Crowning with Thorns
Returned to lender
This work of art was on loan to the museum and has since been returned to its lender.Valentin returns to a theme he had treated early in his career, but without the raw naturalism that characterized that work. There is a classical beauty as well as dignity about the resigned figure of Christ. His tormentors, though brutal, have gained in psychological complexity. X-rays reveal that the picture is painted over an abandoned portrait of the papal nephew, Cardinal Francesco Barberini: Valentin was therefore clearly in the cardinal’s employ.
Artwork Details
- Title: Crowning with Thorns
- Artist: Valentin de Boulogne (French, Coulommiers-en-Brie 1591–1632 Rome)
- Date: ca. 1627–28
- Medium: Oil on canvas
- Dimensions: 51 15/16 × 37 15/16 in. (132 × 96.3 cm)
- Classification: Paintings
- Credit Line: Bayerische Staatsgemäldesammlungen München-Alte Pinakothek, Munich
- Curatorial Department: European Paintings