Lamentation, by Hans Baldung, c. 1515–17
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Lamentation

Hans Baldung (German, 1484/85–1545)

c. 1515–17

Medium
woodcut
Classification
Print
Culture
Germany
Museum
Cleveland Museum of Art, Prints
Credit line
Dudley P. Allen Fund
Rights
Public domain (CC0), as the museum states it.
Who can see it
Teens profiles and older: its subject is for older viewers (war, death, the Passion, drink or the like). How works are placed

View at the Cleveland Museum of Art

About this work

Baldung's originality is evident in Lamentation, one of his most expressive and deeply moving works. Every element—radical foreshortening, compressed figures in exaggerated poses, the abruptly truncated top of the composition, even the frenzy of Mary Magdalene's cascading curls—intensifies the expression of grief. The low point of view projects instruments of the Passion into the spectator's space, making one a participant in this anguished drama.