Christ as the Savior

Christ, wearing the crown of thorns and displaying the wounds from his crucifixion, holds a splendid cross carved from translucent rock crystal and embellished with gold and precious stones. His red robe, beneath which is a deep purple mantle, is clasped together with an equally elaborate brooch. Christ does not usually appear so splendidly dressed so it is difficult to understand this painting’s precise meaning. It is also not clear where the painting was made, though the city of Parma, in northern Italy, has been suggested along with a date of about 1510. Nevertheless, the painting's small size seems to suggest it was intended as a private devotional object, perhaps in a domestic interior. That Christ is unusually shown blessing with his left, rather than right, hand may indicate the composition was derived from an unidentified print which was reversed in the process of transfer.

Inscription

Provenance

Provenance (from the French provenir, 'to come from/forth') is the chronology of the ownership, custody, or location of a historical object.

Orazio Cozetti, Mantegna [date and mode of acquisition unknown] [according to inscription on the back of the panel]; [Rome, 1814]; Don Marcello Massarenti Collection, Rome [date and mode of acquisition unknown] [1897 catalogue: no. 201, as close to the School of Bologna, 17th century]; Henry Walters, Baltimore, 1902, by purchase; Walters Art Museum, 1931, by bequest.