Woodcut, 1509-11. 128x99 mm; 5⅛x 4 inches. A proof impression, before the 1511 Latin text edition and the break in the tree trunk. With thread margins or trimmed on the border line. Bartsch 43; Meder 152.
Provenance: Jean Cantacuzène, Bucharest, with the ink stamp (Lugt 4030, verso).
Dürer started work on the Small Passion series of 37 woodcuts at least two years prior to its publication, as two of the prints are dated 1509 and two 1510 and some early impressions were taken before the series was issued as a book in 1511. The woodcuts were designed with a simpler, more direct treatment of the subjects than any of Dürer's large woodcut series, and they were also executed in a more uniform style than either the Large Passion or the Life of the Virgin series, presumably because they were executed over a shorter period of time.
