Bible in art · John

The Crucifixion

Albrecht Dürer · c. 1497–1500
The Cleveland Museum of Art

This Crucifixion is one of the early Large Passion woodcuts, cut about 1497–1500. It is built almost symmetrically around the cross.

The sun and the moon look down from the upper corners, and angels fly beside the arms of the cross holding cups. Below, Jesus’ mother sinks to the ground among the women and John, and at the right a rider in a plumed hat looks up.

From the text

The notice posted on the cross (John 19:19)
His mother, the women and the disciple whom he loved near the cross (John 19:25–26)

The artist’s own

Angels catching drops in cups, a custom of painters of the time
The sun and the moon with faces in the corners, as old pictures of the Crucifixion showed them
A skull and bones at the foot of the cross — painters often added them, after the name “The Place of the Skull” (John 19:17)

Details

The notice

The notice on the cross, shortened to the letters INRI.

Angels with cups

Angels fly beside the arms of the cross holding cups.

His mother

Jesus’ mother sinks down among the women; young John bends over her.

Skull and bones

A skull and a bone lie at the foot of the cross.

Albrecht Dürer, German, 1471–1528. The Cleveland Museum of Art (Gift of The Print Club of Cleveland in memory of Ralph King, 1926.118) · Woodcut · Cleveland Museum of Art Open Access: Collection API record "share_license_status": "CC0" (Creative Commons Zero, https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/).

The verses

John 19:17–27Carrying His own cross, He went out to The Place of the Skull, which in Hebrew is called Golgotha. There they crucified Him, and with Him two others, one on each side, with Jesus in the middle. Pilate also had a notice posted on the cross. It read: JESUS OF NAZARETH, THE KING OF THE JEWS. Many of the Jews read this sign, because the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city, and it was written in Hebrew, Latin, and Greek. So the chief priests of the Jews said to Pilate, “Do not write, ‘The King of the Jews,’ but only that He said, ‘I am the King of the Jews.’” Pilate answered, “What I have written, I have written.” When the soldiers had crucified Jesus, they divided His garments into four parts, one for each soldier, with the tunic remaining. It was seamless, woven in one piece from top to bottom. So they said to one another, “Let us not tear it. Instead, let us cast lots to see who will get it.” This was to fulfill the Scripture: “They divided My garments among them, and cast lots for My clothing.” So that is what the soldiers did. Near the cross of Jesus stood His mother and her sister, as well as Mary the wife of Clopas and Mary Magdalene. When Jesus saw His mother and the disciple whom He loved standing nearby, He said to His mother, “Woman, here is your son.” Then He said to the disciple, “Here is your mother.” So from that hour, this disciple took her into his home.

See it at the museum’s site