Small and far off on the hilltop.
Bible in art · Luke
Golgotha
Lucas van Leyden · 1517
National Gallery of Art, Washington
Lucas van Leyden engraved this large plate, about 41 cm wide, in 1517. It shows Golgotha as a wide hill crowded with people, the crosses small on the top.
Up on the hill stand three crosses, with ladders and mourners at their foot. Below, people come and go: horsemen ride along a road, a woman sits with a baby, a child plays with a dog. In the front, soldiers quarrel over a garment, one with a knife drawn.
From the text
- They crucified Him there, along with the criminals (Luke 23:33)
- They divided up His garments by casting lots (Luke 23:34)
- The soldiers divided His garments; the tunic was woven in one piece (John 19:23)
The artist’s own
- The crucifixion far away, the crowd near — as in his Ecce Homo of 1510
- Horsemen, a woman with a baby, a child with a dog
- A quarrel with knives over the garment
Details
The three crosses
The garment
Soldiers quarrel over it, a knife drawn.
Horsemen
Riders on the road along the hill.
A woman and a baby
She sits on a rock and holds a baby.
Lucas van Leyden, Netherlandish, c. 1489/94–1533. National Gallery of Art, Washington (Rosenwald Collection, 1943.3.5630) · Engraving · NGA Open Access: "Images of these works are available free of charge for any use, commercial or non-commercial, under Creative Commons Zero (CC0)." (NGA open data: published_images.csv openaccess = 1)