Christus wordt ontkleed door soldaten

Christ sits bound and crowned with thorns in the center of an oval, flanked by soldiers who roughly remove his robes. Below the central scene, two men work with shovels to prepare the ground for the crucifixion, while the entire composition is surrounded by dense scrollwork, monstrous masks, and angels. The print combines a solemn Passion narrative with the 'grotesque' decorative style popular in 16th-century Northern Europe.

This work exemplifies the Mannerist fascination with 'grotesques,' an ornamental style rediscovered from Roman ruins that integrated the monstrous and the divine. Within the intellectual context of the late Renaissance, such prints were prized for their artifice and their ability to bridge the gap between religious devotion and the 'natural magic' of complex, transformative visual forms.