Sebastiano del Piombo (Italian, c. 1485–1547)
Christ Carrying the Cross
INV-2347
Sebastiano del Piombo (Italian, c. 1485–1547)c. 1515–17
Christ Carrying the Cross
Sebastiano del Piombo (Italian, c. 1485–1547) →Renaissance16th Centurypaintingeuropean painting
Date
c. 1515–17
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.)
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Location
Chicago, IL
Credit
Lacy Armour, Ada Turnbull Hertle, Mary Swissler Oldberg Acquisition, Charles H. and Mary F. S. Worcester Collection funds; Wirt D. Walker Trust; Alyce and Edwin DeCosta and the Walter E. Heller Foundation Fund; Estate of Walter Aitken; Frederick W. Renshaw Acquisition, Marian and Samuel Klasstorner funds; Edward E. Ayer Fund in Memory of Charles L. Hutchinson; Lara T. Magnuson Acquisition, Director's funds; Samuel A. Marx Purchase Fund for Major Acquisitions; Edward Johnson, Maurice D. Galleher Endowment, Simeon B. Williams, Capital Campaign General Acquisitions, Wentworth Greene Field Memorial, Samuel P. Avery, Morris L. Parker, Irving and June Seaman Endowment, and Betty Bell Spooner funds
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.
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