Christ on the Road to Calvary

This small panel is a single scene from a narrative cycle that showed the Passion of Christ – the sequence of events surrounding Christ’s crucifixion. Here, Christ is shown carrying the cross from the walled city of Jerusalem to Calvary, the site of the Crucifixion. In an attempt at humiliation, Roman soldiers lead Christ by a rope while an onlooker is poised to strike him. To the left, the distress of the Virgin and Mary Magdalene is apparent. These multiple scenes were likely part of a much larger altarpiece, of which only two other scenes (of the Flagellation and Crucifixion, in private collections) have been identified.