Christ Carrying the Cross with Saints Simon and Veronica (c. 1545): Art, History and Details

Christ Carrying the Cross with Saints Simon and Veronica (c. 1545) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection. The museum's creator attribution is Jacques Dubroeucq (Netherlandish, 1500/10–1584).

The work and its context

The museum's open-access catalogue describes the work:

As Christ dragged his cross through the streets of Jerusalem, Veronica wiped sweat from Christ’s face, which was miraculously imprinted on the fabric. This relief probably came from a choir screen, a barrier between the altar and the congregation, common in medieval churches. Yet the sculpture is more classical than medieval. The artist, yet to be identified, clearly knew the work of Dubreoucq, an artist who brought a taste for Italian Renaissance sculpture to northern France and present-day Belgium. The use of alabaster instead of marble exploits a material local to this part of Europe.

Object facts

• Title: Christ Carrying the Cross with Saints Simon and Veronica
• Date: c. 1545
• Creator attribution: Jacques Dubroeucq (Netherlandish, 1500/10–1584)
• Culture: South Netherlands, Hainault, 16th century
• Type: Sculpture
• Technique: alabaster
• Dimensions: Overall: 61.6 x 54 x 11.5 cm (24 1/4 x 21 1/4 x 4 1/2 in.)
• Collection: Sculpture
• Department: European Painting and Sculpture
• Accession number: 1971.5

Collection credit

Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund

Further reading listed by the museum

• The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1978. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1978.
• George, Philippe. Art et Patrimoine en Wallonie des Origines à 1789: Essai de Synthèse à la Lumière des Collections Américaines et Européennes. Namur: Institut du Patrimoine Wallon, 2017.

View the collection record

See the museum's photographs and full catalogue entry. Catalogue text is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art's open-access data, with HTML formatting removed. This object and its supplied image are designated CC0.