'Christ presented to the people' by Martin Schongauer; engraving; 1479-80

Christ in a cloak and wearing the crown of thorns stands on the top of a staircase on the left of the print and is shown to the crowd by Pilate who stands behind him in the doorway. On the right of the image is a crowd of people gathered to condemn Christ. Most are recognizable as the tormentors from preceding scenes in this series of prints of the Passion.

From the bequest of Miss Alice G. E. Carthew

The series of the 'Passion of Christ' consisting of twelve sequential scenes is the largest set of engravings made by Martin Schongauer. It represents the continuation, on his part, of a traditional subject-cycle for fifteenth century engravers. Almost all of his predecessors had produced series illustrating the Passion of Christ. Schongauer's version is not only filled with agitation, drama and agony characteristic of German art in the fifteenth century, but he has also invested the scenes with a new and vital humanity. (from 'Martin Schongauer: The Complete Engravings' by Max Lehrs; pg 27)

As Master E.S. had done before him, and as Albrecht Durer would do later inspired by many of his compositions, Schongauer made a series of engravings of matching size detailing the events of Christ's Passion. Such cycles were as yet uncommon in the graphic arts, but were familiar from the illustrations for the canonical Hours of the Cross that appeared in illuminated manuscripts of the earlier fifteenth century. There are twelve plates in Schongauer's series which was widely copied across Europe, from France and the Netherlands to Poland and Hungary, in every graphic medium, as well as in painting and sculpture. (The Illustrated Bartsch, 8 Commentary, Part 1, pg.74).

Schongauer made a series of engravings of matching size detailing the events of Christ's Passion. This is the last plate of Schongauer's 'Passion' series

E.756-1940