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10Story
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Christ Carrying the Cross. Unknown artist, Venetian School.
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The following is the English part of the label accompanying the original displayed in Vienna (emphasis added):
‘The tight cropped detail and the almost tangible proximity are of great effect psychologically. Leonardo is considered the inventor of this “portrait formula” of the person turning away, looking over his shoulder at the viewer, while Giorgione is seen as the first artist successfully to apply this formula. Despite the high level of artistry in this painting, it has not yet been satisfactorily attributed to a particular artist.’
There are three main formats for the representational portraits shown in this exhibition: ‘confrontal’, profile or three-quarter profile, and active-engaged. It is often by combining two or even all three of these formats that an artist can achieve the most striking results.
In this work, the subject is shown engaged in a demanding task, yet the momentary glance over his shoulder to the viewer’s left gives a stronger sense of reality than any pose. If we can imagine what he might say, it is because we already know his story; it is not that the artist has revealed his soul. He looks the part because the part is all we know: the man with the unmistakeable cross whose unknown face could be anyone’s or even, if invented, no-one’s. |
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