Christ Carrying the Cross: an Italian Renaissance Painting
Christ Carrying the Cross
Oil on panel (60 × 46 cm) – Italian Renaissance
This site presents an independent study devoted to an anonymous Italian Renaissance Christ Carrying the Cross (oil on poplar wood, 60 × 46 cm).
By its subject, the work belongs to the cycle of the Passion, between Leonardo’s Last Supper on Holy Thursday and the ascent to Calvary on Good Friday. It thus raises a central question: the possible link between Leonardo’s Last Supper, the Venice Head of Christ Drawing, also by Leonardo, and the Christ Carrying the Cross paintings of the Milanese milieu. In this context, the idea of a Christ Carrying the Cross deriving from a model by Leonardo does not appear inconsistent; it calls for examination on the basis of the material, stylistic, and documentary evidence presented here.
Radiocarbon analysis places the panel after 1470, within a range extending to 1650.
The panel shows several technical features consistent with Italian Renaissance practice: pouncing, pentimenti, traditional layering, and old overpaints. X-radiography also revealed, to the right of Christ, a young figure painted in an earlier state and later concealed beneath a dark layer.
The painting must therefore be assessed not only in its visible state, but through the successive interventions that altered its original reading and reinforced its devotional function.
The reverse bears an old engraved inscription, “Salaj/?” (the final character remains undeciphered), handwritten mentions including “Salajno” and “Leonardo”, and a red wax seal later than 1814, indicating a passage through Rome. These inscriptions open a sensitive line of inquiry, particularly because of Salaj’s connection with Leonardo’s workshop as both pupil and companion of the master.
The study is set against the Milanese Christ Carrying the Cross group associated with Giampietrino and linked to Leonardo’s Venice Head of Christ drawing, recognized as the source of that group. It also considers the possible reuse of this same head type in the figure of Thaddeus in The Last Supper.
The site does not propose an attribution; it makes available the material, technical and comparative elements that allow the question to be raised on firmer grounds.
A hypothesized Leonardesque model
The research starts from the strong presumption of a lost Leonardesque model underlying the Milanese group of Christ Carrying the Cross paintings, especially those associated with Giampietrino.
A scientific approach
Technical and scientific analyses, morphological and geometric comparisons, iconographic study, and confrontation with the specialist literature. Detailed reports are available as PDFs.
Terminology
– The Painting: the Christ Carrying the Cross under study.
– The Figure: the young figure at right.
– The Venice Drawing: the Head of Christ drawing by Leonardo da Vinci preserved in Venice.
– Thaddeus: the apostle Thaddeus in The Last Supper.
The Painting
Centred on the work under study, this section brings together the material examination of the panel, the main imaging analyses, the study of changes made during the pictorial process, and comparison with the closest works in the Milanese Leonardesque corpus.
See the dedicated page: The Painting
The Venice Drawing
Devoted to the Head of Christ drawing preserved in Venice, this section examines its technique, dating, links with The Last Supper, and role as a reference model, above all for the Milanese Christ Carrying the Cross paintings, especially in connection with Giampietrino.
See the dedicated page: the Venice Drawing
Giampietrino: the Milanese Christs Carrying the Cross
The study of the Milanese versions attributed to Giampietrino and his circle leads to the recognition of a shared cartoon derived from the Venice Drawing, to a comparison of these works with the painting under study, and to a clearer definition of Giampietrino’s role in the dissemination of a Leonardesque model.
See the dedicated page: Giampietrino’s milanese Christs
Giampietrino’s Christ Carrying the Cross paintings: London, Budapest and Turin.
Three closely related versions derived from the same model.
Thaddeus in The Last Supper
This section examines the role of the Venice Drawing as a reference for the head of Thaddeus in The Last Supper and clarifies the diffusion of this head type within Leonardo’s circle.
See the dedicated page: Thaddeus and the Venice Drawing
Thaddeus in The Last Supper
Venice Drawing: reference for the head of Thaddeus.