Fragment from Christ Carrying the Cross: Saint John the Evangelist

WEBP (MASTER) • 4048 × 5647 PX • 4.7 MB
Curatorial Notes

Scientific imaging techniques, which can reveal information that lies below or has been removed from the surface layers of a painting, have determined that Saint John the Evangelist and the Mourning Virgin were once part of the same painting, Christ Carrying the Cross. Infrared reflectography revealed drawn strokes of Christ’s curling hair at the lower right of the Saint John panel. X-radiography shows that the top of the cross, still visible in the Saint John panel, occupied the lower left of Mourning Virgin before being scraped away and overpainted. The original work may have been repurposed to create multiple paintings of single, expressive devotional figures.

Artwork Identification

Title Fragment from Christ Carrying the Cross: Saint John the Evangelist
Title (PT) Fragmento de Cristo carregando a cruz: São João Evangelista
Title (ES) Fragmento de Cristo cargando la cruz: San Juan Evangelista
Artist Jean Hey, (the Master of Moulins)
Artist Bio Jean Hey (Master of Moulins; Netherlandish, active in France, c. 1480-c.1504)
Date c. 1500
Work Type Painting

Location & Collection

License Creative Commons Public Domain Mark 1.0
Ars Sancta