This scene of jesus being led before herod is rarely depicted in the visual arts. Only luke reports how pilate sends jesus to herod antipas, the son of herod the great, who is mentioned in the gospel of matthew in connection with the birth of jesus (chapter 2). He is the provincial prince of galilee who once had john the baptist executed. For jesus, he is the sovereign, whom jesus once called a fox (luke 13:32). Herod and his soldiers despise and mock the silent jesus. In the cranach woodcut, jesus is the figure in the centre. He looks defensively, perhaps even somewhat contemptuously or indifferently, at the strangely depicted herod. His bizarre-looking throne, surrounded by balls or wheels, marks him as a caricature of his office, even though he poses as a royal judge with his staff in his left hand and his legs crossed. Although herod antipas was not responsible for the massacre of the children in bethlehem on the orders of his father (matthew 2), the depictions of children on his leafy throne are a reminder of this (kurt locher p. 24). Herod antipas belonged to an old ruling family and had to spend the last years of his life in exile. Object Type: woodcut print. Place of creation: Germany. Dimensions: height: 25.6 cm (10 in). Medium: woodcut print. Depicted People: Herod. Collection: Prints in the National Gallery of Art. Series Title: Cycle of Passion - woodcuts by Lucas Cranach. Lucas Cranach the Elder, Christ before Herod, in or before 1509, NGA 37082
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