The Way to Calvary

In 1660 the Dutch Republic sent the newly restored Charles II of England a gift of paintings, and this altarpiece was among them. It had belonged to Jan Reynst, a Dutch merchant in Venice. After Charles died, his widow, Catherine of Braganza, kept it at Somerset House, and when she was preparing to go home to Portugal she apparently gave it away as a bribe, so that the rest of her pictures would be allowed to leave England. It stayed in the recipient's family for nearly three centuries, until the National Gallery bought it in 1984. Bassano painted it around 1544 or 1545. Christ has fallen to his knees under the cross, one executioner raises a fist and another hauls on a rope round his waist. Veronica holds out her white veil, on which his face will be printed, pressed up close to the men beating him.