The Passion: The Crowning with Thorns
1597
From the collection of Cleveland Museum of Art
1597
From the collection of Cleveland Museum of Art
Dominant colour
The Passion: The Crowning with Thorns is a 1597 by Hendrik Goltzius, a Renaissance work, held at Cleveland Museum of Art.
This print shows a chaotic scene of people crowding around a man kneeling on the ground. His arms are tied behind his back, and someone is pressing a crown of thorns onto his head. Others in the scene look on—some laughing, some holding sticks or tools. In the background, a city with towers and a church sits under an archway. The artist used deep contrasts between light and dark to make the figures stand out sharply. This was a common trick in prints to add drama. Look up chiaroscuro to see how artists used light and shadow like this.
