Christ Bearing the Cross Meets Veronica
1657. Oil on canvas. On display elsewhereThis is one of a series of eleven canvases on Christ´s Passion that Arias painted for the cloister at the convent of San Felipe el Real. Others include Jesus Washing Peter´s Feet (P5985), Christ Before Pontius Pilate, Christ Bearing the Cross encounters Veronica (P3528) and a Crucifixion.
This series with scenes from the Passion was first mentioned by Palomino (1724:) He made eleven paintings for the high cloisters at the Royal Convent of Saint Philip, of Shod Augustinians in this city, of the Passion of Our Lord Christ, which are excellent. According to Ponz (1776:) time has taken its toll on these paintings. Ceán (1800) added that some are signed in 1657 and cost 800 ducats. None of these authors registered the concrete subject of each painting.
The Inventory of Paintings from the Suppressed Convents within the boundaries of San Felipe el Real only allows us to identify these five works, but we cannot rule out the possibility that another from that same inventory (Christ´s Flagellation, no frame, horizontal format, 4 3/4 x 6 feet) may also have belonged to that series. The widths coincide, but not the height. The other works from this group may have been discarded due to their poor state of conservation.
The Inventory of Paintings and Statues Presented at the Inauguration of the Museo Nacional de la Trinidad on June 24, 1838 registers a painting of Christ dressing the Jews with a Tunic as exhibited in the Large Hall of the Main Gallery, and lists its provenience as San Felipe. This, too, may have been from Arias Fernández´s series.