Christ Carrying the Cross
Sebastiano del Piombo
1515–1517
- Medium
- Oil on panel
- Dimensions
- 118 × 92 cm (46 7/16 × 36 1/4 in.); Framed: 143.6 × 117.5 × 8.3 cm (56 1/2 × 46 1/4 × 3 1/4 in.)
- Genre
- painting
- Museum
- Art Institute of Chicago
Styles
Tags
oil paintings (visual works)paintingpaint16th CenturyJesusoil on panelblueSoldierspanel paintingmenoil paint (paint)painting (image making)crucifixionshorsespainting techniquesItaliancrossesRenaissancewood (plant material)landscapeChristian subjectsbiblicalorganic materialoil paintingpanel (wood)european paintingChristianity
About
Devotional paintings of Jesus carrying the cross were highly sought after in the 16th century, and Sebastiano del Piombo created numerous versions of this subject. Here, Simon of Cyrene attempts to help Christ lift the heavy cross while a Roman soldier looks on menacingly. The powerful diagonals of the cross, poignant expressions of the figures, and luminous landscape background all serve to heighten the composition’s dramatic impact. A follower of Michelangelo and a rival of Raphael, Sebastiano was one of the most distinguished artists of the High Renaissance in Rome and the favorite painter of Pope Clement VII.
