Kristi tornekroning 1430 - 1491

Martin Schongauer made this small engraving of 'The Crowning with Thorns' in Colmar, then part of the Holy Roman Empire, in the late fifteenth century. It depicts the Passion of Christ, specifically the moment when Roman soldiers mock Jesus by placing a crown of thorns on his head. In this intricate print, Schongauer uses the visual codes of his time to convey religious narratives. The architecture, the clothing of the figures, and the way the scene is staged are all indicative of the cultural context in which Schongauer was working. The print reflects the rise of religious piety and the increasing availability of religious imagery to a broader public. Schongauer's work was, in fact, widely circulated and copied, thus the institutional history of printmaking shaped religious devotion. To understand this artwork better, historians might examine religious texts, social histories of the period, and the history of printmaking. Ultimately, the meaning of this art is contingent on this kind of close attention to social and institutional contexts.