Christ Carrying the Cross, Master Lombardo of the Late 16th century

"Christ Carrying the Cross"
Oil on canvas
Master Lombardo
Late 16th century
Measurements cm. 60 x 70

The condition of the painting is very good
The pictorial layer is very healthy and perfectly adherent to the canvas on the entire surface.
The work is unframed

Important painting on canvas depicting Christ Carrying the Cross.
This typical iconography of Christ with the Cross on his shoulders directly transmits the message of the Passion and was created in different variations by the Great Masters of the Renaissance.
The various interpretations obviously followed the style of the Author, often maintaining the same setting with Christ depicted half-length, advancing transversally with the burden on his shoulders and with his gaze turned towards the viewer. This setting was much appreciated and was exhibited both in churches and in private palaces, becoming one of the most celebrated Christian images.

Our work possesses the stylistic canons that distinguish the Lombard production of the late sixteenth century and its author, gifted with a very fine and elegant pictorial technique, is evidently influenced by the lesson of Leonardo, like most of the Lombard artists of the sixteenth century.
Noteworthy is the stylistic perfection of the movement of the soft drapes and the composed pose of the figure.
Excellent is also the description of the face of Christ that with an expression of veiled suffering radiates a supernatural light.

It is interesting to note that the work, although representing a scene of great pain, is far from the similar bloody compositions of many Nordic authors, where blood and wounds disfigure the face of Christ distorted into a grimace. In this case the sacrifice of the Son of God is accomplished without an image of total defeat and humiliation, but rather of great serenity.