Italian, Venetian, Christ carrying the Cross

Christ, dressed in white, bears the Cross on his shoulder in this small devotional picture. The crown of thorns circles his head, its spikes pressing deep into his flesh. His eyes are reddened with weeping, the tears on his cheeks echoing the drops of blood on his forehead.

This was undoubtedly an image for private contemplation: it was meant to be seen close up, and the artist has used all the means at his disposal to arouse feelings of pity and compassion in the viewer. The small scale, the crop of the composition, the level of detail – look at the catchlights in Christ’s eyes and his tears – were all meant to elicit emotion.

The scene is taken from the biblical accounts of Christ’s Passion. After the Roman governor Pontius Pilate handed Christ over to be crucified, the Roman soldiers placed a crown of thorns on his head – a mockery of the claim that he was the King of the Jews – and beat him. He was then displayed to a crowd, as in Christ presented to the People, before being forced to carry his own cross to Calvary, where he was executed, as in The Procession to Calvary.

The subject of Christ carrying the Cross shown as a half-length figure was very popular in northern Italy in the last quarter of the fifteenth century. Derived from Netherlandish painting and sculpture, it has parallels with images of Christ as the Man of Sorrows, such as Christ Crowned with Thorns by Dirk Bouts. These images of intense suffering were linked to the rise of the Devotio Moderna (‘Modern Devotion’) movement in the Netherlands, which emphasised the need for medieval Christians to meditate upon Christ’s pain.

This painting is based on an influential composition invented by Giovanni Bellini which was widely imitated. Today over 65 variants of this composition are known, the best of which (in the Isabella Stewart Gardener Museum, Boston; Toledo Museum of Art, Ohio; Accademia dei Concordi, Rovigo) are thought to be by Bellini himself. This painting differs from Bellini’s Christ in important ways: the white robe makes deep fan-like folds, the hair falls in flowing curls and the face looks more anguished. It was probably by a different artist; Christ’s expression, tear-filled eyes and slightly averted face suggest a painter familiar with the work of Cima da Conegliano.