Currently not on view
Pilate Washing His Hands,
1509
Lucas Cranach the Elder, 1472–1553; born Kronach, Germany; died Weimar, Germany
2008-67
Like most of Cranach’s prints, this one includes the coat of arms of Frederick the Wise, Elector of Saxony, who appointed Cranach as his court painter in 1505. The artist chose to evoke a courtly setting for this dramatic woodcut, which features sumptuous tapestries and elaborate garlands as a backdrop for Pilate’s ceremonial washing of his hands—as observed by Pilate’s scowling soldiers and a scruffy dog.
Information
Title
Pilate Washing His Hands
Dates
1509
Maker
Medium
Woodcut
Dimensions
block (sheet trimmed to block): 25 × 17.2 cm (9 13/16 × 6 3/4 in.)
Credit Line
Museum purchase, Laura P. Hall Memorial Fund
Object Number
2008-67
Place Made
Europe, Germany
Reference Numbers
Bartsch 333.15; Hollstein 18; Dodgson 71
Materials
Techniques
Subject
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Adam vom Bartsch, “Volume 11,” Le peintre graveur ... (Vienne: J. V. Degen, 1808).
, no. 15, p. 333 - Campbell Dodgson, Catalogue of early German and Flemish woodcuts preserved in the Department of Prints and Drawings in the British Museum (London: The Trustees, 1903-11)., no. 71, p. 298
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F.W.H. Hollstein, “Cranach-Drusse,” German engravings, etchings, and woodcuts, ca. 1400-1700 (Amsterdam: M. Hertzberger, 1959).
, no. 18, p. 21 - "Acquisitions of the Princeton University Art Museum 2008," Record of the Princeton University Art Museum 68 (2009): p. 69-119., p. 76 (illus.)
