As Christ stumbled under the weight of the cross that he bore on the way to his crucifixion, Saint Veronica comforted him and wiped the blood and sweat from his face with her veil. The frontal view adopted in this portrait recalls the depiction of Christ’s face as it was miraculously imprinted on the veil of Saint Veronica, but instead of depicting the imprint of Christ’s face, Correggio paints Christ himself, looking out at the viewer. Gentle fraying is visible on the lower right corner of the composition, identifying the white areas as cloth, and blurring the distinction between real and fictive space.
Veronica’s veil covers the background and wraps around Christ, whose purple robe is just visible beneath, an allusion to the mocking which he endured prior to his death: Roman soldiers stripped him of his clothes, dressed him in a purple cloak, placed a crown of thorns on his head, and mocked him as the King of the Jews.
Numerous copies after this new type of devotional image attest to the artist’s success in capturing the suffering of Christ in the lead-up to his crucifixion. Christ’s haunting, sorrowful stare is rendered with delicate, soft brushstrokes and he is bathed in a radiant light for which Correggio was well known. The subject matter and small size of the Head of Christ indicate that it was made as an aid to private devotion.
Our Cards are all printed on 100% cotton tree-free archival paper. All Cards include a recycled kraft envelope in a protective sleeve individually hand wrapped for you. Each card is printed one at a time and hand bound here in Lugano, Switzerland. We ship all over the world via SwissPost. Please allow 5-9 business days for us to make them and 5-7 business days for transit. Art Prints are printed on heavy matte finish German art paper using the finest Canon archival inks. Frame is black natural with a white mattboard and Acrylite glazing.
Wall Murals are printed on 42" matte finish, self-adhesive Kodak PhotoText fabric panels that combine and mount easily on a non textured wall surface. We can custom make to any size, just ask.
Stretched Canvas is stretched by hand over 1.5" thick pine bars and printed on cotton poly matte finish canvas. Each canvas is hand coated with Hahnemuhle UV/Archive coating, these are Swiss quality best in industry canvases.
All our images are digitized from the original negative, printed and assembled in Switzerland to museum standards by our master printer.
All of our products are popular and custom made by hand to order, please allow 2-4 weeks to make them and 1-2 weeks for shipment anywhere in the world.
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Artwork in this collection is from The J. Paul Getty Museum. Reproduction rights are reserved by the copyright owner and used under license by Archivea GmbH.
