Christ on the Cross

German 15th Century

National Gallery of Art

This print depicts three people. The central person is a man fully suspended on a large wooden cross, with arms his outstretched and palms nailed to the cross. His head is tilted downward and his eyes are closed. The man has long, wavy hair adorned with a crown of thorns, a short beard, and is mostly unclothed, with a wrinkled cloth tied around his waist. To the left is a person with their head covered in a long cloth, wearing a draped garment. They wear a neutral expression and have a halo around their head, and their head is slightly turned toward the central man. To the right is another figure with a halo and long, curly hair who is wearing a draped robe and holding a book. This person has hollow cheekbones and looks slightly upward towards the center of the print. The ground the figures stand on is rocky, and there are a skull and some stones at the base of the cross. The sky behind the group of people is blank.