Christ on the Cross with Mary and Saint John

For the medieval viewer, this Crucifixion instantly recalled wrenching extra-biblical details, like the fact that Christ could not rest his head to the side lest his shoulders be pierced with thorns. The German tract Christi Leiden in Einer Vision Geschaut noted with graphic precision that the nail at Christ's feet received 32 hammer blows, and the wounds became so enlarged that not a single drop of blood could come out.