Studies for Christ at the Column Recto

This exceptionally rare study by the Northern Italian painter and printmaker Andrea Mantegna was made in preparation for an engraving. The artist used both sides of the paper to explore ways of depicting the Biblical scene of the Flagellation, in which Christ is violently scourged. Mantegna shows Christ twice as a muscular nude at the moment before being whipped. His slumped posture, bound hands and downcast expression powerfully convey his human suffering, whereas the heroic body and the halo communicate his divinity.

(verso)
Mantegna probably started with this side of the study sheet. Here, Christ’s overwhelmingly large tormentor is depicted in an aggressive stance in between two portrayals of Christ in agony. With little concern for facial details, Mantegna loosely outlined the figures and experimented with alternative ways of showing Christ’s bent, anguished torso. The explicit vulnerability of the Son of God deviates from the Biblical account of his suffering and its depiction in earlier paintings.