The Flagellation
Christ bound to a column and whipped as Mary watches from the left: a Passion scene on a palm-sized panel by an early 14th-century painter from Romagna. Full commentary ↓
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The Flagellation is a tempera and gold painting by Master of Forlì (first half 14th century) in the collection of The Metropolitan Museum of Art. It measures 19.7 × 13.3 cm.
In the pictureInside a building with columns and arches set against a gold-leaf ground, two men whip a man bound to a column on the right. On the left, Mary, wrapped in a blue mantle, stands and watches. It is a small panel 20 cm high, and the gold leaf has flaked off the surface in places.
Background"Master of Forlì" is the name given to an anonymous painter who worked in the Romagna region of northern Italy. This panel, together with The Entombment in the same museum, was part of a small altarpiece that divided the Passion into several compartments. Mary's presence at the flagellation is not in the Bible; it was included so that viewers would grieve along with her.
Puzzle tipThere are many gold-leaf pieces and the picture is small, so solve it by shape. Fit the blue mantle, the red column, and the curved pieces of the arches first, then use the figures' faces to place them. Check the blotchy pieces where the gold has flaked off against the preview. 24 or 48 pieces suits it.
- Artist
- Italian, Romagna, active first half 14th century
- Classification
- Paintings
- Medium
- Tempera on wood, gold ground
- Dimensions
- 19.7 x 13.3 cm
- Credit line
- Robert Lehman Collection, 1975
Source: The Metropolitan Museum of Art ↗
Stories about this work
- Altarpieces Sold Off Panel by Panel: Three Pairs in the Robert Lehman Collection
Large Italian altarpieces were often taken apart and sold panel by panel on the art market. We read the traces of that through three pairs of panels that survive together on this site.
- Why Early Renaissance Altarpieces Have Gold Backgrounds: Reading the Lehman Panels
Why is the background of every gold-ground panel in the Robert Lehman Collection gold? Early Renaissance painting, explored by putting the panels together as puzzles.
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