Saint Helen Testing the True Cross

From the museum

This painting may belong to an extensive series of small scenes illustrating the story of Saint Helen, mother of Constantine, the Roman emperor who made Christianity the official religion of his empire. According to legend, Helen traveled to Jerusalem in search of the cross on which Jesus was crucified, known as the True Cross. Guided to the spot of the crucifixion, she identified the True Cross by testing its power to revive the dead. In this small painting, Tintoretto set down the figures with bold, summarizing strokes that efficiently convey posture and movement.

Gift of Böhler and Steinmeyer

Materials & technique

Technique: oil painting, painting techniques, painting (image making), painting.

Provenance

Sir Thomas Andros de la Rue, Bart. (died 1911), London; his sale, Christie’s, London, June 16, 1911, no. 67, to Robert Langton Douglas, for £273, along with the related painting “The Discovery of the True Cross” now in the Hyde Collection in Glens Falls, New York [see Art Prices Current 1911 and an annotated copy of the sale catalogue in the Thomas J. Watson Library, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; the painting seems to have remained with the “The Discovery of the True Cross” until 1932, when it entered the collection of the Art Institute]; sold by Langton Douglas to Mrs. Philip M. Lydig (née Rita de Acosta), New York, by 1913; sold in her sale, American Art Association, New York, April 4, 1913, no. 130 to W. W. Seaman for $2000 [“Rita Lydig Sale,” 1913, p. 6; for price and buyer, see annotated copy of the sale catalogue in the Thomas J. Watson Library, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York]. Robert Langton Douglas, London, by 1924 [according to the mount of a photograph in the Witt Library, London]. F. Hess, Berlin, by 1925 [lent to Berlin 1925]; sold in his sale, Paul Cassirer and Théodore Fischer, Lucerne, September 1, 1931, no. 4, for Fr 9000 [according to an annotated copy of the sale catalogue in the Ryerson Library, Art Institute]. Böhler and Steinmeyer, New York, by 1932; given to the Art Institute, 1932.

Where to see Saint Helen Testing the True Cross

Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago. View on the museum’s official page.

See more works at Art Institute of Chicago or browse the full Tintoretto collection.