Deposition (Engraved Passion) 1512

Albrecht Durer created this engraving of the Deposition, or the removal of Christ’s body from the cross, in the early 16th century. In this image, Durer presents a scene from the Passion of Christ, a story that would have been very familiar to the people of the Holy Roman Empire, where Durer lived. Durer was very interested in the emerging printing technologies of his time. Prints allowed artists to make multiple copies of an image and disseminate them widely. By the 1500s, the printing press had become a disruptive technology, challenging the authority of established institutions. The ability to create and distribute images and ideas contributed to the social and religious upheaval of the Reformation. Durer's prints were collected by a wide audience. If we want to understand them better, we can consult sources like period inventories or letters that record how people actually used them at the time. The meaning of artworks is always contingent on such social and institutional contexts.