The Flagellation of Christ, in art sometimes known as Christ at the Column or the Scourging at the Pillar, is an episode from the

Passion of Jesus The Passion (from Latin , "to suffer, bear, endure") is the short final period before the death of Jesus, described in the four canonical gospels. It is commemorated in Christianity every year during Holy Week. The ''Passion'' may include, amo ...

as presented in the

Gospels Gospel originally meant the Christian message (" the gospel"), but in the second century AD the term (, from which the English word originated as a calque) came to be used also for the books in which the message was reported. In this sen ...

. As such, it is frequently shown in

Christian art Christian art is sacred art which uses subjects, themes, and imagery from Christianity. Most Christian groups use or have used art to some extent, including early Christian art and architecture and Christian media. Images of Jesus and narrative ...

, in cycles of the Passion or the larger subject of the '' Life of Christ''.

Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

tradition places the Flagellation on the site of the

Church of the Flagellation The Church of the Flagellation is a Roman Catholic church and Christian pilgrimage site located in the Muslim Quarter of the Old City of Jerusalem, near St. Stephen's Gate (also called Lions' Gate). It is part a Franciscan monastery which als ...

(the second station of the

Via Dolorosa The (Latin for 'Sorrowful Way', often translated 'Way of Suffering'; ; ) is a processional route in the Old City of Jerusalem. It represents the path that Jesus took, forced by the Roman soldiers, on the way to his crucifixion. The winding rou ...

Jerusalem Jerusalem is a city in the Southern Levant, on a plateau in the Judaean Mountains between the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean and the Dead Sea. It is one of the List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest cities in the world, and ...

). It is the second Sorrowful Mystery of the

Rosary The Rosary (; , in the sense of "crown of roses" or "garland of roses"), formally known as the Psalter of Jesus and Mary (Latin: Psalterium Jesu et Mariae), also known as the Dominican Rosary (as distinct from other forms of rosary such as the ...

and the sixth station of the

John Paul II Pope John Paul II (born Karol Józef Wojtyła; 18 May 19202 April 2005) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 16 October 1978 until Death and funeral of Pope John Paul II, his death in 2005. In his you ...

Scriptural Way of the Cross The Scriptural Way of the Cross or Scriptural Stations of the Cross is a modern version of the ancient Christianity, Christian, especially Roman Catholic devotion, Catholic, devotion called the Stations of the Cross. This version was inaugurate ...

.''Old Master Paintings and Drawings'' by Roy Bolton 2009 page 70 The column to which Christ is normally shown to be tied, and the rope,

scourge A scourge is a whip or lash, especially a multi-thong type, used to inflict severe corporal punishment or self-mortification. It is usually made of leather. Etymology The word is most commonly considered to be derived from Old French ''escorgie ...

, whip or birch are elements in the

Arma Christi Arma Christi ("weapons of Christ"), or the Instruments of the Passion, are the objects associated with the Passion of Jesus Christ in Christian symbolism and art. They are seen as arms in the sense of heraldry, and also as the weapons Christ us ...

. The Basilica di Santa Prassede in Rome is one of the churches claiming to possess the original column or parts of it. In art, the subject was first depicted as one of a series of Passion scenes, but from the 15th century onwards it was also painted in individual works. The most-discussed single work is the enigmatic ''Flagellation of Christ'' on a small panel in

Urbino Urbino ( , ; Romagnol: ''Urbìn'') is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Italy, Italian region of Marche, southwest of Pesaro, a World Heritage Site notable for a remarkable historical legacy of independent Renaissance culture, especially und ...

Piero della Francesca Piero della Francesca ( , ; ; ; – 12 October 1492) was an Italian Renaissance painter, Italian painter, mathematician and List of geometers, geometer of the Early Renaissance, nowadays chiefly appreciated for his art. His painting is charact ...

(1455–1460), the precise meaning of which has eluded generations of art historians. At the same time, ''Christ at the Column'' or ''Christ at the Stake'' developed as an image of Christ alone tied to a column or stake. This was most popular in

Baroque The Baroque ( , , ) is a Western Style (visual arts), style of Baroque architecture, architecture, Baroque music, music, Baroque dance, dance, Baroque painting, painting, Baroque sculpture, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished from ...

sculpture, and also related to the subject, not found in the canonical Gospels, of Christ in the Dungeon. It is often difficult to distinguish between these two subjects, and between ''Christ at the Column'' and a ''Flagellation''.

