Christ Carrying the Cross

One of the outstanding works of Flemish Renaissance painting, Christ Carrying the Cross depicts the monumental, humanly suffering, athletic figure of Christ, flanked by mocking, caricature-like, distorted soldiers. On the left, we see Roman soldiers depicted on a smaller scale. The fashion for large-figure compositions was introduced by Flemish masters who had traveled to Italy. These masters, who had visited Rome—the “Romanists”—brought with them the formal language of the Italian High Renaissance. Hemessen, however, can be counted among them although he never visited Italy; in the spirit of the Flemish tradition, he was attracted to the moralizing depiction of the comic. He produced several copies of this composition.

Provenance

Purchased by János Simor in Vienna, in 1897.

Restauration

Dezső Varga, 1958