The crucifixion of Christ ('The Great Crucifixion'). Engraving by Agostino Carracci, 1589, after G. Robusti, il Tintoretto.

On either side of Christ the two criminals are being hoisted up on their crosses. Tools and construction materials lie around. The holy women and Saint John the Evangelist lament beneath Christ; the Virgin has fainted. Two soldiers play dice and a man digs nearby

"This is probably Agostino's most elaborate engraving, including both his reproductive and original work. It was so popular in his day that Tintoretto himself, according to Boschini, thought it equaled the original ... According to Bellori, Tintoretto, in appreciation of the beauty of this engraving, acted as godfather to Agostino's son Antonio."--Bohlin, loc. cit.

Venetiis [Venice] : Donati Rascichotti formis, 1589.

1 print : line engraving

Ill.mo. et r.mo. card. ac ser.mo magno. Aethruriae duci D.D. Ferdinando Medici. Cum Jacobus Tinctoretus Venetus pictor celeberrimus ædem sodalitatis divi Rochi in hac urbe constructam egregiis suis operibus decoraverit et potissimum Cristi Dni ... Augu. Car. fe. Jacobus Tinctoretus inventor Lettering continues: "mortis horrendo, lachrymabilique spectaculo; hoc divinum opus a me summo studio, et labore tabulis impressum sereniss. nomini tuo iure merito dicandum censui, tum quia catholicæ religionis cultor sacra semper foues, et amplecteris, cum et(iam) quia præter scientiarum, rerumque gravissimarum cognitio(ne)m. hac nobili arte maiorem in modum delectaris, Hilari igitur benignaque fronte, ut soles, excipe signum observantie erga te meæ quod tibi sereniss. princeps humiliter offero. Tuæ celsitudinis humil. seruus, Augustinus Carratius. Aspice peccator crucixi uulnera Cristi,/ E quibus emanat sanguinis unda sacri,/ Qui sordes anima foetentes abluit, et qui/ Humanum redimit, restituitque genus:/ Si lapide ex duro possunt erumpere fontes/ Rivisque et fluuiis arua rigare solent:/ Cur non e rigido lachrimarum corde tuarum/ Effluit, ac sordes fons lauat inde tuas./ Ille caput praebet spinis ac terga flagellis,/ Atque latus ferro, cunctaque membra cruci:/ Brachiaque extendens crucis alto e stipite sanctae/ Ingratas gentes ad sua regna vocat:/ Sæuior es tygri, et saxo es durior omni,/ Nec pietas rigidum cor mouet ulla tuum./ Si te nulla mouet tanta pietatis imago/ Quæ maria, ac terras mouit, et astra polis."

Adam Bartsch, Le peintre graveur, Nieuwkoop 1983, vol. 18, p. 31

Diane DeGrazia Bohlin, Prints and related drawings by the Carracci family: a catalogue raisonné, Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1979, pp. 254-257, Agostino no. 147 (confirms reading of date as 1589 rather than 1582)

Wellcome Collection 24605i