Gospels

Flagellation Flagellation (Latin , 'whip'), flogging or whipping is the act of beating the human body with special implements such as whips, Birching, rods, Switch (rod), switches, the cat o' nine tails, the sjambok, the knout, etc. Typically, floggin ...

at the hands of the Romans is mentioned in three of the four

canonical Gospel Gospel originally meant the Christian message ("the gospel"), but in the second century AD the term (, from which the English word originated as a calque) came to be used also for the books in which the message was reported. In this sense ...

John 19 John 19 is the nineteenth Chapters and verses of the Bible, chapter of the Gospel of John in the New Testament of the Christianity, Christian Bible. The book containing this chapter is Anonymity, anonymous, but early Christian tradition uniformly ...

John 19:1
,

Mark 15 Mark 15 is the fifteenth chapter of the Gospel of Mark in the New Testament of the Christianity, Christian Bible. This chapter records the narrative of Jesus' Passion (Christianity), passion, including his Pilate's court, trial before Pontius Pi ...

Mark 15:15
, and

Matthew 27 Matthew 27 is the 27th chapter in the Gospel of Matthew, part of the New Testament in the Christian Bible. This chapter contains Matthew's record of the day of the trial, crucifixion and burial of Jesus. Scottish theologian William Robertson Nico ...

Matthew 27:26
, and was the usual prelude to

crucifixion Crucifixion is a method of capital punishment in which the condemned is tied or nailed to a large wooden cross, beam or stake and left to hang until eventual death. It was used as a punishment by the Achaemenid Empire, Persians, Ancient Carthag ...

under

Roman law Roman law is the law, legal system of ancient Rome, including the legal developments spanning over a thousand years of jurisprudence, from the Twelve Tables (), to the (AD 529) ordered by Eastern Roman emperor Justinian I. Roman law also den ...

. None of the three accounts is more detailed than John's "Then Pilate took Jesus and had him flogged" (NIV). Luke's comparable account in

Luke 22 Luke 22 is the twenty-second chapter of the Gospel of Luke in the New Testament of the Christian Bible. It commences in the days just before the Passover or Feast of Unleavened Bread, and records the plot to kill Jesus Christ; the institution of ...

(
Luke 22:63–65
is of the

High Priest of Israel In Judaism, the High Priest of Israel (, lit. ‘great priest’; Aramaic: ''Kahana Rabba'') was the head of the Israelite priesthood. He played a unique role in the worship conducted in the Tabernacle and later in the Temple in Jerusalem, ...

's guards beating and mocking Jesus. In the Passion of Christ, the episode precedes the

Mocking of Christ The mocking of Jesus occurred several times, after his Sanhedrin trial of Jesus, trial and before his Crucifixion of Jesus, crucifixion according to the canonical gospels of the New Testament. It is considered part of the Passion (Christianity), ...

and the Crowning with Thorns, which according to the Gospels happened at the same time or immediately afterwards. Unlike the flogging, these were not part of the normal Roman judicial process.

Relics

Monti - santa Prassede colonna flagellazione 01396

Alleged pieces of the Column or Pillar of the Flagellation, also called the Scourging Post, are kept at different locations. *

Church of the Holy Sepulchre The Church of the Holy Sepulchre, also known as the Church of the Resurrection, is a fourth-century church in the Christian Quarter of the Old City of Jerusalem, Old City of Jerusalem. The church is the seat of the Greek Orthodox Patriarchat ...

in Jerusalem: **

Greek Orthodox Greek Orthodox Church (, , ) is a term that can refer to any one of three classes of Christian Churches, each associated in some way with Greek Christianity, Levantine Arabic-speaking Christians or more broadly the rite used in the Eastern Rom ...

Chapel of the Derision in the ambulatory **Chapel of the Apparition in the Franciscan area, originally in the

Cenacle The Cenacle (from the Latin , "dining room"), also known as the Upper Room (from the Koine Greek ''anagaion'' and ''hyperōion'', both meaning "upper room"), is a room in Mount Zion in Jerusalem, just outside the Old City walls, traditionally ...

Santa Prassede The Basilica of Saint Praxedes (, ), commonly known in Italian as Santa Prassede, is an early medieval titulus (Roman Catholic), titular church and minor basilica located near the papal basilica of Saint Mary Major, on Via di Santa Prassede, Mont ...

in Rome. * St. George's Cathedral, in Istanbul.

In art

The Flagellation first appears in Western art in the 9th century. It is almost never found in

Byzantine art Byzantine art comprises the body of artistic products of the Eastern Roman Empire, as well as the nations and states that inherited culturally from the empire. Though the empire itself emerged from the decline of Rome, decline of western Rome and ...

