Christ Carrying the Cross

ArtistFollower of Giovanni Bellini (Italian, born 1431/1436 - 1516)

Place of OriginItaly

Dateabout 1500-1510

DimensionsH: 19 1/2 in. (49.5 cm); W: 15 1/4 in. (38.7 cm);
Frame: H: 25 1/8 in. (63.8 cm); W: 20 7/8 in. (53 cm); Depth: 1 7/8 in. (4.8 cm)

MediumOil on wood panel

ClassificationPaintings

Credit LinePurchased with funds from the Libbey Endowment, Gift of Edward Drummond Libbey

Object number

1940.44

Not on View

Label TextWho painted this picture? When the Museum purchased this painting in 1940, it was considered an original work by the Venetian master Giovanni Bellini. But as time passed and after a cleaning in 1986, several art historians questioned this attribution. After recent research, we now feel more confident that Bellini indeed worked on the painting. Famous and successful, Bellini had a very large workshop, which was typical in Venice during the Renaissance. While an assistant may have done much of the work, the hand of Bellini himself is evident in the execution of the drapery folds and the delicate pseudo-writing on Christ’s sleeve. This intimate painting with its dramatic “close-up” of Jesus was used for private devotion and was a very popular item for the Bellini workshop. There are no less than 55 versions of this subject—Toledo’s is considered one of the finest.Published ReferencesFrimmel, T., Der Anonimo Morelliano (Marcanton Michiel's Notizia d'opere del disegno), Vienna, 1888, p. 88.

Richter, G.M., "Christ Carrying the Cross by Giovanni Bellini," Burlington Magazine, LXXV, Sep. 1939, pp. 94-97, repr.

Tietze, H., Four Centuries of Venetian Painting, Toledo Museum of Art, 1940, no. 6, repr.

Tietze, H., "Bellini's Christ Acquired, " Toledo Museum of Art Museum News, June 1940.

Art News, vol. 38, May 18, 1940, pp. 1, 15, repr.

Comstock, H., "Venetian Panel: Christ Carrying the Cross Acquired by Toledo," Connoisseur, vol. 106, September 1940, p. 117.

Masterpieces of Art from European and American Collections, 22nd Loan Exhibition of Old Masters, Detroit Institute of Arts, 1941, no. 21, repr.

Hendy, P. and L. Goldscheider, Giovanni Bellini, London, 1945, p. 33, pl. 85.

40th Anniversary Exhibition, City Art Museum of St. Louis, 1947, no. 1, p. 16, repr. p. 17.

Pach, Walter, Art Museums in America, Pantheon, 1948, p. 108.

Two Cities Collect, Toledo Museum of Art, 1948, no. 1, repr.

Godwin, Molly Ohl, "Capolavori italiani al 'Toledo Museum of Art,'" Le Vie Del Mondo, vol. 14, 1952, p. 1156, repr. p. 1153 (this article not in English).

Time, "Public Favorites," vol. 61, March 30, 1953, repr. (col.) p. 69.

Godwin, Molly Ohl, "Toledo Museum of Art: Post-war Additions," Connoisseur, vol. 136, no. 548, October 1955, pp. 133-140.

Berenson, B., Italian PIctures of Renaissance: Venetian School, I, New York, 1957, p. 34.

Heinemann, F., Giovanni Bellini e i Belliniani, Venice, 1962, no. 151, fig. 91, also vol. 3 (Hildelsheim, 1991), p. 21.

Pallucchini, R., Giovanni Bellini, Milan, 1962, pp. 92, 152-153, fig. 160.

Bottari, S., Tutta la pittura di Giovanni Bellini, Milan, 1963, II, p. 30.

Gibbons, F., "Practices in Giovanni Bellini's Workshop," Pantheon, XXIII, May-June 1965, pp. 149-150, fig. 5. (as workshop).

Ringbom, S., "Icon to Narrative: The Rise of the Dramatic Close-up in Fifteenth Century Devotional Painting," Acta Academiae Aboensis, XXXI, 1965, pp. 149-150, 152, fig. 120.

A Guide to the Toledo Museum of Art, Toledo, 1966, repr. (col.).

Robertson, G., Giovanni Bellini, Oxford, 1968, p. 124, pl. CXIIa.

Ghiotto, R., and T. Pignatti, L'opera completa di Giovanni Bellini detto Giambellino, Milan, 1969, p. 103, no. 156, repr.

Fredericksen, B. and Federico Zeri, Census of Pre-nineteenth Century Italian Paintings in North American Collections, Cambridge, MA, 1972, pp. 23, 286 (as school of Bellini).

Hendy, P., European and American Paintings in the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston, 1974, pp. 20, 22.

Toledo Museum of Art, The Toledo Museum of Art, European Paintings, Toledo, 1976, pp. 20-21, pl. 10.

The Toledo Museum of Art: A Guide to the Collections, Toledo, 1976, repr. p. 33.

Pignatti, Teresio, Giorgione, Milan, 1978, p. 41, repr. Tav. 2.

Morse, John D., Old master paintings in North America, New York, 1979, p. 16.

Chastel, André, "Le Portement de Croix de Lorenzo Lotto," La Revue du Louvre, no. 4, 1982, p. 270, repr. fig. 13.

Steer, John, Alvise Vivarini: His Art and Influence, Cambridge, 1982, p. 68, no. 12.

[Trevisani, Filippo], Restauri nel Polestine Dipitini: Documentazione e conservazione, Milan, 1984, pp. 82-85, repr. p. 84.

Goffen, Rona, Giovanni Bellini, New Haven, 1989, p. 301, no. 75.

Leonardo & Venice, Milan, 1992, p. 77, 83, n. 55, repr. p. 76, (col.).

Tempestini, Anchise, Giovanni Bellini, catalogo completo dei dipinti, Florence, 1992, p. 226, repr.

Tempestini, Anchise, Giovanni Bellini, Munich, Hirmer, 1998, no. 90, pp. 221-222.

Pignatti, Terisio and Filippo Pedrocco, Giorgione, Munich, 1999, p. 130.

Humfrey, Peter, Ed., The Cambridge companion to Giovanni Bellini, Cambridge, UK and NY, Cambridge University Press, 2004, p. 96-97, 109-110, 289, n. 5, fig. 26.

Lucco, Muaro, and Giovanni Carlo Federico Villa, Giovanni Bellini, Milano, Silvana, 2008, p. 306, repr. (col.).

Bastek, Grazyna, Warsztaty Weneckie w Drugiej Polowie XV i w XVI Wieku: Bellini, Giorgione, Tycjan, Tintoretto, Warsaw, Wydanictwa Uniwersytetu Warszawskiego, 2010, repr. (col.) fig. 143.

Daneo, Angelica ed., Glory of Venice: Masterworks of the Renaissance, Denver Art Museum, 2016, repr. (col.) cat. 45, p. 109.

Salomon, Xavier F., Bellini and Giorgione in the House of Taddeo Contarini, New York, The Frick Collection in association with D Giles Limited, 2023, p. 64, repr. fig. 25, p. 63.

Exhibition HistoryToledo Museum of Art, Four Centuries of Venetian Painting, 1940, no. 6.

Detroit Institute of Arts, Masterpieces of Art from European and American Collections, 22nd Loan Exhibition of Old Masters, 1941, no. 21.

City Art Museum of St. Louis, 40th Anniversary Exhibition, 1947, no. 1.

Toledo Museum of Art; Art Gallery of Toronto, Two Cities Collect, 1948, no. 1.

Denver Art Museum, North Carolina Museum of Art, Glory of Venice: Masterworks of the Renaissance, October 2, 2016-June 18, 2017.