Christ Carrying the Cross
Historical Context
The Master of the Worcester Carrying of the Cross painted this Christ Carrying the Cross around 1425, one of the most powerful Passion paintings from the early fifteenth-century Netherlands. Named after this very painting (in Worcester before coming to Chicago), this anonymous master worked in the transitional period between the International Gothic and the Early Netherlandish revolution of Jan van Eyck. The emotional intensity and dramatic figure grouping anticipate the achievements of later Netherlandish painting.
Technical Analysis
The oil on panel shows the emerging mastery of the oil medium in early fifteenth-century painting, with rich tonal modeling and dramatic expression. The crowded composition and the intense emotional interactions between figures demonstrate the Northern European genius for narrative religious painting.
Provenance
Julius Böhler, Munich, by July 1928 [letter from Böhler dated July 22, 1928 in Art Institute archives]; sold to Charles H. Worcester, Chicago, July 1928; given by Mr. and Mrs. Charles Worcester, 1947.