, and remains very rare in

Eastern Orthodox Eastern Orthodoxy, otherwise known as Eastern Orthodox Christianity or Byzantine Christianity, is one of the three main Branches of Christianity, branches of Chalcedonian Christianity, alongside Catholic Church, Catholicism and Protestantism ...

art of any date. Initially found in

illuminated manuscript An illuminated manuscript is a formally prepared manuscript, document where the text is decorated with flourishes such as marginalia, borders and Miniature (illuminated manuscript), miniature illustrations. Often used in the Roman Catholic Churc ...

s and small ivories, there are surviving monumental wall-paintings of the subject from around 1000 in Italy. From the start, there are most often three figures, Christ and two servants of

Pontius Pilate Pontius Pilate (; ) was the Roman administration of Judaea (AD 6–135), fifth governor of the Judaea (Roman province), Roman province of Judaea, serving under Emperor Tiberius from 26/27 to 36/37 AD. He is best known for being the official wh ...

who flog him. In early depictions, Christ may be naked, or wearing a long robe, facing out or seen from behind; from the 12th century it is standard for Christ to wear a loincloth (

perizoma ''Perizoma'' is a genus in the geometer moth family (Geometridae). It is the type genus of tribe Perizomini in subfamily Larentiinae. The tribe is considered monotypic by those who include the genera '' Gagitodes'', '' Martania'' and '' Mesotyp ...

) and face out towards the viewer. Christ's face is normally visible, giving artists the "technical problem of showing him receiving the strokes on his back – the usual place – while at the same time leaving his face visible". Often, he appears to be receiving strokes on the front of his body.

is sometimes shown watching the scene, and his wife's servant may approach him with her message, and in the later Middle Ages, probably under the influence of

Passion play The Passion Play or Easter pageant is a dramatic Play (theatre), presentation depicting the Passion of Jesus: his Sanhedrin Trial of Jesus, trial, suffering and death. The viewing of and participation in Passion Plays is a traditional part of L ...

s, the number of men beating Christ may be three or four, increasingly caricatured in the North as grotesque figures in the dress of contemporary mercenaries. Sometimes another figure, who may be Herod, is present. The Flagellation was at the hands of those working for Pontius Pilate, but the floggers may sometimes wear

Jewish hat The Jewish hat, also known as the Jewish cap, ''Judenhut'' (German language, German) or Latin language, Latin ''pileus cornutus'' ("horned skullcap"), was a cone-shaped pointed hat, often white or yellow, worn by Jews in Medieval Europe. Initiall ...

s. Following the ''

Maestà Maestà , the Italian word for "majesty", designates a classification of images of the enthroned Madonna with the child Jesus, the designation generally implying accompaniment by angels, saints, or both. The ''Maestà'' is an extension of the " ...

'' of

Duccio Duccio di Buoninsegna ( , ; – ), commonly known as just Duccio, was an Italian painter active in Siena, Tuscany, in the late 13th and early 14th century. He was hired throughout his life to complete many important works in government and religi ...

, the scene may take place in public, before an audience of the Jewish people. The

Franciscan The Franciscans are a group of related organizations in the Catholic Church, founded or inspired by the Italian saint Francis of Assisi. They include three independent Religious institute, religious orders for men (the Order of Friars Minor bei ...

s, who promoted self-flagellation as a means of identification with the suffering of Christ, were probably responsible for a number of large Italian processional crosses in which the Flagellation occupies the back of the cross, with a Crucifixion on the front. These were presumably sometimes followed in processions by flagellants, who could see Christ suffering in front of them.Schiller, 67

Notable examples

Single works: * ''Flagellation of Christ'' (Piero della Francesca), 1455–1460 * ''Christ at the Column'' (Antonello da Messina), c. 1475 * ''The Flagellation of Christ'' (Caravaggio), 1607 * ''Christ at the Column'' (Caravaggio), 1607 In cycles: * ''Maestà'' (Duccio) *

Scrovegni Chapel The Scrovegni Chapel ( ), also known as the Arena Chapel, is a small church, adjacent to the Augustinian monastery, the ''Monastero degli Eremitani'' in Padua, region of Veneto, Italy. The chapel and monastery are now part of the complex of ...

Giotto Giotto di Bondone (; – January 8, 1337), known mononymously as Giotto, was an List of Italian painters, Italian painter and architect from Florence during the Late Middle Ages. He worked during the International Gothic, Gothic and Italian Ren ...

In film and music

The flagellation of Jesus ("Trial Before Pilate (Including the 39 Lashes)") is a climactic event in the

rock musical A rock musical is a musical theatre work with rock music. The genre of rock musical may overlap somewhat with album musicals, concept albums and song cycles, as they sometimes tell a story through the rock music, and some album musicals and concep ...

