Christ at the Column, ca. 1635
Matthias Stomer
Dutch, ca. 1600-after ca. 1650
Oil on canvas
- Stomer represents Jesus's vulnerability and humanity at the moment he is tied to a column by a jailer. His head crowned with thorns and his body exposed, he casts his eyes upward. The pillar is based on a relic in the Roman Basilica of Santa Prassede that was believed to be the one on which he was flogged.
Stomer was born in the Dutch city of Utrecht, but he spent most of his artistic life in Rome and Naples. The dramatic contrasts of light and dark he employs here, known as chiaroscuro, reflect the lingering stylistic influence of the Italian painter Caravaggio on Netherlandish artists in Italy.
No. 56.177
Museum Works of Art Fund
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