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Click to enlarge and download; this version has been
restored by Kathy Grimm. |
"Christ Falling on the Way to Calvary", also known as Lo Spasimo or Il Spasimo di Sicilia, is a painting by the Italian High Renaissance painter Raphael, of c. 1514–16, now in the Museo del Prado in Madrid. It is an important work for the development of his style.
It shows the common subject of Christ Carrying the Cross to his crucifixion, at the moment when he fell and his mother suffers a spasm of agony, the Swoon of the Virgin, or "Lo Spasimo".
All the emotion of the painting is densely crammed into the foreground
and the background is similar to that of a stage set with distant groups
of people and crosses. The man on the left in the foreground is similar
to a figure in Raphael’s painting “The Judgement of Solomon” in the Raphael Rooms in the Vatican Palace, except reversed. Simon of Cyrene
lifts Christ’s cross momentarily and looks sternly at the guards. The
four Marys are depicted on the right side of the painting and towering
on either side of the composition are the guards.
The concept of, and devotion to, the "spasm" of the Virgin was
fashionable, if somewhat controversial, in early 16th century
Catholicism, although in this work the Virgin has only fallen to her
knees, not collapsed or fainted, as is often shown.
The panel was commissioned by the Sicilian monastery of Santa Maria dello Spasimo in Palermo.
Painted in Rome around 1517, it was shipped by sea, but the actual ship
had a very troubled journey and finally sank. This episode was narrated
by Vasari:
...As it was being borne by sea to Palermo, a great tempest cast the
ship upon a rock, and it was broken to pieces, and the crew lost, and
all the cargo, except this picture, which was carried in its case by the
sea to Genoa. Here being drawn to shore, it was seen to be a thing
divine, and was taken care of, being found uninjured, even the winds and
waves in their fury respecting the beauty of such a work.
As the news of this was spread abroad, the Sicilian monks sought to
regain the miraculous painting, but they had to ask for the Pope's
intercession to retrieve it. It was carried safely to Sicily, and placed in Palermo, where it acquired great fame.
In 1661 the painting was acquired by the Spanish Viceroy Ferrando de Fonseca on behalf of King Philip IV, who wanted it placed on the main altarpiece of the Royal Alcazar of Madrid chapel. Then it stayed in Paris from 1813 to 1822, because it was one of the paintings Napoleon took as booty during his war campaigns,
and while there the painting was transferred to canvas, a practice much
adopted in France during those times. After Paris, the picture (unlike
many) was returned and finally re-integrated into the Spanish royal
collections, later transferred to the Prado.
Its present condition is not very good, mainly due to its change of
support. However, its quality is clearer since cleaning and restoration
in 2012.
In the past its status as a work by the hand of Raphael has been
disputed, but it is now generally accepted as not merely designed but in
large part painted by Raphael himself, no doubt with the usual workshop
assistance for the easier areas.
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| Etching of Raphael's painting above restored by Kathy Grimm. |
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