Christ on the Mount of Olives, from "The Small Passion"

Christ on the Mount of Olives, from "The Small Passion," by Albrecht Dürer, is a foundational example of German Renaissance printmaking, executed around 1510. This woodcut belongs to Dürer’s highly influential series illustrating the Passion of Christ, known collectively as "The Small Passion" due to the relatively smaller scale compared to his earlier engraved works. This particular piece demonstrates the technical mastery Dürer brought to the print medium, utilizing dense, sophisticated cross-hatching and fine lines to create dramatic texture and deep shadows, which heighten the emotional weight of the scene.

The composition captures the moment of Christ’s profound solitude and spiritual agony in Gethsemane just before his betrayal. Christ kneels in prayer, gazing upwards toward the heavens where an Angel descends, holding the cross and offering solace—a traditional visual representation of divine support during suffering. Below him, the figures of the Apostles Peter, James, and John are visible, weighted down by sleep. Dürer focuses the viewer's eye on the dramatic contrast between the intensity of Christ’s acceptance of his fate and the oblivious slumber of his fellow men, underscoring the spiritual isolation of the central figure.

As one of the most widely circulated devotional print series of its era, Dürer utilized the reproducibility of the woodcut to maximize the reach of his artistic vision across Northern Europe. This impressive example of Christ on the Mount of Olives is housed within the permanent collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, reflecting its status as a critical piece of Northern Renaissance graphic art. Due to the age and historical significance of the original matrix, high-quality prints and imagery are often made available through public domain initiatives, allowing audiences worldwide to study the intricate line work achieved by Dürer.