Workshop of LUIS MORALES "El divino" (Badajoz, 1509 - Alcántara, 1586), 1600. "Christ carrying the cross". Oil on canvas. Re-drawn. Size: 101.5 x 88.5 cm; 118.5 x 103 cm (frame). In this canvas the author captures one of the most dramatic moments of the Way of the Cross, the moment in which Christ bears the weight of the cross. In this episode it is common to see Simon the Cyrenian helping Jesus to carry the cross, or Veronica offering him a cloth to wipe his face clean of blood and sweat. However, the author of the present canvas dispenses with the monumental presence of these figures and only sketches the profile of a male face in the lower left corner. This characteristic suggests that the artist is not looking for any theological meaning other than Christ s own suffering and voluntary sacrifice on behalf of humanity. In fact, this supreme generosity is reinforced by Jesus own gaze, which avoids ours, turning to one side. The figure is worked with great naturalism, emphasising the expressiveness of the face and hands, and the tenebrist lighting used manages to give the figure a greater physical presence, a greater three-dimensionality and also intensity and effect to the figure. These features, as well as the range of colours used, are typical of naturalistic Baroque. The dramatic figure is set against a dark background of dense darkness, as if emerging from the shadows, directly illuminated by a theatrical and directed spotlight that enters the image from the upper left corner and falls directly on the saint s face and hands, leaving the rest of the figure enveloped in a nuanced half-light. Due to these characteristics, the work can be related to the painting of Luis Morales, known as El Divino, who had an active artistic career that required him to travel frequently to arrange commissions, carry them out or supervise their execution. When he achieved great fame, Morales set up a workshop as a base for carrying out all his commissions. His technique was highly appreciated for the creation of highly studied compositions, providing a very personal and innovative style. He was praised by the treatise writer Palomino who nicknamed him the Divine, explaining that he called him the Divine because all he painted were sacred things, and because he made heads of Christ with such great delicacy and subtlety in the hair, that the most curious in art would want to blow them to make them move, because they seem to have the same subtlety as the natural ones. Many of his works were painted for family chapels or private chapels of people linked to the Sevillian elite and the bourgeoisie of Extremadura.