Venetian school of the 16th century

Venetian school of the 16th century
Christ Carrying the Cross
Oil on canvas
70 x 100 cm

The original is preserved at the Scuola di San Rocco in Venice and its authorship is disputed between Giorgione and Titian. The misunderstanding is long-standing, already in 1550 Giorgio Vasari described it as an artwork by Giorgione, but in 1568, in the second edition of the Lives, he corrected himself by attributing it to Titian. At the end of the 19th century, the artwork was reassigned to Giorgione, but the question of attribution has not yet been definitively resolved to this day. Those who claim that it is by the hand of Titian glimpse in it the realism of Nordic origin due to the influences of Bellini, the dramatic intensity, and the earthly extraneousness of the extras following Christ. For the group of scholars inclined towards Giorgione's autography, however, they underline the stylistic affinities with other artworks of the master, such as the expressive intensity of the Old Woman preserved in the Gallerie dell'Accademia, and the profound expression of human resignation of Christ conscious of imminent tragic fate.