Christ Crowned with Thorns, from "The Passion of Christ"

Jan Muller|Lucas van Leyden

1615–20 · Engraving; second state of three · Drawings and Prints

Towards the end of the sixteenth and early in the seventeenth century, Dutch Mannerists turned their attention to the Netherlandish master Lucas van Leyden and other northern Renaissance artists, creating a revival of interest in their works. Printmakers copied these earlier designs or made new compositions emulating the style of their predecessors. In about 1615-20, Jan Muller engraved copies of Lucas van Leyden’s 1521 series of the Passion of Christ, fourteen engravings illustrating Christ’s final days, from The Last Supper to The Resurrection. Muller’s copies are so deceptive that it takes extremely close looking and sometimes magnification to distinguish them from Lucas’s originals. Christ Crowned with Thorns is the seventh print in the series. Christ sits leaning forward, a robe around his shoulders, as two men force the crown of thorns onto his head. Another hands him a reed, in place of a king’s scepter.

Artist

Jan Muller|Lucas van Leyden

Date

1615–20

Medium

Engraving; second state of three

Department

Drawings and Prints

Credit line

Gift of Harry G. Friedman, 1957