Christ Taking Leave of his Mother

“Christ Taking Leave of his Mother”, which forms the prelude to the events of the Passion of Christ, is first reported in writings of the late Middle Ages. Before his suffering began, Christ is said to have met his mother one last time – together with Mary Magdalene, Mary of Clopas and Mary Salome – in front of Lazarus’s house. On Cranach’s panel painting, Jesus, making consoling gestures, faces the pain-stricken women before a broad landscape. The composition exists in several versions, of which the Viennese one is considered the earliest and highest in quality.