198 - Karel van Mander I - The crowning with thorns - c. 1596-1598

Karel van Mander I - The crowning with thorns - c. 1596-1598 Description: In this scene Karel van Mander brings together two successive moments from the Passion narrative within a single composition. Christ is seated on a raised platform, a robe placed around his shoulders. Behind him, two soldiers use sticks to force the Crown of Thorns onto his head, while surrounding figures ridicule him and spit in his face. Two men kneel before Christ, hailing him as the ‘King of the Jews’. In the foreground, a man seated on the steps at left blows a horn, reinforcing the sense of noise and commotion. On the opposite side stands a guard wearing a striking fur headdress and holding a tall, upright lance. The weapon is sharply silhouetted against the open sky, visible through the monumental barrel-vaulted passage in the background. This engraving is plate 7 from The Passion series and represents the Mocking and Crowning with Thorns of Christ. The composition was designed by Karel van Mander I and engraved by Zacharias Dolendo, a pupil of Jacques de Gheyn II, who published the print. Their respective roles are recorded in the inscription within the image: ‘KVMandere inue, Z, Do, scul, / DGheyn excu’.Together with his fellow townsman Hendrick Goltzius (1558–1617), Karel van Mander ranked among the most important artists supplying designs for prints during this period. Although the majority of these preparatory drawings have not survived, Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen holds a remarkable and nearly complete group of drawings associated with this Passion of Christ series. Dimensions: 13,60 x 10,20 cm Condition: Excellent impression on watermarked laid paper from the period, trimmed inside the plate border. Moderate time staining, a few unobtrusive pinholes and a flattened middle fold, verso clean. Overall in very good condition. Literature: New Hollstein (Dutch & Flemish) / The New Hollstein: Dutch and Flemish etchings-----engravings and woodcuts 1450-1700 (43.I) (The De Gheyn family)(43.I), Medium: Engraving Date: c. 1596-1598