(Forlì circa 1460–1515/16 Ravenna)
Christ carrying the Cross,
oil on panel, 52 x 40 cm, framed

We are grateful to Mauro Lucco for suggesting the attribution of the present painting on the basis of a photograph

The few details that are known of Baldassare Carrari’s life can all be traced to the region of Emilia Romagna where he was one of the leading painters of the late Quattrocento, predominantly in the area of his native city, Ravenna, between the years 1486 and 1516. The artist’s early training was influenced by the art of Ferrara and Forlì, and particularly of the painters Melozzo and Palmezzano. During the latter part of his career he implemented forms which developed in Ravenna with Nicolò Rondinelli and the region’s philo-Venetian – principally Bellinian – culture (see A. Tempestini, Bellini e Belliniani in Romagna, Florence 1998, pp. 121-131).

The depiction of the present Christ carrying the Cross evidently attained great success in the region of Romagna, where versions by Marco Palmezzano, Maineri and Zagarelli are recorded.
The present work can be compared to works by Baldassare Carrari. The figure’s features are especially comparable to those of the Madonna in the Visitation in the Abbey of San Mercuriale, Forlì (circa 1498; registered in the Fototeca Zeri under no.100334) and to that of Christ in Limbo in the Pinacoteca Comunale di Ravenna (circa 1502; inv. no. 28).