The Carrying of the Cross
Artist/Maker
DatesMade: Made probably 17th century
Material / Technique
Dimensionsh x w: Mått 68 x 66 cm h x w x d: Ram 84 x 83 x 8 cm
Inventory numberNM 217
AcqusitionTransferred 1866 from Kongl. Museum (Martelli 1804)
Other titlesTitle (sv): Korsbärandet Title (en): The Carrying of the Cross
DescriptionCatalogue raisonné: Description in Italian Paintings: Three Centuries of Collecting, Nationalmuseum, Stockholm, 2015, cat.no. 68: FORMER INV. NOS.: 187 (M. 1796–97); 261 (F. 1798); 215 (M. 1804); KM 527. TECHNICAL NOTES: The support is a single piece of fine, densely woven, plain-weave linen fabric. It has been lined with glue and mounted with staples on a Martelli strainer. The ground is red and thin. The paint layers are thinly applied. There are a few retouches, and the outlines of the soldier’s armour have been reinforced. The painting is in good condition. PROVENANCE: Martelli 1804. BIBLIOGRAPHY: NM Cat. 1867, p. 15 (as anonymous); Sander 1872–76, III, p. 112, no. 215 (as Giorgione); Crowe and Cavalcaselle 1912, vol. III, pp. 324–325, notes 1 and 4; NM Cat. 1990, p. 439 (as anonymous, 17th century); Franz 2010; Franz 2012, pp. 165–172. In Fredenheim’s catalogue, this painting is attributed to Giorgione. Corvi and Tofanelli, on the retained original paper label, ascribe it to the same artist.¹ Although the attribution is certainly far too ambitious, it is not altogether arbitrary or off the mark. Nonetheless, it was probably arrived at quite summarily, in all likelihood purely on the basis of a few stylistic traits associated with the oeuvre of the great Venetian master. In 1865 the Italian art historian and connoisseur Giovan Battista Cavalcaselle (1819–1897) travelled round Europe visiting the burgeoning national museums to study their collections of Italian painting. While in Stockholm, he was the first to link the present painting to the work of Callisto Piazza of Lodi in Lombardy.² He noticed, for example, the similarities between the tormenter of Christ to the right in the composition and the henchman holding the knife in the foreground of Piazza’s painting of the Massacre of the Innocents, which is part of a polyptych in the Duomo in Lodi, executed in 1529.³ In his notes, Cavalcaselle draws attention in particular to the similarly rendered clothing and to the arms holding the scourge and the knife, respectively. Cavalcaselle believed that the thin paint, and the somewhat rough execution of the work, indicated that it was painted in the early stages of the working process, close to the preparatory drawing stage, and that it had probably been partly repainted in the 17th century by a Bolognese artist.⁴ For the Chapel of the Crucifixion in the church of Santa Maria Incoronata, Lodi, Callisto painted four canvases depicting scenes from the Passion: Christ Carrying the Cross, the Flagellation of Christ, the Betrayal of Christ and the Nailing of Christ to the Cross.⁵ In these paintings, the influence of the early 16th-century master from Brescia, Romanino (1484–1566), and of the stylistically related Ferrarese master Dosso Dossi (c. 1486–1542) clearly shows, especially in the muted and harmonizing colours, often with saturated greens and reds set off to great effect against the white gleam of a piece of armour or a weapon. The Incoronata painting of Christ Carrying the Cross shows the moment when St Veronica and her companions try to comfort Christ and relieve him for a while of his burden⁶ Callisto contrasts this action in the left half of the composition with the tormentor who continues beating him to the right. The cross is used in the composition as the divider between these acts of good and evil. This division is made even more pronounced by the rather flat background, which seems to be pressed against the central scene of the foreground. Clearly it is this painting that the Nationalmuseum work is related to, rather than the one in the Duomo. The Nationalmuseum painting is quite small and of an unusual square format, and yet it should be viewed as a result of the commission for the Incoronata and the working process in Callisto Piazza’s family studio. The appearance of the beleaguered Christ is remarkably similar in the two paintings: his pose, kneeling on the ground and steadying himself with his right hand, the turn of his head, and his tormented countenance. His tormentor to the right in the composition stands in almost exactly the same position in both works, raising his whip to strike him. The rope which he has used to bind Christ is also very similar and positioned in the same way in the two paintings. St Veronica and her companion in the Incoronata painting are harder to find in the Nationalmuseum painting; here, they are obscured by the conspicuous figure of the soldier holding Christ by his hair.