Christus am Kreuz

The Master of the Freising Passion depicted Christ on the Cross around 1485 as the central scene of his Passion cycle. The Crucifixion was the focal point of any Passion altarpiece, representing the moment of Christ's salvific death. The Freising Master brought his characteristic emotional power to this most sacred of Christian subjects. This work belongs to the Early Renaissance, the transformative period in European art when painters first applied mathematical perspective, naturalistic figure modeling, and archaeological interest in antiquity to the inherited traditions of medieval devotional painting. The tension between Gothic grace and Renaissance structure gives art of this period a distinctive energy.

Oil on panel with the dramatic composition centered on the crucified Christ. The mourning figures at the foot of the cross express grief with the intense expressiveness characteristic of the Freising Master.