Lo Spagna, 'Christ carrying the Cross', perhaps 1500-5

Christ Carrying the Cross is a painting from the early sixteenth century, from the beginning of Lo Spagna’s professional maturity as an artist. Bent under the weight of the large wooden cross, Christ looks towards the viewer as he makes his way along the road to Calvary. Behind him a raised area of ground falls away to reveal a hilly Umbrian landscape. Lo Spagna has stripped away the usual narrative elements of the scene. Christ appears alone, as he journeys towards death, without the raucous procession that traditionally accompanies him.

In Christ Carrying the Cross Lo Spagna has positioned the lone figure of Christ at the front of the picture plane to produce an iconic image, creating a direct and intimate connection with the viewer. Representations of Christ on the way to Calvary became very popular around 1500 in Italy, where the strong influence of the Devotio moderna (‘Modern Devotion’) movement spurred demand for cult images of the Passion. This movement, which started in the Low Countries, emphasised the need for medieval Christians to meditate on Christ’s suffering. The small scale of this picture and its pendant, Christ at Gethsemane, tell us that they were made for use in an intimate space for private contemplation and personal devotion.

Several nineteenth-century sources describe Christ Carrying the Cross as having come from Palazzo Medici-Riccardi in Florence. A note in the 1862 catalogue of the Duke of Sutherland’s collection at Stafford House, London, states that the painting was made for the private chapel of Cardinal Giovanni de’ Medici (1475–1521) in Florence. Giovanni, the second son of the celebrated patron of the arts Lorenzo de’ Medici, later become Pope Leo X. A connection with the illustrious Medici family may explain the painting’s high quality and miniaturist sophistication.