(Bologna 1575–1642)
Christ bearing the Cross,
oil on copper, 49.5 x 36.5 cm, framed

Provenance:
Counts Boselli, Parma;
and by descent to the present owner;
Private European collection

We are grateful to Erich Schleier for suggesting the attribution after examining the present painting in the original in Vienna in July 2015.

We are also grateful to Cecilia Cavalca for independently suggesting the attribution.

We are grateful to Daniele Benati for confirming the attribution after examining the painting in the original.

We are also grateful to Alessandro Brogi for independently confirming the attribution on the basis of a high resolution digital photograph.

The present painting is an important addition to the oeuvre of Guido Reni and it represents a significant contribution to the reconstruction and understanding of the artist’s early activity.

Daniele Benati states that despite the lack of any specific mention in documentary sources, the stylistic characteristics of the present composition enable a firm attribution to Guido Reni. The present painting displays close similarities to other works from the early years of his career around 1595. At this time the artist, together with Francesco Albani, abandoned the oppressive teachings of Denys Calvaert in favour of the Accademia degli Incamminati founded by the Carracci.

This exquisite work painted on copper exhibits a closeness to the style of Ludovico Carracci, who was by this time alone in running the Accademia following the departure of Annibale and Agostino for Rome. This is particularly noticeable in the powerful musculature of the man in the foreground who is depicted in a complex torsion, and can be compared to the compositions by Ludovico for San Girolamo della Certosa in Bologna (The Flagellation, and The Crowning with Thorns, Bologna, Pinacoteca Nazione). The influence of Ludovico is also reflected in the touching and pathetic tone of the depiction. What is already attributable to the young Reni’s own inventiveness, however, is the skillful handling of the composition which evokes the sense of depth in perspective. This can also be seen in Guido’s Judgement of Solomon formerly in the Gaggi and then Malvezzi households (Bologna, private collection; see A. Emiliani, in: Guido Reni 1575-1642, exhibition catalogue, Bologna, 1988, p. 22, no. 7). Also typical of Guido is the declared admiration for Raphael, and in particular for the Ecstasy of Saint Cecilia, then in San Giovanni in Monte (Bologna, Pinacoteca Nazionale), from which the garments of Veronica are drawn; unmistakable Reni, on the other hand, is the opalescent and almost spring-like chromatic palette, which can be compared to that of the Madonna and Child with Saints Catherine and Hyacinth (Bologna, private collection; see A. Emiliani, in: Guido Reni 1575-1642, exhibition catalogue, Bologna, 1988. p. 18, no. 5).

Concerning this last painting, Carlo Cesare Malvasia (Felsina pittrice. Vite de’ pittori bolognesi, Bologna 1678, ed. 1841, II, p. 9) refers to the admonishment on the part of Ludovico for an immoderacy of ‘diligence’, which in his eyes weakened the style of the younger, promising artist. In reality, this was a deliberate artistic stance that was already beginning to mark a distance between Guido and his master, and this is noticeable in the present painting where the garment of Veronica displays the same shimmering transition of hues from blue to pink, similar to that of Catherine and the landscape, although more fairy-tale like, is very similar to the landscape appearing beyond the slightly open curtain in the Madonna and Child with Saints Catherine and Hyacinth. An enchanting ingenuity apparent in some of the solutions, which is a feature that recurs in all of Guido’s production before his departure for Rome, can here be seen, for example, in the group of pious women. What is also apparent here are aspects of great quality and formal precision, such as the beautiful head of Simon of Cyrene, skillfully modelled by the use of light, and that of Christ, marked by the acuteness of gaze, and the strongly foreshortened face of Veronica, whose strong pathos is increased by the profil perdu.

These considerations suggest that the present work should be dated to around 1595–1596, in recognition of the stylistic shift in Guido’s work that would shortly lead him towards an increasing idealisation of the image. It is worth comparing the present Christ carrying the Cross with the palette of colours used in the Madonna and Child with Saint Dominic and the Mysteries of the Rosary in the Santuario della Madonna di San Luca, Bologna which he painted shortly after 1598. Revising the moderate naturalism apparent in the present work, Guido produced a similar composition, yet the characters have lost all their physicality, with a colour scheme founded on unreal silvery grey tones.
The present painting should be considered as a highly significant and important addition to Guido Reni’s oeuvre, which enhances the reconstruction of the artist’s early period.

This small oil on copper depicts the moment in which Christ, on the road to Calvary, falls under the weight of the Cross. While, behind, Simon of Cyrene hastens to follow the orders of the Roman officer and take up the weight of the Cross, in the foreground a woman cleans Christ’s face of its sweat and the blood from the crown of thorns using a cloth; this cloth would subsequently bear the image of his face and the pious woman would be remembered henceforth as Veronica, although her name is actually derived from the term ‘vera icona’, or ‘true image’: the Sudarium preserving the image of Christ. The scene also shows a man seen from behind as he supports the Cross and, in the left background, the Madonna with her hands held together and another pious woman drying her tears with a large cloth. The walls of Jerusalem stand out against a cloudy sky, together with Golgotha, to which the officer points to urge the group on.

We are grateful to Daniele Benati for his help in cataloguing the present lot.

