Crucifixion of Christ

Jesus hangs on the central cross beneath the 'INRI' sign, while the Virgin Mary and Saint John the Evangelist grieve nearby. In the foreground, soldiers in contemporary sixteenth-century attire cast dice for Christ's seamless robe. The composition features a deep landscape with horsemen and spectators receding toward a distant church tower.

As part of Goltzius’s 'Passion' series, this work exemplifies his 'Protean' mastery, where he imitated the styles of Dürer and Lucas van Leyden. This ability to transmute artistic identity was celebrated by contemporaries like Karel van Mander in terms echoing the alchemical and Hermetic concept of shifting forms to reach a higher truth.