Published in 1511 as a book with Latin verses, ‘The Small Passion’ consists of thirty-six woodcuts and a title-page. This is Dürer’s most comprehensive treatment of the Passion. The woodblocks were bought by a Venetian publisher who reprinted the series in 1612. Since 1839 all but two of them (which are lost) are kept in the British Museum. The huge impact of this series is reflected in copies by Marcantonio Raimondi (1511) and Johann Mommard (1587). The story of Christ taking leave of his mother is not written in the Gospels but in an immensely popular medieval devotional text, the ‘Vita Christi’ (Life of Christ).