Albrecht Dürer's suite of illustrations known as the
The Large Passion is a set of 11 images
derived from woodcut plates created by Dürer over more
than 10 years between 1497 to 1510.
Stylistically, the imagery within The Large Passion
is characterized by a natural treatment of
the subjects and a clear devotion to depicting strongly
their emotions. Thus, Dürer chose a method that departed radically from the Late
Gothic School and firmly set the imagery within the German Renaissance.
To the right, we
show the effective Title Page
to Dürer's
The Large Passion.
Knackfuss (Durer: H Grevel & Co, London; 1900)
describes The Large Passion thus:
In the Passion the difference between the older
compositions and the four new ones
dates 1510, in which the cutting has been successfully
done, is very great ... [I]n the
Last Supper ... [t]he saying, "One of you shall betray
me", causes an excitement among
the apostles; Judas cowers, hides his moneybag and
makes as if he were the last one
whom the words could concern. The next of the cuts of
1510 represents the Betrayal
of Christ, a scene full of animation and passionate
movement. The hand and lips of
the betrayer still touch the head of the Betrayed, and
the latter is already bound with
cords, while the fierce, tumultuous throng make ready
to drag off the victim, who,
in this fearful moment, in which his destiny of
suffering is being accomplished in fact,
sends a look of human terror to implore help from
heaven. The fierce anger of Peter,
who brandishes the sword over the servant Malchus,
thrown violently to the ground,
is as easy to understand as it is ineffectual in
result. The two other new compositions
form the conclusion of the Passion, Christ's Descent
into Hell and his Resurrection ...
[Dürer] carries us by the force of his imagination into
Limbo, where Christ delivers the
Souls of the Patriarchs out of a deep dungeon amidst
the ineffectual raging of hideous
devilish shapes. Behind those who have been set free we
see the open gate of Hell,
which discloses to the eye nothing but a boundless sea
of ever-burning flames, the heat
of which, as it rises, makes a draught in which the
Redeemer's flag of victory is seen to
flutter. No less magnificent is the picture of the
Resurrection. A strong guard of armed
men surrounds the sepulchre. Some of them are asleep;
an old warrior gives a rough
shake to one of these who are forgetting their duty;
one is just waking, and opens his
eyes with a yawn, seeing without yet comprehending what
he sees; others, however,
are aware of the miracle which is taking place. Over
the closed stone lid of the grave,
on which are seen the seals placed by those in
authority still intact, the Saviour ascends,
received into a cloud and greeted by hosts of cherubim.
He raises his countenance, with
the threefold glory of rays surrounding it which
betokens his Divinity, towards heaven;
in his left hand he holds the banner of victory, with
his right hand he blesses the world
which he has redeemed by the accomplishment of his
Passion.
Our Greeting Cards and Reproduction Prints
For connoisseurs, we have prepared sets of 11 Greeting Cards displaying
each of the images from Dürer's The Large Passion and on the left, we show an example of how these Greeting
Cards appear. Ordering one of those sets is as easy as selecting the "Add to
Cart" feature below and following the prompts provided with our Shopping Cart
secured through PayPal. Multiple purchases will
be consolidated by that feature and shipping and handling costs to any destination in the world are accommodated by our flat-rate fee of US$20 for every
US$200 worth of purchases.
Code: AD
LP
MS(11) Price: US$55.00
When presented on Greeting Cards, these
images are prepared as tipped-on
plates - in hommage to the hand-crafted
approach typical
of prestige illustrated publications produced in the early decades
of the 20th Century. Each card is
hand-finished and the images are presented
on White
card stock with an accompanying envelope. On the rear of each
card we also present some information about this great
work and each individual illustration. We have left the interior
of the cards blank so that you may write your own personal message.
Should you wish to order a Reproduction Print from this suite,
we have provided some options below. Of course,
should you wish to
discuss some customised options, we welcome
your contact on any matter through
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%20('Christ%20on%20the%20Mount%20of%20Olives')%20(250).jpg)
%20('The%20Flagellation%20of%20Christ')%20(250).jpg)
%20('Ecce%20Homo')%20(250).jpg)
%20('Christ%20Bearing%20the%20Cross')%20(250).jpg)
%20('The%20Crucifixion')%20(250).jpg)
%20('The%20Lamentation%20for%20Christ')%20(250).jpg)
%20('The%20Entombment')%20(250).jpg)
%20('The%20Last%20Supper')%20(250).jpg)
%20('Christ%20Taken%20Captive')%20(250).jpg)
%20('Christ%20in%20Limbo')%20(250).jpg)
%20('The%20Resurrection')%20(250).jpg)
