The Round Passion: Christ Carrying the Cross
1509
Medium
Engraving in black on buff laid paper
Dimensions
Image/sheet, trimmed within platemark: 28.3 × 28.5 cm (11 3/16 × 11 1/4 in.)
Classification
etching
Department
Prints and Drawings
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
106573
Rights
Public Domain
About this artwork
Lucas van Leyden’s unique series of nine circular engravings of Christ’s Passion was very popular in its day. The scroll at the top includes the series’s date, and the tablet hanging from the branch of a tree stump displays the artist’s signature. This impression has been trimmed to the outer plate mark. While no similarly trimmed impressions of this print pasted on boxes are known, it is possible it was used as a design for a stained-glass window.
About the Artist
Lucas van Leyden · 1484–1533
Lucas van Leyden (1494–1533) was a Dutch painter and printmaker who stands among the greatest engravers of the Northern Renaissance. Born in Leiden as either Lucas Hugensz or Lucas Jacobsz, he lived and worked primarily in his native city, achieving international renown that rivaled the German master Albrecht Dürer. Lucas van Leyden revolutionized Netherlandish printmaking and was among the first...