Crucifixion of Christ

Attributed to Della Porta Guglielmo

(Porlezza c. 1542 - Rome 1597)

Standing out against a slate background, modelled in white wax, are the three crosses with Christ and the two thieves. A multitude of people is depicted at the foot of the cross, men are busy lifting and anchoring the crosses, Roman centurions on horseback are pointing their spears at Christ, and figures in oriental dress are arguing. The commotion seems to spread to the foreground, crossing over the rocks, the only hint of Mount Golgotha: on the right, two soldiers are fighting over Christ’s garments, while two others, armed with daggers, are fighting each other; on the left, the Virgin Mary is fainting, overpowered by grief, and supported by the Pious Women and Mary Magdalene, and St John the Evangelist is praying.

The sumptuous and elaborate frame in ebony, bronze, lapis lazuli and semiprecious stones is of the same period as the bas-relief; the whole piece is documented in the Borghese collections from 1619. The Crucifixion of Christ has been attributed to Guglielmo della Porta on the basis of stylistic similarities with another relief in Stockholm and with some drawings in the Kunstakademie in Düsseldorf.

Object details

Commentary

The relief is characterised by its clear, two-tone colouring, with the dark slate background emphasising the figures modelled in white wax, especially in the upper part where the three crosses immediately capture the observer’s attention, immersing him in the dark and dramatic atmosphere of the scene. On the cross at the centre is Christ, his head tilted. Facing him, on the cross tothe left, is the good thief, his arms outstretched and raised, in a gesture of prayer; on the right, the bad thief instead has his backturned to Christ and his arms affixed to the cross, from which he hangs lifeless. Numerous men are involved with the crucifixion, surrounded by ladders, saws and other tools and incited by Roman soldiers on horseback and turbaned figures talking. In the foreground on the left are the Virgin, supported by the Pious Women and Mary Magdalene. St John, his face filled with despair, is praying. On the right, two soldiers are fighting over Christ’s robes, and two others armed with daggers take each other on. The relief has a wealth of detail and, especially in the figures in the foreground, is characterised by accentuated modelling, detailed and deeply carved drapery to emphasise the gestures and movements.

How and when the relief entered the Borghese collections is not known. It is mentioned for the first time in an inventory of the Borghese collection in 1619 (Archivio Segreto Vaticano, Archivio Borghese, Nota delle gioie consegne a D. Marcantonio Senior, 1619, no. 292). Montelatici (1700, p. 304) recalls it in one of the small rooms on the first floor of the Villa Pinciana, where it was exhibited with four other reliefs, all made with different materials. Venturi argued that it was of the School of Michelangelo (1893, p. 218), while Middeldorf named Guglielmo Della Porta as its author, for the first time, based on a comparison with some of the artist’s drawings in the Kunstakademie in Düsseldorf. The scholar, rereading a passage from the Lives in which Vasari speaks of 14 models for reliefs made by the sculptor for bronze castings, suggested that this work might be one of them (although the dimensions do not match). He also assumed that a pupil of the sculptor had worked on some of the details, naming the Flemish Jacob Cobaert (Middeldorf 1935, pp. 90-96). Despite the fineness of the details, Faldi believed it was unlikely that this could be an autonomous work, that such a hypothesis would be contradicted by the use of white wax, and that the relief was a preparatory work for a metal casting (1954, p. 51). Herrmann Fiore refers to a bronze door for St Peter’s Basilica (1999, p. 38); commissioned to Guglielmo della Porta by Pope Pius IV and never made. It must have consisted of eight panels, necessarily larger than the present relief (Extermann 2012, pp. 67-69).

The attribution to Della Porta, accepted by Venturi (1937, p. 544) and della Pergola (1951, p. 37), is not reported by De Rinaldis, who opts for an unknown Flemish sculptor (1948, p. 53). More recently, Gabhart pointed out a close correlation with a Deposition in gold in the Walters Gallery, New York (Gabhart 1968-69, p. 31).

Sonja Felici