''Jesus Christ Superstar''. Modern filmmakers have also depicted Christ being flogged. It is a significant scene in

Mel Gibson Mel Columcille Gerard Gibson (born January 3, 1956) is an American actor and filmmaker. The recipient of List of awards and nominations received by Mel Gibson, multiple accolades, he is known for directing historical films as well for his act ...

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and Its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 60 ...

The Passion of the Christ ''The Passion of the Christ'' is a 2004 American epic biblical drama film co-produced and directed by Mel Gibson from a screenplay he wrote with Benedict Fitzgerald. It stars Jim Caviezel as Jesus of Nazareth, Maia Morgenstern as the Bl ...

''. In Kubrick's ''

A Clockwork Orange ''A Clockwork Orange'' may refer to: * ''A Clockwork Orange'' (novel), a 1962 novel by Anthony Burgess ** ''A Clockwork Orange'' (film), a 1971 film directed by Stanley Kubrick based on the novel *** ''A Clockwork Orange'' (soundtrack), the film ...

'', Alex imagines himself as a Roman soldier flogging Jesus. On the album ''The Dying Truth'', the

death-doom Death-doom (also known as death-doom metal or doom-death) is a fusion genre of death metal and doom metal. It combines the slow tempos and pessimistic or depressive mood of doom metal with the deep death growl, growling vocals and double bass dr ...

metal band Cianide wrote a song called "Scourging at the Pillar".

Gallery

File:Duccio di Buoninsegna 030.jpg, ''Maestà'' by Duccio File:Piero - The Flagellation.jpg, ''Flagellation of Christ'' by Piero della Francesca File:Jesus in Golgotha by Theophanes the Cretan.jpg,

fresco by

Theophanes the Cretan Theophanis Strelitzas (; 1490–1559), also known as Theophanes the Cretan () or Theophanes Bathas (), was a Greek painter of icons and frescos in the style of the Cretan school. He passed much of his career as a member of the monastic community ...

File:Bacchiacca - Flagellazione di cristo (Washington).jpg, Bacchiacca File:Flagellation-of-christ- Rubens.jpg,

Peter Paul Rubens Sir Peter Paul Rubens ( ; ; 28 June 1577 – 30 May 1640) was a Flemish painting, Flemish artist and diplomat. He is considered the most influential artist of the Flemish Baroque painting, Flemish Baroque tradition. Rubens' highly charged comp ...

, c. 1617 File:Guercino Flagellazione.jpg,

Guercino Giovanni Francesco Barbieri (February 8, 1591 – December 22, 1666),Miller, 1964 better known as (il) Guercino (), was an Italian Baroque painter and draftsman from Cento in the Emilia region, who was active in Rome and Bologna. The vigorous n ...

, 1657 File:Flagella.jpg,

Nicolò Grassi Nicolò Grassi (7 April 1682 – 6 October 1748), also known as ''Nicola Grassi'', was an Italian painter, active in a late-Baroque or Rococo style. Biography He was born in Formeaso in the Friuli and died in Venice. After studying as an appr ...

, 1720 File:GD Tiepolo Flagellazione.jpg,

Giovanni Domenico Tiepolo Giovanni Domenico Tiepolo (August 30, 1727March 3, 1804) was an Italian painter and printmaker in etching. He was the son of artist Giovanni Battista Tiepolo and elder brother of Lorenzo Baldissera Tiepolo. Life history Domenico was born in V ...

Image:Cristo alla colonna, Chiesa Madre Solarino.JPG, ''Christ at the Column'', Italian sculpture, 1817 Image:Cristo atado a la columna 20131225.jpg, '' Christ at the Column'' by

Gregorio Fernández Gregorio Fernández (April 1576 – 22 January 1636) was a Spanish Baroque sculptor. He belongs to the Castilian school of sculpture, following the style of other great artists like Alonso Berruguete, Juan de Juni, Pompeyo Leoni, and Juan de Ar ...

File:William-Adolphe Bouguereau (1825-1905) - The Flagellation of Our Lord Jesus Christ (1880).jpg, ''The Flagellation of Our Lord Jesus Christ'' by

William-Adolphe Bouguereau William-Adolphe Bouguereau (; 30 November 1825 – 19 August 1905) was a French Academic art, academic painter. In his realistic genre paintings, he used mythological themes, making modern interpretations of Classicism, classical subjects, with a ...

References

* English translation from German {{Authority control Crucifixion of Jesus Sorrowful Mysteries Passion of Jesus in art by theme es:Cristo en la columna