49 NIKLAUS MANUEL DEUTSCH Swiss, 1484­1530 The Mocking of Christ Pen and black ink, painted gold, heightened with white bodycolor, on red­brown prepared paper 31.2 x 21.7 cm (12 5/16 x 8 9/16 in.) Cat. I, no. 140; 84.GG.663 In addition to being a painter, graphic artist, and designer of stained glass, Niklaus Manuel was a poet, mercenary soldier, and active in Bern city government, particularly in furthering the cause of the Reformation. He probably made this carefully crafted drawing of around 1513/14 as a finished work of art. After preparing the paper with a reddish­brown ground, he drew the scene in black ink. The line work is energetic and sharp. He then laid in the lavish white heightening with a brush, touched in Christ's halo with gold pigment, and refined additional details in black ink. Further attesting to the drawing's status as an independent work of art is the framing line, which appears to have been made by the artist himself and is wittily called attention to at the bottom by the soldier's foot that extends outside its bounds. The vitality of the pen work and the extensive highlighting complement the frenzied violence of the scene. The artist has devised a dynamic radial composition, with Christ's luminous head as the focal point of attacks directed at him from all sides. 62 GERMAN AND SWISS SCHOOLS