Christ Carrying the Cross

This life-size painting portrays the pain of Christ as he carries the Cross on which he soon will be crucified. He wears a long grey garment, a crown of thorns on his head, with a cord hanging from his neck. Surrounded by a dark and barren landscape, Saint John and the two Marys – the Virgin Mary and Mary Magdalen – can be seen mourning behind him to the left.   

The composition for this painting was inspired by a painting in Seville Cathedral by the sixteenth-century artist Luis de Vargas (1502-1568). The solidity of the figure of Christ bears a strong likeness to the colourful sculptures that were, and continue to be, processed through the streets of Seville during Easter Holy Week. Although this painting has been attributed to an anonymous Sevillian painter, it is close to the early style of Bartolomé Esteban Murillo (1617-1682), with its cool palette, tight brushwork and the more uniform treatment of the figures' expressions.