# Christ Carrying the Cross

- By: Sebastiano del Piombo (Italian, c. 1485–1547)
- Date: c. 1515–17
- Medium: Oil on panel
- Classification: Painting
- 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.)
- Culture: Italy
- 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;…
- Museum: [Art Institute of Chicago](https://www.artic.edu/artworks/234781)
- Rights: [Public domain (CC0)](https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/)
- Picture: https://www.artic.edu/iiif/2/13a251ba-2c7a-2d0c-3f65-820c0e1f1a39/full/!1920,1080/0/default.jpg
- Who can see it: Teens profiles and older (museums give no ratings; placed by Invisible Network from the museum's own words)

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.

Description © Art Institute of Chicago, CC BY 4.0