Betrayal of Christ, from the Large Passion

Judas Iscariot’s betrayal of Christ occurred at the Garden of Gethsemane, to which Jesus had gone to pray after the Last Supper. It was here that the disciple Judas, via his infamous kiss, identified Christ to the group of soldiers that accompanied him. Dürer portrays the moment immediately following this kiss, as Judas withdraws from Jesus' side. The figure of Jesus occupies the center of this composition, where he is shown tethered by ropes around his waist. Christ's calm gaze contrasts sharply with the frenzy of the mass surrounding him, which Dürer amplifies through the varied slants of the crowd's protruding weapons. This passionate image is one of the large-format woodcuts belonging to Dürer's Large Passion cycle, published as a book in 1511.