The Flagellation of Christ 1450

Piero della Francesca’s “The Flagellation of Christ”, created around 1450, is a tempera on wood painting housed in the National Gallery of the Marches in Urbino, Italy. The scene depicts the moment when Christ, stripped and tied to a pillar, is being whipped by three men in a spacious Roman courtyard. The painting features an elegant perspective, a hallmark of the artist’s style, with geometrically precise lines and a balanced composition. The stark realism of the scene and the quiet, almost stoic figures of Christ and the executioners, are typical of della Francesca’s artistic vision. The viewer's eye is drawn to the figures on the right, in the foreground, who seem to be involved in a conversation, while the actual act of flagellation in the background is subdued and hidden from view. This seemingly detached observation creates a sense of unfeeling distance and reflects the themes of religious piety and human suffering that were prevalent in Renaissance art.