Christ in Limbo (reverse copy) 1485 - 1600

This is Christ in Limbo, a reverse copy print made in 1512 by Bundele. The harrowing scene shows Christ’s descent into limbo, the waiting place for souls not yet admitted to heaven. Bundele was active during a period of immense religious and social change in Europe. Printmaking itself was a relatively new technology, one that allowed for the wide distribution of images and ideas. This print, with its dramatic depiction of Christ’s triumph over death and the devil, would have resonated with a society grappling with questions of faith, salvation, and the afterlife. Notice the stylistic debt to earlier German masters, especially in the contorted figures and dense, detailed lines. The image is a testament to the power of art to convey complex theological concepts and to reflect the anxieties and aspirations of its time. To fully understand this work, one might consult religious texts, social histories of the period, and catalogues of prints that were circulating at the time.