Christ and Cirineo - Titian - Niño & Niña 29 March 2024

Good Friday invariably transports me to a sunny day in Buenos Aires in 1950 when I was 8 years old. It was a not quite 3 in the afternoon. I was playing with Mario on the street and I knew I had to go into the house. On Good Friday my grandmother (Abuelita) prohibited us from listening to the radio. At precisely 3, my mother and I knelt and Abuelita read the last words of Christ on the cross.

I will not parade here my religious views. They, like my political ones, are private. But I would like to add a little knowledge that came via my grandmother. She explained that when Christ was struggling with the cross on the way to Golgotha, the Romans seconded a man called Cirineo (he was reluctant) to help Christ. Since then, my grandmother explained “a Cirineo” is a person who helps only reluctantly.

Now 71 years later, on today’s Good Friday, my thoughts are sombre (under the shadow in Latin). I look at my cats and I know that they and I share being alive and, together, they (perhaps?) and I miss our former mistress. It seems that a Good Friday is a day to think about the death of friends and relatives and a diminishing circle of those that are left.

The painting of Cirineo and Christ by Titian has an added interest for me. I know that Titian was the first artist to use the cochineal red that came from Mexico. A specific ladybug that feasted on a particular Mexican cactus when pressed produced a vivid red that was so valuable that the Dutch, French and English ships would board Spanish galleons for their gold, silver and the red  extract called cochineal. 

When I go no Cirineo will help me.