Le Portement de croix

In the plague-haunted Venice of the early 16th century, this small, dark image of Christ dragging the cross became one of the most venerated objects in the city. Scholars still argue whether it is an early Titian or a work of the young Giorgione, both painting in Venice around 1505. Whoever made it, word spread that praying before it worked miracles, and pilgrims arrived in such numbers that their gifts helped pay for the grand meeting house of San Rocco that holds it today. By 1521 the confraternity had opened a small shop beside the panel, selling candles and cheap printed copies so a worshipper could carry the image home. After the terrible plague of 1523, Titian designed one of those woodcuts himself.