Christ Carrying the Cross

"Christ Carrying the Cross" is a captivating painting attributed to a follower of Hieronymus Bosch, created sometime between 1500 and 1535. Today, this remarkable artwork is housed at the Museum of Fine Arts in Ghent, Belgium. The museum acquired the piece in 1902, and it underwent restoration between 1956 and 1957. Although the exact date of its creation remains uncertain, most art historians believe it was produced toward the end of Bosch's career.

The painting depicts Jesus carrying the cross, set against a somber background and surrounded by a series of grotesque faces. In total, there are eighteen faces, including one on Veronica's veil. Jesus is portrayed with a sorrowful expression, his eyes closed and head bowed. In the bottom right corner of the composition, the impenitent thief is depicted, while the penitent thief appears in the top right corner, being confessed by a disfigured monk. Veronica, bearing the holy shroud, is shown in the bottom left corner, and Simon of Cyrene is depicted in the top left.

Notably, there are two other versions of this scene by Bosch: one from around 1498, located in the Royal Palace of Madrid, and another from around 1500, housed in the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna. The attribution of "Christ Carrying the Cross" to Bosch himself has been a topic of debate among experts, with some suggesting that it was actually painted by one of his followers instead.