Christ's final journey before crucifixion is described in the gospels. The gospel's descriptions of this event vary. For example: Matthew wrote that Roman soldiers led Christ (shown on the right pulling the cross), and stripped Christ of his robe (Christ wears a robe in this version). Mark wrote that Simon was ordered by Roman soldiers to carry the cross. Luke wrote that Simon was seized to carry the cross behind Christ (Simon is shown on left assisting Christ) and was followed by a great multitude of people who expressed sadness. In this version we see a group of people lamenting and deriding. John wrote that Christ bore his own cross. Because of the variances, artists have depicted this event in different ways. -Crucifixion was a Roman punishment. Often, the vertical post was already in place and only the horizontal post was carried by the accused. -In the background, we see the crucifixion. In a narrative piece, such as this, artists often painted the same character more than once in order to tell a story. Here, the crucifixion is the final act.

The interesting Fact: For unexplained reasons, the artist gave Christ six toes on His right foot.