Cecilia Cavalca has observed that the present composition reveals an artistic handling that is recurrent in the works produced by the Carracci workshop. Confirmation of the link to the Carracci comes from the subject depicted, which reappears with some variants in another oil on copper of lesser quality attributed to a follower of Ludovico Carracci, perhaps Francesco Carracci (Chatsworth, collection of the Duke of Devonshire; see A. Brogi, Ludovico Carracci, Bologna 2001, I, p. 285 P33; II, pl. 422). The picture at Chatsworth has been linked by Feigenbaum (see G. Feigenbaum, Ludovico Carracci. A Critical Study of his later Career and Catalogue of his Paintings, Princeton University 1984, p. 496) to a passage in Felsina Pittrice by Carlo Cesare Malvasia (1678[1841], I, p. 354), in which a painting is recorded in the house of Landini and as being by the hand of Ludovico: ‘A Christ bearing the Cross, fallen to the ground, with the Madonna weeping, Veronica and a soldier, set above a door’.
Although the prototype of the present painting may well be an invention by Ludovico, this work also presents more than superficial similarities to the artistic production of Annibale Carracci. The compositional type and the characteristics of the figures recall the compositions of Annibale from the period between 1585 and circa 1595-97, following his stay in Parma. It was then, with the study of Correggio’s masterpieces (see the head of Christ from the Christ taking leave of his Mother in the National Gallery, London), that Annibale began showing an interest in Venetian painting, particularly Paolo Veronese, who appears here to leave a trace in the articulation of the action, which is solemn and perfectly laid out along the diagonal axes. We might continue by noting that the figure of the young man seen from behind shows evident links with the drawing of a nude showing a young rower in the Gallerie dell’Accademia, Venice (inv. 289), depicting the tension in the muscles of the arms and back, which has dated by scholars to around 1584–1585. Further similarities may be found in the Romulus marking the borders of the city of Rome in the frescoes of Palazzo Magnani of circa 1590. The head of Simon of Cyrene also reflects that of the Saint Joseph in the Holy Family with the young Baptist (Madonna Montalto), conserved in the National Gallery, London (circa 1495–1497), while the profile of Veronica returns in a number of paintings produced by Annibale towards the end of the 16th century; one in particular, the face of the Samaritan depicted in the Christ and the Samaritan in the Szépmüvészeti Mùseum in Budapest of circa 1596–1597 (see Annibale Carracci, exhibition catalogue, curated by D. Benati/E. Riccomini, Milan 2006, no. III.6, VI.2, VI.4 and fig. a on p. 438).

In this oil on copper, however, Cavalca notes that some highly controlled solutions are harder to interpret and have nothing in common with either the manner of Ludovico (there is none of the formal abstraction here that distinguishes his most successful autograph works), or of Annibale (it is hard in this work to discern anything of his firm treatment of drapes, his palette of deep colours and, above all, his constant interest in immersing his figures into the landscape).

Cavalca continues that the persistent refinement of the design, the use of colour skillfully applied with the tip of the brush and based on a chromatic range made of white, yellows and pinkish-violets rendered almost fluorescent by a luminous colour scheme arranged in soft chiaroscuro passages, all suggest instead the youthful hand of Guido Reni, who as is known, worked in the Carracci’s Accademia degli Incamminati from 1594 under the wing of Ludovico. Without forcing the evidence, this view would explain both the reference to the model of Ludovico noted by Malvasia and the original interpretation of Annibale’s manner. The painting in question presents not only a number of Annibale’s types but also, via original experimentation in the execution, highlights the elements typical of art from Parma and the Veneto as noted above. If we look at Reni’s oeuvre, we may find a series of similarities as regards the handling of drapery and background in the Madonna and Child with Saints Catherine and Hyacinth in a private collection (Bologna, private collection; see A. Emiliani, in: Guido Reni 1575-1642, exhibition catalogue, Bologna, 1988. p. 18, no. 5): the fine puffed sleeves held with a golden ribbon in the garments of both Saint Catherine and Saint Veronica are similar, as is the landscape in the Saint Francis comforted by the Music of the Angel (see A. Emiliani, ibid., 1988, p. 28, no. 10). There seem to be even closer ties with the oil on copper depicting the Assumption of the Virgin recently acquired by the Frankfurt Städel Museum (previously Jean-Luc Baroni, sale catalogue, London 2014, lot 4; oil on copper 58 x 44.4 cm, from the Sampieri collection, Bologna).

A very close comparison can be drawn between the naked back of the angel in the foreground and that of the young man to the right in the present composition, and between the faces of the angels to the right of the Virgin in the Assumption and the weeping female figures behind Christ. There are equally close similarities between the light range of pastel colours and fine handling of the hems of the drapery and in the depiction of the hair. Above all, a convincing feature is seen in the features of Veronica which have the same enchanting, soft natured and ecstatic expression as the angel playing the lute in the Frankfurt copper.

We know from Malvasia (see C. C. Malvasia, Felsina pittrice. Vite de’ pittori bolognesi, Bologna 1678, G. Zanotti (ed.), 2 vols., Bologna 1841) that the early years in Guido’s career were marked, as noted above, not only by the strong influence of the work of Ludovico, but also by a close study of Annibale’s compositions. Stimulated by commissions, Guido produced copies on copper plates of Annibale’s work (Malvasia, op. cit, 1678 [1841], II, p. 8). The success of Ludovico’s lost prototype, documented by the Chatsworth derivation, does not exclude, at least on a theoretical level, the fact that the young Guido may here have worked from an example produced by Annibale.

We are grateful to Cecilia Cavalca for her help in cataloguing the present lot.


Additional image:
Infrared reflectograph