The Betrayal of Christ (after Durer; Pl. 3, the Engraved Passion)

Charles Amand-Durand

The Engraved Passion is considered the most intimate and emotional of Durer's interpretations of the Passion of the Christ. Frequently, older descriptions of this work focus on Peter cutting off the ear of Malchas in the foreground; however, other interpretations note the stillness of Christ and Judas at the upper center-right which strives to hold the viewer's attention. This image, which addresses the passage in Luke 22 when Judas betrays Christ to the Romans in the Garden of Gethsemane, is described in Strauss thusly: "The emphasis is shifted from the commotion of the arrest to the tragedy of the betrayal. Physical violence is limited to the duel between St. Peter and Malchas. Unconcious of the noose which threatens his neck, Christ bends his head and closes his eyes to receive [Judas'] kiss, as though he and Judas were alone in the universe."

In 1869 Charles Amand-Durand, already an established engraver, was hired by the Louvre to revive the plates and blocks of Old Masters, as many of the prints available to the public were printed from worn-down specimens that no longer held a crisp line, or were printed on papers of poor quality that did not hold up over time. As such, Amand-Durand spent much of his life tracking down first and second state prints from which to recreate the plate using helio/photogravure, rather than using the blocks and plates.

Amand-Durand's process could take up to six months to recreate one print, aiming for the accuracy of 1/1000mm. He developed a technique that involved exposing materials such as silver, mercury, copper, steel, and asphalt from the Dead Sea to electric light, and carefully incising the linework of Rembrandt, Durer, and other 15th and 16th century Old masters into the plate. His skill was so exact that the Parisian government banned the use of his techniques out of fear that they would be used to print money. His reproductions were sought after by major institutions such as the Bibliotheque Nationale.