# Christ Crowned with Thorns

**Martin Schongauer** (German, c. 1450–1491)  
1470–82  
engraving

Courtesy of the Cleveland Museum of Art, 1922.89. [The museum's record](https://clevelandart.org/art/1922.89).

## About this work

Martin Schonaguer's series of the Passion of Christ was his largest set of engravings, made around 1480, and extensively copied across Europe. It consists of twelve prints detailing the suffering of Christ in the last days of his life. Schongauer's version focuses on crowded scenes, grotesque physiognomies of Christ's tormentors, and great pathos in the compositions. Here, Jesus is seated on a wooden bench, dressed in a robe and wearing the crown of thorns. His tormentors, including a child, are mocking him and place a reed scepter in his hands.

_Text from the Cleveland Museum of Art._

Martin Schongauer made this in 1470–82, aged about 25. It is now at the Cleveland Museum of Art.

### How it was made

- **Engraving.** Lines cut directly into a metal plate with a steel burin, which makes them swell and taper. It took years to master, and for centuries it was how paintings travelled as pictures.

### [Martin Schongauer](https://www.ochreeditions.com/artists/martin-schongauer)

German, c. 1450–1491; born in Colmar; died in Breisach

Schongauer, the son of a goldsmith, worked in Colmar in Alsace and was both a painter and the most accomplished engraver of fifteenth-century northern Europe. His engravings, more than a hundred, brought a new range of tone and texture to the medium and circulated widely; the young Michelangelo copied his Temptation of Saint Anthony, and Dürer travelled to Colmar hoping to meet him, arriving after his death. His Passion series shows his clear, expressive storytelling.

_Written by Ochre Editions._

## Facts

- Type: Print
- Culture: Germany
- The artist was about 25
- Century: 15th century
- Movement: [Renaissance](https://www.ochreeditions.com/movements/renaissance)
- Colour: grey
- Rights: public domain (CC0 1.0); free to use for any purpose.

## Get it

- Free download, full resolution: https://img.ochreeditions.com/m/509.jpg?dl=1
- Image: https://img.ochreeditions.com/a/509/1920.jpg
- Giclée reproduction on Hahnemühle Photo Rag: 8 × 10 in $28; 11 × 14 in $38; 12 × 16 in $42; 16 × 20 in $56; 18 × 24 in $68
- Framed reproduction: 8 × 10 in $78; 11 × 14 in $98; 12 × 16 in $108; 16 × 20 in $138; 18 × 24 in $164
- Canvas reproduction: 8 × 10 in $58; 11 × 14 in $72; 12 × 16 in $79; 16 × 20 in $98
- Print-ready file: 8 × 10 in $2; 11 × 14 in $2; 12 × 16 in $3; 16 × 20 in $3; 18 × 24 in $3

Sizes stop where the museum's file would print below 150 pixels per inch. Everything sold is a reproduction, made to order. [Order a print](https://www.ochreeditions.com/art/christ-crowned-with-thorns-cma-104610).