Full title | Christ carrying the Cross |
---|---|
Artist | Ambrogio Bergognone |
Artist dates | active 1481; died 1523? |
Series | Two Panels from an Altarpiece |
Date made | probably 1501 |
Medium and support | Oil on wood |
Dimensions | 99.7 x 45.1 cm |
Inscription summary | Dated |
Acquisition credit | Bought, 1879 |
Inventory number | NG1077.2 |
Location | Room 54 |
Art route(s) | A |
Collection | Main Collection |
Christ, barefoot and weeping but dressed in rich red and blue, is bent under the weight of the Cross. The spikes of the crown of thorns dig into his flesh, and crystal tears drip down his cheeks. He is dragging the Cross to his own crucifixion.
The setting is not first-century Palestine, but Renaissance Italy. In the background is a walled town on the edge of a river or lake. It is clearly a fine day: the skies are blue, people stroll on the path by the water and washing has been hung to dry over the balcony.
This is one of a pair of small panels by the Milanese artist Ambrogio Bergognone. They probably originally formed part of a multi-panelled altarpiece and an inscription in the bottom left corner of this panel includes the date 1501.
Christ, barefoot and weeping but dressed in rich red and blue, is bent under the weight of the Cross. The spikes of the crown of thorns dig into his flesh, and crystal tears drip down his cheeks. He is on the road to Calvary and is dragging the Cross to his own crucifixion.
The way to Calvary was a hugely popular subject in the later Middle Ages and Renaissance, when Christians were encouraged to empathise with Christ’s suffering at the Passion. It appears in several paintings in the National Gallery’s collection, from Ugolino di Nerio’s version to one by Jacopo Bassano.
This is one of a pair of small panels painted by the Milanese artist Ambrogio Bergognone. An inscription in the bottom left corner of this panel includes the date 1501. Bergognone was very fond of lettering done in mordant gilding (where gold leaf is applied over a glue) – it appears in many of his paintings, such as The Virgin and Child with Saint Catherine of Alexandria and Saint Catherine of Siena and The Virgin and Child. Here Christ’s halo is inscribed in Latin, ‘Hail Jesus of Nazareth’; the letters on his robes are merely decoration.
Although these are biblical events, the setting is not first-century Palestine – it is Renaissance Italy. The path leads between grassy banks dotted with flowers, and in the background is a walled town on the edge of a river or lake. It is clearly a fine day: the skies are blue, people stroll on the path by the water and washing has been hung to dry over the balcony. Like many Renaissance artists, Bergognone often showed sacred stories in contemporary settings that would be familiar to his audience: for Renaissance Christians, the Bible was here and now, not ancient history.
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Two Panels from an Altarpiece
These two paintings of different episodes of the Passion (Christ’s torture and death) were once part of a triptych (a painting in three parts), along with The Virgin and Child with Two Angels, which is also in the National Gallery’s collection.
The three were not, however, made to go together. The two smaller panels of Christ may well have formed part of a multi-panelled altarpiece made by Ambrogio Bergognone in around 1501 (the date on one panel); the picture of the Virgin and Child is earlier, perhaps from the late 1480s, and is probably by Ambrogio’s brother, Bernardino.
Ambrogio Bergognone ran one of the leading painting workshops in Lombardy in the late fifteenth century, and his brother worked closely with him.
These two paintings – The Agony in the Garden and Christ carrying the Cross – were once part of a triptych, along with The Virgin and Child with Two Angels. They were not, however, made to go together and were painted by different artists (albeit brothers).
The two panels of the life of Christ may well originally have been part of a polyptych painted by Ambrogio Bergognone in around 1501 (the date on one of the panels). The Virgin and Child does not seem to be by the same hand, however; it was probably painted in the late 1480s by Ambrogio’s brother, Bernardino Bergognone.
Ambrogio ran one of the leading painting workshops in Milan in the late fifteenth century, and his brother worked closely with him.
Contemporary with the Master of the Pala Sforzesca and Andrea Solario, the Bergognone brothers remained unaffected by the radical compositional and atmospheric innovations of Leonardo da Vinci, who was also working in Milan from about 1482. Their calm, still scenes with their clear light and bright colours are closer to the work of Vincenzo Foppa.
All three panels were in a private collection in Milan – the Melzi Collection – in the early nineteenth century. We don't know where they were before that, or when they were combined into a single altarpiece.


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