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Thursday, March 28, 2024

The Fourth Sorrowful Mystery – The Carrying of the Cross

Giotto, Via Crucis
Italian, c. 1304-1308
Padua, Scrovegni (Arena) Chapel



"Then Pilate handed him over to them to be crucified. So they took Jesus, and carrying the cross himself, he went out to what is called the Place of the Skull, in Hebrew, Golgotha."

(John 19:16-17, Passion of the Lord Jesus Christ According to John, Reading for Good Friday)


Every one of the Gospels includes the story of the Carrying of the Cross, though they differ slightly in one detail. The Synoptic Gospels (Matthew, Mark and Luke) include the story of Simon the Cyrenean, a man plucked from the street to carry the cross, presumably because Jesus was so weakened by the tortures He had received that He was unable to bear that burden by Himself. The writer of the Gospel of John seems to have considered this a somewhat irrelevant detail and is, in fact, at pains to state that Jesus carried the cross Himself. Tradition has conflated the two points of view and insists that both things happened. Jesus began carrying the cross Himself, but that after falling several times (a detail not found in any Gospel) Simon was impressed by the soldiers to carry the heavy load.

Images of the Carrying of the Cross (also called the Via Crucis) can generally be divided into two categories: narrative images and devotional images. The narrative images relate at least some of the details of the journey to Calvary (Golgotha) and involve other individuals. The specific incidents and number of people involved vary considerably, however. It may be as few as one person or a cast of thousands.  

The devotional image, however, is much simpler and quieter. It generally involves the action of only two individuals – Jesus with his cross and the viewer who gazes on the painting. Jesus is posed in a solitary space, usually against a simple background, though sometimes in a landscape. It is to some extent a vision of Christ close in spirit, if not in form, to an icon. It is for contemplation and prayer.


Narrative Images

The earliest images we have showing Christ carrying the cross come from the fourth century, shortly after the Christian Church emerged from the fear of persecution by the Roman authorities.  However, the earliest we have has a twist.  It isn't Jesus whom we see carrying the cross.  Rather, it is Simon the Cyrenian, accompanied by a Roman soldier who carries the cross.   The figure of Jesus isn't there.  He is, however, shown in another panel of the sarcophagus frontal having a crown of thorns held above his head.  


Front of a Sarcophagus with Scenes from the Passion of Christ
Roman, c. 350
Vatican City, Vatican Museums, Museo Pio-Cristiano



Gradually, Jesus was shown carrying the cross himself although, at this point, the cross is more symbolic than real.  But it does include narrative elements.  Jesus strides away from Pilate, who is shown in the act of washing his hands, and toward Saint Peter, who sits by the fire, his identity reinforced by the presence of the servant girl and the rooster. 


Ivory Panel from a Casket
Late Roman, c. 420-430
London, 
© Trustees of the British Museum



In the course of the Middle Ages Jesus continued to carry the cross, which gained in size and apparent weight very slowly.


Jesus Carrying the Cross
From a Picture Bible
French (St. Omer, c. 1190-1200
The Hague, Koninklijk Bibliotheek
MS KB 76 F 5, fol. 20v



Jesus Carrying the Cross
From a Psalter
French (Paris), c. 1200-1225
Paris, Bibliotheque nationale de France
MS NAF 1392, fol. 10v




Jesus Carrying the Cross
From the Carrow Psalter-Hours
English (East Anglia), c. 1250
Baltimore, Walther Art Museum
MS W.34, fol. 27r 



Jesus Carrying the Cross
From Livre d'images de Christ et des saints
Flemish (Hainaut), c.1285-1290
Paris, Bibliotheque nationale de France
NAF 16251, fol. 37v



Jesus Scourged and Jesus Carrying the Cross
From a Vie de saints
French (Paris), c. 1325-1350
Paris, Bibliotheque nationale de France
MS Francais 185, fol. 10v


Over the course of the fourteenth century, the cross began to gain in dimension and weight, although not everywhere at the same time.