⁷ A man trying to relieve Christ of his burden can at least be seen directly to the left of the tormentor with his left hand wrapped around the cross, appearing pained and gazing in the direction of the lower left corner of the composition. The composition seems crowded and even the cross is somewhat obscured. Yet there is a similar kind of harmony on display here as in the Lodi painting, albeit amidst the hustle and bustle of the scene. Instead of the cross dividing the composition, the soldier and the tormentor create a natural triangle framing the action in the foreground. These two figures both exhibit the kind of rigidity of limbs that was a typical characteristic of Callisto’s figure drawing and perhaps his greatest fault.⁸ The flat profile of the soldier’s stiff leg stretching forward in the centre foreground is for example repeated in a figure in Callisto’s painting of the Assumption in San Biagio in Codogno. Other clear similarities between the Nationalmuseum painting and that in the Incoronata are the depiction of the horses’ heads and the rendering of several faces in the crowd, which are also found in several of Callisto’s other paintings. These include, for example, the young man in the background to the left and the man in the turban, who seem to be related to each other; both are found in the Nationalmuseum painting and in Christ Carrying the Cross and the Nailing of Christ to the Cross in the Incoronata. In addition, there is the soldier turning his head over his shoulder, as if to see what the commotion behind his back is about. This device lends an added sense of drama and action to the composition and is used both in the Nationalmuseum painting, where he is depicted in the upper right corner of the background, and in the Passion series for the Incoronata: in Christ Carrying the Cross, in the Nailing of Christ to the Cross and twice in the Betrayal of Christ. The use of this device may reflect the influence of Titian; in fact, in the painting of Christ Carrying the Cross in the Gemäldegalerie, Dresden, Callisto directly adopts the positions of the figures in Titian’s Bravo, one of the best examples of the dramatic use of this type.⁹ There are other similarities regarding the dramatic interplay between the figures in the Dresden and Nationalmuseum paintings, suggesting that they were painted at about the same time. For instance, there is a close similarity in dress, countenance and demeanour between the soldiers in the two compositions. In all likelihood, the present work was painted by Callisto Piazza, or at least in his workshop, in the course of his completing the commission for the Incoronata; perhaps not as a clear-cut modello, but more as a general presentation of what he had in mind for the project or, perhaps less likely, as a variant ricordo for himself or one of the patrons. The square format could perhaps explain why the composition of the more clearly upright and rectangular painting in the Incoronata seems to be adapted to the frame to some degree, for example in the way the left-hand side of the tormentor falls outside the frame. The existence of the pendant painting NM 7203 (cat. no. 69), depicting another scene from the Passion not included in the Incoronata series, would confirm the use of the present painting as a proposal for the project. The pendant’s existence would also confirm the authenticity of both paintings, making it implausible that they are later interpretations or copies. IR reflectography has shown that slight retouches have been made to the thinly painted canvas of, NM 217,confirming Cavalcaselle’s assumption. Yet these additions, mainly found in the soldier’s armour, are quite deftly executed and not nearly as extensive as was possibly presumed. DP 1 NM Archives, Kongl. Museum, F:1, Catalogue du Cabinet de Martelli (à Rome). 2 Moretti 1973, pp. 13–52; Levi 1988; Tommasi 1997; Franz 2010. I want to thank Fabio Franz for alerting me to Cavalcaselle’s assessment of the present painting’s relationship to the work of Callisto Piazza. 3 Franz 2010; Crowe and Cavalcaselle 1912, vol. III, pp. 324–325, notes 1 and 4; Sciolla 1989, pp. 214–220, cat. no. 32, The Massacre of the Innocents is pictured on p. 217. 4 Crowe and Cavalcaselle, vol. III, pp. 324–325, notes 1 and 4. 5 Sciolla 1989, pp. 262–269, cat. no. 42. 6 Ibid. 7 The soldier’s countenance, dress and armour were probably modelled on a typical Landsknecht. These were German mercenaries active in northern Italy in the 16th century. They are pictured in prints of the time, as well as in paintings with themes similar to NM 217, for example by Romanino. 8 Russel 1991, pp. 694–695. 9 Nova 1989, pp. 874–876.[End]
Motif categoryReligion/Mythology
Collection
TechniquePainting
Object category
Keyword
External links