Kruisdraging van Christus met Veronica before 1620

This engraving of Christ carrying the cross, attended by Veronica and watched over by weeping angels, was created by Johannes Wierix sometime between 1550 and 1620. Wierix worked in Antwerp, at a time when the Catholic Church was attempting to reassert its authority in the region. The image is rich in visual codes that would have been well understood by contemporary viewers. Veronica's veil bearing the image of Christ's face was an important relic, a symbol of the miraculous power of the church. The weeping angels, too, are a reminder of the emotional power of the Passion story in Counter-Reformation Europe. Wierix worked as an engraver for the Plantin-Moretus printing house, so this print would likely have been reproduced and distributed widely. Understanding the social and institutional history of such an image requires that we look at the way religious imagery was consumed, controlled, and debated in this period. Researching publishing history and religious movements, we can better understand this image's significance.