Jan Cossiers, The Flagellation of Christ

by Atelier Liesjes

Against an almost black background stands Christ, his head bowed and his hands bound behind his back. His body is broad and muscular, with pale, warm skin illuminated by a narrow beam of light; a white loincloth hangs around his hips, a crown of thorns rests upon his head, and a delicate golden halo glows behind his hair. To his left stand two executioners: a bearded man with his upper body bare raises a whip and holds a bundle of rods in his other hand, whilst a second, with a white cloth wrapped round his head, raises his arm towards him. A few drops of blood glisten on the stone floor. Behind them, a wall of large stone blocks looms dimly. The painting is constructed from diagonals and stark contrasts between light and dark. The executioners are bathed in a reddish-brown, almost fleshy light, whilst Christ is surrounded by a cooler, heavenly radiance; this contrast renders the scene both a torture and a sacrifice. Cossiers paints the bodies with loose, confident brushstrokes and leaves the paint thin and translucent in the shadows. The Baroque drama here serves devotion: the viewer is invited to share in the suffering, as the Counter-Reformation demanded of religious art. Christ’s skin is rendered in cool greys with pink undertones, whilst that of the executioners is in warmer browns. Jan Cossiers (Antwerp 1600 – Antwerp 1671) was one of the few Flemish painters to fully master the Caravaggist use of light. After his years in Rome, he established a thriving practice in Antwerp, producing religious works, portraits and genre pieces, and providing figures for the settings in others’ works. This scene of the Flagellation ranks among his most distinctly Baroque works. It is one of the works in which he comes closest to capturing the intensity of the Passion, without compromising the dignity of the central figure.