The Bearing of the Cross (after Raphael), Agostino Musi

Exhibition Label: "Giorgio Vasari and Court Culture in Late Renaissance Italy," Sep-2012, Sally Cornelison and Susan Earle Like the reverse painting on glass displayed next to it, this print is a copy after Raphael’s Lo Spasimo di Sicilia. Because the altarpiece by Raphael was installed in the church of Santa Maria dello Spasimo in Palermo-on the distant southern Italian island of Sicily-Vasari never saw it. Instead, he must have known the painting’s composition via this reproduction, which makes the engraving one of the most important sources for his Christ Carrying the Cross. The print was made by a Venetian artist also known as Agostino dei Musi, who from 1516 worked in Rome with Marcantonio Raimondi, the master Italian engraver Raphael hired to reproduce his designs in print. In keeping with Raimondi’s working practices, Agostino may have engraved this print after a finished drawing, rather than Raphael’s painting. Whereas most reproductive prints reverse the compositions of the works upon which they are based, this one does not.