Christus aan het kruis 1771 - 1776

Richard Brookshaw made this mezzotint, entitled 'Christus aan het kruis' or 'Christ on the Cross', sometime in the late 18th century. Religious imagery was extremely popular in Europe at this time, and had been for centuries. But by the 1700s, some critics saw traditional religious art as overly sentimental and repetitive. How did artists respond? Brookshaw's print retains some conventions, like the skull at the foot of the cross, but the stark contrasts of light and shadow, the stormy sky, and the frankly sensual depiction of Christ's body evoke a sense of drama, even of terror. England in the 1700s was becoming a major commercial power. The art market expanded to serve an increasingly wealthy middle class. Prints like this one could be made in multiples and sold relatively cheaply, which made them very popular. To understand religious prints like this one, scholars pore over church records, merchants' inventories, and other archival sources, piecing together the cultural and economic context that shaped artistic production.