Descent into Limbo

About this work

This image shows a man with a beard and a halo carrying a cross. He’s standing over two figures—one with a crown of leaves, the other with a beard—who are reaching up toward him. The background looks like a rocky wall with a small archway, and the colors are flat and bright, with lots of blue, red, and gold. The two figures below might be Adam and Eve, often shown in art from this time. The man with the cross is likely Jesus, depicted in a moment from Christian stories where he leads them out of a place called Limbo. If this scene interests you, look up technique: woodcut to see how artists made prints like this before photography.