Simone Martini, Jesus Carrying the Cross
Italian, 1333
Paris, Musée du Louvre 



Richaard de Montbaston, Jesus Carrying the Cross and the Crucifixion
From a Legenda aurea by Jacopo de Voragine
French (Paris), 1348
Paris, Bibliotheque nationale de France
MS Francais 241, fol. 87r



Jesus Carrying the Cross
From a Psalter
English (Salisbury), c 1350-1375
Paris, Bibliotheque nationale de France
MS Latin 765, fol. 13




Jesus Carrying the Cross
From a Vies de la Vierge et du Christ
Italian (Naples), c. 1350
Paris, Bibliotheque nationale de France
MS Francais 9561, fol. 175v



Jean le Noir, Jesus Carrying the Cross Meets His Mother
From the Petites Heures of Jean de Berry
French (Bourges), c. 1385-1390
Paris, Bibliotheque nationale de France
MS Latin 18014, fol. 86v



From the beginning of the fifteenth century, the new-found realism of the emerging Renaissance style began to increase the weight and size of the cross and to show Jesus struggling under it.


The Boucicaut Master, Jesus Carrying the Cross with Help from Simon of Cyrene
From the Heures de Jeanne Bessonnelle
French (Paris), c. 1400-1425
Paris, Bibliotheque nationale de France
MS Latin 1161, fol. 168r




Jesus Carrying the Cross with Help from Simon of Cyrene
From the Hours of Louis de Savoy
French (Savoy), c. 1445-1460
Paris, Bibliotheque nationale de France
MS Latin 9473, fol. 98v



Jesus Carrying the Cross
German, c. 1451-1500
Lieberhausen, Evangelical Church





Master Francois and Workshop, Jesus Falls While Carrying the Cross
From a Speculum historiale by Vincent of Beauvais
French (Paris), 1463
Paris, Bibliotheque nationale de France
MS Francais 50, fol 231v



Hans Memling, Scenes from the Passion (detail)
Flemish, c. 1470-1471
Turin, Galleria Sabauda



Jean Colombe, Jesus Carrying the Cross with Help from Simon
From a Vita Jesu Christi by Ludolf of Saxony
French (Bourges), c. 1480-1485
Paris, Bibliotheque nationale de France
MS Francais 179, fol. 113v




Giovanni Antonio de Sacchis, known as Pordonone
Italian, 1520
Cremona, Cathedral





Matthias Grünwald, Jesus Falls While Carrying the Cross
German, c. 1523-1524
Karlsruhe, Kunsthalle



Pieter de Jode after Maarten de Vos, Jesus Carrying the Cross
From Thesaurus Novi Testamenti elegantissimus iconibus expressus continens historias atque miracula domini nostri Jesu Christi
Flemish, c.1580
  London,© Trustees of the British Museum




The sixteenth and seventeenth centuries seemed to lose interest in the narrative of Christ's journey to Calvary, focusing on devotional images, as we will see.  It wasn't until the eighteenth century that narrative began to reappear. 






Giovanni Battista Tiepolo, Christ Falls While Carrying the Cross
Italian, c. 1737-1738
Venice, Church of Sant'Alvise



Corrado Giaquinto, Jesus Falls While Carrying the Cross
Italian, 1754
Madrid, Museo Nacional del Prado




James Tissot, Jesus Begins to Carry the Cross
French, c. 1886-1894
New York, Brooklyn Museum




Sometimes artists submerged the action of carrying the cross in a vast quantity of other incidents going on at the same time.  Often it is almost impossible to see the Biblical event.


Hieronymous Bosch
Dutch, 1480s
Vienna, Kunsthistorisches Museum





After Joachim Bueckelaer, Marketplace, with the Flagellation, the Ecce Homo and the Bearing of the Cross in the Background
Flemish, c. 1550-1590
Amsterdam, Rijksmuseum



Perhaps the best known of these images is that of Pieter Brueghel the Elder. In keeping with some other images by him, the actual event seems almost buried among the day-to-day goings on of the indifferent world.


Pieter Brueghel the Elder
Flemish, 1564
Vienna, Kunsthistorisches Museum




Devotional Images


Devotional images seem to develop out of the narrative images that were focused closely on the figure of Jesus.  However, the devotional images strip away the other actors, the soldiers, women, bystanders and present only the image of Jesus.  He stands alone with the cross, offered for our prayerful consideration.



