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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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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 |
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| Jesus Carrying the Cross From a Psalter French (Paris), c. 1200-1225 Paris, Bibliotheque nationale de France MS NAF 1392, fol. 10v |
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| Jesus Carrying the Cross From the Carrow Psalter-Hours English (East Anglia), c. 1250 Baltimore, Walther Art Museum MS W.34, fol. 27r |
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| 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 |
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| 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.
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| Simone Martini, Jesus Carrying the Cross Italian, 1333 Paris, Musée du Louvre |
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| 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 |
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| Jesus Carrying the Cross From a Psalter English (Salisbury), c 1350-1375 Paris, Bibliotheque nationale de France MS Latin 765, fol. 13 |
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| 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 |
From%20the%20Petites%20Heures%20of%20Jean%20de%20Berry_French%20(Bourges),%20c.%201385-1390_Paris,%20BNF_MS%20Latin%2018014,%20fol.%2086v.jpg) |
| 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.
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| 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 |
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| 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 |
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| Jesus Carrying the Cross German, c. 1451-1500 Lieberhausen, Evangelical Church |
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| 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 |
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| Hans Memling, Scenes from the Passion (detail) Flemish, c. 1470-1471 Turin, Galleria Sabauda |
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| 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 |
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| Matthias Grünwald, Jesus Falls While Carrying the Cross German, c. 1523-1524 Karlsruhe, Kunsthalle |
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| 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.
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| Giovanni Battista Tiepolo, Christ Falls While Carrying the Cross Italian, c. 1737-1738 Venice, Church of Sant'Alvise |
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| Corrado Giaquinto, Jesus Falls While Carrying the Cross Italian, 1754 Madrid, Museo Nacional del Prado |
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| 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.
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| Hieronymous Bosch Dutch, 1480s Vienna, Kunsthistorisches Museum |
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| 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.
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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.
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| Alvise Vivarini, Christ with the Cross Italian, No Date (died in 1503) Venice, Basilica dei Santi Giovanni e Paolo |
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| Girolamo Marchesi da Cotignola, Christ with the Cross Italian, c. 1520-1526 Avignon, Musée du Petit Palais |
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| Jan Gossaert, Christ with the Cross Flemish, c. 1520-1525 New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art |
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| Vincenzo Catena, Christ with the Cross Italian, c. 1520s Vienna, The Liechenstein Museum |
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| Michiel Coxie, Christ with the Cross Flemish, c.1555 Madrid, Museo Nacional del Prado |
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| El Greco, Christ with the Cross Greco-Spanish, 1577-1587 New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Robert Lehman Collection |
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| El Greco, Christ with the Cross Greco-Spanish, 1602 Madrid, Museo Nacional del Prado |
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| 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.
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| 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. |
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| Lorenzo Lotto, Jesus Carrying the Cross Italian, 1526 Paris, Musée du Louvre |
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| Jan Sanders van Hemessen, Jesus Carrying the Cross Flemish, 1553 Esztergom (HU), Christian Museum |
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| 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.
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| Sebastiano del Piombo, Simon of Cyrene Helps to Carry the Cross Italian, c. 1516 Madrid, Museo Nacional del Prado |
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| Titian. Simon of Cyrene Helps to Carry the Cross Italian, c. 1560 Madrid, Museo Nacional del Prado |
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| Titian, Simon of Cyrene Helps to Carry the Cross Italian, c. 1570-1575 Madrid, Museo Nacional del Prado |
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| 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. |
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| Felipe Diriksen, Christ Carrying the Cross, contemplated by Mary and the Christian Soul_ Spanish, c. 1360-1650 Madrid, Museo Nacional del Prado |
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| 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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