Christ Carrying the Cross

Author: Alicia Rojas Costa

Attributed to Lorenzo Costa, this drawing entered the museum in 1923 with the bequest of Adriaan Domela Nieuwenhuis. Arranged in a frieze-like composition, the recto represents the Carrying of the Cross from Christ’s Passion. At the centre, Christ holds the heavy cross while making his way to Golgotha to be crucified. A group of Roman soldiers walk on his left-hand side while holding banners and axes. Behind Christ two grieving women try to approach him but they are held back by one of the soldiers. In front of Christ a half-naked man – perhaps one of the two other criminals who were crucified next to him – leads the way to Golgotha, behind two soldiers on horseback. On the verso of the drawing, two coats of arms are depicted.

The drawing was published in the museum catalogues of the years 1925 and 1927 following the attribution offered in the Domela Nieuwenhuis inventory.^[1] While the Rotterdam sheet has not yet been connected to any existing artwork, the attribution to the circle of Lorenzo Costa or the Ferrara School stands as the most plausible. This group of artists developed a distinctive style, recognizable by their expressive lines and intense naturalism.^[2] Moreover, they defended the use of line and contour over form and mass, an attribute visible in the Rotterdam drawing and especially evident on the treatment of the draperies.

Lorenzo Costa made two different paintings on the subject of the Carrying of the Cross. However, the Rotterdam sheet does not directly relate to either of them. One of the paintings was made in around 1480 and is now conserved in the Castle of Valtice in Czechia, while the other painting has a later date and is preserved in the church of St Alessandro della Croce in Bergamo. It is therefore unclear whether the drawing is a preparatory study for a predella (a copy after an unknown painting) or a reworking of the subject, perhaps by a pupil in the workshop. It is nevertheless placed in the School of Ferrara, possibly the circle of Lorenzo Costa.