1472
From the collection of Cleveland Museum of Art
Dominant colour
Christ as the Man of Sorrows between the Virgin and St. John is a 1472 by Martin Schongauer, a Renaissance work, depicting Lamentation of Christ, held at Cleveland Museum of Art.
A thin, pale Christ stands between two mourners, his hands and side bleeding. His mother and Saint John look on, their faces tight with grief. This kind of image was meant to help people pray. It shows Christ right after the crucifixion, but still alive—so viewers could feel his pain up close. The wounds are drawn with sharp lines, almost like a medical sketch. For more quiet, detailed religious scenes like this, look up Martin Schongauer (German, c. 1450–1491).
Prints of the Man of Sorrow were widely widespread in Northern Europe after the mid-15th century. The image portrays Christ naked above the waist, wearing the crown of thorns, and displaying the wounds of the Passion marking his hands and side. The Virgin Mary and Saint John the Evangelist flank Christ and mourn his death. Images like these functioned as devotional tools meant to help the faithful to meditate on the Lord's suffering. By showing Christ's hand over his chest and the Virgin's hand on his side, he focused the viewer's attention on Christ's wounds. Similarly, Saint John's…
The Virgin's garment gently intrudes into the space of the viewer, as if to invite the beholder to participate more closely in this scene of compassion.
Read the full account in the museum source.
Martin Schongauer, also known as Martin Schön or Hübsch Martin by his contemporaries, was an Alsatian engraver and painter.
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