Fragment from Christ Carrying the Cross: Mourning Virgin

<p>Scientific imaging techniques, which can reveal information that lies below or has been removed from the surface layers of a painting, have determined that <a href="https://www.artic.edu/artworks/25749/fragment-from-christ-carrying-the-cross-saint-john-the-evangelist"><em>Saint John the Evangelist</em></a> and the <em>Mourning Virgin</em> were once part of the same painting, <em>Christ Carrying the Cross</em>. Infrared reflectography revealed drawn strokes of Christ’s curling hair at the lower right of the Saint John panel. X-radiography shows that the top of the cross, still visible in the Saint John panel, occupied the lower left of <em>Mourning Virgin</em> before being scraped away and overpainted. The original work may have been repurposed to create multiple paintings of single, expressive devotional figures.</p>