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,[1] now in the Museo del Prado in Madrid. It is an important work for the development of his style.
Description
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".[2] 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.[3] 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.[4]
History
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 ship had a 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.[5]
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.[6]
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 collection, later transferred to the Prado.[7] 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.
Copy by Juan Carreño de Miranda, 1674
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.
Perhaps by royal commission, in 1674, Juan Carreño de Miranda executed a splendid copy of Raphael's original, which was displayed to the public on the main altar of the Convent of Santa Ana of barefoot Carmelites in Madrid. Carreño, renouncing his own style, much looser and more fluffy, faithfully follows the color, the finished invoice and the precise drawing of the original. It belongs and is at display at The Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando in Madrid.[8]
^G. Vasari, Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects (in It. often shortened to Le Vite), 1568. Cf. full text online at STORIES FROM VASARI, "Raffaello", Ch. 183. The painting's Prado webpage states that, recently, questions have been raised as to the truthfulness of Vasari's narration of the shipwreck it suffered during its transportation. That story is considered too close to the miraculous circumstances surrounding the arrival of one of Sicily's most famous images —Trapani's Annunziata by Nino Pisano— during the Middle Ages [1]
De Vecchi, Pierluigi, Raffaello, Rizzoli, Milan (1975). (in Italian)
Franzese, Paolo, Raffaello, Mondadori Arte, Milan (2008). (in Italian)
Gherardi, Pompeo, Della Vita E Delle Opere Di Raffaello Sanzio Da Urbino (1874), Kessinger Publishing (2010). (in Italian)
Hoeniger, Cathleen, The Afterlife of Raphael's Paintings, Cambridge University Press (2010).
Penny, Nicholas, National Gallery Catalogues (new series): The Sixteenth Century Italian Paintings, Volume I, 2004, National Gallery Publications Ltd, ISBN 1-85709-908-7
El Greco: The Nobleman with his Hand on his Chest – Adoration of the Shepherds – Doña María de Aragón Altarpiece – Annunciation – Christ Carrying the Cross – The Fable – The Flight into Egypt – Holy Face of Jesus – Holy Trinity – Julián Romero and Saint Julian – Portrait of a Doctor – Portrait of a Gentleman – Portrait of a Young Nobleman – Portrait of an Elderly Man – Portrait of an Unknown Gentleman – Portrait of Jerónimo de Cevallos – Portrait of Rodrigo Vázquez de Arce – Saint Andrew and Saint Francis – Saint Anthony of Padua – Saint Bernardino of Siena[1] – Saint James the Great – Saint John the Evangelist – Saint Paul – Saint Sebastian – Saint Thomas the Apostle – Holy Trinity – The Saviour – Virgin Mary
Luna: The Death of Cleopatra
Maíno: Adoration of the Magi – Portrait of a Gentleman – The Recovery of Bahía de Todos los Santos
Murillo: Adoration of the Shepherds(1650) – Aranjuez Immaculate Conception – The Christ Child and the Infant John the Baptist with a Shell – Christ on the Cross(1675, 1677) – The Conversion of Saint Paul – The Good Shepherd – The Holy Family with a Little Bird – The Immaculate Conception of El Escorial – The Immaculate Conception of Los Venerables – The Martyrdom of Saint Andrew – Our Lady of the Rosary – The Patrician's Dream – Rebecca and Eleazar
Pradilla: Doña Joanna the Mad
Ribera: Jacob's Dream – Democritus – Isaac and Jacob – Ixion – Tityos – The Martyrdom of Saint Philip – The Blind Sculptor
Sánchez Gallque: The Mulattos of Esmeraldas[2]
Velázquez: Las Meninas – The Triumph of Bacchus – Las Hilanderas – The Surrender of Breda – Mars Resting – Equestrian Portrait of Philip IV – Equestrian Portrait of Elisabeth of France – Equestrian Portrait of Prince Balthasar Charles – Equestrian Portrait of Philip III – Equestrian Portrait of Margarita of Austria – Equestrian Portrait of the Count-Duke of Olivares – Adoration of the Magi – Apollo in the Forge of Vulcan – Christ Crucified – Coronation of the Virgin – View of the Garden of the Villa Medici – Prince Balthasar Charles as a Hunter – Portrait of the Infante Don Carlos – Doña Antonia de Ipeñarrieta y Galdós and Her Son Don Luis – The Jester Barbarroja – The Jester Calabacillas – The Jester Don Diego de Acedo – The Jester Don John of Austria – Portrait of Francisco Lezcano – Infanta Margarita Teresa in a Pink Dress – Portrait of Maria Anna – Portrait of Juan Martínez Montañés – The Nun Jerónima de la Fuente – Portrait of Pablo de Valladolid – Portrait of Philip IV in Armour – Portrait of Mariana of Austria – Portrait of Sebastián de Morra
Zurbarán: Agnus Dei – The Death of Hercules – The Defence of Cádiz Against the English – Hercules and the Hydra – Hercules Separates Mounts Calpe and Abylla – Hercules Fighting the Nemean Lion – Saint Elizabeth of Portugal – Saint Luke Painting the Crucifixion – Saint Peter Nolasco's Vision of Saint Peter the Apostle – Still Life with Pots – The Vision of Saint Peter Nolasco
Bouts: Triptych with Scenes from the Life of the Virgin
Bruegel the Elder: The Triumph of Death – The Wine of Saint Martin's Day – Excursion in the Countryside of Infanta Isabel Clara Eugenia – Life in the Countryside – The Infanta Isabel Clara Eugenia in the Mariemont Park(with de Momper) – Landscape(with de Momper) – The Five Senses(with Rubens)
van Dyck: Self-portrait with Sir Endymion Porter – The Betrayal of Christ – The Brazen Serpent – Diana and a Nymph Surprised by a Satyr – Saint Rosalia – The Crowning with Thorns
van Hemessen: The Surgeon
Francken the Younger: The Sciences and the Arts
Jordaens: Apollo as Victor over Pan – Meleager and Atalanta – The Painter's Family
Memling: Adoration of the Magi
Mengs: Portrait of José Nicolás de Azara
de Momper: Landscape with Sea and Mountains – A Farm – Flemish Market and Washing Place – Landscape with Skaters – The Infanta Isabel Clara Eugenia in the Mariemont Park(with Brueghel the Elder) – Landscape(with Brueghel the Elder)
Rubens: The Judgement of Paris(1638) – The Three Graces – Adoration of the Magi – The Dance of the Villagers – Diana and Callisto – Equestrian Portrait of the Duke of Lerma – The Fall of Man – The Garden of Love – The Birth of the Milky Way – The Rape of Europa – The Rape of Ganymede – Saint George and the Dragon – Saturn – The Triumph of the Church – Deucalion and Pyrrha – The Five Senses(with Brueghel the Elder)
Lorrain: Landscape with St Paula of Rome Embarking at Ostia – The Ford – Landscape with St María de Cervelló – Landscape with the Burial of St Serapia – Landscape with the Finding of Moses – Landscape with the Temptation of St Anthony – Landscape with Tobias and Raphael
Poussin: Parnassus – Landscape with Three Figures – Saint Cecilia
Media related to Spasimo of Sicily at Wikimedia Commons