Alvise Vivarini, Christ with the Cross
Italian, No Date (died in 1503)
Venice, Basilica dei Santi Giovanni e Paolo



Girolamo Marchesi da Cotignola, Christ with the Cross
Italian, c. 1520-1526
Avignon, Musée du Petit Palais




Jan Gossaert, Christ with the Cross
Flemish, c. 1520-1525
New  York, Metropolitan Museum of Art




Vincenzo Catena, Christ with the Cross
Italian, c. 1520s
Vienna, The Liechenstein Museum




Michiel Coxie, Christ with the Cross
Flemish, c.1555
Madrid, Museo Nacional del Prado



El Greco, Christ with the Cross
Greco-Spanish, 1577-1587
New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Robert Lehman Collection




El Greco, Christ with the Cross
Greco-Spanish, 1602
Madrid, Museo Nacional del Prado



Luca Giordano, Christ with the Cross
Italian, c.1697
Madrid, Museo Nacional del Prado




Combined Images

There are a few images that seem to combine elements of both the narrative and the devotional. Among them are works by Hieronymous Bosch and Titian. These works include the multiple figures of the narrative, but presented in a way that opens us up to the same contemplation and prayer as the quieter devotional works. Sometimes there is an almost claustrophobic character to them that is unpleasant for the viewer. In this way, the painter may have hoped to arouse feelings of empathy in Christ’s pain in our own hearts.


Hieronymous Bosch, Jesus Carrying the Cross
Dutch, c. 1515-1516
Ghent, Museum voor Schone Kunsten
Bosch has made the surrounding characters as grotesque and agitated as possible to contrast with the quiet, balanced face of Jesus.




Lorenzo Lotto, Jesus Carrying the Cross
Italian, 1526
Paris,  Musée du Louvre




Jan Sanders van Hemessen, Jesus Carrying the Cross
Flemish, 1553
Esztergom (HU), Christian Museum



Juan de Valdez Leal, Jesus Carrying the Cross
Spanish, c. 1660
Madrid, Museo Nacaional del Prado





Images for Contemplation


While these images contrast the brutality of the those who force Jesus onward to the end, there are other images of additional figures that, in their sympathetic participation in the journey Jesus is making, form a bridge between his pain and our emotional response.


Sebastiano del Piombo, Simon of Cyrene Helps to Carry the Cross
Italian, c. 1516
Madrid, Museo Nacional del Prado





Titian. Simon of Cyrene Helps to Carry the Cross
Italian, c. 1560
Madrid, Museo Nacional del Prado




Titian, Simon of Cyrene Helps to Carry the Cross
Italian, c. 1570-1575
Madrid, Museo Nacional del Prado





Orazio Gentileschi, A Woman Offers Comfort to Jesus
Italian, c. 1605-1607
Vienna, Kunsthistorisches Museum
It is not clear who this woman may be.  She is not Mary, his mother, but she could be Mary Magdalene or one of the women who were at the foot of the cross or one of the women of Jerusalem commemorated in the eighth Station of the Cross.  She could also be the personification of the Christian soul, as we shall see below.


Some of these images included allegorical figures explicitly representing the Christian soul contemplating the sufferings of Jesus.  




Felipe Diriksen, Christ Carrying the Cross, contemplated by Mary and the Christian Soul_
Spanish, c. 1360-1650
Madrid, Museo Nacional del Prado




The Christian Soul Accepting the Cross
Spanish, c. 1630
Madrid, Museo Nacional del Prado


These final images take us completely out of the realm of history into a purely contemplative world view.  

Nevertheless, all 
the images of Jesus carrying the cross make worthy starting points for meditation on this Mystery.

© M. Duffy, 2013.  Pictures refreshed and new material added, 2024.


Scripture texts in this work are taken from the New American Bible, revised edition © 2010, 1991, 1986, 1970 Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Washington, D.C. and are used by permission of the copyright owner. All Rights Reserved. No part of the New American Bible may be reproduced in any form without permission in writing from the copyright owner.




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