Christ Carrying the Cross, ca. 1520?25, Oil on oak, 9 7/8 ? 7 1/2 in. (25. 1 ? 19 cm), Paintings, Jan Gossart (called Mabuse) (Netherlandish, Maubeuge ca. 1478?1532 Antwerp (? ) ), In this diminutive panel, Christ appears isolated outside the walls of Jerusalem, stumbling and weighed down by the heavy burden of the cross that he bears. Intended for private meditation, Gossart?s deeply felt and poignant depiction of the suffering Savior responds to widely popular texts such as Thomas ? Kempis?s De Imitatione Christi (Imitation of Christ, about 1420), which advocated personal and emphatic contemplation focused on the individual events of Christ?s Passion