Christ on his way to Calvary with Saint Veronica,
on the reverse Saint Dorothea,
oil on panel, 101 x 69.3 cm, unframed

Provenance:
Aristocratic collection, Germany

The present painting once belonged to a South-West German winged retable dating from around 1520. We are grateful to Isolde Lübbeke for informing us that a photograph of an additional wing depicting the Crowning with Thorns is in the Phototek at the Zentralinstitut für Kunstgeschichte in Munich.

Kurt Löcher associated this panel with the Danube School. In 2005 he wrote to the owner (written communication, in copy): ‘Wherever the Danube School comes into play, problems arise as to the localisation and identification of a specific master if the artist is not one of the few prominent figures such as Albrecht Altdorfer or Wolf Huber. First of all, the present master refers to the scene of Christ Carrying the Cross from Albrecht Dürer’s woodcut for the Great Passion from around 1497/98, which he has adopted and varied while reversing the sides of the composition. How Christ turns to Saint Veronica and the way he supports his one hand on the beam of the cross while his other hand rests on a rock can be directly compared […]. I would be looking for the master in Lower Austria. The present work is most closely related to pictures illustrating the Passion on the interior wings of the Pulkau polyptych. The painter has tentatively been identified as Niklas Preu (Breu), the brother of the better-known Jörg Breu from Augsburg […]. What the present painting of Christ Carrying the Cross shares with the Pulkau panels are the compressed composition, the eloquent heads, the fluidly rendered, expansive draperies, and the atmospheric mood. I would not think of the same hand, but believe that an artist from the workshop or circle of the Pulkau master would be plausible. The figure in armour appearing above Christ and staring out at the spectator might well be a self-portrait.’