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Giotto, The Mocking of Christ Italian, c. 1304-1308 Padua, Scrovegni/Arena Chapel |
“They stripped off his clothes
and threw a scarlet military cloak about him.
Weaving a crown out of thorns, they placed it on his head,
and a reed in his right hand.
And kneeling before him, they mocked him, saying,
“Hail, King of the Jews!”
They spat upon him and took the reed
and kept striking him on the head.”
(Matthew 27:28-30)
This scene takes place in the praetorium of Jerusalem’s Roman garrison, in a courtyard open to the sky.
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| Christ's Tormenters |
The Roman setting is implied not only by the courtyard setting, but by the interesting inclusion of a sub-Saharan African in the very center of the composition. A clean shaven Pilate appears at the right, conversing with a group of bearded men, who presumably are members of the Sanhedrin.
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Detail of Right side showing Pilate and group of men. They are, presumably, Pilate and the High Priest. |
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| The Face of Pilate |
While Giotto is clearly following the Gospel text in what the Romans are doing, he does depart in one aspect. Instead of the “scarlet military cloak” he has clothed Jesus in a bejeweled cloak worthy of an emperor. This harks back to an earlier, medieval tradition of representing the crucified Christ as a king, rather than as a suffering man. Giotto stands somewhat at the crossroads between these two visual traditions. Going forward, the emotive characteristics associated with Jesus as sufferer, rather than Jesus as victor, became dominant in the art of the West.
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| Left side showing jeweled cloak. |
Again, this painting appears to have been executed by an assistant. However, this assistant seems to be a bit more comfortable with Giotto’s revolutionary style than the assistant who worked on the “Christ Before Caiaphas”. His characters inhabit the space more comfortably, though they are still a trifle “wooden”, and there is less interest in minute details. There are also a few small difficulties in presenting some details in perspective (see, for example, Pilate’s foot at the right side of the picture).
© M. Duffy, 2011. Pictures refreshed 2024.
Scripture texts in this work are taken from the New American Bible,
revised edition © 2010, 1991, 1986, 1970 Confraternity of Christian Doctrine,
Washington, D.C. and are used by permission of the copyright owner. All Rights
Reserved. No part of the New American Bible may be reproduced in any form
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