Tied to the column, his head bowed.
Bible in art · John
The Passion: The Flagellation
Lucas van Leyden · 1521
The Cleveland Museum of Art
The sixth plate of Lucas van Leyden’s Passion of 1521. The light falls on the bare body and the tall column, while the onlookers stay in shadow.
Jesus is tied to the column by his wrists, his head bowed. One soldier raises a scourge behind him; another pulls the rope tight. Others watch from the back.
From the text
- Pilate took Jesus and had Him flogged (John 19:1)
- He had Jesus flogged and handed Him over to be crucified (Matthew 27:26)
The artist’s own
- The column — the Gospels do not mention one; painters took it from tradition
- Soldiers in the tight hose and caps of Lucas’s day
Details
Jesus
The scourge
A soldier raises it behind him.
The rope
His wrists are bound to the column.
Pulling
Another soldier pulls the rope tight.
Lucas van Leyden, Netherlandish, 1494–about 1533. The Cleveland Museum of Art (Dudley P. Allen Fund, 1923.55.6) · Engraving · Cleveland Museum of Art Open Access: Collection API record "share_license_status": "CC0" (Creative Commons Zero, https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/).