Christ Carrying the Cross

CC0 Public Domain Designation

c. 1515–17

Sebastiano del Piombo (Italian, c. 1485–1547)

Devotional paintings of Jesus carrying the cross were highly sought after in the 16th century, and Sebastiano del Piombo created numerous versions of this subject. Here, Simon of Cyrene attempts to help Christ lift the heavy cross while a Roman soldier looks on menacingly. The powerful diagonals of the cross, poignant expressions of the figures, and luminous landscape background all serve to heighten the composition’s dramatic impact. A follower of Michelangelo and a rival of Raphael, Sebastiano was one of the most distinguished artists of the High Renaissance in Rome and the favorite painter of Pope Clement VII.

Status: On View, Gallery 205
Department: Painting and Sculpture of Europe

Artist: Sebastiano del Piombo
Title: Christ Carrying the Cross
Place: Italy (Artist's nationality:)
Date Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.: 1515–1517
Medium: Oil on panel
Dimensions: 118 × 92 cm (46 7/16 × 36 1/4 in.); Framed: 143.6 × 117.5 × 8.3 cm (56 1/2 × 46 1/4 × 3 1/4 in.)
Credit Line: Lacy Armour, Ada Turnbull Hertle, Mary Swissler Oldberg Acquisition, Charles H. and Mary F. S. Worcester Collection funds; Wirt D. Walker Trust; Alyce and Edwin DeCosta and the Walter E. Heller Foundation Fund; Estate of Walter Aitken; Frederick W. Renshaw Acquisition, Marian and Samuel Klasstorner funds; Edward E. Ayer Fund in Memory of Charles L. Hutchinson; Lara T. Magnuson Acquisition, Director's funds; Samuel A. Marx Purchase Fund for Major Acquisitions; Edward Johnson, Maurice D. Galleher Endowment, Simeon B. Williams, Capital Campaign General Acquisitions, Wentworth Greene Field Memorial, Samuel P. Avery, Morris L. Parker, Irving and June Seaman Endowment, and Betty Bell Spooner funds
Reference Number: 2016.15
IIIF Manifest The International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF) represents a set of open standards that enables rich access to digital media from libraries, archives, museums, and other cultural institutions around the world. Learn more.: https://api.artic.edu/api/v1/artworks/234781/manifest.json

José López-Rey, “Vicente Macip, Sebastiano del Piombo et l’esprit tridentin,” Gazette des Beaux-Arts 78 (1971), p. 353 n. 4.
José Gómez Frechina and Nicola Jennings, eds., Sebastiano del Piombo: Christ Carrying the Cross, Colnaghi Studies 1 (London and Madrid: Colnaghi, 2016), ff., figs. 1, 41, 65-7.
James Rondeau, ed., Paintings at the Art Institute of Chicago: Highlights of the collection (New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 2025), 29 (ill.).

New York, Carlton Hobbs LLC, A Joint Exhibition of Old Master Paintings, Sculptures and Decorative Arts Together with Colnaghi and Tomasso Brothers, January 21-30, 2016, no cat. no.

Ochoa-Herrera family, Calle Muñoz y Garnica, Jaén, Spain, by at least 1956 but probably earlier [according to e-mail correspondence of February 19 and 26, 2016, between David Durán and Rebecca Long; copy in curatorial file. See also photograph of painting from 1956, labeled “collection of the widow Ochoa” and “Jaén,” in Arxiu Mas, Barcelona; copy in curatorial file]; sold by the family to Durán Arte y Subastas, Madrid, May 27, 2015, lot no. 78; bought by Goldengate Arts Ltd., Dublin [according to export license of July 23, 2015; copy in curatorial file]; sold to Colnaghi/Coll y Cortés, London and Madrid, October 2015 [according to e-mail correspondence of February 8, 2016, between Jorge Coll and Rebecca Long; copy in curatorial file]; sold to the Art Institute of Chicago, 2016.

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Date Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.

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Date Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.

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IIIF Manifest The International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF) represents a set of open standards that enables rich access to digital media from libraries, archives, museums, and other cultural institutions around the world.

Learn more.