on his head while he extends a blessing to a kneeling figure below. Created by the Italian engraver Marcant Raimondi after a design by Albrecht Dür, the Northern Renaissance master, it dates to around 1500–1534. This second state three reflects Raimondi's skill in faithfully reproducing Dürer's intricate compositions, a practice that revolutionized printmaking by disseminating high-art images across Europe. Engraving, the medium here, involves incising lin...
About the Artist
Marcantonio Raimondi|Albrecht Dürer · 1475–1534
Marcantonio Raimondi (c. 1480–1534), born near Bologna, Italy, emerged as one of the Renaissance's premier engravers, revolutionizing printmaking through his mastery of reproductive techniques. He trained in the workshop of the goldsmith, painter, and niellist Francesco Francia, whose influence is evident in his early engravings, such as the goldsmith-like shading in *Pyramus and Thisbe* (1505), h...