"The Crowning of Thorns", Flemish school of the 17th - 18th century

"The Crowning of Thorns", Flemish school of the 17th - 18th century
Oil on panel, table measurements: 54 x 40.5 x 2 cm. This version of the Coronation of Thorns, also known as "Los Improperios", is part of a panel by the Flemish painter El Bosco, executed in oil on panel and measuring 73 centimeters high by 59 cm wide, the original of which can be found in the National Gallery, London, UK, where it is on display under the title “Christ Mocked” (The Crowning with Thorns). Christ gazes calmly at us from the center of this image, his serenity contrasting vividly with the brutality of his tormentors. At the back are two soldiers, one about to force the crown of thorns onto Christ's head. In front of them two men kneel in feigned homage; one seems about to tear off the mantle of Christ. This is the only mocked Christ painting now known that can be attributed to Bosch, and its vertical format is very unusual. It must not have been easy to imagine and Bosch clearly put an enormous amount of effort into designing the image, which is carefully structured through form and colour. He toned down the violence of the scene: in the underlying drawing (the preliminary sketch of the composition), the four men treat Christ more brutally. Changes in the depth of the frame make the image more interesting and ambiguous: the expressions of the men are open to different interpretations. Bibliography: L. Cirlot (dir.), National Gallery, Col. "Museums of the World", Volume 1, Espasa, 2007. ISBN 978-84-674-3804-8, p. 93, Romano, E. (dir.), “Bosco”, The great geniuses of art, no. 25, Unidad Editorial, SA, 2005, ISBN 84-89780-69-2. Origin: former Catalan private collection.