The Crowning with Thorns (Caravaggio, Prato)

Painting by Caravaggio

The Crowning with Thorns I

Artist| Caravaggio
Year| c. 1604
Medium| Oil on canvas
Dimensions| 178 cm × 125 cm (70 in × 49 in)
Location| Palazzo degli Alberti

The Crowning with Thorns was the subject of two paintings by the Italian master Caravaggio. The first version, dated to around 1604–1605, is now in the Cassa di Risparmi e Depositi of Palazzo degli Alberti, Prato (Tuscany). The attribution to Caravaggio is disputed.

On June 25, 1605, Caravaggio wrote out, in his own hand, a contract to paint "a picture of the same size and value as the one I have already done for him of Christ's crowning", which restricts the Crowning to a period prior to this date. There is no firm evidence for a more precise dating, but the figure of Christ has been clearly influenced by the Christ in Rubens' altarpiece of The Crowning with Thorns in the Church of Santa Croce in Gerusalemme, Rome, completed in April 1602. The recipient of both the Crowning with Thorns and the Ecce Homo — the painting to which the contract relates — was Massimo Massimi, a wealthy financier and art collector in the circle of Caravaggio's patron, marquis Vincenzo Giustiniani. The actual date is disputed — John Gash[1] places it in 1601–1603.

Stylistically the painting is based on Rubens's altarpiece for the pose of Christ and on Titian's treatment of the same subject (now in the Louvre) for the soldier with the staff behind Christ. But Caravaggio has reverted to the compact, symmetrical approach employed by 15th-century artists, visible in, for example, the work of Hieronymous Bosch in Christ Mocked. The gestures which define the situation are restrained and understated—the almost imperceptible actions of the tormentors focus attention on Christ, who looks up, his bound hands slightly raised almost in forgiveness.

## See also

[edit]

* List of paintings by Caravaggio

## References

[edit]

1. ^ Gash, John (2003). Caravaggio. Chaucer. ISBN 1-904449-22-0.

## Sources

[edit]

* Gash, John (2003). Caravaggio. Chaucer. ISBN 1-904449-22-0.
* Robb, Peter (1998). M. ISBN 0-7475-4858-7.

## External links

[edit]

* Media related to The Crowning with Thorns by Caravaggio at Wikimedia Commons

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Caravaggio

List of paintings

1593–1594|

* Boy Peeling Fruit (c. 1592)
* Young Sick Bacchus (c. 1593)
* Boy with a Basket of Fruit (c. 1593)
* Boy Bitten by a Crayfish (c. 1593; lost)
* The Fortune Teller (c. 1594)
* The Cardsharps (c. 1594)

1595–1599
Del Monte paintings|

* The Musicians (c. 1595)
* Saint Francis of Assisi in Ecstasy (c. 1595)
* Boy Bitten by a Lizard (c. 1596)
* The Lute Player (c. 1596)
* Bacchus (c. 1596)
* Penitent Magdalene (c. 1597)
* Rest on the Flight into Egypt (c. 1597)
* Medusa (c. 1597)
* Portrait of a Courtesan (Fillide Melandroni) (c. 1597)
* Jupiter, Neptune and Pluto (c. 1597)
* Saint Catherine of Alexandria (c. 1598)
* The Sacrifice of Isaac (Princeton; c. 1598)
* John the Baptist (c. 1598)
* Martha and Mary Magdalene (c. 1598)
* Portrait of Maffeo Barberini (1598)
* Basket of Fruit (c. 1599)
* Judith Beheading Holofernes (c. 1599)
* David and Goliath (c. 1599)
* Narcissus (c. 1599)

1600–1606
Most famous
painter in Rome|

* The Calling of Saint Matthew (1599–1600)
* The Martyrdom of Saint Matthew (1599–1600)
* The Conversion of Saint Paul (1600)
* The Crucifixion of Saint Peter (1601)
* The Conversion of Saint Paul on the Road to Damascus (1601)
* Supper at Emmaus (London; 1601)
* Amor Victorious (1602)
* Saint Matthew and the Angel (1602; destroyed)
* The Inspiration of Saint Matthew (1602)
* The Incredulity of Saint Thomas (c. 1602)
* The Taking of Christ (1602)
* The Entombment of Christ (c. 1603)
* Saint Francis in Prayer (c. 1603)
* The Calling of Saints Peter and Andrew (c. 1603–1606)
* Madonna of Loreto (Madonna dei Pellegrini, Pilgrims' Madonna) (c. 1604)
* The Crowning with Thorns (Prato; 1604)
* The Death of the Virgin (1604)
* Christ on the Mount of Olives (1605)
* Ecce Homo (Genoa; c. 1605)
* Saint Jerome in Meditation (c. 1605)
* Saint Jerome Writing (Rome; c. 1605)
* Portrait of Pope Paul V (1605)
* Still Life with Fruit (1605)
* Madonna and Child with Saint Anne (Dei Palafrenieri) (1606)

1606–1608
Naples and Malta|

* Ecce Homo (Madrid; c. 1605–1609)
* Mary Magdalen in Ecstasy (1606)
* Saint Francis in Meditation (1606)
* Supper at Emmaus (Milan; 1606)
* The Seven Works of Mercy (1606)
* The Crucifixion of Saint Andrew (1607)
* David with the Head of Goliath (Vienna; 1607)
* Madonna of the Rosary (1607)
* The Crowning with Thorns (Vienna; 1607)
* The Flagellation of Christ (c. 1607)
* Christ at the Column (c. 1607)
* Salome with the Head of John the Baptist (London; c. 1607)
* Saint Jerome Writing (Valletta; 1607)
* Portrait of Alof de Wignacourt and his Page (1607–1608)
* Portrait of Fra Antonio Martelli (1608)
* The Beheading of Saint John the Baptist (1608)
* Sleeping Cupid (1608)

1608–1610
Sicily and Naples|

* The Annunciation (1608)
* The Burial of Saint Lucy (1608)
* The Raising of Lazarus (1609)
* Adoration of the Shepherds (1609)
* Nativity with Saint Francis and Saint Lawrence (1609; lost)
* Salome with the Head of John the Baptist (Madrid; 1609)
* Denial of Saint Peter (1610)
* The Martyrdom of Saint Ursula (1610)
* David with the Head of Goliath (Rome; 1610)

Related|

* Paintings attributed to Caravaggio
* Utrecht Caravaggism
* Caravaggisti
* Caravaggio, il pittore maledetto
* Caravaggio (1986 film)
* Caravaggio (2007 film)
* Caravaggio's Shadow

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