Key facts
Full title | Christ carrying the Cross |
---|---|
Artist | Probably by Lo Spagna |
Artist dates | active 1504; died 1528 |
Series | Scenes from the Passion of Christ |
Date made | perhaps 1500-5 |
Medium and support | Oil on wood |
Dimensions | 34.5 x 25.5 cm |
Acquisition credit | On loan from a private collection |
Inventory number | L985 |
Location | Not on display |
Image copyright | On loan from a private collection, © Dunrobin Castle Collection |
Collection | Main Collection |
Christ carrying the Cross
Probably by Lo Spagna
The generous loan of this picture to the National Gallery re-unites it with its pair, 'Christ at Gethsemene', for the first time in over a century. They were probably made as the painted wings of a small portable altarpiece. Its different surface colour is explained by the fact that, unlike its pair, this uncleaned picture still has a now yellowed 19th-century varnish.
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Christ carrying the Cross
Probably by Lo Spagna
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Scenes from the Passion of Christ
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These two small paintings probably once formed the wings of a portable altarpiece. They show different episodes from the Passion (Christ’s torture and crucifixion). In one, Christ kneels in prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane, just before he is arrested (Matthew 26: 39–42. In the other, he carries the cross on the way to be crucified, as described in all four Gospels.
The sweet, light style of these pictures links them to Pietro Perugino. They were presumably painted by members of his artistic circle, though it is not absolutely certain they are both by the same artist. They are very different colours, as the panel of Christ carrying the Cross has a now yellowed nineteenth-century varnish.
These two small paintings which show different episodes from the Passion probably once formed the wings of a portable altarpiece. In Christ at Gethsemane, Christ kneels in prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane, just before he is arrested (Matthew 26: 39–42). The other panel, on long-term loan to the National Gallery, shows Christ carrying the cross on the way to the Crucifixion, described in all four Gospels and widely depicted throughout the Middle Ages and Renaissance (from The Way to Calvary by Ugolino di Nerio to Bassano’s Way to Calvary).
The sweet, light style of these pictures links them to Pietro Perugino. They were presumably painted by members of his artistic circle, and it is likely but not certain they are both by the same artist. The kneeling figure of Christ in the Agony is very close to that in Lo Spagna’s The Agony in the Garden, itself derived from Perugino’s Agony in the Garden (Uffizi, Florence). Christ carrying the Cross has a general resemblance to the figure of Christ in Raphael’s The Procession to Calvary, painted for the Church of S. Antonio, Perugia, in about 1504–5, though it is clearly not a copy of it.
The two panels are very different colours as the panel of Christ carrying the Cross has a yellowed nineteenth-century varnish. On each side, hidden by the frames, are decorative panels showing the instruments of the Passion, used to torment Christ on the Cross (the crown of thorns, nails, scourges, hammer and pincers, and the spear and sponge). They are coarsely painted, however, and may have been added at a later date.
It is possible that the panels might once have been in the Medici Riccardi Palace, Florence, once the Medici Palace, and might conceivably have been in the private chapel of Giovanni de' Medici.

Christ kneels in prayer and looks up at an angel who holds a chalice. This is the beginning of the Passion (Christ’s torture and crucifixion), when Christ prayed in the garden at Gethsemane: knowing that he is to die, Christ asks God to ‘take this cup away from my lips’. A companion panel, Christ...
Not on display
More paintings by Lo Spagna

Christ kneels in prayer and looks up at an angel who holds a chalice. This is the beginning of the Passion (Christ’s torture and crucifixion), when Christ prayed in the garden at Gethsemane: knowing that he is to die, Christ asks God to ‘take this cup away from my lips’. A companion panel, Christ...
Not on display

Christ kneels on a grassy hillock, hands folded in prayer, and looks up at a floating angel who carries a chalice. At the front, three of the apostles slumber, heads resting on their arms or hands. Soldiers wearing fantastic Renaissance versions of classical armour approach from the sides, led by...
Not on display