Nativity and Passion of Christ (1511): Art, History and Details

Nativity and Passion of Christ (1511) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection. The museum's creator attribution is Wolf Traut (German, c. 1486–1520).

The work and its context

The museum's open-access catalogue describes the work:

Broadsheets, in which the images are accompanied by text, depict extraordinary happenings, omens, historical events, portraits, and traditional folktales. Nativity and Passion of Christ demonstrates clearly the practical function of broadsheets in a semi-literate society. The illustrations are placed around a German prayer which tells of Christ's birth and the redemption of mankind through his Passion. The Nativity with an Adoration of the Shepherds is represented in the center, above which a hand is shown indicating various scenes from the Passion of Christ, which would be pointed out as the prayer was recited. Members of the Christian estate are represented on either side: on the left is a group of ecclesiastics behind a figure of the Pope, and on the right a cluster of secular figures are assembled behind the Holy Roman emperor.

Object facts

• Title: Nativity and Passion of Christ
• Date: 1511
• Creator attribution: Wolf Traut (German, c. 1486–1520)
• Culture: Germany
• Type: Print
• Technique: woodcut
• Collection: PR - Woodcut
• Department: Prints
• Accession number: 1968.220

Collection credit

Delia E. Holden Fund

View the collection record

See the museum's photographs and full catalogue entry. Catalogue text is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art's open-access data, with HTML formatting removed. This object and its supplied image are designated CC0.