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Find the small boy in yellow looking up at an older man near the foot of the cross, then the soldiers throwing dice at the lower right.
Familiar episodes of the Crucifixion crowd around Christ’s cross: Mary faints among her companions at the lower left, while on the other side soldiers throw dice for his clothes. Cranach was close to Martin Luther, and although the subject belonged more to Catholic worship, he added details that stress the Protestant themes of faith and personal responsibility, such as the young boy being taught by an older man beneath the cross. His winged serpent and the date 1538 are painted on the cross.
Oil on panel · 121.1 × 82.5 cm · Art Institute of Chicago · Northern Renaissance
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Details and source
- Museum title
- The Crucifixion
- Artist
- Lucas Cranach the Elder (German, 1472–1553)
- Date
- 1538
- Medium
- Oil on panel
- Dimensions
- 121.1 × 82.5 cm (47 3/4 × 32 1/2 in.); Framed: 147.4 × 109 × 7.7 cm (58 × 42 7/8 × 3 in.)
- Credit line
- Charles H. and Mary F. S. Worcester Collection
- Image license
- CC0 1.0 · Public domain
- Museum record
- Art Institute of Chicago
Artist’s life 1472–1553
View in the AtlasGaller’s rooms and hanging scale are imagined. The image is the museum’s original digital reproduction.