Calvary

Lucas Cranach 'the elder'

Summary

A reproduction produced by the Vasari Society of a drawing by Lucas Cranach the elder. The drawing shows the scene at Calvary with three figures raised on crosses being crucified and a crowd of people below. The cross in the centre faces forwards while the ones on either side are set further back and face inwards. A ladder is leaning up against the cross of the right and there is a figure climbing it with a sword in his belt. In the crowd below there are men and women in gestures of grief, and men wearing soldiers armour. In the right foreground are two men on horseback looking up at the centre cross. In the left foreground a woman wearing a veil is sitting on the ground; to the left a man supports her arm, and to the right a woman faces her with her hands raised in prayer. We assume that the figure on the centre cross is Christ and to the left of his legs can be seen a sponge, which is attached to a pole held by one of the solders in the lower right of the composition. This references part of the Biblical story where Jesus was given some liquid from a sponge whilst on the cross. In front of the crowd in the centre is a skull and bone. In the right background are mountains and in the left background is a town. Text from the accompanying booklet produced by the Vasari Society: "No. 30 LUCAS CRANACH THE ELDER (b. 1472; d. 1553) CALVARY Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge (from the Kerrich Collection). Pen and bistre, with bistre wash. 28 x 21.1 cm. (11 x 8 1/4 in.) A drawing of Cranach's maturity, in which we find him adhering to the traditional treatment of the Crucifixion far more closely than he did in the remarkable group of pictures and woodcuts of the years 1500-1503 dealing with the same subject. C. D."