Christ Crowned with Thorns

The present sheet belongs to a series of eleven anonymous German drawings illustrating the Passion of Christ. Five drawings from the series are now in the Morgan's collection. In this dramatic composition, Christ sits, taunted by soldiers, who, according to Matthew and Mark, had been called together at the Praetorium after Pilate condemned Christ. They dressed Christ in a purple robe and placed a crown of thorns on his head. The drawing follows the account of Matthew, who records that soldiers put a rod in Christ's hand and mocked him as the King of the Jews while also hitting him on the head with rods. The drawings in this series are rendered in a frame with a horizontal strip left blank at the lower margin, suggesting the drawings served in preparation for engravings. Each drawing was first composed in red chalk and then retouched in pen and black ink.