Bouguereau realized this moving head study of Christ, seen in three-quarter profile and wearing the crown of thorns, to prepare a monumental composition, Christ Meets His Mother on the Road to Calvary (1888/12), one of eight panels painted for the Chapel of the Virgin in the Church of Saint-Vincent-de-Paul in Paris in 1888 and exhibited at the Universal Exhibition in 1889.

Construction on Saint-Vincent-de-Paul began in 1824 but the first services were only held twenty years later when the church was finally consecrated in 1844. The main decorative program, including a 160 figure decorative frieze around the nave by Hippolyte Flandrin and François-Édouard Picot, began in earnest in the 1850s. By 1881, when Bouguereau, at the height of his career, was asked to create eight large-scale paintings to fill the Chapel of the Virgin constructed behind the choir in 1870, he had already provided decorations for three churches, most recently the Cathedral of La Rochelle (completed in 1881), the Basilique Sainte-Clotilde (completed in 1859), and the Church of Saint-Augustin (completed in 1866), both in Paris. An unsigned and undated letter on the parish letterhead provides a sense of what was intended:

I have no definite preference regarding the choice of the compositions that might be done for the decoration of the Chapel of the Holy Virgin, and I am quite ready to accept a different opinion, whether it be that of the committee or of the artist.

The following are the subjects I thought I might suggest:

No. 1: a little panel with just two figures: the Annunciation, the Angel and Mary;
No. 2: The Marriage of the Holy Virgin and St. Joseph;
No. 3: The Visitation;
No. 4: Bethlehem and the shepherds;
No. 5: Bethlehem and the Magi;
No. 6: Meeting the crowd on the way to Calvary;
No. 7: Mary at the foot of the Cross;
No. 8: a little panel with just two figures: The Angel from No. 1 presenting Mary with the insignia of the Passion

Should the artist not wish to depict the Bethlehem twice, No. 5 could be Mary resting, the flight into Egypt, though I do not like the donkey, even in the background, or Jesus among the Doctors. That would add up to four joyful mysteries and four sorrowful ones. (cited in Bartoli and Ross, vol. I, p. 281-82)

In advance of this commission, which would take seven years to complete, Bouguereau was required to submit sketches to the Fine Arts Administrative Commission for approval. Bouguereau made several paintings and drawings in advance of the large-scale canvases, many of which remained in his studio until his death and later passed to the artist’s descendants, including the present study.

Bouguereau was a devout Catholic, stemming from his education at seminary schools where he studied religious texts alongside classical history and poetry. In his twenties the artist traveled throughout Italy (sponsored by his winning the Prix de Rome in 1850), where he made numerous copies of Renaissance masterpieces in museums in and around Rome; studied Giotto in Padua, Assisi and Florence; and saw Ravenna's famous Byzantine mosaics (fig. 1). In particular, the works of Raphael (among Bouguereau’s favorite artists), Andrea del Sarto, and Leonardo da Vinci informed his early depictions of both secular and divine subjects.

Beyond symbolic associations, Bouguereau heightens Christ’s religiosity here through the Byzantine element of a gilded halo, like those he saw in the mosaics of Ravenna, which contrast with the rough spun cloth of his red tunic, rhymed with the drops of blood, alluding to both his divinity and humble humanity. Both immediate and eternal, this study exemplifies Bouguereau’s commitment to the divine subject, combining real and theological elements to convey Christ’s sublime beauty. The artist’s skill in depicting skin, shifting light, and subtleties of expression allows the viewer to both identify and connect with the sacred subject.