Christ Carrying the Cross (c.1500)

Bosch, Hieronymus (c.1450-1516)

Christ Carrying the Cross
c.1500
Oil on oak panel, 57.2 x 32 cm
Kunsthistorisches MuseumVienna

This is the inner left wing of a tryptych.

The double-sided painted panel originally formed the left wing of a small altar. Bosch moves the scene to its own present in order to show the viewer the wickedness of the world. All expressions of evil are placed in the grimaces of the henchmen, a new psychological moment thus appears in painting. The child with a running chair and windmill on the back of the panel was interpreted in different ways, as a baby Jesus or as an allegory of ignorance, but the contrast of his innocence to the meanness of the passion scene is striking. (KHM)

Outer left wing:

Bosch, Hieronymus (c.1450-1516)
Child with Pinwheel and Toddler’s Chair
c.1500
Kunsthistorisches MuseumVienna