---
title: 'Passional Christi und Antichristi: the emperor kisses the pope''s foot (leaf ''Antichristus'')'
url: https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/passional-christi-antichristi-emperor-kisses-pope-1521/
description: A woodcut leaf from the Passional Christi und Antichristi shows a crowned emperor kneeling to kiss the foot of an enthroned, blessing pope while…
section: Collection
---

[Collection](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/)

[![Passional Christi und Antichristi: the emperor kisses the pope's foot (leaf 'Antichristus')](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/passional-christi-antichristi-emperor-kisses-pope-1521.jpg)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/passional-christi-antichristi-emperor-kisses-pope-1521.jpg)

# Passional Christi und Antichristi: the emperor kisses the pope's foot (leaf 'Antichristus')

A woodcut leaf from the Passional Christi und Antichristi shows a crowned emperor kneeling to kiss the foot of an enthroned, blessing pope while cardinals and bishops look on. The printed label 'Antichristus' names the pope as Antichrist, and the leaf is one half of a pair set against Christ washing his disciples' feet, so the pairing does the arguing.

- **Date:** 1521
- **Period:** [Pre-1914](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#era=pre-1914)
- **Made by:** Wittenberg reform circle (Martin Luther and Philipp Melanchthon, text; Lucas Cranach the Elder, woodcuts; Johann Grunenberg, printer)
- **Region:** [Western and Central Europe](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#region=western-central-europe)
- **Country:** [Electoral Saxony](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#country=electoral-saxony)
- **Medium:** [Print](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#medium=print)
- **Issuer type:** [Movement](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#actor=movement)
- **Regime:** [Electorate of Saxony](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#regime=electorate-of-saxony)
- **Leader:** [Frederick the Wise](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#leader=frederick-the-wise)
- **Audience:** [Domestic public](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#audience=domestic-public)
- **Purpose:** [Demonize](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#purpose=demonize)
- **Theme:** [Religion](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#theme=religion)
- **Event:** [Protestant Reformation](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#event=protestant-reformation)
- **Techniques:** [Name-calling](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/name-calling/) [Card stacking](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/card-stacking/)
- **Source:** Identified Openly sourced: the speaker is who they say they are
- **Source:** [Rijksmuseum](https://www.rijksmuseum.nl/nl/collectie/object/RP-P-OB-4454(V)--14afbfc98c4f4f372bfe283d167d8d29), retrieved September 29, 2026
- **Rights:** Public domain (printed 1521-1522; Rijksmuseum data marks CC0 1.0) Workshop of Lucas Cranach the Elder, leaf from Passional Christi und Antichristi, Wittenberg 1521-1522; Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, RP-P-OB-4454(V)

## Text on the object

Original (Multiple) · read from the image, not independently checked

```
vnd Antichristi.

Antichristus.
```

English translation (machine translation by Claude, not verified by a fluent reader)

```
and Antichrist.

Antichrist.
```

Only the printed half-title above ('und Antichristi', completing 'Passional Christi und Antichristi' across the pair of leaves) and the label below survive on this trimmed leaf; the German verse that originally stood under the picture was cut away. 'Antichristus' is Latin, the rest German.

[← Seljuq gold dinar of Sanjar, dated 493 AH, with the Abbasid caliph named on one face](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/seljuq-gold-dinar-sanjar-caliph-name-1099/) [Anacoana fut pendue sans raison (engraving in Le miroir de la cruelle et horrible tyrannie espagnole) →](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/anacoana-hanged-miroir-tyrannie-espagnole-1620/)

## Using the same techniques

- [Anacoana fut pendue sans raison (engraving in Le miroir de la cruelle et horrible tyrannie espagnole)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/anacoana-hanged-miroir-tyrannie-espagnole-1620/) (1620 · Fear appeal, Name-calling)
- [Ondersoeckt de Geesten, ofse van den Duyvel syn, of niet (the De Witt brothers as devils)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/ondersoeckt-de-geesten-de-witt-devils-1672/) (1672 · Scapegoating, Name-calling)
- [The Highlanders Medley, or The Duke Triumphant (A Loyal Song)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/highlanders-medley-duke-triumphant-1746/) (1746 · Name-calling, Transfer)
- [The Bloody Massacre perpetrated in King Street Boston on March 5th 1770 by a party of the 29th Regt.](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/revere-bloody-massacre-king-street-1770/) (Mar 1770 · Name-calling, Card stacking)
- [Marche du Dom Quichotte moderne pour la deffence du Moulin des Abus (March of the Modern Don Quixote in Defence of the Mill of Abuses)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/dom-quichotte-moulin-des-abus-1791/) (1791 · Name-calling, Transfer)
- [Sans-Culottes, feeding Europe with the Bread of Liberty (James Gillray)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/sans-culottes-bread-of-liberty-gillray-1793/) (Jan 12, 1793 · Fear appeal, Name-calling)
- [Exit Liberté a la Francois! or Buonaparte closing the Farce of Egalité, at St. Cloud (James Gillray)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/exit-liberte-buonaparte-gillray-1799/) (Nov 21, 1799 · Name-calling)
- [Van Moscouw tot Elba moest ik wyken (From Moscow to Elba I had to give way), Napoleon caricature by Wijnand Esser](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/van-moscouw-tot-elba-napoleon-esser-1814/) (1814 · Name-calling)