Christ Carrying the Cross

German 15th Century

National Gallery of Art

This print shows a group of six people. In the center is a bearded man with long hair wearing a robe and holding a large wooden cross over his shoulder, facing the left. There is a halo around his head, and a streak of green paint has been applied over what appears to be a crown made of twisting lines that he wears. Another bearded man stands behind him on the right, holding the bottom of the cross. On the left, a person wearing armor holds the end of a robe that appears to be tied to the central man, and with his other hand he raises a club-like weapon. Three more people stand in the background, observing. The two people on the right, near the upper right corner of the print, have halos around their heads; one is a person with shoulder-length hair, and the other is a person with a dotted cloth draped over their head and around their body. In the upper right corner, there is a hint of a brown building with two tall towers, and on the left there is a sloping shape. The sky is blank, and the ground beneath the people's feet is green and covered with dots and small grass. The central image is surrounded by a yellow border filled with curved lines. Paint has been applied unevenly to the print, and the color frequently bleeds beyond the lines of the people and objects.