"And the soldiers wove a crown out of thorns and placed it on his head, and clothed him in a purple cloak, and they came to him and said, “Hail, King of the Jews!” And they struck him repeatedly."
(John 19:2-3)
It has always seemed to me that the decades of the Rosary are structured in a very defined way. Like the most important intervals in the musical scale, the first, third and fifth decades of each series of Mysteries have always seemed to focus on the most important of the scenes that they bring to memory. In the Joyful Mysteries the third is the Birth of Jesus. In the Glorious Mysteries the third is the Descent of the Holy Spirit (Pentecost). It seems, therefore, odd that the third of the Sorrowful Mysteries is not the Crucifixion, but the Crowning with Thorns. For example, I can easily imagine a scenario in which the Crucifixion is the third, followed by the Descent from the Cross and the Entombment.
It has always seemed to me that the decades of the Rosary are structured in a very defined way. Like the most important intervals in the musical scale, the first, third and fifth decades of each series of Mysteries have always seemed to focus on the most important of the scenes that they bring to memory. In the Joyful Mysteries the third is the Birth of Jesus. In the Glorious Mysteries the third is the Descent of the Holy Spirit (Pentecost). It seems, therefore, odd that the third of the Sorrowful Mysteries is not the Crucifixion, but the Crowning with Thorns. For example, I can easily imagine a scenario in which the Crucifixion is the third, followed by the Descent from the Cross and the Entombment.
But, on reflection, I realized that the traditional list of the Sorrowful Mysteries actually does make sense. The Crowning with Thorns has something very important to teach us. For, the cruel mockery devised by the Roman soldiers is the inversion and perversion of the actual truth. In their twisted way they demonstrate the reality they did not recognize. Jesus is a king, greater than any they could imagine. His kingdom, as he told Pilate, is not of this world and it is achieved, not through dealing out violence as a conqueror, but through receiving the violence of his tormentors; not through self-aggrandizement, but through humiliation; not through subjecting others but in subjecting His human will to the Father’s divine will. It is, therefore, indeed the pinnacle of the Sorrowful Mysteries, that makes sense of the two preceeding mysteries and of the two that follow it.
The iconography of the subject of the crowning with thorns is related to three other subjects that I discussed in 2012: the Mocking of Christ, the Ecce Homo and the Man of Sorrows. All three of these subjects, however, look at Jesus following the crowning. Here I will look at some pictures that show the action of the crowning.
Early images are often static, showing Christ seated, while the soldiers beat on His head to force the thorns in deeper.
Crowing with Thorns From a Psalter German (Magdeburg), c. 1265 Munich, Bayerisches Staatsbibliothek MS Clm 23094, fol. 50v |
Master Henri, The Crowning with Thorns From Livre d'images de Madame Marie Flemish (Hainaut), c. 1285-1290 Paris, Bibliotheque nationale de France MS Nouvelle acquisition francaise 16251, fol. 35v |
The Crowning with thorns From Speculum humanae salvationis France (Alsace), 1370-1380 Paris, Bibliotheque nationale de France MS Latin 511, fol. 21v (detail) |
The Crowning with Thorns From Pelerinage du Jesu-Christ by Guillaume de Degulleville French (Rennes), 1425-1450 Paris, Bibliotheque nationale de France MS Francais 376, fol. 216 |
Master of the Dresden Prayerbook, The Crowning with Thorns and the Ecce Homo From the Breviary of Queen Isabella of Castille Flemish, c. 1497 London, British Library MS Additional 18851, fol. 103v |
Hieronymous Bosch, Christ Crowned with Thorns Dutch, c. 1495-1500 London, National Gallery |
Titian appears to have revised this, as he revised so many other images. In his several images of the crowning he introduces, through effects of light and shadow and motion recognition of the pain that this act must have caused and the violence of the attack.
Titian, Crowning with thorns Italian, 1542 Paris, Musée du Louvre |
Titian, Crowning with thorns Italian, 1572-1576 Munich, Bayerische Staatsgemäldesammlungen, Alte Pinakotek |
These elements were picked up on by his younger north Italian compatriot, Caravaggio and, through his followers, to the greater European context.
Caravaggio or Follower, Crowning with thorns Italian, 1602-1603 Vienna, Kunsthistorisches Museum |
Anthony van Dyck, Crowning with thorns Flemish, 1618-1620 Madrid, Museo Nacional del Prado |
Valentin de Boulogne, Crowning with thorns French, No Date (died 1632) Munich, Bayerische Staatsgemäldesammlungen, Alte Pinakotek |
© M.
Duffy, 2013
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