This artist painted the Way of the Cross 120 years ago, and today it’s on the walls of St. Peter’s Basilica

This year, as part of a temporary exhibition in the transept and along the nave of the basilica, the 14 stations will be represented by a series of paintings created by the Italian artist Gaetano Previati (1852-1920).  

The exhibition marks the first time that the artist’s Way of the Cross or Via Crucis has ever been displayed for popular devotion inside a sacred building. The paintings, titled “Passion of Christ,” were completed in 1902, and have been restored by the Fabbrica di San Pietro and the Vatican Museums.

In a press release announcing the opening of the Rite of the Via Crucis, Cardinal Mauro Gambetti O.F.M, said that the exhibition was the fulfillment of the artist’s intention.

”Previati had created ‘The Passion’ to stimulate people to pray through art: we are happy that this intent, one hundred and twenty years after the creation of the work (1902), found the place to be fulfilled in St. Peter’s,” he said.

“Thanks to an accurate and careful restoration carried out by the Vatican Museums, the images and the vivid colors with which ‘Christ Jesus crucified’ is brought to light have been brought to light (Gal 3: 1),” he added.