Christ Bearing the Cross

In 1969 this panel went on show in an exhibition about everyday life and festivity in the Middle Ages, and the reason is easy to see. The painter, whom the Belvedere cautiously names as the Master of Laufen, worked in the Salzburg region around 1445 to 1450 and dressed the road to Calvary in the clothes of his own day.

Soldiers in plate armour carry pikes and halberds under a red pennant. The two thieves are led on ropes, their eyes bound. Christ stumbles under the cross, a rope around his waist, and a wooden block studded with nails hangs beside his feet. A hooded man, Simon of Cyrene, takes the end of the beam. At the city gate Mary holds a cloth to her face among the holy women and the young John. High above, below a castle, a small crowd has gathered.