Christ Carrying the Cross (Bosch, Ghent)

The work was bought by the Museum of Fine Arts, Ghent in 1902, and was restored in 1956–1957. As for all Bosch-related works, the dating is uncertain, although most art historians assigned it to his late career. The catalogue of the Bosch exhibition held in Rotterdam in 2001 assigned it to 1510–1535, attributing the execution to a follower. According to one of the authors, Bernard Vermet, that it is not a typical work of Bosch it is generally accepted and he finds it hard to believe that it was painted by the same painter as the Christ Crowned with Thorns in the National Gallery in London. Moreover, the colours remind him of the Mannerists of the 1530s and he relates the work to the Triptych of the Passion in Valencia and the Christ Before Pilate in Princeton, works that were definitely painted after the death of Bosch. Since then the rejection has been accepted by Stephan Fischer and disputed by Fritz Koreny. In October 2015 the Bosch Research and Conservation Project, which has been doing technical research on most of Bosch's paintings since 2007, confirmed they reject the attribution to Bosch as well and consider it to be made by a follower. It was proposed by the Bosch Research and Conservation Project (BRCP), that the piece is in fact a replica of a previous piece of Bosch. According to them, the piece should be dated from 1530 to 1540, which is after Bosch’s death. This is specifically referring to the sketches where da Vinci experimented with the distortion of faces and the body. Walter Gibson states that Bosch's work has very little resemblance to da Vinci's work and are in actuality reflect German and Dutch works where the persecutors of Jesus Christ are depicted as animalistic. Christ Carrying the Cross is the conclusion of a series by Bosch where he developed his half-figure Passion scenes. This series started with Christ Crowned with Thorns. ==Description==

The work depicts Jesus carrying the cross above a dark background, primarily with black and red tones, surrounded by numerous heads. This painting focuses solely on the face and hands as a source of emotional expression, bodies being faded into the dark background. Most of the heads are characterized with grotesque features. Some describe this distortion as resembling abstract expression. In the bottom right corner is the impenitent thief, who sneers against three men who are mocking him. The penitent thief (also referred to as other things such as the good/bad thief ) is at top right; he is portrayed with very pale skin, while being confessed by a horribly ugly monk. The bottom left corner shows Saint Veronica with the Veil of Veronica. Finally, at the top left is Simon of Cyrene, his face upturned .On the veil of Saint Veronica, there is an image of Christ as well. Christ is positioned in the intersection of two diagonals within the piece, the first diagonal being the wooden cross that Jesus and the penitent thief, the second being the line that connects Saint Veronica in the bottom left corner and the impenitent thief in the upper right corner.The first diagonal shows the expression and position of the penitent thief as overwhelming decision to turn to the Lord.Whereas, the impenitent thief clings to his feelings of hate as Christ's executioners do. == Religious symbolism ==

The faces of agony depicted in the piece are meant to represent a mob that oppose the ideas of Christ and this mob is imbued with the concept of sin. Jesus’s face, along with his likeness in Saint Veronica’s veil, is meant to show Jesus's emotions in his decision to die for the sins of the people. His expression is especially meant to contrast the faces of the mob because they embody the sins that Christ is giving his life for. Saint Veronica’s melancholy facial expression shows a contrast as well, however, this is in reverence to Christ's actions. The intention of the artist was to depict the inner reality of humanity and Jesus’s solitude in his journey. This is meant to show that Christ is the only person that can forgive humanity for their sins and bring the beauty of humanity to the surface. ==Related works==

There are two further versions of the subject by Bosch: a previous one from around 1498, now at the Royal Palace of Madrid, and another in the Kunsthistorisches Museum of Vienna from around 1500. ==References==