Probably by Sodoma, 'Head of Christ', probably about 1525-50
About the work
Overview
After being condemned to death by Pontius Pilate, Christ was taken away by soldiers, crowned with thorns and called ‘King of the Jews’ (Matthew 27: 26–31). Although all the Gospels describe how Christ was led away to be crucified, only John tells us that he carried his own cross (John 19: 16–17).
Blood drips down Christ’s forehead, which is pierced by the thorns with which he has been crowned, as he carries his cross to Calvary to be crucified. We are placed in the position of an onlooker in the crowd as he passes by. The drama, pathos and intimacy of the moment is heightened by the very close focus on Christ’s face and the extremes of light and dark.
The painting does not seem to have been cut and was probably always intended to be this size. It is therefore probably not a fragment of a larger picture but an independent devotional work.
Key facts
Details
- Full title
- Head of Christ
- Artist
- Probably by Sodoma
- Artist dates
- 1477 - 1549
- Date made
- probably about 1525-50
- Medium and support
- oil on wood
- Dimensions
- 38.7 × 31.7 cm
- Acquisition credit
- Bought, 1891
- Inventory number
- NG1337
- Location
- Not on display
- Collection
- Main Collection
Provenance
Additional information
Text extracted from the ‘Provenance’ section of the catalogue entry in Cecil Gould, ‘National Gallery Catalogues: The Sixteenth Century Italian Schools’, London 1987; for further information, see the full catalogue entry.
Bibliography
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1883O. Eisenmann, Führer durch die Kgl. Gemäldegalerie zu Cassel, 5th edn, Kassel 1883
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1891National Gallery, Abridged Catalogue of the Pictures in the National Gallery: With Short Biographical Notices of the Painters: Foreign Schools, London 1891
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1892National Gallery, Descriptive and Historical Catalogue of the Pictures in the National Gallery with Biographical Notices of the Painters: Foreign Schools, London 1892
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1892Lempertz, Katalog der ausgewählten und reichhaltigen Gemälde-Sammlung des Rentners Herrn Edward Habich zu Cassel: … Versteigerung zu Cassel den 9. und 10. Mai 1892, Cologne, 9 May 1892 - 10 May 1892
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1906R.H.H. Cust, Giovanni Antonio Bazzi, London 1906
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1932B. Berenson, Italian Pictures of the Renaissance: A List of the Principal Artists and Their Works, with an Index of Places, Oxford 1932
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1936B. Berenson, Pitture italiane del Rinascimento: Catalogo dei principali artisti e delle loro opere con un indice dei luoghi, Milan 1936
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1962Gould, Cecil, National Gallery Catalogues: The Sixteenth Century Italian Schools (excluding the Venetian), London 1962
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1987Gould, Cecil, National Gallery Catalogues: The Sixteenth Century Italian Schools, London 1987
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1994A. Thomas, An Illustrated Dictionary of Narrative Painting, London 1994
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1996'Sodoma', in J. Turner (ed.), The Dictionary of Art, London 1996, vol. 29, pp. 1-4
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2001
C. Baker and T. Henry, The National Gallery: Complete Illustrated Catalogue, London 2001
About this record
If you know more about this painting or have spotted an error, please contact us. Please note that exhibition histories are listed from 2009 onwards. Bibliographies may not be complete; more comprehensive information is available in the National Gallery Library.