''Christ at the Column'' (also known as ''The Flagellation of Christ''; c. 1606/1607), is a painting by the Italian Baroque painter
Caravaggio, now in the
Musée des Beaux-Arts de Rouen
The Musée des Beaux-Arts de Rouen is an art museum in Rouen, in Normandy in north-western France. It was established by Napoléon Bonaparte in 1801, and is housed in a building designed by and built between 1877 and 1888. Its collections include ...
,
Rouen, France.
This is one of two versions of the
Flagellation of Christ
The Flagellation of Christ, sometimes known as Christ at the Column or the Scourging at the Pillar, is a scene from the Passion of Christ very frequently shown in Christian art, in cycles of the Passion or the larger subject of the '' Life of C ...
by Caravaggio painted late in 1606 or early in 1607, soon after his arrival in Naples. The painting shows the flagellation of Christ following his arrest and trial and before his crucifixion. The scene was traditionally depicted in front of a column, possibly alluding to the judgement hall of Pilate. The snub-nosed torturer on the far right is recognisably the same figure who modelled as one of the torturers in ''
The Flagellation of Christ'', and as the executioner in ''
Salome with the Head of John the Baptist''.
The most famous treatment of the theme at the time was
Sebastiano del Piombo
Sebastiano del Piombo (; c. 1485 – 21 June 1547) was an Italian painter of the High Renaissance and early Mannerist periods famous as the only major artist of the period to combine the colouring of the Venetian school in which he was trained ...
's
High Renaissance
In art history, the High Renaissance was a short period of the most exceptional artistic production in the Italian states, particularly Rome, capital of the Papal States, and in Florence, during the Italian Renaissance. Most art historians stat ...
''Flagellation of Christ'' in the church of
San Pietro in Montorio
San Pietro in Montorio (Saint Peter on the Golden Mountain) is a church in Rome, Italy, which includes in its courtyard the ''Tempietto'', a small commemorative '' martyrium'' (tomb) built by Donato Bramante.
History
The Church of San Pietro in ...
in Rome. Piombo's ''Flagellation'', much imitated by later artists, shows multiple idealised figures twisting through complex layers of space. Caravaggio has flattened the space, reduced the figures to a minimum, and used light to direct attention to the crucial parts of his composition - Christ's face and torso, the faces of the two torturers, and the hand holding the out-of-frame whip.
See also
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List of paintings by Caravaggio
The following is a list of paintings by the Italian artist Caravaggio, listed chronologically.Spike, John T. ''Caravaggio''. New York : Abbeville Press, 2001: p. 253–54
List of paintings
Footnotes
Further reading
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References
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External links
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{{authority control
1600s paintings
Paintings by Caravaggio
Caravaggio