Christ Carrying the Cross (El Greco, New York) Christ Carrying the Cross (El Greco, New York) Christ Carrying the Cross is a 1580 painting by El Greco, produced early in his Toledo period in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The picture depicts Christ's sacrifice for mankind as represented by his gentle embrace of the cross and his heavenward gaze. The artist frequently returned to the subject, as seen in works now in Madrid and Barcelona. Its owners have included Sir William Stirling Maxwell (1818–1878), General Archibald Stirling and Lieutenant Colonel William Stirling. In 1953 it was acquired by Robert Lehman and in 1975 it was
Posthumous fame of El Greco such texts, in time developed into "madness". In 1838 the Spanish Museum of king Louis-Philippe was inaugurated at the Louvre on January 7, 1838. In 1835 Louis-Philippe had sent Baron Isidore Justin Séverin Taylor to Spain, in order to purchase, on his account, a representative group of works from the Spanish School. Taylor enriched the king's collection with nine paintings by El Greco: four with religious motifs, four portraits and an Evangelist. Among 450 paintings by 85 Spanish painters, the French public was able to see typical works of El Greco for the first time. During this period the idea