As a subject in Christian art, the episode of ‘Christ’s Way to Calvary’ is a popular one. The four Gospel accounts of this episode are sparse in details, and so offer ample room for artists to imagine unique and individualized ways of representing the narrative. The variety of figures portrayed in this long artistic tradition afford manifold opportunities for viewers’ spiritual engagement; multiple ways to articulate their role as both witnesses and participants.

While the primary focus of all four Gospels is Christ, none is identical in its description of the circumstances in which he makes his journey to Golgotha. Matthew 27:32 and Mark 15:21 merely mention that Simon of Cyrene was called upon to help carry the cross when Christ was unable to do so. John 19:17 does not even mention this—saying that Christ carried his own cross to Golgotha and nothing more. Only Luke 23:26–32 provides any detail to assist readers in imagining the scene—including the involvement of Simon of Cyrene, but also the mourning women of Jerusalem (whom Christ admonishes to hold their grief; v.28) and the two thieves who would be crucified alongside Christ. But none of these accounts elaborates upon the setting in which Christ carried the cross nor the travails he experienced while doing so. Artists therefore have to—and did—infer Christ’s physical burden and emotional agony while beaten, defiled, and humiliated as he took his final steps towards death. 

These three artworks by Duccio, Titian, and Jean de Wespin and Giovannni d’Enrico, focus on different aspects of, and even different moments within, the Gospel accounts of Christ’s journey to his crucifixion. Two of them feature Christ stumbling under the weight of the cross. The other shows him standing solemnly amongst the crowds. These different portrayals, as well as their diverse stylistic choices, can be explained in part by the different devotional ends to which the artists fashioned their respective versions, and the various contexts for which they were made. 

Titian’s painting is a private devotional work intended for intimate engagement, probably by a single viewer. His compositional and stylistic choices reflect those aims. Indeed, this painting arrived at the Escorial in Spain in 1574, where it was kept in King Philip II’s private oratory and, according to some sources, became one of his favoured devotional images (Falomir 2003: 202–03). Its sombre mood, dark palette, and its focus on Christ’s physical struggle—as well as the poignancy of the gaze he directs at Simon—underscore the image’s aim to induce sorrow for his agony. 

Duccio’s painting, by contrast, was not only destined for the grand altarpiece of Siena Cathedral (albeit the reverse side, which was primarily accessible only to certain church officials), but was also meant to be legible within the context of a narrative series of Christ’s life. The viewer was not just meant to contemplate Christ’s journey to Golgotha by itself, but to understand its position within the broader narrative of Christ’s Passion and death that surrounds it. 

Similar in this regard is the scene found at the Sacro Monte of Varallo: it too is a moment in a sequence, and other episodes from the life and death of Christ are given similar multimedia treatments. But the work is different from Duccio’s in the sort of contemplation it calls for from its viewers—the intense devotional attention that it invites; the directness of the participatory engagement elicited by the three-dimensional scene. The sculptural groups would have encouraged (and can still facilitate) vivid sensory experiences. The life-size scale, material realism, and mimetic exactitude of the works can blur the boundaries between the artifice of illusory representation and reality itself. It can thereby achieve a different form of spiritual engagement from that offered in Titian’s and Duccio’s paintings.

Of course, none of these images focuses on Christ alone, and consequently none replicates the sparse simplicity of John 19:17. They are not just about Christ. Indeed, Duccio includes the women and daughters of Jerusalem who mourn Christ’s agony and impending death (Luke 23:26–32). His and Titian’s paintings also feature Simon, who steps in to help carry the cross (Matthew 27:32, Mark 15:21, and Luke 23:26–32). De Wespin and D’Enrico insert the apocryphal story of Veronica helping to soothe Christ’s suffering, and the relic of that event that she takes away from it.

Taken together, despite all of their narrative, compositional, and stylistic differences, all three artists offer viewers opportunities to recognize their own roles in contemplating the story. They direct the viewer’s attention not just to the burden of Christ’s sacrifice, but also to figures who, like us, emerge from the shadows to enact their own individually pious reactions as they witness Christ’s travails.

References

Falomir, Miguel. 2003. Tiziano (Madrid: Museo Nacional del Prado), pp.266–69, available at https://www.museodelprado.es/en/the-collection/art-work/christ-on-the-way-to-calvary/8eb4c2f7-56e4-49cf-ab3e-4a23f82c718b [accessed 30 June 2023]