Pilate Washing His Hands, from Passio domini nostri Jesu Christi
Urs Graf, the Elder
1503–1506
- Medium
- Hand-colored woodcut on ivory laid paper with letterpress on verso, laid down on white laid paper
- Dimensions
- 21.7 × 15.6 cm (8 9/16 × 6 3/16 in.)
- Genre
- woodcut
- Museum
- Art Institute of Chicago
Tags
paintprintprints and drawingwatercolorwoodcutcoating (material)paper (fiber product)water-base paint
About
The Roman official Pontius Pilate is seen here washing his hands before a crowd, having failed to convince Christ to defend himself. With this action, Pilate claimed to rid himself of the blood of an innocent man, and thus hoped to absolve himself from all responsibility for the death of Jesus Christ.
