Inscribed on verso in graphite, "E9390".
Watermark: Legs of rampant lion over letter "C", fragment.
The present sheet belongs to a series of eleven anonymous German drawings illustrating the Passion of Christ. Five drawings from the series are now in the Morgan's collection. This drawing depicts an event after Christ's crucifixion in which Mary Magdalene hugs the bottom of the cross. The Virgin and St. John the Apostle lament Christ's death. Some of the figures who conventionally appear in visual images of scenes following the crucifixion, namely the two Josephs, are absent here, placing stress on the Virgin's sorrow. The drawings in this series are rendered in a frame with a horizontal strip left blank at the lower margin, suggesting the drawings served in preparation for engravings. Each drawing was first composed in red chalk and then retouched in pen and black ink.
McCrindle, Joseph F., former owner.