The Bearing of the Cross, from The Large Passion

Description

The Bearing of the Cross by Albrecht Dürer brings a crowded procession to the edge of a city. Christ bends beneath the heavy cross as soldiers and onlookers fill the surrounding space. Tall weapons, buildings and the cross’s strong diagonal create a scene of pressing movement, while the foreground figures bring the episode close to the viewer.

From The Large Passion, this woodcut is represented by an impression catalogued to 1511. Dürer gives the burden a clear physical presence through the contrast between the angled timber and the many bodies around it. The crowd’s varied gestures keep the scene alive, yet attention returns to the figure carrying the cross, whose constrained posture provides the emotional center of the densely worked gathering.

Read our guide to giclée prints or browse the Dürer collection.