Four Saints Adoring Christ Crucified on the Sacred Heart (1505, Met-Objekt 2507)
Original title: Four Saints Adoring Christ Crucified on the Sacred Heart
kurzbeschreibung
Four saints lie on the ground in prayer before Christ crucified — a 1505 woodcut by Lucas Cranach the Elder. The sheet joins the Crucifixion with the emblem of the Sacred Heart, printed in black and white.
Description
A large letter P frames the Crucifixion in the upper part of the sheet. Christ hangs at the middle, with the inscription INRI above him. Angels and other figures stand around the cross. Below, four saints kneel in traditional robes, their eyes turned upward. Trees, buildings and a church tower fill the background. The view is monochrome, evenly lit, as woodcuts tend to be.
Context
Cranach made this woodcut in 1505, while he was working in Vienna and engaging with Renaissance art. The Sacred Heart was then an emerging devotional image that stressed the human side of Christ. The P may point to a patron or to a liturgical use. The sheet belongs among Cranach's early works and shows his precision of detail and his skill at rendering complex scenes.
Impact
Slender lines and a clear structure give the sheet a quiet, prayerful mood. The placing of the figures draws the eye toward the center of the Crucifixion and lends the image meditative depth.
Technique
For this woodcut the design was cut into a wooden block and then printed onto paper. It is the first state of two (Hollstein), meaning an impression taken before later revisions. The method allows fine lines and hatching that record the details of the robes and the landscape precisely.
AI-generated description text
Source: Metropolitan Museum of Art · Public Domain (CC0 1.0)