The catalogue presents Christ Carrying the Cross, recently rediscovered by Carlo Falciani in a private collection, which was born out of the intense friendship between the painter and art historian Giorgio Vasari (1511-1574) with Bindo Altoviti (1491-1557), important banker and refined art collector and patron. The artwork was painted in 1553, just before Vasari's return to Florence to take service as court painter of the Duke Cosimo I de' Medici. The painting shows the extremely high quality reached by Vasari's production in Rome - where he was working for Pope Julius III and where the Florentine banker Bindo Altoviti had a palace and conducted business - and, at the same time, it shows the experimentations of his manner, characterized by the re-elaboration of modern and contemporary models, in this case works of Michelangelo, Francesco Salviati and Sebastiano del Piombo.

Published to accompany an exhibition at the Gallerie Nazionali Barberini Corsini, Palazzo Corsini, Rome from 24 January-30 June 2019.

Text in English and Italian.