Christ Carrying the Cross
Vincenzo Catena (1480–1531)
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Catena was active in Venice in the early part of the sixteenth century, above all as a painter of small-scale religious paintings and portraits, though his luminous and serene high altarpiece of the ‘Martyrdom of St Christina’ for the church of Santa Maria Mater Domini in Venice leaves no doubt that he could also excel on a grand scale when he had the opportunity. His art is essentially conservative, and profoundly imbued with the influence of Giovanni Bellini (c.1435–1516), who though his senior by almost half a century was of course the greatest artist of fifteenth-century Venice by far and even as late as 1506 was described by Albrecht Dürer as ‘still the best in painting’. In spite of this influence, Catena appears to have shared a workshop with Giorgione, the most innovative Venetian painter of the first decade of the sixteenth century, prior to the great artist’s untimely death in 1510.
The present work is an impressive example of a religious subject shown in dramatic close-up. Not only was the highly wrought half-length generally in favour at the time but the subject was particularly popular in Venice after 1500, almost certainly thanks to the aftershock of a drawing of ‘Christ Carrying the Cross’ (Gallerie dell’Accademia, Venice) made by Leonardo da Vinci on a visit to the city in that year. By setting Christ against a dark backdrop and having him fix us with a penetrating and pathos-filled gaze, Catena ensures that an episode that could so easily be represented as a noisy crowd scene is instead distilled into a moment of mute and private communion between the viewer and the viewed.
- Material/technique
- oil on panel, cradled
- Measurements
- incl. 3.4 cm extension: 47 × 38 cm
- Acquisition
- presumably acquired in Prince Johann Adam Andreas I von Liechtenstein
- Artists/makers/authors
- Vincenzo Catena
- Inventory number
- GE 35
- Provenance
- first mentioned in 1780 in the gallery catalogue "Description des Tableaux, et des Piéces de Sculpture, ..." by Johann Dallinger von Dalling the Elder, presumably acquired in 1780 by Prince Johann Adam Andreas I von Liechtenstein from his sister Maria Theresia, widowed Countess von Wagensperg
- Iconography
- Carrying of the Cross
Johann Dallinger von Dalling d. Ä., Catalogus, Manuskript verfasst 1805–1807, (als Leonardo, Nr. 32 der Herrengassengalerie), Kat.-Nr. 265
Hormayrs Archiv 1829, S. 329 u. 331
Gustav Friedrich Waagen, Die vornehmsten Kunstdenkmäler in Wien, Wien 1866, S. 260 (als Cesare da Sesto)
Jacob von Falke, Katalog der fürstlich Liechtensteinischen Bilder-Galerie im Gartenpalais der Rossau zu Wien, Wien 1873 , S. 9 (als Schule von Leonardo), Kat. 64
Jacob von Falke, Katalog der fürstlich Liechtensteinischen Bilder-Galerie im Gartenpalais der Rossau zu Wien, Wien 1885, S. 6 (als Schule von Leonardo), Kat. 35
W. Suida, Die Gemäldegalerie der K.K. Akademie der bildenden Künste. Die Sammlungen Liechtenstein, Czernin, Harrach und Schönborn-Buchheim, Stuttgart 1890, S. 74 (als Andrea Solario)
G. Frizzoni, Einige kritische Bemerkungen über italienische Gemälde in der fürstlich Liechtensteinischen Galerie 1912, S. 88-89, Abb. Taf. XX (als Venezianische Schule, wohl V. Catena)
Adolf Kronfeld, Führer durch die Fürstlich Liechtensteinsche Gemäldegalerie in Wien, 3. Aufl., Wien 1931, S. 13 (als Venetianische Schule, um 1520), Kat. 35
B. Berenson, Italian pictures of the Renaissance, Oxford 1932, S. 139
G. Robertson, Catena, App. 1, 1954 1954, Kat. 3 (als probably by Catena)
B. Berenson, Italian pictures of the Renaissance, Venetian School, Bd. I, Bd. Bd. I, London 1957, S. 63
F. Heinemann, Giovanni Bellini e i Belliniani, Bd. 1, Bd. Bd. 1, Venedig 1962, S. 46, Nr. 151 (als Andrea Solario), Bd. 2, Abb. 819
Ausst.-Kat. Italienische Kunst des XIV. bis XVI. Jahrhunderts. Aus den Sammlungen des Fürsten von Liechtenstein, Gustav Wilhelm, Liechtensteinische Kunstsammlungen (Hg.), Engländerbau, Vaduz 1972, erschienen Vaduz 1972, S. 12-13, Kat. 7
Michaela Herrmann, Ausst.-Kat. Fünf Jahrhunderte italienische Kunst aus den Sammlungen des Fürsten von Liechtenstein, Vaduz 1994, S. 32-33 u. 148, Kat. 9
Johann Kräftner, Andrea Stockhammer, Liechtenstein Museum Wien. Le Collezioni, München 2004, S. 133, Abb. S. 118, Kat. IV.14
Johann Kräftner, Andrea Stockhammer, Liechtenstein Museum Vienna. The Collections, Johann Kräftner (Hg.), München–Berlin–London–New York 2004, S. 133, Abb. S. 118, Kat. IV.14
Johann Kräftner, Andrea Stockhammer, Liechtenstein Museum Wien. Die Sammlungen, Johann Kräftner (Hg.), München–Berlin–London–New York 2004, S. 133, Abb. S. 118, Kat. IV.14