Deposition from the Cross

This altarpiece from the St. Elisabeth Church in Breslau is one of Nuremberg's most important export altarpieces. The dramatic depiction draws on a famous work by the painter and innovator Rogier van der Weyden. Pleydenwurff had a significant impact on Franconian painting and was an influential forerunner of Duerer. The composition concentrates on the movements and emotions of a small number of individual figures in front of a large stage-like backdrop. In this way Pleydenwurff removed the Crucifixion of Christ from the traditional crowded scene at Calvary.