Christ carrying the cross

It is one of Bartolomeo Montagna’s works of the highest quality, for the skill in expressing emotion and the expert brush strokes, applying rapid thick touches of paint on a basedrawing of simple outlines, as infrared examination of the painting has revealed.

The mature style of the master in the early years of the fifteenth century - the period in which this work may be placed - is open to the new proposals of Venetian painting, particularly to Giorgione, partly losing the severity of his origins. Some details of the face of Christ, such as the intense gaze, the slightly reddened eyes, the tear on his cheek, the half-open mouth and the drops of blood on his forehead, reveal all his suffering. Christ’s pathetic, moving expression, the blending of the colour tones, underlined by the intensity of the chiaroscuro, the intimate and profoundly melancholic intonation that pervades the whole work, are typical features of this new direction that Bartolomeo Montagna took in his artistic career: it almost appears as though “the master were seeking new conquests, but still in the line of an intense and private sensitivity” (Villa).

The infrared examination also revealed that the artist had second thoughts regarding the position of Christ’s left hand, which had been lower than in the final version, in a pose that was really rather unnatural.