Christ Falls under the Cross 1730 - 1794

Curator: The piece we're looking at is titled "Christ Falls under the Cross" by Girolamo Starace, made sometime between 1730 and 1794. It's a drawing, likely a print, on toned paper, held at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. What’s your first impression? Editor: The starkness of the sketch really gets to me. All these figures pressing in, but Christ's isolation is palpable. You feel the weight, literally and figuratively. Curator: Yes, consider the academic style informing Starace's approach. We can see the intense preparation through his light pencil work, building forms. And, significantly, how this work may be just one stage in his drawing and printmaking process. A study or even an experimentation. Editor: The cross itself looms large, doesn’t it? The Roman soldier almost becomes one with it. That symbol has been charged with meaning for centuries; each viewing imprints layers of cultural memory. It speaks of suffering but also, paradoxically, of redemption. Curator: The drawing's materials themselves underscore this duality. Pencil, ink and toned paper, relatively inexpensive, are employed to create a powerful representation. It also seems to exist as one element within Starace's broader sketchbook work. Were such materials and depictions common or innovative for the period? Editor: Definitely common but deeply considered. Consider how artists throughout the ages return to this scene, to this very fall. The image of a man struggling under an impossible weight, it’s universally resonant, triggering our own associations with hardship, injustice and, ultimately, resilience. Curator: Precisely. Seeing that level of iteration reveals not only Starace’s individual struggle but also how printmaking operates within a broader network of production and dissemination of religious iconography. Editor: Indeed, the impact of visual symbols stretches beyond their material origin. The image of Christ, staggering, stays long after we move on. Curator: A truly sobering intersection of labor and legacy, captured in this delicate artwork. Editor: Leaving us to ponder the strength we all might find to carry our own crosses, literal or otherwise.