Spanish school, following models of JUAN RIBALTA (Madrid, c. 1596-Valencia, 1628); XVII century.

Spanish school, following models of JUAN RIBALTA (Madrid, c. 1596-Valencia, 1628); XVII century.
Christ cross-bearer.

Oil on canvas. Relined.
Measurements: 76 x 62 cm.
The image has nothing more than the presence of Christ carrying the cross, so that the scene is defined by a great austerity and dramatism centralized in the figure of the protagonist and especially in the pathos of the face with his mouth half open and tears falling down his cheeks. Exhausted by the blood lost in the scourging, weakened by the physical and moral sufferings that had been inflicted on him the night before, and without having slept, Jesus could barely take a few steps and soon fell under the weight of the cross. Then followed the blows and imprecations of the soldiers, the expectant laughter of the public. The Messiah, with all the strength of his will and with all his strength, managed to get up to continue on his way. According to theological interpretations, Jesus invites us with his actions to carry our cross and to follow him, he teaches us here that we can also fall, and that we must understand those who fall; that no one must remain prostrate, we must all rise with humility and confidence seeking his help and forgiveness.
Aesthetically the work is reminiscent of the painting of Juan Ribalta, a baroque painter who developed his career in the city of Valencia. He began his artistic training at the hand of his father, the renowned artist Francisco Ribalta, a follower of Caravaggista painting. Always linked to the workshop of his father Juan Ribalta, he signed his first work at the age of eighteen with his father's workshop. Three years later, in 1618, he married, thus achieving an advantageous economic position, and began to be linked to the world of literature. His pictorial work is characterized by a tenebrist aesthetic style very close to the pictorial quality of his father. However, Juan Ribalta, at first, started from the precepts of mannerism, to which he applied certain touches of naturalistic character. Later his painting began to show a certain interest in the anecdotal and the everyday, characteristics that were widely present in the workshop of Bassano, an artist from whom he received a great influence. Regarding his last stage, his painting turned towards a much more sober language of naturalistic style, again close to his father. However, despite his father's fame, Juan Ribalta's talent was highly appreciated, in fact, Palomino was a great defender of his work, dedicating to him these words: "in that the father's manner was more defined, and the son's somewhat looser and more beaten". However, it should be noted that his untimely death left us the work of a great painter, who was still shaping his own pictorial language.