La subida al Calvario de scipione Pulzone para Marcantonio Colonna

This article presents the Way to Calvary painted by Pulzone in 1581-83 for Marcantonio Colonna, then viceroy of Sicily. The latter sent it as a gift to Mateo Vázquez, secretary to Philip II, in testimony of their friendship and to thank him for supporting the ecclesiastical career of his son Ascanio, who delivered the painting in Madrid. When Vázquez died, it was inherited by his homonymous nephew, archdeacon of Carmona, who took it to Seville where Pacheco described it in the early 17th century. The author examines the painting's iconography in connexion with Raphael's and Sebastiano del Piombo's models, as well as other representations in Roman painting of the period. He also points out that cardinal Ferdinando de' Medici intended to send to Spain the autograph replica made for him; this confirms that Pulzone's picture seems to have perfectly met the Spanish predilection, well-known in Rome, for the pathetic in religious art.