Flemish school; 17th century.

Flemish school; 17th century.
"The flagellation of Christ".
Oil on panel. Cradled.
Presents faults and restorations.
Measurements: 45 x 64 cm; 81 x 100 cm (frame).
The flagellation of Christ is one of the most intense and dramatic moments of the cycle of the Passion. From the stylistic point of view, the painting shows characteristic features of the Flemish Baroque aesthetics: a marked naturalism in the anatomical representation, an expressive use of chiaroscuro and a dense composition, loaded with figures that bring the action closer to the viewer. The brushstroke, loose but controlled, gives vitality to the secondary characters, whose faces express a wide range of emotions, cruelty, curiosity, indifference, reinforcing the narrative dimension of the whole. The technical quality is especially appreciated in the treatment of the flesh tones, the verisimilitude of the forced postures and the chromatic richness, dominated by ochers, deep reds and earthy shades.
The iconography of Christ scourged responds to a model widely spread in the Catholic Europe of the seventeenth century, linked to the spirituality of the Counter-Reformation. Christ is presented as a suffering Ecce Homo, emphasizing both his physical suffering and his acceptance of martyrdom. The lacerated body, the restrained expression of the face and the absence of gestures of resistance underline his condition of redemptive victim, inviting the faithful to empathetic contemplation and meditation on the sacrifice. This devotional reading is reinforced by the spatial proximity of the scene, which eliminates symbolic distances and places the spectator almost as a direct witness of the punishment.