Saint Christopher, ca. 1509
Chiaroscuro woodcut with brown tone plate
State/print versionI/II
Image dimensions28,6 × 19,5 cm
About the workThe giant Saint Christopher emerges from a river with a great stride, having carried the infant Jesus across it. The scene is part of a vast landscape. The spatial effect is created by the chiaroscuro woodcut, a new technique at the beginning of the sixteenth century. In this method, the black lines are supplemented by coloured areas. Although this work was not created until 1509, Lucas Cranach the Elder, who worked in Wittenberg, dated it to 1506 in order to be considered the inventor of the technique. Next to the date he placed the winged snake, his heraldic animal.
AccessionCollection of the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf
Provenance[…]; seit 1932 Dauerleihgabe der Kunstakademie Düsseldorf
Inventory numberKA (FP) 352 D
