Le Christ portant sa croix

Cesare da Sesto, a Milanese painter who was one of Leonardo da Vinci's most accomplished followers, painted this Christ Carrying the Cross around 1520. Cesare traveled widely, working in Rome and southern Italy, and spread Leonardesque innovations beyond Milan. The painting is in the Louvre. The 1520s were a decade of transition, marked by the deaths of Raphael and Leonardo, the shock of the Reformation, and the beginnings of Mannerist experimentation.

The image of Christ bearing the Cross is rendered with the soft sfumato modeling and psychological depth Cesare absorbed from Leonardo. The refinement of facial expression reflects the Leonardesque tradition.