Christ taking leave of his Mother

Christ taking leave of his Mother is a subject in Christian art, most commonly found in Northern art of the 15th and 16th centuries. Christ says farewell to his mother Mary, often blessing her, before leaving for his final journey to Jerusalem, which he knows will lead to his Passion and death; indeed this scene marks the beginning of his Passion. In early versions just these two figures are usually shown, at half-length or less. After Dürer the ... more

Christ taking leave of his Mother is a subject in Christian art, most commonly found in Northern art of the 15th and 16th centuries. Christ says farewell to his mother Mary, often blessing her, before leaving for his final journey to Jerusalem, which he knows will lead to his Passion and death; indeed this scene marks the beginning of his Passion. In early versions just these two figures are usually shown, at half-length or less. After Dürer the subject usually has a landscape setting and includes attendants (usually the Three Marys) to Mary, who often swoons with distress and is held by them. Saints Peter, John the Evangelist, Mary Magdalen and other apostles may be shown. It is probably more common in prints than paintings. The subject does not illustrate any Biblical subject, and derives from one of the Pseudo-Bonaventura's "Meditations on the life of Christ" (1308), and the Marienleben of Philipp the Carthusian (about 1330). The scene became used in Passion plays and other... less