As the Church marks Holy Saturday, we draw inspiration from Polidoro da Caravaggio’s “The Way to Calvary” from the Vatican Museum’s Pinacoteca (ca. 1530).
Polidoro da Caravaggio, The Way to Calvary; ca. 1530; oil on walnut panel, gilt frame; Pinacoteca Vaticana (© Musei Vaticani)
Polidoro da Caravaggio, The Way to Calvary; ca. 1530; oil on walnut panel, gilt frame; Pinacoteca Vaticana (© Musei Vaticani)
An intensely dramatic piece of art, it was part of the preparatory work for the altarpiece created for the Church of the Annunciation of the Catalani in Messina, installed in 1534. It was praised by the “Vasari” for the “number of figures accompanying Christ to death – soldiers, Pharisees, cavalry, women, cherubs and thieves in front of Him.”
(Pope Francis – Angelus, Sunday, 14 September 2014)
Under the direction of Paolo Ondarza
