Christ Carrying the Cross

This narrow panel was probably part of a predella, the supporting lower portion of an altarpiece, which no doubt featured other scenes from the Passion of Christ. It is most likely an early work by Hans Maler, who worked in Ulm in southwestern Germany before settling in the Tyrol. He is now known chiefly for portraits painted in the later part of his career for members of the imperial family and other prominent sitters.

His earlier religious paintings are a variant on the expressive, patterned style and vivid characterization of an accomplished group of painters working in Ulm and nearby Memmingen, notably Bartholomäus Zeitblom and Bernhard Strigel.

The physical object — Oil on panel, 33.8 × 57.5 cm (13 5/16 × 22 5/8 in.); Framed: 44.5 × 66.4 × 6.4 cm (17 1/2 × 26 1/8 × 2 1/2 in.) — carries its own history of handling and restoration. Attributed to Hans Maler's brushwork here moves between exacting description and looser, more suggestive passages, a balance typical of Renaissance studio practice.

Look closely and the painting opens up. Objects you might pass over — a folded letter, a half-drawn curtain, the angle of a glance — were placed to be read. Likeness was only part of the job; the painting also had to argue for the sitter's place in the world.

Art Institute of Chicago in Chicago now holds the work, where conservators and historians continue to revisit its condition and attribution. Each generation of scholarship adds a layer to how Attributed to Hans Maler's output from this period is understood.

“A silence so complete it becomes its own witness.”